#it probably is disabling for him since he's had his powers since birth

[lotus-duckies]

cries in disabled

[selkies-world]

Something something, Trump's vice saying that they need to execute people who don't support Trump, something something, Trump banning abortion & reproductive health care & birth control, something something, Trump saying Puerto Ricans just multiply and have lots of babies, something something, Trump being funded by Elon Musk, something something, Musk openly stating that the economy will suffer because Trump will give him free reign to have his Meta wetdream come true at the expense of the entire country, something something, Trump wanting to put transgender kids in "homes" away from affirming parents & wanting to have transgender adults "imprisoned" or put into "homes" or "camps", something something, Trump & Putin & Farage, something something, Trump & the big red button, something something, does nobody else remember Trump threatening Nuclear War with Russia & China & North (?) Korea over petty or racist things BEFORE RUSSIA THREATENED THE WORLD WITH NUCLEAR WW3 IF WE INTERVENE AND STOP RUSSIA INVADING UKRAINE, something something, Trump's supporters seeing him as the mesiah and saviour and King David and other god-like personas rather than a deeply flawed and power-hungry man with mental health issues who is not fit to run one of the biggest and most powerful and influential countries in the world, something something, leaving disabled and chronically ill people to die or suffer without medicare, something something, making it illegal to miscarry (& probably to have a stillbirth), something something, didn't somebody say it'd be okay under Trump to euthanize people who can't / won't contribute to the industrial capitalist society? Something something, Trump saying he wants the generals Hitler had, something something, the Nazi Euthanasia Programme (T4, I think?), something something, look in a history book and tell me what happened to the Jews & blacks in Germany when they were taken to centres & divided into those who could provide labour (& who were taken to concentration camps to becomes slaves and endure torture) and those who could not provide labour.

Look in a history book, and you will see that WW2 started in the 1930s, but there were signs of it coming on the 1920s. There was a build up, there was a gradual inclination towards it, and it was that inclination which put Hitler in power - before that inclination happened, he was the leader of a very unpopular party whom nobody paid much attention to. There were signs, there were bridges crossed, there were decisions made, there were votes won and there were more and more slippery steps to take before Germany announced war in the 1930s. And throughout all of that time, it was the minorities, those who would suffer the most just for existing, who felt the pressure first while the rest of society began to celebrate Hitler. It was these people who were growing uncomfortable with the fact regular education had been replaced by swastikas in schoolbooks, and with Hitler being featured in children's rhymes as a friendly father figure to guard over them all - and more so with the fact this was mandatory for every child to learn, and that teachers had two choices: teach children what Hitler wanted them to learn, or lose their jobs, in the best case scenario.

WW2 didn't just 'happen' in the 1930s; it was already being created in the 1920s.

We know this. We also know that we can match Trump's movements almost exactly to the steps taken by Hitler in the late 1920s & early 1930s. We know where this path leads, because we saw it before. We know where this path leads, because we have been down it before. We know where this path leads, because we were swept along by the current last time it happened.

It hasn't even been 100 years since WW2 began. It hasn't even been 100 years since the Holocaust; there are people who survived it who are still alive today.

It hasn't even been 100 years since the world went through what was perhaps the worst war in human history, to date.

Please do not make the world go through it all again. Because this time, there is different technology, different threats, and I promise you, it will not be the victory you want.

I know you're angry at the world. I know you're hurt, hurt to the point of being numb. I know you're tired and I know you're scared. I know you're scared of the unknown, which is why you might not be sure about voting for Kamala. Better the devil you know, and all that. But, America, I promise you, if you vote for Trump on Tuesday, you will damn your country, your people, and the rest of the world, to Hell. This election isn't happening in a vacuum - none of your elections have. Did you know that the UK celebrated when Obama legalised gay marriage? Did you know that multiple countries now celebrate 2 pride months, June and July, since Trump changed when the USA would celebrate it last time he was on power? Did you know that Scotland, Ireland and Wales study your civil war and your resistance and your wars of independence as intensely as we study the French revolution? Did you know that when JFK was assassinated, there were memorials and vigils held in multiple countries? Did you know that the global variation of English, AKA Globish, is more strongly influenced by US-English than British English, Australian English or Canadian English? Did you know that people who barely speak English can sing country songs word for word, with an American accent? Did you know that up until 2016, a lot of people in other countries saw the USA as the land where dreams come true - a whole country with the magic of Disneyland, where anyone can become anything, where the wildness is still free and where there are sights and sounds found nowhere else in the world? Did you know how influential you, your people and your country is to the rest of the world?

You're not voting in a vacuum, because the USA doesn't exist in a vacuum. I know you're scared - you know this election is important. I know you're hurt, because you haven't been listened to in the past, and Biden betrayed your trust, and you have no reason to vote blue this time around because you don't think Kamala will keep her word. I know you're reluctant to vote for her because she isn't openly stating that she will help Palestine; but the truth is that she and Biden have been trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Isreal and Palestine for a while now, while Trump has been in frequent communication with the leader of Isreal and has been encouraging the genocide to continue. This is what he does without the backing of your country behind him; what do you think he would do with the power of the Whitehouse backing him, when nobody can tell him no, when he will be seen by many as being above the law? Do you really believe that he'll save you, or anybody but himself, when push comes to shove?

Maybe Kamala isn't a Saint. Maybe her rule won't be perfect. Maybe it won't give you back the America you remember from your childhoods, and maybe she won't give us back the America we imagined your country to be. But she will save the planet from desolation, she will protect your people, she will protect your land, she will offer a chance for us to survive the climate crisis, and she will protect your sisters, daughters, wives, mothers, aunts and grandmothers.

If an 8 year old girl is raped by a neighbour, does she deserve to die in labour? Does she deserve to live with the changes forced on her body for the rest of her life, before it was ready? Does her mother deserve to watch her daughter go through that? Does her father deserve to watch his little angel suffer like that? Or does that little girl deserve a doctor who is allowed to save her life and what's left of her childhood?

Trump will condemn that little girl to death if she carries the baby to term and isn't provided the best medical care available. Trump will have that girl imprisoned if she has a stillbirth or miscarries. Trump will have that girl and her family imprisoned if she tries to have it aborted. Trump will condemn that girl for the rest of her life, due to something she had no control over and did not want or deserve. And he will say it's alright, maybe even good, that she suffered like that, because it's what she deserved. He will make up lies about her and her mother and her father. He will make them all into monsters for the rest of your people to hate, condemn and mock.

Kamala will save that little girl's life. Kamala will give that mother her little girl back, safe and healthy. Kamala will give that father his little angel back for him to protect.

Please, America. Please vote blue on Tuesday. Please vote for Kamala. Please vote for Harris. Please. Please, please, please.

Voting BLUE doesn't mean that you're saying "I agree with everything Kamala says, and I think she is a Saint, and I think she's going to save the world, and I think her plans are perfect."

That isn't what you're saying, if it isn't how you feel.

Voting BLUE means that you're saying "I disagree with Trump, and I don't want to turn the USA into the West's Russia, and I don't want to lose everything I know to the third world war, and I don't want to subject the USA to another civil war," because I promise you, that is what he will do if he gets your vote.

[ladylunavoodoo13]

Aurora Nightingale

GENERAL INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Aurora Nightingale

ALSO KNOWN AS: Feyre’s friend Rora

TITLES: Lady Luck

DATE OF BIRTH: August 23

AGE: 22 (at start)

SPECIES: High Fae

(Formerly Mortal)

POWERS:

Probability Manipulation

HOME:

Velaris

Night Court

Used to live in the same village as the Archeron sisters

STATUS: Alive

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

GENDER: Female

EYE COLOR: Hazel

HAIR COLOR: Black

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY:

• Unnamed Father

• Unnamed Older Half Brother

• Unnamed Older Half Sister

• Unnamed Younger Half Brother

•Unnamed Grandmother

•Unnamed Grandfather

•Johanna Nightingale (Grandmother; Mother’s side)

• Marcellino Nightingale (Grandfather; Mother’s side)

• Razon Nightingale (Uncle; Mother’s side)

• Gwenhwyfar Silverwick (Mother)

• Dayana Silverwick (Younger Half Sister)

• Rián Silverwick (Step-Father)

ROMANCES: No former

(Current depends on roleplay but I adore Azriel fjdjjs)

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

“

I will help Feyre no matter what. I’ll come back crawling and broken because she’s the only real family I have.

AURORA, A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

Aurora Nightingale is Feyre Archeron’s best friend despite being the same age as Nesta. She was there throughout the series and didn’t believe that Feyre was fine while she was over the wall, and repeatedly tried going past it to help.

She was previously mortal before being Made into a High Fae after being thrown in the cauldron by the King of Hybern.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

HISTORY

Aurora was born a bastard daughter from Gwenhwyfar’s fling with her father. She doesn’t know much about him other than the fact that he was a traveling merchant from afar, or so her mother says. Due to the shame she brought her family, she was often isolated with nothing but books and a dark room. Sometimes her family even forgot to feed her or just excused it as saying that they needed to save food.

Aurora’s mother married a soldier, Rian, when Aurora was 4. While Aurora was still neglected and had her room in the basement, she had access to the library and did chores. Gwenhwyfar got pregnant with her sister, Dayana. After Dayana’s birth, Gwenhwyfar withdrew and became an alcoholic, likely due to postpartum depression. This led to Aurora taking care of Dayana. Dayana resented Aurora though since she listened to how Gwenhwyfar and her family blamed her for everything.

Her uncle, Razon, was the only one who pitied her in the family and would help teach her how to read and hunt. When she was 8, her uncle was in debt and couldn’t buy her a birthday present. To try to make up for it, he went on a hunt and didn’t come back. Aurora’s family blamed her for his death and she blamed herself. She constantly wears a necklace with an orchid charm on it that was from him to remind herself of him. Ever since his death, she got a horrible guilt complex.

A few months after Razon’s death, Rián became disabled after a fight. This led to Gwenhwyfar leaving them to go somewhere far, and Aurora stepped in to be their caretaker. This is where Aurora started to meet Feyre. The two met on hunts and eventually, they got closer and became best friends. Aurora wasn’t afraid to vocalize her disdain for Nesta and her disappointment in Elain on how they dumped all the work onto Feyre, often leading to arguments. She can tolerate Elain but…. her and Nesta often fought tooth and nail.

When Feyre went beyond the Wall in ACOTAR, Aurora desperately tried to reach her. She felt guilt over Feyre dying and not being there for her, even though it wasn’t her fault. When Feyre came back as a High Fae rather than human, she never judged her and just cried over how she was finally back. Unlike the mortals, Aurora never held anything against Fae. She wondered about their side of the story and was… just curious in general.

Whenever there’s a chance to help Feyre, Aurora jumps at it and goes out of her way for her. This can lead to her being rather impulsive and sacrificing, which ties into what little value she’s put into her life. She tries to protect Elain and Nesta, although begrudgingly, for Feyre’s sake. She apologized to Feyre when she couldn’t help Elain and Nesta from being turned, and when her ability came she… didn’t know how to feel about it. To her, it felt ironic. Being able to manipulate luck when she’s always had awful luck.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

Author’s Note: More details and lore will come, I’m just pooped out and tired rn. :P

[turtletaubwrites]

Bend Until You Break ~ Part 4

Thank you so much for this request from the lovely @anemptypuddingcup !!🖤

Pairings: YANDERE!Trafalgar Law x Fem!Reader

Bend Until You Break ~ Masterlist

Word Count: 3451

Ao3 Link

Summary: You are making good progress, but Law reminds you what your diagnosis means. The crush you have on your doctor is starting to crush you.

Rating/Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content, 18+ ONLY, MDNI, AFAB!Reader, She/Her Pronouns for Reader, Reader-Insert, DARK CONTENT, DUBCON, Dubious Consent, Swearing, Eventual Smut, Yandere, Manipulation, Power Imbalance, Hypermobility, Medical Examination, Medical Trauma, Medical Conditions, Chronic Pain, Injury, Physical Disability, Physical Therapy, Doctor/Patient, Abuse of Authority, Kidnapping, Possessive Behavior, Other Additional Tags to be Added, (Reader is described as having hair "above her shoulders" that she can brush), Needles, Drugs, Arguing, Massage, Praise Kink, Pain, Dissociation, Humiliation, Gaslighting, Non-Consensual Drug Use, (Implied), Birth Control, Menstruation, Discussion of Pregnancy, Brief/Implied Discussion of Sterilization Surgery, Teasing, Dom Trafalgar D. Water Law, Hand & Finger Kink

A/N: Oof, this one has a lot of emotions. And other things. Some of these medical issues may or may not have come from personal experience 🙃

Extra A/N: I am not a doctor, and this is not meant to be educational, or to contain any health advice. Please seek a health professional.

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

“How does it feel?”

Law was so close, the scent of him, and his little smile, bringing a sigh to your lips. 

“It looks like you’re feeling better,” he teased. You chewed on the inside of your cheek, hoping it wasn’t that fucking obvious how he affected you. 

But he has to know. He reads me so well. 

“Mm,” you sighed again at the touch of his fingers on your neck, the brace set aside to hopefully never be seen again. 

“Tell me if anything hurts,” he instructed as he put light pressure on that sensitive skin. Your eyes fluttered closed as you shivered. When you didn’t report any pain, his fingers started gently massaging your neck and shoulders for the first time since it happened. A week and a half? Two weeks? 

Right now you didn’t care that you didn’t know, you were just fighting not to moan too loud. 

“You’re going to be good for me, and be gentle with yourself, yeah,” he rasped close enough for his breath to tickle along your ear. 

“Mhm,” you promised. His hands and his voice had wrecked you once again, that warmth twisting low in your body, wetness easy to feel in nothing but your hospital gown. 

He pulled his perfect hands away, and before he could get a word out, you spoke fast, your voice almost squeaky with your need to change. 

“Can I wear real clothes now?

~

You wouldn’t have called them “real clothes,” but it was definitely an improvement. Law had called them “scrubs,” but they seemed more like pajamas, soft and stretchy. 

Very comfy. 

And perfect for moving your body however Law wanted you to. 

Perfect for you to feel the warmth of his hands through the fabric as he helped you stretch, and hold, and bend for him. 

“Good job today, Y/N,” he praised, gesturing for you to follow him. You sat beside him on the squishy loveseat he'd brought in for you. Anything to make this room feel less like a hospital. 

“How am I progressing,” you asked, still catching your breath. You tried not to notice the way his leg was pressed against yours as you turned toward him. 

That large hand set itself on your knee, and you tried very hard to focus on what he was saying. 

“We have a long way to go, but you are doing very well, Y/N. You’ve shown improvement in performing the exercises, and I’m impressed with how you’ve been moving. You’re putting weight on that hip when you stand, taking it slow. Learning to trust your body. It’s good to see.”

His words, his eyes…

You were melting, and you probably wouldn’t have heard the next few things he said if his whole demeanor hadn’t shifted. 

“What’s wrong,” you asked, feeling fear rolling in as his face went dark. He looked almost pained as he took your hand.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he started, lifting soft, solemn eyes to yours. “I fear that I may not have been clear enough in describing your prognosis.”

Sick panic flooded your system, until all you could do was gulp it down, waiting for him. 

“I know we’ve discussed that this is a manageable condition, not a curable one. I just worry that I may not have given you the right expectations.”

“Tell me,” you managed to choke out, frustration lacing your words. 

“Everything you are doing and learning is going to improve your life and reduce your pain, just like I promised,” he comforted, tilting his head down toward you. 

“You remember that we can’t repair or replace connective tissue. We can only strengthen the muscles around it, and teach you how to listen to, and take care of your body.”

Your hand felt clammy as he held it now, and you nodded as you pulled it away. His lips quirked as he looked at your hand, but he dropped his own before continuing.

“I need to make sure that I didn’t give you false hope.”

The guilt and sadness in his voice loosened your shoulders.

He’s just trying to be a good doctor.

His eyes raked over you, a glint within them as if he was somehow comforted by your thought. 

“You will always have this condition. I'll help you make it better, so you never have to suffer alone like that again. But you can never know when something might slip out of place. You may feel fine for days, weeks, even months. But at any time, one of your joints could fail you, or some other complication could arise. These tissues run through everything.”

Law wasn’t like those other doctors. He believed you. He was helping you. 

But he’s right. 

“I just…” you choked out, hating that tears were already threatening to stain your cheeks. “I just tried so hard to find a way to fix myself. For so long. It all… Everything I–”

He caught you as the sobs began, letting your tears stain his shirt as you finally let it out. 

Law rocked and soothed as years of struggle and pain burned through you. Anger rose before grief crashed over you at the waste of all your energy, all your life. 

Just to have something you can’t fix. Can never fix.

“Let it go, Y/N. Let it all out.”

And you did. You had never cried like this before, sobbing, weeping, choking. Keening over the life you would never have. Practically screaming until you couldn’t breathe. 

Clawing at his chest as you pleaded, ‘no’s’ and ‘why’s’ being torn from your lips. 

Until finally, that fuzzy distance.

Suddenly, you were not you. You were something that floated slightly above that now slumped body.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You can stay there as long as you need to.”

Your body was hunched over, curled almost upside down against him, and you barely registered it as he lifted you. He set you on his lap, stretching your legs across the cushions as he pressed you against him. The scent of him started to pull you back into your body, and you nuzzled against his chest, his warm arms holding you tight.

Holding you. Keeping you safe. 

“I’m sor–”

“Don’t apologize, Y/N,” he urged, voice quiet above your ear. “I’m sorry that this is something I can’t fix for you.”

You weren’t sure what kind of sound came softly from your throat before you felt the heat of his cheek as he pressed it against your hair. 

“If you have the energy for it,” Law started, sounding almost shy, “would you like a tour of my quarters? Get you out of this room for a bit?”

The answer was yes, except for the comfort of his arms around you. But Law had already pulled away, putting some distance between you. One hand still smoothed over your back, soothing and steady. 

“Yes, please.”

~

You didn’t know what you were expecting. 

Law sat against the armrest of his matching squishy couch as he watched you spin around. Words caught in your throat for a moment as your eyes passed over the large bed. Then the sight of him taking off that hat and ruffling his hair became very distracting. 

“So, what do you think,” he asked with a subtle smirk. He gestured to the room as you’d paused to stare at him for too long. 

“It’s uh…” you stalled, brain still trying to restart. “It’s weirdly clean.”

“Did you expect your doctor to be a slob” he asked, his voice low and teasing.

“No, I…” 

A coffee table had clearly been set up as a work area in front of the couch, but even the stacks of books, papers, and pens were lined up neatly. 

“Is this where you work,” you questioned, taking one of his pens to fidget with.

“My office is through there,” he explained, pointing to a door across the room. “I’ve been working in here so I–”

“So you can hear me?”

You had stepped around that organized table until you were too close. Being in his bedroom was a bad idea. Just the awareness of his bed being so close made your body respond. 

This crush is going to ruin everything. He’s a good doctor. I need to stop.

But you had already moved in, looking up at him as you played with his pen, waiting for him to answer your question. 

“So I can help you,” he rasped, his inked fingers pulling his pen from yours. “Would you like to read one of my favorite stories?”

~

You felt high. 

Law had let you snuggle close on that couch, until you were giggling, feeling his pleased hums through his chest as you leaned against him. Gently holding the colored pages open so both of you could read.  

“So Germa 66 are the bad guys?”

Holding in another giggle at Law’s sigh, you cut him off before he could answer.

“I like his seagull.”

“Sora and his seagull and robot are the good guys,” Law explained, his serious voice so adorable as he talked about his comics.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Let’s read.”

I’m going insane. He’s so cute. He’s–

After reading through the first few issues together your body reminded you that it fucking sucked. 

“Y/N, are you alright?”

Law set the comic aside to look you over, your grunt of pain interrupting your lovely time together.

“I’m fine,” you grimaced. 

“Of course,” he shook his head, standing as he walked toward his office. “I knew your cycle would be starting soon, I’m sorry I didn’t provide supplies sooner.”

Your face was burning when he set a box beside you. He moved his organized piles around so he could sit on the coffee table in front of you. His long legs left his knees higher than his hips in this position, and you tried not to grin. 

