#snack manifesto

[goodoldcharley]

Another coloring picture for my friend @illiana-mystery ... 😉

#alfred molina #eye candy #he looks like a snack #Manifesto 1988 #no idea what the movie was actually about

[onlyjaeyun]

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 – 𝟓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨

↬ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

↬ 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬!𝐀𝐔, 𝐂𝐄𝐎!𝐉𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

↬ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟒.𝟒𝐤

↬ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬/𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭

↬ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐥'𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎.

"Oh, my God!"

Your sudden exclamation of excitment startles both of your friends, their pretty eyes quickly shifting from their plate of snacks to your face, waiting for you to continue.

The alcohol has already made its way into your system and different than both Aeri and Jimin, you're more of a lightweight, so it didn't take more then three shots for you to get tipsy. But after a week, especially this particular dad, so exhausting and challenging, you're more than just ready to let it all go and enjoy yourself.

Working for Park Jongseong has definitely been...an experience. Your schedule isn't as demanding and physically exhausting as your previous part time jobs, yet the responsibility being a secretary comes with has definitely taken its mental toll on you. The urge to do everything as perfect as possible, just because you're genuinely afraid of disappointing your boss is a lot more than you thought and at this point you're not quite sure if you can actually handle it all.

To your luck, you've got something similar to a week off, due to Park Jongseong's physical absence, yet you're pretty sure you'll still have enough to do until he's back. It's not like you don't actually enjoy your job, it's more about your subconscious desire to please and satisfy your boss to gain his validation and approval.

Before you can actually get to the part where you curse at your father for not being part of your life, you turn your phone to show your girls the chat between you and Park Nayeon, your self proclaimed guardian angel, who is about to head over to the manifesto as well, leaving all three of you incredibly excited.

"That's so cool", Aeri giggles and takes a sip from her cute little cocktail, "I really hope she spends some time with us, too. I sound like a pathetic school girl who wants to be friends with the school's IT girl, what the fuck."

Her self awareness has you all chuckling, the music blaring in the background as you're all too comfortable to actually get up and dance. But neither one of you cares enough as the drinks do exactly what they're supposed to do and the need for sexual satisfaction from earlier has almost completely disappeared.

"Apparently it's Lee Heeseung's birthday", you say after reading Nayeon's next messages, "and Seoul's big four are headed here to celebrate. Yeonie said she's gonna try and have us invited into the VIP section as well."

It's this particular statement which has the three of you stop in your tracks. Just the thought of spending a night at the club with the four most important men of the company you all work for seems a lot less inviting than a single addition to your girls' night.

Jimin takes a deep breath and from the way she nervously puts her drink down, you can tell that the anxiety has yet to lose the fight against the alcohol in her system.

"I'm out", she quickly says and looks around, "I can't even look Mr. Park in the eyes when we happen to get into the same elevator at the company, there's no way I'm going to party with him. Or whatever he does at a club like this."

With a soft nod you agree with her words, feeling quite similar about your boss' presence, especially after the praising incident from earlier today.

"Let's just head out and have some beef at Ruby's", you say and start looking around to find one of the pretty waitresses who played a huge role in the greatness of your night.

"Oh, come on, babes!" Aeri suddenly says and looks at the two of you with her pretty lips pushed into a faux pout to gain your sympathy.

"Just an hour", she says and scoots closer to you on the little couch you're both seated in, "and then we'll leave and the meat's on me, I promise."

Jimin quickly shoots you a look of uncertainty, which you simply mirror as you start nibboing on your bottom lip.

You really don't want to run into your boss and his friends, no matter how nice they are, they're still your superiors and you can't help but feel like you're under constant observation when it comes to them.

On top of it all you really, really don't want Park Jongseong to look at you and remember the things you had said a few hours ago, the embarrassment and humiliation still very prominent in your guts.

But you're also more than aware that there probably won't be another opportunity like this for you to spend time with Nayeon, since she's a lot busier than she claims to be and you're usually too shy and hesitant to hit her up.

"I'm so tipsy already", you whine and roll your eyes once you realise you've all silently agreed to stay in this very moment, "I guess I just won't speak. Please don't make me embarrass myself even more, I'm begging you."

"Don't worry, Babe", Aeri says and holds her drink up with a big smile and excitement gleaming in her eyes, "we're going to have a great time!"

Just as you're about to join your best friend, the music suddenly stops and the crowd on the dance floor underneath the three of you as well as everyone else starts cheering, "Happy Birthday" replacing the previous hip hop song and that's when you realise who just arrived.

With big, curious eyes you watch Seoul's most known and loved Bachelors walk into the club, all of them dressed simply, yet as classy as one might expect.

With the owner of the club, TPC's very loved and appreciated CMO and today's birthday boy leading their pack, Lee Heeseung looks as charming and cool as ever. All four of them are dressed in simple dress shirts varying in colors, with their classic slacks, yet adding their own charms to the outfits with individual pieces of jewelry you know cost more than your monthly salary.

You don't even realise who your gaze has shifted to, until his dark eyes meet yours through the crowds of people, as if he felt your presence before actually seeing you.

Park Jongseong.

With your heart thrumming in your throat, you try to calm yourself down, yet as soon as you notice the way his usually so cold and stoic gaze starts roaming your face, you can't stop your brain from remembering your conversation from earlier, jolts of weird excitement and anticipation rushing through you. Maybe you'll actually have a good time with each orher tonight.

"Oh, no, not her."

You don't even get the chance to properly process Aeri's comment as your focus shifts from the CEO to the angel like women on his arm.

Her face is small and petite, shaped like the one of an ancient goddess and for a moment you actually forget to inhale.

Yoo Shiah, one of Seoul's biggest fashion influencers, who just so happens to be the daughter of famous and influential business man Yoo Yongho, one of The Park Company's biggest and most important partners to this date.

You physically can't stop yourself from staring at her and it doesn't take you long to realise it's mostly because of how close she is to your boss, rather than her beauty.

A weird feeling starts spreading in your tummy and like a child caught doing something forbidden, you quickly lower your head. You hate how much the sight of them so close together has affected you within just a few minutes.

You're surprised at your own behavior, since you, just like the entirety of South Korea, knows about the close bond those two share with each other. They're not titled Seoul's couple of the future for nothing after all.

"Let's just say Hi to Yeonie and then leave, please", you say and gulp harshly, too ashamed of the emotions your body's currently trying to process.

You genuinely don't understand where these feelings of envy and jealousy come from. You've only known Park Jongseong for about six weeks and besides the fact that he's never talked to you about anything that's not work related – with today as an exception – there's absolutely no reason for you to feel and think all of these things.

With a soft sigh, you try to hide the sudden wave of sadness overwhelming you, right before you actually curse your absent father for putting you into this situation in the first place.

If he had actually kept his promise and showed up when you needed him to, you wouldn't have gotten your hopes up from a single, simple verbal praise from your boss.

"Yeah, I really don't wanna be around that annoying bitch", Aeri adds casually and downs the rest of her cocktail in one go.

Jimin remains completely silent and for some reason you find comfort in your shared anxiety regarding this particular situation.

By the time the celebration song comes to an end, the four business men as well as their few friends have made their way to the VIP section, finally giving you the room to breathe, only for the loud call of your name have everyone's attention shift to you.

"There she is, the prettiest girl I've ever seen!"

Park Nayeon's voice is filled with excitement, slightly slurred and despite the discomfort of being stared at by your boss and his friends, you can't help but mirror your new friend's big smile as you hand Aeri your glass and get up to approach her.

"I'm so glad we finally got to see each other again!" Her voice is loud and you can feel everyone's eyes boring into you from all sides, but without actually hesitating, you pull the sweet brunette into a tight hug.

"Me too", you say and chuckle at the way she actually places a soft kiss on your cheek, "you look amazing."

"Says you! How does it feel to sit at the table for the sexiest girls in the club?"

Nayeon doesn't miss a beat as she throws her arm over your shoulders and turns to look at your best friends, waving at them with her pretty lips stretched into a bright smile before she introduces herself to your girls.

"Why don't you guys join us in the b-", "Thank you so much, Yeonie. But unfortunately we were just about to leave!"

You're quick to interrupt her to make sure your boss, as well as his friends who have actually approached the four of you as well, hear exactly about your departure.

"Happy birthday, Sir", you say once your gaze lands on the the handsome face of Lee Heeseung, who just thanks you with a soft smile.

"All three of you are sincerely welcome to join us", Sim Jaeyun says and casually shoots you a wink, his plump bottom lip pulled between his teeth and for a moment you can't hide how flustered you get.

The sudden clearance of a throat gains your attention and slightly confused you let your gaze fall to the tallest of the men in front of you.

"Hi there, sweetheart", Park Sunghoon, the company's head lawyer says, his voice just loud enough to reach you through the music and you physically can't stop yourself from smiling even bigger.

"Hi, Hoonie", you smile back and push a strand of hair behind your ear, enjoying the way he seems so genuine when you both know about his reputation.

You'd never sleep with him, not because of the things everyone has to say about him or because he's not your type, but because you'd rather not be part of the girls on his long, long list.

For some reason, your conscience forces you to also verbally acknowledge the main reason for your discomfort, so with a bit of an uncomfortable smile, you turn to look at your boss, who just so happens to have his eyes fixated on you already.

"Good evening, Sir", you say and hate how much you crave his approval, only to be disappointed when Jongseong doesn't deem you worthy of a verbal response. All you get is a nod.

A fucking nod.

"Are you guys sure?", Yeonie asks with genuine sadness in her eyes, yet it's not enough for you to change your mind. You have to leave right now or the mixture of alcohol and anxiety is going to embarrass you to the point of no possible recovery.

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to join you", you suddenly reply way too honest, surprising all of them, including the CEO, with your response, "I know how strict Mr. Park is about keeping things between himself and his employees strictly business, so it's better if we leave now."

Aeri and Minie don't add anything but head movements to your little explanation, too flabbergasted to speak and too overwhelmed to react otherwise.

You have no idea what's gotten into you, the sudden urge to be petty just taking over without giving your brain the time to overthink.

"Well, you're not my employee and these two don't give a fuck about that, too", Sunghoon chuckles and looks at you with amused eyes, "three beats one. We'd love for you all to spend some time with us."

"Come on, Y/N", Lee Heeseung suddenly says and leaves you absolutely defenceless, "are you really going to leave me hanging on my birthday?"

With a quick look to your girls and a nod in response to your silent question, all you can do is shake your head and accept their offer.

The following hour passes with a lot more laughter and silly jokes as well as old high school stories from your boss and his friends than you would have expected, and despite the fact that said superior has yet to acknowledge your existence, you're actually having a good time.

By the time 1AM rolls around, you feel the exhaustion and tiredness of the past week finally catch up on you and with a soft smile, you excuse yourself to go to the ladies' room, refusing your best friends' offer to join you, since you can feel the urge to be by yourself slowly take over you.

After giving yourself five minutes and touching up your lipstick, you make your way back to the group, only for your plans to be stopped as you run into a strong chest.

"What the – Changuk?"

Your ex boyfriend's name leaves your lips almost instinctively as you look up at him and manage to recognize the face you had loved for over a year.

Overwhelmed by the sudden run in, it takes you a good moment to realise that he's wearing a suit, a tiny little label clipped to his chest which approved your assumptions.

"You're a security guard?"

"Well, hello to you too, pretty one", he chuckles and for some reason you forget about your shared past for a single moment. You haven't seen each other in several months, six to be exact. And as your slightly clouded brain tries to stay focused on the most important things, you can't help but somehow feel a sense of comfort hit you.

"Congratulations", Changuk sudddnly says with his pretty lips stretched into a genuine smile, "I heard you got a job at The Park Company."

"Thank you, Chanie", you sigh and try to remain as composed as possible, "I guess I can only give that one back. How come you started working here?"

The two of you catch up a little, your ex boyfriend never once missing the opportunity to start a few flirting attempts, which you determinedly shut down to make sure he doesn't get the wrong message.

You made the mistake of going back to him once, you're not about to make it seen like you'd ever do something as stupid as that again.

As your conversation with the security guard continues, you don't even notice how much time passes, yet you're quite sure nobody would actually notice the length of your absence.

Little do you know that Park Jongseong's eyes have been glued to the very back of the VIP section for the past ten minutes.

And with every additional minute, it seems to get more and more difficult to keep his composure.

Jongseong doesn't understand what it is about you, yet the urge to not only keep you close to himself but also make sure you're alright and well taken care of in general has slowly overtaken every single pore of his body.

He doesn't care about you. He shouldn't. The rules he's set up for himself with your employment are as clear as possible, yet they don't seem enough to stop him from getting up.

With a made up excuse, Jongseong casually makes his way to the very back, knowing he would never forgive himself if something actually did happen to you, even if the possibilities are small.

As he slowly approaches the toilets, Jay can't help but wonder at what point he decided to act on these stupid urges and how he threw all of his plans of keeping everything between the two of you as professional as possible out of the window.

Maybe it's the few glasses of whiskey finally settling into his system or maybe it's his natural protector instinct, but for some stupid reason, he can't help the way he feels about you.

Knowing you've never had a man give what you've obviously been longing for has given him these false hopes that maybe he's the one to do just that.

He's been thinking about your reaction to his little comments about your phone conversation for the past eight hours and the fact he found himself fucking his fist to the thought of you kneeling between his legs, looking up and quietly asking for nothing but a few sweet words of praise and affirmation definitely didn't help with the chaos in his head.

Jay's never had these issues with an employee before. For fuck's sake, he's never had these kind of thoughts about any women before and he absolutely despises it.

You're twentyone years old, way, way younger than the women he usual goes for. On top of it all you work for him, a fact which is usually more than enough for him to ban you from his mind, but here he is.

And as his eyes finally find your pretty figure, Jongseong can't comprehend the amount of annoyance and jealousy flooding his body as he watches the way you chuckle and giggle about whatever the fuck that guard's just said to you.

With his jaw tightly clenched and his hands balled into fists, the CEO tries his very best to calm himself down because there's absolutely no reason for him to react this way.

"I'm glad you're doing so well, pretty one", the guard says softly and slowly lifts his hand to graze your cheeks, sending another hot jolt of jealousy right into the pit of Jongseong's stomach, only for the way you're quickly moving away from his touch to suffocate the flames in one go.

"We're not together anymore, Chanie", you say and push a strand of hair behind your ear, "let's keep the distance that comes with, yeah?"

That's my girl.

The first thought to cross his mind is to claim you, when he hasn't even said a single word to you the past two hours.

At this point Jong feels like laughing at himself for his pathetic behavior.

"Oh, come on, Babe", the tall guard suddenly says and leaves you no room to escape as he cages you in with his hand against the wall, right next to your head, "we're still a dream team, why can't you see it?"

Jongseong carefully and attentively watches your reactions and besides the obvious discomfort, sudden anger grazes your face, a sight he hasn't seen before and can't help but feel intrigued by.

"I don't think one party of a 'dream team' could claim that title after cheating on the other", you spit back at him, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.

So, turns out your previous boyfriend wasn't only a headache in bed but also a god damn cheater.

For a moment, Jongseong struggles to maintain his composure, the thought of all the pain and heartbreak you went through because that stupid fucker couldn't keep it in his pants simply makes his blood boil.

Despite your reaction, Changuk doesn't seem to be very fazed by it and with an awkward chuckle he just grabs your chin and pulls you closer to his body; his sudden use of strength surprising you to the point where you can barely push your hands against his chest to move away from his touch.

"I've always liked that mouth of yours", he casually replies and nudges his nose against yours and for a moment Jongseong's vision actually turns completely black, the fact that man dared to not only verbally disrespect you but also seems to give absolutely no fucks about your lack of consent leaves him absolutely flabbergasted.

"Back the fuck off, Changuk", you say and struggle to push your ex boyfriend away, forcefully turning your head to the side to escape his attempt of a kiss and as soon as he somehow finds his way back to reality, Jongseong's body acts on his anger before his brain can even give it a single thought.

With just a few steps, your boss appears right behind your ex boyfriend, his brows furrowed and nothing but deep anger lingering in the usually so empty brown of his eyes.

A little yelp escapes you in response to Park Jongseong harshly grabbing the back of Changuk's collar and forcefully pulling him away from you. You don't even get enough time to realise what's happening when Jongseong turns his back on you and gives his full attention to the security guard on the floor.

"M-Mr. Park?"

Because of your boss's height you can't really see your ex boyfriend's expression but just from the shaking of his voice you can tell how genuinely scared he is. As he should be.

It's been about time he finally learns what it means to back off when he's told to.

"If I see you bother her again I'm going to turn you into a plastic surgeon's biggest nightmare, got it? Take your things and get the fuck out of here. Don't bother talking to Mr. Lee about this, I'll do that for you in great detail. Now fuck off and pray to whoever you believe in that we don't run into each other anymore because I won't hold back the next time. Pathetic piece of shit."

