#but getting this arc out is priority number 1

[twignotstick]

TMNT: SECOND SHOT - Arc 1, Chapter 1: Introductions and Invitations ✉️

Notes at the end :)

Warnings (if there's anything I should add here, tell me please!): vague descriptions of bodily functions?? nothing is described grossly or anything (turtles don't only hide in their shells as a defense mechanism, mah boys aren't quite all there yet) (be kind) (he will be mocked at a later time 💀), sort-of homelessness, feral behavior

Words: 3,480

Summary: April really just expected a normal day.

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April hadn't expected her day to end with hauling herself out of a manhole, with unmentionable gunk and liquid caked into her pants.

But, then again, she hadn't expected the day to start the way it did, either.

She had been finishing the same breakfast that her and her roommate had been reheating for the past 3 days: a batch of muffins that they had bought at a gas station for wicked cheap. Said roommate, Irma, was pulling her pants on and talking to the room about all the things she was going to do with her Friday.

When April got to college, she thought she might not be straight. When she met Irma, she knew she wasn't. Irma was a tall, Latina woman, with a muscular build. She always had her frizzy hair up in a messy bun on top of her head, and half of it was constantly falling out around her face. April didn't want to date her by any means, but Irma was hot. And very straight.

“Soo, what do you say?” Irma said, leaning over April's shoulder and snapping her out of her distant stupor.

“Uhm, sorry?” April stammered, pushing her cat eye glasses up and grabbing her empty plate. “I don't think I caught what you said.”

“Uuuugh, come on Roja-” Irma groaned, flinging her head back, “I said there's a party tonight at Taylor's! You should totally come out! We'll get you wasted!”

Irma was a party animal, and yet she excelled in all her classes in pursuit of her medical degrees (general physician with additional studies on the side). April, on the other hand, worked her butt off for Ds and Cs. In journalism.

April stood up and brought her plate over to the sink to rinse before putting it in the dishwasher.  “I don't think that'd be that good of an idea, Irm. I don't turn 21 for another few months, and I'm not exactly,” she held her hand out flat in a shaky gesture, “party material..?”

“Party material?” Irma gasped, shoving herself into April's view looking into the dishwasher. “Girl, you could decimate that place. Besides, Casey's gonna be there…” Irma finished, raising her tone slightly and speaking over her shoulder.

April's eyes suddenly widened. “You mean CJ, right?” she asked, moving to grab her jacket by the door.

“Well, CJ too, of course, but…” Irma turned to grab her backpack off the floor by the couch. “I mean Cassie Casey Jones.”

Trepidation showed itself as April pulled her jacket on. “I'll… think about it. I have to check some spots tonight, but if I have free time after, I'll come.”

“Ooooo, I knew you wouldn't let me down, Roja!” Irma squealed, grabbing around April's torso from behind and lifting her to give a tight spinning hug. “I can't wait to see you there!”

As Irma rushed out the door, April tried to call after her, reminding her that her attendance was tentative, but Irma was long gone by the time she had the chance. April was left to sit in their messy apartment for just a moment longer. After looking around and promising herself that she'll clean up over the weekend, April headed out to her first class.

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After her final class had ended, she waited on a bench for a while until CJ finally showed up. CJ had been April's best friend since day 1 of college. Sure, they didn't have any classes in common, and CJ was in studio arts and not journalism, but they stuck together like glue. CJ always wore baggy clothes over his lanky limbs, and today was no different. An oversized gray tie dye t-shirt covered more than half of his frame, with a screen printed design of a tiger on the front that he had made. Below that was a pair of huge baggy black cargo pants, almost entirely covering his white Vans. His black bangs hung limply on his face, and as soon as he appeared, April got up and they started walking.

The two had a schedule. Every Friday, after CJ got out of his last class, they would meet in the same spot and walk down to their favorite pizza place to eat dinner and talk. Sometimes they'd go get Chinese instead, if they were looking for something different. Usually the walk over would be when they talked about what already happened that day, and future discussions would wait until they had food. This was not one of those days.

“So you're seriously going to a college party?” CJ asked, slouching his posture to make the conversation a bit more comfortable for the shorter one. “How did Irma talk you into that?”

“Well, she said you're going too,” April mumbled, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets before speaking up again. “Wait, you are going, right?”

“You think I'd leave you there alone to get eaten alive?” CJ said, smirking. “But seriously, you've never wanted to go when I mentioned I was going to a party.”

April's face reddened just a bit as she turned it away, and CJ caught the subtle change. 

“She told you Cassie was coming, didn't she?”

“So what if she did!? I'm allowed to want to go to a party to hang out with a pretty girl, okay?!” April blurted out, scowling in CJ's face before turning away and crossing her arms across her chest with a pout.

April had met Cassie shortly after CJ. Well, “met” was a strong word. It was more “saw from a distance and stared in awe”. That was when she really figured out she wasn't straight. A beautiful, cute, tough girl who plays hockey and has a brain? What more could she ask for?

Maybe a tough enough spine to talk to her.

CJ just laughed and wrapped his arm around April's shoulders. “You should just let me set you guys up already. I mean, I think she thinks you're-”

“No!” April whined, grabbing CJ's shirt with the arm that wasn't being wrestled behind his back. “You can't do that! That's weird! I can't just get you to set me up with your cousin, she's gonna think I'm a weirdo, CJ!”

CJ sighed and pried April's hand off his chest, holding it to look into her eyes and halt their pace forward. “You're already being a weirdo, Apes. You've had one conversation with her. You'll never know unless you try.”

April clutched a little tighter on CJ's hand and looked to the ground between them. She was being weird, wasn't she? Normal people don't show up to hockey practices just to watch from the sidelines, even when the guy she usually talks to isn't there. Normal people don't hurry to leave when they see their crush's car pulling up to pick their best friend up. Man, she really wasn't being subtle, was she?

“Promise me you'll come. I'll get you guys talking. Sound good?” CJ said, lifting April's hand a bit to get her attention up to his face. He showed her a gentle smile, a smile reserved for just her.

April let out a sigh of defeat. “Fine, I'll be there,” she said, changing her hold on CJ's hand so they could continue walking side by side to go eat.

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April was one of many students that helped with the school's public news. They liked getting local stories, and students could get those pretty easily. April had just, coincidentally, been stuck reporting on one of the seediest parts of the area. She had already been almost mugged twice, actually mugged once, and suspiciously stared at more times than she could count. And she had only been scoping out the place for a week.

April had actually found a really nice place that had really nice food, but the blind owner didn't seem to realize how many terrible things happened just outside its walls. She decided that tonight, that would be her first stop. She still had yet to find any good stories to post that wouldn't get someone arrested or her in trouble, but maybe Murakami would have some good news for her.

As April opened the door to the small establishment and heard the ding of the bell, she was welcomed by a heavily accented voice. “Welcome in, please sit wherever you like.”

April quickly pulled a stool out at the bar to sit on. “Good evening, Mister Murakami,” she said, tapping a bit on the table to get his attention. “How are you?”

The blind man's face brightened by leaps and bounds at the familiar company. “Hello again, Miss O'Neil. I was not expecting to see you back again this soon.”

Murakami had a friendly face, wrinkles only deepened by decades of smiling and laughing. The hair on his head was thinning, and there was an obvious bald spot in the center of his scalp. Usually, April would see him wearing a pair of dark, circular sunglasses. Tonight, however, she saw that the lights inside the building were dimmed, and Murakami's thin gray eyes were on full display.

“I was hoping I could talk to you,” April said, settling her bag off her shoulder and onto the floor beside her. “I still haven't found a good story yet.”

“Oh,” Murakami said, handling a bowl and putting it to the side of a tall boiling pot. “I am sure you will find something soon. You are such a curious girl.”

April shifted in her seat. “Uhm, Mister Murakami?” She said, leaning forward a bit. “I was wanting to ask you about anything interesting going on? Something local I could write about? Maybe about you?”

Murakami's eyebrows raised at the question. He started ladling soup from the large pot into the bowl in his other hand. “Oh, Miss O'Neil, I don't have anything interesting going on,” he said with a chuckle, “I am not an interesting person!” He laughed for a moment, before his face shifted to be more contemplative. “Well, there is my trash…” he mumbled under his breath, putting the filled bowl of soup in front of April. “Eat up, it's on me.”

“Oh, thank you Mister Murakami!” April said, happily grabbing the ceramic spoon presented to her and taking a scoop of soup to blow on. “Uhm, what did you mean by ‘your trash’? Could you elaborate?”

Murakami looked confused by the word choice.

“Could you tell me more?”

“Oh,” Murakami said, continuing to ladle the soup out. “It is nothing exciting, just a little odd, really.” He scooped silently for a moment, filling a few packages to be sold by the door so they could be reheated. April admired the business model.

“My trash has been getting looked through by someone every few days for a few years. I figured it was just some person in need. I even saw them once! Not well, of course, I haven't seen well for many years. Very brightly colored clothing.”

“Okay,” April asked, pulling her phone out to take notes. “What about this is odd?”

“Well,” he continued, “as of a few months ago, I have reason to believe that…” Murakami paused, closing the lid of a plastic container tightly. “That whatever is searching through my trash is not human.”

April sat more upright on the stool, stopping her motion to take a sip of the delicious soup in front of her. “And what reason is that?”

“A strange smell left behind,” Murakami said, stacking the packages of soup and moving them to the side, “and claw marks, deep enough in the walls that I could feel them. Mostly near my fence. And recently, it has been taking more. It must be getting hungrier.”

April lowered her spoon into the bowl. “And you said you saw it?” She asked, receiving a nod in reply. “How big was it?”

“Oh, at least the size of a child. That's why I thought it was human,” Murakami said, starting to clean the space around him. “That, and the fact that it always opens the bags so neatly and leaves no mess.”

Her fingers moved rapidly as April jotted down every note she could. “You said it comes every few nights. Do you know when it might come next?”

“Well,” Murakami said, a gentle smile returning to his face, “I have not seen it in-”

He was cut off by a soft clang sounding through the wall to April's left. Murakami's smile only widened as he moved his blind gaze back in April's direction. “What is that saying,” he said, gesturing with his hands, “if you talk of the devil?”

April quickly finished the soup in front of her and shoved the stool back, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. “Wait,” Murakami said, halting her swift movement to the door. “Use the employee door, back here. It will get you closer. Perhaps you can see it before it runs.”

April followed Murakami's lead toward the back of the store, with excitement filling her veins, to a door bookended by two metal shelves full of ingredients. “Thank you, Mister Murakami,” she said, gliding around him to reach the door.

“It is no problem, Miss O'Neil. I wish you luck,” he said, giving a small wink before turning to go back to the front of the store.

As quietly and slowly as she could, April opened the door. As soon as it was even subtly ajar, the rumbling and shuffling of trash being thrown around became more audible. The door opened in a way that meant she would have to open it all the way to see the dumpster, so she elected to open it just enough for her body to peek out. That meant less light would shine out, anyway. As she finally got it open enough, she stepped onto the concrete step down in front of the doorway and peered around to spot the culprit.

It seemed that during the time April took to open the door, the creature had already rifled through the dumpster as much as it wanted to. She could see a few trash bags still pulled slightly open within, with small punctures left around their openings. She had to look further around the door, further left, to actually find the thing.

It was turned away from her (thank jesus), but April was able to get a view of the bright colors mentioned by Murakami. It looked like some sort of black and orange heavy duty backpack, shaped to mimic the shell of a turtle. The rest of the figure was obscured by the darkness and the other trash bags on the floor, a few showing obvious signs that they were previously searched through. Next to one of the already scavenged bags sitting behind the creature was a purple soft cooler, with scraps of fish and discarded vegetables filling it.

If this thing wasn't human, why was it using a cooler?

