#this show is operating entirely on symbolism y'all

[maybe-boys-do-love]

People are still truly out here asking their fiction to act as models for real life instead of letting them be symbolic. Like, yes, we can def add to our realistic representations of people's lived experiences of poverty and queerness, but maybe the campy ghost show isn't the best example to ignite your criticisms about realism???

[wakeywakeyjakey]

to batjokes or not to batjokes

so now that i'm on tumblr and interacting with the fandom i (a batjokes shipper) am seeing all the anti-batjokes shippers lol hey. one of the biggest arguments i'm seeing against batjokes is the whole he killed jason/paralyzed barbara/etc. and batman "wouldn't do that" because he's a "good person" and it "goes against his moral code" and like okay, i see where our wires might be getting crossed—

because you're operating under the belief that batman is a good person and i am not. personally i don't think that he can be a "good person" being batman and doing what he does but more than that—that's just not how goodness works. it's not like being a good person = you only do good things. good and evil are multi-dimensional and nuanced and complicated. it's not black and white, it's not just a theory or something that can be done "by the book" and as much as batman is a symbol, he's also a man.

i think we can objectively agree that from a moral standpoint, fucking the person that killed your son falls under the "bad" category. but thing is, batman goes to the extremes. this dude took the normal desire to do good in the world and became a vigilante who spends all day and all night on this crusade to do good. so yeah, i fully believe that when he leans into the "bad" category it is also just as extreme. like, batman does bad things too because we all do, that's literally what being human is. and y'all are trying to tell me that batman being evil is just... what? him getting a parking ticket? yelling at a waiter? no! good and evil balance out in the end (even sans joker/within ourselves) and if that's meant to foil all the good he does, it has to be pretty fucking awful.

and so that's also part of it—personally i think batjokes makes him a more compelling character. batman is already the only superhero i can stand because he's more morally ambiguous and less mary sue than the rest. and hey, if you like your heroes mary sue i can totally respect that bc i don't police what people enjoy in fiction. but batjokes gives us an entire realm of possibility beyond the traditional one-dimensional portrayal of good and evil. joker is a mirror because he puts batman's hypothetical goodness to the practical test. he doesn't just exist to show us what batman is not, but also what batman is.

what does it say about batman and his humanity if he loves joker and still chooses to be batman? what does it say about joker and his humanity if he is able to be the object of affection to someone who is as "good" as batman is?

personally, i really like the fics and portrayals that actually address what happened with jason or where the batfam find out. because then we get to see beyond what batman thinks about himself (which is often way too self-deprecating regardless) and can see how the world he's most aligned with sees him. then it's about how much humanity can be offered to a good person who does bad things (ha) and i've seen it go both directions. it's the answer to all the aforementioned hypothetical questions and it's so cool to see creators unpack the reality of human existence beyond the fantasy we’re provided.

batjokes takes batman out of this infallible narrative, this children's story about right and wrong, and brings it to a level we can understand by taking it somewhere we could not otherwise comprehend.

to me, that's what good fiction is. that's what make a good story.

the fact that i also get sexual gratification out of it as someone with pretty extreme kinks that are already overrepresented in canon is just icing on the cake.

[rise-above-the-grave]

[smashes down door] who is Bail and why do you like him? I could look it up but I'd rather you gush over him

OH BOY.

So first off, a quick (canon) history lesson: Bail Organa was the Senator and Viceroy (aka Prince Consort) of Alderaan. If you don't know what that means (because old titles are Weird - I'm not judging the only reason I know this is because of this very character), it means that Breha, Bail's wife, is ruling Queen of Alderaan and was the heir to the throne. She married Bail, making him a ruler by marriage, though technically she still held the crown. He, at some point, was also elected Senator of Alderaan, and was Senator leading up to and during The Clone Wars (and after, but we're getting to that).

So Bail, we come to find out, became (best) friends with Padmé Amidala. We see him in a couple of scenes in Attack of the Clones with Padmé, just kinda vibing and making the occasional commentary. We know he stood with her on the Opposition bill (the bill Padmé was nearly killed over at the beginning of AOTC, which was against the formation of a Republic military), though we don't learn much about the rest of his politics until later.

So he's kinda...there, but obvs isn't the focus of the story, and is really just a minor background character. The first real insight we get into Bail is, actually, a really tiny character moment right at the end of AOTC, when Palpatine and some of the Senators are looking down at the Clone troops loading up onto the ship, watching their new military gear up for war.