You don't know, if it's the meaning behind his words, this particular choice of or just the fact that they have given you a sense of protection in a way you've never experienced it before but for some reason you feel your heartbeat slowing down and a wave of calmness overcoming your anxious system.

Jongseong doesn't say anything else, just waits for Changuk to get up and walk away before he finally turns around to face you and the softness and worry grazing his pretty features definitely surprises you.

"Are you okay, Y/N?" His voice is gentle, his eyes nervously roam your face to look for any kind of discomfort or pain and you hate how much you love the way he looks at you. It's like he'd do anything to keep you safe and protected, comfortable and at ease; something you've never felt with anyone before. And it really had to be with your boss, of all people.

"Yes", you whisper and finally meet his strong gaze, losing yourself in the sweet brown of his iris quicker than you woukd have ever expected, "I mean – Yes, Sir. Thank you so much for stepping in."

"Of course", Jongseong replies quickly, the urge to take your pretty face into his hands and just pull you into his chest taking every bit of oxygen out of his lungs.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much stress and discomfort tonight. It won't ever happen again, I promise. The girls and I are gonna leave now so you can also enjoy the night with your friends and girlfriend."

As the words leave your mouth, you feel a wave of shame and embarrassment hit you yet again; the thought of being the reason why your boss couldn't even enjoy his best friend's birthday like a troubled kid definitely makes you want to disappear forever, yet there's no point in overthinking it.

"Shiah isn't my girlfriend", is the first ghing he clarifies and for a moment you're simply confused as to why he felt the need to do that, "and you didn't cause me any discomfort or stress. I enjoyed tonight and your company really changed things up a bit. Don't be so mean to yourself, Y/N."

"Oh." You physically can't stop the sound from escaping your lips and with big eyes you look up at your boss, only then realising just how close he is.

You can't help but wonder how it might feel to be held by him. The question if his embrace feels even safer and more protective than his presence lingering in the back of your busy mind.

"Thank you, Sir", you whisper and finally get yourself to look away. Your heart not strong enough to lose itself in any more false hopes as it is your boss you're currently looking at.

"Good", Jongseong has to physically bite down ln his tongue to stop himself from crossing a line he's been so adamant about drawing between the two of you by adding a single word, and as he watches the slight shinmer of anticipation dying down in your eyes, he knows he did the right thing. No matter how much it hurts his heart.

The young CEO simply can't do anything which might give you the wrong message. He won't sleep with you and despite the disgusting need to give you verbal affirmation and make you feel good about yourself, it's never going to go past that.

And after so many years and meeting different kinds of women, Jongseong knows why you're looking at him like that. You want what he can absolutely give you, yet for the first time in his life he can't bear the thought of the possible outcomes.

"I'm gonna call my chauffeur so he can drop you off at home and please text me once you've arrived. I wanna make sure you're all safe."

Those are his last words before he finally forces himself to turn his back on you again, not realising that his lack of self control regarding you is going to be a bigger problem than he could have ever imagined.

← 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 — 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 — 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 →

(A/N: and here we are! different than the other two smaus this one started off pretty esrly with the written chap but i felt like it was needed to understand their thought process for the following chapters! i hope you guys enjoyed it and thank you so much for all the love and support, i love you so much 🥺 feedback and reblogs are always appreciated!!!!🧸🤍)

TAGLIST CLOSED: @soonigiri @xrr-s4sha @kwiwin @heelcvr @deobitifull @kpoprhia @doodlelibrary @abrazosolorcereza @certifiedmoa @sleeping-demons @heerinnie @ohmy-moonlightx @starlightmkl @heeswif3y @hoonieluv @fakeuwus @jjaeyuns @cheybabey @ineedsomezzz @super-amberlynn @kshoshi @tinie03 @soiimo @mimikittysblog @primroselover @heebrry @jebetwo @donghyckl @07myonlylove @enhamysunshines @quemirasboboandapaya @lostwonderwall @seuomo @enhaz1 @teawithbucky @beomgyusonlywife @dammit-jjk @lhsvibez @azurez @boutyouwonu @finchyy @ocyeanicc @jaylaxies @glitterssim @in-somnias-world @zerasari @spookyauthorspopmusictrash @capri-cuntz @fluerz @3amstarlight

#enhypen social media au #enhypen smau #enhypen x reader #enhypen angst #enhypen fluff #enhypen jay smut #jay enhypen smut #enhypen smut #park jongseong smut #park jongseong angst #park jongseong fluff #park jongseong x reader #park jay x reader #park jongseong social media au

[saintsenara]

asenora i will listen to anything you have to say about these characters ever. please tell us what the tea is with dron

as i rummage through the backlog of messages in my inbox the thing that i have discovered is that you girlies [gender neutral] are absolutely clamouring for citizenship of dron nation.

[thank you to @spectral-kitty, @thesilverstarling, and two mystery anons!]

to which i say, the borders are open, baby. you just have to read the following manifesto:

why fandom needs to stop sleeping on dron

something i am continually banging on about, as regular readers know, is the harry potter series' fondness for assigning [male] characters to narrative mirror pairings.

exploring these pairings is interesting in and of itself without a romantic dimension being involved - i could talk for hours about the mirrored approach to guilt and grief in snape and sirius' characterisation - but it's also true that several of the most interesting ships which can be drawn [however non-canonically] from the text are between the two halves of each mirror pairing.

tomarrymort is the obvious one, snack [or starprince or snirius or whatever we're calling it] is starting to get the attention it deserves, but people are still sleeping on draco malfoy/ron weasley [and also, may i say, on lucius malfoy/arthur weasley and narcissa malfoy/molly weasley], largely - i fear - due to the sheer popularity of drarry and dramione.

i'll be honest that i really don't like dramione, and i'm generally ambivalent towards drarry, but i do love dron. and the narrative mirror aspect is entirely the reason why.

ron and draco begin the series as mirror archetypes within the genre conventions of a children's boarding school romp. ron is the loyal, humble sidekick of the everyman protagonist, draco is the everyman protagonist's posh, stuck-up rival. both are insiders to the world of the story - whereas harry, the reader surrogate, is not - who introduce harry to the positive and negative aspects of the wizarding world respectively.

as a result, ron and draco are mirrors in terms of personality, and are much more similar to each other than either is to harry or hermione. this doesn't, of course, preclude ronarry [a ship i adore] or romione [which i've defended here] or drarry or dramione [if ya nasty], but it introduces a specific - and very interesting - tension into the pairing which is absent from these other ships.

both ron and draco have shared positive traits - they're both loyal [and their loyalty is very practical and pragmatic - ron is not hagrid, whose faith in e.g. dumbledore is totally unwavering; draco is not bellatrix, whose faith in voldemort is the same], they're both highly observant, they're both quick-witted, they're both capable of doing the right thing - if not always immediately [which is, in fact, more admirable than being preternaturally willing to suffer and sacrifice], and so on.

they also have shared negative traits. they're both attention-seeking [ron fucking loves nearly being knifed by sirius and you just know draco was seething], self-aggrandising, insecure, sulky, and predisposed to jealousy.

and this is a gift for authors, because it means that dron butt heads in a relationship in ways which allow for real character growth... or otherwise.

one issue that i have with drarry is that it often feels like the change either one goes through within a fic is kind of out of character. for example, you have a harry who feels insecure and haunted by his ill-treatment of draco [this is a man whose response to committing attempted murder is to be raging that it reduces the time he has free to hit on ginny], or a harry who is chasing after a cool and sophisticated draco who eventually learns to open up [whereas if there's two things draco isn't, it's someone who keeps his thoughts to himself and someone who isn't a distinctly unsophisticated flop].

dron, however, react to conflict in the same way - which means that the two of them finding themselves in conflict with each other absolutely slaps. they also have similar levels of emotional intelligence, and are likely - if they're inclined to - to be able to communicate with each other and work through issues surprisingly effectively. they can be a mess, or they can be a happy-ever-after, and i like that in a ship.

but, while ron and draco are mirror archetypes, they are specifically children's literature mirror archetypes. ron's role as harry's guide to the world diminishes in the later books, as the series' horizons move beyond hogwarts to think about wizarding society and voldemort's impact upon it more widely [he is replaced by characters such as dumbledore]; while harry becomes considerably less bothered by the pettiness of draco's rivalry with him [concerned as it is with things like being good at quidditch and getting away with misbehaviour at school] as the enemies he's focused on shift to being the resurrected voldemort and his death eaters.

which is to say that dron makes considerably more sense within a hogwarts setting than drarry.

as i've said elsewhere, an issue i have with drarry is that it's frequently written in a way which suggests that harry and draco have a mutual obsession with each other - while the actual evidence of canon is that, while draco is [as his archetype demands] preoccupied with what harry's doing, harry rarely gives the impression of caring what his rival is up to unless directly compelled to by draco's own attention-seeking.

ron, in contrast, spends a lot of time noticing things about draco unprompted - he can, for instance, recall overhearing him boasting offhand about what broom he owns in philosopher's stone - and retaining this information in order to deploy it at the opportune time to get a rise out of him. he delights constantly in his misfortune [him being hyped for days because draco's annoyed harry gets a firebolt is beautiful]. he's ready to throw hands with him at any given opportunity, often giving those of us who thrive on cheap innuendo plenty of material in the process [draco finds himself, for example 'on all fours, banging the ground with his fist' after having ron's wand pointed in his face... same, girl.] and he tends to consider draco much more integral to the various shenanigans which take place in the castle than harry does [ron is the main proponent of the 'draco malfoy is the heir of slytherin' theory in chamber of secrets - and he is shook when draco reveals that he's wrong].

and draco does the same. he comes into the trio's compartment on the train in goblet of fire and immediately starts telling ron how unfashionable his dress robes are. he obsesses over ron's position as gryffindor keeper for months - and, of course, makes up a song about it, which isn't exactly helping him pull off 'i don't think about you at all', is it? - and ron is profoundly affected by the taunts in way that harry, who doesn't really care what draco thinks of him, isn't. and he constantly goes out of his way to provoke ron into trying to punch him [him shoulder-barging ron in half-blood prince just after harry's essentially outed him as a death eater in madam malkins... exquisite pettiness].

all of which is to say, their interactions feel very teenage and petty and silly all the way through to the end of half-blood prince in a way that draco's interactions with harry and hermione don't, and - therefore - i sincerely think that dron can be made to work much more plausibly as a pairing in fics set while the characters are at school.

my final point in favour of dron is that they mirror each other in their approach to their other relationships, and the tension this causes is really interesting to explore.

both ron and draco have mirrored attitudes towards their place within their own families - something neither harry nor hermione can have with draco for obvious reasons. ron is one of many siblings and feels overlooked in the crowd; draco is an only child and feels overburdened by the visibility, especially once his father is sent to azkaban. they both conform to behaviours expected of them by family [they are both in the same hogwarts house as generations of their family, they share their families' political views etc.]. they are of the same social class and their families both have a reasonably similar level of political influence [despite what we're told about his insignificance, arthur weasley is known to everyone in the ministry and he's able to throw his weight around to influence policy even before the promotion he receives in half-blood prince], but their material circumstances are divergent. they both heavily resemble their fathers - to the extent that they are immediately recognisable as each man's son - and spend their schooldays defending family honour by playing out lucius and arthur's own petty feud [lucius and arthur - and, indeed, narcissa and molly - are also narrative mirrors, and we deserve many more enemies-to-lovers fics featuring them]. and the course their lives take during the war is dictated as much by their role within their families as it is by their relationship with harry - the scrambling post-dumbledore order operating out of the burrow is a mirror image of the ascendant voldemort operating out of malfoy manor.

they are also obviously defined by their mirrored relationship with harry - most interestingly by a major similarity in their attitude towards him: that both struggle with how jealous they are of harry.

this leads to lots of excellent tension which just isn't possible in drarry or dramione. how do both sets of parents react to the news their sons are in love? how do ron and draco's relationships with harry change as they find each other? how does draco cope with the hustle and bustle of life at the burrow? how does ron deal with having to have dinner at the manor [particularly interesting because the world in which draco lives is one that's familiar to him - he's not going to be shocked by any of the weird stuff in that house, he knows how it all works, so he can ruin christmas by deciding to have his dad arrest lucius for fun instead]?

it's messy, and fun, and it sustains me.

and some recs for the lads?

collateral damage by @danpuff-ao3, which starts out with both of the lads working out their... issues with harry and ends with declarations of going to lunch with each other's mothers.

dance the night away (aka it's true love, you bastards) by evandar, which has as its premise ron and draco ending up, largely by accident, going to the yule ball together.

this great stage of fools by @nanneramma, which correctly demonstrates how ron is charming enough that him being supremely annoying is actually loveable.

#asks answered #asenora's opinions on ships #dron #draco malfoy #ron weasley #asenora fic recs

[kairoot]

❝ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 ❞ | nrk.

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞 : enemies to lovers, high school au, fluff, comedy, maybe a bit of angst (idk)

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : harsh jokes probably, niki and his friends being kinda mean, light cursing, name calling

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 : by @keiipopped

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : dancer!niki x dancer!fem!reader ft. heeseung, sunghoon, yunjin, hanni & kyujin

author’s note: context for one of the insults in here: this is when kyujin had her red hair. just so you guys don’t get confused as to why niki’s calling her ‘redhead’ 😭 kind of inspired by charli xcx’s ‘constant repeat’ ?? idk it kinda gives me enemies to lovers type vibe in some of the lyrics.

the manifesto outfits for 4Z

SS ➜ high school dancers niki and y/n can’t stand eachother. then again.. they love each other. then why is niki always being so mean? y/n’s dance group, 4Z and niki’s group, PRDX go into the school’s dance competition , battling against each other to be the face of the school’s best dance team.

—

“so, when are you gonna tell him?” hanni asked y/n as they walked side by side, carrying their lunch trays. kyujin walked on the other side of y/n, already snacking on her meal.

“hanni, how many times do I have to tell you? I don’t like him.” y/n replied, shaking her head. hanni had been going on and on about the school’s best dancer, riki, but everyone called him niki. or so he said he was the best but Y/n thought otherwise. half of the school was 4Z fan-based and the other was for PRDX.

hanni swore y/n had a crush on the boy but Y/n always denied. even though they always bumped heads, y/n did have feelings for him. she could never admit that to her team, though.

“i don’t know, n/n. you seem to give him heart eyes everytime he looks your way.” Kyujin spoke, apple still in her mouth. Y/n slightly shoved her jokingly, “what are you talking about, Kyu?” she asked rhetorically.

the three continued to walk to their table, finding the dance group’s leader, Yunjin. she greeted them as they sat down and began talking about the upcoming dance competition.

“so, have we figured out outfits for The Manifesto?” Kyujin questioned the leader.

“well, i was thinking like orange at first to go with the theme but I heard that’s what the 3 idiots are wearing.” Yunjin rolled her eyes, referring to Niki and his members, Heeseung and Sunghoon. they were both older but stuck to him like minions.

“so, maybe black? i know it’s common but some leather would be cool.” the leader suggested. the group looked at each other, trying to decide whether it was a good idea or not.

“the principal said nothing inappropriate or revealing, though..” Hanni commented. “yeah, but we’re not wearing lingerie, Hanni. just a subtle leather bottom is fine.” Yunjin scoffed jokingly.

by then, Y/n was in her own world, taking small bites of her food. she looked over to where Niki’s table was, watching all of the boys chunk milk cartons at eachother, the girls lining up at their table to giggle at their antics.

niki sat at the lunch table, laughing at his friend’s foolish behavior. his tray was discarded to the side, nothing but an apple there. he went to grab it, but caught Y/n’s eyes instead. she didn’t even realize she was staring until the boy sent a wink her way, flashing his signature smile.

she quickly averted her gaze, blinking extra hard to knock herself out of the trance she was in. the group continued to discuss their plans for the competition, agreeing and disagreeing with certain things.

“well i’m stuffed so.. Y/n, you coming?” Kyujin asked, tilting her head towards the cafeteria’s garbage pail. the other girl nodded, getting up to leave with her friend. they said their goodbyes to Yunjin; Hanni heading to her next class.

the two students walked side by side, chatting up a storm before a taller male stepped in front of them.

“let me clean this for you.” it was Niki who had offered to empty Y/n’s tray. his hand gripped the edge of it as if he had really been insisting on cleaning the tray for her.

Kyujin’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked the older male up and down. “i don’t think she wants to-“

“yo, shut it, redhead. i wasn’t asking you.” Niki snapped at her, turning back to Y/n. her expression mirrored the one that Kyujin still wore on her face.

“nah, she’s right. i’m good-“

“really, l/n. let me do it.” he shifted the tray towards him, attempting to yank it away from her. Y/n did the same thing, pulling the tray back in her direction.

“No.”

“why not?” he smirked playfully, the tray jerking back in his direction. It seemed like a game of ‘tug-of-war’ at that point. Niki was enjoying it, though.

“give it back, Nishimura.” y/n struggled to pull it this time as Niki held the lunch tray against his tall frame, y/n coming closer to him with each pull.

