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arkus-rhapsode · 4 years ago

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MHA Chapter 315 Discussion-An Almost Great Conclusion, But Misses It’s Mark

Hi guys, Rhapsode here and it’s time for another MHA discussion. I haven’t really done one in a while, but after reading 315, I had a lot of thoughts I was working through. And before I start I want to say, I do not think this chapter is overtly bad. I think there’s a lot of good ideas to it, and overall nothing objectively bad. However, as the climax to this Deku vs Lady Nagant fight, I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark (pun not intended).

If you want my brief opinion of this current arc of “solo Deku”, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I’m happy Horikoshi refocused on Deku after such a long war arc. As well as Deku FINALLY be proactive in his hero duties. No longer on the rails of the school setting. And I have especially enjoyed his current fight with Lady Nagant.

In terms of sheer action, it’s got a tried and true set up of a sniper battle, but then adds to it by taking the fight into the air. The action is hectic in all the right ways with the unpredictable bullets cutting up Deku as he dodges them with Danger Sense. As well as the introduction to a new quirk of OFA.

But where this fight really shines is Nagant and her origin. Lady Nagant was hero assigned to maintain the illusion of order by getting rid of potential threats and heroes up to no good for the Hero Safety Commission. Until being told to kill in the name of improving society and any of her activities being covered up finally weighed on her and she killed the then president of the Commission and placed in Tartarus. While she’s only hunting down Deku because she’s assigned to, she says that even if AFO wants to rule the world, it’d be more transparent than a return to the status quo.

It’s honestly a great reveal as it finally puts out in the open the actual corruption in the system that’s hinted at, but was never really delved into. But now it also finally has Deku confront the problems of the status quo that he’s grown up in. This isn’t an ideological battle like with Stain on the definition of hero or reaching people who have fallen through the cracks of society like Gentle. This is real flaws with the system that people have had faith in from the mouth of someone who has done their dirty work.

It’s something I think a lot of people have wanted to see. And I’m glad Horikoshi finally did dive into it the structural problems of hero society.

So how does this all get resolved in 315? How does all this end? Well after Lady Nagant targets Overhaul and shoots at him to make the situation harder for Deku to focus, Deku without hesitation goes into trying to save Overhaul (despite knowing Overhaul is a villain), Deku homages All Might and then shatters Nagant’s arm, and finally Deku makes an observation that Nagant wasn’t really going to hit Overhaul and that if she seeing the darkness of society, she knows where to expose it as she still has the heart of a hero. Nagant should join Deku.

But then AFO activates an explosive power right as Nagant is coming around. The blast fries her as Hawks arrives and we’re left on the cliffhanger of “is she going to survive.”

Now after reading this, my feelings have been… mixed. Let me get out this out of the way there is nothing with this chapter I disagree with: I have no problem with Deku making an emotional appeal to Nagant, I have no problem with AFO acting like a heel, and I have no problem with Nagant not being fully evil and never intending to kill. I know that last one has upset some people, but given Nagant’s backstory of killing innocent people for others because they told her so is the reason she fell off her path in the first place. So it makes sense she never intended on killing anyone.

And I know some people have nitpicked how it’s the female villain who isn’t fully evil, but that honestly doesn’t matter to me. As narratively, this arc started with the attack by Muscular and Deku couldn’t reach him. So it’d make sense to potentially end this mini arc on an example of Deku reaching and reforming a villain. It also helps that Nagant has actual layers to her motivation that could actually allow her to be swayed away.

Now my real issue with this chapter is honestly a problem that I was afraid Hori would do after he introduced just how messed up the Commissions back dealings, it’s that Deku doesn’t really take any concrete stance on what should be done about this status quo. Instead, Deku focuses more on telling Nagant she is a real hero and he ultimately wins her over after showing how much a real hero he is.

While Nagant uses the term “fake”, “sham”, and “phony” when discussing heroes and hero society, it doesn’t address the bigger issue. Namely that she feels this way because of the corrupt and unheroic things the Commission has done to maintain faith in it. Deku offers no actual answer to the very real and very hard question she poses.

And his only real response is this:

(I’m being generous as there can be something lost in translation here and it’s a bit on the flowery side )

While Deku did acknowledge this world isn’t Black and white and he’s saying she can expose corruption if she works with them, he dodges actually offering a solution to her concerns about the status quo. Instead more time is devoted to the same kind of “I will save anyone” appeal he always does.

And while one could argue Nagant’s only on the side of AFO because his reign would keep the Commission from having the power they did, even if she doesn’t fully believe in him. She still poses why being ruled by AFO has its appeal to her and Deku doesn’t actually counter that. No pointing out the obvious anarchy that could result from this or how AFO uses even the people he claims to love like Shigaraki. Deku doesn’t rebuff anything and once again passes the tough decisions onto other people. With Hawks appearance here at the end and his baggage about killing Twice, I can very easily see cleaning up the commission as becoming his motivation going forward. Once again resolving Deku of actually needing to make hard calls or form stances.

This is compounded by the fact AFO just blows Nagant up. It really doesn’t matter if you rebuff anything that AFO has said or offered to convince Nagant to join you, there’s no way she’d work with him after he attempts to kill her. Which feels like it undercuts this conversation about morally gray society.

Look we all know that AFO is evil. The audience knows and this is absolutely what he would do, but if you’re trying to give all of the illusion that we’re finally confronting issues with society and bringing this up and why we would get people loyal to AFO or people like the liberators or people like stain. And trying to sway someone away, then just having him nuke them for having a change of opinion. then it undercuts any actual ambiguity of a clash built on addressing moral grayness. Which I feel is always been one of the strengths of MHA.

I was not expecting Deku to have a thesis on how he plans to dismantle the shady parts of society. Or go full Eren Yeager and become his own revolutionary. But when confronted by a villain who isn’t like Shigaraki or Toga or Twice, who fell through the cracks in the system and needed a safety net like Deku wants to be, Nagant was a part of the system. The corruption of society runs deep in her motivation and Deku doesn’t really address it beyond acknowledging its flaws. And yet his actions of “true heroism” are enough to sway her. It just feels incomplete. There is a brief line that you can interpret of him wanting to clean up the system, but it feels way too short for a moment like this. Deku being confronted by all the darkness of a system he admires should cause him to make some kind of stance.

And no, I’m not going to speculate on if Lady Nagant is actually dead and this will finally forced Deku to take a firmer stance or what have you. I do want to keep these discussions at least relative to when they are released and in this moment the thing that wins over Nagant is the same “save everyone”/“inspiration by example” Deku usually does. Which doesn’t feel as satisfying a conclusion as it could be.

Not helped by a good chunk of this chapter being taken up by explaining all the bits and bobs of OFA’s power system and finally explaining what exactly his third quirk does. This feels like padding when I wanted the space could’ve been used for character dialogue or a continuation of their conversation about the status quo.

I do want to repeat though that there is nothing outwardly bad with this chapter. There is no real objective failure in the writing. It’s just a case of, “ this could be stronger.” And that’s the frustrating part.

Tl;dr there’s a lot of things that are good about this chapter from a technical and narrative level. The natural progression of characters and the switching of allegiance makes sense. however it’s just all shy of really living up to a lot of the stuff it sets up about society and going back to the status quo. As Deku doesn’t seem to have any real concrete stance beyond his usual.

And because a lot of the things around it are very good it makes it a lot more noticeable when it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Not helped by what feels like nothing more than padding with the explanation of quirk ability instead of character introspection about this very legit and difficult revelation. There is nothing outwardly bad, it’s one of those cases of something that could be an 8-9/10 ends up more as a 5-6/10.

That’s my opinion at least. But I am extremely interested in seeing where Hori goes with this. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #MHA 315 #bnha 315 #my hero academia discussion #my hero academia 315 #boku no hero academia 315 #izuku midoriya #deku midoriya #lady nagant #hawks #all for one #keigo takami #hero safety commission #overhaul #kai chisaki #my hero academia chapter 315 #boku no hero academia chapter 315

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fandomsonrequests · 4 years ago

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fake dates for a real wedding

fandom: ATEEZ

characters: kang yeosang; ATEEZ

reader: fem!

word count: 3.5k+

summary: Initially, you thought it wouldn’t be hard to find a fake date for the wedding. You could just ask one of your friends. But it seemed like fate was punishing you for your impulsiveness because all the people you were supposed to ask were busy with work or had their own affairs to deal with. All except one— which landed you on where you were now: on Yeosang’s couch begging him to come as your plus one.

a/n: fake dating au, some cussing

Based off on the songs: nangangamba - zack tabudlo, pretend - bad suns, drive slow - addie

You whine when Yeosang lightly shakes you out of his grip, pushing you away from him on the couch. “But Sangie..! You’re the only one I trust.”

“Well, it’s not my fault that you lied about your ‘relationship.’ Look where that’s landed you.” Your friend motions at you, eliciting another pleading whine from you.

You see, this all started when your friend from high school was getting married. You weren’t super, super close but had a good friendship with each other. So when he invited you to his wedding, he asked if you had any plus one to bring along. You, not wanting to seem like a sad loner, panicked and said that you had a date to bring along. Your friend teased you for a moment, saying that he couldn’t wait to “meet the lucky person” before hanging you up and informing you that he’d send the invitation through an email.

Initially, you thought it wouldn’t be hard to find a fake date for the day. You could just ask one of your friends. But it seemed like fate was punishing you for your impulsiveness because all the people you were supposed to ask were busy with work or had their own affairs to deal with. All except one— which landed you on where you were now: on Yeosang’s couch begging him to come as your plus one.

“You said you weren’t busy,” You pout and fold your arms like a petulant child.

“Well I’m not, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to go and pretend to be your date.” He countered.

“And why not?”

“Because it’s lowkey weird..?” He suggests. In reality, it was because he had a massive crush on you. He had one since sophomore year of high school, he just couldn’t really bring himself to tell you then. He could probably tell you at this point in life but he wasn’t ready— not yet anyway. And he didn’t want to hurt himself by pretending to be your date during the wedding. Sure, it was a selfish move on his part, but he’s been hurt before. He didn’t want to be hurt again. Besides, you probably don’t see him as someone more than a friend just like in high school, and he’d rather not deal with the consequences of this seemingly one-sided love.

“It’s just for a day, pleeeaaasee,” you try again and put on your best puppy eyes.

The male sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist that, no matter how much he steeled his nerves. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he weighed over his options, which wasn’t much, come to think of it. Maybe he could just indulge in this fantasy for a while, even if it didn’t last forever; at least he could have that luxury. With a final sigh for the umpteenth time this day, he agreed reluctantly.

“Fine,” he replied and you rejoiced. “You’re paying me though.”

Your cheery deposition drops and you blanch. “What?”

“I’m only kidding,” Yeosang adds before you could panic, the corner of his lips quirking up in an amused smile, showcasing some of his beautiful pearly whites.

You grumble, lightly swatting at his arm and he chuckled softly. You couldn’t help but drop your annoyed act and smile in return, glad that things were working out in your favor. You look down to bring out your phone so that you could explain the details to him, missing the way he looked at you fondly, eyes full of yearning for you.

“Since it’s a ‘summer wedding’ it’ll be by the beach. So that means we can wear light but business casual clothes.” You tell him and hand him the phone.

Yeosang takes it from you, fingers faintly brushing against yours as he reads over the email. You note the way his brows lightly furrow together as he takes note of the invitation’s content. You also note a cute little quirk of his, the way his lips would part slightly or pout just a bit when he was concentrating. You blink away from your trance when you realized that you were staring. Since when were you fixated on the little things about him?

“Have you picked out what you’re going to wear?” He asks and hands the phone back to you. “Because if we’re going to go as a ‘couple,’ we’re going to have to match a little.”

“Oh wow, you’re really going all out with this.” You muse, a light blush coating your cheeks.

“I mean it’s not a usual thing to pretend to be your best friend’s date to a wedding. Why not make the most of it?”

You smile at the thought. “Yeah, let’s make the most of it.”

The smell of the cool sea breeze fills your lungs as you step out of the car and onto the warm, concrete beside the boardwalk. The wind gently ruffles your hair and pale blue sundress, caressing your skin softly. A content smile makes its way to your face as you take in the warm sight of the waves rolling onto the beach in front of you before looking over to Yeosang.

His round-rimmed spectacles sat atop of his cute nose, his honey skin seemingly glowing under the sunlight. The outfit he donned, which was a blue button-up top and some white pants, matched yours. He looks over to you with a curious raise of his brow to which you respond with a dorky smile and a shrug. You walk over to him and loop an arm around his. He welcomes the action, even briefly squeezing your hand before walking with you down to the beach where the wedding was to take place.

“You remember the plan?” He adjusts your sun-hat to keep it from falling off your head.

You nod in response and try to keep your cool. It only dawned on you how nerve-wracking it could be to fake a relationship; you wondered how Yeosang managed to keep calm. “We met in our junior year of high school, messed around a bit in college before getting together just recently.”

The blonde hummed in approval. Actually, the story you conjured up wasn’t too fake; you two did somehow skirt around your feelings for each other in your freshman year of college before you both decided it was best to stop messing around and focus on your studies. It spared both of you the dramatics of the “what are we” phase and allowed you to keep track of your goals in life. The only thing that you lied about was you two being together. But given your history with each other, your friends wouldn’t really question the backstory too much.

“______!” Your college friends call out to you when they spot you heading down the beach.

You let out an excited noise, to which Yeosang couldn’t help but chuckle at, and ran out to meet them. They joined you halfway, the strongest of the whole group lifting you into a bone-crushing hug and giving you a small twirl. The blond watches from a respectable distance as you exchanged pleasantries with your friends, talking about what was new and how life was going, the usual stuff.

The little group was currently caught up in a story when you looked over to Yeosang. He was dusting off the hat that fell off your head, shaking his head in amusement. You motion for him to come join you with a small nod of your head, holding your hand out to him. This doesn’t go unnoticed by one of your friends and she follows your line of sight. A pleasant gasp escaped her lips when she saw him approach the group.

“Well look who’s here,” She muses, taking note of the way he settled behind you and placed the hat back onto your head.

“Oh, Yeosang you’re here!” Another friend greets. “Were you invited?”

The said man shook his head, a subtle but charming smile on his beautiful lips. “I just came here with _____.”

The group looks to you expectantly and you simply smile at them, a faint blush on your cheeks. “He’s my plus one.”

Small cheers and whistles erupted from the group, furthering the blush on your cheeks. Even Yeosang’s complexion grew a little rosier at their teasing. One of your friends slings an arm around your shoulder and smirks. “So, are you two a thing or just playing around?”

“We just got together recently. We’re taking this seriously.” You answer, trying not to stammer.

Another round of cheers.

“That’s great. It's about time you two became a thing.” Your friend pipes up. “It was painful seeing you two pine after each other during freshman year and then just drop it like that.”

“Yeah, I lost 20 bucks because of that.” Another friend sighed, reminiscing the bet they had lost.

The conversation eventually shifted onto other things, surprising you at how well they received the news. You relaxed a bit more at that, the nerves and anxiousness of pretending melting away as the day goes on. But a small thought lingered at the back of your head; you wondered how things would turn out if you did act on your feelings then. Back then, you weren’t so sure if it was genuine affection that you felt towards Yeosang or just pure infatuation. But now that your friends had cleared up a few things and that you could think more maturely, you realized that maybe… maybe you really did like him.

More guests soon poured in and people started to usher you towards the seats. Before you could though, Yeosang stops you by the shoulder. “Save me a seat, please. I’ll just place the gift on the table.”

“Don’t take too long.” You reply and head over to a seat near the front. You place your hat down on the chair to your right while your friend from earlier takes a seat on your left. You smile at her, linking your hand with hers and giving it a small squeeze.

“Hey Bora.”

“Hey, ____. Where's the loverboy?” She nudged your shoulder.

“He’s just placing the gifts down.”

She hums in acknowledgment, nodding her head along. “Since you and Kang are like, a thing now— I’m assuming he’s told you about his crush on you?”

