#i don’t have the energy to turn this into meta so just enjoy the food for thought

[the-lonelybarricade]

I don’t know if this has been pointed out before, but Mr. LB and I have been reading acowar and when we got to the point where it’s revealed that Nesta is Death / has death related powers, he immediately asked “does that mean Elain is supposed to be Life?”

It’s a juxtaposition I hadn’t thought about before, but the imagery seems so on the nose now that I think about Elain “the gentle grower of things” and her affinity for nature and sunlight

[stewardofningishzida]

Chapter 12: Double Double

Whoo! I know it’s been a while people, but the meta-fic lives! Everyone just needed to do some life stuff, but we’re back! Here’s the latest chapter. Enjoy!

TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of eye injury, mention of depression

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*My sleep is still troubled.  It’ll probably be a while before the nightmares completely subside.  Though at least my legs are a bit better today.  Lab work isn’t as strenuous as scrambling through an abandoned mine.  They’re still aggravated, but it’ll eventually calm down in another day or two.  Trix and Stephen are still making sure that Tear and I are recovering.  Tear, although still recuperating from the shock of her near-death experience, looks a little better today after having some actual sleep.  Stephen has us meditate again after breakfast to help us continue to stabilize.  He stays behind once more to continue his work while Tear and I go to our shifts.  I get back on-time this evening, at least.  Though I’m starving because I had worked through my lunch break to make up for yesterday and catch up.*

Me (tired):  Back.  I finally fixed everything at work.  What a day…How’s everyone else?  *I’m squinting slightly because I have a headache.  So, I wander off to the bathroom to get medication while listening to my friends.*

Tear: *Looks up from her laptop and removes her earphones* Today’s been easier, I guess. The café and bakery are still standing, and I’ve been doing a few ingredient cost corrections. We might have to change providers for our egg supplies and those negotiations are always tiresome.

Trix: I’m doing fine. I’m still on vacation and haven’t heard anything from work about things going catastophic.

*Stephen is quiet and tense.  He seems to be concentrating while staring at his hands.  He gingerly lifts one up to check it for something…It’s trembling.  Not too badly, but ever so slightly.*

Stephen (trying to hide his fear and desperation):  This…This shouldn’t be happening.  My spell isn’t working.  

*He utters the incantation, trying again.  It fails.*

Stephen:  Why isn’t this working?  *He stares at his shaking hands.  His voice gets quiet.*  Shit…

*We’re all fully alert now.*

Tear:  Stephen? *I place my laptop down and uncurl from my position on the couch, eyeing the research he had spread around him to see what had prompted his actions*

Trix: What’s going on?

Me (worried):  Stephen, are you okay?  *I peer out from the medicine cabinet.*

Stephen:  I…I don’t know.  My abilities appear to be fading.  *He pauses for a moment to think before the realization dawns on him.*  I’ve been outside of a non-magical universe with no real mystical sustenance for too long.  Damnit…  *He’s at a loss as to what to do.*

Trix: By magical sustenance…do you mean that the thing about not being able to sustain yourself on just human food is a real thing? Because I don’t read the comics but I heard…things.

Stephen (trying to contain the mounting anxiety and despair):  …I can usually just channel mystical energies from the multiverse around me to cast spells.  Though the more you use magic, the more dependent on it you become.  Eventually, your body starts to require intake of magical substances to maintain your abilities…I have nothing here.  As a human sorcerer, I still need to maintain my normal self through regular food, but to actually use and maintain my abilities, I need to absorb magic from other things.  *He sighs harshly.*

Me:  …Could we do anything for you?  Like, maybe we could each cast the spell that PrettyWitch from the group text used on you?  It could be us taking turns with one of us casting it each day.

Stephen (trying to be patient):  That would only buy me a few days at most and you would all be heavily weakened.  It takes too much out of a normal person and even rotating, you wouldn’t have enough time to fully recover.

Trix: I mean, it’s worth it if it can help get you home. Aren’t there things we could use to, I dunno, boost the power? I’ve always heard of moonlight boosting crystal energy, is there something like that that could help?

Tear: Yeah! Besides, buying you a few days could prove to be pivotal. Out of everyone in this room, you are the one with the highest chance of finding a way back home through your magic. I’d gladly use my energy to give you that extra time.

Stephen:  All of you have already done so much for me.  I can’t let you do that to yourselves.  Especially with multiple people in your group still recovering from the last major incident.

Trix: I guess…but are you sure?

Me:  I’m fine.  Please let us help you.

Tear: Come on. If there’s something superheroes have taught us, is that we must rise to the challenge. We’ll always have time to rest up and recover once the problem has been resolved.

Stephen:  No, ladies.  You’ve all done enough.  Just…I need to be alone right now.  

*He has since grown past outbursts.  Now, he’s on the brink of despair.  Stephen needs some time to himself to think about what’s starting to happen.  To somehow steel his courage and keep looking for some way, any way, to get home.  We let him have some space and time to himself.  A while after Stephen has some time to himself, he gets a text.*

PrettyWitch (text):  Hey. How are you?

Stephen (text):  Not good.  I’m losing my abilities and given the level of energy drain you’ve experienced, the group’s proposal of rotating individuals for the spell would not be sustainable.  Your group has done more than enough for me.

PrettyWitch (text):  Okay. Well we can find some other way of helping you. There has to be one.

Stephen (text):  How?  Your group and I have been tirelessly researching and attempting all possibilities in this forsaken universe…Even to the point of two of you almost dying.

PrettyWitch (text):  I didn’t almost die.

Stephen (text):  No, but Tear and Steward were nearly killed in the last attempt at finding a source of magic a few days ago.  There was a collapse in an abandoned mine and Tear nearly fell down a chasm while Steward suffered a psionic assault from an interdimensional rift.

PrettyWitch (text):  😧Oh my God…

Stephen (text):  I can’t let more of you sacrifice yourselves.

PrettyWitch (text):  So what? You’re just gonna try fixing this all by yourself, now?

Stephen (text):  What choice do I have?  It’s only getting worse.

PrettyWitch (text):  Yes, but if you don’t get help then where will that leave you?  Do you really wanna be stuck here forever?

Stephen (text):  No…I just need to think so I can figure something out.

PrettyWitch (text):  Okay. Let us help you.

Stephen (text):  How?

PrettyWitch (text):  Well, maybe we can start looking through other Wiccan books or books on alchemy, those must have something.

Stephen (text):  Are there any that we’ve missed?  Here is the list of the ones I checked.  *He gives an incredibly long list.*

PrettyWitch (text):  Oh damn! That’s a lot.

Stephen (text):  …Yep.

PrettyWitch (text):  Alright. I’ll just keep sending you protection magic until you find something.  Hell, maybe try manifesting your magic back!

Stephen (text):  No…Teach the others.  Rotate.  The spells you’re doing will keep draining you.  If you keep it up, it’ll start taking years off of your life.

PrettyWitch (text):  Okay. Fine, I’ll do that. In the meantime look into manifestation.

Stephen (text):  …Okay.  Thank you.

PrettyWitch (text):  You’re welcome.😊 but please don’t hesitate to ask for help. You have a bad habit of trying to fix everything yourself so you don’t hurt other people.

Stephen (text):  I know.

PrettyWitch (text):  Yay! 😊🫂Good luck! and don’t hesitate to text me if you need a pick-me-up. Also say hi to Cloakie for me.

Stephen (text):  Will do.

*At this point, the only reason Stephen hasn’t been as stubborn lately is because he feels more and more ground down by his predicament.  There’s only so much willpower that he can continue to muster as his ability to act diminishes further.  Meanwhile, the group members get a ping in the group text.  PrettyWitch has called an emergency meeting via Discord video chat so we can learn the ritual she used to help Stephen.  When people are available, we get online to figure this out.*

Me:  Okay, PrettyWitch.  Let’s see what you got.

Tear: Do we need to get anything ready for this ritual? I’ve no idea how any of this works…

Me:   I have some sage, crystals, salt, essential oils, incense, and a few basics if needed on my end.

Stephen:  I’m here to observe.  *The Cloak is on him as usual.  It seems more clingy than normal.*

Trix: I do more tarot and crystals myself but I’m willing to do more to help.

PrettyWitch: (staring in awe at Stephen…Before she realizes how creepy she seems and snaps out of it.) Sorry. First time seeing you in the flesh.

Stephen (awkward, but no longer as snarky as he once was):  Erm…?  Ah, right.  Well, nice to meet you, PrettyWitch.

Prettywitch: It’s nice to meet you, too.

*I show up on his screen momentarily because I’m hooking his iPad up with the charger*

Me:  Sorry.  Old iPad.  Needs power.

*I go back off his screen and back onto my own on my laptop.*

Stephen:  So, what’s first?

PrettyWitch: Well, the first thing you need to do is imagine yourself conjuring a little ball in the palm of your hands. I usually envision mine as a white, transparent ball.

Me:  Okay.  We’re following you.

Stephen:  One at a time would be better so you don’t all burn yourselves out.  Who wants to try this?  PrettyWitch, not you yet.  You still should take time to recover from your first time.  It’ll take a few days before your energy gets back to normal.

Prettywitch: Okay.

Trix: I can try it first since the rest of these guys did the mine.

Tear: *I cross my arms and slouch back on the couch, pouting* It’s not like we ran out of turns to help though…

Me:  What’s the next step?  *We watch her.*

PrettyWitch: Next step would be to think of the person or object you’re looking to protect and envision them inside the magic ball you’re casting. 

Me:  Okay.

Stephen:  Sounds reasonable.  

Trix: Got it.

Tear: So picture Stephen in a hamster ball, got it. *I immediately close my eyes in regret and pinch the bridge of my nose* Great, now that’s one image I won’t be able to get out of my head.

*We await further instructions.*

PrettyWitch: Then you say the phrase, “Protect [insert person’s name], who I deem needing. As I say it, so mote it be.” Then you can just cast the spell out into the ether. That’s what I do. Then to get rid of excess magic energy, just brush your hands off to the side, like you’re sweeping away dust.

Me:  Huh…That’s pretty straightforward.

Stephen:  Effective, though.  I’ll admit that.

Trix: Well, some of the most effective things are simple to keep its potency. *follows PrettyWitch’s instructions* Protect Stephen Strange, who I deem needing. As I say it, so mote it be. *brushes hands off to the side as instructed*

Tear: *Watches Trix cautiously* …Well, at least you didn’t combust or anything.

Me:  Anything else we should know or is that it?

PrettyWitch: (shrugs) Not really. Magic, the way I understand it, basically works if you visualize it in your mind, first. Though incantations still exist.

Stephen:  Depends on the type of magic, yes.  Though in your universe, it seems that this is the only way to make it work.  Even then, with mixed results.

Trix: Well, I think it worked! *slightly swaying*

Stephen: Thank you, PrettyWitch, for teaching us this spell…and thank you, Trix, for providing me with energy.  *He’s sincere.*

PrettyWitch: You’re most welcome. Anything to help my Marvel Boy.

*Stephen turns slightly red and coughs.*

Stephen:  Haven’t heard THAT nickname before…

Prettywitch: Eh, when you’re terminally online, you tend to pick up the lingo.

Me:  Any other news from anyone or should we call it an evening?  It kinda looks like Trix is about to pass out…Are you okay?

Trix: It feels like college when I was too stubborn to sleep and forgot to eat at the same time. Or one of my ocular migraines because I cannot see properly.

PrettyWitch: Oh dear. It’s probably cause she’s not used to it.

Stephen:  We should probably call it a night so Trix can rest.  I’ll check on her.  *He’s genuinely concerned.*

Me:  Yeesh.  Okay.  So, let’s note when each person does it so we can rotate and not burn ourselves out.

Tear: That would be smart. It can also help us ensure Stephen always has a constant flow of energy, small as it may be.

*Stephen has gone onto Trix’s screen and is checking on her.  He’s being quite gentle.*

Trix: I’ll be good eventually! You’d be annoyed with how often I get like this on a normal day with no magic! *tries to make light of the situation*

Stephen:  Take it easy for a while, okay?  

Me:  I noted the dates that PrettyWitch and Trix did the spell.  I’ll go next when it’s time to do it again.  Tear can go after me.  Are you okay with this, Tear?

Tear: *I bite my lip and eye Steward carefully* Maybe I should go first. I didn’t have such close contact to the negative energies within the cave. You could use a few extra days to replenish properly.

Me:  Are you sure, Tear?  You got rattled pretty badly too…

Tear: Physically, for sure. But not mentally…spiritually? I should be fine to send Stephen some good vibes.

Me:  Okay.  If that’s everything, we’ll say good night for now.  Thanks, PrettyWitch.  You’re a lifesaver.

PrettyWitch: No problem, love.

Tear: We’ll text you and ask for help if Trix doesn’t get better or has other odd side effects.

Stephen (carefully helping Trix to the couch):  Good night.

Trix: Night! *Attempts to wave but kinda flops her arm around*

*I wave before ending the call.*

*Over the next few days, we rotate through performing the spell to sustain Stephen while the research continues.  Tear heads back home and we both continue juggling our work with helping Stephen. Though unfortunately, another wrench in the gears shows itself on Sunday.  The Cloak, it seems, is becoming more and more sluggish.  It doesn’t leave Stephen at all now and it moves ever so slowly and slightly.*

Stephen (worried):  Not you too, Levi…

*He looks the relic over, concerned.  It gives him a small, reassuring wave.  The Cloak unfortunately requires magical energy to sustain itself too.  So, in a desperate attempt at self-preservation, it has been siphoning whatever remaining dregs it can from Stephen when he isn’t using magic.  Stephen’s hands continue to tremble.  Though he can still somewhat control it when he needs to.  We do what we can to comfort him.  He flatly refuses to let us double our energy donations.*

Stephen (protective of us):  This is risky enough as it is.  Plus, you have jobs and lives outside of this.  Please.  I want you all to be healthy and safe.

Me:  You have a life too, Stephen.

Stephen:  Yes, but you’re all doing more than enough for me.  Just get to work safely and do your best, okay?

*I look at him for a moment before nodding sadly and heading off to the lab for some experimental data collection.  A few hours later, there’s a text on the university’s safety alerts.*

Text:  ***Incident in the Biological Sciences Dept.  2 injured.  Labs closed for the rest of the day.***

*There’s a scrambled text from me on the group thread.*

Me (text):  Need ride.  Eyes huer.  Burmt.  Gas.

*Stephen reads it over and over, anxiety starting to flood him.*

Tear (text): Anyone else with a car can go pick up Steward? I can’t leave the bakery yet.

Prettywitch (text): I can. I will pick up Stephen too. *A few minutes later, I arrive in the driveway and ring the doorbell.* 

*Stephen answers*  

Stephen:  Okay.  Let’s go.  *He’s already ready to go.* 

*PrettyWitch nods and helps him pick me up. When I get into the car, I stink of ether gas and am half-conscious.  The smell eventually fades.  A few minutes later, we get to the hospital.*

*Stephen is pacing.  He’s frustrated that he can’t do anything here.  He doesn’t have an MD in this universe.  So, no authority here.  After being checked and treated, unfortunately, my eyes and the skin around them have been burnt by a UV sterilization lamp.  I’m currently blind, but since the cornea heals relatively quickly, I should regain my eyesight in a few days.  I still need to take medicated eye drops to ensure the healing process works properly.  Stephen goes to lead me to the car and we get back to my house.  I’m sitting in my chair.*

Me (voice shaking):  I…Oh God…I-I know it’s temporary, but it could have gone so much worse…*I’m trying to stay composed.*

Prettywitch: It’s alright, love. Just go with the flow. It’s okay to feel scared, even if it’s temporary. I know I’d be freaked, too if I were you.

Me:  How am I supposed to help now?  I can’t work either…*I’m trying to calm down.  Hundreds of thoughts are swirling around in my head right now.*

Prettywitch: You can still help. My magic requires visualization in your mind.

Stephen:  She needs to conserve her energy to heal more quickly.

Me (protesting):  Stephen!

Stephen:  No buts.

Prettywitch: No, he’s right. You need to conserve energy.

*I sigh*

Me:  Fine…Just…What do I do now?

Prettywitch: Just relax for awhile, we’ll keep an eye on Stephen and Cloakie.

Stephen:  I’ll help you when you need it, Steward, okay?

Me:  Okay…

Stephen:  You’ve lost a bit of weight, PrettyWitch.  Eat something while you’re here.  *He’s making sure she’s okay too.*

Prettywitch: Okay. I’ll have some cheesecake, then.

Me:  It’s in the freezer.  Just microwave it for like 30 seconds.

*He sits with me and PrettyWitch, keeping us company.*

*PrettyWitch is uncertain of what to say as she eats her cheesecake. She thinks of things to say, but she always feels like any questions she has for the Good Doctor would seem inappropriate at this time and she doesn’t want him humoring her when he’s pretty bummed, too.*

*I fiddle around with the edge of the tablecloth.  It seems to be a sort of soothing action so I can at least sense something near me since I can’t see.*

Stephen:  I’ll let the rest of the group know that we’ve sorted everything out.  

*He pulls out his phone and dictates the text.  His hands are shaking worse than ever right now.*

Prettywitch: Do you need help?

Stephen (getting slightly frustrated with autocorrect):  *sighs*  …That would be nice, yes.  *He reluctantly hands his phone over to PrettyWitch.*

*She quickly types in a message and holds Stephen’s phone out to him.*

Prettywitch: Here.

Stephen (grateful):  Thank you.

Prettywitch: You’re welcome…

Tear (text): Thank you for the update and getting Steward! I’m finishing a meeting with the accountants and then I’m heading over to help. Be there in a bit.

*Trix comes to the house to check on the situation, but she’s a bit drained because she just finished donating energy to Stephen.  So, she stumbles as she enters the house.  The sorcerer helps her get to a chair so we can all hang out together.*

Prettywitch: Are you going to be okay, Stephen?

Stephen:  Honestly, I don’t know.  I’m losing my abilities, albeit more slowly thanks to your help, and we’re running out of ideas to get me home.  That and more of you are getting burnt out or hurt as this continues.  It seems as though things keep getting worse.

*He’s tired of his usual confident guise and teetering on the brink of severe depression.*

Prettywitch: *Gently places her hand on one of his wrists to avoid hurting his hands.* Hey. We’ll get through this, you’ll see. You can’t give up now.

*He accepts the comfort and lets her get close.*

Stephen:  I know…I don’t know what more to do yet, but I’ll have to keep looking…

*He looks tired and wracked with guilt and helplessness.*

Prettywitch: Look, if there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re one stubborn son of a bitch. You never give up. Even if it’s at risk to yourself.

Stephen (small chuckle):  That, I’ll admit.

Prettywitch: Good. Then use that to your advantage. If the multiverse exists and you can perform magic here, then there’s no reason to assume that you can’t find a way to contact Wong.

Stephen:  Just a matter of figuring out how, yeah.  If your manifestation spell can work here, then there HAS to be something…

*Trix and I have just been listening quietly the entire time.  Honestly, hearing other people nearby is comforting.*

Prettywitch: (With sparkly eyes) Yes! There’s the Stephen I know and love!...Umm…sorry, I’m kinda weird like that. The important thing is that you don’t give up…Uh, you too, Steward…

*She feels bad for not talking to Steward much.

*I grunt.  I’m kind of in my own thoughts at the moment anyway.*

Trix: We’re just chillin’ there’s no prob! *she tends to get pretty loopy after donating energy and is camped out next to Steward*

*I can feel Trix close by and lean slightly towards her, appreciating the company.*

Me (grim, but staying strong as best I can):  We can’t give up anyway.  There’s no other way but forward whether we like it or not.  So, we have to work with what we’ve got.  It’s a hard lesson to learn, but it can get you through tough stuff.

Stephen:  You’re a better sport than me.

Me (sincere):  Admittedly, I’m only as calm as I am because this condition is temporary.  If this were permanent, I probably would have broken down by now.  However, one thing I always try to keep in mind regardless of what’s happening to me is that we’ve all got something going on.  It’s more a matter of making an effort to try and make things suck a bit less for everyone by being there for each other.

Trix: *slightly more serious* One of the best things I learned in college was that there will always be something that doesn’t go as planned and you just gotta be ready to troubleshoot. Running weekly live tv shows for your degree really hammers that in hard. We’ll all be okay, we just gotta figure out the newest puzzle!

