#i just wish we could have seen some jail flashbacks in the show

[biggest-vi-defender]

okay, but when are we actually gonna talk about how truly violent & angry vi was & acted while she was trapped in stillwater for those 5-7 years?

i can only imagine the kind of thoughts that would run through her head daily, the kind of things she saw & experienced, the amount of times people tried to hurt and/or kill her, all of the beating from the guards, the kinds of violence she enacted against others…. all of it.

[commenter2]

Exes and Oohs breakdown (spoilers)

Another Moxxie episode where we see his father AND ex-boyfriend.

This episode already gets points for coming out on the weekend, as a lot of people like myself didn’t like how the last episode aired during the work week.

Looks like Loona’s fat shaming/gas lighting is working, as Moxxie is now starting to believe it.

From time to time I have brought up the idea that Millie’s anger might be related to some kind of mental or psychological problem, and its moments like this that seem to hint/confirm it. It’s nice to see Moxxie being one of the things that can calm her down.

Looks like Moxxie and Millie aren’t the only people Blitzo likes to see doing it.

Heh it’s a Hell-icopter. Hey if Vivziepop can make the occasional cheesy joke in her videos then why can’t I, especially since I’ve already ignored several big ones of hers so far in the series.

Returning background characters. Well those kids are going to need therapy.

So this episode takes place in the Greed ring. Kind of hoping we would go to Envy, but at least we can learn more about the Greed ring.

Interesting to know that there is vehicle sized elevators available to take people to other rings while in their respective vehicles. Explains how Blitzo can bring the I.M.P. van to places.

Loo Loo Land is still a wreck.

Mammon is so cheap, he won’t pay to print his own logo on all of his things.

Improper toxic waste disposal. That’s the reason why the place is so green.  It’s probably more radioactive then anywhere in the Fallout series. Eh better than just having it represent money.

Before I forget, it seems like the theory of the shark demons being from Greed is true. It does make me wonder if there a sub-species though, as I’m sure there are some sharks in the Envy ring that look totally different from what we’ve seen, heck I think we saw some of them in “Ozzie’s”

In that wide shot where we see Crimson and that big shark guy, what is that red demon supposed to be? He looks like a Imp/Incubus mixed with something else that looks very bird like to me. Could he be the bastard child of a Goetia who slept with a lower-class demon?

Crimson says Blitzo is becoming famous but is it because of his business or because of his “relationship” with Stolas as the events of “Ozzie’s” still haven’t been showed yet. Has my wish of their relationship still being a secret coming true? I guess we will have to wait till the Ozzie X Fizz episode.

THAT’S NOT ANDY BERMAN!! Come on that would have been awesome for this episode, and I’m not even an Invader Zim fan.

WAIT HE DATED MOXXIE AND MILLIE! Now that’s a twist while still breaking away from cliché tropes.

Of course Blitzo is jealous of Chaz getting with M and M XD

Baby Moxxie and his mother! Looks like she wasn’t happy in the relationship, poor thing. At least it’s fitting and tolerable for this one time story compared to another cliche marriage but I’m not getting into that as today is all about Moxxie and Millie.

I will say, Moxxie’s mother is beautiful!

Love the flashbacks followed by the Titanic references, even Blitzo calls it out XD.

For robbing a bank owned by the demon of Greed, I’m surprised Moxxie only went to jail. You think a crime like that would be instant death or getting tortured from the demon himself.

MOXXIE AND BLITZO FIRST MEETING! I wished Moxxie had talked more in that conversation but it’s nice to see how it all started. It also seems to show that Moxxie likes Blitzo because he’s leagues nicer than his father and ex, betting its was how Blitzo wanted to get in touch with Loona that sealed their friendship.

By Moxxie saying “sissy lifestyle” I’m guessing Crimson is homophobic. I can see several HH/HB characters having issues with that.

Looking closer, Chaz’s hairstyle is very similar to Seviathan von Eldrtich’s hairstyle. I’m guessing that is a common style for aquatic demons.

Please tell me were going to get a “Princess Bride” scene later in this episode with Millie in the Westley role :D

So Crimson is homophobic. I’m also still surprised by what this series can get away with sometimes when it comes to visuals.

The flashbacks are education as along with getting more confirmation of Moxxie’s childhood and Crimson being a bad father and husband (not surprising) with very little words, but it’s also thanks to him Moxxie’s mother is gone. Damn. Hell just got a lot uglier without her in it.

It also seems like the HB fandom has another person to ship with Stella :3

Fourth wall break.

Imagine if before Chaz and Blitzo did the nasty, Stolas appeared with a camera, causing Blitzo to go “Are you F^&*ing filming us!”

Moxxie’s last name is Knolastname!

Moxxie X Millie FOREVER!

I honestly wasn’t expecting Chaz to have his own agenda, I thought we would see Millie learn about the wedding and try and stop it. Heck I’d be okay if Blitzo did this as he hasn’t done much in the episode, almost like he SHOULDN’ T have been in it.

“Says he’s better then he looks only to be knocked out” cliché. It would have been cool to see Moxxie do some action before getting knocked out, as that would be another reason why Crimson ties him up as he see’s that his son can be a problem.

I have been wondering what a demon wedding looks like, so it was nice seeing some elements of it.  I am surprised that the demon priest is wearing attire an actual human priest would wear. You think he would wear something more IDK… hellish, like wearing all red or something. Ooo what about gray as that could represent the groom (who wears white) and bride (who wears black) becoming one!

Want to point out that Wrath channel is playing a country like song, fitting given we know it’s filled of farmers and other stereotypical country stuff.

We’re getting our “Princess Bride” scene!!!!!

Mille gives Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion a round for his money on, I mean she pulls out people’s skulls and spines WAY better then him.

She literally just turned a shark into sushi XD

After all that, I would have just killed Crimson, and maybe Chaz, so they can’t cause future problem especially when they already have tons of enemies but that’s just me. At least I could see them returning in interesting ways but more on that later.

It honestly wasn’t surprising to see Loona still in that chair, heck I bet she could stay in any chair for weeks without having the need to get up.

NO KEEP THE HELL-ICOPTER GUYS! That would have been cool to have for later.

I don’t think Chaz is dead, however without his teeth I bet he wished he was.

Actually thinking back, I’m surprise that though he is a shark demon, he can’t regrow teeth like an actual shark. It makes me wonder if other animal like demons lack traits the actual animal has, like I could see bee demons being able to use their stingers without fear of it coming off naturally.

Another episode, another Hell enemy for I.M.P. though I do see this leading to a good episode.

(watching credits) DAMMIT Chaz is dead. Why couldn’t it be Striker! I really would have liked to have seen Chaz return with not only dentures to replace his missing teeth, but also trying the same plan on Helsa Von Eldritch in a Hazbin Hotel episode. I feel like this potential episode would have been a growing moment for Charlie who discover Chaz’s plans, and though she hates Helsa (showing similar traits to how her father hates people like Adam or Michael in that episode which are pointed out by the characters) she puts it aside and helps Helsa realize she is being used and maybe while the two still hate each other, there is some respect between them as maybe Helsa does something that helps the Hotel.

Another good episode that is fitting with this season’s theme of expanding more on the character’s backstories, though this one is the best so far. All the positives about the episode are the same as previous episodes so I’m going straight to the negatives.

Though I do like how Millie got some good screen time, I wish we could have explored more about her in it, like what if she always had a bad reaction when dealing with exes EVEN when said ex tries to be friendly with her?  It also would have been nice and fitting with her character if she tried to bond with Crimson during the episode or again figure out his plan’s with Moxxie and instantly tries to stop it.

As I mentioned in my Helluva Boss EXPO literature, I didn’t like Blitzo being in another episode that really would have been better off as a Moxxie and Mille only episode. I recently watched a DCAU Justice League/JLU review and it went over how though it was about a team, not every team member appeared in every episode which was a plus as it gave stories where the problem couldn't be solve in 5 minutes because this specific character was there but also gave us interesting character interactions and dedicated screen time for said characters. It would be nice to see that later on in Helluva Boss in some way. Same with how Crimson being another bad father since we’ve gotten plenty of those. Again I know bad parents is a theme in Vivzies’s shows but I think it be nice to get more “variety” like that headcanon I made about Moxxie’s father being an actor, but more on that in my eventual Helluva Boss rewrite. It IS happening but there is no big rush right now, which gives me time to focus on other things I need to catch up on. I at least hope HH’s Lucifer isn't like that as it would be nice if he was a character who loves Charlie but strongly think her redemption idea should be stopped as along with how he feels like his pride is being attacked a bit, he is scared of her failing and maybe because of something else as I suggested in my HH season 1 premiere post.

At least Crimson’s personality could lead to an interesting future episode where he tries to get revenge on Moxxie and especially Millie, which would hurt Moxxie more. He’d be perfect for the antagonist of my episode idea where Moxxie and Millie go and spend time with Millie’s family, as Crimson has orchestrated the events that led Millie’s father Joe in a bad position and unknowingly lures Moxxie to him in order to get out of it. Of course seeing how Crimson treats Moxxie, and realizing he isn’t going to let him go and plans on hurting Millie next, Joe goes back on his deal and the two (along with Millie and her other family members) defeat Crimson who I could see dying of natural causes because he refused to give up on getting back at Moxxie. This episode could also make Millie’s parents finally accept Moxxie as one of the family and maybe Moxxie starts seeing Joe as a new father figure.

This episode was worth the long wait, and luckily Spring starts soon so hopefully episode 4 will come out soon. I have to say I’m excited for the upcoming Blitzo centered episodes as they guarantee to give us some good stuff.

What are your thoughts on the episode?

[usetheeauthor]

The Satanic Panic III +18

Devil!Perv!Eddie Munson x Witch!Sinclair!Reader

For other chapters/story summary check out: https://usetheeauthor.tumblr.com/post/691280498281070592/the-satanic-panic-series-masterlist-18

Summary: You learn the story of how Eddie became the devil. Now he rules over you as your Dark Lord who, by the way, has a lot of fans. Also, you, Eddie, and his gang conduct a séance.

Word Count: 4.7k+

A/N: This was a gonna be long one so the next one chapter will be a continuation of the séance. There are some Eddie/Reader dynamics in this as they are exploring their relationship more. There’s even some hints of Steddie in this. I enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy reading it.

Warnings: blood/blood drinking, occultism, cults, Steve being a devil worshipper/cult leader, spit kink (magic transfer), sexual tension, if you squint perv!Eddie, religious themes, blasphemy, brief steddie kiss/steddie moments, smoking herbs

III. The Séance Pt. I

“You’re who now?” You were dumbfounded.

“Ya know, the Devil. Satan. Beelzebub. However you wish to call me.”

You stare hard at him before bursting into a fit of laughter. “T-that’s r-really good,” You tried speaking through your giggles. “Possibly the funniest joke you’ve said since I’ve know you actually.”

“First off, ouch! I think I’m pretty damn funny. Secondly, how the fuck do you explain all the teleportation I just did?”

“I don’t know maybe I’m having a fever dream right now. In fact, I’ll go right back to bed and when I wake up, this will all be a dream.” You tried to head back to your bedroom, but your feet stayed planted to the ground. You lifted your legs, twisted, shook left to right but you wouldn’t budge. You look over to Eddie who donned a toothy grin.

“How are you doing that?”

“I told you. I’m the—”

“Impossible!”

“Would you like another demonstration?”

By the looks of his mischievous smile, it was probably in your best interest to say no. “How did it happen?”

“A good friend told me showed me the dark path.”

*flashback to a year ago*

Eddie’s escorted into the psychiatric facility, walking passed the prisoners that will soon be his neighbors. He put on a brave face but deep down he was an absolute wreck. Eddie wasn’t a fighter. He liked music and had nerdy interests like D’N’D. If there was anything he learned from his father, who’d been in and out of jail, is that he couldn’t show himself as weak especially if he’s the newbie.

Life wasn’t easy in the ward. Eddie fought constantly for his life, learning how to fight and make weapons for himself. He’d held his own in these fights. But how much can you really fend for yourself against a group? They called him “the fish”. That’s what they usually call the new kid on the block.

Yet Eddie would once again earn his title as “The Freak”. It all began the day Eddie was moved to a different cell block and he met his new cellmate, Steve Harrington.

Steve seemed like a well-composed fellow. A man only a year older than the metalhead. He is cool, calm, collected and extremely charismatic. So charismatic that even the correctional officers had a friendly relationship with the man. So what was he doing in such a place like this? He’s a cult leader and his extreme ideologies have led people to commit organized crimes against humanity in the name of the group, The Children of the Dark.

At first, Eddie never spoke to anyone including his new cellmate. He’d stare up at the ceiling in his top bunk, while Steve would rant on his own about society.

“If people really looked…and I mean, really look at the world around them, they’d see the things they’ve overlooked their whole lives. People like us, though. We’re different. We see things that are out of the ordinary. Things we can’t explain. And what do they do to us for seeing it? We get locked away.”

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed, wondering what he could’ve meant by that. Before he could come up with an idea, Steve continues.

“You’ve seen things, too. Haven’t you, Eddie?”

The eerie question hangs in the air. Eddie remains silent.

“These things they’re hard to explain. Now you’re locked away here for murder. A murder you didn’t commit.”

Now Eddie’s fully invested. He sits up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed to look at the cellmate. “What do you mean?”

“I’m saying you and I both know you didn’t kill that girl but you saw something that did. Am I right?”

“Y-yeah. How’d ya know?”

“Because… the Dark Lord told me,” Steve says, simply. “I’m the Dark Lord’s mouthpiece. He sees and speaks through me. My body is his vessel. All Children of the Dark are his vessels to use. And now our lord seeks you, Eddie Munson. He sees something special in you.”

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about? This whole ‘body is a vessel’ spiel is total horseshit. Called bullshit from the second I heard ‘Dark Lord’,” Eddie sighs, swinging his leg back on the bed and lying on his back once again. “You wouldn’t understand what I saw. Now that was real.”

“You mean, the Angel Bots?”

Eddie’s eyes bug out and he swallows hard. He turns his head to the side, eyes meeting Steve’s intense ones.

“I’ve seen ‘em, too. They only reveal themselves to those with spiritual eyes because they exist in a whole other realm. You’ve seen the angel bot because they’ve wanted you to see them. You’re seen as a threat. I can’t see your aura but I’m sure that it’s gotta be serious business if they hadn’t killed you yet.”

“Why haven’t they killed you? You’ve seen one. How are you still alive? Because I have the mark of Cain,” Steve rolls up his sleeve revealing a tattoo in the inner forearm. “The Dark Lord marked me which means they can’t hurt me.”

“Why’d he give you something like that?”

“To recruit members like you. The Angel Bots will probably come after you once again. If that fateful day comes where they find you, you’ll be dead meat. But…there’s a way you can be saved. The lord offers his mercy to you. You’ll be granted freedom if you accept his terms. All ya gotta to do is give your body to him. Be his to own.”

Eddie knew that this was madness but he couldn’t help his curiosity. “And how would I be granted freedom?”

“All I can say is, the Dark Lord will allow the evidence to go in your favor. After all, did you really think you’d be able to explain that hole through the roof of your trailer without sounding crazy? You can thank Him for his intervention.”

Eddie thought back to you. You’d told him that the hole in the ceiling had sealed magically. Whole time it was the devil himself.

“Don’t you want to avenge the girl of your dreams? Now is that chance, Munson. It won’t hurt to give yourself to the cause after all he’s done for you.”

“I’m in looney bin, man. What should I be thanking Him for?”

“For giving you another chance,” Steve answers. “Accept him and he’ll grant you the things you most desire. Is it power you crave? He’ll do that. Is it money? That’ll be no issue. Is it women? Men? Let’s just say they won’t be able to resist you.”

“You don’t look so glamorous. Well, aside from the hair, anyway,” Eddie says, gesturing him up and down. “The hell are you doing in a place like this? Where’s your lord to come and save you?”

“Thanks for the compliment,” Steve runs his hands through his hair. “If your ever in need of any hair tips, I’m your guy.”

Eddie stares at him, bored.

Steve laughs. “I’m here because I chose to be here. My mission was to find you. I’d say I did a job well done,” He smiles. “Honestly, it seems like it’s a lot sane in here than it is out there.”

“So, let’s say, hypothetically, if I were to take this offer, what would be the catch?”

“That’s the beauty of it, Eddie. There is no catch. All that He asks of you is that you remain loyal and devoted. And shall he call upon you, you must answer.”

“That sounds a lot like a catch to me.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Steve shrugs. “Although, I’d make the decision soon. Your luck is running low. You won’t be so lucky the next time, they attack. Then, what’ll all this be for? No vengeance and dying knowing the whole town still thinks you’ve killed that cute cheerleader. That’s a shitty way to die if you ask me.”

Eddie speaks slowly; not sure of what he wants. “And if I do say yes, how does this whole body offering work?”

“Well, is that a ‘yes’?”

“It’s a ‘possibly’ if I know this isn’t going to hurt, at least.”

“It won’t hurt in the slightest, man. Come out of bed. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Eddie hesitate, eyeing the young man who’s smile never falters. He reluctantly jumps from his top bunk, standing face to face with him.

“We’ll do the blood sacrifice. You’ve got a shank somewhere round here?”

“N-no.” Eddie’s eyes, shift back and forth.

Steve stares at him with an unconvinced look. Eddie sighs, pulling out the knife and plopping it into Steve’s awaiting hands.

“Relax, Munson. I’m not gonna tell anyone you’ve got a weapon,” Steve takes the knife, sliding it across Eddie’s thumb. Eddie hisses at the pain, noticing that he’s drawn blood. “My Dark Lord. Our Master. I offer you the blood of a willing brother. Ad profundis inferni. I offer him to you. His temple now yours to own.”

Steve brings Eddie’s thumb up to his mouth, drinking the blood flowing from it. Eddie, watches him in horror. Steve then proceeds to lock eyes with the shaggy-haired metalhead placing a hand at the back of his neck and pulling him in. Their lips colliding, catching Eddie off-guard but he doesn’t push away.

Eddie feels as if his very soul is being sucked from his body. He feels empty yet also whole. A tingling sensation coming over him. Then the pressure begins to feel so heavy that Eddie worried his head would explode. Hot, searing energy course through his veins. It didn’t hurt but it was so overwhelming that he’d pushed at Steve’s chest, breaking the kiss.

