#28 Cities

[fountainpenguin]

Found this in my drafts so I guess we know what's coming after all!

[tswiftupdatess]

Taylor Swift on the field celebrating the Chiefs win today with Travis Kelce!

(On January 28, 2024)

[cileklipalet]

[northgazaupdates]

28 March 2024

Photographer Shadi Mahmoud documents severe damage by the IOF to Star Tower in western Gaza City. To understand the scale, note how small the people look as they climb over the rubble.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shadi Mahmoud (@shadi.mahmoud420)

[nocternalrandomness]

T-28 Trojan and fireworks during the 2024 Sun 'n Fun Aerospace Expo at Paradise City Field, FL

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Life cover from December 28, 1936 featuring members of the Metropolitan Opera's ballet company practicing. This company, called the American Ballet, eventually morphed into the New York City Ballet.

Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt via Life magazine Instagram

[greendayauthority]

Pabellón Oeste del Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico, 28 October 1998

[can-they-assemble-ikea-furniture]

They would NOT try, and it would NOT go well if they did

[sawvage]

[k20spock]

[ID: A colored digital drawing of Klaasje Amandou from Disco Elysium, done in similar colors and style to her ingame portrait. She is seen from the side and the chest up. She is smoking a cigarette. Her head is tilted slightly upwards and her eyes are obscured in shadow. End ID.]

very quick drawing of miss oranje disco dancer who i have not been able to stop thinking about since i played disco elysium a week ago. not at all my usual style but it was fun!!

[fountainpenguin]

While I'm sad you're not going to continue 28 Cities, could you answer some questions about it for closure sake?

DID RHYME GET AWAY FROM ZEPHYR?????? Because you kinda left off with them being set up to work at a hotel thanks to Rhyme's grand parents. Part of me is wondering that the reason why Rhyme and Reason moved through so many cities is because Zephyr is chasing them… I assume this might end with Rhyme fighting him in a climactic battle or something.

What made them want to become villains? You kinda set it up in earlier chapters with Reason pickpocketing the rude lady on the train and…. Rhyme's entire childhood of being raised by a supervillain and forced to train. What was the thing that made them become villains?

I believe you mentioned a misadventure with stealing a blimp. Do you mind elaborating on that?

What made them choose the names Rhyme and Reason instead of Super Strong Woman With Freeze Breath and Normal Guy?

Hi, thanks for the interest in my story! Although I'm not writing "28 Cities" at this time, I haven't truly abandoned it.

In truth, I went into that story without a plan because "28 Cities" was a "drabble a day" project I was trying to do, posting one chapter per day. I burned out pretty quickly because I genuinely struggle to write short things and I always wanted the one-shots to be longer, and I was getting overwhelmed and disappointed with it. I don't consider that story a great reflection of my writing abilities. I decided to put it on hold until I was ready to look at it again.

I do like the WordGirl universe and I explored it more in my one-shot "AlgoRhythm," but part of the problem was that the strict schedule I was holding myself to with "28 Cities" didn't give me enough space to worldbuild the way I wanted to. I have a lot of ideas about the world, like charm schools and genetics, and I wanted to write a bigger 'fic to explore those ideas instead.

I'm working towards that goal now with my multi-chapter Kid Math 'fic "Factor It In," which I started back in 2018. I made good progress with it back then and even drew a cute cover image I still love, but I never posted it because it felt choppy and inauthentic to my style, and I hated that.

Earlier this year, I did tidy the first few chapters of it and they're officially part of my weekly 2023 'fic schedule now ("Factor It In" Chap 1 goes up on FFN/AO3 on June 16th!) so that makes me happy :) I've got two chapters fully written (but at the end of Chapter 1 I have a note asking readers for advice on chapter length so it might end up being three chapters already done). Hopefully people enjoy that, I'm glad I had the chance to revisit it.

In short, "28 Cities" is not a dead project in my mind. It's just not part of my plans this year because it would take a ton of mental effort to plan and write for, and it won't fit in my 2023 plans.

I didn't really plan anything for "28 Cities" so you're probably not going to like my answers, but hopefully they provide some closure anyway.

---

In response to your questions:

Did Rhyme get away from Zephyr? - Probably, but I never planned it one way or another. Rhyme and Reason ran off a week or two before graduation and I doubt he's still chasing them when they're in their... 30s? He'd be in his 60s.

/It's been a long time since I saw the episode so forgive me if they had a canon age that I forgot. I'm not sure what I headcanon Rhyme and Reason as, but maybe 30s since they've lived in 28 places and it cracks me up to imagine world-weary Reason painstakingly decorating every single apartment until Rhyme blows it for them.

