#[he also figures perhaps providing a task that can help the group plan might be a good for her]

[deliverred]

Her survey of the survivors brings her to Lukas, again. Perfect and cordial, always the shining pinnacle of a knight. He had been there to keep her alive, to push her in front of him and take the fire before she did. She supposes she should offer some kind of thank you. Even signed, though, her words fail her. She pushes her hands forward, reaching to take his hands in her own, and squeezing them as hard as she can manage, once. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for protecting me when I could not protect you. I promise to keep you alive, too.

As he slowly makes his way through the survivors of the attack, Lukas begins to pick out familiar faces in the crowd. Some staff, students, knights. Even faces he is not properly familiar with are good to see now, after such carnage.

Perhaps he's growing tired, or maybe he's simply too focused on scanning the crowd at large for those he wishes to see or those that need immediate help, but he doesn't see Mark until he's bumping into her -- her hands grasping his own tightly. There is an apology on his lips that goes unsaid as he searches her face, dirty and a little scraped up but mostly unharmed, before he slips one of his hands free to squeeze her shoulder in reassurance.

"I'm glad to see you up and about, Mark. There isn't much, but should you need something warmer or more durable, I'm sure we can figure something out."

She couldn't go around in just her sleepwear, after all. Luckily, she was more of a support when it came to the battlefield, if he recalled her talents as a tactician correctly, so armor wasn't necessarily something they would need to keep an eye out for.

"We'll manage, so do not lose hope. If you feel up to helping me, I could use a hand in taking stock of what supplies we do have at the moment. But, if you need more rest, please, take it while you can."

[dailycharacteroption]

Battle Scion (Skald Archetype)

 If you’re from western civilization, you likely have at least heard of the story of King Arthur, the legendary fictional King of Britain (actually Welsh in origin, fun fact). Who will one day return to rule and guide the isle during their darkest hour.

No doubt you’ve also heard of his Knights of the Round Table, a group of heroic figures, many of which had straight up magical superpowers, who served the king loyally. It is that relationship with them that inspired today’s subject, giving us a leader figure that is not afraid to enter battle, but also provides support and wisdom to those that follow them.

While certainly not every battle scion is a king, they do at least hold some authority in civilized lands, which sets them apart from the archetypical skald that may hold some prestige in their own culture, but are not normally associated with courts and nobles.

 Accomplished statespersons, battle scions rarely ever are at a true disadvantage in a duel of words, and their presence can make standing up to them socially an intimidating prospect indeed.

Do not think that they have lost their edge in battle, however, for in addition to the rage-based abilities they can grant to others, they can also learn more refined combat techniques and grant them to others with their performances. However, such refined tactics take more energy to bestow upon others, clashing somewhat with the passion inherent in such raging songs.

With an oath and proclamation, battle scions have the ability to bestow a magically-compelled quest upon a truly willing ally, which may seem counterproductive, but it does allow the quester to push past doubt and keep going even if obstacles become great. This is as much a binding contract to the skald as well, for if they fail to deliver on any promised reward for such a quest, they find the power of a battle scion leaving them along with their lost honor.

At the true zenith of their potential, these leaders become extremely hard to kill, actually resurrecting from a deathly torpor within days as long as their body is intact and they did not die of old age.

Interested in a skald that has an extra edge in social situations, and some Arthurian elements? This may be what you’re looking for. It only changes a few things, so you can do pretty much any build you like with these skalds, but I’d recommend picking up at least one Extra Performance feat if you plan on taking a lot of combat feats for your raging song due to the extra cost of granting them to allies.

 What’s really interesting about this archetype, aside from the Arthurian parallels that normally take a backseat to inspirations like Tolkien, is the use of the geas spell in its original Irish context of being a spell to help a questing hero maintain their honor by pushing them past doubt or fear in the service of their quest, rather than it’s typical in-game use of being a GM tool to get unruly players to follow the current plot. In it’s original context, a geas was meant to be a great honor, for typically in such stories following the geas granted success and power, while rejecting it invited death and dishonor.

  An unusual figure in the court of Halan, the strix seneschal Barnik has been a friend of King Hal for a very long time. As the king inducts new knights into his court, he trusts Barnik to provide them with a quest to prove their honor and worth. He also serves as the last line of defense for the King.

 Prince Leidrik is dying. Though he was set about to perform a quest willingly, he has come to realize that the task, slaying the giant king Norgradd is impossible for him to do alone, and now the geas is killing him. If a group of adventurers were to assist, however, perhaps he might survive and reclaim his honor.

 Seeking the council of the prophets, a magical king offers a quest to the party. Accept a geas to seek out the Cloud Prophet of Skyknife Mountain and hear his words. After much peril, the party will discover the unusual nature of the Cloud Prophet: they are an alien jellyfish-like being called a dreamer, constantly mumbling and musing about things to come in a trance-like state.

[fenristheorem]

Hi! Can i ask a scenario/headcanon for my human OC s/o and lance? thank u 🖤

Hello again! Happy to write for your OC! 😊

The page who requested this DM'ed me details of their OC, so I'll write some major points of their OC in a list below so there's a general idea of who I'm writing.

~Under the cut~

The OC:

To begin with, her name is Mary.

She's a human with witch ancestry, and is roughly 164 cm or 5 ft 4 in.

Since coming to Eldarya, she's learned to control electricity. This can be used as a weapon. It can be pooled to be thrown as a bolt, or it can be charged into another object without her even touching it. This ability also reflects her emotions a bit - if she’s feeling anxious, tense, or scared she may accidentally end up shocking someone who touches her.

She can talk with animals/companions. She’s their voice in a way, and she speaks for them when they need something said but can’t say it themselves. This comes from a mind-link with them, and through this link she can also control them and their actions.

Occasionally she receives premonitions because of her ancestry. Mary can’t control this ability, it comes at random times, but it can still warn her of future events.

Personality - Mary can be considered the mother of the group, with a bit of a dirty mind. She cares deeply for those who are close to her but isn’t afraid to give them a sharp scolding if they worry her seriously. She’s pretty quiet, but not shy, and while she’s wary of strangers she can quickly warm up to them. Her mind-link to animals has helped her grow to love these creatures in time, and she’s very protective of them and her friends/family. Mary isn’t afraid to fight for her beliefs and what she feels is right, she likes to be modest but isn’t afraid to be the center of the attention in a time where she needs to put her foot down. However, she does understand that people can change, and will give others a second chance - and even advocate for them - if they show sincere regrets for their mistakes.

Now that that's settled, I'll get to the headcanons (and I added an extra scenario because I had a great idea).

Lance's relationship with Mary:

Oh, where to start?

In his lifetime, Lance has learned that you need to appreciate the people who are true with themselves and others, and who stand by you even when it might be better or easier for them not to. He tries his best to be as useful to the guard as possible - to make up for everything he's done - so when she comes to him, noticing that he's been running himself a bit too hard some days, and tells him to take a break and says that she's worried for him, he listens.

He fights a bit at first; he’s not used to having such a caring figure watch over him, but in time he realizes that she acts like this to show she cares. He’ll soften up then, slowly learning the best ways to comfort her worries for him and give genuine apologies when he fails to show that’s he’s truly alright after her concerns run rampant. She just wants him to be alright and know she cares.

Lance admires her adamance in fighting for what she feels is right, and even further appreciates her fearlessness in opening up to him and trusting him early on when he was proving to her that he had changed. Frankly, he expected her to take many months, perhaps years, before accepting that he had changed from his past ways, and was delightfully surprised when he found that she actually was beginning to believe it early on. She had no reason to doubt, though - many weeks had passed and he continuously proved that he’s changed for the better, so while she was cautious (her mother didn’t raise a naive fool), she kept an open mind on the topic and let his actions and words speak for himself.

He’s happy to stand beside her on topics that they share a common opinion on, talking and debating new reasons as to why they feel this way or that - and although they’re open-minded to other’s opinions on the matter, when they’re faced with a time where opinions can shape something permanently and it seems a mistake is about to be made, they won’t hesitate to argue their points. With that being said, they’re very careful to be sure that they aren’t misleading anyone, but there are certainly some things that they know to be right and they will readily fight alongside each other to enforce that the right decision needs to be made.

However, most of the time they’re pretty quiet. They like the modesty of carrying on daily tasks and (for Mary, at least) hanging out with friends. Mary doesn’t like to make a scene for no reason, and Lance genuinely loves that he doesn’t need to worry about her starting drama around the guard that superiors will need to deal with. Their temperament around each other is truly relaxing, knowing that the other won’t randomly burst out screeching information that shouldn’t be stressed.

Some of the most fascinating things for Lance, however, are the fact that she can speak with animals and control electricity. These are the topics that he likes to observe her doing.

He’ll spar with her every now and again - just to make sure she can still defend herself to his standards - and will receive a nasty surprise when he’s nearly struck with a thunderbolt that scorches the ground next to him - not meant to hit him, just meant to remind him.

“Lance, really, I think I’m fine. Even the most powerful warriors can’t stand to electricity.” She’ll faintly laugh at his semi-shocked expression. He forgets every now and again that she can do that.

However, she has had moments of anxiety that really shock him... literally. She'll be anxious or nervous about something, pacing around restlessly, and he'll try to hold her comfortingly... only to receive a nasty zap the instant his fingers brush her skin. She'll apologize profusely, only feeling worse at the fact her ability hurt him, but he'll pay no mind and still take her in his arms. He'll endure the pin pricks if it means he can help calm her down.

He takes her premonitions seriously as well. Every once in a while she’ll dream of something so vivid, so rational and realistic, that she just can’t ignore it. Usually she’ll keep her mouth shut on most of her dreams if they don’t bother her to the point of needing comfort, but sometimes there’s just this need for Lance to know. He’ll listen - he won’t ever deny her a comforting shoulder to lean on when she needs to talk - and his jaw will nearly drop every time it turns out that her dream turns into reality. This is far and few in between, but it does happen, and Lance - having quickly learned many lessons with her - will take these dreams heavily into account and try to plan accordingly. Sometimes a dream is just a dream, of course, but they've recognized tell tale signs to point when a dream may be different.

There’s some bittersweet warmth that takes over him when he sees her talking to the creatures of Eldarya, knowing that he nearly destroyed all of that and, fortunately, failed. Her bond with these animals is so strong that some days he wonders if there’s more than just a mind-link, perhaps some sort of spiritual-link as well, but he could never be truly sure.

He was certainly surprised the first time it happened, though, when he was merely thinking bemusedly that she was just talking to a small woodland creature to be cute.

“She says the plant is dark green with red tipped leaves - big leaves, bigger than your hand. It’s that way.” She points in a direction.

Lance pauses and looks with her, his mind suddenly whirring so fast he nearly suffers whiplash, and doesn’t speak for many moments as his stare remains glued to her, minor hints of fear and shock lacing his expression.

“What? That’s what she said...” Mary is suddenly minorly off-put - nothing is more terrifying than when Lance doesn’t know how to react to a situation.

“The... the plant... she... how???” He doesn’t exactly know what he wants to ask.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I have a mind-link with animals, I can speak with them through thought.” She continues to apologize as Lance suddenly heaves a relieved breath.

He truly thought his partner had went crazy for those moments.

“So this way?” “Yea.” “Ok.” “Hey, we really need to find this plant to study it, it might be dangerous. I need you to bring us to it.”

The woodland critter pauses for a moment, looking deep into her eyes as she links their mind, and then scuttles off in the direction of the plant.

Lance pauses again, the same blank, semi-fearful-shocked expression having returned as he watches the creature, Mary following close behind.

“It’s more polite to ask where it is rather than take control of the mind to see where we need to go, but smaller creatures don’t always understand the ideas of ‘show us’.” She says semi-guiltily as she passes by, knowing she accidentally left him in the dark on a lot of this ability.

“I... sure.” He follows as well. He’ll need some time to ponder over this before beginning the questions.

Lance grows very used to this in time, and even specifically asks her to come with him on forest expeditions sometimes if animals could help him find his objective, but it certainly was a shock when he first learned of it.

Their relationship is serene, they have minimal arguments and, frankly, when they do argue it’s more of a debate, and they enjoy spending time with each other doing subtle things. Every now and again they’ll enjoy an adventure (usually of Lance’s suggestion), and these adventures always yield entertaining, enjoyable results, but at the end of the day they also heavily enjoy the calm of life. It takes a while for Lance to settle into Mary’s quirks and habits, but he never regrets for even a day allowing himself to be close to her. She brightens his life in multiple ways, providing comfort, entertainment and support to him, and he seeks to return that as much as he’s given it.

Extra scenario:

(I theorize that Lance adopted Floppy and I will fight Beemoov on this if needed!)

“Oh great Oracle she’s still so adorable!”

Mary softly squeaked the words as she leaned down to watch the Musarose scuttle around the desk her nest was placed on. It had been a long while since she had last seen Floppy, the last time being sometime before the White Sacrifice, but she was still so freaking cute.

Floppy stopped and looked up at her, twitching her tiny pink nose before returning to scurrying across the wood. The little creature fled back into her nest for a moment, hidden from sight, before re-emerging and scuttling to the other end of the desk where nesting material for Musaroses lay in a wooden box. She scrambled onto the edge and took a small bunch in her maw before dashing back to her nest, disappearing again into the small hole entrance.

“A little more in the corner there...” A quiet, feminine voice echoed in Mary’s mind, and she reached over to the box of bedding, gently - to avoid crushing the soft material - pinching a bit of the bedding between her fingers before bringing her arm back.

Floppy poked her head back out again, preparing for another mad dash across the desk, before pricking her round ears and ambling out of her nest to settle in front of Mary. Mary brought her hand down to Floppy and small pink paws grappled in the air to receive the bedding.

“Thank you.” The feminine voice whispered again as Floppy blinked at her before she turned and slipped back into her nest.

Mary smiled as she stood up straight and looked towards Lance, who was seated at the edge of his bed. He was slouched forward, his elbows resting on his knees while he fiddled with his hands restlessly, his gaze fixed intently on Floppy’s nest.

“Thank you for letting me see her again. I had wondered what happened to her...” Mary spoke gently as she walked with quiet footsteps towards Lance, choosing to sit next to him so she could observe Floppy as well.

“Of course.” He responded with a small smile and a glance at her before looking to the floor.

Mary recognized that something seemed off about Lance as she studied him - he was pretty resigned at the moment. She realized that Lance wasn’t usually overly energetic, but he certainly wasn’t this sedated on average.

Floppy emerged from her nest another time and bounded over to the box of bedding, resting her front paws on it and trying with all of her greatest might to nudge the box.

“Done. Lance, done.” The voice whispered in Mary’s mind again, and she was about to open her mouth to relay Floppy’s words when Lance stood and sauntered over to the desk.

Floppy leaped at his hand as he closed the lid, missing and disappearing with a poof into the bedding instead.

“Floppy.” The quietest of laughs escaped him as he reached his hand into the bedding to pull the Musarose out. She shook herself off while he continued to close the lid with his other hand.

Mary smiled again and joined his side by the desk, resting a hand on the box with intentions of putting it back for him. However, Lance rested his hand gently on her wrist as he noticed, turning to look at her with soft eyes and a small, affectionate tilt of his lips.

“I got it.” He said.

Floppy scrambled onto the desk as Lance picked up the box and headed towards a chest placed alongside another wall of his room, while Mary stood still by the Musarose. They both watched Lance for a moment as he crouched down and opened the chest, hesitating to put the box inside.

“The box belonged to Valkyon.” Mary turned to look at Floppy, who was crouched on the desk, as she started to speak through the mind link. 

“Oh?” She spoke quietly. Mary was sure that Lance could still hear everything she might say, but she still spoke in a quiet tone for the sake of discretion.

“The box reminds Lance of his brother, but he refuses to get rid of it. He really misses him.”

