#And I can ignore the cliffhanger and not worry about the show ever ruining them

[bscgirl99]

I hated seeing you kiss her. I know I said I didn't care, but it made me crazy. You make me crazy.  And I know I told you to figure it out, but if you haven't already…

[lokisprettygirl]

My dear, I'm sooo sorry, I wasn't able to write a proper comment for chapter 23. I was just able to reblog it and add some gifs🤗. Real life crossed my way painfully 🤪...and I'm still high on meds my doctor gave me 🤣🤣🤣 so please forgive me if I didn't get every detail or this comment is a bad one 🥲.

I was so happy that Loki and y/n talked to each other and confessed their love. I'm also glad for y/n that she could clear the things with Peter and that he told her what happend once when they were a couple. As I assumed he was also a victim of that piece of shit Katlyn and I feel sad for him too. It seems he loved y/n very much and he should've talked to her back then...but it's never easy to talk about such things even when you're just 17 years old...

The kiss between them...yes, a bit of both, reconciliation and remembering how good it felt back then when life was good. And also a clarification for y/n how much she is in love with Loki. It would be a nice turn of fate when Peter could become a friend now and an ally to push that shitty, disgusting family from the cliff with broken noses, skulls and everything.

I'm not sure if and how Loki is able to handle it, he's understandably still insecure but he heard with his own ears how y/n confessed her love for him, that he's loved by her and that she always will choose him, that she only wants HIM. She has to show it to him constantly and I'm sure she will.

I absolutely get her angst when Loki seems to ignore her...but they have to be careful, they have to play their roles. It was so caring of Loki to take y/n with him and shit-bitch Katlyn to the shopping trip and hair dresser...lmao Loki should've told Katlyn the hottest woman he has known had a shoven head 🤣🤣🤣🤣...bitch would've done it too just to get fucked by him. No you dirty piece of shit, he will NEVER EVER FUCK YOU !

I always adore the way how Loki and y/n talk to each other, face to face or in their adorable and sexy text messages 😏❤️‍🔥, I love them for being so open and telling no lies to each other. They're so pure and precious, it always warms my heart. It was so nice that Peter provided Loki and y/n time together by distracting Katlyn.

And oh my gosh...daddy kink, feeding kink, all that slowly endless teasing and y/n returning THE favour, shirtless Loki...that was so hotttt 🌶🌶❤️‍🔥😏❤️‍🔥🥵🥵, I didn't know how much I needed that...I'm dead now and I need a really cold shower...and I need definitely more of thisss hot stuff...🤤😏🥵

And it wouldn't be a perfect chapter of yours without a gorgeous cliffhanger....and I'm HERE FOR IT !!...and you know it 😏🤣

I refuse to believe that Peter has evil intentions...in one of your responses you said you wouldn't ruin another good and nice character (that's Steve's job🤣🤣🤣) so I sincerely hope he's going to offer Loki something good...his help, a hug whatever...

Can't wait for the next chapter, you keep me addicted and curious, my Queen and I love you so much 👑💖🥰💚🖤❤️

Dont worry about it my dear, you know I love your asks but I never want you to feel pressured at all. Sending all the loki healing powers your way 😍

Yes the thing between Peter and y/n is too sad but then you hardly understand life and love at 17. That being said Peter should have given her a chance to talk especially when her mom died he should have been there for her and maybe things would get clear but he fucked up big time there because he had Katlyn by his side who kept feeding him wrong information about y/n like imagine Katlyn crying to Peter about how y/n slept with her dad. That would make someone wary.

The kiss was an end to that pain she felt when he left, now she have closure and she can give all her heart to loki which he deserves the most. He needed assurance that she won't ditch him and she didn't.

Shirtless loki with his pants below his waist is imprinted in my head🥵🥵

Did I say that? 👀👀 We will see 😂

Thank you my queen, I love you too 🤗🤗💚💚❤️💚🖤😘

[littlemisspascal]

Death and an Angel part 7

Helmetless + Death!Din and Cupid F!Reader

Summary: Maybe you should have tried harder, or held onto him tighter. Maybe then you wouldn't be feeling this gaping hole in your chest where your heart used to beat.

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,297

Warnings: Description of a dead body, major character death (but technically you already know it happened, just not how it did...so...), heartbreak, major angst, a bit of fluff at the end, a couple familiar faces may or may not show up

Author Note: Seriously, you all are the best readers I could ever hope to have. The response to Part 6 was unbelievable and I can’t thank everyone enough for the support, especially when I continue to be evil and end the segments with such horrible cliffhangers. 

Links to Part 1 and Part 6 and Part 8

Cross-posted on AO3.

Photo Inspiration:

Maker, your head hurts. 

It throbs angrily as if a mudhorn has impaled your brain on its horn. In fact, your whole body feels like one giant bruise. Grimacing, you take a deep breath, only to enter a coughing fit when you inhale a lungful of smoke. 

Cracking an eye open, panic seizes you when all you see is smoke. Ash gray and thick, it obscures your immediate surroundings from view. You can’t even tell if it’s night or day. 

What the kriff is going on?

Swallowing against the dryness of your throat, you slowly sit up and feel pieces of grit and rubble dig into the tender flesh of your palms. A quick look shows no blood, soulmate mark unaffected, and you sigh a quiet breath of relief. But then worry starts to sink in when you realize you can’t remember where you are or what knocked you unconscious. Before you can spiral into a panic attack, the ground beneath you starts to tremble, causing the tiny fragments of gravel to wildly bounce around.

A shrill metallic screech pierces your ears followed immediately by a massive burst of vibrant orange flames erupting in the distance. You yelp, hastily pushing yourself onto your feet and start to run in the opposite direction, ignoring the howl of protest from your aching body. 

You can’t even see two steps in front of you, effectively ruining your attempt at a quick escape as you clumsily skirt around piles of debris that appear out of the smoke and threaten to block your way. Every breath is a wheeze, lungs making it painfully clear they cannot draw in enough oxygen from the smoky atmosphere to support your chosen pace. But the mere thought of dying here in this nightmarish inferno is enough to urge you to keep moving, keep putting one foot in front of the other, even as it simultaneously creates a tight, anxious knot in your stomach.

Another explosion detonates behind you. The ground quakes and groans, cracks appearing at an alarming rate as if the planet itself is being torn apart by the chaos. Your foot catches on one of the rifts, eliciting a cry of shock to tear itself out of your throat when you’re unable to reclaim your balance and plummet forward.

Except it’s not the ground that rises up to meet you. 

No. 

It’s a body. 

A dead body, to be precise. Burnt to a blackened crisp, as if the person had been dropped directly into a sun. Their skeletal features are frozen in an expression of torture, mouth gaping wide in a silent scream. The stench of their seared flesh overwhelms your nostrils and ingrains itself in your brain, ensuring you’ll never forget the horrific smell for the rest of your lifetime.

Whimpering, you scramble backwards, curling your legs tight against your heaving chest. You look around, bile rising in your throat when you glimpse through the sea of smoke more charred corpses surrounding you. It’s as if you’ve stumbled upon a mass grave, and again the thought crosses your mind: what the kriff is going on?

You stand up, not wanting to linger another second in their presence, and continue moving forward, each footstep slow and careful as you maneuver around the bodies. The smoke is marginally thinner the further away you move from the fiery blasts, just enough for you to make out the faint outlines of collapsed buildings on either side of you, homes of families destroyed for reasons you don’t understand. Gut instinct keeps insisting that everything you’re seeing is wrong, that none of this destruction and carnage should have ever happened. 

Again, you attempt to string together your memories, forcing your brain to comply despite the pounding ache it produces in your temples. Honestly, you wouldn’t be surprised if you had a concussion. 

Details slowly start coming to mind, little and meaningless by themselves, but when put together form a grander picture. You came here to visit your best friend. ‘Here’ being a Mid-Rim planet with a ridiculously long and multisyllabic name you couldn’t pronounce then, and your poor head certainly can’t identify now. The transport flight had been long and you’d arrived later than anticipated, verging on late afternoon when you’d stepped off the craft. 

On your way to your friend’s house, the sun had abruptly gone dark. Everyone had stopped to look to the sky, yourself included. A light cruiser, kite-shaped and unmistakable, hovered directly overhead. Its presence was ominous, evoking the crowd of civilian spectators to murmur amongst themselves. 

Then its weapons unleashed a storm of hellfire.

Oh, Maker. How could you have ever forgotten the screams?

You’re pulled out of your dismal thoughts by the appearance of a dark shape ahead of you, its outline standing out as noticeably different than the surrounding rubble. Gradually, your brain starts to distinguish human features: a head, broad shoulders and limbs. 

It also occurs to you that they’re coming straight at you.

Before you can decide whether to flee or fight or do anything remotely conducive to increasing your odds of survival, the human-shaped blur barrels straight into you, hitting you with such force you instinctively grip onto their coat, just above their wrists, to keep from falling backwards. The feather-light grazing of the edge of your palm against their skin elicits a buzz of shocking warmth, as if you’ve touched a live wire instead of flesh.

It’s you, the thought pops into your head unprompted, like a fact you’ve always known since you were born. The feeling is breathtaking and electric, a lightning bolt striking the center of your heart. Every cell in your body is radiating exuberance and cheering: it’s you, it’s you, it’s you! The one I’ve been waiting for!

You’re pushed sideways, a small cry of surprise escaping your lips.

“Get out of my way.” It’s a masculine voice, sharp with impatience yet it wraps itself around your heart all the same. He doesn’t spare you a second glance as he continues heading in the direction you’ve been coming from.

“Wait,” you protest, because it’s not supposed to be like this. You’ve started shaking, from adrenaline or the shock of his dismissal, you’re not sure. 

The man pauses, keeping his back facing you. His dark clothes are conspicuously clean, and you can’t help comparing them to your own which are sooty and torn in places. For the second time, your gut instinct is telling you something is wrong, but this time you ignore it in favor of listening to the screaming of your heart urging you to never let this man out of your sight.

“We’re soulmates,” you say, desperate for him to stay.

His fingers curl into fists, the only forewarning you have before he snaps your heart in half as he mutters, “You could never be my soulmate.”

And then you’re watching as he disappears into the smoke, not once looking back to gauge the aftermath of his rejection. You had always been a hopeless romantic, dreaming that you and your soulmate would meet and live a long, happy life together until Death came to reap your souls. In less than thirty seconds, your soulmate had just cruelly crushed those dreams without either of you exchanging names or seeing each other’s faces.

Maybe you should have tried harder, or held onto him tighter. Maybe then you wouldn't be feeling this gaping hole in your chest where your heart used to beat.

Acting on impulse, you start running after him. If you can just have a second chance to make a better impression, maybe you can change his mind. Maybe you can convince him to accept you as his soulmate, agree to take your hand and never let go. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll fall in love with you, deeply and profoundly, just like every soulmate pairing you’ve heard about.

 With a head full of maybes, you don’t even hear the bomb drop.

It hits the ground with a resounding thud, and then your world is an explosion of red and orange heat, consuming you whole without leaving behind any evidence you’d ever existed at all. Your vision shifts and blurs, memories of your lifetime flashing by too quickly to recognize each one, but through it all you hear a voice, his voice, echoing those dreadful words over and over again.

