#birb does arresting | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

Text

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Creation”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Oh man, oh man, oh man. I think I'll need to steer clear of the general RWBY tags this week, simply because I know the sort of responses I'll see to this episode. From smug celebration at Ironwood's downfall, to bad takes about what makes us human, this episode is a petri dish of sensitive material handled insensitively.

Let’s unpack it, shall we?

We open on an action that feels like a summery of the last three volumes: a grimm attacks an airship from the front, no doubt killing its pilot, while the other grimm conveniently ignore our heroes, no masking in sight. The group looks a little sad at the destruction around them, but ultimately ignore it because they have bigger, heroic things to do. I could write a whole, additional essay on how the huntsmen code — to protect the people — has been warped and abandoned by our protagonists in their effort to do what they think is right. It's a tale that might have been compelling if only RT knew they were writing it.

We get a shot of Atlas drones unloading the bomb before one is taken out, presumably by Qrow and Robyn. Segueing to Ironwood and the Ace Ops, they're waiting for Penny to arrive, the former carrying a massive gun presumably capable of capturing her. Despite the horror we saw on their faces last episode at the realization that Ironwood would kill Marrow for speaking up, it seems that now the Ace Ops are entirely in agreement with these measures. A week ago the implication was that they fell back in line out of fear, but now Harriet talks passionately about "putting down" the group if they were stupid enough to accompany Penny. "The General gave his terms." Vine sighs at this, but doesn't actively disagree. He's just "retracing the steps that led us here."

So, congratulations on introducing four new characters, not bothering to develop any of them, killing one off while ignoring Qrow's hand in that, and having the other three become all, "Yeah! Mass murder is a perfect solution!" off screen. Marrow is the only one with something resembling development and, as covered in these recaps, that's been pretty badly executed too.

Ironwood sends them to deal with Robyn and Qrow after Winter reappears to "assist" him. That gets quotation marks because most viewers at this point have realized that she's who our two birbs spotted in the elevator. Winter isn't on Ironwood's side anymore, she's just skillfully clearing the field for the final attack. Indeed, we get a moment where she hesitantly brings up the bomb and Ironwood responds that he hopes she's not going to try and talk him out of it. No. Winter doesn't think that's possible. This was her final attempt at peace.

One of the reasons why I think I'll stick to my own blog for a while is because the fandom has a tendency to paint broad personality traits as evil when applied to some characters, yet simultaneously heroic when applied to others, when really it's about how that those traits are used. What I mean is, I've seen a lot of Ironwood critical posts that emphasize how stubborn he is. He thinks he's right and he won't back down. He wont listen to others. He's going through with this plan and if anyone tries to stop him? That's their mistake. Totally evil, right? Except, this is the exact same behavior Ruby displays, particularly in Volumes 6 and 7. She was stubborn about stealing from Argus and continuing the fight to the point where it endangered her and her teammates, to say nothing of the rest of the city. She refused to listen to Qrow, or Ironwood, or the Ace Ops, loudly announcing that she was right about, well, everything. If they didn't agree with her, the options were to leave the group entirely, or fight her. The actual difference here is that the writers have taken Ironwood to an extreme, one that's incredibly easy to understand as bad because it is bad: bombing Mantle has no defense. Ruby pulls the exact same nonsense, it's just not to that same extreme and her actions are followed by scenes that are meant to make us forgive her: a sad look because she didn't mean to get a city attacked by a leviathan grimm, a cry on the staircase because she didn't mean to risk the lives of an entire kingdom... even though she did. Ironwood is the bad guy because he's been written to take specific, OOC actions like shooting unarmed kids. He's not the bad guy because when other characters go, "Don't do this" his response is, "I have to." Because that's been Ruby's motto ever since she "had" to use the Lamp to rip Ozpin’s life story away. RWBY introduced those extreme actions of shooting the youngest in the group (for no reason) and threatening to bomb a city (for no reason) or shooting a councilman (for no reason) because when you remove those you've got a man who looks exactly like our hero. Ironwood's arc has been peppered with these confusing, unpersuasive actions because if you just keep the story as him stubbornly keeping to a plan he thinks will save the world, you're left with the reminder that all Ruby has done lately is stubbornly keep to plans she thinks will save the world. This moment with Winter just highlights how ill thought out Ironwood's descent has been because he does everything Ruby does... with a few, tacked on, “and randomly shoots people!” moments to ensure we understand that he’s definitely evil. No comparison to our heroes here, folks!

Ironwood is a bad guy now. That’s certain, but he was made that way so the story never had to grapple with the question of what that means for Ruby if we really start condemning things like lying, secrets, stubbornness, or endangering others for the greater good. Well then damn, if we strip away the hypocrisy then she might not be a good person after all. Or the people she’s simplistically labeled as bad might not be the devils Ruby claims they are.

But that’s a level of nuance RWBY would rather pretend doesn’t exist.

All of which is highlighted by Ironwood’s reaction to "Penny." He sighs and sags over the gun, immediately putting it aside. With his hand on her shoulder, Ironwood tells her she's "done the right thing." Precisely the same way Ruby would lower Crescent Rose and give someone a smile when they decided to fall in line with her.

Which, of course, is the moment when Emerald reveals herself, dispelling the Penny illusion and revealing Team JNPR The Second behind her. She gives a quip about it feeling "weird" to do the right thing before disappearing.

From there the action picks up fast. I really enjoyed this battle simply from a choreography and energy standpoint. It gets the blood pumping, Ironwood's hand-to-hand is spectacular — especially that moment against Ren — and the group actually displays teamwork for the first time in what feels like forever, all of them needed to land a hit on Ironwood. As always, out of the context of the rest of the show it feels and looks great. My primary issue is that we get this fantastic fight against Ironwood. Not Salem, not Cinder, not Watts (like last volume when Ironwood was still a hero), not even Emerald as a means of transitioning from murderous villain to the group's best bud. No, what's arguably the best action sequence in the volume thus far goes to beating up the guy they betrayed from the start. There's no catharsis for me here, only frustration as we watch Ironwood stand in shock as Winter powers up Nora — who's fine now, I guess — and she slams her hammer into his face.

It never should have come to this and when a good character is done so dirty, their downfall doesn't evoke the emotions the writers are looking for. Watching Ironwood fall doesn't generate feelings of victory, or even tragedy at a course of events others were powerless to stop. It's just frustration at watching years worth of bad writing, sprinkled with fantastic ideas that never go anywhere.

Oscar gets a few hits in, Ironwood snatches his cane, and just as he's about to throw a punch, Winter arrives with the most dramatic sword slash I've ever seen.

Ironwood's aura breaks and he falls, unconscious. We cut to an image of a droid's head separated from its body, one of Robyn's arrows through its skull. That doesn't have meaning or anything.

I suppose I should be grateful they didn't rip Ironwood's arm away during the fight, or outright kill him, though I'm still expecting him to die before the end of the volume.

Hmm. Wouldn't that be something? If after Salem's arrival, freezing cold, a Hound attack, grimm soup, a giant whale, a massive army, and a hack ending in self-destruction, the one character who actually dies is Ironwood.

It's looking more and more likely.

Honestly, beyond all the obvious, what's so frustrating about this fight is that characters are only now using their impressive abilities to their fullest. Emerald creates an entire fantasy of what's happening and then straight up disappears, but she only does a half-assed version of that when fighting against Penny. (And really, she put more effort into helping the heroes she just joined over Cinder, the woman she's been obsessed with since the start?) Marrow refuses to use "Stay" against a group they wanted to peacefully arrest because that's just too horrible an act, I guess, but he'll do it on his own teammates the second Qrow and Robyn don’t want to fight.

This is what I mean when I say the rules of the world bend to assist the protagonists in absurd ways. It's not nearly as egregious as Amity suddenly being up and running, but the fact that characters become substantially more powerful while fighting for the protagonists than they do against them is still a significant problem.

So Ironwood is down and out. As much as I hated watching that and didn't necessarily want more, am I the only one who felt like it was... a bit lackluster? I mean, the action was great, yes, but relatively short. There was no dialogue, such as another delve into the moral questions that led to this fight in the first place. There certainly wasn’t any hesitance against fighting a former ally. (Again, we’re meant to believe that the Ace Ops won because they just couldn’t bear to fight the group seriously, but every former ally here is capable of wailing on Ironwood without a single pause or pained look?) Ironwood just skillfully blocks for a while, is blindsided by Winter's betrayal, and then falls unconscious. Given that we learn he and Jacques will be evacuated after the rest of the kingdom, it's possible he'll escape somehow and we'll get a fight 2.0, but if not that feels like a rather tame end to the guy forced into the antagonist seat. Plus, what was the point of having Qrow frothing at the mouth to kill him this whole volume? I never wanted that to happen, I'm glad it hasn't, but I'm nevertheless left to ask why we bothered with that eleven episode side plot if we were going to erase it with one sentence from Robyn about Qrow being better than this. If that's all it took, let them work through Qrow's irrational anger while sitting around in a cell.

Winter tells the group to move onto "phase two" which is when we're treated to a flashback. We return to the ending of the last episode, with Ruby realizing that opening the vault is an option. Jaune, all smiles, goes, "We never considered using what's inside!"

This is what I mean about no consequences! This is what I mean about it all being a meaningless circle that ends with undeserved praise for the group! We started this horror show with Ironwood going, "We don't have a plan to protect the people, so I'm going to take what people we do have to safety" and the group going, "We don't have a plan either, but we're going to stop you implementing your plan because it's not perfect, risking a kingdom's worth of lives in the process." Now, the group has used two plans, one of which two characters knew about at the start and another they could have devised with the information they had. Oscar and Ozpin's, "We have an all powerful magical blast in our cane" and the group's "What if we used the Staff for something other than raising Atlas?" are both things that could have come up in the office debate. These were both always on the table! Instead, Ruby grew furious over the mere thought of cutting their losses, betrayed Ironwood again, attacked his people, denounced him to the world, and then two days later goes, "Oh wait! We could do something now that we could have easily done before if we hadn't made a needless enemy!"

