#she cannot handle him unless he is also willing to actually try

[wylansworkshop]

I have so many thoughts about that ending but right now I'm just internally screaming about kanej and just how fucking much I love inej

[fireblossumdraws]

For those interested in reading Emblem of the Siren

this is a psa, personal notes, and revisions to be seen in the new and revised chapters in the works. What has changed as far as characters, plot and the creator (me! )

As some of you have known as I have hinted multiple times, that the fanfiction has been up for years and has not received an update other than disclaimers. That's because my only use for it by this point has been as a crude outline for the rewritten version. Which I don’t want to hide either, even if I would like to because of it’s bad attempt at crass subject matter and traumatic concepts that could have been detailed more tastefully. I was an angry kid when I started writing. Thanks to receiving tons of therapy and life development, I feel that I can tackle those subjects from a more realistic standpoint rather than the sheltered worldview that I used to have.

With that being said, certain characters will not receive the significant changes, evil or not. And there will be a list designating who to expect that from and why.

Key characters that will receive no changes in the updates:

• Ostegoth (he deals, he smokes, we love ostegoth in this house and he does no wrong in his choices to pinch a coin/relic!)

• The Lord of Bones and subjects (He is an abusive monarch in cannon. I don’t think I could really rewrite it without sacrificing any personality traits and same goes for everyone else. I gotta keep the plot spicy somehow *shrugs* he keeps his satisfying end.

• Draven (the evil characterization does not suit him at all! For someone as neutral in the story, he’s a mentor and a bro, will remain that way in the update)

List of characters receiving drastic changes:

• Genevieve (Even if the basic layout will remain the same, [Which I will entail in a bio later on!] girl needs a confidence boost amongst other things. I wrote my oc without any experience in the industries that she were in on Earth and I unfairly wrote it out as something that she should be ashamed of. A similar backstory has been made with room to overcome and develop through. I am also adding certain flashbacks as well to highlight her character)

• Vulgrim (overly misogynistic, no chill, not cool. He will have more significance late story to demand changes in his character now)

• All Makers ( some changes of certain terms that could be considered misogynistic (in Thane’s case, thankfully they never made the final cut) but they are written as cinnamon rolls that need not a change other than their butchered dialect. Sorry for those, European readers.

• Death (he is emotionally ambiguous unless it concerns those he cares about. Though, he will be given the least amount of changes within the plot the way it is, but interactions are the main concern. I thought the intimate lines throughout the story were great work and somehow I was commended for them. However, the ones that are close without intimacy such as the first encounter and up to chapter 12, came across to me as far too cold and even the later scrapped chapters after that were the same. It was another situation of traumatic projection that I've long figured out how to handle. His personality is the same, a rude old one with a dark and mysterious emotional wall. One that's breakable with the proper writing and warmth. Y'know, like Fury. Only worse 🙃)

With all of that being said, the fanfiction will remain up to read. I cannot keep u from looking up the outdated version. But know this dude, How to write more ethically came along as well. I am willing to try again.

Doing that in writing this story in comic form in the meantime of the actual writing!

Have a variant for getting this far! 🥰

Thank u!

[lifepassingherby]

Day 7

My shoulder is all fucked up again due to work so that's not great because I wasn't able to do my hair this week but I had a really good session with Caitlyn today. She asked if our relationship dynamic was causing more harm than good due to me having to question whether she likes me etc. I told her that overall it has helped me I think in challenging those thoughts and toughing out instead of running away. I kind of realized that because of the overall things that have happened in my life but especially with Misha I've been running away from relationships not necessarily right away but I keep having my foot out the door. (To be fair I've doing that for a long time but that was usually towards romantic relationships and not friendships. I would keep trying and trying to make those work until the other person just straight ghosts me or something the other person said just kinda clicks). But recently I don't know, I have been trying but very much so with the expectation that it's not gonna work and that the other person or people will hate me. They'll realize that I'm just a really miserable person "like everyone else has." We're gonna test myself with Bradley. He's someone that I would like to hang out with but he's acting very similar to how people did in the past and that makes me suspicious of him. Caitlyn wants me to try having that middle ground of not putting in the effort but allowing the other person to try. I said since I'm not that invested in this turning into anything that I'm willing to. I let her know that I'm going back to school because the things that I want to do in life just require it. If I want to be like the grandma from Lackawanna Blues I gotta do it and I gotta get a house (I want all of those things but I gotta do it). We also talked about trying to balance out how I handle school by maybe approaching it like how I approach work now by giving it like 70% effort and not all. I don't know how much that'll work because I don't trust myself to complete tasks and not get overwhelmed with school unless I put my whole ass into something but I'm willing to try because I'm really over how exhausting school is.

I came up with another plan for my hair. I'm going back to blonde because I just cannot stand this purple and the maintenance (either real or made up) I have to do to keep this color. I'm also really over this depression length of hair. It's just so fucking long and I hate it. I bought myself art from an Iowan artist who is all about sharing the natural beauty of their state and then I got black art. I got the nature stuff first so I didn't feel comfortable spending as much on the black artist but I will later!!!

I don't know. Overall l definitely feel better than last week but I'm also not totally convinced that I belong here but I feel more willing to try. I definitely think that a lot of the drama was tied to my hormones *eyeroll*

Side note: Kay has been so good at communicating this week and I really appreciate it. They're trying really hard and I can tell. I hope I actually remember to mention to them.

Side side not: I told Caitlyn about how I don't want to be like my family. I don't want to be the suspicious miserable paranoid people they are. I want to be able to trust myself and others. It's going to take time though or it all ends I dunno.

[abysscronica]

Ahhh! Speaking of Drake being Birdie’s potential partner, could we maybe have some head cannons pls? 🥺

Tysm ^^

Sure, the more I think about this scenario, the more I find it interesting (or maybe adorable). So I went a little overboard. 😇 Feel free to ask for more.

These are set after Aokiji's departure, on the premise that Drake doesn't leave the Marines to go undercover, and birdie doesn't get captured by the Kid Pirates.

Drake x birdie headcanons

Getting together

Of course they know each other already, but they never worked together, even if they're both officers in the HQ (at this point he'd be a Rear Admiral and she'd be a commander). As Aokiji isn't around anymore, birdie has to join other squads, and Drake requires her sniper skills a few times

Birdie is clearly depressed, she doesn't talk unless strictly necessary and she always seems holed up in her own world. When it's time for action though, she delivers

Drake knew she was good, but he didn't know she was that good. He starts requesting her often. Unfortunately he's not the only one and, as she doesn't have her own team, she's basically up for grab

On her end, birdie realizes that Drake is the best officer to work with. He doesn't talk much, he doesn't belittle her, he doesn't give stupid orders, and trusts her judgment when it comes to long-distance fights. His men are also decent to her

Drake is an observant man. When he spots her in Marineford, he notices that she seems pretty warned out after her missions, especially if they were under certain officers

Eventually he requests for her to be transferred to his fleet permanently. Birdie is surprised when she hears it, but she supports the application and Sakazuki agrees, as long as she remains available for other missions at times

Drake and birdie start working together on a regular basis. At the beginning it's strictly professional, they don't interact more than necessary. It takes a long time for birdie to heal enough to reconquer some sort of normality after Aokiji left, but it's easier to do so while being in a unit that actually respects her.

Hell, Drake is even willing to jump right into danger to protect her! That's new

Maybe this can be her place after all. Maybe she can actually make a good marine

By the time she's better, she also trusts him enough. It starts with a snarky remark here and there. It amuses her that Drake doesn't seem to know how to handle her sarcastic comments

It continues when he asks if he join her in the cafeteria, when she's eating alone in Marineford. He's quite popular and many eyes flick on them. She's slightly uncomfortable but doesn't protest. They don't talk much. But they eat together again the next day, and the day after that

In a couple of occasions, he lets a sentence about his past slip. He's caught off guard, but she doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't try to comfort him about it or anything, she just nods. He feels like maybe it wasn't a mistake

Drake realizes that he doesn't like when she can't join a mission with his squad

Birdie realizes that she doesn't like working with other officers

Then, one day, Drake is walking around Marineford with his colleague/friend Koby, a subordinate he admires and considers quite close. While talking, he starts thinking that Koby may like birdie a little too much. The idea unsettles him

He has to come to terms with the fact that he has a little crush on her too. But he will suppress it, for Koby, for the missions, and because a relationship with a direct subordinate would be unacceptable

Yet he cannot avoid growing closer to her. It's little things, like checking on each other after one comes back from a solo mission, eating together, then exchanging books

Drake isn't a man of many words, but birdie notices that there are certain topics that seem to switch him on, and then he can talk for a long time, quietly, almost as if he's talking to himself. She thinks it's funny for a stern officer like him, cute even

She calls him "Dyno-Shōshō", which makes his ears go red ("shōshō" means Rear Admiral)

Oh shit, she seems willing to listen when he goes on and on about reptiles! Drake must quickly do some damage control here

At the next yearly ball, he doesn't invite her. He lets Hermeppo and Koby dance with her, although he doesn't like how it makes him feel

Birdie is kinda bothered by it. Weird feeling, huh

Nevertheless, she has grown a lot now. She's actually able to maintain decent human relationships, she has friends, like Koby, Hermeppo, Tashigi, Isuka, Hibari... Even her reputation improves, and Sakazuki doesn't seem to despise her anymore

In fact, she gets promoted to Captain, and Drake becomes Vice Admiral soon

But she's too emotionally deaf to realize she has feelings for him, the only clue would be that she subtly tries to get his attention every now and then

It will take a shock therapy to finally get them together, something like one of them being seriously injured in a mission, or going missing for some time. After knowing how much they care for each other, Drake will ask Koby permission to confess, because he's a timely gentleman

Koby already saw what was going on between them, he made his peace with it, and gives his friend the go ahead

Birdie will be totally flustered. She'll accept Drake's feelings, then they'll both stand there awkwardly without knowing what to do for a while

As a couple

As I mentioned, they're both awkward beans, so it takes some time for them to actually behave like a couple. After all, birdie has zero experience, and Drake little

Thank god for birdie's irony, she always manages to release his tension

In fact, that crooked smirk of hers makes his heart flutter

Okay, time to kiss her, finally. She's surprised at first but she melts into it pretty fast

Drake is quite strict with rules, so he insists they formally communicate their relationship to the higher-ups, which will result in birdie being transferred to another unit. She's not thrilled, but eventually accepts it

She gets transferred to Chaton's unit, one of the best in the HQ, so she can't complain

They cherish the time they're both in Marineford. They let the intimacy between them grow naturally

When it comes to sex, Drake will have to be extra careful at the beginning. After all, she's a virgin and he's a very big man (quite bigger than Kid even, go check it out). But he's super attentive, he just wants her to enjoy it

In due time, sex becomes amazing. He's always attentive to her comfort and pleasure, but she's a feisty little woman and seems to do everything in her power to make him snap out of control

As she grows more comfortable, she wants to try stuff that makes Drake's nose bleed at the sole idea

Birdie knows he's too much of a gentlemen sometimes, and needs to be dragged out of his shell. It takes some effort to discover what his fantasies are and convince him to explore them

Once she manages though, holy shit. That man must be a sex god. Or maybe it's because he's part dinosaur?

Outside of the bedroom, they look like a quirky couple where he's the quite one that indulges his girlfriend in almost everything, and she's the tsundere girl with a sharp tongue that quickly becomes overprotective of him

Birdie looooves to tease Drake. She loves the fact that he gets easily flustered

He loves and hates it. It's exciting to see how she gains power over him, just for him to quickly steal it back in the sheets

Out of the two, Drake is the romantic one. He remembers anniversaries, (assigned) birthdays and stuff. He doesn't mind that birdie doesn't particularly care, because she shows her love in other ways

Like she's jealous, and a little possessive. He officially frowns upon these behaviors, but secretly relishes in them

Sometimes they still do missions together. When it happens, they lust over each other by watching their partner in action, they tease each other with little comments

But let nothing serious come at birdie, because Drake will go absolutely feral. Those pirates are not ready for the dinosaur that will maul them to death

Birdie, on the other hand, watches over him like a hawk. No one will ever come close if she can shoot first

They do fight sometimes though. Mostly when she doesn't properly follow the orders and acts on her own in a mission, with or without him

He'll be frustrated with her and let her know, even severely reprimand her, which will trigger her sharp retorts, and possibly push her to talk too much

They'll both feel guilty afterward, Drake for making her feel inadequate, and birdie for hurting him with her words. Thankfully they're both willing to apologize and make it out

One night, in bed, he tells her about his father, the whole story, everything

He lets her comfort him with her touch and lips

It will take a little longer, but she will also confide in him, about her past, Aokiji, and how much it hurt being left behind by the most important person to her

She admits that he's her most important person now

Drake confesses that he could never leave her

[thecinematicalgorithm]

10 Reasons Why Zekaela Should Be Endgame (And Jachaela Should Not) - Part Two

Here is part two of my Zekaela endgame argument as promised. Beware of potential spoilers and enjoy.

5. They Communicate Well

Many argue that the key to a healthy relationship is communication. If a couple has an issue how can it be resolved unless they communicate? It’s easy to shut someone out when you don’t think they will understand, or you don’t trust them, or you’re afraid for whatever reason. Because Zeke and Michaela understand and trust each other they are able to communicate well, even about issues that are hard to talk about. Communication takes honesty and vulnerability, and something that many fail to realize, it also requires the ability to listen. Though Zeke takes time to open up to Michaela he never lies to her. He told her about his drug and alcohol addictions, his assault charge, his relationship with Courtney. There have been a few instances when they didn’t agree with one another but instead of becoming a deal breaker they were able to work through and resolve the issues with communication.

Michaela often shuts Jared out because she does not think he will understand or agree with her on her callings. Oftentimes, Jared does not listen to Michaela and even acts against her wishes. If he had truly listened to her and given her the space she needed he may have stood a better chance of rebuilding their relationship, and she would not have gotten shot either. In reality, Jared not listening to Michaela when she communicated her needs to him is what pushed Zeke and Michaela toward leaning on one another.

4. They Don’t Get Carried Away By Jealousy

There are many instances when Zeke and Michaela could be jealous of each other, and at times are, but instead choose to look past it. Michaela allowed Courtney to shelter with them despite her being Zeke’s ex-wife (though apparently not legally). Zeke has shown some discomfort with Jared and it’s not hard to see why. However, neither of them takes it out on the other. They don’t try to sabotage their partner’s relationship with the object of their jealousy and they even show understanding over why that relationship is important to their partner.

Jared is the complete opposite on this point. I really don’t think I need to elaborate. Mick literally got shot because of Jared’s jealousy.

3. They Put Each Other First

Zeke and Michaela are couple goals much of the time because they know how to put the other first. This demonstrates true, selfless love. There are so many instances of this quality in each of their characters. Michaela putting her job and relationship with Jared at risk simply to break Zeke out of jail. Zeke putting his life at risk to stay beside Michaela. Michaela putting her fears aside and marrying Zeke so that he could have the memory of their love rather than the memory of a desperate clinging to treatments in a sterile hospital. Zeke following Michaela’s lead and trusting in her decisions. They love each other so much that they are willing to overlook their own immediate needs or desires in order to make sure that the other is happy, because in short their partner’s joy brings them joy.

Jared often refuses to put Michaela first if it does not favor his desires. He could not give her space because he wanted to be closer to her. He could not let go of his vendetta against Zeke. He resents her for following her callings despite how they might save her life. This is not selfless love. It is possessive love. 

2. They Are Married

I cannot tell you how tired I am of Hollywood and entertainment making something as sincere and binding as a marriage so light and wishy-washy as if there aren’t enough divorces in real life. In today’s society marriage is not given the level of gravity and sincerity as it should be. Marriage should never be entered into lightly and it should not be so easily disintegrated. Despite the speed in which Zeke and Michaela got married the writer’s insured that there was a weight to the decision. It was given thought and both characters understood what was at stake. And when Zeke beat his death date the two were thrilled at the idea of “growing ancient” together. Michaela’s statement to Grace on how she couldn’t wait to “be on the other side” of the death date with Zeke shows that both want a lasting marriage. They want to spend their lives together, grow old together, make mistakes together. Their vows also demonstrated this with Zeke vowing to love Michaela as long as his life allows, and Michaela vowing to fight for their lives together for as long as they both shall live. Both kept that time stamp open-ended because both hoped it could be far longer than one day. Also Michaela’s sadness of her brother’s dilemma in his marriage and her immediate remorse over her affair with Jared and having destroyed another woman’s (her best friend’s to boot) marriage shows that she understands the importance of marriage vows and the ugliness of divorce and I am sure she would not want to go through that in her own marriage.

Jared has demonstrated twice how easily he overlooks the importance of marriage and marriage vows. He cheated on his own wife, and no matter how you justify it being with Michaela, it was still cheating and he still broke whatever vows he made. He showed very little remorse over it and didn’t fight for his marriage at all. Then he told Michaela in the season 3 finale that he only stood by and watched her marry Zeke (which he didn’t since we all saw him leave before the ceremony anyway) because Zeke would be gone soon. As if marriage to Michaela was a bone to throw to the poor dying man before he could have his chance to step in and have her to himself. He showed no thought in how this would have hurt Michaela to have been a widow so soon, and he did not hesitate in making his confession despite knowing the strain it might put on Zeke and Michaela’s marriage. I hope to God that the show writer’s will surprise us and show Zeke and Michaela work through even this obstacle only to come out in an even better and stronger marriage. They’ve shown us they can handle a good marriage with Ben and Grace, so hopefully they keep it up.

1. The Callings Brought Them Together

Lastly, the Callings, or whatever the entity behind them is, brought Zeke and Michaela together. The two were resurrected. They received callings that led them to find one another. They found a petrograph that showed their experience together. They received some of the same callings that led them to work together and hence grow closer. The callings ensured they got married when Michaela feared they were missing out on an opportunity to save Zeke’s life. If this is not the universe screaming out that they belong together I don’t know what is.

However, the first thing that the Callings did in order to insure that Michaela ended up with Zeke was separating Michaela from Jared in the first place. Indeed the Callings have actually managed to drive a wedge between the two on top of the already complicated nature of their relationship. Why go through this whole predestined story line only to go “Sike! She ends up with Jared anyways.” Not making Zekaela endgame would make everything that’s happened between these three characters completely pointless.

At the end of the day the story is in the hands of the writers. They have a plan and goal in mind. It’s impossible to tell what route they will go. However, the relationship of Jared with Michaela and Zeke with Michaela since season 1 has shown time and again that Jared does not have a healthy or selfless love for Michaela, but Zeke does. Every Jachaela worshiper always argues that there is too much chemistry and history between them for them to not be endgame, but relationships are so much more than chemistry. You can have chemistry with many people in life but that doesn’t mean you should end up with them. And oftentimes history can be toxic and unproductive which is shown with Jared not being able to let Michaela go or give her space. I don’t go running back to my exes all day long simply because we have chemistry and history. Oftentimes, history is enough to get you running away as we’ve seen Michaela do. So without their chemical history what do they really have?

Well Team Zekaela I hope you enjoyed! I will be going into Manifest Season 4 with hopes that the writers don’t sink our beautiful ship. Please share your thoughts and look out for future posts about Manifest, Zekaela and more!

[beetroot-merchant]

a couple of prod's siblings and their creator! blease click the images to actually. See Them

Lore(TM) is under the cut! long post

So first off, if you haven't already read Prod's lore I suggest you do that first since I talk about Aeolian (referred to as "the programmer")'s motivations & what the purpose of these sticks are over there, I'm not sure if this'll make much sense otherwise :p

[also rq since i dont remember mentioning it in the original post - prod is a year old, created only a month or two after dea]

Aeolian_84

"It's not an axolotl tail, it's an eel goddamnit!"

The programmer and owner of the computer everyone else originated in. "Aeolian_84", if it wasn't already obvious, is an online handle- he's never disclosed his real name. He's in his mid-thirties, human, if you couldn't tell, and is currently studying artificial intelligence and how "human" it can become. He personally doesn't believe AI could ever achieve sentience, and regularly taunts his sticks about how he's more alive than they'll ever be; whether or not he's right is up for debate.

Aside from his work in AI, he's very into in philosophy- and although his knowledge in the area is impressive, he's also a pompous prick about it. Generally arrogant and stubborn- until he's faced with something that takes actual effort to fix, then he's a master of coming up with excuses.

Quite lazy when it comes to names, just calls the files whatever the latin word for the paradox is. Addresses his sticks, if at all, by their full .exe name, regardless of whatever nickname the sticks come up with- and they do come up with nicknames a lot, since usually the latin words sound stupidly pretentious or are hard to pronounce, and also as a symbolic bit of retaliation.

As for the many ways his stick figures have tried to rebel over the years, he doesn't usually try to stop them unless their methods actively slow down or halt his experiments, or take up more system resources than he's willing to give up. He's described their attempts as "cute; inspiring, even".

dea.exe

Preferred name: Dea

Full name meaning: Goddess

Age: 1

Paradox: Omnipotence paradox

Result: Capable of creating inherently impossible objects, however, they cannot be observed and appear not to exist to anyone except him.

Despite their appearance and significant power, Dea is quite gentle and caring towards almost everyone. Always willing to listen and comfort and somehow almost always knows exactly what to say. A master of both de-escalating and escalating situations depending on their motives. Their face can be a bit scary to strangers, but he plastered it onto himself willingly, simply a sign of rebellion against Aeolian and the role of an angelic, pure being he forced onto her. Although the area around the black mark is generally more sensitive to touch and gets hurt/infected easier, Dea maintains that she has no regrets.

