#he’s way more impulsive and stubborn than the fandom ever acknowledges

[soullessjack]

i think another criticism i have of baby jack is that it’s just so unfunny compared to canon jack. like. He pretended to be a coke addict so he could get into rehab for one of his plans. He disobeyed Death Herself and then blackmailed a reaper with the threat that Billie would kill her just so she’d go along with another plan. He stays in his room for entire weeks at a time and stress eats when he’s depressed. Two actual nicknames he was given are “Lucifer 2: Electric Boogaloo” and “Bieber.” He decapitated a gorgon, defeated his uncle by vaping his essence to death and then decided like a week afterwards that he finally wanted some friends .

He committed cannibalism and just crammed hearts into his mouth like a handful of goldfish. He is also a chronic food crammer in general. He apologized once for a bomb spell not hurting him and then apologized for violently exploding to death. He violated the Geneva Convention. He wanted to bang a necromancer during an active case that she was involved in and that he pressured dean into doing. His favorite walking dead character is Glen. He had a Christmas themed jacket and wore it specifically for the attempt to kill said uncle. He was a dog once and got violated by a thermometer. He taught himself lock picking with YouTube and WikiHow. His room has a TV , typewriter and a record player in it and not only does jack fold his clothes in a neat pile , but he also keeps his shoes lined up against the wall. #autismking

He styles his hair very specifically and only has 3 different outfit patterns. He can’t fight for shit. He just naturally has a thing for snakes. He’s canonically seen as hot and dumb. Respectively. An actual line of his is “You know what’s good about being dead?” He tried to punch the embodiment of the cosmic afterlife. He was legitimately gonna throw down with a nature fairy grandma. He hates Anakin Skywalker for some reason . When he was in the garden of Eden he legitimately thought he was going crazy. He thought hellhounds were bears AND wore a gay little turtleneck on an important mission . Bless his heart

I could go on but I’m sleepy but you get the idea yes he was put through a wood mill and sandpapered smooth of all interesting silly aspects. You agree fervently hopefully

[antifictionsfiction]

Stealing Artists

AO3

Fandom: David Bowie

Pairing: Ziggy Stardust x gn!reader

Rating: M

Summary: You have been trying to get your big break in the music industry for years, yet nothing seems to work out for you. Why on earth is that bastard Ziggy Stardust out there thriving when he owes all of his success to you?

Warnings/tags: (artistic) rivalry, sexual tension, bad puns, suggestive

Reader specifications: Ziggy refers to them as "Panther Princess" at one point, but the term is used in a fully gender neutral way (it's a reference to a song about a man, after all :D)

Word count: 2183

A/N: This is an edited repost of a story I wrote a few years ago. I'm most likely going to add one more chapter soon, but for now it also works as an open-ended one shot. Let me know if you'd like to read more of this!

Please note this is my version of Ziggy Stardust as a fully fictional character, not Bowie taking on the persona of Ziggy.

Of the many ways you could have gone and the many people you could have become, you are nothing but one of Ziggy Stardust’s screaming fans right in the mosh pit. You are screaming almost against your will, but the crowd is moving, the beat is groovy and Ziggy sounds and looks so fucking alluring in that ridiculous, barely-there outfit. He’s “covered” in a fishnet suit with a couple of strategically placed glittering gold stripes of fabric. Of course, that alone wouldn’t be outrageous enough for him at this point, but two plaster hands, stuck to the outfit groping his chest as though a sparkly lover is standing behind him, are saving his reputation.

You wonder if one single fan in the audience would believe you if you exposed the fact that Ziggy wouldn’t be getting fondled by those grabby hands if he hadn’t seen a downright identical display in your living room some time ago. As if anyone would even entertain the thought that their idol is a thief, stealing from your playful idea for a racy costume and making way more money from it than you’ve earned over your entire career as a musician.

He’s right in the middle of one of his more suggestive songs, singing about a “panther princess”, which reminds you of an old horror movie you’ve once watched with maestro Ziggy himself. That was a couple of years ago, before his debut album blew up and his fame grew so rapidly you couldn’t keep up with him anymore. Now he is right in front of you, ostentatious as ever, making out with his microphone while a mass of loons is cheering him on.

He steps to the edge of the stage and leans down, letting his fans hold his hands and attempt to pull him into the sizzling tangle of dancing bodies. It seems they can’t get enough of him, and you snicker at the idea that this wiry creature has captured the hearts of so many men and women, regardless of their age or personal relationships. He moves along the line of raised hands, touching every one of them, giving out a few kisses which are rewarded with unholy screeches of delight. Who wouldn’t trade a kiss from an unattainable icon for a little bit of dignity?

 Ziggy is nearing you and once again your impulses are more stubborn than your bitterness and your hands shoot up to meet his delicate, painted fingers. He’s inches away from you now and finally acknowledges you. His intense focused expression shifts into a wide smile that shows off those crooked teeth of his and then he delivers the final lyrics, abruptly turning away from you without as much as brushing a single fingertip past yours. “My velvet goldmine” sung in a low, seductive tone echoes through the club as the lights dim, you take a sharp breath in and your arms fall back down to your sides in disappointment. You’ve been had again – that asshole invited you to his concert, even ensured you would get a backstage pass, but what for? It is clear to you now that he’s noticed the little shenanigan you pulled with your most recent, underperforming album. He’s caught on to what you have been up to and now he’s desperate to prove to you your own pitifulness. You have learned a couple of tricks from him though, and you are set on using them against him this very night.

You make the deliberate decision to keep your cool and don’t rush backstage as soon as the show is over. After all, you aim to persuade Ziggy that his pettiness has left you unbothered, this night belongs to you from now on. You wait till the crowd pours out of the club and wave at the first stage technician you spot. He’s carrying Ziggy’s precious red guitar backstage and he looks you over in such an intense way you find it almost offensive. You don’t delude yourself about the antics that take place behind-the-scenes between Ziggy, the Spiders and their groupies, and of course the techs and roadies must get their fair share of action as well.

“Mind if I try a few cords?” you call out to him and he mimics strumming, exaggerating the classic thrust of the hips that Ziggy’s guitarist, Mick, often performs onstage. God, he’s embarrassing.

“Could be persuaded, baby. What’s in it for me?” he asks and arches his brows, as if he couldn’t be more predictable. You pull yourself up on the stage, and come up to him, stopping at an uncomfortably close distance. Seeing him up close for the first time you notice he’s wearing silver glitter eyeshadow – even techs are trying hard to be Ziggy now, apparently. Little do they know you wore glitter back in ’65.

“You know what, I don’t think Ziggy would be awfully happy about it, so I’ll just bring him the guitar and ask him myself.” Before the guy gets a chance to react, you grab the instrument with firm hands. It slips out from his loose grip and as you head backstage without acknowledging him further, he’s already trying to take hold of the situation again, muttering some juicy insults related to your sex life he knows nothing about. Without stopping you pull out your VIP ticket and wave it above your head like a victory flag.

“Relax, if he gets mad, I’ll take the blow. I know him better than you do,” you say and enter the backstage area with a great deal more confidence than you came to the show with. The tech isn’t done with you quite yet, he spews some bullshit about his own erotic escapades with Ziggy as you disappear behind the curtain. To your relief he can’t be bothered to actually deal with you, even though to him you are a possible intruder who might have faked their backstage pass. You, on the other hand, might complain about him to Ziggy later.

You don’t have to search for the glam rocker long. To no surprise he’s changing out from his costume right in the middle of all the boxes with sound equipment, not to mention all the Spiders, crew members and a few guests. He’s chatting away, you don’t understand what he’s talking about out of context, but once again you are fascinated by all the people surrounding him hanging on his every word. Yet, it seems he isn’t registering any of that, he acts as though he is in a private dressing room and not just posing his ass for an audience of thirty, in a pair of outrageous metallic briefs none the less.

He discards the net he had been wearing all night and casually wraps himself in a silk kimono that his assistant hands him before he even asks. It must feel nice, getting your every whim catered to as soon as it enters your mind, you think. You force yourself to break the spell he has the whole room under, you aren’t here to turn into one of these adoring fools, after all. You call out to him loud enough to interrupt the stream of self-indulgent chatter coming from his gold-tinted lips. He follows the sound of your voice in a smooth twist, the robe billows momentarily before setting down around his narrow hips.

“I brought you your guitar. One of the techs was fooling around with it, I thought he might burst a string or something. Asshole.” You reach out to pass Ziggy the instrument, but his assistant is somehow quicker than him and rids you of it with humble thanks. Ziggy wordlessly dismisses her.

“Must've been Gary, I never really liked him anyway," Ziggy shrugs with an indifferent grimace, "But look at you, if it isn’t my Panther Princess,” he immediately switches to his low seductive purr, but you are quick to fire back with flirtatious force that is maybe less believable than his, but certainly just as insincere.

“In the flesh, my King Volcano,” you smile and try not to visibly cringe at the cheesy exchange. He grins at your reference to his hottest hit, eyeing you with no shame at all and you thank yourself for overdoing it with your tonight’s attire.

“You like the lyrics, huh?” he asks, his fingers brushing up and down your exposed upper arm. You suppress any physical reaction to his touch, and for the sake of your sanity you dare not acknowledge the rest of the room that is most likely focused on your conversation. At least someone has put on a record, and you can hear more voices in the background now than just Ziggy’s and yours.

“They’re okay,” you shrug, maintaining a level, unbothered tone, “A bit clunky at times.”

To your increasing annoyance, Ziggy’s shit-eating grin doesn’t falter after your critique. If anything, it gets wider, those distinctive fangs of his making an appearance again.

“Oh really? Try to be more specific, love. Clunky as in ‘could use just a little tweaking’? Or worse, as in… hm, let me think,” he purses his lips and you already know he’s mocking you, you’re just not sure yet which fatal blow he’ll come up with this time.

“I got it,” he smiles again, prolonging the suspense, “Something like ‘He’s just all around screwed, like some rat from Britain’. God, I would probably just quit, knowing I wrote something like that.”

There’s nothing you want less than to offer him the satisfaction of storming out or trying to defend yourself when there’s no way you can win. He’s set on provoking you, but you can’t let your emotions get the better of you, not tonight. So you wrote a diss track – are you supposed to apologize for that? Are you expected to atone for a small outlet for your frustration made on an almost non-existent budget? You only sold about two hundred copies and fortunately didn’t receive any reviews from anyone but your friends and family, for God’s sake.

“I don't think you need to worry about that. It’s not like someone’s just going to come and snatch your career from your pretty hands,” you smile back in faux innocent consolation, tuning in to his air of playful passive agressivity. Ziggy lets out a hearty laugh, maybe he wasn’t aiming for a full-on conflict this time.

“You’ve got a strong grip on your grudges, darling. That’s why I like you so much, of course. We should get out of here, I’m bored out of my mind around these people,” he gives a dramatic sigh and his assistant hurries over, passing him a cigarette that she lights without prompting. Ziggy’s brows arch as he takes a drag and offers you his hand to take.

“As I said, fucking boring, the whole lot of them. Come on, help me change and let’s grab a drink somewhere more exciting,” he says.

You grasp his hand, confused by the turn of events, but not unpleasantly so. If you are to carry out your plan tonight, you couldn’t ask for better circumstances.

“You’ll leave the rest of your special guests just like that?” you ask, amused by the judgmental glances of everyone you were passing on your way to Ziggy’s dressing room.

“You’re my only special guest tonight.” He leads you into a tiny room crammed with yet more boxes and maybe ten different outfits hung out on coat hangers all over the beat-up furniture.

“Who were all those people then?”

“The Spiders, of course. Roadies, groupies, I don’t know. I’ve only invited you though. For a little chat about your latest poetic masterpiece,” he kisses your cheek and drapes his kimono over your shoulder as if there isn’t enough room for randomly discarded items in his dressing room. You ignore it and you positively radiate sincere excitement at this point. It’s all coming along all too nicely, but you won’t question one of the few surges of good luck in your career so far.

“If it’s just me, why don’t we go straight to your place?” you suggest and Ziggy freezes in the middle of wiping a futuristic golden circle from his forehead. His eyes leave his reflection in his vanity mirror and he turns to you with excitement comparable to your own.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be so daring. It’ll be much convenient than here, that’s true,” he licks his lower lip in contemplation and goes back to removing his makeup. His one-track mind didn’t disappoint but you have to admit you are flattered by his clear interest and you’d be lying if you said you aren’t thrilled about the possibility of having your way with him, only as a way of proving yourself you’re above him, of course.

“Aren’t you the bold one for assuming that’s all I want from you?” you tease him with pretended seriousness. He doesn’t look at you this time, brushing the top of his fluffy mullet, but you can see the frisky narrowing of his eyes in the reflection.

“No, I know you need to show me how badly I've wronged you. Get back at me, too. But I’m more than okay with that, love.”

