#maybe not because my opponent was great but also i wasn't even that far off in that one set

[adore-gregor]

How being sick messes with your mental health is sometimes worse than the illness itself honestly 😕

[kengan-daddies]

Fatal Love Raian Kure

Anime: Kengan Ashura

Character: Raian Kure

Warning: Graphic description of blood, corpses, violence, bodily fluids

Fatal Love Raian Kure

Fatal Love Raian Kure

You were sitting in the crowd, looking down at Raian's and Ohma's battle, it was brutal, it was fast, it was beastly, it was savage... it was exciting. By far, this was the best battle yet, and was a great way to start off round 2, you watched as Raian turned the battle with just a single clothesline attack, causing Ohma to flip.

Watching as Raian began beating Ohma into the ground, throwing him around like a rag doll, you were used to seeing Raian dominate his opponents in the field, but you never actually seen him do it like this. It was almost like he was teaching Ohma, it was bizarre and not Raian's normal course of action when he was fighting. You looked on with confusion but also with glee, at this crazy fight.

'Raian... what are you doing?' You thought as you watched him taunt Ohma. Hearing him sound like a raging fool, brought back flashbacks, it hasn't been very long since you and Raian been together, if you were dating, it wasn't determined. He never acknowledged your relationship. He never even thought about it nor spoke of it. You can still remember the day you met him, down in that alleyway all those years ago.

You were panting, having just been attacked by some thugs, you've been fighting them for the past few hours, running and stopping to take some out. You were covered in cuts and bruises, your hair tangled and matted with blood, leaves and trash from being thrown around and manhandled. You've been able to hold your own, throwing, kicking, punching, stabbing, slicing, underhanded fighting. You've killed about 6, damaged 8, lost 15. Your muscles tight and strained. Your legs wobbling, your arms heavy, your stomach felt bloated and your lungs felt tight.

You were cornered, slowly stepping back, as 7 goons stood around you, holding all kinds of weapons and tools, ready to beat, possibly rape and kill you. Your eyes shifted around your surroundings quickly, thinking of any possibly ways to get out of this, or maybe even find a weapon. 'Damn, just my fucking luck, of course there wouldn't be any way to get out of this.' You thought in annoyance. The leader of this little group chuckled as he stepped closer to you, you glared up at him in hatred.

"You gave me a lot of trouble, ya know that?" He said in a cocky tone, you could see the anger in his eyes, you smirked. "Tch, that's just because you picked the most weakest guys you could fine, you wanna be mob boss." You shot back, he glared down at you, his cocky smirk falling. Your own smirk fell when he suddenly kicked you in your stomach, making blood come up through your nose and mouth, you flew back, landing on your back, you were quick to sit back up but a fist collided with your nose making you fall back on your back.

You laid there in a daze, the world spinning around you. 'It's cloudy... has it been cloudy all day?... I could've sworn the sun was out... I guess it just goes to show you... when you're living hard... you can't enjoy the small things of life.' You thought to yourself, you could see the boss and his group of goons slowly surrounding you, evil glares on their faces as they stared down at you, the boss pulled out a gun, everything in slow motion as he cocked it.

'Is this it?... Is this how I die?... Why like this?... Why now?... I always imagined my death being more... it doesn't matter... non of it ever did, did it?... In the end, we all meet our end, in the most unexpected ways.' You thought, as you watched him point the gun towards you, his finger getting ready to pull the trigger. 'But hey... at least I had fun while doing it.' You thought, as a pleased smile slowly came across your face. The sound of chaos suddenly broke out, your sense of hearing dulling without you realizing.

You could hear the muffled sound of fists meeting skin, bones cracking, bodies hitting the ground, the feeling of something warm splattering on you made you become aware of your surroundings once more. You slowly lifted your head up, your eyes widening at the scene before you. Their bodies all mangled and battered, some even seeming to be ripped apart, arms and legs laid scattered about, their heads crushed and jaws ripped off. It was a massacre, it was a real horror scene. In the center of it all, stood a young man, he looked no older than 17 maybe even 18, he was young yet powerful.

Your eyes met, you stared on in shock, seeing their strange coloring, his hair line looked like that of horns. Blood over his pale skin, a menacing smile on his face when he seen you awake. He walked over towards you slowly, his form seeming to get larger the closer he got. Your neck relaxed once he stood over you, a vicious smile on his face, yet his eyes seemed curious, but nothing much else. "So, you're still alive huh? And still conscious to add to that fact, most humans your size would be either dead or on the verge of death right about now." He spoke, his eyes sizing you up.

You gave him a slow and painful smile. "Yeah?... Well, I'm not like everyone else... I'm a unique case." You said in a low yet amused voice. He gave a chuckle at your words, whether it was out of true amusement or just him laughing in general, you didn't care. The more you stared at him, the more you liked him. He was crude but he wasn't taking pity on you. He seemed to respect your strength, and you liked that about him. He was covered in blood, his hair had patches of red, his clothes were dark, masking the blood, his teeth were even stained red, and yet... you couldn't find yourself disgusted with him, it just seemed to draw you into him more.

'He's like me... He's one with the damned... and he honesty couldn't give a fuck.' You thought. That was 4 years ago now, it feels like it's been longer. Your eyes widen some, as you focused back on the match at hand, Ohma was red, and looking more vicious then ever, while Raian was purple looking like the true devil he was. You watched on in amazement as they slugged each others with powerful blows, the sound of their voices making you think of demons as they grunted in determination to defeat the other. You watched, with bated breaths, as they both fell from their transformations, going back normal.

You watched in slight amusement and worry as they both struggled to stand, throwing their bodies into their punches, trying to knock the other one back, but it was all over when Ohma nicked his chin one last time, knocking Raian off his center of balance. You watched, as your fists tightened into the fabric of your clothes. 'Stop the match... stop it... stop it... stop it!!...STOP IT!!!' You thought in panic as you watched Ohma beat Raian down into the dirt, you nearly stood up from your seat when the ref finally grabbed Ohma by his midriff, stopping the fight. You breathed a sigh of relief, as you calmed back down. 'I wonder how Raian is going to handle this.' You thought as watched them take Raian out of the arena on a stretcher.

The beeping of the heart monitor sounded throughout the clinic room, as you sat next to Raian's bed, reading a book. The Kure family came and left, making sure that Raian would live, and once they got the answer they wanted, they pretty much left. Karla stayed back with you, looking over at Raian in worry, she was curled up on a chair, her chin on her knees. You both sat there in silence, before a grunt could be heard from Raian. You both looked over at him, a smile coming across your faces. "I'll go tell grandpa that Raian's awake!!" She said in excitement as she ran out the room. You watched as she ran out, closing the door behind her as she did.

You looked over at Raian, watching as he sat up, catching his barings as he rubbed his forehead. "That little shit, Ohma Tokita, he was tougher than I thought, way tougher, but at least it was fun." he said aloud to himself as he smiled in glee. "I'll be sure to fight him again, proving whoes form is superior." He said as he yanked the needles in his arms out, causing the blood and water bags to bust, spraying fluids everywhere, you didn't care about the mess, as you stood up, your shoes splashing the fluids as you stepped towards his bed. He never looked over at you, as he stood up from the bed, seemingly deep in thought, but you knew better.

"Raian, you lost, you need to train more." You simply said. He grunted in irritation but he never looked at you. "You lost to a half done form that hasn't even been mastered yet. Your removal is far more developed then his technique, and yet you still lost. You obviously aren't ready yet." You stated, he clenched his fists as he whirled around to glare at you. "Shut the hell up, what the fuck would you know? You're not even able to use the removal, so how the hell would you know?" He said, anger in his voice as he glared at you. 'if looks could kill.' You thought.

You placed your hand on your hip. "I don't need to be a Kure to know that you've obviously been slacking off on your training, because if you haven't, then you would've easily won." You scolded. He growled at you before he snatched his head away from you. "My removal is stronger than any other member of the Kure family, that's why they chose me to represent them!!!" He said, his fists shaking next to his sides as he spoke. "And you failed, because you grew cocky over the years, losing sight of your training all because you're the strongest. face it Raian, you're a giant pampered child. You don't know what it's like to struggle, what it's like to fight for everything you got, born with strength. You lost because you're weak." You said.

He whirled on you quickly, his hand coming up to grab your neck as he slammed you into the wall. Your hands grabbed his wrist, as his hand squeezed your neck, one of your eyes closed as you glared at him. "Shut the fuck up!! You don't know shit!! You never knew shit!! You don't know anything about my life!! SO STOP ACTING LIKE YOU KNOW ME!!!" He shouted as he pressed you further into the wall, causing the wall behind you to crack. You whined and groaned from the pain as your nails dug into his arm. But a smile slowly spread across your face. "Hear that?... I think I hear a child, throwing a tantrum... but I could've sworn that there was nothing but adults in here." You shot back, your voice slightly strained from the harshness of his grip.

His glare seemed to darken, his blood lust rising, his grip tightening. "You sure talk a lot, for a dead bitch." He said. "And you sure... talk a lot... for a... a toddler." You shot back, refusing to let him have the last word, but non of that mattered anymore when he suddenly pressed his lips against yours, the grip on your neck never loosening but never getting any tighter either. Your tongues twirled around one another, your saliavas mixing and trailing down your chin, going over his fingers and knuckles. He pulled back, a satisfied smirk on his face as he stared down at you. A thin string of saliva connecting your lips, breaking with distance.

Your eyes have fluttered close and your grip on his arm loosened. He chuckled as he suddenly let you go, letting you fall forward against him as you pitifully sucked and coked for air, your legs wobbly and unstable as you stood.

You glared up at him, as on of your hands held your throat. "You son of a bitch." You said, he chuckled. "You look angry, but the way you were rubbing your thighs together says other wise." He said in a cocky voice. You cursed him silently, knowing he was right. Your panties were soaked. "Cocky bastard." You said. He grabbed your chin, holding your face up as he looked down at you. You could always see a small gleam in his eyes. It was an emotion he didn't have for anyone else but for you, you had power over him, and you both knew it. If you wanted, you could have him slay this whole island just because you wanted him to. But you'd never abuse that power, that was the trust you had between yourselves.

You were strong, you could handle him unlike any other woman, you held onto his horns, he'd buck and swing, but you'd never let go of him, and that's what kept him grounded.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Do you think as a god, Gai learns to accept the dragon form as a part of himself?

Like he eventually learns tocontrol it at will and will try changing into it just for fun. Like flying around in a thunderstorm. Hanging out at the bottom of the ocean again to visit Rin and surf with the turtles, maybe messing with Kisame directly because "Hey! YOU'RE the one who kept trying to tip my boat! Tipping you back!"

Maybe even curling around Kakashi/ the dogs/the kids/the turtle in an adorable cuddle pile like "oh my gosh... I DO have long enough arms/ body to hug you all at once! THIS IS GREAT!!!"

Just Gai learning to love every part of himself eventually, now that he has a choice in the matter, and it wasn't forced on him this time.

Oh Gai so would.

It would be an accident at first. None of them realized that turning him into a god would be immortalizing the dragon as well, so when Gai first changes his arm into a Dragon’s leg he’s freaked out

But it’s new

It’s interesting

He wants to explore more. So he starts experimenting with little changes. An arm to a dragon’s leg, using his fire breath while in human form, changing his eyes to scare off an opponent while he’s busy trying to hang out with Kakashi.

And over time he gets the hang of it.

I also really love the idea of him being able to dive into the water. Legends similar to the lock ness are because of Gai and he loves hearing about every single one of them that mortals come up with.

He also gets to continue that ‘dragon in the thunderstorms’ legends that no one has heard for hundreds of years and he’s kinda sad he missed out on it for so long because it’s amazing. He even takes Hiroki out for rides through the thunderstorms so he can experience it, and Hiroki gets to admire his extra father’s rain from far closer than he ever thought possible.

[space-mermaid-writing]

A mission gone wrong [IronStrange]

Request by @puppi-sonnenschein : >I am also a lover of whumpy situations. If you are comfortable with writing stuff like this I would love to read about Stephen being all bad ass Sorcerer Supreme and maybe overdoing it a little? Maybe he is hiding an injury and only Tony is noticing something is amiss because all the other Avengers just think of Stephen as arrogant?<

Ko-fi | Masterlist | Word count: 1.1k | Part 2

Tags: Pre-IronStrange, bamf Stephen, Hurt Stephen, Tony is there to catch him

Author’s note: I’m slowly working my way through the requests. This one was fun to write, even though it took me two or three tries before I was satisfied with the result.

A mission gone wrong

It was a disaster.

What seemed to be a simple mission got completely out of control.

Tony dodged an energy beam, counterattacked it with a blast of his own. His suit was missing nanobots that were destroyed in the fight; parts of his shoulder and arm were exposed. He was too focused on the fight, but Friday had mentioned some scratches and a laceration on his head.

The rest of the team looked similarly battered.

These guys were enhanced, wielding some kind of force powers and wearing tech gear that came straight out of a cyberpunk movie. Friday had started analyzing their every move as soon as Tony arrived on the battlefield, but she had not yet figured out the origin of their powers. All they knew was that these guys were strong and very aggressive.

Someone jumped on his back and Tony cursed. The extra weight wasn't a problem – his suit could hold it – but his opponent tried to peel him like a canned sardine. Not cool. Especially since they were also partially successful with their metal claws. Albeit slowly. A code red appeared on Tony’s screen. “Yes, I noticed, Friday. Thanks.”

He tried to shake off his opponent, but his back repulsors were out of order.

“I could need some help,” Natasha asked via comm.

“I’m quite busy over here.”

“Give me a minute.”

Tony crashed backwards into a house wall, throwing off his unwanted passenger – and giving himself a few bruises in the process.

Friday brought Natasha’s position up on the screen. Peter was already swinging her way.

Still, there was no time to catch his breath, because the next moment he was under fire from two opponents at once. He threw his shields into the air.

That was it.

“Fri, call backup!”