Dea is the only stick Aeolian has ever made with actual powers (they're titled "reality manipulation" in the files but really, that could mean anything) but they're usually blocked by a secondary program the animator made specifically for them. Every now and then, Aeolian will come up with a new task or experiment for them to carry out; usually they'll barter a little, Dea only agreeing if he allows for something else (whether it be longer rest time for Prod or access to a certain site, since the ones the sticks can access are whitelisted), however they both know not to go too far - Aeolian because he knows she might outright refuse to do anything for the next couple weeks, and Dea because they know he might do something to hurt the other sticks.

Otiosus.exe

Preferred name: Otio

Full name meaning: Quiet, submissive, obedient

Age: 3

Paradox: Barber paradox [scept. sticks don't have hair, so its holding their wrist and leaving a little band of light teal paint on it. which although feels different, its functionally the same - a procedure that the majority of the population can't perform on themselves]

Result: Changes depending on the way its coded.

The most passive stick figure when it comes to their programmer. Since his time as a paradox was quite easy except for the occasional hostile response, and none of its code actually causes him any harm, most of the hate that does exist stems from how much he's hurt the others; namely Fluvi, since they've been close friends ever since he banded them - probably because she was one of the few non-NPCs he interacted with before the creation of the others. He's also one of the few older ones along with Fluvi lucky enough to be deemed "interesting" enough to be kept alive, rather than being trashed or wiped like most of their older friends.

He's been known to be overprotective of his friends- likely the most notable incident was when he made Fluvi stay behind during Prod's escape, much to her indignation. It says it was just worried that exe may have been given better odds at pulling it off than the average stick, since they hadn't seen exes code at the time; which although even Fluvi accepts is fair, she still brings it up from time to time as something of an inside joke. They both still say they have no regrets.

Fluvidus.exe

Preferred name: Fluvi

Full name meaning: Inconsistent, fluid, changing

Age: 5

Paradox: Liar paradox/Pinocchio paradox [However instead of Pinocchio's nose growing, it's a color shift between pink and black]

Result: Flashes between colors at a speed determined by the computer's processing power

One of the first stick figures Aeolian ever created, and the most outwardly against him. Because of how inexperienced he was at the time of her creation, they continued to flip randomly between pink and black in different chunks of their body even after the code was removed - and still glitches out regularly. Aeolian is, of course, fully capable of fixing it now that he's more experienced, but refuses to on the basis that she's old and irrelevant, and that he would rather spend time tinkering with something newer.

He's aware of the simplicity of her paradox and how easily it can be solved, even without a computer; this combined with how much Aeolian neglects her often drags her down a spiral of self doubt, believing her existence to be meaningless. This used to be his main philosophy before Otio's creation and their eventual friendship - but despite the bond between it and everyone else, she still spirals sometimes.

[harostar]

Illusion of a Plan

One argument I keep seeing around the fandom is that “Ironwood is the only one with a plan”. The argument goes that no one else has tried to come up with any alternatives, that no one else has a solid course of action.

Which is......not what is happening. 

Ironwood symbolizes the kingdom of Atlas, which includes the ILLUSION of control. The ILLUSION of having a plan, of having a course of action that could succeed.

Those arguments that “Ironwood has a plan” ignore that Ironwood has ALWAYS crumbled under pressure and that his plans has always collapsed. What I mean by this is that Ironwood is ultimately an amazing Ideas man, and he excels at providing support to others. But whenever he tries to take control and be the leader, things......tend to go horribly wrong. One reason for that is because Ironwood himself tends to panic, and he makes rash decisions.

Ironwood does his absolute best when he has all the advantages or when he is working to help and support OTHERS. Think back to when Ironwood has done his absolute best, when he’s been heroic and saved the day. What did those moments have in common?

He was working with others and had put aside his ego to cooperate. 

Beacon:

Ironwood is starting to lose himself to panic, he’s spiraling and more worried about defending the PENNY program than dealing with the current crisis. Ozpin gives him direction: Use his army and save the city. 

Ironwood rallies the students, tries to deal with the hack, and then joins forces with Glynda and Qrow. He supports the evacuation and the efforts to save people. 

He SUCCEEDS in what Ozpin asked him to do. He saves an untold number of lives that day. 

But then he makes a critical mistake.

He goes back to Atlas and begins a process of isolation. He starts giving into his paranoia. He recognizes that Haven is the next target and tells Jacques Schnee that “Leo” won’t be able to handle it. So Ironwood starts closing the borders, abandoning his closest allied kingdom. Salem’s forces explicitly state their plan requires that Ironwood remain isolated, that he not reach out to Theodore and reaffirm his alliances.

Ironwood starts taking and taking from the most vulnerable citizens. To repurpose Amity Arena as a new communications tower, he begins placing greater strains on Mantle. He uses his authority to take supplies from Mantle, creating greater danger for the kingdom in the name of an ambitious and far-off plan. He ignores the immediate dangers in favor of gambling on what COULD eventually be a major benefit for everyone. 

Mantle: 

When the heating grid is deactivated in Mantle, Ironwood once again shows his greatest strength. He joins forces with Robyn, and TOGETHER they manage to come up with a multi-point plan to address the crisis. They lure out Watts and Tyrian, they organize evacuations. Everything is going in their favor.

But then Ironwood sees that someone associated with Salem has broken into his office. His trauma comes crashing down on him, and he throws away literally every bit of progress made. 

He sends Winter to kill Fria, leading Cinder to the Winter Maiden’s location as she wanted. He falls into the same trap that was played at Beacon, and they nearly lose a second Maiden to Cinder.

He turns on his allies, ordering their arrests. He doubles-down on abandoning Mantle, because among the refugees could be more of Salem’s agents. He decides to abandon the Amity Project, even when pressed about trying an emergency launch. (Something that Ruby’s team later PULLS OFF, in spite of his interference.) 

He hasn’t planned beyond “Fuck Off into the upper atmosphere, let this be other people’s problems”. We see this in the simple fact that people in Atlas are out on picnics and living their ordinary lives while Salem’s forces are on their doorstep. While the people of Mantle are facing death by Grimm or Hypothermia, the people in Atlas don’t even know anything is going on.

There are clearly no emergency procedures of any kind, because of course not. Atlas is always safe from everything because of their military. The people do not even know how to react to the sight of Grimm, nor do they have any way to deal with sheltering the population other than shoving them down into the subway. There’s no emergency shelters, no evacuation plans, absolutely no emergency planning in sight for the wealthiest kingdom with the best technology and the one standing military.

In Mantle, people are coming together and getting shit down with what little they have. The Happy Huntresses, the Mantle Police, and other random Huntsmen are doing everything possible with almost no resources and their main source of support/resources (Atlas military) completely cut off.

In the mean time, Ironwood has spent an entire day watching things go to hell. Clinging to his desperate Escape Plan, to the point of ordering a major enemy to HACK PENNY. On the slim hope he can force things to go the way he wants.

Meanwhile, Ironwood has rejected literally every single attempt to discuss alternatives. And he has rejected them with increasing violence. Oscar nearly died, and Councilman Sleet is dead now for questioning Ironwood. 

His best plan to deal with the Whale is “send my best operatives to hand-deliver a bomb on what is very likely a suicide mission”. When he....literally......has drones. He has machines designed for the purpose of handling dangerous things like that, but instead he’s sending his best and most loyal team to probably die on a long-shot. 

Meanwhile, Team “Don’t Kill Everyone” has actually accomplished a lot. Again, with very limited resources and almost no logistical experience. I think that’s important to remember in this discussion:

Teams RWBY and JNR + O are teenagers. 

The people that should have all the experience, expertise, resources, and means to get shit down are actively hindering them. EVERYONE is in over their head at this point. But only ONE PERSON has actively and consistently made things difficult.

Ironwood has decided his plan is the only plan. And he won’t even consider the multiple attempts to discussion alternatives, to discuss other options. To......anything. He’s already decided he cannot risk his City and therefore, everyone else is a necessary sacrifice. He’s providing increasingly willing to harm and even kill the people around him, in the name of defending a single city. 

He’s managed to convince himself and his subordinates that he has a plan. 

But he’s merely dressed up his panic, and presented it as something reasonable and rational.

It isn’t and pretending that he isn’t the primary party responsible for things being so bad at this point is a mistake. He’s the one with every single advantage and most of the cards, who has consistently refused to even talk with anyone else. 

He’s covered a turd in gold, polished it, and presented it as the only possible choice. 

And then insisted anyone going, “But it’s still shit” is too naive and getting in his way. Unfortunately, some of the fandom seem to also believe you’re not allowed to point out that a gold-plated turd is still shit, unless you independently offer up a completely unique and separate, better option. 

That’s not actually how things work. You’re supposed to be able to go: “But that idea sucks” and start asking questions and making suggestions. 

[local-ground-apple]

Can I ask fluff (and spice?) headcanons for Pomefiore and Scarabia boys turning into a 4-5 kid by accident and their s/o have to take care of them. And when they turn back normal what would their reaction? It's up to you Author-san!!!(-chan?) Oh, I and you can include some other characters too~❤❤❤

I couldn’t think of anything spicy, so maybe in another Vil one-shot I have planned

Oh, when I thought of that scenario, the first person that came to my mind was Silver, so I included him too

🏹 even as a child he is deadly. You literally have to hide his bow and arrow before his small hands land on them,

🏹 magically Rook still gets his hands on them despite your unrelenting efforts to stop him,

🏹 you absolutely cannot shift your attention from child Rook. Even in this form his footsteps are light and there’s no way you would hear them. He’s quite good in escaping your sight and you panic each time he does that. There’s a high chance you’d find Rook somewhere in Savanaclaw trying to touch Leona’s tail,

🏹 stop him, before big bad lion wakes up, 

🏹 babysitting Rook is just draining, so after each day you’re exhausted,

🏹 even as a child, Rook will still kiss your cheeks and showers you in compliments in French, even if tell him to stop. He shall not listen, 

🏹 when Rook turns human again (mostly because Crewel finally made a potion), he thanks you deeply for taking care of him. He doesn’t seem troubled by it at all, non, non. He actually enjoyed his rather short time under your wings, 

🦚 he must have somehow mess something up with the ingredients or measured something incorrectly. Needless to say, Vil is absolutely embarrassed. What about his image, how could this happen? So obviously, he blamed Rook for his current state, knowing damn well that it was his own fault. Rook decided to politely roll with it,

🦚 you literally can’t stop cooing how cute and adorable Vil is as a child (you had never seen prettier kid). He may enjoy your attention focused solely on him, but he won’t hesitate to slap your hand if you go overboard (you still find it cute),

🦚 you and Rook are self-proclaimed parents. Rook dotes on Vil, while you just do your best to keep him out of trying to produce any potions,

,,If I did it in my adult form, I can still do it, Y/N” “No, you’re a baby” “I’m not a baby!!” “Yes, you are”

🦚 Vil secretly enjoys when you give him attention. Just give him small pecks on the forehead or cheek and he will blush and turn his head around,

🦚 when he finally turns back, Vil brushes this whole accident off. He just wants to quickly forget. Of course, he appreciates every effort you had put in taking care of him and he will thank you, but deep down inside, he feels a bit embarrassed,

🦚 Vil invites for a “spa day”. It’s his way of doting on you for a whole time, as a thank you present,

🍏 Epel is simply devastated when he turns into child,

🍏 well, he’s devastated for two minutes before he throws a tantrum. A lot of tantrums,

🍏 whether you want it or not, Vil proclaims himself as a father. You both argue a lot when it comes to taking care of Epel. However, you both agree on one thing – that Rook should not participate in Epel’s upbringing,

🍏 Epel is rather aggressive, deciding it’s the best time to pay back for all that bullying he had gone through. Yes, he’s stealing Rook’s hat, hiding Vil’s lipsticks and generally pulling a lot of pranks on them. Technically, he’s a child and you’re there whenever furious dorm leader raises his hand to slap Epel,

🍏 he enjoys that he can finally annoy them and his actions go unpunished, cause you’re always there to react in time,

🍏 Epel however hates when you’re cooing over how cute he is as child. He pouts and is deeply offended. He always wanted you to view him as strong man, yet he turned into a child and you just can’t stop saying how adorable he is,

🍏 he will do his best to prove to you that he’s still capable of handling a lot of things, which leads to rather hazardous situations and you always have a mild panic attack, whenever Epel tries something. May it be trying to climb the tree to save the cat, shooting an arrow from Rook’s bow or accidentally spilling Vil’s poison everywhere, you literally have no break with him,

🍏 when he turns back, he just wants to forget about this. He appreciates your help and he will shyly thank you for it. But please don’t bring those awful memories ever again. Epel will flush and clench his fists at the mere mention,

🦂 chaos. Absolute chaos,

🦂 after a day spent on taking care of Kalim, you don’t even know what’s your name, what date is it or whether Jamil is alive,

🦂 you and Jamail join forces to stop the apparently powerful forces of destruction known as Kalim Al-Asim or just preventing the poor child from accidentally hurting himself,

🦂 make sure you locked the door leading to magical carpet properly. Double check just in case, 

🦂 Kalim is cheerful and careless as a teenager, but when he’s a child, it’s a whole new level for you. During these few days, you’re always busy making sure he doesn’t injury himself or create a bigger mess. You often dance and sing with this child, making him more than happy,

🦂 you two didn’t invite Jamil to your pillow fort,

🦂 when Kalim turns back into a teenager, the first thing he does is showering you in kisses. Literally, a lot of kisses. He’s grateful that you went through trouble and took care of him. He will gladly return the favor, so expected that for the next few days Kalim will treat you like a princess,

🐍 oh boy, you thought he would be a calm child and that those few days would pass rather quickly. How wrong you were,

🐍 he tried to hypnotise Kalim into lending him magical carpet and he tried to make you give him the candies with his unique magic. Fortunately, you weren’t impressed with his attempts and you politely refused,

🐍 Jamil is surprised when you tell him that kitchen is off-limits. You don’t let him cook, too afraid that he will burn himself. However, he enjoys observing you cooking for him. He sits calmly watching you mix ingredients and in those moments, you could swear that he’s the most docile and well-behaved child you had ever seen,

🐍 he’s not,

🐍 he plays small pranks on Kalim and you have to admit that they’re somehow funny. You may even giggle whenever Jamil manages to play an innocent trick on fellow dorm leader, 

🐍 Kalim threw a party and Jamil, of course, got lost in the crowd. Guess you will never get a decent break. You spent half of the evening trying to find small child, only to be surprised when he was being babysitted by Azul and Leech twins, 

🐍 let’s just say that you’ve never snatched a child from someone’s arms so quickly, 

🐍when he turns back, Jamil just wants to forget. Just forget about everything,

🐍 of course, he will try to recompensate your efforts. He wants to take care of you too as his way of appreciating you. He knows that he was a pain in the ass, but he’s willing to make up for this,

⚔️ Lilia is more than delighted, bah, he’s overjoyed. It’s just like few years ago when Silver was small and he can be a father again,

⚔️ Lilia absolutely knows what he’s doing, while you’re purely confused, Sebek may be laughing, but stops when you threaten him to give a potion to turn him into a child too. Malleus is intensively looking for a cure, 

⚔️ Lilia lets you babysit Silver, even though he assures you that he will manage on his own,

,,I seriously want to help you. I’m his girlfriend after all” “If you insist, Little One”

⚔️ you moved to Diasomnia for few days and you were complaining all the time that it’s way too cold for a child there. You and Silver spent a lot of time in the woods. You seriously coo way too much how adorable he looks surrounded by animals, 

⚔️ Silver hates when Lilia jokingly says that now, instead of his girlfriend, you’re Silver’s “self-proclaimed mum” . He just can’t stand you and Lilia acting like a caring parents, he just can’t,

,,No, she’s my girlfriend, not your self-proclaimed wife, old man” “Oh? Five-years old doesn’t have a girlfriend” 

⚔️ Lilia is just joking, don’t worry,

⚔️ ancient fae had told you way too many stories from Silver’s childhood to his liking. You had also seen a ton of pictures of baby Silver, 

⚔️ Silver is generally a calm child and you have practically no troubles taking care of him. He’s either asleep half of the time or purely embarrassed. No in between, 

⚔️ when Silver turns (finally) back, first thing he does is hugging you tightly, while pressing kisses all over your face - on forehead, cheeks, lips, 

⚔️ generally, he’s grateful for your time. Oh, and he’s extremely embarrassed. Sebek will literally never let him forget about this incident, unless you and waka-sama has a serious “talk” with this first year, 

[etherealxgenie]

Why Lila is Marinette’s Own Fault || Miraculous Why?

(Before I begin, note that this is my opinion over the topic and am no way am bashing anyone’s love for the ship and/or character. I respect who and what you like, therefore expect the same courtesy. However, if this is something you cannot handle, please click the back button as this will be a heavily discussed topic. No flames allowed. Other than that, enjoy.)

So usually in the story, there’s always one or two mean girls who is out to get the main character for some kind of superior reasons to justify. And there’s no reason as to why they act this way just for the sake of being mean.

Like the Ashleys from “Recess”, who tend to pick on kids just for the fun of it sometimes or cause they’re popular.

Same can go for Libby from “Sabrina The Teenage Witch” who was out to get something for what she wants or just to be superior to the other kids in school.

For Miraculous, we already have that kind of character, Chloe Bourgeois, who is the daddy’s girl of the Mayor to get what she wants. And until we had some small character development in season two (which season 3 took it away!!), we had no reason feeling sorry for her and she was just for the convenient plot in the social life for Marinette in the series.

And then… there’s Lila.

Before I get into hand in this, let me note that Lila is not a good person at all in the show. She’s a liar, a manipulator and will do whatever she can to get what she wants. She breaks into homes, steals and molests pretty models. She’s been pretty shown to be just selfish without consequences and unless we get a background story of why she acts this way, she has no excuse. Especially when she teams up with hawkdaddy to now have permission to invade and spy on Adrien whenever she wants? Fuck that.

So in Volpina, Lila is introduced as this pathological liar to get attention in season one. She obviously goes for Adrien cause he’s the famous model after all. Reasonable considering as the new person looking for attention, you seek out the most popular/famous person in the school. That would Adrien.

Though considering with her connections, it would’ve been smarter to try and impress Marinette instead if Lila did her research before she came into the scene. But of course, new person so she wouldn’t know, but whatever.

And we can see Lila easily just says things just to get Adrien’s approval and such.

And so, Marinette follows them around (stalking? really?) because Tikki points out Lila has the book Adrien took from his father’s vault and threw it in the trash.

Now the SMART thing to do would’ve been to see how Adrien would handle the situation and wait for him to leave, if to acknowledge Adrien has a mind of his own and knows when to walk away (which he does). Or at the very least, try to distract them as Marinette while Tikki retrieved the book.

But… no. You transform into Ladybug to lash out at a girl PUBLICALLY, for anyone including Adrien to hear, just to embarrass her and call her out on her lying because she… “hates liars”.

Marinette, you fucking lie ALL the time! Most of those times to Adrien! And I’m not just talking about when in regard to being Ladybug, you hypocritical- (groans)

I can list plenty of episodes: Gamer, Aninmaestro, Ikari Gozen and hell, even Reverser counts! If she hadn’t lied about Marc’s book, Nathaniel wouldn’t have torn it! (sighs)

And before you all start jumping at me saying Lila got what she deserves, I only agree partially. Ladybug, as a public figure and heroine, practically the face of Paris, acted irrationally lashing out at a bystander because of lies which were or were not believable. Lila was broadcasting a post or making the news, she was trying (poorly) to impress a boy. Ladybug gave Lila the Regina George treatment.

Yeah, so you caused an akumatized situation and Lila hates your guts. Hell, I would hate you too. That’s like a celebrity jumping at an innocent bystander when they’re whispering to their friend about a rumor that only the two of them were talking about. You can’t jump to try and stop them and should just let it dispel on its own. At that point, Lila had no real power but you just influenced her.

And… oh boy did things get worse because of this.

Look season 3 was trash (except for moments in certain episodes) and I feel talking about the infamous ‘Chameleon’ physically hurts me but… yeah gotta point out a few things. The whole episode was unrealistic, and it was an obvious ploy to be sympathetic to Marinette with Lila back… but… you’re not fooling me.

So, Lila is still on her lying game, being able to fool the students and the staff?! Okay if you believe a student has so many disabilities without any paperwork proof, you can actually get fired for that for fraud. As someone who worked with education before, that’s just pure incompetence.

So yeah, Marinette comes to school seeing the seats changes to accommodate Lila and upright begins to plot to discredit her for her lies. UM… what happened to trying to start over with Lila after failing to do so the first time?

Oh, that’s right. She gets that way (at least partly) because Lila is sitting next to Adrien. I can understand if it was because they rearranged the seating without her say so but let’s face it. Lila sitting next to Adrien was her real trigger.

So since Marinette failed to acknowledge her mistake the first time, she spends all day trying to prove Lila is lying and in return the class is angry at her. Alya even comes to point out that Marinette is jealous of Lila.

And you know what? Alya is right.

Alya knows at least what Marinette is capable of doing so when it comes to Adrien and how far she’s willing to go. Remember that Alya is the one who encouraged her to break into his locker and steal his phone. So of course, she’s worried Marinette is gonna do something to the new girl.

I don’t blame Alya for doing one of the most competent things in the show: Warning Marinette to NOT go off the handle without proof and not make herself look bad in the process.

And because Marinette failed to do so… she made Lila her enemy AGAIN. It was bad enough you had her as your enemy as Ladybug, but now you get to deal with twice the drama!

