#okay I might have a bit of meta in me tonight

[kalinara]

It’s interesting.  I saw someone suggest that Nate and Ted are being positioned as foils this season, but I don’t think I entirely agree with that.  At least not entirely.

I think that the character that Nate is really being juxtaposed against is Rebecca.

Because Rupert’s doing the same thing to Nate as he did to Rebecca.  Remember what she said in the Gala episode, about how he’d tell her to “wear this, eat that”?

For Nate, it’s “say this, drive that”.  We saw it all throughout this episode.  And of course the biggest example is the car.  On one hand, it’s a lavish gift, but on the other, it’s a means to control.

Nate has a lot of issues and insecurities, but one thing we’ve never seen him anxious about was that car.  Even in the first episode, where it makes for that last visual joke, as Nate drives Ted to his home in that tiny tiny vehicle.  Nate loves that car.

But it doesn’t look right.  It doesn’t fit Rupert’s image.  It’s the car that a cleaner would drive (and I love the casual cruelty of the “repercussions” directed toward that hypothetical cleaner.)  So Rupert’s dealt with it.  He’s dazzling Nate with praise and gifts while manipulating the poor guy into more and more extreme behaviors.

I appreciate the show for showing us how an abusive relationship can develop in a professional setting, rather than only in personal relationships.

Rebecca would recognize what Rupert is doing immediately.  And notice the contrast in the way she deals with the embarrassment that Ted initially causes her.  She’s mad, she expresses it, but then she lets Ted be Ted.  I do think there were points in season one where Rebecca was falling into the trap of being a different kind of abusive boss herself...rather like Nate can be too, when he lashes out.   Rebecca is still, however, defining her own success in relation to Rupert, which isn’t healthy either.   But that’s what happens at the beginning of a storyarc.  I wonder if Nate might end up playing a role there as well.

I do think there’s a lot to explore with Nate and Ted too, but it’s not a matter of direct opposition.  Ted and Nate are father and son, so to speak.  It’s a theme that’s been there since the beginning and it’s still here.  Ted, still praising Nate even when Nate hurts him, contrasted with Mr. Shelley’s callous dismissal.   And we have the nice poetry of Henry, Ted’s biological son, reminding Ted that Nate is still part of the family even though they’re separate.

Nate is lost right now, the same way Rebecca was lost in season one, and I think she’s going to end up being instrumental in him finding his way again.

[puppetmaster13u]

Dies Irae WIP

Have a bit of a wip for way later into the story because I am procastinating on the beginning lol. So have a lil bit of Dick's pov

👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇👻🔥🦇

   “These assholes again?” Red Hood muttered, sounding incredibly done even with the modulated voice that came through the helmet. 

   Dick eyed the man, then let his gaze shift towards the people in white with- apparently- laser guns. Then turned his gaze back to Bruce, whose jaw was set in his usual not-quite a scowl that meant he was going over something and not liking the picture it was painting. Joy. 

   And tonight had started out so well with them actually being able to find the maybe-crime boss. It was hard to tell if the man-who-might-be-younger-then-Dick was actually one or just got latched onto by the Crime Alley residents as a guardian alongside Peter. Though the meta was more of a local semi-celebrity. 

   The crime lord (if he was one) cracked his neck, those weird- but pretty cool- ribbons circling around him almost defensively. “Oi, big bird, old man, you gonna’ stop me from hurting these idiots?” he called towards the two of them from where he was also ducked around a support pillar, interrupting one of the goons-in-white’s own spat out words. 

   Honestly Dick hadn’t caught the man’s words, though knowing B they’d comb over every bit of the footage from their suits after this. But well, the dude obviously felt it was important if the downright thunderous expression was to go by. 

   A glance at B’s face nearly had him wincing. Yeah whatever had been said, Bruce really hadn’t appreciated or liked it in any way either. Still, he responded to Hood with a growl in his voice even as a batarang found its way into his fingers. “We don’t kill-”

   Hood audibly scoffed, even over the sound of the laser-guns. “Well too bad I’m not one of your oversized pigeons,” the maybe-teen snarked, guns suddenly in his hands. Damn, Dick hadn’t even seen him grab them, they’d almost just appeared in his hands like they’d been summoned in the time it took him to blink. 

   “Hey now,” Dick found himself joking as he peered back around the metal while trying not to get his head taken off. “What have I ever done to you to call me that, huh?” 

   “Exist.” The word was punctuated by a few shots of the… hm, .45 guns he thinks? It wasn’t like he knew what specifics Hood used or that he knew everything about them. Gosh he wished he wasn’t out of birdarangs, even if Bruce passed him a few batarangs to throw. 

   Not helping was the fact that Hood had cut both of his (), meaning he couldn’t swing up to the rafters to get a drop on the… okay that was a lot of people. Now suddenly less as one quite literally exploded into gore, definitely not from any sort of weapon of theirs. 

   A glance towards Hood nearly made him miss his throw towards one of the white-wearing goons. The trenchcoat the maybe-teen was literally writhing, glowing and shimmering like living flames as sparks trailed behind him. 

   Okay, alright, Hood was apparently a meta like Peter too. An undead meta fighting against people claiming to be part of the government and wanting to murder him for being a… ghost? What like Deadman? 

   Dick’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. He was definitely missing something here, and judging from B’s scowl he wasn’t enjoying having only part of a puzzle either. 

[februaryfic]

Honey, You're Familiar: Chapter Three

(AO3) (Masterpost) (4625 Words)

A Steve Harrington x meta!Reader slowburn multichapter fic.

Summary: You befriend a psychic, give Steve a pep talk, and get the gang together.

---

You, Hopper and Joyce sit in the Byers’ living room. 

“You kicked Lonnie out again then?” You ask.

“I found the pamphlet, right where you said it would be.” Joyce says furiously. “God, I can’t believe that bastard!”

“I’m sorry-” you begin.

“No, no, this is on me for even believing him in the first place!” Joyce fumes. 

“Let’s focus on Will,” Hopper intervenes, trying to bring calm to the situation. “What do we do next?”

“You go to see Terry Ives,”

“Ives… why do I know that name?” Hopper mutters, before a look of horror dawns in his eyes. “The woman who said Dr Brenner took her kid, from the news report. So she was telling the truth all along?”

You nod solemnly. “Her child, Jane, is the girl who was seen at Benny’s diner, who has been hiding in Mike Wheeler’s basement the past week,”

“The one who’s been in the lab the whole time.”

“That’s right. I’m going to be meeting with her tonight, hopefully, which should set us up well for tomorrow.”

“And what’s happening tomorrow?” Joyce asks.

“Mike Wheeler’s going to jump off a cliff, Jonathan is going to punch a cop, and we might- might- just save your son,”

“Might?” Hopper questions. 

“Just because I know the future, doesn’t mean I control it,” you reply with a shake of your head. “I’ve done everything I can to set us up for success, now we just have to hope that everything goes according to plan. Speaking of—” 

You get up from the couch and head into Will’s room, reaching under the bed to find what you’re looking for. You pull out his walkie-talkie and head back to the adults. “—I need to take this.”

“But it's Will’s.” Joyce weakly protests.

“I know. And when we get him back tomorrow night, I will give it straight back, okay?” you pick your words carefully, and they have the intended effect of reassuring Joyce. She leans back into the sofa heavily.

“You can’t tell us anything else?” Hopper asks, still tense.

You pause. In the show, Hopper tells the lab where El is in exchange for letting him and Joyce go through the gate. You pray he will make a better choice in this reality. “We need to protect Eleven. We need to keep her away from those monsters at the lab, so keep her location a secret.”

You turn to Joyce and add: “And don’t be too hard on Jonathan when you get to the station. It's been a rough week for all of us,”

You go to leave but remember one last thing. “Do you have any children’s gloves?”

—

God it’s cold out. Now that the sun has completely set and the moon hangs in the sky, the November chill permeates the air, cooling you to the bone and making you shiver. The trees seem to shiver too as the wind bristles through them, filling the woods with a susurrus of leaves. The cold makes the scabbed gashes on your calf ache but you maintain your search. In the show, it’s implied that Eleven slept in the woods after the fight with Mike in the junkyard, but you just couldn’t let the poor girl suffer through that. 

Eventually, you spot a flash of baby pink fabric. 

“El! I’m not with the bad men or your papa, I’m a friend of Mike’s! Can we talk please?” You call out, hoping and praying that she dares to trust you.

You hear a rustle from behind a tree before the scruffy girl steps out. “Friend?” She asks, watching you with wide, owlish eyes. 

“Yes, I’m a friend. I know you just had a fight with Mike and I want to help. You can’t stay out here all night, you’ll freeze,”

“You know? Know how?” Her eyes narrow as she wraps her arms around herself.

“It’s a little bit of a long story, will you come back to my home to talk? It’s warm and we can have something nice to eat,”

El hugs herself tighter, clearly feeling the chill but not trusting you enough to follow.

“Eleven, I promise I will do everything I can to keep the bad men away from you. You’re safe with me. Friends don’t lie, right?” taking a risk, you reach your hand out to her. 

She walks towards you at an agonisingly slow pace, as if waiting for you to change your tune and attack. Her small hand slips into yours and you hiss under your breath as you feel her frozen fingers. Thank god for planning ahead. 

“Here,” you offer, pulling the pair of gloves out of your jacket. El watches as you carefully pull them onto her hands and secure them around her wrists.

“Better?” you ask.

“Better,” she echoes.

—

Her eyes follow you in an unnerving way as you potter around your apartment. El is curled up on your armchair with a blanket while you prepare dinner for both of you. 

“You know Mike?” she eventually asks, nervously, like she’s afraid of being told off for speaking. Your heart aches for her. 

“I do! I know Dustin and Will and Lucas too. I work at an arcade, which is a building where you can go to play lots of games,” you explain. 

“Lucas…” she whispers sadly. You head to her and crouch down before the armchair.

“El, you didn’t mean to hurt him. You’re not a monster. He and Mike were fighting, so you wanted them to stop, right?”

She nods her head cautiously, still confused by how you know all this.

“Exactly. And you used a bit too much power and threw Lucas a bit too far. Accidents happen, kiddo. You should still apologise when you next see him, just like he should apologise for saying those bad things about you, but it doesn’t make you a monster,”

“He’s right,” she says, tears now welling in her eyes as her breath catches in her chest. “The bad things. I lied. Lucas is right,” 

You gather her in your arms as her tears turn to full blown sobs. She tenses for a long moment, before returning the hug tightly.

“El… Lucas is upset because his friend is missing. All he saw was you messing with the compasses, but he didn’t understand your intentions.”

“In-ten…”

“Intentions. It means he doesn’t know why you did it.”

“Keep them safe.”

“I know, kiddo. But they don’t know about the gate, or the monster. They don’t know how dangerous it is, so they don’t know what you’re trying to keep them safe from.” 

“You know…?” El pulls back, looking at you cautiously again.

“About the gate and the monster? Yeah,” You say sadly. Your timer in the kitchen goes off, making El jump. “I’ll explain while we’re eating, okay? Food is important, I don’t want you getting hungry.”

El wolfs down your pasta bake like she hasn’t eaten in days. Which, to be fair, is almost the case. You doubt Mike was able to sneak her much.

You tell her about your home world, about the tv show, about the things you’ve changed. She listens attentively through it all.

“Here… why?” she eventually asks, pasta sauce around her mouth. You hand her a napkin, which she stares at in confusion, before you just reach over and wipe it off yourself.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” you admit. “It’s a little scary. I think it might have something to do with the Upside Down, but I came here before the gate was opened,”

“Help find out.” El says with determination, small face turning serious, and you can’t help but smile at her instinct to help.

“Thank you El, that’s really sweet of you. You’re a good kid.” You say, making her blush. 

You get her to help you wash the dishes, letting her play with the soap suds that surround the sink. After, you get out some old pyjamas and offer them to her, but she looks at them unhappily.

“No,” she says, crossing her arms. It takes you a moment to guess why.

“I’m not going to take the dress away from you, kiddo. We can clean it up and you can put it back on tomorrow. This is just so you’re comfy and warm while you sleep.” 

“Promise?”

“I promise, El. I won’t take the dress away from you.”

She takes the dress off and you prepare some warm water as she changes into the pyjamas. You get a cloth and wipe the dirt off the dress, tidying it up a little and leaving it on a hanger where El can see it. It isn’t as good as a full wash, but it’s still an improvement. 

She eventually joins you in the bathroom.

“Can I wash your face?” You ask, showing her the sink of water and the cloth in your hand.

She touches the water and the cloth carefully before nodding slowly at you. Gently, you wipe over her face, removing both the dirt and the old makeup Mike had applied to her face yesterday. She watches you as you move the cloth around her face, carefully scrubbing at a clump of dirt that has nestled its way into her eyebrow.

“Pretty,” she says, looking at you past the washcloth.

“You think I’m pretty? Thank you, El,” you smile. “I think you’re really pretty too,”

She ducks her head at this, pulling away from the cloth. “Lie,” she mutters, embarrassed.

“Hey!” you say, encouraging her head back up so you can look her in the eye. “Friends don’t lie, El. You are really pretty,”

The girl runs an insecure hand over her scalp, but doesn’t duck her head again.

“So what if you don’t have any hair right now? It just means everyone can see your pretty eyes better,” You say, repeating a line your mom once told you when you accidentally cut your bangs too short. “Besides, hair grows back, kiddo. In fact, I know in the future, you have lovely curly hair,”

“Really?” she asks, wide eyed. 

“Really,” you confirm. “Now stay still, I haven’t cleaned behind your ears,”

—

You wake up with visions of the demogorgon still haunting your mind, and a cramp in your mostly healed leg. You had given El your bed and slept curled up in your armchair. You limp over to the toaster and put in some eggos for you both.

“Hurt?” El asks, making you jump. She is peeking her head through the bedroom door which you had left open through the night.

“Uh, yeah. The demogorgon hurt me.”

“When?”

“Tuesday. The same day Mike spent the day with you and you saw the picture of Will.”

“Mike…”

“You’re gonna see him again today, kiddo. In fact, he’s gonna need your help. You remember the mouthbreathers from the middle school?”

She gets a mischievous smile as she thinks back to that day, giving you a nod. 

“Well, they’re going to try and hurt Mike and Dustin. You’ll need to use your powers to save them.”

“Use powers?” She says, her eyes suddenly filling with doubt and fear. The toaster pops and you lead her to the table, handing her the plate of waffles. 

“Your powers aren’t bad, El. You can use them to hurt people, yes, but you can also use them to help. And Mike will need your help today,”

—

You walk Eleven back to the woods, and show her where she can hide near the quarry until the time is right. 

���Okay, today will be a little intense, so I need you to listen, alright? After you’ve helped Mike and Dustin you can stop by Mike’s house to resupply but you need to leave as soon as you can, okay? Your papa is going to come looking for you.”

“Papa?” El gasps, shoulders tensing, and you can’t help but wrap her in your arms once more. 

“Yeah. But I promise we’re all going to do everything we can to keep him away from you, okay? Just make sure Mike and Dustin leave the house really quickly,”

“Okay,” she nods. 

You lean back so you can look into her eyes. “I’ll meet up with you later today, alright? I promise. But you need to help Mike and Dustin on your own first.”

“You go where?”

“I need to go help some other people now, and then we’re all going to meet up together, alright? I will see you later.”

“You promise,” she states.

“That’s right, I do,” You smile at her, giving her one last hug before leaving her in her hiding place. As much as it kills you to leave her, she needs to do this on her own. The situation with Lucas has knocked her confidence. She needs to know that her powers can do good.

—

Your trek over to the police station takes you through town. In the parking lot of the furniture store, you spot a familiar looking car, with a familiar looking boy sulking while sat on the hood. You look at the town clock—do you have time for this? Just because Steve was one of your favourite characters, doesn’t mean you can ignore your responsibilities every time you see him- you need to be at the police station pretty soon. You look over again at the dejected figure, who seems  to be making a tremendous effort to try and fade out of existence. 

God damn it. 

“Steve!” you call out, jogging over. “You look like hell,”

He stays quiet for long enough that it starts to worry you. He just holds his rapidly warming can of soda to his face and stares at the ground. Eventually, you hop up onto the hood of his car next to him, and sit in silence until he’s ready.

“I think I fucked up,” he eventually says.

“Want to talk about it?” you ask, gently. 

“No. I just want—” he breaks off, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “I just- do you ever wish you were someone else? Like, a completely different person? I don’t know. It’s stupid,”

“It’s not stupid, I get it. Like you could just wipe the slate clean and start over, right?”

“Exactly,” he turns to you, finally making eye contact. His face looks even worse up close. “I just think I’ve fucked this all up, y’know? And if I were a different person, I could do it all differently. Do it better,”

“Why can’t you things differently while still being you?” you ask, encouraging him to get to the root of what he’s saying.

“Because! I’m me and everyone knows me. Everyone knows who Steve Harrington is,” He says his own name with venom.

“And who is Steve Harrington?”

He goes quiet again before responding. “An asshole.”

God he makes your heart break sometimes. You shuffle closer to him on the hood so you can lean into his shoulder. He always seemed like a touchy person on the show, and you hope that it will help ground him. The way he sags into your side seems to prove you right. 

“I’ll admit,” You start, “You’ve done some pretty asshole-ish things. Was the graffiti on the marquee you?”

“Tommy,” He replies, “But I agreed. I had him stand on my shoulders so he could do it,”

“That sucks. I bet that really hurt Nancy.”

“Just because someone hurts me, I don’t have to hurt them back twice as bad, right?” he mutters darkly. 

“Right,” you respond, a little surprised that he remembered what you said. “So what are you doing to fix it?”

“What?”

“You say you’re an asshole, but you’re just a person. A person who is making asshole-ish actions maybe—” you nudge him with a smirk and are happy to see him crack a little smile back, “—but you can choose to be different whenever you like.”

“It's not that easy!”

“It really, really is.” You put every ounce of sincerity you can manage into your words, watching Steve consider them. He fusses with his hair anxiously, hesitation lingering around him.

“People will- they’ll say things.”

“People like… Tommy and Carol?”

He hesitates another moment, then nods. 

“Fuck Tommy and Carol!” you say, making him burst into a shocked laugh. “Who cares what those two miserable bitches think. Don’t let them drag you down with them.”

“They’re my only real friends…” Steve all but whispers, as if it's a shameful secret.

“They don’t seem like very ‘real’ friends to me,” you say firmly. “I’ve never had many friends either. I know it's scary to turn your back on them, but you’ll make more friends. Better friends,”

“You never had many friends?” Steve stares at you, aghast.

“Not the point I was trying to make, but yeah. I was alone for most of school.”

“But, why? You’re so nice,”

“I was bullied a lot. Most people didn’t want to be seen with me after that,”

“That’s stupid. They didn’t know what they were missing,” Steve says, with such seriousness that you almost believe it yourself. 

“You’re sweet. Now stop trying to change the subject,” You shove him gently, making him laugh again. “You want to be a different person? Then make different choices.”

“I don’t know how,” he replies honestly.

“You’re smart, you’ll figure it out. But I’ll give you a hint. Spray paint is real annoying to scrub off a marquee,” You slide off the car and give him a smile. “I need to go, but I’ll see you around, yeah?”

Steve looks into your eyes with a small smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, see you around Y/n.”

— 

Your conversation with Steve seems to have delayed you perfectly: from across the street you can see Hopper, Joyce, Barb, Nancy, and Jonathan bundled into the car, clearly arguing. Arguing about where the kids might be and how to find them. An argument you can put an end to.

You rap your knuckles on the window, making them all jump.

“Hey, let me in!” you call through the glass.

“Y/n?” Jonathan questions, not opening the door.

“Let her in kid, she knows everything,” Hopper says. Jonathan does and you squeeze into the already crowded backseat. “So, where are they?” he asks.

“Junkyard, but we’ll need to warn them we’re coming,” you say. Jonathan, Nancy and Barb look at you in astonishment. You’ll need to catch them up to speed. 

“How are we supposed to warn them?” Joyce asks.

You pull out the walkie-talkie you took from under Will’s bed two nights ago and smile.

—

Once you’re close enough to the junkyard to be in range, you start talking. It's only you and Hopper left in the car, the others being dropped off at the Byers’ house to leave space for the kids.

“Hey. This is Y/n, from the arcade,” You speak into the walkie. “El, do you remember what I told you before I sent you to the quarry? About how we’d meet up later? I’m here with Chief Hopper. I know where you guys are and we’re heading there now. I’m not going to say where in case they can listen in, but Eleven knows that I’m telling the truth. We need you to meet with us when we call, okay? Do you copy?”

Silence. For 4, 5 seconds, then—

“This is Mike. We copy,”

You sag in relief. “See you soon, stay hidden until you hear us call, okay? And Dustin, this is not a Lando Calrissian situation!”

—

Hopper insists on you staying in the car while he takes out the three lab agents prowling the junkyard. You almost protest, but stop yourself. Those guys have real guns! You don’t have plot armor! You keep your head ducked below the dashboard until Hopper gives you a wave to let you know it’s safe. 

You hop out the car and lead Hopper straight over to the abandoned school bus, knocking on the side of it. 

“This is Y/n and Hopper! You’re safe to come out!” you call. The kids come scrambling out of their hiding places, looking at you and Hopper with wide, suspicious eyes.

Except for El. She immediately runs up to you, before awkwardly stopping. She looks up at you, looks at your arms, and shifts in place. Oh. She wants a hug.

You crouch down and wrap her in your arms, hearing her exhale in relief.

“You promised,” she says.

“I did. Me and the Chief are here to take you guys somewhere safe,” you say. “Well… safer, at least.”

“How do you know El?” Mike squares up with you, eyes narrowed.

“And how did you know about Lando?” Dustin adds, as if that is of equal importance. 

You turn to Mike. “Where do you think she slept last night? I fetched her from the woods and we had a lovely girl’s night.”

Mike looks abashed, knowing he was the one who scared her off into the woods. 

You turn to Dustin. “That one is a little harder to explain. Come on, we’ll talk back at the house,”

—

“So you’re from the future?” Dustin shouts in excitement.

“More like a parallel universe? But kind of, yeah.” you reply.

“Do we have flying cars yet?”

“No.”

“A Mars colony?”

“No.”

“Holograms?” 

“No.”

“What about—”

“Enough!” Hopper yells, silencing the room. “Now that we’re all on the same page, what do we do next?” he asks, making everyone stare at you. 

