#there are only a few exceptions to this and most of them are comics aimed for a teen audience

[honkifyourelonely]

i think reading a lot of kids comics before i dipped into marvel was both good and bad bc like i have experienced such a diverse range of art-styles and approaches to character design and now every single x men comic looks exactly the same :|

[ave-cave]

In Defense/Analysis of Mahiru and Hiyoko's Relationship

Criticisms leveled at Hiyoko’s relationship with Mahiru are varied; engaging with the fanbase for this long has led me to some pretty specific ones, many I’d never even thought about (and that’s saying something because I spend way too much time analyzing them lmao). In the interest of not making this a novel, though, I’ll be focusing on the ones I see most often: “Mahiru didn't call Hiyoko out on her bullying,” “Mahiru standing up for Hiyoko in 2-2 was hypocritical” and “Mahiru and Hiyoko's relationship is wasted potential because Hiyoko dies in 2-3.”

As can probably be inferred from the title, this write-up aims to counter these criticisms, but if I’m being honest, it doubles as an attempt to explain why I like Mahiru and Hiyoko's dynamic as much as I do. They’re my favorites in the series bar none, so there’s no guarantee my points will be 100% free of bias, but I’ll do my best to consider each argument in good faith.

A few disclaimers first:

All pink highlighted text is a link to a relevant Imgur image

Defending a character’s writing and defending their morality are two different things, and I intend to do only the former, especially with Hiyoko

It's more than fine if you dislike Mahiru or Hiyoko – this write-up wouldn’t exist if differing opinions didn’t – but please do try to approach my points with an open mind

Cool? Cool.

Turning a Blind Eye:

First thing’s first, the aspect of Mahiru and Hiyoko's relationship that I assume most earns Mahiru the “hypocrite” title: her ignoring Hiyoko’s bullying.

At a glance, I can’t say this criticism rings untrue. During my first playthrough, I also found myself agitated (and frankly confused) by how Hiyoko’s ill treatment (of everyone, but of Mikan in particular) kept flying under the radar. That said, upon review, I wouldn’t consider it a glaring oversight on the part of the writers the way some fans seem to; I think her behavior is handled as such by the narrative for a reason – albeit a frustrating one – and that this reason is key to understanding her relationship with Mahiru.

When it comes to the class as a whole, the most straightforward reason is that it’s rendered trivial by the killing game. In the midst of life or death, a pipsqueak tossing around juvenile insults is lucky to register as any kind of concern, let alone an urgent one – this made all the more apparent when you comb through her insult scenes and realize that most of them follow the same formula: jab → target’s reaction → another character rerouting the conversation to focus on the dangers at hand. Something similar can be said for why Teruteru’s sexual harassment and Kazuichi’s overstepping of Sonia’s boundaries are ignored in favor of continuing class-wide discussions (and on a more inoffensive note why comic relief moments, courtesy of Ibuki or Gundham, are so fleeting): the threat of the killing game overshadows all else. Only when a threat within the group becomes synonymous with the killing game is it addressed with nearly the same exigency (think Nagito post-chapter 1), otherwise, it might as well be nonexistent.

So basically, when forced to pick and choose what harm they respond to, more often than not the class opts for the harm that jumps out at them screaming “I’M HARMFUL.” If Hiyoko’s insults were the long and short of it, her conduct would be essentially harmless; rude at best and borderline malicious at worst, but overall inconsequential. Except that’s not the case. Why? Because two characters in particular – Mikan and Kazuichi – lack the self-esteem to brush them off as childish drivel. Through this, they become prime targets, and general unpleasantness gives way to full-on bullying…

… whiiich brings us to pitfall #2: while the other characters aren’t oblivious to Mikan and Kazuichi’s sensitivity per se, they aren’t actively mindful of it, either – especially not Mikan’s. They treat them either like any other classmate or – when their talents come in handy – like competent Ultimates. In most instances where Mikan breaks down (pre-trial 3 anyway), Hajime’s internal dialogue is something along the lines of, “She doesn’t need to cry and apologize so much” rather than, “Oh no, is she okay?” He’s concerned, just not enough to adjust his approach. The same goes for Kazuichi, particularly when his sensitivity causes him to freak out, giving the impression of cowardice. Ironically, by choosing those two as her main targets, Hiyoko may be the only person who “acknowledges” their low self-esteem as anything worth treating them differently over (though that’s obviously not to her credit since it’s in the most twisted way possible).

Of course, just off the top of my head, I can recall more instances of the perverted characters’ comments being called out than I can Hiyoko's, but I wouldn’t consider that an oversight, either. I’ve seen it argued that simply being childish is what gives Hiyoko a “pass” behavior-wise, and while I don’t think this is incorrect, I think it underestimates just how aware she is of the way she’s perceived, i.e., as younger (both physically and mentally) than her classmates. She doesn’t act the way she does and then expect her childlike image to compensate for it automatically; she’s in a constant, deliberate flip-flop between unapproachable and childish, because – while she is a paranoid individual who puts forth her assholish personality to avoid forming connections and facing betrayal – she’s also someone who likes to have her cake and eat it, too.

In her mind, so long as she can be simultaneously unlikable and unthreatening, she needn't fear going too far and making enemies (as opposed to just, y’know, not making friends), and to that end, she turns to her immature looks as a sort of “back-up” – a way of being avoided without being antagonized. This tactic, hinted at a few times in DR2 as well as other canon material, backfires, however, highlighting its fundamental flaw: sure, no one takes her seriously enough to get mad at her insults, but by the same token, no one takes her seriously in general – not even when she wants them to.

That’s not to say this concept is executed perfectly, mind you. As interesting as it may be on paper, even I have trouble suspending my disbelief in scenes where she’s downright cruel and yet no one bats an eye. I think there’s just enough (both in text and subtext) to justify her in-universe perception being what it is, so I can get past this, but I understand why some fans can’t – especially since Mikan and Kazuichi get the short end of the stick regardless.

Again, though, that’s the class as a whole. What about Mahiru specifically? From what I've seen, she’s frequently singled out by the fandom as the character most to blame for Hiyoko’s behavior going unchecked, and this is probably due to a few things:

Her emphasis on good manners and civility

Her friendship with Hiyoko making her a more responsible party for correcting the latter’s behavior

The opening scene of 2-2 in which she defends Hiyoko (I call it “the restaurant scene” for short because it takes place at the restaurant and I’m uncreative)

The second and third reasons go hand-in-hand, but I have a fair amount to say about the third, so I'll save it for the next section. The first and second I'll talk about here.

Hypocrisy is defined as not practicing what one preaches. One could argue that Mahiru employs hypocrisy when she preaches good manners and civility but a) doesn’t call Hiyoko out for being a bully, and b) becomes her friend. Do these arguments hold water? In my opinion, yes and no. Let me explain.

First, how does Hiyoko’s in-universe perception carry over to her relationship with Mahiru? Simply put, Mahiru isn’t immune to it. Like everyone else, she views Hiyoko as too childish to take seriously and dismisses her accordingly. This might seem like a non-starter for their relationship, but I actually think it’s what allows said relationship to work at all.

In terms of personality and values, Mahiru and Hiyoko are polar opposites. You don’t have to search far for evidence of this – it’s right there in their profiles, with Mahiru’s stating that she dislikes bad manners and Hiyoko’s that she dislikes being lectured. This contrast isn’t arbitrary. Far from it; it’s deliberate groundwork for a foil. Unlike most foil characters in the series, though, Mahiru and Hiyoko get along swimmingly. Why? Well, I’ll get more into the nitty-gritty of that later, but in short, it’s because – while Mahiru may not be immune to Hiyoko’s flip-flopping – her perception isn’t quite as limited by it as her peers’.

I've seen a few people claim that Hiyoko is “fawned over” by her classmates, but IMO, that's not really true. Instances of the others offering Hiyoko comfort/sympathy are pretty much exclusive to the second trial (after her name is cleared; before that they're slinging accusations at her left and right) and the scene where they discover her shrine (after Chiaki sheds light on its true purpose; before that they're rallying to burn it). In both, I think it's made fairly clear that they're doing it out of a sense of, “Wow, this killing game sucks and Hiyoko is kind of bearing the brunt of its terribleness right now,” not, “Wow, Hiyoko is so cute and precious.” That's nothing particular to her; every character who loses a loved one to the killing game is treated with some amount of tenderness afterwards, regardless of who they are or whether the loss is the result of their own actions. Where her Mahiru-related suffering isn't concerned, though, Hiyoko’s classmates more or less just tolerate her existence. They go, “Hey, there's the rude little girl we for some reason share a grade with” and continue about the island.

Of course, it’s no one's responsibility to parent their peer, and Hiyoko's other classmates aren't wrong for taking her at face value. But Mahiru is different; she takes responsibility for those around her whether they want her to or not. Her desire to bring out the best in others is what allows her to perceive Hiyoko as a child not just in temperament, but in impressionability, too. In other words, she’s the only one who sees potential in Hiyoko – with a nudge in the right direction – to mature and improve as a person. This is demonstrated when Hiyoko admits the reason behind her smell at the start of 2-2. Here, Mahiru doesn't join her peers in asking why a high schooler can't do something as simple as bathe, nor does she slap a band-aid on the problem and offer to tie Hiyoko’s kimono for her; she offers to teach her how to do it herself. If Hiyoko were a plain bully with zero (for lack of a better word) embellishments – if there was nothing to bridge the gap between her and Mahiru, like, say, a need for a role model – Mahiru would be more inclined to call her out, yes, but she’d also be less inclined to help her here. And in my opinion? This would hurt both of their characters in the long run. I’ll get to why in the last section.

Granted, this then begs the question: if Mahiru is the only one generous enough to believe Hiyoko can change for the better, why does she demonstrate this generosity only once, in a situation where Hiyoko is vulnerable rather than on the offense no less? Well, I don't think that's an arbitrary decision, either.

See, while it might not be a stretch to call Mahiru and Hiyoko “friends” from the POV of the entire Class 77B saga, in DR2 alone, it kind of is. Hiyoko’s quick and fervent attachment to Mahiru beginning with the restaurant scene can make it easy to forget that, all told, their relationship on the island spanned only three days. Moreover, the attachment was one-sided; Mahiru was surprised and somewhat exasperated by Hiyoko's clinginess, and while she didn’t outright reject her affections, reciprocating them came very much second to unraveling the secrets of the island – especially once the second motive was introduced.

Hell, eliminate the restaurant scene altogether and only two interactions between them remain: first an optional dialogue in which Mahiru lets Hiyoko drag her to the supermarket but warns that she’s busy and can’t spend too much time with her, then the off-screen meeting that we piece together in 2-2’s Closing Argument. But even following the restaurant scene – arguably the only one in which Mahiru is focused exclusively on Hiyoko – she shows reluctance to help Hiyoko shower and redress right away, considering the upcoming investigation a bigger priority. The morning after, although Hiyoko is still clinging to her, Mahiru doesn't acknowledge her at any point, focused instead on forcing Nekomaru and Kazuichi to give up Nagito’s location. Starting to notice a pattern?

Additionally, in the prologue, Mahiru joins the beach party while Hiyoko doesn’t. The first morning of the killing game (also Hiyoko’s first Mikan-bullying scene), Mahiru is away almost the entire time fetching Kazuichi. During the first investigation, Mahiru stays by the Imposter’s body while Hiyoko goes to the supermarket. A couple mornings later, Mahiru doesn’t come to breakfast at all while Hiyoko does. This leaves only a handful of Monokuma announcements, two investigations, a trial (that is, killing game-related things that everyone has to gather in one place for anyway) and a few other misc. scenes, most of which are devoid of interactions between the two. So in other words, the amount of time they spend in each other’s presence is just as scant as their “bonding” moments.

None of this is to diminish the ultimate impact of their relationship (I’m working up to that slowly if you couldn’t tell lol), but it is to say that describing them as “friends” within the confines of DR2 is maybe pushing it. I may refer to them as such in write-ups (half for the sake of brevity and half because Danganronpa presents friend as a generic term for harmony within the group), but in fact, the only time Mahiru or Hiyoko is called the other’s friend is in 2-3, when Chiaki prompts Hiyoko to consider what Mahiru would say about Fuyuhiko’s seppuku. Chiaki is well-meaning, and while her observations about her classmates aren't off the mark per se, they're sometimes lacking in nuance – likely by virtue of her being an AI with a limited framework for understanding people. We as players, on the other hand, can be a bit more discerning: there was a single scene in which Mahiru was focused on Hiyoko and Hiyoko only, and by the time it was over, she’d already shifted her attention back to the killing game. Two days later, she died. I’d be concerned if anyone besides Chiaki called that friendship.

Consider Fuyuhiko for a moment. The fact that Mahiru has basically double the interactions with him than she does Hiyoko, even prior to the events of the second case, is an immediate tip-off that Hiyoko isn't her prime concern. She’s on positive terms with Hiyoko, whereas she and Fuyuhiko butt heads constantly, so it should be the other way around, right? Nope. Fuyuhiko represents a threat synonymous with the killing game due to his threats of continuing it (plus his overall lack of cooperation), and so reining him in is automatically higher on her list of priorities.

And that's the thing: despite being a grade-a cunt, Hiyoko is cooperative. She doesn’t create rifts within the group the way Fuyuhiko does pre-trial 2, let alone entertain the idea of the killing game. She doesn’t try to distance herself from her peers, and while she might not be very useful in investigations, she doesn’t outright refuse to partake in them (she goes to the supermarket for snacks instead of investigating, but she's willing to help Hajime confirm important items are missing from the shelves.) Working against the killing game in any way – including just by cooperating – is an immediate incentive for Mahiru to go easier on anyone (yes, even boys). This, coupled with the aforementioned flip-flopping effect, makes it so Hiyoko only shows up on her radar when she starts crying over her kimono in 2-2, whereas Fuyuhiko shows up the moment he starts threatening to kill someone.

Due to her early death and the fact that – again – she shares so few scenes with Hiyoko to begin with, the number of times Mahiru witnesses the latter bullying Mikan is a comparatively small five: three times in the first trial (one of which is during a Nonstop Debate), once the morning after the trial and once while investigating the abandoned ruins. 

During the first trial, Mahiru is among the students most focused on solving the murder, and only when liabilities to the group’s cooperation (i.e., Fuyuhiko still threatening people, Kazuichi and Nekomaru embarrassing Peko and derailing the discussion about her alibi) does she feel the need to police anyone's behavior. Hiyoko is a complete and utter bitch to Mikan here, but given her remarks don't noticeably hamper the discussion, it's unfortunately not hard to see why everyone – Mahiru included – dismisses them as playground nonsense.

Likewise, during the second island investigation, Mahiru is fully immersed in the conversation about the ruins and pays no attention to anything besides it, not even Hiyoko mentioning that they bathed together (something she'd previously expressed embarrassment over). The morning after the trial is definitely the odd one out; Mahiru is distraught over the Imposter and Teruteru, but there’s nothing more pressing to attend to, and reprimanding Hiyoko would cost her little in the focus department. Like the others, she just doesn't take it seriously. Is her lack of intervention here unjustified? For sure. Is she more at fault for not stepping in than anyone else? I'd argue no.

Kazuichi is a similar case. Mahiru is there for four of the scenes in which he’s bullied: once before the Imposter’s first meeting, twice while investigating the park’s giant timer and once during the first trial. Everything I said about Mikan applies here as well, but there’s the added layer that Mahiru is harder on boys, and so when Hiyoko calls Kazuichi a coward for trying to run away or a loser for insulting others to gain Sonia’s favor, Mahiru may not agree with the form, but she might as well agree with the content. Again, does that make her silence right? No. Just explainable.

All in all, what I’m getting at is that Mahiru’s role modeling (in DR2’s main story anyway) isn’t supposed to extend beyond the restaurant scene. At no point in 2-2 is correcting Hiyoko’s behavior a consistent goal for her, and while I think it's 100% fair to argue that it should've been, I only half-agree – again, for reasons I'll get to in section three. Since I’m not sure I can explain the purpose of Mahiru's guidance in DR2 without repeating myself in the future, for now I’ll just highlight what it aims to achieve in other installments.

Granted, most spin-off interactions are one-on-one, meaning only the TSMC and DRS exist to show how Mahiru responds to Hiyoko’s bullying in a non-killing game setting. I’d argue that neither disappoints, however; she’s shown more than once to instruct Hiyoko on how to act in both. What I like about this portrayal is that Mahiru’s gentle approach stays the same; only the sense of urgency with which she addresses Hiyoko’s behavior changes. As far as she's concerned, Hiyoko is still a child in need of teaching, but now – with the stakes that much lower – she’s also evidently a bully in need of reining in.

These scenes make Mahiru one of few characters to try to temper Hiyoko’s cruelty at any point in the series. You know who doesn’t ever try, not even outside of the killing game? Most of the DR2 cast, who end up witnessing far more frequent and targeted bullying than Mahiru does simply by virtue of outliving her. These characters include:

the self-appointed leader of the group who either ignores Hiyoko’s comments or finds the ones directed at him funny

the protagonist of the game whose inner monologue consistently acknowledges how terrible Hiyoko’s behavior is, but never calls it out

the Ultimate Team Manager (who also plays along with insults directed at him) and Princess, whose talents center around order and unity

the Observer AI whose #1 objective is ensuring that everyone gets along no matter what

Of course, how much incentive and/or know-how someone has for stopping a bully is unimportant when a simple “cut it out” would suffice. At the end of the day, the fact remains that everyone – Mahiru included – turned a blind eye to bullying during the killing game, and there’s no good excuse for that. My aim in pointing this out is not to absolve Mahiru altogether, rather, to put into perspective why it may be unfair to saddle her with all, let alone most of the blame.

So at last, with all of that explanation out of the way, is Mahiru a hypocrite when it comes to her handling of Hiyoko vs. others? Well, sure. She’s hypocritical in the sense that she exercises a double standard, i.e., cuts Hiyoko more slack than she does the rest of the class. But is that double standard exclusive to her? Not really. If anything, by not dismissing her as a child through and through, she holds Hiyoko to a higher standard than most of her classmates do, and this gets its proper chance to shine outside of the killing game. Moreover, her double standard isn’t the product of favoritism; on the contrary, if guiding Hiyoko took precedence over the killing game in her mind, their interactions wouldn’t be so few and far between. Calling Hiyoko out isn’t one of her priorities, but neither is being her friend.