April started easing the door closed as she stepped off the concrete step, just as the figure lifted its head, hands full of more scraps of meat and vegetables. April could hardly see the figure as the little light from inside started to vanish, but she swore she could see scaly, dark gray and red skin, and a beaked face.

That wasn't a backpack, was it? It was a shell. A real shell.

The thing in front of her was a giant, freaky turtle. The size of a person. In the shape of a person.

And now, it was staring her dead in the face with round, glazed over eyes.

If Cassie didn't think she was a weirdo yet, there was no way she could deny it after what she tried to do next.

She took in a deep breath before speaking in the softest whisper she could muster. “Hey, little guy..?” she said, moving her leg the slightest bit to step closer. “Are you hungry?”

The monster- no, the turtle before her flinched and sat up slightly when it noticed the movement. Its head started jerking up and down, as though analyzing if April was a threat. It started to move to the side, rearing up and-

“OH EW! EWEWEWEWEW-” April shouted, stumbling backwards into the brick wall in her attempt to avoid the warm liquid flung at her to no avail, as she watched the dark spots form on her sweatpants. “DUDE THAT IS SO GROSS!!!”

The beast made no response, just rushing to the fence to April's right and beginning to climb along the chain links. It moved at a speed that surprised her. Not like an Olympic rock climber or anything, but much faster than the average person. Much faster than April could.

As the creature was closer, she could finally make out more details about it. It was definitely the size of a person, maybe taller than her even, and looked like it had a similar anatomy. Its hands had thumbs, but only two fingers. That seemed to carry down to its feet as well. Its giant shell was covered in scutes that each showed a black and orange gradient, and its skin had a dark gray to orange-red pattern to it. Its eyes were small, and looked almost youthful. Obviously scared, of course.

April almost fell over trying to get away from the fence, but quickly realized she shouldn't do that unless she wanted to fall right into mystery turtle monster pee. While stabilizing herself, she took a glance back to where the monster had run from, only to spot that the purple soft cooler had been left behind, practically overflowing with scraps.

She carefully jogged over, closing the lid and zipping it so she wouldn't have to look at that anymore, before grabbing the shoulder strap and turning back to where the turtle had run to. “You forgot your-”

April was shocked into silence when she saw it staring back at her from a few feet past the other side of the fence, about as far from it as she was. It was hunching down onto all fours, staring at the cooler dangling in her grasp with longing, desperate eyes. It was making a clicking sound, chirping softly, almost under its breath. April stepped forward, wanting to offer the food out, but the creature quickly startled and started rushing off again.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever done, April thought as she slung the strap over her shoulder and started rushing after. She quickly opened the swinging door in the chain link fence and followed where the turtle had turned to the right. She found a manhole cover in the alley spinning on its sides, next to an open entrance into New York's sewer system. Can this day get any grosser?

As she slipped her legs into the manhole, placing her feet on the metal rungs descending down, April caught a slight flicker of movement rushing away. She quickened her descent and almost fell as she jumped down the final few steps. Her shoes immediately squelched against the muck spread across the sewer floor, and she had to hold down a gag as she looked up in the direction of where the turtle went around a corner. She started to move quickly after, but after only a moment, the sound of reptilian feet pattering away abruptly stopped and a soft thunk echoed in the dim tunnel.

April let herself slow a bit and glanced around the corner. For a moment she thought she had lost the creature, but then she saw the vividly colored shell sitting unmoving a few feet ahead. She slowly approached it, slipping the cooler off her shoulder.

“Here's your food, buddy,” she whispered, leaving the cooler about 6 feet away from the static shell. “I'm sorry I scared you. Feel free to come back for more.”

April was just about to turn back and walk away when she had a realization. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, made sure her flash and sound were off, and took a quick picture of the shell and cooler. The dim light of the sewer was barely enough for her crappy phone camera to pick up the shapes and colors, but she figured it would suffice.

She was totally bailing on CJ. She was going to need a good excuse, and even better proof.

With that, April turned on her heel and started walking back to where she came from, stealing quick glances every few seconds to see if the creature would peek out. To her disappointment, it didn't seem to feel safe enough, and she had to leave without knowing if it would even take the food she had willingly come into the sewers to give to it.

That didn't matter now. She needed to get home before Irma, and figure out what to do with the unmentionable gunk and liquid caked into her pants.

○●○●○●○

Yippee! Chapter 1! The first arc should last maybe 12 chapters at most? I've already nearly got like 10 of them written, and I think this chapter was literally made last October. so I've got a bit of a backlog (-﹏-; )

There's so much I want to talk about in this story, especially the totally spoilery stuff, but a lot of the exposition will come from this arc, so I must keep my lips sealed. I'm very excited to share it with the world :)

Chapter 2: Shared Hallucination 🧠 ->

[willosword]

uh oh. i'm starting to look into the ff7r timeline debates....................

[14buddy22]

How You Get The Girl

Part 1: You’re Losing Me / Masterlist

AARON HOTCHNER REDEMPTION ARC WC: 2.9K

Based off “How You Get the Girl” by T.Swifttttt

6 months.

That’s how long you’ve been without Aaron and Jack in your life. It was the worst. You knew he was happier without you. You weren’t holding him back anymore.

But you weren’t happy. You thought you would be happy without Aaron and Jack. But losing them was the worst thing to happen to you. You gave Aaron the ultimatum because you wanted to be happy, you wanted him to be happy, but it came back to hurt you.

The few dates you went on with the owner of the bar were wonderful, but he just wasn’t Aaron. Everything the guy did, you only thought about how Aaron would’ve done it. When you told him you weren’t ready for a relationship, he understood. He just asked that you told Aaron how you felt.

But you couldn’t. How could you just “waltz” into Aaron and Jack’s life again. Jack could never forgive you. You had been in his life for almost 4 years, and you left. You were a mom to him and you left him.

You had seen him one time, on the playground. You were going to walk over and say hi but then you saw Rossi and Aaron and decided to go against it. You couldn’t just show back up in their lives, especially after leaving them.

You missed Jack dearly. He was just a child. You always wanted to be a mom. Being a mom to him for 3 and a half years was the best thing ever. You and him had a special bond, and you were a complete asshole because you let your “happiness” get in the way of that. You were never happy after you lost Aaron and Jack.

While you missed the early morning breakfasts, the spontaneous dance sessions, the rainy movie days, and everything else with Jack, you’ll never forgive yourself for not staying, for not fighting harder for you and Aaron. Something had to give in the relationship, you had just wished that it wasn’t you.

You wished you had given Aaron a different ultimatum. Maybe you should have tried and compromised. But you didn’t, that’s on you. This pain your dealing with is going to take forever to get over. Everytime you see a father and son in the store or on the street, you could only think about Aaron and Jack. Everytime you went shopping, you couldn’t help but go down the office supply aisle and look for the refillable ink for Aaron’s pens. But you could never buy them, you didn’t have Aaron in your life.

Every little thing reminded you of those two boys in your life. You were so much happier with Aaorn and Jack in your life. Aaron was trying, yes there were the missed dates and the broken promises, but you’d rather have the missed dates and broken promises all over again than feel the way you do now.

Alone, Upset, Miserable.

You had still been living with Penelope, both of you decided that it was the best living arrangement. You tried to move out but she insisted you stayed. She had a personal chef, especially because she was not good at cooking, she had a gossip buddy, and you two got to remain friends, even though you and Aaron were broken up.

Penelope filled the voids of your emptiness. She did everything she could to make you happy. She was home every night with you. While she worked for the BAU, she very rarely got to travel, but, you think that after you explained to Aaron why you were breaking up with him, he made her stay back even more, especially when he found out you were living with her.

**** Earlier that day ****

Penelope had barged into Aaron’s office. Not caring what he was doing. He looked up from his paperwork and he said, “Penelope? What’s the problem?”

“Sir, I need to be honest with you. You need to go after Y/n. You love her? Don’t you?”

“Of course I do, but I want her to be happy. That’s my number one priority. She was not happy with me, so, I did what was reasonable. I let her go. I will always love her, but I will always want her to be happy. Even if that’s not with me.”

“But, sir, it is with you! She still loves you. Yes, she’s gone out on a few dates with that guy but they never had sex yet! That’s a sign she still loves you.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and shook his head. He couldn’t believe he was listening to this. As he shook his head, he looked down at the pen in his hand. His heart stopped for a brief moment. These were only the pens he had kept in his home office. He doesn’t know how they got here.

“Penelope. I don’t care if she’s had sex with them. I lost her. There’s no coming back from this.”

“Yes there is. Trust me. She still talks about you and Jack. Her room is decorated with pictures that Jack had drawn her. There are framed pictures of you kissing her cheek. She still wants you. She’s not happy. She’s alone. She’s miserable. She needs you. She was happy with you.”

“She left. I lost her. How could she be happy with me. Something had to give, Penelope.”

“She just wants change, Aaron. That’s all she wants. She thinks about what went wrong and we talk about it every single night. She still loves you, Aaron. She just will never come into yours and Jack’s life again because she doesn’t want to cause you two any more pain than you’ve already been through.”

Aaron thought back to what you and him had talked about during your fight. He scoffed and said, “She’s a people pleaser. She’ll suffer just to make others happy. She needs herself to be happy.”

“Aaron. You make her happy. I promise, if you were to ever talk to her again. She’ll take you back. She’s only thought of a million scenarios where you and Jack come back into her life. I promise. If you think about this, think about how you want to change to be in a better relationship the second time, now’s your chance, Aaron. I can’t stand to see her miserable anymore. If you don’t want her in your life, you need to let me know now so I can be honest with her and help her come back to reality that you won’t be in her life anymore.”

Aaron couldn’t stop Garcia fast enough from talking. He needed to get you back. He had a second chance. Well, that’s what she was telling him. When she walked out of his office, he sat there contemplating how he was going to get you back after how he lost you.

It wasn’t long before it was storming, he didn’t realize how bad it was, but if he wanted you back, he needed to do it today.

****

It was storming really bad out. Streets were flooded, some parts of town were out of power, luckily the BAU wasn’t on a case so you were thankful Aaron was home with Jack. Jack still wasn’t a fan of bad storms. He thought they were cool, but he still loved to be cuddled up on a couch or sleep in bed with Aaron. And at one point, he loved to be with you.

Penelope was making popcorn as you two decided to have a movie night. We heard the crack of thunder and it began to downpour even harder. You didn’t realize how hard it was raining until the TV went silent for a split second, the lights flickering.

“Geez, it’s really raining out there. Anybody who is out in this weather right now is insane.”

As you and Penelope got settled in on your respective seats on the couch, she handed you a bowl of popcorn and a napkin.

“Thank you, Penelope. And not just for the popcorn, but everything. From helping me and giving me a place to stay so I don’t have to look for a new apartment, for being my therapist and listening to the problems Aaron and I had, for telling me how he’s doing at work and how Jack’s been doing. I mean it. It’s been 6 months without them, I want him back, but I can’t go back. I gave him the ultimatum, he needed to realize that I was serious. If I run back to him, what does that show? That this whole thing was my fault, especially when I’d go crawling back. I wanted him to realize when I moved out that he lost me and I wanted him back, I never realized that he would actually be better off without me.”

“Oh sweetness, he hasn’t been better off without you. He’s been taking it hard. He’s not the same person he was when he was with you.”

Part of you wanted to break down and cry. You caused his heartbreak, yet all you wanted him was to be happy. You assumed that letting him have the BAU would make him happy, he didn’t have to come home to a fiancé who complained about his broken promises.

“Let’s begin the movie before we’re both sobbing.”

As Penelope found the video, there was a knock on the door. You stood up, immediately making your way to the door and looking through her peep hole. When you looked through you saw Aaron shaking from the rain, he was cold.

You threw open the door, looking at him, he looked handsome, even if he was soaked from the rain, he looked beautiful. But that’s not what you cared about.