“Well… in the show El tries to contact Will here, but doesn’t have enough power. So everyone goes to the middle school to make a sensory deprivation bath to help her,”

“Why the middle school?” Lucas asks.

“We need the de-icing salt to make the water buoyant enough. You filled the Byers’ old kiddie pool,” At your words, Joyce leaves the room to go fetch it.

“Why do we even need to do this? Can’t you just tell us where he is?” Jonathan asks, frustrated. He hasn’t made full eye contact with you since you admitted you knew Will was going to be taken, hands clenched by his side. 

“He was eventually found at the library in the version of the story I know. But do we know if that’s changed? If I tell you to go to the library and I’m wrong, you could get killed by the demogorgon before you ever reach him. We need to be sure.” you say firmly. 

Glancing at Barb, you continue: “Besides, I’ve made changes in this world. I don’t know if that will change where he’s found.”

“What kind of changes?” Nancy asks.

You had tidily avoided mentioning your interference with Barb’s death in your original recap, focusing on Will’s disappearance and how you knew about it, but you suppose you were going to have to answer this question eventually. 

“Barbara,” you say, looking at her cautiously. “You were going to be attacked by the demogorgon that night at Steve’s house, by the pool. I lured it away.”

“Attacked…” Barb repeats, sensing the hidden meaning in your words. You give her a guilty half-smile. 

“You fought that thing?” Dustin asks, wide eyed.

“Less ‘fought’ and more ‘biked away from it while crying’, but yeah,” you respond, ducking your head. 

“She told me about why Lonnie was really here, too,” Joyce adds, throwing down the old kiddie pool and rejoining the group. “Helped me find his damn lawyer pamphlet so I could kick him out after the wake.”

“Lawyer pamphlet?” Jonathan repeats. 

Joyce looks at him guiltily. “He wanted to sue the quarry. That’s why he came back,”

Jonathan ducks his head, hiding his anger, and you watch Nancy place a hand on his back in comfort.

“We need to move, we have the pool. Let's go,” Hopper says, making everyone stand up and herd into the various cars. 

You end up in a car with most of the kids and Hopper. El stays stuck to your side, and Mike stays stuck to hers. Dustin and Lucas have a brief argument over who else gets to ride with you before Hopper yells at them to hurry up and Dustin scurries off in defeat. 

“You guys ever wanted to break into your middle school?” You turn back in your seat to ask them, making the boys’ eyes light up. 

—

At the school, Barb pulls you away from the group. You’re on the hunt for duct tape to help black-out some goggles that Joyce had found in the science room. 

“So… I’m supposed to be dead,” she starts as she leads you towards a maintenance closet.

“That’s what happens in the show.” you say nervously, unsure of where she might be going with this. 

“How does it happen?” she asks.

“I’m not sure if I should-”

“Just tell me,” she says bluntly, cutting you off and staring you down. 

You sigh. “Nancy and Steve go upstairs to dry off after jumping in the pool. You say you’re not having fun, Nancy tells you to leave. You go out and sit by the pool and the blood from where you cut yourself attracts the demogorgon. It drags you to the Upside Down and you’re dead within minutes.” 

It’s not a fun story to tell.

“Just like that?” Barb asks.

“Just like that,” You confirm. “Nancy goes off the deep end trying to get answers. She investigates the woods, she talks to the police, she does everything she can to try and find you. In the show, El isn’t just in the bath to try and contact Will. She tries to contact you, too,”

“But I’m dead,” Barb concludes, clearly upset. “How come Will can be saved but I can’t?”

“I don’t know. The demogorgon kills most of the people it takes. Will just got lucky,”

“So it isn’t just me?” 

“What do you mean?”

“It isn’t just me that gets killed. I’m not the only one who couldn’t survive it,”

Ah. That’s what this is about. You stop walking and face her properly.

“Barb, this thing is a killing machine. The fact that Will has survived this long is the exception, not the rule. Two hunters, Dale and Henry, were killed by this thing a few days ago. Two grown men, probably both armed, and they couldn’t fight this thing. You’re not weak for dying to it.”

She sighs and leans against the corridor wall. 

“I saw it. That night when I was meant to die. I was getting into my car when I felt like something was watching me. It made my lights go out, chased me along the side of the road for almost a mile,” she stops and chokes a breath, trying to calm down. “I was so scared, I was crying but I didn’t want to pull over in case it caught up,”

She puts her head in her hands, taking deep breaths. You put a hand on her arm in comfort. 

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this,” she says. “Knowing that that thing is out there. I’m not even supposed to be here, how am I supposed to help?”

“If it helps, I’m not supposed to be here either,” you murmur, at a loss on what to say. 

She huffs out a bitter laugh. “Why didn’t you just run?” she asks. “You could have just kept your head down and not gotten involved, no one would blame you,”

“The same reason you’re not running, I suppose,” you reply quietly. 

The two of you stare at each other for several moments, before she gives you a nod and continues walking down the hall to the maintenance closet.

“Are you coming?” she calls over her shoulder to you. 

You jog to catch up, feeling like you’ve achieved a kinship with the girl. 

[mittensmorgul]

do you have any/know of any analyses on castiel's entire fall from heaven being queercoded (as in his fall from heaven is treated like a conservative family would treat a child coming out as lgbt) bc i cannot stop thinking about "When Castiel first laid a hand on you in hell, he was lost." the quote is driving me insane. if you dont have any thats fine i just. Man.

HELLO! and yes, i'm sure there's some on my blog, but finding them might take a bit... i've been really bad about replying to messages lately (i've only been on tumblr sporadically recently, but hopefully i'll be able to spend more time here soon... i'm finally getting a short break from real life nonsense soon... i just didn't want this to linger in the inbox and get buried.

Okay, so... *four hours later* i have been spelunking through my blog looking through a bunch of old tags, and i found a few things for you. There was a lot of Big Discussions that touch on the subject back around s12, that caused a lot of fractures in fandom and bad feelings, so I'm posting some of the links here but just know there's a lot more floating around (some of which i no longer have access to). so also tread lightly through some of these...

*FIVE HOURS LATER because i had to leave the house to Do Stuff...*

I FINALLY FOUND ONE POST SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THIS!

a long post that touches briefly on this:

and one more, because i've spent all day on this now :'D

I will say that if you explore some of the meta tags at the bottom of those posts, it'll likely lead you to more of the same, but i'm officially tapping out for tonight lol

[dc-gt-plantbox-ideas]

A Small Threatening Secret

Part 1 of 2- A Big House And A Small Guy.

This is so much longer then I intended, Its at 6k and this is only part one. I hope you like my take on meta human Tim!

TW- angst, Tim has a horrible time.

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

"I'm heading back to Drake Manor, see you guys later." Tim hopped off the med-bay bed in the batcave and started making his way towards the lockers in the back to change. He could feel his skin starting to itch a bit and he was already starting to feel extremely tired. He was home free until Damian spoke up.

"I think you should stay the night Drake, that injury on your arm looks much more severe than you think." Damian pointed out as he climbed down from his own bed and headed towards the lockers with him.

"It will be fine Damian." Tim tried to insist as he and Damian entered the locker rooms.

"I insist on it, Drake." Damian practically demanded as he glared a little up at Tim.

Tim didn't like this, Damian usually didn't care very much when Tim went straight back to Drake Manor after patrol and he found it quite strange with how persistent he was being on the matter. What was he planning?

"I'm fine Damian, if it isn't any better by tomorrow I'll just come back and get it patched up." Tim walks over to the locker holding his civilian clothes and quickly starts to change, the irritating itch and burning feeling slowly spreading across his body. He needed to get home fast before anything could happen.

"I just think-"

"Everyone is staying here tonight." Jason cut in as he walked into the locker room, his right arm in a cast and a large bruise on his left cheek. "Me and Dick got ambushed so Bruce's mandated that we're all staying here tonight; Dick is okay, by the way." 

Tim listened closely to what Jason said as he finished changing into his civilian wear and started making his way towards the elevator leading up to the manor. Maybe he could convince Bruce to let him leave. His hand was already starting to shake and the horrible itching burning feeling was starting to spread even further across his body.

Tim shoves his shaking hand into his pocket as he starts looking for Bruce and finds him sitting in the dining room, he walks past his seat and opens his mouth to speak but is instantly interrupted.

"You're staying here with everyone else Tim, I can't take any risk of anyone else getting jumped tonight." Bruce informed the teenager as emotion for him to go to his seat so they could wait for everyone and have dinner.

"But-"  Tim bit his tongue for a moment realizing arguing with Batman of all people wasn't the best of ideas, hell it might make him look more suspicious.

"Fine. I'm taking my dinner to my room then so I can work on some cases; I don't want to fall behind while I’m stuck here." Tim headed into the kitchen and asked Alfred for a plate of food to go up to his room,and quickly headed upstairs doing his best not to spill his food with how shaky both his hands were starting to get. Tim paid close attention to the second pair of footsteps following him down the hallway and once he got into his room started trapping his door. He wasn't going to let the secret get out that easily.

Tim was a light sleeper and knew even the smallest of sounds would wake him up, so he set up some bells attached to his door that would start ringing the minute someone opened it. For extra measure he placed some random assortment of items on the floor of his guest room in front of the door and finally sat down at his desk to start eating. He needed to eat before he let the process takeover despite how much his body itched in pain.

After 2 hours of working on cases and Tim very slowly eating away at his dinner the searing pain of his body itching and burning became far too much, Tim begrudgingly closed his laptop and laid down on his bed not bothering to change into any pajamas. It would only last the night then he would be back to normal and no one would find out.

Tim hoped he was right as he closed his eyes and felt his body stretch and squeeze as it always did as he started shrinking and borrowed himself into his blanket.

~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Tim heard as he woke up was the sound of small bells ringing out, someone had opened the door to his room and he needed to hide. He quickly scurried underneath the large pillow that now loomed over him and covered his mouth as he listened closely to figure out who had come in.

"Time to figure out what you're hiding Drake- Huh?" Tim cursed quietly to himself as he quickly recognized Damian's voice and heard the young boy walking around his room, his footsteps quietly echoing around his empty room as Damian was probably trying to figure out where he had gone.

Tim needed to get out of here before Damian started inspecting his bed and possibly noticed him hiding underneath the pillows, he was now very grateful that his mattress liked to slide around in the middle of the night from his bed frame, making a small gap between his headboard and mattress. Tim crawled underneath the pillows heading towards the back of them and sighed in relief as he heard someone else walk into his room hoping they would make Damian leave.

"Damian, why are you in Tim's room?" Tim smiled once he realized it was Dick and carefully slid down the back of his bed mattress, he started looking for the small hole the board of the mattress had for lifting it up.

"I was…simply coming to see why he was late coming down to breakfast. Drake very rarely misses getting his morning coffee." Damian obviously lied. Well, Dick might believe him.Tim grumbled as Dick walked into his room, shaking the floor a bit and causing him to lose his balance as he carefully climbed through the small hole in the board that led to under his bed.

"Aw that's sweet of you Damian, but it's obvious that he's not here so you might have to look for Tim elsewhere." Dick's loud thundering footsteps headed out of Tim's room, and thankfully the ground stopped shaking as much as everything started to get a bit quieter. Tim stayed hidden underneath his bed as he patiently waited for Damian's footsteps to leave his room. Damian had keen eyes and would notice even the smallest bit of movement if Tim stepped out from underneath his bed.

Damian thankfully left a few minutes later, realizing there was nothing of interest in Tim's room and probably going to look for him elsewhere in the manor.  Unlucky for Damian, Tim was going to find a way out of this manner and make sure no one saw him. Tim had worked far too hard to keep everyone from finding out about his meta powers and was not giving up just because he was stuck in the manor like this.

Tim just needed to figure out how to get out of the manor and somewhere where he could properly hide. Maybe he should have eaten dinner with everyone and found out what their plans were for today…

"Man I wish I didn't have to head home, but chores aren't going to get themselves done." Tim jumped as he heard Stephanie's voice from the hallway and quickly ran across the floor towards the door that led to his bedroom. Thankfully Damien had left it cracked open so Tim was able to poke his head out and watch as Stephanie and Cass walked by.

"I can come and help you out. I'm sure the chores would go by much faster that way." Cass suggested, and Tim slowly started to form an idea in his head. If Stephanie was heading back to her home, Tim could hitch a ride in her purse and just hide there until he returned back to normal. Stephanie wasn't a slob but her room wasn't the cleanest either, there were plenty of small areas he could hide in and no one would be the wiser. 

Tim watched from the small crack in his door as Stephanie and Cass walked down the stairs and probably headed towards the kitchen to get something to eat, if Tim was remembering correctly Steph would leave her purse or backpack in whoever's room she was staying in that night. Tim slowly walked down the hallway sticking close to the wall and hoping the shadows would keep him hidden as he made his way to Cass's room. Tim started wishing he kept his finger skateboards on a lower shelf in his guest room at the Manor as he realized how far away Cass's room was.

At his normal size Tim could easily jog down the hallway and get there within a few minutes, but he was now roughly 4 inches tall and everything in the hallway towered over him. He would run to get there faster but Tim didn't want to risk exhausting his body, especially with so many people in the manner. Bruse made everyone stay here from last night so they most likely had a full house.

"Why didn't I just go straight back to Drake Manor, I could have just done my report there and sent it to Bruse. But nooo I had to make the mistake of coming here and now-" As Tim quietly complained to himself a door to someone's room swung open and Tim quickly pressed himself up against the wall thankfully avoiding getting crushed by said door, he listened closely trying to figure out who it was and sighed in relief as he realized it was just Duke.

Duke obviously had woken up late and probably assumed he was going to miss out on getting breakfast considering how fast he ran down the hallway, Tim slowly pushed himself away from the wall and started walking out from behind the door. Tim really hoped this wouldn't take away too much unnecessary time from him.

As Tim walked down the hallway he craned his neck back doing his best to look up at the large doors that towered over him and see who was still in their room, Tim didn't want to risk getting seen or possibly crushed by another door suddenly opening.

Sometimes Tim had to agree with his siblings that Bruce had a problem with how many kids there were.

Tim jumped as he heard a quiet twinkling sound from behind him and quickly spun on his heels to see where it was coming from, his eyes widened in horror as he saw the worst possible thing you could ever run into when shrunk.

There trotting down the hallway and letting out soft meows was one of Damien's pets, Alfred the cat. Tim slowly started to back up hoping the feline hadn't noticed him yet and considered going into Duke's room, considering how close it was, to hide. Tim could not in any way shape or form fight a cat or outrun one.

As Tim tried making his way into Duke's room he heard the soft sound of cat paws running against the carpet and wooden floors of the manor and started running himself heading straight down the hallway, maybe he could get lucky? Cass's room was only all the way at the end of the hallway and she usually left her door closed but Tim could possibly avoid getting eaten by a cat and hide in there!

Yeah. No.

Just as Tim thought he saw the familiar sign on Cass's door that let everyone know it was her room Tim found himself pinned to the floor and sharp cat claws digging into his back, Tim wanted to scream out for help but highly doubted anyone would hear him. He let out a pained scream as the cat roughly knocked him onto his side and trapped him in between its jaws.

Tim expected that to be the end as he waited to be crushed in the feline's mouth but instead felt that they were moving down the hallway- away from Cass's room and towards the stairs that led down to the first floor. 

Then Tim remembered something Damian had been doing with Alfred the cat, he originally thought it was dumb but now was thankful for it…a little. Damian didn't enjoy his pet cat bringing him dead animals as a present so he had trained the cat to not kill the animals, so Tim was safe for now. Until he was brought to Damian and definitely would not have a way of escaping him at this size.

Alfred the cat however did not care about Tim not wanting to be given to Damian as they were a cat and simply saw him as a new gift to give to their owner, so Tim started struggling against the cat desperately trying to free himself from their jaws and hopefully escape before they were too far down the stairs. Tim didn't want to get stuck downstairs of all places considering when it was a full house that was primarily where everyone hung out if they weren't hiding in their rooms, he also still needed to get to Cass's room if he wanted to hitch a ride to Steph's house. 

Tim quickly realized as the cat dug it's fangs into his skin and growled at him that he couldn't squirm his way out of the cat's mouth, he needed to do something else that would make them open their mouth wide enough for him to fall out. He looked over at the whiskers close to him and felt a small bit of guilt building in his stomach.

Tim didn't want to hurt Alfred but he wasn't willingly letting himself get caught by Damian of all people because his cat decided to treat him like every other bird it got its claws on, so with much hesitation and guilt Tim reached forward and grabbed a handful of the cat's whiskers and then as hard as he could yanked on them.

Alfred the cat screamed in pain as it dropped Tim to the floor and started pawing at its face trying to soothe itself. Tim fell to the ground with an audible thunk but didn't waste any time getting to his feet and running towards the closest object he could see, Tim only realized as he ran across the carpet onto the tile floors that he was on the lower floor and there was no way he was going to easily get back upstairs. Tim felt his heart skip a beat as he quickly dodged to the left avoiding getting tackled by a now very pissed off cat and took advantage of how slippery the tile floors were with his socks sliding away from the cat.

But Tim had been far too preoccupied focusing on escaping the cat as the doors to a nearby room swung open and Tim found himself kicked halfway across the floor and landing in one of the many potted plants that lined the hallway, Tim rolled over onto his side hugging his stomach and doing his best to not cry out in pain.

"What the fuck- did I kick you? Shit the brats going to kill me if you're hurt, come here cat." Tim recognized the voice as Jason's and was relieved as he heard the cat meowing and protesting and slowly being carried away, one problem solved at least but now Tim just had to figure out how he's going to get out of this plant and get back upstairs.

After lying in dirt for a few minutes and waiting for the pain to settle down, Tim slowly got up and poked his head over the brim of the potted plant he landed in; it was one of the vine plants they had in the hallway that reached all the way down to the floor. Tim thanked whatever cruel deity was putting him through this hell for at least giving him an easy way out of this potted plant and slowly made his way over to one of the vines that stretched all the way down to the floor below.

Tim checked once then twice to make sure no one was walking down the hallway as he carefully climbed down the vines of the plant and safely reached the smooth wooden floors that lined the hallway, considering Jason was the first person Tim ran into and he came out of what looked like a very large room full of shelves lined with books this was probably Jason's personal library. The raven-haired boy hesitantly walked in and climbed up onto one of the shelves using the dark corner of it to hide.

No one ever went snooping in Jason's personal library and he wasn't here to notice a tiny red robin hiding on one of his bookshelves, Tim let out a relieved sigh as he started rethinking his plan for escape. There was no way he would be able to get upstairs in time before Stephanie left or avoid being seen, he needed to find an alternate way out of the manner or find somewhere he could easily hide for the rest of the time he was stuck like this.

Tim slowly lifted up his shirt, his nose wrinkling at the large bruise that was already forming across his chest, that was definitely going to make him be stuck like this longer. Tim needed to find an alternative plan that would make sure he didn't end up hurt more, the more injuries he took the longer his body kept him like this to heal.

"We need to find him, Brown! Drake is not one to simply disappear without leaving a trace." Tim jumped as he heard Damian yell out walking past Jason's library, he hesitantly climbed out of the bookshelf and listened closely to the two conversations.

"Yes he is, Tim does this kind of shit all the time Damian and eventually we either find him or he comes home. Why are you so obsessed with finding him anyway?" Stephanie asked and Tim really wanted to know the answer to that as well. Damian and him may not hate each other as much as they used to but that didn't explain why he cared so much all of a sudden, nothing eventful happened that would cause it.

Tim counted the minutes of Damian's hesitation to answer which meant he was going to be telling Stephanie afib on why he actually cared.

"With Grayson and Todd getting jumped last night I just don't think it's not a good idea for us to separate right now, Father still hasn't figured out who sent those people after them and we could possibly be in great danger." Damian explained and Tim could tell there was at least a half truth to what he said, it wasn't the full story but it was definitely enough that would satisfy Steph.

"Yeah you make a solid argument. How about I help you look around the manor to see if we can find any clues of where Tim went? Tim's good but I'm sure he made some mistake that we can use as a lead to find them." Stephanie offered to Damian and with the sound of their footsteps getting farther away Tim assumed his little brother must have accepted the offer, which made Tim extremely grateful.

Well two bats were now actively searching for Tim that also meant he would have more time to get back upstairs and hide in Steph's purse, Damian may have accepted this help thinking he would be able to find Tim faster and succeed in finding out about his metability. But he had actually bought Tim more time and he was going to abuse that.

After resting a few minutes longer Tim climbed out from the bookshelf he had been hiding on and quickly ran across the floor heading towards the large open door that led out of Jason's private library. Tim just hoped Jason had locked Damian's cat up somewhere and he hopefully wouldn't have to deal with him anymore, he did not need more possible injuries from that feline menace.

Tim repeated what he had done upstairs and stayed close to the wall doing his best to hide and go completely still whenever anyone walked down the hallway, being stuck in a house full of detectives who could notice the most minute detail meant Tim had to be extra careful while walking around. Even if it was the smallest movement from him it would catch someone's eye and they would investigate, Cass was Tim's main concern with how observant she was of body language and always paid attention to the small details.

 Some part of Tim questioned why he was really hiding from his family as Duke and Kate walked by a potted plant he was hiding behind and made their way towards the living room cracking jokes and obviously having a good time, Duke was a meta like Tim and Bruse and welcome to into the family without any hesitation. 

'That's because what Duke can do is actually useful.' Tim quietly thought to himself as he stared down at his shrunken body, this was all his powers like him do, shrink to an inconveniencing weak size and make Tim sleep for long periods of time. Yes his body was healing much more quickly during those long periods of sleep but Tim was still small and extremely vulnerable like that.

Tim took in a deep breath and pushed those thoughts to the back of his head, once Duke and Kate were gone and Tim could no longer hear their booming voices or loud footsteps that shook the ground a bit he started running down the hallway where he could hear a low conversation going on. It was Alfred talking with Bruce and if Tim was lucky (and careful) he could listen in on their conversation and possibly find out what was going on through the manor today.

 Tim succeeded in getting to the large dining room where everyone had recently had breakfast, the smell of the pancakes and sausage Alfred had made still lingering in the air, and smiled when he saw only Bruse and Alfred were left. He quickly hid behind one of the nearby chairs legs and stayed completely still listening closely to the twos discussion.

