#anyway. yeah lmao. his family and friends and teacher dies and then he murders everyone bc... he cheated ONCE? ok..... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

makeste · 4 years ago

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I'd love to read some Naruto analysis by you!

lol I might not be the best person to ask about this, tbh. Naruto happens to be one of the series I mentioned last week where I eventually stopped reading because of things related to the timeskip. it basically got to the point where I realized I was forcing myself to keep reading it, and that everything I had originally loved about it was basically gone. it had all of the problems I mentioned about timeskips -- characters splitting up (AND characters staying together, but us missing out on their development); fights becoming boring; the series becoming way darker and killing off more than a few characters for shock value; and the clumsiest attempt at a romance plot I can recall reading in a manga. I stopped reading it sometime around chapter 400 or so, which would have been around 2009 I believe. the series ultimately went on for another 300 chapters and didn’t end until late 2014, and I have little to no idea what went down in those chapters, and no real interest in ever going back to finish it. I’m not saying it was objectively bad, because I can hardly judge what I haven’t even read. but it just stopped having any type of appeal to me.

regarding Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship, the best way I can describe it (and be warned this is gonna get kind of long lol) for someone who’s unfamiliar with Naruto but knows BnHA, is that it’s basically Bakugou and Deku’s relationship, if both of them were orphaned at a young age, and in Bakugou’s case he was specifically orphaned by his evil older brother who murdered their entire family in front of him. and so Bakugou basically grew up being all “the FUCK is up with that, I am going to KILL THAT DUDE,” and so he went to ninja school to learn how to be a badass so that he could avenge his family. and meanwhile Deku went to ninja school because he was lonely and wanted to be Ninja President when he grew up so that people would finally want to be his friend. and so they both learned to become ninjas, and then they graduated at the ripe old age of Twelve and started ninja internships under ninja!Aizawa’s tutelage along with a badass girl ninja whom ninja!Deku had a massive crush on even though she herself was not-so-secretly crushing on ninja!Bakugou.

and even though ninja!Bakugou and ninja!Deku didn’t get along at first, they started doing all of the usual Rival Things like competing with each other over who is better at running up trees sideways, and their relationship gradually got a little bit better. and then ninja!Bakugou all of a sudden saved ninja!Deku’s life OUT OF NOWHERE (like this boy really had his own “my body just moved on its own” moment all of 27 chapters into the series) and nearly died, and ninja!Deku went into rage mode because of it, and so that was awesome. and so it basically went on like this, with both of them continuing to do rival things like egging each other on to become stronger and talking about how much they want to fight each other and stuff. all that good shit.

anyways though, but where it started to go south was when ninja!Bakugou, much like actual!Bakugou, eventually caught the attention of one of the villain characters who started being all “HEY KID, JOIN ME AND I’LL HELP YOU BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO KILL YOUR BROTHER.” and at first of course ninja!Bakugou was all “wtf, no”, which, good. BUT THEN it all really started to go to shit when ninja!Bakugou’s Evil Brother came back to town because he wanted to kidnap ninja!Deku, but ninja!Bakugou found out about it and was all “OH HELL NO” and went and found his bro to try to kill him. but seeing as ninja!Bakugou’s brother was one of the strongest characters in the series, and ninja!Bakugou was LITERALLY A CHILD, to make a long story short the Evil Brother basically kicked his ass and was all “nyah nyah nyah what’s up with that you’re still so weak” and subjected him to a little hypno torture session for good measure.

and so basically, ninja!Bakugou spiraled into a mental funk and eventually was all “I GUESS I’D BETTER GO FIND THAT VILLAIN FELLOW AFTER ALL” and RAN AWAY TO GO BECOME EVIL. and ninja!Deku found out about it and went after him and they had a HUGE DRAMATIC FIGHT, but ultimately ninja!Deku lost, and ninja!Bakugou knocked him out and spent some time staring at him sadly and longingly in the rain before shuffling off. and basically after that is when the timeskip happens, and ninja!Deku and ninja!Bakugou spend three years training and then at that point ninja!Bakugou’s character starts to go completely off the rails and he’s out here genuinely trying to kill all of his old friends for Reasons, and at that point I was basically done with him and it was a whole big “YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING BALANCE TO THE PLOT, NOT LEAVE IT IN DARKNESS” thing, and I eventually just quit out of annoyance lol. smdh.

anyway so yeah. and after that I don’t really know too much about what happens. they basically have a whole Star-Crossed Enemies thing going on where ninja!Deku keeps trying to turn ninja!Bakugou back to the good side, even after he literally declares war on their entire country and kills a bunch of people lmao. and it’s supposed to be inspiring I guess, because he never gives up on his friend no matter what. and I think eventually it does turn out all right, or at least bittersweet, from what I’ve gleaned.

but I’m not gonna lie, for me everything I loved about the series was in that pre-timeskip relationship that the two of them had. and honestly, BnHA is such a fix-it in so many ways that I sometimes wonder if Horikoshi (who also grew up on Naruto, millennial that he is) didn’t feel the same way about it. like, there are almost specific things about it that he goes out of his way to “fix.”

first and foremost, unlike Sasuke, Kacchan point-blank refuses to join up with the villains who try to recruit him. still one of my favorite parts of the series honestly. this one specific plot is so reminiscent of where it all started to go wrong in Naruto, and Horikoshi subverts the shit out of it. there’s all this buildup to it, and everyone is all “oh shit is Bakugou really going to turn evil??”, and then when the moment finally happens, Bakugou doesn’t consider their offer for a second. there is no doubt in his mind. he’s a hero, end of story. there’s so much conviction in him, so much determination. god I just love it so much.

Naruto and Sasuke also have their version of a Therapy Fight, pre-timeskip, in which Sasuke challenges Naruto to a fight because he needs to prove to himself that he’s not weak. Sasuke is clearly hurting during this battle (this is just after his encounter with his Evil Brother, and I mean the fight literally takes place on the rooftop of the hospital he was recuperating in), but unlike Deku, Naruto never takes any notice of this. and unlike Bakugou, Sasuke keeps his feelings all bottled up inside him, and so basically they both just get swept up in the Rivalry and wind up nearly killing each other. and again just like in BnHA, Naruto and Sasuke’s fight also gets interrupted by one of their teachers; but unlike All Might, Naruto and Sasuke’s teacher doesn’t give them any sage mentor advice or make sure that the two of them are in a good headspace afterwards. and as a result Sasuke leaves that same fucking night to go join up with the villains. basically it’s almost the exact same Shounen Rival Throwdown, but with completely opposite outcomes. it’s almost uncanny.

and last but not least, unlike Kishimoto, who gives Sasuke his “sacrificing himself to save his rival” moment barely half a year into the series and then basically never refers to it again, Horikoshi spends almost 300 chapters building up to Bakugou’s own version of that moment, so that when it finally happens, it feels earned. not to say that I don’t like the Sasuke moment in chapter 27 of Naruto, because twenty years down the line and it’s still honestly one of my favorite scenes. but I do think Horikoshi’s version of it was ultimately much more satisfying. when Sasuke saves Naruto’s life, you get the sense that he was conflicted as to why he did it. but when Bakugou makes the sacrifice play for Deku’s sake, he knows exactly why he’s doing it, because he’s spent the last 285 chapters going through all of that character development and realizing that Deku is important to him, and realizing that he wants to atone for how he treated him. and so to me that moment is all the more meaningful because of it. definitely a highlight of the series.

anyway, so I’m not sure any of that actually counts as analysis lol, but there you go. fwiw, pre-timeskip Naruto (pre-Shippuuden I should say, although the manga never really made a distinction like the anime did) was and is still one of my all time favorite series. but to my mind BnHA is an improvement on it in almost every way, and with the BakuDeku relationship in particular it’s almost wish fulfillment lol. finally I get to see this childhood-friends-turned-rivals relationship play out the way I always wished it had. that’s basically what I mean when I say it feels like therapy lol. anyways it’s good stuff.

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greytoiletpaper · 4 years ago

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Out on Allen Street, it’s 7 in the Morning

Set in the same-ish street-siblings universe as First Contact by @cryptids-and-muses and @a-sketchy-character @streetsiblings (they’re still awesome). Now, the pieces start falling into place or smth lmao :))

Drizzle | Deluge | AO3

Chapter 3: Squall

Did they get rid of her?

