#to be fair everyone but Adam was pretty justified

[tabl3]

gotta hand it to Kaz for having beef with every single biological relative of Chase at some point in my series

There's Donald who is a whole yikes. There's Adam who I don't even need to go into that spent like half a year hating him. Then Douglas and Bree in decimation (and Douglas still a lil bit). Then Daniel in aijaf

It's honestly impressive 💀

[thevibraniumveterans]

STAR WARS — The Acolyte

EP 8 — The Acolyte

MAIN THOUGHTS:

I loved this episode, because it leaves us with several more questions, in addition to the ones that have yet to be answered, and also because it results in almost a role reversal for Mae and Osha.

In Episode 5, the Stranger had said to Sol, “I’ve accepted my darkness, what have you done with yours?” Seems like in this episode, Sol has accepted his darkness and his failure.

There are a few familiar lines thrown in for good measure too.

Also, something about killing a Jedi without a weapon? Yeaaaah, about that… Somehow that’s always stuck with me, even though it’s not all that important of a line. Turns out it was pretty important this episode.

And that lightsaber scene? The one that stole this whole episode? You know the one; I thought it was by far the best on-screen visual example of a kyber crystal, and as a result the blade, responding to the owner’s emotions.

Spoilers in my thoughts in my notes below.

- We begin by hearing Osha calming her breathing, just like she did when it left off last episode. From the outside it sounds like pseudo-mechanical breathing, but not on the inside. The Stranger watches from a few feet away, but suddenly Osha gasps, as if something is choking her. She struggles to breathe. The Stranger, meanwhile, seems to worry, striding toward her with an outstretched arm. A second after his hand is inches away from the helmet, however, he experiences darkness around him, and he momentarily internally panics but tries to suppress it. What could be the source of this darkness he is experiencing?

- From the outside, we see that his eyes go dark, much like Torbin’s did last episode. Something is influencing him, but we’re not sure what. In his ‘experience’, the Stranger’s emotions flash across his face in rapid waves. We don’t know what he’s seeing. Osha, on the other hand, is still struggling for air, taking short and sharp breaths. The Stranger struggles to lift his other arm, and at last, removes the helmet from Osha’s head. She gasps for air, the feeling of drowning slowly escaping her. She shudders; what has she seen? She says she’s seen her sister, and that in her vision, Mae “had her hand outstretched” and that “she was killing Sol”. This visibly shakes Osha because she still considers Sol a good friend. After a short while, Osha says she still wants to stop Mae, but the Stranger notes that only he has the ship.

- Planetside Brendok, Mae and Sol are onboard the Jedi ship, and in orbit. Mae is still bound to the bed, and Sol says Master Vern will intercept him later. All these years later and Sol wants to prove that there is a Vergence on Brendok, but Mae still does not believe that her mother’s murder was justified. That’s a fair response; how else would one feel to talk to someone who killed their mom?

- We see, as was already obvious, two very different points of view. Sol maintains that the covens’ death was an “accident”, but Mae is adamant that in her eyes, the Jedi “invaded” her home and so she had to lock everyone in, irregardless of her setting Osha’s book on fire in the first place. While they argue, Mae uses Pip to pick the lock on her wrist binder to free herself. Sol says that the Jedi were right to intervene, but then tells Mae that she and Osha “are not twins. You’re not even sisters.”

- That’s when Mae’s restraints pop open, and she briefly shocks Sol, then bolts. Sol chases after her, but Mae makes it to an escape ship, and closes the door just as Sol reaches the ship. It’s too late for him; Mae takes the pilot’s seat, and flies off.

- TITLE CARD!!

- Sol reaches the pilot’s bay in his main ship and can only watch Mae fly off. He takes off after her. She chooses evasive maneuvers and flies straight into an orbiting asteroid ring. (Classic Star Wars moves.) No matter; he follows from above, but chooses to fly in after her, and pops up his rangefinder.

- The tracker creature pulls a few wires, sending alarms blaring. Sol’s ship veers out of balance, sending Mae’s escape ship also careening away. She manages to get her ship down to the ground, but it’s a rough landing, thankfully.

- Back on Coruscant, Vernestra meets with Rayencourt. This is internal Senate-Jedi politics, and Rayencourt doesn’t seem to like that Vernestra is keeping some things secret to the Jedi alone. Rayencourt tries to prod for answers, but Vern only reveals little. Rayencourt states point blank, “I think the Jedi are a massive system of unchecked power, posing as a religion, a delusional cult that claims to control the uncontrollable.” From an outside perspective, he’s absolutely right. It’s why Yoda, a hundred years from now, will say he failed; it’s why Luke, more than 100 years later, will say the Jedi are a failed system. It’s an easy thing to say when Jedi essentially kidnap children and train them to be soldiers under the guise of being so-called keepers of the peace. Rayencourt’s view of the Jedi is the same statement that many want to make but is also one that underpins the Prequels, so much so that it’s easy to see why they failed to stop Palpatine from rising to power. They were blinded by their own power, and could not see darkness from within their own ranks.

- Rayencourt continues, “You project an image of goodness and restraint, but it’s only a matter of time before one of you snaps.” He’s also absolutely correct in this regard; we saw what happened to Anakin, we saw what became of Ben Solo, we saw the man Luke became. They snapped, all in their own way. Rayencourt, with great if not unforeseen foresight, goes on: “And when, not “if”, that happens, who will be strong enough to stop him?” Vernestra takes all this in stoically, and shows him the door. He leaves, but not without a “May the Force be with you” valediction, but this time it sounds like an intended and well-placed insult.

- On the unknown planet, Osha and the Stranger head for his ship. He’s the curious one now, not knowing the destination. Osha, on the other hand, knows what she’s doing, and effectively holds his ship hostage by saying, “We do together or we don’t go at all.” Osha is decked in an athletic and hooded dress-like outfit; it is dark grey. The Stranger asks Osha if she ever considered being trained, but she refuses. The Stranger thinks that’s fair.

- We see the ship leave, but when the camera cuts back to the shadows of the hideout, one of the scarred witches appears from behind a wall, dark and ominous.

- On Brendok. Sol’s ship is stationed outside the fortress, much like he had done 16 years ago. He sets out alone.

- On Coruscant, Vern speaks over the comms to a person unknown to us. It sounds like this person had disguised their voice, deliberately. Vernestra is informed that Sol has been located; she wants to resolve something.

- Near Brendok, the Stranger’s ship approaches. Osha is in the pilot’s seat; why would she not be? The ship’s odd design means the Stranger is in a twin but separate cockpit. He makes a comment, but she shuts down his systems on his side to prevent him doing anything funny. She leaves on the comms to add insult to injury. She notices that Sol and/or Mae are already at the fortress.

- On the ground, Sol makes his way to the fortress, and hears, and sees, the approaching ship. He decides to ignore it for now, and encircles the fortress to find a way in. He does, and walks into the overgrown courtyard he hadn’t stepped foot in in over a decade. The place does not hold good memories; regardless, he calls for Mae, thinking that she would have made her way to her fortress home as well.

- Outside, Osha and the Stranger arrive at the fortress. She notes that the old elevator is the only way in, but then, hears the Stranger’s voice become an echo, asking her, “Are you sure?” She looks around; where has he gone? People don’t just vanish like that; not when they’re within arm’s length distance from you. As she stands there, confused, Sol makes his way through the fortress ruins. He arrives at the exact same point he had stood all those years ago when he made that fatal decision. He backs up and walks away, and just as his figure disappears from sight, Mae’s hand shoots up from beneath the floor, and she heaves herself up to the platform.

- Mae finds herself in her old bedroom, the same bedroom she had locked Osha in all those years ago to prevent her from leaving. It looks like she feels uneasy. Outside, Osha fiddles with the elevator controls, and opens the rusty doors.

- Sol makes his way through a hallway and calls Mae’s name, but is accosted by the helmeted Stranger. They face down; what is Star Wars without a good hallway saber duel? The Stranger backs Sol through a series of hallways, and they hover themselves down to the plaza. Sol says, “I will destroy you if I must”, to which the Stranger warns, “Not if she gets to you first.” The Stranger disconnects his saber, choosing to now duel with two blades, a longer one and a shorter one.

- Sol leaps at the Stranger, kicking him backwards, but this doesn’t faze him. The Stranger throws both his lit sabers, hoping to backstab Sol, but Sol sees this coming, and holsters his own sabers, and uses the Force to throw the red sabers off, and the Stranger to the ground. Sol reignites his saber. The Stranger is undaunted.

- Osha, clad in dark grey, finds her sister Mae, in light grey, in their old room. Osha still feels grief and anger over the past, but Mae holds a different view of how things unfolded. Mae tells Osha that Sol has killed Mother Aniseya, and affirms Osha’s negative emotions that Sol could never hope to quell. Mae continues, saying, “You never failed; he did.” With that, the sisters come to blows, engaging in physical unarmed combat. Their movements mirror each other. They both kick high, legs clashing.

- The camera cuts right away to the clashed blades of Sol and the Stranger in the courtyard, their battle evidently not over. The Jedi’s ship arrives.

- In their bedroom, Osha and Mae keep duking it out. Mysteriously, Mae disappears, and Osha looks around the empty room.

- In the courtyard, the battle rages on. In a stunning move, Sol swipes his blade and slices the Stranger’s lightsaber hilt open. The Stranger discards his saber, removes his helmet, and turns to face Sol, whose saber is out and pointing to his neck.

- Mae appears in the courtyard, and hits Sol. In a swift movement, Mae grabs Sol’s lightsaber. The Stranger says, “Strike him down and your journey will be complete.” Mae, however, tosses Sol’s saber aside. Mae refuses, wanting instead for Sol to “confess what he did. I want him to face the High Council. The Senate. The Republic. I want him to pay for his crimes.” Sol still maintains that he “did the right thing”, but how was killing Mother Aniseya the right thing? Nothing can explain that away. He claims that he was trying to protect Osha and Mae from their mother, who might’ve in some way used the Force to create life. Sol says, “In the history of the galaxy, very few have been that powerful.” While he talks and is distracted, the Stranger picks up Sol’s saber. In Mae’s eyes, it still does not justify her mother’s death. Sol is hesitant, but finally admits that yes, he did kill Mother Aniseya. (On a separate note, one of the Stranger’s past last lessons to Mae was to kill a Jedi without a weapon; here and now Mae is weaponless, and had forced Sol, a supposedly respectable Jedi, to distill the Jedi’s order and idea of “protection” down to chaos and “murder” in the name of safety, and in a way, killed the idea of a Jedi, thereby fulfilling the Stranger’s last task.)

- Mae looks up, and sees Osha coming through the doorway. Osha had heard all she needs to hear, but shakily asks Sol, “Is that true?” Sol deflects by telling her he did what he thought was right, that he wanted to tell her the truth “so many times, but I couldn’t”. Osha is in denial; in her hand, she holds Sol’s saber. Turns out, the Stranger had handed it to her.

- Osha does not take this lightly; she Force-chokes Sol, and Mae looks on in concern. The crystal in the saber in Osha’s hand slowly bleeds red, and she closes her fist, killing Sol. He drops to the ground, and Osha sobs, realizing what she has done. Mae is also concerned; Osha had done what Mae could not. The Stranger slowly approaches Osha, who lashes out at him, saber ignited; we see the red from the crystal bleeding into the ignited blade, and within seconds, the blade turns an angry crimson from hilt to tip. Osha inspects the saber, fascinated.

- Elsewhere, Vern’s ship had arrived. With her are a small contingent of Knights. She reaches out, and realizes the Stranger is alive. He notices the Force shift, and puts his helmet on.

- Back in the fortress, Mae cautiously approaches Osha, saying, “We need to leave.” Surprisingly, Osha switches off the saber, and follows her sister. They run through the hallways, and escape down the internal cliff that Mae had earlier climbed up from. They reach a tunnel, and walk through it.

- In the courtyard, Vernestra and the Jedi find Sol’s lifeless body. Vern sends the Jedi to search the premises; the Stranger looks on from behind a hidden pillar as Vern approaches Sol’s body.

- Mae and Osha continue running. Elsewhere not too far away, the Jedi start tracking the sisters, who have arrived at the tree they used to come to as kids.

- Mae tells Osha that this is where she sat and waited; Osha apologizes to Mae, saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” Mae returns an apology: “I’m sorry I started that fire.” Osha starts crying, and tears appear in Mae’s eyes too. They repeat the same little chant they did as kids.

- The Stranger appears, and takes Sol’s now-red saber. Mae asks her sister, “What do you want, Osha?” What does Osha want to do? Osha tells the Stranger that she will train with him, only if he lets Mae go. Mae warns that the Jedi are using her scent to track the both of them, and the Stranger offers to wipe Mae’s memory in favor of letting Osha do what she wants. Mae willingly agrees, not wanting to risk her sister’s safety. This is not something she is forced to do, she is doing this of her own free will and out of love for her own sister. Osha doesn’t want to lose Mae, not again. Mae assures, “You’re not. You are going to do what you were meant to do. But I won’t stop you this time.” Osha makes a deal with the Stranger, but gives one last farewell hug to Mae. Osha promises to find Mae, who says, “I know you will.” They start their little poem again, and Mae discreetly nods at the Stranger, who proceeds to, with her consent, wipe her memory. Mae can’t even finish her line. By the time the Jedi arrive, only Mae is left standing under the tree, Osha and the Stranger long gone.