Everyone realizes how much worse they made things, right? Turning against Ironwood, bringing everyone left in Mantle directly under Atlas, sitting around while an army was devoured, drawing it out until Penny was hacked... all of it would have been avoided if the group had thought and discussed things for a few minutes, not jumping straight to violently resisting what Ironwood came up with first. "We never considered..." Ruby says. Yeah, you didn't, except that's not something to smile about. The group made the situation a thousand times worse with their reaction when they could have just magically evacuated the kingdom from the start. “Maybe we could use it to save Penny and get everyone in Atlas and Mantle back to safety." Nothing has changed! They had this ability the whole time! Nothing about the last twelve episodes led them here, they just randomly thought of it after RT had padded the volume with needless drama. Considering that they're heading to Vacuo now, we could have just made this the finale of Volume 7 instead: big fight with Ironwood, revelation, get everyone evacuated while Salem attacks, leave her behind, then Volume 8 begins in Vacuo with the group knowing Salem is out there looking for them. This entire volume has been pointless. What did they accomplish?

Oscar got kidnapped and beat up, Nora was scarred, Ruby and Yang realized horrible things about Summer, and the whole world is panicking about a witch. Good things are... Ren and Ruby unlocked some semblance stuff? Weiss loves her brother again after he proved himself useful to her? Great work, team.

So this one moment makes everything they've done up to this point useless and, of course, once thought up the plan goes off without a hitch. Note that the summary of this episode says, "It's risky, dangerous, and nearly impossible — but it's the only plan they've got." Nearly impossible? That's a whole lot of talk for a plan that was implemented perfectly.

There is, admittedly, one snag, but one that is likewise made meaningless just seconds later. We'll get to that.

We see Winter call Weiss who also smiles at hearing from her sister. Obviously interactions like the group's with Emerald are the bigger concern, but it's still an issue that no one reacts as they should to people reappearing in their lives. Rather, RWBY continually confuses audience knowledge with character knowledge. We know Winter is on their side now, but Weiss hasn't a clue. Last she saw, she and Winter were agreeing to head down different paths. She has no reason to think her sister isn't loyal to Ironwood, so why isn't the group treating this call with suspicion? What if it's Ironwood trying to mess with them through a presumably safe party? I swear to god, with any consistency in the story this group would be dead ten times over because their decisions are so stupid. Oscar decides to believe in the guy currently beating him to a pulp, the group decides to trust a villain over a flawed ally, and now they see Ironwood’s second calling and are like, “Great, big sister Winter is checking in!” There’s a difference between a hopeful story filled with second chances and characters whose reliance on the narrative bending to assist them makes them come across as insanely naive.

None of which even touches on characters forgetting that other characters are presumably dead. Ironwood shot Oscar off the edge of Atlas, but doesn't react to learning he was kidnapped, or when he shows up to the fight. Thanks to Marrow's comment, Winter thinks YJOR have perished in the whale, but also has no reaction to them appearing to help with this plan. Absolutely nothing is followed up on.

We then get a flashback within the flashback (fun) of Winter — shock — not arresting Marrow. It's precisely as I assumed, with Marrow angrily asking why she hit him and Winter responding with, “Because you were about to get killed if I didn’t do something!” As I said last recap, I feel like I should let the marginalized groups lead this discussion, but I do want to add that no matter how well intentioned — or strategic, as I mentioned last time — the imagery itself is still harmful. No matter the context, we were still left with white woman Winter putting her knee on black man Marrow's back to arrest him, and it’s an image that everyone in the U.S. should be familiar with the horror of. Far more of a problem than the (presumed) ignorance of this scene is, I think, the choice to make Winter entirely unrepentant. I think some of this discomfort could have been alleviated if RT had written Winter as apologetic, contrite that it came to that and asking Marrow to understand that she only did it as a means of assisting him. Asking his forgiveness. Instead, we get this

So what, the only emotion we have room for is gratitude that Winter beat him up? Yikes.

As a lighter side note, I find the animation here unintentionally hilarious. Winter's assistive device makes her shoulders look too high, making this gesture more, "Woman exaggeratedly pouts about not getting ice cream for dinner" and less, "Woman sternly closes off during a disagreement about saving lives and betraying their general." Gotta find our humor where we can, right?

What's intentional, but far less funny, is the needless animation to show us that, yes, Marrow is peering at Winter calling Weiss. Oh, the shenanigans.

The elevator opens where Qrow and Robyn spot them. "Speaking of help," Winter says, as if she has any reason to believe Qrow didn't kill Clover. He and Robyn lower their weapons a bit, as if they have any reason to believe Winter and Marrow aren't still loyal to Ironwood. Would it really be so hard to have Winter immediately throw up her hands in the face of their almost-attack, blurting that she's not their enemy and needs their help, please listen? Again, RWBY can't remember which characters know what, let alone what their motivations and reactions should be.

We then enter the third part of the flashback where everyone piles into the Schnee dining room and discusses doing the things they could have done from the start. I'm metaphorically banging my head against that table. In RWBY's favor though, we also get a long shot of Jaune continuing to boost Penny’s aura.

Though it's only one of many issues, just the other day I asked, "Hey, why has Jaune always needed to hold onto the person he's assisting, but now suddenly he can touch Penny once and the boost remains?" It still doesn't explain why he was letting go before/why him needing to boost her continuously didn't put a hard time limit on their plan — not that Mantle's hour limit meant a thing — but at least they're showing more of that here.

Oscar notes that Atlas has enough gravity dust that it won't fall immediately when they use the Relic, but they will have to move fast to ensure no one is underneath. Yeah, like all the civilians you put there. He also cautions that the Staff isn't a "magic wand" that they can just wave to make all their problems go away... even though that's precisely what they're going to do. Ozpin gets some lines that aren't apologies or followed by attacks — hallelujah! — about how the Staff's spirit is a "character" and requires that you be able to precisely explain anything you want him to make. Blueprints, examples, a firm knowledge of how this will be accomplished — all of it is required to actually get what you're after. That's a cool limitation. It's just too bad we didn't know about it episodes ago, forcing our heroes to find ways to meet those requirements. Instead, they already have everything ready to go the moment they learn about it: Penny has her own schematics and Whitley apparently has knowledge of the entire kingdom after sending some ships out. Normally I'd go, "Really?" but I'm still just struck by how much good he's done compared to everyone else in this room. Your show is seriously broken when the side character the writers didn't even want the audience to like until a few episodes ago is more active, mature, and sensible than the heroes.

From there we see the group implementing the plan. They fly up through the hole Oscar left, straight to the vault. Penny opens it without any trouble and Ruby uses her speed to grab the Relic and stop time, halting her self-termination. I do like that combination of skill and their knowledge of how this magic works. That felt like a smart move. What's interesting though is that the Relic appears to stop time in the entire kingdom. We see people in Mantle and Atlas slowing to a halt too. I assume no one remembers that happening after time restarts, otherwise people would be freaked out by suddenly being frozen in place.

Wouldn't that have been cool though? The group often takes a while to use the Relics, either deciding what they need, or watching Jinn's information, so what if you had a population that blinks and suddenly, from their perspective, half an hour has passed? How long might Ozpin have sat on his knees after Jinn told him he wasn't able to defeat Salem? How long was that space frozen? We could have had a world built around rumors and fairy tales. Not the random stories Ozpin brings up to make a point and that we never hear about again, but tiny details that foreshadow these revelations. A Beacon where the kids tell each other spooky stories of people suddenly losing time, once a whole day. The wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces who disappear, or wake up one day with horrifying, unnatural powers. We see magic influence the world around it, but we've seen very little of the world reacting to that influence. The one time I can think of is Blake reading a book about "a man with two souls," the fiction clearly inspired by knowledge of Ozpin. And indeed, it felt great to recognize that as a significant detail and then be proven right years later as the lore was revealed. We could have gotten so much more of that if RWBY was better planned out.

I'm getting off track though. As time stops we see a series of images: Ironwood being led to a cell with Jacques, Penny succumbing to her hack, Team JNPR The Second preparing to contact the kingdom about what's going on. Then everyone is distracted by the giant, blue, buff Ambrosius who comes out of the Staff.

...there's a lot of innuendo in that last statement lol. At least RWBY is committed to the crazy design they chose? I was never particularly comfortable with the image of characters gaping up at a giant, naked woman in chains, so it's nice to balance that a bit with an equally giant, naked dude in chains.

From here things get confusing. In all honesty, I'm not sure if this is another moment where RWBY is trying to pass off a retcon as the group being brilliant, or if I, as an individual, simply didn't follow the logic. I won't bother to rehash the slow, meandering way that Ruby reveals their plan — that certainly didn't help with the clarity. Not in an episode where we didn’t even know these rules ahead of time — but it boils down to this:

The moment they have Ambrosius create something new Atlas will start to fall. Two of his creations can't exist at the same time.

He needs clear instructions about what he's making in order to create it.

The group has brought him Penny's schematics so that he understands how she's built.

They want, specifically, "a new version of her... using her exact robot parts."

They can't just create an exact duplicate of Penny because that would carry the virus with it.

They can't create an exact duplicate without the virus because that Penny would cease to exist as soon as they used Ambrosius to make an evacuation plan instead.

So they essentially want Ambrosius to create a new Penny by removing all the robot parts from the Penny that currently exists, carrying the virus with them, and leaving only the human parts of Penny behind: her aura/soul. Then, the purely robot version is destroyed when Ambrosius creates something new.

Except... this new Penny, this human Penny, still needed a human body. That's what Ambrosius created and that's the snag I don't understand. They want a version of Penny that's just her aura, just her soul, but that soul still needs something to be housed in. Ambrosius himself notes that. At first I thought the group would just have some wisp-like version of Penny they'd have to find a new body for — perhaps leading to a new one for Ozpin too — but she's just... given a human body when he takes the technology away, something she absolutely didn't have before. That is Ambrosius' creation. That is what should have disappeared along with the removed parts of Penny, leaving only her soul — what Ambrosius didn't touch — behind. Instead, the plot oh so conveniently has Penny get a new body for free and it's untouched as they move onto the next task.

Ruby drops a casual line about Ambrosius not being able to kill, or destroy, or something, which I think is meant to be the justification here. The rule (which, again, we JUST learned) about not killing anyone supersedes the rule of two creations not allowed to exist, allowing Penny to stick around. But even if that’s true, it’s a load of bull. What, does the magic think no one in an entire city might die if the floating mechanism is removed and it plummets to the ground? Ambrosius didn’t say, “Sorry, can’t stop floating Atlas because thousands of people are still here and they’ll die if I create something new,” but we’re supposed to believe the group skated by on, “Sorry, can’t destroy the last creation like everything else because there’s a single person still using that body and she’ll die if I create something new”?