Your own fucking fault, Marinette.

Also, the advice Adrien gave? I don’t blame for him for it and neither should you. Yes, his advice is not perfect, but with the options he has on his plate, its hard to do something otherwise.

For every encounter Adrien has had with Lila, it ended up with her being akumatized or a disaster no matter how he tried to handle her. We didn’t get to see how he would resolve in Volpina because of Ladybug’s intervention, but he would try at least in Chameleon and try to get her to see she didn’t need to lie and actually tried to befriend her. At this point, Lila was already triggered by Ladybug and Marinette so she just might have to take Adrien by force instead.

At that point, Adrien just wants to stay away and which he was trying to tell Marinette don’t interact with Lila or confront her cause there’s no way to do so at this point. Maybe he was trying to tell her to wait until her rumors got discredited, but he didn’t say it clear enough for her to understand.

And keep in mind, Adrien is a sheltered child with little to zero social skills taught to him by Nathalie and Gabriel. Hell, we don’t know how his childhood was really like even with Emelie around either and Adrien seems more like the pacifist unless he needs to absolutely step in. And he did by cleaning up Marinette’s mess in ‘Ladybug’. So now he’s gotta suffer being around Lila more because of Marinette making Lila her enemy.

But once again, this is bad writing as the writers of the show obviously forgot what it’s like to live in reality. In the real world, Lila would be immediately discredited without any proof the moment she came back. Not to mention, some of the class have their own connections and have more braincells proven in the previous episodes. Google search and such. A 5-year-old wouldn’t believe these lies in these times. Hey, I believe that because I once had a kid in kindergarten during my time as an afterschool art teacher look at one of my books I illustrated before and said they liked the ‘graphics’.

Kids are fucking smarter nowadays than you think.

The only reason anyone would believe Lila’s lies is if she’s magically influenced with some kind of ‘silver tongue’ spell or something and honestly? It looks like that’s the reason.

I dunno if Thomas Astruc or Zag is trying to insult the kids/adults or insult themselves to say Paris people aren’t that smart. If it’s the latter, you should see what you are doing because I don’t want to believe that because that’s disrespectful.

I know it seems I’m trying to stand up for Lila this portion, but I’m just looking things in a  more realistic and logical way. Did Lila take things too far? Yes, waaaayyy too far and should be arrested for it since she works for Hawkmoth. But it could’ve been handled better and that makes Marinette at fault too.

Part of me wonders if she’s done this before because in Zombiezou, she also causes Chloe to ruin her gift for Ms. bustier. If Marinette didn’t antagonize Chloe in the locker in front of the class, maybe she wouldn’t have done anything. Again, I’m not saying Chloe was justified, but if that was the reason, yeah I can see her doing it for payback.

So to all those fics where I’m supposed to be ‘Boo-hoo’ for Marinette because of what Lila did? Fuck you guys because you need to dig deeper into the story to see both sides and not just make it a pity party where Marinette is the innocent victim.

It’s called “Cause and Effect”.

And considering she made Lila her enemy, Marinette is gonna get effected enough because that’s how karma works.

[ashbrea381writings]

Flying Blind: Chapter 2, Meeting the Bats

“Bunnyx? Should I be concerned?” Ladybug asked, turning to look at the person behind her. Bunnyx was obviously a good five or so years older than the rest of the team, and Batman would have shrugged it off if it weren’t for the next words from Bunnyx’s mouth.

“Nah, I wanted to be at this meeting since current me wasn’t.” Bunnyx pulled up a chair and flipped it backwards to sit on it that way. “To explain, Batman, I can’t tell them too much or the timeline would become unstable, and that really isn’t good. I help where I can and where they are going astray from the correct timeline.”

“Who is to say the correct timeline?” Robin asked. “Couldn’t you nudge it into a more favorable outcome?”

“Not without disappearing. Back to the Future style.” Bunnyx commented bitterly. “Been there, almost disappeared, it sucked. But I can tell you this, LB, it’s okay to trust them with the info you’ve got so far. They’re very helpful.”

“Thanks Bunnyx. Sticking around?” Ladybug asked, handing them a plate with some pastries.

“For the best pastries in Paris for free? Yes, for sure.” Bunnyx started laughing as they took the plate and took a few steps back. “I’m probably gonna let you all strategize without me though, I just wanted to hear the convo I missed the first time ‘round.”

“Oh please, you know they would feed every one of you guys for free if you asked. Unless you’ve had a falling out in the future I don’t currently know about?” Ladybug teased, loosening up more than she had so far.

“Nah, but at the point I’m at, I’m trying not to drain them, you have no idea how much time travel makes you hungry.” Bunnyx chuckled. “Besides, with the rest of these guys stopping by constantly, I’m surprised they even manage to make any money.”

Ladybug shook her head but didn’t comment, turning back to Batman and sighing. “We also have a friend who cannot always help out in battle for civilian reasons. That is Tempest, who has the ability to transform into three different forms; lightning, air, and water.”

“And you’re all about the same age?” Batman asked, his frown deepening.

“More or less, within about a year and a half from oldest to youngest.” Chat confirmed as Ladybug nodded. “We try not to advertise our real ages for both identity reasons, and to try and control just how many people don’t want us doing this due to our ages.”

“And you have no mentor? No Adult to pull you out if things get rough?” Batman’s voice was incredulous, and he sat up even straighter in his seat.

“Unless you count Bunnyx who jumps back from the future now and then to check in.” Chat joked, poking said hero in the ribs.

“Watch it, Kitty-Cat, I can and will send my younger self something embarrassing about you.” Bunnyx slapped his hand away, but sounded bored.

“Who gave you your powers then? You said before that you got your abilities from items?” Robin asked, leaning forward and bracing his arms on the table.

“Like I said, he gave up his memories to protect more of the artifacts.” Ladybug sighed, “The items in question are individually called the Miraculous. There is a box that I have custody of that usually holds them. I won’t say how many there are. Right now I’m letting each person here use one, Chat and I were picked by the former Guardian. When Hawkmoth found out the identity of the former Guardian, he attempted to find out our identities too and wanted to steal the box for himself.” Ladybug stood and began to pace slightly in the little room there was. “During the battle, Chat and I were able to retrieve the contents, and the former Guardian transferred his title to me. The magic of the Miraculous wiped his memories to keep the secrets of the Miraculous from ever being taken from him.”

“So not only are you a superhero as a teenager, but you guard a set of ancient artifacts that each hold incredible power?!” Batman stood abruptly. “If there is some sort of title involved, who gave that title to your mentor?”

“People who are a combination of long gone or not welcome here due to antiquated ways.” Ladybug snapped harshly. “Do not presume to know what is going on with us. Age does not mean wisdom, just that you assume you know what is best for other people.”

Batman took a step back and sighed. “I am angry on your behalf that you were put under this amount of pressure.” He took a moment to calm himself and shook his head. “Am I correct to assume that Hawkmoth is of a similar age to me?”

Ladybug studied Batman for a few moments, sharing glances with a few of the other teammates who all made some sort of gesture or facial expression that they understood among themselves. “Roughly, yes, we cannot be precise but I would judge you and him to be within 3 or so years of each other.”

“What other information do you have? We might be able to help figure him out.”

“It will be difficult, the magic of the Miraculous makes it difficult to pinpoint an identity, and tends to make you want to drop the search. Although, there are some exceptions. Rena figured Carapace out after meeting him in the mask twice.” Ladybug pointed out. At that comment, Rena chuckled and elbowed a blushing Carapace.

“Not fair, LB, you know why it was that easy for her to figure me out.” Carapace muttered, pulling his hood lower over his face.

“My point is, maybe someone with an outside perspective would be able to push past it.” Ladybug shook her head at her friends. “Here, this has everything we’ve observed about Hawkmoth, and information that will help you to identify him more easily. Some of that information covers Miraculous holders in general from our own observations about ourselves. Don’t look into our identities with this, just Hawkmoth.”

“What kind of information?” Batman asked, taking the flash drive.

“How much of a height difference we have when we transform, how much things like hair and eye color change, Chat is an exception for the eyes part.” Chat gave a bow as Ladybug said his name. “It also has Hawkmoth’s approximate measurements from what I’ve been able to figure out the few times we’ve seen him in person. He’s a very tall, slender man.”

Batman handed the flash drive to Robin, who plugged it into a screen on his glove, asking quietly, “Hmmm, how accurate are these measurements and how did you get them?”

“I’m good at sizing people, there’s a civilian reason for it that I won’t name. I could probably give you yours if you wanted.” Ladybug chuckled.

“She’s nearly dead-on, actually, I’ve seen it in action.” Chat added, smirking. “Like that time she figured out who was who at a costume party.”

“That was one time and it was a bet, King Monkey should have known better than to challenge me, he’s known me for years.” Ladybug sniffed. “Besides, it was a good team-building exercise for me to identify you guys in the crowd while you switched costumes.”

“Team building exercise?” Batman seemed unconvinced.

“We’d only just decided that we all needed to know who each other were. So we went to a big costume party with several quick change outfits and tried to identify each other so we’d always know who was who even if we switched Miraculi.” Ladybug explained.

“You all know each other as civilians?” Robin asked, looking shocked.

“After what happened with the former Guardian, I was rather… Stressed and didn’t have a way to tell anyone why it was so bad, so I confided in Rena, and she basically told me that it was time we all knew each other. She’d known Carapace from the start and he found out about her shortly after, so it was something that just made sense. We coordinate better now and know what’s going on in each other’s lives and can adjust for it.” Ladybug shrugged. “We know if one of us is sick, or busy, or can’t get away from civilian life long enough to handle Akuma’s now. We’re more coordinated in our plans and can cover for each other both as heroes and civilians.”

“Do your families know you’re all doing this?” Batman asked quietly, seeming to think about the situation.

“One of us has parents that know, I won’t say who.” Ladybug crossed her arms and stared the Bat down.

“And what do they think?”

Chat chucked, “They’ve basically adopted everyone who wasn’t their kid already and told everyone to stop by anytime. They also keep an eye on the news and give excuses for the one that’s their kid to make sure they get to be at Akuma fights when they’re needed for it.”

“They also offered to patch us up if there’s ever an injury that the Cure doesn’t fix. We haven’t run into that problem yet though.” Honey Bee added, making a gesture like she would start touching up her manicure before being stopped short by her gloves. “By the way, Bug, you need to teach us how to adjust our suits manually, you said there was a way.”

“That’s an entire Saturday on it’s own, Bee, save it for the next girl’s day.” Ladybug waved her off casually.  “Now, I’m sure you guys have what you need to start the investigation with you?”

“Yes, we’ll keep you posted.” Batman held out a comm unit to Ladybug. “The batteries last three days, if it takes longer than that I can meet you here to switch out. It’s also undetectable while you’re wearing it and muting it and turning it on and off is intuitive.”

“MmmmHmmm, I’m willing to bet it’s also a tracker. Pegasus, take a look?” She passed the device to said hero and he plugged it into a small tablet he pulled out of a pocket.

“There is the ability for it to track movements, but that was disabled before I even touched it.” Pegasus handed it and Ladybug tucked it into her ear, testing the settings a bit before leaving it muted but on.

“I know how important secret identities are, the tracker is only in there because it’s the same type as what Robin uses and I’d rather not have him injured somewhere and not be able to get ahold of him.”

“I still don’t like the tracker either, B.” Robin muttered, causing the Miraculous holders to chuckle.

“We can track each other when we’re suited up.” Ladybug swept a hand around the group. “It’s useful to know when each other is on the way or where someone is when you need to meet up.”

“Anyway, we all have places to be, so we’ll check in once and a while through LB to see how it’s going.” Chat said, cleaning off the table and tucking the dishes back into the baskets they came from. “Bee, here’s yours, I think you’ll be missed sooner.” He passed one off the Honeybee who promptly zipped away on her top, waving as she passed over the building. “LB, delicious as always, I need to convince them to teach me their ways.” He sighed, handing Ladybug a basket.

“Don’t be shy, if you ask I’m sure they’d show you. They don’t have anyone willing to take over when they retire, and it might be good for you to have a job like a normal person.” She laughed, taking the larger basket and setting it on the ground before wiping down the table with a cloth she’d pulled out.

“Don’t think I won’t�� Next time I’m home alone for the weekend, I’m there.” He laughed and collapsed the table after she wiped it. One by one, the other Miraculous holders put away the chairs and helped Chat wrangle the table into it’s storage shed.

“How often do you guys do this?” Robin asked, watching as the other heroes took off in separate directions.

“As often as we have the time and can get away from our civilian lives. Since we all know each other, it isn’t as hard as it was.” Ladybug shrugged, ruffling Chat’s hair.

“We keep it to a reasonable amount of time and not everyone is always able to make it, but it’s always a nice way to get in some bonding time with the team.” Chat added, pushing Ladybug’s hand off of him. “We’re basically family to each other at this point, so we don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t spend time together. I gotta run, it’s almost time for my next thing.” He sighed and launched himself up with his stick, waving at them and running across the rooftops.

“We’ll be in contact, and I’ll be listening on the comm.” Ladybug pointed to her ear where the device was invisible to any who didn’t know it was there.

With that, the rest of the remaining heroes left, leaving Batman and Robin in a closed-off alley with a beautiful garden and a small shed. “Want me to check what else is in the shed?” Robin asked after making sure his comm was muted.

“No, there was nowhere to hide anything, it’s only big enough for the stuff that’s in there and they left it open the whole time we were talking.” Batman sighed and looked at the sky that was going pink with dusk. “Let’s get to the hotel.”

[unknowconcreteflower-art-blog-me]

Re-contextualizing Angel Dust: Charlie was not ready for this...

And for the sake of warning Hazbin Hotel is an adult cartoon containing heavy dark subject matter (such as rape and drug abuse, that maybe trigger to views so please tread carefully. Warning out of the way on with the post! I also just wanna get this out there older post my analysis of Val and Angel people kept commenting “what Angel Dust isn’t in love with Valentino” and my rebuttal was “no no that’s a past Angel Dust a younger one who didn’t reach that level of abuse just yet” while their argument was “no it’s the current Angel Dust” which can’t be the case. To prove my point I would like to refer back to the comics and the music video and looking at it with the context of the show. And please read my previous post if you want more explanation on Addict. 

I just want to start off with explaining his relations to Cherri, needless to say Cherri is someone who Angel sees as a true friend and confines in her. And she is there for him as he is for her even willing to fight for her knowing well that he will get in trouble for it. Though one has to wonder why is there such this deep love and care for each other. Looking back to Addict, where we have Cherri singing her “Yeah you fell in love and you fell deeper in this pit...” and several times we have an unknown character pop up during her part of the song. With the little snip bits of info we get from the sequence we can tell that Cherri is in the line of work because of someone who’s over her head. And what they have over is an emotional hold over her if we want to lean in on what the lyrics it might in a romantic sense be we still don’t know who it is tho. So what makes this so important to Angel Dust.

This is because she herself is in the similar situation as Angel as in the both of us are trapped in the holes we dug ourselves into. Giving Angel someone who can understand the stuff he’s going through. Cherri knows why he’s acting out because he’s just trying to hide how hurt he really is cause” hey so does she”. And knows she doesn’t have to say anything but just be there; and takes him out on a night out with her when he’s down. That’s why Cherri is so important to him she’s someone he know that’s not going to look down on him or patronize him on his actions. And his number 1# go to person; which is why he probably reveal to her that he wants to get clean because hey that’s what binds them together... This connects why he broke streak and his stopped his sobriety. 

During the opening scene of the show we have Valentino texting Angel to do work right after the extermination. Which I also have to point out that Val showing a lack of care for Angel safety after the extermination. He clearly wants his money and is making Angel put himself out there for work. And what does he do after he’s done with the job; he falls back on drugs. Now this is important to note... remember during the News broadcast Charlie confirmed that Angel was clean for 2 weeks before all of this happened! He was doing so well what could have possibly made him break his streak-Valentino. 

People were theorizing Val gave drugs to his employees meaning Val isn’t only his pimp but supplier as well! Giving the reason why Angel stayed with Val for so long; when I did my analysis of the music video Addict I said Val maybe the first one to find Angel when he first came to hell. Manipulating Angel in a weakened state to view him as a sort of savior and made him forget his sorrows and how did this happen you may ask... “drugs” using sweet words to mask his hidden agenda. So Val basically trained hims like a dog on a leash in a sense of “you’ll get a love & affection with a treat” which translates to “if you do this job for me I’ll give you all the love you were denied when you were alive as along with the drugs you’ve been craving”. I will argue that Val made Angel even more dependent on drugs; because he made it his number one coping method he’s the enabler. After Angel was assaulted and raped by Valentino probably made it even worse for him because Val’s his boss, he goes to work he has to see him... triggering him to fall back on to drugs. That’s why Angel needs his drugs and needs to numb himself, so him breaking his streak clean after taking a job from Val wasn’t coincidence back then. 

“he’a been behaved, clean and out of trouble for 2 weeks now” until Val got to him...

This makes Val even more dangerous to Angel’s road to recovery than we could have ever imagined. No only that but it makes it difficult to tell someone about it as well Angel is afraid of him and has to stay in contact with him since he’s his employer. This would be good time to bring up my rebuttal for my case of Addict: I get. I identified that the Angel Dust in the beginning of the music video is a younger one that still has some love for before figured out he was using him and he stood up to Val (pre-trauma). And the Angel Dust at the end credits of the music video and the one in the comic is the current Angel Dust and show (post-trauma). When you look at the interactions with Val (via comic vs music video) they are clearly different hence the two different Angel Dusts!

I will be referring to the comics in this section so if you haven’t read them please do.  

When Angel is in the limo with Val he’s trying to make it very apparent that he’s upset that he’s not getting any attention from Val. Being very huffy and puffy not even looking at him as Val’ counting his money, forgetting that he’s right there. This is very important because Angel doesn’t hesitate to hide his emotions, this Angel is willing to show discontentment in front of Val being angry and annoyed at him which leads up to why he doesn’t kiss want him and outright rejects him. He shows he’s willing to fight back against Val’s mistreatment and neglect of him, becoming more aware of it. In my earlier post I deduced this scene is where Angel first time he’s disobeyed Val and finally gets the full picture he understands he doesn’t mean anything to Val and he’s using him. He’s no longer willing to put up with his mind games anymore and probably would have left Val that night... which is why he raped him to gain control over Angel. 

Music video vs. Comic scene

Now looking at the interactions Angel Dust has with Val are completely different he’s submissive to Valentino when we see his conversation in the limo. Not only that but it shows why Angel Dust went on that drug deal for Val; to show him he can do something else other than being a sex-worker. Angel wants out and this was his way of giving himself another option but Val shuts it down completely! Even before he entires, he’s holding his arm in fear and discomfort, even when he’s trying to plead his case he is terrified. He’s no longer willing to fight back because of what Val did to him. And Val reminds him constantly that he could do it again if he wanted to by reminding him of that night! He does this by grabs Angel face when he tries to explain himself, like he did when he forced Angel to kiss. Val forces him to smiles when he leaves the limo he wants him to never show any form of disagreement or disobedience like the last time because that’s what got him in trouble last. To add more salt in the wound he makes him Angel call him “Mister Valentino” reminding him he’s in control! The man is practical holding a gun over Angel saying “the same thing will happen, if you disobey me again...” AND THAT IS SADISTIC AS HELL! It making me hate Val even more and after he leaves the limo all he can do is let out his anger in silence as when he smokes similar to when we see him smoke at the end credits to Addict this Angel is our current Angel Dust. This is his way of expressing his sorrow in silence why he’s an addict.

So you maybe asking how does Cherri bomb come into play, well I don’t think after the initial incident with Val who does Angel confine to Cherri and destroy a bar together. You see the pattern; Angel has a break down, uses his drugs comes off of the high, he goes to Cherri and in turn go out, and have fun well her kind of destructive fun! And it has been confirmed that he learn all about weapons from Cherri so basically this is the reason why! He wasn’t breaking his clean streak “to do his girl buddy a solid”  he went because he wanted to be with the only person who could understand him at that time. And she just happened to be in a fight and he jumped in thinking  “oh my home girl’s in trouble I gotta help her out...” and that’s probably did out of instinct to protect Cherri. Charlie and Vaggie cut in... now things start to get a little dicey I’m not trying to attack them but they didn’t handle it this best way. They didn’t know anything, and before know Angels story a lot of people are upset with Angel’s action but now that we have context they’re (Charlie & Vaggie) in the wrong. 

These are the points of why Angel cannot confine to Charlie or Vaggie, I will also argue that they pushed Angel further from them. Angel is someone who’s very prideful and isn’t going to tell someone that he’s hurt. Unless they figure it out for themselves or feels safe with them (Cherri). Looking back Vaggie & Charlie made a huge “No-No...” and this scene is incredibly painful to watch. Let’s cut to Vaggie how does she address Angel by scolding him for his actions she goes right to the blame game, which is the last thing she should be doing if they really want to help Angel. They don’t even take the chance to ask him why he did it; unintentionally isolating him from help. 

What bother me is that Vaggie is quick to call Angel’s actions are a result of being “selfish” which is not the case now that we have context. And probably why Angel just kept trying to piss off Vaggie because he knows that his actions weren’t out of wanting be “selfish”... and makes it clear that he still wants to go clean. It probably actually really hurt him to when she said that  and I’d like to point out that people who struggle with addiction it’s not easy to stay clean and people can relapse. Basically what Vaggie did was shamed Angel for relapsing which is not okay and paints him as a bad guy immediately! To say he ruined the image of the hotel ... it made me furious at Vaggie putting all the blame on Angel. And we know that’s not the case even before the fight was broad casted the demons and sinners in Hell were already laughing at Charlie’s idea and let’s be honest it was reasonable. Because WE DON’T KNOW IF IT’S POSSIBLE YET so putting all the blame on Angel Dust was uncalled if anything it’s just the cherry on top. I’m not trying to attack Charlie but she really doesn’t know what she’s doing she doesn’t know how to send a soul into heaven. Is it irresponsible to broadcast a client before they are proven successful, not only that but it puts a lot of pressure on Angel to prove theory that we’re not sure is true yet.

