#also this whole arc is so ???

[pandebunuelo]

but if he knows that you know that you know that he knows that he knows that you know that you

[neversetyoufree]

Since we'll hopefully be getting out of the VnC hiatus soon, and this new arc seems to finally be turning the spotlight back to Noé and calling out some of his more troubling traits for the first time, I've been thinking a lot about him recently.

I've talked before on this blog about Noé's inability to recognize or process bad things when they happen to him alone. He bounces back from and idealizes almost any experience as soon as it's over, even when he absolutely shouldn't. It's one of my favorite traits of his, and it's been lampshaded a couple of times in-manga. Louis calls out how weird his attitude toward his kidnapping is during the mémoire 9 flashback, and the "be a little bothered" from Vanitas and co in mémoire 57 has the same effect.

We also recently got a whole extended sequence of Vanitas and Domi complaining about how Noé also never anticipates harm before it might come to him. He waltzes into dangerous situations like it's nothing, almost as if he thinks he's unkillable. Combined with the above, this is just more of his strange brand of optimistic denial. Everything is fine in Noéland! It can't possibly not be fine! He always trusts and thinks the best of people and situations by default, never wanting to expect they may do wrong, and so long as a given event doesn't involve harm to external innocents and/or Noé's loved ones that he can't rationalize away, he compartmentalizes and denies harm once it's done. Thus he carries on in blissful ignorance, his past suffering having no effect on the blithe trust with which he treats the world.

But in addition to all that, Noé is also very notably divorced from the consequences of his own actions. It's not that he's *incapable* of considering his own effect on people, and he certainly tries to be kind and decent, but much of the time, it just doesn't seem to occur to him that people will have reactions to the things he does. He does as he sees fit, and when his deeds impact the people around him, especially if they produce a reaction that could upset him, it bounces off his mind in the same way that potential traumas do.

On the more lighthearted end of the spectrum, this leads to things like Noé never noticing when people are attracted to him. It may also have something to do with his airheaded messiness—the way he's always thoughtlessly making a mess of the hotel room and incurring Vanitas's wrath in bonus materials. On the heavier end of the spectrum, this causes a lot of genuine problems for the people around him. He's largely oblivious to the depth of Dominique's mental health problems until she's pushed to her breaking point at the amusement park, despite the fact that he's inextricably entangled in the cause of them. He also completely loses sight of Vanitas's reactions to him when he gets caught up in his protective rage at the start of the vanoé fight, and it takes an outside reminder from Jeanne and a literal mirror to make him realize that his own actions are part of why Vanitas has devolved to such a state.

This lack of self-perception on Noé's part feeds back into the other problems I laid out at the top of this post, his obliviousness toward his interactions with the rest of the world helping to facilitate his denial. It's part of the happy little insulating bubble that he interacts with the world through. And as the other side of that coin, his automatic, unthinking denial of things that could hurt him is part of what enables him to ignore his own impacts on the people around him. You can't reckon with or worry about harming other people when you live in Noéland where everything must be fine. I think the fact that he wants to be a good person that doesn't harm others actually makes it harder for him to confront the truth of how he impacts the world, because him hurting others is a Bad Thing that would cause him mental harm.

We've seen Noé mess up, understand his mistake, and apologize for it before. He apologizes to Vanitas for making assumptions about him after the bal masqué, he apologizes to Vanitas again at the end of the amusement park fight, and he apologizes to Riche for speaking with ignorance about dhampirs. However, I think the bigger a mistake of his is, the more harm it causes other people (and the more understanding would hurt him as a result), the harder it is for Noé to comprehend his wrongs. He's clearly trying to make things right with Domi, and he's told her that he values her, but I don't know if it's yet occurred to him to conceive of their mess as a situation where he's done her active wrong. He also literally passes out on her mid-conversation, leaving Domi and Vanitas to carry him back to bed when he was supposed to be comforting her.

But I think the most fascinating example, the moment where all this comes together into Noé's most feeble and blatant act of denial yet, is the first time he sees Misha after clawing up his face. The anime actually changes this detail, which is its own can of worms to get into, but in the manga, when Noé sees Misha's injuries in the light of day after attacking him, he immediately fucking turns around.

At the end of his wits at the amusement park, Noé claws a child across the face in a fit of anger and protectiveness. I'm not interested in condemning Noé for this, especially given that the child in question was actively trying to stab Vanitas at the time, but I will say that his actions are quite extreme. Given Vanitas's response and the way Misha's injuries are portrayed, I think it's clear that the manga wants us to see how Noé hurts Mikhail as something troubling and extreme. He gives that kid a pretty horrible injury, and Misha will likely have scars on his face for the rest of his life.

And regardless of how justified he may or may not have been in hurting Misha in defense of Vanitas, it's clear that Noé himself is upset by the true extent of what he does to Mikhail's face. When he looks at him in the light of day, when he sees a numb-looking child with his face wrapped in still-bloody bandages, though we only get to see a small segment of his face in that moment, he looks sick. He knows that he's done something troubling, and I'm sure he feels all kinds of heavy and unpleasant emotions.

This is one genuinely bad thing he's done that Noé cannot deny. He can't rationalize this one away and make it all copacetic. He can't conveniently forget the emotional reality of suffering and harm, because that reality is standing ten yards away from him. And he can't just apologize for things either, because apologies cannot undo physical harm, and frankly, I'm not sure he'd be able to give an honest apology for his one. Sickness at the results of his actions doesn't mean he fully regrets hurting Misha, at least not at this moment when emotions are still raw.

But Noé, confronted with this undeniable source of guilt and pain, is still ultimately unable to look the pain he's caused in the eye. A problem piercing through the happy veil of Noéland and forcing him to acknowledge it doesn't mean he's capable of reckoning with that problem. Instead he just. turns away from it.

Noé, forced to acknowledge a harm he's done and unable to employ all the many layers of automatic insulation that usually protect him, physically turns around because he cannot bear to look at the person, the child, that he's hurt. He employs the very last possible form of avoidance available to him, even though it's useless in the ways that matter. Not looking at Misha doesn't mean he gets to un-know the fact that he maimed him, but he simply cannot bring himself to look.

Noé is extremely good at playing "I do not see it" with things that hurt him. He's good enough that I think he has genuinely no idea he's doing it a vast majority of the time. Whatever mental shield he has that's protecting him is automatic enough that the badness that could hurt him doesn't ever even seem to cross his conscious mind. But no matter how automatic and subconscious, this tendency of his is still, and the end of the day, nothing more than an unhealthy coping mechanism, and this moment helps to put that to our attention.