“Aaron! Are you insane?”

Penelope sent a picture to the BAU (minus Aaron) of Aaron and you at the door and said, “Operation get those two back together is in the final stages.”

“It’s been a long six months and I was too afraid to tell you what I want.”

What was going on? Aaron’s at Penelope’s door. You hadn’t talked to him in 6 months, but he’s here. He must have realized that he had lost you. He had to be holding on to some type of hope or faith to think it’s how he’d get you back.

“Aaron, let’s get you out of that suit, you’re gonna catch a cold. And is Jack home alone? He hates storms, Aaron.”

Aaron didn’t budge. He just grabbed your hand and pulled you into the hall.

“I want you for worse or for better. I would wait forever and ever. I broke your heart, I know that. But I’ll put it back together. Like I said, I would wait forever and ever. I was sitting on our couch the other day, in our sunroom, just remembering how it used to be. How the last good memory I have of us was from that morning 6 months ago. It hurt taking down those pictures of us, me kissing your cheek. Those were my favorite ones that I had framed, because you were so caught off guard in them. They were my favorite pictures because that was always my chance to surprise you.”

You couldn’t help but look at him with the most empathetic eyes you ever had. He must have come to his senses that he lost you, or, got close to losing you forever.

“When you told me that I was losing you, I couldn’t believe. I didn’t want to believe it. I lost my mind when I left you all alone and I never told you why. That’s how it works and that’s how I lost my dream girl. God, I miss you. I miss your scent in the morning. I miss when Jack used to be happy to come into our room, now he won’t even step foot in there. I missed that I had someone to come home, too. Someone who told me I was doing my best job, nothing more could have been done. I miss the one who put me above herself. I’m not saying that to be selfish, but I miss it because the date I went on, she only cared about herself. I compared her to you. No one will ever be you. I want you. I want the girl who notices what my favorite brand of pens are and secretly refills them. I want the girl I can come home too and not be screamed at even though I messed up and should be yelled at. I want you. I want all of you. I know I might have lost you for good. You told me that. I’m willing to compromise and cut back on my hours and if we schedule a date, I’m going to make sure you and I go on that date. Because i saw what you looked like on a date with another guy. I saw how happy you were as a live band was playing. You were dancing in the street and I want to be the one to spin you around. I want to be the one who dances with you when no one else is dancing. I want you for worse or for better. I’ll wait forever and ever just to get you again. I broke your heart, I’ll put it back together. I promise you that. I want to get you back.”

Just as he caught his breath, you stepped forward and kissed him. Wrapping his arms around you, he pulled you closer to him. The kiss was 1000 times better than your first kiss. You know Aaron meant every word he just confessed to you right now. That kiss proves he knew he lost you the first time, and he would never lose you again.

“I’m not going to lose you anymore. It’s you and me until the end of time. Those 6 months were hell without you in my life, I never want to live through that again.”

“I love you, Aaron.”

As you pulled him into Penelope’s apartment, he shut the door behind him and he said hello to her. You excused yourself and apologized to Penelope but she stopped you before you could even say anything else.

Closing your door behind you and Aaron, he pushed you back up against the door, kissing you again. You began to take off his wet suit and as you got him stripped out of his clothes, you stopped just as he was in his boxers.

“Who has Jack?”

“Jack is with Jess. He wanted to have a sleepover there. You know, he misses you.”

You pushed him back against the bed and made him sit down. You moved around the room, grabbing a pair of his sweatpants and tshirt that you had stolen and never gave back after the break up.

As Aaron put his sweatpants on, he pulled you onto his lap, kissing you once more.

“6 months was a long time without you. I never want to be without you for that long ever again. Please come home. Jack misses you, I miss you. I still want to marry you. It’s our 4 year anniversary today, in case you forgot.”

“How could I forget?”

You ran your fingers through his soaking wet hair. You took him in. It’s been 6 whole months since you got to be with him. But it’s probably been over a year since you were having an emotional, vulnerable, intimiate moment with him right now.

“Aaron, I love you. If we do this, we get back together, get married. Things have to change. I can’t go through that again. I can’t do the broken promises. I can’t have a baby with you if you won’t help be a parent to them. I want to have a baby with you because I know you’re an amazing father with Jack, but I want our baby to have those moments with you. Maybe even more moments that you missed with Jack. You told me that was your biggest regret in your life, was not being there for the little things. If we’re going to do this, let’s do this right.”

“I told you. I’m going to fix your heart that I broke. I’m going to do everything to change. I’m going to do it the right way. Thank you for bringing me to my senses. Thank you for giving me a second chance, well more like the millionth chance. But thank you.”

As you and him made your ways onto your respective sides of the bed, you got under the covers with him. When he pulled you into his arms, he waited until you were long asleep in his arms before he decided to close his eyes.

He lost you the first time, he sure as hell would never lose you again. Confessing his love, he wanted to get you back. He wanted to get his girl back, and he did. He would forever be grateful for it.

****4 years later****

As you and Aaron celebrated your 3 year wedding anniversary, 8 years of being together, you were sat around the dinner table with Jack and yours and Aaron’s twins. Within 4 years, you and him had your twins, a boy and a girl, and countless memories with your family.

As you were looking through the photo album, there was a note that had slipped out. When you grabbed it, Aaron tried to grab it from you. You opened it and read, “How You Get the Girl T. Swift”

“Aaron Hotchner. You did not win me back by acting out a Taylor Swift song in real life.”

Aaron smiled and took the note back from you. He kissed you, leaving Jack scrunching his face up and the twins clapping.

Aaron said, “That’s how it works. It’s how I got the girl.”

Tagging: @matcha70sugar @rosesinmars @imnotsiriusyouare

[pumpkinpie59]

ranking the tmnt shows based on plot writing, character writing, and what my preferences are:

first off, plot writing

6, tnm

idk what to put here.

5, 2012

it really sucks because its first season’s writing is unironically my favorite writing in the franchise. but then the show steadily gets messier and more inconsistent writing as it goes forward. especially in season 4. i wish i could defend it more but it is at the bottom for me. besides tnm ig

4, 87

i actually like the arcs in 87, but the thing with 87 is that … the plot isn’t the point! but i don’t consider that a flaw. the show is a comedy first, and it’s great at what it does. so yes, even if the plot episodes are pretty forgettable compared to the goofier episodes, it’s not the worst thing in the world. but it’s still number 4.

3, rise

rise is kinda weird because even tho most of the series is comedy filler like 87, it’s most known for its plot. but i think it earns that because sometimes the show will throw in episodes that foreshadow the big plot at the end of the season, and it handles it pretty well for the most part.

2, tales

i honestly really enjoyed the way the plots were set up in tales. since it’s pretty new, i won’t spoil it, but i think my only actual complaint was the framing devices they used. but otherwise it was pretty good.

1, 03

every once in a while, the show would have a hiccup writing-wise, but overall i liked the flow of the arcs and stories it was trying to tell. out of all the tmnt shows, 03 was the best at juggling several arcs at once and committing to giving them closure (cough. unlike 2012-).

okay character writing rankings.

6, tnm

tbf this one has venus. and a pretty good donnie.

5, rise

this is so controversial i know. but i just get so frustrated with how the show handles leo and donnie’s writing specifically. they feel ooc half the time and there’s little consistency. and then raph and mikey (my favorites of the team) were sidelined a lot.

4, 2012

mikey has no character growth whatsoever and is an adhd stereotype. donnie’s development gets thrown to the background so you only notice it if you’re paying attention to him the entire time. leonardo gradually gets worse over the course of the series and we never see him get better. they couldn’t decide what to do with karai half the time. april’s arc got switched for a different one halfway through (i still love her tho). the only one with a decent arc is raph, and i still think it could’ve been better ://

3, 03

this is not a knock at 03. i just think that character growth wasn’t its priority. telling stories was. however we do occasionally see them go through arcs. most obvious is leo, but i also enjoy seeing raph get less hostile and trusting leo more over the course of the first season.

2, 87

you’d have to watch the whole show to see it, but there’s almost … an accidental ?? arc for each turtle??? raphael gets angrier up until it reaches typical raphael levels in red sky, donatello goes through ups and downs of wishing he was never mutated while still pursuing human-level knowledge, michelangelo early on in the show wished he was more human (he changes his mind after becoming human once, but the feeling lingers a bit sometimes), and leonardo goes through anxieties related to his team (he acts differently about being without them depending on the season). but even without considering development, their personalities are written fantastically and i love seeing how they interact with the world around them.

1, tales

this is suspect to change since we’ve only had a movie and a 12-episode show. but what i’ve seen so far, i’ve really liked. my only complaint is that donnie feels different in the show vs the movie ://

and ,,, my biases

6, rise

sorry.

5, tnm

guilty pleasure idk what to say. uh. venus de milo. and turtlelamb <33

4, tales

i liked it a lot! i just want more characters and world building. we’ll see where it goes in the future.

3, 03

i love many aspects of the show. it’s not quite as entertaining to me as the next to tho. idk why but my attention span just can’t handle too much of it.

2, 2012

i grew up with this one. does it suck? oh yeah for sure lmao. but it’s nostalgic and i like a lot of the characters. and season 1 particularly is amazing. sucks for the rest of the show tho lol. i will unashamedly bully it.

1, 87

wow. who would’ve— i mean. man. who could have possibly guessed— this one has lotus blossom so i’d say this one can’t be beat.

[codenamesazanka]

Reread, Chapter 306 to Chapter 328 (Edgy Deku Arc). How Does Deku Approach Saving Shigaraki? He Doesn't.

If the chapter number is not listed, it's because there's no significant development in the Deku Saving Shigaraki plotline (Deku being absent from chapter/chapter focus is about other things/etc).

Chapter 308:

When confronting Muscular, Deku thinks back to Shigaraki/The Crying Child - imagery is of them overlapping.

Deku does think: "But at least I want to learn what makes [Shigaraki] tick deep down."

When trying to understand Muscular (by asking him three (3) questions about his motives) fails to pan out, Deku says "Seems like this fight is inevitable," recalling his response to Nana about having the resolve to kill Shigaraki if Shigaraki is beyond saving. Then he KOs Muscular.

Chapter 309:

Gran Torino says "Don't be so rigid. Killing can be another way to save someone. Never forget that." Deku, consistent with his own wishy-washy response in Chapter 305 that doesn't take killing off the table, doesn't refute that; also takes Gran's cape as a gesture of carrying on Gran's legacy.

Chapter 310:

Deku mentions Shigaraki only in the context of a threat. "Don't have leads on [the Villains]" "With All For One's quirk transplanted into Shigaraki… he was too strong for us to bring down, even with Endeavor's and Aizawa Sensei's help."

Not Deku, but a note on Kudou - in a flashback to the immediate aftermath of the scene in Chapter 305, Kudou complains about devoting the vestiges efforts to "one who wants to 'save' our mortal enemy", except 1) Shigaraki is not their Mortal Enemy, AFO is? 2) Did Yoichi not made clear just in-universe moments ago that Shigaraki was a victim of AFO's?

Chapter 311:

Endeavor says: "It must be like Deku said... Right now, [AFO's] top priority might be hijacking Shigaraki." Heroes acknowledge that Shigaraki is AFO's possession victim.

Chapter 314

Deku learns about Nagant's backstory. He admits that he was ignorant, but now he's starting to see things clearly - that the world is in shades of gray, a blend of fear and anger. As he says this, among the memories he's thinking of, is Shigaraki's Jaku speech.

Deku also recalls a line from Shigaraki's Jaku speech - "…Swept their pain under the rug… With maggots crawling out." Then says "Which is exactly why I gotta extend a helping hand."

I do consider this Deku reaffirming his desire to save Shigaraki.