"-So the only logical answer is that some idiot thought I'd be a good idea to jump Dick and Jason last night, which doesn't fully make sense because no one's really that dumb right Alfred?" Bruse inquired, he was probably going over the small details he had of the jumping last night. Tim really wishes he had read Dick and Jason's reports from last night but closer.

Tim flinched a little as Alfred walked by his hiding place but instantly relaxed realizing he was just getting the dirty plates from the table, there was no way Alfred had any idea he was there.

"Well with the rise of new people moving into Gotham, there could be a bunch of hooligans who don't know the rules of the streets yet." Alfred pointed out that he quickly walked to the kitchen and then came back to finish his conversation with Bruce.

"Maybe but I highly doubt it, maybe I should have everyone stay an extra night." Bruse considered as he stood up from the table and started to make his way out of the room, Tim wished he could follow after the two but as they would out Dick walked in obviously looking around for something.

"Hey B? Alfred? Have you seen Tim yet? Steph and Damian are looking for him but no one has seen him since last night." Dick explained as he walked by his father and continued investigating the dining room.

Bruce went completely still in the doorway with Alfred by his side, unresponsive for a few minutes.

"I have sadly not seen him yet master Dick, I was hoping he was sleeping in and getting some proper rest. Was he not in his room at all?" Alfred inquired as he followed after Dick making sure the crotch he was using didn't get stuck on anything or knock anything over.

"Nope, I actually caught Damien in there earlier looking for him too but there was no Tim shaped lump in his bed. You don't think he's already left right? Did he mention having any plans for today?" Dick stopped his searching for a moment as he pulled out one of the chairs of the dining room table and sat down. Tim had to quickly run with said chair as it was where he was hiding and considering he was now stuck in a room with three people who were definitely looking for him now he needed to be extra careful, Tim needed to find a way out of this situation or he was tost. 

"Hmm I don't believe hearing him mention anything but Master Timothy doesn't always tell us everything, he did seem a bit cross he was stuck here last night considering he ate in his room alone." Alfred pointed out as he stood right next to Dick. Tim looked over at the butler's shiny shoes and took a few steps back, scared that he would be seen in the reflection.

"Well I guess we just have to hope he turns up eventually, what do you think Bruse?" Dick asked as he repositioned the way he was resting leg and Tim, not realizing how far he had gone under the table now, was kicked sending him even further. Tim was a bit grateful though it didn't hurt as badly as when Jason kicked him.

"Dick. Can you come help me with something in the study? I need your opinion on something involving a personal case of mine." Bruse told his eldest barely turning his head to look over his shoulder at Dick, Tim really wished he could see the expressions on everyone's face considering how quickly they all exited the room and started heading for Bruce's study on the second floor.

Well Tim at least hoped whatever this case was would keep the three occupied until he made his escape, with the room completely empty Tim decided he would move on to a different one and decided he would head towards the TV room. What Tim really needed right now was an easy way to roam around the house without anyone seeing him in the hallway, maybe he could keep everyone who was on the first floor occupied with a very loud and obnoxious distraction. 

Well the house was full of the world's greatest detectives whenever the TV remote went missing everyone always forgot to look under the couch, even Tim was guilty of such a thing. Tim just needed to get up onto the coffee table where the remote was most likely left and push it down onto the floor, he couldn't hear anything in the living room so there most likely wasn't anyone occupying it at the moment.

Tim started to question his own plan once he got into the TV room and looked up at the coffee table that towered over him, maybe he should properly invest in some shrunk inversions of his gear to carry around from now on.

Because Tim had sadly forgotten that the new coffee table they had in the living room legs we're located right underneath giving no proper area to grip onto and climb up without gear, Tim stared up at the smooth metal that lined the bottom of the coffee table that helped support the glass top and slowly made his way over to the coffee table legs. It wouldn't be the safest option but climbing underneath the table could also help keep him hidden if anyone walked in.

Tim just had to climb up the table legs, which was much more easily said than done. The metal was extremely smooth and holding on to it was quite challenging the higher up Tim climbed, he had slid back down to the bottom five times now and gotten a new bruise each time.

Tim found himself mumbling out loud to himself and was getting ready to just hide underneath the couch until he could turn back to normal. He had already gotten himself kicked halfway across rooms twice today and given himself far too many bruises, Tim couldn't afford to put himself in more danger of getting caught with a plan he didn't even fully know would work.

Tim had no idea where anyone in the house was and was simply guessing they were on the first floor and possibly nearby the TV room to actually hear it turn on, hell he didn't even have a proper plan to escape the room after everyone showed up!

Tim stared up at the ceiling of the coffee table starting to feel exhausted again and knowing his body couldn't hold out for much longer, besides his meta powers being extremely inconveniencing they also worked as a way of making his body properly rest. If Tim didn't get enough sleep his body would force him to shrink and keep him unconscious for a few hours, sometimes it was helpful but in a situation like this it was extremely annoying.

"Why me." Tim mumbled to himself as he hesitantly closed his eyes and started to nod off. "Why did this have to be my meta powers? Why couldn't have been something useful, something that didn't make me so weak…"

Tim tried to open his eyes but failed, he was pretty well hidden so hopefully no one would find him. Tim just needed a few minutes of rest, then he would work on escaping again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the soft sound of overgrown dog nails pattering against the wooden floors that filled Tim with enough anxiety to cause him to start waking up, it took far too long for Tim's body to move with him as he quickly made his way towards the couch and could feel dread building in his stomach as he heard Stephanie and Damian's voices echo down the hallway.

"Damian, I seriously don't think Titus is going to find him. If Tim's not in the manner we're not going to find him." Stephanie commented she walked into the living room and Tim could feel his body shaking from every single one of her footsteps, they were heavy and frustrated. Tim was more thankful now he had made it under the couch before she got in there.

"Are you doubting Titus's tracking skills, Brown? I'm positive Drake is still here and we will find him." Damian proclaimed and the light squeaking of his shoes against the wood floor made Tim start to feel a bit sick, fuck he was really out of it.

"You know I'm starting to think there's more of a personal reason on why you want to find Tim, did he borrow your favorite pen again? Or eat the last cookie? Oh I've got it! You miss your big brother and want to hang out with him?" Steph teased she walked around the room following close behind Titus who was sniffing around the coffee table.

Tim looked up at the couch hoping to spot somewhere he could hide but Bruce had replaced the old couch that used to have wooden beans underneath with a new one that sealed off such things to make sure Alfred the cat couldn't get stuck under the couch again, Tim really wished he hadn't suggested such an idea.

"I do not need to explain myself to you, Brown. Aren't you his best friend? Aren't you also worried that he just disappeared out of nowhere?" Damian asked and Tim could hear him moving something around, Tim didn't really care to figure out what it was as Titus slowly turned his head and stared directly at Tim.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I need to know where he is constantly, Tim can take care of himself-" Stephanie didn't get to finish that sentence as Titus started barking and trying to stick his head underneath the couch, Tim slapped his hands over his ears as he quickly backed away from the dog and did his best to stay hidden underneath the couch.

Stephanie and Damien were trying to pull the dog out from under the couch now and they were both now yelling, Tim couldn't tell if it was at each other but he also didn't really care. He needed to find a way out of this, there had to be something under this couch he could use.

Tim got a big smile on his face as he noticed one of Ace's old balls underneath the couch and quickly ran over to it, Titus was still barking but Tim would rather ruin his eardrums than rest getting caught by Damain and Steph. 

As Tim started trying to push the ball out from under the couch to hopefully trick the two into thinking Titus was just overreacting to a stupid ball, the parking suddenly stopped and Tim couldn't hear anyone talking. Tim went completely still as he hesitantly looked over and saw one of Stephanie's giant eyes staring directly at him.

Tim had been caught, Steph saw him. 

Tim could make out his own reflection in her eyes and the look of genuine shock on her face made Tim want to crawl into a hole and never be seen again, he was fucked. Steph was going to tell Damian, who would tell Dick, who would tell Bruse.

Everyone was going to know Tim was a weak, worthless meta that had been lying to them for years. Everyone was going to hate him and honestly he couldn't blame them. He had been lying for God knows how long now, the fact he thought he could get away with it for so long is what made him a fool.

"Brown?" Tim flinched as he heard Damian's voice and noticed his shoes off to the side. "What is it? What was Titus barking at?"

Tim looked over at Stephanie, absolutely horrified and a small bit of pleading on his face, quietly begging her to not tell Damian or let him try and make a run for it. Tim felt the rest of his body starting to shake as Stephanie didn't respond but reached under the couch, reaching straight for him.

Tim closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable until he herded a quietly whispered "Hallway." Then it was suddenly extremely loud as Tim hesitantly opened his eyes and saw Stephanie holding the rubber ball he had found, quickly throwing it from under the couch, he simply watched a Stephanie quickly got up and started running after it.

"Titus! Pursue!" Stephanie yelled and both her and Damian were gone as Titus chased after the ball, Tim stood there for a few minutes taking in deep shallow breaths as the heavy footsteps disappeared and everything was quiet again.

Then he remembered what Stephanie had said, there was something in the hallway and he needed to get there. Tim's body was starting to ache again desperately trying to pull him back into sleep but Tim couldn't pass up this opportunity, this could be his last chance to escape and avoid any more people finding out the truth.

So well Tim's legs were still shaking he stepped out from underneath the couch and booked it towards the hallway, he just kept running until he finally rounded the corner and spotted the familiar purple purse Stephanie had brought to the manor.

He was going to get out of here. Stephanie would be the only person who found out. Tim was actually going to get away with this.

Was what Tim thought as he started running down the hallway ignoring the footsteps he could hear behind him and shook his very core, he shouldn't have ignored the footsteps as a shadow suddenly casted itself over Tim and allowed ringing noise could be heard everywhere as something slammed down around him.

Tim collapsed to the ground shaking violently as the noises around him just got louder and louder and he swore he could hear a familiar laugh above him, whatever had trapped Tim suddenly moved and he found himself scooped up into the air hitting his head against something that was metal. Why was he hitting his head against something that was metal? And why was said metal thing round?

"Aha! So Bruse did see something on the cameras!" Dick's loud and cheery voice rang in Tim's ears as he felt something warm and leathery wrap around his body, it was his brother's hand.

Oh. Oh no.

"You were certainly a pain in the ass to find."

No. No no.

"Now let's see who you- TIM!?"

No. No please.

Everything was starting to get dark, Dick's panicked and frantic voice drifting farther and farther away. Tim could feel air moving around him but that was really it, it was suddenly getting extremely loud and Tim could feel his body being moved in every direction by different hands.

Tim wanted to cry out for people to stop, maybe he already had considered how wet his face felt. He couldn't get his eyes to peel open, to see where Dick had taken him. With how cold it was, it was probably the batcave, Tim just started coughing as he felt something press against his chest and there was now a new strange liquid dripping out of his mouth.

Tim could make out that there was a lot of yelling, from a lot of different people. One of them was Stephanie, Tim could tell she was the loudest and for some strange reason that comforted him.

Tim was in pain, his body needed to rest and he wasn't going to win an argument against it. It wouldn't be bad if he slept for a while right?

It would just be for a bit, Stephanie would understand. He would explain everything to her when he woke up.

Tim fell into the darkness of sleep, hoping things would be better when he woke up.

[plusreaderswhenever]

Hi can I have a fic where Reader is constantly having trouble sleeping and someone (doesn’t matter who) helps them sleep more often by encouraging good sleeping habits and doing a little peer pressure to really nail the idea in?

Thanks in advance.

Signed,

I need sleep 🥲

I realized it’s probably worse than this, so I hope you don’t mind it being too easy for the reader to sleep.

Another Kirby + Reader:

You could not sleep at all tonight. Your sleeping troubles had gone on for a long time now, so it wasn’t anything new, unfortunately. Just another night where you tossed and turned ‘til you eventually gave up and wandered to the kitchen for some food.

You crept up to the refrigerator and squinted your eyes to keep the bright light from inside from burning them, then you grabbed one of your favorite snacks: shredded cheese.

By the light of the still-open fridge, you focused as much as you could with your tired mind to open the bag as quietly as possible. It made the loudest noise you’d ever heard and it scared you a bit, thinking you’d be caught, but maybe it was just the fact that at night every sound seems to be five times louder. You looked around and saw no one, so you shrugged and began to eat.

“Poyo? What are you doing here?”

You yelled loudly and flailed your limbs, the darkness making you more easily startled than you would be otherwise. You collected yourself and were moderately embarrassed about being scared by Kirby’s voice, especially when he was speaking so quietly and concernedly instead of his usual semi-loud enthusiasm.

You looked down at the poyo boyo. You hadn’t seen him because he was so little and you only looked around for people your height- not that you could detect most people here by doing that. They were all below your waist and though you would’ve seen Dedede, Adeline, Sir Ebrum, Lady Like, or most others, Kirby was only slightly bigger than some of the enemies that dared try to hurt him on his usually world-saving adventures. Very few of his friends were smaller than him other than gooey and ribbon.

You sat down criss-cross to his level, putting the bag of shredded cheese in your lap. “You want some?” You held a handful out to him.

“Sure!” He easily put his entire mouth around your hand and ate all of it at once. He was only eight inches tall, so his ability to put your whole hand in his mouth would’ve been a strange sight to see if it wasn’t one of his most defining and famous traits to fit anything inside him. It was silly enough to make you chuckle though.

He suddenly put on a serious, worried expression. “More importantly though, you have a lot of trouble sleeping. Do you want to talk about it?”

Yeesh. You forgot how seriously he could take things when it mattered. You held your hands up defensively. “It’s okay, I’m used to it!”

His expression got more concerned and suspicious.

Saddened by the tears of the sweetest child around, you pleaded, “H-hey, don’t look at me like that…” He stopped looking at you like that, figuring he should focus on making you comfortable.

“Well, here’s a tip I learned from Meta Knight, who learned it from being in some kind of military: relax all your muscles, starting from your head, face and jaw, then your shoulders, arms and hands, then your tummy, then your legs down to your feet!”(*)

“Hmm, I’ll have to try that. Welp, I’m going back to bed now. Goodnight.” He waved back and said “Byeee!” You waved back with a tired smile and left. 

You laid down in a comfortable position, pulled the blanket over you, and tried the technique Kirby taught you. Miraculously, it worked, and you slept through the rest of the night.

The next day, you woke up and saw it was noon, and you were still sleepy. Welp, might as well go through with the rest of the day.

Kirby noticed you walk out of your room like it was early morning, visibly disheveled like you were woken up at midnight.

“It’s okay! How about I help you set a consistent sleep schedule?”

“You never have trouble sleeping, how do you know so much?” You were curious, the puff liked to take naps and did it astoundingly easily.

“Meta Knight always told me I needed a good sleep schedule since I was an even littler baby than I am now.”

And so, you and he worked out a good sleep schedule that would work for you, and soon it would be time to put it into practice.

Your new bedtime rolled around, and you started to have second thoughts. This wouldn’t work, why even try? There were things you could do right now instead of wasting time trying to do something you were never good at. You should put it off for tomorrow… it barely crossed your mind that it would be a lot harder if you put it off, but you ignored it. Luckily, Kirby had promised to make sure you slept on time, and he would never break a promise to help someone.

He saw you not making a move towards your bed and said, “It’s your bedtime, go to sleep.” 

You could not say no to Kirby over something like this. You obediently shooed him out of the room to put on your pajamas, turned off the light, and got in your bed. But there was still one thing wrong.

“Could you stop staring at me? I’m trying to sleep.”

“Oh! Okay.” He softly sped out of the room and closed the door quietly. You laid in bed for about twenty minutes, and Kirby, even more quietly, opened the door a little bit to check on you. 

You still hadn’t fallen asleep. There wasn’t any light in the hallway to come through the door to hurt your eyes, but Kirby could see in the dark just fine. It made sense, he was a being of pure light after all and had fought dark matter many times before.

He approached you carefully and jumped on the end of your bed. You made a startled squeak, then let out an annoyed groan at the fact that this hadn’t worked for so long, he had to check on you.

Kirby seemed to know where your frustration was coming from. “Don’t worry, this’ll take a long time to work but it will! And it’s only the first night! Let’s do something relaxing until you get sleepy enough, come on!”

He took a random book from your bookshelf and led you out of your bedroom to a couch in the living room. You sat down and read to Kirby for a minute, until your eyelids got heavy. Kirby noticed and led you back to your room, where this time, you were able to sleep.

You knew this wouldn’t be the definite end of your sleeping troubles, but it would work the longer and more consistently you tried to sleep on schedule. Kirby wouldn’t stop reminding you that as long as you still struggled, for he loved you and didn’t want you to be unhealthy.

*Bonus paragraph that would have gone after the asterisk(*). I cut it because I realized Meta Knight does have a face, arms, hands, a tummy, feet, and would know you need to relax your legs too from the few star warriors that have them, but it was too good to let rot in my mind forever:

“Wait, how does Meta Knight know if he doesn’t have most of those things?” “One of the other star warriors was a human like you. They had military training from other humans before joining the GSA, so they learned from there and told Meta Knight at one point when he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t really put that into practice but he appreciated the concern. Now it’s more helpful, he told me earlier so I could tell you!”

[kates-sweet-escape]

KinnPorsche - It's all a ruse (a theory)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for KinnPorsche the Series. Read at your own risk. I haven't read the novel, only bits and pieces that I've found online so this is purely based on the TV Series. Also, this post is based on the work of other amazing Tumblr creators that will all be credited within this post. Brace yourself - this is a long one.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, I am just a german romance-novel writer. Also, I come from a eurocentric perspective as I was raised in Germany by a British mother and a German father.

Additional KinnPorsche Content by me:

KinnPorsche: The question of true privilege (Meta - Episode 6)

KinnPorsche: Kinns Breakdown - I can't believe you still want me (Meta - Episode 7)

Hello everyone.

I swear to god, the things this show and this fandom make me do. I usually don't share theories. Or meta. Or anything. I left the active part of fandoms a long time ago, but here I am, typing away with a facemask on and a half-empty glass of wine right next to me, cause damn I need a little self-care after watching the emotional rollercoaster that was Episode 9.

Ever since Episode 9 aired I've read a lot of opinions about Kinn, his character, and his choice not to trust Porsche. Reactions within the fandom vary from genuine understanding to absolute outrage, a fascinating mixture of empathy and cancel culture.

And ever since that devastating moment at the end of the episode I've been thinking. A lot. Maybe more than what is healthy considering the fact that this is just a TV-Show that somehow managed to take over my life.

Things didn't quite add up to me. I was caught in this weird emotional limbo of I do understand Kinn as a fellow individual with massive trust issues caused by ex-lovers that betrayed us and After what they've shown us last week and with the emotional progress those two characters have made, Kinns reaction does not make that much sense from a writers perspective.

So I went back to watch those last few minutes over and over again (and before you ask me - no, I am not okay! Porsches pleading and soft "Ai Kinn" will haunt me tonight), took screenshots, read the previous meta while trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. And then the brilliant @moerusaii posts this amazing piece of meta that convinced me to share my thoughts with you guys.

Because I have the theory that this might be an elaborate ruse by Kinn and Porsche to trick Tawan and Vegas.

And here is why:

Kinn, Tawan and that one mirror frame

This is that one frame that kickstarted it all for me in Episode 9. @luckydragon10 whom I'm very much a fan of, has talked about what mirrors signify in this post, and ever since then I've been paying a lot more attention to the usage of mirrors in KinnPorsche.

We see Tawan and Kinn alone in Tawans old apartment to retrieve the evidence of who is behind the Italians (which is probably useless anyway - and YES all the shade for this b*tch). While Tawan is "remembering" the real location of the USB stick, this shot happens. We see the real Tawan, but we only see the reflection of Kinn, probably signifying that Kinn has a hidden agenda, keeping the truth hidden from Tawan while showing a side of himself that is not real and only a mere reflection of himself.

It's only a short frame but something about it feels so deliberate that I couldn't possibly ignore it.

Maybe it also means that Tawan is only seeing an old version of Kinn, feeding into the issues he had rather than seeing the real Kinn that has maybe gotten rid of them with a partner by his side he can truly trust, all without his vicious ex-lover noticing who is focused on the reflection he is familiar with.

Kinn breaking the fourth wall

Okay, I've already mentioned @moerusai and her amazing post but I still want to add a little bit to that. (And thank you Mo for sending me a DM so I could use your gifs that looks a million times better than my screenshot!)

When I watched Episode 9 for the first time, this shot made me so uncomfortable. Kinn looks straight at the audience, no filter, no mirror, no nothing. And for the first time, I felt like I am looking at the soul of this man, bruised and bare and begging to be understood and to be trusted. It felt like he looked at me to tell me that things are going to be okay, as long as we keep our eyes on him and see past what is shown, willing to stare into the shadows until we can see everything that's hidden in the darkness.

The lighting when Vegas and Porsche are alone is not green.

We all remember this scene from Episode 7. The scene where Porsche and Vegas stumble into the bathroom. The light in this scene is green, signifying danger as the amazing @antique-forvalaka has pointed out in her "KinnPorsche and the Use of Color" Series that I will mention again later on. It has been pointed out by @yellingaboutkp in this post that Porsche faked being drunk because he already suspected Vegas being shady and wanted him to show his true colors (no pun intended). If we assume this to be true, then Vegas should remain a threat to Porsche, his light remaining green.

Now look at this:

The color in this scene is teal and not green. We've seen this color before, in episode 5, and as @antique-forvalaka pointed out in this post this specific mixture of blue and green is used when there is a danger that Porsche is able to handle. When he is not as helpless as he appears to be. When he is forming a plan.

But Kate, what does Vegas have to do with any of this? He isn't Tawan! Yes, my lovelies, you are correct. He isn't Tawan. But ever since he doubled down on the Kinn Shot His Ex Rumor, I am convinced that he's got something to do with it. Especially considering his disgustingly perfect timing and his offer to Porsche to run away together. In addition to that, we know that he will storm the compound from the trailer. So he is most definitely one of the main villains of the show and just like a snake with its beautiful and shiny green scales, he is able to slither into anything just so he can poison it in one swift bite.

We are still waiting for that handshake (Trailer)

Yes, the trailer. I am even going back that far. I am sure that this scene takes place at Yok's bar (she's a true MVP) and I think it might even be a flashback where Kinn and Porsche talked about their plan, far away from prying eyes and ears. And what could be more romantic than a date night like that? A couple that schemes together stays together!

