#so they attempted to follow through with his initial plans anyways leading to the heros destroying the base in order to stop them

[arolesbianism]

Brainstorming some more stuff for the story with the grape twins and I am very much enjoying reinventing every character in the universe. What if you were a teen parent and didn't realize until the kid you abandoned popped up out of nowhere hanging out with a bunch of supervillains and with a Huge amount of daddy issues. The pains of being an alien and not knowing until you're an adult

[whenyouhearthedoorcreak]

Fuck it, I wrote the goddamn essay

I'm far too invested in this series so heres my far overthought essay on Merlin as a Shakespearean Tragedy

Okay this is just a rough outline of what I want to talk about, but the basic premise is that merlinBBC lines up to be a perfect Shakespearean tragedy (ST)

The nine points of a ST ~

The Tragic Hero ~ Arthur is The tragic hero but Merlin also fits into it on a more personal level. Arthur is a man of great presence and station he fights all the monsters and dies in the end, He has this great destiny that lays heavy on his shoulders and he unknowingly drives the plot for most of the show (I just realised how much of this show Arthur just doesn’t know about? Like the entire plot is happening behind him and he’s just having a sword fight (sub thought, that is exactly how I would frame this if I directed a play of Merlin))

Good Vs Evil ~ Morgana sort of handles this all on her own? She is presented as the moral compass of the show and is then slowly manipulated into a position of villain although there is a more complex look at this being represented by merlin gwen and morgause but that would take an awfully long time to explain

Fatal Flaw ~ typically this is given to the Tragic Hero™ but because Merlin and Arthur sort of split the spotlight this is applied mainly to Merlin. Merlin is deeply and unshakingly loyal to Arthur and while this is initially and somewhat veiled as loyalty to his destiny and the future he’s fighting for, it’s easily evident from his actions in “the sins of a father” that he is quickly becoming more loyal to Arthur than magic and chooses Arthurs well being over the fate of magic kind.

Tragic Waste ~ this is the idea that the hero will die before completing all he could do, and if that doesn’t sound like Arthur then we didn’ watch the same show.

Conflict ~ the corruption of merlins and morgana from morgause and Killgarah is the real core conflict of this show, if those two characters had never been there none of this would ever have happened. While i would agree that they could have done it better the main theme of this shows conflicts in manipulation,

Dichotomy of villainy ~ we are left by the end of this show unable to really take a side because everything felt preventable, for this reason morgana’s death and Merlins victory still feels mostly hollow

Supernatural element ~ I feel like this is fairly self evident

Ambiguity of poetic justice ~ “good will always triumph and evil will always suffer” is the simple moral code that most writing goes by, however a ST subverts this, often having its good characters commit acts of moral ambiguity and the hero inevitably fails or dies in the process. This is doen in MerlinBBC with Merlin never fulfilling his destiny and Arthur never repealing the ban on magic. We can suppose given Gwen's scene during the battle of camlann that she will most likely repeal the ban on magic and raise merlin to the title of Court Sorcerer as is vaguely hinted towards given his position in her coronation scene.

Comic relief ~ STs aren’t all sorrow and hannes acts, they have their fair share of jokes and funny moments. We can see that in some of the more joky episodes, but also in things like That tavern scene.

The last piece of this tragic puzzle is the most obvious, the five seasons of Merlin are the five acts of a Shakespeare play. I've made a handy chart to understand what I mean. Because it's a t because its a tv show and therefore worried about viewers returning the act structures isn’t broken up perfectly, but it still fits fairly well. The thing that leaves people bitter about the end of this show, I think, is because they expected the show to settle, to find a rest in its ending, what we got instead was a camelot that (while still having a trusted monarch) was still in turmoil, and a shot of merli alone and sad 1500 years in the future still waiting for arthur.

What happened with merlin is that we never got the finally, “everything will be okay” moment and so we are left wanting

The themes of Merlin are a dichotomy of Peace and Equality Vs corruption and manipulation, this is displayed through the main characters of Merlin, Arthur, and Morgana, with each being manipulated and corrupted by Killgarrah, Uther, and Morgause respectively. This is shown best through the use of Forked Path. (which I weirdly can’t find any articles or anything for? Which is odd given how popular it is but anyway) the Forked Path happens anytime the characters are presented with two strict choices without much wiggle room, both of which could end badly in the long run but must nonetheless be chosen between. This is very clear with season two's story arc between merlin and morgana, in which merlin must either kill his friend to prevent a possible future, or let her win and risk the demise of albion. Merlin attempts to avoid this, temporarily disabling Morgana from enacting her plans and the like, but in the end he is forced to choose. Arthur is continuously presented with the problem of whether to trust and show mercy to magic. Morgana is presented with either killing Uther and freeing magic, or running from camelot and lending to the further persecution of the druids. The thing you might notice is that these are all linching on Merlin and whether or not he tells the truth, his silence provides false dichotomies for the other characters. This is the manipulation I mentioned earlier. Merlin is led to believe again and again that he Must commit acts against his morals to save Arthur and therefore Albion. But as no fan will hesitate to point out, he never really had to. This is a show of the trope of Self Fulfilling Destiny that's found in all tragedies since ancient greece. Merlin’s attempts to stop morgana directly lead to their conflict, his keeping his magic a secret to protect arthur ultimately leads to arthur's death (having only met “evil” sorcerers arthur never repealed the ban and so mordred sides with morgana). If Merlin had followed his own heart then all would have worked out well, but instead we see Killgarrahs manipulation stop merlin from acting in camelots best interest.

[aiyexayen]

re: that "I'll live for you post" - WHERE'S THE ESSAY

this post? [innocent face]

alright, alright, JUST TWIST MY ARM WHY DON'T YOU, just force me to talk more about my boys!

4.9k word essay under the cut

Wei Wuxian

Let us take a look at Wei Wuxian first. Wei Wuxian has no problems throwing himself in-between the people he loves and danger, or even certain death. Hell, sometimes he just throws himself into it for fun and profit!

To some extent, putting yourself in danger to help others and being willing to die is something of a cultivator thing in general, a hero thing in general, right? And Wei Wuxian is a prodigy, exceptionally strong and clever, so he has more reason than most to be a little cavalier. But most of the point of training so hard as a cultivator and getting strong and aligning yourself with a sect is kind of so you can be in real danger of dying as little as possible, one would presume.

So we're going to set aside the danger-as-a-profession thing for now, because I think it's only tangentially related.

The real point is, Wei Wuxian is sacrificial to a fault. If there is a problem, he decides he's the one who needs to fix it. And his first go-to solution is to throw himself at it, to give up anything of himself if it's viable. As clever as he is, if he finds a workable solution that involves his own sacrifice, he doesn't stop to look for anything else.

Some of it is pride--not wanting to admit he needs help from anyone else, and the shame of being seen as weak.

Some of it is arrogance--a very natural kind given his competence, the presumption that he knows best in a given situation (neurodivergent arrogance walking hand-in-hand with self-esteem issues is always a fun time).

Some of it is appropriate--ranging from his own moral imperative to protect the weak and do what's right to his understanding of his place in culture and in his own sect and relationships.

Some of it is a natural bent toward caretaking, "fixing," and heroics--someone has to do it, so it's going to be Wei Wuxian. He won't hesitate to take initiative in any other area of life, and this is no exception.

And some of it, yes, is a lack of value placed in his own life--between a more youthful, dramatic perspective on 'I would die for you/for this cause' taking priority in his worldview, and some genuine self-esteem issues. Issues largely stemming from his uncertain place in the world growing up and his uncertain relationship with parental/guardian/master and other familial figures, all stewing under the surface and brought to light sharply when the world went to shit and choices were made and he lost or seemed to have lost everything from his reputation to his home to his extant support structures. The paranoia and voices in his head (the ptsd and resentful-energy-as-ptsd-metaphor both) only drove that home.

Basically, Wei Wuxian was already trending in some unfortunate directions but his circumstances and the people surrounding him kept him grounded, and the events of the story as it unfolded really pushed him all in. No one thing or one person--even Wei Wuxian himself--is really to blame for that, which is the beauty of the story really.

I also think Wei Wuxian started to buy into some of his own stories at his lowest points--the things he said or came up with, lies he told publicly, justifications he made for his choices once the heat of the moment and the panic was over. Justifications he made to himself and to others. He purposefully led people to believe much that was incorrect about him and his character and his status, to which the response was distaste and horror, and even though he planned it that way in order to push everyone away I really think he started to believe it himself. Depression and trauma are just really fun times.

I'm getting a bit off-topic.

The point remains, Wei Wuxian is extremely sacrificial. He comes by much of it naturally, and not nearly all of it is bad or melodrama or angst or even unhealthy or problematic. It's one of his good qualities, too, and it's one of the ways he knows how to love.

All of the threads weaving together to make Wei Wuxian and the situations he finds himself sacrificing things in are all true, but it also really comes down to love. He loved Jiang Cheng enough to sacrifice his everything and risk his life doing so. He loved his sect enough he was willing to sacrifice his right hand. He loved his sect enough to sacrifice his very ties to it. He loved Lan Zhan enough to sacrifice their friendship. He loved Jin Ling enough to sacrifice himself to the curse he got in the Nie tombs. (And more!)

Wei Wuxian loved, and so he sacrificed. Thus, the initial post.

Jiang Cheng

Let's switch gears for a moment and talk about my darling Jiang Wanyin.

Ah, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng. Taking the initiative and sacrificing at the drop of a hat and so forth are not really characteristics of Jiang Cheng's the same way they are for Wei Wuxian.

And yet, is he not also a disciple of Yunmeng Jiang; is he not also a young hero? Has he not pride, and the incentive to do good?

Does he not also see love as sacrifice?

Zi Zhizhu was his mother. The woman who sacrificed to get Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian to safety. The woman who killed herself and crawled across the ground to hold her husband's hand in death.

You think she wasn't Like That the whole time? You think Jiang Cheng picked up nothing of such behaviours from her, even before that day?

Hah.

Besides which, there's absolutely an underlying theme of Jiang Cheng trying to be like Wei Wuxian for much of their lives.

Partially just...Wei Wuxian, strong and clever and popular shige, always manages to get credit and glory and good stories and good favour, exemplary of the Jiang motto--the one Jiang Cheng's own name is tied to. They were supposed to be shuangjie, besides. How could he not want to be like him at least a bit? If nothing else, it's a little brother's curse.

And partially this is also due to Jiang Cheng's parents and that whole Situation.

It was complicated for so many reasons, and absolutely left Jiang Cheng feeling inferior to Wei Wuxian. As though he needed to be more like Wei Wuxian, to emulate him, in order to be worthy of his title and station and inheritance, something that turned out to be categorically untrue in the end. There are many kinds of leaders, and many kinds of strengths.

As an aside, I personally think that's something Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan knew, themselves, as adults and leaders and political figures in their own rights. Adults often don't realise or think about how the things they say can influence children's entire worldviews and senses of self (why, no, I don't speak from experience, why would you ask such a thing ahaha).

Jiang-zongzhu and Zi Zhizhu got a lot of their own relationship difficulties and misunderstandings and conflicts and conflicting attempts to want the best for their children (and ward) tangled up in everything. I think if they'd ever been able to speak plainly, if they could manifest into the Ancestral Hall and speak to Jiang Cheng, they would say so.

Just as Jiang Cheng would have cause to be horrified by much of what Wei Wuxian believed about himself, I think Jiang Cheng's parents would have cause to be horrified by much of what Jiang Cheng believed. (I mean, and Wei Wuxian, probably.)

Anyway.

Jiang Cheng has plenty of reasons to aspire to those same ideals of sacrifice. And it's not just aspirations, either--we see him follow through.

He walked outside from that inn, saw Wei Wuxian in danger, and made a decision in the space of a single breath--a decision with full understanding, too. He knew he was giving up his entire life for Wei Wuxian's. He said goodbye in his head.

I would argue (and I'm sure I've said this before somewhere too) that his sacrifice was the purest example of this in the entire story.

Perhaps some of it is that many of Wei Wuxian's sacrifices are premeditated and just about all of them have alternative solutions that don't involve him just diving in and giving pieces of himself up.

That isn't to say that Wei Wuxian wouldn't see a sword aimed at Jiang Cheng and take the blow himself. But we never see him do that, exactly. As much as Jiang Cheng has internalised this ideal of Wei Wuxian's, he both encounters fewer of these situations and has other problem-solving tactics in his repertoire.

The way Jiang Cheng hates himself doesn't lead him to think of himself as disposable. I could get into a (very amateur) discussion of negative schemas formed in childhood and their various similarities and differences, and the different ways Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's brains appear to work (Jiang Cheng sees himself as inferior, while Wei Wuxian willfully dehumanises himself in other ways), but basically, it's simply a different set of psychological issues.

But! When he is faced with the choice, Jiang Cheng absolutely dies for the ones he loves.

He loves his sect and his family, and he internalises love as sacrifice, and when it comes down to an extreme moment he chooses to die for them.

And then he doesn't die.

And then the war happens.

Jiang Cheng's Growth

There are a lot of reasons for Jiang Cheng to grow in this area, and I think it starts with inheriting the sect.

(This leads to excellent thoughts about What If Wei Wuxian Had Somehow Become Sect Leader but that's an au for another day.)

If sect heir was a position full of responsibility and reputation management, how much more so is zongzhu? Jiang Cheng is suddenly responsible for all these people. Whether he's good enough or not doesn't even matter. The job is there and it's inescapable and he's the only one there to do it.

I'm absolutely sure he still has all kinds of inferiority shit he's dealing with by post-timeskip and he only just gets to touch on some pieces of resolution by the end of the story, with the one person still in the world who would even know anything about the life that gave it to him.

Jiang Cheng has been responsible for people before, in small ways--night hunts and such, I'm sure, and he was certainly in charge of the Yunmeng Jiang disciples who went to Cloud Recesses. But being at the top of that hierarchy entirely is such a different matter, and he did so at a very young age and in a very fraught time.

The fact that he had to deal with all this new responsibility and duty to people more than his family and to causes greater than the first people in need he encounters is a huge perspective shift. Especially as a sect with nothing to give and no wiggle room where it comes not only to basic resources post-war, but to things like reputation and political standing. This is, of course, a huge facet to the conflict between him and Wei Wuxian (and the Wen remnants) at that point in the story.

But on a personal level it also speaks to the sacrifice thing. If Jiang Cheng sacrifices his life, he is not just sacrificing his own life anymore.

When he gave up his life for Wei Wuxian, he had not yet inherited. His parents were only barely gone. There was nothing to inherit. There was no surety of there ever being something to inherit ever again. Everything else was already gone. It was only the three of them, barely surviving, running for their lives. It was only him and Wei Wuxian in a street, and one of them had to die.

But once he inherits? He's a commander. He's a leader. He has all the knowledge and all the networking connections. He has the reputation. He has the social standing. He might still have a long way to go in developing his skills, but he has a natural leadership ability and he does have training appropriate to his station.

What happens if he personally sacrifices his life? What happens to all of that? What happens to everyone depending on him?

That's not very satisfying, very epic-worthy. That's not very dramatic or romantic. It's gradual, and messy, that kind of change and realisation. Becoming that kind of person. Making choices based in that reality. Deciding that you do not belong to yourself.

And I think it really comes to a head when his siblings die.

I think it comes to a head personally. Not just in his role as Jiang-zongzhu. We don't see Jiang Cheng choose not to die, in as many words. But we certainly see him choose to live.

Or, perhaps, we see the evidence of that choice.

Jiang Cheng could have faded away. He could have started delegating all his responsibilities, gotten help from other sects, trained up a replacement. He could have made such things necessary by getting more and more reclusive. He could have pulled a Qingheng-Jun.

Hell, with a-jie gone already, he could have just said fuck this and followed Wei Wuxian off that cliff, and if you don't think he wonders about that sometimes--at least at first--then we have very different interpretations of Jiang Cheng as a person.

And no, none of those are sacrifice. But at some point, he still chose to do the opposite.

He chose every day to live for his sect, to keep growing it into something powerful and secure. He took that vow that he made and he fucking stuck to it.

And he chose to live for Jin Ling.

I don't half wonder if that was a bigger driving force at first than anything else.

Jiang Cheng could absolutely have left Jin Ling to be raised by his Jin family in the absence of his parents and fucked off to hide away in Yunmeng and had nothing to do with him. He could have done a lot of things, let himself develop in a lot of ways, unhealthy ways.

But he so very clearly did not.

Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng have a close relationship. Jin Ling defers to Jiang Cheng, is answerable to him on night hunts and beyond them. It's never questioned why he's basically just in the Yunmeng Jiang party by himself. Yunmeng Jiang disciples answer to Jin Ling in turn, follow his orders without question in the absence of their zongzhu. It's a Yunmeng Jiang disciple who hands Xianzi off to Jin Ling outside the Guanyin Temple in Yunping, and Jiang Cheng is intimately familiar with Xianzi's commands and is apparently a trusted person to give them (which, we find out, Jin Guangyao is not.)

As much as Jiang Cheng is not good at saying what he means, and especially after everything he's been through his softer bits have grown harder and harder carapace around them, Jin Ling never seems to misunderstand what Jiang Cheng means. They snipe at each other and snark and bitch and roll their eyes and so clearly love each other.

Jiang Cheng's love for Jin Ling shines brightly the second you know how to interpret Jiang Cheng, and Jin Ling absolutely does. Jin Ling's trust in Jiang Cheng is incredible.

Jin Ling is practically Yunmeng Jiang's heir, and practically Jiang Cheng's son.

That sort of thing doesn't just happen, because you're related or whatever. In fact, the story goes out of its way to present blood relations not being close, especially father figures.

Which means from a young age, Jin Ling knew Jiang Cheng's love. Jiang Cheng, struggling young zongzhu of a struggling newly-rebuilt sect, who just lost everything, barely more than a kid himself, figured out he needed to not only stay alive, but needed to live for Jin Ling.

He needed to teach him everything, needed to figure out how to be the best of his own father and mother, and the best of Jin Ling's father and mother, and live up to every lost bit of love Jin Ling should have had, and try, and try, no matter how unworthy or unfit or inferior he felt. No matter how much he fucked up and didn't know. No matter how much grief he was dealing with. No matter how many people hated him and how few friends he had. No matter how much there was to do. No matter how overwhelming the endless tide of days, of forever in front of him felt, horrible and empty of everyone that had come before. Jiang Cheng still chose to live.

He carved out that new life because of love. He didn't die for anyone, and he didn't die for anyone's memory. He lived.

"I never thought I'd be worth the work it would take to piece myself together," but he did, for his sect, his disciples, his family's legacy, his siblings' memories, and Jin Ling.

And, as a bonus knife, the things we see him chide Jin Ling the most for? Are specifically things Wei Wuxian would have done, and even things he would have done in following him. Grandstanding, not asking for help when needed, wandering off alone, making unnecessary sacrifices.

Wei Wuxian's Growth

That brings us to Wei Wuxian coming back. And, well, the boy still has a long way to go. He goes through a lot of kinds of growth post-timeskip. And I think this is one of them.

For one, he's already fucking died once.

Honestly, almost ironically, that death wasn't even fully a sacrifice. Perhaps in some ways it was, in some ways he internalised that it was. But regardless, after all his sacrificing, he finally died. And, much like Jiang Cheng's sacrifice, it didn't stick. He woke back up. Albeit 16 years later.

