#they maybe elite but even they have a understanding of not liking the goverment

[ghostbsuter]

It was supposed to be a normal gala, everyone attending and maybe smuggle in Danny's official introduction to the public.

Danny didn't really mind, having been lectured and taught by Sam during the times of suffering they'd had to go through together.

Yet, since waking up, he'd had a bad feeling.

Good thing he listened to that bad feeling, considering the situation he is at right now.

(He had looked at Dami when he saw the agents pile in, handing him his glas and grabbing the bottle. He ignored the scowl in favor of shouting, "Viva la revolution!")

The comm crackles to life as he smashes one of the GIW agents with a bottle of champagne over the head, grabbing another and downing in one go.

He passes Jason, grinning like a feral cat and swiping another GIW agent to the ground.

(At that moment, the forced-to-be-here Jason watched wide eyed, a soft "What the fuck" leaving him as he held his glass.)

"Get him!" Multiple guns were pointed at the running teen. The guests and the waynes were pressed to the walls of the room and murmured.

Danny jumped, kicking the agent down and ducking from the shoots.

He's running to the tall windows, opening one and sending his farewells.

"You will never catch me alive!!"

And jumps out, a flurry of colourful laser shoots following.

The agents pile behind the window, shouting incomprehensibly.

(One of guests leans towards Mr. Wayne, sipping her champagne. "Say, Bruce, are you sure he isn't from Gotham City?"

The man in turn blinks, smiling charmingly despite the demon's fighting in his head at what's going on. "I... was pretty sure, maybe he just fits in?"

The Lady laughs, dumping her rest of the drink on a agent and making a haste retreat.

Bruce is only half sure that, that was someone he knew and just disguised.)

I kinda want danny who's been adopted by the wanyes to be schmoozing it up at a gala (because listen nothing is funnier than the image of Gotham elites being like oh whats this one's gimmick cus all the other's have something only for danny to just be a dude) only for like the giw to raid the place to get danny ( cus he's a ghost? Cus he's a Fenton? Who knows)

Only for danny to pick up a bottle chug it smash it and vault out a window shouting you'll never catch me alive

Now this increases his reputation with most Gothamites and rouges and absolutely worries the fuck out of the batfam why is the government chasing you danny and hiw are you so good at running

[sabraeal]

The Most Perverse Creature in the World, Chapter 9

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

It was a mistake, you realize, to ever think of the prince’s aide as still.

Anyone might look at him now and remark upon the languid ease with which he lounges, his long limbs stretching across the cab in a way that conveys a cavalier relationship with physical space while still not encroaching upon your own. A usual attitude for him to adopt, his neck craned in a way that makes your own ache to peek through the narrow gap between glass and shade.

All is as it should be, you would think, but--

He does not move, not a single muscle, save to breathe. There is no subtle dart of his eyes, no restless twitch of his finger, no mindless hum to disrupt your thoughts. He is utterly motionless; a statue molded out of bronze in the shape of the shadow you know.

Of all the mysteries that spin in your orbit, it is this one that your mind latches to, frowning as the carriage rattles down the lane. He had been fine enough in the bawd house-- friendly, even. Soft way you thought he saved for that young woman of his.

He hasn’t managed to look at you once since you left.

“Ah.” Obi startles, just slightly, gaze darting to your before scurrying away. It’s more than he’s managed the last quarter of an hour. “My lady. You seem...quite thoughtful.”

This is not your most pressing business, but it is the problem most easy to fix; a prince’s aide is a much simpler puzzle than a king. Especially this one.  

“I am,” you agree, settling back against the cushion. “I mislike how little I understand of all this.”

His brows lift. “You mean with the bawd houses, my lady?”

“Yes. No. Both.” Your fist clenches in the crape of your skirt. “His Majesty does nothing without a reason.”

Obi’s mouth curls, amused. “No, my lady. His Majesty does nothing without at least three reasons.”

The laugh that rasps from you is not a pretty thing, as your governess taught you. You’ve fallen far from fashion, but there is no need to stand on propriety with the man you pay to take you to whores. “That is true enough. But that is also what bothers me. If the king does nothing without achieving quorum, then what possible reason does he have to ask me to look into all this?”

Your aide does not rush to answer; he merely settles across from you, face thoughtful, and listens.

“Perhaps he means to extract a favor,” you posit, “after all, there is not a single man on that council who wants me there. Not if I’m digging in all the pockets they leave their coin in.”

“Blackmail.” His shoulders twitch, casual. “Maybe he wants to know who’s spending dill on the side, and thinks all your digging will dredge it up for him.”

“Ha.” You shake your head. “As if I could do a better job than the spies His Majesty already employs. You know as well as I that he asks no question he does not already know the answer to.”

Obi’s mouth hooks into a troublesome smirk. “Maybe His Majesty has a soft spot for outcasts.”

You remember too late that he can not see your dubious glance, not with the cascade of tulle that obscures you, but your silence seems to convey what your face cannot.

“Come on, my lady.” His teeth flash in the shadows. “Didn’t he take a poor widow under his wing?”

You cluck your tongue, derisive. “Izana Wisteria may be a fair king-- fairer than any of his line thus far-- but he is not a soft one. Even considering the poor widow he’s deigned to take notice of.”

He raises a brow. “Should Arleon be concerned about his future plans? Since His Majesty never does something without reason, of course.”

A younger woman might flatter herself with the thought, but you laugh, low and bitter. “The king of Clarines could do far better than to marry a count’s widow, even if Haki Arleon wasn’t the greatest beauty of our age. You are clever, Sir Obi, but you will not convince me that His Majesty could be swayed by something so paltry as sentiment.” You wave your hand. “I’m far too old to be queen anyway.”

His expression crumples into confusion. “Too old? My lady, that’s--” he shakes his head-- “any man could get an heir on you, if he could find his cock to do--.”

His teeth snap shut. “Ah, I mean...never mind, my lady.”

Between the dim of the carriage and the shade of your veil, it is impossible to tell his color, but you would bet your allowance that it was a far pinker shade than it was previously.

You shake yourself. There’s no allowance for you, not anymore, not when all the accounts are in your name. “Are you offering to try, Sir Obi?”

His eyes pulse wide. “Ah, no, that wasn’t-- I didn’t mean--”

“Of course not.” You smirk behind the safety of your veil. “Your lady wouldn’t like that now would she?”

“Haah.” He slouches in his seat like a dropped accordion. “I wonder...”

He may wonder, but you-- you know what you saw in that garden. His body curved toward hers and hers had matched, gaze just as bright and attentive as his own. All they needed was one good push and they’d both fall over this precipice-- and maybe into a bed.

Not that that’s any of your business, oh no.

“Well.” He bolts upright, like his puppeteer jerked his strings. “If he’s not soft for widows and whores, where does that leave us, my lady?”

You frown, peering out the sliver of window behind your shade, watching the cobbles pass. “Taxes.”

“Taxes?” You don’t blame him for sounding so dubious. After all, what windfall could be wrung from whores?