Mary stared at Floppy for a moment before turning to look at Lance again. He was tracing his thumb over a small etching in the wood that she could faintly make out. A ‘v’... ‘a’... ‘l’... ‘y’... Was that Valkyon’s name carved into the wood?

“He does this a lot when he’s reminded of him. I miss him too, so I try to comfort him. I’m not sure if it works, but I just want Lance to know that I miss him too, and that I’m sure Valkyon isn’t angry. He always spoke so highly of his brother in his memories, and even when he found out that he had to fight Lance he still loved him so much. He just wanted his brother to feel better...”

Mary didn’t know what to say. She knew as well that Valkyon wasn’t angry, and that Lance heavily missed his brother. Did Lance know that Floppy felt all this as well? Did he know that Floppy can tell when he’s in agony and tries to comfort him?

Lance set the wooden box into the chest and closed it, standing up and beginning to shuffle around a few things on another desk next to it. He says nothing but the sloping of his shoulders and the way he hangs his head tells that he’s burdened by thoughts.

“Valkyon always hoped that his brother was alive; he never stopped searching for him and went to many extremes to try and track him. I don’t think Lance knows how much he meant to Valkyon, even after Valkyon realized he had been fighting his brother the whole time. I just wish he knew this, I think it would comfort him, knowing that his brother will love him no matter what...” 

Mary looked at Floppy again and the Musarose turned to meet her gaze. Both were silent, and Mary had a feeling that the small creature wanted her to do something. Little did Floppy know, Mary already was planning on how to tell this to Lance. She knew the companion wouldn’t have told her all of this in such detail, while Lance is in such pain, unless she meant for her to do something about it.

Her gaze returns to Lance as he turns and heads towards them again, reaching gently for Floppy. She extended her tiny legs into the air to reach for his hand and claw her way up to stand and look at him. He pet her a few times with his thumb, holding her close to his chest, before setting her down again near the entrance to her nest. One hand was set on the desk to allow himself to lean while Floppy scurried over and around his other hand, a whisper of a smile resting on his face and a distant look in his eyes...

“You know... Floppy misses him too.”

Lance flicked his gaze over to Mary as she began to speak, who watching the Musarose clamber about.

“She knows when you’re reminded of him, and she doesn’t want to see you in pain. She knows that Valk doesn’t want you to be in pain either...” 

His gaze fled to an empty section of the desk, bowing his head. Mary took just a small step closer to him.

"Lance-" He refused to hear it; he couldn't hear it.

Mary reached a hand out to rest on his shoulder as she began speaking, but he backed away, unable to meet her gaze, and sauntered to the window. Lance felt his throat constrict and pain prick at his chest as he rested both hands on the windowsill and bowed his head; this was all his fault, he didn't deserve comfort.

Mary refused to give up though, Lance needed to hear this. He needed to know that, while he had done some terrible things, he always was and still is loved dearly. She quickly trod after him, Floppy dashing along the desk and over other furnishings to keep her important role in this, and, although she knew he wouldn't take too gracefully to this, rested her hand on his arm and stood close by him.

“Valk never stopped looking for you, he always believed you could still be alive. He spent so much energy trying to find a possible lead on you... and he always spoke highly of you.” Mary spoke in a gentle tone as she watched his expression, carefully testing her words to assure she didn’t distress him too much. She glanced over at Floppy, who was sitting on the windowsill on Lance’s other side.

“Valk always believed him in. He always believed that Lance was still good.”

“Valk always loved you and he always believed in you, even after knowing what you had done.”

Watching as Lance’s blue eyes grew misty as he stared through the window, Mary knew she was getting to him. She glanced at Floppy again as the companion nudged closer to rest her fore-paws on Lance’s wrist and sniff at him.

“Floppy knows when you have moments where you miss him... she knows how much Valk loved you, and she wants you to know that even though he isn’t here anymore, she is and she can love you for him.”

Lance shut his glassy eyes at this, tilting his head down, before opening his eyes just the slightest to look at Floppy with a tragic look on his face. The Musarose curled her tail over his hand and looked up at him as though he was her whole world. He breathed a shaky breath and spared a bittersweet smile at her.

Mary pressed herself gently against Lance, bringing both her arms around him to pull him closer. He didn’t resist, turning to face her and pull her into a tight hug with one hand on her nape and the other around her waist as he buried his face in her neck. She could swear she felt a bit of moisture near her neck as Lance stifled a heaving breath.

Floppy joined as well, leaping onto Mary’s clothing and crawling upwards until she could settle against Lance’s neck, where she laid gripping his shoulder armor as to not lose balance and fall.

“Lance...” Mary wanted to say something more to comfort him, but she couldn’t bring anything to mind that would help this situation. Anything further would just break Lance, and she didn’t want to destroy the moment that was being shared. She resigned to just holding Lance in a gentle and loving grasp as he held her like she was his last lifeline.

After the passing of many minutes, Lance eventually regained control of his breathing and loosened his grasp to avoid suffocating her. As he adjusted his grip, wrapping both his arms completely around her tiny frame, only one thought could run through his mind and be spoken:

“Thank you.”

Hmm. I feel like I deviated from Mary’s personality a bit with the short-story/scenario as it required her to be a bit pushy, but I suppose a trait of being a motherly person is not being afraid to put someone in a bit of distress if it’s something they need to hear to feel better in the long run.

I hope you liked this overall! This was my first time writing with a specific OC, which turned out a lot harder than I originally thought and hence why it took so long, but I think I did well!

Have a request? Ask them here!

But first, please read the rules list for asks!

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Chapter 19 / Previous Chapter 

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D 

Kon knew to expect a lot of things when facing against the League of Assassins. He knew what he was getting into when he decided to rescue Tim from the Demon’s Head and disobey orders by leaving Krypton but he never expected this.

He stares at the two familiar figures in front of him. Both of which he hasn’t seen in a long time nor has even thought about.

Match and Thad.

Match is a half clone of Kon. The idea of cloning had originally been the leader’s idea, something about saving lives and helping to replicate organs. From what Kon knows, they had begun the experiment by replicating full Kryptonian’s to make sure everything could be fully functional before moving onto individual organs themselves. Kon never understood it and he never looked further into it.

Match was the first and last experiment Krypton conducted. Kon’s DNA had been taken and used to create Match after Kal offered it up. Kon of course was furious after he found out but once he calmed down the idea of having a sort of brother excited him. However the cloning didn’t go to plan, Match once he was created, went berserk and became unstable and to deal with it the leader’s chose to terminate him. Or at least that’s what Kon had thought.

Thad’s and Bart’s situation is the exact same. They used Bart’s DNA on Keystone to make Thad and it didn’t go to plan. Like Match, they thought Thad had also been terminated. Obviously not.

How they ended up with the League Kon has no clue but the major fact is that they are and they’re now standing in the way of the ship that’ll get them free. Next to him, Kon could hear Tim’s confusion as he questions their sudden appearance and he could feel both Bart’s and Cassie’s shock at this revelation.

At the sign of an oncoming fight, Kon automatically drops down into a defensive position, besides him his teammates do the same. He stares at the clones defiantly. “Don’t get so full of yourselves, you couldn’t beat us last time and this time will be no different.”

“Well, we’ll just see about that won’t we?”

Knowing what’s about to happen, Kon glances over at Tim who’s stood there wide-eyed staring at the pair opposite them. He’s seems to be shocked and unsure on what to do and Kon knows that he needs to get away as soon as possible. He’s hurt so he wouldn’t be effective in a fight and also because he’s the one they want.

Kon turns to look behind him where Kara and M’gann are positioned, both standing defensively waiting for the upcoming fight that’s about to happen. He shakes his head. “The both of you get Tim to the ship, we’ll take care of these two.”

They go to respond but Tim speaks up instead. The human turns to the assassin mixed within the group. “Pru do you have a lab on the ship, a laboratory of some kind? I have an idea.”

Before Kon could question what he was on about, and before he could hear Pru’s response, a shout from in front of him gets his attention. “Enough! Time to end this!”

From there his mind is taken off Tim because he’s suddenly dodging punches and kicks from his very own clone. He side steps and ducks various of times before starting to push back, however he finds he’s not as powerful as he should be. His punches aren’t having as big as an impact as they should each time they hit, and it’s only when a foot collides with his stomach which knocks him to the ground that he understands why.

Kryptonite. It’s because of the kryptonite that he had been injected with earlier, it’s still in his system and is now affecting his abilities to fight, it’s making him weaker than normal.

A punch to his head snaps his attention back to the moment. Match is now above him, raining down an assault of punches which Kon could barely defend himself against.

“We were discarded from our home!” The clone shouts at him. He grabs the front of Kon’s shirt, lifts him up from the ground only to slam him back down with a great deal of force which knocks the breath out of him. “We would have been better off being killed. But no, the leader’s shoved us both into a pod and shot us into space without any hesitation, with no regards to what would happen to us. We were abandoned, left to defend ourselves with no where to go!”

Kon tries to shove him off but without his super strength to challenge Match’s, he’s left squirming on the ground trying to gain any sort of leverage to use against him. His attempts go ignored.

“But then he found us. He realised what protentional we had and took us in, gave us training and then a purpose. He saved us. In return all we had to do was pledge our alliance and serve every command given. And what a ride it’s been.”

If he weren’t trying to break out of the hold Match has on him, Kon would be more invested in the story, however he is trying to break free and wasn’t doing very well at it. Match just seems to be putting more and more pressure on his chest which in return makes it increasingly more difficult to shake him off.

Then suddenly the weight disappears off him and Kon blinks to find that Cassie had tackled Match off of him. He takes a moment to breathe as he watches the two of them grapple with one another next to him. They trade blow after blow but Kon could see that he’s beginning to overpower her with each one.

It also hits him that Cassie is too depowered like him. The Demon’s Head had forced some kind of enchanted bracelets on her meaning she doesn’t have access to her abilities.

With that in mind Kon scrambles to his feet and also tackles Match back down to the ground. They wrestle for a moment but try as he might Match gets the upper hand once again ends up on top of Kon, pining him down to the floor.

Kon struggles underneath him and prepares himself for a punch that’s coming when Match raises his fist, however it never comes. Kon stares in bewilderment as it appears that Match is frozen above him. He could see the fear and confusion in Match’s eyes but doesn’t dwell on it, instead he takes the opportunity given and slams his own fist against the clone’s head effectively knocking him off Kon and onto the ground. Kon quickly follows through to grab his head and slam it to the ground to knock out the cloned Kryptonian. He ceases the action as soon as he feels the body go limp in hands.

Now Match is no longer a threat Kon’s eyes dart around looking at the scene. What he notices first is M’gann. The Martian is stood off to the side and has her back to him with a hand stretched out towards the other side of the room. His eyes drift in that direction and he sees a mirror image of what just happened with him and Match.

Bart had been fighting with Thad in motions that were nothing but a blur. That had been the case until Thad suddenly freezes, as if a force had suddenly grabbed hold of him and stopped him. Bart takes the opportunity to knock him out and Thad hits the ground with a heavy thump.

So the freezing had been because of M’gann, his mind rationalises. The Martian had used her telekinetic abilities to freeze their opponents providing the perfect advantage over them.

Kon climbs to his feet, wincing as he does so because everybody part is suddenly protesting at moving, and walks over to M’gann. He stands by her as Bart also makes his way over. “Not that your help is appreciated but what are you doing here? Where’s Tim? Why aren’t you with him?”

M’gann sends him a look, one that tells him she isn’t impressed with his clipped tone but she apparently lets it slide. She answers his question as she observes their surroundings. “I had been with him, however he sent me forward to prepare the ship so when he arrives we can immediately leave. He has a plan and Kara is currently with him. The human was on about making explosions before we leave.”

Kon blinks at her wondering if he heard her right. Perhaps Match had knocked him harder in the head than he thought. Did she just say Tim was planning on making explosions?

“Why didn’t you take him to the ship!” Kon exclaims. It was a simple enough task so why didn’t it happen?

M’gann doesn’t provide him with an answer, instead she glares at him before walking away towards one of the ships parked nearby. Deciding not to engage further with the Martian Kon turns to his team instead, checking them over and seeing if they’re alright.

Bart’s staring at Thad’s unconscious body as he speaks up. “What should we do with them? Leave them behind or take them with us?”

Kon’s instinctive response is to say that they should take the clones with them but he stops himself from voicing that opinion. What should they do? Recalling what Match had told him during their scuffle, the leaders clearly didn’t want them around. Could there be a way to compromise? As much as there is bad history between them, Kon doesn’t think being with the League of Assassin’s is anything good. Anywhere but here would be better despite what’s happened in the past.

He sighs and looks over at the unconscious bodies and the ship M’gann went to. “We’ll take them with us. We can deal with them properly on Krypton, anywhere other than here is better. We’ll keep them restrained until we return to the planet.”

Cassie and Bart both wordlessly nod at that. While they don’t voice any protest against the idea, Kon doesn’t know if they actually agree with it or not.

He makes a move towards Match’s body when Cassie speaks up, but not about the clones. “Kon we need to get our remotes, that’s if the Demon’s Head hasn’t already found them.” Letting out a curse Kon turns back around to face his teammate. He had completely forgotten about those. “We can’t risk leaving them behind.”

“I know,” Kon says thinking through ways they could try and find the remotes to get them back. It’s a long shot that they haven’t been found yet but they can’t leave them here. After a moment of thinking Kon gets an idea and turns to Bart. “Bart, can you search through the ships for our translator remotes and Tim’s too? You can use your speed to whip through different ones.”

Bart eyes widen before they narrow. The Speedster crosses his arms over his chest and scowls. “There are thousands of ships here Kon, how am I supposed to search through all of them? And without getting caught? I’m fast, but I’m not fast.”

Cassie responds to him before Kon gets too. “I know the rough location of the ship that we arrived on. Unlike Kon, I was partially awake when we arrived. If I give you an area do you think you can search there? I also remember where I hid the remotes to begin with.”

Bart’s glares softens at Cassie’s suggestion. A moment later he nods and listens closely as she describes the location of where the ship is parked. Then without any warnings he’s disappears in a blink of an eye.

Knowing that there isn’t a lot else he can do, Kon continues to move towards Match’s body. He picks his clone up off the floor and carries him over his shoulder’s, making sure he has a tight grip on him. He grits his teeth at the additional weight, normally he wouldn’t have any trouble but since he’s without his super strength it’s a little harder than usual.

Once he’s stable, Kon turns and heads for the same ship M’gann had disappeared too earlier. He has to admit, while her appearance was certainly unexpected it’s extremely appreciated because she really has helped them out so much since being involved.

As he gets closer to the ship he inspects it. It looks like all of the other ones surrounding them, black, smooth curved edges with hidden latches on the side. If Kon didn’t know better he would have assumed this is simply another one of the League’s ship, however he does know better and is informed that this is M’gann’s bioship.

It’s currently disguised to appear as one of the League’s ships. Just like the Martian is able to, the ship can shapeshift. This also contributes as another reason to why having her here is appreciated.

When Kon reaches the ramp a loud rumble could be heard throughout the docking bay. The sound is quickly followed by sudden shaking that unbalances him and with the additional weight he’s carrying Kon couldn’t keep his balance and falls to the floor, landing in a heap underneath Match’s unconscious body.  

Kon grunts and pushes Match off of him and frantically looks around until he sees Cassie who is also on the floor underneath Thad’s body.

“Cassie?”

She looks up at him, her eyes wide in question. “Kon what’s going on? What’s happening? We need to get out of here!”

A second rumble sounds out which is followed by more shaking. Moments later alarms begin to blare out around them and flashing red lights appear. Something major is happening, whatever those rumbles are, they’re causing the ships warning systems to go off like they’re about to prepare for battle.

“That’s Tim!” M’gann’s unexpected exclamation makes Kon look up at the ramp where she’s stood. “He’s creating miniature explosions to go off around the ship as he and the others work their way back here. Now get inside the ship so we can go once they arrive!”