*Tear arrives from her work then, carrying bags of groceries and a tray full of hot drinks for everyone gathered.*

Tear: I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier, but I thought I could help lessen the load around the house. I got you a few extra groceries to ensure you wouldn’t have to go out while you heal, Steward. And I wasn’t sure if you could drink caffeine with your new meds so I brought some fruit tisanes for everyone instead. *I place the hot drink cups in the middle of the table where everyone can go through the flavor labels before I proceed to put away the groceries* Are there any new advancements I missed?

Me:  Thanks, Tear.  *I’m genuinely grateful for her and my other friends being here.*

Stephen:  Well, there’s one last thing I saw in one of the books your group found.  Something about harmonic resonances of different metals used as conduits for cosmic energy…It sounds very similar to how certain relics work.  Maybe…Hmmm…Seeing as you guys are fans of movie props, do any of you happen to have a replica of a Sling Ring?

Tear: Sorry, I do but the size would be too small for you…

Trix: *flops hand almost drunkenly around but makes sure not to hit Steward* I am a sucker for merch!

Stephen:  So, that’s a yes?

Trix: *grins goofily* Yup! I can’t walk right now but it is in my office in my house!

Stephen:  What is it made of?

Trix: Mine isn’t one of the real props so it’s a base metal so it’s a bunch of random scrap metals mixed together. It’s what most fashion jewelry is made of. You either need to make a mold of that and get whatever metal you need or we need one of the actual props from the movies~

Stephen:  Hm.  The best ones for resonance are a mix of silver, copper, and gold.  

Me:  I’ve got some souvenir 24 karat gold from an old class field trip to Sacramento.  Could donate that to be melted down.  It’s not much, though.  Maybe we can get some gold leaf from a craft store to get more?  Silver, I’m allergic to nickel and such.  So, most of my jewelry is made with silver or at least plated with it or gold.  Copper, I can probably buy some off of the chemistry lab.  They use it as a reagent sometimes.  So, that’s the metals covered.  

Trix: Fuck, my boss and the goldsmith at work like me enough. If I send you with the sling ring to get a gold one custom made we could get the gold at cost. 14k would probably be the sturdiest as 18k might be too soft. If you make it in 14k rose gold, that would bring the copper into the mixture and would leave out other impurities. I’ll just pay him back when we’re not trying to send Stephen home. Shouldn’t be over $800 at least…I think. Just say you’re my brother in law and you came over to help while I’m injured.

Stephen:  All right.  Is there anything else you want or need me to do?  *He’s being nice and genuinely wants to repay us for our kindness.*

Me:  I’m good for now, but might need help with the burn medication later on.  I don’t want to fumble around and spill it everywhere.

Trix: Snaaaaaacks *back to being unfocused because blood sugar is low*

Stephen (gentle):  Will do.  In the meantime, here.  *He offers Trix some fruit.*

Trix: *grins* Thank you~ Key to my place is in my mini backpack near the door. Ignore the fact that it’s Marvel themed. Go forth sorcerer on your side quest!

Stephen:  Wait a minute, I don’t have a license here.  PrettyWitch, could you please drive me to the jewelry store after I get the replica from Trix’s house?

PrettyWitch: (Salutes) You got it!

Me:  Please be safe, you two.  

Stephen:  For now, since we don’t have the money or all of the metals yet, I’m just grabbing the replica and requesting a mold.  Trix, you may need to call your boss and the goldsmith to confirm so they don’t get suspicious of me.

Trix: *holds up phone* Way ahead of youuuuu~ Texted my boss already and said I’m sending you his way for a special project. They won’t question making a ring like this because they know all about how I’m a marvel nerd and wouldn’t question ‘family members’ being the same. If they ask, my migraines are worse than normal and that’s why I can’t stop by with you.

Stephen:  Okay.  Will do. Tear, please look after Trix and Steward while PrettyWitch and I are out.

Tear: *Salutes playfully* You can count on me, Cap’n. I had laser eye surgery last year, so I’ve got all sorts of ideas to make sure Steward rests and doesn’t get bored. I’ll make something to eat for when you guys come back, as well.

Trix: *grins* Godspeed! 

*He goes to change into normal clothes, grabs Trix’s key, and heads out with PrettyWitch.*

***To be Continued***

[theultimateultimateweapon]

Kirby: Meta Knight and the Knight of Hades (Chapter 10)

Morpho Knight swung his sword down the slope, releasing a powerful shock wave. The crescent-shaped waves hit Meta Knight in quick succession.

Meta Knight flew left and right, but his arm was hurt and he groaned in pain. Morpho Knight didn’t even look tired.

Meta Knight remembered what happened in the underworld. In that world, he couldn’t feel tired, hungry, or pain at all. The red knight might not feel any of those feelings no matter how much he fights because of the power of the butterfly of Hades.

If so, does Meta Knight have no chance of winning…?

(No, it can’t be...) Meta Knight gripped his sword and thought. (Those who do not feel tired do not understand the breath of battle. Those who do not feel pain cannot read the movement of their enemy.)

Behind Meta Knight were King Dedede, Kirby, and Blade Knight. Both the great king and Kirby fought desperately, but they had finally lost their strength.

Only Meta Knight was standing. He didn’t know if he could get through this mess. Already, just breathing was painful and his whole body hurt.

(Good. I feel tired and painful because I am alive!)

Meta Knight gathered his strength and jumped up, slashing at Morpho Knight.

However, he repelled it easily.

Morpho Knight slashed violently at Meta Knight’s landing.

Due to his tiredness, Meta Knight, who had been struck before, couldn’t move. He held his sword over his body and guarded desperately, but the damage was great.

His head was fluttering. His eyes were hazy, and his feet were swaying.

(Will I… will I go to the underworld again? This time, forever?) When such an ominous idea came to him, something happened.

“Meta Kniiiiight!”

He heard a loud voice. Waddle Dee’s voice.

Meta Knight raised his face.

Waddle Dee overcame a broken pillar holding something.

“Don’t come any closer!” Meta Knight shouted out.

Waddle Dee turned around, gained momentum, and threw what he was holding in his hand.

“Meta Knight! Here…!”

Something flew through the air. Meta Knight quickly reached out and took it.

Immediately, Meta Knight’s whole body shook. His fatigue and pain disappeared as they were swept away. He felt the power in his hand.

“My treasured sword… the Galaxia!”

It’s unmistakable and genuine. Meta Knight held the Galaxia high. A bright light spilled from the tip of the sword.

Morpho Knight attacked. Meta Knight lightly dodged, shook up and jumped high.

“Spinning Knight!”

While spinning in the air, he slashed at Morpho Knight.

Morpho Knight flinched and was struck down.

Then, immediately, he held his sword horizontally and drill slashed!

Morpho Knight was blown off and struck against a collapsing wall.

Meta Knight had completely regained his power. The Galaxia gave him strength. And the Galaxia was also strengthened by returning to the hands of its true owner. The sword fighter and the sword, united for increased power!

However, Morpho Knight wasn’t finished.

When he stood up, he swung his sword down and sent crescent shock waves one after another. They flew with tremendous speed, but Meta Knight didn’t give up, dodging one after another, getting closer to him.

“Take this-!” Meta Knight swung after Morpho Knight. 

Morpho Knight disappeared suddenly. He escaped with teleportation in an instant. Morpho Knight materialized above and behind Meta Knight.

Meta Knight looked back, feeling sick.

Morpho Knight slid in and rushed through the air.

It was tremendous speed. Meta Knight couldn’t dodge it.

“Kah…!” He was moving before he realized.

He grabbed the Galaxia, held it in front of him, and took a strong stance.

At the moment of attack…

“Galactic Counter!”

A deadly mystery that uses the enemy’s attack power against them!

There was no delay, the timing was perfect.

“...ts!” Morpho Knight stiffened his whole body and his attacks were slow.

The game was on. Meta Knight quietly stared at the enemy.

A streak of light spilled out of Morpho Knight. The lights gradually increased, two, three, and the brightness increased. His mask, his sword, and his wings on his back were swallowed by the white light. The knight turned into a ball of light and disappeared with a burst.

After the knight disappeared, countless red butterflies were dancing. The butterflies flew turbulently, fading little by little, and eventually disappeared as if melting away.

“Meta Knight…”

Meta Knight, staring at the disappeared butterflies, was called and turned around.

It was Kirby. He had been injured in the fight, but seemed to regain some energy.

“Did you win?”

“...Yes.”

“Meta Knight really is strong! I couldn’t do it at all.” Kirby looked a little sick.

Behind him, King Dedede stood up slowly. “Uh… Uugh…!”

The king, leaning on his hammer, managed to support his body and said with envy. “I was supposed to do it… I could’ve mustered the strength…!”

“Didn’t you turn and run?”

“I didn’t run off! I was getting a better vantage point!”

Blade Knight also stood up, in tears. “Meta Knight, sir, wow, you’re safe!”

“Yes. No need to worry about me.”

“But what happened? I could have sworn you were on the battleship Halberd…”

Waddle Dee rushed in before Meta Knight answered. “Meta Knight! You won!”

“Waddle Dee.” Meta Knight turned to Waddle Dee.

“I’m grateful you returned my strength with the Galaxia. Thank you.”

“I just carried it. It was the Galaxia that strengthened you…”

Waddle Dee jumped up. “Wait, we still need your help! Your knights are in a hole!”

“A hole?”

“This way!”

Meta Knight followed Waddle Dee to the knights.

The rescued knights were quiet, even surrounding Meta Knight. Everyone’s hearts were so full that no words came out.

Meta Knight opened his mouth. “It was foolish of me to worry, everyone fought so well.”

“Meta Knight, sir…!”

The Meta Knights wept as if the thread of tension had broken.

Sword Knight said. “You’re the real Meta Knight, aren’t you”

“Do I look like a fake?”

“No! You’re definitely real! There’s a big difference!”

Sword Knight saw Beryl crouching down.

Mace Knight snuck behind and grabbed Beryl’s head.

Axe Knight asked, “Let’s punish him for what he’s done. What do you think?”

“Hm…” Meta Knight thought about it.

Beryl was shaking, rattling. 

Javelin Knight spoke. “Let’s tie him to the bow of the battleship and let him enjoy space travel.”

Trident Knight replied, “Why don’t we send him to Castle Dedede? Let the Waddle Dees take a break and let him do all the castle work alone!”

Axe Knight added, “No, let’s send him to all the towns he destroyed and make him fix them back up again! First, Dreamland!”

Meta Knight spoke. “That’s still too kind. Let’s tie him up so he can’t move and have Kirby perform a song for him.”

“Eh!?” Kirby was surprised. “Why do I have to sing for this guy!? What a waste…!”

“...No, trust me.” Meta Knight told Kirby. “Persuade him with your wonderful singing that he should never do anything wrong again.”

“...Eh? Persuade him?”

“Listening to a wonderful song can change someone’s mind.”

“Oh yeah… songs have the power to move hearts. I see!” Kirby was determined and nodded. “I will sing! It’ll be a moving song that will gentle the heart of any villain!”

“While you’re at it, would you like to serve your home cooking as well? You should make a special dish that will make him cry with excitement.”

“Okay! Looks like Meta Knight is kind to his enemies.”

“Waddle Dee.”

Waddle Dee, who was swaying and listening to the story, jumped up when Meta Knight called out. 

“Ye...yes!”

“I’ll leave it to you. Hold Kirby a concert and set up a special seat for Beryl. Don’t forget to serve Kirby’s special dishes. Have Beryl eat until he is full.”

“Uh… uh… uh, yes…!” Waddle Dee imagined it and nodded in tears of fear.

(Me, Meta Knight…! What a terrifying thing! Kirby’s song is so terrible it could crack the walls of Castle Dedede, and Kirby’s food is so bad he could lose his appetite for the rest of his life…!)

Kirby said with a smile. “Heh, I’ll do my best! Let’s work together, Waddle Dee!”

“Ah… okay…”

“What should I sing? I have to sing with all my heart so Beryl doesn’t do bad things again… of course, I’ll do my best to cook too… Wow, I’m excited! Hey Beryl, I hope you’re looking forward to it!”

“Oh, oh. I’m sure I’ll change my mind.” Beryl was relieved and grinned.

The Meta Knights and King Dedede whispered in the shadow.

“Beryl’s acting like he’s saved.”

“How stupid, he doesn’t know the horror of Kirby.”

“Meta Knight is too cruel. No matter what he did, I’m sorry for Beryl.”

“How could sir make such a proposal…”

“Wow, he’s not kidding around! Good luck, Beryl!”

Meta Knight turned over his cloak and started walking. “Well then, let’s go back to the battleship Halberd.”

“Yes sir!” His subordinates saluted in unison and lined up.

Captain Vul and the Meta Knights were enjoying tea time leisurely for the first time in a long while.

Meta Knight wasn’t there. It seems he had something to do, so he went out without telling them where he was going.

Captain Vul was talking about, of course, Meta Knight.

Axe Knight said. “Even so, it’s strange. Why did Meta Knight, who had been unconscious on the Halberd, appear in the ancient temple?”

Captain Vul replied. “I have an idea, but I can’t quite explain it. I think…”

Captain Vul took a sip of his tea and continued.

“At that time, Meta Knight’s body and mind were disjointed. His body was in a bed in the Halberd here, but his mind was wandering somewhere else.”

“...Huh.”

“Usually, the wandering heart returns to the body. However, Meta Knight is a very strong person, so I think this time his body was called to his heart.”

“...Hmm.”

Blade Knight said. “Meta Knight has a strong body, though.”

“...Well, that is correct. However, if anything, his heart is stronger!”

“Persuasive, if not…” Sword Knight muttered.

“At that time, Galacta Knight took a big hit. Moreover, he was combined with the red butterfly to become even more powerful.”

“Yeah, but what about it?”

“I think I’ve got it. Meta Knight’s desire to fight a strong opponent called to his body.”

“I see, then I understand.”

The Meta Knights nodded.

“Meta Knight’s enthusiasm to fight can be a bit overkill.”

“Hold your tongue. Meta Knight doesn’t like fighting. He likes to make himself stronger.

“Regardless, his desire to fight a strong enemy caused a miracle.”

“As expected from our master!”

Around the time when the peaceful tea party was held on the Halberd, Kirby’s special dinner concert was being held in the basement of the Castle Dedede.

Meta Knight was standing alone in a flower garden of Dreamland.

A pleasant breeze blew and the colorful flowers swayed.

Meta Knight picked up a yellow flower and took a deep breath. It had a refreshing smell.

“It has a nice scent. Pink was… too sweet, wasn’t it?”

Meta Knight couldn’t forget Papi’s happy voice. The whole time he was trying to stop Meta Knight from returning to the original world… At the very end, he was desperate to save Meta Knight. Without Papi, Meta Knight wouldn’t have been able to return to this world.

He wondered, what was Papi doing now? Was he fluttering around looking for someone to talk to?

At that moment, a white butterfly flew by and perched on a yellow flower. It was slowly drinking from the flowers.

Meta Knight muttered in a small voice. “If one day you go to that world, let me know.”

The butterfly stopped moving, as if it had heard Meta Knight’s words.

“I’d like to thank that talkative butterfly with light blue wings. Papi was a good guide… no, a good friend.”

The butterfly fluttered away, and began to fly from flower to flower.

Meta Knight quietly watched until the butterfly disappeared.

(Chapter 9 - Table of Contents)

(The end, thank you so much for reading and all of your support!)

[accio-victuuri]

Hi can you provide the link to read manhuas you prefer?

Hello Anon! OMG Manhua/Manhwa Rec! Here we go! I’ve only been reading for 2-3 months (consistently), so this will be pretty limited. I will link to the legit sites. A google search will direct you to others.

Most of these are WIPs and some, sadly, are discontinued. I won’t add TGCF or MDZS here cause those are already a given. 👇🏼

• Body Electric by Dong Ye ( completed, supernatural, lots of trigger warnings and plotty )

Ba Song is the hotshot cop who’s been handed an open-and-shut case: the suicide of a young woman. Except… who commits suicide by stabbing their own body and strangling themself? There's only one man who can help him with this mystery — Bo Shan, the renowned forensic pathologist with a severe and cold personality. What's more, his body produces bioelectricity, allowing him to acutely sense bodily injury with his touch. There's an electric current between them, and each touch sizzles with energy

If you like crime dramas and stories where they solve mysterious cases then this is for you. The romance is subtle, and their relationship is not insta-love. strangers to colleagues to friends to lovers trope. This also discusses alot of issues the society has that will make you stop and think. Ba Song is really the honorable MC in here who always wants to help people and do good. While Bo Shan is the reluctant one but deep inside, he wants to make a difference too. I wish they would make a donghua or live action out of this.

• 30 year old by S-Monkey - ( ongoing, age difference, blind dates, slice of life)

Charlie Wei is a single and handsome executive. He’s also a closeted gay guy who’s been on way too many bad blind dates with women. Charlie’s still hung up on his ex-boyfriend James and is… gasp, 30! Charlie’s family thinks he’s straight and too old to be without a wife! During another bad blind date, Charlie meets the flirty Ethan, who both annoys and intrigues him. Can Charlie finally come out and find true love with Ethan or will he continue on his streak of bad blind dates?

The cover looks melodramatic but it’s really not. This is so funny! I read this because people were saying it reminded them of BoXiao. And yes, there are moments here that remind me of them, but it’s more like an AU of BoXiao. I stayed up late trying to get caught up in the chapters and you won’t realize it cause it’s just that good. I love seeing the older MC loosening up and being more of himself. and the younger one being more responsible in his career. They just become better versions of themselves because of each other. It’s so sweet!

• I ship me and my Rival - by Pepa ( ongoing, comedy, reads like a meta )

This follows the adventures of Wei Yanzi, a third-rate actor in the Chinese entertainment industry, stumbles onto a shipping fandom for himself and another actor (Gu Yiliang) while trying to escape from the flame wars and negativity. He's so taken with this group of fans who actually see him as a good guy instead of an enemy/rival of Gu Yiliang that he falls head-first into fandom and becomes actively involved in trying to provide shipping fuel and the fans' daily dose of fluff.

IF THERE IS ONE thing you will read here, let it be this. It is hilarious. If you are a CP fan you will relate so much and it’s a good time. It just shows how people who think are rivals can actually be really good friends in real life. What we see is not always what it seems. and people will interpret things based on their bias. The MC here is so dramatic! how his inner feelings/reactions were drawn will make you laugh.

• Path to You - by Sinran (completed, slice of life, age gap fluff and comedy )

When almost college dropout Jensen attempts to drink away his problems, unemployed Nathaniel suddenly pukes on him and ruins his night. As an apology, Nathaniel offers to help Jensen with his studies. Despite Jensen's difficulties in getting along with people, the two become friends and something deeper begins to grow between them

The story is so soft. If you want something with mild angst/misunderstandings— then pick this. I love the progression of their relationship and how they take care of each other. There are other themes showed here other than the romance.

• Red Candy - by Hanse (completed season one with a cliffhanger, explicit scenes, assassins )

Shihyeon, aka “Red Candy,” is a secret agent whose code name comes from bathing in the blood of his marks on dangerous missions. Shihyeon’s tasked with seducing and obtaining intel from Hajun, a hot college professor. Shihyeon can disarm enemies, but didn’t expect to be disarmed himself by Hajun’s own tight body. Now Shihyeon’s caught between loyalty to his spy agency and Hajun. Can Red Candy survive the incoming wave of enemies and still indulge in the sweet ecstasy of Hajun’s embrace?

THIS STRESSED ME OUT MAAAN. Wow. I loved this. That season one cliffhanger. It’s definitely up there as my favorite. If you think about it, the tropes are really not original. An assassin is sent to shadow a person and they develop a relationship. That simple. But NOOOOO! There are so many things going on. The Main mystery plot, Their relationship, their shared past plus you have other sketchy secondary characters. And did i mention explicit scenes? Lots of them. I want this two to have a happy ending!!!

• Lone Swan - by Chu Man (discontinued, cultivation, star crossed lovers)

After losing his memory, Yiqiu Shen, a disciple from the decent sect meets a very special man named Luofeng Yan, who is the leader of the evil Divine Wind Cult. When escaping and conflicting with Yan, Shen gradually finds his original self as well as his previous love back. Together they rip off the facade of the martial world and reveal the hidden true

I didn’t want to add a discontinued story here, with no novel as a source material but this one made an impact on me. so. yeah. THE ART. breathtaking. The plot = layered. There are times I don’t even know who is telling the truth. It had so much potential and i hope it will get picked up again at some point. People rec this to those who enjoyed TGCF and MDZS, and they are right. 👍🏼

• Dragon in Distress by Si Wang Wen Hua - ( ongoing, dragons, past life, lost power, fantasy )

This is a story about a little Eastern green dragon and a little Western black dragon playing together.