You are a novice in deciphering the delicate weaving of Clarines’ laws, but what little you know points to none. At least, not in helping them; Toshikazu’s laws would reap far more harvest than properly taxing the men who used them.

...Or would they? “I need to know more.”

He blinks. “About the madam?”

“Her, yes.” You stretch your fingers over the window’s sill and wonder how different the world will be when you no longer experience it through a film of lace. “And the girls, and their work. I ask a question to one girl, and when I pose it to another, she refutes the last entirely. I can’t get anything done this way.”

His mouth twitches. “Not even with all your notes?”

“No.” You form the word carefully, so he is fully aware you know his game. “The notes can only show me the gaps, not fill them. I need all the girls together, having the conversation between themselves. But the madam...”

Obi laughs, scrubbing at his neck. “Yeah, she won’t like that one bit. Even getting two to a room gets me the hairy eyeball. Good thing you pay such good money, my lady.”

Your teeth clamp down in a grimace, cheeks flaring beneath lace. Yes, you had known what this might look like, but to hear him put it so baldly--

Not to admit that Arluleon has ever possessed a modicum of a point, but you can see where some of his dire warnings about your reputation may be born. Not that it was any of his business.

“I need to get her out of the house, just for a night.” Your elbow balances on the pane, cradling your chin. “I don’t know how to do it. Or rather,” you admit, chagrined, “I do, but I lack the means.”

He tilts his head, a curious tomcat. “The means?”

“Surely you know she only services the most elite clientele.” When your finger taps against your veil, you feel nothing but the phantom pressure of it. “Or at least she would, if they were not busy with younger girls.”

“And a countess doesn’t make the mark?”

“A countess of a country seat? Never.” You sigh, veil fluttering. “Even if she would consent to service a widow of little consequence, I would need to be with the women.”

“Couldn’t you keep her waiting in your parlor?” he asks, needlessly amused. “Lords do that all the time.”

“Mayu would up and quit my service.” She’s a good girl, and an obedient one, but that would be a shade too far even for a saint. “Could you imagine her keeping that woman at bay for an evening? There would be arsenic in my morning tea, and I wouldn’t even blame her.”

“Ask Master.”

“To keep her in my parlor?”

“To request her company.” His grin shines white in the dim. “I’m sure he would be happy to help.”

You may be a country countess, but you haven’t rolled off any hay wagons. “The prince of Clarines would be quite a flashy lure, but I doubt His Highness would appreciate the madam’s services.”

His mouth tilts, sly. “I wonder...”

“I hardly matters anyway,” you decide, disappointed, “I could remove the madam, but her favorite still remains.”

Obi’s mouth purses into a thoughtful pout. “You think she’s a tattler?”

“So the other girls say.” You peep through the curtain, mind as bustling as the market outside. “She is young, pretty, and entirely the madam’s creature in their opinion. I haven’t yet spoken to her. Sumire.”

“Ah.” His mouth pulls bitterly wide. “Yes. She’s a hard flower to pluck. Your money hasn’t been good enough for it, at least.”

You nod, letting the curtain drop. “I rather doubt my name would get us much of anywhere.”

“She’s meant for finer hands than yours,” Obi agrees. “One of the boys said the madam wouldn’t be happy with anyone who didn’t have His in his title.”

“The girls said she used to be a lord’s mistress,” you tell him absently. “With her so young and so popular, I supposed she would hope lightning would strike twice, only with better prospects.”

He huffs out a laugh. “And why settle for anything less than a crown?”

“A crown,” you murmur, “or someone close to it. Obi--” his eyes widen as you turn, already braced for what is to come-- “why not put it under your own name?”

His jaw goes slack, eyes as wide and bright as coin. “M-me? My lady, I’m...I’m no one.”

“You’re the aide of a prince.” You gesture to the tags that dangle over his uniform. “A man within the royal circle. A catch, by any account.”

He shifts on his bench, shoulders hiked about his ears. “Just a messenger.”

“Sir Obi--”

“No sir, either,” he tells you. “Just Obi.”

You stare. “Surely not. How long have you been in service?”

“Ah...” He grips his shoulder, fingers digging into the top of its blade. “A year and some.”

“Ah, well.” You nod. “It’s only a matter of time. Another year or two and you’ll be a sir, at least.”

He laughs. “I don’t think so, my lady. You don’t give titles to guttersnipe.”

You blink. “Why on earth not? Zakura Shidnote is a baron! The man used to be a bandit.”

Obi chokes. “What?”

“He used to work for the old Count Sui. After he’d been replaced of course.” You’d only met the man once, but even as a child, you’d understood that the man was grossly incompetent. “Nearly killed His Highness, if rumors can be believed.”

It had been all anyone could talk about when you made your debut-- Zakura Shidnote, given a title, as if shoving mulch over manure could keep it all from stinking-- and now, a decade later, there are those who cannot ever recall him being anything different.

“In any case,” you press, not willing to cede the ground you’ve won with your volley, “even without a ‘sir,’ your position within the court would be more than enough to merit an audience.”

He hums, unconvinced.

“Your elevation is not an if but a when.” You have no children, not anymore, but you fold your hands over your lap as you did when you scolded Atoshi. “You would be an investment quite certain to mature.”

“I wonder,” he says in the precise way that means he doesn’t. You are half tempted to grab him by the shoulder, to tell him just how little you do not, but his mouth quirks, eyes lighting as he adds, “But Sir certainly is.”

Your brow furrows. “Sir?”

He waves you off. “Don’t you worry, my lady. I know just the way to get you in to see her.”

[evilelitest2]

So... What's your take on Hiroshima? Can it be considered a "necessary evil"?

My issue with the entire discussion of Hiroshima is that most of it on the American end ignores a ton of context.  So my short answer is 

The Bombing of Hiroshima was a war crime where the US killed hundreds of thousands of civilians including children in some of the most horrific ways possible

The long answer is that you have to take into account the existing war doctrine, the conditions of the Sino Japanese War, the Cold War, the US military goals, what everybody involved knew and didn’t know, and what we know now.  I mean I keep talking to people about Hiroshima who have strong opinions on it but don’t even know why the US was fighting japan in the first place, or why Pearl Harbor happened.   So a few things that I think need to be established before we get to my long answer

1) Carpet bombing/firebombing and targeting civilians. So the military doctrine of deliberately targeting civilians with bombs was the norm by 1945.  pre war conferences tried to establish this as a war crime, but once war broke out, every side started to engage in the mass bombing of enemy cities in a way that targeted civilians.  

The first people to set this precedent were the Fascist Powers themselves.  The Nazis used Carpet Bombing in the Spanish Civil War, and Japan in their attacks on Chinese Cities, so for whats its worth, the fascists first started to employ this “target civilians on purpose” mentality

By the time of 1945, every side in the conflict had already engaged in bombing of civilians in enemy cities, some too a few percuations but generally it was a free for all.  The Atomic bombs were different, but they were an extension of this policy.  In fact the US killed more people in the firebombing of Tokyo than they did in both Atomic bombings (to be clear, that was also a war crime)

The US could have won the war without the Bomb.  But there would have been more losses.  Now we don’t know how many, because its a counterfactual, its impossible to predict, but certainly more American troops would have died, maybe as many if not more Japanese civilians would have died, but what is clear is that a lot of Chinese and Korean civilians and soldiers would have died.  