Seriously, did I miss something? Or is this another, "Amity is ready because the group needs it" situation? The rule of creations ceasing to exist is bent because the group needs to have their friend around. Ambrosius is certainly enthusiastically complimentary, saying how "smart" the group is and that they've "done their homework," but I'm not so sure. It feels like a moment where the show is (once again) insistent that the group is far more talented and brilliant than their actions actually imply. It's only the rules of the world twisting and turning that allows for their success. To say nothing of how the episode dropped all these rules on the viewer in a ten minute info dump, ensuring we didn’t have any time to think about them before the deed was done.

It doesn't add up for me and honestly, even putting that aside? I hate this. I absolutely despise it. Look, if it turns out this really does make sense then props to the group for coming up with that plan. Our snag aside, the rest is a legitimately well thought out wish. I don't have a problem with the execution so much as the message. I've been saying since Volume 7 that RWBY has done Penny a disservice in terms of her "real girl" narrative. Whereas before we had a firm message that you don't need "squishy guts" to be human, to be real, Volume 8 continued to carry us further and further into the idea that it is necessary. That Penny's body is entirely inhuman, something to hate, but at least her soul is human and good. That's what the virus arc taught us: your terrible, technological body might be betraying you, but hold onto the parts of you that are really human. I hated that too, but I never thought RWBY would go this far. They made Penny fully human and went, “THIS is the version that always should have existed.”

And this isn't just me reading into the implications. It's right there in the text. Blake says that they're looking for “Penny, the girl who’s always been there underneath." Meaning, underneath the metal. The girl exists trapped in the robot body. Yang holds up her arm and says that the metal is only "extra," it's not really who you are.

That gets into two perspectives on disability that RWBY just doesn't have the nuance for: what's an integral and celebratory part of one person's existence can be seen as something separate and discomforting to another. Though there are many people with disabilities who would happily cure themselves with a magic Staff if given the chance, there are just as many who say no, this is a part of my identity. I don't want to change, I just want the world to accommodate my existence. However, RWBY takes a hard stance here, saying that any metal in your body is intrinsically bad. We didn’t use to have this take, but now the show has embraced it. Blake says the real Penny is trapped in there. Yang's words implies that she'd get rid of this "extra" bit of her if possible. Mercury with his metal legs is the enemy. Ironwood with half his metal body is the enemy. Whereas once difference was truly accepted, now it's shunned and fixed whenever possible. Those who can't be fixed, like Yang, must simply deal with the lot they've been dealt, reassuring themselves that the metal isn't really them. But Penny? Penny they can fix.

So they do and the very first thing Penny does is hug Ruby, exclaiming, “Do hugs always make you feel this warm inside? Wow. More!” and proceeds to hug all the others.

What's the underlying message there? Penny didn't understand hugs before this moment. She never experienced the "warmth" of them while an android, despite the fact that here warmth is entirely metaphorical and has nothing to do with a literally cold body. RWBY really went and said that the "real girl” android was never actually real at all — not as real as she could be — because it's only when she's given "squishy guts" that she understands the true happiness of a hug.

Wow.

I mean seriously, wow.

Never-mind that, you know, we've seen that happiness and warmth since she was first introduced.

RWBY is really rewriting all the core themes introduced in Volumes 1-3 and it sucks. The show is absolutely the worse for it.

To say nothing of all the other disservices to Penny's character here. There's all this buildup about whether she'll still be the same Penny once the wish is complete, but of course she is. We wouldn't want to have Penny struggle when she becomes something other than what she's always been, would we? After all, it took Yang an entire volume to work through the shock of a metal arm, but taking away a metal body for a human one is in no way traumatic. Having a normal, human body is intrinsically a good thing! Of course Penny accepts it with nothing but smiles. Becoming human is celebratory, but becoming more machine is a horror.

She gets to watch her body self-destruct, glitching out and collapsing in front of her. But again, nothing to unpack there that can't be covered with a hand over her mouth.

There's no discussion of whether Penny still has the Maiden powers, or whether a wish like that would mess with the transfer in any way. How did the group know this action wouldn't register as a clear-cut death, forcing the power out of her and into someone new? Obviously they couldn’t know, but no one even thought to bring it up?

And the entire time they're formulating their evacuation plan, there's no talk of whether these portals will appear before everyone currently alive in the kingdom. I mean, if they do then Ironwood and Jacques can just waltz through and escape into Vacuo. If they don’t, then Maria and Pietro don't necessarily have a way out. We still don't know if they're stuck floating in Amity, or if Amity crashed, or if they made their way back to Mantle or Atlas. More importantly, the characters don't know. I have no problem with RWBY keeping that a surprise until the finale, but I absolutely take issue with Pietro's daughter walking through a portal, seemingly not to care whether her father is going to make it out too.

It's been the same with Qrow and his nieces' relationships. The show is good at insisting that these families love each other because they hug and smile while on screen together, but when shit is actually going down, none of them care about pesky things like disappearances, arrests, or “The last time I saw you, you were with an old woman on a damaged station after a villain attack, potentially stranded in deadly cold if life support failed.”

So yeah, this entire arc with Penny has been a disaster. From throwing away her framing subplot, to giving her a virus that did absolutely nothing, to giving her the Maiden powers which she's also done nothing with, to erasing her android status for a “She's really human now” message, Penny has been done dirty by the show these last two volumes. Not nearly to the extent Ironwood has, but still. At this point I wish they'd just kept her dead dead. Why do I want her back when that resurrection produces no reaction, her conflicts lead nowhere, and one of the core things that made Penny Penny has now been magically erased?

I've been saying for weeks that killing Penny off and keeping Penny around each had serious downsides attached, yet I never expected RWBY to do BOTH.

Also, I'm warding off any, "But Pinocchio was made into a real boy too" defenses. RWBY is not Pinocchio. Penny is not Pinocchio. I thought the allusion was going to be the Pinocchio inspired girl heading into the whale, not the show forcing the exact plotline — down to a blue, magical creature — onto a character whose entire journey has been about accepting herself as an android. Congratulations, RT. You just obliterated years of work.

Again, if you'd like an example of how to do this far better:

As Penny's character falls apart, Atlas shakes, alerting Jaune and the other that a new wish has been granted. Jaune pecks at the screen and realizes "That did, uh, something…?” but doesn’t realize that there's a giant, red "LIVE" up in the corner.

Jaune tries to warn the entire kingdom about their plan, but what he actually says is

“Atlas is falling, but — !”

And then the communications cut out.

Watts, perhaps?

Our heroes are really good at saying things that make large populaces panic, huh? This is the one (1) snag in their "impossible" plan, but as said above, it doesn't amount to anything. We get a shot of Nora, horrified at the thought of kingdom-wide communications being down, but literally seconds later Team RWBY has made portals appear that everyone can walk through. So... why do we care about communications? More importantly, why does the show try to make us care? So much time is spent getting the viewer invested in problems that never come to mean anything.

Including the problem of Salem herself.

Because the group successfully creates that evacuation plan. This is it. Everyone is leaving while Salem still reforms.

Yang asks if they can use the vaults themselves as a single point for everyone to go to and Ambrosius agrees. So everyone is going to pile into the Vacuo vault that can only be opened by an unknown Maiden? They're going to put an entire kingdom's worth of people, including their enemies, into the vault where the Relic of Destruction is? Yeah, that's great. Prior to this — like if this had been the plan at the end of Volume 7 — I would have 100% agreed that these risks are better than death by Salem/grimm/cold. Now though, Oscar as axed Salem for an unknown length of time, the cold is having no impact on the civilians outside, and the grimm only attack background military personnel that supposedly no one cares about. They couldn't have spent another few minutes (especially with time stopped!) to figure out a means of getting to Vacuo that doesn't involve revealing and providing access to the location of a super secret vault? To say nothing of what they're going to do if Salem wakes up and snags one of those portals for herself. Two kingdoms for the price of one!

But that's what they're going with. Weiss gives Ambrosius a schematic of the kingdom, I guess, and he makes branching pathways appear with numerous portals for everyone to step through. They'll enter through one and, when they exit another, will be in Vacuo. Easy peasy, right? Especially since Ambrosius doesn't seem to have any limitations about how often his power is used. Is it three creations every 100 years like Jinn? We're not told, at least not to my recollection. However, I was expecting there to be a waiting period, that they'd fix Penny, go to evacuate the kingdom, and learn that sorry, I can't make another creation just yet. It feels like the sort of shit move these beings would pull — "Don't cry to me when it's not what you wanted" — it would have been another commentary on the group's insistence on putting friends over the people's safety (like demanding the Ace Ops not bomb the whale because of Oscar), and crucially, would have kept the action in Atlas. Isn't that what this volume is? The battle for and potential destruction of the Kingdom of Atlas? We have two episodes left and, unless something unexpected happens, we're moving that action to Vacuo. Why?

Meanwhile, Penny's corpse is just chilling in the background 😬

While all this is going on, Winter reassures Jacques that he and Ironwood will be evacuated too, though she makes it clear saving him was Weiss' idea. It checks out, considering Weiss is the one who turned her father's arrest into a joke last volume. Winter still takes his abuse seriously.

The group prepares to leave with a celebratory, "We did it!" from Weiss. I'm still banging my head against that dining room table. Before they can pass through the portal though, Ambrosius leaves them with one, dire warning: "Do not fall."

In any other story a line like that is a neon sign announcing to the audience that someone will absolutely fall, and maybe they will, but RWBY has dodged consequences so often I wouldn't be surprised if this was merely another way to string us along. Remember all the hype surrounding Salem? The cold combined with her army and magic? How she was going to decimate Atlas and leave our group broken in a Fall 2.0?

I mean, we still have two episodes left. Forty minutes of content. Salem might still decimate them, especially since something has to happen in the finale. But god, it's a problem that we've come this far without a payoff. Salem randomly decided not to attack anyone, was stopped by a weapon added in solely for this purpose, and now the whole kingdom is being evacuated with a plan the group could have used at the start. This volume really is meaningless.

“We go to vacuo and hope we’ve thought of everything” they say as the camera zooms in on Cinder's smiling face. For the second week in a row.

Bingo time!

Winter betrayed Ironwood, the group used the Staff of Creation, and I'm axing Maria on behalf of Pietro. You can't have the guy's daughter become human — after he was killing himself to give her his aura?? — and magically walk to Vacuo, not knowing if he's even survived since she last saw him, and expect me to think he hasn't been forgotten. Same with Maria. Has the group mentioned her since Amity cut out, notably for reasons they couldn’t explain? Of course not. Did they care to find out what happened? Of course not. I have no doubt they'll both re-appear in the next two episodes, Pietro crying over how perfect his girl is now and Maria congratulating the group on their actions, but we're still marking it.