What's the difference, really, between him cheerfully acting like Jean-Jacques and Chloé's assaults never upset him and him turning around so he doesn't have to look at the wounds he gave Mikhail? Noé can't look at pain, can't acknowledge the things he finds upsetting (at least not things that cause him alone pain, as others' pain often triggers his savior complex and spurs action). This scene with Misha throws that into the light, forcing Noé to desperately cling to his avoidance in an obvious and physical way.

Even when there's no way to deny the harsh reality of having done something he finds horrific, Noé Archiviste cannot make himself look directly at a painful truth, be it others wronging him or his own wrongdoing. It takes an external hand to step in and force him to turn his head and acknowledge/reckon with a problem. And even then, who knows if intervention can always be successful.

The start of the dham arc so far has drawn a lot of attention to this pattern of behavior, with Vanitas having to sit Noé down and explain to him in detail why his words said in well-meaning ignorance make Dante so upset. This is Noé being forced to look at a harm he caused because he couldn't or wouldn't look at and comprehend the problem (his fellow vampires' racism) in the situation he was in. But upsetting Dante is ultimately a low stakes problem for Noé. He put his foot in his mouth and offended a peer; he didn't shred Vanitas's little brother. He's able to accept his wrongs and feel his discomfort without resorting to physically turning around and avoiding the issue.

I want to know what Noé will do if/when this arc forces him to confront a source of pain he can't handle in a context that's more high stakes than a social faux pas. I want to see what he'll do when something really forces him beyond his ability to believe that everything is fine. How badly would he have to be hurt to lose his ability to filter an event/events through rose colored glasses? How badly would he have to hurt someone else? Or is his instinctive shield good enough that he'll never get out of it on his own? And if so, who else might step in to make Noé own up to reality?

Teacher and the Archivistes are becoming plot-relevant now, and our attention is being drawn to Noé's issues. I think there might be something coming soon that even Noé can't turn away from and cheerfully pretend isn't hurting him. Teacher even ends his appearance at the amusement park with a little speech about having to "wake and face reality," which makes me even more certain that a wake-up call for Noé is imminent.

Either that, or Noé's going to mess up and hurt somebody even worse than he hurt Misha later this arc, and in that case, we might get to see a feat of denial even worse than him literally turning around to avoid looking at the wounds he caused.

[royaltea000]

YO! Being a drawing, what’s there to be afraid of!

[keirientez]

Pokemon trainer AU, Reborn is the champion meanwhile Tsuna is his apprentice. Tsuna’s design belongs to my friend @Cloud_Knee (Twt or X)

[welcometogrouchland]

I understand that literature nerd Jason Todd is kind of overblown in fanon compared to it's actual presence in canon (a few issues during his pre (and post?)crisis Robin tenure that highlight it) BUT consider that I think it's hilarious if the unhinged gun toting criminal has strong opinions on poetry

[necrotic-nephilim]

what's fun about shipping Tim with Dick, Jason, or Damian is he has, at some point, hallucinated all of them to comfort himself. even when he doesn't like them or particularly get along with them, he has to imagine/hallucinate them just so he has the power to go on. Tim's concepts of the Robin mantle and what it should be is so fun, because he respects the others through the Robin mantle. Tim worships Dick because he was the first Robin. he wouldn't be Robin if Jason hadn't died in the mantle. and a lot of his frustration with Damian is he feels Damian isn't honoring the mantle correctly. when you ship Tim with the other Robins you can't divorce their identities as Robin from it because Tim will always see them as a Robin first and that's so fun and fucked up. like.

batman (1940) #456

Tim perceiving Dick as *Robin* cheering him on, not Nightwing, which is the version of Dick that Tim actually knows? that's just. wild of him. he will always view Dick as Robin first, his personal hero but also the original of the legacy. his love for Dick is shaped by that.

and then of course, even when he's hallucinating/imagining Jason cheering him on, it's *still* through the lense of being reminded how Jason failed? subconsciously believing that Jason got himself killed because of his actions, and that being a lesson for Tim to learn from? Jason isn't a person to Tim, he's a moral lesson about how to be Robin. any potential idolization he could have of Jason isn't because he loves Jason, it's because of the lessons Jason's death taught him.

and then, even though him hallucinating TIm is from the New-52, which makes characterization all kinds of questionable, i do think it makes sense for TIm to hallucinate/imagine Damian after Damian's death in an attempt to cope with it.

teen titans (2011) #18

to an extend, he sees Damian's death as in part his own fault. and even hating Damian, Tim needs the comfort from this to cope with Damian being gone. he's angry that Damian even was Robin, and has to learn something from Damian's death and how it impacts the Robin mantle, and teenage heroes as a whole. like, Tim can pretend he hates Damian all he wants, even getting taunted by the image of Damian, but there's still an underlying love to their relationship.

i think that's just the fun of shipping Tim with any of them. you will never divorce Tim's views of them from the Robin mantle and how fucking Unwell he is about anyone else who's been Robin before or after him, to the point he has to hallucinate them comforting him when he's at his lowest. it's always going to be a little unhealthy, a little toxic, and driven by Tim's relationship with being Robin as well. i need more Tim being weird about Robin in these ships.

[vaguely-concerned]

having seen at least the rough outlines of all the romances now I have to say that I think emmrich's is probably objectively the best in terms of coherence and completeness of story arc (with the understanding that ultimately the 'best' romance is whichever one makes YOUR heart sing anyway so objectivity is a silly thing to claim that way, it just felt like it's the arc with the most well-paced focused content and the least dangling threads)... but lucanis' is my favourite haha. just. the whole kneeling before your beloved full of reverence but without any of the distance that usually implies??? his complete undramatic certainty and calm in every scene with rook after this, having spent the whole game caught between fear and longing???? mr. lives in a pantry but it says nothing about my psyche don't worry about it it's purely for tactical reasons that I keep myself contained in a small dark room not entirely unlike a cell, love among the parsnips -- finally coming to rook in their room and it's so comfortable and comforting???? after all the times rook supports and comforts him through the game he's finally able to return the same to them when they need it while being so calm and steady and it's so fucking sweet and feels so effortless and with no price attached?????? he basically assigns himself the role of your bodyguard and he WILL stab a god over it??????????????? the turn to protector (which was in his heart all along longing to get out and find a place) of it all????? he sounds like he's found himself unexpectedly stumbling into such a soul-lightening state of revelatory existential relief, full on 'you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' mary oliver style, and he goes and he shares that with rook and protectively envelops them in it when they're hurting??????????????????????????? hello for the maker's sake hello can anyone hear me?????

