#ke essay

[frontlinebicepsoftheninth]

I saw you tagged killing eve in the 'worst series finale' poll - how *does* it end? I watched the first two seasons and then lost interest. (also I hope you're having a good day!)

first of all thank you i am and i hope you are too!!

but alright here we go ⚠️⚠️ MAJOR SPOILER WARNING MAJOR SPOILER WARNING ⚠️⚠️ for anyone who does want to watch for themselves bc tbh the first few seasons are excellent but i honestly don't know if i can recommend them anymore in good faith after knowing where it all ends up

so okay. you know how the whole crux of the show is this intense psychosexual relationship between eve and villanelle. and how there's an obvious romantic tension between them. well from what i remember (cause it's been a while) they started actually working together in season 3, but then because they realized they make each other worse they had this whole dramatic moment where they walked away from each other on a bridge and weren't supposed to look back but of course they both did turn around at the last second and then the season ends.

flash forward to season 4 and you can tell time has passed and they aren't working together and it's implied there was some big falling out and we have no idea what it is. eve is just annoyed and done with villanelle and villanelle is like trying to prove she's not a bad person and goes to church and stuff and actually that plot was extremely hilarious and she imagined up a drag jesus version of herself for advice and they were acting like exes and it was playing into the whole comedic surrealism aspect of the show really well. but after the first few episodes it just kinda fell apart like i just remember feeling lost all season and not understanding where we were going and this is definitely due to the changing showrunners (they should have just kept pwb for the whole thing!!!!) but they kept adding new characters out of nowhere, some of which were really well done but then we were following plots that were thrown in randomly and it was just a bit of a mess.

but eventually by the LITERAL SERIES FINALE eve and villanelle have both given in to the fact that they enjoy being in each other's company as the worst versions of themselves (which is honestly such a fun direction to go that i really enjoyed especially for a sapphic pairing). and after they've been apart for a vast majority of the season finally they have this good banter going and it's all domestic and then there's a scene where they're walking down an empty road together and this romantic music comes in. and they finally literally actually have The Moment. like they had kissed before in the previous season but not in an explicitly romantic way, they were physically fighting each other on a public bus and eve kissed villanelle to throw her off before headbutting her (SO GRIDDLEHARK OF THEM THAT SCENE IS ACTUALLY SO GOOD) anyways. villanelle kisses eve on the cheek and then eve stares at her and grabs her and they make out for a solid FORTY-FIVE SECONDS. it was so intense and they're kissing as they're stumbling down the road and they run back to the camper van they were travelling in and it's for sure implied that they have sex in there. so everyone was like oh my fucking god they actually did it. like this is where the show was always going, it's a whole I Can Make You Worse thing where both people were like "fuck it i'll be worse then" and gave in to the tension that had been building for years not just within the plot but FOR VIEWERS SINCE 2018.

so i don't exactly remember what happens next but the whole season they've been trying to kill The Twelve which was the assassin group in charge of villanelle, and we find out carolyn was a founding member actually, and i will be honest that plot was always confusing to me but iirc she wasn't with them anymore. so eve and villanelle infiltrate this wedding party boat that's a cover for a meeting of The Twelve (this is like the last 10 minutes of the show now) and they kiss again and there's a scene where it's like they're indirectly talking to each other through the wedding speech that eve somehow ends up giving and that's so romantic too and then villanelle slinks off, finds the meeting, and murders everyone. so yay the protagonists are together finally and villanelle killed her abusers and they are finally in happy gay love. then out of fucking nowhere as they're standing outside on the boat villanelle starts to get shot at. (this is literally the last five minutes of the entire show now) and she falls into the river or maybe jumps in to get away i don't remember and she's still getting shot and eve is swimming to try to catch her. and it's all this dramatic slow-mo beautifully shot stuff that's like horrible in context cause the blood is blooming in the water and eve can't reach villanelle and they do a whole creation of adam hand reach before villanelle slips into the depths.

so literally eve had just thrown away any chance at a normal life to embrace the side of her that loves violence and loves villanelle so they could spend the rest of their life together and that was such a slay. and then she loses villanelle which like, if they wanted a tragic ending it would have been kinder to kill them both, it's so much fucking worse to leave eve spending the rest of her life mourning the one person who understood her and let her give in to her carnal desires. and it is directly after letting the two queer characters finally achieve happiness that one of them is killed off which is the DEFINITION of the bury your gays/dead lesbian syndrome tropes, there have been literal academic papers written on how the phenomenon is like a punishment for queer joy etc etc. this shit has been in the discourse for decades and they fell dead center into the trope which is just so disappointing because at the start ke was such a unique story and one of the first mainstream shows that embraced morally gray queer characters in a way that wasn't homophobic.

oh! and guess who shot villanelle? carolyn!!!! and it was still NEVER CLEAR WHY! she worked for MI6 now so it being in revenge of The Twelve didn't really add up, some people thought she wanted to kill villanelle as like a prize for MI6, it was kind of implied that konstantin told her in this note he spent his last breaths writing (yeah he also died which was the saddest tbh) that villanelle had killed carolyn's son kenny (this was a major plot point of season 3 and carolyn was trying to get revenge, he fell off a building under mysterious circumstances) but that made no sense because it was implied to be konstantin since he was on the roof with kenny and also villanelle was literally in fucking spain or something the episode when it happened.

like i get it. this is a tragic show. people die every episode. but from a writing standpoint it makes absolutely zero fucking sense to kill off one of the two main characters of your show, in the last five minutes of the show, after finally cashing in on your flagship queer romance between them, and leaving the motivation for killing her completely ambiguous.

anyways i'm so sorry that ended up this long jesus christ but tldr: killing eve ends in the worst bury your gays i have ever seen after a season that didn't even have good plot or pacing

[spiribia]

stop saying insect shame metaphor has to go. i see the wasp on the length of my arm.

[jemsbitch]

Tennyson and Hallum is so heronstairs coded and In Memoriam by Tennyson is the proof

[faceglitchsworld]

Guess I should update my DNI in my Carrd

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

n, o, t, z for the fandom ask game 😁

n: Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

this question had me think for a bit, im mostly content with whats going on in the fandoms i participate in, buuuuuuuuuuut then i recalled:

1) i once watched a video essay on ning yi that really impressed me. (i just searched the internet up and down to link it but i cant!!! find it!!!! whatt iisss thissss) anyway, i want more of that!!! for rise of pheonixes fandom, but also for WOH and for TYK!!! i neeeeeeeeEEEed it

2) generally more academic-approached textanalysis for tian ya ke. im dYING to read something like that!

3) for the fics i would like to request MESSINESS in regards to zhou zishu and wen kexing respectfully, thank u (BONUS IF THEY HAVE AFFAIRS ON THE SIDE OR SLEEP AROUND)

o: Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

i threw a dart and it landed on this which reminds me of wen kexing in that moment in the novel when hes gearing up to slaughter mo huaiyang and hes all exhausted and bleeding but he needs to avenge his a-xiang‘s silly little husband. (i lied i dont have darts. i clicked next in my epic orchestral music playlist and this is what showed up.)

(while im typing this this started playing and now im thinking about elizabeth swan ,, ,,,, im so gay)

t: Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

the headcanon i told u last night, about zzs and ljx! i dare u to reread qiye!!! come fight meeeeeeee!!!!!

z: Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

UM. ive always been very passionate about fictional characters and fictional worlds. when we were kids i would share comics with my brother and we would read them together, when i grew out of my childhood books my sister inherited them and grew to love them just as much as i do. my mom is not a tokio hotel fan per se, and she doesnt watch the same shows or read the same books as me, but we tell each other what we are currently invested in and she loves seeing what i create. fandom can looks like anything, it can be small and offline and familiar and private like what i just described, or it can be subscribing to magazines and read the fan theories and fan letters that are published in it. it can be organizing big events like conventions and forge a bridge between fans and the source material. it can be a community on social media like here on tumblr. but its in its essence all the same, people—sometimes literal strangers— forming connections to eachother simply because they are all in some way moved by the same thing, generating new thought and creativity everyday and cultivating a culture of communication and cultural exchange, entirely seperate from our capitalist society, and i think thats really beautiful

fandom ask game

[the-official-account]

TRUE TTRPG FACT: stars and wishes is a crucial step to finding out if you won the game :3

[itoshikinozomu]

Voir le band local sur les app, voir les memes dans le top 5. Good job 👀

[thenerdsofcolor]

When Something is Nearly 'Everything'

In light of its #Oscars wins, poet and O.G. #NOC Bao Phi addresses some of the #EEAAO backlash and what some of those critiques miss about the film more broadly

There’s no fucking way they’re gonna be able to land this, I thought to myself. I’m in a movie theater seeing Everything Everywhere All at Once for the first time. I had heard about it long ago, and was cautiously optimistic. (more…) “”

[legandairy-horror]

Does anyone else feel a strange sort of dread waiting for new deltarune chapters?