You could never be my soulmate. Never. Never. Never.

~~~

You wake up with a jolt, throat raw as if you really had been inhaling smoke. You’re drenched in sweat and you push away the heavy blanket covering you before realizing it is definitely not your blanket nor are you currently in your own bed. Looking around, panic begins to prickle along your nerve endings when you fail to recognize anything familiar about your location.

You’re in someone’s home, that much is obvious from the furnishings. The ceiling overhead is made of overlapping metal and is slightly rounded, reminding you of a cave or burrow. There is a lantern hanging on a nearby hook, but the light it emanates is dim compared to the sunshine pouring in from the four small, square-shaped windows cut into the wall behind you above the bed. The view through the windows is slightly blurry, but you can make out the blue sky and what you think is a corral of some kind. 

Rubbing a hand over your face to wipe away the lingering exhaustion, you’re surprised when your hand encounters something rough covering the side of your forehead. A bandage. Strange, you must have hit your head somewhere—

The past comes back in flashes: Din confessing his feelings, touching his hand, the spark of warmth, falling unconscious on the floor.

Where is Din?

“You are awake.”

The voice is expressionless and mechanical in tone, stating the obvious. Even so, you jump, not having noticed the droid sitting in the far corner of the room during your initial survey. Its red sensors and dark colored plating would make it look menacing if not for the tray it clutches in its hands, balancing cups and a pitcher.

“I am IG-11,” the droid says as it approaches.

“IG?” you echo hoarsely, sitting up with alarm. “As in one of those assassin droids?”

“I have been reprogrammed as a nurse.” It considers you for a moment, internal mechanisms whirring, and then the tray is held out closer for you to reach. “Tea?”

Hesitantly, you pour yourself some and hold the cup with both hands as you take a sip. The tea is warm as it slides down your throat, flavorful and far more exotic than the kind you’ve tasted back home in Umbriel. 

“Where am I?” you ask after you’ve swallowed two more gulps.

“Arvala-7.”

You blink, barely familiar with the name which only intensifies your worry about Din’s absence.

“Okay, but like, where exactly on Arvala-7?” you press, gesturing around the room. “How did I even get here?”

“Your current location is a moisture farm owned and operated by Kuiil,” IG-11 says, moving away to set the tray on a nearby table, though its head remains facing your direction. “Death brought you here unconscious with an injury to your central processing unit.”

“My central…” you trail off, squinting. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

“Yes. It was meant to put you at ease.”

“Right.” You nod to yourself, reaching a decision. Downing the last of your drink, you swing your legs over the side of the bed and make a move to stand. “This has been great, but I’ve really got to go find Death so—”

A wave of dizziness washes over you, forcing you to sit back down. Kriff, you think, closing your eyes until you’re certain you won’t be seeing double anymore. 

“You won’t find Death here.” A new voice, crackling with age, informs you. His words are ominous, but his tone isn’t one of malice or ill-intent. 

Turning, you see an Ugnaught approaching from the entrance of the house. He stops beside IG-11, green eyes peering at you from beneath bushy white eyebrows, but you don’t feel threatened by his nearness. 

“I am Kuiil. Death entrusted me with looking after you until his return from Nevarro,” he says, sitting down upon a stool with his arms braced upon his knees. “You must continue to rest until you are well. I have spoken.”

You press a hand to your chest, feeling a pang of hurt at Din’s decision. “He left?”

“Death is bound by creed to the universe to reap the dead. Nothing, not even his soulmate, can be put before it.”

You choke on your spit. “Soulmate? We’re not—”

“Even if he had not told me,” Kuiil interrupts, unwilling to hear your dissuading opinion when he is certain of his own. “I would have known it from how he stubbornly stayed at your side and by how loathsome he was to leave you behind. In all my years, I have not seen him behave in such a twitterpated manner.” 

“He…” Your voice wavers, torn between hopefulness and disbelief. “He really told you we’re soulmates?”

Kuiil, reaching towards the table for the pitcher of tea, pauses and slowly turns back to look at you. “You were unaware of your matched connection with Death? Did you two not touch hands as most fated pairs often do?”

Any reply you might have said falters when you look down at your hands in your lap. More specifically, your left hand. The one Din had grasped.  The one that in your past life had brushed against your soulmate minutes before you died. 

Right there in the middle of your palm, innocently gleaming like it’s always been there and therefore isn’t at all responsible for the rapid increase of your heartbeat, is a soulmate marking.

Tag List: @leilei-draws​​, @theocatkov​​, @becauseican2, @vintagesaph​​, @stardust-and-starlight​, @kay2304, @odelia-d32, @adrieunor​, @remmyswritings​, @gallowsjoker​​, @rhiannon-russo​, @randomness501​, @eleine-t1d​, @nicotinebirds, @sylphene​, @softly-sad​, @maytheglitter​, @melobee, @rogertaylorsfalsettogivesmehives, @eleinemk, @captain-jebi​, @aerynwrites, @promiscuoussatan, @stilllivindue2spite, @coaaster​

[ssson-of-sparda]

Two Dresses (Dante x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Patty desperately wants to know what happened between Dante and Y/N. Hopefully, Morrison is here to help. (Part 3 of A Tab To Erase) (Part 1) (Part 2)

Tags: Pre DMC3 Dante / Dante is Tony Redgrave / Love / Fluff / Slight ANgst / Implied Sexual Content / Explicit Language

Author’s note: Part 3 is out. Sorry for keeping you waiting. The story is coming to its end. Only one or two chapters left.

MISSION 3

Indifference is the worst form of contempt. But how can you be indifferent when a squeaking tiny voice as unbearable as fingernails on a chalkboard constantly splits your ears with endless whining? Dante wished to know.        “Pleeeeaase Dante. You promised.” Patty begged again as she almost sprawled on the man’s desk, strangely not caring about the grease or the tomato sauce that were disgustingly splattered on the wooden surface.      “I didn’t do such thing.” Dante nonchalantly took a bite of his pizza, trying to ignore Patty’s pleading blue eyes and her feeble attempt at convincing him to tell her the rest of his ‘love story’ (she had decreed it was one) with Y/N. “Come on, Dante! You have to tell me!” The frustration in every single word coming out of her mouth was growing stronger. You could hear it in the way her voice was becoming more and more piercing by the minute. And in spite of all the time spent with Patty, Dante had never succeeded in really ignoring her childish whims. “Don’t you watch TV shows?” She added. “You know full well I don’t.” And it was the truth. Except for adults programs once in a while, Dante cared less about television, contrary to Patty who was a professional binge-watcher capable of watching a dozen of episodes a day and still yearning for more.        “Well, even if you don’t, haven’t you ever experienced the frustration of a cliffhanger? Like, in Bolero in Spring, when Jenna has a car accident right after she decides to run after Josh to finally tell him he is the love of her life and that she loves him too and you know you’ll have to wait a whole week to know what happens next?”                Dante’s brain shut down after the first question, or maybe even before that, finding a not-so-surprising fascination for the slices of salami on his pizza and their perfectly round shapes. “Like I told you, I don’t watch TV.”      “Haven’t you ever longed for anything?”            “Yes actually. Right now, I long for peace … and quiet … and for you to finally shut up.” The girl glared at him, shooting daggers at him as sharp as a thousand Rebellions.

“What’s going on here?” Relief immediately shone in both Patty’s and Dante’s eyes when Morrison pushed the door of Devil May Cry, replacing the tension in the room with paternal warmth that was so like him.                 “Morrison! You got to help me. Dante doesn’t want to tell me what happened between him and Y/N” She complained with her small fists clenched tightly, a childish attitude that would have made Morrison smile if it hadn’t been for his surprise.“ You told Patty about Y/N? How weird of you.” “Not for free.”  “You know her, Morrison?” There was a gleam in Patty’s eyes, one only curiosity and excitement could create.       “By reputation. Everybody in the mercenary business knew who she was and was aware not to touch a hair on her head. I bet even demons knew. Y/N. Tony Redgrave’s beautiful girlfriend. And probably the only girl that could make Dante act somewhat … mature.” He said as he chose his words wisely, though he wasn’t sure they were fit for the memories of Dante he had in mind.                  “ What are you talking about? I’ve always been mature.”        “ Yeah. Because eating strawberry sundaes and pizza everyday is very adult.” Dante frowned, pretty sure he had once heard a similar reprimand coming from someone else’s mean mouth. His mother? No … but close. “Have you been spending time with Trish lately?”           “ Stop changing the subject and tell me the story!” Dante eyed at Morrison with an insisting look that meant ‘Get me the hell out of here.’ but today, he would not receive any help from his friend. “You know she won’t let go, Dante. So, should I tell her or should you?”              Dante sighed. “Two dresses off my tab and it’s yours.”

TWO DRESSES

Two star-crossed lovers in fair Redgrave City, where we lay our scene …

Are you kidding me?! What? I thought you loved that kind of lovey-dovey crap. Dante! Fine …

The rest of the story was no Shakespearian play. There was no betrayal, no sword fighting, no friend or parent tragically murdered, no forbidden love, no unfair ending, no … Who was Dante kidding? There was all that and worse. Another reason why he hated Shakespeare so much.                But when love started to bloom and with it the chances at a normal peaceful life, Dante never considered those dramatic events. Not even a slight second. After all, he was an overly enthusiastic nineteen year-old with the girl of his dreams on his arm and a long-awaited roof above his head. What could go wrong? Especially when all he thought about, all he imagined were simple mornings waking up with the one he loved so dearly and nights with his silver head in between…

“In between what?” “ Y/N’s fingers... Y/N’s fingers of course.” “ You’re not so good at making this story family-friendly you know that, Dante?” “I’m doing my best here, Morrison.”

And his epicurean – though quite lewd - plans were all shared to the utter despair of Y/N’s parents who constantly reminded Y/N of the big mistake she was making in getting involved with a boy like ‘that vermin Tony’.                 “What about college? What about that confortable life we wanted for you? How can you throw all this away for that boy?” Dante remembered the time Y/N’s mother had said that with a menacing finger and a poisonous tongue. That and the infamous “Is breeding with that trash and raising his filthy bastards truly what you want Y/N?”    So long the time that family had generously taken him under their roof for a few days. Guess money does make you stuck-up assholes after all. That’s what he had wanted to reply. But instead, he had just stood still, arms crossed over his chest and had remained silent, out of respect for Y/N and also because, deep down, he was sometimes thinking the same.

He wanted the best for Y/N. He wanted to give her the best life had to offer, all the things she wanted, all the things she needed but he only had a few dollars in his pocket and a list of debts he didn’t really know how the erase. And even though she seemed like she didn’t mind now, what would happen in a few years, or even just a few months. What would happen when the little he had to offer would not be enough anymore?

“Will you love me all the same in a few years?” She asked him, soft hands placed over his strong naked chest and (colour) eyes staring deep in his looking for the truth. “I’m sure I will love you even more if that’s anything possible.”               “Then stop worrying and stop with the silly questions already.” And she kissed him with all the comfort and the love she could gather. She kissed him like there was no tomorrow, like there was just them, only them, together, on that mattress on the floor in this furniture-less and decaying shop he had just been allowed to rent for an astronomical amount of money. “A neon sign.” “ What?” Dante asked a bit confused.                  “You should get a neon sign, like the one my parents had at the restaurant.” She added with a soft smile. “You want me to get a pink neon sign?” He joked and took delight when she laughed. She was so insanely beautiful when she was laughing. “It wasn’t pink. It was red.”                “ My coat is red. That sign was definitely pink. And pink doesn’t scream ‘menacing devil-hunter in the house’?” “Menacing devil-hunter?” She repeated, arching an eyebrow suspiciously. “Where?” Dante looked at her smirking mockingly at him. “Watch it you!” He pushed her on the mattress and went to lie his burning yet still sweaty body over hers to place a multitude of hungry lovely kisses on her neck, wishing this moment would never end.

But it ended, as all good things end eventually. Thanks to Enzo Ferino, once again. That piece of shit had the knack to ruin things after all.                “Tony! Per l’amore di Dio! Tony!” He shouted from downstairs, visibly alarmed if not terrified. “Speaking of the Italian midget.” Dante sighed, his lips still on Y/N’s skin, thinking that maybe ignoring Enzo would make him leave. “Tony!!!”           “Damn it.”          “Pretty sure the menacing devil-hunter hiding in this shop will scare him away?” Y/N taunted again and Dante grinned before pressing his lips on Y/N’s one last time. “Oh, he sure will. Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Dante said as he reluctantly left his girl’s loving embrace to put on a pair of pants and go welcome his unwanted guest fidgeting in the hall.                    “ You’d better.”

“It better be important, Enzo.” Dante demanded as he lazily walked down the creaking stairs to show him how annoyed he was to see him here. “You’ve just ruined a perfect moment with my girl.”               “Y/N? Y/N is with you?” The man’s eyes were widened with fear and distress and even though Dante knew how much of a coward Enzo was, he had never seen him that way. “How many girls do you think I have?”  The short man leant against the wall and took a deep sigh. “Well, that’s relief I guess.” Dante frowned, unsure if he should remain annoyed or start asking questions. Hell, why not both. “Will you tell me what’s going on?”     “A man came to Bobby’s Cellar. Looking for you.”          “Not a first.” Dante walked pass Enzo to grab a bottle of whisky he had left early on on one of the many boxes he had not yet unpacked. “One of Denvers’ goons presumably.” He leant against the wall and took a mouthful of amber alcohol, thinking about the girl waiting for him upstairs and how he should have never left her.        “No. Not Denvers. That man was working alone and he asked about a certain Dante.” The half-demon froze for a second and his blue eyes darted a brief astonished glance at his partner. A man looking for Dante - Dante, not Tony - was no good news. “I said I didn’t know any Dante but then he described you and I thought che cacchio è. Then he threatened me and … He was scary, Tony”     “What did you tell him?”  Dante frowned. He had the feeling Enzo had fucked up. He could feel it in his guts. Otherwise he would have never rushed to his new place in the middle of the night to warn him. “That you weren’t here. That you certainly were with Y/N. And then he had me, Tony. I …” “ You mentioned Y/N?” Enzo took an immediate step back when he heard the anger in Dante’s voice. “ I … I’m sorry. He … He tricked me.” Then he took another step and another one, trying to stay as far away as possible from Dante, until his back bumped against the door and he was able to spot a terrifying red flame burning with rage in the mercenary’s eyes who was towering him menacingly. “What did you say about Y/N?”                           If the weird man in Bobby’s Cellar had scared the shit out Enzo early on, what he had felt back then was nothing in comparison to he was feeling right now. Paralysed with fear, he couldn’t move anymore, couldn’t speak. He could only stare at the raging fire in Dante’s eyes and feel a burning warmth emanating from the young man’s body against him. Were those the flames of Hell? Was he about to be punished for his sin? For betraying his partner?    “What did you say?” He shouted and Enzo trembled and squealed like a pig, arms covering his face to protect himself. Yes, his man Tony was about to flay him alive. He was sure of it. “What are you?” He mumbled.

“Tony.” Enzo thanked all the gods for that divine intervention. Though whom he should have truly thanked was Y/N and her soft reassuring voice that had miraculously pulled Dante from his dark rage.

I like her. Dante smiled.

“Stop please.” Enzo felt Dante calm down and when he finally walked away from him, the small man took a deep breath. “If something happens …” Dante didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to and Enzo was already nodding furiously. “I know.” He blindly grabbed the handle behind his back and quickly opened the door to run away as fast as he could.

Dante watched him running in the cold night with a frown until he couldn’t see him anymore. Then he swiftly strode back to Y/N waiting for him on top of the stairs to pull her in a strong protective  embrace. And when his lips pressed in her silky hair and she realized he couldn’t let go, she started worrying. “What is it?” She had never felt him like that.                  “It’s nothing.” He replied softly even though the voice in his head was screaming things like Don’t you get out of my sight, even for a second. I can’t lose you. Not like my mother. I love you so freaking much. “Stay with me tonight.”

But deep down, Dante wasn’t sure this was the smartest decision.

***

“And so was it?” Patty curiously asked as she stared at Dante with her big blue eyes. “ Was it what?” He replied, pretending not to understand. He loved teasing her. “ The smartest decision?” She clarified with an enthusiasm that clearly showed her interest and her will to know more. “ I thought you loved cliffhangers.”

[universalfanfic]

Regency AU - Either Person A or Person B is in danger of being ruined socially: for Stutton? it give me Stutton vibes

This may be a Part One? Depending on if I ever manage to get caught up on asks. So... Please enjoy this snippet and its “cliffhanger ending”.

“Mother, I refuse.” 

Sutton clenched her hands at her sides and pursed her lips. Her mother’s expression didn’t waver, she could be just as stubborn and Sutton felt a trickle of unease at the steel in her mother’s eyes.

“We have no choice.” Her mother said. “I’ve already arranged for you to be introduced to Captain Rogers at the next ball.” 

“You cannot just marry me off against my will! I’ll refuse him.” 

“Oh? Refuse him and be left destitute?” 

Sutton scoffed and looked away, but her mother marched forward, her skirts swirling around her feet. 

“Don’t scoff at me. You know Howard’s firm has been in decline recently. And beyond that, what he has legally must go to Tyrese.” 

“Tyrese would not leave me destitute.” 

Her mother took a breath. 

“No. But you would leave his allowance smaller than it already is and with slimmer chances of a good match. Would you do that to your brother when you have another option available to you?”

Sutton hissed under her breath. Using Tyrese wasn’t fair. She would disgrace herself in public for him and her mother knew that. 

“Why would Captain Rogers agree to this match?” She asked instead. “His family is of good fortune last I heard.” 

“And your head is in the clouds far too often to hear the local gossip. Captain Rogers cut Captain Rumlow in town, right in front of everyone. His social standing is in question and he could use our family’s name to salvage his own.” 

Sutton, indeed, had not heard the gossip. She rolled her eyes. 

“Over ignoring him in public? Please, mother. A man of his wealth only has to announce an apology and his name will survive-”

“Captain Rogers refuses.” 

The statement lingered. That was a bit more severe. 

“Oh.” Said Sutton. 

“His reasons are his own, but he is a man that stands by his convictions.” Her mother paused, a soft, pleading look took over her face. “By all rights, he is a good man, Sutton. Please. I am thinking only of your future.”

---

Sutton found herself, coiffed and pristine, at the ball. Her nerves were alight and she wanted to hide in a far room, but of course she couldn’t. And she couldn’t look as frazzled and nervous as she felt either. Lest she also give herself a poor reputation and ruin Captain Rogers’ only reason to marry her. 

Which she still didn’t want to agree to. 

Her mother arranged Sutton’s curls herself with a few decorative pins and the reminder that Sutton should be concerned for her own future. And of how sincerely wonderful a match Captain Rogers would be. 

Captain Rogers was newly stationed in town, though his family’s name was well known. It seemed like the locals hadn’t stopped chittering about him and his fellows since their arrival. Though in Captain Rogers’ case, now the talk was for a different, less admirable, reason.

If Sutton weren’t so distressed, she might have been impressed with how quickly her mother was able to negotiate the arrangement. 

The dancing hall was full of people and lively music. Mr. Stark was hosting, yet again, and his parties were always an event. Sutton would have been more eager for a few dances if a looming marriage arrangement didn’t shadow the entire evening. 

“You mustn't look so glum, Sutton. You’ll put off all the eager gentlemen looking for a dancing partner.” 

Sutton turned at the voice and put on a smile. 

“Glum? At a Stark party? Hardly.” 

Natasha, her dear friend, smiled as she took Sutton’s hand. 

“And yet you’ve been scowling at the crowd for the last few minutes. Tell me; did Victoria drive her carriage by your house with a new, fancy bonnet?” 

Sutton laughed lightly at that. As much as was socially acceptable. 

“No. Though I wish it were something so trivial.” 

“Oh, I sense delectable gossip. Now you must share.” 

No one in the room was paying particular attention to them yet, and no one approached to make introductions. Sutton dipped her head closer to Natasha’s in order not to be overheard. 

“I hardly want to even say.” 

“Sutton, I insist. You’re hardly ever in poor spirits and you’ll make me worry.”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“My dear sister-in-arms, you know that I am full of secrets.” 

That, of course, was an understatement. If there was one person who kept tabs on all the local gossip, and some beyond, it was Natasha Barton. Sutton was too afraid to ask how she found out so much. 

“My mother,” Sutton whispered, “is planning to have me...to have me wed to Captain Rogers.” 

Natasha cocked a brow, looking rather more conspiratorial than sympathetic. Sutton frowned.

“That certainly would salvage his social standing.” Natasha said.

“Not you too. Really; does no one care that I would rather marry for love than for station or fortune?”

“Do you think you couldn’t love a man like Captain Rogers?” 

“I do not know him, so I could not say.” 

Natasha flippantly waved off Sutton’s argument as if it were no important matter. 

“That’s what the courtship is for.”

“Ugh, never mind I said a thing, then. You’re just as impossible as my mother.” 

“I shall take that as a compliment.”

Sutton was kept from returning a snide remark by two approaching figures. One familiar and the other a stranger.  Both women smiled politely as the two men stopped before them. 

“Mrs. Barton, Miss Regan.” 

“Mr. Stark.” Both women said in unison. 

They dipped slightly in greeting and Anthony Stark bowed at the waist. 

Anthony Stark was not only the host, but a friend of the family. Sutton was quite fond of him, generally, despite his shortcomings. But her opinion of him could be swayed depending on who he was about to introduce. 

“Might I introduce Captain Rogers,” Mr. Stark said. “He’s recently arrived with his company and will be staying in town for the foreseeable future.”

Sutton’s mouth went dry and her heart thudded. Mr. Stark dropped a few notches in her list of esteemed peoples. 

Captain Rogers was a tall man with well kept blond hair and a defined jaw. He held himself in a stiff, business-like manner, and he offered them a polite enough smile, though Sutton felt it was a bit forced. 

She and Natasha dipped as he bowed, and Natasha cast her a knowing look from the corner of her eye. Sutton knew the look. It said Natasha thought that Sutton would be impressed or should be forced to admit that she was. And true, Captain Rogers appeared to be the sort of gentleman that would attract all of the local ladies gossip, but for how much would that account in terms of personality? A handsome man did not necessarily mean he was genteel underneath and away from the public eye. 

“A pleasure to meet you, Captain Rogers.” Natasha said. “Your service to this country puts us in your debt.” 

“Hardly.” Captain Rogers said. “It’s a duty and an honor to serve.”

“Admirable, Captain.” Natasha smiled, disarmingly friendly. “And, pray tell, do you have an estate here? Or are you boarding with friends for your duration?”

Steve dipped his head. 

“My family has an estate in Brooklyn,” he said. “It’s of enough size that I hope to be able to host dinners for some of the men without family in the area.”

“So generous of you, Captain.” 

Sutton’s tone was neutral, she had the practice, and she kept her expression just as neutral as all eyes turned towards her. Mr. Stark had a shine in his own eyes and a curl of his lip that said he was amused. Likely he knew of her mother’s schemes already. Likely he was the very one her mother had conspired with to introduce her to Captain Rogers in the first place. And if that were the case he knew her enough to guess that she was less than enthused. 

Captain Rogers tilted his head in a gesture that said he knew her comment meant more but would graciously ignore it.

“It’s not my aim to draw attention to myself. I simply wish to bolster morale where I can. I know just as well the struggles of being a solitary man in a foreign place.” 

They studied each other with equal scrutiny. Sutton was sure he found her at least slightly unpleasant, seeming to toe around the edge of decency. But then, he didn’t have much room for judging her on that account, did he? 