Bail looks away. While everyone else is staring down at the (slave) army, some of them smiling (like Sheev), some of them just serious, Bail looks away from them and makes this tiny little hand gesture: a simple, closed fist knocking against the banister of the balcony.

It's this, I think, that first piqued my interest in this character. He was the only one not triumphant in that situation. He was the only one who saw things for what they were: a tragedy, and a horror, and that this wasn't something to celebrate but to mourn.

Then we come to Revenge of the Sith, and boy howdy. The man may have like 10 minutes of screen time, but does he make those 10 minutes count!

A quick bullet point of the Important Things Bail Does in ROTS:

When the Jedi Temple is burning, what does Bail do? He flies to it to figure out what's going on and see if he can save anyone. He then watches as a youngling is shot and killed by Clone Troopers, and manages to escape because he's a fucking badass.

Please note, to our knowledge, Bail is the only one who actually goes to check on the Jedi Temple.

As soon as he escapes the Temple, Bail immediately - like immediately - takes his ship and goes to find any surviving Jedi. He is almost certainly the reason both Yoda and Obi-Wan don't walk into the trap that is the Jedi Temple, or are captured - and even if that's not true, he most definitely is the reason they manage to sneak safely onto Coruscant and figure out what happened.

He's the one who rescues Yoda (again) after Yoda's failed duel with Palpatine in the Senate. Which, let me rant about the SYMBOLISM of that for a second please. Because holy shit, the entire duel between Yoda and Palpatine takes place in the Senate, with the Senate building and pods. Here Palpatine proves to Yoda that yes, he is the Senate, he controls it, the new Empire is under his control and no one can stop him. But then - but then - Yoda escapes, and who saves him? Bail. Bail sneaks in with a speeder, saves Yoda, and gets him back to safety. Which is such a huge fucking metaphor for the fact that Bail will be the one who, ultimately, is responsible for Palpatine's defeat. But, more on that later.

Bail is there when Padmé (remember, his best friend) gives birth to Luke and Leia. Bail is literally one of 3 sentients in the galaxy who canonically knows about both Luke and Leia.

Bail instantly offers to adopt one of the children, saying "She will be loved with us." (And then she absolutely is.)

And he does all of that in line 10 minutes of screen time.

He shows up again briefly in Star Wars Rebels, and again in Rogue One, but I'm going to take a trip down a side alley here into a territory that is grossly unused in the SW EU: the founding of the Rebellion.

So we don't actually know much about how the Rebellion got started. What we do know is that Bail was one of the (if not the main) Founders. Bail was the mastermind behind the Rebellion, by all accounts knowing...everything about it: who was who, who did what, where they were located, etc. He knows (and controls) Fulcrum in Rebels, as just one example, and Fulcrum is considered by that text to be one of the most powerful Rebel operatives at the time. In Rogue One (regardless of whether you liked what they did with the Rebellion which, side note, I did not), we see he certainly has a position of great authority and power. People respect him, and listen to him, and he's on an even footing with Mon Mothma (or Mom Mothma as my autocorrect tried to say) who is canonically one of the most powerful people in the Rebellion, according to ROTJ.

More than what he did, though, we can look to his character as a reason I love him. He is a good, kind, honorable man who does (or at least tries) his best. We see again and again, throughout all of SW media he's in, that he consistently chooses the right path, regardless of whether or not it's the easy one. He fights corruption, fights for justice, fights for freedom, fights against tyranny.

He is also, canonically, an amazing father and (according to EU content, since Breha literally doesn't have a spoken line in any media content) an incredible husband. We know he's well-loved by his people, and by the Rebellion, by the extraneous texts and mentions about him in the wake of his death on Alderaan. He's also respected by many Senators during his time in the Clone Wars (Padmé makes a comment in a TCW episode about how he's the best and most respected speaker and Senator she knows), and regardless of how people felt about him after the Rise of the Empire (which is, unfortunately - or fortunately maybe, because I don't trust Disney to do it right - up to headcanon), the fact remains that Bail played an incredibly tricky position as an Imperial Senator, having to balance fighting for his people, the people of the galaxy, and setting up the Rebellion, with not making himself too much of a nuisance, or too much of a traitor, that Palpatine straight up had him executed.

Which, speaking of that, can we also take a moment to appreciate the fact that Bail knew almost every single secret that Palpatine and Vader wanted??? He knew where Obi-Wan was, and possibly where Yoda was. He knew where both of Anakin and Padmé's children were. He knew everything about the fledgling Rebellion. Like...that man, had he been captured and interrogated (and had he broken) would have damned the entire galaxy. Yet he never was. He played his cards perfectly, and was either never suspected, or was able to somehow hide all of the information they wanted to know from being found. Personally, I suspect a mixture of the two.