I don't want to commit to that for sure, though my heart will always belong to "Rhyme and Reason are legitimately adults who are platonic best friends and no one even bothers telling them they're "too young and will change their minds about being platonic when they're older" because yes they really are adults and they're happy." As far as I'm concerned, they're zucchinis and I love that for them <3 Gosh I wish that were me.

To me, Rhyme and Reason were always bouncing around because Reason wanted to put down roots and Rhyme didn't, but I never thought about her dad pursuing them. Zephyr's kind of a bitter and broken man who already lost his wife and is on awful terms with his in-laws after taking the villain route. He probably WOULD want to attack Reason for "stealing his daughter" and I can imagine Reason getting beaten up badly while Rhyme stands in shock, but I'm not sure how I'd actually play it if I went that route.

To me, Zephyr was more of the inciting incident that pushed Amy and Tyler out of their hometown, but I didn't really intend for him to be the climax. Since it was a one-shot series I didn't really see a need for a climax, but if I were to revisit it years later, I might try building towards one. Who knows.

What made them become villains? - I didn't plan that either. It's already established in WordGirl canon that "superheroes usually work for free." I built this into the backstory of Rhyme's dad (i.e. a hero who became a villain to feed his daughter after the death of his wife). In addition to Reason pickpocketing that lady who was rude to Rhyme, like you mentioned, I already painted Rhyme with a violent nature (i.e. destroying prom after her dad banned her from going) so they were probably just struggling to survive. I'm not really sure yet.

Rhyme dealt with a lot of turmoil growing up, being born to a superhero who turned to a life of crime, and she looked down on villainy for a long time. In "28 Cities," I wrote about how she ran from home and hid at her grandparents' place, and they helped her and Reason get that hotel job. I like to think these early years were focused on her and Reason building their friendship, but the crime didn't come until later. I'm not sure what sparked it, but it was absolutely after they were already "ride or die" for life.

My guess is they were probably hungry and couldn't pay rent and probably had medical bills or something [i.e. Reason getting beaten up by Zephyr so Rhyme swallows her pride and does everything she can for him even though she hates it at first] and Rhyme's grandparents were already out of their lives for a long time, so things just got tough.

Don't take this as my official canon because I still want the option to change it later if I want to, but that's a possibility for your question.

Stealing a blimp - I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you're referring to. I did a CTRL-F in the full version of the story and I didn't see anything about a blimp. I checked my OG doc and my blog, but didn't see anything in either of those places. It doesn't sound familiar.

What made them choose the names Rhyme and Reason? - I never decided, though I do headcanon that Rhyme was rhyming even when she was young, so her name was inspired by that. The phrase "rhyme and reason" is pretty common, so once Rhyme got her name, Tyler was probably like "Yeah, Reason suits me." He's the kind who couldn't care less at first, but ends up proud of his name. I'm sure he's the one who designed their logo, too.

Thank you for reaching out, and I'm sorry if this reply is less than satisfactory. "Rhyme and Reason" is my favorite episode and I love them dearly, and I'd rather focus on other projects that are more important to me right now, and maybe do "28 Cities" justice at a later time, and not butcher it in a rush <3 It's not dead to me, it just won't fit into my plans for 2023.

[tswiftupdatess]

Taylor Swift with Travis Kelce at the Super Bowl!

(On January 28, 2024)

[twoseparatecoursesmeet]

Ocean City, 1968

[enlighten3d]

okay, coin rant is NOW, apparently. edit: just finished typing this up, its really fucking long, ill throw in a readmore. its. i have so many thoughts about this guy

i fucking love him????

see, hes this annoying fucking warden guy, too egoistic and sure of himself at the start. bullying the fuck out of the miners for no reason, unnecessarily rude, i legit hated him at the start!

but. hes trapped like all of the miners are? hes trapped, under reddoons thumb, he cant leave, hes got his own quota to fill (both metaphorically and not). he knows that hes in a fucked position, is weak, but doesnt want the prisoners to see that bcs theyre meant to be afraid of him. so he puts on that persona. if hes loud and fucked up and rude thats him exercising power over everyone; they cant hurt him and overthrow him if hes a big mean guy who talks down to them (its a) the cycle of abuse, b) toxic masculinity)

he is TRAPPED, JUST LIKE THEM. but he cant see that because its that us vs them mentality that hes forced into at the start. he has to see himself as being on redds (and thus ashs) side even when he realistically is in the same position as the prisoners, because thats the only way to tolerate the manipulation and abuse. hes stuck there, in that position, that unending hell, the limbo of day in, day out, just as the miners are.