[danny-chase]

Things every Dick vs Tim Red Robin fallout gets wrong no matter who's side they take

1. They still loved each other

2. Dick went after Tim after Tim stormed out of the cave. He didn't just leave it at that

3. They didn't have 0 contact, Dick called Tim back to Gotham for Blackest Night. They weren't talking because Tim didn't want to talk

4. Alfred gave Damian the Robin costume initially without Dick's knowledge, and his first mission as Robin was saving Tim's life after he got beat up by Jason (again). He apparently left this mess for Dick to clean up, and I don't think anyone ever told Tim that's how Damian ended up with the mantle

5. Dick helped in the process of bringing Bruce back to the current time, Tim presented his evidence when he got home, and Dick checked it out and solved the time puzzle in Bruce's ancestral home. Tim didn't magically pop back with Bruce after doing everything by himself, it was a coordinated effort that involved the Justice League

6. Tim and Damian started to get along. Not during Red Robin, but during Batman: Gates of Gotham

7. They were both grieving, Dick just masked it better

8. Tim didn't feel like he could ask for help because he knew sounded insane (and was feeling/acting insane). He was doing one of those 'i push away everyone i love because i hate myself' things, which he also did to Steph (who he fired as Spoiler under god knows who's authority) and Cassie. Dick wasn't special in this treatment, and he can't force Tim to stay, so he trusted Tim's judgement and let him leave. It is a "Tim's a sad boy" comic, but he's also very much a part of causing his own problems

9. They still loved each other. They never stopped loving each other. They never hated one another. Both in this era asked the other "Do you trust me?" And the other replied "Yes" and did the thing they asked. *shakes everyone who's ever written about this* that's the whole point, it's about miscommunication, and being in a bad place, but having what you need where you started waiting for you the whole time

[airocats]

[pooks]

i just had a very hilarious idea

at the end of the WCI arc, when the Retrieval Squad are safe and heading towards Wano, Nami laments that she had somewhat hoped to get the chance to steal some money from Big Mom

and then Ichiji, the madlad, just untucks his shirt and lifts it up. what happens? sacks with Berry and jewelry falls down on the lawn deck

Ichiji casually reveals that that he, just hours before the Whole Cake Wedding Assasination, decided to sneak and raid so much treasure from his and Sanji's sire.

"child support." he simply says. "with interest, of course."

Nami, of course, get Berry sign in her eyes and just says "Ichiji...you know that you're my best friend, right?" and Ichiji just smiles, a real genuine smile for the first time since Dressrosa, and says "of course, Nami dearest. would you have the honor to keep these safely?"

but it's on one condition; Ichiji wants to keep a specific jewelry box that belonged to his and Sanji's mother Sora.

while Nami is busy counting the money, Sanji and Ichiji sits together and looks in their mother's jewelry box, remembering and admiring the beautiful necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets she used to own. there is also old photographs, hand-written notes and small bottles with perfume from the North Blue.

Sanji wanted Nami to have some, but she declined and said she didn't need it. Nami understood perfectly well that it was Ichiji and Sanji's late mother's things

none of them are sure what to do with the jewelry box and its' contents, but Ichiji simply stole it back because he didn't had the heart to leave it behind

also later

Sanji: *cooking lunch* WAIT you stole all that from the treasury and then fought with sacks of gold and jewels in your clothes?! Ichiji: what, like it's hard? *sips wine like an absolute icon*

also bonus

post-Wano, Zoro absolutely threw himself in the ocean for a swim when he saw Sanji wearing his mother's sapphire and gold earrings. the marimo claimed the weather was hot when they were actually closer to a spring island.

Nami called bullshit on that lol

[vechter]

dynamic of all time. they're both sooooooo insufferable

batman (1940) #588

[essektheylyss]

One thing that I feel is really interesting and often forgotten about Essek is that fundamentally, his characterization has been from the start based upon his desperation for external perspectives and connection, which, along with much of his narrative and mechanical positioning, means that he actually has an extraordinary and almost (but not actually, as I'll show) counterintuitive capacity for both growth and trust.

(Buckle in. This is a long one.)

In particular, I would argue, knowing now that many places where the plot touches Ludinus have long been marked for connecting back into the current plot, that he was quite possibly built as a prime candidate for radicalization by the Ruby Vanguard. He felt isolated from his culture, he was desperate for other connection, and he was certainly of the type to believe he was too smart to be drawn into such a thing, given his initial belief that he could control the situation and the fallout. If things had gone any other way, he easily could've been on the other side by now.

As such, he has been hallmarked by being fairly open to suggestion, perhaps for this reason, but the thing about that kind of trait is that it is both how people are radicalized and deradicalized. This is certainly true of Essek, who experienced genuine kindness and quite frankly strangeness from the Nein and was able to move from the isolation the Assembly had engendered to meaningful and genuine connection, largely propelled by his own internal reflection. By the time Nein are aware of his crimes, he's already begun to express regret to an extent and, furthermore, doubt in the Assembly, including explicitly drawing a line against Ludinus, even in a position where he was on his own and probably quite vulnerable.

Similarly, when the Nein reach the Vurmas Outpost some weeks later, he has moved from regret for the position he's ended up carrying a heavy remorse. This makes sense! He's fairly introspective, seems used to spending a lot of time in his own head, and was left with plenty to mull over. It's not some kind of retcon for him to have progressed well past where the Nein left him; it just means he's an active participant in the world who has done his own work in the meantime.

This is another interesting aspect to him. I've talked about this a bit before but I cannot find the post so I'll recap here: antagonists in D&D have significantly more agency than allied NPCs. Antagonists are active forces, against which the party is meant to struggle; allies are meant to support the PCs, which means they tend to be more passive in both their actions and their character growth. Essek was both built as an antagonist, in a position that gives him significant agency, and also was then given significant opportunity to grow specifically to act as a narrative mirror for Caleb's arc. Even when he becomes a more traditional D&D ally, he still retains much of that, though he occupies a supporting role.

I believe that this is especially true because of the nature of Caleb's arc, which I've already written on; the tl;dr of this post is that Caleb is both convinced that he is permanently ruined and also desperate to prove that change is possible. Essek is that proof, because he is simply the character in a position to do so. But this also means that his propensity for introspection and openness is accentuated! He has to do the legwork on his own, for the most part, because that's where he is in the meantime.