Japan was a brutal fascist xenophobic ultra nationalist imperialistic racist dictatorship that was actively engaged in a brutal war of conquest in East Asia.  Imperial Japan was about as awful as its Nazi counterparts, regularly committing some of the most atrocious war crimes of the 20th century which the modern Japanese goverment regularly denies.  And While Japan was willing to surrender, they wanted a conditional surrender, where the fascist dictatorship could stay in power in exchange for giving up their colonies.  Which isn’t really acceptable and the fact that Japan became a democracy (albeit a deeply flawed one that the US made too right wing) is a good thing 

Japan was actively fighting on other fronts.  And while the US was steadily pushing closer and closer to the Japanese Islands, Imperial Japan still had over a million Troops stationed in China and Korea, who were stilled engaged in a brutal war with the locals.  So the while the United States wasn’t in much of a hurry, they were, and the Atomic Bomb did basically end the Japanese occupation much faster than it otherwise might have been

The bombing was in part motivated as part of the Cold War, in order to keep the Soviets from having a claim over the occupation of Japan.  The US figured that since they did most of the major fighting in the pacific, they should run the occupation, and not the Soviets who jumped in on the conflict in the last month of the war (though they did pretty well in that time) 

Racism is a major part of the US’s decision to nuke Hiroshima, partly due to the US’s wartime racism towards Japan but also because lets be Frank, most Americans hadn’t heard of Hiroshima until the bombing, while they might feel more upset if we had nuke say...Berlin.  To be clear though, the bomb wasn’t ready until after Germany had surrendered.  

The US didn’t really understand how bad these Atomic bombs were, though they knew they were devastating.  

Politically, the demand for the war to end as quickly as possible was everywhere.  It is possible (though its hard to say how likely) that without the Atomic bomb, the war could have continued into 1946 if the US had invaded en mass.  Or maybe it ends in October.  But the US political elite new that if the public found out they had an option to the end the war but didn’t use it, it would be devastating for them, because every US soldier who died would be seen as unnecessary 

Finally its important that after the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria, Emperor Hirohito decides to surrender, and even then, the Far right Japanese military attempts a coup to prevent the surrender.  Its called the Kyojo  incident, they briefly seize control of the Emperor and try to seize control of the Imperial Military headquarters.  The coup fails and all of its leaders commit suicide or are arrested, but I think that should speak volumes about how determined Japan was to fight on.   After the surrender was announce,d there was another coup attempted called the Matsue incident, where about 40 people tried to seize control of the goverment before being stopped.  So while the Japanese leadership knew they couldn’t win the war, they were certainly willing to hold out longer for better terms.  

So my long answer is “The Atomic bombing of Hiroshima was a war crime, we should understanding them in the standards of the time, but that does not excuse a war crime.  Unlike most war crimes however, it did actually achieve the goal it set out to do, which was to end the war quickly.  By September the war was over.  That doesn’t make the crime ok, but it should be understood different than some of the more ineffective forms of evil like torture.  

I don’t really think the second bomb was justified though.  

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviewcaps Stuff: X-Men Evolution: The X-Impulse

Two of the series most popular characters, and one of its’ more popular ships: Jean and Xavier try to lead kitty away from charming asshole Avalanche whose trying to use her for crimes, but have trouble due to having taken stupid pills before this episode. Meanwhile Kurt and Scotty follow Logan as he confronts Sabertooth for the first time and gets cars thrown at him. No really. Abusive Romance, Flying Cars, and probable Gilmore Girls refrences under the cut. 

So yeah i’m doing another one already. This pace MIGHT slow eventually, as I want to get through the show faster.. but this episode gave me a ton of material to work with so I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. So as I mentioned last time the show started with slowly shoveling characters in one at a time, giving each time for focus and to breathe a bit. So with Nightcrawler and Toad out of the way it’s time for Shadowcat and Avalanche.. who happen to be one of the biggest ships for this show.. and also one some don’t like. Me, i’ll form an opinon as I go as I don’t remmeber much of them together other than him trying to join the x-men in one episode, so we’ll see. For now it’s time for some X-Impulse. Wait isn’t impulse dc? Is there a marvel character named that too? 

Yup there is! Two in fact, but somehow one is x-men related. This is impulse a member of the Shiar imperial guard I entirely forgot about because there’s like 40 or 50 diffrent members and he’s not one of hte more promeinet ones. For those who’ve never heard of these guys there the elite superpowered muscle for the Shiar Empire, an intergalactic empire whose former empress Charles Xavier dated for a while after dethroning her brother and who serve either as allies to our heroes or people for them to beat up depending on if someone sane is in charge that day or not, and who often have members killed to show off some new baddy, hence why there’s been three impulses apparently.

 Their based on the less military, more heroic and more fleshed out if still hugely sized,  legion of superheros from dc, which Guard co-creator David Cockrum was one of the  most famous artists for and originally actually CREATED Nightcrawler as a legionnaire, but he was rejected for being too demonic and thankfully recycled into the rougish religious elf we know today. The Guard were as far as I can tell made as a wink and a nod toward that and a gentle jab at the competition and is far from the first or last time either side would make characters based on the other side. I also bring up the Shiar because despite being a sizeable part of the X-Men mythos in the comics.. they’ve BARELY been used outside them. Cartoon wise only the 90′s series used them, though to be fair....