- Back on Coruscant, an arrested Mae gets shepherded through the Temple’s halls. At this point, as agreed, she has no memory of her sister and the Stranger. Mae is walked into a room, and sees Vernestra, who orders that Mae’s restraints be removed.

- Vern asks Mae if she knows why she’s here; to Mae she does not know anything, other than being told she’s murdered someone but has no collection of the event. She recounts fragmented memories, about a fire, a man killing her mother, and herself running off.

- Vernestra fills in the gaps for her, telling Mae her last memory is of when she’s 8. Vern affirms that Sol killed Mother Aniseya. Later, she tells the Senate what happened all those years ago. She tells them the truth, though a warped version of it. In this version, she names Sol as the rogue Jedi who “killed his accomplices to maintain the cover story.” When asked where Sol was, Vern says, “I believe he ended his own life.” Which, from a certain point of view, is true, considering he allowed Osha to kill him, accepting his failure and his guilt. Vern tells Mae, “Sol made a mistake. A mistake he lived with for so long it twisted his mind.” (Would Vern be telling a warped version of the story to protect Mae and Osha?) “He justified every selfish step with the live he had for your sister.” Mae does not remember the name Osha.

- Vern continues, “You poor girl. The Jedi have failed you. I am going to make this right. But I need your help.” Mae asks what with, and is informed, “A pupil of mine before he turned to evil.” (Which is more or less the same words Obi-Wan would utter to Luke in ANH.) Mae agrees.

- On the Stranger’s planet, Osha stands, looking out at the waves before her. The Stranger approaches, and lightly takes Osha’s hand, which is holding the saber. Sunset; Master and Apprentice look out at the waves beyond.

- Back on Coruscant, Vern walks into a room, and addresses her Master, who is none other than Yoda.

- The scene closes out. The credits roll.

[random-headcanons-and-thoughts]

I watched Hazbin Hotel and i'm lost here.

The story in itself isn't so Bad in general but Charlie is kind of annoying and a bit selfish in a certain way.

I get her desire to redeem her people to avoid extermination day but at the same time people are in hell for a reason like cherry bomb is a toxic friend to Angel and a Bad influence, almost everyone the fandom convinced themselves alastor isn't a Bad selfish person and genuinly wants to help Charlie when he is here for his personal gain. Stop thinking he sees Charlie as a daughter he doesn't he was clear about his intentions.

Angel isn't a good person either he isn't the worst but he is in hell for a reason he was in the mafia he obviously did tons of shit in his life. His trauma can't be used to justify his behavior either.

And even if we're ignore all this like sir pentious getting redeemed it's not really okay either he did ONE good things and ended up in heaven.

The biggest problem is how unfair it is for the winners in heaven. Imagine you got killed ans went to heaven because you were good and your killer goes to hell but he shows up in heaven because "he's so sorry and redeemed himself" Yep fair enough good sir welcome to heaven am i right ? And i didn't really like Emily either she was acting way too kind and friendly as weird as it sounds. I understand her anger about the extermination and the fact sera hid it from her but still they're in hell for a reason and extermination wasn't planned for sick entertainement ar the begining of it until Adam made it a goddamn entertainement game. Emily acted as if people in hell weren't horrible people maybe not all of them are THAT awful but most are killers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, zoophiles or human traffickants, mafia members drug dealers or something.

I get the point of the serie is to show heaven's rules aren't truly black and white since Adam remained on heaven until his defeat and it was insinuated that once in heaven "angels Can Do whatever and remain in the Sky" and sounds selfish and not logical, but shit like Charlie didn't think anything through at no point, she brought drawings to a meeting with Adam and started singing instead of being serious i know Adam didn't take it seriously either but he isn't the one presenting a huge project that could raise many questions and worries so Charlie didn't prepare anything to prove it wouldn't cause problems. At No point did she think about what heaven citizens would think of it or how they'd react. She just came and spilled all her projects without thinking about what heaven would think.

Like you can't redeem everyone in hell like it's okay they messed up big times in their lives before dying. If i was in heaven After being killed or abused and my killer or abuser just came in heaven with a Big smile like "i was redeemed i'm sorry for hurting you" i'd be pissed like you ruined my life but i gotta face you for all eternity ? Great thanks love this.

And Charlie is the princess of hell but is disrepected and mocked like girl ? You're the princess use your powers ? Authority ? I know she thinks it's mean but she's in hell like people ARE mean and bad people ? I don't know it's frustrating. She has to be like one of the strongest beings in heaven and hell but she holds back because she doesn't want to hurt anyone ? Girl sinners can't die unless you use angelic weapons. Even against Adam she held back, for proof her father had to help and only when he was attacked she actually used more power and managed to hit Adam. And i don't think that the life or death adrenaline was what gave her this power she's the princess of hell she can't be that weak compared to Adam. I'm pretty sure she's just hella strong but never uses her powers to appear nicer and less threatening.

I don't know maybe Season 2 will do better.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I mean yeah it all comes back to her being a reylo, the way people still talk about them shocks me. Idk if i've ever seen shippers from such a mainstream popular ship get treated this way when honestly....reylo isn't even that problematic. I would argue something like darklina is more problematic and those shippers don't get 1/3 of the shit reylos get. Hell I could name you other more problematic ships where the shippers don't get nearly as much hate as reylos.

Well, to be very fair a lot of reylos said a lot of out of pocket, racist (and specifically antiblack) shit about John Boyega and Finn. I don't want to downplay the shit John Boyega went through making those movies.

And in turn, a lot of finnreys said some really fucked up, racist (specifically anti-Asian) shit about Kelly Marie Tran and Rose... and I do think that gets downplayed a LOT. Like, if we're going to talk about racist fandom antics in SW, and there are a lot of them, then let's talk about all of it. Obviously, all of this goes beyond shipping, but the interesting phenomenon that did happen with the reylo stuff is that because they didn't want Rey with Finn, many of them did support Finnrose (and by the way, lol--I'm not into Finnrey because in general I don't like Rey outside of TLJ and I frankly though Finn deserved better on every level, and I wouldn't consider myself a Reylo, but I AM into Finnrose, and to a lesser extent Finnpoe). For some, I do think that was a "get Finn out of Rey's path" thing, for sure--but also, setting Finn up with a cool pretty girl to get him away from Rey is... not the worst thing lol. And I would also say that many did seem to genuinely like that ship, and a lot of the reylo fic authors I saw back in the day used to write some good Finnrose shit.

(Also: Roselo? Let's get into it. I would kill for Rian to cast Adam and Kelly in a Benoit Blanc movie, the chances that Adam would do it are MIDDLING but still.)

I think the main reason why the reylo thing got much bigger, tbh, is that it's Star Wars. Darklina is in theory more problematic (though to me it's very much a draw because while I personally do not find Kylo Ren as like, threatening as the Darkling, he's still a prominent cog in a dictatorial fascist-aligned regime and he did kill a lot of innocent people, so, you know, fair) but S&B is NOTHING compared to SW. I think in general shippers are loathed by a lot of old school SW die-hards because Shipping = Kissing and Kissing is Gross, and Bad People Bad, except for Vader because Vader Cool. They make exceptions for Han and Leia because they still jerk it to Leia to this day and it's a part of the old lore, and a lot of them just want to be Han Solo in a way I don't think a lot of them wanted to be Kylo Ren.

And then you combine that with the morality police who really just like. Didn't like reylo for whatever reason, but decided to take on the idea that it's HORRRRRIIIIIBLEEEE to ship a bad guy with someone (when like--I personally cannot STAND Anidala, but you would have no SW if a bad guy hadn't fucked someone back in the day... tepidly, I imagine, but it happened). The idea of using moral righteousness to justify your ship has always been a thing, right? (If we're keeping it real here: while I do think that a lot of reylo antis were genuinely concerned about racism with that ship, I also think that many of the white antis.... were only concerned with racism when it suited them. I mean, where were they when Kelly was getting death threats? Care about it for everyone, you know?) But I think it became a much bigger thing when it was reylo.

Then in turn, the reylos reacted by becoming more cultlike, because that's what happens when you vilify people for wanting to ship something. And they became wackier, and the lore became more kNOWN. Like, again--I don't personally ship reylo. I find the dynamic compelling in TLJ; I think Adam and Daisy have great chemistry in that movie; I think that he and Rian pulled her best work in the trilogy out of her; and I think that that movie is the only one where Rey feels like an actual human being, versus a girlboss cypher. She's human, she idolizes Luke and then realizes he's only human, she experiences disappointment, she experiences DOUBT about morality, she is, I believe, genuinely pretty horny for Kylo Ren in that movie (imo, Rey probably has like, zero sexual experience lol, but I also doubt that he has much either), and the idea of her wanting to be SOMETHING only to find out she's NOT THAT is really interesting. I find the idea of her being tempted to become his Dark Empress or whatever, and the idea of him being both an incredibly weird, dark, amoral person who's all about assuaging his own Feelings because mommy and daddy didn't love him the way he wanted them to... and someone who else wants this girl to bounce on it as his Dark Empress.... really interests me.

I didn't want to see them have babies. I didn't want to see them be happily ever after. I wanted to see her kill him while kissing him or something. Which I don't think was what a lot of reylos wanted, right? So it kind of made that ship inaccessible to me, and I imagine a lot of people who might've otherwise been into it. And I think things like "grey force babies" or whatever naturally made it seem more ridic, which of course happens with any ship (BOATBABY.......) but the size of the fandom and the ship made it seem bigger.

But because that ship was so archetypal (big bad man, girl onto which you could project whatever you wanted because she has like zero personality in 2/3 movies) it was easier for allll of these fic writers to do whatever they wanted with the dynamic, to pass the fic around, to do weird shit with it. And I think that tends to happen with bad/good ships. The fic writers have something very iconic to cling to, and they can do more with it, and therefore the fic is better, and that makes the ship bigger. The ship evolves into the fanon version, and then everyone who hates it hates it more because that ship is getting what they want. It reminds me of Darklina, Dramione (and for the record Dramione is something like... Go with God, but I do nOT. GET. THE DRAMIONE RENAISSANCE LOL.), Haladriel. Because reylo was again, so big though, there were more writers and more types of fic and it just got More More More.

So yeah, I think it's all kind of a snake eating its own tail thing. And now everyone who hated reylo anyway hates it even more because of all these reylo authors getting book deals, and often having solid success (or better). You can make a lot of critiques about why that's happening with a white ship versus a ship featuring poc, but that's beyond reylo and gets into fandom racism and racism in publishing AT LARGE. It's a bigger thing than just "the reylos did this".

But yeah, I personally don't really find Reylo all that shocking or perverse a ship. I've shipped worse lol. I just think there are a lot of really complicated things that have less to do with the SHIP than the shipping culture. Some of those things are super valid. However, I also think that this narrative occurred wherein it was like "the only toxic ones are the reylos" and... Yeah dude, there were plenty of toxic reylos. However... The Kelly Marie Tran of it all is where I really start getting bugged, because what happened to her and her character was one of the grossest things that happened in that franchise, and LET US BE REAL, the driving force behind that was not the reylos. (Nor do I want to imply that it was all finnreys--a lot of the SW fandom in general is super fucked re: basically any people of color in prominent roles.)

[stellocchia]

There is one thing I sometimes mention in my rants about c!Dream’s and c!Tommy’s relationship that I never expanded on, which is c!Dream assiging c!Tommy an almost divine value, well, that changes now! 

Turns out I just cannot write short and concise analysis it seems, so I put everything under the cut...

/rp

I’ve talked a few times before about how Dream in his mind gives Tommy added value (again, Tommy has value as a human being already, but Dream most definitely doesn’t see that), but I want to go a bit more in depth about it. 

So, we know by now that Dream has been obsessing over Tommy for quite a while now, though it really worsened with the beginning of season 2. 

It is important to note that, at that point, Tommy himself was back on the idea of there being a friendly rivalry between him and Dream for the disk that was still in Skeppy’s possession, nothing more then that. He most definitely didn’t hate Dream yet (although their relationship has always been complicated) and he shouldn’t have posed much of a threat to Dream, right?

We also all seem to recognise that Dream would not have let up until Tommy was exiled, but I haven’t seen many people discuss the WHY of it. Why was it so important to him? Did he just do it because he hated Tommy? Did he do it because he was bored and wanted chaos? 

Well, I think it’s because Tommy DID pose a threat to Dream. He WAS a threat to Dream because Dream had seen him during Pogtopia. He had seen him rally the troops, he had seen him keep people’s morale high even after Wilbur detonated the tnt and Techno released the withers, he knew what Tommy could do if Dream threatened L’Manburg while he was there, even while not being president (I mean, he still managed to lead a revolution against Schlatt even while never being the official leader). And Dream wanted to get rid of L’Manburg because of what it represented, because L’Manburg represented freedom from him, freedom from his rules. L’Manburg was a HUGE problem, so he needed to take out what kept L’Manburg together and that was Tommy.