“All available Avengers are on deck.”

“Then call someone else.”

Tony used his shield to get in front of his opponents and blasted him off his feet. A brief hand to hand combat ensued before he knocked them out for good.

The engineer spun around just in time and raised his arms protectively in front of him as a car was thrown at him.

Rude.

He was thrown on his back from the weight alone – with the car on his chest. The thrower jumped on top of the car and pushed against him. These people were insane.

Friday’s sensor picked up something and Tony heard a familiar brizzle. "You called the wizard?" he asked his A.I. flabbergasted.

“Wakanda was too far away for them to arrive in time.”

Great. Tony had planned to impress Strange the next time they met, but he could probably forget that now. Instead he had to be saved like a damsel in distress. Although Tony would make a great princess…

Focus!

There was still a car on top of him.

Red glowing ropes appeared like biting snakes, grabbed the enemy and pulled him off his feet with a loud yelp. Tony managed to push the car off him and scrambled to his feet. Strange was hovering nearby and had the audacity to throw a wink at him, before he jerked the red robes backwards, causing the enemy to fly high through the air. The guy disappeared falling somewhere on the next block

Stephen landed next to Tony. “You called?”

He looked way too smug, which was why Tony responded, “Friday did. Not me.”

Stephen smirked knowingly and Tony wanted to kiss that stupid smile off his face.

“We have everything under control,” Tony lied. Something exploded down the street and the engineer really hoped that the cause had been one of Clint's trick arrows.

“If this is what you being in control looks like, I don’t want to know what you losing control would be like.” The cloak of levitation took Stephen high in the air, before Tony could think of something clever in return.

This was really not his day. He needed a drink. Or a nap. Maybe both.

Tony was not a fan of magic, but he had to admit that it was efficient. Or Stephen was just very powerful. The sorcerer moved his hands in complicated patterns, throwing glowing mandalas at any visible opponent.

Tony used this to check on his teammates and went over to Cap to help him clean up from the ground. Nat appeared at their sides with a split lip and a grim face but still on her feet and fighting. It seemed the tide had turned with Strange's arrival.

Tony shot blasts after blasts, relying on Friday for aiming. He gritted his teeth, willing to fight exhaustion with sure stubbornness alone. He was tired and it slowed him down more and more. They all were. And it was the reason they didn’t notice the attack that was aimed at them from an ambush.

It hit Steve, who stumbled backwards with a grunt. The blast wasn’t deadly but it took even the super soldier out of order for a moment.

Tony raised his shields before, expecting the second attack that followed. But before it hit the trio, Strange jumped in, a spell in his hands. The blast hit the sorcerer instead, who was thrown backwards. He managed to stay on his feet and moved his fingers. The magic shifted and consumed the energy of the attack, transforming it into a blinding sphere of light, which he threw back at the attacker.

The sphere exploded on impact and for a moment bathed everything in a biting light. Tony was glad to hit a helmet, because the readings Friday gave him were off the scale.

Silence fell over the battlefield. There were no more attacks, no more enemies moving. It was over.

Peter landed next to Tony, "Wow, that was insane."

Cap also was back to his feet. He was holding the side where he had been hit, but otherwise he seemed fine.

The Avengers gathered on the sidewalk afterwards. None of them were unharmed, but those were all minor injuries. Strange approached them slowly. He had a bloody scratch on his face, which the Cloak of Levitation wiped off with a corner of its fabric.

Tony had retreated his face plate in order to talk to Peter and to make sure the boy was okay. So it was Rogers who turned to the sorcerer first.

"Thanks for your help, Doctor. You arrived just in time." He held his hand out to him, but Strange barely glanced at it.

“You don’t need me for the clean up, do you?” he asked instead.

Rogers withdrew his hand, irritated. Of course, the aftermath of the battle would be handled quicker and more efficiently with the sorcerer's powers, but they wouldn’t force him to stay. It was rare that Strange was so short worded, he was usually much more of a sarcastic asshole. That was why he and Tony clashed so often. But that was also why they were a great team.  Maybe the sorcerer was annoyed that he had to come to their rescue for a non-magical threat.

“No, we’re good.”

Strange merely nodded, turned and stepped away.

After only a few steps he coughed, red splattering on his hands. As soon as he saw it, he hid his hand under his cloak. As well as the fact that he winced with every move he made. He wanted to leave but Tony had noticed the falter in his movements.

“Hey, Doc. That was pretty badass of you.” The engineer stepped to his side, still tired but with the certainty that they had eliminated the danger and saved the day.

“Sure.” The sorcerer dismissed him, not in the mood for their usual banter, that was definitely not flirting. He just wanted to go home.

That made Tony pause and he eyed him more closely. “You okay, Strange?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine,” Tony insisted.

“It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit!”

Normally, Stephen found Tony's directness endearing, but right now it was nothing but annoying. He closed his eyes briefly, fighting a short wave of nausea. Maybe he overdid it a bit. “I have to go,” he mumbles.

His fingers reach for the sling ring in his belt, shaking. He was so used to it, he didn't even notice that his whole body had started to shake, too. But Tony did. He also didn't notice that Tony put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him worriedly.

The world around Stephen started to spin. In order to stay on his feet, he put a hand on the next best thing: Tony. He reminded himself to breathe – inhale and exhale. His fingers dug into the sleek metal of the Iron Man suit and another pain ran through his hands. It was familiar, but made him gasp anyway and he instinctively let go, taking a step to the side.

It was the wrong decision, his knees buckled. But instead of a hard ground, strong arms caught him.

“Shit, Doc. They really did a number on you.” Tony lifted him up, while the cloak wrapped around the sorcerer’s body.

Stephen mumbled something, barely aware of his surroundings anymore.

[snackleggg]

Duel

~~~

Fright Knight has a crush

~~~

Despite his intimidating look, the Fright Knight was not a particularly malevolent ghost. Sure he had the terrifying power of sending someone to a dimension full of their worst nightmares. Did he used to be the right hand man to the tyrant Pariah Dark? Yes. Was he his right hand man willingly? Not exactly.

When it came down to it Fright Knight was a lot of things. A fighter. A total theater kid. A ghost that lived by chivalry. But he was not malevolent.

So while he may have been scary Fright Knight never went out of his way to terrorise unless to was to get back at someone (like a certain teenager stealing his sword). He was generally docile and approachable for a good chat.

But never ask him for advice.

First rule about interacting with the Fright Knight is to never ask him for advice. Of any kind.

Because his answer will always be, without a doubt "Duel"

Especially with relationship advice.

And then one day the unthinkable happened. The Fright Knight had a crush. He had falled for another ghost.

And of course everyone knew what he was going to do about it.

"Princess Dorathea of the Kingdom of Mattingly! I challenge you to a duel!" He announced loudly, drawing his sword and pointing it at the dragonic princess.

And then she accepted.

She accepted.

Her servants and subjects tried to persuade her to not humor him but the determined glint in her eye let them know she was already dead set on this.

The day came, the duel was to take place in a field not far outside her kingdom.

The Fright Knight stood on one end. His infamous horse Nightmare a few paces behind him eating some grass. Dorathea stood at the other end, an impressive and well maintained sword in her grip.

There was no one else on the field, despite her subjects insisting she have someone else accompany her, she had sent them all away. It was unconventional neither had their Seconds (unless Nightmare counted) but they did not care.

There was a pause before the duel started. Despite Fright Knight's advantage of strength and size, Dora also had an advantage, speed. Her smaller stature and lack of heavy armor made her more agile and adaptive. Both seemed surprised the other evenly matched them. When one striked the other blocked. From far away it would've looked more like a dance than a battle. The two moving fluidly with eachother as they fought.

Finally though Dora got a hit to Fright Knight's knee and he fell. When he looked up he saw Dora holding the sword to his throat, a smirk on her lips.

"I win Sir Fright Knight" She said.

"Indeed it seems you have" Fright Knight wanted to comment on how great a feat that was, on how he was surprised by her agility and battle prowess but he was cut off before he could even get another word out.

"You're a good opponent but your movements are too stiff and closed. Maybe sometime you could come by my kingdom and I could show you how you could make improvements to your stance?" She said as she moved to sheath her sword. Fright Knight stumbled upwards quickly now that he wasn't held at sword point.

"Y-Yes I would very much appreciate that" He managed to keep his voice steady. Dora gave him a smile before going "Then it's a date!" And leaving without another word.

For once Fright Knight's automatic response of challenging someone to a duel actually ended with the desired affect.

He stayed frozen with shock in that field for 2 hours before Nightmare nudged him home.

[sweetescapeartist]

DBS COLORING BOOK CHAPTER 74 REVIEW

*spoilers* I liked this chapter in isolation.

*spoilery spoilers* I dislike this chapter when comparing it to other chapters.

Here's the battle Vegeta fans have been waiting for...! (Glad I lowered my greatly expectations)

First, let's talk about use of panels real quick. When there is action, Toyo has done better and uses about 6 panels max to convey the fight. But when there is dialogue, he uses too many panels. Like 7 to 9 panels on one page. That is too much for dialogue. And he has pointless reaction shots often.

It begins with the axolotl inspired Sugarians leaving their fishbowl homes through cleaning-tube roadways. I like their aquarium-like city and their buildings.

And here we are on page 2 with the Toyotaro dialogue. 😒 How can I tell? Compare it to Dragon Ball and you can easily tell the difference between Toriyama's dialogue & Toyotaro's dialogue. (Toriyama has been more focused with working on the DBS movies. I highly doubt he contributes as much to the manga as some fans believe.)

Vegeta sounds like Mr. Satan when calling fusion and cloning "tricks" lol. And no, I doubt Vegeta's Forced Spirit Fission would work on Granolah. Granolah split himself in 2 with a technique. It is still all Granolah & he hasn't absorbed anyone. Forced Spirit Fission is useless here.

Granolah sure is chatty again after he kept saying how he really really wants to kill these Saiyans. Vegeta tells him he parted ways with Freeza and he is an enemy now, as to which Granolah laughs. Granolah thinks Vegeta is betraying Freeza to spare his own life. This just let's us know what kind of person Granolah is...

Granolah is a nonsensical idiot who doesn't know how to reason well & doesn't listen to truth because he assumes he is already right. I don't like ppl like him who refuse to grow mentally. I went from liking Granolah, to not caring about his bland personality, to disliking him. 😑

Oatmeel's input is pointless because he doesn't sway Granolah into believing the Saiyans may not be lying. He quickly gives up and becomes quiet. Vegeta informs Granolah that he was a child when Planet Cereal's ppl were killed and wasn't part of the attack. But he doesn't care and Paragus wants revenge against the royal family... I mean, Baby wants revenge on all Saiya... Granolah wants to kill all Saiyans.

Then we get Vegeta saying he will kill Granolah after barely talking to the guy who was willing to talk. I guess Vegeta just wants to fight and test his power instead of trying to redeem himself like earlier chapters implied and fans theorized. Throw that out the window.

He turns SSB Evolution & Hakai's large rocks around Granolah. But Granolah appears behind him and shows Vegeta true hakai. He elevates a big chunk of the ground & blows it up then the force pushes Vegeta to him and Granolah strikes him. Cool way to use the environment in battle.

Also, Granolah knows Hakai. He shows it off by using his own more powerful Hakai & suggests Vegeta's training with Beerus is lacking.

There is some cool looking art. Their fight moves from forest to river to lake. Interesting environment s for DB. Reminds me of the Cooler movie and the fights on Namek a bit.

This entire time, Vegeta is on the defensive and has to run. But, I find pages 16-21 silly.

Why is Vegeta swimming when he can fly through the water?! Swimming is slower & Granolah is firing fast ki blasts at him!

YOU: "But, Vegeta is swimming so Granolah can't detect his ki."

Granolah can see him! His right eye is supposed to see blood flow and stuff. He nearly hits him multiple times. And lets not forget he was sniping them long distance and his Goku in the neck and almost took him out. Why does Granolah need aim assist now? I'll tell ya why. To make Vegeta look more impressive than Goku by making Goku look like a poor fighter. And this was a Goku who was using Ultra Instinct and still got messed up by Granolah while Vegeta is just using SSB Evolution. Character sabotage... 😒

Back to my complaints about Vegeta swimming. The swimmin' would work in OG Dragon Ball but not here. It would work on Namek with Freeza who can't sense ki, but not here with Granolah who can sense ki (& maybe even god ki) & his eye can percieve all kinds of movements of the body.

And why does Vegeta momentarily pop up out the water then go hide back into it? Don't say its 'cause he needs to catch his breath. He aparently did training holding his breath while on the Heeter's ship, so he should be fine holding his breath. It was for a short period of time anyways. It just doesn't fit and is unnecessary in multiple ways.

Vegeta Hakai's Granolah's big blast to escape it and it blows him out of the water. Interesting kinda... Until you realize that Vegeta's training that we were shown was lame. He just Hakai'd logs & rocks! It should've shown him trying to Hakai ki blasts from Beerus. Make his training look cool darn it!

Chapter 70 Established that Hakai has changed. It no longer is just erasing things from existence in different ways. It has to have a *boom* explosion to it. So when Beerus Hakai'd Zamasu in chapter 19, there should've been an explosion instead of turning him into sand? So, now whenever the Hakai is used, there will always be an explosion...? I don't like how Toyo is quick to change what he set up just for his convenience...

Granolah brags about himself then Vegeta brags about himself-...! That's why I dislike Granolah! He's just like Vegeta! Maybe if I stop thinking of Granolah as a "good guy" then he will be cooler? I did like evil Vegeta as an evil character. We were supposed to hate him. So, if I imagine Granolah as an evil Vegeta... It worked! Granolah's unappealing attitude works perfectly if you view him as an evil enemy! (Still kinda preachy tho)

VEGETA: "But I'm still going to win."

Vegeta fans rejoice! Your prayers have been answered by the great Zalama! Vegeta announced victory...! Wait... I've seen this before... Yo... Vegeta fans, prepare for Vegeta to be defeated just in case. He has a record of announcing victory then ultimately losing. Don't get your hopes up too high.