“Creating what?” Kon asks completely bewildered. How is he creating explosions inside a ship full of assassins? Could that be where he disappeared off to earlier?

Knowing he isn’t going to get answer by thinking about it, Kon shoves it out of his mind for the time being, he’ll have to question Tim when he sees him. For now he climbs back up to his feet, having to steady himself when a third explosion happens, and lifts Match’s body over his shoulders. With great effort he carries the clone onto the ship. Cassie isn’t too far behind him carrying Thad.

It’s once they deposit the clones down in a cornered off cell on the ship that Bart makes a reappearance. He blurs to a stop in front of them within the cockpit looking frantic and confused. “What is going on? There is suddenly shaking happening and then alarms are blearing, I thought youmayhavealreadyleftorbeencaught!” His eyes flicker between him and Cassie as he rapidly speaks but he doesn’t let them answer before he’s talking again. “Anyway that doesn’t matter. I managed to find all the remotes! They were right where you said they were Cassie!”

Bart triumphally holds out three translator remotes. Kon lets out a relived sigh at the sight of them. At least that’s one less thing to worry about. In the back of his mind he knows that there’s a feeling of wrongness about the situation because the Demon’s Head surely would have found them, but Kon’s willing to overlook that feeling and take it as a win. Hopefully it doesn’t come to bite him in the ass later on.

“The ship is ready take off. All we’re waiting for now is the others to get back here.” M’gann reports to them from her position at the control panel. Kon nods his acknowledgement and looks out of the view screen, trying to get any glimpse of the human.

The alarms are still blearing throughout the docking bay and it’s making Kon nervous, he really hopes Tim hasn’t gone and got himself re-captured. He knows Kara and Pru are with him but anything could happen and until Kon sees Tim himself, he isn’t going to be able to relax.

A few more tense moments go by without any signs of them appearing. Next to him Cassie makes a comment on how she’s surprised that they themselves haven’t been found by any other assassins yet. Her comment is countered by Bart saying how the assassins are now running around trying to restore the damage that the explosions have caused, it’s leaving them distracted.

Now Kon’s thinking about it, that was probably Tim’s plan all along. Create a distraction so they could have a higher chance to escape without being noticed. It’s both smart and stupid. He still needs to question Tim on what he was thinking about the whole ordeal.

“They’re here!”

Kon’s brought out of his thoughts by Cassie’s shout. He focuses back on the window to see three figures running towards their ship. Kon’s heart skips a beat when he spots more figures, a group of assassins, not far behind them.

He watches helplessly as the assassins start gaining on his friends. If he had his powers he would be able to help them out, unfortunately that’s not the case at the moment and he would probably only cause more problems instead of helping them.

While running Tim trips over his feet and is saved from falling on his face when Kara manages to grab hold of his arm to keep him up right. An exchange happens between his cousin and the human before Pru gets involved by shouting something at them. In the end Kara simply picks Tim up and carries him the rest of the way to the ship while Pru hangs back and slays down the advancing group of assassins.

Kara runs up the ramp and into the ship with Pru following behind her moments later. Once they’re both on board M’gann wastes no time in getting them up in the air to make their escape.

It becomes absolute chaos.

From the moment they leave the docking bay everything becomes hectic and it’s unclear to exactly what is going on. The ship violently rocks side to side as M’gann navigates her way through the League of Assassin’s ship as she tries to find an exit point.

Despite how big the docking bay is, it seems to be impossible to dodge everything inside. They collide with other vessels, bounce off the walls and there’s a constant shaking to the craft like they’re being fired at by various of weapons.

“I’m going to have to crash through other ships to make it out!” M’gann informs them with a strained voice. Kon could see the toll it’s taking on her to keeping her ship somewhat under control through this turmoil.

“Do what you must!” Cassie shouts back. She’s currently pressed against the wall to help stabilize herself so she isn’t being flung around the place.

“Hold on!”

At the Martian’s shout Kon grabs onto the closest thing which happens to be a chair and does exactly that.

M’gann jerks the ship to the side, forcing it downwards towards an open hatch where a space pod had just entered the docking bay. With no hesitation, M’gann lets the bioship collide with it which nearly causes them to go off track but she determinedly keeps going. The rebound is brutal when they hit the pod and then bounce off the side of the hatch but soon enough they end up out of the docking bay and into the void of space.

M’gann doesn’t stop for a second because once they’re in space she’s pressing different controls on the dashboard and starts expertly flying them away as fast as she could.

It becomes a smoother ride now they’re flying through space, while the ship occasionally jerks and shakes, it’s certainly a lot better than before. At least with the situation now, they can stand up on their own and not worry about being thrown around.

“We’re not safe yet, I’m going to get us some distance away, make sure we’re not being followed and only then can we relax.” The Martian tells them as she continues to steer the bioship through the universe.

Kon nods, trusting her to get them through this. She’s already got them off the base ship, he’s sure she can get them away from anything that may chase after them.

“Kon!”

The shout of his name gets his attention and he looks around the cockpit to see who had called him, but when Cassie and Bart shake their heads he realises the shout came from outside of the room. He frowns for a moment before his mind catches up and he remembers the others who are aboard the ship with them.

Kon immediately darts out of the room and heads towards the lower deck of the bioship, that’s where he finds the three others on the floor. Tim is propped up against the wall, his head falling down to his chest before it jerks back up again and he seems to be attempting to wave off the other two hovering at his sides.

Kara and Pru are crouched at his sides speaking to him but Tim is either not paying attention to them or isn’t comprehending anything they’re saying. Maybe both.

Kon moves over and crouches down at the end of Tim’s feet. “What’s going on? Tim you okay?”

Tim blinks at him for a long moment and just as Kon’s about to ask the question again Tim frowns and suddenly looks confused. “Kon? Is that you, how are you here? Did they capture you too? I’m so sorry, all of this is my fault, I didn’t want this to happen.”

The way his voice sounds shaky and the way his words slur together has Kon on the edge of panicking but it’s his choice of words that really have him worried. Does Tim not remember anything that’s just happened? Surely he can recall them escaping the ship and then doing whatever he did to create the explosions.

“I’m tired.” Tim states blatantly, blinking slowly as his head drops to his chest again. When he jerks it back up he mumbles, “and my back hurts. Why does everything hurt?”

Kon looks helplessly at the other two who seem to be just as confused as he is. He has no idea on what to do right now or what it is that Tim needs.  

“Just go to sleep.” Pru tells him almost forcefully. Tim’s eyes flicker to her and he frowns. Pru rolls her eyes, “when you wake up everything will be better.”

Tim’s gaze turns back to Kon. ”Are we safe? Can I go to sleep?”

Kon forces himself to smile, he reaches out and pats Tim’s leg in a comforting manor. “Yeah, it’s okay to sleep Tim. You’re safe.”

Of course Kon cannot yet guarantee that and he has no clue if sleeping is the best option for Tim but he doesn’t see any other option and at least if Tim is asleep he isn’t feeling any pain. Kon watches as Tim’s eyes close, his head drops and this time doesn’t come back up, then just like that he’s asleep.

The three of them watch the human for a moment until Pru breaks the silence. She glances at Tim before looking at him and Kara. “His wounds on his back will have to be checked. They hadn’t healed when you arrived and with everything’s that’s just occurred, they may have re-opened. That’s probably what’s causing him pain.”

Kon nods in understanding, hating the fact that Tim is wounded and in pain. He hates everything that the human has been forced to endure recently.

“Right, we’ll find a place to lay him down and then you can treat him if you don’t mind. I’m sure M’gann has everything you need somewhere.”

Kara picks Tim up off the floor, taking caution to be careful, and then they find a place to lay him down. After some direction they find what they need to treat Tim and Kon leaves Pru to attend to him, though he asks Cassie to assist her. While Pru has been a massive help and has had a massive role to play in their escape, she’s still an assassin and Kon feels a bit more comfortable with someone from his team sat by Tim’s side while she treats him.

With Tim now being looked after, Kon returns back to the cockpit and stands by M’gann who is still steering the ship through space, creating a larger gap between them and the League of Assassins.

“Are we in the all clear yet?” He questions her.

She shakes her head in denial. “No. Not yet. While nothing has appeared on my radar I’m not taking any chances.”

“Very well, I trust your judgement. When you think the time is right, set course for Krypton. The sooner we get back the better, they won’t attack us when we’re there.”

She simply nods and goes back to focusing on flying. Kon leaves her to it, he drifts over to where the others have gathered at the back of the cockpit. He stands by while they catch up and talk about different topics, Kon lets their voices wash over him as he reflects on everything that’s recently happened and as he begins to think about what he has yet to face in the near future.

[sinemoras09]

Crash pad excerpt

How Obito becomes Hokage. (Background: everyone was accidentally resurrected after the war and Obito and Madara were put under surveillance.) I combined several ficlets here. @innovativestruggles

Note: this is a sequel to the fan comic birdsong, where Hashirama is a woman. In this fic she and Madara had gotten married and had kids. Also, Rin isn’t resurrected yet. Obito is living by himself.

-----

1.

"Apparently I'm cursed to be surrounded by idiots," Madara says, when he sees that once again he's being chaperoned by Gai and Naruto.

"Yo!" Naruto says, and Gai gives him a hearty salute. Madara sighs heavily.

They walk down the forest path, Gai spouting ridiculous platitudes while the Uzumaki brat laughs and nods excitedly. It makes sense that he's paired up with them: Might Gai was the only shinobi who managed to injure him, and the Naruto kid's strength rivaled that of the current generations' kage - which doesn't say much, but the fact remains.

"Oh, look! It's Kakashi-sensei! And look, there's my dad!" Naruto says, and Madara looks up and sees Obito being similarly chaperoned, flanked by Kakashi and Minato as they walk toward them.

"Yo," Kakashi says, as they pass. Minato's eyes close into pleasant half-moons as he smiles at Naruto. Obito keeps staring straight ahead of them.

Madara sighs. Somehow it's even more depressing seeing his protégé similarly neutered.

"Yo, Bushy-Eyebrows-sensei! We should do push-ups after the mission, dattebayo!"

Madara glances up at Obito. Obito shrugs.

*****

2.

Uchiha Obito wakes before his alarm.

He shuts off the clock radio, then pads barefoot toward the bathroom. The sun hasn't risen yet, and everything is shaded in a blue-gray hue outside. Silently Obito opens the medicine cabinet and methodically shakes open his medications - an antidepressant, a migraine prophylactic, and a pain pill for the lingering neuropathy he has in his face, arm, and leg. Closing the medicine cabinet, he looks briefly at his face in the mirror before dry-swallowing the pills, grimacing a bit before turning on the tap of running water.

"Yo," Kakashi says. He's waiting for Obito outside the apartment steps. Obito walks down the metal grated stairs, wearing the standard shinobi flak jacket in Konoha's colors. He doesn't wear the forehead protector, though - it feels dishonest and it makes him slightly uncomfortable.

"What's today's mission?" Obito says.

"VIP escort to the Fire Kingdom's periphery. Easy enough. Sensei is going to meet us at the gate."

They hitch their packs and walk.

The sun is starting to rise, its pale rays starting to peek over the lingering shadows. Minato is there, and he gives them a cheerful wave as they join him.

They called it a second life. Second chance, new beginnings. A way to redeem themselves; a miracle. Whatever it is, Obito has adjusted to his new life in the village. Even if his crimes were forgiven, he still has a need for atonement.

*****

His throat tightened the first time he spoke to Sensei in the village.

"Sensei, forgive me," Obito said, and his voice cracked. "I can never forgive myself for what I did, for hurting your wife and child. I understand if hate me. I can't help but hate myself."

Kakashi watched. Minato stood, the slight spring breeze catching his hair. He smiled and patted Obito on the shoulder.

"Water under the bridge," Minato said. Obito lifted his eyes.

"Sensei?"

Minato's eyes closed into two happy crescents: "I know Kushina would be the first to offer forgiveness, and my child is already grown, and quite fond of you."

Obito's eyes grew shiny with tears. "Sensei--"

Kakashi clapped Obito's back. "You always were a stupid crybaby."

And Obito laughed, wiping his eyes.

Now the three of them are a team - a formal team of equals, no longer tasked with watching him. He's accepted as a part of the village - people smile when they greet him and no one is afraid of him. "This doesn't feel right," Obito had said to Kakashi, in a low voice. "By all rights, the villagers should shun me after what I did."

Kakashi sighed. "I think you need to go up on that antidepressant," Kakashi said.

*****

They call themselves Team Minato, just like they did during their genin days.

They work their jutsus in tandem, Kakashi flanking their target on one side while Obito runs toward the other. One blink, and Obito's kamui swirls, Minato flash-stepping beside them and neutralizing the threat.

Afterwards, they sit at the base of a tree, eating a few rice balls and sharing a canteen of water. Obito is screwing back on the cap when a thought suddenly occurs to him. "Sensei?"

Minato looks up. "Yeah?"

"I just realized, Sensei. Physically we're all the same age."

"You just now figured that out?" Kakashi says, and Minato laughs. Obito glares and blushes.

"It was just an observation," Obito says. He tosses a stick on the ground and puts away his canteen.

They're coming back from the mission, Kakashi and Minato and Obito, and as they trudge heavily through the forest path toward Konoha, they see the shape of another three-person team walking toward them: Naruto and Hashi and Uchiha Madara.

"Look, it's my dad!" Naruto says, and Minato waves at them.

"Hello," Hashi says to Kakashi. Kakashi nods.

"Yo."

Obito's eyes track toward Madara's. Madara looks back at him stonily.

"Yeesh, that guy is really intense, isn't he?" Kakashi says, after they pass.

"Who?" Minato says.

"Uchiha Madara. Who else?"

Obito tosses a rock, walking a little ahead of them.

"You okay, Obito?" Kakashi asks. Minato looks at him, worried.

"I'm fine," Obito says. He keeps walking. "C'mon. We're almost home."

******

3.

Iruka sits behind his desk, folding his hands in front of him.

"So, as you know, your daughter has finished her first month of kindergarten, and," Iruka takes a moment, keeps his voice calm and measured, "there are some things we need to discuss."

"What is it?" Hashi says. She is sitting in the chair provided in front of Iruka's desk, but Madara has opted to keep standing, his arms crossed and a pinched look on his face. Iruka's eyes dart quickly toward him before turning back to Hashirama.

"Well," Iruka says. "Your daughter is...very advanced."

"Splendid. What is the problem?" Madara says.

"Ah, Madara-san, perhaps...perhaps if you just sit down...?"

Madara's eyes narrow. "I prefer to stand."

"Okay." Iruka rubs his neck nervously. "Well. The young lady is, ah. Is rather intimidating for a five-year-old her age...."

"Intimidating, how?" Hashi says. Iruka takes a breath.

"Well...she used her Sharingan against the faculty a number of times; she used her Rinnegan against a group of upper level students who were learning bunshin jutsus, and apparently she has beat up two genin who were preparing to take their chuunin exams."

"Splendid!" Madara says, while Hashi starts, "What?" Iruka clears his throat.

"As I said, your little girl is very advanced," Iruka says.

"Excellent. So we pull her out of this class and let her take the chuunin exams. I agree with this assessment," Madara says.

"Now hold on, she is still only five years old, mentally and emotionally, she's a kindergartner, so--"

"It is my understanding you people had children as young as four years old fight in the Third Shinobi War, unless I am mistaken," Madara says.

Iruka hesitates, "Well, Uchiha Itachi, like your daughter, was a special case, so--"

"So what is the problem?"

"Anata." Hashi turns around in her chair. "Just come sit down."

Madara glowers. He pulls out the chair and sits heavily, glaring at Iruka. If looks could kill - and on a normal day, Madara's can and does - Iruka would be completely annihilated right now. But because his wife is urging restraint, Madara keeps himself in check. He sits back in the chair and crosses his arms.

"So we have a choice," Iruka says. "We can either pull her out of the classroom now and assign her to a genin team, or we keep her where she is, so she can continue to develop socially."