But all jokes aside, this scene might also take place later on when the two of them have drifted apart, signified by the fact that Porsche is wearing Jeans, something he stopped doing ever since getting emotionally closer to Kinn and adapting part of his style. So I might be completely wrong about this and it's not them scheming but instead reconciling.

When it all goes up in flames - Porsche remains (KinnPorsche: The Hidden messages)

And since we are already on a trip down memory lane, I am taking you guys back to "KinnPorsche. The Hidden Messages" when it was announced that we would still be getting KinnPorsche the Series after months of thinking that it might get canceled.

We see Kinn standing in front of a banner with the word TRUST on it. It goes up in flames, revealing Porsche waiting behind it.

This could mean a great many things, especially now that they've decided to give him a phoenix tattoo that he also adapted into his name as an underground boxer. It could mean that he is rising from the ashes after Kinn burned the trust they've shared. Or it could mean that he is rising from the ashes of the trust that Tawan had broken when he sold Kinns information to the Italians. That Porsche is the one rebuilding Kinns trust from the dustry crumbs that Tawan left behind, willing to survive in the heat of the flames that lick at his skin, threatening to burn him too.

Either way, I think we can all agree that Porsche is the only one that Kinn can and should trust, and I sure as hell hope that my theory is correct and that Kinn knows that too.

[sixstepsaway]

i don't even go here but i discovered your ofmd metas earlier today and i've been bingeing. i've got a fun hypothetical! You brought up how izzy's behaviour might change going into season 2 [no longer being comfortable calling Ed on his shit / doing his JOB] and i was wondering if you wanted to spitball ripple effects from that. how do people take that, best and worst case scenario? or even just go into more detail on izzy and trauma responses/triggers. love your stuff! <3

also have you got an a03? i keep finding fragments of work but i can't find a link D:

Oh man, if you love my stuff re: trauma responses and triggers you are going to love my AO3. My longest (unfinished, sadly, though I hope to go back to it soon, now I've found a bit of a groove with my writing) fic is a 86k trauma recovery fic for the Chinese drama The Untamed. My AO3 account is here and the fic with the trauma is 'rites of a widower'. I've received pretty high praise on that fic, actually, for my approach towards trauma, recovery and all of that. It does contain a tw of past sexual assault and violence though!

I'm hoping to post OFMD fic on there soon, I just don't want to commit to more unfinished works, so I'm planning to finish stuff before posting. I have one OFMD fluff on there though! And I'm going to be dumping some Izzy stuff on there soon.

Do you mean by "I don't even go here" that you don't even OFMD? Holy shit if so; high praise, thank you. Or did you mean Tumblr? Either way, thank you for the praise.

Okay, so, in response to your question: ripple effects.

Firstly, Izzy is now disabled. It might not be as bad as a peg leg or a hook for a hand, but it's still going to be a disability and as long as it's a recovering injury he's going to be a) in pain, b) having to tend it regularly, and c) relearning balance and walking and running with a missing toe. I said in response to a different anon that I don't see them going down the "it got infected" path, but that not being a plot doesn't mean it isn't a concern for Izzy-the-Person! It absolutely is! That toe (or, ehm, lack thereof) has to be kept clean, wrapped and protected from the dirt and grime of pirate life. It probably had to be cauterized, as they lack much in the way of medical treatment and idk what else they'd do, so that means there's also a burn to contend with. I might be off base there, though. As I've said before, I'm not a doctor, and I'll google some things but I'm a tad too anxiously nauseous tonight to google how bad a foot bleeds if you chop off the pinkie. (That said, if anyone has any information, please drop it in my ask or a reply or tag me in a post!)

I did google other things though, and google says that you can do just fine without your pinkie toe, but google is also referring to modern day people who have any shoes they need on hand, who have cars and the internet and hospitals. We're talking about a dude who is out on the ocean, cut off from anyone who could be a support system, stranded with the guy who did it to begin with, and having to tend his own wounds. He doesn't even have Roach on board. Ed made him strand the ship's surgeon right after he maimed him.

(Also, speaking of Roach, there is a line in 1x06 when Lucius has his infected finger, where they take Lucius to him for aid, and someone (Fang? Ivan? I don't recall and it isn't the focus here) says, "You're the ship's surgeon too? I thought you were the cook!"

To which Roach shrugs and responds, "Meat is meat."

And that. that right there. is what I call fucking amazing foreshadowing. Roach looking down at a soon-to-be amputated limb and saying, "Meat is meat," in relation to surgery and food. Fuck me.)

So whether it's fine and you'd be fine with a missing pinky or not, Izzy is going to have a lot of changes to adapt to, and he's absolutely not going to have time to be laid up with his foot elevated, or allowed to keep his feet away from the muck on the deck, or anything like that. Nope, he's expected to clean himself up and go find Edward, which is a cruelty in and of itself and implies this behavior will continue: it isn't just over because Ed cut off his toe, Izzy has to deal with it fast and quick, not lay there and cry with pain, and get on with it. There's a real lack of empathy there, like Ed switch-flipped any care for Izzy off (and yet, if that were truly the case, I don't think he would've reacted so strongly, and also I don't think he would've kept Izzy around at all. The point is almost that he cares too much for Izzy, which makes the whole thing even more toxic: "I love you so much I have to hurt you now").

All that to say that first off his behavior will have to change from the confidence he has in his fighting ability until this point. If he needs a cane to walk, then he no longer has both hands free to counterbalance his fencing, his fancy footwork will have to change (there's a lovely video of Con O'Neill practicing his fencing for the duel scene and so much of it is poised footwork). It means he'll be less willing to go into a fight, less willing to duel. He'll be more vulnerable to Jim and/or Frenchie if either of them decide to take him on to deal with what Ed did in basically kidnapping them and also trying to kill the rest of the group.

Then, when it comes to, like, the trauma of it all, I imagine he'll probably have nightmares? Ed broke into a place that was meant to be safe, bringing with him an absolute nightmarish scenario where Izzy woke up to agony and having a piece of himself removed and fed to him. I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have nightmares, and that's even if he sleeps at all after this? The phrase "Sleeping with one eye open" is something Izzy wasn't doing before, because no matter how he feels about the Muppet Comedy Land of the Revenge, he felt safe on that ship. He didn't expect anyone (let alone Ed) to break into his room and assault him.

I don't see him willingly sleeping for a while, and then that means sleep deprivation and that means slower reflexes, yet more vulnerability and less capacity to physically (and mentally) heal.

Another lovely anon suggested the idea of Izzy locking/barricading his door at night, which is a possibility, but as I said to that anon, I don't know if I think Izzy would feel that's an option? What would Ed have done instead if he hadn't managed to get into Izzy's cabin? How much worse could it be, if Ed decided to punish him again and couldn't get the door open? What would the fallout of trying to keep Ed out be?

I don't see Izzy eating or sleeping much for quite a while. Meat would be supremely off-putting, especially any meat with blood still in it. I imagine anything that goes crunch in his mouth would surely cause a trauma response as well, which leaves him with basically soggy porridge or whatever pirates might have. Bread, but crusts can be crunchy, especially if it's stale or older bread.

Which means we're left with food and sleep and his long-time companion all being a trigger. Since he's still in the trauma, he might not even register it until far later, so the triggers might creep up on him out of nowhere after a good chunk of time, maybe even years. If the show doesn't let him be traumatized and genuinely damaged by this, I will assume that's the angle they're going with: delayed response, once he's out of the situation (so, post-canon most likely), and so, probably, C-PTSD. There's no way that he and Ed can heal unless he's allowed to be fucking traumatized by what Ed did and Ed is made to face the god damn music about it and atone for his behavior.

This goes for stranding the crew on an island too, by the way, and killing Lucius (even if he survives the attempt). Ed needs to know he fucked it up and make amends for that. The crew should fear him. Lucius should no longer want to be alone in a room with him, let alone be on the same ship. The people he was praising a day earlier should no longer look at him with stars in their eyes. He should have to earn every last scrap of that back.

Scenarios! I imagine you mean in-world best/worst case scenarios (eg. worst case being "x dies" and best being "x is happy") rather than best/worst case scenarios for plots in the show, but I'm going to answer both.

In-World Best Case Scenario for Izzy:

This is as far as this kind of treatment goes. Ed sees it as "finished" because the punishment was meted out and Izzy has the time and space he needs to heal physically. Ed, at some point, is made to realize what he did, and is forced to atone and re-earn Izzy's trust once he knows he lost it. He manages, because he ends up being deserving of that trust.

Izzy isn't too traumatized because it's just the life of a pirate, isn't it? It's just A Bit Much and he handles it with grace and only minimal bitching.

In-World Worst Case Scenario for Izzy (and the one I prefer because I like watching characters heal, and they can't heal if they aren't hurt to begin with, and it would be a great plot and frankly I might write it):

Izzy is fucked up beyond all reason. He doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat. Fang comments on the fact his clothes look baggy (did he get new ones?) and Izzy flinches with one of Con O'Neill's excellent micro-expressions and then changes the subject.

Jim picks up on the fact Izzy got injured and Ed has gone off the rails. They're the one that also notices they haven't seen Izzy eat in a really long time. They bring him food. Izzy yells. Jim recognizes an angry shell protecting something very damaged and brings more food.

Eventually Jim gets Izzy to admit what happened and Izzy says that he deserved it for what he did. Jim is like, "The fuck did you do?" and Izzy, with complete seriousness, tells Jim exactly what he did to deserve the maiming.

And Jim is just like, "The fuck?" because someone murdered their entire family and left them an orphan and they gave that person a quick death at the end of a knife. Jim is not sadistic, and absolutely tells Izzy that yeah he said some stupid shit, but holy fuck Ed went on a killing and maiming spree because Izzy called him a namby-pamby pining after his boyfriend? What the fuck Edward?

Jim offers Izzy some more food and this time they offer him like, mushroom soup or something, something that's so bafflingly different to a toe that Izzy just starts wolfing it down and Jim produces some like, soggied bread or something, and Izzy eats that too.

Izzy still isn't sleeping though. He opens his door one morning and finds Jim asleep outside his door, leaning against it, on guard.

Izzy sleeps a little.

Ed meanwhile is still full Kraken and everyone is fucking terrified of him, except for Jim who thinks, at this point, that he's a git. Jim floats an idea one day while Izzy is eating another bowl of something non-meaty that maybe they should mutiny against Ed.

Izzy actually gives it a moment of thought before saying no. He's somewhat horrified at himself that he even considered it.

They argue back and forth and finally Jim is like, "For fuck's sake, he maimed you! Look at you! You're a fucking mess, how much do you even sleep? Fuck. We can't keep living like this."

Lingering loyalty and fear of "if you ever threaten me again, I'll feed you the rest" (and no, he doesn't know which voice is louder) means Izzy is absolutely not going to try and overthrow Ed and he's somewhat terrified they're even talking about it, but they hatch a plan to bring the ship somewhere they can leave or at least be on more even keel. Jim is thinking Stede but doesn't say that to Izzy.

Stede is brought in and he has the crew with him and probably Lucius, and when Ed sees Lucius alive he's like "holy fuck" and just shatters because he didn't want Lucius to die, it was just something that happened. He tells Stede all the horrible things he's being doing, including, "I cut off Izzy's toe!" and Stede is like, "Did he deserve it?" and Ed has to realize that no, nope, he did not, and when he tries to go talk to Izzy, Jim is bold and wonderful enough that they block his path, proving their dedication to protecting Izzy: Ed is not getting in that room.

Jim takes the place of Lucius in telling Ed exactly what he's done, though they don't get too into revealing Izzy's trauma. Ed spends a good chunk of time trying to figure out how to re-earn Izzy's trust and make amends for what he did.

Izzy remains traumatized, but once he's in a safer environment he starts to heal from it and be triggered less and less, and maybe manages to forgive and trust Ed again, one day. He never eats meat again and he's no longer really jealous of Stede; he doesn't want Ed in his bedroom anymore, after all.

Show Best Case Scenario:

What Ed did to Izzy (and everyone else) is treated with nothing less than the depth it deserves. Much like the toe scene is not played for laughs, and nor are any more of the Revenge scenes in 1x10 after Lucius is yeeted, what Ed does is treated with sobriety and respect. Izzy is allowed to have feelings about what was done to him, the show acknowledges and addresses that what Ed did is fucked up and Ed is forced by the narrative to see what he did and make amends. No one laughs at Izzy for what was done to him. They do not call him Izzy Limpy or mock him. They do not think he deserved it.

Show Worst Case Scenario:

Everyone thinks Izzy deserved it because he's a dick. It's played off as him getting his just desserts and isn't it funny that Izzy got maimed? Look, he's limping! Izzy Limpy now, instead of Izzy the Spewer haha!! The show focuses entirely (rather than partially, along with the crew and Izzy) on Lucius's murder, whether he survives it or not, and that's the amends that Ed has to make. Izzy stagnates by his side as though nothing ever happened. Sometimes Ed hurts him, but it's framed as something Izzy deserves.

I don't think that's the scenario we're going to get. In 1x06, Ed and Stede were both run through in two separate scenes, in fact Stede even gets skewered to the mast for hours and it's literally fine. No one ever mentions their stabbings again, it doesn't matter, it wasn't a big deal.

If they were going to do that with Izzy's toe, I think they wouldn't have had him limping with a cane, he would've just been fine immediately afterwards. Instead, he immediately has the marks of what Ed did to him:

This first scene is Izzy telling Ivan (who's just like "it's a lotta books, Izzy O.e chiiiiill") with a tang of panic to his voice to work faster because he thinks if they don't, he's going to get punished again. He also has a cane and he does this pained smile when he says "Blackbeard is himself again" and then screams, "QUICKER!!!!!!" in what I can only describe as terror and then limps out, having to use a cane to walk.

When he maroons them, he's still using the cane, and instead of having his foot out of sight below the wood of the rowboat, his injury is on full display. It isn't being immediately brushed aside.

And when he tells Ivan, "Rowwww," there's. something in his voice, I don't know. He's nervous. Who can blame him?

The last time we see him, he doesn't have the cane, I don't think, but he's also on steady footing and his legs are spread to aid his balance.

I do not think his injury will be shrugged off. I hope it won't be. But that's my 'worst case scenario'.

Finally, if they give it enough attention and dedication, Izzy being traumatized and afraid of Ed (his number one supporter, the guy always in his corner, his right hand) will absolutely have an affect on everyone. Even if the crew and Lucius are like, "Meh! We survived!" seeing Izzy flinch or be less confident around Ed will change how they relate to Ed as well.

In 1x04 when Ed is like, "It's a full moon!" and Izzy is the one that chimes in to say he's wrong, Lucius backs Izzy up. Lucius didn't have the guts to speak first and say it wasn't September 1st (who would want to tell Blackbeard he's wrong?!), but he did have the guts to support Izzy. Izzy opened that door by showing that he could inform Ed of his mistake.

Izzy not being able to correct Ed in that scene, for example, would mean they died. End of story. Show ends. They go right into the Spanish vessel because Ed got his dates wrong and no one corrected him, so he and Stede didn't go off to mope about death and Stede didn't mope about his wife and how he was meant to be a lighthouse for his family, and they didn't get the lighthouse idea. Because if they were fine, they didn't need the lighthouse idea.

Izzy saved their lives by telling Edward he was wrong and giving them the time they needed to come up with another plan. Izzy did that.

The ripple effect is that Ed will miss the minutiae and he will not have Izzy there to fix those things. You can, in fact, even see the beginnings of that in that episode via the way Ed doesn't talk to Izzy. He snags Stede, messes around, flirts with the crew, comments on the Bird Guy, tells Lucius to count because he knows the ship is coming, and doesn't tell Izzy the plan.

Izzy has to chase him around the ship, calling his name and trying to get him to come out of the (literal) closet he's in with Stede so they can do actual sailing and pirating things like getting out of dodge real fast, and then after their clothes swap he points out to Edward that Blackbeard needs to do something and Ed is just like "¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that's Blackbeard" and points at Stede

which is hilarious because it all works out, but oh my god, Edward?!

so Izzy is like, "Fucking FINE I'll see if this other bloody captain has a lick of sense!" and drags Stede off to go hey. what about you. do YOU have a fucking plan to SAVE OUR LIVES?

Which, Stede does not lol

and Stede is so busy going OMG ED THIS GUY IS SUCH A DICK! he doesn't realize Izzy is god damn right

and then after all of this, Ed flounces around and shows off like "look how smart I am, I saved our lives by seeing the clouds look like sausages, aren't i amazing" except had he told Izzy why the clouds mattered and his plan, Izzy would have said then and there that it wasn't a full moon and he would have said then and there that they needed a new plan, and they might actually have had time to come up with another plan without having to become a lighthouse (which was great, but a last ditch effort).

Ed doesn't tell Izzy shit and it's his always his god damn downfall.

His downfall is and has continued to be the entire show through: taking Izzy for granted and treating him poorly.

I hope this continues into seasons 2 and beyond.

Thanks for giving me questions to chew on for what feels like 6000 words. I'll do a word count in a second because I think I typed for two hours.

[matan4il]

I'm looking at that "Clothes (colors) of 5x13" post again, and having seen the trailer for tonight, yeah, someone in the production chain is playing games with us.

Oh hon, thank you so much for reading my 513 clothes meta! I’m so glad if you found it useful in any way. And TBH, I think production probably knows about us more than we’d like to be aware of, so there might def be some playing games going on there! But I’m always curious to hear more of your perspective and what exactly you had in mind. Hope you’re having a great day! xoxox

And if it’s okay, I’ll add in here another lovely ask -

Hi there, I'm the anon who asked you where you come from (so sorry to hear about that in Israel, I'm from Italy and I've been to your beautiful country few years ago. I hope they will stop with all those wars and I hope you stay safe.) and your fav episode (mine is Eddie begin and definitely 4*14, even if I agreee, yesterday's one is going to be on this list).

Anyway, I wait for your meta like a child waits for Christmas and I was wondering if you could help me  analyze a little bit more the look Eddie gives buck in the heart drawing scene. He looks up and his look is so... Weird. I can't quite gasp what were Ryan's directions tbh. I know you can help me.

No need to help me deciphering bucks look. He's so in love you can probably tell from the moon xD

Thank you and again, love your takes.

Italian anon

Awwwww, hi Italian anon! It’s so lovely to get to meet you! :D I’ve been to your country as well, and it’s one of my faves in the world. The food alone is just... *chef’s kiss* But then I also adore the language and culture. One of my fave movies ever is about falling in love in and with Italy. ;) I’m so happy to hear you’ve enjoyed Israel’s beauty as well, and thank you for the caring and kind words! We’ve had two more rounds of firing into Israel since that last post, and NGL, it’s all very stressful. And the saddest thing is that this is all so redundant, because I have no doubt that most people here want peace and coexistence. But knowing that there are kind people out there who care, that’s amazing and it helps more than you know! *hugs you SO big*

I’m overjoyed to learn that you enjoy my meta posts so much! I’m NGL, they take a lot out of me, so it’s incredible to know that they can bring so much joy to wonderful people like yourself! And ksdfjhskdjfh HOW DID I FORGET TO MENTION 315? It was, together with eps like 309, 413 and 414, one of moments where, when I was watching it live, I was wondering if this is real and not fanfiction, and how are we being blessed with so much goodness? So yes, another reason why I can’t choose just one ep! I love discussing this with you and thank you for sharing your own thoughts on this!

Oh, that’s such a good question! Okay, so at first Eddie is looking at what he thinks is Christopher’s drawing (but is actually Buck’s) and his expression seems to be both fond and a little puzzled:

But then Buck confesses that it’s his and offers, “I misunderstood the assignment” as an explanation for why his drawing is the one that looks more child-like. Upon hearing this, Eddie looks up from Christopher’s actual (anatomically correct) drawing at Buck like this:

So I think the first thing is to consider Eddie is teasing Buck with a bit of a judgmental look. I do believe this look contains that to a degree, but it’s not the only thing there, IMO. Otherwise, Eddie might have also added some verbal teasing, because that’s usually been his M.O, he’s never been shy or non-verbal about fondly teasing Buck. But I think there’s also an honest surprise there. Buck’s drawing is sweet and loving and soft, not to mention cute as heck. It’s in a sense such a good representation of the kind of person Buck is, and the kindheartedness and love he has brought into the lives of the Diaz boys. Eddie is shown a physical representation of why no one will ever match him better than Buck will. And maybe for a sec that takes him by surprise or is even a little too much to contain, because Eddie has just returned from therapy, and he’s not exactly in a great place by his own admission after (in his words) having cracked himself open for 50 minutes and having walked out feeling like he was hit by a bus. If in this moment he thinks too closely about what this drawing says about who Buck is and what he means in the Diaz home, Eddie might just have to admit some things to himself. So instead he gives in to his fatigue and expresses his sense of hopelessness:

Maybe he does it in part to avoid really thinking about what Buck means to him. And maybe he also does it in part because this drawing is a reminder that this is the optimistic man that is there to love and support Eddie, and it’s okay to let go in his presence and confess the biggest, scariest of doubts. Buck’s gonna handle them with that shining love he has, Eddie’s heart is safe in his hands.

I hope this helps, please don’t hesitate to let me know one way or another, Italian anon! xoxox

(I got an influx of asks, I WILL answer all of them, but it might take a sec. If anyone wants to check whether I've already answered theirs or to read my replies, here's my ask tag. Thank you! xoxox)

[polyamoryfacts]

Polyamory writing tropes

Because I forgot that tumblr dot hell’s solution to spam bots is straight up hiding replies with too many links, here is a manual repost of my certainly incomplete list of polyamory tropes.

(I had originally posted it as a reply to an ask that was posted to @writingquestionsanswered - you should check them out!)

I will assume that A is into B, B is into A and C, and C is into B. B and A are not into each other. Furthermore, I will assume that everyone has agreed to being part of the arrangement as described. If B is dating A behind C’s back, that’s not polyamory, that’s cheating.

This constellation is commonly called a V or vee, because if you draw it, it kinda looks like a V. The partner “in the middle” B is called the hinge.

A and C are metamours to each other (meta + amour). They share a partner.

The most common trope with polyamory is the topic of jealousy. In fact, you will be hard pressed to find a story which does not focus on it, to the point that I would say it has been done to death, plus you can find plenty of guides how to write it, so I am not going to focus on that.