Chapter 318

Not Deku, but the vestiges talks about Deku. Nana worries about the burden she has placed on him. Banjo says Deku sees every cause as worthy. Shinomori says Deku seeks to save everyone as a true Hero. Kudou says Deku is choosing the right path.

Is this about Shigaraki? ...Maybe???

...And sadly that's actually it! After Nagant explodes, Deku is Very Angry about AFO. Then he's a one-man Villain hunting machine. Doesn't really spare a thought about Shigaraki anymore beyond "I have to stop Shigaraki and the League."

I'll allow that he's super stressed out and lonely and overwhelmed by the duty he's taken on... but any thoughts about even saving or even understanding Shigaraki or even the Crying Child has evaporated after Muscular.

It's notable that during the Uraraka Speech And Umbrellas Scene, Uraraka gets a flashback to Toga crying when she talks about everyone smiling together in the future, while Shouto and Endeavor think about Dabi as they promise to 'do this together', but Deku gets nothing. In fact I don't think he makes any mention or even thinks of Shigaraki/Crying Child until... Chapter 342.

:

Last on-page declaration of saving Shigaraki Crying Child? Chapter 305

Last solid implication of Deku wanting to save Shigaraki? Chapter 314

Last time Deku thought about Shigaraki in a context that isn't 'need to find him/stop him'? Chapter 314, when he flashbacks to Shigaraki's Jaku speech.

[As always take however much blame you think I'm unjustly putting on Deku to put on Horikoshi doing bad writing.]

[f0point5]

re: professional hater/lando villain arc.

i don’t see Lando, George or even Charles (probably controversial) winning the wdc. i see what you say about that generation of drivers and feel they’ll be similar to Daniel and fall victim to the success and dominance of a generational talent, he’s got wins and a great track record (drive wise, not so much for picking teams imo) but no title, only runner up.

Daniel was challenging Lewis/Nico/Sebastian but he was losing out to Mercedes and their dominance with Lewis.

Charles would get the closest but by the time Red Bull falls off/Max retires or the other teams catch up, it’ll be someone like Oscar taking the fight by the horns and succeeding because he’ll be seasoned.

Oscar was so impressive with his rookie drive it’s difficult not to see the potential and his ability to deal with it all in a calm, cool and collected style. niether Lando, George or Charles have that side to them, imo, and that’s cost them all in the past.

but, saying that, i agree about McLaren not being able to hold onto the momentum that they built in 2023, especially not with a battle between the drivers on the horizon. i do see Oscar coming out on top though. I believe if Oscar had got that Silverstone podium, the remainder of his year would have been quite different.

Welcome to the controversial club haha. I agree with you. I am not 100% because you never know, but my gut feeling is the current generation will fall victim to the Verstappen era. I think they are whiling away their primes in this domination. I think the only one who has a chance to outlast Max’s dominance is Oscar, but there’s no guarantee that he will have the car or talent to win a championship.

Again, this is just my gut feeling. But I think Charles will waste his talent on Ferrari, and if/when he falls out of love with them or they with him, the motivation and the time won’t be there. I don’t think Merc will ever really put their weight behind George. Once Lewis leaves they will try to get someone to challenge George, not to support him. Best case they go for someone like Lando and don’t have a number 1, worst case they get a wunderkid like Antonelli and relegate George to second (And George really becomes Daniel). Lando…I doubt he will ever get the mentality for a championship battle, and I doubt he will ever find a team with a clear 1-2 dynamic that would enable him to win a title. I just think they’re mostly victims of timing.

I love Oscar and his approach. I think his collected attitude is so impressive and the way he has ignored the hype and just focused on his racing is a sign that he has the clarity to really succeed on track. I think it just depends, again on timing, and what options are available to him around 25-28.

I don’t think Oscar getting the Silverstone podium would have changed much. McLaren won’t throw Lando over over a podium, they won’t even throw him over for a win, I don’t think. I think Oscar needs to consistently beat Lando for half a season before the team starts to lean his way. But I think that’s easier than it sounds, because I think it’ll take 2/3 consistent results for Oscar to start to unravel Lando. Like checo, he will push too hard and bottle it. I think by the end of next season Oscar will be in a position to start ‘25 as an equal, if not the priority, driver at McLaren.

But yeah I’m not hopeful McLaren will hold onto that momentum. It takes a team about 12 years, statistically, to move up an echelon. I don’t think McLaren will have done it in a year.

Idk if I’ve pissed some people off here because so many people talk about these drivers as “it’s not an if but a when” about world titles…but I just don’t see it. The data does not bear out that any more than one of them (at a push) will have a chance to win a title.

[silviakundera]

I found your blog while watching for love's sake splendid drama and nice commentary from you I saw you watch chinese shows and I have a question am I dumb or because why are they so frustrating I don't know if it's because I'm used to japanese ones where there isn't much romance and this is how romance is written these days or is this a cultural thing because why every one of these I watch has such weird romantic relationships where this dude is breaking his back for her from day 1 and this dudette is out here acting like he's number 5 on her priority list?

yaassss Love for Love's Sake representation. I will never rest from reccing that drama 👏👏 you clearly are NOT dumb & have great taste 😘

for cdramas, my beloved, in my experience of watching in recent years is that there is such a wide breadth of genres & tones. There is just SO MUCH. Definitely chinese entertainment has its own tropes and way of portraying romance. And you either like or you don't. But there are many different flavors. If you feel like you were seeing the same dynamic repeatedly, it may have been bad luck.

If you prefer minimal romance, there are definitely options for that in cdramas! There are mystery/investigation dramas and wuxia martial arts dramas with little to no romance. Because of censorship the gay romances naturally are circumspect and light on the romance (see: The Untamed, Couple of Mirrors, Word of Honor, Spirealm, Guardian). Since you like Love for Love's Sake, I'd rec The Spirealm on Viki - also queer love story about a guy who enters a video game and the people he meets there become real to him; though warning it IS censored and that means the ending is more ambiguous. I can't promise you'll like it. (Semantic Error and Eighth Sense are my other 2 fav korean gay romances btw. )

There are also cdramas that do include romance but in terms of screen time the romance is like 30% of scenes and the plot & character arcs are 70% of scenes. Like in Blossoms in Adversity that I'm watching now, yeah there is most definitely romance but the FL/ML romance scenes compromise like 25% of the overall screen time. It's about way more than who she might marry.

But also in terms of cultural differences? hmm idk because I'm not chinese. I really should NOT speak like I understand their PoV. From an outsider's perspective, I have felt like there are many cdramas with overtly feminist themes - commentary about restrictions on women, the challenges of navigating through a society that can be unfair and entrenched with misogyny. (I joke and yet not that chinese entertainment seems to have 3 propaganda drums that it beats: nationalism/unification, anti-war, and feminism.) It's certainly a fact that many cdramas feature female characters that fall in love but they maintain other priorites & don't let themselves be subsumed in devotion to a man. They have romance & find love but "keep their eye on the prize."

My best guess (??) about this is that it's a rebellion against old cultural mores about women's role being subserviant to father then husband, when during imperial times a woman was expected to prioritze her husband and his family above her own wants, health, and happiness. (It was immoral to be jealous or not follow direction from the man.) Modern chinese screenwriters, both men and women, appear to be writing for an audience that will respect & support the idea of a woman who has her own agenda and maintains focus on her goals despite her love for the ML. Perhaps because this is viewed as moving away from "old thinking". idk.

I presume the target audience in china for romance dramas simply doesn't worry so much that the ML is getting loved enough & aren't as sensitive to thinking he might be at a disadvantage... They're aware society is already set up to his advatange & for much of history he would have all the power in the relationship. (He might bend now and be giving it his all, but the audience knows he can tap into more power & control at will. if she gives up control & her goals, it will be harder for her to recover & reclaim status/money/power compared to him. There are dramas I've seen that pretty much explicitly state that FL wants to earn her own status and money that is hers, thru her own efforts, not lent by him - not prestige or wealth that comes through him and thus could be taken away).

Personally I don't view this as unromantic, just the practical realities of existing in a patriarchal society. (cdramas can hit different imo because they can be blunt about how people operate based on self-interest & pettiness, the realities of classism, the ugliness of rumors, how judgmental people can be about appearances, how you can't always get justice when wronged. Reminds me of the Discworld books that were very frank about how the common people commonly are. It's not saying: this is how people should be; it's saying: this is how things are, the bitterness of life, but you can still find sweetness & meaning within it)

There's another aspect: some cdramas have male protagonists (e.g. Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Blood of Youth, League of Nobleman, Eternal Brotherhood) and some have female protagonists. If you're watching a female protagonist, as the protagonist her priorities & goals are the story driver. So her love interest will take a back seat to that even though it's a romance. He's a support role - his job in the story is to break his back for the protagonist. (A Journey to Love is an example where ML and FL share the protagonist role & you can see that in how things play out, how they each have separate priorities that don't get dropped for love.)

At the end of the day, there are plenty of cdrama romances where I ship it hard and feel a mutual love & devotion between the couple. My fav flavor is where both FL and ML have their own strengths and can be counted on to support each other. I'm not keeping score on who owes who, and neither are they.

But it's all not gonna to be to everyone's taste and that's fine. :) When it comes to international tv, if we enjoy content from other countries then it's our good luck. But if we don't...well, it wasn't made for us. That's ok.

[brucenorris007]

@generic-sonic-fan

If you’re writing Sonic, a character with so many iterations and variants across comics, anime, cartoons and games as to rival and even surpass some mainstream superheroes, his motivations are perhaps the most reliable facet to keep in mind as a near-constant. Said motivations, in order of how he prioritizes them, read as:

1. Doing what is Cool

2. Being a Friend

These two are the mainstays and always juuuuuust neck in neck, occasionally switching places depending on the circumstances and which moment in Sonic’s storied career you’re working with. And finally

3. Being the Hero/good guy

Which is such a distant third to the first two that it probably isn’t actually what he ranks third in terms of motivations, if you see what I mean.

The exception is Fleetway, who, on appearance, puts Being the hero 2nd instead of 3rd.

Granted that’s just how it appears; it’s more about his ego and that he likes having that reputation. In a crisis that makes the mortality of his friends Too Real and Apparent to him, his true feelings shine through. He’s not nice, but he very obviously cares immensely about their safety. That’s actually a significant, if not the primary, facet of his character arc.

ANYWAY, you can pretty consistently grab most any Sonic from any point in his history and those motivations will fit him pretty well. The reason Being a Hero rates lower than Doing what is Cool despite Sonic’s status as Mobius’ hero is due to his priorities and self-image. He identifies as just Some Guy, not a Hero with a job to do; that he does heroic things is almost incidental. By his own definition, smashing robots, adventuring, stopping bullies, protecting his friends and saving people are Cool; his definition of what Cool means just happens to coincide with most of Mobius’ image of a hero. But he doesn’t follow any kind of black and white moral compass. He does what HE believes is right in any given situation.

Note that this list is comprised of his motivations, which are separate from his priorities, ideals and personality. The list informs his actions, they don’t dictate them. It’s hard to say that any one or even three things dictate what Sonic will do, because he’s all about freedom; his self-image as Some Guy provides him that freedom.

Freedom from things like Duty or Fate. Not that Sonic’s necessarily irresponsible, but he doesn’t fight Eggman or any of the rest of his rogues out of some belief that he’s the only one who can or some love of justice. Stomping bad guys is cool, ergo, Sonic is cool. If he’s a hero because of that, hey, all right. If not, he’s probably not gonna lose sleep over it, barring any instances of people getting hurt as a direct consequence of his actions. Even then, he’s the fastest thing alive, he can course-correct and sort things out in time for chili dogs.

Again, Fleetway is an exception with regard to Fleetway Super Sonic, but as he’s treated as both a unique character and as Sonic’s chaos-induced alter-ego, that falls somewhat more under accountability than responsibility. I love both characters, but Sonic is not Spider-man.