“Y/N, this brings up something else I’ve been wanting to discuss.”

Another cramp twisted your insides, lighter this time, but it seemed to echo your dread at his shift in tone. 

“Is there really more today,” you whined softly, only half serious.

“We can talk about it tomor–”

“No, please. I’ll just go crazy.”

His crooked smile made it all feel alright.

“I would like to add birth control pills to your morning regimen, along with your daily vitamins.”

That sentence seemed to swirl inside your body, leaving confusion and a hint of concern until another cramp snapped you out of it.

“Why?”

“Well, I’m hoping that it will help regulate your cycle. If I’m not mistaken, you must have extremely heavy and painful periods?”

“Y-Yes, how–”

“Your connective tissues can wreak a lot of havoc, I’m afraid. But whenever you’re ready to stop taking birth control, I can do that surgery for you in about 30 seconds.”

His sweet smile was too much, so you closed your eyes to think. 

You couldn’t think.

“What are you saying?”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” he groaned at himself, your eyes opening to find him rubbing his hand over his face, his features lined with guilt.

“My bedside manner has been nonexistent today, hasn’t it?”

The self deprecating tone almost pulled you in, but you were falling into that distant space again, fighting to stay in control of your mind.

“What are you saying,” you repeated, sitting back on the couch, putting space between you. 

“I… I shouldn’t have assumed you came to that conclusion,” he admitted, stopping his hand before he rested it on your knee. “Given your condition, the pain, the weakness in your joints, the complications… and it’s highly likely that your pelvic floor muscles have been affected as well. I didn’t think that you would put yourself at risk like that.”

The silence was cut only by the metallic sounds of the Polar Tang. 

“We can talk about it, Y/N. I’m your doctor, and if pregnancy is something you’d like to pursue–”

“I wasn’t sure.”

The confession spilled out of you like a secret, the festering discomfort and shame leaving your body as it left your lips. 

“I didn’t really want kids. Then we got together and…” You paused for just a moment, the clenching of his jaw too intense to ignore. “He wanted to. And I felt like I’d be a good mom.”

“But,” he questioned, his hoarse voice making you shudder.

“But… I didn’t really want to. Especially with all my pain. Not knowing what it was–”

“Did he know how you felt?”

Law’s eyes were mesmerizing, heavy, pulling you to him. 

“He did. We talked about it a lot.”

His hand finally touched your knee again as he leaned closer. 

“He was going to destroy your body just so he could get what he wanted.”

Those extreme words felt wrong. You knew your boyfriend didn’t see it that way. You shouldn’t see it that way. 

But you did. 

Those words poured into you, filling you with an anger you never let yourself feel. And it felt good. 

Law nodded slowly, always reading you. Always knowing exactly what you need. 

“Do you want to get pregnant, to have kids?”

“No.”

That shameful word felt so freeing. No one in your life could understand not wanting that. Always asking when, always pressuring. None of them ever listened to your pain. Or worse, they’d brush it off. 

‘Oh, that’s nothing. Just wait til you’re my age, honey.’ 

‘Hurry up now, you’ll want to pop those kids out while you’re young so you’ll still be pretty.’

Fuck them all.

“I don’t want to have kids.”

“Okay,” he breathed, his fingers squeezing you gently.

He leaned in to brush a few strands of hair back from your face. 

“I love when you put yourself first, Y/N. I’m so proud of you.”

~

Another week passed. Maybe more?

Still didn’t matter. 

“There are always modifications,” Law explained again, but you didn’t mind the repetition.

Not when his hands lifted your thighs, placing rolled up towels on the outsides to hold them in place. 

Those towels kept your hips from stretching too far, from going loose. But your legs were spread wide, your knees pulled close to you. 

With Law. Law. 

He was there on the mat, between your spread legs, and you couldn’t hear a word he was saying. 

“Y/N,” he rasped, making your breath hitch as he leaned toward you. 

“Show me where you’ll breathe for me.”

The heat of his body fell over you, even without his touch. You set your hand on your stomach, a tiny, needy moan leaving your lips when his tattooed hand covered yours. 

“Good, can you breathe for me?”

Law kept his hand on your stomach, but placed the other beside your head, caging you in. 

You want to scream, to beg, to claw his fucking clothes off.

He’s my doctor.

Your weak mind repeated that daily, but every day chipped away at your will. 

He’s the only doctor that can help me.

“Y/N,” he teased, that little smirk so close as he hovered above you. His black hair fell gently toward you, framing his face. “I don’t think you’re breathing at all. Should I be worried?”

Panic hit you as you felt his effect on your body, slick pooling between your legs.

You reacted by trying to close your thighs, to keep him from seeing.

But all you did was wrap your thighs around his waist, and the contact arched your back, tearing a moan from your lips. 

Your body slumped, frantic ‘I’m sorry’s’ flooding from you while you covered your face with both hands. 

“It’s okay, Y/N. Are you feeling alright,” Law asked, with only the barest hint of humor in his voice. But it was enough to make you cringe, your skin flushing more than you thought possible.

His heat left the air above you as you tried to melt into the floor. 

“Oh,” he said softly, and you opened your eyes to see him looking down. 

“Have you not been taking care of your needs?”

All you could do was shiver, closing your thighs too late. 

He sat on the ground beside you, leaning in to study your face while his looked almost stern.

“We can’t make progress if you’re not relaxed Y/N,” he scolded, those words he’d said so many times crashing through you. “Why haven’t you been taking care of your body?”

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, almost lost to pure need as you shook beneath him. 

“Don’t say sorry to me. It’s your body that we’re working so hard to take care of. Now, why haven’t you– fuck. I’m sorry.”

His apology brought your eyes to him. 

“It’s my fault, isn’t it? You know you can always ask me to close the vent when you need some privacy. Just make sure to let me know when you’re done, I’d hate it if I wasn't there when you needed me.”

The thought of asking him for privacy when you wanted to touch yourself made you want to pass out from embarrassment. 

Another cry tore from your lips as he grabbed your wrist, stroking his long fingers around your skin. 

“I imagine it can be hard to keep up with your needs when your wrist acts up, huh?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Hm… I’m sorry, Y/N. I don’t have any toys to provide you with relief. I’ll make it a priority to search for a good option when we reach the next island. Does that sound alright?” He had breathed those last words against your temple, pulling nothing but whimpers from you. 

Law brushed your hair aside, humming softly. 

“Is it that bad, Y/N? Is your body aching?”

“Yes… please…”

“Please,” he asked, his tone too intense, fear running through you. “Are you asking me to help you with this?”

Desperate tears fell down your temples, caught by those pretty fingers.

“Remember, Y/N, all you ever have to do is tell me what you want.”

“Please, help me. Law, oh gods, please…”

“I need you to be clear, Y/N. How do you want me to help you?”

You almost sobbed, your body curling in on itself. 

“Okay, how about this,” he started, sounding just as he does when he’s teaching you, guiding you through exercises. “I’ll ask, you answer, okay?”

“Do you consent to me touching you?”

Your ‘yes’ turned into a breathy moan when he grabbed your face, pressing into your jaw as he made you meet his eyes. 

Those eyes, trapping you again, his parted lips like a hint of the gift you were about to receive. 

“Do you want me to help you come?”

“Yes, Law, I need you…”

He had never looked so pleased, and the sight of his face made your eyes roll back. 

“If I’m going to help you with this, it’s important that I know what you want,” he purred, pulling his hand off your chin to hold it in front of your face.

“You like my fingers, huh,” he teased after watching you stare at them again. “You want to suck on them, don’t you?”

The amount of desperation in the moan you let out would have horrified you if you weren’t so close to getting what you needed. 

Law caught your chin again with his other hand, the teasing look turned serious.

“I knew you would. You need to take care of your body, Y/N. Give it what it wants. You want these,” he asked, showing you the fingers with ‘E’ and ‘A’ inked across them.

“Ye–.”

“Then take them.”

He didn’t wait for you to finish, just shoved those long fingers into your open mouth while he gripped your chin to hold you in place. Your hands tried to dig into the mat beneath you, your body squirming with pleasure already. 

“Mm, I knew you’d suck me so well, Y/N. It’s just my fingers, and you’re already giving me everything.”

His praise drove you further, licking and sucking his fingers as if you could pull them inside you, keeping his touch forever. 

“You gave everything for so long, didn’t you? Why don’t you let me take care of you now, okay? Let me show you how your body works.”

He was thrusting his fingers into your mouth, tracing around your lips, then shoving deep. You let him do what he wanted, just as you always did. 

“Do you want to listen to me,” he asked, his voice gone thick and dangerous. “You’re so good at following my instructions. Will you do that now, Y/N? Will you trust your doctor, and follow my orders?”

He took his fingers back, dragging your spit down your cheek while you moaned. 

“Yes!”

“Mm, good girl.”

Likes and reblogs bring me much ✨dopamine✨ thank you so much!

a/n: Don't worry, I've been writing these fast 😅

Tag List: @shewrites02 | @jadeddangel | @metonimia-de-bellota | @3v37773 | @dewdropsandfrogs | @nubigenouss

Part 5

| masterlist | about me | rules | ao3 |

[cath-piws]

The lore of one (1) of my Genshin OC couples: Izolda and Luc

!!TW!! Mentions of abuse, mentions of experimental/surgical bodily harm

Izolda (from Snezhnaya) is born deaf in a small peasant village. He found the world hard to live through due to his disability, and often he was beaten by those who believed they were superior to him. He grew into teenhood successfully despite the disability and the abuse from his village, but was never treated more than a child. A travelling circus set up camp not far from the village when Izolda was around 16, boasting talented strongmen and exotic animals. When he attended one of these great shows, he was approached by a man needing talent. Izolda, desiring a drive in life and longing to leave his village behind, volunteered. Little did he know, however, that the ploy was a mask for the Fatui to take him to experimentation. He had been suspected of being the carrier of a dead god's consciousness or power, locked away within him. Though many tests were done, none were able to determine what kind of god had died. Perhaps an old god with powers that had dwindled, or a god who watched over trivial things, such as harvest or education. But the Fatui, lured by their curiosity for forbidden knowledge, could not run the risk of letting Izolda leave if he really did possess incredible divine power. Many of the tests performed upon him experimented on his body's resilience, and left him scarred and battered. One test had permanently blinded him. After many years of this treatment, the lab was raided by thieves, and the doctors had to leave with haste. In the chaos, Izolda was left behind in the freezing blizzard, still suffering the aftereffects of a particularly brutal test. Izolda did not know how long passed as he stumbled aimlessly through the blizzard, blind and deaf to the world around him. He could feel his body shutting down. When he finally found what he was looking for, a building in the middle of the tundra, an elemental vision appeared to him. He did not know what vision it was, but he clung to it all the same. As he knocked on the door, the person inside brought him in immediately, and he soon collapsed on the floor of the building. When he awoke days later, Izolda was met with a young mechanic working in the building. She had put him in the only bed in the safehouse and stitched up all of his wounds. She said her name was Luc. As he stayed in bed, mentally recovering from the years he had spent in the lab, Luc cared for him like no one had ever before.

Luc was born in Fontaine to a renowned blacksmith, but had harboured an enamouration for visions since childhood. Though partially deaf at birth, she still managed a healthy life behind the protective arms of her mother. As Luc grew up, her mother became very frail, and since she was a single mother with deceased or distant relatives, she was at risk of passing. Luc decided she would provide for her mother, and managed to get into the Akademiya to study vision sciences, as well as taking a side course in engineering. During her courses, she gained a Pyro vision for her passion for learning and helping those around her. After her studies had come to an end, she was enlisted by a Snezhnayan organisation to build mechanical items. Though the job was vague in its contents, and she would rarely see her friends or mother, she enlisted anyway, knowing it would at least provide her income to send home to her mother. Soon she was employed and very suddenly sent to work on enormous Fatui weaponry and suits. For a few weeks, she tried to leave the job or escape the area, but the contract with her job didn't allow her. Luc was also very aware that when this job contract ended, she would probably disappear along with it so the Fatui would not face the leak of information. And she had no idea what would come of her mother. So, she took care of Izolda, a random person who she had discovered half buried in the snow outside her workplace. The distraction was a great way to get her mind off of her impending doom. She kept an uplifted face when around Izolda, caring gently for their wounds and emotional vulnerability and never speaking a word of her affiliation with the Fatui. Soon, as Izolda left his shell, she didn't need to pretend to be happy anymore. She just was. One day, Luc realised that Izolda was holding onto a live vision, one still very new from the blizzard that had occurred recently. It was a Cryo vision. Through many a research paper Luc had written for the Akademiya, she knew this vision could help Izolda, however much he said he didn't need it or want it. And so, Luc began experimenting on his vision, helping Izolda harness it while also trying to see if he could---rather than see or hear---sense things around him to direct his powers. Slowly, he became more adept at using the vision, and the two grew closer than ever ( 😏 ). One day, however, Luc let it slip that she was working for the Fatui, and Izolda was shocked and outraged that his closest friend was working with his former nightmare. He left Luc, not wanting to hear her explain herself, wearing the only clothes that he could wear outside in the snow; Luc's Fatui uniform. He did not look back.

Their two names are both symbolically representing what they are doing for one another. Izolda's name means 'ice battle', referencing the blizzard he fought through, his role as a test subject and (later) employee for the organisation that most represents Snezhnaya, and the layer of mistrust or hatred he has for his vision being Cryo. Luc's name is Latin, and means 'light', and she is both Izolda's lighthouse and hearth. Her name, reflecting her Pyro vision, represents how she can melt Izolda's barrier against the world and become the candlelight he can finally see by. Perhaps her fire can also melt the ice that is forming around him, or in other words, help him break free from his past and the Fatui.

And, of course, all fires, no matter how fierce, are always prone to being extinguished. Perhaps fire and ice aren't meant to be.

[kokorowoutsu]

-- Grusha: Tidbits

Grusha’s species is labeled as Unknown. He died in a snowstorm and was reborn by another one thanks to Aestas. He has been exposed to her natural cryo abilities mixed with whatever magic she used to raise him from the dead and now... well, he is what he is.

Speaking of Cryo abilities, he has his own abilities as well that he has taken the time to master. Because he’s somewhere always cold thanks to living in cold places, no one seems to realize he has these abilities.

He’s able to regenerate wounds and not die depending on if its cold or hot. Colder weather means his healing is faster and hotter weather brings his healing more slowly.

His birth parents are unknown, but being he was abandoned in the dead of winter, Grusha was told Aestas’ inklings later in life when he asked of his birth mother in that Aestas thought she might be a prostitute who just left him in the snow to die. When it comes to Aestas, he was raised by her off and on until he could fend for himself, and soon enough he became co-raised by her siblings – mainly Joseph and Bellum. Aestas was still a big part of his life but she became less so to give him independence.

Aestas’ nickname for him is ‘Little Aurora’.

He is a Capricorn.

Grusha was a pro-athlete in Pokemon Snowboarding, a sport which combines snowboarding and pokemon depending on the competition being held. His three pokemon used were his Mightyena, Weavile, and Dewgong.

He lives and breathes for snowboarding. It’s the one thing he’s passionate about ( besides a few other things ), and although he has had two spinal surgeries with the promise of possibly being able to snowboard again, he has found a passion instead for the artistry of Board Painting/Making. It’s how he lives through the sport now that he can’t participate competitively. 

He is classified as disabled and must use a cane to get around on certain days. He has no registered service pokemon but is looking into getting one.

His first words were ‘Board’ and ‘Snow’, according to his Mother.

His first and partner pokemon is Togo the variant Mightyena. He has been with him since he was a boy, but he also considers his Weavile and Dewgong, Lolair and Pasha, to be just as much his main partners. The three form his core support group when his family is unable to visit. He is, however, more known for Quartz, his Cetitan. He uses Terastilization on his Mightyena when he’s a Gym Leader.

He has broken multiple bones in his life, but his back injury is the worst. He usually dresses warmly not just because he lives on a ice mountain, but also to hide the scars. There’s no shame in them so much as he doesn’t want people asking questions.

He was schooled privately mostly under Aestas’ teaching, but with some input from his entire family, he turned out to be someone cunning and intelligent. He was also taught to fend for himself in the wild, but never really go alone – that’s why he relies on his pokemon for survival as well.

The affinity for ice-types and being an ice-type specialist is something Grusha knew and expected growing up, and so when he began Pokemon Snowboarding, he made sure to have a decent number of ice-types for the various competitions.

He’s been pretty much all over the world and while he’s associated with Paldea, he actually prefers colder regions like Sinnoh and Kalos.

His RotomPhone is light blue and is powered by supernatural abilities unlike a normal Rotom.

He’s often mistaken for a woman much to his chagrin. He has to correct people more often than not and with his irritation comes Togo’s wrath.

Family is important to him just as much as his pokemon. Friends… are something he really doesn’t see a point in having, but he’s made nice with his co-workers at least. If there’s one he’s close too, it’s probably Rika – who has the same issues with the misgendering – and Ryme being she has her town on the same mountain – just down the slope.

If offered alcohol, he will drink thanks to the influence of his family, but only lightly. Having to be a gym leader and a artist, he likes to have his mind clear.

Romantically he’s always been neutral and never really had the time for it, but he has looked at someone on occasion and thought how handsome or pretty they were. Now with time, he could have a relationship, but no one has stood out. Maybe someday that will change.

He appreciates most forms of art and has hot takes on others.

Grusha vibes with Team Instinct.

[no-psi-nan]

I think you have a lot of good points! The "baby with disability" comparison is a great one — few people expect their baby to be disabled and so they're rarely prepared for it, and even if they were prepared somewhat, you really never know all the challenges until you're in the middle of them.

And while you could argue that the Saiki children were extraordinarily EASY to raise (Kusuke as a baby would straight up just say when he needed a diaper change, and Saiki was running errands at an insanely young age), they did also present psychological challenges that would be difficult for even experienced parents to mitigate, much less a couple that's so young– Kurumi was barely out of high school when she had Kusuke.

I think people put way less blame on Kurumi because while she didn't do ENOUGH to prevent Kusuke & Kusuo from developing their various psychological complexes, she didn't seem to have any active negative effects on their lives, and was never intentionally cruel or negligent.

And honestly Kurumi is so extremely "ditsy" that she's barely functional as it is, messing up tasks that she does daily, falling for literally every single scam she encounters, unable to keep one secret even though her family depends on it. She really does her best for her family, and unfortunately falls short. It's really not fair to demonize her for that, especially since, again, she was just out of high school and giving birth. And it's highly likely that both her sons put in extra effort to hide the worst of their fights from her since they both love her so much.

On the other hand, Kuniharu was a college student when he picked up Kurumi, knocked her up immediately, and was unemployed for many years (idr if he even finished his degree). When he finally gets a job as a manga editor, you would think that he'd put in effort since it's basically a dream job for him. And yet he can't even get out of bed in time to go to work, he performs so poorly that the boss bullies him constantly and he's the first to get fired in a downturn, and he's so bad at his job that he tanked SiCy, the whole business' cash cow, in only a few weeks with his shitty suggestions.

So he's crap at providing for his family. And then he takes out his inferiority issues on his youngest son, trying to "dominate" him and establish power over him. He also is probably the cause of KUSUKE'S inferiority complex. While Kurumi never disparages Kusuke, and is too sweet to do so, Kuniharu points out in canon that Kusuke sure doesn't look like a genius, which is true at the moment, but probably a pattern of put-downs on a son who's already feeling inadequate.

While Kurumi probably never noticed Kusuke's struggle with his sense of self, Kuniharu is definitely smart enough to notice and just chose to stay out of it, letting his sons battle it out.

While there WAS a short time in Kusuo's infancy that Kuniharu tried to make him smile, it seems like Kuniharu quickly gave up and pivoted to trying to establish himself as a powerful authority figure instead. However, neither Kusuo nor Kusuke have any respect for him at all, so that clearly failed. He depends on Kusuo to fix every daily problem he has, up to and including marital strife (literally in the first episode he breaks a window because Kurumi ate a coffee jelly in the fridge).

Kusuke's definitely not at fault for how he feels about Kusuo, but he IS at fault for how he chooses to take action about it. He literally drilled a second hole in Kusuo's skull to install what's essentially a time bomb, purely to force Kusuo to fight back against him instead of evading conflict.