It sounds crazy right? I admit it's a weird feeling for sure, and I'm not even 100% sure if dread is the right way to describe it. But as more info is revealed and the next chapter inevitably gets closer and closer to releasing I can't help but feel a strange sort of, melancholy? Longing? The only way I can describe it is "when you know the goodbye is coming". The strange somber feeling when you know you’re going to have to leave stuff behind, but aren't quite ready for it yet.

warning: words. Homestuck

In 3 months Chapter 1 will be 6 years old, and in 2 months Chapter 2 will be 3 years old. Deltarune is ostensibly in Early Access but this release schedule puts new chapters closer in time scale to whole sequals if anything, which they most assuredly are not trying to be. This has created a strange situation in the fanbase that I don't think I've ever truly seen anywhere else. One where, In the time between chapters It feels like everyone has had their own chance to decide what Deltarune is to them. To create their own version of this story, to write their own themes that they want to see explored, to imagine their own events and plot twists they want to see play out.

@lynxgriffin Paper Trail Comic Being an Alternate Story following off of chapter 1

@lilybug-02 The Chara Timeline Being one of many interpretations on the popular Asriel & Chara roommates headcannon.

@huecycles Andromeda Chapters being their interpretation on the full game

The innumerable Deltarune Theorists and analysts like HalfBreadChaos, Andrew Cunningham, Stuffed Alpaca, etc. etc.

@vyletbunni Deltatraveler being a whole ass fangame based around a chapter 2 meme that it has long since outlived

And that's kinda the thing isn't it? Once more deltarune comes out, a ton of these projects will just become outdated, it's an inevitability. So what will happen to them? will they become forgotten? maybe, maybe not, it's impossible to tell. but either way it feels kinda sad to think about yknow? that one day all the time and effort spent and all the memories made might one day just cease to exist.

There's a lot more I could say on this topic if given the chance but to keep this tumblr post from morphing into a 2 hour long video essay in text form let me leave off with this.

In the age of the internet and social media there will always be a fan of something. Nothing truly dies quite like it used to anymore, regardless of whatever influencers want you to believe. But that doesn't mean things stop changing, that there wasn't a past that has since been left behind. I'm a Homestuck fan. more specifically I'm a Late Homestuck fan, one who came in after the comic had already ended and it's peak in popularity was long behind it. The fandom's still around all these years later. But it'd be foolish to admit that, 8 years after the comics controversial end, the inescapable trend of new fans replacing old fans has left the fandom wholly disconnected from the monolith that it once was. the only remnants of which lie in decades old discourse and fanfiction. Like old relics of a long forgotten city, waiting to be excavated under a fine layer of dirt.

Before I close out here I just want to make it clear: I'm not saying that we should be trying to return to some nebulous "glorious past" that never really existed. I'm not trying to deride Toby Fox for not working in the sweatshop hard enough to produce more content™, or whatever you wanna try and spin-doctor this post into. It's just a thought that creeps into my head every now that I wanted to share, see if anyone feels the same, yknow?

Besides it's not all doom and gloom. For those of you OG Homestucks who read till the end. You remember Heinoustuck? Guidestuck? Nightfall? Fucking Ke$haStuck? yeah those are still going by the way! after years of inactivity they've now started back up again. some under new authors and some by the same author but still!

You could say a lot about that but to me at least, it makes me feels hopeful in a way. That, even if not everything will survive. we'll at least have some mementos to remember what came before.

[irena-dubrovnaa]

t*m dr*ke stans need to write a 10 page essay on orientalism and anti-arab racism/islamophobia in post 9/11 north american creative spaces and publishing houses before they're allowed to mention ra's al ghul or damian wayne ever again god bless

[heartbreakprincewille]

Masculinity In Young Royals

So, in honour of Ke Huy Quan and the team of Everything Everywhere All At Once sweeping the Oscars(been crying about it since morning), I was watching this BRILLIANT video essay(check it out it's so well thought out!) about Waymond(Ke's character) and this gave me thoughts about Young Royals as well, because hyperfixations go hand-in-hand, right? :)

Masculinity, and especially different portrayals and aspects of its prevalent notions is a theme brilliantly explored in the two seasons of Young Royals. I wanted to talk about some characters, and this list will progress from worse to better(not using the word perfect because nuance > perfection).

Note: The traits I will discuss further are not restricted to just a cis or male perspective, anyone can exhibit these traits, but since assertion of masculinity is a constant spectacle in Young Royals, I will associate some traits with it.

1. Vincent

Vincent, especially in S2, embodies the worst traits on the masculinity spectrum, and since his character is understandably not offered the privilege of nuance, he comes off as this typical, toxic, sort of "alpha-male" character, especially after he's elected as the prefect and Rowing Captain. He constantly bullies others, especially Simon, tries to enforce the hierarchy of privilege and class firstly through August and then by himself. As soon as he sees an opportunity shown by Wilhelm to take control in his hands, he doesn't take much time to betray his "friend", August(although August of all people getting betrayed is certainly irony at its best). He kinda reminds me of the Royal Court in some ways- their presence furthering the divide of tradition and social systems in their respective environments.

2. August

The only reason August is not placed higher than Vincent in this list is the privilege of nuance August is provided with throughout the story. This nuance is what sets him apart in the narrative, but is also the thing which dooms him as a character.

August is misogynistic, sexist, classist, obsessed with power and privilege and feels entitled to both of them, set to further the class divide just like Vincent. He stokes his ego like fire, and if someone tries to cross him, he does not hesitate to burn them with the flames, like Wilhelm exposing his money issues and August violating Wilhelm and Simon's privacy in return. He's manipulative, he's calculative, he knows how to scheme things in his favour(failed attempts, though) and he's just a walking red flag of a person. He also falls around the worse side of the spectrum of masculinity.

But, he is offered nuance by the narrative. In S1, it's in the form of familial and personal issues: his dad killing himself, financial problems, addiction issues and possible issues of body dysmorphia. In S2, through his relationship with Sara, we are shown a different side of him- a side that is capable of being vulnerable, capable of being soft, and this almost sparks this hope within the audience that maybe August can change a little, for the better.

But then he's offered a chance of power and his hamartia is revealed to the audience: his inability to change. The greatest tragedy (which is also its brilliance) with August's character is he cannot change for the better. Even if he tries to. He can have opprtunities to grow, but it will be a Herculean labour for him to take advantage of those opportunities and actually change. He is so deeply entrenched in his perceptions of toxic masculinity and power and lost in his conceited, privileged worldview that it's quite hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's what sets him apart in the narrative- despite all his nuance, he is still a terrible person at his core. The nuance is just what separates him from all his shallow and one-dimensional preceding antagonists of the past.

3. Nils

Nils brings a neutral perspective to the extreme hyper-masculine and cishet dynamics upheld by August and Vincent. He's revealed to be queer in S2, but chooses to be discreet about it- which gives him a chance to build solidarity with both his cishet peers(Vincent and August) as well as a fellow queer person (Wille). He's not dismissive of Wilhelm's queerness, but he believes it to be something "better behind close doors". He's one of the few people who actually acknowledges Wilhelm and Simon's relationship, but is also dismissive of it, mainly because of the difference in their social standings. He's devoid of the typical "heteronormative" traits associated with masculinity, especially in S2, but he still uphelds the toxic class hierarchy and privilege.

4. Simon

Simon is a quite interesting character to me on this list because he subverts these traits in a very unique way.