On her end, she was immediately suspicious of men who managed to only say the right thing in their conversations with the fairer sex. More than once she’d seen her peers swoon for a man who presented himself as wholly doting and refined, only to show himself as stubborn and as affectionate as a mule once wed. Or worse.

She had vowed to herself that she would never succumb to such a match, but now all the choice had been ripped from her. 

And Captain Rogers was rushing from the gate with only the right things pouring from his lips. 

“Well put, Captain Rogers.” Natasha said blithely. 

Mr. Stark looked between Sutton and Captain Rogers before he clapped the man on the back and gave Sutton a wink. 

“Mrs. Barton,” he said, “would you do me the honor of a dance? It looks like your husband is momentarily distracted by the buffet table.” 

Natasha’s eyes sparkled despite Sutton’s nails digging into her arm. 

“It would be my pleasure Mr. Stark.” 

Propriety forced Sutton to relinquish her hold on Natasha despite the growing anticipation in her stomach. The last thing she wanted to be was left alone with the man her mother would guilt her into marrying. 

Mr. Stark left with Natasha on his arm and Sutton turned back up to Captain Rogers. His gaze was elsewhere for a moment, but he turned to her before she could search to see where he was looking. The smile he gave her was pressed and obligated. 

“Would you like to dance, Miss Regan?”

Nothing would delight her more than to deny him and find a more quiet corner of the party to retreat to. But she could see her mother now, off behind Captain Rogers, and she was giving Sutton so murderous a glare that to follow through with her own wishes would be tantamount to suicide. 

And denying him would be a sign to everyone that she agreed his social standing was in ruin and she wanted nothing to do with him. With her family’s good name, it could destroy him most thoroughly. 

Sutton’s face split in just as obligated and polite a smile as she held out her hand. 

“I would be honored, Captain.” 

They made their way to the dance floor and Sutton felt all the eyes in the room upon them as they took their places. Natasha selected an especially lively song and Sutton readied herself as she reminded herself of the first steps to the dance. Captain Rogers stood across from her, his shoulders a little too tense and his eyes not quite meeting hers. 

The music started and everyone stepped forward, nearly coming together, hands up, and stepping away. Spinning, turning, weaving around each other. Sutton saw Captain Rogers clear his throat rather than heard it before they stepped forward again to circle each other.

“I’m assuming your mother already informed you of her designs for us.”

Sutton bristled internally, but focusing on the dance helped keep her from glaring outwardly. 

“Recently, yes.” She replied. “I have to thank you both for finally including me in on the details of my future.” 

They pulled away, twisting about the room, and Sutton felt her love of the dance wain as Captain Rogers’ discomfort only seemed to grow. 

“Your mother approached me with the proposal,” he said when they next met. “In my situation, I have just as little choice as you.” 

Sutton’s hackles rose at that and her eyes sharpened. 

“Really, Captain? Last I checked, I had little choice in the success of my father’s business, while you had every choice to cut Captain Rumlow out in the town square where all could see you.”

This time Captain Rogers didn’t duck in uncomfortable sheepishness. His own look hardened and his jaw tensed in defense of his actions. 

“You don’t understand the circumstances.” 

“You should know that circumstances hardly matter to the masses.” 

They turned again and Sutton made eye contact with Natasha at the front of the dance line. Natasha grinned, hopeful, and Sutton frowned. Natasha made a face in return. Sutton would have to have a word with her after the ball for leaving her like this. 

“Do you object then,” Steve said as they held up hands, nearly touching, and turned, “to marrying a man with what you consider a tarnished reputation? Without knowing the details of such?”

“I object to marrying a man I don’t know when I swore to marry for no less than love.”

“You anticipate that I’ll fail to reach your expectations of love.”

“I find it interesting how you assume my agreement to this arrangement without asking me, and now know my innermost thoughts on the future. Your ability to know a person after mere introductions astounds me.” 

They spun away from each other, back into their lines, and Sutton’s heart pounded as her anger swelled. How dare he! How dare he imply that she was the one in the wrong here. When she had so little choice in life compared to him; how dare he scoff at her for wanting to cling to this one decision. 

The music ended and the lines bowed and curtsied to each other, finishing the dance. Another woman hurried to the musicians to request the next song and dance. Sutton smoothed out her dress and brushed back some of her curls. As much as she loathed it, she knew what would happen next. 

He would ask for one more dance, to openly show his interest, and she would be obligated to accept thanks to her mother. Then everyone in attendance would share murmurs about the possible forming connection.  

Before the end of the ball he’d go to her mother, to ask to call on her, and her life would be locked on the track of her mother’s design. For her good. 

She swallowed and attempted to catch her breath as she briefly met Captain Rogers eyes. He gave her a nod and another bow and stepped away from the dance floor.

He did not ask for another. 

Sutton blinked at the dismissal. If he were just another man at the ball, she would not have thought twice about it. One dance was perfectly acceptable. But Captain Rogers was supposedly agreeing to an arranged marriage with her, and not making an effort to show interest in her was shocking to say the least. 

She and her mother made eye contact from across the room, and her mother appeared just as scandalized and irate. Their saving grace was that no one else was aware there was supposed to be an interest, arranged or otherwise. Or likely Sutton’s own reputation would have been gossiped about as well. 

A thought arrested her. Perhaps he now wanted to call off the arrangement because of her bluntness in their conversation. Her mother could never know the cause, if that were the case. She feared her mother’s wrath more than she feared being left destitute. 

Though, would he really call off everything because she had the audacity to be blunt with him? When he was the one who asked? If nothing else, it seemed her opinion had offended him enough that he felt the need to slight her.

A man with such a delicate disposition, over such a matter as a personal conviction besides his own, didn’t bode well to Sutton for what she would be subjected to in a marriage. 

If there was still a marriage to be had. 

Her mother idled in the crowd, obviously fretting now, and Sutton left the room. Her emotions were too tumultuous to be in public and she needed some space.

[][][][][]

First Lieutenant James “Bucky” Barnes smiled sharply as Steve Rogers stepped off the dance floor. It was a strained expression and Steve frowned when he saw it. 

“What is it?” 

Bucky clapped his good hand on Steve’s shoulder and kept the smile for the sake of the company in the room. 

“You’re finished dancing already, then?” 

Steve tipped his head and shifted so that they could speak with a sliver more privacy. 

“Can I assume you don’t approve.” 

“Steve, you’re meant to be showing interest in this girl. Wooing her; and you only ask for one dance? There’s not another ball scheduled later this week. Now is the time to lay foundations.” 

“Miss Regan made it plain that she doesn’t agree with the arrangement,” Steve said. “I won’t force her hand under public pressure.” 

“Steve, you have likely insulted her or called this arrangement into question. Unless you mentioned these thoughts to her before the dance ended?” 

Steve remained silent making the answer obvious. Bucky huffed under his breath. 

“Steve, I lost an arm and yet you manage to somehow be more of a frustration for me.” 

“Last I checked it was my reputation at stake, not yours.” 

“You say that as if I don’t care about your reputation for you; since someone has to. You want to stick to your convictions and have nothing to do with Captain Rumlow, fine. But don’t toss aside your best opportunity to keep your family’s name in good standing.” 

Of course Bucky, as ever, had a fair point. Steve’s parents had labored to build his family’s name from the ground up, and it wasn’t a burden he bore lightly. As their only child, it was his duty to continue the legacy they started. To continue on so their struggles were not in vain. 

And it seemed to do so meant marrying one Miss Sutton Regan. 

If she would accept him.

[blurrypetals]

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare - blurrypetals review

originally posted dec. 9, 2018 - ★★★★★

A-T. L-A-S-T.

I am so absolutely overwhelmed by everything that I've experienced in the last few days while listening to this. As Cassandra Clare's longest book to date, a whole dang fuckin' lot happens in this book. To sort my way through this review, the following paragraphs are gonna be chock full of a whole dang fuckin' lot of untagged spoilers, so continue at your own risk. I do think you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you do read this review before you've read the book, though. It's also incredibly likely I'll drop a spoiler or two on every Shadowhunters book so, if you're here and you have not, for some reason, read The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, the other two books in The Dark Artifices trilogy, and all of the short stories in The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market, I implore you to amend that, to go and read those fourteen books and this fifteenth book before reading this review, just in case I ruin anything for you by accident. Okay, now that's out of the way, let's talk about sequels and how to finish a grand, epic fantasy story. It was difficult for me to not compare this book to three other books. The first two are, of course, Cassandra Clare's other finales, City of Heavenly Fire and Clockwork Princess. This handily bowls City of Heavenly Fire straight under the table because, even though City of Heavenly Fire is still a 5-star book, it's the weakest of The Mortal Instruments hexalogy and, other than perhaps The Bane Chronicles, it's also maybe the weakest in The Shadowhunter Chronicles in its current entirety. Clockwork Princess, by contrast, however, is, in my opinion, the best of the entire series. As a finale, Queen of Air and Darkness here sits comfortably as the second best Shadowhunters finale yet. So much happens in this book. It's split into three different parts which could have easily been split into three shorter books with near-perfect three act structures in place for each of them, making this book a nine act book with two "false" climaxes that would have made for quite the cliffhangers if they had been split up for any reason. The first act deals with the aftermath of Livia's death and, because it has a lot of rising action, it's actually a little frustrating in some ways, even if it was frustrating in an incredibly enjoyable way. One of my absolute favorite scenes in the whole book is Julian running to Magnus for help in the middle of the night because it so perfectly mirrors the scene in Clockwork Prince when another blue eyed boy named Will Herondale was at the end of his rope, desperate not to love a girl he was cursed not to be with. I loved the contrast between a Herondale's plea for salvation and a Blackthorn's last hope to avoid damnation, separated by a hundred years yet tied by the same plight and the same warlock's magic. Emotionless-Julian was a really compelling read, even if I was almost as angry and frustrated with him and Magnus as Emma was. I loved to hate how cold and calculating he became without his love and compassion around to guide his moral compass. I hated his betrayal of Emma so fucking much it hurt but I've always loved Julian's ruses, schemes, and plans, and his dealings with the Seelie Queen, the Black Volume, and a skilled calligrapher and wizard called OfficeMax. Damn. So fucking good. Also, speaking of Julian's plans and schemes, his war council and Livia's Watch is one of the most satisfying scenes in The Shadowhunter Chronicles as it currently exists; I'm so proud of my son. He is so great. Hot diggity. Speaking of reminders from past stories, we get the entire cast of The Mortal Instruments during a lot of this book. I was really excited anytime we ran into anyone from The Mortal Instruments, especially the part when Julian and Emma ended up being thrown in the same Unseelie prison as Jace and Clary were and that was Jace and Clary's first appearance in the whole novel. It could have easily gotten overwhelming; I was, in fact, rather worried that Jace and Clary would steal the spotlight for a good spell in the final act of the book, but they didn't, since Emma and Julian were, eh...too big to ignore, and the book even ends with the long-awaited Bane-Lightwood wedding of the centuries, but the story proper closes on Julian and Emma on the beach together. Even though The Wicked Powers is still yet to come, this book felt like a huge culmination of all fourteen of the prior books in a huge way. We had Jem and Tessa from The Infernal Devices, we had Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus from The Mortal Instruments, and we had Emma, the Blackthorns, and all their friends and allies from this series and it felt huge. I also felt the weight of what's to come in a super hardcore manner when it came to Kit and Ty, Dru and Jaime, and, of course, Ash. I genuinely feel as though I can't wait any longer to see how Kit and Ty's stories turn out. I'm especially pleased by the fact that Jem and Tessa decided to adopt Kit and that Kit will have the family he's longed for his whole life and, not only will he have two capable people parenting him through the rest of his adolescence, but he'll also have that younger sibling he's been longing for, someone he can teach and take care of in the way he wasn't when he was small. I really hope at least one of the two forthcoming Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories focuses on Kit and his new life and new home with Jem, Tessa, and hopefully their new precious tiny one. Thoughts of the future of The Shadowhunter Chronicles in Drusilla, Kit, Ty, and, specifically, Ash, bring me back around to the second section of the book, which is the most absolutely bananas thing Cassandra Clare has ever written but is also actually incredibly compelling. I fucking loved the alternate universe stuff, everything to do with the exciting return of not-Jace, the introduction of alterna-Livia, other-Cameron, and living-Raphael (especially the part where he begged Emma and Julian to tell Magnus and Alec to rename Rafael; I was in tears laughing about all of that biz), and the temporary absence of emotionless-Julian and how he and Emma ended up healing so much of their relationship there. I also am so totally down with not-Jace being the main villain of The Wicked Powers, or at least a main villain. I am really impressed with Cassie—which, when am I not, honestly?—in the way that second section of the book was written. It felt like a huge love letter to me as a longtime and dedicated fan of The Shadowhunter Chronicles in general because we got to see these, for lack of a better term, a fanfiction AU turned canon that doesn't read like a fanfiction in the least bit because it remains relevant, interesting, tense, and important the whole way through, even though it's literally a gigantic non-sequitur that some could argue is "pointless." I am not one who would argue that, though, because I loved it so damn much. It gave me what is probably my favorite Emma and Julian scene in all of The Dark Artifices, just after they return to the resistance stronghold. You know the scene. Okay, rapid fire because I could honestly go on forever about this book; I pinned 108 different clips throughout this book, which is the most pins or post-its I've ever put in one single book before. I adored the fact that Simon gave Julian his iron Lord Montgomery figurine before he and Emma left Idris. Michael Wayland's ghost showing up for Robert Lightwood's funeral fucked me up in a super hardcore way and the fact that Kit was the only one who could see him or even sense his presence really got to me and I really teared up because Bitter of Tongue from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy absolutely wrecked me and this poked at that wound. Everything in regards to Mark, Cristina, and Kieran was incredibly sweet, sex positive, loving, trusting, and healthy and I just...gah they are perfect. A most excellent thruple, one for the ages. A great many of my pins have something to do with Kit growing into his inborn Herondale talent of being a master in snark (think candy gram and "Alas, poor Yorick,"). Everyone in the alternate realm being grossed out by endarkened-Emma's and endarkened-Julian's PDA was hilarious. Julian realizing art requires pain and morality about snapped my sad tiny bird heart clean in half. Feline death on a massive scale. Anytime Jace's more playful, youthful side showed because he's a happy boi now was delightful, especially the parts where he wanted to get to hold the mortal sword and when he declared, "We're the bait!" Magnus hallucinating was great, but my favorite hallucination was when he was flirting with a vase like it was Alec and then very seriously offering to buy it from the Institute. I also loved it when Magnus called Clary "biscuit". It made my heart all soft and nostalgic. Julian's smile at Emma when he got his emotions back tot me emotional, dammit! Caterina meeting Kit for the first time made my heart feel like it was too large for my body. Jace using finger guns, because finger guns are always hilarious. Dru realizing she was looking at the face of a parent when she looked at Julian. Kit responding to being called "Herondale," when Magnus said, "Stay away from my children, Herondale." Emma telling Diana that she showed her the kind of woman she wanted to be. Emma's terrible pun about Manuel being tied up. "Ragnor Lives." An old lady accidentally complimenting Julian on being tall. Emma and Julian deciding to go to the other at the exact same time. Alec would look better on the money. Mark trying (and failing) to make balloon animals and accidentally making them all snakes. That's not even a third of them all. Near the beginning of the review, I said I was having a difficult time avoiding comparing this book to three other books, two of which were past Shadowhunters books. The third book, however, is Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, which is another very long final book in a series, one that somehow managed to get voted as the best YA fantasy of 2018 and, because of that slap in the face, I couldn't help but wonder how this book, technically the fifteenth in a series, managed to feel fresh, new, fun, and lovable from minute one to hour thirty of the audiobook even though this is the fifteenth time I've experienced a book in The Shadowhunter Chronicles for the first time and I've never come close to feeling the same sort of apathy or anger as I do for Sarah J. Maas and Throne of Glass. This is how you end a series. This is how you end one part of your series. This is how it's done. Take notes, everyone else. Get on Cassie's level.

[purrincess-chat]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Original CH8

The unexpected surprise was that I finished the chapter while I was at work lol. So enjoy! I will say that this cliffhanger is worse than last chapter~

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Chapter 8

My dear sweet Marinette,

           How are you, my fairy? I hope that this letter finds you well, when you backpack over Russian mountains, you take whatever mail service you can get. I have so much to tell you about my latest trip, but first I have some exciting news for you!

During my last stay in Africa volunteering to build homes in a humble little village, I ran into a sweet little fairy by the name of Clara Nightingale. She says she met you! Did you know she’s a famous pop star? Anyway, she and I spent a lot of quality time together teaching young children how to read, and I showed her the scarf you knitted me for Christmas, and she absolutely loved it! She says she will be in Paris again on the 18th and wanted to meet with you about designing for her, so I gave her the address to the bakery. She said she would stop by and see you.

“No way, no way, no way!” Marinette shrieked, bouncing giddily. “Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her! I could just faint.”

“This is an amazing opportunity for you, Marinette,” Tikki said as Marinette paced the floor, hugging the letter and cheerfully humming. “Tomorrow could change your life!”

“I know, Tikki! I’m so excited to- wait,” she paused abruptly. “Tomorrow?”

“The letter said the 18th right?” Tikki tilted her head, and Marinette raced over to pull down her calendar. “Isn’t that-”

“Tomorrow! Clara Nightingale is coming to my house. Tomorrow. To look at my designs!” Marinette clutched her cheeks as rapid breaths shook her shoulders, and Tikki covered her ears as another scream emitted from her master’s throat. “This is a dream come true, Tikki!”

“It’s not really surprising. Gabriel Agreste approved your designs after all, and Clara attended the show, so it’s not like she’s unfamiliar with your work,” Tikki said. “Plus, you’ve designed for Jagged before too.”

“I know but getting commissioned by celebrities at 14 isn’t something you just get used to,” Marinette said, falling onto her chaise with a sigh. “I can’t wait to tell Macy, Eliott, and Martin! They’re gonna freak out!”

“What are you going to do about Chloe?” Tikki asked, but Marinette waved it away.

“I’m going to ignore her. She has no power over me,” Marinette said, reading over the letter again while kicking her legs.

“True,” Tikki admitted, tapping her chin. “But I think she did have a point. You always look out for your friends.”

“Yeah, but how many of those ‘friends’ came to visit me when I left?” Marinette said pointedly, and Tikki conceded with a nod.

“Is that why you left? To see who would come?”

Marinette set down the letter and pursed her lips.

“That’s one reason. I wanted to get away, but I also wanted to see who my real friends are,” she said, resting her chin on her fist. “I wanted to see who cared enough to chase after me, and I guess Adrien is the only real friend I had after all. Funny how I spent all that time hoping he would notice me when in reality, he always had.”

“He really thinks highly of you,” Tikki remarked, flitting over to rest beside her.

“I know. My heart was beating so fast when he said those things. Do you think it means he likes me?” Marinette buried her face with a grin.

“It definitely means he knows how amazing you are, and I’m sure you can catch his attention romantically too. Especially when you two are hanging out so much,” Tikki said, touching her arm with a small paw.

“I feel like all of my dreams are coming true,” Marinette said with a smile.

“With everything you give to the city, I think you deserve it,” Tikki said encouragingly.

“Well, one thing is for sure, I need to defeat Hawkmoth before I become a famous fashion designer and go to New York. That’s priority number one. Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Rena- oh,” Marinette sat up abruptly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, Alya and Nino are Rena Rouge and Carapace, but after everything…I don’t know if I still trust them,” she said, curling her shoulders. “I don’t doubt that they would help Ladybug, but if I know who they are then it might affect me. Do you think I made a mistake picking people close to me?”

“I think that’s a question for someone with more experience picking,” Tikki advised, and Marinette tapped her fingers in thought.

“You’re right, Tikki. Let’s go.”

Master Fu was playing cards with Wayzz when Marinette knocked on the door and poked her head in.

“Marinette, what brings you here?’ He asked calmly, lowering his hand.

“I could use some advice. Do you have a minute?” She asked, and Wayzz peeked over his cards.

“We are in the middle of a game,” he said pointedly, but Master Fu cast him a sly smile.

“It’s okay,” he said, splaying his royal flush for Wayzz to see. “I was just winning. What is on your mind?”

Marinette sat on the mat, hugging her knees to her chest as Wayzz flitted off grumpily. She took a deep breath before diving in, sparing no details. Volpina, Lila, her friends, changing schools, leaving Alya. Everything. And Master Fu listened patiently while she talked, sipping his tea thoughtfully every now and then.

“I’m sorry, Master, but I think I made a mistake picking my friends to be Rena Rouge and Carapace,” she finished, head hanging low. “I don’t think I’m fit to choose our partners anymore.”

“Marinette,” Master Fu said with one of his kind, grandfatherly smiles. “We cannot blame ourselves for the actions of others. Your friends have made choices outside of your control. That does not mean that your judgment was lacking when you picked them. People change, and that is no one’s fault, just the natural order of things.”

“So, you won’t be mad if I pick someone else next time I need help?” Marinette asked, glancing up at him like a small child waiting to be scolded.

“You must pick allies you can trust. Whoever that happens to be in the moment,” he said, and she felt her shoulders relax.

“Thank you, Master. I feel a lot better. Sorry to interrupt your game,” she bowed respectfully before standing up.

“It’s okay. I have a fairly large lead on Wayzz,” he waved it away with a chuckle. “Come back anytime.”

“I will. And next time, I’ll choose people I know I can count on.”

***

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Macy remarked as Marinette took her seat in home room, a wide grin stretched across her lips.

“Did something good happen? Spill!” Eliott said, leaning in close.

“Can you two keep a secret?” Marinette said in a hushed tone.

“Oh, if there’s anything we aristocrats know how to do it’s keep secrets,” Eliott assured her.

“Yeah, you’re our friend now. You can count on us,” Macy echoed with a kind smile, and Marinette bit her lip.

“Clara Nightingale wants me to design for her,” she whispered, and Macy and Eliott’s eyebrows raised, mouths hanging agape.

“No way!” Eliott gasped.

“Marinette, that’s huge,” Macy squealed, bouncing a little before regaining her composure and glancing around. “Don’t worry. We will totally keep it on the downlow, but I can’t wait to see the look on Gabrielle’s face when it goes public.”