And yeah he did that when he was pretty young, but even after disabling it, he chose not to tell Kusuo about it. He keeps choosing coercive methods to get Kusuo to compete when he knows very well that simple bribery (full English breakfast, coffee jelly) would work.

The cat tank seems to be Kusuke's final hurrah though– he hands over the power deleter afterwards and is very cooperative through the final episode. I really think he's going to try his genuine best to be a better brother after that!

But we never see any real recognition from Kuniharu about his bad parenting, much less any effort to become a better father, and that's why he's the one most targeted by hate on here.

unpopular opinion for this area of tumblr, beware+also abuse talk warning

admittedly, all the super casual bashing of saikis dad makes me really uncomfortable, like i dont totally disagree but i wish we didnt just all do it in the middle of other completely innocent headcanoning 😭 its never tagged or warned..

my personal opinions on kuniharu are not as extreme as some are on here, like i think he sucks but i dont think hes a genuinely bad person, he was just thrown into a situation he didnt know how to handle.. he reminds me of those parents who prepare to have a baby and get pregnant on purpose, but then the baby has a disability and suddenly, everything changes.. because they didnt prepare for this unlikely scenario, but it happened anyway, and now they have to figure out where to go from here.. kurumi and kuniharu BOTH made mistakes and didnt handle their genius/psychic kids in ways they shouldve, but its because they werent prepared for it

[lokiondisneyplus]

A review of “Journey Into Mystery,” the penultimate Loki Season One episode on Disney+, coming up just as soon as I paper cut a giant cloud to death…

Journey Into Mystery was the title of the first Marvel comic to feature either Thor or Loki. It began as an anthology series featuring monsters and aliens, but Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber were so smitten with their adaptation of the characters of Norse myth that the Asgardians gradually took over the whole book, which was renamed after its hammer-wielding hero(*).

(*) The early Journey Into Mystery stories treated Thor’s alter ego, disabled Dr. Donald Blake, as the “real” character, while Thor was just someone Blake could magically transform into, while retaining his memories and personality. It wasn’t even clear whether Asgard itself was meant to exist at first, until Loki turned up on Earth in an early issue, caused trouble, and Blake/Thor somehow knew exactly how to get to Asgard to drop him off. Soon, the lines between Thor and Blake began to blur, and eventually Thor became the real guy, and Blake a fiction invented by Odin to humble his arrogant son. It’s a mark of just how instantly charismatic Loki was that the entire title quickly steered towards him and the other gods.

But once upon a time, anything was possible in Journey Into Mystery, which makes it an apt moniker for an absolutely wonderful episode of Loki where the same holds true. Our title characters are trapped in the Void, a place at the end of time where the TVA’s victims are banished to be devoured by a cloud monster named Alioth. And mostly they are surrounded by the wreckage of many dead timelines. Classic Loki insists that his group’s only goal is survival, and any kind of planning and scheming is doomed to kill the Loki who tries. But this ruined, hopeless world instead feels bursting with imagination and possibility.

There are the many Loki variants we see, with President Loki, among others, joining Classic, Kid, Boastful, and Alligator Loki. There are the metric ton of Easter Eggs just waiting to be screencapped by Marvel obsessives (I discuss a few of them down below), but which still suggest a much larger and weirder MCU even if you don’t immediately scream out “Is that… THROG?!?!?” at the appropriate moment. And all of that stuff is tons of fun, to be sure. But what makes this episode — and, increasingly, this series — feel so special is the way that it explores the untapped potential of Loki himself, in his many, many variations.

This is an episode that owes more than a small stylistic and thematic debt to Lost. It’s not just that Alioth looks and sounds so much like the Smoke Monster(*), that it makes a shared Wizard of Oz reference to “the man behind the curtain” (also the title of one of the very best Lost episodes), or even that the core group of Lokis are hiding in a bunker accessible via a hatch and a ladder that’s filled with recreational equipment (in this case, bowling alley lanes). It’s also that Loki, Sylvie, their counterparts, and Mobius have all been transported to a strange place that has disturbing echoes from their own lives, that operates according to strange new rules they have to learn while fleeing danger, and their presence there allows them to reflect on the many mistakes of their past and consider whether they want to, or can, transcend them.

(*) Yes, Alioth technically predates Smokey by a decade (see the notes below for more), but his look has been tweaked a bit here to seem more like smoke than a cloud, and the sounds he makes when he roars sound a lot like Smokey’s telltale taxi cab meter clicks. Given the other Lost hat tips in the episode, I have to believe Alioth was chosen specifically to evoke Smokey.

Classic Loki is aptly named. He wears the Sixties Jack Kirby costume, and he is a far more powerful magician than either Sylvie or our Loki have allowed themselves to be. He calls our Loki’s knives worthless compared to his sorcery, which feels like the show acknowledging that the movies depowered Loki a fair amount to make him seem cooler. But if Classic Loki can conjure up illusions bigger and more potent than his younger peers, he is a fundamentally weak and defeated man, convinced, like the others, that the only way to win the game into which he was born is not to play. “We cannot change,” he insists. “We’re broken. Every version of ourselves. Forever.” It is not only his sentiment — Kid Loki adds that any Loki who tries to improve inevitably winds up in the Void for their troubles — but it seems to have weighed on him longer and harder than most.

But Classic Loki takes inspiration from Loki and Sylvie to stand and fight rather than turn and run, magicking up a vision of their homeland to distract Alioth at a crucial moment in Sylvie’s plan, and getting eaten for his trouble. He was wrong: Lokis can change. (Though Kid Loki might once again argue that Classic Loki’s death is more evidence that the universe has no interest in any of them doing so.) And both Loki and Sylvie have been changing throughout their time together. Like most Lokis, they seem cursed to a life of loneliness. Sylvie learned as a child that a higher power believed she should not exist, and has spent a lifetime hiding out in places where any friends she might make will soon die in an apocalypse. Our Loki’s past isn’t quite so stark, but the knowledge that his birth father abandoned him, while his adoptive father never much liked him, have left permanent scars that govern a lot of his behavior. The defining element of Classic Loki’s backstory is that he spent a long time alone on a planet, and only got busted by the TVA when he attempted to reconnect with his brother and anyone else he once knew. This is a hard existence, for all of them. And while it does not forgive them their many sins(*), it helps contextualize them, and give them the knowledge to try to be better versions of themselves.

(*) Loki at one point even acknowledges that, for him, it’s probably only been a few days since he led an alien invasion of New York that left many dead, though due to TVA shenanigans, far more time may have passed.

For that matter, Mobius is not the stainless hero he once thought of himself as. While he and Sylvie are tooling around the Void in a pizza delivery car (because of course they are), he admits that he committed a lot of sins by believing that the ends justified the means, and was wrong. He doesn’t know who he is before the TVA stole and factory rebooted him, but he knows that he wants something better for himself and the universe, and takes the stolen TemPad to open up a portal to his own workplace in hopes of tearing down the TVA once and for all. Before he goes, though, he and Loki share a hug that feels a lot more poignant than it should, given that these characters have only spent parts of four episodes of TV together. It’s a testament to Hiddleston, Wilson, Waldron, and company (Tom Kauffman wrote this week’s script) that their friendship felt so alive and important in such a short amount of time.

The same can be said for Loki and Sylvie’s relationship, however we’re choosing to define it. Though they briefly cuddle together under a blanket that Loki conjures, they move no closer to romance than they were already. If anything, Mobius’ accusations of narcissism in last week’s episode seem to have made both of them pull back a bit from where they seemed to be heading back on Lamentis. But the connection between them is real, whatever exactly it is. And their ability to take down Alioth — to tap into the magic that Classic Loki always had, and to fulfill Loki’s belief that “I think we’re stronger than we realize” — by working together is inspiring and joyful. Without all this nuanced and engaging character work, Loki would still be an entertaining ride, but it’s the marriage of wild ideas with the human element that’s made it so great.

Of course, now comes the hard part. Endings have rarely been an MCU strength, give or take something like the climax of Endgame, and the finales of the two previous Disney+ shows were easily their weakest episodes. The strange, glorious, beautiful machine that Waldron and Herron have built doesn’t seem like it’s heading for another generic hero/villain slugfest, but then, neither did WandaVision before we got exactly that. This one feels different so far, though. The command of the story, the characters, and the tone are incredibly strong right now. There is a mystery to be solved about who is in the big castle beyond the Void (another Loki makes the most narrative and thematic sense to me, but we’ll see), and a lot to be resolved about what happens to the TVA and our heroes. And maybe there’s some heavy lifting that has to be done in service to the upcoming Dr. Strange or Ant-Man films.

It’s complicated, but on a show that has handled complexity well. Though even if the finale winds up keeping things simpler, that might work. As Loki notes while discussing his initial plan to take down Alioth, “Just because it’s not complicated doesn’t mean it’s bad.” Though as Kid Loki retorts, “It also doesn’t mean it’s good.”

Please be good, Loki finale. Everything up to this point deserves that.

Some other thoughts:

* Most of this week’s most interesting material happens in the Void. But the scenes back at the TVA clarify a few things. First, Ravonna is not the mastermind of all this, and she was very much suckered in by the Time-Keeper robots. But unlike Mobius or Hunter B-15, she’s so conditioned to the mission that even knowing it’s a lie hasn’t really swayed her from her mission. She has Miss Minutes (who herself is much craftier this week) looking into files about the creation of the TVA, but for the most part comes across as someone very happy with a status quo where she gets to be special and pass judgment on the rest of the multiverse.

* Alioth first appeared in 1993’s Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective, a miniseries (written by Mobius inspiration Mark Gruenwald, and with some extremely kewl Nineties art full of shoulder pads, studded collars, and the like) involving Ravonna, Kang, and the off-brand versions of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (aka U.S. Agent, War Machine, and Thunderstrike, the latter of whom has yet to appear in the MCU). It’s a sequel to a Nineties crossover event called Citizen Kang. And no, I still don’t buy that Kang will be the one pulling the strings here, if only because it’s really bad storytelling for the big bad of the season to have never appeared or even been mentioned prior to the finale.

* Rather than try to identify every Easter egg visible in the Void’s terrain, I’ll instead highlight three of the most interesting. Right before the Lokis arrive at the hatch, we see a helicopter with Thanos’ name on it. This is a hat tip to an infamous — and often memed — out-of-continuity story where Thanos flies this chopper while trying to steal the Cosmic Cube (aka the Tesseract) from Hellcat. (A little kid gets his hands on it instead and, of course, uses the Cube to conjure up free ice cream.) James Gunn has been agitating for years for the Thanos Copter to be in the MCU. He finally got his wish.

* The other funny one: When the camera pans down the tunnel into Kid Loki’s headquarters, we see Mjolnir buried in the ground, and right below it is a jar containing a very annoyed frog in a Thor costume. This is either Thor himself — whom Loki cursed into amphibianhood in a memorable Walt Simonson storyline — or another character named Simon Walterston (note the backwards tribute to Walt) who later assumed the tiny mantle.

* Also, in one scene you can spot Yellowjacket’s helmet littering the landscape. This might support the theory that the TVA, the Void, etc., all exist in the Quantum Realm, since that’s where the MCU version of Yellowjacket probably went when his suit shorted out and he was crushed to subatomic size. Or it might be more trolling of the fanbase from the company that had WandaVision fans convinced that Mephisto, the X-Men, and/or Reed Richards would be appearing by the season finale.

* Honestly, I would have watched an entire episode that was just Loki, Mobius, and the others arguing about whether Alligator Loki was actually a Loki, or just a gator who ended up with the crown, presumably after eating a real Loki. The suggestion that the gator might be lying — and that this actually supports, rather than undermines, the case for him being a Loki — was just delightful. And hey, if Throg exists in the MCU now, why not Alligator Loki?

* Finally, the MCU films in general are not exactly known for their visual flair, though a few directors like Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler have been able to craft distinctive images within the franchise’s usual template. Loki, though, is so often wonderful to look at, and particularly when our heroes are stuck in strange environments like Lamentis or the Void. Director Kate Herron and the VFX team work very well together to create dynamic and weird imagery like Sylvie running from Alioth, or the chaotic Loki battle in the bowling alley. Between this show and WandaVision, it appears the Disney+ corner of the MCU has a bit more room to expand its palette. (Falcon and the Winter Soldier, much less so.)

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Roman Holiday: A Review

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my review of RWBY: Roman Holiday by E.C. Myers! Given my tendency to discuss this franchise at great length, I thought I'd start with a tl;dr section for those who might just want my general takeaway, not a deep dive into some of the novel's specific flaws and strengths. So with that in mind... 

Did you like the book?

I did! Let me put it like this. I'm incredibly critical of any RWBY material nowadays, I haven't had the energy to read #realbooks for a while, and I still managed to finish this in five days, even while stopping every few pages to take notes. So it was entertaining enough to hold my attention, unlike Before the Dawn. Is it a perfect novel worthy of nothing but endless praise? No and I'll delve into the many problems below. But is it also one of the better RWBY installments I've engaged with lately, including recent Volumes of the webseries? Yeah. If you're still emotionally attached to the show or these characters, I recommend giving it a try for the sake of nostalgia. 

But isn't there a bunch of creepy stuff in it? Didn't Myers turn Roman into a pedophile? 

No, he didn't. As I suspected, the rumors that we've been hearing lately probably came about from taking certain moments out of context, or by blowing up some pretty minor implications, or by straight up reading interactions between an adult and a minor in very bad faith. Purity culture and a desire to drag RWBY combining to create an argument that, frankly, isn't supported by the text. Are there jokes and interactions that some readers might find uncomfortable? Yes, but it’s no worse than what RWBY has already established as a canonical part of their world and writing style. See: Yang's interactions with Junior in her Yellow Trailer. If you're a fan of Roman and have held off only because you're convinced the novel ruined his character, I personally don't think that's the case. Breathe easy. 

I'm still worried about how the novel treats disability though. Specifically Neo's muteness. 

I was too, but I'm happy to report it's a pretty tame portrayal. If anything, I have more to say about the intersection between Neo's semblance and her sense of identity. Suffice to say though, Neo never speaks in the novel, there's no ridiculous reason why she can't speak (no reason is given at all, it’s simply a part of her), and only the bad guys pressure her into talking. Meaning, the bad guys from her and Roman’s perspective. Obviously she and Roman are both villains in the RWBY world, but when it comes to respecting each other's needs they're definitely, comparatively better than the rest of the cast. 

So there were no problems? 

Oh no, there are definitely problems lol. Let's just say they're not offensive enough to bother the average RWBY fan. At least, most of them (probably) aren't. If you're not neck deep in the franchise's struggles and actively thinking about how this novel does (or does not) fit into the larger RWBY-mythos, there's a very good chance you'll like the book, passing over everything I’m about to mention without a backwards glance. Hell, even if you're looking for problems there's a good chance you'll enjoy a lot of other aspects, just like I did. So I recommend taking a chance on the book far more than I recommend steering clear on principal alone. 

Okay, with that out of the way it's time to dive into the nitty-gritty!  

FYI I'm pulling my quotations from the paperback edition and, as is probably already obvious, this is not a spoiler free review. So tread carefully!  

Part One: An Imbalance of Protagonists

Would you like RWBY: Roman Holiday? Well, that might depend largely on which of its main characters you're most interested in. If it's Roman, you may be disappointed, despite the fact that the book is evenly divided between his and Neo's perspectives. This is, fundamentally, a book about Neo. She is the one undergoing all the character development. She is the one who is driving the plot. Roman just sort of exists within a criminal status quo until he bumps into her — almost exactly halfway through the novel's 308 pages — and then becomes caught up in her training, her desire to concoct new schemes, and eventually her family's problems. I don't want to make it sound like Roman is unimportant to the book, he's obviously there and he does things, but we're not given the same level of insight into him like we are Neo.  Frankly, I can think of only two significant revelations, both of which we might have easily guessed based on Roman's established characteristics: his mother abandoned him when he was a kid and he once worked for one of the main crime bosses in Mistrial, specifically Lil' Miss Malachite. Otherwise, everything Roman does and experiences is precisely the sort of stuff we saw him do and experience in the webseries. He commits petty crimes, fights people with his cane, and does it all with a dramatic flare which, notably, Myers writes quite well. 

This lack of impact on the story seems to stem from two decisions. First, Myers never jumps forward or backwards in time (with the exception of two small scenes that explain how characters got to a point we saw in the last scene/chapter). Though this definitely helps to keep things from getting confusing, it means that we never go farther back than Neo at 8 years of age and we're always looking at what both characters are up to at the same point in time. Given that Roman is a decade older than Neo, this means that, unlike her, we never get peek into his childhood. When she's 8 he's 18, already an adult and committing crimes in Mistral. A lot of Neo's development is inevitable, just by virtue of starting her story so young. She has to mature, develop her semblance, go to school, try various ways of being independent for the first time... Roman gets none of that. He's an adult when we meet him, his character fully formed and, since we already know that character from the webseries, we're given no new insight into him or how he developed that identity, just a reconfirmation that it exists. 

More of an issue though is that Roman isn't allowed an arc over the course of the novel. The man we meet on page 9 is precisely the same man we end with on page 308 — with the minor exception that he now has a partner in Neo and that, sadly, is a lesson he learns instantaneously. For the first half of the book, Myers sets up the expectation that learning to trust and, specifically, learning to trust someone like Neo is the great conflict that Roman will have to work though. He's very cynical in his own head, as we might expect: “On the streets, on your own. You only watched out for yourself. Anything else was a weakness. Anyone else was a liability” (14). No sooner is this perspective established than Roman is meeting people who challenge it. While babysitting the Malachite girls, they provide advice on how to improve his chances of pulling off heists: 

Melanie and Miltia, simultaneously: “You just need the right partner.” 

Roman: “Maybe. I just don’t believe anyone is going to watch out for me as much as I will” (41). 

After betraying Lil' Miss and fending off his peer Chameleon, she sadly announces that "you might have gotten what you wanted after all if you hadn’t been in it only for yourself. If you had allowed yourself to trust someone” (87). Myers isn't subtle about the theme here. 

Yet when Roman meets Neo, that trust is immediate, despite spending his entire life rejecting the idea of a partner, despite the viewer having just read about numerous other people who Roman spent years fighting beside and still didn't come to trust, Neo forms an instant, powerful connection with him — one that can't be explained by her saving his life when they first meet. Even Roman himself acknowledges that it's just another debt to repay. They simply click, with no explanation as to how that occurred, or even a serious acknowledgement that this is out of character for them both (what with Neo never having had a friend). Neo gives him the name "Neopolitan," knowing it's her true name now and, thus, a more personal offering than her birth name "Trivia." Roman gives her his entire life story during their first meal together. Roman also spends all of his money on Neo's modified parasol and at the novel's end continually offers to sacrifice himself so that Neo can escape. Neo thinks a lot about how Roman is the only one who can understand her through body language alone which, kudos to Myers again, he does describe her movements with enough clarity to sell that understanding (even if Roman does sometimes make leaps in logic that feel a little unlikely). “She really missed Roman. Most of the time she didn’t need to say anything and he knew exactly what she was thinking” (249). It's heartwarming. As someone who enjoyed their relationship in the webseires, this is likewise a joy to read. It's just that it... kinda came out of nowhere. 

Far from this just being an issue of Roman trusting when he's never trusted before, Myers sets up a conflict of loyalties in Neo that is then immediately dropped. She finds herself surprised by Lady Beat — the headmistress of the academy Neo attends — unexpectedly liking her insights and, in exchange for privacy and a more in-depth curriculum, agrees to help her capture Roman. Prior to this agreement, Neo considers helping the Malachite twins take Roman out when they corner him because then they might be Neo's friends instead of her bullies. That motivation makes perfect sense to me. Of course Neo would be more interested in assisting the two girls who attend school with her and improving her daily life over helping the random guy on the street, even if Roman's vulnerability (that's what Neo latches onto: a moment where his mask slips and he shows true fear) sways her towards helping him in the end. When she reunites with Roman later, he requests that she help him spy on Lady Beat... and Neo turns him down. So there's a very clear precedent here of Neo being out for herself, looking to improve her relationship with the other high society ladies she's spending most of her time with. The road to favoring Roman over them will be a long one. What will convince Neo to switch sides? 