Usually canonically gay characters in media are often stereotyped to possess "feminine" traits, which is NOT a bad thing at all, BUT mostly the portrayal of such characters usually leans more towards the mockery of the "feminine" traits, rather than something which strengthens the queerness of that character.

Simon is actually very different from this famous rendition of gay characters- he's actually very masculine in his behaviour. He exhibits two typical masculine behaviours in general:

1. "Man Of The House", or taking the mantle of emotional(and sometimes financial) stability in a house in one's own hands. He often takes matters in his own hand, especially when Sara says or does something that disrupts the peace of their little family. It's interesting because despite being the youngest person in the family, Linda subconsciously lets him take the mantle on his shoulders, without realizing how heavy it can be. And consequenty, it brings us down to the second trait:

2. "Suppressing emotions", or avoiding being vulnerable in public spaces or with people one loves and trusts. Simon constantly shoves what he's feeling deep in his heart, he refuses to break open in front of people, in front of Wille(S2 E6 gun scene) and would go to lengths to maintain a facade of "everything's fine!" even if he's breaking inside. It makes sense because his backstory alludes to hesitation to open up to people and it can be possibly related to his familial trauma, but it's still interesting nevertheless because he shows incredible emotional maturity throughout the story, much more than his predecessors on this list. He's devoid of both the toxic traits of heteronormativity and elitist behaviour associated with "masculinity" in Young Royals, but he still possesses a different set of problems associated with orthodox masculinity.

5. Wilhelm

Wilhelm is, in my opinion, the closest example to what is emerging as the new definition of "masculinity" in the current media. Wilhelm, through his immense emotional journey and growth in the two seasons, subverts all the traits of masculinity displayed by his predecessors in the list with grace and humility.

He's not obsessed with upholding traditions and asserting heteronormativity like Vincent and August, he is quite indifferent to it in S1, the only "compulsion" he feels to do so is immediately after Erik's death in S1, which he quickly overcomes as well. His "revenge" attempts on August by pulling rank and exercising his privilege stems from a feeling of injustice and anger rather than something he enjoys or feels the need to practice at all.

August's hamartia is Wilhelm's strength. Wilhelm, unlike August, displays great capacity to change for the better, which he constantly does throughout the story. Love knocks on both of their doors as an opportunity to grow, to change for the better, and while Wilhelm embraces it, August slaps the door shut on its face.

Unlike Nils, neither Wilhelm's queerness was never given a chance to be discreet in the first place, nor he ever felt the need to do so. The idea of keeping his and Simon's relationship a secret was more of an idea subconsciously conceived by Kristina in Wilhelm's head rather than his own desire to be secretive.

Wilhelm even subverts the traits displayed by Simon in this regard- the position of the "Man Of The House" falls on him in the form of "Crown Prince of Sweden", and although he understandably struggles with the role initially, by the end of S2, he consciously embraces the role with grace and humility. Compared to Simon, Wilhelm wears his heart on his sleeve, he is not afraid to express his true emotions to the people he love and trusts, and even to strangers.

[yall-batman-fanfic]

Gotham Year One | Bruce Wayne/Batman x Magician!Reader

Synopsis: Vivian tells the story of her first year in Gotham and her first encounter with the Batman.

Gotham City. They say it's an anarchy city. There’s not a night when that place ever has peace and quiet, and any smart person would rather not move there at all unless they’re on the run. But it was the only place that actually gave me a shot. 

Five universities, four I passed on the entrance exam and application essay but only one offered a full scholarship. It was a hard choice for me and for my family but we all knew it was for the best. So much has happened to me last year that maybe getting a change of scenery and being far away from anyone I knew in that life would be good.

It took a lot of convincing before Dad finally gave in, a lot of talks and arguments, and eventually I asked help from his parents, my grandparents, who were willing to lend me the money to help me settle in Gotham. 

After a seven-hour long flight with only seeing the clouds and, occasionally, the ocean, I finally saw the city. From here, Gotham is clean, shafts of concrete and rooftops. The work of long generations of families who either established themselves to live in the borders of the city or those who have lived in the very heart of Gotham.

So, this is where Mom grew up.

She never really talked much about Gotham, and when she does it always feels like some bad memory. Just as Essex is to me after that night.

I shouldn’t expect any special treatment, I don’t have any relatives that I know of in Gotham, if there were they never bothered to reach out at all, but it would have been nice to have someone waiting for me with my name on some board. 

“It’s Bruce Wayne!’

“Bruce Wayne’s back!”

A bunch of reporters ran past me like I was some sort of ghost they thought they would run through. One asshole literally bumped against my bag and didn’t apologize. He had the nerve to actually say: ‘Watch it!”

Asshole.

The man must be a celebrity since everyone ran up to see him and the fact there was a reporter in the scene saying, “The twenty-five-year-old heir to the Wayne millions declined to comment on rumors of romance in his life or on his plan on his return to Gotham after many years abroad. We’ll keep you posted on Gotham’s richest – and best looking  – native son. Tom?”

Wayne. So, he’s the owner of the Martha Wayne Foundation, the one that accepted my scholarship application all because I said my mom was a Gothamite. The foundation that helped me get to Gotham University too. 

Bruce Wayne… he looks like a prick.

~*~

The apartment I got was a little far from university. Normally, students would take dorms on campus, either buy or rent a condo close there too but with the limited funds I was getting from the Martha Wayne Foundation, I didn’t have that kind of luxury. The apartment was a little small for three occupants but we made it work. My roommates were nice enough to give me the single room while they took the shared bunks since they knew each other longer. The living room was basically our dining place and kitchen, and we only had one bathroom to share.

The place was two bus rides to Gotham University, had some diners and stores around that I could apply for a part-time job. It had a decent security measure which was basically the gated front door with the buzzer. Not that safe but I didn’t tell Dad that.

“Hey, Liverpool!” One of my roommates called for me when I was about to head out to get dinner. They started calling me that when I mentioned where I was from. “Didn’t you say you came from the airport earlier? Did you see him?”

“Who?” I asked, pulling down my headphones.

“Bruce Wayne! He just came back from God-knows-where! Did you see him?”

“Uh, yeah, I saw him.”

“Did you get a good look at him?”

“I didn’t really stick that long.”

“Is he really that good looking in real life too?”

I looked at the T.V. and saw the image of the man at the airport. The twenty-five-year-old millionaire who was keeping up the facade of charming and mysterious. “Yeah, that’s his face alright.”

“Did you at least ask for a photo?”

“I didn’t really stick around that much. And I don’t really know him — I mean, I know of him and his family but not him as a celebrity,” before she could ask another question, I cut it, “I’m heading out to get something to eat. You guys want anything?”

“Nah, we’re good. Have fun!” 

“Okay! See you later!”

“Hey, wait up!” Jack, my other roommate, closed the door just as I was about to leave. “Listen, Liverpool. You’re new here, and… maybe going out alone isn’t the best thing to do?”

“I’ll just go across the street, don’t worry. I’ll be back. Eat and run.”

Jack sighed. “Wait here.”

“Okay…”

He left for his room and came out a few minutes later wearing his jacket and shoes. “Let’s go.”

“You don’t have to —”

“I don’t know what they told you about Gotham. But it’s not a place for someone to go out at night alone.”

“I can handle myself.”

“It won’t go well in my conscience if you were ever mugged or worse out there. And it’s your first night here,” he got out a twenty-dollar bill. “My treat.”

~*~

The diner was decent, they had good food, passable for a three-dollar meal, but bad coffee. Really bad. Jack purposely didn’t tell me how bad it is just to see my face when I take my first sip. 

“How’s Gotham so far?” He asked. ‘Homesick yet?”

“Not so much, maybe when I’m alone it’ll kick in.”

“Not close with family?”

“I am. We are close. It took a while for my dad to let me do this – travel across an ocean to got to a university in a place that I know no one.”

“What about your mom?”

“She died a couple of years back.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, you didn’t know. You’re going to GU too, right?”

“Yeah.”

I waited for a while to hear an explanation but he didn’t follow up.  “What are you taking?”

“Engineering — well, software engineering. I got in on a scholarship. The Martha Wayne Foundation. You?”

“History Majoring in Symbology and Iconography.”