“Pretty soon we’ll be going to Berlin in your private jet, Marinette,” Eliott said with a laugh, nudging her with his elbow. “Speaking of, you still need to see my yacht.”

“Oh, and we should totally have tea at my house! We just had the theater redone,” Macy added.

“I’d love to,” she said with a giggle. “Clara is supposed to come over today, so I’ll tell you how it goes.”

“We want all of the details tomorrow,” Macy said as Mr. Mercier entered the room and called for everyone to settle down. “We can rendezvous at my place.”

“Sounds good.”

When school ended, Marinette rushed home, adorned with a giddy smile. She wondered what type of design Clara wanted. A dress? Or maybe a tasteful pantsuit? Her mind was already buzzing with ideas. She only hoped that she didn’t mess everything up. What if she designed something, and Clara hated it? Or worse what if Audrey Bourgeois slammed her design in the next issue of her magazine because she refused to help Chloe? Then she could ruin Clara’s career, and it would be all Marinette’s fault!

“Hi, sweetie. How was school?” Sabine greeted when she entered the bakery.

“Fine, except for the fact that I have no talent, and I’m going to ruin Clara Nightingale,” she said dryly, and her parents exchanged concerned looks.

“That’s not true. My daughter has all the talent in the world, and she can do anything!” Tom said, scooping her into a tight hug. “After all, she comes by it naturally.”

He gestured to a large wedding cake resting in the back.

“You’re just nervous, sweetie. You’re going to be great,” Sabine said, patting her shoulder as the bell above the door chimed, and a woman wearing a hat and sunglasses entered.

“Welcome! What can we get for you today?” Sabine asked politely.

“What I’m after is not sweet; there’s someone here I want to meet,” she said, lowering her sunglasses to peek over at Marinette with a smile. “It’s been sometime since we’ve seen one another, but your designs are like no other.”

“Clara Nightingale! You’re here!” Marinette gaped, spine stiffening.

“I want to ask you a request of mine. I’ll run it by you if you’ve got time.”

“Yes, I have so much time!” Marinette said, then taking a moment to compose herself, gestured to the back door. “Why don’t we chat upstairs?”

“Fine by me. This request is top secret, you see,” Clara said, following Marinette up to the apartment. Once they were safely away from the public eye, Clara removed her disguise with a sigh of relief. “Thank you for meeting with me. I assume you read your grandmother’s letter.”

“I did. It arrived yesterday,” Marinette nodded, putting on a pot of tea.

“Excellent! Then you know why I’m here.” Marinette jumped a little when she turned to find herself face-to-face with Clara. “Ever since I met you, I felt a connection between us like our destinies were entwined. I loved that hat you designed for Adrien, and Gina’s scarf was to die for, so, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you be willing to design for me?”

“Doesn’t Gabriel usually design your clothes? Wouldn’t you rather see a professional?” Marinette twirled, a lock of her hair, but Clara took her hands with a confident smile.

“Gabriel’s designs are wonderful, but I think you can capture my essence for this. I’ve been nominated for a music award, and I want you to design my dress for the ceremony,” Clara explained. “You and I are both young and passionate about our crafts, and I think you can bring something that Gabriel can’t, so what do you say?”

Clara’s gaze bore into Marinette’s hopefully, and she shifted her weight.

“I’ll do my best,” Marinette said with a gulp, and Clara bounced in delight.

“Thank you, Marinette! This favor is one I won’t forget!” Clara pulled her in for a tight hug. “Your willingness means so much and very soon I’ll be in touch.”

Clara released her hold before happily trotting back out the door, hat and sunglasses in hand, leaving Marinette standing stunned in the kitchen. When the teapot on the stove began to screech, she blinked out of her trance and set it aside, barely capable of containing her smile.

Her day just kept getting better and better.

***

Adrien removed his fencing gloves as he opened his locker, tossing them into his open bag with a sigh. Another long day of watching Lila manipulate everyone. Even he had to admit it was getting old, especially since Nino spent a large portion of his free time helping Alya with her deputy duties which were really Lila’s class representative duties that she came up with excuses to get out of.

He thought back to Marinette’s anguished sobs the previous evening over her former friends and felt his stomach flip. Seeing her so upset was nauseating in a way Adrien had never felt before. Maybe it was because Marinette was always positive and upbeat, doing her best to help others even when she had problems of her own. He wanted to help her in some way, but he wasn’t quite sure how.

“Why the long face?” Kagami’s voice startled him, and he turned to face her as she leaned against the locker next to his.

“Just tired,” he said, slinging his bag over one shoulder and shutting his locker.

“You’ve been like this for the past week,” she remarked, watching him pace up the aisle toward the door. “Ever since Marinette left.”

“It’s been a long week. I’ve had a lot going on,” he said with a shrug.

“You miss her?” Adrien stopped short at the end of the row and glanced back at Kagami over one shoulder.

“She’s my friend, why wouldn’t I?” He quirked a brow, and Kagami shoved away from the locker, slowly approaching him.

“I do have to wonder why she up and left so suddenly. Rumor has it that she had a jealousy spat with that Italian girl in your class,” Kagami said purposefully. “What was her name again? Lie-la?”

“Yeah.” Adrien said curtly, adjusting the strap of his bag.

“She sure has everyone enamored,” Kagami paused beside him and cocked a hip. “Well, almost everyone.”

“Why do you care?” Adrien asked, eyes narrowing skeptically.

“I don’t,” she shrugged, tilting her chin to meet his gaze.

“So why bring it up?”

“Because you and I both know the truth, and I suspect Marinette does too,” she said with a defiant smirk. “She’s a liar.”

Adrien let out a breath, relaxing his shoulders a little.

“How’d you find out?” He asked, turning to face her head-on.

“She claimed that her great grandfather was a world-champion fencer who invented a secret technique, but my family has held the championship title for the last six generations,” Kagami explained. “Plus, her stories are so obviously farfetched and self-congratulating.”

“Tell that to everyone else,” he grumbled bitterly.  

“It’s not really my place,” Kagami said indifferently. “I’m just the school ice queen.”

“So, you’re stuck with this knowledge too,” Adrien sighed, deflating a little.

“After what happened with Marinette, I have no interest in confronting her. If your classmates want to be sheep, I say let them,” she shrugged. “No sense in letting it upset you. They could easily figure it out too if they applied an ounce of brain power.”

“Well, yeah, but she’s using all of them. I thought her lies were harmless, but she has everyone bending over backwards to help her, and Marinette left the school hurt…I’m starting to get a little fed up,” Adrien averted his gaze that nausea returning to his stomach.

“So, you call her out,” Kagami said as if it were obvious. “People trust your word, and you have enough celebrity pull to prove it.”

“Yeah, but…” He winced, and Kagami rolled her eyes.

“Oh, right. That would require you to actually grow a spine, my mistake,” she pressed a hand over her mouth, pushing passed him with a taunting smirk. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to hope your friends see the light eventually. See you later.”

Adrien’s hands clenched into fists as she sauntered from the locker room, biting his tongue as anger swelled in his chest, and the feeling in his gut grew stronger. Letting out a heated breath, he stalked toward the door, blinking in surprise when it opened, and Lila appeared before him. She wasted no time latching onto him.

“Adrien, you’ve been avoiding me,” she said with her sugary-sweet lilt. “You promised to help me catch up on my school work.”

“Sorry. I don’t think I can anymore. Why don’t you ask Max?” He said, unhooking her arms from around his neck.

“But you promised,” she pouted, and Adrien’s stomach churned.

“I’ve got a lot going on, Lila. Photoshoots, private lessons, that sort of stuff,” he said, taking a purposeful step away from her.

“You seem to have enough time to go visit Marinette,” she said accusingly, crossing her arms over her chest as his jaw hung slack. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“Lila-”

“She’s the one who’s lying, ya know. I’m sure she has told you all kinds of nasty things about me, but they’re false,” Lila said, shoulders tense. “She’s just trying to turn you against me because she’s jealous.”

“That’s not true, Lila,” Adrien said, his anger bubbling hotter. “Marinette just wants to move on.”

“Is that why she went to Jagged’s concert just to try to make me look bad?” She pressed.

“No, that’s not-”

“Alya is still upset over their fight. Marinette ripped her heart out and stomped on it.”

“Only because-”

“Honestly, Marinette is the worst person I’ve ever met.” Adrien felt something in his chest snap like a rubber band stretched too far, and that feeling in his gut surged up to his throat.

“Enough, Lila!” He shouted over her, and she flinched, cupping her hands over her mouth. “Your lies won’t work on me, and sooner or later everyone else is going to see through you too, and you’ll be left all alone. Is that what you want?” He barely gave her a moment to respond before continuing. “Marinette poured her heart and soul into her friends. She made sacrifices for them and never once asked for anything in return, and now you’ve gone and turned her best friend against her and convinced everyone that she’s jealous. If anyone here is a terrible person, it’s you.”

Lila’s face hardened, her whole countenance darkening.

“I see how it is, Adrien,” she said, squaring her jaw. “If you choose to side with her over me then I can’t help what happens to you. I own this school now, and there’s nothing you or Marinette can do about it.”

Turning over her shoulder, she slapped Adrien with her hair on her way out, and he balled his hands into tight fists. A new feeling entered his gut, one that drove him forward until he stood outside Chloe’s door. His fist pounded against the wood, breaths short and hot until she opened the door and quirked a brow.

“I want to help you take down Lila.”

Chloe’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but the shock was soon replaced by a sinister smirk.

“Excellent.”

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 6 “Our Way” (The Finale!)

We made it, folks. Volume 6 is finally over and my god what a disappointment it turned out to be. 

I’ve danced my whole life and I had an instructor once who gave a lecture on choreography, cautioning us that the order you put your pieces in is just as important as the pieces themselves. Though each comes together to create a whole, your audience is more likely to remember the first and the last piece—so make those two count. Volume 6 began strong with the relic and the lore, and then ended on a flat, uninspiring, illogical note. Sadly I know what part of the performance I’ll be remembering from here on out.

However, first let’s tackle what we didn’t get this episode. There was no flashback to Oscar at Argus, re-characterizing his outing as something significant that might actually impact his growth as a character. Rooster Teeth really just… did that. They gave us an exact repeat of episode four, had Jaune physically assault Oscar, no one stepped in, no one bothered to check if Oscar was okay, we set him up staring morosely at the door, a two week cliffhanger, and then we really got an episode all about Jaune’s emotions while Oscar bought new clothes and made these people a casserole. He immediately accepted an incomplete apology, went so far as to speak like he thinks he’s going to die… and the group just smiled at him. Because remember, right now they only care about outsiders—which Oscar still very much is—when they’re helping and not getting in the way. Which Oscar has now promised to do. The finale gives us a brief moment where Ruby tries to praise Oscar for his efforts and it just rang as incredibly hollow to me. It’s easy to be kind to people when everything is going your way. You show your true colors when things get tough. RWBYJNR has repeatedly demonstrated this volume that when push comes to shove they’re willing to throw Oscar (and Ozpin) under the bus.

I’d need an entire, separate recap to detail exactly how horrible their treatment of him has been and how worrying it is that the story continues to frame this behavior as not just acceptable, but the actions of heroes. Suffice to say, if you have friends who seem nice on the daily but use you as a punching bag whenever they need an outlet? Do me a favor and get far, far away from them.

In the interests of moving on, another thing we didn’t get was any mention of Raven. A few friends theorized that last volume’s end credits scene (where Tai spots Raven using his portal) might finally come into play, but no such luck. More importantly to my mind, Yang still hasn’t said anything about Raven being the Spring Maiden, so that continues to be a secret she keeps while heaping more judgement on Ozpin. We’ll get to that later.

We didn’t see that true reconciliation teased in the last shot of the opening. Ruby never fought grimm with arms like those, let alone in a sewer tunnel… even though one was right there at the farm. I’m honestly starting to believe what others are saying about whole episodes being cut to make time for GenLock. Something happened this volume because the writing took one hell of a nosedive. It’s not just that I don’t agree with the messages the show is expressing, it’s that we have dangling threads, confusing “twists,” and what honestly feels like half-assed storytelling. Like they knew they had to complete the volume but just weren’t feeling motivated, so they chucked together something shoddy and left it at that.

(We also didn’t get to hear what Ruby bought them all at the gift shop. I realize this is a comparatively tiny thing, but to my mind it was a missed opportunity. They could have bookended the premiere and the finale, revealed that tiny mystery, told us something about Ruby based on the gifts she chose—the fandom keeps complaining that she’s one-dimensional—and if she’d picked up something for Ozpin at the time, that would have been an easy moment to have the group start reflecting on their behavior, a reminder that just a few days ago he was an important member of their team. Obviously I doubt the gifts survived the train crash, but there’s no reason why Ruby couldn’t tell them about it; a quiet moment before they reach Atlas. Like the shorter season length though, this episode was short for a finale. We were barely given enough time for the plot, let alone any reflection.)

For now though, let’s dive into the actual episode. We open on a field where an airship lands, Neo transforming as she steps out. That really is a powerful semblance. She can create copies of herself, disguise herself, and (as we’ll see in just a moment), disguise a whole freaking airship too. Granted, that last one seems to take some effort, but as this finale will inform us later, it doesn’t really matter how tired you are. If the plot needs you to do a thing with your semblance, you’ll manage it. Somehow. 

Cinder arrives in a new outfit as well and, like Neo’s, it’s pretty damn skimpy? I haven’t bothered to bring this up before because on the whole RT writes it’s mostly female cast very well, but considering how many other criticisms I’ve got today, why not chuck out one more. Meaning, why do these designs continually have to promote sexiness over practicality? Weiss, Nora, and Ruby all fight in skirts—hastily justified as “combat skirts”—and at least half the women on this show fight in heels. Yang sports short-shorts. Both she and Blake have bare midriffs. Now Neo is in a top that looks like it’s held up by a prayer and Cinder is sporting lingerie-like knee highs. There’s just no reason to design characters like this, especially when a good chunk of your cast is made up of teens. Cinder says herself that Neo will soon need snow boots. Just dress her appropriately for the weather from the start. You know, like how we didn’t get with Team RWBY while traveling through a kingdom filled with snow. Apparently Weiss wearing a scarf is enough to combat hypothermia for the whole team.

And yes, I realize costume changes require new models to be made, but that’s precisely why you should design your fighters as fighters from the start. You’re battling giant monsters? No one would wear heels. Or skirts. Or expose their midriff. It seems pretty convenient that aura supposedly protects them, eliminating the need for armor, and yet now it’s only our most masculine character—Jaune—who still bothers to wear it. Neo and Cinder are just the most recent examples of, “Why the hell would you wear that to a fight?”

Well, maybe these two will freeze to death before they ever reach the group… They’re heading to Solitas too and though they didn’t do anything in this scene besides reveal new and impractical clothing, I was more interested in their brief discussion than I was in the entirety of RWBYJNR’s fight. At least I’m comfortable in how I feel about Neo and Cinder. They’re bad guys. They’re gonna do bad things that the story frames as bad. They’re usually fun to watch. I don’t get frustrated and confused whenever they come on screen nowadays.

Cinder says, “Someone once asked me if I believe in destiny…and I’m happy to say I still do” as we get a final shot of them planning their nefarious deeds. We’re getting a lot of references to Pyrrha this volume—this, the statue, Ruby’s memories later—and taken on its own that’s fantastic. In a season though where Pyrrha’s death is subtly ‘justifying’ the group’s awful behavior and acting as a reminder to the fandom for why they unjustly hate Ozpin? Ehh…

We close on the villains and open on our “heroes” with rousing music to signal the upcoming battle, which… isn’t really a battle at all. The Leviathan is steadily approaching Argus and the Atlas personnel are calling for Cordovin. She’s still stuck, yelling about how “This is your fault!”

And it is. However, once again Cordovin’s exaggerated attitude makes it easy to ignore the fact that she’s right. She’s racist! She’s arrogant! She’s screaming and sounds like a child! Clearly our group is the mature ones here. Look at how calmly Ruby faces her down in contrast… It reminds me of how people (particularly women) are told that they’re being “Too emotional” in this conversation and therefore all the points they’ve made are somehow invalid. Of course Cordovin is emotional. A group of kids just lied to her, stole from her, started a battle against her, and destroyed her mech right when her city is about to be overrun by grimm. I’d be screaming in frustration too.

Though of course, most don’t view it that way. I agree with what others have pointed out, that if we’d been given a calmer authority figure saying the exact same things—No you can’t go into Atlas. Why would I let anyone other than Weiss cross a closed border?—it would have been easier to see exactly how horrible the group’s actions are here. As it is, Cordovin’s personality acts as a distraction. One more way to present the group as heroic when they’re anything but.  

Yang and Blake arrive on the scene, wanting to know what the hell is going on. Yang asks, “Is that a giant grimm?” and Weiss responds, “Yes…and we just ruined the only thing capable of stopping it.”

That’s an admission of facts, not necessarily an admission of guilt. The group acknowledges that they ruined the one defense capable of taking out a grimm of that size, but as we’ll see, there’s no regret attached to doing that in the first place. It’s just summarizing the situation for Blake and Yang.  

Granted, we get a moment where Ruby looks worried/potentially sad as they fly away from Cordovin, but what does that mean here? Is she sad about what she’s done? Or just worried about this new situation? Their actions have been so extreme that the story can’t afford to be vague about the characters’ emotions here. Plenty of people will (and are free) to read this moment as Ruby experiencing fierce regret at her choices the last few hours… but it’s just as easy to attribute her expressions to fear about the coming battle. I’m not inclined to give these characters the benefit of the doubt here. They haven’t earned it.

Regardless, we cut to the airship where apparently Yang and Blake have already told everyone about Adam. That was not the sort of thing that should have happened off screen. By all means, be practical. There’s no time for a long-winded conversation with the Leviathan bearing down on Argus, so have Yang announce that they’re okay, yes something happened, we’ll explain things later. Now you’ve established that this very important information will be conveyed either on the airship later, or at the beginning of volume 7.

What a waste. This is the end of a villain we’ve had since the Black Trailer—the first time our protagonists have killed a fellow human being—and that admission is regulated to the 30 seconds it takes to fly from Cordovin to the middle of the fight. Ruby hugs Blake and tells her she’s safe, but that’s it. That’s currently the extent of the team’s reaction to this huge revelation and like JNR learning about Salem, the audience has no idea what sort of details they received. Do they just know Adam died in the fight or that they deliberately killed him? Did Weiss hear about the brand? We don’t know. Hopefully this conversation is given more weight in volume 7, but given what else we’ve seen lately, I’m not counting on it.

Maria then interrupts with one of the most jaw-dropping lines of the episode: “I suppose I have to be the bad guy and say it, but getting the lamp to Atlas is still our top priority.”

Are we for real right now? Where was this calm, level-headed, pragmatic Maria when she was pissing off Cordovin with cashews? Or cheering at Ruby rejecting all adults? Now she starts trying to think rationally? But of course, when she does stop her manic cackling it’s to suggest something horrific. Yes, Maria. It does make you a bad guy to want to abandon a city to the grimm you brought here. She realizes that everyone is dead if they leave, right? That without the mech or silver eyes Argus has no decent way of stopping that Leviathan? Maria is meant to be the Grimm Reaper, the greatest huntress of her generation, and the writers think it’s appropriate to not only have her encouraging a bunch of kids to recklessly commit treason, but then condemn a whole city to probable death for their mistakes?

No, the relic is not the top priority. The relic is a side mission. The top priority has always and will always be protecting humanity. At least Yang, Blake, and Weiss realize this. They say firmly that they’re not leaving and Ruby gives a little shrug like, ‘Guess we’re not leaving then.’

(They really like having Ruby treat her mistakes as jokes, don’t they?)

So Ruby announces she has an idea, the one the whole fandom saw coming a mile away, and the next second Qrow says, “Eyes up, everybody” because they’ve reached the Leviathan. Ha. Get it? Eyes up?

Okay. I’m done lol.

We get shots of the terrified Argus population, including Terra and Saphron. 

Ruby asks Ren and Jaune to mask the ship which, reminder, they shouldn’t be able to do. Ren maybe, but Jaune just used all his aura to protect himself and Nora from getting splattered by Cordovin’s arm. Then he was thrown into a boulder for good measure. Last episode he couldn’t even stand without hanging off of his teammates. Now we get exactly what I was afraid we would: the plot needs someone to Do A Thing so aura burnout is conveniently forgotten. Jaune gives a confident smile. Of course he can boost Ren’s semblance and cover an entire airship!

Keep in mind that we just saw Neo dropping in exhaustion after a second of using her semblance on a whole ship. Granted, her ship is bigger, but she’s also presumably at full strength right now. If we were bothering to follow the rules established by this world, I highly doubt Jaune would have been able to pull this off.

Meanwhile the Leviathan has easily taken out Argus’s first barrier. “It tore straight through…” Oscar whispers, reminding me that he hasn’t had many encounters with grimm. If I remember correctly he mentioned to Ruby that there was an occasional one on the farm (as expected), but they must have been pretty weak if an untrained kid can take them out with farm equipment. Oscar then goes straight to Haven, battles people at the Academy, gets on that train where he fought some manticores, but then he didn’t get to see the Apathy for himself. This seems to be one of the first times Oscar is seeing grimm at all, let alone one this deadly. No wonder he sounds shocked.

With the shield destroyed in an instant the Atlas personnel start giving the order to evacuate… when Ruby interrupts them. No worries, fine people. I have a plan! Wait, why should we trust you? “I’m a huntress.”

No you’re not, Ruby. Literally and symbolically, you are not currently a huntress. Ignoring for a moment all the stunts you just pulled, undermining everything a huntress is meant to uphold, that is a formal position. It’s a title that embodies great power in this world and you achieve that title by studying four years and graduating from an academy. You don’t get to call yourself a college graduate because you did one year and then studied on your own. Same with being a doctor, or a lawyer, or literally any titled position. Ruby (in continuing with the theme of this volume) is lying to that Atlesian soldier. She’s misrepresenting herself, claiming she’s something other than what she actually is: a half-trained teen with a current chip on her shoulder.

This is also another moment where she ignores Qrow when he yells for her to stop. The issue isn’t about who’s right here—whether Ruby should tell the others about her plan or not—but that Ruby is consistently ignoring everyone around her to charge forward with whatever plan she personally thinks is best. Qrow told her not to attack the Atlas military… look what happened. Qrow told her not to go stare down Cordovin’s missiles and try to make an impossible shot… look what happened. Qrow told her not to stubbornly stand her ground against a mech when the rest of her team is beaten and exhausted, and though Ruby survives, it’s only by the will of Plot Armor. She leapt into a freaking cannon. She knocked herself out. You’d think after all this Ruby would at least pause a moment to give Qrow the time of day.