The look in Steve’s eyes indicated terror and concern. Eddie could feel the energy warp his perception of reality and time. Things feeling fast and slow all at once. He’d grown fangs, long fingernails like claws, his head feeling a heavy pressure as horns pushing through his scalp. Bones shifting in his flesh. This was beyond painful at this point. Eddie howls at the biting sensation.

When the transformation finally ceased, Eddie began to feel a strength and power he’s never known to exist. He looks at his appearance in the mirror. His eyes now a deep black.

“What’s happened to me?”

Steve approaches Eddie slowly; his heartbeat the only sound in his ears as he observes him. “Dark Lord?”

Eddie stares at him, confused why he’s saying it to him.

“You’ve consumed the devil and his divine energy. I don’t understand how this is possible but…you’ve become the Dark Lord himself.”

Before any protest could be made, Steve immediately bows down on his hands and knees. “He’s deemed you worthy of his power,” He rises his face from the ground looking up at the half-demon, half-human form. His hand to his chest. “From now til the end, I will serve you. I devote my life to you. Eddie Munson, Lord of the Dark.”

*end of flashback*

“He kissed you?!” You say, jaw dropping.

“I give you the full story of how I became ruler of the underworld, and that’s what you picked up from all this?” Eddie scoffs.

“Sorry, but to be fair, I’m really intrigued by this Steve dude. He really is charismatic.”

“Do you realize that I’m now a completely different person?”

“I wouldn’t use the words ‘completely different’ so lightly in this context.”

“Ash, will you please be serious?”

“Sorry, I want to but you’ve still got me planted to the ground like I’m some clothing store mannequin. Maybe ease up a little, will ya?”

He frees you from his control and you make your way over to him, arms crossed and observing his face.

So this was why you’ve been noticing changes in his behavior with each visit. “Do you feel any different? Aside from the cool powers. Are you still you? I mean, you sound like you.”

“I’m still me…I think. I have all my memories, I still enjoy my music, still have feelings and emotions. Not sure if the Devil was ever capable of that. But I also have new motivations and goals that I want to accomplish. That part I’m sure isn’t me but I need to follow through with them.”

“What motivations?”

“I need more followers.”

“You mean for like people to worship you.”

“I wouldn’t say worship per se. Maybe more like being a leader they can look up to.”

You nod. “Okay. Good luck on those endeavors.”

You turned away from him when you suddenly felt him pressed up against you from behind, lips brushing against your ear.

“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice is low with a dark undertone. “You didn’t think you’d be getting off that easy…did you?”

You look up at him over your shoulder, shivering at his sudden shift in presence. “What do you mean?”

He rest a finger under your chin, beckoning you to slowly turn and face him. “I want you…”

The finger under your chin began to trail down your neck, right against your pulse. He traces over the vein lightly. You were sure that he could feel your heart pounding at an alarming rate.

“By my side.” He finishes.

“By your side?” You echoed as if you were in a trance; eyes glossed over.

He nods, cupping your face in his soft, large hands and smiling warmly at you. “Yes, Ashley. I need you by my side. Devoted to me. Submitting to my every request. In return, I’ll give you what you most desire.”

“What I most desire?”

“Mhm. I can make you so powerful. Your family, too. All you need to do is announce me as your master, your king, your dark lord and you will never have to settle for less again.”

His thumb swipes over your bottom lip. You couldn’t think right for some reason. You clench your thighs together, a sudden ache between them. No way were you getting worked up by this guy. His aura does have a powerful effect on you but this is still Eddie we’re talking about.

“I want to lift my family’s curse. I want to have power.” You say, dazed.

He moves closer to you, lowering his face so it hovered inches away from yours. You look at him, doe-eyed.

“Then say the words, Ashley. Tell me that you are mine.”

“I-I can’t say it. I can’t belong to anyone.”

A deep growl rumbles within his chest. And for a moment, You were scared that he’d transform and reveal his full demonic form. “But you will,” His voice is darker, deeper. You couldn’t deny the butterflies that fluttering in your belly. “You must.”

“What if I don’t want that?”

He laughs. “You don’t get that choice.”

“Says who?”

“Well, I won’t force you but it looks like your body is speaking for itself,” He smirks, eyes raking down your frame. Goosebumps littered your skin; your hardened nipples present against your clad white tank top. “It’s calling for me, Ash. Begging me to feed it the power it so desperately needs. The question is, though, will you let it starve?”

You hadn’t realized you’d been holding your breath while he observed you until you let out a shaky exhale. “Oh, god. Please.” You weren’t sure what you were begging for.

“Not God. Me.”

“I want it, Eddie. So badly.”

“Then say the words.”

You inhale deeply then breathe out again. “Eddie…”

“Wait. I want you on your knees as a sign of your full submission.”

You roll your eyes. Was this really necessary? Nevertheless, you found yourself lowering to the ground eye never leaving his. “I, Ashley Vita Sinclair, announce you, Eddie Munson, as my master, my king, my dark lord. I offer myself to you and you only. Please accept this offering as my full submission to you.”

Eddie seems to be pleased with your prayer. Then, he tilts your head up higher, placing his thumb firmly under your chin. He tugs below your lip causing your lips to part slightly. “Open wide. Tongue out.” He orders.

What the fuck was he doing? Part of you wanted to get off your knees and give him a piece of your mind. The other part of you, however, was curious to see how this would play out so you obey.

“Ad profundis inferni.” He chants before sticking his surprisingly long tongue out. A line of saliva hangs on the tip of his tongue and falls onto yours, connecting the two of you indirectly. “Swallow.”

You do as your told swallow and break the line connecting you to him. You feel different. A new sense of energy flowing through you.

“Rise to your feet.”

You follow his command, watching him intently and waiting for the next step. He throws his hands up with a satisfied expression.

“You’re officially a part of my kingdom. Welcome, welcome.”

“That was…” You feel hypnotized before quickly reverting back to your usual wittiness. “Possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“A funny way of saying you liked it but okay.” He winks.

——

Once Eddie left, you’d made the initiative to test out your newfound state of magic. Reaching your hands out in front of you, you focus on the spell you’ve been trying to perfect for weeks. The Levitation spell.

“Vis intus esto meicordia levitatis.” You shout at the top of your lungs. When nothing happened, you were this close to going over to Eddie’s place to call him out. That was until you felt your feet slowly lift off the ground. You were floating in mid space; your long braids, floating and swirling around you. The hair movements resembling Medusa’s head of snakes.

You laugh at your success doing a backflip before slowly descending down to your rug. You’d actually did it! You knew you had to celebrate. Running up to your house phone, you dialed for your parents house waiting excitedly for an answer.

“Hello? Max?” Lucas answers in a hurried tone.

“Were you waiting by the phone the entire time?”

“Ash,” Lucas groans, annoyed. “Couldn’t you just call later. I’m kinda of waiting for a call from her and I don’t want to miss it.”

“It’s 9:35 pm. She ain’t gonna call you, buddy. Whatever you did to make her pissed off, all you gotta do is apologize and admit your wrong. Anywho…enough with the sisterly advice. I’ve got great news. Put me on speaker. I want everyone to hear this.”

“I’m honestly surprised you have any good news at all. Today was hell for me at school. Word went around that you’re a witness in support of Eddie and it made a lot of people angry. Now they’re taking it out on all of us.”

“What? That’s terrible. Are you okay? What about Erica? Is she alright?”

“She’s fine. You know her.”

You weren’t fully convinced that she was alright, making a note to come by and check on her whenever you had the time. “What about you, though?”

He sighs. “My team won’t even look at me. No one’s beat me up or anything but…it’s fine. Whatever.”

“It’s not fine. Ughh, people in this town are so frustrating. They don’t even understand what the hell is going on,” You squeezed your eyes shut, resting the phone against your forehead the bringing it back to your ear once more. “I’ll fix this.“

“How?”

“I don’t know how but I will. Nobody messes with my siblings,” You assured him before adding. “Except for me.”

He laughs.

“So is that why Max is angry with you?”

“No. She’s not angry. She’s just having trouble sleeping and I told her she can call me so we can stay on the phone until she sleeps. She’s probably asleep.”

“Don’t give up on hope just yet, lover boy. I think I might’ve been a little hasty. Give it until 10 maybe she’ll call. I’ll hang up and leave you at it.”

“Wait! You said you had some good news. What is it?”

“Oh, it’s just some candles I got on sale.” You lied. It was probably best to tell them another time.

“You called to talk about…candles?”

“Yeah, but, they were for a really good deal at Benny’s. I got to save 25% off.”

“Riiight. I’m gonna hang up now. I’ll be waiting for a call that actually matters.”

The phone clicks off. You let out a groan, slamming the phone back into its place. How in the hell were you going to fix this mess?

———

You stopped by your frequented herbal shop to pick up some herbs for Eddie who apparently needed the for something. This ‘Eddie being the devil’ thing was really starting to freak you out. He seemed to know more about occultism than you have your entire life!

It wasn’t lost on you that you were getting looks from people in public. You decide to brush it off; not letting them get to you.

You walk up to the counter and greet the store owner who’s son, Will, happened to be one of Lucas’s best friends.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Byers.”

“Please, Ashley, you know you can call me Joyce,” She smiles. “What can I do for ya?”

“I need 4 grams of Ice Seed, 2 grams of Dream Turmeric, and 6 grams of Annaley.”

“Ooh, are we conjuring up a potion?” Joyce questions, jokingly.

You give a nervous laugh. “Just a self-care bath.”

“Self-care’s good,” She says, while looking for the exact herbs. Once she’s done, she hands you prettily purple bow-tied sack and book. “It’s on the house.”

“No, I can’t accept.” Herbs were hella expensive so you knew she’d be missing on a hefty profit.

“Trust me, Ash. You’ll need this.” She tilts her chin down, looking at you knowingly. “I know that people in this town have been a little bitchy because of your testimony but you still have me in your corner.” She winks.

You smile. “What about the book?”

“Keep it. It’ll probably have better use in your hands. I can’t figure out that confusing thing. Maybe you can.”

You look down at the leather book which had characters written in the front you couldn’t decipher.

Parking your car in the driveway, you made it to the location that Eddie specified. It was a home you weren’t familiar with. Just as you were about to head for the front door, the garage door lifts up and you stood watching until it revealed the devil himself.

“Who’s place is this? Don’t tell me pillaged a family of 4 for this.” You quip.

“Hardy, har, har. Will you just get in here already?” He have you in. “This is my friend Gareth’s place. Did you get the herbs?”

You held up the bag before following him. “Yep. What will we be doing with these exactly?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” He smirks.

“I don’t like that smile.”

You enter the home through the garage following him down to the basement. It was dark; dimly lit by candles around the room. His friends sat around a long rectangular table.

“Everyone, I’d like for you to meet Ashley, formally. Ashley, these are my buddies Gareth, Jeff, and…Steve.”

Your eyes widened as you glanced over at Steve. “Whoa, whoa. I thought this man was in prison for organized crimes?”

“Don’t be afraid, Ash. I don’t bite.” Steve winks. You seethe at the use of your nickname being used so soon and casually.

Eddie places his hands on your shoulders. “Simmer down, little firefly,” He takes the sack of herbs from your hands. “Go on and have a seat. The fun’s about to start.”

You sigh, grabbing a chair next to Jeff.

“No, you sit next to me.” He points to the front of the table where there’s a throne at the end. He takes your hand and you could feel your face getting hot as the group’s eyes were on you.

Your seated in the chair closest to him and across from Steve who flashes you a teasing smile. Eddie sits at his throne and begins the meeting.

“Could I just start by saying that I’m already loving the team we’re building so far? I know I haven’t actually recruited anyone yet but I really feel the love from you all.” He looks to the side him and sees your grumpy face; arms crossed.

Gareth speaks up, excited. “You’ve got plenty of people to choose from, Eds. Even with half the town against you, you have so many who want to either pick at your brain or give you—”

“Wait, so the people in this town have been dumping on me and my family since the trial but you’re getting the celebrity treatment?”

Eddie looks concerned. “People have been harassing you and your family for defending me.”

You nod. “Yeah. My mom’s been having a hard time finding another case to work on because no one wants to hire her after the loss. Lucas and Erica are getting bullied at school. And well, I guess my dad’s fine. He’s a cop so ya can’t really bully them.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Ash. I didn’t know. Nobody’s said anything about it. Hell, I play D’N’D with Lucas the other day. He didn’t say a word. I’ll handle it for you. No one’ll bother you or your family again.”

“How?”

“Just leave it to me. Trust in your master.”

It felt weird having him say it in front of everyone since the only time you’d refer to him as that was when you were alone. You nod, trying not to feel the overwhelming sensation of wanting the ground to swallow you.

“Okay, fellas and lady, let’s begin the séance.”

The boys hoot and holler. Your mouth drops open. “I’m sorry. Séance?”

“Yep.” Eddie says, shrugging.

“As in communicating with the dead?” You further elaborate.

“Yeah.” The group speaks in unison.

“Oookay. I guess I could use even more excitement in my life.” You laugh, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

“That’s the spirit.” Steve says, patting your hand.

For a split second, Eddie looks between you two with a pissed expression. He composes him pouring the herbs onto the table. “This won’t be just any kind of seance. In true ‘Eddie’ fashion, we are going to smoke these herbs and then the heavy smoke with guide us. Then, we’ll be in contact with the land of the dead.”

“I’ve never gotten high before, Eds. What if I trip balls and get in contact like with my late grandmother, Pearl. She’s really Christian.” Jeff says, his tone high in pitch.

“I can hold your hand through it, big boy.” Eddie jokes, while rolling up the herbs.

“I got these herbs because you wanted to get high while simultaneously being in a séance? This is not how I pictured my Thursday afternoon.” You shake your head.

“What can I say? Spontaneity is the spice.” Eddie before holding up the joint to your face. “Will you do the honors and speak ‘the land of the dead’ spell onto the herbs?”

You look at him and at the guys, then back to him and whispered. “Eddie, they don’t know I’m a witch.”

“And they didn’t know I was the devil until just this morning. Well except, Steve. He practically knows everything. They don’t care what we are, Ash. They live for shit like this. Now will you please do the honors.”

“I don’t know that spell. I’ve never hosted a séance.”

“You know because you are an extension of me. Go on. Speak.”

You exhale, closing your eyes. “Quarta pars Ice Seed, medium pars Dream Turmeric, totum Annaley. Coniunge et fac unum. Iunge nos cum mortuis et separa a vivis.”

You opened your eyes and absolutely nothing happened. “You see I told you I didn’t know.”

All of a sudden, the herbs began to shimmer and glow and everyone stared at it in wonder. Eddie shooting you and I told you so look. “Quit doubting yourself all the time. You’ve got it.”

You really appreciated Eddie being so encouraging of you. You were so used to your shortcomings revealing themselves while attending your academy that you’d gotten used to expecting failure. But Eddie always show you how special you were even before he’d became the devil himself. You valued your unlikely duo of a friendship.

Eddie sparks up the joint. “Now, shall we begin with the séance?”

Taglist: @nerdypartytrashpsychic @frozenhuntress67

LOOK OUT FOR

IV. The Séance Pt. II

The Gang conducts a séance looking for answers but leaving with more questions. Also, Eddie’s getting really tired of your attitude.

[romanogers-lyrics]

TFAWS Ep 4: Oh they went THERE 🤭

Ya’ll I feel sick to my stomach from what I just saw so let’s start at the end and work back...

John Walker killed a man. With the shield.

The shield is covered in blood and I don’t think we’ve ever seen that before. And here I thought the gun in episode 2 was bad.

Edit I know Steve uses a similar move in civil war but it was not meant to be lethal. He was making a point.

I figured he would have a power hungry spiral from the beginning just to further distance himself from steve. We see fake!cap becoming more and more undone throughout the episode. He craves more power and didn’t hesitate twice before taking the serum.

I legit felt a little bad for him because he was so helpless and disrespected but he fundamentally didn’t understand the power he was given so more power will never be the solution.

“Good becomes great, bad becomes worse” - Erskine in first avenger

Even Zemo concedes there has never been another like Steve Rogers. All have been corrupted by the serum but damn they took it there. I kinda have to hand it to Marvel for making things this dark.

AND TO ADD TO IT ALL IT’S ALL ON VIDEO

I’m genuinely sad Lamar died. He was a good guy and pretty much innocent. Rest In Peace ✊🏽

Interesting Sam immediately says he would not take the serum if offered vs Lamar says he definitely would. Maybe because Sam has seen the cost/toll but I think also Sam has never craved power once in his life. He wants to do good but he feels he doesn’t need a superhero complex to do this. Like we saw him doing community work in caws. Making him the perfect captain America and owner of the shield if only he could see 🥺

The ends justify the means is such a slippery slope that I feel all the characters are on to some degree like Sambucky broke Zemo out of jail, fake!cap went rogue and took the serum from the enemies he’s fighting, Kari is killing innocents, it’s just a big moral mess. I’m honestly not sure what kind of resolution we’re going to get with only two more episodes.

I wonder where the flag smashers go from here are they more emboldened after one of their own dies or will they have a change of heart?

This episode really highlights how inexperienced the Flag Smashers are with their new power. The genuinely seemed shocked when Lamar died on impact. That makes them even more dangerous!

I keep having shuddering dejavu with shit going on in our own world.

The wakanda content!!!! Sebby’s acting I just-🥺😭😖🖤

But BUCKY’S HAPPY CRY AND FLASHES OF KILLINGS FADING INTO MEMORIES OF STEVE 💛✊🏽✨🥲 just pure cinematic gold.

Kinda wish we saw Shuri in the flashback but I’ll take anything at this point 🥺

Sebby Stan is KILLING IT 😭😩👍 every episode. I saw a review article which said Sam is the new captain America but Bucky is the new Steve Rogers. Like Bucky is always the voice of Steve and protector of Steve’s legacy.

“The Dora Milage have jurisdiction wherever the dora milage are” 👑🤌🏼

Biicccccc when they snatched Bucky’s arm like “what we give we can also take away” 😩

And when they took the shield for a second I thought they weren’t going to give it back. Remember it was wakandan before it was captain America’s. I was like shit are we going there? 🤭But nah they gave it back with a glare

Sam: Bucky we should help (as Fake!cap getting his ass beat)

Bucky: Looking great John! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger 😂

Ya’ll is Sharon the power broker? Like- I’m kinda on that bandwagon 👀

I love Sam flexing his work with veterans. His dialogue was perfect with Kari and it was almost working before fake!cap showed up. Yes let’s use our wordsssss

Bucky keeps insisting he’s not Sam’s partner but can’t help but be like “I’m coming with you.”