And this is why, when writing Sonic, if you try to knock Doing what is Cool down from top of the list or at least neck-in-neck for number 1 of his motivations, you start to run into a disconnect, particularly if you try putting Being the Hero in the number 1 slot.

So much of what makes Sonic Sonic stems from his confidence, his attitude, his initially inflated and gradually more mellow ego that lets him identify as not just Some Guy but the Coolest Some Guy ever. Like I’ve said, he doesn’t go around humiliating Eggman and decimating his machines and bases because he thinks no one else can, but because he wants to do it, because he thinks it’s cool and fun; though he does enjoy having a partner or two working with him, or even making a party out of a good throw down. It’s half the reason why you can-and in the 2000′s, SEGA more often than not did-toss him into any scenario for a story and he can carry it.

He doesn’t save people who are in trouble because it’s “right”, but because not saving them would be Lame.

[sapphire-weapon]

so i'm gonna need some time to organize all my thoughts on rebirth, but i just wanna make a list of things i was right about, re: rufus shinra

i said that rufus could see the whispers in part 1 because palmer didn't debrief him on the roof of shinra HQ in this version, and the whispers wanted to make sure that rufus's focus was on sephiroth instead of getting immediately wrapped up in politics. sephiroth confirms that the war with wutai is intended to keep rufus distracted away from him.

i said that rufus's #1 priority from the second he takes office is sephiroth. that was confirmed at several points.

i said that rufus knows that cloud is the best chance any of them have at killing sephiroth. rufus says that out loud to cloud's face.

i said that rufus takes office at the end of part 1 in a position to literally play both sides in the shinra vs wutai struggle. that was confirmed during the ending when it's all but stated that rufus is sarruf.

i said that rufus isn't friends with any of the turks and he made the conscious decision to live a life of loneliness in his pursuit of leadership. sephiroth says it as glenn and rufus confirms it.

i said that rufus sees all of the turks as expendable. elena says it outright.

i said that square enix should make rufus a recurring boss fight that gets increasingly more difficult like the vergil to cloud's dante. they did.

i said that rufus's involvement with wutai was going to have a direct effect on yuffie's character arc. it's already started to.

i said that parts of or all of before crisis have/has been either rewritten or retconned outright. it was.

i said that it was going to take the combined effort of both cloud/avalanche and rufus/shinra in order to take down sephiroth. sephiroth's stalking harassment of rufus in an attempt to keep him distracted all but confirms this.

like, RE fandom, be afraid. people were really fucking pissed at me for some of these back in the day. numbers five and six especially -- i got tons of hate for those two and was accused of ship policing. the turks/shinra side of the fandom all but turned their backs on me for it.

so if you don't like the way i read/interpret certain characters and relationships, just remember

that this was me throughout the entirety of FF7 rebirth:

[skaruresonic]

I like how people act like only SA2 and 06 are good portrayal

Y'all are sleeping on him and Metal in Rivals 2

But seriously, it's clear they don't think much of Shadow other than "SA2 nostalgia" and "Team Dark". His individual aspect is ignored, same for aggression and stoicness

Shadow's char arc also can't be understated

Heroes he wakes up, amnesiac. Only midway he starts questioning the doctor given the Shadow Androids seen at Bullet Station, but the priority for Omega and Neo Metal were huge. He's super quiet most of the game in terms of cutscenes

Shadow 05 his disassociation with the world was so big, he legit wasn't gonna save the people from Black Arms initially. Only cuz Black Doom told him he knew him and memories flashing back he shifts course to discover himself. Canon course he's mostly just getting Ems amongst the war effort. Fans hate it cuz the concept of noncanon endings being individually determined + gameplay fucking up how you can't restart mid path immediately, but Shadow's individualism is very strong. In the end he learns enough to realize he needs to move on, become a new person of himself

With that experience Battle GBA he sees himself but potentially worse in Emerl, and that scares him. He brashedly tries to stop it, but learns from Sonic, Rouge, and Emerl to accept himself, and other aspects of humanity. In the end he grows, to accept himself, and the betterment of humanity regardless how stupid they can be

With all that by 06 he's complete. He's no longer self doubting, and despite aggression and some ego, generally doesn't fuck around. His begruding comradery is own that is earned, but he'll still be civil at minimum. He calls out Meph for trying to trick him, he grew wise from when Black Doom tried that shit.

06, Rivals, and R2 shows that he's still closed off if it's distracting, but he's self invested in saving the world. Not for Maria (incidentally it and 06 show he has minimal personal qualms with Eggman, unlike Sonic if the priority is elsewhere, which given 05's gaslighting is interesting)

His interactions with Metal are great, a notable level of respect rising over the course of the game. He can respect Rouge, but isn't afraid to fight her if she's harming a mission. Interactions with Sonic and Knuckles are civil, though similarly if they distract, they'll be pushed out with fisticuffs

Colors DS he even accredits Sonic's abilities, of which Omega has trouble comprehending

Forces he says 1 thing to Infinite attempting to assasinate him that fans randomly act like he's an asshole cuz???, then spends the game helping in the war effort, trying to find Omega, and being civil to Sonic, 6 month oddity plot hole aside

Really the only bad canon to lore game rep of him is Free Riders, and that's mostly due to him having no real reason being there. If it's to show him actually enjoying his life something Knux tries after SA2 that fans don't like it kinda failed with how he very much doesn't want to be there

But overall fans can't accept him not being woobie, not slapped in a trio, not Maria angsty, or being individualistic. Or realize the entire arc he went through

I see people acting like he needs a mediator every appearance, and that's super insulting to his char dev and intelligence

06, Rivals, and R2 shows that he's still closed off if it's distracting, but he's self invested in saving the world. Not for Maria (incidentally it and 06 show he has minimal personal qualms with Eggman, unlike Sonic if the priority is elsewhere, which given 05's gaslighting is interesting)

Yeah. Which you'd think would suggest that Shadow is a naturally reticent person, but I guess that's not good enough for a certain number of folks.

---

Forces he says 1 thing to Infinite attempting to assasinate him that fans randomly act like he's an asshole cuz???, then spends the game helping in the war effort, trying to find Omega, and being civil to Sonic, 6 month oddity plot hole aside Because Shadow bullied poor tormented Infinite uwu. Never mind that Finny-boy didn't give a single shit that his squad got killed, and in fact seemed annoyed by it. You can tell no one in this Chili's finished Forces because nobody really talks about how he stuck around HQ at the end of Forces, an unusual departure from his typical habit of peacing out at the end of the game.

--- His interactions with Metal are great, a notable level of respect rising over the course of the game. He can respect Rouge, but isn't afraid to fight her if she's harming a mission. Interactions with Sonic and Knuckles are civil, though similarly if they distract, they'll be pushed out with fisticuffs Yeah, didn't Metal rip the Emerald out of his chest and Shadow was like "Don't do that, you'll destroy yourself?" Very interesting interaction. I also remember Shadow noting that Metal didn't receive a radio signal in the jungle. The fact that that tidbit takes place at the beginning of the game implies he began the game thinking of Metal as just a device and slowly came to view him as a partner through working with him.

Conversely, Shadow once threatened to knock Sonic out in Rivals 2 for nothing more than simply being in his way; it's not automatically OOC for him to be aggressive on occasion. It's actually pretty funny when people are like "Sonic and Shadow are besties" because Shadow threatens to beat Sonic's ass almost every time he claps eyes on the guy. xP

--- While I can't precisely vouch for or against '06!Shadow, it's more than a little illogical to clamor for more SA2!Shadow-esque characterization when A.) the guy is all about moving on and B.) he was essentially brainwashed for most of that game.

---

But overall fans can't accept him not being woobie, not slapped in a trio, not Maria angsty, or being individualistic. Or realize the entire arc he went through

Which is ironic, because most of the games practically smack you upside the head with the idea that Shadow acts of his own accord. You'd almost have to ignore the games in order to claim he has friends and is besties with Team Dark, because despite his bonds with them, he's not attached to them at the hip.

---

Personally speaking, Battle!Shadow is my favorite portrayal for a number of reasons. Shadow is still grappling with existential issues from past games, sure, but the game doesn't confine his personality to just that. The other characters treat him with respect even when he's being something of a dick. He's allowed to move on from his past in a much more organic and coherent way than in ShTH. He's given closure, and instead of simply discarding the past entirely as if it didn't matter, he manages to process and integrate it. He finally understands Gerald's wishes for him and his place in the world. He's able to give Emerl the last Chaos Emerald without the need to hang onto it in memory of Maria. And yet - I say this with nothing but the utmost affection - despite this character progression, he's still something of a petty little bitch. He barges in on Sonic and demands he hand over Emerl - no words bandied, as he's not a conversationalist. Rouge has to twist his arm for a thank you for dragging him home so he, you know, didn't die from being all "I can take them" (gets knocked out). He's every bit of "macho" that folks complain about in 2010-era Shadow, and all of this is presented in a largely neutral manner by the narrative. Shadow challenges you to fight everyone else before you throw down with him, because of course he does, he's the ultimate life form. When Emerl activates the Final Egg Blaster, his attitude is so gloom and doom that Rouge yells at him to brighten up. xP Even at the end of his story, when Emerl is waxing poetic about his Real Boy Emotions(tm), Shadow manages to remain prickly. His last words before bouncing? "This is ridiculous! I am leaving!"

I love how Shadow is allowed to have flaws that make him legitimately dislikable and off-putting on some level. And the sense I get from the "'06 and SA2 are Peak Shadow" crowd is that these flaws wouldn't be present if we received the kind of characterization folks wanted. We'd have Shadow, but a sanitized version. (To be clear, it's not that I think '06!Shadow is bad, per se; he just seems to lack those rough edges that make Battle!Shadow so endearing to me.) We can't have Shadow flexing on his strength, otherwise he'd be too macho and arrogant. We can't have him boast about his superior abilities without it actually being overcompensation stemming from some sort of personal insecurity. We can't have him be misanthropic because that's mean and what about Maria, huh. (Yeah: what about Maria?) We can't have him be aggressive towards Sonic for even understandable reasons; we can't have him being a party pooper. Let him hug his friends, Sega. Let him crack jokes. At some point, you're just like "So do you even like Shadow, or...?"

[tillychmo]

OFMD: Budget Cuts, Ed's relationship to the Crew and the importance of context clues.

Right, let's get the nerd-outs on this blog started!

Kicking off with Our Flag Means Death (obvious spoilers for both series ahead) and a wee talk about budget cuts, Ed's relationship with the crew, and the importance of context clues:

We now know that OFMD had a massive 40% budget cut between series 1 and 2 – considering this, it's important to realise that budget cuts can have a hand in basically anything the fandom has complained about this series. It doesn’t mean that it is to blame for all the things (nor that all of the fandom's complaints are warranted for that matter), but it definitely can be an active factor.

One of the things I've seen a fair amount of people complain about is the fact that the audience didn't see Ed apologise to every single crewmember on the Revenge after his return, and this specifically is what I would like to talk about in this post, because I believe that the budget cuts (and having only 8 episodes instead of 10) are undeniably to 'blame' for the less than explicit 'Ed apology-tour'.

Having that much less money between series 1 and 2 means that you have to go out of your way to cut corners and make big decisions really fast – when that happens, you’re bound to have oversights (this includes pacing issues, cut scenes, choosing to give focus on one character’s arc over another (this especially is important here), etc.).

