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linkspooky · 4 years ago

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Who in you’re opinion are the 5 best written characters in jjk?

1. Suguru Geto

Geto is the type of character I refer to as an "empathy monster", his genuine feelings of empathy for other people just make him all the more monstrous. Empathy isn't a positive or negative trait, it's just one personality trait that makes a person. It's just the ability to inuit other people's emotions naturally. It's not some magical trait that makes you a good guy. Suguru starts out his story as someone who strives to be good, but in a "self righteous" way. He's trying to assure himself that he's a good person, that his beliefs are the right ones.

Geto and Gojo work so well as character foils, because they are essentially the same person. They're both "the strongest" and that makes them see themselves as apart from normal people. Geto at first believes it's his duty to help weak people, but that still comes from a place of looking down on them.

Then Geto is put through something no normal teenager should have gone through, he gets close to a girl, only to watch her die right in front of him when he promised to be the one to save her and fall away from his best friend shortly after, because when Satoru became the strongest it seemed like he didn't need him anymore.

Geto sees himself above normal people, but it's actually him genuinely connecting to someone he and Gojo would have dismissed as a normal person before in Riko Amanai, and seeing her desire to live in this world the same as everyone else, only for it to be taken away that breaks Geto. Geto feels this empathy deeper and stronger than everything else, and because he cares the loss absolutely devestates him and the only way for him to go forward is to just cut off that empathy. He starts seeing everyone, except for the sorcers closest to him as being human. He disqualifies them.

Geto works so well as a character, because it's his good qualities that drive him to tragedy not his faults. He shows how uncaring the world of sorcerers is, if trying to be a genuinely caring person can be a fault that drives you off the edge.

2. Satoru Gojo.

Gojo's writing is well done because it's balanced, the entire character is built around the idea of being "the strongest" but instead of it being a power fantasy, Gojou's character revolves more around how much it sucks to be him.

Gojo can win any fight alone, but it doesn't get him what he wants. He can't use his strength to solve every problem. There are several things he can't do, he can't teach that well, understand or relate to other people, play politics with others.

What Gojo wants is a better world, and comrades that can stay by his side without getting left behind, but he can't have those things. Gojo actually has an insecurity around being the strongest, because he thinks it's all that defines him. He sees his strength as insufficient ultimately because there is so much he failed to do. He has strength, but he couldn't save Geto. Gojo is the strongest man in the whole world and still he fails, he makes mistakes like any other human. Just like his character profile says, Gojo can do almost anything, but there's nothing he particularly wants to do and when he does find something it slips out of his fingers.

3. Okkotsu Yuta.

Jujutsu Kaisen writes main characters well, and it does this by not allowing them to be "the main characters' of their stories. In most stories the world revolves around the viewpoint of the protagonists. However, in the case of both Yuji and Yuta every time they try to view themselves as the heroes, or act self-centered in their viewpoints, they get slapped in the face and reminded that they're not the only ones fighting here.

Yuta is a well thought out version of the "nakama" trope, in that Yuta's entire problem is how codependent he is. He can't function without people around him. He was so afraid of losing Rika when he was young, that he cursed her and bound her to him for years after her death which inevitably made her suffer.

Yuta's passivity is also a serious flaw. Maki calls him out for "playing the victim" as an excuse to avoid responsibility. If he lets others push him around, then he doesn't ever have to make decisions for his actions because he's "not at fault." Yuta's arc in Zero is forcing him to grow up and take responsibility, otherwise he'll keep hurting the people around him like he did Rika, and I hope we can see the conintuation of that arc.

4. Kokichi Muta.

Kokichi is a perfectly executed tragic character. His circumstances aren't his own fault, but he still makes bad choices in those circumstances.

Kokichi's desire is to be together with everyone else. However, Kokichi is so afraid of his friends hating him, because of how worthless he believes his own body to be that he can't let them close. Kokichi has internalized the idea that he's weak, so he takes all the burdens on his own shoulders in an attempt to prove he's strong.

That, is what leads him to try to challenge Mahito all on his own. He wants to be closer to the others, but he can't bring himself to rely on them. It leads to one of the saddest scenes in the manga, and expresses the tragedy that's repeated again and again in the jujutsu world, that these are all just kids that want to be friends, and have the normal lives everyone else have. I want to be together with everyone. That's what Riko said. That's what Kokichi said. That's what Yuji tried to promise to Junpei. We want the characters we like to be happy, but to the ones with unhappy endings their story still matters.

Kokichi couldn't leave his room in the end, but even so there was still someone who loved him in Miwa, there's still someone who will remember him - and there's a power in someone who tried their hardest to live and love even if they failed in the end.

5. Mahito.

Anyway, now I'm going to praise the asshole that killed my other favorite.

Mahito is a frankenstein's monster like Dabi, he's just a little uglier. Mahito serves as an embodiment, a walking, breathing, id of human selfishness and desire. What's so interesting about his character are all his nasty traits are perfectly human ones. Human pettiness. Human jealousy. Human fickleness. The things that Mahito does are all things other humans do with each other. A confrontation with him is like an acknowledgement of just how terrible people can be to each other.

However, there's more to him than that Mahito is basically an infant, he is frankenstein's monster, a creation of humanity but distinctly not human and unaware of what he truly is. What I'm invested in is the potential of a character like Mahito. His starting point si the absolute worst of humanity, but humans are ore than just their bad traits. Just looking at the bad parts of people you're not looking at the whole truth. I'm interested in what kind of character that Mahito can grow into as he gains a wider view of the world around him, because he is a curious learning thing.

I actually hope we see him come back in canon after being eaten by Getwo, because there's a lot more that could be done with a character with so much potential as him.

#Anonymous #spooky speaks #jjk meta #kokichi muta #metasks #mechamaru #okkotsu yuta #satoru gojo #suguru geto #mahito

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cabbxges-and-kings · 2 years ago

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SONGS TO WRITE MY MUSE !!

WHETHER IT BE MELODIES THAT GIVE YOU INSPIRATION FOR YOUR MUSE OR SONGS THAT GET YOU INTO THE WRITING MOOD — PICK 10 SONGS YOU FIND TO GIVE YOU THE URGE , THE DRIVE , OR THE CREATIVITY TO WRITE FOR YOUR MUSE !!

001 : TAKE US ALIVE ——— OTHER LIVES

Other than being a big fan of this band, this was one of my more memorable moments hearing this song for the first time in my first watch when Abe was in York City (in season 2). It’s such a good song and it gives me such an Abe vibe anyway and especially at the point where Abe finally gains more confidence in his spying ability sort of like a “Test me and see what happens” sorta vibe.

002 : TAMER ANIMALS ——— OTHER LIVES

Another vibe song. I can definitely picture this song being used in t.urn in Abe’s scenes.

003 : HELSINKI ——— THE NATIONAL PARKS

This is such a pretty song and does give me a t.urn vibe as well, gives me sorta the “turtle dove” song in t.urn. This gives me a super big Anna/Abe vibe with how Abe feels towards Anna and I can see this song being taken place when Abe is off to college, away from Setauket, or when he’s married to Mary. The lines “Oh, Helsinki, I was meant for you, my dear / Oh, Helsinki, when you’re gone I know I will wish you near.” Also the vibe of this song gives me a feeling of how their relationship would’ve felt like in the beginning: all this excitement with the engagement and everything, then the somber ending of this song is when they are split.

004 : TURPIN HERO ——— JAKE BUGG

Just a nostalgia song for me. It gives me such an Abe vibe and I couldn’t find it suitable for any other t.urn character than maybe Caleb.

005 : STRAWBERRY BLOND ——— MITSKI

I just posted about this one but it gives me such an Abe & Thomas vibe. Always feeling in the shadow but also wanting to be recognized by his brother. In Abe’s view, Thomas has everything. Everything works perfectly for him and the way his father praises him so heavily gives him almost this unattainable quality to where Abe can never reach his level of success and likeness. “Oh, All I ever wanted was a life in your shape” is basically saying how Abe always wanted to be Thomas and was envious of his life compared to his, though Abe seeks to find his own path later on he’s still tied to Thomas in people’s comparisons.

006 : HOLY BRANCHES ——— RADICAL FACE

Another favorite artist of mine. “There’s a hole in your chest / from the time that you were born / one that don’t get filled / ‘cause you’ve always known you’re nothing they want.” This is another one of Abe’s childhood songs but this does give me a transformation into adulthood towards the end with the lines “I’ll bide my time until I’m something they want” which is a more hopeful idea. This song is very cynical but I find that suitable for him because Abe’s childhood was not all positive and happy all the time, more just in small glimpses. I don’t think Abe was as patient & submissive as the beginning of the song talks about, but I do see Abe feeling like he has to accommodate to everyone else, having to follow what everyone else is saying all the time in his youth to where he has no life of his own. So, by the end of the song, he basically is like “Fuck it, I’ll do my own thing and just wait until I gain some respect that will eventually come. I know my worth.”

007 : DANCING AFTER DEATH ——— MATT MAESON

Another vibe song but I can see some connection with Abe/Anna. Sort of more during s4 or when Abe eventually fully cuts off his affair with Anna. Also can see some connection to when Anna is going to get married to Hewlett with “If I let go, would you hold on? / Would we fly? “ to where he doesn’t know where Anna’s loyalty lies or where they stand, what she thinks of their previous relationship and what he thought was their new normal. He is still deeply connected to Anna with the lines “Do I know better than this? / You’re a word that I can’t forget / Though the thought rattles my brain” and finally acceptance towards the end but specifically with the lines “Is it safer to say that we tried?”

008 : MAKE THEM HEAR YOU ——— NINE

I get a general Culper spy ring vibe from this but also a personal vibe from Abe. The general Culper vibe is with the lines “And say to those who blame us / For the way we chose to fight / That sometimes there are battles / That are more than black or white” with the whole spying thing and how spying is usually seen as dishonorable and not “practical” for a war. Abe’s more personal line is right after this with “And I could not put down my sword / When justice was my right” it could also fit the spy ring as well with how Patriots felt disrespected and taken advantage of, but I see it for Abe in how he was able to do something about this. He was able to participant and help his cause and do his own form of justice, he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing when the opportunity was in front of him.

009 : BURY ME FACE DOWN ——— GRANDSON

Another vibe song but I think this is more suitable for Abe’s character. It’s about his persistence and how he isn’t willing to give up so easily, his whole line Abe says in the show about how if he still has air in his lungs, he’ll keep fighting.

010 : METAPHOR ——— THE CRANE WIVES

Another weird one where some of the lyrics fit Abe. Abe lies a lot in the show and it’s kinda suitable in that regard, but also for the lines “I’ve gotten good at leaning on metaphors / I’ve gotten good at living on someone else’s page” which means how he was always Thomas’ shadow. He’s so good at molding himself to fit others’ version of himself (usually) so acting as someone else isn’t too hard for him either. “Don’t look too hard, ‘cause you won’t like the scars he left in me” references Thomas’ death and how this has effected him the most, could also be sorta suitable for his strained relationship with his father and how that has affected him. His whole childhood and upbringing has affected his personality greatly and can bring out his worst traits.

TAGGED: stole it

TAGGING: steal it from me and tag me!

#( 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒆𝒍 𝑪𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒓 ; headcanon (( abe ))#// long post #long post #long post tw

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sethmacenzie · 3 years ago

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Someone will come

Remember when little Tenko was on the streets and tried to find help?

This is the problem that the pro hero society created.

There is a lovely parallel of All Might and Bakugo saying of how being a hero starts.

What do all top heroes have in common?

Bakugo’s answer is superficial, that they came from an average school, but worked their way up. This is something that is used in our world too. These guys made it, so it must be possible for everyone, you are just not trying hard enough. Obviously this works neither in our world, nor in bnha, and Bakugo does acknowledge that because he thinks of himself as better based on his quirk.

All Might has a very different response: “my body moved on it’s own before I could think.” This is the definition of bravery. And it has nothing to do with hard work or your quirk, it is entirely your mind.

When Bakugo gets captured we see the pro heroes not acting to help him because their quirks are useless, they don’t even try.

But Deku moves with the back knowledge that he definitely has no physical advantage whatsoever. He actually was attacked by the same person as Bakugo before. But before he even knows it’s Bakugo, we remembers what it’s like to be the victim. He thinks of the person suffering not about himself. The pros aren’t doing that.

The pros are used that someone else will come and do it.

And that someone was All Might. Every time he was needed he came and the world became dependent on it. But All Might was already exhausted both physically and mentally. So no one came. There were multiple pro heroes around that did not try to move to help Bakugo, they saw a child in peril and decided that their own safety was more important.

Now this is technically a perfectly normal reaction for a person BUT these are pro heroes we are talking about and All Might himself said it: a heroes life is constantly on the line.

Because to them saving those who are hurt is the priority. But these pro heroes show neither bravery nor courage. Deku does.

The difference is that bravery is your body moving on it’s own, courage is moving despite being afraid, like Aoyama in the forest or Twice breaking his arms. But these pros did not step in to help Bakugo.

But someone has to come and safe everyone. All Might for a brief moment in chapter 1 wasn’t there and Deku stepped in.

Now obviously this is the foreshadowing for the future and Deku being the next user of OFA but it also means that they are similar in more than one way. They have similar strengths and flaws and it is up to Deku to be even better than All Might.

And Deku being so heroic is what inspires All Might not only to not give up after carrying the world on his back, he is understanding Deku, he praises him for doing the right thing when no one else did. The pros actually scold him for trying to safe Bakugo, while they stood around waiting for someone else to do their job.

And All Mights knows that this inspiration is imporatnt and it ties Tomura and Deku together. They are both inspiring to people to do better, to be stronger, they support their friends and help those who need. Their definition is different, but they have very similar core values.

All that means that Deku should not be the pillar that upholds society. It means he has to be part to create a society when it’s not solemnly up to just someone to help.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

#bnha #chapter 1 #all might #izuku midoriya #analysis #deku #shigaraki tomura #tenko shimura

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kitkat1003 · 4 years ago

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Trust is for fools, and I’ve always been called stupid

The Calabash was...something. Terrible, confusing, but for a moment...nice.

It was easy to trust it, the kindness. MK resolves never to do that again. And then he trusts Macaque, because he’s stupid, and in the aftermath of DBK and the failure that was the skeleton key, MK doesn’t think he can trust anything at all.

Least of all, himself.

(or, “I just wanted to be good enough. Like you.” and the consequences thereof)

MK knows, for a fact, that he’s not smart. He’s not a tactician. He doesn’t have the brains to strategize, not really. If anything, that’s Tang’s department, because Tang has so much knowledge in that brain. Even Pigsy could figure out a better plan than he could.

Which is fine. MK is find with leaning on others, so long as he pulls his weight twice as much so it’s equal. He’s the hero, he’s got to show them that even if he’s not smart, he’s at least dependable in any situation. The clones were a mess, and he realizes that he just has to get used to sleeping less.

And he does, too. Soon, he can go through live with six hours of sleep, 2 am to 8am every night after partying, and still kick it through the day. No one makes comments on the bags under his eyes, because he gets a little makeup to fix that, and he doesn’t let his smile falter.

So really, why would anyone ask? No need to worry, right?