Furthermore, Bail Organa is a great father and husband. He is directly responsible for Leia being the amazing woman we know and love. The one shot we get of Breha, you can practically see and feel the love and adoration Bail has for her radiating off of him through the screen. Literally the most unproblematic ship in Star Wars. I have never seen a single person say they aren't amazing (unless they just want to break them up to make Bail gay? Which, come on, bisexual and polyamorous people exist, y'all. But that's a talk for another time).

If you're still not convinced, the only thing left that I can say is: I'm a raging lesbian and like, while I definitely wouldn't fuck him, Bail/Jimmy Smits (his actor) is handsome. Have some pictures that I have saved on my phone for when I'm feeling sad.

Tl;dr: Bail Organa is singlehandedly responsible for putting into motion the events that secure the galaxy's freedom, not only by being one of the founding fathers of the Rebellion, but also by reaching Yoda and Obi-Wan before the new Empire can, and getting them safely to Coruscant. He is a good, kind, and noble man who does his best in shitty times, and even if he has to make hard choices, he always makes them for the right reasons. He is a loving father, husband, and ruler, who does right by his people and his family. He fights for what's right, even when that fight is nearly impossible. He's a badass, and arguably a literal genius (you'd have to be, to do the kinds of things he does in canon).

Anyway, Bail Organa is great and I love him - and you should too.

[phoebehalliwell]

Your Hc on Chris/Bianca & PDA ? I go first

They never kiss, hold hand and stuff like that in public but they have zero personal space, they are always standing kinda next to eachother and move in synchronization. Also, they are always flirting and lowkey have some sexual tention going on at all times. To the point where people are like When Will The Honeymoon Phase End because this is TooMuch ?? (It doesn’t. They are just LIKE that until the end) U know, you look at them and you just know that they are together just cos of their vibes ? And how are they in private u ask ? I can’t decide between a Bianca that’s like « I don’t like cuddle Hahahah 🦔don’t touch me🦔 » but secretly love it so Chris is always the one who initiate OR a touch starved Bianca who is always kinda touching Chris. Like event without realizing it

Ok. I forgot to mention the forehead touch ! Can we say That it is canon that this is their equivalent of I Love You / kiss ?

okay like tbh i agree that like. pda is like. like they don't Kiss. like they're not that couple that dramatically make out during passing period that's not their speed. that being said. i think the way they act around each other. it's like. like. like okay i think chris and bianca were in love w each other long before they ever started officially dating before we ever even hit the first true passionate like true love's kiss shit. i think the forehead kiss was definitely like. a symbol of intimacy like before they even kissed bc they're both guarded and repressed and can't cope w how much they just like Want each other so they try to play it off as like a casual like i care about you forehead touch when it's really just like. such a i love you i love i love you iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou move. i don't think they're necessarily a hand holding couple as like. chris channels his powers predominantly through his hands and bianca is v profiencent w an athame, but i think they are like. almost always making physical contact w one another. and again that also kinda stems from their combat side it's like you Know where the other is like. again i think it's one of those things they play off as like no i don't like them this is just like. brothers in arms shit ( love you i love i love you iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou). in regards to the external view. i think u look at them and go okay so are they dating? or are they just like. in love with each other and not acknowledging it? and like. it depends on where you are in the timeline!! because yeah!!!!!