Given Evolution had both hinted at exterterstials apparently, and was planning on doing the Phoenix Saga in season 5, so they MIGHT have used them eventually, but I somehow doubt it and WOlverine and the X-Men didn’t live long enoguh to even consider it. As for the movies they were considered too ungrounded for them and thus were basically exiled from appearing on film for 20 years. Now the Shi’ar aren’t perfect characters, the fact before he took the throne himself Gladiator would just obey whatever assshole took the reigns due to some misguided loyalty didn’t help, but they could be used intrestingly and the guard are at least intresting in a fight, so it is a shame they couldn’t be used till recently and hopefully with the fox merger the mcu will put them to use at some point. Also for those curious if they showed up in any other cartoons.. nope. According to wikipedia, their mentioned in Avengers; Earth’s Mighteist Heroes (Which will also be covered here some day) and Legion (probably too though also probably not episode by episode if I do), and show up in two of the video games, with Ultimate Alliance being the biggest role outside of the 90′s cartoon from the looks of it, having the well, alliance, head to shiar space to get the mkrann crystal and battle with the guard and deathbird. Anyway, i’ve spent enough time on this weird sidebar, let’s get on with the actual episode!  We open with a pretty good scene. We meet Kitty Pryde, your average teen whose having a weird flying nightmare.. emphasis on weird as it is a bit wonky, but the idea is fine enough.. as is the result where she finds herself having fallen to the basement and FELT it, her panicked parents coming down and Kitty only being able to sob about having fell, her mom putting it off to sleepwalking.. until her dad notices her pillow and blanket fused into the celing above, which only makes the poor girl more upset. It’s a good, tense scene and a reminder that wether your mutant powers are benign or not.. having them awaken can still be traumatic as hell, and uses this world NOT having them be a public concern well: Kitty has NO IDEA what’s happening to her, no one to turn to and is understandabily terrified. For all she knows her body is breaking down and she might not be tangible again, not an unresonable fear given her comics counterpart once ended up in that very situation due to taking some heavy damage in battle from an energy charged harpoon.. from a guy named harpoon because even Claremont had an off day with names sometimes. My point is it’s a very good scene. Naturally Charles notices from cerebro.. and with a weird computer thing that somehow fully researchs who she is because tha’ts not creepy, but It is somewhat understandable. Cue the credits.  We then get a REALLY pointless throwaway scene with Kurt, now having’ been at school for long enough to be late several times apparently, late again and running into Mystique, in her guise as principal before Scott thankfully rescues him. Why Mystique is confronting her son like this I dunno, but what I really don’t is why this scene is here at all. It could’ve easily been replaced with a throaway line about Charles only wanting to have one student miss midterms or not wanting to arouse too much suspcion with the facultiy by taking too many of the kids out of school. Instead we just get this scene to establish their home. And yes they could’ve just needed to fill out the episode.. but there’s plenty of ways, that i’ll mention later, this minute of screentime could’ve been used better and we really didn’t need a whole scene of them to set up that they’d be home for their subplot this episode.  Back in scene’s that actually matter, Kitty is trying to sneak off to school but her mom stops her, with her family apparently having agreed to keep her home but Kitty just wants some normalcy and her family won’t even talk about it, so her mom relucntantly agrees. I can’t blame Kitty: even if it’s a terrible idea to go to school while she has no idea what’s happening to her and can’t control it as far as she knows.. she’s also a scared kid whose body is changing in ways she can’t fully grasp, and unlike puberty, which mutation is a mild metaphor for, there’s no deep years of study on it or how it changes a body: she has no idea what’s going on and just wants to grasp onto SOMETHING normal while she’s clearly not. It’s some well done character stuff.  Meanwhile  Jean and Chuck are on their way to what i’m assuming is that same old place, sweet home Chicago since that’s where Kitty is from in the comics and they had to fly there anyway. Jean questions why her.. out of the three junior x-men so far she’s the least intresting. Charles explains he thinks she can reach Kitty which.. makes some sense. Jean is uber popular at school, easy to get along with and endlessly nice, so she’s a good choice. Another likely part of it, and why not scott, is scott’s powers: it’s a lot easier to sell her parents on powers doing good with someone who can lift objects versus someone whose constantly cursed to never open his eyes, and this way kurt has his buddy back home so he dosen’t feel lonely his first time without his new dad. Now granted I question why STORM didn’t come with them, as she seems like a good choice and it’d be a nice nod to her bond with kitty in the comics, but I suspect it was simply easier to just have two x-men to focus on. Maybe she was busy getting Evan for two episodes down the line...

So then we get.. Charles being really, REALLY dumb.. like out of character dumb. See in the comics when the X-Men came to recurit kitty, they all came in civlian clothes, though ironically Jean wasn’t with them for the initial meeting because even more ironically she, Scott and Kurt were split off into their own group to try and recruit Dazzler, and Charles was nice and polite about it and promoted the school as well. a school. Granted Kitty’s parents didn’t know about her phasing here and Emma Frost was also trying to recurit kitty for HER school for gifted youngsters.. but still, there’s NO reason for Charles not to use that sort of pitch to get into the door, especially since as we learn in the scene after this Kitty’s a straight A student, retaining her deep intelgence from the comics, so there’s an easy foot in the door before he drops the mutant part in. Instead he just casually mentions he tracked her that he’s diffrent and comes off really fucking creepy and naturally they say fuck no to that. LIke.. how do they know he’s not with the goverment or forming a teen militia or just a pedophile who happens to be a mutant.. they do not and their already scared. So chuck gets a well earned door to the face. And thus I get to introduce a new running gag: The Chuck, you Blockhead, Count,. Now granted the obvious name may be the xavier is a jerk count, which i’ll probably also do but that’s more for being an asshole, like he often is due to poor writing or currently pragmatisim in the comic. No no this is for when Chuck is just out an out an idiot. Plus I love a good Charlie Brown refence so Chuck,  You Blockhead Count: 2 It’s at 2 since we also have last episode where Toad showed up with his own uniform, and attacked kurt.. and Charles did nothing and questioned nothing about that. And now I mentioned that other count Xavier is Jerk Count: 1 The Scott thing is more in character but for having his test be.. have a grown woman chase a teenager with Lightning. Storm was involved too but I doubt she’ll be an asshole as much so she’s safe for now. So having throughly botched it Xavier decides to have them split up, gang: Xavier will go to social services to find out more about lance since he’s an orphan, while Jean will infiltrate the school. Now while watching this I questioned why no one in school at all questioned a random teenager they never met roaming the halls.. but odds are jean just used her telepathy to either make anyone who saw her think she belonged there or masked her self from them seeing her, the latter being a signiture move of both jean and her teen self brought to the present because complicated bollocks, so fair enough. I also thought charles was just fucking off but accoridng to the wiki he was at social services, so he avoids another count and was doing something useful, checking on lance before he tries to offer him a spot: both to make sure he’s a good fit after last week’s debacle and figure out the best course to legaly take the boy in if so, and if not knowing charles still find the kid a home anyway because even if he’s not x-man yet, he’s still a child in need asshole or not and Charles is a good man. Such a good man he had to be told 9 timelines ended in utter disaster and ruin for mutantkind for him to even humor breaking from his dream according to recent comics, and according to Moira’s notes STILL took a good 15 years in universe of attempted genoicdes , 1 actual genocide and his people being reduced to a nub to finally cave and even THEN he admits he still loves humanity and wants them to be better. While I did put up an xavier is a jerk count just now at his best Charles Xavier is a good if flawed man who, while prone to ocasionally making utterly terrible decisions, loves both humans and mutants and just wants peace in our time and only created the x-men to foster it.  Meanwhile back at the ranch her mansion, Logan.. senses sabertooth.. I mean even with Logan’s adept sense of smell, I question how he could smell him over the exaust of Sabertooth’s goofy metalic penis, aka his own motorcycle, but it IS part of his mutant powers. Either that or they just have a magic force bond like Rey and Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy.. minus the sexual tension and forced face turn for the latter.. maybe just minus the forced face turn. So Logan prepares to go fight his rival, and suits up for the first time. and while it’s in a black void for.. some reason it looks REALLY badass and really gives gravatas to seeing wolverine in costume for the first time. And since he’s one of ONLY two looks to look at this episode, since Kitty and Lance don’t get their uniforms this episode, let’s talk about it. 

