#i have a grand conspiracy theory for why last twilight went this direction

[waitmyturtles]

Last Twilight, episode 11: reflections

Okie-dokes. Just finished this now-infamous episode and my thoughts are rolling, especially with what I've seen posted throughout today. I think this is going to be more of a musing than a concrete Big Meta, because I am ultimately not going to be surprised if a lot of what was left on the table here will be addressed in episode 12.

One theme that I think an episode 12 will NOT be able to address, is the sudden change of Mhon from episode 10 to episode 11 in regards to her accepting Mhok. As we recall, episode 10 started off REALLY HEAVY. Mhon IS the reason why Mhok leaves as a caretaker in episode 10 and has to find a new job -- that's a fact.

Last night, I reblogged some important and interesting commentary on Mhon from prior to today's episode, especially in terms of examining her actions from an Asian/non-Western lens. I think this commentary was super important to understand her mindset as a work-first single mom up to today's episode. I think an Asian lens absolutely contextualizes her actions up to episode 10, 4/4. But I don't think today's episode helps to offer further context of her actions from a non-Western lens.

Mhon states in episode 11 that she doesn't want to be a "silly mom" who keeps her son from dating; when, unfortunately, she was depicted as doing exactly that in episode 10, to the point that Mhok was in fear between episodes that she'd break them up after seeing them at Christmas dinner.

This a bad plot hole -- and her words, her past, anything, could have been used to save that inconsistency.

I think her sudden acceptance of Mhok in today's episode came off as soapy. And her doubts about Mhok being able to take care of Day without the family's help were a touch condescending. I don't think this episode does enough to place Mhon's last monologue in a place of accurately relating to others. It was clunky and not good.

Aof Noppharnach, I feel, knows how to bridge Mhon's changes better. If episode 12 DOES address these changes -- please, let it be with context and grace. I don't want soapy tropes here, especially because we know that Noppharnach shows have done parenting so much better than this.

Here's one bit that I think the episode did well. While I see a lot of the internet protesting the break-up: in my opinion, I think Day made the right decision for himself at this moment in his life.

Day's life paradigm in 2/4 is repeating itself: as his past caretaker in his mom was the same, his current caretaker is a chef who works morning to night, and Day is alone in his room, eating by himself.

However, Day revels in being in a relationship, finally, where someone isn't taking pity on him, and he can be seen as a potentially self-determining person.

Day's recognizing that he has a path of self-advocacy and self-sufficiency to work on here, as he gets himself out of his hotel room with the use of the cane, and ends up playing with children. Yes, this is happening while Mhok is battling his fears about caring for Day while leaving him alone during work -- which, we learn, is something Mhok cannot ultimately bear if they're together.

A lot of the discontent I'm seeing about the episode on my dash is about Day's not empathizing with Mhok in the moment of the break-up. But Mhok doesn't previously reveal to Day his panic attacks -- the car accident, the search for Day before finding him on the hotel grounds. Mhok only explains to Day his panic reactions regarding Rung at the moment of the break-up. Bro. Communication is a dance for two in a relationship.

What motivates Mhok to be near Day now? Number one: the caretaking, which was a job. Number two: the current nearness, which should now be a relationship, but Mhok's motivation isn't quite the relationship alone, as we learn with his story about Rung. In my opinion, vis à vis Mhok, I think that's a touch disingenuous for Mhok to only be talking about this now to Day, on the cusp of a break-up. This is heavy!

Mhok's motivation is ALSO, now, his being consumed with his perceived economic need to support Day, along with the reality that while Mhok works, Day will be alone... which is something Mhok clearly will have difficulty handling anyway. I'm not sure what the difference is here, between Mhok working a hell of a job in Thailand vs. in Hawaii. Day will still have to learn to be self-sufficient in a relationship with Mhok. Day says this himself.

Day calls Mhok out on exactly this, and breaks up with him. I would argue here, for Day's perceived path to learn to be self-sufficient, that dumping Mhok was the right thing for him. Day is seeing a cycle repeat itself -- someone who is going to "sacrifice" their life for him, and keep Day in a stasis. Day only needs an equal partner to live a blossoming, broader, and independent life -- as we see happening between Aon and Pla. I did not appreciate Mhok's lying, and I agree with @bengiyo's Stray Thoughts on this very much (in which he says this FAR more succinctly than me, ha).

While I think Day made the right decision... I think the execution of all of this was just so clunky. We can do better than this, the tropes, the lying, everything. Imagine an episode of Mhon reflecting on her past, with her monologue reflecting on lessons she's learned by caring for her boys while figuring out the vagaries of an adult needing to be loved in the context of life's complications. Imagine Mhok telling Day about Hawaii right away -- as an equal partner who doesn't PITY his partner would do. Imagine Mhok telling Day about Mhok's panic attacks as they're happening -- and Day, as an equal partner, helping Mhok through that pain.