He dreads to think of it, but there’s nothing else he seems to be able to pick out from what information he gathers. Three years after he died, Cass (who hated killing, would never do it even for the worst of the worst) had nearly murdered the Joker. She almost finished the job until Batman saved the madman and subdued her. After that,

Nothing.

Not a single report on Batgirl. Nor a photo of Cassandra Todd. Only two traces he could find. One a significantly sullen Wonder Woman (he and Cass had liked her, and she, them). The other an interview of Bruce, repeating that she’d gone to ‘travel the world’.

Jason knows a lie when he hears one.

“It’s – It’s like she just disappeared,” He’s gripping his head, rocking back and forth while Rose smooths out his hair. “He cut her out of the family and then what?”

He remembers a promise, a vow Bruce had made with him. It had meant the world to Jason.

Bruce had broken that vow. Torn it apart and stomped all over it.

Rose watches him as he breaks down with no judgement in her gaze, just holds him close as his world crumbles around him again.

There’s a child in Nandra Parbat, and Jason has to train him.

“This is my son, Damian,” Talia had said to him, showing him some new kid as if he hadn’t just killed three assassins in the space of a minute. He would have said as much if she didn’t immediately order him to be the kid’s new teacher.

Looking at him now, all Jason can see is a small girl with a crooked smile mouthing his name. He blinks, and he’s met with a scowl and sapphire eyes (eyes just like Br-).

“Mother has requested you to be my instructor,” The kid repeats and lord, his voice is nasal. Jason chooses to stare at the kid, who fidgets. If he looks close enough, he could swear Damian’s scowl looks almost precisely like-.

“Is he mute, Mother? I do not see how an invalid could assist me,” He can tell by the way Rose’s head shoots up and glares at Damian whose side she would choose if this escalates. A flare of anger rises in Jason’s chest; his eyes start to flash a sharp emerald. Still, he pushes it down and diverts it to strengthening his stare, dominating the room.

He can’t read people the same way Cass can, but Jason could swear that the kid’s composure cracks at his uncertainty.

“Wanna repeat that for me?” Jason’s voice is low and even. He can tell the kid recognises the threat in his tone. To his credit, Damian hesitates before he honest to god tts, like every single other haughty, uptight rich boy.

“Regardless, habibi, you will treat your new instructors with respect,” Talia speaks, gesturing to him and Rose. “The quality of your instructors was incredibly subpar, and you have them to blame for killing the previous masters beforehand.”

“I do not think that a lowly thug and his harlot-,” Jason’s arm shoots out in an instant, clasping his hand over Damian’s mouth and clenching. Indignant fury flares in the boy’s eyes as Damian tries to slap Jason away. It does nothing, unsurprisingly.

“So long as you are under my tutelage, you will never speak that way to any woman. That is no way to speak to anyone, regardless of what they do for a living,” Somehow, the kid actually listens, the flinty look in his eye lessening somewhat. “I bet your own mother had to pull a fuck ton of strings just to make sure this meeting even happened in the first place.”

Jason glances up to Talia, expecting a reprimand. What surprises him is how genuine the approval she emits is. It hits him that he has literally confirmed to training Damian. He coughs.

“You should know,” Talia pipes up. “His full name is Damian Wayne-Al Ghul.”

Jason stares at the ceiling and curses the rain as it tap-dances with the universe, mocking him.

“All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”

Cassandra shakes herself from the nerves and rings the doorbell. The last time she had been here, she had kissed Alfred on the cheek and let him drive her all the way to the airport. That was only two months ago. Two months away from Gotham, away from Batgirl, away from-.

Bruce. He’s standing in the foyer, his gaze cold, but his body… his body seems unsure. She doesn’t know what to make of it. She half expects him to turn her away, but he moves to the side. He opens his mouth.

“Cassandra!” Steph darts from behind Bruce’s body, all flailing limbs and mismatched socks. “You’re here!”

“Yes.”

The girl grins, periwinkle eyes dazzling (They’re from the same cloth, just not the proper stitching) as she drags Cassandra away.

“So… how’s life in Hong Kong?”

“Peachy,” Cass answers honestly.

“Think of any names for your new identity?” Steph gesticulates to nothing, but her body language is focused on questions. So, she doesn’t give the girl any. They walk a little more until Steph decides to fill in the silence again.

“Tim’s dad found out about the vigilante business,” Cass nods as Steph talks. “Wants him to quit being Robin and Bruce doesn’t seem to know what to do about it.”

“His problem.”

“Well, duh. It’s just that….” Steph rubs her arm shyly, the same way she always does when she’s afraid of what she will say next. “When I was growing up, with my villain dad and addict Mom, I always imagined that Batman and Robin would save me. I’m here now, and….”

“You want to be Robin.” Cassandra deadpans, even as Steph whirls to gape at her. Really, it’s not like she wasn’t obvious. “Why not go for it?”

Silence for a moment. “Because I’m afraid.”

Cassandra looks at the blonde sharply. Stephanie Brown? Intimidated-by-Batman-and-joined-vigilantism-anyway Stephanie Brown was afraid? She doesn’t know what to think. That is until the dots connect in her head.

“You’re afraid that you won’t be able to help as much as you want to,” Steph scuffs the carpet glumly.

“With Mr. Anal-retentiveness-to-the-9’s? Yeah, that’d probably happen,” Steph sound so defeated and desperate that Cass curses because apparently, fate chose now to be when Steph is truly like Jason.

“Then don’t wear it,” Steph’s scuffing gets a little stronger. “I, for one, think you’d be a really good Batgirl.”

Steph makes an incredible impression as a fish and stares at Cass, barely wheezing as she gawks. “But Bruce -.”

“Bruce doesn’t have autonomy over Batgirl,” Cass smiles sweetly, echoing Barbara. “It’s your uniform now, and no one can take that from you but yourself.”

Her friend squeals loudly and squeezes Cass, gushing her gratitude over and over. Cass hugs her back, pretending it’s Jay she’s holding in her arms, giving the assurance of family she failed to keep.

He’s only trained with Damian for a few months, yet he’s seen more than he really should from the boy. His younger brother (the kid’s only a child, it doesn’t matter what Jason’s previous misgivings are) has been raised in the League of Assassins since birth. He can already use a sword with deadly efficiency at eleven years old. His attitude's as ruthless and condescending as every other assassin in the compound.

However, what is an exploitable weakness for Damian is the fact he’s only just started puberty. Most easily demonstrated when Rose makes a suggestive pose before tackling the boy and pinning him in place. Jason whistles because he’s fond of her, an asshole like that. Rose flips the bird at Jason and sticks out her tongue, now lounging casually on Damian’s squirming body.

It’s cute, the scene, but Jason knows how wrong it is. As long as Damian is with the League of Assassins, he won’t live normally. To find his own love, his own family. Even as the child wrestles with Rose and yells at him to help, it won’t ever be enough.

He’s not projecting.

He’s not.

He’s going to concoct a plan.

Ravi, Damian’s caretaker, has that air about him that Jason has only ever seen come from Alfred. So, he guesses trusting Ravi with this is more than okay. The man may be blind, but with him, they manage to smuggle Damian through the channels of the League, avoiding everyone who could threaten their goal.

“If I may ask, Mister Todd,” Ravi says as they reach the last legs. Jason nods. “Why are you doing this? To what gain is rescuing this child for you?”

“I don’t do this because I want to gain something,” Jason replies immediately. “No child deserves to grow up in this place. He deserves to have as good a childhood as he can get.”

Ravi stares patiently, hearing what’s unsaid.

“Sound reasoning,” Talia’s voice echoes around them. Everyone tenses. The woman steps out from behind the pillar ahead of them, alone. “And where, may a mother ask, are you taking my son?”

The woman’s voice lacks her usual veneer, sounding so genuinely earnest that he can’t help but blurt out: “Gotham.”

“Gotham,” Talia repeats, her forehead pinched. “With him?” With Batman? Jason bristles. “Might I remind you; he left your death unavenged and replaced you in mere months.”

“Fuck that,” Jason snarls. Ever since he came out of the Pit, madness clings to the edges of his mind whenever he thinks of how Bruce replaced him. This time, it only flickers. “What I want doesn’t matter when Damian needs his father figure. I’m – I’m not stopping him from having that.”