“wow, i’ve really got you in my embrace now, huh?” he giggled, enjoying the contact with his enemy.

“niki, seriously, give it back-“ y/n’s complaints came to a halt as red sauce splattered on her uniform top, some against her cheek. everyone in the lunchroom stopped what they were doing to see the mess. niki’s hand had let go of the tray mid-tug.

a series of chuckles came from the left side of Y/n. it was Heeseung and Sunghoon, snickering at the incident. y/n felt heat rush to her face as all eyes were on her. some others joining in with the giggles.

“seriously, Nishimura, what the hell?!” Kyujin shouted, grabbing Y/n by the arm; rushing out of the cafeteria. Y/n pushed passed Niki as he tried to call for her.

the trays were long forgotten.

y/n felt tears prick her eyes as the anger inside her brewed. Kyujin walked her to the locker rooms, silently cursing at herself for not stopping the boy.

“it’s alright, kyu. i promise.” Y/n chuckled as they walked into the changing room. she walked to her locker, finding the soft pair of sweatpants and t-shirt she packed.

“you say that but i really should have stopped him. i don’t know how i didn’t see that coming, i’m sorry.” she patted y/n’s arm, walking towards the door.

the other girl smiled, waving off Kyujin’s apology, continuing to tell her it was fine. Y/n changed into her clothes while they chatted for a bit until Kyujin had to leave.

“meet me in the gym, alright? we still need to work on our part in the routine.” the redhead said before leaving the locker room.

walking towards the gym like Kyujin told her, Y/n stopped at the door as she heard music already booming through the speakers. she quickly ran through the big doors, her conscious telling her that she was late.

she fumbled to get into the gym, only to find three sleeveless guys moving around the squeaky floor, cackling with each other. before any of them could see her, she backed out through the doors.

she scrambled to pull her phone out, leaning against the wall while finding Kyujin’s contact.

“hello?” her voice rang on the other line. Y/n planted a hand against her forehead, face palming at the girl’s carefree tone. “kyu! I thought you told me to meet you in the gym?” she whisper yelled.

“i did! but that cute guy that I told you about.. he wanted to know if I needed any help with studying.” Y/n could hear her smile through the phone. “why do you sound like you just saw a ghost?”

“only because I did, but worse. It was Niki. he was with Thing 1 and Thing 2.” Y/n scoffed, readjusting her tee. Kyujin responded with the same sound, rolling her eyes.

“how in the hell did those idiots get there before us? you know what, don’t worry. I’ll be there soon.” she grumbled into the speaker.

as the girls finished their conversation, Niki came out of the gym, neck covered in sweat. He looked around, catching a glimpse of Y/n against the wall.

“yo, l/n,” he smiled, walking up to her. her eyes widened as she looked up from her phone, attempting to turn away from the boy. he brought his hand up to catch her wrist, pulling her back towards him. “you following me, dummy?”

she snatched her wrist from his grasp, scrunching her face up in disgust. “yeah, right.”

he flashed his smile again, playfully shoving her arm. “why else would you be here, then?”

“we were gonna use the gym, but it turns out the three musketeers ended up here before us.” she snorted. niki scoffed at the nickname she gave him and his friends. he ran a hand through his wet hair, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

“what? the fab four couldn’t find anywhere to practice their 3-step routine?” he pouted, mockingly. y/n tried to hide the offended look on her face as she began to push past the boy.

“wait,” niki giggled a bit, pulling her back gently. she’d be lying if she said she didn’t get butterflies from how close they were.

“how about we share the gym? one half is PRDX and the other half is.. your team.” he shrugged as if it was the best idea ever. y/n’s eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“my team and your team in the same space? i don’t think so.” she shook her head.

“why not? we’ll practically be in the same space for The Manifesto. though, you guys won’t last that long.” he snickered a bit causing y/n to land a harsh punch against his arm.

“see? this isn’t gonna work. especially not with your buddies.” y/n grumbled.

yunjin, hanni, and kyujin stood on one side of the gym, arms crossed. y/n stood next to them, awkwardly.

“well, i’ll be damned. niki, this was your idea?” sunghoon chuckled, pointing towards the girls. heeseung shook his head as he took a sip of water, laughing with the other boy.

niki shrugged, “yeah, i mean, i don’t see a problem with it.”

“really? you don’t see the problem? or is that cause your ‘n/n’ is here?” sunghoon tilted his head. niki bit back a smile as y/n’s eyes widened in embarrassment.

yunjin rolled her eyes, becoming impatient. “whatever, can we just get the speaker?”

heeseung and sunghoon stared at each other, a laugh erupting from both of them.

“we should call them banzai and ed. they’re always laughing.” hanni whispered to kyujin causing her to snort a bit too loud. sunghoon shot her a glare, making her roll her eyes.

“alright, dumbos. we’re gonna do our routine first and then you all can practice your 1-2 step, yeah?” sunghoon shrugged, smiling as he grabbed his phone to start the music.

motley crew by post malone blared through the gym’s speakers as the girls took their seats in the bleachers. two of them talked while the two others watched. y/n was definitely watching niki a little too hard.

“gosh, snap out of your trance, y/n.” hanni giggled, elbowing the girl softly. y/n scoffed at her, shoving her back. she waved off hanni’s joke, still watching niki.

he was a really great dancer. he had a lot of flow in his body. the way he was able to make his moves so clear.

some time into the routine, y/n didn’t even realize that she had began to like niki more and more. he would look her way a few times, smiling or nodding his head towards her. she felt herself look away in embarrassment or roll her eyes at him each time.

“okay, fab four. your turn.” sunghoon breathed heavily, patting a towel against his neck. yunjin connected her phone to the bluetooth, setting it down on the floor as a marker.

the girls grouped together to slide the huge closet mirror over to their side, setting it in front of the bleachers. niki, sunghoon, and heeseung sat on the other side.

they stretched a bit before getting into place before the song could start. their song was constant repeat by charli xcx, which yunjin had been begging them to do.

y/n was too into the music to notice that niki was watching her. his head slightly bopped to the music, squinting his eyes a bit. even sunghoon caught himself watching how charismatic all of them were.

[ I hate inserting these in my writings now but a huge time skip because I haven’t written in a long time so there’s 0 creativity here and I’m not sure what they should do in the gym other than niki watching and flirting with reader from afar I’m so sorry you guys 😭 ]

everyone scrambled around the dressing room, putting on the last of their accessories. they bumped into each other, mumbling to themselves about items they’ve misplaced.

“okay, out of this place in like 3 minutes, people. we’ve seriously gotta go.” one of the mc’s, haeun peeked her head into the room, causing the girls to rush towards the door.

“before we go, i just wanna say that we will beat the little paradoxes, okay guys?” Kyujin said breathing hard. she seemed to be getting a bit nervous, which is definitely not what the group needed in that moment.

yunjin nodded her head, blonde hair bouncing. “yeah, Kyu, totally. let’s go.”

they stepped into the crowded gymnasium, the lights low and purple, students scattered everywhere. everyone still trying to get into the bleachers before the competition started.

“well, this is what we’ve all been waiting for, right, haeun?” changmin said. he was the second mc for the night, him and haeun would be keeping score and narrating the whole event.

the girls walked hand in hand to their spot behind the stage as the mcs continued their chat. they all waited until the long introduction was over and when they would start calling the groups out.

of course, PRDX was first. the girls still sat in the back, calming their nerves. y/n heard the routine song, only imagining what niki looked like on the stage.

y/n walked to the side, watching from behind the curtain. once again, she fell in love with niki’s flow. with the way he moved. in one of the moves, he turned to face the back where y/n was, which made her move back behind the curtain.

the crowd went wild for the group. they absolutely loved PRDX. but of course it was mostly girl screams that were heard.

“oh my gosh, they’re not even that good. like seriously.” kyujin folded her arms, shaking her head.

“yeah, but you’ve gotta admit. they’ve got some type of charisma to them.” yunjin mumbled, peeking outside the curtain beside y/n. they all stared at the leader in confusion.

“well, that was a sudden change..” hanni snorted.

soon enough, it was time for the girls to go on. they put in two songs for their routine. y/n caught niki’s eye as she stood in place, waiting for the music to start. he smiled, slightly cheering for them. this confused the girl but she focused back on her performance.

around the second song, the girls jumped down from the stage, surprising everyone. the crowd got louder, everyone ‘wowing’ and ‘woahing’.

by now, they were in the middle of a crowd dancing with the spot light all over them. literally and figuratively. they were making their way towards their rivals, rubbing their victory in their faces.

the boys scoffed, one of them folding their arms. niki was kind of into it, laughing at the act.

the girls didn’t stop though. y/n came to the front, really showing off in front of them. she had a point to prove. that her team really could win. that they were the best dancers.

sunghoon glared at her the whole time, never taking his eyes off of her. he couldn’t stand the smug look on the girl’s face and the fact that his friend was actually enjoying it.

once again, y/n got to into the music, not really aware of her surroundings. her members had let her have a solo, really making her shine.

before she could even make the winning move, liquid had been thrown at her, causing her to slip.

“yo, sunghoon, what the hell?!” niki shouted. more people came off the bleachers to see the second incident y/n had been caught in.

“okay, no need to be a fcking jerk, sunghoon!” yunjin shoved him, her members pulling her away. he stood there, brushing off his jacket as if he hadn’t done anything.

y/n winced at the pain in her ankle and back. niki had ran over to help her but she quickly denied.

“no, i think you and your team have did enough.” she grumbled out. he ignored her complaints, picking her up and wrapping one of her arms around him.

he walked her to the dressing room, sitting her on the big red couch,“i’ll be back with some ice, alright?”

the girl nodded, kicking her shoe off and sliding her foot up to the cushion.

he walked back to where the drinks were, grabbing a cup and filling it with ice. he saw sunghoon walking out through the gym doors, a scowl on his face.

he shook his head, bringing the ice back to the room.

y/n had thrown her gloves and vest to the side, her eyes closed.

“you sleep already, dummy?” he chuckled, sitting next to her legs, placing her injured foot in his lap.

“yeah, i wish.” she snorted. he looked at her for a minute, admiring her features. now probably wasn’t the best moment, but…

“you’re really pretty.” he looked down at her ankle, carefully placing the cup of ice on it. y/n’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes popped open.

“what?”

“i said you’re really pretty.”

she scoffed, “and out of all times, you wanna tell me this now? nishimura, you and your members have caused us hell and you wanna call me pretty?-“

“shut up, i’m trying to confess my love to you.” he smiled a bit, readjusting his position so he was facing her.

“i know i haven’t always been the nicest person. teasing you ‘n stuff. but i really like you y/n, i do. this sounds so corny out loud but it’s the truth.”

she sat up a bit, looking around. was this a dream? after all that head bumping and teasing each other, niki actually liked her?

“so, you mean to tell me that.. you were only mean.. ‘cause you liked me?” she questioned. she wanted to make sure she had this right, it was all so sudden.

“well, not at first, but yeah.” he shrugged, smiling. she shoved him a bit, looking down and mirroring his expression.

she looked back up at him, “do you really mean it? you’re not being stupid this time? you’re not recording this so you can send it to heeseung and sunghoon for some giggles?”

“y/n,” niki rolled his eyes, smile still plastered on his face. “no. i really do like you. and you’re really talented, i like that.”

she smiled once more, heat rushing to her face. it was silent for a bit until she spoke up again.

“so..?”

“so?” niki took the ice off of her ankle, placing on the floor. he turned to her again, attempting to read what she was thinking.

her smile widened, “how are we gonna tell our teams?”

taglist : (message to be added)

author’s note : kei bb, im so sorry, this was so bad 😭😭 as you can see, im not in the habit of writing long things rn, i haven’t did it in so long.

#enhypen #kairoot #enhypen fluff #enhypen imagines #high school au #enha niki #enhypen x reader #enha fluff #enhypen niki

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 4)

*Deep breath* Okay, everybody. Let's do this one more time.

First off, hello, or welcome back. Let's get the introductions and disclaimers out of the way, shall we?

This is the fourth and final instalment in my very, very long-winded attempt to analyse the character writing of Crow over the course of the entirety of yugioh 5Ds. For everyone who hasn't read the previous parts of the analysis, you can find part one here, part two here, and part three here.

This post, and my analysis as a whole, is neither meant as a Crow hate post, nor as a manifesto to convince people who don't like him that they're wrong. It's as genuine an attempt to simply look at and dissect what the show gives us about him as I can make, though I admit to personal bias because I do like Crow. That said, I'm trying to stay as neutral as possible, because the aim of this entire post tetralogy is to look at the writing decisions made for this character and how they impact him—and how they possibly influenced the audience's perception of him.

My previous three posts all reference this as well, but since I still see these things parroted all across the internet to this day: Please don't read this post under the assumption that any of the 5Ds production rumours are true, especially not the ones surrounding Crow. Because, to make this as short as possible, every popular theory as to why certain characters were mishandled during the later parts of the show fails to line up with the production timeline of said show. Chiefly among those theories, the idea that Crow was meant to be a dark signer and that his popularity correlated to his cards, and the idea that Aki, specifically, had to give up her screentime for him because her VA got pregnant, which both lack any basis in reality, as you can read in the posts I linked. (One final shoutout to @mbg159 here, who compiled these incredibly comprehensive posts and can also be found here on tumblr. Huge thanks.) So if you can do me one favour, please just let the 5Ds rumours die already and read this analysis without the hope of seeing any of them confirmed. I'm so sick of these crackpot theories at this point that I can hardly find the words for it. And while we're on the topic, I also don't want to see this post used as a means to pit Aki and Crow against each other in any way—both have good reasons to be well-liked and both deserve their spot in the narrative, all right? All right.

And now, at last, let's get down to business. The last time I got on a virtual soapbox and yelled about Crow, I covered the entire WRGP, murder-duel-robot induced break included. That means that for this, final stretch, we'll be looking at everything from episode 137 onwards—the Ark Cradle arc. (A side not for dub aficionados here: Episode 136 was the last episode that got an English dub. In other words, everything I talk about here never even made it into the English version. Because 4Kids, I guess.) As we've done before, we'll take a look at what exactly Crow gets up to during the final stretch of the show (and, notably, the epilogue), then see whether any of it needed improving, and if so, how it could have been improved.

You'll find all further yelling below the readmore, and I'll leave you with the other, usual warning here, as well: This will be long. Even if the Ark Cradle arc, relative to the rest of the show, isn't, this post most certainly will be. So get some snacks and perhaps don't start reading this late at night unless you're good at knowing when to stop and reading stuff in bursts. (I'm not.)

As I concluded at the end of my last post, the WRGP ended up being a bit of a mixed bag for Crow. He's there, he duels, but at the same time, despite being positioned as an equal third of a protagonist trio, he's notably less important and arguably also weaker than Yusei and Jack. Moreover, where the plot is concerned, he sure didn't get too much to do—not to speak of the fact that the writers didn't grace him with any meaningful interactions with a certain character who'll become very relevant here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, the preamble.

With the end of the Team New World duel, the final arc of the show drops the by this point unexpected arrival of the Ark Cradle right on our heads. So, what does Crow do here, at the start, other than be shocked? Well, not much. A lot of the first episode that introduces the Ark Cradle focusses more on the imminent threat said structure poses to New Domino City, and we flash back to our protagonists mostly to ascertain that things are, in fact, going to shit. Even once that focus on the city evacuating shifts again, the episode concerns itself more with Yusei than with Crow. However, meagre as it is, we do get the first interaction between Crow and Sherry during the Ark Cradle arc in this episode.

(Uh.... at least they're technically talking to each other?)

And frankly... It's not much. Unfortunately, up until the duel where he faces her, the Ark Cradle arc continues a trend regarding interactions between Crow and Sherry that we already saw in the WRGP: They barely get to interact, and even when they do, they never have anything so much as resembling a meaningful conversation, mostly because Sherry basically never addresses Crow directly, nor seems very interested in him, while Crow is usually there only to react to what she's saying, rather than actually talk to her. While digging through my mountain of screenshots, I found that latter part to be especially interesting, because as it turns out, this is a trend not just in Crow's interactions with Sherry, specifically. Many moments that probably contribute to the nefarious "screentime" (I've explained my gripes with this term in part two) some people like to accuse Crow of hogging have him only be part of a scene so he can react to what happens in it, to the point of him sometimes feeling like a stand-in for the audience reaction the writers might be hoping for. The above is a perfect example, because as far as character writing is concerned, Crow's "interaction" with Sherry here is utterly devoid of meaning. He's just there to communicate his disbelief over the ominous prediction that Yusei is guaranteed to die if he goes to the Ark Cradle, which feels like exactly the kind of reaction the writers probably wanted from the audience. After all, it's a bold, shocking statement to make. The protagonist, dying? In a card game anime geared towards twelve year-olds? It's downright preposterous. And Crow seems to agree with that, if his dialogue is anything to go by.