At least between Mhok and Day, those are growth patterns that can certainly be explained in the long-term course of a relationship. Not everything gets solved in love right away.

But. BUT. We did NOT see this side of Mhok in previous episodes. In previous episodes, Mhok WAS Day's strong and equal partner. In previous episodes, Mhon WAS struggling with her demons. What happened to all of that?

This episode 11 threw too much new and non-contextualized... stuff in the pot, to reach a climatic episode 12. This is heavy family and love stuff that I know past Noppharnach shows have handled deftly, and I'm just a little deflated by it....

...ESPECIALLY because Day's self-advocacy journey is a hell of a storyline that doesn't need scripted curveballs thrown at it by the need for a drama to be "dramatic."

[randomguywithwords]

As The Dust Settles: Chapter 13 (Geten X Dabi Slowburn)

Chapter 13: Violet’s Assignment

AO3 Link: Here

Previous Chapters: 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

––––––––

After the training session, Geten returned to her room, the afterglow of her victory still present on her lips. The wind that whipped through her parka as she rode her ice platform felt cooler than usual; she felt more free and giddy. A minute had passed before she realised she had been humming from satisfaction, to a song she did not remember. 

Perhaps her good mood would last for at least a day or two. 

But as she reached the window of her floor, she saw a soldier standing outside. 

“What?” Geten fixated him with a glare. 

With a shaky bow and a total refusal to make eye contact, he passed her an envelope with arms which were trembling even more, and ran off the second she took the letter. 

Smirking as she saw him sprint down the hallway, she opened it to see a typewritten message by Shigaraki. 

“Emergency meeting, 10am. Usual.” His signature was scrawled at the bottom.

That’s a couple of minutes from now. Damn it. 

With a sigh, she created her ice platform once more and glided towards Re-destro’s mansion. But as she opened the doors of the council room, she frowned, but then...Ah, I see, so that’s what he wants.

“I assume you want to talk to me alone.” Geten scanned the council room, all chairs unoccupied except the one in the middle, where Tomura Shigaraki was leaning back on his, dressed in his black jacket and wearing his signature disembodied hand on his face. 

“Take a seat,” Shigaraki said. Geten did, and then Shigaraki began.

“Have you and Dabi settled your issues?” 

“Somewhat.” Geten met the boy’s eyes. They were sunken and darkened around the edges, like a skull which refused to die. Those crimson irises were the same ones which had rooted the charging Liberation Army in their place out of pure terror, despite Trumpet’s Inciting. 

A question arose to her lips, albeit she did not speak it, as those eyes bore into her: Can he see? Does he have vision? A vision for the Liberation Front? 

These thoughts had formed whenever she saw him address the PLF: at the festival where Re-destro had abdicated his throne, and at yesterday’s meeting.

“So you two can lead the Violet Regiment?”

“Yes.” 

“Good, two more questions.” Shigaraki relaxed his arms on the table as he leaned forward. “Who are you, Apocrypha?”

“You know my name.”

“Apocrypha? Geten? Iceman?” Shigaraki snorted. “Cut the bullshit, they’re your...usernames. The first two mean the same, and it’s ironic, because their meaning tells me you don’t know the answer either.” 

“Then why ask me?” 

“Because I’m wondering if you want to know.”

“No. I have no need for a name. I was Re-destro’s weapon, Shigaraki. A sword has no need for a name any more than a stray dog does. So please, get to the point.” She ended her speech with a glare.

Shigaraki met it with an indifferent expression, perhaps even surprised by that sudden outburst, but then his cracked lips widened in approval. 

“I would’ve killed you for uttering my name.” Shigaraki’s smile was unnerving, and Geten flinched despite herself, “but I could tell you’re different. You’re different from the rest of these cowards.”

“When you have 2 CEOs and a politician, and you had a...journalist, or whatever she was, you were never spoken to properly. Everything needed a bush to beat around. I like to disintegrate the whole forest.” Shigaraki placed four fingers on the desk. Geten knew he could activate it autonomously now, but she understood his point. 

Her hands were off the desk before she realised it. Shigaraki seemed to notice it, and continued,

“I’m asking for your loyalty, because it’s bleeding dry in this army. I’m not stupid. You don’t take over an enemy city and expect the people to bow down. There’s gonna be riots. There’s gonna be a lot of plotting. If you’re smart you would have realised it by now, or even gotten involved…” He looked at her with a suggestive grin. She kept her face impassive, as a bead of perspiration rolled down her forehead.