“Uh Yeah. I mean, that kind of led to why we’re together now.” You play along, not knowing that your friend was being serious.

“That’s great. The guy’s been whipped for you for ages. I think since sophomore or junior year in high school? Hasn’t stopped thinking of you since.” Bora muses and crosses her arms over her chest, looking over to the groom who was taking his place at the front.

You on the other hand was surprised to hear what she had said. It was written all over your face no matter how hard you tried. Your friend, ever observant, sees this and guffaws. “Wait, he's never told you?”

“I, I mean I thought like, he liked me in college. I didn’t know it’s been that long.” You stutter.

She shakes her head in disbelief, chuckling softly. “Wow… you two are really hopeless huh…” She pats the back of your hand when she sees Yeosang approach.

You look over your shoulder to see the blond slide into the seat you save him. “Thanks,” he tells you, briefly patting your knee.

You could only nod and smile in response, still trying to process what your friend had abruptly told you. Butterflies filled your stomach at the thought that he had liked you for so long, but at the same time, you couldn’t help but berate yourself for being so oblivious to it. Had he even dropped hints before? Come to think of it, he probably has but you most likely brushed it off as a friendly act.

You look up at Yeosang again, as if looking at him would help you bring your thoughts together. He surprises you when he turns to you, raising a brow curiously. Your cheeks flush out of embarrassment and look away, clearing your throat to play it off. You pick up an amused sort of huff from the man beside you and if you hadn’t turned away, you would’ve seen the blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears.

The music is light and upbeat as it plays throughout the wedding-reception area. Soft waves roll onto the shore, eliciting some giggles from the few children that were brought by their parents. The sun starts to set, painting the sky in warm hues of gold, orange, and lavender. And if you listen closely, you could hear the faint sounds of cicadas warming up. Guests enjoy the food being served to them while some hit the sandy dance floor. The newlyweds of the hour were going around and greeting their friends and family, making some small talk here and there before moving onto the next people.

You had already exchanged pleasantries with them, the groom being delightfully surprised that it was Yeosang who was your plus one. The two weren’t close, but you could tell that they respected each other. As you wave goodbye to the couple, you turn to the blond with your signature dorky smile.

“What?” He muses, taking your hand in his and rubbing the soft skin of your knuckles with his thumb.

“Nothing,” You hum and sigh blissfully.

“That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing.’” He gently nudged your shoulder.

You sigh again and cross your arms over your chest. “It’s just me being all emotional and sappy.”

The music from the nearby stereo shifts into something slow but no less upbeat, perfect for just swaying to the beat. Your expression changes into something more optimistic and an idea crosses your head. You beam up at Yeosang and start skipping towards the dance floor, tugging along at his hand.

Of course, he was reluctant at first. But after some coaxing and your signature puppy eyes, he caves in and joins you. He could feel his heart beat rapidly against his chest as he pulled you close, both arms slung around your waist. He was glad that you weren’t holding hands because the minute you put your arms around his shoulders, he felt his palms grow clammy. He was also thankful for the fact that you weren’t so flush against each other, or else you’d have surely felt the way his heart rate sped up at the proximity between you two. You felt the same, thinking carefully about how to play out your idea; that is, to ask him about how he felt for you then and to just come clean to him now.

It was a bit silent and awkward for the first few notes of the song, the both of you avoiding each other’s gaze and shyly swaying to the melody. After a while though, you eventually settle into a more comfortable but quiet atmosphere; it was just two friends dancing together.

“So…” You start, shifting a little closer.

“So…” Yeosang parrots and holds you a little tighter.

“Would you have a beach wedding if ever you’d get married?”

The blond gets a little thrown off from your question, not expecting that you’d ask that, but thinks of an answer anyway. He hums to himself, contemplating the answer. “Not really— but outdoor weddings don’t sound too bad.”

You simply nod in response and the both of you lapse into silence again. You think of asking another question but that would be skirting around the whole situation again. You could see your friends looking at the two of you fondly from the corner of your eye, giggling to themselves. You decide then and there that the best course of action was to be straightforward.

The song shifts into something a little slower, perfect for actual slow-dancing. You take a deep breath and look straight into Yeosang’s warm brown eyes. “I have something to tell you…”

He stiffens a little at that, his heartbeat picking up once again. He readjusts his hold on you, nodding his head for you to continue.

“So… a little bird told me about your crush on me since high school.”

Yeosang’s eyes widened at that and his grip on you tightened. He looks away from you, staring down at his feet as a massive blush covers his face and ears. You couldn’t help but smile softly at that but you didn’t want to be an asshole and push him to explain himself. Instead you gently lift your hand to cup his cheek, making him look up at you with nervous eyes.

He swallows down his anxiousness and reaches up to take your hand on his cheek. “Did Bora tell you this..?” He teases lightly, mostly to not make things so awkward again.

You giggle and nod your head. He smiles a little, still a bit nervous but smiles nonetheless. A shaky sigh escapes him and he squeezes your hand, linking his fingers with yours. “...well, she’s not wrong,” He whispers.

This wasn’t the way he wanted to tell you about how he felt about you but it was now or never— especially since the secret was out in the open.

“______, it’s probably selfish of me to say but, I still like you. Like, really like you. That was why I said no when you asked me to come with me as your ‘date’ here to the wedding, because I just didn’t want to pretend. I wanted us to be the real thing. I wanted to embrace you without thinking it’s too weird or kiss you without things being awkward for us after.”

Yeosang takes a deep breath and meets your gaze firmly. “I wanted to tell you that I loved you without feeling hopeless after.”

You were stunned into silence at his confession, not expecting him to put out all his feelings like that. You blink slowly and try to process his words. Yeosang must have interpreted your silence as some form of rejection and he starts to let go of you, but you instinctively gripped him and pulled him closer before he could.

He looks down at you and you see the vulnerability behind his gaze. You, on the other hand, soften yours. “First of all, I want to apologize for how selfish of me it was to ask you to come as a fake date,” you say, eliciting an amused snort from the other. “Second of all… I’m… thank you for telling me this. It makes it a lot easier.”

“Easier for what..?”

“You know how back then when we messed around and stuff? I did actually like you too but… I wasn’t brave enough to tell you then and just fell back to what we had.” You bring his hand up to your lips and lay a gentle kiss on his knuckles. “But now that we’ve come clean to each other, it makes it easier for me to tell you that I like you too.”

Yeosang breaks into a smile at that, relief crashing down on him. He couldn’t help himself when he brushes some stray hair away from your flushed face, eyes flitting to your lips. His palm was warm against your skin and you leaned into his touch, closing whatever space was left between you two. Yeosang’s thumb runs over your lip, several thoughts running through his head, one of them is how your lips would feel like against his.

“Can I kiss you..?” He whispers. You nod, already gravitating towards him.

Yeosang leans in, both hands cupping at your cheek, and you meet him halfway. The kiss didn’t feel like butterflies or fireworks. It was more like a wall finally being torn down after several years of helpless pining and lingering glances at one another. You couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, pleasant butterflies tickling your stomach. Yeosang does the same and eventually leads to you two bumping against each other's teeth.

“Ow—“ You pull away laughing.

“Sorry about that,” He kisses your nose and leans his forehead against yours. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll live.” You hum.

You two had eventually pulled away from each other and headed back to your table where your friend group was waiting. They cheered at the both of you, joking about how you two were trying to steal the romantic spotlight from the newlyweds, which led to some banter and teasing. You two didn’t mind though, it actually felt kind of nice.

The night goes on and the wedding comes to a close. The newlyweds still had an after-wedding party at a nearby club for the legal-aged guests, but you and Yeosang decided to pass on that, congratulating them once again before heading back to the car, ready to end the day.

As you and Yeosang walk along the sand, the moon hovering in the dark sky and the night breeze tickling your skin, you couldn’t help but smile. You squeeze Yeosang’s hand and looped your arm with his, leaning your head against his shoulder. He kisses your temple and whispers sweet nothings into your hair.

Who would’ve thought that a wedding invitation and a fake date ploy was what you two needed to get together? It’s a silly kind of story to tell to others, eventually, you’d have to come clean to the others, but it was no less special. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

#ficscafe #ateez #ateez fluff #ateez x reader #ateez smut #ateez kang yeosang #ateez yeosang #kang yeosang #kang yeosang x reader

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theheadlessgroom · 3 years ago

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(1, 2 and 10, please!)

Thank you!

1. I've always seen Hatty as being a lower-class man, in contrast to my perception of the Bride being from the upper-class, and sort of went from there. As I've mentioned before, I adopted the name Randall Pace from the Slave Labor Graphics comic series; I didn't jive with the backstory they gave Hatty, but I did like the name, and I added in Randall's middle name, Huit, as a nod to one of the headstones in the graveyard. I did a little research behind the name Randall, and I found it was of Irish origin, and from there, I began to construct a backstory with Randall being Irish-American, adding another hurdle that kept him from being with Emily, given the historic prejudice against the Irish in America, in addition to his lower-class status.

As I've mentioned previously, my earliest draft for this blog was very different; in that early draft, Dorian and Emily were engaged to be married, with Randall serving as Dorian's best man as well as helping with his hat and Emily's veil. Emily didn't want to be with Dorian, and Randall found himself between a rock and a hard place, wanting to help Emily escaped her impending wedding (while also falling in love with her), but not wanting to break his childhood best friend's heart. At the same time, Constance (who had been previously engaged to Dorian, and was furious that he'd broken it off, having been suspicious of how many 'tragedies' she's faced) was scheming to get revenge with the help of Ramsley (Beau wasn't in this draft), and the whole house would've fallen under a curse thanks to them. I liked the concept, but I decided to scrap it ultimately and simplify things a lot, and I'm glad I did-I like the backstory I ultimately settled on a lot better!

2. Honestly, given that there is no concrete backstory to Hatty, I was really excited: All the characters I'd written before (such as Nice Guy Eddie from Reservoir Dogs and Bill from Pokémon) were pretty open-ended themselves, but at least had some canon to work with, so with Randall, I pretty much got to build him from the ground-up! All I had was that A) he was beheaded and his head was placed in a hatbox, and B) he's linked to the Bride; his head and her heartbeat are supposed to synchronized, and the Song and Story album specifically refers to her as his bride. So with only those two things in mind, I could run wild from then on!

10. Oh, it's shaped Randall in so many ways! Let's see if I can break it down:

-The death of his father at a young age led to his abstaining from alcohol later on in life.

-Working alongside his mother in order to support the two of them made him deeply value hard work and resilience in the face of hardship.

-The bullying and prejudice he faced from his youth onward made him wary of people being strangely kind to him, given how other children would pretend to be his friend just for a cruel prank; it also made him try to hide his Irish heritage, in an effort to get more job opportunities.

-His friendship with Dorian showed him that not everyone (particularly the upper-class) are prejudiced and classist, potentially paving the way for his romance with Emily.

And those are just the ones that are off the top of my head! There's probably a whole lotta others that I'm just not thinking of right now, but Randall's backstory has defidently shaped him in a lot of ways!

#OOC: Mun Talk #About The Groom #beatingheart-bride

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edwardslostalchemy · 5 years ago

Note

the thing that kills me about bakugou is when the plf go "having a powerful quirk means i'm better than you"and basically advocate for eugenics, it's horrible and corrupt, but when bakugou does it, it's lol funny and 'oh that gremlin.' in a recent chapter he made fun of the past OFA holders for having 'weak' quirks and dying and he said these things in front of Toshi, who has himself given so much. just...what was the point of him knowing about OFA if he was just going to be a disrespectful ass?

I have no idea why it was necessary for him to know, tbh. I think it was a waste of an opportunity to give him growth by NOT telling him. And honestly, I agree that k*tsuki and the plf have similar ideals because they’re elitists. :/ They think they’re better than others. Unironically, the lov wanting k*tsuki on their side would have been like, them all sharing this same thought. Idk, I just don’t like him. The things he says and does are played off as comedic relief now and it’s honestly so annoying. He needs to be brought down from his pedestal.

(I have multiple messages so I am putting them all in one post under a read more, I hope it works, but if somehow it doesn’t, I’m really sorry. My computer says it works, but mobile doesn’t show it. This will be a long post.)

Anonymous said:

You know... I wouldn’t mind Bakugou winning vs Ochako so much if his blast had simply redirected enough rubble for him to make it though the pelting, and the fight had ended with an actual visible inflicted injury on his part, like a cut on his face, that stuck around for the rest of the tournament. Make the close call have more concrete, visible consequences for him then his arms aching a bit.

I agree with this completely. That thing about his arms aching doesn’t show much of the consequences at all. And he gets over it rather quickly. I hate that he has so much plot armor.

Anonymous said:

Ngl i dont ship Todo/deku (dont really ship Izuku with anyone lol) but its such a nice ship like?? People can ship what they want but why ship Baku/deku when Tododeku is RIGHT THERE. I would rather have todo/deku be the twin stars like.. Todoroki having to overcome his fathers legacy and be a better hero then his father ever could be while Izuku perpetuates all mights legacy and carries the legacy of One For All?? Poetic cinema

+ I SENT AN ASK ABOUT PREFERRING TODO/DEKU TO BAKU/DEKU AND I WANTED TO ADD SOMETHING SKSKS. we could totally have an "its your power" moment. Izuku getting Todo to accept his left side and Todo getting Izuku to remember that OFA is his power now.

Todo/deku is really the poetic cinema we need and deserve. Idk why people like b*kud*ku, that’s what they prefer, but the ship itself is not healthy in the slightest and I find it pretty disturbing. I agree with you, nony. Everything you said is correct.

Anonymous said:

If I'm gonna be honest the whole "he was raised in a household of screaming and abuse" isn't a good enough reason as to why Bakugo has no chill. Like we've seen people like Todoroki raised in a household much worst but he didn't come out as a jerk or bully. I'd like to see more of Bakugo's interactions with his parents but for the most part the dad seems like a pushover and his mom is just loud at times. But no where close to Endeavor. So yeah Bakugo shut up challenge

Yeah, idk how their dynamic works, it’s just mitsuki screaming at k*tsuki while his dad tries to intervene, but doesn’t do a good job about it. I don’t like that she smacked his head. But I think people really stretch it to give him a tragic backstory when in reality, he doesn’t have one. He is a spoiled brat. Shouto has proven how to be a better person. He’s just a better character in general.

Anonymous said:

This might be long but I want to get something off my chest and I love your blog so I used to like bk//dk. If you asked me why. It's because I was enamored by the fanon ver of this pair with a better bkg and the whole appeal of childhood 'friends'/reconciliation trope it had going on and some fans have convinced me that their relationship wasn't as bad as it's portrayed before UA and that bkg was only like that because of society and thinking Izuku was "looking down" at him. 1/3

Thinking about it. it's really stupid and the verge of victim blaming but anyways. What stopped me from liking it and instead hating the pair is that after dk vs kc 2 I was expecting the improvement in their relationship, for a moment I thought we got it. But in reality it's just bc we haven't seen them interact much after the overhaul arc and before the joint training arc.Then the joint arc came and the 2nd internship arc came and whoo boy, I feel like I was cheated on. 2/3

Rather than making bkg's behavior improve towards Izuku, He's still as much of an asshole who belittles him, mocks him ,acts like he can't stand him but less threats of killing him combined with Izuku who just takes it because he's a nice person. But the narrative acts like their good friends now and I have been feeling so frustrated with this, I wanted a mutual relationship with mutual respect on both sides and bk//dk hasn't reached that part and it shouldn't take this long for it to be. 3/3

Thank you for sharing this with me, nony!! I appreciate it. It’s really sad that their relationship hasn’t improved at all. It’s so long overdue and now things are played as comedic relief like him hurting Izuku with his spike and also being extremely disrespectful during the ofa meetings. Their relationship isn’t healthy and it isn’t friendly, no matter how canon wants to paint it that way.