This is the ugliest thing I’ve ever created, I hope you all are enjoying it :D

Another week, another couple feet added to the hole we’re digging. I know I keep saying I have no idea what's going to happen next... but I have no idea what's going to happen next. A Vacuo ending was not in the cards, not outside of them miraculously showing up in ships. Maybe they have been on their way to Atlas (somehow...) and will arrive precisely when everyone has left! Anything is possible at this point.

See you next Saturday, everyone. Hold on until then lol. 💜

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby creation

93 notes · View notes

murasaki-naga · 3 years ago

Note

I don't know if this was asked or talked about before, but how did Kenji and Taika meet?

it was mentioned in this post but now you’ve done the horrible thing that is enabling me to TALK MORE

as mentioned, taika stopped kenji from being hit by a car!

kenji was crossing the street to naga’s school to pick her up at the gate, and she waited for him there like he told her to because she’s 5 and can stick to things, if she trips in the middle of the road it’s Not Ideal.

he waits until the light goes red and starts to cross the street, when this car with two villains that taika was chasing turns the corner and moves towards kenji, way too fast for him to react to it quickly enough to avoid getting hit.

before the car could hit him tho, a fucking LION falls out of the SKY and kenji’s like “bitch i died THAT fast? im already in hell???” but no it was just taika who had been following them as a Birb but turned into a lion to stop the car.

in his defence, he did stop the car.

first he terrified the shit out of the two villains, bc lions? kinda scary and before kenji knows it the police are there, the villains are arrested and he’s sitting on the sidewalk with a juice box from naga’s backpack while this sweaty shirtless man checks him for injuries and he’s kinda out of it (maybe from shock, maybe from hitting his head, maybe from a bisexual panic, who knows).

taika says he’s got a concussion, and naga won’t unstick from his leg (literally) so he makes the executive decision to take kenji to the nearest hospital.

so he tells naga to hang on tight to his leg.

and then he picks kenji up and walks towards the hospital.

kenji keeps drinking his apple juice. because when a shirtless hot man picks you up bridal style while you drink apple juice, you don’t protest.

naga is immediately enamoured with this new friend of hers and kenji is maybe kind of a little in love (he does have a concussion)(the crush doesn’t leave after it heals though)(they never talked about it, but taika kept coming over even though he had no reason to)(they’re very gay).

#and the idea of babie naga makes my heart swell #sorry for rambling anon #i just love them a lot #also #i needed to tell this story in some way or another #and i sure as fuck wasn’t gonna draw this whole thing out #bnha oc comeback #class 1 y #naga murasaki // hugger #murasaki kenji #utsushichi taika // dracula #murasaki naga #naga answers!!!#anon

8 notes · View notes

rivalsforlife · 4 years ago

Note

Kay and Simon interactions just because... I don't know. Bird buddies I guess?

Hmm admittedly this is not something I’ve thought about much! Though I do like the thought of them first meeting during DD, when Simon’s out temporarily prosecuting and Kay likes lurking around the prosecutor’s office and bugging her favourite people. Simon’s working really hard to put up his wall of I Am A Terrible Big Bad Murderer Don’t Come Near Me and Kay just slides in like “IS THAT A BIRD HOW DID YOU GET HIM TO LISTEN TO YOU AND ATTACK PEOPLE CAN YOU TEACH ME?????”

Kay’s not really intimidated by typically intimidating-seeming people, or at least, she’s got a really good sense for when someone is actually an intimidating person to avoid or just like. seems intimidating secretly soft (like Miles, who she literally introduces at one point as “He’s not as scary as he looks, so it’s okay”). So she hears about Simon being an intimidating prosecutor who committed murder and is wary, but she becomes like 100% sure he didn’t do it when she sees him head scritch Taka for the first time. Plus, Mr. Edgeworth believes he didn’t do it, and she knows he must have a good reason for believing that. Kay also seems to have a lot of sympathy in her (her reaction to Calisto Yew after she’s arrested -- “I feel like I peered into her heart a little, and it’s so cold, and dark, and incredibly lonely” -- for example) so knowing that presumably he is an innocent man unjustly locked up in prison for seven years, she wants to help him out and be his friend, which comes through a shared interest which is BIRB.

Because Kay totally wants a crow or raven she can train to be her companion, and she’s never really known where to begin. Simon probably tries to brush her off at first, but one of his weak points is Taka, so they bond pretty quickly talking about birds. Whenever Kay tries to push too hard on his personal life, Simon closes off, so they stick to talking about birds most of the time. Simon starts secretly enjoying it when he’s leaving a trial and Kay comes skidding around the corner like “HEY BLACKQUILL does Taka ever bring you little trinkets or is that just a crow thing???” Kay wants to help as much as she can, even if that’s slower progress than what her lawyer friends are making, and she hopes that one day she can get Simon to open up to her and tell her what happened -- it doesn’t happen before the end of DD, though, since Simon is determined to take that secret to his grave. I do feel like she could get closer to Simon because of that interest, and Simon can tell she’s not always just asking these things to try and get him to open up, but out of genuine interest in Taka and other birds, which makes him a little more friendly towards her.

It’s possible he considers Kay as a potential owner for Taka after his upcoming execution, depending on how much they bond, since Kay would clearly take good care of him and is gathering a bunch of knowledge. (The alternative is Aura, who he probably wouldn’t trust with a living thing after seeing how she treats her robots lol. Or Athena, who would take good care of Taka, but I don’t think Simon would want to keep reminding her of what she’d failed to do.) So that leaves Kay, his weird bird-loving friend. He might not tell her the exact execution date but does make morbid jokes about her taking in Taka after he’s gone. While Kay loves Taka, she doesn’t want that to happen, but promises to take care of him if it ever does come to that -- and it gets close!

After Simon is freed, though, they can reconnect and Simon introduces her to aviaries and more training techniques for birds that they can get into in depth now that Simon isn’t in prison and has his contact outside restricted. It helps him acclimate a little more, and Kay ends up with a well-trained crow as a companion, much to the terror of the prosecutor’s office that now has to deal with two birds swooping through (and Kay doesn’t even work there!!)

#asks #'I don't have any thoughts on this' I say before writing a bunch of thoughts #I'm weirdly invested in this now thanks anon #BIRD BUDDIES #dd spoilers #aai spoilers #just in case those are needed

11 notes · View notes

electricfied-wolf · 3 years ago

Text

Hehe Flourite au go brrr-

I’ve always been a little miffed about how Flourite was trashed, tossed to the side, last minute rep, you could say. So, awhile back I made an au, and today I’m bringing it back full force! It’s an au that’s mostly centered around Flourite, more specifically, Flourite’s components and their story, who they are, what they’re all about. I still need to work on a bunch of things, but for now, have my own versions of who her parts are.

Aqua Aura Quartz: Mama bear figure my beloved....she may or may not be my favorite. One of the bigger parts in terms of size, Aqua use to be a guard for rather high up elites, handed around by various Gems until she got ‘permanently’ stuck as a personal bodyguard for a Gem known as Tanzanite. She was always rather drawn to this Gem, something about she way she acted and how she treated Aqua so kindly....really got the big lady crushin’. It turned out the Tanzanite felt a similar way, and all of this was concerned when she did the one thing nobody around her expected: inviting Aqua to dance with her in front of a huge group of Gems, including some of the Diamond’s most beloved Gems.....that got everyone riled up, and Aqua did what she does best....protect Tanzanite. She kept protecting her, all the way as she began protecting others, as she grew close and in love with them all, becoming a fierce beast against those who wanted to hurt them. Flourite had a bit of a violent record because of Aqua’s urge to protect. Aqua’s a lovely lady in all honesty, a big sweet teddy bear, always smitten by her girlfriends, the main source of Flourite’s motherly and caring nature, but also the source of her anger and her power.

Tanzanite: Once a royal Gem of high standards, now a happy and shameless rebel, Tanzanite adds a lot of balance to the group, the one to soothe Aqua’s outbursts, the one to provide guidances and a level head, as well as a bit of style when it’s needed. She has calmed down from her past, but when she was younger, she was a wild thing, after all, when she was free of those fancy chains and her big strong bodyguard girlfriend plays guitar as a weapon, why shouldn’t she have been? She, herself, had two big daggers on her side, and she had no problem slicing Gems in half....maybe she had a bit of influence for Flourite’s violence as well. Of course, just because she’s a sucker for kicking ass doesn’t mean she can’t be ladylike, she still keeps her elegance after all this time, just not as stuck up as she once was. The more sensible half to Aqua’s “protect first, questions later” attitude. Uses the fact that Aqua is a HUGE cuddlebug to help when she feels bad, big gf cuddles are helpful when you need comfort.

(Purple) Star Sapphire: Surprisingly, she didn’t work for Tanzanite, in fact, she never worked for anyone. Star came out far taller than she was supposed to (Not as big as Aqua or Tanza...just taller than a Sapphire normally would be), and so she wasn’t exactly meant to live. However, she escaped execution and for a lengthy amount of time, lived as a rogue theiving rebel, a lil’ pirate of sorts. She bumped into Tanzanite and Aqua when they were both trying to escape from some Homeworld Gems, and they stuck together ever since then. Star is an expert a pick-pocketing and rather clever in terms of escaping prisons...she did it a lot y’know. She and Tanzanite like to spar together, they have fun. Aqua ambushes her with kisses, and she squeaks in rage and love, she doesn’t like being reminded that she’s still small despite being tall for the average Sapphire, but she loves affection.

Sunset Tourmaline: Talkshow host??? She/they???? She/they Talkshow host!!! Or, something along the lines of a talkshow host. Flashy, goofy, just frickin head empty zone in this house. She loves to crack jokes, sometimes when she shouldn’t like when they’re in the middle of almost getting arrested again. Their humor does help out often though, they know just how to get their loved ones to laugh, which really boosts moral when things get rough for the group. She has a staff that she likes to twirl around, it’s kinda also a weapon but she prefers to use it to look flashy. Very confident in her appearance, tells their girlfriends they’re beautiful at least ten times a day.