Bucky protecting Sammy 🥺

Bucky throwing the teacup and for a brief flicker of a moment you see the fear on Zemos face. He really does fear super soldiers on a visceral level not just philosophically.

I think the action was the best in this episode. The fight in the building had good pacing and creative moves. Like Sam uses the heat of his jet pack to get someone off his back.

There wasn’t much room for comedy in this episode which is fine but I miss my banter. I think we’ll get some more sambucky interaction in the next episode based on promo.

I like the episodic release but I wish there were more than 6 episodes. I’m not sure where that decision gets made at Marvel but it feels rushed at times which again not the actors fault but I feel like these themes deserve so much more attention than we get. Could be due to covid that things are more rushed. So interested to see how they tie this up. Will we get another season before a film? What do ya’ll think?

I will probably add to this but I’m just still reeling. Need some time to process.

Please free to add your thoughts!

If you want to be tagged in future reactions lemme know 💕

Tags: @soliloquy-of-nemo

[sleepingcrisis]

Sk8 The Infinity: Thoughts

I- like many- have finished Sk8 and have a lot of thoughts about the show. I was going to make this three parts but opted for just one. This is split into three sections though: 

Adam’s “Redemption”

Character Relationships

Overall thoughts

Adam’s “Redemption”: 

Okay let’s not get it twisted, Adam wasn’t really redeemed. At least I don’t think he was. When I initially pictured a redemption I pictured an ending where he got along with Cherry and Joe and the three were skating together again or something. That would be super badass for a shot- but it wouldn’t work and would have ruined any tension between the three in my opinion. So in the eyes of our main six Adam isn’t redeemed which is nice. If anyone wants to argue that he is then… sure? You can do that- I don’t really care though because it is quite clear that he isn’t redeemed in their eyes. 

This doesn’t mean I like what they did with Adam’s character though. First of all, he was never going to jail. They set that up to build suspense but it was never really going anywhere which I hated. Despite him not getting redeemed in the eyes of our main six, he still didn’t face any consequences for what he did. I understand that him going to jail would not have been him facing consequences for his actions at S, because they weren’t related, but he got off. In the eyes of the viewer him going to jail would have been consequences for everything he did at S even if that wasn’t why he would have been goin to jail it still was supposed to serve as consequences. Instead he faces no consequences for what he did. He was never going to jail either which is what really pissed me off. The writers of the show made it so that the threat of him going to jail was sorta a red herring. It was something that was under developed and that a lot of viewers really cared about, but if you went to the bathroom during the episode you might not have even known about this subplot at all. The least the show could have done was make this a genuine threat and not something that was just used to build suspense- and it wasn’t even done well. 

I get not wanting to send Adam to jail though, I really do. He is a central character who a lot of people really like (even I really like Adam as a villain- I think he makes a really effective villain and his character is explored decently well). Perhaps sending him to jail would have been an ending to his character that was too clear cut. The ending they did decide felt too good for him though. In my opinion he hadn’t earned it. While I’m not entirely sure if I wanted him to go to jail, I think that he should have faced more consequences for how he behaved. Again I think if anything the end of the show paved the way for him to have a larger character arc.

Character relationships: 

Oh what probably everyone is here for: the topic of queerbaiting. 

If you are reading this in hopes that I support the idea that this show was queerbaiting then you won’t find that here. I don’t think the show was queerbaiting in the slightest. I think that it is incredibly obvious that Cherry, Langa, Adam, and Tadashi are all queercoded as gay characters. Every other character is up for interpretation, yes Reki and Joe are included even if I personally headcanon them both as bi. 

The show presents some beautiful friendships and handles them in a way that I love. Reki’s breakdown and self doubt feels realistic and how he and Langa reconnect was handled well and I think the pacing was good too. Langa and Reki contrast one another really well and obviously the same applies to Joe and Cherry. I have said it before but a spin off show with Joe and Cherry as central characters would be *chef’s kiss*. 

Had these two pairings been explicitly flirting with one another then yeah we would have been queerbaited. Does that mean you can’t interpret romantic undertones from all of this? No it doesn’t mean that at all, I interpret both relationships as romantic- but they also make really well written friendships. 

Where the show falls flat on its face and where I do take issue with the queercoding is the ending. By the end of the show I think it is quite obvious that Tadashi/Adam is canon. Their relationship isn’t normal by any means but they are in a relationship. Do I think it is a healthy relationship? No. Like k*nks aside- Adam treated Tadashi like shit through the bulk of this show. Adam is the most heavily queercoded character in the show so it rubs me the wrong way that this relationship is the one they make the most explicit. It rubs me the wrong way that Cherry and Langa’s sexualities are made more clear after having interactions with Adam. It presents the narrative that gay people turn other people gay and by having Adam be a flamboyant gay character it pairs gay with the idea of being evil and promotes sterotypes. Someone made a really good video covering this and I can’t find it- If I do I will repost this with a link- or if someone else wants to comment it then I’ll repost and add it into post. Flashbacks aside I wish we had gotten some scenes where it was a little more obvious that Adam cared about Tadashi. Don’t get me wrong- I know he does- but Adam acted like an asshole towards tadashi for the majority of the show and then pulled the “all is forgiven” between the two right at the end. Healthy relationships aren’t needed in a show and I don’t think these two need to have one, but having it be the only/most explicit relationship in the show is upsetting. I would have loved to see a healthy queer relationship be made canon. 

Not having these other relationships be made canon is fine. I understand wanting representation, but it is just eh- 

I get both sides of this- the side that desperately want’s queer rep that they are willing to settle and thirst over the crumbs they get and then demand an explicit relationship when we aren’t handed one. I also understand the argument of the cultural differences and how I can only ever look at this through a western lense. Japan has a vastly different culture and their media reflects that even if obviously they do try and appeal to a wider audience. I am very conflicted on this and am totally fine with matchablossom and renga not being made canon even if I do understand the appeal. Again what rubs me the wrong way is the relationship they do decide to make pretty much explicit. Anyone who wants to argue me that Tadashi/Adam is a healthy queer rep can- but from what we have seen… it really isn’t.

Overall Thoughts:

I love sk8 the infinity and I hope they get another season. The difficulty it must be to tell a full story with fleshed out characters in around four hours of run time is something I can’t imagine. Every single character feels fairly well done and they are all loveable in their own way. I understand the appeal people have towards any character. In fact there isn’t a single character that I actively hate. At the end of the day Sk8 The Infinity is meant to be a light hearted anime about having fun skateboarding. The animation is amazing, the music is wonderful- in fact I don’t think it could have been better- the characters that fill this world are all incredibly lovable, the show is so much fun to watch. The creators did that, they gave us a beautiful and fun show. Ending the show with Adam going to jail would have pulled away from what the show was trying to accomplish. The show was trying to have fun and I sincerely hope they get a second season so we can see every single one of these loveable characters again. I hope I got my thoughts across in this show but I am definitely willing to clarify if anything is confusing.

[thoughtfulstudentsalad]

AnY Chapter 204 Review

It was a good chapter, although politically, it disappointed me.

There have been debates among readers about whether or not Su-Won was in character. The way he compartmentalized everything (but now slowly failing to do so) was, but I don't know about how hastily he jumped to kill Mei-nyan. Honestly a very Su-Won thing to do would rather be to pretend to accept her offer, use her knowledge to win the war, then kill her after. Did the thought of taking her hostage NOT occur to him? What happened to the king who seeks to minimize sacrifices? Who strategizes the most efficient path?

This time, it seems he had no patience for that because she went into a tirade about Hiryuu being great. As Soo-Won believes that blood-relation doesn't just entitle you to anything (as expected, he killed his own uncle), the fact that this applied to Mei may have played into Soo-Won's resentment to think it was better if she was killed, as she seemed no different from Il.

Evil Twins mistranslated this, but Su-Won does NOT say that he got ill after ascending the throne - Mei-Nyan tells him he “should be aware of the existence of King Hiryuu” which triggers the headache and flashback of Il that we’ve seen 5 times now. Phew, does this traumatize him. 

Now we have actually seen such a similar expression before! On his mother! 

“The beautiful hair caused Yon-Hi to remember the existence of King Hiryuu”

Does the pain get stronger the more aware the descendants are of King Hiryuu? A legitimate question of what causes the illness to sprout. 

Su-Won’s response in return, “I’m so fed up with it (the pain)” shows he is at his wits end now because this woman triggered yet another headache because she made him think of King Hiryuu.  

He says his thoughts aloud, clearly for the first time, “I wonder why the reincarnation of King Hiryuu and the dragons were born.”

Hearing the outright rejection of King Hiryuu, Yona is petrified. 

And it’s interesting, because she has never heard this direct attack on who she is until this point. We as readers have seen Su-Won reject God, so, SO many times to count. This is the first time Yona sees it in the present. This is the first time she also sees it directed straight at her. 

Because it’s pretty much Su-Won wishing Yona was never born, right? 

Until the betrayal, they had a genuine friendship, and even then Su-Won clearly still cared about her, so surely Yona had never imagined that Su-Won would ever say something like this, that it would be nice if she were never born. It is quite jarring. Were the years they spent all a lie, then? 

Moving on, we then see Mei-nyan understanding that negotiations have collapsed. She begins to freak out, and when Hyoo-ri appears, she bolts. 

I must say, for supposedly a strategist, Mei-nyan was pretty naive and reckless. It appears that the others were prepared to kill her prior to this meeting, but she comes thinking her talk would succeed. She doesn't even think of a back-up plan in the case the king doesn't agree.

She doesn't even tell Su-Won that she was previously a general. We all know, being a general is 100x more valuable to him then being a descendant or a concubine with false intel, any day.

I can argue that the negotiations might have not failed if she'd not talked about Hiryuu and instead about being a general or how shitty Kai treated her and how she actually is loyal to Kouka. She is reckless, that one! How did she ever become a general with such a personality?!?! People like her certainly don’t live long. 

Luckily, Jae-ha appears to save the day. And I actually really like this scene, because... Mei-Nyan is clearly affected by how the same dragon who vowed to protect Yona and did not let Mei-Nyan hit her, is NOW protecting her. 

This is what she always wanted, and she is shooooook. Look at her pained eyebrows. I feel for Mei-nyan here. Also Jae-ha, ouch. 

Yona runs to save the day with her merciful nature, as she always seems to do. Kye-Sook, who finds it a “quaint” quality like her late father, asks her to stand down. (most hilarious line) 

Then Yona asks Su-Won for his opinion, but Su-Won, who was already in annoyed mode, is now directing it towards Yona, who has come running to interfere. He is fed up thinking about it and does not want to deal with her. 

Yona still does not back down. “Turn over here! Even if you don’t need me, even if you’re fed up, look me in the eye and talk!” 

Very strong words. Until this I have never seen Yona be so direct with Su-Won, even if she harbored hatred, even if she was very calm. And this probably is because she felt rather hurt by Su-Won’s words. Understandable.

Next we see Su-Won explode: “I already said, this doesn’t concern you!” 

OKAY we get it Su-Won, calm the F down. 

Yeeeeeesh, this rude spitting viper is the same guy who was only gentle and kind with his younger cousin?????? 

let’s be honest if Hak saw Su-Won shouting at Yona he would wreck him 100x harder than he already wanted to

.....Perhaps we should just accept that familial ties don’t matter to this dude, especially if you’re a King Hiryuu reincarnation telepathically blowing his brains out because he doesn’t pay you enough attention. Can you blame him?

His line is rather ambiguous though. Does he mean it like, “stop being a fucking nuisance, I’m the king right now, this concerns me not you” 

OR is it like, “this conflict I have with King Hiryuu doesn’t concern you, you are Yona!” Maybe he doesn’t want Yona to feel bad about being born like his mother did? 

Maybe he is struggling with both meanings. Who knows.  

Now, after that Yona attempts to make him see past the entire conflict with Mei-nyan’s interest in Hiryuu and the dragons AND the fact that she has knowledge of the secret. 

And I can see Yona's point. Yon-Hi's existential crisis, seeing a red haired girl "steal" what belonged to her clan, is similar to Mei-nyan's. 

It makes sense. Why should he be so quick to kill her? She has clearly suffered herself. 

It seems like Su-Won wasn't thinking straight and realized later that he isn't just his father's son, but also his mother's, because now, he lightens her fate to imprisonment. Yes, imprisonment. Letting this woman go is obviously not the right idea either, especially after they acted so hostile to her, no guarantee that she still wants to negotiate. 

The big mistake though, is that everyone from Kouka, even Yona, underestimated Mei. None of them know that she could easily break out of jail if she wished. Even while in pain from the Crimson illness, she’s able to wound (possibly kill!) these soldiers. 

....Except our favorite MC Hak, doing 6000+ sit-ups like it’s nothing, is about to know!!!!!! 

I think Hak will the one to learn this first, and I actually think they could form some alliance based on being ex-generals. This girl will fill Hak in on wtf the Crimson illness is, and we might finally see Hak’s reaction -- OH SHIT, Su-Won actually hates something??? Maybe Hak’s beloved Princess is more involved with that than he’d like. 

I don't think they will go a love triangle of Hak-Mei-Yona route, at least I really hope not, because Hak is loyal af and that does not need to change one bit. At most it'd be funny to see Yona get slightly jealous but honestly I'm not sure if that's necessary either. 

Anyway! I would have preferred Mei-nyan stayed an antagonist rather than yet another talk-no-jutsu ally of Yona’s. But okay. We’ll see where this goes, along with the reasons Hiryuu even came down to Earth to start with. 

(On a side note, Zeno was great this chapter, wasn’t he? I missed hearing his words of wisdom)

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Devil’s Backbone

Devil’s Backbone

Chapter 3

AN: I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and thank you everyone who has commented, reblogged or liked the story :)

Story Rating: Explicit, 18+

Warnings: Smut, violence, flashbacks of past sexual assault, descriptions of torture and racial hate. Not Tony Stark friendly.

Relationships: Bucky/OC, Steve/Natasha, Billy/Wanda/Grant, Sam/Sharon, Clint/Laura, eventual Clint/Yelena and Frank/Karen Page.

Summary: In the aftermath of the Blip, Bucky struggled to find his place among the world and the Avengers. However, when he is sent on a mission to Madripoor to investigate a mysterious woman, he starts to realize maybe his past isn’t too far behind him. Co-Written with WalkingPotterGirl14.

The girls at the Red Room would whisper about the Winter Soldier. He was a ghost story, a tale whispered to keep them in line by warning them if they didn't succeed in the classes or missions, that the soldat would creep into their room and kill them.

She remembered seeing those cold eyes watching her and over girls when he had come to the academy to train one of their classes. He had thrown a young girl called Polina Paseka across the room after she failed four times to do a pirouette in ballet class.

She frowned as she tried to make sense of how the Winter Soldier had escaped the Red Room. It was rare when someone was able to make it out, almost impossible. She decided to call Carter and inquire about the soldier. Her interest was piqued by the man. Maybe she would know something.

Bucky and the others returned to the compound to inform Fury about the black ops team that the Power Broker had sent to kidnap Isaiah and Eli Bradley. The man must have been hellbent on creating the serum after Zemo destroyed the ones that Dr. Nadler had created. "Hill is identifying the people who were sent to kidnap Isaiah and his grandson. Two of them have already been identified," Fury announced grimly. He pulled up two images of two men, one of whom that Bucky recognized instantly. Jack Rollins. He knew him from being there at the Ideal Federal Savings bank when he had his mind wiped by Pierce after trying to kill Steve, Sam and Natasha in Washington D.C. "You might remember the guy on the left, Barnes and Rogers. That is Jack Rollins, former member of the STRIKE Team. After fleeing the U.S., he settled in Madripoor and began working as a mercenary for the highest bidder. Tomas Calderon is a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent, who was fired after killing a group of Inhuman refugees in Nairobi, Kenya," Fury explained gravely. He paused for a moment before glancing their way. "Rogers, Wilson, I want you to ask Carter if she knows how long this mystery young woman has been living in Madripoor. See if there's a gang war brewing over a power struggle. Barnes, Barton and Maximoff, I want you three to talk to Russo, Karen Page, Murdock, and Curtis Hoyle. See what they know about the Power Broker," the director instructed. They nodded and all left.