Anonymous said:

the only reason bkg gets to know OFA is because he guilted Izu into telling him a half truth in S1 then guilted AM and Izu with his tantrum in S3 He also had the privilege to know Izu since childhood and saw AFO so he had the advantage Izuku would have never told him otherwise. Same time Izuku's friends don't "deserve" to know about OFA, rather, Izuku deciding to tell them himself will make the revelation to them more special since its Izu deciding to tell a piece of himself than being forced to

HOT TAKE

@havocsss said:

i just wanted to say i appreciate your opinion on bnha about bakugo (bc someone finally said it 👀) and you put into words for me how i feel abt that character - and that's partly why i just can't watch it. he's the bully that everyone idolises and gets let away with murder and naaaah mate that's not how it works

Thank you, I’m glad to hear it. I don’t like that he, a literal bully who has suicide baited Izuku and has hurt him with his explosion quirk, is the fandom’s favorite and the most popular character. Literally any other character would have been better to stan than him. He’s everywhere and I can’t enjoy part of the series because of him always being there. It’s so annoying. I will continue to yell about why he is not a good character until horikoshi gives us the development he desperately needs AND an apology to Izuku for being so abusive to him. And yes, bullying is abuse.

Anonymous said:

I know that feeling. I also greatly dislike Bakugou. He almost ruins the manga for me at times. I can't even think of a plot with Izuku where Hori won't try to include him in some way. I tried reading metas abt him, tried to look at him in a different light but I realised that I really hate his personality, combined with his overhyped popularity just makes me can't stand him. I wish I could even just be neutral for him but that's being a challenge.

Yeah, he’s not a good character. Very infuriating and annoying. We do not stan him in this house.

Anonymous said:

I feel like if Aizawa actually knew that Bakugou used to bully Izuku he'd probably whoop Bakugou's ass

OOF I’d like to see him expel him.

Anonymous said:

I like how it's framed like I'm supposed to feel sorry for Bakugou because he feels manpain for not being the strongest in the class. Like the dude went from a regular school to the best of the best and he still expected to be the strongest person there is with no challenge?

Awww, is the spoiled brat sad? Good. He can die mad about it.

Anonymous said:

If Aizawa did the combat training instead of All Might he would've stopped Bakugou the first time he used his gauntlets and automatically failed him and I really wish that would've been the outcome

Tbh he should have been expelled for trying to kill a classmate.

Anonymous said:

Oh yeah I remember that character entrance when he just basically I insults his partner for training. Look I love the kid but if I was a teacher I would've flamed him so hard like there could've been a hostage, that weapon could have went off, his partner could've been captured. That's how you ended up failing the license exam

OOF. When will he learn.

Anonymous said:

Um excuse the ever living fuck out of me but I just saw a fic that was bakugou/consequences where Izuku attempted suicide and you know what the ship was?? My pure green son who deserves the world and his literal bully/abuser are you SHITTING ME???? I try very hard not to hate ships I do really try but I just CAN'T with this ship it disgusts me

It's not a healthy ship. I am disturbed by this fic and I don’t even know what it’s called and I don’t want to know. Eww.

Anonymous said:

I see myself as Izuku cause I relate to him a lot and I just read something where Bakugou does what my abuser did to me to Izuku and now I'm having a very hard time stomaching the thought of him and like I really loved kiri/baku too but now I can't even think about it cause someone who shipped my notp thought it would be a good idea to make Bakugou an abuser and give Izuku Stockholm syndrome ☹

Oh nony…I’m so sorry to hear about that. That really sounds rough and I hope you’re feeling better. That sounds awful. I’m just…I’m appalled. Also giving Izuku Stockholm syndrome with this ship is just. Wow.

#anti bakugou #anti bkdk #iamtypinglike98madmen #havocsss #anonymous #tw abuse #if anyone needs anything tagged let me know

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mylovelyfandoms · 5 years ago

Text

Wonwoo’s Backstory

The symbol of the Lightning Bolt

Basic information

A/N: Wonwoo is most definitely my bias wrecker omg. Also if anyone just wants to say hi or anything at all, I’m happy to get messages! When I’m done writing all the backstories, I’ll post request rules and start writing imagines

Warnings: socially awkward bean, kind of bullying (?), torture, really bad descriptions of herbal medicine

(GIF not mine but jeON WONWOO PUT THAT TONGUE AWAY)

- Wonwoo was the oldest when he was taken to the facility

- He was one of the few healers that was born as a brain

- So he was brilliant from a young age

- Because of this, he was aware of what happened to people like him. To people who were different

- So he kept to himself, trying his best not to reveal that he was just a little smarter than everyone

- He even managed to fool his parents, who were incredibly anti-affected

- Luckily for him, as he grew older, his intelligence leveled out with all of the kids his age and he thought that he just went back to normal

- One day, that was all proven wrong

- He was still a kid who kept to himself

- He was just a shy kid who wanted to be liked but never had the courage to go and make friends

- So he stayed at the school’s garden

- He didn’t know what it was, but he just loved plants and nature

- It calmed him

- Whenever he felt different from everyone else or just got upset in any way, he would go out into the garden in his backyard or at the park

- There was just something about nature that soothed him

- So when he was crouching down to look at a dead flower, he barely bat an eye when it came back to life

- He didn’t feel out of place like he did before

- This time, he felt like it was right. He understood himself

- But he still knew that he had to keep it to himself

- Wonwoo, despite growing out of his hyper intelligence, was brilliant

- He always managed different excuses as to why he suddenly had a bunch of plants in his room or why the garden that he was just in came to life

- No one ever suspected him

- But he was still fascinated by himself

- Whenever he was alone, which was a lot he would try to figure out his powers

- Around the time he turned thirteen, he had basically mastered his healing hands and was still working on healing potions

- He read books on the different uses of different plants and made different types of herbal medicines

- But at that age, that was also when boys were starting to notice girls

- And Wonwoo was no exception

- There was a girl in his class

- She was gorgeous, he thought. Everything about her was amazing

- And she was the only one who would talk to him

- There were always rumors about him being ‘emo’ or a ‘loner’ or a ‘bookworm’

- Well the last one’s true

- So he never really had any friends

- But this girl...

- This girl was known as one of the more ‘popular’ girls

- She was kind to everyone and incredibly smart and beautiful

- So Wonwoo never expected her to talk to him

- He was at the garden during lunch, as he usually was

- And she took a seat next to him, having him look up from his book of botany

- “Hi, you’re Wonwoo, right?”

- Wonwoo was too shocked to reply, so instead, he just nodded his head and pushed his glasses up

- “I just wanted to give you this. It’s one of my favorite books and I know you like reading, so here.”

- After that, she stood up and walked back to her group of friends that were waiting for her with strange looks on their faces

- Wonwoo was smitten

- He didn’t even want to mention that he had already read the book the next time that he saw her

- She ended up being his bestest and only friend

- So one weekend, he invited her over to show her his garden

- She was glad to, loving the different colors and flowers there were

- And since they were friends, she decided to kick some dirt on him and run

- As friends do

- Wonwoo started to run after her, making her laugh and try to avoid him

- Unfortunately she tripped over the hose and fell, banging her knee on the concrete decor that surrounded the garden

- She sat down, holding onto her bleeding knee and hissing in pain

- Worriedly, Wonwoo ran over and inspected it as she started to whine

- “I was supposed to go to the beach with a couple of friends tomorrow! The salt water is going to make this sting so much!”

- Wonwoo stared at her for a second, contemplating his options

- He trusted this girl, she was his only friend. He could tell her anything...right?

- Wonwoo took a breath, “Can you keep a secret?”

- The girl looked at him with furrowed eyebrows

- “Of course”

- Wonwoo pushed up his glasses and looked around, making sure his parents weren’t around

- He closed his eyes and brought his focus to his hands, bringing them over her knee

- The energy pulsed in his hands and he could feel the injury, even if he wasn’t physically touching it

- When Wonwoo felt that it was gone, he opened his eyes again and the glowing in his palms went away along with the injury

- Wonwoo looked up at his friend and his heart broke at the look of absolute horror on her face

- “I-”

- She cut him off by scrambling to her feet and running out of the gate of his backyard

- With a heavy heart, Wonwoo walked back into his house, shutting himself in his room for the rest of the weekend

- It didn’t even cross his mind who she would tell

- Until the next morning, he woke up to the slamming of his door

- His mother was standing in the doorway with the same horrified look that the girl had the day before

- And that was when Wonwoo realized what was happening

- He didn’t even complain when the soldiers took him away

- When Wonwoo got to the facility, he was taken into the testing room

- “You’re pretty old for a newcomer”

- The soldier’s tone was different than the others

- It was kinder, softer, and actually humane

- “Yeah, well I was good at hiding for a while.”

- The soldier chuckled

- “Don’t worry, you’re a healer so they’ll be kinder to you here.”

- “So I don’t poison them?”

- Wonwoo’s tone was joking

- “Yeah, actually.”

- He went quiet and pushed up his glasses

- “Trust me, you’re going to get the best treatment from them. There won’t be any cruel remarks or beatings just for the fun of it or anything.”

- “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

- The soldier sighed and put down the clipboard that she was writing in

- “I’m a senser. That’s what the affected call the ones with enhanced senses. The ones with the cloud symbols and the letters ‘ES’.”

- Wonwoo was bewildered. There was so much about this place that he didn’t know

- “I didn’t know that people like us can become guards.”

- Oh, we definitely can’t,” The soldier leaned in a little closer. “I’m not a real soldier.”

- She explained to Wonwoo that she was just trying to look after her son until he turned twenty, then she would help him escape the underground and eventually, the facility

- Wonwoo was glad that she entrusted her secret in him and decided to try to make friends with her for the remaining time they had in the testing room

- He told her about the land of the unaffected as she started to tattoo his shoulder with the lightning bolt and the letter ‘p’

- Wonwoo finally felt like he had made a real friend

- When he was out of the testing room, a couple of other soldiers showed him to his room

- It also happened to be the infirmary

- There were multiple offices in the infirmary for the other healers

- Wonwoo’s room had four gurneys with curtains to separate them along with cabinets filled with medical supplies, an area near the windows for planting, and a desk

- At first, Wonwoo thought that he would be able to make friends with people around his age or were like him, but quickly learned that he would only be treating soldiers

- And they weren’t the best people to talk to when you were a part of the affected

- He tried to make friends with the other ones of the affected during meal times, but he either came across as awkward or just didn’t have enough courage to speak

- As time went by, Wonwoo had basically given up on making friends

- Until the door in his office that led outside to the bigger garden swung open

- No one had ever used that door, so Wonwoo immediately sprung up from the gurney he was laying in and set his book down

- Wonwoo saw the senser soldier walking in with a larger guy’s arm swung around her shoulders

- “Star?”

- “Hey, Wonwoo, this is Mingyu, a water elemental. Would you mind checking him out? He slipped on a puddle of water and cut his calf on the floor and the other soldiers were about to throw him into the south wing for that.”

- Wonwoo blinked at her for a second

- He hadn’t seen her since he first got to the facility and he wondered why she went to him of all people

- “None of the other healers want to go against the soldiers’ words so I thought maybe you could help out.”

- Wonwoo stared at the taller boy, Mingyu and looked down at the blood dripping from his leg

- “Bring him here.”

- Star let out a breath of relief and helped the boy limp over to the gurney that Wonwoo was previously laying in

- “Wonwoo, right?”

- “That’s me.”

- “Thank you for taking care of me.”

- Wonwoo was speechless, staring at the boy as he climbed onto the gurney, laying on his stomach

- None of the people he treated had ever thanked him before

- As Wonwoo looked at the large laceration on Mingyu’s calf, he started to use his healing hands as much as he could

- When he realized that it was too big a cut to get healed just by his hands, he went over to the garden in his room to gather all of the plants he needed

- “So, Wonwoo, how long have you been here? I don’t remember seeing you at meal time.”

- “I haven’t been here long. A little less than a year.”

- Wonwoo fully expected a silence to come over them, but Mingyu kept talking

- “Wow, were you brought in from another facility? I have a couple of friends that were. They’re elementals like me.”

- Wonwoo found the plants that he needed and grabbed the mortar and pestle to crush them up

- Mortar and pestles are those thingies you use to crush things when you’re cooking, I never knew that they were called I just searched up ‘crushing bowl cooking thingy’

- “Something like that.”

- “Well where do you eat? I can try to sneak you in some extra bread as a thank you. One of my fire elemental friends sneaks us extra all the time.”

- Wonwoo knew that it was probably just one of those empty promises that people made like ‘We should totally talk soon!’ or ‘Yeah, I keep promises!’ so he didn’t respond

- But Mingyu kept talking

- Wonwoo eventually found himself enjoying the conversation that they were having as he spread the paste onto Mingyu’s leg

- “Okay, lay there for,” Wonwoo looked at the watch that the soldiers gave him. “ten minutes and you should be good to go. You can just brush the paste off.”

- “Alright.”

- There was a small silence for a while until Mingyu spoke up

- “So which facility did you come?”

- Wonwoo opened his mouth, but before any words could come out, the door to the hallway swung open

- Wonwoo quickly closed the curtains to Mingyu’s gurney, getting a suspicious look from the soldier that was walking in

- “Uh, it’s just a soldier who...got burned on his butt from a f-fire elemental.”

- Wonwoo hoped that he used the term right

- The soldier just let out a snort and sat down on the gurney, pointing to the cut on his arm

- “One of the ‘I stars’ thought they could fight back. You should see her though, this is nothing. You can barely recognize her.”

- Wonwoo gave the soldier a tight and polite smile

- He had gotten used to this kind of talk from the soldiers. Whenever they came in, they would have some sort of story about how they were all tough and powerful and made sure the affected knew what happened when they fought back

- Wonwoo grabbed a damp towel and wiped the cut down before using his healing hands to close it

- “Well I’ll be,” The soldier said, looking at his fully healed arm, “When the other soldiers told me to go to one of you people to get my arm fixed, I told them they were crazy. No wonder they keep you in here instead of out there.”

- The soldier let out a rough chuckle before he walked out of the door

- Once the door shut, Mingyu swung the curtains open and stared at Wonwoo with wide eyes

- “I didn’t know they could be so nice!”

- Eventually, it was time for Mingyu to go back to work and Wonwoo went on with his schedule as usual

- The next day at mealtime, Wonwoo was surprised when a piece of bread was placed on his tray

- Wonwoo looked up from the book that he was reading and saw Mingyu sitting in front of him with a bright smile

- “I found you!”

- Wonwoo gave him an amused smile

- “Yes you did.”

- That day, Wonwoo talked at mealtime for the first time

- Mingyu was just that type of person who knew how to talk to people and keep a conversation going

- And that was exactly the type of person that Wonwoo wanted as his friend

- So as time went by, Wonwoo always sat at the same place every mealtime, waiting to see if Mingyu would sit with him

- On most days he did, on others, Wonwoo could see him sitting with his group of elementals. And on some days, he was just gone, so Wonwoo assumed that he was probably getting punished for something

- Though, the dining hall wasn’t the only place that Wonwoo saw Mingyu

- Of all of the soldiers that came in, Mingyu was his most frequent customer

- He was quite the clumsy elemental, so he would always trip and injure himself

- How he managed to sneak away from the soldiers to go to the infirmary, Wonwoo had no clue

- Eventually, Mingyu started to introduce Wonwoo to his other elemental friends

- He hung out with them during meal times, getting excused for sitting at another symbol’s table since he was a healer

- With a new group of friends, he slowly started to become more social and less awkward around people

- So, when Star started to bring in more affected that got injured, Wonwoo was happy to treat them

- He became known among the affected as the only healer that would actually help them

- Some would come in on their own, but Star would mostly be the ones to bring them in

- Star brought in hard copies of all of the affected’s files, letting Wonwoo know of their allergies or any sort of condition that they had

- Everyday was different than the last

- Some days were slow and Wonwoo would just have a couple of soldiers come on

- Other days were more busy and he would have to turn soldiers to other rooms because his beds were filled by some of the affected

- On one particularly busy day, Wonwoo had five soldiers come in with injuries from getting in a fight with each other

- They were a handful enough and took up most of his day, so he was just looking forward to reading for the rest of the day

- Until there was a rhythmic knock sounding at the door that led to the garden

- Wonwoo groaned and stood up from his chair, knowing from the knock that it was Star with another affected

- (Him and Star made up secret knocks so he could let her know when it was a good time or not)

- Wonwoo opened the door and saw Star holding up a boy with a muzzle around his face and blood all over his side

- “Can you take another one, Wonwoo?”