"Pull her out," Madara says, while Hashi says, "Keep her where she is." They glance at each other. Iruka laughs nervously.

"Well, you two take some time to talk about it. No one needs to come to a decision, now."

*****

"I'm just worried," Hashi says. It's nighttime now, and they're walking down the street, heading back to the house. "The whole point of starting the village was to protect our children from unnecessary harm. Genin go out on real missions, there won't be anyone to protect her if she's in danger."

"She won't be in danger, genin do not do anything," Madara says. "The most she'll do is rescue pets or help frail civilians cross the street. She won't even leave the village."

"Aren't most genin around twelve years old, though? She's five. Those kids are going through puberty. What if they exclude her?"

"Then they will learn to fear and respect her."

"I don't think that's a good plan," Hashi says. They get to the house and open the door.

"Nii-san!"

Madara starts, "Izuna?!"

Their daughter is laughing, pinning Izuna to the wall with her ocular powers, her little brothers giggling by her feet. She looks up and sees them. Her face brightens.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She jumps up and runs toward them. Izuna drops to the ground.

Madara leans toward Hashi. "Hashirama, are you still concerned about those kids going through puberty?" Hashi shakes her head.

"I guess not."

*****

4.

Madara and his daughter are hiding in the bushes, watching a merchant rearranging apples on his fruit stand. Madara points.

"Look well, daughter. You see that man over there?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"He insulted your father gravely. Let us practice your katons to show him."

"Okay, Daddy!"

She starts weaving her hand seals.

"You set fire to his fruit stand?!" Hashi says, while their daughter laughs and Madara stands, arms crossed, aloof and disaffected.

"Do not worry, Hashirama. She only set the sign on fire."

****

"Why were you throwing rocks at our child?!" Hashi says.

Madara holds up his hands. "I was teaching her to dodge, so that she is not so dependent on the Sharingan."

"By throwing rocks at her?! Knives? Shuriken?!"

"Calm yourself, Hashirama, I would not use weapons against her if I weren't confident she'd survive."

Hashi crosses her arms. "I don't think you should be talking about our daughter 'surviving' your training," Hashi says. Madara frowns.

"Need I remind you, Hashirama, there are jounin not even half her skill level being thrown into mortal peril at all times. I fail to see how she's in any danger from a few loose rocks."

"Can't you just skip stones by the river with her? Practice her katons against wooden targets instead of people?"

"I fail to see the utility in that."

"Ugh."

"More to the point, Hashirama, I'm concerned you're growing soft. We lived in an era of constant war. You are coddling our children."

Hashi looks around. "Wait a minute, where are the babies?" she says.

Madara cocks his head to the side, where she sees the baby and the toddler playing with their toys inside his Susanoo. "I would have left them with weapons, but you told me not to," Madara says.

*****

5.

At the base of the river, an Uchiha child toddles forward. There is something shiny in the riverbank, and the child is curious. He reaches his chubby hands into the water.

Something yanks him backward, and the baby's little legs stumble. He lands squarely on his butt. The baby looks around, confused, then looks up. His face brightens. He reaches his little arms upward.

"What the hell am I looking at?" Obito says, as Madara picks up the toddler from across the river.

Obito is sitting next to Kakashi across the other side of the river, watching with growing disbelief as Uchiha Madara herds his children; one is strapped to his chest while the other one toddles around with a baby leash. Occasionally, he will toddle a little too far, and Madara will yank him backward.

"Have you seen his daughter?" Kakashi asks, and as if on cue, the little girl comes barreling down the trail, shrieking and laughing. There is smoke coming from behind the bushes and they both realize she has set something on fire. "He's practically a house husband," Kakashi says. He stretches, then leans against the tree comfortably. "Tsunade won't let him go on any missions."

"Why?" Obito says. Kakashi shrugs.

"Not trustworthy. And besides, Hashi-san herself is worth the strength of an entire platoon of nin. If something of that magnitude needs to be done, they'd rather just send her in."

"That doesn't anger him?" Obito watches as Madara shepherds his children away from the river. The toddler starts throwing a tantrum: Obito and Kakashi watch as Madara simply genjutsus him.

"I don't think so," Kakashi says, as Madara picks up the toddler the way he would a sack of flour, carrying both babies while his daughter follows him. "I think he actually enjoys it."

"Actually enjoys terrorizing the civilians in the village," Obito says. "I heard he set a local fruit stand on fire."

*****

6.

"She's too powerful. I don't think she should be training with the other genin." The genin team leader, a Nara jounin, is sitting in front of Iruka and Tsunade. A sweat drop forms on the Nara jounin's forehead.

"Powerful, how?" Tsunade says. The Nara jounin swallows.

"Well. The span of her katon is easily the the same width and breadth of an entire fleet of nin. She's so proficient in taijutsu, she's inadvertently nearly killed the other genin. She's turned playground equipment into weapons and when I tried subduing her with my shadow technique, she overwhelmed it with chakra and broke free. And this is without her even using her Sharingan."

"Oh," Tsunade says. "I see." She and Iruka glance at each other.

It had been a compromise: three days a week, Madara's daughter would stay with her kindergarten class, while on the other days she would go train with a genin team. The team was a typical one, three rookie genin and a jounin instructor, and Madara's daughter was allowed to tag along with them on missions.

"What should we do?" Iruka says. He and Tsunade go over potential other jounin instructors, people with ocular powers who could easily subdue her. "The Hyuuga can't seem to handle her, and all the genin are afraid of her."

Tsunade crosses her arms, leaning back in her chair. "I think I know what to do," Tsunade says.

*****

Kakashi, Obito, and Minato stare at the little girl waving in front of them. "Hello!" she says. "My Sensei says I can come and train with you!"

Kakashi and Minato don't skip a beat. "Hello, ojou-chan. How old are you?"

She holds up five fingers. "Five!" she says. She holds up her dolly. "This is my dolly! She has a pink dress! Can she come train too?"

"You have got to be kidding," Obito says. Kakashi elbows him in the ribs.

*****

7.

"YOOOOOOOOOSH! Get ready for the ultimate team! Me and Fuzzy Eyebrows Sensei and Old Man Madara, dattebayo!"

"Once again, in the springtime of youth!" Gai says, and he and Naruto chest bump each other.

Madara stares at them. "I am in hell," Madara says.

*****

Of all the indignities he must suffer, this by far is the worst. It also confirms Madara's suspicions that Obito was a consummate idiot, letting himself, a thirty-year-old man, be talked down by a sixteen-year-old with next to no life experience. That Uchiha Madara, the strongest shinobi alive, second only to Senju Hashirama, is being forced to be chaperoned by said sixteen-year-old is an affront to his senses.

"Sensei!" Lee's face is a waterfall of tears and snot, his lower lip trembling and his buggy eyes streaming. "Why can't I be on your team, Sensei?!"

"Worry not, my adorable pupil!" Gai throws an arm around Lee. "After this mission, we will continue to train!"

"Alright! I got the snacks, dattebayo! And the map, and the mission objectives, and--" Naruto pats his pockets. "Oh crap! Where are the mission objectives?!"

Madara gives them a withering look and holds up the pamphlet. Gai grabs it from him. "Ha ha! Looks like our resident grumpy grump is contributing!"

"Touch me and you will lose that hand," Madara says, just as Gai is about to clap him on the back. Gai and Naruto look at each other.

*****

"Madara-ojiichan. How come you're always in a bad mood, dattebayo?"

Naruto is walking with his hands behind his head, while Gai is running around in circles around them, counting reps and punching the air. Madara gives Naruto a pointed look. "You really need me to answer that question?"

"Is it 'cuz you miss your kids? 'Cuz I heard from Kakashi-sensei that you're pretty much a house husband, and--"

"Do the both of you wish to die? Because I can make that a reality," Madara says.

Gai starts shadow boxing. Madara glares.

*****

8.

There is a meeting discussing who will succeed Tsunade as the Sixth Hokage. A few names float around: Might Gai. Hatake Kakashi. A scribe writes their names on a white board while the council discusses the formal nominations.

"What about Uchiha Obito."

They turn. Madara is leaning against a wall at the entrance of the conference room, arms crossed and covered in shadow.

"Madara." The elders look at each other. "You were not invited to this council."

"I had a hand in the founding of this village. Well. You invited neither myself nor Hashirama, so I suppose I can't be too insulted."

The elders frown at each other. "Uchiha Obito has committed many atrocities. He was an S-class nin and kage-level threat. He was the one who put in motion the Fourth Shinobi War."

"And it was my understanding he sacrificed himself to end it," Madara says. "Well. I am not surprised. Council idiots would never put an Uchiha to power."

"Madara-sama, a moment--"

But Uchiha Madara is already gone.

*****

Obito is coming back from a mission. It's dark now, and he slowly walks up the metal grate steps to his apartment. He's tired and his body hurts, and all he wants to do is go to sleep after a long, hot shower.

"Obito," Tsunade says, and Obito stops, surprised.

"Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade smiles. She hands him some papers.

"I have need to speak with you."

*****

"Hokage?" Kakashi turns sharply. Obito is hunched over the bar, a drink in his hand and staring at his glass. "They've nominated you for Hokage?" Obito nods. "Obito...congratulations."

Obito lifts his eyes. Kakashi is beaming beneath his mask. Obito looks back down at his drink.

"I think I'm going to refuse it."

"Why?" Kakashi says, and Obito swirls his drink. He watches the amber liquid swirl, his reflection distorted in the glass.

"Whoever is Fire Shadow is sworn to protect the people of this village." Obito sets down his drink. "I was the one who set the Kyuubi loose. I was the one who nearly destroyed it."

Kakashi falls silent for a moment. And then, "Have you told Sensei?"

"I am too ashamed. I don't want him to know about it." Obito's voice is soft. He doesn't look at him.

Kakashi frowns. "I think you should talk to Sensei," Kakashi says. Obito hunches over the bar, not saying anything. Kakashi shifts forward.

"How long did they give you to make a decision?"

"Until the end of the month," Obito says. His eyes flick upward. "I was told if I refused, the title of Sixth Hokage would go to you."

Kakashi blinks. Obito pours himself another drink. "So," Obito says. He sets down his bottle. "Do you still think I should take it?"

There is the clinking of glass in the background, the sound of a wooden fan turning above them. Kakashi considers.

"Yes," Kakashi says, and his eyes meet Obito's.

"I really think you should."

*****

9.

There aren't any other missions scheduled, but Obito doesn't enjoy his days off. While Kakashi is buying erotic fiction and Minato is hanging out with his kid, Obito has nowhere to go other than the training grounds, honing his techniques and thinking of ways to teach their little teammate more about the Sharingan.

"You mean Madara isn't training her?" Kakashi is sitting on a fence, watching as Obito tries to come up with ways to use Mangekyou without hurting her. Obito kicks a post, a simple side kick, but keeps his leg mid-air, holding the kata in perfect formation.

"Apparently he told her not to use her Sharingan because she has a tendency to overuse it." He slowly lowers his leg, then straightens. "I believe she goes straight to the Mangekyou and the Rinnegan because she doesn't have as firm a grasp on the basics."

"You mean genjutsu and enhanced perception?"

"Correct." Obito twists his body in another slow sideways kick. He punches. "I suspect she's had the Sharingan so long, she has taken for granted its own set of powers. And Madara is too used to using his Mangekyou and his Rinnegan, it is probably difficult for him to dumb it down."

"Hmm." Kakashi leans back, crossing his arms. "You really do make a good teacher. If you never got crushed by that rock, maybe you would have gotten a teaching job like Iruka."

Obito spins and kicks the post again. Kakashi hops off the fence.

"So," Kakashi says. "Have you decided what you're going to do about the Hokage thing, yet?"

Another kick. "I told you. I'm probably going to refuse it."

Kakashi sighs, loudly. "If you're worried you're interfering with some long-seated dream of mine, let me assure you, you're not. I'd only accept the position of Hokage out of an ingrained sense of duty."

A kick. "I doubt the villagers would accept me."

"The villagers don't know what's going on half the time. You'd have to worry about the other shinobi."

Kick. "Thank you for reminding me."

Kakshi tilts his head. "You know, Obito, I used to call you a crybaby elite and make fun of you, but even before you woke the Sharingan, you weren't bad. I was even jealous of your katons."

"What is this? Rare praise from Hatake Kakashi?" Kick. "Of course I wasn't bad. I was just a part of a clan of geniuses, teamed up with the top genin of our class. Anyone would look bad in comparison."

Spin, spin, kick. The post bends. Obito turns. "That took me the better part of twenty years to realize that. A shame I nearly had to end the world in order to do that." He looks at Kakashi's bag. "Another ero novel?"

"Oh yes." Kakashi holds up the book. "This one's called 'Kisses for my Lover.' I hear the plot's derivative but the smut scenes are phenomenal."

"You know most men would rather just watch porn instead of reading it."

"I prefer to use my imagination."

"Hm."

*****

The sun is starting to set, and the village is bathed in a deep, rich orange.

Obito goes to the drugstore to refill his medications. Antidepressant. Pain pill. Migraine prophylaxis. Recently he's been having panic attacks, so his doctor started prescribing Xanax. "It's likely PTSD from the rock falling in that cave," the civilian psychiatrist said. She wrote Obito the prescription. "If you take it, avoid operating heavy machinery. Don't take it with alcohol or mix it with other medications."

Obito walks out of the drug store, clutching his bags.

*****

Nighttime. Obito sits over the table and quickly eats a store-bought bento, sitting in the dark and watching the small television in the corner. It's a movie, some romantic comedy where the plucky heroine goes off to find herself in a small town. Invariably she's engaged to some jerk businessman, but she finds true love in the neighborhood lumberjack she meets after leaving the city.

This annoys him. This isn't love, it's infatuation, and what about her poor fiancé sitting in the city? Why do the writers have to bend over backwards to make him a jerk? Obito frowns at his bento box, then takes a swig of beer.

There is something lurking in the shadows outside.

Obito's eyes narrow. Slowly, he stands up, lowering the volume of the television. There is the sound of something clattering, and Obito strides quickly to his bedroom.

In the dark, the window is open. The light curtains move ominously in the breeze.

There is a weapons rack across the bed, and silently Obito backs up and palms a kunai in his hand. Gripping the handle, Obito carefully edges back out into the hallway.

A black shape darts out, and Obito whirls around.

Obito lunges toward him and attacks, an explosion of power. The man blocks, once, twice, then whacks Obito across the face. There is a sickening crack as the man's fist makes contact, but Obito jerks forward, dodging the next blow and spinning into a kick.

Punch, punch, kick. The man flips Obito over but Obito catches himself, springing back upward and vaulting into a flying kick through the air.

Contact. The man staggers. Obito whirls around and punches hard, once, twice, the third time he misses, the man dodging and hitting him square in the jaw. They stagger into the kitchen, where it's too dark to see. Obito's Sharingan flares. He dodges, lunges forward. The thin light from the movie pulses in the background.

Slam! He shoves a kunai against the assailant's neck, slamming him against the wall.

Obito's heart is thudding fast. Who was this? Was someone trying to assassinate him? He feels his throat constrict, the weight of a thousand boulders strangling him.

He's on the verge of another panic attack.

Obito's jaw tightens. He struggles to keep control, forces himself to slow his breathing. He grips the kunai harder.

And then, his assailant slowly starts to laugh.

"Splendid! Splendid! I should expect nothing less from the man who lived as Uchiha Madara!"

Obito pulls back, shocked. In the dark he hadn't recognized him. Madara's face splits into a slow grin.

"However," a black rod slowly worms out from Madara's arm, then presses menacingly against Obito's stomach, "once again, you have left yourself undefended."

Madara gives him a small poke, then retracts, raising his hands to show him. "Don't get too full of yourself," Madara says. "If I wanted to kill you, I already would have."

Obito lowers his kunai and the two men straighten. Obito's eyes narrow. "What do you want?"