But that’s not the only thing. If Dream only wanted Tommy out of the way, he could have just let him unalive himself or he could have killed him himself and pretended it was an accident. Heck, he could even have pushed for an execution in the first place instead of the exile! But he didn’t... and later on, during the Season 2 Finale, he outright refused to kill Tommy even in self defence. So for Tommy to have so much importance that Dream needed to keep a constant eye on him in exile and keep him alive, Dream’s mentality of Tommy being sort of the “key” to power must have already been in place when he formulated the exile plan (perhaps it was there from before then, but we can’t know this for certain). 

I mean, he also ordered a whole prison that could have been meant to hold Tommy from the start (it has been confirmed by Sam out of character that it was made with c!Tommy in mind and the only indication that it wasn’t comes from c!Dream in a converstaion with c!Tommy, which we really shouldn’t trust at all) and a curious thing to notice on that, if that was the case, is that the prison itself is called “Pandora’s Vault”, why calling it “vault”? A vault is something that’s supposed to hold valuable items. It’s supposedly a secure location where you hide away your most precious things. Why calling a prison that? Anyway... that was just an interesting tid-bit I’ve been thinking about. 

Back on the main tangent now! 

So, what does Dream think of Tommy exactly? 

“Listen Tommy, since you joined the server, you’ve been a headache! Okay? You’ve brought war, you brought terrorism, you’ve brought bad everything! But! But! The cause of all the wars, of everything, was attachment, alright? Your attachment to the disks, your attachment to Henry, to pets, to friends, to land, to countries, to items, right? (...) That’s- That’s the one good thing that you’ve done. The one good thing you’ve done is that you brought attachment to the server. So it took me a LONG time to realize how important attachment was, but, when I did, you know? It made me stronger, and I realised that you- you’re- you’re important, right?”

This is a quote directly taken from the season finale. I know it’s a long one, but it’s seriously important. Because Dream, with this quote, just asserted that Tommy is the reason attachments exist at all, even if that isn’t true of course (the whole disk war was kickstarted by Ponk getting mad when Sapnap retaliated to his prank by burning down Ponk’s lemon tree because he was attached to it), but to Dream it is. 

Tommy, a normal human teenager with no “main character powers” (you know, like being a life and death god, or silk-touch hands, or having the brains to create nukes or being able to bring yourself back to life out of spite, basically he has nothing normally considered “special”) is deemed the reason why people are able to care at all. THAT is the added value I’m talking about. Dream doesn’t see Tommy as Tommy, he never did, he sees him as his own idealized version of him. And in Dream’s mind Tommy has so much importnace that, without him, attachments would just stop existing. “How do we know that” you ask? Well, why else would Dream have been so adamant about needing Tommy ALIVE? He already did his thing if bringing attachments was all the value Dream assigned to him. Now attachments exist, surely Dream can get rid of Tommy, right? Well, no. Because, as I said, to Dream Tommy is the embodiment of attachments. 

I mean, he admitted so in that quote, didn’t he? He starts by telling Tommy that HE is the cause of everything: of war, of terrorism, of everything. But then, then he says that those same things are caused by attachments. How can we have both be true at the same time? Easy, make Tommy the concept of attachment personified!

“If I can control the things people are attached to, then I can control the server again!”

All we said before kinda puts this more in perspective. THAT’S why Dream is in constant need of controlling Tommy. If Tommy is the embodiment of attachment in Dream’s mind, then he is the embodiment of control and power as well. Because, if controlling a singular attachment gives you control over one singular person, then controlling the embodiment of everyone’s attachments gives you control over the server right? 

“Look, it’s not fair! But Tommy listen: I need you, okay? I need you to keep bringing attachemnt to the server, because without you people weren’t really attached to things, but then you came and you brought ‘friendship’ and ‘countries’ and ‘things’ people can be attached to, right? And you brought that! And you’re- you’re the KEY, right? You’re the key to unlock the full potential of the server and power and everything”

Can’t get much more obvious then this... Dream literally described Tommy as “the key to everything”, that’s A LOT of extra value put on a random 16 yo. It would be a lot of value for ANYONE to have. In case it wasn’t clear, what Dream is saying is that controlling Tommy basically makes you a God. And, if it wasn’t clear enough yet, let me grab a quote from Tommy’s 3rd canon death stream:

“Tommy your life is literally IN MY HANDS, does that piss you off? Does that make you mad? Does it make you soo mad that I- you can’t kill me... I MIGHT AS WELL BE A GOD TOMMY! You can’t kill me and I can kill you!”

So, here’s the thing: killing Tommy is not that hard. A LOT of people on the server are stronger then him, even with the same equipment. At the same time killing Dream IS very hard. He’s literally one of the 2 best pvp-ers on the server. So why would this situation make Dream a “God”? Well, that’s because, based on his own philosophy, having Control over Tommy is what makes someone a God (it’s what gives you power over everything after all) and he here is fully in control. Not only because phisycally he is the stronger one, but also because Tommy admitted himself that he can’t kill Dream (Dream may wrongly assume that that’s because Tommy still has some attachment to him, which gives him another layer of control, truth is he’s just not much for killing people, the kid got too much empathy), which means he’s in control of Tommy’s mind and emotions as well to a certain degree. 

And here’s the thing: wouldn’t Tommy need to be somewhat godly himself to be the ONE THING that can grant people the ability to become a God? Dream, by now, has elevated Tommy to a point where Tommy himself might as well be God. That’s why Dream was so eager to become immortals together, to study the powers that make Dream now think even more that he is a God, together, because, in his mind, they’re already on the same level, albeit in a very skewed way (and I say a “skewed way” because Dream still doesn’t see Tommy as a person, he still sees him as a tool, only he is a tool that grants people godlyhood apparently). 

My theory on why c!Dream has this kind of perception of c!Tommy is because Tommy is his only remaining attachment. Dream got rid of all his attachments in order to gain absolute power, so he has to somehow justify to himself why this one particular attachment still doesn’t make him weak. Why still hanging onto Tommy (albeit in the most scewed up way possible) actually makes him stronger. He needs Tommy to be something more then a random 16 yo he once picked a fight with.

@ladycatland pretty sure you’d be interested

[itsclydebitches]

Hey there! Admittedly I'm a little bit nervous since this is my first ask, but I'll try to not be too rambly.

So, recently the main subreddit, r/RWBY, made a ban on active users of the r/RWBYcritics subreddit. As a result there's been discussion around bad-faith criticism in the latter subreddit. What are your takes on bad-faith criticism?

For me personally, I think a bunch of people are misusing the term "bad-faith" and using it as a way to shut down criticism, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Hey there, everyone! We woke up to some drama this morning, huh? And hello to you too, Tortoise! I'm so glad you decided to send in an ask, even if it's following some pretty tumultuous events...

Right, I'd like to start with a story. The story of how I personally don't spend time on Reddit, but I have plenty of friends who will occasionally cross-post something for me to see. Yesterday (or the day before? Idk time is meaningless) a friend told me about a post — which, significantly, I'm now having trouble finding — that covers RWBY's inconsistent writing and the fandom's tendency to try and explain away those missteps. They'd thought I'd be interested because I'd just had a conversation here on tumblr where I made that exact point to someone who, also significantly, vehemently disagreed with me, but in a very civil fashion. Given everything going on, I feel like this side point needs emphasis: we debated, we did so in a sometimes heated, but nevertheless respectful manner, it was clear neither of us was going to sway the other, and the conversation ended. The two "sides" of the community interacted without Armageddon coming about.

But back to the purpose of this tale. I went to take a look at this point and found that it no longer exists. There's just some vague message about it not obeying the subreddit's rules. "What happened?" I asked. "Why'd they take the post down?" "People were getting too heated in the comments," my friend replies. So, given that the comments were still visible, I proceeded to read through them, expecting personal attacks, slurs, harassment, etc. Any number of things that would justify deleting the post itself to put an end to such behavior. Instead, I found a thread of people having a conversation. Was the conversation heated at times? Sure. Did one or two individual posters edge into the realm of petulant, "No. You're wrong and stupid" responses? Yes. Was any of this remotely what I was expecting given the post's removal? NOPE.

"This isn't allowed?" I said. "Well then what is? People were being civil! Or at least as civil as hundreds of strangers ever get when discussing a series they're passionate about online."

Then, this morning, I hear that the entire critic subreddit has been banned.

So to answer your question, Tortoise, I don't actually think that "good faith" criticism exists. Meaning, it's not just that fans are misusing the term "bad faith criticism," but rather that there is no unified, agreed up method of writing criticism that will meet their standards. It's not possible and we know it's not possible because fans have been trying to meet those elusive standards for years:

A fan posts nothing but praise for RWBY until changes make them criticize the show as it is now. Their entire body of work is dismissed as the product of a "hater," despite the overwhelming gap between positive and negative reviews.

A fan posts a review that's a pretty balanced mix between praise and criticism. They're dismissed because it's still too much criticism.

A fan posts a review that's 99% praise with 1% criticism. That's still too much, with fans focusing on the single problem they had with the work and using it as an excuse to dismiss the entire review out of hand.

(As an aside, the argument that critics are "obsessed" with only saying negative things and that the only problem here is that they're "too" negative ignores the argument that... RWBY has a lot of flaws nowadays. Few are willing to acknowledge the possibility that it's not fans insisting on making things up to be mad about/ignoring the good parts of the show, it's the that show is, as of now, legitimately more of a mess than it is a praise-worthy product. If I'd been writing recaps in the Volumes 1-4 days, my work would have been skewed far more towards the positive. The critics' stance is that RWBY has gotten worse, which yes, results a higher volume of critical posts. To say nothing of how criticism takes far longer to explain, likewise resulting in posts focused primarily on that side of the divide. I really enjoyed the image of a crying Jaune reflected in his sword. I did not enjoy that moment's context. Saying that you liked an animation choice is a one sentence thing. Explaining the complexities of Jaune securing emotional moments, the problems with Penny's second death, the hurt many fans experienced watching an assisted suicide, etc. takes a whooole lot longer. Hence, you get massive, multiple posts about these nuanced topics and fewer, smaller posts about the details that are working well.)

A fan talks about a topic that has been metaphorically banned by the fandom as a whole. They have something good to say about Ironwood. They dislike something about Blake/Yang. They enjoyed Adam as a character. They have a problem with Ruby's leadership, etc. There's a whole list of topics nowadays that will result in an automatic dismissal, regardless of the point the fan is trying to make or how well they make it.

A fan talks about the minority representation of RWBY — its black characters, its queer characters, its disabled characters, etc. — and as a result has something to say about the biases and missteps of those writing these characters. This is considered an attack on the writers and, therefore, automatically bad.

A fan talks about how they enjoyed RWBY as it was years ago and is having trouble reconciling the dark, complicated story with the simple, hopeful one we started out with. This is seen as an attack on Monty's vision and an unwillingness to accept that "everything is planned."

A fan does as asked and ensures that their post is meeting all the requirements of "real" criticism. They have an argument to make. They have a point. They provide evidence. They recommend a solution. They keep their tone respectful. They don't attack the creators. They provide disclaimers in every single paragraph about how they do not hate RWBY. It doesn't matter. They're considered too negative.

I have, quite literally, seen every one of the above examples on multiple occasions. I have had many of the above accusations leveled at my own work. When fans say that they're fine with criticism provided it's not "bad faith" criticism, they don't actually have a specific post-type in mind; a checklist of behaviors another fan can emulate and, provided they do that, no hate will come their way. Or, if an individual fan does actually go, "Yeah. That criticism I'm fine with" that response is in no way universal. One person's "They make a good, civil point" is another person's, "Omg stop bashing the show!" Because "bashing" has come to mean everything from curse-laden insults towards everything RWBY has ever done, to posts that just happen to say something other fans don't agree with.

It's a rigged game. There is no way to post criticism about RWBY in an agreed-upon, appropriate manner. This recent ban is proof of that. I think it's incredibly telling that almost immediately after I was going, "Wow. A pretty calm debate about the flaws of RWBY in the main sub. That's great to see," all posters from the criticism subreddit were banned. The main sub literally just had the sort of criticism that they claim to accept — people respectfully posting analysis-based arguments resulting in calm debate — and yet they implemented the ban anyway. I'm not going to pretend that I've never gotten too heated on my own posts, never made snarky comments when I'm frustrated, never used exaggerated reaction GIFs that can come across as insulting... but I'd say on the whole my RWBY work is precisely the sort of "good faith" criticism that other fans are supposedly looking for. I never make an argument I don't think I can back up with evidence. I try to allow for the nuance and differing opinions of complicated topics. I try — even if I don't always succeed — to write in a clear, respectful manner. Yet none of that work has stopped people from telling me I'm a "bitter... raging asshole," a "deranged, delusional psychopath," telling me to set myself on fire, threatening to smash my head in, or just messages to straight up kill myself. If someone like me who legitimately works hard to create fair, defendable criticism and who only ever posts on a personal blog that people can easily block, who never engages in debate until someone else starts it first, never seeks out other fans I disagree with to harass them about what they like... if someone like me is still a "bad faith" critic who "deserves" that kind of hate mail... then what kind of criticism do people want?