Nothing. Soon after Neo thinks about how she's duping both Lady Beat and Roman (the reasoning there is never really explained) and from then on her focus is entirely on Roman, with likewise no explanation as to why she chose him in the end. “Roman clearly had some trust issues to work out, but Neo was going to prove to him that he could count on her” (219). Why this sudden desire to prove herself to Roman? No idea. The novel skips over the majority of their bonding. Yes, there are a few key scenes — Neo saving him, Roman giving her the parasol, etc. — but a single sentence reveals that Neo has been training with him for months now, bypassing the slow development of trust and Neo's changing thought process about what side she should choose. 

Or rather, there are explanations for Neo's decision, but they all occur after Neo has already chosen Roman. There are two major revelations that we're only told about much later in the novel: that Neo is suddenly dissatisfied with her life at school — “Neopolitan was having second thoughts. As much as life at the school had improved, more and more it felt like it wasn’t giving her what she needed” — and that Lady Beat is the head of a major spying conspiracy across all of Remnant (more on that later). Either one of these could have been the catalyst for Neo giving more attention to Roman and, eventually, growing quite close to him. A general dissatisfaction with her life, the revelation that Lady Beat isn't the kind of criminal Neo wants to support...either would work. As it is, her devotion to Roman seems to immerge randomly, fully formed and unshakable, with these ‘I guess the school and Lady Beat weren't that great after all’ justifications tacked on much later and, thus, presented as incidental to Neo's devotion. “[Roman] was basically the only thing that mattered to her in the world right now" is the conclusion Neo comes to without a lot of work put in to explain how he reached that point in her life (248). 

And I can see how this happened. We already know that Neo and Roman are a tight-knit duo from the webseries — Neo's love in particular has been emphasized since Volume Six — and so Myers banked on the reader applying that knowledge to the novel. He wrote the story of what Neo and Roman did prior to meeting, he wrote the story of their friendship prior to the webseries... but he didn't really write how that friendship came about. It's treated as a given, despite the huge number of reasons why that friendship should be rocky (or even non-existent) at the start, to say nothing of many fans' interest in getting an answer to the question, "How does an established villain who trusts no one wind up partnering with a girl a decade his junior?" The novel tells us that this unexpected outcome does, in fact, occur, rather than taking us through the journey of how such an outcome is possible. This is by no means a new problem in RWBY and, admittedly, Myers' depiction of the relationship isn't as noticeably a problem as some others in the webseries, simply by virtue of Neo and Roman being the focus of the novel and the reader knowing that they do, in fact, end up as partners. It's a lot easier to buy a shaky journey when you already know the inevitable conclusion, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have done a better job of showing it. 

Which, to get back to the original point of this section, means that Roman never has that arc about learning to trust someone. He just does trust, the moment Neo comes on the scene. Personally, I think this rapid-fire growth is particularly egregious given everything else we learn about Neo and Roman’s histories. Meaning, just like Roman's cynicism about trust is introduced early on, so is his hatred for the rich elite. In fact, Roman's poverty and the disdain that has bred are arguably the most prominent aspects that Myers added to his characterization. As seen in the novel's excerpt release, Roman's introduction is robbing a rich man coming out of a club where he shows more interest in humiliating and harming the man than just getting his stuff and running. Which, to be fair, isn't solely due to the man's status as a member of the elite. The novel develops both characters' sadist tendencies — “He’s vicious. He brutally beat a man just for his coat. He was having fun” (21) — but the man’s status isn't a non-factor either. Roman's internal thoughts say a lot about how stupid, rude, gullible, pathetic, and inept he thinks the rich are. At the start he's not just taking the man's coat because he likes it, but because he’ll need it to survive the Mistral winter, what with living in a shelter under a bridge and all. We learn that his obsession with survival is born of poverty — “Ma’am, when you don’t have anything, surviving is more. You’ve gotta start somewhere” (20) — and that Roman will go to any lengths just to meet his basic needs, potentially with a side of some comfort. For example, he knowingly risks his life by pissing off Lil' Miss just to get two days of food, baths, and a bed. As Roman puts it, those two days are worth it, even if it means the rest of his life is potentially forfeit. 

So this is a man driven by a desire to live in comfort, manifesting in a hatred of the rich that is so powerful Roman breaks the man's knee just for the hell of it. He's touchy about any comment on his upbringing too: "Roman froze. 'So that’s it. You think you’re better than me. Because you went to school? Learned a trade?'" (80). And, to be clear, this is a hatred of the high society rich. The kind of wealth that's never earned. Roman has a healthy respect for the well-fed crime bosses who have pushed their way to the top, just as he plans to. Not those living cushy lives at the expense of him and others. 

And wouldn't you know it, his partner to-be is a pampered little rich girl. 

"There's the conflict," I thought. "Roman doesn't just need to learn to trust, he's got to trust someone born into extreme luxury. How is that going to happen?" Well, again, it didn't. Neo and Roman's class difference is ignored for 99% of the novel, with the other 1% used for casual banter between them. It's not that Roman isn't aware of Neo's pedigree, so to speak. He finds her through the uniform she wears, the symbol of an academy that rich girls attend. When they share their first tea together, he notes how daintily she eats the sandwiches, more evidence that Neo has had manners drilled into her at a young age. When he finally gets confirmation that she's not just rich, but really rich — flying to her parents' mansion — Roman is just kinda moderately surprised, throwing in a comment about how someday that money will be hers and isn't that nice. Roman's hatred of the elite disappeared for Neo's sake, just like his trust issues did. There's no working through these differences, just an erasure of them so the novel can jump straight to them being the perfectly in synch duo we know from the webseries. 

As a side detail that I think demonstrates this imbalance rather well, hair is used as a marker of identity throughout the novel. Neo moves from being jealous that other girls are allowed to style their hair how they please, to making her hair entirely pink with her semblance, changing that to half brown instead, buying pink dye so she no longer needs to waste energy on something she wants to be permanent, and ending with her getting some white streaks even as she chooses to leave the name Vanille behind. Each change coincides with an aspect of her development and it works quite well. In contrast though, Roman has only setup, no follow through. Unlike the short cut we're used to in the series, Roman starts the novel with a long ponytail that characters frequently comment on. The twins steal his hat and beg to braid his hair when they're bored. Neo seems iffy about the style choice. A couple other side characters make vague references to imply that he should get rid of it — something, something it doesn't actually suit him. So surely we'll see Roman cut his hair sometime before the novel's end, visually representing his growth, just like Neo's changing color has represented hers (ending with a color mix that reflects neapolitan ice cream)? Nope. Not unless I missed it. The foundation for that change is there, but Myers never capitalizes on it, despite obviously knowing what he's doing with Neo. 

So if you want more Roman content, the kind of content we saw in the webseries, great. You'll love the novel. If you want to read about Roman undergoing any significant change, including a dive into how he came to trust Neo of all people, large chunks of that story are missing. In true RWBY fashion, there are plenty of details that allow readers to fill in the blanks for themselves, but the canon itself is, sadly, lacking. 

Part Two: Neo's Magical Identity 

We've established then that Neo gets the lion's share of the development and, frankly, most of it is good. Knowing she's set to become a villain, I loved reading the gradual move from understandably lashing out — Neo throws an umbrella at her father's face when he's being an emotionally abusive dick — to becoming just as stoically cruel as Roman — she launches a woman out of the back of a plane. Did she have a parachute? Who cares. There's a lot here to like about Neo's characterization, with Myers finding a nice balance between keeping her playful and not making her feel like a caricature (helped immensely by spending so much time in Neo's head). However, the one part that arguably fails is the development of Neo's semblance and, consequentially, her identity. 

To be clear, I absolutely get what Myers was going for and it's basically what I assumed was going on when I read the excerpt: Trivia (Neo's birth name) has an imaginary friend she calls Neopolitan and, over time, she realizes she is Neopolitan. The imaginary friend is who she wanted to be all along, not just the person she wanted to spend time with. I like it! Who among us hasn't imagined a badass, smooth-talking, beloved version of ourselves that impresses everyone with a Mary Sue-esque ease? (Or, if you haven't, guess I'm outing myself here lol.) It's a pretty relatable idea. Trivia imagines a girl with the power to dress how she wants, style her hair how she wants, with amazing acrobatic skills, a take-no-shit attitude, fun ideas to implement... but she also has Trivia's heterochromia and muteness. It's the perfect combination of Trivia's unique traits and the confidence/freedom she longs to have. Of course when given the chance she grows up to be Neo, even going so far as to take that name. It's what she always wanted. 

The only problem here is that in the RWBY world, Neo can't just be an imaginary friend. She's a manifestation of Trivia's semblance. As we learn later, the things Trivia creates are as real as real can be, provided she keeps up their existence. You can touch the wall. You can count the money. You can wear the clothes. They're less illusions than short-term creations — as Team RWBY realizes whenever they wind up attacking a Neo duplicate instead of the "real" thing — and that puts an odd spin on just how imaginary Neopolitan actually is. She's not imaginary at all. She's a real person that exists in the real world, it's just that this existence is temporary and dependent on Trivia's aura. 

The novel supports this by constantly writing Neopolitan as a distinct personality from Trivia. Not just the polished version of who she is slowly becoming, but an individual in her own right. Neo makes decisions that are fully her own, contrary to or even entirely unknown to Trivia. To highlight just a few examples: 

Trivia is unsure about sneaking out of the house so Neo "shoved her into the hall" (25). 

Neo "looked on jealously” as Trivia drinks a milkshake, implying a desire to have one and the knowledge that her current physicality doesn't allow for that. If she is Trivia, shouldn't she likewise be enjoying the shake? 

“She shot Neo a questioning look... before she realized what Neo had in mind” (92). Their thoughts are presented as separate and there's no instant mind-reading. 

Neo catches Trivia when she leaps out of a window, surprising her with the save. Trivia never planned for Neo to do that, Neo did it entirely on her own. 

There are lots of other instances like this, details that establish Neo has a person separate from Trivia (this confusion regarding their names should make that clear enough), no matter the fact that she's made out of aura. I mean, we've got Ozpin existing only as a soul in other's bodies. RWBY isn't exactly in a position to get nit-picky about personhood. More specifically though, Neo is presented as a bad influence on Trivia, an outside force enacting on her in harmful ways. Neo's introduction establishes her as the troublemaker to Trivia's more obedient personality: “But those were her parents’ rules, and Neopolitan never cared about those.... She bounced up and down on the cushions the way she wasn’t supposed to” with a “taunting smile” (2). Her father comments on this multiple times, saying that Trivia can't hide behind an imaginary friend. She's responsible for her decisions. And while yes, that's true, that level of responsibility changes when Trivia summons Neo into the world. During a fight with some other teens, they can suddenly see Neo and Neo, independent of Trivia, punches one in the face, making her nose bleed. That seems like a real person making her own, real decisions to me. So it was never Trivia doing things and then trying to foster responsibility off on an imagined cohort, it's a child bringing another, magically-based person into existence and being influenced by her since before the age of 8 (considering that Trivia and Neo have clearly been playing with each other for a long time when the novel starts). There's even a moment where Trivia seems to realize all this, acknowledging that sneaking out, breaking up her parents' party, causing a scene... all of it was Neo's idea. “That had to be Neo’s influence again. Trivia had to stay in control." 

But the idea of control is never actually explored. Despite establishing Neo's individuality and having Trivia comment on her influence, the second half of the novel abandons that for the expected, 'Trivia was Neo all along' reveal. There's a very strange moment where Trivia's mom slaps Neo, causing her to shatter and... that's it. “Neo had been so much more to Trivia. Now she was gone” (98). Neo is, apparently, gone for good, despite the fact that she should return the moment Trivia's aura does. Neo has been with Trivia since she was a small child, nearly her entire life and at least 7 years by this point in the novel, so why did a single slap send her away? That's not explained and, much like the ‘Why has Neo chosen Roman?’ question, the fact that Trivia did try to bring her back several times and failed is mentioned chapters after Neo's absence is presented as an inevitability. The order of events needs some reshuffling. 

Despite this confusion regarding why this change happened now, the explanation seems to be that Neo isn't really gone, Trivia has just realized for the first time that she is Neo. No need to summon up a separate person when you are that person and the novel, from then on, is peppered with constant reminders of this. 

“Trivia was on the verge of exhaustion, but she kept burning the last of her Aura to hold Neo together. To hold herself together” (96). 

Realizing she is Neo: “Trivia smiled. She took in a deep breath. She felt complete for the first time. She felt like herself” (99). 

“You must be Trivia,” the tall woman said. If I must, I must, Trivia thought (126).

“She wrinkled her nose. Her name still felt like a coat that didn’t fit right. She would need to tailor that, too” (153).

“Losing her friend was Trivia’s first step towards putting herself back together and embracing her true, best self” (152). 

“Wearing this [outfit], she almost, not quite, knew (or remembered?) who she was—not as a student or a daughter, but as Trivia Vanille," except the clothes are “the kind of thing Neopolitan would wear” (152-3). 

On not being able to summon Neo anymore: “She had realized that Neo was really just another aspect of herself” (175).

Though there’s also the occasional implication that she's not actually Neo, just someone highly influenced by her: “No, [fully pink hair was] too much of the other girl [Neopolitan]," so she settles on that half pink (Neo), half brown (Trivia) combo (153). 

As said at the start, it's a "twist" that works perfectly well... provided you ignore the magical elements and the amount of work done to establish Neopolitan as her own person, not just Trivia in a shiny, future glamour. Far from the empowering victory I expected to feel in watching Neo become who she always wanted to be, I found the whole situation to be somewhat tragic. Magic created a fully realized person who egged Trivia towards bad behavior since she was a young child, until Trivia comes to the decision that she should just embrace their personality 24/7. It felt less like the growth of a character into who they were meant to be and more like a manipulated kid taking the place of the person who used to exist alongside her — the only friend she ever had before Roman. Given that Neo is a villain, that's a pretty interesting idea for how the good girl goes bad... but it doesn't feel like Myers meant it that way. Rather, we're supposed to accept the simplest reading, that Neo was just a projection of Trivia's internal self, never-mind her individuality, her pressuring influence, her existence as something real in the world provided Trivia has aura. It's a much messier depiction of Neo's identity than that ‘She had an imaginary friend who she admired and eventually took her name’ setup. When magic is involved and a character's mind is creating fully realized people to stave off loneliness... that's a whole other kettle of fish. I don't actually want to delve into a psychological reading here — I simply don't have the expertise for that — but suffice to say, Neo's muteness might have been handled well, but there's a lot more to interrogate regarding her mental state and how much leeway we give to, ‘It's a fantasy series, just run with it.’ 

Part Three: You're Dodging Those Rumors, Clyde 

I admittedly am. Let's take a break from deep dives into characterization to instead tackle Roman Holiday's — undeserved — reputation. I get it. At this point the RWBY franchise is, frankly, a poster child for offensive content and workplace problems. In the last two years alone we've dealt with horrific crunch culture, sexual harassment allegations, an arguably glorified assisted suicide, bad comparisons to real life politics and dictatorships, a huge reversal on the show's disability stance, one subreddit banning another over criticism, a collective YouTube response to the fandom's behavior, iffy choices regarding Mother's Day merch, accusations of queerbaiting, a resurgence of using Monty's death to forward or dismiss arguments, continued worry over whether the bees will be made canonical next Volume... and honestly, that's just some of the big ticket subjects. RWBY's story, workplace, and fandom have a lot going on, much of it bad, so it's no surprise to me that people are primed to see the worst at every turn. Why wouldn't we be? At this point it's a pretty justified response. 

However, in this case it's unwarranted. Let's tackle Neo and Roman first. Yes, they're a decade apart in age and yes, there are some details that could, potentially, imply romantic interest on both sides. But they really are tiny and the novel confirms nothing. Indeed, the back of the book's summary says, "Just like every story, every friendship has a beginning..." So that's the focus here and all the ambiguous hints, importantly, happen after Neo is confirmed to be 18 years old. Roman takes her to a fancy tea shop only because he owes her. “It certainly wasn’t because he wanted to impress her or anything” (189). Neo blushes when he compliments her semblance. Twice Roman jokes “Don’t worry, it isn’t flowers” when Neo is opening up her parasol present (212). Neo also acknowledges Roman's looks at one point: “With his tousled orange hair, dressed like a street punk, he didn’t look much older than her. In fact, he was kind of cute” (184). The most intimate they get though is at the novel's end: “She leaned over and kissed Roman on the cheek. His face went red," though this is immediately followed by "It was fun to mess with him sometimes” (307). Honestly, the most overt "hint" towards a relationship is probably the title itself, a play on the 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday. But upon reading the novel, I think it's clear Myers chose that title only because Roman's name is, you know, Roman and the plot somewhat mirrors the idea of a reporter getting involved with a princess. Only in this case it's a criminal getting involved with a high society girl and "involved" just means a crime spree, not a romance. 

So is there something there? Maybe the start of something, if you're willing to read into it, but to me it comes across more like the two of them poking fun at social expectations — he's the guy so he "must" be getting the girl flowers; she's the girl so she "has" to kiss him on the cheek — rather than anything serious. Even if Myers had developed a relationship, Neo is both an adult and at least Ruby's current age, if not a year older, so if some fans want her to start a relationship with the 14-year-old farm boy housing her ancient headmaster, is a ten year age gap really where we're going to draw the line? I know that makes a lot of people uncomfortable — frankly it makes me a bit uncomfortable too, more-so because of the difference in their life experiences (Neo is still a student, Roman a long-established criminal) than the actual gap itself — but we should be wary about when personal squicks turn into unfounded, "This is a sin!" purity culture. And for the purposes of this conversation, the point is that there is no relationship. If anything, Roman is just as aware of Neo's age as the reader is. He initially thinks he's looking at a “little girl” only to quickly realize “She was also older than her diminutive height suggested, maybe about the same age as the Malachite twins” (168). But, as we'll get to in just a sec, Roman very much treats the twins as the kids they are too. Roman even refers to Neo as a "kid" until she makes it known she dislikes it (183-4). He drops the term, but that doesn't mean the mindset disappeared. 

As for the twins, they're the only other minors that Roman spends time with. Lil' Miss instructs him to act as their body guard while in hiding, which means he spends over a week living with them. Frankly? I think it's a really wholesome part of the novel — or as wholesome as the villains can ever get. That's when the girls get bored enough to steal Roman's hat, toss it around a bit, and beg to braid his hair. Myers does a good job of balancing Roman's bad boy attitude with a clear indulgence for them. He doesn't actively like the twins (who does Roman like besides Neo?) and ends up orchestrating a ridiculous plot to get out of "babysitting" them (another indication that he's well aware that they're kids), but he doesn't wish them any real harm. He even cares about them in his own twisted, villainous way. We get to see a moment where Roman tries to convince the girls to escape from a grimm, leaving him behind. We might have been able to write that off as Roman just saving his own skin in the long run — Lil' Miss would kill him if any harm comes to her girls — but there's no need to fake comfort: “Roman squeezed Melanie’s hand reassuringly. He needed her and her sister to remain calm” (52). As one of the other goons observes, “You’re bluffing. It’s obvious that you care about [Miltia], which means you’re up to something” (51). Much later, Roman's thoughts confirm this when the girls are older, more powerful, and trying to kill him: “He’d had to endure their dance recitals when they were little. He’d clapped for them at gymnastic competitions. Now they were trying to do a number on him... He didn’t want to hurt the lil' brats, despite everything, but he couldn’t let them take him down” (166-7). Really, I like everything about this. I enjoy how this humanizes and complicates Roman without undermining his status as a villain. I like the loyalty to their mother it shows in the twins that they'd turn on a man who was so involved in their childhoods. It's just fun to read about a badass bad guy trying to manage bored pre-teens with superpowers and a crime boss mom. Their relationship isn't something I expected from the novel, but I'm glad we got it. There's nothing here to imply the twins are uncomfortable with Roman, or that Roman is inappropriate with them. Anyone who balks merely at the idea of a grown man, quote, "babysitting" two young girls is working from bias and bias alone. 