In light of this, I think a better question is whether Mahiru’s hypocrisy is conscious or not. Conscious hypocrisy applies when someone regards two or more things as being on the same level but treats one differently anyway. That isn’t the case with Mahiru, who – alongside her peers – treats Hiyoko’s behavior differently (i.e., more leniently) because she genuinely regards it as nickel-and-dime. If you’d still consider that unconscious hypocrisy, that’s fair. Again, I just don’t think there’s any point in singling her out.

Speaking of singling out…

The Restaurant Scene:

The opening scene of 2-2 wherein Mahiru and Hiyoko become “friends” is where I’ve noticed a lot of fans’ ire with their relationship comes from. It’s a fairly popular opinion (as far as I’m aware) to consider Mahiru’s defense of Hiyoko here hypocritical, and honestly? While I disagree, I don’t really blame people for seeing it that way. I had to give her actions some extra thought before they started making sense to me, and I think the scene as a whole requires a lot of reading in between the lines + background knowledge to make heads or tails of. Here’s my personal reading of it and why I’d consider it misunderstood.

Immediately upon entering the restaurant, the brooding atmosphere hits hard; everyone* is in silent mourning of the Imposter and Teruteru, too overwhelmed by the events of the night prior to make conversation. Mahiru is no exception; she can hardly muster a “good morning” to Hajime… 

… *everyone besides Hiyoko, that is. Just as immediately, she starts badmouthing Teruteru, claiming he deserved to die for his crime and therefore shouldn't be mourned. Cue record scratch.

What does Mahiru say in response to this? Nothing. But her silence isn’t for lack of caring – quite the opposite.

See, the crucial thing to understand about Mahiru (and probably her most glaring flaw) is that, despite her headstrong attitude and emphasis on “doing the right thing,” she doesn’t always know what the right thing is. She lacks the confidence necessary to support her levelheadedness, and so she agonizes and deliberates. This is the driving force behind most of her actions, and I think the restaurant scene serves to foreshadow its role in her final confrontation with Fuyuhiko.

Think about the things Mahiru jumps down her peers’ throats about: all relatively “simple” moral dilemmas concerning impropriety, threats, reckless decision-making, etc. Then compare all of that to the dilemma Hiyoko brings into question here. Do the ends justify the means when it comes to reuniting with family? Is trading the lives of 15 strangers for one important person right? Mahiru doesn’t know; she’s never had to think about it before. Even if she disagrees on principle, who is she to tell this girl she barely knows that she shouldn’t feel relief over the death of someone who tried to get them all executed? Only later, after having given it ample thought, does she come to terms with this dilemma – and in the meantime, Peko steps in, possibly also foreshadowing her familiarity with topics like execution.

Soon thereafter, Hiyoko is identified as the source of a bad smell, and while most of the comments that follow are born of genuine concern for her hygiene, Gundham and Kazuichi’s are a wee bit insensitive. Mahiru says as much in a single line, and here’s where I think some interpretations of the restaurant scene miss the point. Nowhere during this exchange does Mahiru accuse anyone of bullying Hiyoko. The reason she intervenes has everything to do with her flaw regarding moral dilemmas, and – up until her offer to help Hiyoko with her kimono – almost nothing to do with Hiyoko herself. “Is it rude to harp on a sensitive hygiene issue outside of one’s control” is already a dilemma far simpler than “should a murderer be mourned," but the added layer of disregarding a lecture and doing the same thing the next morning makes it a no-brainer. Mahiru doesn’t care that Hiyoko is the target of a few obtuse comments, she cares that the guys didn’t listen to her the night before – something she makes clear by opening her sentence with, “I’ve said it before, but…”

After this is when her intervention starts being about Hiyoko. She says she’ll teach Hiyoko a simple obi knot, and only then does the latter stop crying. Here’s where background knowledge factors in.

Basically, a few in-game clues – combined with her FTEs and Island Mode – reveal that Hiyoko was forced at a young age to leave her parents’ home and move in with her grandmother, who then put her to work studying the traditional dance for which the Saionji Clan is famous. Hiyoko's status as the next head of the family made her subject to great cruelty at the hands of jealous rivals, and as a result, she grew to resent it. Her grandmother became aware of this resentment, and to prevent Hiyoko from shirking her responsibilities, she spoiled her into total dependence, neglecting to teach her basic life skills – including though not limited to dressing herself – and ensuring that dance was her only area of proficiency. This led to Hiyoko forming an inferiority complex around her lack of self-sustainability.

Said inferiority complex contextualizes how Mahiru’s offer registered to Hiyoko: not as a basic gesture of compassion, but as something far greater. Instead of offering to take care of it for her, Mahiru offered to teach her how to take care of it herself, and this meant that Hiyoko not only automatically trusted her, but had every reason to see her as a role model; as someone whose example could be followed. This childlike admiration becomes all the more relevant later.

Honestly, as much as I understand criticisms of the restaurant scene from a, “Mahiru should have also defended Mikan/Kazuichi” standpoint, I do less from a, “She shouldn’t have helped Hiyoko” one. I already outlined where I think her blindspots lie in terms of calling Hiyoko out (and how said blindspots aren't unique to her), but of the characters most consistently mindful of Mikan/Kazuichi otherwise, I’d argue she’s up there (although, again, no one is nearly as mindful of them as they should be).

She’s the only person to insist on helping Mikan up after she falls for the first time; she expresses concern over the floorboards in the abandoned building being a tripping hazard for her; she firmly refuses Ibuki’s suggestion of taking pictures after she falls for the second time; she reprimands Fuyuhiko for threatening to sell her to a whorehouse in the first trial; and when Monokuma pressures the class into playing the TSMC arcade game, she warns Mikan against it. Granted, there aren't as many instances of her sticking up for Kazuichi, but it's worth noting that – despite her prior insistence that he needed to “man up” – she defends him when Fuyuhiko taunts him over his fear of the Monobeasts.

Don’t get me wrong, I do wish that she did the additional service of holding Hiyoko accountable for her bullying, but the fact that she didn't doesn't render her intervention here hypocritical, IMO. Again, her defense of Hiyoko was prompted by frustration over the guys embarrassing her after they'd already done the same to Peko; it's something she would have defended any of the girls for, and as highlighted above, she arguably did defend Mikan on the embarrassment front both times she fell.

As for offering Hiyoko help, I don't see how that's hypocritical, either. If this scene is indicative of anything, it's that Hiyoko – while a rotten bully – is still human at the end of the day. The fact that she's a little shit and the fact that she's so helpless she can't get dressed by herself can coexist; offering her the bare minimum compassion for the latter isn't giving her a free ticket to continue being the former – it's just that: the bare minimum compassion. She needed help, and if Mahiru wouldn't give it to her, who would? Maybe it'd be karmic to let her go around the island smelling like sewage, but it sure as hell wouldn't be sustainable.

More than once in her screentime is Mahiru shown to extend compassion to someone who isn’t an unambiguously good person, something else that becomes all the more relevant later. She makes a genuine effort to sympathize with Teruteru’s motive despite not agreeing with his actions; she brings food to a tied-up Nagito (twice, for that matter) despite the chaos he’d sown the previous chapter; and she laments Natsumi’s murder despite knowing how badly the latter treated others, herself included. In view of this, helping a bully dress herself is not only in-character for Mahiru, but by far the least “extreme” of her acts of compassion. I’d also argue that it pays off in a few different ways.

Why I Think it Works:

So far, I’ve offered explanations as to why nothing holds Mahiru and Hiyoko’s relationship back, but I’ve yet to explain what I think pushes it forward. Let me rectify that.

Following the second trial, Hiyoko’s hostility toward those around her is amped up to 11. The third island investigation has her intentionally manipulate Akane into exploring the motel on her behalf, and when Hajime talks to her, not only does she insult him right off the bat, she's openly classist toward him, equating the unsanitary, rundown motel to his house. This is low, even for her, and considering the events of the previous chapter, it’s not exactly a mystery why.

See, Mahiru's death sets itself apart from others in the series in that it isn't an immediate incentive for the person closest to her to change. Hiyoko doesn't get the tried and true “character loses a friend and is motivated to better themselves as a result” type arc – not toot sweet, anyway – because, unlike, say, Sakura, Peko or Tenko, Mahiru had no last words, no last message of strength or wisdom for her. Her murder was a source of conflict and animosity – nothing more, nothing less.

As is first established following Teruteru’s execution, Hiyoko has a retribution-oriented mindset not too far off from Fuyuhiko’s “an eye for an eye.” She doesn't believe in redemption; she holds onto grudges indefinitely; and most of all, she believes killers deserve to die themselves. This mindset is yet another manifestation of her paranoia – of being conditioned all her life to believe that everyone is out to get her. Unlike Fuyuhiko, whose terrible attitude was a mask he wore to compensate for his insecurities about leading his clan, Hiyoko’s is an extension of her paranoid worldview; an ingrained trait.

And that’s honestly why I only half-agree with the argument that Mahiru should have reprimanded her in DR2. Would it have worked to give Mikan/Kazuichi some peace of mind? Absolutely, and that’s reason enough. But to change Hiyoko’s behavior in the long run? I doubt it. It would address the bullying in the moment, but it wouldn’t get to the root of the problem, i.e. the backwards defense mechanism from which said bullying stems. The only reason Mahiru’s guidance outside of DR2 (as underscored earlier) has any effect is that Hiyoko is already in a safe environment with friends whom she trusts, far away from her family and their perilous traditions. Though her lizard brain instinct is still to be as nasty as possible, the proper groundwork is there for her to integrate Mahiru’s guidance and improve her behavior over time… groundwork that's practically nonexistent in DR2’s killing game.

But anyway, back to 2-3. Speaking of Fuyuhiko, Hiyoko applies her rigid point of view to him in this chapter. The fact that she considers him an irredeemable killer is only a sliver of the real issue, however; more relevant is that clear indications of his wanting to turn over a new leaf register to her as a way of dodging responsibility. No matter how sincere in his resolve he may be, she sees only the worst in him. She is, after all, paranoid.

Hiyoko’s shrine, while testament to her love for Mahiru, is kind of a… development red herring so to speak. Setting aside her insecurities to perform a task outside her (forced) field of expertise is a feat for her – don't get me wrong – but it isn't really a change; she’d never hesitated before to show vulnerability when it came to Mahiru, whether by saying to her face that she loved her or expressing how much she missed her when she was gone. It's only when she confronts Fuyuhiko about Mahiru and Peko’s deaths, and he responds by committing seppuku, that we see dynamics start to shift.

Here, Hiyoko is stunned into horrified silence, and that in and of itself speaks volumes. She believes strongly that all killers deserve to die, doesn't she? So then why does she go quiet? Why doesn't she take advantage of Fuyuhiko’s clear instability to get him to finish the job? It’s not because she doesn’t want to die herself; the last trial established beyond a shadow of a doubt that only the person to deliver the killing blow is punished. It's because she realizes something: that isn't what Mahiru would want.

In contrast to both Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko, retribution was never Mahiru's MO. She wished zero harm upon anyone no matter what they'd done; she extended compassion to everyone, even killers; she disapproved of cruel and unusual punishment; and she showed particular distaste for acts of revenge. Of course, in keeping with her fatal flaw, she didn't always go about these ideals in the right way. She covered up a murder in a desperate bid to protect her friend from the yakuza’s twisted “justice,” and she scolded an enraged Fuyuhiko for continuing the cycle of revenge while he was interrogating her about his sister – both shortsighted actions that she paid the ultimate price for.

But by the same token, she kept thinking about Teruteru's actions after the restaurant scene and concluded that he didn’t, in fact, deserve to die for his crime. She forced Nekomaru and Kazuichi to give up Nagito’s location, chastised them for hogtying and starving him and brought him breakfast when nobody else would. She spent days deliberating over how best to make amends with Fuyuhiko, even though his threatening letter – combined with the knowledge of the game’s true ending ��� would have been more than enough to convince the others to restrain him like Kazuichi wanted (not to mention the most obvious thing to do for her own protection). If she had thought more like Hiyoko and dismissed Fuyuhiko as an irredeemable murderer from the get-go, the opportunity to lure her to the beach house would have never existed.

The ideals driving these actions, made explicit in her final words to Fuyuhiko, all contributed to a lasting legacy, and Hiyoko considering that legacy in order to forgive Fuyuhiko is what makes her arc so powerful to me. Losing the only person on the island whom she trusted – hell, having that trust taken advantage of by the ones responsible – could have foreclosed on all progress right then and there. Mahiru's guidance was limited to a single act of compassion that had (seemingly) nothing to do with what she stood for. Being framed for her murder put Hiyoko in a vulnerable position from which she believed she could only recover by becoming meaner. And as the only one left still personally affected by Fuyuhiko’s actions, she had to watch as everyone else welcomed him back with open arms, causing her to lose last resource: her footing within the group as the rude but cooperative one. But because Mahiru’s compassion reached her in a fundamental way – because she valued her enough to consider her unspoken ideals – she managed to defy the odds and change anyway. Not because Mahiru told her to, but because she wanted to.

And so at last, that's why I think the way their relationship was written – with a brief but meaningful role model dynamic, limited intervention on Mahiru's side and childlike admiration on Hiyoko's – ultimately worked in both of their favors. It allowed Mahiru's impact to carry on past 2-2 (more extensively anyway, as it would have played into Fuyuhiko’s arc regardless; his desire to make amends using the second chance given to him by Peko was no coincidence), and it made it so the sincerity other arcs work hard to convey is there by default with Hiyoko’s – just by virtue of it happening at all. Do I still wish Mahiru called Hiyoko out on her bullying for Mikan and Kazuich’s sakes? Yep. I just wouldn't change her lack of involvement otherwise.

As a side note, it’s also why I can’t get behind the idea that Mahiru ever “enabled” Hiyoko. An enabler is someone who, well, enables something – usually a behavior, right? Remove the enabler from the equation, and the enabled behavior should become harder to maintain. So what would become of Hiyoko if she never “befriended” Mahiru? Well… she’d smell worse. She’d like one fewer person. That’s about it. Not receiving Mahiru’s compassion wouldn’t have done much of anything, but receiving it made a world of difference.

Hell, even if we strip away Mahiru's primary impact on Hiyoko, i.e. jumpstarting her development in 2-3, I’d argue that what we’re left with in 2-2 is still unequivocally positive. Helping Hiyoko shower and tie her kimono were both good things that improved the lives of everyone on the island. Nobody had to deal with Hiyoko’s stench anymore, but on top of that, given the option, Hiyoko spent her time clinging to Mahiru instead of going around bullying others. Keep in mind, Hiyoko is someone who believes she doesn't need friends or close contacts. Before Mahiru, she reasoned that, as long as she could learn to be self-sustaining, she’d never have to rely on anyone who might betray her; she could eschew human connection and ensure her safety forevermore. But then Mahiru earned her trust in one fell swoop, and suddenly she was prioritizing the pursuit of friendship over the prevention of betrayal, if with just one person. I don't think that should be understated.

Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. Back to 2-3.

True to the killing game, though, just because a character experiences a breakthrough doesn't mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows from that point forward. The objective of the first half of Hiyoko’s arc, i.e., forgiving Fuyuhiko, is complete. She’s already well on her way to vanquishing her paranoia – to having her worldview reformed by Mahiru’s ideals and doing away with her ugly defense mechanism in the process. Nothing can stop her from improving further…

… is what we're led to believe. But then comes Nekomaru’s sacrifice. That’s when things take a nosedive.

Witnessing Nekomaru – essentially the pinnacle of strength – try to save his friend and get demolished as a result reinforces the very paranoia Hiyoko was striving to overcome. It reminds her of her own fragile mortality within the killing game and serves as irrefutable proof – in her mind, anyway – that connection leads only to death. Based on two lines, one from the second trial and the other from Hiyoko’s Island Mode ending, I think it can also be inferred that she projects herself onto Nekomaru here; she wishes she could have protected Mahiru the way Nekomaru tried to do Akane, but the fact that Mahiru is gone, and – as far as she’s aware – Nekomaru is now, too, only further cements her paranoid outlook.

Something else I think is notable about this scene, albeit a minor detail, is how Hiyoko addresses Akane. She singles Akane out, asking if she understands that Nekomaru died on account of their friendship. And while she's obviously rude about it, interestingly enough, she's not condescending. As mentioned earlier, one of this chapter’s first indications that Hiyoko was trying to shore up her bully persona (after the blow that was Mahiru's trial) was her bragging about manipulating Akane. There, she went out of her way to call Akane a useful idiot who's only good for dirty work. And yet, in this scene, not only does she ask with full candor if Akane understands the gravity of the situation, she’s disappointed when she doesn't. Disappointment implies there were expectations to begin with. I don't point this out to say this scene isn't a relapse on Hiyoko's part – it 100% is. If anything, I think it goes to show the extent of her breakdown: she's so distraught, she doesn't care anymore if she has to contradict her own malice to drive her point home.

Hiyoko’s relapse (and subsequent death) is why I assume her relationship with Mahiru is so often considered a waste. I may be something of an outlier in that I’ve never minded Hiyoko’s send-off from a writing standpoint and think only its incorporation into the case/deadly life is shoddy – but staying with the topic of this write-up, I’ll focus less on why I wouldn’t consider Hiyoko’s character as a whole wasted and more on why I wouldn’t consider her relationship with Mahiru wasted (even if the two go hand-in-hand to some degree).

The morning after Nekomaru's sacrifice, Hiyoko is seen mourning at Mahiru’s shrine. Choosing to talk to her triggers a rant about Nagito and how he pissed her off by lying about seeing Mahiru alive. She tearfully proclaims that she hates being lied to and won’t be satisfied until Nagito is brutalized as punishment, this clearly alluding to her heightened paranoia. It wouldn't even be the first time Nagito has lied to her, but comparing her reaction then vs. now, it becomes clear just how badly she's spiraling.

After this, the Despair Disease motive is officially introduced by Monokuma, and the afflicted students are brought to the hospital. Those remaining (minus Mikan, who’s tending to the patients) convene in the hospital lobby to discuss a plan of action, and that's when Hiyoko begins to insist on a quarantine.

I was honestly kind of surprised by how satisfied this scene's handling of Hiyoko left me feeling, and the more I analyze why, the more it all ties back to Mahiru.