The synopsis is pretty simple if you look at it but this one is pretty interesting. and surprisingly funny. tinie AoAo is so cute! 🤍 the other MC has tsundere tendencies tho. Lots of lore and more truths to uncover as the story progresses. I’m not giving it enough justice with how i’m reccing it, but if you like dragons and fantasy — give this a go.

• Breaking through the clouds 2: Swallow the Sea - Huaishang (ongoing, based on a novel, crime, drama, cases)

Wu Yu, a newcomer of the Public Security Bureau, is gentle and frail. He doesn’t care about the difficulties posed by Bu ZhongHua, his strict boss, and only wants to stay in the background to be paid on time with enough for food. However, no one knows that this young man’s head is targeted by top drug traffickers for a large bounty or that this courageous young man has once slaughtered the dragon of the abyss. With a chain of interlocking cases, a series of troubles come one after another. Can the two people work together to survive through the difficulties?

Do you see a pattern with me? lol. I like crime themes. This one is the same and by the looks of it, the cases they solve will take longer to unravel. I haven’t read the novel it’s based on yet so i’m just going with how the manhua is progressing. I like it when Wu Yu turns full on action-mode and when ZH takes care of him. Plus it helps that they are both gorgeous. I’ll get back this with a proper link.

• Where the Wind Stays - by Yusa (completed season one, curses, demons, possession, timeskip, explicit scenes)

To break an ancient curse that plagues the royal bloodline, young Prince Tasara is destined to be sacrificed in death. Nara is enlisted as a palace servant to carry out the prince’s execution when the time comes. But he develops a soft spot for the cursed prince, and after committing an atrocious and unforgivable act against Tasara, Nara is desperate to right his wrongs. Soon, their lascivious relationship that had been kept under wraps tests his resolve. Will Nara be tempted away from his original mission? There’s no telling how far he would go to earn Tasara’s forgiveness.

This story broke my brain, in a good way. I don’t wanna say much cause it will spoil the story. It’s the type that you gave to see and suffer through yourself. I am excited for what happens in season II!!!

Honorable Mentions:

I’m placing these here cause I have only read a few chapters and tho I liked them, I wanna read more before reccing it in full. 👍🏼

• I accidentally saved the Jinghu’s enemy

• Global Examination

• Monster entertainment

• Demon Apartment

And that’s it! Hope enjoy Anon! 😊

[miss-choco-chips]

North star

Core disaster week Day 1: Bart’s Birthday// First kiss

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Cassie smiled, sitting down in the picnic blanket. There was so much fucking food- it was awesome.

But not as awesome as being together, all of them. It’d been a while since they managed to meet like this. Kon, particularly, had been hard to pin down and convince to come; but exceptions had to be made on certain days, and Bart’s birthday was the height of special occasions.

Tim, too. She risked a glance at him, stony and silent, and smiled sadly. It truly had been too long.

Sitting each on one end of the blanket, like a flesh and blood compass rose, she smiled again at the unintended philosophy of it all. Bart to the east, bringing the sun into their lives, his energy and warmth a hope for the new day; Kon to the south, lost in memories of the past but a steady, firm ground beneath them; She herself to the west, holding the weight of it all on her shoulders like the sky held the heaviness of sunset; And Tim, sweet, depedable Tim, was undoubtedly their north.

“Cassie? Wonder-honey-baby-dearest girl?”

Snapping out of her reverie, Cassie waved Bart’s concerned face off.

“Don’t worry, just lost in thought. C’mon dude, it’s your day, we can’t start eating until you do!”

A little unsure, Bart sits back on his spot, glancing to his right at Tim. He hesitated a bit, something extremely unusual for a speedster presented with a widely varied menu (Kon and her had flown all over the world picking and choosing his favorites from every possible country- there was a lot).

“He doesn’t mind”, interrupts Kon softly, before anything else can be said.

Taking his word as the gospel it is, Bart’s face broke into the biggest smile and cleaned up his first plate of ‘a little bit of everything’ in less than a blink, already reaching out for more. Without even pausing his chewing, he started babbling out at Tim, who for once didn’t reprimand him on his table manners, nor tried to use a napkin to clean his chocolate-stained cheek. Cassie tried very hard to hide the pang that surprise-attacked her heart.

Desperate for a distraction, she turned to her right, to Conner. He was looking at the other two fondly, a small smile breaking through his face of steel like it was butter.

She remembered back when they were younger, just children, before all the tragedies and the losses; he had smiled easier, then. Wider, unprompted, freely. Giving that handsome smirk like it was candy on halloween.

“It was a good idea to come here”, he acknowledged, once again making her snap out of her head.

“One day, you’ll just accept that all my ideas are good.”

“Do I need to remind you about the deal with the beet demon?”

“That wasn’t that bad.”

“Cassie. We had to eat borsch for every meal. For a month. I don’t think Bart ever forgave you about that.”

They both waited for a second to see if the speedster was about to interject, but he seemed to have missed their conversation, regaling Tim with a tale of his latest training session with Wally.

“Anyway”, Kon coughed, drawing her back to their moment, “it really was. I… I know I wasn’t the easiest person to convince, so..”

“‘The easiest person’? I had to track you down across an entire hemisphere, lasso you like a wild animal and drag you here kicking and screaming. Literally. My bruises have bruises.”

“Anyway, thanks. I… needed to see you all again. I never thought we’d be able to just… sit here and enjoy ourselves, without… you know, all the…”

“Angst?”

“... yeah. How did you even manage to secure us this spot?”

Cassie smiled, leaning back against her arms, enjoying the sun on her face.

“You can thank Tim’s brother for that. I made him promise to make sure no one interrupted us today.”

The other meta snorted.

“It’d be a cold day in hell before I thank Nightwing for anything.”

She winced a bit, but refused to let the implications ruin her good mood. “Come on, you know he’s not my favorite person in the world, but he’s really doing his best to be here for” -a quick glance, Bart still talking his heart out to Tim- “the new Robin. If you can bury the battle axe...he’s not so bad, nowadays.”

Unsure, he shrugged.

“I don’t really care if he discovers the cure to cancer and spends the rest of his life in seclusion as a monk. If I see him on fire and I have a big water bottle, I might help him put it out- after taking a few drinks, first. But that’s as far as I’d be willing to go for him.”

Considering the numerous times Kon had tried to outright attack the older vigilante, Cassie was going to take it.

“How's Jon?” she asked, subject change as unsubtle as a kick to the chest, taking a delicious french pastry between thumb and forefinger and examining it.

He copied her, selecting something brown and salty-looking from the assorted items

“Nothing new. He’s still a better mentor than Supes, though his choice in friends leaves much to be desired. Still, like I told you, I’m… better? I think?”

A pause, as he washed down whatever he ate with a raspberry slushie. Bart’s incessant chatter, once annoying, was now a beautiful background noise. He was just so damn happy, Cassie felt more accomplished even than the time Diana first told her ‘good job’ after a spar. All he’d asked her for his birthday, soft and broken among his tears, had been this; just the four of them, together.

And she’d done her best to make it happen, securing this place and guilting Kon into accepting. She’d done it, and the memory of Bart’s genuine laugh as he told Tim about his last caught villain would -hopefully- be enough to deter the nightmares sure to come with sunfall.

“Anyway, he’s good. What about Donna?”

Cassie let her head fall back between her shoulder blades with a groan, closing her eyes against the glaring midday sun.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I love her to pieces, but honestly? I can see why my mom has so many grey hairs. Diana is lucky she’s perpetually young and perfect and thus doesn’t need to deal with stress lines. If this is what I was like when she trained me, I have a lot to apologize for. Starting, but not limited to, our days in Young Justice. We did so many stupid things back then.”

“So, the Titans are a riot?”

“They are a bad influence, and I hate how they taught Donna to disobey when I tell her to go to safety and let me do the fighting, but honestly, it’s so much like looking at our past, I can’t help but want to wrap them up in a blanket and wish them luck.”

“I wish you luck. This is why I refuse to take a younger hero under my wing. Too much responsibility.”

“You are a weak bitch. Even Bart is mentoring someone. We have to nourish the younger generation, Kon. Think of the children.”

“You are nineteen, stop talking like you just turned seventy.”

“Well, Cissie is retired. It’s not such a stretch.”

“I’ll tell her you said she’s old.”

“Don’t you dare.”

After those first few hiccups, the rest of the afternoon went smoothly. Uncharacteristically restrained of them, no food fight ensued, but even so it was a pretty fun day. They caught up with each other, teased about past exes and questionable fashion choices, and every silent, solemn moment was endured with joined hands and hearts, a united front against the grief.

Bart’s wet eyes shone, filled with gratitude, when he blew the candles. Cassie caught the exact moment on camera, having learnt the value of getting those precious seconds immortalized forever somewhere other than her own mind.

He kept his wish to himself, but it wasn’t really a mystery. Just by the way he glanced at Tim, they could harnett a pretty solid guess.

Heartache was a familiar, almost comforting feeling to her now, but the wave of raw emotion that almost washed her away at Kon’s crystalized eyes and Bart’s trembling hands gave her pause. Cassie looked away from them for just a second, giving herself this moment of weakness, and in the fleeting light of sunset, she could have sworn she saw a familiar face, looking over them from the shadow of a tree, smiling fondly.

But it was missing with her next blink, so she just shook her head to dispel any traces of wistfulness and turned back to her boys.

It was in silence that they picked up their stuff. Super speed would have made it a chore of just a millisecond, but none felt the urge to run away, so they took their time, hands brushing and then clutching while they cleaned up this sacred place they had borrowed for the day.

Cassie really needed to thank Damian for coming through for her on this. As much as she had despised the other vigilante in the past, a leftover feeling from Tim’s own feud with his older brother, she had learned to forgive and forget. It was, she’d come to accept, the only way she could move on.

Basket finally full with the blanket, empty plates and chocolate stained napkins (Kon’s hand had trembled as he cleaned Bart’s cheek in their leader’s stead), they stood together, arms around each other with the birthday boy in the middle. One by one, they said their goodbyes. It hurted a little less than the last time they could manage to do this, perhaps helped by the fact Kon hadn’t stormed off midway this time.

Cassie smiled. It was sad, it was raw, it was heavy. But it wasn’t broken. She-they- weren’t broken. A puzzle with a missing piece was incomplete, not shattered.

The hand not around Bart’s shoulders stretched, as Cassie’s finger traced the poem they had Bruce engrave in Tim’s tombstone.

“He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

The kids that had chosen that poem as immortalization of their grief had been drowning in it, she knew. Had needed a way to let the world know “we are not okay, we’ll never be okay again”. It was, maybe, what saved them back then.

But she wished she could crouch down in front of those lost, overwhelmed kids and tell them ‘you never stop missing him, but you learn to be happy again; and he brings you all together, just like the first time’.

So Cassandra Sandsmark, former Wonder Girl (now something more), lets her head fall back, looks at the setting sun and smiles. Because she can. Because she’s alive, and she’s gonna fucking smile for him, if its the last thing that she does.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The shadows of the coming night hide him, embrace him, want to keep him; he puts a stop to that, let’s himself be kept from wandering eyes but avoids the eternal retaking. He’s seen that side of the road and is under no hurry to visit it again.

Instead, he watches the young heroes, bathed in light and laughter, sitting around a dead bird’s grave.

He yearns. He wants, more than anything, to go to them. To join them in the warmth, in happiness. To go back to the only home that never felt anything else than welcoming.

But he has work to do; there’s a new Robin in the streets, and he needs to ensure that what happened to him doesn’t happen to this frail, rough around the edges and full of life bird.

He waits until they pick up and leave, before donning his suit and walking in the opposite direction. Hopefully, a time will soon come when he can smile with them again.

But, for now, the Red Hood has a clown to hunt and a criminal underbelly to conquer.

[speedsterredhead]

Meta #1 Wally's love of Pitbulls

Pitbulls seem to be very important to Wally. Given that he and Artemis kept one that they rescued from dog fights. Most people would have put any dog like that down, but not Wally and Artemis. But why? I am not used to analyzing Artemis but I am pretty good with Wally. So here goes my first ever meta on Wally. His love of Pitbulls.

1. Misunderstood, like him

We have all heard the myths. Pitbulls are bad dogs, they are murderous, they are unnaturally aggressive, they are inherently dangerous, and they have only ever been bred for fighting just to name a few of these myths. Of course anyone who has ever owned one or been with someone who is a good Pitbull parent knows all of those claims are entirely false.

The reality is originally Pitbulls were bred as nanny dogs because of their fierce protectivness of kids. They are also incredibly sweet and affectionate dogs who don't really have any ill will to anyone unless they are trying to protect their families. They also do not sit there just waiting to attack someone, usually they are provoked or they are a product of inbreeding on a puppy mill or from other forms of unethical breeding. The nature of a Pit Bull is sweet and kind.

How does this relate to Wally? In more ways than one.

Wally himself is greatly misunderstood. Many see him as a flirtatious womanizer. And though there is validity to the claim, and to some extent that is how Wally is as a teenager, there is so much more to him than that.

Wally is really a hopeless romantic who believes he can woo and make his partner feel special. He is fiercely loyal when dating as we see in season two of Young Justice and his close and loving relationship with Artemis. He strives to make her feel special and has a fierce protectiveness of her. Though he can easily be seen as uncaring selfish or at the very least neglectful because he often forgets valentine's day, he is shown as striving to make a change and remember it. He wants to make her feel special on Valentine's day because he knows it is very important to her.

In additional evidence, we even see him quickly turn on and throw suspicion of betrayal on arguably one of his hest friends in Kaldur fearing for Artemis's safety after the destruction of Mount Justice.

He can easily make a connection to a dog breed that seems to be just a huge connection between them in that way.

2. His high energy

Though one might not be able to tell from Bruce Lee, Pitbulls are generally speaking dogs with a rather high energy. They need a lot of exercise and room to run around, big backyards are heavily recommended for raising a Pitbull.

This type of a dog is a perfect dog for someone like Wally who he himself is often times high on energy. This is seen more so in season one but tends to bleed through during his more emotional scenes in season two. He can accidentally slip into using his powers and tends to always be down to party in a variety of ways. He needs exercise and plenty of food to keep him sustained with his powers. He would enjoy a dog that can play for hours on end before getting tired, plus even without using his powers it would be nice to have someone to go on runs with if he is single or his significant other is busy.

3. His compassion

Wally is stated to be a highly compassionate person. He himself has a hard time looking away from people in need. If he can, he has to help. He sees the stigma around Pit Bulls and how it impacts their survival and adoption rates, and how people even organize days with the specific goal of killing Pit Bulls. He will not stand for it. They have so much to live for and love to give. For the sole purpose that so many others hate them from misinformation campaigns and fear mongering makes them something very close to Wally's heart.

[inawickedlittletown]

The Dresden Files - an overall review

(There are very very minor spoilers, but I mostly wanted to write something non-spoilery about the series as a whole.)

-

The Dresden Files. I knew a few things about this series before I went into reading it in part because I had watched Daniel Greene’s YouTube video about why people should read it and I won’t lie and say that I didn’t go on Goodreads, look at how long the series is and then question if I actually wanted to read it and wanted to spend months and months going through the books. But, I had nothing else that was pressing on my TBR list and my library had Storm Front on ebook available. So, I gave it a chance. I am so glad I did. I think I finished that first book in two days and I rolled right into reading Fool Moon pretty much as soon as I finished Storm Front. 

I didn’t expect to like it as much as I ended up liking it. I didn’t expect to read the series as quickly as I did. But here we are. The thing about Dresden Files is that it’s the type of story that starts off small and then evolves into something much bigger. After all, the first few books can almost be read as standalones because while there is consistency of character, largely the events of each really remain within the scopes of each book aside from a few minor details. This is why at first glance Dresden to me seemed like a procedural leaning towards a pulp-fiction style of storytelling which I was okay with even though from the aforementioned YouTube video, I was aware that that would change as the series went on. 

Back when I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Dresden has been one of the few things that reminds me of BTVS, although I’d wager that Dresden more closely resembles the BTVS spin-off Angel more. I think it’s this resemblance that made me eager to keep reading. That and knowing that the books weren’t as simple as first presented. 

The things I love about it:

I love how simple and yet complicated it is all at once. It’s simple because the concept can be summed up in two words: wizard detective. You really don’t need a whole lot more to describe it. And yet as the books go on the world is expanded and suddenly things are more connected than you once thought and there are different levels of power at play as well as factions and magical creatures and politics in the middle of all of it. This just makes the world so much richer and interesting and fantastical while still keeping the roots of the human world. 

I love the characters. There is no character in this series that isn’t complex and flawed. They are very very human even when they’re not actually human and it is very easy to relate to one or more of them. Not every character is likable, but many — even the villains — are. And to go off of that, it is the relationships between the characters and the growth of that over the course of the books that makes this series worth reading. 

The mythology that is weaved into the story is great too. There is so much that comes right out of myth and adapted to fit into the world of Dresden and I am just in awe of how well Butcher manages to fit all the different things into one world from characters to artifacts and story and then also weave it into his own additions and his own changes to fit with his story. I’m aware that Fool Moon has a lot of criticism, but one cannot ignore the work that went into depicting all the different werewolf myths in one book. Then you also have the three courts of Vampires, the Sidhe, and characters like Odin, as well as archangels, and so much more. 

The writing is also good. I think one of the best parts about it is that Butcher has gotten better and better with every book. His descriptions are vivid and he does so well when it comes to magical battles and action. And it’s very easy to read and get just sucked into the world in part because the books are written in first person POV. 

As far as representation goes, it isn’t amazing, but there is some and specifically, there are a lot of women in positions of power which is always enjoyable to read. 

All of this does not mean the books aren’t without their flaws. No one thing can be perfect (except Black Sails…), there is always some problematic aspect to a work or something that doesn’t appeal to everyone. Some might say that Dresden Files has a lot of problematic things going on. 

The number one glaring thing is the way that Harry talks about women. It’s not that he doesn’t respect women or think that women can be strong and capable — I mean, he literally has Murphy there to remind him — it’s that the male gaze is so very very prevalent throughout the entire series. It’s like Butcher and Harry through him, cannot help but notice how beautiful or sensual or sexy any woman that crosses his path is. It’s understandable because we are reading the first person POV of an adult man, and even more so when we realize that sex is a big part of the supernatural world. I mean, we literally have vampires that are essentially succubi and get their “food” from sexual energy rather than drinking blood. The Sidhe all seem to be attractive and in multiple instances we see these fairies use their bodies and sensuality and like weapons to entice and seduce and overpower Harry and others. 

And yet, there is a clear choice that Butcher has made here to have Harry notice every woman and describe them nipples first and then describe them again on a next encounter in the same way. Even Murphy who does get described by her stubbornness and her strength and her accomplishments and her prowess also has the attached description of how short and how cute she is and Harry does also sexualize her in his head. Susan gets similar treatment and in the first book we even get to see her throwing herself at Harry due to the imbibing of a mis-intended potion. 

So, yes, this is very much the male fantasy/male gaze in action. Harry has women — mostly supernatural women — throwing themselves at him and in-book context there are reasons for this, but we’re supposed to praise Harry for how much his male libido is telling him “yes” and how he manages to somehow rise above that and not take the temptation — there’s even a scene where he literally pours ice water down his pants. And to be honest, I see the problems, but I also think it fits his character and Butcher describes the series as “Dirty Harry Potter” so what can you do. 

The moment that it became truly a big problem for me was when Molly came into the picture. The first time that Harry has a scene with Molly she’s fourteen and I can’t quite remember the exact words used but I’m sure that he manages to notice her body.

Molly doesn’t return for a few more books, but when she does she’s seventeen and Harry definitely notices Molly then and while it is one thing to take notice once, he constantly goes back to noticing Molly throughout the book. Molly’s feelings during all of this is one thing in part because Molly is young and impressionable and I think most young women have crushes on older men they admire and look up to, but to continually make a point of having Harry notice Molly and be attracted to Molly is icky. It doesn’t even matter that Harry doesn’t intend to act on it and that he actively puts a stop to it when Molly tries to turn things in that direction, mostly because in books following this one Harry still always takes a moment to appreciate Molly’s appearance and not just him but other male characters. 

So, yes, the sexulization aspect of the books is not the best, but I did appreciate that at least earlier on Harry is a bit demure when he is with women. His sexual acts are not described in detail. I was a bit surprised, then, when we did get slightly more graphic descriptions when it came to Harry and Murphy. It’s nothing like what you’ll find in fanfic, but it was a surprise. 