Lol Granolah disses Vegeta's ego 👌. But Granolah is unknowingly talking about himself too XD. Dummies. Vegeta mocks him by calling him "Mr. Strongest" & Granolah has nothing to day. Granolah can dish it out but can't take it.

Goku wakes up and sees Vegeta fighting Granolah. Who cares? How are you gonna be caught off gaurd in a form that reacts on its own? Go back to sleep. I'm not mad at you, Goku. I'm just disappointed.

Vegeta fires a barrage of ki at Granolah and Granolah Hakai's them. Then Vegeta fools Ganolah into destroying an ancient city of the Cerelians.

VEGETA: "I can tell, you know... That you only recently acquired this absurd strength."

GRANOLAH: "How? How can you tell?"

VEGETA: "Thank you for confirming."

There's the Granolah we know. Quick to give out valuable info. Also, this is to make Vegeta appear "smarter" & a "better fighter" than Goku. Realistically, a master martial artist like Goku would be first to notice that Granolah recently acquired this kind of power. But, Goku is being dumbed down for Vegeta's sake.

VEGETA: "Need I repeat myself...? You may be stronger but... there's no gaurantee that I'll lose to you!" *attempts to break Granolah's leg*

So says the guy who always loses unless the opponent is weaker than him. But, he even lost to weaker opponents on Earth before, so....

Vegeta fans calm down, calm down. This is basic Vegeta dribble. Let's be real. When has Vegeta ever defeated an opponent that was stronger than himself? Never. When has Vegeta become stronger than his opponent and defeat them because they're weaker than him now? Always. Does Vegeta ever win when he is too cocky? Nope. This is to hype y'all up. Don't be mad if he loses. Y'all know this routine. The arc ain't even over so the chances of him winning are low.

Now let's examine Vegeta's fight in comparison to Goku's fight.

Goku goes through all his forms & uses Ultra Instinct in base, SSJ, SSG, SSB, & then goes silver haired UI when fighting Granolah. Then, he loses in every form. Vegeta goes straight to Blue Evolution and only seriously gets hurt once.

Goku keeps getting hit despite having a technique that is all about evasion. Vegeta gets hit far less & doesn't have Ultra Instinct.

Goku was struggling to fight a clone that was half the power of Granolah. Vegeta fights Granolah at his full power and struggles less.

Goku complains about his training and how he is struggling using his technique. Vegeta who had less time with Hakai training isn't complaining about struggling with Hakai.

Goku far surpassed Vegeta in the Moro arc, yet they are crippling Goku to let Vegeta catch up & make him look better. Vegeta has literally gotten a handout that he didnt have to work hard for in order to catch up with Goku... This chapter is fine when isolated and you aren't thinking about any other previous chapter. But, it is a convoluted mess when you look back at the previous chapters, the piss poor storytelling, & Vegeta's poor Hakai training that leads up to this chapter.

Where'd that "heroic" Vegeta and that "redemption" stuff go? Its as if Toyotaro decided he should stop tying to make Vegeta the hero & main character instead of Goku being the main. (Thank God.)

But... Vegeta says that he loves fights that are unpredictable?? That I disagree completely with. Vegeta wants fights to go in his favor through all of DBZ and will throw a fit when it doesn't.

In RoF: it was going in his favor so he loved it.

Destroyer Tournament arc: he didn't like that things didn't go his way in the end.

Future Trunks arc: he was upset when losing to Black, but loved it when he thought he was going to win.

ToP: angry when everyone else surpassed him, happy when he gained an upperhand, upset when he lost the upperhand.

Moro arc: Vegeta is upset that Moro is stronger but even more upset that Goku is stronger than him. When he is stronger than Moro he is loving it. Then when he loses the advantage, he is upset.

Vegeta doesn't love unpredictable fights, Goku does! Vegeta loves predictable fights in his favor.

Granolah asks how many lives were sacrificed for Vegeta's carnage. Vegeta doesn't answer. Why? Because its best to ignore the fact that he has killed billions of ppl so that Vegeta fans can ignore his bad actions (Yet many say that Vegeta has developed so much without acknowledging his terrible past). Can't have Vegeta looking like a bad guy in this chapter, right?

Oh boy! Page 37 is more "Vegeta hype!" He doesn't care about strongest or second strongest ('cause he has never been 1st place) & he basically explains Dragon Ball to us.

Roshi already taught Goku & Krillin that there will always be somebody stronger, so they need to keep reaching higher and higher.

If Vegeta is stronger than he was a few minutes ago, would that mean the same for Goku when he was fighting? Why did he perform so poorly? I wonder... 🤔

Granolah jabs Vegeta in the stomach, but Vegeta manages to slow it down (how come Goku using Ultra Instinct couldn't do that?). And cool. Blood. Anime has better writing and cool character development/moments. The manga has blood... Well, I guess blood is cooler to some ppl.

Vegeta is looking like Goku in the ToP before he attained UI. He has his head down & all. Vegeta just isn't talking about hownl much he sucks. Why does Goku keep insulting himself? N-nevermind. This is about Vegeta who keeps complimenting himself.

Why did Granolah become scared of Vegeta suddenly? Wouldn't he just see him as a mad dog and use his amazing power to put Vegeta down before he can do anything? He hates them so much, but keeps letting them live.

Uh oh... Vegeta doesn't like protecting and saving? BuT I tHoUgHt hE wAs a hErO! Where is his development going?? Ya mean the real development he had in the anime or the pseudo development in the manga?

But even after saying all that... I prefer manga Vegeta to be like this instead of a wannabe hero. Wannabe hero doesn't fit. This feels like Vegeta is in character again. I like this. I was just criticizing how Vegeta was written in past chapters in comparison to this one. A more chill Vegeta who loves battles? This is what I've wanted from DBS manga Vegeta for a long time!

Oh snap! Vegeta's transforming? I wonder what it will look like (thanks for the warning from the leaks 👍). Oil... Why are you even in this chapter? We don't care about you right now & you're boring without Maki. Goku says it ain't "any old god ki."

I wonder how Goku never knew about this new form if he and Vegeta trained on Beerus Planet together. Ya think he would've sensed and saw it & even wanted to fight against it.

So is this new form a spur of the moment thing? So Vegeta has a new form that he never trained... And he asks if Granolah has been training his new power on page 34... Sounds hypocritical of Vegeta, or he is being thrown a bone to make him look capable. Is Vegeta gonna pull a Golden Freeza by not training this new form? Or maybe a UI Goku at the ToP and lose the form?

Page 43, Granolah shoots tiny ki blasts at Vegeta's tower of flaming ki and he is surprised it did nothing. Why not try again but this time use that one big blast instead. No? Gonna let the guy of the race you hate finish transforming? Just gonna be scared and shocked to make Vegeta look impressive? Ok.

Pages 41, 44, & 45

Oh! Here it is! The new form...! Aaaand I still don't like it. Also, he healed up like Goku did last chapter too. Odd. Why does transforming heal them now? Didn't before.

No build up to make the form more cool, it's just

"Here, Vegeta. Goku has one more form than you do & he has mastered UI, so we can't let you fall too far behind. So I just pulled this crap transformation fresh outa my butt and gave it to you."

Another undeserved handout. Can you please make Vegeta earn a new form in the manga? PLEASE?!

Vegeta looks like he is in his own UI Omen form (like how Vegeta fans begged for Vegeta to get for the longest time). Dark hair with sone lighter coloured higlights, light coloured pupils, new aura. But this is what I see...

SSJ3ROSÉ of DESTRUCTION INSTINCT OMEN (or just "SSJ-ChexMix" for short)

Looks like in the end, Vegeta needed to resort to his own Ultra Instinct equivalent!

Oh no... I criticized Vegeta's bad writing too much! I bet some Vegeta fans are gonna automatically assume that I hate him because I want him to be written better without plotholes! 😱

IN CONCLUSION:

This chapter is good when isolated on its own. But, this chapter is filled with inconsistencies when you look back at previous chapters. Overall, it's... a mixed bag that I barely like. It's just so retarded that Goku had to be dragged through the mud just for Vegeta to look better. That is insulting to Vegeta and it either shows how much he sucks or or how weak the writing for Vegeta is. But we got what we got...

Wanna know how to make Vegeta look good without making Goku look pathetic? Goku never uses MUI! Goku defeats Granolah's clone with SSB. Then, Granolah merges back with his clone & catches SSB Goku by surprise and knocks him out.

Then, the reason why Vegeta seems to be doing better is because Vegeta is using SSBE, unlike SSB Goku who was caught off guard. Why make the MUI form & Goku both look like trash just to give Vegeta his own Ultra (Destructive) Intinct? Is Vegeta really that trash?! 😓😴

I don't wanna see the Heeters anymore. My hype for them died, but maybe a later chapter can make me like them more. Idk.

Where is my homie, Moniato?! 🐌 (BEST CHARACTER OF THE ARC SO FAR!)

Oh yeah...I was supposed to complain about not seeing Freeza again like I do every chapter... Who cares at this point? If Granolah is stronger than Goku & Vegeta, what can Freeza do? Hide for 3 yrs and let Granolah die?

What are my predictions for next chapter? More Vegeta wanking of course. More gloating & looking down on Granolah too. A battle of overinflated egos. Bad dialogue and decent to good art. I'll probably find it mostly boring but I may be surprised (that could be a good or bad thing). Vegeta will appear to be winning before...

Vegeta gets defeated & certain Vegeta fans will rage & be annoying. Those ones will complain about how Vegeta always gets the short end of the deal (that's what he gets for being shorter than Bulma & 12 cm taller than Krillin). This one should happen imo based off of Goku's performance.

Vegeta's fight will get interrupted before the battle ends so that Vegeta fans don't get angry. Make Vegeta fans feel that Vegeta could've won and keep them grasping on to hope. (How manipulative.) This one is most likely to happen to "satisfy" all fans.

Vegeta will win and Vegeta fans will rejoice & some will be very annoying. Despite the fact that he had terrible training, was handed a new form just to stay relevant, and Goku had to underperform & UI had to be nerfed just to make Vegeta look good. This one may happen just to appease Vegeta fans. (That is the worst outcome imo.) If Vegeta gets "a win/a W" against a main villain, make sure his training looks impressive and he has some sort of connection to the main bad guy. That way the victory feels well deserved.

If the final enemy is Freeza, then Vegeta defeating Granolah isn't "a win" against a major villain. Granolah will just be a bump in the road. He's already set up to not be a "bad guy." In the end, the main bad guy will be either Freeza, Gas, 7-3, or someone. Vegeta fans shouldn't care if Vegeta wins or loses against Granolah. He isn't the "final boss."

[hottestthingalive]

Ok, fake tic tittle, cause I love your writing, do with it what you please: “The five times (side) faked their death on purpose, and the one time it wasn't their fault”

Ah, y e s! 

(Cinder from the future here: Sorry this one took so long, anon, I’ve been using these as a sort of reward system for completing school work and I was procrastinating... Hope you enjoy anyways!)

-It’s Roman. It is 110% Roman. 

-DLAMP because he deserves so many boyfriends and so much love, with bonus platonic creativitwins. 

-My ideas for Roman fake-dying are as follows, not necessarily in this order:

-During a performance he’s putting on with the other sides (a musical, maybe?) Roman’s character dies. They all cry. He’s an excellent actor and they’d gotten very attached to both his character and also, yknow, their boyfriend. Patton gives him roses after and tells him how brilliant he was and Roman cries too then. 

-Pretending to die dramatically on the couch when bantering with Jan. “Your words have greviously wounded me, agh, bleh” the whole thing. Janus thinks its adorable, even though he’s simultaneously having this whole conversation with the other sides about “just kicking the body under couch, its fine, we’re imaginary” and roman “resurrects” all offended. 

-Splattering blood all over himself on April Fools and lying down in front of Remus’ room like he was dead (after warning the others so they wouldn’t freak out.) He did it to Remus because he thought his brother wouldn’t care: then Remus is crying over his ‘dead’ body and Roman sits up like “wtf” and then they talk about their feelings and hug it out. 

-Playing dead when sword fighting someone (maybe Virgil? I feel like he’d be great at fighting and stuff, what with fight or flight, and his natural talent would probably be a good match for Roman’s training and skill), falls over and goes very still, Virgil’s like “Roman? Roman?” and leans over to check on him and that’s when Roman ATTACKS and Virgil’s all like “you scared me bad” and Roman’s just gloating that he won. 

-one time for logan’s birthday he sets up this whole murder mystery plot and he’s the mr. body and it’s just very very very silly sherlock holmes-clue shenanigans. The body disappears halfway through and Logan’s having loads of fun figuring it out and Roman appears at the end in the kitchen like “Haha! I faked my death! What do you think of that, Detective?” and then they kiss and have birthday cake and there’s still a picture of them in their little detective/victim outfits over the mantle. 

-and then the + 1.

-angst angst angst~

-So Roman goes off to fight the Dragon Witch in the Imagination. Not an unusual thing. He leaves that morning, sword on his hip, blows kisses to his partners in goodbye, promises to be back by dinner, if not lunch. Remus tells him not to get his butt kicked by the dragon witch, cackling from the couch. Roman flips him off, and then he is gone. 

-He’s not back by lunch, but they think he’s just gotten sidetracked, again. 

-It is only when Roman is still gone by dinner that they get worried. Virgil insists they go looking for him, but if he hadn’t, one of the others would have. They are all worried. 

-(“What if he’s dead?” Remus whispers to Janus, biting his nails frantically. “What if he’s dead, and my last words to him were making fun of him? What if he’s lying alone somewhere, bleeding out in a ditch, being torn apart-”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Janus says firmly. He has always been a liar.)

-It is not the Dragon Witch they find him fighting when they arrive. Rather, it is an army of shadows, faint ideas of villains that must have broken through the barriers between the twins’ Imaginations and encountered the prince instead of the duke, become strong in the passing. The Dragon Witch fights beside Roman, however, and between them, they are just managing to hold their own. 