“An odd choice. You don’t really hear many people taking that specific course around here. Especially pretty girls like you.”

“Really?” I smirked. “It’s my first night here, at least wait a couple of days before saying something like that.”

Jack raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry. But can you blame me? It’s not everyday you find a fresh face in Gotham. Let alone someone who still has high hopes in this dump.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“I’ll  give you three days before you start cursing these streets and its people.”

“Don’t need to wait three days,” I couldn’t help the grin. “So, you and Heather… are you both…”

Jack shrugged. “We’re old high school classmates who found a familiar face during the entrance exams and thought of renting a place. It was a good plan – two people sharing an apartment — until the jack-ass who own the building raised the rent.”

“Hence the two-bedroom apartment became a two-bedroom for three,” Vivian concluded. “I get it… can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“I’ve read about Gotham, its history, the families, but the Waynes…” Jack grinned. “I’m just asking because I saw Bruce Wayne in the airport and he seems like a big deal, and I feel like I should know him considering I’m also in the Martha Wayne Foundation — well, my scholarship is.”

Jack took a breath. “Bruce Wayne. Gotham’s Prince… the youngest millionaire there is, and only because he was born in the right family. Where to begin?”

“He’s that complicated?”

“No, but I don’t want to scare you or something.”

“Believe me, I don’t scare that easily.”

“Everyone knows about the Waynes, especially Bruce Wayne. They’re like — well, for a time, they were Gotham’s saviors. They were people who actually wanted to make a change. Can’t say they were like Kennedy but, you get the picture. Doctor Thomas Wayne was the head of the family, he married Martha Kane — daughter of one of Gotham’s old rich families too. 

“Come close. Look there. See that? There, just beyond the train rails, you’ll see a tower with all the gargoyles. See it?”

I followed to where he pointed outside the window. It was dark but when the helicopter passed by the sky, a silhouette of a building appeared. 

“That’s Wayne Tower, the tallest building there is in Gotham. That says a lot on how rich the Waynes are and how powerful they were.”

“Were?”

“Almost twenty years ago, Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot in Crime Alley. The family was just heading home from the theater – God-knows-why they went to Crime Alley in the first place. But to witness it all was their son, Bruce Wayne.”

“Shit.”

“Since then, they said, Wayne became paranoid or something, then he started to self-destruct, then he disappeared and a couple of years later he came back.”

“And no one knows where he went.”

Jack shook his head. “The reason why I didn’t want to tell you is because… if powerful people like the Waynes can be shot down just like that,” he snapped his fingers. “What chance do we have down here?”

He has a point.

~*~

It was wrong. I knew it, but I blame homesickness.

I couldn’t sleep thanks to jetlag, and I can’t exactly walk around the city at this time. The sound of the police cars was a dead giveaway to that. So, I decided to just smoke at the fire exit. Turns out my fire exit was connected to the other room where Jack and Heather bunked.

It started as an innocent time of smoking and drinking — he brought a can of shitty beer with him — then one thing led to another, he was kissing me and we were in my bed.

He wasn’t that good. The entire time I was just faking the sounds I made so it wasn’t awkward silence. There were times he hit a spot but it wasn’t as fulfilling as John would. I had to resort to playing with myself while he fucked me. 

When he came he pulled out, despite wearing a condom. Old habits, he said, while I was left with nothing. 

“You good?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” I went to put on my underwear and my shirt. “I… uh… thanks, I guess?”

He chuckled. “No problem.”

“But you do know that this won't happen again, right? I mean, I like –” Liar. “ — but it’ll just be complicated with us there in the place and you’re sharing a room with Heather.”

“Just a one-night thing, I’m cool with that,” he shrugged. “But if you ever want to again, you know where to find me.” He got up from my bed and left the room. 

Good job, Vivian. First night here and you already fucked your roommate and compared him to your ex-boyfriend who tried to kill  you. Get yourself together.

~*~

The semester started sooner than I had hoped, rather sooner than my jetlag hoped. But I was more than happy to start going to classes just to get away from that apartment. Jack and Heather were nice, they were good roommates, but it was awkward to be in the same place as two people who were — as Jack said — just fucking, and Jack constantly flirts whenever I hang out in the living room or his self-made invitations whenever I would step out.

His reason: he didn’t want to find his new roommate’s face on Gotham News tonight as one of the city’s latest victims. 

I got a job. It was at the diner I frequented since coming here, the owner welcomed part-timers more than full-time employees. My shifts there are graveyard hours, which was perfect since there was rarely anyone coming in and I get to study. But tips would be nice too. Most of the customers here are either GCPD grabbing a grub or those you’d not make eye-contact with.

After years of running around with Constantine going to shitty places, dealing with shitty and sinister people, you’ll learn to read people and other beings. And these have the face that says trouble.

“What cha readin’ there, sweetheart?” One of the men in the booth called out to me.

“Just a book,” I answered and went back to reading.

“Yeah?” He went out of the booth and approached the counter I was at. “What’s it about?”

Shit.

“It's Telling the Truth About History by Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt and Margaret Jacob. It’s Historical Methodology.”

“You wanna be a history teacher or somethin’?”

“In a way. Excuse me, I’ll just head inside to check if your orders are ready.” And to get the fuck away from you.

But the man grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. “Come on now, dollface. How about you read to us a little?”

“No.”

His companions laughed. “Look at that, she can’t stand to look at your ugly face!”

He scoffed. “Come on, you’re coming with us, dollface!”

“I said, no –”

“Let the girl go,” a deep voice with a Jamaican accent echoed in the diner. Vivian knew that voice.

Standing by the glass door, a slim man with a zig-zag beard, wearing a white suite and hat watched them with intense eyes. 

“You,” I didn’t even know I was talking until the man turned to him and nodded in greeting. “Papa Midnite.”

“So, you her papa, huh? Didn’t know, dollface here was that kind of girl. What? The book was just for show?” The man holding my wrist pulled me closer to him and pointed a gun at my face.

What the fuck?!

“If you do not let her go, all of you will die right on this floor,” said Papa Midnite.

“Is that right?” His companions got up and pointed their guns at Papa Midnite. “We were going to apologize for our friend’s behavior but now that you mentioned about bashing our heads in, we can’t let that slide.”

Midnite smirked. “I didn’t say I was going to bash your brains, I said, you are going to die.”

The air changed, and one moment the men with the guns were on their feet with their weapons, the next they were on the ground with blood coming out of their bodies. In fact there was a trail coming from that door where Midnite stood.

“What did you…” I asked.

“They died the way their earlier victims did. With holes on their chests. Call your manager from his break and tell him what happened. I will wait for you outside, Vivian Pryor,” Midnite bowed and left.

I did what she told me to do. I told my manager about the men and he called 911. She was suspicious about the coffee I served and the order slips in the queue, but she decided not to ask. She just went along with my story and told the cops the same thing. We were questioned by GCPD, mostly I got the questions. Luckily, the man asking the questions was a kind man and he was new to Gotham too.

Lieutenant Jim Gordon.

If it had been his partner, Glass, I was sure to have been dead the next day. The way he looked at me and those men, it was the kind that says he was on someone's payroll.

Lieutenant Gordon let me go after my story was cleared out, and my manager let me head home early too. As I took my path home, I saw Midnite again. He was waiting this entire time in the shadows.

“Vivian Pryor,” he greeted.

“Papa Midnite,” I said. 

He smiled. “You have grown. The last I saw you, Madeline carried you like a kitten.”

“I remember you too. You and her were… you were kind to us. Midnite, my Mom, she’s…”

“I know. I felt it,” Midnite placed a hand on his chest. “Madeline was a friend. The day she died, I felt her soul leave this realm.”

“I couldn’t find her.”

“And you shouldn’t have tried. You were just attracting the wrong kind of company.”

“Too late for that,” I laughed cynically. “Are we just going to talk here or are we going somewhere?”

“You have classes tomorrow. I’ll walk you home… We'll talk while we walk.”

“Thank you, Midnite.”

The walk was short but Midnite and I circled the block a couple of times to catch up. Not the safest thing to do but I was with a voodoo witch-doctor, so I was in safe hands. He mostly asked about Mom and what happened to us after our last encounter when I was a kid. Turns out he’s heard all of the things I did with John Constantinen. We’ve made a name for ourselves, as it turns out, in our circles.