Perhaps most obvious is her behavior. While she’s still not exactly a joy to be around, she's noticeably mellowed out. Upon review, I can count on one hand the number of times she says something rude:

When Gundham and Kazuichi debate the ethics of Mikan changing Nagito’s clothes (prompting this hilarious line), Hiyoko calls their conversation stupid and tells them to focus

When Hajime questions what she means by “isolate the patients,” she condescendingly asks him why he doesn’t get it

When explaining the purpose of the quarantine, she remarks (to no one in particular) that “even a preschooler knows” the only option when a disease is incurable is to stop it from spreading

When Gundham insists that everyone else station at the motel, she acquiesces with a, “Jeez, how annoying…”

Her nastiest remark by far is “I want them [the patients] to at least have the decency to consider committing suicide before they start bothering us.” Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a hideous thing to say under any circumstances, and there's no excuse for it. It puts a bad taste in my mouth. That said, with how unusually tame the rest of her dialogue is (hell, she refers to Mikan twice without so much as an insult to boot), I don’t think such an extreme comment is included arbitrarily. I think it's part of a deliberate pattern.

The bulk of Hiyoko’s arc this chapter – both positive and negative – has operated on the principle of “show, don’t tell.” This made sense before, but it makes extra sense now: because she’s too afraid to showcase vulnerability outright, the story has to find roundabout ways to convey that she isn’t as heartless as she would prefer to be seen.

Exhibit A: she claimed to believe that all killers deserve death, but when given the chance to coerce a killer into suicide, she faltered.

Exhibit B: she callously remarked that Fuyuhiko deserved his injuries, but when given the chance not to attend his recovery party, she did anyway. She tried to pass it off as an interest in the party itself, but never before had she established herself as a party-lover – quite the opposite; she called the Imposter’s party “lame” in 2-1 – making this an obvious bluff. So obvious, in fact, that Hajime “I know Nagito has the Liar Disease but I’ll take his words literally” Hinata immediately sees through it.

Exhibit C: at the party, she insisted that Fuyuhiko wasn’t forgiven yet and promised that, if push came to shove, he’d bear the brunt of any dangerous situation. But when given the chance to make good on this promise and force him to stay at the hospital, the idea didn’t even cross her mind. It was Fuyuhiko who rose to the occasion.

And finally, Exhibit D: she claims to wish the Despair Disease patients would kill themselves, but when given a chance to ditch – to give into her paranoia right away – she takes on a de-facto leader role in forming the plan to keep the patients safe. She doesn’t just come up with the idea, she spearheads the whole thing, from assigning her classmates roles to prompting Kazuichi to design a communication method between the hospital and motel. The player can’t progress to the next scene without speaking specifically to her.

So then… how does this all tie back to Mahiru? Well, I like to think of it in terms of before vs. after Nekomaru's sacrifice.

Before Nekomaru's sacrifice, it was Mahiru’s ideals of restoration that allowed Hiyoko to forgive Fuyuhiko, thereby doing away with some of her paranoia. After, it’s Mahiru’s ideals of teamwork that allow her to help combat the Despair Disease. Recall that, in the aftermath of the sacrifice, Hiyoko claimed there was no value in working together and that she didn’t want to be involved in any team efforts. Then why, pray tell, does she work together with her peers in this scene? Because it’s a last-ditch effort at honoring Mahiru – at doing what Mahiru would’ve done.

Of course, I say “last-ditch” because, no matter which way you slice it, the damage is already done. Hiyoko can work with her classmates to prevent another killing, but she can’t trust them – can’t get close to them. Mahiru’s ideals are strong, but in the face of overwhelming paranoia, they’re only enough to allow Hiyoko one final bow before she sequesters herself in her room.

We're given the impression that this withdrawal is just another act of selfishness – that Hiyoko is just trying to avoid the Despair Disease – but that turns out to be only part of the reason. Flash forward to the investigation, we learn that it was yet another last-ditch effort, this time to honor Mahiru by bathing and then tying her kimono the way she was taught. In her now empty motel room, Sonia expresses a regret: she didn’t understand what Hiyoko was going through – not really – and so she gave her some advice about a mirror then left her alone. It all comes together thematically from there.

Because of Hiyoko’s takeaway from Nekomaru’s sacrifice, she closed herself off from her peers (both literally and figuratively), and this furthered the divide between her and Fuyuhiko’s arcs. Nekomaru’s words caused Fuyuhiko to realize that this new life of his wasn’t a spare; it was precious. Nekomaru’s actions, on the other hand, caused Hiyoko to realize that her life was a fragile thing, and instead of becoming self-preserving like Fuyuhiko, she became self-isolating. She believed the only way to avoid a meaningless death was to go it alone, but going it alone – that is, isolating herself to the point where no one could understand her enough to help her – became her undoing.

But was that undoing meaningless? From an overarching narrative standpoint, maybe. Her death has no lasting impact on the rest of the story (she comes up again only when her grown-up picture is discovered in 2-6), and the way it’s incorporated into the trial is downright sloppy. But when it comes to her death by itself – to the individual story it tells – boy oh boy does it have meaning, and the character most to thank for that is undoubtedly Mahiru.

Mahiru is what allows Hiyoko’s death to feel like something built up to, like something character-driven, as opposed to a shoehorned-in, hollow chapter 3 death. She makes it so that Hiyoko’s “wrong place, wrong time” scenario – while unlucky – is anything but random. The reason Hiyoko finds herself in that wrong place at the wrong time isn't sporadic misfortune; it’s the result of her grief, paranoia, lack of self-sustainability – and even to some extent even DR2’s theme of the burden of talent. It’s the tragedy to Fuyuhiko’s triumph and a poignant subversion of the usual Danganronpa formula, with Mahiru at the heart of it.

Mikan being the one to kill Hiyoko only works as well as it does because of Mahiru, too. She didn't do it out of spite, didn't hunt Hiyoko down or kidnap her. Hiyoko just happened to walk in on her killing Ibuki. But again, while this may be unlucky, it’s not at all random – not from a storytelling angle. Hiyoko heads to the music venue in the first place in a bid to prove her independence, yes, but it’s only because Mahiru has become so enmeshed with her idea of independence that this is the case. If being independent were the only thing driving her, she wouldn’t have found herself struggling with her kimono to begin with. She would have weathered the storm and gone without bathing until the Despair Disease passed. She’d done it before, after all. But she was desperate to honor Mahiru, to prove that Mahiru’s death wasn’t in vain because – hey, look – she’s self-sustaining now. Honoring Mahiru became her way of regaining control over not just her hygiene, but her life as well.

Speaking of control, bullying Mikan was one of the few things – squishing ants included – that served to give Hiyoko the sense of control over things for which she longed. Even at Fuyuhiko's recovery party, she used Mikan as an emotional scapegoat to avoid coming across as vulnerable, insulting her to distract from the fact that she’d just forgiven Mahiru’s killer. And yet, here, in her last-ditch effort to prove her independence – to prove her control – Mikan becomes that final, uncontrollable variable. She uses Hiyoko to regain control over things, and Hiyoko is helpless to stop it. This subtle role reversal is a refreshing instance of nuance in an otherwise very heavy-handed case; I’d take it over a cliché revenge plotline anyday.

And as if the irony of the situation weren't already there in spades, consider this: Hiyoko believed that human connection was a death sentence, and while she was mistaken when it came to everyone else, she was right when it came to Mahiru. Her inability to let Mahiru go is what led her to her own demise. The story doesn't say one way or another if her outlook is right or wrong; it lays the facts out on the table and lets the player decide for themselves. Although I do think some interpretations of her character are more correct than others, Hiyoko is ultimately up in the air to discuss, and that’s something I can appreciate about any character.

All in all, if a death symbolic of Hiyoko's lifelong demons is what her journey in 2-3 was building to from the start (which I firmly believe it was), then in order for Mahiru's impact to not be wasted, she just had to remain instrumental to that journey until the very end. In that sense, I'd say she succeeded.

Conclusion:

Hear that? That's the sound of my fingers dying.

Well then, it seems we’ve reached the end. Yay. :)

This took me over a month to complete, and I’m honestly happy with how it came out. I wish I’d discovered how fun it is to write argumentative pieces like this sooner – though, then again, having posted this means I won’t be beating the “obsessed with Mahiru and Hiyoko” allegations anytime soon lol. Hopefully you found some of my points compelling, regardless of what you personally think of either of them.

Thanks for reading!

[sonicjustbecause]

The Sonic 3 Trailer lacks of both spoiler and context, and that is about how a trailer should be. We already know what it is about. We only needed to see few scenes to make sure it might look good (or bad, it depends on what we except).

Now, I've seen a couple of crazy theories I've read and I believe both of them won't happen. I'll explain

Tom getting killed

Won't happens anything different to Tom that didn't happen before. he will be at worst knock out/neutralized and go off screen. Like in Sonic 1 (punched by Eggman) and Sonic 2 (encircled by flames)

Such happening would be the complete Shadow's assasination as character. We as fan won't forgive him and also this would push Shadow in the villains realm.

The past characterization.

Original Shadow (Adventure/Heroes/06) was very tame. There is a video on YT that analyze how Shadow behaves toward the world and underline the lack of destruction and violence in SA2, as opposite as we see in Sonic X and ShtH05.

in Sonic-X they changed slightly Shadow's personality, removing his intellectual and contemplative nature and replacing it with a more brash and violent personality. But even there, they prevented Shadow from killing Cosmo, making him acting like a cat who plays with his prey instead of being efficient (slow pace, talking, missing aim despite the short distance and when the thing failed just giving up on that). Shadow could have act smartly simply killing Cosmo in her sleep. As I say, I think they wanted to save his reputation.

In Sonic Force he indeed killed Infinite's squad. His first kill, most likely. Small fries, while leaving the boss alive, evil and stupid considering the aftermath. They saved Shadow's reputation by making Infinite lame and obnoxious and by not showing his gang at all (so we don't get attachted and we still cheer for Shadow). Sort of telling without actually showing anything.

Similar cases and why those characters have been tamed out.

Lupin III had a super rough star. His author got inspired by underground Western comics of the '60s and the original Lupin III was not a thief and a cheerful anti-hero. Lupin was originally a real godfather, a mafia boss, and despite he was mostly accompanied by Jigen and Goemon (who weren't really characterized back then) he had all underdogs, picciottos and so on under his rule. He did steal, but also he killed innocents, he raped women (includin Fujiko) and did several other hideous things.

Evil protagonists don't last long. They either get overhauled or they die like Light Yagami.

For this Lupin had to be tamed. Lupin killed less and less and more and more only with a reason and was more and more gentle with the innocents, including his main foe. And lastly he just virtually stopped to kill.

He's not the only one, many protagonists were born as unremedable villain and then they have been turned into antiheroes... or even heroes. Villanous protagonists never last long.

Shadow is beloved mostly because of his original personality. I noticed in most fan work, he is characterized the way he was in Sonic Adventure 2/Heroes/06 or Prime. Sometimes like in Sonic X and Shadow 05. Rarely like modern Shadow.

Back to Shadow

"What did you do?"

"What I had to!"

Those lines may be related to anything and everything. They might be related to Shadow's attempt to destroy the world like in SA2.

"I had to keep my promise!"

"What I had to do" suggest me something Shadow did not because he wanted to but for an external obiective. It might be world safety, keeping a promise, preventing the Sun going red giant, anything. Maybe even destroying Metal Sonic (if he appears like some rumor suggest) after Sonic convinced him to join the good side. Shadow has a long story dealing with living weapons.

Shadow stealing Stone's bike

Simply impossible. I already said Shadow's size is comparable to the size of a five years old child, about 1m tall. Stone is a 1,78m tall adult.

How Shadow would look on Stone's bike. It would be good material for the memes. And even if he would be able to ride an adult designed bike, he would be unable to do the Akira thing.

[cy-cyborg]

Tips for writing and drawing disabled characters: you're allowed to have fun with it

I get a lot of people responding to my posts/videos on writing and drawing disabled characters that, while they never outright say it, kind of imply to me that people are interpreting those posts as:

THIS IS THE OBJECTIVE ONE AND ONLY WAY TO WRITE CHATACTERS WITH [Insert disability here] AND IF YOU DONT INCLUDE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE POINTS AND SUGGESTIONS IN SOME CAPACITY, YOUR CHARACTERS ARE BAD AND YOU ARE BAD FOR MAKING THEM!

And just ....no that's not my intent lol. So let me make it abundantly clear: with a few exceptions, my content is just suggestions, mainly aimed at making your characters feel more realistic and/or grounded, or demonstrating certain ideas. If thats not the vibe you want, or the suggestions are clashing with the tone of your work, you don't have to include them. Still consider the advice, make sure the reason you think it doesn't match isn't based on stereotypes or assumptions, and if it's not, and you still don't think it fits, don't include it.

If it doesn't make sense to include a chapter about how your character is struggling with debilitating phantom pain in an otherwise really light-hearted, cozy slice of life comedy, then don't add it. This isn't to say that your character's disability shouldn't have any effect, but pick ways that fit the tone. For example, instead of dealing with debilitating pain, maybe your chatacter is out camping, they take off their leg to relax but oh no, a stray dog mistakes the metal pole for a bone and steals it, making your chatacter have to hop after them. When they catch them and get their leg back, they decide to adopt them! Hjinks and cozyness ensues

That actually does sound adorable, I might save that for later lmao

Or just small things, the same way you might show an able bodied chatacter getting ready for their day, show a disabled chatacter doing the same, but adding in the extra steps. Do what works with the tone.

This also isn't to say the advice can't be used in more fantastical settings. Most of what I write is fantasy and sci-fi, and while I don't use all of my own advice in those settings (because not all of it is relevent) I do use a lot of it, depending on the character in question. The main character in my sci-fi comic voidstar, Xari, for example, has been a double leg amputee for a long time and that, combined with the setting means not all of the standard advice about writing amputees is relevent to them. They don't struggle with pain or have trouble adjusting to prosthetics because it happened a long time ago and the medicine/tech in their world is better, but there's other ways it effects their daily life in ways fitting for the lighter tone in chapter 1. the intro sequence shows them running and jumping and being active, but also shows they use a wheelchair sometimes and a bit later in the chapter, crutches, depending on what they're doing. It also effects how they interact with people: late in the chapter someone makes a weird comment about their legs, and Xari uses it as a chance to mess with them and have some fun.

All this is to say don't be afraid to be a bit looser with the advice if the story you're writing has a lighter tone and just have fun. My content is there for those who want to use it, but it's not the "only objective way" to handle those subjects.

[termiteterraceclub]

Happy 80th birthday to the most famous romantic French skunk in all of cartoons, Pepé Le Pew. As part of the major marquee #LooneyTunes characters, Pepé is considered unique. Constantly chasing for love, Pepé is defined by his affectionate yet oblivious personality.

Chuck Jones originally created Pepé back in 1944. He based him off of European actor Charles Boyer from his performance in “Algiers” (1938) (that's part of his joke), his own colleague Tedd Pierce, and loosely off of himself except Pepé has the romantic confidence Chuck lacked as a young boy.

He evolved from his early appearances... “Odor-able Kitty" (named Henry and his accent is fake), “Scent-imental Over You” (named Stinky), “Odor of the Day” (Arthur Davis' only use in a slapstick role), into a fully fledged Oscar winning cartoon set to the sights and sounds of Paris and Europe.

“For Scent-imental Reasons”, Pepé Le Pew’s Oscar winning cartoon, fully establishes the formula of his classic shorts. With the help of Michael Maltese, Pepé mistakes a female tuxedo cat, canonically named Penelope, for a skunk due because of a white stripe. to make Pepé Le Pew come to life.

Mel Blanc's mimicked Charles Boyer’s love-making voice. And there are also some bits of Maurice Chevalier. Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese crafted his exaggerated routine and charm as satire on Hollywood romance movies and the romantic Frenchman for comedic effect. It's his odor that is the problem.

His pursuits often fail but he shows persistence. Pepé’s amusing dialogue spoofing of Boyer, the phony French-English sight gags, and Pepé’s hopping on all fours. There are a few times the formula is flipped when Pepé's smell is neutralized and Penelope romantically pursues him back.

Abe Levitow’s short "Really Scent" subverts the formula. Penelope, Fabrette, is born with a skunk stripe, both of them fall in love except Pepé’s stench drives her away. He finds out what pew means and it breaks his heart. Both make the effort to change and the opposite happens.

Pepé has made 17 classic appearances (including a cameo in a Sylvester & Tweety cartoon) and “Louvre Come Back to Me!” was his last released in 1962.

Since the 1970s, Pepé Le Pew has usually been referenced in cameos, commercials and merchandise (including material that reimagines Pepé and Penelope's relationship to a mutual romance). It's also rare when he gets a starring role once in a while.

To fit with modern times, writers at Warner Bros. aimed to make his French charm more of a focal point with appearances in Baby Looney Tunes (who loves gardening), The Looney Tunes Show (as a wedding planner), Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run (perfume mogul), and New Looney Tunes (as a suave spy).

Tom Ruegger and the writing team of Tiny Toon Adventures created Fifi La Fume as a way to minor changes while being a variation of Pepé Le Pew. If it weren't for Pepé, we wouldn't have Fifi.

The character had been snubbed from recent projects out of caution including Space Jam: A New Legacy and Tiny Toons Looniversity due to changing sensibilities and trends. There was even a feature-length film putting Pepé Le Pew in a rom-com heist that was also scrapped.

This does not mean WB is retiring Pepé altogether. He is misunderstood as he is considered a time capsule of Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. There is hope that he'll be used again with the right people and new concepts in the future. As long as fans love him, Pepé lives on. Vive l’amour!

(After the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, they appear to be loosening things up. Pepé's recent appearances in Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem as Gendarme Pepé and in Joker: Folie á Deux for example show that WB hasn't washed their hands off from him. Give or take a few years until they settle on a new concept.)

In conclusion, happy 80th birthday to Pepé Le Pew. And to the voice actors that got to voice him, thank you for making Mel Blanc proud. And to those who watch reruns of his shorts, buy his merch, read his comics, and sharing your love of him through fanart... Merci. Pepé will be honored and evolve!

[dragonmarquise]

Escher headcanons 👐 any spare Escher headcanons for a poor starving Escher fan?

YESSS get ready folks, it’s time for… the Escher Hour!! \o/

For some characters, I have more thoughts about them than others. Escher is one of those characters. I feel it’s because there’s just so much room to think about and develop him more than what the game gives us.

Meaning, this post is gonna be LONG lol...

(Also please let me know if anything sounds awkward or doesn't make sense, I went over all of this like 5 times to fix stuff up and I Am Tired :u )

Starting off with his real name (mentioned in my headcanon names post a while back): Matthias Conrad Escher! So he has the same initials as M. C. Escher, his parents knew what they were doing, lol. As an adult he doesn’t mind it nearly as much as when he was a kid. He insists on everyone calling him Escher, not Matthias or any nicknames (with one specific exception, we’ll get to that near the end, hee hee).