Nothing. That's the answer. No criticism whatsoever, of any kind, no matter if it's delivered respectfully, is making a good point, whatever. That's why "RWDE" was created. That's why the critic subreddit was created. The community at large has demanded a complete separation between Praise and Anything That's Not 100% Praise, which has now resulted in this ban. Any other explanations we see are excuses, which becomes glaringly obvious when you look at the mods' supposed reasons for implementing the ban:

"Constant arguments with r/RWBY users" - As opposed to the arguments surrounding things like shipping that never, ever happen?

"Vote manipulation and comment brigades" - The subreddit with 3,000 participants, with around 200 on at a time, is manipulating the votes of a subreddit with 155,000 participants, with over 1,000 on at a time? Those numbers just do not check out. If a positive post is downvoted, or a critical post upvoted, maybe that's because large swaths of the community actually agree/disagree with that assessment, not because the incredibly smaller group is somehow manipulating things.

"Attacking and harassing those they disagree with" — Again, as opposed to those non-critics that never, ever harass people? This is an individual problem, not a community problem. Both critics and non-critics have their sub-groups acting in ways they shouldn't. If anything, the main sub will have more individuals harassing other fans, simply by virtue of being so much larger. As the above examples attest, it's not other critics who have told me to light myself on fire and, just to be clear, the asks I've responded to are a miniscule number compared to the amount I've received. I delete the lion's share for my own sanity and to save my followers from reading the really graphic threats.

"Months-long NSFL spam brigades" — I am, admittedly, not sure what this is referring to. Spamming of NSFW content? If so, that's also an individual problem.

"Homophobic, transphobic, and racist attacks towards our users" — See the above points. Again. If someone is being homophobic, transphobic, or racist, then yes please, ban them. Don't ban an entire community for the actions of a few. It's like walking into a store and banning a customer for causing a scene... but then also banning everyone else who happened to be shopping at the same time. It's guilt by association.

The silver lining to all this? The community as a whole isn't pleased. At least according to the main subreddit comments and a few individual voices like MurderofBirds. Despite the increase (from my perspective anyway) of critical voices post-Volume 8, criticism of RWBY is still very much seen as taboo. As this ban showcases. But it's really reassuring to see so many fans, critics and non-critics alike, going, "This was a mistake." A community is meant to include all aspects of engagement: praise, criticism, and the gray area between. If anything, fans like the mods of the main subreddit should be creating a separate subreddit that is specifically for praise. In the same way that there should have been a tag for RWBY praise, rather than trying to eliminate any and all criticism from the main "RWBY" tag. The majority of fans, even those who claim to hate critics and all they (presumably) stand for, recognize that a blanket ban of all criticism is not the way to go, especially when "criticism" has come to have such a staggeringly broad definition. If you want your RWBY experience to be nothing but sunshine and roses (ha), then cultivate your own internet experience to reflect that. Create your own pockets with rules about how this is the space for praise and if you're not up for praising RWBY right now, don't interact with us in this particular space. Don't try to make the entire community — the main tools used to discuss the show online — conform to your preferences. As established, there is no "good" criticism that everyone in the fandom will accept, which just leaves a fandom with no criticism at all. I'm glad to see I'm far from the only one who, when presented with that extreme, is going, "Nope. No thank you."

[slytherinsnekxvii]

let's talk about lily evans. she's an interesting character—or rather, the case surrounding her character is quite interesting.

i honestly don't know if i can say i dislike her. by all means, she should be a fan favourite, and she is... but for some rather intriguing reasons.

for one thing, due to the fact she's hardly expanded on in the series, certain parts of the fandom have been forced to either take the few qualities that she displays canonically and amplify them to the extreme (eg. immediate righteous anger at the slightest hint of injustice in fic) or create an entirely new personality (eg. no, i didn't actually disapprove of your pranks, it was just sexual tension). of course, the option of creating a new personality is much more tempting when you can just add amplified canon traits on the side.

for another, her relationship with james sometimes seems likes it's being weaponized against snape and his fans. i've seen arguments that go like "haha, snape just wanted to fuck lily, but james got her in the end anyway, sucks to be you", and not only does it entirely reduce her to an object, it feels like they don't even care about the relationship, the dynamics or the characters. she's basically a plot device.

and thirdly, half of her characterisation in fic is to be a peter stand-in. we don't like the rat man, so let's take the pretty girl and put her in place of the guy who was canonically a member of the marauders, even up until he was named secret keeper. suddenly, she's a prankster and an enabler.

but, snek, you may say, all of that is fanon lily, tho. you just explained that people seem to like her because they just put any personality they want into her as long as she's at least vaguely a good person. you would be right.

let's look at canon lily. she's described as the brightest witch of her age, most everyone speaks favourably of her. in fact, the only people we see actively disliking/being upset with her are petunia, out of jealousy and the invasion of privacy concerning her letter, severus, who lashed out and used a slur that also applied to him in a moment of serious distress and apologised after, and well, pureblood supremacists by virtue of her being muggleborn. interestingly enough, even this dislike manages to develop everyone's character more than it does her own.

as a teenage girl myself, let's look at her actions as a teenage girl. not necessarily in chronological order because I'm writing this at 2am and my memory is already mediocre at best.

1. she's done well enough in school to be considered trustworthy and responsible enough to be a prefect.

okay, i can respect that. a good few of the prefects at my school were really just appointed based on how much the teachers liked you, but at hogwarts, there's so few of them that they must put at least a little effort into it, so i'll move on.

2. she does not press for details when informed that her best friend's life needed to be saved by someone who has been publicly tormenting him for years

now, see, there's no reason why she needs to play therapist. it's not her job, she's just a girl, and we know that snape wasn't supposed to talk about the incident, so he would've been stuck if she had asked for an explanation. however, i also feel like she doesn't seem particularly concerned about his wellbeing, and when he brings up his concerns about lupin, rather than ask for proof, she dismisses it. which, fair enough, i would hate to listen to someone talk about the same thing over and over and over, but, i also feel like the fixation on a theory like that would be cause for concern.

3. she dismisses the actions of a group known to play tricks that harm people and have specifically been tormenting her best friend on the basis that they don't use dark magic

first, i'm going to establish what i usually assume dark magic refers to. aside from jinxes, hexes and curses, i also include anything that produces an effect similar to any of the unforgivables (takes away your life, your free will or your ability to feel safe in your own body, such as when you're in excruciating pain), and magic that would require a sacrifice of some sort.

when snape tries to point out the danger in what the marauders do, she insists that they don't use dark magic. and they don't... but they do use illegal magic. she then argues against the company that snape keeps, which, again, to be fair, is justified considering mulciber's done something to mary macdonald... it's also not a particularly realistic ask. snape probably shares a dorm with these guys, and he's a poor half-blood so he's already on the outs. as far as he knows, any dissent will be met with him getting hexed in his sleep. but, i digress.

given that the marauders have been shown to be doing extremely dangerous with little regards to anyone's safety, and actively tormenting her best friend, i disagree with her choice here. on the other hand, she's made her own friends in gryffindor and perhaps she sees a nicer side of them that we don't get to. she's justified in her actions, but i still disagree.

4. she intervenes when her best friend is hung upside down by a spell of his own invention at the wands of the people who have tormenting him for years

she does object to the marauders' treatment of him, and she does try to get them to let him down. if i were in her position, i would absolutely do the same. i respect the decision to stand up for her friend.

5. she does not seriously attempt to help him or punish the marauders

i do not respect how she handled it. at any point, she could have drawn her wand. but, snek, you say, perhaps she didn't want to get involved physically. she wanted to follow the rules. in that case, at any point, she could taken points, assigned detention, or sent someone to get a member of staff. she does none of those things and i viscerally disagree. if we were ever friends and someone tried to hurt you, i can assure you that i would try to at least see to it that they'd be punished, even if it wasn't immediate or by my own hand. lily, however, chooses to argue rather than take action.

6. she smiles when severus gets hung upside down

chances are, it was more than likely an involuntary reaction, like laughing when your friend has fallen over. however, the fact that it was intentionally written in seems like it's mean to be an indicator that the friendship was already falling apart.

7. she comments on her best friend's poverty and uses a name that's been used to make fun of him after he calls her a slur that also applies to him

she was 100% within her rights to be upset by being called a slur. it is never okay to use slurs. the only situation in which a slur could possibly ever be appropriate would be if you were an oppressed group attempting to reclaim said slur which is not at all what snape was doing here. he was experiencing cruelty, being humiliated, publicly, for no reason beyond existing and he was in distress, choking on soap and upside down. it was damaging to his pride, especially when james suggests that he needs lily to fight his battles for him (paraphrasing) which is an emasculating statement to make, especially to a teenage boy. so, snape lashes out with the most hurtful word he could think of, which happened to be a slur that also applies to him. lily was 100% justified in being upset about this, and she retaliated in kind. she was very much allowed to say what she said. i understand that she was hurt and angry and i respect that, especially as i can't guarantee that i would not have been just as upset in that situation.

8. even when the threat of sexual harassment is made, she still does nothing

i get it, at this point, she's hurt, she's mad, she wants him to suffer since she's a teenage girl and teenage girls hold grudges like it's nobody's business, but... i definitely couldn't just stand by and watch it happen. she basically just let them go through with it.

9. she does not accept her best friend's apology for calling her a slur that also applies to him, effectively burying the friendship

she is, by no means, obligated to continue being friends with him. however, if i were in that position, and the apology was sincere, i would take the friend back.

10. she goes on to date and eventually marry the guy who bullied her former best friend for his entire school life

no. i disagree. but, snek, you say, james changed. no. he didn't. we know, that at this point, james was still going after snape behind lily's back. you can say that she didn't know, but that means that she would have allowed james to lie to her and that doesn't sit right with me bc a relationship built on lies is a relationship that is going to fall apart, especially when your partner has been disappointed by your actions before. you can say that she did know, and that proves that she simply didn't take her responsibilities as head girl seriously enough to stop the head boy from harassing people when she explicitly told him not to. the point is, no. there is no way that this would have worked out as a long term relationship. james is too comfortable lying to her. i can't even say she was justified. there is no circumstance where i personally see this as okay for anybody involved.

alright, so, essentially teenage lily was justified in (most of) her actions, even if i find them questionable.

adult lily dies at 21, while saving her son, but her death also helps save the wizarding world. good job. she, as expected, did what any good mother would.

and that's canon lily.

my thoughts: she's a perfect example of why writing tips are so adamant on making sure people try to show and not tell. we were told that lily is meant to be good and pure and lovely, but the author never bothered to actually prove that, so what we're left with a dissonance between what we see and what we know.

as a result, i still don't know if i truly dislike her. her actions are justified, but they don't match with what we've been told, and we don't have any other information to go off of. at best, i can say for certain that i disagree with many of her choices, despite understanding why she would have made them (except for marrying james potter, uggghh, the only good thing to come out of that was harry and the saving of the wizarding world by extension, ig).

thanks for reading all that, btw! hope it made sense :)

[buttered-toasty]

Pretty please elaborate on the angels of vengeance? 🥺

Okay! Didn’t expect anyone to actually want to hear this but sure! I forget who made the post on here but someone else has analyzed Carrie (the book) and made a very good argument that Carrie shouldn’t be viewed as a demon, like movie adaptations tend to portray her, but rather as an angel of vengeance. The book is very religious imagery heavy and constantly compares her to Christ, both in how her mother tells her to act like Christ and how Carrie looks up to figures of Christ in her home for guidance, literally trying to emulate him. Carrie also seems to get her supernatural powers from god in a sense; there is a scene that’s usually cut from adaptations but in my opinion is extremely important that portrays this: as a child she fucks up in her mother’s eyes and her mom, being the pinnacle of great parenting, decides the punishment will be to gouge Carrie’s eyes out. Carrie freaks out and ends up summoning a rain of stones on accident which pelts their house. The insurance doesn’t pay out for the damages because it’s deemed an “act of god.” So there’s the book literally saying Carrie’s abilities are acts of god. Furthermore, Carrie is bullied and abused by her whole town. Literally. Everyone but one gym teacher refuses to punish anyone who has hurt Carrie and ignores the signs of abuse she displays. They outcast her zealot mother as well, and while this is somewhat Mrs. White’s own doing, it is also implied that they may do this because she got pregnant as a teen (via rape, mind you, and the town ignores that). Carrie’s town is fucking rotten. She was conceived of rape, her mother abuses her, every other adult she encounters refuses to help her out of this, and everyone in this town acts like it isn’t a problem. Only Tommy, Sue, and Ms. Desjardens care about Carrie or attempt to help her. She has every reason, however, to believe Tommy and Sue were in on the pig’s blood, and what she does at the end of her story is in a sense justified. It is stated in the book that she doesn’t intend to kill people when she gets pissed at prom. She instead wants to turn on the sprinkler system, which will ruin everyone’s hair and makeup. She just wants a little vengeance. However, the water gets into exposed cords and starts an electrical fire and something in Carrie snaps like it did when she was little. This is when she locks up the gym and lets it burn. She then goes on to wreck Chris Hargensen’s car on her way home (Chris was the one who made the pig blood plan) and I believe shoves over a woman she sees walking on the street (I could straight up be misremembering this. It’s been a long time since I’ve read this book). Carrie is completing an act of righteous vengeance when she ends her story. She finally kills her mother in view of a Christ figurine. She is not a demon acting against god; she is an instrument. Even the fire is biblical imagery. When god places the angels at the gates of Eden to keep Adam and Eve out, they wield swords of fire. Carrie is constantly told by her mother that she is wicked and cursed like eve, but Carrie bears the flaming sword that casts the true eve, her mother, out.