Amazonite: Birb lady. Birb. Lady. She used to be a performer herself, but ended up turning against Homeworld because she started to feel like she wasn’t being treated right...she felt like she was really just an object. Like Gems just thought she was pretty and nothing else. Her job was over the day she met Aqua before a show one evening....nothing like being whisked away by a ocean lookin’ lady and ending up in a loving relationship. It was nice to be treated like...y’know...an actual person for once. She loves to dance still, she dances with Tanza and Tourmaline a lot. Probably the one who helped put their fusion dance together.

Moonstone: Looks like a soft marshmallow lady, is really a bitter cat and sometimes an angry chihuahua. Probably the one with the least development, still a big work in progress, but trust me, she feisty and is ready to just start biting people again, not interested in being straight or polite. I love her even tho she hardly got any development yet.

#steven universe #steven universe au #We Are Six au #my au #steven universe ocs #my ocs #MMM I LOVE THEM <3 #They're still wips here and there #so if some of them feel undeveloped #thats why #im still working on em' all

2 notes · View notes

mangysah · 2 years ago

Note

hello felow person back on tumblr, been enjoying your vacation from hell (twitter)?

why henlo fellow asker. yes very much so, would like to stay here for a bit than going back to that bottomless pit. ive been enjoying my vacation

#many ppl here r quite funny too. gonna b sticking around #oh yah this is kinda my first ask on this blog i should make a tag #birb does arresting #← haha get it because. my asks title is. confess your crimes. ok ill stop im being lame

2 notes · View notes

pompeiibonzai · 5 years ago

Text

The Impact of Clover

I’ll probably get flack for this, but honestly I don’t care. This is something that has been eating at me for roughly two weeks now and if I don’t get something written down and out into the ether, I might lose it.

(Cut due to longish rant and possible spoilers)

I had no emotional response to Clover’s death. It didn’t affect me.

I mean, I get why it was a big deal for Qrow and I felt bad for him. In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that Jason Leibricht really sold the emotional impact the moment had on our favorite birb uncle. As the season progressed, I wasn’t entirely sold on Jason for this role. To me, it felt as though he was holding back or playing it safe and as a result had fallen into the Generic Older Male Voice (also known as Dad Voice) that I’ve heard a thousand times before. But this moment, that guttural yell of “I’ll kill you!” after Tyrian skewered Clover with Harbinger, followed by the quiet oath to bring Ironwood down really brought out the emotion of the scene. It all underlined how Qrow, who was just starting to crawl out of his rock bottom, has had his footing outed from under him again and is prepared to cross a line he may not come back from. Kudos to Jason for bringing that kind of emotion to the role.

But I’m not here to talk about Jason’s performance. I’m not really even here to talk about Qrow. I’m here to talk about Clover as a character and why his death (rather than Qrow’s response to it) didn’t hit me as it seems to have hit so many others.

The main reason is that I don’t feel as though we were given anything about Clover to make us care about him as a character. At the end of the Volume 7, all I took away from Clover as a character was:

1. Elite Soldier (Huntsman?)

2. Follows Orders (loyal to Ironwood)

3. “Good”

And I’ll admit, I wasn’t even sold on that last point until literally the end of the volume. Why? Because we were told nothing about him and it felt as though it was done on purpose, like something was purposefully being kept from us as an audience. I think that’s why so many people (myself included) didn’t trust Clover.

This brings me to the concept of character motivations. Motivations (why a character does or says the things they do or say) are paramount to a character. Those three traits I listed above are a good base for a character, but they aren’t in of themselves motivations. How did Clover become a member of the Ace Ops, much less their leader. Why is he so loyal to Ironwood that he would risk arresting his ally and supposed “friend” (while in the middle of transporting a known serial killer), just to follow his orders? What is his interest in Qrow? Does he remind Clover of someone he was once close to? Does he not like seeing people so down on themselves? Does he feel some kind of connection to him because of their semblances or because they share the unique position of knowing the Truth?

These are all questions that could have easily been answered in any of the interactions between Clover had with Ironwood, his team or Qrow. I’m not saying we need an in-depth backstory or anything close, but a couple of lines here and there that give the audience a little insight into his character.

An example of some established character motivations and is the insight we were given for Ironwood. I don’t agree with the decisions he’s making by the end of the volume (in fact, I think they’re absolutely terrible decisions), but I at least understand why he’s making them. We are shown repeatedly the motivations that are currently driving Ironwood. As one of the few people who know the truth about Salem, he feels an immense responsibility to keep Atlas safe. However, because of the growing tensions between Atlas and Mantle, he feels increasingly overwhelmed and isolated. Penny’s father observes that Ironwood is tired and we see that ourselves within the first few minutes of the first episode. Ironwood also feels a sense of responsibility for what happened to Vale. He says that it was his machines that were used against them and that he isn’t going to ever let that happen again. In a way, even with Penny and Winter at his side and the Ace Ops backing him up, Ironwood has taken his kingdom’s survival onto his own shoulders and his shoulders alone.

I could go on dissecting Ironwood’s character and his motivations, but that’s a different paper for a different time. The point I’m trying to make here is that by establishing Ironwood’s motivations and giving an insight into his character, the audience is given a reason to care about him and the decisions he makes, regardless if we think them to be good or bad. We don’t get that with Clover.

Because we don’t know anything about Clover’s motivations, the fact that he tries to arrest Qrow while in the middle of transporting Tyrian, not only makes him look foolish, but far from the elite soldier he’s made out to be. You would think that an elite soldier would come to the reasonable conclusion that getting the very dangerous serial killer in his custody to a secure location would be the bigger priority than arresting a possibly rogue huntsman. I remember staring at my screen dumbfounded when Clover got up to attempt to arrest Qrow. I even said out loud: “You idiot! Get the killer behind bars first! What are you doing?!” If we had been told (or better yet shown) that Clover has the same sort of blind loyalty to Ironwood that Qrow had to Ozpin, this would have made more sense. Don’t get me wrong, it still would have been stupid, but at least we would have understood why his priorities were skewed the way they were.

Similarly, we don’t know Clover’s reasoning for befriending Qrow in the first place, therefore his attempts to arrest him and the resulting fight don’t carry the weight I think it should have or was meant to have. And here I’m going to say something that is probably going to be very unpopular: I never bought the friendship (or budding ship, if you’re into shipping) the plot was trying to set up between them. To me it felt incredibly one-sided. Clover said a couple of nice things to Qrow for Reasons and suddenly the two of them are besties? Potential lovers? That’s not how that works! I don’t know, maybe coming off of Volume 6 Qrow was so starved for positive attention from someone that literally anyone could have said something nice to him and he’d immediately be eating out of the palm of their hand. This “friendship” reminded me so much of Caboose’s one-sided friendship with Church in RvB. However, where Caboose and Church is played for laughs (mostly), Qrow and Clover is played perfectly straight and I couldn’t help but cringe every time the two of them interacted on screen. As I mentioned earlier, if it had not been for Jason bringing his A-game in that final fight between them, the whole thing would have fallen so flat for me.

Again, it didn’t have to be this way. Clover could have easily said “hey, man, I’ve been where you are now…” or “you remind me of a someone I knew…” or “my semblance has isolated me too…” or something that would have explained why he decided Qrow needed to hear what he had to say. We could have learned about Clover as a character. Hell, if we had learned more about him we could have drawn parallels between him and Qrow, their semblances of good and bad luck and their relationships with and to their respective superiors. Through learning about Clover, we could have seen their bond form and grow. Then when the two of them found themselves facing off against each other, weapons drawn, prepared to fight each for their own reasons it would have had a more significant impact. Clover’s death then could have been gut-wrenching, not just for Qrow, but for us. It could have meant so much more. Clover could have been so much more than simply a tool used to further someone else’s story arc.

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #Fischer Writes!#unpopular opinion probably

13 notes · View notes

lokiarsene · 5 years ago

Note

more p5s spoilers now that i can mention it: c5f zvtug ergernq n srj cybg guernqf sebz c5 cerggl pybfryl, ohg v nccerpvngrq gung jr trg n sbyybjhc ba (cneg bs) gur pbafcvenpl. v arrq gb qbhoyrpurpx gur gvzrsenzrf zragvbarq sbe cebwrpg benpyr ntnva, ohg rirelguvat nobhg vg vf vagevthvat tvira jung vg vaibyirq. gura gurer'f fbzr bs bbjnqn'f npgvbaf unccravat juvyr tbeb jnf vaibyirq jvgu gur pbafcvenpl. pbzovarq jvgu n srj raqvat ovgf, v guvax gurl'er ohvyqvat hc gb ng yrnfg bar zber sbyybjhc.

(i’m too lazy to rot13 this so jfdksajklsd spoilers y’all)

that was my impression too; owada being directly tied to shido (i believe zenkichi said that he was “behind” shido in the election last year?), operation oracle making use of cognitive psience, tony starkira working in league with owada (the same way shido & co. were involved in the medjed debacle in p5/p5r)--all of it was very familiar. in hindsight i see it less in a rehashing way, but in a continuation of things that happened before and would keep happening.

operation oracle reminded me a lot of what we learned in that featherman game in p5r, honestly. it involved human experimentation in an isolated lab; tony starkira, who loved a featherman-esque show (or was it featherman? i can’t remember) takes on the role of a zephyrman, a birb-like hero whose name is just the inverse of feather (fe-za; ze-fa). instead of it being focused on taking down a group of heroes, operation oracle was about eliminating suffering (ostensibly) which.... sounds a lot like what maruki does.

p5s was written in such a way that it could easily go into a continuation if that’s what they want, or at least to have some of those things being referenced in wherever they go next. owada’s arrest in the ending had me wondering who else in the conspiracy got away scott free, and what they’d possibly do in the future. i just don’t know where else they could go, i guess.

#p5s spoilers #Anonymous #this is the ask tag

10 notes · View notes

t-obiobito · 6 years ago

Text

Hizashi (Present Mic) as a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo Birb 💗

I also made some scenarios (or whatever you avid fanfic readers and writers call it) of what I imagine what it’s like to live with a Bird Mic! I usually don’t do things like this, so please excuse the noob ideas-

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

- Hizashi has had many families before, but none of them could withstand all of his energy, so he never had an everlasting home. When you two finally crossed paths, you were warned about his problems, but you weren’t too worried about it. You felt like you two made a connection when he happily greeted you with a squeaky, “Hello!”

- But the first week of having Hizashi was starting to make you believe otherwise. he was a little bratty, loud-mouthed you with bird talk, never listened to you, and always started screaming whenever he didn’t get what he wanted. At first, you tried not to mind too much because you figured Hizashi hasn’t familiarized himself with your home, and homes have been rejecting him a lot, so you tried your best to get him comfortable.