[faunusrights]

what is going on with all the bias on robyn hill’s wiki page, anyway? - an aside

As someone who uses the RWBY wiki with some degree of frequency - often because I’m looking for art references, or Semblance and weapon names - I’m used to... some amount of bias in the articles for different characters? Like, let’s be real, it’s not a perfect wiki! Community-maintained stuff isn’t easy to all keep on the same track! But, generally, it gives the facts well enough and doesn’t do too bad a job keeping all the balls in the air when it comes to new information from all four corners of this franchise.

Well, until you open the article for Robyn Hill, and realise it’s an absolute disaster. Like, really; the impartial voice just plain doesn’t exist for her, and almost all of her wiki is written in such a way that she reads as being an absolutely insufferable, hostile, hard-to-like character. Even if you aren’t a fan of Robyn personally, you have to admit that if you hadn’t seen the show yourself, you might very well come away from her article presuming she’s a major antagonist of Volumes 7 and 8.

Like, for instance, let’s take a look at the first paragraph of her Personality section:

Robyn has a direct and confident personality, having no trouble being confrontational with Atlas personnel, including the Ace Operatives. Robyn also seems to suffer from overconfidence and arrogance, shown in her encounters with Ruby and celebrating her election victory before it was verified. She is aggressive and hostile in nature, quickly jumping to conflict without thinking through consequences. However, she is also shown to be reasonable when the situation calls for it.

And, for good measure, here’s another paragraph from the same section:

In "With Friends Like These" Robyn displayed a rather impulsive side of her personality, when upon hearing that James Ironwood's plan to abandon Mantle and arrest those against him, she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen onboard a Manta with Tyrian Callows in custody. Despite the fact, there was no order or her arrest. Her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

(Taken from Robyn’s RWBY Wiki page. Bolding is mine.)

In every instance here, all of the “negative” aspects of her personality take centre stage; she’s confrontational. She suffers from arrogance. She is aggressive and hostile. She started the fight. Her brashness led to the crash. All of this is only compounded when her positive traits trail behind as an afterthought; she’s direct and confrontational, overconfident and arrogant, aggressive and hostile, impulsive and jumps to conclusions... but hey! As least she’s reasonable when the situation calls for it. 

The way that this information is presented to the reader is quite literally on par with how the wiki presents the personalities of the actual literal villains who appear throughout the show. Let’s take, for instance, the Personality section of Cinder Fall:

Cinder is ruthless and sadistic, as demonstrated when she delivers a killing blow to a clearly defeated Pyrrha Nikos in "End of the Beginning" and when she throws a spear at a defenseless Weiss Schnee in "The More the Merrier." She is relentlessly driven to gain power and determined to cross any line to obtain it. Cinder demonstrates a cunning that shows in her successful manipulation of events and people throughout the first three volumes. Cinder is also arrogant and egomaniacal, and as such, relishes in dominance and gloating, displaying shameless pleasure in the misery she has caused others.

Or, the Personality section of Raven Branwen:

Raven is cynical, patronizing, selfish and stubborn. She believed her act of "kindness" of saving Yang's life from Neopolitan was sufficient despite having left Yang at a very young age and refused to protect her daughter when in need after that.

Raven is also very prideful and hypocritical, refusing to acknowledge her faults and always trying to justify her actions both to others and to herself, often putting the blame on others for them even if she feels real guilt about them.

It makes sense that for an antagonist, the primary faults and flaws of their personalities will come first, as to better represent them as the villains to clarify to the reader who they are and why they act as they do in their storylines. However, the fact that Robyn arguably has an even more caustic write-up then Raven, despite not being an antagonist, goes to show the lengths this writer has gone to present her in a significantly more negative light than she ever appears in the show.

If this doesn’t seem convincing, let’s look at a more direct comparison; what does the wiki say about Ironwood? He’s present in the same seasons, and has now become more of an antagonist in the latter episodes; is the wiki quite as blunt about his flaws?

Ironwood is courteous to his allies, as shown by his first onscreen interaction with Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. He is also far-thinking and tactical, wondering about the future, as seen when he speaks to Ozpin about Qrow Branwen's message. He also has a jovial, friendly, humorous and proud public persona, which he uses as a spokesman for the weapon manufacturers of Atlas.

However, as courteous Ironwood may appear, he can also be incredibly blunt, often preferring the direct approach. When he feels necessary, Ironwood is not afraid to bring the full might of his military command to bear, which sparked disagreements with both Glynda and Ozpin. Nevertheless, Ironwood is extremely loyal to his comrades, and however questionable his methods may be, he seems to have genuinely good intentions behind them.

Uh, no.

Instead, when his flaws are mentioned (for example, being blunt), it’s written in a significantly less... abrasive manner. It’s referred to as the direct approach, versus Robyn who is described as confrontational. Even then, his flaws are folded in to his (alleged) positive traits; he is not afraid, extremely loyal, and has genuinely good intentions, despite the fact that the show has now proven that Ironwood’s flaws greatly outweigh these. It reveals how thoroughly all of Robyn’s actions are presented as the work of an arrogant troublemaker, whilst Ironwood’s actions are presented as the efforts of a man working towards some greater good. 

Also, I’ll add that in both examples, I used the first two paragraphs of their Personality sections. These are both the first two things you read about these characters, yet look at how differently they’re summarised.

What is interesting, however, is that despite this bias being extremely self-evident, the comments on her page generally chime agreement, referring to her as “overconfident, arrogant, impulsive and hotheaded to the point of being unlikable”, and claiming that she’s “literally the worse character in the show next to cinder, blake and yang”[1]. Someone mentions that Robyn has earned quite the hatedom... but why?

Broadly, my experiences of Robyn Hill’s writing in the fandom has been through a queer lens, and the vast majority of writers who’ve covered her and the Happy Huntresses have been women, or queer, or trans, or all the above... basically, the people who are usually responsible for a vast majority of fanfiction, let’s be real. These writers love Robyn, and have explored and extrapolated on her character to marvellous degree. Yet, at no singular point have any of these flaws ever been written quite as strongly as the wiki implies they are, nor have I seen much evidence of them myself in the show. For instance, let’s take one of the more serious points in her Personality section; she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen [...] her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

When we watch this scene again, Robyn did initiate the fight... because she was rightfully aware that Clover would obey his orders, even if they were wrong. Despite everything that happened prior in the entirety of Volume 7, when given orders to bring Qrow in alongside RWBY, it was clear that Clover fully intended to follow it through, which Robyn knows from prior experience with the AceOps:

[image ID: two images of Clover, Robyn and Qrow in the dark-grey interior of the Manta ship. Robyn has her weapon aimed at Clover as he stands in front of Qrow. Clover is saying “Only Qrow is under arrest [...] please don’t make me arrest you too.”]

Her knowledge of the AceOps means that she reacted accordingly; trying to stop him from taking Qrow in and obeying Ironwood’s plan the only way she knows the AceOps respond to. Her reaction isn’t unwarranted. However, my point isn’t to argue that Robyn was right or wrong, but rather that regardless of who started the fight, the way the wiki explains this specific incident is that it’s solely Robyn’s fault that Tyrian escaped and crashed the Manta, but we know this isn’t the case. Robyn and Qrow both fought Clover, and it was Clover’s good luck (or Qrow’s bad luck, depending on how you view it) that allowed for Kingfisher to break Tyrian’s bonds. Her brashness is blamed for the outcome, but in reality, this outcome could have been avoided together if Clover had not chosen to follow his orders and bring in an innocent man. Also, she didn’t crash the Manta! That was all Tyrian! The intentional tying together of these two events as her fault, however, are a neat package of blame.

In these instances on the wiki, Robyn’s personality appears amplified, focusing specifically on her flaws and exaggerating them to the extremes that, as noted earlier, matches the language used to define the very villains of the series. Yet, the people who enjoy her and the Happy Huntresses often perceive those same flaws to a significantly lesser extent, or even see those flaws as actually being boons of her character; for instance, reading her alleged arrogance as passion. So, why such division?

Before, I mentioned her “negative” traits, and I put this into quote marks because traits don’t always align nicely into good and bad. All aspects of a person can vary on how positive they are based on context - even the show proves this, with protectiveness becoming paranoia (Ironwood) or loyalty becoming subservience (Winter). Even a character that is broadly composed of more unfavourable traits can have this contextual shift; Cinder’s stubbornness to her goals makes her a fast learner and a tenacious opponent.

Yet, why did the writer (or writers) choose to highlight almost every aspect of Robyn’s character as a bad thing? Why did they frame her decisions as such? I have a suspicion it’s to do with her character at large; she’s a bold socialist politician who believes in equality and fairness for all, who refuses to stand for incompetence and obedience towards evil causes. She’s outspoken in her views, and reacts strongly to those who threaten to overturn her work. Also, she’s a woman, in charge of a group of other women, at least one of whom is canonically trans. To those who agree with her in real life, Robyn appears as a great character! We admire her work ethic and we support her ends. To those who may not... well, it’s not hard to see how they might perceive her as more of a cocky, authority-defying upstart. Of course, the core text of RWBY doesn’t quite believe the latter; RWBY has always placed Robyn as the direct counter to authoritarianism, whether it be Jacques, Clover, or Ironwood, and even the article admits that she is a potent voice for the people of Mantle. Still, it’s clear that there’s plenty of people in a vocal minority who are deeply dissatisfied by Robyn, and aren’t afraid to make their stance on the matter exceedingly clear.

So, what does this all mean? Well, here’s what we can say for sure; Robyn’s article is, and has always been, stringently biased against her character, and often misconstrues her motives and decisions. This is maybe the more obvious part, but how should her article be worded to make this less so? Likely, I’d rephrase a lot of it to be less damaging to her character; she isn’t hostile, she holds people accountable. She isn’t quick to jump to conflict, she is familiar with how Atlas responds to anti-authority with violence. She isn’t arrogant, she believes in the power of the people as being the right thing to fight for. Even this makes it clearer that her character is about resisting the oppression inherent in Atlas, and is a much clearer outline of her personality as a whole. People may disagree with this phrasing and summary also, but given her character is based on Robin Hood, it’s also not far from the mark in terms of what she should represent.

TL;DR: Robyn’s wiki page is written with a deep bias against her character and what she represents, acts upon, and chooses to do in the show; I have no doubt that in canon, this sort of language would probably be used by Jacques himself as a smear campaign, haha. Whilst I can’t speak for the author and their motives, I have a distinct feeling that this article was written, or edited, by someone who is either:

not a fan of Robyn

not a fan of a new female character

not a fan of a new female character in a position of power

not a fan of a character with socialist/communist/antifa ideals

all of the above and then some???

Even though I’m not going to edit her wiki page (I’m very shy and I’ve never done it before), I think it’s worth analysing this if only as a reminder of the inherent biases of an author even when people are trying to present a character’s information impartially. This isn’t the first wiki I’ve seen misconstrue - or even make incorrect assumptions on - facts about a character, and it won’t be the last. In the meantime, though, I leave you with this fact:

Robyn Hill slaps huge nuts and I love her.

[1] I’m not naming the users who posted these things here, because it’s unnecessary. You can find them for yourself at the bottom of Robyn’s wiki, but there’s no need to respond; some people just don’t like Robyn, and that’s fine - I’m just explaining how bias leaks into wikis like water into a sponge. It happens!

[itsclydebitches]

Clyde, I’m so sorry, but I HATE Oscar as much as the rest of RWBY+, now. He’s forgiven 2 assholes, letting the fact he was never slighted by Emerald blind him to the people who have to an infuriating degree, lecturing Yang and Jaune while defending her from Ruby like they’re all supposed to be fine with it. He also went along with way too much of the plan to destroy two cities and render millions homeless. He and Weiss are ruined, I hate every character now and I’m done with this fucking show.

Ngl, my farm boy seriously frustrated me this volume. And see, that’s something I’ve been grappling with lately. I’ve see a number of posts point out - correctly! - that you’re not always supposed to agree with a well-written character. Let characters be assholes! Let them be stupid! Let them exhibit all the traits an actual human would, which does not include an ability to be perfect at all times! So I keep coming back to this question of whether Oscar’s characterization is well done, even if I don’t personally like his choices. 

Aaaand I keep answering my own question with, “No, it’s just badly written” lol. 