Now, he wasn't keen on dying, or he maybe would have just gone back. But that doesn't mean he'd suddenly decided to live for anyone rather than die for them.

And, indeed, we still see that side of him come back with him in full force. He starts off by deciding he will just live this new life without Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan altogether.

I think, for Wei Wuxian, this matter of sacrifice ends up being tied into a lot of other pieces of his growth--none of it happens independently of each other.

First, he is shown and told that he is wanted. That's the first thing. He cannot simply go on without inconveniencing/endangering/roping anyone else into his shit because his ties to other people don't work in only one direction. He is wanted.

Lan Zhan wants to be at his side, has not forgotten him, and loves him unwaveringly. That is a huge first step, right there at the beginning, when Lan Zhan grabs his hand, and they make eye contact, and by the time Lan Zhan turns to look away Wei Wuxian is grabbing his hand back desperately and that pretty much says everything it needs to right there.

The idea that Wei Wuxian can act at all without having any negative affect on anyone tied to him is something we see even outside the concept of sacrifice--how many times before his death, even before his defection, do we see him say things like "you can insult me, but don't involve the Yunmeng Jiang sect" like. Like. Wei Wuxian please. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

So I think him realising that other people will willingly be tied to him and there's nothing he can do about it, that his actions affect the people who care about him all the time, is something he still has to learn/relearn even after everything that happened leading up to his death. I think, in particular, Wei Wuxian realising that it's not just his mistakes and fuckups that affect people, but his intentional actions, too. Like sacrifices. Even if they're at his own expense. Because people care and that's okay and good.

Lan Zhan drives that home with things like noticing that Wei Wuxian has transferred Jin Ling's curse to his own leg, and then insisting on carrying him.

Lan Zhan notices. Lan Zhan cares. This act of sacrifice does not end with Wei Wuxian suffering. It has cascading effects, even something this small. It is, perhaps, more effective a lesson on a small scale with fewer complexities woven in, than it would be on the larger scale issues he dealt with before his death.

This idea that his sacrifices affect people beyond him is carried through the rest of the story, too, from the way everyone seems to fret about him after the Burial Mounds and Lan Sizhui runs to hold him, down to the fact that he has to answer for how his sacrifice of his golden core to Jiang Cheng affects Jiang Cheng. Both the absence of his own golden core being a catalyst for a lot of other shit, and finding out about the core transfer actually fucking Jiang Cheng up. Which, it turns out, Wei Wuxian kind of knew would happen, he just thought he could get away with not dealing with it if he kept the secret better.

Wei Wuxian can't escape his sacrifices and his actions having an effect on those around him, the ones who care and the ones he cares about, or even the object of his sacrifice, and he really does have to have that hammered home.

He also deals with growth related to his pride and arrogance. He learns how to be weak, he learns how to have alternate forms of strength, he learns how to let others in, and let others stand with him.

Most of this is related to Lan Zhan, and I've already covered it at least somewhat in another meta, but it relates back to this, because those are two driving forces behind his sacrificial nature.

If Wei Wuxian is allowed to be weak, is allowed to hesitate, is allowed to go to others for help, is allowed to look for alternative solutions, that sets a better precedent for cutting down on the habitual self-sacrifice tendencies.

Additionally, he learns that others can and will stand with him in his sacrifices, when they are necessary.

Look at the way he pushes Lan Zhan away on the steps of Jinlintai, but Lan Zhan steps back toward him, and draws his sword, and declares his love before heaven and earth, saying in as many words that Wei Wuxian need not walk his path alone, and they fight together.

And the next time Wei Wuxian goes to sacrifice? In the Burial Mounds? He doesn't even think twice before volunteering Lan Zhan to stand with him. His entire plan revolves around the idea that Lan Zhan will stand with him--without even consulting Lan Zhan--and in doing so, they may be able to prevent Wei Wuxian from actually sacrificing his life.

Already we see him internalising a lot of that growth. He doesn't need to grandstand or prove himself; he doesn't care what everyone there thinks of him, and for the ones he does care about he is secure in their regard for him. He doesn't first attempt to sacrifice himself and be bait to draw the fierce corpses away while everyone including Lan Zhan runs off. He doesn't have to be convinced to accept Lan Zhan as part of his plan. He doesn't have to have Lan Zhan simply stay behind and then deal with the addition of him later.

Compare, if you will, the Xuanwu cave. Wei Wuxian absolutely expected everyone else to leave while he drew its attention, and Lan Zhan staying was not part of his original plan. Yes, later on they attacked the Xuanwu together, but that was different entirely. At first, he was just being bait to get everyone else to safety.

In the Burial Mounds? He's already worked Lan Zhan having his back into his plans.

It's still a sacrifice, but he's come a really long way about it.

So now that we've mitigated some of the sacrificial tendencies, modulated their effects on his choices, we come down to the "live for you instead of die for you" issue.

My positing that Wei Wuxian has reached this point by the end of the story has a lot more to do with having seen the patterns of his growth, watching the way he interacted with Jiang Cheng regarding the issue of the golden core transfer being revealed, watching the way he interacted with Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan in general evolve, and watching him allow himself to have more and more attachments by the end of the story. And getting the overall vibe that living is now important, and there are things to live for in this world now that he's back in it.

However, if I had to narrow it down to one moment to exemplify this, I would point to the moment where he's caught around the neck by Jin Guangyao.

Wei Wuxian absolutely knows that if Lan Zhan sheathes Bichen, they're all fucked. Lan Zhan could easily take everyone here who would fight him, but not if he sheathes his sword and seals his spiritual power. And at this point it's increasingly likely that if they let themselves be captured they're simply not going to make it out alive. None of them. No matter what Jin Guangyao says.

Lan Zhan's best chance for survival and Jin Guangyao's best chance at being brought to justice/captured are one and the same in this moment--Lan Zhan keeping his sword, and either taking Jin Guangyao down himself or escaping to go fetch the assembled sect leaders and such at Lotus Pier.

Wei Wuxian knows this. It's why he begs Lan Zhan to be okay with his death and to do this Right Thing anyway.

Lan Zhan is not, and does not.

I don't think Wei Wuxian is surprised by this, to be fair.

But he could have ensured it would happen. He could have ensured that Jin Guangyao would go down. He could have ensured, more importantly, that Lan Zhan lived. He could have prevented Lan Zhan from sheathing Bichen to begin with.

He could have sacrificed himself.

It would have been incredibly easy at that point. All he had to do was fight back instead of hold still. Jin Guangyao was not bluffing, probably, though he just as surely knew if Wei Wuxian died then he was next, he counted on everyone wanting Wei Wuxian alive more than they wanted him dead. So if Wei Wuxian had tried to fight back or escape, he would have died.

Jin Guangyao would have been shocked, very very briefly. The resulting chaos would have seen everyone in custody who needed to be. Perfect.

And, you know, Lan Zhan would have been once more Wei-Ying-less.

Wei Wuxian very notably does not make this sacrifice. Even if it means they get captured. Even if it means they likely die together instead of only one of them dying. Even if that math is terrible on the surface of it.

He doesn't make Lan Zhan watch him die again. He doesn't presume that his loss means nothing. He doesn't presume that his life is not worth it, that his sacrifice is worth it.

Wei Wuxian actively chooses to live. He chooses to live for Lan Zhan. For the chance that they will both find a way out, and if they don't, then they are together in this and that matters more.

And he keeps making that choice. At no point in the confrontation with Jin Guangyao, for all those hours and hours and hours of back and forth and monologuing in that damned temple, does Wei Wuxian try to grandstand or throw himself sacrificially into the mix in any way. He is always working with everyone there to whatever extent possible, to the ends that everyone (including people he cedes the political superiority to) decides upon. He releases ownership of the situation, of needing to fix the situation, of needing to fix the situation by giving himself up.

I've been writing this so long I'm starting to lose the threads of my own thoughts, but yeah.

By the end, I think Wei Wuxian learns a lot and grows a lot and finally hits the point that Jiang Cheng hit years and years prior.

"I never thought I'd be worth the work it would take to piece myself together," but he was confronted with the idea of it again and again until it had to stick, and so he did. For Lan Zhan, for Lan Sizhui, for Jin Ling, for the other juniors.

I do think there will always be some element of self-sacrifice to Wei Wuxian's character that remain unchanged. He is a caretaker and a fixer at the heart of him. He is a big brother and I think maturity has only expanded that trait. He's also notably not a leader, and to some extent he does belong to himself both more and less than he ever could before his death.

But that doesn't have to be a bad thing. And it doesn't negate him embracing the idea of living for the ones he loves, getting better for the ones he loves, and letting them keep him in their lives.

I'd like to think that this piece of character growth is another significant thing in favour of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng being able to forge not just a healthy relationship but a healthier relationship post-canon than they may have ever had before, or at least in a very long time.

[shima-draws]

At last, here she is...best girl Olivia!

As usual, all of her info is under the cut c:

Olivia

Age: 18

Hair color: White (with pink/purple streaks)

Eye color: Green

Element: Fire

After a lot of debating I decided that Olivia is actually Jasper and Mouna’s daughter--if you don’t know them they’re two older OCs that I’ve had for a while! (I figured I might as well give her parents already existing within the ATS-verse anyway, and I planned on Jasper and Mouna getting together and having a child somewhere down the line so it fits.)

When she was born, Olivia was very weak, and most healers feared that she would not make it—similar to how weak and frail Jasper was when he was born. Because of this, Jasper and Mouna are both fiercely overprotective of her (Jasper more intensely) so she was sort of suffocated by their attention. She grew up within the Spinelrose Guild and was treated more delicately by the rest of the guild members, especially because of how slow her development was and how often she was ill as a child. She originally had a difficult time making friends because Jasper was so afraid she’d get into trouble and get hurt, and the other kids didn’t want to accidentally put her in danger. Olivia was pretty isolated from her peers as a kid, and that frustrated her, because she didn’t want to be treated differently from everybody else just because of her fragility. Unfortunately she was never really strong enough to make her point, and just ended up being coddled by the guild as a result.

As she developed into a teenager, Olivia eventually outgrew her sickly physique and started to become stronger, both mentally and physically. She started to speak up about her parents’ treatment of her more—she knows that they just want to keep her safe, but she feels smothered by their hovering tendencies. Mouna eventually realizes how important this is to her and starts to back off, realizing how strong her daughter has become. Jasper, however...it’s harder for him to let go lol because she’s his only child and he knows how difficult it was to grow up as the weak link, the one who got ostracized because of their general health and well-being. It doesn’t help that Olivia is very clumsy and gets into little accidents all the time, which just makes his stress skyrocket.

Even worse, Olivia is a fire elemental, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous simply because of how destructive it is without proper control. When Olivia was a kid Jasper forbade her from practicing any of her magic, too worried that she’d end up hurting herself. Of course, Olivia has a bit of a rebellious streak, so she tried it once by herself and inevitably ended up burning the side of her face with her magic. (By now the scar is almost faded, but you can still see it.) Both of her parents flipped their lids, and Olivia was so terrified that she decided to never use her magic again, viewing it as a curse. Mouna tries to tell her that her magic is a blessing, something that encompasses life, and that she just wasn’t ready to use it so freely without any training. But Olivia is insistent—scarred both in the literal and metaphorical sense, she refuses to use her magic, scared that she’s going to hurt herself again, or worse, somebody else. 

As the years pass Olivia starts to feel more and more unsatisfied with her current life—she likes the guild, likes her friends and her family, but she feels as if there’s more she could be doing with her life. Since she’s refrained from using her magic all these years, and because of how much of a klutz she is normally, she’s not really a strong fighter, and is pretty useless on guild missions. Seeing the rest of her guildmates put their all into what they do, and being able to succeed in it, drives her to eventually seek escape and try to start off with a clean slate. When she turns 14, Olivia decides that she’s going to leave the guild and travel to someplace new in an attempt to be more independent and maybe find a purpose for herself.

Of course she realizes that if she tells her parents this they’ll probably refuse her, so she corners her uncle Terrence instead. Seeing her drive, Terrence decides he’s going to escort her to make sure she arrives safely. Olivia initially refuses because this is something she wants to do on her own, but Terrence warns her that the world is a dangerous place, and since she doesn’t know how to fight or use her magic the trip would be near suicidal if she went on her own. Terrence tells her the best option is going to stay with Spinelrose’s sister guild, Amethystus, and receive proper training in order to hone her magic and her fighting skills. That way she’d still have a direct line with Spinelrose in case something goes wrong, but she’d be far enough away to be independent.

Olivia prepares to sneak out in the middle of the night, but she gets caught by both Jasper and Mouna (because Terrence is a good uncle and he told them lmao). Fearing that they’re going to stop her, Olivia stands up for herself and makes it clear that this is something she needs to do. Much to her shock, Jasper and Mouna encourage her to follow her dreams and come home a new woman. It’s a very soft moment when they all hug each other goodbye, and there’s lots of tears :’) Olivia leaves home knowing that her parents are worried, but they’ll support her decisions because they love her.

After their crazy trip (where Olivia second guesses herself a million times and wonders if she can really survive out in a world this chaotic), they finally arrive at the Amethystus Guild! Olivia literally bumps into Ginni and from there, they form an instant close friendship. Ginni respects Olivia’s desire to be independent and is somewhat envious she made the decision to leave her guild in order to become stronger. Olivia admires Ginni’s confident personality and her fearlessness. Together they get into LOTS of trouble lol, mostly led by Ginni who is a notorious troublemaker within the guild, with Olivia just along for the ride.

During all this, Olivia meets the guild’s official blacksmith and, upon seeing the incredible things he can create by using fire magic, starts to rethink her opinions about her own “cursed” fire magic. The blacksmith, normally a very closed off, grumpy, and rude person, notices Olivia’s conflict about fire, and decides he’s going to train her in order to help her overcome her fear. Through a lot of practice and very intense sessions, Olivia is finally able to confront her trauma and move past it—leading to her discovery that she’s a talented natural at using elemental magic, finding that it comes very easy to her and is something she can control without thinking too much. This is a rare skill, for normally it takes an elemental years of practice and training to have perfect control over their magic. On top of that, her fire is very pretty and beautiful to look at, a reflection of her soul. Her master berates her from hiding something so beautiful and pure for so long lol

Olivia finds passion in blacksmithing, and trains under her master in order to create beautiful and powerful weapons. She does get burned a few more times during this, leading to some relapses, but her master tells her it’s part of the job and something that every elemental will come across: they aren’t always the perfect masters of their magic, and sometimes can hurt themselves without meaning to. But being able to understand what went wrong and how to fix it will make her stronger. Within a couple years Olivia flourishes and evolves into one of the guild’s most fiercest fighters, with an excellent handle on her abilities!

Olivia and Ginni grow up together in Amethystus, and are pretty much inseparable. When Ginni gets kidnapped by the Forces and is missing for several weeks, Olivia is beside herself with worry. After Ginni returns with Kaz in tow, Olivia is one of the first people to accept him and trust him fully, because she believes in Ginni more than anybody else. (Kaz develops a soft spot towards Olivia because of this, and is forever grateful for her support.) Over time Olivia starts to realize just how awful Kaz’s life at the Forces was, and grows very sympathetic towards his situation. She understands wanting to start over somewhere new with a clean slate, though Kaz’s circumstances are much worse than hers, because she still has a loving family and home to return to someday. Olivia becomes determined to make Amethystus a home like that for Kaz, as well as Hiro, who they discuss recruiting to their side from the Forces. As Kaz continues to reveal more of his past, as well as Hiro’s, Olivia and Ginni both get very gung ho about going to fetch Hiro LOL because they both want him to be safe (though Kaz assures them Hiro isn’t in any sort of danger, being the colonel, as well as too intelligent to put himself in trouble).

Kaz meets with Hiro, who was actually sent out on a mission to fetch him, and they negotiate Hiro acting as a double agent for Amethystus to spy on the Forces. Hiro had already been planning on leaving the Forces at some point, so he sees this as a perfect opportunity to get back at them for years of mistreatment. Over the course of the next several months, Hiro routinely reports back to Amethystus of the Forces’ plans, their current hideouts, and everything he knows about the higher ups. During all this he and Olivia meet, and at this point Olivia has started to refer to the colonel as ‘Hiro’ in her head, because it’s too confusing for her to call him the colonel, and she reasons that since Ginni gave Kaz his name she might as well give Hiro his. (Also because she believes that he’s a true ‘hero’ for enduring all of that suffering for so long, so it fits ;D) She calls him Hiro by sheer accident, but luckily he takes to the name well haha and they start to grow closer >:’) Hiro comments on how close Kaz and Ginni have become and the two start betting on when they’ll get together lol

Eventually Hiro’s position as a double agent is discovered by Mallary and so he finally breaks away from the Forces (and Mallary’s manipulation) and starts living permanently at the guild. Olivia’s pretty happy about this. She can’t explain why but she feels very safe and at ease around him, and she’s the person he’s the gentlest and softest around—unbeknownst to her, this is because he’s fallen in love with her, but she’s completely oblivious to his feelings. She’s pretty dense when it comes to romantic stuff like this whoops. Olivia finds Hiro’s intelligence incredible and likes that he’s such a skilled fighter despite not being that strong physically. Hiro likes watching her do her blacksmithing duties and always has expert things to say on her craftsmanship. They get along very well! Olivia’s never felt more at home than with Ginni, Kaz, and Hiro, and likes the tight knit little group they’ve formed. She becomes very fond and protective of them and, upon realizing how important they are to her and how much she’s changed because of them and because of her decision to join Amethystus, she decides to cut her hair as another sign of her growth as a person, and as a sign of change! She finally discovers what she wants to do: become a master blacksmith, and work alongside her friends to protect everything they can, including taking down the Forces to set free all of the people forced to work for them, and bring peace to the land.

When the time comes to finally take down the Forces, Olivia starts to develop feelings for Hiro as well, though it takes her a while to figure out because she’s never really been in love before, and mistakes a lot of her attraction for simple admiration. As Hiro continues to put his life on the line for their group and do anything he can to protect them, Olivia starts to discover that maybe she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life with him. There’s a point where Hiro gets injured so badly in battle he’s certainly going to bleed out, so he pleads for her to use her fire magic to cauterize his wound. Olivia’s trauma comes crashing back in and her worst fears are confirmed: her magic will end up hurting the people most important to her. Hiro tells her that by doing this, she’s going to save him, that her magic is life itself. Encouraged by his words, Olivia burns Hiro to save him, though it’s an extremely painful thing for her to do :’( But it’s at this moment she realizes that she definitely is in love with him, and would sacrifice anything for him.

Not long after that, Mallary attacks, enraged, and accuses Olivia of stealing everything important away from her. It’s a really emotional battle;; Mallary basically vents out about being the one left behind, the only one who couldn’t find a happy ending, and who had the only people she cared about taken. She says some really nasty things to Olivia about Hiro lol and this really makes Olivia mad, so they basically duke it out over Mallary’s twisted feelings for Kaz and her perceived ownership of Hiro. And Olivia’s just like. Bitch you don’t own him!! He’s not an object or a toy for you to play with!! Yeah. It’s nuts

After the grand battle with the Forces comes to an end and everything is resolved, Olivia decides to confess her feelings to Hiro, but it doesn’t...really go as planned. Hiro gently rejects her, but Olivia takes it the wrong way, still not realizing how head over heels for her he is. Shortly after this, Hiro and Kaz part ways with the guild, deciding to go on their own personal journeys of self discovery. During the year they’re gone, Olivia laments over her feelings for Hiro, miserable that she didn’t realize how she felt until it was too late, and miserable because she might never see him again. Eventually she tries to move on from that, but Ginni repeatedly tells her that Hiro is literally holding a torch for her lmao and that she shouldn’t let it go so quickly. Olivia protests constantly and strives to work harder to become a better blacksmith and stronger guild member, trying to put her feelings aside and ignore them. 