This one and other scenes (mostly the kind that contain plot elements that Crow doesn't actually interact with) got me thinking, though, and after having gone through so much of the show with a fine-tooth comb now, I think I've come to a conclusion, so permit me a tangent here: I believe the choice to let Crow, specifically, be a character who often only reacts to events or interactions after the DS arc, rather than contributing much himself, is deliberate. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's the only character who is frequently put in this position—Aki, the twins, and even Bruno, especially when they're on the sidelines in the WRGP, also often only seem to be there to react or comment on things, perhaps partially to remind us viewers that they still exist, despite not being in a position where they contribute anything to the plot. With how much the twins and Aki got pushed to the side after the pre-WRGP and the Unicorn duel, respectively, and with how toned-down Bruno's entire character is until the very end, as not to spoil his tragic antagonist status too much, Crow in particular ending up as an often reactive, rather than active character stands out a bit more, though. And I think this has everything to do with his personality, because it contrasts that of Jack and Yusei. Think of it. Sure, Crow is shown several times to be just as cool and competent as the other two, but what he has that the other two crucially lack is the ability to freak out like a normal person. I'm being hyperbolic here, of course, but I do genuinely believe this, because when I think back to the show, Jack and Yusei, due to their character writing, only ever seem to be allowed to lose their cool during pretty specific circumstances, and only in very specific ways. Jack, for example, only ever gets to freak out either when a scene paints him as the butt of the joke (like during his infamous, dramatic outburst over cup ramen), or when the freakout is caused by—and expressed as—righteous (or not so righteous) fury (like when he storms off angrily after catching everyone watching his old duel with Dragan). Meanwhile, Yusei is played so straight that we barely ever see him lose his composure at all, outside of intensely dramatic, high-stakes situations (think his dark signer duels with Kiryu, his confrontation with Roman, his initial failure to accel synchro). Hell, the closest we get to ever seeing him be mildly upset about something like a normal person, as far as I can recall, is when he gets embarrased by Martha calling him out on his perceived crush on Aki. That's it.

Crow, though. Crow's allowed to do something the other two aren't: He's allowed to react to the world around him like your average guy. Jack blows through their household money for expensive coffee. Crow gets upset. Understandable. Crow gets injured right before his big debut in a turbo duelling tournament and is upset to the point of snapping at his friends over it. Understandable. Seeing Yaeger's kid cheering his dad on and knowing that this kid will cry if his dad loses makes Crow relent and throw the match. Understandable. Sherry predicts Yusei's imminent death due to hocus pocus and Crow calls bullshit. Understandable.

Do you see what I'm driving at? With how the show treats the other two Satellite boys, I'd argue none of the moments above would have worked anywhere near as well if the writers had tried to make Jack or Yusei take Crow's place in any of them. Because while Yusei and Jack, I feel, were certainly written to be the coolest characters (at least to the target audience), Crow seems like he was written to be the most relatable. He's the guy who takes on a delivery job when they need money. He's the guy who complains about his cranky landlady. And he's the guy who reacts to insane nonsense happening around him a little more realistically than his defeated-an-ancient-devil-to-absorb-its-power brother, his shouldering-the-guilt-of-a-cataclysmic-event-decades-ago other brother, their mutual previously-violent-psychic-who-was-part-of-a-cult friend, and the one-of-us-can-see-spirits-and-we-share-a-weird-kind-of-magical-bond twins. As such, it doesn't feel too out there to me to claim that in many situations, they made Crow the stand-in for the audience, because he has a less iron composure than Jack and Yusei, is readily available in many scenes by virtue of living with the other two, and happens to be the guy who has the arguably most normal backstory out of the signers. (Save, perhaps, for Rua, but I've already addressed before why the writers barely ever pulled Rua centre stage for anything. And they certainly wouldn't have pulled him centre stage for this, either.)

Now, as far as character writing is concerned, assuming I'm at least halfway correct with my hunch above, I feel that whether or not this decision is good or a shot in the foot on the writers' part depends largely on every audience member's individual perception of Crow after the DS arc. If you liked seeing this scrappy guy introduced during the DS arc, of course you would have been happy to see more of him! Even if he's only present in scenes to comment on what's going on and doesn't actually get to do anything meaningful. If you didn't like Crow that much, though, I can see how him popping up so often only to yap a bit and contribute essentially nothing could have grated on you. And as I said, I think this is where the "screentime" discussion comes in again, because yeah, Crow is very much on screen in all these little-bit-of-nothing scenes. He doesn't get to do much and his character isn't fleshed out or reinforced in any way, but he sure is there. For better or for worse.

And this—this is where I can finally get back to him and Sherry. Because in his interactions specifically with her, it is for worse, due to the fact that all the scenes that contain both of them before the Ark Cradle duel are pretty much exclusively these kinds of little-bit-of-nothing, reactive scenes. Crow doesn't get to interact with Sherry meaningfully, and he never—and I need to empathise this—, not once gets to interact with her one on one, not until the end-of-series duel both of them take part in happens. What makes Crow's lack of meaningful interactions with Sherry even worse is that his later duelling partner against her is Aki, of all people, who by contrast gets to interact with Sherry a whole bunch, most notably during her duel against Yusei. Not only that, but Sherry is also shown to actually be interested in Aki, which cannot be said for Crow. Yet, still in the same episode I was describing above, while the Ark Cradle begins its descent, it's not Aki, but Crow who is entrusted with this card by Mizoguchi/Elsworth:

(I'd like to point out that the dialogue following this moment doesn't make it clear whether Crow even knows what Sherry's connection to this card is. For all we know, this could be the first time Crow sees it, without being aware of any of the context surrounding it.)

You know, the card that's essentially a symbol of Sherry's attachment to her parents and her commitment to revenge. The card that basically her entire character revolves around. For a single piece of cardboard, this thing comes with a lot of narrative baggage attached, yet canon doesn't even take the time to assure us that Crow knows what Z-ONE means, other than it being a memento of Sherry's parents, as Mizoguchi explains. And frankly, this all feels like a rather ham-fisted attempt to get some last-minute setup for the later confrontation between Crow and Sherry in. It's like the writers desperately wanted to feel the emotional moment in the duel later to feel earned; they wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. There's only one problem: They didn't even bake the damned thing, the ingredients are just sitting around, untouched, as if staring at them long enough will magically make a cake manifest.

But, well, since I'm already talking about this, I may as well get into the actual meat of the matter, because frankly, it's not like Crow gets much else to do at the start of the arc. Yusei takes off because he at first wants to go to the Ark Cradle alone (like an idiot), leading to the signers coming after him (and telling him he's an idiot). Joining this effort and assuring Yusei that they won't let him die alongside the others is as much as Crow gets to do before the inevitable three-way duel starts.

(That said, while it doesn't accomplish anything, I've always appreciated this little moment while Yusei still tries to pull his stupid kamikaze plan—Crow would know more shortcuts in the BAD area than he does. After all, he lived there for a good while!)

After that, everyone gets up to the Ark Cradle and, as we all know, the signer group is forcibly split up by Z-ONE before deciding to go to a Yusei gear each in order to shut down Ark Cradle's negative Moment. (Top ten sentences that wouldn't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't up to their neck in 5Ds lore.) And the very first duel on the menu in this final stretch of episodes is also Crow's final duel in the entire show.

(Drumroll please.)

Here's the thing. I love this duel, actually. I get extremely hyped every time I rewatch it. BUT. But. I do not love it so blindly that I couldn't see that it has not one, but several issues. Not only that, but those issues don't just rest on Crow's shoulders, they sadly rest on the shoulders of all three participants in this duel, because frankly? Alongside the four-way Jack/Rua/Ruka/Aporia duel, this duel is one of the Ark Cradle arc's desperate attempts to tie up loose ends. Because as much as I enjoy this arc, that's exactly what it is: A race to the finish line, an attempt to tie as many loose ends as possible up in as little time as the show could get away with. To make clear why I think this, let me just list off all the things this arc resolves or at the very least tries to tie up with a neat bow:

It reintroduces Aki's psychic powers, which we were previously led to believe she'd lost. Notably, we didn't get a reason for why they disappeared and don't get a reason for why they reappear, either. It also turns them into healing powers in an attempt to establish a reason for why she later studies medicine.

It explains what happened to Sherry and what actually drives her revenge. Furthermore, it releases her from her narrative fridge-prison in order to actually let her duel Aki (yes, Aki, specifically), which is a confrontation that was subtextually implied several times previously.

It resolves the question of Bruno's identity by revealing him as an antagonist.

It finally reveals Life Stream Dragon, who was at this point teased over seventy episodes ago.

It also finally rewards Rua, who was teased to possibly become a signer during the DS arc, with an actual signer mark. (As short-lived as it may be.)

It actually explains Iliaster's real plan, which is Z-ONE's hope that the 5Ds gang can actually save the future.

Speaking of which, it actually explains who Z-ONE is and why he's a big deal. (Remember, this guy was first teased a good while ago at this point in time.)

Alongside Sherry, it dusts off several protagonists who didn't get an opportunity to duel on-screen and lets them duel one, final time. (Notably, Aki, Rua, and Ruka, who at this point haven't been seen duelling since the early WRGP or even pre-WRGP.)

You may notice that none of these bullet points contain Crow. They do, however, contain Aki and Sherry, both of whom went into this finale with several unanswered questions as to their characters. Crow, not so much. But let's just put a pin in that for now while we actually jump into the duel.

*Cracks knuckles* Aki & Crow VS Sherry. Here we go at last. Fair warning, the character writing of all three participants of this duel overlaps a fair bit here, so expect to hear a bit of a mishmash about our revenge trio.

So, how does this duel start? Firstly, with Sherry waxing poetic about why she's even opposing Team 5Ds now.

(A dramatic switch of sides that sadly doesn't hold a candle to Bruno turning out to be Antinomy. Which, funnily enough, might be why this duel is front-loaded and Bruno's comes later.)

I won't dig into this too much, but I just want to point out the one thing this moment gives us: It establishes character motivation. Sherry claims she can no longer get revenge and has thus lost her purpose. (The reason why she can no longer get revenge, if you're interested, is because Moment Express, her final lead, vanished in its entirety, as far as canon is concerned.) Thus, she took the bait when Z-ONE offered her a new purpose, and, more importantly, a reward. Now, Aki and Crow at this point in the episode don't get to hear what that reward is, but for our analysis, it's important to keep in mind: Z-ONE promised Sherry he'd alter the timeline so she would get her parents back if she helps him. And I think this is immensely important because this is not only Sherry's goal in the present, I think it's actually the core of her character from the very first moment we meet her. In classic, tragic-avenging-type character fashion, she claims to want revenge when what she's really doing is trying to numb the pain of the awareness that she'll never get her parents back. (Though I'll admit this may also be my generous read of her as a person who likes revenge-obsessed characters.) And then, Z-ONE dangles the actual thing she wanted all along before her. Of course she took the bait.

This brings us to the start of the duel itself. As we know, Sherry employs some tactics that feel quite different from what she previously did in this duel. First and foremost, she messes with the mechanics of the duel itself by using the field spell Ecole de Zone, creating an illusion that confuses Aki and Crow into duelling not her, but each other at first. Sherry, meanwhile, takes a very passive role, clearly intent on letting the two destroy each other while she sporadically activates card effects to accelerate this. What makes all this stand out as even more unusual for her is that she sets this up by lying. At the beginning of the duel, she tells Aki and Crow that there's two of her, and that each duellist will fight one copy of her on a seperate field each, but this is a misdirection to make the two signers duel each other instead of her. And, look. I don't need to tell you this is out of character for Sherry. Canon literally does that for me.

(Case in point.)

It's only after Crow and Aki catch onto the fact that something's wrong and after Aki destroys the field spell that Sherry uses her "real strategy", switching to Soul Binding Gate, which inflicts real damage every time a monster with less attack points than her life points is summoned, in order to whittle away at both other duellists' life points. This is also the point where she reveals to her opponents that she's doing all this to get her parents back. While she does that, we get a bit more back and forth in terms of cardplay, until Aki sets the field up just right so Crow can land a very high-damage hit with Black-Winged Dragon to end the duel. And that is pretty much the gist of it on the duelling side of things.

So what's going on on the narrative side of things, then? Well. Let me front-load something I've noticed on the narrative end: This duel heavily interacts with Crow's and Sherry's characterisation, but barely at all with Aki's. I'll make clear what I mean by that below. For now, let's just get an overview by going through the character moments as they occur in the duel. Why go through all of them? Because most either interact with Crow in some way, or set up a later interaction in the same duel that he's a part of, that's why. I'll get into the nitty-gritty of what this duel did well and what it didn't after that. (Mostly. You may have noticed I like tangents and rambling excessively.)

So.

The first moment belongs to Aki and Crow in equal measure, and happens just as Ecole de Zone is destroyed—which Aki accomplishes by using Crow's monster to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon, as well as prevent that synchro summon from being negated through the same monster's effect, so she can use her dragon's field wipe to get rid of Sherry's field spell. When Sherry is surprised by this, Aki and Crow explain that they memorised each other's cards as part of a strategic effort as a WRGP team.

(Friendship is, in fact, magic.)

Not only does this explanation make perfect sense, it's also an excellent little tidbit to tie Aki and Crow together as a tag-team here, as it strengthens the connection between them. The only gripe I could possibly see with this is that it feels like this didn't necessarily need to be a surprise, end-of-the-show reveal. Frankly, it could have been pretty cool to see this much earlier, to have members of Team 5Ds realise what their teammates were getting up to during the WRGP duels, for example. (Instead of so often having the other signers react just as shocked as the announcer to their teammates' plays—I'm side-eyeing the infamous "a trap from the graveyard"-moment in particular. Like, Aki, sweetie, if you memorised Crow's deck, why are you surprised that he has a trap he can activate from the graveyard? I digress.) Moreover, this could have built anticipation for this particular duel, as viewers would have been excited to see what Aki and Crow would come up with to defeat Sherry as a team. So this moment is not bad, really. Just a bit underutilised, at least to me. (The word "underutilised" might become a trend in this post.)

Every other character-driven moment from here on out is shoved into the second duel episode, 140. Speaking of which, this episode starts with Aki and Crow getting the reveal of why Sherry is helping Z-ONE, where she admits that she joined the bad guys because she wants her parents back. She even goes as far as stating that because Z-ONE showed her the future, she has no hope that it can be saved and thus at least wants her lovely past back so she can have some solace before everything goes to hell for humanity. But we already went over that above.

Next up, albeit this moment should probably be considered more of a running theme than just one self-contained thing, we have Crow's struggle with Soul Binding Gate. Remember, the effect of this field spell causes all players to take damage every time a monster with less ATK than Sherry's LP is summoned. And at this point in the duel, Aki is barely above 1000 life points, so Crow worries about triggering the field spell's effect and hurting her, which leads to him playing suboptimally because he's more concerned about his friend than about winning the duel. Notably, Aki calls him out on this.

(She has a point.)

Outside of providing an internal conflict for Crow to grapple with, this isn't much to write home about. (Side note: I do find it interesting that they introduce the fear of physically hurting someone in a duel specifically in connection to Aki here, though, given that through her psychic powers, she had to grapple with this exact issue many times in the past. I have no idea if this was intentional, though.)

Between this and the next moment, there's a nice bit of interplay between Crow and Aki again, where he activates a card to refill her life points just in time so she doesn't drop to zero through Soul Binding Gate, while Aki uses a defensive trap to protect Crow in return.

(This is just here because it's a money shot to me. The juxtaposition of their faces and their life points, showing that while Aki may have the lowest life points, she still has the coolest head in this duel, and while Sherry technically has the upper hand, she's beginning to falter because she didn't anticipate the other two to work so well together. It's chef's kiss. Mwah.)

What follows after this, is, of course, the Big Moment. Where Sherry tries to convince Crow to forfeit so she can win and have Z-ONE change the past. And this is the one I really need to dig into.