The first thing Ana decided to do was renovate the whole damn penthouse that the Power Broker owned. She ordered new bedding, a new mattress, and a nice bed frame. There was no way in hell she was sleeping in his bed. She followed suit with the rest of the apartment, glad to have all this control now. The next thing she did was arrange a meeting with all the criminals who lived in Madripoor. She was putting down some rules. She was no saint - far from it - but no way in hell was she tolerating slavery, sex trafficking, and fucking child molesters and pedophiles. She knew Madripoor thrived on crime, but she was going to be instilling some rules for everyone. She personally called off the bounties on the Winter Soldier, the Falcon and Baron Zemo, from what she had heard around. She had no quarrel with them at the minute. Her main focus was going to be ensuring the Red Room remained shut down. She didn't want anyone else to go through what she had gone through. No child deserved that horror. The buzzer rang then, and she answered the call immediately. She had a feeling that a few of them were going to be aggravating. But she had dealt with worse people. "Miss Liukin, this is Conrad Mack. You wish to speak with me about a beneficial arrangement between us?" The man asked politely. She smiled slightly. "Please come in, Mr. Mack," she said smoothly. The door was unlocked and locked behind him. She might have her bodyguards, but she wasn't defenseless by herself if Conrad decided to play dirty. Two could play at that game. Conrad Mack entered the living room. He was a handsome man in person. He had dark brown eyes, but there was a sharpness in them, like an eagle, always watching. He was wearing casual, but smart clothing. "Mr. Mack, it's a pleasure to meet with you. I've heard a lot of things about you," Ana said warmly. The man offered her a charming smile that showed perfect white teeth. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Liukin. I have to say that I'm impressed by your bloodless takeover of Madripoor. If you don't mind me asking, what inspired you to take over Madripoor from the Power Broker?" She smiled at his question, as she sipped from her glass of red wine and Conrad drank from his glass of whisky. The man was a gangster, but he did have morals. She decided to give him some of the truth. "The Power Broker wished to recreate the Super Soldier serum after Baron Zemo destroyed the vials that Karli Morgenthau stole from him. But he wanted me to kidnap a man called Isaiah Bradley and his grandson…I presume you know who he is?" she asked meaningfully. Conrad nodded, his smile turning to a grimace. "Yeah, I know who he is. My grandaddy fought with him in World War II. The US government threw him in jail and took his blood. He escaped during the eighties and settled down in Baltimore," the man said bitterly, well aware of America's racial discrimination against African-Americans. Ana nodded at his answer as she looked at the Monet art that decorated the walls. She disliked racists fiercely. "Then you understand why the Power Broker had to go, Conrad?" He lets out a quiet nod at that. "As I've said before, I'm not a saint. I've done some horrible things. But I draw the line at people dragging innocents back into their dirty hands. For years I had no control of what I was able to do, and now that I do, you can bet I'm going to make sure that no one else gets hurt like that." Conrad smiles to that. "That's very noble of you." Ana snorts and shakes her head. "Not noble. It's called being a human. However,…I'm not a good person too. And the reason we're here is because of that." She comes over to him, leaning against her chair. "I know about your little business on the side here. You thrive from the drug community here, don't you?" "If we're being honest, it is one of, if not the most, profitable business you can have in Madripoor." "On the brink of a collapse the city would be if that whole system decided to go belly-up," Ana states, holding her glass in her hands. "Which is why I'm willing to offer a truce with you. An agreement, of sorts. If you keep a low profile and continue your business, I'll make sure it can still run with the people here and the cops won't be on your ass. I know how hard it can be to stay on the downlow but I'm willing to compromise on that as long as your guys don't interfere with what I'm trying to do." Conrad raises an eyebrow. "You're very interesting, you know that?" She raises an eyebrow back at him. "How so?" "You're like the opposite version of what you say you are. You're trying to be good but also trying to keep crime going…it's a strange contradiction, if you will." Ana shrugs her shoulders, walking over to where he sits. "We all have our contradictions. But the main part here is making sure your business can still run despite those contradictions. So…" She holds out her hand to him. "Do we have a deal?" Conrad looks at her hand for a split second before extending outwards, shaking it firmly. "We have a deal."

Talking with Karen, Frank, Matthew and Foggy had gone about as well as Bucky had been expecting. They didn't know that much about the Power Broker except for the fact that he just wanted to have as much power as possible, simple as that. They had stumbled into them when Fisk had gone away to jail, leaving his powerful empire in the city free for the taking. Due to the power vacuum, the Power Broker had tried to break in.

But luckily, they had come in at the right moment to stop him from taking over, before he had escaped off to Madripoor. Bucky truly wondered what went through this man's mind to make him think like that, that he could suddenly own everyone just because one man got arrested. But then again, the man was clearly unstable. If he wanted to still create more and more super-solder serums for the world to use…there was no way he would allow that. Secretly, Bucky really hoped this new mysterious woman had killed the Power Broker. Hell, maybe even taken over herself. If she was willing to help Sharon out and let them know about Isiah, she at least had some sort of morals compared to the original man. But he also had a feeling that Fury, if he did find out who this woman was, was most likely going to send them after her. So maybe he'd get the chance to meet her after all. A part of him still couldn't believe that he had seen Ana at a coffee shop…it was such a small world. A part of her still felt so familiar, and at the same time he couldn't remember where he had seen her before. He was thankful that the Wakandan's had gotten out all the trigger words in his mind but damn it, he wished he had his whole mind back. Something he would just have to live with for now.

Was this a stupid idea? Probably. Could Fury walk in at any moment? Most likely. But Natasha needed to know. She had to know if this woman was alive truly or not. Maybe she would get lucky, and they would be able to swing around this situation. Maybe the woman who had come into the facility wasn't even close to her. When Nat and Yelena had destroyed the Red Room area, they had been able to access their system remotely to be able to view who had died and who had lived from the program. She had never checked for her to see if she was still around. But this time was better than no time. She typed in the name quickly, searching through the files before she lands on the one, she had wanted. And her shoulders sink as soon as she reads through the file on the computer screen. 'Anastasia Liukin. Dead – complications of operation.' "Oh, thank God," Natasha breathes out, running her hand through her hair. This at least said that she was gone. Maybe she would be able to get out of this alive. But something still didn't sit right. A part of her didn't think that she was dead. If it wasn't her…then who? She bites her lip, glancing deeper into the file.

"Fuck it," she said finally, before delving further into the files. She found information on Anastasia about the year she was born. The young woman had been born on July 10, 1995 in Voronezh, Voronezh Oblast, Russia in the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapsing. Her mother had died when she was five years old, and she had no one else to raise her. She was then placed in an orphanage until the age of seven when the Red Room had approached her under the illusion of being taken to a ballet boarding school. There were no other records of her aside from the file about her dying from an operation. The reasons for the operation were redacted, but deep-down Natasha knew the reason. 'I had to do it. I had to protect Yelena. She was too soft for the Red Room despite all the training we put her through,' she thought rationally, ignoring the pang of guilt that pulsed through her.

Sharon was honestly trying to keep herself calm as she drove to the penthouse that was owned by the Power Broker. She hadn't seen the mysterious woman again, but she had told Sharon to call her Ana. Now, she was driving there and was stunned by the sight before her very eyes. The building itself was amazing and very spacious, but the apartment was even better. She was shown into the penthouse by a bodyguard and kept her face neutral as she was greeted by none other than Ana. "You wanted to see me?" She asked politely. Ana smiled at her calmly as Sharon sat down on the comfortable black velvet sofa. The living room was very spacious but had a homey-vibe around it. There were framed photographs on the mantelpiece. "Yes. I was wondering if I could buy some of the Art Deco paintings and sculptures in your art gallery?" Ana asked curiously. Sharon blinked in surprise but nodded and leaned forward. "I'll be happy to sell you them, Miss Liukin," she said reassuringly, stunned that the woman wasn't going to kill her for helping Bucky, Sam and Zemo escape from the Power Broker. Speaking of the man, she hadn't seen him around Madripoor for the last couple of days. She wondered if finally, someone had killed him for having too much control and power. Considering Ana was in his penthouse, she had quite the feeling it had something to do with her, since the man had been tied up by her not that long ago. "Then I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll enjoy doing business with you, Sharon," Ana said kindly, her voice genuine. Sharon nodded as they both walked out, seeing that the whole penthouse was being renovated. At Sharon looking, Ana smiled as she put her bottle of water down on the coffee table. "This penthouse belonged to the Power Broker, and it didn't give a welcoming feel. So, I decided to have the whole house renovated, including an indoor ballet studio, along with an indoor swimming pool, a library, and many bedrooms," the woman explained amusedly. Sharon smiled before saying goodbye and Ana watched her leave. She had to admit, it seemed the women had the strength to stay around – and wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

Bucky was annoyed with himself. He felt like he had seen Ana before and not at the coffee shop. It was irritating to say the very least, as he walked to the conference room, where Fury was holding a team meeting. He entered the room, sitting next to Steve, Sam, Clint and Wanda as Billy and Grant joined them. He wasn't surprised to see Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne being in the room but was wary about seeing Bruce and Tony in the room. Both of them, along with Natasha and Yelena, despised him. He didn't blame Natasha for hating him - he had tried to kill her three times, and had attempted to apologize, but she had refused his apology. "Now that you're all here, I have news about the mystery woman who infiltrated the compound. We ran her through Interpol, MI6, FBI, and the S.H.I.E.L.D database and found nothing on her. She's unknown to us," Fury explained gravely, his face betraying nothing. "So, what you want us to do then? It's pretty obvious that she's dangerous if she escaped the HYDRA base, and they had her in cyrostasis," Tony questioned suspiciously. It was Steve spoke up. "That doesn't necessarily mean that she's dangerous, Tony. She's most like been forcibly placed in cyrostasis. We did uncover some possible information," Steve informed Fury, who looked interested as he looked at the man. "What did you and the team find out then?" The director inquired curiously. He was clearly wondering if the young woman was a threat to them. "We did some digging - plus Sharon called us this morning. The Power Broker might possibly be dead, as he's not been seen for at least three days. He was last seen Monday night, and had arranged to meet a young woman to discuss kidnapping Isaiah and Eli Bradley, so he could use their blood to recreate the Super-Soldier serum. According to Sharon, the young woman refused to comply, and a fight broke out," Steve explained quietly, his voice not quite disapproving at the young woman's actions and possibly murdering the Power Broker. "She was the person who told Sharon about the attack on Isiah." Fury looked thoughtful and looked around at everyone who was sitting at the table. Natasha and Yelena were silent, but they were clearly hiding something. "Is there something you'd like to add, Belova and Romanoff?" he asked calmly. Natasha nodded. "There is something I'd like to add, Fury." Natasha stands as she grabs the file of Ana, placing it on the table. "I did some digging on this girl with the file that we found in the HYDRA base in Siberia. As the ones who shut down the Red Room and the areas surrounding it, we are allowed remote access to the former directory of agents that we've had interactions with. It turns out that Ana has actually died from an operation due to unforeseen circumstances," Natasha states. "At least that was what her records state." "Hold on." Bucky stands from where he was, gesturing to the file. "That's impossible. We've been doing our own research and there has been some steady evidence that she's still alive." "Barnes, I remember her. She's gone." "That's impossible because I saw her literally days ago," Bucky says angrily, but he holds back his temper to a point. He didn't want to let go of his own morals because Nat's words contradicted his own. Her brow raises in shock. "You're-wait, what? How the hell did you-" "She was in a coffee shop," Bucky states, crossing his arms against his chest. "A couple days ago before heading off. I didn't learn the girl's name, but she looked exactly like Ana. There's no mistaking it." "You're insane, she's gone!" "No, she's not!" "ENOUGH!" Fury yells, his booming voice causing them to jump in surprise. They both turn their eyes to where Fury was breathing heavily, his head down, clearly trying to control his own temper. He takes a moment before looking at the two of them. "Sit both your asses down now!" The two Avengers do as he says, knowing that if they pissed him off even more there'd be more than just yelling coming their way. Fury starts to pace before he looks to them. "From what I see, we have several problems here. One is-" His phone suddenly pings, and he pulls it out quickly to glance at it before cursing under his breath. "Now we got even more problems," he mutters, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Just got word from H.Q. Apparently, the original Power Broker is officially dead." Silence rings throughout the room. Bucky knew it. He just knew it.

"Again, now we got even more problems," Fury continues, running a hand along his head before looking to them. "One, we have some mysterious woman that broke into our damn base and now is missing. Two, we have a power dynamic clearly underway in Madripoor, and another young woman there that we don't know about looking to take over. Third, we have two goddamn conflicting arguments about a girl that we don't even know about. There’re too many things here for us to even come to a proper conclusion. I'm over this fighting that we got going." "Then what do you suggest we do, sir?" Natasha asks, raising her brow. Fury sighs and then nods back at the team. "What we do best – undercover. But there ain't no way I'm sending a whole team after this girl. If the Power Broker is dead, that means she's a serious threat, regardless if she'll hurt us or not. She's got friends in high places. Only one of you are fit enough to do a proper undercover mission of this high of a status." His eyes turn directly to where Bucky was. "And that's you, Barnes." His brow raises in surprise. "Me?" "I can't think of someone better than the former Winter Soldier. It can't be Nat or Yelena with personal ties to this said mystery woman, but we don't know how much she knows about you possibly. It's the best option for us going forward. I'm not about to let any other goddamn intruder come in, so we need to find out who this woman is as soon as possible, and if she's taking over as the Power Broker." Bucky was quiet for a moment, letting his words mingle. He wasn't wrong. He most likely would be able to find her the quickest and see exactly who this woman was. "Plus, you've literally seen her before," Steve agrees lightly. "If anything, that'll only help you try and find her again." "I think he's got this," Sam states, agreeing. Bucky rolls his eyes and glances at his friends. "It's alright, guys. I'm fine." He always knew that the ones who were on his side tried their best to show their support for him, but something he just wanted to prove it himself. He turns back to Fury. "I can do that, sir." "Good, glad to hear it." Fury stands and grabs the file. "You leave as early as tomorrow. We want to make sure we handle this with care but as quickly as possible. Don't want to linger any longer. Pack your belongings – I'll inform Sharon that you're heading to Madripoor and you're undercover there." "Sounds good," Bucky responds, standing. "Meeting adjourned," Fury concludes, getting up and heading out, pulling his phone as he does so. Bucky hears Tony groan as he stands, sighing. "He's making a mistake sending you out." "Tony, we don't need this right now," Steve responds, trying to shut down the fight before it even began. "How can you even trust him to do a good job? He was literally part of HYDRA, the place that this mysterious woman is even coming from!" "So are Nat and Yelena and you trust them," Wanda points out from where she stands. "They at least had a head on their shoulders to sign the damn accords." Steve sighs and shakes his head. "I'll never be able to prove to you that Bucky is a good man, but that's your loss. It's not like I'm not surprised Nat is on your side after she did what she did." At Nat's confused expression, Steve snorts. "Don't show me that look, Nat. I know that you agreed with Tony to lock Bucky up is a psych unit even before he was pardoned. I know you don't want him here just as much as Tony doesn't. You don't need to say anything." Bucky runs a hand through his hair stressfully. Good god, this wasn't how he wanted his mission to start out.

[machablossom]

I really want to rant about the ending. That was one wild episode 12 and I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it either.

Being honest, I think I'm mostly dissapointed things didn't go the way I wanted. I usually expect from a series to let me down in some aspects, but this time I felt like there was no rush of emotions like it happened during the past episodes.

I don't actually mind about the supposed queerbaiting, though I would have wanted Renga and Matcha Blossom to become canon. Alas, a girl could dream.

However, there were many things I believe could have been better, others which were just fine, and others which could have been different altogether from the very start of the series. Overall I feel like the main plot (Langa and Reki facing up against Adam) and the main theme of the anime (skating is a fun thing to do and it's better enjoyed surrounded with friends and people you love) were developed just right. However, the way they got to the results were not the best, in my opinion.

I would like to give my opinion on each character development, so this may take a while. Also, I'd like to point out what I would have wanted to happen, if things were up to me.

First and foremost, Adam is the character I had more trouble with. I didn't love the last beef against Langa much. I've had trouble with the entire Eve thing and the fact that he's a 30-something chasing after a 17 yr old boy, be it romantically or just skate-wise.

I know Adam's sexual preferences are never stated through the whole series but we can imply he does feel a certain attraction towards Langa beyond the skating scene and it is very uncomfortable, not to say wrong.

I loved the idea that he let go of the idea of chasing his 'Eve', to celebrate a wedding for a funeral. I am all for theathrics and drama, and his "final boss" outfit was nuts. The skateboard was awesome too! But the mere implications of him, turning into some sort of Grim Reaper whilst racing against Langa one last time are very bone-chilling, at least to me it was, again, very unconfortable.

I'd have loved for Adam to lose to Reki, OR, Tadashi and Langa to race so that the final encounter could have been Adam vs. Tadashi. That way, I think he'd have gotten to reflect on his actions and actually grow as a character rather than just be cured by the power of fun and friendship.

In the perfect scenario, he'd escape with Tadashi, he'd ditch his job and tell his aunts to go f*ck themselves, close 'S' for good and get some therapy somewhere where he could be happy skating with his beloved assistant.

On the other hand, I was hoping he'd get arrested. I hoped Kiriko got to put him behind bars and ruin his carreer both as a politician and as a skater, so that S would close. Maybe in some sort of epilogue we'd seen him come out of jail and make up with the gang, skating with them again as friends. Maybe Langa would go see him in prison to help. Idk, I feel like he needs retribution and punishment, but he was also a character who needed help.

The last part with Tadashi and the dog thing was weird and I didn't love it, but I think it works for their relationship. I won't complain, some other people here on tumblr have put it into words way better than I would have.

What I feel was the worst, worst thing they could do was have him crash their celebration party, falling ridiculously from a helicopter with a bouquet for Langa. No. No, just no. The creeps again. Ugh.

Then, I have to say the second in line who bothered me the most were Miya and Shadow.

It's silly: I really screamed in rage and pain about Shadow not getting together with the manager. I wanted all the other ships to be canon, but I knew it's Japan we're talking about and I know we'd get teased about it in the best case scenario, but the straight ship? The one they could totally go for? NO! Also, I think Shadow got played dirty, shoving him into the background after he was attacked in ep. 10. We didn't get to see any justice done to him against the dude that beat the crap out of him, if, perhaps, Shadow could beat him again at 'S', this time fair and square.

Miya, oh my poor catboy. Played so dirty as well. I liked the last time we see him when he meets with his friend again in school and they seem to reconect. But I wish we would have gotten to see them skate together again. This is very wishful thinking, but I wished we could have seen Miya a little bit older, when the others could have taken him a lot more seriously. I wanted him to do much more than just be a background character, because he deserved it.

Next is Joe and Cherry. Oh boy. Hold onto your horses, I have a LOT to say about my favourite duo.

Listen here, I wanted them to be canon. I hoped for the discreet rings on their fingers shot, or a sudden drop of any of them that they had been secretly married for the past two years or something like that. I wanted flashbacks to their trip to Paris. I wanted more of their teenage years. I wanted a date night at Sie La Luce. Man, I would have died for a kiss. But, alas, it's Japan we're talking about and I know I'm viewing the series from a western point of view.

But that's not what bothered me. What really bothered me was that all the tension that had been growing since ep. 7 between the two of them and then between them and Adam seemed to be just a stepping stone for Langa to win the tournament. We saw Cherry get slapped with a skateboard just for us, the expectators, to dislike Adam a lot more.

I would have loved for them to have the chance to reconect with Adam, be it by punching him or by accepting a heartfelt apology. Specially Cherry. Kaoru deserved MUCH better than what he got, and Joe deserved better than what we've got to see from him. The last scene we saw of them, idk, I thought it was funny and I loved how Cherry showed so little professionalism by drawing on his bf in public. LOL.

But I also didn't like it. I think they ended up being comic relief when they were two of the most wonderfully developed partners in the whole series, even if we've just got some crumbs of their relationship. Also, Joe's deep and caring personality, the whole pinning on Kaoru situation, feels like it matters so little when we see him back at the starting point, just being a shameless flirt. The advantage I see from all of it is that we've got a lot left to the imagination with them.