Because the story (the author) needs to be aware of these traits. They need to exist for a reason. I’ve delved into this a bit in my latest BTD Recap (yes, those are still a thing, despite my snail’s space) when it comes to Coco’s characterization. When these people do something stupid, or cruel, or arrogant, there’s no acknowledgement of that from the text. No one is pointing out how insanely foolish it was for Oscar to give Hazel the password, angry that he would risk one of their greatest weapons - and endanger the world - based on his personal desire to believe the best in everyone. No one is allowed to be legitimately angry that he, a comparative outsider, is pressuring them to work with the woman who helped murder their friend and destroy their school. (No, Yang’s brief pushback doesn’t count when it exists solely for Oscar and Ren to counter, making her appear stubborn and too closed off. Yang is the one who is supposed to learn to be more forgiving here). RWBY has its characters engaging in incredibly polarizing behavior, but then acts as if no one could ever disagree with these choices. So when the audience does disagree, it feels like the story is too limited, approaching its own plot with a narrow, biased lens. It’s like the character version of watching Yang fall. Just because the story willingly ignores all the obvious pushbacks here - but aura, but strategy, but staying conscious, but glyphs, but speed semblance - doesn’t mean the end result is a good one.  With Oscar, it feels like the story is ignoring all the problems with his choices, thereby stalling growth rather than forwarding it (which is what the show tires to claim is happening). I agree entirely that it makes sense for Oscar to trust people, perhaps more than his team members. It made sense to me that he’d be the one to try and talk to Ironwood. But not just talking, but giving Hazel the password? Emerald? Never mentioning the cane? Keeping Ozpin a secret when he first came back? The continued mess with the merge? At this point I am, quite literally, unsure who Oscar is compared to Ozpin (especially given the lack of work done to help us know him individually) and what little we’ve got is, currently, making me want to bang my head against the metaphorical wall. I don’t think I’ve ever watched another series where there is SO MUCH setup for growth, only for the story to insist again and again that what the character did was The Perfect Thing actually and they should never question their initial impulses, let alone experience consequences that would lead to them learning something in the future. What did Oscar learn this volume? Uh... magic will arrive in the nick of time to save you, your friends will magically find you in a massive kingdom, but they’ll stand around while you’re kidnapped, keeping secrets is still fine provided you’re the one doing it, torture sucks, if you believe hard enough your worst enemies will become friends, don’t try to get Relics back, magic will arrive in the nick of time to save you again, if you believe hard enough again your worst enemies will become friends, you can now remember moments that you weren’t present for. 

None of this gets me excited for Oscar’s future, especially when the merge is still a mess and he’s fighting against Ruby’s status as protagonist. I love Oscar, but a great deal of that love is a result of his early potential and how the fandom has characterized him. Now that RWBY is actually giving him stuff to do and not having the cast treat him horribly anymore, they’re failing to write him in a logical and compelling manner. Which isn’t surprising given that the whole cast is facing the same difficulties. This isn’t an Oscar problem, it’s a RWBY problem. 

[hungryflowers]

Sensing Lamentation

Title: Sensing Lamentation

Rating: General Audience

Fandom/Continuity: Balan Wonderworld

Character Relationship(s): Leo Craig/Balan

Character(s): Leo, Balan, Past Character (Unnamed), Lance (Only Mentioned)

A/N: I’ve been in a funk for quite awhile, so I decided to do this to hopefully make me feel better. 2020 was a rough year and these last few days have torn out my soul. I want to write this as a small means of healing myself. Also, I’m a slight out of practice with my writing craft, so if any errors, I apologize.

Other: This isn’t a ship! Regardless of what the ‘Character Relationship’ part says, keep in mind that Leo is fifteen years old and Balan is potentially eldritch aged. He’s seen all sides of humanity, so he gets it. He’s not attracted to the boy, nor will I write him to be. Just putting that out there before y’all get to thinking that he a ‘cradle robber’ who lures in heartbroken kids.

He was more than content with sitting in the whist, luminescent room. Parchment on one end, tar-like ink on the other, the Maestro had made a day for himself to just... create. A tune swirled in his mind, the musings of the melody playing on repeat as he etched time out of his day to put it to paper. The endeavor was not a failed one, yet it hardly yielded the desired results. Feather to temple, Balan stretched his elongated back. Sunlight had eluded him in the short time he sat. Eyes glanced for the nearest time telling device in the room; eight forty-five. He had been at the same table, staying finicky over the same paper for the same tune for nearly four hours. Not a new reaction, yet he was normally more productive. Sighing, he adjusted his wide-brimmed top hat as he moved around to restock, stock, or keep tabs on anything necessary for anymore acts. 

The little tims peeped and scuttle along, following the maestro as if he’d been a pied piper. Playful eyes shimmered with glee as he picked up the few that straddled his lanky legs. Placing them on a crate, he kept at his inventory. They still peeped and chimed, more frequent and annoyed. 

“None of that...” A quiescent quip from the maestro had them calmed. It seemed that have to find another opportunity to have Balan’s attention. 

In the after math of busying himself with caring for little things, the maestro had failed to notice, or hear the subtle steps of a child passing by. The shock of hearing another breathing individual was enough to make him pause. Standing to his full height Balan went around looking for the soul whom had trespassed without him acknowledgement. He was quite forthcoming with introductions or having someone speaking to him before departing. It was in good manner to appear respectful to those around you. 

The steps he had neglected to hear before ventured up the stairs to the next floor. Which was quite odd, as only guests that Balan himself invited, or staff that convened there, were allowed upstairs. He had to rectify this immediately. Snooping was not tolerated under the maestro’s gaze. He kept his eyes on a sleeping chamber that was lit behind the sturdy mahogany door as he crept up the spiral staircase. On a normal day, he’d just float up and push open the door, however he still had enough respect to announce his presence before coming in. 

Standing in front of the door, his hand went to jiggle the handle, only to stop at the softest sounds of what he knew as sorrow. Eyes widened, his hand came off the knob as if he had been burned by it. There was a little one... softly sobbing in the chambers. He fought against an unusual impulse to shove himself inside, yet the longer he listened, the harder it became to ignore. He reminded himself to adhere to the rules and guidelines he had made for himself and Lance: do not interfere unless the justification is absolute. For some unspoken reason he felt the need to disregard his rule this only time. And with that impactful instinct hammering into him, he gave in. 

He knocked loud enough for the little soul to hear yet did not speak, waiting for someone to answer or reply. There was one solid minute without noise, the little one seeming to buck up after hearing the knock. When Balan knocked again, he earned a response, “Who is it? What do you want?”

Balan recognized the young man’s voice instantly. A shadow of sadness glazing his stare as he leant on the door a bit. What was making Leo so upset? Who could have caused such an unrest in the boy’s spirit?

“Leo... It’s Balan. May I come in?” He slid to his knees, in case the boy would open for him. After a moment, the heavy door slowly crept open, for Balan to view the young visitor’s face; that now appears wet from tears. 

Instead of asking too many questions, Balan just slid a bit closer to Leo, arms stretched enough to reach but not touch. A simple gesture to show he’d be there for him. 

Leo glanced at the gesture, measuring it to see what he’d want to do. His shoeless feet pawed the hardwood as he contemplated what he would do. He thought it would be best for the maestro to disregard the idea of comforting him. He’d remain a soldier fighting a battle on his own. Yet at the same time, he didn’t want that. And that juggle of care and carelessness caused more tears to well in his eyes before he opened his mouth. He barely caught a sniffle before he felt his feet leaving the floor. Blue eyes scanned his surroundings before he gauged that he was in Balan’s arms, embrace pulling him softly to his chest. Agony gripped the young boy as he sobbed into the maestro’s shoulder, tiny hands gripping him as if he’d disappear. 

Balan remained on his knees as the boy broke down, sun-yellow eyes closing as he allowed him the ability to let go. To let it hurt... if only for a while. The boy continued to sob as he motioned to stand, going into the chambers as his hands patted Leo’s back, slowing going into his hair to bring him closer. That hymn, the song Balan could not put to sheet, or find the right words to, came back. Only this time, the humming bled into words,

“When there is light, a shadow appears                                                                   the cause and effect, when life interferes                                                               the same rule applies to goodness and grief;                                                         for in our great sorrow, we learn what joy means,”

His little visitor opened his eyes in an attempt to look at Balan as he sang aloud. While he could see his smile, the wide brim of his hat obscured the rest of his face. He wanted to look at the maestro fully as he hummed the rest of the tune, rocking and hugging him as a mother would do for a babe. 

The maestro himself continued to hum the melody while pressing in as close as allowed. Softening his grip, he brought the little one to look at him. And became overwhelmed with the glowing vision of the boy staring back at him. Trusting him in this way. Words were not required to be exchanged while the maestro strode slowly to the large bed to lay him down. While Leo calmed down, Balan brought a chair over to sit near the bed’s end. 

“Leo, what troubles you little one? You can tell me. This place,” he moved his arms around the chambers, “is completely safe. Nothing leaves here. Your sacred words are for my ears only. Words that I will keep close to me. I promise.” He placed his immense hand on Leo’s shoulder as the boy relaxed into it. Taking a breath, he soothed over his raked nerves while he thought of the right thing to say. His chest appeared tighter than normal, fingers lacing together and fidgeting. In spite of his bravery to show his emotions to Balan, he still felt like a wounded, stubborn soldier; unable to admit that his wounds were draining him. His eyes strewn about the room instead of interacting with the tall, lanky figure.

Balan did nothing to prompt the boy to say anything quickly. No means to force him to confess to what was ailing him in this way without volition. So he waited. Patient and understanding. He’d talk when it is time. He watched him take a few short breaths then they locked eyes once more. The fragility was nearly enough to break the maestro’s heart. 

“I...I was just really upset about someone I used to know. We were real close. I loved them... they were like a sibling to me,” Leo sniffled as he pulled his hair back, “But then I said something wrong... and so did they. And then we never saw each other again. I didn’t... mean what I said, but I-I was just so-”

“Angry,” Balan stated, “You lashed out at them and now you’re feeling extreme guilt for it.”

“I guess I’m madder at myself because I left without giving them a reason, but what could I say?,” The young teen looked at the bed sheets as he rubbed his nose, “Have you ever been in my situation before?” Leo inquired after a second of thought. 

Balan blinked rapidly, the small smile he kept fading in surprise. It was an emboldened inquiry. Aureate eyes slid closed, reminiscing to the time he and Lance fell out. Harshly. Only, it was not Balan who attacked with scathing words. Nothing more could be said between as the maestro departed from the other with bolide of tears streaking the cosmos in his wake. Lance never created the courage to apologize for those words, no matter how many times Balan imagined that he would. It came as an acceptance of bad pride on both ends that kept the healing away from the two of them. Even if Balan was no longer in need of the healing. The words were said, there could be nothing in Wonderworld or in the actual world to change that. 

“Yes... but it was at a time I no longer remember.” Balan did not meet Leo’s eyes this time. His words were satisfying enough for Leo but he knew there was more to the story. 

“All I want to do is say sorry. But it’s too late.” The young boy put his head in his hands, a miserable whimper coming forth.

“Maybe... maybe not. Leo, I may not be able to give the proper answer about how you can ask for your friend’s forgiveness. However, I do know how you can forgive yourself. And that is to accept that friends can genuinely drift apart. Something in the relationship fissures and causes both of you to turn away from each other. You can accept the blame, Leo. That’s okay. But you shouldn’t be hurting yourself with that blame.” Balan’s gloved hand pressed to Leo’s cheek, making the teen look at him. The way that Balan smiled made Leo’s lip curl in sweet smile as well. 

“Thank you... so much. I really needed to hear that. I just felt like it was all my fault.” He pressed himself into the gloved hand, warmth radiating off the limb. 

“You’re most welcome, little one. And know that I’m here for you. With any insecurity, I’ll help you in the best way I can,” His head pressed to Leo’s, well not quite. The large hat obscuring leant on the boy’s forehead, which felt annoying for the point he was attempting to make. He half sighed and laughed before standing out of the chair. 

“One thing. Remember when I said that sacred secrets do not leave this space?”Balan’s tone hinted at something yet Leo couldn’t find what about it, so instead he stiffly nodded, “Okay good. Because I have a very sacred secret to show you. Only you.” He cooed as his hands went to his hat, the article of fabric coming off his face and head with a slow tug. With a shake, jade colored dreads fell free, his gloved hands fluffing them as he pushed a threaded dread away from his forehead. 

“There we go,” He stated mutely as he put the hat on a vanity in the corner, moving to sit back down in front of the awestruck child, “Yes I know. I’m so funny looking.” He grinned cheerily before setting his hands atop the bedsheets. 

“No you’re not...”, Leo scooted closer to Balan, the maestro still grinning happily as he did, “You look so beautiful.” The teen breathed whimsically, as if entranced by the sight of him. 

The grin was pulled off Balan’s face so quick, Leo felt as if he had offended him. Golden eyes flickering like candlelight in the lucent, yet dark room. For a fraction of a second, the world spun. He could see stars on the brim of his vision. After a great upheaval of air from his lungs, Balan came back. 

“Beautiful...? No one’s ever called me that before.” He chuckled sheepishly as he smoothed over his dreads. 

“But can I call you beautiful?” Leo became a bit shy, the poor boy looked as if he did something wrong. 