“But I get the feeling you like to settle things face to face. You’re no assassin, are you? Your skill points seem more geared towards strength.” Shigaraki’s gaze felt like it was penetrating her mind, probing her thoughts. She felt unsafe – a person walking through an alley at twilight. That person never saw the blade of ice, just darkness, and then darkness eternal. 

She felt as vulnerable as the people she had killed.

Does he know too? There’s no way he couldn’t, right? He knew about Takame, wouldn’t he question Skeptic and Trumpet why he wasn’t on the official register? But he said he spoke straightforwardly, not like them. Not like the MLA. 

“Of course not.” The words flowed from her mouth before she could think about it. “And…you have my allegiance, Grand Commander.” She gave a slight bow of her head, even as her mind was suspended in a frenzied blizzard – blind, in chaos, terrified. 

She kept her head down, feeling queasy looking at those red eyes of his. She finally understood why the army had stopped in their tracks then. 

“Good. I look forward to seeing what you can do for me,” Shigaraki said. “Ah, right on time.”

The doors opened behind her as the rest of the PLF lieutenants arrived, one by one.

So there is a meeting? Geten quickly regained her composure. The rest of them could not see her in that state. She could tell some were staring at her, probably curious as to why she was so early. Bowing her head, she made eye contact with no one, her face heating up. 

Once everyone was in, with Dabi strutting in last, the meeting commenced. 

“We have a problem.” Shigaraki stood up. “We wanted to lay low till next Friday. Well, it was going fine, but lately we’ve been picking up some chatter, chatter directed at us. Skeptic, if you would.”

Chikazoku arose with a bow towards Shigaraki and continued with the briefing. “I’ve been watching the media and the attention about the ‘Deika City Incident’, and it was dying out as expected, but I noticed one source that was constantly publishing article after article about conspiracy theories about the Incident. We’re still being talked about, and that cannot happen. I’ve tried on my own ends to stem the flow, but whoever this group or individual is, they’re not stopping. We sent some soldiers from neighbouring provinces to investigate, but they’ve all went silent. So we’re sending Carmine to deal –”

“No.” Shigaraki’s voice cut in as sharp as a knife. “Send Violet.” 

“Tomura-kun!” Toga pouted. “I wanted to taste some blood. Send my regiment!” 

“No, I want Apocrypha and Dabi to do this.” 

All eyes were scattered between Shigaraki, Dabi and her. She kept her eyes on the table, flickering upwards as Re-destro began to speak. 

“But...great leader,” Yotsubashi chuckled nervously. “Isn’t it better to send people like Mr Compress and Himiko Toga who can eliminate people silently?”

“Yeah! I like you, Re-destro! Lemme taste your blood!” Toga cheered, waving a knife at Re-destro like a toddler, who shrunk back into his seat looking even more anxious about the mentally insane girl. 

“Exactly. I want to see how the two of them deal with an assassination.”

The matter seemed to be settled. Even Dabi hadn’t spoken a word in protest. Looking at the corner of her eye, he was shrugging. “Whatever. I get to get out of this shithole and burn some people. I’m cool.” 

“Weren’t you late because you were stuffing yourself with ramen?” Spinner deadpanned, receiving a glare from the fire-user. 

“We’ll get it done, Shigaraki.” Dabi ignored the statement. 

“As long as you don’t draw attention,” Compress warned, causing Dabi to wave at him with a “Yeah, yeah, got it.”

Then Dabi turned to look at the CEO. “Skeptic, fill us in.”

–––––––

Violet Regiment left almost immediately after the meeting. Well, it wasn’t so much of a regiment as it was just Dabi and her. They had decided that an assignment of this caliber did not require any cannon fodder. So, after gathering the items needed and taking a shower, the two of them were on a private plane heading to the Tokugawa Prefecture. 

“Damn, I could get used to this.” Dabi leaned back on his luxury seat, kicking his legs up on the table. Geten, who was seated on the adjacent, opposite seat, snorted. 

“You could. But the ride is only a few hours.”

“Let me enjoy it, come on.” Dabi opened his can of coke and taking a chug.

Sighing, she looked out of the window, seeing the afternoon sky tinted with pink on the horizon. It would be evening when they landed. 

“Aren’t you wondering why we were sent?” Geten looked back at the relaxing Dabi. 

“It’s probably a punishment. Either one of us pissed Shigaraki off.” 

“So you think this whole thing is fake?”

Dabi shrugged. “Maybe. Or Shigaraki doesn’t think it’s that big of a threat to deal with it properly. Or he doesn’t care about us.”