With Sherry's earlier admission that she's on Iliaster's side because she wants her parents back acting as setup, she begins her attempt to sway Crow by telling him that if he had the opportunity to change the past, he would do it, too. And while Crow initially protests, Sherry challenges this, then proceeds to show him what Z-ONE's power could accomplish, and we get a lengthy sequence where Sherry, through weird cyborg-techno-magic-shenanigans that are never explained, takes Aki and Crow to a dreamlike space where Crow sees the orphans he used to take care of being happily reunited with their parents. Sherry also ominously tells him that this is "what he desires deep in his psyche" before promising him that if he surrenders the duel, Z-ONE can give him a world where Zero Reverse never occurred and all the kids can have happy lives with their real families. (I wanted to post most of this sequence in screenshots, but while I have them, I've realised I'm only a few images short of tumblr's limit already, so forgive me because I will need those remaining image spots.) This moment proceeds to introduce some serious doubt on Crow's end. Aki, meanwhile, remains steadfast, telling him not to fall for Sherry's manipulation, which leads to her giving an almost Yusei-style speech. In a moment where Crow wavers, both because he's genuinely considering whether taking Sherry's offer might be the wiser choice, and because he doesn't want to hurt Aki by triggering Sherry's field spell effect, Aki calls out to him and tells him to snap out of it by reminding him of how Yusei reached out to her during their second duel. This speech is a bit, um. Clunky, I feel. (At least if the translation is correct. If it isn't, then that may be the issue.) See, she tells him that Yusei "saved her from the darkness of her psychic powers", that "he wasn't concerned about his own safety and risked his life to persuade her", that, because her psychic powers are now gone, she's "renewed" and that this somehow brought her to the epiphany that as long as she believes in her own potential, she can change the future. This is lifted almost verbatim from the scene, by the way. Leaving aside the fact that half of this feels like a mild to severe misrepresentation of Aki's character arc during the DS arc (don't talk about it, don't talk about it, I need to make this another post of its own, damn it), I, personally, can't exactly follow how she ended up with that final epiphany from the circumstances she listed. But lucky for us, Crow apparently gets what she's driving at, because he quickly echoes her statement and they both conclude that Crow's kids also believe in the future and fight to live, that they're not sad about their lives the way they are right now, even though they don't have parents. Thus, Crow catches himself, echoing Aki's sentiment and telling Sherry that he, too, believes in the future. And through the power of Friendship and Believing in the Future, he manages to use Aki's cards to land the final hit, nicely mirroring how she used his to destroy Ecole de Zone.

...Phew. Okay, look. First off, that above, large section is basically several character beats stacked on top of one another. On Sherry's end, we have the intriguing fact that she's specifically trying to manipulate Crow, not Aki. In fact, she doesn't so much as try to sway Aki, as though she knows it's no use. Then, on Aki's end, we've got her pulling a real Yusei, staying level-headed almost the entire duel and reaching out to make sure Crow stays on track. This moment also ties back to her own conflict with her powers again. (Which, unfortunately, I will talk about, and yes, I'll be chewing drywall the entire time I do it.) Finally, on Crow's end, we've got a nice, proper moment where he doubts himself and, by his own admission, nearly makes a terrible mistake because he wants nothing more than for the kids he used to take care of to have good lives.

Now, before I go over what worked about this moment and what didn't, let me just chew through the rest of the actual duel itself, too, then circle back too highlight some things. In other words, time for me to chew some drywall.

*Sigh*

At the very end of the duel, there are two more character moments that are noteworthy.

First, right before the final hit, we get Sherry desperately defending herself against Aki and Crow's newly strengthened belief that the future can, in fact, still be saved, which she does by (rather heartbreakingly) asking what's so wrong about wanting her parents back, about wanting their love and warmth back. It's at this point that Crow's allowed to get back at Sherry by challenging her beliefs, telling her that people "work hard to live because they only get one chance at life", and that there's no point in trying to go back to do things differently, that the only way to keep going is to believe in the future, regardless of whatever painful and sad events one has had to live through. I'd say this sentiment certainly fits Crow, character-wise, especially given his rough Satellite background. It does partially fall flat because it feels a bit weird for him, specifically, to now be acting like he knows Sherry inside and out, much like she did with him earlier, but again, this is simply a matter of setup and I'll try not to belabour that point again. The horse is already dead, no sense in beating it. It's after this speech and the final attack that Sherry finally realises her error.

Buuut this leads us right into the next character moment. Because as the duel ends, Sould Binding Gate physically falls apart, pelting all three of our duel participants in debris and threatening to crush them under it. While everyone does briefly fall over (and Sherry gets a moment to realise that her father wanted her to live strong, not accept seemingly inevitable doom and die weak), they soon realise they were not, in fact, buried under rubble, though. Because guess what! Black Rose Dragon to the rescue. Black Rose Dragon, who can suddenly physically affect her surroundings again. You know, that thing we were led to believe Aki could no longer make her monsters do because she lost her powers completely out of nowhere. And there's more! Because not only does Black Rose Dragon take care of the debris for the trio, as she disappears, she also heals all three of them, and in response, Crow gets a line that I unfortunately cannot for the life of me discuss without bias because it kills me every time.

(Crow. Crow, please. You're killing me. I beg you.)

This line out of Crow's mouth feels extremely weird to me, and in the process of typing up this post, I've been trying to find the reason why. Here's the conclusion I've come to: Firstly, it feels a bit out of place from him, somehow. A line hypothesising about what psychic powers can or can't do—this is something I would have expected out of Aki's mouth, but not out of Crow's. I believe what makes it feel so out of place, though, isn't necessarily that it seems a bit odd for him, specifically, to theorise about this, but that when I hear it, I don't feel like the character is saying it. Instead, in this moment, moreso than in some others that suffer from the same issue, I hear not Crow, but the writers speaking. I hear them telling me "look, we know we made it seem like Aki's powers are super gone and like they were super, irredeemably bad, and like she and you should be happy that they're gone, but here, see, this is what they're really like. Don't you think we came up with something clever here, to set her becoming a doctor later up nicely? No, this isn't because we needed to backpedal on our decision to make her lose them and be happy about it at the last second, why do you ask?". And yes, I concede this might just be me. (So feel free to disregard this in terms of analysis, I just have some weird kind of vendetta against this line.) But still, even without my personal issues hampering me, this line of dialogue out of Crow's mouth is just plain odd. After all, how would he know what "real" psychic powers are? Since when is he the expert, especially considering we've never so much as seen him comment on Aki's powers before? (And for the record, this line would have seemed just as weird had any other character other than Aki said it imo. It just has that unmistakable "writers trying to justify something at the last second"-tang to me.)

And do not. Do Not get me started on the fact that the writers, despite going to such great pains to paint Aki's psychic powers as an exclusively negative thing especially during the WRGP arc, decide to reintroduce them here, suddenly as a good thing that can also heal people, which directly contradicts every choice they've made when it came to Aki's relationship to her powers ever since the Team Catastrophe duel. While crucially also lacking the one thing this entire duel is practically begging for: Fucking. Setup. But at this point, the handling of Aki's powers, specifically, really needs its own post, so I'll hold off on any further comments here and come back to that another time. I feel like I'm beginning to talk in circles, anyhow. Setup. Setup, setup, setup. This duel wishes it had it, because then the ideas presented here—which, in a vacuum, are compelling—might have worked smoothly.

But, with that. We have finally made it through the duel itself. Sherry, at the very end, gets her change of heart and at last cements herself as a good guy, and that concludes the first duel in the finale, and also both Aki and Crow's last duel in the entire show.

And good lord, was this duel all over the place. Though I think my meandering scene-by-scene breakdown of it showed as much. Now, onto the proper evaluation of what worked and what didn't here. First, let's get the good these two episodes do out of the way, shall we. (Because there is a lot of Bad I need to yell about, unfortunately.)

By virtue of being one of the final duels, this is Aki and Crow's last chance to shine, and shine, they do. Both in the duelling department and in the character department. Aki makes two major plays that upend Sherry's strategy and Crow's perfectly in sync with her, showing that the two truly are teammates, and paying off all the character moments they had specifically in the Team Unicorn to Team Catastrophe section of the WRGP. Their friendship and cooperation is believable and entertaining to watch. Then on the character side, Aki's growth is (somewhat) paid off—where she used to be a character that doubted herself and was afraid of hurting people, she is now the one who can keep a level head and help others fight their self-doubt. Meanwhile, Crow gets to show off his unfailing dedication to community and family again, both by watching out for Aki and by selflessly desiring not for himself to have a better life, but for the kids he used to take care of. And Sherry, who was previously removed from the narrative in such an unsatisfactory way, finally gets to duel again, gets to explain why she actually does what she does, and gets to join the heroes at the end, permanently joining the ranks of the good guys instead of the villains. Happy endings all around.

Ehem. And this is where I'm gonna be less nice about this duel. Because the problem is, due to the specific constellation of characters involved in this duel and how they previously interacted in the show, there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't work nearly as well on a second watch as a first watch would like to make you believe.

First, a broader issue on the card game end of things: The way this duel feels, it's very much more Aki's duel than Crow's, which is also kind of confirmed in the card plays being made. Though it's Crow who's first shown to catch onto the fact that a third party is activating additional card effects out of nowhere, it's Aki who fully solves the mystery, uses Crow's monster to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon, then activates her dragon's effect to get rid of the illusion for good. And while Crow gets to land the final hit, it's Aki's setup and her trap, Synchro Stream, that make it possible for him to win for both of them. And yet. On the dialogue- and character-interaction side of things, this duel is made out to be much more Crow's than Aki's. Because, perhaps surprisingly to some, Aki doesn't waver one bit in this duel. She's got her head in the game the entire time. She's here to do business—that business being defeating Sherry—and by god, does she do it. Moreover, unlike Crow, she has much, much better setup to be duelling Sherry than he does. And this comes right back around to the main thing this duel suffers from, which I've already harped on about: Crow and Sherry, up until this point, have not interacted in a way that would make the connection between them seem in any way significant. Unfortunately for this duel, though, Aki and Sherry have.

From the first episode where we're introduced to Sherry, she's shown to be interested in who Aki is and what she can do. During the duel between her and Yusei, she comments on Aki's powers. Later, when Aki is getting her turbo duelling license, Sherry watches on with interest. At some point while Aki's training, Sherry drops by to speak with her and Yusei again. My point here being, of course, that Aki, unlike Crow, got several scenes where she interacted with Sherry or had Sherry meaningfully take note of her existence before this point. Yet, whatever dynamic the writers may or may not have been aiming for between these two is, at best, underutilised in the final duel, if not completely ignored, at worst. Instead, the writers shift their focus to Crow and try to make us believe that Sherry, a character who has barely acknowledged his existence thus far, would know him well enough to consider him the better target for her attempt at manipulation. (And don't get me started on how the hell Z-ONE's weird robot magic is supposed to expose what Crow "desires deep in his psyche". That is simply a chasm the show expects us to suspend our disbelief over.) And look. The thing is, I don't think the Big Moment where Sherry tries to convince Crow to forfeit is terrible in isolation. Like, they could have made this work, had they given these two setup, had they given us, the audience, reason to believe Crow could be swayed like this (which they, notably, also didn't), and had they given us the impression that Sherry knows Crow well enough to pull something like this. What hurts the scene immensely, however, is that it's preceded by everything before, starting from the WRGP, where there is no setup between these two, no reason to believe Crow could be convinced to forfeit a duel against a major antagonist, and no meaningful interactions to support the belief that Sherry knows who Crow really is at all.

What also stands out to me is that Crow really doesn't feel like the best character to parallel Sherry, here, either. Parallel in the sense that she tries to get to him by expressing a desire she believes they both feel—getting a certain, nicer version of the past they never had back. Because the thing is, Sherry and Crow hardly feel like they have very much in common, and there's certainly no previous hints to make anyone believe they would have this in common. (So for all we know, Sherry could have just been taking a shot in the dark by trying to convince Crow.) You know who could have made for an excellent character to mirror Sherry, though? Yeah. The third person in the room during this scene. Aki.

See, here's the thing about these three as characters, in relation to what this scene tries to accomplish (getting a protagonist to waver by having the antagonist appeal to certain emotional similarities between them): While Crow may perhaps be more relatable to the audience, he isn't all that relatable to Sherry. He comes from dirt poor origins, she from rich ones. He doesn't even remember his parents, she defines herself by the memory of hers. She's a lone wolf, he's incredibly community-focussed. The only parallel you could have drawn between these two, up until this duel, is knowing what it feels like to want revenge. (Sherry with her parents, Crow with his kids back in the DS arc.) But guess what, unfortunately, Aki knows that too, what with her past as the Black Rose Witch and wanting to make people pay for ostracising her. And to make matters worse, she has a lot of other things going for her that parallel Sherry much, much better, too. They both come from well-off families, both have had major, traumatising events in their lives revolve around their parents, both left their initial family structure by way of drastic changes in their life, both are intimately familiar with the desire for vengeance, and, most damningly, Aki knows what it's like to stand on the side of the bad guys—like Sherry is doing in that very scene—because you feel like it's the only place that gives you hope/meaning. Not to speak of the fact that Aki, given her turbulent past with her psychic powers, would probably know exactly what it feels like to want a past you never had back. There would have been so much to work with there, and it makes whatever they were gunning for with Crow look... lacklustre, to put it mildly, by comparison.

The worst part is, I think, that the blame lies neither with the characters nor with the scene concept here. Solely with the execution. Because I truly think they could have made this work. They could have made the entire duel work, big character moments and all. But the keyword is and always has been setup. Setup, which the writers, at least in part, strangely gave to Aki, but not to Crow, which is what hurts particularly his portion of this duel, and, arguably, his character writing in general. Because—and this may be a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but permit me this—while Crow wanting a better future for the kids he used to take care of over a better future for himself feels perfectly on brand, the idea of him forfeiting a duel against a major antagonist, while the threat of the entire city being destroyed is hanging above his head... doesn't. Like, yes, I've talked about the fact that Crow is the only character in 5Ds who ever actually loses duels on purpose. What you may remember, though, is that both occasions we've seen him do this—against Lyndon and Yaeger, respectively—were much lower-stakes duels than this. Not to speak of the fact that it also feels a little odd that Crow, of all people, would buy into the idea that Z-ONE's genuinely powerful enough to just give those kids their parents back, given how liberally he called bullshit on pretty much any and all supernatural mumbo-jumbo claiming that fate is inevitable, or that the gods have this-and-that power, or what have you the entire show. (Also, doesn't he strike you as the guy who'd wonder why Z-ONE's not using his fancy powers for better things, if the extent of them is so great? Or is that just me?) It's a moment of character doubt that tries to sell itself as believable, even though we've never been given any hints that this kind of temptation, specifically, could work on Crow.

Ultimately, Crow & Aki VS Sherry feels like a very hot-and-cold duel. On the cardplay side, the teamwork between Aki and Crow is well done, yet the duel does feel like it skews more towards Aki than towards Crow. Sherry, meanwhile, plays tricky and mean like a proper antagonist, but does so at the expense of sacrificing all her previous tactics and monsters (and, arguably, some of her character, though this is probably on purpose, given her transformation into an antagonist). Then, on the character side, we've got Aki in an interestingly Yusei-ish role, which, while it feels like a good way to show how she's matured and learned, wastes her character dynamic with Sherry. On the other side, Crow and Sherry interact in several personal ways throughout the duel that leave you wondering when exactly these two got to know each other so well, because the show certainly didn't give us a visible progression of their dynamic. The only dynamic that leaves nothing to be desired is that between Aki and Crow (stilted speeches aside), because it excellently showcases their friendship and teamwork. Very weird decisions made in the writing here all around.

We'll get into the nitty-gritty of what changes I would have suggested to improve this duel below, but first: What happens after this duel? Well, two more Yusei gear duels, Aporia briefly standing up to Z-ONE, and then, the final, big clash between Yusei and Z-ONE.

Given that Crow isn't even present for two of these duels and then barely gets more to do than stand on the side and react during the final two, I will dare to skip all that, though. Because really, Crow's occasional comments and the play-by-play he sometimes joins the others in giving when spectating a duel don't exactly contribute anything to his character. They're just there so he gets something to do and doesn't fade into the background entirely when a duel that doesn't involve him is going on. This includes the moment where he, much like the other signers, gets to give Yusei Black-Winged Dragon for the final duel, as well as the later moment when Yusei uses it, chanting in tandem with Crow as BWD arrives. And other than that and the tear-jerking moment when he later reacts to Yusei returning despite all odds, he really doesn't get any noteworthy scenes.

In other words, we are skipping straight to the end. So, where do we find Crow there?

(Oh, y i k e s.)

There's a popular post circulating around this site that goes something like "the worst thing you can do to a character is make them a cop during a timeskip". And, look. I don't think I need to tell anyone that becoming a sector security officer is an extremely jarring character choice for Crow. Crow, of all people! The guy with the face full of markers, who used to be part of a duel gang, who was introduced in the show gleefully stealing from security Robin Hood-style, and who has every reason to despise law enforcement! (Leaving aside the obvious logistical issue that Crow in no country in the world could have completed his police training in the few months between the Ark Cradle debacle and this scene. But given that 5Ds generously brushes realistic concerns like this one aside on multiple occasions, this is, funnily enough, the thing I'm also more willing to overlook here. The character dissonance, however, less so.)

I'll try to be generous and guess that the writers were aiming to convey a message somewhere along the lines of "even someone who's done bad things in the past can become an example for others" or something like it. The problem is just that Crow didn't need any such message because he was already the good guy while he was still actively stealing from security. He was the lovable rogue to a T, damn it! But this, in particular, is a surface scratch hinting at a bigger issue, I think—namely, the issue of the show's complete pivot when it came to the depiction of law enforcement after the DS arc. Because when we think back to that part of 5Ds, good security officers were the exception, rather than the rule. And this is exactly what makes Crow of all characters becoming one even weirder. He would know, would remember how security used to treat him, his kids, his friends, his brothers. And if the idea here was that, well, he's trying to improve sector security by joining it and changing it from the inside, so to speak, then guess what was missing again: Our good, old friend setup. I'm starting to feel like a broken record. So yeah, I don't think a ton of people, whether they like or hate Crow, would disagree that this is a supremely weird position to put his character in.