in regards to like. personal/private life i am a firm big spoon bianca advocate because like. like this relationship is really the first thing she gets that she gets to feel is truly hers and honest piece of herself reflected back in love it's not for the phoenix not for some mission anything like that it's hers because it makes her happy because she loves this relationship because she loves him. so i think she definitely has this almost territorial stance where she really does just like holding onto him. but then like. height difference. it's like. like he's got a foot on her. and she's Tiny. so i think it's like. if they're chilling on the couch its like bianca rests against the armrest sitting upright and chris is spread out like across the entire couch just leaning against her head at the collarbone type shit. <3. i also think their most annoying trait By Far is like. bianca is the type of person to sit on counters and other not sitting type pieces of furniture i think that's just the woman she is and i think like. if chris is even just walking by she just like grabs him he leans against the counter she attaches to him like a backpack her main form of transportation around their shared space is piggyback rides. but they will just like. chill there. like. bianca sitting on furniture arms wrapped around chris lips at his ear and they just talk in hushed voice and it's like. the fucking weirdest thing you've ever seen if you ever like. witness them operating in their own space. you're like damn just like make out that'd be less weird that the fucking like. weird surveillance hushed voices holding onto each other thing y'all got going. and then on the chris side. i think chris does pretend to be kinda above it all with all that like he definitely doesn't like being babied in his family and i think his family is like really big on hugs and all that. so in his head he's really not like a cuddler. but he is in fact Wrong about that. i think he really likes the feeling of security bianca brings bc i think his main issue is that his family frets over him too much they think he's a frail lil thing and bianca like. does not see him like that. and it reads in her touch. i also think as the big spoon bianca does not braid chris's hair per se but something of that ilk just like. kind of folding strands around just messing with his hair. which i think chris finds really calming i don't think he really likes people fucking with his hair because he just doesn't also he's so tall that it's never really and issue but with bianca he's like wow <3 i also think they like fall asleep in each others arms frequently i think that was a major marker in the earlier stages of their relationship was trusting the other to like. be tired around them. to fall asleep around them. i think chris is the type to like. like they're like yeah let's watch this movie/tv show and chris is like yeah i really wanna watch it and always just falls asleep on bianca's chest like twenty minutes into whatever they're watching. bianca will recap each episode over coffee the next morning.

[malachi-walker]

Catra and the Performative Nature of Villainy and Abuse Survival

(Yeah, with a title like that you can tell I earned that English lit masters. -.-)

Ok, so I have a lot of She-ra meta bouncing around my skull I need to get to one day, but let’s start with the big one post s4: the psychological and symbolic implications that are made explicit in DT’s epic call out of Catra (please note that I specified “made explicit” not revealed, because a lot of the stuff I wanna talk about was already there if you knew where to look.)

1. Catra’s villainy is inherently performative.

Yeah, pretty obvious but I’m going somewhere with this. If you pay close attention to Catra throughout the series, her words (the stuff on the surface) and her underlying actions don’t match up. Not entirely. No tsundere jokes, please, because it ultimately leads back to a very common pattern among abuse victims and some very interesting implications for Catra herself.

Basically it’s not horribly uncommon for abuse victims, especially those in domestic or child abuse situations, to end up performing on multiple levels. Level one: performing for the abuser in the hopes that this will minimize or stop the abuse. (Check.) Level two: performing for loved ones so as not to either worry them or risk them leaving if the abuse becomes obvious.

Oh, double check.

And lastly, Level Three: the act of performing as a method of keeping people on the outside away from you, either out of fear of more pain or fear of further judgment, which is a huge bulk of what we see Catra spiralling through this entire series.

Like, I myself was a child abuse victim for the first twelve years of my life (I’m fine now after about a decade of therapy) and I operated on all these different levels; alternating between placating my abuser to avoid punishment or rebelling to take back some form of control, deflecting from my other loved ones so as not to worry them, and being absolutely resistant to outside forces coming in, because at that point I had so little control over my life that I was more comfortable with embracing the hell I knew as a way to give myself some measure of control and stability than have someone save me from that situation but take that control away from me. Fucked up, but true. Which brings me into my second point:

2. Words have no inherent value for Catra except as weapons.

Which again, makes perfect sense considering her upbringing. Unlike Adora, Catra never had the luxury of buying into the Horde propaganda. She knew they hurt innocent people because she’d already been enduring torture from the time she was a small child–as other people have pointed out before. Moreover, she grew up in an environment that treated words with varying levels of consistency, where Shadow Weaver can praise Adora for doing one thing and then mercilessly put down Catra for doing the exact same thing equally.

This not only teaches someone about lying, this teaches someone that words are weapons, and Catra took that lesson and ran with it. Even when she and Adora were on good terms, she would still lightly drag her or put her down, but I don’t think it was from any inherent malice at that point. Good example: in episode one she’s perfectly content to mock Adora while she’s stuck in the pit, but immediately after she reached down and helped pull her out. “Actions speak louder than words” is an old clichè, but it’s super important to keep in mind when analyzing Catra’s character. Out of all the characters on Spop, she is the last one who can be analyzed from surface words alone, because so much of it is an act.

In fact, I can think of probably only one instance in which Catra did actually wholeheartedly believe in words…

Yeah, y'all know what I’m talking about.

And again, that makes perfect sense. Because Adora wasn’t just Catra’s best friend, she was explicitly her lifeline. Shadow Weaver’s exact words to little Catra were: “I’ve kept you around this long because Adora was fond of you. But if you ever do anything to jeopardize her future, I will dispose of you myself.” On top of that, the other cadets show clear signs of having sensed the blood in the water, so to speak: it’s an open secret to everyone but Adora that Shadow Weaver hates Catra’s guts, and therefore it stands to reason that in a cutthroat culture like the Horde’s, Catra was probably seen as easy prey until she learned to defend herself. Because it wasn’t like Shadow Weaver would do anything about it.