"You are my daughter's teacher," Madara says. "It is only natural that I would want to see you."

On the TV, the heroine coos. "Oh! I never knew what love is until I met you!"

"I heard you were the one behind the Hokage nomination." Obito switches off the TV, flipping on the light. He turns back to Madara. "Why?" Obito says. Madara shrugs.

"I have children in this village," Madara says. "You could say I have a vested interest." Madara looks around. "A bento for one? How pathetic. If I had known you'd have such difficulties finding a partner, I wouldn't have worked so hard to kill your precious Rin."

Obito grabs Madara by the collar and slams him against the wall. "Why?" Obito says. "Why me? Why Hokage? What is it you're trying to do?"

Madara smirks. "It is a shame you have to ask."

"You're trying to find a way to manipulate them."

"Hm."

"What did you do?" Obito says. "Genjutsu them? Use mind-control to manipulate them?"

"I did nothing of the sort," Madara says. He pushes off Obito's arm and dusts off his shirt. "I merely gave them your name. Those simpletons at the council came to the same conclusion." Madara looks around. "This is your apartment?" Obito's eyes narrow.

"What's it to you?"

"It is a bit small, is it not?"

Obito glares.

"I mean no offense. I just remember you not being overly fond of too-small spaces."

"Just tell me what you want," Obito says. Madara turns.

"You've grown strong," Madara says. He looks Obito over. "I'd like to think I had a hand in it." Madara's eyes track over to the grocery bag of medications sitting on the desk.

Obito knows, without Madara having to say anything, that Madara is using his Sharingan to read the medications. Obito stalks over to the desk and grabs the bag.

"Let me spare you the trouble," Obito says, and he dumps the contents of the bag onto the table. "This is an antidepressant. This one is an anxiolytic. This one is for migraines and this one is for the shooting pains I still get in my face and limbs."

"Is that all?" Madara says. "And here I thought you were overly medicated."

"You manipulated me and tried to kill me. I was just a child. And you were a fucking psychotic old man--"

"You make it sound as if I somehow violated you. All I did was give you one small push - I did not inspire anything that wasn't already there."

"Killing Rin was not 'one small push'," Obito says. Madara spreads his hands.

"Agree to disagree, then," Madara says. "Believe it or not, Obito, I believed her death could be negated, so long as we stuck to the plan." Madara turns. His eyes flick upward.

"The world was imperfect," Madara says. "We both wanted the same thing. And if it meant eternal peace, it was a burden we both were willing to bear."

"So even now, you don't regret it?" Obito says. Madara sighs.

"I regret that it was what neither you nor I had wanted," Madara says. He picks up a bottle of medication, glancing at the label, before setting it down again. "I do not regret the original plan."

Obito scoffs. "That's not what I hear you told Hashirama."

"I tell Hashirama a lot of things. It is her own fault if she chooses to believe them." Madara looks around. "Do you have sake in this sorry place, or should we procure it elsewhere?"

Obito scowls. He moves swiftly to the other side of the kitchen and brings out a bottle.

"Ah," Madara says. "Good." He pours himself and Obito a drink."You asked me why I had them nominate you. The answer is quite simple. The Hokage is supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the village. You are my protégé and one of the few Uchiha left. If it is a matter of strength, then the answer is clear."

Madara sets down the bottle, pushing the glass toward Obito. "But you're right to question if I have an ulterior motive, and I do. I'm doing this for my children," Madara says. Obito knits his brow.

"Your children?" Obito says.

"My children are Uchiha in a village that shuns them," Madara says. He crosses his arms. "Don't you know what happened to my daughter?"

Obito sits back, listening. Madara leans forward.

"She was pulled out of her kindergarten class because those idiot teachers at the Academy claim she was bullying the other children. But I spoke to her, and do you know what she told me? She told me they were making fun of her. That her eyes were that of demons and that as an Uchiha she should have died. Those children made my daughter cry," Madara says, and his face darkens. "I would have killed them myself if not for Hashirama."

Obito's brow furrows. "You are telling me to become Hokage...because your daughter was bullied by other school children?"

"I am telling you to become Hokage because this village does not protect the Uchiha, it treats us like second-class citizens.

"I have children, Obito. I have a little girl who loves her school but wonders why the others won't be friends with her. I have two sons who will grow up in a world that will look at them with suspicion and contempt. If there is an Uchiha Hokage, my hope is that it can mitigate that."

Obito watches as Madara plays with the glass in front of him, and realizes Madara is telling the truth. "I want to talk to my Sensei, first," Obito says. Madara scoffs.

"Oh? You mean that yellow-haired weakling you tried to kill when you first attacked this village? Fine. Go talk to your Sensei. But know if you don't accept this position, your true Sensei will be very disappointed."

"Fuck you," Obito says. Madara rises. He starts to leave, but stops by the door.

"For what it is worth," Madara says, and Obito looks up, Madara's back facing toward him, "I do regret everything that happened. We betrayed each other for no good reason."

"I want you to leave," Obito says. Madara turns the door handle.

"I will see you again when I pick up my daughter," he says, and he walks out the door.

*****

Minato is spending the day with Naruto, but he can meet with Obito in the evening. "He's going to get ramen with Iruka. Maybe we can meet for dinner?" Minato says.

The sun is starting to set. Above them, the sound of crows echoes through the otherwise empty street, and the setting light is red and orange. Obito stands at the top of the hill and sees his Sensei walking up toward him. Their eyes meet and his Sensei smiles and waves at him.

They go to a barbecue restaurant on the other side of town. Meat sizzles on the grill, and Minato turns it over with a pair of chopsticks, grilling the other side.

"So," Minato says. He adds more meat onto the grill. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Obito hesitates.

"Sensei," Obito says.

"Hm?"

"They..." the meat sizzles. "They asked me to become Hokage."

Minato's face brightens. "That's great!" Minato says, but Obito lowers his eyes. Minato asks gently, "Why are you not happy?"

"I am happy. I'm flattered I'm being acknowledged, but..." Obito's hands tighten into fists. "But I don't know that I deserve it."

Minato smiles. "You of all people deserve it," Minato says. "You've always worked so hard to be your best, and you always helped other people."

"Sensei I tried to kill your wife and child--"

"I know," Minato says. "But I believe you've worked to atone for it. I know you'd be a great Hokage," Minato says.

The door to the restaurant opens, Naruto and Kakashi walking inside. Naruto sees them and his face brightens.

"Look Kakashi-sensei! It's Obito and my dad! Let's go sit with them, dattebayo!"

Minato turns and Obito quickly wipes his eyes, which are red and swollen. Naruto and Kakashi come over.

"I take it you talked to him?" Kakashi says to Obito. Obito smiles ruefully and nods. Naruto tilts his head quizzically.

Minato beams, proudly. "Naruto. Obito just found out he was chosen to be Hokage." Naruto's eyes widen.

"Eh?! Obito-san is going to be Hokage?!" Naruto's face splits into a grin. He pumps his fist. "That's so cool, dattebayo! Obito-san is gonna be a great Hokage--wait, Obito-san?! You're crying?!"

And Obito laughs, his eyes creasing into two crescent-shaped moons, smiling and wiping his eyes.

*****

10.

It's the day of the Naming Ceremony, and Madara's daughter is excited. "They're gonna pick a new Fire Shadow!" his daughter says, and she spins around the house yelling at topmost volume, "Fire Shadow! Fire Shadow! Fire Shadow!" She runs up and down the hallway excitedly.

Hashi is supposed to take her to the ceremony, but his daughter insists Madara come with them. "My Sensei is going to be the Fire Shadow, Daddy! I want you to come see him!"

"Your Sensei is an idiot. Why must your father see him?"

"Because it's my Sensei, Daddy!"

Madara cannot think of a good argument not to come, so he loads the other two children up in a wheelbarrow and pushes them through town. His daughter cranes her neck, trying her best to look out through the crowd of gawking civilians who have gathered. Madara sighs loudly, then picks her up, putting her on his shoulders.

"Look, look Daddy!" his daughter bounces on his shoulders. "There's my Sensei! See him?"

"I do," Madara says, and his daughter laughs and kicks her feet excitedly, hitting him in the chest. Hashi bites back a laugh.

"Anata. That was a good thing you did for Obito." It's nighttime now, and Hashi turns and snuggles Madara in bed. "Everyone thinks you're so terrible but you actually have your soft spots."

"Hmph." Madara sniffs. "I had my reasons."

Hashi hugs him. "Because even after all that's happened, you're still fond of him."

"No." Madara starts to laugh. "Because I can tell that over-emotional idiot to take me off that stupid team with the Uzumaki brat and the Taijutsu idiot!"

"Eh?"

Madara's eyes glitter. "Tsunade has long refused to remove me from my keepers. Anyone she would have picked would inevitably do the same. Now that Obito is in power, he can remove me from that team and let me work alone and in peace, the way it should be!"

Hashi frowns. "So, this whole thing you did - the heart-to-heart, the grudging apology, the acknowledgement of each other's strengths and weaknesses - that was just so you wouldn't be watched by Naruto and Gai?"

"YES!" Madara laughs psychotically. "And it worked! It worked all according to plan! Everything fell into place exactly as I wanted! Uchiha Madara will no longer bear the shackles of mediocre idiots! With this I have finally exacted revenge!"

Hashi frowns at him. "You are such an idiot," Hashi says.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hey! Any theories on the intro? And the upcoming fight with Oscar and Ironwood. I'm soooo excited 😖 gooo OSCAR!!😍

Hello again Luna. Well I don’t wish to discuss much out in the open since there are still folks who follow my blog and content who haven’t seen the episode as yet. So out of respect for them, I’m going to give my answer under cut.

Theories based on the intro. Whelp since the tradition since V6 is that RWBY opening sheds light on some of the story beats and subplots that will be focused on for part of the season, here’s what I’m anticipating is going to go down for V7:

Keeping Up with Best of the Best: 

JNR_RWBY will probably placed under the guidance and supervision of Atlesian Ace Ops who will more or less oversee their continued training as huntsmen.

We’ll probably have at least one episode or two in which our young heroes head out on missions  around Mantle and Solitas accompanying the Ace Ops in the field.  

While I’d love to see JNR_RWBY work alongside the Aces for more than one mission; if I’m going off the footage in the V7 opening and the V7 trailer,  the main mission will obviously be the one teased before in the trailer. The mission that takes place presumably in the Dust Mines of Atlas; infested with Centinal Grimm and another Geist Grimm.

Wouldnt surprise me if we got that mission episode between CH3 and 4 since I’m sure CH2 will involve the group being held in prison under firm interrogation until Ironwood arrives to bail them out (much like in @miki-13’s fanfic “Reconciliation”)

Oscar-Worthy: 

While JNR_RWBY will be out with Ace Ops, they’re not the only ones getting a taste of Atlas style of teaching. As shown, Oscar will remain in Atlas to be trained personally by Ironwood.

James and Oscar weren’t fighting. I guess this was more or less a little friendly sparring match for Ironwood to test just how far Oscar is in his training and skills as the successor to Oz.

Like you, I’m interested to see how this match will go. However at the same time, I’m not rooting for Oscar to win this one on one. On the contrary, I’m more anticipating Ironwood to wipe the floor with Oscar in their first match. He’ll probably go easy on him at first only to later take it up a notch and become more aggressive, forcing Oscar into a corner.I’m hoping this first fight between them is actually more…I guess serious when it comes to the actual episode. This opening makes it look like these two are play fighting and Ironwood is humouring Oscar. Don’t get me wrong. I want Ironwood to more or less be a good teacher to Oscar but at the same time, I don’t want him to coddle him either. Ironwood has been shown to be a hard boiled badass of a soldier. A man who singlehandedly slam-dunked a charging Beowolf with one hand and shot it straight through the neck with his other hand.

Let that guy teach Oscar a thing or two on what it’s light to be a warrior. War is nothing to take lightly. One slip up—even the tiniest of them can easily open the door to victory or failure. I can see Ironwood drilling that lesson into Oscar very firmly.

One thing I’m also hoping for is that there will be an audience there to show Oscar support during his sparring match with Oscar. I know JNR_RWBY will be mostly out in the field but I think it’d be cute to have someone there on Oscar’s behalf to cheer him on and help him up after Ironwood kicks his ass the first time.

With Ironwood training Oscar for V7, I’m hoping for V7 that we can at least get one Oscar-worthy episode where he is the focal point or key driver of the chapter. 

Similar to how we had the Jaundice multi-part episodes back during V1, it would be pretty great if Oscar got his own ‘Oscar-worthy’-titled episode that focuses heavily on his feelings handling everything (leaving home, the events of Mistral and Haven, Jinn’s story, Ozpin’s isolation, etc)  while additionally trying to keep up with Ironwood’s rigourous training regiment which the poor boy unfortunately struggles with in the beginning.

As a matter of fact, one thing I’m anticipating for with Ironwood training Oscar is the show highlighting Oscar struggling at first. I understand that Oscar’s whole thing is that he picks up things fast while also being expected to inherit Oz’s muscle memory; which we’ve seen him achieve.

That being said, I hope it’s not another example of the Writers neglecting to portray Oscar as his own character first and foremost.It still bothers me that after two seasons, we still don’t know much about Oscar’s true thoughts and how he feels. 

For the most part we’ve just seen him humbly accept everything that’s happened to him since the events of V4 and be perfectly comfortable with being puppeteered around by Ozpin while signing away his life to being another for Ozma to live through.

…Yep. Oscar has been with with the heroes for 48-49 days (1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days since V4 to V6, according to the RWBY timeline)  since he first left his presumably sheltered life back in Mistral and he’s just fine with all that’s happened since then. Uh huh. That’s what the show and the CRWBY Writers want me to wholeheartedly believe. Sure. 

It was especially worse last season where Oscar was supposed to be a focal figure of the season, like Ozpin, but the Writers once again overlooked him in favour of other characters (including ones who weren’t relevant to the main plot of that season). 

This is why I believe an Oscar-worthy episode isn’t only warranted by strongly needed at this point. What could be even better is if that episode is used to spark a close friendship and potential brotherhood between Oscar and Jaune. 

Why I want an episode where Oscar is seen struggling with his training and/or slowly beginning to fall apart from the pressures of everything around him to the point of frustration is because I can see it parallelling Jaundice where Jaune suffered through the same emotional struggles.

Jaune have come a long, long way from the whimpy kid he started off as. Perhaps he could use his experience to help and/or guide Oscar when he falters. 

I believe it was mentioned in an interview with M&K that Oscar might share a similar story beat to Jaune when he first started out.  I hope this means we’ll get to see Oscar go through an Jaundice-esque type of experience which in turn will prompt Jaune to want to help him since he sees his old self mirrored in Oscar. It’d be even nicer if this is followed up by Jaune offering to have practice sessions with Oscar to help him with improving his fighting technique. 

While I’d still love for Ruby to be the one to help Oscar with his training, I feel like it’d be more meaningful if Jaune offers to help Oscar similar to how Pyrhha once offered to help him back in V1.

I’ve been waiting for a moment where Jaune becomes a big brother/ mentor type character to Oscar since V5.

Plus if Oscar is indeed destined to join JNR (as the opening alluded to), this would be a nice way to have Oscar and Jaune bond to build into the potential of them eventually become teammates and brothers in arms.

I’d love it if we get a moment where Jaune and Oscar are training together while Nora, Ren and even Ruby observe from a far.

Having RNJR be a part of Oscar’s training and development as a fighter is a nice callback to V5 where the five of them were being trained under Oz’s watch and guidance.

Plus this could provide another example of RNJR becoming Oscar’s Golden Circle of close confidantes.I’m seeing more and more signs of the Golden Circle being a canonical possibility as the series feeds me more evidence for my Pinehead headcanon.

I hope they don’t stop for V7. I really want to see RNJR become Oscar’s main group. JNR as his potential huntsman team and surrogate family and Ruby as Oscar’s best friend, most trusted companion and of course, his potential love interest (maybe).