- Wonwoo looked at the boy and pushed up his glasses

- There was something about the boy’s muzzle that didn’t sit quite right with him

- Wonwoo had heard of the screamers who wore muzzles many times from the soldiers that came in and cut themselves on it as they tried to punch the screamers in the face

- But seeing it was something completely different

- Wonwoo looked at the boy and then back down at the injury on his side

- It was then that he kissed all his plans of reading aside

- With a small and tired sigh, Wonwoo opened the door wider for the two to walk in

- When they stepped in, Wonwoo decided to speak up

- “Do you have the keys for his muzzle? That’s just inhumane.”

- Wonwoo noticed the screamer turn to Star with hope in his eyes, but she just shook his head

- Wonwoo let out another sigh and led the screamer to one of the gurneys, helping him sit down

- He gently laid his hand on top of the screamer’s and guided it off of his side, inspecting the injury through the shirt

- “What happened?”

- “His friend swung a saw around and nicked him on the side.”

- Wonwoo stared at the injury for a second before raising his eyebrow

- “Looks like more than a nick.”

- Wonwoo had the screamer lean back on his hands and lifted his shirt to get a better look at the injury

- “Alright, I know what he needs.”

- Wonwoo walked to the plants in his room and started to look for the certain one that he needed

- “Have him write his birth name, I need to look through my files.”

- Star grabbed a random paper and pen from Wonwoo’s desk before handing it to the screamer

- Wonwoo found the flower that he needed and plucked it from its spot

- He grabbed a bowl and dropped the petals in it before turning back to the screamer who was holding out the paper and pen

- Wonwoo grabbed the items and read the paper

- The screamer’s name was ‘Lee Seokmin’ but he had written ‘Dokyeom’ in parenthesis

- Wonwoo couldn’t help but smile at the boy, trying to offer him as much kindness as he could

- “Alright Dokyeom, I’m Wonwoo, nice to meet you. I’ll just heal this wound and you can stay here for a little while until another soldier comes in. Just relax”

- Wonwoo noticed Dokyeom’s apprehensiveness and pulled back his lab coat and tugged the sleeve of his shirt up to reveal his tattoo

- “I’m a healer in case you didn’t know. So I’m one of you.”

- Wonwoo smiled when Dokyeom relaxed and he moved to his desk to look for Dokyeom’s file

- He read through it to find out if Dokyeom had any allergies and tried his best not to react when he saw the notes on his background

- Wonwoo closed the file and gave Dokyeom another kind smile as he started to gather ingredients for his mixture

- When he was finally done making it, Wonwoo walked over to Dokyeom and looked him in the eye

- “This is going to sting a little bit, but it should start to feel cool afterwards.”

- Dokyeom nodded and Wonwoo started to spread the mixture along his injury, making Dokyeom wince and sharply inhale through his nose

- “I’m going to start healing it now.”

- Wonwoo put his hands above Dokyeom’s side and closed his eyes, focusing his energy on the cuts and feeling them close back up

- He felt he was done and opened his eyes, meeting Dokyeom’s shocked and amazed gaze

- “You’re all good now, but I want you to stay here for a little while in case anything happens.”

- In reality, Wonwoo just wanted to keep him away from the soldiers for a little while longer

- He just hated the fact that the screamers had to wear muzzles

- It was as if they were savages and not any bit human

- Wonwoo wanted to help them in any way that he could

- So if that meant protecting Dokyeom for just a little while longer, then he would do so

- When another soldier came into Wonwoo’s office, he managed to distract her while Dokyeom snuck out

- Unfortunately for Wonwoo, the soldier caught a glimpse of Dokyeom running out and decided to punish him after he finished healing her

- Wonwoo was only punished a couple of times for accidentally hurting a guard or accidentally making a poison when he was having a bad day

- He was only ever brought into the south wing for a beating of some sort

- But this time, Wonwoo was brought into the west wing.

- They stripped his shirt off of him and made him kneel with his back facing towards them

- As they chained his hands to the side of the wall, Wonwoo couldn’t help but feel frustrated

- He was just trying to help people, how is that possible something he could be punished for?

- He was lost in thought for a moment until he heard the crack of the whip as they swung it against the floor, making his whole body tense up

- Wonwoo started to pull at his hands, trying desperately to get away

- But then he felt a burning sensation on his back, making him yell out in pain

- The soldiers were laughing at him, loving that they were finally able to give him what he deserved

- Wonwoo tried to focus on something else, anything else, but the pain was too much

- He ended up counting how many times they whipped him

- In the end, it was 32.

- As the days passed, Wonwoo struggled to move

- Every time his clothes brushed the marks that were embedded in his back, it stung and he let out a sharp hiss

- He had tried many times to heal his back himself, but he wasn’t flexible enough to reach all the way back

- And none of the other healers would touch him in risk of getting in trouble

- So Wonwoo just smiled through the pain, doing his best to not let anyone know what had happened to him

- Star was suspicious, but all of the times she asked, he just brushed her off and claimed that her ‘motherly instincts were going into overdrive’

- Even Mingyu was starting to get worried, noticing the way that Wonwoo let out a wince or grunt when he patted him on the back

- But Wonwoo just assured him that he was fine

- Months went by and just as things were going back to normal, they had a lockdown

- A tree had caught on fire in the courtyard and the soldiers started talking about how someone from the facility escaped

- But Wonwoo scoffed at that

- No one can escape this wretched place

- And he wholeheartedly believed that

- Until one day, he was reading on one of the gurneys when he heard the rhythmic knock sound from the door to the garden

- The knock was fast and hard, unlike all of the other times Star had done it

- So, Wonwoo jumped to his feet and rushed over, opening the door

- Star ran in with the biggest smile on her face, pacing around the room in a distressed manor

- Wonwoo didn’t know how someone could look so happy yet stressed at the same time

- “Wonwoo, it was Hoshi! Hoshi was the one that got out! I thought it was weird when I couldn’t sense him anymore, but that’s because he’s out. He actually got out! I can leave this place now! I don’t have to be here anymore, I can leave and look for him and get my family back!”

- Wonwoo blinked at the woman for a moment, trying to comprehend her words

- When he finally started to realize what she was saying, his face started to fall.

- “So you’re...you’re leaving?”

- Wonwoo wanted to help people, and the only way he could do so was with Star

- So if she left, he didn’t know if there would be any way that he could help the affected

- And not only that, but Star was his friend

- She was the first one at the facility and in his life to ever show genuine kindness to him

- “Well...yeah. It’s always been the plan to stay for my son. But now that he’s gone, I can leave.”

- “But...”

- Wonwoo started to feel helpless

- He knew that this was her plan, but he couldn’t help but feel that she was abandoning him and their people

- “But what about me? What about all of us? You’re just going to leave us here?”

- Star sighed and sat down on the gurney

- “I’m going to come back, kiddo. I’m leaving so I can go to the land of the unaffected and show them exactly what the government is doing to these kids. I’m going to find a way to get all of you out of here. But first, I want to find my son, and I want to make sure that we’re okay before I go.”

- Wonwoo sat next to her on the gurney and leaned his head against her arm

- “But you’re one of my closest friends.”

- Star chuckled and pat the top of his head, remembering the ways that Hoshi would do the same thing.

- “You’ll be fine without me, Wonwoo. I’m sure you’ll find a way to help everyone without me.”

- That was the last time Wonwoo saw Star for a long time

- He had heard from a couple of soldiers that she left to go back to the land of the unaffected, but Wonwoo knew the truth

- Months passed and lockdown was over

- The facility had heavier security to make sure no one else would escape

- Wonwoo even had two guards covering his office, making it difficult for him to see any of the affected

- Though with them standing there, he was able to hear the stories of how more and more people were getting broken out of the facility

- He heard the soldiers say the name ‘Seventeen’ a couple of times, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it meant

- Everyday started to become like the other

- The only people he talked to were the soldiers that came in and demanded he healed them, and even then it was barely a conversation

- Due to the new rules, Wonwoo wasn’t allowed to sit with the elementals anymore, so he was just stuck surrounded by people that wanted to avoid him like the plague

- He was known as a rulebreaker, and the healers didn’t like the rulebreakers

- Most of them never even got punished

- Wonwoo thought that his life would stay like that, he had no hopes or dreams of getting out

- Until one day, an ear shattering scream filled the halls

- It was a high frequency, but not high enough to hurt Wonwoo

- But he saw the soldiers fall to the floor as they clutched onto their ears and scrambled to take off the earpieces that the scream’s frequency messed with

- Wonwoo stared at them with confusion as the door to the garden was kicked on

- “Wonwoo, right?”

- Wonwoo turned to look at the guy standing in the doorway and pushed up his glasses, wordlessly nodding

- “Gather whatever you can and come with me. Hurry, they’re not going to be down forever.”

- Wonwoo rushed to his cabinets and started to fill a satchel he had with a bunch of bottles of powers and herbs that he had collected

- He packed his mortar and pestles and all of his favorite books

- Wonwoo heard a couple of footsteps from the hallway and snapped his head up in fear

- When he saw who was standing there, Wonwoo started to smile

- “Hey, Wonwoo. I never got to apologize for getting you in trouble.”

- Dokyeom was standing in the doorway with a bright smile

- Wonwoo felt a sense of warmth when he saw the boy standing there without his muzzle

- “Consider yourself forgiven.”

- “Enough of the chit chat, come on!”

- As the soldiers started to stand up, Dokyeom jumped over them and ran towards the door to the garden

- The guy at the door ran after them with Wonwoo following close behind

- “Seungkwan and Joshua and Jeonghan are taking out the soldiers at the exit, we just have to make it there,” The guy exclaimed.

- As they ran through the courtyards, soldiers spotted them and started to chase them

- “Cover your ears!”

- Wonwoo did as Dokyeom said and saw him touch his hearing aids before turning to the soldiers and screaming at the same frequency he had used before

- The soldiers that had their earpieces on fell to the floor, but the others just covered their ears and kept chasing the three

- The guy that Wonwoo still didn’t know the name of turned around and started to run backwards

- “Make sure you both get out of here!”

- Dokyeom’s eyes widened

- “No, there’s too many of them!”

- “I’ve done this before, just go into that crowd of elementals and get to the exit.”

- The guy stopped running and Wonwoo turned back as he ran

- The guy held out his hands and Wonwoo saw the soldiers abruptly stop and arched back

- They were all lowered to their knees and before Wonwoo could see anything else, he bumped into Dokyeom’s back

- “Stay cool, the soldiers don’t know which ones we are so blend in with the crowd.”

- Wonwoo nodded and started to walk through the crowd of elementals, trying to get to the exit as fast as they could

- Wonwoo was barely paying attention to what the crowds were doing until he heard his name getting called

- Dokyeom and Wonwoo both snapped their heads in the direction of the voice and Wonwoo saw Mingyu running towards him with a bright smile

- “Wonwoo! What’re you going here?”

- Mingyu’s calling of Wonwoo’s name alerted the soldiers and they started to zero in on where Dokyeom and Wonwoo were

- “We gotta go!”

- Before Wonwoo could say anything to Mingyu, Dokyeom grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him through the crowd

- Wonwoo sent one look back as they exited the crowd and he couldn’t help but feel guilty at Mingyu’s hurt face

- But that all disappeared as they were in view of the exit

- As they were getting closer and closer to the exit, Wonwoo couldn’t think of anything other than his freedom

- At that time, he was being completely selfish

- At that time, he only wanted to help himself

- At that time, he was sure he was high on adrenaline because he saw a jaguar and bear fighting the soldiers along with someone that was screaming at them

- “Is that...that can’t be...”

- Wonwoo was too out of breath to form a full sentence

- “The bear is Joshua and the Jaguar is Jeonghan. Don’t worry, you’ll meet them soon.”

- There was a part of him that thought this was all just a wild dream

- But he knew from the way that his feet and lungs ached that it was reality

- When they got to the exit, Wonwoo saw that it was already open but there were soldiers standing in the way

- Dokyeom immediately ran forward to help, but more and more kept coming

- Wonwoo saw the way that they were all fighting for his freedom, so he started to feel the itching urge to help out

- Taking a couple of breaths, he lifted his hands and closed his eyes, focusing on the roots of the trees that were all around them

- He had only used his plant manipulation powers to make them grow and only practiced moving them around on smaller ones, never any as big as he planned

- “Don’t fail me now,” He mumbled to himself

- He lifted to roots from below the concrete and heard them busting through

- His eyes opened and he manipulated the roots to whip around at all of the soldiers, only accidentally pushing or brushing against the ones that were on his side

- When Wonwoo was sure that the soldiers were out of the way, he brought his hands down and the plants stopped moving

- As his focus and energy was brought back to reality, his entire body felt drained and his knees started to buckle from under him

- Before Wonwoo could hit the floor, two arms caught him

- Dokyeom swung Wonwoo’s arms around his shoulders and started walking him out

- “I didn’t know you could do that.”

- Wonwoo let out a small chuckle.

- “Neither did I.”

- Dokyeom led him over to the jaguar who groaned as if it knew what Dokyeom was about to do.

- “Come on Jeonghan, he just saved all of us.”

- The jaguar let out a low growl before crouching lower for Wonwoo to climb on

- “Hold on tight, we have a little more running to do and I don’t think Jeonghan’s going to stop if you fall off.”

- Wonwoo nodded and wrapped his arms firmly around the jaguar as it moved

- “Wait, where’s S. Coups?” The one that they called Seungkwan questioned

- “I’m right here, they’re right behind me, let’s go!”

- The other guy, S. Coups, shouted as he coincidentally ran by

- The jaguar, Jeonghan, took off after him and Wonwoo started to tighten his grip, burying his face in the fur as they ran

- After a long time of running, the jaguar stopped

- Wonwoo looked up from the jaguar’s back and was met with a campsite

- There were tents all around and a couple of people scurrying about

- “Where...what is this?”

- Dokyeom helped Wonwoo off of the jaguar’s back

- “This is our clan, Seventeen.”

- Wonwoo looked around in shock

- “Where’d you get the tents from?”

- “Wha...”

- Wonwoo turned around and saw S. Coups pulling his gloves back on as he looked Wonwoo in shock

- “That’s your first question? No ‘who are you’ ‘how did you get out’ ‘how did you get me out’?”

- Wonwoo looked at him and gave a weak and sheepish shrug

- “We raided a couple of malls a while ago,” A new voice explained, having Wonwoo turn to see two more people walking towards him

- “Welcome to our clan, that’s S. Coups, the sun and our top leader,” The man pointed to S. Coups behind Wonwoo. “This is Woozi, the brain and mastermind behind all of our moves and rescue missions.” He pointed to the shorter boy next to him. “And I’m Hoshi, a senser. I’m in charge of who comes in and out of here.”

- Wonwoo was so tired that he didn’t even think of Star

- He was just glad to be away from that place

- “Let me show you to your tent. We really needed a healer so you’ll be able to help a lot of people here.”

- Wonwoo followed S. Coups to one of the tent and he let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding

- He could actually help people now

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mst3kproject · 5 years ago

Photo

522: Teenage Crime Wave

This is another episode I hadn’t seen… although really, it’s not so much ‘hadn’t seen’ as it was ‘actively avoided.’ I’d read a plot summary, and the whole thing sounded way too Kitten With A Whip-ish for my tastes. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m not sure if I’d say it’s a better movie than Kitten With A Whip, but it definitely didn’t make me as angry. Where Kitten With A Whip made me want to throw things, Teenage Crime Wave just had me checking the time repeatedly to see if it was over yet.