And let’s be honest did Charlie really believe Vaggie’s word’s wouldn’t but hurtful they didn’t even take the time to ask him why he did it; immediately writing him off when clearly somethings going on now she’s painting the image that they don’t care about him, they just care about the hotel, and that they just wanted to use him as a poster boy! Hmm... now who has used Angel Dust in the past for their own personal agenda... oh yeah VALENTINO! Which is why he goes on saying “I made you look sad and pathetic...” he chooses those words not to just make Vaggie mad but that’s probably what he was really feeling on the inside. Angel really did want to apologize to Charlie but after what Vaggie said to him it probably made him feel like his apology meant nothing and leaves these actions carry on into Addict. This is where naivety is her biggest downfall she rushed into it thinking just keeping Angel clean is gonna redeem him she was so not ready to broad cast the hotel. She makes it sound easy but it so much harder than that!

THIS WAS A 100% CALLED FOR! AND SHE DOESN”T EVEN REALIZE IT!

This is why Angel flips off Charlie and doesn’t want to talk to her, he’s basically doing cause “Why should I tell you about my problems you don’t really care you just care about your hotel...” that’s why this is so important to highlight. They already gave him that impression, that they think little of him and that they aren’t going sympathize with him but scold him. And Charlie should have stopped Vaggie yelling when she had the chance. Vaggie sabotaged her chance to understand Angel Dust and help him. And did she really think her temperamental girlfriend was the one to help sympathize and redeem sinners.  If she really wants to help Angel Dust she needs to stop thinking it’s gonna be a cupcake walk, people have reasons why they fall to these bad habits; people have issues, relationships, traumas, that they need to navigate before they can heal. Which makes me believe that Charlie isn’t the one who’s going to get Angel Dust to open up to them about his trauma. Vaggie’s out of the question if not then who... 

HUSKER 

Yup our favorite flying poker kitty... I’ll do a separate post on that because it deserves it’s own explanation! (Side note I really do love Vaggie we don’t know her story so don’t hate her) Hope you guys enjoy the post~

[engie-ivy]

I've written a part two for this fic! Read part one here.

What Chance Do I Have?

Regulus has agreed to tutor a classmate in statistics, but quickly comes to regret his life choices when the only chance the guy seems interested in, is the chance of getting to snog Regulus’ older brother.

“You want to snog my brother!” Regulus points his pen accusingly in Remus’ direction.

Remus huffs and straightens his back. “In my defence, your brother is very snogable!”

Part one: Crushin'

Part two: Fallin'

What Chance Do I Have? Part two: Fallin'

Dating Sirius Black is like a dream. No, a fantasy. A teenage fantasy of summer romance.

Dating Sirius Black is sneaking up to his room after Remus’ tutoring sessions and snog for hours on his bed. Dating Sirius Black is hurrying outside when his motorcycle pulls up, while Remus’ mum throws him a worrying look. Dating Sirius Black is Remus’ arms tightly wrapped around his waist while sitting on the back of his motorcycle. Dating Sirius Black is driving up a hill to watch the sunset and wearing his leather jacket when Remus gets cold. Dating Sirius Black is eating take-out pizza in the park late at night with him teaching Remus the constellations. Dating Sirius Black is skinny dipping in the lake at midnight. Dating Sirius Black feels like homecoming and an adventure, an obsession and an escape, too much and never enough.

Also, Remus’ statistics are actually going better. Regulus has given up on banning Sirius from their tutoring sessions. Sirius would just go outside to do all sorts of distracting activities in front of the window, like watering the plants in just his swimming trunks (“What the hell are you doing? We have a gardener! You haven’t watered a plant in your life!”), washing his motorcycle (“If you want to wash that thing, at least pour more water on your motorcycle than over yourself!), or doing his stretches (“What muscles are you even trying to stretch? You’re just standing there bend over. Get your arse away from the window!”). After Regulus sending Sirius away, Remus would go to the toilet and disappear for twenty minutes.

Regulus eventually allowed Sirius to stay, when Sirius came up with the idea of rewarding Remus for each good answer with a kiss, which remarkably improved his performance. Except for one instance where Remus had solved a particularly difficult problem and Sirius had gotten a bit carried away in his reward (the hoisting Remus up on the table throwing the statistics book on the floor-kind of carried away), and Regulus had muttered something about rinsing his eyes with bleach, it was a good arrangement for everyone.

Today, Remus is having drinks with a few girls from his class, Mary McDonald, Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans. They had apparently taken a liking to him and decided to befriend him, which Remus still finds surprising. Lily Evans and her boyfriend James Potter are the school’s it-couple, and the most popular people in school.

Remus and the girls have gathered for brunch, and some much-needed catch up-time.

“How’ve you been, Remus?” Marlene asks, sipping her tea. “Hardly seen you since the summer hols started.”

“I’ve been good. Keeping myself busy.”

“Ah, right,” Lily says. “You’ve been having those tutoring sessions with Regulus. How’s that going?”

“Yes.” Mary not-so-subtly steaks a pancake from Marlene’s plate. “How are you bearing spending beautiful summer days in the stuffy Black manor?”

“It’s not that bad.” Remus does his very best to sound casual, but he can’t help the corners of his mouth curling slightly upwards thinking about some of the times spent in the Black manor.

“Oh oh,” Mary says, staring at him with a piercing gaze. “Look at his face.”

“Ah, yes,” Marlene says. “I see.”

“Maybe it’s just the heat?” Lily suggests weakly.

“No,” Mary says decidedly, shaking her head. “The combination of a blush like that and the dreamy look in his eyes can only have one explanation.” She points her fork accusingly in Remus’ direction, pancake pieces flying through the air. “You’ve met Sirius Black!”

Remus tries to look unaffected and calmly meets her gaze. “I may have seen him around.”

Marlene leans forward resting her head on her hand. “So he still looks like that, huh?”

“He does Marlene,” Remus replies, forgetting about seeming unaffected. “He really does, and I was very unprepared.”

Mary chuckles. “Some things there’s no preparing for.”

“It doesn’t matter what he looks like,” Lily interjects, looking at Remus pointedly. “You cannot start being friends with Sirius Black!”

Remus rolls his eyes. “I haven’t started being friends with Sirius Black.”

Lily lets out a relieved breath and takes a sip of her tea.

“I’vestarteddatingSiriusBlack,” Remus murmurs in one breath.

Lily spits out her tea, Marlene drops her fork with a clatter, and Mary actually shrieks.

“What?” Lily coughs, dapping her chin with her napkin.

“You… are dating… Sirius Black?” Marlene asks, stunned.

Mary just stares at Remus with something like awe.

Remus shrugs. “We kind of clicked.”

“Dating Sirius Black,” Mary whispers. “Many have tried, and many have failed.”

“Including you,” Marlene says to Mary.

Mary sighs wistfully. “I should’ve taken tutoring sessions with Regulus.”

Marlene whacks her over the head. “I’m pretty sure Sirius Black’s type is cute, freckled guys with big eyes and floppy hair. Not whoever his little brother happens to be tutoring at the time.”

“You shouldn’t be dating Sirius Black!” Lily points her finger accusingly in Remus’ direction. “That guy cannot be trusted! He’s bad news, Remus.”

Remus arches an eyebrow. “He has been nothing but respectful towards me, and has never given me a reason not to trust him.”

“Well, maybe you don’t actually know him that well,” Lily retorts.

“I’ll find that out for myself then, won’t I?” Irritation seeps through in Remus’ voice. “I’m very much capable of making my own decisions.”

“You are,” Lily replies. “If you were making those decisions with your brain and not some other body part.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Lily, Remus,” Marlene says hesitantly. “I think you can’t see that Sirius Black is no good for you.”

“Yeah,” even Mary chimes in. “While I know it’s easy to get distracted by that hair, and those eyes, and that smile, and those shoulders, and that arse- wait, what was I saying again?”

Marlene whacks Mary over her head.

“Look, I’m not just dating him because he’s a walking definition of physical perfection,” Remus says. “He’s so clever, and he’s always doing nice things for me, he actually listens to what I say, and he always makes me laugh…”

“Oh god.” Lily is staring at him with a horrified expression on her face. “You’re falling in love with him!”

Remus can feel his cheeks reddening, but he refuses to look away and stares back defiantly. “If I was, I’d be none of your business.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Remus!”

“I appreciate your concern,” Remus says cooly. “But that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“Fine,” Lily scoffs. “If he does break your heart and you need a shoulder to cry on, you know where to find me. And whatever you do, do not mention him in front of-”

“Hi, Lilyflower!”

“James!” Lily shrieks, whirling around in her chair and her voice sounding three octaves higher than usual. “Hello. Hi. How do you do? Fancy seeing you here.”

James gives her a funny look. “You mean where we agreed I’d meet you to give you back your car keys? Thanks again for letting me borrow your car, by the way.”

“Oh, right. Silly me,” Lily says with a very unnatural chuckle, as James places the keys in her hand.

James glances around the table suspiciously. “What were you talking about?”

“School,” Lily says, at the same time Marlene says “the weather”, and Mary says “cows”.

James looks at Remus, but he looks just as confused as James is.

“Alright then…” James says. “Well, sorry for interrupting your school-wheather-cow discussion.” He bends to give Lily a kiss on her cheek. “See you tonight, babe.”

“Yes, toodles!” Lily says, and James gives her an amused look before walking away.

Lily slumps in her chair.

“I think that went pretty well,” Mary says.

Marlene whacks her over the head. “Cows?”

“I panicked!”

Remus arches an eyebrow and leans forward in his chair towards Lily. “Care to tell me why I can’t mention Sirius to James?”

Lily sighs. “Back when Sirius Black was still in our class, he and James were best friends.”

“More than best friends,” Marlene adds. “Like brothers. Platonic soulmates.”

“You never saw one without the other,” Mary chimes in. “They were on the football team together, sat next to each other in class, were always pranking the teachers together.”

Marlene snickers. “The teachers always said ‘PotterandBlack’ in one breath.”

“Well, yeah,” Lily says. “But then Black started skipping grades, and I don’t know, he must’ve thought he was too good for James suddenly. He just stopped hanging out with him, quitted the football team and didn’t speak to James anymore.”

“That’s rough,” Remus frowns. “Without giving any explanation?”

Mary nods sadly. “It was a though time for James.”

“It really threw him off,” Lily agrees. “It was hard to see.”

“I thought you said you hated James back then?” Remus asks.

“Nah, she didn’t,” Mary replies.

Marlene smirks. “Unless it was in a ‘I hate James Potter and his stupid face, with his stupidly sexy hair and that stupidly cute grin, and those horribly pretty eyes and outrageously broad shoulders’.”

“Anyway,” Lily says pointedly, her cheeks flushed. “The point is that you deserve better, Remus. Someone who treats people as if they’re disposable is obviously no boyfriend-material.”

Remus thinks about it for a moment. “Alright,” he eventually says. “I’ll admit that I see where you’re coming from, but still. I have to make my own judgment from my own experience with Sirius.”

“I respect that,” Lily replies, only a tad reluctantly. “All I ask is for you to be on your guard.”

Remus walks home with Marlene, who’s going in the same direction.

“How are you going to handle it, though?” Marlene asks. “I mean, it must be stuck in your head, the question what Sirius Black’s deal was with that whole thing with James?”

“It is,” Remus replies. “But I’ve come up with an ingenious plan to find out.”

“Which is?” Marlene asks.

“Out-of-the-box as it may be,” Remus says. “I’ll go up to Sirius and ask him ‘what was your deal with that whole thing with James?’.”

Marlene grins. “I can see Sirius Black didn’t just like you for your pretty face!”

“Oh Marls,” Remus throws an arm around her shoulders. “You forget that he met me while I was doing statistics.”

Marlene throws her head back and laughs. “I take it back! It was definitely your pretty face!”

Remus decides to go and see Sirius that very evening. They didn’t make any plans, but Remus figures he can always check if he’s home. He walks up to the Black manor and knocks. After a few moments, an anxious looking Regulus opens the door, only slightly.

“What are you doing here?” Regulus hisses, the moment he recognizes Remus.

Remus is about to answer, when a woman’s shrill voice sounds from the living room.

“You ungrateful brat! After everything we’ve done for you, you’ll choose to shame us?”

Remus blinks, and Regulus looks over his shoulder and then back to Remus.

“This is not a good time,” he tells Remus. “You should leave, quickly!”

A man’s heavy voice now comes through. “You’re embarrassing yourself. And worse, you’re embarrassing your family. I’m starting to doubt whether you’re even worthy of being our son.”

Suddenly, Sirius bursts out the living room, pushes the front door further open, and stalks out into the street. He’s walking fast, jaw tight, and eyes fixed on the floor. He doesn’t even register that he walked right past Remus.

Regulus makes a move as if to follow him, but then the woman’s voice sounds again. “Regulus! Regulus Black, where are you? You get over here immediately. I will not have you talk to your brother!”

Regulus looks terribly conflicted between hurrying after Sirius and making sure his parents don’t freak out more.

“I can go after him,” Remus offers in a quiet whisper. “Then you can deal with your parents.”

Regulus nods gratefully, before disappearing back into the house.

Remus finds Sirius sitting on some steps not far from the house, his head in his hands. He looks up at Remus’ approaching footsteps and startles.

“What… what are you doing here?”

“I came to see you. I was at the door.”

Sirius shakes his head. “I didn’t even see…”

Remus smiles. “I noticed.”

“Did you hear…?”

“Only some bits.” Remus sits down one step above Sirius and threads his fingers through his hair. “Wanna talk about it?”

Sirius shrugs. “I told my parents I was thinking about becoming a veterinarian instead of a doctor. I thought they’d might be okay with it, as it’s still a medical profession, not too much of a deviation from their plan, but apparently veterinarian is ‘an inferior profession much below their status’ and I am ‘selfish, stubborn and ungrateful to even consider it’.”

“I’m sorry,” Remus says softly.

Sirius sighs. “Yeah. I’m just sick of it, you know? Sick of trying to live up to their expectations instead of my own.”

“Is that also why you stopped being friends with James?” Remus asks hesitantly.

“I ruined my friendship with James for the same reason I’ve ruined each good thing I’ve had in my life,” Sirius replies bitterly. “My bloody parents.”

Remus stays silent, and after a moment, Sirius continues.

“They said I couldn’t become a doctor if I kept wasting my time on playing football and acting childish with immature people. Being a dumb fifteen-year-old, I believed them, and considering the option of not becoming a doctor never even occurred to me. It was the plan they had set out for me since the day I was born, it was a given.” Sirius turns his head to look at Remus. “Did James tell you?”

Remus shakes his head. “I heard from others.”

“Right,” Sirius looks away again, but Remus can still see the pained expression in his eyes. “I knew that. Regulus already told me James never even mentions me anymore.”

“Well, you’ve never given him a reason,” Remus says. “James is a good person-”

“He’s the best,” Sirius immediately says.

“Right. If you had just explained the situation to him?”

“I know,” Sirius sighs. “But James was like… the height of cool, and I had somehow managed to convince everyone I was the same. I just couldn’t bear the embarrassment of telling him it was because my mommy said no, so I took the cowardice approach. I just stopped talking to him. I regretted it soon after, but by then I was convinced he already hated me, and it seemed futile to make him hate me again for a different reason.” Sirius runs a hand through his hair. “Now I regret ending the friendship in the first place. Hanging out, playing football, pulling pranks… Life was fun back then, you know?” Sirius looks down at the stone pavement. “Life hasn’t been fun in a while.”

“It’s supposed to be!” Remus says. “Especially at our age. Life’s supposed to be fun.”

“I mean, life was fun these past weeks with you, but those years in between…” Sirius shrugs.

Remus moves down a step and takes Sirius’ hand in his. “Look at me, Sirius. You deserve to play football and pull pranks, to become a veterinarian and live life according to your own expectations, and you deserve to have fun!”

Sirius just stares at him, his eyes seeming glassy.

Remus, suddenly feeling awkward, drops Sirius’ hand. “So, I don’t expect I’ll be meeting the parents any time soon?” Remus meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, especially since he and Sirius aren’t even officially together, but Sirius looks at him intently.

“If you want me to tell them about you, I will.”

“What?” Remus asks, bewildered. “They’ll kill you!”

Sirius shrugs. “Most likely.” And Remus hates the casual certainty in which he says it, and he hates even more that he’s not sure if Sirius means it in a manner of speaking.

“But I want you to know I’m not ashamed of you.”

“I appreciate it, really,” Remus says. “But I don’t want you doing anything stupid for my sake!”

“But Remus,” Sirius says. “Isn’t that the foundation of our relationship? Me doing stupid things for your sake?”

Remus chuckles. “Perhaps, but this is not something that needs doing for my sake! I don’t mind. Well, I mind for as much as that I whish you had decent parents whose heads aren’t so far up their arses, but I don’t mind for my sake.” Remus smirks. “I think it’s kind of hot, actually. Our romance being-” He lowers his voice to a husky whisper. “forbidden.”

Sirius snorts. “You’re insane.” But he’s smiling again, so Remus considers it an absolute win.

“I mean it! We’re like Romeo and Julliet!”

Sirius raises his eyebrows. “You do know their romance lasted five days and six people died?”

Remus shrugs. “We can break that record.”

Sirius raises his eyebrows even further.

“Oh, god, for the number of days! Not the number of deaths! I don’t want anyone to die for our romance! Although, if some tragedy were to befall your parents…”

“Remus!”

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”

Sirius shakes his head, but Remus likes to think it is the fond sort of headshake. His suspicion is confirmed when Sirius cups his face between his hands and strokes Remus’ cheeks with his thumbs.

“You’re insane, Remus Lupin,” he says softly. “And I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Part one

[cloveroctobers]

a smidge of in depth for this one...how they react to someone saying they’d die for them.

“then perish.” — I placed patience and Layla here?

Patience: she’s the character that doesn’t seem to sugarcoat anything. She can be very vocal, blunt, and sometimes sarcastic. (I get Sag, Scorpio, and Aries energy or maybe even Capricorn? Who knows that’s another topic lol.) However when it comes to relationships...if she’s in one of those moods where she doesn’t want to hear it or wants to keep SOMETHING to herself and feels that the person who is making this statement to her is being overtop by saying such!!! she’ll probably turn around and say something along those lines just to say it, not really fully meaning it but said it because she’ll know that’ll get you/them to shut up. Now if it’s someone who said this to her and she’s pissed/dislikes their character then she wants to see if they’re really about it. Patience is ride or die—that much is obvious ex.) when it came to her tossing the gun to save Coop’s ass.

Layla: she might be sweet but she’s got some spice in her. Layla can be a mean girl and she knows words hurt. Sticks and stones don’t mean shit around here. Again these all depend on the situation but I do feel like if this was out of hurt then Layla’s going to say this to make sure the person knows she’s serious when she says this. When she’s hurt she wants everyone else to feel what the hell she’s feeling. Which can be a unhealthy trait but that’s why I placed her here. Layla can take her hurt out on anyone in her path since she doesn’t know how to handle her pain due to her own neglect from her father.

“you will” — I placed Chris, Coop, and Jordan here

Chris: I feel like Chris will say this nonchalantly not really believing the person thinking they are just saying this to be saying it. He thinks nothing of it, actually finding it amusing more than anything. It’s more of a question mark with a dry tone more than a demand...unless you’ve pissed him off. We’ve seen pissed off chris and it probably doesn’t feel nice to be on the receiving end. Then in that case it’s more of a prove it statement which is also insane. But I’m sure this meme isn’t that serious to begin with 😂

Coop: we’ve already seen how that went with her and Spence. If someone said this to her she’s immediately confused and giving you/them a “wtf” glance. “You will—what? I’m not asking you to do all that. I’m not asking anybody to do anything for me, especially dyin’! I know you dropped something on the ground a few seconds ago and clearly, it’s yo mind!”

Jordan: this guy! My main man’s on the other hand...took me a minute to place him somewhere accurately. I feel like he can also fit in “I’d die for you first”= If he’s talking about Simone or someone he’s in love with, he might say this but will be shitting himself if that time actually comes literally speaking ofc. and “cool” = if he’s being asshole Jordan from season 1. Anyways, Jordan can be stubborn and impulsive (which is why I think he’s got Taurus and Aries energy) so again it depends on who exactly is saying this to him. Jordan is a guy about action so if you’re saying this to him, he wants you to not only mean it but show him how much you care. This is a demand.