It ultimately doesn’t matter though because their ship is still flagged as hostile. Atlas isn’t going to help them on what clearly looks like a suicide mission. We get a close up of Ruby daring to do what no one else can or will. “Fine… we’ll do it alone if we have to.”

…which is precisely the problem. Atlas backing off might feel like a consequence—Oh no! Their actions lost them their backup!—but all it does is get the extras out of the way (who just happen to be adults) so we can more easily focus on the protagonists (who just happen to be teens). It’s a reward. They don’t actually need the airships here, as the group is about to demonstrate, so this ‘consequence’ is absolutely meaningless. It would be something entirely different if, say, the story actually framed the soldiers as necessary to distract the Leviathan and Ruby had to admit her faults, begging them to help despite her mistakes; if the story made it clear that teamwork was a necessity. But there’s nothing like that. This is meant to read as the hero’s crowning moment.

Also, as an aside, why in the world would Ruby tell them to wait on the rest of their evacuation? What if—a wild thought here—something went wrong? Like literally every plan you’ve ever come up with? Isn’t it better to get people to safety while you try out your idea, just in case it all falls to pieces? This is just one more moment of Ruby’s overconfidence putting others at risk. She’s endangered her team, herself, and an entire city this volume… and has learned precisely nothing from it.

But we’ll come to that. Right now Ren masks the airship’s approach, conveniently keeping it up just long enough for them to reach the Leviathan, and then he’s out. They still didn’t make it in time though. The Leviathan sends out another stream of fire that takes out the second shield and hits the top of a tower in Argus. Needing to get closer, Yang and Nora distract the Leviathan while Ruby rides in on one of Weiss’ summoned lancers. I did appreciate Blake briefly supporting Weiss as she works to keep her semblance up. Whatever else, this volume has been good about brief, non-partner interactions. 

We hear Ruby encouraging herself as she flies in and then she chucks her communicator into the water to concentrate. I thought something would come of that? Why bother having Yang interrupt her if there wasn’t a serious issue (it takes another long moment for the Leviathan to turn on Ruby) and why full on get rid of the communicator if that choice wasn’t going to come into play later? Eh, whatever. Far from the first time we’ve had setups that go absolutely nowhere. This volume is full of them.

So Ruby does as Maria taught her: cycling through memories of her family and friends, trying to drum up that fierce desire to protect them. 

I did appreciate that Oscar, Qrow, and Maria get brief appearances… but again, the one team member who isn’t shown is Ozpin. Apparently Ruby now hates him to the point where he’s not even a part of her very generalized thoughts about who she wants to protect. I mean she met Maria three days ago and the woman now means more to her, apparently.

(For the record, I say this because Ruby knew Ozpin primarily in his headmaster form and is drawing largely from volume 1-3 material. We might have seen him in the new engine, easily. The shot of Oscar we’re given is also the one from the training room where Ozpin didn’t speak until Ruby left. Alongside Ozpin’s absence this volume, that’s the closest we’ve ever seen Oscar as only Oscar. That choice says a lot in my opinion.)

Eventually Ruby’s memories start to segue into darker thoughts and… okay. I’m confused now. Why is thinking about bad memories the thing that doesn’t let the silver eyes work? Not only were those moments where fierce protection would be at its strongest, but Ruby has only ever been in horrible situations when her eyes went off: Watching Pyrrha die, watching Jaune about to be killed, watching Blake about to kick it via Apathy. You’re telling me that during those times Ruby somehow thought about bright and happy things, not the horror of the fact that her friends were in the process of being murdered? If anything, those flashes of Yang without her arm or Penny cut into pieces should be the very thing that does set her eyes off.

Instead they fail. Ruby opens her eyes to find the Leviathan turning her way and then, as a friend of mine pointed out, she gasps out a “What?” and looks down at the relic.

No. That relic has very conveniently done nothing the entire time the group was trekking through the woods, staying at an abandoned farm, driving who knows how far, and running around a new city. You’re not going to tell me now that suddenly it’s the cause of the Leviathan turning away from people currently attacking it. Either the relic’s draw is strong enough that Oscar should have been in trouble on the train, or it’s not strong enough to act as a justification here. The relic is the new Qrow’s semblance: turning off and on when the story wills it.

In a panic Ruby yells for Jinn, which is less the “clever” choice Jinn says it is and more a potentially clever gamble. The last time they used Jinn every creature in her vicinity remained active. Granted, all those creatures were human or faunus then, but Ruby wouldn’t know if she would freeze the grimm as well. Regardless, her gamble pays off (because of course it does) and we get another example of how the protagonists are currently super special people who can never do any wrong.

Jinn: “You do not seek knowledge, but just this once I will give it freely…I will not allow you to use me without a question again.”

Why? That’s the question you have to ask for all your characters’ decision. Why are they doing this? What’s their motivation? Jinn provides none. She has no reason to let Ruby off the hook for summoning her without a question, especially since she frames that as another bad choice that she’ll (somehow?) punish Ruby for if she does it again. But this time, once again, our protagonist is let off the hook, purely because she’s the protagonist.

With this very generous second chance Ruby re-shuts her eyes, thinks only of the good times, including a memory of Summer Rose. The fandom has been waiting a long time to see her outside of a covered photograph.  

Ruby manages to activate her silver eyes. It works—mostly.

I mentioned previously how the show needs to introduce some downside to the silver eyes so that Ruby isn’t suddenly over powered against every grimm from here on out. This is a downside… but an odd one. The grimm turned to stone, but not all the way? Sort of just a stone encasing that it partly manages to break out of? Okay. I mean that works, but it’s a pretty easy downside to overcome. The grimm is still stopped in its tracks, giving the others plenty of time to take it out.

And, as always, pay attention to how it’s all framed. Despite not working exactly as she intended, this is meant to be a moment of victory for Ruby. She’s succeeded in her trial by fire. She’s single-handedly saved all of Argus. The music is rising, the people are cheering, people who have no idea what silver eyes are and will now start up legends about this girl. Who was the huntress with the magic-like power none of us understand? Ruby Rose. The girl who stood toe-to-toe against a Leviathan grimm and won.

This would indeed be a wonderful moment if it weren’t Ruby’s fault the grimm was there in the first place. Like her own claims of “I’m a huntress,” this moment misrepresents Ruby to the people. No one is going to learn that she’s the one who endangered them, only that she’s the one who came to the rescue. She’s fixing her own mistake and then allowing that to stand as a heroic act.

I was so looking forward to Ruby learning to wield her silver eyes. Not like this though.

Cordovin arrives with her pinned arm gone, ready to finish taking out the Leviathan, and she’s suddenly stupidly cheerful about it. Again, characters need motivations. If their outlook on a situation changes we need to see why that happened, especially when moving from such extremes. In a matter of minutes Cordovin went from shrieking at the group to not just sunnily helping them—which is a practical consideration. As she herself says, “I was sworn to protect the people”—but also letting them go.

….there is no reason to let them go. None. It goes against Cordovin’s entire characterization, the logic of the situation, and nothing has happened in the last few minutes to change her mind. This is the story at its laziest: “We don’t have a reason for Cordovin to let them go. She’s just gonna. Because they’re heroes.”

During this conversation we get an “I’m sorry” from Ruby and that’s admittedly something, but like Weiss’ comment about destroying the mech or Ruby’s worried looks, what is she apologizing for? Because she doesn’t seem very contrite right now. The framing isn’t telling us Ruby has anything to be ashamed of. She’s the star in this moment. So that ‘I’m sorry’ feels less like an admission of wrong doing and more, ‘I’m sorry I had to attack you and that it almost got everyone killed. But I absolutely had to. No doubt. So I guess I’m only sorry that fate screwed us over. It’s not like I had a hand in this mess or anything.’

All of which is to say: there are no consequences. None. Zip. Nada. No one in Argus died (despite the fact that all those flying grimm apparently bypassed the mass of terrified people to go battle with the airships on the opposite side of the Leviathan??), no one was arrested, no Ironwood or Winter, no Ozpin coming to their rescue, no problems with aura, the mech still manages to fight, the airship still manages to fly, no one was even reprimanded for their behavior. This volume we have seen the group betray a man they were demanding trust from, steal a secret they knew nothing about, force him to relive thousands of years of trauma while taking in the personal history that was never theirs to see, verbally and physically assault him to the point where he has to remove himself from their presence, they repeat that on an innocent kid days later, do absolutely nothing to make up for that, show no remorse for their actions, steal military property, plotted to mess with one of the few remaining relay towers the whole world depends on, beat up Atlas personnel, chucked them out of a plane, started and continued a fight with a special operative that endangered an entire city of people, destroyed a city’s primary defense, risked straining kingdom relations, nearly got friends killed with these foolish stunts ….and nothing. Not a single consequence, punishment, or reprimand. RT set up a situation where the group makes horrific mistakes and then had them learn nothing from them. Far from it. They’re rewarded, telling the audience that provided you have power—be it physical strength, access to resources, or the knowledge of a super secret mission—you can do whatever you want. There is no single stupid, illegal, dangerous, or callous thing you can do that isn’t ‘justified’ with, “Well I literally could do it, so I guess that means I’m allowed to do it, right?” Our title, “Our Way,” definitely embodies the morals we’re given this season.

I’m honestly disgusted with this volume. Just as a piece of media. This isn’t a story where we’re following anti-heroes and are well aware that they’re committing horrible deeds. This is a story about traditional heroes who are now using anti-hero means, something the story has just straight up ignored. I really didn’t think RT would take things this far… but here we are. This is apparently our group now and I personally think they’re awful.

And ugh, there’s still more of this episode. We cut to the group flying that night and Maria comments that “We should have just enough fuel to make it.” Wow you… literally didn’t think anything through, huh? No one even bothered to find out if they’d have enough fuel to not crash land in the ocean halfway there. Wonderful. 

We get another entirely illogical conversation between Qrow and Ruby. He tells her she, “Did good out there today, kid” despite the fact that Qrow was consistently (and correctly) trying to get her to not do the things she was doing. Is it too much to ask for Qrow to have a firm and honest conversation about her making reckless decisions instead of more unearned platitudes? And then Qrow lowers his bottle which… what? Alcoholism doesn’t work like that. Much more importantly, no one has tackled his drinking this season. Or the reasons he was drinking in the first place. Literally, Qrow’s semblance, his place in the war, Ozpin’s secret, none of it has been addressed. He has no reason to suddenly put aside his flask like he’s actually learned something. Does RT think we’re going to just imagine scenes that never actually happened?

(I mean, that’s what fic is for, but that’s… fic. The canon should at least be attempting to hit a higher bar. This is their job, not an unpaid hobby done late at night when you’re exhausted after your own full day of work.)

Qrow and Maria also have a conversation about how he was there to “Catch them when they fell. Literally, if I recall,” implying, again, something that didn’t happen. Yes, Qrow literally caught Ruby when she fell from the cannon, but that line is meant primarily in the metaphorical sense: You were there to support them, keep them from doing something stupid, steering them back to the right path, etc. That’s what Qrow tried to do, but Ruby consistently ignored him.

This is all such a mess. Though we do get some nice shots of Blake and Yang sitting together—lots of hand-holding now—and Weiss comments that she’s glad Yang was there for Blake. Yang corrects that they were there for each other, confirming the lesson they learned off screen at some point. 

A conversation starts up once again painting Ruby’s recklessness as awesome heroics. Among her clique she’s all bashful now, no more arrogance when there aren’t outsiders to push back against, and Ruby tries to foster attention off on Oscar. He corrects them about landing the airship… he didn’t actually do that himself.

Oscar: “I didn’t land the ship on my own.”

We get a flashback to him panicking as the ship crashes, but this time we hear Ozpin saying, “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” Back in the present Nora immediately freaks out, “He took control?!” and Oscar corrects her with no, he helped guide me.

Let’s unpack this a bit. First of all Ozpin would have been 100% justified in taking control, just like he was justified in taking control at Haven when Oscar was going to get them killed by stubbornly insisting that he fight Hazel. Like everything else in this volume, each situation has its own context. Just saying, “Ozpin took control of Oscar without permission” sounds bad, until you bother to acknowledge that dying is kinda worse. It’s like if I see a 14yo boy running towards a road an I yank him backwards. Technically I just took away his agency—I haven’t allowed him to keep running forward when he wanted to—but I did it so he wouldn’t get hit by that car. If Ozpin had taken control to keep three team members, including everyone’s precious leader, from dying a horrible death via airship crash… that’s a good thing.

But he didn’t. Even now, even after everything, Ozpin is so careful to give people as much choice as he can. He assessed the situation and decided that he could guide Oscar without taking away the use of his body, the sort of consideration most people wouldn’t even bother with during a time of crisis. And think about those lines. “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” The last time Oscar spoke to Ozpin he was forcefully stealing the means to allow the rest of the group to betray him. Now here Ozpin is, not angry, just endlessly reassuring. 

Then he leaves again. Everyone realizes Ozpin is still doing his best to give everyone what they supposedly want, right? I mentioned ages back that the group wants a contradiction, to have Ozpin fix their problems without having to deal with Ozpin as a person, and now he’s managed that. He comes in, saves their lives, then leaves so no one has to deal with the apparent horror of speaking to him. His level of selflessness is off the charts and it astounds me that anyone thinks this man is a cruel, manipulative puppet master.

…and then there’s Yang.

Yang: “Does that mean he’s been watching us this whole time?!”

Oh yeah. I don’t like Yang much nowadays. I forgot because the last couple of episodes the show isolated Yang with Blake. She’s good with Blake because she actually likes Blake and is probably in love with her. But put Yang with someone who isn’t willing to enable her misplaced anger (Maria, Ozpin) and suddenly she’s not a very kind person anymore. Like the rest of the group right now, Yang’s basic, human empathy doesn’t extend beyond the confines of their team.

Plus, what does that accusation even mean? She makes him sound like some sort of peeping tom and not the leader she was following three days ago. Yang realizes, right, that Ozpin isn’t allowed a body of his own? That he’s connected to Oscar? That anything Oscar sees Ozpin automatically sees too? There were admittedly questions about whether Ozpin was connected to the outside world while locked that deep in Oscar’s head, but Yang makes it sound like he physically left and then started stalking the group without their permission. She makes him sound like Adam.

I really can’t with this group right now. Man arrives to save the lives of the people who betrayed/assaulted him and their reaction is basically, “How dare you even look at us?” The worst part is, you know a huge chunk of the fandom is going to agree. No matter what Ozpin does, even literally saving our title character’s life, it’s somehow twisted into an act of manipulative cruelty.

Also gotta love that Qrow is sitting right there and apparently doesn’t care about this conversation. He only interrupts with a smile to tell them they’re in Atlas.

Which is, admittedly, gorgeous as hell. I do like these shots a great deal.

The only thing that ruins the view is the fleet of airships above, stationed like they’re expecting a battle. This seems to connect to the army we see Salem building in the post credits scene… but how in the world does Atlas know about something like that? Did Ironwood hear something and come up with an excuse to scramble the fighters? Or are they prepping for something else entirely? An attack from another kingdom?

Regardless, we end on one of the personnel telling the group, “Welcome home.”

After the credits we see Emerald and Mercury utterly horrified by something below. We pan down to see Salem creating grimm from the pool… and then making them grow wings. My first thought was, “That guerrilla is going to need a much bigger wingspan to accommodate his weight.” My second thought was, “Oh. Flying monkeys.” That should tell you something about what my brain considers a priority.

Hazel comes in and reminds Mercury and Emerald of an old saying: “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” That’s admittedly unexpected. Looks like after hearing that Ozpin reincarnated and ruined her plans for the Spring relic, Salem has decided to get her own hands dirty for once. I hope we get to hear more explanations for this because she’s apparently kept to the sidelines for generations and now, pretty randomly, decides to announce her presence to the world by leading an army? Who knows. It wouldn’t make less sense than anything else RWBY has given us lately.

And that’s it! We’re done! Hallelujah I need a break. Well, pseudo-break. I still intend to upload my other recaps to tumblr, dive back into our older episodes, and there are still asks to answer. So meta-ing is far from over, but it’ll be less intense than 4000+ words every Saturday lol.  

Thank you all so much for reading. I’d sill be writing these with an audience of one (me), but it’s way better when there are others as well. So kudos to you all—and happy hiatus!

Other Details of Note

Neo is fully wearing Roman’s hat now and Cinder canonically wears Louboutin heels lol.

A bit of an odd note, but Cordovin’s repetitive screams about “This is your fault” almost sound painful. Like she’s physically in pain. Obviously that’s not the case in any literal manner, but there’s something horrible about watching the group destroy a part of the mechanical body she’s currently inhabiting and then just abandoning her, watching as she tires and fails to move. I really can’t emphasize enough how callous this group has become to anyone not in Team RWBY or JNR.

I enjoyed the red of the Leviathan glowing under the water as it moved. Nice touch.

“Never get used to that view,” Maria says, once again framing her eyes only as a joke and never a legit issue when it presumably would be.

Yang has ditched the casing on her arm after Adam’s attack. Maybe she and Blake can go arm/weapon shopping together. 

[blancheharrington]

Thoughts on Jolex in 15x08

I’ve made my thoughts on Jolex in this episode pretty clear already, but I still need to box them up all together and shove them in one post for my own sanity. Consider this the box I’m hiding my Bubbe the Bunsen Burner in. So grab a big drink of water because things are about to get salty. (Don’t worry it’s not totally just one big shit post.)

- I shall start off this rant on a high note - with my favorite part of the episode: Alex Karev using tape to put his name over Bailey’s name plate. Very Karev. Very funny. And that’s about the best this episode had to offer for them. Let’s wrap it up, we can all go home now.

The First Scene: 

- A morning scene! How cute! How married of them! Jo playing with Alex’s hair in the morning! Alex nudging against her neck! My oh my this episode started off great. Alex realizing he was late and just about shoving Jo off of the bed in a hurry to get up was hilarious. My only note, and I’m just being picky out of frustration, is that nobody comfortably sleeps on a pillow mountain that high without snapping their necks in the middle of the night. 

The Second Scene:

- The loft hallways! Fun! Was the mailbox that was overflowing their mailbox?

- Camilla’s British accent is just flat out a third character in the hallway scene. 

- Justin Chamber’s beard grew about 20 inches during his chaotic rush to get ready. 

The Third Scene:

- My instant reaction to Jo looking for the bag of chips was oh my god she’s pregnant. That thought dimmed quickly.

- I will give them 10 points for finally showing us different angles of the loft. 

- I will take away 10 points for not showing me their bathroom.

- Five points for making Jo wear socks around the house instead of shoes like a normal person would. (And they’re Seattle Seahawks socks! That’s a fun detail!)

- A ‘second honeymoon’ was a good idea in theory. But I feel like there should have been something that was the catalyst to Jo having that idea. For instance, maybe she still feels bad about ruining their first honeymoon, plus the added stress of not seeing much of each other made her come up with that idea. But instead it was pulled out of thin air and the dialogue was a bit awkward. They also didn’t do anything special to make their day have the vibe of a second honeymoon. What differentiated this day as opposed to a random day off. I was expecting a bubble bath, or eating their freezer burned wedding cake topper because there was nothing else to eat in the house, Alex carrying Jo over their threshold because they forgot to do it the first time, etc. It was only romantic because of the candles, and those were because the power went out.

- Jolex has a gas stove! Uh oh... a potential foreshadowing of some kind of as explosion!?!? (Spoiler: It wasn’t.)

The Fourth Scene:

- Jo has a bunsen burner named Bubbe. Because she’s Jewish now, apparently??? And did you know she lived in her car? BECAUSE IF YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST HUNDRED TIMES SHE’S MENTIONED IT, HERE’S ONE MORE!

- Let me add on to that. I love that Jo used a bunsen burner to heat her food. But what I don’t appreciate is the consistent use of this part of her life as a form of comic relief. I hate it when I see this fact about Jo being used as a way to ridicule her or as a cause for jokes. But when they only ever use it as a punch line, I can’t see why people wouldn’t. If they’re going to continue to bring up her car, the least they could do is delve more into what it was like for her. The cold nights, the best foods that would keep while sitting in the hot sun while she was in school, awkwardly getting dressed while hoping no one was watching, being caught by Mrs. Schmidt early one morning, struggling to find bathrooms in the evening, how she paid for gas, etc. So much potential just thrown out the car window every time they use, “I lived in my car.” as a joke. 

- It would have been fun to see them actually using the bunsen burner to heat the mac n cheese. It would have shown us a little peak of them as the scrappy, do whatever you can to survive, kind of children they used to be. 

- Did you hear that? That was the sound of my huge sigh of disappointment I released when I found out that Jolex never sent in their marriage license. What in the hell was the point of that!? Please tell me this will have a point later on. I can’t deal with this “do we/do we not get married” storyline any longer. 

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- Those are empty spaces for the missing Jolex scenes that I assume were cut because they just flat out weren’t in the third act of this episode lmao. (There wasn’t a Jolex scene for 15 minutes. I COUNTED.)

The Fifth Scene:

- Jo and Alex find out they’re not officially married...and then decide not to talk about it and instead open up their wedding presents. Yep, okay, sure. Makes so much sense. Lets not talk about that huge detail we just uncovered.

- Okay, we get it, Jo and Alex were underprivileged children who grew up without a lot and probably didn’t know about a lot of things growing up. But they also grew into smart, talented, surgeons. Jo went to Princeton and Harvard for God’s sake and we’re gonna pretend she doesn’t know what a creme brûlée dish looks like just so we can have a shoehorned mention of Izzie that served no purpose to furthering their non existent storyline?

- That’s what I hated the most about this episode. Nothing had a point. Sure, mention Izzie. Go for it. BUT AT LEAST HAVE IT MAKE A POINT. He could have been sorry about not mailing in the marriage license and mentioned that he didn’t do it for his last marriage, that Izzie must have done it. Or have Jo feel insecure about how Alex talks about Izzie baking all of the time and she feels guilty that she only knows how to make Mac n’ Cheese a la bunsen burner. Make it mean something. Otherwise it just seems like Alex was thinking about Izzie on his “honeymoon” with Jo.

- I’m gonna be a bitch right here and throw out the continuity error card. Alex suggests that they return their wedding gifts, (and let’s ignore the fact that it’s been MONTHS since they received them) and buy a bigger TV. This would be classic Alex, IF, we hadn’t already seen the huge TV they used to have vs. the smaller tv they clearly replaced it with for this episode. 