Of course, when she and Ginni eventually reunite with Kaz and Hiro, Olivia realizes that shit I’m still in love with him and my feelings haven’t gone away, they’ve just grown stronger during the year we were apart;; luckily for her Hiro’s gone through a lot of self reflection and feels ready to be in a relationship with her, so, after a rocky road of awkward confessions and pouring out their feelings, they FINALLY get together. 

The four of them go on a journey together! There’s some problems when Hiro runs into his childhood friend and first love, Lorelai, but in the end he shows he’s pretty damn dedicated to Olivia and it’s super soft. I just. I just love them so m u c h //shakes fists

AND THAT IS ALL FOLKS!! Most of it anyway lol

Extra personality traits:

-Very compassionate and caring about others—she’s a very motherly type. She’s able to get people to open up to her easily because of how friendly she is. She also settles disputes within the guild often, being the mediator between arguments

-A social butterfly. Probably the most social one out of the group, and the one most used to conversing with other people

-She’s got a lot of self-esteem issues because of her upbringing (and really, I promise Jasper is not a bad parent!! He’s just concerned), but she’s learned how to handle it better. She’s definitely way more confident than she was before!

-Tends to be very indecisive when it comes to big decisions, and is hesitant about fighting—though she will put her all into it if the stakes are high. She CAN whoop your ass 

-Super passionate about blacksmithing! It’s her true calling, and something she throws herself into fully. She’s very artful with her work and makes gorgeous pieces, and tends to ramble on about the specifics even when nobody understands lol

-A bit oblivious and airheaded sometimes. She’s completely unaware of several of the guild members’ feelings for her, including Hiro’s.

-VERY affectionate. Because she was isolated from other kids as a child, she’s very touchy feely and loves expressing her affection through casual touches. And lots of hugs!

-Since she’s the sweetest and nicest person in the group, she is terrifying when she’s angry. She’s super protective of her friends and won’t hesitate to leap into action to keep them safe, often getting very fierce when she does so

-She hates being alone. Being raised in an atmosphere with so many people around, she isn’t used to being by herself, and her instant source of comfort is being near others

-Isn’t afraid to tease her friends or state her opinion when it really counts

[antialiasis]

Morphic: the Musical

The Thousand Roads forums have a fanfic music thread. While I don't really do those kinds of threads usually because I don't really listen to a very wide variety of music and generally have a hard time associating music that already exists with unrelated fiction, one of the questions in it is this:

Talk about what would happen if some Broadway hit-maker scooped up your fic and turned it into a script. What songs would be in it? Describe a dance number/dance battle?

And immediately, the musical analysis glint lit up in my eyes. This question was presumably intended in a lighthearted jokey sort of way - imagining some fight staged as a dance battle, a hypothetical Broadway hit-maker doing the adaptation. But that's not enough for me, say I! Musicals are a good and interesting medium for serious fiction that I care about and I am going to serious this up.

See, to me, the musical format has two major strengths as a narrative medium. The first is that it can explore the inner worlds of characters in a pretty unique way. Characters get to monologue in a sort of heightened, non-literal manner, intensified by music: we can learn what they're about, what makes them tick, what's going on in their heads in a particular moment, in a way that wouldn't really make sense presented as actual inner monologue in another medium. The music aspect itself then adds a layer to it that's impossible to replicate in any other.

The second strength of the musical format is that it's really good at highlighting recurring themes, parallels and contrasts. Reprise the same melody, the same lyric, a parallel but opposite lyric, and you've instantly connected two things together. Is there a character arc? You can highlight what has changed. Are there two characters going through something similar? You can draw that out. Is there a recurring theme throughout? Use a recurring lyric, a recurring melodic phrase! Nudge the viewer into forming connections! Delicious! And you can do subtler things on the music level itself - particular instruments with particular connotations, recurring motifs...

So naturally I decided I should think up what a musical adaptation of Morphic would be like. It'd be a fun exercise in putting all my thoughts on musical adaptations into practice, but also an interesting way to help sort out some of my thoughts about characters arcs, etc. for the actual Morphic rewrite. And in the process, I may have gone slightly overboard. I regret nothing.

(I'm about to spoil most of the fic here, if this wasn't obvious)

Morphic: the Musical - tracklist

(Note: this musical is not sung-through; there are regular non-musical sections with regular dialogue in between. Morphic would almost definitely not make for a good sung-through musical.)

Act I

[Intro song] (Brian)

A monologue by Brian at the TV studio as he tries to work through what to say, how to explain or justify any of this (which conveniently serves to exposit to the audience as well as introduce his character). He makes nervous false starts and cuts himself off, starting the verse over each time, and through these false starts we learn what's going on, that the press has been calling them Pokémorphs, that this was all Dave's idea, that alcohol was involved, that it was meant as a basis for further research, that there were never supposed to be *children*, that he doesn't know what he'd even do with a kid, that Dave roped him into going on this show because he couldn't.

[Dave song] (Dave)

This musical properly introduces us to Dave via Jane walking out on him followed by this song, wherein he contemplates chucking baby Jean out the window. It's a dark rock song with big emotional contrasts and raw lyrics that is almost definitely my favorite song in this musical in the hypothetical reality where it is an actual musical and I didn't write it, because I am me. Probably starts with a couple slower lines of desperate disbelief before launching into wild anger about fuck that fucking whore, followed by what I will be referring to as the everything-is-shit verse (please bear with me), just a general cynicism rant about why the world is a shitty place not worth living in, followed by him wildly fantasizing about killing his infant child. What a delightful human being that I adore. The song ends abruptly, he's standing there staring at her in his arms for a moment, then he silently goes to feed her. On the soundtrack you probably might think he just did it.

Fatherhood (Brian)

A montage song covering the timeskip, which probably reprises [Intro song]. Brian initially has no idea what to do with his new squirming horrorblob child and is convinced he will screw it up the way he tends to screw up everything. Makes a couple of false starts again, but then gains confidence as time passes as he genuinely bonds with Gabriel and legitimately thinks he's a pretty amazing kid. There's a repeated line along the lines of that Gabriel's a weird, weird kid, but he's his, initially in a tone of "oh god I'm responsible for him what do" but towards the end is said with pride and fondness.

[Villain song] (Isaac and Jacob)

A duet between the two brothers, exploring what makes them tick. Isaac is all about this heavy pressure and sense of responsibility, originally imposed by his father, that he continues to impose on himself. He's been appointed to take over leading the family/cult and was raised with that constantly in the back of his mind as his future, and he believes that they're God's true righteous people and he cannot go wrong. He has dreams with some regularity that he interprets as visions from God, as he has been encouraged to since childhood by his father. When he has one about murder, it frightens him but he sees it as basically a divinely-appointed mission.

Jacob privately doesn't really believe any of that. He is trapped in this cult and goes through the motions but is not actually driven by any of the things that are driving Isaac. He's fairly quiet for most of the song - as Isaac is going on about his vision, Jacob has a line here and there obliquely challenging it, but Isaac has an answer for everything, and he doesn't press it, instead moving seamlessly on to suggestions for how he should do it. Jacob gets a quiet variant of part of the everything-is-shit verse from [Dave song], expressing the same kind of cynicism in a more reproachful, apathetic way - all in his own head, of course.

Just Like My Hero (Jean and Will)

Jean sings about how she is just like her hero, Sarah Hooter! Starts off describing how they look the same, moves on from there to how she will torch anyone who's mean, etc., just like her hero. Halfway through, Will joins in, and it becomes a counterpoint duet: Jean may be immature and ridiculous, but he deeply wishes he was confident and adored and nothing would get to him, and he admires and envies that about her. His just like my hero has a bit more of an ironic vibe, he'd hardly properly call her his hero, but he looks up to her more than he'd normally admit nonetheless.

Storming the Castle (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack and Gabriel are playing a D&D game with their friends, arguing about the best course of action. Jack is eager to waltz into the bad guys' fortress, storm the castle, while Gabriel urges lying low, says they're too weak. Jack wants to take the leap and try it; Gabriel insists no, we're not taking the leap, it's stupid. "It's brave!" Jack counters. (In the end, Gabriel gives in and they go ahead with it, and it goes fine.)

Unique (Mia and Lucy)

Mia and Lucy play one of their games. The song is about how Lucy needs someone like Mia to challenge her and let her actually indulge her powers, which are otherwise unsettling to people and she's ashamed and self-conscious about them, while Mia needs someone like Lucy to get a real outlet for her hunter's instinct. The word the lyrics are built around is unique; by being the precise way they are, they are each the only person who can provide this for the other.

Mia doesn't sing. She speaks her lyrics in her usual monotone, not even rhythmically. They also don't rhyme. It's technically a duet but really it's just Lucy singing and Mia talking.

[Peter/Katherine song] (Peter and Katherine)

A counterpoint duet between the siblings, contrasting their experience as Pokémorphs. Peter can pretty easily hide that he's different and be treated mostly as a normal kid, and feels free in his privilege, not confined quite the way the others are, able to be a bit reckless and incautious. Katherine, meanwhile, has a very different experience, being extremely noticeably different, getting stared at, and struggling with basic activities, and feels a huge sense of responsibility weighing her down, worrying about Peter and grounding him and reining him in. There's a lyrical contrast involving something something bird freedom plant rooted down something.

Brian's Death (Isaac and Dave)

This is one of those mostly-instrumental pieces that they include on the soundtrack anyway, but Isaac gets a couple of sung nondiegetic lines in here, a sort of frantic excitement, realizing in a brief panic that he shot the wrong guy before rationalizing that God must have planned it this way.

Dave is probably also in there screaming and attempting to call the police, because I am always in favor of screaming and panicking on musical soundtracks.

The Funeral (Gabriel and Jack)

Begins with Gabriel at the church during the funeral, singing about his vague discomfort being there, but slowly becomes increasingly frantic and anxious, working up to a breakdown where he exits and finally manages to cry for his dad. There's a verse about little things, how they ordered pizza the night before he died, etc., culminating in the bit about him having been in the middle of this mystery novel and never getting to learn who did it; the verse trails off quietly there, backing instruments gone, as Gabriel breaks down. Jack follows to comfort him.

Act II

[Montage song] (everyone)

A montage of the days after the attack, where everyone gets a couple lines about how they're coping, scared and grieving.

Dave's lines are like, spoken slightly too desperate annoyance at having to do some work that Brian didn't get to finish, or rebuking somebody who asks how he's doing by saying he barely even knew Brian. He is not singing along with this kind of grief-porn bullshit, fuck you.

[Villain song II] (Isaac and Jacob)

The brothers come up with a new plan. Isaac is agitated, reprising some of his bits from the original villain song in a quicker, more frantic tempo, while Jacob picks up the slack, walking him through a new idea. Isaac takes to it with conviction and goes back to the original melody/tempo, talking again about his God-given purpose. Jacob does not join in with any of that, only with the bits about the actual plan.

The Kidnapping (instrumental)

I'm just going to say this is on the soundtrack too and contains panicked Gabriel noises because I want it to be.

Storming the Castle Reprise (Jack)

Jack tries to rally the others for a rescue mission, echoing the D&D game from Act I. The lines about storming the castle and taking the leap make a reappearance.

Just Like My Hero Reprise (Jean)

Jean, on the bus, miserably contemplates how she is unlike her hero. Again, it begins with a verse talking about how she looks - not a thing like Sarah Hooter anymore - but then moves on to how she's scared and pathetic and running away, unlike anything a hero would do.

Church Sequence (Will, Jack, Mia)

A single track, largely instrumental/dialogue/sound effects, with a couple of brief song snippets:

- Will reprises "Just Like My Hero" as he wills himself to go on. He is cut off mid-line as he is shot.

- Mia slits that guy's throat and she actually sings a few words, for the first and only time, before she is also cut off mid-line by a gunshot. The line is something about, like, warm blood in her face or the guy's satisfying death throes, reprising part of the melody of "Unique".

Strong (Gabriel)

Gabriel discovers his powers. Starts slowly, calling back to the bits from "Storming the Castle" about lying low, being weak. But as the song continues and he makes his discovery, the tempo builds, and he starts reprising Jack's bits instead: he is strong, taking the leap, storming the castle.

Perish Song (Lucy)

Another brief reprise of "Unique", distorted and deafening and terrifying, mourning her sister.

[In the Hospital] (Jack and Gabriel)

The two of them work out their feelings about what happened. Includes Jack going "It was stupid" (i.e. the rescue mission) and Gabriel responding "It was brave", echoing the bit where they said the opposite in "Storming the Castle". Jack blames himself for how it all turned out, feels stupid and weak, while Gabriel actually felt kind of awesome. (This is also calling back to their opposite bits of "Storming the Castle".) They end with a shared duet verse as they realize they've both got that same innate desire to fight and win. Possibly calls back to the weird, weird kid line from "Fatherhood".

Eulogy (Dave)

Dave's eulogy for Mia (which also touches on Will, but this is Mia's funeral). It reprises "Unique". There will never again be anyone like the two of them, two of the only truly unique people on this Earth. (And, while he doesn't say it straight out because hahahaha, he needed Mia, too).

Taking the Leap (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack's suicide attempt and his swirling inner turmoil as he tries to talk himself into taking the leap once again. Gabriel, of course, comes in with don't take that leap. Am I overusing this one line by putting it in like half the songs in this thing? Well, who's going to stop me.

[Peter/Katherine song reprise] (Peter and Katherine)

The two of them contemplate indefinite house arrest (in contrast to the freedom Peter's enjoyed most of his life) and Katherine's failure to stop all this (despite her sense of responsibility). In the end, they both find their own ways to accept the new state of things and support each other through this.

Finale (Dave and Jean)

After Dave breaks down on his couch and Jean comes in to ask what's wrong, Dave sings a reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, going over the many things he's angry about, because that is the only emotion involved here clearly. At the exact point where Dave's song originally went from there to fantasizing about throwing her off the balcony, Jean throws her arms around him and sniffles "It'll be okay, Dad," and after a stunned "What? Jean, I'm--", he continues with a slow, hesitant *inverted* reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, "Everything'll be fine", constructing a little fantasy reality for her (and himself) where everything turns out all right in the end. It's backed by, like, a simple, quiet, slower piano rendition of the original melody, and trails off at the end, never quite coming to a satisfying conclusion before he tells Jean she should go back to bed.

[ghost-at-the-masquerade]

Recklessly Polite

Rating: G

Count: 1581

Summary: Link is invited to a spring celebration on Death Mountain

It's traditional, Yunobo says. A celebration of the coming of spring. A joyous occasion he can't imagine not having Link participate in. What spring means on a volcano, they haven't yet worked out, but they also haven't worked out how to say 'no' to an invitation.

The gorons around them are cheering something in their own language, each and every one fired up and eager to get started. The racers are all done up in regalia Link's never seen before; smooth golden shoulder guards connected with a sash as red as the depths of the mountain, the goron ruby embroidered on it in gold thread. Much like Yunobo with Daruk's scarf, they all had a unique piece representing their families.

From his spot upon the lip of the volcano, the elder manages to shout over the crowd, quieting even the rowdiest of them to at least a dull roar.

"Brothers!" he cries, his arms raised high, "We have a special guest with us here this year, and one to whom we have a lot to prove!" The elder looks down at Link, all mischief and good humor as he declares, "So give them everything you've got!"

Despite their uncertainty Link nods, and can't help but smile at the uproar of playful teasing that follows. They can only laugh at being jostled by so many large hands.

Yunobo shoots them a warm smile and a pair of thumbs-up before getting into the starting position. Link returns the gesture and braces themself, heart pumping, waiting for the explosion that would signal the start of the race. They adjust the helmet over their head one last time, staring down the long and craggy track. It's more than just the heat that has them sweating.

The force of it so close behind them almost knocks them off their feet, causing them to start a second behind the others. With no time to practice and no intention of participating in the first place, they didn't actually have a plan. Following their first instinct had them throwing themself head over heels into a roll, picking up dangerous and wild momentum almost instantly.

It was impossible to see where they were going; they only caught brief glimpses of gorons around them, both audience and racer - and brief, terrifying flashes of lava as they sailed over it. Though Daruk's blessing and the hardy cloth of their fire-proof suit kept them safe from any real harm, a choked gasp for air was punched out of them with every landing.

After the first slope had thrown them clean over a small plateau, they came to a bruised and bumbling stop with their heels grating against the stone. The crowd gasps and murmurs while Link waits for the pitching and spinning of their vision to slow, at least enough for them to get to their feet. The pack was quickly passing them by. Concerned healers were heading their way, squawking a confounded, "Little brother, what on earth are you doing?"

Link only shrugged and smiled at them, jogging towards the next slope and getting out a rusty shield. Just ahead, they catch a flash of a bright blue scarf, and their target is set.

Sparks fly out behind them on the harsh stone, the grating drowned out by a fresh cheer; they'll take that as approval of their non-traditional methods. Here the ground was beginning to even out, the cracks full of molten lava far less frequent. They wove around the larger stones, gaining speed, gaining ground on the first of their opponents. To their shock, once they were in range, the goron swerved hard in their direction, sharp defensive spikes sprouting from their back and ripping new grooves into the track. The crowd gasped at the aggressive gesture but Link, once they had recovered from the initial shock, only laughed, full and deep in their chest.

Drawing a rock crusher from the infinite depths of their pouch, Link skirted hard toward the stranger. They took a swing once he was in range, a miss that sent them scrambling to counter-balance the momentum of the heavy stone weapon. Countering, however, left them with a dramatic loss in speed that their opponent was eager to take advantage of; rather than just pass them and have it be over, he pulled his arms free and dug hard fingers into stone, leaving his spiny back directly in their path. Link took a sharp gasp of the burning hot air and whipped the crusher out in front of themself.

The spike that made first contact left a jagged gouge in the side of the crusher. The goron howled, though it was hard to say if from pain or just surprise, as the tip of the spike snapped off. This break let them twist away, sailing past their opponent, though he's quick to tear at the earth and start after them again.

Crossing and narrowly missing each other time and again, passing each other and being forced to fall back, the friendly rivalry kept on through most of the open plain. Onlookers held their breath, far more aware of the danger than Link themself. Finally, they felt like they had seen enough, knew enough about his patterns, and Link took one more decisive swing. The hooked end of the crusher caught him in the side, sending him spiraling far out of range, disappearing behind a fork in the track. With a victorious cheer, they tossed their weapon on their back and pressed their weight forward, determined to catch up to their friend before the end.

Soon the pack passed from rocky plain to a narrow pass filled with stone pillars. The other racers disappeared from view, but there was no time to worry about that; the ground was uneven, pitching them unpredictably to and fro, making pillars difficult to reliably dodge. Link crouched low, hoping to take a bit more control. Somewhere off to their left they heard a pained grunt as someone smacked into one of the pillars. Several more were heard as the path took a sharp turn and became ever narrower. Some of the pillars at the edge of their vision even rattled with the impact, sending pebbles scattering down the track like tiny racers.

When at last the pillar-filled pass opened up, it was into the final stretch; a long, steep slope that eased into a plateau at the finish line. Several racers had already finished, and there would be no catching Yunobo before the end, but they could hear the rumbling of numerous others they could still beat.