“So, you no longer wish to kill him,” Talia states. He sighs.

“I guess not,” Jason frowns, considering her presence. “Want to take him to Bruce?”

If Talia is surprised, she doesn’t show it, only beckoning for Damian to follow her. As the kid moves, Jason realises this might be the last time he’ll see Damian on the same side of the fence. He grabs the kid’s shoulder, who oddly doesn’t resist.

“Look, Damian,” Jason starts as his younger brother stares up at him. “Doing right is right, and wrong is wrong. A body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.

“Living with your father, it’s rules like that he follows like gospel. He’ll love you; I know he will, but with him it’s always on the condition that you adhere to his principles. Can you promise something for me?”

Damian nods, soaking every word in.

“I need you to keep an open mind with what he says, but I don’t want you to follow them like gospel the way he does. You’re more than his soldier, you’re my brother, you’re his son.”

The kid nods again, shifting on his feet.

“And – And look after yourself, okay? And -,” The words that come out of his mouth feel like hot coals, but he has to say them. “And if somehow Cass is there, can you look after her too? For me?”

“Of course,” Damian answers softly before throwing his arms around Jason’s waist. “I will find your ukht, ahki, and make sure she is well cared for.”

Jason smiles. It's a broken, weary-looking thing.

“And Todd?” Jason raises his eyebrows. “You should confess to Wilson about your ridiculous affection. It is sickening to watch you two dancing around one another every lesson.”

Jason can’t help it; he laughs and lets his little brother go, his tears like raindrops.

Cass leaves the fresh hydrangeas on the headstone. It stares back at her, its date (four years) seeming to mock her from beyond the grave. Literally, Jay says in her head, which has her biting back the laugh that builds in her throat.

Bruce’s son had come in a few days ago, obviously an assassin child, yet he’s still… subdued, somehow. She knows the boy is there, at her brother’s grave, and that he follows her all the way to the manor. Even then, Cassandra lets it go. He probably took all his cues from Bruce anyway.

It’s when she’s sitting at the new memorial for Jason, a small statue of an apple with a plaque underneath, that Damian approaches her.

“Cain.”

“It’s Todd.”

Something crosses the boy’s face. She can’t tell what it is.

“Todd,” Damian says, his eyebrows pinching like a mini Bruce. “What is this?”

“It’s Jason’s memorial,” Cassandra traces the words on the plaque, a quote, one whose meaning she had struggled with a lifetime ago. She gestures to the book in her hands. “I read to it, every time I’m here.”

Damian looks like he’s about to say something about that, but he withholds it. Instead, he sits down with her, his head upturned, not unlike a bird.

“What was he like?” The boy asks, the words seeming to grit out his teeth.

“He was amazing, and we loved him so much,” Dick speaks up, out of nowhere, cutting Cass off before she can even begin. “I had a few issues with him, but I promise that I’ll be as good a brother to you as he was to us.”

Cassandra snorts, and Dick’s smile falls off his face.

“Cassandra, come on, I was just-.”

“You weren’t even a good brother to me or – or him.” She says quietly, because why is he even speaking now? “Why are you trying now? Why not before?”

“Like I said, I had a lot of issues with -.”

“I don’t care, Dickface.” Does it hurt to say Jason’s old nickname for the boy? Yes. Does she draw satisfaction at how much he flinches? Also, yes.

Barbara chooses then to speak up.

“I don’t think that’s fair for you to say, Cass.”

She freezes. The fact that even Damian, who hardly knows her, does the same with the others means they know how huge an error they’ve made.

“Don’t call me that,” Cassandra snaps, voice desolate and lethal, thoughts squalling and refusing to calm down even as she buries her head in the book in her hands.

Barbara sighs and calls Dick away to discuss the mysterious hacker that’s been pulling information from them. Damian, seeming to recognise her desire to be alone, follows him. Good. Cassandra’s mind falls in and out of a lull as her eyes try to refocus. So, she caresses the edge of the apple reverently. In its reflection, tears run down her cheeks. She can’t feel them.

“The information breaches just keep searching for Batgirl,” Barbara says, snapping Cassandra from her stupor. She pulls up a list; every entry confirms Barbara’s statements. Every entry, that is, except for one that catches her eye. The text flashes brightly, making her head spin, and she can’t look away because printed in the bright neon text is-.

There’s a memory, one she’s locked in the far recesses of her mind, where things like the Joker and David and all her other demons live. She remembers Faizul asking who her mother is.

David smirks, a savage thing he does whenever he’s about to order her to do something (murder, as it turned out, then) and says:

Sandra Wu-San | Lady Shiva

The words blare in her mind, bouncing round and round and blocking out all sounds in the cave. It certainly explains a lot; only Shiva can read the body like a novel. Plus, Cassandra isn’t sure that assassin skills are genetic but having two master assassins as biological parents should factor somewhere. It also opens a new avenue of thought. Why? Why did she give her up and never look back? Why did she leave her with her monster of a father? Cassandra craves needs answers, and she needs them now.

Staring up at the name printed on the screen, Jason once asked himself the same questions.

While the others discuss what to do, Cassandra has already listed Shiva’s last known locations and activities. They don’t notice she’s going to leave until she revs the engine of her bike. She sees them open their mouths, but over the sound of the motor, their voices fail to reach her.

All except, somehow, for Alfred and if there is anyone in this family Cass will listen to; it’s the one Jay loved the most.

“If you do pursue her, Miss Cassandra,” The butler has never been unkind to her, yet she can’t help but feel like he’s trying to keep her in place. “I am not sure if you will find what you are looking for.”

She leaves anyway, soaring underneath the tresses of Gotham as they settle around her, the mist obscuring everything but her path forward.

“Damian probably landed in Gotham last week,” Rose says casually. Too casually, she realises. Jace side-eyes her and snorts in response. Damn him and his ability to pick apart what she’s asking. Four years constantly in one another’s presence would do that to people with his life experience. Yet, as much as Jason can read her, she can’t say she can do the same for him.

Something about him seems fragile, like plaster covering a beautiful and distracting collage. Rose wants to dig past that plaster, through the collage and see the mind that is Jason Todd.

She has seen him at his highest and lowest points and always makes sure to stay by his side, as she does now. He’s her best friend; he might not know it, but he’s kept her sane (reassurances her father will not find her come to mind) just as much as she’s done for him.

“What do you think of the new Batgirl?” This time, she means to be conversational. When they stumbled across the profile of Cass’ successor, Jace had shaken his head and laid out half-heartedly into a punching bag.

“I don’t hate her, if that’s what you’re thinking,” That response was… not unexpected. But, when she raises her hickory eyes, Jason has his head raised to the sky. “I looked into her, and – and she’s like us.”

Oh.

“Girl’s from the Narrows. Didn’t live on the streets, but from her background, her home life definitely wasn’t that great growing up either.”

His hand is trembling, so Rose grabs it and tries to keep him steady with all the power in her.

“She’s going to do Batgirl proud,” Jason says shakily. “I think you’d agree.”

They stand there, leaning on each other, tranquillity settling around them as Jace lets his tears flow. It occurs to Rose that she never let his hand go. She doesn’t plan to. The feeling makes her feel warm inside, and as much as she wants to go further, she also doesn’t want to push her best friend away.

In the distance, the outline of a jet approaches the runway they’re on. It is time.

“You ready?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said yes.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hey,” Rose looks up at him, waiting for him to continue. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to stay out of sight of the others and get away from Gotham.”

Rose growls. “No way, there is no fucking way I’d leave you alone with them.” She steps closer, jabbing her finger on his chest. “I didn’t train with you for the past four years for it all to be thrown away just because Batman is an asshole. My dad’s just as bad, remember?

“You’re stuck with me no matter what Jace. Deal with it.”

He gives her a wry smirk that has her heart fluttering as much as her returning grin is sharp. Even as the plane touches down, she realises that he hasn't let her hand go, and neither has she.

In the next week, Red Hood and Ravager will carve their way through the deeper bowels of Gotham’s stomach, a bag of heads linking their iron fists.

For now, Rose breathes in the moist air as a drizzle begins.

Mad Dog, Cassandra muses, is a morbid reminder of what she might have become if she stayed with David. He doesn’t have her abilities, but he has more physical strength in spades; his movements are so strange, so unpredictable, that it’s not like it matters.