Instead, there are other interesting tropes specific to polyamory you can use:

Compersion is a word for a warm feeling of fuzziness you get when your metamour makes your partner happy. Imagine that, like, I am A, and B is really into underwater basket weaving. I, on the other hand, do not care for underwater basket weaving at all, and while I can empathize with B’s enthusiasm for it, ultimately I am not a good person to discuss underwater basket weaving with. But then, one day, B meets C! And C is also into underwater basket weaving! Now B can discuss water currents and sprig flexibility with C and is elated! And B being happy with C makes me happy! (In fact, it may be that I was getting a bit tired of the topic, so it benefits me as well. Cue crisis about whether I am a good person or if “dropping” B on C is selfish! So much delightful angst potential!)

One side effect might be that when B is out on a date with C, I finally have time for myself and my favorite hobby of chocolate teapot sculpting, which B somehow never seems interested in :/

Of course, depending on the person, this feeling might extend to more intimate topics and activities. It does not have to be limited to things A does not enjoy – A might just be happy that B has an additional person to do these things with.

However, it can also lead to establishing new couple activities. The common cliché is of the polyamorous person who is fine with their partner having sex with someone else – but don’t you dare watching “our” Netflix series with someone else.

The flip side of this is B being happy when A and C get along. As far as I know, we don’t have a specific word for that (we really should, though).

When metamours get along, they might delight in scheming to do something nice for their hinge together. For example, they might plan a surprise birthday party for B together (cue all shenanigans associated with surprise party and birthday party). They might also become great friends and share vulnerabilities with each other that they don’t even share with their mutual partner.

A might have actively pushed B to get with C. In this case, feel free to pull all the ShipperOnDeck tropes.

A and C might have felt apprehension towards meeting each other. B might have felt apprehension towards them meeting each other. What if they don’t get along!? You can borrow from the “meeting the parents” tropes here.

A and C might also get together over time. This might cause unexpected jealousy in B because of the change in relationship dynamics. It can be all the anxiety you get when your partner has a new partner… but multiplied by the fact you get it from both sides.

Incidentally, polyamorous people get to observe this “my loved one is freshly in love” theme often enough we have our own name for that “I have butterflies in the stomach and the world is made of gingerbread rainbows” feeling B gets – NRE or New Relationship Energy.

Ideally, A, B and C have all discussed what their relationship dynamics are to be. For example, whether it is okay to take on other partners or if there is the expectancy that A and C will remain exclusive to B. Also, if B is allowed to start further relationships with D, E and so on. (If it is to stay at the A/B/C constellation, it is called a closed relationship or possibly a closed triad.) And they hopefully have discussed how much everyone wants to know about the details of the other relationship and how much they get to know. They also have hopefully discussed how out they are to their social circles. (If people have conflicting needs on that, there may be some tension.)

In practice, I believe the most common setup is not a closed relationship (I have only personal anecdotes, though). It is more commonly like this (listed are everyone’s partners):

A: B

B: C, D

C: B, E

D: B, F

E: C

F: D

The set of all people in this network is called a polycule (a portmanteau of poly and molecule). In the above scenario, F might not even know about E. F is with D, D is with B, B is with C, C is with E. If this was a familial relationship, they would be something akin to distant cousins, with comparable dynamics – they might find it an amusing bit of trivia, but ultimately it doesn’t affect their lives much. They might, however, be in the same circle of friends, or even roommates. Which leads to amusing shenanigans like

B: C, I know you are visiting E [your partner] and F tonight?

C: Yeah?

B: D asked me to pass along this thing F forgot at D’s place [because D and F are partners]. Could you give it to F [because you are visiting F’s roommate]?

C: I think F is not at home tonight, but I will give the thing to E!

This can be somewhat confusing to the reader, because it gets you a large cast. If you ever find out how to solve this, let me know.

Also, Long Distance Relationships. So many Long Distance Relationships.

Of course, there are some people who will go to great lengths to chart their polycule, with the same diligence someone might employ while researching their ancestry.

Because marrying multiple people is not possible in most places, people may employ a similar ritual for a particular partner. Their are hand-fastening ceremonies, for example. Or other rituals - I know a person who texts all of their partners goodnight before going to bed.

There are some clichés about the polyamorous community. Polyamory is said to enable you to always have a group ready for board game night, for example. Or Dungeons and Dragons night – I reference this in my most shared post which apparently people can relate to.

Also, we are really good at scheduling. Shared calendars are frequently employed.

And we really talk a lot about our feelings. Which is… somewhat inconvenient for writing drama.

And we love large beds. Some of us don’t. (I feel too hot with even one other person in the bed. How some people deal with three is an utter mystery to me).

If you have made it this far, congrats! Thanks for researching our community! Seconding the recommendation for @polyamorouscultureis for more.

If you wish to check out my blog, you will find a list of helpful resources, and will get a mix of

me assuring people they are valid like this

polyamory memes like this

polyamory shitposts disguised as facts (which are not to be taken seriously for the purposes of research) like this

and general polyamorous tomfoolery.

[khadij-al-kubra]

Storytelling, Fate & Happy Endings

I’m still processing last nights episode (CR C2 Ep140), and much like every critter I’m SUPER emotional about it. But something about last night’s events and how they played out really got to me, not just as a fan but also as a storyteller. And even the day after, i was actually crying (still am crying in fact) more than i did last night watching it happen. At first i thought it was because i’m a fairly new critter and this is my first time watching a campaign come to an end. But the more i think about it and process, the more i realize that’s not just it. This effected me as someone who deeply believes in the power of storytelling and how it can not only effect but reflect the world around us. And because I have to get them out of my head, here are my thoughts on why last nights episode was so important, not just for CR fans but also as a an important narrative for right now.

...Yeah that’s a bit vague, isn’t it? Okay, let me explain. If you’re willing to take the time to read fellow Critters, I greatly appreciate it in advance. ^__^

WARNING: Major spoilers for CR Campaign 2 Episode 140 ahead. Also it’s gonna get kind of meta. And long. Because i have a lot of thoughts & feels.

So I think it’s fair to say that, as much as we would’ve been devastated by any of the M9 perma-dying in the last battle, part of us wasn’t expecting them all to make it out of there alive. Not even the players, I think, despite how much they likely didn’t want that to happen. Just look at the half-resigned way Liam talks about Caleb in the last few Talks Machina episodes. Or how, in game, Jester was fully prepare to die trying to stop the city from coming back. And for a while there, it seemed like some of them might not survive.

But then they did. Despite so many crappy rolls throughout the night they stopped Lucien, set free all the souls trapped in Aeor, saved Exandria, and brought each other back from the dead. Not only that, but they also did the impossible: They saved Mollymauk. Their lost friend who had such a deep impact on all of them even after his death. The delightfully charming asshole who was so full of joy and life and who, despite how the world treated him, was happily determined to leave every place better than he found it. Moreover, they almost didn’t succeed! But then they did, all because of teamwork, love and one last minute ditch effort ‘what-the-hell-have-i-got-to-lose’ dice role that none of them saw coming. And now they get to go home together, truly as The Mighty NINE.

Just this once, everybody lived! We got a happy ending!

And that’s HUGE in game...but also think for a second how that reflects outside of game too. Do you realize what a story like that means to people, especially given the year from Hell we’ve all had?

Think about it. This past year the world has suffered. We’ve all been impacted by the pandemic in some way shape or form, either on small levels or large. Our world has been at war with a virus that effected everyone and everything: Our sense of safety. Our health. Our economy. Our families & friends. Our freedom. (in the sense of our ability to travel & just be in close proximity to people without fear, but i digress) Deeply imbedded social and systematic diseases have been brought further to light in the past year and a half largely because of this virus. Some of us have lost people we love. Hell, the pandemic even effected the way that the latter half of Campaign 2 played out because of social distancing protocols. If you further compare this to Campaign 2, the world of Exandria was caught in the middle of a war that started because of social & systematic corruptions that had been rooted in two opposing kingdoms for years. And so many suffered and died because of it.

Then the Mighty Nein comes in. This ragtag group of delightful assholes with nothing to lose; these flawed but inherently good at heart and deeply human adventurers, broken and lost in their own ways, trying to make a home and family for themselves in a world that took advantage of them or left them alone or said they weren’t good enough...and they changed things. 

They grew. They fought back. They found moments of silliness and peace and joy and fun amidst all the strife and sometimes grief. Most of all, they tried. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of spite, sometimes even out of compassion, but mostly just out of love. And in the end, not only did they help people and stop a war for the sake of their loved ones, but they also saved their world from being destroyed by a rotted perversion of life from the past that threatened to consume everything they cared about. AND they STILL managed to bring everyone in their found family back to life. Does it erase the bad and sad things that happened to them? Hell no! But those things don’t negate the fact that in that moment, they made it out okay. That this was a victory and they won!

Think of what a story like that means to people right now.

I’m personally a pretty spiritual person, and much like our favorite clerics, I also believe in a higher power. But whether or not you also believe in a Divine being, the Universe or whatever, every D&D player believes in one thing: Fate. Luck. Call it what you will. But it was fate that made those dice rolls that saved everyone happen. It was fate that not only stopped Cognoza from returning, but also brought Jester and Caleb and Molly back to life, even when it seemed like it wouldn’t work. (and holy shit that gave me emotional whiplash!) 

After everything they went through, both individually and together, the Mighty Nein defied the odd and demanded that Fate let them save their loved ones. They demanded that the world give them back their friend; That they deserved to have their happy ending & get to go home alive together. Just. This. Once.

As a writer, I know firsthand that there are some stories we find and create ourselves, but then there are stories that have a way of finding us. Sometimes a story or world or character from somewhere in the Aether will pop into our minds one day and say, ‘I need your voice to tell my story.’ Maybe this is just me getting carried away with the meta brain again. And like i said, i’m a spiritually inclined person, so I believe in things like Fate and a Divine Higher power writing out the stories of the Multiverse. If you’re reading this (and thank you for taking the time to do so) maybe you do too. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, if you’re a fellow critter, then you’re clearly a fan of good stories and/or playing Dungeons & Dragons. So you know how fate/dice roles have a big impact on the outcome of a story, regardless of how tightly written a setup the dungeon master makes. Given all that and how organically stories tend to play out in D&D, I genuinely believe that Matt Mercer and the whole CR Team were meant to be conduits for a story where the flawed heroes save the world AND all make it home alive.

And I think Fate knew that we needed last nights battle to end like this. After all the crap we’ve been through this past year, we needed this happy ending, deserved it even! Not just us critters, the CR team too. As much as we all like to joke that Campaign 2 was secretly scripted, we all know that’s not true. Yes, the setup storyline and world were brilliantly crafted by Matt, and the character roleplaying is beautifully acted out by the team. But the twists and turns, the direction it goes, and how the game plays out is all up to fated dice rolls just like any other game. And something, some kind of force of luck, some force of fate, some Universal Divine DM out there made the roles happen the way they did last night.

It gave us a happy ending.

I believe that this was meant to happen; now of all times with everything else going on in the world. Amidst all this darkness and rot, both in game and in the real world, in the end of it all there was light and life. A reminder that sometimes people do live. They do get second chances. They do find a new family or reunite with old ones. That sometimes the world can be saved for a time, and happy ending do still exist. Even if it’s not broadcasted on the daily news amidst tragedy reports, or even tragedies that don’t get reported (which sadly are a lot, but again i digress).

Because the thing is, like Beau said, no one else will probably know they were heroes. No one will know what the Mighty Nein sacrificed to save all of Exandria. But they don’t need to know that for it to still be true, for life to happen again, and for a found family of nine broken people who love each other to go home together safe. It doesn’t invalidate that the good things happened. That at least for today everyone was saved. That flawed people were still able to do good because they tried. That they left the world better than they found it and got their own small but satisfying happy ending. Even if only for now, because we don’t know what’s gonna happen next Thursday. We don’t know what the future will hold for the Nein or Exandria when the Campaign ends or even when (hopefully) some loose ends will be tied up in later oneshots. But neither that nor the bad and sad stuff that happened beforehand in the game and in the character’s lives invalidates the fact that tonight they won. They lived.

So why can’t that be true for us in the real world?

I said earlier that, as a writer, I believe in the power stories have to not only reflect but also shape our world. This story is an example of why, but especially this episode, and that’s why i was so euphoric about the outcome. It wasn’t just a game for me, and i’m sure for others too. It was a much needed reminder that happy endings can still happen in real life, just as much as they can in stories. Even when everything seems dark and corrupt and rotten and hopeless, we can still keep fighting. We can keep trying. We can make new families and start over and be heroes in our on little lives in small ways. 

We can leave the world better than we found it. 

And maybe, with hard work, imagination, luck and a little Divine intervention...we can also get the happy endings we deserve.

[teresa-moyocoyotzin]

short recap of my thoughts on 5x09

okay so i was gonna rewatch the whole episode and do a blow-by-blow reaction post but i’m not sure i’ll have time and i kinda wanna focus on watching my fave scenes from the show before tonight. also, everyone else’s reaction posts p. much sum up my thoughts lol 

nonetheless, i just wanted to give my main takeaways on the episode a week later, in case anyone cares where i’m at going into the finale! gonna go over the things i liked first, anyone who wants to just remain positive and not see any salty takes might wanna just stick to reading the first part b/c i definitely rant a bit at the end lmao. we’re still having a fun time tho 😂

THINGS I LOVED

- i mean... i think we know LOL

- obviously. i loved james and teresa’s i love you scenes, and kisses, and OOF THAT SEX SCENE. if someone had told me we were gonna get that scene back in like 2017??? i probably would have started literally floating. i totally respect that people had very specific ideas of what they wanted out of those scenes and could have different feelings about it but NOT ME BABES I AM ECSTATIC!!! i did go into the episode with a ~feeling~ that we were gonna get at least one ILY in the episode, and i just had a feeling it would be james, or at least that he would say it first. i’ve already explained in my meta about the scenes why i think it makes sense that he said it first and why i love it that he did, so i won’t go into that here. but i went in having really no expectations for it other than that it was gonna happen! i was debating about whether it would happen really casually while they’re talking, or in like a big action scene, or really dramatic or what, and what i would prefer, and i came to the conclusion that i would love it no matter what lol, but i was really into the idea of james just. fucking. saying it. while they’re just talking about something really casually. so therefore i was pretty happy with it when we got sort of a mix! they’re talking about teresa’s insane death trap of a plan so there’s that drama of “i don’t want to lose you esp. not before saying ILY” kinda thing, but it’s also just. so simple and sure! and then teresa’s i love you is like the perfect scene for me where one character is super focused on something else (in this case, trying to protect the woman he loves! agh!) and the other is just like.. i love you!!!! SO GOOD

- let’s see, what the hell else happened in this ep?

- oh okay i really liked james and teresa’s vibes this episode, they were so focused on each other and had this very ride-or-die feeling about them like they knew that each of their plans was increasingly stupid and desperate and might not even get them where they wanna go, but they were IN IT TOGETHER no matter what 😭i wish we had gotten a callback to that line but at this point, i’m p. sure they Know they’re in it together, and we do too. so it’s okay. i love that teresa still asks his input and considers his opinions even if she does her own thing anyways haha 

- oh on that note, i LOVED the moment where their plans to kill Kostya aren’t working and Teresa says something like “If I can meet with him in person, I can kill him myself” and James just has this LOOK that just is the epitome of the “I am in love with a women who is DESIGNED TO STRESS ME OUT” meme lol, it made me giggle, v classic QOTS moment 

- oh and of course, I LOVED that scene with devon and james at the end!!!!!!!! i was also confused about how james was showing all his emotions in that scene esp. since he tries to be stoic about his feelings for Teresa around Devon, but now that i’ve read a few people’s thoughts about, it i’m fully on board w the theory that james and teresa already knew this was coming, b/c they’re smart, and b/c james knows devon wouldn’t have let him walk away to save Teresa at the beginning of the season without motivation (like having him in place to kill her when she’s no longer useful to the CIA) and THEREFORE james was sort of “overacting” to make it believable to devon (and the audience lol) that he didn’t know this was coming, didn’t want to do it, but felt like he had to, rather than the fact that they were already plotting a fake death. that makes a lot of sense to me and makes me really love all the layers to that scene. it does give me a little bit of hope that the finale ~teresa’s not really dead~ reveal will be at least a little well executed and not just shoved in at the very end. we shall see though! 

- alright i think that’s what i loved about the episode, if u don’t wanna hear me bitching about the little things then u should probably stop here!! just have to get out some of my saltiness lol 

THINGS I WAS ANNOYED ABOUT

- i’m just gonna get it out of the way, yes, i too was supremely annoyed at the amount of KA and Pote take suburbia; it was all 1000% predictable down to the raccoon and the cookies, and the point could have been accomplished in exactly 1 scene, maybe 2, certainly not like 10 or however many we got. whatever. ugh. 

- okay. OKAY. chicho. we need to talk about chicho. i for one, am not mad that he called pote, my boy was stressed. I AM HOWEVER, mad at the writers for making pote come back after saying he trusted chicho to take care of teresa now. like. it totally devalued THE WHOLE THING!! imo, pote shoulda stayed his ass at home where we had to watch him settle all episode, and chicho should have gotten THE HERO MOMENT HE DESERVED (esp. cuz he’s on first name basis w teresa now??) which ALSO WOULD HAVE MADE THE SCENE WHERE TERESA GIVES CHICHO THE DISTILLERY AND THE BAR SO! MUCH! MORE! MEANINGFUL!!!!! or just made it make sense at all? like .... i’m just so confused by that whole plotline like what was the point? chicho does nothing but call pote and gets T’s whole legacy in NOLA? 

- and don’t even get me started on how it makes ZERO sense that pote would have had to charge in at the last minute to save teresa when JAMES THE SNIPER W AMAZING AIM WHO IS LITERALLY. IN LOVE WITH HER. is standing outside like. ur telling me james and chicho (who again, is supposed to be her #2 after james now) just stood there like “oh hey pote yeah you go ahead we’ll wait here good luck” like WHAT also.. how did pote get past all the guards that made james stay outside? are we meant to believe pote is that sneaky? y’all. it just. doesn’t make sense. this whole plot situation maddens me more than anythings tbh UGH JUST MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 

- oksana’s daughter..... what’s her name again? idk b/c we only MET HER THIS WEEK....okay this amuses me but i’m also annoyed b/c like. there were so many other women who could have taken that spot in the opening sequence... Lil T, Castel, hell even Isabela??? Like idk how they could have done it but they put so much effort into her plot in the first seasons that i really thought she was gonna end up w/ Teresa in the end.. idk that would have been kind cool, Camila’s two “daughters” eventually working their way out of the life together..again idk how they could have realistically done it but i really do wish it had been someone we met before. if it had to be someone new this season, they could have introduced her earlier instead of one of the seemingly dozens of random guys we knew for 1 episode before they died... like.. give her some depth please. is she even gonna be in the finale? honestly she better be after making us listen to pote welcome her into the family... like the family u were supposed to leave so u could have an actual baby pote? the family that’s literally dispersing as we speak? also.. since when did pote love oksana so much anyways? also...... just.. if teresa’s gonna have some sort of daughter figure or whatever she’s supposed to be, wouldn’t it make sense to have her be the one to give the big welcome to the family speech? idk y’all..... i’m amused but also baffled at the sheer lack of planning behind this. did no one realize they needed someone for the opening scene until like. halfway thru the season? did they plan to have it be castel but they couldn’t get her for filming (hence all the weird castel plots?) INQUIRING MINDS WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. it’s whatever tho lol 

- i just hope that what’s-her-name gets a lil bit of plot in the finale esp. since otherwise it might just be pote running around being pissy (i don’t actually think that haha but i am a lil nervous that teresa won’t come back until the last few mins and i’ll have to spend all episode looking at boaz and devon and pote and KA.. i haven’t looked at any spoilers tho so i’m still hopeful! i will probably make a post about my hopes going into the finale a lil later, both realistic and unrealistic :) 

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

And when dick finds out jason KNEW and didn't tell b/c of the bet. oh man. Can we get a chapter in dick's pov on this? idc where u put it I just really want to read it.

Dick rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics. Honestly, he didn’t really care who Ladybug was. They had more than enough proof that she was on the good side and their little squabble didn’t seem all that serious.

Besides, no one in France knew who she was after her being a hero for four years. Dick wasn’t one to attempt the impossible (he loved things that seemed impossible, but that’s different than things that actually are).

Still, Damian had come to him for help and he was fine taking some time out of his day to research with him.

And what did they find? Pretty much nothing.

The Parisians either guessed her age as 15-21 or somewhere in the thousands.

She had to have come over from France over the past two days but there wasn’t a single person even moderately matching her description who had come over.

Her friend group was iffy. Supposedly she was friends with someone named Chloe Bourgeois, who’d had the bee miraculous for a short period of time. Then again, some footage indicated that Ladybug might actually hate the girl, so that information was useless. All the other heroes she’d worked with were still a mystery.

And her powers? God, don’t even get him started on her powers. Did she know what she was going to summon or not -- sometimes it seemed like it and sometimes it didn’t. Just how far did the apparent invulnerability go? How does someone take a miraculous? How does her outfit work? Why won’t the mask come off? How much did her cure actually fix? The only thing they knew for sure was that she had to participate in a battle for her to be able to use it.

Even Tim hadn’t been able to scrounge up more than rumors.

But Damian still wanted Dick to be there when he confronted Ladybug with the information and question her, and he didn’t really have anything better to do.

Finding her was way harder than they thought it’d be. You’d think someone in bright red would be easy to spot in the middle of the night, but apparently not.

But, eventually, they found her.

She didn’t seem to notice them for a while. She hopped from rooftop to rooftop, drink in hand.

And then she stopped. She took a long sip from her drink.

“What do you want?” She asked. Well, at least they knew for sure she was French. Her accent was still pretty thick.

Dick and Damian looked at each other awkwardly. What were they supposed to say? ‘We tried to stalk you on the internet but it didn’t work’?

She spun on her heel and repeated herself: “What do you want?” Her smile was getting more strained.

Damian crossed his arms over his chest. “Who are you?”

Wow. Smooth. He fought the urge to sigh.

Ladybug grinned cheekily as she matched his posture. “I’m Ladybug, of course.”

He could already tell they weren’t going to get anything of substance from her. Still, Damian was sending him pleading looks out of the corner of his eyes. He brought a smile to his face. “We’ve spent the last few days researching you. We looked up immigration records, plane flights, everything. No one matches your descriptions. You, frankly, don’t exist.”