A brief(ish) history before/during his time on the force:

Was in an archery club as a student before moving on to guns. In general he has amazing aim with pretty much any kind of long range weapon. Do not challenge this man to a game of darts, you will lose, lol

He’s not really a friendly guy. Not mean but also not exactly introverted, just… not that outgoing. The type of person who doesn’t befriend people himself, but gets befriended by others. If that makes sense?

As a kid, he was very into stories (novels, comics, movies, etc) about heroes with simple beginnings who go on to make a big impact and save the world! Though nowadays he gets annoyed by most stories like that because he realized it had a bad influence on him. More on that in a bit...

Joined the police because he genuinely thought he could do good and help protect people that way. Over time he becomes jaded due to witnessing some of the things his “fellow officers” were doing, especially going overboard with even small “crimes”. Escher either ends up threatened by said officers to keep things quiet, or otherwise if he does report someone, it just ends up getting swept under the rug while Escher is the one being reprimanded for being “too nosy”. Even if it never goes anywhere, he still makes reports on the hope that something will change.

Despite all of that, the main reason he sticks around on the force is because, in his mind, “If there’s even only one ‘good cop’ in the NAPD, it might as well be me.” The other officers know Escher is a “stickler” about rules, trying to be fair and respectful even to criminals, etc. So at least when he’s around, most of them will behave themselves. Thus, he figures if he quits, things will just get worse. Not to mention, he hopes he can influence and inspire his fellow officers to actually be better people and to be more genuine “good cops”, and make a change for the better from within the NAPD itself!

Remember those stories I mentioned that he liked as a kid? Yeah, subconsciously he was trying to be the cool and awesome hero he always wanted to be. Looking back on his mentality like this, present day Escher very much understands that he was being an idealistic idiot. :u

Though, it also didn’t help that there were in fact a few cops who were convinced by Escher to start being better about their activities, and even showing mercy and respect towards criminals. These guys were very far and few in-between though, compared to the number of cops who approved of more extreme measures (like the walking tanks) for any crime, no matter how small. Those cops either bought into Berlage’s “slippery slope” argument, or otherwise they knew they were corrupt but didn’t care as long as they can say they’re the “good guys”.

The NAPD probably would have just killed him and cover it up as an accident, but Escher proves to be a good fighter and survivor. And even during a few attempts, he makes it clear he is one very stubborn bastard when it comes to actually dying. He will only die when he feels like it, lol. So the force gives up on it after a certain point, and decides to just keep an eye on Escher and make sure he doesn’t quit (since it would mean he potentially ends up more actively fighting against them if he’s not on the force anymore).

He is gay, but realized/accepted it fairly late in his life, maybe somewhere in his 30s or 40s.

Unfortunately, his wife at the time was not happy when he came out to her. Lots of fighting, screaming, and a very messy divorce, with her taking almost everything he had. At the least it also meant he never saw her again after that, which he’s very thankful for.

He used to smoke. Obviously once he got his cyberhead later in life, he couldn’t do that anymore. He still keeps his old lighter with him though, mostly out of sentimentality. It’s a very nice zippo lighter!

Likes whiskey, mostly for the “warming throat” feeling it gives after drinking it. But by the time the game starts, he doesn’t drink much anymore.

Also note that by the events of the game, Escher is somewhere around late 50s or early 60s in age.

Some further info on Escher’s cybernetics, all of which happened after his divorce but before the events of the game. It’s not just the cyberhead!

Escher getting his cyberhead was due to an on-duty injury, where he was shot in the head. The official records state it was caused by a criminal he and other officers were tracking, but in reality it was from a fellow sniper who he “snitched” on. That guy ended up with a slap on the wrist like most of the other cops Escher reported, but he was still pissed at Escher about it. Escher himself doesn’t learn the truth about what happened until after the events of the game (more on that later).

That being said, enough of his throat/voicebox/etc is left in tact, such that he’s still able to speak “normally” (i.e. not through a speaker like most other cyberheads). Hence why in game, he’s the only cyberhead that doesn’t have a filter-thing on his voice clips.

On that note, of course most of his brain is also miraculously intact, but the shot still puts him in a coma. So his superiors make the decision for him to get him set up with a cyberhead.

During the procedure for getting his mind copied over into his future cyberhead, they also opened him up and gave him cybernetic lungs! The police force found out he had cancer from his smoking and decided to fix him up. How nice of them, right?!

Except, they did it without asking him first (again, the coma). Not to mention since then a lot of the higher-ups use it to almost bully Escher, saying he “owes the force” for being saved, both in terms of the cyberhead and the cyber lungs. Escher hates this, but again, he’s stubbornly stuck in his “might as well be the only good cop/if I leave no one else will be able to fix the force for the better” mentality at this point, so he’s still an officer. Also, while he hates to admit it, he does end up feeling like he “owes” the NAPD for being willing to save him, even after all his “snitching” and whatnot.

But combined with everything else going on, it still at least adds onto Escher’s doubts about how much “good” the NAPD is actually doing…

Besides all that, cybernetic organs (other than cyberheads, which replace an entire head including the brain) aren’t as great as cyberheads and limbs, and especially compared to the efficiency of there organic counterparts. Escher makes sure to get regular maintenance on his cyber lungs, but even then they can still malfunction on occasion. Sometimes it gets so bad, he wishes they had just left him with his cancer-ridden organic lungs.

He gets his arms fully replaced with cybernetic arms as well, though definitely not willingly. He suffered another on-duty injury. This one he knows was caused by his fellow officers, but it was ruled as an accident. Escher has doubts on how much of an “accident” it really was, and has been trying to find solid evidence to the contrary. He’s hoping it might actually be enough to finally turn things around with the force like he wants.

Anyways, truthfully his arms weren’t that badly damaged, but he was pressured by his higher-ups to get the cyber arms. They were convinced it would affect his aim as a sniper, which he took as an insult, but still agreed to the cybernetics just to get those assholes off his back.

Lastly, he also got part of his legs severely injured, this time being a genuine accident compared to the head and arms incidents. Both legs injured below the knees, enough to warrant amputation. His higher-ups also tried to pressure him into going for fully cybernetic legs, as a complete replacement for what’s left of his legs. This time he stands his ground and refuses. He opts for non-cybernetic prosthetics instead, especially since he at least still has his knees. Paid for them himself, so that his superiors couldn't say he "owes" them for this too.

As a note, I like to think the world of New Amsterdam has regular prosthetics like what we have irl, but also cybernetics which are basically more advanced prosthetics with fancier technology. Like, wires and sensors connected to the body’s nerves, so that it’s not too different from the original organic parts. It still takes a bit of physical therapy to get used to though, and of course regular maintenance and repairs to make sure it stays operational.

Next, headcanons of him during and right after the game, mostly what happened to him after being knocked out.

By the point of the game’s events, Escher is having especially strong doubts about the force. His investigation about the incident leading to his arm replacement keeps hitting dead ends, even though he knows there should be something to prove what actually happened. He’s also finally starting to have suspicions about the incident that led to his cyberhead as well. His investigations for that also lead to dead ends, but he finds enough clues and evidence to make him realize it wasn’t just an accident. Unfortunately for him, it’s still not enough to force a serious investigation into it all.

He considers quitting, but again, idealistic idiot! If he quits now, what happened to him could just happen again to someone else, so he’s determined to do something good from within before he gives up completely. It's a bit of sunken cost fallacy, in a way, but where Escher refuses to acknowledge how deep the ship has sunk by this point.

Even besides that, he’s heard about a new NAPD project that will lead to better crime prediction, and ideally less wasting time with harassing writers and other small time “criminals”. He’s hoping maybe this project is finally what the city really needs to stay safe, what the NAPD needs to be less corrupt, and maybe even what he needs to somehow find proof of what happened to him and finally getting proper justice.

*insert meme of your choice here that has a “What could possibly go wrong!” and/or “Image preceding worst possible outcome” vibe* :P

The way I see it, most officers are willingly following orders from Project Algo without question. Once Faux-as-Project-Algo starts ramping things up, I think the officers are encouraged to go to extremes with their actions against criminals. Which they do so as a combination of “orders are orders”, and genuine glee over finally getting to punish “criminals” in the way they always wanted to. Basically, the way I see it, the NAPD was always corrupt behind the scenes, Faux just made it worse by encouraging them to be way more blatant and public about it.

An aside: I mean, they have the tube system and turrets already set up throughout the city, not to mention plenty of attack helicopters and walking tanks ready for immediate deployment. You don’t have that kind of firepower at the ready unless you’re fucking looking forward to finding an excuse to start some carnage. Just saying!!

Back to Project Algo’s influence on the NAPD: A few officers have doubts, and these unfortunate souls are taken over by Algo/Faux and forced to do his bidding.

Guess which group of cops Escher is in, especially after he questioned Berlage about the “suspects” at Brink Terminal. And with his history of questioning and reporting his fellow officers over “trivial” matters before now, of course he’d be the first on the chopping block when it comes to testing out certain aspects of Project Algo.

After getting knocked out at BRC’s hideout, they check and confirm that he’s not dead. His cyberhead sorta shorted out from the impact and is effectively in sleep mode. But now they gotta figure out what to do with him before he wakes up!! Their solution: Put Escher on a bus. Literally in this case, they find a bus in Brink Terminal that’s heading far out of the city, get him on it (by stuffing him into the luggage compartment while no one’s looking, lol), and let it take care of him for them!

He wakes up far outside New Amsterdam, at which point Project Algo has lost its control over him. The project did not have good enough signal/network connection to keep controlling him from that far of a distance. Also he scares the poor bus driver and passengers by accident when they discover him in the luggage compartment. :P

Escher sorts things out and manages to get on a bus heading back into the city. He spends time on that return trip thinking over everything that happened to him leading up to this point: him trying to be a “good cop” but not making much of a difference; his injuries which led to his cybernetic parts and being told he now “owes” the force for “saving” him; and then him expressing his doubts and concerns over and over again, only to be scolded and have everything swept under the rug, no matter how serious of a violation it was. He wants to be a “good cop”, but now he’s realizing how much of an idealistic idiot he’s been for trying to make change from the inside out. Letting himself be a doormat because he desperately wanted to believe he could make a real difference, that the NAPD could do good like they claimed to, that he could be a hero if he just stuck around and did as much as he could, etc.

And then this time, being sent to capture “armed suspects” that weren’t armed at all, plus getting taken over by Project Algo for trying to be reasonable about BRC and other writers? This whole this is really just the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.

By the time he arrives back in the city, the main plot of the game is already done. So thankfully he’s not taken over by Project Algo again. But yeah, he’s thought about what he’s been through, what he put himself through due to a selfish sense of justice and heroics, and finally understands he’s been wasting his time trying to clean up a system that keeps dirtying itself up anyways. Not everything can be fixed easily, if at all, like in a story.

Now more post game headcanons!!

His outlook on everything that happened to him before now can be more or less summed up as: “They say, ‘the only good cop is either an ex-cop or a dead cop’. I never took that phrase seriously until I almost became a dead cop. And frankly, I’m still mad at myself for not seeing the truth sooner.”

So suffice to say, he quits the force, and becomes a private detective! He still wants to be a force of good in some way, but at least now he realizes he has to do that himself, outside of the NAPD. Occasionally the cases he takes on are against the NAPD too, so even after quitting he still gets on their bad side.

And of course, he's not completely jaded to the point where he thinks being good is pointless. He just has more realistic expectations on how to do good in the world. He's still frustrated with himself for not doing this earlier, especially for not quitting the force sooner, but better late than never I guess!

He tries to keep any hard boiled monologues in his head, especially since it could mean tipping off someone about what he’s doing. :P

His detective office is actually the living room of his apartment. He’s kind of hoping to upgrade to an actual office at some point, but for now it works well enough for keeping his files organized and as a space for meeting with clients.

Escher has a small collection of drinky birds going in one corner of his office, lol

He likes jazz, blues, and lounge music. He’s got a record player and a collection of records in his office too!

He doesn’t like watching TV, so he doesn’t have one in his apartment. He prefers listening to his records, the radio, and even podcasts sometimes. Otherwise he’s occasionally checking online for recent news and possible leads.

In terms of other hobbies… this guy actually doesn’t have much going on. Though he’ll sometimes check out random books from the local library to read, from novels to biographies to textbooks. The way he sees it, you never know when a random piece of info from a book you only read once could end up useful later on. And even if it doesn’t, he finds it kind of fun to read something new!

That being said, he at first avoids any fantasy or sci-fi novels about heroes going on big journeys and saving the world and stuff, because… well, you probably know why by now. He gets over it eventually, but he doesn’t get quite as much enjoyment out of them than when he was a kid. Not to mention, he revisits some of his childhood favorites occasionally, and they make him cringe sometimes. A lot of the time. For the most part, it's from him realizing how terrible they really were (be it because of poor writing, or things like racism, misogyny, etc).

Escher is saving up money to go full-cyber! Since the only major organic part of him left is his torso and part of his legs, he figures, why the hell not at this rate. Not to mention, his cyber lungs are still Not Good, despite making sure to get upgrades and updates over the years. It’s to the point where he’ll need to get them full replaced in the future anyways. So going full-cyber would be a huge improvement over continuing to deal with the cyber lungs!

In the meantime, he did at least modify his cyberhead so that his neck is part of it too. So now he has the voice filter thing! He always hated how before then, his voice made him stick out too much among other cyberheads. Back to his enjoyment of whiskey mentioned waaay earlier, this change means he doesn’t get the warm throat feeling from drinking anymore. Then again, by now he’s pretty much quit drinking completely, so it’s not that big of a loss in his eyes.

As a private detective, he held onto his sniper rifle but took it apart and converted it into a crossbow. Meant more for defense than anything else, especially since he has bolts for causing smokescreens, loud noises, bursts of paint, etc.

Escher is now on good terms with BRC even after the knock out. He understands they were just trying to protect themselves, especially with him being controlled by Project Algo at the time.

He also works with BRC and other writers to warn them about any police activity, such as to be on the look out for both police traps and actually dangerous criminals (like, suspected murderers and anything else along those lines), exchange information and rumors, etc.

For my “Red as a separate person from Felix” headcanons/story, Escher is eventually “convinced” to take on Red as an apprentice of sorts. Red actually manages to do a good job, all things considered!

And finally, ending things off with my patented Shipping Nonsense, lol

Sometime after the end of the game, he decides to give dating a try. He thinks it won’t really go anywhere, but at least he can attempt to be more social with others. He ends up speaking with Cinco, the five ball DOT EXE member, and going on a few dates. Cinco doesn’t deny he’s with DOT EXE when Escher asks about it, but asks Escher to not make a big deal of it (which Escher respects).

But then Escher at one point admits he was a former sniper for the NAPD. Which unfortunately leads to both of them worrying that he might have been the one who killed Eight Ball. He got taken over by Project Algo after all, he could have been control to handle Eight Ball before going after BRC...

They both break things off because of that. Escher is disappointed but realizes he should have expected his past to keep causing him problems. Meanwhile Cinco is outright devastated. He’s scared of the idea that Escher was the one to kill Eight Ball, but also still hoping that’s not the case because he ended up falling for Escher pretty hard. D:

Eventually, Neun (nine ball DOT EXE member) steps in because he’s “tired of Cinco’s whining” (i.e. wants to help his friend). He speaks to Escher privately and admits that he knows, with certainty, that Escher was not the one who offed Eight Ball. Neun looked into that personally, almost right after Eight Ball’s body was discovered, and managed to track down the real killer via hacking certain parts of the NAPD’s system. Of course, he was careful to make sure Project Algo didn’t detect what he was doing (thankfully Faux was too busy putting his All City King plan into motion to notice). Neun even admits he also “took care of” the killer himself. He hands over records and files to Escher to prove he’s telling the truth.

Through those files, Escher finds out the person who killed Eight Ball was a sniper who was not being controlled by Project Algo, but still followed the order without questioning why an unarmed writer needed to die. Also, plot twist, Neun had found additional info about the guy in the NAPD’s records and elsewhere, and it turned out to be the same sniper who shot Escher in the head way back when! So, things coming full circle and all of that.

Neun makes Escher swear not to tell anyone about him “handling” the real killer sniper himself. In exchange, the two of them go to Cinco with the rest of the info, explaining it as them working together to investigate things further and find out about who really killed Eight Ball. They cover up what Neun did by saying the sniper was eventually killed in a separate incident later on while Project Algo was still active.

So with Escher now in the clear, he and Cinco are back to dating!! Genuine old man yaoi, cyborg version, lol (Cinco is also in his 60s, so I’m serious about the old man part okay)

Cinco calls him “Mattie” as a nickname, but Cinco is the only one allowed to do this. Everyone else is required to address him as Escher. :P

Cinco is really affectionate with Escher, also very cuddly! You’d think Escher would be annoyed by physical affection like that, but he really doesn’t mind. Actually he’s touch-starved, but either doesn’t realize it or doesn’t what to admit to it, lol

Escher isn’t one to laugh much (and even before getting a cyberhead, he didn’t smile much either), but he does enjoy Cinco’s puns and joke. Not outright belly laughing, but definitely a chuckle, y’know?

That’s about it! Thank you for sending in an ask, I really appreciate getting a chance to ramble about my headcanons. Feel free to check out my other rambles in my BRC headcanons tag! :D

[aboutzatanna]

To put into perspective just how forced the whole JohnZee pairing has been for the last few years, Zatanna met John 5 times in the pre-reboot continuity. That's 5 out of the 379 times she has appeared in comics before the Pre Nu 52 debut of Justice League Dark. Similarly John's Hellblazer lasted for 300 issues with his own supporting cast and love interests and Zatanna only appeared once in it.

(Yes, there was a divide between Vertigo and DC at the time but Zatanna was one of the few characters who famously flaunted the line)

Swamp Thing #49-50: this is where we first find out that these characters knew each other as John tries to recruit Zatara and Zatanna for the magical seance. Note that there is an element of manipulation involved in all of John's interactions with everyone in this issue. John was also a new character at the time and Zatanna was a very established character. Moore can be a perv so it's not surprising that he made their relationship sexual. He also basically ended the pairing with John Zatara's death and Zatanna blaming John for it. Although they were established as collegues, we got fans and writers today who think Zatanna should be a novice who needs John to lead her around and tell her where to aim her powers.