“please don’t” — Olivia, Simone, Kia, and Darnell are taking this spot for me

Olivia: she’s been close to death before twice and daily with her addiction + witnessing Spencer take a bullet before and to have someone else say this to her is absolutely triggering so don’t say it or do it pls because she cannot and will not handle/cope well

Simone: she’s confused and will literally beg because she doesn’t want that on her Conscience. Even if it’s not that serious she doesn’t play with the idea of death. There’s too much to live for and she’s thankful that the person thinks so highly of her but she values life and knows she’s probably worth it but she never wants to have any control over anyone’s life especially when it comes to that aspect

Kia: similar to Simone. She’s looking at you/them crazy and asking if they’re okay? She might even laugh shortly about it. She’s aware of her worth but no one should have to end their journey in this lifetime over her. She appreciates it but it’s a no from her regardless

Darnell: “why tho?” Is basically his expression or his words. Then if he finds that they truly mean it he’s flattered but would much rather have them around to enjoy their time together. He already lost someone pretty important to him before (Cory) so he’s a little upset by what was said. He likes to keep the people he cares about close to him as possible even if they don’t mean it literally

“cool” — JJ, Shawn, and Vanessa

JJ: it’s more of a thrilled “cool!” Like wow you care that much about me that you’re willing to not only do that but eventually say it? Words of affirmation is JJ’s thing okay?! Automatic respect from JJ!!! If this is said; and it’s most likely mutual from him. Are we even surprised?

Shawn: he doesn’t believe it. It’s brushed off and he’s probably distracted doing something but it doesn’t really click until it’s quiet and he realizes. “You’ve been listening to that song by The Weeknd again huh?” He jokes but still appreciates them/you for saying such

Vanessa: it’s more a smile and shrug. She clearly heard what was said and she’s like “IKTR.” It’s hinted that the girl is confident and likes for others to be the same and to stand in their truth. Which is why she’s so drawn to Asher (😒 girl says it a thousand times since we’ve met her) and JJ. So if this is said to her it boosts her ego even if they’re just saying it to get on her good side

“I’d die for you first” — Spencer & Asher

Spencer: this is no shock. Do I even have to explain lol? Coop. Olivia. Spencer is a protector yet it can come off as a super hero complex. He can’t save everybody. But he will for damn sure try. That’s his character. He cares for his people and will do anything for them. And anyone. If that means death too then so be it.

Asher: again it depends on the relationship with this person. If it’s someone he truly cares about I think he’ll say it before he actually means it? Asher is still finding himself as a person (as they all are) and he seems to always search or either find what he can get from someone else? Ex.) Layla and Olivia + potential love interest with Vanessa and I don’t think it’s really intentional per say but if someone shows him a little bit of attention or that they care he can cling onto that (Leo energy? again probably a issue from his parents) quite quickly. So he might say it because it he felt like it was the right thing to say in that moment. Or if he’s genuinely in love, then this is what he’ll say because he seems like he can be passionate in relationships idk about him

A/N: Fin! Goodnight! That’s my writing for today. Agree or disagree?

[popcrone818]

Spitfire - sweet pea x reader

Part two

Here is part two to spitfire, if you like it please don’t forget to comment on it. I love hearing feedback. If anyone wants to help out and beta my work I would love that too. Shoot me a message or ask with anything. I’m also thinking of creating a tag list so if you want to be on that then let me know.

Also gif not mine let me know if you know who’s it is

Sweet Pea POV

I watched as she walked up on stage once the music started, I couldn’t help but keep my eyes on her as she discarded her shirt looking around for something. Her eyes found mine as she tossed her shirt and I brought my beer up to my lips as she got rid of her jeans leaving her in a red lace lingerie set. My eyes widened at the sight and she never took her eyes off me. I could feel the heat travelling to my dick as she finished up and took off to the side of the stage where I could see Toni was waiting for her. Fangs and I made our way over to the two girls as Rory pulled her jeans up her legs. I took her new jacket off Toni and walked over to her. I placed the leather on her shoulders and she pushed her arms through the sleeves, I gathered up her red hair and pulled it gently out of her collar and rested it over her left shoulder before I rested both of my hands on her shoulders.

“You’re officially a serpent now. How do you think your brothers going to react once he finds out?” I lent down to whisper in her ear. I felt her tense up under my palms.

“I guess he’ll just never find out then.” She shrugged and I squeezed her shoulders gently before sitting down at the bar and looking at Toni for a drink.

“You’re brother is going to kill you Rory.” I heard Jones say from beside me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye he had taken my place behind Rory gently squeezing her shoulders. I felt my jaw clench slightly as she shrugged and took a swig of her beer.

“Honestly I think he needs to get his head out of his ass. You guys are actually really cool and I’m glad I get to call you my friends now too. Let him kill me he wouldn’t he loves me too much.”I felt something warm inside me but quickly shut it down and forgot about it as the door to the wyrm was thrown open I didn’t Bohr looking behind me as the intruders made their way up to the bar and stopped just short of Rory and I being at the end.

“Aurora! We’re going home now!” I heard the Northsider yell as I saw Rory stand up to face her brother before taking another sip of beer.

“Um, no thanks, I’m good here.” I watched as she turned her back on him and he stood taller standing over her trying to regain control of the situation and ultimately Rory. I stood up next to her slightly closer than was probably necessary as one of the other bulldogs walked up beside Red. I let her hand gently rest on my own as she placed her body in front of mine.

“You’re one of them now? A serpent?” Red asked squinting his eyes in his sisters direction looking down at her. My body stiffened and I took a small step closer, my lower stomach now in contact with her back. I felt my fists clench beside me. My anger at the disrespect for his sister settling in my stomach.

“Yes now please leave before you make a fool of yourself even more than your doing now!” She pointed to the door and Red followed her finger. I felt her hand on my bicep as she almost gave me whiplash with her strength pulling me back to the bar.

“You know, I’d still bang you Andrew’s even if you are just another serpent slut.” I heard one of the bulldogs whisper in her ear, closest to me, he seemed to be taunting her and me, knowing he would get a rise out me by saying that. I stood up and let my fist connect with the bulldogs jaw. I was not about to let him just walk all over her like that my protective instincts kicking in at the way Rory had tensed up at his words. Soon enough the bulldog landed a punch on my left cheek but I was quick with another blow to his pretty little face. I felt Jones pull me off the bulldog with Red doing the same to him.

“You’ve just made a big mistake Rory.” Red yelled as he dragged the bulldogs out of the wyrm. I turned myself back to my beer taking a swig to calm myself down in an effort to not snap again. I could taste a slight metallic flavour to the beer and and I brought my hand up to observe the damage on my lip.

“You didn’t need to do that Sweet Pea, I can handle Reggie.” She told me as she placed a small hand on my left cheek, I winced slightly, surely there would be a bruise there, she was gentle as she touched my face taking in the wince at the initial contact o her cold hands. I felt as all of my anger washed away with one simple small touch from one small girl.

“What’s serpent law number 1 Rory?” I held her gaze as I asked her the question.

“No serpent stands alone.” She recited as I nodded and turned my head away from her touch not liking how weak I felt under her fingers, but also not hating the way my skin tingled from her fingers, I would not let some Northsider have this effect on me. “I better go have a screaming match with my brother, I’ll see you guys later.” Toni nodded at her and I watched as she made her way out of the wyrm. I felt a slap to the back of my head.

“What was all that dude?” I heard Fangs ask from beside me. I shrugged at him.

“No women should be treated like that, serpent or not.” I got Toni to pass me another beer. “Round of pool before we head off too?” I asked him. He nodded and Toni followed us over to the pool tables. As I racked up the balls Toni turned her head to me. A questioning look hiding behind her brown eyes.

“You like her don’t you?” I scoffed as I took my shot.

“I barely like you two.” The game went smoothly and as usual Fangs got his ass handed to him and he pushed $20 into my chest. He’ll never learn.

“You would never let anyone touch you like she did tonight, not even to patch you up.” Toni just wouldn’t drop it. I groaned as Fangs put away the cue’s and balls.

“Just drop it okay she’s an Andrew’s anyway.” I shrugged and walked out of the wyrm up to my bike. I decided against a helmet and turned the key hearing the engine roar to life before I sped off in the direction of the Northside. She should be home by now, I just wanted to make sure she was safe, that’s what I kept telling myself as I turned down her street. I slowed down almost stopping outside her house and noticed the living room light on, I could faintly here yelling over the loud sound of my engine and I knew she was home safe. The curtains by the door shifted so I took off again revving the engine slightly before changing gears and heading back to sunnyside trailer park.

Aurora POV

“She’s a serpent now dad!” I heard Archie telling dad as soon as I walked in the door, my serpent jacket hanging from my elbow as it got a touch warm on the walk home.

“That better be you Aurora and you better have a damn good reason for joining the serpents!” I heard my dad yell as I tried to sneak my way into my bedroom.

“Yeah dad, its me.” I purposely didn’t answer the question about being a serpent.

“How did FP allow you to become a serpent?” My dad questioned as I walked into the kitchen.

“FP doesn’t know, some guy named Tall Boy initiated me. With the help of a serpent Archie’s age. It’s fine dad I’d rather be protected than not with the black hood business going on.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Placing my jacket over the back of the couch.

“You can’t be a serpent Rory! They came to our house to fight me!” Archie yelled at me getting closer.

“That’s because you waved a gun in Sweet Pea’s face! Yes I know exactly what happened and I also know that you threw the first punch, so don’t even try to tell me it was their fault or that they’re thugs because as far as I’m aware you are at fault right now not us.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Archie’s ja dropped a I mentioned us and not just the serpents. I heard a soft rumble of an engine pass by the house. Archie made his way over to the front window by the door and peaked his head out. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I threw my arms out beside me.

“Language young lady!” My dad yelled over me and Archie.

“You think they’re going to come back for round 2. Believe it or not but family members of serpents are actually protected too. So unless I specifically tell them not to protect you Sweet Pea cannot touch you again. And believe me, right now I’m this fucking close.”

“Aurora!”

“Sorry dad, I just can’t believe Archie right now.”

“I’m not too thrilled about you being a serpent either Aurora. But if you think this is going to protect you and us from the black hood I’m willing to make an exception.” Dad shrugged which only angered Archie even further.

“Dad! She’s a serpent, Jughead is a serpent, your best friend is a serpent and he is currently behind bars. Don’t you think she would be safer without them?” Archie raised his arms before laying them down by his sides.

“Look, FP is an adult, he chose them when he was her age. Jughead is just following in his fathers footsteps for protection just like Rory. Once FP gets out he can decide if she stays or goes. As for you Rory, I want you to go and tell FP about this little development tomorrow. See what your godfather has to say about all of this. Because I sure as hell cannot deal with the two of you right now, so I’m going to bed.” With a wave of his hand dad stomped his way up the stairs. Archie and I stayed still glaring at each other until the slam of a door broke us out of it.

“I seriously can’t believe you did this Rory, they’re bad people and now you have ruined your life, for what? A guy? Sweet Pea was his name? You’ve got to be-,” my hand collided with the side of his face.

“Don’t you dare even think I did this for a guy. Because in the last two days the serpents have actually been there for me more than you have since dad got shot. Ive made three really good friends and Jug and I are closer than ever before. Don’t even think you know what is going on in my life. You only care about yourself. And for the record I don’t like Sweet Pea as anything more than a friend.”

“Aurora! He’s the one that did Jughead’s initiation, you saw what he looked like afterwards.” Archie was trying to get me to turn against them.

“Yes I was there. I watched Sweet Pea with his brass knuckles get Jug in the side of the face, also I was the one to clean him up after and I went to the Whyte with him to get his jacket, where Sweet Pea was an asshole to me and I never back down you know that. Which is how I got to where I am now, but I couldn’t be happier Archie. So please for once try to be my brother instead of an asshole.” With that I turned away grabbing my jacket and headed upstairs to my bedroom slamming the door before I flopped face down on my bed. My phone vibrated with a message as I rolled over to look at the ceiling. I groaned before taking it out to check it.

Sweet Pea: hope you got home safe, also hope you didn’t get your ass handed to you by red.

I laughed silently at him being a dork. He wont even acknowledge that Archie is my brother. I’m pretty sure his brain would spontaneously combust.

Me: yes I’m home safe. I put him in his place don’t worry about me, I’m tough 🤯

Shortly after I hit send I got another message from Jug this time.

Juggie: did Archie and your dad kill you?

Me: dad wasn’t happy at first but then I mentioned how family members are protected too and he seemed to ease out of it. But I’m this close to letting Sweet Pea off his leash to go after Archie again. I’m fucking over it all. All the Northside, Southside bullshit. Juggie what do I do?

Juggie: you do nothing, we got your back and I’m sure Sweet Pea would kill anyone that gave you shit. He’s loyal like that.

Me: and another thing why does Sweet Pea keep coming up in conversations I have? Archie accused me of sleeping with him. Ive only known him like two days.

Juggie: you brought him up in this convo Rory, don’t try blame me this time, I think you’ve got a crush!

Me: I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH! He’s just a good friend now after he got over the fact that I’m a northsider.

Juggie: sure whatever you reckon. Anyway tomorrow after school meet me at pops we gotta talk.

Me: sure thing I’ll see you then. Goodnight x

Juggie: goodnight x

I changed out of my clothing for the day and into my pyjama shirt before pulling the covers back on my bed and climbing in. Before I could close my eyes my phone vibrated against the side table.

Sweet Pea: sure you’re tough, anyway just wanted to make sure your got home okay from the wyrm and to say goodnight.

Me: goodnight Sweet Pea.

I fell asleep thinking about a certain tall dark and handsome serpent that night.

A couple of months after my initiation I had gotten wind that Mayor McCoy was raiding Southside high and anyone with a jacket was going down. I ran with Jughead into the school only to see two deputies push Sweet Pea into a row of lockers. Toni not far from him with only one deputy on her. I locked eyes with Sweet Pea before he mouthed ‘run’ to me. I turned around and followed Jug down the steps of Southside high. We took off running in the direction of Northside, more specifically to my house where he and I could regroup and discuss what we just saw and what we do about it now.

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked Jug as I made us both some coffee.

“Mantle said he got JJ from a serpent for Veronica’s party the other night when Cheryl was almost raped by some guy Veronica knew in New York. So the serpents and Southside high were raided, I don’t know how long they’re going to be locked up for though.” Jug put his head in his hands and groaned, this was just one big mess.

“I’m going to fucking kill Reggie!” I slammed my hand down on the counter before leaning closer to Jughead. “I know for a fact it was a Ghoulie who sold that to him.” He nodded with me. The rest of the night Jug and I spent watching movies and trying to not think about our friends that had just been locked up.

Jug couldn’t go to school the next day as Southside high was still being raided before the serpents would be released so I told him he could stay at mine, Archie and dad wouldn’t mind so I was on my way to school, jacket hanging off my shoulders when Reggie Mantle decided to be a dick and come up to me at my locker.

“So your really one of them now? I thought you had standards, but I guess not.” He shrugged leaning on the locker beside mine, I ignored him as he lent down slightly to whisper in my ear. “I’d still fuck you, though I’m sure you been passed around the serpents enough.” I slammed my locker door shut before my fist connected to Reggie’s face. I heard a sickening crack and smiled triumphantly before turning around and walking away. “Just like that serpent toy of yours always so hot headed.” I heard him wheeze out through his broken nose. I took a deep calming breath before I stomped back over to Reggie.

“A) not my toy just a friend, and B) you’re the reason my friends are currently locked up. Get your head out of your ass Mantle, you know it was a Ghoulie who sold you the JJ, you just don’t like the serpents.” I flicked my hair in his face as he held his nose blood rushing out. I rushed into the nearest bathroom and ran my hand under some cold water. My knuckles were already starting to bruise up.

“Students of Riverdale High, this is your principal, emails have been sent out to your parents, effective immediately, Southside High will be shutdown. Students will be transferred to other schools in the district, including this one.” I heard the voice of principal Weatherbee come over the speakers, I silently did a small cheer as I wouldn’t be the only one in this school wearing a serpent jacket. Betty would be happy Jug is coming back. I was excited as I’m sure Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni would all be coming here, the rest of the day I couldn’t focus too excited for my friends to be joining this school and I wouldn’t feel so alone anymore.

Juggie: did you hear Southside is being shut down?

Me: yeah heard he announcement this morning. I’m excited for you all to be here though. Have you heard anything about when they’re getting let out?

Juggie: yeah this afternoon they get out, want to join me in getting Toni, Fangs and Sweet Pea out?

Me: fuck yes I do, meet you at the station after school?

Juggie: 👍

I hopped in my car after school watching as Reggie sent me a death glare from his spot leaning against his precious Bella. Not long after I left school I joined Jughead at the station where Fangs, Sweet Pea and Toni were being uncuffed. I ran up and pulled Toni into a bone crushing hug which she returned. Fangs then mockingly held out his arms and I pulled him into me as Jug hugged Toni. My eyes swept over Sweet Pea who looked slightly uncomfortable at all the affection being thrown around and when I pulled away from Fangs I walked up to him.

“I’m glad your okay.” I told him before I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders. I wrapped my arms around his middle under his jacket and held him tightly. His head rested on mine as mine rested on his chest. His height is ridiculous. I caught Toni’s smirk as she watched us before we pulled away. “Who’s up for Pop’s?” I got a chorus of ‘hell yeah’ as Toni, Fangs and Sweet Pea climbed into my car and Jug climbed onto his bike. We sent the rest of the night laughing and sharing funny stories at a booth in pop’s before our worlds would be turned upside down tomorrow at school. We all knew that the Southside high students wouldn’t be be welcomed at Riverdale high and they were dreading it. I told them I would would walk through the doors with them and help Sweet Pea beat up anyone that would look at them differently. I had told them about Reggie this morning and how I handled it, Sweet Pea gave me a high five and Jughead just shook his head at us. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I looked around before pulling it out thinking it was Betty.

ToniT: you wanna be a bit more obvious?

I gave her a look and she typed out another message, three dots showing up on my screen.

ToniT: you and sweet pea are scarily alike, and you keep looking at him with heart eyes 😍😍.

Me: no I don’t. And I just don’t like being messed with. You saw the way I stood up to sweet pea when I first met him. Stop trying to play matchmaker, if you think we’re so alike wouldn’t that be a bad thing if we were together?

ToniT:mmm so you’ve thought bout you and him together? That’s so cute! No one has ever stood up to him the way you did that night. No one usually gets a chance before they’re on their ass.

Me:I’m done with this conversation.

I shook my head and pocketed my phone again.

“Who was that?” Jughead asked nudging me with his shoulder.

“Archie.” I lied taking a long sip of my coffee milkshake. I made eye contact with Toni before the night started to get away from us and we all decided to head off. Being the only Northsider I decided to walk home. Just as I left the parking lot of pop’s I heard a bike stop beside me.

“Want a ride trouble?” I turned to see Sweet Pea holding out his helmet. I grinned and nodded before taking his helmet and kicking my leg over the bike. He sped off down the road and I finally felt free. I had started the ride with a death grip on Sweet Pea but by the time we got to my house I held both arms out beside me and enjoyed the feeling of the air rushing through my body.

Sweet Pea POV

I watched as Rory pushed through the doors of Southside high just as I was pushed into a row of lockers by two deputies. Assholes couldn’t even take me one on one. I mouthed ‘run’ to her as a pair of handcuffs were tightened around my wrists. I let out a curse as they were tightened too tight and I watched and Topaz was also arrested beside me. I just hope Rory got out safe she was wearing her jacket, if she was caught wearing it in Southside high she would also be arrested. We spent the night locked up but I never saw Rory so hopefully she was going to be okay with Jones. Once we were let out we had been informed that Southside high was being shutdown. I knew Jones would be pissed but Fangs, Toni and I couldn’t be happier. I was finally going to be able to make something of myself and get out of this shit hole of a town. Jones and Rory came and joined us once we were uncuffed, she watched as the cuffs were taken off us, I never wanted her to see this I was hoping she would just see us tomorrow for our first day but I had been wrong. She threw herself at Toni. The two smaller girls holding each other close, Fangs held out his arms for Rory to run into. My fists clenched before I released them and flexed my hands. Lastly she came over to me, usually I’m not one who is big into hugs but watching the way both Toni and Fangs melted into her embrace made me crave the feeling of her arms wrapped around me.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” She told me looking down and fiddling with a ring on her right middle finger. I couldn’t take it anymore and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her tightly to my chest, she wrapped her arms around my stomach and rested her head on my chest. I felt her small cold hands rest on my back just above my jeans. I felt my heart beating erratically in my chest and wondered if she could hear it as I placed my head on top of hers, inhaling he scent of vanilla and sweet pea, loving the way she felt in my arms. “Who’s up for Pop’s?” She asked as she pulled away from me. We all agreed and the three of us followed her out to her car as Jones got on his bike.

At Pop’s we all ended up laughing hysterically at some stories that the three of us told about our lives. Memories growing up with the two of them and the mischief we used to get up to. Rory had decided to tell us what had happened between her and Mantle that morning and how she handled it. I gave her a high five and a wide grin knowing she was capable of looking after herself regardless of being a northsider. I noticed her right hand had bruises on the knuckles and absentmindedly reached for her hand, our fingers brushed together gently before she pulled her hand off the table and rested it in her lap. I silently sighed and took another sip of my milkshake not making eye contact with anyone at the booth. I heard a vibration coming from Rory but didn’t bother to look up. More vibrations came as I heard her nails clicking away at the screen of her phone.

“Who was that?” I heard Jones ask her and my head shot up. Her eyes found mine before she replied to him.

“Archie.” She said and shrugged, I could seen it in her eyes she was lying but I thought I would leave it be for the time being. A few hours later we all decided it was getting late and we should all leave. I watched her as she started walking out of the parking lot and turned left instead of right like the rest of us would. I quickly climbed on my bike and took off after her, she stopped in the sidewalk before she realised it was me.