But he still ends the campaign necessarily constricted; he is under significant scrutiny, he's at risk from the Assembly, and he goes on the run fairly soon after the story ends. He spends most of the final arc anxious and paranoid, which is valid given the crushing reality of his situation. It would be very easy to extrapolate that seven years into this reality, he would be insular, closed off, and suspicious of strangers, even in spite of the lessons he's learned from the Nein and their long term exposure.

So seeing his openness and lightness now is surprising, but at the same time, given this combination of factors in his position in the narrative over time and his defining traits, it's not by any means unreasonable.

But one thing that I found so delightful is how much trust he exhibits, which is obviously a wild thing to say about Essek in particular, given much of what he learns is both earning and offering trust, which was something he says explicitly in 2x124 that he's never really experienced: "I've never really been trusted and so I did not trust." It makes up much of the progression of his relationship with Caleb, and the trust that he is offered by the Nein in walking off the ship is the impetus he needs to grow.

But I think it's easy to talk about trust when it comes to people who have proven themselves to you or to whom you've ingratiated yourself, and that's really the most we can say about Essek by the time he leaves the Blooming Grove. There is this sense in a lot of discussion of trust (not solely in this fandom) that it is only related to either naivete or love, but there's far more to it. Trust at its best is deliberate—cultivating an openness to the world at large is a great way to combat cynicism and beget connection instead. It allows a person to maintain curiosity and be open to experience, but it can be incredibly difficult to hold onto.

It is clear that the Essek we meet now is a very pointedly and intentionally trusting individual. He trusts Caleb and by extension Caleb's trust in Keyleth, as he shows up and picks up a group of strangers from a foreign military encampment and walks in without issue. He trusts the Hells to follow his lead moving through Zadash and to exhibit enough discretion so as to avoid bringing suspicion upon all of them. He trusts that Astrid will respond well to his entrance, but he also trusts himself and the Hells enough to execute a back-up plan in the case that she doesn't. In the end, he even trusts them enough to give them his name and identity.

He doesn't scan as someone who has spent half a dozen years living like a prey animal, afraid of any shadow he runs across in an alley, withdrawn into himself and an insular family, which would've been an easy route for him to take. He scans as someone who has learned the kind of trust borne of learned confidence and a trained eye for good will and kindness, which are crucial weapons one would need for staving off cynicism in his circumstances—as if he has survived thanks more to connection and kindness than paranoia and isolation. (If we want to be saccharine about it, he scans quite poignantly as a member of the Mighty Nein.)

So it is easy to imagine this trust and openness as a natural progression of his initial search for perspectives external to his own cultural knowledge. Though he makes those first connections with the Assembly to try to vindicate his personal hypotheses, he finds in them exposure to the deepest corruption among Exandrian mortals, which could've—and did, for a time—turned him further down that same dark path.

But it's also this same openness to exposure from the wider world that allows the Nein to influence him for the better, and in spite of the challenges he's certainly faced simply surviving over the past seven years, he seems to have held onto this openness enough to move through the world with self-assurance and a willingness to extend the kinds of trust and good will that he has been shown.

(I would be remiss not to mention that I was reminded about my thoughts on this by this lovely post from sky-scribbles and their use in the tags of 'light' to describe Essek's demeanor this episode, which is really such an apt word for it.)

[pikahlua]

MHA Chapter 427 spoilers translations

This week’s initial tentative super rough/literal translations under the cut.

tagline 1 No.427　死柄木弔とはなんだったのか　堀越耕平 ナンバー427　しがらきとむらとはなんだったのか　ほりこしこうへい NANBAA 427 Shigaraki Tomura to wa nan datta no ka  Horikoshi Kouhei No. 427 What was Tomura Shigaraki? Kouhei Horikoshi

1 会社員（35） かいしゃいん（35） kaishain (35) Office worker (age 35)

2 恐ろしかったです おそろしかったです osoroshikatta desu "He was scary."

3 退治されてホントよかったです！ たいじされてホントよかったです！ taiji sarete HONTO yokatta desu! "I'm so glad he was exterminated!"

tagline 2 TV特番は語る‼︎ テレビとくばんはかたる‼︎ TEREBI tokuban wa kataru!! A television special narrates!!

4 学生（21） がくせい（21） gakusei (21) Student (age 21)

5 友だちが亡くなりました ともだちがなくなりました tomodachi ga nakunarimashita "My friend passed away."

6 最悪！殺人鬼！ さいあく！さつじんき！ saiaku! satsujinki! "He's the worst! A damn murderer!"

7 ありえないマジ人生めちゃくちゃなんですけど ありえないマジじんせいめちゃくちゃなんですけど arienai MAJI jinsei mechakucha nandesu kedo "Life has become an impossible mess."

8 家壊されてるし いえこわされてるし ie kowasareteru shi "My house is destroyed."

9 主婦（70） しゅふ（70） shufu (70) Housewife (age 70)

10 止められなかったのかなって…ねえ…… とめられなかったのかなって…ねえ…… tomerarenakatta no ka natte...nee...... "I guess he couldn't stop...you know......"

11 思いますねえ おもいますねえ omoimasu nee "That's what I think."

12 飲食店経営 いんしょくていけいえい（30） inshokutei keiei (30) Restaurant manager (age 30)

13 始めはただのチンピラだと誰もが思っていました はじめはただのチンピラだとだれもがおもっていました hajime wa tada no CHINPIRA da to daremo ga omotte imashita "At first everyone thought he was just a hooligan."

14 誰もここまでの脅威とは思ってなかった だれもここまでのきょういとはおもってなかった daremo koko made no kyoui to wa omottenakatta "No one thought he could be this much of a threat."

1 国際支援とボランティアにより急速に進んでいる復旧作業ーーー こくさいしえんとボランティアによりきゅうそくにすすんでいるふっきゅうさぎょうーーー kokusai shien to BORANTIA ni yori kyuusoku ni susunde iru fukkyuu sagyou--- "Restoration work is progressing rapidly with international support and volunteers---"

2 X(た)しかその一方でX(た)だ復旧の手がX(間)に合っていないXXもーー X(た)しかそのいっぽうでX(た)だふっきゅうのてがX(ま)にあっていないXXもーー X(ta)shika sono ippou de X(ta)da fukkyuu no te ga X(ma) ni atte inai XX mo-- "On the other hand, it is true that some restoration work is not done in time XX--" (Note: A lot of this line is cut off from view, so I made some guesses on the words, but I still can't see the whole thing.)