A deft swipe narrowly misses her throat, and Cassandra cuffs the man in the jaw with her knee, knocking him back.

She had definitely found Shiva. Tracked her all the way to some subset of the League of Assassins. The woman had only gazed coolly at her and set Mad Dog on her.

True to his name, the assassin growls and leaps at her, fury behind each of his strikes. Cassandra dodges one of these, the fist cratering the cement wall, and gets socked in the chest for her trouble. The force of the impact sends her flying metres away.

Getting up from the blow is a chore, and she can feel the agony her body is in, feels the blood run down her mouth as she rises. Her fist is shaking; her stance is uneven. Mad Dog notices, and he grins like David, drawing a jagged sword from his sheath and charges.

Cassandra darts past the assassin. She knows she can win this. Even though his movements are swift and deadly, she manages to outpace him. His sword strikes aim to draw blood as he swipes at her, but she’s still managed to weave her way around them, causing sparks to fly into the air. When he tries to hit her, she still uses his momentum against him and knocks him down.

Yet, Cassandra can feel herself getting slower now; her arms are still shaking. She dodges another strike, but it’s a feint, and Mad Dog grabs her by the hair and slams her onto the ground. Hazily, she watches his wicked grin widen as the assassin raises his arms and prepares his blade.

As Mad Dog is about to drive it into Cass’ chest, she thinks (This is it. It’s all over. It is time.) of a boy in an alleyway, an apple in his hand and a smile on his lips.

She closes her eyes and listens to the sprinkling outside.

“Do you think we were unfair to them?” Dick seems to ask to open air, but Bruce knows when his sons want a genuine response. “Like, that we didn’t give them enough credit for what they could do. And because of that, they’ve never had anyone but each other?”

Dick slumps. It looks so wrong on him that Bruce wraps his arms around him, especially careful (As a real father would. An insidious voice in his brain sneers). “Do you think, that if maybe we treated them so much better...” His boy is crying now, usually joyous lapis eyes cold and red-rimmed. “That they’d still be here?”

Bruce only grunts because not one of his answers is what Dick wants to hear.

On a slab of stone, the petals on the hydrangeas wilt, droplets dappling their edges.

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daesofthepen · 5 years ago

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So I really like KHR fics that make Namimori into a tightknit community of retired assassins, mafioso, etc. I would like to write a fic like that at some point.

Current ideas I’ve picked up from a variety of fic:

The idea that flames can be infused into items (I.E. rain flames into someone’s tea to calm them down or knock them out)

Like mentioned above, that Namimori is full of retired trained professionals. Added to this: You have to be Really Good in these professions to make it to retirement, so they’re all Pros in their fields.

Skies being able to harmonize with each other. I like the idea of each Sky being a “solar system” in a larger galaxy. Or at least, Skies harmonizing means everyone in both Sets gets a boost. They get even more boost if there are more than two Sky sets harmonized.

Kawahira and the Arcobaleno Curse isn’t the final boss antagonist of the fic. It could be aliens that arrive on Earth a la sci-fi movie, I just want it to have a different endgame fight. Not to mention, it would be cool if all that harmonizing-among-Skies power boosts had a proper antagonist to go against. Mafia-Earth vs Some-Aliens ftw! (Could also be, like, deep ocean species or underground species, but then I could feel bad cuz they already lived on Earth too...)

The girls of KHR getting more screentime. I’m tempted to have one of them be the protagonist of the fic tbh. I know some people do fem!Tsuna when they want a female protagonist, but there are perfectly canon female characters that already exist and don’t get enough screentime in both canon and fanfiction? I like Tsuna well enough, but I kinda want to write about someone else.

I like Haru, so it’ll probably be her. Plus some noncanon Sky Flames bc I want to experiment some with that.

Okay but like, consider a Sky in Namimori. They are young and civilian-raised, so they don’t realize they’re putting their Flames into the objects and locations they visit often. This means that when they visit the park, the playground emits Sky Flames for hours afterward. If they lay in the grass for long enough, the grass remains stained in Sky Flames for days. You could even go as far to say that their bathwater has Sky Flames, so it’s even in the plumbing of Namimori. Namimori becomes a town full of remnants of Sky Flames. The “harmony” element works to calm residents, similar to Rain Flames but less effective since it’s not what they’re for, and also increase their patriotism(?) for the town.

Consider: With Tsuna’s Sky Flames sealed, another Sky unknowingly gets claim for the town of Namimori without any other Sky contesting it. This is Namimori’s Sky.

Tsuna unlocks his Flames later on in life and -- even though he has stronger Sky Flames -- he doesn’t challenge for the claim. Tsuna’s personality always felt like someone who would enjoy following someone else’s lead more than leading himself. I can see him bowing to someone else’s leadership if that person wasn’t a murderous psycho out to kill him and his friends. Why fix what isn’t broken, after all.

Some thoughts on Flames and the quantity a person has: If a person has a parent who had active Rain Flames, that not only increases their chances of Rain Flames, but they would grow up to have more Rain Flames than some random schmuck without Flame active parents who just happened to unlock Rain Flames. And two parents with active Rain Flames would almost guarantee Rain Flames in their offspring AND their kids would have more of it. Yes, I’m taking the Naruto-chakra route.

So Haru, born of two civilian parents, would have less Sky Flames than Tsuna. To reverse on that whole only-follow-the-strong-and-”pure.” Sometimes the best guy for the job isn’t the strongest.

It’s also been forever since I’ve read KHR so I’m going by the wiki, which says Haru did gymnastics and went to the private all-girls school in Namimori. Probably will include some original characters to fill in as teachers and students to flesh out the town more. And -- of course -- the girls’ parents will all have backgrounds in all kinds of illegal activities.

Imagine: Haru goes to compete with another school from another town and most of the town shows up bc hell yeah that’s our Sky.

If I want the KHR girls to have more screentime, I might have them go to Haru’s school, too, or have non-school-specific clubs which they all join. It could be like a book club. Or a let’s-make-the-pervert-disappear Statistics club. The retired mafioso and assassin adults of Namimori would find it adorable and sometimes help by hinting at the best way to go about a plan.

On one hand, it makes sense that the seal on Tsuna’s Flames is done very well and doesn’t leak. On the other hand, Tsuna attracting Haru’s attention? Not that Haru would realize what is grabbing her attention for a long while. She might assume it’s a crush lmao just like canon.

They also meet earlier so Haru gets her crush sooner, so she can get over her crush earlier, too. :3

You know what let’s go full indulgent on this fic and also include Verde.

Let’s say that while most of the time Haru’s father is absent, maybe he works as a mathematician for a big tech company alongside engineers, he sometimes gets to go on work trips to Expos and conferences to help promote the company. After Haru’s mother died, Mr. Miura became determined to financially provide for their daughter, so she could go to whatever school she wanted and into whatever field she would choose to devote herself to.

Mr. Miura gets permission to take Haru to a conference, so she can look around, meet people, check out if any job descriptions interest her, etc. That’s where she meets Verde, who’s there pitching some of his inventions.

They talk, find common ground in their passions, and maybe -- completely by accident -- they harmonize.

I like to imagine Verde as a very straight-to-the-point kind of person, so through him Haru eventually starts learning about Flames and (to a lesser extent) the mafia.

Verde has many labs and hideyholes around the world, but he moves his main lab to Namimori. And because he’s a professional inventor, technician, etc., he isn’t just lurking. Verde gets contract work by the town of Namimori and maybe some other richer families around Namimori. It probably doesn’t pay as well as he deserves, but he also gets a direct say in the safety of his Sky, so. Also, he probably is hired online/overseas constantly. He’s, like, a working professional you guys.

But anyway, Namimori goes through a (not so) minor technological revolution. Hospitals get upgraded, there are now cameras with face-recognizing technology which keep track of everyone who goes in and out of Namimori. Official underground bunkers, We start getting sci-fi up in here.

Close to when Verde first arrives, he notices that Namimori is protected by Mist Flames, a barrier that just makes people notice Namimori less unless they were directly heading there. With some Flame sensors, Verde manages to track down the source/core of the system to Kawahira’s shop.