Glancing back, their eyes widened to see the other racers piling in behind them. More than a few had drawn their spikes and were swerving toward each other. Link's ears stood on end at the sound of metal scraping against itself - or, whatever those spikes were made of. Mentally they leafed through their options, trying to think of any way to go faster and coming up with nothing. Gravity was doing all the work here. They try anyway, almost down on their knees. When they adjust their weight they can feel several spots where the shield has worn dangerously thin.

All they can do now is call on Daruk and hope for the best. His protection dulls some of the noise and the burning wind whipping past them. Link can feel their heart beat with a familiar rhythm. Daruk's voice sounded in their head, growling as a crack formed in the back of the magical dome. They look back again, just in time to catch the goron who had glanced off the barrier. The pack had closed in much faster than they had anticipated, and now a few were pulling ahead, boxing them in.

Just as they hit the last curve leading onto the plateau, their shield finally gave up the ghost, cracking jaggedly down the center. With a sharp gasp they were thrown back into a wild roll. Now waiting on the sidelines, Yunobo watched in utter horror as Link disappeared into the crowd. The hero themself couldn't say much of what happened from there, shutting their eyes against the flashes of red stone and blue sky and terrifyingly close goron spikes.

The avalanche of gorons, Link just barely keeping from getting flattened between them, tumbled at last across the finish line. Some failed to stop and hit the far wall, others ground their hands into the stone and ended up piling on top of each other. Yunobo ran for all he was worth.

"Link!" Yunobo shouted, concern thick in his voice as he pushed through the crowd, literally tossing a few still-rolled gorons aside in his desperation to find them.

Laying on their back, the sky spinning slowly above them, Link raised a thumb for Yunobo to see they were alright.

"Oh, good, what a relief," He sighed, a hand to his chest. Perking up again, he said, "You did amazing, Link! I mean, I knew you would, but wow!"

Link stayed where they were while Yunobo gushed. Daruk's magic had been exhausted, but a few wisps still hovered around them, as if Daruk himself was still curled around them in a desperate attempt to keep them from getting crushed. With a soft, appreciative smile, they closed their eyes for a moment to tell him it was alright now.

Then Yunobo was pulling them to their feet, pushing them toward the final ceremony on legs full of pins and needles.

[commonratmiraculous]

So... Class Rep AU

In a timeline where Volpina happens in May and many of the months Lila’s been in Achu are just the summer holidays - so her truancy is a little less problematic. The class finds out Lila had wanted to run for Class Rep but missed it because she was away, it’s so close to the beginning of the school year that Mlle. Bustier sees no problem in causing a revote following Chameleon, providing Marinette and Alya agree.

Alya’s on board and Marinette agree’s hesitantly thinking that Lila would find a way to turn it on her if she refuses. And it seems that was Lila’s plan anyway given the short-lived look of surprise she has on her face when Marinette does agree. Marinette’s pretty confident that Lila doesn’t want it.

However, Lila manages to fall on her feet again by somehow convincing Alya to be her Deputy. Marinette’s hurt, but ultimately she knows just how much of the work Alya did do as her Deputy in the last year, and knows that if Lila wins they’ll still fail a bit. Because while Alya did help with some of the planning aspects of their events and did show up to help with fundraisers, all of the meetings and forms and communications to hotels and businesses and venues were Marinette’s doing.

Her problem, however, is that most of the class think Lila has connections and experience. And her class might vote for Lila over Marinette because they genuinely thought that Lila was the better choice. She didn’t quite know how to campaign against that and to add salt to the wound she wouldn’t be able to run at all without a Deputy.

Fortunately, she’s not the only one who knows Lila’s a liar. And Adrien is self aware enough to know that Lila becoming Class Rep would lead to a lot of losses for the class that he doen’t want to see them go through. Plagg’s encouraging, and there’s an angle he can play when it comes to his dad (practice for running the company he doesn’t really want, having to attend these events if he helped plan them, etc) - and he ends up seriously considering asking Marinette if he could be her Deputy.

The first person he talks to about it (Plagg not included) is Nino. Nino is 100% on board for any plan that gets Adrien out of the house but Adrien’s aware enough that Marinette does get I comfortable around him, which could well make matters worse.

Nino promises to talk to Marinette about it, because he knows exactly why she gets uncomfortable but honestly believes he can get her to focus if it means helping out Adrien. While he’s thinking about it though he asks Adrien about the thing with the book.

Honestly, Adrien forgot most of the drama surrounding Ladybug calling Lila out and tells Nino as much. He’d certainly forgotten that Alya had put a video on the Ladyblog. But confirms most of the story, though admits that Marinette never told him she returned the book or that Lila stole it in the first place. To him it makes a bit more sense why his dad would let Marinette’s Hat be featured in his fashion show after that and to Nino it does explain why Marinette dislikes Lila.

He’s starting to dislike Lila somewhat.

So Nino talks to Marinette, apologises to her for overreacting but asks if she thinks she’ll be able to work with Adrien if he was her Deputy with her crush being in the way. He explains Adrien’s reasoning about wanting to be more involved in class activities and Marinette agrees.

That’s one problem solved, and goes to give Adrien a bit of a rundown about the responsibilities of being Class Deputy, admitting how much Alya did and assuring him that they could make the workload flexable around his schedule if his father or Nathalie had any problems with that. But right now they need to figure out a campaign plan because she’s at a complete loss with how to actually compete with Lila’s promises however empty they actually are.

Adrien thinks the speech should contain a reminder not just of all the things that Marinette has done for the class but the reason the class voted her in in the first place. Because making promises is one thing but sometimes compromises have to happen due to budgeting reasons. Like with how she’d gotten cushions for the chairs instead of new chairs entirely because at the end of the day it’s those compromises that actually make the school board listen. Marinette adds that they should mention Heroes Day as a time she was honest to God overwhelmed and how it was Adrien that took the initiative to get things done.

The class already know how well Marinette will do in the position, so Adrien suggests she should focus on the speech and letting the others know any plans she’d already started thinking about when it came to the smaller things they asked for. While Adrien will work on actually countering Lila since it would be harder for her to turn things against him them Marinette.

Adrien doesn’t actually start by telling people he’s running as Marinette’s Deputy until they ask if she’ll even be able to run without Alya. Instead he starts by using what the class ‘knows’ about Lila against her.

He mentions his own experience with celebrities and how they don’t actually like being asked for stuff by people who know them. And while Lila sure does seem to mean well he’s worried that all her attempts to fulfill her promises to the class will do is alienate her from those very same celebrities.

He mentions her charity work and the speeches she helps write for her mother and the way she has to go abroad without much forewarning sometimes. This is great for Lila, not so much for a class that might be left with incomplete plans or having to contact people they don’t know, having contacts and plans fall through because Lila isn’t there. Sure Alya could do it, but the Ladyblog also takes up a lot of Alya’s time and a parge chunk of Paris depends on it running well.

He brings up Lila’s many disabilities that need to be accounted for but how much of the work will cause irritation to her arthritis. Or how much work she’ll have to put into plans she cannot actually participate in. He certainly doesn’t want her to become overwhelmed or even more injured for the sake of the class.

He’s got Nathalie to make sure he’s not overworking himself, and Marinette will be able to relax more with him helping her. Why? Because he’s spent enough time around Nathalie to know how to plan things, how to talk to people on the phone, and how to manage his time. Those are all the same skills Lila has and on top of things it will help Marinette learn to do them too further down the line.

Adrien does things this way because, while Marinette creates connections and builds trust as the class’ Everyday Ladybug, Adrien is Chat Noir. And Chat Noir has the power of destruction, so it only makes sense that he’d go about doing things this way. Plagg’s certainly proud and it’s not like it would’ve been possible if Lila had just been honest.

Lila and Alya are the last to know that Marinette and Adrien are running together - which should’ve been impossible considering the girls all jumped onto Adrienette the second they realised just what was happening. And like in Chameleon, Lila takes Adrien’s decision to work with Marinette as a personal attack on her by Marinette. (Rememer Marinette didn’t actually do anything to Lila between Lila’s threat and Lila declaring ‘war’ - and doesn’t that show just how much agency Lila considers Adrien to actually have?)

There’s a time for questions and while many of the questions aimed towards Lila and Alya have to do with what safeguards they’ll have for if Lila has to go abroad again with her mother so things still get done, or what compromises would she have for if her celebrity contacts can’t do something or end up falling though. Do they have any plans for fundraising, since Marinette’s parents had been providing pasteries for free and Chloé had been funding trips before that, and how unfair it would be to ask either of those to continue.

Neither Lila nor Alya had put that much thought into things like that. Though Lila does her best to assure the class her mother isn’t scheduled to leave Paris again and will be scheduled with pleanty of advance for safeguards to put in place closer to the time based on what’s necessary for that specific situation, reminding the class that she’d still managed to keep in touch while in Achu - though some recall she wasn’t able to keep up the work load. And a similar answer is given regarding celebrities dropping out saying that back-up plans will of course be made when things are presented to the school board so they don’t have to worry. While Alya reminds the class that not all of the fundraisers done for school trips ect were bake sales and that it might mean doing more of those to start in order to negotiate a reduced price with the Dupain-Cheng’s for others.

The class ask Adrien and Marinette about their plans for school trips and work experience placements. Marinette admits that she doesn’t have anything lined up in terms of work experience yet, and mostly because she recognises that the class have very different wants in terms of their future careers. While having somewhere like Le Grande Paris on a resemé is definitely a plus everyone in class is old enough by now to be able to do something more specific without having Mlle. Bustier supervising, and to perhaps do so for longer periods of time. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but the plan is to get to the School Board with enough time that the class not only has months to be able to secure a placement but do so with back-up options that are still promising for those who have last minute cancellations. Assuring everyone that tutors and other teachers usually help with securing a placement, and that she and Adrien will help also.

While Adrien steps forward about a possible tour of his dad’s company so everyone gets an inside look on how a business is run. Because many of the class have interests in the arts, it might not sound all that useful but actually, whether someone gets picked for the lead role in a play may depend on how their social media page is set up. Or how to properly market whether it be a game or art or band, those things aren’t particularly easy to do, and they’re things his dad had struggled with when building Gabriel in the first five to ten years of his career.

Lila asks about whether his dad would actually be willing to do that and if he’ll even let Adrien continue being Marinette’s Deputy since Adrien has a packed schedule. Which sounds rather harsh to some people (read: Nino, Chloé, Max, Alix) but Adrien just waves it away. Stating his father would actually be delighted to hear Adrien’s taking an interest in a position that might help him prepare for a more administrative role in the company one day. And that, actually, the HQ isn’t even managed by his father at the moment: it’s run by someone else who has allowed classes to do group tours for years now, though he admits those schools are usually design schools or those focused on the arts, there’s no reason they’d turn down their class so long as everything’s planned properly.

In the end Marinette and Adrien win: and if the new Deputy started filling out forms to request a teaching aide to help Lila in class - given she can’t write her own notes - then that’s Lila’s problem.

[murdereraisuha]

screaming about chapter 5 but more coherently this time

This is gonna cover 1. the recent update’s events in comparison to my previous theories & expectations, 2. the winner of the VDC and Vil’s character development 3. Kalim & Jamil’s character development, and 4. the main story moving forward

Spoilers for everything up to 5-67. Word count: 2117

So, in my “Jamil is Snow White” theory post, I used the events of the original Snow White to try and guess how TWST chapter 5 would correlate to it and what characters would fill what roles (Snow White, huntsman, prince, etc.) in the story.

Originally, I kind of assumed the beginning of chapter 5 would line up to either the beginning of the movie or halfway through when the Queen is already hatching her plan to get Snow White with the poison apple. However, it seems like the movie events have actually been compacted into 5-57 to 5-67.

After the NRC rehearsal, Vil becomes the most beautiful, corresponding to the beginning of the movie when the Queen is still the most beautiful. Then, Neige, out of his natural cuteness rather than hard work and practice like Vil, usurps him, representing the point Snow White becomes the fairest in the land. The next part with the apple juice and Rook coming to the rescue is a mix of the next part of the movie, when the huntsman tells Snow White to run, and the part of the movie with the poison apple. Then, the MC and the rest of the dance team kind of act like the dwarves by fighting the Queen/Vil. However, other than that, everyone follows their corresponding role: Neige is Snow White and Rook is the huntsman.

I think the story as it has played out makes sense. I was initially startled by Vil suddenly going murder mode, but. To work so hard on this song and choreography and training up your team, only to have the media love your lifetime rival who’s only brought an arrange of a kid’s song with clumsy singing and dancing to the table, potentially crushing your plan for victory here... I understand Vil’s feelings here and the sudden, desperate decision to curse Neige.

Rook’s actions after that don’t seem too out of line with what we know about his personality and his unconventional beliefs/actions regarding beauty and Vil’s beauty. Seriously though, wtf please don’t just drink poison. Anyway, I really enjoyed Kalim coming in then. The way he noticed Vil’s face being like Jamil’s before his overblot? The part when he tried to remind Vil that no one drank the juice so Vil hasn’t hurt anyone yet? Good stuff right there.

However, the way things played out also disappointed me somewhat. Though we had a Kalim & Jamil interaction, we still haven’t had a good resolution to their character/relationship development, so hopefully that’s in the final part of chapter 5. Furthermore, though Kalim did slap the apple juice away, I really felt like he and Jamil would have had more involvement with poison/curses in this part considering all the stuff in this chapter about Kalim being poisoned in the past.

There’s also the fact that all Jamil did was evacuate the area, it was Kalim and Rook who were around when Vil overblotted. The pattern of the previous overblot causing the next has kind of been broken. It could mean that the pattern was actually the dorm leader causes the next overblot?? Anyway, I’m hoping that Jamil will have his time in the spotlight in the next part.

-----

So that kind of brings me to the future. First off, who will win the VDC? Personally, I think that it will be NRC. With everyone so enthusiastically proclaiming in 5-67 that they’re going to win the championship, it would feel off for them to fail. From things that Vil has said this chapter, like in 5-37 when he admonishes Deuce that effort isn’t enough to succeed, it seems like the bad route/worst case scenario of Vil’s outlook is to lose hope that his efforts will ever give him success or a happy end. Therefore, the good route would be for him to keep hope, to keep the belief that he can get his happy end, and I think winning the VDC would be the thing that would support this belief. I do not think he would learn much from losing; if he has already lost and got relegated to the role of villain so many times before, one more time would not mean much to him. 

Other people have said that Vil also needs to learn to chill and stop holding people to such high standards, which is something I agree with. Though Epel’s beliefs on masculinity and power were pretty harmful, Vil’s methods of trying to correct those beliefs were also harmful. Vil’s treatment of Epel at the end of Epel’s ceremony robes story seriously left a bad taste in my mouth. The thing is, something or someone would need to prompt a change in Vil’s beliefs for a change to occur. After Deuce and Epel’s  outing, they seem to be pretty chill with Vil, so there aren’t any conflicts in the group. I can’t think of anyone in the team other than Kalim and maybe Ace who would have a strong enough opinion on not pushing yourself too hard that they would try and give that opinion to Vil, and Kalim’s already had a big interaction with Vil in 5-62.

So, I feel like any further Vil character development this chapter would come from an interaction with Neige. Going back to the debate of who will win VDC, we know that Vil resents Neige for always being the hero. If Neige won yet again, would Vil take what he says to heart? However, if Vil won, that would be a new situation. I think that the first things he hears from a Neige that has finally lost would be impactful to him.

I’m not sure though of all this though because of this line in 5-66:

Vil’s saying that throwing a tantrum and taking it out on other people was awful of him. Though it obviously refers to his attempts to murder before and during his overblot, it could also point to an overall shift in mindset regarding how he treats others. His attempts to mold Epel into a poison apple, for example, stemmed from his own ambitions and frustration at Neige, which you could interpret as a sort of tantrum that he then took out on Epel. Vil may have already learned to relax on pushing his high standards on others.

Regardless of if that’s true or not, I personally think that Vil and Neige still have a lot that they could learn from each other, assuming my perception of Neige as being innocent rather than a white lotus is correct. Vil’s team’s performance had a lot of cohesion and rehearsal put into it, but it was very competitive focused. On the other hand, Neige and the dwarves obviously had a lot of fun with their performance. However, it was clumsy and they were ill prepared. Therefore, Vil could teach Neige more discipline and planning while Neige could teach Vil about how to not lose sight of finding joy in your work.

-----

As I have already said, I’m hoping for more Kalim & Jamil stuff in the final part of chapter 5. I originally theorized that something would happen to one of them, probably Kalim, and that would lead to some sort of reveal about their feelings and the chapter would end with them clearly on the trajectory to repair their relationship and really become friends. 

Since nothing happened yet and neither got poisoned/cursed, I think then that the event that sparks the finale of their character development would probably relate directly to the VDC. First off for our possibilities, we have the two’s families watching as Jamil takes the spotlight as a main vocal while Kalim is in the back. Given what we know, I don’t think Kalim’s family would be too happy about that. The conflict from that definitely seems like it could result not only in some sort of understanding between Kalim and Jamil, but also maybe even a change in Jamil or his family’s status. For a less dramatic possibility, we also know from 5-47 that Jamil’s sister will be coming to watch. If she makes an appearance, perhaps she will have some unexpected insight to say that would lead to a discussion & development between Jamil and Kalim.

Finally, my Jamil becomes the most beautiful theory might still be partially true, though idk if that’s just me not wanting to give up on it cause of how funny it would be. Basically, the theory was that, after the VDC performances, the internet/media become super interested in Jamil due to how talented and handsome he is. I originally thought that could serve as a factor for Vil overblot, but now I think it could prompt some discussion & development between Jamil and Kalim due to it serving as a clear example of Jamil finally showing his true ability and by how much Jamil was letting Kalim win. Furthermore, Vil might be affected by an event like that. Though the overblot’s already happened, perhaps something happening with Jamil specifically would lead to something happening between him and Vil, fulfilling the pattern of the previous overblot doing stuff with the next. I’m out of ideas for the Scarabia boys, so let’s continue.

-----

Honestly, I don’t think anything will happen with Idia and Ortho outside of a quick teaser at the very end of the chapter. Considering that we still have to cover all the stuff with the VDC performance and its results and the aftermath of the results, Idia’s presentation thingy might not even happen until chapter 6.  ?

Idk, rn I’m more concerned about the overarching plot with Mickey Mouse than I am about chapter 6 Ignihyde shenanigans. So, we had a little flash of the Queen/Hag during the day, and also we finally discovered that Malleus is Malleus. So things are picking up a bit. I’m not sure if something unexpectedly big this chapter will happen though. I’ve seen people saying that the boss was surprisingly easy so there might be another big battle coming up. I don’t actually play the game so I don’t know anything about that, is it intentional or is it just that the chapter took so long to update that y’all had tons of time to beef up your boys? For me, it did feel like the Vil overblot was the climax of the chapter. With all the other stuff like the VDC results and the Scarabia boys’ character development, I don’t know if there’s any more room. There could be some big new info with Mickey Mouse or Grim’s bad eating habit, but I can’t picture something happening that would warrant another boss battle.

I do have some thoughts on Mickey Mouse, but I think I’ll save my memey ones for another post and wait for the end of chapter 5 before getting my serious thoughts together. Anyway, now a little talk on chapter 6. So, we have 4 options: chapter 6 will be something regarding Idia’s presentation, something regarding Deuce borrowing the magical wheel, something combining those two plot points, or something else entirely. 