-They look exhausted. 

-“Roman!” Logan shouts despite himself, so, so relieved to see him alive. Roman turns, distracted for just a moment, but it is enough. 

-And so the prince falls, and the dragon roars, and she is downed not long after.

-Remus screams, and lunges forwards with his morningstar in hand. Later, he would joke he’d seen red, although privately he knows he hadn’t, and that was the problem -- his rose-red brother, his twin, his family, disappeared beneath the creatures which had been nothing more than living shadows in Remus’ realm, empowered by Roman’s fantasies into full-fledged villains before he’d known to stop himself from picturing them as such. 

-Patton has never been so angry before, not that any of them have seen, and his anger makes him strong, his righteous fury fueling him, fighting to avenge his prince. His need to avenge in this place of creation makes him nearly superpowered, his belief in his own ability for vengeance making it possible. 

-Then there is Logan, who has always been able to find the cracks in dreams, who uses the logic of the Imagination against the beings within it. He manipulates the rules so whichever creatures he focuses on are once again shadows, or harmless shapes that float away in the end, or black beetles he crushes underfoot with vicious glee. 

-As for Janus, well, he has long defended Thomas against the horrors of the world with sweet lies, with his own creations that are not quite imaginary but close enough. He too can manipulate the Imagination, but does not find it necessary, instead whirling among his opponents, shifting between forms so quickly it is impossible to pin him down, his shepherd’s crook the only unchanging element of him. 

-And Virgil, Virgil who had vowed to protect all of them with his life a long, long time ago, Virgil who is fast as wind and strikes like lightning, who rages with all the fury of a storm, who knows shadowy villains well, especially the imagined kind, and has always founds them easier to defeat with his family by his side... Well, the army of shadows finds itself battling a hurricane, and they fall at his hand. 

-And when they least expect it (when they are on the verge of defeat, despite all their power, when Remus has lost his morningstar, and Patton has fallen, and Logan is surrounded and cannot unreason them all, Janus halfway between snake and side and entirely exhausted, and the darkness that has long clung to the underside of Virgil’s eyes spread to stain all of his skin and forming a pool around his feet) a sword slashes through the being standing above Patton. 

-“Sorry, hon,” Roman says. He is an absolute mess, bloody and bruised and sporting a black eye, and their prince smiles tiredly, and Patton thinks he has never been more beautiful, for he is alive. It is all over quickly after that. 

“You’re not allowed to do that ever again,” Virgil tells him when they reunite, pulling Roman in a hug and refusing to let him go, and Roman agrees easily. 

-After that, there is no more faking of deaths, purposeful or accidental, in the Mindscape. The walls are eventually brought down between the halves of the Imagination, the Thomassphere permanently changed, and though there are other battles, other wars, Roman always has his family to fight beside him. 

-He wins them all, of course, for he is their prince, their hero, their Roman, and the hero must always live to see the end of their story, and the end of his story is still far, far away.

Ohhhh, that was fun!!! Thank you, anon!

Send me a fake fic title and I’ll tell you what I’d write for it!

[amethystpath-writes]

BTHB Communication Suddenly Cut Off

@badthingshappenbingo

Original work!

Communication Suddenly Cut Off

******

Hero adjusted her shoulder, elbow on the arm of her chair. "No way!" She dropped her spoon into her bowl of cereal. "She actually said that to him?"

On the other end of the line, Friend laughed. "Oh yeah. I don't blame her a single bit! I mean, he was borderline stalking her. You remember when we were at Max & Erma's and he dressed up as a waiter just to see her? Insane."

Picking her spoon back up and shoveling it into her mouth, Hero mumbled a 'Yeah, guess you're right'.

"So what have you been up to? I missed you at the party today. You doing alright?"

Bending forward with legs bent on the cushion, Hero put her bowl on the coffee table in front of her. She grabbed her phone with a hand instead of holding it between her head and shoulder. Hero was cramping enough without having to take up weird body positions.

"I'm alright," she said. "Just exhausted from work, you know?" Exhausted from fighting a villain you hopefully know nothing about.

Friend was silent for a moment. "I get it. It sucks not seeing you though. Maybe we could have a movie night." Her voice pitched at this. "Be exhausted all you want that way. I'll get us some popcorn. And! I'll get the nacho cheese stuff to sprinkle over it!" Hero smiled in her seat. "I'll pick up a few movies from Redbox, too, so we don't have to watch a bunch of oldies. Okay, that's it. That's the plan. Now," Friend hummed then began mumbling, "It's five o'clock and Mom needs eggs from the store. I'll try to be there by-"

The line went fuzzy, a quiet chshhhhhh. "Friend? Hey, you're cutting out." Hero stood from the chair, walking to the window. Maybe there was better reception there? If it was on Friend's end then it didn't matter much, but she could at least try. "Friend? You there?" She pulled the phone away, the screen of her phone lighting up. Hero was on a second call. No name though. Weird. She hung up, or at least tried to. The screen hadn't changed when she tapped the little red phone. Hero tapped it again, but nothing happened.

Next time she tapped the counting timer that told her how long she was on a call with Friend. The phone call returned normally and the other disappeared. She shook her head.

"H-ero? I th-ink-"

Hero cut to the chase. The call wasn't getting any better. "What time?"

Chshhhhhh.

Damnit, Hero thought, and peeked at her phone again. 'Unknown Caller' it read for a second time. "Hello?" she said impatiently. No answer. "Hellooo?" Nothing.

She hit the home screen, tapping the text message icon then tapped on Friend's contact. 'Hey. Phones are acting weird. What time do you think you'll be here?' Hero typed. Hitting send, a red and encircled X appeared. 'Message failed to send' it said below. She touched the X and then touched where it said 'Retry'. The X reappeared. Hero repeated the process once. Twice. Three times. Four. Five. Nothing, nothing, nothing. "What the hell?" Her phone was slow sometimes, but never this bad. "She'll get here when she gets here I guess."

Her phone began to ring just as she tossed it on the couch across the room. Sighing, she went to pick it back up. 'Unknown Caller'. No. If it was important, they could leave a message or text her. Hero didn't pick up from numbers she didn't know, or from numbers that didn't appear on screen. She pushed the lock button on the side of the phone, rejecting the call.

"How rude, rejecting my call."

Hero froze. Her shoulders drew tight, her spine straightened so much that it cramped as badly as when she held her phone with a shoulder. Her jaw clenched and her eyes went wide, staring vacantly at the couch cushion in front of her. Was Hero breathing? If she was, she didn't feel it.

"Won't talk to me on the phone and now not in person either, hm?"

Goosebumps rose along her arms as she heard the villain stepping closer. How had he gotten in? She turned. "How did you find me? Where did you get my information? What else do you know?" Information being both her address and phone number, maybe even her specific phone if he was able to block her communications the way he did.

Villain looked so casual, he always did. You'd never expect him to be a madman who plotted humanity's demise. He looked like a fancy historian; brown pants, black turtleneck, plaid and half buttoned jacket. He had his hands planted in his pants pockets now. Hero still had no idea how he managed to get inside of her apartment.

He chuckled at her uptight-ness. "Can't we just chat for once- for a minute before you question my how-comings and motives?"

"No," Hero responded shortly.

Villain fake-pouted. "How's come? You and your friend seem great. I would love to gossip to you the same way."

Hero rolled her eyes. Her shoulders were still tense, but she was relaxing- not so far that she wasn't prepared, but just enough that she wasn't uptight beyond movement. "You didn't answer me. What else do you know? How did you learn anything about me?"

He smiled at her. "Now that's a fun story. Guess I get to monologue after all."

"Make it short."

"Or what?" He dazzled her with a wider smile, one that showed teeth. Was it just her or were they sharpened? It was just her, definitely just her- and her anxiety, her terror.

Villain strode to the chair Hero had been sitting in just minutes ago. He plopped down, ankle on knee, arms on either side. "Go on," he told her. "Sit."

"Maybe you should stand."

He chuckled without moving. "Darling, I don't think you understand how easy I have been on you. In multiple ways, actually." His eyes fell from her own to the couch behind her. "Sit." Villain looked at Hero again and she swore something changed in his eyes. They almost seemed darker. She obeyed.

"Now, I think you recall that little stalker of your friend?" Hero squinted, but nodded. "Did you know he's able to take up the appearance of anyone he wishes?" He didn't wait for a response. "In that, he's also able to project his own appearance onto bystanders, even control what they would do as him. Very talented, very...mindfully aware."

Hero shook her head. "Where are you going with this?"

He shushed her, softly, as if she was a baby. "He came under my employment about a month ago. Remind me," he said, "how long ago it was that your friend became ill."

Her eyes went wide and she nearly launched from her seat, realizing what he meant. Villain might attack her if she acted out so suddenly though. Hero remained seated.

"What have you done with her?" she demanded. It made sense what he said. Whoever his worker was, he made himself look like Friend 2 then made anyone else appear like him. But where was Friend 2 if she hadn't been with Hero and Friend all along?

"Nothing too dastardly. She isn't starving, but I'm sure she would appreciate a nice chicken dinner."

"And Friend?" she asked, somewhat panicked. Friend was okay, she had to be. Yeah, the phone call ended somewhat abruptly, but that was just because Villain interfered. Beyond that, she was fine, right?

Villain shrugged. "What do you think?"

Her eyes stung with tears she refused to let fall. She shook her head. "Why are you here? What are you doing?"

"Entertaining myself mostly. You're my opponent. I wanted to brag."

"I'll kill you," she swore. "If not tonight, I will find you like you did me, and I'll kill you when I do."

Villain's eyes twinkled from afar. "Cute. Very cute." He laughed heartily. "I told you already that I've been easy on you, right?" Again, he didn't wait for an answer. "I'm here for more than bragging rights. I want you to come with me. I've given you opportunity enough to back down on your own; I'm giving you another now. Come with, or I'll have to force your hand."

Her eyes became squinted and her lip lifted. "I'm sorry?"

"Surrender," Villain said simply. His legs uncrossed and he leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "If you don't I'll take you away forcibly."

Hero huffed a laugh. "As if you could. When have you ever bested me?" In truth, she was terrified. He was being serious, no amusement crossing his features. And the number of times he'd mentioned 'going easy on her'...what if he was telling the truth?

"Try something now then. Lunge at me." His lips were in a straight line. No emotion.

She considered him. Serious. He's serious. Villain was inviting her to attack him. Maybe she should take the opportunity.

Without another thought, she leaped from the couch, ready to tackle Villain, even though he was in a chair. She would have knocked the whole chair back if she could. But, something stopped her, a- a wall of sorts, one that glimmered like a bubble. "What-?" She touched that wall. Her fingers couldn't pass through. Shaking her head, she spun on a heel trying to return to the couch. Unfortunately she ran into another wall. "You're doing this," Hero muttered, facing Villain once again. She swallowed seeing his smile.

"So, you'll come with on your own. Otherwise I can push you along myself, and I think that would be rather humiliating, don't you?"

"This doesn't prove anything. You can push me, but you can't command me."

"Isn't it the same?" Villain sighed seeing Hero's fiery stubbornness. "Fine then. Let's have a little charade." He stood from Hero's chair, face forming into something...something Hero didn't quite understand. "I forgot to grab something to drink before I came here. Do you have something for me to drink, Hero?"

Her lips moved. "Yes, of course, Villain. Let me show you to the kitchen." Her hand flew to her mouth afterward. She hadn't said that. She hadn't said that. Hero's eyes found Villain's.

"Lead the way," he said.

Hero's feet moved on their own, leading the two to her kitchen despite how she tried to resist. She couldn't even feel herself pulling back. There was no resistance except for in her thoughts. She began unwillingly talking again. "There's some water bottles in the bottom right drawer. Fruit punch juice boxes on the left- though my younger cousin will be disappointed when she finds not only me missing, but her juice as well." 'When she finds not only me missing.' So this was how Villain would take her, by commanding her just like she said he couldn't.

What was almost worse was that what Villain made her say was exactly right. Water bottles, bottom right drawer. Fruit punch juice boxes in the left drawer. One of three things could have happened. One, Villain had that stalker, body-switching guy, go through her home while she was gone. Two, Villain himself went through her house while Hero was absent, or when he somehow snuck into her house while simultaneously messing with her phone today. Three, he had access to her mind. The last one would have sounded ridiculous if it weren't for the way Villain was controlling her now.

"You're realizing you have no choice now, aren't you?"

Hero nodded her head. She couldn't tell whether it was her doing it or if Villain was still possessing her. Either way, he was right.

"Why?" she asked. Villain tilted his head. Hero believed he could have gotten his answer if he wanted. Still, she continued, "Why are you doing this? Taking me? Is it not enough that you've taken my friends?"

Her body turned to the exit. She began walking through, walking to the front door of her apartment. They were really leaving. She was going to get sick.

"I'm tired of you fighting is all. It will be much easier to accomplish my goals if I don't have to worry about turning you away every time."

"Then kill me." She swallowed after she said it. Hero didn't really want him to kill her, but she also didn't want to be taken. Villain said Friend 2 was okay, not starving, but would certainly be happier if she was given more. Hero had a feeling she wouldn't be given the same treatment. Villain might actually starve her because of her putting a kink in all of his plans, for not surrendering when she was given multiple chances to.

"Am I really so awful to be around?" Villain asked behind her as she led the way to the elevators. "I should think my style makes up for any unpleasantness. This jacket was bought yesterday. I'm rather dashing in it, aren't I?"

Just as unwillingly as before, Hero said, "Yes, very."

******

Requests are accepted!