- Nothing really worked. He still acted stubborn, loud, and defiant. You’ve relied on the Internet to find solutions, but everything was for naught.

- It wasn’t until he started tearing and picking at some of the furniture, that, that was the last straw, and you were going to take him back to his old owners or send him to a rescue center. All this destruction was too much for your pockets and your patience.

- His previous owners did not want him back, though. It was then decided that you were going to take him somewhere else to be taken care of until someone more suitable could adopt him. On the day that you were going to drop him off, you called out for him when it was time to go, but he was nowhere to be seen.

- He was hiding from you, and as soon as you found him, he started going crazy, screeching and nipping his sharp beak at you. He was in a corner and refused to leave it.

- “Zashi, sorry! Zashi, sorry!” he was screaming, and you were a little shocked that he was finally speaking to you with words instead of weird bird yelling.

- His words made you wonder how many times he’s acted like that before he was booted from a family and passed onto the next. You would hate to admit it, but the little feeling of guilt that bubbled in your stomach ate you up as you watched the bird have a fit, knowing that Hizashi couldn’t help but be his loud, eccentric self, and he just needs to be accepted and taught how to behave. You didn’t know how to do that though, considering how your extensive research didn’t do squat for him.

- You’ll figure it out, you told yourself.

- You decided to give him another chance, but you bought a bird cage before the day was over.

- Things started improving from there on. He was much more tolerable and listened to you more often. He’s still a loud and busybody brat, but you’ve come to terms with his craziness, and didn’t want to tame too much of it, as it made Hizashi, Hizashi.

- He usually responds to Hizashi, but refers to himself as “Zashi.” He has a nickname for you too.

- The first time you let him outside freely, he gave you cardiac arrest when he was almost ran over by an oncoming car, and refused to fly back to the house when he nearly died. So whenever you let him outside for fresh air and sunlight, you always put him in the outside cage you got for him. Even though you love him your Zashi, you can’t trust him to behave and not fly off into death’s grip.

- Hizashi is very playful and loves it when you want to play games with him. His favorite game is hide and seek, and one of the obvious ways you would know he wants to play it is when he’s not in your face, and he’s been quiet for too long (the silence would sometimes have you fearing for the worse, though).

- You’d play along with him. He has 3 hiding spots he uses a lot: your bedroom, the bathroom, and underneath tables. Most of the time, Hizashi makes it obvious where he is, so to humor him, you would play the good ol’, “Oh, where could you possibly be?” and pretend that you have no idea where he is. Hizashi loves thinking that he’s fooled you.

- Whenever you find him, Hizashi will squawk out in shock before quickly scrambling away to go hide somewhere else.

- Hizashi is fond of other animals, but he hates being around insects. Just thinking about them makes his feathers crawl.

- He doesn’t like taking off his glasses when he leaves the house.

- For Halloween, you dress him up in his hero costume. He won’t wear anything else.

- Hizashi also doesn’t like spending time in his cage. So you can imagine whenever you lock him up, he starts screeching up a storm. Of course at nighttime, he will voluntarily sleep in it. Just leave it cracked for him, so he can check on you throughout the night, or sneak around the house.

- In the morning, the moment he knows that you’re up, he will start squawking his head off. The only way to get him to stop is with breakfast or squawking louder than him.

- Hizashi has no problem with waking you up from a nap, but don’t even think about waking him up from his.

- His second favorite person is Aizawa. Let’s say he’s your neighbor or somethin,’ and whenever you’re gone for long periods of time, Aizawa would take care of Hizashi of you. Hizashi’s grown quite fond of him and will go dumb crazy when he sees or hears him.

- You sometimes feel like Aizawa’s (unrequited) rival when it comes to who does Hizashi love the most.

- You also discovered that he likes kids. One day, Aizawa took Hizashi with him to U.A., unbeknownst to you. You were preparing to clock him over the head for taking your bird without permission, but hearing how Hizashi had a good time with the students and how fun he made the day for everyone, made you rethink about murdering Aizawa with blunt force trauma.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

If there are any spelling/grammar errors that I may’ve overlooked, then please let me know! Thanks for reading!

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #bnha present mic #bnha hizashi #present mic #yamada hizashi #bnha aizawa #bnha animal au #cartoon animal #not my original idea #scenarios #tobiobiart

18 notes · View notes

hypereactive · 5 years ago

Text

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? my best friend

2. Are you outgoing or shy? shy

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? my best friend

4. Are you easy to get along with? depends. i try to be, but im also REALLY picky/have strong opinions on a lot of stuff, and im autistic..

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? yeah

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? a caring one, who listens before judging

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? yeah

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? my best friend

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? sometimes

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? probably my best friend

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? “o”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? uhm. I like A LOT of songs.

billie ellish- bury a friend and you should see me in a crown

rag’n’bone man - human

rebel - black pearl (hes a pirate)

Aladdin soundtrack - Prince Ali and one jump ahead

arctic monkeys - Do I wanna know?

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? rarely

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? yea

15. What good thing happened this summer? new job, in my field of study

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? yepp

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? probs at least simple life

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? only if I run into him getting coffee (he works there)

19. Do you like bubble baths? if im in the mood

20. Do you like your neighbors? one i do, one i absolutely dont, the rest i dont interact w

21. What are you bad habits? im REALLY picky, and can come off as ungrateful (if u can’t do it right id rather u just not do it. apparently its more common to think at least you got something/they tried.)

22. Where would you like to travel? Anywhere w the right people. Nowhere without.

23. Do you have trust issues? kinda. More like I understand people wont understand me or meet my needs adequately.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? morning coffee

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? my chin/teeth

26. What do you do when you wake up? if I have ResponsibilitesTM i get up and get coffee and leave the house in less than 20 min, otherwise i lay in bed on tumblr until i have to get up due to responsibilities or hunger.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? im good w where its at tbh

28. Who are you most comfortable around? my best friend

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? yeah.

30. Do you ever want to get married? yeah

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail? lol yesss

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? none?

33. Spell your name with your chin. bdfuds

34. Do you play sports? What sports? not really. i like frisbee and longboarding if those count.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? TV

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? no. I cant keep secrets.

37. What do you say during awkward silences? i usu dont. ill just go on my phone/leave/etc

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? my best friend.

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? hot topic

40. What do you want to do after high school? lol im not in high school

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? depends on what they did and why, and if they want to grow as a person/make it right

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? im tired/overwhelmed/content/bored

43. Do you smile at strangers? if i lock eyes with them and they smiled, i might smile back, but im pretty good at Not Looking At People

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? ocean

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? ResponsibilitiesTM

46. What are you paranoid about? having a heart attack and no one being around to help me/not noticing until its too late

47. Have you ever been high? yea

48. Have you ever been drunk? yea

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? no

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? black

51. Ever wished you were someone else? no, but i have wished my parents were

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? my chin probs. idk i like myself

53. Favourite makeup brand? i dont wear makeup

54. Favourite store? this is a duplicate question.

55. Favourite blog? uhm.

56. Favourite colour? black/grey/light pink/raspberry/celery green

57. Favourite food? cheese, cheddar brats, spinach, chocolate chip cookies, milkshakes

58. Last thing you ate? rice w beef, spinach, egg and soy sauce

59. First thing you ate this morning? coffee and nutella

60. Ever won a competition? For what? I think so but i cant remember. Oh i think I won an anti-bullying poster competition once.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? lol nopee

62. Been arrested? For what? no

63. Ever been in love? few times now

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? uh. no. cuz i didnt even like the dude.

65. Are you hungry right now? no

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? i only have one real friend so I feel like thats unfair

67. Facebook or Twitter? tumblr.

68. Twitter or Tumblr? still tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now? lol no

70. Names of your bestfriends? no, bc hed not appreciate it

71. Craving something? What? not rn

72. What colour are your towels? grey or floral w pinks and blacks and oranges

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? 3

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? yes, usu. 2

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? total? uh. 8?

75. Favourite animal? birbs prob.

76. What colour is your underwear? why?

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate, unless its ice cream. then vanilla

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? berry (any) or cheesecake (also any)

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? grey

80. What colour pants? a darker grey

81. Favourite tv show? uh. i like sherlock.

82. Favourite movie? deadpool probs. or pirates of the Caribbean. or Aladdin. or detective pikachu.

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? never seen either

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? never seen either

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? n/a

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? uhm. I cant remember. Probs the black and white one w the scar, or the starfish, or the sea gull

87. First person you talked to today? my sister

88. Last person you talked to today? my best friend

89. Name a person you hate? my past roommate

90. Name a person you love? my best friend

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? my past roommate and most recent ex

92. In a fight with someone? currently? no? ever? yes.

93. How many sweatpants do you have? 5

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? 6

95. Last movie you watched? i dont know

96. Favourite actress? i dunno

97. Favourite actor? i dunno

98. Do you tan a lot? no

99. Have any pets? no

100. How are you feeling? i dont know

101. Do you type fast? yeah

102. Do you regret anything from your past? yeah, but not overly

103. Can you spell well? i think so

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? no

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? i dont think so, but i want to (w the right people)

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? yeah, oops

107. Have you ever been on a horse? yep

108. What should you be doing? cleaning my house

109. Is something irritating you right now? no

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? yea

111. Do you have trust issues? yea

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? my best friend

113. What was your childhood nickname? B. as in, just the letter

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? yea

115. Do you play the Wii? no

116. Are you listening to music right now? yea

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? not usually

118. Do you like Chinese food? i think so

119. Favourite book? uhm. sherlock (the whole series). the uglies series (scott westerfield). the secret garden. Fahrenheit 451. 1984.

120. Are you afraid of the dark? no, but sometimes im afraid theres something in it

121. Are you mean? no

122. Is cheating ever okay? no

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? if i want to

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? no

125. Do you believe in true love? im not sure i know what this means

126. Are you currently bored? no

127. What makes you happy? i dont know

128. Would you change your name? no

129. What your zodiac sign? gemini

130. Do you like subway? i cant eat there

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? lol weve been dating for a while now

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? my best friend

133. Favourite lyrics right now? uh. I dont know.

134. Can you count to one million? that would take a month, so no.

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? i dont know. probably that i couldnt go to work bc i was “throwing up from a migraine” when i hadnt thrown up (yet).