Sometimes Pigsy looks at him a certain way, like he’s trying to decipher something. One those days, MK pumps up the energy to 11, to prove that he’s okay.

Somehow, that makes Pigsy’s frown deepen, instead of lightening it.

Then he messes up Mei’s thing at her house, and again at the race. Then the Calabash happens. Then he loses the skeleton key. Then he trusts Macaque, yells at Monkey King. Then he fights DBK again.

And at the end of it all, there’s still a lingering doubt that he’s done anything good. That he’s done enough.

So he helps out with the city reconstruction, on the weekends. Hangs out with Mei, trains with Monkey King, works at the noodle shop. paints with Sandy, talks with Tang. He balances it all out, and if he has 0 time for himself, that’s fine. Who needs alone time?

But then, one day, he’s training with Monkey King. He’s teaching him a few katas, because while MK is fantastic at twirling the staff around and blocking things from time to time, he still fumbles. Some katas will give him the muscle memory to be a bit crazy.

Some of them are stupid hard, though. There’s a lot of little steps involved, and MK is still getting into this whole focus business.

(It’s a stain on his pride, that that’s a lesson he still hasn’t exactly mastered. Monkey King always says that it’s fine, as long as he’s trying, but that’s worthless platitude and MK knows it.)

He’s been working through this one kata for like, an hour, and he can tell Monkey King is getting a little frustrated with him. He doesn’t say it, but MK knows. He can get annoying.

But then, he tries again, for what feels like the 1000th time, and when he’s done Monkey King cheers.

“YES! Oh, that-that was perfect, kid!” Monkey King is smiling, and MK wants to be happy about it, but.

Perfect.

He said perfect.

And MK, he knows he isn’t in the Calabash, he broke it, but he doesn’t want to hear that word, because it reminds him of too much of what he wanted then, consistent praise, kindness from everyone, the knowledge that he wasn’t completely useless, because he did it. He saved everyone.

He wants that but he’ll never get it. Not yet anyway.

“Kid?” MK flinches at the sound, blinking away his thoughts. Monkey King has gone from smiling to pensive, if not concerned, arms crossed over his chest.

“I really did good?” MK puts on his trademark smile, and Monkey King softens.

“Heck yeah. I think that’s good enough for today, you got an easy ten katas under your belt. Practice them at home in the meanwhile, kay?” And MK wants to argue, because he needs to know more, faster, but he nods, waving a cheery goodbye and running off.

There’s a thrumming energy in him, that he needs to do something, anything, to let this out.

So he punches a wall, and the skin of his knuckles bleed.

He stares at it for a few moments, and realizes that the buzzing energy is gone. He can breathe.

He doesn’t bandage it until he gets home.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It becomes part of a routine. When he feels this...extra energy, all it takes is a little pain. And punching things will make him stronger, anyway, so it’s basically training. He really needs to catch up on that.

Mei invites him to a race, as a mark of goodwill considering the last time. He declines, and practices Katas for three hours until it’s party time after Mei’s obvious win.

His limbs feel like lead but he still parties till it’s past midnight. Sleeps for six hours. Goes to work.

Punches a wall.

Rinse and repeat.

Tang and Pigsy notice the bandages on his hands, wrapped around his fingers and knuckles. The first few days they say little, but Tang mentions it as MK busses tables.

“Just a new look,” he shrugs it off.

“A new look to look like you’re a street gang kid?” Pigsy barks from the kitchen, and MK shrugs.

He buys red gloves a day or so later, so they don’t see the bandages anymore. When they ask, he says he wanted the look to be more authentic.

They stop asking questions. Mission accomplished.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He messes up eventually. He keeps screwing up at meditation, either twitching too much or practically falling asleep. He’s practically thrown out of the training grounds by a reasonably annoyed and disappointed Monkey King.

And, to top it off, he scheduled his training day on the wrong day off, so now he apparently missed a shift at work. Pigsy shouts at him, threatens to fire him, and MK doesn’t even have the energy to try panickily apologize.

So he just takes it.

“Sorry, Pigsy,” He manages, and heads up to his room, missing the look of surprise and concern that flashes on Pigsy’s face.

What a mess. Stupid, he’s so stupid!

He slams his fist into his head, and then blinks in surprise, because the pain felt good. It scrambled his thoughts, brought him back into focus.

He at least, this time, doesn’t have to make an excuse about covering his temples. He’s already got his headband.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Things go back to normal, with MK’s shitty sleep schedule and shittier habits, and he’s so, so proud when no one notices, but also almost betrayed? Do they not care enough to notice? Are they just not looking anymore?

When he goes through the town he keeps his eyes peeled. He has enemies, like spiders and Macaque and DBK and Red Son and Princess Iron Fan, Yin and Jin and a million others. You can’t trust anyone, and you’re not safe. He knows this, makes sure he remembers it, because when you forget that that’s when you get hurt, or someone you care for gets hurt.

It all comes to a head when he’s coming to the noodle shop after a long day of training, figuring a nice bowl of noodles and soup will be the perfect energy boost to get him through the rest of the day, but when he gets back the lights are off.

Now that he thinks about it, Monkey King let him out a little early, didn’t he?

He’s on edge as he walks through the door, and then the lights flick on.

“SURPRISE!”

And MK, he doesn’t see his four friends and mentor, he sees an attack. This is out of the ordinary, this isn’t normal, Pigsy doesn’t close shop early, Monkey King doesn’t let him out of training early.

He screams, and the staff is in his hand, and the end of it shoots outward, stretching towards one of the figures.

Pigsy ducks, and the staff embeds itself in the wall.

MK blinks. Stares. Doesn’t breathe because he’s shaking.

“MK?” Mei starts, but then.

“WHAT THE HELL KID?!” Pigsy shouts, and MK drops the staff and runs.

When he leaves, Monkey King picks up his staff, making it vanish. He sits, cross-legged on his cloud, and crosses his arms over his chest.

“We’re going after him, right?”

“Obviously!” Pigsy growls out, and they go.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Realistically, MK knows he shouldn’t be terrified of his friends.

But they’re all stronger and better than him, and Monkey King was there too, and he messed up and perfectly good thing because he wasn’t good enough, because he freaked out over nothing, and now everyone is mad at him.

He stops in an alley, pounding his fists against his head.

“Stupid,” He mutters. “Stupid, stupid!” Harder, and harder, he needs to get this feeling out. Doesn’t matter if it hurts. Harder, and harder, biting his lip so hard it bleeds, curled up in an alley.

He hears a voice, muffled, from far away.

“Found him! MK, it’s-what are you doing?!” Mei almost screams, and that gets Pigsy, Sandy, Tang, and Monkey King there faster than she expected. MK doesn’t hear her, he keeps muttering to himself, keeps slamming his fists into his head.

Monkey King grabs his wrists, right before another swing, and MK freezes, blinking tiredly. His head hurts. His gloves have spikes on them, for the aesthetic, and he feels something wet trailing down the side of his face.

“Kid?” Monkey King tries, and MK knows he needs to reply, but the world’s getting fuzzy.

“Kid!”

He passes out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He wakes up on a cloud, and for a moment is pretty sure he’s dead.

“Not quite,” Someone calls, and oh, he must have said that aloud.

He sits up, and he’s in the noodle shop, on Monkey King’s cloud.

Said Monkey King is standing next to him, a frown on his face, and MK wants to vanish.

“M-Monkey King, I-,” he raises a hand, and realizes his gloves are missing. as is his headband. They’ve been replaced with bandages.

“You nearly gave yourself a concussion, you idiot,” Pigsy comes from the back, holding a bowl of noodles. He practically shoves it into MK’s arms, and MK fumbles with it, before he steadies. He takes the chopsticks, and stares down at the bowl.

“Don’t spill any. This cloud doesn’t dry clean,” Monkey King jokes, and MK nods, shakily, and eats. He doesn’t say anything, and everyone just watches. It’s unnerving.

The bowl is taken out of his hands, and Tang takes it to the sink, before MK can even think to move to get up.

“...am I in trouble?” He asks, shoulders hiking up to his ears, and Pigsy sighs. Monkey King shrugs.

“Kind of,” Is the reply he gets from his mentor, and MK deflates.

“MK, why the hell were you hitting yourself hard enough to make you bleed,” It’s not phrased as a question, and MK flinches.

“It’s just-it helps me,” Pigsy raises a brow at that, and MK lets the words fall out of his mouth, rapid fire. “I just-I got to be good, right? I have to to good work, and be better, and get better, and sometimes I get stressed out but then I just-I hit something and I can focus,” He glances over to Monkey King. “Focus is important right? I’m just doing that, you know?”

Monkey King looks a bit a lost, and a lot concerned.

“Kid-,” MK interrupts his mentor and doesn’t have the focus to even be nervous about it.

“I shouldn’t have started hitting my head, that was stupid-,” for a moment, one of his hands reaches up in a muscle memory of motion, but Monkey King grabs him by the wrist and pulls his arm back down. “I can just go back to hitting other stuff, yknow? To keep me on track. And I’ll do better, promise,” He glances between his friends, but instead of making them feel better, they only look more concerned.

“Better at what? You do plenty?” Mei tilts her head to the side, confused.

“Maybe...,” MK shrugs it off.

“What is even your schedule like?” Tang asks. “If you’re this concerned about messing it up?”

“I work here from nine to six, then I eat, practice katas, and then hang out with Mei or paint with Sandy or hang out with Tang. Party until one, sleep at two, wake up at eight. I train with Monkey King on days I’m off, and I look to see who needs help on the weekends,” He prattles it off proudly, but Monkey King’s eyes narrow.

“And when do you relax?” He asks, and MK tilts his head to the side at the question.

“When I’m asleep?”

“MK, I thought you’d learned to not overwork yourself after the clones thing,” Tang pipes up, and MK blinks.

“But I’m not using clones. I got better instead,” Pigsy groans.

“Kid, you’re a candle burning at both ends. No wonder you’re about to fall apart.” Pigsy rubs at his temples in frustration, and MK stares.

“But-but I have to! I got to-I got to do something! And I’m good at this, I can do this! I have to!”

“Why?”

Mei’s question stops him short, and MK doesn’t know how to explain.

“You can trust us, you know. We can pick up the slack,” Tang calls, from his place at the noodle bar. MK snorts.

“You can’t trust anyone, and you’re not safe,” he mumbles. Monkey King’s ear twitches.

“The hell did you learn that from?” His mentor turns to him, and MK shrugs.

“Jin and Yin. The Calabash. The Skeleton key. Macaque,” He clenches his fists. That buzzing feeling is back, and it’s hard to breathe. He doesn’t know how to focus, he doesn’t

“Fuck, kid, you were in the Calabash? That’s a nightmare, no wonder you’re messed up. Why didn’t you say something?” Monkey places a hand on top of one of MK’s fists.

“Wasn’t important. I’m okay.”

“You’re not,” Pigsy barks.

“I’m okay enough.”

“You shouldn’t have to be!”

“But I’m the hero!” MK shouts, jumping off of the cloud and looming over Pigsy, in a rare moment where his height advantage means something. “I have to keep the world safe, I have to stop the bad guys, I have to be better!”

“You have time,” Monkey King tries, and MK whirls on him.

“No, I don’t, because you waited until the last second to have anything to do with me!”

The shout isn’t mean to come out like that, but Monkey King flinches like he’s been hit, and MK curls in on himself. He’s not bitter, he’s not, it’s just...frustrating. That he has to train and fight bad guys who have thousands of years on him. He can’t ever catch up, but he’s trying. Isn’t that enough?

“Kid-,” Monkey King reaches out, and MK turns away.

“No-I’m sorry-that isn’t fair,” he lifts his hands up. “Stupid-”

Pigsy grabs one arm and Monkey King the other, and MK is frozen, fists raised towards his head.

MK sniffles. And then he sobs.

He drops to his knees on the floor, crying because it’s so much and he was handling it even when it hurt and now everyone knows how pathetic and weak he is.

“It’s so hard!” He cries. “I was just trying to be better!”

Pigsy pulls him close, and hugs.

“Kid, you’re doing fine. Better than fine. You got to deal with a lot of shit, and it’s hard, but you’re doing a good job. But you don’t have to do this all. You can take breaks,” MK doesn’t think he remember Pigsy ever speaking this soft.

“I thought there were no breaks in the war against the enemy,” He mumbles, and Pigsy snorts.

“I can make an exception, but only this time,” MK chuckles. Pigsy lets go, and MK wipes his eyes, standing.

He turns to Monkey King.

“Listen, kid,” Monkey King looks worlds of uncomfortable. “MK,” he amends. “I didn’t know how bad this would get. Couldn’t teach you with the staff until you got it. And, uh, I figured experience learning would work, since that was how it was with me. Mostly,” He shrugs, and MK just stares. “But I’m sorry you had to deal with all that. You’re my student. I should protect you more, when you’re still learning.”

“It’s okay,” MK says, automatic. Monkey King’s eyes soften with something undiscernible.

“Sure, kid,” He mutters, and MK wonders who is blaming who at this point.

“Okay,” Mei pipes up. “Are we gonna celebrate MK’s birthday or what?”

MK blinks.

“It’s my birthday?”

“You forgot?!”

“I was busy!’

They’re laughing, and Pigsy heads into the kitchen. Something about a cake.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MK is barred from working the next day, as well as training and partying. He’s only to do something that is for him, not for anyone else.

So he draws, all day, little sketches. Drawings of him, of Pigsy, of Sandy, of Mei, of Tang, of Monkey King.

A new routine.

He works from 9 to 6, 3 days a week. Trains two days a week. Has weekends off, to do whatever he wants. Mei calls him to party, and always asks what he did the day before extending her invitation. Same with Sandy and Tang.

He wonders if they’re conspiring against him. For him? Whatever.

Pigsy checks his hands and temples every day for two months. It’s embarrassing, especially when MK messes up and hits himself, or something, again.

Mei is a good distraction. She takes him to his favorite places, reminding him of the things he forgot. How to have fun. How to relax.

Monkey King is very...gentle isn’t the right word. But protective? Perhaps. MK stumbles during a kata and he’s getting his legs checked out by a suspicious monkey.

He thinks Monkey King is embarrassed that he couldn’t tell MK was hurt. That must be it.

Eventually, the bruises fade. His knuckles have a few scars, but he throws away the gloves regardless.

“You’re getting better,” Monkey King tells him one day, when he swings the staff, willing it to stretch out to hit the dummy twenty feet away.

MK smiles.

He’s getting better.

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #monkie kid monkey king #monkie kid mk #self harm #kitkat1003

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stellar-alley · 4 years ago

Text

Spider Spaghetti

•Chapter 3•

<<Previous Chapter

(Summary: The day of the Homecoming dance has finally arrived.)

Shout out to my Beta, go find her on Tumblr @scoobydoo-ghoulschool and on ao3 @ theblacklagoon

Also, don’t forget to check out my Instagram Stellar.Cosplays if you want to see more of me and what goes on in my life!

Richie Tozier was normal. That’s it. Literally. No Tricks or plot twists. Richard Went Tozier was as normal as they came. Well aside from his Trashmouth.

So after everything that happened the night before with Spiderman, he realized that he was in over his head. He had no clue what to do about this, or if he could even help.