The writers clearly made the choice that finishing Izzy’s arc was their number one priority this series – most likely because after a 40% budget cut they feared that they wouldn’t get a third series – which means that all of the time that series 1 spent on Ed and Stede, was now suddenly shifted to Izzy, despite the fact that the Gentlebeard-love story is the heart of the show. So instead of giving us all the healing and growing scenes between Ed and everyone else, we got 'context clue' scenes. Just like we did with Izzy in series one – the big difference being that s1-Izzy’s context clues were meant to make us dislike him for plotting against Gentlebeard, and s2-Ed's context clues were meant to show us that Ed actually wanted to and tried to change for the better. Now, is it an oversight to think that a positive character-change can be picked up by the entire audience only by way of context clue-scenes? Yes. Clearly. We are (as people) generally much faster to see and believe the negatives, than we are to see and believe the positives. This is part of why so many people feel like Ed’s redemption should have been spelled out for us – that they should have actively shown us that he made amends to everyone.

But they gave us the scenes with Fang/Kevin, the ones with Lucius, and the one with Izzy as context clues for the crew coming to terms with the things that happened. The scene with Archie, Olu, and Jim where they’re drowning their brooms is another context clue – sure, Archie is saying “that’s just how it is”, but she’s in no way unhappy about it. She’s just ‘happy go lucky’ “move on, mate”. Jim even says “I think for that was pretty solid, for him”. Both Roach and Frenchie agree. Pete is just happy that Ed's wearing the cat collar.

They are pirates – their take on these things are different from how we would react in the real world. And Lucius in that scene is an example of how we (the real-world people/the audience) are reacting when watching that scene “the bar is on the floor” – BUT look at how everyone else in that episode reacts to Lucius ‘not just moving on’. Everyone else – even Izzy, who up until this point has been the only human in a crew of muppets – thinks he should just let it go and move on. It’s literally spelled out in the conversation they have in that scene in 205: Lucius: “And you? Are you happy with this?” Izzy: “With what? Pirating? Well, this is a pirate ship and I’m a pirate, so yeah. I’m good with it. You still mad he pushed you off the ship, Twatty?” – Izzy is telling us here that ‘stuff like this is just what happens on pirate ships’ and in the shark-scene his parting words to Lucius (who is representing the audience) is literally “Not moving on is worse”.

We are absolutely meant to take all of these as context clues for the crew moving on. And even more so during the party scene in 206, where Ed is not 'only being tolerated because of Stede' – he actively encourages Stede to let the crew have fun, which results in Archie's "This guy's devout as fuuuuck".

Now, would the series have benefitted from those extra scenes that would have helped further along the narrative of the crew moving on and coming to terms with Ed? Absolutely. But again – budget cuts. And there’s an important thing that seems to be forgotten in a lot of these discussions – which is that they crew did love Ed in series 1.

Ed became part of their family – which is obviously why it hurt that much more (especially for Lucius, who was the only Revenge-crew member to get really close with Ed) when he lashed out and hurt them. But that doesn’t mean that they stopped loving him. You can absolutely love someone you don’t like or even hate. The two are not mutually exclusive. That’s why dysfunctional families are so toxic and hard to get out of. Because if you didn’t love them, then you would have absolutely no problem in leaving their toxic arses behind. And THAT is what our favourite crew is – family. And Ed is the family member who went through a (TW!) depressive suicidal psychosis and hurt everything and everyone on his way. Is it going to take time to rebuild the trust in Ed that they had in series 1? I think so, yes. And I think there’s a possibility that that could come into play in series 3, though I think it's just as probable that we are meant to read it as a closed chapter. But the crew's love for Ed? Nah, that never went away. It got buried in a heap of sh~t and trauma – but that doesn’t mean that the crew doesn’t love Ed, when he is simply being Ed ❤️

[sirsirgirl]

Some of you have been asking...

Hey! Long time no see. I’m sorry for disappearing, the first part of the year is usually the busiest time for me. But I’ve been reading every chapter religiously AS ALWAYS #priorities

I read your questions, some of you are freaking out about the number of children 😂 and others want updates of Tasir and the rest of the concubines. I hope this post will help.

1. No, the story isn’t finished.

We’re currently in chapter 81 of the side stories, and though side stories aren’t usually the most relevant, this is DEFINITELY not the case for MOTH. So far, side stories have included some of the most critical revelations and subplots in the novel. The first part of the story ended without Latil ever experiencing an awakening, lots of character arcs unfinished, and with more questions than answers. So I’d really suggest every MOTH reader to follow the side stories and not overlook them. Who knows what surprises we’ll get to have soon.

2. Latil has 4 biological children, 1 adopted child, and 1 baby on the way.

Fleura, Clarice, Kailetta, the fourth prince (Tasir’s baby), and the baby on the way (Guesta’s child) are her biological kids. The fifth princess is Meradim’s daughter, and Latil adopted her before she was born. The fourth prince and the fifth princess were born on the same day and they are raising them together, it’s been said that they’re as close as twins. Fleura and Clarice are also very close. Kailetta, on the other hand, is the one who’s left behind. As for their personalities and looks, we know:

- Fleura: Looks exactly like Ranamun. She sometimes talks like Griffin because they spend a lot of time together. She isn’t very keen to studying.

- Clarice: Looks exactly like Sonnaught. She’s very strong since she has some vampire traits, and she is very smart, some people compare her to Raean.

- Kailetta: Looks exactly like Latil. He’s got a funny way to speak, some times he talks like an adult but with a baby voice. Everybody compares him to Latil because he’s a flirt. Everyone in the Palace, except for Clarice an Fleura, loves him 😂. He’s been described as “not very smart”.

- Fourth Prince: Looks exactly like Tasir. He’s Latil favorite child (it used to be Clarice btw). It’s said that he’s very smart, but he’s still a baby, so it’s hard to tell.

- Fifth Princess: Looks like a little mermaid. Latil is pretty fond of her as well. She even imagined a love story between the fourth prince and the fifth princess, but Tasir wasn’t into it 😂😂

3. We DO know how many children Latil will have.

Relax, it’s not 28 😂😂 (don’t know where I read that lol). In case you missed it, Latil and Carlein met a prophet that made some major revelations about Latil’s future. Among them, that Latil will get to have six children, but only two of them would be “perfect kids”.

[Two of them won’t live long, two of them will be pressured by their fathers and two of them will be troublemakers.]

[How does she have so many husbands and children? Is it possible for a person to do that? Anyway, I'm sorry to see that two perfect children will be involved. The line is so fragile, that is too hard to tell if you two will ever end together.]

What we don’t know is if the prophecy included the fifth princess or Sipisa, but I don’t think it makes sense for a prophecy to dive into that level of detail. So, my current bet is that Latil will have two more babies.

4. Klein and Zaicin are the only concubines who don’t have children.

I’m not counting Girgol because he technically has one kid: Sipisa (and he can’t have children anyway). We ignore how Zaicin feels over this, but Klein is somewhat annoyed. I honestly don’t know if he’ll ever become a parent because we can’t discard the possibility of the concubines that already have children to get Latil pregnant again.

5. Sonnaught is still part of the Royal Guard.

Ministers constantly complain about this, but he’s got the Royal Consort’s support, so the issue never truly escalates. He hasn’t been really active in the story since his love affair with Latil. Some people are annoyed (??), but I’m not surprised, since he’s even noticed that the way Latil looks at him now it’s the same way she did when she didn’t like him I can’t blame her for not feeling the same after what he did. But he probably will reappear once she sees her fake future with him.

6. We still have no official heir.

Latil naturally wanted the Royal Consort’s child to be the heir, but the ministers felt threatened by her unexpected decision. Tasir had no choice but to agreed with them and avoid risking his reputation for choosing his child over the Empire. After all, at the time, the baby hadn’t even been born yet.

A couple of years went by, and Fleura had to be excluded of the list of candidates. Due to an agreement with Ranamun and Guesta, Latil promised she’d choose the heir among the second princess (Clarice), the third prince (Kailetta), and the fourth prince. She didn’t know she was pregnant then, so chances are she’ll change her mind and consider this kid as a candidate in the future (who knows?).

7. Tasir is busier than ever, but still very close to Latil.

Latil gets pregnant almost every year, so he assumes a lot of her responsibilities during these times. She also has said that thanks to him, she’s been able to have more free time (which of course isn’t actually free time because she has to spend time taking care of her concubines and children).

It’s been said he’s so busy that he can’t take care of his child properly (Meradim is kinda like a nanny for him and the fifth princess lol). But he’s stated in the past that he isn’t interested in bringing his baby to his office when he’s still so young. So I guess we’ll see more about him and the baby in the future.

So far, imo he’s been the most relevant male character as always in the side stories. His fake future with Latil had like 11 chapters, unlike the rest that had between 5 or 6 🫣. Latil was also about to tell him, ���I love everything about you”, once. But she then stopped herself and didn’t say anything 👀. Oh, yeah, btw, Latil hasn’t say “I love You” to anyone yet (not even her children).

8. Ranamun’s main concern is his daughter’s life-span.

There’s a chance that Fleura won’t live long. Her soul is “incomplete”, so the only strength that could keep her alive for long is her “adversary power”. Problem is that the chairman revealed that it looks like she’s lost a bit of it in the last few years. If she isn’t able to keep the adversary role attached to her, she will die young*. Ranamun knows this and he just wanna make sure that his daughter lives happily.

*Btw, the chairman revealed that the role of the adversary isn’t reincarnated, just the soul does. The only reason Fleura’s soul was attached to the role was thanks to the chairman’s doing. And given the fact that the role is technically floating in the air, he can’t help her to be more attached to it.

[dayfalwastaken]

Iron Bleeds Golden, Extremis - Iron Man Fanfic Preview.

“…Yeah… Yeah. No, good job. I owe you dinner. That Greek place with the belly dancer you like.” He waited for the ecstatic thanks on the other side of the phone before speaking once more. “Send it all over. Nice work.” Tony said as casually as he could in spite of what he’d just heard.

This job never gets easier.

He ended the call and paused for a second, looking quietly at the door in front of him. Maya was no doubt staring daggers into his back, her anxiety almost palpable throughout the plane’s cabin. If he hadn’t known her better, he would’ve sworn she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Tony inserted the eight-digit password into the door lock and opened it, then turned around to face Maya. He kept his mouth neutral for what he was about to tell her, not wanting to raise her distress further. Years of practice ensured his voice didn’t tremble. He had been doing this for a long while now, but being the one to deliver the bad news was always painful no matter what.

“My guy hacked your dead boss’ files. He gave Extremis to a group of militiamen local to you. Domestic terrorists.” She gasped softly, and Tony had to stop himself from placing a hand on her shoulder. “I have to make some calls.”

Her expression said it all. A hopeless glimmer in her eyes that swiftly betrayed the tough front she attempted to put up. She broke down right after, burying her head in her palms, tears beginning to spill. Tony didn’t blame her.

He wished he could’ve stayed there to comfort her. Tell her it’d be okay, that this would all be over soon, but he lacked the precious luxury of time, and he had a responsibility to uphold.

He walked into the tail end of the plane and closed the door behind him. Noticing his presence, the transparent screen in front of him lit up, permeating the small room in a dim blueish hue. Entering a special combination on his Stark Phone, he tuned in to a secure frequency and brought the device to his ear.

“Avengers intermediary channel. Priority A-1. Iron Man.”

A profile picture of himself popped up in the upper left corner, sporting a wall of text about his current location and so on right under it. To the right, a scan outlining his armor appeared, along with a vertical progress bar near it that was already starting to fill up. The word ��Power” sat at the top. Beneath it all was another bar, this one numbering the loading time for each suit section, as briefly detailed by the \Sequence Activated plastered onto it.

“Information regarding attack on F.B.I Station, Huston. Forward to all relevant law enforcement entities.”

REMOTE WARM-UP AND DIAGNOSTICS, he read unconsciously.

Main Power Supply – Arc Reactor “STARTUP CYCLE” mode Engaged

A white line connected to the centre of the chest piece, highlighting the entire area.

\Capacitors Pending:

Unibeam… 100%

Chiming rang out upon the charging sequence’s completion. It was plenty effective at bringing Tony out of his thoughts, in particular those about the fifty burned bodies he had seen just twenty minutes ago.

