#it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long timeline wise but in terms of chapters damn

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

Just struck by the thought that Dazai got arrested in chapter 57 which means he’s literally been in prison for almost half of the series

[dwellordream]

A Six of Crows Review: Joost and Inej I

This marks the beginning of my review of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Before I go any further, I want to provide context for my experience/knowledge of the book and its fandom. Six of Crows was published in 2015 when I was 16. I picked it up in a bookstore and read the first few chapters idly while shopping, before putting it back down.

At the time, my dislike of what I’d read was probably primarily fueled by the realization that it was by the same author as Shadow and Bone, which I had tried to read a few years before and disliked, and because at the time I was aging out of the YA genre in general and had very little patience for many of its familiar tropes.

In recent years, Six of Crows and its companion and predecessor series, the Grisha Trilogy, have become one of the most popular YA series online. The avid fan response and promotion of it on social media no doubt led to the Netflix series being greenlit and it is obviously trending at present due to the success of the series. With all that in mind, I’ve decided to try Six of Crows again and see for myself what all the hype is about.

Some more caveats: I am 22 years old. I am aware Six of Crows is YA literature intended for a middle and high school audience. I will not be holding it to the standards I would hold an adult grade fantasy book, in terms of prose, themes, or content. I am aware that I am not necessarily the target audience for the book and these reviews are in no way intended to shame or disparage anyone who enjoys the book.

Criticism is a healthy part of any fandom and does not necessarily constitute hate. I will likely critique elements of the book in my write up. That does not mean I have a personal vendetta against the author, publishers, or the TV show. Please do not take this as a personal attack if you’ve enjoyed the book. This is just intended to promote discussion and to gather my own thoughts.

If you follow me, I am tagging this as ‘in review’ so you know what to block if you don’t want to see my posts on your dash. I will be going through 1-2 chapters per weekend. This weekend I will be looking at the prologue, aka Joost, and the first Inej chapter.

Jumping into things, here is Joost:

The prologue is our introduction to Ketterdam, the setting of Six of Crows. It’s been a very long time since I read Shadow and Bone and so all I really know is that Ketterdam is a city in an island known as Kerch, based off the map. The major countries or kingdoms of the mainland to the east appear to be Fjerda, Ravka, and Shu Han, though it is unclear how they differ from one another at this point.

Ketterdam through Joost’s eyes is a sinister and dreary place, a city under a grimy night sky and full of dangers. Joost works as a hired guard for a very wealthy man named Hoede, who keeps grishas, powerful magic users, as indentured servants. Joost is infatuated with one of them, Anya, a healer, though he knows she is not likely to return his affections and furthermore cannot wed without the permission of her owner. We also learn that grishas are at risk for being kidnapped and sold by slavers due to their value. However, the indentured servant system of Ketterdam thus far doesn’t seem to be much better than slavery, given how little freedom the grisha have.

Overall, the prologue is supposed to give us a sense for the setting of Ketterdam and interest us in the main hook of the novel, which seems to be a mysterious substance that grisha can ingest to heighten their powers for the benefit of their masters, though it has the risks of making them uncontrollable. How well is this done?

Through Joost’s perspective we can glean several things; Ketterdam is a dirty city with rampant income inequality, full of crime and corruption. Magic is an established system within Ketterdam, but the magic users do not seem to be at the type of the hierarchy despite their powers, which suggests they are a minority to the extent of which they can still be controlled by the elite class of non magic users, if they have enough money and power.

It is also very obvious through the references in the prologue that Ketterdam is heavily based off the Netherlands during the Golden Age, which was Amsterdam’s (Ketterdam… Amsterdam… not subtle) economic and cultural boom during the 17th century, aka the 1600s. Notably the world’s first stock exchange began in Amsterdam in 1602, and it was a major port and trading hub for the Dutch East and Dutch West India Companies.

It is not clear if Ketterdam is also intended to be a 1600s-esque society, timeline wise, but we know that rifles are common place and there is a thriving merchant class who rule as opposed to old aristocracy, which seems to indicate a Renaissance style setting, as well as the urban environment in general. (That said, from the advertisements for the Netflix show, they seem to have updated it to a more Victorian-era 1800s society, in terms of fashion and general aesthetics).

Overall, the prologue does its job. It gives us a vague idea of what Ketterdam is like, how the society is structured, and who holds the power. It also ends on a suspenseful cliffhanger, leaving Joost’s fate unclear. Where it falls flat is that I think a little more time could have been spent fleshing out Joost as a narrator, even if this is his only showing in the book.

His internal monologue comes across as a bit dry and mechanical, as if the author is aware he is just a means to an end to start the book off with a bang, and he quickly turns into a walking camera (just there to report events to the reader, with no internal input from him), for the second half of the prologue, as we switch to just watching Anya and Hoede through his eyes. That said, it’s not a major problem, as Joost is clearly not intended to be a main character, and his narration still effectively conveys what is happening and sets the dark tone of the novel.

What I would have liked to see from the prologue is perhaps the POV of Anya herself, or the small child she is being forced to experiment on, as that might have been a more compelling and immerse introduction to Ketterdam and its dangers rather than the fairly bland and neutral Joost, who doesn’t really feel like a character so much as a bland stand-in for the reader. If we were put in the shoes of Anya, suddenly called upon by her power hungry employer to participate in this unethical test, or in the shoes of the small boy caught up in the middle of this, it might have been both more thrilling to read and given a more gritty sense of what it’s like to be on the lowest rungs of Ketterdam’s society, at the mercy of the most powerful.

Moving onto Inej, we run into some similar problems. After Inej’s first chapter, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about her, other than that she was an acrobat as a child, that she is part of the street gang known as the Dregs, and that she intensely values loyalty. This isn’t a problem, per say, but while that’s all good to know, it doesn’t give me any sense of Inej’s actual personality, which doesn’t exactly bode well. Like Joost, she comes across more as a walking camera and occasional tourist guide as opposed to a human character with her own worries, hopes, and fears.

I think this may become a recurring problem with Bardugo’s writing - ie all tell, no show. Inej is good at telling things. She tells us where we are as we follow her to the location of a stand-off between rival gangs, she tells us that Kaz, their leader ‘doesn’t need a reason’, though she never exactly explains what that means other than that he is widely feared, she tells us that she is very fond of her knives.

But in terms of writing, we shouldn’t have to be force fed all this information via her internal monologue, which, again, entirely cuts out once the action picks up, just like Joost’s. While I don’t need her thoughts on every threat or gunshot, it would be nice to feel as if she hadn’t just vanished from the story completely as soon as the dialogue starts.

We also meet Kaz and Jesper, though I couldn’t tell you much about them utter than that Inej clearly admires, even venerates Kaz as an accomplished intimidator and chess master, and that Jesper is clearly the joker of the group.

It also feels incredibly weird that this parley between gangs in happening in front of the city’s stock exchange. Inej tells us this is because the Exchange is one of the few remaining neutral territories, but it’s also heavily guarded, which means every time a gang wants to parley, they have to pay out the cash to bribe all the guards to very pointedly ignore a meeting between rambunctious and trigger happy street gangsters on their literal doorstep.

I understand why Bardugo chose this location, wanting to contrast the violence of the gang members with the economic injustice that the Exchange and its merchant rulers represents, but it just seems a bit silly. They couldn’t meet at the docks? In an alley way? This is like picturing the American Mafia hosting a public meeting at the New York Stock Exchange with a bunch of cops twiddling their thumbs nearby.

The foreshadowing that Bollinger is the traitor (‘I’m not going to bet on my own death’) also seems very heavy handed and a little much, but I’ll let it slide.

It’s also not really clear while Inej is present at this meeting in the first place. Kaz commands her to keep watch from above, but he has also put a contingency plan in place that doesn’t even involve her, having bought out some of Geels’ men from under him. Why put Inej looking down from above if you’re not involving her in this plan? Her only role seems to be to watch, and she doesn’t even have a gun she could play sniper with. It just seems like a hamfisted way of getting Inej out of the danger zone so the author can have her as a passive spectator to the violence that follows.

This is my main problem with this chapter. It’s supposed to introduce us to Inej, but really, it’s introducing us to Kaz. Which is fine, but as he also has a POV in this book, it seems a bit lame that her own chapter is completely overtaken by showing off A. his smarts and B. how dangerous he is, despite being dismissed as a young ‘cripple’ by the likes of Geels.

Geels is also… not a greatly done villain. I get that he’s supposed to be small fry and is just a precursor to much more threatening opponents, but his every line of dialogue feels designed to show off how cool and Machiavellian Kaz is in comparison. He doesn’t seem like an actual hardened criminal who has underestimated his opponent, but a somewhat cheesy cartoon thug who unironically says things like “How are you going to wriggle your way out of this one?” with his full chest. The effect is comical, and not in a good way.

This chapter also shows off Kaz’s sadistic side in full display, which is probably one of the only interesting things about it, though it would be nice if we got any input at all from Inej on this… instead she completely vanishes from her own narration, to the point where she might as well not be present at all. Kaz has no qualms about tracking down his enemies’ weakness, such as lovers and family, and threatening them.

But the open horror and shock Geels reacts with seems incongruent, as if Kaz were the first up and coming gangster to actually consider threatening someone’s family or girlfriend. That seems pretty par for the course for violent criminals trying to claim territory and unnerve their rivals, yet Inej and Geels himself react as if no one had ever thought of sinking to the level of ‘do what I want or I’ll kill your loved ones’ until Kaz invented it. It just feels a bit silly and on the nose.

Really, my overarching issue with this chapter is that it’s not about Inej at all, it’s just an introduction to the Kaz Brekker fan club. I don’t automatically hate Kaz as a character, but his introduction is heavyhanded and comes at the cost of any establishing character moments for Inej. The most we get out of her is her brief pangs of sympathy for Bollinger despite his treachery, and her brief reference to her childhood. Maybe future Inej chapters will totally change this, but right now, it’s not a great sign of what’s to come.

I can think of about a hundred things Inej could have done or said this chapter to develop or establish her personality at all, but all we got was her briefly holding a knife to someone, and her briefly saying a prayer for Bollinger. I think it would have worked much better had this plan to catch Geels with his pants down been Inej’s invention or at least worked out between her and Kaz, rather than her just there to play lookout and admire how cool Kaz is.

Or at the very least, we could have seen the scene referenced where she searches the crime scene of the assassination, instead of that getting two lines and an entire chapter being devoted to what boils down to a pissing contest over which gangs gets rights to a certain neighborhood.

Next week, we will look at Kaz I.

[littlesailorinthesun]

fact or fiction #1

hello! I have seen a lot of discussion on various love nikki theories recently and I decided to rate them based on how plausible I personally think they are, as well as evaluating the evidence we currently have for them.

however keep in mind that I’m sort of the type of person who likes to get a feel for author’s intention (it helps when trying to read these botched translations). I still try to be as unbiased as possible though. still, the information below is my personal opinions!

