#because when anyone else shows any semblance of negative emotion around me i get super uncomfortable and even triggered

[koishikei]

yoooooo i'm gonna have another mental breakdown~

[fanfictionbymimnim]

You give Ozpin a hug -

Summary: You are there when Jinn reveals Ozpin’s backstory.

Important information: You have the ability to manipulate Souls. That is either your semblance, or you are secretly a super old magical person. You can imagine yourself however you want.

“Oz?” You whisper, kneeling down in the snow next to him.

“Salem can’t be killed- you all heard her too right?” Yang said from behind you.

Ozpin looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “I- “

“There was so much you didn’t tell us!” Yang yelled, “How could you think that was ok?”

“Yang- “ you started.

“Professor, what is your plan to defeat Salem?” Ruby interrupted you.

Ozpin looked back at the floor. “I don’t have one,”

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, before Qrow yelled in anger and punched Ozpin. He went flyin backwards towards the tree.

“Qrow! What the hell!?” you yelled, rushing to Ozpin’s side.

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good...” Qrow said, looking away. 

“But you are!” Ozpin replied.

“And that’s not a reason to punch anyone!” you added, not that they were paying attention to you anyway.

“Meeting you was the worst luck of my life,” Qrow stated.

You took a sharp intake of breath. If it wasn’t for the fact that it would make matters worse, you would punch Qrow right there and then.

You saw Ozpin’s eyes widen. He looked away. “Maybe you are right...”

No! you wanted to yell. Qrow is just being stupid and emotional. There was no way in Remnant that Qrow actually meant that.

Ozpin then looked pointedly at you, “Please, just for a little bit, can you- “

You nodded in understanding. Taking his hands in yours, you momentarily closed your eyes and reached out with your aura. Ozpin easily moved into your mind.

Oscar’s eyes flashed yellow for a second. Then he rubbed his cheek.

“He’s gone,” Oscar mumbled.

Yang turned to you. “What did you do?” she yelled.

You stood up, brushing the snow off your knees. “I’m giving him a break,”

“Bring him back! We’re not done yet!” Yang continued.

“What? So you can yell at him more? Absolutely not!” you replied.

“I don’t understand,” Oscar said, “he’s completely gone from my - our? - head. Ugh, I hate this,”

You apologetically helped him up. “I just... took his soul for a while. He’s now sharing a body with me. Give you both a break. I’ll have to return him by tomorrow- don’t worry,”

“You can’t just do that!” Yang yelled, activating her arm weapon.

You instinctively reached for yours. “Yes I can. And I did. You are all being overly emotional, and I don’t want anyone to say anything else that they are going to regret. You can talk when you’ve all calmed down, and actually learnt about this thing called empathy!”

“That’s enough!” Maria stated. “We need to get move on. It'll be dark before we know it, and every one of you is spewing negativity!” Maria tapped the ground with her cane, “There's a trail over there, trails usually lead somewhere.”

“She’s right,” Ruby stated. “Come on,”

...

Inside your head, you had conjured up a small room.

It was cosy, like from a small cottage. There was a roaring fireplace, a soft plush carpet and a comfy-looking couch.

Ozpin sat with his back to a bookshelf and his head buried in his arms.

He must still see himself as his previous incarnation, you mused, since that is what he looked like.

Once you had settled down to meditate in the farmhouse, you were able to join him.

“Oz?” You murmured, sitting down next to him.

He briefly looked at you. He was still crying. You felt your heart break slightly.

“Can I hug you?” you asked.

Ozpin nodded.

As you slipped your arms behind his back, he turned and hid his face on your shoulder.

“They hate me... it’s happened again. I really messed up, didn’t I?” he whispered.

“They don’t hate you,” you replied, “they’re just... in shock. They’ll get over it soon enough, you’ll see,”

“But I made a huge mistake... again,” he continued.

You sighed. “Well, I think it was reasonable for you too not want to reveal all the sh** Salem put you through to some people who you barely know.” You ran your hand through his hair, “and as for her being immortal, I know why you hid it. They’ll understand too, in time,”

“Like Raven did? Or Lionheart?” Ozpin asked bitterly.

“Team RWBY are different from them; and you know as well as I do that Qrow really isn’t that much like his sister,” you mumbled. “Qrow will come around, I’m sure of it. I will try and talk to him in the morning. We both know that he has his own demons; I don’t think that it will take much for him to understand yours,”

Ozpin shook slightly, crying more. You gently rubbed his back.

“How are taking the news... about Salem?” you ventured.

“I can’t believe I was so blind... I can’t believe she tried to wage war on the gods. I thought, all this time, it was the god of destruction’s fault. But Salem, the Salem I knew was gone long before I ever reincarnated,” he whispered.

“I’m so sorry you had to see all of that again,” you mumbled.