There is, however, one inappropriate comment made by a goon and an assumption made by Miltia, both of which Roman refutes. First, the goon asks if Melanie is Torchwick’s “new girlfriend” to which Roman responds, “You know who it is... She’s just a kid, big man” (47-48). Later on, we get

“Cute,” [Roman] said. 

“Flattery’s not going to work on me anymore,” Miltia said. 

“I was referring to your moves, not you” (158).

Now, we could drag Myers for including such "jokes" and misunderstandings to begin with, but that's why I mentioned the Yellow Trailer at the start of this review. It doesn't feel right to single Myers out for something Rooster Teeth has already embraced, especially when he's the one working to mirror their original product. Yang deliberately toys with Junior and Junior willingly goes in for the kiss. Jaune blushes at older moms eyeing him up at the crosswalk. Nora tells Ren not to look up her skirt in the middle of a deadly fight. Neo and Cinder both go to Atlas in scantily clad outfits because it's more important for the women to look sexy than it is for the show to stay consistent about the dangers of the tundra. Much of RWBY has that frat boy energy about it. I'd be shocked if nothing snuck its way into Myers' work too. But Roman the pedophile who ogles the twins and manipulates a kid Neo? That just doesn't exist. 

Part Four: Déjà Vu, Anyone? 

I dithered about whether to include this section, simply because I don't want anyone to misunderstand what I'm trying to say... yet at the same time, I'm not entirely sure how to articulate the problem I have here. Or if I'd even consider it a problem at all. In the end, "déjà vu" is the best term I can come up with. I'm not saying that Myers is lazy in regards to plot and choreography. I'm definitely not saying he's plagiarized. What I am saying — the only thing I'm saying — is that there were a lot of times during the novel where I went, "Okay, we've seen this before." Whether or not that's bad I'm... not sure. 

Let's start broad. When the excerpt dropped I mentioned that Neo's situation sounded pretty very to Weiss' and I stand by that claim. Actually, having read the novel now, I'd say it's a LOT like Weiss' story. Neo is the daughter of an incredibly wealthy family, suffering from an abusive father, a more loving but absent mother, whose only freedom stems from her semblance and combat abilities. Alright, let's dig deeper. Like Jacques, Jimmy's abuse is on full display for the viewer/reader. I could give you a laundry list of examples, but here are just a few: 

Jimmy is frequently described as barely controlling his anger around Neo, “there was rage behind his shadowed eyes,” etc. (4)

There are times when she is "suddenly afraid" of what her Papa will do to her (35).

When Neo is taken home by the cops, they reveal that they didn't even know that Jimmy Vanille had a daughter. That's how sequestered she's been.

He and his wife lock Neo in her room when they go out, which means that when she starts a fire she had no way to escape, no one to open the door for her, no way to call for help (her scroll is engulfed in the flames). Neo ends up chancing a fall from the window. 

He comes very near to hitting Neo at one point before backing down. 

Later he drugs her and, again, locks her in her room. 

As said, I could go on. There are a few inconstancies across the novel that, frankly, I've come to expect of Myers' work and RWBY in general, which I bring up now because it messes with the abuse plotline a bit. There's supposed to be a shocking moment when Jimmy grabs Neo tightly by the arms: "Trivia stepped back, appalled. Papa had yelled at her, punished her, even ignored her over the years, but he had never hurt her before” (97). Except she’s forgetting that, at the very start of the novel, Jimmy grabs her by the ankles, pulls her out from under the couch, and proceeds to shake her upside down while her hand bleeds. I'd say that's a pretty intense, physical interaction, making squeezing Neo's arms fail to have the impact Myers was looking for. Similarly, when Neo finally snaps and throws her parasol at her father's face, it's because “The things she had claimed for herself were just more stuff her parents had paid for," meaning, everything she stole on a shopping spree her father made sure to pay for twice over. It's not the ableism, abuse, isolation, and the like that Neo reacts to, even though she clearly struggles with those throughout the novel as a whole. So there are disconnects at times, but the point is this man is an abusive asshole to his daughter until she learns to literally fight back. Sound familiar? 

What particularly struck me was that both men have built their abuse around how the family is perceived. Both are obsessed with their image and how their daughter does or does not serve it. Jacques yelling at Weiss for speaking out about Beacon could be swapped with Jimmy yelling at Neo for not speaking at all. Jacques has maintained his wealth by exploiting the faunus in dust mines and getting in deep with criminals like Watts. Jimmy maintains his wealth by getting involved in illegal dust trades and getting in deep with criminals like the Xiongs. Both try to justify their actions in the name of perpetuating both that image and that wealth: “the things I have to do for that money” (5). Both lock their daughters in their room when they can't control them anymore. Both keep portraits in the hall that “showed her and her parents posing together as if they were a happy family,” a symbol of this familial deception (271).* Both have more compassionate, terrified, but ultimately enabling wives that, the story reveals, have secretly been spying on their husbands this whole time. Just as Willow set up all those cameras and gave the footage to Weiss, Carmel is using the camera in her pin to acquire information on Jimmy, with plans to use it to help Neo. By the time Neo's solution to the "What now?" question was to fly Roman back to her mansion and drink tea for a while Volume 8 style, complete with a Sun-Blake style shock that this is her house — sure you don't mean the tiny one behind it? — I was honestly wondering just how far we were going to stretch these parallels. I don't want to make it sound like these characters are identical (Carmel isn't an alcoholic for one thing)... but they share enough characteristics and distinct details to feel, well, a little weird. It also feeds the fandom's question, "Doesn't RWBY know any villain backstories except abuse?" 

*(As a side note, I initially thought the book's cover, showing a young Neo with two brown eyes, was a mistake. Turns out her parents had the painter get rid of her pink eye because they were ashamed of it, so kudos to the cover artist for keeping that consistent!) 

The similarities between Neo's backstory and Weiss' are absolutely the most obvious example here, but there were two other, smaller déjà vu moments I wanted to toss out, both involving combat. Myers has, at times, repeated fights almost exactly in order to cover two character's perspectives. I get the need to rehash plot in that manner, but he tends to focus on the exact same details back to back, making for a boring read. That incredibly nit-picky criticism aside, it means that I was already aware of combat moments that I'd seen before, not just in Roman Holiday, but RWBY in general. Does this description sound familiar to anyone? 

Neo hopped up lightly onto the broad blade. Rin tried to shake her off. Neo vaulted away just as the Huntress activated the flames, somersaulting over the Huntress. She planned to land behind her and whack her with her sword, but Rin turned and kicked high while Neo was still in the air. The Huntress’s foot connected with Neo’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her and knocking her clear across the room (199). 

If it's not familiar don't beat yourself up because it really is a minor similarity (and, in fairness, there's only so many ways you can write combat...). But take away the swords, replace them with a parasol and scythe, and you've basically got Ruby and Neo's interaction in Volume 8. Ruby tries to land a hit on Neo, she turns, kicks high while Ruby is still in the air, and she flies across the platform, knocking the wind out of her. We've also seen the 'Landing on a broadsword to get close to an enemy' bit with Tyrian and Qrow. But again: minor. What's a far less minor repeat of combat techniques is seen between Roman and Chameleon. Basically, Chameleon is Ilia, minus being a faunus and thus framing her abilities as a difference she's shunned for. Her semblance allows her to camouflage at will, giving her a major stealth advantage in a fight. Which means that when she goes after Roman, things get exponentially harder when the lights go out. But then it's better for Roman when a fire starts. He beats Chameleon and she helps him in the end because she's always been in love with him, even though Roman didn't love her back. If you're going, "Hey, that's the basic plot of Blake and Ilia's fight!" then yeah, me too.

It's not the whole novel. I don't want to make it sound like Roman Holiday is just a stitched together version of previous RWBY content because it's absolutely not. At the same time though, there were enough major similarities — and enough smaller ones that started standing out as a result — for me to raise an eyebrow. As said, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this eyebrow raising, or even if I want to label it a criticism at all. You all can decide what you think. 

Part Five: Wait, Now There's Not Enough RWBY? 

Yes, I contain multitudes and contradictions. As does this book. Even while Roman Holiday repeated some pretty familiar RWBY elements, there were times when the novel didn't feel very RWBY-ish at all. Part of the problem is that it lacks what's arguably the most crucial part of RWBY’s world building: battling grimm. Safe behind the walls of Mistral and Vale, we only see one grimm in the whole story, a captured Capivara that one of the crime lords uses to dispose of people who have displeased him. Roman and the twins barely get more than a few hits in before it escapes upstairs, leaving the kill to happen off screen (and why the grimm ran is another problem entirely. Again: we'll get to that). So although there are plenty of battles between people throughout the story, it doesn't feel quite like RWBY to me without the show's first and most significant antagonist. 

More than that though, Myers goes back and forth between emphasizing RWBY's unique, cultural elements and putting them aside entirely. When he's including them, it's great. We learn that there's an old saying “You can’t put the moon back together” which yeah, of course idioms would develop around the shattered moon (151). Honey Wine, a night club singer, paints her face with red dust as a symbol of both wealth and her dare-devil nature — one stray spark and the dust would ignite, blowing her and potentially the club up too. Yeah, of course people would come up with foolish, ridiculous ways to use this resource if they had it. During one of Neo's lessons, a passage for diction practice goes like this: 

The gruesome Grimm grew greedy. Get that greedy gruesome Grimm, Gregory. Go, Gregory, go. The greedy gruesome Grimme gorged Gregory. Good-bye, Gregory, Good-bye. The gory, greedy Grimm gave a gruesome grin (175).

Yeah, of course the elite would develop silly lessons using grimm as examples! We've got math problems about Johnny and his dish soap (yes, I'm quoting the Vine), so why wouldn't this world use grimm in the same way? Especially those who are rich and privileged enough to never encounter one. 

When it's good, it's good. When it's not... I don't want to take Myers to task for this because, in his defense, much of what makes the book feel generically modern has been seen in the show. Like computers. Or video games. Still, when these things are mentioned frequently it undermines the fantasy/sci-fi core, especially when Myers keeps the standard terminology. Why is a phone called a scroll, but a TV is still called a TV? Why are cops patrolling normal sounding malls with normal sounding guns? Neo sneaks out at one point and it struck me that, up until she uses her semblance against a bunch of bullies, there's nothing to distinguish this outing from a realistic portrayal of an average girl getting a milkshake. None of this is helped by the times when Myers slips on the terminology that is unique. Roman describes what he steals as "cash" rather than "lien" (105). One moment we're getting phrases like “She wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box," the next it's "or rob a convenience store for a six-pack of Dr. Piper” (44, 239). So is RWBY a world that has all the same products we do — crayons and TVs — a world that's different, but only because the author is making it different in a humorous way — Dr. Piper — or a place with a unique culture and history — scrolls, lien, shattered moon idioms? It's a challenge every fantasy writer has to face. Can you have a French braid in a world without France? Some will say no, others will bank on the reader's understanding that you can't change up every aspect of our language. You'll drive yourself nuts if you try. So I'm sympathetic, but it's nevertheless noticeable when Myers seems to remember that he's writing a fantasy world, tossing in "bullhead," "oh my Gods," and "thank the brothers" in a single scene, as if he’s making up for the whole chapters where that work is missing. Take out the grimm, take out semblances for a good chunk of the plot (since Roman doesn't have one), get iffy about the details... and you're left with a story that sometimes feels more generic Young Adult than it does RWBY. Enjoyable Young Adult, but a little lackluster in the world building all the same. This isn't a book where girls turn into rose pedals, lamps grant wishes, and teenagers fight giant mechs. This is a story where a guy uses a cane to beat people up, a girl uses illusions to shoplift, and the final confrontation is basically a shoot-out. Not bad by any means, just not the level of insane "The gun is also a gun!" nonsense that has become RWBY's brand. 

Part Six: Stupid Plots (and Strange Details) 

If Roman Holiday lacks a lot of that RWBY insanity, then that means nothing stupid and ridiculous happened, right? Lol of course not. The novel suffers from what I think of as the, "Well that's convenient" problem. In its immense defense though, it's nowhere near the level of, say, Amity suddenly being ready to go. The world's rules do not bend for Neo and Roman... they just wind up experiencing things that can test the reader's sense of disbelief at times. For example, how likely is it that two huntsmen will waltz into a bank in the middle of Roman robbing it? Very likely, apparently. Why not just have them respond to a silent alarm? Well, because of reasons we'll tackle in Part Seven, so we're left with the iffy coincidence of two trained professionals being at the right place at the right time to show the reader a fight. It's a fun fight though — love the use of dust in it — so we'll let that pass. After all, if coincidence serves the reader's entertainment, aren't they ultimately a good thing? 

Far more frustrating in my opinion is when disaster is illogically postponed and characters are written as incredibly stupid in order for a protagonist to get by. In this case, Neo. One of the major reveals of the novel is that her father has been stealing dust from the Xiongs and hiding it beneath Neo's bed. We're supposed to believe that a moment of Lil' Miss shooting into her room sets this volatile dust off, resulting in an explosion that kills both of Neo's parents (side note: she intended this), but the dust didn't blow up when Neo started a fire in said bedroom, a fire that then proceeded to consume the entire top floor? ...right. 

When Neo isn't conveniently surviving non-explosions, she's duping people left and right with her semblance, despite the fact that she, of course, can't speak. This trick becomes less and less convincing as the novel goes on. First, Neo drugs her tutor (that poor woman) and pretends to be her to escape the house, holding a one-sided conversation with her father as he walks her to the door. He finds nothing strange in this. Later, Neo sneaks back in by pretending to be her mother and though this time her father catches her, it's because “If you want to know whether someone is lying to you, it’s all in their eyes” (70). Not because, you know, his "wife" inexplicably won't respond to him verbally. Finally, Neo takes the place of Xiong, traveling with his assistant for over thirty minutes, and never once do any of the goons question what's going on with their suddenly mute boss. This includes interactions like Neo holding out her scroll and just staring until the assistant gets that she should follow the GPS, and the need to ignore the fact that Xiong, characterized as quite talkative throughout the novel, is suddenly quiet as a mouse. Neo's muteness should have been a severe limitation on her ability to masquerade as others, not something the story outright ignores in an effort to move the plot along. 

The novel is peppered with such coincidences, small inconsistencies, and just downright strange details. Roman notes that the police haven't arrived to his robbery yet, only for the next sentence to say they were swarming in. Later he "pulled on his bonds, testing whether he could slide one of his hands free, but he’d been tied up real good” but then again, a few sentences later, “He craned his neck to try to look out the front window. He managed to unbuckle his seat and hop to the front” (259). Like forgetting how rough her father has been in the past, Trivia bemoans the fact that she can't wear anything that Neo would, something in pink and white, for example, forgetting that her former "adventuring outfit" consisted of a white tank-top and white sneakers with pink hearts (26).* She also claims that the Roman illusion she sends running from the twins is her first long-distance use of her semblance, even though she just got done recalling the time she created a butterfly and watched it fly until it was "out of sight" (170). The novel writes out Neo's texting as dialogue even when someone else isn't speaking it aloud — something I initially made a note to praise it for. This is her version of "talking" after all — only for the texts to suddenly become bolded halfway through the book. As for strange details, Myers seems to like giving his antagonists a lumpy food to indulge in — Lil' Miss forces Roman to eat her cottage cheese, Xiong oatmeal with the consistency of cement — and Roman, quite oddly, decides to cover his spider tattoo with a grinning pumpkin. (Were they a thing in A Clockwork Orange? It's been years since I read it...) Neo learns to fly a plan by watching Xiong's assistant start it up and then, I kid you not, pulling up a How To article. Perhaps my favorite bit though is when Roman reveals his master plan to gain a monopoly on Vale's coffee industry and successfully does so by attacking one (1) warehouse. This is treated with the utmost seriousness. 

*(Second side note: the color brown is tied closely to Neo's backstory; to the person her parents wanted Trivia to be. She has her brown hair, only one brown eye, is introduced in a brown dress, wears a brown blazer and pants that her parents bought, and attends Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, the school meant to turn her into a 'real' lady.) 

That last bit though, the coffee heist, feeds into my biggest problem with the book's plot. @superzerokarasu​ and I have been talking about this the last two days, acknowledging it as one of the book's bigger flaws. (And, Superzerokarasu, if tumblr actually tags you, feel free to ignore this absolutely massive wall of text. I just wanted to give credit for the conversations 👍). Basically, towards the end of the novel it is, quite randomly, revealed that there is an important Room at the academy. Important enough that the story capitalizes it — that's not my doing. We haven't heard at thing about this Room before but Neo, apparently, has been trying to sneak into it for weeks. She knows Lady Beat is hiding something in there. Did we know this, especially since we've spent half the novel in Neo's head? Nope! No sooner has this mystery been introduced than Neo is solving it, much like how the group solves the problem of using Ambrosius moments after his rules are explained. Neo throws up an illusion of an empty hallway, picks the lock on the door, and discovers that Lady Beat has been spying on everyone who ever attended her school through the small pins students and graduates wear. This means she has access to private information about important people all over Remnant. Shocking! Neo reacts to this discovery by tearing the hard drive loose, there are some confusing suggestions about how this information will save them from Lil' Miss and Xiong, and then Roman sends the information to a news station, revealing all. Thus ends the world-wide conspiracy we just found out about. 

It's muddied. It's ridiculous. It, most importantly, comes out of nowhere. There's absolutely no buildup to this mystery, just a sudden announcement that it exists and, wouldn't you know, here's the conclusion. Superzerokarasu is correct that this problem could be solved by increasing the academy sections and fleshing this mystery out. I'm of the opinion that it could also be solved by eliminating it entirely. Why in the world do Roman and Neo need to grapple with a world-changing reveal, especially when the rest of the novel is so tame? Roman shakes money down from other small-time crooks. Neo learns diction and combat at school. Roman leaves the Kingdom to avoid Lil' Miss. Neo sneaks out of the house and goes on shopping sprees. She saves him from a street fight, he takes her out to tea, they proceed to rob convenience stores. Their conflicts take place on such a small scale that this conspiracy plot feels ridiculous compared to the rest of the novel, even if it did have better setup. In contrast, their big coffee heist likewise feels ridiculous for how small it is. As a duo (not Neo as an individual, now that she's involved with the Relics and such), they operate in a pretty specific niche of small crimes conducted for villains with large plans. Given the number of times the novel brought up that Roman should start stealing dust, I foolishly thought that the novel would conclude with them stealing dust. Why coffee? Why conspiracies? Why shootouts between two crime bosses on Neo's front lawn? Let them pull off an epic dust heist together, tying it back to Neo's family since her father is already neck-deep in the illegal dust trade, all of it setting up the characters we'll meet in the webseries: street crooks now stealing dust for Cinder. That's their specialty. Why not start that specialty here? 

Instead we get a bunch of hurried plot points that, of course, will have no bearing on the first eight volumes of the webseries. Which brings us to... 

Part Seven: Roman Holiday's Impact on RWBY

Quite obviously, this isn't a novel that exists in a vacuum. Roman Holiday, given that it is presented as an official Rooster Teeth product, is likewise meant to fit into the already established canon. This has been a challenge for Rooster Teeth in the past — important lore winding up in card games, mischaracterization in other novels, worry about how the upcoming game will re-tell events we've already seen — but has Roman Holiday perpetuated that trend?  

Well, yes and no. Which is never a particularly satisfying answer, but in this case there are both aspects that are working and aspects that aren't. Let's tackle the good first. 

Myers includes a lot of details throughout the story that help fill in RWBY's gaps. In this case, it's not information the viewer should have gotten in the webseries in order to have a complete understanding of the situation, but rather things that simply help connect the two works together, adding depth to what we already know. For example, there are those before mentioned times when characters suggest that Roman start stealing dust. “You aren’t the first person to suggest that. Maybe I should look into that...” (216). I do think it's a missed opportunity not to make a dust heist the climax of the story, but that doesn't erase the fact that this still functions as excellent setup for the webseries' premiere. We know RWBY opens on Roman robbing a dust shop. Now we have a better sense of how and why he got into that line of criminal work. 