The wind blew through his dark curls from his spot on the roof of his apartment building. This was the place he went whenever he needed to clear his mind or catch his breath. Sure he loved his room and his parents, they’re great, but everyone needs time for themselves. And that’s exactly what he was getting, up until he heard the soft thump of something behind him.

“Spiderman” Richie said without removing his eyes from the cityview before him.

He could hear the hero stuttering behind him in confusion. “How did you-” Richie turned around to see Spiderman with his head tilted like a lost puppy.

“Who else would just drop out of the sky?” The corner of Richie ‘s lip curved up.

“Uh I don’t know, Superman?” Spiderman shrugged almost sarcastically. Then the hero shook his head, trying to get back on track with what he was saying. “You can’t go to homecoming” He announced.

The mood immediately changed, from a kinda fun banter to serious and confused.

“W-What?” Richie tensed up, confused about what he was being told to do.

“Ri-” Eddie stopped mid-word, to stop himself from saying Richie’s name again. “Dude some serious shit is going to go happen at the dance. So. You. Cannot. Go” Eddie pronounced each word carefully. “You’ll be in immediate danger” Spiderman said, determined.

Richie arched a brow, “what kind of immediate danger?” he questioned.

Spiderman let out an annoyed sigh, “The kind that would end up with you dead!” He exclaimed as he chopped the air with his hand.

“Ahh” He nodded his head as if he suddenly understood what Eddie was talking about, “That kind of immediate danger”. He took a minute, contemplated the idea before he shrugged and said “Nope, no can do Spidey. I’ve got myself a hot date and I literally cannot miss this, unless I wanna get my head chopped off”.

Eddie rolled his eyes from beneath his mask yet he could still feel his cheeks burning. I so would not cut his head off, Eddie wanted to mumble but didn’t.

“Please uh- what's your name?” Eddie tried to play dumb as if he hadn't already called him by his real name twice now.

“Richie” He smirked, almost as if he knew that spiderman already knew that.

“Okay, Richie. Please, do not go to the homecoming dance” Spiderman begged.

Maybe it was the fact that spiderman used his real name, but Richie complied, “Fine” he sighed as he held his hands up in defeat, “I won't go to the dance”.

“Promise?” Spiderman asked.

“Promise” Richie nodded in agreement.

“Lying sack of shit” Eddie grumbled as he watched Richie step out of Maggie Tozier’s blue jeep. His suit was black and sharp, Eddie wanted nothing more than to slow dance with him under the light of the disco ball, but he was still pissed he showed up after promising Spiderman to stay home.

Bill shot him a glance, obviously confused by the comment. Eddie quickly pulled his phone out and waved it, “Sorry, texting someone” he lied. Bill nodded, but if he didn't believe Eddie then he didn't mention it.

The day had finally arrived, the one everyone was waiting for, Homecoming.

Everyone looked good, all the Losers threw on their best attire and had congregated at the front door before they went in together. Eddie thought he had convinced Richie not to come, but he was wrong. Sure he would’ve preferred if it was just him without the other Losers to ensure their safety but he knew that out of all of them, Richie would be the most prone to follow him if/when he left to go kick Carter’s ass. Looks like I’m gonna have to use fucking ninja stealth, whatever, let’s just have fun for now. We are just kids after all.

Instead of questioning why Richie had come, he simply walked up to him with the rest of the Losers.

“Ms Marsh is that a Beverly exclusive that you’re wearing?” Richie asked as if it was a big scandalous act. To the Losers it was a big deal, Beverly had started designing clothes about 2 years ago and only Ben has been given the slightest glance at what she’s been creating. So seeing her now, displaying an entire dress, was a pretty big fucking deal.

The dress was beautiful, it was long and flowy, the fabric was a light pink with puffy sleeves and a V neck line that perfectly displayed her breasts without showing too much cleavage. But that wasn't even the best part, the dress was decorated with little red strawberries. Which Ben had actually matched perfectly to his pink, strawberry type, which Beverly also made.

She stepped back, away from the group and gave them a twirl, displaying her dress in all of its strawberry glory.

“It’s amazing” Ben said in aw.

“Your best one yet!” Richie hollered and whooped as she returned to them.

“You haven’t even seen my other pieces dumbass” She looked away as if it would hide her rosy cheeks. Before any of the other Losers could praise her anymore she wrapped her arms around the boys, 3 on each side, “My boys… Let’s go party like it’s 1999” She smirked as the boys cheered with excitement.

Eddie surveyed the gym where the dance was being held. He scoped out the big room for all the exits and anything that could be a threat, also ya know, the drug lord Mr Carter, who was suspiciously nowhere to be seen. But as he did so he noticed how fancy the gym looked. Streamers hung from the ceiling, making a cool kinda wall that surrounded the dance floor. Of course there was a big disco ball that hung above the dance floor and lights of all colours. The DJ was up on the stage with her obviously big headphones, bopping her head to the song as she spun a record.

“Nice, right?” Richie broke Eddie out from his thoughts.

The hero looked up to his date, “Yeah, they really went all out” he nodded.

“So th-this is where all of the ye-yearbook’s money guh-goes to” Bill rolled his eyes as he fixed the cuff on his suit’s arm. Once his arm was down by his side again, Mike swapped in and linked his arm with Bill’s.

He smiled his iconic Mike Hanlon smile and asked, “Would you like to accompany me on the dance floor?”.

Bill’s ears turned red, his eyes drifted up to meet Mike’s which only made his face hotter, “I-I’d love to” and with that, Mike swept him off to dance.

“Do I have to be that formal or can we just-“ Richie pointed towards the dance floor.

Eddie shook his head with a smile, “Come on trashmouth” He intertwined their fingers and then they were off.

“Well looks like I’m going to go find Patty” Stan nodded then proceeded to go find his girlfriend.

Ben was immediately nervous. Shit now I have to ask Beverly Marsh, to dance with me. But before he could worry any more, his date stepped in front of him, her dress flowing beautifully behind her as she turned and bowed slightly with her arm out.

“May I have this dance, New Kid?” The old nickname brought a smile to both of their faces.

Ben was so busy mentally fangirling about how in love he was with her that he almost forgot to answer. “I’ll always want to dance with you, Beverly” he said, reaching his hand out to meet hers.

The first song was more upbeat, the Losers stayed with their respective partners as they danced together, moving to the beat. The next song though, was more of a party song, more specifically LMFAO’S Party Rock Anthem.

Eddie watched with delight as Richie’s face lit up like a christmas tree. “I LOVE THIS SONG!” He exclaimed. Even though LMFAO hadn't put out a song in over 5 years, the ones they did release were timeless bops.

Fate worked in weird ways, like how the song came on just as all the Losers had subconsciously drifted towards each other on the dance floor. None of them questioned it though, they simply smiled even brighter in the company of their real family. Together they belted out the lyrics, jumped to the beat and danced like no one was watching.

After that song they were all pretty parched, “Wanna get something to drink?” Mike offered, they all agreed and walked over to the table that had snacks and a bowl that was usually filled with punch.

Bev caught the attention of the teacher running the table and asked “No punch this time? thought that was kinda like a staple”.

“Oh yes deery it is. Mr Carter said he would take care of it, you know the science teachers and how good they are at getting the ratios correct when mixing drinks” She explained. Instead the Losers grabbed the water bottles that lined the table and drank from those.

Once all of the Losers were sipping their drinks and chatting, Eddie stepped up towards the table once again, “Sorry but do you know where I could find Mr Carter? I said I would help him with the punch” Eddie lied.

“Oh, sure, he’s just in his classroom, do you need the number?” She inquired.

Eddie politely declined then thanked her before rejoining the Losers. “Guys I’m gonna go use the washroom” he announced, they all gave some sort of simple reply before he slipped out from the noisy gym and into the hallway where the loud music was muffled and he had more space to walk.

Of course he would be the one in charge of the fucking punch- Bev literally said it best, it’s a staple for these kinds of things and everyone has it, even if it tasts like shit. When teens are thirsty they’ll drink literally anything (Literally anything). The punch is a perfect way for him to drug all these students and turn him into whatever super powered army he was trying so hard to create.

Eddie stopped by his locker, got his backpack then stopped in the washroom across from Carter’s room where he slid out of his suit. He carefully folded it and placed it in his bag, hoping he would still use it after he caught this guy. He had worn his Spiderman outfit under his suit which saved him time, all he had to do was put his mask on. Before he left he tossed his bag up, shot off a web and stuck it to the ceiling in hopes of no one finding it.

He was ready and standing in front of Carter's door, he let his spider senses kick in and tried to detect anythin- rapidly Eddie leaped up, off the floor and stuck to the ceiling, just in time to miss the door blowing off of its hinges. He stayed quiet as a being stepped out of the classroom, they looked down the hallway. That’s when Spiderman relaxed his body and fell down onto the figure. He wrapped his legs around their neck in hopes of knocking them out but this guy was quick, and strong.

He raised his arms, reached back, grabbed a fistfull of Spiderman’s hero suit and not only pulled spiderman off of his back but he flung him into the classroom. Eddie groaned when he landed on his back in the science classroom. He looked up to the ceiling he was used to seeing when he was daydreaming in class, but now the usual ceiling tiles were interrupted by someone looking down on the hero.

“See, Spiderman, all this time I had been trying to give my subject new abilities” Carter smirked, towering over the hero. “But turns out I should’ve been enhancing the abilities we already have. That's why your friend Bryce here might be a little bit stronger than you remember” He said with a wink before Eddie’s head snapped up just in time to see Bryce, who was significantly more muscly, grab his ankles and yank him towards him.

“You won’t win” Eddie groaned, looking back at Carter who watched as Bryce’s hands grabbed onto Eddie’s hips and hoisted him into the air.

Spiderman kicked and punched but Bryce was not flinching. He shot off a couple webs but they seemed to simply slip off of his skin.

“Oh I don’t know about that Spiderman” Carter hummed.

Eddie barely had any time to register what was going on as Bryce began to move forward and before he knew it, the hero was being thrown forward, towards the window. The glass broke on impact and spiderman went plummeting towards the cement below.

Just before he hit the ground, he shot off a web, it connected with one of the fire escapes above. He stopped just a foot before he hit the ground. Eddie let out a shaky sigh of relief. His feet dangled back, finding their place on the ground and steadying himself as he stood up. Immediately he scoped out the alley he was in, recognising it as one of the passages behind the school that was almost always empty.

It looked like any other alleyway, dark red bricks, garbage cans, with fire escapes lining the walls.

Spiderman felt the ground shake as something landed behind him. He spun around to see Bryce’s hulking figure as Carterr stepped out from behind him.

Eddie shot another web up onto one of the fire escapes and jumped up into the air. He was halfway up to the fire escape when he felt a hand grab his ankle and yank him back down. His web snapped as he landed flat on his back, again. Bryce stepped over him, one foot on either side of his body.

This is gonna hurt in the morning, Eddie thought as the pain of the impact ripped through his body.

“W-Why are you doing this?” Eddie stuttered, he tried to keep the pain out of his voice but that was hard to do since everything ached.

Mr Carter began to speak as Bryce raised two meaty fists into the air, preparing to smash the spider beneath him.

“Well I always found it unfair that some people got powers, like you. And others didn’t, like me and my parents”.

Just as the fists were about to make contact, the hero shot a web in the space between Bryce’s legs. His 2 fingers pressed into his palm and shot off a web which pulled him out from under Bryce and flung him into the air. He went flying. He was rapidly approaching the fire escape and prepared for landing. Thankfully for his sticky feet, he was able to land safely, giving him a moment to catch his breath.

“So of course I grew up in a household where we praised heroes” Carter continued, unphased by the fight going on before him.

Bryce leaped into the air, determined to catch Spiderman but the spider hopped from the fire escape to the one beside it.

“But what happened when an armed robber broke into our house? Did the heroes we praise come to rescue us? Oh no, no…” his voice drifted off, but he didn’t sound sad. “They let my parents die. Now heroes think they’re these big deals. But what would happen if everyone got powers?”.

Eddie shot a web off towards Carter in hopes of pinning him down. But just as he was about to shoot, the floor fell from beneath him. His hand jerked and the web shot off, hitting some window with a *splat*.

Bryce had gotten onto the fire escape beneath Spiderman and ripped the floor from beneath Eddie’s feet. Eddie shot off a web and hopped he would be able to swing away but Bryce, once again, jumped and grabbed his fucking foot. But this time when he landed, the weight of two supers was too heavy for the poor fire escape. The floor gave out from beneath them and they both went tumbling down to the ground, right in front of Mr Carter.

But Carter barely blinked as the two came tumbling down at his feet. Instead he leaned down, reached out and grabbed a fistfull of Eddie’s super suit and pulled him closer. “If everyone was super, then no one will be ' He whispered to the hero's face. His eyes were filled with ambition and his voice was tainted with determination. Just as quickly as he grabbed the hero, he dropped him. Eddie’s head bounced on the concerte as Carter stood up, dusted off his pants, and began walking away. He had taken a couple steps away when he stopped, turned his head just enough to glance back at Bryce, “Kill him or else I’ll take it all back” He demanded before he continued towards the school. “I have a gym full of students to drug”.

A loud ZAP sound echoed through the alleyway and Carter’s body dropped like a sack of potatoes. Eddie didn’t know what he expected to see in front of Carter, but what he certainly didn’t expect to see was Richie Tozier in his formal suit, with an outstretched hand, holding a tazer.

“Holly shit” the human teen sounded shocked as he let the taser fall from his grasp. It clanked against the ground and sent another little jolt into Mr Carter who hemorrhaged a little.

Spiderman didn’t even have time to celebrate because he was distracted by the heavy breaths of the villain behind him. Bryce now towered over Eddie, his face beaten and his eyes were furious. He looked like a lion about to charge its prey. Eddie was prepared to leap out of the way, to protect Richie, to do anything. But instead his attention was drawn to the woosh sound of a gun firing. Once again the villain fell lifeless at Spiderman’s feet.

This time instead of Richie standing behind the villain, it was a female. She wore a long black trench coat and held out some sort of gun which she quickly slid into the hosliter on her thigh. She had brown hair that fell to her shoulders in bouncy curls.

“Spiderman, happy to finally meet you” She said, her tone wasn’t serious but nor was it as happy as she claimed to be, it was neutral. Eddie could tell she meant business. Before he could respond she stepped over Bryce and towards Richie, “Rich, thanks for calling me” She nodded at him.

“No problem…” Richie said, still semi dazed. He finally started taking careful steps towards the mysterious women. “Anytime auntie” he shook his head, eyes finally focusing again.

“wait- Auntie?” Eddie asaked, confusion laced his voice.

“Yeah kid, I’m Maggie’s sister. Richie’s aunt, I am also the head and leader of a little organization, The Threat Assessment, Reconnaissance and Operations Taskforce, Tarot for short. And I am Alley Red” Her poker face shifted into a small yet proud smile.

“Wait- holy shit you’re the leader of T.A.R.O.T?” Eddie’s eyes go wide beneath his mask as he marvels at the aunt and nephew.

“Yes yes now keep your voice down before you attack unnecessary attention” She waves her hand at Eddie as she surveys the alleyway for spying eyes.

“Yeah shut is Spaghetti” Richie cackled.