Well, for something combining those two, Riddle was the one wanting Idia to go do the presentation in person, right? So, Idia probably doesn’t like Riddle that much. Maybe he wants to make some sort of plan to get back at Riddle. What can he use? 

Uh I just looked back at 5-39 to figure out what exactly is up and one translation says Deuce forcefully borrowed the magical wheel and another says he borrowed it as a huge favor??? The original says 無理言���て借りてきた, deepL translates it as forcibly borrowed, 無理を言って means asking for something unreasonable. What exactly are the circumstances here?

Okay whatever, look, Deuce is in some sort of debt to Ignihyde. Idia could use him since he and Riddle are in the same dorm. Idk my train of thought got wrecked by the translation confusion.

But anyway so we know Deuce is probably gonna be Meg. I’ve never watched Hercules and I don’t know anything about it aside from what I’ve just read on wikipedia. The summary there says that Hercules kills a bunch of monsters and becomes famous then Hades holds Meg hostage in exchange for Hercule’s powers and Hercules accepts the trade but then “Hades reveals that Meg was working for Hades all along” ??? And then in the end though “ Hercules chooses to remain on Earth with Meg”. So what happens, is Meg good or what? Alright it might be better to at least wait for whatever sneak peek of chapter 6 we get at the end of chapter 5 before speculating. Let’s end this here before it gets any longer.

[thewidowsghost]

Chapter 1 - The Sky’s Tsunami

3rd Person POV

In East Los Angeles, California, a young boy is looking in at a group of seven heroes in the window of a shop.

"Ace," the boy's father steps forward, handing his son a hot dog. "Come and get it. What do you say we got out to your Aunt Mindy's this weekend?" he asks. "You and Kisha can swim in the pond."

"Sure," Ace says, continuing to look at the heroes, the legendary Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Black Widow, and her sister, Tsunami.

"You know, you got a birthday coming up in a couple of months," Ace's father tells his son. "Who's your favorite?" he asks.

"I'm okay," Ace returns and his father's gaze saddens and he turns his son around, looking into his eyes.

"Hey," he says. "Things are tight right now, but I'm gonna find something. Not back at the factory, but I got prospects." The man pauses. "You and me - what are we?" he asks.

"We're a team," Ace answers.

"That's right," the man chuckles. "So, who do you -" the man is cut off when a building explodes and he turns, blocking his son from the shrapnel raining down from above.

People scream and they all look up at the burning building. Ash rains from the sky and car alarms blare.

"Are you okay?" the man asks his son. "All right, Ace, look at me. I need you to stay here with Bernie, okay?" he asks, nudging his son towards the hot-dog vendor. "People might be hurt, and I'm gonna see if they need my help. Stay with Bernie! Watch my boy!" the man bolts towards the building and he looks up, running down the side of the building and climbing up the side of the building.

"Help me!"

"Help me!"

"Anybody in the building still?!"

The man reaches the window and he pulls his hood over his head to conceal his identity. He pulls himself through the window and makes his way through the burning interior of the building. Glass shatters. Flames roar. Wood burns.

The man hears a woman whimper, and hearing the man, she yells, "Help me! Help me!"

Part of the burning roof collapses and he grunts, stepping back.

Outside, a young brunette is recording the scene with her phone.

The man jumps out of the burning building as it explodes, landing on the ground, cracking the pavement below.

The brunette goes to follow the man as he runs away, but instead, she turns to check on the woman, sirens wailing.

"What does SHIELD stand for, Agent Ward?" Maria Hill questions the agent.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," Ward answers.

"And what does that mean to you?" Agent Hill asks.

"It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out SHIELD," Ward replies.

A young agent, probably about twenty-four, steps out of the shadows. "That is a very Howard Stark thing to do," the redheaded agent remarks.

"Aah, Agent Rushman," Maria addresses the young woman. "Nice of you to join us."

"It means we're the line," Ward proceeds, and the young woman turns to her brilliant (E/c) eyes on the dark-haired agent, "between the world and the much weirder world. We protect people from news they aren't ready to hear. And we can't do that, we keep them safe. Something turns up," Ward sticks his hand on the inside of his jacket, pulling something out of one of the inner packets, "like this Chitarua Neural Link," he slides it down the table and Hill catches it, "we get to it before someone bad does."

"Any idea who Vanchat was planning to sell it to?" Hill asks.

"I'm more interested in how this Rising Tide group found out about it," Ward says. "I thought they were just hackers. What changed?"

"Everything's changed," Hill states. "A little while ago, most people went to bed thinking that the craziest thing in the world was a billionaire in a flying metal suit. Then aliens invaded New York and were beaten back, by, among others, a giant green monster, a costumed hero from the '40s, and a god."

"As well as a ginger ninja, and an archer," Rushman adds.

Hill raises her eyebrows at the redhead before turning away from both, suppressing a smile before turning back to address Ward.

"I don't think Thor's technically a god," Ward argues.

"You haven't been near his arms. The Battle of New York was the end of the world. This - now - is the New World. People are different. They have access to tech, to formulas, to secrets they're not ready for."

"Why was I pulled out of Paris?' Ward asks, leaning forward.

"That, you'll have to ask Agent Coulson," Hill says and Ward frowns, slouching back in his seat.

"Uh, yeah," Ward says with a false smile. "I'm clearance Level Six. I know that . . . Agent Coulson was killed in action before the Battle of New York. Got the full report."

Agent Rushman flinches a little but no one notices.

"Welcome to Level Seven," Coulson steps into the room and (Y/n) smiles at the man. "Sorry - that corner was really dark, and I couldn't help myself. I think there's a bulb out."

(Y/n), a little later that day, walks out to meet her older sister, Natasha, for lunch.

Natasha smiles warmly at her shorter sister.

"Ready?" (Y/n) asks.

"Yeah, we're just going to the food court," Natasha says.

"Oh, be quiet, Red," (Y/n) says, her (E/c) eyes sparkling.

"You are also a redhead," Natasha points out.

The two bicker affectionately as they walk down to the food court together. After getting their food, the two sit down beside Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, who shakes his head, watching his best friends continue to bicker.

"So, I'm getting put on a SHIELD team," (Y/n) tells her sister and best friend. Then she turns to her sister. "Do you mind looking after Liho for me, Tasha?" she asks.

"Okay, but we live together. In the same house," Natasha points out, her silvery-green eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Yeah, but I didn't want my kitten to starve," (Y/n) tells her sister.

"I wouldn't let Liho starve," Natasha soothes.

(Y/n) relaxes a little, "Apparently, I leave tomorrow morning."

"NoOoO," Clint says, his voice rising throughout the one word. "What am I gonna do?" he wails. "My bestie gonna leave."

"Aww, Clint," (Y/n) turns to look at the man. "I'll visit. I'm not going to leave forever. And you've still got Tasha," she adds. "She'll continue to drive you insane."

Natasha laughs, bumping her sister with a shoulder.

The Romanoff sisters had grown up together in the Red Room, which was strange because they had been the only group of sisters kept together. Natasha had been able to get her sister out before the Graduation Ceremony, which the older redhead was grateful for, being able to save her baby sister from the trauma she had gone through. There was one thing that separated the two sisters. (Y/n) had water and wind powers. Natasha had to guess that they were given to her by the Red Room, but no one could be sure.

Natasha had always been protective of her little sister, but it also went the other way. (Y/n) always made sure Natasha was patched up after missions, learned to cook as Natasha didn't know how; also attempted to teach her sister. Natasha had actually managed to pick up a few cooking skills from her baby sister.

Natasha and (Y/n) return home that night, (Y/n) making her way to the kitchen to start dinner, Natasha sitting down at the barstools at the counter.

"I'm gonna miss you, you know," Natasha says, a watery smile spreading across her face.

(Y/n) sniffs and walks over, wrapping her sister in a tight hug.

"I know love's for children, and all," (Y/n) says, making fun of what they'd been taught. "But I love you, Nat."

"I love you, too kiddo," Natasha returns. "But I also love dinner," she says and (Y/n) bursts out laughing, drying her tears before returning to the kitchen.

Liho, their black kitten, pads out and streaks over to (Y/n), nuzzling her companion's leg.

Natasha gets up from her barstool and walks over, pulls Liho's tub of food out of the pantry, and gives Liho a scoop before opening a can of wet cat food, dumping half a can into Liho's bowl before putting the remainder of the can in the fridge.

"Look at you, being all responsible," (Y/n) says, nudging her sister with an elbow.

Word Count: 1410 words

So yeah, here's the first chapter of my Skye (Daisy Johnson) x Fem!Reader.

(Y/n) and Natasha are sisters, which makes me happy inside.

Also, (Y/n) does have powers, wind and water, leading to her name, Tsunami.

Anyway, I love you guys so much! ❤️❤️

Love,

           Kaitlynn ❤️😍

[dabis-devil]

Could you pretty please do Shinso, Dabi, Overhaul, Kirishima, Shiggy, Bakugo and Tamaki with an S/O with is a ballet dancer and looks fragile but can actually kick ass? Sorry for the long ask but I just really adore you’re stuff!!!!!

Pretty Poison

Aw, thank you anon! Okay, I'd just like to apologize for holding off on my asks. I've seen busy and not feeling well lately, but I'm getting to my requests now! Love you all 🖤

Shinsou Hitoshi

Shinsou is an observational guy

He figured you weren't as innocent as you looked before you proved him right

All of which he figured out with distance.

When set to spar together, he was avoiding all of your agile moves, each one of your attacks

You were pressed to do give it your 100%

With a swing, you attempted to go for his neck with your fist, the purple haired man catching your fist.

He tried to get a blow at your torso, you swatted his fist.

when you tried a strike with the other, he caught that one too.

His leg scooped in the back of your knees, the two of you toppling to the ground.

Toshi is a good boi, he made sure you wouldn't get hurt before he went through with such a calculated move

“ oh kitten- ” he chuckled, tired eyes lock in onto your own. “ nobody expects this of you. . Only fools will underestimate you. ” his tone was eerie

You used your propped up knee to push yourself over. Turning the tables, Toshi on bottom now. “ nice to know. ” you mumbled with a savage smile.

Next thing you know you were helping each other up and leaving the training grounds.

Its when you and Shinsou went on your first date that he learned you were a dancer.

He didn't seem too phased honestly, but he thought it was cool!

“ Can I go to your next recital? ” he asked, thumb brushing against your cheekbone.

You said yes

Before the start of the recital, your eyes wandered endlessly around the stadium.

' where is he? ' your lips curling into a frown.

Maybe he decided he didn't care?

Little did you know, he was in the front row. Just dressed in a suit. . Classy Shinsou is rare

When you leaped across the stage, his large purple orbs followed your angelic form like a puppy eyeing a treat.

He isn't one to pump you up with compliments, but when you finally realized he was staring with a strong force of admiration, that said all.

He would stand and applaud afterward, meeting you in the back room for a bland congratulations and soft hug.

He'll be at every single recital

Every. One.

Dabi

Your innocence was cute, don't get him wrong

But his goal was to corrupt you.

He would place wondering hands on your body, expecting you to become a shell of a human and color to drain from your face

Instead your expression turned playful as you prompted him

Sinful things probably followed

And that's how he learned you werent fragile

With that in mind, this man had nO control

You already know a relationship with him entails dirtiness to keep it sPiCy

And I kid you not, your gracefulness drives him over the edge

Your movement was so controlled it's just- *chefs kiss*

The part of the town the compound was in definitely wasn't a good part of town

So you got harrased :((

“ hey pretty lady, ” a drunk man cooed, his large and sweaty hands running down your arm. “ come with me to the back. . ” he smiled and roughly tugged at your arm.

You could have easily shown this man a piece of your mind. The ghastly shrieks that filled the air stopped you though.

Dabi melted his face off, then left with you like nothing happened.

This why people don't mess with you anymore

Again, this is what makes the two of you a good team. He has your back, you have his, but you can both take care of yourselves.

He didn't really care to know you danced

It's just a hobby, when should he care? Do what you want.

If you dragged him off to recitals or anything don't be surprised if you see him playing on his phone or otherwise not paying attention.

Gives 0 fucks.

If for any reason he is watching

Probably because he think you look sexy.

Maybe it's the outfit, maybe it the way your body flows, who knows?

If you come to him bothered that he doesn't like your dancing, he will either

reassure you that he thinks you look incredibly sexy when you dance, and try to pay a little more attention to your routines

No promises^

Or

Brush off your feelings and move on

Really isn't his cup of tea but A for effort

Bonus: he's asked you to dance on/for him

You're a dancer, of course you know how to lap dance. Of CoUrSe.

Idiot

“ doll, why don't you come show me some of those moves? ” he asks cheekily, already leading you back to the bedroom.

You still did. And you did well. So that's a win on his part-

Overhaul

Kai could appreciate your dancing, there was some sort of elegance in it.

The way your body moved from one figure to another just had his eyes drawn to you like magnets.

The fact that he kidnapped you for entertainment was besides the point

Well initially

You were given the option to leave, but you didn't.

Same offer does NOT apply now that you made your choice

The reason you were taken is for your doe eyes and soulful smile

You put up a damn good fight

But in the end you were being jumped by a few gang members.

Not to mention your escape attempts?

So thought out, and you came this close to busting out of the secret door each time.

Kai’s eyes burned holes hrough your skull when you were restrained to your bed.

“ love, why would you try to leave me? You know bad things could happen. . ” his tone sent goosebumps down your back

He's just possessive

Other than that, you can pretty much do what you want

So long as you stay in base

He turned a room into a dance studio for you

That's just how he shows affection.

he wants to sit and watch you dance until your knees buckle.

You bet your ass he will too.

“ where are you going? ” his eye brows knitted. “ I'm not done watching. ” he growled lowly, as you returned to your craft with a pout.

But that's fine,,,,

Even though he's not a huge fan of touching you

He gives the best massages.

(I'm actually so so sorry for this one, I haven't written Kai and oh my gOd I need to fix this characterization)

Eijiro Kirishima

This beautiful rock man

He thinks you are so adorable.

Literally precious okay, even before romantic ties developed

But when you become a badass out of nowhere, he's kinda stunned

You turned to Mineta and told him off for objectifying you, finishing that confrontation with a kick right to his crotch.

The grape boy wheezed and began to cry, but you walked off unbothered.

Of course Kiri, who had been on his way to save you from his perverted classmate, was like- “ huh?? ”

You being anything but reserved was a new emotion.

He didn't mind of course, he was excited to learn more about you.

And when he learns you're a dancer?

Oh boy.

Eiji supports you. Without a question!

And that's on being manly.

He shows up with roses to every single recital you have, dressed in fine attire, and will be the loudest person in the crowd.

“ WOoOOo!! YOU DID AMAZING Y/N! I LOVE YOUU!! ” He shouted from the top of his lungs.

Actually the first time he said I love you

Lowkey has good moves himself

You'll see that when he's dancing around the dorms to some cheesy music denki or Mina played

If you need help with a move he will put sweat, blood, and tears into perfecting it with you.

He literally won't shut up about you

When he's with his friends?

“ she's so beautiful! You should see her dance too! ” he gushed

Family?

“ y/n is so amazing. . (More babbles about you) ”

A wall?

“ I love y/n so much- ”

Just love him back okay

Tomura Shigaraki

This crusty man has his head in the game and all, but he totally swept you to the side.

He wants things to be blunt and direct

So when you were over there looking like a pure angel he just thought you were

As apart of the liberation front, he expected you to be there for covert missions, and not throw yourself into battle

But when you were over here taking out three heroes simultaneously??

It dawned on him that you were so much more useful.

It had been a late night and Shigs couldn't sleep, so he planned to hang out with you.

Your light shone under the crack of your door, prompting him to ask for your company

He placed a soft knock on your door to which there was no reply.

Instead, the melody of soft classical tunes drifted to his ears. The door creaked open, allowing the blue haired man a peak of insight as to what you were doing.

He saw your figure parading around the room in small leaps, harmonious twirls, and gentle hand movements.

His crimson eyes widened at what he saw. Not only did he realize how beautiful you are, but you were so soothing to watch?

For a little while he will beat around the bush

“ y/n, what were you up to last night? ” he asked, sounding as innocent as a mere child. “ hmm? ” his hands weaved together under his chin, leg swing in under his barstool.

Like when you already know something but you ask somebody anyways just to see what they would say yknow

He would make this one of his favorite things to do, watch you dance.

Over time you caught him staring through your door, and you weren't exactly happy about it

“ tomura! ” you squeaked, catching a glimpse of his florescent red orbs.

You raced over to the door, pausing your music with a fast tap to the pad of your phone.

“ why were you watching me? ” you frowned at your boyfriend, your shoulders building tense.

“ y/n. . ” he mumbled, hand searching for his agitated neck. “ I just couldn't look away. ”

Katsuki Bakugo

Bakugo did not underestimate your abilities. Ever.

From his experiences, he knows not to judge a person's abilities until you get a taste of what they can do.

He tried so hard to manipulate you into using your quirk, or just not being the peaceful person you came off as.

He faaaaailed

When you got to knew him better, you didn't hesitate to mop the floor with him.

He's impressed by your effort, so points there

He definitely liked your soft persona, on the contrary to his.

He won't tell you that though.

The closer you two got, the more he would step in to defend you and stick by your side.

The one time you snapped on somebody, he was left shaking in his boots.

He hasn't seen you behave like that. . He liked it 😏

Now don't get me wrong-

Baku didn't care for your dancing.

He didn't give a single fuck, okay

But whenever he actually saw your graceful dances on stage???

Consider him your biggest fan

But you wouldn't ever find that out. At least he thoughts so.

“ I have another recital tonig- ” you were cut off by an irritated Baku.

“ if you want me to go, just ask, dumbass! Stop whining. ” he snapped, leaving you blinking and dumbstruck

go off lord explosion murder-

He's in the front row just sitting there like

W O W

You already know he'll praise you for your preformance, whether those compliment were backhanded or of pure intent.

And if anybody dare thinks about down talking your dancing? They will be ripped. ..He would tear them apart with him bare hands. no cap.

If you absolutely amaze him, you will get the one in a lifetime chance to watch him stand up and scream your name with a proud grin, something along the lines of-

“ LOOK AT Y/N! (pronoun)'S DOING FUCKING AMAZING, JUST FUCKING LOOK AT MY BABY- ” his hand directed towards you, and you couldn't help but burn a shade of deep rose.

Tamaki Amajiki

Before you two were in a relationship, you had him fooled.

Like Tamaki, you look like a cinnamon roll, but can murder somebody.

You are commonly underestimated, which gives you the upper hand. A lot.

Tamaki taught you how to use that

Training with him was just so sweet.

He'd be scared to hurt you though

Let's add to the fact that since you like like an easy target, you would probably get messed with.

He would be the first to step in and protect you

Despite the fact his hands are shaking, and he stutters a mess.

“ my suneater. . My hero. ” you planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

Here lies Tamaki Amajiki, Rest In Peace

Don't even get me started on your dancing.

He loves it! Absolutely melts his heart.

When he watches you at recitals, rehearsals, maybe even in the dorms, he feels the depth of your movement.

He becomes a flustered mess in the distance,,,,

“ I can't believe thats my bunny, she's doing so well! ” he quietly cooed from the audience.

He will not miss any of your recitals. Unless it's an emergency.

Even then, get prepared for massive cuddles when he gets back.