“What brings you here in Gotham?” Midnite asked.

“I needed to get away.”

“From what?”

“Something happened…”

“Care to elaborate?”

“We took a job as a priest. Some towns were experiencing hallucinations that led to multiple homicides. Turns out it’s the signs of a demon trying to claw its way out of a body. Long story short, it was an exorcism gone wrong, and John thought it would be a good idea to trap the demon inside me and kill us both, because the little shit fancied me.”

“What did you do?”

“I burned everything. The whole block, I was just lucky that no one was living there but the two girls died. John lived, Chas is fine, Ritchie got this demon-infused cancer. And I… I can’t sleep. Well, that and jet lag.”

“And your solution is to move to a city like this?” Midnite laughed.

“It’s the last place where magic would be… or so I thought.”

“Gotham has dark secrets, Vivian. Everything you see now is just smoke and mirrors to the truth below. The owls like to keep watch on things.”

“What?” I laughed. “What’s with the owls?”

“We’re here,” Midnite stopped before my apartment building. “If you are in need of help, call me,” he handed a black calling card to me.

It wasn’t exactly a number. It was simply his name. “Thank you, Papa Midni–”

He was gone as if he was never there in the first place.

~*~

He first appeared on the news with the headline of a giant bat vigilante. Jack and Heather scoffed when we saw it, I simply brushed it off. Then he became a recurring thing on the news as Batman — the GCPD started calling him — were taking out criminals left and right. 

Personally, I was rooting for the guy. After getting mugged that one time while heading home from campus and the police doing shit, I’d feel a lot safer if Batman was around. But why a bat costume, though? Wouldn’t it be easier if he jost ran around with some bullet-proof vest in tactical gear than spandex and a cape?

The police have been trying to capture him. The unfortunate person to get the job was Lieutenant Gordon. What the hell did he do to get on the Commissioner’s bad side?

Months since this Batman started his crime fighting, the streets were a little safer to walk around, still it would be foolish to do so. But police sirens were not so frequent now in the streets, if there was it’ll be in those areas where Batman wouldn’t be or they were trying to capture the vigilante. 

Then there was this one incident that really shook Gotham. The GCPD were able to surround the man, trapping him in a building. We felt it all the way from where we were. The heat, the rumbling of the explosion. GCPD dropped explosives onto those, supposedly, empty buildings just to take out the vigilante.

All of that just for one man, and still Batman got away.

I was reading the newspaper about it during my visit to the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic at Park Row  to ask about my scholarship, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and dump the paper in the bin as soon as I finished reading the article. I should be reading the material our professor told us to go through Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. 

“That’s an odd thing to read,” a voice of a man interrupted me before I could finish the second paragraph.

Holy shit! 

“You’re Bruce Wayne,” said. “What are you doing here?”

He raised a brow at me and pointed at the plaque that says Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic and below it was The Wayne Foundation.

Right. Stupid question, but he’s kind of an ass.

“What’s that about?” He asked.

“It explores the political, cultural, and social transformations of the Hellenistic period, from its development from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the rise of Roman dominance at the Battle of Actium,” I explained.

“A wide reader?”

“Reading material for class.”

“Didn’t know they taught that in Gotham Metro.”

“GU.”

“Gotham University, and you’re in this clinic because…”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“Vivian Pryor!” The nurse called for me. 

Getting up, I gathered my things and went to the hall where Dr. Leslie was, “Excuse me, Mr. Wayne… ass.” I muttered the last part.

So what I’m a student of GU? Not everyone there is rich like him.

~*~

It was a false positive. 

Good.

~*~

I never thought I’d ever come across Batman. It was one thing to read about him or see him  on the news, it’s another to be the person he was helping. It was stupid of me, really. It was right after my shift, but instead of heading home, I thought of visiting Midnite’s club. I should have just taken a cab than walk, but cab fares were expensive.

I can’t even remember why I needed to go there, not after being held at knifepoint. He came out of nowhere with a knife to my neck and dragged me to the alleyway. His friend, who has been waiting there, held me back while he went through my bag. He threw my books and my notes to the ground and pocketed my wallet and walkman. 

Fuck! Not again.

Why did I need to see Midnite again?

Why did I need to go to his club?

What was it about?

The next thing I knew, his companion grabbed me by my shoulder and pinned me to the wall. He forcibly kicked my legs to spread and I could hear his belt —

“NO! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!” I cried out.

“SHUT UP, BITCH!” He hit me at the head with his gun.

Fuck that hurt and it made me go dizzy. 

I haven’t used my magic in months now — almost a year — I don’t even if I can cast a spell. But with the best I could, voice slurring, I tried to cast an incantation just like Midnite: “D-die–”

The man was removed from me. The next thing I saw was a shadow beating them down to the ground. It was the Batman. He was huge and he was beating down them down like they were nothing. But he wasn’t invincible nor was he perfect in his form. 

“Look out!”

“AUGH!” Batman hissed as one of the men stabbed him at the thigh over and over, making him fall, and the man took this chance to beat the Batman with his companion. 

Forcing myself to my feet, I grabbed one of the metal pipes lying around and whacked the two across the heads. The fell to the ground and silence came to the alleyway. 

Shit, did I just kill them?

“They’re alive. Concussed but alive,” Batman said. “GCPD will be here shortly… I need to…”

“You need to run,” I said.

He nodded. “Are you okay?”

“I am now… but what about you? You need medical attention!”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be on the rooftop waiting for them until they get you. Hopefully, it’s Lieutenant Gordon who picks up this call.”

“You shouldn’t be moving too much,” I reached for my scarf and used it to wrap around his injury, making sure it was tight to stop the gushing blood. And against my better judgment, I whispered a spell to heal his injuries, it won’t heal fully but it will speed the process to stop the bleeding and prevent infection. He did save my life.

Batman only looked at the black scarf around his injured leg before moving again. But this time he went to the fallen men and took something from their pockets. He even collected my things, placed them in a bag, and handed them to me. 

“I’ll be on the roof to make sure you’re safe. Just stay put.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Thank you, Batman.”

He nodded again and launched his grappling hook and zipped up. The last I saw was his cape.

The GCPD arrived fifteen minutes later. Luckily, it was Jim Gordon. I told him that it was Batman who saved me and already left, heading down a random direction I pointed to. He had officers running down that path while he got me in his car so I could be brought to the station for questions and to be checked by their medic. As we drove away, I saw the silhouette of Batman on that roof. He left once Gordon made a turn down the block.

He really did wait until I was safe.

~*~

A year and a half in Gotham and now I’m flying to Rome, and all it took was a lot of sleepless nights and reading, studying, and moving out of that apartment to really pull myself together. Even my professors were surprised when I became eligible for the semester in Italy. While I do look forward to it, I’ll admit, I’ll miss hearing and reading about Batman on the news.

[yehsahihai]

Things I’ve said while editing my friend’s essay:

I TOLD YOU TO GET MORE SLEEP. NOW LOOK AT THIS BRAINFUCK

Sometimes, just sometimes, a semi colon goes a long way

WHY ARE YOU SHOVING HOWEVER EVERYWHERE?????

Reyyy ni….

Some brain also you have or you donated it?

Hein???

Why is there such a disconnect between your thoughts and what’s on the doc?????

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN ENGLISH HL FOR TWO YEARS?

*incomprehensible noises of wanting to strangle someone and still trying to be nice*

Have you even read your essay again???

“the opposition towards the approach to enforce the veil upon those who don’t abide by it has clear opposition” Girl……are you high? 

What even is mediatory bey?

You have bullshitted so much, my god

“Holistic approach” what is this? A school?

Shhhh. Let me think because clearly………..you didn’t

What even is grammar, amirite?

I think, I need a new brain. 

How many times will you repeat the same idea in updated words?

WHAT IS YOUR OBSESSION WITH HOWEVER?

Confide to the law? The law is your friend that you confide to it? 

*indeterminable levels of confusion* Hein????????

People of god? PeOpLe Of GoD?? Did you just directly translate Allah ke bande or what?