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? it varies

137. How tall are you? i think im like. 5′8″?

138. Curly or Straight hair? curly. but not consistent

139. Brunette or Blonde? i am a brunette

140. Summer or Winter? winter. i can always wear more clothes

141. Night or Day? night. its quiet and calm

142. Favourite month? august and october

143. Are you a vegetarian? no

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? yes.

145. Tea or Coffee? yes. depends on time of day/year/mood/etc

146. Was today a good day? i dont know

147. Mars or Snickers? mars

148. What’s your favourite quote? “if you cant explain it simply, you dont understand it well enough” -einstien is one of them. but there are more

149. Do you believe in ghosts? i dont know

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? “aunt lillian’s footsteps became more distant, became whispers, were gone.”

@ramblebrambleamble i got bored and answered all of them

#about me

1 note · View note

chachaidrawthings · 2 years ago

Conversation

Revy:

Kakyoin:

Nat: whatchu watching? 🙂

Revy: FOR FUCKIN SAKE, NORIAKI KAKYOIN...

14:13

Wysłano

xDDDDD tak, dokładnie to sobie tak wyobrażałam, ale nie napisałam, że bym chciała się dołączyć lol

Wysłano

podeszłam do was od tyłu. Nori obczajał prawo/lewo ale nie co dzieje się za nim ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

15:48

Best Brandhoe Kid

Basia Julciaa Sutasz

Nat: ARE WE WATCHING BIRBS?

Revy: NO, WE AIN'T WATCHING SHIT RIGHT NOW OW, FUCK-

Caesar: WHAT THE HELL, LADY

Revy: U WERE THE ONE BENDING OVER LIKE YOU'RE WAITING FOR MY FATHER TO COME AND FUCK YOU IN THE ASS!

Caesar: 😠

Kakyoin: Are you doing something illegal?

Nat: Nope, not yet

Kakyoin: We gonna be on a break in 10 minutes, how about we go n eat lunch together?

Caesar: We have no money, we didn't steal anything yet...

Kakyoin: Revy can pay with her dad's money she stole two days ago

Caesar: "Stole" you say? 👀

Revy: HE DIDN'T PAY THE CHILD SUPPORT AND POISONED MY MA, I'M JUST TAKING WHAT'S MINE...

17:30

Wysłano

Caesar usually: stoopit satan. she arrest. she won't let us be. Caesar when Revy does the illeagal: hm? 👀 Lady with questionable morals? Can kick my ass? Never listens to me coz she has big dick energy? Nat hold me, I'm falling. Nat: bro but u standing still bsides i have ma chickn nuggets can't hold ya. Caesar: Not 'falling falling' Nat, eyes brightening: OMG YOU'RE FALLING IN LOVE WITH SATAN!??? Caesar: gosh darn it not that loud woman

0 notes

catastrophe-conglomerate · 7 years ago

Text

Elemental Affairs - Session 5 Summary

Night has fallen in the Defiant Ship, silence crawls through the halls until the air suddenly carries a horrible scream and the sounds of a struggle. Lara and Rei, being elves, don’t need to sleep and hear the racket going on upstairs. They immediately run over to see what’s going on.

In the guest room where Blatrenn is, Auk is confronting him with their rapier drawn, in another attempt to end Blatrenn’s life. Rei and Lara manage to hold them off barely, though Auk still wants to kill him and is seconds away from just going through with it.

At this point, Lynnae wakes up and sees that Auk is no longer in the room with her. When she hears screams upstairs, she assumes the worst and runs over immediately, only to find things exactly the opposite of what she expected. Luckily, she manages to cool Auk off enough, telling them that she has a plan and that she needs Blatrenn alive for that. She takes them back to their room and waits until morning.

Once downstairs, Lyn distances herself from the group and keeps glaring at Hadall and Trick: the situation from yesterday hasn’t quite blown over and she distrusts them greatly.

Hadall takes Trick and the toddler aside and he starts talking to the child. She’s a fire-genasi tiefling with tiny little tusks and she’s absolutely adorable. When Hadall asks about where the child lives, she just answers with a happy “home!”. She also describes her home as “green” and with many “birbs”. Hadall asks for her name: she can say it, but it comes out a little fucky. She says “Kaya Covinus”, and Hadall’s face tightens immediately. In order to help her calm down and have fun, Rei casts minor illusion and makes a bird for Kaya to play with.

Now Hadall starts talking to Trick: he’s interested in the reason Trick gives out so many fake names to others. Not just that, too, the massive scar on Trick’s side has also piqued his interest. Trick explains how she had a reputation of playing harmless pranks in her hometown, until one day her family home burned down and she got the blame for it (despite the fact she witnessed goblins burning her home down). Her parents and siblings all perished in the fire and Trick was arrested. She broke out of prison and has been on the run ever since. She doesn’t know if there’s anyone still after her. Hadall asks her if Trick is her real name, to which Trick answers “it is now.” Trick spent some time in the circus, traveling around and performing. She misses that life.

Trick, in return, has some questions for Hadall: she’s wondering about the name that Rosa first addressed him with (Kuvan). It’s one of his names. Hadall reveals he’s from Fass, from a little village called Glynshyr, which Trick has visited with the circus once, at least a few years ago.

Lynnae butts into the conversation at this moment, telling Hadall and Trick that they still have something to discuss with her. Lyn wants to make it very clear that she will not appreciate being “fucked over” like yesterday, at which Hadall starts yelling that he wasn’t really the one fucking her over, but that she fucked over the team instead. Lyn’s convinced Hadall could have stopped her in a different way. They shout about matters of trust, how Lyn doesn’t dare trust Hadall anymore and, in return, how Hadall’s afraid that he can’t trust Lynnae in stressful situations because she’s practically a ticking timebomb. At this point Lynnae turns to Trick, asking her what the fuck she was thinking threatening her with her biggest fear. Trick had absolutely no clue that the threat of being charmed was that bad for Lynnae, and neither did Hadall. Hadall cools off a little and tells her that if he had known this would upset her so much, he never would have taken her hostage. Trick tells Lyn she still would have used the threat out of a wish of survival, to “do what must be done”. It was the uncertainty and loss of control that got Lynnae in such a state of stress in the first place.

Just as Lyn starts losing her shit again, Trick casts Calm Emotions and dispels the anger immediately. Both Hadall and Lynnae feel better at once. Hadall tells Lynnae to, next time, at least try to restrain herself a bit better, to which Lyn says that she has always had the tendency of exploding at these moments. They talk about how Lyn should think of the good of the group more. Hadall assures Lyn that he only means well, and that he never would have taken her in if that weren’t the case. With promises of improvement, the two finally make up and Lynnae gives him one of her business cards, but instead of “I’m sorry for the way my party treated you”, it now says “I’m sorry for the way I treated you”. Lyn admits that she wouldn’t be alive now if not for Hadall, and she gets up from the table, announcing that she needs Hadall, Trick, and actually the entire group including Rosa and Blatrenn.

The group reconvenes, and Lynnae says she wants to interrogate Blatrenn. To prove her trustworthiness she gloves her hands, and promises not to hurt Blatrenn unless he gives her a valid reason, even asking Hadall to hold her back if she blows up again.

Lynnae pulls out a list of questions and starts the interrogation.

Who of the five missing children from Pasekar are dead? Blatrenn didn’t ask their names. And where were the other three taken? The remaining three children of Pasekar are with Vurryl in Trestyr What are the chances they are still alive? Blatrenn has no clue. There is a chance but that’s it. Were you the one who killed them? He was. What is the name of your cult? There’s no official name, but they call themselves the Followers of the Many Eyed. Any subdivisions or anything? No more subdivisions apart from Vurryl’s and Falk’s. What is your deal with the Gold Dragon of Wyntir? That was Hykaril’s business. Is this related to why you use Draconic for your writing and communication? It’s the language of magic and it’s unrelated to Hykaril’s fascination for the Gold Dragon. Is Hykaril’s hunting party still out there and are their crystals connected to the same set as ours, considering they belonged to Hykaril’s group? Hykaril’s group was very small and he depended on Vurryl and Blatrenn a lot for the hunting. Blatrenn doesn’t know who else can listen in on us. What was the spell Kauthrien enchanted you with? Blatrenn doesn’t know what it’s called. He describes it as being commanded. Kauthrien repeatedly told him to “not disobey her”. You mentioned in your diary that you and Kauthrien had a meeting here in town a while ago. When was this exactly? A few weeks ago What was it about? In order to “reassure her orders”. Blatrenn was enchanted one year ago, and during the meeting the spell was cast on him again and renewed in that sense. Anything about her behavior that struck you as odd? Not weirder than usual. Is there a possibility she’s still closeby? He has no idea.

Now this is where Lynnae gets down to business:

How do we contact Kauthrien? There’s a possibility you can only do it with Kauthrien’s face in mind, but Blatrenn’s not sure. You do, however, have to focus on her. Can Kauthrien spy on us through the crystal or does she have other means to do so? What are the chances we’re being watched? He has no fucking idea man. He mentions she probably knows magic for it but he doesn’t know anything for sure. Is there some kind of code language you use for communication through crystals? There is, actually! The enchantment placed on him prevents him from talking about it, but through another game of hangman we figure out that the greeting is: “May his eyes be on you”, and the answer to this should be: “May his tyranny reign true.” When does Kauthrien usually expect a “call”? Kauthrien is the one who knocks. She usually calls her underlings instead of the other way around.

With this, Lynnae finishes her interrogation and turns to the rest of the party, at which she starts proposing a plan for ambushing Kauthrien by contacting her. The rest of the party quickly shoots the plan down: it’s too risky. Lynnae then yells that if she has to die again, she’d rather do it for her friends – she then immediately gasps and covers her mouth. Hadall starts questioning her about her slip-up but she refuses to say anything else.

We start discussing out next move. Although we want to head to Fass and Suald as soon as possible, Rei still has business in Tyreh. Therefore we first decide to go to the Kaydan-ter island to visit the monastery they want to go to.

That, however, means having to go on the seas again, setting Lynnae back into an anxious rambling spree. When Hadall and Trick tell her that hey, at least she didn’t die last time, she goes awfully quiet. Considering what she accidentally revealed before, Hadall puts two and two together and asks her if she drowned, to which she nods.