(Man, i would have loved to see Joe punch Adam in the face with a skateboard at the celebration party after his arrival on the helicopter).

And finally, Reki and Langa. Being honest? I actually loved them. I didn't mind there wasn't a explicit moment of romance or a confesion. That was never the point. The symbolism of their 'friendship', of their bond, is more than enough for me.

I think Langa was slightly too overpowered. As I said before, I think the beef was a little too over the top, but, mah, I've seen a lot of sports anime, its not that over the top. I'd have loved to see him snowboarding at some point, perhaps then we'd have seen Langa as a very talented athlethe and not just some random teenager with crazy skills he just pulled out of his pretty canadian butt. Then again, the little scene with his father's memory was really nice. Closure over mourning, that's a wonderful thing to do.

Reki, my boy, on the other hand, I loved him. Cheering for his bf and believing in him and waiting for him at the end of the line, *chef's kiss*. The part where Langa falls over him and they hug on the ground, perfect, hilarious. The insinuation that they are both happy when they are together, yes, yes, good. The last scene with Reki and his family, I love it! I have nothing wrong to say about Reki. I love him and I'd give an arm for him.

...

Overall, it was a good series. It could have been done better. The ending could have been better. I would love a sequel anyway, if only they could focus on the plotlines they left inconclusive and, for god's sake, they kick the creepyness down a notch. For what I conclude, the entire series was meant as fanservice and they didn't imagine it would grow so big. Anyway, I will keep writing Matcha Blossom, I really loved them and I hope this is not the last we ever see of them all.

[pbjamas]

Hi again! Sorry I'm sending another ask so soon ;v;

This one is rather about Hawk's parents than him, I hope that's okay!

I'm pretty curious of what you think about Tamaki & Tomie's relationship?

I mean it was absolutley toxic for sure, but usually when it comes to abusive dads they target the mother too, not just the kids.

But Tamaki didn't seem to do that, we didn't see him hit or threaten Tomie in the flashback, and we never see her with bruises to suggest such either. We know he depended on her quirk after she gave him a way to hide from the law & she depended on him too, likely even having Hawks in attempt to make him stay.

Their relationship was clearly strained, and it hurt so much to see her not get involved when he abused little Keigo (unless her telling him the tv isn't working & asking him not to leave was her way of distracting him? Sadly I doubt it) but at the same time it's nice to see a different dynamic than we'd usually get?

Rather than just an abusive dad we get two damaged people with codependency who both abused their child to different degrees?

I also wonder why Tamaki stuck around as long as he did? Why try to leave one random day (if that was what he was doing when he got arrested by Endeavor) is he old fashioned? Too dependent on Tomie's quirk? Was he afraid to leave?

I guess I'm just curious about him, I wish we could have seen a little more of Tomie, and I'm sure with Hawks regretting not reaching out to his parents, and all the resent jail brakes, we might see Tamaki again.

I wonder if he's changed at all after years in prison (can't imagine he got any help with the paranoia he seemed to suffer from) or if he's only grown more hateful & resentful over time.

I feel like that's more likely, but I'd also like Hawks parents to be a little more than just worse parallels to Rei & Enji =O

What do you think? And I'm sorry this ended up so long again! Please don't feel rushed to answer or so! I know you get a lot of asks ;w;

No worries, I love getting asks :)

I agree with pretty much everything that you said. One thing that I think Hori does really well is showing family situations. It’s not just abusive father + perfect loving mother, it’s more complicated. Like with the Todorokis, Rei was trying her best but being in that situation for so long took a toll on her.

With Tomie, I think she probably had some issues going in, but her relationship with Takami probably made things worse.

My heart breaks for little keigo :/ uuugghhhhh everything about his childhood is SO painful ;_; My mind just sticks on those panels when they’re in the train station, and she says, “why were you even born, what are those wings even good for?” and his face just.....crumbles.

@officially-dumb has mentioned that she was the “safe parent” so to hear those words he’s used to hearing from his father repeated by her.....it would have wrecked him.

I really hope we see more of them, and yeah, I’m thinking we might! I think it’s more likely that we see tomie bc she seems more important to his story, but there’s always the fact that there have been mass prison breaks so......(eyes emoji i’m on desktop)

[kinetic-elaboration]

June 17: 1x23 The Omega Glory

Watched the very uneven episode “The Omega Glory” today. Upon some reflection.. I think I have seen it? But I think my last rewatch ended abruptly after “By Any Other Name” so it might have been some time ago.

Anyway, it was... something. Decent, I might even say good, until the last 10-15 minutes and then it just went off a cliff? That’s how I’d summarize it.

Sulu, my beloved. I’ve missed you.

Kirk knows where all the ships are. I mean, obviously, but I love to hear it.

Phasers on heavy stun huh?

It’s so weird to be on a different ship. That looks like the same ship. It’s so empty and haunted looking.

With creepy crystal remains of bodies everywhere.

“These white crystals... are the crew.”

Something was thirsty!! Perhaps... a water vampire? Perhaps... a former McCoy girlfriend?

(Honestly having watched the whole ep...they could have expanded this intro longer. It was creepy and mysterious. Then cut the last act.)

Oh no, they’ve been infected and now must quarantine. Sort of. I guess.

...Oh no, is this Vietnam? Again?

“Our old enemy, Vietnam.”

My mother suggested the disease might be communism and I don’t think that metaphor tracks through the whole episode but you know what.. anything’s possible.

I don’t like this whole “you can’t leave the planet or you’ll get sick and die” thing. Too familiar.

"I may never be able to leave this planet but I have a worse problem: a colleague may be breaking a rule."

Says the man who has frequently violated a directive that has never been referred to as Prime before.

Kirk is getting very mumbly. That’s his serious voice.... bu it’s also his Denny Crane voice lol.

Like bio warfare in the 90s? TOS really thought the 90s was going to be the dark ages, didn’t it?

Only 90s kids remember...

Spock bursting in with a wounded man, just bringing the drama, as he does.

He’s not even listening to McCoy. Rude.

Spock absolutely 100% would have killed Captain Tracey on instinct as soon as Kirk is threatened.

Sulu’s in command? I love Captain Sulu but where is Scotty?

Kirk is so good. Clever, strong, smart. Knows all the regulations.

Tracey’s so dumb. “They’ve eradicated disease and live for hundreds of years!” Man, have you considered that they are...aliens? And their life spans are simply.... naturally longer than human life spans? And even if you could isolate the serum, it might not work on humans?

And his master plan is to isolate their immunity and bottle it for profit. It’s our old enemy... capitalism and the exploitation of intellectual property.

A fight scene!

“The pointy-eared one stays.”

Another fight scene!

Spock is watching all of this, and you know what, I feel like he’s not upset about it. It’s just like Pre-Reform Vulcan. Perhaps some... Amok Time flashbacks? “Damn, I wish that was me.”

Peanut gallery Spock.

“I wish you could teach me that.” / “I have tried.” Omg where is my scene of Spock trying to teach Kirk the nerve pinch?

And then that look Kirk gives him.

I don’t get the point of this scene but it amuses me that as soon as McCoy sees the pretty girl, he feels better.

A post-apocalyptic alien world... a very interesting concept. Like you could do a lot with that idea imo.

“That’s our worship word [freedom too.” Umm.... questionable.

Damn bitch, that was cold. Just knocking him out like that.

Damn yankee.

...Yankee and Communist dammit.

McCoy’s not even surprised to see Kirk and Spock out of jail.

Nature created a natural counterbalance to the biological disease. Where is OUR natural counterbalance, I ask?

McCoy sounds extra Southern rn. It’s all the stress.

I really don’t think Shatner gets enough credit for his subtlety. His face when McCoy explains the whole situation...

Oh he's mad now. "You've hurt Spock for nothing! Oh yeah and also killed thousands but MOSTLY THE SPOCK THING!”

Whereas Tracey really doesn’t seem to care about anything but war for its own sake. He knows now that his master plan for immortality was nothing the whole time...but he still needs to call those Yangs.

In other words, another once-reputable figure of authority now gone mad.

Kirk’s voice is so casual when he’s talking to Uhura and Sulu, you feel like he’s gotta have something up his sleeve. He can never hide when he’s really upset about something.

...Apparently what he had up his sleeve was his crew knowing regulations and then another full body tackle. Fight scene 3!

"My need for attention is vital.” Same, Spock.

This is a very attenuated and unbelievable connection Kirk is making but he’s Kirk so I’ll assume it makes sense that he’s putting it all together so fast.

Alternate Universe: Vietnam canon-divergence lol.

For anyone keeping track, this is right about the point where the episode goes off the rails.

YOU’RE A ROMANTIC, JIM. Well he’s right about that at least and he should say it.

Oh no, an American flag.

Cloud William, chief and the son of chiefs. That’s continuity of government for you.

(Also pretty hilarious that this society is supposedly So American with our exact flag and Constitution and everything... but they’re not a democracy.)

I really don’t want to believe that “under God” is still in the pledge 200 years from now.

"You're confusing the stars with heaven." Kirk thinks he's being called an angel.

The absolute mishmash of meaningless, referent-free words here. America. Native Americans. Communists. The flag, the Constitution. God. Angels. Devils. What???

Like how can they both be flag worshippers AND...believers in God? Who is their God? Alien George Washington?

So rude to call Spock Kirk’s “servant.” That’s his space husband!

Is that a literal picture of Spock as a demon in their.. Bible?

I can’t even follow this anymore.

“You command him.” I mean...yes, that’s how the military works.

“He has no heart.” Wow, rude.

“His heart is different!” I stan one (1) Southern Doctor.

I feel like Spock is just... not having this at all. His face loos like he’s thinking what I’m thinking.

Oh no is that the CONSTITUTION??!

“Kill his servant” wow Tracey is obsessed with Spock, isn’t he? I guess everyone in the Fleet knows about them and their special relationship.

Spock is even amused by the knife at his throat. His eyes say "I am distressed--but fascinated!"

A FOURTH fight scene? And here I thought Kirk was going to recite the Constitution.

“I’m open to suggestions.” He’s just as worried about Kirk as McCoy is, bu the doesn’t show it.

...Yep, he’s being telepathic again. Not really in line with his usual telepathy but okay. Alien magic is flexible.

Okay I have a JD and I can confidently say there is nothing about good defeating evil in the Constitution.

And now this alien guy is immediately ready to make himself a “slave.” That seems problematic. What happened to the holy word “Freedom”?

Wow, Kirk's in a bad mood. "You can't pronounce your own holy words worth shit."

“This is only for the eyes of a Chief,” he says and Kirk just pushes him away.

Spock literally turns Tracey around for Kirk’s big final speech like “Listen up, bitch, my boyfriend’s talking.”

Is this the 4th of July episode?? Feels like there should be canons and fireworks going off behind him rn.

Idk, the words of the Constitution can't be so unique and unprecedented if a WHOLE OTHER ALIEN CIVILIZATION just came up with them, too, on their own, like monkeys typing Hamlet. (Given the timelines here... they probably did it first too lol.)

"Liberty and freedom need to be more than just words." Like what does that even mean in this context? Sounds nice but it’s very hard to put into the context of all the rest of this.

“And uh be nice to the Kohms,” after most of them (?) were probably just killed.

I really was into this until the last 10-15 minutes and I think there were under-explored concepts that could have taken the fever dream of whatever that bizarre-o fever dream at the end was. The abandoned ship. The leftovers of bio warfare. The whole weird and under-explained concept of immunity. The tragedy that so much was destroyed,, including but not limited to the whole Exeter crew, for no reason. What happened to Tracey to so destroy him--was it just greed? What about the “Prime” Directive? Is it important or not. They just leave at the end after (as Spock pointed out) doing quite a bit of their own meddling, even though meddling is allegedly the worst. Also, we know almost nothing about the Kohms at all. The “American” society clearly wasn’t democratic. Were the Kohms literally Communist?

I’m willing to accept a certain degree of alternate Earth scenarios--like Miri (though imo that was not a necessary component of that story) or Bread and Circuses, but this was too much. TOO unbelievable. And frankly unnecessary. You could do an allegory for alternate-Vietnam, and it would be just as clear but even more effective. There wouldn’t be any distraction in the form of “what the fuck is that flag doing here?”

There is a potentially incendiary concept here, which is the same one I thought of reading about actual COG plans--certain aspects of the Yanks’ culture survives, but with absolutely no meaning attached. They have a Constitution but they mispronounce all the words. They have this tattered flag but it has no other meaning. They’ve turned the symbols of the government into a religion, but they don’t practice any of the civil aspects of it--they have chiefs, not democratically appointed leaders, for example. Like, COG asks “what IS the country, and how do you make sure the country endures no matter what?” This was an opportunity to show the worst of that: the country continues to exist as symbology only--incredibly strong symbology, but only that--and all of the actual values that were supposed to be stored with that symbology have disappeared. Similarly, their hatred of their enemies endures. It’s lauded in the ep as their attempt to get “their land” back but what if it’s just war for its own sake, as Tracey seems to be engaging in? To tell that story, especially in the 60s, against the backdrop of Vietnam, and with the references to bio warfare and nuclear warfare, could be powerful. And I know TOS can work in metaphor and comparison. It doesn’t need to bring out a literal fucking flag.

Honestly, it was like they had one good, classic, sci fi story but it didn't fill 52 minutes so they tacked on the American Pride 4th of July Propaganda Extravaganza at the end.

It really felt like the lesson was “America good” lol.

I liked the concept of the post apocalyptic society in the aftermath of bio warfare as a cautionary tale for 1960s America, and I'd be up for crazed snake oil salesman Starfleet Captain (or...whatever his rank was) if it were a bit better explained. But the rest of it....

It also... could have been kinda incendiary with the idea that the Constitution and flag are religious symbols... I mean some people do treat them that way and I've always found that, first, blasphemous, and second, bizarre in such a hyper-Christian country. But I feel like instead of digging ito that, they just tempered it with "But also they're Christian, as you can tell by their drawing of devil!Spock, for some reason."

Idk, this story could have been complete with out the whole weird “Vietnam AU” back story or alternately it could have been a biting commentary about what defines America, and about whether or not our symbols might be more enduring--or even more important to people today??--than the laudable but more complex and difficult ideals that underpin the country’s founding. Are the words of the Constitution just gobbledy gook? They are if you don’t live by them, and America has always struggled to do that. It definitely would struggle even more in the aftermath of an apocalypse.

...I’m more annoyed now, thinking about the possible sci fi story that could have been...

Anyway next is an ep I’m fairly sure I haven’t  seen, so that should be fun.

[theotherackerman]

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong to Attack on Titan.

NOTES:

Current time: Wednesday , January 6th

Flashback: Mikasa, age sixteen

chapter twelve: stand there like a ghost

It’s 5:30 in the morning when Hange’s alarm went off.

It woke Levi too.

“Go back to sleep,” Hange said as they got dressed.

Hange had packed already last night but Levi doesn’t want them to go. He knows they have to, he

knows they’re only thirty minutes away but there’s also the irrational side of his mind that tells

him that’s also too far. He doesn’t want to miss a moment he has left with them.

He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, “too late.”

He found his robe hanging on the back of the door. He felt self conscious about his burns on his chest.

He did the good partner thing and carried Hange’s stuff out to their van.

“I’ll call you tonight,” Hange reminded Levi.

“Okay,” he replied, never been good at this.

He hates saying goodbye.

Too many people have gone from his sight only to be lost.

Hange kissed him, banishing the bad thoughts from his head for just a moment.

“I’ll call you tonight,” Hange reminded him again.

“Yeah, yeah. Drive safe.”

“I’ll text you when I’m on campus.”

“Whatever,” he still tried to play it cool, “just be safe.”

“I will.”

Hange got into their van and drove off.

Levi made his way back into the house and upstairs. When he passed by Mikasa’s room, he can’t

help but notice that the room door was wide open.

He decided to peek inside.

Eren was asleep on her floor while Mikasa was sound asleep on her bed.

He’s not even surprised at this point.

As he walked away, he couldn’t help but wonder if they’ll get back together any faster than they got together.

-----------------

They were sixteen.

Eren had already got permission from Levi to ask Mikasa out so at least that wasn’t an issue.

Levi scared that absolutely shit out of Eren.

He’s ex military. He did time in jail previously before he was military and he’s the one who taught Mikasa to fight.

So yes, Eren was absolutely terrified of Levi Ackerman.

It’s not Eren’s fault he happened to be in love with Levi’s cousin.

He’s not sure when it started.

Maybe it had always been there secretly, gnawing at him.

His mom used to tease him about Mikasa, he knew he would have had her approval if she was alive. Did he really care about dad’s?

Not really.

That would require his dad to be around and sober.

He sat down at his normal lunch table. It was just Jean, Eren, Connie, and Reiner at the table at that point

“I think I’m going to ask Mikasa out,” Jean said..

“Dude, finally,” Reiner said as he patted Jean on the back.

“I can’t wait to show her my moves,” Jean smirked.

Eren wanted to punch Jean in the face. They had had their fights as kids and for the most part, they had grown out of that. However, the idea of Jean asking Mikasa out before him, made Eren want to punch him in the face really hard.

Thankfully, Mikasa, Historia, and Annie were the next ones to arrive at the table so talk of Jean asking Mikasa out disappeared.

What an asshole was all Eren could think.

Did he go and ask Levi?

Probably not.

Besides, did Mikasa even like Jean?

Did she even like Eren?

“Are you going to tell him you like him?” Eren heard Historia ask Mikasa as they left lunch.

“No, it won’t matter anyway,” Mikasa said before Historia took her hand.

“I still think he likes you. Maybe he’ll even ask you out.”

“I doubt it.”

Eren’s stomach was turning.

Mikasa had never talked to him about who she liked.

Who did she hang out with besides the girls, him, and Armin?

Fear swept over him.

She did hang out with Jean sometimes.

He had seen Jean at her locker a few times.

Towards the end of the day, he went to meet up with Mikasa so he could drive her home. He turned the corner to see Jean with one of those fake roses behind his back. That’s not the worst part.

The worst part was Mikasa was laughing and smiling while Jean was talking.

Fuck it.

Eren drove home alone.

He had been home for about fifteen minutes when there was a pounding on his door.