We likewise get to see the origins of Neo's parasol, not just how she got it (Roman), but also what led her to wanting that kind of weapon in the first place (struggling with the heaviness of swords, getting attached to a parasol she stole, impulsively using it to attack her father, escaping the fire with it and realizing that the ability to float from high places is an asset). Something else I particularly like is that Myers was careful to explain how Neo became so adept at fighting. According to the webseries, there are only three paths you can take: go to combat school like Ruby, live on the streets like Roman, or live outside the Kingdoms like Blake. Neo, as a rich girl kept within high society, doesn't fit any of those models, so Myers introduces an Academy that seeks to train young women for any eventuality, even an attack. Neo learns how to smile, sew, cook, courtesy... while also taking classes in acrobatics, combat, ballet, and fencing. All the girls train with a combat instructor — “I know this isn’t a combat school, but by the time we’re done, you will be as skilled as any Huntress in Remnant” (201) — and, not only that, but she undergoes some pretty intense testing. Balance is taught by “balancing on a tightrope twenty feet in the air, with no net below you. Lady Beat believed in ‘though love’—without the love part” (146). It's a teaching method that makes Ozpin's cliff test seem a little less insane and it highlights one of those fantasy elements of RWBY. When your students possess aura that can save them from a twenty foot fall, it's slightly more reasonable to include that as a challenge. So when Neo starts following Roman around, it doesn't feel off that she can keep up with him. She's been trained, has practiced her semblance alone, and gets additional tutoring from Roman himself. Myers neatly dodges the question of how a non-Huntress and such a privileged girl — unlike Nora or Cinder — became to be as talented as Neo is. Privilege actually bought her that knowledge, which Neo then combines with Roman's street smarts, making her the formidable fighter we know and love.  

However, for every nice tether there is between Roman Holiday and RWBY there's a moment of worldbuilding that messes with our sense of the webseries. Or at least raises some pretty big concerns. 

Given that we just came off of Volume 8, it's no surprise that I read the novel with an eye for hints about how these future events — the destruction of Atlas, evacuees in Vacuo — might impact the rest of Remnant. What Myers gave us... doesn't look good for RWBYJNOR's decision, or the theme Rooster Teeth was going for in Volume 8. Meaning, the show took on a very black and white view by the end of the Atlas arc. Ironwood is an irredeemable bad guy, Atlas is full of racist trash and deserves to sink, the heroes made the best decision possible given the circumstances. Myers' novel introduces some nuance that, sadly, doesn't serve that black and white view well. He describes Mistral as, frankly, suffering the exact same problems as Atlas. “The city elevator didn’t come down this far, to keep more of a buffer between the haves and the have nots... people at the base of the mountain had no business topside” (10-11). Sounds like the sort of divide between Mantle and Atlas, huh? With the exception that one elite is stationed on top of a mountain instead of a floating city. It's a class issue Neo confirms as a kid when she sneaks out to the lower districts, thinking that, "she was never, ever allowed out alone. ‘For your own safety,’ they said” (25). Rich, racist elites who think themselves better than everyone else isn't an Atlas problem, it's a Remnant problem. RWBYJNOR solved nothing by leaving the place behind (and having one citizen hold hands with a faunus) and the fact that the story acts as if things are better now that Atlesians can’t have picnics on a floating city is... a problem. We already knew RWBY struggles with its racism and classism themes, but moments like this continue to add fuel to the wildfire. 

Similarly, the novel spends a not insignificant amount of time referencing Atlas as the technological capital of their world. We knew that already too, but hammering it home now, post-Volume 8, emphasizes the damage the group has done. No Atlas, no technology. Pretty much any technology, given how often it’s said to come directly from Atlas, or cloned from Atlas originals. 

Regarding the evacuation, Myers gives us a moment where Roman outright rejects Vacuo as a place to escape to: “Vacuo was a good place to hide, but the desert was probably one of the few fates worse than Lil’ Miss. And while there was a thriving criminal element, it wouldn’t be particularly welcoming to a newcomer. There was no future for Roman there” (88). So the desert is a fate worse than a crime boss and Vacuans are so unwelcoming one individual won't risk going there... and now our heroes have dumped an undetermined number of evacuees in that desert, heading towards a Kingdom that doesn't want them. Obviously Myers needs to come up with a reason for why Roman ends up in Vale where Neo is, but doing it this way just highlights so many of Volume 8's problems. Specifically, that the group made such a world-altering decision when it arguably was no longer necessary and, more importantly, did so without once considering the consequences that seem obvious to everyone else in Remnant. Vacuo is the last place anyone wants to escape to... so why was that the heroes' first choice? "Because the show hasn't gone there yet" isn't an answer. 

There are a couple smaller problems throughout — muddying the waters between semblances and magic again; emphasizing how many people unlock their semblances as kid and rely on their aura to get by, bringing up the question (again) of how Jaune was so ignorant — but I just want to cover two more issues here. 

The first is what I mentioned above about the one grimm the novel has. Suffice to say, the grimm ignores the three fighters in front of it (Roman and the twins) and runs off because... well...

“Grimm are drawn by emotion. You never controlled it. It killed your enemies because most people you drop in here are going to be afraid. They won’t be able to fight back. But as far as I can tell, these girls don’t feel anything. And I’m not afraid to die... Anger can be a more powerful emotion than fear” (54-5).”

Let's tally up the problems with this speech: 

The idea that Roman experiences no fear despite being cornered by a massive grimm, in a tiny room, in enemy territory 

The idea that an ability to fight back increases the chance of the grimm running off to pick other targets (if that were the case, the group would never finish any fights) 

Claiming that they're also left alone because the twins "don't feel anything" which is obviously ridiculous  

Reframing Roman's lack of fear into, specifically, not fearing death. Again, a grimm doesn't care whether you fear death or no

Saying that the anger of the boss all the way up in his office is a stronger draw than the three people currently attacking the grimm

It's just a lot of nonsense, bending one of RWBY's most basic rules to give Roman a cool-sounding speech. Cool provided you ignore what the speech is actually implying, that is. Why bother with this? Just let the grimm break down the door halfway through the fight, moving the fight into a new space with new people causes chaos, Roman either escapes then, or he kills the grimm first and escapes afterwards. Better, in my opinion, to give the story a single grimm kill than introduce a bunch of philosophical complications about how much these characters definitely don't feel fear and one man's anger is suddenly a grimm magnet. It's just a strange scene and, looking back, the only scene where I really went, "What?" As evidenced by this entire review, I have problems with certain aspects of the novel, but none actively made me question what in the world Myers was trying to accomplish. This moment is the exception. 

Finally, I'd like to briefly mention the ways in which Roman Holiday messes with our understanding of the huntsmen profession. Again, this is nothing new. From Blake and Yang shrugging off Adam's death, to Weiss asking if she can arrest her father, the true purpose of the job seems vague, especially when you toss in what they're legally allowed to get away with. At first, the novel seems to support the idea that huntsmen are responsible for defending the people from both grimm and criminals, especially in the cities where walls do most of the work of keeping grimm out. Roman worries that huntsmen will show up to put a stop to his robbery, there's a bounty for him “posted on all the Huntsmen job boards," and then, later, two huntsmen do show up to his bank heist and try to stop him — that coincidental timing (176). "It’s kind of refreshing to fight a bad guy instead of a Grimm for a change," says one, implying that their primary focus will always be grimm, but they're also not going to ignore criminal activity. I get that. I buy that. It fits with what else we've learned about the job from the webseries: students attend school specifically to learn how to fight grimm, but they're capable — and expected — to use those skills for the people's benefit, no matter what form that comes in. Hence, jobs like Jaune acting as a crossing guard. It works.

....Aaaand then Myers blows that understanding right out of the water. 

“[The huntsmen are] being fined for destruction of public property and reckless endangerment. This isn’t the first time they’ve been reprimanded for using excessive force and gross misconduct. The Vale Huntsmen Guild reportedly is considering suspending their licenses (118).” 

So wait, never mind, apparently huntsmen aren't supposed to stop bank robberies that they walk in on. Or at least, they're not supposed to stop them using "excessive force" and resulting in the "destruction of public property." Problem is, there's no way to battle another fighter of Roman's skill without doing property damage and, potentially, putting civilians in danger. The strength of Yang's punch blows small craters into the floor. Weiss uses dust that causes minor explosions. Ruby swings her scythe in such large arcs she could easily hit someone if she's not paying attention. Within the context of RWBY's powers, the huntsmen here didn't use "excessive force" because aura, semblances, dust, and insane weaponry are all staples of combat. So... what are they meant to do instead? Find out if Roman is just a normal dude and, if he's not, back out like, "Oh sorry. We can't fight someone our equal because that would require, you know, fighting. We'll wait for the police to capture you. They'll have a much better time without training, semblances, or any other combat resources, I'm sure..." 

This single excerpt sends us right back into the "Huh?" territory. What are a huntsmen's responsibilities then? What are they legally allowed to do? And why are these expectations so inconsistent across the franchise? I know the answer here is that the group was pardoned by Ironwood, but it still seems absurd that we watched them steal military property, attack an official, cause a major grimm attack, and actively hide from the authorities... and all that's presented as fine. But trying to stop the guy currently robbing a bank? Well, that’s a suspendable offense. And we know this was taken seriously because Roman runs into one of the huntsmen later, a Roch Szalt, and we learn that his license wasn't just suspended, he lost it entirely. These side characters are out of their livelihood for defending the people while RWBYJNOR gained licenses for endangering them. There's something fundamentally wrong with your world building when your protagonists primarily get by on such massive inconsistencies. 

Part Eight: The Last Section, I Swear

This is another aspect of the novel that I really hesitated over including, just because I do think there's a line between legit criticism and unkind nit-picking. In the end though, enough of a trend emerged that I thought I'd toss it out, especially since I've recently been pondering the question, "How does RWBY treat its women?" The answer should be obvious, right? This is a show about four girls fighting evil! Yet as the webseries continues, fans are noticing more and more divergences from that initial premise. Like creating a world where women are almost never in the primary positions of power. Like giving Jaune and Oscar the active, plot-forwarding scenes that should belong to Ruby and her team. Like that frat boy mentality I mentioned earlier on. The purpose here isn't to analyze that aspect of the webseries, I simply wanted to lay out where my thoughts were while reading Roman Holiday. 

The disclaimer? Neo is great. The strange intersection between her identity and her semblance aside, I think she's entertaining, well-rounded, and the fact that she is given not just half the book's chapters, but that focus mentioned in Part One, resulted in a well-developed character. However, outside of Neo the women are frustratingly built around the same thing: sex appeal. Honey Wine is the club singer whose semblance lowers customers' inhabitations, acting like a Remnant version of a siren. The twins — despite those pedophilia rumors about Roman proving unfounded — are the butt of girlfriend/"You're cute" jokes, drawing attention to their developing looks more than their combat skills, strategies, etc. Both Lady Beat and Carmel, Neo's mom, possess that older woman charm expected of high society ladies. They're dangerous because they can acquire information and they acquire that information by looking the part: pretty smiles, fine clothes, figures that catch the eye. Even Lil' Miss, an established character with a lot of power at her fingertips, isn't exempt from this. When Roman first meets her he observes that fashion is clearly a part of her strategic mind, “a plunging neckline and purple corset distracted Roman even more” (19). Distracted, meaning, that Lil' Miss deliberately makes herself look hot so all the straight guys will lose their heads. 

It's a bit more heavy-handed than just some over-used archetypes though, particularly when it comes to making Roman the guy that every girl wants — even when that's just him assuming they want him. Lil' Miss, again, suffers that treatment. “'Is she flirting?' he suddenly wondered. He hadn’t ever considered that she might like him, but if that was the case, he could use that to—” (57). In a similar situation played straight Chameleon, Roman's peer, is introduced with the statement that “She considered him a friend, and plainly wanted more than that" so Roman "continued to string her along” (45). It's that Ilia/Blake dynamic, just with added cruelty and a gender setup that carries completely different implications. Even the minor characters aren't safe from Roman's charms. Lisa Lavender — you know, Remnant's reporter? — receives flowers from Roman after she labels his robbery “one of the most brazen displays of lawlessness” she's ever seen (117). It's not presented as the villain being creepy though. When Roman contacts Lisa directly, we're given a verbal joke about her maybe interest. She loves... the ratings he brings in. Just the ratings. Of course. 

It's worth noting that Chameleon isn't just reduced to a silly crush whose love allows Roman to escape, she's also the character who "has" to be naked in order to make the most of her semblance. Despite writing in an Atlas cape that blends into various backgrounds, Myers still emphasizes the absolute necessity of this woman fighting naked: 

“She didn’t wear much clothing these days, both because it thwarted her natural camouflaging abilities, and because when she chose to show herself, it could be quite distracting... she stripped for added stealth—it wouldn’t be the first time” (81, 85). 

It's a writing choice that I personally despise. And make no mistake, it is a choice. In a world with magical abilities and futuristic tech, there's no reason to make the presumably young woman — we're never given an age, but Chameleon is written to be particularly naïve — getting naked in front of others, especially a man that is stringing her along. Clothes only "thwart" a magical ability when the author says it does. Why can't semblances make outfits camouflage too? Because then there wouldn't be an excuse for the hot women to strip. 

Particularly for more important characters like Lil' Miss or Lady Beat, these aspects are not the sum total of their characters... but there's enough there to be wince-worthy if you're already sick of such trends; already keeping an eye out for what RWBY writes in regards to gender. I think a good way to summarize Roman Holiday's idea of feminism is when Neo is staking out a coffee shop and Roman asks her to bring him a coffee when she comes back. She returns with an empty cup reading, "Get your own coffee." It's clearly meant to be this empowering moment — how dare the man ask for food like she's some servant! — except it's ruined by the context of the situation. Namely, that Neo is already at a coffee shop. And Roman isn't rude about asking for one. And they've already traded presents in the form of a crazy expensive parasol for her and a new hat for him. Asking your crime partner, who just happens to be a women, to pick up a coffee on her way home when it’s clearly not a hassle, is not the outdated insult Myers seems to think it is. And that's what a lot of these choices are: details that don't break the novel by any means, but come across as out of touch none-the-less. 

Part Nine: The End (Okay, This is the Final Section) 

The novel concludes with Roman and Neo flying off together, avoiding the authorities, nothing they have to do except "set the world on fire" (208). It's a rather bittersweet ending given Neo's certainty that no one will ever catch them because we know, eventually, Roman will die and Neo will be left alone. I quite like ending things on that optimistic note, both because it fits their current mindsets and because it adds that extra, emotional punch for the reader. Their story isn't done... but it will be soon. 

And thus ends my review as well! Review? Analysis? Little mix of both, I suppose. Hardly the most succinct thing I've ever written, but what did anyone expect. Final thoughts? I still liked the novel. Despite everything above — despite re-wading through eight major problems I had with the text, ranging from minor preferences to arguably massive mistakes — my overall takeaway remains, "I'm glad I read it." It's been a long time since I actively enjoyed a RWBY story; where my entertainment and appreciation of the writing outweighed the problems I had with it. I know I'm far from the only one currently dissatisfied with the canon, so if you're looking to re-ignite some of that old, RWBY spark? Give Roman Holiday a try. 

And, of course, thank you for reading! 💜

[demonprincezeldris]

From the Siren AU

The sins rescue magical creatures, and find this crippled siren and a small, petite, pink haired siren who tends to him. The elder ones fins were stripped and sold after he and almost his entire pod were either captured or killed by humans. They were separated quickly, and he has no idea what happened to any of them.

He still has his tail, with its pale gold scales, but he is crippled beyond repair. Because of his disability, he cannot swim hardly at all. He can wiggle through the water, sort of like an eel, but it's exhausting, and Hell on his spine.

His son was born in captivity, since his mate had been expecting at the time. She died right after the birth, the strain in such an unfamiliar, hostile environment too much for her body after already being weakened, but named him after his father with teary eyes.

When they find them, the elder is weary, but wise in his age and experience. He may be a little wary of these humans, as he hangs in a hammock in the little cave his son had guided him to, but he recognizes that they have no intentions of hurting them. His songs allow him to see and tweak the very memories of others. A powerful gift that his child had inherited, along with his golden eyes. He got purple scales from his mother. He tells them both him and the young one are named Gowther.

They bring them back to Meliodas and Zeldris, thinking they'd probably know more on how to help them, and help compensate for his disability, since they themselves were sirens. Meliodas breaks into tears almost immediately, recognizing one of his pod members, who he'd thought was long since dead. He also sees that the boy is a mirror image of his aunty Glariza and connects the dots pretty quickly. Zeldris is a bit more hesitant, but he too recognizes them as pod through his instincts. Gowther recognizes him, with his red scales and spiky black hair, as the babe from all those years ago. He's glad, so glad that the two had survived and escaped as the blubbering Meliodas clinging to him tells him how he had swam with Zeldris and hid for hours, hearing his pods screams. But he's so, so sorry the pain and loneliness they have suffered.

The sins are ecstatic they managed to find members from the boys pod! And upon finding out that Gowther truly didn't know what had happened to the others, realized that there could very well be more out there, and alive! They redouble their search efforts, focusing on rumors about sirens. (Of course, they still help anyone else they can.)

The young Gowther, with wide eyes and pink hair, is a little wary around them, but his father insists that they are family, and within about a week, the three and chasing each other through the waves, laughing as they leap and twist and duck around. The elder watches fondly from where he's settled near the shore, and chats with Escanor over tea, something the siren has found he's quite fond of.

Aw! This was so lovely to read!

[thecollectiverpg]

L O A D I N G   V I L L A I N   P R O F I L E …

NAME: GRIZZLY AKA AARON EHRENREICH

AGE: THIRTY-NINE

TIER: ONE

GENDER & PRONOUNS: AGENDER, HE/HIM

ABILITIES: SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH 

MEMBER SINCE: 2022

BACKGROUND (CONFIDENTIAL: SECURITY PASSCODE REQUIRED)

There are some parts of the story you can verify and some you cannot.

For instance: he was born Aaron Ehrenreich at Mt. Sinai hospital in Baltimore at 3:06am on December 12th, 1983, delivered by Cesarean section after seven hours of labor to a single mother barely scraping by on disability benefits. He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and the obstetrician who delivered him suspected that he might have some small degree of hearing loss in his left ear, but nothing worth doing anything about. There are records for this.

There are records, too, of his schooling: middling grades through elementary school, which dropped off steeply in junior high. A juvenile record from one too many fights in the hallways of his West Baltimore school, a kid whose nose he broke, a kid whose teeth he cracked. Records from one parent-teacher conference indicate he was an overly sensitive kid who learned quickly how to defend himself. The pathway from there to outright bully would have been all too short, but it never seems to have gotten there. 

This part you can’t verify: that his mom, a former kindergarten teacher who had to quit when her Parkinson’s disease got bad enough to stop her, had probably taught him to stand up for himself, but never to step over the line. To keep to himself when he could manage it. To never be cruel for cruelty’s sake, but to never let anyone spit in your face without repercussion.

Or maybe that isn’t true. Maybe he learned it some other way.

This much is fact: he dropped out of high school at seventeen, after a brief stint in juvie, to fake his way into the Army with a birth certificate that swore he was eighteen. His mom needed the money—there are bank letters, threatening to take her house—and while there’s no record that that’s why he went, it’s the most likely answer. Other possible answers: it was 2002 and his mom always had a little American flag on their mailbox; he’d gotten wrapped up in something with a local gang he couldn’t shake himself out of; he was flunking more than half of his classes. 

Either way, it’s verifiable that he spent the next several years in Afghanistan. That he was a better soldier than he had been a student. That his mom didn’t lose her house, whether that had been why he went or not. It’s also verifiable that four years in, he doesn’t quite get out of the way of a blast in time. When they MEDEVAC him out, he’s hurt, losing blood, major lacerations to the left side of his face and torso, but nothing that would stop him from going back as soon as he’s healed up. Two days later, though, it becomes clear that the already diminished hearing in his left ear is gone and isn’t coming back.

They tell him to retire, so he does. 

He goes back to Baltimore. VA records show him living with his mother again until she passes away in 2013. He stays in Baltimore—that much can be backed up with two arrest records, one in 2015 and one a year later, both for aggravated assault against a police officer. 