Young Jane accepts a blind date with a guy named Al. This was a mistake on her part – first he tries to rape her, and then he and his friend Mike rob a guy and run off, leaving Jane and Mike’s girlfriend Terry to be arrested. Jane’s parents immediately give up on her rather than offering her any sort of support or understanding whatsoever. She and Terry are taken to reform school, but on the way Mike shows up to spring them, and he and Terry then take a farm family hostage, dragging Jane behind them the whole way.

I have several questions about these events. First and most obviously, why the hell did Mike and Terry take Jane along on their escape attempt? She’s not useful, she clearly doesn’t want to be there, and neither of them even like her. They shot the cop and tied up the matron… why didn’t they do the same with Jane? Is she a hostage? Are they hoping to mold her into an accomplice? Does Al intend to finish what he started? I have no idea. She’s pretty much just there so that this movie can happen to her.

Second, Terry tells Jane at one point that she could have given more information to the cops if she’d wanted… so why didn’t she? Surely her parents, the cops, and the judge would all have treated her better. She has no interest in impressing these criminals she only barely knows. When Jane was under arrest was one of the only points in the film when she was in no danger, and later on (when she is in danger) she states her willingness to be a witness. She has absolutely nothing to gain from her silence and I don’t understand it at all.

Third, who came up with the title and tagline for this film? Out of the Sidewalk Jungle: Teenage Crime Wave! the Shocking Drama of Today’s Teenage Terror. I mean, the movie is about teenagers committing crimes, but Mike, Al, and Terry are not enough to constitute a ‘wave’. And the whole ‘sidewalk jungle’ thing (did they mean the concrete jungle?) suggests an urban, or at least suburban setting, while most of the movie takes place way out in the middle of nowhere, in three rooms of a farmhouse! The title is only barely more accurate than Pod People or Cave Dwellers. And don’t get me started on shocking drama. There is nothing shocking in this film. There’s barely even anything that counts as drama.

Fourth, and this one will sound very familiar, why is this movie about Jane? She is perhaps the do-nothing-est of all MST3K’s do-nothing main characters! I don’t think she ever once says or does anything that has an effect on the plot. Mike, Al, and Terry just drag her along for no apparent reason. She has no personality besides being polite and pretty. Terry and Mike actually have tragic backstories and so forth, but there is nothing to Jane that makes her remotely interesting. The fact that we don’t delve into her past just tells us she’s not worth delving into. She’s a sexy lamp in her own movie.

She’s not even a love interest! When Hunky Farmer’s Son Ben (who is only marginally more interesting or useful than Jane herself) was first introduced in his photograph, I figured he’d be paired up with Jane. Having learned that he’s way older than her, I’m actually pretty glad he wasn’t, but that makes Jane’s presence even more of a mystery. This movie just happens all around her while she stands there washing dishes.

Her father’s change of heart is also pretty useless. Although Jane’s parents initially reject her for even being in the vicinity of a crime (now there’s a message for young people – Mom and Dad only care about you as long as you make them look good!), her father eventually goes looking for her and hires a lawyer to defend her. This is never resolved. The movie ends with Mike weeping over Terry’s body instead of Jane’s father talking to her and apologizing. The bit where he finds her purse in the abandoned car gives the cops a reason to go to the farm and it looks like it’ll be a turning point for the plot, but instead of going anywhere the scene just deflates with a ‘thbbbbpppt!’

Yet another useless thing is Terry’s sexual interest in Ben. When he rejects her it establishes that he’s pure-hearted and whatnot, but it mainly feels like it’s supposed to be setting him up as Jane’s love interest… which he isn’t. His rejection of Terry doesn’t prompt her to do anything. Mike’s jealousy sort of wanders through but doesn’t affect the plot. The scene is just there, filling time and inviting us to look at Mollie McCart’s midriff.

In fact, the movie ends abruptly with the entire farm family in bad straits – father and son have both been shot and mother is still recovering from a heart attack. Are any of them going to be okay? We don’t know. I guess as long as Jane doesn’t go to jail, we’re not supposed to care.

Fifthly, what is the point of using that photograph of Jane at a beauty pageant in the newspaper? She was arrested along with Terry – surely she has a mug shot! The point is supposed to be that society has vilified Jane, lumping her in with ‘dirt’ like Terry and Mike, so shouldn’t she be presented to the world in the same way? That would also provide more of a reason for her freakout at the news broadcast, seeing herself portrayed as one of the people she hates. If they wanted her to look pretty and wholesome in contrast to these young thugs, use a family photograph or something!

Of course, clearly the point is to say “look at our starlet who wants to be in more movies – isn’t she hot?” Maybe that would have played better in a movie where she was not supposed to be seventeen years old.

Why does the director occasionally try to be ‘artsy’ in a dirt-cheap movie about juvenile delinquents? There’s the shot where we only see Ben and Jane interacting by watching their reflections in a mirror – perhaps this is meant to hide Mike’s entrance to the room, or a way of seeing their faces when they’re both turned towards the wall… but there were other ways to set up one or both of these without going, “look! I’m directing!” Likewise with the fight in Griffith Observatory, where the dome is rotating so that we can see various things happening outside while Ben and Mike punch each other. The contrast between the outside sunlight and the interior darkness makes it almost impossible to tell what the combatants are doing, the angle of what we’re seeing through the slit is wrong, and the whole scene makes me seasick.

Sixthly, another familiar one: what are we supposed to learn from this movie? The opening crawl suggests that it’s a cautionary tale, but who is it cautioning, and against what? Is it warning teenagers not to fall in with bad friends? Jane isn’t friends with any of these people – they pick her up on false pretenses for no discernable reason, and she never actually commits a crime. By the time she figured out she needed to get out of here (when Al put the moves on her in the car) it was already too late. Is she just not supposed to talk to anybody ever? Should she stay in the house all day and let her parents pick a husband for her?

Is it, like I Accuse my Parents, warning moms and dads that if they don’t support their children then they’re to blame if those children become bad people? The cop in the car claims it should be the parents rather than the kids who get locked up for juvenile delinquency… but in the actual narrative, Jane’s parents don’t seem to abandon her until after she’s accused of a crime, and the way she talked to them suggests she had every reason to think they would help her. Her father later changes his mind, but as I already discussed, this doesn’t really do anything in the plot. Meanwhile, the real criminals in the story, Terry and Mike, didn’t have parents, so who does the cop think should be locked up for their bad behaviour?

That’s the movie, then – bland people doing things that don’t make sense and ultimately don’t matter. If it fails to induce the same kind of rage Kitten with a Whip did, that may be because it’s not trying to. Kitten With a Whip repeatedly dangled possible endings, only to snatch them away at the last moment when Dave did something incomparably stupid. It felt like the movie was deliberately prolonging my torment, and enjoying it. Teenage Crime Wave is way less aggressive. It just kind of dawdles along, not really caring what I think of it. And to nobody’s surprise, I don’t care, either.

#mst3k #reviews #teenage crime wave #50s

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shi-daisy · 5 years ago

Note

I've noticed that you're not very fond of Renji or the Kuchiki characters in general. Can I ask why? (No offense, just curious)

No offense here, anon. I'm more than happy to answer.

I'll start with Rukia since she's the easiest to explain. Rukia was one of my favorite characters up until the Hueco Mundo Arc. You see at first she was a dynamic girl, a little helpless but that was understandable since she had no powers, she was funny, kind and I really felt for her during the first arcs. Then Kubo just replaced her with another character. Rukia got more closed off, agressive, punch happy and tried to make Ichigo apologize about something that wasn't his fault. I didn't hate her, as she still had some of her best traits but this shift made her go from one of my faves to a neutral character. Worst off it's when she marries Renji after he left her for years and almost slashed her to bits, and the novel, oh that damn post canon novel gave me rabies. She's embarrassed by being called Abarai? I could buy this from Orihime, or Momo, hell I'd even buy it from Riruka, but Rukia? No, that's not her. Instead of forgiving Byakuya and Renji in a heartbeat, Rukia's character would've been better off if she told them both to sit on a prickly cactus and stay the hell away from her, then left with Ichigo and Co. to the human world at the end of the Rescue arc. Instead she forgives those two, who have been nothing but shitty to her and takes to hero worshipping Byakuya. No, that's the worst thing she could've done and to top it off she marries one of them and has his kid. That dude hit you once and you not only marry him but have his kid?! Gurl, that literally begging for trouble right there. I just felt disgusted with the way Kubo handled Rukia. I don't hate her but I don't love her as much as everyone else in the fandom does.

Renji And Byakuya though? Those two I absolutely despise.

During the first arc these two come to the human world to arrest Rukia, who need I remind you was completely powerless, and what's the first thing Renji does? Swing a goddamn sword at her. He literally just tried to slash her with his sword. Does Byakuya interfiere? Tells him to maybe tone it down a bit? Nope, he does fucking nothing. Renji keeps trying to hit her, with a grin on his face, and later on even chokes her. It's not until Uryu, who's a freaking Quincy, steps in that the whole aggression stops.

I know people defend this with 'oh Kubo meant for them to seem as villians at the time' but I think you can't come back from trying to slash your bestie/future wife or from letting my sister be slashed to bits.

But ok, if it was just that, I'd be willing to let it slide so as long as the two apologize and Rukia gave em a 'reason you suck speech' or something similar. Well next time we see Renji he's taunting Rukia in prison. He backs out and says it's a joke later but it was still scumy of him to do that. During that same scene Rukia says she knows she'll get killed and pinnapple dumbass tells her Byakuya would intervine, but she shoots him down by saying that he'd likely just kill her himself and has never once cared for her from the moment he adopted her. Like, what? This asshat hasn't even looked her in the eye in 40 years? I know in shinigami time that's like 4 years maybe but it's still a long time to be emotionality neglected.

After his fight with Ichigo we get Renji And Rukia's backstory and instead of growing sympathetic towards him, I hated him more. So he and Rukia grow up together with some friends in the poorest place in Soul Society, and after their friends death they join the academy to get better housing and food. That's good so far, only the two are separate because Renji has more potential and Rukia is average at best. He gets new friends and keeps moving forward. Rukia was alone and stuck. Sad but ok maybe they'll make up after graduation. Nope, because the Kuchiki clan wants to adopt Rukia, remove her from the academy and now she'll live as a Noble. It's clear in that scene that Rukia does not want this, that she'll take any excuse to not accept, does Renji tell her to stay with him, or to choose what she wants? Of course not, the idiot congratulates her, makes a light-hearted joke about it and then sulks when Rukia sadly thanks him and leaves. Then he suddenly decides to stay away from Rukia for... bullshit reasons. Like I get Kubo tried to paint it as a I have to stay away so the Kuchiki won't get mad at her, but Rukia didn't ask for that, she was lonely, even more so without Renji, and he didn't even attempt to communicate with her or just check in? She obviously didn't want that and he didn't either, but no, I'm apparently supposed to be heartbroken that they were speareted. Then when he sees her again, his childhood bestie, the woman he loves, his future wife and mother of his child, what happens? He tried to slash her with a sword when she was depowered. See how his backstory made the previous scene worst. Honestly I was glad he chose to help Ichigo not let Rukia get killed but damn, it shouldn't have taken this long!

After that we get the whole Renji vs Byakuya thing. Renji goes down like a chump, assists in the final battle for a bit and that's it. No apologies for the past, or for what he did when he arrested her, or the things he said to her in prison, zero apologies from Renji Abarai. This doesn't work, especially if Kubo wanted to marry these two off by the end of the series. Renji needed to apologize directly, we needed to see it play out, not just be told he did it offscreen. This left me hating Renji for the reminder of the show. He was now more friendly and even a bit of a comic relief but his first impression muddled that for me. On the Fullbringer Arc he refused to fight Jackie because a man who hits a woman is trash but... didn't you just do that to the chick you're in love with like two years prior? Did he forget? Was that an admission of guilt or something? I dunno. It felt like a last ditch attempt from Kubo to make him more likeable but to me it fell flat. By the end I was fully disinterested in Renji, wheather he lived, died, married Rukia, Byakuya, whoever the hell, I just didn't care for him at all. It did bug me that he took Uryu's spot in the final chapter cover. Uryu deserved better than Mr hypocrite taking his limelight. Renji would've been better as one off villian, Kubo should've given his backstory to another character and have them with Rukia instead. I'll never get over the fact that this dude spent his first appearance being the most unlikeable jerk, physically assaulting the woman he loves, talking shit like a cocky dumbass, almost killing two of the main characters, and taking the girl he loved to her death; only to be married to said girl in the end, with a daughter and on best terms with the people he fucked over. I ain't a fan of him.

Byakuya it's another character who I wanted to smack against the concrete, repeatedly. First appearance? Lets his lieutenant throw his sister around like a ragdoll, almost kills an innocent human, and basically acts like everyone's beneath him? Good, I already hate him. Next time we see him, he shows no emotion towards Rukia's sentence, he's still hell-bent on stopping the human squad from rescuing her, almost lets Renji die after he loses to Ichigo (honestly I was down for Renji bitting it but c'mon this dude is your employee and you don't care if he dies? Big yikes) Keeps messing up every attempt from the others to rescue Rukia. Almost kills Renji in a fight, then goes to fight Ichigo and here's where he became irredeemable for me. During his fight with Ichigo, he says he'll beat Ichigo and then kill Rukia himself. That's when I wanted Ichigo to chop him into sashimi. You can't say something like that and expect anyone to forgive you. He loses against Ichigo and at the very least honors his word to not kill Rukia. Okay then he defends Rukia from the real baddies. Nice, I still hate him. When he's being healed he tells Rukia that he adopted her because his wife was Rukia's actual sister, and he promised he'd keep Rukia safe if he ever found her.

All throughout the flashback I only felt sympathy for Hisana. Being put in the poorest place in Rukon, having to leave your baby sister to survive, marrying a guy who you love only for his family to hate you because you're not Noble, then getting terminally ill and not being able to help your lost sibling, all of that is horrible and broke my heart. More so when you realize that Byakuya didn't keep his promise to protect Rukia because it would break the law. He can stick his laws where the sun don't shine Rukia almost got killed unfairly because of him, Ichigo and his friends would've died unfairly because of him, he doesn't deserve any forgiveness. At least the dude had the spine to apologize on screen but that still just the bare minimum. I wanted to see him make up for all the shit he caused, maybe try and help change the law so a mistake like this dosen't happen again, just something productive. Well no, he's still the same cold and unlikable jerk we first met, only now he seems to treat Rukia better. This should've been a start, not the default. When he almost died in the final arc I thought it was a fitting end, he's humbled down, he apologizes to Rukia and Renji for losing, he leaves everything in Ichigo's hands, which mirrors how he was opposing him on the first arc but it's now fully on his side, it was the best way to salvage this unlikeable prick. But no, he dosen't die. He lives and its back to the grind again. Worst of all it's how he appears during Rukia's big fight and she uses her Bankai, he's there to mansplain and sour the fight and ugh I hated that chapter. Then he says he's proud of Rukia and it's meant to be a heartwarming moment, to me however it was vomit inducing. You're proud now? Two years ago you almost killed her! You ignored her and neglected her for decades and this is supposed to be cute?! No, his pride is worth less than dirt when he treated her this badly before. Heck if he had won back at the beginning Rukia wouldn't even be there. You almost killed her two years before, and now you're proud? Miss me with that nonsense.

The ending was especially jarring for me not just because Renji got with Rukia but also because they, along with Byakuya did nothing to fix the system that almost led to Rukia's unfair death. None of them did anything and if there's one thing I would love to see if Bleach ever got a sequel,would be Ichika yelling at the three of them for their ineptitude. They let the Sokyoku get rebuilt, they didn't do a smidge to change the system even though they're two captains and a lieutenant, and still live in prefect rich peep paradise when Rukon is still as shitty as it was when Renji and Rukia lived there.

Sorry for the long answer, I just wanted to let everything out as in most discussions people are baffled by the fact that I don't like these three characters all that much. Hope this answers your question anon!