We leave for the docks then realize, yo, we’ve still got Kaya with us. Bad idea to take the toddler out to sea, of course, so we decide to leave her in Rosa’s care and pick her back up on the way to her home in Fass. Blatrenn offers to sail us to and fro on his own fjullgan, an offer which we gladly accept. There’s a problem, though: the islands of Tyreh float around on the water along with the tides and currents, and it’s almost impossible to map the region because of that. We have no idea where to go. Since there might be places where they sell maps of the Tyreh currents or otherwise have information on how to pinpoint where Kaydan-ter might be right now, we decide to split the party and take a look around town.

Trick, Hadall, Lynnae and Auk go to the library. The friendly dragonborn librarian guides them to the geographical books section of the library and the group starts looking around. They find what seems to be a sailor’s book with information on the currents and tides of Tyreh, and with his knowledge of sailing Hadall starts trying to figure out where Kaydan-ter is right now. Lynnae copies the relevant information in her notebook.

Meanwhile, Laraëssil, Rei and Cassandra are in Melora’s Gifts, the general store of Tyressil. Lara gets her hands on a beautiful tidal chart made for sailors, while Rei buys a component pouch while they’re there anyway.

We converge on the docks once more, and using Lyn’s info and Lara’s map he manages to figure out Kaydan-ter’s general location. We set sail and start heading to the monastery’s island. In order to distract herself Lynnae starts working on a health potion. The first day of this journey goes without a problem but the second day we lose our way for a moment as a thick fog sets in and a ghostly ship comes into view. On the side of the ship, it says “The Rotten Dahlia”. It must be the phantom ship that the tavern in Tyressil was named after. Blatrenn mentions it happens more often, and as the fog lifts we correct our course and boat on.

On the third and last day of this journey, Trick takes Hadall to the side and out of earshot for a moment. She expresses her concern for Lynnae’s loyalty and how she might use the crystal anyway to contact Kauthrien. Despite the fact they don’t trust Lynnae at all with her crystal, they feel they have no choice but to leave her be.

We reach the tiny, tiny island of Kaydan-ter in the evening and we see a beautiful white building on there. It’s the monastery we have been looking for and immediately, an enormous goliath man approaches and greets us. Rei gives him a tiny package which holds a golden statue of Pelor, the deity Rei reveres. The goliath is happy with it, and invites us in to stay the night and eat. He introduces himself as Master Kindarian and he brings us to the main part of the building, beautifully decorated, and in the evening rays of the sun the floor lights up in an intricate pattern. We dine (it’s… not great food) and head over to the dorms to sleep.

However, in the middle of the night the two Trouble Tieflings decide they haven’t had booze in a while yet and they want to get drunk, so they get out of bed and start nosing around in the kitchen. Though someone takes notice of them, they’re quick enough to duck out of the way and remain unseen. There’s no booze in the kitchen, so they head over to what seems to be a storage room for ceremonial supplies. There. Is. No. Booze.

So they exit and are immediately caught in the act by a monk, a human man. He takes them back to their dorms, and though the two tieflings again try to escape and look for booze, the hallway is now being guarded and – persuaded by a very cranky and sleepdrunk Lynnae – go back to sleep.

We wake up and eat breakfast the next morning (again… not that tasty) and head out towards the docks to return to Tyressil immediately – no time to waste. The Master of the monastery bids us goodbye and tells Rei they’re always welcome amongst them (and of course, because we’re assholes, we all say “amonkst” us). On the way to the docks we get to see some of the monks’ daily activities: it seems like they’re a much more fun-loving monastery than Rei’s. There’s some kind of training area where monks are sparring with each other, and there’s actually some monks RUNNING ACROSS THE WAVES, RACING EACH OTHER LIKE D&D JESUSES. There’s a very light and cheerful atmosphere, standing in stark contrast to the monastery in Solitude where Rei is from – there was a much more serious and gloomy atmosphere there, almost cold, like everything in Kyllm.

We get back on the waves to go back to Tyressil. Lynnae finishes her healing potion on the way, but that’s about the most exciting thing that happens in the three-day-journey. We hit land again on the evening of the third day, planning to pick up Kaya and leave with the ferry right away. However, as we ask the dockmaster when the next ferry leaves, he tells us it left yesterday and the next one won’t leave for another week. Blatrenn offers to bring us to the port town of Terstys, where we started our adventure in Tyreh in Session 3.

Trick and Cas head to the Defiant Ship to pick up Kaya, and Cassandra gets herself three bottles of booze for the road. In the meantime, Lyn takes Auk to the side and asks them how they’re holding up: it’s not going great. Lyn also admits she doesn’t know if she can stay friendly with Blatrenn for much longer, at which Auk assures her that they have her back if she decides to attack him.

We decide that since Terstys is just a few hours away by boat, we can make the trip now and just arrive at dawn so we can head back into Fass first thing in the morning. We get back on the boat to make our way back to the port town. On the boat, Lynnae realizes that the crystal she sent to Kara must have arrived in Parshyr right about now, and she doesn’t like that her elder sister still hasn’t contacted her.

We reach the shores of Terstys in the early morning. When discussing where to bring Kaya, Trick says we don’t really have a name to go on but Hadall begs to differ: he recognized what Kaya was trying to tell him before. When saying her name, Kaya didn’t say “Kaya Covinus”, she said “Kaya Corvinius”. The Corvinius family is a big merchant family Hadall knows very well, and they have a huge manor near the town of Fjynlen, about 5 days walking from Terstys.

Trick asks how Hadall knows the family, to which he answers that he used to work as a mercenary for them, but he didn’t quite leave them on good terms. One day he just up and left, because it didn’t work out according to him. The rest assures him that it might be good if he brings back the kid, because it’ll help his reputation a fair bit.

The town of Runar is on the way to the Corvinius manor, and Lynnae wants to stop by to see how the watchtower is doing because Blatrenn crystal-bullshitted to his hunting party that after being ambushed, he fled to Hykaril’s old base. When asked where the hunting party is right now, Blatrenn mutters into his crystal to ask and find out and learns that his hunting party is in the very north of Suald, in the town of Parwyn. This startles Lyn to the bone but she refuses to tell why. As Lara makes a telepathic connection and asks if there’s anything life-threatening going on, Lyn replies that there very well might be.

Though tired, we make quite a bit of progress on our first day. We make camp, Lynnae starts on an ointment against sunburn and Rei goes squirrel hunting. Since Rei has double the walking speed of a squirrel and hella good Dexterity, they eventually manage to catch a live, wild squirrel, they stash it in their bag, and name it Bøbiël (this is a massive inside joke but okay we now have Bøbiël the squirrel).

On the second day of traveling something Lyn has feared for a while comes to pass: the crystal around her neck makes a crackling noise and a female voice speaks the words “May his eyes be on you”. Lyn distances herself from the group, then with Alter Self turns herself into the wood elf Aerith Araynore to change her voice. She answers Kauthrien’s call with “May his tyranny reign true”, and thus the contact is established.

Kauthrien is obviously not amused with “Aerith” having taken Warden Hykaril’s crystal. Aerith tells her that she was poking around the Runar watchtower a while back to look for rare herbs and stones – as she is a potionmaker – and she stumbled upon the dead bodies of Hykaril and his underlings in the ritual room. Intrigued by the stones, Aerith took them and next found some documents in the office that detailed how to use them. For a moment, things seem to be going in the Conglomerate’s way but the second Aerith says that this went down three weeks ago, Kauthrien’s demeanor seems to shift. She calls this fact interesting, thanks Aerith for the information and tells her: “The Many Eyed will be watching you”, and proceeds to break contact.

In an anxious rant Lynnae relays to the party what happened, but as we discuss what just took place and the possible consequences of this, Blatrenn steps back a little as he too receives a call. Since he answers in Draconic and no one speaks Draconic here, Lynnae casts Comprehend Languages to hear what he’s saying.

Kauthrien is definitely onto us. She interrogates Blatrenn, using the enchantment to force the truth out of him. Blatrenn is forced to reveal that he’s with us, and that we were the ones who killed Hykaril and his entire division. Kauthrien apparently orders him to kill us next: Blatrenn drops contact, asks us to knock him out, and draws his swords.

The battle is ended within 3 seconds: Cassandra gets the first strike, Blatrenn then attacks her back but Trick – with a fantastically executed Inflict Wounds – knocks him unconscious at once. We tie him up and take his crystal, at which Lyn realizes the gravity of what’s going on and stresses out. Cas and Hadall tell her to take off the crystal or hand it over, at which she gets defensive and says that she needs her crystal. Hadall reminds her that she should work with the team more, Lynnae snaps back that she is working with the team by keeping her crystal and protecting the others from Kauthrien’s contact. The rest seems to be worried that, since Kauthrien was able to control Blatrenn through the crystal, she might also be able to control Lynnae after establishing contact. Lyn’s adamant that she’s safe because it technically wasn’t her who answered the call. If Kauthrien would have been able to see her, she would have seen a wood elf.

Trick wakes Blatrenn up, he seems to no longer be under the direct command that he must kill the party. We offer to destroy his crystal but he tells us it’s even more suspicious if he suddenly falls off the radar altogether. Hadall proposes Blatrenn returns to Tyreh alone with the crystal, but that would also put him in extreme danger. As we go back and forth, proposing ideas to keep both Blatrenn and the party in relative safety from Kauthrien, Lynnae commits another attempt on Blatrenn’s life, using a subtle spelled Burning Hands to make it look like she had a wild magic surge (ironically, she actually does get an actual wild magic surge while casting the spell and her age reverts to 18). Despite the fact it looked like a surge, Hadall sees through the deception quite easily (Lyn just uttered the most sarcastic “whoops” of all time) and he berates Lyn for breaking the promise she made before. He then picks up Kaya and legs it away from Lynnae – he does intend to keep his promise of not hurting the sorceress.

It’s an awkward evening around the campfire. While Kaya has no idea what’s going on and is happily playing with Hadall, Lyn and Trick keep sharing distrustful glances. Rei even tries to steal Lyn’s crystal but she notices them and slaps their hand away.

Although there’s once again a tension lingering within the party, the rest of the journey goes well and after three more days, we reach the iron gates of the Corvinius manor, decorated with great black crows. Hadall now turns towards the party with a nervous look on his face: there’s something about the Corvinius family he needs to tell us. He reveals that he was at first working for them as a mercenary, but he then married the heiress of the family and left her rather suddenly a few years ago…

…meaning Kaya Corvinius might in fact be his daughter.

#elemental affairs #elemental affairs session #The catastrophe conglomerate #d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons session summary #shit hit the fan

3 notes · View notes