[supercantaloupe]

The issue with Rent is that people treat it like a completed musical when it wasn't. Larson died the day before previews started and it's well known how much shows change in previews. Stupid things like the amount of telephone calls used to move the narrative along would've been cut and it would've been a more rounded show. 1/2

This is also why Rent the movie is better than Rent the musical, because the movie understood the plot holes and inconsistencies and fixed most of them to make it a more viewable musical 2/2

Of course this doesn't change the fact that intrinsically Rent is meant for a certain audience, and if you're not part of that audience you won't get it as much. But it did have potential to be better than the shitshow we got

i think i have to disagree with you, anon. while you bring up a great point -- that larson died before previews and thus the musical can hardly be considered ‘completed’ like other off/broadway shows are -- i don’t think that the movie is much better than the stage show, and i don’t think that, had larson lived to change the show past previews, it would’ve been that much better. certainly some things may have been, but there’s no guarantee that the changes made will actually improve things (there are definitely other cases of this), and i also think that Rent’s entire premise is perhaps flawed a bit too far past redemption.

from the standpoint of the film, i don’t think it’s really better than the stage show. cutting music in adaptation is fine as a concept but it should be motivated, and i think they cut too much out for the film that made the show a lot drabber of a watch. i also think they cut a lot of the music because the filmmakers just...didn’t know how to film musical numbers, which...why make a movie musical in the first place? sure, it comes down to personal preference whether you like things like the frequent telephone call numbers or not; personally, i like ‘em, but turning them into just talking scenes doesn’t make them stand out as either interesting or important in the film. 

i do think, for the most part, the music numbers are where Rent shines. i like what Larson wrote, and i think they’re effective (for the most part. Your Eyes still sucks and it’s hilarious). like i said, i personally like the voicemails; i’m not saying you have to, but they serve a narrative purpose. furthering your plot through song is a great way to make even small moments feel bigger, more important, and more memorable; not to mention this is the hallmark of the book musical as a format. if you’re not going to further your plot through song, just write a play.

what makes Rent suck, in my opinion, has a lot more to do with the plot and characters itself. it’s an adaptation of La Boheme, so i guess you could try to argue that my grievances stem from the opera, but...adaptation sickness. some things get lost in translation. first of all, the characters in Rent are unlikeable assholes; characters in shows are certainly allowed to be assholes, but at least one or a few of them should be likeable. what do they actually stand for, besides a vague and shapeless ‘revolution?’ the text doesn’t give an answer. they’re just whining about...bohemian ideals, i guess? (this is probably why the show is so popular with so many people. it romanticizes the notion of protest but doesn’t give a cause to fight for, which makes it really easy to allign oneself with. early performative activism!) and the substanceless activism of the main characters is especially heinous when it’s directly in juxtaposition with other really important causes that they could be campaigning for -- namely, the AIDS crisis and homelessness. both of which are presented as being pretty central to the main characters’ conflicts and to the ensemble of new yorkers (which was largely cut from the film, for better or for worse.). should the homelessness crisis have been cut in previews? maybe. maybe Rent was spread too thin trying to address both huge issues at once, and struggled to address either adequately as a result. but we’ll never know, because the show is unfinished, and never saw authorial edits in previews. i don’t really think that this would have saved the show, though. 

at its core, Rent is an adaptation of La Boheme; that was Larson’s foundational concept. in doing so, he substituted AIDS for tuberculosis. i think this could work, in theory, but there is a major difference between TB in the 19th century and AIDS in the 20th. if you got TB in the victorian age, no one could really help you. we didn’t have the robust systems of medicine and pharmaceuticals like we do now. in the 1980s, not only did we have treatments for AIDS, we also had a government that actively refused to provide said treatment to the infected and the vulnerable. that’s why the AIDS crisis was a crisis, and that’s why millions of people died. the AIDS crisis was not just a health crisis but a political one, too, which is the biggest difference between it and TB from a narrative function standpoint. Rent translates TB to AIDS directly without compensating for the very important and very different contexts between them. Rent turned AIDS into a tragedy without a perpetrator, which is false and unfair. Rent is a show about activism and revolution yet refuses to acknowledge and protest against the power structures that are the active causes and opponents of the issues that the main characters actually face. 

for more information, on both why the narrative of Rent and the filmmaking of the movie adaptation struggle, i’d recommend checking out youtuber Lindsay Ellis’ video essay on the subject. 

Rent reaches a wide variety of audiences and attracts a wide variety of fans (whether they are the show’s ‘target demographic’ or not), for a number of reasons -- some i think are good (like the music), some i think aren’t (see above). if you like Rent, great! i’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t. at one point, i certainly did, too. but i don’t now, and i hope i’ve done a decent job at explaining why here.

[dreamwatchpro-wrestling]

Dreamwatch Blood Crown Tournament Night 1 (Match 8)

Beast vs Yamato Ryukawa

This match in a way was the oddest match of the first round, while simultaneously it was also the most mundane. Ryukawa definitely trained for this tournament though, busting out some solid ground work and a very nice new leglock that he took advantage of in this match. Beast on the other hand... Was Beast. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, Beast is cool and popular and does nice moves in the ring, but he just lost his belt. To me, its clear that just being Beast isn't good enough, and he needs to improve himself in some way to keep up with everyone that's managing to evolve. That being said, Beast still looked amazing in this match. Beast has a sort of natural power to him that allows him to throw around any opponent, Ryukawa included. Belly-to-back suplexes, karelin lifts, Beast was looking to turn Ryukawa into paste with his suplexes. Ryukawa, though, was looking to win. Displaying some signature Ryukawa offense with his leg work and even his Twisting Complete Shot which was surprising to see him pull out in this kind of match. Ryukawa also displayed some new offense that seemed tailored to the tournament and gave him an awesome edge, breaking down Beast's legs but also doing some high impact damage with his suplexes. Beast had nothing that could compete with Ryukawa's gameplan, and by the end I think everyone could see it. Ryukawa wrapped this match up with a running dropkick to keep Beast down. He knew Beast couldn't guard himself from it, and Beast couldn't get up from it either. Ryukawa moves on to the next round.

Ryukawa: I feel like I have a lot to think about, right now. In all honesty, my mind hasn't been able to stop thinking about Ewan Jacobs and how he came to one of our shows and disrespected wrestling without me being able to confront him. There are some guys that have had MMA training in this tournament, and I want to beat them so I can be prepared to defeat him and look down on him like he tried to look down on us. During that match though... Beast. I'm not a smart guy, wrestling is literally all I know, but something about Beast right now feels... Off, or dissapointing, maybe. I don't really know. I can only really fix things with wrestling so I figured I would just let him throw me around and respond with my own big moves so we can hype each other up. I got pretty pumped there, but I felt like I couldn't get Beast's heart to be in it. The referee had more life than him. I don't really know what's going on with him but he's not doing all that bad in Dreamwatch. He's popular with people, that should be enough to give him some strength. Maybe not. I'm not a psychoanalyst, though, I've got more matches to win. I think I face Katagiri in round 2... I didn't expect us to meet again so soon but I'm 100% ready for him. I wasn't that far from beating him last time and I'm better now than I was then. I know he's a great competitor, so I hope our next fight will be better than our last. I feel like I'm going to say its better if I win... So I have to win *laughs*]

--

Beast: *Beast sits silently staring at a wall*

everyone, I feel like I should talk to you about two people. Let me tell you about Beast. Beast, is a strong, larger than life, memorable competitor. Beast is someone that's been on a lot of Dreamwatch shows because the fans seem to like and remember him. Beast doesn't always win or dominate every match, but when you watch him you'll get your money's worth. You probably didn't need me to say that, you're all familiar with Beast. Now let me tell you about someone very close to Beast.

You've never heard of his man, but his name is Steve Warner. You could call him the man behind the Beast. Beast will live forever, Steve Warner will not. Steve Warner is someone that looks at what he's put so much of his time and health into and has realized that he's really mostly gotten disappointment out of it. He doesn't want to admit that he isn't good enough, he doesn't want to admit that he's been wasting his time, but he doesn't have to say it out loud for him to firmly believe this fact. With disappointment after disappointment, a Beast can continue to fight and press forward, a man... A real person, breaks down. Is it worth it to even continue? Should Steve stop and give up on his dream? I don't have an answer for that, I just figured you'd want to know about... About Steve. That's all I think. Yeah, that's all.

Beast does not answer questions and he instead walks off.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hello! So, I read your last musing, about Oscar's most powerfuls spell, and it made me realise one thing: in the old Remnant, everyone could cast magic from their hands, but Ozma used a cane for it. Do you think that he may have been handicapped? Maybe he wasn't as connected to the world magic as much as others and he needed to use a medium. We know that he used a cane because he didn't believe in aggression, but what if it was also a sort of magic prosthesis?

Hey Yellow. Ironically that’s something I noticed too to after I finished posting my last Pinehead headcanon. Thus far, Ozma and essentially all of his successors are the only ones who used an object as a conduit to channel their magic

As to why, I’m not sure. I do like your concept of Ozma originally being magically handicapped than other magi from First Remnant. But since you also mentioned the tidbit about Ozma (and technically all the Wizards) preferring to use a sceptre/cane as their weapon of choice as it’s less lethal, it’s making me consider a different new headcanon about Ozma. Here me out:

What if…in his youth, Ozma was a completely different person.

When we were first introduced to his character, he was described as man who fought for righteousness and the people. But what if …this wasn’t always Ozma’s personality? What if …Ozma used to be the complete opposite of who we met him as during his younger teenaged years? Probably when he was roughly around the same age as Oscar is presently.

Since First Remnant was described to be home to kings and queens, what if… Ozma was possibly a young prince in his time. This could be a small little nod to his Oz counterpart of the same name who was a princess. But despite being of noble blood, imagine if…Ozma was rather spoilt and selfish in his youth, caring very little for others which was inclusive of the very people who lived within his family’s kingdom.

And because of this lack of empathy towards his fellow man, Ozma would often abuse his powers. Let’s say…rather than being magically handicapped, Ozma was quite talented in the mystical arts but lacked proper disciple as well as the patience to learn how to properly control it.

Since ‘arrogant’ was a word once used by Cinder Fall (as propagated by Salem) when describing Ozpin; as Ozpin is the current version of Ozma’s soul, perhaps in his past Ozma was very supercilious to a detrimental fault.

Picture…a fourteen-year-old Ozma, crowned prince of a kingdom devastated by poverty and ruled by greed, being the type of cocky adolescent whose vanity was only outmatched by his lack of self-control in using his own abilities.Like imagine Young Ozma being the type to walk around proclaiming that he was the greatest magi in all the land because of his abilities, having come from along line of powerful witches and wizards on both sides of his family.

Picture…Ozma being the type to cockily challenge others to a duel of might and magic since he’s arrogant enough in his abilities to know that he’s strong enough to wipe the floor with any opponent (or so he believes) whether his opponent was willing to participate or not. As a matter of fact, picture a scene where Ozma is training with his royal tutor using servants as his sparring partners. However Ozma keeps disobeying his master’s orders and going overboard with his magic to easily win his matches since the boy is fully aware that his lesser magically incompetent servants can’t put up much of a fight against.

Pretty soon the easy wins start to bore Ozma and he demands a proper challenge; to which one servant responds that there are no more servants for Ozma to fight since he’s beaten most of them while the rest were to scared to face him. Ozma then challenges his tutor to a duel claiming that since he was such a so-called powerful warlock then he’d be provide the challenge Ozma craved. At the first the tutor refused Ozma’s challenge after acknowledging the destruction and pain he had caused he past targets. However when Ozma begins mocking his tutor and belittling his abilities, he finally conceded for a chance to teach Ozma a much needed lesson.

Long story short, the tutor, of course, wipes the floor with Ozma much to the astonishment of the feeble spectators who all rushed to help their beaten prince. However Ozma wasn’t finished. Despite the tutor voicing that the match was won in his favour, the humiliating defeat angers Ozma to the point that he loses control of his magic, unintentionally summoning a much darker power which he unfortunately unleashes upon his tutor.

Of course the tutor masterfully dodges Ozma’s attack only for it to collide with the ceiling of the training room, causing debris to cave down on top a pair of servants caught in the crossfire.  

This of course badly wounds both of them and Ozma is genuinely stunned at what he had done. You ever noticed how Salem is mostly the only magic we’ve seen to use dark magic whereas Ozma (and the Wizards) don’t? I’d like to think that dark magic by RWBY terms stems from the power of destruction derived from the God of Darkness. 

I’d also like to think that in his youth, Ozma learned just how devastating such type of magic could prove in the wrong hands, in more ways than one. 

Anyways, as the injured servants are whisked away and as Ozma was still recovering from the shock of using the forbidden dark magic, his astonishment is short-lived as he was suddenly pulled aside to be scolded by his tutor, infuriated for his behaviour and his sudden misuse of the dark arts.

This in turn only serves to further annoy Ozma as he claps back at the older warlock, threatening to have his father—the king—behead the man for so much as daring to speak back to him in such a manner. As a bold reminder, Ozma even tells the tutor wizard that he was a servant of his kingdom and as a servant of his kingdom, he bows down to Ozma. And as you might expect, this threat causes the tutor wizard to resign as both Ozma’s mentor and a servant of his kingdom; joining the rest that came before him.

I’d like to think of Ozma being such a poor student that he racks up mentors faster than the servants can find one willing enough to take the job. Beside I like the satire of Ozma formerly being a pretty terrible student in his first life as compared the humble teacher he comes to be in later lives. 

Both as Professor Ozpin and his predecessor—the King of Vale since he founded the huntsmen academies and I’m still holding onto my hunch that the Warrior King—King Phadrig as I dubbed him—trained the very people who fought under him during the First Great War; including Great-Grandpappi Arc ( Jaune’s ancestor) according to my theories.

I know these theories more or less paint a different and less likeable version of the Ozma we know, but again hear me out again. To me, I find characters who start off being one way and slowly evolving into another way kind of fascinating to follow.