Queen Nanari is the Lord / Shadow

★★★★☆ - easiest explanation

This was already commonly believed before Black White Puzzle ("tree of life lore") arrived on the English server, but when I read it through properly for the first time, my only thought was "wow, this is very blatant" - especially in the last few stages. I felt pretty confident that that was what the writers intended to get across. However, I was surprised to find that that was not a universal takeaway. 

For me, the crucial piece of evidence is that Neva has the same relationship with Nanari and with the Lord. She is blindingly loyal to them. She serves them both at the same time. She has sworn her life to both of them. How can she swear her life to both of them and serve them both at the same time with apparently no conflicting loyalties from either? Worth also mentioning the framing: Neva does not think of Nanari specifically during the whole event. "Nanari" is only mentioned during the event when you see the part from Royce's own memories.

Essentially this is something where I believe nearly every piece matches up, even beyond this. Weird foreshadowing about Nanari, dates and times and knowledge... the Kindred blood is basically the only thing about the Lord that does not link them to Nanari. I also need more explanation on the motivation here, but considering how many characters don't even canonically have motivations for things they do (Reid, I'm looking at you) this also isn't make or break. 

The Ancient Pavilion Designer is Xiao Zong

★★★★☆ +0.5 - easiest explanation

Like the one with Nanari, the evidence for this one lies largely in the relationship with another person: King Sayet. For a very long time in the story, it was indicated that the Ancient Pavilion Designer (APD) studied together with Sayet. Volume 2 Chapter 4, which came right before Nine-Night Tales chronologically, was later released, which named APD as Sayet's senior and described him as being cold and aloof. Then, Nine-Night Tales lore was released and - Xiao Zong is described as Sayet's senior, and the fandom collectively looked back and realized that XZ and APD stories lined up in more ways than one. 

Except the big thing: The Ancient Pavilion Designer died years ago.

Or did he?

Well, according to the Miraland Civilization Files book timeline (lore book), he did. But the book was apparently written by the curators of the Ark (time-and-dimension-traveling Shining Nikki construct thing), meaning even they may not have known (or bothered to investigate) the truth. (Meta reason: to keep us guessing). I actually consider the book to be more conclusive evidence, because it reveals something that wasn't stated in the main story - something they went out of their way to change:

In Fu Su's dreamweaver, Sayet dies and APD dies shortly after. You would normally assume this to happen in 672, since it doesn't mention how much time has passed. But the book went out of its way to name the year as 673 instead, which lines up exactly with when Xiao Zong decided to leave the Flower Field (that place where the Ancient Pavilion is) and run off with Mr. Interesting Zhu Yuxian.

So, the situations line up, but the reason I take half a point off this one are because of the huge leaps in logic you have to make to take these pieces and figure that Fu Su’s wise old mentor faked his death and is actually this pretty ruthless guy who literally murders people in cold blood. Still, this gets many points because it seems obvious this is what the writers are trying to say. 

Evelyn (Flickering Pistill) is the Elf Queen (Chloris & Cesare's Mother)

★★★☆☆ - could go either way

Truly one of the few theories where I genuinely have no idea what the writers are intending.

A little bit of background: Due to the prevalent lore chart that spread around many eons ago, it was stated that Evelyn (Flickering Pistill) = Evelyn (Wind's Whisper) = Chloris's Mother. Well... much time has passed and though whether FP and WW are the same character seems to just be up to interpretation (and translation) as it's doubtful that they will release anything else that references Wind's Whisper, new lore about both the Elf Queen and Evelyn is still being released, which carefully does not refer to them as the same person.

Most people don't really think there is a difference, but I encourage you to read lore without conflating the two if you're interested in the theory. Hahaha, just kidding I wouldn't wish reading elfkindred lore on anyone. I may make a post later about how much of it retcons itself, both in terms of events and in characters, because it’s been kicking my ass recently.

Noah is the Fantasy Envoy

★★☆☆☆ - it's not impossible but doubtful

I really used to think this one at a point in time. The points in favor of this one include: Concern over Fantasy Envoy's identity (Nikki and Momo seem to recognize him), Noah being a trickster/master of illusions, similar personalities, and sprites drawn using a similar looking face. They also both spent some time in Pigeon Forest, as well as in Lilith (Envoy because he's a traveller, Noah because I guess he was doing things for Cesare). 

However, the fact that Nikki and Momo seem to recognize him isn't actually evidence he is Noah (Bobo would recognize him, which she doesn't). It's actually an easter egg to Nikki 2 - where incidentally one of their friends Polo the detective dressed up as the a mysterious guy called the Fantasy Envoy, who is a guy on Earth too I suppose? 

Anyways, even though this one isn't total nonsense, I don't think this is the route they're going. Noah is an actual character and Envoy is... more and more just an eccentric weirdo. 

===

This is all I have energy to write tonight but I definitely intend to do more in the future. Other ones I have planned include Nikki as Hostess L, Fu Su’s bloodline, and some stuff that’s debunked that I just wanted to mention. If you want me to do any others, send me an ask and I will do my best!

[sillyguyhotline]

alice

Hi, ok, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this!! Alice fucking slaps as a character and I love him so let’s go :))

My Opinion-

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: goddamn, I love this himbo. I’m honestly really pleased with the dynamic that he has with Sara: though she has the opportunity to help him out with conflicts such as his issues with Reko, for most of the story he neither opposes nor allies with Sara! He doesn’t outright resent her, like Shin does, but he makes it pretty damn clear he doesn’t trust her and I honestly really like having characters whose arcs aren’t reliant on or centric around the protagonist in some way. It’s a small thing, but it makes both him and the cast feel a lot more developed as a whole. And, speaking of character arcs… goddamn do I love his. One of my favorite things about YTTD is the diverse variety of dynamics between characters and the fact that quite a few participants come into the game with other characters incorporated into their backstories and influencing who they are as people. Alice and Reko’s conflict is heartbreaking, especially when the fake Reko who still resents him a lot more than the real Reko does comes into play. However, I love seeing Alice, who’s a brash and loud man hardened by prison, exposing his soft and more compassionate side in a way that isn’t romantic. He genuinely cares for his sister and he wants her to be happy; even when the fake version of her smashes the bongos, he insists that you don’t hold a grudge on her! He’s so sweet when it comes to his family, and as conceited as he acts, he’s painfully aware of the effects his crime had on not only his family but also the family of the victim. He’s honestly one of the best-developed and most conscientious characters in the game (even though he can be stupid as fuck at times) and I love him for that. 

Ships-

Honestly, I’m a pretty big sucker for Alishin. It wasn’t a dynamic that I would’ve considered if I hadn’t gotten immersed in the fandom, but the amount of art I’ve seen of those two has really softened me up to them. They’re both weird and a little bit standoffish in their own right, but (Alice more than Shin) they have softness and compassion underneath. They’re also the two characters in the game who come across as very intimidating at first but are either lowkey kinda dumb or incredibly fuckin weak and them being paired up is a fantastic concept! Keialice is also pretty cute because of the cop/robber dynamic, but I’m not as big of a fan of it. Keialishin, though… I could get behind that.

Non-Romantic OTP(s)-

As I’ve stated before, I’m so fuckin soft for the sibling relationship between Alice and Reko. If they’d been given enough time, I honestly think that they could’ve reconciled and been able to be siblings again! That is kind of basic, though, so for this I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Kanna. Obviously, Alice and Kanna are no Greenblings, but over the course of the story Alice demonstrates his compassion for her (in part because she is a sister) and my heart!! Aaaaaa!!

Unpopular Opinion-

I honestly don’t have too many unpopular opinions about the cast, so I’m trying to think of something suitable. I guess I could say I accidentally went with the unpopular option in the game and got Reko killed instead of Alice? On that line of thought, maybe I’ll say that I think, if given the choice, you should pretty much always save Alice instead of Reko. I love Reko as much as the next person, what with her “big sister” persona and her affection for the rest of the group, but I don’t think she has a lot of opportunity to grow after Alice’s death. She already had a character arc, of sorts, before the game, in which she went from being a harsh and heartless person to a more compassionate and nurturing one. By chapter 3, the two people with whom her character was most intertwined (Alice and Nao) are dead, and she has nothing fueling her but anger and really nowhere else to go. On the other hand, Alice has been building up connections and learning to trust people throughout the game, and the mystery of why he killed the original Sou Hiyori still exists. Of course, there are going to be the people who want to keep Reko alive because of her personality (and I don’t blame them, I love her) but in terms of story and growth potential there’s really no reason not to keep Alice alive. 

One Thing I Wish Would Happen/Had Happened-

Obviously, I wish Alice had gotten more of a chance to reconcile with Reko. The fact that you have to go out of your way to complete a side quest so that he can exchange a few words with her before his death makes sense character-wise, but it still hurts a hell of a lot. There’s so much that I wish could have happened with these two, and it breaks my heart that in at least one ending Alice dies thinking that Reko is dead. I want there to be a timeline where the Yabusames can overcome their differences and be siblings again in a less painful way!! I also, of course, want to learn what motivated him to kill Sou Hiyori, because he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would commit murder unless very drastic circumstances pushed him to do so. I’m also like 99% sure that his First Trial was connected to Hinako’s and he’s the reason that she died, but I want to see that confirmed.

Anyways, I think that pretty much sums up all my thoughts on Mr. Himbo Yabusame, so thanks for sending in the ask! I have some other work I need to get to, so I’ll try to respond to the Kanna ask sometime soon. Sorry it took me so long!! 

[rahirah]

The whole "And If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" counts as a chapter or scene, right? "Splendid news, Mrs. Mears. Bloody Vengeance Inc. is going to take your case." Commentary, please :)))

For reference: https://archiveofourown.org/works/478957

Ok, this one is too long to do a blow-by-blow in a Tumblr post, so I'm gonna talk about it more generally.

For those of you who haven't read the series this story is a part of, it's a long-running AU which branches off of canon after "The Gift."  I started writing the first story in it immediately after "The Gift" aired, so Spuffy wasn't even a canon thing yet.  At the time, I was pretty certain that Spuffy would never be a canon thing; at most, I thought, there would be a lot of pining and UST, and maybe, in the very last season, Spike would get the crumb he was hoping for.

But I didn't care about that; something doesn't have to be canon for me to ship the hell out of it.  And I was fascinated by the concept of an evil demon trying to be good.  What would it look like, I wondered, if Spike and Buffy did get together in a working, functional relationship?  What changes and compromises would both of them have to make?  How would it meet both their needs?  What would the pain points be?  Of course, the easiest way to do it would be to slap a soul into Spike, but I felt that the show had already thoroughly explored that avenue with Angel, and I wanted to do something different.  Plus I have never been one to do things the easy way, and one of the recurring themes in my writing in general is free will and choices.  So I set myself the challenge of writing a story about how Buffy and Spike forge a relationship that works for both of them, and doesn't cheat on characterization – that is, Spike, having no human soul, is still "evil" in Buffyverse terms, and his motivations and behavior reflect that; even when he is doing good things, he is not doing them in the same way, or for the same reasons, as a human would. *

ANYWAY.  In this AU, Warren Mears and Co. still killed Katrina, but Warren went to jail for it.  However, when his inventions came to the attention of Wolfram & Hart, they got him released on a technicality, and brought him into their R&D department.  Warren took the opportunity to get his revenge on Buffy and Spike by zapping Buffy into a W&H pocket dimension, where W&H was collecting Buffys from many dimensions for nefarious purposes.  Unbeknownst to Warren, Buffy has just discovered that she's pregnant.  