“If that helps, then yes. You are more than welcome to call me ‘beautiful’, little one.” The maestro bowed in the chair gracefully. He smiled genuinely while he pulled little Leo in for a hug, the teen leaning into him as he pressed into his shoulder. As they parted, Balan found his moment to press his forehead against Leo’s. Their contact was electric, stunning but completely welcomed as Balan breathed him in softly. Leo reciprocated the gesture, his small hands wrapping around the maestro’s neck affectionately. Oceanic, hope-filled orbs blended with the sunset gold ones in perfection. They stayed like such for a while, neither coming up with any words to justify this moment between them had. When they had to pull apart, Balan was the one who leant forward, as if not wanting the contact to come to an end.

He gets up, still holding the teen, to lay him down on the large bed. Leo relaxes in the maestro’s embrace as he buries his face into his neck. Balan didn’t stop the sweet, light-hearted laugh that bubbled forth as he encompasses the boy, swaddling him in the warmth of his body. They exchange a final look before Leo yawns softly. His eyes, previously stricken with tears of grief, now sparkle with ebullience and peace.

The remainder of the night was of Balan holding the little one as if he were the only thing in the world, his world, to think of at that moment. Surrounded by a jubilant contentment, he lain himself bare in front of this particular visitor for the first time in ages. So long as it was with Leo, he’d do it again. 

Over and over again.

[chaoticpanenergy]

Alright, Sanders Sides fandom (+ Six the Musical fandom). 

I watched this *ahem* neato slime tutorial about Six the Musical and then listened to the soundtrack on Spotify and then overanalyzed the lyrics on genius.com and I have a lot of emotions about this story. So what do I do? I make a Sanders Sides au/analysis for it, obviously, putting WAY too much thought into different interpretations of which side could be which queen. Let’s jump in.

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine in the golden-yellow and black costume. Catherine who knows when she is lied to. Catherine who puts herself first when it comes down to it. Catherine who deals with disrespect but knows her worth anyway. Catherine who “keeps her cool” and stays in control of herself. Catherine must be Janus, lord of the lies, self-preservation, whose calm facade has cracked so rarely.

But then again, Catherine is a leader. Catherine is concerned with loyalty, and what is right and wrong, and that is why she stands up against the divorce—it is wrong of Henry to divorce her, according to her morals. Catherine can swallow her pride, and Catherine seeks a solution to the last, giving Henry so many chances. Catherine handles her situation with grace. Catherine must be Patton, the Hufflepuff, Morality, loving and kind and endlessly forgiving, always trying to do what is right and guide others to do the same.

But then again, Catherine strives to “keep her cool.” To look at things with a level head. She speaks up and reasons with Henry, and in return asks for his own reasoning. She refuses to be made into a joke or looked down upon. Catherine is stubborn and verbose. Catherine must be Logan, the voice of reason, who does his best to keep a handle on his temper and appear as professional as possible, who explains and reasons and is logic above all, who is terrified of being seen as a joke, who is desperate to just be heard for once in his life.

Anne Boleyn

Anne in the green sleeves. Anne who has no filter whatsoever, Anne who says whatever comes into her head. Anne who makes jokes about her own beheading. Anne who says “don’t be bitter/cause I’m fitter/why hasn’t it hit her?/he doesn’t wanna bang you/somebody hang you.” Anne who is “sorry not sorry” about everything she says. Anne who is the most gleeful and up-front about “x-rated” content. Anne whose energy is boundless. Anne who is disliked and cast in a negative light by those around her. Anne must be Remus, the darkly creative, responsible for intrusive thoughts, who would never hide anything going through his head and sees no reason to regret this, the “evil twin.”

But then again, Anne who didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Anne who desperately cries “what was I meant to do?” over and over again as every choice she makes has no good outcome for her. Anne whose comments are more harshly received than she sometimes means. Anne who does not take it well when she comes second to someone else. Anne must be Roman, the ego, stuck in a damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don’t situation towards Janus throughout the “Putting Others First” saga, who often lashes out instinctively only to immediately apologize, who strives to be Thomas’s hero.

But then again, Anne whose actions are surprisingly logical from her own point of view. Anne who uses phrases like “obviously” to describe what took place. Anne who gives back tit for tat and no more when she feels disrespected. Anne who is blunt, perhaps more so than is good for her. Anne must be Logan, who always does what makes the most sense to him, who considers what is fair and equal, who can come across as harsher than he means.

Jane Seymour

Jane who is patient. Jane who is steady. Jane who forgives over and over again and makes allowance for behavior she does not deserve to tolerate. Jane whose family is of the utmost importance to her. Jane is overlooked for her kindness and meekness but is so, so strong. Jane who makes puns about her own name. Jane must be Patton, who adores his family, the punster, who is established as the dad friend from day one, who gives and nurtures and forgives endlessly, who is resilient and strong and supportive.

But then again, Jane sticks with the positions she has chosen. Jane who is easily overlooked. Jane who acknowledges the often-sucky realities of life and does not let it bring her down. Jane who is strong as stone and unshakeable. Jane must be Logan, who will not back down, who can be relegated to the sidelines too easily, who is down to earth and who chooses to see the wonder in the ordinary despite all the bad.

But then again, Jane knows she could be rejected at a misstep. Jane who loves, and is loved, but believes that love could “disappear.” Jane who withstands hardships and heartbreak and fear. Jane who uses storm imagery constantly. Jane whose strength and love is akin to stone, something rarely used as a positive metaphor. Jane must be Virgil, who worries he will be rejected for his dark past, who withstood being shunned by those he “lo—cares for” in the past, who is prickly and can cause harm but has grown and matured, who will not be reduced to a single facet of himself even if that makes him more “complicated,” whose logo is a stormcloud.

Anna of Cleves

Anna who is bold. Anna who is unafraid to speak her mind and gets what she wants. Anna whose physical appearance led to her rejection. Anna who is the epitome of “me time” and “self care.” Anna who has no problem being sassy and gives as good as she gets. Anna must be Janus, who advocates for self care and putting oneself first, who is a drama queen, whose sarcasm is off the charts, who has been accused of trickery (sometimes justified, sometimes not), who thrives on attention, whose snake face led to instant distrust from everyone around him, who will go to any length to be heard.

But then again, Anna who demands attention. Anna who gives herself every luxury that occurs to her on a whim. Anna is the only character to openly curse, and gives it a double meaning. Anna who revels in the portrait that caused her rejection and takes pride in it. Anna is the first to make fun of Henry's genitals. Anna must be Remus, who revels in everything he is told not to, who is impulsive and whimsical and unfiltered, who calls Logan a dork and later reveals the inappropriate double meaning, who takes up space unashamedly.

But then again, Anna who constantly reminds us of her royal position. Anna who leans into the queenly activities and possessions. Anna who is flamboyant. Anna who dances when her jam comes on the lute. Anna who rejects criticism of herself. Anna who is “looking cute.” Anna must be Roman, the ego, who put “Flamboyant” by Dorian Electra on his playlist, who is creativity embodied and dances and sings and acts, who “has got to slay,” who reminds us constantly of his princely status.

Katherine Howard

Katherine who comes across at first as flirty and confident only to later reveal that she is insecure because she has only ever been valued for her appearance. Katherine who idealizes and daydreams about someone caring about her for herself and not her looks. Katherine who uses self-confident language to mask her insecurity. Katherine whose language is so flowery and filled with vivid descriptions. Katherine who desperately wants to be approved of and loved. Katherine must be Roman, whose confident facade hides insecurity, who is a hopeless romantic, who is a storyteller, whose language is filled with descriptors and metaphors, who desperately craves approval and validation, who is the romantic side.

But then again, Katherine gives others the benefit of the doubt. Katherine who looks for friends everywhere she goes. Katherine who constantly uses euphemisms and language that might be considered childish. Katherine who is sweet and sincere. Katherine must be Patton, who censors his language and can skirt around topics that are too unpleasant, who forgives and gives second chances, who is kind and soft, who makes friends almost as easily as breathing.

But then again, Katherine who has been let down over and over again. Katherine who tries again and again after every disappointment. Katherine who is anxious to be approved of. Katherine must be Virgil, who dealt with the “scorn” of those he admired for so long, who has persevered through everything, who deals with self-doubt, who always tries again.

But then again, Katherine who thinks she ought to know better, but never does. Katherine who is so, so tired of this same shit every time. Katherine who is too worldly and disillusioned. Katherine who hopes and tries again every time she gets let down. Katherine must be Janus, who put “You’re a Cad” on his playlist, who was rejected time and time again by Thomas and the others but kept trying, who went on a whole ramble about how society is out to get you and the only person you can really trust is yourself.

Catherine Parr

Catherine who brought all the queens together despite their differences and their fights. Catherine who was separated from the person she cared about before eventually reuniting with him. Catherine who uses her voice defiantly because she is tired of being silenced. Catherine who doesn’t need love to get by. Catherine who loves music. Catherine who sometimes loses hope, but keeps going anyway. Catherine must be Virgil, the bridge between “light” and “dark” sides, who cannot be silenced, always listening (to Thomas or to music), who cared about the “light” sides long before he was accepted as part of the group.

But then again, Catherine who prioritizes herself and her own story. Catherine who sings her song “for me.” Catherine who is a little bit cynical about love stories, which we’re normally taught to idealize. Catherine for whom the rules of society are a trap. catherine who demands control over herself. Catherine who rejects the rules of the queens’ competition when they restrict her. Catherine must be Janus, self-preservation and self-care, who feels restricted and endangered by the rules of society, who dismisses Patton’s urge to help those in need with a “yeah, sure, whatever, if that’s your thing,” who pushes Thomas to be true to himself.

But then again, Catherine who “built a future in her mind” with her love. Catherine who loves art in all its forms, and consumes and creates it with abandon. Catherine who wants to tell her story on her own terms after being silenced for so long. Catherine must be Roman, endlessly creative, romantic daydreamer, struggling with balancing his wants with Thomas's needs and feeling silenced because of it.

But then again, Catherine who writes, and is scholarly. Catherine who fights for equality and takes steps within her power to make specific differences. Catherine who champions education for women. Catherine who cannot stand being boxed in and made to be less than she truly is. Catherine who bottles up her rage at the unfairness of it all for as long as she can. Catherine whose feelings are pushed aside. Catherine must be Logan, the teacher, who pushes his emotions aside until he cannot hold them back anymore, who feels like he is not seen for who he is, who cares deeply about things being fair and equitable, who outlines action steps, who always asks more questions.

--

The queens are each multi-faceted characters full of depth—they’re human, gorgeously and heartwrenchingly so. It makes sense that there are multiple Sides that could easily fit into each of their roles, and I haven’t even covered every possible interpretation. There are dozens of possible lineups to come up with here, each that I love to think about. What’s your favorite? I’d love to hear.

[true-intha-blu]

I propose this simple Question

First:  why I ask this. Since the infancy of the KH fandom all the way back from KH1, I noticed this simple trend one that picked up tremulously after kh2. No this has nothing to do with shipping. Also to note; I have genuine curiosity if anyone else notices this and this is from my perspective and experience with dealing with the Kingdom hearts fandom. Others may have very different accounts but others (that I have asked) have indeed noticed this as well in my own view. I am not aiming to stir up hate or discourse. I aim for peaceful fandoms. However, this subject is something I see no one ever addresses and well... maybe breaking a status quo or ‘unspoken rule’. I hope this can be a reasonable discussion where I can learn another perspective or some people may notice it and just go... “Oh yeah. That is a thing.” To which the question at hand. “Why does R*ku always have to be cool?”

(Disclaimer I do not hate this character. This question is not hateful. It is not anti or whatever. I mean exactly what I say. I will not be tagging this in the R*ku tab to prevent any misunderstandings. I ask others do the same. Anyone who reblogs this with hate is in no way associated with me.)