He'll feel guilty about not being there, he's more upset than you are.

“ Tama it's fine- ” you chuckled softly, cradling your boyfriend in a hug.

“ are you sure bunny? I'm sure you did amazing, and I missed it! ” he whined, fighting the urge to plant his face onto a wall and never look back.

Other than tons of extra love after a missed performance, he will without a doubt dress fancy and bring you a bouquet and some little gifts.

100/10 will pepper you with compliments

Honestly he's an angel

[evilrubberducke]

IzuMina Week Day 4- Closet Full of Love

Well, it took me almost a week longer than I wanted to, but I finally have the fourth prompt done. The week may be over, but I’m going to keep going till I’m finished.

Read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418139 Or on FF.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13530836/4/IzuMina-Week-2020

Izuku was sure that the sound of his beating heart could be heard across the entire campus. Sweat dripped from his brow, and his hands felt clammy despite his numerous attempts to wipe them off on his pants.

“M-Mina,” he whispered as loudly as he dared, “a-are you almost done?”

“Just... one… second…” Mina grunted, struggling to make herself understood around the sheet of tin foil currently clenched in her teeth.

Izuku still wasn’t sure how he’d let himself be talked into the escapade. Mina was persuasive, yes, but this was a bit beyond his usual boyfriend duties. Somehow, though, she’d made it seem like an opportunity to become a better hero, instead of just pranking their teachers.

She had described it as “Training his observational skills, as well as his ability to stay cool under pressure”. He suspected she’d asked Yaoyorozu to help her come up with some fancy terms for the activities, ones that were sure to grab his attention.

In reality, she had him keeping an eye out for any teachers returning to the teacher’s lounge early, while she wrapped their desks entirely in tin foil. She’d already finished with Midnight, Present Mic, and All Might’s desks, but Aizawa’s tendency to pile things haphazardly on his desk, forming great piles that threatened to fall over at the slightest touch, was slowing things down significantly. 

Izuku was about to tell her to simply leave it when his worst fears came true. The unmistakable laughter of Present Mic echoed down the hall, causing Izuku’s stomach to bottom out instantly.

He peeked around the corner as far as he dared, then whipped his head back around as he spotted their enthusiastic English teacher, as well as Midnight walking down the hall towards them. There was always a chance that they weren’t heading towards the teacher’s lounge, but Izuku highly doubted that, considering his luck.

“Mina!” he hissed as loudly as he dared, “Present Mic and Midnight are coming!”

She looked up from Aizawa’s desk with a scowl. “Nuts! I was almost done, too. C’mon Izuku, time to blow this joint!”

She hopped to her feet, grabbing the bag with the remaining rolls of tin foil, and grabbed his arm. She hadn’t been quite clear on how they would escape in such a situation, simply assuring Izuku that she had a plan. Now, it seemed, he was going to see it in action.

To his surprise and trepidation, she made her way over to one of the outside windows and popped it open in one swift motion. As she did, Izuku realized that her plan was to have them jump out the window and run for their lives before the teachers could catch them. He’d certainly pulled crazier stunts during his time at UA, but the idea of jumping out a third floor window still made him antsy.

“Mina, maybe we should just—”

“Get down!” Mina suddenly hissed, pushing him away from the window.

“What is it?”

“Hound Dog is eating lunch down there.”

Now that she said it, Izuku could hear the sounds of lips smacking vigorously and exclamations of pleasure. Apparently whatever the guidance counselor was eating, it was quite delicious. 

The small seating area directly below the teacher’s lounge window was fairly isolated from the rest of campus, surrounded by high shrubbery and tall trees, making it the perfect place to eat in peace. Izuku had slipped away to sit there a few times during his first few weeks on campus when the hustle and bustle of the class got to be too much for him. He figured that Hound Dog used the space to eat freely, since the hero seemed to be a little worried about scaring people with his powerful jaws.

The sounds of eating weren’t the only things Izuku could hear, however. Present Mic’s voice had been joined by the clicking sound of Midnight’s heels as she marched down the hall. They were much louder than an ordinary pair, leading Izuku and the rest of the class that her heels were tipped with metal so that she could use them for combat, as well as for fashion.

“Got any bright ideas Izuku?” Mina asked, turning to face him. 

He racked his brain furiously for a solution to their predicament. Truthfully, they would probably be fine if they were caught. Present Mic was always telling jokes in class, so he would probably find the whole thing hilarious. Midnight was harder to predict, but she probably wouldn’t do anything too ridiculous to them with her colleague right there. That said, Izuku would still prefer not to be remembered as the guy who got caught trying to prank the teachers.

If they tried to sneak out the door, they would run straight into their teachers, and the window would be just the same, which meant exiting the classroom was a no go, unless he wanted to burst his way through a wall.

Finally, Izuku’s eyes alighted on a large closet in the corner of the room. It was big enough for two people to fit inside, assuming the closet wasn’t already full, and they didn’t mind being a little close to each other. 

“Over here!” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the closet.

The teachers apparently used it for coat storage, which worked out perfectly for their purposes, since there was still room for them to hide in. Izuku recognized the jacket for All Might’s suit, as well as what seemed to be a spare trench coat for Ectoplasm. Before he could puzzle through who owned the rest of the coats, Mina stepped into the closet, shoved the garments to the side as best she could, and pulled him in after her before shutting the door behind them.

It was a tighter squeeze than Izuku had been initially hoping for, and he found himself pressed tightly against Mina in order to remain hidden in the closet. His nose was pressed into her hair, letting him smell her shampoo with every inhale, and he could feel her own breath on his neck in a way that was very distracting. The tips of her horns rubbed against his forehead as well, just gently enough to remind him of their existence without irritating his skin.

He swallowed hard. This was absolutely not the time to be distracted by how pretty his girlfriend was. Instead, he ran over hero factoids in his head, hoping that they would distract him from his current predicament. They, unfortunately, did not, but the arrival of their teachers into the lounge did.

“You’re pulling my leg Hizashi. There’s no way you actually got him in that outfi— what the heck happened here?”

“Looks like you and All Might got pranked!” Present Mic said, with obvious levity in his voice, “That’s what you get for teasing the kids, instead of befriending them. I, on the other hand, am their favorite tea— oh come on, not me too!”

“They even got Shouta,” Midnight said, “Do you think he’ll bother taking the tin foil off of anything he doesn’t need to use right away?”

Present Mic snickered. “Probably not. It ‘Wouldn’t be logical’!” he said, doing a truly horrendous imitation of Aizawa.

Midnight laughed as well. “That sounds like him. How long do you think he’ll leave his desk tin foiled for anyways? My bet’s on at least two weeks.”

“Nah, it’s gonna take him at least three,” Present Mic replied. His statement was quickly followed by the sound of tearing tin foil, indicating that the Voice Hero had begun to clear his desk off.

“I’ll take that action,” Midnight said, “Hows 5000 yen sound?”

“Hah! You still owe me from our last bet. Settle up, and we’ll talk.”

Midnight scoffed. “What, do you think I’m not good for it?”

“I think you’re still sore about me calling Kaminari and Jirou hooking up.”

Izuku’s eyes widened, and he felt Mina’s breath catch. Had they really just heard that? Were the teachers betting on which members of their class would end up dating?

“Am not!” Midnight said, sounding rather scandalized, “Besides, you’re the one who’s down a pair. I still called Uraraka and Tsuyu, as well as Ashido and Midoriya.”

He shouldn’t be horrifically surprised, but Izuku still felt his stomach do a small flip at hearing his and Mina’s names come up in the conversation. The sensation only heightened at Present Mic’s reply, however.

“Called nothing! You cheated with those two, and you know it!”

“I didn’t cheat,” Midnight said indignantly, “I just put them together on a project. If that caused their teenage hormones to blossom into a relationship, well then they were probably going to end up there anyways. I just hurried things along.”

Izuku remembered the project she had mentioned well. Their class had been split into pairs and assigned to analyze a famous hero’s costume, how it changed throughout the years, and which elements had been successful and which had been mistakes. It had been quite the long term project, requiring weeks of research and many meetings in order to analyze their findings and put them together into the final paper.

It was during one of these meetings that Mina had asked Izuku out for their first date. Apparently she had gotten tired of his many blushes and general awkwardness around girls, and had decided to confront it head on by taking him on a date. 

It hadn’t gone perfectly, but they had enjoyed themselves enough that they had gone on a second date the next week. And the one after that. When they hit nearly two months of consistent weekend dates, even Izuku had to admit what the rest of the class, as well as Mina, had known long ago. The two of them had become an item.

Since that point they had been pretty much inseparable, to the delight of the rest of their class. Or most of them, at least. Mineta still referred to Izuku as a traitor whenever he saw Izuku and Mina being affectionate.

And now, for the first time, Izuku was questioning all that. Did their relationship even count, if it had just been set up for a bet in the first place? He knew he cared for Mina deeply, and nothing was going to change that, but what if this revelation changed her feelings towards him? Would he even be able to handle the heartbreak? 

He still remembered the day that he had finally admitted to himself that he and Bakugou were no longer friends. It had torn him apart, to the point that he hadn’t been able to eat anything for almost two weeks. It had felt like the entire world would fall apart at any minute, just like his own world had shattered. 

What would it even feel like to lose Mina in the same way, to not have her constantly cracking jokes that made him snicker during class, or surprising him with hugs when he was least expecting it, or the myriad of little things that she did that made his days so much brighter. 

Before his thoughts could travel any further down that dark rabbit hole, Mina’s left hand slipped into his own and she squeezed it tightly. Slowly, so as not to give away their hiding place, her other arm came up and wrapped itself around him, turning their already tight squeeze into a full embrace. 

Then, Izuku felt a tickle on his back as Mina traced a finger across it. At first, he thought it was an idle gesture, but as it went on he realized she was tracing something onto his back. It took him a few repetitions to realize what she was writing, since he had to mentally reverse the characters, but when he finally did, he was glad that the darkness of the closet hid his burning blush. 

She was tracing the words “I love you” over and over again, her hand sure and steady with each stroke. Her calm attitude, and the assured way she continued to tell him that she cared for him no matter the circumstances that had caused them to come together in the first place helped to calm his mind. 

Slowly, his stomach began to untwist itself, and his body relaxed. He hadn’t realized how much he had tensed up just then. Or how much of the outside world he’d been tuning out.

Present Mic and Midnight had moved on from their betting on classroom relationships, and were now discussing an upcoming meeting they were both dreading. Apparently Principal Nedzu had called a surprise meeting for that weekend, and had refused to elaborate on the reasoning behind it. Apparently all their teachers were concerned about what it could be about, and were on their best behavior as a result.

It was while listening to them talk that Izuku realized the chances of Mina and him getting out of the teacher’s lounge without being seen were dropping by the second. Soon enough, it wouldn’t just be Midnight and Present Mic in the room, and if that happened, things would only get more awkward. Izuku knew he would have to explain how he had been roped into the prank, and why they had chosen to hide instead of owning up to it. He couldn’t bear to think about how All Might would look at him in such a situation.

He had already opened his mouth to announce their presence when salvation arrived in the form of one of the second years that Izuku vaguely remembered from the sports festival bursting into the teacher’s lounge.

“Professor Midnight, Himura and Mori are fighting again! They’re delaying our training, and Ectoplasm needs you to help knock them out before they break another wall.”

Midnight’s sigh was audible, even from Izuku and Mina’s hiding spot. Even still, they heard the distinctive click of her heels as she rose to her feet and prepared to break up the fight. 

“Need some backup?” Present Mic asked, “Those two can be quite the handful.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Midnight said, “I swear, one of them is going to end up in handcuffs one of these days, and not the fun kind.”

“You said it, not me.”

Izuku let out a sigh of relief as the pair finally exited the lounge, leaving it empty except for Mina and himself. He popped out of the closet as soon as he thought the teachers were out of earshot, and stretched. After the tension, both emotional and physical, that he had been under, the stretch was exactly what he needed and it helped him hide the massive blush that was still evident on his face.

A quick tap on his shoulder caused him to turn around and face Mina, whose own face was dusted with lilac. She might be much better at showing affection than he was, but that didn’t mean she was immune to embarrassment. He imagined stating her feelings that openly had taken a lot of courage on her part, as well as a lot of trust in him.

It was the least he could do to respond in kind.

“You feeling better Izu—”

Before she could finish her question, Izuku stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. Then, mustering every bit of willpower he possessed, he pressed his lips against her ear and whispered the words that were still singing in his heart.

“I love you too.”

He felt a sudden surge of heat rise off of Mina’s cheeks as she blushed furiously. She spluttered slightly, trying and failing to say something in response to his words.

For the first time since they had started dating, Izuku understood why Mina was always teasing him. Being able to render her speechless and blushing with just a few words was a heady feeling, and one he didn’t often get to experience. Occasionally he would make her blush by accident, but moments like that were few and far between. Now, though, he thought he might try and make them a bit more common. If nothing else, Mina certainly seemed happy about it.

Before they could say anything else, the lounge door opened with a bang.

Izuku leapt back from the embrace as though he had been scalded, his heart thundering with a mix of anxiety and embarrassment. They might have only been hugging, but he still felt as though he had been caught doing something naughty.

That feeling only doubled when he saw who had walked in on them. Aizawa stood in the door, the late afternoon sun behind him somehow accentuating his normally gaunt appearance until he looked like a ghost out of one of Mina’s favorite horror movies.

“Not the ‘surprise’ I was expecting,” he said flatly, glancing back and forth between Izuku and Mina.

“S-surprise, sir?” Izuku said, his already overwhelmed brain struggling to process his teacher’s words.

“Nemuri told me there was a surprise waiting for me in here. From the way she was grinning, I was sure it was something ridiculous again, not just a pair of hormonal teenagers.”

Izuku wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. He already felt lightheaded from all the excitement of the day, and it didn’t seem like things were going to be getting better anytime soon.

“You two have something you need, or can I actually get some work done?” Aizawa asked, finally stepping into the room.

Before he could get far enough inside to see his desk, Mina stepped forward to address him.

“We’re good. Midnight totally just helped us out. We’ll get going now. C’mon Izuku!”

She grabbed his arm, and started to drag him out the door. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite make it out before Aizawa spoke up.

“Ashido, you forgot this,” he said, holding up the bag of leftover tin foil that she had left lying near the window in her haste to hide.

“Oh, uh, that’s not—”

“Don’t waste my time. Take the bag, get out, and don’t try anything like this again, got it?” Aizawa said, tossing the bag to Mina.

She barely managed to catch the bag, then stared at Aizawa in confusion. “That’s… it?” she asked, obviously not quite believing this wasn’t some elaborate ruse to trick her into admitting to the prank.

“That’s it, unless you have some sort of rule transgression you’d like to confess to…?”

“Nope!” Mina said quickly, “No confessions here!”

“Thank you, sir!” Izuku called back, as Mina dragged him out of the room.

---

Shouta clicked his tongue as the two hustled out of the room, relieved that he hadn’t thrown them into a week-long detention. He had been tempted to do it, just to make an example of them so none of their classmates would get uppity and try to pull their own pranks on him.

The only reason he hadn’t was a small voice at the back of his head, one that he hadn’t heard in many, many years. It told him to relax a little, to stop being so uptight about everything and to just go with the flow.

He pulled his desk drawer open, not even bothering to remove the tin foil first, and reached into the very back to grab a yellowed and weathered picture. 

Shirakumo had snapped the picture against Aizawa’s will after dragging him along on a quest to steal every chair from the teacher’s lounge during their second year. He hadn’t succeeded, of course. Eventually someone had noticed the cloud filled with office chairs floating outside the teacher’s lounge and had reported them. 

The principal, Nedzu’s predecessor, had given them both week long detentions, staggered so they wouldn’t be able to pass the time with each other. Aizawa had never admitted it, but those two weeks had been some of the longest in his life. Even if Shirakumo had been the biggest pain in his ass after Mic, Shouta had still missed their interactions.

During one of those detention sessions, Shirakumo had decided on where he was going to train for his work study, as he had proudly proclaimed when he and Shouta had finally been reunited. Apparently time to think had given him the inspiration he needed.

Shouta had always wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t gone along with the prank. Maybe things would have been different, and Shirakumo would still be there. Or maybe he would have sacrificed himself somewhere else, like the brave idiot he had been.

Shouta stared at the picture, and a small smile crept across his face. Painful as the memories of Shirakumo were, he still remembered how bright the constant jokes and pranks had made his life.

“Why did I put up with you?” he whispered, already lost in recollections of a better time.

[larissa-the-scribe]

World Tour: Kosmyldar (5/5)

[Long post incoming, but it’s mostly story summaries]

While on one hand this world isn’t as creative as some of my other worlds, this is perhaps the one with the most details simply due to it being my “main” world, the world where a large majority of my stories take place. It is also unique in another aspect: unlike the other worlds mentioned up to now, space travel is a thing here. That being said, the planet where most of the stories take place doesn’t have space travel capabilities (at the moment anyway), so it’s not really something that comes up. There are a few stories set in space, though, unrelated to that one planet.

Any extra worldbuilding will be dealt with in the context of its connected story. What you need to know for now is what exists of the magic system (still in development). Basically, it boils down to a tier system, where every tier higher has new abilities gained. I do not currently know if it’s genetic or if it’s random [side note, in Mirrajers magic is genetic but mirrajing is random]. You cannot switch tiers, as that would be to gain abilities you were not born with any capacity to use. Innate magic exists as well as cast magic, depending on tiers. Bottom tier, the most common type of magic, includes physical enhancements (like increased speed, or strength). There is also some elemental magic, but it doesn’t follow the same ‘four element’ pattern - it mostly just means abilities that are connected to something that exists in nature, like ice, or lightning, or clay. Again, it depends on the tier. Higher tiers include non-elemental/natural abilities, like cast magic or telekinesis-esque abilities.

As for stories, there are, essentially, five longer series and a number of “one-shots” - either duologies or standalone stories - as well as a few short stories.

The first series on the planet Raskarr (or at least the first that comes chronologically) is about a young cripple girl, the daughter of a renowned general and king who believes that she is cursed; more specifically, a curse on him. Despite growing up in that (not so) loving environment, she grows up to be a brilliant military strategist - and the continent’s best chance against the invading army known as the Wolves. [tag: #Klarnbyr]

The next long series is more episodic, generally focusing on a different person/lifetime in each book. The first story is about Redrose, a hotheaded young archer whose family gets killed in a war between Safyre and Qwouse. At first seeking revenge, she trains to fight in the army and engage her enemies on the battlefield; but it soon becomes more than a personal vengeance quest as she is given the responsibility of caring for a small squadron of misfit guerrilla warriors. [tag: #Safyre]

The third (and my personal favorite) is set in the country of Kaslay. The first few books deal with the main characters getting involved in a civil war, caused by a former folk hero turned villain. There’s Lenesse, the idealistic warrior with undiscovered power, hoping that maybe there’s a way for her formerly idolized hero to be redeemed; Andren, a cynic, who’s just hoping to keep his three younger siblings safe in a war that’s too big for any of them; Tresha, a staunch pacifist planning on being the greatest field medic in the army; Esyin, a genius strategist struggling to find his place in his family and the army; and Narin, the wise-cracking youngest who’s terrified out of his mind, but is more afraid of being a liability to the ones he loves - he hopes to someday to be the one saving others for a change. 

Andren, Tresha, Esyin, and Narin are all siblings (order of oldest to youngest). Lenesse is a close childhood friend of theirs, but she is from a different family and has two much younger brothers back home, one by blood and one by adoption. [tag: #Kaslay]

Crossovers are also a thing in this universe.