“Does that not bother you?” Geten crossed her arms seeing how nonchalant Dabi was. 

“Nope. Deika City was getting boring anyway. If I have an excuse to leave, I’m taking it. And Shigaraki can send me wherever he likes, I know when to listen and when to do my own thing. You, on the other hand…” Dabi wagged a finger at her. “You were Re-destro’s little puppy, weren’t you?”

“Call me that again and I’ll slap you.” She sent a look of venom his way. 

“But you get what I mean.” Dabi finished his coke. “From what I can tell, you’ve spent your whole life at the heels of these MLA snobs. Now, we’re here, and you have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I know what I’m doing. I’m abiding by Destro’s principles of the strengths of Meta Abilities. But…” Geten’s eyes trailed to the floor. “You got everything else right.”  

That’s it. That’s what I’ve been missing. The League was so...free, and the MLA was so stringent with its rules. 

“Hey.” Dabi’s voice made her look up, expecting more taunting, but his expression caught her by surprise. His eyes were unusually soft, his expression not as condescending. Basically, he looked less like himself, if that was even possible. “You don’t find anything wrong with that?”

“With what?” She tilted her head curiously. 

Dabi opened his mouth, then closed it. Putting his empty can on the table, he said, “Nothing. Why you’d even ask me about this assignment in the first place? Did you do something to Shigaraki?” 

Right, he was late. 

“Well, besides wanting to kill him and everyone else when we met, I can’t imagine why he would want to punish me,” Geten said. 

Dabi saw past her sarcasm studying her expression. “Really, what happened?” 

He could be relaying everything back to Shigaraki. I can’t tell him about what I’ve done, or he’ll do something, or not trust me. 

Why does that matter? Another part of her argued. You can finish this job on your own. 

But that was it, wasn’t it? If she finished this assignment flawlessly, Shigaraki’s suspicions would be confirmed, assuming he didn’t know about her deeds beforehand. And what would happen then? Would he kill her? Lock her up? Demote her to a common foot soldier?

And why was she caring about his trust anyway?

She stared at Dabi, unable to totally decipher his expression, but there was some hint of genuine curiosity, since his eyes were slightly wider than usual. He didn’t seem like the type of person that would be Shigaraki’s servant to the extent of spying on her. 

Can I trust you? She thought.

“He asked me if I wanted to know my name.” It was a good-enough truth. 

“Really? You don’t know yours?” Dabi raised an eyebrow. 

“No. And I don’t care about it either. My name – even if he actually knows it, won’t be a bargaining chip.”

“Why? Don’t you want to know who you are?”

“It’s not important.”

“Hm. Okay,” He said. He didn’t press further, but Geten knew there were a lot of things he left unsaid. The conversation died as Geten turned back to look out the window. 

She had a lot of things unsaid too, but saying any of them to the wrong person could spell death for her. 

Hawks’ words now felt a lot more real, like a spider’s web wrapping her up. No, she didn’t feel safe. Because, and she realised this with a start – if she didn’t need real allies then, she did now. 

The word sounded so foreign. Whatever the meaning of it was, she knew at its roots, she just needed people to trust. And loyalty was bleeding dry in the PLF. 

She looked to the corner of her eye to see Dabi taking a nap. A realisation dawned on her. She had no idea why – It could have been because she had, at the very least, the leverage of strength over him, or that he spoke of Shigaraki and the MLA with disrespect, or the seemingly genuine interest in her name…

But out of all the people in the PLF, if she had to pick one person to trust, it would be him. 

But can I, Dabi? Can I trust you, and would you trust me?

––––––––––

Done. Yay. Entering a new “arc” so to speak. I really hope the tonal issues doesn’t throw your reading off. On one hand I’m trying to craft a proper internal struggle in both characters about their identity and on other issues plaguing their lives. But on the other I still want their witty banter (and fluff in later chapters), so if the disparity is too apparent, let me know. Thanks. 

And I haven’t forgotten about Dabi’s backstory, or Twice or Hawks. All in good time. I have the next few chapters planned out already. Not sure how long they’re going to be, but for this “arc” it’s really just gonna be the two of them. 

Also, anon, if you’re reading this, I hope the Geten/Shigaraki conversation was what you envisioned, or that you’re okay with how it turned out. If the dynamics wasn’t what you thought it would be, sorry ><

As for everyone else, I hoped you liked it. Any feedback is appreciated (like, really, if you didn’t like it for anyone reason, do let me know. If you want to send anon hate, I’ll genuinely entertain it as long as you really do have something constructive to discuss, and not like, idk, you just hate Dabi or villains in general. Doesn’t add anything to the discussion – well, nothing useful anyway.)