This scenario generated four stories: "The Lesser of Two Evils," which details what happens when Willow and Spike confront Warren and try to force him to bring Buffy back; "In A Yellow Wood," which is about Buffy's adventures in the pocket dimension, "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed," which deals with the fallout of the first two stories, and "To Grandmother's House," which wraps up the arc with Buffy's final decision about the fate of her baby.

I wrote these stories all out of order: "To Grandmother's House" first, "The Lesser of Two Evils" second, "In A Yellow Wood" third, and "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" last.  I knew the general course of the arc all along, but writing it inside out and backwards, over ten years or more, posed some interesting challenges.  "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" was not part of the original arc plan – in fact, it grew out of feedback I got for "The Lesser of Two Evils."

TLOTE/IAYW are deliberately morally ambiguous stories.  Spike, Willow, and Buffy all do questionable things – perhaps flat out wrong things – under severe emotional stress, and the consequences of those actions echo for a long time through the years to come.  While I hope that readers find their motives understandable, and even sympathetic, I didn't necessarily expect that every reader would agree with or approve of their actions.  Most people who've sent me feedback seem to enjoy the ambiguity, or at least find it intriguing.  Not all of them, however.  

One particular reader had...issues.  Over the course of several conversations, I found out that while they were a Spuffy shipper, they had very particular requirements for the kind of Spuffy stories they liked.  They had to be either A) totally canon-compliant, angst-ridden stories where Buffy hated herself for giving in to Spike's sinister attraction, or B) stories where Spike was a Romance Novel Bad Boy With a Heart of Gold, and there was a tacit agreement between writer and reader that hey, we both know this is totally OOC for both characters, but we're just here for the porn, amirite nudge-nudge wink-wink.

Reader In Question had started in on my work with the assumption that it fell into the latter category, but the more they read, the less comfortable they got, because, as I mentioned above, I was in this for serious.  I sweat blood over characterization.  And I was starting to convince them that maybe a relationship between Buffy and soulless Spike COULD work.  And they didn't WANT to believe that.  So they absolutely had to interpret my work as a dystopian take on Buffy's slide into total moral decay, with this particular arc as the nadir of her fall.**  They left me some despondent feedback on TLOTE, wondering what Warren's dear mother would think of this turn of events.  I'm not sure if they intended to shame me (or Buffy) for our evil ways, but I thought it was an interesting point.  And it planted the seed of an idea.

Over the next several years, as I worked on IAYW (and let me say right here, the less-than-enthusiastic feedback Reader In Question sent me on TLOTE made me work my ass off on IAYW.  Though I obviously don't agree with their overall interpretation, I thought they had some good points, and I wanted to be sure that IAYW addressed those points) I mulled over the thought: What WOULD happen if Warren's dear old mother confronted Buffy and Spike?  

A lot would depend upon what Warren's dear old mother was like.  There were two obvious ways I could go with that: she could be an innocent victim, or she could be as much of a monster as Warren was.  But I didn't want to do anything obvious with this story.   Fic-wise, I always like to take the road less traveled if I can, but in this case, I have to admit that I got a perverse pleasure out of taking Reader In Question's finger-wagging admonition and using it as inspiration for a story that's, well, not exactly what I imagine they were hoping to inspire.  I decided that I was going to make Mrs. Mears a little of both.

The next question was, what did I want to have happen when she shows up?Again, the obvious thing would be to have Buffy feel guilty.  But I had already dealt extensively with Buffy's feelings, and her reasons for making the decisions she made, in IAYW and TGH.  Yes, she feels guilty; she's not sure she did the right thing.  She's not even sure there was a right thing to do.  But that particular subplot plays out over the long term in this AU, culminating many years later in a completely different story arc, and I couldn't bring it to a premature resolution here.  Besides, I knew that Barbverse Buffy would never return to the uncompromising system of morality that Reader In Question wanted her to,*** so there was no point in writing a story where she Learns Her Lesson, Dusts Spike, and Is Very Sorry. ****

So I decided that this story would focus on Spike, and his reaction to Warren's mother and her loss of a son.  And that opened up a lot of possibilities.  I was to some extent constrained by the fact that I'd already written quite a lot of stories taking place after this one in the timeline, so there were certain things I couldn't do.  But I've always found that if you ask yourself, "What would X logically do in this situation?" and follow that through, you can avoid Idiot Plot Syndrome.   Let your characters be smart.   What would Spike do, confronted with the mother of the man he'd killed?  What would Mrs. Mears demand of him in recompense?  

What I wanted to do in this story was to answer those questions in a way that people wouldn't expect.  I was able to bring Spike's ambivalent feelings about his own mother into play, and provide a way for him to get some character development around coming to terms with her death and his part in it that I might not otherwise have been able to do.  And I was able to draw parallels between Warren and his mother, and Spike and Anne Pratt, and come up with some really intriguing takes on how and why Spike can do the right(ish) thing even when his reasons are kinda-sorta wrong(ish).  It gives some background, hopefully, on  how Buffy can make the ultimate decision she does in "To Grandmother's House," and not feel that she's tobogganing head-first down the slippery slope of Utter Moral Decay.  And I got to write Zombie Warren, who was gruesomely, deliciously horrible.  And I got to give Mrs. Mears the last word.

By the time I finished the story, Reader In Question had long since left fandom, and they probably wouldn't have read it even if they were still around.  But I feel I have to thank them for it anyway.  And that's why I always say that even though I don't necessarily like getting critical feedback, it can be the most useful feedback you can get if you look at it in the right way.

__________

* I could write a whole nother essay about the challenges of writing an evil-trying-to-be-good vampire, but that is beyond the scope of the current post.

** Eventually, they practically begged me to tell them that I was deliberately writing Buffy and Spike out of character, and that I didn't really think a relationship between them could work.  Alas, I could not oblige them, and they stopped reading my stuff.

*** I don't even believe canon Buffy stuck to that kind of rigid moral code – she tried to, but one of the things that makes her a complex, fully realized character is that canon Buffy is perfectly capable of double standards and hypocrisy where her friends are concerned, not to mention just plain changing her mind about things over the course of the show.  For every decision I have Barbverse Buffy [or Spike, for that matter] make, I can point to something in canon and say "This is why I think she could do that."

****Although... I do have an alternate ending to "To Grandmother's House" plotted out in my head, where Buffy [either accidentally or on purpose – just as in the main story, it's ambiguous] doesn't stop Giles in time.  I consider the Barbverse to be a low-probability AU, and I watch out for times and ways in which things could go spectacularly wrong, just so I can be sure to avoid them in a believable manner.  Or write stories about them going wrong, and the characters dealing with them.

*****

[leinbow]

Would you say this arc has been weak overall for BNHA? Everything seems kinda pointless to set up such a great hero only for him to be "shot down". Also neglecting several characters that were just introduced this arc.

Hello!!

I’m personally enjoying the arc so far tbh. But I can understand if others don’t. Hori has shifted his storytelling in this arc so it may have turned off a lot of readers who were already used to his usual style. Maybe he’s experimenting? idk

What changed in Hori’s style you may ask?

Slower pace overall, in terms of action

That…omniscient narrator (hit or miss, reminds most people of the narrator in HxH)

Going back and forth in the timeline is so fucky (it honestly confuses the hell outta me)

I think this is the longest arc we have so far

Anyway, as for the story itself, this arc is so long a lot of things happened it’s overwhelming. It may also be a reason why it’s harder to digest the stuff that’s happening. I had hoped there would be a break between meeting Overhaul and going after him (like, the story could shift back to school stuff for a few chapters before they pursue their plan to raid the Yakuza, for example) but Hori knows no breaks. lul

Introducing the Big 3 serves as a metric or a glimpse in what Deku can achieve in 2 years. I think it is important to make that distinction because in the end, this story is about Deku. Everything we’ve been reading relates to how Midoriya Izuku becomes the greatest Hero. Since we’ve been shown the highest power ceiling Izuku can feasibly achieve (All Might), it’s time to show a realistic expectation for Izuku’s power level in a few years (Mirio, a 3rd year student) as a sense of progression.

Now, the fact that Mirio is also presented as the original candidate for OFA, not only he’s the goal or target for Izuku’s potential power level up, he also becomes an “obstacle” that Izuku needs to overcome. Not in terms of power, because as we established, Izuku can’t realistically surpass Mirio right now, but in terms of self-confidence and desire to be Hero. Izuku needs to prove himself on how deserving he is to be chosen by All Might. Specifically to Nighteye.

Why Nighteye? Izuku had already told us (through narration) that his training under Nighteye will be a long and lengthy one. Suffice to say we’ll be seeing a lot of Nighteye from here on out. As we all also know, Nighteye still doesn’t acknowledge Izuku even at this point. He still believes Mirio is the rightful heir to the OFA.

Enter Mirio — and oh man, he’s now sufficiently “shot down” as you put it. This is why a lot of people are torn with this turn of the story, because these are 2 possible outcomes that people fear will happen (through knowledge of typical shounen tropes lol):

Mirio loses his Quirk permanently. Izuku feels guilt and gives up OFA to Mirio. Mirio will reject it. Essentially making Izuku “overcome” the “obstacle” easily since Mirio is now “weaker”. OR,

Mirio loses his Quirk permanently. Izuku doesn’t feel guilt. It doesn’t matter anyway, since Mirio is still weaker, therefore rendering the “obstacle” useless.

Essentially people hate that Izuku “won the challenge easily”. Nighteye is left to say, “Now that Mirio is Quirkless, I’m forced to acknowledge Izuku since there’s no other options literally”.

But here’s the thing — I don’t think that’s gonna happen. In fact, I think it would be opposite. Nighteye will pressure Izuku more to giving OFA to Mirio since he still believes Mirio to be better. Essentially, they’re now starting on the same level — being Quirkless — unless Izuku can prove himself to be better at being Hero than Mirio.

In any case, it all boils down to:

Nighteye is a man who knows All Might and his future, and as such, has high standards on who he views as deserving of OFA

Considering Nighteye’s high standard, he only has one he deems worthy, which is Mirio

The readers (us) needs to know why Nighteye views Mirio as the only one worthy. And with the last few chapters I believe all of us now understand right? 