A standalone (that also happens to be my longest WIP) is set long after the events in Kaslay, in a smaller, more remote country called Nyviu. A boy goes missing, just before a war starts between Nyviu and the FireClan (no relation to the Fire Nation); the only people who either know or care are his cousin and a group of friends. Despite a city-wide lockdown, the group ventures into the mountains to attempt a rescue - but that goes south quickly when they are captured by the FireClan and accused of  trespassing and espionage. However, they just might find an unlikely ally in the person of a young, dissatisfied FireClan soldier who dreams of a future where she can live, peacefully, in a world beyond the FireClan caves. [tag:#Nyviu]

I have the first and a half (rather terrible) drafts of that one done, but I’m currently working on another project that I want to finish before I get back to it.

Moving to space, we have the story of Jarryd, a half-”dragon” (actually an alien) hybrid who serves a sorcerer studying the effects of magic and abilities in different people/species, through... well, let’s call them experiments. Jarryd works as a bodyguard/spy/“talent scout”. While on an unrelated trip, he runs into a girl (Ashley) who seems to have multiple strong abilities - but those abilities clearly don’t conform to what’s known of magic’s tier system. Originally approaching her in order to “acquire a new test subject” (as his employer/grandfather terms it), he unwillingly ends up as close friends with her - which, while it doesn’t initially stop him from doing his job, does lead to him more closely investigate the organization he’s been blindly working for since he was a kid. [tag:#Jarryd&Ashley]

The other space-based trilogy is one of the latest stories, chronologically speaking. It follows a former headhunter (bounty-hunter) who, after an encounter with a target that goes wildly off-track, undergoes a redemption arc - and as a result reluctantly joins a small band of rebels fighting a powerful shadow organization with a stranglehold on all major systems. [tag:#headhunter]

[shima-draws]

Shima can you pls hit us with some anime recs?? ówò

OH YELL HEAH I GOTCHU FAM

Putting all this under the cut because inevitably it got long lmao

Eden of the East

Eden’s one of those animes where you start watching and then decide you’re not going to stop until you finish it. It’s absolutely binge worthy and has such a unique concept with a lot of mystery and romance sprinkled in here and there!

Eden of the East is about a girl named Saki who goes to Washington to visit the White House. There she meets a boy named Takizawa who, for some reason, shows up completely naked, and just had his memories wiped, so he has no idea who he is. As Takizawa and Saki start to bond, Taki starts to put together the pieces of his past. Apparently before his memory got wiped he was involved in a “game” with 11 other people, and each of them were gifted 10 billion yen to attempt to change Japan for the better. Taki discovers more and more about the person he was before he wiped his memory–he might have been involved in terrorism, that’s great–and he and Saki start falling in love with each other and it’s really. Really soft.

It’s 11 episodes, and then there’s two sequel movies after that!

Mawaru Penguindrum

ONE OF MY PERSONAL ALL TIME FAVORITES…MP is such an underrated series and it’s so unique and just out there. Everything in this series has symbolism, though it may not seem like it upfront–everything has a deeper meaning! The series pretty much rides on symbolism and reference to other media in the background.

The story follows twin brothers Shouma and Kanba Takakura, who live on their own with their terminally ill little sister, Himari. In the first episode, Himari passes away, but is miraculously revived by a strange spirit inside of a penguin hat. The spirit demands the brothers find what’s called the “penguindrum” in order to keep Himari alive. The siblings are gifted with the help of three strange penguins who are invisible to everyone except for them. Their search leads them to a girl named Ringo, who has a mysterious diary that can apparently “change fate”. Believing this to be the penguindrum, Shouma gets heavily involved with Ringo’s schemes to chase her one true love, Tabuki, who also happens to be the twins’ teacher. (Which, inevitably, ends in disaster lmao.) As the series goes on the themes get darker, as the twins discover more about their parents’ past and their involvement with a terrorist act many years ago. 

I should warn you that while MP is VERY good, it definitely gets…weirder as it progresses, and darker, like I said. There’s a couple triggers I should warn ya’ll about if you plan to watch it: (minor) incest (Kanba kisses Himari in the first episode and that’s like. The extent of it), attempted rape (a character wants to become pregnant with a guy’s child, but they’re stopped before they can go through with it, and there’s also another one with two women), terrorism, sexual and physical abuse, and…I think that’s it? Wow I honestly forgot how dark this series is tgnakdsasda

Anyway I highly suggest it, it’s one of my favorites, but it’s definitely…strange, and not for everyone. You have to have a certain taste to really take to MP, but I promise it’s worth it, especially since Shouma is baby and I would do anything for him and his stupid pretty long eyelashes

I love these boys so much they’re so sTUPID

This one’s 24 episodes!

Kobato

This one is absolutely ADORABLE and soft and a very feel-good anime. If you wanna sit down and relax with a lighthearted series with romance and slice of life definitely go with this one!

The series is about a girl named Kobato who wants to fulfill a lifetime wish of going to the place she wishes to go. It isn’t really specified where until the end of the series so I won’t spoil ;) In order to do so she has to collect the healed fragments of people’s hearts inside of a bottle. However, she has a time limit–one year to complete the task. Unfortunately, Kobato is ditzy and naive, which leads her into a whole bunch of troublesome situations, and this makes it hard for her to connect with people. She’s guided by her partner, a little dog plush toy named Ioryogi, who was apparently cursed and trapped in that form due to his meddling in the affairs of the heavens. If Kobato completes her mission, Ioryogi will also be allowed to return to his original form. Kobato soon learns that being herself–honest, kind, and sweet, is the way to heal people’s hearts. She gets involved with a kindergarten and begins working there to help out the principal, Sayaka. Also part of the kindergarten is Fujimoto, a very handsome yet sarcastic man who is very closed off from everyone. As the series progresses, Fujimoto’s initial irritation and annoyance with Kobato fades away, and they start falling in love. 

They’re so cute I LOVE THEM 😫

This one is 24 episodes as well!

Senyuu

Of course I’m going to suggest Senyuu do ya’ll even KNOW ME

For those of you who don’t know, Senyuu is one of my all time favorite series in existence–unfortunately the anime doesn’t even cover the good parts of it, as it only adapts part 1, which is just the beginning of the whole mess. I’m still going to recommend it nonetheless!

Senyuu’s about a hero named Alba and the royal soldier assigned to him, Ros! Alba’s more of a wannabe than anything, and can barely hold his own against super low level slimes. He’s sarcastic and witty and acts as the straight man in a comedy routine with Ros. Ros, on the other hand, is sadistic, snaky and rude, and his favorite pastime is teasing Alba incessantly. Together the two of them are out on an adventure to find the Demon Lord, who was apparently sealed away a thousand years ago by the Legendary Hero Creasion. The Demon Lord released tons of monsters into the human world, causing problems for everyone. When they do encounter the Demon Lord, however, they discover that she’s actually the granddaughter of the original Demon Lord, and that the appearing monsters were caused by a mere accident. Alba and Ros decide to help the girl, Rchi, find all of the monsters and send them back to the Demon World where they belong. They go after the Big Twelve, the most powerful demons in existence, and end up in a lot of trouble regarding a conspiracy in the kingdom!

Senyuu’s basically a comedy until the last few episodes where shit gets Real and secrets are revealed! If you enjoy the anime and want to know what happens next DEFINITELY read the webcomic, part 2 is my personal favorite and where a whole bunch of crazy plot twists happen. 

There’s 26 episodes, they’re only about 5 minutes a piece, so you could finish the entire anime in about 2 hours 👌

And that should be a good start for now :0c If you guys need more suggestions hmu again, I’m happy to share my good collection of shows to watch ;)

[a-crimson-lion]

How Losing Can Feel Like Winning (The Right And Wrong Way)

Me: *Looks at clock*

Me: Screw it, I got time to burn.

[Bad news: Bakugo Bashing. Good News: Not JUST Bakugo Bashing. I get the feeling some of you get tired of that.]

I've heard a phrase that goes somewhere along the lines of "Winning signifies victory, losing signifies a chance to learn from your mistakes." In this sense, losing can feel like winning in the right circumstances. However, that doesn't mean that's always a good thing. In order to elaborate, I'll be using two examples from My Hero Academia: Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya.

+Katsuki Bakugo (Wrong Way)

In retrospect, I shouldn't be surprised. The "Katsu" part of Katsuki's name comes from the Japanese term that means "to win." It's only natural that even some of his failures are ultimately victories. However, these "subsequent victories," as I will address them as from here on out, don't exactly work in his favor, which I will explain later.

Also, something to keep in mind: characters will not always win something when they lose. Sometimes a loss is a loss. It may help in the long run, but we're looking at the losses that have a relatively close and significant impact shortly after the loss. Now then, let's begin:

The Battle Trial. Katsuki lost this by the parameters of the test. With this loss, he is confronted by the fact that Izuku, someone who should be "worthless" by his standards, managed to beat him. He spends the rest of the day having a lowkey mental breakdown because his worldview has been challeneged and he can't cope. However, once Izuku has recovered from his injuries, he ends up confronting Katsuki and telling him about his quirk, or at least enough for Katsuki to connect the dots, and Katsuki decides to refirm his resolve to overcome everyone is his class. Later, All Might will attempt to comfort him. So, Katsuki lost, and he gets insider knowledge on one of the world's most incredible quirks, his initial worldview is reestablished with some minor changes, and good old All Might shows up to comfort him. Yeah, looks like a subsequent victory.

Attacking Kurogiri. The Pro Hero No. 13 is about to apprehend Kurogiri at the USJ, but out of nowhere, Katsuki and Eijiro attack the menacing Warp Gate Villain, causing No. 13 to hold back and allowing Kurogiri to scatter Class 1-A to the winds. Only... what's this? Katsuki overheard Kurogiri saying "That was close," and thus came to the conclusion that he had a physical body!? How convenient! All sarcasm aside, this is an obvious subsequent victory.

Final Exams. Katsuki tries time and time again to try taking down All Might in their final exam, even though running away is a perfectly viable course of action and All Might (even handicapped and weaker than he's been before) is a force of nature to be reckoned with. Naturally, Katsuki gets his butt whooped, due to his initial refusal to collaborate with Izuku and his own adamant persistence in trying to take down All Might, and failing spectacular. But this will never affect him in the long run, because while Katsuki's out cold, Izuku comes to his aid, and drags him through the gate, letting them both pass. This is one of the subsequent victories that irritates me more than most, but I'll get back to that later.

Provisional License Exam. Fast forward a few months ahead, and our young heroes in training are finally gonna get their Provisional Hero Licenses! Well, except for Katsuki (and Shoto, but he's not the focus right now). At first, this seems like a momentous occasion! Katsuki didn't get his License; we're in for more character development!!! Well yes, but actually no. For starters, just because Katsuki didn't get his License NOW doesn't mean he won't get it LATER (which he does, and I will admit that he has every right to try again). Then, because DeKu got his License before Katsuki, his inferiority complex will rear it's ugly head, dragging Izuku out after curfew for an unnecessary pummeling (and NO, just because Izuku justifies it to himself doesn't mean I have to), after which he'll get a few days house arrest and learn the entire scale of One for All. Oh, that's not enough? He also conveniently avoids fighting against Mirio, an opponent who would absolutely curb stomp him. Even if he didn't follow Shoto's lead and stick to the sidelines because he lacked his license, Deku vs Kacchan 2 made sure that the narrative had a backup plan to keep him from earning a well deserved beating (though let's be honest, knowing Katsuki, it probably wouldn't do much). And to top it all off, he only gets a little bit better than he was before. Just a smidge. This one of those subsequent victories that makes me go "Ooh, you sneaky piece of crap" in regards to the narrative.

We'll stop there for now, since Season 4 isn't out yet and we really don't see much of Katsuki there, anyway. The reason I don't like any of Katsuki's subsequent victories is because they don't let his character grow; they shelter him from consequences and justify his less than ideal decisions. He gets comfort and privilege after a fight which only strengthens his flawed world view. He gets insider knowledge on how to incapacitate one of the villains by getting in the way of a Pro Hero who would have likely reduced the villain's impact. I don't like how he passes the Final Exams considering that even though Minoru carried Hanta out the gate, Hanta still failed (and while I don't like Minoru, I can admit that he shows strategic intelligence when it counts, though not much else). Why does Katsuki get to pass when Izuku basically does the same thing? And then the narrative tries to make it seem like Katsuki is recieving fair consequences for his actions, even though it will ultimately end up with a slap on the wrist and knowledge of a quirk he shouldn't know about, combined with the fact that he avoids a confrontation which might actually teach him something, and he'll get his License anyway.

Katsuki doesn't get to grow to be better; he just continues to get more physical growth rather than emotional growth, which will ultimately backfire as it has on people like Endeavor and numerous villains (I appreciate that Endeavor is attempting to change, but still). Subsequent victories are pointless if they don't let the character, y'know, actually improve.

Okay, Bakugo bashing over. Let's move on to...

+Izuku Midoriya (Right Way)

What's interesting about Izuku's subsequent victories is that there's not only arguably more of them compared to other Shonen protagonist, but there's also actual growth that comes with them, and not just another epic power boost that ignores the problems thus far. Let me elaborate.

Entrance Exam. This is the closest to a win that Izuku gets from a loss. Even though he actually passed thanks to rescue points, we don't know that, and Izuku doesn't know it, either. That makes it all the more relieving that Izuku actually passes his exam, and it's also a subtle reminder to viewers: "Raw strength isn't everything; actions are important, too." Of course, Katsuki would probably argue about that...

Midoriya vs Todoroki. This is probably his biggest subsequent victory to date because of the sheer impact it has on the series. We can see that even if he goes all out after freeing Shoto from his previous transgressions, Izuku still loses the match. It's what happens in the aftermath that REALLY sells the point across, though. Izuku actually has permanent damage thanks to his reckless use of his quirk at 100%. He gains an ally in Shoto, which will come in handy during the Stain Arc. He learns about All Might's Quirkless past, and he ultimately gains the incentive to learn what will eventually becime One for All: Full Cowl. A subsequent victory at its finest!

Deku vs. Kacchan 2. I've already said my thoughts about this fight during my spat on Katsuki. I still stand by that, especially considering that this subsequent victory is the closest to an actual loss as far as I'm going. Having said that, Izuku still benefits from this. Even if he lost that fight with Katsuki, he still managed to bump up his quirk output from 5% to 8%. Plus, when he returns to class, he'll see how far he has to go to really become a hero when he faces off against Mirio, leading into the Shie Hassaikai Arc.

And since he doesn't experience a subsequent victory that I can recall from that point to the end of the Shie Hassaikai arc, I'll just leave it there. The difference between Izuku's subsequent victories and Katuki's is that Izuku grows emotionally as well as physically. He gets into a hero school because of his heroic nature. He learns to better maintain his use of One for All and gains a powerful ally after he loses the match, while learning to take better care of himself when he's using his quirk. Finally, he gains a small but significant power boost from an otherwise pointless confrontation, later getting the proper perspective on how much farther he has to go on his path to heroism.

In a way, I think the above statements describe Katsuki and Izuku's work ethics.

Katsuki works hard, yes, but it's more for the sake of maintenance. He's not getting stronger and more versatile with his quirk because he thinks he has to; he's doing it because he thinks he's already the best of the best (most of the time), and now he has to prove it to everyone else.

Izuku works hard because he wants to actually push beyond his limits. There are no finish lines for Izuku, only checkpoints. Getting stronger is only a piece of Izuku's goal: to help save people. He doesn't think of himself as the best; he just wants to do better.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Crimson Lion (8 September 2019)

[austarus]

Harry Wells x Reader Decisions and Impulses

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to @stellar-raven .

“You mean the old Harrison Wells? As in Eobard Thawne?” Cisco asks, with a look on his face as you and the trio walk into the Cortex. You held your tongue, knowing that getting faster is everything to Barry at the moment, no matter how he does it. “You want him to teach you how to run faster? Oh, that’s rich.”

“How are you gonna do that?” A query Caitlin resonates, a question that the three of us have been thinking about since Barry made his pitch with this outrageous idea.

“By running back to a time last year,” Barry simply answers, rounding around the main monitors to face you and the others.

“And what about the other you, the one from that other timeline?” You inquire, raising an eyebrow as you stood in between Cisco and Caitlin at the monitors. Caitlin rests her hands on the backrest of the chairs, while Cisco leans forward slightly to rest against his own respective chair.

“I’ll knock him out with something.”

“Barry,” you give him a look, which the speedster quickly disregards as he continues to speak.

“I mean, it’s not like he’ll see me coming, and then I’ll have Wells teach me.”

“Barry, that’s crazy,” Caitlin immediately responds in a ‘voice of reason’ tone, yet not a harsh response on which Barry would have received from a certain grumpy scientist.

“Nothing I’ve read is pointing me towards a solution, and if there’s anybody that’s figured out the key to getting faster without V-9, it’s him.” Barry glances at all of you briefly, mind literally racing for some sort of solution to beating Zoom and ending his treachery. “What do you guys think?”

You let out a little and quiet sigh, listening to Barry justify his conclusion. The idea didn’t settle well with you, neither with Cisco and Caitlin either, especially with interfering in a past point in the timeline. There is literally a 50-50% chance that something could go wrong… You could only move your gaze down to the idle computer screen, pursing your lips and folding your arms. Cisco and Caitlin let out little breaths and digest Barry’s spontaneous plan.

You four hear a sudden scoff, all of you snapping your heads to the source. Harry glances at you, his bright blue eyes softening for a fraction before narrowing them at Barry with a hardened expression, “Your plan is asinine.”

Barry rolls his eyes and makes a face as Harry strolls in his with bag and brooding mood.  

“Did you find Jesse?” You unfurl your arms, as you and Cisco ask the current million dollar question that’s been plaguing the genius physicist.

“Does it look like I found Jesse?” Harry fires back with a grave tone before throwing his bag onto the table, then turning around to face Barry. “How many times have you traveled through time?”

“A few.”

“Do you have any idea how many things you could screw up?”

“All I need is one conversation with Dr. Wells.”

“He’s not Wells-”

“-Thawne-”

“I’m Wells!”  Harry shouts while throwing down his dark jacket. Barry of all people should know that Harry hates it when they refer to Thawne as Wells. “This man has been studying you for 15 years. For 15 years. And you don’t think he’s not gonna know who you are?”

Harry does have a point… you think as you walk around in hopes of calming the two men down because honestly, Harry might throw something at this point.

“Barry,” you rest your hand on Barry’s arm so he can look at you. You reason your thoughts, “Harry’s right, what if something happens? What if he finds out? Then what? Eobard can smell deceit because he's practically the embodiment of deception.” You move to stand beside your grumpy boyfriend, “The mess would be even bigger and we wouldn’t know how to fix it or where to start with it.”

Barry looks around exasperated before looking at you like a kicked puppy. He just wants an answer to end everyone’s constant state of misery.

“Barry’s pretty good at impersonating himself, though,” Cisco intervenes, completely missing the look you threw at him to not encourage Barry with going through with this. “You should’ve seen him over there on Earth-2. I was like, ‘Somebody get this man an Oscar.’” The mechanical scientist voices his own thoughts with a grin to Caitlin, who humored him with a tiny smile.

I thought the boys agreed not to speak about what happened on Earth-2. You look up at Harry, who had his steely expression locked onto Barry. With crossed arms and an amused smile, the scarlet speedster gave you both a look that hinted what his next course of action will be.