Verde figures out pretty quick who Kawahira is and, as an Arcobaleno, he HATES Kawahira. But Verde doesn’t try to kick him out of town because that Mist barrier? Super useful for protecting the town.

Through the combined efforts of Haru and the gang, Verde, and Namimori citizens, Kawahira and Verde agree to work together to try to come up with an alternative solution for the Arcobaleno curse.

Both of them have YEARS of notes, so it’s easier to figure out what they would need: Flame-based perpetual motion machine. The problem would be making a machine that works not just in theory. Gotta make sure that while the Flames cycle continuously through the machine, non is being lost because of subpar conductive metals, and the entire thing would need a material that is really good at keeping Flames IN the machine instead of being lost over time because a large surface area increases heat lost, etc etc.

Adding some money problems for realism. Not including Verde and Kawahira, who have a personal investment in this project, they would need to hire an entire team of engineers, mathematicians, maybe some electricians, and at least one accountant to keep track of spending. Most of which need to know about Flames already to not break omerta. And then on top of that, a lot of their prototypes will be experimenting with different materials for Flame conductivity, etc. This stuff gets expensive over time, even if they have a lot of money saved up.

But anyway, eventually they get a working prototype. It just happens to be absolutely minuscule compared to the size it will have to be in real life to support the entire PLANET. So Verde presents the prototype to Viper to ask for funding --because this small prototype would show that it IS possible-- and afterward, they have no more money problems. Plus, all the other Arcobaleno find out through the grapevine and all are more than happy to pitch in in any way they can.

So the project has the opportunity for smooth sailing.

And then the aliens arrive.

#katekyou hitman reborn #khr #katekyo hitman reborn #Fanfic ideas #this got long and it's barely at the aliens #i actually looked up perpetual motion machines #no one has made one that actually works in RL in case u're curious as to how hard it would be to make one #speaks #Sky Haru fic

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years ago

Text

Skam France season 3, episode 6 reaction

I have a Jerome theory and I’m sticking to it

Episode 6

Clip 1 - Lucas gets his turn in the hoodie of despair

Lucas is at school Monday. We get a shot of his bandaged hand that’s a parallel to the trailer for the season, where we also start with a shot of Eliott’s hand. In both situations, Lucas/Eliott is about to walk into the school in a tense, uncertain situation, Eliott facing a new school and new people after his episode at his old one, Lucas facing his old school and old friends after alienating or angering the people he cares about.

Also, the bandaged hand is representative of his emotional ~wounds but that’s ... really obvious, I feel silly saying it.

The angsty piano music, a hallmark of this season, plays as Lucas crosses the yard. The boy squad laughs at him, and if that wasn’t obviously fake, then Raptor Alex miming a blowjob at him while standing with Eliott should be a dead giveaway, because like hell Eliott would tolerate homophobic bullying of Lucas, no matter their relationship status. (Though it’s kinda amusing to think about this scene as an Alex/Eliott AU where Alex is bragging about his BJ game and Eliott is smirking like “damn right.”)

Daphne comes up and kisses him on the cheeks. She’s so effusive and affectionate that at first I thought she already knew Lucas was gay and was trying to jump to the front of the queue to make him her gay BFF. It’s not that, though. She touches his arm and is like HOW BUFF which is hilarious because Lucas is, how do you say, wispy. No offense at all, but I would never be like yeah, that guy looks like he works out. Lucas doesn’t seem to buy it either. Of course Daphne wants him to help move a couch, lmao. Protect the five vulnerable girls going to pick up the secondhand sofa from a potentially shady dealer? I guess Daphne got over her fear that Lucas would be taking over as head of the common room once she realized he was another pair of arms to carry that couch.

Of course when Lucas looks over, it’s not the boy squad, but some random dudes. Not Alex and Eliott but some random dudes. Not Maria and Chloe, but some random girls. All of them seemingly minding their own business and not caring about Lucas one way or another. This puts a different focus on the scene than with Isak, because with Isak he actually was walking into the lion’s den. He saw Emma and Even in the courtyard and psyched himself up to walk between them with his Nas song playing in his ears to psych himself up. Isak was miserable, but in a way it felt like an act of courage; he saw his worst fears on both sides of him, literally, and pushed himself forward. With Lucas, I’m not saying he isn’t brave, but with all those people turning out to not really be there and not really laughing and talking about him, the emphasis is more on his paranoia and fear. It’s a much drearier take on a scene that was already depressing (and I feel like the lighting/coloring reinforces that, too, but err, that’s Skam France’s usual aesthetic so I’m not sure how intentional that was.)

Clip 2 - Yann the voice of reason

Gym class, not for Lucas, but for Chloe. After class ends, Lucas comes into the gym and wants to talk to her. Chloe is not having it. Lucas tries to say she said on Friday is nonsense. He’s not a (homophobic slur) and he asks her not to spread it around. Ohhh boy, this is. Uncomfortable. Completely understandable that he doesn’t want the rumors to get out, and I get why he’d say he wasn’t really gay in order to protect himself, but him using a slur? That’s really sad. That makes this not just a strategic move or an attempt to handle the situation before it gets worse, but something self-hating. There was no reason for him to use homophobic language except to distance himself from being gay, like in episode 3, the advice he took to keep people from guessing.

She’s pissed that he didn’t even come to apologize or talk, just to ask her not to spread it around, so you know she’s not really listening and making this about her own feelings. And look, we can say over and over again that Chloe has a right to be mad, and of course she does. But she also just doesn’t get the seriousness of outing someone. Lucas is begging her not to spread the rumor, very upset, but Chloe says he can’t tell her what to do. Man, so they made Chloe even worse than Emma, despite having Lucas treat Chloe worse than Isak did with Emma. Isak didn’t plead with Emma to not out him while Emma was like, “Whatevs, I do what I want.”

Lucas is clearly unraveling. He bursts out of the gym and runs into Yann. Lucas tries to use his family as an excuse again and Yann cuts him off, saying not to play him. He knows whatever’s happening with Lucas is more than just his parents. Yann is a lot more blunt about it than Jonas; Jonas knew that Isak was bluffing but let it slide without calling him on it. He’s also more blunt about Lucas refusing to talk about his problems. The guys all just want Lucas to get better, and are here to talk to him, but if he doesn’t want to do that, then he needs to fix his problems and come back when he’s better. Completely fair, tbh. I can see how the more straightforward approach works with Lucas; Isak felt more defeated at this stage, like he barely had energy to get through the day let alone put up his usual act, so chill Jonas could get through to him, whereas Lucas is like brimming with anger and fear and seems more defensive, so he needed Yann to just cut through his bullshit directly.

Clip 3 - Pasta is Deep

I feel like a recurring issue with Skam France is that it skips establishing the mood of a clip, often just jumping into whatever needs to happen without a lot of grace, which probably has a lot to do with their time limitations (although this episode is several minutes shorter than average so...) This scene isn’t one that I expected them to recreate so closely, with Isak just ordering a sandwich for like a minute and a half, but it did remind me of how that completely mundane action was so much more than the damn cheese sandwich, because it was about putting us directly into Isak’s headspace and letting us feel how blank and distracted he was, and then what a jolt it was when Even appeared - exactly what Isak must have felt. I think Skam France could benefit from being more careful with staging moments like that, more showing, less telling. Like there’s nothing wrong with the start of this clip but it skips establishing Lucas’ mood entirely, and Eliott comes around the corner so we the audience see him before Lucas does, so there isn’t as much of a reaction.

Anyway, the important observation: Eliott cut that girl in line, what a dick.

There are two plates of pasta on the counter before them, and Eliott says if he were Lucas he’d take both of them. Lucas says sometimes you have to choose. I get that this is ~symbolic and it’s about Eliott trying to have it both ways and Lucas not having that but it’s one of those moments that takes me out because ... why would Eliott say Lucas should take both huge-ass plates of pasta ... except so Lucas can be metaphorical in response ... is that normal? It feels like a very writerly setup to be Deep so the dialogue can have a double meaning, except it doesn’t actually make sense on the first/surface meaning, if you get what I mean. Or else Eliott thinks Lucas is capable of eating two plates of pasta.

Eliott tries to make conversation but Lucas just grabs a plate and storms off. That was some good timing with the angry plate grab. Eliott looks sad and the angsty piano music starts again.