Izuku, the main character, still needs to prove himself to Nighteye, who is his mentor now that All Might can’t do it anymore

Mirio lost his Quirk as a part of Izuku’s growth as a character. It was a necessary sacrifice (according to Horikoshi’s story)

I have no fucking idea how Horikoshi’s gonna pull off “Izuku proving himself to Nighteye” without a significant part of the fanbase getting mad, but we’ll see!! Just last week’s chapter there are people getting mad for “Izuku saving the day alone, whoopee-doo, he’s gonna save Mirio and Eri and take the credit, where the fuck are the Pro Heroes” and guess what, this week’s chapter revealed he was not alone and Aizawa and co. are actually with him 😂 Everybody loves to jump to conclusions.

As for neglecting characters, the only characters I think Hori failed to develop is Nejire and Ryukyu. Bubble Girl, Centipeder, etc. are all very minor characters so they’re not that important, along with the 8 Bullets like Rappa. Nejire and Ryukyu could be recurring characters though since they’re part of the good guys so there’s still hope for them. Fatgum too. But in the end, the most important characters are the people close to Izuku so it’s understandable why some don’t get too much focus.

(I don’t get Amajiki’s focus though, storytelling wise. Maybe his purpose is just to show us how awesome Mirio really is idk. Kirishima’s focus/backstory is also out there but oh well, it already happened.)

TL;DR — This arc is fine.

[mala-sadas]

whats your take on pokespe´s timeline?

Thank you for asking this, it always surprises me when people don’t agree on the chronological order of all the arcs, let alone the time between them. I’ve actually put a decent amount of work into constructing my timeline and all of the concrete time gaps are supported by canon evidence.

Updated as of 10/31/2021. This timeline is consistent with the one that was given in PokéSPedia.

RGB

+2 years

Yellow

+1 year

GSC

+2 years

RS

+6 months

FRLG

+3 months

Emerald

+3 years

HGSS

+a month or two

ORAS

+3 years

DP

+two weeks

Platinum

+3 years

BW

+2 years

B2W2

concurrent with

XY

+5 months (2 months from the epilogue)

SM

While it’s currently impossible to tell exactly when the SWSH arc takes place, the scant references to previous arcs tell us that it at least occurs after XY.

Now, as for why I think this timeline is accurate, allow me to present my evidence. I’ve limited it to mentions of the passage of time rather than ages for the sake of simplicity and clarity.

Under the cut, because there are a lot of images.

First off, it’s explicitly stated at the beginning of the Yellow arc that it takes place 2 years after the battle at Silph Co., the climax of the RGB arc:

Then, in the first chapter of GSC, Elm mentions a big battle in Kanto a year prior - the climax of the Yellow chapter:

RS, unfortunately, doesn’t state explicitly when it takes place relative to its preceeding chapter. However, when Ruby and Sapphire were playing together as kids, 5 years prior to the chapter, Ruby said:

This is obviously referring to Red, who won the League at the end of RGB. So, RS has to occur at least 5 years after RGB. A little math tells us that this would be at least 2 years after GSC.

FRLG is stated to occur 6 months after the incident with Kyogre and Groudon in Hoenn:

Since the Kyogre and Groudon incident happened in September, FRLG takes place sometime in March. 

Emerald takes place a few months later, during the first week of July:

(Fun fact: this timeframe is a reference to Tanabata, the Japanese Star Festival, which is likely the inspiration for Jirachi’s ability to grant wishes.)

ORAS confirms that this is the year after RS:

When Carr of the Three Beasts first appears in HGSS, his opening monologue contains this line:

Since Carr made his debut as one of Giovanni’s admins in FRLG, it’s safe to assume that this three years metric is talking about the time between FRLG and HGSS. If you want further proof, the ages line up, too:

On the left, Crys in GSC. On the right, Silver in FRLG. Supplemental age data confirms they’re both 16 in HGSS. Thus, a five-year gap between GSC and HGSS and a three-year gap between FRLG and HGSS.

ORAS is pretty clear about when it takes place; I believe the first specific time mentioned in the chapter is when Ruby’s accident with Salamence took place:

That was five years before RS, meaning ORAS is four years after that. So, ORAS and HGSS take place in the same year. As for which comes first…

Archie and Maxie’s appearance in ORAS confirms that they left the Distortion World when Giratina re-entered it at the end of HGSS. Presumably it took them some time to master Mega Evolution and re-locate the orbs; thus, ORAS takes place maybe a month or two after HGSS.

Now, explaining the time gap between ORAS and DP gets complicated. ORAS and HGSS both make it abundantly clear that they take place before DP. In ORAS, Palmer has returned from Johto (where he was seen at the end of HGSS) and is living with a younger Pearl and Diamond:

It’s not really clear just how young they are at this point. It has to be a decent amount of time before DP because in DP, Pearl says that he hasn’t seen his dad in some time, and Proteam Omega has had time to go from a proposal to a full-fledged cartoon that’s popular enough to have a substantial amount of merchandise produced. But to come up with a more concrete estimate, we’ll have to look at the special Mt. Silver Training Chapter that was published back in 2011.

At the end of GSC, Red and Gold go off to train at Mt. Silver, during which the events of the Mt. Silver Training Chapter take place. At the beginning of this little two-round story, it’s stated that Red and Gold have been training there for three days:

A few days later - so, about a week after GSC - they return to Red’s house, where you can see two familiar faces on Red’s TV spouting some familiar lines:

These comedians, Abbot Clef and Costello Jiggly, performed this routine for Diamond and Pearl when they were four years old, which inspired them to become comedians. Since Diamond and Pearl are twelve years old in DP, and we can assume that this filmed performance aired around the same time that Diamond and Pearl saw them live, that would mean that this training session -and therefore GSC - takes place eight years before the events of DP. As I previously mentioned, the gap from GSC to HGSS is five years, meaning that the gap from HGSS/ORAS to DP is around three years.

Platinum is mercifully a lot simpler - two weeks after DP ends.

Platinum also gives us a hint as to where Black and White fit in the timeline, since it ends with Looker being sent off to Unova:

We learn during a flashback in B2W2 that Team Plasma and the Seven Sages started acting in Unova three years prior to BW (when N becomes the king of Team Plasma):

It’s safe to assume that Platinum occurs around the time that the Sages first become active, since Lady Caitlin grows up quite a lot between the two arcs. On the left, Caitlin in the Platinum arc; on the right, Caitlin in BW:

So, BW is three years after Platinum. And, like the games, B2W2 takes place two years after BW:

Specifically, the main events take place during September-October of that year:

Then, XY…ooh, boy, XY. For a long time we didn’t have any concrete place for XY in the timeline – just some cameos and Easter eggs indicating it takes place a few years after DP, which were easy for the casual reader to miss. But the epilogue of B2W2 finally gave us enough information to place XY on the timeline. Unfortunately, it requires a bit of working backwards and logical reasoning, so we’ll put a pin in that for now and skip to the XY-SM gap.

In a flashback in the final chapter of XY, Professor Sycamore sends Sina and Dexio to Alola to investigate the Zygarde Cells spotted there.

In SM, when Sina and Dexio first appear, they state that they’ve been in Alola for five months:

Sina and Dexio were sent to Alola immediately following the final battle, not during the epilogue, which takes place three months later. Thus, SM takes place 5 months after the final battle of XY, but only two months after XY’s epilogue. This is an important distinction to make, because we know the timing of XY’s epilogue:

In the Japanese schooling system, the third term starts in January. Despite the region being based on a non-Japanese country, the schedule of the Aspertia Trainers’ School follows the Japanese schooling system, so it’s safe to assume that the Sky Trainer Academy follows this same schedule. Thus, the main events of XY take place in October, with the epilogue taking place the following January and SM beginning that March.

Now, keeping that in mind, let’s go back to B2W2’s epilogue. At the end of the main story, we’re treated to this conversation between the head of Interpol and the Magician:

The very end of the epilogue shows the Magician and Colress leaving for Alola, so it must be the following March. In this scene (left), Colress is wearing the same outfit he wears in the Alola games – and the SM arc as well (right):

While it is possible that Colress goes to Alola in the March after B2W2 and SM begins in March of a later year, it seems unlikely that it would take him so long to develop Beast Balls for the Aether Foundation. We already know that he spends at least six months on the project, as when Anabel makes her first appearance in SM, she implies that part of her and Looker’s mission in Alola is to find Colress:

And Colress delivers the Beast Balls to Lusamine after the six-month timeskip in the middle of the arc. So, that seems like more than enough time for him to develop the Beast Balls – and it would explain why the Aether Foundation didn’t have any Beast Balls earlier in the arc.

(Why Anabel talks about needing to capture Colress when he was literally escorted to Alola by an Interpol agent is unclear, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the Interpol higher-ups have deliberately withheld information from their agents. Additionally, this chapter was published a good two years before B2W2 was finished, so from a meta perspective, Kusaka might not have decided yet exactly how B2W2 was going to end and the lines will be changed for the full volume release.)

So, in short, it’s possible that XY and SM could take place a year or more after B2W2, but the simplest solution is that XY begins the same October in which B2W2 is taking place, and SM begins the March following both.

Lastly, let’s talk about the placement of SWSH in the timeline. Of the small handful of allusions to the events of other arcs in SWSH so far, the one that references the latest arc timeline-wise is this one:

Given that Lysandre’s whole thing is that he’s a philanthropist who lost faith in humanity and tried to eliminate everyone except his “chosen ones”, it’s a safe bet that Piers is alluding to him and the events of XY here. So, SWSH takes place after the main events of XY have concluded.

Additionally, Raihan has a couple of lines where alludes to the actions of the evil teams of previous arcs. While it’s true that he’s a history buff and could have read about these incidents happening hundreds of years in the past, these lines sound to me like “ambitious people awakening Pokémon that have the power to destroy the world” is a contemporary issue, not a historical one. That is to say, I don’t think SWSH takes place hundreds of years after the other arcs or anything like that.

So there you have it…my take on the Pokéspe timeline, mostly factual with a tiny smidge of assumption. I really hope this clears things up for people.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Fairy Tail Chapter 540 Review

Boy is this a chapter I have mixed feelings about…

Our cover page is the sun village arc! Huh, kinda odd how no one ever talks about it.

We open in the Ravines of Time. Where Natsu is able to figure out this is Acnologia. Y’know Wendy did the same thing I’m wondering if it’s the smell power dragon slayers have that tips them off.

Acnologia shows off how he has all the dragon slayers in pillars. He goes on to explain that eating the ravines have given him time-space magic, which will give him the power to destroy the world. Y’know given how strong Acnologia is I don’t think he needed more help destroying the world.

Okay I’m going to ask you to keep this term he uses of “I shall exterminate you all” in mind for later. As well as this image of Igneel being killed by Acnologia. Trust me there’s a reason.

Outside the Ravines, Acnologia flies away to Magnolia (of course where else would he go). But what appears from the sky?

Yep, it is true. If you are a good guy no matter how unimportant, you’re going to live. This is still stupid but honestly I’m not as mad at this because these two are both pointless and I wouldn’t care about their status either way.

Yeah Anna, you fucked up.

So Anna explains that Acnologia due to having so much power has lost direct control of his physical body to compensate his soul is still in the ravines controlling the body, and he needs the dragon slayers to help circulate the body.