So Adora was the only person Catra could count on, but that also leads into the double edged aspect of words I’ve been talking about: Catra could let herself believe in their promise, but not enough to actually reveal to her what was going on. In the same way Shadow Weaver lightens up on the abuse when Adora’s around (just compare her use of lightning on Catra in Promise vs the Sword pt 2–the former is very subdued and looks almost like a simple hold, while the latter makes it very obvious this is painful torture) Catra deflects away from the subject around Adora, and the few times she does approach it “Why does she hate me so much” she tends not to get the reassurance she wants because Adora isn’t as clued in on the situation.

I mean, it’s pretty telling that Catra’s first leap off the slippery slope after being more of a nuisance than anything else up to that point came after Light Hope deliberately pushed her buttons by basically taunting her with the one thing that Catra had ever allowed herself to believe in.

I mean, her younger self looks at her as if to drive in the point of “you were a fool to believe in it!” After what we found out in S4, you cannot make me believe that wasn’t Light Hope deliberately twisting the knife to make sure they didn’t reconcile. And immediately after Catra pitches Adora off a cliff. Good times.

Ok, that was a big fucking lead in to my main point, but here we are:

3. Pretty much everything Catra says from that point onward is an act.

And it’s an obvious one, all things considered. Because that’s when Catra gets vicious. That’s when all her verbal barbs start cutting deep. That’s when combat between her and Adora goes from almost playful to outright brutal. And that’s when we start seeing Catra using her words as weapons against herself in addition to everyone else.

Because that’s the point when Catra starts feeding into her constructed persona of being this smug, confident, in-control villain who most definitely isn’t capable of being hurt like that ever again, no siree. We get to see several times across s4 in particular where her feelings clearly aren’t in line with her actions, and what does she do? She forces herself to say something cruel or hard-hearted as a way to essentially drag her actions and internal feelings back into line with that constructed person. Good example is the locker room scene with the Horde Trio: Catra very clearly wants to reach out to them and experience a little of their camaraderie, but she forces herself back into “I’m the boss” mode. And when it’s misinterpreted as her simply being a bitch, she goes into a rage because it’s one thing for her to want to reach out and deny herself that, but another for someone else to try to force their way in.

And all of this ties back into my main point, and why I think DT’s speech is particularly brilliant from a symbolic and psychological standpoint.

Actor vs Actor: Fight!

I’ve already established that Catra is somebody who is a performer and has been all her life in order to survive. That’s part of why Catra is such a tough nut to crack in terms of getting through to her: it’s hard to make accurate hits on someone who is putting on a persona. It’s damn near impossible to get a point through when you don’t have a clear idea of what you should be aiming at in the first place. So how do you beat a consummate actor?

You bring in a better performer.

Now, I do have my problems with DT’s speech: as others have pointed out, tossing Shadow Weaver and Hordak into the guilt trip is severely messed up and victim-blamey, though I do believe that has more to do with the fact that DT themself is not omniscient and therefore doesn’t have all the facts there (though given their sadistic streak, I’m also not sure they wouldn’t still cross that line even if they did know.)

But here’s what made that scene rock me to my fucking core: Catra almost pulled it off. Think about it: she has spent three seasons up until that point convincing her former friends, allies, boss and even the viewers–remember the post Portal moral panic–that she was this completely villainous monster. That she didn’t care, that she wasn’t worth saving, that everything she does is ultimately self-serving and terrible… Only for DT to see right through the disguise.

Adora couldn’t get through to Catra when she couldn’t even pinpoint the real problem. Scorpia couldn’t get through because by that point the defenses were fully up and Catra was going all in on her mask of villainy.

What finally got through? Being outclassed by a much better actor. By someone who is both a world class actor but also in touch enough with their own personality and wants that they don’t interfere with their own performance.

Because that’s the difference between DT and Catra: for Catra, acting the villain has been a matter of psychological survival up until that point. DT, meanwhile, acts for fun, work, and a certain level of sadistic pleasure. They have no moral dilemmas about what they do and thus they experience zero cognitive dissonance, whereas Catra may as well be the poster child. And it’s not too much of a stretch to think that once they figured out Catra’s deal, they probably found it quite amusing to completely demolish the act that had practically everyone else on the planet completely fooled.