“‘Is not your fault,” Ozpin replied, “at this point I really shouldn’t let it get to me. Any of it. It was a long time ago,”

“I don’t agree,” you argued softly, “You’ve been through more than any other person in Remant. Trauma doesn’t go away in a day,”

“I’ve had more than a day,” Ozpin remarked.

“Yes, but in that time more traumatic things have happened. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to be upset over it. It’s healthy in fact; healthier than bottling it all up pretending nothing’s wrong anyway,” you explained. “And Jinn also showed us lots of snippets from your other incarnations. I know you; let’s not pretend they didn’t also bring back awful memories,”

“I...” Ozpin mumbled, before bursting into more sobs.

You sat there, letting him cry it out.

“Th-thank you,” Ozpin mumbled.

“It’s no problem,” you replied. “Remember, you are never alone in this,”

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of September 4th, 2019

Best of this Week: House of X #4 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles

No More.

Mutants have been made to suffer time after time after time because humans fear change and their inevitable obsolescence. Two of the greatest mutant extinction events have been the result of either human fear or absolute ignorance. In New X-Men (2001) we saw the utter destruction of Genosha by Bolivar Trask’s Sentinels, a massacre that resulted in the deaths of sixteen million mutants over the course of a single day. This left only a little under one million mutants left until House of M (2005) after which Wanda Maximoff decimated the mutant population, leaving only one hundred and ninety-eight left.

Thanks to the work of Moira MacTaggert and Charles Xavier with Krakoa, the mutant population is returning to normal levels and is looking to absolutely eclipse humanity in a short time span. Of course, humanity doesn’t take this too well, causing the Orchis Organization to activate itself, so it’s up to Cyclops and his band of Mutants to cast the enormous Mother Mold (a sentient machine that would create Master Molds to create Sentinels) into the blasted sun.

This issue was nothing short of heartbreaking.

Jonathan Hickman is doing something amazing with this book by showing just how strong the need for preservation is between both sides. In the last issue, one of the security team members for the Orchis station blew himself up in an effort to preserve a future where humans would be the dominant species. He wasn’t thinking about himself or his future with his wife, Dr. Gregor, the head of the station. He only wanted to ensure that The X-Men couldn’t stop the Mother Mold from being activated.

Scott’s team, now only consisting of Marvel Girl, Monet, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Mystique soldier on after Husk and Archangel are killed in the explosion. Nothing was going to stop them from completing the mission and they absolutely did, but not without each of them being killed in the process. I don’t feel the need to place a spoiler tag here because I have no doubt that either, some of the first issue of House of X takes place in the future and that they will all be reborn or that somehow they will be brought back to life as they will appear in other upcoming X-Series. 

Pepe Larraz absolutely killed this issue with his art alongside Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles. Every single page has the feeling of large scale epicness to them from the vast emptiness of Krakoa’s Observation room to the different locales of the Mother Mold Base. When Mother mold itself floats into the Sun, quoting it’s own version of the Prometheus myth, it looks enormous at first and slowly descends into the much larger and grander sun. Gracia’s colors are absolutely beautiful as almost everything is bathed in the beautiful glow of the sun. Monet’s red skin shines even brighter as the cuts her way through Orchis security, Nightcrawler and Wolverine’s burning bodies create the perfect ash contrasted by the glowing blue eyes of Mother Mold as Wolverine cuts away the last anchor keeping it on the station and Karimas shining silver arms stand above Cyclops, coated in purple nanobot defeat, as the last thing we see from his visor’s reflection is Dr. Gregor aiming her gun in his face. 

Gracia’s colors are vibrant and help to make Larraz’s lines even more beautiful. They make excellent use of cool blue tones for the few scenes that take place in Krakoa, establishing the still peaceful nature of that location. The space station, however, is awash in heavy yellows and oranges that only set the tone for the book and its high tension, but also works to show us just how dire everything is for either side. It’s high pressure and high stakes. Gracia did a great job of giving things the proper amount of emotional weight through color where Larraz did through excellent facial expression and action.

Normally the brightness of the sun is supposed to represent a better future, but it’s hard to tell who this brighter future is for. The X-Men, ultimately, do win in this war for survival, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory. Karima, who we’ve seen standing beside Nimrod in the future, and Dr. Gregor stand in victory for this battle. Granted, we now that the future where Nimrod reigns has been nullified after Moira’s 10th death, it’s hard not to be afraid by Mother Mold’s ending proclamation and Gregor’s newfound bitter resolve.

Charles and the rest of Mutantkind can rest easy, but can they also live with the cost of what they’ve done if our predictions just so happen to be false? The purpose of Krakoa was to ensure that there would be no more needless mutant death, but in the wake of human fear, more have died. This isn’t like any other time where mutants have been killed and brought back to life years later. For some reason - it just feels heavier. Charles’ tear at the end, with Cowles amazing placement of a “No more” caption feels like a resolution. Charles Xavier is having no more death, not for any of his people and it is powerful.