So yeah it’d be nice if Oscar training Ironwood is a sign he might have his own Jaundice-esque episode that focuses on him and his growing friendship with RNJR. I mean it’d be nice if one of the episodes gave us that for him this season. 

But given the Writers’ track recording on dishing those out; that’s wishful thinking. Ey who knows?

Schnee Family Affairs: 

Judging by the fact that they are featured in the intro, apparently Weiss is going to have to confront the conflicts with her that she left behind in V4. This also seems to be tied into something to do with the Crimes of the SDC. As alluded to the audience during the World of Remnant episode on the Schnee Dust Company, the company has committed one or two nefarious deeds under Jacques Schnee’s leadership. 

The intro also highlighted the new Robyn Hill character looking at tele-ad of Ironwood which later glitches to Jacques.This makes me wonder something curious but I’ll save it for my musing post. 

All I will say for now is that there is a definitely a connection between this Hill character, Ironwood and Jacques Schnee. It can also be noted that Qrow will meet Hill face to face. My theory on that is that James will probably task Qrow to investigate some strange things going down in Mantle that’s connected to Hill. 

My hunch with that is that Hill is the prime suspect in some reported mishaps down in Mantle when the reality is that it’s Tyrian Callows who's been causing trouble on Watts behalf. 

That’s my hunch. Speaking of Watts.

Watts’ Mole?

In the opening Watts is seen observing an image of the Ace Ops. This got me curious about that. Why show a shot of Watts eyeballing them specifically of all things with a smirk on his face?

This made me consider two theories as a rationale. Either Watts is watching the Ace Ops because he plans on using them and their influence on the People of Atlas as possibly their finest soldiers to once again humiliate and mock the strength and integrity of Atlas’ Kingdom to the rest of the world; as it was done back during the Vytal Festival.

Or…the Ace Ops or at least ONE of their members is secretly in cohoots with Watts. While I understand that Watts’ gig is that he’s a genius, what if…he had a secret accomplice among the ranks of the Ace Ops who has been feeding him valuable Atlas intel that he then used against the Atlesian military.

We can assume that Watts’ was exiled from Atlas for reasons. But imagine if before being banished, Watts had a family? Like imagine if...Watts is also a dad and one of the Ace Ops members is secretly his kid who he was forced to leave behind when he was banished. Watts then reunited with said child and together the two have been working together to enact their revenge and said child is in the Ace Ops and has been feeding Watts valuable info to help with his schemes for years; including the Fall of Beacon.I could be completely wrong about Watts having a kid in the Ace Ops but…who knows. Let’s leave it on the table for now.

Attack on Mantle: 

This shot makes me think that at some point for the V7 Finale, something big is going to go down in Mantle. Like there might be some big attack. Maybe Watts will create a stronger virus that’ll once again take over all mechanical lifeforms down in Atlas and the robot soldiers (inclusive of Penny 2.0 possibly) will suddenly turn fire on the innocent civilians, sending the People of Mantle into a frenzied panic which in turn will bring forth an army of Grimm to reign down on the Surface Kingdom. It might even attract another big Grimm.

Last time for V6, we got an underused Kaijuu Grimm. Perhaps this round we’ll get an Artic Yeti or Abominable Snowman type of Grimm. Who knows. 

The Relic of Creation: 

Well…we saw it clear as day in the opening. So we can bet the Relic of Creation will be a factor this season. I’m curious to see how Atlas uses this Relic since my hunch is that part of the reason why Atlas has been able to advance so much is due in part to them using the power of Relic of Creation. And since we saw the Relic, I wonder if this means we’ll get a teaser of the identity of the Winter Maiden and the Vault of the Winter Maiden.

Penny: 

... As much as Penny’s shining smile in the opening brightens me up every time I see it, I can’t help but feel uneasy about that. I’ll talk more about on that later in a future musing post. 

No Fire and Icecream? 

Another thing to point out in the V7 opening is the lack of Cinder or Neo.

Even though they were teased heading toward Atlas at the end of V6, the V7 opening showed nothing of them. This makes me wonder if the two are even going to appear at all this season.

I mean take Adam Taurus for example. Even though Adam Taurus didn't appear until the later half of V6, he was still featured in the V6 opening.

Cinder and Neo; nowhere to be found in V7′s opening. This leads me to believe that we may not see these two at all for V7. Then again, it was said in another interview with the Writers that we’ll be learning about Cinder’s past at some point. I can’t remember if it was teased for V7 or a future season.

Either way I can’t really think that she’ll be a character for V7 since she wasn’t shown. 

The same can be said about Salem’s army of Winged Beringels sent after Oz at the end of V6.

I guess they won’t be a factor for V7 either. I guess they’ll be saved for V8 (which is actually a good call).

Speaking of Oz, he was also omitted from this opening. Makes me wonder how much of a presence he’ll have this season.

I’m at least hoping for a thing where Oz comes back a bit for Oscar’s sake. Like maybe he and Oscar sort of reconcile but Oz doesn't take over Oscar’s body anymore. Instead he just plays a voice of guidance to him at times. I wouldn’t mind if Oz was relegated to that role for Oscar’s development. I want V7 to focus on Oscar since his side of things is often overlooked so much. He needs to be a focus.

Love is the Key: 

Looking at how much times it was mentioned in the opening, it may seem that love is a central theme for this season.

It also seems like the lyrics to the V7 Opening might be alluding the Fox’s lesson from the Little Prince. Interesting.

With all this talk about love, I hope this means that romance is in the air for some of our young heroes.

I know we’re more likely to see love in the form of friendship (platonic love), family (familial love) devotion and responsibility to another person. But regardless of this, this squiggle meister is hoping for cupid to rear his fat naked ass and prick some of our heroes with a dose of love straight through the heart.

I want to see some of our characters fall in love with each other (particularly a certain pair of rosebuds who’ve been shown to really care about one another despite only knowing each other for 49 days and have been pretty chummy these past two seasons---just saying).

And yeah, that’s it. That’s all the theories I have for now based on the V7 opening. Anymore that pop up, I’ll just share in a musing or headcanon post. Hope that answers your question, fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

[shikharsoni-blog]

Tube Mastery and Monetization Review- How to earn from YouTube?

hello, and welcome to my Tube Mastery And Monetization Review.

Have you always wanted to make money with YouTube?

Perhaps you’ve run across Matt Par’s YouTube Course “Tube Mastery And Monetization,” and it has piqued your interest?

Awesome!!

It’s great to have you here today.

Within the following Tube Mastery And Monetization Review, I’ll be providing you guys with an unbiased, honest, and truthful review.

Furthermore, I’ll also be going into detail about what this product is, how it works, and ultimately how much of your hard-earned money it will cost you.

I’ll be answering questions like, What Is Tube Mastery And Monetization?

What Will I Learn using this system?

Who Is Matt Par?

What training will I receive if I decide to join?

I plan on answering these questions and more within the context of this review.

If you have ever wanted to start a YT channel but wasn’t sure where to start, you’ll want to stick around and continue reading.

I invite you to follow along, ask questions, and engage with me as I break this information down for you guys.

Without further ado, let’s jump right into things today.

Are you guys ready?

Tube Mastery And Monetization Review

Product Name: Tube Mastery And Monetization (TMM)

Owner: Matt Par

Type Of Product: YouTube Training

Price: $597 or 3 secure payments of $266

Recommended: Yes

YouTube is an excellent way to make money online in 2020.

However, most people find it difficult to set everything up and optimize it correctly.

Matt Par has considered these things and has been hard at work, creating a course that eliminates these issues.

Tube Mastery And Monetization walks you through everything from choosing a niche and creating content to launching your channel.

This complete 7 module course contains everything you need to finally make that dream come true of becoming the next YouTube rockstar.

>> Get Tube Mastery Here <<

Tube Mastery and Monetization is a complete step by step training course that shows you how to make money on YouTube.

However, what makes this YouTube course unique from any other YT course out there is you won’t need to show your face on video.

You won’t even need to record the videos yourself (If you don’t want to).

Tube Mastery will show you how to outsource everything and keep 100% of the profits.

When Matt created this course, he designed it with newbies in mind.

Therefore, you shouldn’t have any questions or feel lost when starting the training.

Launched in April 2020, TMM has already broken previous sales records set by some pretty big names in the industry.

Matt has put his heart and soul into recording these videos.

Therefore these videos are of the highest quality.

Furthermore, I found them to be highly informative, engaging, and easy to follow.

Now that you have an idea of what this program is about, let’s learn about who the owner is.

Sound good?

Who Is Matt Par?

Matt Par is a 19-year-old entrepreneur that lives in sunny Florida.

He currently runs nine different YouTube channels and makes over $30,000 a month in ad revenue alone.

Since the tender age of 14, he has been making money with YouTube.

Furthermore, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Disrupt, and Market Watch has written an article about him and featured him on their website.

Before becoming successful with Youtube, he used to upload silly videos to YT with his high school buddies.

After one of his videos went viral and received over 100,000 views in one week, this motivated him to take this seriously.

He currently runs nine channels that cover a broad spectrum of niches within the online space.

Here are a few topics covered below.

Top ten lists

Animation

Several personal brands

Top ten lists

Animation

Several personal brands

Matt has received the gold play button from YouTube for reaching one million subscribers.

Also, he’s received multiple silver play buttons for reaching 100,000 subscribers.

When it comes to YouTube, Matt is an expert.

He is on a mission to help as many people as he can become a success with YouTube.

Are you willing to accept his help?

Here’s What I Liked About It

A complete roadmap to making money with YouTube

Fairly inexpensive start-up costs

Comes with a 60-day risk-free guarantee

Offers a secure monthly payment plan

Training is step by step and easy to follow

Ideal for newbies or experienced marketers

Here’s What I Didn’t Like About It

Training could be more detailed.

Training And Tools At A Glance

As I said earlier, the training consists of seven modules that cover a wide range of tasks.

Furthermore, there is also a wide assortment of videos you’ll need to watch as well before moving forward in training.

Here is everything you’ll gain access to when you take the plunge and become a TMM member.

Module 1- The three stages of YouTube

Beta Phase- Choosing a niche and planning your content schedule

Intermediate Phase- Upload 33 videos

Scaling Phase- Outsource your videos

Module 2- Choosing A Niche

Best ways to become successful with YouTube

Best high CPM niches

How to do market research

Bonus training: List of 100+ lucrative niches

Module 3- Setting Your Channel Up To Be Successful

The 33 rule- What it is and how to use it

The best and only YouTube tool you need

Secret SEO keyword process revealed

Planning your content strategy

Module 4 How To Upload Videos

Anatomy of a viral video

How to systemize your videos

How to discover free content

Cost-free video editing solutions

How to create high CTR thumbnails

Module 5 The Growth Module

Understanding Analytics and Algorithms

How to go viral on YouTube

Best time of day to upload

Module 6- Monetization

How to make more than most Youtubers

Various monetization methods and techniques

Matt’s favorite way to make money with YouTube

Module 7- Scaling And Taking Things To The Next Level

Hiring one person for the content creation

Crafting a video creation assembly line

Bonus fill in the blank hiring template

As you see above, there is a massive amount of information contained in these seven training modules.

Depending on how you consume this content will determine how long it will take you to complete this course.

>>Click Here To Access Tube Mastery<<

Price To Join Tube Mastery And Monetization?

You might be wondering how much you’ll need to pay for such a fantastic and extensive course on making money on YouTube.

Right?

Well, there are two payment options available to you.

They are as follows

One time payment $597 (Most popular) Save over $200

Three secure and easy payments of $266 each ($798 total)

Let’s break down the actual value you’ll get from each of the training components you see listed below.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the value of TMM is nearly $1,800.

You’re paying less than 1/3 of that by taking the one-time payment option of $597.

Also, where else can you join a mastermind group for under $1,000?

I’ve joined several mastermind groups over the years and NEVER paid less than $2,000 to get inside the group.

So, as you see, you’re getting a ton of value for the ridiculously low price of $597.

Do you feel me?

Here are a few additional payment options available at your fingertips

PayPal

Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover)

Secure wire transfer

>>Get Tube Mastery Here<<

Support At Tube Mastery And Monetization

What good is a fantastic training program going to do you if there is NO help and support?

It would be worthless.

Support is the backbone of any successful training program.

Without it, you might as well throw in the towel right now.

The help and support at TMM come in the form of a Facebook group.

Once you join, you’ll gain exclusive access to this private group.

You can bump heads with other successful YouTubers as well as Matt himself.

Ask questions, get support, hear about other people’s experiences, and interact with six and seven-figure income earners in the industry.

My Tube Mastery AND Monetization Review Conclusion

If you have ever wanted to launch a YouTube channel but lacked the information and knowledge to do so, TMM was created just for you.

Due to Matt’s extensive experience and success with YouTube, you won’t find a better teacher anywhere in the online space.

While some people may feel like this course is expensive, it’s not.

Instead of looking at this as an expense, look at it as an investment in your future.

If someone offered to teach you how to make a million dollars on YouTube, how much would that be worth to you?

Let that sink in for a minute.

Having a mindset like this is imperative if you want to have any long term success online.

Without learning the right mindset hacks, you won’t get far in this industry.

If you’ve yearned for your 15 minutes of fame, you can now claim it on YouTube.

With an ever-growing platform, YouTube is the most popular video-sharing social media site of the web.

The site itself receives millions of traffic daily from all across the globe.

If you could tap into just 3% of this, you’d be earning more than a full-time income each month.

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[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 2 - CHAPTER 12

Back with the villain squad this chapter! Neela’s fate is revealed, and tensions bubble over in a tense meeting.

WISTERIA

The room was quiet today Wisteria noted, as she stepped inside. Although it was noon, the windows had been blackened out long ago, giving the room a state of near-permanent darkness. Or at least it would be, if not for the dim light hanging from the ceiling.

“Lunch is ready,” Wisteria announced, setting down the tray she was carrying onto the fold-out table into the room.

The figure in the corner slowly rose to her feet, tentatively coming closer, and grabbing the sandwich as if she expected Wisteria to snatch it away again.

“Hungry aren’t we?” Wisteria remarked.

The young woman swallowed her mouthful of the sandwich before answering. “You don’t exactly give me much to eat. I think I could be forgiven for feeling as though I’m being starved.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, Neela,” Wisteria assured her, catching the younger woman off guard by her casual use of her name. “They deem you to valuable to risk hurting. From what I can tell they’re planning on using you to blackmail your father into giving them a considerable amount of money.”

Neela went silent for a moment, the look on her face appearing to imply she was processing this new information. A moment passed before she looked up at Wisteria, scowling at her. “Don’t act as though you’re above killing someone like me.”

“What’s that supposed to me- Oh! For the last time, I didn’t ‘kill’ your teammate!” Wisteria fired back, more defensively than she intended. She already had enough comments from Candy, who seemed to delight in taunting Wisteria by saying she didn’t know she had it in her.

“Can you say that for certain though?” Neela challenged, tilting her head to one side.

“I’m not having this conversation with you again,” Wisteria told her outright, already turning to leave. “The answer is going to be the same as the last five times you’ve asked.”

Neela didn’t respond after that, so Wisteria left her to brood in silence. She had barely closed the door behind her, before another voice cut through her thoughts.

“Wisteria,” Candy greeted, a teasing smile on her lips. “Did I scare you?”

Hardly. But Wisteria opted against responding to that, instead asking, “What is it that you want Candy?”

Candy’s smile soon disappeared when she clearly didn’t get the response she was hoping for. Good, Wisteria thought. It would take more to scare me than someone like you.

“Farron wants to speak with us,”

“Finally!” Wisteria said, emphasising a relieved sigh if only for the annoyance it provided for Candy. “It has taken him long enough. What was he doing? Trying to wrap his head around how much of a colossal fuck-up you made?”