Alright first off, I will give the chapter this, this is a really cool idea. Now one could say this is giant contrivance that just exists so we have a way to defeat Acnologia easier highlighted by the fact he’s in human form. I will agree that this mainly happened just so we could make it easier to defeat him, but I will defend the human form because it’s his soul and no matter what Acnologia is human on the in side.

Second, why he didn’t kill you? If he need Dragon Slayers to properly control his body why didn’t he just kill you instead of spending time pushing you out?

Third, remember I asked you to remember the phrase “I shall exterminate…”, well this basically means he’s no exterminating them he’s just imprisoning them. So really his motivation of destroy dragons is pointless because he’s not going to kill them and actually needs them.

After hearing this Erza decides to embark to Magnolia. (Yeah sure ignore the fact your body is still damaged.

I had said that I enjoyed half of this chapter and that half was everything about the dragon slayers. This other half is just awful and pointless, and you’ll soon see.

Oh look it’s Mest. Guess everyone was wrong he doesn’t have a loli detector, he has a plot convenience detector.

So Mest Teleports Erza to Magnolia…

Slogan of the series…

And here is why I hate this half of the chapter. That it and by extension what’s happening with Erza, is a waste of potential. For the last couple months since the end of the Irene fight, Erza has been a glorified extra. She has sat on her ass and contributed nothing of value or anything character related (outside of that very small conversation about trust that went nowhere). You could white all of Erza’s scenes since getting on christina and insert any background fairy tail character, like Max, warren, Nab, etc, and you would get all of her scenes to the same effect. But now we are presented with a moment that could be a big characterization moment solely for Erza.

Now we have Erza seeing Makarov alive again, after see herself watched his sacrifice and used it as tool to help stop Natsu and Gray from fighting. But not only that, we have had her go through an experience where she met her biological parent and throughout it said that Makarov was her real parent. That want mentality helped Erza through fighting against Irene, that rage and loss she felt helped motivate her and now you have her seeing that he is alive once again. She can have this opportunity to reflect on how actually relived she is and how she’s able to be with her parent again. This should be a big moment for her, not something that can be solved in this few of panels! It’s so impersonal that once again we could easily replace Erza with any other FT member and we’d get the same effect from this wasted scene.

This isn’t me hating this chapter solely on Erza, this is me hating all the potential that her scenes could have and how compelling they could be this chapter. This isn’t the only scene either, that teleportation is another missed opportunity. We know Mest can’t directly teleport in kilometers, his magic only moves in small increments. Through this, while teleporting Erza could see all the destruction caused by Acnologia’s eternal flare and see how people, just normal people, were effected. She could be rattled by this and then seeing Makarov again puts her at peace or she could reflect on this, motivating her to want to stop Acnologia more. There is so much you could do to not humanize the situation their in, and it’s not taken advantage of.

So back on track…

Oh god, I simultaneously love and hate this scene. It is so great to see all of these characters together. It is so awesome. But what ruins this for me is a lot of these characters have done nothing for so long, by a base definition there’s no reason to start caring about them right now, and the other thing that hurts this is that again, wasted potential. All these characters and exploring character aspects of them, isn’t taken advantage of. How about Millianna being surprised that the OS were from the tower, or Kagura is happy to see Erza again, or Richard being happy that Sorano found her sister and he feels like finding Wally again. There’s tons of things you can do with this setup. By the way, Midnight and Minerva talked together, a ship has just been born!

And here’s what also gets me about this other half of the chapter. In the the grand scheme it’s pointless, because it seems to be setting up that they’ll handle the physical Acnologia. The one that is unstoppable and whatever fight they do put up is pointless because the Acnologia that’s controlling the body is going to fight the DS and if they kill the soul (Which they likely will) then body will stop working. Maybe they won’t fight it but it just seems like it’s set up to eat away more page space.

Back in the ravines Natsu breaks out of being encased.

Okay little odd here, Natsu used his damaged arm to break out. It’s implying that Wendy semi healed it to move (I’m going to assume she broke out while they were distracted). Why did Natsu need to use the broken arm to break out? He clear has another arm could’ve done it.

And again another missed opportunity. The are all breaking out because they hear the voice of the people that are waiting them, while cheesy I’d be fine with that, but again it could be more. Remember that image of the dead Igneel? We could maybe have had Natsu trapped in the pillar and then because this place is nebulous with time, we could flashes of Natsu’s timeline like that memory that motivate him to get his second wind. IN fact, you could do that for all the dragon slayers. Remember from my last review I had a problem with bringing focus on characters who’ve done nothing and are suddenly trust into relevance with out proper setup. Well through the way I desribed of having them see their time lines and becoming motivated it not only helps the audience be reminded of why should care about these characters but also helps the theme of this being an ending arc.

Okay not gonna lie, that’s a pretty awesome two page spread.

And we end on Acnologia’s face, and next chapter they will most likely fight. I’ll give credit to this, since they’ve escaped from the pillars Acnologia most likely has less control of his physical body thus prolonging time for the people outside of it, meaning the constant spouting of”we have to believe in them” actually matters.

Post Chapter follow up: As I said my feelings are mixed. I want to really like the stuff that was done well and I do. The problem is it’s also bogged down by these moments that could be so much more.

I’ll start with the positives, while this body split does exist more for making it easy to kill Acnologia it is still a very good idea. It’s definitely more interesting then the usual status of fights.

Also this is minor, but I love the atmosphere generated by the ravines of time. It really feels like this almost hopeless situation and the images of the dragon slayers in the pillars is so strong.

I also gotta give credit to the pacing of the chapter, it was much stronger than it usually is. I’m also very excited for the DS vs Acnologia.

The bad stuff, is pretty evident. It infuriates me how little goes into these moments that could add so much to the story and characters.Another thing in the bad side of things is just how pointless the stuff focusing on  the other characters outside the ravines are.

Also, another fake out death. Just because I’m not mad at it, it’s still bad writing.

Overall I want to say this could’ve been better if it cut out the scenes with the non dragon slayers and focused a bit more on them character and motivation wise. But since the Erza stuff is included we have to add this to the final grade.

Final Verdict: 4/10

What it does well it does well

Interesting setup

wasted potential

[ettadunham]

Day 14 - A Short Story About Love

It’s day 14 of Fringe September and is this a controversial episode or is it just me who has controversial feelings about it?

That being said, this is a quintessential and important chapter of the show, and not just from an obvious shipper perspective. This is the episode where it’s finally confirmed that the amber timeline exists within the blue universe, that there is no other universe that Peter could get back to because THIS IS IT.

And... let’s fucking talk about that because oh my God.

Watching season 4 in real time was a wild ride. At first we all thought that the amber timeline would be temporary, a fun ‘WHAT IF---’ we get to visit and discover. And it was such a blast!!! Finding out that Nina raised Olivia in this timeline, seeing Olivia’s relationship with Walter here, finding out how the Olivia-switching happened here or that she killed her stepfather, seeing Alt!Broyles alive again, integrating Lincoln into our team on our side... It was exciting!!! Every episode was a new discovery and they just kept on giving...

Until at some point we realized that we spent TOO MUCH TIME here. We all thought that this would be a temporary storyline at first,a timeline that would either cease to exist, or continue on existing as a separate universe after we moved back... But we weren’t moving back.

It just didn’t make sense from a storytelling perspective. At this point, we spent so much time and energy on the amber timeline, as an audience we were attached to it. Surely, they wouldn’t destroy it now, right? But we were also convinced that we would eventually get back to the blue universe. It is after all our Prime Universe and Timeline, the one where we spent 3 years in already. Giving that all up altogether just seemed crazy. Nobody would erase 3 seasons of their show.

Oh, we young summer children. We knew nothing.

And honestly? I actually admire the audacity of the show here. They fucking just DID THAT. They stuck to the amber timeline after this, and continued to play around the fact that certain events that the audience remembers now happened very differently. Of course, at the time I was just confused and conflicted, and never really mourned Alt!Lincoln for one, because I was still convinced that we would eventually reset that timeline. But that’s jumping ahead.

At this point however, most of the conflict to me about this episode and storyline is Olivia.

And it makes sense for the show to bring back Blue!Olivia, because if anything or anyone should be brought back from those 3 years it’s HER. Sure, you can change the events, the timeline, anything that happened in the last 3 seasons of the show... But changing the main character, your focus point, the character whose journey you’ve been following... Now THAT’S a nightmare from a storytelling perspective. So, yes, the show definitely should’ve done that.

But there are two questions that we should still examine. 1) Is it really that wise to erase Amber!Olivia now, after we spent so much time getting to know her at this point; and 2) what were the reasons, motivations and themes that propelled Olivia to get back to her ‘original’ self?

I guess the answer to 1) is easier, even if it can vary from person to person. We did spend a lot of time with Amber!Olivia, but she was also, at her core, very much our Olivia. Despite some subtle differences, it wasn’t all that jarring to switch to her as our main protagonist from Prime Olivia, and vice versa. Although I certainly wanted them to co-exist, because all of these small differences still made her a unique and different person, so erasing her still felt painful, I’m not gonna lie.

But I want to spend more time talking about the second part of the question, so let’s talk about the circumstances in which we got “our” Olivia back.

Olivia’s change starts in 4x12, the first time when she starts experiencing having a different set of memories, and it becomes a conflict of its own, because nobody’s sure what’s happening. Walter is convinced that Peter is somehow causing this, that his desire to have his Olivia back is causing her Cortexiphan-enhanced brain to pick up on those signals and have memories that aren’t her own. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on, and Peter eventually even agrees with Walter, and decides to leave town to stop it.

And you know, it’s all fun and games until Olivia realizes that she’s actually LOSING her old amber memories in this episode. That’s when she starts freaking the fuck out, and rightly so.

Until this episode these notions of Olivia feeling like this other version of herself was somehow ‘better’, because she was in love with Peter didn’t have as much weight to them, as they did now. Because now she’s actually faced with the reality of LITERALLY LOSING HER SENSE OF SELF because of her feelings for a guy.

So I’m glad that the show actually acknowledged that at last, and had Olivia questioning it all for a moment. Even if she did eventually choose to embrace the change, of having her amber set of memories replaced. And this is where I’m conflicted.

On one hand, this works with the show’s theme, characters and stories over and over re-inforce this idea that love makes you a better person. Except amber Olivia DOES have love in her life. And some of that is the kind of love  that blue Olivia DOESN’T. Case in point: Nina.

And once again, I’m glad that the show focuses on Olivia’s relationship with Nina as a side story, because Olivia recognizes that this is what she’d be losing by giving in. But where the show fails I think, is actually discussing it in the same terms that they do with Olivia’s emerging feelings for Peter. It’s love that Olivia seeks by remembering how she felt about Peter, but it’s also love that she’d be losing by forgetting about Nina. Despite often focusing on familiar love, this is a strange occurrence where the show weirdly dismisses it in favor of putting romantic love on a pedestal.