Books of Magic: In which we learn that John hasn't met Zatanna at all since the traumatic seance but feels he can just waltz in and ask her to babysit a kid for him. The writer likes him so of course it works and she hugs and kisses him, which felt so very jarring. Books of Magic is a book I enjoy except for the Zatanna scenes (and Spectres). Then we had Zee acting like a complete idiot who endangers Tim Hunter and needed to be saved by John Constantine. Really jarring when you see her appearances in JLA comics around the time where she was a powerful magician whose kicking ass. ( Yet, this one comic would decades later set the pace for her characterization in JLD as this novice with a lot of power except for when John needs to shine. ) We would later get a follow up to this in a dream sequence in the 1991 Zatanna mini series by Lee Mars but that too had a scene where Zatanna went 'oh no, I'm not as good John' which makes no sense since she has been involved in magic her whole life.

Hellblazer Vol 1 #63: Zatanna's only appearance in the title at John's 40th birthday party. I don't have any objections to this one. Zee getting high at a party with a floating joint is hilarious.

Totems mini series: A brief appearance where she turns down his offer for sex and even goes 'reven niaga'.

Zatanna Everyday Magic: I like this one. As it deals with things from her perspective. She is the one who saves him and very subtly we see her shed any resentment she may have for John but is not hung up on him. She has her own life and her own love interests, even has casual sex with them.

So we have a pairing that cratered and halfway buried, only for an ill thought out reboot to drag it back up and heavily retconning both character's respective histories to make it work. Like introducing Nick Necro and treating the seance like Zee's origin story instead of Zatanna's Search. Ignoring any aspect of her that's not related to John, like all her relationships with the JL members (except Batman) don't matter anymore even though they played important roles in her life as well. Yet, John gets to keep most of his history and supporting cast and even get several shots at an ongoing. Zee ends up being treated as less smart, less competent and daresay even less sexy, whenever the JohnZee pairing comes to the forefront. The seeds were there since even their second meeting.

I don't see why this pairing needs to be treated as something so sacrosanct that the characters aren't allowed to grow past it. It's definitely not an earned relationship that's up there with Clark/Lois, BatCat, WallyLinda or BarryIris. It's only post nu52 that writers can't seem to go two pages without mentioning the pairing whenever Zee shows up. And I hate the fact that it's lead to Zee developing a reputation as a woman with a bad body fetish. Yet another aspect of the character they had to twist to make the pairing work.

It's not just that Zee deserves better, it just plain doesn't make sense. Even on it's own, it's a constant merry go round 'oh John, you are lying to me, I can't trust you/John, you lied to me, I trusted you. Everyone in JLD gets this but Zatanna gets it the worst.

Also, Zatanna didn't 'choose him', they were apart then the reboot happened and DC went 'well, lets pretend these two are an angsty couple who can't quit each other, forget anything that might contradict this narrative'.

To drive the point home; compare Zee's last appearance in 2022 in JLD as team leader where she was shown to be reckless and dumb leader who endangered her team for no reason and refused to take responsibility (of course John comes out looking good). To her later appearances in Batgirl and the excellent Knight Terrors crossover team up with Robot Man.

Once she is away from John, she goes back to being her fun, competent, bad ass, sexy self.

Side note: Can we also go back to a time when Zatanna, Phantom Strnager, Spectre and Dr Fate were bad asses and not chumps so John Constantine can look cool as he pulls out a vaguely defined spelled from his ass? I saw scans from a comic recently where he got the drop on freakin' Waverider recently.

[mormonbooks]

Stripling Warrior

4/5 STARS

Summary: This collection of comics (3 issues and an Annual) has the worlds first ever Gay Mormon Superhero! In fact, it has a lot of different Queer and Mormon (or Mormon-adjacent) characters, all fighting against injustice.

The main character, Sam Shepherd, gets visited by an Angel soon after marrying his husband Jase. The Angel (Abish from the Book of Mormon) calls him to be The Hand of God and punish sinners. He fights homophobes, misguided missionaries, and Cain himself, alongside his companion, Fe, who also received powers from Abish.

Read at your own risk: This book is has a complex approach to mormonism, as well as deceptions of queer sex (Not explicit but pretty nsfw). I think it's a lot of fun, and is an honest portrayal of queer mormon experiences, with fun fantastical versions of Mormon beliefs (Like a Holy Ghost Force Field).

Overall, I enjoyed it! I've been dying for a Mormon Superhero, and queer mormon superheroes are even better. I would love to see more stories with Sam, Fe, Jase, Shonda, and Riley in the future.

Spoilers and Review Breakdown Under the Cut

1. Well written - 3.5 Stars.

Overall, I think the writing is done well. Some of it is cheesy, and there are a couple of deus ex machina's but it feels like it fits in the genre and with what the comic is trying to do.

2. Fun level - 4.5 Stars

I really enjoyed it! I read the whole thing in one sitting and it was engaging and exciting and it made me laugh.

3. Complex faith - 3.5 Stars

This one is complicated to answer. This definitely feels like media aimed at ex-mormons. Most of the characters are Ex (or "Jack") Mormons, and don't have high regard for the church as an organization. They do believe in Angels and Heavenly Mother (cause that's where their power comes from) but the church officials (like mission presidents) are shown as villains. It's a very irreverent story. And there's a part in the last issue where Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father are pitted against each other that I didn't really like.

The only exception is Riley, an asexual missionary who states his firm testimony a couple of times. He is one of the heroes, but still firmly believes in the gospel.

I like it because it has characters from all over the spectrum of mormonism (from actively serving a mission to "my parents were mormon but we don't really talk about it" and everything in between), which I think is cool, but it's also definitely got an exmo bias.

4. Homophobia scale - 5 stars

it's so gay!!!!! They have a character for each letter of LGBTA, it's delightful.

It is also NSFW. Nothing explicit (?) but characters are often naked, and the two married couples are shown being intimate quite a few times. I don't normally love stories like that, but for a comic that is about the sacredness of queer intimacy, I understand why it's included.

5. Mormon weird - 5 stars

SOOO much mormon weird. Abish is an angel. The heroes have Liahona Guides. The big villains are Cain and Ammon. It's so much fun.

6. Diversity of characters - 4 stars!

The main character and his husband are both white guys, but Fe is latina, her wife is black (and trans!), and Riley is a POC.

7. Other problematic stuff - 3 stars

I love this comic but I don't think it's for everyone. On top of being irreverent and nsfw, it also incorporates some indigenous american culture into the mythos in ways I'm not sure about. This is going to happen with anything that talks about Nephites and Lamanites, but mostly I don't know why Ammon has a pet Quetzalcoatl. 🤷

But, like I said, I did enjoy it. I think there's a lot of potential in these characters and I would love to see more stories with them

[skull001]

The most frequent argument to acd OC's in Sonic comics is that, because "they aren't as strictly reglated as the game cast, it's easier to fo things with them."

Horse . Shit .

Not every adventure has to be a life-changing experience for these characters.

The Sonic game cast only need one thing: be THE focus.

A skilled writer should be more than capable to do things like presenting the things that makes each of these cool characters so endearing to so many dfferent people feel fresh. (Hell, they already do this very thing with Tangle and Whisper).

Why is it not done, when being fully aware that the game cast are the biggest 2nd incentive right after Sonic himself?

The only thing that comes to mind, is that the comic staff (especially Mr. "I'll throw all game girl under a bus, except Blaze"), do not like working with characters that they themselves did not create, either becaue they can't bother to try to understand their personalities (lmao, professional writers struggling to understand candy-colored characters aimed at young kids) or because they underestimate them by thinking they are "not enough".

Also, why do american comics have these obsession with havingbtheir characters always compete with the game ones? Is it hubris? 'Murican nationalism? Need to prove themselves better?

How about,trying to be fucking humble? Or remember that the comic is not just for themselves and that game fans expect for their favorites to be represented as best as they can be, and not as extras/guest cameos, while the comic originals hog all of the better parts.

That shit belongs more in a fanfic where you are free to go nuts and have things be the self-indulging way you want, not in an official comic where you gotta balance for all.... and no, getting a story that focuses on game characters not named Sonic or Tails every few years is NOT balance.

[dyketectivecomics]

So here we are, a week into the new year...

Let's talk comics/blog resolutions once again, lmao

I made it to abt 4.2k comics read by end of 2023! So to up the ante from where I made that 4k goal last year: by end of 2024 I'm going to aim to log 6.5k comics read! I think it's pretty ambitious, maybe even a little TOO much, but it also will encourage me to expand my horizons quite a bit. Try as DC might, there's still only so many bat-centric comics in their archives lol

I'm going to clear my inbox! But a little more specifically, I'm giving myself a deadline to do so by end of February and anyone reading this PLZ feel free to Hold Me to That! Most of it is ficlet requests obvsly, and we'll talk abt fic writing goals in a sec here, but ye!!! It's always a good time to start fresh again, and going into the spring I want a good fresh start there!

But ye, RIP to last year's goal to finish LMM before year's end, SECOND best time is now, etc etc, but in all seriousness, I'm genuinely looking forward to editing & finally finishing/sharing what I've been cooking. I know the ppl who care are gonna be rlly psyched & well, hey, maybe the rest of y'all will want to see other things from me too! who knows!

I still want to maintain this blog as my general archiving space, but I'll slowly start revamping my other sideblogs too. no solid resolutions/plans there except for the Duke & Oracle blogs for now. I'm not absolutely sure what the queue system/posting is gonna be changing to on this. but im ready to be annoying here again & i'm abt to make it all of y'alls problems lmao

That being said, the time that I've spent away from being an Active fic/meta writer, has made me realize how much I love verbalizing my thoughts rather than just writing them out... and listen, idk how receptive anyone will be to hours-long video-essay/podcast deep-dives on obscure comics characters, esp for what Ive got in mind to work with, but it's an idea that im TOYING with lol

idk!!! i like resolutions, and I think since irl I've gone into this year with a few more tools to make more/smaller/more manageable resolutions on a more frequent basis, i'm gonna apply that same logic here. so batten down the hatches i guess!!! y'all will be seeing a lot more of me on ur dashes!!!

[ichika27]

My Thoughts on "Your Majesty, Please Spare Me This Time"

I decided to read this after seeing some recommendations and the story seemed interesting. It's almost complete as it seems the main story is done and I guess the rest is just them trying to tie up loose ends. Even if it's not very complete, I just thought I'd make a post since the main part is over anyways.

Story:

Laliette Isabelle de Bellua's entire family is killed under false allegations on the orders of the new emperor, Rupert Edgar Laspe Vellelum. After her own execution, Laliette wakes up to find herself back to her 12 year old self! With another chance at life to save her family, her only plan is to become Rupert's attendant and get close enough to him so he would spare them in the future - however, the future emperor is still masquerading as the cruel Princess Rapertte. Would she be able to pull it off and change her future?

Characters:

Laliette Isabelle de Bellua - Our heroine who got executed in the original timeline and finds heself back in the past. Her main goal is to become someone important to Prince Rupert so that he won't kill her and her family in the future. Her family is the most important to her and would do anything to protect them. She is sheltered by her family and would soon find that things aren't what they seem.

Rupert Edgar Laspe Vellelum - also known as Princess Rapertte as he's hiding his true identity for safety. Mean and can be kind of cruel, it took a while for him to warm up to Laliette but he is protective of those he deem precious to him. Despite becoming the cruel tyrant in the future, the younger Rupert has a kind and lonely side to him which confuses Laliette. How is this person the same as the one who had her killed?

Tori Fassbender - Rupert's attendant who became the tragic empress in the first timeline as she was soon killed by Rupert himself. She's kind and friendly and seem to be close to Rupert which makes her future death a mystery. She becomes fast friends with Laliette and helps her with work.

Lehan Dietrich Bellua - Laliette's younger brother who joined the military. He has exceptional abilities but can be a bit of a troublemaker. He is close to his sister and Laliette aims to protect thim this time around. He takes after their father and seem to know more than he let on.

I'm only introducing these four ^_^

Thoughts:

About the comis itself, the art is really pretty! Everyone looks good and the faces they make in comedic scenes are funny. When it comes to art I have no complaints. I don't know how to explain this but while the story doesn't feel rushed, the pacing feels off sometimes? Like, I'm used to cliffhangers but many chapters in this comic felt like they end in the middle of a scene. It's like the scene shouldn't have ended yet but it's just cut off and continues to the next chapter. It's weird as I've never come across something like this before.

Speaking of pacing, the timeline is confusing. The characters look grown up after a while which makes me think there's a huge time skip only to be told that only a few weeks or months have passed since a previous scene. Your telling me these guys had several growth spurts within a year? And they happens a few weeks/months apart from each other? It just felt strange haha.

The story itself was really fun to read! So many interesting things happen and there are mysteries to be solved as well and only the truth comes out, it felt like I just had to know what happens next. It was pretty exciting! The romance took a while to get there as it's a slow burn but once it does get there, it's sweet.

Spoilers!

My other thoughts on the story will be specific so there'd be spoilers.

I have read so many comics recently with the protagonist either getting turned into a character from a series they're familiar with or they come back to life several years in the past. Their main goals end up similar which is make things better using their knowledge of future events. They usually show off their skills and with the future info they have, they usually come off as some kind of genius.

Well, not in this story though.

Laliette does have information of some future events but it's not enough and her main and only plan is to get close to Rupert so that he won't kill them someday. There were no future events that she needs to fix by being some kind of genius and she's just hoping her words reach Rupert so he won't make mistakes. After everything that happened, she ended up supporting Rupert's goal of becoming emperor but she's going to make sure he becomes a kinder one. She's technically banking on the power of love and friendship to change him lol.

I like this as it's a refreshing plot after all of the others I was reading - no hate to them as I'm still reading and enjoying them. It's just too much of something isn't fun and I like it when somethings are done differently.

I like Laliette's character! She doesn't have much in terms of planning but she doesn't give up. She gets scared but she keeps on going. She hates Rupert but couldn't help but want to help him especially once she learns more about him. The mystery part of the story is due to her lack of information. It was fun watching her piece together all of the information she's learning while trying to connect them to the events of the original future she's experienced.

Rupert is one of those good-looking bad boy types with a tragic backstory. He can be a jerk cause of his situation but once he does warm up to Laliette, he becomes kinder and later kind of a dork lol. I love how their relationship started with them not liking each other and being passive agressive to their interactions becoming more like friendly bantering. It continued until they grew older too which made reading their interactions cute and funny.

Tori! If this was a typical villainess story, Tori would be the heroine who was originally meant for the male lead and in some twists of those stories, the heroine turns out to actually be evil. In the case of Tori, she is and she isn't that. She was created for a purpose that slowly disappeared as Laliette continued to change the new timeline and becomes a positive influence on Rupert. She wants to make things go the same way as the original timeline and hates Laliette for getting in her way but she also cares about Laliette. She's a complicated character with an equally complicated relationship with the others. I usually either feel satisfaction or pity when antagonistic heroines die but with Tori, I just felt sadness. It was something I didn't want to happen. I wanted her to be happy, too.

I like the dynamic between Laliette, Rupert, and Tori. They hate each other especially in the case of Lali and Rupert who knows it, internally acknowledges how the other felt about them. When Rupert finally accepted Lali, he continued to ignore or hide the fact that he knew she hated him (Lali could not mask her expressions lol). Tori liked and hated the two in her own way as well but they are happy when they're all together. They're a mess but they are capable of enjoying each other's company. It was painful to see Lali and Rupert grieving when Tori passed away.

Oh my god, Lehan! The Bellua's aren't as innocent as they appeared which Laliette unfortunately find out over the course of the story. She find out she was adopted but it was no big deal for her as she felt loved by her family and she loved them back. They were her world and all of the harships she went through was for them. It was the rest of the secret that ruined everything and Lehan, her dear little brother is part of it.

The Bellua's never saw her as family (at least not the way she saw them) and she was just a part of their grand plan. She is actually a princess and the rightful heir to the throne and her father's plan was to start a revolution and make her the ruler. Her father also didn't see her entirely as his child and think what would make her a real part of their family by having her marry Lehan. And Lehan knew this the entire time.

Don't get me wrong, I like incest ships. These two are adoptive siblings so they would've been more likely for me to ship but like everything else, this depends on the story. I don't ship them as that relationship is part of the fucked up plan that made Laliette miserable. Also, she firmly put Lehan in the little brother-zone and I think she's an awesome big sister!

Alright, back to what I was talking about with her family. When her family died in the original timeline, she was devastated. She felt horrible and guilty for being unable to do anything and when she went back in time, she is still haunted by the events of the terrible future she lived in. This time she went through so much just to make sure her family lives and even bought a place for them to escape to. She told her father the truth about her time traveling and the tragic future she came from. She told them that all she wanted was for all of them to live.

And what did they do? They went ahead and planned the rebellion anyways and this time using the future information she gave her father in order to deal with any issues. It's like they threw away all of her hard work. And the worst part was that they also planned to make her the new ruler without telling her about it. It's something she didn't want but they didn't care. Her life is a lie not because she's adopted but because her family didn't care about her the way she thought they did (except the mom). Lehan's insistence on pursuing her romantically despite her rejection became annoying to watch cause it was like he doesn't understand her feelings and where she's coming from at all. Made much worse as his death seem to be what completely broke Lali in the original timeline as it continued to haunt her and she felt guilty that she wasn't able to save her beloved little brother and now she finds out he never felt the same way about her and would betray her by helping nearly throw away all of her hard work for their family's survival.

The only good thing that came out of his obsession is that when Lali left, Lehan was able to help Rupert find her again. Anyways, I liked that she stood her ground til the end. She didn't completely disregard him as family and he's still important to her but tells him that they can't get along if he insist on being a romantic interest. But if he accepts her as a sister again, she's willing to give him a chance as family.

The dad was iredeemable and not even their time together could make him love for her as a family and as a person. He cared about her but not enough to make him stop trying to use her. Even his wife realized this and there was no complaints from her when he got imprisoned. At least the mom loved Lali as her child and in the end was the only family member to still be close to her when the story ended.

Rupert/Laliette pair progressed nicely. Lali was able to change Rupert and his future but this is less "I can fix him" and more Lali preventing permanent damage in the first place. Once she knew more about Rupert, she realized that this is a case of a villain being created cause he wasn't as bad as his future self when he was younger. Lali might not have started being nice to him without ulterior motives at first but she genuinely does start caring about him later and feeling confused and conflicted by how she felt about him cause of her thoughts on his present and (former) future self. He acknowledges this when he found out about the time travel thing and he apologized to Lali for the actions of his alternate timeline self as he knows and accepts that he's capable of doing those things even if he no longer would in this reality.