#ask #anon #anti renruki #anti renji #anti Byakuya

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thejollyroger-writer · 6 years ago

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Won’t You Help Me Feel Something Again

Inspired by this prompt post, reblogged by @killian-whump , and then--SURPRISE--I added too much backstory and made it terribly painful, physically and emotionally. Thanks for that, PMS. Excellent. Title from the song “Sober Up” by AJR.

Rated T for torture, tears, death, and lots and lots of feelings.

Also on AO3, if that’s your thing.

Killian leans his head back until it hits the surface he's laying on. He never thought he would be thankful for the hard, cold feel of concrete against his back, but in this moment, he can swear that it's the greatest thing he's ever felt.

He tries to open his eyes, but it turns out to be useless. All he sees are blurs around him, the piercing brightness of the lights above him, and he slowly closes them again.

He feels something touching him—someone, a woman, with soft hands pressing lightly on his chest, his arms, his ribs, leaving throbbing pain in their wake.

It is not until he starts speaking that he notices the ringing in his ears, the blinding pain of his throat as he will the words to come.

“Please put me back,” he chokes out. “Please. If they know you helped me, they… they’ll hurt you too. Please. I can’t let you be hurt.” He may not know who she is, but he knows that, if she's here, she is in grave danger.

“Shhhh .” He can't tell if her voice is quiet, or if he simply just can't hear her, but her words are a comfort even as her fingers find a particularly painful spot on his right side, where he must have a broken rib. “You are no longer in danger, Mr. Jones. We're here to help you.”

He tries to take a deep breath, but it causes a pain so deep that everything goes white, even with his eyes still closed. “Please,” he gasps again, trying his hardest not to move at all. “Please, just go. Just leave me. It's what I deserve.”

Her hands leave his body, and even with the searing pain they were bringing, he misses them immediately.

“I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Jones,” she says, calling him that again, and he wants to correct her.

He's not Mr. Jones. He never has been. Liam was Mr. Jones, and Killian was always just Killian .

Mr. Jones is dead, and it's all Killian's fault.

“No,” is all he can muster, barely more than a breath, and after he feels the stab of the needle in his arm, his entire body goes numb, and he slips back into unconsciousness.

3 Months Before

His hand curls around the coffee cup in front of him, scrolling through the newspaper on the screen in front of him one last time before he sends it to the printer. The clock on the wall behind him ticks the seconds away before it strikes midnight, and before it finishes its dozen chimes, he turns to the last page. By this point in the night, he is just copy editing, hoping that his interns have caught all the big mistakes, but a final once-over of the Boston Globe has become part of his routine since he was just an intern ten years before.

The words almost stop losing meaning entirely as he scans the page from top to bottom, and he may have reached the bottom of the obituaries without actually reading a single word if he didn't see it.

Milah Gold, 46, was found dead in her private home early Sunday morning, after passing soundly in her sleep the night before. All reports have confirmed natural causes. She and her husband, former Boston crime boss Robert Gold, who is still serving three consecutive life sentences, had one son, Neal Gold, 26. No funeral arrangements have been made public.

His coffee cup falls to the floor, shattering upon impact. It had been almost ten years since he last saw her, since he told her that she needed to choose between him and her husband and she picked her husband and never saw him again, even after Gold was convicted and sent to prison four years later. But it still hurt, seeing the words on the paper.

Forgetting the lateness of the hour, he grabs his phone from his desk and quickly calls his brother, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he fetches the broom and a stack of paper towels from the supply closet outside his office.

Liam picks up on the third ring. “Fuck, Killian, do you know how late it is?”

“Why didn't you tell me about Milah?” Killian asks quicky, avoiding Liam's outburst.

“What?”

“You're a bloody Captain in the Boston Police Department, don't tell me you hadn't already heard.”

“Of course I heard! I thought you hadn't spoken to her in years, so I figured it didn't matter to you anymore.”

“‘ Didn't matter to me ’? Bloody hell, brother, do you really think I'm that shallow? You should have at least given me a heads up so I didn't have to learn it by proofing the fucking obituaries.” Much harder than necessary, Killian drops half the pile of paper towels on top of the spill, trying to soak up some of the coffee using the sole of his black boot.

“Jesus, Killian, I'm sorry.”

Sweeping it all in the dustpan, Killian dumps the paper towels and shattered pieces of ceramic into the trash can and takes a deep breath, hearing his brother do the same on the other end of the line before they both fall silent, Killian able to hear the crackle of the police radio in the background.

“Is that all you called me to ask?” Liam asks, his voice soft. He must know what's coming.

“Are you on a stake out?” Killian asks, trying to discern who else may be around for this conversation.

“Aye, but it's just with David. What's on your mind?”

“The paper reports natural causes, but is that really the truth?”

“Killian, you know I can't discuss that—” he tries, but Killian cuts him off.

“You wouldn't have asked if you didn't know it was coming.”

He hears Liam sigh and can see the way he must be scratching at his beard.

“If I hear about any of this in the papers, I'll personally come and arrest you,” Liam says after a moment, and Killian rolls his eyes.

“Yes, yes, of course, Liam. We've been over this all before.”

“It's being investigated. She has been sick for a while, though, you know that, so we do have reason to believe that it was actually natural causes.”

“But will you—will you let me know if you find anything? Not for the paper, of course, just so I… so I know that there was nothing I could have done to save her.”

“Killian, you can't do this to yourself. Not again, please,” his brother begs, and Killian rests his forehead on his desk.

Hell, he should have listened to Liam. If he did, maybe they wouldn't have gotten in this mess in the first place.

Maybe Liam would still be alive.

Two weeks later

Killian looks down at his phone for what feels like the thousandth time in ten minutes, sitting in the back corner of Liam's favorite coffee shop.

Nothing.

Unlocking the screen, he reads the last message he received from Liam just half an hour before.

Liam: Being followed. Need to talk abt MG. Meet me for coffee in 20.

Twenty minutes has come and gone with no sign of Liam. For the first time ever, Killian is glad he opted for decaf tea instead of his high-caffeine. He's already jittery enough without it, he can only imagine how quickly his heart would be pounding with the added assistance of a stimulant.

The bell over the door rings, and Killian's head shoots up so quickly something in his back pops. It's not Liam, no, but if there's a “next best thing,” this is it: David Nolan, his partner.

“Killian,” David breathes, trying to catch his breath as he slides into the chair across the table from him. “Where is he? I was halfway across town and got here as quickly as I could.”

All Killian can do is shrug, shake his head, and close his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Fuck, this is not good.”

Killian unlocks his phone again, showing David the last message from his brother. “Is this the same message you got?”

David reads it over quickly, then nods up at Killian. “Same gist, at least.”

“It was him, wasn't it?” Killian asks, leaning forward on his elbows to voice his concern to David, the very worst-case-scenario scenario that has been bouncing around Killian's mind since Liam failed to show up.

“We don't know that, Killian. We can't make any assump—”

But when Killian's phone begins to ring, a picture of he and Liam from when they were younger showing up on the screen, David's words stop abruptly.

At first, neither of them move.

“Well?” David asks after the first two rings.

“But what if—”

“Just answer the damned phone, Jones.”

So he does.

“Hello?” he asks, praying to hear his brother's voice on the other end of the line.

He shouldn't be so lucky.

“Ah, Mr. Jones. How nice for you to answer. We have your brother.” The voice is most definitely not his brother's. It sounds somewhat familiar to him, but he can't place it.

“Bloody hell, what do you want? Just let him go, I can—”

The voice on the other side laughs, an eerily familiar sound that he immediately recognizes, but he knows that can't be right. He would recognize Robert Gold's laugh anywhere, but he would also recognize his voice.

“You can what , exactly, Jones? You're a newspaper editor, for Christ's sake. There is nothing you can do for me that I can't do on my own.”

As if to make matters worse, he hears Liam in the background, screaming, “Just get out, Killian! Run while you can!” followed by the solid thunk of something making contact with his face.

“Then what do you want with Liam?”

“All I want is to prove a point. This is what happens when you try to mess with the wrong people. Keep your ink-stained nose out of other people's damn business, or you're going to lose much more than just your brother.”

“Just let him go!” he tries, but he's only met with more laughter.

“Say goodbye to your brother, Captain!” he says, followed by another laugh.

“Damn it, no!” Killian cries, just as he hears,

“Good bye, Mr. Jones.”

There's the unmistakable sound of a gunshot on the other end of the line, and then silence.

“No!” Killian yells, much louder than necessary in the coffee shop, and the few people around him turn their heads to him, but he holds his head in his hands, elbows on the table. “No,” he says again, barely more than a whisper as he feels his throat begin to restrict.

“What did they say?” David asks, reaching out to rest his hand against Killian's arm. “Who was it?”

“They—they have him. They took him, and they— Jesus Christ , I think they killed him.”

“They what ?!”

“There was a gunshot, and I think—I'm pretty sure they killed him.”

Killian has no idea how the words are coming out so calmly, his entire body going numb at the thought of Liam being gone, and when his phone buzzes on the table between them, he makes no move to answer it, his eyes going wide as he stares at it.

When David realizes that Killian is not going to see what the notification is, he grabs the phone himself, and Killian watches as his eyes narrow then fly open, widening still as he sets the phone back on the table.

“Holy shit,” he mumbles, then turns his face up to Killian's for just a moment. “I have to—I have to step outside.”

This confuses Killian, intrigues him, and though he knows he shouldn't, he picks up the phone. After fifteen years of crime reporting, Killian has seen more than enough gruesome crime scene photos, and he knows that David has spent most of his time on the force as a homicide detective.

Apparently, nothing could prepare either of them for the picture of Liam that Killian received. If Killian wasn't sure that it was his brother, he never would have recognized his face, torn to bloody pieces, both of his eyes swollen, chunks of skin missing from his cheeks and his shoulders, his only recognizable feature being the bird tattoo on his shoulder, which looks like its been wiped off specifically for identification.

And there, right above his heart, at the very bottom of the picture, is the wound left behind by the bullet Killian heard on the phone.

Killian barely makes it out the door of the coffee shop before he empties the contents of his stomach in the alley just beyond the doorway.

Liam was gone. Liam, his only family since he was ten years old and his mother died, was dead.

And it was because of him.

--- --- ---

Five days later, Killian wakes up with a start, his body sticky with sweat and clinging to the sheets, exactly the same way he's woken up each time since he realized that his actions led to the death of his brother.

But this time, it's different. This time, he has realized something, and his hand fumbles around his bedside table, searching for his phone in the dark of the room.

Once he finds it, he calls David.

It takes four rings for him to answer his phone, his voice thick with sleep, and he hears his wife, Mary Margaret, in the background, trying to make sure everything is okay.

“I know who it was, David.”

“What?”

“The voice from the phone call. It's been ten years since I last saw him, but it had to be him, its the only thing that makes sense.”

“Who? Who do you think it was?”

“Not think, Dave. I know . It has to be him. The—the investigation, the laughter, the brutality, it's all him.”

“ Who , Killian?” David insists, and Killian can tell from the noise in the background that he's getting out of bed, already amped up with the knowledge that Killian might know who killed Liam.

“Gold,” Killian says, as if it makes all the sense in the world.

“Robert Gold is in jail. You know that.”

“No, no, no, not Robert Gold. His son. Milah’s son, Neal.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“He's always hated me. He blamed me for his parent's separation, even though she went back to him in the end. And it would explain how he has the same laugh as Robert Gold, if it's his son.”

David groans on the other end of the line, then sighs. “ I can't believe I'm saying this, ” he mumbles. “Meet me at the station. If you're right, Killian—and I hope you're right, I really do—then we might be able to stop this once and for all.”

After the fastest shower Killian's ever taken, just trying to wash the layer of sweat off his body, Killian pulls on jeans and one of Liam's Boston PD t-shirts, laces up his boots, and grabs his leather jacket on the way out the door.

He pushes through the door at the bottom of the steps, making sure it locked behind him before stepping away from it— one of many things he's learned from Liam over the years— but before he can make it to his car, something makes contact with the back of his head, and he is unconscious before he can hit the pavement.

--- --- ---

When Killian's eyes shoot open, all he knows is pain. His head is throbbing, the edge of his vision blurring with the pounding of his heart. He is hanging from something, chains circling his arms down to the elbows, keeping him inches from the ground. His arms are numb, and when he tries to move his shoulders, every nerve from the base of his skull down screams out in agony.

He takes in as much of a breath as he can until his muscles begin to fight back, his throat burning, his chest, his lungs.

Fuck.

Trying to keep as still as he can, he focuses on the beating of his heart, willing it to slow down, but just as he begins to have control of it, the metal doors to his left crash open, brightening the room even more and undoing any of the calm Killian was trying to settle over his body.

“Hello, Mr. Jones,” the man says, the same voice from the phone call, and Killian's hunch and greatest fear are confirmed at the same time.

Standing before him, a baseball bat slung over one shoulder, is Neal Gold, aged ten years since the last time Killian saw him, but there is no doubt about who he is.

“Neal,” he chokes out, trying his damndest to smile at the boy.

Well, he was a boy ten years ago, sixteen years old and a vendetta for Killian. He's not much of a boy anymore.

“How nice to see you again.”

The smile Never shoots back at him is much more smug than the one Killian attempts. “I can assure you, the pleasure of this situation is all mine.” Neal just stares at him, unmoving.

Killian tries to swallow, his mouth gone bone dry, but all that he finds is a burning, searing pain instead of relief.

“What do you want, Neal?” Killian asks finally, but Neal stands in front of him for a few more moments, his head cocked to the side, a terrifying smile on his face.

“What do I want?” he repeats, his eyes piercing holes into Killian's soul until he turns on his heel and begins pacing in front of where Killian is hanging. “What do I want?” he says again, this time as if he is actually asking himself the question. “Well, you see, Killian—” He swings back to face Killian, eyes blown wide with madness. “I'm assuming it's okay if I call you Killian now, enough with the formality? You always did try to insist I stop calling you 'Mr. Jones,’ but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, with you fucking my mom and tearing apart my family and all.”

When Killian doesn't answer, his jaw grinding together apparently the only movement that doesn't hurt, Neal just nods his head a few times, then begins pacing again.

“Anyway, Killian , what I want is to put you through the same pain that you put me through. But while mine has been fifteen years in the making, you will be getting yours in much, much less time than that.”

Before Killian can object, Neal shoulders the baseball bat, then swings it at his ribs, making contact with a sickening crunch.

“Neal, please,” he begs, his voice barely a whimper, but Neal just shoulders the bat again, this time hitting just below his hip bone. “Please, you don't—you don't have to do this.”

“You split up my parents!” Neal yells, articulating the last word with a blow that lands just below his ribs, and the bat clatters to the floor. ��You made her leave him!” Now, he articulates his words with his fists, reaching up with this one to reach his face, and it takes only a few moments for Killian's mouth to fill with blood. “You helped send him to prison!” Right in the middle of his sternum. “And you killed her !” His fist lands exactly where the first blow from the bat did, and if his ribs didn't break before they certainly did now.

“Neal, none of that is true,” he manages, his voice nowhere near as weak as he feels, somehow. But his words come slowly, and he has to take a quick, deep breath every few words to keep from passing out. “Your parents were already separated when I met your mother. That had nothing to do with me. She already left him when we met.”

“That's not what my father said!”

“Your father beat her half to death one night. Sent her to the hospital. She was under police protection when I met her. Doing a story on your father.”

“You are a god damned liar !” Killian's not expecting Neal's fist to collide with his face again, and he has to spit some of the blood in his mouth on to the floor to continue.

“You can believe what you want, Neal, but I loved your mother, and I only wanted the best for her. But in the end, she picked you. I told her she had to decide between me and Gold, and she said she couldn't leave you. And I accepted that.”

“You still helped put my father in jail!”

“Your father would have gone to jail without my help. Everything I did was for his last conviction, the last of his life sentences. He would still be serving two without the assistance I offered the police.”

“You killed my mother!” he cries out, but instead of in anger, Killian realizes that Neal has quickly broken down and watches as a tear slides down his cheek.