You're footing my therapy bill

[meraki-yao]

Some people say Nick posts about mary & george when there is something about Taylor because he wants to show that he has real jobs and shift the focus to real projects god, they're so evil

Jesus Christ, fuck them. They're stirring drama for drama's sake. That's their FUCKING JOB. M&G is literally 2 weeks, 14 days away, why wouldn't Nick post about M&G? Like they didn't choose for these dates to collide, it just did.

So yeah you're right, those people are fucking evil who can't leave a good thing alone.

But honestly, I'm amused by this "argument"/"criticism", and I'll tell you why (warning: discussion of real-person shipping under the cut, please don't read if you're uncomfortable with the subject)

Also warning, I ended up with a short-essay, because I'm me lmao

As I mentioned before, for rwrb I'm mostly active here; but I also look at the posts and opinions of the Chinese rwrb fandom (i don't post there though, I don't have nor want to have Chinese social media accounts)

and the thing about shipping culture in China is that RP shipping is almost DEFAULT (and I can write a whole dissertation on this phenomenon if anyone wants to read it) like, if you ship a pair in a show/movie unless the actor/actress is publicly in a long term MARRIAGE, not just relationship, MARRIAGE FOR LIKE AT LEAST FIVE YEARS, the audience will automatically ship the actors too. So much so that this is part of THE MARKETING STRATEGY of all locally-produced streaming shows

Also, when I say ship, I don't mean "aww that's cute they're cute together", I mean tin hatters. I mean they genuinely try to find snips and bits in photos that might serve as proof that they're together. We call it 嗑（磕）糖 ke tang (Eating/Drugged by Candy), because in Chinese weddings candy (called 喜糖 Xi Tang "happiness"-"candy") is given to guests, and because it's sweet. The "evidence" is called "candy", and the act of looking and finding "candies" is called "eating candies".

all this to say, nearly all rwrb fans in China ship Taylor and Nick together, and they're genuinely convinced that they're together. I've seen my fair share of "candy"/"evidence" and they keep coming. (some of those i genuinely think they're trying too hard but there are really some that I see and go "...damn.")

now finally back to this ask. Nick posting when Taylor has an event, what the people mentioned in the ask is bitching about, IS CONSIDERED A CANDY. EVERYBODY IS GIGGLING AND GRINNING OVER THE FACT THAT NICK AND TAYLOR POPPED OUT TOGETHER IN THE PAST COUPLE OF EVENTS LIKE THE GQ, THE ACADEMY GALA, MILAN AND TODAY. IT'S LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM.

a last little tidbit from me and my opinion on the whole shipping thing for now: personally I don't entirely agree with the default real-person shipping, it has proven to be problematic in the past and honestly I hate how monetized it is, but 1, it's such an "everybody in the country does it" thing that I... would be lying if I said I'm not influenced by that mindset at all, 2, I know where this mindset came from and it has stuff to do with the societal pressure of young adults in the country and rebellion against traditional concepts of marriage and stuff. It's a sociology phenomenon, and when I look at it as an outsider, I find it kind of fascinating.

As for my opinion on the boy's relationship, I don't...care? I know they have a good relationship and that's all I want for them. As for what type of relationship they have, I don't really mind/care, and I don't think we should look too much into that. That's their relationship for them to define and them to publicize if they want to. I know for a fact, that they are great friends. Are they more than friends? That's unfalsifiable, and that's no one's business but their own. So that's my stance.

But I had to choose one extreme fan's reaction, rps is a much less harmful thing than the sheer amount of hate and deliberate drama-stirring I've seen. So there.

[klug]

So Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop is out and I see a lot of theories going around… This is half a self-indulgent post for me and half a poorly thrown together essay reviewing Sig and Aya's and the blue soul and the crimson soul's, relationship to each other. because boy is it a bit of a complex web. @_@

Some people were talking about their relationship today in EPPC, and I'm bad at talking to people, so I decided to put my thoughts in a post + touch on some misconceptions (I guess?) around since the game just came out and it relies on knowing information presented in extra material like the audio dramas and the (sega) novels.

And of course, spoilers for the first 4 main routes of Puzzle Pop.

some quick bullet points before I start… you can skip this if youre fairly familiar with fever 2, tetris 2, and the novels

is Aya possessing Sig?!

how did Sig's power get unleashed by Meena? are they super ultra powerful??

no, Aya is clearly still imprisoned safely contained in the tome of sealing, so it probably isn't behind this. We also know in Lidelle's route that it and Klug were having some kind of argument after he ran into Sig.

Well, in the game, Lemres establishes that Meena normally is not that powerful… Rather, it's been a bit implied over the course of the games that his powers have been growing stronger, so I think that it's more that Meena broke down a dam that was already barely holding itself together… a brief timeline…

Puyo Puyo Fever 2 - Sig transfers to Primp Magic School and his hand suddenly turns red. This can presumably be linked to his proximity to the tome of sealing. Akuma attempts to prevent further resonation by using the Ito Hairito enchantment. Attempts at "curing" his hand are touched on in Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary

Sig's Secret happens a bit before Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary, and he has the incident of his powers being awakened by Witch's potion. This is the first time we actually see the "Demon part" of him take over, and it turned both of his eyes red when this happened. (src)

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - Sig and Klug are protected by a certain power from being influenced by Marle when she's causing mayhem in Primp Town. The crimson spirit was potentially protecting Klug in this situation, but what about Sig? I theorize that his own demon powers, which have been growing stronger, actually protected him as well. (Lemres' substory, PPT2)

Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop - Sig befriends Meena and offers to share some of his power. This seems to open the floodgates and allow the demon parts of him to take over.

fun fact: The words for "arm" and "hand" are the same in Japanese, so a lot of fans were actually surprised when they saw that his entire arm is red and not just his hand when his art in 20th came out.

Now, with those bullet points out of the way… the meat of this post is focusing more on Sig and Aya/Strange Klug/Possessed Klug/Crimson Spirit/Whatever name you want to call its relationship.

I think most people take the text in the games at face value, though the editing choices in translation don't really help I guess...the first instance of "red power" being translated as "evil power" will never be forgiven, but it's okay since Lemres and Schezo get it right--. I see a lot of people think that Aya is somehow influencing Sig in this story, but it has been established that Sig has the potential to tap into the full power that Aya probably wants access back to in Sig's Secret when Witch's power potion spills on him.

Back then, Sig and Amitie's friendship, and really any of his friendships, weren't very well-defined. However, she was able to bring him back by reminding him of their friendship...

Hey, Sig! …Let’s go back to café prep, alright!? I mean, Raffina’s gonna be super mad if you don’t show up! And then Klug’s gonna go all sarcastic on you again! Do you want that!? And, and, we haven’t even figured out what to put on the menu for our Special yet! If you really want me to, I’ll let you put whipped cream, for real!” I just kept screaming one thing after another as it came to me. Please, please, please… Please, let Sig hear my voice! “Please, come back to us! I promise, we all love you, so, so much! And I know, I know that deep inside, you really, really want to stay with us, too…!”

(src)

He manages to regain control of himself though clearly Amitie reminding him of everything isn't working in Puzzle Pop.

I kind of resummarized the climax of Sig's Secret because it felt important to contextualize his behavior, how its different in Puzzle Pop, and how people tend to conclude that "he must be possessed by Aya" as the first thought in Puzzle Pop. I also did this, though it was because I watched the routes out of order (lol). The behavior of this not!Sig is reckless, power-hungry, very very very gloating (just read the novel), and doesn't see any importance in friendships when it comes to Amitie and Meena (Lemres' route in Puzzle Pop). Meanwhile Aya, who has a very clear outlined goal of getting Sig back is…generally levelheaded, calm, and although angry about its situation, doesn't always charge straight for Sig whenever it's unsealed ("Amitie and Lidelle's Primp Tour", Puyo Puyo!! Quest story mode, etc.) So I think the binary the game presents of Aya being "evil" and Sig being "not evil" is not necessarily true considering how unreliable the narration of the "tome of sealing" is. I find it more accurate to say that they're power/impulse and control/logic, or you could argue they're a conscious and an unconscious.