And the thing that also gets me about this is how easily Harry being this way could be explained because of his past and because of how Harry relates to sex, but instead Butcher explains it by saying that Harry is repressed because he isn’t getting any so that’s why he notices every woman that comes into his life. 

I will also point out that there aren’t just women supernatural beings, and that aside from Thomas who is described as the perfect man — strong and attractive and young, a lot of the male characters are a bit rougher and older and monstrous. 

Now, I’m not the best person to speak on this, but religion is a bit strange in Dresden. Mostly because while we have characters like Odin and Hades show up we also have fallen angels and archangels and characters that believe in God and have faith. But we have Christian artifacts in play so I do feel like there is a bias towards Christianity. 

Overall, I did enjoy these books. I think it’s a really good immersive story and that the world is interesting and ever expanding and that as a fantasy series — in particular an urban fantasy series — it is one of the best out there and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the series takes us. So I do recommend it with the caveat that it isn’t perfect and that some books are better than others but that as a whole it is an enjoyable read. 

--

Other Meta/Reviews 

[jasmine-tea-latte]

Since nobody asked for my input, here’s a lovely PSA for antis in general, because some of y’all need a reminder / a reality check.

(Excluding the folks who properly tag stuff as anti-__, of course, because that’s the whole point of that tag.)

Also, please note that I’m not saying don’t engage in debates ever or feel like you should be silent about subjects that matter to you. Create dialogue! Learn from other people! By all means, share your POV! Discuss the numerous other things you’re passionate about. Speak your mind.

Also, this is not in reference to critical thinking posts regarding fandom content or metas. This is about being an ass on a post that harms absolutely no one.

This post is strictly about how we consume media for entertainment (I.e. ship preferences) and how, if you’re constantly seeing posts pop up for something you hate yet you keep diving into the tags of said thing and feel compelled to comment on it, especially if it’s that stupid “No❤️” shit - congratulations, you’re playing yourself, and I’m about to show you why.

Also, the point of this post is not to be holier than thou or overtly preachy. I posted plenty of obnoxious stuff on fandom forums back in the day, so learn from my mistakes, okay?

Here’s something you need to understand right here, right now:

You are responsible for cultivating your own internet experience.

Don’t like seeing tons of posts about a show / ship / topic you dislike or have no interest in?

Don’t interact with it.

Just keep scrolling along.

I’m serious.

Let it go.

Devote your time and energy on things you do enjoy and let the fans of whatever it is that you hate enjoy that thing in peace.

Take for instance pecan pie. I hate pecan pie with a passion. Guess what I’m not going to do, though? Go over to a forum or group of people who like it and start screaming about how gross it is and how anyone who likes pecan pie is a terrible, horrible person.

Because why waste my time deliberately going somewhere that I don’t have to be and know I won’t like, picking fights and being an asshole in general?

But if it’s posted in a public forum it’s up for debate, I hear you complain.

Yeah, so?

What do you honestly think you’re going to accomplish by raining on someone else’s parade?

Seriously, I’m asking you, what do you really think is going to happen if you waltz up and start yelling at fans of something about how they’re stupid or awful for liking XYZ?

What’s it going to cost you to keep scrolling and find something that sparks joy instead of rage?

Answer:

If you’re lucky (that is, if you present a well-thought out and cohesive argument) then you might convince some people over to your side.

But realistically in the best case scenario, you’d have a civil debate where absolutely no one changes their mind.

If that’s what your goal was, congrats! You successfully shared your opinion without making yourself look like an asshole who has nothing better to do with their time than pick unnecessary fights and looking to stir shit up just because you’re bored.

But if you go up to a table of people chowing down on pecan pie and tell them that they’re stupid for liking it when cherry / chocolate / whatever pie flavor that floats your boat exists, guess what’s gonna happen?

You will get eyerolls and be considered a douche, but no one will give an actual fvck what you have to say.

I straight up insulted a group of fans for liking something I hated and I did so by going out of my way over to their corner of the fandom. AITA?

Yes, YTA (you’re the asshole) in this scenario.

There’s a post floating around out there explaining how you wouldn’t walk into an Italian restaurant and yell about how you don’t like the food and that you’d rather eat at the Chinese restaurant across the street.

Who in their right mind would do that? Nobody, that’s who, and that’s what you look like deliberately poking around a fandom you hate to cause discord.

Also pro tip: you’re ultimately shooting yourself in the foot when you do obnoxious things like that.

The more you interact with a certain topic or spend time posting about it online, the more you’ll see of it, because that’s how the algorithms work.

It doesn’t matter if you post “I love pecan pie!” or “pecan pie is the worst!”

All that algorithm picks up on is the keyword “pecan pie” so if you hate it? Guess what, you just served yourself another slice of crap and you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.

A few years ago some people on Facebook got sick and tired of seeing Buzzfeed constantly post about KUWTK. Which I get, because idgaf about them, tbh - don’t hate them but don’t care, either. But someone decided to fill the comment sections of those posts with pet pictures as a protest of sorts to prove that literally anything else was more entertaining. Yeah that’ll show them!

Except that it didn’t matter that all of their comments were irrelevant. The algorithm just saw a bunch of traffic on the KUWTK posts, which in turn caused Buzzfeed to post about them even more. It turned into a cycle of self destruction by the commenters, because the more they posted pet pics, the more traffic they gave to the very posts they wanted to destroy.

Hence why I preached earlier about how I keep scrolling whenever I see a post for a ship or movie / show / other media for something I dislike. Because guess what happens? It goes away and I only see posts for things I dislike on rare occasions.

Also, the block / hide option is sitting right there, folks.

I just don’t understand the mindset of someone who spends all their time online complaining about a ship / show / media and actively seeks it out to further spread their discontent, then is Suprised Pikachu when the topic keeps showing up in their recommended lists.

Look, I’m ultimately here to have fun and interact with other fans of media that I enjoy. I’m not here to tell you what to do or how you should use your time. If going out of your way to antagonize fans of the thing you despise fills you with warm and fuzzies then don’t let me stop you if that’s how you actually choose to live your life. Some people just want to watch the world burn, so you do you, boo.

But the fact of the matter is that you can waste your time whining about how gross pecan pie is or you can choose to spend your time by promoting the kind of pie you do like, cultivating a much more pleasant experience for yourself, not to mention peace of mind.

You don’t win the pie war by hijacking posts and acting like a tool. You win it by creating content of your favorite pie until it outnumbers the kind you dislike.

Plus, if you put out more posts praising and promoting things you do like, it’ll help the algorithm suggest more content that you actually would enjoy.

Yeah but it’s my right to do that! I hear you argue just for the sake of being argumentative or because you genuinely enjoy the attention that it gets you. So I have to ask,

Why are you making yourself mad when you could make yourself glad instead?

Basically what I’m saying is that when it comes to spewing contrarion opinions in a forum for the sake of causing drama:

The world is a shitty enough place at times already, and fandom is meant to be fun.

Stop seeking out things you hate and then bitch about seeing them. Love yourself and take care of your mental health.

Don’t be that asshole.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

And now, I’m off to go find some delicious key lime pie and be thankful that it’s not pecan.

[vs-redemption]

Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (Ch 18)

Chapter Eighteen: Those Words (HawksxGN!Reader)

Plot summary: You thought your hands were full as a regular quirk geneticist, but then you meet Hawks and things get even more exciting!

Warnings:  

⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga.

⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga

Tag List: @gayforkeigo @marshmallow-witch @redflannel @toyo-shiro @elsasshole @astronomyturtle

Next Chapter : Chapter Guide

“Hey, I brought over a book I want you to check out.”

You turn away from the food you were cooking to raise an eyebrow at your boyfriend who was standing behind you holding a decent sized hard cover book with ‘Meta Liberation War’ printed across the cover. Hawks had an apologetic look on his face, but you weren’t surprised he was doing this. Staging the murder of Best Jeanist had definitely earned him points with the league of villains, but now he had to continue winning their trust by doing everything he could to prove he believed in the ideals they’d adopted after merging with the liberation army in Deika city. It would look strange if he never brought up the topic he was pretending to be so passionate about with the person he was dating. You let out a sigh, knowing you had to play along.

“Isn’t that book a little outdated?” you ask while turning back to the stove. “Plus, I’m pretty sure the guy that wrote it ended up in prison.” You decided not to jump on board right away so that Hawks would have the chance to convince you. It would help the villains trust him even more if they heard how much he understood and supported the cause.

“The fact that he was arrested is all the more reason to check it out,” Hawks comes up behind you to see what you were making. He hardly got to see you anymore now that he spent half his time in another city with the league of villains, who were now calling themselves the paranormal liberation front. It made communicating very difficult since there were limits to what you could tell each other over phone or text. You both had to make do with seeing each other for an hour or so at a time when you could find time between his hero duties and spy duties. “He was an advocate for quirk liberation back when people first started getting powers and governments around the world were fighting to suppress the people’s freedom to use those powers.”

“He was an advocate for chaos,” you correct him calmly. “There’s a huge difference between rallying people together to protest laws you don’t agree with and scaring people into listening by committing acts of terrorism.”

“That’s simplifying the story just a bit, don’t you think?” Hawks begins sending his feathers around the kitchen to get out any plates and utensils you both would need. “Our quirks are a part of who we are, and putting so many rules and regulations on them is a form of repression.”

“I’d hardly say anyone is being repressed,” you retort with a laugh. “We’re allowed to use our quirks as it suits us in our careers and in the privacy of our homes. It would be much worse, for example, if someone was forbidden to use the extra set of arms they were born with or something just because most other people only have two. I don’t think it’s unfair to restrict the use of quirks in public though.”

“Why do you say that?” Hawks asks curiously as you both grab some dinner and head over to the small table to eat. You really wished you could talk about something else in the limited time you had with your boyfriend, but it was important to act like you had no idea what he was up to with the villains.

“Well, I mean, think about it Bird-kun,” you can’t help but smile at the way he perks up when you use the stupid little nickname, “you spent so many years training your quirk just so that you’d be able to use it safely and effectively around other people. Can you imagine if a person without your control tried sending feathers out everywhere like you do and stabbed someone by mistake or blocked someone’s vision and caused an accident? And that’s just one example. If you imagine a whole community of people using their quirks all willy-nilly like that, you can start to see how things would get out of control.”

“The idea isn’t to create a world like that,” Hawks continues his spiel, “it’s about allowing people the chance to use their quirks to defend themselves or help others instead of having to rely on heroes all the time.”

You let out a sigh, wanting to put this conversation to rest now so that you both could enjoy the rest of your dinner like a normal couple. “Look, It isn’t like I think the system we have now is perfect or anything,” you tell him honestly. “And I won’t claim that I have any better ideas. I’m a scientist, after all. My area of expertise is quirk genetics not quirk regulation.”

“I know, and that’s fine,” Hawks promises. “But, can you at least give the book a shot?” He gives you puppy eyes from across the table. “For me?”

“Magic face.” You mutter under your breath while rolling your eyes dramatically. “Fine! I’ll read it if it means that much to you. You’re lucky I love you.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Hawks asks, looking genuinely taken aback to hear you say something like that.

“Huh?” You tilt your head, “I said you’re lucky I love you.” You had been trying to tease him but a look of vulnerability crosses over his face as he processes your comment. It was the first time you’d said those words to him, but you really hadn’t expected them to trip him up like that. Surely it couldn’t be that much of a surprise. Suddenly, Hawks leans forward and cups his hand around his ear with a small smile.

“I heard the first part,” he says, “But one more time… I’m lucky what?”

“I love you.” You decide not to make him work for it since it obviously meant more to him than you realized to hear how you felt. You hoped he didn’t feel strange that you’d thrown something so real into a fake conversation. By the way the feathers on his wings fluffed up you assumed not.

“Nobody has ever said that to me before,” He lets out an awkward laugh while leaning back in his seat.

“What?” You had a hard time believing him until you remembered that he hadn’t seen his family since he was taken in by the hero training facility he’d told you about. He’d also mentioned never having any real friends. Perhaps he wasn’t joking, and that made you feel kind of sad.

“Well, I’ve heard fans say that kind of stuff before,” Hawks admits with a shrug, “But I don’t think they meant it the way you do. You do mean it that way, right?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t,” You promise while reaching across the table to cover his hand with yours. He seemed satisfied with that and his vulnerable energy faded away.

“That’s good,” He grins happily while interlacing your fingers, “Because I love you too!”

“Glad to hear it,” you smile back. The two of you finish up the food and clean up just in time for Hawks to have to take off again. Neither one of you wanted to part ways, but hopefully things wouldn’t have to be this way for too much longer. Hawks was gathering as much information as he could about the internal structure of the Paranormal Liberation Front, and you were spending every moment you could trying to figure out what Dr. Garaki was planning with All For One’s DNA. Hopefully once those pieces fell into place, the heroes could be notified about what was happening so that they could stop the villains before things got even worse.

“Don’t forget to read that book,” Hawks tells you, staying true to his role.

“Yeah, yeah,” you pull him into a kiss so that you wouldn’t have to talk about that subject any longer. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

“I know,” He sighs in disappointment. “But you know I can’t skip my night patrols. That’s when all the really scary guys come out to play.”

“Well, let’s just hope they play nice,” you let out a dry laugh, “I worry about you.”

“Aw,” Hawks coos your name and pulls you into a hug. You prolong the good-bye as long as you can, but eventually he does have to leave. Once you’re alone in your apartment you send a glare over to the book Hawks had left on your kitchen counter. You had already read it cover to cover and knew it was filled with the ramblings of a dangerous extremist who had no qualms about using people to fight and die for his fanatical ideas. If there were problems in society, there were plenty of reasonable ways to find a solution. All-out war, in your opinion, was not one of them.

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-08-06

♪ HS2 HS2 is baaaaack ♪

♪ HS2bloggin here we gooooo ♪

♪ Structural changes on their team but I don’t caaaaare ♪

♪ Already resooolved myself that its NOOOT gonna beee as good ♪ with inattentiveness to details characters like Terezi forgetting-what-they-used-to-know and an obsession with dwelling on traaageeeDEEE without relief-or-considering how weee’d feeeeeeel~ ♪♪♪ --so just gonna enjoy-what-i-caaaaaan about iiit~ ♪♪♪

Okay time for bankruptcy

> CHAPTER 11. History's Most Notorious Haters

Let’s see how effectively my perky new lowered-expectations attitude lets me enjoy this comic  *click*

wut

Oh.  so is this Dave drawing comics about current events or Regular Calliope doing so for our very first lanky look at her presumably-grown-up-more cherub form

> Knight: Keep it real.

HOLY SHIT IT’S DAVEBOT AND ARADIA

so we just get to SEE them?!  just like that???  no buildup or anything?  :D

Okay I’m marking out a little that’s a good sign.  Also what a nerdy cop-out to turn the roboteyes into glasses that’s barely passable which is perfect, the rest of his outfit looks pretty cool tho

DAVEBOT: and thats reason four hundred nineteen why despite my mans many accomplishments i will never acknowledge big skateboardings contrived message that tony hawk is the quintessential skater of our generation ARADIA: o_o DAVEBOT: not in these trying times

Good to see Ultimate Dave is being true to form with regards to the core of his personality

DAVEBOT: beep boop ARADIA: i have told you several times that i was a robot before and i know for a fact you dont have to say beep boop DAVEBOT: hm that sounds fake does not compute ARADIA: david DAVEBOT: mom

I was with this conversation until the last two lines what the fuck

(I’m reading into it aren’t I, Aradia was trying to be atypically proper -- even though she wouldn’t have the frame of reference to know without being specifically told that “Dave” was considered nickname shorthand for the human name David, and thus if she DID know there’s no reason she’d use it except to troll him -- and Dave’s just mocking her response.  Without any shame about his continued weirdness of calling people Mom, and by without any shame I mean he made the choice EXPLICITLY to intentionally evoke the awkwardness.  Wow I got a lot out of two lines.)

(Oh, also alt!Callie’s true Jade-body incarnation here probably prompted her to start using “David” by example.  There, various mysteries solved via a pile of assumptions probably to be disproven in the next couple lines I read.)

The Knight and the Maid stare at each other briefly, having exchanged enough meaningful glances over their time together to know when to drop it.

Would Time players have an easier time gelling this way, like this particular smoothness?  Dropping it just before it gets weird or excessively irritating?

(Overclasspecting)

ARADIA: i think we have exchanged enough meaningful glances over our time together to know when to drop this DAVEBOT: what i enjoy about our conversations is that you just say things like that

OKAY I SNRK’D AT THAT.  That was funny.

Initially.  And now I’m concerned whether Aradia is being controlled by the narrative-speak, or whether they’re both just humorously referencing the meta-text they can both see, or--

ARADIA: oh is that what you enjoy ARADIA: well we are both an infinite number of years old living countless lifetimes at once but thats no reason to waste any of our...

WHAT??!?  She’s an Ultimate Self too?!?

Um, okay!  Yeah!  So they’re BOTH just riffing on the narrative then.  But... why would Dave need a robot body to accommodate his Ultimate Psyche without getting sick but Rose not need it?  I can understand Dirk not needing it because the merging of the full breadth of his multiversal individuality gels well with him being a God of the aspect governing the power of his multiversal individuality, but Aradia?

Were the robot bodies not necessary after all, and the sickness Rose suffered and Obama thought Dave would have suffered some sort of ruse?  Are there shenanigans afoot?  (Or are we going with the “troll biology is better” cop-out?)

She knows how this will play out, having undoubtedly tried this joke on her friend in some timeline or another. Their rapport reflects a unique combination of their matching aspects but greatly differing classes. One a passive but powerful servant to time, the other wielding the aspect like a honed blade.

WH

WHAT????

PASSIVE SERVANT OF THE ASPECT?!? WHAT THE FUCK

Okay if that means anything like it sounds like I guess my class chart is finally blown up, sure, they only waited (*checks last edit date*) SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS TO BLOW THAT GUESS UP, SURE

Wow.  Okay, I feel some obligation to jump to conclusions and say the whole class chart is wrong, but let me stay strapped in to see if “passive” is as literal as one would expect alt!Callie to mean, or it just means “an active class passive compared to other classes”.  And, serving the aspect?  Oh dammit, now people are gonna come at me advocating a Maid / Page dichotomy about actively serving the aspect versus allowing the aspect to be served... or Page / Maid even, jesus

I wish I had enough energy to have those chats anymore.  I’d rather hold on and see the whole ridiculous chart scheme they have in mind... which is definitely (and hopefully) the one Andrew really drew up at the time and not made up by the staff, even if it throws away plenty of my old work...  I’ll just stop thinking about it and keep reading.

...

--no, I don’t think I can just stop thinking about it yet.  Dammit, brain.

So um.  Maids serving their aspect.  There was a whole “Maids serve” thing going on throughout the whole plot of Homestuck, but despite how prevalent it was, I wrote it off as the story riffing on the classical definition of Maid when the actual stuff Maids accomplished was something different and more specific, just like Knights constantly got riffed on for chivalry and the like.  Furthermore, service seemed like a really shitty class definition, when class definitions are the verbs one uses to interact with reality through Aspects to change the way reality unfolds, and “serving” isn’t really an action that results in change, implying a distinct deficit of agency that I wouldn’t have viewed as fair.  (Especially since you originally think “meant to serve others” and not “meant to serve the aspect”, implying even LESS agency.)  Furthermore, MOST passive classes from their descriptions seem to have a propensity to act “as if by the will of the aspect”, so even with the nuance of “serving the aspect”, devoting an entire class verb to service would just step on the territory of other active/passive class pairs’ passive sides, right?

But... IF we were to take this for granted as what it SEEMS... then concentrating on that angle of “serving the aspect” implies a whole lot more agency than a service class might sound on its surface.  The definition fits with the story better once you contextualize all the Maid-y references to service around Jane, for instance, with the additional idea of “serving Life” by baking prolifically and creating more of its symbols in food and--

--fuck.  “Serving”, like serving to others.  Serving the aspect as its attendant AND serving it out to others that need it.  Maybe this still IS part of the Additive class pair!  Whoa.  :O

Okay okay so, what I/we thought before was:

Create/Add - Maid / Sylph

Destroy/Reduce - Prince / Bard

But “additive” really isn’t an elegant verb compared to the “Destroyer” classes, so... could it be the “Servants” and the “Destroyers”?  Like Maids cleaning up and healing the broken wreckage strewn through the halls by a bratty Prince’s tantrum???

It’d certainly be weird... and it’d CERTAINLY be a wild twist where I was partially wrong in some fascinating ways but not entirely off base?

One a passive but powerful servant to time, the other wielding the aspect like a honed blade.