---------------------------------------------------

House of X continues to be one of my most anticipated releases as the weeks go by. This story of death and rebirth keeps achieving new heights of amazing storytelling and even better art. Jonathan Hickman was the perfect choice to breathe new life into the X-Franchise as I don’t have any semblance of a clue what will be in store for the future of the X-Men.

What do the end pages of this issue mean? What will be the big fallout from the revelation of Powers of X #3? Will Pepe Larraz continue to be godlike in his presentation? We’ll find out next week in Powers of X #4.

Sometimes you just have to sit back and smell the roses. 

Runner Up: Fantastic Four #14 (Legacy #659) - Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Jesus Aburtov and Joe Caramagna

Growing up, I actually thought the Fantastic Four were pretty lame. They weren’t exactly high on my radar because they were a family of explorers, scientists and just general nerds. I got seriously into comics around the time their last book hit the shelves prior to all of the Disney/Fox nonsense and that really awful movie which soured me on them even more. Things changed when I began to read Secret War (2015) and realized that there was so much more that I was missing.

I scoured my stores for back issue and trade paperbacks of everything written by Jonathan Hickman, Mark Millar and Reginald Hudlin before seeking out the older stories by George Perez, John Byrne and Roy Thomas. I learned to love their love of science, adventure and family oriented stories, so when they finally made their Marvel return, I was excited and so far they’ve done nothing but impress. This particular issue is one of the best examples of how even just dialogue, dynamics and expressions can build a great foundation for a simple yet amazing story. 

The Fantastic Four have been everywhere. Other dimensions,hellscapes, universes and planets, but there's still one mission that they've never completed: their original flight to the stars. After a new gallery opens showcasing the original shuttle that they traveled on in all of its destroyed glory, Reed reminisces of that time with happiness. Ben listens to one of the original black box recordings as they were first getting hit by Cosmic Rays and he's overwhelmed with negative feelings. Two original Pilots for the space flight thank Johnny and Sue for taking their place, saying that they could have become monsters like Ben and Johnny becomes enraged with Sue having to calm him down.

These moments remind us of who these wonderful characters are and always have been. Reed is a scientific mind that's always looking to achieve more and better himself and his inventions. Ben still lives with the inner scars of his transformation despite being one of the most respected heroes in all of the Marvel Universe. Johnny is a hothead and Sue, his sister, has always been there to calm him down. The First Family have been there for each other forever, they know each other better than anyone else does. They care about each other.

Paco Medina captures each of their emotions in a Fantastic way with excellent facial expressions and body language accentuated by Jesus Aburtov's stellar colors. 

Reed stands tall as he marvels at the old shuttle with his kids, his face is full of pride and joy while they look mildly unimpressed. Later while he's working on specs for a new shuttle, we can see how focused he is, how determined. His fantastic beard shows how he's aged from his previous clean shaven self, but he's even more refined.

Ben remembers the original flight with trepidation and trembles as he remember his words when he was first becoming a rock monster. He stomps around in his normal grumpiness, but by the end, knowing that Reed, Sue and Johnny know and care about him so much, he smiles and eagerly helps them on their next journey. 

Johnny, being the hothead he is, does in fact show his anger as his eyes begin to turn orange after Ben is insulted, but we get an amazing flashback to when he was just a young adult in the shuttle program and the rigorous training that he was put through by Ben. This showcases just how much Johnny wanted to go to the stars and shows us how long he's been the ultra determined man that we know and love. Medina draws him going through the training with ease, only having space on his mind and the want to prove Ben and the other pilots wrong, becoming the youngest ever back up pilot in that universe.

Sue, being the ever loving sister, is the calm one as she gets Johnny to back off. She's radiant as a character and Medina portrays as her the linchpin of the family. She's the graceful one, drawn as serious as Reed, but with her normal beauty as well. She shows just how in love she is with her husband as he works on the specs and lays her head on his shoulder, smiling like she does in the flashback.

Nothing super action-y happens in this issue, in fact, one of the best moments is Johnny and Reed having a bonding moment working on the second shuttle. Both comment on how neither is using their powers to make the work easier and they share a laugh together. It's just a nice, warm moment between brothers-in-law doing something that they haven't been able to in years. It was at this time where I just fell in love all over again.

The Fantastic Four are more than just space adventures, aliens and Doctor Doom plots. They are a family in comics unlike any other. Where most teams are just friends that might hang out every once in a while, the FF are a family with a rich history and ever growing numbers with Franklin, Valeria and now Alicia Masters marrying Ben. The love is palpable and I wish I'd understood this for so many years prior. I can't wait for where this next adventure takes them, but I'm all for it.