Like for example, a story about a timorous street cop, who desired to be promoted to detective but was a pushover for most of his career, slowly transforming to become the most intimidating crime bosses in the city; using his previous experience and knowledge from working in the force to outsmart his previous peers. It was originally meant to be an undercover gig that the cop wanted to use as means to rise in the ranks and finally achieve respect from his fellow cops who would look down on him. But what it leads into is a narrative that makes the audience question whose side this cop character really is many times throughout his arc as he does shady things that makes you wonder where his loyalty lies. Is he still the good cop working to stop the criminals or has hereally switched sides finding the life of a vicious crime lord his true calling since it brought him the satisfaction and respect he always craved?  Doesn’t thatsound like a compelling character to follow?

Or, in the case of my small theory here, picture a hero’s journey  about anarrogant little prince who cared very little for others outside the family thatspoiled him rotten ultimately growing up to become one of the most virtuousheroes in all the land whose chivalry and devotion to protecting mankind endsup transcending time and history.

The beginning and end stories are such a stark contrast that you’re left wondering how on earth did said character come to be so different in the end, thus lending to the ongoing intrigue of watching the chapters that contributed to this change. You’re left interested in following along to see how the storyreaches this ending in a sense, if you get what I mean.

That and I also like the juxtaposition of Ozma formerly being one of the worse students imaginable in the younger years of his first life but ultimately growing to become a humble man who now passes down his years of knowledge to guide others.

Anyways, let’s continue with the theory idea:

So Ozma is boy who desires to be great like his family but lacks the patience to be one as well as earn the respect of a mentor willing to teach him to be the person he desires to be. At least, not until Ozma meets someone— an old, wise nomadic wizard hailing from a faraway land unknown who ultimately became theperson who changed Ozma’s life forever. For the sake of this headcanon of mine, I’m going to dub this old wizard as Merlin; and going off the name alone you can probably tell or ready where I’m going with this.

Now let’s say, in a land of powerful magi blessed by the Gods there was one fabled to be the most powerful wizard in all of First Remnant—believed to have descended from the First Man created by the Brother Gods.

But in spite of being this legendary mage, no one knew anything of this true identity. Each legend spoke differently but they all shared one common detail—a mystical staff that was said to be the weapon of the legendary mage believed to have been bestowed him by the Gods themselves. Or something like that.

There was not a single child born into First Remnant who didn’t grow up hearing the legendary stories of the nameless great and powerful wizard. Among them was Ozma but he always believed the tales were all hogwash. Glamourous fairy tales of one powerful wizard who travelled the world using his magic to aid others in need yet no one has ever seen him before? How ridiculous, were the thoughts of a teenage Ozma.

And the fact about him fighting with a staff when magic is available by the mere snap of one’s finger just made the stories even less enticing to the boy’s ear ears.

Now in Ozma’s kingdom, like I said, there was this bum—as Ozma referred to him. He wasn’t actually a bum. He was in fact a humble nomad proclaiming to hail from a land far away—a land of light as he described and his travels eventually brought him to Ozma’s kingdom.

The only reason Ozma addressed him as a bum was because the strange newcomer’s attire matched the lower class that lined the streets of his kingdom in droves making the stranger blend right in.

Let’s say…poverty was quite rampart in Ozma’s kingdom since the kingdom royals—his family— did very little to help its citizens and they raised their son to do the same. But this bum—the nomad— peeked Ozma’s interest.

From his home, Ozma would always observe the man.  Each day the bum would perform the same routine—come into the kingdom from his temporary abode outside in the forest, sit in the same spot, pretend to accidentally drop a couple of lien into the hands of the starving poor folk who needed it (or perform some other type of good deed) and when the day was done, he would return quietly to the forest from whence he crawled out of only to return again the next day.He was a strange one, as Ozma would often say to himself but in a strange way, Ozma couldn’t help but be oddly fascinated by said man. 

Who was he anyways? 

The most interesting thing about the man is that he carried a strange sceptre. Ozma always found the sceptre to be the most outlandish thing about the bum since it contradicted with everything else about him.

To fast-forward this idea a bit, let’s say—one day, another kingdom attacked Ozma’s under the pursuit of conquering his throne. 

Unfortunately they succeeded. In the span of a single night, Ozma lost everything he once knew. His family. His home. His crown and dignity as the royal heir. He almost even lost his life when the assailants came after him. In spite of fleeing into the forest, Ozma eventually found himself cornered on a lonely bridge suspended over a deep canyon. 

Outnumbered, injured and outmatched, Ozma was like a rat trapped in a maze and it’s not like his magic was enough to help him this time. His lack of trainingin control of his powers came back to haunt him as he was easily overpowered by the more experienced assailants.

One of the attackers even resorted to using dark magic to restrain Ozma, twisting his body with the malicious intent of killing him slowly. But in his moments of pain, to the young boy’s astonishment he is rescued by an unlikely saviour.

It was the bum who arrived to protect Ozma from the assailants. And that’s not even the most surprising part, the bum was also a magi. But not just any magi. He was the great and powerful wizard of legend: Merlin the Myth.

I know that Merlin is the legendary sorcerer derived from Arthurian Legend. So imagine if there was a RWBY character inspired by him who played a pinnacle role in Ozma’s Origin story and was the man who made him into the champion of justice we know he came to be?

I know it’d probably be more in character to have Ozma start off as the type of eager hero archetype willing to fight for the people, as we saw with our main RWBY heroine: Ruby Rose.

However, as I;ll say again I like the contrast of Ozma coming from privilegedbeginnings governed by greed and selfishness only to ultimately change to become a better man  as a result of all the life changing experiences he endured during his youth while attaining the companionship and guidance of an old soul who left a lasting impression on him.

I like the idea of Ozma formerly being a spoiled prince who initially started to go down a path of revenge when his family is murdered by another kingdom that conquered his own. I like the idea of Ozma being taken under the wing by a legendary yet kind wizard who genuinely saw good and greatness in him and wanted to help him in some way.

Using this idea, imagine young Ozma practically begging Merlin to be his mentor upon learning that the legends about him were real. Picture Ozma boldly demanding that Merlin teach him how to become a powerful magi like him for the sake of returning to his conquered kingdom and slaughtering the people who took it from him out of revenge for what they did to him and his family.

Unfortunately Merlin wasn’t having any of that and refused to teach Ozma at all if his intentions were to use his teachings for harming others. It is only when Ozma agreed to Merlin’s way that the old sage took him in with a smile.

(Side Note: If I also had to depict Merlin the Myth, I’d picture him something like this image above while sometimes adopting an animal form in the shape of a brown owl or white owl. A lot of the images and art I find on Merlin have him featured with an owl of some kind.  

Since we know magic in RWBY can be used to turn people into animals, perhaps Merlin used his to shape-shift into an owl and that’s how he traveled from place to place and explains why no one could ever saw his face. He’d always transform and fly off before they could. Just an idea).

Resuming: Since Ozma was desperate for Merlin to teach him, he agrees to temporarily abandon his vendetta for the sake of learning from Merlin. However, truth be told Ozma had merely lied to Merlin so that he would provide him what he needed.

The boy still hungered for vengeance and when Merlin learnt this, he told Ozma that if revenge was his path then there was nothing he could teach him that will be of benefit to him. Enraged by the old wizard’s words, Ozma storms off and attempts his vendetta anyways.

Using what little he had learnt from Merlin, he returned to his kingdom and tried to stage a one-man attack. Ozma had planned to singlehandedly take back his throne by killing the new king and his family just like what he had done to him and his.

However, what made Ozma stop in his tracks is when he soon realized that the new conquerors had young children—four innocent little princesses who were absolutely oblivious to what their father—the king—had done.

In order for Ozma to enact his revenge, it would mean taking the lives of these four girls. In spite of his anger clouding his judgement. In spite of every fibre in his body screaming at him to defend his family’s honour, Ozma…couldn’t do it.

So basically Ozma fails in his vendetta. He believes he is done for when he is caught by the new king. But to Ozma’s surprise, Merlin appears and comes to his aid a second time.

In a nutshell, Merlin protects Ozma and when questioned by the young boy about why he came back for him, Merlin simply replied that despite his impulsive, bratty behaviour—the old soul could still tell that there was a kind heart behind it. In spite of only knowing Ozma for a short time, Merlin was willing to place his fate in the more honest soul he saw in him. 

In Merlin’s eyes, he believed that Ozma was destined for greatness. All he needed was proper guidance. Sure he was more than a little rough around the edges but in time, Ozma could be great if he was willing to put in the work to becoming a better person. Perhaps even the type that others could even call a hero.

Ozma scoffs at the very thought of it .Him? A hero? Impossible. He wasn’t even a prince anymore. He had no crown. No kingdom. His own people didn’t even miss him, not like he had ever given them reason to. Ozma was a nobody now and from here, where was he supposed to go? Who was he supposed to be now moving forward?

That’s when Merlin would prompt him with the statement, “Well that’s what you get to figure out. This is your chance to decide your path, young Oz. Your future. You think you lost everything but in actuality, you’ve been given a tremendous opportunity.”

“For what?” Ozma would ask.  

“To start over,” Merlin replied optimistically, “begin a new leaf. Before you believed you had to abide by a destiny that was handed to you from birth. Now, you get to decide it for yourself. To forge your own path and decide the type of man you want to be in time.”

 “But how am I supposed to do that?” Ozma would then inquire, “I am a prince without a crown or kingdom and a child without a family. I’m just…a boy. How am I supposed to do anything now?

 “…Well I never said you have to figure it out right now,” Merlin would reply casually, “and I never said you would be going forward alone either.”

Basically in a nutshell, Merlin agrees to give Ozma a second chance. He agrees to stay by his side and continue training him as his mentor; so long as Ozma gives up his vendetta entirely and devote himself to

And this time, Ozma agrees after realizing finally, that regaining his kingdom was a lost cause.What would even be more interesting is if the reason why Ozma came to this conclusion is because he came to the startling realization that he and his family were in fact the bad guys in all of this. Ozma’s family were tyrants who treated their people like garbage. Ozma used to notice it but at the time, he never cared much for it since at the time he was raised to turn a blind eye to these things. It would be an interesting twist if the new conquerors were good people. Another kingdom who learnt of Ozma’s family tyranny and decide to conquer it in order to help the people who were suffering. Now the people were happy with its new rulers.

Consider it a stained victory—one where neither side is black nor white.  They’re each right and wrong in their actions and their reactions to the given circumstance. A starving kingdom was finally freed and living in prosperity under the reign of better, compassionate rulers. However at the same time, an innocent child lost his family in cold blood shed and has his life nearly taken by these same people.

I dunno if that makes a lick of sense at all. I just like the idea of it. I kind of like the idea of Ozma abandoning his title as prince upon learning the truth about his kingdom and what his family used to really do. After that, he was taken in by Merlin who practically raised him like a surrogate father. Together, the two travelled Remnant Merlin mentoring young Ozma on the ways and disciples of how to be a proper powerful magi through righteous rather than sheer talent alone or something like that.

It is through Merlin’s teachings where Ozma learnt the reason as to why he chooses to fight with a sceptre. RWBY has described the Long Memory as being very special to Ozma and essentially all the Wizards that came after him. Through the Lost Fable, we got a sense this is the case since as fans saw from the episode, the sceptre has been with Ozma since his first lifetime.

What was even more interesting is that even after he died the first time, even Salem still held onto the staff. I’d like to think that during their time together, Ozma must’ve told Salem the history behind his signature staff and why he held onto it for so long which in turn contributed to Salem cherishing it after Ozma’s death since it was the last thing she had of him.

I also found it pretty interesting how Salem even held onto the staff after humanity had been restored, after she had become corrupted by the Grimm Pools of Darkness. Not only has the Long Memory sustained time with Ozma (and essentially his descendants) but also with Salem pre-Ozma reincarnation. Wouldn’t been interesting if this somehow lent to the magic within the sceptre. 

Like imagine if…the Long Memory was a mystical archive that secretly stored memories from Ozma and all of his lifetimes which is inclusive even of the time he spent with Salem—from the time he met her, to their travels, to the day he died to even before when Salem had the sceptre in her possession and Ozma was able to learn from the cane of Salem’s loneliness, depression and anger after losing him. Or…something like that. Mostly spit balling here.

Once upon a time, I shared a theory about the Long Memory being Ozma’s cherished weapon because it was a gift to him by someone very important from his past. At first, I pegged it had been given to him by the original Four Maidens during his lifetime as the Hermit.

Mind you, this was pre-V6. Eventually I settled on the theory that the weaponwas given to Ozma by an old relative/ mentor who helped him become the man he was.

I figured the Long Memory was either made for Ozma by his old mentor or passed down to him after he set out to start his own journey. To add an extra layer of sentimentality to the Long Memory, I thought it would be nice if the weapon originally belonged to Ozma’s past mentor who then gave it to him upon completing his training as a sign that he was ready. For me, I kind of like the concept of Ozma inheriting his master’s weapon as a symbol of his growth into an outstanding magi, not to mention the everlasting bond he shared with his mentor.

A passing of the torch, so to speak.

Plus it’ll add more significance to the weapon being called the Long Memory having been passed down from Ozma’s former mentor him to him and eventually he passed it on to his next incarnates. This is where I going with the idea of a Merlin-character in RWBY for Ozma’s Origins.

Resuming my theory concept, if a Merlin-inspired character did exist in Ozma’s past, then I like the thought of this character training Ozma fromsince he was a very young teenager; fulfilling the role of the gentle sagewhose wisdom and guidance aided Ozma throughout his life well into his adultyears.

And even after Ozma was forced to depressingly part ways with said mentor (like perhaps he passed away by the time Ozma was older), the lessons and fond memories he shared with his man stayed with and still continue to guide him in some sense after all this centuries.

I like the idea of Ozma transforming from the snobbish boy he used to be to becoming a righteous soul by the time he was a man all through the teachings of the old soul who never lost fate in him and stood with him through thick and thin.

I really like the idea of a Merlin-esque wise old mentor character raising and loving Ozma like a son. And by the time Ozma was finally ready tostart his own journey, Merlin was ready to live this world on the peace of mindthat he had lived long enough to see Ozma grow up into a great young man.