3 堆く積まれた瓦礫は被害が如何に広範囲に渡ったかを物語っている うずたかくつまれたがれきはひがいがいかにこうはんいにわたったかをものがたっている uzutakaku tsumareta gareki wa higai ga ika ni kouhan'i ni watatta ka wo monogatette iru "The rubble piled high tells the story of how widespread the damage was."

4 多くの人間を巻き込み未曾有のテロを引き起こした敵連合 おおくのにんげんをまきこみみぞうのテロをひきおこしたヴィランれんごう ooku no ningen wo makikomi mizou no TERO wo hikiokoshita VIRAN rengou "The League of Villains, which caused an unprecedented terrorist attack in which many people were caught up--"

5 そのリーダー死柄木弔とは何だったのか特集第二弾をお送りします そのリーダーしがらきとむらとはなんだったのかとくしゅうだいにだんをおおくりします sono RIIDAA Shigaraki Tomura to wa nan datta no ka tokushuu dainidan wo ookuri shimasu "we will send you part 2 of the special freature on their leader: What was Tomura Shigaraki?"

1 巨躯や鱗の複数"個性"に耐え切れず「脳無」化しかけていましたがーーー きょくやうろこのふくすう"こせい"にたえきれず「のうむ」かしかけていましたがーーー kyoku ya uroko no fukusuu "kosei" ni taekirezu 「noumu」 kashi kakete imashita ga--- "Unable to withstand the multiple quirks of a giant body and scales, he was on the verge of becoming a noumu, but---"

2 我々がかねてより脳無の研究を進めていた事と われわれがかねてよりのうむのけんきゅうをすすめていたことと wareware ga kanete yori noumu no kenkyuu wo susumete ita koto to "we have been conducting research on the noumu for some time, and"

3 脳無化の進行がまだ浅かった事で辛うじて抑えられました のうむかのしんこうがまだあさかったことでかろうじておさえられました noumu-ka no shinkou ga mada asakatta koto de karoujite osaeraremashita "because the progress of his transformation into a noumu was still in its early stages, we barely suppressed it."

4 何しにノコノコ来やがった人殺し なにしにノコノコきやがったひとごろし nani shi ni NOKONOKO kiyagatta hitogoroshi "What did you come here to do all nonchalantly, murderer?"

5 否定はしない ひていはしない hitei wa shinai "I won't deny that."

6 死柄木の最期を伝えに来た しがらきのさいごをつたえにきた Shigaraki no saigo wo tsutae ni kita "I came to tell you about Shigaraki's final moments."

7 …死体撃ちにでも来たのか？てめェ悪趣味だな …したいうちにでもきたのか？てめェあくしゅみだな ...shitai uchi ni demo kita no ka? temeE akushumi da na "...You came here to shoot a corpse*? You have some bad taste, bastard." (*Note: This is a concept of unsportsmanlike conduct in a first-person shooter video game.)

8 スピナーが生きてたら伝えてくれよ スピナーがいきてたらつたえてくれよ SUPINAA ga ikitetara tsutaete kure yo if Spinner is alive, please tell him [this].

9 生きてるから…伝える いきてるから…つたえる ikiteru kara...tsutaeru "Because you're alive...I'll tell you [this]."

1-2 死柄木弔は最期まで壊す為に戦った しがらきとむらはさいごまでこわすためにたたかった Shigaraki Tomura wa saigo made kowasu tame ni tatakatta “Tomura Shigaraki fought to destroy until the very end.”

3 ……は？ ......ha? "......Huh?"

4-5 ……死柄木にそう言えって言われたのか？ ……しがらきにそういえっていわれたのか？ ......Shigaraki ni sou iette iwareta no ka? "......Shigaraki told you to say that?"

6 スピナーにって SUPINAA ni tte "To Spinner, he said."

7 …俺？ …おれ？ ...ore? "...Me?"

8 トガや荼毘にも？ トガやだびにも？ TOGA ya Dabi ni mo? "And also to Toga and Dabi?"

9 コンプレスには？ KONPURESU ni wa? "What about to Compress?"

1 君だけだった きみだけだった kimi dake datta "It was only [for] you."

2 ……死柄木は………… ……しがらきは………… ......Shigaraki wa............ "......Shigaraki............"

3 希望だったんだ… きぼうだったんだ… kibou dattanda... "was [my] hope..."

4 笑って「全部壊そう」と言った！ わらって「ぜんぶこわそう」といった！ waratte 「zenbu kowasou」 to itta! "He smiled and said 'Let's destroy everything!'"

5 泥花で歪な地平を見せてくれた でいかでいびつなちへいをみせてくれた deika de ibitsu na chihei wo misete kureta "In Deika, he showed me a distorted horizon."

6 あいつは俺の代弁者だったんだ あいつはおれのだいべんしゃだったんだ aitsu wa ore no daibensha dattanda "He was my spokesperson."

7 虐げられても俺自身が しいたげられてもおれじしんが shiitageraretemo ore jishin ga "Even though I was being oppressed, I myself"

8 「異形だしな」って諦めてた… 「いぎょうだしな」ってあきらめてた… 「igyou da shi na」 tte akirameteta... "said 'I'm just a heteromorph' and gave up..."

1 いや…考えるのをやめてたんだ いや…かんがえるのをやめてたんだ iya...kangaeru no wo yametetanda No...I stopped thinking.

2 考えてXくなる kangaete Xku naru (Note: An important symbol in this line is cut off, but this thought a continuation of his refleciton on how we stopped thinking.)

3 そんな俺に夢を見せてくれた そんなおれにゆめをみせてくれた sonna ore ni yume wo misete kureta "He showed a dream to me when I was like that."

4 Xかでかい事が起きるかもって Xかでかいことがおきるかもって X ga dekai koto ga okiru kamo tte "I thought maybe it would awaken something big." (Note: This line is cut off again, so I've made a guess at the gist of the meaning.)

5 何者かになれるかもって…‼︎ なにものかになれるかもって…‼︎ nanimono ka ni nareru kamo tte...!! "I thought maybe I could become someone...!!"

6 無��しなさんなすぐ抑え…！ むりしなさんなすぐおさえ…！ muri shinasanna sugu osae...! "Don't overdo it, restrain him right away...!"