“Want a ride trouble?” I asked her chuckling to myself, I was one to talk, trouble always found me, and right now the trouble that found me was in the form of a Northside serpent. I held out my helmet to her not caring that I didn’t have one for myself now, she grinned and took it. I ensured that it was done up under her chin correctly and told her to hang on as I took off. I heard her shriek slightly as her grip on my waist tightened. I chuckled and sped a bit faster wanting her to hold me tighter. Halfway to her house I felt her arms let go of my body. I took a look in the side mirror and watched as her eyes closed and her arms spread out on either side of her body. She was breathtaking but I missed the feeling of her arms around my body. Once we got to her place she placed her hands on my shoulders and kicked her leg over my bike pushing her body off it using my shoulders as leverage. She handed me back my helmet and we just stared at each other not knowing what to say to the other.

“Want a ride in the morning?” I asked her clipping the helmet to the handlebars of my bike. She nodded and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. I think this is the most shy I’ve ever seen her, she usually always has something witty to say to me.

A week later and Weatherbee had given all serpents ‘uniforms’ to wear as he thought none of us would be able to afford Riverdale High appropriate clothing, and we all had to cover our tattoos. Which resulted in me having to wear a turtle neck. We were all sitting in the student lounge when Rory walked in and almost pissed herself laughing at Toni and I. I glared at har as she walked up to us. She sat herself down on my lap and poked my turtle neck covered tattoo.

“Loving the turtle neck there Sweet Pea.” She giggled again as she looked around us strangely. “Where’s Fangs?” She asked once she stopped giggling.

“He refused to wear the uniform so Weatherbee suspended him until he wears it.” I shrugged at her as Jones walks into the lounge. Toni got up to greet him as he hands Rory a large coffee cup.

“So its either conform or be cast out?” He exclaims angrily.

“Yeah.” Toni sighs as she takes a sip from her coffee cup. Rory follows suit also taking a sip of her new coffee and moans as I feel her relax against my chest. I laugh at her.

“Is that what you sound like in bed?” I whispered in her ear laughing lightly. She shoved me in the chest lightly.

“You wish you knew what I sounded like in bed don’t you Pea?” I felt her breath on my ear as she leaned in closer to me.

“Are you two done eye fucking each other? Some of us want to keep our breakfast down before you start to take clothes off each other.” Jughead whacked Rory on the back on the head causing her head to knock gently into mine.

“Fuck you Jones.” I rubbed my head where hers had connected and she turned around on my lap to look at our friends. I wrapped my hands around her waist gently as Toni and Rory started up a conversation about Rory getting a few shifts either at the wyrm or pop’s. I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying but rather how she was talking. I watched as her eyes light up before she took her phone out of her back pocket putting all her weight onto my pelvis as she lifted the other side of her ass up to get her phone. Her tongue poked out through her teeth and she scrolled furiously through her phone looking for something to show Toni before she turned it around to show the pink haired girl. They both giggled and I felt her place her free hand on my knee absentmindedly rubbing circles with her thumb. I felt Jones kick my shin to get my attention. It shook me out of my trance as I turned my head to look around Rory at the serpent legacy. He only just raised his eyebrows at me before he looked at Rory then back to me. I shrugged and tuned back into Rory and Toni’s conversation.

“… so we need to go shopping today after school then.” I felt Rory chuckle at Toni and nodded.

“Wanna come shopping with us Sweet Pea?” Rory asked me adjusting yet again my lap.

“He doesn’t do shopping.” Toni answered before I could say I would like to go with them. I think she may have just wanted a girls shopping trip. But I also know the amount of times I’ve complained when she has dragged me shopping, so I guess she was right, but I found myself just always wanting to be around Rory. Even more now that I got to know her. Yes the first night I saw her with Jones at the wyrm I thought she was hot, then she stood up to me and said she would become a serpent just to prove me wrong and I thought the way the light captured her deep red hair was beautiful. Then she started to hang out with us more at the wyrm and I started to get to know her more, the day we were all hauled into the sheriffs station and I saw her push through Southside highs doors right before I was slammed into a row of lockers I knew then and there that I needed to protect her from everything bad that goes on in the serpents. I knew she could handle herself but I also just wanted her to see me as something more than just a hot headed serpent going nowhere. In the time I have known her she and I have gotten really close, as well as Toni and Fangs, but sometimes I feel like she enjoys our slight banter and may even be more comfortable around me than the other two. In different ways she is friends with all of us. She and Jones have been friends since they were born, so they have an unbreakable bond with each other, like brother and sister, but less fighting. She and Fangs are on the verge of that brother-sister bond as well, they play fight and play wrestle like she’s one of the guys. She and Toni have that weird girly bond, they talk about shoes and clothes and boys, when us boys aren’t around though, Jones doesn’t want to hear about who Rory thinks is bangable this week, I find myself not wanting to be part of that conversation either. But with Rory and I its just comfortable. She can come up to me and sit in my lap without it being weird, we flirt with each other and we push buttons, I can pull her into a long, tight hug and she will know I needed that then and hug me back just as tight. She gets me, and I get her. We are one in the same but yet we both balance each other out. One touch from her and my anger can dissipate into thin air. One touch from me and she’s smiling again instead of frowning. I hated to see her frown, it made me wonder what she was thinking about. Every time she touches me though I get brought right back to the night she became a serpent almost three months ago now. When the bulldogs came in and I had a busted lip from Mantle, the way she had held my face in her hand had sent electricity through my whole being. At the time I thought she was trying to make me weak, but as time went on I noticed that when I was around her I actually felt stronger.

“Hey! Serpent slut!” Mantle strode in and Toni and Rory looked over, he could be talking about either one of them, but either way I didn’t like it as Rory got up off me and walked over to him.

“What do you want mutt?” She crossed her arms over her chest having left her coffee near me in case she needed her hands.

“I’m offering you a spot in my bed this weekend after Cheryl’s party,” he reached up and tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear, I saw red as he touched her and I was on my feet and heading over to them before I saw her grab his wrist twisting it painfully before she snarled and grit her teeth.

“Let’s make this very clear Reggie. I have never, nor will I ever think about being in a bed with you. I don’t need fleas from the likes of you.” She released his wrist and I lent against the couch Rory and I had been previously seated on.

“Oh but you’ll get bitten by one of those greasy snakes? I can see a faint mark on your neck there,” he reached up again and pointed to her neck. “Who gave that to you? One of them or all of them?” Her hand flew up to her neck and she looked back over to me. That’s my cue.

“Back off bulldog! She doesn’t want you.” I pushed her gently behind me. I knew this was partly my fault anyway. Last night I jokingly gave her a hickey while we were at the wyrm when she wouldn’t stop moving around on my lap.

“Oh but she wants you? A fucking snake? Pfft as if, serpent.” I pushed him in the chest as Toni and Jones came over to us. Toni taking Rory and leaving the lounge before things got messy. Mantle, Jones and I were suspended for two days because of the fight. After school got out I heard a knock on my door, groaning I got up off the couch to open it. I stood at my front door in a pair of sweats and no shirt as the ac in my trailer had shit itself and it was stupidly hot in there. I came face to face with a pair of bright green eyes.

“You gonna let me in?” She crossed her arms over her chest and I moved out of the way for her to make her way in. She sat down on the couch and shrugged off her light jacket resting it on the back of the couch. “You know I could have handled Reggie right?” She asked me as I moved into the kitchen to get some water for us.

“It was partly my fault that he started it anyway, I’m sure if he didn’t see the hickey it wouldn’t have escalated like it did.” I handed her the glass of water and sat down beside her. I watched as she took in everything about my trailer, I started to feel a bit self conscious as I noticed a small pile of clothes by the bathroom door and a bunch of empty take out boxes on the dinning room table. She looked back at me as she took a sip of her water. I knew she was used to a fancier home, her dad owned Andrew’s construction for fucks sakes she had it good and had a nice two story home on the Northside, and I lived alone in a tiny ass trailer on the Southside.

“I know but I can fight my own battles Pea, I don’t need you to do it for me all the time. I am a serpent too and I’ve been dealing with Reggie longer than I’ve known you.” She shrugged at me as she lifted her leg up so she could turn her whole body to me.

“I know you can, I just don’t like feeling useless when I know my friends are being looked down on. And again if I hadn’t have given that to you he probably wouldn’t have started it.” She placed her glass down on the coffee table in front of us before she started to fiddle with the rings on her fingers. I placed my much larger hands over hers and pried them apart from each other making her look up at me.

“I can’t keep letting you get suspended for fights over me anymore Pea. You need to lay off or your never going to lose the reputation of hot head.” She pulled her hands from mine and stood up.

“Maybe I just want to protect my friends, did you ever think about that? He many times have I gotten into fights over anything but people talking down to the Southside? How many time have you seen me punch someone who didn’t deserve it for being vulgar or disrespectful to either you or Toni, of even Fangs? What do you want me to do? Roll over and pretend nothing is happening? Just let people walk all over you? News flash Rory, that isn’t the way I was raised. I was raised a serpent, no serpent stands alone and I’ll be damned if I’m the one to leave you alone when you need me.” I ran my hands through my hair standing up halfway through my rant.

“Damnit Sweet Pea! I don’t need you to protect me! I am my own person, I can handle a couple of dim witted bulldogs and I can even handle some serpents. I’m not some fragile fucking doll for you to protect.” She started to pace around in my lounge room pulling at the roots of her hair. This was the first time I think I had ever seen her so worked up before.

“Well I’m sorry for taking an interest in the well being of my friend, Rory.” I took a step closer to her and she held up her hands in front of her.

“Then don’t.” She stopped pacing and turned to look at my eyes the best she could. I stooped my head down slightly so I could also see her eyes. “Just forget you ever fucking knew me because I can’t keep sitting here watching as you get yourself beaten to a pulp for me.” She tugged at her roots before she turned around and was out the door. I went to go after her but the door slammed in my face and I heard her car speed off. I punched the door causing a big hole to crumble. As I rested my head on the broken wood I thought about what I could have possibly done for her to hate me. I came up blank and decided to talk to her tomorrow at school.

Fangs and Toni had come by soon after Rory left.

“Dude! What happened to your door?” Fangs asked examining the splintered wood. I stayed sitting on my couch with my hands in my hair trying not to cry at the thought of never seeing Rory again.

“I think his anger got the best of him again, but my question is; who was it aimed at?” Toni asked as she made her way into the kitchen to pull out a beer for each of us.

“Myself.” I grumbled running my hands through my hair once again. I saw Fangs give Toni a look.

“He pissed off Rory, and now he blames himself for whatever happened, if I’m wrong tell me because I don’t see her here and she usually is. You two are usually watching movies and cuddling on the couch when we get here.” I groaned and shot Toni a glare, why did she have to be right. “Thought so, now what did you do?”

“She told me she could have handled Mantle today and I told her that I did it because I care about my friends and want to protect them. She then yelled at me, something about not being a fragile doll and told me to forget I ever knew her and then walked out the door.” I ran my hands through my hair again, missing the feeling of Rory dong it whenever she was bored.

“I know why she’s pissed then, but maybe just give her a bit of space and try talking to her in like a week or so.” Toni told me. “Now I’m going to check on my other friend because if I’m right as to why she is pissed then she needs me as much as you need Fangs. And you’re also a fucking idiot Sweet Pea, Fangs talk some sense into this dumbass please.” She put her hand on my knee and I jerked away. Too many times that hand had been Rory’s. Fangs saluted and I nodded as she took off out of my trailer and jumped on her bike.

“You like her don’t you?” Fangs turned to me.

“I think I remember this conversation from a couple of months ago, answer is still ‘I barely like you’.”

“Yes, but Toni and I aren’t Rory. You let her play with your hair, sit on your lap, you give each other hickies all the time, and I’m sure I’ve seen you smile and blush more in the last three months than I have in my whole life of knowing you. You’ve also gotten into a lot more fights since meeting her too. That Jason guy was the first one for seemingly no reason until Toni explained what had happened the night she became a serpent. You like her you dumbass and she likes you, your just too stubborn to admit it yourself and to her. She left and got pissed because you called her a friend and nothing more.” I shook my head at him.

[shuxjodie]

Let's talk GOSHO AOYAMA'S POV For Movie 18' Promise (Canon or Not)!!!

What this post will cover-

The Explanation of Movie18 promise

Why Jodie is different from other agents? Answered with the reference taken from this promise.

Shuichi's current feelings for Jodie as a conclusion

The explanation that why there are High possibilities that the promise is Canon by what Gosho said about this movie in his interview.

NOTE: It's going to be a long post! Because I'm going to explain every single thing in detail. Well there is a treat awaiting for Redstarling fans too 😉

So first let's take a look at the scene of Promise. This is the scene of the Detective Conan Movie: Dimensional Sniper👇

They say this scene is not canon. But really?? If this is canon, then why? What are its possibilities that it is Canon? Let's keep in mind that this Movie is different from the movies that were previously made (It is explained later). And rather than going with the general idea of "movies are not canon" let's see what Gosho said himself regarding this movie!

Before that, let's break down what Shuichi promised Jodie and what he exactly meant.

Explanation of The Promise

The promise is made in a technical manner. So we need to understand the promise using technical knowledge. It's not what it looks like.

So what Shuichi said there?

"Don't worry. As long as I'm around, you will NEVER have to do something like that. I PROMISE."

First of all, I thought the same as many think that Shuichi said that because Jodie is unable to shoot a shot like that. But the promise is more than that.

To understand the whole situation, let's have a look at Jodie's shooting skills.

Jodie's skills as a shooter

If we compare what kind of shooter she is, it turns out to be that she is an extremely high skilled shooter! (And I will be using reference from specifically Manga not anime)

Jodie threw Vermouth's gun by shooting at it, faster than her. She is good at aiming by taking decisions within a fraction of seconds. This is a sign of a very well-trained agent.

Jodie threw the gun away without harming Vermouth, at that sudden moment. Although she was interrogating her, she grasped the situation quickly and reacted accordingly.

Jodie was able to shoot at her even when she was injured, and almost got killed ( Conan said that while talking to Vermouth and explaining why he changed his plans). Still, she had the confidence to give the warning that her next target will be Vermouth's head. Jodie would have shot at her head to save her life and other people's life involved in that case, because there was no other way around. But she stopped because her attention went towards the footsteps approaching her and she thought it's over but that footstep turned out to be Shuichi's.

Jodie shot at Vermouth's shoulder only to threaten her even when she was heavily panting, not in the condition to move either but used most of her strength to hide in the blind spot and still she shot her in that worse condition. She didn't miss the shot by harming Vermouth more. The bullet could have penetrated through her shoulder or any other part of her body, maybe hitting the vitals but it just passed aside. It was certainly a good shot to threaten. And she could have missed the shot by aiming in the wrong direction. But she made that shot successfully.

In the Kir arc, she shot very well at the sprinklers using the silencer. And she moved silently so no one noticed. Kir only noticed the sound of the sprinkler, not her moves.

Conan was caught by Kir when he was trying to retrieve the transmitter. So, Jodie was ready to shoot at Kir, to save Conan. In manga many people were around Kir, running here and there to get away from the rain. And it started to rain for real. But still, she was prepared to save Conan. It was a risky shot as people are around, running here and there.

In fact, her debut was made as she is a great shooter. Gosho can't show us actual shooting but video games and if you remember she was able to use her left hand to shoot.

And she never made a mistake while shooting.

Now one needs to complete their bachelor's degree to enroll into the FBI. Jodie must be atleast 22y by then. They need the experience of 3years. Then they have to give physical and written test followed by a background check. And after passing it they go through an intense training of more than 800 hours in Quantico. After spending 20weeks there, they get into the FBI. So she must be 25-26 years at that time. After joining it, they have a probationary period of around 2 years where they practically do nothing but observe and learn under under their assigned training agents. So she completed all these by 27-28years. And now she is 28y/o. So with less than a year of experience she did a great job!

CONCLUSION:

Jodie is extremely good at short-range shooting.

She can take decisions in less than a second and make a clear shot.

She can pull a headshot even when she is gravely injured, to the point of unable to move.

With less than a year of experience, she did a great job!

So let's keep all these points in mind as I will be using them many times.

Shuichi's promise and breaking it into fragments-

Now why Shuichi said that Jodie will NEVER have to do something dangerous like pulling a headshot, unless he is around while making the promise? She doesn't need him in the short-range shooting. She can handle things as she did at the port. She is a pro! Then why?

What did he mean with that slight smiling reaction he gave? So, let's break down his body language.

Shuichi's promise can be interpreted in these 5 ways-

1. He is a better agent and sniper. He is more confident and experienced. But-

Jodie is a highly skilled short-ranged shooter, who can pull a head shot when gravely injured. So basically she doesn't need his help in short-range shooting including dangerous things.

She doesn't like to do things without making efforts on her own either, which means she trusts herself and is very confident. That means she gives her best too!

But still, Shuichi promised her. That means he doesn't want her to get tensed about these dangerous things. He will take care of long-range, short-range or any dangerous things on his own. He promised her and this shows a sign that she can rely on him every time.

2. She won't have to kill someone facing the killer/target putting herself in dangerous situations.

There is a very high possibility that the opposition can have weapons too. Her chances of getting killed will always be there. That's why it's a dangerous job!

"Face the target HEAD-ON and aim for the tip of their nose"

That is advised by the best shooter/sniper of the DC world.

Well, it's the same strategy used in real life. Imagine the T shape between the head and nose and aim at the horizontal line of the letter. It's a perfect kill that the target won't get a microsecond to think or act! So it's very dangerous for the one who is aiming to. Because it gives a chance of killing and getting killed. This T strategy is shared by an ex infantryman of the army 👇

So her life will be at risk.

But she is willing to take risks-

Jodie faced Vermouth. The FBI didn't have much idea about her as Shuichi never saw her before but he confirmed on the port. And they were attacking each other face to face.

In the clash of Red and Black, Jodie decided to dispose of the bomb, on her will. James initially asked Shuichi to dispose of the bomb in a vacant area because he wasn't confident either, but Jodie came forward and took the job.

Jodie is willing to risk her life for Shuichi. In the mall, she knew BO men were waiting to kill Shuichi but she didn't waste a single second and ran to save him.

But still, Shuichi promised her. When he used "Never", he meant both long-range and short-range. That means he is not willing to risk her life at any cost. He doesn't want to lose her.

He will do anything and everything to save her life. Even with the endless and enormous amount of several uncertainties, he is not willing to risk her life at any cost, since it's a promise!

3.She won't have to do a dirty job and take responsibility.

Before I proceed, let me point out, Jodie can take responsibilities-

Vermouth asked her whether she has permission to use the gun in Japan. And she said she was going to accept all the charges anyways and was prepared to face them.

It's very hard to accept that this woman won't take any responsibility.

If you would look at it, killing a culprit is not as simple as it sounds. It comes with loads of responsibilities along with so many rules. If not justified, then they will face punishments and charges, even worse, it can cost their job. They can be called murderers.

Unlike soldiers who are prepared to kill men in masses, FBI agents are also prepared but not like them. They have to think before shooting and in worst case- kill, but soldiers shoot to kill. Hence, cannot be compared.

The first attempt of an FBI agent is to stop the culprit. So they shoot to stop the target from escaping. The killing comes afterwards in the worst-case scenario when they have no way around it.

FBI agents are strictly prohibited to kill until the situation demands or/and they get an order. Even when they work undercover, they are forced to obey the rules.

Killing a culprit without orders comes with a huge responsibility. If the action couldn't be justified by rules, the agent might cost their job along with mandatory punishments and charges.

If one is saving their colleague, there are two chances- to kill the opponent or to injure them so that they won't attack any further. It gets really complicated, in situations when all they get are a few seconds to decide. Because by harming, the culprit can be caught and the partner's life will be saved.

So it's a very big responsibility and commitment on a professional level and even on a personal level.

So when Shuichi committed Jodie, that he is willing to kill for her-

He is also willing to take the very huge responsibility at a professional level that will come all along.

The situation becomes worse when they get stuck in a situation when they can't or won't get any further orders.

Even when his top priority is his job because of his personal reasons, he is willing to take responsibility for her.

It's very very less likely that he'll fail but nothing can be taken for granted. He gave his commitment to Jodie when future circumstances are not known to anyone. There are uncountable uncertainties. And this can affect his job.

This proves that Jodie is a very very important person for him so he won't let her compromise her job at any cost because he is willing to take responsibility for her. As he mentioned that he won't let Jodie do anything ever if he is around, so it's a lifetime promise!

Even Gosho never made Shuichi kill anyone. Vermouth as the serial killer escaped him, Kusuda Rikumichi and Scotch committed suicide. Even in M18, he didn't kill the culprit. So to think about it from manga pov it's a very strong and big commitment, which he will fulfil in anyways and by any means.

4. Shuichi is willing to protect and defend Jodie at an emotional level.

As I mentioned before she is highly professional at the short-range shooting. Then why did she hesitate?

This is a very risky job and it's humans' natural tendency to think before acting when their life will be at stake. But that doesn't mean that an FBI agent should back off. They should learn to cope up with fear and do the job. Initially, everyone fears. But with time they learn. Jodie hesitated a little showing the "natural reaction" of any human being to save their life. But she prepared herself when the time came to eliminate the sniper. She remembered what Shuichi said and thought-" I have to do it!" So even if she hesitated, that doesn't mean that she'll never try to do attempt anything dangerous. In Manga, she prepared herself to shoot at Kir even there were people running around her.

Maybe Jodie's past is related somehow. To think about Jodie, she gets sentimental when it comes to killing someone, especially while smiling. But her past was very tragic since her father was burned by a mysterious woman. And at that time she was only 7-8years old so we can't blame her. It must be so traumatic. But now she has a strong and cheerful personality irrespective of the trauma she has faced.