Eddie was taken aback by the familiar nickname, “W-What?” he stuttered.

Now it was Richie’s turn to look stunned, “Oh yeah” his shock turned smug, “I know it’s you in there Eds”.

Eddi- Spiderman froze, his entire body went stiff as he stared at the smirking teen.

“Sorry you’ve got the wrong guy-” Eddie began to lie but Richie shook his head.

“The bridge? Spider man mysteriously knowing my name at Liberty? Then him asking me to not go instead of trying to convince the school to cancel the dance? Eddie you, are a terrible liar” Richie smiled proudly at his detective work.

“How’d you know about this?” Spiderman asked, disregarding the fact that his secret identity had just been revealed. Instead he focused on how Richie knew he’d be out here with Carter.

“Well see this was the one thing I didn’t know about. But after you left, I was taking a leak in the upstairs bathroom and somebody’s spidey webs shot the window, so I looked out and saw you getting your ass handed to you and called my favourite aunt-”

“I was not getting my ass handed to me” Eddie crossed his arms and pouted.

Before Eddie could get anything else in, Richie’s aunt spoke up. “Well boys I better be on my way. Can’t just leave a drug lord out here on the street. Eddie, we’ll be in contact alright? T. A. R. O. T. Could use someone like you” She gave Spiderman a nod. With the click of her bracelet a team of people in equally dark trench coats emerged from the dark corners of the alleyway and took the two villains away.

Then the two teens were left alone together.

“So can I see the babe under the mask?” Richie asked curiously.

Eddie hesitated, no one knew about his secret identity. But it was Richie… My best friend and biggest crush. Before the hero could overthink the situation too much he moved his hand up and slid his mask off.

Richie watched as the famous Spider Man took his mask off, revealing Eddie Kaspbrak. Richie’s heart fluttered at the other’s face, his big doe eyes staring back at him through his lashes. “Hey Eds” The taller boy’s voice was warm and his face went soft.

Eddie’s face heated up a little, realizing how close they were. He tried to hold back his smile but failed, “Hey Rich”.

Richie raised his hands up to sit on Eddie’s hips. The hero’s skin tingled at the touch.

Eddie didn’t know what to say, he had just taken down a villain and his identity had been revealed. He felt very exposed, especially under the touch of his best friend and crush. “We should probably go back to the dance before they begin to worry” Eddie decided to break the moment before he could mess anything up.

Richie looked visibly taken aback at the mention of leaving. He was so in the moment that when Eddie stepped away from him, his face was left with a small, disappointed frown. “Oh- yeah, okay” He tried to sound supportive. Dropping his hands from Eddie’s waist, now he felt as if he was trespassing for some reason.

“Well I should uh- go” Eddie took a step back and raised his hand that held his mask.

“Yeah of course” Richie nodded.

Without another word, Eddie slid his mask back on. He turned around and with his hand extended out towards one of the fire escapes above him he shot off a web. He leaped up and landed safely on the metal of the escape.

Richie was still in awe to see Eddie put the mask on, as if that made everything real. Eddie is Spiderman, he thought as he watched Eddie leap up and away. But before he could shoot off another web Riche stepped forward and shouted, “Eddie! Wait!”.

Spiderman stopped where he stood on the railing of the fire escape and looked down at the curly haired teen that was waving up at him. With his sticky feet he simply walked down the railing and stood upside down on the underside of the fire escape. He shot off a web, connecting it to the floor he was hanging on. From there his knees bent and his hands held the web. He hung upside down as he slowly made his way to meet Richie. When he stopped they were perfectly face to face, even if Eddie was hanging upside down.

“Everything alright citizen?” Eddie put on his ‘responsible superhero’ voice, which got a chuckle from Richie.

Richie shrugged, slowly he stepped towards the hero, “Nah, all is good. Just forgot to do something” he said as he carefully placed his hands on either side of Eddie’s face. From there he delicately slid Spiderman’s mask down, exposing only the hero’s lips.

Too late to back out now, Richie thought as he angled his head and leaned in to kiss the superhero. Eddie’s lips were soft and he could feel the breath hitch in his mouth as Eddie waited a moment before he kissed back.

Eddie thought that his powers made him feel something, but the way he was feeling right here, right now, kissing Richie? That made him feel like he could do anything. Sparks and fireworks exploded within both of their chests alongside their racing hearts.

Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. For example, right at that moment, two things began. First it started lightly drizzling over New york, even when the weatherman said it was supposed to be a clear and mild night. And second of all, just after it started raining, the dance’s DJ randomly started playing Africa By Toto at that very moment.

Richie and Eddie had not stopped kissing, not after they separated to breath, not when it started raining either. But when they heard the muffled (but still audible) tune of Africa’s iconic intro started echoing through the dark alleyway, Eddie could physically feel Richie gasp against his lips. It sent a shiver down Eddie’s spine. He felt Richie’s lips heat up as he blushed against Eddie. Then, only then, did the two break away, the night air filled their lungs and cooled their skin.

“Wanna slow dance with me?” Richie asked, his voice filled with optimism and excitement.

“To Africa by Toto?” Eddie asked, realizing he was still hanging upside down outside of his school’s homecoming dance.

“Why of course! What song would be better for our first slow dance?” Richie arched his eyebrows in a charming manner.

“Oh trashmouth” Eddie sighs happily, he quickly let go of the web he’d been holding onto and flipped backwards, landing on his feet, facing Richie. “You have such a way with words” The hero ripped his mask off, tossed it to the side and smashed his lips up against the other’s.

After a moment their lips separated, instead the two opted to lean their foreheads against each other. Richie’s hands found Eddie’s hips again (something Eddie was liking more every time it happened), holding him close as they slowly swayed back and forth. Eddie's hands drifted up to Richie’s upper half, one hand dangled comfortably off of Richie’s shoulder while the other slid into his forest of dark curls. Even with his suit covering his fingers, he was still able to feel every inch of Richie with his Spidey Senses.

So that’s how it ended, with Richie slow dancing with Spiderman, Eddie, in the alleyway behind his school on the night of the Homecoming dance, in the rain, to Africa by Toto.

The End

Word Count: 4522

Final Word Count: 18598

Bing, Bang, Done! Three chapters, kinda short but I didn’t plan for this fic to be too big, I also know there’s some other Spider Eddie fics out there so I wanted to keep it short and sweet, which I think I achieved.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how this turned out! I’ve always had trouble explaining fighting scenes and such, so this was good practice. I also just adored watching as Richie and Eddie’s relationship evolved and aw, it was so sweet!

As this is the final chapter I’ve gotta remind you guys to go check out my other social medias, Instagram (Stellar.Cosplays), Tumblr, (stellar-cosplays), even my youtube (Alley’s World). Also don’t forget to check out my other fan fictions! Here’s my master list, or go check out my account and you’ll find them all there.

Thank you all for the support this fic has received! I really enjoyed writing this piece and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Well looks like the time has come, that’s all from me guys, catch you on the flip side.

So Long and Goodnight

[Taglist]

@richietoaster @s-onora @that-weird-girl-blog @beproudtozier @ghostnebula @gen-s-stuff @bellarosewrites @s-s-georgie @lermanslogan @iamcupcakefrosting @madidraw @gazebobullshit @thoughtfullyyoungduck @aangzukos @ambitiousskychild @reddieonwheels @breadheadscorpius

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list!

5 notes · View notes

blurhawaii · 4 years ago

Text

yuletide 2020

dear yuletide writer,

hello and happy yuletide! i’m pretty sure my letters get longer and longer every year and yet i’m still terrible at putting what i like into words. just know that the prompts are just suggestions--if you’ve got something else in mind, go for it. and sorry this is so disjointed.

likes:

dysfunctional relationships eg. codependency, messed up father/son dynamics, enemies to lovers, power imbalances.

vulnerability in men, uncertain intimacy.

UST, slow burn, first times.

magical realism/cosmic horror. weird hints of it in an otherwise normal universe.

redemption arcs.

found family.

big loyalty kink. love it when trust is earned and kept.

praise kink.

open and honest communication between partners.

polyamory. it’s the journey of them getting together and making it work that interests me the most. or how a couple goes about bringing in a third person.

stories set in canon. or a divergence of canon. fix-it fics.

dark/bleak fics. don’t be afraid to drag characters through the mud. happy endings are welcome but i like the struggle.

i’m fine with anything from gen to porn but would be happiest with something in the middle.

canon typical violence is fine and to be expected from some of my choices.

characters and their relationships are more important than plot for me.

dislikes:

AUs that are completely disconnected from canon e.g. high school, coffee shop AUs.

established relationships

crossovers

genderbending

feminisation of male characters

fics that are entirely fluff

A/B/O fics

PWP

mpreg

first person fics (i have no problem with second person fics tho if you think that could work.)

The Departed (2006) *Billy Costigan *Sean Dignam

one of my favourite films ever. i request it every year so you can't really go wrong with this as i'm just thirsty for anything.

most of my love is for dignam and his tough love attitude towards his job and the undercovers he's responsible for. i am endlessly endeared by his wild card quality, expletive fueled speech and hair trigger temperament. the father/son relationship with queenan that’s contrasted against billy’s father/son relationship with queenan. his complete disregard for everyone else in that office, especially sullivan. and how despite all of that, it's obvious that he cares. i don't think you could do a job like that and not care, and it’s those few and rare moments where we see him soften around billy --we need you, pal-- that's what i would like to see more of. that juxtaposition of good cop/bad cop coming from the same guy. shipping fic is preferred but whatever you are comfortable with is fine. due to the nature of the film i am perfectly comfortable with violence and the screwed up relationship they are bound to have. the friction born of the situation vs the fact that they need each other to get through this is what i am all about.

things that really get me with these two: codependency, power imbalances, the enemies to lovers trope, vulnerability, the whole constructing intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men thing they have going on, as seen in the gif above.

fics where billy survives are my usual go-to. i'd love something that explores the angst of billy's ‘where the hell were you when i needed you’ reaction towards dignam following queenan’s death all the way up to the ending, and beyond that assuming billy lives.

i’ve spent far too much time thinking about the line --why don’t we just meet up, sweetheart, let me buy you an ice cream. the jokey seriousness of it just kills me. if you can somehow write that happening in a believable, in character fic you would earn my eternal respect. whether that’s a clandestine meeting during billy’s undercover period or some kind of post-film scenario where dignam makes good on his promises, i have no idea.

daemon au - very curious how this would impact going undercover. daemons expressing feelings that the characters otherwise can’t. the intimacy of touching/comforting each other’s daemons.

soulmate au - either having their names on each other or their first words. this is admittedly a longshot but interests me for the same reason the daemon au does, because i’d love to see how this would work in a universe where you’re undercover.

time loop/groundhog day fic where things go better. or worse, i guess.

Godless (TV 2017)

*Roy Goode *Bill McNue *Alice Fletcher

i’m a massive fan of westerns. the harsh way of life, the violence, the isolation, drawn out revenge plots, the murkiness of good vs evil or sheriff vs anti-hero, the importance of honour and heroism and how that differs for men and women, especially in this universe and its town full of widows. having said all that, i’m still very much a sucker for cool cowboys in a shallow female way.

my favourite thing to do is turn every love triangle into an ot3. so i’d love a fic post canon where roy comes back once he realises his found family is just as important as his real family. i imagine bill would try to do the gentlemanly thing of bowing out and letting roy and alice be together but i’d love for alice to have the agency of choice, getting to have her cake and eating it too by choosing both roy and bill. however you jigsaw them together my main thing here is that i don’t want bill to get left out.

i feel the roy/bill aspect in particular could be explored a lot more. i love the earned mutual respect and how easily they move around each other during the gunfight at the end. (bill’s deteriorating eyesight side plot fascinates me, how it goes with his loss of purpose and comes back when teaming up with roy to defend the town.) the usual ideas of western masculinity get all twisted around when roy and bill are in the presence of alice and they both seem kind of subby towards her, which yes please. the way alice kisses the scar she gave roy and the fact that he simply lets her is *chef kiss*

i’m actually very okay with letting them be soft with each other after all of their tragedy.

honest communication between partners could work wonders here.

Locke (2013)

*Ivan Locke *Donal

i honestly think this film is an underappreciated masterpiece. a hour and a half long car ride that's totally compelling, and it's all down to tom hardy and his welsh accent that's not even welsh. of all the relationships broken down, strengthened, or tentatively started, it's the one between ivan and donal that interests me the most. you're given just enough background to know there is a history between these two. whether donal is his right hand man on the project or is just an assistant that effectively gets promoted because he's the only one still there willing to take ivan's call. either way, there's trust there, on top of the shared knowledge of donal's capacity to get drunk on the job --this has clearly been a problem before-- but ivan still trusts him enough to get his baby of a building built when he can't be there personally, and that fascinates me.

the film ends very much in a lurch and i can't bring myself to see the ending in a positive light. a baby with a woman he doesn't particular like is not a recipe for a fresh start and i honestly can't see ivan not following up on the progress of his building.

i have this image of ivan sleeping on donal's couch because his wife won't take him back, bethan realises she just wants the baby and not him, he's lost his job and he has nowhere else to go and so he's just backseat driving this buildings construction through donal’s position. you've got this man who's lost everything and an alcoholic just wallowing together, maybe clinging to the idea that with this buildings success, they can fix themselves.

i also ship it and if you manage to take it in that direction i would be totally into that too. i guess i'm just looking for something post film with these two.

i don't know anything about concrete farming tho so feel free to fudge that as much as you need to.

The Boys (TV 2019)

*Billy Butcher *Homelander

what i like about this show is that it’s dark, it’s violent and the relationships between the characters are about as fucked up and convoluted as you can get. i am specifically interested in the relationship between billy and homelander and how the power is constantly shifting. i’d love something that just takes into account every horrible reason why they want to kill each but also all the reasons why they haven’t. ship fic is more than welcome.

details that interest me the most:

all the bizarre family dynamics - their shared bad relationships with their fathers. loved the scene where billy learns about homelander’s childhood and how that tiny humanising moment might affect his view of the man. especially in season 2 where we see them both interacting with ryan. love the inverse of homelander trying to be a good dad and billy wanting absolutely nothing to do with the kid. i wish we could have seen more of the dynamic immediately following the cliffhanger at the end of season 1. what happened between that moment and billy waking up somewhere else. maybe some kind of bizarre hostage situation family in this small suburban home.

i am fascinated by the idea of having the buffer of both becca and ryan between them. not being able to kill each other at the end of season 1 because of the deal becca made, and then again at the end of season 2 with homelander not wanting to be seen as a villain in front of ryan. maybe billy doesn’t ship ryan off at the end of season 2. maybe he thinks he can keep him safest by raising him himself and you get this weird co-dadding situation where the kid is the only thing keeping them from killing each other.

the public cleaning of the slate post-season 2 with billy not being a wanted man any more and homelander having to appear as a united front with the seven. would love something with billy pushing things in public because homelander can’t do anything about it.

homelander’s desperation to be loved. the potential of obsessive one sided relationships.

thank you writer and best of luck.

#yuletide #yuletide 2020

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bloodilymerry · 5 years ago

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TCW rewatch

Season One

Ambush

How did Dooku know about the meeting with Katoonko? Did a certain Chancellor inform him?

Jedi Grandpa!