7 死柄木弔は俺のヒーローだった！ しがらきとむらはおれのヒーローだった！ Shigaraki Tomura wa ore no HIIROO datta! "Tomura Shigaraki was my hero!"

1 破壊が目的の破壊行為なんてのはですね はかいがもくてきのはかいこういなんてのはですね hakai ga mokuteki no hakai koui nante no wa desu ne "The purpose of destruction is vandalism, isn't it?"

2 なんの大義もない考えもないかんしゃくでしかない！ なんのたいぎもないかんがえもないかんしゃくでしかない！ nan no taigi mo nai kangae mo nai kanshaku de shika nai! "He had no great cause, no ideas--it was nothing but a tantrum!"

3-4 ゲームが……好きだったんだよ… ゲームが……すきだったんだよ… GEEMU ga......suki dattanda yo... "He liked......games..."

5 警察の調査が進み悲惨な過去も明るみになってきたわけですが けいさつのちょうさがすすみひさんなかこもあかるみになってきたわけですが keisatsu no chousa ga susumi hisan na kako mo akarumi ni natte kita wake desu ga "As the police investigation progresses, his tragic past is coming to light."

6 原因追明は重要ですがセンチメンタルに取り沙汰せば げんいんついめいはじゅうようですがセンチメンタルにとりざたせば gen'in tsuimei wa juuyou desu ga SENCHIMENTARU ni torizataseba "It's important to identify the cause, but if we get carried away sentimentally,"

7 感化された人間がまた現れる繰り返しますよ かんかされたにんげんがまたあらわれるくりかえしますよ kanka sareta ningen ga mata arawareru kurikaeshimasu yo "people inspired [by him] will apear again and [things will] repeat."

8 引きこもってる間ずっと俺ゲームばっかやってて ひきこもってるあいだずっとおれゲームばっかやってて hikikomotteru aida zutto ore GEEMU bakka yattete "The whole time I was shut in*, I was just playing games" (*Note: By "shut in," Spinner is referring to his time as a hikikomori.)

9 そしたらあいつも soshitara aitsu mo "and he also"

10 やってるゲームけっこうおんなじでさあ！ yatteru GEEMU kekkou onnaji de saa! "was also playing pretty much the same games!"

11 我々はきぜんとした態度で言わなきゃいかんですよ！ わ��われはきぜんとしたたいどでいわなきゃいかんですよ！ wareware wa kizen to shita taido de iwanakya ikan desu yo! "We have to say it in a firm manner!"

12 畜生であると！ ちくしょうであると！ chikushou de aru to! "That [in his next life] he'll be a lowly beast*!" (*Note: This term comes from the Buddhist ocncept of a reincarnation into an animal by a person with bad karma in a previous life.)

1 初めてできた はじめてできた hajimete dekita "I was able to do it for the first time."

2 XXだちXXたんだよ…‼︎ XXdachi XXtanda yo...!! "I made friends...!!" (Note: While most of this line is missing, I have provided what I think is the most likely gist of it.)

3 あいつらのヒーローにならなきゃって言ってた あいつらのヒーローにならなきゃっていってた aitsura no HIIROO ni naranakya tte itteta "He was saying he had to become a hero to those guys."

4 死柄木の心の真ん中には敵連合がいたよ しがらきのこころのまんなかにはヴィランれんごうがいたよ Shigaraki no kokoro no mannaka ni wa VIRAN rengou ga ita yo "The League of Villains was at the center of Shigaraki's heart."

5 きっと死柄木も同じ事を思ってたから きっとしがらきもおなじことをおもってたから kitto Shigaraki mo onaji koto wo omotteta kara "I'm sure Shigaraki was thinking the same thing, so"

6 君には伝えたかったんだと思う きみにはつたえたかったんだとお���う kimi ni wa tsutaetakattanda to omou "I think that's why he wanted [me] to tell you."

7 熱に当てられたまま ねつにあてられたまま netsu ni aterareta mama While I was exposed to that heat,

8-9 "流れは止められない"と考える事をやめてきた "ながれはとめられない"とかんがえることをやめてきた "nagare wa tomerarenai" to kangaeru koto wo yamete kita I came to stop thinking, "The flow cannot be stopped."

10 俺という者はつくづく気付くのが遅すぎた おれというものはつくづくきづくのがおそすぎた ore to iu mono wa tsukudzuku kidzuku no ga oso sugita As the person I am, I came to realize it too late.

1-2 もう一歩進んでいれば もういっぽすすんでいれば mou ipposusunde ireba If I had taken one more step,

3 俺は おれは ore wa could I

4-5 俺のヒーローを救えたのだろうか ともだちをすくえたのだろうか tomodachi (kanji: ore no HIIROO) wo sukueta no darou ka have saved my friend (read as: my hero)?

6 今もまた第二・第三の死柄木弔やAFOが息を殺しているかもしれません いまもまただいに・だいさんのしがらきとむらやオール・フォー・ワンがいきをころしているかもしれません ima mo mata daini ・ daisan no Shigaraki Tomura ya OORU FOO WAN ga iki wo koroshite iru kamo shiremasen "Even now, a second or third Tomura Shigaraki and All For One may be holding their breaths*." (*Note: This is an idiom in Japanese that means someone is holding their breath either to not make a sound or to focus hard on something. The implication here is that someone inspired by Tomura Shigaraki or All For One could be out there waiting to see how society reacts to all this.)

7 次の脅威に目を向けなければ つぎのきょういにめをむけなければ tsugi no kyoui ni me wo mukenakereba "If we don't focus on the next threat..."

8 おまえたちは omae-tachi wa "You all"

9 これ��らも戦い続けるんだろう？ これからもたたかいつづけるんだろう？ kore kara mo tatakai tsudzukerundarou? "will continue to fight from here on, right?"

1-2 そしていずれ死柄木弔も敵連合も忘れて笑うんだろう そしていずれしがらきとむらもヴィランれんごうもわすれてわらうんだろう soshite izure Shigaraki Tomura mo VIRAN rengou mo wasurete waraundarou "And eventually you'll forget about Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains and laugh."

3 本を書く ほんをかく hon wo kaku "I'll write a book."

4 死柄木弔という恐怖の象徴をーーーー… しがらきとむらというきょうふのしょうちょうをーーーー… Shigaraki Tomura to iu kyoufu no shouchou wo----... "About the symbol of fear called Tomura Shigaraki----..."