Moving on to Michael Afton. He is much less implied to be an angel of vengeance by fnaf than Carrie was by Stephen King. I think his implications are more serendipitous than anything, considering Scott cawthon isn’t a good writer. Nonetheless, let’s get into. First of all, Michael repeatedly has to burn his father. Go back to what I said about Carrie. It still stands here. Michael wields a biblical weapon. Even more fun and perhaps coincidental is his name, which is that of god’s warrior angel. Michael the warrior is frequently sent to bring justice upon people in the Bible and is a crucial part of the revelation story and the defeat of Satan. If we want to analog William Afton to Satan here, which I think is fair, it will make sense. William quite literally goes to hell and his entire motive is based on living forever—gaining a god-like power—through completely blackened means. He is the antithesis to everything moral and seeks only power and a place as a god at the end of that. Unfortunately it sort of succeeds and he can’t die but eh. More important is that his son can’t. Michael still has a supernatural ability. Almost godly. So Michael is clearly being compared to an angel. The rest of this explanation sort of writes itself. Michael doesn’t kill like his father does, that is to say for his own pride. Michael does what he does and refuses to die out of spite and a need for revenge. He, too, is an instrument of god’s wrath and vengeance.

Finally, some serendipitous things about these two characters because I can and will compare them:

Both stories take place circa the 70s-80s

Both children are victims of abuse/neglect

Both are only children and missing one parent

Both have parents who try (and succeed) to kill them

Both are queer-coded

And that’s it! Personally, I don’t think Michael’s angel imagery was as intended as Carrie’s, but it’s still interesting to read into nonetheless. Thank you for asking anon. I really do enjoy talking about this stuff. Comparisons between distantly related media are always fun. And who knows? Maybe Cawthon did take some inspiration from our favorite telekinetic teenage angel.

[fantastic-rambles]

Sk8 Character Thoughts

Yeah, so y’all have to deal with me venting my latest obsession, lol. Sorry to everyone who followed me for other stuff, I will get back to it eventually. ^^;

I was gonna write out individual walls of text for everyone to be fair, but I decided that’s too much work and I’d go crazy before I finished (plus I’m feeling guilty for neglecting my fanfiction writing), so I’m just gonna bullet point some of the random things I think about various skaters (opinions and theories).

The order is the approximate order of which I like characters, though it’s not a strict ranking. I like most of the characters in the show to some extent.

Adam (Shindo Ainosuke)

I’ve already said a lot about him, you can check it out here and here. I’ll probably end up saying more about him before the show ends, too. xD

Yes, he is an absolutely awful person, but that’s what makes him amazing.

I will say that he needs a better costume designer. He looks like a clown. It looks like something that he designed when he was, like, five years old.

The mask is great though. <3

Cherry Blossom (Sakurayashiki Kaoru)

I love the super analytical types, but I also feel like Carla is a crutch for him. He’s a great skater, but if he didn’t have Carla, I don’t think he’d be able to compete at the level of the other top skaters. But all the more props to him for finding a way that he could compete at that level.

He totally had a thing for Adam before. But I think that even then, Adam was too fucked up to be able to have a romantic relationship, so nothing came of it. Because if Adam did actually learn what real love was like rather than confusing abuse for love, I don’t think he would have turned out the way he did.

It’s pretty clear that until he gets smacked by Adam, he’s still looking up to Adam and clinging to what they had before. And it bleeds into his non-skating life as well: when he did his calligraphy demonstration, I think that he hoped Adam would see it, which was why he picked that specific phrase and explained it--to let Adam know that it wasn’t too late to make amends (not that Adam would have given a fuck even if he did see it).

I love his character design as a teen, and I’m sad that he’s become more respectable-looking (though still hot af) as an adult. I’m a sucker for guys with long hair in anime/manga.

He is absolutely a weeb. He’s made an AI assistant who he calls Carla, which creeps out Joe (in a cute, lovable way, not in an Adam way), and he incorporates her into almost all aspects of his life. Like, he just happens to have an AI-augmented wheelchair handy, why?

He also dresses up like a ninja when he’s skating, goes around in a kimono in his daily life, etc. etc. Okay, maybe the kimono can be excused since he’s a calligrapher (though I’m pretty sure that’s not the norm regardless, except for maybe if the artist is at some sort of exhibition?), but people’s costumes seem to show off who they really are beneath the mask they put on for society. So Cherry secretly wants to be a ninja. xD

I’m not on any specific ship, but if I had to pick one to board, it would be Matchablossom.

Can we please have a spinoff that’s just about Adam, Cherry, and Joe when they’re teenagers?

Snow (Hasegawa Langa)

Frankly, Langa’s only up this high because I love his dynamic/rivalry with Adam. If Adam didn’t exist, he’d be below Joe, maybe below Tadashi.

Not that I don’t like Langa, but he’s just an oblivious skating nerd. He’s skilled and passionate, but I don’t really feel that he really stands out as a standalone character. He’s more of a foil for other characters (mostly Adam and Reki).

I guess what stands out the most to me is his ability to improvise when he’s falling behind, since his skill level is understandably lower than most of the other people he skates against. Like finding alternative pathways to the finish line versus Shadow and Miya, or using Joe’s strength to propel him forward. Or just, like, flying off the edge of a cliff to take a shortcut. That too. xD

His snow motif is pretty cool. (No pun intended.)

And I won’t deny that he’s cute. He’s actually the reason I started watching, because I saw some fanart of him and got curious. Came for the Langa, stayed for the Adam. <3

I feel bad for him for having a jealous jerk as basically his only friend though.

Joe (Nanjo Kojiro)

He’s such a teddy bear. <3

Joe’s the heart to Cherry’s brain, and I adore the way they balance each other out. I love Vitriolic Best Buds.

What surprised me, though, is that Joe seems to have a better understanding of Adam’s current character than Cherry does, since Cherry is so precise and analytical. Though the flashback clarified that some since it’s pretty obvious that Cherry is/was biased where Adam is concerned. Sure, Joe was also friends with Adam back then, but it seems that Cherry was the one most star-struck by Adam.

But Joe obviously knows and accepts that Adam’s changed, unlike Cherry, though he probably doesn’t know the reason why. He seemed to be expecting something to happen during the race, so it didn’t surprise him when it did, though he was sad/disappointed by it. It seemed like he was concerned and wanted to warn Cherry before his race (which is super cute), and when everyone else was flinching from seeing the assault on Cherry, Joe didn’t look away. I don’t think he knew exactly what Adam was going to do (I don’t think anyone did, lol), but he knew Adam was going to do something.

I don’t think he was serious when he said the reason Adam is avoiding their beefs is because he’s afraid he’ll lose, though. Yeah, he wants to race Adam, and he wants to win, but I think he’s more grounded when it comes to Adam, so he probably knows that Adam would beat him if it came down to it. Whereas Cherry legitimately thought he could win if Adam held back.

Also, his skateboard wheels are ridiculous. How do they even work?

Snake (Kikuchi Tadashi)

He got an ask post, yay, so not going to rehash it here.

I really hope that Adam realizes at some point that Tadashi is the only person who really knows and understands him, and comes to appreciate everything that Tadashi’s done for him.

Miya (Chinen Miya)

Such a brat, omg.

I get that he’s a kid, and kids are brats, and so it’s a fairly realistic depiction. I just hate kids. >.>

Pretty much the only time I’ll really like a child character is when they’re precocious as fuck and not child-like at all, which I get defeats the purpose, but that’s me.

Brattiness aside, he is skilled and appreciates Reki standing up to Adam on his behalf, so much so that he’s willing to spend his time training a “slime” just so Reki doesn’t get completely crushed by Adam. And he’s also willing to work with Langa to teach him the most difficult trick in skating (the Caspar Slide) for the same reason.

Ultimately, he’s a good kid, but he’s had some bad experiences that make it harder for him to trust people since he’s afraid they’ll leave him. He’s still willing to try, though, if people will give him a chance.

Also, the one ep when they go on vacation and Miya pretends Joe is his daddy (and Cherry is his mommy, rofl--hi Matchablossom!) to drive away the women Joe’s hitting on... hilarious.

Kyan Reki 

An even bigger brat.

Again, yeah, he’s a teenager and teens are “just like that,” but I hate those kinds of characters.

Just because his friend is a skating genius, he gets all pissy and stops being friends with him? Showing up to cheer Langa on and then completely running away doesn’t redeem him in my eyes. I get that he’s disappointed that he’s not capable of skating at the level of the top skaters and frustrated that Langa surpassed him so easily, but that’s no excuse to take it out on Langa (or anyone else).

And everyone complains about Adam being possessive, but they just gloss over the fact that Reki repeatedly tries to force Langa to promise to not skate against Adam, even roping in their manager, when he knows that Langa likes accepting challenges and has fun doing them. He just wants to keep Langa to himself, and he’s jealous as fuck that Langa is obsessed with skating against Adam.

Langa even explicitly tells him that he’s not racing Adam just because he’s upset about what Adam did to Reki, but because he wants to do it. Which is the exact same fucking reason Reki gives for not listening to Joe and Miya, and Langa supports his decision then. Why can’t Reki do the same?

Yes, he’s traumatized because his friend who introduced him to skating was seriously injured and had to quit skating, and he got hurt skating against Adam, but just like for Adam: YOUR TRAUMA/BACKSTORY DOES NOT JUSTIFY YOUR BEHAVIOR.

Plus, the whole “we’ll never disappear from your sight” that he told Miya? Psych!

Like, seriously. He knows the kid has abandonment issues because people leave him because he’s too good at what he does, and then he just goes ahead and poofs, putting both Miya and Langa through the same exact fucking thing.

Though I’m sure that the power of friendship will give him a miraculous recovery and he’ll build a new board for Langa so Langa can beat Adam before Adam gets hauled off to jail. It’ll probably be a cheesy make-up where Langa says something about how he can only use Reki’s boards, so it’s like they’re skating together when he races or whatever.

I do respect his ability to observe other skaters and make boards that are perfectly suited to them, though. And he knows that he’d be good in that support role. But he wants to be the hero, so he’s suffering from eighth grader syndrome and lashing out because reality doesn’t conform to his wishes.

Shadow (Higa Hiromi)

Just fucking die already, ‘kay?

I don’t even know what to say. He’s all caught up in his “antihero” complex or whatever (I don’t even remember if that’s the right term, and I don’t give a fuck), and he’s got a nasty personality. Like burning Reki’s board or threatening to have a guy tattoo “Dumpster Slut” above his girlfriend’s name.

You really expect me to believe that he’d treat his manager respectfully if they started dating when he does something like that? His polite florist persona is such a sham.

And he’s a shit skater. How the hell is he in the top 8? If they can throw in a random guy we’ve never seen before (Harry), then they could have just as well put in some other trash mob instead of Shadow, who only didn’t get knocked out in the quarterfinal round because he was racing a nobody.

Imo, all of his “cute” little tricks like throwing fireworks at his opponent or shining a laser into their eyes is worse than what Adam does. Once he does that, he relinquishes all control over the situation, so anything could happen, such as his opponent crashing into a wall or falling off a cliff, which could result in serious injuries or even death. On the other hand, Adam always remains in control when he’s trying to throw off his opponent by forcing them to dance with him and freaking them the fuck out by pushing their limits. Even when he’s holding Reki’s head about an inch above the ground, he won’t let Reki brain himself on a rock or something. And even when he smacks Cherry with his skateboard, his attack leaves Cherry conscious and so lightly injured (relative to what could have been) that he doesn’t even need to stay in the hospital. (I don’t think he actually needs a wheelchair, other than probably being a bit woozy from a concussion, maybe. And maybe not even that if Joe isn’t concerned enough to wake him up/keep him from being unconscious.) Yeah, Adam fucks with his opponents, but if they can get over it, they can get back on a board. There’s a good chance that won’t happen if they get in an accident caused by Shadow, other than for anime logic.

“What about Adam’s Love Hugs??” What about them? Yes, he’s not holding on to his opponents to control their falls, but the point of it is to make them flinch and fall backwards, against the line of motion. That naturally will decrease the severity of their physical injuries, unlike when Reki and Harry fall off the course at full speed versus Shadow.