"He will know, Allen. He will know.”

“All right, then what am I supposed to do?” Barry gestures with an extended arm to the speed equation written on the glass board. “I mean, how am I supposed to stop Zoom? Do you know the answer to this equation?”

You, like the others, understand that this- this seems like the only option. A chance, really. Do or don’t. Two options, both which can lead to victorious triumph or disastrous defeat along with the loss of so many lives. How many people have to die because of an evil speedster with a megalomaniac complex?

“If Thawne figures out that it’s you, the timeline will be altered. People can die. Others could live, and no one will know who or what will be affected, but I promise you, when you come back, things will be different. And only you will know what those differences are.”

“Well, if that’s what I have to do to stop Zoom, then so be it, because if I don’t, and Zoom gets my speed before I learn how to stop him,” Harry just shakes his head and presses his lips into a thin line, retaking his bag as Barry speaks. Caitlin and Cisco were quiet throughout the exchange, thinking up possible routes the speedster can take if he does go back in time. “Everybody I care about. Everybody in this whole city, their world will never be the same anyway.”

You all glance at each other when Harry backs down, he takes a glimpse back at the speedster before pulling on his cap as he steps away and out of the Cortex without a single word. You take in a breath, wanting to follow him out. Glancing back at Barry, you register the fact that his green-ish eyes spark with confidence and a tinge of determination.

Taking a few steps, you tilt your head a little before speaking, "Just… if you do go through with this, be careful.” Making eye contact STAR Labs’ resident biochemist and mechanical engineer, you then look at Barry. “It's not just your life on the line, Barry, its all of ours too.”

.:.:.

You knock on the door-frame of the smaller lab with your knuckles softly, blue eyes instantly snapping up away from the board to turn to you. “Hey,” you greet the taller, dark-haired man with a soft smile. Harry looked as if he prepared himself for another yelling match with the hero of Central City, only to drop it when his mind instantly realized that it's you.

He looks cute with his glasses on

“Hey,” he caps the marker in his hand, awkwardly standing there when you took a few steps forward. You couldn’t stop yourself from wrapping your arms around him in an attempt to either comfort him or to subside his remaining inner frustration and rage, to which it took Harry a couple seconds to respond to. This relationship between you and Harry was still new, physical affection rarely exchanged outside of simple hand-holding and brief hugs. Understandable though, Barry's sudden and rash idea on top of Jesse’s disappearance is hitting him even harder now.

You pull back slightly, looking at Harry with a worried look as his arms still curl around your waist, “Are you going to be okay?”

He breathes through his nose, moving his gaze to look past you before making eye contact again, ”I’ll… be fine with you by my side.” His simple words make your heart jump, warmth rising to your cheeks. Harry’s not the coziest with emotions, but you gradually found out that when you’re alone with him he can bring down his walls. Trust, loyalty, and the relentless need to protect the ones he loves.

“I’m here for you, whenever you need me, Harry. I'll do the best I can to help you get Jesse back,” you beam a confident smile and twinkling eyes that indicates every bit of adoration at him when he cups your face. A gesture surprising you, but you don’t pull away. His thumb brushes over your cheek, a million thoughts running through your head as you remember the girls slightly teasing you for not having a first kiss with Harry.

His sky blues gaze into your own eyes, the world around you going on a stand-still. Your heart skips a beat or two, it always did whenever you were around him. What good have I ever done in the multiverse for you to bring such light into my life? Harry thinks as he leans down, pressing a long and overdue first kiss to your unsuspecting lips. Never sparring a thought at the abrupt surge of affection.

You shut your eyes tightly and respond to his lips after getting over your initial shock. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, both of you parting with flushed cheeks.

“Sorry-”

“-One more.” The words leave your mouth and you’re frankly a little bewildered by how forward you're being, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at you outburst . Before Harry can say anything or even come up with a response, his body moves on its own as he kisses you once more. Like how a moth is drawn to the fire. This time with a newfound passion. You take a step forward, resting your palms flat against his black sweater as he pulls you closer to his strong form.

Your mouth meets his over and over, eventually, your tongues joining in. Ragged breaths and little content hums leave one of you at some point, seconds seemed to turn into minutes. One little kiss turns into a smooch session filled with endearment and emotion, hopefully something that a certain scarlet speedster couldn’t ruin even if said speedster went back in time. It’s addicting… kissing her, having her in my arms like this... Harry can’t help but muse to himself when you two give each other one final kiss before pulling away.

Biting your lower lip, you shyly look up at him and a zoo of butterflies flutter around in your body when you see his lips tugged up in a smile. He lets out a sigh and wraps his arms tighter around you. This… Her, I will protect her and Jesse.

[momentofmemory]

fictober - day thirty-one

Prompt #31: “Scared, me?”

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Spider-Man/Tom Holland Films, Captain America)

Characters: Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Michelle Jones (mention)

Words: 2917

Author’s Note: i have been patiently waiting for an opportunity to pair these two all month, and today i happened to see a still from ffh that showed art supplies in peter’s room and just. bam. practically 3k. having also done inktober this month, this serves neatly to combine the two. oh—and this occurs about 4-5 months post endgame.

>>Brooklyn & Queens (don’t throw shade, draw it)

Signing up for Ms. Hart’s Drawing I class is the most singularly idiotic thing Peter’s ever done, and considering he accidentally hitched a ride into space four months ago, that’s saying a lot.

It all started when he found Ben’s old film camera in the storage boxes they’d gotten post-Blip. He’d showed it to MJ—it’s artsy and it’s old, so she was sure to know what to do with it—and she’d looked at him with her usual level of curiosity disguised as ambivalence.

“You know Midtown’s offering a Darkroom Photography class next Fall, right?”

Peter didn’t know that, but once he did it was all he could think about.

He brings it up to his guidance counselor, and while she’s surprised by his interest, she tells him he can fit it into his schedule—but only if he takes the spring semester drawing class to meet the prerequisites.

It’s that fateful decision that leads to him sitting in Yellowstone Park for two hours straight, trying and failing to translate the still life from this morning’s class onto the paper in front of him.

He holds his pencil at arm’s length and tilts it to the side, one eye closed. He’s not entirely sure how that’s supposed to help, but it’s what all the artists in the movies do, so he figures it’s worth a shot.

The image looks just as small and useless as it did before.

(Although to be fair, that might be because it’s a photograph on a 4.7 inch phone screen, and not an actual, full-sized object.)

Peter wishes MJ were here—he’d initially picked the park because MJ said she’d help him figure out lighting, but she’d gotten caught up in some kind of decathlon prep right as they were leaving school. He hasn’t heard a word from her since, so he’s honestly given up on the idea of her coming at this point.

Peter groans and flops back onto the grass, notebook falling onto his chest and arm across his eyes.

“I should have stayed Blipped.”

He’s fully intending on lying there until nature takes over and he’s turned into ant food, when he’s interrupted by an elderly gentleman’s voice.

“You all right there, son?”

“Only questioning my own mortality for want of a stable light source—” Peter halts mid sentence, realizing the voice sounded weirdly familiar.

Peter lowers his arm from his face and finds himself staring into the eyes of none other than Captain Steven G. Rogers himself.

“Holy shi—” Peter nearly punches a hole in the ground with the amount of force he exerts in leaping to his feet. “—shingles. Holy shingles. Sir.”

He only just remembered that one story Mr. Stark used to tell about the language thing, but Captain Rogers just seems amused by his slip up.

“Sorry if I scared you there, Queens.”

There’s a twinkle in his eye that makes Peter wonder if he didn’t do it on purpose, but he feels the need to defend himself either way. “Scared? Me? No no no no, I was just… cold.”

It’s seventy-five degrees in the shade, and Peter’s been sitting directly in the sun since he got here.

He shoves his notebook behind him with his foot and brushes non-existent grass off his jeans. “Um, anyway, what’re you—what’re you doing out here? I mean, not that you need a reason, since it’s a public park and you’re part of the public I guess, I mean you’re like half of the reason the public is even still here, so, uh—”

Cap looks like he’s trying not to laugh, and Peter wishes the ground would swallow him whole if only to get him to stop talking. “—what I mean is that I uh, I didn’t realize you were still hanging around in New York, Captain Rogers. America. Sir.”

He’s not entirely sure what the ex-super soldier’s official designation is these days, but Cap just starts to sit down on the grass, gesturing for Peter to do the same.

“Just Steve is fine,” he says, legs folded cross-legged under him. “Pretty sure Sam’ll kill us both if he hears you referring to anyone but him as Captain America now. He’s pretty taken with the new title.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Peter crosses his own legs and twiddles his thumbs. The politics of legacy heroes must be wild. He makes a note to never let anyone go by Spider-Man except himself.

“So can I… help you?”

Even as Peter asks, he can feel his throat seizing up at the thought. Before Thanos, he’d have given anything to team up with Captain America, but now…

Now, his heart’s accelerating from than just hero worship.

“No, no. Nothing like that.” Steve’s looking at him closely, eyes strangely sharp for the hundred plus year old body they’re staring out of. “Actually, Tony asked me to keep an eye on you.”

Peter looks up in surprise. “Mr. Stark said that?”

“The words he used were a bit stronger, but yes,” Steve says. “Not that he needed to. Even if you’re from a trashy borough like Queens, you’re still a New York boy.”

Peter gasps in horror, tensions forgotten. “You’re literally from Brooklyn! That’s like, infinitely worse!”

“Not according to ExtraSpace.com, which ranks it as the best borough for housing.”

“Whoever taught you how to use the internet should be criminalized, sir.”

“Steve,” he repeats.

“Right. Steve.” The name still feels weighty on Peter’s tongue. “…If I’m Queens, can we make it even and I call you Brooklyn?”

Cap laughs, and Peter barely has time to think oh my god Captain America laughed at one of my jokes before he realizes the man’s nodding towards Peter’s sketchpad. “Tell you what, you can call me Brooklyn so long as you tell me what’s got you longing for death this evening.”

“Uh…” Peter flounders, trying to find a cooler way to say homework. “Just some bottles.”

Not cooler, Peter. Very, very not cooler.

Steve raises his eyebrows.

“By which I mean drawing bottles! Glass, still-life bottles. Totally kosher ones. Not like, alcohol ones.” Peter scrambles for his notebook. “I’m not legal yet.”

To his surprise, though, Steve holds out an open hand. “May I see?”

Peter turns red enough that if he looked in the mirror, he’d probably think he had his costume on. “…Sure?”

Steve takes the notebook from him and starts paging through it, lingering every so often to trace over his lines. Peter watches the other man’s gnarled hand to avoid thinking about the fact that Captain America was looking at his high school level, B graded sketchpad.

What even is his life.

The only benefit from Steve looking at his drawings is that it meant the other man’s eyes weren’t directly on him, and that lends Peter the courage to ask the question that’s been in the back of his mind ever since he first saw Steve’s white hair.

“…Did you really go back?”

Steve’s hand stills over a poorly done rendition of an onion skin. “By go back, I assume you mean ‘stay.’”

Peter’s not sure he hasn’t just walked into a dangerous topic, but he’s never been good at knowing when to stop. “Yeah.”

Steve nods in a way that makes Peter think he’s probably a lot like that, too. “Then yes.”

A young couple walk by a few yards away, but pay them no mind—Peter’s not in his costume, and the general public doesn’t know what happened to Steve. They could easily pass as just an average grandfather and grandson, enjoying a day in the park. Peter’s eyes follow them until he’s sure they’re out of earshot, anyway, then he turns his attention back to Steve.

“So that makes you like…” Peter pauses, quickly running the numbers in his head. “…A hundred and ten? A hundred and eighty if you count the ice?”

The corner of Steve’s mouth twitches up. “Something like that.”

There’s a glint in Steve’s eyes that makes Peter think he might have wildly missed the mark; he stows that tidbit away for later. “Huh. Wow.”

Steve turns another page. “Does your professor know you’re drawing from photographs?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess?” Peter frowns, wondering how Steve could tell. “Does it matter?”

Steve hums, his brow furrowed in thought. “Camera lens aren’t the same as an eye—flattens the shapes differently. It can throw off the lighting, too.”

Peter tilts his head, then looks at his phone, still lying abandoned on the ground. “Oh.”

“Don’t worry.” Steve turns the page. “It’s a disadvantage when drawing, but it’s also the main advantage of actual photography. You can distort the world to fit the message you’re trying to tell.”

“Isn’t that lying?”

“All of art is a lie if you think it’s a direct interpretation of reality, Peter. The truth of art isn’t in always in what it depicts. It’s in how it depicts.”

Even though they’re his own drawings, Peter cranes his neck over Steve’s shoulder to look at his sketchbook. To him, they just look like the average still life. 

He wonders what Steve sees.

“How’d you know so much about art?”

“I was planning on being an art major, before the war,” Steve says. “And then I became one in 1957.”

Peter starts, eyes widening as Steve turns the page and finally reaches the sketches he’d been working on that afternoon. “You…”

He trails off, unsure of how to pursue that without offending the older super. Steve, for his part, says nothing further and just flips back and forth between Peter’s second and fourth failed attempt at the three-bottle composition.

Peter clears his throat. “When you—when you decided to go back. Was it hard?”

“Dr. Mortyn’s decision to grade on the curve was infuriating.”

Peter scowls; frustrated at what he can only assume is Steve being deliberately obtuse. “No, I mean—not being able to… change things.”

If Peter’s honest with himself, he’s both a little confused by and a little jealous of Steve’s decision. Confused, because he can’t imagine walking away from the fight when there’s still so much work to be done, can’t imagine going backwards in time when all he ever wants to do is move forward. But also jealous, because…

Because Peter’s tired, and he’s only been doing this for two years—if he’s tired now, then he can’t imagine how he’ll feel once he’s been doing this for as long as Cap did (if he makes it that long). Because Peter’s watched superheroes fight and die and sacrifice everything, and the memorials he passes in the street make him feel so small and insignificant that when he goes out on patrol, it makes him wonder if anything he’s doing really matters. Because he feels like he’s doing nothing right now but he’s terrified he’s going to be called on to do everything one day, and he’s just not sure he’s enough.

Steve finally reaches the last sketch in the notebook—the one Peter’d been working on before he’d given up on the whole thing. Steve looks at the forms for a long moment, then flips to the back of the book and carefully tears out a blank page.

“Where’s your pencil, Queens?”

“My—” Peter’s not entirely sure Steve isn’t just changing the subject on him, but he scrambles for the writing utensil regardless. He finds it and two more laying a few feet away, and gently blows an ant off the tip of the black one before offering it to Steve.

Steve accepts it, and starts sketching an outline of the composition.

“Your grasp of form is good,” he says, shapes quickly coming to life under his deft fingers. “Your proportions are mostly correct; there’s not too much difficulty on perspective. The composition is already set for you, so that’s no issue.”

He finishes the draft, still unshaded, and hands the sketchpad back to Peter. “So why do you keep redoing the same drawing?”

Peter looks between the sketched lines in Cap’s drawing and his own iterations. “Because they’re not the same?”

“The outlines are. Does the rest matter?”

“Well, yeah. Once you add in the shading…”

Peter flips through all the sketches he’d made today—one, two, five, seven; hundreds of eraser marks on all of them. They’re all wrong, but they’re all wrong just a little differently. One has light sources that seem to defy all the laws of physics, jumping in every which direction. Another has marks that were supposed to be highlights, but wound up being darker than the actual shadows. Still another has values that are so close together the shadows make the image look flatter than even Steve’s quick sketch.

He looks up at Steve. “It makes the final thing totally different.”

Steve smiles in response, and starts filling in his own sketch.

“Local colour is your biggest problem,” he says. “You’re trying to match everything to the colour your eye thinks it’s seeing in the photo—like in this one, where your darkest shadow on the white bottle is still brighter than the lightest highlight on the black bottle.”

“And that’s bad?” Peter frowns, catching his lip between his teeth, and starts his eighth version of the image while Cap continues.

“Not necessarily.” Steve runs the pencil over the edge of one of the bottles, darkening its side. “Shading is always a tricky thing. There’s a lot of things to pay attention to—shadows, highlights, halftones. Local colour. One of the most important rules is making sure your lightest dark is still darker than the darkest light.”

“Is that last one supposed to be a metaphor?”

“It wasn’t intended, but you can certainly take it that way.”

Peter hums in response, and moves on to outlining the second bottle. “So in my drawing, do I just ignore the colour?”

“The original context always matters,” Steve replies. He pauses to point out a discrepancy in one of Peter’s lines before continuing. “Your white bottle is always going to be whiter than the black one overall. But if you’ve got a highlight on both—that highlight’s the same. And if you’ve got a dark shadow on something, don’t be afraid to make it as dark as it needs to be to provide contrast.”

Peter nods, and after a few minutes, finishes his outline and starts shading. Steve offers pointers every so often, and he’s barely a quarter of the way through the first bottle before he can see a marked difference between this sketch and his last one.

“So,” Peter says eventually. “When I asked how you handled not being able to change things…”

Steve pauses, his pencil hovering above the page, and waits for Peter to finish. 

Peter looks down at his drawing and thinks about how it’s exactly the same as all the others, and yet totally different, too.

“…The answer is that you did.”

Steve smiles, the edges of his eyes crinkling, and turns his attention back to his sketch. It’s all the confirmation Peter needs.

The scritch-scratch of pencil on paper fills Peter’s ears as he thinks about that revelation. Whatever Steve did, it can’t have been major—not in the universe-shaping, blatantly obvious kind of way he’s used to Avengers working. He wonders if it was enough.

Peter erases a shadow on the middle bottle he’s decided has gotten too dark, and then glances at Steve, who’s started adding all kinds of textures and details to his own drawing.

It’s clearly the same picture, but the art is something else entirely.

It’s enough.

Peter’s certain Steve has better things to do, but the retired soldier stays with him for another hour, either telling him stories about the Avengers or old school New York, or gently correcting something about his art form. By the time Peter’s done, the sketch isn’t great, per se, but it’s at least good. Steve helps Peter pack his things back up, and then hoists Peter to his feet with a strength that belies his older body.

Steve then hands Peter the drawing he’d made, and Peter almost refuses until he flips it over and sees that Steve’s written a phone number on the back.

“Let me know if you ever need anything, Queens. Including, but not limited to, more art lessons.”

Peter grins from ear to ear. “Thanks, Brooklyn. You too.”

The next morning, Peter turns in a drawing that still looks a little wonky, but it’s so dramatically improved from last time that MJ gives him a halfway impressed thumbs up, and it’s enough to make him take back every disparaging thing he’s said about the class.

That evening, Spider-Man heads out onto the streets with more excitement than he’s had in a long time.

He doesn’t do anything of a particularly groundbreaking nature—nothing that will change the outlines. There’re no aliens, no world-ending weapons, no last minute, jaw dropping rescues.

But there is Mr. Delmar, who needs help repainting the store sign that’s too high for him to reach. There’s a sixth grader, who’s putting up posters for her lost dog until he finds it eleven blocks away. There’s a would-be mugger, who’s had one too many bad days but Spider-Man listens to them all, and then helps him register at a homeless shelter.

It’s nothing so grand as saving the universe. It won’t get him shrines in the streets, or murals on skyscrapers, or even a mention in the paper.

But it’s something: a few more highlights, a little more definition, a bit more right in a world where there’s so much wrong.

And that, Peter decides, is not nothing.