I enjoyed the "mystery" part of this story. I mentioned earlier that Laliette doesn't know a lot of information which is natural as she was sheltered and she really couldn't have known a lot of things people would keep a secret. In the main story when she finally left home and knew more about the outside world is when she was able to figure out almost what exactly happened in the original timeline. As we see her POV, the audience also only knew what she knew and the truth was a nice surprise not just for her but for us, too.

The story ended nicely, I feel although some stuff felt like they happened a bit too quickly. I do hope for some extra stuff/epilogue cause there were stuff I felt like still needed closure. Like, Riche was mean and in the end wasn't a good friend to Lali but I still felt bad for her fate. The last part of the comic did say the main story has ended + a "To be Continued" so I hope it means there's a bit more side stories to come.

Well, that's all I have to say about this, I guess? At least maybe for now. If I end up thinking about things longer, maybe this post would've become longer than it already is lol. Thanks for reading!

[smbwana-online]

How To Use: Period Panties and Menstrual Cups | Comic Week 24 - created on Corel Painter.

Last episode we learned how to apply and use pads and tampons with in depth instructions. This week, let’s continue by learning how to use sustainable products that can be reused.

Period panties (or underwear) look just like normal panties except the gusset has been reinforced with absorbent materials that prevent leakage. This means that you can wear this type of panty with or without another period product, such as a pad, and your clothing will go unstained! Best of all, period panties are reusable; once they have been worn, they can be washed, dried and worn again. Depending on the brand and make, some period panties may need to be washed by hand while others can go straight into the wash.

Using a period panty is pretty simple – put it on like you would any other pair of underwear and you’re ready to go! How long you want to wear your panty may vary depending on your flow, but it is not advised to wear your panty for longer than 24 hours. When blood is exposed to air, it can grow bacteria and the bacteria create a foul odour, so it’s best to wear your panty for about as long as you would feel comfortable wearing a pad or tampon. This particular period product proves to be incredibly useful for everyday use as well as for physical activities that require the sort of movement that would make wearing a pad or a tampon uncomfortable. But perhaps the prospect of being tied to two or three of the same pieces of underwear throughout the duration of your period doesn’t appeal to you. If that’s the case, a menstrual cup may be what you’re looking for.

Reusable and easy to clean and transport, menstrual cups have become popular for their sustainability, ease of use and their ability to hold far more blood than most other period products. A menstrual cup is a small funnel shaped product made from silicone or rubber latex that you insert into the vagina. Unlike a tampon, the cup does not absorb blood but rather catches and stores it until you are ready to remove it. After a maximum of twelve hours, the cup is removed, emptied and washed before being used again. Inserting a menstrual cup is a lot like inserting a tampon with a few minor adjustments.

First, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly to rid them of any bacteria before touching this sensitive entrance to your body. Next, if it is your first time using a menstrual cup, slicking the rim of the cup with water or some form of lubricant may allow it to slide in easier. Once your cup has been prepared, pinch and fold it firmly so that it makes a sort of ‘U’ shape between your fingers. With the rim of the cup facing upwards towards your vagina and the stem facing downwards, take a deep breath in and out as you insert the cup into your vagina. In the same way you would insert a tampon, aim the cup for your lower back as this is the direction that the vaginal canal runs. If the cup has been inserted properly, you may hear a small ‘pop,’ indicating that the cup has opened and created a small suction seal. If you haven’t heard this pop and suspect that the cup has been inserted incorrectly, rotate the stem until you hear it. Despite their similar insertion methods, tampons and menstrual cups do not sit in the same place within the vagina. A cup sits lower than a tampon as it needs to catch blood, so once the cup has passed through the vaginal opening, make sure that you only push it in so far that the stem disappears about a centimetre into your vagina. Once inserted correctly, the cup should not feel uncomfortable. Congratulations, you’ve inserted your first menstrual cup!

To remove a cup, once again make sure that your hands have been washed. Getting into a comfortable position, reach for the stem and gently pull on it until you can feel the base of the cup. Pinch on the base to release the suction seal and then remove the cup from your vagina. Avoid tugging on the stem as this can cause some pain and discomfort.

Sustainable period products don’t simply stop at period panties and menstrual cups. Innovative companies are coming out with products like reusable pads – pads that can be used, washed and reused – and menstrual discs – products that work similar to menstrual cups – every year while improving on the products we already have. In ten or twenty years into the future, its possible that we may have dozens more options to explore! Ultimately, your body is yours and the choices that you make for your body are yours too – so go out there and figure out what works for you!

Illustrated and written for the IAMFORHER Foundation's educational program on puberty and menstruation for children and adolescents.

[fractalcloning]

It was her own fault. She waited, hoped that Picard would come to his senses and come with her. The last thing she wanted was to be alone in this again. But her desperate lingering escalated things.

The one with the knives shifted--not dramatically, but the way his fingers contacted the weapons had gone from passive to active. Before she even realized she'd had the thought, he was reclassified as a threat and the very last of Dahj's preternatural composure was spent. All at once she had the disruptor up, sighted, and charging, her reaction speed far outstripped what Picard could keep track of so his alarm was on an almost comical delay.

In that moment, however, when she had that rifle sighted, her resources were utterly spent. Her trembling, averted momentarily by the rush of new, additional panic and her systems' ability to override her limbs, returned as a pronounced tremor. Though her grip on the disruptor was white-knuckled, she couldn't keep it anything near steady. By the time Data spoke to her, that tremor had spread to the rest of her and she was shaking like a wet dog in the snow.

She listened to Data with as much focus as she could, but the way he spoke was too verbose for her at the moment. She couldn't process most of it. He assured her, or something similar, and told her that she should come with him if she wanted to live. Her eyes darted to Picard but lingered only a moment before the knife-guy interrupted. She didn't catch most of what he said, though, because the word 'hybrid' hit her like a blow. Her fingers slipped on the disruptor and he revealed himself to be Lore?

Who the fuck was Lore?

He wore the same uncanny face as Data, even if they didn't share a voice. They all exchanged words--Picard knew him too? It was more information than she'd been given by anyone in the last few days and all of it was awful. Except for the very last part--they could take her home? It was an impossible offer but between Picard's beseeching expression and those words--

"I just want to go home," Dahj said, strained tone breaking on that last word.

Whether she meant to drop it or not, the disruptor fell from her hands and clattered back down to the pavement. It was just as well, she couldn't fire it, couldn't even aim it, not with the creeping weakness in her limbs. The very next moment saw the toll of the last three days come due--her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed.

"Dahj!" Picard cried out but he was too far to even attempt to catch her when she finally crumpled. He lunged, regardless, but only made it a step or two. Thankfully Dahj managed to catch herself on shaking arms before her head hit the ground.

Picard's attention immediately swiveled back to Data (and Lore, in the periphery). They were all terribly exposed here and, if the Romulans weren't enough of a threat, all on their own, they would shortly find Starfleet Security staring them down. As three of them were currently illegal, and he was not well liked among the Brass, that was a situation best avoided.

Picard had only just deduced who Dahj was, really, and he had no idea how to aid her. However, if anyone in this wide universe would know how to help or protect his daughter, it would be Data.

"We'll accompany you, of course--" his gaze drifted to Lore and his expression soured just so. Begrudgingly, he added: "Both of you."

After a quick glance at Dahj, prone on the concrete steps, Picard nodded to Data. "Quickly, we should go."

The embrace was... unexpected, but he reciprocated the gesture of affection regardless. The android was cognisant that his friends, his found family, cared about him on a level that far surpassed mere friendship and camaraderie, but he was unaware of the magnitude his abrupt absence might have had on them, until now... All those years, they had lived with the conviction that he was dead — annihilated would be a more adequate way to describe his "demise" — and they had probably surrendered themselves to this incontrovertible fact and accepted its reality over time... However, his negligence to contact his friends and apprise them of his resurrection, had been a deliberate choice; the less they knew about his surreptitious enterprises, the better — it was the only way he could protect them.

The notorious aging process had unbridled itself relentlessly — as was customary — and had transmogrified the man opposite him into a human palimpsest, on which the traces of his old Captain were still visible, albeit diminished to mere vestiges. The android commenced the construction of an apology, accompanied by a clarification relative to his heinous and execrable incarceration on Romulus, where the Zhat Vash and other Romulan scientists, with a disconcerting lack of ethics regarding sentient life that was not organic — or Romulan —, had subjected him to unspeakable and horrendous physical torment, proceeded by deplorable experiments...

Unfortunately, Data was not granted the opportunity to issue his apologies, to offer him a comprehensive, yet succinct account of events that had transpired the last several decades, for the girl — quite plainly an associate of Picard's — interposed their reunion.

You're dead... The girl appeared irate, incredulous, but why? They had never crossed paths, had they? And when Picard diverted his attention to his young friend, enunciating words of solace to pacify her trepidation, so did Data. The Captain did not appear particularly successful in his endeavour to placate the girl named Dahj, on the contrary, his words only seemed to be adding fuel to the combustion that started out as a backyard fire, but had now set acres of vegetation ablaze.

Data's demeanour remained fixed, unaltered by Dahj's agitation. The momentary repose permitted him to analyse the girl's features; now that she looked at him directly her physiognomy excited a sense of familiarity in him, an electric spark of recognition ran through him, as if he had encountered her prior to today...

If only she had allowed him sufficient time to make enquiries, but she had opted to resort to violence, self-preservation. Her unpremeditated actions compelled Lore to assume a defensive position and wield his daggers in such a fashion that he could transform them into projectiles that would hit home — success guaranteed.

'Lower the daggers,' Data's synthetically altered voice ordered his brother, who refused to obey — typical...

'Not until Picard's accomplice disarms herself,' Lore growled, disgruntled.

'Dahj,' Data spoke in a euphonious tone of voice that was not the one he utilised by default. 'We are not here to deceive you, or the Captain. In fact, if my friend had not informed us that Picard was under attack by the Zhat Vash, I would not have bothered traversing to San Fransisco, despite being in the neighbourhood.'

'Why wer...' Picard started, but the android cut him off rather unceremoniously, his chartreuse eyes did not avert from Dahj.

'— Classified,' he said tersely. 'There is no reason to fear us. We are fighting the same adversary, and if you wish to circumvent another lethal confrontation with their agents, I suggest you come with us. We can protect you, because I believe you and I have something in common — the reason why they prioritised you, instead of a decorated Starfleet Captain.'

By the way Picard was looking at him, Data could tell he was on the verge of interfering — probably to correct him —, but his brother was quicker.

'They're here — they're standing by for transport,' Lore said, his daggers still at the ready. 'Shall I tell them to get a lock on a hybrid and a human, in addition to us? We don't have much time to quarrel — the longer we saunter around on this godawful planet, the higher the possibility of the Zhat Vash discovering our location...' he added impatiently.

Data's eyes oscillated from Picard to Dahj and back, wondering how the two of them would react to being abducted by a shipload miscellaneous AI.

'They're waiting, brother...'

'Brother?' Picard reiterated, a tincture of distrust effervescing in his voice, his grey eyes snapped up to Data, demanding an elucidation, but Lore took the initiative.

The fabric of his mask distorted as a smirk formed on his obscured countenance, and like Data, he took it off in one fluent motion, and revealed an identical exterior, the only quality that betrayed their differences was the broad grimace that splayed across his pale face.

'Lore...' the Captain whispered, incredulously, repulsed.

'Hello, Picard. Missed me?' his brother said provokingly, although his voice carried a smidge of playfulness along with it.

'Data, what...'

'— Later, Captain. Now, I implore you to trust me and accompany me — this is not the right place to provide explanations. Please. We could bring the both of you back home, if you so desire... Just come with us...'

[opbackgrounds]

I've been thinking a lot since OP surpassed Batman in sales and will eventually surpass Superman, and how some people will still not take it seriously because ItS jUSt A sTupID ComIC

There is always going to be a level of elitism within literary circles regarding comics, but this is hardly limited to the medium. In general, fantasy and sci-fi are regarded as lesser works compared to their more prestigious cousins, the literary novel. Despite them being some of the most popular and influential books of an era, for example, you're not going to see Harry Potter bumping off To Kill a Mockingbird on school reading lists. There are a few exceptions to this, but they're the types of fantasy books or the rare comic like Maus that capture a certain "literary" spirit, which unlike a lot of populist works favors making the reader think about a certain idea or theme over invoking a specific emotion.

Comics have an additional hurdle to overcome when it comes to legitimacy as Great Works(tm), and that’s simply that they have less words per page than books. This might seem a little silly given that all the art means things don’t have to be described, but that just brings up another problem--comics are perhaps the most inefficient and labor-intensive way to tell a story. 

Now, most commercial comic industries--including manga like One Piece--are made by a team of creatives, so let me try to put what I’m trying to say into perspective: I follow a webcomic that is well and truly a one person endeavor. Writing, line work, color, book sales, the whole shebang is handled by a single person who creates what I believe to be a professional-grade comic, both in art and story. 

And to manage that she works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week all to maintain her three page a week update schedule.  

Now, I freely admit that working entirely in color is a completely different animal than black and white, but that’s what I consider the pinnacle of human effort. By the very nature of the medium those three pages a week can only add up to a few hundred words to the overall story, whereas there are authors (particularly in the self-published and romance industries) whose business model requires them to write hundreds of thousands of words a year just to make a living. 

So comics are inefficient. And because they’re inefficient, it can be hard to dive deeply into the topics Important Stories for Important People favor in the same way books can. Every soliloquy, every deep insight into the human condition, every cutting social commentary, must also be drawn. And drawing takes time.

What One Piece has excelled in is taking relatively simple systems that can be easily explained within a few comic pages and then having those systems collide in interesting ways. We don’t know much of how the Warlords work on a deep level--for all the shuffling that’s been done in membership we’ve never actually seen the process of how a new Warlord gets elected, for example--but we don’t need to. It’s enough to know that there are Seven Important Pirates who happen to work for the World Government, and then we get to spend arcs seeing those individuals put into interesting circumstances.

There are other factors at play that effect One Piece’s status within both the fantasy genre and its status as a great work--a Western-centric worldview, the fact that it’s a story primarily aimed at children, etc., etc--but if nothing else I believe that the world of One Piece deserves a place among the best that have ever been realized, both because of Oda’s art and his writing. There’s simply nothing else like it in scale and consistency, and I wish that were more widely recognized

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Camlann, except no one is being held back by stupid destinies;

Merlin manages to keep Morgana and Mordred on the side of the light, which has a few rather influential knock-on effects.

Morgause leads her army onto the barren fields of Camlann, her hair and eyes wild, but her sword and focus sharp. Opposite stands her traitor sister’s half brother, the Boy-King of Camelot, surrounded by his precious knights. Today, they would all die, she would make certain of that.

Arthur struggles to keep his hands from trembling, he’s well aware that this battle will likely be his, and subsequently Camelot’s, downfall, but his nerves are settled slightly by Merlin’s comforting presence at his side. Which he feels immensely guilty at. 

He’d done his best to urge Merlin to run, to take Gwen and Gaius and maybe even Morgana, to go to Ealdor to pick up his mother and run even further, just in case. Merlin had refused of course; Gwen and Morgana had squawked at Arthur’s stupid chivalry and planted their feet firmly in the throne room, a symbolic last line of defence, and Gaius rolled his eyes and reaffirmed that he would be in the infirmary tent, as planned. 

He’d given his men his speech and they all seemed content to die for the cause, for one last desperate attempt to keep their home safe, but that didn’t stop the freezing claw of guilt from shredding Arthur’s lungs every time he took a breath. They were just waiting now. For someone to make the first move, for Morgause to get a little closer, for someone to send a messenger. 

Arthur’s broken from his stare when a warm, soft, steady hand takes his gently. His head whips to the side to see Merlin, stood without armour (oh, how The King despaired) staring at him with a slight frown. A frown, Arthur thinks, that should be much deeper, and much more afraid. He’s grateful it isn’t. He’s not sure he could cope with seeing Merlin scared:

“Arthur, if... if I knew a way to win this, once and for all, with not a drop of Camelot blood spilt... would you let me?”

It takes Arthur a few moments to process what Merlin had said, on account of his brain focusing on how grateful he is to hear his voice and feel the warmth of his hand instead of actually listening to him speak, but when he does, he copies his servant’s frown, though his is slightly more confused. He doesn’t let go of Merlin’s hand as he responds, instead tightening his grip:

“What on Earth are you talking about?”

Merlin gulps and looks away briefly, a look of guilt if Arthur ever saw one, but he finds he doesn’t really care. They’re all about to die, he’d forgive Merlin anything:

“If I could win this battle, and the war, right here, right now. Would you let me?-”

At Arthur’s continued perplexed look, Merlin rolls his eyes and huffs, smirking slightly as he adds on:

“-Just humour me.”

Arthur gulps, glancing towards the slowly advancing army before once again squeezing Merlin’s hand and looking back at him:

“It would... depend on the consequences, I suppose. Would you get hurt?”

Merlin shakes his head, then stops, and tilts it sideways as though he’s considering something he’d really rather not think about. He can’t meet Arthur’s gaze as he responds:

“I... might need a few hours to rest, afterwards, but any... long term consequences would depend on your reaction.”

Arthur recoils slightly at that, frown deepening as he shakes his head, completely oblivious to the keen listening ears of his six most loyal knights, and another, hidden towards the back of the group. If he’d turned to see them, Arthur would’ve noticed the blank looks of steely determination on Lancelot and Mordred’s faces:

“Well we would never have to worry about that. I... I could never see you hurt, Merlin.”

The King’s voice cracks as he mentions Merlin getting hurt, and the servant’s gaze softens, knowing that Arthur was thinking of their inevitable demise, creeping closer and closer. He squeezes his hand, giving him a soft smile as his other hand lifts up to rest on his shoulder; his question comes out soft and pleading:

“Do you trust me?”

Arthur has to use all of his self control not to yell his answer across Camlann:

“More than anyone.”

Merlin smiles sadly and steps back, dropping both of his still-steady hands to his sides; Arthur feels the gap between them more heavily than he feels the armour on his back. Merlin goes to turn away without another word, but before he can take even one step, a figure is pushing through to the front, gripping his wrist and pulling him back:

“I’m coming too.”

Arthur’s eyes go comically large as he hears Morgana’s voice come from under the hood. He steps forward to rip it down, and she only spares him an annoyed glance before she’s back to staring purposefully at Merlin. A gasp goes up around the group from all bar two, and Mordred dismounts his horse, walking forward to be in line with Morgana. The three of them entirely ignore Arthur’s outraged words:

“Morgana, what the hell are you doing here? You need to be safe at the castle, you’re meant to take the crown what the hell are you doing here?!”