That’s also part of the reason why Catra was so suicidal and lifeless after: the crutch she’d been using just to keep herself upright for four seasons just got yanked out from under her along with all chances of ever getting to double back down on that villainy again. Nowhere to go, and not even a mask to hide behind any more.

And honestly, I could keep talking on and on about just… The amazing amount of narrative complexity and precision and psychological depth that went into pulling this moment off. It’s amazing. But I’ve also spent like two and a half hours working on this post, so that’s that. If you read this far, get yourself a cookie or the snack of your choice. You earned it.

[mobius-prime]

103. Knuckles the Echidna #15

The Chaotix Caper (Part Three of Three): Picking Up the Pieces

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Manny Galan Colors: Barry Grossman

This issue kicks off with a rather disgusting series of panels showing the surgeon at the hospital from an unconscious Charmy's point of view, as he cuts into him and weird blue-purple… blood? sickness liquid? squirts out of him onto the surgeon's mask. The surgeon proceeds to go vomit, but at least before that he lets his assistants, and therefore us, know that Charmy is going to make it. Uh… thanks, I guess?

From there, we immediately jump back into Julie-Su's predicament. As she falls, she pulls out a grappling hook gun and shoots it upward, catching herself just in time to swing toward the building she was thrown from and crash through a window.

Bimmy will never believe her.

On her way out, Julie-Su runs into Remington, who has run inside to look for her. Together they rush back to Harry's cab and yell at him to "follow that car," so they can find out where Ebony and his crew are headed. Ebony's plans, as we hear him yell into the phone, are to shut down the operation and lay low until the heat has died down. Meanwhile, back in the hospital, the rest of the Chaotix are happy to hear that Charmy is okay after his surgery, but immediately find they have more pressing concerns on their plate.

How Vector managed to effortlessly tune into the police radios we may never know, but as they head out to find Julie-Su and Remington to give them a hand, the two in question sneak into Ebony's base of operations, knocking out a few guards on the way in. They get to the center of the place in time to see Ebony's supplier being a total idiot and not listening to his boss' orders, something which we know Ebony isn't afraid to kill people over. Seriously, blue-nosed red weasel dude, you're walking a fine line here.

That's… ugh. That’s just not how drug deals work, man. At least I'm gonna go ahead and assume that's not how they work. I don't have experience with this kind of thing, but dosing everyone on the island up like this just seems like a recipe for disaster. How long until people start wondering why the inhabitants of the island are all painfully addicted to some random chili dogs in a random theme park? Y'all have already accidentally killed at least one person with this scheme and now the police are on your tail. Great work, assholes. Outside the base, the Chaotix arrive to find Harry waiting on the scene like the secretly sweet and helpful guy he is. With a gun!

Inside, Julie-Su and Remington are foolish enough to not wait for any backup, and instead accidentally clang around while sneaking, causing Ebony to immediately draw a gun and demand they come out, complete with the whole "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" schtick. Remington tries to knock Ebony's bodyguard out with a blow to the head, but only succeeds in getting himself knocked aside instead. Ebony, in response, starts firing wildly into the air at nothing in particular, and Julie-Su jumps down from her hiding place with apparently no plan of action beyond that. Ebony, after a moment's surprise at her survival, prepares to shoot her directly in the head as she stands in front of him unarmed. Seriously, girl, what were you thinking?

Good thing for you that Espio is here to save your ass! With the help of the Chaotix, they're able to subdue the criminals successfully, including grabbing the random fox lady Ebony's had on his arm this entire time, who speaks for the first time with what I assume is meant to be a Boston accent and is basically the "mob boss' lady friend" stereotype. It's honestly unnecessarily stereotypical, with every criminal being a roughed-up male and the only female being the status symbol trophy girlfriend to the male leader, but whatever. We already know Kenders has a complicated relationship with feminism.

Good choice, Renfield! Although if we're being honest, Remington should have arrested him anyway, cause yeah, he definitely made the main calls that resulted in Mello's death and everyone else's poisoning.

We get one final look at what Knuckles has been up to, of course with Locke and Sabre watching his every move. He wishes out loud to go home, and immediately a golden tunnel of light forms in front of him, which he walks directly into.

It disappears with him inside in a flash of light, leaving Locke and Sabre to discuss worriedly what such a grand display of accidental power might mean, ultimately figuring that they should bring the matter before the "entire Brotherhood." But enough of that! Now that everything is mostly over on the Floating Island, the Chaotix and Julie-Su escort a healed-up Charmy back to the Goldenhive Colony, his home. He tearfully greets his parents and little sister, and then attends Mello's funeral, having brought his friend's body back home. It turns out he's planning to stay and claim his birthright after all.