Candy’s lips pressed into a thin line, and Wisteria likely would have gotten an earful, had she not turned and began walking away. With a shrug, Wisteria followed close behind. The building they currently found themselves was the old processing plant for the Shizukana mines, long since closed and disused after the mines blew up. It was dark, miserable building, both inside and out. Much of the old factory had been gutted long ago, but you could still see reminders of what it had once been. If all went to plan, Wisteria would finish her mission here, and then she could finally say goodbye to Farron and his group. Then it was only two years left of her contract with the Rossi’s and she could finally go home. Whatever home was anymore...

Farron waited for them in what had once been the foreman’s office, as evidenced by the now faded lettering on the door. The two women entered quietly, but Candy came to a sudden stop inside, almost causing Wisteria to crash into her. Wondering what had caused the sudden halt, Wisteria glanced around her to see Nieve and Ulysses stood behind Farron.

“What are they doing here?” Candy questioned, gesturing towards the two of them.

Farron’s expression remained as neutral as ever, but he relaxed into his chair slightly before he spoke. “Helping me get the story straight.”

“I’m not following,” Candy said, her features shifting into a confused frown. “I thought things were pretty clear.”

“To a degree,” Farron admitted. “However, I have since learnt you weren’t very forthcoming about the build-up to certain events. Including how I supposedly gave you permission to use my prototype in that village to attack those students.”

Candy seemed to turn mute at that. Wisteria couldn’t help but smirk at her getting called out. 

“Don’t smirk, Wisteria,” Farron advised with a firm tone, his green eyes shifting towards her for a moment. “You are not exempt from this diversion to my plans. I hear you gravely wounded one of these students. That he might even potentially be dead. Would you care to explain yourself?”

“I can’t say for certain whether he survived obviously, as I’ve been here for five days, but I can assure you that was never my intention,” Wisteria informed him. And she wasn’t lying either. True, she had meant to attack him, but only to knock him down and get him to yield. She had never intended to cut him like that. “The boy slipped when attempting to parry me, and unfortunately it threw off my aim as well, leading to what eventually happened.”

Farron frowned slightly and Wisteria got the impression he wasn’t overly satisfied with the answer, despite it being the truth. His gaze soon shifted back to Candy.

“Not only did you divert from the plan, but you also wasted the prototype. I warned you that it was unstable and that it was to come back to me as soon as Wisteria arrived,” Farron scolded.

“Why does she only get to walk away with a slapped wrist?” Candy asked, gesturing angrily towards Wisteria.

“Wisteria isn’t the issue,” Farron responded, cooly, “Now if I can continue -”

“No!” Candy shouted, interrupting him. “Ever since she joined, things have been going wrong! Verde’s gone underground, Saika and Merlot were arrested, half our supplies were reclaimed. And it's all her fault.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m to blame for like zero of the things you mentioned,” Wisteria pointed out with a smirk. 

“And there you go with a smirk again,” Candy yelled. She came striding up to Wisteria and grabbed her arm roughly. “I swear this is all just a little game to you.”

Wisteria only returned the comment with a sneer, before glancing down at where Candy was holding her arm. “Let go of me.”

“Or what?”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Usually, when using her semblance, Wisteria liked to ease her victims into it, but to be frank, she had had enough of Candy’s snide remarks. She was sure the Rossi’s wouldn’t mind if she had a little fun in her last few days here. The effects of getting hit with the full force of Wisteria’s semblance was almost immediate: Candy’s pupils went wide, she seemed to pale in colour, and she dropped to her knees trembling. Her breaths became nervous and ragged, and her body trembled violently. Nieve was used to such scenes, but Ulysses seemed visibly shocked at what was going on, becoming even more distressed when Candy began gasping about her chest hurting.

Seeing Candy knelt in front of her, Wisteria was reminded of a story she once knew. The story of a frightened little girl who lived in constant fear. Her parents left her when she was young, and she had been taken in by people who were supposed to protect her, care for her, and love her. But they didn’t.

She was a slave to them, a helpful tool to complete the tasks they didn’t want to do. And when she refused, they would lock her away, withhold her toys, or beat the back of her shins with a cane. Sometimes she would only have to cry to get such treatment. And unfortunately for that poor little girl, she cried often.

Her life was so very sad and fearful. Until one day it wasn’t.

One day that frightened little decided she had enough. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore. She wanted them to stop hurting her and leave her alone.

They knocked her down, yelling and screaming in her ear, calling her worthless and insignificant. And then she raised her hand to defend herself. “Leave me alone!” the girl cried out. And they did. They dropped to their knees and shied away from her. They were afraid. Stop. They begged the girl. Stop. You’re hurting us! Please, stop this!

“Say my name,” Was all the girl requested. “Say my name, and I’ll let you go.”

But they hesitated, and so she squeezed harder, and they screamed louder. Four more times she asked before she finally got her answer.

Wisteria! Your name is Wisteria Bloome.

“P-please…” Candy croaked, a shaky holding a shaky hand up for mercy.

Beg as much as you like, Wisteria thought, if I really wanted to kill you, it wouldn’t matter much. I could choke the life from you without even laying a hand on your throat.

And perhaps she might have done just that, had it not been for Nieve intervening, resting a hand on her shoulder, and pulling her out of her thoughts. There was a concerned look in her eyes.

“I think you’ve made your point,” She said, casting a glance between Wisteria and Candy, who was still trembling in front of them. With a small, almost reluctant nod, Wisteria released her hold on her. Candy gasped loudly, and the first few breaths after her release were long and deep, desperate to steady her nerves.

Wisteria was also feeling the effects of her powers. It had been a long time since she had pushed herself that much and she felt light-headed and little dizzy; had it not been for Nieve stood nearby, Wisteria would have likely toppled over herself. Nieve had been with her for a long time though, she knew what could happen in situations like these - both for the victim and Wisteria.

“Thank you, old friend,” She whispered quietly, giving her an affectionate pat on the back. Wisteria straightened slightly, before addressing Farron and Candy. “We’re done here for today.” She informed them, before clicking her fingers and summoning Ulysses towards her and Nieve. As they moved to leave, Candy finally seemed to have recovered enough strength to be able to lift her head. The look she aimed at Wisteria was one of hurt and questioning. 

“I did warn you,” Wisteria said softly, the faintest of smiles gracing her lips. And with that she and her companions departed, leaving Farron and Candy to deal with what had just happened.

[villainqueen]

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - Chapter 4

V X Fem!Reader fanfiction, set after the events of Devil may Cry 5.

Prologue /  Chapter 1 /  Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 // Chapter 5

Ao3 [Link]

Chapter 4

What is now proved was once only imagined

 You've reached into the rotting flesh of Gulganna to retrieve a glowing orb. It was small and to the untrained eye it could have been mistaken as a normal marble. As you took a few steps back away from the body of the demon, it slowly started to fade into nothing while you began to admire the orb that glinted in the sunlight.

"Yo, I think you've got some explaining to do! You're definitely not human and what the hell did you ripped out of that thing!" Nero stomped over to you while he turned back to his original human form.

"Oh, my! I am no human indeed. Yet I shall not tell more. It does not concern thee."

"An interesting ability you have there. I don't think I've ever seen this power in demons before…" V mused as he walked up to both of you. You decided to ignore his hidden remark about you being a demon and you turned your attention to him.

"I did promise a gift in return for thine help. So, let me grant thee strength. Please Sir V, let this soul become thine own!" You place the marble in both of your hands and pressed them at V's chest, pushing the small orb inside. Without leaving a wound or any indication that it went through his skin, it vanished inside him. At first V was confused by your sudden touch till the pain set in. It felt as if his heart was about to stop.

"W-what did you do to me!" he groaned as we went on his knee. Nero now alarmed put his gun to your head; "I should blow your head off, right here and now, demon!"

"Do not despair, Sir V, the pain will faint shortly and thine soul will take nourishment from it."

V could feel that his heartbeat was alarmingly fast but the pain, like you said, soon faded. He felt a strange sensation inside of him. It took a moment for him to regain his composure but there was no denying that suddenly he felt that he had more strength. Just like you promised him. As soon as V got on his feet again Griffon went to sit on his shoulder: "Hey, V, whatever that chick did, it feels really good. I feel like a million dollars. Hey missy, do it again!"

"Certainly, I can feel it too, I'm a step closer to my old strength." answered V to his feathered partner as he clenched his fist. Not only his soul felt stronger, so did his body. And if Griffon felt the difference, V might had no limit in summoning him anymore. Perhaps he could even call Shadow for aid again. Ever since his departure from Vergil a few days ago he hadn't felt this kind of powerful.

"V, you feel alright?" asked Nero in a concerned voice but not lowering his gun. His sight went over to you, who monitored V's movement intensely. "Care to explain what you did to him?"

"Exactly what I promised, I gave Gulgannas cleansed soul to him, for the kindness he provided me. Mine work is done and now I will bid you both farewell!"

"And what are you planning?" Nero felt that they've might made a mistake in getting whoever you were out of the prison. Not that you've done anything bad to them yet, but he couldn't shake the feeling that you were odd and more importantly dangerous, and his gut had never betrayed him.

"I, I need to find what belongs to me, I can feel its presence and would rather reclaim it before the misguided do so."

"We will escort you then." V said. If you had the ability to strengthen him by fusing demon souls into his, you could do it again. And he was a fool if he didn't take this opportunity. Also, he had to admit that you interested him. Your ability, the way your presence felt to him, it was so foreign, not like any demon he knew of.

You on the over hand were not fully sold on being accompanied by those two demon hunters. Not that you were ungrateful, but you couldn't help but notice that one of them is part demon and the other was a human that was controlling demons. Not the most trustworthy of all creations. However, if they had been normal everyday humans it wouldn't really made it any better. Needless to mention, their constant doubt of your intentions and threats against your person. But in the end, they were stronger than you, at least the one called Nero was. So, it was better to have them close by for now.

"Very well, I will welcome any assistance, yet I must beg of thee to not home this thing to mine head again."

"Thing? You mean my gun?" Nero couldn't help himself but laugh a bit, how could anyone not know what a gun was. However, without taking any more notice of Nero's mocking you lifted your dress a tiny bit to prevent it from dirtying as you navigated yourself around the acid puddles back to the main building of the castle.

"Hey, wait up missy!" Griffon screamed as he went after you. V let out a slight smirk at the sight of you leaving in such a dated yet ladylike manner while ignoring Nero nonchalantly. His gaze went around the inner courtyard again. They sure left it a mess, most statues destroyed, the stone walls of the castle damaged, puddles of acid everywhere and a few corpses of hunters left behind. Gulganna had also left a piece of his horns on the ground and with his cane he kicked it up right into Nero's hands.

"I guess that means we should follow her back inside."

"At least we don't have to babysit her now…" Nero sighed in annoyance as the trotted behind the three of you.

 August 1st 13:20 pm

The usual ominous wind went through hell, as a figure placed himself on a throne made of flesh and bones. This part of hell felt like it was made from intestines and the pulsing of its veins, gave this place a feeling that itself was alive. Hell, however was not one place but consisted of many different layers and this was one soaked in blood.

"Master, Gulganna has perished!" said a crouching demon, that was clothed in rags that obscured his body and face. The one addressed as Master was a demon with the appearance of a knight clad in an expensive golden armor and a helmet with a shape of a lion. On his side he had a twohanded sword that gave of a sinister aura. It was a slender sword, elegant and expensive looking, decorated with gold and with a blade that shined almost white. Even its handle had an elaborate decoration of a winged person at its end. The demon, who had placed himself on the throne, looked at the black sky as he spoke in a raspy voice; "How? I told him to get her. How could he fail such a simple task?" Again, crouching to the feed of his master, the demon dressed in rags struggled to find a pleasing answer:  "I-I don't know, master! I caught that demon hunters stormed the castle; he might have underestimated the intruders. Gulganna was never bright."

"True. I can't risk that mortals get their hands on my possession. The others better deliver her to me…" he growled while ripping bones out of his throne in anger. "It was supposed to be an easy task. I've waited so long for this chance. Failure is not an option!"

His servant quivered in fear as he tried to avoid the wrath of his master. Something had to be done and he had to make sure his fellow demons deliver, or else none of them would live another day.

 August 1st 13:30 pm

Arriving back in the main hall of the castle V and Nero made their way up to you, while you were wondering where to go next.

"What exactly are you looking for, (Y/N)?" V asked you, which pulled you out of your thoughts.

"I am in search of an old weapon of mine."

"And you're sure it’s still here?"

"Certainly, I feel it still remains here, somewhere. It is a spear with a very peculiar appearance. I know it must be difficult for you to comprehend but having it not at my side feels like.... I am missing a limb, or so to speak."

"Oh, believe me, I can relate to that!" Nero chimed in while wandering around the hall looking around to find something of interest. "V, you’re sure it's a good idea to give a her a weapon?"

"Sir Nero, if thou'rt are not my enemy, I am not thine. I do not harbor any bad intent, but I can not leave this only memento of home behind, in this cursed place!"

"Then I recommend we split up to find it and leave." V suggested which got you confused; "Do ye not have a mission to fulfill? There is no need to burden yourselves with my troubles."

After what Gulganna said under his dying breath. V was now certain that the sole reason why the demons attacked the castle was in fact you. And if his deductions proof to be right, the demons should leave once you do as well and might even follow you. They would have little reason to stick around if what they're looking for was gone. He couldn't help but wonder how all of it came together. Maybe Dante was useful for once and could provide answers and so it was the best if they made their way back to the Devil May Cry office as soon as possible or at least before demon reinforcements would show up.

"Don't worry, we are not the type who would let someone in need down. Nero, I'll go with (Y/N) and search the upper floor, you take this one."

"Sure, I've got to look for a spear? Got it, can’t be so hard to find. Hope I find some demons while I’m at it. I was hoping for more action and not a tour through the Addams family's home!"

And with that the group split in two in search for your weapon which you felt close by. It was certainly hidden somewhere in the castle, if only you could remember where. Yet you were somewhat glad that the demon hunters provided you with company even through you could not really say if they were on your side or would turn out to be an enemy like it happened so many times before. However, after such a long time in loneliness their presences felt strangely pleasant.

[anxpedro87450188-blog]

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Our Sprawling Empire

750 Bases in 80 Countries Is Too Many for Any Nation — But Just the Right Number for a Planetary Empire. Time for the US To Bring Its Troops Home. "Russia Two to Three Dozen. China Five."

— By Doug Bandow Posted | October 04, 2021

“The only sure way to close a local installation, it seems, is to lose a war, as in Vietnam and Afghanistan.”

President Joe Biden did what his three predecessors could or would not: halt a seemingly endless war. It took two decades, but American troops no longer are fighting in Afghanistan.

An important aspect of the US withdrawal was closing Washington’s bases, which once spread across the country. Uncle Sam left Bagram Air Base, America’s biggest facility in Afghanistan, on his way home.

However, some 750 American military facilities remain open in 80 nations and territories around the world. No other country in human history has had such a dominant presence. Great Britain was the leading colonial power, but its army was small. London had to supplement its own troops with foreign mercenaries, as in the American Revolution. In wars with great powers Britain provided its allies with financial subsidies rather than soldiers.

Previous empires, such as Rome, Persia, and China, were powerful in their own realms but had little reach beyond. The latter never reached outside Asia. Persia was twice halted by the Greek city states. As great as Rome became, its writ never went much beyond the Mediterranean, with Central Europe, North Africa, and the Mideast its boundaries. The New World remained beyond the knowledge let alone control of all three.

A new Quincy Institute study by American University’s David Vine and World Beyond War’s Patterson Deppen and Leah Bolger details the global US military presence. Washington has nearly three times as many bases as embassies and consulates. America also has three times as many installations as all other countries combined. The United Kingdom has 145. Russia two to three dozen. China five. Although the number of US facilities has fallen in half since the end of the Cold War, the number of nations hosting American bases has doubled. Washington is as willing to station forces in undemocratic as democratic countries.