And yet, I can’t bet on this being the situation yet; not at all.  First, it relies on the idea that alt!Callie’s explicit narrative here is slightly misleading, which would be a pretty extreme thing to commit to, even for a technical truth like “she was saying it was passive relative to other classes even though it’s technically “active””.  Second... it would mean that Muses are even more wildly defined than the previous insinuation of hers, that the Sylph -- what we thought was the passive additive class -- was not enough like a Muse compared to a Witch.  Muses not being that Additive?  I could grudgingly understand that, but Muses not being anything like passive Servants?!  That would be EXTREMELY weird!

So... there’s not a whole lot of chance that I’m not dramatically wrong somewhere about these classes!  In a way that throws the entire chart into disarray!

I’m... oddly excited?  Huh.

That’s a pretty nice surprise that I actually feel that way.

:)

(Don’t hit me up all at once to discuss this Classpect development over Discord, I’ll still need a few days without talking about Homestuck to recharge as usual.  Like... maybe wait and come at me as a group chat? So I’m not talking about the latest developments separately with everyone?  No that wouldn’t work, how about... guh I dunno, look my outlook’s a little more positive right now but dealing with Homestuck still takes emotional energy okay?)

Okay the rest of this page...

ARADIA: ... DAVEBOT: time then make a weird face ARADIA: ........ DAVEBOT: waste time DAVEBOT: time ARADIA:............. DAVEBOT: i experience all points of time simultaneously please just say time and make a weird face

This is true.

ARADIA: .................. DAVEBOT: cmon megido youre killing me clocks ticking ARADIA: ... ARADIA: time o_o

The Maid casts a furtive glance around the empty crew quarters, as though to search for someone more sympathetic to her bit.

ARADIA: tough crowd

Dorks.

> ==>

(Lazy fruit-throwing sword-training I won’t bother to screenshot but looks fun)

(I mean, really lazy looking, these people really don’t have Andrew’s knack for action composition that would make the same amount of gif-creation effort feel like a microcosm of the event they’re depicting, unfortunately.  Again, I don’t blame them; Andrew was just too good at it.)

DAVEBOT: ok heres one DAVEBOT: how old do you think you are ARADIA: emotionally? ARADIA: that is a pretty heavy topic DAVEBOT: you know damn well thats not what i meant ARADIA: you know I have been through a lot dave DAVEBOT: ok ARADIA: its just so kind of someone DAVEBOT: ok i get it ARADIA: to finally ask how i feel ARADIA: i am beside myself with emotions ARADIA: i want to open up DAVEBOT: jesus christ ARADIA: shall i open up about my past traumas to you ARADIA: would you enjoy that ARADIA: to think even a frog like me can work through their pain with a dear friend ARADIA: you have truly blessed me on this day dave strider

Is Aradia JUST trolling here or is her Ultimate Self grappling with a ton of real unresolved trauma too that she’s bullshitting around Dave-style?

DAVEBOT: times fun when youre having flies

Okay that’s a damned good frog pun.

Alright now Davebot’s rapping

DAVEBOT: lacking tact i stay stacked while i breach contract DAVEBOT: sacred vows disavowed got divorce fever DAVEBOT: i leave her DAVEBOT: dont look back dont perceive her ARADIA: do you want to talk about it :( DAVEBOT: about what ARADIA: would you say you are hung up on leaving your wife and friends behind

Goddamnit is DAVE’S ton of real unresolved trauma leaking into his raps unintentionally Dave-style??  I knew we had to address it when we cut to Davebot but how about LESS TRAGEDY IN THIS COMIC MAYBE

DAVEBOT: arent you even a little guilty about ditching your boyfriend ARADIA: what ARADIA: oh fuck

Wh

But she knew what she was doing when she did it she explicitly did it didn’t she?  Epilogues quote:

DAVEBOT: what about your boy DAVEBOT: eyepatches ARADIA: oh sollux is in one of his moods ARADIA: this was all getting to be a bit much for him ARADIA: if i go ill probably just cut him loose DAVEBOT: good move

And then they stepped through the sky hole more or less.  Did like, distracted Ultimate Aradia not realize exactly how long she was leaving Sollux for, ie forever?  Or did she “ascend” to Ultimate status later and hadn’t thought back to the full consequences of her actions within this timeline?  Or both?  From the looks of the link we’ll probably find out on the next pa--

--Wait.  Something else I just thought of, unrelated.

If Aradia is an Ultimate Self, that’s another coincidentally Ultimate version of someone hanging around that happens to be on the prospective list of Soul-Powered Jujus that might have their creation loops closed in the coming story.  Could those two things play into each other somehow?  Like instead of their souls getting stuffed into the items, their “Ultimateness” is?  Or as if that’s a necessary component, or...  no, I’m probably overthinking things.

> (Months in the past, but not many...)

Uh huh.  Is that flashing because he’s “watching” Aradia leave?  But I thought Aradia SAID she was leaving--

> (==>)

--and that black hole portal doesn’t look as cool as it sounded in the Epilogues.  But why was Aradia acting surprised, she said “I’ll probably just cut him loose” mere MOMENTS before entering the portal, did she mean “cut him loose” as in “I’m going to talk to him before leaving” and then just IMMEDIATELY forget that she didn’t say anything to him because she cared so little???

Wait.  Waaaait wait wait.  I think.  I think maybe I missed some subtext.  Lemme do some fuller quotes here:

ARADIA: oh sollux is in one of his moods ARADIA: this was all getting to be a bit much for him ARADIA: if i go ill probably just cut him loose DAVEBOT: good move

His gaze remains fixed on her. She blinks and looks away, unsure what to say next. He’s standing perfectly still, presumably waiting for her to say something. She met him... what was it? Once, twice before? She can’t remember. But she knows this is a very different Dave. Aside from the metal skin, he seems implacably confident. But then, people go through changes. She’s been through more than her share. She cocks an eyebrow, recalling her own stint with a metal body.

DAVEBOT: hey earth to whats your face ARADIA: oh ARADIA: its aradia

[...]

DAVEBOT: youre coming DAVEBOT: better decide quick i doubt that dank fuckin hell funnel is staying open for much longer ARADIA: yes i suppose so ARADIA: thats where all the action is right? DAVEBOT: all the action that matters yeah ARADIA: off we go then :) DAVEBOT: word

He holds out his hand. She looks around, and assumes he means for her to take it, so she does. She didn’t know someone could fly this fast. He nearly yanks her arm out of its socket. She considers reminding him that maybe this isn’t necessary, since she can fly too. But she doesn’t want to risk saying more embarrassing stuff around this outrageously cool dude. Besides, they’re through the wormhole before she can even finish the thought. It vanishes the moment they’ve crossed.

...this was a SHIPPING thing wasn’t it.  She’s impressed as hell with Striderbot, she SAID she’d cut things off with Sollux, and then she was so busy being swooped off her feet and into the portal that she forgot to actually say anything to him.  Is that what happened????

Ultimate Self Davebot x Ultimate Self Aradia.  Huh.  Didn’t see that coming.  (Though, again... they could make it SLIGHTLY clearer that this wasn’t just a blatant continuity error.)

Anyway, a rare-don’t-get-used-to-it [S] page...

> [S] (Gaze.)

...Okay that was kinda funny.

> (==>)

SOLLUX: h0w the fuck am i g0ing t0 get d0wn fr0m here.

HAH!  Okay, he’s taking it pretty well.  :)  --and THAT’s what she realized she forgot, giving him a flight down from the tower before leaving.

GOOD.  KEEP THINGS HUMOROUS EVEN WHEN LITERAL ABANDONMENT IS HAPPENING.  THAT’S the Homestuck I was missing.  :)  :)  :)

> Back to reality.

(Since the black hole is outside “canon” reality.)

Those are some cool poses-AHAH JESUS CHRIST ALT!JADE YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING XD

COULD YOU MAYBE HAVE CLEANED UP THE DRIED BLOOD AT SOME POINT OR IS SOME OF THAT FRESH FROM EATING MORE RAW MEAT

(Lord English’s blood leaving permanent timeless bloodstains would be a cool new thing to squeeze into canon i admit, i wouldn’t blame them for taking the excuse even if you could find small canon counterexamples I’m not sure of but dimly think might exist)

((ALSO SHE’S GONNA BE TINY NEXT TO THEM I DUNNO IF THAT MAKES IT MORE TERRIFYING OR LESS, PROBABLY MORE))

DAVEBOT: so youre telling me you dont even feel a little bad that you ditched him to be a weird death acolyte ARADIA: no i think he found my wiles both charming and irresistible DAVEBOT: not even an ounce of guilt or self doubt huh DAVEBOT: just like that DAVEBOT: no conversations about the greater good DAVEBOT: no revelations about your feelings

Is Aradia a jerk or weird?  Can’t decide.

ARADIA: do you often find your faith in yourself shaken like this or is it a new experience now that your mortal coil has been left behind DAVEBOT: what ARADIA: do you think now that all that is left of you is a literal ghost inside of a machine you are more or less likely to embrace finality DAVEBOT: oh dope more cult of one shit DAVEBOT: immortality changed you ARADIA: could it be that you are projecting your feelings onto my situation DAVEBOT: does not compute rose jr ARADIA: ... ARADIA: we dont have to talk about it DAVEBOT: thanks

Wow, I actually can’t follow this conversation at all.  Let me stare at it for a sec...

...okay, the first part she’s talking about DAVE’s faith in HIMself being shaken, not her own.  She’s not asking if he relates to HER experience, she’s contrasting it.

Then, asking if he’d be more likely to embrace death, or... Time?  Death.  Whether his self-worth has changed because he might view himself as “less real”, something Aradia doubtless struggled with when she was a robot who already had so many excuses to devalue herself at the time?  And then Dave talks about “cult of one” shit what does that even mean-...

OH.  Like she’s a death cult.  Gooot it.  Because Aradia’s of the position that death and ending should be celebrated, and Davebot understandably isn’t entirely bought in.  This is as hard to parse down as one would EXPECT conversations between two Ultimate Selves to be hard to parse down, unlike Rose and Dirk where their insane missions and glaring flaws shine bright enough through it all that you can follow their conversation flow easily.

JADE: They sit in each other's presence, the silence between them as meaningful as any words they could exchange. DAVEBOT: its always really cool to hear how meaningful my silences are DAVEBOT: especially while DAVEBOT: CALCULATING DAVEBOT: CALCULATING DAVEBOT: especially while i am attempting to experience them

Alt!Callie pulling a narrative-text AFTER a talk-identifier like “JADE:” is really hilarious in my opinion.

JADE: i do not need your approval. the story will continue how it must. DAVEBOT: beep boop hater detected ARADIA: wow is that true JADE: i am not a hater. DAVEBOT: classic hater line DAVEBOT: i know this because i am pouring through genuine actual quadrabytes of information on historys most notorious haters JADE: no, you aren’t.

Pffffff. This is pretty fun.

DAVEBOT: you are the exact opposite of a hater ARADIA: a liker DAVEBOT: ok DAVEBOT: perfect example your tolerance for whatever is going on with DAVEBOT: all this ARADIA: i think she looks quite lovely covered in the viscera of the all-powerful enemy she consumed ARADIA: floating lifelessly in our periphery ARADIA: observing our every action and noting its relevance :) DAVEBOT: uh huh thats what i mean

I was gonna note “liker” as additive for pointless classpect purposes, but really more quoting it just because I really enjoy this conversation.  I’m starting to get sold on the chemistry of these two a lot faster than I expected.

JADE: even though I understand that it must happen, i am growing frustrated with the direction of this conversation. DAVEBOT: do you want to talk about something else stinky JADE: what would you suggest?

How long has that dried fucking blood been on her

DAVEBOT: ok hear me out DAVEBOT: kanaya DAVEBOT: but like DAVEBOT: wearing huge jorts

That explains Homestuck’s twitter earlier

> Weeks in the future, relative to the original point of interest...

Wait wait which point of interest?  This time we were just viewing? *click*

I love what must be this shitty imagination-ship they’re using to cross the substrate of reality

> ==>

Whoaaaa.  So they DIDN’T stay in those outfits for long?  It showed them in a bunk bed earlier, it showed CallieJade still going around blood-covered afterward-- dammit, I’m having a hard time gauging exactly how much time is supposed to have passed between their entry into the black portal, their earlier conversation, and this moment.  And as likely as some are to call this poor scene composition, I can’t think it’s anything but intentional, given we’re dealing with a couple of Ultimate Time players bullshitting with each other.

Moments like these are not rare, and serve a valuable function to the story. They are able to show a passage of time with the bulk of the emotional labor of a lengthy bonding process happening off screen. How did we get here? What have they been through? These questions are often better left open to individual interpretation and can give the one interpreting a sense of ownership of the story.

See?  We’re being trolled is why.  (Even if the authors are pulling the trick Alt!Callie describes maybe a little too damn often, because a cut like this where we’re supposed to fill in the emotional gaps and intervening events ourselves as readers depends on readers’ faith that sensible events and decisions for these characters would OCCUPY the gaps, as if readers don’t have faith that what intervenes WOULD make sense to their understanding of the characters the way the authors are writing them... it just seems like an excuse to do whatever you want without adequately explaining yourself, when in reality if you’d spelled out the events that led to it we’d all cry foul at the mischaracterization.)

...okay, maybe I’m a BIT bitter.  Sorry.  Where were we?

JADE: As a point of curiosity- ARADIA: oh shit!!!!

The dead Cherub possessing the body of an equally deceased Goddess of Space pauses at the interruption.

She doesn’t talk much, then?  Too busy doing whatever talking you’d do as your other possessed Jade body?  Just how temporally related is you controlling THIS Jade compared to when you were controlling the other?  When that Jade pegged you as enjoying contact with friends, are these two just not enough for you, or did you “experience” the trips entirely separately?  I don’t THINK the alt!Callie possessing either Jade is a separate entity from the other, but...

Were she to voice her opinion, it would be that --actually-- it is not unusual for those whose primary concern is The Grander Scheme to have a passing curiosity about the insignificant. So when one really thinks about it, any annoyance with the attendant’s small mindedness is both understandable and warranted.

She pissed

...also, “the attendant”.  Even if “serve” is really the verb here, that phrasing really irks me as if she’s talking down to her.  Which, I mean, makes sense for alt!Callie’s character, but doesn’t make me feel better about this new definition being foisted on us.

ARADIA: :( JADE: as a point of order, you never answered dave’s question. ARADIA: which one he is very chatty JADE: you experience time in a way that is woefully unfamiliar to me and it has... piqued my curiosity enough to learn more. ARADIA: ?_? DAVEBOT: shes asking how old you are

Wait a minute, is Alt!Callie asking a question about a dropped topic from WEEKS ago?!  And is Davebot so in touch with Time and the meta ordering of topics that he actually CAUGHT ON that fast to what she was actually wondering about?????

This is getting more disorienting by the minute.

ARADIA: in this form our bodies stop aging once we reach maturity i think ARADIA: the god tier keeps our physical form locked in a state of undying ARADIA: even in death the bodies do not decay ARADIA: only lay dormant

THAT LAST PART IS FUCKING IMPORTANT.  It’s being brought up intentionally to tell us that JOHN’S DEAD BODY can still be in the wallet Terezi’s carrying around RIGHT NOW without having decayed over the past years.  I remember remarking in SOME previous HS^2 liveblog post of mine that I was alarmed by the decay that would have happened there (can’t find my remark on short notice and don’t really care to), so this explicitly dismisses it so we won’t be surprised by the fact that she could keep it in just-dead condition.

DAVEBOT: like how long have you been alive JADE: yes, that one.

[...]

ARADIA: oh maybe a few hundred years or so DAVEBOT: what JADE: what? ARADIA: well if i had known you were going to be so judgy about it DAVEBOT: when did this happen ARADIA: oh i spent some time in other doomed realities and timelines and came back before anybody could tell i was gone

Hm!

We knew she spent a LONG time in the dream bubbles, enough to talk to “pretty much all of the Nepetas”, but she was actually able to access a universe or universes and hop between them?  That’s not something any time traveller we’ve seen has been explicitly able to do intentionally before, quite like she’s describing.

DAVEBOT: oh just out for a bit of fun then DAVEBOT: just hopped on over to a different reality DAVEBOT: real casual like DAVEBOT: oh hello dont mind me just popping in to see if it really is as doomed as they say it is DAVEBOT: did not disappoint ARADIA: yes almost exactly like that :) DAVEBOT: who did you hang out with are they cooler than me ARADIA: it is complicated to explain DAVEBOT: oh ok nevermind then DAVEBOT: all clear

Yep, he’s kinda bewildered.  Is this Pesterquest stuff she’s referring to?  Did she stop by Pesterquest?

DAVEBOT: a whole alternate universe ripe with the coolest motherfuckers imaginable ARADIA: you were there too i threw your air conditioner into the sun DAVEBOT: wow thats fucked up DAVEBOT: thats not where that goes at all JADE: these events are not-canonical. ARADIA: rude

Ah!  Yeah, almost certainly Pesterquest.  (Still haven’t played that and have little inclination to now that I’m more sure we aren’t being gaslit with intentional continuity errors, just disappointed by actual continuity errors.)  Oh!  And that makes a bit more sense because I imagine that’s Black Hole territory, and that territory outside of Canon seems pretty rich and easy for time-travellers to hop between stories and timelines willy-nilly.  As they’re apt to in fanfics, which is the most appropriate way for things to be in that realm!

DAVEBOT: is that the trope of being hundreds of years old but looking young forever patently sucks ass DAVEBOT: a plot device an asshole would write ARADIA: :( JADE: that is not what i am trying to say at all. DAVEBOT: hmm wow yeah thatd really be a sort of pot/kettle situation i guess DAVEBOT: i cant believe im the only woke one here DAVEBOT: its hard being such a visionary AND such a fine metallic specimen DAVEBOT: but im an altruist first and fucking foremost ARADIA: so selfless JADE: yes, the greater narrative is truly blessed by your beneficent presence. DAVEBOT: oh so you got jokes now huh JADE: i have always had the ‘jokes’ of which you speak, but i have heretofore exercised restraint in laying you low. JADE: i possess knowledge of many of your iterations, as the scope of my powers allows me to exist in several narrative structures at once. DAVEBOT: but can she see why kids love the sweet cinnamon taste of cinnamon toast crunch JADE: i do not know, or care, what that means. ARADIA: neither do i :)

I’m actually really enjoying this conversation

JADE: its cultural significance to you as an earthling is wasted on the two of us entirely, as we have not conflated the misguided notion of clinging to nostalgic cereal advertisement trivia with socially relevant conversation.

Pff she literally checked her meta notes just now to learn what the cereal ads were after admitting she didn’t know what it meant and pretending not to care

> ==>

Oh, closer look at Davebot.  Are those actual SHAPED shades over his robotic eye bulges?  Weird, I thought it was just a lazy line drawn between them with red sharpie at first, Sans style.  That would’ve been funny.

> ==>

Ohh, I get it.  I was gonna say that was an unwarranted reaction... but he just realized that the Time-wait puns will be coming from BOTH his shipmates from now on.  That’s gotta be a downer.  :)

> ==>

HOLY

FUCKING

SHIT

IS ALT-CALLIE LAUGHING!??!?!?!??

That’s REALLY, REALLY GOOD!!!  SHE’S ALREADY LAUGHING OCCASIONALLY THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY

“BEST NARRATOR” COFFEE CUP

SHE’S ADORABLE

> ==>

Ah, was that Jade kicking you out?  Or just the multiverse punishing you for being briefly happy :(

--oh, end of the update.  Guess that’s it for now!

...

Alright I know I’m A BIT BEHIND on covering the HS2 commentary,

But

I really would rather wait on that a bit longer if that’s alright.  Real busy and stressful week or two.  (Found out my hair is starting to thin noticeably at age 31!  Quite suddenly, too.  Blood test looks fine so it’s nothing serious... gonna see a doctor to check if anything can be safely done about that, it’s really hurting my self-esteem more than I thought it would.�� Didn’t think it would hit my emotions that hard when it eventually happened, knew it was likely but not so SOON... really messing with my anxiety every time I accidentally touch my hair, now.  I’ll deal with it.)

If I sound really aimless in this post, I think it’s cause I am?  My mental and emotional energy’s REALLY drained.  I’m glad that June/July break in HS^2 happened when it did, and I’m definitely glad there’s apparently plenty in HS^2 I can really enjoy, if this update is anything to go by.  Maybe this comic can help lift me up instead of knocking me down.  :)

See y’all later!  More Patreon commentary blogging catchup after some other upd8.