Merlin meets Morgana’s determined glare with a resigned one of his own:

“No, this is my-”

Mordred interrupts him, his voice strong in a way that Arthur had never heard from the youngest knight before:

“No. No, it’s not. You’re not just fighting for Camelot, Merlin, you’re fighting or us, for our people.”

Merlin looks like he wants to argue, but Morgana crosses her arms and holds her head high as she speaks:

“You’re making a stand and you have no right to stop us from doing the same. This is bigger than you, bigger than all three of us, this is our fight just as much as it is yours.”

Merlin can only hold their stare for so long before he sighs and looks to the floor, entirely oblivious to the knights panicking (bar Lancelot, of course). He looks up with a small, relaxed smile on his face, and if Arthur weren’t so preoccupied with the fact that Morgana was definitely not supposed to be here, he would’ve found Merlin’s almost-nonchalance calming. The servant holds both his hands out:

“Together?”

Mordred grins widely, taking one of Merlin’s wrists as he responds confidently:

“For Camelot.”

Morgana does the same, a sudden wind whipping her hair behind her wildly:

“For our people.”

Without another moment’s of hesitation, Merlin turns and marches towards Morgause and her army. His steps are purposeful and strong, and Arthur can’t bring himself to stop him, no matter how desperately his brain is screaming at him. Morgana turns to him with a not-quite-cruel smirk:

“This has been a long time coming, brother. Enjoy the show.”

Arthur can only blink in surprise as she turns and walks towards Merlin. Mordred looks to him next, though the young knight’s smile is a lot softer, a lot more pitying:

“You should consider yourself lucky, Arthur,-”

Arthur barely registers the use of his first name:

“-my Lord gave up his throne in favour of serving you, buried his crown in favour of polishing yours.”

Arthur shakes his head slightly, his voice quiet and confused and strained as he asks:

“Your Lord?”

Mordred looks to Merlin, still marching across the seemingly never-ending field, with an awed smile; his voice is quiet and holds notes of what almost sound like worship:

“He’s more than you know.”

Before Arthur can respond, Merlin and Morgana stop, turning to look at Mordred expectantly. Merlin stares blankly, his brows slightly furrowed, but Morgana sports a wild grin as she yells back:

“I though you wanted to join in on the fun, Mordred?”

The young knight grins in response, turning to Arthur and giving him one last short bow as he cheerfully says, not a trace of worry in his voice:

“Lady Morgana is right My Lord, enjoy the show.”

He turns away quickly, jogging to catch up with the other two before anyone can say anything. Gwaine is the first to react, jumping off his horse and starting forward, to catch up with them, to pull them back, to ask them what the fuck was going on, but Lance quickly lands behind him, grabbing his shoulder:

“Wait, don’t. You trust them right?-”

He casts his gaze around the others, all looking slightly confused but mostly panicked as they dismount their horses. Mordred, Merlin, and Morgana make their journey to the centre of the field, but Lancelot’s eyes focuses on Arthur:

“-You said you trusted him, so just... this is what he does, Arthur. Please, just trust him, everything’s going to be ok.”

Arthur is desperate to question his knight, to demand that he explain what’s going on and give up anything, everything he knows, but before he can say anything, Elyan gasps and points somewhere beyond their friends. The whole army seems to resume their earlier jitters as Morgause differentiates herself from her soldiers.

~

The three magic users spread out slightly as they come to a stop, Mordred on the left, Morgana on the right, and Merlin, of course, in the middle.

A storm seems to be fast approaching and the loud wind makes hearing each other difficult, but they don’t need words to speak, and Mordred’s question echoes in Merlin’s head as all of their gazes focus on Morgause stepping forward:

“Are the other two coming?”

The Warlock nods, tapping his finger to his temple briefly as he replies:

“I called for them hours ago, they’re almost-”

~

Arthur is distracted from all that’s in front of him when a desperate and terrified voice screeches out from the back of his army:

“DRAGONS!!”

He, and all the other knights, whip their heads around in panic, only to see exactly what had been yelled about. The Dragon that Arthur had supposedly killed years ago is flying towards them like a hurricane, golden scales shining bright even in the shadows of the approaching storm. Next to him flies a much smaller dragon, pure white and clearly young, unstable in the air but still graceful, still terrifying.

Arthur’s heart sinks even impossibly further as they both fly straight over them, aiming for the other side of the field. If Morgause had two Dragons at her beck and call somehow, there was no hope, no matter what ridiculous plan Merlin had. Arthur felt the tears fill his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall. If this was to end in fire, then he’d sprint to Merlin, just so he could see him, hold his hands, beg him for a smile, one last time.

Lancelot holds him back with a hand on his shoulder and a soft smile:

“I know this doesn’t make sense, but just... trust him.”

He turns back to Merlin just to see the great beasts land in front of them, almost acting as a barrier between the three of them and the opposing army.

~

“-Took you long enough.”

Kilgharrah does his best imitation of rolled eyes before dipping his head in a bow:

“Where would you like us, young Warlock?”

Merlin grins, allowing Aithusa to push her head into his hands as he answers:

“I want you somewhere off to the side looking vaguely threatening. Only intervene if you have to, I don’t want the Camelot knights getting twitchy and skewering you, you’re an old man after all, I’m not sure you could take it.-”

Morgana laughs aloud and Mordred snorts behind his hand, but Kilgharrah just rolls his eyes again, giving another bow that this time somehow seems sarcastic before clomping off to the side, prowling up and down the edge of the field and huffing the occasional puffs of smoke in the opposition’s direction. Merlin looks down to Aithusa next, scratching her chin and using a much softer voice:

“Go watch over Arthur, keep him safe but don’t let him or any of the others hurt you, I’m sure Lance will explain. Try to stay out of the fighting and don’t let Morgause get anywhere near Arthur or the knights, you understand?”

The creature purrs and nods, stepping around her master and beginning an impossibly fast sprint towards Arthur.

~

Arthur stares with wide eyes at the gathering in the middle of the field, letting out a deep breath when the Great Dragon bows down to Merlin’s confident stance. The smaller creature bounds to him as he... exchanges words with the beasts, and all Arthur can do is stare as his brain argues over which emotion should be at the forefront. Fear? Confusion? Betrayal? Some kind of guilt? Pride, maybe?

Lancelot definitely looks proud, worried, but proud, and Arthur spares him a questioning glance; before he can say anything, Leon lets out a quiet yelp, pointing across the field and drawing his sword on instinct. Arthur whips his head around to see the white Dragon speeding towards them, eyes bright, teeth bared, and sharp claws ripping up the ground with every step.

He draws his own sword, panic clawing at his gut, but before he can step forward in some pointless attempt to protect his men, Lancelot pulls him back again, stepping in between Arthur and the approaching Dragon with a placating hand held out to each of them; his voice comes out quickly and desperate:

“No, no, she’s on our side, don’t hurt her. Merlin sent her here to protect us, don’t hurt her.”

Arthur stares between them with a mix of blood-curdling fear and endless confusion. But he trusts Merlin, and he trusts Lancelot, so much to Leon’s displeasure he lowers his sword, though he doesn’t sheath it, not yet.

The Dragon finally reaches them, coming to a skidding stop a few feet away. Arthur’s fear is overpowered by confusion, and an odd fondness in the back of his mind, when the creature almost topples over in it’s haste. She purrs loudly, and even Leon appears to relax slightly, even more so when she dips her head in what appears to be a bow to Arthur, before turning her attention to Lancelot and pushing her face into his hands.

The other knights all start forward on instinct, but when Lance lets out a low chuckle and begins... scratching the creature’s chin?? They step back again, watching as the Dragon begins purring even louder, almost bowling Lancelot over as it rubs it’s scaled body across his legs. It’s... acting like a cat...

Gwaine coughs very deliberately and Lancelot looks up with a blush, biting his lip before saying, his words awkward and stilted:

“Uh... guys, this is Aithusa, she’s... a Dragon. She can’t speak yet, but-”

Percival makes a confused noise in the back of his throat, shaking his head with wide eyes as he asks incredulously:

“Dragons are meant to be able to speak??”

Lancelot grimaces, but nods, but before he can say anything, Morgause’s crazed voice echoes over the field, and their attention is drawn back to the face off between Merlin, Morgana, Mordred, and the enemy.

~

“You can not beat me, not even with your precious pets!!”

The gang can hear Kilgharrah’s low growl at the insult and the sound vibrates across the ground and up into their very bones, even with the distance between them. Aithusa tenses in response, eyes narrowed and teeth bared as she detects the anger and insult swarming in her Kin, but Merlin holds a hand out to the Great Dragon, and both creatures relax as he monotonously responds:

“I’m giving you one chance, Morgause, do not send your followers to a pointless death.”

His tone is even and confident, his back straight, his head held high, and Arthur wonders how he’d never noticed Merlin’s obvious power before. Despite speaking normally, his voice is heard by everyone, even over the howling wind.

The knights can see Morgause’s hands shaking in her rage, her eyes wide and bright golden as she screeches her response, her anger showing through clearly:

“I am no coward!! You are nothing but a servant, a child soldier, and a pampered princess! What hope do you have against me?! I am a High Priestess, you are nothing!!!”

Merlin lowers his head, nodding slightly in resigned sadness. His muttered words, once again, somehow seem to echo across the field, and Arthur recoils at the grief in his tone:

“So be it.”

He slowly lifts his arm, holding it at a forty-five degree angle from the ground, his fingers splayed wide, and Elyan gasps, pointing wordlessly to the lightening dancing between his fingertips. Gwaine lets out a boisterous laugh, grinning as he realises with sudden clarity that Merlin is about to kick ass in a major way.

Arthur just gapes, struggling to process what was happening even as Gwaine whoops and Lancelot smiles proudly. The other knights are also staring, varying levels of confusion, awe, and happiness on their faces. 

From where they’re standing, they can see Mordred and Morgana get into a fighting stance, though neither of them draw the swords they have hanging from their hips. Morgause lets out an ear piercing screech, this one wordless, giving the distinct impression that her mind had snapped under the weight of her fury. Her army begins their march forwards as she hurls a fireball the size of a horse straight for Merlin, but he simply twists his wrist sharply forwards. A bolt of lightening rips down from the sky, intercepting the fireball and forcing it to the ground where it explodes in a miniature storm of silver sparks and golden flames.

Morgause screams again, her and her army speeding up in their approach as Merlin gives some sort of unseen command. All of a sudden, Mordred gives a small leap forward, planting his feet firmly as he thrusts his hands towards the ground before ripping them up again; with the movement, the ground at his feet explodes, vines and rocks and roots bursting from the field in a sharp line heading straight for the army. Morgana, at the same time, swirls her arms gracefully around her head, a few sparks of fire lighting up in the darkness as if from the friction between her hands and the air. She brings her arms down again, completing the elegant flow, stepping forward as she blows harshly into her cupped hands. A great, hot fire bursts forth, huge and angry and writhing as it shoots towards the enemy.

A few feeble counter attacks are thrown from Morgause and the sorcerers she has in her ranks, but ultimately, the army can only look on in horror at their approaching deaths. After a few moments of Merlin staring proudly at Mordred and Morgana’s handy work as it rips apart the first few hundred soldiers, he takes his own step forward, raising his arm to the sky. Lightening dances between just his fingertips at first, then down his arm, then all over his body; he connects to the flashes in the sky, and he glows brighter and brighter until he thrusts both arms forward. A tornado of flashing, crackling light shoots out from his hands, striking down thousands of soldiers. Shards of lightening jump from enemy to enemy, leaving none untouched by magic, each being struck down by Mordred’s earth, Morgana’s fire, or Merlin’s sky.

The Camelot army can only stare on in shock and horror as the enemy is wiped out in minutes, screams of those being buried alive, burned as if on pyres, or fried from the inside out reverberating across the field. Arthur’s mouth hangs open, his eyes wide and frozen on Merlin as he conducts lightening as if it were what he was born to do. Something deep in Arthur’s soul tells him that this is what he was born to do.

Aithusa’s protection isn’t required; none of the enemy soldiers get within ten metres of Merlin and his pupils, let alone Arthur and the other knights, but she patrols the front edge of Camelot’s army regardless, nudging back those that step too far forward (everyone was too focused on The King’s manservant, knight, and half sister being... well... Godlike, to care about the fact that a Dragon was using her snout to gently push people around), always with one eye on Arthur, just like her master had asked.

Within minutes, the field goes almost silent; the only sounds to be heard are the gentle crackling of still-smouldering bodies, and the deep breaths of Morgause, Mordred, Morgana, and Arthur. Merlin seems entirely unbothered, his stance still strong and powerful where Mordred and Morgana sag slightly from the exertion.

Morgause falls to her knees, tears on her cheeks as she finally realises the power that she’s up against; Merlin tilts his head slightly before clicking his fingers. The four of them disappear in clouds of deep black smoke and Arthur struggles to stop himself from yelping and falling back when they reappear in front of him.

Morgause is still kneeling, Merlin in front of her with a blank expression on his face. Morgana stands to the side, her face an odd mix of sorrowfully defeated—Morgause was her sister after all—and vindictively victorious. Mordred stands at her shoulder, looking a lot more tired but still managing to stay upright as he gazes upon the scene with well put together indifference. Aithusa bounds over to be stood at her master’s side, and even Kilgharrah joins them, standing behind Aithusa a way’s off.

Morgause finally speaks through her deep breathing, staring up at Merlin in desperation:

“Who are you?”

Merlin just tilts his head and frowns slightly, crouching down to place a soft hand on her shoulder:

“Who do you think?”

Morgause sags even further, her tears streaming down her face as she almost whispers, her voice cracking:

“Emrys.”

Merlin nods slowly, looking to Arthur for the first time since the whole ordeal started. Arthur is taken aback at the shining gold of his eyes, but holds his gaze, gulping and waiting for his servant (?) to make the first move:

“Your orders, My Lord?”

Arthur takes a deep breath, looking first down at Morgause, who is staring at the floor blankly, then to Mordred and Morgana, who raise eyebrows at him, then Lancelot, who shrugs, and finally the other knights, who stare at him with wide eyes, waiting for his answer just as Merlin is. His hands clench at his side, but he looks back to the dark-haired man, his face determined and his voice strong:

“Your suggestion?”

Lancelot nods approvingly at Arthur’s obvious show of trust; the question is more than just a question, it’s a display that The King is treating Merlin like an advisor, asking for his counsel and trusting his allegiance in front of a crowd. Merlin smiles slightly, tightening his grip on Morgause’s shoulder, not that she notices:

“I’m not overly fond of execution, but we don’t have dungeons strong enough to hold her long term, and too many have suffered at her hand.”

Arthur nods, though he sheathes his sword. He takes a deep breath before his next instruction, knowing that this is... delicate, and important; a turning point in his Kingdom’s history:

“Make it merciful.”

Merlin holds in his proud smile and Morgause only has time to gasp quietly as his hand moves from her shoulder to her forehead. Her eyes roll back and she collapses to the floor, dead before she even hits the ground. 

The Warlock spares the dead witch a quick, pitying glance, and the grief in his eyes, even after all she had done, is endearing, reminding everyone around them of the compassion Merlin is capable of. He stands quickly, but is careful not to make any of his moves too sudden, stepping away from the body and towards Arthur. His stance is strong once again, allowing some before unseen authority, confidence, power to shine through; Mordred and Morgana take their places either side of them, and even Aithusa sits up, tall and proud, as Kilgharrah edges forward slightly.

This is Merlin, showing off his army, presenting it to his King, offering it up for judgment. An army consisting of himself, his two apprentices, and two Dragons; not large, but likely the most powerful the land has ever known, and ever will know.

Arthur gulps, but meets Merlin’s golden gaze. The atmosphere is thick and charged and The King couldn’t pinpoint whether it was from the residual lightening still jumping between Merlin’s fingers, or the sheer power that was just displayed, seemingly effortlessly. He glances over the Warlock’s shoulder at the carnage behind him and can’t help but take a deep, fortifying breath. Merlin tilts his head, glancing at the massacre for just a moment before looking back with an almost repentant smile:

“I apologise for the theatrics,-”

He’s interrupted by Morgana’s whispered murmur of “I don’t, that was brilliant.” but ignores her:

“-but I can... fix that. If you like?”

Arthur frowns slightly, confused and so far out of his comfort zone that he doesn’t even want to hazard a guess at what Merlin might be implying. He feels a mould grow spontaneously in his gut, a horror with spores that spread throughout his bloodstream as he realises that... he doesn’t really know anything about magic, about how it works, about how Merlin is offering to use it. It had yet to occur to him to be afraid of Merlin, but the sudden realisation that he’d been persecuting his servant’s people with no real understanding of his own former hatred was... jarring.

The Warlock sees Arthur’s hesitation, widening his reassuring smile slightly as he repeats an earlier question, from a time that felt as though it had come years before, but was really only minutes. The discrepancy in timelines between Arthur’s head and the real world does not alter the King’s answer

“Do you trust me?”

“More than anyone.”

Merlin closes his eyes, holding his hands out to the side slightly as he lets out a deep breath. The storm, which Arthur and the knights had become entirely oblivious of despite it’s ruinous thunder and blinding flashes of lightening, quickly dissipates; blue sky and bright sun peek through the fading clouds. A gold shimmer ripples out across the ground from Merlin’s feet, spreading backwards like a wave over sand, turning pebbles and leaving the beach clean and fresh in it’s wake. The ground clears, bodies sinking into nothingness and fires being smothered by magic, even Morgause disappears into the dirt. 

Arthur absentmindedly thinks that that could be seen as honorary or disgracing; he supposes it depends on what type of person you were before the end of your life. Merlin would see being entombed within the Earth itself as a blessing, he somehow thinks that Morgause, with her God complex and inflated feelings of infallibility, would find it... demeaning.

Merlin sags his head slightly, and when Arthur’s brain comes back into focus, mostly prompted by the gasping and widespread whispers of the uneasy army behind him, he sees that the barren fields of Camlann, soaked with blood and scorched by lightening, no longer exist. In their place was a vast meadow, bright with the colours of spring and summer; untameable wildflowers stood tall and crimson butterflies were the only reminders of the bloodshed that had watered this paradise before them.

Arthur feels the smile on his face before he had even made the conscious decision to smile, but he decides that today, of all days, he doesn’t mind accidentally wearing his heart on his sleeve. Trust Merlin to do something as unspeakable as rip an army to shreds with lightening, and then apologise for his dramatics by creating heaven on earth.