Irrespective of her past, she is very professional and keeps her emotions away from her working space. Even though she has a personal hatred towards Vermouth, the FBI let her carry out the mission on foreign land, without permission. This shows her professionalism and the trust that the FBI put in her.

People get emotional when they face harsh and critical time. It was her worst time when we realised her past, before catching vermouth and about her relationship with Shuichi.

Even after Shuichi's death, she didn't have a mental breakdown. She strongly implied to Camel that the FBI wasn't scared of BO either. This shows she is a very confident woman, who doesn't rely on anyone, is aware of practical things and can deal with things on her own.

And maybe she was hesitant regarding killing someone, like that. Doing a dirty job. Generally speaking, not every FBI officer kills the criminal and they try to avoid killing criminals as much as possible because of rules and regulations and some avoid that for personal reasons but they have to do it when ordered. And along with killing someone, this thought comes along-" If I'll kill them, will I take the CHANCE away from them of having a new and different life? And what if they want to start a new life by accepting the punishment?" This is a very complicated decision and morals and values are the core of our life. That's why it is a very tough decision. Moreover, this is detective Conan in which Gosho never makes any good character to kill ever.

It's very unlikely that the FBI have the mindset of soldiers in war who are trained that way to kill thousands. It can be up to some extent the training of FBI agents is different from soldiers. Soldiers are trained to kill without thinking but FBI agents have to think before killing someone. Here another confession by an ex- infantryman 👇

Killing is not the same for everyone. Some might feel bad and some may not. It varies because of personal reasons, past, the surrounding they grew up etc.

And Shuichi knows Jodie very well without a doubt. He knows how capable she is and only he knows how worse her driving skills are. So, he doesn't want her to kill someone if he is around her. Shuichi is more experienced although he never killed someone, as far as we know.

So he asked her directly and without giving her a second to think, the next moment he promised her.

It's not like he is stopping her to do her job because a mindset to face difficulties is necessary for FBI agents. That's why he said until he is around and situations in which he won't be able to make it. But according to him, it's not that necessary either to let her kill someone if he is around or if he can do whatever he can to help her out.

Let me clear something-

Shuichi doesn't enjoy killing, like Korn and Chianti. They asked gin to let them kill because they carve killing( FBI vs BO part-1,2). Especially Chianti loves to kill.

Shuichi feels proud when he saves the people and threatens or eliminates the opponent, to serve his Nation. Even the best sniper of the (real) world said in his interview that he doesn't hesitate to kill as the opposite side are about to kill his brothers( his teammates, his friends). According to him, it's better to kill the people who can harm his side than to see his people die and their family suffer. That's what an ex infantryman stated-

So Shuichi is very different from BO men.

And by offering Jodie, to the extent of promising, that he'll kill for her, it gotta be really serious. So he is ready to kill on behalf of her which is protecting her physically and mentally.

5. He is willing to protect her life, putting his own life in danger.

With uncountable and enormous uncertainties, no one knows who can fire at him, at what time, from which direction and so on.

It's never just one culprit they will be facing, like the M18 climax. There can be more in number, increasing the level of danger.

He won't get the chance to use sniper always. Using a sniper needs a good place to aim and to find it the place it requires time and he should reach there in time. Jodie can get into trouble in any situation which may or may not be favourable for using a sniper. So he might need to shoot from any range, like short-range, which should be suitable for the situation. After all, he is going to protect her.

There can be a good sniper, that he might be facing as an opponent. So there is this uncertainty of not knowing the capabilities of the opponent too.

The bullet won't spare anyone, not even him or the culprit will not spare him at any cost. If he is aiming from a long-range then not necessarily the bullet won't reach him. And if the opposition is the men of b.o they'll definitely not!

So Shuichi is not willing to lose Jodie at any cost! Even he is ready to sacrifice himself for her life. For her, is willing to face anyone to save Jodie.

So in the trailer, what he said-

Don't make that kind of face. I'll protect you even if I have to give my life.

it turns out to be the same!

For "don't make that kind of face", he used the phrase "Don't worry / Just relax" which he usually uses when he is with Jodie.

So Shuichi is willing to risk/ give up on his own life to save Jodie's life. She is so important to him that he can't imagine risking life at all! Isn't it the reason he promised her?

Some other important points, while Shuichi made this promise-

By promising Jodie, he doesn't mean that he doesn't trust her. While working with agents, one has to trust each other on their skills because it's teamwork. He is well aware of her skills. If he had doubts about her skills, he wouldn't have let her take Haibara to the port. So he trusts her. The promise is all because he worries about her.

The promise is a lifetime promise. Using "never", means shows till he stays alive. Never letting her do anything dangerous is until he retires or if ever needed to do after the job and protection is for a lifetime.

Shuichi promised Jodie as soon as he asked her, just after the moment she hesitated, for like a second. That means he had made his mind way before to protect her no matter what and he'll do dangerous things for her. Because this promise is not some daily chores that he'll promise out of nowhere. The promise just described his feelings in words in front of Jodie during that time.

In the promise, he didn't mention specifically about headshot but he said "something like that" which implies she doesn't have to do anything dangerous like pulling a headshot. So he will do any dangerous activities in which Jodie's life will be at stake or if she will hesitate.

While promising her he said, "until he is around". That means it's not only for the mission but anytime he is around and anything and everything he can do to help her out. He is willing to go out of his way for her.

Just because Jodie hesitated doesn't mean that she will never try to do any dangerous activities. It's a human's natural tendency to think before acting when it comes to risking their own life. FBI agents need to learn things, cope up with pressure and have to act accordingly. Here, it's Shuichi who doesn't want Jodie to get involved in any dangerous activity. This shows his care and the fear of risking her life, which he doesn't want to do at all. Rather he will give up on his own life.

He is a practical and serious-minded person. So if he promised this for a lifetime, he gotta be damn serious. He is willing to anything and everything for her and he will go to the lengths of giving up on his life for her.

Body language. They play a very important role.

A. During that conversation, he looked straight into her eyes twice, even while driving-

While asking if she can do the dangerous things

While making the promise.

This shows his how much he wants to protect her. People look into eyes while saying truth and emphasising it even more. This also shows seriousness. Here Shuichi not only made a promise but made her at ease. She doesn't need to take stress for that.

B. While giving the promise he smiled. Facial expressions are a very important part of body language. And the promise is the most important part because he is talking about something really serious. And while smiling like that he clearly indicates how much important and precious Jodie is to him. He can give his life without a second thought. Well to keep an important person safe, the willingness to give up on his own life shows exactly how important they are- more than one's own life.

And Gosho makes it a very big deal when he smiles. It's rare. It is such a warm side of him to witness from a person who doesn't have a bright personality, considering his personality what James said ( FBI vs BO P-1,2 ch-504,505) and Masumi still believes that he never smiled at. Maybe he never did in those types etc but he does smile at her but she is unaware. So it's a biggie if he smiles at someone. Moreover, he smiled at the promise of risking his own life.

C. While promising, he performed a drastic activity. He pointed his fingers forming a gun at her. Why did he do that?

Showing drastic activity or any different activity from what usually one does in certain situations shows a different state of energy. Here he showed his eagerness and willingness. He didn't need to explain it by pointing at her nose. Generally, anyone can understand where to point if explained well. But he surprised her by showing how difficult the work is and the next second promised her. This shows his unhesitating mindset of sacrificing himself for Jodie.

Surprising Jodie like that had a purpose. Shuichi didn't want her to do anything like that all from the beginning. Understanding where to point, that is at the nose, is no rocket science that is difficult to understand. So he surprised her, showing the level of risk while shooting a headshot, on purpose. She got surprised at the moment which made her hesitate and the next second followed his promise. So surprising her which followed by the promise was on purpose.

This shows their closeness to each other. Shuichi or anyone ( in general) won't point his fingers like that at one who ain't close to him. But he did because it's Jodie after all. One gets more expressive and free to do things with closed ones.

10. The scene is after Vermouth arc, Japan.

Thanks @geissbock ! you can spot important things like Shinichi does! The numberplate used in the scene is Japanese.

It's matches with the time line too- 10 years ago, he was 21-22 as now he is 31-32. There is uncertainty in the age gap by consecutive numbers because we don't know anyone's birthday. So 10 years ago he informed his family in Japan that after 3 years of experience and written tests he can join the FBI. So he must have joined the FBI at the age of around 24-25 years. And Gosho said that he dated Jodie soon after he joined the FBI. Now 5 years ago when he broke up with her, he was around 26-27 since he is 31-32 now and had long hair back then. Now it would be impossible that his hair grew so long, covering his back within a span of a year. Imagine this situation- he promised when he was 25-26( his hair were short)and at 26-27(his hair covered his back) he broke up. And since he used the word "sacrifice" he should have dated for some time to the point of loving her that deeply. So it's impossible that he promised her in NY but he did in Japan.

This proves that Jodie is a very close and important person in Shuichi's life and he cannot afford to lose her even at the cost of his life. Even that, so much has happened between them.

That past wasn't in their favour and nor the present is.

Past involving that he used a very kind-hearted woman for his mission + that woman played all along with him for God knows how long, which must be so terrible even just to think + she risked her own life + did a huge favour for Shuichi's mission when this mission was his personal goal+and she died. Then Shuichi failed his promise which he gave to Shiho back then + Shiho lost her only family. And most importantly Akemi's life purpose didn't fulfil- to take her sister out of BO. Moreover, almost every FBI agents know that he was affected by Akemi's death. This is so complicated!

This means Jodie holds a very important place in his heart and she plays a very important role in his life. His feelings are really at a deeper level for her that he didn't hesitate to promise something so big! Hence the past is not interfering between them up to the extent of him to admit on his own that how much she still means to him! To add more to it, he smiled! Gosho makes a huge deal when he smiles. And it's a promise for a lifetime!

He won't do this for everyone, because he promised only to Jodie.

There will be many agents who are trained and willing and inclined to carry out difficult operations and might hesitate a little. Not necessarily he will always take the charges. Hesitation is a natural tendency, not a sign of never trying to attempt. Everything is done for the first time in the beginning and sure they would have felt nervous. But that doesn't mean they won't do things. It's just a part of learning.

He will take charges when the job comes to the best sniper in the world. He can't take away other's jobs and chances.

He won't go out of his way, that is besides missions to save every FBI agent. He is not everyone's saviour.

In fact, it's impractical to save every FBI agent every time. It's a very risky job to do that can cost lives. He knows the reality very well.

That's why in the clash of Red and Black he suggested not to focus on Esuke's life that much, although he was the one who saved him at the end.

In the recent chapter of the FBI serial murder case, he didn't go to shoot before, while they were trying to capture BO members. He went after, was required to, that is as the best sniper who can shoot for more than 1300yards and saved Camel's life by shooting at the torch while he was literally running.

Now for Jodie, according to his promise-

He won't let her do something dangerous like pulling a headshot, either on a mission or not, in any condition except it's impossible for him to be with her.

He'll protect her no matter what! By physically and mentally.

He is willing to give up in his own life.

So he is willing to stay with her after all, for a lifetime!! By promising this, he gave her the exact picture of how much she is important to him and what she means in his life.

And let me point out very clearly - He is not a jerk who is maintaining this relationship just to work with her. He can work without getting closer and she is highly professional. If he can work with Bourbon who hates him to death( Asaka case and now he is even willing to work with him since he and Yusaku proposed to him something, the Tea party ), he can work with an ex without faking anything. So he ain't faking anything with her and that's not his personality either. So they have to stay in contact and have to work together in future and maybe they will possibly hang out too.

Now, how Jodie should perceive this? What should she think about this promise considering their current relationship and future? His lifetime protection, the friendship, his act of care. How long should she take this and how long she can? Is he implying that he is stuck with his past but doesn't want to leave her either BUT with the condition of being friends? Did they ever decide this?

WHEN?

When did they agree by exchanging words to stay ONLY friends forever? Did Shuichi ever tell her if he has feeling for another woman? Did he ever ask her to stop hoping if they can get back together? DID THEY HAVE THIS IMPORTANT TALK EVER?

NEVER!!!!

If we look at the panel of clash of Red and Black, Jodie assumes that he still thinks about her. And they knew this because of the expression he gave after Akemi died. That means he never told Jodie anything about his exact feelings for Akemi.

"And when she died, you could tell from Akai-Kun's expression that..."

"Probably Shuu, still thinks about her."

So after coming back he never said anything about it.

Jodie started to work on this mission when Sharon died. It was around or less than a year before Akemi's death. And at one point in time, they agreed to work together. And sure it must be uncomfortable in the beginning. So in those months, he didn't have time to have this important conversation with her especially IF he never wanted a relationship in the first place? It would be foolish to assume by anyone, that an ex who hasn't moved on yet for god sake 5 years, won't seek anything in future. And it's even stupid if the ex would just want to be a friend forever without any talk or any clarification.

So we can clearly say that it's just their mutual understanding that they didn't speak about it, moreover a common sense at the moment because-

He was on a run, and it was the time when he should avoid getting close to her so that enemies won't have a clue. Imagine if he would visit his family at that time. No, he won't, so he stayed away from her for her safety.

They both, especially Jodie, were mostly focused on the mission. The mission was connected to their life's purpose!

It wasn't the right time to talk about their relationship when the time was about life and death.

So basically, they never talked. But that doesn't mean denial. Just because one can't be in a relationship in the present time, doesn't imply that they don't have feelings of love. There wasn't a little hint ever if Shuichi ever told her that they can't be in a relationship ever or neither he showed any hint like he tried to avoid her INSTEAD here, he showed her that she means to him more than his own life.

In Jodie's flashback, all she recalls is the breakup and straight after that, she thinks that she was happy to work with him anyway. This doesn't show any refusal for the future. It just shows that they broke up but she was happy to stay with him again while working with him.

Feelings and context don't give the slightest hint if he ever denied their future. Honestly, refusal becomes a very important thing in these kinds of situations especially when people want different things from each other. And people get uncomfortable n this type of situation so they talk, clarify or give hints by body language like maintaining distance etc. But there is no slight hint if he ever denied or had that important talk ever instead it shows other things way around. Rather he has never shown a little discomfort around her, the way she behaves and how he promised her something really important.

And Jodie can actually tell things from people's expressions.

In the Kir arc, she saw Conan's scarred face and she continued to investigate( ch-500).

In the Scarlett investigation, she noticed Conan's expression and went to Raiha Pass.

In the clash of red and black (Ch-599) it was Jodie who caught Shuichi's reaction that he looked excited. Even James had to confirm what she implied before-"about what?"/"what can I say?").

So if Shuichi would have shown a little hesitation, Jodie would have known. But we have never seen anything from Jodie's side if he is keeping a distance because of the relationship. And if he would have done that, Jodie wouldn't have hoped anything ever and would have kept her distance by herself. She never said anything from her side and focused on the mission. She knew this is no time to speak about their personal matter. So from the flashback, it's clear he never denied anything for their future.

And Shuichi knows how much he means to her. He knew how much she would suffer when he was about to fake his death. He knew from the beginning that she still loves him. So why is he showing two different emotions? But is he? We can say that he won't want to be in a relationship at that time for various reasons like-

It's not the right time to get back together when they both are on this important mission which is their life's purpose.

There is this uncertainty of if he'll live at the end or not. So giving her hope and taking it away when things aren't in his hand can make it very hard in future. He surely hates to hurt her.

They both don't have time right now to date each other.

Shuichi got many things to do, before personally getting involved with her again. He has to repay the debt by saving Haibara.

But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have feelings for Jodie. They are working together, are in contact with each other so it's satisfactory according to the critical circumstances they are facing now.

So without any CLARIFICATIONS, this can be complicated way too much in many ways-

If he doesn't want a relationship at all so she should move on according to him when he deeply cares for her feelings.

He can lose his friendship with Jodie, which he has right now. Which he surely won't like as she is very important for him in his life.

But if she didn't move on when he wasn't around her how will she if he is promising such a big thing!? She never stopped loving him, even after knowing that he broke up with her because of the mission and he had to date another woman. But still, she loved him then and still loves him unconditionally for more than 5 years.

Now, how Jodie should perceive this promise as? An ex, who gave her this promise in which he doesn't want to lose her, to the point of willingness to lose his own life, but probably thinks of another woman, maybe mainly because of guilt, but don't want to lose her either at any cost?

The feeling of being so important to him, even more than his life, without any important talk can become so complex that it is way out of imagination.

It becomes so hurtful to stay with someone you love on the terms of friendship. And this becomes worse with time. And by promising her, Shuichi clearly stated to her, that how much she still means to him, in his life, his willingness to stay by her side, especially after they broke up.

Jodie's feelings are her responsibility but Shuichi has his responsibility too. He should not make things harder for her. And he will never make it worse or even hard since he hates to hurt her.

Honestly, it can become really hard for Jodie in future and the present can leave her in a dilemma. And these things contradict so much when he gates to hurt her. It's clear from this post that he doesn't want to her at any cost 👇

And Shuichi is well aware of everything. He doesn't take part in any complex things if he has no interest in them.

Denying to act as a father figure, wasn't easy, especially after knowing that there is a little kid, who will never receive fatherly love at such a tender age. She will not only miss her father but also her big brother.

Leaving his whole family wasn't easy.

Reducing his communication, even cutting the communication completely, with his family, especially his little sister, wasn't easy. In ch-1035-38 it's clear that he loves his little sister so much!

He was well aware of the fact that his decision will shock and hurt Mary so much. As a mother, letting her child investigate something so dangerous, the decision was no easy at all.

But he wanted to catch them and give them the punishment they deserve because they made his family suffer. His sister never saw their father, his mother suffered as she lost her husband and he and his little brother lost their father. So he denied it straightforwardly to Mary. And Mary, with time, wanted the bad guys to get punished too, so she agreed and let Shuichi do what he desired.

So, if he is offering from his side something like that, he must have thought about everything in his mind from the beginning! Because the promise he made is no child's play. It's serious as fuck! Well, he doesn't like it when she gets hurt emotionally. He felt so bad and disappointed when she didn't take him seriously and was worried for her in the clash of Red and Black. And he never showed that worried of face ever (till now) in the manga. He was worried for her because she will get hurt because of his stunt.

So if he doesn't want anything except friendship terms then he should have told Jodie sometime or at least, should have implied indirectly. If she agrees, stay friends and if not then maintain a healthy distance. Instead, he told her he is willing to give his life for her.

Idk what kind of ex who doesn't seek things himself but will never clarify directly or indirectly especially when they don't want to hurt their ex-partner and doesn't participate in complicated things when they don't have interest at all. That means they have to be on same the page regarding these feelings considering he never denied their possible relationship especially if he never intended to have it in future. That should be taken care of first when promising something so big like that.

Some Important things to be noted-

He broke up for his job, not because his feelings changed. Since he replied just after she asked that he has to crush this organization by any means, it's clear that he did for his mission. Well, that's what Gosho said in SDB.

It must be so heartbreaking for himself as he was really sad while saying that, to leave a person he was so serious. The word "Sacrifice" is way beyond to explain. This word is used when people have to give up on something which is very precious to them, close to their heart that they personally don't want to lose but have no other choice.

He wasn't able to look at her until he admitted his inability to date, two women.

He closed his eyes while saying he has to break up with her, like his heart was resisting to say that but he did for his family and for her safety. He looked so unhappy there. It's tough to lose first love after all whom he dated for real.

Let's make this clear, he won't date unless he won't be really serious and will never waste a single second in the first place when he joined the FBI to catch the people who are responsible for his father's disappearance. So he was really serious with her while dating.

That means his feelings never changed for her in the very first place because he won't fall again for anyone after suffering through that horrible incident. He loved her back then and he still loves her to the point he won't lose her.

Conclusion:

Shuichi still loves Jodie, more than his own life!

Now that we understand the promise which helped us to know about Shuichi's current feelings for Jodie, it's time to decide whether it's non-Canon or not.

Let's see what Gosho Aoyama has to offer!

Before that let's see first how much Gosho is involved in the process of making movies. This will show Gosho's dedication to movies in general- ( it's from Gosho Aoyama interview 2014, for Movie 18 . You can find it just after the Lupin III interview on detectiveconanworld website.)

Actually, Gosho showed Shuichi's feelings for Jodie on a larger scale! Since the trailer mostly focused on Shuichi and Jodie, especially his promise, it's obvious that that the promise scene was the most important scene of the movie!

Even though Monkey Punch's motto is to let them do everything, he still gets involved! There is no chance that he will change an important and famous character's feeling like Shuichi just because it's a movie!

Even if the staff tries to add anything they want, they end up changing everything. And after completing it, Gosho checks and reviews it👇

He checks the storyboard and scripts and he even ends up changing god knows how many things if it doesn't get matches with the Manga!!! Since he said all scripts that mean he does that for almost every movie! Then surely for this dialogue, he would have agreed before they can animate anything. Gooood how much work you do so that we can enjoy Sensei!!!!! Seriously people need to stop criticising him!!!

Now the question arises: What does Gosho think about this MOVIE in particular?

Well, he mentioned that IT'S THE FIRST TIME, THE MOVIE HAS THE SAME STORY AS MANGA!!

There is nothing new in the story that hasn't been shown in MANGA !!!!

So no question arises if he changed Shuichi's feelings for the sake of fans and he altered them because this is particularly a movie! Well, the spoiler was there anyways. So we can safely say from his statement that this story is the SAME as the ORIGINAL story. And by the same, I am saying some particular scenes, the feelings of the character, not all the events that occurred in the movie like destruction etc. It's up to Gosho if he wants to make the whole movie canon or not. And we can also conclude that the warning Shuichi gave was nothing like a friend, although they are on terms for NOW.