[skylarmoon71]

Earth 2 Harrison Wells x Reader (Extra)

“Yes, just keep track of his heart rate, we don’t need another spike.” The nurse on your side took notes. You checked your patient’s pulse again before pinching his cheeks. He giggled, cuddling the teddy bear in his hand. “How are you feeling John.” he grinned. 

“I’m better Ms.(L/N)!” The peppy tone of his voice made you happy. “Well that’s good, I’ll be here tomorrow. “ He bobbed his head excitedly and you gave one last smile before exiting the room. You made your way over to your office. When you were safely inside, you closed the door, pressing a hand to your forehead. 

For the last couple of days you didn’t feel like yourself. You weren’t sick per say. Because you went through every possible test, checking to see if you contracted something. Everything seemed normal yet, you could tell something was different. The dizzy spells, unusual heart beats. There was no explanation. Frustrated with the lack of answers you decided maybe Caitlin could help. It couldn’t hurt to try. She was a fellow doctor, maybe she would spot something that you missed. 

~~

At the end of your shift you made your way to S.T.A.R Labs. You had a paper bag with a big belly burger, for Harry of course. You smiled, not quite sure why he was so obsessed with the food. You stepped into the lab, going straight to Harry’s room. He was mostly likely sitting at his desk messing with some tech. 

Turning the corner you moved to his door. You knocked, entering. Just as you thought. He was at the desk, doing something to Cisco’s glasses. You closed the door and he looked up, just noticing you. “(Y/N).” you smiled, raising your hand. Harry dropped the tool in his hand instantly. He twisted his chair, reaching out for the burger. You moved it out of his reach. 

“Wow, I’m starting to think you like this burger more than me.” He gave you that Harry stare but you didn’t relent. He knew his piercing looks didn’t work on you. At least not the ones he used to scare Cisco with. “You know that doesn’t work. “ you snickered. He stood, pushing his chair back and you gulped at the new look in his eyes. 

“Then what does work on you (Y/N)..” his voice dropped a few octaves. He backed you into the wall and the burger fell out of your hands. You looked down. “S-Shit sorry I-I” when you turned back his hands were resting on your shoulder. He didn’t seem to care, the food already long forgotten. 

His head tilted and he pushed the lab coat off your shoulders. Your skin tingled when you felt him brush the back of his palm down your arm. The intensity of his stare left you partially breathless. “Harry..” you couldn't stand his teasing. He was just stroking his fingers up and down your arms. It was driving you mad. 

You could see the smile tugging on his lips. “Yes Dr. (L/N).” you groaned, his lips were now hovering over your neck. The warmth of his breath was doing sinful things to your body. He didn’t lean in though, he was enjoying watching you squirm. 

All at once his lips were on yours in a heated fury. You responded with just as much need. The both of you were leaning and tugging at each other. Kissing as if it were the last time you would get to do so. Your hands reached around his torso, pulling at the black shirt that covered his chest. He got the message, pulling away to pull it over his head. 

He discarded it quickly, flinging it behind him. You made quick work at the buttons of your blouse, dying to feel his skin against yours. When all the buttons were loose, you shoved it off, latching back unto Harry as you continued your desperate make out session. He hiked up your skirt, raising one of your legs to brace around his waist as he pressed into you. You moaned at the feeling. You went to reach for his belt buckle to relieve him of his pants. You stopped when you felt a strumming in your chest. You pushed Harry away lightly, gasping. 

Harry was baffled at your sudden stop, but his eyes turned worried when he saw you fighting for a breath. When your eyes connected that’s when he saw it, the sparks in your eyes. One second you were right in front of him the next you were gone in a burst of wind. Harry turned on his heel, running out the door. When he passed the cortex he skated to a stop. Cisco and Caitlin were in there, watching the speeding light run around the lab, up the walls, on the ceiling, across the floor. You were just going. 

Cisco was spinning around trying to keep track. “What the hell is wrong with Barry!” he exclaimed. Harry's eyes watched in amazement. “That’s not Barry.” 

Cisco’s perplexed gaze moved in Caitlin’s direction. She shook her head, clearly just as confused at the situation. Barry walked in, equally as stunned at the speedster racing around the room. He rushed, grabbing the person to try and stop them. When he got a hold of your wrist you stopped. Both speedsters stumbled, stopping right at the entrance. Your eyes were still darting around the room. When you noticed you were no longer running you looked up.

“(Y/N)!” Barry’s shout of surprise caught everyone’s attention. Cisco and Caitlin were just as taken by the sight. 

“B-Barry! W-What the hell was that, h-how am I a speedster!!” you demanded. You were losing your mind. He was about to try and figure that out, but then his eyes moved to your chest. Red covered his cheeks and you stood there waiting for him to say something. He just started mumbling incoherently, letting go on your hand. 

“The better question is why are you shirtless?” Cisco quipped. You completely forgot. Your hands moved to your chest instantly, covering your bra that unfortunately the majority of Team Flash already saw. His eyes moved over to Harry, just realizing the dark haired male was also without a top. He looked between the two of you for a few seconds before smirking. Harry directed a glare at Cisco. 

“Can it Ramon.” he walked over grabbing a coat that was hanging on the chair. He came back to your side covering you. You accepted it gratefully. Pulling the material over your chest. 

Barry cleared his throat. “Uh...so how did this all happen?” 

“I have no idea.” you answered. 

~~

Caitlin dropped the sample of your blood into the machine, analyzing it. 

“I tested your blood and I’m comparing it to Barry’s, maybe this way we can get some answers. “ You could hear the machine in the background, you were still trying to wrap your mind around what happened. “Maybe we can retrace your steps. When did this start happening?”

“W-When Barry caught me in the cortex, it came out of nowhere I just started running.” you said in disbelief. Barry nodded. “What were you doing before, were you maybe exposed to something with dark matter that you didn’t realize.”

“Before..” when you recalled what you’d been doing before it happened you flushed. Your eyes immediately found Harry’s. “N-Nothing! I wasn’t doing anything!” you denied. Harry held back a chuckle at your embarrassment. 

They’d already caught the both of you so your denial just made Cisco raise a brow. “Hah! It was when you and Harry were about to do the dirty!” he pointed out. Caitlin smacked his arm and he grumbled. “It’s the truth.” he muttered. You just looked down. “A-Anyway I can’t see how that would have anything to do with me suddenly getting these powers. Wait a second..” your mind moved through the last couple of days. 

“For the past week I’ve been sort of sick but not really. I’m not sure how to explain it. I was coming here to ask for Caitlin’s help. I didn’t think about this before but it started shortly after I healed Barry. “ 

“That’s it.” Harry said. He got up, moving to one of the boards. He uncapped a marker, writing equations on the board. Whatever he was jotting was lost to you. “Your abilities deal with the removal of pain from your charges. You did the same for Barry, but until now you’ve never healed a meta am I correct?” 

“Umm I suppose so. I've mainly been helping sick kids and a couple others at my hospital. “He continued scribbling. Cisco stood, from the look on his face he apparently was getting where Harry was going with all of this. 

“No way!” Cisco's enthusiastic response made you stand. “W-What is it!”

“You can draw and transfer energy into your body!!”he blurted. 

Just as you were about to inquire, the machine beeped. Caitlin took out the samples,clicking on the computer. She opened her mouth in surprise. 

“He’s right..” you basically ran over to the desktop, reading her results. 

“T-That’s..”

“Impossible.” Harry finished. You weren't sure what to say. “I-I’m not sure what to do. I can deal with healing powers but speed too. Barry I’m not like you I can’t face danger everyday. B-But if I have these abilities and don’t use them then what good am I as a person..” your world felt like it was spinning. Harry was by your side in seconds. He held your shoulders, calming you down. 

“Don’t freak out, breathe (Y/N).” he instructed. You did as he said, leaning into him, steadying your breathing and your thoughts. “S-Sorry. “ 

Barry gave a small smile. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“Listen, you have nothing to worry about, from what I gathered they should wear off in a few days. “ Caitlin said. You looked at her hopeful. “R-Really!!” She nodded. 

“You can only concentrate for a short while. In a lot of ways it works the same way you heal. The damage to your body is never permanent. So this should react the same according to my calculations.” 

“That’s a relief.” you exhaled with a grin. It was cool being a speedster but no way did you want to be a superhero. Caitlin squinted at the computer. She turned back staring at Harry. 

“Harry are you feeling okay?” He gave her a look. “Yes, is there something wrong?”

She was unsure of what to say. “It’s just...I think I should test you too. (Y/N)’s abilities now have transferring properties. Since you're the last one to have contact with her it’s possible she may have passed some energy unto you.”

“Do you feel any different?” you quizzed.

Harry just shook his head. “I feel fine.” 

“I’d still like to run some tests, just to be sure.” He followed as Caitlin guided him over to the med bay. When they were gone you looked at Barry. 

“So...Wanna race?” He grinned so wide. “First one to CCPD.” he challenged. “You’re on!” you didn’t wait for him to give the okay, you just took off. 