"See? See? Size matters not!" You know, it makes you wonder how many times Yoda got underestimated because he's tiny. Also, the giggle afterwards.

The resigned clones. Aw.

I will never stop finding it amusing how Yoda turns into a tiny bouncy zip ball of death in a fight. Trust Yoda to weaponize being a nuisance. Also, a beautiful example of deadly dodging

Aw. The part where Yoda talks with the clones about how different they are in the Force.

Also aw, Yoda and the birbs after the fight.

Also, also, Yoda is actually quite friendly to Ventress. When he's talking to Dooku there is something of an edge (not much, though), but with Ventress he's using the Trickster Mentor Voice. Maybe you should have surrendered, Asajj?

Clone tattoo count: 2

Rising Malevolence

Anakin, since when are you asking the Council for permission first? Are you secretly jealous of Plo Koon, or something?

Anakin telling Ahsoka to behave is funny, because it's Anakin.

You know, Anakin, you seem to be the only Jedi upset about Ahsoka speaking up. And don't think I didn't notice you Palpatine, making a pointed comment about how bold Ahsoka is.

Also, interesting contrast between Anakin insisting on finding the weapon being more important to cut to Plo Koon emphatically saying he values clone lives more than finding the weapon. Of course, it turns out that he meant to go look for surviviors ten seconds later, but nevertheless, interesting contrast.

Of course, Anakin decides to reinterpret orders. It's what Anakin does. And yes, he was always going to look for surviviors, but has it occured to you, Anakin, that you could have told Ahsoka that and not put her through all the worry? That was kinda shitty of you.

And here we have Plo Koon performing Peak Jedi Bullshit, by going on a walk on an escape pod in space to fight battle droids. And then doing a Fastball Special with a clone.

So, we have Yoda, Mace and Obi-Wan in camp "geater scope" and Anakin, Plo and Ahsoka in camp "save lives". It's interesting to note that it's one of the situations where both sides have a point. Saving the lives of the clones and Plo Koon is important! It's the right thing to do! But at the same time, Anakin and Ahsoka have a vital mission that they've taken a detour from.

Palpatine is doing subtle shit stirring, of course, by hinting most hintingly that Anakin's decision might be a costly mistake. And then immediately calling Anakin to tell them the Council is "furious" when they're actually concerned and kinda annoyed.

Anakin's reply that he came to save Plo Koon and no mention of clones is pretty telling.

Aw, Ahsoka sensing Plo Koon.

"We're clones, we're meant to be expendable." "Not. To. Me." <3

So, obvs, Anakin doesn't look completely great in this episode - but there's also the point that Ahsoka is his first child I mean padawan, so he was bound to make mistakes. He certainly teaches her about persistence and determination, but he also fails to trust her and reassure her. Equally, with the clones, they may not be his main concern when looking for survivors - he wants to find Plo Koon, because he's Ahsoka's friend first, but he also shows concern for them and care once they're on the ship.

Shadow of Malevolence

And now it's time for Anakin Has a Reckless Plan. Ahsoka and Plo caution him against it, but Anakin is certain it will work out.

Cute detail: Plo and Ahsoka note that Anakin inspires great loyalty in his clones by leading by example.

It's time for The Villains Will be Doing a War Crime!

Hello there Space Manta Rays! You look like you have a lot of teeth!

Oh Anakin. It's good that you eventually listened to Ahsoka and Plo Koon and did change your plan for one where it's not just you as the last man standing, because the clones aren't space wizards like you.

So, it's probably a good moment to note that Anakin's plan wasn't The Worst or anything like that--it does work with the changes suggested by Ahsoka and Plo Koon, and it might have worked even better if Anakin had listened to them from the start.

It's also an interesting point to see how being such a good pilot and so strong in the Force affects Anakin's judgement--it just doesn't occur to him that his baseline isn't the same as the Clones. It's not malicious, and it is understandable. It's a common human bias to think of the things that come easily to you as easy for everyone, when it doesn't have to be the case.

Destroy Malevolence:

Hello Padme!

I see Palpatine sent her right into the embrace of General Grevious. Damn it, Palpatine.

You know how people say that Luke is gentle and so on like Padme, and Leia is brash and aggressive like Anakin. Ahahahaha. Ahahahahaha. You know, the Padme who yelled at Anakin to continue shooting the Malevolence because she won't be a hostage? The Padme who rigged her ship to blow up and nearly took out Grevious?

Plo Koon once again points out Anakin is taking terrible risks. Obi-Wan apparently decided it's time for him to join the party. There was no mention of him taking terrible risks.

Padme and Anakin are being subtle. They're just missing a "we're in love" flag.

Hinty hint, huh, Obi-Wan?

Cutting off the transmission you don't like, Grevious?

And boom goes Malevolence

Rookies

Clone tattoo count: 2

Did the sergeant dye his hair and eyebrows to look like he's going grey?

Great acting there, infiltrator droids. You tried.

A+ acting there, Rex.

Hevy, no!

Downfall of a Droid

Anakin is Having a Reckless and Ahsoka Is the Voice of Reason once more.

Ah, this is the Anakin and Attachment Are a Problem episode. And also Obi-Wan could stand to be nicer about droids.

And here's R3, to whom Anakin will be mean, because he's not R2, but it's OK, because R3 is secretly a spy.

How to disguise a Jedi: put a poncho over your Jedi clothes. Don't hide anything else.

OK, Anakin isn't particularly mean to R3. And he does make himself look particularly incompetent.

I notice that both Grevious and the Trandshan sleezy droid guy have An Accent, unlike our heroes.

R2 is making a valiant escape.

R3 isn't even trying to pretend he doesn't want Anakin caught or dead, is he?

Not my favourite episode.

Duel of the Droids

Really Ahsoka. Don't be mean to Rex and have him carry around a droid.

And here we have Anakin and Ahsoka demonstrating that Jedi don't need parachutes.

R3 REALLY isn't bothering pretending not to be a spy. Like really really.

Ahsoka vs Grevious is going quite well for Ahsoka, so far.

Well, it was going well.

R2 defeats his Evil Counterpart. The day is saved! Anakin didn't learn his important lesson.

Bombad Jedi

Palpatine uses Concerned Grandpa Facade on Padme. It's not very effective.

Hello Jar-Jar. You're like Jaskier on steroids. Someone just needs to let you compose catchy earworms.

So, everyone looks reasonable for looking Jar-Jar behind, but this is one of this occassions when it turns out he's vital.

Oops. Padme gets to hear that the Republic isn't helping very much. (Although trusting the Trade Federation isn't exactly smart on Ono's part...)

Whose cloak could this be, hmmm?

Padme is sure having fun rescuing herself and pretending a Jedi is saving her there.

Yep, trusting the Trade Federation is a bad idea.

And this is why giant bug friends are good friends.

And we end on a Very Important Lesson.

Cloak of Darkness

Interesting little detail: Ahsoka is sent out with Luminara, without Anakin. This seems to be situation as normal, too, so Padawans were not expected to learn and work only with their Masters.

Famous last words, Ahsoka

And I think we see Anakin's influence on Ahsoka, when she threatens Gunray. Luminara shuts that down pretty quickly. It's also interesting that Ahsoka charges in despite Luminara having everything perfectly in grip.

On consideration, this might be one of the reasons why Jedi would send padawans to do stuff with other Jedi. It gives them the opportunity to notice anything of concern that the padawan's Master missed or messed up.

Hello Asajj. You're doing pretty well in this episode.

Poor Luminara. Ahsoka's inner Leroy Jenkins was very strong that day.

Luminara uses Taunt on Asajj. It's super effective.

You know, it's... interesting that the person who says that sometimes soldiers should disobey orders turns out to be a traitor. Not sure if like, given a. what happens later in SW and b. who exactly used the "I was just obeying orders" in RL.

And our traitor gets reward by a stabbing.

Luminara praises Ahsoka. Aw.

Lair of Grevious

Hello there, Kit!

Aww, Nahdar and Kit.

Clone Trooper: I'll blast the door! Nahdar: I will stab the door! Kit: Guys, let's just open it?

A statue of a warrior holding a head. All good and not creepy at all.

Hello there Grevious's masks. That is also good and not creepy.

And we have one of the earliest examples of the war taking toll on the Jedi with Nahdar's reaction to loss. He swears revange and says that the strong win, both of which aren't very Jedi sentiments, though they are understandable reactions. Which eventually gets Nahdar killed, since he decides to fight Grevious on his own.

And you know, it sucks that Kit and Nahdar don’t actually have a moment for Kit to be more supportive about this.

#star wars #clone wars

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bookishtickles · 5 years ago

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Ranking all of the movies and books of Harry Potter. I genuinely enjoy all of these I just enjoy some more than others

1) Deathly Hallows book

I can't praise this book more than I already have. This book shows what masterful storytelling the whole series had, and, the best part imo, it shows us why Harry had these random little out of character moments throughout the other books where he had the feeling he "lost control" or got "taken over", it's in this book I realized why Harry had such a big and beautiful patronus (Ron literally says Harry had the most beautiful patronus he's ever seen), and, the best even in the best, we learn why Dumbledore has a "flicker of triumph" in goblet of fire after he learns Voldemort took Harry's blood. And "Forest Again" is the best chapter in any book I have ever read. Harry's walk is unlike anything I have ever read and it evokes emotion in me that nothing else in fiction ever has (in any medium, no movie, no tv show, no book, no video game). Battle of Hogwarts is amazing as well, and it gave me actually anxiety. Actually this whole book achieved that tbh. It's just absolutely amazing

2) Goblet of Fire book

When I hear people talk about Harry Potter, this is the first book I think of. It's the first truly dark book in the series, and I adore it. It's such a perfect mix of fun, and the magic, and darkness, and it all leads up to the moment Harry gets kidnapped by Voldemort, and he is forced to watch Voldemort ride back to power. That entire chapter gave me actually anxiety after I read it. First chapter in the series to do that. And the way the book is written too where you know something is going in and don't know what and you can't help the feeling Harry is in trouble (which obviously turned out to be true) even though everything bad happening has nothing to do with him. This book also has 2 of my favorite scenes in the whole series, which is Mr Crouch acting like a madman in the woods because he's been tortured by Voldemort to the brink of insanity, and the hospital scene where we see unlikely allies and Mrs Weasley hugs Harry

3) Order of the Phoenix movie

With all the criticisms I have for the movies, no one is more surprised than me that a movie is in my top 3, and above the book at that. But the reason the movie is so high is entirely because of Daniel Radcliffe and the lady that plays Umbridge. This movie would have either failed or thrived based in their performance and it thrives. Umbridge is perfect, and she truly is the character in the books so much so that I see her reading the book, which I can't say for any of the other actors. I would be able to say the same for Daniel had they kept his stuff as it is in the book like in this movie because he radiates book Harry energy in this movie in every single scene. He plays the trauma exactly, he plays the shy perfectly where in the other movies it's just awkward rather than cute like in the books but here he is adorable, the kindness and gentleness (Daniel has such a soft voice, it's perfect), and he plays the part so well you can tell when it is Harry and when it is not. When he attempts Crucio on Bellatrix, it was clever to have him hear Voldemort in his head because obviously they can not say Harry "lost control" *wink wink* in the movie, and in a way hearing the horcrux trying to get him to do it is more effective. And I also love how he had that little head thing to show Voldemort is inside him. Also, Daniel's scream when Sirius dies was so raw, so real, so distressing, so horrible that it made the entire cast cry, the crew cry, jk Rowling cry, but they cut it so they did not traumatize kids. If it was that upsetting, Daniel did a fucking good job. The movies only missteps are cutting the scene where the trio see Neville in the hospital with his parents, and cutting out the first half of Harry in Dumbledore's office when he has a breakdown, screams at Dumbledore and breaks some of his things. The second half of it where Harry is calm again but still horrified and upset are extremely well done I just wish they kept the first too, especially because Daniel probably would have absolutely nailed it. And last thing, thank fuck that they kept it that it is still Harry's pure heart and having too much love for Voldemort to bear be the reason Voldemort flees from his body and didn't do some Movie Harry bullshit (oh don't worry, you'll know what I mean by the end)

4) Prisoner of Azkaban book

Very good. The dementors and the patronus charm are good. The reveals are all good. Quidditch is amazing in this book. The time travel was a bit.... long to read. All in all, very good though

5) Order of the Phoenix book

I don't really have to say anything I didn't say for the movie in some way, but the deep dive in Harry's trauma from goblet of fire is chilling and seeing him cope with it is so sad as he wonders why everyone is cutting him out, than purposely isolates himself, than comes back around just to have Hogwarts be controlled by Umbitch

6) Prisoner of Azkaban movie

This would be a perfect adaptation if they included quidditch and didn't have Harry want to give Pettigrew to the dementors. Who thought that was a good idea, I have no idea. The start of what I like to call, "Movie Harry" because movie Harry is Harry but with an edge. But you can't judge a whole movie from a 2 second line so it's still high

7) Philosophers stone book

This book is so cute and such a good intro to the world and the characters that it just makes me smile

8) Half blood prince book

This was originally my least favorite book, but I think I was too hard on it. Harry's lack of trauma is a problem, but the rest of the book is great so I guess I can ignore it and Harry's trauma is back at the end of the book, I just don't understand why Harry, save for like, 4 scenes, is just normal again and not traumatized

9) sorcerers stone movie

It bothers me that this is called sorcerers stone, yeah I'm American so we say sorcerer but this takes place in England so Americans should get over it, but it's a very good adaptation. Nothing was drastically changed, the kid actors are cute and do a good job, and it's solid, except that Movie Harry kills Quirrell. Not what happens in the book

10) chamber of secrets book

Still good, it's just not my favorite 🤷‍♀️ I don't have any big criticisms, just that it's not as good as the others

11) chamber of secrets movie

Just like the book, I have no big criticisms. Just like the book, very good, only criticism is that it has pretty uninspired cinematography, it kinda makes it feel like a stage show

12) deathly hallows 1

Nothing wrong with this adaptation on a surface level, but things aren't as developed as they could be because they got neglected in other movies, like Dobby. Also another appearance of "Movie Harry" because Harry is somehow a badass who rlly tries to fight Nagini the snake, when in the book he freezes in fear and than gets attacked

13) deathly hallows 2

Battle of Hogwarts -> underwhelming

Gringotts break in -> underwhelming

Harry's walk -> underwhelming and comes no where near the book (especially that forced scene where Harry talks to Ron and Hermione that doesn't happen in the book)

Final battle between Harry and Voldemort -> can't be anything really cause it doesn't happen in the book. It's All "Movie Harry". The book is just Harry trying to make Voldemort understand what he's done wrong and trying to get him to feel remorse and than Voldemort tried to kill him and Harry disarms him, and the killing curse bounces back on Voldemort cause the wand he's using sees Harry as it's master cause reasons, read the books. The movie they have this long and weird duel where Harry is suddenly an action hero? That's why we call him Movie Harry. It's really weird and they don't even mention the protective spell his sacrifice cast or the fact voldenort has a chance of redemption cause he took Harry's blood, or have Harry try to save him. Do it turns out that Harry's pure heart and the amount of love Harry has ISNT really his "power the Dark Lord knows not", in the movies it's.... disarming people? I don't know though but by taking out the fact Harry tried to save Voldemort and his sacrifice didn't trigger the protective charm (which can only be cast by true and untainted love), it certainly isn't love like in the books which is very disappointing cause it's what made and makes Harry such a special character