I fucking love it. Like Kurt’s it’s basically his comic’s costume but slightly modified.. but unlike Kurt it’s a diffrent costume than last time, going with his cool brown look that he wore for quite some time in the comics, though made a bit more orange. However it honestly STILL looks fantastic and I get wanting to go with a color that’s a bit more eyepopping in the more muted tones of Evolution. It just looks fantastic and i’ts nice to see a cartoon use an alternate costume for a character as their main look.   Logan passes a returning from school Scott and Kurt, who decide to follow him and after debating which car, Scott gestures them to his.. which is scott’s sports car from bot the previous series and the comics. Why a 17 year old has this, I can only assume because Chuck is a really good dad, really rich.. and likely knows having a bunch of teenagers around means if one of them DOSEN’T have hteir own car they’ll be borrowing his rolls royce all the time and this way he can have his nights after training free to smoke a blunt with logan while they watch the next generation and eat a pile of cheeseburgers the children dropped off while crusing around out of his lack of hair, you know why you give your teenager a car in the first place. 

Anyways while Kurt and Scott buddy up and go on an excellent adventure, with Kurt even bamfing inside and god I love this dynamic. So fucking adorable. But anyways while that’s going on, Kitty is at school being mocked by two alpha bitches for being sad despite her grades then is shoved in a locker. When then meet Lance, soon to be known as avalanche and the other mutant at school who decides to graffito tag the place.. in the laziest but somehow still coolest way possible by just taking his spray can and spraing one long streak along the lockers. Not as neat as doing an actual tag but it does more petty dumbfuckery faster so fair play to him.  Kitty begs him to let her out.. before her powers trigger again. She tries denying it when he comments on them being cool.. before he shows off his own, making the earth move under his feet, though not the sky tumbling down a tumbling down.. that’s Storm’s job. It shakes the lockers and Kitty rather than be impressed, runs like hell. But yeah, I get the feeling, even with him having evil plans for her right after.. that he does feel some attraction to her here. And as I made clear i’ts not shipping goggles.. the way he acts.. he’s elated to meet someone else with powers, to after likely being pinballed around foster care and treated like shit by his piers over it and then finding out he has a special power but is still seen as a weirdo even by his minons.. he’s elated. It’s what draws him to her: that for once he’s NOT alone, and there’s someone else to revel in the sheer power and joy he feels using his powers and even though she runs he vows he’s gonan rock her world.  Since we’re where a commerical break would be, I figure now’s a good time to talk about Lance. In the comics he had a diffrent name entirely, and avalanche was more of a one note villian who later became a retired bar owner. Here he takes bits, the long metal hair and love of his powers, from Rictor, a more heroic mutant in the comics who only started out doing crimes because he was forced to and quickly joined the original x-men’s class of mutants the x-terminators before joining the new mutants and later x-force. He’s also , as you probably know, one fo the x-men’s most prominent gay mutants, but while hinted at in comics made before this series was fully canonized years after, and like iceman who came out even later, there was no way of knowing that at the time, so it made since to use him as partial template here. It also makes sense not to use the rictor name as while it makes more sense given the earthquake motif, Avalanche is an actual villian.. and you know the obvious fact that Lance is white and Julio Richter.. is not.  Granted they COULD’VE made him latino, and used sunspot for spike to ballnce it out representation wise, but this was the early 2000′s and they cared about as much for repesentation as Jeph Loeb does. Hopefully Rictor gets an adpatation at some point outside of Logan, but I get why not here. 

On with the show. Kitty shows up late for track due to thing one and thing two, and has to run first and trips, while on the nearbye rooftops Lance and his two goons try to break into the administration building to get test answers. They don’t as Lance notices an alarm, and while one of his goons asks why he dosen’t just quake a hole in, Lance points out the obvious: If there’s obvious tampering they’ll just change the test answers.. and since he knows about kitty now, he has a better way and when questioned rather than explain her powers, he just shakes rattles and rolls. He also makes one of Kitty’s bullies trip but it only scares her further. I”m getting. serious heathers vibes here jesus.. I mean Lance isn’t nearly as bad as Jason Dean but still jesus. I need to listen to more of that musical good stuff. 

Kitty retreats from her admierer/stalker to teh autitorim, where Jean finds her.. given Jean again slipped in here without no o ne noticing and no one came after kitty , i’m thinking she use her telepathy to mask anyone from seeing Kitty come in and seeing Jean at all so she could talk in private. Granted Lance shows up right after, but odds are Jean didn’t notice him and thus didn’t think to shield him and probably isn’t up to Charles level where he can create a psychic blindspot in an entire crowd. Anyways Jean tries to comfort kitty who’s still angsting about her powers and again hard to blame her when the only other mutant she’s met is a budding psychopath whose idea of a romantic gesture is injuring one of her enmiies for her. Jean does try to calm her down, first showing she’s a mutant and admitting she was freaked out too when she got her powers.. and given most depcitions of jean getting her powers are far from plesant that tracks. She does however make the mistake of telling Kitty, already figuring this is some sort of trick and jean will throw a puppy across the room to also try and get in her pants or something, that she’s a telepath and Kitty screams at her to get out of her head. Jean truly is taking after her mentor in thef ucking up department. Lance then shows up as I mentioned earlier, and tells Jean to backoff and that’ she’s mine and you get it. Oh and as a side note Jean DOES admit to having read Kitty’s mind so she CAN read minds, and likely has gotten a surface level look of duncan’s thoughts which I feel go a little something like this mnus the actual context of when the song’s going on. 

Lance then finds kitty, whose changed into her regular outift and promises not to use his powers this time, admitting he too felt lost and scared, and wants to help her take control and help her.. and while it is partly for his own petty scheme.. I do genuinely think he means part of that, that he does genuinely wnat her and want someone like him by his side.. it’s just in his warped head doing crime and whatever he wants is the right thing to do, that control means using this power to knock down whoever’s in your way and TAKE what you deserve. 

Jean instead phones xavier and both agree that if lance fully gets his hooks in her they might never reach her and Xavier tells him to stay on her and that she can overcome lance as an obstacle.. and then bemoans that some obastacles are more annoying than others as the social services building has a large stone staircas,e a nice quip and they beat the ulitmate universe to that joke by a few years. 

Meanwhile our two best buds track Wolvie to a car park because fuck if I know why he decided to make his stand there. Probably because the writers had a cool action scene in mind as we’ll see, but it still comes off dumb though given how every other x-man has been acting this episode it tracks. Anyway Sabertooth strolls up on his demonic wang-shang-a-lang, 

Seriously I mocked it before but it bears repeating. While Wolvie has a normal looking, if still badass, bike Sabertooth’s.. looks like something Skeltor would ride after he man. It Looks like warlock is horribly stucki n the form of a motorcycle. It looks like the kind of bike on some random asshole the bikers from sons of anarchy would beat up forposing. It looks like he stole it from the biker mice from mars. It looks like the polution from it’s exaust alone is the reason big bird die. it looks like Creed just brought it off the joker and remonded it. It looks like something the battletoads bought and regretted. It looks like ghost rider’s first trike. it looks like Tooth lost his dick in a horrible acciden tand is compensating with theree metalic ones. It looks like something the BAND creed sold to victor creed here. It looks.. bad is what i’m saying.  As for his actual outfit.. it’s okay,b asically his movie outfit with osme of the skin missing. That look isn’t my faviorite of his but it works to sell him as a savage monster and fits good with the more tactical less comic booky looks of this shows costumes. 