I will state the positive traits about R*ku. He has had the greatest character arc out of all the Kingdom Hearts Characters. A great redemption arc from his lowest to blooming into practically a whole new person in his own struggle against his KH1 self. He’s loyal to his friends. Smart. Gets along with Mickey and Yen Sid. Mellow. Saved Kairi and Sora. Knows what he has done. He’s honest and shares his concerns with others. Since KH2 he has always been trying to help Sora in the best of his ability. In acknowledgment of his misdeeds in CoM and Days is very good and we see a character who has genuinely f’d-up and his trying his best to move past that by helping his friends despite the limited resources offered to him. ^These are very good traits for a character to have. Any character. Besides his one time self in KH1, what else is there to him? What can be addressed as a flaw or criticism of him? (I approach characters as even though a character goes through a development arc, does not mean they are void of flaws. No one works like that. Not characters or actual people.) I say this. I love Sora and Vanitas in the Kingdom Hearts fandom. However, I am not afraid to draw them doing stupid or silly things and point out they have various of unfavorable flaws. Sora is utterly dense and I hate the fact how he was portrayed in DDD but I accept it and I will drag him along pointing out that fact. It is part of his character. He’s a dork (and not always in a good way). He impulsive and is kinda a mess of a human being. He's stubborn in the worse ways and volatile. Vanitas appears to be on the surface a straight up evil villain. As far as the games go, he is just utterly vile in his contempt for the characters and his actions have brought suffering and misery to various of characters. (though there may be other traits that could set for his own arc) (I still love them both) But note how none of these flaws listed above are ‘endearing’ or even remotely positive. They are problems, that hinder the characters and those around them. These are persistent traits even though both Sora and Vanitas have mellowed. Sora far more than Vanitas. I just do not see this done with R*ku. I rarely (they do exist but in comparison to the likes of Sora, Org XIII, even foretellers, or Roxas [who could be compared to be as “badass” as R*ku], its rarely ever there) I don’t see anyone talking about Riku doing dumb stuff. Being silly or being the butt of a joke or just not, not being good. Example of the latter:  When there was talk about Sora cooking in KH3, rarely did I see that, ‘oh, Sora learns how to cook and becomes very good at it’ and most I see ‘R*ku is already a fabulous cook’.... what about Kairi? What about even Lea? Aqua? There is no mention of these other characters being good at cooking. R*ku is usually A.) always the cooler looking one, or must be made to look cooler and B.) always be the better or best at something. I know that is kinda the thing in KH, that R*ku is talented and gifted as a person. As for the coolness factor, Nomura does this as well. Sora gets a keyblade, R*ku gets an edgier cooler keyblade with more details. Riku gets the powers of both light and darkness. R*ku gets the Keyblade Master title. R*ku gets actual growth in his body. He gets the more competent companion (Mickey). I am not saying these things are detractions or upsetting, they are just there and be defacto, cooler than other characters. He becoming edgier and emo was a good play on Normura because back in early 2005′s people thought that was cool and hot. Silver hair is automatically an attractive trait and western audiences love a person with a muscled body like R*ku’s. I don’t blame fans for being appealed to his character. But I suppose I am getting off-topic. Why do fans keep feeling compelled to make R*ku perfect? When people make fanart of him like say a monster form or pirate outfit, they always make it more detailed, edgier or just cooler than anyone else who would be drawn that way. He always looks more impressive than an original canonical design when other characters are drawn or written in ways that are not as impressive or equally the same to a canonical design/form/power. Has the cool wolf animal companion or the cooler weapon, the more detailed designs etc etc Even Axel who is a badass assassin can be silly or dumb-looking. Heck, they even did that in games. They made Axel failed and acknowledge it.  I see Aqua who is awesome in design and badass moments, be criticized for her flaws that persist and others who wish to see her have more moments of weakness even with what we have seen in 0.2 Xion who has had a great arc in Days (Character arcs don’t always have to be a positive development) doesn’t get the coolness factor. Roxas who is probably the second most popular character still is known as a goofy boy who thought he could fight heartless off with a stick. That’s hilarious. The most notable thing about R*ku recently that wasn’t cool or badass or edgy was his infamous “WHAT?” response to Mickey in Kh3. And that was one thing. Only really that. But how Mickey worded it, anyone would have done the same. And I noticed that people use what Mickey said “Aqua is like Sora’ is a way to poke fun at Sora by implying that Aqua is like a dense 15 year old. (Again these are just observations I have made over a decade worth watching the Kh fandom). In talks with other people who are Sora stans or other stans, there is nothing but a lot of talk about R*ku being really good about things. Being superior to Sora, or Kairi, or Aqua and Terra. Over Roxas.  Giving Axel two keyblades is never done, but people have given two to R*ku.  I get it, people who love characters like to do so much with them. I do the same. I just... never seem to regard the characters I love as perfect as others see R*ku. Also... I just don't see anyone criticizing him (I mean criticism in actual acknowledgment of his character and not hating on said character). Or taking about traits or flaws that are not endearing “He cares too much about his friends” is not really that bad of a flaw in consideration. A lot of people would prefer to have that over say... anger issues. What about the fact he falls back into following the orders of others or doesn’t often decide things for himself?...  What about Minor flaws? I just never see them in regards to these characters. Alright, so these are my observations I have made over... 14+ years of watching this fandom. And I want to ask, why do fans see him as such? Besides the only reason being for them is “I like him.” Has it just become such a normal thing to make R*ku better? Is he really that good of a character than he is so universally loved? Or is the backlash of actually criticizing R*ku and seeing that maybe, making him too perfect is... not doing favors for him? An arc is just that, an arc. Doesn’t mean a character is perfect or done with. Doesn’t mean those flaws that persisted in him, are gone.   Make your favorite character silly, or doing something very dumb (that does not even have to do with shipping), or put forth of what you would like to see improve in this character or express more about their flaws and their struggles. I love pointing out the negative traits in all my characters because I like seeing their struggle and how that makes them interact with new nuances in other characters. Maybe it's a running joke that R*ku is ‘Mr Perfect’ in the Kh fandom and I am just not seeing it. But it's daunting and just kinda rubs me the wrong way that all these characters in Kingdom Hearts have so many nuances to them and the one who has the best character arc so far in KH is regarded as... ‘Perfect’ I would like to know your opinion and if anyone else who is not a R*ku stan notice this, or is it just me and my own personal bias? (anything said above is in no way should ever be used to promote hate against R*ku or even bash him. In no way, I want to make others hate R*ku. I do not blame people who love this character to portray him in a superior way over everyone else. My address is that I just see this all the time. And I was wondering... why is it so widespread? Not even Axel who has a great redemption arc gets this.) (also another things is the whole sexgod R*ku that is also about however that may go into shipping and that I will not poke a stick at)

[shslgymnastnerd-blog]

OOC - Summary of Moonlight Mist

Overview:

Moonlight Mist is a manga project that Koji Matsuba (Shinobu’s father) started a year after marrying Kotoha Marukichi, though he had been writing notes privately as a hobby since he was in high school.

The story begins with a class of middle schoolers taking a field trip into the nearby Forest of Mystery. While the trip is only supposed to last a day, five students wander away from the class and end up becoming lost in the woods: Aki Akakawa, Yukito Aotani, Haruka Midoriyama, Seitaro Kishima, and Mirabelle Champrose. As night falls, they make camp near a river and hope for rescue to come soon. However, a dense fog descends upon them as they sleep uneasily.

They awaken having been somehow transported to the Myst Continent, a world seemingly taken right out of their fantasies of dragons, elves, and magic. They learn that the land has been in turmoil for centuries. There had been a great war between various powers both mortal and divine, and in the dying breaths of a god the land was cursed. Time now stands still: Day and night never change, leaving different regions in perpetual light or darkness. The seasons have been frozen as well, wreaking havoc on the climate of the continent.

The populace has had centuries to adapt, but tensions still run high as factions fight over resources and territory. The lost students find themselves struggling to stay safe in an unfamiliar land riddled with both overt dangers like bandits and invaders, and more subtle political threats like a king’s iron rule.

But they have one defense against it all: An oracle declares them all the Divine Children foretold in a prophecy by the dying god. In legends passed on through the populace of Myst, it’s believe that heroes born from another world will appear in their land, ushering in an era of justice and mercy. Of course, interpretation of these legends can vary greatly. Some people take the “divine” and “justice” parts very seriously and believe they are demigods smiting the wicked, and some people resent the idea of foreigners upsetting the centuries-long status quo…

The lost children, ambushed by lowly soldiers of the corrupt King Albinus, are protected by the oracle who gives her life up for them. From this sacrifice materializes five jewel-empowered trinkets that awaken the students to magic powers of their own. They transform themselves into the heroes of legend, styling themselves after the heroes in their own stories back home, and fight off the attackers.

The adventure sees the students grappling with the duties that have been thrust upon them so suddenly, while also searching for a way back home. Their morals are often challenged throughout the journey: Is Yukito right when he says that their priority should be getting back to their world safely, or is Aki right in saying they should take long detours on errands and missions? Can Mirabelle give up a life of luxury living among dragons, do the right thing, and go back to save her classmates? Is there a way to make everyone happy when addressing centuries of multilayered strife between different people? And is everyone truly bound by the destiny assigned to them?

Several arcs in, there have been some major shake-ups in the story. First, Aki, Haruka, and their companion guide Kuromura manage to find a way back to Earth after a grand battle, but are separated from the rest of the party, with Yukito forced to take up leadership of the other group. Worse still, they find out that the fantastic creatures and people of Myst have also found their way to Earth and show every indication of wanting to conquer this land, too. Magic and mundane are now in war with each other, and the students find themselves fighting to be the saviors of two worlds.

After everyone is reunited, they learn of a royal commander who is actually a human girl from their world. In fact, she is the long-lost cousin of one of their own. Kikyo finds herself owing a life debt to Seitaro after he rescues her during a disaster, and this begins her own arc as her loyalties slowly begin changing. Ultimately, Kikyo joins the heroes as their sixth party member, and they stand united against her former king.

Currently, the story is in the middle of an arc that examines the heavy weight laying upon child heroes. They face scorn from people who see them as mere foolish children, or who hold them to the same responsibilities as hardened adult veterans. They’ve been so far away from their normal support networks that they don’t know what to do as normal teenage problems begin creeping up on them. And there are hints of strife between the students themselves: Kikyo has not been fully forgiven by everyone for the crimes she committed under the king’s orders, and Yukito is asserting himself as a more capable leader than Aki.

With the king now personally invested in seeing their entire group eradicated thanks to Kikyo’s betrayal, what will it take for these lost children to endure the trials ahead…?

- - -

Characters:

Aki Akakawa: The primary protagonist of the story. Like many shounen hero, he’s impulsive, hotheaded, and stubborn, yet ultimately brave even in the face of the highest odds. He is gifted a ruby pendant infused with a magical power that lets him become The Hero Crimson, who is designed after the typical warrior class in RPGs.

Yukito Aotani: A cold and aloof classmate that Aki has formed a sort of rivalry with. While in school it began as somewhat friendly competition over test scores (Yukito always won in everything except sports), the dire threats of their adventure brings their personality conflicts to the forefront, putting their friendship on the edge. With his sapphire bracelet, he becomes The Archer Indigo, filling out the ranger archetype, right down to having animal companions he seems to like better than people.

Haruka Midoriyama: Aki’s childhood friend. They used to be inseparable, but middle school saw them being sorted into different homerooms; Haruka’s time off was further devoted into her track team, and as a result they’ve started drifting apart. She is just as boisterous as Aki, but it comes tempered with her attempts to nurture her peers – whether they want her help or not. Her emerald ring lets her transform into The Thief Verdant, a dashing and nimble rogue. And, yes, her name is a reference to the Midoriyama of Sasuke fame, though this isn’t directly acknowledged in-universe.

Seitaro Kishima: One of Haruka’s classmates from her homeroom, who is a shy nerd with a lot of anxiety about being outside or in the middle of crowds. With his topaz brooch he becomes The Wizard Gold, keeping a safe distance from danger as he used mage powers to rain havoc upon foes. In recent issues, Seitaro has begun the reasons behind his anxieties, from the tragic disappearances of his relatives to his growing discomfort with the changes adolescence brings.

Mirabelle Champrose: An exchange student that’s quite popular in Aki’s year… among anyone that isn’t Aki himself. Or Yukito or Haruka or Seitaro. Mirabelle’s charming elegance goes hand-in-hand with a fussiness and an unwillingness to do physical labor, something that becomes a frequent problem during their adventure. Despite it all, she truly cares about the people around her and slowly learns how to get along with them, and as The Priestess Rose she dutifully heals their wounds, even when they’re feuding. She still fawns over the garnet earrings that empower her, though – girl’s gotta have her jewelry!

Kuromura: A fox-like creature that the oracle cared for as a stray animal. Despite that, Kuromura is very much sapient and can talk out loud, serving as a guide, a mentor, and a voice of reason as the students try to find their way through this unfamiliar world. Curiously, Kuromura has a black opal set into their head, but they cannot remember ever being able to cast magic…

Albinus Frost IV: The king of the Frostbitten Crown who continues his family’s bid to expand influence over all the land. Safely entrenched in the bitter-cold mountains to the north, he sends armies out to conquer their neighbors, steadily taking over town after town. Though he claims to be doing this all for the good of the citizens, refugees fleeing from the towns he takes say that he imposes strict control on them all, keeping villages under martial law as his guard closely monitor financial spending, food rations, and communications with other towns. Woe betide those who are vocal about their displeasure; reports suggest many dissidents have disappeared without a trace.

The Diva: First seen clad in full armor, the Diva is a commander of Albinus’s armies, using her music to enchant soldiers with strength and bravery. In time she is revealed to actually be a young human girl, and even later her true identity is revealed to be Kikyo Shimori, a cousin of Seitaro’s who went missing with her family eleven years ago during a hiking trip. In reality they accidentally wandered into the mist world, and Kikyo was somehow separated from her parents (who she assumes are dead) and raised instead as a bard-slash-spy for the Frostbitten Crown. After an arc in which Kikyo’s loyalties are called into question, she finally defects from Albinus and puts herself at great risk saving Seitaro’s life from his generals, resulting in the amethyst circlet materializing before her. With this, Kikyo awakens to her power as the Diva Violet, and thus proves herself a true ally of the team.