I theorize that a piece of their original power lies dormant in Sig, and it is this power that Aya specifically wants back because it's…pretty powerless in its current form. This power, possibly the "crimson power", drives the "blue soul" in Sig a bit power hungry when its unleashed, and it has no conscious to control it because the "crimson soul" isn't in the vessel. I also think Sig and the "blue soul" are separate entities to an extent.

“Stop talking… Be quiet, just shut up! Gh… With every word you say, the voice in my head, it…GAAAAHHHH…!” “A voice, in your head? T-That’s gotta be Sig! Hey!! Sig!! If you can hear me, say something!”

(src)

The best comparison I have to this situation is Cinderpelt's reincarnation into Cinderheart in the book series Warriors. Cinderheart inherited Cinderpelt's soul after the latter's death, but because Cinderheart's grown to have her own experiences and is a separate entity while Cinderpelt lay dormant in their mind, they will separate in death. I think this "copilot"-ish situation is the case with Sig and it's why they're vying for control a second time in Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop.

I think that's why not!Sig is so "evil" and also gives people the impression that it might be Aya -- considering I also thought this -- though it's probably not the case since this story follows a similar formula to Sig's Secret with some tweaks to reflect a lot of subtle character growth, which is the subject of the next section.

Now, people might ask…why aren't Sig's eyes red and his hair dark like they were in Sig's Secret? Well, I think this is due to texture limitations for one, but I also think this is a sign of Sig's personal identity growing stronger over the course of the games. He has relationships he wants to hold onto, his own experiences, his own life, so he wouldn't just easily give up control of his physical vessel, even if he hasn't been speaking as himself in Puzzle Pop so far… This story's already done a lot with establishing Sig as a character and the importance of his relationship with Amitie, and he hasn't even actually spoken, which I find impressive. I also just like that all this stuff is only clear if you pay attention to the steady build up of the stories from the past few years… well, they were just breadcrumbs, I guess...Listen I've been following this plotline for 7-8 years and its been in the works for like 13? So you have to forgive me for feeling happy about having all the pieces of the puzzle.

As for what this means for the role Aya/the crimson spirit will play in the story… I'm not sure. I honestly don't expect it to appear at all since all the models/animations are recycled from Puyo Puyo Chronicle with some touch ups save for Meena. It has been referenced though, and the profiles in-game go in-depth on who it was and is, but I can't say if it'll actually make a fully story appearance…Especially since Klug was relegated to a side story role. Which is fine, I don't really care despite my URL. it was a good story. I do however expect this story to shed a lot of light on the relationship between the Sig, blue soul, and the crimson soul once its complete. I haven't even touched on my personal interpretation of Amitie and her hat, so maybe I'll make another post about that in the future? I think her situation is meant to parallel Sig's, but I'll save that for another time if people are interested...

As usual some of this is my interpretation, but everything I sourced is real and true and I'd never lie to you, etc.

Misc. Fun Stuff

These were things I liked about Aya and Sig's imagery/motifs but I wasn't able to fit into the post concisely.

not!Sig uses the same pronouns as Aya, 我 (wa) and お前 (omae), though they're written in hiragana as opposed to Aya's kanji. This is actually why I thought he was possessed because I walked into a stream in the middle of Ringo's route, haha.

My theory of Aya and Sig being a conscious and an unconscious are actually inspired by one of Aya's spells anima. Now in Latin this really just means "soul" which is fine, but in Jungian psychology the anima and animus are a dualistic archetype…which is cool, though this would potentially mean the crimson spirit is the unconscious part, haha! Technically they'd align more with Freud's concept of an id and a superego as I explained them, but I always like pointing out the possible Jungian reading of Aya's spell Yes, I realize I'm grasping for straws

[crimesolvin]

Okay. After like 3 years I’m finally posting that essay on leadership in the pilot episode of Star Trek Voyager that was a term paper for me during college. I was very hesitant to post and still am not due to quality, but out of sheer caution in regards to plagiarism software used in education nowadays. So PLEASE DO NOT COPY FOR BOTH OF OUR SAKES.

Thankfully, I am graduated now, so I have less resignations on the topic (but it is still in the plaigerism testing systems, so please don’t copy it, mostly for your own sake in academic writing).

It’s probably boring to a lot of people, but for anyone who wants to read it here you go.

A “Voyage” in Leadership

Wc: 3080

I. Introduction

“Space the final frontier”; these are the words that have been imprinted on viewers by the not so subtle branding of Star Trek (Star Trek,1966). While the original series surged television screens in the 60s, the 90s were flooded with a revitalization of the pop culture phenomenon. Until Voyager aired, the series that preceded it, like Next Generation, were very formulaic; they took place in known regions and dealt with pre-established alien species and conflicts. Voyager in its nature broke the mold by instating Star Trek’s first female captain and brought Trek to new heights with new moral dilemmas. The series takes the Voyager ship away from all command structures the crew has ever known. They have to make every choice and decision with little guidance but each other. Star Trek has always been about exploration and when referencing Voyager with that same lens, that exploration also applies to people. Each individual aboard this journey makes decisions that impact who they are as leaders and followers, some like Voyagers captain, Janeway, demonstrate several healthy leadership qualities, where others are just getting their footing in their leadership journeys. Within this paper I will be diving into the depth of Captain Janeway as a leader, the forming of the Voyager crew, and small choices the individuals make which define their character.

II. Description

The Maquis, a rebel group to the Federation, are sent through a shock wave to the other side of the galaxy, 70,000 light years from the solar system. Captain Katherine Janeway is sent on a mission to track down the Maquis ship. This mission includes standard starfleet personnel and the addition of Tom Paris, ex- Maquis doing time at a Starfleet Penal Settlement. En route to Voyager, Tom, meets fresh out of the academy, Harry Kim. Despite only just meeting Kim, Paris saves him from getting caught up in foreign schemes. We are introduced to the show’s namesake via Paris and Kim making their rounds checking in with the less than personable head of medical, the similar first officer, and finally a non-judgmental individual, Captain Janeway, as the ship disembarks on their journey. The same phenomena that launched the Maquis ship 75 years away, launches Voyager to the same location as the Maquis, each with substantial damage. Janeway leaves her position on the bridge to go and aid engineering in repairs. The entirety of the crew gets transported to the array, the ship of The Caretaker, which sourced the anomaly that brought them to the other end of the galaxy, also known as the Delta quadrant. They all awake three days later, each crew missing 1 person. For Voyager, that person was Harry Kim. Janeway and Chakotay, the Maquis leader, unite and join forces in hopes of finding their crew mates. Paris becomes especially upset at the loss of Kim. Kes, a local, informs them that Kim is with her species the Ocampa, a cave dwelling group. The Ocampa have been cared after by the Caretaker for generations. Kim attempts to escape to the surface and by the time the rescue team make it to the Ocampa, he had already left. With the Caretaker beginning to collapse the cave exits, the rescue team escapes to the surface, but not before Chakotay gets trapped and Paris goes back to help him. Upon returning to their respective ships, the Kazon, a local gang-like race, begin attacking Voyager in attempts to attain its technology whilst the Maquis ship holds them off so Janeway can speak to the Caretaker to send them back to the Alpha Quadrant, where Earth is and where they all began their journey. What Janeway discovers is that the Caretaker is dying and that he plans on self-destructing the array so the Kazon can't use it against the Ocampa. Before he gets the chance to, he dies. Janeway makes the decision to destroy the array to save the Ocampa thus truly stranding them all in the Delta Quadrant (Berman, 1995). The captain of Voyager is the epitome of the ideal leader, her followers are her crew, and her situation is nothing less than complex and ever changing as she must “navigate the ambiguity” within (Wheatley, 1999).

III. Group Formation and Interactions

Although Janeway had never met Paris before, she is immediately very personable in their conversation and establishes a connection before even attempting to recruit Paris to join her team (Akin, 2020). She references working with his father before becoming a captain, and in the novel, Voyager: Mosaic, Tom’s father was the one who pushed Janeway to pursue command because of her strong leadership (Taylor, 1996). Tom and Janeway’s relationship immediately develops into one of familiarity and becomes strong with their commonality, which makes Tom feel more comfortable with his decision to go through with the deal to join Janeway on this mission. Janeway also eased the decision by providing Paris with a reward. Janeway is quite smart about this encounter because she lets him make the decision on his own and does not punish him if he chooses to not go through with it; it is clear she is using a variety of influence tactics in this conversation, like rational persuasion, personal appeals, exchange, and apprising, to get her goal accomplished (Curphy et al., 2014).