It’s also weird how they’re discussing her relationship with Lincoln, because of course they don’t have the same connection at this point. Olivia and Peter spent two years as partners before they actually gave it a shot romantically. But then again, that’s just it I guess, because Lincoln is already head over heels with Olivia, and that forces Olivia to consider him as a romantic interest... And she’s just not interested.

And another thing - the episode ends with Olivia asking Nina to try and re-build their relationship after she forgets, but during this time I couldn’t help but think... Couldn’t they’ve done the same thing with Peter? Olivia could’ve fallen in love all over again without being forced to give up herself of this timeline.

Here’s where I find it all understandable though.

You see, Olivia is just really bad at the whole romance thing. It just doesn’t work out for her more often than not. It’s hard for her to open up, to trust someone, to not be afraid. And make no mistake, she WANTS to. So, you know, I also kind of understand why she would latch onto these feelings after all. Because this is something that she’s almost given up on, to have this sort of relationship, to open up in this way - so no wonder that she wants to hold onto it.

And maybe, maybe she felt that starting over with Nina would be easier, because familiar love is unconditional. It’s not supposed to go anywhere, Nina will always love her and be there for her, and she can learn to reciprocate those feelings once again.

So yeah. I’m definitely conflicted, but not in a way that I can’t spin this all in a positive light. I just wish that the show addressed these issues I had more.

Huh, that was a long ass discourse. So let’s just go over everything else. Meanwhile Peter and Walter discover that September left a cool message in Peter’s eyes that has September’s address in it!!! Those are some cool scenes of Peter going over September’s stuff and tech (foreshadowing Observer!Peter?), and after he does as instructed, September is able to come back to this time. And tell Peter that ‘Oh, yeah, this universe? Totally yours, sorry I forgot to mention that.’ I love September.

And our weekly case is about a guy with a disfigured face who just wants to experience love. EXCEPT HE’S A FUCKING CREEP DEAR LORD. He stalks couples, kills the guy by draining him and bottling up his ‘essence’ and pheromones, and then he assaults the women. Who after they catch scent of their dead loved one, momentarily get lost in it and kiss him back??? My short answer to all that is: NO.

Overall, it’s still very much an episode that I love. I cry @ the last scene with Olivia and Nina, and the Polivia reunion is certainly epic. I just have some mixed feelings about some of the story points.

Do we even need bullet points? I’m already late posting this and my brain is tired.

[mirroredtranslations]

Tsubasa Sleeping - Chapter 11 (Final)

Wazamonogatari – Nisioisin p. 251-252

[Previous Chapter]

“...That's about how it went. There wasn't any particular punch line, but how did you like it?”

I thanked Oshino-san for listening quietly, and he replied, “It was fascinating”—it seemed less like he thought it fascinating and more like he was amused by it, but the fact that it pleased him was the more important thing.

“Unlike Araragi-kun's emotion-filled stories, yours was rich in implications, Miss Class Rep. Not implication so much as sarcasm, perhaps. As a specialist, there were new things for me to learn.”

“I hardly think so... I was made aware of my own ignorance throughout.”

But it was no time to feel ashamed.

“S-so, Oshino-san. The story is over, and we can go back to Japan together now—”

“But, Miss Class Rep, your story doesn't end there, does it?” he said.

Oshino-san produced a cigarette from his breast pocket, put it in his mouth without lighting it, and continued.

“You say the Heart-Under-Blade lying dormant inside you woke up temporarily, like an acute reaction due to stimulation from the briar thorn; but right now, I can't sense that element sleeping inside you at all. You're completely you.”

“......”

“Before you got here, before you found me, you somehow used it all up—those idle assets of yours, or rather, that idle blood of yours.(1) So you must have had lots of experiences after that one, right?”

I'd love to hear about those things.

As long as time permits.

Urged on in that cynical manner, I reluctantly decided to continue the story.

“Hm, so... As promised, Dramaturgie-san inquired at his organization, and based on that information the next country I visited was—”

Our conversation went on and on; the story went on and on.

My journey dedicated to Araragi-kun seemed far from over.

Footnotes: (1) “Idle asset” is a financial term meaning an asset not being put to productive use. The word for “idle” in “idle asset” in Japanese is the same as the word for “sleeping”.

Afterword

Although Queen Marie Antoinette is purported to have said, “If they do not have bread, let them eat cake,” it seems she did not actually say that. This kind of thing is fairly common—Oda Nobunaga didn't say, “If you do not sing for me, little bird, I will kill you”; Thomas Edison did say, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration,” but he meant something else; Emperor Napoleon didn't say, “The word 'impossible' is not in my dictionary,” but rather, “French has no such word as 'impossible'”, and so on; these aren't just a few famous exceptions, but rather, history's famous sayings are generally repeated through the impressions they make, and if the person who spoke them heard them now, it would probably not be what they intended. Setting aside sayings that leave a good impression like Mr. Edison's, I expect Mr. Oda would be rather upset. Perhaps he would react, “Really? People think I'm the kind of guy who says stuff like that?” Incidentally, this kind of thing can be a big nuisance when it comes to novelists; if you admire a wise saying left behind by an old literary master, sometimes you do some research and find that it's a line in their work, and you become confused about how to interpret it. You feel like they've told you, “Authors are not their work. Please enjoy this purely as fiction”—that's not a real quote either. By the way, misgivings like, “They might have said it, but it just wasn't recorded,” are quite possible since there's no way to prove something wasn't said; however, given that Queen Marie Antoinette was almost certainly a stylish person, it's hard to believe she really mixed up bread and cake, which have different amounts of calories.

With that said, this was the second installment of the Monogatari Series Off Season. Like the previous book Orokamonogatari, it is a collection of zeroth episodes: “Episode Zero: Acerola Bon Appétit”, “Episode Zero: Karen Ogre”, and “Episode Zero: Tsubasa Sleeping”. Like, thereafter begins a new story. The fairy tale of “Princess Beauty” included at the beginning, previously published in an anime fanbook, is a prequel both to Shinobu Oshino's story and Kizumonogatari, which ought to be called the starting point of the Monogatari series; as such, I believe the past, present, and future are all connected in this novel. I hope you enjoyed reading in four dimensions, disregarding the concept of time and reading multiple timelines at once. This has been a book I wrote purely out of my own interest, the second installment of the Monogatari Series Off Season, Wazamonogatari. Bon appétit!

On the front cover is Mr. VOFAN's illustration of Shinobu in early childhood form (about ten years old) from Karen Ogre. Thank you very much! Speaking of which, every time the one who named her, Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicide-Master, died in the story, her body grew more and more childlike. It was a bit of narrative trickery. She didn't mention it herself, so you wouldn't realize, but Tropicalesque must have thought, “How pitiful!” Off Season will continue for another two volumes; thank you for reading.

Nishio Ishin

Translator’s Afterword

It’s now been a little over a year since I started this blog, and almost a year exactly since the first chapter of Sodachi Fiasco. I’ve received so much support and gratitude I sometimes just blush like an anime character, surprised that people actually find it worth their time to read my stuff. No, really. Translating Nisioisin is not an easy task, and I can only hope I’ve done his words a small measure of justice. Thank you so much for reading!

Next up is... actually, the continuation of Karen Ogre! I’m still debating whether to translate more from Musubimonogatari. I’m excited beyond words for the upcoming book Shinobumonogatari, so please look forward to that later this year.

ご愛読ありがとうございました！

[thegraytalon-blog]

Kingdom Hearts III

Alas, The Gray Talon chooses his targets wisely as the hunter considers his prey! 

With that being stated, today we are going to discuss, pick apart and review  the 14 year old game in the making, Kingdom Hearts III seeing as though I have just finished the story last night. First off as always I may slip and include a spoiler here any there so if you don’t want anything ruined you may want to click or look away before we go any further. However, if you don’t mind a mild spoiler or two, let’s jump right in and get started!

Overview:

Square-Enix in association with Yensid, er, I mean Disney, has brought us at long last a true sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. A game that was originally released in Japan in late 2005 and in NA/Europe in spring of 2006. The genre of this title is an action/RPG, with heavy emphasis on the action and a light to moderate notion to the RPG aspect. We will be looking at an array of features in this game ranging from graphics to gameplay and dissecting the story and overall seeing in the end if it’s truly worth your time!

Graphics:

In terms of visual style and representation of the polish, I can say without hesitation that here is one of the few key areas where KH3 shines. And I mean literally shines. By using the Unreal 4 Engine, the shiny and robust environments, textures and landscapes are truly a feast for the eyes. Even the cinematic cutscenes will have your jaw agape in awe that they are using in-engine graphics to undertake those scenes. The transitions from cutscenes to in game action are near flawless as well, allowing you to jump back into the action after a scene plays out without having to wait for a loading screen or any type of fade to black scene to transpire. There is an extremely noticeable difference from past KH titles to KH3. You’ll begin to notice little nuances such as Sora’s hair flowing in the wind as he’s jumping in the air to Donald and Goofy’s clothing swaying as they’re running around. I was playing this on my PS4 Pro and it seems to have an output of 1440p overall and does not include an option for HDR on either versions of the game, which is a little disappointing, but does not hinder the core experience. There is an option for framerate to either be locked at 30FPS or an free flowing framerate mode, which is defaulted from the start. I cannot stress enough that you should just leave the default settings as is because the game runs much, much better without locking up the framerate. The framerate, in fact, on free flow mode is almost consistently over 50FPS, nearing 60, which is impressive considering I was playing the game on the PS4 Pro and not the Xbox 1X, which tends to be more of a powerhouse in terms of hardware. Overall the graphics are pristine and what you would expect from taking a large chunk of an advantage of the Unreal 4 Engine.

Gameplay and Control:

The hack and slash action returns ten-fold in KH3 and honestly more so than I would have liked or expected. Don’t get me wrong, the gameplay works and overtime at that. There’s numerous moments when you’re struggling to keep up with the fast paced mayhem transpiring on screen as you keep mashing X, while waiting for that inevitable Triangle action command to prompt to go into a little mini-game mode with yourself, Donald, Goofy or whichever 4th party member you have from whichever world you are presently in. In my opinion there is just too much relying on mashing 1 or 2 buttons here and in the beginning when you’re in the honeymoon phase with KH3, you will rejoice and possibly say this is the best action game you ever played. However, when you’re 3 or 4 worlds in and doing the exact same carousel or water slide mini-game you’ll begin to feel burnt out from the tediousness that never seems to differ. One of the biggest problems of KH3, besides it’s overly convoluted story, (which don’t worry, we will get to shortly), is it’s over saturated use of relying on 1 or 2 buttons to kill an enemy with the same move over and over again with a teeny weeny hint of magic here and there and washing, rinsing and repeating until the very final moments of the game. The combat honestly feels like it’s just been slightly enhanced from other KH titles and does not do anything to evolve the core fighting mechanics as time goes on. You mash a button or two until something dies, use cure or a potion here and there when need be, and keep on repeating until the credits roll. The controls feel tight, slick and responsive as you move Sora around the map and by the simple press of a button can instantly send him wherever you want to go in whichever fashion you like. The camera works with you too as opposed to against you. The free camera control is always a welcomed sight and the only time the camera almost got in my way was during the final boss fight when it switched to an overhead view to better scope out your surroundings but it was a minor hiccup in the end. But you would think after over a decade in development, Tetsuya Nomura would focus more on the combat aspect instead of just tossing in a mere handful of random action sequences that replay more than a sitcom does reruns in the summer. But no, Nomura-san decided to invest all of his time and energy into providing us with one of the most complex storylines known to man that can even rival trying to figure out the proper timeline in The Legend of Zelda series, only much, much more nonsensical. 