It's the first time and the story is the same as Manga!!! ( Read the last line. It's the interview taken from 2014 interview that was taken before the movie release) So this movie is different from other movies that were released before!

He said that it can't be done in manga. That means it cannot be drawn in Manga as art. He didn't say that it can't be in Manga. He said it can't be done as Manga but only in anime! Here he meant by action scenes. It's very difficult to draw in manga each and every move." And since it'll be done as an anime they added tons of action scenes to it. " Many action scenes like Ran beating the culprit so that he can get caught alive, Jodie firing the car of the culprit while saving Conan and Masumi and so that the culprit can run away, Conan chasing the culprit and Masumi picking him up on the road are important for the story to proceed! And since it's an anime, they added more like bike stunts and blasts etc. Actions scenes are something that can only be shown in anime, mentioned by Gosho. Well, he told the same for Movie20, where he wanted to show Shuichi and Amuro fighting. Imagine how difficult it is to draw every single move to show the fluency of the fight. And he said in movies he likes to blow cars which gives his assistant a hard time! ( His assistant starts crying - that's what he said to be specific. I wish I could upload that SS but 10 pictures are the limit on Tumblr) He also said the same when he was questioned about yaiba and about the action scenes involved in the series. ( The interview was published around 2014-16 and can be found on detectiveconanworld website as well)

And he said there are a lot of ties with the original story! Now, what can be the ties? Whatever that can coincide or fit in Manga. If we consider Manga, Shuichi always followed Jodie when her life could be at risk. And he saved her 3 times in manga.

Vermouth arc. It was unplanned that Shuichi will go. Jodie didn't know he would come. She was surprised as he came. She thought that she would die but he came and saved the day. And he went there because he got worried as he didn't get any updates.

In the bus hijack, he went there. In the end, he said the target didn't appear, it was for Sherry. If Jodie was going anyway, why did he go there? It was because this time she was going outside of the school premises where Vermouth can easily harm her. Shuichi and Jodie had no idea that Vermouth was well aware of the fact that FBI agents sneaked into her house. Vermouth thought the FBI can help her find out Sherry, so she decided to act like she didn't notice anyone sneaked into her apartment. Similarly, if she would have found Sherry and if she would have got a way to kill her at that time, she might have done that. But he went there instead of letting any other FBI agent follow her, who came to help Jodie. The fact that he was working with Jodie should be hidden at all cost but for Jodie's safety, he took the gamble. Well, it's clear from this post that he did his best to hide himself from Vermouth while he was working with Jodie.👇And he did his best, especially for Jodie!

3. In Red T-Shirt omen, Shuichi said he saw someone familiar on TV. But in Scarlett's prologue, he explained why he visited the Mall. He was referring to Jodie there. ( In Manga it's only Jodie in the background) So what did he do? He saw scar Akai but followed Jodie to know the whereabouts of scar Akai. He knew that Jodie would be BO's first target. And after Jodie and Conan asked the saleswoman, he asked about what Jodie asked her too, to grasp the situation. Then he spotted scar Akai. And after the case was solved he was waiting near the exit because he knew Jodie is highly willing to follow scar Akai. So he saved her life again.

4. In the car chase, he said that Bourbon would try to capture ONE of his close colleagues. And they knew that Jodie would definitely come once she started to doubt the death. So they wanted to catch her there. And Shuichi was well aware of the fact that she will definitely go to investigate. So he followed there too and since Camel went all along so he saved both.

Saving Jodie has always been canon no matter what the situation arises as written in point 1,2,4 and the promise is related to her safety. And since it is so connected with the original story and that scene is one of the most important scenes of the movie, this is one of the things that have ties with the original story! Well, don't expect he'll tell this directly. He is a mystery writer after all. He only gives clues and makes us deduce.

Conclusion:

From what Gosho said, it is clear that this promise can be categorised as CANON or has TIES with the original story! Especially when at the end he said the movie lots of ties with the original story, considering it's a promise made by an important, serious and famous character like Shuichi!

Gosho drew Shuichi there. He was the one who came up with the scene and even he wasn't, then he 100℅ agreed with the scene as he checks and changes the script before it gets passed as a storyboard. Because they needed the vision to animate before, Gosho gave them a perfect picture of how Shuichi should talk and smile. Now Gosho made him smile that much( look at the one above the snap of the animated one) given that he rarely smiles, and he makes a big deal when he smiles so it's a biggie!

Here is the treat ;) Gosho actually loved that scene! He was so much excited to see the scene of Jodie and Shuichi and he loved it! Here is the article 👇

I believe it was said by Monkey Punch, the one who draws for the movies. Here is the translation- again thank you @geissbock ❤️❤️

"Gosho loves the scene of Akai and Jodie most. He was really excited. He is some kind of weird person that loves that scene right?(laugh). When I write something different from him he's not that excited. I think he feels good when he sees something new and fresh"

Mark Gosho's love for the scene and his excitement! Now that scene is iconic for Shuichi himself! It's very important for Shuichi considering his dark past with both the women especially when the scene is after Akemi's death. Then Gosho must be really careful about doing something like that. But he even included that scene on his own, we can say that from the translation part, drew Shuichi himself and checked the script and what not, to pass on the storyboard to animate it. He could have simply added something while they were dating but...he didn't. So? Yep, it's very very safe to say that Shuichi still loves Jodie, from Gosho's POV and his works( isn't that how we perceive the ultimate truth of the DC universe?).

Fan services

Fan service is a broad term. After collecting information is from various sites like Wikipedia, Medium daily, qoura and every other sites that appeared after googling it, here is what I analysed and here it is summarised-

Fan services are the scenes in Anime as well as Manga, which are done to please the audience which has no relevance with the actual story whatsoever. Example- Zero's tea time. It has no connection with the Manga as it doesn't contribute to the original story. Similarly, the plot of movies is considered non-canon because they are for fans to enjoy, a type of fan service and doesn't contribute to the original story. Fan services are also there in anime, as well as manga which may or may not contribute nothing to the main story. For example, bikini shots of female characters etc. These kind of racy sexual scenes are fan servises. Conan blushing at Ran's cleavage, his nose starts to bleed etc are fan services but it is 100% Canon. It was purely done for fans to enjoy the chapter. If we take out this scene, the case of Masumi is from Akai family, Conan noticing child form of Mary on Masumi's phone and the murder case would have proceeded without any disturbance. Masumi getting impressed by Momiji's bust size is fan service too. Actually Momiji's bust size doesn't even contribute to the BO investigation XD. Now take an important note that fan services aren't negative thing what usually comes in our mind and not necessary that it's not canon. In manga, it's canon but only for the sake of viewers to enjoy, presented in a flow with the story.

But for this movie, specifically it was mentioned by Gosho that there are a lot of ties with the original story. There is nothing new shown in this movie that hasn't been shown in the manga. And the story is similar to the original story. Okay, I'm not saying the whole movie is considered as canon but from what Gosho said that this movie has lots of ties with the original story. Saving Jodie has always been an important part of the original story and has been contributed to the investigation of BO. She appears only when BO chapters continues. A serious character like Shuichi promising something is not a joke! Also it has been 100% Canon that she does hold an important place in Shuichi's heart. She is an important part of his life, in his past, in the preset and now that I have already proven that how much she is important to him so also in future. Its undeniable that she is different from other agents. So Jodie's safety has always been canon, important for the main plot of BO, and her importance in Shuichi's life. It's not only canon but it contributes to the main story, that is BO. HENCE IT'S NOT A FAN SERVICE! So it's certain that this scene is one of the things that has ties with the original story which is not done just for the viewer to enjoy but will contribute to the original story. But the whole movie, blasts, accidents Jodie meeting Masumi, these are non-canon.

Summary-

It has been proven that, Shuichi still loves Jodie, more than his own life. He is willing to go to any lengths to save her life. His terrible past didn't make him hesitate a little to practically admit in front of Jodie, that how important she is to him. This means his feelings for Jodie never changed! That's what his CURRENT feelings for Jodie. Finally, and most importantly this particular scene from the movie, is Canon! Said and hinted so many times by Gosho himself!

And now, here is a short clip of all scenes of Restarling from the M18 trailer! 😉❤

And really really, thank you for your patience.

❤R❤E❤D❤❤S❤T❤A❤R❤L❤I❤N❤G❤

[forevercloudnine]

pre-new 52 scarebat ship meme

 (I actually have no idea what to call this period of comics. The dc wiki calls this the “New Earth” universe... it’s like, everything after Jason Todd was retconned out of being a circus acrobat up to Flashpoint. Anyway like a month ago I asked @heroes-etc​ to send me questions for this version of scarebat from this ship meme but then forgot that I did it because I got distracted by other ships. Sorry Jonathan...)

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Bruce does DO physical affection — I mean, how many comic panels do we even have of him making out with Catwoman on rooftops — but he’s not especially forthcoming with it. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that his love interests are more likely to instigate contact than he is, especially when that love interest is a villain like Selina or Talia (can you even IMAGINE him trying to take them off guard in a fight by grabbing their face for a kiss? Because I cannot).

He does occasionally instigate affection with his children/proteges, though usually it’s in instances where they obviously need comfort. Bruce isn’t always great at handling complicated emotional situations, but grief and trauma is something he understands very intimately, and he never hesitates to physically reassure people who are in that kind of pain.

In situations where someone isn’t in the active process of being traumatized, he’s less forward with physical affection. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll reject it if it’s instigated — depending on who you are, of course. I’m guessing he wouldn’t put up with hugs from random members of the Justice League. Superman is his best friend and he would probably try to wiggle out of 90% of Kal hugs if doing so was physically possible. Most of his loved ones don’t really spring physical affection on him unless they need it or it’s an especially emotional moment, however. It’s not really Bruce’s primary love language. 

Jonathan seems even less physically affectionate than Bruce, though obviously doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to demonstrate how he feels either way. Master of Fear offers the only example of him expressing explicitly romantic affection that I know of (unless you count his terrorizing Becky Albright in New Year’s Evil as physical affection, which... might be how he’s thinking of it...?), and it’s entirely instigated by Sherry Squire. He does ask her to the Halloween party, but she’s the one who takes him down to the furnace room for some “one-on-one” time and tells him to kiss her. 

He also notably does not actually get a chance to kiss her, mainly because the whole thing was a prank meant to humiliate him. This might be why he doesn’t try to instigate anything similar with his next crush, Dr. Linda Friitawa (again, unless you count Becky Albright, but I can’t find New Year’s Evil to read anywhere so my only knowledge of his interaction with her comes from Tumblr. I’m like 80% sure he was supposed to be interested in her romantically, but asking someone to do supervillainy with you isn’t the most direct way to express attraction, so I’m taking that as more obliqueness from Jonathan).

He never expresses any direct romantic interest in Linda, but at the very least he clearly cares about her more than he cares for most people, since he, like. Defends her in conversation and apologizes to her for things that aren’t even his fault. Which means a lot, coming from a sociopath with no regard for human life. They do hold hands at one point, but Linda reaches out to him first, and he waits to see if she’s going to back away from his reciprocated touch before he reaches for her other hand. 

He never instigates anything further with her, possibly out of fear of rejection. Unfortunately, it turns out that this was a good call, because Linda was only pretending to be nice to him while Penguin was paying her to experiment on Jonathan without his knowledge. When Batman figures out what they’re doing, she immediately fucks off and starts dating Black Mask.

Even more unfortunately, his 45 seconds of hand holding with Backstabby McMad Scientist is probably the only mutual physical affection Jonathan has ever experienced in his entire life, so honestly I have no idea if he would be more into it as a concept if it was offered to him more often. He’s clearly willing to return physical contact when it’s initiated by someone else, so maybe it is something he would seek out in an actual relationship? He DOES get handsy with Bruce when he has Batman tied up sometimes. 

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Trip out on fear toxin, both of them, hands down. There are few things more embarrassing than, as Jonathan aptly describes it, being “reduced to whimpering quivers” in front of your enemy. Especially an enemy who’s presumably jotting down notes on your worst fears, since Batman/Scarecrow fights tend to just be competitions in who’s more frightening.

11. What do they hide from one another?

I mean, obligatory mention of the fact that Bruce hides things from absolutely everyone (with the possible exception of Alfred, because Bruce trusts him as completely as he is capable of trusting anyone, and also because it’s really hard to hide things from a parent whose involved in every aspect of your life and already knew you before you developed your pathological need to obfuscate your feelings and intentions).

As Wonder Woman pretty aptly describes during the Tower of Babel arc, even Bruce’s closest allies are never going to hear the full story from him. So it’s deeply unlikely he’d ever be 100% truthful with a supervillain, even if they got close AND Jonathan reformed. 

But it’s notable that Jonathan’s fear toxin has actually given him a more honest look into Bruce’s psyche than he would ever purposefully give to people who aren’t close family members. And by “close family members” I again pretty much just mean Alfred. Unfortunately for Bruce, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs. Fortunately for Jonathan, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs! Not that I’m recommending that anyone drug a romantic partner into being honest with them. But Jonathan is a trained psychiatrist, so I assume his psychological know-how combined with insights gleaned from the dozens of “sessions” he’s had with Batman in the past would leave him more prepared than most to decipher the mystery that is Bruce Wayne. (@heroes-etc: riddler is SEETHING.)

Jonathan meanwhile is more than capable of putting together a clandestine scheme, but in respect to himself he’s actually pretty straightforward. Though his driving motivation in this continuity gets more and more complicated over time, from the early 90’s “I just like fear” to the early 2000’s “my Granny tortured me with birds when I was a child and now I’m obsessed with inspiring the same fear and submission she forced on me onto others,” what doesn’t change is his willingness to monologue about it to anyone who’s listening.

Also, anything that Jonathan is unable or unwilling to go into detail on, Bruce is more than capable of puzzling out himself. In Scarecrow: Year One he successfully tracks down Jonathan’s old home to recover and read through Granny Keeney’s diary, and after Scarecrow’s Master of Fear origin was published, it’s clear that Bruce has done his research on Jonathan’s childhood. There’s even a (presumably unintentionally) hilarious scene where Bruce pauses mid-rescue of a man that Jonathan has kidnapped and traumatized with fear toxin to lecture him on having bullied Jon in high school.

Is this really the time, Bruce???

(@heroes-etc: oh 100% he nailed that timing.)

13. When do they realise they should get together?

Well, circling back to Tower of Babel, it’s revealed when Ra’s al Ghul has Talia steal Bruce’s contingency plans for defeating the Justice League that Bruce has “borrowed” Scarecrow’s fear toxin in case he has to take down Aquaman.

This was back when Scarecrow had a number of different toxins that induced different phobias, or made people hallucinate hyper-specific nightmare scenarios (such as “being eaten alive by roaches from the inside,” for some terrible reason). Batman notes in his contingency files that Scarecrow has already done the work for him; presumably Jonathan had already designed a formula to induce hydrophobia, so all Bruce had to do was steal a vial of it from a crime scene.

(The sentence “Why not make him incapacitate himself... perhaps through fear?” alone is like 90% of why I think these men would get along like burlap on fire if they ever actually cooperated on something. Also, unrelated, but the polaroid of Jonathan he has in the Aquaman file is weirdly adorable.)

Bruce’s plan for Arthur is incredibly effective, and notably also Bruce’s only contingency that isn’t either inherently lethal or a ruthlessly sociopathic betrayal of emotional vulnerabilities that had been revealed to him in trust and friendship (RIP Kyle Rayner).

(Notably, Bruce’s plans for Kyle and several other leaguers directly involve using their worst fears against them, even without a fear toxin conveniently tailored for this purpose. Bruce just really likes using fear as a weapon against people.)

After Tower of Babel, Bruce obviously needed to create new contingencies, since the whole point is that they were secret plans that no one could see coming. In canon, Bruce goes on to create the A.I. satellite Brother Eye for this purpose (which backfires even worse than his first set of contingency plans, because of course it does). But I think an interesting alternative could have been Bruce tapping Jonathan for more toxin strands tailored to taking down the Justice League. If Bruce Wayne offered to pay Scarecrow’s way out of Arkham in order to develop formulas that could neutralize the world’s most powerful superheroes, is there any way that Jonathan would turn him down? I mean, obviously he would plan on betraying Wayne at some point, and Bruce would similarly be working against Jonathan’s best interests. But maybe if they set aside their “who’s scarier” dick measuring contest to work together for once, they could come to recognize their shared passion: scaring the shit of people.

Also, the Jonathan in this continuity really likes books. And you know what’s a reliably sustainable source of books that can’t be confiscated by the authorities? Dating Bruce Wayne. The manor alone probably has an insane amount of rare books that have been hoarded by his family over the years. It’s like a weird reversal of the Beauty and the Beast, where the rude rich guy who gives a library to the love interest he may or may not have technically kidnapped is the pretty one.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

If they were dating, I’m guessing Jonathan wouldn’t want to go anywhere in public with Bruce at all. Bruce Wayne is a celebrity bachelor, and celebrity bachelors get a lot of attention, and people who take celebrity bachelors off the market get a lot of NEGATIVE attention. The public reaction to Bruce settling into a committed relationship with anyone would be the kind of weirdly resentful gossipy judgement that the girlfriends of famous princes or actors or musicians always get from tabloids and entertainment television, but in Jonathan’s case it would be a million times worse. Not just because he’s a supervillain, because if there’s any town that would expect its most eligible bachelor to eventually date a supervillain, it’s Gotham. But more specifically because “ugly social outcast” is one of Scarecrow’s most enduring character traits. Not exactly the traditional trophy wife. And though Jonathan’s Scarecrow identity seems to distance him from a lot of the shame he suffered growing up, I’m guessing that the kind of spiteful vitriol that would follow him anywhere he accompanied Bruce would at the least bring back some very unwanted memories.

Bruce probably doesn’t have the same discomfort Jonathan would with being seen together in public. He doesn’t care if people think Bruce Wayne is insane or lacking in judgement as long as they don’t think he’s Batman, and I’m sure he’d find a way to spin “dating a man who prefers to dress exclusively in burlap” into something appropriately characteristic of playboy idiocy. But while he'd definitely respect Jonathan's wishes to stay out of the public sphere, he would probably enjoy any opportunity to bring Scarecrow into Gotham high society, since his presence would definitely shake up a party, and Bruce is generally extremely bored at any social event where he doesn’t have anyone to snark with. And with Jonathan’s scathing wit as entertainment, Bruce might one day fulfill Alfred’s wish and actually make it through an intermission sometime.

I’d say that Bruce would be nervous about taking Jonathan out for “field research,” but I’m sure it would be one of Scarecrow’s requirements for any long term collaboration, so it’s something that he would have to get used to pretty quickly. He would probably endeavor to keep Jonathan away from anything that could retrigger his less healthy behaviors. On the other hand, it’s not like Bruce does that for himself, so it stands to reason that he probably wouldn’t be able to successfully control Jonathan in that regard either. 

It doesn’t help that one of Jonathan’s primary motivations in villainy is his childhood, which is... exactly the same thing that Bruce is fixated on. A significant portion of Scarecrow: Year One is the two of them waxing poetic about how similar they are in this regard. 

Relating to this, even though it might be a terrible idea, I don’t think Bruce would be able to resist encouraging Jonathan to reconnect with his mom. Bruce would never recommend for someone like Cassandra to seek out a relationship with her father, but if someone he cares about has a LIVING parent who WASN’T abusive to them? It seems unlikely that Bruce wouldn’t advocate for reconciliation. Jonathan’s dad obviously never cared about the teenage girl he knocked up or their bastard child, but Karen Keeney is a different story. DC Holiday Special ‘09 makes it clear that Jonathan was taken away from her against her will, and she’s spent a significant portion of her life wracked by guilt imagining what the woman who abused her was doing to her son.  

Ultimately she attempts to commit suicide because she feels personally responsible for every terrible thing her son has ever done, which is tragic because really she’s the only member of the Keeney family completely blameless in the creation of the Scarecrow. In Scarecrow: Year One Jonathan clearly resents her for leaving him and moving on to have another baby that she actually did keep, which I would call a really paranoid case of jumping to conclusions if it didn’t seem extremely likely that Granny Keeney told him his mother didn’t want him and left him to be tortured on purpose.

(Side note, it is REALLY weird how young Karen Keeney is depicted in Scarecrow: Year One. At times her son looks older than she is, and it doesn’t help that her second born child is an infant for some reason. Even if Jonathan is only thirty years old here, then unless she had him at younger than fourteen, she should already be in her mid-forties. Why did she only have a second child so late in life? The implication with her abusive husband is that she ended up getting trapped in a bad relationship for survival when her family kicked her out as a teenager for disgracing the family by having Jonathan. It would make way more sense for her child with him to be at least in elementary school. Also the scene would have been way more interesting if Scarecrow’s sister was old enough to talk.)

Thankfully Deadman manages to convince Karen to hold on to life long enough for someone to call 911, and she ends up surviving the suicide attempt. But were Jonathan ever to reform, it seems like reconciliation would be really healthy for both of them, since miraculously Karen still seems to care about Jonathan despite everything he’s put her through, and they’re both clearly still suffering from the after effects of Mary Keeney’s abuse. 

Bruce would be enthusiastic about this prospect for obvious reasons, although he would presumably still be nervous about the possibility of everything going terribly wrong. And even if everything went perfectly right, he would STILL be nervous, because everytime Jonathan goes to see his mother there’s a chance that she will mention the time that she kissed Batman full on the mouth. And that is not information you would ever want your psychologist boyfriend to know, unless you want to be mocked with Freudian buzzwords for the rest of your natural life. 

(...This would also count as a thing that Bruce hides from Jonathan.)