Creed, the man not the band though  he does look like the lead singer of creed, charges at Logan who simply pops his wheel while tooth falls off the roof.. and then the most rediculous and awesome part of the episode starts.... right after Scott’s car gets hit with the bike because what else did he think was going to happen when the fighting started.  Sabertooth , who apparently has really good super strength in this universe, starts CHUCKING CARS UP THROUGH THE ROOF OF THE CAR PARK UP AT LOGAN. Points to the team while the setting for this fight is nonseical, it is WORTH IT for this, with great action as Logan dodges the cars bursting through the roof. it’s rediclous, over the top.. and UTTERLY spectacular and not just in a so bad it’s good way. Logan eventually slips through a car hole, a sentence i’d never thought i’d say mostly becasue that’s the moe syslack approved term for garages but it works well here too, and into the garage before sabertooth RAMS him with a car, ranting about it’s their “destiny” only one is left. Which seems like some weird “applying highlander logic to former goverment weapon mutants’ bollocks, but instead is foreshadowing for the end of the season. Nice touch. Scott and Kurt arrive, in uniform since even if he’s a bit more personably here, Scott still is no dummy, and they sucessfully save Logan, whose pissy about it because it was his buisness and all, but Kurt thinks he secretly loves them and Scott sarcastically agrees. Not a bad subplot and it makes up for a weird choice of battleground on logan’s cart iwth utter insanity. Fun stuff.  Back at not so fun stuff, Kitty finds lance outside the office and takes him up on his offer, and he admits they ARE outsiders, there is something wrong with them.. but instead of moping about it, they can do something about it and revel in it. It really ties into Lance as a character: He’s probably felt, due to being an oprhan and not having a stable home life likely buffeted around foster care and acting out as a result, that he really is an outsider and his powers not only proved it.. but finally gave him POWER over all the people that cast him out. The power to take what he wanted and return what he got. The power to move you. He finally had power and he was going to make them pay for making him feel like he had none and wants Kitty to join him. And for a moment it works, kitty joyfully breaking in with him and actually enjoying her powers for the first time. Meanwhile kitty’s parents showed up, Jean having called them and somehow got them to listen.. and this is what I meant by that one minute earlier. We COULD have built up Kitty’s parents guilt and fear by having Charles approach them again.. and with them panicked over her not returning from school, have him explain what happened and help her father see how wrong he’d been to hide from it or had her argue with her dad then storm out. Instead they just show up here for the first time in almost 20 minutes so we could get a filler scene of kurt being late. 

Anyways inside Lance steals the answers and Kitty is horrified to find out that “Gasp” the juvinele delinquent who hurt someone to impress her is doing BAD THINGS. Lance tries to change her grades but she refuses.. and then Jean and the Prydes show up, with Kitty’s dad admitting he was wrong, he shouldn’t of hid fro her power and shoudl’ve been a better parent.. better than her comics dad who got in bed with gangsters i’ll give him that. But Lance not wanting to loose his new sorta girlfriend knocks a bookcase on kitty and abusively tries to drag her with him.. while jean says if you go with him now, her powers will be a curse like she thought earlier... even though Kitty’s pretty terrified of lance right now and dosen’t actually want to go with him.  it comes off like this bit from final space played entirely seriously

So yeah apparently I need this too...: God Dammit Jean Count: 3 The other two are for the telepath thing earlier and the duncan thing last episode. And given the duncan thing is going to be going on till season 3 yeah i’ll need this. I’ll probably also need a WHAT DOES SHE SEE HIM HIM COUNT, but i’m playing that one by ear. But yeah kitty does the obvious and breaks it off and phases out and Lance takes it well.. by trying to destory the entire school.. my god this really is heathers! Did .. did lance kill some popular kids before this? I have questions. Jean struggles to hold things up and worries about kitty, who falls under some ruble but charles assures her to focus: She can do this.. and as we seen Chuck likely sensed kitty who phases out and reuintes with her parents before rescuing them all. Kitty realizes her powers are a gift after all and says the x-men have her best intrest and heart and Charles finally decides to have an actual discussion with the prydes which had he had one might’ve helped this episode go faster.  We then end on Lance, angry and hurt starring into the distance, when Mistque approaches in her principal disguise, saying there may be an opening for her and transforms ending with a great line “I have much to teach you, my avalanche”. Which ihs a better code name than Rictor when put like that credit where it’s do. And we’re out. Final Thoughts:  This one was a bit of a step down as you could tell: The main core of Lance and Kitty IS really strong, being a good way to breifly touch on toxic relationships. If this gets better in season 2 I have no idea but it’s a compelling dynamic here, with Kitty being terrified of her power while Lance loves his and both are what prop this episode up alongside the fun car park fight and great dynamic with Kurt and Scott. HOwever what drags the episode down is EVERYONE but Kitty and Lance, who act in character, and Scott and Kurt, who had no idea logan was going into combat and were just curious what their cool teacher was up to acts like a fucking moron: Logan, rather than pick a fighting ground where he has an advantage chooses one where sabertooth can easily use stealth and gives him an opening too as well as a garage full of weapons that nearly ends him, Xavier decides just randomly revealing he knows where they live wiill impress scared parents, Jean decides telling someone she’s in their head is a great idea, Kitty’s parents think not talking about the thing tht just happened will make it disappear, which is at least realistic if nothing else, and Sabertooth thought that was a valid choice for a motorcycle. The climax is good but feels unearned and overall this episode could've neen fantstic but is bogged down by bits of stupid, but is still enjoyable thanks to it’s emotional core. Next time, whenever that is, another popular charcter arrives as we go Rogue. Until then, follow for more reviews, like this if you enjoyed it, send asks iwth suggestions for more shows and episodes to cover and until then, stay safe and stay mutant and proud. 