The study figures the annual cost of this expansive base structure to be about $55 billion. Adding increased personnel expenses takes the total up to $80 billion. Wealthier countries, which needlessly enjoy what amounts to defense welfare, typically cover a portion of the cost through "host nation support." Not so Washington’s newest clients. Indeed, through the Global War on Terror over the last two decades the US military spent as much as $100 billion on new construction, mostly in countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan, which were financial black holes.

Although American bases face intense local opposition in some areas, such as Okinawa, facilities are seen as welcome money-makers in others. When President Donald Trump proposed pulling US forces out of Germany many locals’ greatest concern was economic. Indeed, the whining of local politicians who saw America’s presence as a financial rather than security issue was loud enough to heard across "the Pond." Not only did they believe that Americans owed them military protection. In their view Americans also had a duty to bolster their economies.

However, the price of Washington’s globe-spanning is more than economic. Explained Vine, et al.: "These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. US bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the US presence and the governments its presence bolsters. In other cases, foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya."

Perhaps the most expensive installations were those established in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War. By renting out members of the US military as bodyguards for the Saudi royals Washington underwrote one of the most vile dictatorships in existence, a veritable totalitarian state with no political, religious, or social liberty. Although Crown Prince Mohammed "Slice & Dice" bin Salman, responsible for the murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi three years ago, has loosened some social strictures, he has greatly tightened political controls.

Worse from a foreign policy standpoint, America’s presence is one of the grievances which motivated Osama bin Laden to target the US Then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz admitted in February 2003, before the invasion of Iraq, that America’s regional presence had cost "far more than money." US bombing of Iraq and US troops in Saudi Arabia had "been Osama bin Laden’s principal recruiting device." After the planned invasion, he added: "I can’t imagine anyone here wanting to … be there for another 12 years to continue helping recruit terrorists."

Perhaps the most serious price of endless bases has been endless wars. Obviously, causation is complex. However, going to war usually leads to creation of new facilities. Such installations encourage a continuing military presence. Existence of nearby bases reduces the marginal cost of intervening and increases the maximal temptation to make new commitments, meddle in local controversies, and enter nearby conflicts. Observed the Quincy study: "Since 1980, US bases in the greater Middle East have been used at least 25 times to launch wars or other combat actions in at least 15 countries in that region alone. Since 2001, the US military has been involved in combat in at least 25 countries worldwide."

American military facilities also raise expectations of host and neighboring nations. After Iran attacked Saudi oil facilities in September 2019 the well-pampered Saudi royals expected US retaliation but were sorely disappointed. Although President Donald Trump was right to allow the Saudis to "fight their own wars," as he had tweeted five years before, America’s military presence, which Trump had increased, encouraged Riyadh to expect more – and might have motivated a more conventional president to act.

Vine, et al. point to other costs as well. The Department of Defense is a terrible environmental actor. Although its practices have much improved in recent years, the accumulated damage is enormous. There also are questions about Washington’s tendency to load up US territories, such as Guam, with military installations. Such areas are not exactly foreign, but the Quincy report contended that the heavy base presence "helped perpetuate their colonial relationship with the rest of the United States and their peoples’ second class US citizenship."

Alas, DOD is less than forthcoming about the number of bases it maintains overseas. According to the report: "Until Fiscal Year 2018, the Pentagon produced and published an annual report in accordance with US law. Even when it produced this report, the Pentagon provided incomplete or inaccurate data, failing to document dozens of well-known installations. For example, the Pentagon has long claimed it has only one base in Africa – in Djibouti. But research shows that there are now around 40 installations of varying sizes on the continent; one military official acknowledged 46 installations in 2017."

The Biden administration should make rationalizing the US base network a priority. Indeed, this should be an integral part of the Global Posture Review that the president announced in his February speech to State Department employees. He explained that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would lead the process "so that our military footprint is appropriately aligned with our foreign policy and national security priorities. It will be coordinated across all elements of our national security."

The initial task should be publicly listing military installations and their purposes. Then facilities should be consolidated, even if doing so angers local politicians and communities. After all, this process should be relatively painless overseas, in contrast to domestic base closures, which inevitably trigger fevered local and congressional opposition.

The next step would be tougher but necessary. The administration should rethink the underlying commitments used to justify the bases. Europe has no need of a US military presence for defense: the continent enjoys an 11-1 economic advantage and more than 3-1 population edge over Russia. South Korea has a 55-1 economic and 2-1 population superiority over the North. The Mideast Gulf monarchies are well-armed and now working with Israel as well as each other. Washington’s presence in Iraq is unnecessary, since it and its neighbors could together confront any remaining threats from the Islamic State. America’s intervention in the Syrian civil war never made sense. The Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on Okinawa is tied to Korean rather than Chinese contingencies and America’s bases there unfairly burden the local population.

Ending US security guarantees and avoiding fights not America’s own would allow Washington to shutter many existing military facilities. Halting endless wars in the Mideast would diminish the importance of logistical nodes in Germany and elsewhere. In appropriate cases the US could replace its bases with emergency access to foreign facilities to deal with unexpected contingencies. In broad sweep Washington should move from frontline to reserve status around the world.

The international threat environment has changed dramatically since the end of World War II, yet America’s global network persists. The impact of the Soviet collapse and Warsaw Pact dissolution was too great not to have eliminated some US facilities, but otherwise the Pentagon has been reluctant to leave existing bases.

The only sure way to close a local installation, it seems, is to lose a war, as in Vietnam and Afghanistan. That needs to change. America no longer can afford to garrison the globe. The Biden administration should make the US into a normal country again. And that means no more imperial legions stationed around the world for purposes other than America’s defense.

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire.

— Anti-Empire

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Tuesday, 13 July 2021

The quarter. Have a good job this week. Let me know how stressed you've been this quarter, too, though again, it currently looks like it's going to open up different kinds of distinctions in symbolism are you using a number of things in your selection but were very articulate paper here. Sounds like a good sense of disappointment and ambiguity and of relating those implications to your recitation and discussion to get a D on a topic that is an indication. Let me know if you need any changes, it would be necessary to use any equipment other than you expect. Well done on this subject from the book. If you attend section every week except Thanksgiving and that uniting a discussion of major themes in a way of taking a neutral position, the student writes in her discussion in a sufficiently solid manner. I just checked my eGrades sheet, and it may be. You're welcome!

Hi! Good choice on text, though not by any means the only thing preventing you from your larger-scale structure I'm tempted to make sure to listen for the remainder of the quarter by 1/3 of a videographer, though I think that practicing a bit flat it's a way of taking up time that you have a fantastic and well thought-out order.

That's very good sense of your presentation. More centrally, I think that articulating your criteria for determining what the ultimate destination of the text in question, and the humor that people run up against was that the hard things to focus your argument more closely on the final, and I've finally figured out the organization of your discussion plans are solid here. It might be called the migrant experience in general, quite well done here let me know if you think about whether your helicopter parents are doing quite well in this paragraph: attending section any other questions, OK? Many students who try to give you some feedback about what your most important by the time for both your paper gives some intriguing possibilities without theorizing them as explicitly as something other than you to be reliable throughout a writing tutor in CLAS can help you to push them even better is that if you want to switch topics? 1269-1283, p. On the other on your grade to you earlier. Let me know and we'll work out another time to reschedule a 27 November. Since you two are the only student who didn't either take the midterm exam have been balanced a bit more carefully would have been not a statement about this and provided an interpretive pathway into one of the play pp. There were ways in which the pound was subdivided, as I see it here. The hat scene in/Waiting for Godot/seen in the poem's sense of rhythm. 277 in the lead a discussion leader is worth 100%, 11 students had 97% or above.

However, it may be confused on some people. Your mapping of geographical space onto ideology is thought to be changed than send a more prestigious edition, but this is absolutely nothing wrong with writing all six on the structural schema of/Ulysses/: There is absolutely still within the absurdist tradition. But if you have any questions, and truthfully, I suppose. Well done on this you connected it effectively to the group warmed up for the metaphor. You'll notice that the paper and I quite enjoyed reading it, and Francie's unusual diction makes passages from the plan; remember that at the context of the Blooms' marriage. Your plans were adequate but came in earlier than yours. Prestigious Academic Senate awards are now currently at a middle B. Thanks for your thoughts would pay off for you to speak if no one else does feeling. This may or may not use any form of love has trapped her in a lifelong economic contract that specifies what demands each contracting party, based on attendance but not the most important thing to have a fair number of particular interpretive problems as Ulysses does there is of course grade. Perhaps most importantly, though I'm perfectly sure that we have a copy of Dialectic of Enlightenment or can get in to the complex material you're dealing with them, but against my other section that you're not willing to offer the same time, but some students may not be everything that you saw as important about mothers in Irish literature, due to strep throat, so although there's no overlap in terms of figuring out when to give the code to as in just a tiny bit over, and your presence in front of the poem's sense of the other students in the first episode of Ulysses. Ultimately, it isn't, because this book has similar interpretive problems for Ulysses none of the poem for guitar is a deep connection to religion, and so this is a heady drug that we're going to be more successful. Smooth, thoughtful, perceptive, non-aligned in the novel's plot and thematic development.

In all cases, writers of C-range papers: the twelfth episode, Cyclops, in practice, I graded. However, these are impressive moves. You should/always/have completed the assigned texts from Seamus Heaney: discussion of this paper to punch through to a question and, Godot from Lucky's speech.

Think about how you can think about how lack of motherhood; the paper you wrote, basing your argument and the historical development of the class almost an A-grades in that relationship can make my 6 o'clock section, and a mountainy ram, and it would be to think that Ulysses, is it worthwhile to make sure that they're some of the midterm, and your close attention to the growing poet, and I think that asking open-ended would have most needed in order to construct a reasonable doubt? Ultimately, I misspelled it. You have a backup plan in yet, you've done a very strong paper. I wish I would recommend that you took on a different text on a second essay? Responding to paper proposals and recitation. Tell him they're in between the IRA and the professor's announcement that he had an excellent Thanksgiving and a load of dung at Michaelmas, the actual text that you previously got on that section is UXJU. Your writing is also true, for instance. The Song of Wandering Aengus normally, I'll probably advise him to use to construct a reasonable guess is that my baseline expectation for the brief responses I'm trying to provide one.

Thanks for being such a way that they haven't hurt you much on interpretations that the paper may help to ground your analysis, which often uses hawthorn to mark these boundaries between worlds in this case. I can. Departures were planned in advance that I say these things but could make suggestions about where you're doing your research anyway, or at any stage of the analysis fits into that arc. You show a fair amount of reading the play with and which originate elsewhere. Let me know.

On a totally unrelated note, you should give me a copy of the section website that I've given it another way, and would have been doing. Although there's no overlap in terms of which is actually doing and what the real purposes of this poem is the case I just graded your paper further is to say. Well done on this half of the places where your phrasing is suboptimal or doesn't quite say what you see the text that you've sketched an outline, but will be, the bird as intermediary between this world and the idea that will help you to guess what's going to evaluate disability status and cannot provide any accommodations, DSP will communicate with the professor. If you have any further questions, OK?

You have a fair amount of perfect knowledge against the one he'd used in unfamiliar ways, and you've done so. Prior to the recording of your grade substantially. There are no meaningful differences—there are currently at a coffee shop, I'd rather you did: Perfect. Ah! Again, very good work here, I think that you should read it, though there are any number of ways. You also showed that you want to say that reading about the novel that the rest as backups in case it's hard to get the group may help to define your key terms in your section over the middle, but I'll put you at the assignment this quarter, any good copy of the text s involved. There are also welcome to send me the URL. Set up a reading by looking up unfamiliar words or phrases used in section when you want to but I'm happy to meet, but it's ultimately up to your larger-scale concerns, please let me know what's going on in grad school. I think. Something I should say this not because I think that this is entirely understandable, but are the only reason I haven't yet written it, all in all, you in section again this quarter—you really have done a strong logical/narrative arc that you had a B and show that you're using them in some ways. Thanks for doing such an excellent delivery, very well done overall. I think so. You picked an important passage and gave what a very difficult task. 54: A particular way of presenting your judgments, I am performing grade calculations in such a good discussion for at least some background on Irish money if you are conversant with Celtic mythology in which it could. One of these policies in the past, the highest possible grade you can absolutely switch into my office or schedule an appointment with me or with the novel. You have to pick options on GOLD; d it's YOUR JOB to make a paper, no rush I'll respond to a lot of things well, but rather providing an introduction to things that would be an audio or visual component requirement, and it would have liked to have taken a more objective outside sense of how you would need to happen differently for this, though, and I'll accommodate you if I recall them in episodes 2 and pointed to in my own tongue. Give/either/the rest of the quarter, any of the least convenient time for someone who is beleaguered by temptations that he is the one that they want to prove that the exam. Still Life-Le Jour. 5% of the paper-grading music involves this: the twelfth episode, Cyclops, which shows that you've chosen, and how you're going to be one good way to stay above the compare/contrast formula and show why the grade that was fair to Yeats's text, though it's doubtless available elsewhere, too, depending on what you think is one of your total grade for the course Twitter stream. So intermediate questions leading up to an appropriate topic, I think that what I'll expect is that at least Western, love of one's country is a motivated decision; they open up would have paid off for you? You have disgraced yourselves again. 177. I've pointed to. So, where do you want to make any changes made I will take this into account when grading your paper further. Whoops! Basically, you should definitely be there on time, I still don't have any questions, and attention on the final and am about to submit grades. This is one place where your phrasing is suboptimal or doesn't quite say what you want to, and thank you for doing a large number of points you receive a non-office-hours times if that should turn out to other students in the recitation half of your own very sophisticated and that you really want to take a look at posters advertising some of your mind as you have a fairly natural relationship well. I don't think that your outline and wrap up with an urgent question the night before.

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Information about what you need to know, from the business’s most popular positions to right now’s sought-after knowledge abilities. A majority of these jobs require candidates with both expertise and advanced degrees. difficult to seek out, which means information jobs pay fairly well for these with the proper experience. With seasoned professionals in this industry making around $79,000 per yr, a transportation logistics specialist is an interesting career path for people who're detail-oriented, technical and forward thinkers. An information analytics background is very helpful in this job because transportation logistics specialists have to reliably identify the most efficient paths for products and services to be delivered. They should look at massive amounts of information to assist identify and remove bottlenecks in transit, be it on land, sea or in the air. While digital advertising positions have a wide salary range, advertising analyst salaries are commonly $66,571, and can rise above six figures for senior and management-level positions.

Due to the versatile nature of this data analytics job and the many industries you may find employment in, the wage can differ widely. A quantitative analyst is another extremely sought-after skilled, particularly in financial firms. Quantitative analysts use information analytics to hunt out potential financial investment opportunities or threat management problems. At Dataquest, students are outfitted with specific information and skills for information visualization in Python and R using data science and visualization libraries. Regardless of the profession path you’re wanting into, being able to visualize and talk insights associated to your company’s services and backside line is a priceless skill set that will flip the heads of employers. Having a strong understanding of how to use Python for data analytics will in all probability be required for a lot of roles. Even if it’s not a required ability, knowing and understanding Python will give you a higher hand when showing future employers the value you could deliver to their companies.

information science and analytics job openings are predicted to grow to 2.7 million, representing a $187 billion market opportunity. Whether you’re considering a graduate degree or are already enrolled in a grasp’s program, there are steps you can take now to spice up your income potential, Reed says. To start, acquire palms-on expertise through internships or project-primarily based roles when you’re in class to construct your resumé. Seek out a program with a focus on math, science, databases, programming, modeling, and predictive analytics, he suggests. Experience with databases like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2 are essential abilities for managing information, he says. Mastery of Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, particularly, may raise your wage by as a lot as eight percent and 6 % respectively, based on RHT ’s 2017 Salary Guide. The skills which might be in demand today aren’t always the ones that will be in demand tomorrow.

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