14) half blood prince movie

I can't explain it, this movie just has such a weird energy. Daniels acting is so awkward and bizarre, and coming off of order, it's really disappointing. And no only that, but the fact they cut 99% of the Voldemort backstory is terrible. They also slaughtered Harry and Ginny. And took out one of Harry's best lines in the whole series when Snape gets irritated at Harry and corrects Harry by repeating his sentence and saying "sir" at the end and Harry says "there's no need to call me sir professor". Daniel, throughout the movies, was so good at Harry's deadpan snark lines that's bizarre they cut it. And yet another appearance of Movie Harry when they have Harry be brave during the horcrux Hunt when in reality Harry wanted to leave as soon as possible. That's the thing these movies do that's really weird, Harry is either uncharacteristically badass with an edge or unbearingly awkward. They also cut out one of Ron's best lines when Snape asks Harry to explain the difference between a soul and Inferi and Harry doesn't know the answer and awakardly says "Ghosts are transparent" and Snape says "inferi is a body controlled by dark magic and a ghost is the mark of a departed soul, and as Potter so wisely tells us, are transparent" and embarrassed Harry in front of the whole class and Ron, being the protective friend he is, says "well that's helpful! See a ghost we're gonna notice it's transparent, we're not gonna say "excuse me, are you the mark of a departed soul?" Two gold lines they cut for some reason. And of course, I'll never forgive hem for cutting "I'm not worried, Harry. I'm with you," THEY EVEN FILMED IT AND JUST CHOSE NOT TO INCLUDE IT WHAT WHY WTF, that for not including Hermione telling Harry "you said there would come a time where whether Ron and I could go back if we wanted (from order of the Phoenix), well, we've had time, haven't we" and Ron says "we're with you, whatever happens". The two lines that show how much Harry is loved and they cut them

15) goblet of fire movie

This movie is an insult to anyone who has read the book. And of course, Movie Harry does it again when he, like a true badass, saves himself by ascending from the water during the second task. And Movie Harry suddenly becomes an extrovert just got one scene where he loves the attention he gets from the crowd after the first task. When has Harry ever been an extrovert? When has Harry ever liked all that attention? All the character development got cut, all the quiet moments got cut, Dumbledore screams "HARRY DIDJA PUT YA NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIYAH", and Voldemort's return/Harry's kidnap is mediocre at best. Remember the book when Voldemort hit Harry with Crucio while he was tied up? Well here he just touches his scar. Remember the book where Harry sees Dobby in the kitchens when Hermione brings him down there and Dobby frequently visits Harry cause he never forgot how Harry saved him from the Malfoys? Well Dobby ain't in the movie. Remember Hagrid being a half giant? Glossed over a lot. Remember Crouch being mad and the hospital scene, aka two of the best scenes in the whole series, they're not here either. And this movie has a weird habit of making things up, like when they say a kid went in the department of mysteries and than never came out. They made that up

So yee

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themattress · 5 years ago

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Rewatch: My Bride is a Mermaid Ep 25 - 26

Woah. Shit got real in these final two episodes!

Episode 25: The Family Game

The start of the episode reveals that Akeno and her superior have been getting their orders from Lord Yoshio Minamoto, a mer-noble who has a fearful grip on the mer-government and can use it for his own benefit...in this case, to break up Sun and Nagasumi so that he can take Sun for his bride. But because his government subordinates have failed to deliver, this spoiled frat boy is stepping in personally with a scheme to make sure he gets what he wants.

Akeno is to seize on a moment of friction between Sun and Nagasumi to invite the whole Seto Gang to his palace, allegedly for a party full of important merpeople. That moment comes when a basic argument over Nagasumi putting his socks in the laundry while they’re inside-out escalates to the point where Nagsumi and Sun have to confront the fact that their engagement is based on coercion: it was the only way either of them could stay alive. This creates a new emotional distance between the two, especially when Nagasumi stubbornly refuses to apologize. And then....Sun and her family disappears from his life entirely.

While we know that it’s due to Yoshio’s invitation, Nagasumi doesn’t. The whole montage where he goes to various locations he and Sun have been together in the past only to find her absent now, culminating when he enters her empty room and breaks down crying, apologizing to Sun and begging her to come back...damn, that was powerful. The last two episodes already amped up the emotional sincerity, and these two just run with it, with the actual jokes being few and far between when compared to the drama, which intensifies once Yoshio’s so-called party is revealed to be a trap and all of the Setos are knocked out.

Kai and Lunar manage to find out what’s going on, with Lunar’s horrified reaction and her description of how many girls have gone missing while attending Yoshio’s “parties” selling the fear of the situation, while also being heartwarming in how her immediate response is “Sun is in danger!” and dashing off with Kai to mount a rescue. She loves her rival so much. And speaking of rivals who care, Kai doesn’t hesitate in seeking to include Nagasumi in the rescue mission, with his response to Nagasumi’s later vow to go out and get Sun back being “Those are the exact words I’ve been waiting to hear!” Like I said in the last post, Kai has truly grown into a more honorable person (as has Chimp, who is helping him as always).

And if all of that wasn’t heartwarming enough, Nagasumi’s vow only comes after he gets encouragement from Mawari, who tells him that he needs to be honest with his feelings and act upon them, to not give up on his true love. It is also hinted again that Mawari is well aware of the whole mermaid factor at play, but says nothing out of love and respect for everyone. Mawari Zenigata truly cannot have her praises sung loud enough, she is just that awesome.

The ending montage gets you ridiculously pumped to go straight into the next, and final, episode, with the music playing being the most epic the show has ever had as it plays over shots of every character in the show in their current positions. Let’s end this with a bang!

Episode 26: The Place You Go Home To

Right off the bat, we’re ending it with several bangs, as Kai’s submarine must navigate a minefield set up to defend Yoshio’s undersea lair. The awesomeness kicks in immediately when Lunar uses her siren scream to decimate the mines, declaring “I’m the songstress of the Edomae! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!” She, Kai and Nagasumi will stop at nothing to get Sun back, and their true love of her is contrasted perfectly by Yoshio’s repulsive lust. In the manga, Yoshio was a very different character and his desire for Sun had more to do with a religious factor and a hunger for power. But the anime version of him is the most vile kind of guy possible: a sociopathic frat boy who sees women as objects whom he mind-wipes with a magical artifact before having his way with them and grooming them into his loyal slaves. He is a misogynistic rapist and a person with power who gleefully abuses it, and it makes him the most loathsome character in the show without question. You really want to see him go down.

Once the heroes invade Yoshio’s lair, they are met with an army of guards who clash with the army of Mikawa Conglomerate workers Kai brought along. Lunar assists with her song of war, which again turns things into a bloodbath but one that Nagasumi can easily slip away from to reach Yoshio. Yoshio sends Akeno to face him, since her swordsman’s code says that she cannot disobey a mer-noble’s orders. But ever since she discovered the truth about how Yoshio “woos” the women he lusts after and that he intends the same for Sun, Akeno has been struggling to keep to this code, and it only takes Nagasumi reminding her about the reason she first became a swordsman to get her to switch sides and fight alongside him.

Yoshio unleashes both his trio of giant pet eels and his entire fraternity, but then we get a sequence of awesomeness upon awesomeness as everyone comes in to get a badass moment. First it’s Gozaburo and the rest of the Seto Gang, a moment that concludes when Gozaburo knocks down an eel and, seeing the fierce determination Nagasumi has to save Sun, tells him “you’re a Seto now” and throws him a yakuza jacket as he urges him to go rescue his daughter. Then it’s Lunar, Kai and Chimp catching up, with Lunar using a siren scream to blow the frat away and an injured Kai (supported by his faithful Chimp) also urging Nagasumi to go save Sun. Then it’s an injured Akeno using the nature of the Morning Star blade to her advantage and having Ren (who is the one supporting Akeno because Ren is a fucking goddess among women) use her siren scream on it, which magnifies it enough to knock down another eel. And then it’s, out of nowhere, Papa fucking Edomae (still in the schoolgirl outfit because he’s grown comfy in it) dropping from the sky and taking out the last eel, then tag-teaming with his daughter to take on the reconvening frat. It’s just amazing, and it leads into the climax of the episode when Nagasumi finally reaches the room where Sun is being held and confronts Yoshio, who is ready to kill him with his superior merman strength.

Nagasumi stands no chance against Yoshio in a straight 1-on-1 fight, but he doesn’t care, all he cares about is snapping Sun out of her trance. Yoshio brags that nothing can accomplish that, but Nagasumi pours out all of his feelings for Sun, shouting how he loves her and can’t imagine ever living without her. This does it, and with her mind restored, Sun verbally eviscerates Yoshio for being the pathetic third-rate scum that he is. Full of misogynistic rage and toxic masculinity, Yoshio aims to shoot Sun dead, but Nagasumi takes the bullet. And yet he is unharmed, because just being with Sun, simply standing by her side as lovers and as equals, fills him with unlimited power - the Power of Love! With Sun now intentionally directing her love as energy to power Nagsumi up, Yoshio gets the beatdown he deserves.

As awesome as this is, I still have one minor quibble about translation issues in this scene. Sun’s altered catchphrase comes back to bite the show’s butt when Nagasumi tells Yoshio what it is that makes a real man - in Japanese, it’s ninkyo, aka chivalry, which is displayed on screen as text when he says this. But in the dub, it’s “Honor Among Thieves”. Huh!? So all real men must be thieves? Things get more absurd when Nagasumi gives Yoshio his final beatdown, the text of the Japanese title Seto No Hanayome appears with each punch for some reason, and I guess that reason got lost in translation because we instead get Yoshio screaming “My! Bride is! A! MERMAAAAAAAID!” to get the same effect of a title drop in this moment. There is no reason in context why he would say this, as he had already given up on Sun as a bride and had attempted to kill her, so it just ends up as a huge “WTF!?” moment.

Anyway, Yoshio is defeated and his true form is exposed: a lowly catfish. All of the fear he inspired and thus the power he had is instantaneously gone with this revelation, allowing Akeno’s superior to legally indict him for his crimes. Nagsumi finally apologizes to Sun for the argument and says that from now on he wants their engagement to be something they chose for themselves. And so, taking out the ring he got her in episode 2, he asks Sun if she’ll marry him. Of course Sun says “Yes”, and as the original ED credits song plays, they embrace.

There’s a gag scene before the credits of life returning to normal except for Nagasumi now insisting on remaining in “buff mode” which makes all the routine interactions with the other characters more ridiculous, but after the credits we get a still-frame of Sun and Nagasumi’s earlier embrace, so for all intents and purposes that’s the note this show ends on: two kids from two different worlds who, against all the many, many obstacles, found true love together.

There’s one more post about the series to go, but my experience of actually rewatching the show is over with. And let me tell you - it’s been a great revisiting that I do not at all regret.

#My Bride is a Mermaid #Opinion #Analysis

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linkspooky · 5 years ago

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There Are No True Heroes

Dabi is shown wrapped in shadow as he confronts Hawks this chapter. That is because as his foil, as both of them were abused by the hero system as basically raised as child soldiers under the name of “hero training” they are two sides of the same coin. No one is closer to Hawks than Dabi, because Dabi is his own shadow. Dabi however is not just serving as a shadow for Hawks in a Jungian sense, but as a collective shadow for hero society as a whole. Read More underneath the cut explaining Dabi’s words for how there can be no true heroes in a society that doesn’t save people like Twice or Touya Todoroki.

1. A Society of Repression

Before getting the ball rolling I’m going to introduce some terms important to Jungian Psychology.

Jung saw the conscious mind divided in two. This is often referred to as the “iceberg model” because for the same reason that the titanic failed to dodge the ice berg, most people don’t have a true comprehension of personality because there’s much more going on than just what can be perceived in the surface.

The surface of personality is called the ego or the conscious mind. This is all of the thoughts you are aware of, all of the decisions you make, like your behavior, how you act, what you say, what you think, all of these things are conscious aspects of personality. They’re referred to as consicous because we can see, look at, control them to some extent. For example people tend to behave differently depending on their environment, you don’t usually swear in front of your grandparents but you might around your friends. The fact that you are choosing how you present yourself means part of personality will always be a performance.

The unconscious mind is specifically what you are not aware of. It’s everything else that makes up personality. Jung believed the unconscious mind existed in a form called the shadow. The shadow is cast by what the light of consciousness projects, and consists of everything that consciousness excludes. It is the unknown side. If the consciousness is the face, the shadow is the reverse face.

It’s the difference of who you choose to be and who you are at heart.

“We can speak of the conscious ego as the subjective personality, and of the shadow self as the objective personality.”

Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects that may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem, anxieties, and false beliefs).

The mechanism that people use to remain unaware of these aspects of their personality is called repression.

Repression. Repression. The unconscious suppression of psychic contents that are incompatible with the attitude of consciousness. Repression is a process that begins in early childhood under the moral influence of the environment and continues through life. [“The Personal and the Collective Unconscious,” CW 7,]

In general, people have a tendency to avoid rather than confront issues, especially if those issues are personal ones. Repression is a technique of avoidance to try to keep the mind healthy in spite of internal or external stress. Psychologically speaking it’s avoiding the problem. While of course it’s impossible to live life confronting every single problem possible, there’s still a difference between acknowledging a problem and admitting that it’s a problem and dealing with it by simply pretending that it is not there. Repression renders problems invisble by turning a blind eye to them, which is why this meta will be speaking of societal repression on a whole later one.

Jung suggests the idea that repression, having a shadow, being two-faced is not something that certain individuals do but rather something everybody is doing at the same time. In a society of people who all have this unconscious aspect of their mind Jung suggests the collective unconscious exists.

That the shared human experience of everybody existing within a society will create a collective suboncious amongst these people. The collective unconscious is unconscious ideas of society or life that just seem to be there. The myth of the hero itself is a product of collective unconscious, Jung posits every culture comes up with myths of heroes because that idea exists in some deep layer of our minds and it’s something we all have in common beyond the bounds of personal consciousness.

So just to summarize quickly you have three layers, personal conscious who you choose to be, the shadow who you are, and the collective unconscious what society is.

In Jung’s terms absolutely everything has a shadow.

"The image of God has a shadow. The supreme meaning is real and casts a shadow. For what can be actual and corporeal and have no shadow?"

All Might and All For One are literally a symbolic hero and shadow pairing. All Might is someone who attempts to influence society by being the best hero he can be, All For One tries to control society too through violent methods. All Might is conscious of how he wants to create a peaceful, controlled society but unconscious of the violence inherent in his actions.

The shadow is something that everyone collectively ignores as well. Someone even points out that All Might’s actions are still violence whether it’s heroic or not and All Might doesn’t even address the argument he just blows it off. In a repressed society the issues that everyone wants to avoid aren’t dealt with they’re insvisible.

So not only is there an individual repression, but there are also aspects of societal repression. If everything casts a shadow then society itself can cast a shadow. The issues that everyone is avoiding, the issues that everyone is ignorant to will manifest in some way.

"Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected."