Apparently, it had begun raining since he got home because there was a rain soaked Mikasa standing there with a look that could kill.

“You better have a reason for making me walk five blocks in the rain.”

“Why didn’t you ask your new boyfriend to take you home,” he scoffed, not letting her inside.

“Uh..I..who?”

“Jean, don’t act stupid.”

“Eren, you heard that? Were you spying on me?”

As he shut the door, he saw tears in Mikasa’s eyes.

It only took about two seconds to realize his mistake.

“FUCK!” He yelled before he ran out into the downpour.

Mikasa had only made it a few steps away from the door when he grabbed her arm.

She looked back at him, “let go of me.”

“Are you dating Jean?”

The rain was getting harder.

“What?” She pulled her arm free from him.

“Are you dating Jean?”

Lighting struck, thunder rumbled.

“I need to get home,” she said, still refusing to look at him.

“Mikasa, are you dating Jean?”

“NO!”

“Do you like Jean?”

“No! Why are so obsessed with Jean right now? I told him no! That I liked someone else.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter, he clearly doesn’t like me back.”

“Just tell me who.”

“Why? So you can get mad at me about them too? And leave me to walk home in the rain again? No, thanks.”

“We don’t keep secrets from one another.”

“Eren, it doesn’t matter. Just go back inside.”

“Mikasa, just tell me who it is.”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because I want to know.”

“YOU! I like you, Eren.”

He grabbed her arm again, yanking her closer to him. He put his hands on her face and his lips crushed hers.

There was a sound of surprise from Mikasa but she’s quick to respond.

It was clumsy. He’s never kissed anyone before but the way her lips feel on his make him wish they would have done this a lot sooner. The way her lips move in sync with his, he can’t get enough. So he continued to kiss her in a thunderstorm.

They finally broke apart, panting. Foreheads resting on one another. Eren’s hooked and he wants more .

“You’re going to get sick,” he said before pulling her inside with him.

She dropped her backpack on the floor and hung her coat up on the coat rack in the living room.

“We should change.”

Eren nodded in agreement before leading the way to his room. Mikasa knew the way, she’d been there a million times but this felt different.

He opened his dresser, pulling out an old t shirt and sweatpants. He handed them to her.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asked.

Fuck it, he wasn’t going to just ask her on a date.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Cool. You should go change.”

She returned  moments later and Eren had mindlessly started playing his guitar.

She sat down on the bed next to him.

“Does that mean all those love songs were about me?” He teased her.

“Shut up,” she said, giving him a small shove.

“You’re not denying,” he smiled at her.

“Shut up. Not all of them.” Her face was getting redder.

“Just most of them then?” he laughed.

“So what now?”

“Don’t ask me, I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

“Well neither have I.”

“I’d never even kissed anyone until today,” he replied, putting his guitar down.

“Neither had I.”

For some reason, it made his heart swell.

He was her first kiss.

”I think it stays the same except now I can do this,” he replied before kissing her again.

This he could get used to.

-------------

Mikasa woke up.

She saw Eren asleep on her floor, she had to blink to make sure he was actually there.

It was strange.

She ached for him.

Yet there was a part of her that would not allow her to have him just yet.

Make him earn it , a part of her whispered.

If she must, then she must.

Maybe this time their relationship wouldn’t be so easy.

She silently pulled clothes out of her closest before disappearing into the bathroom.

After she got ready, she went back to the room to see Eren still asleep.

Everyone else in the house was still asleep too. She wondered why she was awake this early. Her sleep schedule had been a mess lately. She sat down on her bed, mindlessly scrolling through social media, not wanting to do anything else at the moment.

Eren’s phone went off.

An alarm.

He groaned as his hand searched for his phone. He hit the button to turn it off before sitting up. He reached into his backpack then pulled out a medicine bottle and a bottle of water.

He opened the bottle, took the pill and a drink of water, and then put it all back into his backpack.

Mikasa hadn’t realized she had been staring until he yawned and his shirt raised a bit.

What was with him not wearing shirts that fit right?

He hadn’t  been wearing a shirt yesterday and now this one was too short.

It was like he was trying to kill her.

Her eyes met his and he smirked.

She looked away as her face turned red.

Eren laughed.

That only made her face get redder.

“Oh come on, it’s cute,” he said as he flopped down on the bed next to her.

“It’s not cute,” she muttered looking down at her phone.

“Were you like before we started dating?”

She didn’t answer him.

“You were? How did I not notice?”

“I don’t know. I thought I made it pretty obvious that my feelings were more than just us being f riends.”

“Huh. I guess...I should feel really stupid for thinking you’d like Jean for awhile there, then.”

“You really should.”

“I...I’m sorry.”

Mikasa nodded, “you’ve been saying that a lot lately.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She looked over at him, guilt was clearly written all over his face.

She decided it was best to change the subject. “You think Annie and Armin will be okay?”

“Probably. They’re the smartest of all of us. So if anyone could make it, it’s them.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“Do you ever think about that?” He asked.

“What?” she played dumb.

“You know, having a family...”

She had once when they had been together. She had assumed that they were headed down that path but look at what assumptions had done to her.

“Was that in your future for us?” Eren asked.

Her eyes met his again. “Yes,” she replied.

He nodded before looking down.

“It still could be,” she whispered.

His eyes met hers. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“We’re really bad at this,” Eren laughed.

“It feels like torture.”

“Glad to know it’s not just me.”

“I’m afraid. If I just let you back in and then….”

“I know. I get it. It just sucks that there are these constant reminders of what we were, what we could have been right now. I see why you came over yesterday.”

“If I said anything to any of them, they’d understand. I just don’t….”

“Want to ruin anyone’s happiness? I get it.”

Of course,  Eren understood.

He always understood her when no one else did.

“It hurt worse because you were my best friend," she stated.

“I know.”

She put her phone on her night stand, then rolled over on her side so she was facing Eren. He rolled from his back on his side facing her. He reached out, gently running a finger down the side of her face.

“I really wanted to kiss you yesterday,” she confessed.

There were no more secrets between them.

If this was going to work, the filter that had been there needed to go away.

If Mikasa expected Eren to do that, she needed to do the same.

“We’re horrible at this,” he laughed.

“Do you ever think we were better off as just friends?”

“No.” There was no hesitation in his answer. “Do you?���

“I think….we were inevitable.. We would have ended up together one way or another.”

“Were?”

“Are.”

He smiled at that, “just so you know, I really wish Zeke wouldn’t have walked in the other day.”

Mikasa’s face went red at the memory she had just been thinking of yesterday.

“I wish he wouldn’t have too,” she whispered.

They stared at each other.

Eren’s gaze went from her eyes to her lips and they were both thinking the same thing. They wanted one another desperately and this whole waiting thing was absolute torture for both of them. Eren reached his hand and cupped her cheek. She leaned into his hand.

Mikasa knew she was right.

They were inevitable.

She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him. But neither of them could just give in. There was too much for them to lose this time.

Eren quickly sat up. “I’m..uhh..going to go change.”

“And take a cold shower?”

“Yeah, actually. That too.”

Mikasa waited until he left and closed the door before she allowed herself to laugh at the situation.

-------------

After his ice cold shower, Eren found the rest of the house was buzzing.

Sasha was cooking breakfast, Levi was making coffee.

Annie, Ymir, Historia, and Armin were already seated at the table. The two dogs were also seated at the table in their own two chairs.

“Sawney! You want bacon?” Ymir said to the dog sitting next to her.

“They’re going to get fat,” Annie commented.

“Look at his face, Annie. How am I supposed to say no to this face?”

“Are you going to say that about my baby too?”

“Yeah, probably. I mean I get to be the fun aunt. You’re the mom. You get to discipline. Just like Eren who is awkwardly standing there gets to be the fun uncle. Armin get to discipline the kid. This is how things work,” Ymir stated as if it was a known fact.

“Why are you standing there awkwardly?” Sasha asked.

“Well I had an idea in the shower but I’d need all of your help for it….including Levi.”

Levi’s snapped towards Eren. “Why would I help you?”

“Where’s Mikasa?” Eren asked.

“In the sun room with her headphones in. She said she got a good idea for some lyrics this morning. Why?” Historia asked.

“Because my idea is for her. I’m taking your advice, Annie. Big gesture, romance. All that."

“You have my attention. This better be good,” Levi said.

Eren felt like he was in one of those mobster movies and like he was about to make a deal with the Godfather.

[recurring-polynya]

Zanpakutou Rebellion Arc Recap, pt 8

It is the time you have all been waiting for*: I review the Vintage Kuchiki Bullshit Flashback Episodes.

(this is a lie; no one wants this but me)

I am just going to dive into this with the boldest possible claim: the Kouga episodes of the Zanpakutou Spirits Arc employ an unreliable narration, in the spirit of Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

Despite the fact that it only takes place a few hundred years ago, none of the other captains are present in this flashback, aside from Yamamoto. It’s a very minor plot point that Kouga is the 3rd Seat of Squad Six-- Ginrei’s lieutenant is never seen, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Soujun, since this is before the TBTP and he’s still alive then. That bit in the last episode of “it was secret act that was never recorded” is actually extremely real: this entire debacle was kept on the quiet, probably even from Byakuya’s dad (a known soft baby) and covered up after the fact. This is Yamamoto’s standard MO and I prefer my characterization of Ginrei as awful, so honestly, I love and support all of this.

Let’s start with Young Kouga, who is arguably hot and definitely extra. Here’s a picture I grabbed off Google:

He’s got an enormous red scarf, a chunky necklace, an oversized purple obi, and of course, the kenseikan. I did a comparison, and he is very close to post-timeskip Renji levels of pec-exposure. I found it extremely distracting that he’s got this pink chunk of hair that is also basically the same color as Renji’s, and I kept feeling like there’s some meaning to this, that this arc is trying to tell me something, but whatever it is, my brain refused to listen. Oh, he’s also noticeably taller than Ginrei, probably like 6’2” or something. Regardless, it’s very common for shinigami (the ones with speaking parts) to have one of two accessories, but Kouga is a walking undead Claire’s.

The flashbacks start with Kouga taking down a bunch of “shinigami rebels”. There is apparently some sort of rebellion going on, although we never get any deets. You kinda have to watch Bleach for a while to pick up on the fact that there are a lot of shinigami wandering around who aren’t actually in the Gotei, who do they answer to? I have no idea, but it does not appear that they have any sort of legal rights. Kouga kills a whole mess of them at once while Ginrei looks on, and then Yamamoto shows up to tell him “I sure like the way you murdered those guys, hey you wanna lead a task force?”

Ginrei and Kouga are walking around after this, and Kouga’s sort of like “hey, hey, that was cool, right? The Captain-Commander said so?” Remember, Kouga is a dude who distinguished himself as a fighter and a scholar (scholar of what, exactly? I mean, he could be a Pokemon professor for all we know). He married Ginrei’s daughter and he is clearly Thirsty for Approval. As we all know, this is not how being a Kuchiki works, one does not just get approval, so Ginrei instead gives him a frosty lecture on how he doesn’t have enough heart to shoulder the burdens of his powers or some bullshit. We have all heard Byakuya lecture people on how their arrogance will be their undoing, so it’s extremely obvious that this is just standard Kuchiki Clan Head pontificating, but it really seems to harsh Kouga’s deal.

Muramasa gives Kouga a pep talk and a shoulder rub, and they get back to the hard work of murdering rebels. (I really wish we knew what this rebellion was about-- my money is on unionization or perhaps the right to not be murdered by members of the Gotei). There are some dudes in this episode who wear short, fancy haori. Are they important Kuchiki? The Bleach wiki claims they are “Squad 6 elites” but there’s no real indication that they are in Squad 6. I don’t know but they are bitchy gossips and they hate Kouga, so they set him up by throwing some tantalizingly murderable dudes into his path. Kouga, a simple man, murders them. Oh, no, it turns out they weren’t rebels, you go to JAIL, Kouga!

Ginrei visits Kouga in prison, and Kouga’s like, “hey, are you gonna get me out of this?” and Ginrei just goes into full lecture mode. “You were too powerful, you were too arrogant, you should have slow-played it more, Yamamoto gave you that task force because he wanted to keep an eye on you BLAH BLAH BLAH” what a bitch. Then, as Ginrei walks away, he’s thinking to himself about all the strings he’s gonna pull to get Kouga off.

THIS IS KUCHIKI FAMILY DYSFUNCTION AT ITS BEST!! I WAS SCREAMING. Kuchiki patriarchs are huge bitches to their children because they are trying to bring out excellence, and also because most of the Kuchiki are entitled brats, and Ginrei likes to make them squirm a little. If you were raised in this family, you would absolutely know what he’s doing here, and roll your eyes and wait for Granddad to save your sorry ass. Kouga doesn’t know this. He knows he’s worked his ass off for this family, he’s done everything he can to be worthy, and Ginrei has never acknowledged him and is now hanging him out to dry. What he doesn’t realize also, is that it’s only the people Ginrei actually likes that he holds to the highest standards. This is precisely the sort of home life that leads to Byakuya visiting his sister in prison, announcing “I will not see you again until your execution” and then does nothing to bail her out, no matter how obvious it became that she was merely a pawn in an intra-Gotei conspiracy.

Back to the point. Enraged, Muramasa helps Kouga break out of prison and they decide that if they’re gonna get in trouble for murdering people, they might as well murder some people. Oh, as a side note, they slapped some arm restraints and a muzzle on Kouga in prison. He breaks off half the muzzle, but keeps wearing the broken parts and the wrist cuffs, because as I said, my man loves bling.

Episode 251 is titled Dark History! The Worst Shinigami is Born, which is a really bold title. I feel like Unohana is probably content with “Worst Criminal in Soul Society,” since she’s actually a very good shinigami, but I can just see Aizen clenching his fists and gritting his teeth at this affront.

First things first, Kouga murders those fancy dudes who framed him. Someone tells Ginrei, who sighs heavily and goes out to take care of this mess.

Kouga is actually really close to a breakdown at this point, and I’m pretty sure that, had Ginrei handled it differently, he might have been able to talk him down. But why would you do that when you could just lecture your son-in-law and make him feel worse about himself? Kouga, unstandably, flips his shit and attacks Ginrei, who can make himself immune to Muramasa’s attack by closing his heart. I feel like this is a Kuchiki special ability and it was hilarious. Ginrei just stands there, holding his breath, glaring, like someone has just kicked a soccer ball through the window of the Squad Six offices. It’s super-effective.

Are you ready for this next part? Are you sitting down? Because Kouga gets so pissed, he cuts off his kenseikan, and throws them at Ginrei. He’s only standing, like 5 feet away, and they bounce off the old dude’s chest while he’s still making his tantrum face and my soul left my body.

Here is a dramatic recreation, the culmination of my life’s work:

Does anything matter after this? Ugh, I guess so. Ginrei goes to Yamamoto and announces that only the baddest bitches can perform the “closing your heart” technique and he needs a second person to help him defeat Kouga. Yamamoto is like “there’s only one bitch bad enough” and puts on his sunglasses. This is the part where I specifically need to mention that there are no other captains in the room at this time, only a bunch of Squad Six guys, and no vice-captain to be seen. It’s so obvious that Ginrei is asking Yamamoto to help him shove some dirty laundry under the bed, but what are problematic old dude besties for?

At this point, Muramasa is honestly pretty worried about Kouga’s mental state and tries to talk him into some reasonable course of action, but Kouga’s been losing his grip for a while and he has little interest in being reasoned with. Also, Muramasa’s timing ain’t real great, and Kouga is starting to think that he can’t trust his zanpakutou, either.

Gosh, that was enough plot for now, can we get to the part where two old dudes with bad knees try to bind Kouga? It is probably the least lit fight in all of Bleach, and I loved it, I screamed the whole time. It’s raining, so everyone’s arthritis starts acting up. I don’t think Yamamoto even moves during this fight. At one point, Ginrei gets knocked over and casts a kidou from a seated position, because getting up sucks, amiright? Kouga talks big, even going so far as to state that he has “always wanted to fight them” and… it goes poorly for him. Basically, his relationship with Muramasa has deteriorated so much that Muramasa can no longer hear him, and he gets owned. Yamamoto and Ginrei throw some magic halberds at him. They miss with one of them and there’s an actual sequence where Ginrei awkwardly jogs over to go pick it up. I loved everything about this fight.

The flashback sequence ends with Ginrei giving Kouga’s kenseikan (complete with pink hair) to Kouga’s wife. I gave my husband a stern warning about how much I did not want to ever receive his sawed-off ponytail by way of learning that he had been sealed in a tree for crimes against Soul Society.

Back to the present time! Muramasa is so, so happy to see Kouga again and Kouga is so, so pissed. Muramasa tries to explain that he never heard Kouga calling for him, but Kouga isn’t having any of it, and he stabs Muramasa. Ichigo is like, “Harsh, dude!” Truly, I tell you, it is always a mistake to stab your own zanpakutou or yell at a small child in front of Kurosaki Ichigo, but Bleach villains never listen to me. There is no time for Ichigo to get good and pissed, tho, because Byakuya is here to take out the trash.

I was going to have the next ep in this recap, too, but it is already way to long. Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not mention the omake. Ginrei is explaining to Young Byakuya (I keep wanting to refer to him as Kuchiki-shounen, All-Might style) about kenseikan and how to wear them. Byakuya asks his grandfather where Ginrei wears his kenseikan and… Ginrei flash-steps away, rather than answer. There is literally only one way I can figure out how to interpret this, and I couldn’t bring myself to type it. Please, if anyone has a non-traumatizing explanation, help a girl out, because seriously, Ginrei, if you are wearing those things where no one can even see them why would you bother???