Then following his mentor’s death, Ozma inherited his iconic weapon choosing to fight with it as a means of carrying on his mentor’s legacy in a way. This could add another layer as to why the Long Memory is special to Ozma. Not only was it his weapon but it was also the weapon shared by the kind-hearted old soul who shaped him into the champion he became. I like the idea of the Long Memory not only being symbolic of the memories Ozma shared with his fellow Wizards during their lifetimes. It’s not even symbolic of the years he spent with Salem.

No I’d to think that in addition to these memories, the Long Memory additionally chronicles the memories Ozma shared with the man who trained him. It is a memoir of the times they shared together, journeying, training, living, laughing. More than that, the Long Memory is also a remnant of that mentor since he has wielded it since it he was around Ozma’s age. It was the weapon that Merlin’s mentor trained him with and it is also the same weapon that Merlin used to pass his lessons onto Ozma.

The Long Memory is special to Ozma since it’s something he shares not just with his successors but also the man who was essentially like a second father to him. His hero and it’s his way of remembering him always no matter how many lives he’s lived.

Or…y’know, something to that liking XD This doesn’t necessarily need to happen for Ozma’s story. I mean, Ozma doesn’t really need to have his own mentor. However, since part of his reincarnation cycle does involve his past self imparting guidance onto his present self, it’d be interesting if that ties back to Ozma’s history. I dunno. It’s just an idea XD

And…yeah, I believe that’s all folks. That’s my answer. Sorry if this response turned out longer and took longer than usual to edit and submit. Nevertheless, I hope it was at least enough to actually answer your question, Yellow. I know I deviated from what you originally asked me but let me know what you think if you can. Until then, as always, take care.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)  

[oumakokichi]

After reading so much of ur metas about how Ouma isn't evil and is very caring and empathic, I forgot something. Ouma sees the killing game as a, well game right? But I'm not sure why or if that's really true. If anything, due to his hatred against killing, wouldn't he be the one most against seeing the killing game as an actual game? And wasn't it stated that Ouma was the first character to see the killing game as an actual game? Idk why this but that feels important.. or maybe it's not?

This is a really good point to bring up anon, and a greatquestion! If it seems like Ouma’s stance as a whole on the killing game andgames in general is a bit contradictory, it’s because… well, it is!

Ouma is a pretty contradictory character overall. Ratherthan being solely a “good person” or a “bad person,” he’s a well-intentionedperson aiming to end the killing game but willing to do extremely morallyquestionable things in order to do so. He claims he “hates jokes and lies” onseveral occasions, yet at the same time embraces them and in fact needs “gentle lies” in order to cope withthe harshness of reality. Considering that almost the entirety of his design ispresented in “blacks” and “whites,” it’s highly ironic that he himself as acharacter is largely morally grey.

He does view the killing game as a game to be played andwon. Kodaka also did confirm that he’s the first character in the series to doso. And yet, it’s also true that he resents the suffering and killing he andhis classmates are subjected to, and hates the audience and the ringleader bothfor getting off to it all. This discrepancy is something that’s alluded to insome of the earlier chapters, and is shown the most prominently in Chapters 4and 5, with his whole “I’m the big evil ringleader” speech.

A large part of it boils down to the rift between the façadeOuma wears in front of his classmates, and his true feelings and intentionsabout things. In-game, there’s rarely a moment we see him with his façade loweredentirely. Even when he does put his act on hold for a few moments, or let a fewglimpses show of what he’s thinking, it’s largely because he knows the othercharacters will just think he’s lying anyway (and something Kodaka knew theplayers would think, too).

That façade is something Ouma wears very deliberately, likea mask, in order to pursue his objectives. A lot of his dialogue even early onheavily implies that he’s not having nearly as much fun as he pretends to,despite claiming to enjoy the killing game so much. One of the NISAlocalization lines that I really enjoyed from Chapter 1 so far was the linewhere he advises Saihara to just “hit the reset button on his feelings” inorder to be “happy and cheerful” again. The line stood out to me quite a lotconsidering Chapter 5 already all but confirms Ouma was pretty much beating hisreal feelings down with a stick while pretending to enjoy himself immensely thewhole time.

There’s also his speech in Chapter 2, when Saihara asks himwhy he had Gonta capture them all and bring them to his lab. He goes on a longrant about how games should “only be played in hard mode,” and how he “doesn’tuse the run-away option ever in an RPG.” He states pretty much word for wordthat he doesn’t just want to make it through the killing game, he wants to completelyovercome it and win (I think the localization went with “crush it,” which isalso pretty good).

He also drops quite a few other hints in this speech, includingthe fact that “death games like this are impossible to clear unless you makeyourself get excited about them.” He also says that he figured there was “nopoint in complaining,” so he decided to “look on the bright side and have funwith it.” This pretty much summarizes a lot of his mindset pre-Chapter 4, in myopinion. He very decidedly wanted to put an end to the killing game pretty muchfrom the start—and he also decided to try tackling it as a game in order topsych himself up about it.

The flashback scenes Momota provides in the Chapter 5post-trial also confirm that Ouma’s decision to view the whole situation as agame was little more than a coping mechanism in order for him to continuemaking progress. He directly states that it was “a lie he had to tell himself,or else he couldn’t have survived.”

Ndrv3 deals heavily with the idea of “lies” that eventually “become”reality as long as everyone believes they’re true. As a result, I think Ouma’s “lie”to himself was at least half-parts true. While he did hate killing andsuffering, and while he did want the killing game to end, I think theredefinitely was a part of him that enjoyed the hurdles and challenges of thekilling game from a game theory perspective.

His ability to maneuver strategically and treat things as agame is one reason I’m still fairly convinced his real talent might besomething along the lines of SHSL Chessmaster, or some variation anyway.Considering his design (the scarf especially), his name (made up of thecharacters for “King” and “Horse”), the emphasis Kodaka put on him as someonewho thinks of things in terms of “games,” and the fact that his ability to readand guess his classmates’ behaviors and dialogue reads very similarly toguessing an opponent’s move in a game, all signs point to the fact that he did,to some degree, think of things in very logical, practical terms. Again, thisis an extremely contradictory point to his very empathetic side, and is part ofwhat makes him all the more complex as a character.

In the Chapter 2 trial, Ouma has yet another speech that’spretty enlightening about his behavior, particularly when it comes to hisparanoia and way of viewing the killing game. He states that “in order toexpose a liar, you have to corner them psychologically”—it’s clear to see thenthat he definitely was playing the game by trying to read his opponents’ movesand putting himself in their shoes. This kind of chessboard thinking is yetanother common part of his game theory mindset; it’s exactly what he does lateron, trying to expose the ringleader by pretending to be the ringleader and forcing them to make a mistake with theirlies.

By Chapter 4, after forcing Miu and Gonta to die in order toavoid dying himself (and in order to avoid everyone else getting killed in theclass trial), I do think Ouma was extremely disgusted with that part ofhimself, however. What had seemed like a dangerous but maneuverable game forthe first few chapters became all-around horrible for everyone involved when hewas forced to stain his hands. Knowing that he and DICE were morally againstkilling makes the fact that he saw no other recourse in Chapter 4 other than tosacrifice two lives all the more striking—particularly when he has anopportunity to do the same exact thing to Momota and Maki both in Chapter 5 butopts to die willingly instead, unable to bring himself to make those kinds ofsacrifices a second time.

Ouma’s villain speech in the Chapter 4 post-trial reads withquite a lot of self-loathing on a reread. It’s hard not to look at his lineabout how he’s “someone who enjoys watching people suffer for no reason” andsee that he’s drawing more than a few similarities with himself and the killinggame audience that he hates so much. In forcing himself to act the part of thevillain, he was very well aware by that point that he had crossed too manylines to be uncrossed, and felt, in his opinion at least, that he was no betterthan the ringleader that he was trying to stop.

To sum it all up, he’s a huge mess of walking contradictionsfrom start to finish. He’s both shrewd and clumsy, analytical and childish,self-sacrificing and annoyingly bratty and self-serving. It’s very true that hedoes view the killing game through the lens of a much bigger game overall,which is one of the many things that helps him catch on to the fact that it’sall supposed to be a show for an audience to view much, much earlier thananyone else. He’s definitely able to think of even his classmates in terms of “pawns”or “sacrifices” to be made, as Chapter 4 shows���but it’s just as true that hedeeply resented this part of himself whenever those sacrifices grew too great,and that much of his talk about “enjoying” the game was a lie to help movehimself forward.

I hope this helps explain things a bit more. Thank you forasking, anon! This was a really great question that I wanted to provide alengthier explanation for, so I’m glad if I could help. Thanks for stopping by!

[takerfoxx]

Why do you have such a fervent hatred for Jurassic World? It wasn't horrendous, just middling

Oh, sure, sure. I’ll be the first to admit that myhatred for Jurassic World is mostly personal, and don’t hold it against anyoneif they enjoyed it. But hey, if you want me to explain in detail why I hatethat movie so much, then my friend, I will be more than happy to do just that!Ranty essay below.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way: when judgedpurely on its own merits, Jurassic World is…okay. It’s a perfectly serviceableB-movie, no more, no less. You know, something to spend a mindless afternoon watchingwith your buds to enjoy some fun action and then later forget all about. Andhad it been just that, I would have probably had the same reaction to it that Idid to Pacific Rim: decent fun, but not much more than that.

But I can’t judge it on its own merits, because itisn’t a standalone movie. It’s the fourth Jurassic Park movie, which means Ihave to hold it to a higher standard, and I have to take the franchise’shistory, both objective and personal, into account.

So, for starters, let’s begin with Jurassic Parkitself. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that, once again, putting all personalfeelings and overall cultural impact of this movie aside, it’s not a flawlessmasterpiece. There are a number of logical problems and let’s face it, not awhole lot goes on in the second act. It’s not even Spielberg’s best monstermovie. Jaws is. But damn it, it is still the quintessential dinosaur movie andone of the all-time great monster movies and still holds up today. And damn it,it’s still my favorite movie of all time. Sure, there are movies that I’d enjoymore if I watched them right now, simply because of how many times I’ve seenJurassic Park. And sure, films like the LoTR trilogy and Serenity also havestrong claims to my top spot, but when it comes to overall long-term impact, JPis king.

So yes, I am definitely going to come down harder onthis just because it bears the Jurassic Park name. I am going to nitpick thehell out of it and be the most obnoxious fanboy, because Jurassic Park doesmean that much to me and I feel that it deserves better. However, even withoutthe nitpicking, Jurassic World just fails so hard when it didn’t have to. Andits failure comes down to three intrinsic problems.

First and foremost is its unforgiveable sin: how ittreats the dinosaurs. This is the movie’s biggest and most important failing,because the dinosaurs are the stars. They are what people came to see, so howyou handle the dinosaurs is key. Don’t believe me? Just look at Jurassic Park.Now, JP treated it’s dinosaurs like goddamned rockstars. This was actuallymostly because of the technical limitations of the time. Hell, they had toinvent most of the CG effects that we now take for granted. But regardless,just having the dinosaurs on screen was so expensive that they were forced toreally limit their use. But just like the mechanical issues they had with Jaws,this turned out to be for their benefit. With only so much dinosaur footagethey could afford to shoot (fourteen minute to be exact, in an over two hour movie!),they worked their asses off to squeeze every bit of wonder, terror, awe,majesty, and dread that they could out of those scant few moments. And say whatyou will about Spielberg, but the man is the unquestioned master at this sortof thing. He could build a terrifying suspense scene in his sleep. Just look atthe T-rex escape scene. I’ve seen this scene so many times and it still scaresthe crap out of me, even when I’m watching it on my phone in broad daylight!

Furthermore, whenever the dinosaurs are not on screen,what’s going on? What are the characters doing? Well, they’re talking about thedinosaurs. Hyping the dinosaurs. Debating the dinosaurs. Explaining why thedinosaurs are so dangerous, sometimes even in the style of a campfire horrorstory. Pretty much every possible reaction to the dinosaurs is represented byone of the characters, whether it be that the dinosaurs are these wonderfulcreatures that we owe to ourselves to bring back, dinosaurs are thesehorrifying monsters that we cannot ever hope to control, dinosaurs are thebiggest goddamn attraction in the history of entertainment, dinosaurs arerelics from another time and bringing them back is horribly irresponsible, etc.But no matter where the individual characters fell in that debate, everyoneagree on one thing: the dinosaurs are a big, fucking deal. As such, when theydo appear onscreen, it feels like a big deal.

Now, let’s take things to Jurassic World. UnlikeJurassic Park, Jurassic World treats its dinosaurs more like a troupe of paidperformers, like you might hire to keep the guests entertained during an awardsceremony or a company picnic or something down those lines. Yeah, it’s fun, it’sentertaining, and you have a good time, but let’s face it: when all is said anddone, did it really do anything for you? Without the technical and monetarylimitations that Jurassic Park had, they were free to put as much dinosaurs inthere as they want, but as is often the case whenever that happens, quality issacrificed for quantity. The dinosaurs are not given the same amount of hype,presentation, or respect that the original afforded them. Sure, there was someeffort to make them cool at least, but it was standard giant CG monster moviefare, a far cry from the expert eye for detail that Spielberg brought to thetable. It was too much dinosaur, all in your face with too much CG even whenthey didn’t need it (CG’ing over the raptor puppets in the closeups? Really?),and even their much hype iRex (good God) just wasn’t all that scary. In fact,it was sort of silly given the stupid amounts of abilities they gave it.