Story/Narrative/Campaign:

Now herein lies the Achilles’ heel to not only KH3, but the plethora of all KH games to date, leading back to KH2 when the overly complicated cast of Kool-Aid cultists known as the Organization XIII were introduced, killed out, reintroduced, renamed and resurrected into different bodies. It’s just plain old unwarranted for a game that revolves around Disney and Final Fantasy characters. Oh, and speaking of Final Fantasy characters, or should I say lack thereof, KH3 shifts the focus to solely Disney and no, delete delete, Pixar characters in it’s entirety. If you have the smallest expectation to see Cloud, Squall, Auron or any of the other beloved FF cast then you best not ever even dare to dream about picking up and playing KH3 for the sheer amount of disappointment that will ensue. There is maybe 1 or 2 references to the FF characters but they are nowhere to be found here in KH3. There is only Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, the Organization XIII wackos and the 4 new Pixar worlds they added in total of 6 worlds in KH3 because a 10 year developmental period only allows for a handful of new worlds to be created. The returning worlds are Olympus Colosseum, which opens up the prologue of the game with (and my personal favorite in the entire game because you fight a ton of titans and Hades with a reprising James Woods doing his role) and for some daft reason Pirates of the Caribbean, because why not? The Pirates of the Caribbean story is also as complicated as a monkey trying to solve Chinese algebra so why not marry it to the conundrum that is the KH storyline? It makes sense right? Yeah, as much sense as strapping your nuts to a car battery because you like the way it feels. Now moving along, besides the lack of FF characters, the story and plot itself is very loosely explained. Sure there are some subtexts you can find and revisit in the main menu, but it rarely does justice as Square and Tetsa Nomura-San really wanted to you play either all 10 of the other KH games prior or by spending full price on the Story So Far PS4 title and watching the 17 hours of cutscenes so you are all caught up, because why else do we exist on this planet, if not to uncover the intricate meanings of a game about why there’s an organization trying to steal people’s hearts who also have a nobody and  unversed counterparts with Disney characters somewhere mixed in? And excuse me, because after reading that sentence back to myself I think I just gave myself Syphilis stage 3. But this is not the sole issue of the KH story. In KH3 especially, there is no focus on the plot, even as complicated as it may be. The vast majority of the game you are trying to get Sora to find the power of waking and from the opening prologue (which I kid you not as you enter Olympus the words spew across the screen Kingdom Hearts 2.9, you sleazy rat bastards) once it is mentioned and as you begin to traverse the worlds, Sora and pals tend to forget what their goal is and what they are doing, other than visiting worlds and getting intertwined with their own unique dramas. In the final act of the game, the story picks back up in tidbits only to try it’s best to close out the supposed final chapter in what has already been a painstakingly long and drawn out franchise. Lastly, if you think the story is over after KH3, hilariously the way the game ends makes it feel like The Dark Knight Rises, where you can create your own ending and definition to the fate of Sora. Only if you manage to collect all Mickey emblems can you see the “true” ending, which again doesn’t even make sense like the rest of this game. Sora and Riku are on some kind of Final Fantasy Versus like world on another adventure insinuating a KH4. Right. KH4, coming in the year 2099 after all the nuke’s finish dumping on the world and all that’s left is KH4 and a handful of mutants. If I had to rate KH3 on it’s narrative alone it would get a C- but luckily the slick gameplay and amazing musical score helps balance out the awkwardness of it’s plot.

Sound, Voice and Music:

Another saving grace in KH3 is in it’s musical opus. When it wants to, the score is reminiscent to that of a grand orchestra, that can damn near rival the likes of such famed composers as Hans Zimmer, Harry-Gregson Williams, Bill Conti and even John Williams at times. Some very familiar tunes return from previous games and the final battle music is a delight to the ears to behold and take in. The copulas sounds of a beautifully integrated choir with a robust orchestra really bring the world around you to life. The voice acting holds up well too for the most part, when they aren’t talking complete gibberish about the plot. Disney characters sound as you imagine they would in their respective films. Although Tom Hanks and Tim Allen couldn’t reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, their stand-ins do just fine to make you feel like you’re playing a side tale of Toy Story. Meanwhile, the return of almost the entire cast of Frozen made you feel like you were watching Frozen 2.0. And lastly, the sound effects in terms of inanimate objects and clashing in the world sounds crisp and clean. There are some stale voice acting, though from time to time. Such as whenever some Organization XIII members try to explain the plot and they sound like they’re reading off of a bad script from an Uwe Boll or Paul W.S. Anderson movie. At the end of the day, the music is exemplary and the voice acting is solid on an average scale.

Replay Value:

At best, it all depends on how big of a fan you are at the end of the day. In the 30 hours I spent with KH3, for me, I am a moderate fan of the series so once I saw those credits roll, I was satisfied. I felt no further need to return to a previous save and collect all of the ingredients for the Ultima Keyblade and/or go around hunting down those fat pieces of flan goo taking pictures of them along with those Mickey emblems for a trophy and a secret/true ending. The amount of tedium present in KH3 is heavy in terms of combat that doesn’t escalate beyond pressing 1 or 2 key buttons and a narration that runs circles around itself providing little to no answers or logical sense. It’s a solid action game at it’s core with lots of flash and little in terms of substance and depth unless you count the ridiculously deep never ending rabbit hole of it’s complex plot. 

Overall Score/Worth Your Time?:

When all is said and done and the smoke and pixie Disney dust has settled I cannot help but give KH3 a 7 out of 10. It upsets and pains me in a sense to have to say this, but after waiting oh so very dearly long (and dearly beloved) for this game to come out, something very, very wrong happened in it’s prolonged and obtuse production and development and it’s really hard to pinpoint exactly where as in a nutshell the game is a bit of a mess all around in most areas. While the gameplay and controls are tight and fluid, it suffers from overusing the same stale combat over and over again in tandem with a story that is just too damn hard to put time and energy into figuring out. The musical score is probably the only area of KH3  where I can safely say it’s flawless. The rest of the game is up in shambles, endlessly clashing with itself and can’t figure out what direction it wanted to go in for the majority of it’s campaign. And that’s not just present in KH3, it’s now present in most of the other KH games after KH1 as well. It seems that Tetsu Nomura bit off more than he can chew when in reality a cute and cozy video game about Disney and Final Fantasy characters should have simply been about crossing over the 2 franchises and not trying to engross the masses in a plot that would make Interstellar, The Matrix and Inception look like Cool Runnings or Encino Man. (Remember Encino Man? Yeah, I liked Brenan Fraser in the 90′s...) But I digress, is Kingdom Hearts 3 worth your time at the end of the day? And in all honesty, unless you’re a super nerd and have played all 10+ games in their entirety and took a course to understand the intricate workings of the story, then no, it is not worth the 30 hours of your life. Go play Resident Evil 2 remake instead, which I beat twice and is simply glorious. 

PRO’S:

Beautifully rendered worlds and graphics with stable framerates.

A simply magical musical score that is a delight to hear.

Tight and responsive controls.

CON’S:

Tedious combat that does not evolve and challenge the player.

Overly saturated and convoluted plot that does not warrant meaning to casual and even some avid gamers.

Absence of all of the beloved Final Fantasy characters.

Only a handful of new worlds to visit (about 4 in total) mostly from the Pixar universe.

Repetitive encounters and battle commands that hinder the excitement.

[what-is-sibling-test]

from 'RittenhouseTL' for all things Timeless https://ift.tt/2rfsObP via Istudy world

Burgundy & Blue - Chapter 15

Fandom: Timeless

Pairing: Garcia Flynn / Lucy Preston

Summary:

“Well…what are you waiting on? You guys want to get Flynn back or what?”  Never underestimate the tenacity of a woman with a broken heart and a time machine. Lucy does her best impression of Flynn and punches holes in her own timeline in a desperate attempt to save his life - but actions have consequences.

Read from the start here

The atmosphere in the room is painfully tense as Jessica and Flynn keep their guns pointed at each other, neither moving a muscle.  The two guards at the desk were also quick to draw their weapons as soon as she did, leaving him at a definite disadvantage as Denise hadn’t had time to pull hers.  Outnumbered 3 to 1, the odds aren’t in his favor. Seeing the writing on the wall, he growls in frustration and lowers his gun, crouching to set it on the floor. He stands once more with his hands raised, eyes narrowed at Jessica.

“Smart man,” she says, and nods at the guards.  “Secure them.” Flynn keeps his eyes on Jessica as the guards approach, and something changes in her expression just as the two men turn their backs to her.  

Despite noticing this, it still shocks him thoroughly when she shifts her aim and fires two bullets into each of the guards.

“We need to hurry,” she says, springing into action immediately once the men hit the ground.  She kneels beside them and grabs one of their security passes. Flynn quickly crouches to retrieve his gun and points it her way, and Jessica ignores him entirely as she rushes back to the door and waves the badge against the access panel with a shaking hand.

“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Flynn mutters to no one in particular, finally lowering his weapon.

“This floor isn’t typically monitored, but it won’t be long before they realize no one is manning the desk.”  Jessica turns back to them as the door slides open, frustration evident on her face. “Are you both deaf? I said move!”

Flynn and Denise finally shake off their surprise and dash after her, Flynn retrieving his bag of weapons from the floor as he moves.  Jessica is well ahead of them already, tucking her gun back into her waistband as she jogs. They catch up just as she’s sliding the security pass through the barcode reader on the final cell door, and they spot Wyatt through the bars, sitting in the corner with his head down.  At the sound of footsteps, he looks up, stunned as he recognizes all the faces before him.

“What’s going on?” he asks, his voice hoarse.

“Get up,” Jessica orders, stepping into his cell.  “We’re getting out of here.”

Wyatt looks from his wife over to Denise, who shrugs.  “We’re as surprised as you are.”

He looks back at Jessica.  “Does this mean-?”

“Yes, you idiot,” Jessica says, exasperated, slinging his arm over her shoulder and grunting with the effort of lifting him to his feet.  “But we are at a definite disadvantage in this building, and if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be pinned down.”

“Do you know where the Mothership is?” Denise asks, hopeful.

“Not specifically.  It varies. Flynn, can you…?”  She nods at Wyatt, still clearly struggling to support his weight, and Flynn quickly tucks his gun away to take Wyatt’s other arm.  The man looks like hell, with a severe limp and his face a mess of cuts and bruises. Wyatt looks up at Flynn, eyebrow raised.