The Chaotix and Julie-Su attend his belated acknowledgement ceremony, Charmy has made up with his family and accepted his role, and all is well! Next arc, we'll be back to following Knuckles, but we have more of Sonic and Tails' adventures in between then and now.

[gulescamisade]

Mega Texas:  Day 5

DIRK: -casually freaking out again.- Fuck!

DIRK: Can anyone else drive this fucking thing?

ARADIA: i might

DIRK: Might.

DISCIPLE: RRR. Is trouble machine? Or is trouble men? -She's putting together a crude crossbow out of bone and sinews...-

ARADIA: i might be able to

DIRK: This ain't fuckin' horse shoes Aradia, either you know how to drive or you don't.

DIRK: Fuck. The trouble is that I can't focus on driving while all this shit is going on.

DIRK: Am I the only one here following the bulletin board?

DIRK: I shouldn't even been reading it. Because I'm driving. -THROWS HIS SHADES IN SOME RANDOM DIRECTION. hopefully there isn't a window open.-

SOLLUX: -smacked with shades- hrrf.

SOLLUX: i'm g0ing t0 take that as my cue t0 n0t text t0 speech it 0ut f0r the entire car.

ARADIA: i know how ARADIA: it just may not be the right time

DIRK: Thanks for that, Sollux. At least one thing I can be certain of is your unyielding sardonic attitude even when it's entirely too possible that we might not see Jake again.

DIRK: You're my fucking rock, you know that?

ARADIA: -uh oh-

SOLLUX: what???

DIRK: He—

DIRK: He's locked up in Minnesota. With the others unaccounted for. By Jade who's been brainwashed or some shit.

DIRK: He tapped into the bulletin board somehow to let us know but he lost his connection.

DIRK: And I think Jade's gonna do something to him for it.

ARADIA: -softly humming. it fits the moment-

SOLLUX: ... -he's just quiet now-

ARADIA: theres still hope

ARADIA: theres always hope

DIRK: -he goes quiet too, but now there's nothing to hide his watery eyes. he hates being so soft gdi.-

ARADIA: -starts humming one way or another-

DIRK: ... -snorts. aradia please...-

ARADIA: (im gonna get ya get ya get ya get ya)

DIRK: One way or another I'm gonna see you. I'm gonna meet you... -he's distracted when he finally spots signs of life along this stretch of road. and it... sure is lively.-

[Off to the side of the road is a SHELL GAS STATION. It's the first station they've seen that isn't torn down, boarded up, or otherwise inoperable. The lettered sign is NEON PINK and the shell symbol is ALSO PINK and glittering on a rotating pole.]

DIRK: ... What the fuck?

DISCIPLE: -She lifts her crossbow and hisses.-

ARADIA: -wings flutter-

DIRK: -wipes at his eyes to make sure he isn't seeing things...-

DIRK: Huh.

DIRK: It's probably a bad idea but... Think we should make a pit stop?

ARADIA: yes

DISCIPLE: -She loads several bone shards onto the crossbow.- She makes pit.

DISCIPLE: She makes stop.

SOLLUX: what the hell is that?

DIRK: -pulls up to the parking lot and slides out.- It's a gas station.

DIRK: ... Or it should be. -he's got a SWORD.-

DISCIPLE: -BUSTS OUT OF THE CAR-

ARADIA: :D

DISCIPLE: -She is a pre industrial GENIUS do not doubt her pit stopper-

DIRK: -just fucking busts in.-

[There's a troll behind the counter. A maroon blood. He's startled because instead of a little DING to signify someone entering it's a GUN SHOT GUN SHOT CASH REGISTER noise.]

[Also this is playing over the speakers. On loop. ] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX8IjeWdxKs

DISCIPLE: Rrrr... RRR. -Shoulders her crossbow and steps up to the maroon blood, leaning over to sniff at them.- You. Is no one else here? Is just this one, yes?

GAS TROLL: ho/y-- he//o???

GAS TROLL: yeah it's just me... can I he/p you guys?

DISCIPLE: ....

DISCIPLE: He sells gas here?

ARADIA: -watching with a smile-

GAS TROLL: sure... that's what I'm supposed to do, I guess.

GAS TROLL: but I haven't had a customer in /ike a week.

GAS TROLL: it's /ike a ghost town out there, yeah?

DISCIPLE: Yes? Tell her. Tell her of ghosts. They were humans, before they went away? Or they were more trolls?