- Jo’s “I love you” was weird. I think it was supposed to be more joke-ey and cutesy over the fact that Alex wants to return all of the cheesy stuff to buy a bigger TV. It was supposed to be a, You’re so dumb but what a great idea! “I love you” instead of a sincere one. The sincere I love you, although nice to have them say once in a while, seemed out of place in that moment. It was reminiscent of the I love you in 14x07 which was said after Jo had just made a major decision. This one made me feel like I had missed an entire conversation that lead to that moment. 

The Sixth Scene:

- The second best part of the episode for Jolex was that Jo was wearing Alex’s sweatshirt in the end. Because apparently they had the sex. I think?

- And now, for the worst, most confusing, uncharacteristic part of the episode... Mr. Alex ProposesThreeTimesAndGotVisibilyAngryWhenJoSaidNo Karev, DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THEIR MARRIAGE BEING LEGAL??? I do not buy that at all. I did not go through four seasons of torture for you guys to just “Feel married.” Nope. No thank you, I don’t accept that. That was such a bullshit, random, plot device, that served absolutely no purpose what.so.ever. It really pushed me over the edge. I will only accept this ‘storyline’ if it serves a larger purpose later. Like, let’s say, Alex gets hurt at work and Jo’s not legally Alex’s next of kin so they have to call his family and they come to Seattle. But, you’d think if they were going to do that they would have introduced the “we’re not actually married” storyline a couple of episodes ago and have Alex get hurt in the big storm and then we would have had angst and a cliffhanger. Instead, we got this. 

- I’d agree that Jo and alex forgetting to turn in their marriage license is very Jo and Alex. What I won’t agree with is Alex Karev being so nonchalant about it and somewhat suggesting that they just not turn it in? Because ‘he feels’ married? Why couldn’t he just “feel married” when Jo said she couldn’t marry him? He wasn’t okay with “feeling married” when he yelled at Jo about wanting what Amelia and Owen had. So that’s the tea on that.

A Foot Note:

- If they were going to recuse Alex of his chief duties for this episode so Bailey could have some kind of breakthrough about how she loves being the boss, than the least they could have done was to give Alex a decent plot about a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. Don’t let Alex Karev be the boss who gets all the grunt work while Bailey gets to have all of the glory. 

[seriouslyhooked]

Scoring Your Love (Part 14/?)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six,Part Seven,Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen. Story also on FF here and AO3 here. Banner by the wonderful @timetravelandfairytales

Modern AU where Killian is a world famous soccer star who has hit rock bottom and been sentenced to the place where ‘football’ legends go to die – America. While here he crosses paths with Emma, an up and coming musician and film scorer who challenges everything he thought he knew and makes him want more than the game he’s always loved. Will be filled with fluff for days. Rated M.

A/N: Okay friends I’m back, as I said I would be, and I can PROMISE that I am not leaving at such an unfortunate place with this chapter as I did last time. No, no, no. The time for cliffhangers and what-ifs is behind us. That being said I hope you will enjoy this installment and thank you for reading!

When he was a child, Killian had been told time and time again that staring at a clock wouldn’t make time move faster. He assumed the same logic worked for cell phones, and so it was arguably fruitless for him to keep staring at this blasted contraption. Surely Emma wouldn’t respond sooner because he wished it to be so. All the same, he was feeling restless and worried not having heard back from her all day.

It was very unlike Emma to leave him hanging. In all the time they’d been together Emma was nothing if not effective at communicating. Even in the depths of her most music-heavy moments, she was a creature of habit. Emma took breaks and checked in with the world in that time, and so the fact that he hadn’t heard from her since she left his place this morning was alarming. Couple that with the fact that they were supposed to see each other at eight and it was now well past ten and Killian was really starting to fear the worst. He knew in his heart something wasn’t right, but short of calling her friends or showing up at her place, what could he do? For the moment the answer did not present itself, so he found himself pacing around the kitchen, stopping every few minutes to check his phone again.

Last night Killian had faced a moment that brought real and tangible fear to the forefront of his life for the first time in a long time. The confrontation with Gold had angered him and terrified him too, but despite all Killian’s misgivings about coming clean, Emma had been accepting of the mess that stained his past. It had been the hardest thing he’d ever done to fess up to her, and though there were moments of heartache where he watched her taking in some of the worse mistakes he’d made, he’d never met a person who was so rational in the face of emotion like Emma.

It turned out that Emma had this ability Killian never anticipated where she could reason through all of his bad choices and all of the happenings that had brought him to LA. She’d listened carefully, asking questions where they were needed and putting together the pieces of a puzzle Killian wished wasn’t so convoluted. Then, at the end of it all she’d not only accepted him, she’d shared her own demons too. If Killian were to wager on it, he’d say he now knew every part of Emma’s past that Regina’s little file had contained months ago, and having that exchange of past missteps between them had made it possible to overcome his fear. After everything, Emma still trusted him, and for Killian that was the single most important thing.

With the truth out there in full, Gold’s power was now seriously lacking in Killian’s estimations. Perhaps Gold had sway with the press and with teams in his old league, but since Killian only cared about his relationship with Emma, and since Emma had assured him that she was in this for the long haul, bad press or not, he felt like he had everything. No matter what may come professionally, Killian had more than enough to keep him blissfully happy as long as he had Emma by his side.

The only problem was that right now she wasn’t here, and the more time that passed, the more Killian began to worry that Emma had changed her mind. Maybe in the light of day this had all gotten to be too much for her. Perhaps some time between when she’d left for work this morning and now she’d seen the light and realized she was worth more than such a sorry state of affairs. He hoped that wasn’t the case, knowing he’d never move on from Emma Swan, but just as the wave of uneasiness around him began to crescendo to an all time high, his phone rang.

“Emma,” Killian murmured aloud as he went to grab it, but instead of seeing her name it was his brother’s. Again. Fuck!

Killian had been barely keeping in touch with Liam since the last spat they’d had, but today his brother had been calling and texting him more than usual. If it was an emergency, Killian would have known – but from what Liam had written he just ‘wanted to talk.’ Whatever Liam believed to be so important, now was not the time to be speaking about it. He had more pressing matters and no patience for whatever business happenings or sport politics Liam was no doubt intrigued by. Killian ignored the call and threw the phone back on the counter. Seconds later there was a knock at the door. Again hope swelled in Killian’s chest, but when he looked to see who was there, he was completely shocked.

“Liam? What the hell are you doing here?”

“You’ve been ignoring me,” Liam said by way of answer as he let himself into the apartment.

Killian looked his brother over, finding Liam just the same as when Killian had left him back in London. If anything Liam was harder now, his suit starched to an almost painful crispness and his blue eyes looked cold and distant. He appeared ever the professional, but Killian could also sense that he would not like what his brother had come here to say. There was an edge to Liam’s presence, and where that edge came, a row was almost sure to follow.

“So you got on a plane and flew here?” Killian asked, incredulous that his lack of response would prompt such a bold move.

“I did what I had to do. Two minutes a day hardly cuts it, Killian.”

“I’ve been busy,” Killian replied, knowing that was true even if Liam had a point. If Killian hadn’t been angry still he would have given his brother more attention. Unfortunately for Liam, Killian hadn’t fully forgiven him for his reaction to learning about Emma.

“Oh trust me brother, I know,” Liam replied, dropping a stack of papers on the table. Killian looked down and saw that the pile contained dozens of photos and that the subjects of the shots were he and Emma.

“Are you spying on me?” Killian asked, the anger in his voice apparent as his arms folded over his chest. If Liam were spying it would be such a flagrant crossing of any line of decency that Killian didn’t know how they’d come back from it, but Liam scoffed at the query like it was utterly preposterous.

“Hardly. These were sent to me this morning, and while I’ll admit that most of these are rather dull, there are a few worth seeing.”

Liam pulled the photos in question out of the lineup and the sight of them made Killian’s heart drop. While the others were mundane shots of Emma and Killian on dates and about town together, the ones Liam fixated on were taken today. Killian could tell because Emma was wearing the same yellow dress and braided hair that she’d left with this morning, but she didn’t look anywhere near as happy as she’d been when they said goodbye. That no doubt had to do with the fact that she wasn’t alone in any of these photos. Gold was with her, and his presence immediately set off warning bells in Killian’s head.

“Where did you get these?” Killian asked, his fingers tracing them over as the ire in his heart grew stronger. He didn’t have any details but already he knew Gold had done something monstrous and it filled Killian with rage to think that man would have the audacity to approach Emma where she worked. At the same time a creeping sense of dread worked its way up through his system. The only reason Emma had to deal with such a lunatic was because of Killian. He was in some ways responsible for this, and it made him ill to think he had put Emma in the path of such a tyrant.  

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Liam replied too cavalierly for Killian’s liking. “What I do care about is finding out just how deep you’re in with this woman.”

“Excuse me?” Killian asked, not following.

From what he could see in these shots, Emma was repulsed by Gold and she wasn’t trying to hide it. She looked angry, and in one photo she actually look hurt. It was clear as day that this was an ambush and a set up, but Killian supposed that to others who didn’t know her Emma’s poker face might come across as convincingly unaffected. Knowing her as well as he did, Killian could read every emotion without doubt, but Liam went on to pitch a completely different story of events Killian would never consider.

“Oh come off it brother. I just chartered a bloody plane to make you see what’s so clearly there. She’s playing you, Killian. It’s the only explanation.” Killian wanted to interrupt but Liam raised his hand to silence him and pressed on.  “I looked into it. Gold’s a secret partner on the show she works on and he’s planning on funneling millions more into the project, enough to guarantee a multi-season arc. He’s essentially paying her salary for the next three years, and what’s more these pictures go back to the very day the two of you met.”

Killian’s gaze moved to an image of him and Emma on the street together that first morning. It was insane that this had been documented, and in a different situation he might be grateful. How many people got the chance to see photographic proof of the moment they fell in love at first sight? But the person behind these photos was a sick and twisted man. A man with no moral fiber who would clearly stop at nothing to try and ruin Killian, including dragging a perfectly innocent woman into the darkness with him.

“Gold has known of Emma since the start, brother,” Liam continued, clearly not seeing that Killian found all his analysis to be complete and utter rubbish. “What are the chances that one of his paps just happened to be there when you two first met? No, I wouldn’t put it past him to have set all of this up. It’s a con, Killian, and I believe Emma is in on it.”

Words failed Killian in this moment. He was so unspeakably angry at the accusation he was sure steam must be physically spewing out his ears. How dare his brother insinuate that Emma was some kind of prop or con woman! Liam didn’t know her. He didn’t know a damn thing about her, but here he was passing judgment, again! Killian had no interest in even responding to such drivel and instead he left the kitchen, moving to the door to grab his jacket and his keys. Now he had a better idea of what was happening even if he was still mostly in the dark. Gold had ambushed Emma today, and if he were to guess he’d threatened her with something. Whatever he’d said had actually scared Emma, and Killian couldn’t have that. She had to know that he would protect her and he wouldn’t waste another moment waiting to assure her of that.

“Where are you going?” Liam asked, alarmed at Killian’s ignoring him, but Killian didn’t give a damn. Instead he slammed the door behind him and headed out.

The usually quick drive over to Emma’s place felt like it took a small eternity, and by the time he’d arrived Killian was shaking from the excess adrenaline in his system. He didn’t know what lay in store for him behind Emma’s front door, but he knew he had to fix it. He marched up to her apartment and knocked loudly. He prayed that Emma was here and that she would open up and let him in, and a few moments later the door opened and a noticeably irate Ruby appeared.

“Where is she?” Killian asked, not bothering with any kind of polite greeting as he tried to move inside. Ruby kept her body in front of the entry, denying him access.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said defensively before dipping her voice low with even more fury sewn in. “I don’t know what you did, Killian Jones, but I have a mind to kick your ass. You said you wouldn’t hurt her. You promised me.”

“I know,” Killian said, feeling defeated. “But you have to understand -,”

“I don’t have to do anything, asshole! You fucked with the wrong girl. You think you can just break my best friend’s heart and get away with it? Not gonna -,”

“Ruby, don’t,” a small voice said from behind them. Killian knew that it was Emma though he couldn’t see her given Ruby’s command of the doorway. “It’s not what you think.”

“Hold on a minute,” Ruby said to Killian, and before he could argue the door shut in his face again and the locks were put back in place. Behind the door Killian could hear muffled whispering, and though he couldn’t make out words he knew Emma must have said something to appease Ruby’s protective instincts. A few more seconds passed and she opened the door again. “You have five minutes.”

“Ruby,” Emma said, chastising her friend and Ruby sighed.

“Fine. You have until Emma decides to kick you out. Satisfied?” Ruby asked Emma and Emma gave a tiny smile. Ruby took that as enough sign that Emma was doing okay and then she slipped through the front door and down the hall, leaving Killian and Emma alone.

Taking in her appearance, Killian felt a tremendous sense of guilt and heartache. His Swan’s beautiful green eyes were rimmed with red like she’d been crying for a while, and her expression was both exhausted and forlorn. It tore Killian apart to see Emma that way, for even if he hadn’t been the direct cause of those tears he was the one who burdened her with Gold in the first place. Whatever that demon of a man had done… well Killian would never forgive himself for the pain it was causing Emma.

“Killian… I’m so sorry,” Emma whispered, surprising him with her words.

He moved towards her, counting himself a blessed and fortunate man when she didn’t shy away. Instead she melted into him and he wrapped her up in his embrace, breathing in the scent of her as he kissed the crown of her head. Killian’s eyes closed for a moment as he let himself take comfort in holding her again. Having her in his arms was the only thing that could heal the pain he’d been harboring since Liam arrived, and he thanked God that whatever had happened, Emma wasn’t decidedly against the two of them being together. She was still open to him, even if she hadn’t come to him like he wished she would.

“Emma, I promise you, whatever you’re thinking you have no reason to be sorry. You just have to tell me what happened. What did Gold say to you?”

“You know about Gold?” Emma asked, clearly surprised and Killian filled her in as quickly as he could about Liam. He tried to breeze over the fact that his brother didn’t trust her, and luckily she allowed him to divert back to the central question – what had happened to make her act this way?

“Please, love, just tell me,” he begged and soon enough she relented.

“He came to me today and he…” her voice broke but she held it together, willing herself not to cry. “He said that if I continued to see you, if I even so much as replied to a text, that he’d know and he’d end your career. He said the deal you had with Regina meant nothing, and that the only way you’d ever play in the leagues where you belong again was if I…”

Her ability to speak collapsed in that moment. She released a broken sob and Killian’s whole body felt the impact of it. He was distraught at her grief, but as the intention of Gold’s plan became apparent to him, his emotions began to blur into something he couldn’t fully understand.

“If you left me,” Killian filled in numbly as Emma nodded, her tears still streaming down her beautiful face.

It was all so clear to him now. Gold’s goal was to take everything Killian loved and leave his life an ashen wasteland in the process. Killian just never imagined that Gold could come this close to totally destroying all Killian held dear. Losing the game would have been a blow, but losing Emma would have crushed him entirely. There would be no recovery. He didn’t think he was strong enough to take that kind of pain.

“So you were just going to end it then?” Killian asked, his voice a hollow sound so unfamiliar to his ears.

“I didn’t want to, but it seemed like the only way.”

The only way? It wasn’t a way at all! Life without Emma wasn’t something he was interested in, and when he considered the leverage Gold had it was nothing. So what if he never played another bloody game in his life? It wouldn’t matter, and Emma should have known that. He’d been trying to show her that for months, but she didn’t see. Hell, maybe she didn’t want to see because she herself didn’t feel the same.

“Was it that easy for you to say goodbye?” Killian asked, his own hurt and insecurity getting the better of him.

“Easy?” Emma parroted like she couldn’t believe he’d described it that way. “You think this is easy? Today has been one of the worst days of my life, Killian. Staying away from you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I almost gave in a thousand times.”

“But you didn’t. You made a choice.”

“A choice for you!” Emma yelled as her arms waved in the air. “Don’t you get that? I couldn’t let him take your dream, Killian. I had to protect you. That’s what you do when you love someone – you fight for them and you do anything you can to see them happy!”

Though her irritation was undeniable, there was only one thing in that moment that stuck out to Killian.

“You love me?” Killian asked. More tears spilled from her eyes as Emma looked down to the floor.

“Of course I love you, but it’s not enough because -,”

Whatever Emma was going to say, Killian couldn’t bear to let her say it. For though the circumstances were anything but ideal, his greatest wish had just been achieved. Emma Swan, the best woman who he had ever met, had just confessed that she loved him. Through some miracle this woman had given him her heart, and she didn’t see that that was everything. With this kiss he hoped to show her how precious her love was and to make her see that nothing else even registered when compared to that. Their relationship was all that he needed, plain and simple, and when they broke apart from the kiss he made sure to say that as clearly as he possibly could.

“The only dream I have that matters, love, is the one where you and I are together from here on out. I don’t give a damn about any of the rest of it. I just want you, Swan. Because I love you, more than anything in the world.”

“You do?” Emma asked, her tears having shifted to happy and relieved ones as her lips curled upward in a hopeful smile.

“Aye, love. There is no choice. Football’s a game, but you… Emma, you’re everything. I can’t live without you, Swan. I won’t do it.”

“I don’t want that either,” Emma promised, her hands holding tight to his shirt as if she was afraid he’d slip away somehow. “I was just scared. I didn’t want to take your choice away. I didn’t know how I’d live without you, but I didn’t want you to resent me.”

“I understand, Emma, really I do,” he assured her. “But you have to promise me that from now on you run to me. Whatever it is, whatever the threat, we will face them together. It’s the only way.”

“I promise.”

The two of them seemed to be of the same mind in that moment, opting to forego anymore talking and to find their reassurance through each other. They kissed again, this time with just as much heat but a deeper rooted need to take things further. For Killian’s part, he was determined to love Emma as she deserved, and that would start with taking her back to her bed and ravishing her fully. They managed to get to her room without breaking apart, and once the door was closed, Killian had her pushed against it. Instinctively he rubbed the hard and heaving lines of his body against hers, reveling in the shiver that coursed through her and the breathy pants of need she set free.

“Killian.”

His name was a sigh on her lips as her fingers came to rip his shirt off and then his came to tear hers away as well. It riled him to see more of his love exposed to him, but while Emma seemed intent on moving quickly, Killian couldn’t bear to. Tonight he wanted slow and steady, a declaration of the way his love for her would last forever. He wanted to map out every luscious piece of her and pull every type of pleasure from her body, but first he needed something from her.

“I need you to say it, Emma.”

“I love you,” she said without hesitation, understanding him fully and he released a growl at that, tearing off the rest of the layers between them. He maneuvered her to her bed and from there he was a man on a mission.

“Again, Emma,” he commanded as his mouth hovered just above her breasts, his hand teasing upward on her thigh, headed to the place she wanted him most.

“I love you, Killian. God I love you so much,” she said as her eyes closed and her body arched upwards. He rewarded her as his fingers entered her and his thumb brushed her clit. She moaned and then his mouth moved to her hard peak and her hands ran through his hair. In no time at all she was riled to a state where release was imminent, and without his even needing to ask she murmured that she loved him again.

Her orgasm washed over her as Killian gave her everything she needed, but while she came down from the high, Killian was hardly finished. He worked to rile her up again quickly, and by the time his mouth was at her sex she was whimpering for more. His eyes flicked back up to hers. She watched him with a wild expression, and the need and love he saw there on her face had his hard length jerking almost painfully.

Killian believed that Emma must think she was saying the words again, but truth be told she was so consumed with sensation, her exclamations weren’t exactly coherent. Instead they were the most beautiful music to his ears, a serenade of Emma’s want for him that he’d memorize if it killed him. He warred with his want to finish her quickly and give his Swan what she wanted, but instead he tormented her with his mouth and skilled tongue. Only when her whole body was flush with need and she was practically begging did he send her over, and then he kissed his way back up above her, waiting for her eyes to blink open again before he told her all he felt.

“There has never been another love like the one I have for you, Swan. There is no me without you anymore. I’m changed now. You changed me, and I am yours, forever. Just as your mine. We belong together, love, and that’s exactly how we’ll stay.”

“Mine,” Emma whispered happily, the mistiness of her tears returning as she ran her fingers along his jaw. 

Killian knew what this meant for Emma. She’d told him how much it hurt in her past to not belong to anyone – to never have anyone claim her and to not have someone to claim in turn. Her friends had been the only exception, a family she was blessed to have, but the truth was that she dreamed of more, and Killian would be that dream for her. It was only fair, after all, since she was every good thing in his life and so much more.

With a hard thrust, Killian filled Emma completely and he had to stall for a moment at the tight wet hold of her heat. Fuck, she was perfect, made for him in all ways, and it felt like a miracle every damn time he was in her. When he moved again and set a rhythm designed for satisfaction, all thoughts fled his mind. There was only getting them both to that state of perfect bliss, and when they found it the two of them had both been of the same mind, saying those three little words to each other at the moment that they fell apart.

“So how long do you think this will last?” Emma murmured sometime later as her fingertips trailed across his chest lightly, drawing a design neither he nor she was conscious of.

“This?” Killian asked, assuming she meant the relationship between them. “Well Swan, I thought I was rather clear in my promise to you. I said forever and I meant it.”

“No not us,” Emma said laughing as she shook her head. “I meant -,”

Before Emma could get her thought out a loud knocking came from the front door and it as accompanied by an equally audible proclamation.

“All right, you two. I’m coming inside this apartment now, so if there was some super hot make up sex that didn’t make it to the bedroom, now is the time to relocate!”

“There we go. I knew she’d be back,” Emma said giggling as she ducked her head into Killian’s chest.