The only reason he doesn’t have a higher body count than Adam (or even a literal body count) is plot convenience, since he’s not the villain.

[graveyard-tales]

OKay, branching on this idea, I love the idea of Cas and Dean raising Jack and falling, kinda sorta but not really, into the farm life but by complete accident. (whomp, this got longer than I intended)

Dean buys an old rundown home in rural Kansas. I mean a totally shit house But Dean has experience in construction and what he doesn’t know he can watch videos and wing it. He’s pretty good at fixing shit and he’s confident he can accomplish it. It’s a lot of work and it’s slow going but with Sam and Cas’ help, it goes smoother than he thought. Logically he knows he can probably ask Jack and the kid could snap his fingers and materialize a cool ass house but Dean want’s this to be his by his own hands.

That and now that Jack is a child, it’d feel weird asking his kind of five year old kind of son to make him a house. Especially since there would probably be slides to ride downstairs an the living room would be like a bounce house.

Cas lives with him of course, it didn’t even occur to him that Cas would live anywhere else. Doesn’t matter that he technically still has a room at the Bunker, which Sam and Elieen, despite not living there themselves, have turned it into a sort of info hub / hotel for hunters / safehouse for supernatural beings in need / auto shop for whenever Dean is in town and a hunter/friend needs a tune-up. 

They kind of just not talked about the confession but they’re good. They’re great!  Cas is still his best friend and Dean doesn’t have to process one of the worst moments of his life that could possibly lead to one of the best but he’s not thinking about that. Dean’s got a house to fix. And because Cas lives there, Jack lives there. Privately hey all agree it might be best anyways, for everyone to live away from all the grief and trauma that happened there.

One morning Cas mentions something about having chickens. They certainly have the space for it. He talks about a book that Jack had taken from school and how he never took the time to appreciate the variety of them. Later, out of curiosity and boredom, Dean look up chickens and finds out there are super low maintenance, plus they’d have free eggs. So he just builds a coop. Long and larger, maybe more than it needs to be and totally fenced and presents it to Cas and Jack who immediately start ordering chickens. Dean ends up having to go back and add more nesting boxes because no one could decide on which chickens to get, not to mentions the types of eggs various chickens lay. 

Dean likes to pretend that he doesn’t really care about the chickens but when he goes out while they’re roaming the yard or sitting in the coop, he always has one specific chicken on his lap. He names her BBQ, Jack calls her beebee-cutie, to which Dean makes a scene of hating but calls her that whenever it’s just Dean and her. 

Cas starts a garden on his own. He’s decided that he too is retired. Fuck if angels can officially retire or not but he is and he want’s a garden with fresh and pesticide-free vegetables to feed his son and no one is going to stop him. And Cas loves every second of it, the garden is his and every plant is his babies. He also grows  berries. He and Dean set up a tiny little orchard with the various fruits they can grow in the area. The property already had a giant walnut in the front of the house.

Dean doesn’t even think about asking, he just gets Cas bees. He doesn’t fuck with it and it’s on the far end of the property but they’re there doing their bee business. Cas loves and tends to them with much care.

They have two little pygmy goats one day. No one in the immediate area has goats and Cas didn’t buy them so where the fuck did they come from? Dean sees the little farm picture book that Jack was reading and he has a pretty good idea after that. Cas is good at sighing like he means it and tells Dean they just have no choice but to take care of them and Dean grumbles as he spends the next several hours researching fucking goats.

They’ve technically had cats since they bought the place. Three feral cats that they can recognize and of course started feeding. One keeps it’s distance, one won’t get closer than a two feet out of reach and one just decided that they were their cat after the first hotdog was tossed.

Dean is adamant that they will not get a dog. No, it’s not because he’s afraid, shut up. Cas understands and is the one that persuades Jack into not asking for one let alone materializing it out of thin air. And that’s that until Dean comes home after driving through a torrent storm with a bundle under his coat. It’s a little mutt, one can only guess what the breed actually is but even as a puppy they know it wouldn’t get bigger. Dean goes on justifying why he has it, how he isn’t heartless and couldn’t leave it in the rain. That the moment the rain lets up he’s taking it to the pound. That by the end of the week he’ll take it to the pound. That by the end of the month he’ll have found a good home for it, yes he’s actually looking. 

The dog’s name is rain and she’s Dean’s special baby girl.

Dean and Cas take turns taking and picking up Jack from school so they just assume that that they’re together. They live together so Sam and Eileen think they’re together but in secret. Everyone who meets them think that they’re together but Dean and Cas. 

Dean never brought up the confession so Cas just assumes that Dean is sparing him an outright rejection. 

Cas never brought it up so Dean just assumes that Cas must have changed his mind. Cas doesn’t want to fuck me??? Must have been a fluke I guess, that doesn’t make me feel terrible, nope nope nope.

Because these fuckers never talk to each other they just fall into a domestic farm-ish life with their kinda-god son. They don’t even try not to be affectionate with one another, which leaves Cas confused often. Never really voicing it but he starts to realize what they have before Dean is. Cas likes to reflect in his garden, and among his bees. He also talks to the chickens and even though they can’t talk back in a language he understands, he deems them very insightful. Looking back and examining the now, Cas realizes Dean’s feelings before Dean does. Somehow he is not surprised but annoyed he may have to be the one to make a move on his behalf. 

Because of all the honey, eggs, fruits and vegetables, beyond what they can consume, jar, dry and even throw Sam’s way, Cas and Dean open a stand at the farmers market. Dean blocks Sam from mocking him because he isn’t there to buy, he is there to sell, so he retains his right to be the mocker not the mocked. He’s the eldest, Sam, it doesn’t have to make sense to be right. 

Dean becomes instant friends with the elder woman to the left who makes pastries from her peaches and pecans and the lesbian couple to the right who make candles and soaps.

The old woman mentions what a cute couple they make and Dean just doesn’t respond and Cas just pointedly looks at him. Dean is starting to suspect something at this point.

The couple’s dog have puppies at some point and they offer one up to Cas and Dean and Cas accepts before Dean can refuse. And since he won’t admit he’s terrified of their huge ass dog, because he’s not, he can’t exactly argue against it because Dean technically has a dog so it’s only fair Jack can have one too.

I could literally go on and on but this post has gotten away from meeeeee. I just love this idea so much!!

[chocoholicannanymous]

Free Kurt - Isabelle style (Glee)

This is part of the Free Kurt event, where different fic writers all present a take on how the proposal from 501 could have ended better for Kurt by use of one character. I decides on Isabelle Wright, and here you have 2020 (fittingly) words of “Free Kurt - Isabelle style”.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except an overactive imagination and way too many plotbunnies.

“Getting a choice means you gotta make one. Relax. Hear what the guy has to say. All you gotta do is say yes, no or maybe.”

“Is there another option?”

~*~*~*~

Kurt turns towards Dalton, steeling himself to go inside and meet Blaine. To start a new phase of his life - their lives. And then his phone rings.

“That can wait, can’t it, buddy?”

“I just need to check, oh, I have to take this. I’m sure it won’t take long. Just…” He walks a bit, not wanting his dad to hear if this is one of those calls.

“Isabelle! Is there something wrong?”

“No, no! Well, a little, but! You're just the guy to fix that. I remember right that you were flying back today, right? Would you be amenable to show up at Vogue, paid time, and help out at a party? Chase was supposed to be there and write about the outfits, but Marcel is in the hospital so Chase has to cover for him.”

“I...don't know if I'll be able to make it in time.”

“Traffic? I'll send a car for you, obviously, and pick an outfit from the vault.”

“I'm sorry, I mean I'm not sure if I'm going to make my flight.”

And he isn't. It hasn't hit him until now – how? why? – that even though he left with plenty of time to get to the airport and through security it might not be enough to also get through the proposal. He'd thought so, before, but really when he actually thinks about it? That would depend on Blaine being brief. Oh, and letting Kurt leave after. Is he going to want me to do that? Or is he expecting us to do something together?

Surely Blaine must have planned for Kurt making his flight though? Or made other arrangements? I'm already checked in though, I did that yesterday. So clearly no one's changed my flight.

“Kurt? Is something wrong? Are you... Are you not at the airport? Did something happen with your dad?”

Isabelle's voice is rising, worried, and he takes a second to feel cherished by that while hurrying to calm her down.

“Oh no, he's fine. Just, I'm not at the airport. There was a detour. I... I'm at a surprise proposal.”

“Really? Whose?”

Blaine's. “Mine.”

“Wait, what? Didn't you go down alone? Oh, did blond and cute go with you after all?”

“No, Adam is... We're over.”

“You broke up? You left here 10 days ago, dating Adam , and now you’re telling me that not only did you break up with him in that time, but also you started dating someone new? And you’re being proposed to? Am I hearing this right?

“What happened, Kurt?”

“I couldn’t commit to Adam. He offered to come with me, you know that, but I turned him down. That was pretty telling, that I didn’t want him to come with me. If it’d been serious, if I’d been willing to commit to him, well… I wouldn’t have said no then, would I? If I didn’t want him here with me during this, if I didn’t want him to come with and meet my family and friends, then clearly I wasn’t that invested.

“Better to break it off then.”

It had hurt, sure, because he’d really enjoyed being with Adam, but once it’d been pointed out to him…

“Okay, say I buy that - and we’re talking more about that when you come back, mister, don’t you doubt it! - what about this new relationship? How can you be ready to commit to someone else this soon?”

“I never had a problem committing to Blaine.”

There’s silence at the other end, enough that Kurt starts questioning if the call’s been disconnected.

“Isabelle?”

“You…” Her voice does a funny thing, and she starts over again. “You’re back with him?”

When he confirms it Isabelle starts talking fast, clearly not willing to let him say anything else.

“Blaine. Cheated on you after 2 weeks, Blaine. Blamed you for it, Blaine. Almost got you in trouble at work, Blaine. Made you feel like shit for months, Blaine. You’re back with him. And he’s proposing? You got back together, what, five minutes ago?”

Yesterday, Kurt thinks. We got back together yesterday. He doesn’t say that though.

“We were together for a year and a half. It’s not like he’s some stranger. This is, I always saw us ending up here. This was my dream, Isabelle, for so long.”

“”Before, and I cannot stress this enough, he cheated on you. How can you be sure he won’t do that again? After all, you’re coming back to New York. He’s going to be in Lima, still in school. That didn’t work so well last time.

“As you said, you didn’t have a problem committing to him. He on the other hand...”

It stings, to hear Isabelle reference such a painful experience so casually. Kurt swallows it down though, arguing back. “It’ll be different this time. He promised he’d never hurt me like that again. And he signed Oprah’s non-cheating contract.”

Except he hadn’t, not yet, but he’d promised to do it and surely that has to mean something?

“The fact that a non-cheating contract even entered the picture isn’t exactly the strong argument you seem to think. At least not in his favor.

“Kurt, honey, I'm saying this from a place of love. Have you completely lost your mind?”

And that, that hurts. He’s not crazy. This is the right thing to do. Everyone else thinks so, so why can’t Isabelle see it?

“Now, I’m not going to tell you that you can’t date someone, or get engaged, or hell, even married - though I do hope he doesn’t have an officiant standing by - but what’s the hurry? Why does he have to propose now?”

And well, Kurt doesn’t have an answer to that - and he’s searched, having asked himself the same question.

“He’s just, he’s always been excitable. Besides, seize the moment, you know? You never know what happens.”

He can’t be sure, but it sounds like Isabelle is muttering something about finding him a therapist. Surely not though?

“And I, Isabelle, it took me forever to find Blaine. What if I never meet anyone else who makes me feel the way he does?” Kurt politely ignores the hrumpf on the other end.

“Honey, you’re young. So, so young. You have your whole life ahead of you. And if it doesn’t happen? I am more than twice your age.” And wow, things has to be really serious if Isabelle is admitting to that. “I’m single. I’ve never been married, or engaged. I don’t have kids. By now, I’m pretty sure neither of that will change.

“Does that make me - or my life - worth any less?”

“No! Of course it doesn't. Just... It’s not what I want for me,” Kurt adds in a low voice.

“And that’s okay. As I said, you’re young. You have time to get to where you want to be. It doesn’t have to be a race. Not everyone find their place - or their person - at 20. That you would walk through life and never meet anyone else who could love you, and appreciate you? That’s impossible.”

Kurt feels the word sink into him, and before he can think twice he whispers “dad said I looked like he was driving me to my execution”.

“Wait, what? Look, I know that as your boss I don’t have the right to tell you what to do with your private life, but I’d like to think that I’m a little more than just your employer. So please, listen. Don’t be in such a hurry to do this. Not after just a few days. Not if you’re unsure enough that you look like that. Please. Come back to New York. Take some time to think. To just date again and adjust to how you’ve changed. Because that’s going to change how you are together as well.

“Put yourself first.”

Put himself first? Kurt isn’t even sure how to do that. It means disappointing his dad. Disappointing Blaine. He...doesn’t have a great track record with that.

But that’s his answer right there, isn’t it? He isn’t thinking that what’s right for him is to walk inside and let Blaine propose. He’s thinking about walking away.