“Of all the people I expected to be my knight in shining armor, you were the last on the list.”

“Wasn’t my idea.”

“Figured as much,” he replies, a wry grin on his face that immediately disappears as he stumbles and gasps in pain.

“Can you walk?” Denise asks, and Wyatt shakes his head.

“Sprain at least, if not worse.  You should have left me, gone after the Mothership instead.”

“Oh, trust me, we fully intend to do both.”  Denise takes point, gun drawn, scanning the room ahead quickly before gesturing for them to follow.  “Rufus, do you read? We have him. We need to know where we’re going.”

“They have radio signals blocked on this floor,” Jessica tells them, hitting the down button with her fist.  “Once we clear this floor you’ll be able to reach him.”

“But we have no idea where to go from here.”

“We’ll head for 18,” Jessica says quickly.  “That floor is usually quiet, and I know there are medical supplies as well; we can get you at least somewhat patched up.”

They board the elevator and Flynn lets go of Wyatt’s arm to rummage in his bag, retrieving the second pistol he’s been carrying.  He holds it out for Wyatt to take, and when the other man merely stares at it, Flynn sighs and shoves it into his waistband for him.

“Flynn, I don’t think I can even aim in this state, let alone fire the damn thing.”

“Call it a backup plan, then.”

Their radios crackle suddenly with static, and they hear Rufus’s panicked voice in their ears.  “-read me?  Flynn? Denise?  Hello? What is going on?”

“Rufus, we have him.”  Wyatt stares at Flynn as he speaks, wondering where exactly the radio is, and Flynn taps the glasses in silent response.  “We need to know where we’re going, and quickly.”

“Oh thank god, I was panicking.  I narrowed Lucy’s location down to somewhere on the 18th floor.  I’m heading there now.”

“Perfect, we’re already en route.  See you shortly.” He nods at Jessica and Wyatt, the only people on the elevator not privy to the other side of the conversation.  “18th floor.”

The doors slide open to reveal Rufus standing in the hallway, looking at his watch impatiently, and he visibly relaxes as he sees them.  “Thank god.” He then notices Jessica, and a hand goes for his holstered gun. Flynn is quick to raise a hand, halting him.

“She’s with us.  Apparently.”

“And you’re trusting her?  She already double-crossed us once, she’s kidnapped both me and Wyatt, how much shit is this woman going to get away with before you all wise up?”

“Rufus,” Denise says calmly, “she killed two Rittenhouse guards, she knows the building layout, and we vastly outnumber her anyway.  For the time being, I trust her. We’ll deal with long-term ramifications after.”

“Lucy?” Flynn asks him impatiently, and Rufus points down the hall.

“Saw her disappear into that room on the cameras, didn’t resurface.”

“That’s the kitchen,” Jessica pipes up, adjusting her hold on Wyatt.  “The medical supplies are in another room; I can grab them while you decide where we’re going from here.”

No one looks particularly comfortable with the idea of Jessica running off alone, but Denise nods all the same.  “I’ll go with her. Flynn, you take Wyatt and Rufus and see if you can track down Lucy. If you find her, stay put until we get back.”

Flynn nods and slings Wyatt’s arm over his shoulder again so Jessica can let go.  She gestures for Denise to follow, and they disappear around a corner. Rufus has already started heading for the door to the kitchen, and just as he reaches it, Flynn hisses, “Wait.”

“Why?” Rufus whispers back.

“You take him and get back to the elevator, wait for me there.  We have no idea who or what is through that door, and right now you’re both liabilities.”

Rufus looks as if he might protest, but he instead nods and takes over supporting Wyatt.  Once they’ve disappeared back around the corner toward the elevator, Flynn whips open the door, gun held at the ready, and upon spotting her he mumbles, “What the hell?”

Across the room, seated at a table, Lucy is having tea with a man Flynn doesn’t recognize, and both of them look up as the door opens.  Her eyes reach his immediately, a smile lighting up her face, and she seems unharmed, physically or otherwise. Flynn has to resist the urge to rush over and kiss her fiercely, and it’s only occurring to him now how worried he was about her.

The man jumps to his feet quickly, grabbing Lucy’s arm and pulling her along with him, and he stands slightly in front of her, shielding her with his body, as Flynn aims his gun directly at his chest.  

“You’re not hurting her.”  Both men say it at the exact same time and look at each other in confusion.

“Are you okay?” Flynn then asks Lucy directly, ignoring the stranger standing between them.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”  She gently touches a hand to her would-be protector’s arm, and he turns to her.  “Noah, I have to go.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry Noah, but…none of this was real.”

He blinks, not quite comprehending.  “But I thought…you told your mother, you told Nicholas-”

“All these trips to the past have made me pretty good at bluffing.”  She chances a sad smile, which Noah doesn’t return. “But I wasn’t lying when I said it was good to see you.  You’re a good man, Noah, far too good to be wrapped up with the likes of Rittenhouse. I hope you break away from them before it’s too late.”

“Lucy…”  Forgetting the intruder across the room momentarily, he takes her hand.  Flynn stiffens, his jaw clenched, but he finally lowers his gun, sensing no threat (or perhaps no danger is the better way to put it, as he can definitely sense some sort of history between Lucy and whoever this guy is).  “Luce, you’re going to get yourself killed keeping this up. Rittenhouse-”

“Their days are numbered, Noah.”  She pulls her hand gently out of his grasp.  “I hope you get out before then. I truly do.  You deserve a happy life, a home, a family, all of it.”

“Just not with you,” he finishes, looking down, and Lucy nods.  “Truthfully, Lucy, I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you.”

Flynn’s grip tightens on his gun, and he’s sure if he clenches his jaw any further he’ll break some teeth.  Lucy glances over at him briefly, and though he clearly isn’t happy about the current situation, he also doesn’t shy away from looking at her like he had the night previous.

“I have to go, Noah,” she says, giving him one more smile.  “Please take care of my mother. I know she’s in good hands with you.”

He nods, dejected, and watches as she crosses around the table to go to Flynn’s side.  Flynn immediately puts a hand to her face as she draws close. “You okay?”

“Yeah, Flynn, I’m fine.”  

From across the table, Noah looks between them, and the truth dawns on him.  “Wait. Garcia Flynn is the guy you were talking about?”

Lucy sighs, turning away and pulling Flynn along with her by the arm.  “Please give us at least five minutes before you sound the alarm.”

As they leave the room, Lucy hears Noah mutter, “I’m not going to report you.”  And then, “Stay safe, Lucy.”

She casts one last smile his way, then closes the door behind her.  “What’s the plan?” she whispers, conscious of how quiet the hallway is.

“Rufus knows where the Mothership is.  We’re going to split up, half take the Mothership, half take the Lifeboat, and rendezvous back at the house.”  He checks the clip on his gun, more of a fidget than anything. “So who was your friend back there?”

“If you must know…my ex-fiance”

His head whips around.  “Fiance?”

“Courtesy of time travel repercussions and nothing more, I barely know the man.  If anything, it’s your fault, since he showed up right after the Hindenburg incident.”  She starts down the hall without him, and Flynn quickly trails after her.

“And what if he reports us?”

“He’s not going to.”

“How do you know-”

Lucy stops and turns to face him.  “He has history with me that unfortunately I didn’t live through, and so while I feel sympathy for the guy - and nothing more - his perspective on our relationship was much, much different.”

“He loved you.”

“Yeah.  He did. And I walked away.”

Flynn nods, acquiescing.  “Come on, Jessica is probably back with the first aid supplies by now.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say Jessica?”

“Long story that we really don’t have time for right now. I’ll explain after.”

They round the corner and see the rest of their group huddled next to the elevators, Jessica just finishing dressing the worst of Wyatt’s wounds.  They hear a quiet ding as the elevator arrives, and they quickly get on, Denise standing in the path of the door to hold it open and waving for Flynn and Lucy to hurry.

Just as they increase their pace, another ding signals the arrival of the opposite elevator.  Flynn waves for them to go and pulls Lucy back behind the corner of the hallway, and Denise ducks into their waiting elevator, the doors sliding closed just as the doors on the newly arrived elevator open.  Flynn waits, Lucy at his side, barely breathing as he listens. They hear heavy boots taking slow steps, and Flynn chances a look around the corner only to see his brother at the end of the hall, his back turned to them.

“We need to get to the stairs,” Flynn whispers to Lucy.  The stairwell entrance is, thankfully, at their end of the hallway and out of Gabriel’s line of sight.  He pushes Lucy gently toward it, and they hurry over to the door, crouched and quiet, just as Gabriel’s footsteps start to head their direction.  They duck inside just in time, Flynn catching the door before it can slam shut and letting it close gently, and they wait as the footsteps go by. Another door opens, most likely the kitchen, and they hear voices murmuring briefly before it shuts once more.  “Move,” Flynn whispers urgently. He doesn’t have to tell her twice. Lucy slips her shoes off so as to move silently (not to mention quicker), and both of them descend the stairs as fast as they can without raising suspicion.

They make it to the 10th floor before a door opens below them, and Flynn is quick to usher Lucy out of the stairwell and into yet another hall.  He glances around, trying to get his bearings, and sees the security office he’d been in earlier with Rufus. “There.” Once Lucy is safely inside with him, he locks the door behind them and lets out a breath.

“What do we do now?” Lucy whispers as Flynn seats himself at the monitors.  He cycles through each of the feeds until he finds one for the elevators, and is able to quickly track down their group.

“Denise, Rufus, do either of you read?”  He gets only static in response. “Looks like they’re heading for the basement.  My guess is the Mothership is down there. Probably have comms jammed down there as well.”

“Is there a basement camera?”

“Doesn’t look like it.  I’m not surprised. Last thing you want is everyone in the building seeing need-to-know information like ‘We have a time machine’.”  Flynn glances over at her. “Still no alarms. Looks like your ex was telling the truth.”

Lucy rolls her eyes.  “Can we please drop Noah?”

A small smile tugs at his lips, but he says nothing.  He scans over the monitors, swapping feeds rapidly, trying to find where Gabriel ended up.

“Wait.  Go back.”

He obliges, flicking back through the feeds until Lucy raises a hand for him to stop on what appears to be a large library.  Two figures are standing in the center of the frame, the footage too blurry to make out who they are.

“Can you zoom in at all?”

“Maybe.”  After a few seconds of fiddling, he manages to find a zoom function, and closes in on the two figures.  The detail doesn’t improve much, but Lucy seems able to see something that he can’t.

“No…that can’t be.”

“Lucy?”

Without another word she rushes over to the door, unlocking it and ducking out quickly.  Flynn scrambles to catch up, and as Lucy disappears into the stairwell again she can hear him loudly hissing her name. She ignores him, heading upwards, and she hears his footsteps following up the stairs as she ducks through another door above.  She rushes down the empty hall, eyes scanning each door that she passes until she comes to a set marked RECEPTION ROOM. She stops short, hesitating for a moment before she takes a breath and pushes the doors open.

Oh god.

Read the rest at AO3