- - -

Trivia:

The most popular ships in the fandom are Aki x Haruka, Aki x Yukito, Yukito x Mirabelle, and Yukito x Kikyo. There is also significant support for Aki x Kikyo, Haruka x Mirabelle, and Seitaro x Mirabelle.

Shinobu happens to have a few advance spoilers in regards to canon ships: Aki x Yukito is endgame! The original intention was to make Aki x Haruka canon, but over the years both the in-character dynamics and Koji’s own feelings about his work have changed.

Shinobu also knows that future issues will, over time, make it clear that Seitaro is definitely not cis and is likely nonbinary. Koji started writing this arc as a way to try and connect with Shinobu, especially during some of the rockier month of their relationship when Shinobu was questioning if his parents even cared about what he wanted in life. At times he acts as a sort of consultant, helping his father understand what Seitaro might be feeling right now.

Haruka is another character based closely off Shinobu. At the beginning of the story she symbolized Shinobu the ace athlete: Always determined, always energetic, always ready to give 100% in any situation. As the reality of Shinobu’s life became clear to Koji, he’s since taken a more nuanced writing with Haruka, acknowledging the constant pressure that she faces as both and athlete and as the caretaker of the group. Much of her arc now is her and her teammates learning to accept that just because she’s their emotional pillar doesn’t mean that she’s invincible, and that’s okay.

An anime adaptation of the manga is in progress, and is currently in the earliest arcs, before the temporary group split.

[starspatter]

Heroes and Thieves, Ch. 7

Title: Heroes and Thieves Fandom/Universe: BTAS, pre/post-RotJ flashback

Summary: A story about second chances, healing, and having hope.

Rating: PG-13, for references to character death, child psychological torture and trauma.

Genre: Romance/Family/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 2,067 Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Also on ff.net and AO3.

Well time has a way of throwing it all in your face The past, she is haunted, the future is laced Heartbreak, you know, drives a big black car Swear I was in the back seat, just minding my own

-Gregory Alan Isakov, "Big Black Car"

Now.

“The Bat Signal is not a toy, Ms. Brown.”

Startled, Stephanie swerved around at the sudden emergence of a man swathed in black from the shadows, cloak whipping wordlessly in the wind.  She hadn’t even heard him arrive on the rooftop.

How does he do that?

“You know my name?”

She asked, flustered.

“I make it my business to know.  You’re Stephanie Brown, daughter of Crystal and Arthur Brown, a.k.a. Cluemaster. …Tim Drake’s girlfriend.”

Stephanie blinked, sighing before lowering her mantle and removing the guise’s (apparently ineffectual) inner layer, letting luminescent locks fall free around her shoulders.  (Reasoning that if the cops hadn’t come up to bust her by now, then it seemed rather unlikely they’d show up anytime soon.)  …Wish I knew what the heck to do with my hair under this thing, she thought idly as she combed her hand through the tangles.  Maybe I should try putting it in a ponytail or something.

“Then you probably know why I called you here then.  Sorry about the theatrics,” she gestured towards the spotlight, “But I figured this was the fastest way to get your attention.”

“Tim told you about our history together.”

“Some of it.  He wouldn’t tell me why you two split up.”

There was a palpable beat.

“If he didn’t see fit to explain, then it’s not my place to intervene.”

“Please, Mr. Wayne.”  Those crescent slits narrowed at equally intimate address.  “I think I deserve to know at this point.”

“This isn’t any of your business, Ms. Brown.  I suggest you go home, and get rid of that silly costume.”

Like yours is any less ridiculous.

“This isn’t a game.  Quit before you get yourself into trouble.”

Holy déjà vu.

She crossed her arms frankly, standing firm.

“Tim said the same thing.  I’m getting real sick and tired of hearing it.”

“He’s right.  The streets are far too risky, especially for someone like you.”  There was a rough rigor to his tenor; like a razor blade scraping severely against the grain, incisive and insistent.  Deliberately rubbing salt and steel into the wound until it irritated. “I’ve seen how you operate: rash, reckless, impulsive, impetuous – not thinking before you act.  You might believe you’re being brave – that you’re endeavoring to prove something by jumping directly into danger, putting yourself in the constant thick of threats – but you’re just behaving brashly like a child. A person of your kind doesn’t belong in this field.”

Stephanie bristled at the blunt onslaught, blue irises burning boldly defiant.

“You don’t understand: My dad was supposed to be dead, and now he shows back up again in Gotham like nothing happened – except now he’s committing crimes without even leaving clues.  I couldn’t just stand aside and let him get away with it.  I had to do something.  After all, I’ve got a stake in this.”

Batman made a smothered sound, like a pained grunt – as if someone had just punched him in the gut.

“You sound just like he did.  All you stupid kids, don’t know what you’re getting into.”

“I know that without me you wouldn’t have been able to figure out the next place my father was planning to hit.”

Admit it, that “chopping mall” clue was a stroke of genius.

“And your assistance in bringing him down during the heist is appreciated. But this ends tonight.  You should leave the crimefighting to trained professionals.”

“I just wanted to help…”

Batman took a step forward, looming ominously over her.  His voice was dangerous.

“You don’t know what you want.  None of you ever did.”

Despite the fierce menace in his tone, she staunchly stood her ground, eyes stubborn and challenging as she declined to back down.  Her opponent carried on lecturing:

“You’ve accomplished your mission; succeeded in putting your father in jail.  Now that you’ve gotten your revenge, there’s no more reason for you to continue this fight anymore.  I suppose you’re just doing this now for fun, for the thrill.  Because you think it’s ‘cool’.”

Stephanie clenched her fists.  He had struck a chord, but she didn’t take kindly to being patronized either, her entire motivations being put down, brushed aside just like that.

“That’s not the only reason.  I mean, yeah this just kinda started out as a goof to get back at my dad of course, and sure I’ll confess I do get a kick out of the rush – but there’s more to it than that. I may not be all that smart or skilled at… anything really.  But this – this is something I can do to help others.  People in need.  For the first time in my life, it feels like I’m really doing something worthwhile, that I’m doing some good.  Like I’m making a real difference.  I’m doing this… I don’t know.  Not even for me.”  She turned towards the skyline, surveying over the (for the moment at least) peacefully sleeping city, lights reflecting above and below.  “I’m doing this for all of them.”

Batman stared at her.

“Regardless, this isn’t your responsibility.”

“And it’s supposed to be solely yours?  You’re just one man in a batsuit, you’re not in charge of this town.  You may be able to handle all the crimes within the city limits, but the suburbs don’t have anyone.  Not even you can be everywhere at once. Hell, no one can carry the weight of the world by himself.”

“This is a vow I took on my own shoulder’s, no one else’s.  I work alone.”

“If you really thought that, why’d you agree to take an apprentice on in the first place?”

While visibly there was no noticeable wince, another wounded growl escaped from the cowl.

“That was a mistake.”

“Oh really?  I’ve seen how you operate: Ever since you’ve gone partnerless, you’ve been colder, harsher, overly aggressive, and more unforgiving than ever before.  Everyone’s noticed; it’s been all over news reports everywhere, criminals claiming to be the ‘victims’ of vigilante violence. All the tabloids assume you’ve gone off the deep end, that you’ve finally cracked – or that you were off your rocker all along.  That’s why they say even the police won’t cooperate with you anymore.”  She looked towards the tarp lying on the ground, which had been covering the searchlight up to now.  Lucky for her they hadn’t removed the apparatus entirely.  “You accuse me of being hotheaded, but I could say the exact same of you.  Heck, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you seem to have some sort of death wish.”

“How I conduct myself is none of your concern.”

“It is when there are people suffering for it.  Tim included.  The truth is Batman needs a Robin, doesn’t he?  Since your parents died, you need – want company.  Otherwise you’ll go crazy, doing what you do all the time.  Anyone would.”

Way to play psychoanalyst with the most famous and powerful – not to mention richest – man in Gotham, girl.

Batman held her undeterred gaze.

“…You really do sound just like him.”

Grudgingly, he gruffly acknowledged the comparison – though it wasn’t quite a concession.

Still, Stephanie seized on the opening.

“Seriously, just what the hell happened?  You two used to be such a great team.  You guys were a legend, the ‘Dynamic Duo’ and all that.  Nightwing and Batgirl too, whatever happened to them?”

His answer was aggravatingly simple.

“Things change.”

Why do I get the feeling I’ve heard that somewhere before?

She exhaled in exasperation, sensing the discussion was going in circles. She wasn’t about to allow such curt tautology cut her off though.

“You used to mean something to people.  This,” she pointed purposefully at the symbol in the sky, before jabbing at the mirrored center of his chest, “…used to mean something.  Sure, you could be scary sometimes, but it was clear that you cared.  Now, it’s like all the lives you save don’t even matter anymore.  All that exists in your mind – or your heart, whatever’s left of it – that is, assuming you even still have one – is darkness and dread.  Am I wrong?”

Her assertive allegation was met with stony silence.  Tentatively, she tried to uplift the weight on the conversation somewhat.

“Not everything has to be about fear.  There’s room in our line of work for hope too, you know.”

Again, he merely remained mute, scrutiny slanting into the distance.

All right, fine.  Don’t answer me.

Growing annoyed by such obstinate reticence (which she recognized all too well at this point; it was no wonder where her boyfriend got it from) and desperate for some sort of reaction, she attempted to return again to the original topic – her whole goal for summoning this guy’s big broody butt in the first place.

“Look, I’m sure you’re as aware as I am this isn’t just about me trying to barge in on your territory – your private little crusade – is it?  I don’t mean to pry open old wounds just for the sake of sating my curiosity either.  Something obviously happened between you two – something that changed him – that changed the both of you – and I need to know what in order to get through to him.”  She placed a palm on her breast, clutching and curling fretful fingers against cloth as she bit her lip, baring honest emotion.  “I want to be able to understand what he’s going through, but every time I try to get him to talk about it, he won’t let me near.  Refuses to open up, shuts me out just like you’ve been doing all night.”

His vision panned back slowly, restoring rapt concentration.  Again, those slim slivers of snow were silent, searching – scant headlights scanning in the dark.  Stark and cold against coal, yet somewhere within seemed to spark a vestige of warmth; like stoking, coaxing the burnt out ashes of an old flame to stir and rise again.  To remember.

“Tim means a lot to you.”

“The whole world.  He’s a great guy.”

“Greater than he knows.”

“Please,” she begged, “Let me help him at least.  I’m worried about him.”

He regarded her unwavering expression, gauging sincerity.

“…You really care for him, don’t you?”

She nodded, thinking to herself that- despite his still-outwardly icy demeanor, there was indeed a thaw in his throat, a slight swell of sympathy slipping through the grave gravel.

He rotated with a sharp whisk of cape, heading for the edge of the roof.

“Come with me.”

She followed, taking cue to simultaneously fumble for her cheap grapple as he reached for his own (no doubt state-of-the-art) device.  Whilst descending down the decel line, Batman pressed a button on his utility belt, and a rumble hummed from down the road as a long, sleek, jet-black vehicle charged along the street, skidding to a stop right in front of them as they alighted on the sidewalk.  The hood automatically slid back upon recognizing its owner, inviting within the depths of its leather wings.

HolycraptheBatmobile.

She hesitated as he walked round to the driver’s side and climbed in, casting an expectant – impatient – glance at his guest.

“Well.  Hurry up and get in.”

“O- okay.”

Dear Diary, whatever you do, don’t tell my mom I agreed to get into a strange car in the middle of the night with a shady man wearing a mask.  Pretty sure she’d flip her shit.

She hopped in after, settling against the cozy cushions.  Leave it to a billionaire to be able to afford the best quality sitting material.  Admiring the impressive array of controls on the dashboard, she figured the machine in itself probably cost more than her whole house combined.

“Hang on,” he warned as they lurched forward, “And don’t touch anything.”

Stephanie hastily withdrew her itchy fingers from the nearest knob, sweating nervously.

“Can I ask what this does at least?”

“Passenger seat ejector.”

She shrank back sullenly, leaning slumped into the lavish upholstery.

Mock me at your peril, masked man.

As they sped past buildings and streetlamps, Steph inquired with a hunch as to their destination:

“So are we going to your hideout?”

“I prefer to think of it as a lair.”

She couldn’t tell whether that was supposed to be a joke or not.  Either way, she couldn’t help but feel a hint of giddy excitement at her current situation.  Not many people could proudly proclaim they got to ride in the freakin’ Batmobile once during their lives.

Cool.

Hope was a letter I never could send Love was a country we couldn't defend

And through the carnival we watch them go round and round All we knew of home was just a sunset and some clowns

[shadowsong26fic]

So when you say you ship obianidala, do you mean, like, obi-wan and padme have feelings for each other and padme has a relationship with both obi-wan and anakin? I just really don't like obikin because the power dynamic is really messed up. Obi-wan raised Anakin. And sure, they started working together more as equals, but obi-wan is still an authority figure in anakin's life. He still calls him master in rots. Obi-wan called Anakin his brother, but he's still a much older brother who raised him.