“I’ll call you when I’m back in New York, okay? Bye Isabelle. And...thanks for listening.”

He walks back to the car and his dad, who’s looking kind of worried.

“That took a bit longer than I thought. Everything okay?”

“Yes, I think it is.” In the corner of his eye Kurt spots people spying from Dalton’s balcony and the door, looking restless. Apparently he’s not following the script.

“So, ehm, can you just drive me to the airport like we agreed?”

Burt Hummel looks like a stranded fish, and under other circumstances Kurt is sure he'd find it amusing. Now, not so much.

“What? What about-”

“I decided that I did have another option, one that doesn’t mean listening to Blaine. I’m not ready to say yes to what he wants to ask me, and I want to leave.”

“What about Blaine? Are you really going to leave him hanging like this?”

And ouch, that might be justified, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt to hear it from his dad. Isn’t my dad supposed to back me? Where was this attitude when it was Finn? And right, he’d forgotten for a bit, the memories swept away in his dad’s pushy encouragment. Burt had hated Finn’s engagement to Rachel, not to mention the wedding-that-wasn’t.

“Good to know whose side you're on.”

They stare at each other. Kurt has folded so many times in similar situations, but this time he’s going to stand by his decision.

“I gotta say, buddy, this isn't like you.”

“Well, maybe my usual habit of doing not what I want but what I think the people around me want isn't working for me any longer.”

Which is true, and how could I have let myself almost be backed in a corner like that? but his dad takes it badly.

“This is… This is because of whoever called you right now, isn’t it? Why are you allowing her to change your mind like this? Not five minutes ago you were going to at least hear Blaine out. Who's this Isabelle to tell you not to?”

“Apparently the only person in all of this who’s on my side.”

“Hey! That's not fair!”

“Not fair? Life’s not fair! And you know what, something else that’s not fair? Dad, you told me you thought I looked like you were driving me to my execution. We both knew it was a proposal, yet that's how you thought I looked. And somehow that didn't make you question anything? I couldn't tell you if I was okay or not. Again, you didn't question it. I asked you if there was another option to answering him! Again, you just told me to go ahead. To listen to what Blaine had to say.

“Isabelle didn't tell me what to do, she told me to listen to myself! She reminded me that I do have options. I'm the one choosing which one to take, and that's going to the airport and then back home.

“Now, are you going to drive me?”

Kurt waits for an answer. Once he finds himself beginning to count seconds he gives up. He walks over to the car, grabs his bags, tells his dad he'll call once he lands and starts walking. His blood is pounding in his ears, to the point where it’s all he hears, and he just. Keeps. Walking. Reaching the end of the driveway makes it feel better, but not safe, not yet. He takes the first corner, twists through the sidestreets with hurried steps, looking for a place to hide and make a call.

Ten minutes later he’s in the back of a cab, heading towards the airport, with his phone turned off and his heart in his throat, feeling utterly, heartbreakingly relieved.

~The End ~

[openheart12]

Trial of Fire

Summary: After Tony’s trial, him and Michelle are given a couple hours to be alone. 

Word Count: 4,611

Today was the day that would determine their future, she hadn’t been able to sleep at all though of course she had barely gotten any sleep since his arrest. She didn’t even flinch when her alarm went off at six, she reluctantly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the long day ahead. The trial started at nine o’clock sharp. 

After getting out of the shower, she took care of her hair so it wouldn’t be as crazy as it usually is, letting a few strands fall to frame her face. For her makeup, she went for an all natural look and waterproof mascara. She chose a black pencil skirt and a scarlet red blouse, red represented courage and if she ever needed courage, it was definitely today. 

She was ready by a quarter till eight and went downstairs to find something to eat, not that she was hungry but because she hadn’t been able to eat either since his arrest. Not that she was even able to cook something without the risk of burning it. She was a shell of the woman she used to be and it had been less than a month since he’s been gone. 

She visited him every weekend on Saturday’s at eight o’clock. She never missed one visit, it was the only time she was able to see him and it was through a glass, but it was something. Tony also took notice of the bags under her eyes and although she had always been petite, he could tell she was losing weight. 

She finally decided on half a banana and a piece of toast before going to let their dog, Major, out to use the bathroom. The German Shepherd was a Christmas gift to Michelle for their one year wedding anniversary. At the time, Tony was working more than normal and he wanted Michelle to have someone with her while he was gone and so he went to the animal shelter, finding a puppy that he knew would be perfect for her. 

After eating and giving the dog food and water, she was on her way out the door. She pulled into the parking lot ten minutes before the trial and taking deep breaths, she willed herself to go inside. Tony needed her and she could do this for him especially after he risked everything to save her, something she blamed herself for, but she couldn’t dwell on that right now. 

She was surprised to find Jack, Kim, Chase, Adam, and even Chloe waiting inside. Jack was the first to approach her, giving her a gentle hug. 

“You ready?”

No. “Yeah,” she gave him a small smile as they all walked through the doors to take a seat on the wooden benches. The judge walked in a few minutes after them followed by the prosecution and then Tony and his lawyer. He was dressed in clothes she had never seen before, but he was still her Tony. 

The bailiff started to speak, “please rise. The Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, Criminal Division, is now in session, the honorable Judge Taylor presiding.”

They met eyes and time slowed down just for a second, it was just the two of them before the judge banged his gavel. The bailiff swore in the jury before the start of the trial. 

“Members of the jury, your duty today will be to determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty based only on facts and evidence provided in this case. The prosecution has the burden of proving the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. This burden remains on the prosecution through the trial. The prosecution must prove that a crime was committed and that the defendant is the person who committed the crime. However, if you are not satisfied of the defendant’s guilt to that extent, then reasonable doubt exists and the defendant must be found not guilty.” Judge Taylor explained. “Mr. Anderson, what is today’s case?” He asked the bailiff. 

“Your Honor, today’s case is The State of California versus Anthony Almeida,”he replied. 

“How does the defendant plead?”

“Not guilty, your honor.” 

“Is the prosecution ready?”

“Yes, your Honor,” the prosecutor stood up before taking his seat once more. 

“Is the defense ready?”

“Yes, your Honor,” Tony’s lawyer replied. 

After opening statements were made, it was time to call witnesses for each side. 

“The prosecution would like to call Brad Hammond to the stand.”  

Michelle turned around to see Brad strolling through the doors, a smirk plastered across his face. 

The bailiff swore him in before the examination started. “Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

Brad replied with, “I do.” 

“You have evidence that the defendant, Anthony Almeida, committed treason against the United States of America to save his wife, correct?”

“Yes. We found out after Jane Saunders had been taken out of CTU and later found to be with Agent Almeida. We also had Stephen Saunders surrounded until Tony called the field teams to tell them to move positions to give Saunders a chance to escape. We took him into custody after Jack Bauer headed up teams to capture Saunders.” 

“And he put millions of lives at risk in order to save one by doing so.”

“Correct, Division had always been weary of inter office relationships, but when Tony and Michelle came to us saying they had been in a relationship and said they would be able to keep their personal and professional lives separate, we believed them, I believed them and that was my mistake.” 

“That’s all I have for this witness.”

Tony’s lawyer was next. “Are you married Mr. Hammond?” 

“Objection!” The prosecution called out. 

“It goes to show my clients thoughts.”

“Overruled, but tread carefully Mr. Wilson.” 

“Yes, I’m married.” Hammond replied. 

“And you love your wife?”

“Of course I love my wife.”

“Would it be safe to say that you would do anything you could to keep her safe?”

“I- yeah, I suppose.” 

“That’s exactly what Mr. Almeida did that day. He did what any person would do for the person they loved. He acted as any husband would act in a situation like that and he shouldn’t be blamed or be put in jail for being human.”

“But he put millions of people at risk by doing that!” 

“No one died. No one was hurt in the process and that’s what matters. Not what could’ve happened.” 

“But-” he tried to say something, anything else to help the prosecution. 

“No further questions.” 

“The defense calls Jack Bauer to the stand.” Jack squeezed Michelle’s shoulder before going up to take a seat. 

The bailiff swore him in before the examination started. “Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I do,” Jack said. 

“You and Mr. Almeida have worked together for some time, would you consider him a friend?”

“Yeah, we both went through a lot and he was there after my wife died. Our jobs are extremely stressful and dangerous and it’s nice to have friends who can understand that.” 

“I’m sorry about your wife, but speaking of her, didn’t you too have to put your wife above other people?”

“Yes.”

“And you think what Mr. Almeida did is justified?” 

“I do. No one got hurt by his actions, he was trying to protect his wife and I would’ve done the same thing if I was in his shoes. 

“Thank you, no further questions.”

The prosecutor stood up, taking a minute to think of his next questions. “You agree with everything Agent Almeida did? What if innocent lives had been lost?” 

“I can’t answer that seeing as it didn’t happen.” 

“What if it had?���

“It’s a hypothetical question to which I have no answer for,” Jack said, holding his ground. 

“No further questions.” 

Each party called more witnesses: analysts, techs, anyone they could think of to improve their case. The judge called a recess around lunch time and Michelle reluctantly followed the others out to go eat somewhere even though she wasn’t hungry. She locked eyes with Tony until the guards pulled him away. 

“It’s going pretty good, right?” Kim asked and everyone agreed, but Michelle couldn’t shake this gut feeling she had. It felt like even as good as they think things were going, it wouldn’t be good enough. 

She had ordered a salad and she was pushing it around with her fork while the others were eating and Jack noticed. When they finished eating and started to head back to the courthouse, Jack pulled her aside for a minute. 

“Are you okay?” He asked after hesitating. 

“I just… I have a bad feeling about today. If he goes to prison… it’ll be all my fault and I don’t know if I could live knowing I put my husband in there. Out of everyone, Tony doesn’t deserve this. He’s spent his life putting away terrorists and protecting his country and this is how they repay him? It’s not fair.” 

“I know, trust me I know, but Tony needs you to be strong for him right now and that means we can’t be thinking about what will happen if he’s convicted, we have to hope it doesn’t come to that.” 

“I know, I feel so helpless though, Jack. I want to help him but how?”

“You can testify on his behalf, tell them what an amazing husband he is and how much he loves his job. Are you ready to beat this thing?” 

That sinking feeling came back, but she pushed it away and plastered a smile on, “yeah, I’m ready.” 

Back in the courtroom, it was her turn to take the stand. When the prosecution called her name, she stood up on wobbly knees and tried to get her nerves under control to no avail. 

The bailiff swore her in before the examination started. “Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I do,” the two words tasting bitter on her tongue at the moment. Two words that once meant a promise to each other were now being used against them. 

“Miss Dessler-“

“It’s Mrs. Almeida, I keep Dessler at work to avoid confusion between me and Tony.”

“Mrs. Almeida,” he started again, “how long have you and Mr. Almeida been married?”

“Three years, but we’ve been together just a little over four years.”

“And during that time have you and Mr. Almeida ever been put into a situation where one of you is in danger?” 

“Yeah.”

“But both of you were always fine, minor injuries if anything so why was the day in question any different? You’re sitting here in front of the court today with no physical injuries shown. I’m trying to understand why your husband had to put millions of lives at stake, people in this very room could’ve died because of his actions, but you were his priority. He ignored the oath he took to protect this country and its people to save you. Do you see the problem?” He asked as if she was a child. 

“Tony did what he thought was right at the time, he did what anyone would do for the person they love. It was an unprecedented situation. Take his job, make sure he never works for the government again, but don’t take his life away. He’s done so much for this country, he was a marine, he fights to protect this country every day from terrorists and the one time he does something wrong, he’s threatened with prison. I’ll say it again, no one was hurt by his actions, not one person was even put in danger.” 

“You say this was an unprecedented situation, but aren't unprecedented situations a part of your jobs? Can you pinpoint when the next terrorist attack is going to be? Are you going to immediately know how to deal with the next attack? Let’s take the Cordilla virus as an example, that was unprecedented and you led the team inside that hotel. You set up command and took charge, you reassured the guests, you got them suicide pills to end their suffering, you shot a man who was trying to leave the premises. All of that was unprecedented and yet, you were able to deal with it.”

“I wasn’t threatened with the idea of my husband having his eye cut out. I can’t speak to what Tony was feeling or what was going through his head, but I know how scared he must’ve been, how scared anyone would’ve been in that situation.” 

“You can be scared without putting lives at risk, agent. People doubted your ability to work with your husband and keep your professional and personal lives separate and maybe if you had listened to them, you or Tony wouldn’t be here right now. So who’s fault is it really?” He mumbled the last sentence for only her to hear. 

“Objection, badgering the witness.” The defense called out. 

“Withdrawn. No further questions.” He said before the judge could say anything. “Your witness.”

“Mrs. Almeida, it’s obvious you love your husband smd that he loves you. How do you feel about his actions?”

No one had asked her that and she was thrown off guard for a split second. “He saved my life,” she met his eyes as she spoke. “I’m eternally grateful for him and if I ever had any doubts about how much he loved me, I would look back at what he did.” 

“No further questions.” He gave her a small smile to put her at ease, but her eyes were still locked on Tony’s. 