“How do you figure?”

“You left her! To die of a broken heart! There was no one left to protect her, and she died! Because of you!”

Suddenly, Neal reaches under his jacket and pulls out something, though it takes a few moments for Killian to clear the haze covering his vision and realize that it's a pistol.

“Neal, no, wait, I—I told you, your mother left me , told me I had to leave her alone, never see her again—”

“Excuses!” Neal screams, his voice echoing off the thick concrete walls, and he watches in terror as he raises the pistol to Killian's temple, standing just on the edge of his periphery. “That's all you have in you, Killian. Excuses and lies !”

“Neal, no!” he cries out, and everything goes black.

--- --- ---

“Killian,” he hears, though it sounds far away, like he's drowning, listening through water.

With all the pain his body is in, nothing would really surprise him anymore.

“Killian, god damn it, come back to me!” There are hands on his chest, something pressing above his heart, a sharp pain in his ribs—

And light.

His eyes fly open, his vision suddenly much clearer than the last few times he tried to see.

But he's still not sure that it's real. Sure, every bone, every nerve, every inch of his body hurts, but the vision before him is too perfect to exist anywhere beyond his dreams.

“There he is,” she says, her golden ponytail falling down over her shoulder, and the smile that spreads across her face just proves to him that he must be dreaming.

Or worse.

But when she turns and yells out, “David! He’s back!” and he goes to move, pain shoots down his spine, a searing light that turns his vision white.

With pain like that, he can't be dreaming. Or dead.

That's good, at least. Or something like that.

She turns back to him, her green eyes bright. “I'm gonna give you something for the pain, okay?” she asks, holding up a syringe, and he nods, barely feeling the needle slip under his skin.

“Killian, Christ, are you okay?”

Killian can't help but laugh at the obscenity of this question, but he only lets out a huff before his entire body fights back. “That's a terrible question, Nolan,” he mumbles as strongly as he can, though he's fairly sure it just makes him sound weak.

“Careful, Jones, your ribs are broken,” the woman comments, half-smiling at him from behind David.

“Oh, that must be why it hurts when I laugh.”

David laughs, poising himself to clap Killian on the shoulder, changes his angle to hit his leg before he decides he's better off just to leave him untouched, holding his hands up in surrender.

“You're right. You look terrible, but you're alive.”

“Aye,” he says, trying to smile, but he's pretty sure his jaw is broken. “Though would someone do me the honor of explaining… how?”

“When you didn't show up at the station, I tried calling you a few times before I remembered that Liam had that “Find My iPhone” thing on his computer for your phone and his, but you must have dropped you when they picked you up, since it was sitting on the sidewalk next to your car.

“But then I remembered what you said about Neal Gold, so I looked at few things up about him back at the station. There were a bunch of warehouses in his name, half a dozen of them, and five of them were legitimate, housing stuff for his business, but when we raided the last one, we found a bunch of guards sitting in one of the rooms, including Neal, and then you were in the next room, hanging from the damned ceiling and I thought you were dead. But the paramedics showed up in just a few minutes, and this one here,” he says, wrapping his arm around the blonde angel standing next to him. “She worked her magic and brought you back.”

“Oh, come on, David,” she says, the apples of her cheeks reddening at his compliment. “Science is what healed him, medicine. Any paramedic could have done that.”

“Aye, maybe,” Killian tries, and this time when he smiles at her, it doesn't hurt nearly as much; whatever she gave him was starting to work. “But you did it, love. If David says you saved me, then I am forever in your debt.”

“That seems like a bit of an exaggeration there, Jones,” she says, but smiles at him again.

“Can I at least have the name of my savior?”

“Emma,” she breathes, turning around to see where David is behind her. “Emma Swan. I'm David's foster sister.”

“Well, Emma Swan,” he says, staring up at her as she continues to search his body for damage. “I am indebted to you. Now, can you tell me all that that bastard did to me?”

Four broken ribs. Three on the left, one on the right, the worst one practically shattered from the impact from the baseball bat. A severe concussion. A broken jaw. Severe internal bleeding. A fractured femur. A dislocated hip. Two dislocated—and severely bruised—shoulders. And one with a bullet lodged in the muscle.

Eleven surgeries.

Killian heals. Slowly, painfully, but he heals nonetheless.

Three times a week, David shows up after his patrol with a newspaper and a cinnamon bun from Liam's favorite bakery. They talk for as long as Killian can manage before his pain meds knock him out again, hitting all the big subjects: baseball scores, big cases, David's wife's pregnancy.

And David's visits are almost the best parts of Killian's weeks.

Almost.

The only thing better is the days when Emma stops by Killian's room after her shifts, a cup of Earl Grey tea from the cafeteria and a smile, the brightest and most glorious thing he swears he has ever seen. At first, she would just stay for a few minutes, just checking in on his healing.

But then, she starts to stay. She brings food, needing to eat after her shifts and opting to do it with him. Once—and he thinks it’s a turning point for them—she shows up after a twelve-hour overnight shift with breakfast sandwiches for both of them, then dozes off in the chair beside him as he watches game show reruns. It’s not until he turns to her to make a joke about Richard Dawson’s need to kiss everyone that he realizes she has fallen asleep, her head back against the wall and her arms crossed over her chest.

In this moment, with a soft smile spreading across her peaceful face, Killian realized that he’s falling in love with her.

--- --- ---

After five weeks, he’s allowed to leave. Sure, he’s on a lot of pain meds, he’s not allowed to drive, and he’s staying at David’s apartment, but he’s out of the bloody hospital.

It’s at least a start.

In David’s car on the way home, spread out across the back seat with Emma in the passenger seat, Killian asks the only thing that’s been on his mind for the past few weeks, too afraid— ashamed? —to even ask.

“What happened to Liam's body?” he says softly, and neither of them answer at first, making him think that he didn’t actually say it, or they just didn’t hear him.

Until he watches them look at each other, sharing a glance that Killian thinks they didn’t want him to see, especially the distressed look on Emma’s face.

“David?” he asks when neither of them move to respond, but it’s Emma that turns around and sets her hand on his arm.

“We, uh,” David tries, running his hand over his face. “He was so marred, almost beyond recognition. You—you saw the picture, Killian. And you were already in such distress, we were trying to let you heal, so we had to decide what to do and we—we had him cremated.”

Killian leans his head back against the leather headrest, closing his eyes as he lets out a long sigh.

“Good,” he breathes, and when he opens his eyes again, Emma is softly smiling at him from the passenger seat, but her smile doesn’t make it to her sad, green eyes.

The day they decide to put Liam to rest, it’s overcast. Killian feels like it must be some sort of sign, standing on the dock between David and Emma, David's arm around his shoulder and Emma's hand clasped around his own, the jar of Liam's ashes in his arm.

Liam always loved the sea, always wanted to grow old and pass away asleep on the deck of their fishing ship.

Yeah, he should be so lucky.

“Here she is,” Killian says, looking out on the water where the Jewel of the Realm is docked. “Liam's pride and joy. The Jewel of the Realm .”

Emma's hand tightens around his, leaning into his side.

“Do you want to take her out?” David asks after a moment, thankfully pulling Killian out of his head, wrapped up in the sound of the water lapping against the side of the boat.

“What?” he asks, turning towards David.

“Do you want to take the boat out on the water? Or just… get on her, I don't know how to word that?”

“No, we can… We can take her out,” he says, the words coming out slowly.

“Are you sure?” He expects the question to come from David, but it doesn't; it comes from Emma, and when he turns to her, the brightness of her eyes in contrast to the greyness of the day is the beacon of light that he needs in his day.

At that moment, he thinks she loves her more than ever before.

If only he could tell her.

“Aye,” he breathes, releasing Emma's hand to reach out and remove the lock. “It's only right.”

They do take her out, only a few hundred feet, making sure they don't lose sight of the lights above the docks through the mist, and shut off the engine.

He holds Liam in his arms, the jar growing cold against Killian's touch.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere, he knows it, about his dead brother and the life leaving him. If he could think about anything other than the last picture he saw of his brother, beaten and battered at the hands of Neal Gold, then maybe his muse would work enough to create it.

But no. All he can see beyond the lifeless horizon stretched out in front of him is that last picture that Neal sent him, Liam barely recognizable from the damage that his face and his torso took.

“You didn't deserve any of this,” he says softly, turning his eyes down to the gold jar he's cradling in his arms.

(He knows its an urn, but there's just something about that word that he hates , that makes him have to swallow the bile that rises up his throat, have to shake off the shudder that inches its way down his back.)

“You were always a much better man than I was, brother. You were the one who deserved to live, who didn't bury yourself in the past. I should never—I should never have asked you to look into her death.” He feels his breath grow shaky, unable to stop the tears that gather in his eyes, especially once the wind blows in off the water and into his face. Even if he wanted to, he's not sure that he could. “All of this is my fault,” he says finally, and the dam breaks as he falls to his knees on the deck, still holding the jar against his body as if his life depended on it.

(In this moment, it just might be the only thing tying him back to the deck. The feel of the jar in his arms, and the hands on his shoulders, one David's and one Emma's, both standing silently behind him as he is able to grieve for the first time.)

“It's all my fault,” he says again, allowing the tears to fall down his face, his sobs so deep that they cause his entire body to rock. “I'm sorry, brother. I've let you down.”

“Oh, Killian,” Emma sighs, and he realizes that she has knelt down next to him, and all he can do is turn to her, tears still running down his cheeks. She wraps her arms around him, pulling his face into her shoulder, and he feels David gently pull the jar out of his arms before hugging him from behind, also now kneeling on the deck behind him.

Most of his life, his brother has been all he had, after their father left when Killian was just a toddler and their mother died when Killian was twelve, leaving him and eighteen-year-old Liam completely alone. When he realized that he had cost Liam his life, he had convinced himself that he had lost the only family he had left.

But being here, between David and Emma on the greyest, gloomiest day he could remember, on the deck of he and Liam's ship as he said goodbye to his brother for the last time, Killian realizes that maybe, even though Liam is gone, he doesn't have to be alone anymore.

It takes a few minutes for Killian to realize that Emma and David are crying, too, grieving for his brother just as he is, and somehow, that becomes a comfort to him, allowing him to begin to calm. Killian is the first one to stand, the hardwood of the deck doing its damage on his already damaged body, and Emma and David follow suit, smiling at each other as they wipe the tears from their windburned eyes.

They had decided earlier not to put all of Liam in the water, leave some of him to rest on the Jewel , the place where he was truly the happiest, so when the wind dies down, Killian nods to both of them, unscrewing the lid and dumping some of the ashes into the wind.

“Your brother was a damned good man, Jones,” David says, none of them taking their eyes off of where the ashes were taken away by the wind, but he wraps his arm around Killian's shoulder nonetheless. “But he never would have followed through with the investigation if he hadn't believed you were right. You know that, right?”

Killian turns to face his friend, pulling his eyes away from the waves, and though the best he can do is attempt a smile, it's better than nothing. “Thank you, Dave. That—that means more to me than you may ever know.”

He may not be okay right now, and he doesn't really expect it in the near future, but at this moment he can sense it may be possible, on a distant horizon, and that's just the start he needs.

--- --- ---

Sitting at the counter in his apartment later that week, the only thing he wants to do is drink. He wants to pick up his bottle of Captain, finish it, and wake up from the nightmare his life has become. Because none of this can be real.

He just came here to grab some of his belongings, the presence of Liam still too real to be dealt with yet, but he could only go so long without his own clothing, his own belongings, his laptop, his work .

Besides, while David and Mary Margaret insisted it was fine, there were only two and a half months left until their baby is due, and it was going to need the nursery they had almost finished furnishing when David moved Killian's spare bed in.

He would have to move out of there by some point.

“Want to tell me what's on your mind?” Emma asks, and he realizes that she must have been watching him as he got lost in his own head. Again.

Turning to her, his lips pull themselves into a momentary smile, and he reaches across the counter to take her hand.

He hasn't told her how he feels, afraid that once one emotion comes out, everything that's hidden behind it will also come tumbling. But the time they have spent together can't mean nothing to her. She hasn't turned away to touches like this, has even initiated many of them on her own. Holding his hand, touching his cheek, even falling asleep with his arm around her on David's couch a few times since he came home from the hospital two weeks before.

If he ever doubted it before, he knew for certain by now that he was incredibly, terrifyingly in love with her, with the way she joked with him, unafraid of being herself even around him as he healed; with how she would pull the whole onion out of her onion ring on the first bite then slowly eat the rest of the batter; with how together she could look before going to her shift, no matter what time of day it started, and with the way you could tell she was exhausted when she came home but never ceased to take his breath away with her beauty.

“I'm going to need a new apartment,” he replies, needing to tear his eyes away from hers before he said something he would come to regret, so he turns away from her to face the living room. “The ghost of my brother can haunt the Jewel as much as he likes, but I don't think I could stand living in an apartment where he lingered around every corner.”

“There's an open apartment in my building,” she says, and he turns back around to face her just as the edge of her cheeks begin to darken with embarrassment. “Mine and David's,” she tries to correct before taking a quick sip out of the glass of water in front of her. “It's closer to your office, too.”

“If you wanted me closer to you, darling, all you had to do was ask,” he teases, but it only makes her blush grow deeper.

“You wish,” she replies, trying to sound as cool as she can, but he can tell the effect he's had on her.

So he leans across the counter between them, the edge digging painfully into one of the bruises still healing on his ribs, and smiles at her. “Perhaps I do,” he whispers, but before she can respond, he turns away from her, crossing the living room in a few long strides and entering his bedroom to collect his things.

The ride back to the apartment building is a quiet one, Killian finally deciding to check his work email as Emma drives, and then she insists on carrying his duffel bag to the elevator, arguing that too much strain on his shoulder will keep it from healing.

She's a paramedic. She would know.

He doesn't even try to argue with her, but for some reason, once they get into the elevator, the air around them changes, turning into something heated, electrical, and Killian swears if he were to reach out and touch the metal walls, sparks would fly. But he doesn't try, doesn't do anything but stare straight ahead as the numbers above the door count up to six, and follow her out the door and to David and Mary Margaret's apartment.

When Emma lets herself in, they find them sitting on the couch, Mary Margaret's head resting on a pillow in David's lap, something on the TV but looking only at each other, talking soft enough that they can't hear from the door. They both have their hands on her baby bump, and whatever they're discussing, they don't realize Emma and Killian are there until he closes the door behind him. They both snap their heads towards the door, noticeably worried for a moment until they realize who it is, but Emma just rolls her eyes and walks around them to the spare bedroom, dropping the duffel bag on the bed and spinning towards Killian as he deposits the rest of his belongings beside it.

“Want to go out to dinner?” she asks, the words tumbling out of her like a waterfall, and at first, his eyes go wide, eyebrows shooting up his forehead. It's practically the first thing she has said to him since their conversation at his apartment, and though he desperately wants to know what brought the thought about, he does not want to turn her down.

“Of course,” he says, trying not to sound too thrilled by her asking. “Just the two of us?”

Emma blushes again, pushing her blonde curls behind her ear. “Yeah. Just—just the two of us, if that's okay?”

“Of course, love. And I'm not complaining, but might I ask what brings this about?”

“They just… look so peaceful out there, and they haven't really had a moment to themselves for a while, so I want to give them that.”

Oh , he can't help but think. It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with the burden he's put on her brother.

She must see the change in his face, since she steps closer to him, smiling up at him through her lashes as she sets her hand on his arm. “Not that I don't want to spend time with you.” Her voice is soft and so sincere that it can't be a lie. “That's just a bonus.”

He returns her smile, slowly reaching up to cup her cheek in his hand, running his thumb across it. “Let me get changed,” he says, and her smile widens against his palm.

“Perfect. Me, too. I'll meet you at my apartment?” she asks, and all he has to do is nod before she turns away from him, closing the door behind her. He hears her through the door as she tells David and Mary Margaret about their plans for the night, hears Mary Margaret as she tries to argue with Emma, but knows that Emma comes out victorious since there's no reason for them to turn her down.