Paris meets Kim in a compromising position of blatant racism, but knows he is younger and less experienced in the ways of the galaxy, so before their introduction, Paris in fact saves Kim from danger of which, in the novelization, includes Kim thinking to himself: “I’ll never be that cool” in reference to Paris, putting him on some sort of pedestal early on in their relationship (Graf, 1995). The chief of medical and the first officer are put off by Paris because of his criminal record, that his new friend, Kim, still is unaware of. These crewmembers that they encounter are understandable in their attitude toward Paris given his past, but they each fail to recognize he is there on his own accord; they are still in the Newtonian mindset where they understand the individual parts, but fail to grasp the total situation (FOWLETT). Kim confronts Paris about his misdeeds and says, “I don't need anyone to choose my friends for me” (Berman, 1995). Their relationship is already so strong from this comment. Paris also notes that he took full responsibility for his actions involving his time with the Maquis, increasing the characters overall trust we as viewers give him (Akin, 2020). Though he was put in a penal colony for the actions, he still has the trust of those in authority, which is why he was chosen for this mission and Janeway knows he has potential to grow and get past that part of his history. Later in the episode, Paris is the one who notices Kim isn’t on Voyager .“The writers put a lot into their relationship being developed” actors Robert Duncan McNeil and Garrett Wang note, who play Tom Paris and Harry Kim respectively (McNeil, Wang, 2020). Down on the planet, Kim and the stolen Maquis crewman get to know one another in captivity; despite their different backgrounds, they try to understand their situation together and become mutual allies because of their situation. This demonstration of the group forming process is what leads them to team up and eventually escape back to their ships (McNutt et al., 2004).

IV. Captain Janeway as a Leader

Janeway takes everything she is dealt one moment at a time, although she has more than one thing on her plate at a given time in the episode, she somehow manages to keep things in order to deal with each one to the best of her ability individually and not get distracted. While Janeway is not always perfect, she is a prime example of good leadership in practice. Janeway has a great understanding of her duty as a manager which allows her to cope with the natural complexities of commanding a starship. If she needs things done a specific way, she is tactful and organized, but ends up getting her followers motivated to get things done (Kotter as cited in Wren).

When Paris and Kim finally meet Janeway for the first time in her ready room, Kim is even more stressed than meeting other members of the ship. Janeway sees this panic in his behavior and puts him at ease, but keeps the situation formal as she is still the captain. Janeway knows what she wants and how she wants it done; she uses precision and accuracy to deliver her message of trust to Kim. Janeway is a very adaptive kind of leader. Everything she does is a causality of what is occurring around her; she is constantly looking at the bigger picture and highlighting areas where problems occur (Grashow et al., 2009).

Janeway stays as level-headed as she can in the distress of her damaged ship, but is forceful getting things accomplished. She recognizes that many of her crew have died and she still remains calm, not allowing herself to mourn them until the ship is in a more stable position (Akin, 2020). Janeway leaves the bridge in the hands of the remaining crew there and trusts they know what they are doing and to continue performing admirably with her absence as she goes to assess and command in engineering, where she is more urgently needed(Akin, 2020).

When Janeway arrives in Engineering she provides insight and guides them to a solution to fixing the ship, but she still leaves the duty of actually fixing, to the crewmen. Janeway took control and got them on to a problem solving path and then let them fix it in the end, even though she could have (Akin, 2020).

Janeway is adamant about getting onemember of her crew and a member of her enemy’s crew back; Janeway shows remorse and declares she needs to get to know who her crew really is in order to get them home. This moment is very thought out as she has actively demonstrated her urge to create connections with everyone she meets, but because she has lost Kim, she is doubting herself; in this moment, her feminine attributes could be a downfall, but overall it allows her to care for her crew like they are family (Beggan et al., 2004). In her nature, being a female also influences her leadership style; she reaches out to crew members in time of her own struggle despite her being higher up in the chain of command than them (Beggan et al., 2004). In this moment of self-reflection, her security officer says, “The crew will not benefit from the leadership of an exhausted captain” and she snaps out of her head to get back on track (Berman, 1995).She knows that if she is to be successful in saving Kim, capturing the Maquis, or even getting them all home, she needs to detach her strong emotions, but remain connected to the tasks at hand and she has that switch in her brain accessible, not letting the sociology define her leadership too much (Beggan et al., 2004). As noted in the Leadership Encyclopedia, women tend to be more democratic and throughout this episode she is constantly aiding a variety of people of which in return she receives input and counsel from them without asking for it (Beggan et al., 2004).

Captain Janeway makes all of the crucial decisions away from her higher ups. No one can dispute her except her followers, and they don’t, in this grand decision to travel back to the Alpha Quadrant the long way home because they have trust in their leader. Janeway essentially breaks down the barrier of what is normal and from this point further, the ship is unlike any other in Star Trek history. The crew of the Enterprise and Deep Space 9 were all very close, but Voyager became a family. Janeway made sure that even she got to know every crew member(Gabriel 2018). Janeway is noted throughout various forms of Trek media for her leadership. From her interactions with individuals, knowledge of when to put on her manager hat v. her leader one, to tactics in influence and delegation.

V. Other Leadership Demonstrated

In servant leadership, an individual leads by serving others, meaning they are not necessarily the one in command of a situation, but they lead themselves as being part of the followers . Tom makes a daring move when Chakotay gets stuck in one of the tunnels; he returns to help him escape. While each still having residual feuds from Tom betraying the Maquis by working with Starfleet, this brave example of servant leadership does not go amiss. While servant leadership general doesn’t include risk of bodily harm, Tom uses it as such, he had learned from earlier in the episode he had to initiate things for himself and in this he chooses to risk his own safety to serve the goal he had made for himself, “the invisible leader”(Northouse, 2019). In this same scenario, even in the face of death, Chakotay’s leadership style is in full display as he tries to command a situation he is not in command of; he virtually argues with Tom the entire time he is saving his life and is a clear display that authority is a personality trait for him. Tom has grown from the first time we see him in this episode to this point; in the beginning he was very the follower that required the use of several motivation tactics to get work out of, but at this moment he has learned that his growth as a person is stemming from not necessarily being in command of a position, but serving those in those positions to the best of their ability(Northouse, 2019). Despite Chakotay’s near death experience and Tom’s clear display of servant leadership, Chakotay’s attitude does not change, but there is a clear shift in his heart and end goal as he is willing to die to save both crews. At every encounter, Janeway has tried to negotiate and ultimately, she dooms her and The Maquis crew because of her unrequited obligation and active servant leadership: “We never asked to be involved… but we are” (Berman 1995). Without consultation, Chakotay agrees to join the crews and strand themselves far from home because it will save the Ocampa.

VI. Conclusion

Since time began, species far and wide have been looking for good leadership. Star Trek is just a glimpse into the future stating that while thought processes may become more evolved and technology will advance, individuals will still have the same core functions that they have always had. There will always be want to develop strong relations, there will always be some hesitation to trust everyone, and at some point will return to where one came from. Voyager is the embodiment of leadership both good and bad, it stresses moral debates, ethical dilemmas that often leaves you thinking. No one on board is perfect, but it is clear they will grow on the journey home.

(I apparently wrote the following paragraph after my conclusion and forgot to delete it before I submitted. Oops, I think I meant to find a way to work it in during the main paragraphs, but obviously never did)

Janeway left the bridge with Tom having a look of disappointment due to the fact that he never received orders. He had faith that he had gained Janeway’s trust to aid in other ways than just being ex-Maquis, but it is clear that Janeway takes full consideration of his identity right now. This small interaction displays how his time as a criminal has heightened his need for more hands-on leadership than the rest of the crew needs, in the future he needs to follow the invisible leader or else he will be left continually disappointed as we see here (Hickman et al., 2004). By the end of the episode, Tom has a huge shift where he becomes his own invisible leader and takes charge of his own situation (Hickman et al., 2004).

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I really enjoyed writing this, however long ago it was.