As we find out through 5Ds' epilogue, however, his sector security job isn't quite what Crow actually wants, though. (And thank god, because that would have been such a bizarre position to leave him in.) Instead, we're shown fairly quickly that several duelling leagues are apparently trying to scout Crow out, and that he's tempted to accept one of the offers and go into pro duelling. This is at first shown in a short scene where something like a league scout follows Crow, then later, when the whole group—sans Jack, at first—is getting together and everyone starts discussing their futures. Aside from complaining a bit about his job and upsetting Aki without meaning to, Crow doesn't get much to do here, either. For what it's worth, at least him feeling tempted to ditch the security job feels more in line with the original Crow we got than with whatever strange twist the writers were going for after this shorter timeskip.

What follows is the very last duel of the show, the long-awaited Yusei VS Jack rematch, of course. And while he doesn't get to participate in this one, Crow, much like Aki and the twins, spectates the duel and ends up having an epiphany about what he wants to do. This epiphany ends up being that he does want to turn to pro duelling, and as a reasoning, canon provides us with this:

(As is known, intense card games are the only way to make children smile.)

Personally, I wouldn't say this is a terrible or out of character reason for Crow to decide to go pro. But there's more to that I'd like to discuss. First, though, let's take a quick look at where we find Crow after the second, bigger timeskip, which is inserted right in the middle of Yusei and Jack's final duel.

(Okay, yeah, I'm a sucker for the bullet earrings.)

The quick scene Crow gets here makes it unmistakably clear that he did go into pro duelling, just like he decided during the duel in the past, and not only that, he went into tag-team duelling and apparently managed to reach world champion status with his teammates. The above scene, however, is the exact same moment he decides to leave said team, so he can instead go solo and (presumably) try to beat Jack.

Now, we can discuss this in a bit more detail. Personally, I'm extremely in two minds about Crow being one of three characters, total, who ends up becoming a pro duellist after canon. Jack seems obvious, especially given the pivot back to his more Fortune Cup-esque persona the writers did around the Red Nova episodes. Rua also makes sense, given that Jack was his idol from the start. Crow, though, feels a little more complicated. The thing is, like so many things surrounding Crow in the Ark Cradle arc, the writers gave us no indication pro duelling is something he's really passionate about before this point. Worse, they didn't even really tell us what reason he saw to participate in the WRGP with his brothers beyond "could be fun". So there isn't really a connection here. The same thing goes for the fact that he specifically talks about teaching his teammates above, which is also something he wasn't associated with all that much previously. Though this one is admittedly less egregious, because at least Crow was seen briefly coaching Aki as she prepared to take his spot during the Unicorn duel. Still, while I wouldn't go as far as saying it's an out of character choice for Crow to go pro, it still feels a little odd that he went down the same route as Jack. Personally speaking, it feels like the writers didn't quite know what to do with him. Because as I said, Jack is obvious and Rua also makes sense, and I'd say the same goes for Yusei. Then there's Ruka, who is treated about as in-depth in the epilogue as she was throughout canon, and Aki, whose "setup" for her timeskip self was done extremely hasty and last-minute, but at least it was there. Between all of them, Crow occupies a weird spot where it doesn't so much feel like he ended up on the wrong trajectory for his life, as it simply feels like there were choices the writers could have made that would have fit him much better. What with his theme of legacy and community, trying to make Pearson's dream of a place where disenfranchised children can learn good life skills a reality would have been a good fit, for example. Especially considering his close ties to the Satellite orphans he used to take care of, which, funnily enough, are reinforced one more time as canon flips back to present day and Crow is seen bidding his kids goodbye.

("Come back"? When, precisely? And what part about "literally saved the world twice" doesn't qualify you as a hero to a bunch of kids ten times over already?)

Considering canon seems hellbent on making sure we know the signers went their separate ways and that they aren't anywhere near each other by the very end of the show, though, my guess is that Crow had to end up doing something like pro duelling, in order to get him out of New Domino City and away from the friend group whose shenanigans we were so accustomed to following by that point. Of course, there's also the argument to be made that Crow staying in NDC and getting a more community-focussed ending would have also been significantly less cool than making him a kickass pro duellist with bullet earrings, which circles back to how the writing interacts with its target audience.

The only thing that follows after this, then, is the big goodbye, and with that, ladies, gentlemen, and other lovely 5ds nerds, we have successfully followed bird boy's path throughout the entire show. And what a ride it was. (I did not think this analysis would end up stretching over a whole four posts.) Time for some closing thoughts before I do my thing and suggest some rewrites that could have made all this feel more coherent one more time.

Crow's character arc, if it can even be called that, feels about as hot and cold as his and Aki's final duel with Sherry over the course of the show. His introduction is fast-paced, he's made to be likable quickly, and his integration into the main protagonist group is as quick as everything else about his narrative. Between the way he shows up out of nowhere, briefly disappears without fanfare, and is then reintroduced with even more importance before slipping into the signer group like he's always been there, it truly feels like his entire inclusion in the narrative was a last-minute decision by the writers to include that one, additional character concept Kazuki Takahashi had originally created after all. If there was one way to describe his whole arc, it would be that it's a rush. At the start, the writers are in a hurry to make him likable, then they're in a hurry to make him a signer, then they're in a hurry to give us a whole backstory for him, then they're in a hurry to give him a believable character dynamic with Aki, and at the end, they're in a hurry to pay off a character dynamic with Sherry they didn't properly set up with him. You may notice that leaves significant gaps, and the lack of balance between those gaps and the rushes surrounding them, I believe, are part of why he's such a polarising character.

Crow is integrated so thoroughly into the signer group at the end of the DS arc that, much like Aki and the twins, he gets stuck in the position of being a character that cannot simply be removed from the narrative for a longer amount of time. And this, I think, ends up biting him in the ass, because in the gaps where the writers don't rush to do something big with him, it often feels like they don't quite know what to do with him at all. So, he instead gets relegated to small side tasks, like inane duels that don't affect the plot, or becomes the person who reacts to unfolding situations in whatever manner wouldn't fit Yusei or Jack. He feels like he's the third portion of the protagonist trifecta only in theory—the status of an equal third player seems to be what the writers had in mind, yet, looking at the show, it feels like an honorary title, at best, because the writing choices made for him don't convey anywhere near the same amount of thought and effort as those of Yusei and Jack. Crow's backstory doesn't intersect significantly with that of his brothers, his dragon is introduced way too late and never given an upgrade, he never gets to clash with Iliaster until the Team New World duel, and throughout the entire WRGP and Ark Cradle arc, there isn't a single duelling victory that's solely his. People who prefer other characters over Crow like to harp on about how much screentime he gets; I argue that this is exactly what showcases how poorly the writers took care of him in many instances. For as much as Crow is plastered onto the screen and given the aesthetics of an equal player in a protagonist trio, his many appearances are as much of a curse as they are a gift, because too many of them aren't spent setting up anything meaningful or developing his character in any way. Speaking of character development: There is none. Crow exits the show pretty much exactly the same as he entered it, brief security stint aside. And, look, this need not necesarily be a bad thing. Static characters exist and they have their place in stories. It's just that in Crow's case, his utter lack of development feels like another damning indicator of the writers' cluelessness when it came to utilising him, given his weird, sort-of-elevated-protagonist. Aki, who is so often weighed against him, gets significantly more development than he does. And though Jack also ends up in almost the same place at the end of the show as he was at the start, at least he had a dip in the middle where his character was somewhat malleable and not set in stone. Crow didn't.

What we end up with, then, is a character whose concept is perfectly fine on paper, but whose execution proceeded to turn him into the one and only favourite for some, and the embodiment of piss poor writing for others. Having now looked at pretty much his entire run in the show with a bloody microscope, I end up somewhere in the middle, myself. He's a good character and much of his writing is confusing at best, utter dogshit at worst. As for what decisions in the writing room led to him turning out like this, I'd still pay good money to know them. For what it's worth, I've tried my very best to make an educated guess as to all of them.

And now, for the final time, allow me to do my very best to suggest how the issues of the Ark Cradle arc could have been addressed in order to make Crow's part in it less messy.

In previous posts, I've split up my rewrite suggestions depending on one circumstance: Whether or not Crow stays a signer. However, this time, I will deliberately forgo this, for one, very simple reason—Crow's status as a signer doesn't matter one bit for the Ark Cradle arc. Regardless of whether he has a mark or not, his duel with Sherry remains unaffected, and so does his later timeskip-self. Thus, pick your favourite, both versions work for the Ark Cradle.

Now. Onto the elephant vengeful Frenchwoman in the room. Let me repeat my favourite word in this post one more time. What the dynamic between Crow and Sherry needed, more than anything else, in order to satisfyingly be paid off during their Ark Cradle duel, was setup. There was so much time Crow spent on screen doing fuck all, and some of that time could have so easily been allocated to him interacting with Sherry in a meaningful manner. (I'm side-eyeing especially his pre-WRGP duels. Those did nothing to add to his character and could have easily been replaced with episodes where he actually gets to talk to Sherry one on one.) And if not that, then the writers could at least have done themselves the favour of letting Aki talk to Crow about Sherry, which would have arguably set up their three-way clash even better. Moreover, show us how the hell these two characters parallel each other and how they differ, damn it! The main issue with the big moment Sherry and Crow had in the duel was that Crow's faltering and his sudden, deep understanding of Sherry came completely out of nowhere. So what if they had shown some of that earlier, then? What if they had shown where the lmits of Crow's resolve lie, what could get him to doubt himself? What if they had drawn the parallel of Sherry and Crow both supposedly being characters that sometimes wistfully think about a past they never had earlier? It would have done so much to make that duel hit exactly the way it was probably meant to. As a bonus, if we had gotten Aki and Crow talking about Sherry, too, the scene of talking Sherry out of helping Z-ONE could have been a team effort, just like their card playing was. Both of them would have reasons to know different aspects of Sherry each, and both could have brought up good arguments. And this is really all this duel woild have needed to be better on the story end, I think: A solid, narrative foundation to make it obvious to us why it has to be these three characters duelling, why it could have only been this setup, why it made the most sense to let these three bounce off each other. Crow only needs that extra step to slot in better with the girls here.

As for the epilogue, I don't think anyone will be surprised to read that I would have never made Crow a cop, not even temporarily. The depiction of law enforcement 5Ds gives us during the DS arc is too damning for that. However, given the way the ending is structured, he does need some sort of occupation that feels like it's not quite the right thing so he can later change his mind about it, of course. Here, though, is where I, purely in service of Crow's character, would suggest a change that probably doesn't work with the ending's final aim of separating the 5Ds gang by hundreds of kilometres each. I would let Crow go into pro duelling first, then let him figure out that's not what he actually wanted. Crow, to me, is a character who is so intrinsically tied to community and family that turning him into a solitary pro duellist—even if he claims to do it to make the kids back home smile—feels off to me. Thus, from a character standpoint, I would let him pivot back to wanting to take care of those kids. Either through what I suggested above, letting him carry on Pearson's dream, or, which also feels fitting to me, by letting him help out Martha again and setting him up as the guy who'll take over when she can no longer run the orphanage. It's not the cool, glamorous end the show gave him, but it's what feels more like the family-focussed guy we first met in the show. It doesn't gel with the idea of permanently separating him from the other signers, though, unfortunately. To do something like that while keeping his community theme, one would probably have to send him away to shack up with Brave or something, to help orphans in other countries. But this, I think, nicely showcases the dissonance between what Crow's character writing would suggest he might do at the end, and what the show demanded he needed to do so he'd no longer be close to the others. Because my focus, as always, is only on character here. And Crow, with his personality and his writing, feels like the character who chafes the most against the idea of striking out solo, abandoning his ties to the community he was so invested in previously. To that extent, the above suggestion is the best I can provide with what we were canonically given. If we wanted to keep the canon ending he gets and actually make it make sense why he suddenly wants to be a lone wolf pro, the only thing I could suggest would be more setup for that. (Ah, there it is again. One final time.) Show Crow having some actual competitive drive, show him enjoying the whole tournament thing more than he thought he would during the WRGP. Just give us something that shows why he would want to go down this path, and why some other things that were previously important to him might not be a priority anymore. It all comes back to setup.

*Deep breath*

So, here we are, then, and this is it. This is all I could make of Crow's character writing in the entire show. To everyone who read this post in its entirety, a heartfelt thank you. To everyone who read the whole series of posts in its entirety, I'm so glad you're as insane about this show as I am, it makes me feel incredibly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed the ride, more meta posts will come eventually, just about different topics. In the meantime, see ya.

#yugioh 5ds #crow hogan #ygo 5ds #5ds #sherry leblanc #yugioh meta #IT IS DONE #HOLY SHIT IT IS DONE #I can't believe I've reached the point of my life where I do gratuitous media analysis for fun #this was such a ride god damn #but I completed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #I'm sticking a gold star on my forehead as a reward #anyway hope you enjoy this last part #feel free to yell at me (enthusiastically) about it #orchid rambles

[mokeonn]

if you dont mind sharing, what are some of your favorite ska songs/bands?

I will admit I am not a huge band person I tend to be more of a "pick whatever random songs sound good" person, so I can't recommend any good bands. I also listen to Ska Punk, which is a subgenre of Ska... and Punk. So I am not a good authority on Ska songs to listen to I am just someone who is banned from being passed the aux cord...

But some of my favorite songs include:

No Children - Ska (cover)

Quinto Patio Ska

Everything Went Numb

S F D D

And songs by Reel Big Fish tbh. I know I just said I don't listen to specific bands but Reel Big Fish has some pretty good songs like...

Sell Out

And their Take on Me cover

Here's my disclaimer, though: I am not into music subcultures I just listen to whatever sounds good (and jazzy punk with horns sounds good), so I could be giving absolutely awful music recommendations that anyone who is especially into Ska (and more specifically Ska Punk) might find egregious. I personally just grab whatever song sounds good and add them to my forever long playlist.

Also the Jabberjaw (Running Underwater) song from Pain used for the Cartoon Network Boomerang Groovies is probably the reason I enjoy Ska punk so much, and it has been in my playlist for years now:

If nothing else in this list interests you, I require everyone by law to listen to Jabberjaw Running Under Water by pain and watch the Cartoon Network Boomerang Groovie video of it. I used to watch Boomerang a million times, and this was probably the only Groovie I really enjoyed watching and didn't go to the bathroom during.

#im very embarassed about being open with my music tastes because I feel like a poser 100% of the time #but im not really claiming to be a part of any music subcultures im moreso just someone who likes what I like #and is banned from using bluetooth or the aux in the car #so im owning it #here's some songs I listen to that are ska (specifically ska punk) #and if someone who is more knowledgeable on the topic and is a part of the subculture wants to add on please do #and if you trash on me for my music tastes that is fair #half of my songs on my playlist are indie songs of debatable quality ya know?? so im not the best music authority #i like my punk songs with horns ya know?? #i need some brass in there #trust me my number 1 song on spotify was Lucky Ducks from the Bobs Burgers movie #and my number 2 song was the instrumental version of Lucky Ducks from the Bobs Burgers movie #and no other bobs burgers songs #so I am NOT the person to ask for music recommendations #I once annoyed my family by adding europop to the roadtrip playlist #I have the entire Cats broadway cast recording on CD and my 3 favorite songs on my main playlist #am I talking myself down because I am not confident in myself and scared of judgement from others for my music choices? yes #but also I am speaking from experience that no one lets me touch the aux cord for a REASON

[scxrletwitches]

“Now is the portion where I bring it down in order to bring it back up, here we go. That kid that shot up the University of Santa Barbara a couple of years ago -- I know, it’s hard to keep them straight, America, but this one was different, because this kid wrote a whole manifesto about how women don’t pay attention to him and don’t sleep with him and this is what they deserve. That guy that shot up that Asian strip mall in Atlanta, he had a whole interview about how women don’t sleep with him and he’s alone and this is what they deserve. So this next part, I’m going to be as clear as possible, because this is a Netflix special, and what I say next will be translated into hundreds of languages, and I want to be succint and I want to be loud and I want to be clear, so here we go. Gentlemen, if you are not having sex, and we are not talking a dry spell, we’re not talking you’re a little shy, we’re not talking “Your Aunt Sheila did a number on me, I gotta take a knee”. We’re not talking you swiped right, she had a tail, you didn’t know it till the Awesome Blossom came. We are talking, if you don’t have sex and the narrative of your life is that you are not having sex because women are bitches, women are whores, you’re a nice guy and you deserve better -- that is nature’s way of saying you should not be having sex for you failed to adapt and evolve and there should be no more of your kind. If you can’t figure it out. And I understand, women cheer for that, most men do. Some men are reserved, I get that. I’m a girl, I’m not one of you. And you don’t know, “I don’t want to cheer for that. Bros before hos, I’m leaving behind my guys. I can’t do that.” Yes, leave them! Leave the diseased portion of your herd that is broken! They’re giving you a bad name. We believe you are good. Come with us for snacks and sex and good looking babies. And gentlemen, if it still makes you uncomfortable, I get it. It might make you more comfortable to note that I stole that idea from a man... named Charles Darwin. You can Wikipedia it, okay? It’s just evolution and adapting.”