Lucas walks into the cafeteria and sees the table with the boy squad and the table with Chloe and Maria, while Eliott is walking behind him. This time Chloe is looking at him for real. Lucas just leaves his tray without eating and walks off as Eliott notices.

It was kind of odd that they needed both moments of Eliott reacting to Lucas’ distress, like ... we got it the first time when they were in line, we didn’t really need the second time to tell us the same thing we just saw thirty seconds ago. Was that supposed to be Eliott noticing Lucas didn’t want to sit with his friends so it wasn’t just him causing Lucas stress? IDK. Even if that were the case, it felt redundant. (Sometimes with this show I want to be like “have confidence that the audience will understand!”)

Clip 4 - Someone’s gonna catch a disease or a demon from that sofa

The girls and Lucas walk to a secondhand store. The store is like where they keep the props for The Conjuring movies. For some reason this thrift shop has multiple dolls that are missing body parts just hanging out, which is objectively the creepiest thing you could encounter. There are also jars of yellow ... something. I’m not gonna say it’s definitely pee, but it could be pee.

Daphne is once again the MVP of the show for how she screams and runs away when she gets freaked out. She’s so entertaining.

A dude shows up and the scene dramatically cuts to black with the sound of a sharp blade, as if in a slasher movie, but of course then we cut to this guy pouring tea for everyone. Total tangent but you know, a horror series could be pretty fun if it followed the real-time format of Skam. They played with the concept in the cabin episode, as a parody of course, but I would love to see more genre series in this mode of story-telling. A really well-written suspense or horror story could be so effective in real time!

Also, the guy looks like the school psychologist from Skam Italia. And the gym teacher from Skam Italia. Or maybe I just think all older men with beards look alike.

It was the guy’s brother’s shop. He was a compulsive hoarder, which is not a surprise in the slightest. The brother died recently. “Of what?” “I don’t know, I haven’t found him yet.” Lmao, this is a funny scene. They guy is joking and says his brother had cancer, but let’s be real, that’s also a lie. The guy was obviously murdered by those dolls.

The gang gets some additional goodies from their visit. So Lucas has to carry the couch back with Manon and Daphne, Imane and Alex carry the football table, and Emma trails behind with her lava lamp. LMAO. It’s a great image. (I have no idea if Daphne was actually carrying the couch at all, or if she was just supervising. I think Lucas and Manon were doing the heavy lifting, literally.)

They take a break and Lucas rubs his injured hand. Lucas, get help for that! Go to the doctor! I’m sure she has some eccentric yet helpful life advice in addition to her medical expertise.

Daphne comes up to him and asks whether he’s heard from Basile since Friday. NO GOD WHY.

Lucas smiles and says a bit, why? Daphne is like… just for news. The girls tease her by saying she’s actually into him, Daphne says no, he’s so annoying. WHY GOD. WHY MUST WE GO HERE. It’s so aggravating that the best character on this show is going to be paired off with the worst character on the show (and one of the worst characters in the entire Skam universe).

The girls talk about how much their men suck. Daphne says guys are worst than girls. LESBIAN. DAPHNE. PLEASE. I’m begging you.

Daphne says no offense to Lucas, and Imane says he’s not a real guy. Whoa! Hold on a moment there. Lucas’ expression is all WTF, Imane tells him to take a joke. This is one of those casual comments that can cut deep; Imane doesn’t know Lucas is gay at this point, so it’s not quite her assuming that gay guys are honorary girls or something like that. But one of Lucas’ fears is how being gay will separate him from his male friends, and at this very moment he is separated from them. So this is not a reassuring thing to hear. Calling someone a “real guy” can sting for someone who’s struggling to find out just where they fit in with the guys, and now hears that they don’t really belong there. Interesting that they made Imane throw out this comment since it’s more careless than we often hear from her. Not that she’s perfect or anything, just that we more often hear remarks like this from someone like Daphne. But it goes to show that everyone’s capable of these microaggressions.

Daphne says Lucas is so lucky, girls are so much simpler (I guess she means with dating). Irony! Lucas does not say L M A O in response. How lucky can he be when a raccoon man broke his heart? Manon says that’s inaccurate and not true. Daphne thinks it’s easy for Manon to say that when she’s dating the perfect guy. Irony! Manon hops off that couch and says it’s time to go again. I wonder how long they’re going to string along the hints that all is not well with Marles. Noora came back and immediately told everyone that she and William had relationship issues, but Manon is hiding the truth.

I thought this clip was a lot of fun but it’s one that doesn’t really fit with the mood or atmosphere that Lucas is going through right now. I saw people defending it as like a break from the misery and tension, and I couldn’t help but be like ... no! That’s not a good thing! I get that Lucas doesn’t need the same emotional journey as Isak, but speaking as someone who watched Skam S3, episode 6 in real time, the constant pain was a good thing. Sure, it was draining. Sure, it was stressful. But it got you into Isak’s head. It made you feel what he was suffering. It captured his isolation and loneliness. It made the final clip of the week with Jonas such a huge relief (and to be fair, they sure took a different tone with Yann...) Narratively, it was expertly crafted and paced. With scenes like this, it does chip away at some of the tension. I wouldn’t say it’s pointless (and again, on its own there were a lot of funny moments) but again I wish Skam France was better at establishing and holding a mood. Because there are ways they could have shot this scene with similar content, but with more of a consistent emphasis on Lucas’ POV, filtering through his lens. Focus on his detachment, have something in the shop remind him of Eliott, etc. The dead guy’s brother talks about how isolated and lonely the brother was and how he didn’t open up to anyone. Something like that. Except for a few brief moments like the shot of his hand or the response to Imane’s comment, the scene doesn’t have much to do with him, really, and this is a very crucial time in the story to be making us feel what Lucas feels.

There’s also that I feel like a girl squad scene is like a requirement of each episode, and listen, I enjoy them as much as anyone, but I also think that these scenes can feel like they don’t fit with the narrative as a whole. Both the cake clip and now this clip had little to do with Lucas’ POV (compared to something like the Kinsey Scale discussion which was relevant to him). There are some bits contributing to other subplots, like a hint at the end about Manon and Charles, which is probably meant to lead into the next clip where Manon cries, but tbh they’ve dropped quite a few hints about her not being OK by now so IDK this particular one was necessary? And to be fair, other seasons of Skam spread their focus beyond the POV character. But part of why Isak’s season is so good, IMO, is that every single clip contributes to the main story. It’s very tightly written. I guess I can’t help but wish that every clip had a clear tie to Lucas’ character arc even if there are other subplots happening, and not just that other storylines are taking place and Lucas happened to be there.

Clip 5 - Not talking is good

Lucas is up at almost 2:00 watching TV. A late night clip, wow! Glad to see one of these. It’s something that does establish mood and get us into Lucas’ mindset. Timing is one of the most useful tools the Skam format has, compared to traditional TV series.

Manon comes in and he asks if he woke her. She sits next to him and climbs under the blanket. Manon is clearly distressed. Lucas notices she has tears in her eyes. She seems on the brink of saying something, but he suggests they don’t talk about it. He puts an arm around her and she leans into him as the piano music starts again. We’re getting a hell of a lot of that this episode. She cries, he starts to get teary as well.

Lucas and Manon have the most familial relationship in the flat. In Skam it was Isak and Eskild, here it’s definitely Lucas and Manon. They feel like each other’s family. I do really like this scene for showing their bond and demonstrating that they’re both going through something they can’t talk about, it’s really lovely. Neither of them can say what’s troubling out loud. Manon has been needling Lucas to talk to her about his problems, but Lucas doesn’t pressure Manon to talk about what’s making her cry. There’s probably a balance they need to achieve to get to the emotionally healthiest place.

One effect of moments like this is that the Lucas/Manon relationship feels so much more developed than some of Lucas’ other relationships, like they can cry with each other and show emotional vulnerability with each other in a way that Lucas can’t with other people. Like I was rooting for Lucas and Yann’s friendship, and there is a ton to be said about Lucas being accepted by his best friend and what that means in terms of depicting supportive male friendships, but I also completely get why people thought he should come out to Manon instead, because story-wise, this relationship feels different from others. Lucas does feel comfortable with her, even if they’re not talking about their problems, and making the progression to voicing their problems to each other seems like a logical progression.