And then he drops off the radar, as far as verifiable information goes. 

As for the rest, you’ll have to take his word for it.

In 2019, as he tells it, usually after a few beers, a buddy of his from the VA invites him on a hiking trip in Alaska. He goes. The two of them get a little turned around, a little off the path. It’s getting dark, they’re supposed to get back soon, and neither of them can quite find their way back to the exit of the park. The sun slips below the horizon; the area around them is thick with pine trees. And out of the dark, a terrible noise, a bellowing growl. He pushes his buddy out of the way, and the bear that has come out of the darkness snaps its massive jaws down around his left arm. 

Bear powers, he says. It was a radioactive bear.

The story, the hike, the bear, none of that is verifiable. You’ll have to take his word for it. He mostly sticks to it, though the way he says it, it’s impossible to tell whether he’s joking or telling the god’s-honest truth. But the fact that he comes back from Alaska with enhanced strength is true either way. You can see it. He’s more than happy to demonstrate. 

There’s nothing that really qualifies him for a place in the Collective beyond that. No villainous history, no infamy or notoriety. He works as an enforcer for a small-time criminal organization for a little while, wanders around. He shows up at a well-known fight club for people with superpowers based in Baltimore a handful of times, wins most of the rounds he goes. 

But he doesn’t give an explanation for why he wants to join an organization of super-villainy, why he’s suddenly jumping from a relatively normal civilian life to this. All he says, when you ask, is, There’s someone I need to find. 

Whether or not that’s true? Well, you’ll just have to take his word for it. 

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Chain of Iron theories: Who is the Killer

Its coming up on a week since last made a COI theory post. I said that I was going to try to post all my theories on COI BEFORE it comes out next month, so this posed a problem. So mow I am going to give my input on one of the biggest Mystery’s for COI, Who is the Killer? So in COI Belial will have a new minion who will target the shadowhunters, manages to kill 5 of them (same number Tatiana needed for the ritual) and is difficult for them to apprehend because they are somehow able to disappear. CC has left some hints that the killer is actually another Shadowhunter that Belial has somehow managed taken Possession of, despite protection rituals that should have been placed on this individual at birth ( My theory on that is that since this book is called “Chain of Iron” we will learn that Belial controls all his pawns with “chains of iron”. All hidden on their persons and glamored to look like ordinary accessories.) Our synapse for the book says that James Herondale has been having strange nightmares and fears he may actually be the killer. In COI he will start to tie himself up to sleep at night. We all know its not James right? In mysteries like this you always throw out your first guess/ the obvious guess. I have seen a lot of posts theorizing on who the true identity could be. I have seen some theories do not make much sense to me and some that were really good.

One theory that seems off to me is the idea that the killer is actually multiple killers, more specifically a collection of the survivors of Belial’s illness. If you support this theory I get your reasoning:Belial was able to briefly posses these people before, and the illness may have left biological changes in them. But here’s where I am confused, the killer is implied to be a massive threat wielding enhanced dark magic. At the end of COA there are 30something cured shadowhunters released from Silent City. CC says that the killers body count will be 5. If Belial has 30something new pawns that he can posses, gift his terrible powers to, and send out to prey on shadowhunters, I feel like there should be a lot more than 5 victims. I know Beial is not yet at full strength from battling Cortana, but he should at least be stronger than that. I have also heard theories that it is one of the Blackthorns. This also does not make much sense to me, given that for one thing none of them have training, Tatiana and Grace already have established rolls in Belial’s plans, and while I know Jesse is a part of Belial’s plan I believe his part will be save for COT after he has been resurrected. IF Belial were using Jesse’s empty body to walk the earth, then wouldn’t he also need to stop anyone from trying to resurrect Jesse?

 I have heard many theories on Elias Carstairs being the killer. Many of them just want to make Elias out to be CC’s newest and most horrible monster parent, and absolve Alastair of any responsibility or need to apologize for the cruelty he has shown to our mains. If this is your reasoning for believing Elias is the killer than let me stop you right there. CC has written multiple series and her skills have evolved beyond the need to rely on such easy black and white tricks. But I also saw some people posting about how Elias goes home so late and stopped writing to his family. Some are theorizing that the real Elias Carstairs was intercepted and killed on his way back home and that the being that arrives in COI is actually an eidolon demon pretending to be Elias. This theory is AMAZING. It makes a lot of scenes, would give Belial another spy in a key place, and could potentially explain why Cortana starts acting so weird. I love this theory I do. I am just putting it t the side right now because I need the real Elias alive for other Carstairs family theories, and again have been working with the theory that the killer is a real shadowhunter whom Belial is controlling with another “chain of iron”. My theories are below.

1.) Lucie Herondale is the Killer

 I am working with he theory that all Belial’s pawns have “chains of Iron” on them, which means all three blackthorns have them. In old art CC released of Grace she is seen wearing a pearl necklace that I was convinced had to be her’s. Tatiana’s (who probably consented to wearing hers) could be anything, maybe that stupid, creepy bird, she wears in her hat. Jesse... is mentioned several times to wear a locket.... that we know is connected to Belial.... and was weakened when he took it off to give to Lucie... who is wearing it now. Do you people see where I am going with this? It can also be noted that one of the parts of Lucie’s arc is that she is frequently overlooked in favor of James and how that is a mistake on peoples parts.  Everybody knows that James has powers, he has had 4-5 years of people helping him figure out what they are and how to control them. Nobody but ghosts know that Lucie has powers, she has no training, and is only starting to understand what they mean. James is vulnerable but so is Lucie. I do not want her to be the killer. Lucie is such a fun character, and I was so happy to finally have a female Herondale play a role that was close in size to her male relative’s. I truly feel that Lucie deserves better than to be just a tragic character in the story. I want her to be that plus a hero, but I cannot deny that she is a possibility.

2.) Charles Fairchild is the Killer

I have seen Charles name appear on multiple lists of theory’s on the killer’s identity. People never really give reasons as to why they believe he is the killer. They are just mad at him for choosing to put his career higher on his list of priorities than his relationship with Alastair, or him being the killer would hurt less because he is not written to be a fan favorite. If you are someone who wants the killer to be Charles, but are unsure how likely it is your in luck. Because I can give you a whole list of reasons it is likely

Charles is already acting strange. We know he made some kinda screw up in Paris and had to come home. Apparently Charlotte is sending Tessa and Will to Paris to Start the fix up and Charles will go back afterwards. Well based on what we have gotten on Charles making a mistake like that is unlike him. Casting Long Shadow’s reveals that Charles has been working as a politician since he was 13 and is normally known for being very dependable and reliable. That’s part of the reason he is considered such a shoe-in for Counselor once his mother retires.??? I have theories on Charles mental state (which I will address in a later theory post that will be centered around the Fairchild’s) and do consider the possibility that he was sett off by fear over the outbreak or grief over losing Alastair... But this sudden change could be from other things as well

As of COG2 Charles is engaged to Grace Blackthorn, who controls him like a puppet. Grace herself is the puppet of Tatiana Blackthorn, who is the puppet of Belial. So Charles is now part of a very dangerous carnival. Charles decade of study and knowledge of clave politics at the top could be very useful to Belial in taking them down. Also previous short stories say that Charles spends most of his time in Idris for work and when in London usually stays at home going through law books and records. So I could easily believe he does not completely  know his way around London and (like the killer is hinted to) would need to use a map to get around.

Now on to my biggest reason for theorizing Charles for the killer. Charles and Matthew’s relationship with each other. Charles and Matthew do not get along, like at all. They did once, but that was a real long time ago. A lot of the reasons they don’t get along is dumb sibling stuff: Charles calling Matthew an immature child, kicking him and his friends out of rooms in their house, and lording his increased age over Matthew. Matthew making more noise to annoy Charles, telling everyone Charles embarrassing middle name, and regularly sneaking into Charles room to steal his cologne instead of just buying his own. We are not hear to discuss any of that. All of that has me laughing because it is peak sibling rivalry. Rivalry aside Charles and Matthew model  the old dynasty trope for Ssons with Charles being “the Heir” and Matthew being “the Spare”. The Heir’s life is decided for them as soon as they are born, they will succeed their parent and continue their legacy. The Spare is just that, a back up plan kept around should the heir die, become disabled, never marry, or turn out to be infertile (happens way more than people like to think about). Charles struggles with the weight of his parents expectations. Matthew is more or less the Black sheep of his family, living his life day by day with no grand plan. Because of this he is cut off from them in a way, and goes through a lot of loneliness and isolation in his own house. Neither brother see’s the others hard time; the other has what they themselves want: Charles has attention, Matthew freedom, so they wrongly assume the other must be doing fine. This is a lot like Matthew and James relationship in Dust and Shadows. Matthew and James talked things over with each other and were good after. Matthew and Charles stay apart and ignore each other when they cannot. They will not just talk and be good after. So maybe if put on different sides they will fight out their issues with each other? On the subject of Matthew having to fight Charles, lets say hypothetically Charles is the killer and is possessed. We know from previous books that clave protocol is to place a kill order on possessed members. If that becomes the case do you think Matthew would be able to follow through with those orders? Be able to hunt, fight, and kill his older brother? No. No matter how rough their relationship I doubt Matthew would ever be able to do that. It would be to much for him, to similar to his “sin”. He would want to catch Charles, then try to find a way to free him from possession. Maybe if Mathew could successfully accomplish this then maybe he could forgive himself for his “sin”. If Matthew tries to save him and fails than at least this time other people would know and could potentially get him some help.  

3.) Filomena DI Angelo is the Killer.

Ahh our upcoming new arrival from  Italy. Why are you coming to London girl? Haven’t you heard about all the crazy things that happens there last fall? What possible role could you play in the story that couldn’t be filled by one of our many already existing characters from COG2? (Do you even know your way around?) How suspicious that Filomena should show up around the same time as this killer? Wouldn’t it be great for the story if the killer came from a different country? Wouldn’t that do wonders for showing how powerful a threat Belial is? His dark influence stretching across country lines, maybe even across oceans! We have already been told that TLH characters will need to travel to other countries. How the villain is less one person and more a force. Filomena could start that. She could provide reason to search countries besides London for Belial’s influence. Proof of it being so wide spread would definitely make Belial feel more like a force. Oh but wait, cheesecake wait. Filomena cannot be the killer! That would make her evil, and CC said she was a nice girl! Oh I am sure Filomena is a nice girl, but people tend to change when under demon control. But she is a girl and the killer is hinted to be a male shadow hunter! Are we sure the killer isn’t presented as male because Belial is presented as male? Is it impossible that while on the hunt as the killer Filomena DI Angelo dress in men’s cloths in order to more safely move through the streets? I feel like we have saw that trick once before in TID.

All we really know about Filomena is that she came to London, will interact with some of our established characters, and she will get a crush on someone we know, thus presenting herself as a possible love interest. Matthew was my first guess, hey he was every bodies first guess. CC shut that down, Filomena is not being brought in to fix the love triangle between James, Cordeila, and Matthew. Matthew is one of the only ones to not have at a least semi-confirmed endgame ship. So this means that Filomena will probably not be endgame with her crush. Why?   My next guess was her crush was on Anna. Ariadne is shown to be relentless in her attempts to “win Anna back” and Anna is not having it. Tweets time and time again depict her basically telling Ariadne “Its not going to happen. Give up and leave me alone”, but falling on deaf ears. So maybe Anna will try to get a new girlfriends and keep her around until she is ready to forgive/ go back to Ariadne. Well Anna is more a secondary character, a loving big sister figure to our mains. She gets less page time because of this. We already know she will spend time with Cordelia, Lucie, Ariadne, Eugenia, Thomas... not much page time left for Filomena. After further analyses I have theorized that Filomena must have a crush on Thomas.

A quick google search on the name Filomena shows that it is an Italian name that means “loving friend” “strong friend” and “lover of music” all these sound kinda like Thomas. (Filomena is also the name of a character in the 14th century Italian collection  of short stories called the Decameron, who liked to make stories up about plagues... or so some digging around google told me ). This could fit quite nicely into Thomas’s story. First of all to everybody who has been calling Thomas “gay” please wait a moment to be sure. Thomas does not yet publicly or self identify as gay. He clearly has an attraction to one man, but CC says that he has not yet realized his sexuality and will spend TLH figuring out. He might be gay, but he could just as easily turn out to be bi or pan. For the sake of this theory lets assume Thomas is Bi. Thomstair is definitely endgame. We know Alastair is gay, and CC usually likes to pair gay characters up with bi characters in queer ships, see Malec and Heline. Should Thomas be bi, should he start to become close and develop feelings for Filomena, it will have to go wrong. More wrong than he considers his feelings for Alastair at the end of COG2 (Filomena do not hurt this boy, he has been through enough). We got a tweet that suggests Thomas is interested in the killer, and a hint that he is planing something big. We got a kinda frightening picture that suggests the Killer may be very interested in Thomas.

If Lucie is the killer she will somehow be freed from Belial’s control,. I can 100% guarantee it, Charles I feel will have a 50/50 chance, Filomena will die from it. It would be a herculean task to free her, and she is not important enough to the mains for them to actively try and do anything more than give her a merciful death. Should she and Thomas become close than it will break his heart. But if Alastair is there for him afterwards, able to emphasizes and offer him comfort that will go along way to redeeming Alastair to Thomas. The whole experience could be love is hard, both men and women have the ability to hurt you. but the right person will make it up to you and it is good to forgive them when they do. I personally think that would be a pretty cool direction for Thomas’s arc to take.

[scotianostra]

On January 8th 1697 Thomas Aikenhead was executed in Edinburgh.

So who was oor Thomas, a villain?, a murderer?, a smuggler?, or some enemy of the state? No Thomas's crime was blasphemy who took the lord's name in vain.......this would be comic if it wasn't for the tragic fact that he was executed, unlike the man in Life of Brian, who uttered the words Jehova, Thomas complained that he wished he was warming himself in hell rather than that chilly night walking past the recently built Tron Kirk on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. Well that's the simple story that the tour guides that take you round the Old Town will tell you, there is a bit more to it so I will bore you with a bit more of the detail.

Thomas Aikenhead came from a well-to-do family in Edinburgh, his father being listed as a surgeon but more probably an apothecary, a dispenser of herbs and potions. Both his parents were dead by the time he became a student at Edinburgh University at the age of 16 or 17.

His mother had been a daughter of the manse, and you would think that would have made Aikenhead wary of challenging the established religion of the time, namely the all-powerful Church of Scotland, especially while still a student and under the constant gaze of professors, lecturers and, as it turned out, his fellow students.

These were the dying days of a curious period in Scottish history. Aikenhead would have been four when the ‘Wizard of the West Bow’ Major Thomas Weir was executed in 1670. Weir was by day an extreme Calvinist but by night an incestuous Satanist and it takes no great leap of reason to see that an impressionable young boy might well have been affected by the trial and execution of a local celebrity that lived not far from him.

The 1680s was also the ‘killing time’ for the Covenanters when many died because of they worshipped their same god in differing ways!

Thomas was a keen student and an avid reader, he may or may not have known and Edinburgh bookseller,  John Frazer, who had been prosecuted after admitting either reading, or being in possession of Charles Blount’s Oracles of Reason a book I know nothing about but gather it relates to Deism, which questioned the existence or more importanyly, non-existence of God or Satan, Frazer had repented ad as it was a first offence was sackclothed and jailed in the old Tolbooth for a number of months.

Anyway, Thomas had a friend, well he thought he had a friend, Murdo Craig, but Murdo, on the sly had been keeping notes on Aitkenhead, and his dalliances with blasphemous ideals, we know that because they formed a large part of the indictment against Aikenhead.

“Nevertheless it is of verity, that you Thomas Aikenhead, shakeing off all fear of God and regaird to his majesties lawes, have now for more than a twelvemoneth by past, and upon severall of the dayes within the said space, and ane or other of the same, made it as it were your endeavour and work in severall compainies to vent your wicked blasphemies against God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and against the holy Scriptures, and all revealled religione, in soe far as upon ane or other of the dayes forsaid, you said and affirmed, that divinity or the doctrine of theologie was a rapsidie of faigned and ill-invented nonsense, patched up partly of the morall doctrine of philosophers, and pairtly of poeticall fictions and extravagant chimeras, or words to this effect or purpose, with severall other such reproachfull expressions.”

That was just for starters. Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, the Lord Advocate of the day, had taken a personal interest in the case and he decided to throw the whole lot of Craig’s testimony at Aikenhead who was arrested in November, 1696, and charged under the Blasphemy Act of 1661 which carried the death penalty.

He also charged Aikenhead under a more recent act, which made it a criminal offence to ‘deny, impugn or quarrel’ about the existence of God.

The prosecution papers go on to record

“You have lykwayes in discourse preferred Mahomet to the blessed Jesus, and you have said that you hoped to see Christianity greatly weakened, and that you are confident that in a short tyme it will be utterly extirpate.”

For Mahomet, read Muhammad, could young Thomas be an Islam convert in 17th century Edinburgh, I very much doubt it, they just needed to make an example of the young student, and he knew by now that he was in very great trouble and protested in effect that he was guilty only of the sin of being youthful and had been led astray by the books he had read. He also pleaded and repented of his anti-Christian beliefs and was once again a good Presbyterian.

In this way he seems to have thrown himself upon the mercy of the court. There was none. On Christmas Eve, 1696, a jury found him guilty. Sir James Stewart asked for the death penalty and it was granted and “pronounced for doom,” as Scottish judges were still saying well into the 20th century in capital punishment cases.

Aikenhead pleaded for his life to the Privy Council emphasising his youth, his dire circumstances, and the fact that he was reconciled to the Protestant religion. There was some support for the death sentence to be commuted from at least two councillors and two Church of Scotland ministers, but the General Assembly of the Kirk intervened, demanding that Aikenhead suffer “vigorous execution to curb the abounding of impiety and profanity in this land”.

In his last letter to friends, written in the Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh as he awaited execution, Aikenhead at last gave a plausible explanation for his conduct – that he had been a disappointed seeker after truth.

He wrote: “It is a principle innate and co-natural to every man to have an insatiable inclination to the truth and to seek for it as for hid treasure. So I proceeded until the more I thought thereon, the further I was from finding the verity I desired.”

In truth, in a repressed society the student had just gone too far in rejecting the doctrines of Christianity calling it “feigned and ill-invented nonsense”

Aikenhead went to this day 1697, hanged on the scaffold at Shrubhill between Edinburgh and Leith. It is said that before he died he proclaimed that moral laws were the work of governments and men.

In his hand as the noose was placed around his neck was the Holy Bible.

The execution angered some people for many years afterwards. The great English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote an account of the hanging and called the execution “a crime such has never since polluted the island.”

He continued: “The preachers who were the boy’s murderers crowded round him at the gallows, and, while he was struggling in the last agony, insulted Heaven with prayers more blasphemous than any thing that he had ever uttered.”

There was other evidence of church authorities being present as Aikenhead died. He was the last man in Britain to be hanged for blasphemy.

According to Arthur Herman in his book How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It the execution of Aikenhead was “the last hurrah of Scotland’s Calvinist ayatollahs” before the dawning of the age of reason in the Enlightenment.

Now we can all rejoice in The Enlightenment but a full 30 years later in the small town of Dornoch in Sutherland, Janet Horne was put on trial for the “crime” of having a daughter whose feet and hands were misshapen and who had herself given birth to a son with disabilities. She was the last woman in Britain to be burned at the stake for being a witch, her death bringing to an end the “burning time” when perhaps 4000 Scottish women were executed for the crime of witchcraft.

[hotpinkstaples]

im thinking now that the real reason tabata didnt show more of yunos time with the gd was bc it woulda just been microaggression after microaggression & straight up aggression. i know now that the scene of klaus showing yuno his room & being a dick was anime only but that probably was yunos experience for days & that woulda been too frustrating to watch him go thru again and again. its probably why he talked to william all the time, he was the only one he could have a real convo with

That’s a fair assumption to make. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Golden Dawn because of all the noble fuckery, but because I am also a hypocrite, I do love my little war criminal with the abysmal hairline, one William Vangeance, and I do believe he probably spent lots of time with Yuno because Yuno was a) the reincarnation of Licht’s son, b) hella powerful, and c) a hick, and since William is also formerly a hick, I believe they probably had lots of conversations Langris just didn’t understand and probably didn’t care about because Langris is an inbred noble too busy being jealous that Finral’s bussy is fatter than his.