[semi-imaginary-place]

rewatching decadence

ep1: so... indoctrinating kids that they life their life in service to an upper class. also like, the way deca dence takes care of giant gadoll is to punch it like no giant sword or laser canon or anything just the power of a giant mountain sized fist. this show actually has some good foreshadowing from seeing Natsume from the perspective of Kaburagi’s hud, to Natsume’s dad (Muno) finding the Solid Quake logo at the beginning of the episode and the logo again being shown in the last shot at the announcement signs off with have a profitable day which is a weird public safety announcement but makes sense as a company slogan. I’m still not sure what the “TIME 1:00  POINT SE,07,G” means. I didn’t write it down last time because I was unsure of myself, but my first thought when the cyborgs showed up was VR chatroom for the upper class.

ep2: yeahs that’s totally an advertisement that plays right after natsume realizes the human costs of war as the tankers pay respects to the fallen. I realized what it was with the cartoony designs, the bright colors and patterns, the funky shapes of all the structures aboard the space ship, it looks like a tv show for toddlers. inoffensive and deliberately cheerful to distract from the horrors of a corporation owning your person. the eng subtitles are confusing here it should be “real death(simulation) awaits” in that the company is advertising being able to experience death but not have any of its permanent consequences as a feature of the game. The cyborgs are corporate wage slaves being compensated for their labor in company credits and the only other things we seen them do outside of work is play the company’s mmo, or recreational drugs. “I should be proud of my function and to be scrapped” as property of the company. aaaa that’s terrible. aaa. what are cyborg cores??? and why are they valuable. Solid Quake has no control over the core, only the cyborg’s housing. Is it that they cannot produce more? Considering the others on the team got executed for sentenced to an eternal forced labor camp with appalling conditions, Minato really did pull some strings for Kaburagi. ooh so “time until scrapping” and “operational limit near are two different warnings. the first is a general reminder of lifespan and the second is because oxyone levels are low. now its “TIME 20:00  POINT SE,05,I”. all those new gadoll events probably wreck havoc on the tanker economy. its 400c now and i think it was 500 for 2 earlier. First time through I wasn’t paying attention and totally thought kaburagi was an assassin, but no he’s just clean up crew. ahh yes, come spend you wages at the company run stores. micro transactions... wait so where were people getting the number 13 from?

ep3: ah yes Solid Quake charges to use the media center, truly a micro transaction hell. Natsume’s character arc is about whether to push herself or not. Here Fei acts as part of a continuing dialectic saying that Tankers have no place outside of Deca-Dence, that sooner of later Natsume will die from it, and once again highlighting Natsume’s right arm. In the other level of this though, tankers shouldn’t go outside because that’s not their role in the solid quake mmo, and those who would disrupt the mmo are killed. I like how you can see Kaburagi switch from videogame logic (oh she’s low level so let’s just stick her in the tutorial zone) to real life (what skills and experiences would help in fighting). So several corporations took advantage of desperate people to sell them a service that would augment them with mechanical parts. I get that pipe in a little outfit is funny, but does no one really realize its a gadoll, i meant natsume recognizes it instantly. like the scene where Natsume talks about her right arm, the anime does a good job of showing how her feeling about it are complicated. She’s lived with that arm for years, but it also hinders her sometimes, and people will comment about it. there’s this specific type of humor that pops up in this show and given how its the same joke, my guess is that its the same person behind it. The “joke” being that Natsume is put in a position that references sexual assault. The first is with fennel where she makes up an excuse of having to go see kaburagi to get away from him. And then there’s this episode. There’s also a few stray lines here and there that alarm me in that they imply Natsume has dealt with the threat of assault before. Since they didn’t do anything meaningful with this, I’d rather it just not be there. Minato is in on the secret of Pipe’s existence and by the way the two talk, they’ve called each other before in the last 7 years. Its good to know that Kaburagi wasn’t JUST brooding for 7 years and that the two of them stayed in contact.

ep4: Natsume after having gained confidence in herself takes down several gadoll and earns her place in The Power. Its a fulfilling payoff after seeing her train for several episodes. Natsume is where she always wanted to be, fighting gadoll in the Power. gahh It really is a patch release trailer. Ohh so I assumed that the other structures on the cartoon earth were other corporations, but in this episode we see one of them (the white and red striped cone thing opposite the deca-dence dome) and the cyborgs there are talking about the game (MMO LARPing lol), so either Solid Quake owns multiple of those structures, or these cyborgs are customers not owned by Solid Quake and playing of their own volition. that would makes the cone cyborgs where solid quake is deriving its profit from since its not like it pays its workers. reading comments online, a lot of people missed that because a ranker was found to be cheating (mikey), the rankings were abolished. In the present time, gears/players are not ranked. Ah so Kaburagi was transferred to the maintenance department from the warrior department. Wow reassignment is so much better than the poop jail. I remember it being said, armor repair, doctor, and weapon shop could be employee(cyborg) run so I wonder if the medics and that one armor shop guy are tankers or not. So this anime already snuck in a sex joke with the when the poop gang swapped kaburagi’s avatar with a sex toy, so i wonder if the safetyprivatemode was made so that the mods wouldn’t have to listen to robot sex. I really wish this show could have had 24 episodes. The trend for the past 20 years has been shorter and shorter shows so I know it would have been likely impossible to get the clearance and funding for 24 eps but oooh in som alternate universe maybe... i brought up fleshing out minor characters and character relationships before but there also stuff like Natsume’s right hand almost clamping on ... Mindy? Which usually would be a narrative flag but is completely dropped because of the episode limit. And the confidence Natsume gained last episode come to work against Kaburagi trying to keep her from the suicide mission. Its only from this point on that Kaburagi starts to really change, as of this point he is still a loyal cog to a machine that does not care about him. Kaburagi and Natsume in the 2nd half of the episode continue the same dialectic that runs through the whole of the show, about giving up and learning to try again, about pushing your limit, about why someone bothers trying. On the collectivist versus individualist spectrum, Deca-Dence is on the individualist side with assertions of the importance for deciding for yourself what you will do with your life. Its an interesting counterpoint to The Twilight Mirage (Friends at the Table) which I am currently listening to in that The Twilight Mirage is a western production and strongly collectivist with one of the antagonist being sort of kind of an embodiment of independence/individualism while japanese works as a whole tend to be more about the whole over the individual than western ones. Kurenai talking about why she fights is very good and very important for 2 reasons, first it help flesh out not only her but offer a very needed other opinion on what its like to live as a Tanker, second it segues nicely into Natsume’s memories of her dad telling her about the outside world and him being the only one to believe she can do it (fight in The Power) as contrasted with flashbacks of all the other characters telling her she can’t. This culminates in Natsume gathering her resolve to fight not because of something grand like changing the world or the fate of humanity, but something very personal scale: changing herself and proving to herself that she can do it. The is also the climax of her character arc, the point of no return.

ep5: If last episode was natsume’s point of no return, then either this episode or episode 7 is Kaburagi’s. Rationally speaking, the optimal scenario would have been for Kaburagi to stall long enough for the Tankers to escape before pulling back himself, but emotionally and narratively, there’s no way he couldn’t. After all the build up of deciding for yourself how to live and pushing your limits. Its appropriate that here in defense of the girl that inspired him to live and choose for himself rather than just continue existing in the default of what Solid Quake demands of him, that Kaburagi chooses to release his operational limiter (literally pushing him limit) and derail the company’s plans. How did no one realize purple dude was breaking imprisonment to play on a hacked avatar. Like he’s still as purple and bloodthirsty as ever. He acts and speaks the same. Someone would have totally seen him and gone “eyyyyy [i forgot this guy’s name] is back” and talked to people about it and someone should have heard. So I remember reading comments from various idiots who were mad because they mistakenly thought the anime took place in a virtual space and that Natsume was made of lines of code. And first off even if that was true there’s a difference between objective reality and the lived experiences of a person and what’s to say her experiences and emotions would be any less real than yours. And second, did everyone forget The Hunger Games? Like its just another game that plays with real lives and doesn’t care who gets killed. Solid Quake is just using humans as a stage prop. Man this episode is jam packed. Its like getting punched in the face 4 times. The pacing of the last 4 minutes was really good. The quiet scene as dawn breaks acts in direct contrast to the high energy of the Stargate takedown that preceded it. After time and against not listening to him, Minato still calls Kabu to check in with him. There’s also his certainly that it was Kaburagi that saved the Deca-Dence mech (i need to be clearer when I’m talking about the physical fortress city mech, the mmorpg game, or the deca-dence system itself). And then when the world state gets reset is just so good because it make it clear that the gadoll were never the true enemy. The tankers could kill as many gadoll as they want and nothing would change. Kaburagi’s at an interesting point here, in that he’s no longer in a state of having given up like he was in episode 1 just waiting to die and following along with Solid Quake’s orders, as of this episode he has deliberately gone against the company’s rules, and yet he’s still believes that nothing will actually change. He’s broken a rule and resigned himself to punishment instead of say for example getting rid of the punishment all together. He’s still a good little employee that hasn’t rebelled against the system. And then the “Take care of Pipe” and Natsume turns around and he’s already gone, is sooo good. The final shot too of his avatar face down in the snow! The “This world needs bugs” is in direct contrast to Hugin/Fugin(?) repeating that this world must be rid of bugs, and the same phrase Kaburagi repeated 7 years ago when he was transferred to the Maintenance Department instead of being killed. I wonder how much the cyborgs feel in their original bodies  vs. how much they feel in their Gear avatars. Kaburagi doesn’t seem to care about food and no food stalls were shown in the Gear area so maybe they doesn’t have much sense of taste? The avatars also have a lessened sense of pain. And then the limit release sequence shows connections increasing between the two bodies so does it make the cyborgs more attuned with the avatar’s senses?

ep6: eh so this is another example of what I mean when I say some of the humor in this show is in bad taste. They probably put the oxyone port where the ass would be just to make this joke. But this is better then doing to it Natsume. The animators even had a gleam censor for the over where the capsule was inserted as if it wasn’t obvious enough what it was suppose to look like. Spurned on by the the promise that one day if they work hard and behave (”rehabilitated”), the cyborgs will get let out when in actuality its a forced labor camp so that Solid Quake can squeeze just a little more labor our of the cyborgs for even less compensation. The cartoony style here helps offset just how horrific there working conditions are. And Kaburagi still the good little employee (iiko) tries his hardest to play by the rules and win. Except in this game, there is no “win’ written into the rules. So finally he is forced to move outside of the system Solid Quake has made. I still can’t believe they let Donatello keep the gun... Maybe cyborg cores are brains. In 5.5 Kaburagi’s core is in the top half of his metal case, and Donatello’s is also in his head. I’m still not sure what that sequence where Kaburagi takes the head fin and an image of a cyborg core is overlayed, means.

[what-a-messsss]

1x10 rewatch

Ok, let’s get back to Walt Longmire: Disaster Boi of S1 and finish this season off with a...something.  Pleading look to the heavens, maybe?  

How do I keep forgetting that Lizzie is a thing, even after our decision to find her some nice Smitten Cowboy to be with?  Holy hell, but why are you still keeping your dead wife’s ashes in the kitchen?  At least you kept Lucian in your fucking truck.  In a coffee can.  What is with you and breakfast beverages??  We all know you need lots of therapy, but this seems like a kind of niche issue.

���Trust me, you don’t, uh, you don’t want that tea.”  Buddy.  

Poor Lizzie.  She really is so nice.  And he’s such a fucking disaster.  “You seem weird,” she says, in reaction to him going bug eyed from having to convince her not to drink his dead wife without her realizing that’s what he was doing.  Sweetie, you have no idea.  And she really does like him.  

This is.  So.  Gloriously awkward.  And Lizzie’s there in her bare feet.  And all we need is for Branch to show up and we’ll have a full house, and aaaaahahaha, Walt is so trying to freeze time with the power of his brain.  Staring off into the Not Here place with his mouth pressed just so...  Awwwww, suffer.

I had forgotten that Ferg was the one who actually did the body work on the Bronco!  Even did the paint work, because that old truck has never looked so good.  I know Omar loaned Walt his truck while the Bronco was “in the shop,” but I like that the writers gave Ferg the skills to do that.

“If anybody... has something they want to say, I suggest you think twice about it.”  We don’t need to say anything; we’re too busy laughing at you.

Oof, and then Lizzie hearing Martha’s voice still on the message greeting.  She’s really quite a good actress.  Lizzie isn’t a terribly subtle character generally, but she gives her these really fine microexpressions that give you occasional glimpses that there is more going on under the surface, and she’s not just an open book.  : (  Making me actually like her and feel bad, not just cringe when she comes on.  Dang iiiiiiiit.

Ok, that does NOT look like Sharpie.  I’m sorry, but that looks like a paint pen or lipstick more than it looks like a Shapie on the dead kid’s forehead.  Even if it were one of the jumbo Sharpies, they don’t write like that, they aren’t that colour on skin, and the thickness of the lines are all off.  Which is not really relevant, but it buuuuugs meeeee.  Pedantic little shit that I am.

Ope, Branch is basically past the angst about Walt not liking him and straight into just giving him nothing but attitude.  Which, while I can hardly blame anyone for giving Walt shit, does get old pretty fast.

Walt, you are So Bad at talking to people, even when it’s for the damn job!  Yeah, it’s fine to have Ferg fill Vic in, but at least acknowledge that she’s there, damn.  Honestly it would have been good for both Vic and Ferg for Walt to tell her to follow Ferg’s lead on this one.  He knows the case, the local history, the players, the situation, and probably more about archery than her, and she could stand to take the reminder that working 5 years in big city homicide still doesn’t make her the senior deputy and that she needs to be ok learning from even Ferg.  Shit, I keep finding more and more reasons to be annoyed at Walt.  Is he even really that good of a sheriff?  I’m shaking the ol’ Magic 8 Ball here, and signs point to frickin’ NO.  Ugh.

Five HUNDRED dollars says that he didn’t check with Mathias before going on the Rez for official police business again.  Jackass.

Can’t really blame Viho for being super bitter.  And Ayasha is so sweet.  This whole family dynamic is so well done.

Aw, Ferg is so excited about the gum wrapper.  “Still minty!”  How are you such a sparklebunny?  Bless.

Detective Falessssss.  His opening line is so great, but uuuuuuuhg, he’s as bad as Walt with his singlemindedness about the case.  

“Talk to Ruby.  She runs my life.”  She runs the department, bucko, and you’d be lost without her!  Lost, I say!  But you treat her like your personal social secretary, and that’s crap.

In Fales’ dubious defense, you were just super weird about that whole encounter.  

Omar!  You creepy little lecherous jackass.  Why am I still fond of you?  It’s really rather galling that I enjoy your character at all, but I doooo.  Thank gods he has the beard now; cleanshaven was just wigging me out.  “Vickie’s never shot before--”  “That is the second-to-last time you will ever call me that.”  And I chortle myself to distraction to the point that I have to rewind to catch the lines that I missed.  With her horrible plans when she gets drunk (I’m still cringing at that flashback of her with Travis) and her obvious thing for older men, I’m honestly kind of surprised she didn’t end up having a deeply regretted something with Omar at some point.  They do have good chemistry in an antagonistic way.  And he does so enjoy tugging her pigtails.  ...ew.  Why is my brain like this?  

“A little bit of practice, even a girl can make that shot.”  Aaaaaaand we’re back to kick him in the nuts.  Not that we ever really left there.  Such a butthead.

Boy oh boy, it sure is great the tone that all these shitty rich white people take saying “Indian.”

“That is what a normal person would do in your situation.”  Henryyyyyy, I love you so much.  Why can’t we spend more time with him in the early seasons?  Why are you drinking a Rainier?  Nooooo, please have better taste in beer than your boyfriend!  You have expensive tastes in bourbon, why can’t you have decent taste in beeeer?

Walt, what is the point of practicing darts when you are FIVE FEET from the board?  Seriously, you’re supposed to be like...  (a google later)  7 feet 9.25 inches away!  That’s...  That’s an oddly specific measurement.  Wtf.  No quickly apparent reason for that specific measure.  Resisting the pull of this particular rabbit hole to continue the ep.  

Aaaah, that’s right, this is still when Walt thinks that Henry may have killed the guy for him.  And BestDad Henry talked to Cady after the blow up about Branch, and he is a wonderful human being.  “It’s really none of your concern.”  Hoooooow dare you.  It is clearly a function of being bffs with that butthead that Henry just smiles (somewhat bitterly) at this instead of tripping him into the bar or shoving his head into the cigarette machine.  (Is that a cigarette machine?  Wtf is that thing with the yellow lit up portion towards the top? [14:05])  

“What a rich inner life you must lead.  From time to time, you should consider sharing some of it with the rest of us.”  The sass!  Swoon.  Henry.  Marry me.  

“I’ve got other problems.”  Buddy, you are other problems.

I wonder how many people/places Ruby just has on speed dial so that she can zoom through her list of “Where the hell is Walt now” to get in touch with him.

Aaaaand we’re back to Branch getting a bit big for his britches.  Whee.  Better fight about it like Big Boys.  Ffs.  “Go ahead.  Give me your best shot.”  ::Pat Benatar starts playing in the background::  Oh holy shit, I wish so damn much that I had any know-how about making vids.  I would be beyond amused by a spoofy hate vid of Walt and Branch being assholes to “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”  Ooo, oo, or “Hit Me Baby One More Time!”  Aaaahahaha, these fucking losers and their fragile masculinity.  Get rekt.

Children.  Childreeeeen.  Stop it, or you can’t go to Timmy’s birthday party next week.

The irony of Vic being the one who is actually calling them on their shit and getting to do their damn jobs.  Well shit, they actually have a warrant this time.  Will wonders never cease.

Damn, Viho is smart.  Politically savy, pointing out the election coming up.  He’s got the wrong end of the stick this time, but the fact that he’s seen these angles and considered a bunch of things about the consequences already is telling about how smart he is.

Ruby is so pleased to see Henry.  She sounds tired (dealing with Walt and Branch and the sheer volume of bs that is accumulating in that office, no wonder) but still fond.  And the look she gives him.  I love her so much.  She puts up with so much.  And I love Henry continually calling Walt and the department on their shit and just being a dedicated activist for his community.

Fuck right off, Branch.  “Woah.  I know you’re Walt’s friend, Henry, but you don’t have any particular rights here.”  You are sliding into being a full on trashbag of a human being so fast, Brancheroo.  Reminding a young man of his rights and helping him avoid getting railroaded by your biased ass isn’t a bad thing, you rusty wingnut.

Ok, it might not be Glasses!Henry, but cowboy boots!Henry with the glow of righteousness upon him is also quite A Look.

Aaaaahahaha, for once Vic’s unholy yelling saves the day.  Being able to shout over a mass of raucous teens is usually reserved for teachers, camp counselors, and stage managers.  Looool and using detention as the threat.  And then jail.  Heeeh.