“I guess we should count ourselves lucky. A whole two hours. She showed a lot of restraint,” Killian joked and Emma shook her head as she sat up, slipping from the bed and getting some clothes on. Killian followed suit, hating that this moment had ended, but knowing he would end up in bed with Emma tonight regardless. There would be no more leaving. Not now. Not anymore.

“Oh believe me, someone kept her busy,” Emma replied. “Only question is was it the girls, or was it Graham?”

“I told you they wouldn’t be out here in the living room, Red. You owe me five bucks,” Graham said from where he and Ruby were now in the apartment and Emma covered her mouth to stifle more laughter as Ruby responded.

“Trust me, Humbert, once Emma gives me the all clear, I’ll make it up to you, and what I have in mind is a whole lot better than ‘five bucks.’”

“Oh God,” Emma said with feigned severity as she took Killian’s hand. “Come on, let’s go tell them the good news. The sooner we do, the sooner they leave.”

“Ah, can’t deny I like the sound of that, love.”

And with one last kiss, the two of them set forth to assure their friends that the storm had passed, knowing all the while that the next time trouble came they’d be ready and that they’d always have each other, no matter what.

Post-Note: So there we have it – I told you guys I would fix things up and the biggest hurdle is now conquered. Trust me when I say that any CS based angst is behind us now, and while there might be some more hiccups, the love isn’t going anywhere. We haven’t quite seen the last of Gold yet (or Liam either), but Emma and Killian are ready for the battles, whenever they might come. Anyway, I hope that you guys liked the chapter, and I want to let you all know that I am not exactly sure when the next chapter will be up. I will be launching a new story next weekend as a part of CSSNS and I am not sure if that will effect when this story gets added to. That being said this story still has five whole chapters and an epilogue left, so don’t worry. It might take a little longer for an update to come, but it will come, I promise. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

[meimi-haneoka]

what were your thoughts on the finale?

I liked it! I can’t say “omg loved it!!!” because it wasn’t a series finale, after all, so they clearly put some thought into it but it wasn’t this majestic thing that one would expect from a series finale. And it’s all right, because it wasn’t a series finale. It gave me the same vibes of episode 35 of the old series, a season finale with some interesting points, but far from the excitement that a series finale gives you. Again, nothing weird about that.

I loved the structure and the subtler parts composing the episode, more than anything.I loved how they went for a parallel with episode 1 (starting from the title, “Sakura’s transparent cards” as opposed to “Sakura and the transparent cards”) for the very first scene of the episode, but this time with a creepier feeling, given by that ominous voice “You can’t go back anymore”.

I liked the parallel between Akiho’s and Sakura’s dreams, even though I felt sorry for the two girls, feeling so distressed over that dream.

I loved this little omake here, we were all wondering if we could consider it still “alive” in the Clear Card story, especially seeing that Kaito seem to have messed up with the amusement park and Eriol’s house, but here it is, in all its glory coming up in Sakura’s mind at the less expected moment.

I loved the pacing of the episode, which was quite fast, but they still found time to show us one last Yamazaki show (we missed him) before the end, and Syaoran still being shady right in front of Sakura (but they show us that Kero-chan at this point knows about Syaoran)

I was surprised that they didn’t show us a certain scene (SPOILER: Syaoran summoning the Sakura Cards, as shown in chapter 24) but I can see why, they probably want to keep such a big revelation for the very end of the story, which is why I’m sure they will continue this, one way or another. They have planned where to locate the various revelations, and Syaoran’s is certainly a big one (many already figured it out, but the confirmation in itself is big enough).

And then the first confrontation between Sakura and MCF, so well made! Sakura fighting all alone with Kero blocked in her room, but she wasn’t scared, she was so fed up and willing to get to the bottom of the situation, that she even ignored his “get away from there”! She was a total badass, using her cards one after another without any hesitation, she knew what to use basing on MCF’s attacks.The overall animation of the episode was certainly better than the previous 3-4, but this scene in particular flowed very well.

And then, the surprise!You will probably say “But Cinzia, everyone knew that Akiho was MCF, come on!”While I can certainly say I waited until the end to see this confirmed, because I know my chickens (CLAMP, that is), I’m not talking about that!I’m talking about this: 

SPOILERS AHEAD

This is how chapter 24 of the manga ended, and this chapter was released barely 10 days before the airing of episode 22. The fandom has been tossed upside-down ever since, and manga readers were SURE that we would see the same scene at the end of episode 22. BUT NO, they went and took us by surprise again!! I laughed so hard at their attempt at trolling us!I want to take the chance to praise again the staff for ensuring an overall consistent episode, even though all they had from the manga were probably only the scenario and not much more? If you noticed, this episode had way less “frames copy-pasted from the manga panels” because the manga chapter probably wasn’t even completed yet, when they started working on it! So art-wise, the episode is totally independent and they still made a good job imho.

So why did they chose to not show Syaoran there, and went straight to show Akiho under that robe?I think I have talked about this before on this blog, my idea is that the reaction of the general audience would have been violent and uncontrollable: being this the last episode of the season they wouldn’t have had the possibility to explain what really happened and why Syaoran was under that robe, so the accusation of “ruining” the CCS franchise, turning Syaoran into a villain, would have been a disaster for the popularity of the show. They didn’t even make an announcement about a sequel of any kind yet, so imagine if they left us with a cliffhanger of that magnitude.......this also connects to why they didn’t show Syaoran together with the Sakura Cards in the same episode.

So yeah, these are my thoughts about the last episode. In this episode there were so many elements screaming “ THERE IS GOING TO BE A SEQUEL TO THIS, DON’T WORRY” (like, Kaito’s “the new cards aren’t enough yet, so let’s rewind time)”, so I’ll be patiently waiting and I’m not judging this as a series finale, but merely as a season finale.

Let’s trust them!

[like-a-bag-of-potatoes]

Live Fast, Die Slow - Part Three

A/N: This is written for @spnangstbingo, the third part in this series. Some parts of this will not be a square from angst bingo, but most will. Feedback is ALWAYS highly appreciated. Sometimes when I'm going through a writers funk, I go back an I look at previous comments and feedback, and it helps me get inspired again. Betaed by the lovely @thorne93.

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Characters: Reader, Dean, Bobby, John.

Square Filled: Mechanic AU

Warnings: Angst, talk about injuries, cliffhanger. 

Wordcount: 2730

Itallics are flashbacks

Catch up HERE

By the time February ended, I was no longer able to keep the press off my back, I had to make a statement and with that a decision whether or not I'd go back to competing. I still hadn't been in the driverseat of a car, and frankly, I was scared to death to go back.

After a lot of thinking and consulting with Bobby, I decided to try. Even if the mere thought of being back in a car scared me, the thought of never going back was even scarier. I had worked so hard, and so had Bobby, John and everyone else on my team, and I wasn't about to let them down. I sat down at a press conference and I told them that I was ready to start training, and that we would see if I could make it back to where I was when I crashed.

“You know, sooner or later you have to go back to the track,” Bobby said from behind his newspaper.

“Can we go today?” you asked, feeling the nerves rising in you before you had even said the words out loud.

He lowered the paper to look at you, a subtle smile hiding under his unkempt beard. “Absolutely,” he said excitedly.

You stood inside of your garage, next to your new car, and looked out onto the empty track. It was strange how a place that had given you so much solace over the years now brought nothing but fear. You couldn't see the turn where you had crashed, but you knew that it would take you only ten short steps forward and it would come into view. The sound of Bobby and John's voices drowned out as you took your first step forward. This wasn't just about stepping back onto a track where you had an accident, this was about taking back something that the crash took from you, this was the first step in taking control of your fear.

Bobby and John had stopped talking as they watched you walk onto the tarmac, your head hung low, your eyes focused on the spot right in front of your feet, your hands in your pockets. Your heart pounding in your chest so hard that it made your ears ring, your blood feeling like ice as it made its way through your veins. Never had you felt a paralyzing fear like that before.

With one last deep breath you turned your head to look at the spot where you crashed, and the instant your eyes landed on the turn you could hear the sound of your screeching tires followed by a loud crash in your mind. Both Bobby and John where paying close attention to you and they could see you flinch. It was hard for both men to watch you, but they knew this was something you needed to do on your own.

Your legs felt heavier than they had done during your physical therapy as you walked towards the place where it had all happened. The turn felt like it was a million miles away, but at the same time it was too close. As your legs carried you across the track you tried to keep your eyes on anything but the wall you had landed in. You listened to the birds chirping in the trees, your nose taking in the smell of rubber and gasoline, your eyes focused on the small flowers growing in the grass in between the tarmac on the track.

You used to feel more at home here than in your own apartment, you used to spend more time here than in your own apartment. You used to love this place more than anything and anywhere else in the world. You didn't anymore though.

Now this was a place that nearly took your life. A place that deformed you, both physically and mentally. This place that once felt like home was tainted, ruined, broken. And so were you.

Standing in front of the concrete wall it felt like all the air was sucked from your lungs. In your mind you saw your car hit the wall, over and over again. One hand ran over the creases on the wall that your car had made, stopping only when they hit a spot with black paint on it. You subconsciously rubbed the left side of your face that was held together by steel plates. There where creases on your face just like the wall from the surgical scars, ones that would probably never fade completely.

You had never been concerned about the way you looked, it had always been about the sport for you, about the car and about the race, never about your appearance, but now… the scars on your face was all you could see when you looked in the mirror. In some ways you felt like that was what you had been reduced to, like that had become your new identity, the way the world saw you.

In your mind you where no longer the best female race car driver in America, you where the girl that crashed. And it was literally written all over your face.

You fell to your knees and hid your face in your hands as you let the tears fall from your eyes. How long you sat there, you didn't know, but after a while you could feel a large, heavy jacket being wrapped around your shoulders before a strong hand landed on your back.

You didn't need to look up to see who it was, you would recognize the smell of that jacket and the comfort of that touch anywhere. He didn't say anything, he just sat there next to you and rubbed soothing circles on your back as the quiet sobs raced through your body.

Eventually you sat back on your heels and your eyes met the familiarity and the safety of Dean's emerald gaze. There was a mixture of compassion and worry on his handsome face that instantly filled you with guilt.

“Thank you,” you said meekly, averting your eyes from his as you moved to sit on your ass.

“Anytime,” he said with a slight smile as he mirrored your movements.

He sat so close that your shoulders were touching, and without thinking you leaned into him and rested your head on his shoulder. It felt so natural, so comforting, and for a little while you let your guard down and accepted the safety that he brought you.

I didn't make it into my car that day, or the following week for that matter. I had to find a way to get comfortable just putting my feet on that track before I could jump back in the driver’s seat of my car. I didn't speak anymore with Dean after our little moment either. I just couldn't look into his eyes and pretend like it didn't happen, and I certainly couldn't have a conversation with him about it, so I did the very mature thing, and ignored him.

The next Monday was the first time I got inside of my new car. John and his team had done a terrific job on it, it looked and preformed just like my old car had done which was strangely comforting and terrifying at the same time.

I didn't drive it that day. I sat in the car for about half an hour with the engine running, clutching the wheel until my fingers grew numb, but I could not will myself to put my foot on the throttle. Same thing happened the day after, and the day after that. It didn't feel like it was getting any better, it didn't feel like I was getting any better, and it just fuled my ever growing anger.

It was Wednesday evening and I was back in my small apartment, beating myself up for being such a coward, when Dean showed up at my door.

Dean was looking up and down the hallway as he waited for you to open the door. You were watching him through the little peephole in your door while strongly considering not opening up. Eventually you did though, the curiosity as to why he was there getting the best of you.

“Hey,” he said with a soft smile as you opened the door.

“Hi.” You stepped aside to let him inside, and he took you up on the silent invitation.

For a moment the two of you just stood there, looking at each other in silence as if neither of you knew what to say to start a conversation.

“What are you doing here, Dean?” you finally asked with a sigh. Keeping him away from you was going to be really hard if he didn't stop showing up at random all the time.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said with an apologetic tone in his voice. “I know you don't want me here, (YN), but I just have to get this off my chest. If you just listen to me I'll promise I'll leave you alone afterwards.”

“Okay,” you said while turning on your heel and headed back to your living room. “Can I get you anything?” you asked as he took a seat on your couch.

“No, thank you,” he said.

You took a seat on a chair facing the couch as you waited for whatever came next. This could be anything. It could be Dean yelling at you for how you treated him. It could be about wanting to get back together. It could be about him giving up on you completely… it could be anything and you really just needed him to get to the point already.

“I was let go from my job last week,” he started, keeping his eyes on the floor. “I don't know if Bobby told you…”

“No he didn't,” you interrupted.

“Anyway. I started applying for new jobs and earlier today I got an offer,” he finished, finally looking up at you.

“Well, that's good isn't it?” you asked, confused as to why he seemed so gloomy.

“It's in Florida.”

The last words broke your heart. You had no right to feel that way, it was you that had pushed him away, and with that you had given up your right to feel betrayed right now. Florida was basically as far away from you as he could get without leaving the country. Had you really driven him that far away?

“Wow. That's gonna be one hell of a commute,” you joked, hoping to lighten the mood, but failing miserably.

“They need an answer by the end of tomorrow,” he continued, ignoring your little joke.

“Are you going to take it?”

Dean fell silent for a while after that, his jaw clenching as he searched for words to offer you next.

“Dean,” you pushed softly after a while.

“It's a good job,” he said, getting to his feet before he started pacing the floor, “and it's great money,” he continued to reason.

“Okay,” you dragged. This was it. He was actually going to move to the other side of the country. Your entire body filled with fear as you waited for him to continue his reasoning, your eyes blown wide as you followed his every move.

“And right now I have nothing keeping me here,” he said, his eyes meeting yours for a brief second.

“What about John and Sam?” you asked, your heart hammering in your chest as you screamed in your mind ‘what about me?’.

“Sam is busy with school and Dad is busy at work. Besides, with the pay their offering me I can afford to fly back here every now and then,” he said.

You couldn't get a read on him, which frustrated you. There was no way for you to know if this was something he was happy about, something he wanted, something he didn't want.

“Why are you telling me this, Dean?” Was he there to say goodbye? Was this the last time you were going to see him?

“Because I need to know where I stand with you before I make a decision,” he blurted out, probably a little louder than he intended. “I know that isn't fair to you, and I know that I have no right asking you this, and I know that you’re still trying to get back to normal, but I can't go to Florida if there is even a little sliver of hope for us,” he rambled. “I need you to tell me that I can go, that we are done.”

He looked so defeated as he said the last words and you could feel the sting behind your eyes as the lump in your throat grew. His words confused you. Was he here because he wanted you to ask him to stay, or tell him to go?

“Oh,” was all you could think of to say. It felt like all the air had been pulled from your lungs. Sending Dean away once was hard enough, but twice? Maybe you owed him this though. Maybe this was one way for you to start making up for how you had treated him. “It sounds like a great opportunity,” you said with as much conviction as you could, even if it took all the strength you had.

“Right,” he said with a slight nod of his head like this wasn't what he wanted to hear right now.

“I'm sorry if that's not what you came here for,” you said, getting to your feet and stepping a little closer to him.

“No… it's fine,” he tried to assure, but the hurt in his voice was evident.

“I wish things could be different,” you offered.

“But they’re not,” he shot in before you could say anything else.

The two of you stood there for a moment, eyes locked, just a few feet apart, both searching for lost words. This was it. This was really it. Dean was about to walk out of your life forever. You had wished for this, you had asked for this when you laid shackled to a hospital bed, you had begged him to leave and he had obeyed. He had respected your decision and he had given you space. All of these things he had done because he loved you, because he hoped that if he gave you what you wanted, you would somehow find your way back to him at some point. He was ready and willing to wait for you as long as it took.

  But you had done what you did out of love as well. You didn't want him to feel like he was trapped with you, that he had to stick around because you were going through something so difficult. You didn't want him to feel obligated to drive you too and from your appointments and help you out with day to day chores while you recovered. You didn't want him to have to look at the person he loved and see how completely she had changed, both physically and mentally.

“I better get going,” Dean said eventually, pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards the door.

“Yeah,” you said with a sigh.

You followed him to the door and opened it up for him, leaning against it with your hand on the knob. There was nothing more to say to him, so you remained quiet.

“I'm sorry things ended like they did,” he said, probably surprising himself as much as you.

“I am too, Dean. You were nothing but good to me, and I treated you badly. For that I am sorry,” you said.

“Can I just ask you…. Why did you break up with me?”

“I don't know,” you lied. “I did a lot of things I'm not too proud of,” you admitted.

Dean just bobbed his head as he turned towards the open door again. “Goodbye, (YN).”

You watched him as he passed you and stepped through the door, his head hung low on his shoulder as he walked away from you.

“Dean?” you almost yelled, your voice startling even you. He turned around, his emerald green eyes filled with sorrow. “Don't go,” you whispered, so low that you weren't sure he heard you.

The silence that followed was deafening, and the next few seconds proved to be the longest of your life.

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[themyskira]

Amazons Attack! - part 5

Previously! Circe and Fake Sarge Steel orchestrated an Amazon invasion of DC. Diana, newly escaped from her imprisonment, has just come face-to-face with her resurrected mother for the first time. Except she hasn’t, because continuity means nothing any more.

I dunno, guys. I'm not even at the halfway point and I’m so tired.

Part 4: Wonder Woman vol. 3 #9 — Jodi Picoult (writer) and Terry Dodson (artist)

Two issues ago, we ended on a cliffhanger, with Diana coming face-to-face with Hippolyta in the ruins of the Lincoln Memorial.

Last issue, we rewound a few hours to see the way the invasion of DC unfolded from a range of other perspectives, before arriving back at that same moment in time — Diana, Hippolyta, and the smouldering wreckage of an iconic national monument.

It would stand to reason, then, that this issue would give us some payoff on that cliffhanger. That we’d get to, you know… find out what happens next. How Diana’s first, emotionally-charged encounter with her resurrected-mother-turned-mass-murderer goes.

But ‘Amazons Attack!’ cares nothing for reason.

So instead, we open on this.

Later, at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

The first time I read this page, I genuinely thought I’d opened the wrong issue. I spent a couple of minutes flicking back and forth between comics, trying to find the missing chapter in between Wonder Woman #8/Amazons Attack! #1 (which are concurrent) and Wonder Woman #9. There isn’t one. Not only does Picoult skip right over Wondy and Hippolyta’s reunion on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as we will see in a few pages, she acts as though it never happened.

I'm starting to suspect that the editors on Wonder Woman were afraid to so much as touch Jodi Picoult’s scripts because they were intimidated by her bestselling author status or something. I’m imagining the behind-the-scenes conversations going something like

‘So... Diana and Hippolyta are meeting for the first time in this issue, right?’

‘Yeah, looks like.’

‘But didn’t they already meet for the first time last issue? In a cliffhanger? Is that not going to be... addressed?’

‘...well, uh. Huh.’

‘You know what, don’t worry about it. She’s a New York Times bestseller, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.’

So, okay. For some inexplicable reason, Hippolyta is now hanging out in the National Air and Space Museum, surrounded by antiquated fighter planes that are still centuries ahead of the Amazon army’s chariots and catapults. She prays to Athena to grant her wisdom for the battle ahead.

Athena tells her that waging war on humanity is a super unwise idea. Cut to Hippolyta striding out to her waiting army, all, ‘OKAY NEW PLAN: WE DON’T NEED THE GODS TO FUCK THIS CITY UP.’

Random Amazon: My queen — will the gods aid us? Hippolyta: We don’t need their help.

Then she commands her army to destroy the Washington Monument, which… hoooooo boy.

This is the Washington Monument at the end at the end of WW #8, when Diana confronts Hippolyta. It’s still intact, as you can see, so no problems there.

Except… this is the Washington Monument at the end of AA #1, when Diana confronts Hippolyta. This panel depicts the same moment in time as the panel from WW #8 — but in this version, the monument is in ruins.

And now, “later”, in WW #9, a conspicuously undamaged Washington Monument gets toppled by Amazon catapults.

Essentially, through some combination of poor coordination and abject incompetence, Jodi Picoult and Will Pfeiffer managed to accidentally have the Amazons destroy the same iconic monument twice.

While Superman prevents buildings from being crushed by the falling obelisk and Tom saves a civilian from  being flattened by rubble, Wonder Woman… saves a cat?

At least the art is cute.

Also take note of Tom’s line: “Great— Hero Tutorial 101 from the face that launched a thousand pissed-off Amazons.”

Tom does not know that the Amazon invasion was prompted by Diana’s incarceration. Nobody knows that the Amazon invasion was prompted by Diana’s incarceration. At this point in the story, the only people who have that information are Circe and the Amazons themselves.

(That said, even if he did know the reason for the Amazon invasion, blaming Diana for it — and citing it as evidence that she’s a shitty hero — would be a dick move. She didn’t ask to be kidnapped and tortured by a villain masquerading as a government agent, for fuck’s sake.)

With Tom in tow, Wondy flies over to a waiting Superman, Batman and Canary for a quick exposition dump. Superman and Batman get Diana up to speed on the Amazon invasion; Diana gets them up to speed on how she was wrongly imprisoned. Somewhere in the intervening issues, she’s forgotten that Fake Steel explicitly told her that she would be imprisoned and tortured until she handed over the Purple Death Ray technology, and she instead frames it to her friends as ‘well, he said he was arresting me for Max Lord, but I dunnooooo, he was asking a looooot of questions about the PDR, guys, I’m starting to think that something might be up.’

Make a note of that PDR reference, by the way. That will become relevant shortly.

Diana is certain that Hippolyta is an impostor or something, mostly because Hippolyta’s being written so wildly out of character.