[ricdyson]

Walls 2020 (edited)

Constructing walls is something that has been done since the beginning of time. It was built to define cities, keep enemies at bay and to include or exclude the choice of friend or foe. I'll make mention of a few great walls, some forgotten and of those still standing. I'm old enough to remember news of the The Berlin Wall that came down in the 90's, when East and West became a united country again. Then there's the Great Zimbabwe that still stands even though the country fell hard, the currency replaced and people displaced (whether forced or not); things went south and the hope of majority of the Zimbanwean people was in the same direction. The most immaculate of all walls has to be the Great Wall Of China. In distance and stature it is surely the greatest one of all. The fictional movie they made about it couldn't prepare us for a real life "threat" that would impact the entire world; that according to reports originated in a city of the country with the Greatest Wall. Some of the residential walls we've built are so high that I can’t tell whether we kept our enemies out or imprisoned ourselves; for a while now some have enjoyed self-imposed solitary confinement. I guess it was crime that caused the “necessary” adjustments and the more crime occured the more anti-social we became. Trump wanted to build a wall to keep some people out and as much as I have my own views on what he wanted, not me or anyone else was ever ready for what couldn't be kept out by any wall. Right now we're in lockdown in my country; right now we have hygiene 101 on steroids because of a pandemic that threatens the entire world according to information received from credible sources. So our priorities at home, or as countries or as people are to box ourselves in and to keep danger out. Right now these walls are somehow to contain danger, to keep it away from others. I read a post from someone that said (paraphrase:) "assume you have this virus and act in a way to stop the spread to others." I understand where people are coming from, but I also have to be real. Right now people have died at the hands of our police to my knowledge two in total on lockdown day one, both from poor communities. People don't always understand the seriousness of these matters, especially our elderly. This could have been the case of the elderly man died at the hands of police officers that were younger than him. The WALL between my people and the police has been thick, there's almost no love lost.This is why people say F#ç( The Police like the famous US hip hop artists proclaimed, this is why our own people shout F0( Die Mapuza in the words of our very own K-Nine Die Hond. They, the police are the ones with the power and they need to use it to serve and protect. They could use this time to care, to educate our people and somehow in this lockdown aid in breaking down the wall of hate that separates them from the people. "The revolution will not be televised" is a statement I have heard over the years and these instances make me think about how the inspiration for this statement came to be. There's been these Great Walls of separation, inequality, unfairness for millennia. People have fought to break these and somehow almost always activists who promised to break down the walls and build bridges instead became politicians with their own agendas. Maybe it won't be televised like the deaths of these two men today. As per South Africa's count it is Covid-19 deaths ZERO, police killings 2. I sincerely feel for the ones affected and infected and do not take Covid-19 lightly at all, but we NEED to get our Government to stop building these walls between what affects the elite and what affects the people. As per my son, the people can’t stop/change the Goverment, but God is in control. May his heart always remain pure and without walls that society imposes on us as people.

[viscountessevie]

America Singer Week Day 3: America & Friends

What Could Have Been

- Celeste and America would spend the weekends going on mani-pedis with Marlee and maybe Lucy, spend the days gushing about their husbands while Celeste -who I highly doubt gets married- talks about her new career as a fashion designer. If she can’t be the pretty one up on the runaway, she was going put the beautiful clothes on the pretty ones. She gets to leave her mark on the world and be remembered. Celeste would have been the best aunt to the Schreave children. Especially Eadlyn, they would have been divas together but Celeste would have humbled her because we all know Celeste is the biggest diva.

- Elise would have made a great Foreign Affairs Secretary considering her stellar diplomatic skills and connections to New Asia. She and America would talk about everything; mostly their families and politics (for fun) over Chinese tea. I feel like she would have been a great aunt/mentor to Kaden. She would have taught him a lot, more than his books and she might have let him sit in on some of her Foreign Affairs meetings. He would have most likely succeeded her. Due to his admiration of Elise, Kaden would have made Chinese New Year a thing in Illèa.

- Natalie would have been the one both Maxon and America would have gone to if the stress of their job was getting to them. She would get them to do Art therapy, yoga or something calming like that. As mentioned in Happily Ever After I imagine that while Celeste (if she had lived) dressed America for events, Natalie did the jewelry. She would have been the chill aunt. She would have been the one all the kids go to with their problems if they felt like their parents were too busy or wouldn’t understand. Ahren would been the closest to her since they are both daydreamers and he would gush to her about Camille. Natalie would have encouraged their love but would have advised him against eloping. The kids would probably do yoga weekly with Aunt Nat.

- Mary had she not left, would have probably been Head Maid and seamtress. She would have continued making America dresses and going over designs with her during their little teatime chats. She would have helped hone Eady’s gift for fashion designing and they would have conferred and inspired each other to make various designs. If Eady was too busy to make the dress of her own design, I’d imagine Mary would step in to help. 

- Anne would have been the Schreave kids’ governess and would have probably prevented Eady from being the spoilt princess from The Heir. Even though she wouldn’t have ended up with Aspen, she wouldn’t have held it against America, and they would all have a good relationship. She might have married Justin, Maxon’s head butler. 

[Yes I know the other Elites - save for bitter Kriss and Celeste - were still in touch with America but clearly not close enough for them to visit her during the heart attack.]

[inert-pen-maid]

The words volunteered themselves, as though they were not his. “You’re not alone.”

 He allowed the martyred echoes of his voice to tread the unguessable wilds between them, like a rowboat dislodged out onto open water. He waited. Ren had told himself its purpose and his interest was scholarly; even the wisest practicer remained a student of the Force in some way, after all. But there was selfishness in it too, he acknowledged with chagrin. And he had gone to great lengths to disguise this from Snoke.

 Ren cursed himself. There were times that this undisturbed place that they had found for themselves within the Force felt as though it was simply that; as though the stepping stones to it were footwells that only they could fill. But now a mass formed in his throat. Who could say that his efforts of discretion had not been wasted? Who could tell that the no man’s land between them was not being enjoyed from crossways the Galaxy, exposed to supervisory eyes? Snoke doubted him. He certainly had enemies in the circles of the elite. Enemies that would take great pleasure in decommissioning the reputation he had built upon the bodies of countless. The Knights of Ren, his trustedbrethren. That bastard, Hux.

 Jedi Killer , he had even earned the honour.

 But those were Kylo Ren’s great accomplishments, not Ben Solo’s.

 In the beginning, they had both been prolifically inventive with ways to maim the connection. They had shot at, pricked, pierced and torched it. It proved indestructible.

 Her reply shivered across the interface. “Neither are you.”

 He had not expected that. He stifled his intrigue.

 Besides the pulsating of firelight, any detail in the scavenger’s surroundings was unintelligible. The peripheries contorted as though round the rim of a spyglass, but inside the glowing kaleidoscope was the sharp and familiar image of her . As she drew a waterlogged rag to her chest, Ren thought he noticed the flicker of her heart - right there, at the opening of her vest. The distance between them was boundless, but he sensed her life’s blood, the kicking, thrashing adrenaline in her veins, as intimately as a papercut.

 She is afraid of me. But he knew that. He was used to that. Afraid of what I know, of how much to tell me.

 He wondered what his body betrayed to her.

 Rey wet her lips. “It’s not too late.”

 Ignoring the impulse to delay there, he hoisted his gaze. Those thoughts were useless. In the end, it would always come down to this - Light and Dark.

 “You’re new to this ancient order,” Ren delivered the truth softly. “Eager to impress yourself upon its legacy. I remember that...that hunger. I understand it -”

 “No -”

 “ Yes ,” he said. “It’s not all it seems; the Force, the Sith, the Jedi. What has any of it shown you? Nothing. Since the day we met, I knew…” he did not know what he knew. “This life could never make you happy. Rey. Spare yourself a lifetime of disappointment.”