Soooooo my answer turned out to be really, really long, talking about what works for me in the various subdynamics of the OT3 here XD.

Uh, short answer: when I say I ship something, I don’t necessarily mean all the time in every timeline it is the best of all possible worlds? There are definitely ships I can only ship in certain AU contexts (example: in ATLA, I can only ship Zutara in an AU that diverges from canon no later than Crossroads of Destiny). Also, I very, very rarely ship OT3s in general (example: I am one of the like two people in the Leverage fandom that doesn’t ship the OT3). But Obianidala is one of the few OT3s that works for me at all, whether as a full triad or as a vee of some kind.

Anyway, in terms of the three possible romantic sub-pairings (Anidala, Obikin, Obidala), the only one I ship by itself is Anidala. And, honestly, I actually ship them as a pair more than I ship Obianidala, for the most part (though, like, ideally Obi-Wan is always part of their life/dynamic/etc., just not necessarily as a romantic partner for either of them?). This has a lot to do with my personal history with these characters and their relationships and various broad shipping culture things. Especially in terms of the Obikin arm of the triad–I’ve gone back and forth on it a lot as a SW/prequels fan. In part for the power dynamic issues you mentioned, and in part because of personal Feelings I have about the way platonic love tends to be treated as something Lesser Than romantic love, and the two of them (or the way people shipped them, or something about this dynamic) used to hit that button for me really, really hard. But at this point, I like/can work with any of the potential OT3 variants where the Anidala arm is present (i.e., full triad, Anakin-centered vee, Padme-centered vee).

[This is all, of course, assuming canon/a near-canon AU—I don’t really write/am not super interested in Total AUs like modern day/coffee shop/whatever so I can’t really comment on those. And a canon-divergent AU with a significant/early enough breakpoint changes the potentially hinky dynamics and therefore at least some of my feelings/opinions on the subject. On a purely personality basis, though (i.e., in a not-necessarily-near-canon AU, or with the right post-ROTS AU setup), yes, I ship them in any of the three permutations mentioned above. As I mentioned before, they’re one of like two OT3s I ship at all.]

All right, this is already super long and I have like at least 1k words worth of more detail (about the triad as a whole, about Obikin, about Obidala). So we’re going behind a cut. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m classifying ‘near-canon AU’ [henceforth abbreviated as NCAU] as one where no significant plot changes up to AOTC have occurred (i.e., Anakin still grows up in the Temple as Obi-Wan’s apprentice and Padme’s life during those ten years follows much the same trajectory).

So, to start, for the Obidala arm—this one’s hard for me to make it actually work without being part of some form of triad in canon/NCAU, mostly because of the way Anakin fits in with each of the others individually (regardless of whether his dynamic with Obi-Wan is romantic or platonic). Also, we don’t really see the two of them interact much in canon without Anakin being either there or the conversation somehow being about Anakin (which is one of the things I wish we’d gotten more of in TCW…). That being said, I do find their (potential) dynamic very, very compelling? They both…hmmm, I’m trying to figure out how to word this. They have a lot in common, in terms of worldview, interests, how they approach complex problems (though Padme tends to be very “fight me” and Obi-Wan tends to be more “…well that escalated quickly time to jump off a building”)—and they both really, really love to argue/debate in a way that would make the parts where they do disagree a lot of fun for them. Or something? I’m not articulating this well (again, in part due to the lack of canon foundation, also I haven’t explored this arm as much as I feel like I should; certainly not to the point where I could explain why I like it), but…they just work together, you know?

Anyway, apart from their separate relationships with Anakin making it hard for them to be an exclusive romantic couple [at least in canon or an NCAU], the main problem with this pairing, for me, is getting the relationship started. Like, don’t get me wrong—Padme jumps off that cliff in AOTC just as hard as Anakin does; she’s just as attracted to him as he is to her; the only reason she doesn’t make the first move is because she has like 2% more impulse control (and 100% more mental stability) than he does and I will fight anyone who says otherwise/attempts to push that ‘he accidentally mind-controlled her into loving him’ headcanon in my face. …which is another discussion for another day, sorry). And, I mean, I am of the firm opinion that she had THE BIGGEST CRUSH on Obi-Wan for a while, and if they’d reconnected slightly differently somewhere along the way…but that would not be an NCAU. But even given her probable crush and her hopeless romanticism and her less-than-perfect impulse control, it would play out very differently with Obi-Wan than with Anakin.

For starters, he’s not the type to make the first move or any kind of declaration/confession the way Anakin does in canon (or so I assume based on the way things Satine play out). And he’s a lot more reserved and better/clearer about boundaries (as discussed elsewhere re: the full triad dynamic), so she wouldn’t necessarily do it either (even given the lack of impulse control) without major external forces pushing the issue. Basically, it would take a mutual near-death experience or something to make it happen [or, alternatively, a situation like with Satine only Padme actually would ask him to stay at the end of that year–but, again, that would probably not be an NCAU]. But once they get past that first stumbling block, they would be the power couple to end all power couples. Like IDK if I can articulate it, just. Damn. I mean, I don’t think they would actually conquer the galaxy, but only because neither of them really wants to. Because they absolutely could.

[Incidentally, I don’t actually feel a mutual near-death experience (like in canon with the arena) would have been necessary in the end for Anidala to happen, because they’re both extremely stubborn/passionate people, extremely into one another (fight me), they’ve at least acknowledged this/floated the idea of being together, and neither of them is good at impulse control; it would just be a different (and probably healthier) way/pace for their relationship to develop. Also, ALL OF THE MUTUAL PINING until something finally gave. Like, I can’t write it because courtship narratives aren’t really in my wheelhouse but I would read the HELL out of a fic like that.]

Anyway, clearly, a Padme-centered vee works for me ^_^. I think it would still take a mutual near-death experience, and I think Anakin would have to be there when it happened (because of his issues with jealousy etc.; I mean that subplot in ROTS was stupid and I’m very glad it got cut, but he is clingy and possessive and insecure, especially when it comes to these two. If he was there from the start, though, I think he would very much be Shipper On Deck. Possibly to the point of actively shoving them at one another with all the subtlety of a brick [b/c then he can keep them BOTH]. And this is a Happy Endings type post, so we’re gonna go with that).

Moving on; for the Obikin arm (and also sort of blending into the idea of an Anakin-centered vee or full triad)–basically, the way I view it is this: Anakin has two soulmates (and a parasite, but this particular discussion is not about Palpatine and how he fits into things). Whether these relationships are platonic (because I do absolutely believe in platonic soulmates) or romantic depends on a lot of different factors. Generally speaking, in a near-canon timeline, I tend to go with Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship is platonic, and his relationship with Padme is romantic; mostly because of the power dynamic issue you mentioned. And, because of that (as well as because Anidala was p. much my first OTP ever, to the point where before I really knew fanfic was a Thing I wrote a really, really terrible serial-numbers-filed-off story that was basically Padme turning up at Yavin), it is really, really difficult for me to be sold on Obikin by itself, so to speak. It’s not a hard no for me, the way shipping Obi-Wan with Qui-Gon is, but it’s not really my thing.

That being said, romantic Obikin can work for me, assuming they reach some kind of new equilibrium post-ROTS (either without Anakin becoming Vader, or potentially some form of Sith!Obi-Wan AU, though I’m less interested in that without it being an Empress Amidala AU as well and then we’re back to an OT3 of some form). I wouldn’t write it pre- or mid-ROTS, though I don’t necessarily mind reading it, at least from certain authors. But basically, either via an Epiphany Moment or (more likely) a slow maturation process, these two (especially Anakin) need to get to a point where the power dynamic issue is softened for it to work for me. I think they can get to that point, and their relationship can shift in that direction (which I think is part of why Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan is a hard no for me, because I don’t think the two of them ever could). Anyway, the only NCAU [that I’ve talked about here, at least] I’d really do even post-ROTS Obikin (whether as an Anakin-focal vee or full-triad Obianidala) is Distaff, and that depends a lot on which way Obi-Wan’s plotline goes after the shit hits the fan (and even the option that could very well lead there might not). So that’s not a 100% thing right now, just a maybe. It’s not going to be a thing in Precipice. (I ship Obi-Wan with someone else in that AU, anyway.)

In addition to all of that, for an Anakin-centered vee or a true triad—I’m not sure I can articulate it properly, but there was a meta post/thread I was following a few days ago that I’m not sure I can find again that went into details about this—anyway, the dynamics involved with the three of them actually work really well? If I can dig up the link I’ll add it, but this thread basically boiled down to: Anakin and Obi-Wan (leaving aside the potential power dynamic issue) have major issues with communication; and Anakin and Padme have major issues with boundaries. Putting the three of them together helps mitigate that to a significant degree. Plus, y’know, I adore Anakin, really I do, but he is a lot to handle for one person/a single primary relationship, even one who loves him as much as Padme and/or Obi-Wan, so having both of them involved (and everyone communicating properly/laying down appropriate boundaries) really helps take some of that pressure off the two of them (and Anakin, but in a different way). (Related note: part of why Anakin is (relatively) stable in Precipice is because he has an increasingly wide set of close relationships/support system.)

Also, whether both relationships are romantic or not, Anakin really needs both Padme and Obi-Wan in his life in some way. So, like, for me personally, the ideal pipe-dream post-ROTS happy ending involves the three of them running off into the sunset together (so to speak; I think they would all get hopelessly bored trying to retire and that part would last all of five minutes), and exactly who is romantically and/or sexually (as opposed to platonically) involved with who (beyond, as I said, romantic Anidala being very close to my heart/important to me) matters a little less at that point. (That aspect, I think, is probably related to this whole ‘romantic love is not greater than platonic love’ button I have.)

Buuuuuut that’s all in canon/NCAUs. Like I said before, once we set an earlier/more significant breakpoint, it’s a different story. I am specifically aiming for (probably) a true triad Obianidala (though it might end up being a vee) in Auxiliaries, (not sure if the notes on last night’s update may have sparked your question?) but that AU breaks off much earlier, as of TPM, and Anakin doesn’t actually end up in the Temple to be raised by Obi-Wan, so that issue isn’t there. At which point it’s…like, okay, I’ll be honest, I used to have issues with Obikin not necessarily because of the power dynamic, but because it hit my aforementioned ‘platonic love is JUST AS VALID/IMPORTANT/POWERFUL as romantic love’ button pretty hard. Right now, though, my view on the subject has sort of settled as–the two of them are so tangled up with each other (again, soulmates of some flavor) that I don’t particularly care about romantic vs. platonic where they’re concerned for that particular reason. Past a certain point of character/relationship development, anyway, as mentioned above.

So, in an AU like Auxiliaries (where Anakin grows up on Tatooine, meets Obi-Wan once briefly in his early teens, and then they reconnect early in the Clone Wars when they’re both adults), it would probably take a lot of effort to make their relationship not become romantic and/or sexual at some point. (Related note that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before: Anakin tends to read, to me, as very demi and biromantic; that probably contributes to some of my views here). And, you know, the OT3 in that AU might well start with Obi-Wan and Padme sort of dancing around one another in some way, whether they’ve had their requisite Mutual Near Death Experience yet or not, and then Anakin meshes with both of them and things just sort of go from there, though I haven’t made up my mind on that yet.

(Also, an AU where Anakin didn’t end up in the Temple but TPM otherwise went as in canon, he’d probably grow up on Naboo and, despite still being largely an Anidala shipper at heart, the romantic-vs-platonic dynamic between these two relationships would do a total 180 for me. I probably wouldn’t actually write an AU like that for a number of reasons, but…anyway. Figured it bore mentioning.)

…so that was a 2k+ ramble about PT OT3 dynamics, lol. Most of this will probably never actually make it to the foreground of anything I write, tbh. Because whatever I feel about these character dynamics aside…the fact is most of what I write tends to not be shipping fic, precisely. As in, (like I mentioned before) I don’t really like writing courtship narratives/stories where the romantic pairing and their relationship is The Plot. Distaff is really the closest I come to it. Which is not to say that these romantic and/or platonic relationships aren’t super important, just…it’s probably never going to be a real focus for me. Well, portions of Auxiliaries will, for spoilery reasons, and I might to a Valentine’s Day bonus fic or something, but other than that.

I have no idea if I actually answered your question XD Uh, feel free to follow up? Or give me your thoughts, or ask me something unrelated…

[lazysublimeengineer]

Coming to Terms

Summary:

“Didn’t your parents’ teach you to knock before you barge into someone else’s room?” Will drawled, arching up an eyebrow.

He watched Ethan leaning casually in his chair with a stress ball on his hand like he own the place.