This is soooo weeeeeird: I’m starting to genuinely like Lizzie.  She just showed up and I remembered that it’s for dropping off that present, and then Vic is such a butt about it, and this poor lady is just trying to date a guy that she really likes and even gave him about 5 different outs that morning and he pointedly didn’t take any of them and dammit, Lizzie deserves better, too.  Fuck, Walt, you are such a disaster zone.  And Vic is a whole other disaster area that’s looking to, uhhhh, share a border.  Yike.

The present is definitely more Lizzie than it is Walt, with the wrapping and everything, but it’s still a sweet impulse.  AND THEN VIC, who told Walt how many times that he should call her?? gets all up in her business?  Poor Lizzie trying to figure out what the fuck this has to do with Vic or how it is even on the same planet as any of her business.  She does have some issues from her previous marriage, but she owns them.  And her BS meter is actually pretty finely tuned.  Sure picks up on Vic’s awkward boner for Walt in no time flat.  Not that it’s particularly well hidden, damn.

This kid is a rapist and a murderer and The Bad Guy, but at the same time, he is a high school kid, chances are he’s a minor, and Walt is talking to him alone in his office without any parent, much less a lawyer.  What the fuck.  

“Because Ayasha Roundstone told me so,” is a good line, solidly so.  And Walt’s all in The Righteous Hand of Justice mode or whatever, with the gravelly voice and standing over the kid, staring him down.  Effective.  (But where are that kid’s parents?)  Ah, that’s right, his dad is taking a shot at whatshisnoodle to make it look like he’s the killer.

Awww, Cady.  Honey, how long have you been waiting for you FailDad to show up?  Fuck.  Right.  This was how she found out that Martha was murdered.  He lies to her so much.  He manipulates her so much.  He passes all of this off on it being Martha’s wish, but he even acknowledges that Cady had a right to know and he chose not to tell her.  He denies Cady her own agency again and again.  He makes decisions for her without ever giving her a chance to choose for herself, and punishes her when she makes a choice that he doesn’t agree with.

It’s not “protecting” her from the pain.  “Protecting you from the pain,” is not a father’s job; it’s to teach their child how to manage it, help them live through it, and how to grow past it.  You’re damaging her.  Into the suuuuuuun, Walt!  Into the fucking SUN.

But fuuuuuuuuuuuck, her delivery of that same line, “Well, let me relieve you of that burden,” is sooo good.  You done fucked up, buster.  And you just keep fucking up.  I would say in new and exciting ways, but it’s generally in the SAME DAMN WAYS, dammit Walt.

This flashback is really difficult.  

They’re right about that technically being kidnapping, too.  Wyoming  § 6-2-201 specifically includes defining kidnapping as unlawfully confining another person, with the intent to “facilitate the commission of a felony; or Inflict bodily injury on or to terrorize the victim or another,” with unlawful confinement defined as “accomplished (i)  By force, threat or deception; or (ii)  Without the consent of a parent, guardian or other person responsible for the general supervision of an individual who is under the age of fourteen (14) or who is adjudicated incompetent.”  Meaning that not only could Walt charge Jake with the kidnapping of Rich, but also probably of Ayasha, since she was ruled an unreliable witness and would more than likely be legally considered a “mentally incompetent person” according to the states’ legal definitions.  

Not... that I have the Wyoming State Criminal Code downloaded on my computer.  >_> Certainly haven’t skimmed about 80% of it trying to figure out what charges would most make sense to be levied against Jacob at the end so that I don’t have to deal with him going in to a Federal prison on RICO charges.  <_<  Or what Cady probably should have been charged with after that mess with Tate and Catori.  Nnnnnnope.  Sure don’t, didn’t, haven’t. o_o

This is about the only time I can remember there being a legitimate reason for Walt not to have backup.  Since they’re off checking other locations.  Also, damn, that was some classic Old West quickdraw shit, Walt!  Noice!

“Why did you stop me?”  Because you have to testify, you little shit.  HE is not terribly bright.

Ooooooo, somehow I forgot that it was Branch who went to Jacob.  But that makes total sense; I can’t really see Jacob seeking Branch out, but once he walks himself into his office, Jacob will certainly play those new cards for all they’re worth.  Ooooooooo, and the Hotamétaneo’o headdress!  I’d forgotten about Branch seeing it, too!  Nice call back and foreshadowing to finish off S1!

“You will not find a chili cheeseburger of this caliber anywhere in Colorado.”  And now it’s 4:30 in the morning and I want a chili cheeseburger.  Thanks, babe.   Some daaaaaay, I will figure out which is my favourite Henry, but it is not this day, because godsdaaaaamn, the red checked shirt with that vessssst, is *chef kiss* a wonderful thing.   And the director knoooooows it = that pan down Henry’s back as he turns after saying, “I said nothing,” for noooo reason other than to have Henry’s ass on screen.  Seriously.  He says his line, it pans down, we get a primo shot of his jeans, and then it cuts away.  Solely a pan for Henry Butt.  Who directed this, and where do I send the fruit basket?  Dang, it was Nelson McCormick, and this was the only ep of Longmire he directed.  Huh.  In S1, there’s only one repeat director, who did eps 1, 3, and 7.  Interesting.

Focus, kid.  You are less than 3 minutes from the end and you’ve had it paused for over 5 minutes to wander around IMDb.  No wonder it takes you three flipping hours to watch one of these episodes.  What a mess, indeed.

“We all process grief in our own way.”  Buddy.  You have not processed.  You are a human <BUFFERING> screen.  You’re a walking loading symbol.  Walt, he gives you some basic vital statistics on the guy, but...  You haven’t even asked who it was.  Walt, you are so bad at this.  Fffffffff---  And there’s season 1.  lawd.

[clementineesotsm]

THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH EP 9, My Appreciation and How It Made Me Feel

Despite the bomb we got for the ending of eps 8, we start this episode with a chill scene with Gon and JTE try to tracked Gon’s mom doppelgänger address. But its fake. Instead they only saw a field. This conversation of them was one of the best from this series. I love how they make this scene, because the words, the filter (color), music all blend in to set in the mood a bit serious but end up playful. I love both actors were great here, both acted out very well and damn the cinematography!

After reading what i wrote until eps 8, im satisfied of their feelings/romance development, we can see now they really comfortable around each other being playful and they actually communicating to each other, discussing about worries, honest about feelings, me as a viewer felt a connection.

So, the pattern / a sign shown to PM Koo continues, her mom inform PM about her recognizing LR as someone who came often to her restaurant. PM ask her mom to not say ridiculous thing but actually it bothers her and this triggers her to found out more

We got a glimpse of yesterday episode with Gon, JY and KSJ, Both realize that LR brought KSJ here when he was a child, then assume that LR must have needed his parents. This little information was for me important. Basically they try to explain why KSJ is here. This way i felt deep attachment more to his character and hatred towards his parents 😅 KSJ was a having a big shock after he knows the fact. He go to see JTE to do fact check and feel deep dissapointment. He starting to remember he actually met LR before and also i can feel his sad feelings that after all this time all his existence was a lie anyway. He is not suppose to be here. And also all this time he is here, he is not totally having a happy life then suddenly he got this information 🥺

Time stops again. This time Gon knew that LR is in Korea! I always loved it when seeing Gon count the time stops using euler number. I think its cool and during its airing many people explain about this. I love how the fandom gave me education 💕 Anyway LR finally got information about JTE visit care center then JYJ going to jail and 1 of the traitor is missing

Hate it all you want but its happening 😈 and in reply to you damn demon, our queen warns you

Gon was clearly waiting for LR to call. Because 1 of the traitor missing we can assume LR will call him to check where he is. What cool is, we can see flashback of young Gon recalling the calling of the swords then LR came to ask wheter he can fulfill his duties as a king then the phone rang, GAVE.ME.CHILLS.

This conversation between them was very intense, LR just got caught. Both expressions was so good, i love it a lot! And the way they broke the phone 💕

As we saw earlier, PM is getting disturbed by the traitor issue in the country. She visits her husband to ask for a help to track the traitor in exchange she will release him. I found 1 of most powerful line said by PM, although it was somewhat evil, but i cannot lie, its a fact and in some part i agree with her 🤓

PM “Greed is the most sincere emotion. Whats so bad about that? ...... Im sincere about everything. My greed and my ambition, too”

Because with that greed and ambition she can achieve everything she wanted and actually good at it. And also i love how they show us her seating position from the back to the middle then to the front. Show us how hard she got to this position now. Unfortunately she is blind by her greed and let it consume her, i just hope at least she will have a heart, she potentially could be a baddass we needed

Its about the time to part out for the couple. They spend time near the beautiful han river joking around end up feeling bitter. JTE finally knows where LSD is, Gon has seen him before in Corea. She inform JTE that he leave JY. Since this matters now already involving many people, What i wish more from the director and writer is actually them (the characters involved) all sit together and discuss about plan. Rather just to talk to 1 person here and 1 person there. Discussing together makes the message conveyed better no misunderstanding. Just my 2 cents

Gon finally came to Corea to guard the obelisk and catch LR if he is going to Corea at some point. He brings JY and the restautant owner, because he need the traitor to be punished in Corea. Despite the creepy mood we can get a light scene with JES pretending as JY, i swear to god he is adorable. And also as i always said all the supporting characters here has a strong presence, here also happen with Seok Ho Pil, Sub-captain. He is seriously good also with that accent. I wish to see him more

To be continue

[very-grownup]

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 9

Episode 21.

Suddenly it's a found footage shakey cam horror movie. I think it's meant to be footage of ... NERV before it was NERV labs in 2000 with some bad shit happening. I'm unclear of so much in this episode, guys.

There is one of those blue screens with the white text that warns you that if you make copies of this you will go to jail for a million years, though, which feels nice and nostalgic before we get into the opening credits. (Opening? Still a bop. Thank you, '90s.)

Episode 21 continues behind the cut.

Someone has been kidnapped from NERV, possibly by or because of Kaji (fuckin' Kaji), and because all these NERV people are interchangeable except for Misato, Ritsuko, and Shinji's horrible father, I have no idea who it is until we see the old dude who is usually behind Ikari. He's tied to a chair in a black void, surrounded by an increasing number of numbered obelisks who I think are the old man Simon council but instead of projecting as old men they're ... obelisks. Look, their government is run by supercomputers named after the Magi. This is as fine as anything.

The obelisks don't like Commander Ikari (same) or what he's doing (same) and want Number 2 to explain what's going on (same) due to the Dead Sea Scrolls and their desire not to create god (... same?). Which means it's time for BACKSTORY or as close as this show gets to backstory.

Number 2 used to be a scientist/academic at ... a school ... lab ... university ... somewhere ... where he met a promising young student of ... science stuff ... named Ikari. There's some sentence vagaries to make the audience think the student is a young Commander Ikari but PSYCH, it's /Yui/, Shinji's mysteriously dead mother. This is not a big surprise, because no one would be anticipating meeting Gendo Ikari. What is a surprise is that Yui Ikari is currently single, although if you've consumed enough Japanese media you've probably encountered cases where a husband takes the wife's surname and is adopted into her family when there's no sons in the family (Summer of the Ubume). ANYWAY Yui is currently single and Number 2 talks to her about her post-graduation career plans, failing to consider that maybe she wants to get married and start a family. Find your own path and all that but also: this is a woman who is going to make terrible life choices.

I don't know why, but as a favour to Yui, Number 2 goes to spring an absolute piece of shit ... fellow student? from the drunk tank after he got arrested for brawling and it is, of course, Gendo Originalsurnamewhocareshesucks. We see him without his glasses for the first time. Even though this is ~15 years ago, Gendo without his glasses is the worst thing ever, rivaling yes the EVA with the giant white human teeth ripping an Angel apart and screaming. I hate looking at him, his cheeks sunken and his eyes huge, very like a skull. The real thesis material in Evangelion is: why has anyone ever slept with this awful gaunt uncharming skull man? He has the visage and personality of someone whose genetic line should die with him.

On a nature walk (because this is before seasons are destroyed by the second impact [and this is a really pretty scene, too, all fall leaves and oranges and red, more vibrant yet gentle than the series often is]) Yui reveals to Number 2 that she and Gendo are in a relationship. Why? Look, that's some Dead Sea Scrolls bullshit, learn ancient Hebrew and get into archeology, unearth some tablets, figure it out for yourselves.

The Second Impact happens and destroys Antarctica and Misato's father and she becomes mute for a while after this and also is kept in a featureless hospital cell for observation with a few age appropriate toys for company and for some reason this doesn't help her mental trauma. No wonder her roommate's a penguin.

The Misato flashback may seem like it comes out of nowhere and if so /hey welcome to my experience of this episode/ where I mostly had my hands on my forehead like I needed to reinforce my brain to process everything.

Number 2 and Shitty Gendo are in Antarctica after the Second Impact with the neon pink ocean and the none ice and oh Gendo and Yui got married. Surprise! Gendo and Yui or Gendo through Yui are involved in something called Seele which is the thing that becomes NERV I think. What's going on /shut up I don't know/ there's some kind of secret science government military organization and it involves the Ikari and then Number 2 and also Ritsuko's mother and underground caverns that may be cities and is this Atlantis? Ancient aliens? Akashic records? I DON'T KNOW Number 2 has concerns and Yui both seems to agree with Number 2's concerns but also is down with whatever Gendo's doing and they have Shinji and he seems like a pretty happy and cute baby and Yui seems to love him even though she brings him to work. And by work I mean the underground lab where they're dissecting or recreating flesh tube skeletons from Adam or building Adam or using Adam to build what will be the Evas, specifically on the day Yui is doing The Experiment. I don't think bringing little Shinji to work is a great idea or a sign of great parenting, especially when The Experiment goes awry and Yui is killed in front of Shinji's toddler eyes.

Ritsuko's mother, Dr. ... Doctor, doesn't approve of kids in the secret mad scientist bunker but MAN does she approve of Yui being killed. Because, somehow, she also wants to fuck Gendo Ikari, a skeleton of emotional abuse and neglect wearing sausage casing as skin.

There's also some stuff here about young Ritsuko (she's not a natural blonde! but honestly the fleeting glimpses of Ritsuko at different ages in this episode show greater awareness of how women can change without just relying on bigger breasts more hair than I'd expect). She and her mother exchange letters where they seem to be more honest with each other than they are in person and I wish there was more time spent dwelling in that, because Evangelion has an imperfect but still insightful view of the complexity of mother-daughter relationships. She goes away to school and meets Misato and they bond and become friends and they each seem to be the other's first friend due to their various issues and weirdness and Ritsuko's clearly at least a little in love with Misato. Unfortunately, Misato is dating Kaji (fuckin' Kaji) and Dr. Doctor thinks Kaji is a pretty great catch, but like ... Dr. Doctor wants to fuck or possibly is fucking Gendo Ikari, so if you can think of a great condemnation of Kaji than this, I'd love to hear it (fuckin' Kaji).

Misato and Ritsuko both join Seele or NERV or whatever the fuck these secret awful organizations are currently calling themselves, with Misato going to Germany and Ritsuko starting to work with her mother and also seeing her mother just jamming her tongue down Gendo's throat. Truly, Ritsuko could never understand her mother as a woman and neither can we, because /why would you desire Gendo Ikari/ and his judgmental touch, icy even through fucking Mickey Mouse gloves.

SO ONE DAY Gendo comes to work with a young Rei and I guess since Yui died no one has seen Shinji since people are looking at Rei and going 'oh is this your son?' and 'I thought you had a son, not a daughter'. But no, Rei is the daughter of a friend Gendo is looking after. Imagine thinking 'Gendo Ikari has even a single friend' is a believable lie.

Since Yui's death, no one has bothered to institute any kind of secret underground lab rules about kids on the premises, because while Dr. Doctor is doing some shit with her O. Henry super computers, little Rei wanders in and proceeds to neg the shit out of this grown woman. They're obviously not the words of a child and it's been clear since the beginning that there's something Not Right about Rei, but when she tells Dr. Doctor that she's a sexually undesirable hag and a nagging shrew and has outlived her purpose they're the words of a man. An adult man, specifically Gendo Ikari, as Rei just straight up tells Dr. Doctor upon being scolded for rudeness. Dr. Doctor's poor judgment of character means she is semi-shocked and hurt by this and sent into a weird fugue state where she chokes Rei until a small arm goes limp. Dr. Doctor thinks about how both she and Rei are both equally replaceable to Gendo, who is still hung up on Yui as much as he seems able to have an emotional attachment to anyone, and so finds all other women to be interchangeable tools.How replaceable Rei is could be a reference to whatever Rei's unnatural origins are, but we've also seen that Gendo considers children to be a renewable and easily disposable resource.

Then Dr. Doctor kills herself (or is murdered, who can say) and gets ... replaced by her daughter in the project.

SO I GUESS THIS IS ALL PART OF NUMBER 2'S TESTIMONY TO THE OBELISKS or maybe not but his thing is done or on break and fuckin' Kaji is there to ... break him out? Even though he's the reason Number 2 was getting interrogated? I don't know, I don't know.

They only use one set of handcuffs for Number 2, but they had three on Shinji in the previous episode.

Misato also had some thing with security intelligence interrogation going on in this episode maybe but they're done and give her back her gun.

Then Kaji's hanging out in a Silent Hill otherworld before a giant fan in weird sickly light and the screen goes black with a gunshot and I don't believe he's dead because I've been fooled about fuckin' Kaji before.

... but then Misato comes home, looking utterly exhausted and devastated, and she sees the message light blinking on her answering machine and she presses play as tears fill her eyes and she collapses to her knees listening to a message from Kaji. He apologizes for causing her trouble yet again, asks her to apologize to Ritsuko as well, asks her to get Shinji to show her where his garden is so she can water the flowers for him, and promises to tell her what he was too scared to tell her years ago. Misato's crying becomes heartwrenching raw sobs (Kotono Mitsuishi does a great job here, breaking my heart) and Shinji, curled up in his room, takes out his headphones and peeks into the kitchen to take in this vision of distraught, helpless adult grief. Then he goes back to his room without alerting Misato to his presence and pulls his pillow over his head, trying to drown out Misato's sobs, because he's just a kid and he knows there's nothing he can do and so he doesn't know what he /should/ do.

Although I've been wanting it for episodes, Kaji's death becomes a bitter pill that I can feel no mean satisfaction from. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know Misato's distraught. This concludes my report on Episode 21 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.