5 敵連合は壊す為に生きたと永劫ヒーローに突きつけてやる ヴィランれんごうはこわすためにいきたとえいごうおまえたちにつきつけてやる VIRAN rengou wa kowasu tame ni ikita to eigou omae-tachi (kanji: HIIROO) ni tsukitsukete yaru "[about how] the League of Villains lived to destroy, and how they contronted all of you (read as: eternal heroes)."

6 過去は消えない俺が死柄木弔を紡ぐ かこはきえないおれがしがらきとむらをつむぐ kako wa kienai ore ga Shigaraki Tomura wo tsumugu "The past doesn't disappear. I will spin [the tale] of Tomura Shigaraki." (Note: Get it? Because he's Spinner? Eh? Eh?)

7 …コミックだといいな ...KOMIKKU da to ii na "...It'd be good as a comic."

8 あァ⁉︎ aA!? "Huh!?"

9 心配しなくていいよ しんぱいしなくていいよ shinpai shinakute ii yo "You don't have to worry."

1 一生忘れない いっしょうわすれない isshou wasurenai "For my whole life, I won't forget."

2 フン… FUN... "Hmm..."

3 俺からも伝言だ おれからもでんごんだ ore kara mo dengon da "Here's a message from me, too."

4 タコに TAKO ni "To the octopus,"

5 頑張れよって がんばれよって ganbare yo tte "do your best."

1 待合 まちあい machiai Waiting room

2 おかえり少年 おかえりしょうねん okaeri shounen "Welcome back, young man."

3 伝言は伝えられたかい？ でんごんはつたえられたかい？ dengon wa tsutaerareta kai? "Were you able to convey the message?"

4 はい hai "Yes."

5 頼まれていた…治崎の件だが たのまれていた…ちさきのけんだが tanomarete ita...Chisaki no ken da ga "You asked me about...the matter of Chisaki, but"

6 みっともねえ姿だなあ みっともねえすがただなあ mittomonee sugata da naa "What an unsightly appearance,"

7 治崎 ちさき Chisaki "Chisaki."

1 組長… オヤジ… OYAJI (kanji: kumichou)... "Pops* (read as: boss)..." (*Note: I'm just going with the dub's translation of the "old man" monniker Chisaki uses for his adoptive father.)

2 寝たきりだった筈じゃ… ねたきりだったはずじゃ… netakiri datta hazu ja... "You should be bedridden..."

3 てめェの"個性"でな てめェの"こせい"でな temeE no "kosei" de na "By your quirk, right?"

4 だがサポートアイテムってのぁ加速度的に進んでるそうだ だがサポートアイテムってのぁかそくどてきにすすんでるそうだ daga SAPOOTO AITEMU tte noa kasoku doteki ni susunderu sou da "However, it seems support items are progressing at an accellerating pace."

5 それと組長じゃねえもう組はねえ それとくみちょうじゃねえもうくみはねえ sore to kumichou ja nee mou kumi wa nee "Also, I'm not the boss, we have no organization anymore."

6 組長 オヤジ OYAJI (kanji: kumichou) "Pops (read as: boss)."

7 人の道外れちゃあいけねえ ひとのみちはずれちゃあいけねえ hito no michi hazurechaa ikenee "Don't stay from the path of humanity."

8 そうなるからだよ sou naru kara da yo "Because that's what you become."

9 俺ぁずっとてめェに手を差し伸べてたんだよそっちに行くなってな おれぁずっとてめェにてをさしのべてたんだよそっちにいくなってな orea zutto temeE ni te wo sashinobetanda yo socchi ni iku natte na "I've been holding out my hand to you for a long time, telling you not to go that way."

10 玄野は叱ってくれなかっただろ くろのはしかってくれなかっただろ Kurono wa shikatte kurenakatta daro "Kurono didn't scold you, did he."

11 ごめん… gomen... "I'm sorry..."

12 オヤジ…ごめん OYAJI...gomen "Pops...I'm sorry."

13 遅ェよその台詞は生涯壊理へ向けろ おせェよそのせりふはじょうがいエリへむけろ oseE yo sono serifu wa jougai ERI e mukero "It's too late. Direct that line to Eri for the rest of your life."

14 壊理はおまえを忘れるがおまえは壊理にした事を忘れるな エリはおまえをわすれるがおまえはエリにしたことをわすれるな ERI wa omae wo wasreru ga omae wa ERI ni shita koto wo wasureruna "Eri will forget you, but never forget what you did to Eri."

15 安心しろ あんしんしろ anshin shiro "Don't worry."

16 てめェがくたばるまX(で)俺がずっと叱ってやるよ てめェがくたばるまX(で)おれがずっとしかってやるよ temeE ga kutabaru maX(de) ore ga zutto shikatte yaru yo "Until I kick the bucket, I'll keep scolding you."

1 塚内さんありがとうございます つかうちさんありがとうございます Tsukauchi-san arigatou gozaimasu "Thank you, Mr. Tsukauchi."

2 いいよエリちゃんに思い出させるよりよっぽどいい いいよエリちゃんにおもいださせるよりよっぽどいい ii yo ERI-chan ni omoidasaseru yori yoppodo ii "It's fine, it's far better than making Eri-chan remember."

3 ………どうすれば .........dou sureba ".........What should I do"

4 こんな事なくなるんでしょう こんなことなくなるんでしょう konna koto nakunarundeshou "to stop this from being lost?"

5 なくならんよ nakunaran yo "It won't be lost."

6 ホークスにヒーローどちゃくそ増やしてもらうか ホークスにヒーローどちゃくそふやしてもらうか HOOKUSU ni HIIRO dochakuso fuyashite morau ka "Should we have Hawks increase the number of heroes?"

7 え⁉︎ e!? "Eh!?"

8 ホークスそんな強権あるんですか ホークスそんなきょうけんあるんですか HOOKUSU sonna kyouken arundesu ka "Does Hawks have that much governmental power?"

9 冗談だよ じょうだんだよ joudan da yo "It's a joke."

10 さ！切り換えていこう さ！きりかえていこう sa! kirikaete ikou "Well! Let's change it up."

11 今日からは新入生も授業に参加する　暗い顔みせたらいかんよ きょうからはしんにゅうせいもじゅぎょうにさんかする　くらいかおみせたらいかんよ kyou kara wa shinnyuusei mo jugyou ni sanka suru kurai kao misetara ikan yo "Starting today, new students will also participate in classes. I don't want you to show them a gloomy face!"