        -- Iliza Shlesinger: Hot Forever 2022 Netflix Special

#Iliza Shlesinger #iliza shlesinger hot forever #comedy #netflix comedy #netflix #feminism #humor #myedit #my edit

[majinmontague]

Strangers have a Snack - Berlin Seestraße - Streelight Manifesto #286

#original photographer #original photographers #original photography on tumblr #photographers on tumblr #lensblr #vintage #streetphotography #night city #cityscape #35mm color film #noise #cinematography #neo noir #street light #berlin #zeitgeist #people

[peanutbutterex]

9 People You Would Like To Know Better

Thanks so much for the tag @snake-snack-stede !!!

3 ships:

Since i did my most significant of all time last time lets do a few other ones

1. Torklenz (Peter Tork/Micky Dolenz, The Monkees): mmm where do i begin? I started shipping them because I had crushes on both of them but they have such a good dynamic and are so sweet together they will always have a place in my heart

2. MakoAmi (Makoto Kino/Ami Mizuno, Sailor Moon): kind of nerd/jock but in the sweetest way. Also tell me this scene does not look gay af

Ami really said to Makoto “I don’t care if guys don’t want to dance with you, I want to dance with you” and she was so real for that

3. Broach (Nathaniel Buttons/Roach, Our Flag Means Death): my rarepair of all rarepairs. I have a manifesto in my drafts just waited to be posted. What started as a crackship in an ofmd discord server (which is now pretty much dead sadly), it became a ship i am genuinely invested in and have been making art for, although it has not been posted. If you want me to post the manifesto or just have me go off on how much i love them in dms let me know

First Ship:

As I said in my last tag, it has to be Zutara. I started shipping it I am pretty sure before i got into my wild monkees obsession when I was 13, which brought about me shipping Torklenz

Last Song:

“Get What You Pay For” by Peter Tork. Stranger Things Have Happened is my comfort album and it helped me go to sleep last night, and so I woke up to it this morning.

Here is the song. Nowhere near my favorite on the album but still pretty good

Currently Reading:

uhhh i was reading a book about cat magick but i am really *really* bad at reading books because i don’t have the attention span to finish them

Last Film:

Barbie, I was watching with my mom but we didn’t get to finish

Currently Craving:

other than Stede Bonnet being my boss so that I could actually work in a supportive environment? More sleep, I always need more sleep.

Tagging: @nandorisms @wearfinethingsalltoowell @medievill @jaskierx @cherry-harrison @catbells-and-summerlinens @xoxoemynn @whimprone @virgo-79 and anyone else who wants to do it!! No pressure!!

#tag game #ofmd #sailor moon #the monkees

[neongreenllama]

You said Antifa Wolfstarbucks and who am I to disagre????? Here are some random unorganised thoughts, just pure word vomit straight from my brain into your inbox!! you're welcome/I'm sorry!!

So Sirius and James probably go to protests all the time, they're such a good team (thinking of that drabble you wrote for the trick or treat ask a while ago <3). But one time they get separated at a protest and Sirius randomly bumps into this guy who's just dancing to Bella Ciao, eyes closed, like the world around him doesn't exist. As established, Sirius is gone for him, listens to Cordula Grün on repeat, we know the drill. Sirius and James eventually find each other again and Sirius can't shut up about the guy he just saw, and how perfect and hot he is. I think Sirius and James are already in a relationship at that point, but they're open and love telling each other about their crushes and other partners/dates. Maybe they're even relationship anarchists? 🖤

So anyways a week or so later they're at a soli party and Sirius is busy playing table football against Peter and James is just out there being a social butterfly, socializing with everyone at the party becoming bffs with anyone who doesn't run away quickly enough, and then he sees Remus, sitting in a corner, reading Karl Marx because he's not like other commies, he actually reads Marx and he needs everyone to know it, you know? James casually walks over to Remus and starts a conversation about Marx, and at first Remus takes one look at James and sighs, thinking he's just another rich guy who doesn't get it but the longer they talk the more he realizes James is actually kind of smart and knows what he's talking about? AND he's cute?? But then James's boyfriend comes over and gives off the WEIRDEST vibes ever, poking James in the ribs, raising his eyebrows and telepathically communicating something to James that Remus doesn't understand at all. James's boyfriend may be the hottest person Remus has ever seen but he's definitely giving off super weird and awkward vibes when he pulls James to the side and says, a bit too loudly, "James, das ist Cordula Grün!!!!" whatever the fuck that means, anarchist weirdos, speaking in code.

Anyways James is very excited by this revelation and goes to buy them all some more beers and maybe a round of Pfeffi, and then another and then another, and James and his boyfriend are now sitting next to Remus on the couch, his little communist manifesto book long forgotten, now being used as a coaster for the Sterni bottle. Anyways, the party eventually dies down but they're not done with their political discussions, reform vs revolution isn't something that can be settled over just 3 drinks, so James casually mentions that his and Sirius's flat is near by, they could stop by a Späti for some more drinks and maybe some snacks or other stuff and continue this at home?

And Remus is so oblivious, of course he goes with them to talk some more about politics, nothing else, what else would these two extremely hot guys who have been casually touching him all evening (in a purely platonic, very friendly way!!!) want from him? Sure, they were all joking about having a threesome and Sirius actually picked up condoms on their way home but they were only joking, they would never actually be into Remus? Sirius and James probably just needed condoms anyways so it just made sense that Sirius bought them when they were in the store. And if Sirius looked at Remus and asked him which brand he preferred that was purely so he didn't feel excluded when third wheeling a couple, which was so nice of him, looking out for his very platonic new friend. Remus is a bit sad they were only joking about the threesome because he really thinks Sirius and James are both extremely hot, AND they actually get Marx? They're basically his dream guys, but *sigh* they would never actually go for someone like Remus, who is he kidding?

So they get to their apartment, and Remus immediately goes to sit at the kitchen table, they're here to settle the age old reform vs revolution debate after all, but James and Sirius just give him a weird look, and James casually suggests the couch in the living room might be a bit more comfy? And Sirius puts out some candles, which he probably only does because his eyes are tired, so he needs soft lighting, that must be why. It's so funny, because he actually says "let me put on some candles for mood lighting, to make it a bit more romantic for us", and Remus just laughs, he loves Sirius's sense of humor, that guy is so funny!! He even kissed him on the mouth when he said it, just a quick little peck and then he got all flustered and red in the face, probably because James was watching them with a grin. They're such good new friends, Remus really likes them and hopes he will get over his crushes quickly so he can actually become friends with them!

Remus is so happy when he sees they have all the books of Das Kapital in their flat, and he stands in front of the bookshelves, looking fondly at his hero, Karl Marx, when James comes up behind him and gives him a back massage, which is so nice of him, Remus did mention he carried a lot of tension in his back, and James is such a nice guy and already a good friend for taking care of him like that.

Sirius puts on music [sidenote: wolfstarbucks playlist? there are SO MANY songs called Liebe zu Dritt, it took me a while to find the one I was thinking of LOL!] and Remus can't NOT dance, it's just such a deep instinct, he hears good music - he has to dance! The lyrics are really funny to him, again another classic example of Sirius's sense of humor!! And the lyrics even mention communism, so he feels very seen. James has gone from massaging his back to just holding his hips and swaying to the music with him and when remus looks back because he wants to compliment Sirius's music choices he sees them making out?? And at first he's a bit taken aback, because that's kind of rude to make him feel like such a third wheel but then Sirius grabs him and they all dance together and he honestly also thinks it's kind of hot that James and Sirius are so open with their love, and he loves watching them, so really, he doesn't mind if they occasionally kiss while they all dance. They keep giving him these looks though, and if he didn't know that they're way out of his league he would almost think they're prompting him to flirt back and kiss one of them? But surely he's mistaken, they couldn't possibly be into him, they're way too hot!!

NOT YOU SENDING ME AN ENTIRE FIC IN MY ASK BOX

Never apologize for your word vomit! (You call it unorganized thoughts but it's an entire fic) And it's Wolfstarbucks!!! WOLFSTARBUCKS EVERYONE STOP SCROLLING!!!! You have no idea how much I love this!!! I don't even know what to say this is perfect begnning to end

I love the Prongsfoot and their amazing communication and being completely open with each other and trusting and 🥺

Ad Remus "I'm not like the other girls" Lupin! And being completely oblivious the whole time!!?? Honeyyyyy, they're so obvious 😭😭😭 The candles and the dancing and the COndOmS bdjsksksjlsjdjd I can't

AND WHAT THEN??? CAT WHAT HAPPENS THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOPPING RIGHT THERE?!! 😭

Will Remus get it eventually? Or will he be say "well it was nice" and go home and everyone ends up totally disappointed? Will they see each other again? Or will they fuck and Remus remains oblivious the whole time? "Just friends doing each other a favor"? "They didn't want me to feel left out"??? Will they start dating and Remus will never know? What happens when he does figure it out? How happy will he be that those two hot amazing guys want him? How will they go to protests in the future? I NEED ANSWERS! If you ever decide to write a second part to this I will love you forever

#cat tag #<33333 #you really have no idea how happy this makes me #will treasure this forever #i know it took me a while to answer but it's not bc i'm not excited about it! #antifa marauders agenda #wolfstarbucks

[kachimera]

@saratrantoul ok i was going to make this a proper post but all i can get out of my head are these rambles, so apologies for the mess 👉👈

Regarding Leon/Isaac, i dont have a manifesto but rather why i think it'd be fun to see them interact:

it's mostly the similarity of their situations despite their completely opposite beliefs- two guys who lost everything they loved at the hands of someone they considered a friend. They had disaster divorces and are vindictive over it they can bond over that. And also the fact that (mostly going with PtR's Isaac), both have a certain code of honor, and both have gone to war in the name of a higher being, as twisted as both of these things are on Isaac. (This also ties w my funny "Mathias creating friction between Leon n the church hc"). And, assuming they do end up having something instead of instantly killing eachother, Leon (knowing he has issues but dealing w them on his own bc oops friendship failed me) sees part of his own pain on this guy and is like "i can fix him" in a "im gonna give him the support i wish i had" way. Meanwhile Isaac doesn't wants any help nor affection at all and just wants to wallow in his misery but he still ends up feeling attachment. Something something his older brother mentality and just, picking on Leon while also being overprotective of him (he'd also piss him off just enough to get the pretty noble knight to fuck him raw lmao). It end up being a pretty unstable and toxic relationship, with both having incompatible values but also needing eachother bc they got nothing left.

And Celiakado. Ooooh boi Celiakado. This one comes with the context of interpreting Arikado's general shittyness in the sorrow games as legit part of his character instead of just him being ooc. His whole mission all this time was to oppose his father and now he's no more. He's someone who has been chewed up and spit out by the cycle so badly that he ends up trying to control it in return. And this is where Celia comes in. Her goals match with Arikado regarding the need of a new dark lord (except the killing/turning Soma part) and it's implied she knows him or has heard abt him in the beginning of DoS, spends a lot of time offscreen like him during the game, and manages to escape in the neutral ending despite Arikado's stated goal of stopping her. So, why can't they be cooperating behind the curtains, caught in manipulation games between this messed up gal who considers Arikado an extra powerful candidate in denial that she can manipulate, and this fucked up guy who considers Celia a useful tool for his goals, someone extremely amusing to fall into manipulation games with (overconfident girl who is completely out of her level and yet thinks she's winning, we stan), and a bloodbank to snack on, with the potential of funny feelings to sprout between the two which wont matter bc they're in for the grind and have no emotional inteligence. Then something happens w Celia making a move on Soma anyways and pretty much ruining Arikado's previous plans, Soma, Yoko n Julius get involved and welp. Neutral ending gives them the chance to continue being assholes, Worst ending has her mauled by Somacula and Best ending has her crucified (Like a certain someone important to Arikado ya kno ), both in front of him :) (and shoutout to @viralvava for being the smartest person alive ;D)

So yea two funny ships to be normal abt

#me answers #castlevania #Isaac Laforeze #Leon Belmont #Arikado Genya #Celia Fortner #fun fact im not answering directly bc i put everything in the wrong draft n im too lazy to do it again #at least i remembered to add alt text thing like i always say i should do lol

[whatiwillsay]

Well now that Speak Now Week is officially over I wanted to put all the Episodes in one place for y'all to check out!

Breaking My Silence... - Cara joins me to finally spill our John Mayer tea and we follow up on the recent Toe tea I got.

Houghlor Tea Party - Naudia joins me to break down the gossip I got about Julianne Hough and Taylor along with a review of their timeline and songs that may tie back to Julianne.

The only thing that matters is food - Cara joins me to rank purple snacks and have a fun chat about food.

Speak Now Tour Review - Gabbie joins me for an in-depth breakdown of the Speak Now Tour.

The Dear John Manifesto - Torry of Ready to be Petty joins me to deep dive Jessica Simpson's book, especially the John Mayer bits.

One Last Episode!!! - Shannon of Fluently Forward joins me to discuss Karlie allegedly Kaylor Baiting, the Matty Healy news of the moment, and other current Taylor and Gaylor topics du jour! (Yes I think when we played Ivy was GAY!)

Speak Now Taylor's Version First Thoughts - Cara joins me to discuss Speak Now TV! We talk about the easter eggs (1989 clues all over the place!) we saw in the new Music Video, our reactions to the vault tracks, give some gay rankings to the new songs, and try to discern the muses!

All in all, it was a wild week and SO MUCH FUN. I'm already chomping at the bit for 1989 week it is truly going to be unhinged. Thanks to everyone who listened, and participated with comments, questions, and anons and just a huge general thank you to you guys for making this the amazing niche fun kooky gay little community that it is!

#speak now week #speak now (taylor’s version) #gaylor swift #kaylor #swiftgron #jessica simpson #john mayer

[saintsenara]

metas on ships

- miscellaneous tomarrymort headcanons - thoughts on wolfstar from a non-wolfstar fan - unrequited prongsfoot is canon - why fandom needs to stop sleeping on dron - wow, luna is impossible to ship with anyone...

sirius black/severus snape

- could snack work as a couple in a world where james lives? - snape, sirius, childishness, and the werewolf prank - miscellaneous snack headcanons

hermione granger/ron weasley

- romione are the best canon couple - no, ron and hermione wouldn't need couples therapy - the best romione moment in the series [now with part two!] - would i write romione as the main pairing of a fic?

remus lupin/nymphadora tonks

- a remadora answer which will please nobody - lupin's idealisation of tonks during their relationship - lupin's relationship with his sexuality, in remadora and snupin

harry potter/ginny weasley

- hinny's best narrative parallel? bellamort - ronarry versus hinny

severus snape/nymphadora tonks

- the stonks manifesto - stonks and the euphoria of queerness

severus snape/lord voldemort

- time-travelling snapemort would be a disaster

on...

short-form looks at various ships...

blackbolt | blackcest | blackcour | dollivander | dorlene | dramione | drarry | drinny | dronmione | flupin | ginnymort | ginsy | golden triad | grindledore | hansy | harmony | harrydore | hinny | jegulus | jily | kingsleymort | lilymort | lilypad | linny | lunarry | luthur | mcprince | minipop | molcissa | moonflower | pansmione | pavender | perciver | pregulus | riddledore | ronarrymort | ronma | ronmac | ronmort | ronsy | runa | siricissa | siritrix | siritunia | sirry | slugdore | tedoire | tomarrymort | tombraxas | vonks | wolfbucks | wolfmort | wormbucks

out of which snape has emerged as the fandom bike...

snacklebolt | snagonagall | snames | snamione | snarcissa | snarity | snarthur | snegulus | snetunia | snockhart | snon | snucissa | snucius | snulciber | snumbledore | snumblemort | snuna | snupin

unhinged and deranged...

send me the wildest pairing - platonic or romantic - that you can think of and i'll answer it here...