and this doesnt excuse the verbal abuse to the miners but it DOES explain it! hes exercising power that he supposedly has over these people. he has that power, yes, he was trusted with it! so hes using it to reinforce that position. that position of being in power while hes actually also a victim

have i mentioned that the invisible mafia is a cult. have i.

but then , along come parrot and wifies (and dean, i guess). they defy him, show him up, defy him. deny the power that hes meant to hold, prove that he cant actually use it, that it was never really real anyway. it was MEANT to be real, it is real, but. i dont know how to explain it. power is always an illusion? it only exists if the people the power is held over accept that person being in power, collectively. only if that power if held in place by something. coins power only exists bcs a) redd put him in that position, b) he reinforces it by tlaking down to the miners. so by resisting that, parrot is taking away like, half the equation. undermining that power, which is WHAT COIN IS SCARED OF. this fucking scares him. this is power that redd trusted him with, its power that he finally has for himself! power that he can wield and be strong and no one can deny nor hurt him!

and then parrot does just that. and it fucks shit up.

parrot and wifies (and dean) show up, do just... whatever. and coin can see his power falling the fuck apart. completely. but he still does his job, clings to the habits that have kept his authority in place. does his job (letting people go)

and redd shows up, berates him, tells him that he is NOT doing his job. when thats all that coin has been trying to do, because he WANTS this job he wants this power this control that he doesnt really have elsewhere. so he tries to crack down, follow the rules more, stick to those habits

and stuff keeps falling apart

and then the roulette thing happens and he CANT FULFILL A PART OF HIS JOB. he just cant.

and. sorry if this is getting incoherent my thought process is falling apart.

when he cant kill dean (i think it was dean?), i think that was a reality check for him. here he is, about to kill a guy because redd told him to. and he does what redd wants! because redd has power over him, because he listens to redd. he does what redd wants. but he cant.s o hes failed at his job. redds already demoted him, told him that hes bad at it, he knows tha this power is slipping away. and in this moment, he can see that this is fucked up, that hes failed already, that everyone can see that he cant do this, so- he lets it. go. his powers already gone, afterall.

and then parrot talks to him, gets info from him, and he gives it after being blackmailed. he was being blackmailed, yes, but i think he needed. a reason to give that info. i think he wanted to give the info but he needed a justification. his seat of powers already been ruined, but hes still trying to cling to it, keep up appearances even when its becoming INCREASINGLY obvious that he is also trapped. if only to himself, if only to redd.

they rob the vault, redd finds out, goes and... Talks with coin again... oh now this snaps coin back into fucking listen to redd mode. previously, redd wasnt there! redd wasnt there to see him fail at his job, lose his power. he was away from redd (the source of his power), and he no longer has the other thing giving him power (the people listening to him), so he was... drifitng, is the best way to put it. coming back down to an even playing field, relaxing a bit i guess. i dont know how to phrase this.

then comes along redd, shouts at him that hes failing, that hes bad at this, that hes done nothing right, and. he must listen to redd! thats his whole job! so he does. redd tells him to kill luigi and. we all saw that he critted luigi once when redd told him to. and then he couldnt. he just couldnt.

thats his breaking point

he failed redd on every level, this time in front of redd. and he watches redd do what he couldnt, and he watches redd fix his mistake.

and redd tells him that hes fired. personally i dont think its... POSSIBLE to be fired? coin was removed from his post, like, what, twice before this? its less firing and more you are being punished for disobeying me, not following orders. in the form of a demotion (less power in a place where he has none over himself), in the form of being told that that power over the miner group is being taken away. stripping him of that control, that power, reducing him to really being just another person trapped there

and now the playing field is even. he cant act up his bluster and be loud and mean and horrible because theres no power to affirm. hes failed, plain and simple.

and he comes back, because what else is he meant to do? and he comes back, because hes trapped too, isnt he? and he comes back and he helps because hes also a prisoner and now he can see a way out with these people that have already taken him down, and he wants out too. so he helps them. properly.

in conclusion, im just saying that coin is SUCH A FUCKING INTERESTING CHARACTER. he is probably one of the characters on uu with THE most character development. and in such a short time (for uu at least lol), too. his whole thing is holding onto power that he doesnt have because hes also trapped, its literally!! he is affirming weaker power in order to make himself feel like hes in control because he is not in control. and then that gets undermined and it all goes to shit.

i love him.

im sorry if this is incoherent im posting this without proofreading. just. i hope my thoughts are interesting lol. and coherent. they probably arent. im not sorry. i just needed to yap about him, hes SO interesting to me????

literally the cycle of abuse

[northgazaupdates]

28 April 2024

Journalist Wadea Abu Alsaoud documents the IOF bombing of a home on Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by وديع ابو السعود (@wadeaa_.9)