Because she's right. Since Killian was taken to the hospital—hell, probably since Killian first told his brother his theory about Neal Gold, David hasn't had much time to spend with his wife. Late nights at the precinct are enough on their own, then add in the extra time David has been spending with Killian, first in the hospital and now that he's living in their apartment, and Killian realizes just how much the Nolan's have done for him.

How much they continue to do.

He decides that within the next few days, he'll start looking for a new apartment, maybe even looking into the one in this building, especially if things go well with Emma. Carefully buttoning up his black shirt, he realizes that maybe he should talk to David about dating his sister before he actually tries to do it. Of course, Emma is her own person, is free to date whoever she wants—he can almost hear the way she would argue with them about it—but he still feels the need to at least inform the man whose apartment he's living out of that he plans to ask out his sister. Maybe even do it tonight.

He comes out of the bedroom, his new bag of toiletries in hand, but David meets him before he can make it to the bathroom.

“Is this a date?”

He can't tell by the look in his eyes what he wants the answer to be, if it's an innocent question or an interrogation.

But since Killian doesn't know the answer himself, it's not really that big of a deal.

“I—I don't think so.”

“How do you not know?”

“She just asked about going to dinner. I didn't ask her to define what exactly she meant by it.”

“Do you want it to be a date?”

Somehow, this question seems more dangerous than the first.

Killian can't stop his hand from flying up, his fingers finding the spot behind his ear that somehow always itches when he's faced with an embarrassing situation. “I… yes, I do.”

He tries to say it as strongly as he can, only faltering at first, but when David's face fails to respond at first, he's momentarily terrified that somehow, he's chosen the wrong answer.

Until David's face breaks out into a wide grin and he wraps his arms around him in a hug, which takes Killian a second to reciprocate.

“That's excellent, Jones! She likes you, you know? And I had a feeling you liked her, too.”

“Well, you were right.”

It's only a few more minutes until Killian is standing outside the door to her apartment, two floors up from David and Mary Margaret's, his hair combed back, teeth brushed, extra deodorant applied.

When she answers the door, she's in lighter jeans than usual, and a tight black sweater, her hair up in a high ponytail.

“I'm not quite ready yet,” she says, never stopping once she opens the door to let him in, heading first for the bathroom for just a few moments before rushing out of there and into the bedroom. “Make yourself comfortable! I'll just be another minute or two.”

He tries to sit on the couch, he really does. But it does not last for more than a few moments, the adrenaline from his conversation with David still coursing through his body, and he stands up once more and begins a slow sweep of her living room. She doesn't have much in the way of decoration, just a few pictures, mostly of herself and David and a few with Mary Margaret in the mix, some with other people that she thinks must be coworkers. Against one wall, she has a shelf full of books, an odd mixture of classics, poetry books, and medical journals. He is still browsing the titles when she emerges from her room once more, her hair now hanging down over her shoulders, her lips stained a bright red, and black ankle boots on her feet.

“Ready?” she asks, coming up behind him at the bookshelf, and he turns to find her a few inches taller than normal because of her heels, close enough to him that he can see the flecks of gold in her eyes.

“Ready,” he responds, trying to hide the fact that his throat has gone dry, and she picks up her red leather jacket and leads him out the door.

She picks a restaurant not far from the apartment, a small Italian place that's not too fancy, but that serves more than just pizzas and sandwiches. After just a few minutes, the waiter comes to take their order, and she gets the seafood scampi while he settles on chicken marsala.

When the menus are gone from between them and Killian can finally focus on the way the low lights of the restaurant compliment her face, he leans across the table towards her, making sure to keep his folded hands just beyond contact with hers.

“Do you want to know something interesting?” he asks and waits for her to look back at him before he continues. “Before I left the apartment, your brother asked if we were going on a date.”

“What did you tell him?” she responds, almost too quickly, also leaning in towards him.

As cooly as he can, he shrugs. “I told him it was just dinner, a chance to give them some time to themselves.”

“Oh,” is all she says, leaning back in her chair.

He pauses for a moment, then continues. “But then he asked if I wanted it to be a date, which I thought was a little weird.”

“And?” He can almost hear the way her breath catches with the word, searching his face for some sort of answer.

He smiles, leaning as far towards her as he can without getting out of his seat. “I said I did.”

She smiles back, finally, reaching between them to cover his hands with her own. “Good,” she breathes.

“What about you?”

“Jury's still out,” she jokes, but squeezes both of his hands, her smile growing.

Dinner passes quickly, both of them revealing more about themselves than they somehow had already in the months they've known each other, definitely more than they've ever revealed on a date before, especially a first date.

But it didn't feel like a first date. After all the weeks they had been spending together, first in the hospital and then not, it feels almost as far from a first date as a first date can get.

But when they get back to her apartment and he slides his lips against hers, pressing her back against the door, tasting the white wine and tiramisu on her lips? That's about as good as a first kiss can be, both soft and passionate, and Killian uses it to tell her everything he hasn't been able to over the last few months, how grateful he is for every moment she decided to spend with him, how important she had become to his healing process.

When they finally part, the remainder of her lipstick smeared across their swollen lips, his bright blue eyes blown wide, all he can do is say her name, breathing it against her lips, against her skin.

But she breathes something very different: “Please.” It's a request for more, asking him to stay beside her, but most of all, it's a plea to take her to bed, to do something about all of the feelings they have had to ignore.

He gives her everything she wants and more, thanking her in as many ways as he can think of before slowly, finally filling her, his body crying out in more ways than one, and he lets her take control of them, as gentle as she can be as she returns what he gave her as well as she can.

He wakes up beside her in the morning, a tangled mess of sheets and pillows and bodies, and he can swear that he's never been happier in his life, even with all the horror that brought them together.

“I love you,” he whispers against her hair, pulling her closer to him, and he believes her to still be asleep until she groans, leaning into the warmth of his body and whispering it back, pulling his hand to her mouth to gently kiss it.

“Now go back to sleep.”

#cs ff #captain swan #cs fics #my writing #wordsbymeganmichael #tw: assault #hurt/comfort #ouat #ouat ff #whump #killian whump #and lots and lots of feelings #tw: character death #(yes im sorry its Liam I regret everything)

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years ago

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Rosa - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

It comes as a massive relief to say that I really enjoyed this episode. There are a number of ways Rosa could have gone wrong and while Chris Chibnall has managed to crank out two surprisingly good Doctor Who episodes so far, it’s hard to shake off old fears. Oh my God, I thought to myself, a historical episode about Rosa Parks and the Black Civil Rights Movement. Is Chibnall biting off more than he can chew?

Thankfully Chibnall had the good sense to hire a co-writer that can keep his white privilege in check. Malorie Blackman. Author of the critically acclaimed Noughts and Crosses series of books depicting an alternative reality where Africans developed a technological advantage over Europeans and where white people are segregated under this world’s version of the Jim Crow laws. It’s safe to say that Blackman knows a thing or two about exploring racism and, being a black woman, she’s much more qualified to talk about issues of race and to represent Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole than Chibnall is. The result is, without a shadow of a doubt, some of the best Doctor Who I’ve seen in years.

One thing I’m glad about is the way Rosa Parks is depicted. Historical stories (particularly New Who historical stories) have an unfortunate tendency to go completely over the top with it. It’s just not enough to have a character who played a significant part in human history. Oh no. They’ve also got to be the specialist, most important person in the whole wide universe. The result is that we’re often left with a wafer thin episode that completely romanticises the period of history the story is trying to depict, waters down all the more complicated and unsavoury parts of the historical setting and turns the famous historical figure into a shallow caricature of themselves (see Agatha Christie in Unicorn And The Wasp, Winston Churchill in Victory Of The Daleks and Vincent Van Gogh in Vincent And The Doctor). Rosa, thankfully, doesn’t fall into the same trap. Rosa Parks isn’t treated as a god among mortals. She’s treated like an ordinary person, thus making her actions that much more powerful.

Vinette Robinson (who appeared in a previous Chibnall penned story 42) does an incredible job playing Rosa Parks. Again, more emphasis is placed on how ordinary she is rather than how historically significant. Nowadays we of course view her as the genesis of the Black Civil Rights Movement and she has rightly been praised and immortalised for that, but it’s easy to forget that she was a real person behind the legacy, which is what the episode really delves into. We get to see her fear, sadness and frustration in this oppressive society. And it really brings home how mundane her actions really are. Sure we can see from hindsight how her actions would influence others and change the course of history, but she wasn’t some heroic freedom fighter taking a stand. She was a woman who just wanted to sit down on a bus after a hard day at work. And the fact that she, Martin Luther King and other black people actually had to fight for the right to do something so trivial is utterly ridiculous.

Some have criticised the episode saying that this is too heavy a subject matter to deal with at 7pm on a Sunday evening. I couldn’t disagree more. For one thing, this isn’t the first time Doctor Who has handled difficult subject matters (Nazism and genocide have frequently cropped up in past stories after all). But I think the criticism mostly stems from people (white people) being left feeling uncomfortable by the story and are trying to avoid having a serious conversation about it NRA style, claiming that this isn’t the right time for it. Well... when is it the right time? Nobody wants to have this conversation, sure, but we’ve still got to have it. And as uncomfortable viewing as it is, it’s important that it is not sugar-coated and that we’re reminded of how difficult things were for non-white people so that shit like this never happens again. So no, I didn’t think the use of violence against black people or racially charged language up to and including the n word were inappropriate. It was an accurate depiction of the environment at the time and if you felt uncomfortable by that, then congratulations, that’s precisely what you’re supposed to feel.

In fact I honestly thought the episode’s depiction of violence against black people was quite restrained, making the acts of discrimination that much more despicable in my eyes. Using gratuitous violence would have been a cheap shot and Chibnall and Blackman mercifully avoid that route. What makes the episode so chilling to watch isn’t the things that white people do, but rather the oppressive atmosphere they create. It’s not the arrogant tosspot slapping Ryan across the face for touching his wife’s glove that had me on edge. It was the scene after that where everyone is just silently staring at the TARDIS crew in the cafe that really made me feel queasy. The threat is implied, yet constant, which is infinitely scarier. After the likes of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss boasting about how their episodes were going to be ‘the scariest Doctor Who stories ever’ only for them to amount to a hodge-podge of tired horror cliches and a dumb monster going ‘boo’, it’s a relief to see writers take a more subtle ‘less is more’ approach. I’m sorry, but the bus driver glaring angrily at Rosa is much more terrifying than a Weeping Angel. Period.

Which brings me to Krasko, played with smug charm by Joshua Bowman who succeeds at making you want to reach through the screen and punch his racist face repeatedly. Again, some have criticised the episode for its ‘one dimensional villain’ and, again, it only seems to be white people making this criticism. Not to make sweeping generalisations here, but non-white fans seem to be largely happy with how Krasko was written and depicted, probably because they’ve had to deal with pricks like him at least once in their lives. I’m guessing the source of the criticism comes from him not having a backstory or concrete motivation other than he hates black people. But my response to that is... does he really need one? Would Krasko have really been a more interesting character if it was revealed that he was bullied in school or a black kid had stolen his My Little Pony lunchbox? Does there really need to be a reason for why he hates black people and wants to ‘put them in their place’? I would have thought him being a racist white person would have been enough reason to hate him frankly. Let’s not forget what happened when Star Wars and Marvel respectively gave their villains Kylo Ren and Kilgrave tragic backstories to provide context for their despicable actions, at which point the fans proceeded to romanticise the fuck out of them, calling them misunderstood. Maybe (and this is just my opinion) giving Krasko a backstory wouldn’t have made him more interesting, but instead would have been seen as an attempt to justify and excuse his shitty behaviour, and maybe, just maybe, we’re better off without one. Just a thought.

Besides, it’s not as if we don’t learn anything about Krasko. We’re given enough information to work with. He’s a time traveller from the future. He was put in prison for murdering two thousand people (quick side note, did anyone else laugh when the Doctor said the Stormcage was the most secure prison in the universe? Remind me, how many times did River Song break out again?). He’s clearly intelligent, as demonstrated by him coming up with a non-violent plan to ruin the lives of generations of non-white people in order to circumvent his neural inhibitors. While it’s never overtly mentioned, he’s clearly some future version of the alt-right and is there to act as an extension of the true villain of the story. Because that’s the thing the people criticising his character have overlooked. Krasko isn’t the villain. White people are. The society Rosa Parks lives in is the true villain. Krasko is there not just to get to the plot going, but also to subtly demonstrate that while things do get better for non-white citizens, there will always be that racist element within our society. Hell, Ryan and Yasmin even spell it out for you in their conversation whilst hiding from the police. While people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King made a huge impact and helped change things for the better, racism and prejudice hasn’t just magically gone away. It’s still around. There are still people who cling on to these extremist and bigoted views. Some might argue that racism has become so entrenched in Western society that it will never fully go away. That there will always be some remnant hanging around. That’s what Krasko represents. So if you thought he was a rubbish villain because he had ‘no backstory or motivation’ then I’m afraid you’ve completely missed the point.

I should also applaud Chibnall and Blackman for resisting the urge to shove in some pointless alien like other historicals have. Not only would that have distracted from Rosa’s story, the racist white people are scary enough thank you very much. While there are sci-fi elements in here, the episode quite rightfully focuses on people.

Speaking of people, let’s talk about the TARDIS crew. Yeah! They’re in this episode too! Haven’t really talked about them much, have I? The Doctor largely takes a backseat in this one, which I know some people have a problem with, but I think it was the right thing to do. We don’t want an alien white woman coming in and stealing Rosa Parks’ glory. Jodie Whittaker graciously lets Vinette Robinson take centre stage while she busies herself with other things like confronting and intimidating Krasko and organising fake raffles with Frank Sinatra. I really like the balance they’ve struck between light and dark with this Doctor (something Moffat tried to do with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor and failed at miserably). She’s funny, compassionate and caring, but there’s a little bit of Sylvester McCoy’s devious cunning in there too, which really comes to the forefront here. Did anyone else find it really disconcerting seeing the Doctor try to maintain history? Influencing events so that Rosa Parks had no choice, but to give up (or refuse to give up) her seat. While we know she’s doing it for the right reasons, in order to keep black history in check, she’s still nonetheless actively contributing to Rosa’s misery, which is actually a clever way of exploring how white people all contribute to a racist status quo, directly, indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally. And of course it all culminates in the Doctor and co refusing to give up their seats in order to keep history intact. The look on Thirteen’s face as events unfold says it all. The look of sheer sadness and self loathing, knowing she played a part in this, is haunting. Same goes for Graham’s realisation. The widower of a black woman and step-grandfather to a black teenager being forced to contribute to this racist institution is utterly heartbreaking.

But the standout of the main cast has to be Ryan. Tosin Cole truly shines in this episode, giving an incredibly powerful and moving performance. This in many ways is his episode as he comes face to face with the racist prejudices of the time period and Cole rises to the occasion. My favourite scene has to be when Ryan talks with Rosa, thanking her for everything she will do in the future and promising that things will get better. It’s incredibly emotional and I actually started tearing up with him. I’m also so happy that he was the one that got to beat Krasko at the end rather than the Doctor. I stood up and cheered. And his reaction to seeing Martin Luther King has got to be one of the most charming moments of the series so far.

Rosa is unquestionably one of the strongest episodes in all of Doctor Who. It’s incredibly well written and performed and it’s extremely powerful as well as being very subtle and nuanced. What’s more, I’m now completely sold on Chris Chibnall being the showrunner. Any lingering doubts I’ve may have had are now completely evaporated after this episode. Rosa proves that not only does Chibnall respect and value diversity both in front of and behind the camera, but that he’s also committed to creating something truly special with his tenure, using the Doctor Who format to explore hard hitting and difficult subject matters with care and respect. Truly excellent television.

#rosa #malorie blackman #chris chibnall #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #graham o'brien #bradley walsh #yasmin khan #mandip gill #ryan sinclair #tosin cole #bbc #review #spoilers

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