“Cheater!!” he laughed dashing behind you. 

~~~~

You and Barry came bursting through the cortex with joyous laughs. You’d run practically everywhere around Central City. You were starting to understand why Barry loved it so much. The rush was amazing. When your feet grounded to a stop you caught the sight of the flame on your jacket. “Crap!!” you shrugged off the garment in a hurry stamping on it to put the fire out. 

“Hey that happened to me once.” he cheered. You just giggled. 

“I see the both of you were having fun. I don’t appreciate you trying to catch my girlfriend on fire Allen.” Harry’s tone made Barry stiffened. You brushed it off. “Quit being a worry wart, I heal quickly too remember. “ Harry’s gaze landed on you. 

All you saw was the white light that trailed from his body. One minute you were next to Barry, the other you were pinned against the wall of the cortex. You let out an unsteady breath. “H-Harry you-”

“He’s a speedster too!!” Cisco cried pulling a rope from his body. “Dick move tying me up Harry!!” you looked back at your boyfriend. He just grinned. 

“Just a little payback Ramon. “ he snarked. 

“Wow..” you mumbled. “His powers should wear off the same time as yours (Y/N).” Caitlin informed. “Yeah..” you answer distractedly. You could see the light shining behind his eyes. It was an unbelievably sexy sight. 

He scooped you into his arms. “Now that this is all sorted out, we’ll be taking our leave.” Harry didn’t even wait for a response. He ran off, nothing but the backlash of wind left on exit. Cisco huffed at the paper that landed on his face. 

“That’s really annoying. “ 

~~

Harry zipped over to your apartment, placing you down when he stood out the door. You steadied yourself, still adjusting to the fact that Harry also obtained speed abilities. 

You opened the door, laughing at  all that took place that day. 

“I have to say, life is never boring with you guys around.” You bent to unbuckle your shoes, then pulled off your coat hanging it at the hook by the door. Harry didn’t say a word since you entered and you turned to see why he was so quiet.  He moved in your direction slowly and you had to will your knees not to buckle at his darkened eyes. 

“How about we test out these powers in some more beneficial ways. “ you held back a shiver. 

“What do you have in mind?”

He smirked. “Oh, a few ideas you may enjoy very much.” 

Looks like being a speedster came with a lot more than you expected. You sure weren’t complaining. 

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 131/132 Review

Hello, my name is ArlingtonPark, and I write SNK meta.

I’ve been doing this every month for three years now.

And I’ve never skipped a month.

Nope.

No siree.

Uh-uh.

(My punishment is that I have to write at least 4,000 words on both chapters now.)

So, we’ve come a long way, haven’t we.

In chapter 1, humanity had given up on itself. Humanity had barely survived the titan apocalypse and everyone was just happy to be alive.

Humanity had to crowd into the walls, but it was better than being outside.

It was better than being dead.

They could have everything they’d ever need. Friends, family, children, food, a place to live. All of it was inside the walls.

Everything you’d need to live a fulfilling life, and many saw it that way.

The Survey Corps would explore the outside world, but they were unpopular and no one took outside exploration seriously.

In chapter 1, humanity was willing to settle.

Then in comes our hero, Eren Yeager.

People in the walls had a job, family, friends, and their needs were generally met, but Eren told them they should want even more than that.

That’s how the story began.

If Attack on Titan had ended with the basement reveal, I would have said the series was obviously written by someone who watches too much Fox News.

Attack on Titan, before the basement, was a story about paranoia. It was a story about outsiders threatening to invade and destroy everything our heroes loved.

The heroes in this narrative are the patriotic members of the military. They devote their heart to humanity, are willing to die for their country, and are put upon by their slovenly compatriots.

And in between the outsiders and the patriots are the fence-sitters. These are people like the general public, and some named characters.

They’re not the enemy per se, but they’re mindset is still regarded as wrong-headed by the story.

Specifically because they are not devoted enough to the cause.

The wall’s denizens are able to live lives no worse than they would otherwise, and they’re satisfied with that, yet the story regards that thinking as insular and complacent.

People like Jean, Sasha, and Hannes are shown to be in the wrong throughout the story, and they only come around to the good side when they learn to devote their hearts.

Jean wanted to live safely in the interior, away from the action. He started off bad because he was only fighting for himself; he became good when he started fighting for his country.

Sasha also wasn’t a team player at the start. She hated that people were moving into her area, even though they were refugees looking for a new place to live. She only straightens out when she learns that she’s part of a larger group and the needs of the group are more important than her own.

Hannes was a lazy soldier who shapes up later in the story. He still died, but the point remains: he got gud only when he learned to be a patriot.

All of the bad guys are the ones who don’t fight hard enough.

The series had a lot of Donald Trump energy to it, with so much talk about People Who Look Like Us But Really They’re Different infiltrating society, and a complacent populace that doesn’t respect the military not caring about a vaguely tangible threat.

Worse than that, honestly. Trump just wanted to build a wall to keep the titans out; for a time, Eren was the hero specifically because he wanted to go beyond that wall and kill all the Mexicans.

Things started going in heavy on the satire in the Uprising arc. Unfortunately Isayama is no Jon Swift.

Japan is constitutionally committed to pacifism and formally renounces war as a solution to conflict.

In Attack on Titan, King Fritz forbids the Eldians from defending themselves because he’s a pacifist who renounces war.

You just know Isayama thinks this is hot shit he’s writing.

But wait, it’s worse!

The King Fritz character is a caricature for the conservative’s boogeyman du jure: the woke progressive.

He obsesses over the sins of the past.

He self-flagellates over it.

He talks endlessly about needing to atone, but also that they can never atone for what happened.

He abhors war even with a gun to his head.

He’s Tucker Carlson’s straw man punching bag. The AOC of SNK.

It’s like Trump wrote this.

Dummy-head King Fritz is practically screaming that modern eldians are guilty of genocide! But I know sins of father should not be visited on the son. Covfefe?

It goes from weird to *eww* when the story associates the wokeheads with barbaric, cult-like rituals. They pass down the Founding Titan by having one person ritualistically titanize and devour the other.

……okay.

So.

You could write a biting satire of left-wing politics, it just wouldn’t look like this. Attack on Titan is always at its worst when it tries to be better than it is.

Real life progressives emphasize past atrocities only because they feel those atrocities haven’t been properly acknowledged. And they talk about atonement because, naturally, if they haven’t been acknowledged, proper penance almost certainly hasn’t been given.

Satire works best when you take something and judge it on terms everyone, regardless of political persuasion, can agree on, thus demonstrating its shortcomings.

Everyone generally agrees on whether a stupid thing is stupid, so if you can successfully take the basic tenants of a position and cast them in a silly light, you’ve successfully made a valid point about that position’s failings. And maybe you’ve won some people over to boot.

SNK isn’t going to convince anyone, and I doubt Isayama was aiming for that anyway. It all reads like catnip for the people who already drank the kool-aid.

SNK’s attempt at skewering wokism is to say that with their mindset, the terrorists win. No nuance or exploration, just labeling people who disagree with you lazy, greedy, unpatriotic.

All the invective of Juvenal but actually juvenile.

I think the undercurrent of unironic nationalism peaks in the Uprising Arc, where the greedy elites are overthrown by the military in a populist coup.

It’s a classic nationalist narrative.

Greedy businessmen who don’t truly care about the country are a common boogeyman in right-wing circles.

And of course the military, being a symbol of national strength and sacrifice, is often valorized by right-wingers.

After the basement reveal, though, there’s been a notable shift in perspective.

SNK definitely takes a more critical view of nationalism now.

Turns out Grisha was part of a nationalist gang, and he was so caught up in nationalistic fervor he dehumanized his own son and only saw him as a stepping stone to racial dominance.

The people of Paradis have whipped themselves into a nationalistic frenzy. The people were calling for genocide against the marleyans.

When the government refused to commit to that, the government that had overthrown its predecessor in a nationalist coup was itself overthrown in a nationalist coup.

Don’t forget the last we saw of Paradis before leaving it: people celebrating Eren’s genocide. While the Alliance is giving their lives to save humanity, Paradis is partying like there’s no tomorrow.

SNK has almost become a metacommentary on itself; a story about how nationalist narratives backfire and only lead to more conflict.

I’m still not prepared to say SNK is fully anti-nationalist, though.

This reads to me like Isayama trying to have his cake and eat it. He wants to send a broadly pro-nationalist message while warning of the excesses of his own ideology.

There are good and bad points to be made about this.

It’s great that the series is covering all its bases.

Whatever its faults, SNK is a series that discusses its themes from multiple angles.

When the series talks about freedom, it talks about it in all its permutations.

Negative freedom, as when Eren wants humanity to be able to live beyond the walls.

Positive freedom, as when Historia builds an orphanage so the kids can build better lives for themselves.

Political freedom, as when King Fritz’s regime is toppled and society is liberalized.

Freedom from external forces, as when the Eldians struggle to be free from discrimination.

Freedom from internal inhibitions, as when Historia overcomes her self-doubt and lives for herself.

False freedom, as when the mainland Eldians delude themselves and think freedom comes by serving their Marleyan masters.

I appreciate that Isayama is willing to put in the effort to showcase his themes in all their variations.

…

Ok, so here’s the bad stuff.

I think the series harps on nationalism a lot because it’s part of a larger theme of self-determination.

SNK is, ofc, a series about self-determination. I’ve already talked about how it’s about freedom; freedom necessarily implies self-determination.

But there are two levels to this theme: the individual and the collective.

On the level of individual self-determination, there is Historia and her arc. She was a slave to other people’s expectations, and she chose to disregard those expectations and live for herself.

This theme is repeated again with individual Eldians like Reiner and Gabi, as well as Armin. These are people who’s ability to lead their best lives is limited by various circumstances.

They are unfree.

Reiner and Gabi are Eldians in a Marleyan dominated society. They want to live their lives and build a better life for their friends and family, but they can’t because of racism.

Armin wants to explore the outside world, but can’t because of the titans.

The theme of the story is that people have a right to control their own course, and they very much have a right to defend, even kill, in the name of preserving that right.

However lily-livered our heroes are, it is always drilled into them that they have to kill to enjoy the freedom they want.

I think Isayama harps on nationalism a lot because he believes that individual rights can be safely applied to groups; that groups have a right to self-determination just as much as individuals.

There is an individual level to freedom and there is a collective level.

In chapter 1, it’s not just Eren or Armin who are unfree, it is humanity that is unfree.

The titans took humanity’s land and humanity is entitled to take that land back.

Eren’s dream was for humanity to stand up for itself, not any one human.

That is a seriously flawed way of thinking.

Individuals are fundamentally different from groups of individuals. You can get away with it up to a certain point, but individual rights and group rights don’t always align. That contradiction is something the series has hinted at, but has never fully dealt with.

Historia’s pregnancy is the prime example. She’s a person with rights, but also possibly the key to her people’s survival.

Erwin’s death was also an example. Erwin devoted his heart to humanity and led them well, but when the time came to resurrect him, the choice was made to let him rest in peace. Erwin was a big asset to humanity, but it was decided to leave him be.

SNK seems to believe that when this contradiction arises, individual rights should prevail. That’s good, because most people would argue that.

But to think of group rights in this way, as being an outgrowth of a general right to self-determination, alongside individual rights, is questionable.

The central conflict of the story is over the rights of Eldians, not as individuals, but as a group. Victory for the good guys is framed as a matter of winning Eldian self-determination.

That is a distinctly nationalist framework, and I object to that.  

This is very tricky to write about because it’s natural to think about it in terms of groups.

Eldians as a group are hated, so naturally a solution would be thought of in terms of Eldians as a group.

It’s not wrong per se, but it cannot also be seen outside the light of SNK’s prior nationalist undertones.

I don’t think I’m conveying my thoughts very well, but…it’s just…

People say that SNK completely changed after the basement, but that’s wrong.

SNK is the same series it’s always been at heart.

It is because of this that moralizing about collective self-determination is something that raises eyebrows.

It is almost certainly part and parcel with the series’ prior nationalist urgings.

…

……

(Word count: 2077)

Fuck.

Uh.

Er.

Eren!

Shithead! What are you doing, Yeager?

Eren is a monster.

Literally.

So the truth comes out, and it’s exactly what I expected it would be.

People can disagree about Eren being a nationalist, but no one can deny that he is clearly an avatar for the ideology.

Eren loves his friends. He loves his family. He loves his people.

But just as the archetypical nationalist’s love becomes twisted to justify all sorts of atrocities, so too has Eren’s love become a hellish monstrosity.

Like the archetypical nationalist, Eren can only see the world in zero-sum terms.

“If we lose, we die. If we win, we live. And you can’t win if you don’t fight.”

That is his motto. It’s Paradis or the world. One or the other, but not both. There can be no peace, no coexistence, no compromise.

People have said that Eren has changed, but that’s wrong. This is just the logical conclusion of his exclusionary, nationalist mindset. The mindset he’s had from the very beginning.

Eren describes life behind the walls as undignified. He describes humanity’s comeback as a reclamation of that dignity.

Dignity not in the sense of his personal dignity, but in terms of humanity’s collective dignity.

That is to say he was thinking as a nationalist does even as a kid.

In some contexts, it makes sense to think of humanity as a singular entity. Administrative purposes, for example, or even just to foster a sense of community, but to think of humanity the way Eren does demonstrates a nationalist mindset and all that implies.

For Eren, humanity isn’t just a singular entity, humanity is almost like a living organism. He talks about humanity as an organism that can have indignity visited upon it, as an organism that needs to stand up for itself, that needs to fight.

(By the way, another example of Isayama’s hack writing: the Eldian people are a nation. A group of people bound together by a shared culture and history.

And wouldn’t you know it: the Eldians are bound together by P A T H S, a metaphysical bond through which Eldians can experience the shared history of their race.

This is such hack writing!)

Talking about humanity in this way in this context is very revealing about Eren’s worldview.

In the nationalist’s eyes, the nation is a singular organism whose survival is paramount; the individuals who compose the nation are not as important.

That’s why nationalism tends to lead to so many awful outcomes. The ideology is inherently dehumanizing even for the people the nationalist views as on his side.

But what I like about this depiction is how the series shows the contradictions inherent to that.

Eren may view the survival of humanity, and now Eldians, as paramount, as more important than any one life, even his own, but he’s still a human being who can form connections with others.

I think this is why Eren’s turned on his friends the way he has.

“To fight monsters, we have to abandon our humanity.”

Eren has taken Armin’s words to their logical conclusion: to survive, we have to dehumanize ourselves.

Thus, we end up with Eren pushing his friends away. He knows he has to separate himself from his humanity to be able to do the ghastly things he was planning.

This is the contradiction inherent to nationalism. It takes human emotions and twists it towards inhuman actions.

Not just questionable actions (which aren’t actually questionable, but are framed as such by the story) like Erwin’s strategies, but genuinely inhuman stuff.

SNK may be sympathetic to the ideology, but it’s heartening that the series is willing to be so critical of nationalist excesses.

(Setting aside for a second that nationalism of any degree is in itself arguably excessive.)

With Eren, SNK has taken maxims and morals it previously championed and picked them apart. The series wants us to fight, but now it’s showing us what happens when you fight too hard. The story is almost like a deconstruction of itself.

As far as free will is concerned, I think Eren’s right. He is in fact committing this genocide.

I don’t want Eren to be a puppet to the Attack Titan, or for him to somehow be absolved of this crime he’s committed.

When Eren confronted Reiner in the basement in Liberio, Eren was the one who offered excuses for why Reiner wasn’t to blame for the Grim Reminder. Reiner was the one who shot them down.

I don’t actually think this is correct, but the story frames things like “you were a child,” or “you were brainwashed,” as insufficient to absolve Reiner.

SNK’s morals seem to dictate that Reiner gets no get out of jail free card.

He may have just been a kid. He may have been under duress, but he still broke the walls, so it’s all his fault.

Eren seconded that notion. Reiner said as much, and Eren agreed.

Reiner is indeed a half-assed piece of shit, and so is Eren.

Regardless of the circumstances or other extraneous factors at play, Eren is doing this, and that’s it.

One of the themes of SNK is that we own our actions. What we do has consequences and those consequences, in turn, are reflective of us. They illuminate our character.

Eren owns this.

There is no Attack Titan Svengali to scapegoat or excuses to be made.

Eren is killing billions of people for his race because that is who he is.

It’s who he always was.

Speaking of the series hopefully not reneging on its themes, I really hope Hange is dead and there is no afterlife.

That would be a really, *really* stupid idea.

SNK does not romanticize death.

When Erwin died, he was taken from Levi.

When Ymir died, she was taken from Historia.

When Floch died, he was taken from Eren.

Hange’s death was a tragedy. I understand Isayama wanted to send them off on a poetic note, and I hope that’s all this was.

It’s fine to symbolize a character making peace in death with what they did in life.

I do not want this to be the hint of an afterlife people are making it out to be.

Death in SNK has consequences.

When you die, your ability to contribute to this mortal world is done.

They could have brought Erwin back to fight for them, but they chose to let him die. His death was framed as an honorable discharge from duty.

When you die, the hopes, dreams, and beauty that was your life is extinguished. Everything you’ve worked for and built is out of your hands and in the control of your posterity.

Death is fundamentally a bad thing. The bad guys in SNK are the people who relish in mass genocide.

Marley.

Zeke.

Eren.

Death is momentous to the heroes of SNK, but to the villains, death is but a stepping stone to another, usually self-serving, goal.

Marley wishes death on Paradis so they can solidify their dominance over the world.

Zeke wishes death on the Eldians because he’s bent on taking his self-hatred out on his own people.

Eren wishes death on humanity because he’s been spat on his whole life, and now that he’s big and strong, he wants to flex on them.

Death is a bad thing, but if death means you get to live it up with all your friends and have a happy existence in the afterlife…is death really a bad thing?

I do not want this. No thanks.

…I actually like Hange’s death, btw.

I interpret the “afterlife” as just a poetic send off for their character, and on that level, it’s a good death.

So, I already talked about Eren’s role in the story, I guess I should pad things out with some talk about him as a character.

All throughout the story Eren has been focused on one goal: achieving freedom.

“freedom” is pretty vague though. You can be free in some ways, but unfree in others, and many people would still say you’re free overall.

What does freedom mean to Eren Yeager?

Eren has judged his freedom throughout the story by referencing his circumstances.

Titans right outside the door? Unfree.

Unable to go where he wishes? Unfree.

Victim of racist oppression? Definitely unfree.

Defining something in terms of what it’s not isn’t very ideal though.

So really, what is freedom to Eren?

Freedom for Eren meant being able to see the world.

Flaming water, frozen plains, sandy snowfields.

A lot of people misread this as meaning Eren’s goal was to see the world, but in truth that was just a means to an end.

Seeing the world was a gauge to Eren. It was a way to measure how free he was.

But that still doesn’t answer the question: what does freedom mean to Eren?

Well, in hindsight it was always obvious, but now we know for sure.

“Ever since I was born, there, before my eyes stood those miserable walls. Flaming water, frozen plains, snowfields on sand. I’m sure that the outside world is way bigger than the one inside of these walls. Anyone who saw those things would be the freest person in the world.”

Absolute power.

The power to break down any wall that stands in his way.

Marleyans, warriors, even his friends. Eren is free because he answers to no one. No one can stop him. No one can beat him. He is the god of this world.  

Freedom for Historia meant having her autonomy. The power to live for herself.

Freedom for Eren, in stark contrast, meant absolute domination.

Historia was fine with knowing that the whole world hates her guts and wants her dead, but not Eren. Historia would work to survive as best as she could, but she doesn’t pretend that those people aren’t human beings who deserve to live.

Not Eren.

His thought process is if you’re barreling towards conflict and you have the power to wipe them away easily, then why the fuck not?

We have nukes. We have the power to wipe out North Korea. Why the fuck not?

Eren’s solution to the cycle of violence is to be the last man standing in the end.

That’s the type of person Eren is.

Simple and ruthless.

It all comes back to power with him.

Want to end the cycle of violence?

Be stronger than anyone else.

Want to protect your friends?

Be strong enough to do it.

Want to be free?

Be strong enough to claim it for yourself.

And don’t be afraid to step on people to get it.

And that’s Eren in a nutshell.

What about Mikasa?

Let me say that at first I actually hated Mikasa.

She lost her family at a young age and she wants to protect her new one. That’s really sweet, but what really grated me was how utterly incapable she was at compartmentalizing that.

Protecting Eren was her only goal. She didn’t care about anything else.

She joined the military just to protect Eren, and it showed. There was always some friction whenever her orders conflicted with being able to protect Eren.

Her single-minded desire to protect Eren has consistently held her back. Strength isn’t a problem for her; her character flaw is that she cares too much for someone else.

Mikasa has to constantly be kept from flying off the handle whenever Eren is in trouble. When Eren needs rescuing, her brain turns off and she moves without thinking.

Usually someone manages to restrain her, but when that doesn’t happen, she usually does stupid shit.

Levi can tell you all about that.

My point is that Eren is someone prone to not thinking, and when that bites him, Mikasa starts not thinking too, and while that usually doesn’t bite her since she’s Mikasa, it still illustrates a bad dynamic.

The ultimate culmination of this toxic relationship is this story arc.

In 132, Mikasa refuses to say she’ll kill Eren. Instead she’s going to bring the old Eren back.

Like, fucking really?

“That man isn’t Ehreh, the man I love, he’s Eren, the Bad Guy!”

Mikasa is every abuse victim who keeps crawling back to their abuser.

Eren verbally abused Mikasa until she cried.

But instead of standing up for herself, she makes excuses for him.

First she was desperately trying to find some explanation for why he abused her, and now that it’s undeniable that Eren’s a lunatic, she’s settled on the old “I’m going to fix him” excuse.

Strength isn’t a problem for Mikasa; her character flaw is that she cares too much about Eren.

No one can deny that Eren and Mikasa’s relationship has devolved into an abusive one.

Don’t even try it.

I don’t think Mikasa’s confrontation with Eren will be as straightforward as people think.

Everyone expects Mikasa to overcome her unwillingness to kill Eren and do it.

I don’t know if that will happen or not, but I think it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that Eren is the main character and this is his story.

If we really are in a place where the main character is waiting to be killed off so the story can end…that’s pretty lame.

When Eren touched Historia’s hand, he saw the future.

Everything.

His attack on Marley, the Yeagerist rebellion, Falco.

Everything.

Are we really supposed to believe he didn’t see the Alliance coming for him?

That all this time, Eren knew he’d have to kill Mikasa to succeed?

That’s probably why Eren’s POV has been shrouded so much. Obviously this is something he’d be dwelling on a lot.

That’d fuel some good character drama going into the climax.

I think Mikasa will be the one who dies.

Eren is the main character, and it’s his story.

After everything he’s done, he can’t get off easy.

Being killed my Mikasa is too good for him. He’s going to die anyway, and while dying now means he failed, he won’t be able to experience that failure.

Eren doesn’t deserve to die.

No, he deserves to fail, and he deserves to live with that failure.

Eren is ostensibly doing all this to protect his friends, so the only way to truly punish him is to take those friends away from him.

Maybe throw in Historia too while we’re at it.

…That’s a dark note to end this on.

Uhm.

Hey, look!

4486 words!

\o/

[nightwingshero]

1 - 10 + blair!

Thank you hun!!! Under the cut! 

1. How many different places have they lived?

A few, actually. Blair grew up in Central City, and lived there up until after she woke from her coma. She worked at S.T.A.R Labs after graduating from college, and after the coma, she moved to Central City, accepting a position at Palmer Technologies (where she helped Ray build his A.T.O.M. suit.) After her meta powers start showing up, she joins Oliver and Team Arrow to try and get them under control--which turns into her going back and forth between both cities to help Team Flash with the other metas. But all of that leads to her also joining the Legends (she’s all over the place, I don’t how she does it, she just...does), so she stays on the time ship--the Waverider--for a set amount of time as well. She mostly goes between those three, eventually moving back to Central City after helping the Legends take down Vandal Savage.

2. What is their dream vacation?

Space, and no, I’m not kidding. Blair loves space, and would love to visit the moon, or even mars for that matter. Part of her wishes that she was an astronaut instead, but she loves her job. If she had to choose somewhere on Earth, it would be Switzerland. It’s gorgeous and she wants to see the northern lights. Blair also doesn’t mind the cold (pun definitely intended, her otp isn’t called snow storm for nothing.)

3. What is their favorite color?

I would say either bright purple, green, or blue--colors of nebulas and galaxies. She loves neutral colors too, such as tans, creams, and greys. She eventually starts loving dark blue and black, but that’s mostly due to the association with Leonard. Blair isn’t known to wear the bright colors, she wears more neutral colors (sometimes darker), but the other colors do show up in some places, like casual wear and in the energy she manipulates. 

4. What is their favorite book?

Blair loves the classics, such as J. R. R Tolkien, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Jane Austen. She also enjoys reading books that actually teach her things, and has a whole collection of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking. There are also comics and the Star Wars books that she reads in leisure, and the books by Rebecca Silver (she’s a fan and supports you, Mick) and has a few Sherlock Holmes novels. She doesn’t have a set favorite, she just loves to read and is a total nerd. 

5. Have they ever cheated on anyone before?

Absolutely not. Blair isn’t that kind of person, she’s thoroughly committed to her partner. She only has eyes for the person she’s with, and if she realizes that that person (or relationship) isn’t fulfilling as it should be, she’ll be honest about it and end it for the both of them. Blair is not at all one to cheat. Honestly, relationships are hard for her to even come by. She’s only been in one or two serious relationships in her life (Carmen and eventually Leonard), all the rest of the time is dedicated to her family, friends, and work--it’s not something she actively seeks out. It just happens when it happens. So honestly, she wouldn’t have the time to for an affair. 

6. Have they ever been cheated on?

Not technically, no. Carmen, her ex-fiancé, left her while she was still in a coma, ending it between them and moving on, eventually meeting someone else. I suppose it’s a matter of perspective, but Blair doesn’t see it as cheating, even though she felt deeply betrayed by Carmen for just leaving her the way she did. Its just...less about the fact that Carmen having someone now, and more that she left while she was still in a coma. 

7. How many partners have they had?