Ethan smiled brightly at him. “Yeah, yeah I get that. But they also teach me that sometimes a good surprise visit wouldn’t hurt.”

or

The time Will just wanted to have a normal day at his office but Ethan wouldn’t let him.

Pairing/s: William Brandt/Ethan Hunt

Fandoms:

Mission: Impossible (Movies)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

-Finally. My muse is back. After watching Ghost Protocol & Rogue Nation I couldn’t help but to ship them. Also, Will needs a hug. Lots of them. Also Ethan but nah. He can handle being disavowed every week anyway.

WARNING: Might be OOC so forgive me if I haven’t got their characters right since this is the first time that I’m writing about them in this fandom (I really tried to capture their characters though). Enjoy!

“Welcome to the IMF Secretary.” Will said calmly at Hunley before striding towards the corridor, going to his office.

With Lane under the custody of IMF and the Syndicate well taken care of, weariness and numbness began to creep into his bones. He doesn’t even know what to do now. Should he just become a chief analyst or return to Ethan’s team as a full time agent? It isn’t that he didn’t actually missed being an agent. Quite the opposite actually. The thrill, the rush, the adrenaline – all of it. Because first and foremost the reason why he joined the IMF was because he wanted to become a field agent and not an analyst. But he didn’t sign up for this one. Getting to hear that you’re your team leader is technically dead for a few seconds (via Benji’s slip up during his inane chatter thank you very much) almost made him lose his shit right there and then. And he doesn’t even want to begin with Ilsa Faust: a disavowed M16 agent. Or in Luther’s optimistic words: she’s bad news.

Sure, it would only be a logical choice for Ethan to get Benji to join and assist him in annihilating the Syndicate so that he would have a reliable eye in the IMF headquarters which quite frankly is him. What he didn’t get is that how he could easily trust Ilsa Faust – a British triple & disavowed agent to work alongside with him? Granted that him and hers situation were quite similar before due to the fact that they both have secrets when they met Ethan, but damn, he didn’t even know that Ethan could be this idiotic and impulsive to trust instinctively a shady triple agent. He sighed in complete defeat and rubbed his temples automatically to calm down his raging thoughts. There’s no sense in dwelling on that now. He must focus on the paperwork and the pending works that he had to finish after he went to Ethan and Benji in Morocco to save their asses.

He opened the door casually to his office only to be greeted by none other than—

“Didn’t your parents’ teach you to knock before you barge into someone else’s room?” Will drawled, arching up an eyebrow.

He watched Ethan leaning casually in his chair with a stress ball on his hand like he own the place.

Ethan smiled brightly at him. “Yeah, yeah I get that. But they also teach me that sometimes a good surprise visit wouldn’t hurt.”

Will’s mouth quirked slowly upwards but only for a few seconds and frowned at him. The last thing he needed was another human being at his office and exchanging social niceties with them. But of course, this is Ethan Hunt that we’re talking about. Avoidance, cold shoulder or silent treatment wouldn’t work on him unless you tell him to fuck off directly on his face (which quite frankly he didn’t want right now and get into another idiotic shouting match at him). And oh, also he didn’t know the interesting concept of personal space.

“How the meeting had went?” he added afterwards. “Fucking great. The IMF is reinstated again. The Secretary has the grace to accept their decision and acknowledged that. And I have work to do to balance out the remnants of IMF again.” His failed attempt at lighthearted and self-deprecating humor only aroused a mild curiosity and askance in Ethan towards him. He didn’t know why he sounded………….somewhat querulous towards him. Maybe he’s just being tired or not in the mood to talk—

“Brandt is something wrong?” Ethan asked casually, cutting in his train of thoughts. He threw a worried glance at him.

Will waved a dismissive hand at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing. Maybe I’m having this scientific post-mission effects that’s all.”

Ethan if nothing but a stubborn mule he is, just ploughed ahead, completely ignoring his dismissive and automatic response.

“No Will. What is it? What’s bothering you? You haven’t talk to me or fucking look at me after the mission. I thought we settle our issues in Seattle—“

“This isn’t about the fucking Seattle you dolt.” Will cut him off sharply, glowering at him. If looks could kill, Ethan would be lying in a heap right now.

“Then tell me, oh the great one. Because I’m not as fucking clairvoyant as you are.” Ethan retaliated, a clear challenge in his piercing blue eyes.

“That’s because I care about you asshole! You’ve been gone for six fucking months Ethan! And while I understand that its part of your goddamn job and you had to complete the mission at hand it’s still not fucking okay that you’ve got to die for a few fucking seconds in an underground storage data cell and still trusting that triple agent Ilsa Faust when she’s clearly playing at you! Damn you, Ethan because I’m just supposed to be an analyst but no I just have to fucking care too much about you and help you out when you do something stupid!” Will roared at him, the last shred of control and patience slipping away from him.

He heaved a heavy sigh and turned away. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn it to hell. He didn’t mean to lose his shit like that. He was supposed to grow indifferent to Ethan’s taunts and cutting remarks and brush him off like any other day. But what the hell did he do? He lashed out at him and spout some idiotic six months angst on him like a petulant, emo teenager. He should have attended another acting and anger management classes again. He’s really slipping.

Heavy silence fell around them like a thick fog.

Neither of the spoke for a few seconds.

Then he heard footsteps. Just when he thought that Ethan might go out of the room—

“I………I’m sorry Brandt.” He apologized softly then slowly put his arms tentatively around him and spun him gently so that he’s facing him. I didn’t mean to worry you like that. I was solely focus on completing the mission and the objectivity of it that I didn’t pay attention enough to other important things.”

“Like the time that you’re temporarily dead in Morocco?” Will remarked dryly, still refusing to look at him directly for fear of reading the naked and raw emotions at his eyes. He wanted to save an ounce of dignity that’s left in him.

“I didn’t want to compromise you or the mission by telling you of the few questionable stunts that I pull for the sake of the mission.” Ethan replied solemnly.

“Guess what Ethan, it just makes me worry more by not telling it to me.” Will said quietly. “I didn’t think about that and I’m sorry again and for what it’s worth, Ilsa has her own personal but viable reasons for doing what she did. She tried to help us at the end after all.”

Will huffed. “That’s because she would’ve gain something if she sided with us.”

“You know Brandt, if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say you’re jealous.” Ethan’s eyes were crinkling with sudden mirth and playfulness.

He almost choke on his spit. “Me? Jealous? Only you Ethan can have a massive fucking ego and still need to stroke it. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He rolled his eyes.

He raised his hands in a placating manner. “Relaxed. No need to get defensive here. I’m just playing with you.”

Will heaved a put upon sigh at Ethan’s playful grin. A sudden nagging thought began to claw out of his consciousness. Although he tried to banish it at the back of his mind for fear of confirming his unwanted suspicions, his mouth was already blabbering it out.

“If the circumstances were different, would you still accept Ilsa’s offer of a normal life with you on that day?” he asked quietly, his rapid heartbeat were in great contrast to his neutral expression. Ethan watched him carefully for a moment. His face had an indiscernible countenance as he respond to Will’s question.

“While it might be tempting to accept a rather inviting offer, I still wouldn’t. Given that I tried to play house & husband with Julia only to end up in disaster and ruining her life. Other than that, IMF is my life and I believe that the only way I’d ever stop is when I’m delivered in a body bag.” He said lightly to which he earned a mild punch in the arm by Will.

“And then………there’s you.” He added tentatively, expression changing slightly to give light to a new emotion in which Will couldn’t fathom. “M-me?” Will stuttered out in confusion. “Yeah you.” Ethan tilted his gently so that he was facing him completely.

“I thought that when I first saw you in Moscow it was out of mere curiosity in finding out who you are and your secrets. I thought that it was already sated when I’ve cornered you in Seattle and finding out your involvement in Croatia then asking you to join my team again as a field agent to which you accepted. But it didn’t. My curiosity just grew stronger. The more I’m around you, the more I wanted to be around you and get to know you better. Then there’s little things like your competence, honesty, efficiency, patience, understanding and kindness that slowly creep into me. I couldn’t control it and the reason why I’ve chosen Benji to join and assist me in eradicating the Syndicate was because aside from having a reliable eye at HQ is that I couldn’t bear the thought of something bad happening to you. I know it’s idiotic of me to think like that way given that you’re also a highly trained field agent like me. But damn, I don’t want to do something incredibly stupid when some shit happens to you. Also, I’d rather spend dodging bullets and kicking some goon’s stupid ass with you than living in suburbs and having a normal but boring life with Ilsa.” He confessed, a raw and unbridled emotion was written all over his face.

Will just stared at him, completely dumbstruck. His analytical brain might have short circuited at the unexpected revelation. Did Ethan just said what he thought he said?

Ethan watched him, a mild amusement was dancing around his eyes. “What, you’re not gonna say something Brandt? I guess I have to throw a party then for rendering our chief analyst into a complete, mind blowing silence given that you have an opinion on everything.” He said lightly but there’s a hint of uncertainty and nervousness that was lurking between the depths of his eyes.

“I……….” Not knowing how to respond to Ethan’s heartfelt confession, he just grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt and pressed his quivering lips against his. Will shut his eyes tightly, hands nervously clinging to Ethan’s shirt as he hoped Ethan’s lips would start responding to his own, but they didn’t, and after a few seconds of the simple innocent kiss he pulled away, hesitantly opening his eyes and feeling sick when he saw Ethan staring up at him with a confused and shock expression on his face; he didn’t try to process what Ethan’s expression held, the first thing that came to mind was it was bound to be repugnance. Ethan quickly strode towards him, his eyes began to sting as what he’d really just done began to sink in, realizing this could of potentially ruined his possibly the fragile but good friendship he’d ever had with him and quickly walking away to avoid any sort of rejection, ignoring Ethan asking him to just hold on a minute and only walking faster. Just as he was about to reach the handle of the door Ethan immediately grabbed his wrist and twist around him.

“What the—“his words quickly dying in his throat as Ethan pressed his lips firmly against his. He stood still for a moment in utter disbelief before finally realizing this was really for whatever insane reason happening and eventually kissing back, closing his eyes as hands lowered and gently gripped his hips to pull him closer. It was a deep, passionate kiss that meant to pour out their feelings towards each other. Then slowly it became slow and languorous with their tongues still battling sweetly for dominance. Ethan swallowed back his moans as he instinctively deepen the kiss and snaked his arms across his waist. Will just hold onto his shirt for support. Will never knew people really had that much of an overpowering taste or a scent to them until now, but he did know he’d be able to just stand there for hours because this was absolutely intoxicating, heck, everything about Ethan was intoxicating now. Unfortunately, they had to part together for oxygen purposes.

“Well, I do hope that answers your questions.” Will said, a smirk was forming across his red and swollen lips.

“More than likely.” Ethan retorted, resisting the urge to jump at him because of his debauched state. “So……..a cup of coffee then at Starbucks?” Will asked, a hopeful expression on his face.

“Later of course.” There’s a dangerous gleam into his eyes that skyrocketed Will’s blood into his head.

“Will.” He stated afterwards.

“Hmmm?” Ethan queried, a mild confusion in his eyes.

“It’s Will, Ethan. Just call me Will.” A genuine smile was sent across his way.

He returned the smile. “Yes Will. Your wish is my command.”

A devilish smirk was playing against his lips as he locked the door.

“Now where were we?” he murmured hotly as latched into his neck and nip at it gently that sent a moan out of Will’s lips.

Meanwhile at a certain house in the suburbs……………………

“Mission accomplished!” Benji exclaimed happily after he turned off the coms and pulled out his earwigs.

“Finally. If I’d known that it’d only take a mission without me to get them both jumping into each other’s bones then I’d already done it ages ago.” Jane remarked.

“Yeah. I totally didn’t need to hear them going at it like enthusiastic rabbits.” Luther muttered.

Benji snorted. “Well at least we help them sliced the thick fog of sexual tension between the two of them.”

Jane grinned. “You know Benji you could replace Will as our analyst in the group. Didn’t know that your plan would work.”

“Nah. I’m fine being the adorable technician in our team. ‘Sides I don’t wanna steal the position of Ethan’s personal analyst.”

Jane and Luther snickered.

“So what do you say mates, wanna watch Star Trek in the living room?”

Jane groaned. “Benji, we’ve watched it for a millionth time already.”

“And I don’t wanna see you bawling your eyes out at Spock and Khan.” Luther rolled his eyes.

“C’mon guys Star Trek is awesome! How can you not share my fine tastes in films?” Benji wailed as he followed them out in the living room. And that’s how they’ve got to spend their time when the bad guys aren’t invading the Earth of course.

-Apologies to the creator of Mission Impossible. My attempts at English are laughable, I know. But Mission Impossible is public domain now, bro.

-Also I’m NOT OKAY with William Brandt not returning in the next MI:6 movie. Like WTH?! Hopefully, he’ll be back in the next one after Cavill’s period.

You could check out this story in my other fanfic sites:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11233818

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12535798/1/Coming-to-Terms