This is an idea that has been expressed in comics several times before. One of the most famous ones is Rorsharch’s monologue from Watchmen.

Rorsarch’s monologue is expressing a strictly Jungian idea. If no one attempts to deal with the problems that are inherent in modern day society and effect everybody, then those problematic elements will eventually float to the surface no matter how much they’re ignored. If one person litters it’s not a big deal, but if one hundred people litter then there’s going to be trash everywhere. If people keep ignoring the trash everywhere and make no attempt to deal with it, the problem is just going to stick around until it’s impossible to ignore.

This is what we are witnessing happening in My Hero Academia as of this arc. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will form up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, save us!

The League of Villains are not just characters. They are the manifestations of what has been repressed about society. They are the filth that has accumulated floating to the surface. This is an inevitability with repression. Everything that is repressed will show eventually.

2. There Are No Real Heroes

Dabi’s statement “There are No Real Heroes” isn’t just him being an edgelord. It’s a genuine response to the trauma he’s suffered. There’s on example from another piece of media I think illustrates this perfectly.

Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode is a story where children who were abused begin a rebellion first by killing the adults who abused them, and then against the society that ignored their abuse, but they begin taking it too far and slaughter adults who were not involved.

There is one moment in the game where the main character, a normal girl who has never been abused by an adult confronts one of the children about this. The best argument she can come up with is “Not all adults...”

The child’s response is to scream: “Then why didn’t anyone save me?”

If the world is good. If people are just. If heroes exist. Then why did this little girl not get saved? Why was she abused by the people around her? Why did no one else come to help?

Remember Jung, people are on a whole not as good as we imagine them to be. The heroes in My Hero Academia are the same. We are told that they save people. We are told that they are good and right. Yet we witness countless examples of heroes not saving people. We see heroes being used as tools of violent suppression, rather than saving people.

There are no real heroes. In Stain’s words, heroes are phonies. That’s because heroes are not as good as we are told they are. Society is not as good as we are told.

What’s important is that a child is screaming this. What good is a society that can’t save one little girl? How do you expect a child to understand the reasons why they weren’t saved? For Dabi, for Stain, heroes are people who we are told are good but don’t act good. This is especially prevalent for Dabi who was hurt personally and had his entire family destroyed by one of the bad heroes. How is Dabi supposed to believe that heroes are good, when not only does Endeavor who doesn’t care about saving other people only defeating strong enemies is constantly praised as a good hero, but also completely got away with what he did to his family.

There is Endeavor the hero.

There is Endeavor’s shadow.

How can one of his victims. Someone who was most likely killed by him really believe that heroes exist when he was killed by a hero? How can he believe society is good when his father is praised by society. This is what repression does it makes people ignorant, and therefore complicit. Endeavor is not just the problem he’s propped up by society as a whole. Even people who are good, well-intentioned people end up supporting Endeavor completely ignorant to what he’s done.

All might literally not only openly supports a child abuser like Endeavor, but praises him as a good hero, and even reccomends other children like Bakugo and Deku study under him. How much of this is genuine igonrance, and how much is intenitonal negligence? Todoroki walks around with a scar on his face and a clear chip on his shoulder about his dad. All Might doesn’t notice because he’s never questioned hero society before.

This is something we are shown over and over about hero society. That it thrives by intentional negligence. Shigaraki’s not being edgy once again he’s talking from experience.

Shigaraki suffers a terrible accident and despite wandering around looking for help at five years old in one of the most densely populated places with several heroes running around not a single person comes to help him. It’s not just ignorance it’s intentional negligence, because Shigaraki’s not a good or virtuous victim, because Heroes don’t save people they beat up villains. They’re a tool for violent suppression.

All Might acting as the symbol of peace also acted as a symbol of repression. Because there are groups of people who don’t get saved by All Might. People like Twice who will never get saved. How can they call themselves heroes if the weakest, the worst off, the most damaged are always thrown to the wolves.

3. A Reckoning

What is repressed cannot stay repressed forever. Dabi is covered in shadow this entire chapter, because he’s acting as a stand-in for the repressed id of society. The shadow that is there and is created by the heroes. He even parallels the way Hawks was a few chapters ago.

Another unheroic hero. A hero who doesn’t save someone crying and begging for help in front of them and instead decides to stab them in the back because that’s is what is easiest and most convenient.

Hawks. Endeavor. Heroes in general, claim to be heroic, claim to never give up. But then don’t bother to save people like twice, even when they’re crying and begging in front of them. We are being presented with heroes as they exist in the ideal, and then the way heroes actually act. Miruko says a hero never gives up, Hawks gave up on Twice and tried to murder him ridiclously fast.

The light casts a shadow, this is a paradox we’ve seen before with Endeavor too. Hawks sees Endeavor as an ideal of someone who never gives up.

Natsuo rightfully pointed out that Endeavor gave up all too quickly actually. He gave up fighting against All Might and instead abused his wife and children.

For every single action there is the light and there is the shadow. However, hero society never acknowledges the shadow and chooses to repress its evils instead of confronting them. It’s not that Endeavor abused his family it’s that he got away with it, not a single person held him accountable. Hawks was taken in by the hero commission in the exact same way that Shigaraki was by AFO, and nobody held them accountable for doing that to a child.

Child abuse is still child abuse even if the “good guys” are doing it. In Jungian ideas if nothing is confronted about society then eventually something will rise up.

"[The figure of the Trickster] is the collective shadow."

A collective shadow. A collective societal Id. Returning to Rorsharch’s quote it’s quite literally the trash that everyone threw away floating back up to the surface and brought to light. This is why people are moved by Stain’s words, because it is in a way a wake up call to confront what is wrong about society.

Stain, Shigaraki, Dabi all three of them are manifesting of literal collective shadows of society. They are there to confront what everyone is told is good and show the darker sides to things.

That is essentially what Dabi is talking about. Dabi himself is not just an abused child, he stands in for all of the abused children who get left behind or ignored by society.

What Dabi is talking about is a reckoning. The confrontation with the shadow of society that will inevitably happen. The garbage floating to the surface. Dabi is embodying that shadow in his actions. Individuals don’t matter. What matters is the collective will of everybody, all of the outcasts banded together, everything which can be no longer ignored.

Which is why in a Jungian sense, the league themselves do not matter. Dabi himself does not matter. Not even Hawks matters. What matters is the ideas they represent behind them. It’s why Dabi cannot be killed, because eventually hero society continuing on unchanged will just create another Dabi.

Individuals and individual suffering do not matter in the face of hero society. That’s what Dabi is angrily reminding Hawks of. He may have just saved a bunch of people by killing Twice, but nobody is going to thank him, his deeds are going to go unrewarded, because in the end Hawks too is somebody as equally disposable as Dabi and Twice. What matters is the ideas they represent, and Hawks has murdered someone in the name of resisting change to the status quo while Dabi is trying to fight it. Hawks too is complicit in the same system that abused him as a child, and his actions do nothing to stop that abuse.

A reckoning. A fall. A shadow that is not confronted or acknowledged will never change. If it is repressed it will never get corrected. My Hero Academia posits that not only is hero society falling inevitable, it is also necessary. Dabi himself is a villain, but he’s also acting as the shadow of all of the ills of society in order to force society to confront those ills rather than just continue on ignoring them.

#mha meta #hawks #dabi #league of villains #hero society #takami keigo #todoroki touya #my hero academia meta #my hero academia

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

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The 100 rewatch: 2x12 Rubicon

This is a pivotal episode of season 2, in some ways the show as a whole, because it marks the beginning of the gradual destruction of Clarke Griffin’s moral certainty. She has been forced to make tough decisions, but up to this point, she had not crossed the line and done things that felt really morally wrong, such as sacrificing a number of innocent lives. But this show isn’t willing to spare its protagonist and give her easy ways out, and puts her in situations where she is faced with impossibly difficult choices, where she eventually starts doing things that chip away at her soul and make her more and more damaged. This is basically her arc in season 2, in particular. A reference to “crossing the Rubicon”, a fateful decision, feels appropriate: Clarke gets to choose between sticking to her old moral views, and doing everything to save those she cares about, and it’s the same choice she’ll keep on making.

Meanwhile, the Delinquents trapped in Mount Weather make a big decision of their own, to fight back against their captors/killers.

And in the Jaha/Murphy storyline, the B storyline of season 2, which continues separate from the main storyline until season 3, one of my favorite characters is introduced.

Rating: 9.5/10

I’ve always liked Emori. She’s a great example of a good female anti-hero, especially one that eventually gets real character development – something that the show has tried and failed to do with some other characters. It’s also nice to have such a character not be a stereotypical “badass chick with a sword who’s strong because she can fight the best”, but a manipulative, roguish thief (though there have been popular female characters like that in various shows from Star Trek: TNG to Firefly, it’s not so overused, especially recently, as the latter trope is, and Emori has more depth than those characters did). She’s also one of the show’s two major characters with disabilities, but hers was congenital rather than something that happened to her as an adult, as with Raven.

I love the fact that the show didn’t go with the standard “bad man gets redeemed through the love of a good woman” arc for Murphy, but instead, had him change through love for a not-so-good woman. At first, it seemed it would go the former way, when Emori introduced herself as a damsel in distress and a sweet girl with a sad past, before putting a knife under Murphy’s throat and robbing the party, though she did help them reach their destination by whispering to him that they should go north. Which fits into this show’s tendency to create romance from negative interactions, but in comparison with some others, this one is not so bad.

It makes sense that this is who Murphy would fall for – someone who is a ruthless survivor and an outcast, more than he is. Or rather: Murphy, who likes to think of himself as the ultimate survivor, had a tragic childhood – like many on the Ark – but had an opportunity to be a part of a community with the Delinquents in season 1, and blew that chance – twice - due to his own negativity, tendency to antagonize people, and obsession with holding grudges and revenge. But Emori was an outcast since birth, due to her disability, which made her, in the harsh Grounder culture, a ‘freak’ that needs to be eradicated from the bloodline, as we learned earlier in the season. She’s known no protection or belonging, other to the criminal duo of herself and her brother. This is a difference that will matter in season 5: when she finally was given a chance to be accepted and valued as a part of a group, Emori was glad to accept it and learn, and she didn’t have the same insecurities that Murphy has, which made her more integrated into the group than he is able to be, because his issues are internal.

Murphy is at this point the character who gets the best lines (“Touch me and I’ll end you…In a non-violent way” - “Faith? No. I just got nothing better to do”), but he still has a long way to go until he gets actual redemption, because he’s still trying to justify his actions. (“I killed two people and tried to kill two more… I had my reasons, but nobody cared.” – Yeah, dude, everyone has reasons for what they do. Doesn’t mean they’re good.)

One of the things that struck me about season 2, and particularly in this episode, is the amazing cinematography with different color schemes: the desert scenes with Jaha, Murphy and the rest are full of a bright, blinding yellow, as opposed to the muted blue of the Quarantine and the vents in Mount Weather, while the other scenes have normal color balance and brighter colors.

In Mount Weather, the Mountain Men have started to drill and kill the kids. Cage and Emerson were apparently among the first to get treatments and be able to can walk outside, as did some other soldiers, like Whitman, the guy who performed the bombing of Tondc by navigating the missile and then picking up the survivors with a sniper in the following episode. It makes sense that guys who usually go outside on missions would be the first to get bone marrow treatments, while Cage took be the first or one of the first, and also forced one on his father. Dr. Tsing, unfortunately to herself, didn’t give herself one yet, probably thinking she had time, which had consequences in this same episode.

Bellamy meanwhile continues his mission by deciding to ask help from Dante, and manages to get it, though he wisely didn’t trust Dante enough to tell him who was helping him. He’s managed to get Jasper a gun, which allows Jasper to fight back, shoot a guard and save Monty again from being taken. Jasper has become sort of a leader of the Delinquents in their rebellion, thanks to his courage and determination to protect his friends, especially his best friend. Then other Delinquents start fighting with whatever they can to defend Jasper from being taken, before Bellamy irradiates Level 5, killing the present guards and Tsing. Tsing almost saves herself, by getting into another room, but Jasper stops her from closing the door and lets her die of burns in front of him. It’s interesting that Jasper, when he shot the guard, looked like he was surprised by himself, even though he’s shot people before (Grounders on the bridge in S1) and that he was technically the one who killed about 300 Grounders with the ring of fire in the season 1 finale, but he hadn’t participated in close range fighting like that before or killed someone he could see. But just a few moments later, he was clearly enjoying his revenge over Tsing, sarcastically repeating her line “I want you to know you’re incredibly special to us”. Which I can’t hold against him, Tsing was terrible and I doubt there was anyone who didn’t enjoy her death.

But the most important parts of the episode are about Clarke. She and Raven are both on the edge, just as in the previous episode, and arguing a lot, waiting for another one of Bellamy’s regular calls. Any time he’s late with calling, they cannot be sure if he is still alive. The Clarke/Bellamy talk starts with a rare funny moment where the two of them sound like a married couple bickering (“You’re late!” – “Are you through?”), but things get serious very quick, as they learn from listening in to the Mountain Men channel both that the Delinquents are being drilled, and that the Mountain Men are about to bomb Tondc, where leaders of all the Grounder clans and Arkers are about to meet.

Clarke lies to Bellamy that Octavia is not in Tondc, in order not to distract him, but Raven later lets it slip in another talk with him that she is - something that will come during their confrontation in 3x05, when Bellamy will accuse her, among other things, of letting a bomb drop on his sister.

Now, the question is, what exactly was going through Clarke’s subconscious when she left to get to Tondc as soon as possible, and then went immediately to talk to Lexa. She certainly thought she should warn everyone and argued it to Lexa, and was shocked when Lexa, apparently cold as ice, started convincing her that they should leave and save themselves without telling anyone. But Lexa managed to convince her quickly by arguing that alerting people would blow Bellamy’s cover in Mount Weather, and ruin the entire mission and lose them the war – and telling her that she must have known that herself deep inside, or else she would have warned people immediately. Clarke seemed struck by the realization that she really must have felt that way – which may be why she later didn’t try to defend herself when Abby called her out on her actions (“You crossed the line”) and took responsibility, when Abby asked her to tell her it was all Lexa’s decision.

While trying to convince the insecure and confused Clarke, Lexa used the phrase “It’s our only choice”, which will pop up a few more times during the show. She also praised Clarke’s “strength”, telling her “You showed real strength today, don’t let emotions stop you now”. But I don’t think that’s really what happened, at all. The decision to let the bomb drop on all these people was a cold, rational one for Lexa, the kind she thought good leaders should make and that would help her win the war (and maybe also help her politically, by killing some other Grounder leaders), but for Clarke, it was all about protecting Bellamy and the Delinquents trapped in Mount Weather. Clarke started off with a strong belief in the value of human lives in general, she cares about everyone, and she tries to save everyone – but it’s hard not to prioritize the lives of people you care about over the lives of stranger. It’s a common, human thing to do– it’s hard to be perfectly impartially ethical, if your loved ones are at risk. And Clarke has been acting extremely worried, impulsive and driven by emotion – it was really obvious. I find it hard to believe that Lexa, who is very perceptive, didn’t notice that, so that line sounded like manipulation. It was as if she was validating Clarke’s choice by telling her it’s a sign she’s strong and a good leader, rather than panicking and struggling to protect her loved ones. And Clarke later makes the same choice when she is about to try to kill Whitman, but then gets distracted by seeing Abby, and gets focused on saving her mother instead, losing her the chance to stop the missile. (But in all the chaos, she forgot about Octavia… oops. Which both Octavia and Bellamy will hold against her. It’s not that Clarke doesn’t care about Octavia, but the fact is that she is not as important to her as Abby or Bellamy are.)