She tapped her earrings. “That’s ‘cause of magic. It keeps people from finding out my identity if I don’t want them to.”

He blinked and looked at Robin, trying to gauge if this could be true. Sure, metas existed and the internet had attributed her powers to the earrings she wore, but the idea of earrings giving people powers was still kinda odd for him.

Robin didn’t know. Great.

And then Ladybug took a sip of her drink and Dick gave pause. He’d seen that cup before. Pretty much every day, actually. He could ask Tim about it later --.

He was pulled back to the present when Damian groaned and left. He broke into a wide smile. Maybe this wouldn’t be impossible, after all.

He held out a hand to shake. “It’s been nice meeting you. Sorry about my…” He hesitated for a half-second, unsure whether he wanted to say ‘brother’. He glanced at her eyes and decided against it. He didn’t like how intent they looked. Whoever she was, she wasn’t stupid, that much was obvious.  “... partner. He’s a bit annoying.”

She beamed as she shook his hand. “It’s fine. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Nightwing. I hope next time we can get to know each other without him around.”

He chuckled. “Just Nightwing would be fine. And that sounds great.” He gave one last wave before hopping away.

~

Jason’s phone rang and Dick grinned, glad for an excuse to stop working for even a second.

“Who wants to talk to you?”

He held up his phone to show it was ‘Timberly’.

They both frowned at this. Tim? Calling during work? He must be dying.

Jason turned on his speaker.

“Heya, Replacement, what’s up?”

“Hey, I’m going to take the day off.”

Jason and Dick looked at each other for a long time, stunned. And then they finally processed it. “WHAT?!”

“WHO IS THIS?!”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!”

“ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“IS THIS A PRANK?!”

“Yes, I’m fine. No, it’s not a prank. I’ve met someone --”

Jason laughed.

“-- not like that, Jay -- and I’m giving her a tour of the city. She just got here from France a while ago.”

Cafe person? From France? Dick’s brain clicked and he shoved Jason out of the way to get to the phone. “Did you meet her at the cafe?”

“Yes, I met her at the coffee shop, Dick. What does it matter?”

“She could be Ladybug.”

Tim and Jason laughed at him. Laughed.

“You’re insane. Can I have time off or not?”

Dick fought back his annoyance. Tim was actually asking to leave and he wasn’t going to stop him. “Yes!”

“Please!” Added Jason.

The line went dead. Dick dropped back onto the couch and pulled out his own phone.

How could he bully Tim into bringing (the person who might be) Ladybug over?

He opened up the family group chat.

Idontwantpicturesthatsjustmyname: Guys you will not BELIEVE this

~

Dick rested his head on his hands as he watched Marinette from across the table.

“So, what do you know about Ladybug?”

Her eyes widened slightly. Whether this was because of the suddenness of the question or because he was right he wasn’t sure.

“Subtle,” Jason said sarcastically. He sent Dick a short glare as if to say ‘don’t scare her off we just met her’ and then gave Marinette an apologetic smile. “Sorry, ‘bout that. He’s been obsessed since she appeared, and most of his research has been a dead end. He’s grasping at straws.”

She relaxed and gave a soft laugh. “I’m too klutzy to ever be Ladybug, you can ask anyone.”

Dick tried not to look too skeptical. He’d purposefully surprised her with a rather forceful hug when he’d met her to see how good her balance was when she wasn’t paying attention. She’d had no problem both staying up and supporting their weight.

He couldn’t tell her that, though.

He groaned. “And I don’t suppose you know who it is?”

“Nope.”

And, just like that, the conversation moved on. Damn it, Jason, can’t you relax for a few seconds so he can interrogate her? Ugh.

Still, he smiled at Tim’s expression as Marinette began to explain exactly how they’d met. Even if it annoyed him that he hadn’t gotten any information, no one could ever pass up on the opportunity to mess with their siblings.

~

Jason sent Dick a glare as he pulled on his leather jacket. “You want to what?”

“Do a stakeout!” Dick said brightly. “I’m pretty sure Marinette is Ladybug.”

Tim sighed. “So we’re going to stalk my new friend? Great. Maybe this is why my friendships don’t last.”

“C’mon! It’s not like you even have to go, Tim.”

“And let you guys embarrass me? No thanks.”

“She won’t know --,” Jason said.

Tim sighed and put on his mask. “No. Come on. Dick, you owe me a coffee.”

Dick groaned but nodded. “Fine, I’m paying for snacks. Let’s go.”

~

“For the record, I think you’re stupid,” said Jason as they started to pull themselves up the fire escape.

“Thanks!” Said Dick brightly. “I know I’m right, but thanks!”

Jason laughed quietly. “Suuuure. Wanna bet?”

“Sure. How about 3k?”

He rolled his eyes. “Only 3? Are you really sure?”

Dick scoffed. “Fine. 5k.”

Jason smirked and pulled himself up the last rung and sat himself down on the edge. “Sucker.”

Tim glanced inside and gave sarcastic jazz hands. “Wow. How suspicious. She’s going to sleep.”

“Can’t you guys even pretend to believe me?”

“Nope. You’re insane, dude, the girl probably couldn’t hurt a fly if she wanted to.”

“I know what I saw. That coffee cup was the same one he --” he pointed at Tim “-- brings home all the time. And he saw her get one that day. She’s French and new in town. It’s got to be her.”

Tim sighed. “This feels wrong,” he mumbled. He took a long sip of his drink before continuing: “She’s a civvie, we can’t just watch her.”

“She might be a civvie,” corrected Dick.

His brothers groaned and they all opened their bags of Doritos.

And then Marinette flung the window open and stuck her head out. “Could you guys not do this outside my window?”

Everyone jumped. Tim literally jumped, nearly falling over the side of the fire escape in his surprise. They got into fighting poses on instinct.

Marinette had gone a little pale at the sight of them.

They quickly dropped their guards.

She flashed a weak smile. “Oh, I’m sorry, sirs. I thought you were just guys on my fire escape. You on a stakeout?”

Everyone looked at each other confusedly. Did her accent somehow get worse in the few hours since they met her? Tim looked especially confused by the development.

“Of sorts,” said Red Hood carefully.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes and her accent slipped back towards normal as she spoke: “If you’re staking out, can you…?” She trailed off and her eyes found their way to their Doritos. “Is that really all you’re eating tonight?” She asked, her lips falling into a frown.

The three all looked at each other.

“I mean... yeah, it’s stakeout food,” said Dick.

She clicked her tongue. “C’mon,” she waved them inside and began walking to her kitchen.

They all shrugged as they stepped through her window. What did it matter?

Dick snooped around her apartment with his brothers. He didn’t really know what he was looking for, just evidence that she did anything shady, but really he didn’t know where she’d hide anything. The place was pretty empty.

‘Damn, you live like this?’ He thought, giving her a glance and shaking his head.

His eyes found their way to her bed and he frowned. She’d set up a fake version of herself with pillows and blankets… but hadn’t she made it seem like she’d gone straight from bed to the window? How awake had she really been? And, if she’d been awake, had the accent been faked? Why?

He raised an eyebrow at the real Marinette.

“There were three people outside my window, did you want me not to take precautions?”

He looked away. Fair enough.

He continued looking for anything, but his attempts were fruitless. He would have thrown his hands up in frustration if he didn’t think that would make her suspicious of their true intentions.

Unable to do much else without making it obvious, he wandered over to watch her bake.

~

Dick looked the NightMare outfit up and down.

Ladybug sighed. “What?”

Maybe he could get some information on how her powers worked.

“Why is this outfit more intricate than your normal one?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Because I was intending to make it look like a coincidence that I showed up here right after the Ladybug in Paris defeated Hawkmoth,” she said.

He knew she was lying. He didn’t know how he knew she was lying, maybe it was the cadence of her voice or the fact that she had a tendency to keep them as in the dark about her identity as possible, but she was definitely lying.

But he couldn’t prove it.

So he moved on.

~

She stumbled out of her portal and sent them all a tiny wave. “Salut.”

Dick’s eyes widened and he rushed forward to catch her in case she fell. She didn’t, but he still wrapped her arm around his shoulders to hold her upright. “Christ! What did they do to you?”

"Some sort of tranquilizer,” she mumbled, closing her eyes. “We need to warn the Waynes.”

He tensed and looked at his family, who were anxiously shifting from foot to foot.

“You’re not in any state to do that,” said Bruce, finally.

“I can open a portal.”

A wide smile stretched across his face. Aha! She’d admitted that she had to have been somewhere to open a portal. He had her now! “You’ve been to Wayne Manor?”

She opened an eye just enough to send him a glare. “No, but I’ve been outside it.”

His smile dropped. Damn. That’s a good point. The outside was a pretty popular tourist spot. He sighed.

“You need to get home,” said Tim. “I’ll make sure everyone turns around.”

Dick sent him a slight glare but let go of Ladybug and turned away. As much as he wanted to be right, the idea of watching her stumble into her room while half-awake in order to confirm this made him feel a little sick.

He could figure it out some other time, at least.

~

Jason dropped Ladybug onto the bed and they all scrambled around her.

Dick picked up a knife and started attempting to cut the suit around her wound and a curse slipped from his lips as it attempted to reform itself instantly.

After a few attempts, he reached for Ladybug’s earrings. He hadn’t even really been thinking about her identity, he’d just been frustrated about the apparent inability to help her.

Her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist before he could touch them. She tried to say something but couldn’t talk above the blood gurgling in her mouth.

He pulled his hand from her grip.

‘Fine, but when you die stupidly it’s not my fault,’ he thought.

He went back to attempting to tend to her wounds through her outfit.

~

Listen, just because he hadn’t done that didn’t mean that he didn’t still want to know.

He sent a text to Marinette. He’d check every once in a while to see if she responded, but if it took however long Ladybug was out then he would be right.

~

He stepped into the apartment and was stunned to see that Jason and Tim were already there.

But then he watched Marinette walk over. And she was probably injured, with how hard she was trying to hide her limp. And she clearly knew that he was onto her, otherwise why would she be trying to hide it?

“You’re walking a little weird, are you alright?” He said, a smug grin on his face.

But then Tim came to her rescue. He walked over and slung an arm over her shoulders protectively. “Maybe if you weren’t watching her walk she wouldn’t be overthinking it so much.”

Damn it. He hated it when Tim had a point.

Whatever. At least he’d thought of a plan B. He watched as Marinette’s eyes fell on Robin. She’d never met the vigilante before, so there was no reason why they shouldn’t get along.

And then she was nice to him.

He wanted to kick a wall. Was he actually wrong or was she just aware of what he was doing?

She pulled a bottle of wine from her cupboard. “You guys can all have this, right?”

There, a perfectly acceptable way to be petty. He snatched the drink from her hands. “It doesn’t matter because you can’t drink!”

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “It’s legal in my country.”

“But not in ours! Where you are currently staying! How did you even get your hands on this?”

She shrugged innocently.  “You’re more uptight than my actual mom.”

He scoffed. Rude!

So rude, in fact, that he didn’t realize that she had changed the subject until there was no natural way to come back to it.

He stared at the wine in his hands.

Screw it.

~

Dick glanced at his phone as he received a text.

His eyes lit up at the username. Marinette! Aha! He had her now! It had only been a day since Ladybug was released, surely this was proof --!

Definitelyforgottosleep: lemme in

He frowned. All thoughts of Ladybug were pushed out of his mind at the two words. Was she okay? What had happened?

~

Chloe Bourgeois? Where had he heard that name before?

A frown found its way to his face as he tried to recall this. “I know you.”

“You do?”

He nodded slightly and scratched the back of his head. “Definitely... so where...?”

Marinette looked a little pale. “Don’t all rich people kind of know each other?”

Dick gave a small nod. “I guess...” He said despite being sure that wasn’t it.

She grabbed both of them by their sleeves. “C’moooon. It’s cold out, we can at least do this inside.”

~

Dick watched from a bit away, trying to fight back a grin as Marinette and Cass greeted each other.

“Hi,” Marinette squeaked.

Cass looked Marinette up and down. If anyone could crack this case in two seconds, it was her…

And she did.

“Are you a vigilante?”

He fought the urge to squeal. Yes! Yesyesyesyesyesyes --!

And then Jason appeared out of nowhere to tackle Marinette in a hug.

This couldn’t ruin his good mood, though. Nothing could.

“Cass thinks that Mari could be a vigilante,” said Dick with a cheeky look on his face.

Jason and Marinette tensed slightly and looked at each other.

Then, Cass gave a short laugh. “No, wait, I was wrong. Don’t worry about it, Dick.”

Ah. Nothing could ruin his good mood except for that.

His smile dropped instantly and he groaned. “Dang…”

~

Dick looked between Marinette and Tim with horror. Ladybug had confessed literally hours ago and here he was dating Marinette? What the heck? Sure, they were cute together, but that was just cold. Couldn’t he have waited a few days at least?

It didn’t even occur to him that maybe the whole ‘Ladybug confessing’ thing could be linked.

~

When he’d turned on his comm, he hadn’t expected anything much from it.

“The bug’s been bugged,” said Cass.

“She’s been what?”

“Bugged. Someone bad found out her identity and now she’s got a bug.”

There was a silence as this sunk in.

Then Dick was yelling. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOMEONE FOUND OUT HER CIVILIAN IDENTITY?!”

“Damn, Nightwing, didn’t know you cared so much,” said Tim, who sounded a bit on edge.

“WHY DID THEY GET TO KNOW BEFORE ME?!”

“Because everyone gets to know before you,” said Cass calmly. “You’re officially the last to know.”

“IM SORRY?! EVERYONE KNEW?!”

“Yep.”

He couldn’t believe he’d been betrayed like this, especially by his own family.

And so he questioned them.

Tim had apparently figured her out the second day and not said anything about it because ‘her identity clearly matters to her, she didn’t even know I knew it until a little while ago’. Damn him. Dick couldn’t even get mad at him for that.

And then Jason was next. He’d apparently found out when Marinette had gotten shot. He’d given the same reasoning as Tim, which was more than a little suspicious.

Bruce was next. He’d found out on the Wayne Manor cams and hadn’t said anything because he thought everyone already knew. Ouch.

Duke said that he had just found out when Marinette had touched her comm. He got a pass.

And then Cass said she’d found out the moment she’d met the girl. Dick had suspected that, considering the conversation they’d had on Thanksgiving, but then he’d questioned her on why she hadn’t told him and…

“Red Hood and Marinette didn’t want you to know, so.”

Dick was practicing breathing exercises. It didn’t work, though. “WHO IS SHE?!”

He had a strong suspicion he knew, considering Jason had kept the answer from him, but he wanted to hear it directly from someone.

Jason attempted to steer the conversation away: “Hey, so about that bug thing --.”

Whatever attempts to save his wallet he was about to make was ruined by Cass, who simply said: “Marinette.”

Let’s just say Jason was lucky that Dick was against murder.