And then there’s how the characters treated thedinosaurs, constantly going on and on about how dinosaurs were boring,dinosaurs were commonplace, people weren’t excited about them anymore, yaddayadda yadda. Pretty much the exact opposite of how Jurassic Park treated them.And sure, okay, nice meta-commentary there, but if you’re going to have yourcharacters verbally run the dinosaurs down, then yes, they’re going to feelcommonplace, they’re going to feel ordinary, they’re going to feel like theyaren’t special. This is like elementary level rules of showmanship here, onethat even the WWE understands. Whenever an aged veteran comes back for anovelty match, do the wrestlers, announcers, commentators, and video packagespoint out how old, run down, and far past their prime they are? Well, maybesometimes their opponent will to get heat, and even then it’s rare. But overallthe presentation will instead hype them up as great legends, highlighting theirexploits, ignoring the bad times, and they’re usually paired with workhorsesfor opponents, ones that can cover their weaknesses and still get an excitingmatch out of them. Because they understand that if you don’t treat yourattraction like a big deal, it won’t feel like a big deal.

Which brings us to our second point.

There’s an interesting little story about how theJurassic Park movie came to be. Both Steven Spielberg and Michael Crightonhappened to be doing work for the same tv show at one point, and they met onthe set. And during their conversation, Steven Spielberg idly asked MichaelCrighton what he was working on, and Crighton told him. Spielberg immediatelywent back to his studio and demanded that they secure the movie rights forCrighton’s unfinished book right the fuck now, because he would be damnedbefore he let anyone else make that movie.

And God, does it show. Touching back to what I saidabout presentation, Spielberg’s love for the movie shines through every scene,from the lighting to cinematography to the music to the direction to��well,everything. Jurassic Park is a movie that knows that it’s a big deal andcarries itself as such. Is it flawless? No. But it does what it does so welland with such confidence that it doesn’t matter. It knew that it was going tobe the biggest and best dinosaur movie of all time, and it was right.

But poor, poor Jurassic World. Man, imagine having tolive in that shadow, knowing that no matter how hard you try, you just won’t beJurassic Park. Imagine being Colin Trevorrow, having been given the reins tosuch a monumental task, all the while knowing that no matter what, you willnever be Steven Spielberg. You can’t match the sort of things he does in hissleep, no one can! You could slave for years, going over every detail, makingit the biggest and best Jurassic Park sequel you possibly could, and it justwould never be good enough, because nothing ever will.

Well, you could still give it the good ol’ collegetry, throw your best shot, and even when you disappoint everybody, at least youdid your best. Or you could do what Jurassic World did and not even bother, allthe while whining about how so much better the first movie was and how what you’redoing could never hope to live up. Hey, at least you’ll be ironic and metaabout it, right? Can never have too many lampshades, right? And while you’rebitching about how boring dinosaurs have become so all you really can do iscreate an even bigger dinosaur that you know will end up disappointing, why notcreate an entire character that parades around in an authentic Jurassic Parkt-shirt and goes on and on about how much more legit the original park was andhow far short of its glory your product falls? At least then you’ll get pointsfor being fucking self-aware.

Well, no. Fuck that cute hipster bullshit. Fuck beingironic, fuck being meta, fuck all that! You know, I wish I had seen this moviebefore writing Imperfect Metamorphosis, because honestly, some of its worstparts came from me making the same mistake. And I don’t mean Yuuka breaking thefourth wall and all that, I mean lampshading the criticisms I was getting andwasting time answering them in the text instead of just improving andsoldiering on. If you want your movie to succeed, then you have to be genuineabout it, you have to love your movie, you have to revel in what you can doinstead of bitching about what you can’t. And I have never, ever seen a moviethat hates itself as much as Jurassic World does. So yeah, I guess some of thatself-loathing rubbed off on me. You know something, Jurassic World? You’reright. You do suck, and you don’t get points for pointing it out!

But what really rankles me most of all is that it didn’thave to be that way. Jurassic World is the fourth movie in this franchise.There were two other sequels before it, and both were considereddisappointments. The Lost World was a very poor adaptation and definitely oneof Spielberg’s weakest films. Hell, even he admits it, saying that he, like Trevorrow,was overcome by the stress of having to live up to the first film and phoned itin as a result. It still has its moments, sure, and it’s definitely the best ofthe sequels, for what that’s worth. But between the sloppy presentation; vanishingconnection to the book; and obnoxious, self-righteous “heroes” that wereresponsible for everything that went wrong, it was a major step down. And asfor the third, well, I guess it’s inoffensive enough, but it was also lazy,pointless, disposable, forgettable, and centered around a really, really stupidgimmick. Talking raptors? Really?

So, with the tremendous gap between JP3 and JurassicWorld, after all of that fan backlash, two mediocre movies full of mistakes andone great film full of innovation to study and learn from, what does JurassicWorld decide to do? Combine the adaption decay and annoying characterizationfrom the second movie with the empty calories from the third and use none ofwhat made the first movie great, except to keep telling us that it’s great. Youhad one job, Colin! One job! And you had all the tools you needed to succeed!Why didn’t you learn from your predecessors? Why did you get sloppy?

So, overall, is Jurassic World really the worst thingout there? Hell no. Am I being nitpicky because of my love for the first movie?Hell yeah. But a McDonalds hamburger might serve if ordered at a fuckingMcDonalds, but if you try to pass that shit off in a five-star restaurant, nomatter how good it might actually taste compared to other McDonalds hamburgers,heads will fucking roll.

So I guess that’s that. I hate Jurassic World fortaking the dinosaurs I love and making them feel common. I hate it because ithates itself. And I hate it because it didn’t have it be this way, but it is.Fuck Jurassic World.

Sigh.

…

…

…

Okay, that trained raptor pack was pretty damn coolthough.

[a-simple-lee]

OMG THOSE DRABBLES ARE AMAZING :'D I've been following your blog for so long now and think you're an amazing writer. You're just.. omg.. so good! :D Can I request one?! Number 45 "We are leaving. Now." with maybe Sam and Dean and the reader as their little sister? Maybe she's in a fight or something but it turns out it wasn't actually all her fault and the brothers were too hard on her, so they decide to cheer her up when they get home :P

Author’s note: Ahh, Thank you so much! That means a lot to me, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! I’m glad you like my trashy ramblings, haha! And thank you for sticking with me through my varying obsessions! I’m not too keen on the ending, and it came out more serious/angsty than I’d intented - also, this thing is way longer than I’d planned, but here ya go! 

WordCount: 1,539 (barely even a drabble lmao)

Triggers: Includes violence, swearing and mentions of failed sexual assault attempts.

_____________________________________________________

“B*TCH!” Yet another fist came hurtling towards you. A sudden urge to roll your eyes came over you as you grabbed the balled-up hand and pushed it away with a huff. Apparently screaming derogatory terms was the only thing this drunkard was capable of. Your body swerved to avoid another blow as your angered opponent aimed another punch towards your face.

“Y/N!” A panicked voice rung out over the shouting of the people around you, and your head turned to see your brothers running towards you. With a swift kick to the groin, you sent your assailant to the ground, and jogged over to your siblings. The smile on your face vanished when you noticed their stern expressions.

“HEY!” Yelling suddenly drew your focus back over to your opponent, who was surrounded by his friends. One of them eyed you with disgust, and rose from the floor to storm towards you. You stretched your wrists and prepared for round two. He was going down-

“We are leaving. Now.”

  Your world spiralled around you as a hand roughly gripped your shoulder, the fingers digging harshly into your skin as someone yanked you around to face them - it was Dean. His eyes scanned you for injuries before he grabbed your wrist and began pulling you away from the scene, Sam close behind. Too overwhelmed to do much else, you followed the brothers blindly as they started tugging you towards the door.

   Everything had been a blur of panic, colour and adrenaline. Minutes seemed to pass in the blink of an eye as the three of you fled the men from the bar - instinct overrode all else as feet slapped against concrete, the flat-out sprint barely tiring you as panic forced you to flee. Existence consisted of the gaps between tired breaths, of the split-seconds where neither of your feet were on the ground, when you were flying, if only for a moment. It wasn’t until you reached the Impala and pulled away from the sidewalk that things slowly came back into focus. Dean was swearing profusely, Sam glancing over his shoulder to glare at you from the shotgun seat. Words escaped your grasp as shock numbed you - it had all happened so fast, and your mind was only just catching up. All you could do was give vague “mhm’s” of acknowledgement in response, your body too busy recovering for you to stand up for yourself. After a couple of minutes of your brothers ranting, they realised they were getting nowhere, and let you recover in silence, the air between you tense as Dean drove, sunset approaching.

---------------------------------------

“Alright, what the f*ck were you thinkin’?!” You winced at Dean’s tone as you stepped out of the car, shutting the door quietly and leaning against Baby with your arms folded. It was one of those nights where Dean had driven you off road to some cliff to drink beer and watch the sun go down - except this time, you weren’t sure if there would be much of either; the beer drinking or the sunset watching. A stray lock of hair blew over your forehead - you sent it back with a loud huff. 

“He started it.”

“Yeah well it doesn’t matter who started it - what matters is that you were too damn irresponsible to stay quiet. We leave you alone for ten minutes - ten minutes! And what do you do?! Start a friggin’ riot! Way to go!”

   Suddenly your throat tightened with guilt as you remembered what had happened. You glared intently at the floor, and sniffed. That guy had tried to- bile rose in your throat at the very thought.

“You don’t understand-”

“Yeah, I do! I understand perfectly! You got yourself in trouble and we had to dive in to save your sorry a*s!”

“N-No-”

“Oh, that’s not it, huh?! How about you decided to beat up some guy because you felt like some attention?!”

“Dean, stop-” Sam had noticed the hurt in your eyes.

“No, can’t you see?! The witness was about to cough up!”

“BOTH OF YOU!” Tears threatened to spill over your eyes, but you blinked them away, swallowing the lump in your throat. Your siblings stopped to look at you, worry dotting their features for the first time.

“Look, I know I-I messed up the case, but I didn’t want to start a fight. But that guy-he was...h-he tried to...” Visions of that afternoon swarmed into your head, drowning out the buzz of the nearby crickets. Your breath quickened at the memory, and everything came crashing back to you at once...

--------------------------------

“Hey, beautiful.” The alcohol-laced voice had already put you on edge. You reluctantly glanced up from your soda to see the man, grinning in a way that immediately had your nerves on edge. Your legs tensed in case you needed to run. Eyes wide, you decided not to respond - maybe if you didn’t play ball, he’d grow bored.

   A hand on your waist. The rancid stench of vodka as he breathed out heavily. That sick grin which would be embedded in your memory for the rest of your life. You knew what would happen if you didn’t put an end to it - the very concept set your blood boiling with fear.

“Get off of me,” You spoke clearly, firmly. The grip tightened, forcing your breaths to become shallow.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” 

That was it. Time to save yourself. You scrambled off the stool, the chair clattering to the floor as you pulled on the wrist holding you.

“Now listen here,” He punched you in the stomach, the blow knocking the breath from your chest but fortunately not leaving any lasting pain.

Things only escalated from there. Amongst the blur of skin, you managed to wrench his hand off of you. Perhaps the drink had weakened him - thus far, none of his touches had caused you physical pain. You shook out your arms, and hurled yourself towards him.

---------------------------------

“Hey, hey,” Sam’s voice reached you. Your legs were weak, bent as you leaned against the Impala for support. 

“H-he was going to...if I didn’t stop him he would’ve...he put his hand on my waist...he called me beautiful...he was drunk,” The story flowed out as the lump in your throat subsided.

“Sh*t, oh sh*t,” Dean was pacing, his features pale and his eyes worried. Suddenly he turned to face you, eyes piercing as he searched you.

“You’re ok?”

   You nodded shakily in response.

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve - if anyone tries again, just say-”

“Dean,” You smiled weakly. “It’s fine. You didn’t know. Besides, He didn’t hurt me. I got lucky.”

“Y/N, I’m sorry, too. For what I said in the car - God, I’m so stupid.”

“Oh shush, you two,” You attempted to brush it off, pulling yourself upright and opening the car, retrieving three beer bottles.

“Let’s just chill, ok? We can solve this case tomorrow morning,” Tossing a drink to each of your brothers, you slid onto the front of the impala, the front window serving as a backrest. Seconds later, Sam and Dean joined you, overlooking the falling sun, the three of you illuminated by its dying light. But you still felt horrible. Maybe Dean was right- you’d held them back today.

   Sam leaned forward to study your features. He turned and placed his beer on the roof with a sigh, before poking you in the side.

“Hey, lighten up. You did great today, fending for yourself.”

You frowned.

“Stop frowning, you,” With a grin you recognised all too late, your older brother grabbed one of your wrists and started pinching your side, experienced fingers immediately targeting your sweet spots.

“Nahaha! Sahaham!” You twisted to face Dean, who was suddenly wearing a similar grin. Eyes wide, you shook your head at him through your laughter. Within seconds, your other wrist was pinned against the windscreen, and two hands were scribbling up and down your torso, the electricity from your nerve endings powering a smile that rivalled the disappearing sun. Those two always knew how to reduce you to hysterics in seconds.

“Woah, you’re still ticklish, sis? Guess girls don’t grow out of it,”

“SHUHUT UHUP, DEHEHAN!”

“Shut up?! How rude! You’ll pay for that,”

“NONONO IHI’M SOHORRY! NAHAHAT THEHEHERE! NOHO!”

“Hey, Dean, do you still think raspberries work on her?”

“NO NOHO PLEHEASE-”

“I dunno, Sammy. Let’s find out.”

“DOHOHON’T YOUOHO DAHAHARE!”

“3, 2, 1...”

“AAAHAHA! NAHAHAHAHAAHA!” Tears of mirth dotted your eyes within seconds as you thrashed against your sibling’s hold, laughter going silent within seconds. It wasn’t until you were silently begging, tears streaming down your face, that they stopped.

   You curled up on the car bonnet, breaths coming in giggly hiccups, a smile on your face that would surely linger for hours.

“Y-yohou ahare soho evihil!”

“Hey, we’re big brothers. It’s our job.”

“Y-yeheah?” You panted, rising onto all fours. “Wehell, i-it’s my job as little sister to get revenge on the eldest!” With a triumphant battle-cry, you tackled Dean, Sam immediately rushing to help you, the two of you laughing as you fulfilled your role as younger siblings.

   Needless to say, you were going to get him next.