But either way, whether Lexa was manipulative or just imparting her views, and whether Clarke was already subconsciously feeling she would have to make that choice, this is where it became clear that, while Clarke may be able to have good influence in Lexa, Lexa’s influence and her advice certainly doesn’t bring out the best in Clarke. I think that their dynamic was very interesting, and very well-written in season 2, because Lexa was a “Shadow” character for Clarke - at the same time that Clarke found herself in the position of de facto sole leader of her people, and had to make tougher and more ruthless decisions, she met Lexa, the embodiment of darker traits of her character, upped to 11: as a young ruler who came to power as a child, she is both enormously privileged and has had a huge burden of responsibility, which made her isolated and emotionally repressed, and she believes in unquestioned, tyrannical rule, ruthlessness and treating people as expendable, if needed for the “big picture” (because this is what Grounder culture values and what Lexa has been taught to be like). Clarke is not quite like that, but she could be like that, and starts becoming more like it.

The difference is that Clarke is constantly questioning herself and always feels guilty over everything bad she does, while Lexa seems to have convinced herself that her actions are right and necessary and what a good leader should be, so she is not showing any remorse or doubt.

And this is why I knew after this episode that Lexa is never going to be one of my favorite characters. I kind of have a thing against leaders who let bombs drop on their own people when they could have saved them, and think it’s a great opportunity to use casualties for propaganda purposes, asking for revenge -something that Lexa actually argues in her conversation with Clarke. (It also has some unpleasant real world associations for me, which puts me off even more.) But I can forgive characters a lot when they show genuine remorse, so I still love Clarke, who didn’t make her decision in cold blood, and who is obviously deeply tormented and ashamed of what she has done.

The only part of this episode I’m not that keen on – which is why it doesn’t get a perfect 10 – is the resolution of Lincoln’s drug addiction storyline, because it’s a bit too easy and unrealistic. One moment, Lincoln, having relapsed, is again serving the Mountain Man like a Reaper and knocking out a Grounder to bring him to Mount Weather to get more of the “red” drug. The next, it’s enough for Octavia to punch him and basically tell him to man up (“Grounders don’t give up, we fight” – again with the whole “I am a Grounder” thing, which makes no sense) for him to be cured of his addiction? I don’t think that’s how it works.

Background info: Apparently, Mount Weather didn’t have to use missiles that often, because the last time they did it was before Lexa’s birth – over 20 years ago. It’s safe to say that they didn’t feel threatened by any armies the Grounders could have formed during that time.

Timeline: This episode starts 6 hours after the end of 2x11, and 2 days since 2x10 (that is long it’s been since Jaha left the camp, taking 12 people and 12 guns)

Body count: More people died in this episode than in any other one in season 2. (Unless we count off-screen deaths of Arkers from various stations that either died in the crash of the Ark, or were killed, including the deaths of people from the farm station killed by the Ice Nation – but we don’t even learn about the latter until season 3.)

3 Delinquents, killed and drilled for their bone marrow by Dr. Tsing, Cage and other Mountain Men. None of them were characters we knew by name, so the emotional effect was small. 48 Delinquents still survive (45 in Mount Weather + Clarke, Octavia and Murphy);

15 Mountain Men (though Cage said 11) –Tsing and 14 guards – from radiation poisoning on level 5, after Bellamy irradiated it (unless the guard Jasper shot was already dead before Level 5 was irradiated), but Jasper also caused Tsing’s death by not letting her close the door. This means they are 365 Mountain Men still alive.

About 250 people (we find that out in 2x14) – Grounders and Arkers – in Tondcc, from the missile strike, killed by the Mountain Men: specifically Cage, Emerson and Whitman, but Lexa and Clarke are indirectly responsible for letting it happen. No info on how many of the leaders of the 12 Grounder clans were killed, but Luna and Queen Nia obviously survived, though we don’t see them in 2x13, so it’s not clear if they were even there, or sent someone else on their behalf (or if Luna even responded to the invitation).

#the 100 #the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 2 #the 100 2x12 #rubicon #clarke griffin #emori #john murphy #jasper jordan #bellamy blake #octavia blake #raven reyes #lincoln kom trikru #cage wallace #carl emerson #dante wallace #monty green #dr tsing #lorelei tsing

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writing-bnha-blog · 6 years ago

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how about a part 2 for the kidnapping scenario with bakugou? where he finds and rescues them?

part one

You were terrified, to say the least. Your day started off normally- waking up to say goodbye to Bakugou before sleeping again, waking up a couple hours earlier to make yourself breakfast and watch some shows you missed.

However, you couldn’t help but feel… unnerved. It was like somebody had been watching you, leaving you to feel horrifically on guard. You’d thought about calling Bakugou, but convinced yourself not to, since there was no evidence you were in immediate danger. Just on edge, that was all it was.

That’s what you kept telling yourself until you were at your sink doing dishes, only for someone to grab you from behind. You thrashed, threw the dishes you had at the person who was trying to get you, flailing around your place just to get away for a second, to try and think.

The person had a mask on, but by the build and grunts they sometimes let out, you figured it was a man. “Help-!” You tried to yell out, lunging toward your front door, only to be caught from behind. He twisted your arms around your back and tied, before somehow making you fall asleep with his quirk, most likely.

When you woke up, your head was throbbing and your body was constricted. You couldn’t move and your mouth was taped shut, causing you to thrash with sudden panic.

“Oh, look who’s awake. Quit moving, sweetheart, you’re not going anywhere.” A snide voice said, making you furrow your eyebrows in confusion and fear. As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you could see figured all around you.

They all wore masks, different ones. There were more grotesque ones to minimal ones, to some downright weird ones, like stylized rabbit faces.

You tried to talk against the tape constricting your mouth, making sad, muffled noises. The people around you huffed out some laughter at your struggle, making anger brood in the pit of your stomach.

“Get the tape off of ‘em.” A larger man said. You recognized him as the person who’d gotten a hold of you in the first place, the one you already had a personal vendetta against. A more lanky man appeared by your side, grubby hands grabbing the side of the tape before ripping it from your skin in a less than gentle manner.

“Ow!” You yelled, trying to reach your hand up to rub the soreness away, only to realize you were bound to one place again. You sent a glare at the man who only shrugged, and even though he had a mask on, you were certain he had a n ugly grin painting his face.

“What do you want with me?” You grunted, genuinely curious. You didn’t work as a hero. You stayed home most days, finding comfort in burying yourself in your laptop and working from home, counting down the hours until Bakugou arrive back to you. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about you- at least, not something that would be useful to the likes of who had taken you.

You heard a feminine hum from the corner, the telltale noise of high heels clicking against the floor as a female came forth. “We don’t want anything from you, necessarily,” She sighed, putting a perfectly manicured hand out in front of her and observing, as if she was bored. The gesture did nothing to calm your anger.

“But, Y/N, can you think of anyone you’re close to that we may want?” She teased, making you work for the answer to your question. Her prideful aura made you sick, and you wanted nothing more than to shut her up.

And then suddenly, a very lovable mop of blonde hair flashed in your mind. They wanted Bakugou. Of course they wanted him. You knew that he was probably freaking out, doing everything in his power to get to you- and they wanted that to happen.

“What do you want with him?” You asked in a low voice. If they were thinking they were even laying a finger on him, they had another thing coming.

“Sweetie, you’ve been with him for how long? I’m sure you know what we want. He’s powerful, after all. Passionate, too.” She explained as if it was obvious.

You hated when people said that. Yes, Bakugou was passionate. Hard headed, too. That’s why it was dumb to assume he’d ever throw away his career as a hero, even if it meant he would be praised as a god by the villain community.

If she saw your distaste, she didn’t comment on it. Instead she slowly walked away, putting one heeled foot over the other, the distinct clinking noise falling upon your ears.

Suddenly, you could feel the ground shake. It tousled you in your chair, making you look around in panic. The people who captured you seemed worried too, looking all around them to see where the source of the racket was from.

“Boss?” One of the men questioned wearily, making the woman put up a hand to silence them. “Yes, I know. He’s here.” Was all she said, before the door to the warehouse was slammed to the ground, letting harsh sunlight in as your boyfriend stood there, heaving.

“You’ve got something that’s mine.” He said snidely, glaring at everyone in the room before his gaze landed on you, tied up to a chair. Suddenly his anger increased tenfold, seeing you there tied up and helpless. You looked happy to see him, eyes wide in shock.

Then, his back up came storming in from behind him. Kirishima was there, waving eagerly at you before taking out a couple of the men who tried to flank him, effortlessly. Bakugou sent explosions at everyone as he inched toward you, having one goal and one goal only.

It was comical, seeing everyone who had been so confident they’d even be able to talk to Bakugou being mowed down with little to no effort at all. It did make you feel a little weak, though- but that was beside the point.

Your boyfriend got behind you, untying your limbs from the restricting rope as fast as he could. When they were finally off you wiggled your limbs, happy to be able to move.

“My prince, I knew you’d save me.” You said to him immediately, pulling him in for a hug while his colleagues got to work detaining the villains. He wrapped his toned arms around your body immediately, burying his face into the crown of your head.

“I’m so fucking sorry I let it happen in the first place. You were so strong baby.” He whispered into your skin, warming it. You squeezed him even harder, tears finally escaping your eyes as you realized just how scared you actually were.

“Shut up,” You laughed as you wiped your tears away. “You’re the one who did all the work.” You finished, sniffling while smiling at him. He had glossy eyes too, but you didn’t dare comment on it. He was looking at you like you were his entire world, just as he was yours.

“Thanks for saving me, I love you.” You said before hugging him again, heart full of love and affection for the blonde man. He nodded even though you couldn’t see it. “I love you too, Y/N.”

#Anonymous #bakugou katsuki #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha imagines #bnha scenarios #mha #mha imagines #mha scenarios

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scrappydooisfoundaliveinnebraska · 6 years ago

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On “Mitefall”

Remember that time when I reblogged a gif from it and I wrote a big long paragraph about it? Well, the more I think about “Mitefall” the more and more screwed up it gets. This isn’t just some stans trying to be clever and making fools of themselves, this episode is actually seriously screwed up.

1. Let’s just start with the fact that Bat-Mite starts it out with deciding to commit mass genocide. Because he was bored. Of course since Bat-Mite is kind of the villain of this episode and the whole eppie is centered around undoing his “damage” this probably the LEAST screwed up bit...and when someone trying to murder an entire planet out of boredom is the least screwed up bit, then you know that you are not in for a pleasant ride.

2. OK, so let’s look at Batman’s wife and child. It’s nice that they decided to have a bit of diversity by making Mrs. Wayne black, however, for me, the fact that a plot point of the episode the POC wife and the biracial daughter are unwanted and unnecessary and need to “disappear” in order to “fix” the life of the white husband/father just sends out EXTREMELY unpleasant implications that I don’t think I need to spell out for you. You do NOT get diversity points if the innocent POC characters are in the wrong for simply existing. That is not how it works.

3. Hey...remember when I said innocent just now...? I meant it. Batman’s wife, daughter, and Ace’s nephew are completely unaware of their creator’s plan to wreak havoc. Ace’s Nephew, like the one he was based off of, is a normal, well meaning, extremely hyper active and fun loving little boy, the daughter is a sweet and rambunctious little girl, the wife is a perfectly sensible, loving young woman. Heck, these three are probably the nicest, sanest, least screwed up people in the entire episode, Bat-Mite is trying to murder everyone, Batman and Atom Bug...you’ll see soon enough...with the main characters being utterly reprehensible, if the writers weren’t constantly shoving down our throats that “DEEZ GUYS IZ BAD LOL” then I would never have guessed that I wasn’t supposed to be rooting for them. 4. The fates of these three: Ambush Bug convinces Batman that they were “wrong”. And they vanish. Batman wills them from existence. Now you can go “Maybe they were hallucinations” or “It was painless”...I...I...I’m sorry. That’s not true. Can Hallucinations hug you? Can everyone else see these hallucinations? “quick and painless”, huh?...let me show ya something: We don’t, as far as I know, see the wife or daughter fade away, but we do see Punchichi (Yes, it is a pretty ridiculous name, but what happens is anything but funny) fade.

That’s the expression of a scared little boy who is losing everything he’s ever known. Remember in Back to the Future when Marty started fading away? Remember that? REMEMBER INFINITY WAR?

And if you take a closer look at the guy, he gets this sad/scared/confused expression before he even looks down and realizes he’s fading. He felt it before he realized it.

“Batman doesn’t know what he was doing!” I wish that I could agree with you, but Batman actually is actually completely aware of what he is doing. Consider the scene before it. Batman agrees, looks meaningfully at the guns, and they fade. Batman does not seemed surprised by this, and the way he calmly opens his now empty hands just adds even flame fuel. They do not disappear as soon as Ambush Bug is aware it’s not real. (Not real my foot)

And if you look carefully, you’ll see the Punchy (I’m calling him Punchy because...well...his real name, like I said, is a bit ridiculous) doesn’t fade at the same time as the guns, even though that’s what you would expect since they were both made by Bat-Mite, eh? Nope! He fades right after Batman notices him. He comes into the frame, Batman looks up and...bye-bye Punchy. But let’s just give Batman the benefit of the doubt and assume that Punchy’s death (And it is death-he was clearly alive and then is rendered to non being-and you’ll notice he, Kiki, and Mrs. Wayne weren’t at the party) wasn’t in Batman’s control.

Look at Batman’s face. It’s not a, “Oh my gosh this little kid just vanished!” Or, “I wish we could have saved that little guy” no. It’s cold. It’s the exact same expression as when when he got rid of the guns. Just...emotionless. And considering that they got everything else back to normal then that means that his wife and daughter probably weren’t so lucky either... And Batman doesn’t care. He just doesn’t care that he essentially killed a little boy, an innocent young woman and an innocent little girl.

And nobody calls him out for it. And that’s why I’m not remotely sad or moved by his good bye party, because after the horrible things he did, I was not in the mood for watching everyone patting Batman on the back. “As long as their is injustice in the world” Oh, I can think of some injustice alright...

Heck, all the “heroes” are jerks. Batman shows little regret for his actions, and when he realizes that killing off the three was completely pointless all he can think about is himself, Ambush Bug is the same as Batman, in addition to being the one to encourage him to do it along him being the one to call together that Goodbye Party right after, Bat-Mite, of course, is the one who creates three sentient beings without even thinking about the implications!

Point is, the fact that these Stans are either so blinded with hate that they see these innocent people deserving of being rendered nonexistent OR they were just so obsessed with the meme that they didn’t realize exactly how horrific it is if you actually think about it for more then a few seconds, and as a result we got an episode that praised Batman for becoming a murderer.

#batman #mitefall #disturbing #sad #batman the brave and the bold #bat-man #ambush bug #bat #mitefall!#brave and the bold

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