Clip 6 - Find your Jerome

Lucas has gone to the school doctor from the first season, who tries to guess his name. The final one she guesses is Isak, lmao. Awww. I’m going to be a total sap and say that my heart got all mushy and emotional hearing that name. I miss my boy! I need Julie Andem to deliver that reunion special ASAP. But I do like Skam France’s nods to the original show, they’re not that subtle but they’re sweet gestures.

Lucas says he has trouble sleeping. To their credit, they did show him and Manon up late at night this week, so it doesn’t come totally out of nowhere. I do think perhaps they missed a chance for him to go to the doctor because of his hand. And maybe lie to her about how it happened, but she kinda guesses he punched something and gives him a little speech about not bottling up emotions and taking out his anger by punching stuff? IDK. I think that would’ve fit Lucas’ characterization and his particular struggles, but this is fine.

I love how satisfied the doctor seems when she tells him to avoid blue light. Nailed it!

I feel like this scene could’ve been built up a a bit clearer, because Lucas is all, “IDK why I can’t sleep” and that seems a little ridiculous, like obviously he knows why he can’t sleep all of a sudden. If he didn’t, he’d be like, “Oh, blue light is the problem? That settles that.” He’s got big personal problems. It’s just that he’s not going to tell this doctor what they are. With Isak, he had a clear motive for going to the doctor - there was a text where Linn mentioned her sleeping pills and Isak came in asking for some of those, except the doc gave him some advice to talk to people instead. Like I’m not sure what Lucas wanted from going in here? Because he knows he’s thinking too much at night, but he doesn’t want to tell the doctor the specifics. So I’m not sure what he was hoping for by going here since I’m sure he wasn’t planning on using this appointment as a therapy session. I guess he could’ve been intending to ask for some sleeping pills or something else to help him sleep, but never got around to it because the doctor started to talk about her lover and thoughts of murder. Just a small observation.

The nurse starts telling him about how she also has problems talking about herself due to shyness or modesty (lol, this doctor being shy or modest). But she can talk to Jerome, the man she’s apparently cheating on her spouse with? Or engaging in some mutually agreed polyamorous arrangement, looking at it in a more positive light. (Or Jerome is a mannequin. Somehow that seems like the most plausible option.)

She mentions that her days are filled with teenagers who think they’re pregnant, nice nod to S1, and tells Lucas she can confide in Jerome about her murderous fantasies when her brother wants her to visit. LMAO. Well it’s nice that she can talk to someone about that? Tell me that this tidbit isn’t made dramatically more interesting if Jerome is indeed a mannequin, though. Anyway, she encourages Lucas to find his Jerome, someone he can trust.

Outside, Lucas is sitting and thinking and brooding. He reaches his hand into his pocket and finds a note from Eliott. The tinkly piano music starts again, damn, they’re going for a record in this episode. I think it’s the same tune as when Lucas first saw Eliott. The note is a very cute cartoon of his raccoon fursona, “Eliott 25473” looking at a hedgehog and not approaching him, but “Eliott 34512″ runs towards his fate and talks to the hedgehog. Hedgehog looks super happy to see this raccoon. The animal cartoons continue to be one of my favorite parts of this season.

Lucas sees Eliott walking across the courtyard. That seems to make up his mind, so he puts the drawing in his pocket and gets up. He walks up to someone and asks if they can talk later. The view of the person is obscured just to give you a misdirect that Lucas is talking to Eliott, but of course it’s actually Yann. Yay, Yann! And we’re all so excited for this beloved scene to happen next!

Clip 7 - Coming out to Yann

Ahahahaha.

After school, Lucas and Yann are sitting on a bench in the schoolyard, and Lucas is saying how he has been acting weird lately. There’s the complicated situation with his parents, there’s school, there’s the rent he can’t pay … and he thinks he fell in love. Not with Chloe. It’s not a girl. Yann seems a little surprised, which Lucas observes, but mostly Yann just seems to be listening. Yann is like, but it’s not me? Lucas says no, but there was a time last year … he trails off as Yann seems to be thinking wait, what? So Lucas just holds off elaborating on that confession and tells Yann about Eliott. Yann seems to understand, he’s just nodding and listening, asking a few questions. All is well.

Lucas says he wanted to tell Yann the truth, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He went to see the nurse because he hasn’t been sleeping. She told him to talk to someone he trusts. Lucas talked to Mika and it bit him in the ass. Chloe got mad. Yann asks if anyone else knows. Lucas thinks Manon, Emma, and Alex are suspicious and have guessed, and when he talks to Imane about it, they fight. Lucas asks Yann what he thinks. Yann is turning over something in his head. Lucas wants to know what Yann is thinking.

And Yann says, he can’t do this right now. He needs time. And he gets up and walks off. Lucas sits there in shock and misery after Yann leaves as dramatic music plays.

I feel like I need a drink before discussing this scene.

I do not think this was the right narrative choice, for multiple reasons. The clip has already been debated and discoursed, so I might not be saying anything new, but let’s unpack it from several angles. I will say upfront that after this scene, even before we got confirmation, I thought it was most likely Yann was upset about not being trusted, or other people finding out before he did, than because he was a big homophobe. But I still don’t think this makes the scene much better or justifiable.

From a basic writing standpoint: I think this was sloppy. I don’t think it was meant for anything other than throwing more shit at Lucas and some quick shock value. They wanted to surprise the viewers of the original show or throw in a plot twist. But none of this fits Yann’s character. The guy has been encouraging Lucas to confide in him during the season, so for this to happen when Lucas does finally confide? Feels wrong. Keep in mind that Lucas is not just confessing about being gay/falling in love with a guy: he mentions his family situation, his rent, school. Yann may not realize that Lucas was outed, but Lucas does mention the stress he’s felt from other people finding out about him and Eliott. So Yann hears all of this and decides to walk away, because of his own wounded feelings. Yann, after being supportive of Lucas and his family situation for ages. Okay. I get that characters aren’t perfect. But this doesn’t even feel like a choice Yann would make. Earlier in the episode he was like “either talk to us or sort your shit out”? He makes it clear that they’re not going to wait around for him if Lucas doesn’t want to talk, it’s caring but very no-nonsense, which is part of why it feels like his reaction doesn’t fit - he takes it personally that Lucas didn’t come to him. It just seems at odds, and I get that people don’t necessarily react consistently, but in a scripted TV show I do expect characters to react in a way that feels organic to their prior behavior.

Without a doubt it would have been worse to make Yann walk away because he’s genuinely homophobic, but in a way it feels even more contrived that he did so for other reasons? I’m trying to word this properly, but while making Yann homophobic would have been a horrible choice and I’m glad they didn’t go that far, the fact that he’s not makes this scene feel extremely petty in the overall narrative. Like when Yann explains himself in the next episode, it becomes abundantly clear that this was a fake-out, this was meant to throw the viewers off for a few days. It was just cheap. It doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of the narrative.

There’s the racial aspect. You cannot ignore that in this scene. We have two non-black Jonases in OG Jonas and Giovanni reacting amazingly to this confession, and the Skam France writers chose to make their black Jonas react poorly. I doubt their thought process was “he’s black so he’s gonna be more homophobic.” But I do think they should’ve thought the implications through. Because as much as people wanted to say race didn’t matter in this scene - it did. People already had an irrational dislike of Yann for doing the same things that Jonas and Giovanni did, and this clip just confirmed their worst biases. We had people hating the black character because of this change. People being like “I told you Yann was the worst and that he wouldn’t support Lucas!!!” when there wasn’t any reason to think Yann wouldn’t support Lucas prior to this scene. It was uncomfortable to watch this play out in parts of the fandom. And you had one of the character’s best, most shining moments taken away from him. Sure, the scene with Yann in the next episode is great. But the coming out scene is beloved and iconic, it made Skam fans love Jonas when many people had still been on the fence about him due to S1, and it could have been an equally powerful moment for Yann, a character who is already marginalized and dismissed by parts of fandom for being black. He didn’t get that.

Also, when Basile and Arthur ended up being OTT LGBT allies to the point of comedy, and Yann is the one with a bad reaction ... not great that the white guys were overly awesome and the black character is the one who ditched his friend. I’m not saying Yann has to be perfect and that’s the only way he can be great representation. But they had a precedent of this character reacting well and they actively changed that to be worse, and they changed these other two characters to be even more enthusiastic about their friend being gay. Then we also have two other white characters, Manon and Mika, supporting and comforting Lucas when he’s breaking down, in part because Yann rejected him. It’s a pile of unfortunate implications.