As for microaggressions... it is sad that we never really get to see the extent of how the other squads operate within themselves like we do the Black Bulls, because to be quite honest, I do actually believe that the microaggressions were probably straight up abuse in squads such as the Purple Orcas (who licherally murdered a man just for coming from a poor background), so like, am I saying Tabata punked out by not illuminating the discrimination? I am, and I agree Anon, Tabata probably glossed over a lot of Yuno’s personal experiences because it was easier to show him off as the cool dude with the megapowers, rather than a sad young gay man working hard to prove himself in a squad full of classist white nobles.

It’s probably one of my biggest issues with Black Clover that Tabata definitely borrows themes from its king predecessor, Berserk, but consistently fails to deliver on them because of... what? I do wonder. I know it aint that damn anime, so it’s either cuz he don’t wanna step on his editors’ toes and take the Kubo route out when it’s time, or he genuinely does not want to dig himself into the “complex manga with deep themes and literary value” hole that would ultimately take time away from cool powerups and force him to address the fact that Clover Kingdom committed a genocide that birthed terrorists and that the ruling class that carried out that genocide is still in power, and oh also, did I mention? Classism, racism, white man Nozel Silva and the Silva tribe’s entire existence, the violent childhood that created war criminal and terrorist abettor William Vangeance, Yami’s staunch loyalty to Julius for looking after him as a child even though Julius is a part of the problem, misogyny, the lack of even background home of sexuals, abuse of those who are disabled/cursed like Henry Legolant, Charmy not knowing her ancestry as a dwarf and stand user, kin punishment, almost-casteism, and so on and so forth!

And to be fair, these problems were obvious in Bleach and Naruto as well, but Bleach got cancelled at the end and couldn’t tie up a single storyline that didn’t make it look like clowntown central, and Naruto is Capitalism personified and hyped on 80 metric tons of coke, so do I think Tabata is aiming for that Shounen Big Three life, or is he willing to take the dive and explore more of the Berserkian side of things???? Only time will tell.

[veryvincible]

How’s Tony relationship with Wanda in comics? I wonder if there’s friction between the comic fans as well

Despite being on-off Avengers for a long, long while, they didn’t actually have much of a meaningful relationship until something called Force Works in ‘94. Even when they were teammates, most of their interactions were little bits of dialogue to acknowledge that they knew each other and would talk to each other if they happened to appear on the same page, but... not much else. 

I am not as well versed in Wanda as I am Tony, so keep that in mind.

Before going in-depth about the things they experienced together, there are some differences in ideology that don’t give them the best set-up in the world. They have different circumstances of birth, different “powersets”, and overall different approaches to things. Tony tends to be the oddball in most teams when it comes to his foresight and utilitarian mindset, but this is especially the case compared to Wanda, who sometimes doesn’t have the privilege of utilitarianism because of how her powers work; she’s capable of a lot, and on a daily basis, she exercises quite a bit of restraint. 

Tony’s biggest mistakes were directly caused by him making decisions that were, at times, devoid of feeling (not that he didn’t feel anything making those decisions, he just discarded his feelings entirely). It’s a common theme with him to assume that he needs to disconnect himself emotionally from the “right decision”, because the right decision is often something he can’t handle. And when he can’t handle something he thinks needs to be done, what does he do? He does it anyway, and he lets it destroy him. That isn’t to say that his decisions are never based in feeling-- he is an incredibly emotional person, after all-- but his predominant feeling is guilt, and it serves more as a motivator than something that directly impacts which conclusions he comes to in the first place. We can clearly see where his head’s at when it comes to certain conflicts based on Civil War and Civil War II, where CW was rife with him making decisions that broke him in order to avoid the worst possible scenario, and CWII showed a side of him that wanted to believe his choice was the right one, wanted to believe the conclusions he’d drawn were correct, but was willing to give that up if trusted friends told him it wasn’t worth it. At no point does he say “maybe my plans/views/conclusions are garbage!” because he’s always had a complex relationship with his own ability to find best possible outcomes. He doubts himself constantly, but still acknowledges evidence and probability where he can find it. What changes is how willing he is to go through with these plans. Suddenly, when CW backfires harshly, he’s more likely to ask the questions of, “is this worth it?” and “do people want this?”

And then there’s Wanda, who isn’t... like that. Her biggest mistake wasn’t actually that well thought-out, and it’s built more on a feel-good sentiment than anything; if there’s this awful, awful cloud of oppression hanging over the heads of mutants and conflict between mutants and humans, then the best thing to do to make sure no one has to deal with that would be to... forcefully break those barriers down, right? It’s worth mentioning here that she’s been through a lot at the time of this decision, and when you compare her “I’m going through a lot” decisions with Tony’s “I’m going through a lot” decisions, you can kind of see a huge, huge difference between them.

Tony ignores his feelings, ignores the pain and suffering he knows he’ll have to see, and goes for numbers games. It’s a coping mechanism he’s had since he was a child, and it lives on in his superhero-ing to some extent; when he is at his worst (barring when he’s not sober, because that’s a different, more self-destructive beast entirely), he tries (or tried? he still kind of does this, but again, to a lesser extent) to disconnect from himself and from others when problem-solving.

Wanda, on the other hand... does not and cannot really disconnect herself from that. The suffering of the people is on her mind constantly, and it’s the main thing she chooses to remedy as soon as it crosses her mind to. It’s a deeper look into the mind of a woman whose life has been damaged many times over by prejudice and discrimination. Her pleading with reality to give everyone a happy ending (which, ironically, I don’t think Tony actually got in the new reality? but I don’t think that’s meant to comment on their relationship at all. I may be wrong on that one) is understandable if you’re also from a marginalized group, or if you can empathize with them. Even if everyone’s in agreement that she really should not have done that, it’s not hard to understand why. She didn’t just live in the suffering, she took it on entirely, forcing herself to bear the burden of a world that wasn’t real in hopes that it would be preferable to the world that was.

Tony can be aware of marginalization (and, as someone who was physically disabled and is probably still mentally disabled, can empathize to some degree), but he can’t ever really feel what Wanda feels as someone who really can’t go two seconds without identity-based conflict totally obliterating her. On the flipside, Wanda herself can never feel what Tony feels-- a disconnect from identity for the sake of discussing “best case scenarios” where everyone’s still in pain, the ability to separate oneself from these conflicts and allow for vague concepts like “short term suffering/hardships” to refer to years, decades, generations, worth of struggling for the sake of a better future when there are struggling people now. That’s not to say Tony’s never sensitive to current issues (he tries very, very hard to help people who are struggling now, and pours a lot of money into it) and it’s also not to say that Wanda’s somehow incapable of rational decision making as a result of her constant oppression; neither of these things are true. But their gut responses to certain problems are different. On top of that, they can both afford different levels of consequences, and they’ll be viewed differently by people by exercising roughly the same amount of influence. They just aren’t the same, and where characters like Steve and Tony find common ground anyway, it’s harder for characters like Wanda to find common ground with Tony.

Now for what we’ve all been... waiting for...

Force Works!

This really isn’t my favorite run of all time. The writing’s kind of weird, the art is garish at best and totally problematic at worst, and though there are elements of characterization that are kind of true to the core of the characters involved, it’s still, uh... I don’t know, executed in a way that’s disconcerting? It’s kind of like if Civil War II did what Civil War II did, but then also made Carol wear a Warbird-style bikini, and also added cool plot elements like Tony saying, “Carol, you’re right!” right at the start and then... continuing to believe Carol is wrong, because that’s the plot. Oh, and then Tony kills some people and is later retconned to have not killed people, because that sucked of him and was super weird for his character.

There’s just a lot of weird stuff in Force Works. If you like it, it’s fine to like it (honestly, we’ve all flipped through pages of difficult-to-decipher art and less than flattering outfits for women for the sake of reading the stories we want to read), but. You know. Not my cup of tea.

Anyway, everything that I mentioned kind of comes into play with Force Works. 

Here’s the gist. The Avengers are having some conflict (when aren’t they?) and Tony runs off to make a team that works to prevent villainy, not a team that just fights it (despite prevention being part of the “fighting bad guys” in many runs up to this point, as far as I’m aware, but, sure, it works within the context).

And who does he want to lead that team?

Wanda Maximoff! 

He’s like, “Wanda, for realsies, I need your help.”

And Wanda’s like, “Shut up. Yes, I will do this,” but sexily, for some some reason.

And they have an issue of relative peace, until Tony starts to realize that he doesn’t actually like... not leading this time. And, sure, he said, “a partnership of skills leading the team together”, but he also said, “I want Wanda to lead the team!”

So, Wanda’s leading the team.

So, Tony’s not having a good time, because Wanda’s doing what he asked her to do. He probably should have seen that coming.

At some point, the Force Works band together to deal with some stuff in Slorenia, which is Marvel’s fun way of saying they’re going to have some commentary on the Bosnian war but they weren’t going to call it Bosnia, like they have commentary on the government without naming the president. Everyone knows what it’s meant to be, but they’re just not calling it that.

Already, you can see the differences in how Tony and Wanda's first interactions with the news go. Wanda has a much more personal connection to the place, and Tony’s thinking of it as a location for a mission, sharing what intel he has available. Tony’s not exactly being callous here-- it’s not inappropriate for him to say, “Oh, here’s what I know from owning the company I own”-- but he is starting off with less investment than Wanda.

This continues into the start of their mission, where Wanda’s taking charge and using her connection to Slorenia (the language, the knowledge of the politics, etc.) to make the mission run more smoothly. In the beginning, Tony actually falls in line, letting her take the lead without grumbling this time. 

(This isn’t important to anything, but I’d like to mention here that “hex energy” is kind of like the 90s Wanda equivalent of “transistor-powered!” objects for 60s Tony, which is... very funny.)

So, they deal with one antagonist in Slorenia, some things are resolved, and... Wanda would like to stick around to maybe keep helping people here.

And Tony says:

Tony’s argument is that the issue they’d gone to deal with had been dealt with, according to their funky computer that tells them when things are dealt with.

And Wanda’s like, “Well, I think what we just dealt with was part of a bigger thing! That we should deal with more!”

And Tony’s like, “Nope!” despite Wanda being the official team leader. So, they’re not having a great time there.

There’s a little more, but it’s all pretty much to do with the same kind of stuff (and then also the part where Tony kills people, but again, that technically didn’t... happen, anymore, so. Yay?)

And this kind of just... fizzled out eventually, and canon put things back together as canon often does, and now they don’t have much of a problem with each other again. They’ve had some positive interactions and on multiple occasions, they’ve been cool teammates who respect each other, so.

I don’t know.

What I can say is that, aside from House of M and Civil War (wherein people who aren’t familiar with Wanda and Tony use these two events to heavily criticize Wanda and Tony despite really having no stake in the argument, which is kind of a comics dudebro move that’s never been awesome for anyone the way it’s usually handled), Wanda and Tony fans don’t tend to... think much of each other, I guess? There’s really not enough basis in canon for either group of people to have longstanding personal gripes.

616 operates like that a lot; where the MCU has very clear relationships between characters, plotlines, and messages, 616 has... inconsistency and sometimes-poor writing and political commentary with characters literally changed at their core sometimes to fill a certain role (hence why some ships can seem to have totally different dynamics based on the fan you’re talking to, why primarily X-Men fans often don’t like the Avengers, and why some debates about characters will never be settled using only the evidence we have now).

Here’s something I’d like to say before closing out:

I think, due to the fact that this was a very specific kind of political commentary intermixed with some strange characterization choices, I don’t really think this needs to be the end-all, be-all of Tony and Wanda’s potential friendship. Sure, they have these differences, but Steve and Tony have very similar differences that they’ve overcome through mutual understanding. I’m not saying that Tony and Wanda would be friends, nor am I saying that they should be. All I really want to say is that they certainly could be with the right plot beats and characterization, and that’s a nice thought.

So, if there’s any desire at all out there to write a very positive Tony and Wanda relationship, I’d say go for it, 100%. There is some canon basis for it, despite most of it being in between the lines or... contained within one or two scenes. We could all use more friendships to gush over. :)

[annalise-rosier]

survey.

Character’s full name: Annalise Josephine Rosier Reason for name and/or meaning of name: means “graced with god’s bounty”; chosen because her mother liked the name and it went well with her twin sister’s name of Freya. Character’s nickname: Anna (only called thus by Freya), Lise (if you’re lucky to be close enough to her) Reason for nickname: Freya couldn’t pronounce Annalise’s full name for the longest time, so Anna just kind of stuck.  Birth date: December 12

Physical appearance Faceclaim: Danielle Campbell Gender: female Height: 5′3 Build: slender, athletic Eye color: blue Glasses or contacts?: none Distinguishing marks/scars: a faint scar above her right eyebrow, received when she crashed into the quidditch stands while trying to show up one of the boys in her house.  Hair color: brown Type of hair: thick and wavy Hairstyle: usually wears it down, but has it up in a bun or ponytail when she’s focused on something Physical disabilities: none Clothing style: annalise likes to wear the latest fashions and keeps up with the trends far more than her twin sister does, which makes it a little easier to tell them apart if you know their differing personalities.  Make up: she doesn’t often bother with makeup since the twins were graced with very good looks from the genetic lottery. 

Personality Good personality traits: adventurous, outgoing, determined, friendly Bad personality traits: stubborn, holds onto grudges, selfish, shallow Mood character is most often in: playful, charming, mischievous Sense of humor: has a more wry sense of humor, isn’t amused by the obvious jokes, likes inappropriate humor enough to regularly scandalize her mother Articulation: annalise is a great conversationalist and has a gift for being able to talk herself out of trouble. she can spin any story to her advantage.  Character’s greatest joy in life: using her charm to achieve her goals Character’s greatest fear: being perceived as simple or stupid, being limited by the perceptions of others. Character is most at ease when: she feels like she’s winning the game. Most ill at ease when: she feels that someone else has the upper hand. Enraged when: her family is threatened, she is insulted, or someone underestimates her. Depressed or sad when: annalise pretty much never feels this way. Priorities: carving out a path for herself in this world. Life philosophy: power comes in all kinds of forms, and there’s power in making your life what you want it to be. Greatest strength: her ability to read the motivations of others and charm her way into any situation, her capacity for deep thought.  Greatest vulnerability or weakness: she cares more deeply than she allows herself to acknowledge, more deeply than is wise for someone in her position. 

Goals Drives and motivations: having a good time, living life to the fullest. Immediate goals: protecting her family, enjoying the status that her last name affords her. Long term goals: who the hell knows?

Childhood Hometown: London, England Type of childhood: comfortable, happy Most important childhood memory: Evan’s birth. Even with how young Annalise was, she could sense the tension growing between her parents, a tension that led to their split shortly after Evan was born. This tension caused Annalise to cling even more tightly to her siblings, and she vividly remembers the protective instincts she felt when she first laid eyes on Evan. She knew in that moment that she would do anything for him, anything to hold her family together. Annalise might not have been able to hold her parents together, but she’ll be damn sure to be the glue for her siblings.  Dream job: Annalise would secretly love to become a healer, but she’s not sure that quite fits with her image.  Religion: none

Present Current location: London, England Currently living with: her twin sister Pets: a brown spotted owl named Minnie (a name mostly chosen to annoy McGonagall), given to her at the age of 14 by her mother so that they could communicate from the vast distance between them. Sexuality: heterosexual Politics: she doesn’t really care, she just follows her siblings Occupation/education: columnist and reporter for witch weekly, hogwarts slytherin alumna Mode of transportation: prefers apparition, but floo and portkeys are fine too. 

Family Parent one: Victor Rosier Relationship with them: Medium / Annalise’s father has never been her favorite parent, and she’s never been quite as close to him as Freya was, but he always treated her like his little pet, and she learned to use that to her advantage. She senses he might be disappointed that she never fully entered the Death Eaters, but he doesn’t pester her about it.  Parent two: Elena Yaxley Relationship with them: Close / Annalise was always very attached to her mother, so the divorce between her parents and her mother’s move to America was harder on her than she ever let on to anyone (except maybe Evan). She gets the sense that her mother is also disappointed that she hasn’t made more of a stand in the war, but Annalise is too proud (and smart) to talk to anyone about the confusion she feels about her parents’ differing viewpoints.  Siblings: Freya and Evan Rosier Relationship with them: Annalise would do anything for her siblings. Freya is her other half, the second part of her soul, and Annalise tries hard to mold herself in such a way that she can stay as close as possible to Freya, even if that means squashing the contradictory feelings she’s inherited from their mother. She’s always been a little mother hen to Evan, wanting to protect him and empower him at the same time.  Other important family members: Bellatrix, Narcissa, Andromeda. Her cousins were important to her growing up, and though she doesn’t cling to them like she does her siblings, she still cares deeply about being close to them. 

Favorites Color: yellow Music: Her mother introduced her to Muggle country music once on a visit to America, and it’s a secret guilty pleasure she keeps for herself.  Food: She has a raging sweet tooth because Freya was always forcing baked goods on her, but she also loves a good burger.  Film: She once saw the Wizard of Oz with her mother and it struck a chord.  Drink: Something fruity.  Form of entertainment: Being with people, trying to understand what makes someone tick. Most prized possession: A locket given to her by her mother on her 17th birthday. 

Habits Hobbies: potions, tending to her magical plants, shopping. Plays a musical instrument? She learned piano as a child and still plays when the mood strikes.  Plays a sport? No. She wasn’t half bad at Quidditch, but she didn’t have the attention span to devote herself to training. How he/she would spend a rainy day: people watching at a favorite pub, writing a letter to her mother, joining her sister for a bake-a-thon, game night with her siblings. Spending habits: She spends without thinking twice about it.  Smoking/drinking/drugs?: Drinks casually with friends, but isn’t interested in drugs or drinking heavily. She doesn’t like the way they make her feel like she’s losing control.  Extremely skilled at: Getting people to share with her, manipulation, charming people even if they’re suspicious of her at first. Extremely unskilled at: Understanding her own emotions.  Nervous tics: Bites her lip, brushes back her hair

Traits Optimist or pessimist? Optimist. Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert. Daredevil or cautious? Daredevil. Logical or emotional? Emotional. Leader or follower? Follower. Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Disorderly & messy. Prefers working or relaxing? Relaxing. Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Confident. Animal lover? Of her owl at least. Tolerates her sister’s cat but dislikes the tendency to have fur all over her robes.

Self-perception How do they feels about themselves?: Annalise would say that she’s very comfortable in her own skin and confident about herself. She certainly projects the air that she has great confidence in her abilities, though deep down she resents her tendency towards shallowness. She has deep seated confusion about who she thinks she should be and who she would really want to be, but she’d rather project the confident and shallow air to protect herself from having to face that.  One word the character would use to describe themselves: Perfect. What does the character consider their best trait? Besides her gorgeous looks? Probably her charm. What does the character consider their worst trait?: A worst trait? Please, she doesn’t have one of those.  What does the character consider their best physical characteristic?: Her gorgeous hair or her enchanting doe eyes. What does the character consider their worst physical characteristic?: Again, there isn’t one. How does the character think others perceive them?: As a charming, flirtatious, well-dressed, fun woman. What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: Why change perfection?

Relationships with others Opinion of other people in general: Annalise is fascinated by people -- she loves to understand what makes them tick, what motivates them, what keeps them awake at night. She thinks that most people are pretty dim about their own feelings and thoughts, but she loves being around them.  Opinion of the Scooby Gang: What the fuck is that? Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others? Yes. Even, and most especially, from herself. Most important person in character’s life: Her siblings. Best friend/s: [who are they, do they have one?]  Dating experience: Annalise has had plenty of casual relationships (how could she not, with her good looks and her penchant for flirting?), but she’s never considered herself ready for something serious. There’s too much life to live first. Romancing: Annalise wouldn’t be the one doing the romancing, that’s for sure. Anyone that wants her should be willing to work for it.