The King sighs before shaking his head slightly, letting out a short, disbelieving laugh. He can feel the sun on his skin, and his smile grows with the knowledge that the heat warming his cheeks was entirely unnatural for this time of year; Merlin really was pulling out all of the stops.

“You’re a gift to this world, Merlin.”

His voice comes out softly, as if he were afraid of ruining the peace, though he only adds to it; The King finally turns to his Warlock again and almost stumbles back at the immeasurable devotion shining from his now-blue-again eyes. His whispered response carries on the wind as if he were a part of it, and Arthur wonders just how much of this world Merlin has touched, just how much of this universe Merlin has created, extended himself to. Did the wind exist before Merlin? Did the sun? Did butterflies, or lightening, or the colour gold have any space in this universe before Merlin willed it? Gaius’ thick books say they have an answer, but Arthur thinks they might be lying:

“A gift to you, Arthur, only to you.”

~

THE END!

I’ve been looking forward to writing this one for a while, so I hope y’all liked it!! I LOVE writing BAMF!Merlin, (and BAMF!Mordred/Morgana as well so) :D

Same as always, you wanna extend it/write it properly/remix it, then that’s fine, but drop me message before hand and credit/tag me!! :)

[enaelyork]

Divine Essence a Gorr x Reader fanfic - Part 1

TAG LIST : @lynbyul , @thirteenis-myluckynumber

ASK HERE FOR TAG (And i'm so sorry if i forget to tag somebody).

Warning

This fanfiction is rated +18 for violence, consensual/non-consensual sex, vulgar language.

With the exception of the existing Gods in Thor, I don't mention any names. You are free to give your reader and his gods the names you want afterwards. I use “It” “His/him” Her/her” pronouns alternatively for talk about gods. 

This fanfiction has no but denunciation. It is not aimed at any existing or spiritual person. It is aligned above all with Gorr's point of view and with all that may arise as questions about the gods in general.

I choose to align myself with Love and Thunder and not with the comics. Attention I take a lot of freedom on the movie. This fanfic is not happening in the movie storyline. 

—-

CHAPTER 1

My story is their story.

Their story is mine.

The gods have shaped mortals, you will be told. It has never been truer than for me.

I am their creation.

Piece by piece, they built me ​​without my seeing them. Their existences influenced my universe from the moment I took my first breath. I was rocked by their praises pronounced by the sweetest of mothers, the most assiduous of believers.

She gave me a name, because it was they who suggested it to her.

That night, as I staggered onto the temple floor for the first time in a long time, I remember. I remember her holding my hand tenderly every day to lead me there. The impatience that made my heart beat as I pushed open the heavy doors of the sacred place. My joy of entering it had left me a long time ago and today it was something more instinctive that pushed me there.

Shelter.

To disappear.

-Tell me, mother, why do I call myself that?

I can almost see the ghost of my childhood pass through my bruised body. To feel my mother's silhouette slip past me. Behind the rancid smell of burnt wood, I catch a glimpse of her delicate scent, as if she were still there.

As if nothing had ever changed.

-Because they whispered your name in my ear while you were in my belly.

Her voice was like a distant breath. The vague nostalgia of a lullaby we miss. The gods had decided everything in our existence. That's what she had always said. Starting with the name that had to be worn, then the trials to be overcome. That's how she explained everything. In this way she justified her sadness and the blows she accused to protect me.

The violence we both endured.

The gods are testing us. she said.

This is what justified the violence, the misfortunes too. It was in this way that she explained why we lived on so little, why we did not have enough to eat every day, why we had to protect the little we had against others. And I accepted it. I accepted everything. Their silences, their indifference. I was ashamed to doubt their existence every time I passed their statues on the altar, so to make up for it I wove flower crowns or offered them half of the few things my mother offered me to eat. . I accepted their absence when they were so present in our hearts.

I forgave them everything.

Until that famous night.

-Mother ?

I hear my frightened voice in my head, the cold of the refuge caresses my skin as if I were still there. Down in shock to see her there, bathed in a pool of blood… Her blood. I crawled over to her, shaking her limp body a few times before I saw her eyelids move feverishly. Was it the gods who had given me the strength to take her away from here? To drag her with all my might to a safe place where she could find care? I didn't know. But under the light of the stars above us, I prayed to the gods every second not to take my mother away from me.

I only had her.

-Y/N….

I had heard her call me several times. I was silent, I refused to speak to her. She had to keep her strength to hold on, to survive.

-Y/N!

- Shut up, mother!

I collapse, exhausted on the rough, sandy ground of the street. Silence falls on us and my soul remembers my endless sobs.

What happened to the world we lived in? What had the gods done with it? Why did they not intervene to restore order and justice? I realized that the universe that the Gods had shaped was cruel, ruthless, to the point where we killed to get what we wanted and they did nothing to change that.

I didn't know what those who had hurt my mother that night were looking for, but the gods had attended to it with complete indifference.

-Protect my mother… I whispered silently. Curled up against her increasingly feverish body. I held in my hand the statue of the god that my mother had entrusted to me several years before. He was the one who had whispered my name to her, she told me, so it was important that I keep him with me, to keep him awake.

-My child…

Her hollow voice sent chills down my spine. I saw her use her last strength to ask me to listen to her and I slowly took her hands in mine. I was shivering, not from cold or hunger, but from anger. Hatred was slowly eating me, burning my heart like no other feeling had ever done.

-Please don't make...those eyes.

I look at her, pretending not to understand.

-I refuse to join the gods leaving you with eyes full of hatred…

Tears gently rolled down my cheeks that I couldn't contain. I was overwhelmed, destroyed and terrified. They couldn't leave me here without my mother...

- They don't answer, mother, they...

-Shhh, you're wrong. They answered us. Unfortunately it's not the way you want it…

I put my hands on my face, look at the sky hoping that if they don't hear my voice, they read in my head all the bitterness that I carry for them.

-They destroy my life if they deprive me of you.

She gently closes her eyes. I remember at the time I was not sure if they would open again.

- My life is like a vase, you understand? I breathe gently. A broken vase, if the pieces hold it's because your hands are all around. But if you...

-You will hold this vase alone, with the help of the gods…

I am voiceless, I want to spare them my disgust.

She clasps my hands in hers with all the strength she has left. Even today, many years later, remembering that moment makes my heart ache and my eyes vibrate with a strange sadness. I vividly remember the look she gave me then, and that's probably why I'm here today.

- Please don't hate them. They only test us, that's what they have to do, it's our resistance that proves our faith. You are strong, I know you will make it without me.

I already doubted it at the time, today it seems obvious to me that she was wrong. Yet she tenderly caressed my hand before squeezing it again with a tender strength that overwhelmed me.

-You have to make me a promise… she said. I nodded without thinking. Big mistake.

-Protect them… At the risk of your life… These words had sounded my sentence. This world is going up in smoke, you know? The gods do not want this, but soon the mortals will come after them, they will no longer believe in them, they will hate them. But you, you know that they are good, that they have always made sure to see us live so... For me, please. Protect them. Keep in you the flame that I lit one day in your heart.

I barely had time to nod my head, to whisper a yes in the hollow of her ear while stroking her hair before she closed her eyes for good. At that moment, the anger I was channeling deep inside me made every muscle in my body tremble and in a loud sob, after screaming all the anger I had deep in my soul, I asked those gods.

Why did they abandon me?

Their silence had spoken for them.

—--

The promise I had made to my mother had not taken away my resentment. It was there, present deep inside me forever. It gnawed at me, prevented me from returning to the temple. I had never set foot there again.

Till today.

War, famine and madness had gnawed at the hearts of my people. Nothing that I had known existed except this gigantic building in which I had finally taken refuge.

Even the disciples of the gods had fled, out of fear, out of disarray.

It was just me and the statues.

Their statues, once so large, so majestic, were cracking under the earthquakes. Their fractures made them vulnerable and the stones slipped on their fragile marble skins.

Soon they would be down

.

As we all were.

It's been a long time, huh? I thought looking up at them. A heavy silence reigned here, through which sometimes filtered the echoes of cries of distress and detonation. Thinking about it, my mother's death had been the prelude to our descent into hell, it had been the presage of our fall. Weariness, hunger and the feeling of losing my strength with each passing second made me less resentful and almost gave me the illusion that the gods would condescend to argue with me.

-What have we done to deserve all these hardships? Have they not worshiped your glory enough? I threw at the cold walls of the temple which returned my hoarse voice in each corridor. Only my echo answered me and that suited me. A sacred place was a great place to die and verify the existence of another world when we died.

And now, who abandoned whom? I thought as the earth began to shake again under my feet. I had not yet realized that this tremor was not similar to the others, by its violence it had almost made me fall. A ray of light pierced my retinas, pushing me to hide my eyes behind my arms. I felt like I was dying as the heat was stifling, like an explosion right next to me.

Then silence.

My jerky breath.

And its.

I can barely make out it silhouette through the pile of dust flying around us. I do not know then if it is about one of my similar or something else. Anyway, it was much bigger than me, much brighter too. But also extremely weaker.

What a paradox.

Slowly, I move towards the sound of it breath. Panic oozes from it breathing, or at least what I think it is. It lies there on the floor, desperate to get up as I reach out my hand to it.

He grabs me with force, I jump and by reflex I want to get out of his grip, and back hastily, trying to keep my balance.

-Save me. Pity.

For a moment, everything stops. The creature's words ring in my ears. Save me. Please save me. It face that reminds me of that statue that I implored for evenings, that I begged when I was manhandled on it altar, on which I cried for them to bring my mother back to me. It was him. It wasn't madness or even desperation that made me delirious. It was he who stood there, almost at my feet, his gaze terrified.

-He's coming… he whispers. You have to save me. Have mercy on me.

I want to spit in his face, but I'm petrified. By its grandeur, by the conviction of seeing an object come to life before my eyes, by the idea of ​​being in front of one of the most adored deities of my world and not just being dreaming. But there, it's not to put the knees on the ground that I want to do, I want to spit my hatred in his face of idol.

The promise I made to my mother...

I swallow my anger. What I see before my eyes is almost more delicious.

-So the gods are afraid now?

My voice is barely audible, my throat is tight

I tell myself that if I have to die today, it will be with the certainty that the gods have understood me, one day. Too bad we had to wait for this one.

I look at him, ready to throw himself at my feet, his wide open mouth full of pleas that will never reach me. The silence, split by the sound of a sharp blade, then her face frozen in nothingness, her head detaching from her neck and rolling towards me leaving behind a trail of gold like blood. The force of the blow propels a jet of gold over my face, staining my clothes and my entire being.

It face forever scarred with terror of what he had just seen stood there at my feet as shadows escaped, a mischievous whisper, an evil sneer.

The blade, the very one that had just cut off the head of my God, advanced towards me dragged by a frightening slender figure, draped in a once white fabric, now stained with dust.

He regarded the body with contempt, removing his hood to reveal his fearsome appearance. A white skin crossed by scars, a skull devoid of hair and a face with both hard and fine features. No doubt he was once human, but of that there was not much left. His whole being was darkness except for his big yellow eyes, shining like two blazing fires.

The smile that twisted his lips made my blood run cold.

-Oh… Looks like he lost his mind.

He sneers at the absurdity of the situation, his dark blade caressing his arm almost tenderly. A macabre tenderness, which has eaten at him for a long time, which absorbs what remains of his humanity, of his mortality. Nothing living transpired from his being.

Except for his eyes.

Their eyes.

When they attached themselves to mine, I thought I would die too. I wondered which was more fearsome, his weapon or his golden gaze, like the blood he seemed to enjoy spilling. Feigning compassion, he slowly advanced his threat as growing as his shadow.

-…Was it yours?

Yes. I want to answer, but nothing comes. I cannot. Because I doubt. This God is mine? Do I still have a God? Did I ever have one? He sees, through my shifty gaze, that I'm hesitating and it amuses him terribly. What spectacle am I offering him, there, wide-eyed, dripping with the blood of this creature he has just decapitated before my eyes as she begged for my forgiveness?

A spectacle that delights him.

He bursts into a mocking laugh, taunting my distress. He slips into his shadow, disappears into the abyss of his darkness to merge with mine and reappear right in front of me, through my shadow projected on the ground by the sad glow of the flames. Only a few centimeters separate us now, but I'm not backing down. I stand there, frozen. Although it is far beyond me, I refuse to let it dominate me.

- You don't know, do you?

He blows, his icy breeze touches my cheek. Deep inside I tremble, but something else vibrates, something that keeps me from looking down, let alone bursting into tears at the violence of its truth.

I don’t know.

-How would you know? You who prayed to him incessantly without his answering. That's what you did. Is not it ? How many times have you implored him without him coming to you?

Always. I thought, but I refrained, because I knew he was going to feed on my confusion, my disappointment. That his blade fed through him.

-He and all the others, they abandoned you.

-They test me…

I don't know where I find the strength to answer him that when my existence of loneliness and suffering is projected in me. The number of times i asked for their help and they never intervened. The death of my mother, the violence that has befallen me since the moment she disappeared, the suffering, the abuse. All this realized before their eyes in their complete indifference.

And i defend them, deep inside me, a force pushes me to believe in it. To believe that everything I have experienced was not in vain, that a wonderful thing awaits me at the end of this existence of misery.

 The promise.

-Not for long, I'm afraid...

- Don't count on it too much.

His hand falls on my jaw, without violence, but with a force that represents me. Until then I could have fled and yet I was there, sucked in by the power of his yellow eyes. A fascinating force burned in its golden orbs and looking at it I wondered what drove it so much. Was it hate? Revenge ? Anger ? Was it these feelings that made us so alive? His gaze swept over my entire body, consuming every inch of my skin, moving up my legs and up my chest. 

Does he wonder how he's going to kill me? Its blade dances in its hand and yet it remains there, tickling the ground with its fearsome point when it could have slit my throat several times.

As I think the storm has passed, his touch electrifies me as I feel his fingers move slowly, running down my cheek, soaking up the golden blood that drips down my skin. The blackness of his fingers is coated with it as he puts his thumb on my lips, traces golden trails on my mouth, a sinister smile stretching his. Is it fear that makes my legs fail or something else? I ignore it, I refuse to show him the spectacle of my weakness, of what I feel inside me at this precise moment.

Because it eludes me.

Everything escapes me.

-Its a threat ? He mutters between his teeth. His mouth is dripping with the abyss, he is the abyss and I had never wanted so much to dive into it.

It was terrifying.

-Perhaps… I breathed in my turn. By I don't know what force I stood up to him when I knew the blade was ready to cut my tongue and maybe everything else. Yet there I was, alive, my eyes in his eyes, the rapid breath of my chest managed to hide my trembling muscles, and he... He, he was staring at me, I was unable to know what he was bringing at this moment. , but something seemed to prevent him from getting over it.

-You don't see things as they are… he breathes. His hand moves up my cheek, slides through my hair as his voice slowly fills with pity.

- The stories of the Gods don’t concern mortals.

He glares at me, as if those few words were far worse than anything I'd ever said before.

-I'm not like them.

-You decide their life and their death, so what are you, if not the worst of them?

In turn, he hesitates. I see it, I feel it falter. His hold on me thins for a moment, I feel like I have the upper hand in a fight that never was one. To have injected into his soul a poison of rare violence. I find myself appreciating the doubt I see in his eyes, in the features of his frightening, fascinating face. He sees something in the distance that I can't define, and that's probably what saves me from certain death. Because it was obvious that he was going to act, that he was going to end it and give me back a hundredfold the suffering that I had just inflicted on him. That he could only be appeased by seeing my mortal blood flowing at his feet.

His hand moves away from my face, still lingers on the edge of my cheek, leaving a freezing cold in its wake. Even more than the blood of a god, it was his mark that he had just smeared on my face. His darkness.

-One day you will understand… he hissed. You will think of what I told you. And maybe you'll even thank me.

-And who should I worship, then? I taunted him as he walked away. This final question will only be answered by the violence with which he throws me against the wall. The impact of my back on the rock takes my breath away, the pain seizes my chest until it takes my breath away.

I'll be unconscious before he kills me.

–

Softness

Caress.

A comforting warmth envelopes me, I feel it around my shoulders, around my whole body.

Am I dead?

Is this what awaits us after death?

I refuse to open my eyes, I'm too afraid to see the beneficial feeling of this contact disappear. I try to remember the last time I experienced it. Nothing comes to me.

-Mother ? I breathed softly. But no one answered. My curiosity compelled me to slowly open my eyes, detecting an unknown figure hovering below me.

It's not the yellow-eyed monster, it's not the master of shadows.

It's someone else.

- Do not be afraid, my child. You are safe.

Her voice is soft and deep at the same time. Is it a woman or a man?

Something else ?

I can make out her silhouette, I can hardly define her, but she is there, she smiles benevolently at me. The decor has not changed, I am in the temple, the flames are still dancing on the walls around me. I look around the room and the lifeless body of my god and his decapitated head leave no doubt as to the reality of what I have experienced.

Damn, what's happening to me?

-He's dead… I whisper, still weakened.

-Yes, he is… Like many of us.

I look up at him again. His face is familiar to me. A statue on the altar...

-You are there…

The creature looks at me. She has the features of an androgynous and extremely beautiful human, but no doubt her similarities to one of the statues in the temple. Her silence slowly pushes me into my thoughts, brings me back to my helplessness and to the memories of my mother.

Promise me to protect them… These words echo in my head, again and again, and in the face of them my failure.

His head lying on the ground.

Protect them.

My weakness.

My inaction.

My hatred paralyzed me, my resentment, my aggressiveness prevented me from keeping my word. In me a vise contracts my soul, makes the few tears that remain to it gush out.

- I failed… I said. The creature looks at me, I feel its hand on my cheek, exactly where the yellow-eyed monster touched me. His image flashes back to me.

-I could have…I should have…I couldn't save him, I was…

-Shhhht… It doesn't matter. You couldn't do anything against him. For now at least….But if your wish is still to avenge the death of your God, then maybe I have an interesting deal for you…

I hesitate for a moment, blink. Seeking to understand what she offers me.

My revenge?

-Is that what you want?

- Ever since.

I close my eyes, the feeling of releasing myself from a huge weight relieves me as I feel his hand pass over my temples. I understand then that from now on, I am linked to them as I have never been.

There she is, my ultimate reward.

- Contemplate our power, and touch it with your fingertips, because today, my child, blessed, you have just made an alliance with the chosen ones, to cross the border which separates us.