#bit of housekeeping #asenora meta

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Heroes of the Past - a Slooserole fic

While food shopping for a barbecue, Goose and Slider suggest names for theirs and Carole's baby.

~~~

For a prompt list, this was "A buying B their favourite snack"

Words: 888

"Karl?" Goose suggested, picking up a slightly green bunch of bananas.

"No, makes him sound like a communist."

"What's communism got to do with the name Karl?"

Ron stopped groping watermelons and turned to him. He picked up a stout one with brown on the ends and held it under his arm like he was trying to show off. That wasn't necessary, Goose could already see his muscles bulging in that a-bit-too small shirt.

"Karl Marx?" He said. "Wrote the communist manifesto?"

Goose shook his head, "You've lost me."

"You uncultured fuck,"

He turned around and carried on putting fruit in the shopping trolley. They were having a barbecue as a baby shower, Mav and Ice had gotten the time off, Carole's mum and sister were coming around. Apparently Ron had asked his family but his mum, being the matriarch she was, had said she didn't like the idea of their relationship, said something about sin, so she wasn’t coming, and neither of his sisters were too. He'd tried to hide it but both he and Carole knew he was heartbroken about it.

"Okay, Thomas?" Goose suggested. "Tommy for short?"

"Too formal."

"Your best friend is called Tom!"

Ron turned and threw a sack of potatoes at him. Goose just about caught them.

"And have you seen Ice? He's the most formal guy I know,"

Goose shrugged, "Fair point."

"Pete?"

"No."

"Why not? He's my best friend and it's not too formal?"

Ron rolled his eyes and placed an armful of salad stuff into the trolley, "I'm not having our kid named after that little pipsqueak."

"Pipsqueak?"

"You can't deny he's short,"

Goose tried to argue but knew he couldn’t. Maverick was short for a pilot.

They carried on around the shop, deciding what snacks they needed and stuff for Bradley's lunches. Goose stopped next to the sweets and scanned for something specific. Carole was having a major craving for chewy, gummy fish lately and could go through multiple bags in a day if left unattended. 

"There they are!" He said, spotting them and grabbing a few bags.

"What are?"

"The fish, the ones Carole likes,"

Ron stared at him for a second then said, "We're going to need more than that," before throwing a few more in the trolley.

They carried on. Because she was pregnant, Carole was nesting and had cleaned the entire house multiple times. She’d almost vacuumed Bradley as he came into the house once. So they’d run out of most of their cleaning products.

As Nick reached for the bleach, "How about Daniel?"

No reply. Ron's shoulders began to tense. 

"Aaron?"

He wasn't even turning around now. No jokes or making fun of him. Something was up.

"Michael? Joseph? Joshua?"

"What's with all the biblical names?" Ron finally spat out. 

His tone was different. The way his hand clenched the box of washing powder told him something was wrong. He approached him like he was a tetchy animal, he didn't know if he was going to blow or burst into tears.

"Can't we just stop with the names for a second?" He said. 

"Sure, but we were only having fun-" Goose placed the bleach in the trolley. "-is it not fun anymore?"

"I already have a name picked out! Okay?"

Goose stepped back, shocked. He hadn't told him nor Carole about this. They'd been good with communication so far into their relationship, why the sudden change?

"What name?" He settled on.

"Wilhelm, Will for short," he spat out then added for context. "My Opa was called Wilhelm."

All the pieces fell into place. Ron was a private man when it came to his past, a trait he'd inherited from his grandmother, from what he'd learnt.

"He's the only guy I've ever had to look up to. I mean, getting killed by Nazis to save your family because you were hiding Jews, pretty much the most heroic thing a guy can do, right?"

Goose stroked his face as his strong mask faltered. Ron tried to resist but eventually lent into his touch. Slider tried to appear tough but in reality was just a big puppy.

"Why didn't you tell us? D'ya think we'd be mad?"

"I-I'm just not used to being vulnerable, you know that,"

"Hey, you're learning," Goose assured. "And I'm sure he'd be proud of everything you've done, I know we are."

He smiled, that golden sunshine smile that was one of the reasons he and Carole fell in love with him in the first place. Trying to find things out about Ron had been tricky at first, he was a safe inside another safe, but after a few years, and a pregnancy, they were getting somewhere.

"How about we get these back to Carole?" Goose gestured to the sweets.

Ron nodded. They were past the point of him falling into puddles of tears whenever he got vulnerable but it was still a big moment for him.

As they moved towards the tills he had an idea come into his head, "Hey, we can call him Willy!"

"No we will not!"

"We could, little Willy Bradshaw-Kerner? Sounds good to me."

"You are not desecrating my grandfather's name by calling our kid Willy,"

And that’s when things fell back into place, just as they continued to bicker, all the way to the car.

German Slider! German Slider! German Slider! If you can't guess I hc Slider's of german descent. His grandma (Oma in german) came to the US after fleeing the Nazis, her and her husband, Wilhelm (Ron's Opa or grandad) died. They were helping Jews hide but got found out so fled. Ron's family learnt not to talk about the pain because it was too much which led to some communication issues, and very conservative religious views on his mum's part.

Thanks for reading!

#slooserole #ron slider kerner #nick goose bradshaw #carole bradshaw #ron kerner #nick bradshaw #slider top gun #slider kerner #goose top gun #goose bradshaw #sloose #top gun #bear writes #german slider #german ron kerner #hurt/comfort #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #bradley rooster bradshaw #slice of life #food shopping #mention of nazis #grocery shopping #pregnancy #name suggestions

[willcodehtmlforfood]

"Count Binface has unveiled his manifesto for the London Mayoral election, including a pledge to force Thames Water bosses to "take a dip in the Thames" to "see how they like it".

"In the manifesto, Binface vowed to "build at least one affordable house", ban "loud snacks" from theatres and demolish the Millennium Dome to make way for a nature reserve.

Shops will also be banned from selling croissants for more than £1.10 - a repetition of a commitment made by Binface at the last Mayoral election in 2021.

London Bridge will be named after actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Ceefax will be brought back, Binface said."

#London mayor #count binface #elections #2024 #London Mayoral election

[soleadita]

the queer pepa diaz manifesto

alternatively titled: thinking about Them (my queer headcanons for pepa diaz <333)(based on nothing but vibes + wishful thinking.)

so i had this silly little thought and it was gonna stay mostly in my head but @scattered-winter and @xjustonemoremiraclex asked (ty besties <33) so i am delivering.

uh. basically, i think it would be cool if tía pepa was queer, and here’s why:

(1) as far as we know, (i think??) pepa is single.

just off the top of my head, i think about 2x04, when abuela breaks her hip, pepa calls eddie to the hospital, and there's a Childcare Situation. not once is there a mention of there being anyone else who is available to help...like, for example, a partner. of pepa's. and then i also think of 5x17, when eddie, pepa, and chris travel to el paso for ramon's retirement party, where there is, again, no mention of...anyone else who might've been left behind in la.

and okay. look. i'm not saying that every presumably unpartnered older woman must be queer. i'm also not saying that there's anything wrong with being an unpartnered older woman, queer or otherwise.

i am saying, however, that pepa's presumed singleness supports my delusions. <3 and if, in my head, there are two pepas (one with a really badass girlfriend and one who is aroace and single and happy <3333)...well, what about it?

(2) how did pepa end up in la? (this is going to be SO long, but it will connect, i promise. just stay with me.)

okay, look. to accurately explain this, i have to tell you: the geographical locations of the diazes are SOOOOO….*screams* THEY PLAGUE ME (affectionate). I THINK ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME. like, okay, why are pepa and abuela in la while ramon and helena are in el paso? where did ramon and pepa grow up? did they start out in la and then ramon moved to el paso? did they start out in el paso and then pepa (and abuela) eventually moved to la? whAT IS THE BACKSTORY HERE?

furthermore - were isabel and edmundo born in the united states? did they emigrate from mexico? (what part of mexico?) if they did immigrate to the us, did they settle in la and then ramon moved to el paso, or did they settle in el paso and then pepa (and abuela, eventually) moved to la? maybe they didn't immigrate at all; maybe eddie's ancestors have been in texas longer than texas has been part of the us.

(note: i realize this is splitting hairs to a nearly obnoxious degree, but, look. i cannot tell you all how FASCINATING i find the minutiae of this. i definitely don't have the brainspace right now to explain this the way it deserves to be explained, and maybe i'm not making sense, and maybe i'm talking in circles, but, like. regional differences matter. the year/era in which your family immigrated matters. where they emigrated from matters. where they immigrate to matters. socioeconomic status matters. it's absolutely wild to me, for example, that my dad's family immigrated to california’s central valley from michoacán and worked in the fields a la the circuit; and they have cultural differences compared to other families in my hometown who are from the same place in mexico but landed in a different part of california and in completely different occupations.

anyway, all that to say, if i spend too much time thinking about cultures and subcultures and the way some things are different based on region and some things are the same no matter what and the tiny differences in food preparation and recipes and desserts and childhood snacks and tamales (DO NOT GET ME FUCKING STARTED ON THE TAMALES) and slang, and the way all these things interact…i explode my brain. IT'S JUST. SOOOO COOL.

and yeah maybe i’m being overdramatic and silly. this is just humanity. but like. humanity is cool!?)

so, anyway. i've been chewing on this for the last six months or so, and i finally landed on this: abuela isabel and abuelo edmundo immigrated to el paso, where pepa and ramon grew up; pepa moved to la for some reason; and then, when abuelo died, abuela moved to la to live with pepa. this also, i thought, could explain why abuela moves back to el paso (offscreen…hgggghhh). maybe the move to la was never meant to be permanent, maybe she has more family in el paso that she wanted to be close to again, maybe it started becoming too much for her to maintain her own house, etc.

(note: this doesn’t totally account for what we learned in 6x07—after abuelo died, abuela almost lost the house, ramon and pepa stepped in to help, etc, which seems to imply that abuelo AND abuela were living in LA. anyway, i mentally constructed all of this pre-“cursed” and haven’t gone back to rebuild with the new info yet.)

(another note: my original headcanon was that abuela and pepa were sisters instead of mother and daughter, and that abuela moved to la to stay with her sister after abuelo died (yeah, eddie calls her tía pepa, but so what? i have a tía cuca who's technically my great-aunt). i was aware this was far-fetched, but, idk, i have such a fucking soft spot for adult sisters saying, "fuck tradition, fuck societal norms, fuck expectations, let's be single and besties and housemates." anyway, then i remembered that in 5x17, pepa explicitly calls abuela "mami" and refers to ramon as her brother. so, i scrapped that, but the concept is still beloved to me.)

(2.5) which finally brings me back to my original question: how did pepa end up in la?

i'm trying to think of a way to put my thought process here into writing. i'll start with: latinx families are not a monolith, chicanx families are not a monolith, immigrant families are not a monolith, every family and every person and every situation is different, etc. that said, from my **experiential and very anecdotal** knowledge of my family and family friends, our parents and tias and tios around pepa's age and generation stayed somewhat close-ish to their families of origin.

and, again, obviously, this is not the case for everyone. and i don't want to make sweeping generalizations about the diaz family based on my very specific, very tiny, very unscientific sample size. but!! it did make me wonder!!!

so. if i’m operating under the assumption that isabel and edmundo raised their children in el paso, and pepa grew up there, why does she live in la as an adult? what compelled her to move away from her hometown, from (what i presume was) an established emotional support system, from a place where she is known and a place that knows her back? and not just out of el paso, but out of texas, to a city that is states away and over a 12 hour drive?

so, yeah. i feel like after all that buildup, i should have something more substantial to say, but basically, i propose that pepa moved away from home to BE GAY IN LA!!!!! <3333 (and maybe to go to college or something. maybe she was somehow involved in the chicano movement. <3)

(3) i’ve been feeling extra soft thinking about queerness and family and ancestors lately.

disclaimer: this is conjecture and projection; this is me getting (perhaps too?) personal and sentimental; it's very much based on my own personal experiences, and it's not meant to be representative of anything else.

lately, i've been thinking about this: my dad, as far as i know, is not queer. (and this is not about me secretly thinking he is. i don’t think that, for the record.) but i look at him as an aging adult who is just now getting to know himself better. he's in therapy. he’s realizing he's probably neurodivergent (now that his kids are being diagnosed, lmao). he's figuring out how to have a life that doesn’t revolve around working and meeting everyone else's needs before his own. he laughs more. he's funny. he's such a good dad, and i'm so fucking proud of him. but sometimes i wonder - how would his life have been different, if he'd had the resources to start doing this earlier?

i don't know. i could say so much more. i could talk about how immigrants (and particularly older, nonwhite immigrants who work certain types of jobs) are often dehumanized across all mainstream media forms. i could talk about how they're often portrayed as stern and stoic and self-sacrificing and not as humans with thoughts and feelings and people who love them. i could talk about how this fucking country sucks the life out of people, how you're expected to give all your energy to the economy, to your employer, and it's still not enough, oftentimes, to have resources for living. for thriving.

and then i think about this: under these circumstances, when you're doing everything you can just to keep yourself alive...would you know you're queer?

some people do. i know that, that some people just know, and i love that. i think that's beautiful.

i might not have ever known, though. i needed to do deep-dive googling. i needed to separate myself from my family of origin (ideologically, at least) and unlearn the christian homophobic shit i'd been raised in. i needed to have some semblance of independence before i could explore other possibilities, because as a child, as an adolescent, as a dependent on my parents, i was living under the crushing weight of "i need to be this certain way, so that i know for sure i will be loved and cared for."

and, like...not everyone has the option or the resources or the time or the safety to do all that.

i've also been thinking about this: of my siblings, 3/4 of us are queer. i have too many cousins and second cousins and aunts and uncles to count, and sometimes, at family gatherings, i look around and go, i just know more of us are queer. i know we had queer ancestors. there's just...no way that we didn't. and i just...i don't know. i wonder about them? i wonder if they knew? i wonder if they just assumed everyone else felt like this too, and buried it and kept living life by the prescribed roles. did they rebel? did they challenge heteronormativity in tiny ways, ways that others may have never noticed but that felt personally significant? maybe they never got married. maybe they were forced into marriages they never wanted. maybe they never knew there was another way and found someone they could stand being around and just...ya know. did the thing, because it was the thing to do for survival.

so...i guess i just think. and this is where the projection comes in, because this is so about me being in my own feels, but. i don't know. this is partly why i love thinking about the possibility of a queer pepa. not even in canon, because, yeah, i understand that calling her a side character is generous at best, and who knows if we'll ever see her onscreen again. but just...in my head? in my imagination? what if an older latina, an older mexican american woman, was allowed to embark on a journey of self-discovery and self-actualization that, in media, is so often reserved for young, beautiful, messy people of a certain race and class?

i just.... <3333 wouldn't that be...something?

(4) i just think it would be sweet, ok?

i know it's not like this for everyone. i know friendships and found family is just as tender and sacred. but, on god, my life changed when i found out there are other queer people in my immediate family. other people who just know how it might've felt to grow up queer in your specific cultural context. to grow up unsure and lost and maybe a little repressed and maybe a lot scared. to grow up with religious parents who might not approve or understand (maybe they will, maybe they won't, but how do you know for certain until it's too late to take it back? and how do you cope with that hanging over your head?). it's such a fucking relief!!

my relationship with my queer younger siblings is one of my favorite things in the entire world. and, like, yeah, we’ve been emotional and moral supports for each other, but i’ve also just learned so much about queerness from them. comp het? yeah. classic lesbian ~cinema~? yeah. fuck, they’re the ones who taught me about gender dysphoria and who first talked to me about gender envy. they’re literally the reasons why i know so much more about myself.

so anyway, part of the queer pepa brainrot started because i was imagining something like that for eddie. something where he comes out, and he finds out that this cherished person in his life who has known him and loved him since he was born, who has helped care for his child, who helped make LA a home for him...is also like him? that she gets it? that she understands?

and i just...kept thinking.

maybe eddie has his Queer Realization and eventually comes out to chris and abuela and pepa. and maybe pepa didn't really know she was queer before then. maybe when eddie comes out and starts explaining, things start clicking for her. maybe she learns things from him. maybe he learns things from her. maybe in june, they go to pride together.

or maybe she’s known for a long time. maybe later, she pulls him aside. "i didn't want to take away from your moment, mijo," she says, "but - me too. me too." or maybe she shares it right there, in that moment, so that chris is included. maybe the next night, chris and abuela bake and decorate the most rainbow-covered, pride-filled cake to ever exist.

and maybe she’s already told abuela.

maybe, decades ago, they sat at the kitchen table for breakfast, and over a plate of eggs and salsa and tortillas, pepa finally mustered up the courage to tell her mami. maybe her hands shook so badly she almost spilled her coffee. maybe isabel read the apprehension on her daughter's face, reached out and steadied her fingers, and told pepa she will always love her, that there is nothing wrong with her, that there is nothing to be ashamed of. and then maybe they held each other and cried, and it was beautiful.

in conclusion: the end.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💖💜🤍🖤

#i literally don’t even know how to tag this #it's like *almost* a character study. except it isn't. because most of this is the tía pepa in my head and not the one on screen. #it’s a journal entry and a rant about how the united states sucks and also a love letter to queer family #anyway #i called it a manifesto as a joke at first and then it turned into one of the longest things i've written in a while. whoops. #niche content that caters specifically to me and my interests etc etc #i just think: multiple queer arcs for the diaz family <3 #pepa diaz #eddie diaz #isabel diaz #diaz family #911 fox #long post #leo's void thoughts #queer pepa diaz #queer pepa manifesto