“Upload of related files to follow two minutes behind this message.” He took a seat in the small chair, tapping on the table impatiently. The armor’s gloves were selected next, their progress visible on the bar bellow. They finished charging before he ever got the chance to finish his sentence. The tracker moved on to the next part.

Boot Jets… 100%

Electro-Hydraulic Exoskeleton… 100%

Multifaceted Pilot Interface… 100%

“Perpetrator is in superhuman aspect, possibly suffering side-effects of process.”

Main Circuits… 100%

Life Support, Medical Treatment Override… 100%

Magnetic Field Generators… 100%

Dampeners… 100%

“Perpetrator and associates likely to be in transit from Huston to Bastrop at this time.”

Auxiliary Power Supply… 100%

Munitions [Secondary]… 100%

Control Surfaces… 100%

Secondary, Tertiary Systems… 100%

\Capacitors Charged.

“Details of superhuman aspect pending.”

Onboard Assistant A.I Loaded

Full Diagnostic Scan – All systems “OK”

Main Power Supply – Arc Reactor “POWER SAFE” mode Engaged

Backup Nuclear Battery – Radioactive Isotope “PRIMED” for Decay

\Sequence Finalized.

Variable Threat Response Battle Suit “Iron Man”, model 25, codename [Liaison] – Online & Ready

“Iron Man is available for intercept and engagement.”

The screen cleared save for the armor hologram, which had stopped spinning and was reimposed in the middle, clicking repeatedly to draw his attention. Tony closed his phone and crossed his arms, leaning forward to stare into ole Shellhead’s newest incarnation. Field tested and deployed, that was… And yet he wasn’t satisfied. There was still so much to be improved, just at a glance Tony could see where he had gone “wrong”, even though thinking that was a lie by this point in his career. If he had truly made mistakes in the design process, he would’ve died long ago, and Iron Man wouldn’t have made it to the history books.

Nothing was wrong with the armor per se, he simply couldn’t help not accepting his achievements. Tony supposed that was in part the greed talking, but that’s just how he worked.

He’d make an armor, think it was revolutionary, take it on a test ride and be thoroughly impressed with it, then the next day be disappointed and begin working on the next instalment. It was like an itch- an addiction, always bugging him to keep tinkering, to keep improving. Because that’s what he did, and staying atop the competition was his whole deal.

What competition, the PR department would remind him to say. Well, at least they had a good reason for doing that. The phrase had become the most successful marketing slogan in his company’s history.

The point being; he always needed to wear the best version of the suit, otherwise it wouldn’t feel the same. However, when one went by the name Tony Stark “best” was a relative term. It was temporary, meaning he’d never truly be satisfied with any iteration of the Iron Man, no matter how far ahead of the modern world it’d be.

Which in reality was a weird metacommentary on his own person as well as his metal persona, but the distinction between those two he still hoped to blur. If he bled the best parts of one into the other… There was no telling how much good he could achieve. Really, Tony was the only thing holding himself back. Tony kept himself from being enough.

And what a depressing little thought that was…

Pillinger’s interview echoed through his head. He had asked the man if he had changed anything, if he was certain his journalism had improved anybody’s life over the years, even by a small margin, but truthfully speaking, Tony had asked himself that.

It haunted him that he didn’t know. He should, he knew more than most people ever would in their lifetimes, but regarding this matter he just… didn’t.

…And all he wanted was to help. To not be that Ghost of the Twentieth Century. To not leave behind a legacy of corpses, all piled atop the nigh infinite cache of Stark brand weapons hidden in the grounds of war ridden countries. Whether to make up for what he had done, or out of a genuine desire to aid others- the answer eluded him. Some days it was crystal clear, others he had his doubts for a majority of the time. But he knew he wanted to be more than what he had been.

Perhaps a… beacon like Steve? Tony half chuckled internally, dismissing the idea. That was a nice fantasy, wasn’t it? For people to look up to the skies and see a red and gold knight descending from high above, knowing then and there that everything would be okay. Those were the types of dreams he used to have in his childhood, back when he’d spend his afternoons playing with medieval knights in shining armor. Slaying dragons, helping the people and many such adventures.

Life had a funny way of coming full circle. What he’d imagined so long ago had become true to some capacity, but, well... Things could be better. Or maybe that was the ungrateful perfectionist in him talking, never content with the present.

Again he would have to brandish his sword, a regular practice these days, and make sure more people lived than they died. Somehow the prospect of helping people to continue on living made the sacrifices worth it. A small blessing if he’d ever seen one.

Tony caught his reflection in the glass and narrowed his eyes. The sight was identical to the one he saw in the morning every single day, but for the moment it didn’t bother him. The more he looked, the less he felt the need to turn away.

“Oh, now you can look at me.”

o0o

He had cut off his main propulsion as soon as he’d hit about 60 miles up, entering a controlled orbit right on the edge of the mesosphere. Sadly, He couldn’t appreciate the beauty of seeing the Earth’s curvature, as he could only stay there for exactly one minute before having to fly black down. Any more and the Earth’s rotation would lengthen his trip instead of shortening it.

“…Since the station burned to the ground, there’s no security footage I could ask for.” Tony thought out loud. “And anyone who did have access to it is either dead or injured. Give me a summary of his powers from publicized witness reports. I’d like to know what we’re dealing with.” He ordered the suit.

Processing data… Main powers include standard super-soldier enhancements. Quote: “The guards were shooting at him but he was too fast for them. You could barely see him. Some got lucky and managed to nail him but he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Anyone that didn’t get out in time was torn apart or burned alive.”. Statements indicate suspect is also capable of fire breathing.

“Yeah, I gathered as much.” Tony tried not to associate what he’d heard with the pictures he had seen, but the images had already been carved into his head. He was reminded of the man whose face had been burnt off almost down to the bone. Poor bastard. “…Go on.”

Low to average imperviousness. Subsonic movement, possibly higher. Unclear if strength is a result of speed. Nature of “Extremis” compound raises the potential for further developments. Prolonged fight is ill-suited. Threat level five but remains unknown. Moderate caution advised.

Tony hummed, keeping his gaze on the countless stars hanging above. Having the armor speak to him had proven to be a good way of sorting through his thoughts. Things got messy if he talked to himself all the time.

Use his enhanced senses against him. Hit him hard and do it fast. Attempt a quick knockout or restrain him when his guard is down.

He cursed himself for not having asked Maya to explain what other stuff Extremis could do. Improving the human body was only half the equation. She’d been pretty adamant about the fact her serum wasn’t your typical Erskine rip-off. And, well, Tony could imagine the consequences… A biological compiler that could rewrite the brain to improve the body was a horrifying concept. Erskine’s serum bettered what was there to begin with, but Extremis imposed those changes, and could be made to do literally anything… What if those changes occurred during the heat of battle, or after a prolonged period of time? It’d make someone super adaptable to any environment.

What if the guy who had taken Extremis would grow more dangerous by the hour? What if he developed more powers, or cancerous mutations, or biohazardous side effects? If Extremis was still in the prototype phase, what stopped an error from forcing the brain to keep editing the body?

The guy was a walking timebomb. Every second spent out in the open could mean a potential epidemic, or worse. If he felt threatened, his brain could make him secrete poisonous gas to kill people around him and so on. The possibilities were endless…

…Okay, maybe he was being a bit too paranoid and didn’t trust Maya’s work, but how could he take any chances? He knew better than most what happened when people attempted to play God with human biology. These days the examples of such endeavours were visible at every corner.

The alert sound of his HUD’s timer snapped him back to reality.

One minute has been reached. Orbital repositioning successful. Execute re-entry manoeuvres.

And Tony did just that. He began by angling himself head first toward the ground and raised his hands to shield his helmet. Once in the proper position, he fired off into a nosedive without so much as a warning. Clocking in at Mach 6, he passed through the high-altitude clouds before the suit could even ignite into flames.

When the fires of re-entry did engulf him however, the heat was dispersed across the armor’s surface, plates further negating the melting temperatures. Tony was kept nice and cool beneath the metal, and as that was happening, the excess energy was syphoned into an afterburner for added thrust.

At the speed he was going, the ETA to Bastrop was two minutes on the dot.

[anulithots]

Anuli gets an interview. (Very dangerous, do not recommend. )

Let's pretend that @gummybugg tagged me. (Bliar and Elijah will now live in my head rent free)

TW for self-deprecation and suicidal ideation. (Mild and overdramatic <-- the sort of comfortable joking about it)

Anywho, welcome to Trinity Hollow!

You've happened to stumble across flower bushes. A hollow exists underneath, studded with mushrooms. (I cannot find the picture)

Anuli has this expression.

Fae looks like this:

And congrats! Anuli will probably do whatever you ask, because fae doesn't like deviating from others instructions, lest something awful happen. Fae also doesn't like following instructions, because something bad will happen. Good luck!

(The fancier language Anuli uses, the more nervous fae is)

[1.] Are you named after anyone?

.... I- er. Plot holes and darling murders, the possibilities for character depth here! Wonderous questions, pinnacle questioning.

Figures that I do not have an answer for this one, my apologies.

I was just... Anuli, since forever, perhaps past that.

...

Wouldn't it be ironic if there was another being named Anuli and they had a similar arc as mine.... and perhaps one's name governs their fate and that's how Kamari's star-y fates dictate the destiny of all the beings because they just reuse the names over and over and over again.

.... and if the stars lived forever, did they see the same story repeat? Is there a limited number of stories in the world, a limited number of ways lives can play out, and yet we never learn. No one has an arc unless they live through it, no one goes "aha! I have just popped into existence, and I know everything about everything, and life is simple and easy, what are all these buffoons doing?"

.... Revision... most beings are like that. They always seem to go on some arc that makes them a protagonist or a side character or a foil or a mentor, and the ones that don't have that arc... (a pre-existence arc?) are left to scramble and eventually they become villains.

Apparently, ignorance of ignorance is bliss, awareness of ignorance will eat you alive.

... my apologies. I- I did not answer that question.

[2.] When was the last time you cried?

I'm still crying. Without tears.

Symbolic crying.

Metaphorical crying.

From a villain who should not cry.

Why would the proponent of harm cry?

Fae doesn't actually care.

If fae cared, it would've ended better.

... Unsure if disclaimers that sound better will work better. Because if this story repeats ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO [redacted]

[3.] Do you have kids?

Younglings? Me?

... that will never happen. That's not fathomable. I'd probably... pass on my antagonistic traits to them and mess everything up or accidently squish them, or I'd start sparking on the inside with those heat-ripple flesh and blood and morbidity thing (Anuli's trying to describe anger) and I'd purposefully squish them. That's... taking care of little things is nowhere in the 'antagonist character bio'.

[4.] Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sarcasm gives one the power to shroud truth and leave it up to interpretation, making the one interpreting it find whatever meaning they want...

IT'S WONDEROUS AND I WOULD NEVER BE MISUNDERSTOOD AGAIN... but alas, its elusive nature leaves me tragically unfunny.

[5.] What's the first thing you notice about people?

.... I tend to... not notice things about people? I definitely do not notice a 'first thing'. A new character takes time to decipher into their desires, fears, worldviews and purpose in the story after all, but I... well I thought I was good at analyzing them. Was being the imperative word.

Er, suffice it to say that I don't notice anything about anything. My internal world takes first priority... it's the bane of my existence.... my grand villainous trait.

[6.] What's your eye colour?

... That's a wonderous question... Kamari might've told me once.

...

...

Plot holes and darling murders.

For this VALUABLE PIECE OF EXPOSITION... we shall say yellow. I think Kamari said yellow. Maybe. Possibly. It might fit in with the narrative... actually red.

Red is now my official and metaphorical eye color, for peak villainous disclaimers, symbolic for the blood on my hands (metaphorically).