A few, but only two serious relationships. Blair had a healthy love life and such in college, dating and meeting people. Then her and Carmen started dating and got engaged. After Blair moves to Star City, there are flings here and there, but nothing remotely serious. Her next serious relationship is with Leonard Snart, after he returns from being time scattered and retrieves his memories. After Leonard “dies” and Vandal Savage is defeated, Blair returns to Central City, where Flashpoint happens, and while the rest of Team Flash agreed that they didn’t want to know the details of their lives in that alternate timeline, Blair did, and asked Barry when they were alone. That’s when Barry informs Blair that her and Leonard were actually happily engaged, Leonard and Mick having happier lives where their childhoods were actually happy. Blair thought it would bring her closure, but it really just made her heart ache for what she truly wanted. Although, she does admit later that it seemed not as whole, and she’d rather have the memories now than live in that alternate timeline (which, he comes back, so...)

8. What is their favorite food?

Crepes of different flavors and hot chocolate or coffee. Blair loves sweets, breakfast foods, some French and Italian cuisines, burgers and fries, seafood, and also warm beverages. She has to admit that Joe’s grandma Esther’s eggnog is amazing, and she loves Martin Stein’s taste in tea (just the right amount of brandy.) Blair snacks often though, mostly Little Debbie cakes, cookies, chips, and puppy chow snack mix. 

9. Are they a liar? Are they good at lying?

Blair isn’t a liar, no. But when the team needs to go undercover, she’s rather decent at playing the part (way better than Ray Palmer is, he’s hopeless.) Now, she’ll stumble a bit when put in a super high-pressured situation where she’s cornered and can’t find a way to talk her way out of it, which is why she sticks to Sara or Leonard when working with the Legends. Leonard is good at smooth talking, and Sara can be super charming and when that fails...well, punches work too. But lying isn’t something Blair actively does, she’s a facts kind of person, and really doesn’t like keeping secrets from people. She acts weird when she does. Now, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, she’s human, it just weighs on her. Lying isn’t natural for her, especially when it’s with people she cares about. 

10. Introvert or Extrovert?

She’s actually an omnivert, a good mixture of both, it just depends on the situation. Blair loves staying in, watching movies, and working on research in the lab. But she’s very connected with her circle, frequently working with friends, going out with them, and visiting her parents regularly. It makes it easy for her to relate and talk with new people, and honestly, it’s funny watching her interact with Leonard and Mick when she’s feeling particularly social, and when she’s quiet, it’s actually Leonard that talks to her to start a conversation. It’s adorable.  

[hauntedflamingo]

Running out of time

Barry Allen x reader, Alfie Solomons x reader

A/N: This is a Peaky Blinders and The Flash mash up. Please don’t ask me why I came up with this. I don’t even know myself. I am still confused about the bakery/ distillery thing. So, I just put that Alfie owned a bakery. This is going to have multiple parts.  I don’t want to make anyone to feel uncomfortable or reading this. It is just the way that I feel sometimes when the guys at work ask if I want food. Sorry for any mistakes.

 You were a speedster just like your boyfriend, Barry. The two of you had just finished fighting Snart and Mick for the upteenth time. They ruined the dinner party you had been planning for weeks. You barely sat down to eat when you and half of the guests had to make up an excuse to leave. You told your friends from work to enjoy themselves until everyone else returned. You were tired of it. Fighting crime and working at your job every day. It seemed like every time you turned around there was another villain wanting to destroy Central City or worse, Earth. It was overwhelming and there was too much pressure. You did not think you could live up to being a hero as good as Barry. 

You and Barry just finished dropping Captain Cold and Heatwave off at the police station. Rather than head back to S.T.A.R. Labs or the party, you started running down the street making your way towards the highway. “Y/N, where are you going?” Cisco’s voice comes in through your comms. Ignoring him, you keep running faster. “Barry, you should probably go after her.” 

“I’m on it.” He shouts. You turn your head to your left and see Barry running next to you. “Babe, you need to stop. If you go any faster you are going to open the speed force.” That is exactly what you wanted. To go to another time and place where you did not have to worry about saving someone every day. You could go back to having a normal life. You see the speed force in front of you, opening up. You wave to your boyfriend before entering into the unknown. 

While in the speed force, scenes from your life pass you by. It was dark when you exited making wormhole less noticeable. That was a relief. It would be hard to explain to anyone around what was going on. You were so worn out you did not even want to waste time trying to find out when and where you were. You take off your suit and change back into your dress. Sliding down the side of a building, you sit down on the ground. All of the frustration and exhaustion you were holding in suddenly pours out in tears. A shadow appears on the ground and you look up to find someone standing over you. 

He must have been alerted by your crying. “What are you doing out here by yourself, love?” The man hands you a handkerchief. Reaching up, you grab it from him. “Thanks.” You use it to wipe the tears on your face and blow your nose. “Running.” Is the only other word you can manage to get out before you start sobbing again. You quickly look down, hopping he leaves you alone to wallow in your misery. 

Instead he leans down, taking a closer look at you. “Well ain’t you a sight?” You assume he means the makeup smeared all over your face. He waits a little bit for you to calm down before he continues to speak. “Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”

“No.” Whispering so low you don’t even think he can hear you. He stands up straight and holds out his hand so you can take it. “You can stay with me. I have extra rooms in my house.” Without thinking, you grab his hand and he helps you stand up. You needed to get off the street anyway since you did not know where you were. You hoped you did not make a big mistake and decide to go home with some weirdo. At least if he tried something you could defend yourself. “What is your name?” He asks. “Y/f/n y/l/n.” You mumble. “My name is Alfie Solomons.”

The ride to his house is silent. There is nothing to talk about. Besides you can’t to tell your story to a man you just met. You climb out of his car and get to the sidewalk before he can think about helping you. He unlocks the door to his house letting you walk in first. After turning on the lights he gets a better look at you. “Well it looks like you been through something, yeah.” A dog comes up to Alfie. “This is me dog Cyril.”

“Hi.” You lean down and pet the dog on the head. He gives you a tour of the house taking you upstairs to show you the bedrooms. The dog follows you around the house during the tour. He opens the door to the last room on the right. It also happens to be the farthest from his room. “You can stay in this room, yeah. The bathroom is right next to it.” You sit down on the bed. Cyril decides he wants to lay on the floor. 

Alfie leaves the room, coming back a few minutes later with some clothes. “You can sleep in this and tomorrow we will buy you some clothes.” You were shocked. How could this man be so nice when he doesn’t even know you? Was he going to ask for something in return? You were afraid to find out. Maybe you can stay one night and find somewhere else tomorrow. 

“I will leave you alone for the rest of the night. You can lock the bedroom door when you sleep if you feel uncomfortable.” He turns before leaving the room. “If you need anything else, I will be in my room.” He bends down to talk the dog. “Come on Cyril. She isn’t going to get up to take you outside.” Cyril still doesn’t move. “I guess he likes you.” Alfie gets up and walks to the door.

  “Thank you.” You tell him before he closes the door. You stand up from the bed and lock the door before changing into the shirt he gave you. Folding your dress, you set it on a chair in the corner of the room. Unlocking the door, you open it slowly, heading into the bathroom to wash your face and use the toilet. To your surprise Alfie is nowhere in sight. “What a mess” you say to yourself in the mirror. You can see what he was talking about.

Going back to the room you lock the door before crawling into bed. The dog climbs up on the bed and lays next to you. “Are you supposed to be up here?” You ask, petting him until you fall asleep. You manage to fall asleep for once not worrying if you were going to be jolted awake by your boyfriend to fight crime. The smell of breakfast hits you when you open the bedroom door the next morning. After you use the bathroom, you head downstairs. Cyril follows you down the stairs, walks to the back door and starts whining. Alfie turns around as you enter the kitchen. “I assume you are going to need a job since you ran away.” Curiosity gets the best of you. But also, you were dreading his next sentence, not wanting to know what kind of work. “Yes.” You reply, not trying to show any emotion. Pulling out a chair and taking a seat at the kitchen table. Alfie opens the door so Cyril can go out. Alfie turns back to the food he preparing. He is making pancakes, bacon and eggs. “I was thinking I own a bakery, right. Would you like to work there?” Your eyes go wide when he says the word bakery. So much for trying to hide your emotions. “You own a bakery. That is so cool. I would love to work there.”

“Finally, you say more than one word.” He laughs at you softly. “Actually, working in a bakery is hot, innit? With the ovens and all.” He sets a plate filled with food down in front of you. “I didn’t know what you liked so I made all this. You did not realize your we’re starving. Also being a speedster, you ate quite a lot to keep up with your energy. “I am not even going to ask where you put it.” He sits down in the opposite chair with his plate watching you eat. “After we eat breakfast, I will take you to buy new clothes and give you a tour of the bakery. You can start on Monday.”

“Thank you for everything.” Smiling at him, trying not to sound too grateful.

“You can stay here as long as you want.” You did not want to impede on him any longer. The last thing you wanted to do was to put him out. As you continued eating, thoughts about your situation were still going through you head. Well I guess I can stay here until I make enough money to find my own place. First, I need to find out where I ended up. At least his accent gives me some sort of clue. Maybe. Why is he still being kind? After all of the metas you fought in Central City, it was hard for you to trust anyone. Eventually, you gave up the notion thinking he would ask for something in return and began to trust him, becoming friends. The next steps evolved naturally, dating and getting married. One day it all started to go south.

 Tag: @primaba11erina

[tokumusume]

tokumusume’s list of best and worst movies and dramas watched in 2019:

There’s a new category this year. Inspired by kpopalypse, welcome the Honorable Mentions! Movies that weren’t exactly bad but also weren’t good. Movies and dramas are qualified to enter if I watched them for the first time this year, not that they were released this year. Click on ‘keep reading’~~

Best Movies:

1.      Parasite

Another masterpiece from the director of Snowpiercer (let’s pretend Okja never existed). A poor family con their way to a rich household. Choi Woo-Shik from The Witch (see below) is the eldest son and mastermind, fabulous as always. Definitely the best movie of this year. For me, movie of the decade.

2.      The Witch Part 1 The Subversion

This movie is amazing, hard to describe without spoilers. A perfect mix of Stranger Things and Hanna. Choi Woo-Shik can come to my house and kick my ass anytime. I can’t wait for part two.

3.      Death Trance

Visually stunning, kinda like Amemiya Keita’s style in early Garo or Mad Max. I wish the movie was longer and the characters were better fleshed out, Ryuen the monk and the little girl had so much potential... The most interesting thing about this movie is how sexualized the main male character is compared to the female ones, and apparently, the swords were designed to look like veiny penises (can’t find a source for this info), and yes, they do look like veiny penises. The final showdown is heavy with sexual energy. Have I already said that Ryuen deserved better? #RyuenRights

4.      Gintama 2: Rules are made to be broken

The barber shop scene is a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I never laughed so much like I did with this movie. The way it doesn’t take itself seriously, the meta jokes, everything is perfect. Even better than the first one.

5.      Kingdom

While I think that some fight scenes were way too long (like the bamboo forest one), the dynamics between Shin and Hyou/Eisei were highly entertaining, at least in my shipper eyes. I like that (SPOILER) the King of the Mountain People is a woman and not once they try to call her Queen. She is a King. Hashimoto Kanna is adorable as a Ten, Kanata Hongo does a great job as Eisei’s psycho brother, Sakaguchi Tak waves his sword around, the usual stuff but with added layers of dirt and sweat.

6.      Bravestorm

A movie I lovingly call “Japanese Pacific Rim”. Full of Kamen Rider stars (Hino Eiji! Misuzawa Haruka! That girl from Heisei Generations, the one with a sword! She has a sword in this as well!) and giant robots (god, I love giant robots!), I waited so much for this movie and it exceeded my expectations. I just wish I could’ve watched in theaters, it had a limited showing in my country.

7.      Twelve Suicidal Children

What begins as a murder mystery ends with a twist you won’t see coming. All of the actors are amazing, but special mention to Sugisaki Hana and that guy from that one boy group I forgot the name but can’t be bothered to Google.

8.      Gakkou Gurashi

Four girls and their teacher try to survive the zombie apocalypse trapped inside the school. This one destroyed me for days.

9.      Forest of Love

I’ve watched some Sono Sion movies but nothing prepared me for this. Be aware of extremely gory sequences and sensitive topics. Hinami Kyoko is so amazing as blue-haired, punk girl crush Taeko that I totally didn’t notice she was AkibaBlue in Akibaranger.

10.  The Host

After watching Parasite I decided to go on a Bong Joon Ho binge and watched this horror movie. Not as good as Snowpiercer and Parasite in my opinion but heart-wrenching nevertheless. The little girl is the star of the movie.

11.  The Hungry Lion

A story about the dangers of social media and slut-shaming. I want to punch Mizuishi Atom in the face.

12.  Cromartie High

A little absurd comedy about yakuza-style high school boys (played by middle-aged men lol) forming a club to battle aliens summoned by themselves just because. It made me laugh like a child. A hidden gem.

Honorable Mentions:

1.      River’s Edge

Depressing as fuck. Warning: the cats die. It’s not graphic but it’s traumatizing. Yoshizawa Ryo is a gay boy who sleeps with old men for money. There’s a graphic sex scene (not Yoshizawa, sadly) where my only thought was “That thing is gonna get stuck in there! Use a condom!” Can’t remember much from it except for these three scenes.

2.      The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Yamazaki Kento has the acting chops of a dead fish but it comes handy for playing a teen with psychic abilities and zero social skills. Hashimoto Kanna is one of the prettiest girls in Japan. Yoshizawa Ryo with white and blueish hair looks more like Sakata Gintoki than Oguri Shun in the Gintama live action. The end is a huge let down but the fun ride is worth it.

3.      Ano ko no, Toriko

Congratulations to Yoshizawa Ryo, he has FIVE movies in my list of favorite movies this year! This is to make up for crowning GIVER as the biggest waste of time of 2018, this list is totally not biased, lol. “Ano ko” could be just another romance movie but the (very) little insight into how the entertainment industry works and not focusing on school life made me love it. Poor Sugino Yosuke being left behind again, when will this boy get the main girl?

4.      Monstrum

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s pleasant enough to fill a rainy afternoon with a lot of blood and spilled guts. Hyeri of Girl’s Day is the heroine and Choi Woo Shik is the commander she falls in love with.

5.      Weirdo Go

I confess I watched this one just to see Ji Li (aka my snake son Nie Huaisang) dressed as a woman but it was enjoyable and not that problematic.

6.      Real - Kanzen Naru Kubinagaryu no Hi

Directed by the same guy that did “Creepy” and “Before we vanish”, there are lots of twists you won’t see coming. And a dinosaur. A fucking dinosaur.

7.      Tomodachi Game: The Final

The movie loses its focus halfway through then picks up again minutes before ending. Yoshizawa Ryo delivers again as the sadistic Yuuichi, much like his role in Gintama. The plot twists are the star of the movie.

8.     The Living Dead

Sorry Wen Ning. I saw the plot twist coming in the first 30 minutes of the movie, not very smart of the writer. His personality did a 180° turn for worse and I’ll demote the movie to an honorable mention for it. Gao Han is cute though, I would like to see him as a better character.

9.      Backstreet Girls

Some recycled scenes from the drama to situate the viewers, a completely new story for the movie, it is certainly funny and enjoyable, if you can get past the forced gender reassignment surgery background and transphobic jokes (you shouldn’t get past it btw). I like the soundtrack.

Best Dramas:

1.      The Untamed

Do I need to say more?

2.      The Tale of Nokdu

This Korean romance had everything to be a mess but it wasn’t!!! *claps* I don’t hate the main female character and the whole palace politics actually kept me interested until the end. The complete shift of atmosphere mid-season was strange at first but ultimately very welcomed.

3.      The Naked Director

Netflix original Japanese content is amazing. This one is a look at the life of a legendary porn director in the late 80s, I learned a lot about the history of Japanese porn and censorship (yay pixels!) and went looking for his, erm, works. Very graphic, 69/10 don’t recommend watching with people in the house.

4.      Channel wa Sonomama!

I don’t remember it well but it’s about a news station and what is like to be a journalist and it was very interesting and funny.

5.      SCAMS

Forgettable. Sugino Yosuke with black hair cons old people via phone calls.

Worst Movies and Dramas:

1.      The cat in their arms

The cats spend 90% of the movie in human forms, and halfway through it they simply abandon the cats’ plot to show a fucking long montage of a weird guy painting a picture of a nude girl. It’s also super creepy to see a grown-up man acting like a cat, getting belly rubs and eating cat food from a bowl. Yoshizawa needs to choose his roles more wisely.

2.      Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

A waste of Suda Masaki’s talent. Can Japan stop casting Tsuchiya Tao already?

3.      Samurai Marathon

Almost two hours of dirty men running through a forest. Maybe Japanese History experts will enjoy it, because I certainly didn’t.

4.      Lady Vengeance

While there are legit great moments, I didn’t find this “classic” to be anything special. The animal cruelty was too much for me.

5.      Hot Gimmick

This movie makes Bohemian Rhapsody’s editing look like a work of art. There are more flashing cuts than a T-ARA music video. I have no idea who likes who, who’s banging who, what even are they saying. Too much poetic shit for my like. I wanted to see Shimizu Hiroya naked. I was bamboozled.

6.      The Divine Fury

While some parts were interesting, at the end I still don’t know if the protagonist is possessed by a demon (if yes, then why would he help a priest destroy his friends?) or if he was blessed by God when his father died and talked to him (the glowing hand thing, why and how??). The exorcism parts are really, really scary, or maybe I’m just a chicken, but I had to avert my eyes. The best (only) part is that the protagonists are hot. Hello Woo Do-Hwan, you can sacrifice me to Satan any time…

[darklingichor]

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell *Major Spoilers*

I wrote a little about this book last month, but I want to write more. This is one of those books that has been lingering in my brain so what follows will be long and rambling.

Now, I haven't read Fangirl I've been pulled more toward action adventure and humor in my fiction, for a while now. Hmm, I wonder what could have happened a few years back  that would cause a Pacific Northwest liberal to feel the need for escape? Just one of those things, I suppose.

I need to read it, if only because I wrote Harry Potter fanfic for years and sort of lost myself in it right after high school.

Anyway.

I've heard people calling Carry On an HP knock off. I don't get this. Simon Snow is obviously Fangirl's Harry Potter. That makes Carry On more of a tongue in cheek homage to HP and stories like it as well as something of a love letter to fanfic writers.

A lot of the main characters start out as your standard for this type of story. "The Hero", "The Mentor", "The Damsel", "The Enemy", "The Unspeakable Evil."

Through the book it becomes clear that our hero is well meaning but ill-suited for the role that his mentor thinks he place him in. The mentor is shown to be unhinged. The damsel is sick of screaming and doesn't want to be in the story at all. The enemy is love sick for the hero and dealing with the puberty from hell. The unspeakable evil, isn't. Its just an unforeseen byproduct of the mentor's plan, in which, the hero, is a pawn.

The book plays with archetypes and I read some of them as being fairly meta about their expected place in the story.

Agetha, especially, seems to know her role and resent it. She's who is saved by the hero, whether she likes it or not.

Baz is so certain of his role as "The Enemy" that until his role flips, he's sure his destiny is to be killed by the person he's in love with.

Simon knows his role so well, he's on auto pilot as a defence mechanism. He's either going to die, or he'll get a stock Happily Ever After. He doesn't even allow himself to think too much about what really matters to him, because he knows his life isn't really his.

I would have loved this book because of everything I wrote above, but add to it the nods to fan contribution? It was enough to make me remember my old ff.n login!

I don't know if Rainbow Rowell researched fan fiction but I figure she must have.

I mean, the things I saw played with and reshaped in Carry On, are fanfic tropes. Rowell took things that grew out of fans having fun with their favorite characters and made them canon.

Main character going out with an exchange student, pop culture references, evil good guy, and:

Four words: Draco is a vampire.

Sure, not every fic that used these were the best, but so what? Many were sincere.

What better way to go to Hogwarts as a person raised outside the UK than to live though an OC in an exchange program?

It was weird that no one in the wizard world listened to muggle music, watched movies or TV. Even the muggleborns? I'm sorry, but I was in the same age range as the characters. In fact, if Harry were real, he would be three years older than me. You can't convince me that there were not at least a couple of muggleborns who were  sending an owl a week to remind their parents to tape Friends or My So-Called Life.

There were a fair few stories where Dumbledore or even Harry turned out to be evil. Even before we found out Dumbledore wasn't a saint. It can be fun to play with expectations and Dumbledore was too perfect for too long.

The vampire thing? I mean, why not? Either Draco or Snape. It fits enough for a fic, and you can get some fun stuff out of it. Besides Hogwarts allowed a warewolf, why not a vampire?

The point is, this book reminds me of some goofy fics I read but also reminds me of some that I sometimes have to remind myself aren't canon, because fan fiction can be amazing.

Example: It has been years but I still remember a great fic that someone wrote about Uric The Oddball's years at Hogwarts. I don't remember much about it off hand but I do know that if I re-read HP, when Uric is mentioned, I think of this story like it is something that is actually in the history of the series. (Dude, I googled "Uric the Oddball fan fiction" on a whim. Popped right up: Uric the Oddball and the Wild Hunt by Ariana Deralte. Guess I shouldn't be surprised! Maybe I should read it again to see if it's still as good as I remember).

So yeah, Carry On is so not an HP knock off and has a number of things that I think make me like it more.

The first one is diversity. It is very nice to have it explicitly said in the text that characters are of different ethnicities, sexualities, and abilities. Watford is a far better representation of a population than Hogwarts is, outside of fanfic (It wasn't there, people wrote it in).

Then there is magic itself, it comes from somewhere it's in the environment, it has to do with celestial alignment, people give words power to channel that energy.

That brings me to something that made me adore the world building here.

The actuality of Simon Snow's universe is that Mages cannot exist independently without the Normals. Without the Normals giving weight and meaning to turns of phrase, rhyme and songs, the Mages couldn't do what they do. Add to that, this means that magic is ever evolving and the Mages must learn about and be a part of, to some extent, the Normal world. This makes Mages who look down on Normals seem even more ridiculous.

I also think this book handled romance better than Harry Potter. I don't know what it was but the relationships seemed awkward and strained in HP. Maybe it was because most of it was shoved into one book, like Hogwarts's water supply was spiked with hormones? I don't know.

What I do know is that even though Simon and Agetha are going through the motions of being together in this book, they still feel like two people who have been dating for a long time.

We don't get a lot about Penny and her boyfriend, but the way she is described talking about him reminds me of how my best friend would talk about her boyfriends when she was visiting me. The way she would go on, you'd think that he was on the moon instead of 90 miles away. I bought that Penny and her boyfriend enjoy each other's company.

And the biggie. Simon and Baz

I almost didn't read this book for two reasons. First: Vampire main character. I love vampires, but I lived through the deluge of Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries, not to mention that every other book seemed to be about vampires. Even though I didn't watch or read all of them, I just got vampired out.

Second: I have never been one for the whole "enemies to love interest" thing. The Harry/Draco pairing never spoke to me.  Not that I never read fics that managed that ship well, it was just not my favorite, probably because I just never liked Draco.  I tend to prefer romances that are built on friendship (Remus and Sirius dated each other at some point, and nothing can convince me otherwise).

All that being said, I like the Simon/Baz pairing.

I like that Baz freely admits to the reader that a lot of his tormenting of Simon is pigtail pulling.

I like that Simon is more or less: "I like a guy? A guy who was my nemisis? That's new, let's go for it."

There's none of that "Hate turns to love" shit that I personally can't stand.  None of the "I am evil, yet his light draws me" or "His darkness is so seductive"

Baz isn't a villain needing to rethink his position. He's a slightly snobby guy with a lot of family pressure, who is in love with a dude who has been set up as opposition, by the adults in his life.

Simon isn't a good guy wanting to be bad. He's a guy who is following the path set out for him without giving context to his feelings with thought, because he doesn't think. So, when Baz doesn't show up at the first of the year, Simon knows 3 things for sure:

Baz is his enemy

His enemy is not there

He feels very uneasy about it.

Why?

See numbers 1 & 2

This equals out to "plotting" in Simon's mind because that's what enemies do.

It doesn't dawn on him that he was actually missing Baz and that he has romantic feelings for him until later

I also like the interaction between them. Again, I buy that they like each other. The simpler moments, like sharing food, or being flirty. It also makes sense that Baz is so nervous and guarded about the relationship. It fits that they would bicker and argue while trying to figure every thing out.

The relationships feel authentic.

In fact all of the relationships between  the characters feel authentic.  The sibling relationships between Ebb and Nicky, I know siblings that close. The interaction between Baz and his little sister, I know people like them too. The Friendships; in my opinion, too few friends in fiction are depicted messing with each other or being lovingly annoyed by each other.

I've known my two best friends most of my life. Not a day goes by where one of us doesn't say something that if it was said by anyone else, it would lead to a fight. Said by us, it's funny, or at least something we can't argue with.

So I related when Baz's friend complained that he had wasted his childhood hating Simon now that Simon and Baz were no longer enemies and Baz said: "What else were you going to do with your childhood?"

I spent my 20's with my friends seemingly taking turns crashing at my apartment. I spent most of my time ossulating between wishing they would go home and being glad they were there.

So at the beginning of the book, when Penny won't leave Simon's room? I saw myself in the way Simon felt about it.

That authentic and relatable quality was what I really liked about the quiet - if not Happily Ever After - then the Attempting Normal For Now ending each character got.

Well, as normal as you can get with a story involving  mages, vampires and powerful Elton John songs.

I am a dodecahedron of geekdom, btw and the classic rock side jumped up and down clapping hands at all of the music references (and giggled when Carry On was fallowed by Wayward Son which will be followed by Anyway The Wind Blows). 

And now we come to the reason I have not read the sequel even though it is sitting in a bag with the rest of this year's Powell's haul.

From what I have read, Wayward Son is, at least in part, about what happens after Happily Ever After and ends on a cliffhanger. 

After Happily Ever After with a cliffhanger and no release date... Yeah, that will drive me crazy. I haven't even read the second book and I'm already thinking about the third. Aw man! Who dies? Who breaks up? Who becomes evil?

So, even though road trip stories are right up there with time travel stories as one of my favorites, even though I love the idea of showing a character battling depression, even though I love these characters, period; Wayward Son will stay unread until I run out of new books to read, or the next book's release date is close. Whichever comes first, because I want to think of the characters in their quiet ending ending for a little while.