12 でもヒーロー科は縦のつながりあんまり無いから顔合わせる事も… でもヒーローかはたてのつながりあんまりないからかおあわせることも… demo HIIROO-ka wa tate no tsunagari anmari nai kara kao awaseru koto mo... "But there aren't that many vertical connections* in the hero course, and that includes meeting face-to-face..." (*Note: "Vertical connections" refers to a type of relationship between people of different rankings of some sort. In this case, second-year students are in a senior ("senpai") social rank to first-years ("kohai").)

1 轟先輩ィイ とどろきせんぱいィイ Todoroki-senpaiII "Todoroki-senpaiii!" (Note: "Senpai" is an honorific for a person senior in rank to oneself, such as an upperclassman or a more senior employee working at the same company.)

2 ダイナマイト先輩ィイイ ダイナマイトせんぱいィイイ DAINAMAITO-senpaiIII "Dynamight-senpaiiii!"

3 連絡先いいですかあ れんらくさきいいですかあ renraku saki ii desu kaa "Can I get your contact info?"

4 大ファンなんですぅ だいファンなんですぅ dai-FAN nandesuu "[I'm a] huge fan!"

5 写真とってくださあい しゃしんとってくださあい shashin totte kudasaai "Please take a photo [with me]!"

6 かっこいいいィイYEE かっこいいいィイイェエ kakko iiiIIIEE "You're so cooooool EEE!"

7 なんだってんだ？ nanda ttenda? "What are they saying?"

8 除籍だろこいつら全員‼︎ じょせきだろこいつらぜんいん‼︎ joseki daro koitsura zen'in!! "Expel them, every last one of these guys!!"

9 一年生すげえ いちねんせいすげえ ichinensei sugee "The first years are amazing."

tagline 来る新一年逃げろ二年A組‼︎完結まであと３話 きたるしんいちねんにげろにねんエーぐみ‼︎かんけつまであと３わ kitaru shin-ichinen nigero ninen EE-gumi!! kanketsu made ato 3wa Run away from the coming new first-years, Class 2-A!! 3 chapters left until completion.

[demadogs]

“robin talks to mike about him being gay-” “lucas talks to-” “vickie talks-”

NO! you guys are all wrong. no one talks to him. mike just accidentally sees robin and vickie kissing and laughing and he has an out of body experience when he realizes that people like him can be happy and find love and that is enough to push him to talk to will.

[bigskydreaming]

Imagine looking at a character whose entire premise is that in every stage of his life, he's made every version of himself into someone that inspires people to such a degree that EVERY SINGLE VERSION OF HIM has people wanting to literally follow in his footsteps in some way or another.....

And coming to the conclusion that like.....the most important things about him are the sum of all his trappings. His entirely homemade developed from scratch could not exist if not for what he already was and brought with him BEFORE crafting this newest version of himself trappings, with his greatest trait throughout all of it being his adaptability; his ability and willingness to roll with the punches and not try to simply weather any opposition or changes to his life but instead reshape himself as needed to better fit INTO whatever new shape his life and the world around him takes. All while managing to carry the most innate, fundamental and necessary aspects of himself from one version to the next. Thus every single version of himself is different but simultaneously every single version of himself is also undeniably the same person.

The strength of this character, to me, will always be that he can be so many versions of himself, he can become so many things, all without ever actually losing or discarding any of the aspects of himself he considers most essential, the things he's not willing to lose or give up just to keep going. Finding that road not taken by most, usually because most never even think to look for it as an option. But one that he's always able to find because the one trick he's mastered in his tumultuous life is threading that needle of not just digging in his heels in an unproductive way but rather being selective about when and where he makes a stand and decides "this is not a thing I'm willing to compromise about" but here are places and ways I can and will change and evolve and adapt in order to make it possible for me to hold onto these parts and keep them as they are.

And that's why its always so mind-boggling to me that so many writers can't seem to think of anything else to do with Dick Grayson other than invent some new reason for him to just....not be that person, or to like just take the character whose most basic fundamental trait he's NOT about to compromise on is willingly giving up his spot in the driver's seat of his own life.....and make him just a passenger in his own life and stories.

Dick Grayson at age nine....at age nineteen...at age twenty nine....the one core thread running through all versions of him is the only way he's standing back and letting you call the shots for him or putting him on the sidelines in some way is over his dead body.

HOW he goes about that, what that looks like, who he becomes and what aspects of himself he plays up at some times and what traits he lets fall by the wayside at other times when they offer less in service to his primary goal here....that changes constantly. He changes constantly.

But those changes are almost always (or at least they used to be/should be IN MY OPINION) made with the intention of keeping certain things about him or his life as consistent as possible.

That's the duality of Dick Grayson that I'm here for. The inherent contradiction of him that COULD allow for endless conflict and breaking new narrative ground in all sorts of ways if mined properly:

His eternal willingness to compromise....but only ever in pursuit of doubling down on the ways he's not willing to compromise.

Forever walking that tightrope in ways that only a kid born and raised in a circus could ever hope to.

[worldwright]

It's the "repeat after me" that always gets me.

The silent, invisible struggle is over. Jon has tried and failed to stop himself from speaking. He has turned the page and his voice is steady and expressive. His voice is Jonah's.

Was there ever a fight at all? Jon has always followed the path Jonah laid out for him. Or was that a lie Jonah told to make his victory seem unilateral? Regardless, the eye's weapon is information, and Jonah wields it with precision and uncompromising force. He always has. And now his favorite plaything is finally ready to serve its purpose.

In some ways, Jonah made a gamble by tossing his statement in the stack randomly. If Martin had seen it before Jon, then they would have known his plan and been much more wary of any future attempt he made. But his calculation was sound. Martin had no real reason to look over the statements, and Jonah knew that his Archivist liked to read them in private.

It's one thing for him to gloat. Villains like to have their little monologue, and an avatar of Beholding especially so. But dragging his confession out of the throat of the one he abused?

He chose Jon as Archivist. He made sure that he went far enough down the path that he wouldn't be able to stop. He made sure that every word out of Jon's mouth sounded uncannily like Jonah's own voice.

But even that wasn't enough. All he really had to do was put his little incantation on the second page and he would have won. But he wanted Jon to know what was happening, and why, and how. And that he never could have stopped it. And after all that:

"Repeat after me."

Jonah had never seen Jon as a person, that had been obvious for a long time. Even so, he had great affection for him. Enough to apply his twisted love to one final act of exquisite cruelty.