Then we have prioritizing the straight character’s feelings. Yann’s reasons for walking away were about Yann, not Lucas. Yann being upset that Lucas didn’t trust him. Yann being upset he wasn’t the first one to know. It’s self-centered. And we’re supposed to assign narrative weight to how a straight character feels about a gay character coming out. This is one of the biggest moments of Lucas’ life, for any gay person’s life. It should not be about the straight character’s feelings. That was something that was so important about the original scene. Jonas showed empathy and understanding that this was Isak’s moment, not Jonas’. Jonas listened. He let Isak talk at his own pace. He asked about Isak, he asked about Even, he didn’t make it about how he, Jonas, should’ve noticed a long time ago or how he felt about it. By making Yann walk away, the scene doesn’t become about the relief Lucas feels, it doesn’t become his affirming moment. In fact, it doesn’t even feel totally like his miserable, shitty moment? Because now everyone is thinking why the fuck Yann did that, what’s wrong with Yann, is Yann going to come back and apologize, etc. The ~mystery takes the emphasis away from Lucas.

In conjunction with the doctor scene… the actual fuck were they thinking? The advice given to Lucas was “find someone who you can trust” with the message that it’s such a relief to open up to someone. And this lesson as it actually plays out? Leads to rejection. Showing that if you talk to people, it won’t be any better, it might actually be worse because then your friend will leave you. What a great message. It’s not like talking to people and not bottling up your feelings is one of the most important lessons of the show. For a show that is aimed at helping teenagers through stress and shame, teaching them valuable lessons to deal with their problems, it’s thoughtless bordering on irresponsible to juxtapose these clips.

And that leads into my final point, which is not just about this scene, but about how criticism can be received in this fandom. We gotta talk about “realism” and its use as a defense in the Skam remakes.

Some people might ask, well, why does there need to be a great message in Skam? Why do there need to be life lessons in these clips? Can’t it just be an entertaining show? Or, the other popular argument: It’s realistic, therefore it’s beyond critique. (Usually not worded like that, but that’s the sum of the argument.)

Yes, Skam is a show built on realism. It is a show that captures teenage acne and awkward pauses and the mundane experience of lying on your bed texting someone, trying to think of the right things to say, in a way that is often glossed over by other TV series. But Skam is not just a realistic show. Skam is an idealistic show and it always has been. The show has always been about trying to give teenagers hope, to present positive models of behavior, to show the best of what we could be.

Here are some things that could be considered “realistic” in S3:

Isak rejecting Even due to his mental illness

Isak getting bullied and beaten up after being outed

Isak’s religious mom telling him he’s going to hell for being gay

Isak shoving himself back in the closet and continuing to date girls

Even killing himself due to depression

These are all extreme examples, for sure. But they’re things that have happened in real life. They’re stories that have been told in media before. Why didn’t Skam go there? Why did S3 end with Isak and Even in a happy, loving relationship, and not both of them dead from reenacting Romeo + Juliet, or Isak crying over Even’s grave, or Isak forever alone and miserable and suffering for being gay? Because that’s not the point of the fucking show.

Skam is not perfect. The characters are not perfect. But you have to ignore a core value of the series if you want to claim that Skam is about realism but not idealism. There is a reason so many characters resolve their problems by talking about their feelings. There is a reason we get so many quotes about how we should have empathy for others. Are there many true villains in this series? The only one who feels completely irredeemable is William’s brother, the sexual predator, and even he got a moment of sympathy when Mari acknowledged how messed up his childhood was. Everyone else, even the ones who act as antagonists, eventually gets some kind of compassion and forgiveness. Isak ends S3 on good terms with basically everyone: his friends, his parents, his roommates, Even, even people like Sonja and Emma. Because the show wants to give you some goddamn hope. Skam wants to demonstrate how good we can be to each other when we try.

I watched this episode of Skam in real time. I was going through Isak’s misery day after day. I was there when the original clip of Isak and Jonas dropped. When Isak came to Jonas and Jonas reacted so wonderfully, it was a tremendous relief for both Isak and the audience. I remember when the regular hearts on the Skam website (the like button) turned into rainbow hearts - it was for that clip, and it was such a meaningful moment. Isak was out, the hearts had changed, Isak had changed, there was no going back, but it was a triumphant change. And it wasn’t Disneyland. The clip was healing. It inspired other fans to come out to their friends and loved ones.

Circling back to Yann’s reaction here: I certainly get why it would resonate with viewers who’ve had similar experiences coming out to people and don’t want to invalidate their responses. It’s not that I think it’s completely out of line with Skam’s idealism for him to walk away. That he comes back in a few days and apologizes is a positive moment with good messages. It’s more that this moment was changed to be worse - I can’t help but feel it betrays that sense of optimism and hope that was built into Isak’s story. Because the fact that they went for the more dramatic shock value moment, rather than the healing moment, feels deeply cynical about what they want for the viewers. As I said above, the change didn’t feel well thought-out, it felt cheap. It’s pretty meaningless in the whole narrative, it’s just a quick gut punch to make you (and Lucas) feel bad. There are other bad things that happen to Lucas that matter in the overall story, because they influence his character or push the plot forward. This felt like angst for the sake of angst. "Realism” should not be a shield for every writing choice on the show, or else we can let all sorts of shitty tropes (and just plain lazy writing) happen in the name of realism.

Also, can we get rid of the idea that Norway is some homophobia-free paradise and Jonas’ reaction makes sense only in an LGBT wonderland? Homophobia is everywhere. Some places more than others, for sure, but nowhere is perfect. Isak’s story was full of homophobia even if he wasn’t getting gay bashed. How do you think he developed internalized homophobia in the first place? If Isak’s culture is devoid of homophobia, then why is he so nervous about coming out to people at all?

And I gotta say, after events in episode 7, it is totally ridiculous to defend this scene as realism and “not Disneyland” when Basile and Arthur are basically wearing Mickey Mouse ears when they learn Lucas is gay. Not that I think it’s wrong for them to be supportive, just that their scene is clearly grounded in idealism.

The original clip with Jonas reacting well to Isak coming out? Was based on a true story. It’s just as realistic as Yann walking away.

Social Media/General Comments

Lmao, Daphne’s inspiration deco for the common room. Dream big, girl. I like Alex’s response of pretty pink and elegant toilet paper decorations. Emma suggests a big box of condoms, which is the most practical suggestion.

Eliott posted a picture of his raccoon fursona throwing out many notes, so probably him struggling to come up with the right thing to say/draw to Lucas.

Daphne and Lucas have a friendly conversation. She really wanted him to go lift that couch.

Eliott posts another picture with a Virginia Woolf quote, saying “In case you ever foolishly forget, I am never not thinking of you.” Should be obvious that he’s thinking about Lucas. Virginia Woolf is a good choice for Eliott to quote since she was supposed to be bipolar, as well as bisexual (not pansexual, as Eliott may identify like Even did, but still relatable as they’re both into more than one gender).

Here’s a post about the Pygmalion reference with the picture Eliott posted. I feel like there’s something to be said about Polaris, too, and Lucas embodying one of the characters in Eliott’s movie, so that it feels like Lucas is lifted right out of Eliott’s art.

Eliott deleted the cartoons of him and Lucille cat after the cafeteria conversation with Lucas about having to choose. He CHOSE.

There’s a very sweet text from Manon and Lucas where she thanks him for last night, it was nice to not talk with him. Awww. They do have a nice relationship.

Emma seems done with Raptor Alex judging by her post “when he’s a fuckboy but he’s cute as hell” which goes along with the conversation when they’re moving the couch. Do we think Emma and Yann will end up getting back together, next season perhaps? Will she and Alex continue to be FWB? Or will Emma find someone else? Or be single for a while?

Super depressing post from Lucas after he comes out to Yann, a cartoon saying “God needs your boat to use as an ash tray” showing that he’s really slipping and feels like he’s drowning. When Yann walked away, he took Lucas’ last shred of hope with him. JFC.

I’m not French so feel free to explain or clarify something I missed.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions #skam france reactions

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