He was not, however, against cursing him out for the entire family to hear.

~~~

When you have to read 44 chapters of your own fic to answer a prompt--

I probably missed some things, too. I put a lot of little things in

[trickkombowerskru]

Secret’s Out-Caitlin Snow Imagine

Request: No here is the 2nd day of the 25 days of trickkombowerskru! which goes to @miss-kate-denali​ and she wanted a Caitlin imagine about her and the reader are dating but team flash doesn't know about it until the reader gets injured (either is a vigilante or a civilian, your pick) and Caitlin freaks out and it gets revealed???

A/N:I know Ralph will be gone in S7 for very obvious and understandable reasons, but he will still be in this imagine just so you know.

Warnings: None

This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a simple heist stop, sure the guy had strange metal based powers, but that was nothing you guys couldn’t handle.

At least normally it wasn’t, tonight he got the best of the team, leaving you not only with a few stab wounds, but other life threatening injuries as well.

You were between states of consciousness as Barry ran you back to S.T.A.R Labs you could hear him telling you to hold on, and your girlfriend freaking out as they carried you to the exam table.

You feel the cold metal of the table, and hear Caitlin ask for something, even going Frosty for a moment with a “Now” before fully blacking out.

You and Caitlin hadn’t been together that long, it had only been about two months. Although what a fantastic two months it had been. You had been pining away for the longest time, only Cisco knowing of your little crush, which is all you expected it to be a crush. 

However, one drunken night, leading to Frost coming out and revealing her feelings before kissing you. You talked it over the next morning and decided to give things a try. She wasn’t ready to come out at first since you really were her first girlfriend, so you were perfectly fine keeping thing secret for as long as she wanted, making sure she was comfortable. For that she was so grateful.

And now you were here, passed out in the medbay with the team was trying to figure out solutions to keep you stable and how to capture Larry, the current meta of the week. Caitlin’s brain was moving a million miles a minute as she paced back and forth trying to figure out a solution for you. 

“Cait, just slow down for a sec, breath, I promise Y/N will be okay. We’ll figure something out,” Barry reassures. 

“I can’t,” she sighs exasperatedly.

‘Why not?” he asks. 

“We’re together,” Caitlin says quietly not really wanting to let them know yet, but figuring she might as well.

“What was that?,” Cisco questions, making sure he heard her correctly. 

“We’re together,” she repeats louder, offering a half smile.

Barry raises his eyebrows in shock “Like together together?”

Caitlin gets slightly pink.

“Yeah I can’t let anything happen to her. I’ve lost so many people I care about here. I can’t loose her too,” she tears up.

“Don’t worry we’ll figure something out,” Barry reassures.

“I know now isn’t the time, but you owe me 20 bucks just saying,” Ralph chimes in.

“Dude seriously”, Barry questions.

Cisco rolls his eyes and sighs handing Ralph the 20, then moving his eyes back to the coms.

“You bet on us?,” Caitlin ask with a look o shock on her face.

“Yeah and I won,” Ralph says putting the twenty in his jacket pocket.

“Barry you have to get back out there, Larry is headed straight to that reactor,” Cisco observes.

Barry nods whooshing away to take care of things once and for all, while Caitlin shakes her head at Ralph and Cisco going back in to see how you are.

“Unbelievable,” she says to herself.

“I’m sorry,” Cisco yells down the hall.

After regaining consciousness, burning up, seizing, and almost dying a few more times, Caitlin was finally able to get you in stable condition, she let’s out a relieved sigh, sitting in a chair next to the bed where you were currently resting. She pulls on one of your hoodies that was lying around and allows herself to fall asleep holding her hand.

You wake up much later that night, you take in your surroundings and squeeze her hand 

“Hey,” she says softly, smiling at you.

“Hey,” You say trying to sit up before realizing it’s a bad idea and groaning.

“Oh no you are not gonna be getting up for a bit, get some more rest. Doctor’s orders,” she tells you, helping you lay back down.

“Can I order the doctor to give me cuddles?”

She lets out a silent chuckle, talking off her heels, and laying down next to you taking her into your arms. 

“Thanks for saving me,” you tell her.

“Thank you for not dying today,” she says nuzzling into your neck.

“Yeah you know I’ll try not to die on the next mission too if that’s okay,” you joke, moving your head to kiss her. 

A comfortable silence falls across the room for a few moments as she holds you, before she breaks it.

“So I told the team about us,’ she reveals.

“Really?

“They were a bit surprised and oh yeah Ralph and Cisco had a bet going on about us,”

“For real?”

“Yeah, Ralph claimed his twenty while you were trying to get conscious again,”

“Lovely,” your reply with a laugh.

You kiss her again, sighing contently into it.

“Hey Cait,”

“Yeah,” she asks looking at you with those sweet brown eyes of hers,

“I love you,”

She’s lays there stunned for a few moments before smiling and replying.

“I love you too.”

You eventually drift off together with smiles on both of your faces. 

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Fault”

Hello, everyone! We’re not even bothering with an introduction today, let’s just get straight to the only thing that matters.

HERE HE IS, THE MVP OF THIS EPISODE, OF THE WHOLE VOLUME, THE SERIES, THE ONLY ONE I CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW

I’m joking… but only a little. In all seriousness we will get to Ren, but you all want to hear a funny story first? I somehow got it into my head that there was no RWBY episode this week—the holiday and all—so I poured all my meta time and energy into a ridiculous Ironwood analysis as a placeholder, only to wake up this morning and find the strongest (and most complicated!) episode this year waiting for a recap. Like some sort of grimm nosing into my inbox. 

Okay, so it’s not a funny story, but if RT would just do a better job with their website my life would be a whole lot easier.

So here we are, taking a look at the episode “Fault.” Quick question, is every episode this volume going to have a one-word title? It’s not a criticism, I’ve got nothing against a punchy name, I’m just curious since RWBY has never done that before. If anything, they’ve gone more for symbolically significant phrases like “A Brawl in the Family,” “Players and Pieces,” and “The Lady in the Shoe.” I wonder what sparked the change.

Anyway, we open on Robyn laughing about some story she’s told, something about Joanna losing a fair fight for the first time, presumably to her. This is what we’ve learned about Robyn since this volume started: she refuses to acknowledge that she had a hand in Clover’s death; she was asked by Blake and Yang to keep the Amity secret but, according to May, couldn’t keep her mouth shut about it; and she tries to cheer Qrow up by bragging about her own skill.

Alrighty then.

Obviously, this little story fails to land. “Tough crowd tonight.” Robyn looks to Jacques as well as Qrow when she says this and since she clearly doesn’t care about cheering him up, she must want to get a rise out of him. Create something, as she says at the end of the scene, that’s exciting. Robyn just really loves to start fights. Against Ironwood, Clover, bickering matches with Jacques—stories told about winning them! If she’s not fighting someone she’s not interested.

Qrow does eventually give the smallest smile though and Robyn cheers. “Did I win?” They both quickly grow serious again though and Robyn says she’s “sorry for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.” Her apology would mean more if she was apologizing for her actions, not providing a generic ‘Sorry for your loss’ like she had no hand in this.

Qrow then insists it was his fault… but, of course, not for the reasons why he’s actually responsible (also, didn’t we do this two weeks ago?). For starters, Qrow blames his semblance for everything that went down, despite the fact that his semblance is not responsible for him breaking Clover’s aura, or Tyrian stabbing him. The most we’ve seen his semblance do is cause minor mischief, which in and of itself is absurd considering we’re meant to believe that it has kept him from his family most of his life, and informs choices like whether he’ll travel with the group in Volume 4. Still, it’s not unexpected that he would blame his semblance and think that having friends is a “childish dream”—depression is one hell of a liar—but rather, it’s frustrating that no one is helping Qrow see the truth of the situation, both the good and the bad. He certainly doesn’t need Robyn providing generic platitudes that absolve them both of their choices.

You know what the worst part is? The two kind, level-headed adults with enough distance to help Qrow acknowledge his mistakes while also correcting him about his misconceptions… are Ozpin and Clover. The former is still ignored by the cast, the latter barely got to be a character before he was killed.  

Qrow goes on to say that he “made a deal with the darkness and [Clover] paid the price.” I’m sorry, what does that mean?? Outside of referencing his team-up with Tyrian, that’s the most dramatic, nonsensical thing he could have said. Qrow doesn’t admit to the team-up though, rather he starts blaming Clover for his own death.

Precisely like a good chunk of the fandom has done 🙃

He says that Clover just “wouldn’t let up” (translation: he wouldn’t agree to let me go when I was under arrest) and that they could have “worked together against Tyrian if Clover had just—”

There’s a lot to cover this episode, so I’m not going to dive into another explanation of all the justified reasons why Clover didn’t trust Qrow in that moment and why Qrow was the one who “wouldn’t let up.” If you’re interested in that rundown, head here.

Side note: can RWBY please stop with the weird mouth closeups? I’m begging the animators. Especially when so much else in this episode is gorgeous.

Yes: 

No: 

Robyn’s response is to make it all about her. I say, as a hypocrite, because my instinctual response in comforting someone is to also bring up a way that I might, sort of, know what they’re going through. It’s something to work on and, as always, I’d be more receptive to Robyn’s attempts if she weren’t failing so spectacularly in every other aspect of her characterization. Case in point: she says that having a truth semblance tends to make people push her away, but we’ve never once seen that. We’re introduced to Robyn as she’s adored by Fiona. The people celebrate her. Yang and Blake trust her immediately, for no reason, and comment on how useful her semblance is—they’re not concerned with it. Ironwood likewise works with her and allows her to use her semblance on him in public, at least for a time. May spoke fondly of Robyn last episode. She just finished a story about Joanna… where is this pushing away you speak of, Robyn? I really wish RWBY would consider things ahead of time and actually show them to us, rather than just having characters announce that they’re (supposedly) there.

Nice symbolism though with Robyn touching the electric bars and pulling her hand back. You reach out, you get hurt, curl in on yourself, blah, blah, blah. Too bad it’s not a moment attached to an actual struggle of hers.

Qrow buys it though, saying he’s never thought about it that way before. 

You know, I get why a lot of people in the fandom hate Clover. I can’t even claim I’m much interested in him as an individual. I’m sick of straight, white, able-bodied men getting the spotlight, which is one of the things that drew me to RWBY in the first place… so theoretically Robyn should be the better choice for Qrow’s BFF, right? Especially in a world where FairGame only existed in RT’s social media queerbaiting. Give us the badass gender-bent Robin Hood instead of the boring military man!

On paper it sounds great… which is why it’s astounding that RT bungled that so badly.  

Qrow never finishes his thought about Clover because the Ace Ops come in to return Watts to his cell. Interesting. The writing has definitely made Ironwood stupid, but perhaps not as stupid as he could have been? If he got Watts to hack Penny (we don’t yet know what’s going on with her during all this) and then promptly shut him away again, that’s just about the best way you can follow up on your worst decision.

Harriet spots Clover’s pin and tells Qrow “You don’t get to keep that,” but then doesn’t take it from him. See, that right there is a better motivation for potentially opening the cell. Qrow says he didn’t kill Clover, Harriet shoots back that his blood was on Qrow’s blade (again, focusing on the wrong way that he’s guilty), Robyn challenges her to get the truth via her semblance… and Harriet considers it? Why? She’s not the one struggling with her loyalty here, that’s Marrow, yet he’s the one who has to pull Harriet back with “What are you doing?” when she looks at the keypad. Have Marrow almost be swayed by Robyn’s taunting, or have Harriet almost open the door because she’s furious and desperate to get Clover’s pin back. Either one of those would make more sense than this.

Also, no one checked Qrow during his arrest/before he was thrown into his cell?

Also, note that Marrow uses a nickname here—“Hare”—so I’m continually unpersuaded by the ‘They’re not friends’ claim. Yes, Harriet hits his shoulder on her way out… and Ren will later scream at Jaune about cheating. Harriet being in a bad mood because their leader was just murdered isn’t evidence that they’re not close, no more than Ren responding to Everything Traumatic Ever is evidence that he doesn’t care for his friends.

Also (x3), Robyn calls Harriet “mohawk”?? Can’t this woman come up with a single good insult?

As the Ace Ops leave Robyn lays back down on her bunk, exactly as she was before, and says, “Well, that was almost exciting.” Kind of like this scene! Luckily, the episode is about to get a whole lot better.

The music immediately picks up as we segue to Ren, Jaune, and Yang chasing after Oscar. On the whole I really enjoyed this scene, largely because it shows the group doing their best—in a way that feels persuasive. I’ll admit that others have a point about them just standing around while the Hound changes form—yet still failing because, you know, our villain is actually powerful! However, there are, as always, some nitpicks.

One of the first bits of dialogue we get is Ren noticing that the bikes can’t stand being in the cold for very long. It bugs me that bikes suffer more from the cold than the civilians do. To say nothing of the fact that it once again doesn’t amount to anything. Their bikes carry them through the whole battle and Jaune looses his because of a grimm. Then Yang manages to fix the totaled bike with a single part, despite the continued cold. Why bother introducing this as a problem when it’s meaningless each and every time?

The three do demonstrate some great teamwork though. When Yang yells that she wishes one of them could fly, Jaune uses his shield to launch Ren at the Hound… so that he can get dragged through the air, hitting rocks. This poor guy. I like that though because no, these teens shouldn’t be perfect, strategic masterminds and yes, they’re in the kind of situation where they just have to try something and see if it works. Jaune can’t think ahead to what Ren will do once he grabs the Hound, they just have to get him to that point and go from there. Which they do. Ren snags a boulder to slow them down further (that’s smart) and Yang goes higher to fire at the Hound’s face (don’t hit Oscar he doesn’t have aura!!). They’re at a crazy disadvantage here and still trying their best to get our boy back.

The overall tone is… fine? Again, love supportive Yang—that high five with Jaune was wholesome—but it continually feels weird to get that when Oscar is in the literal jaws of death here. On the whole though the scene keeps to the action and seriousness of the situation, which I appreciate. We’ll talk more about tone during the outpost scene.

It's looking like they might be making some sort of headway when the Hound lets out a roar that, as Yang puts it, calls for backup. 1. Yay giving this grimm even more power to mess with the cast, 2. Holy shit there are so many grimm around. See, scenes like this is why I’m side-eyeing the anti-army rhetoric in the show (a stance I’d otherwise agree with 100%). Because do you see how many there are? That’s not Salem’s army, that’s just the normal grimm hanging out around Atlas. The cast is screwed if anyone were to, say, order them to attack the kingdom…

Kudos to RT for bringing back the centipede grimm though. I honestly thought they’d just be a one-off action sequence in Volume 7.

While everything is falling apart Ren catches a glimpse of Oscar, complete with rosy cheeks to make him look super young, and the sight fills him with 

He starts climbing towards the Hound and we cut away. 

Meanwhile, Jaune’s bike is hit with some of the centinel’s acid (again, not the cold causing problems) and he takes a tumble, managing to keep his feet before Yang snags him. Moments like that really do show how far he’s come and I’m glad we got to see such a moment in an episode where his cheating was brought up. Jaune then uses his shield to fly over one of the dragon-y grim, but... wait. The shield is flexible?

Literally what is the point of that? As a shield, I mean (it clearly works fine as  a ramp). If you can just tip it over like that then so can the grimm or another fighter. Forget how tiny the shield is, all a monster would have to do is boop it and it would fall over. In fact, it probably should have with the grimm scratching at it before. Seems rather useless, unless you’ve got writers crafting convenient situations. Also, does Jaune have multiples of this thing? He picked it up before, but there’s no way he found that one again. Idk, I’m really not feeling this addition to Jaune’s arsenal. Better to give him a range option so he’s more versatile.

Still, they fly over the grimm and the two let out a sigh in synch. Whatever else we might have to say about this volume, RT is definitely giving us different interactions and team-ups. Well done there. Why, Jaune and Yang have managed to survive all that together!

Oh wait, never mind. They’ve gone off a cliff.

Honestly, I’m shocked they actually went over. I thought Yang would stop in time, or we’d have a classic moment of them tumbling off the bike and ending an inch from the edge, maybe going off slow with time for one to hang on. But nope, they plummet and it was done with such confidence by the camera that for a split second (the illogic of killing them both off aside) I thought that was it. They’re done for. Lucky for them, Ren catches them at the last second, managing to snag Jaune’s sword and them and immediately use his semblance so the grimm doesn’t eat them. That’s skill, baby!!

But you can see why he’s pissed, beyond just the fact that his semblance is holding this group together. It’s not Jaune and Yang’s fault that there was suddenly a cliff, but last we saw Ren he was heading towards Oscar. He had a plan. Granted, not one that was likely to lead anywhere given the Hound’s power (and the plot needing Oscar to reach Salem), but that’s not the point. He was pulling himself towards their kidnapped friend and then at the last second had to cut himself loose to save two others. This moment wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it would take someone with no emotions at all not to be frustrated by it. 

So we leave the trio literally hanging out and return to Ruby’s group who is threatening kids! 

Seriously though WTF, Weiss? Look, I haven’t always been kind to Whitley. In fact, I think there’s a Volume 7 recap where I really laid into him for his attitude and for supporting Jacques. But then—with the help of some friends and other anon perspectives—I thought about it for a hot second and considered how little power this child has. I was wrong to blame him for so much given the various circumstances here. It took, like… five minutes of thinking, and that’s for a fictional character, not a real life brother. Weiss clearly hasn’t given her brother five seconds of thought. He’s in the same abusive household that she was. He wasn’t blessed with combat abilities and a semblance to easily escape. He didn’t have Weiss there to guide him like Winter guided her. He had to watch BOTH his sisters abandon him to Jacques… so when exactly was he supposed to learn to be better? Why would he be inclined to? Weiss was an entitled racist when she got to school and needed new friends to show her a new path. She admitted as much last volume! Yet the fact that Whitley is completely alone in this house while their mom locks herself in her room to drink doesn’t register at all? This woman, an adult out to save the world as we’re frequently told, never once considered what it took to get her here and realize that Whitley has had none of the resources she did? 

I want to emphasize that Weiss threatens him with her weapon. It’s not just that she’s dismissive of him and his plight, she’s also happy to use violence if Whitley doesn’t do exactly as he’s told. Violence… against her brother… who is a child… without any training. Again: WTF, Weiss? You know how I was praising RWBY last episode for not having the group beat up the Atlas personnel? Yeah, we get this instead.

Then she tells him to go to his room??

Speculation is that Whitley is about 2-3 years younger than Weiss. Or, to put it another way, roughly the same age as Weiss’ leader, Ruby. She’ll follow Ruby unquestioningly into world-changing decisions, but sends her brother to his room like a toddler? Which is it, RWBY? Are 17 year-olds leaders you should listen to, or babies who must leave the room while the grownups talk? He certainly can’t be any younger than Oscar, so again, she’ll fight beside him, but treat Whitley like this? Whitley isn’t exactly going to offer help in a respectful, eager manner, but that “Fine. What do you expect me to do?” was incredibly open given his situation. He was willing to help and that was the perfect opportunity to have him, you know, do something. Something small and innocuous that wouldn’t threaten the team if he betrayed them, but kept him around so he could talk to someone. But nope. Weiss just sends him to his room after criticizing him for not understanding that they’re “busy trying to save Atlas.” Weiss, what does Whitley know about all that? He’s locked up in this manor after your father was arrested and the one news clip we’ve seen said that no one knows why Ironwood recalled his forces, or what’s up with those grimm overhead. She’s acting like he should have any idea what’s happening right now.

Also, all of this is coming on the heels of Willow begging Weiss not to forget her brother, so that’s just great. RWBY has the rest of their time in the manor to fix this, because if Weiss comes out of that scene having only been handed the means of arresting Jacques… that’s just bad all around.

Finally, should we talk about how strange this choice is? Last episode we saw the group flying away and I assumed it was them leaving Atlas to go back to Mantle. It certainly looked that way, but now they’ve decided to stay until Nora is awake. Why? Isn’t it more dangerous here? I mean, they didn’t know the staff was gone and there are still arrest warrants out. Was Weiss just going to threaten anyone who dared report her? Where are these shields Ironwood spoke of? Have they gotten through them somehow, or are they currently trapped in Atlas?

This is “Oscar is in the slums, leaves the slums, learns they’re going to the crater, but the slums are actually the crater, so we’re heading back now” all over again. 

The one good thing about this scene is that Blake and Ruby talk! …for about two seconds lol. Eh, better than nothing. Blake says that if Ruby is worried about Yang she could try calling her. Ruby has, and Yang isn’t picking up.

Does Ruby think she’s in danger or ignoring her? Unclear. We, however, know that Yang is now lost in the middle of nowhere with no reception and no transportation back to Mantle. The three of them start trudging towards an outpost Ren spotted, needing to find shelter “before this weather drops our aura levels completely.” So what about everyone without aura?? I wish that I could check off the bingo space again because this is ridiculous.

Ren, once again, isn’t in the mood to talk, but unlike Jaune, Yang can’t leave something alone. So she coaxes him to tell him what’s wrong and you know what? She does a real good job at first. She’s encouraging, but her voice is level and she doesn’t come across as accusing. Well done, Yang.

Things quickly fall apart though as Ren says EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED TO SAY TO THIS GROUP. Holy shit, everyone, let’s count ‘em up:

Nothing is going smoothly so let’s stop pretending it’s all fine

Oscar has been horrifically kidnapped that’s #bad

This is not a normal part of being a huntsmen

We don’t know the first thing about being huntsmen!

Every time we’ve had to make real decisions we got them all wrong, yay us

We’re trapping a city here for Salem to destroy whenever she feels like it, yay us x2

Our leader is barely more than a kid and one of us cheated our way here

People are going to die because of us

“I’m just saying what nobody else wants to”

Yang’s response? Incredibly weak imo. Just as weak as the fandom’s has been since this conflict started in Volume 7. Her argument against letting Atlas go is that Salem won’t just let it fly away with her whale… but no one knows that. She’s certainly just letting it sit right now! Assuming that something won’t work because you expect the worst is not a compelling reason not to try.

Her argument against their ineptitude? They saved Haven, took down a leviathan, and got the lamp to Atlas. Let’s break that down a little more.

Did they fight well at Haven? Yes… overlooking that Weiss would have died if not for a timely semblance reveal. But the real point here is that they “saved” the school by getting the Relic. Problem is, they never won the relic, it was handed to them. Literally. They retrieved it not because they were capable of overpowering Salem’s forces and a Maiden, but because Raven decided she’d rather her daughter be a target than her. That doesn’t tell us anything about the group’s skill, only about Raven’s flaws.

They took down a leviathan… after drawing it to Argus in the first place. That’s kind of an important detail when Ren is trying to make the point that their decisions suck. Also, how did they take it down? Using Ruby’s silver eyes, which only worked because Jinn randomly decided to let her stop time. Oh, and also using the rest of Cordovin’s mech that they hadn’t yet destroyed. Again, nothing about that fight demonstrates their skill, only others’ abilities, resources, and the strange favoritism they benefit from.

Getting the lamp to Atlas. Well, you drove Ozpin away who was your ticket across the border. Then Maria told Ruby how to save you all from the Apathy (and Ruby herself was the only one able to resist long enough to demand you get the Relic back in the first place). You started that leviathan fight and ended it surrounded by Cordovin’s fleet. So how did you get to Atlas? Because she let you cross. How did you reach Ironwood? Because he dropped your arrest. Yang stopped Adam, yes, but that was its own, separate fight. Regarding the “getting to Atlas” point they botched that up completely. 

Basically, this resume of victories is unpersuasive, to say the least. Yang highlights the end goal rather than acknowledging Ren’s point: have we, as individuals, actually made things better lately?

They absolutely have not. 

Note how, in contrast, Ren includes himself in this criticism. He doesn’t just lay responsibility at Ruby and Jaune’s feet, he’s second on the list for being underprepared. For messing up. He’s just an “orphan from nowhere” and this tells us that, unlike Qrow, Ren is actually concerned with this problem and his own place in it. He’s not just blowing off steam and running from his responsibility. Rather, he’s making important points here yet, as he says, no one else wants to listen.

And that’s why the scene ultimately sucks. “But, Clyde! It’s a speech straight out of your metas!” Yes it was and it was beautiful to witness, but the problem is that Ren’s supposed to be wrong. Jaune glares at him before leaving. Yang clenches her fists and asks if he just wants to push everyone away. He’s left hanging his head. Then later they talk about how “broody” he is and provide advice about how to stop doing that. The takeaway here is not, ‘Holy shit, Ren is right and we should rethink our choices,’ but rather that Ren is wrong and needs to come over to their ‘correct’ perspective.

I love that this was laid out. I love that the group is actually fighting for once (way better than Ruby and Yang’s ‘fight’). I also love that we finally see what’s bothering Ren… but we all know this isn’t leading anywhere. The scene ends with Jaune dismissing everything by stating that if Ren doesn’t want to be a huntsmen, fine, but he has a job to do. Ren is supposed to feel guilty here for… telling the truth? Jaune is supposed to look like the hero for soldiering on with his responsibility while moody Ren drags behind. The scene is great, but the purpose of the scene sucks.

Actually, I’d like to talk about a portion of the outpost scene real quick. Skipping ahead, because we really see here how little RT believes the words that they’ve put in Ren’s mouth. Jaune admits that he’s right about cheating into Beacon… but nothing else. Indeed, that “mistake” is swept away because he’s earned his right to be here now. You shouldn’t care about that anymore! Ignoring the point Ren was making about how much they’re in over their heads. Yang apologizes to Jaune on Ren’s behalf, making it clear that she cares more about his potentially hurt feelings than any of the points Ren made. Remind you of anything? Like oh, say, that time Yang cared more about Jaune’s feelings than whether he’d hurt Oscar after slamming him against a wall? All of this despite the fact that Yang JUST accused Ruby of the horrible situation they’re in. Now Ren acknowledges that they’re in a horrible situation and Yang… doesn’t care?? Again, RT is good at giving us the pieces we want, the surface level stuff, but is rarely able to combine it into something fulfilling. If anyone actually takes Ren’s stance seriously, changing their ways rather than talking him out of it, I’ll be shocked.