Black Canary ignores the entire conversation and instead chews out Tom for almost landing on her when he flew over with Diana. This isn’t technically his fault, because he wasn’t the one driving, but it doesn’t matter because the whole argument is just a pretext for Tom to be a sleaze to Dinah.

Dinah: Why don’t you watch where you land? Tom: Well, you’re probably softer than Superman, sweetheart. Dinah: Call me sweetheart again and I’ll kick your butt so hard you’ll be gagging on my boot until Christmas. Tom: Will you quit focussing on my butt? I know it’s sexy, but we’ve only just met.

At least somebody in this comic recognises Tom Tresser for the gross, sexist creep that he is.

Noticing what Tom is up to, Diana hastily drags him away while announcing that that she’s going to confront her “so-called mother”.

Diana: “Sweetheart”? We’re at war, and you’re flirting with Black Canary… Tom: Sometimes it’s easy to believe you were raised on a remote island populated only by women.

Ho ho! It’s funny because men are slaves to their sexual urges who literally cannot stop themselves from making unwelcome advances towards women! 

They arrive at the Air and Space Museum and are met by a pair of Amazon guards.

Amazon: [Hippolyta] has been expecting you. The man must be left behind. Tom: I’ll wait right here… sweetheart.

Fifty bucks he says something to get himself stabbed in the face before Diana has even made it through the door.

Picoult continues to completely ignore last issue’s cliffhanger confrontation, treating this scene as Diana and her mother’s first face-to-face meeting since Hippolyta’s resurrection.

So, blah blah embrace. Blah blah conflicted internal monologue. Blah blah ‘join me and help kill all the men’.

Hippolyta: Those “innocent people” want our weapons technology! All they crave is power! Diana: Who told you that? Diana [narration]: Sarge Steel was alone when he questioned me about the Purple Death Ray…

‘HUMANS WANT TO STEAL OUR ADVANCED WEAPONRY’, Hippolyta shrieks, while swinging around a sword.

And a second mention of the PDR. Followed immediately by…

Hippolyta: Circe did not just rescue me from Hades. She brought us a secret weapon, with which we will win this war. […] A poison, which affects those of human blood, but not those who are Amazon. With it, we will be safe.

There is. just. so much stupid in this page, I don’t even know where to begin.

‘Humans want to steal our advanced weapons technology, including a LITERAL DEATH RAY, so we have come to fight them with spears and catapults! That’ll sure show ‘em!’

‘The surest way to protect ourselves from the humans who want to steal our LITERAL DEATH RAY is to poison… anybody who happens to be out of doors within a ten-block radius… using these killer bees that our enemy gave us.’

They didn’t think to deploy the killer bees (or, you know, just maybe the LITERAL DEATH RAY) before launching the full-scale ground invasion?

Or just extract Diana and then deploy the… you know what, I can’t even say it again, it’s too embarrassing.

‘The only way our unreachable, extradimensional island will be safe is if we kill all these humans who have no way of reaching us!’ At this point in canon, even Diana can’t reach Themyscira.

Look, if you’re going to have an army attack DC with pointy sticks and swords, maybe just… don’t keep mentioning all the futuristic weaponry they are conspicuously choosing not to use?

This culminates in a hamfisted stand-off in which Diana is challenged to choose between humanity and her own people. Blah blah ‘you’re a disappointment’, blah blah ‘don’t you love me?’, blah blah ‘should we be allowed to defend ourselves from these humans (who are defending themselves from us)’.

Hippolyta: You could have been the greatest queen the Amazons ever had.

Uh. Sure. Maybe. I guess. If you hadn’t personally abolished the monarchy in favour of democratic governance.

Outside, there’s a confrontation with DOMA agents, led by Fake Sarge Steel. Tom — who’s somehow figured out that Fake Steel is, well, fake — decides that two can play at that game and, in a moment of confusion, uses his still-never-actually-explained disguise tech to impersonate Steel himself. When the dust clears, there are now two Steels, each insisting the other is a fraud. Both are taken into custody until the situation can be straightened out.

Naturally, Tom can’t pass up one last chance to creep on Diana before he’s escorted away.

Diana: [whispering] Tom? Is it you? Tom: [whispering] Birthmaaaaaark! [winks]

Circe shows up, and there’s another tiresome scene where Diana demands to know what Circe did to Hippolyta, and Circe gloats that maybe Diana just doesn’t know Hippolyta as well as she thinks she does, and they fight.

In a minor continuity fluff, Diana throws her tiara at Circe in one panel, and in the next panel Diana is still wearing the tiara.

Circe speechifies about how everybody is really an impostor and nothing is real “except love and murder”. Boo. BOOOOOO.

Meanwhile, the two impostor Steels are being interrogated, side by side. Seems like it’d be far more sensible to interrogate them separately, and maybe bother to handcuff them to prevent what Tom’s about to do next, but the DOMA agents are clearly struggling here. For a government agency that polices metahumans — including people with various powers of deception, illusion, shapeshifting and mind control — and employs at least one person whose specialty is impersonation, they’re curiously ill equipped to deal with infiltrators.

Rule of cool, though — and Tom’s next move is, I’ll admit, pretty cool. He points out that the real Steel lost his hand years ago, as everybody knows from the mechanical prosthesis he uses. Then, before anyone can react, he grabs a pen and slams it down through Fake Steel’s supposedly prosthetic hand, eliciting blood and a scream of pain.

Everyman is unmasked as the Fake Steel and — because nobody expects there to be two impostors, and because, again, DOMA is incompetent — Tom is presumed to be the real deal.

Tom, still as Steel, interrogates Everyman, who says that shit’s about to go down and then disappears right out of his cell. Oh, sure, they have a cell that Wonder Woman can’t break out of, but they can’t contain a friggin nobody like Everyman.

Steel!Tom races to the control room to discover that DOMA is preparing to launch a nuclear warhead at Themyscira.

Back to Diana and Circe, who are still stuck on the same repetitive ‘that can’t be my mother!’/‘lol, u sure about that?’ argument.

Of course, Picoult is never one to pass up a chance to make a crack at how much Wonder Woman sucks:

Circe: I’m thinking that when this whole thing is over, we can go into crime fighting together. Travel the globe, saving women from oppression… what a team we’d be! I can be the funny, sassy, sexy one… and you can be the dorky square one who says dorky square things like “Great Hera!” Diana: [mutters] I rarely say that anymore…

Tom arrives on the scene to warn Diana of the plan to nuke Themyscira, and Circe gloatingly reveals how she’s going to achieve this. Themyscira is in another dimension, but Circe can open the portal — which she will, the moment the warhead is launched, enabling it to destroy the island. The Amazons will be left homeless and at the mercy of the humans.

Then a spear plunges through her chest from behind, because guess who was standing right behind her and is pretty pissed off about being betrayed?

Before teleporting away, Circe tells Diana to usurp Hippolyta’s throne and call off the war. “Usurp her throne?” Diana gasps. “To do that, I would have to kill my mother!”

That is not the only way to usurp a throne. As Amazons Attack! #2 will make explicit, not all Amazons support Hippolyta’s war, and already her top generals are questioning her judgement. By AA #3, Artemis and Philippus outright say that Hippolyta is not fit to lead. Theoretically, if Diana had the support of the Amazons, she could overthrow Hippolyta without resorting to murder.

THERE IS NO THRONE THEMYSCIRA IS A DEMOCRACY YOU IGNORANT FUCKSTICKS

The issue ends on Diana and Tom facing down a hail of spears.

[toukaisbetterthanyou]

Rantings of a Bitter Madwoman

I thought you had stopped writing this. When my friend told me I should expect a chapter soon, I had to go back and read the whole thing again because I forgot most of what happened (except for Ken cutting line at the doctor’s office, apparently that’s what left the biggest impact on me). Anyway, I realized I got a few things wrong with previous reactions because I wasn’t focused while reading and apparently skipped over paragraphs (it’s a good thing you published this on a weekend, much more relaxed reading than during a work day).

One part that I really got wrong was thinking they only had a one night stand before Anteiku when actually it was a two or something months fling which now raises the question of why doesn’t Touka ever bring that up? He left her back then so wouldn’t she think about it when she feels insecure about their relationship? And while we’re at it, why doesn’t Ken ever bring up the Quinx? The Quinx part is probably because the story doesn’t involve them but canon showed how much he cared for them and they were a family to him before he started this family with Touka so I would expect them to be mentioned in passing at least.

I have a feeling you will try to make the moron sympathetic here and I am sorry in advance because I do not give a fuck about how sad his life is, I am only here to support Touka through her shitty choices in men.

… even beaten Banjou to a bloody pulp when he told her that he let Hinami leave, claiming that she wanted to find her own way.

Is it Banjou’s fate to be beaten up by Kirishimas? Leave my sweet giant alone!

Especially not with him. He would continue to carve out pieces of her very soul, ripping her flesh bare until there was nothing left. Kaneki Ken was nothing but ruin and destruction.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!

He hopes this would be enough to ward of her suspicions and finally, they can have some peace together.

Sure, sudden gifts do not arouse suspicious at all. (He may does that regularly but I’m treating them as sudden)

… nods to the doorman sitting there, white as a sheet, stiff as he always is when he sees him.

He doesn’t have time to mess with him today though.

This moron really never learns.

He could keep her safe and she would have access to all his information and money after his death.

Not if the government and/or CCG seize them you idiot! You want paper trail that she is your wife?!

… how was he supposed to live without her?

Shouldn’t be too hard, you’re not planning to live at all.

“You didn’t do shit ,” Touka spits. “You saved yourself so you wouldn’t lose your title in the fucking CCG, but at least Hina gets to live on borrowed time, right?”

Reading this fight is so cathartic! Finally! ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

Touka stares at the jeweled ring in that tiny box. Her hands ball into fist as she looks at it and then back at him, eyes hard. 

“Are you kidding me?”

You and I had the same reaction, babe!

 “H-He isn’t moving,” She mumbles, lips trembling. 

Don’t fucking do this to me, I am already terrified of it.

And then there is movement.

Thank Ishida! Had me worried there for a second. Now let me just rage at Kaneki because for fuck’s sake DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING DANGEROUS THAT IS?! ESPECIALLY IN THE THIRD TRIMESTER! MATERNAL INJURY ASIDE, DOES HE KNOW HE COULD HAVE FRACTURED HIS SON’S SKULL OR ARM?! DOES HE KNOW HE COULD HAVE CAUSED THE PLACENTA TO ABRUPT?! WHO WILL DO HER CSECTION IF THAT HAPPENS?! THE ONLY DOCTOR WHO COULD IS IN BITE SIZE PIECES ON THEIR DINING TABLE! Wait, is this a way for Kimi to join the story? Please say yes!

Also is that a Genesis reference? :P

He’s ruined everything – everything because of one careless mistake.

Now, Kaneki dear, we all know it’s not just one mistake, this is karma catching up with all your life’s shitty choices.

Despite the various protests from Yomo and Nishiki, she shows up to work the next day.

Makes sense, one of her main traits is hardworking. I was actually surprised she dropped her job when she first got together with Kaneki.

After everything that he had done, it felt impossible to stay angry at him – even after Hinami – or with how he had hurt her belly, even if that had been an accident on his part.

No, no, no, NO! The physical hurt part alone should be enough to never consider going back, even if it was an accident. This goes to really show how emotionally dependent on Ken Touka is.

“You can’t be serious.”

Of course, Nishiki is the first to speak – and it was with something snarky. She grits her teeth. “What’s the plan going to be, Touka? It’s obviously to get himself fucking killed – he probably wants to go out in a blaze of glory!”

Nishiki, if I ever become an anime character because of bots taking over the world, I am coming to marry you. I’ll share you with Kimi if I have to. Bless you.

… then maybe we can come up with some kind of plan where we can all make it out of this,” she says.

Or maybe just let him go through with his plan without interference? Why add more people to worry about? You just want an excuse to see him again.

“If I allow you to go speak with him,” the white haired man says, “And I agree to help him with whatever this plan is – then you have to promise to stay here while we enact it.”

Thank you for your common sense and trying to be a parental figure of guidance.

Allow? You don’t fucking control her, my silver crow! Don’t mess me with that patriarchal bullshit. She’s an adult woman. Sure, she’s stupid right now but an adult nonetheless.

I sincerely hope he means Ayato here but I know he’s not

He shouldn’t even let you go off to see that half ass fucker–,”

Confirmation they tried anal? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

It was as though all of his decisions were circular. He never stopped making the same mistakes, again and again.

Well, yes, but also, it’s not your job to fix him.

You just want to see him.

I knew it! You aren’t being subtle, Touka!

Would she have turned her back on him back then, knowing what she knew now?

She hadn’t been able to do anything to help her father, but maybe – just maybe, she could shake some sense into Ken.

This is the part where Touka’s childhood trauma catches up with her. All her guilt about what happened to her father (even though she was just a child), and the Anteiku raid are guiding her decision to “save” Kaneki when Kaneki’s problems are never going to be solved by others, the fault is deep within him. Touka will still try because she is hanging by a thread to a dream.

She has to get to him.

I feel this part is a nod to Kaneki in chapter 143 where he keeps repeating that he will protect everyone this time.

She was not going to raise their child alone.

– 

The door is unlocked when she makes it to his flat, and she momentarily stunned by the damage that she is met with when she opens the door. 

I don’t know why you are so concerned about raising the child alone if Kaneki is dead because you would still be doing that if he stays alive. Ken is permanently stuck in his terrible twos. You’ll have two kids to worry about.

And Ken lay in the center of it all.

I am Obama.

“W-Why did you come back?”

For once, Ken and I agree on something. I can’t believe she is glossing over hurting their baby and trying to joke with him! I can partially understand why she is doing it (guilt mentioned before and that she has a less severe version of his martyrdom complex) but that doesn’t mean I like or approve of it.

Not even for her and their child.  

Would Touka have done it? Knowing what we know from canon, I don’t think she would have (Maybe she would have here because Ken is a dick but she is obviously not all too concerned with that). Interesting contrast between them.

“And I kicked your ass too many times to count,” Touka counters, “You didn’t do it on purpose, right?”

It’s not the same! Stop trying to blame yourself! Even if it wasn’t on purpose, so what? An alcoholic doesn’t mean to get into a car accident but you still don’t forgive him or give him keys or keep him around your kids! This is just a fall back to their old dynamic with Touka turning a blind eye to the bigger issue!

He looks horrified, “No – I’d never do anything like that to you,” and he says it which such sincerity that her doubts are chased away.

Aha, never heard that one before. It’s not as if he managed to keep up an act around you for months or anything. Let’s believe him right away.

He was okay – their child was okay.

I would like to note that the extent of damage can’t be known till the baby is born but I hope those Rc cells are doing their magic so they are not met with a nasty surprise. God, that sounds awful of me but I am still mad at this.

What in the world had he done to deserve such kindness?

There must be an eclipse or something because I am agreeing with you again, Ken.

I am willfully ignoring all the parts that may make me agree with Touka’s decision on principle. Bitter? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

She straddles his lap again, this time only in her bra and panties.

How long was it? A day? Two? Already fucking again? Nope, sex is not used as a distraction here at all.

but Ken beats her to it, closing his lips over the swollen nipple, hollowing his cheeks for an indulgent and curious suckle.

Oh, wow. He really is stuck in his terrible twos.

The sensation was a strange one – though not unpleasant

Is this inspired by that woman who orgasms from breastfeeding? Because I have a lot to say about that but this review is not the place for it.

He pulls her head back by her long hair, making sure she can see how he was fucking her.

I love mirror sex but I am so mad at the both of them that I can’t even remotely enjoy this. I feel like Ned Flanders outside their window with a sign saying “Yomo is watching”.

She opens the back door – only to be greeted by a group of men. All dressed in black.

V?

I hope you are not taking another month to post the next chapter because that is one hell of a cliffhanger!

 I was glad to see Touka fight back this chapter. I thought I was going to celebrate my babies’ first birthday before I see her snap so thanks for giving me that, even if it was for a short while. Looking at you now, Ishida.

I will begrudgingly concede that Ken is showing a little progress but I still don’t think she should have fixed things with him so quickly. He needs to learn there are consequences to his actions and she needs to stop relying on him emotionally or something like this will happen all over again. I, personally, would have left him for just the injury part but I know women in emotionally abusive relationships cannot make that choice easily, doesn’t matter since they have bigger issues to deal with now than their mutually enabling and destructive dynamic so let’s see how this pans out first.

Mod K:

Hey! I just wanted to thank you for always writing such long and thoughtful reviews – but I also wanted to respond to some of what you had said here. The intention of Original Sin is to create what is an unhealthy and destructive dynamic and while Ken is most to blame for all of this – we try to also show that Touka is also playing a role in contributing to this dynamic. While Touka does argue and call him out on things in this au, her own fears of abandonment and past trauma often leads to her going back, pretending and falling back into the same patterns – these characters are not exactly the same as the current canon due to their past relationship.

Touka is a person that tries not to dwell on the past as much – she lives in the moment for fear or what the future might hold, but most of her fear of Ken abandoning her and her dependency on him is also related to how he has left her multiple times in the past (during their brief relationship pre-aogiri, and then as Haise).

We purposefully do not get too deeply into Ken’s head since the story is primarily from Touka’s perspective.

Ken also did not purposefully try to hurt her or the baby – he was panicked and trying to hold onto her, but accidentally propelled her into the table – not to make excuses for him. This was wrong, but it wasn’t something that he intentionally did.

I try not to apply the morals that I actually have or what I would actually do in a situation when writing – as we have tried to paint the Reaper’s character in shades of grey, but also Touka.

We had wondered if we should have Touka take Ken back immediately (part of the reason this chapter too so long), and we decided that based on how we had written their relationship so far, it would make sense. These are two people who are incredibly dependent on one another for emotional stability. Touka also feels somewhat of a responsibility because of her father, as you pointed out.

Had the baby actually died, I don’t think that Touka would have returned to him. Word of god also states that the baby is tough and will be fine.

However, their decision to stay together and pursue this plan will also have some narrative consequences in the future, though I don’t want to reveal them all because lol spoilers. It was definitely meant to make readers feel somewhat uncomfortable, though. But, we tried to also shed light on why Touka made the decision that she did.

Touka is also the type to cover her hurt and pain with sarcasm and jokes, even when she’s very upset.

We did still try to include Touka not forgiving him -- but I also would feel like Touka wouldn’t hold what happened when he pushed her against her too much. This is a world where people who have nearly killed them all are all friends now. Touka also recognizes that Ken did not do this purposefully, even if he still did a bad thing.

Also, as for Ken’s feelings about the Q, we don’t explore his side of things much in this fic intentionally -- but as reaper, I feel like he wouldn’t think about them too much because it’s painful. He feels as though he’s failed them, and he keeps them out of his head, especially since they are fractured now partly because of him. He is also solely focused on Touka and his plan to rescue Hinami. He is choosing the ghouls over them.

I don’t think Ken has even dwelled on them much as King!Kaneki. Or at least Ishida hasn’t shown him thinking of them outside of chapter 144. I feel like his attachment to them was mostly a Haise thing, but that might just be our intepretation.

Thank you for the long and thoughtful review! And I hope that you check out some of the other things we’ve written (some happier, and some not so much, haha. We have a masterfic tag now~)

[groundramon]

Hey im back sooner than expected because I have no impulse control and anyways some thoughts:

(Voltron season 4 spoilers under the cut)

- For once, I’m glad I ended up getting a spoil/leak because I would not have been okay with them cockteasing Matt’s death otherwise

- Having said that, I still cried even though I knew he had to still be alive (I mean I was kinda also trying to decipher “they wouldnt do that. would they? they wouldnt do that. would they??” because sadistic me wanted it to be true and crybaby me wanted to know exactly how sad I should be, but)

- Also *quietly adds Matt to list of characters I’d die for*

- Haha rest in pieces Lance, Matt is a better Lance than you’ll ever be

- *sees moment that I’d normally recognize as building up romance between two characters of the opposite sex* wlw/mlm solidarity

- Joking aside, have I mentioned that I’m really afraid the Voltron team is queerbaiting us, because I’m really afraid the Voltron team is queerbaiting us.  “LGBT representation is really important to us” yeah that’s a good way to cover up spoilers, but its also a good way to sound progressive and continue leading on something that you have no intention of following through on.  Like the reason this is so significant to me is because it will affect my enjoyment of the show.  If it ends up that they were queerbaiting us and people start calling people who like Voltron problematic and/or homophobic, I’m gonna fling myself off a bridge.  But I personally dont feel like I’d be able to get the same enjoyment out of the show.  If it was just the gay ships that wouldn’t be queerbaiting, but repeatedly crew members have acknowledged them and winked at us, hinting that it’ll be canon.  It just doesnt sit right with me personally.  I’m sure it wasn’t intentional or anything at first and I’m not gonna hold anything against the people who work on it (I just wont trust Shada when he's talking about his projects, but I think I can live with that lmao) but like I said, just doesnt sit right with me personally.  But then again, maybe I’m overthinking things and they will have lgbt representation, who knows amiright?

- Anyways enough politics, because fuck politics ruining netflix shows for me

- NARTI NO

- FUCK LOTOR, POOR NARTI

- no!!! no allying with lotor!!! have the butch chick, chameleon lady, and boring-fucker ally with Voltron instead!!! they’d probably be better allies tbfh

- Also Pidge is by far the most well-rounded and developed character in Voltron and you bet your ass im gonna do a youtube essay on that sometime soon.

- Where the fuck is my Hunk development?  I could’ve sworn I was promised Hunk development in season 3.  I thought maybe it would be in season 4 but no, apparently not.  *taps foot* I’m waiting, Voltron

- Hh anyways in related news, Hunk and Lance are just as boring as ever.  Keith had more development this season and he wasn’t in half the episodes.

- I WAS SO SCARED THEY WERE GONNA END THE SEASON ON A REALLY BAD CLIFFHANGER HOLY /FUCK/ THANK GOD THEY RESOLVED IT

- Also back to Hunk, was that bit in the Coran Possession episode supposed to be making fun of how they treated Hunk in the first season or.  Because if so that’s gREAT it hasn’t been that long but I’m glad we dont have to worry about that anymore (even tho Lance was the one who made fart jokes but shh lets ignore that) and if not. well that seems somewhat short-sighted but okay

- SPEAKING OF THE CORAN POSSESSION EPISODE, HOLY F U C K.  If I didnt love the first two episodes with Matt so much that would be my favorite episode of the season because I was d y i n g.  We all made fun of Coran dying, or Coran being a clone, and look what happened?  Yall better stop making those jokes now because he might, you never know (editor’s note: I most certainly am not going to stop making those kinds of jokes)

- I hope the entire Coran Possession episode is just commenting on different aspects of the show and the in-jokes its created.  Like Coran being possessed is in reference to the Coran jokes, the Hunk thing is what I mentioned earlier, and...I dunno about the others.  Allura being Keith is a reference to people complaining that he gets too much screentime and she doesnt?? (which I disagree with but this isnt the place for that)

EDIT: straight-up furries

uhhh thats all I can think of right now, hope I didnt miss anything whOOPS I might edit this if i remember something later