Anuli's eyes are green. Kamari has told Anuli faer eyes are green at least seventeen separate times.

[7.] Scary movies or happy endings?

.... CONTEXT???? BACKSTORY???? IS THIS A "what do you, Anuli, prefer?" OR A "what type of story do you tell?" QUESTION? THE CONJUNCTION 'or' IMPLIES THAT IT'S ONE OR THE OTHER...

CAN SCARY STORIES NOT HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS? I WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS CRITICAL STORYTELLING-

oh.

'Scary stories cannot have happy endings'.

.....

I HAVEN'T ANSWERED ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, THIS ONE IS STORY-RELATED, MY SAVING GRACE, I SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHALVAGE THIS, BUT ALAS, OBSTICALS.

.... plot holes and darling murders.

... LET'S DO BOTH QUESTIONS.

*Ahem, Anuli what types of stories do you prefer?*

'Why thank you for the question Anuli! I liked Kamari's stories, they were...simpler than mine, all with happy endings. I don't know- how fae told such happy little stories all the time eludes me.'

*what an insightful answer Anuli! What types of stories do you tell?*

'Yet another wonderous question Anuli, I typically tell stories that spiral into morbid deaths full of blood and flesh that rips off of bones and characters that never get their happy ending no matter how much they wish for it! It's ironic really, how attempting to get that happy ending only makes it spill from their fingertips!

I tried to tell a story with a happy ending once.

.... tried being the imperative word.

[8.] Any special talents?

Ruining every story beat, happy ending, and spiraling into morbid nonsense no one would want to hear.

[9.] Where were you born?

... This must also be valuable exposition, apologies for not containing the answers in this.. needlessly complicated internal world.

My tree is in the wanderer's nest, so I assume I sprouted in the wanderer's nest?

FROM THERE, DEAR AUDIENCE, COMES THE PLIGHT OF THE WANDERER'S NEST AND ITS VILLIANOUS COMPANION - THE PLACE OF TETHERS - TO KEEP ITS VILLIAN SPAWN FROM RUINING THE PROTAGONIST'S HAPPY ENDING INSTEAD OF DYING LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO.

[10.] What are your hobbies?

Storytelling! Art once in a while! Overthinking! Daydreaming! Nothing helpful! Messing up everything! Talking to inanimate objects!

[11.] Do you have any pets?

What's a pet?

[12.] What sports do you play/have you played?

What's a sport?

(Anuli is extremely slow and has awful motor control and will trip over faer feet and reach for something and miss it. Fae can't fly nor walk that fast. Anuli's spent most of faer young life tethered to a fence, and fae sat and rolled around for most of that tethered existence. Standing up suddenly will make faer dizzy. Do not get this one in a sport.

Human AU Anuli likes to float in a pool, that's about it.)

[13.] How tall are you?

I can answer this one! HUZZAH!

About a half-Kamari length.

(This is the most accurate height chart you're going to get. And the Anuli doll took three months and is about the size of newborn child. I don't think I'll ever make a Kamari doll because... making that size accurate would be a nightmare and I don't think I would ever finish)

books for size comparison

[14.] Favourite subject in school?

What's school?

(Human AU Anuli would have hyperfixations in musicals and classical literature, along with the occasional high fantasy modern books... as long as they break tropes or have a good sense of storytelling (fae gets bored easily.) That being said, assignments are faer least favorite thing in the world, fae would have the highest grade in literature.... but only when fae gets to analyze stories or write faer own. When this happens, fae will write pages and pages longer than the assigned length.

All other subjects are barely over failing grade, except for art, although Anuli might do something completely opposite of what the instructions where but fae gets a decent grade anyways because it had a lot of effort put into it.

Anuli miiigghhhtttt have a learning disability in math, since cannon Anuli has a hard time counting. Numbers are hard to work with because fae can't see them that well... they are very abstract things.

History would be pretty good... except for the assignments parts. Human Anuli could infodump on ancient history for hours and think they all happened in the past hundred years.

Science is a hit or miss. Anuli's gone on a hyperfixation from time to time (mainly genetics because fae saw this one show where they use DNA to identify a killer), but fae just... doesn't do the assignments.

TL;DR - Literature and a bit of history, has a failing grade in most subjects because school work = executive dysfunction)

[15.] Dream job?

... I get to tell stories to Kamari while fae hums songs and makes windchimes, but that's another story entirely. That's not mine to have.

... I don't daydream about myself in a... positive light that often... so... I'll take suggestions for free lifestyles as long as it doesn't involve anything important or breakable or involving emotions or other beings or consistency.

[myimaginarywonderland]

I am sorry but what upsets me most about Eddie's arc is that it is so unnecessary!!!

And I don't mean this in the ultimate outcome that I think he needs to confront who he is besides a farther (because I wanted that for seasons) but I mean how we go towards that outcome.

If they wanted this season to lead up to Eddie finally confronting who he is without Chris there is just such an essay way to do it without once again having random women just not even play a part but basically be prop pieces.

We could have the entire Marisol thing erased. Say in the beginning of the seasons that they went on a few dates and it didn't work out or something.

And then show an absences of Chris. Show the viewers how Christopher is growing up and being absent because he prefers the company of his friends and he wants to try out clubs or something like every other fucking teenager. Tell us about Chris refusing to indulge some gestures he usually would with his dad because he is growing up now.

Show Chris looked in his room because he can play video games and doesn't want to have movie nights with his dad.

Have Eddie come home to an empty house because Chris is yet again at another hangout.

Let Eddie find a friend in Tommy who he hangs out with only to have to realise that Tommy also doesn't always have time because of his job, his hobbies and his growing relationship with Buck.

Let's have single Eddie who sees all of his friends dating or having to take care of their kids or enjoying their hobbies. Have Eddie questioning if he is failing, have Eddie ask Bobby for advice because Bobby went through this. Let someone tell Eddie that it's okay to prioritize himself and that while he is a father, he has to understand that Chris is his own person and is starting to form his own family.

Let Eddie question what he will do once Chris leaves for college because maybe May comes to drop by and Bobby talks about how different it is when the kids leave the house. Have Eddie be annoyed at his family who wants him to date again because he just doesn't want to.

Have Eddie reconnect with his hobbies because of his friendship with Tommy, discover how much he missed having someone who gets that.

Have Eddie slowly accept that while he will always have Chris as his number 1 priority, that he isn't Christopher currently and one day might never be again.

Have Eddie hang out with people outside the 118 because maybe he finds other friends etc.

Have Eddie realise that while his early years where essentially taken up with Chris and he would give up his life for him in a heartbeat, he is allowed to also be just Eddie.

Not Edmundo Diaz, Christopher's father.

Not Eddie Diaz, boyfriend.

He is allowed to discover who just Eddie is.

[stillness-in-green]

Glad to see someone talking about AFO's spies...or rather the weirdness about them. Hori gave two out of five them names (yet not most of the Advisors!!) and really only Tajima is kinda sorta relevant? I kinda wished Mihaela got a mini-showcase to see her Quirk or her efficiency with her bomb. Concerning their fifth member, I looked back and I think they got caught by Tetsutetsu? Maybe? It's hard to see, but I think I see their black hair when he's pinning Cheetah down?

Howdy howdy, @shockersalvage. ^^

Yeah, Horikoshi’s naming decisions in the back half of the story are so completely ridiculous!  Nowhere more so than with the contrast between Kashi Kashiko and Ordinary Woman, but it’s highly visible in the disparity between named AFO goons and named MLA advisors, too.  Mind-boggling that even the ones that directly come up against 1-A kids can’t get so much as a text box identification, much less a line where they actually announce their names or are identified by someone else on-scene.

As to Mihaela,* I agree it would have been nice for her to get anything remotely substantial to do, in that I wished any of them could get anything remotely substantial to do.  To indulge my jadedness about Hori’s gender politics, though, I guess it’s not really surprising that she doesn’t.  I’d say she and Tajima are the latest in a long list of the same pattern: a male character and a female character connected in some fashion, with no reason for one or the other to get the priority as more important for whatever incidental plot element they’re here to fulfill, but the dude gets to do the important stuff while the gal is just—there.

To list some examples off the top of my head:

Kashi Kashiko and his unnamed girlfriend.  The former is the one ShigAFO tries to unload New Order onto, while the latter is just there to give Kashi someone to talk to for two entire pages they exist.  

Spinner’s Number 1 and Number 2 advisors.  The gal is higher ranked, which you’d think would be meaningful in some fashion, even if it’s just a matter of her being significantly smarter, but Scarecrow gets three whole instances of calling out to rally his people (even when “his people” are just his two fellow advisors!!) and gets multiple chapters of impassioned demagoguery and internal monologue, while Nimble gets…  To accompany him in crowd scenes and yell one line of ineffective dialogue after Shouji has already successfully begun changing the heteromorph mob’s hearts?  

Sticking with the PLF advisors, I could point to a bunch of different configurations that are equally annoying in terms of the dudes getting more attention than their equally-or-higher-ranked peers, but to keep the focus tight, consider the trio of Piercings Dude and the Bindi Ladies, shown grouped together in the big two-page spread of the initial clash of sides at the Villa.  Piercings Dude (a third rank advisor) is the only one of the trio whose quirk we know, thanks to that splashy cliffhanger shot of him attacking Gang Orca.  Grandma Bindi (also a third rank advisor), on the other hand, is never seen again after that spread.  Meanwhile, Big Sis Bindi (second rank!) gets rolled over by Edgeshot in a group shot.  She does a little better than Piercings Dude in that he’s explicitly captured while she explicitly escapes, but her escape hasn’t led to any further attention: she was shown in a shot of the PLF remnants, but has been MIA in the final war arc.  

Per the topic of the ask, AFO’s spies.  While none of them are allowed to be markedly more effective than the rest, of the two who get the most focus, and the only two who get names, the one who gets by far the most focus, dialogue, and internal monologue—more of the above than all of the rest of them combined!—is Tajima, the dude.

That’s just kinda spitballing, so there could well be both more examples that support the pattern as well as counter-examples to it, but just based on that, and on how the manga treats its men and women in broader strokes, it’s sadly pretty typical of BNHA that active characters who get focus, attention and decisive action are much more likely to be men, while women are much more likely to be stuck in support roles.

As to Nondescript Dark-Haired Gal, I pulled up the shot you mentioned, and I see what you mean, but unless I’m looking at it wrong, I think the dark splotch is just Tetsutetsu’s knee?

I parse this as Tetsutetsu having his left knee on the ground, on the outside of Cheetah Dude’s right leg, then Tetsutetsu’s right leg is folded up high and coming down towards Cheetah Dude’s midsection, with Tetsu’s right foot probably planted on the ground right around Cheetah Dude’s groin.  (And if I were CD, I wouldn’t want that knee coming down any harder, either!)

I could be wrong, but my brain’s not connecting the visual dots here in a way that puts the dark-haired lady in Tetsutetsu’s grip.

Tragically, I don’t expect her absence from the scene to really matter at this stage, given that she presumably evacuated U.A. with the rest and is all the way back near the villa at this point, and it’s hard to imagine what she could possibly do that would make a positive or negative impact on AFO’s battle now.

That said, I would be thrilled to have Horikoshi prove me wrong!  By all means, let AFO claw his way out of his encounter with All Might and stagger up to the Shigaraki-Deku fight only to get stabbed in the back at the last possible second because the least prominent member of his spy cadre snuck out of the refugee areas and hid in U.A. before it took off to become a flying coffin.  I don’t know how she would have gotten back out of the sky coffin and down to the Deku vs. Shigaraki fight area, but I’m sure she could be given some quirk that would explain it!

(Thanks as always for the ask; forgive me my High Sarcasm nonsense.)

* And thanks for mentioning their names; I’d forgotten they got them in a volume extra!