ARADIA: -rapid wing fluttering-

DIRK: -observing this, but also grabbing snacks...-

GAS TROLL: if we're ta/kin' WAY back... tro//s, humans. sure. but since the empress showed her face and took over... /ess humans for sure. now there's hard/y anybody in the area. 'cept in the city.

GAS TROLL: uh-- -realizes he's rambling and then squints at them- wait, that's a percuilar /ine of questionin'...

GAS TROLL: where are you fo/ks from?

DISCIPLE: Pit.

GAS TROLL: ... 'kay...

GAS TROLL: -eyeballs them suspiciously-

DIRK: -places goods on the counter- I was wondering. We've been traveling for a while. Why is this the only gas station up and running?

GAS TROLL: uh, cuz the empress put the rest of 'em out of business, obvious/y? she made sure she//'s the on/y gas company in operation. geez, you guys rea//y have been /ivin' in a pit... un/ess you're from off p/anet... then why the heck did you even come here? you crazy or somethin'?

DIRK: ......

DIRK: I mean, I get that. But wouldn't it make more sense to convert the other stations to Shell instead of shutting them all down?

GAS TROLL: ... -goes wall eyed-

GAS TROLL: what do I know?? I'm just a gas jockey... -ringing up this stuff now-

DISCIPLE: Hssss... -GRABS A BUNCH OF THINGS OF JERKY AND ADDS THEM TO THE SNACK PILE-

DISCIPLE: Is strange. She thinks. But she knows not of empress. She is pit troll.

DIRK: And I know even less, being a lowly pit human. -slides gas troll the money-

GAS TROLL: -takes it... eyeballs them some more and then gives dirk the change.- sure...

DISCIPLE: We have what we need, yes? Could be taking the gas. In cannisters. Extra. For fire.

ARADIA: for fire

DISCIPLE: Is many uses for fire. Having it.

DIRK: -Y'ALL-

GAS TROLL: uh... -sigh- you know what? I don't care what you do. -waves a hand- there's a pump around the side for fi//in' cannisters with.

DIRK: Oh ok. Thanks dude.

DISCIPLE: Is good.

DISCIPLE: -paws at gas troll...-

GAS TROLL: -FREAK...- okay bye now.

DIRK: -pockets all the snacks and slinks back outside-

DISCIPLE: -WHIPS OUT CROSSBOW AGAIN AS THEY LEAVE- Do we trust this gas? She does not keep the old ones. Just this. It may be different. Corrupt.

ARADIA: -looking between all of them-

DIRK: Yeah, something is definitely fishy. Excuse the pun.

DIRK: You'd think the Condesce would wanna bleed people dry of their funds by monopolizing a gas company like that.

DIRK: I noticed there's a refinery not far from the city... So logically, there should be Shells open all over the place, shouldn't there?

DIRK: I dunno. I've just got a bad feel, Scoob.

ARADIA: -flinches very suddenly like she's trying to shield herself but almost instantly regains her composure. This is the better one-

DIRK: -looks at her- ... You alright?

ARADIA: -blinks for a moment and nods suddenly- yeah!

DIRK: You sure?

ARADIA: -nods quickly- yeah! keep going

DISCIPLE: RR... Perhaps we take some for sample. Examine it closely, yes?

DISCIPLE: If it is the same as every other kind, perhaps it is a different kind of trap.

DIRK: -shrugs- Makes sense to me.

DIRK: -goes to investigate the pump. since he's none too concerned with actually filling the cars up he just kinda... lets the gas run a lil bit.-

GAS: -REGULAR GAS. but it's got glitter in it.-

DISCIPLE: -SINISTER!!!-

ARADIA: sparkly

DISCIPLE: -Shes gonna make some glitter molotovs. She is REALLY embracing the whole combat readiness right now...-

TEREZI: =add blood or eggs; it helps the fire stick=

TYRENA: -She bustles over, rudely sticking her finger in the nozzle. Then she brings it up to her lips and tastes the gasoline.-

DIRK: -he's fine with this, dissy- Seems like regular ga—

DIRK: ...

DIRK: Tyrena, no.

TYRENA: 1NTERESTING

TYRENA: -wanders off again-

DIRK: ...

DIRK: Anyway,

DIRK: We should get back on the road. We'll be in Houston soon.

DISCIPLE: Good. She has the things she needs for Houston.

DISCIPLE: -wanders to the car with all these firebombs-

DIRK: -BACK TO DRIVING. that was a nice distraction from his thoughts.-

ARADIA: -distractions are good aren't they-