Especially since the real nail in the coffin of this scene is Jaune telling him that “The more you hide from what you’re feeling, the more alone you’re going to feel.”

Jaune………..buddy……….pal…………were you asleep during that scene? Ren DID tell you what he was feeling. For the first time he did come clean about everything he was experiencing and you both rejected him for it! He’s not pulling away because he’s hiding from what he’s feeling, he’s pulling away because he did show it and both his friends reduced it to “pushing [them] away.” Which is it, Jaune? Should Ren be more open, or should he stop saying things you don’t want to hear? It’s a more complicated version of telling your parents about your interests, them mocking those interests, and then they’re surprised when you don’t share things with them again. I mean, the gall of Jaune to reject everything Ren said in the moment, ignore it after he’s calmed down, and then lecture him about being hiding his emotions.

Jaune and Yang (and the story) don’t want Ren to say what he really thinks, they want him to say what they think. Ren should speak up, but only if he’s going to agree with them.

So Ren sits out in the snow because potentially dying from cold is better than staying in a room with Yang and Jaune. I can’t really blame him lol.

One last thing about the fight scene. Remember how May was put in her place last episode for not using Penny’s name? Well, Yang doesn’t either. Granted, “the Maiden” isn’t as overtly insulting as “tin can” (or whatever it is May said), but it amounts to the same thing: both are replacing Penny’s individual identity with her status as a tool they can use. May sees Penny as the cool tech girl who can get them into the military base. Yang sees Penny as the cool magic girl who is the answer to all their ‘How do we win this?’ problems. Everyone is using Penny. Ruby to launch Amity, Ironwood to open the vault, but you know RWBY will never have a scene where Penny corrects Yang about her name and Ruby looks on, smug. Because the group can continually make the same mistakes as the adults/antagonists around them, but aren’t called out on it in the same way. Ren calls them out and he’s told he’s wrong. 

Anyway, the tl;dr of this scene is that Ren is the best. Too bad the story doesn’t realize that.

We then move to my poor Oscar who wakes up looking at his own feet, Ozpin’s voice is as reassuring as it can be under the circumstances. “Oscar? Don’t panic. We’re going to be okay.” I mentioned two weeks back that I hoped the show would explain why we didn’t see Ozpin try to take control during the Hound fight and we still don’t have an explanation, so that’s disappointing. This line is all we get from Ozpin because that’s the norm now. We moved from him being written out of the story entirely to having one or two lines an episode (excluding a speech meant more for the audience than the characters). So, improvement? But a lackluster one, I think. Especially given that he is the focal point of this entire situation with Salem. 

I’m avoiding the elephant in the room though. Oscar’s torture is horrifying. In the sense that it should be horrifying. Salem might still inexplicably not be attacking Atlas—and what she’s after at any given time might be getting more and more muddled—but she’s absolutely terrifying here, which is what we needed. The mix of assault with that nurturing tone is just skin crawling. “My long lost Ozma. Found at last” while she (I think?) shows images of their daughters. Honestly, I only heard that from friends, didn’t catch it myself, but then my eyes are shit to begin with. I couldn’t see a thing in this shadowed shot.

(It’s like watching Game of Thrones all over again.)

Oscar tries to pretend to be Ozpin and he does a damn good job with “I’m sorry the reunion isn’t living up to your expectations.” It’s not enough to fool Salem though. She says he’s “not him” yet and I’m again reminded that the show continually references this merge without showing us any change. They’re apparently closer to one person now, but they still speak as individuals. Oscar has Ozpin’s magic, but hasn’t used it, even when his life was on the line. The closest we get to evidence that the merge is underway is that Oscar attempts to lie about knowing Jinn’s name… but what the hell else is he supposed to do here? I suppose he could go the action hero route and shout that she’ll never get the answer out of him, but trying to lie is by far the safer option. That doesn’t tell us that he’s becoming like Ozpin, or even that they’re truly “like-minded souls” as Salem claims. It just tells us that Oscar has two braincells to rub together and can say a short sentence without totally giving himself away. Maybe the kid played a few rounds of Remnant’s Among Us.

This moment highlights another justification for Ozpin’s secrets though. He lives an existence where he is not in control of his own (“own”) body. At any point the host he’s with could falter, fail, turn on him, and in doing so give crucial, world ending information to the enemy. It’s already happened on a small scale, with Oscar successfully taking control, stealing the Jinn information, and giving it to the group. Now here he’s being tortured. How long can he last? Will Oscar give up Jinn’s name? If Ozpin didn’t have the location of the Relic locked up tight in his own consciousness, would that information be lost too? I’m not looking to blame Oscar for anything here—I don’t want to imply that this situation is karma for him taking Jinn’s name, or some such nonsense—I just want to acknowledge that this is the sort of stuff Ozpin has to worry about. If he shares these secrets then that’s more fallible people who are capable of giving that information to Salem. If he keeps them…well, he’s the only one who has to keep his mouth shut during a torture session. His host might want information about the Relics, there’s an argument to be made that they’re entitled to them, but if I were Ozpin I wouldn’t want to take that risk either. The question has essentially become, “Would I trust a 14 year old to keep quiet while tortured by a witch?” Maybe Oscar will! He’s enough of a BAMF to manage it… but that’s still not something I’d want to bet on. Better that Oscar simply doesn’t have that information to give Salem, period. 

So obviously this “working relationship” that Salem wants isn’t going well. When Oscar lies she jumps straight to torturing him.

This was legitimately hard to watch and I’m torn about that. On the one hand it’s what I wanted: a scary, powerful Salem who uses the tools at her disposal to get what she’s after. That’s great! Yet I’m still reminded of how far this show has gone to literally beat up the child of the group. Oscar is the one punched into a tree, attacked by a friend, shot by an ally, the star of the show’s most horrifying kidnapping, now the first to be outright tortured by Salem. I don’t really have a point here, I’m not looking to level any specific accusations at RT, I’m just commenting on the pattern and acknowledging that it makes me uncomfortable. There are parts of a story where you’re supposed to be uncomfortable—like the villain torturing a hero—and then there are parts where you’re uncomfortable because the writers seem overly focused on showing images of a specific kid suffering and that’s… weird.

I’m not sure what to make of that just yet. 

Anyway, Salem’s magic here is surprisingly pretty. Pretty and painful, but I expected more red and blacks, perhaps some spikey imagery, so the rainbow was an interesting surprise. Given the amount of pain Oscar is in, I suspect too much of that would kill him, so Salem calls in Hazel to continue the interrogation. The first few hits he deals are for Haven, the others for his sister.

See, this is why RWBY needs to actually embrace its “life isn’t a fairy tale” theme. You cannot show me child torture in one week and then move to Ruby “We’ll win because we’re the good guys ^_^” Rose the next. The whole reason why Ironwood (and Ren now) was right is because this is the shit reality they’re dealing with. You didn’t run when you had the chance and now Oscar (and Ozpin) is being tortured. You keep talking about saving Mantle, but the only reason why they’re not already dead is because the writing randomly turns the cold danger on and off. This mix of horrific, real world danger and unjustified confidence doesn’t work.

…also, I officially don’t want any redemption arc for Hazel. This guy is beating on a child because he’s convinced that he’s Ozpin, blaming Ozpin for his sister’s decision, all while forwarding a genocidal maniac’s plans. Hazel and his ridiculous shirts can just get on out of here, thanks.

Finally, I just want to say... this is the woman a lot of the fandom defended. This is the woman you wanted raising those girls and blamed Ozpin for trying to escape with them.

This is how Salem treats children.

Oh, and all of this is without his aura because it just broke. So Oscar is in serious, non-fantasy trouble here. 

Someone please rescue him soon 😭

We finish up with some frankly boring stuff with the rest of the villain cast. We learn that the Hound is an “experiment” and a new one given that Cinder has never seen it before. Salem’s dialogue is admittedly great—“Do you hear that, my pet? She thinks. She wants.”—but Cinder just rehashes everything we’ve heard from her before. She wants the Winter Maiden power. She has trouble remembering that she’s playing at Salem’s slave. She even rehashes the exact same line, “Without you, I am nothing.” Why are we wasting time on this when we had that tantalizing backstory before? 

Bleh. 

Salem tells her in no uncertain terms to stay put.

So Cinder immediately leaves LOL.

She just wants to “check on” Amity tower because she “knows those kids” in ways Salem doesn’t. I’m admittedly slightly confused as to how Cinder knows to go there? Did she believe Ironwood’s lie that it was finished even though it apparently IS finished now? Has she overheard something? I’m not sure. Frankly, keeping track of that stuff in RWBY is headache inducing, so let’s just roll with it.

Neo, the only one with a brain around here, makes it clear she thinks Cinder is an idiot for going. Emerald, always the Cinder fan, offers to go in her stead. She’s been working on her semblance, so I expect we’ll see something cool with that soon. They head off, apparently not worried about what Salem will do to them when they get back.

Which is when we move to the outpost for our final scene, most of which I’ve covered. I only have two more things I want to bring up here.

The first is the tone. As said earlier, the tone of the Hound chase wasn’t horrible, but I find myself disappointed in the overall attitude of Jaune and Yang. Yang is making jokes about how they can’t fly, high-fiving Jaune, and they’re both shrugging off Ren’s concerns. Jaune says he won’t be able to sleep due to worrying about Oscar, but neither of them act particularly worried. Which isn’t to say they need to be sobbing the whole time or whatever, just that Ren is the only one who feels real here. They may not agree with his stance about everything else, but they’ve all experienced the same event: watching a grimm that can morph, talk, and think horrifically kidnap a teammate. Shouldn’t there be more emotion attached to that? Things have gotten better with Oscar than they’ve been in the past, largely due to details like Nora’s hug at the beginning of the volume, but let’s be real, they’re still not perfect. Do we think Jaune and Yang would be this nonchalant if Ruby were kidnapped that way? Say all you want about Ruby being her sister, or others being teammates for longer, but the fact remains that Oscar has been taken to Salem herself and the only one reacting to that in any meaningful way is Ren. 

Who they say will “brood himself to death.” That right there. The one guy freaking out about your kidnapped friend should not be described as “brooding.”

All of which segues into my second point, namely that Yang doesn’t seem to care about Ruby anymore either! She asks Jaune, “Do you think she thinks less of me?” for not going to Amity and when Jaune reassures her that Ruby will always love her, Yang’s response is, “Yeah… Ruby.”

She was thinking about Blake.

The kicker? I thought she was talking about Ruby too. Because Ruby is her sister. Because she and Ruby had the fight (“fight”). Because Ruby was trying to call her to check in. Because Blake and Yang didn’t even acknowledge that they went on different missions here. I thought Blake was like Jaune, not really taking a side and just heading with Ruby because the team is splitting down the middle. Where did this worry come from?

And I want to praise RT here (I really do) because I can see the effort. I said Blake and Yang needed to spend time apart, they have. I said they needed to work through their co-dependent identities, now Blake is reminding Nora (and theoretically herself too) that someone you love is just a part of you. I said that the group couldn’t be a hive-mind, now there’s disagreement. I said the show needs to make Blake/Yang canon at some point and you can’t do that if they don’t talk about and to each other. So I fully admit that this is everything I asked for… so why does it feel so badly done? No matter how many boxes it checks off, it’s still a moment where we thought Yang was finally worrying about her sister again—like she used—and then it’s ‘Sike! It was really just about Blake! Again. Yang is worried about a problem that was never even introduced.’

I suppose that’s why it doesn’t work for me. Yang and Ruby had the falling out, but Yang and Blake, somehow, become the focus. Is it really so hard to write Yang as a sister and a potential love interest? Yang apparently can’t care for Ruby and Blake, Weiss can’t care for her team and her brother, Ruby can’t care for Mantle and Ironwood… it’s like each character gets one (1) thing to put their emotional energy towards at any given time and that’s it. That’s all they get.

On the flip side, this is why Ren feels like a person this episode. He cares about Mantle, and the future fight, and their past mistakes, and his place here, and the problems within the team, and Nora… He feels like a well-rounded person! vs. Yang and Jaune who don’t even consider his perspective, vs. Yang having a fight with her sister but only cares about Blake. They’re one-dimensional in comparison.

It is, as always, disappointing. 

As the group “broods” then the camera shows us a piece of the ice nearby, slowly cracking as Jaune says that “Things always seem to get worse before they get better.” Well, that’s unexpected. I didn’t think our opening would be literal. I’ve been worried about Atlas falling on everyone, not everyone falling… to whatever is underneath the kingdom as a whole. Is the kingdom falling apart? Or is something waking up and moving towards the surface? If RWBY can reproduce the characterization we got with the Hound, I wouldn’t be opposed to another leviathan grimm rising from the snowy deep to assist Salem…

Though how the fuck group will survive everything and that, who knows lol.

And that’s our episode! Issues aside—most of which have been ongoing issues. We knew they were there—I think this was our strongest episode so far this volume. Well done! There are still problems, no doubt, but at least I was only bored for a small portion of that 20 minutes. Let’s just keep heading in that direction.  

Exciting Saturday, huh?

Regarding bingo updates:

RWBY actually re-used a grimm I thought they’d abandoned, so well done there.

No civilians around for the giant grimm army to attack, so that was fine. Kind of strange though that they completely disappeared after the Hound left.

The timeline is starting to get wonky. For example, what kind of stakes am I supposed to expect when Cinder decides to head to Amity? Is it currently empty? Is Pietro there? Has Penny made it yet? I said weeks ago that RWBY would need to follow multiple groups to fill out fourteen episodes in just two days—and they’re definitely doing that—but that means we don’t have a clear sense of what events are happening simultaneously and what are meant to be linear.

No Winter or Ironwood this episode.

Watts is back with Jacques! Potential for team-up 2.0? That will admittedly be hard with Qrow and Robyn there, unless those two escape.

(Oh yeah, I thought Qrow and the others would be held in the military base and Ruby would find him during her heist… but she doesn’t even care that Qrow is in jail.)

Maria is still a ghost. If we hit the halfway mark with her not doing anything I’m calling the space.

I definitely wouldn’t call this cliffhanger needless. That’s actually a cool way to end things, even if Jaune’s line was pretty on the nose.

Neo may be getting closer to backstabbing Cinder if those expressions are anything to go by. 

Still waiting to see if Amity works.

And finally, drumroll please! …

“More obvious Blake/Yang implications without confirming a relationship.” Yup, I’m marking that this week. After Blake’s ‘just a part of you’ comment and now Yang only being worried about her reaction? Definitely calling it. If RWBY confirms a relationship this volume I’ll eat my words—and some celebratory cake — but until then salt prevails. Especially after the fiasco that was Supernatural.

Still no bingo. Ah well, maybe next week lol.

Until then! 💜

[Ko-fi]

[omegatheunknown]

AEW ALL OUT 2021

In which, not to get ahead of myself here, AEW puts on one of the best major wrestling shows in several years*, following the simple yet effective principle of giving the people what they want and sending everyone home happy and hungry for more.

- The incredibly 'Nitro' ending of the go-home Dynamite, which ran a little long on the 'heels beat everyone up and strut around like assholes almost too in desperate need of comeuppance' bit, short of garbage raining into the ring, did actually increase the heat for both promoted matches. Again, not rocket science, but executed perfectly. Catharsis was on the card, and catharsis went over several times Sunday. - Again, it's time to move on from the Casino theme, shuffling the deck and drawing suits really only detracted from the Battle Royale and seemingly always throws the production crew a curve. If they haven't hammered it by now, it's not going to happen. - Bit unhappy about the PAC/Andrade situation, but still over the moon with Andrade's promo style and Chavito being unhelpful at best.

*Pre-Card

Best Friends and Jurassic Express v The Hardy Family Office and The Hybrid 2 (**) - Not usually much to say about a loaded-up multiteam boondoggle, particularly when the show has yet to begin, but there were some moments worth sitting up to take notice -- there's a lot of talent in the ring, even if Jack Evans/Angelico aren't going to be more than mid-level mooks, little matchups with guys like Luchasaurus and Chuck Taylor are opportunities for innovative/weird spots. - Really this match exists to show-off Jungle Boy, play his theme song twice, and work him in to the aforementioned spots. I don't rightly know what Jungle Jack's ceiling is, but it sort of feels like he's plateauing, at least this version of himself. - Dan Lambert thing is interesting in that it doesn't seem to easily lead to something obvious... I mean who are Scorp and Ethan Page feuding with by proxy here, the concept of contemporary professional wrestling? Orange Cassidy and Kenny Omega?

*Main Card

Miro (C) v Eddie Kingston for the TNT Championship (***1/2) - 'Redeem Deez Nuts' T-shirts now available -- and made immediately redundant now that Miro has graciously redeemed Eddie's nuts. - Imagine looking at Miro, listening to Miro talk, and not really being able to figure out this guy is money. Also imagine panicking when he took a little while to find his groove in AEW. 'The Redeemer' is both entertaining and terrifying, and this match delivered heavily on the promise of two big fellas smacking together repeatedly. - Not only does Eddie's arsenal of power moves target Miro's neck, he may also be quite difficult to put in the full reclined camel clutch. Or he'd quite literally snap in half. It didn't come to that. - Weird heel turn by Bryce's attention span and the overall weirdness of the finish is all that kept this from being an excellent match, otherwise this was a tremendous curtain jerker and started off a dangerously fun run of pure adrenaline.

Jon Moxley v Satoshi Kojima (****) - The stakes were nebulous, the build was abrupt, yet this was a fantastic match and tremendous showcase for an underappreciated great who has been more or less just toiling for a bunch of years as a NJPW Dad. Same deal for Nagata, and I assume Tenzan is the same, Taka Michinoku even -- let's see it. - I have to assume the Cozy Lariat might have put Mox down, but Kojima otherwise played the hits (Koji Cutter, Piledriver, Brainbustaaaa) in a big way and Moxley once again proved he's become a very well-rounded wrestler who can match the intensity of just about any former IWGP champion. - More to the point-- KAZE NI NARE -- out of nowhere, too. Or out of nowhere to those not paying attention to the whereabouts of Minoru Suzuki (Right, he's just over here to fight Daniel Garcia and not Mox?), which I guess is to my own peril. Wow, though. Surprise Number 1- a complete surprise, and a welcome one. Let's have it.

Dr Britt Baker, DMD (C) v Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship (****) - I love Kris and her best friends but she didn't have a prayer of dethroning Britt. She got one promo, several weeks ago, and though she did make a meal of Hayter and Rebel, the chase has been abrupt and not given much discussion, other than Mark Henry and whomever else acknowledging what is extremely evident -- Statlander is stronger than she looks, and she looks really strong. They've got her doing Cesaro-level 'modify your grip while holding your opponent's entire weight' nonsense, and it's amazing and scary. - Even with the reign of the good doctor not being credibly threatened, this was an excellent match that demonstrated the continued growth of the competitors in the women's division, even as it underlined that their storylines remain undercooked and perfunctory: Orange Cassidy whipping off his shades to urge Stat to get up was a beautiful moment. Britt's Panama Sunrise, also, too sweet. Statlander eating shit on her 451 and her pendulum moonsault was properly brutal, as were Britt's curb stomps. Really great match between these two. - Again, if they had bothered to write anything into this story, such as Kris' alien physiology making her immune to the lockjaw or something... actually, maybe that's a terrible idea. it's an idea. Undefeated challenger is defeated, on to the next for Dr Britt. Statlander and OC should tag against some of the boys.

The Young Bucks (C) v The Lucha Bros for the AEW World Tag Team Championship(*****+) - Can't not mention the insane entrance lined up for Fenix and Penta. It was bewildering, it was enchanting, it was aggressive, it was hype. It also reminded everybody how very badly we all wanted the Lucha Bros to win. The crowd has been setting new peaks with their volume since Punk showed up, but things were absolutely thunderous and ecstatic at the end of this match. Absolutely valid response. I yelled on the couch. - Nick's facial hair was a bigger tell that it was time for the Bucks to lose than anything else about this build. There's literally nowhere to go from there -- they've done the hair, the bandanas, the kicks, the animal print, the dangly earrings -- peak visual heel for this time and place. - Sincerely thought this was going to be too much of a full sprint spot-fest (the PWG-esque circle of trading blows is not really 'my thing') but even so they kept finding gears, and ramping and ramping and adding blood and brutality along the way. Even a bit of levity, with the tacked up sneaker, followed by the sincerity of Penta throwing himself in harm's way to protect his brother. Immense match, I think you'd have to go back to the Bucks vs the Addiction and MCMGs Ladder War to find a more thrilling tag team gimmick match. - If there's a single flaw to be found it's in the production not really settling on wide angles for simultaneous action at the start of the match. They figured it out. - Rey Fenix is the best luchador in the world.

Women's Casino Battle Royale (**1/2) - If nothing else, this really shows off that they now have a surplus of women's wrestlers who deserve time to hang in the ring. Unsurprisingly, the match picked right up when Thunder Rosa and then Jamie Hayter got to the ring, with additional props to Tay Conti and Jade Cargill, who was dumped rather unceremoniously given her general booking... - Okay, there was something else. Welcome to the rechristened Ruby Soho, who I've not seen a lot of outside of her extremely limited showcase in WWE, but she has so many friends in the back and in the industry and that's never for nothing, not in wrestling, anyway. Intrigued to see where she fits, and if the women ever get more than a match per show. - Touched on this in the preamble but this was the roughest part of the night for the home viewer, just weird decisions on cutting away from various entrances to show... nothing in particular happening. Also while the commitment to not-kayfabing the countdown clock is... admirable? It makes the pacing hinky. - Almost everyone who got new gear for tonight was looking like the white ranger -- Nyla, Swole, Bunny, someone I'm missing. Except Anna Jay, whose stars and glitter gear looked great.

MJF v Chris Jericho for the fate of Jericho's in-ring career (***) - MJF's unauthorized homage to Y2J's entrance: good. Fozzy's guitarist going off tempo with the instrumental Judas: weak, and would've been sad if this were the end for Jericho. Especially as the build has felt... muted, somehow. - Props to the commentary for continuing to feed the red herring of 'in AEW,' as a caveat to stipulation, it did feel like... a remote possibility that MJF would win. - Credit to Aubrey for calling this one down the middle and not putting the fix in for her friend Jericho, and I guess the Dusty finish will give MJF plenty to gripe about. - MJF wrestles with a pure heel style, holds, chops, blocks, and Jericho is fifty years old, so the level of wrestling on exhibition in these matches is well beside the point. It was solid to good, and I was fighting burn out from the first half of the card's level of excitement.

CM Punk v Darby Allin (***1/2) - There are a couple benefits of Darby as a dance partner, and it's certainly better than having to watch Punk return against like, QT Marshall or Shawn Spears. Darby does make everyone look slow, but he can also be tossed around, and this raises his profile even in defeat, obviously. That said, the stakes here are... meta, at best, in that we want to see the man look good and justify the hype. It's a weird thing to root for. He certainly does look good. (Tights? Tights!) - It's fun to theorize about actually booking an angle where Punk is rusty and needs to regain his prowess, and maybe he'll stumble, but maybe the most we get out of that angle is hitting the GTS a little close to the ropes so Darby falls right out of the ring, in what was, for me, the spot that justified this whole match. - Sting's proud step-dad aura is still a hell of a thing, I really liked the end of the match kudos all around. - Match was good, hard to hang my emotions on. I wasn't watching WWE when Punk was in WWE. Definitely feeding off the excitement of others a bit here, and he sure can talk. I'd like to see him cultivate a stable, certainly.

Paul Wight v QT Marshall (n/r) - ...popcorn match? QT Marshall is like the anti-Daniel Garcia in that while his prominence and presence is just as inexplicable, I don't want it to continue, and he doesn't justify it in the process. - Match was two minutes longer than it needed to be.

Kenny Omega (c) v Christian Cage for the AEW World Championship (****1/2) - Crowd was both burnt out and more or less waiting for the post-match angle. Which I get. it's hard to cruise to the main event and having seen all the different things we've already seen on this card, even a singular performer like Kenny Omega and a legend with whom he (surprisingly? fittingly?) has superb chemistry with in Christian Cage were up against it to deliver something memorable. - Context dependent, I can definitely see rating this below their Rampage match, especially since... I mean Christian isn't winning the AEW title off Kenny at this or probably any other event. - But! It was really good! It was very good! They really do match-up well, and Kenny's v-trigger has rarely looked more devastating than when it knocks Christian flat. Christian got cut open in a novel and initially worrying way, and Kenny followed up a botched moonsault with a harder version of the same move off a rail, but it was a really great match and it deserved more energy than was available.

Post-Show - Calling back and inverting the end of Dynamite, The Elite strut about the ring, slightly less stoked than they were on Wednesday, but with the Bucks smiling through the pain, and Jungle Boy once again subjected to violence for his misguided heroism, Kenny 'not much a promo' Omega lays down a killer line about nobody being fit to challenge him who isn't unavailable, already tired or dead. - The Undertaker ADAM COLE, BAY BAY as Surprise #3 was a minor stroke of brilliance, and a fun swerve because while it's exciting to see him, his appearance at this point in the narrative does nothing to solve the problem of The Elite beating up Christian and Jungle Boy. Unless he's still sore about his unsolved murder, which he isn't. Storytime with Adam Cole is back and it's beautiful. Also Jungle Boy died for this. - Okay. But. Just. Okay. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are All Elite. They will hopefully tag together. Bryan will head to NJPW, almost definitely. Minoru Suzuki just walked in and started slugging on Mox. The Forbidden Door is wide open. Will Kenny Omega one day return to Wrestle Kingdom? There are so many possibilities and they are all very exciting. This was a phenomenal show and it didn't have Hangman Page, Cody Rhodes, FTR, Santana and Ortiz, PAC, Andrade, Sammy Guevara, Team Taz, and the rest.

- Wrestling is good, actually. Imagine watching like five hours of wrestling and loving wrestling at the end of it.

*What competes- WK11, Dominion 2018, 2019, DoN 2019, 2021.. All-In, probably. Wrestlemania 30. A few Takeovers. Kris Wolf's retirement show...