 “Like yours, you mean?” She swatted the air. “Leia would despair to hear you speak. What about hope?”

 The mention of his mother stalled him, to his irritation. To hear it was something like pain; something that years of training should have relieved. Cheap trick. A smart girl. He took an affected pause. “Hope is as useful as luck. What’s the use in hope, when you’re staring down the barrel of a blaster, Rey? The Resistance cannot hope to last another month. You know it. They know it. Leia best of all. You don’t have the artillery, the fuel, the funding: we outnumber you man to man. The Resistance’s only asset is you . Your power. Your talent. But you’re young and you don’t know what to do with it. So you make the wrong choices.” He had said too much. Ren regained himself. “Han Solo indulged in luck. Look where it got him. Don’t repeat a fool’s mistake.”

 Rey’s micro-expression of disgust was not lost on him. “You don’t mean that.”

 “Do you know it?” Kylo Ren forced himself to smile. “Or do you hope ?”

 That should have done it. He had half-expected to find himself alone in his quarters, then, but nothing changed.

 Instead, the girl scrutinised him. A rope of tangled black hair slipped free, clinging to the crease of her lower lip. There was a muted squeal of leather, and he realised his fists ached. He released at once. The leather exhaled as he flexed and unflexed his fingers. This was not what he had planned.

 “What do you want from me, anyway?” he snapped. “Every time I turn around, there you are. I find myself alone, you’re there.”

 “I’m not doing this, remember? The effort would kill me .” A pause. “You talk about a lifetime of disappointment. But you can’t be older than - I don’t know - thirty?”

 “ Almost , scavenger.” He briefly thought of Chandrila, and the astral metropolis that was the place of his birth. It was likely Rey had never seen a city. “So we’re swapping childhood anecdotes, now, are we? Hideouts and broken bones? I’ve had plenty of them. No thanks to you.” Ren gestured.

 Rey regarded her handiwork. “That night, I heard the voice of the Dark side. How can you love such a thing so evil?”

 “It’s not a question of love.” He stiffened. “And to a beetle, a boot is evil. To a man, a boot is necessary.”

 “It told me to kill you.”

 That fascinated him. “And did you want to?”

 “I -”

 “Don’t lie to me, Rey.”

 The girl seemed to shrink.

 Ren shrugged. “It called. You answered. We do what we must to succeed.”

 “ No . I could never…” she fussed with her shawl. “I am sorry."

 There was nothing grand about this girl, that was true - and yet everything about her had mystified him from the first; even begrimed, her threadbare training rags crisping by the heat of the pitfire beside them. No matter the circumstance, she mystified him. Prickling in his own robes, Ren mopped his brow.

 He flinched with disbelief. Impossible.

 Suddenly, the crudely assembled structure of a stone hut divulged itself to him. The cool ventilation of his own quarters had vanished. Could he smell the moss on the slick stones, hear the percussion of rain wriggling over the modest shelter, or was he imagining it? He wanted to leap to his feet and circumnavigate the place, to confirm its reality. Instead he stayed deathly still. He did not trust Rey enough to share his revelation. He admired her enough to fear what she might do.

 Salt hit the eaves of his mouth. The sea. So this is Skywalker’s island, he thought. He shoved aside the terrible obligation to fulfil his destiny.

 “I don’t want your apologies,” was all he could manage.

 What do you want, then? A voice nudged. He looked at the girl.

 She was so close, so... authentic.

 And they were not alone. Something neither Dark nor Light had followed him to this place. Ren had intermittently smothered and disregarded it all his adolescence, and Snoke’s rigorous training had reserved little opportunity for action. But it was here with him now, with no cause for restraint.

 In his high rank, he had always been careful about who he went to bed with. His guard had slipped only a handful of times, in corners of the Galaxy that would not incriminate another ordinary face.

 “Your life is not over,” Rey continued. “You’re not bound to Snoke. Leave him. Leave that place.”

 He choked a laugh. “To be sure. Why don’t you leave behind your arm, or your leg, while I’m at it?”

 “Now you’re being be an arse.”

 “I’m not being an ass,��I’m telling you the truth.” He willed her to understand. But how could expect her to? Young, naive, inexperienced. Her prejudice against the Dark was impenetrable as a jungle, dense and complex and unforgiving. A victim of Luke’s censored education. She could never understand. But he had to try and make her.

 He heard himself speak. Like caroming downhill, once he had started he could not stop:

 “My earliest memory of Snoke is from when I was five years old. Five . They say his influence began with the foetus living in Leia’s womb, but how could I possibly remember that to tell you?” He absorbed himself in the fire, dreading to look up and find himself alone again, the miraculous transmission cut short. “I clearly remember standing by a river. I don’t know where my governess was - distracted, maybe, probably. Just another day that Han and Leia were too important for.

 “The river bid me to drown myself.” He could still hear the belch of the water, the call to the riverbed. “I resisted. I challenged. I wanted to live. And that small show of defiance saved my life. Convinced Snoke that I could be of greater use than a bloated corpse belly-up in the water...” He side-glanced, shifting uncomfortably. “He was testing me. Don’t you see? I owe him all I am.”

 “Not all,” Rey said softly. “There’s good in you, still. I sense it.”

 He ignored that. “To apprentice with Supreme Leader Snoke is the highest privilege.”

 “Snoke’s apprentice or not. I feel the conflict in you. Ben - you’re powerful and talented. You have only made the wrong choices .”

 He grimaced. “Something tells me your precious Resistance won’t see it that way.”

 A pale, slender hand took his and squeezed. “ I see it that way.”

 The crackling interstice between them seemed to surge and short-circuit all at once. Suddenly, its barbed perimeters were gone. He had felt the seismic sparks ricochet from every synapse, between every cell in his body; but now there was quiet and sense, and in the panoramic of all existence he could feel only her . Ren gawked at their hands. It was impossible, but here they were. After a moment, he braved a tentative graze of the thumb. Her knuckle was scabbed with blood. He was still wearing gloves.

 Understanding felled him. He blinked - hard. “How long have you known?”

 Even through his leathers, he registered her shaking. “I didn’t. I thought...I - guessed…” the loathing face that he had encountered in the forest was gone, streaked with emotion. “Ben. You cast a shadow.”

 He turned. The hut seemed to expand in the light like a diaphragm, and the amorphous shape undulating against the convex stone writhed, became two shadows, then one. He did not remember standing. He did not question it. At this moment, he did not want to question anything.

 And she had not yet pulled away.

 Was she worth your while? He imagined his master would purr later, when he was inevitably summoned to the throne room for review. The contents of his apprentice’s mind would greatly interest Snoke tonight. Was the pleasure of a squealing waif a fair trade for all your glorious potential in the Dark?

 Kylo Ren decided it was.

 “Take off my gloves,” he said.