“The next person we call to the stand is Anthony Almeida. 

The bailiff swore him in before the examination started. “Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I do.” He responded firmly. 

“It’s been made clear how much you love your wife, it’s admirable really. You hear how people say they will do anything for the person they love, but a lot of the time they can’t prove it but you’re one of the few who did. Would you do it again?”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation. “She’s my whole world and as long as she’s safe, I don’t care what happens to me. I’m glad no one got hurt by what I did but it doesn’t change the fact I’d do it all over again if I had to.” 

A few more questions later after the defense was satisfied with his answers, it was the prosecution's turn. 

“You love your wife, correct?”

“Yes.”

“At any point while she was inside the Chandler Plaza Hotel did you ever tell her you loved her?”

“No, it was implied through every conversation we had. Michelle knows I love her, if I say it or not but at work we keep it professional.” 

“Professional? You call kidnapping Jane Saunders in order to trade her for your wife professional behavior? You didn’t tell your wife you loved her after claiming that you do and on top of all that, you said you would do it all again.” 

“Stop right there. You can question my loyalty, you can put me in prison for the rest of my life, you can do whatever the hell you want, but don’t ever question my love for my wife. She has been through hell and back and she’s saved me in more ways than one. She is the only thing I look forward to after a twenty four hour shift when we’re both on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion but she’ll smile at me and everything is okay again. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. I would do anything to keep her safe even if it meant putting myself in danger. She is my life and you can take me away from her, but it won’t change a damn thing.”

“No further questions, the prosecution rests, your Honor.” 

“The defense also rests, your Honor.”

“Members of the jury, you have heard all of the testimony concerning this case. It is now up to you to determine the facts. You and you alone, are the judges of the fact. Once you decide what facts the evidence proves, you must then apply the law as I give it to you to the facts as you find them,” the judge said, his attention directed to the jurors. 

Tony went back to his seat, anger evident in his body language. After closing statements, it was time for the jury to deliberate. His fate was now in the hands of complete strangers. 

A long two hours later, they came back with a verdict. 

“Have you reached a verdict?” The judge asked. 

“We have, your Honor,” the jury foreperson responded. 

“What say you?” 

“We the jury, in the case of The State of California versus Anthony Almeida find the defendant guilty of the charge of treason against the United States of America.”

She swore she felt her heart stop once the words left her mouth. Tears welled up in her eyes which she refused to let fall in front of everyone. 

“Thank you, jury, for your service today. Court is adjourned.” 

“No, no you can’t do this,” she shouted before realizing what she was doing. Jack gently grabbed her and guided her out into the hall where she let her tears fall freely.  

“They can’t… they can’t do this Jack, not after everything he’s done. I can't… I can’t breathe,” her chest was rising up and down rapidly, her breathing heavy. The signs of a beginning panic attack. 

“Breath with me, Michelle,” he took deep breaths and she followed his lead until her breathing went back to normal. 

“I need to see him,” she started to head back through the doors before he stopped her. 

“They’re not going to let you see him right now, they have to book him and in a couple hours they’ll let you but until then, we have to wait,” he explained calmly. 

“This is bullshit and you know it. They’re not even going to let us be alone and twenty years, Jack, twenty fucking years. That’s how long they’re taking him away for. It’s not right, it’s not fair.” 

“I know Michelle, but Tony needs you right now and you need him. You can still visit and trust me, I know it’s not the same but it’s something and that’s what you have to remember.” 

“What do we do now?”

“We wait, I’ll try talking to some guards I know to see if the two of you can have some privacy, but I’m not promising anything.”

“Okay, thank you Jack.”

He shot her a smile, “it’s the least I can do, until then, just try to relax.”

Jack drove them to Federal Correctional Institute where his sentence was to be held out. The building looming in the distance reminded her of everything they were going to lose in a few short minutes. 

“I’m gonna go talk to my friend inside and I’ll come get you when I’m done.” 

She nodded her head while looking blankly ahead. This didn’t feel real, she wanted to wake up from whatever nightmare she was currently in. She didn’t know how much time had passed when she saw Jack heading back towards the SUV. 

“You have three hours, it’s all I could get and I convinced them to give you privacy and I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything.” 

“Does he know?”

“No, I think he’d like to hear it from you more.”

“Thank you Jack.” 

He smiled in response. They headed inside the building and passed through security. Jack led her down a hall lined with cells on either side until arriving in front of a holding cell that provided privacy. 

“He’s in there?” She asked nervously. 

“Yeah.” 

Jack opened the door to reveal Tony in an orange jumpsuit. “Jack, how’s Miche- Michelle?” Shock was etched in his voice at seeing her in front of him. 

“Hi,” she smiled, the first real smile he’s seen. 

“Hey.” They stood there staring at each other until the initial shock wore off and in the next second, he was wrapping his arms around her. Tears flowed down over her cheeks, the feeling of his arms around her was comforting, something she would never take for granted again. 

“What are you doing here, sweetheart?” 

“I needed to see you. I can’t believe this is all happening and it’s all my fault and I’m sorry, Tony, I’m so sorry.” 

“Oh, Michelle, I don’t blame you. Like I told you earlier, you’re alive and I can live with that. Promise me that you won’t blame yourself?” 

“I promise,” her voice slightly wavered. 

“How did you manage to get back here?”

“Jack, he talked to some friends he had inside and he got us three hours alone and I know it’s not a lot but-”

He cut her off. “It’s perfect.” 

He led her over to one of the chairs in the room and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. 

“I missed you,” he said, burying his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her scent in as to memorize it. 

“I’m so, so sorry, Tony,” she cried softly. “This is all my fault, you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me or if I had waited for the hazmat suits and all those people… those agents… Gael… are dead because of me. I shouldn’t have listened to Jack when he told me to go back. We were so close.” 

“You can’t think like that, Michelle. I meant what I said in court, I would choose you over and over because I love you and I am incredibly grateful that no one was hurt by my actions. You made all the right decisions today and I know you don’t think so, but you helped so many people today and the people who died today, Gael, they will be remembered as heros. You saved even more lives today by listening to Jack. I can live here knowing that you’re safe and alive. I almost lost you twice today and you’re still here which is more than I could ask for. And Michelle-”

“Don’t, please,” she begged, cutting him off because she knew him well enough to know what he was going to say next. 

“I just want you to be happy, even if you find that it’s not with me in five, ten years. You deserve nothing but the best and I won’t be able to offer you that and I just want you to have that option, if you ever need it and I want you to know that you don’t have to feel bad if that moment ever comes.” he finished. 

“Tony, please, I can’t… I can���t talk about that right now. We don’t have long and I don’t want to spend that time talking about-”

“I know, sweetheart. I have so much to say and I just- I thought I had forever to say it, but now,” he glanced at the clock, “I have two and a half hours.” 

They spent the next couple hours talking about anything and everything that came to mind: their wedding day, visits with each of their families, all the different things they loved about each other, the day they met, their first date, the night he proposed, the might he brought Major home, holidays they spent together, the day they moved into their house, memories that they only knew and treasured. 

But time was quickly running out. 

The guard had come to notify them that they only had thirty minutes left. 

They spent a few minutes sitting in silence, soaking in each other's warmth and closeness.

“I don’t know how to do this without you, I can’t go home knowing that you’re here and-”

“You’re going to go home and do the best you can, alright? I know it won’t be easy, but you have to try to eat and get some sleep. It’ll be hard for awhile, for both of us, but we’ll get through it. We survived a bomb, a nuclear bomb, World War Three, a virus, and we’re still here. A twenty year sentence doesn’t seem too bad after that,” he said jokingly and when it seemed impossible, she started to laugh. 

“We have survived far worse.”

Two guards walked in after that and all hints of smiling and laughter were now gone. 

Time was up.

Tears started to form in her hazel eyes and his chest tightened. “We’re gonna get through this.”

“I know,” she replied. “This is hard.” she choked out, her voice breaking. 

“I know, baby. I know.” He helped her stand up before getting up himself and wrapped his arms around her, placing kisses on the top of her head. “I love you so much.” 

“I love you so much, Tony.”

He pulled back, cupping her face in his hands and kissed her passionately, pouring out his emotions. After the kiss ended, he reluctantly let her go and a guard came up behind him.

He walked him out and with one last glance at her, he disappeared from her view. 

“I’m sorry,” the other guard offered apologetically and she knew it wasn’t just because their time was up. She just nodded at him in response, talking right now was too hard. He led her out to the parking lot where she met Jack in his SUV. 

He didn’t say anything, not like he had to, he could only imagine what she was feeling right now. They spent the twenty minute drive to their house in complete silence and when he pulled into their driveway, she thanked him quietly before getting out.

“Hey,” he called after her softly. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Jack,” she offered a small smile before heading inside and the first thing she noticed was the quietness. Her and Tony would always walk through the door smiling and laughing, even after a tough day. Even if one of them got home first, it was never quiet. Family and friends would come over on their days off or on the weekends. The house was always filled with love and happiness, but now… but now it was completely silent. 

The silence was going to be the hardest part of coming home. She walked up the stairs leading to their bedroom to find Major asleep in the middle of the bed.

She undressed and put on one of his shirts and a pair of his sweatpants that engulfed her small frame. The lingering smell of his cologne relaxed her a little bit and she climbed into the bed that was way too big for one person. Major woke up and moved his head to lick her face. He was a baby when it came to Michelle and every night, he was snuggled up behind her and tonight was no different. 

She didn’t know what the future held, but for now, she would try to get some sleep like she promised and would go back to the prison to visit him as soon as possible. The time they had together earlier was enough for now and she drifted off into the first real sleep she’s had in a month. 

There was still hope and until there wasn’t any left, she wasn’t going to give up on him. 

[sunday-school-lessons]

The Church is United in the Essentials

(Note to readers: “If” you would rather watch a video of this lesson, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/jB7BcEjS2mQ ).

Today we're going to begin a new series of lessons under the general heading of:

Don't Forget.

 We will be drawing Scriptures from the 15th chapter of the Book of Acts.

  We're going to be discussing the nature of salvation with a focus on the subject of "justification."

 Now, even though we have discussed this subject of justification before, I think it would be a good idea to revisit the theological definition of the word again.

 In Christian theology,

justification is God's righteous act of removing the condemnation,

the guilt,

and the penalty of sin,

by grace, while, at the same time,

declaring the ungodly to be righteous,

through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice.

 Lots of words get thrown around by the "religious" crowd.

Sometimes, when we get all in to it and use words like justification, sanctification, glorification, and others, and without realizing it, we’re talking over the heads of lots of people.

But before we get into the lesson, I'd like to talk briefly about something that often happens among groups of people who are "trying" to get something..... spiritual to happen.

We’ve all heard the word, "ritual"

casually used in conversation.

And, all of us perform rituals without giving them a second thought.

When you habitually do the same things every morning preparing for your day, it's said to be a ritual; you’re “routine.”

Yet, there are lots of rituals people perform in an effort to experience something......supernatural.

If you're watching this video, more than likely, you do believe in the supernatural.

And it's a good thing to believe in the supernatural.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18 Paul writes:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

But it's not "just" the message of the cross that the church is projecting to the rest of the world.

Thanks to modern technology, people from every culture can watch as Christians perform a variety of rituals throughout the year.

Rituals, defined, are solemn ceremonies that incorporate a series of actions that are performed according to a prescribed order.

It's kind of like following a recipe to end up with a dish you want.

I mean, you don't use tuna to make a strawberry cake.

It wouldn't be fair to single out any particular group here.

However, to the world at large, religious folks do some pretty strange things at times.

Here's a few of them.

This video that’s playing in the background here shows the holy fire ceremony of Easter in Jerusalem, …. Jewish people at the wailing wall, also in Jerusalem,… and a baptismal ceremony in the Jordan River.

I'm not condemning any celebration that lifts up our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But at the same time, there's a big difference between commemorating a holy day and trying to perform something........ well..... magical.

There are tons of people in this world that know full well that magic, real magic, exists.

Magic is where you apply beliefs, rituals, or certain actions so that you can control and manipulate natural or supernatural beings or forces.

Magic's something that's not really science or religion.

But, the most important thing to remember about magic is that God hates it!

In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Moses is inspired by God to write:

"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens,

engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD;

because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you."

(people really did offer their babies to Baal...through the fire; and they really did, and still do practice all of the things I just read to you...... and God hates it!)

On the surface, it would appear that God detests these sorts of things because they lure people away from Him.

And, I’m sure that’s part of it. But it goes much deeper than that.

Where do you think the power behind magical abilities comes from?

Right!

It comes from the ultimate liar!

It comes from Lucifer himself.

And, just in case you didn't already know it; Lucifer hates you!

On the other hand, God created man to ultimately be His companions far beyond time itself.

Lucifer is not invited to that party!

He had already been thrown out of heaven long before God created man.

And it's because of Satin's work to sully the purity that Adam and Eve lived in, that sin, ….. that rebellion entered the world of humans.

Now, God has made the way for individuals to make their way back to Him.

He has made a way to justify us.

 So, once again,  

justification is God's righteous act of removing the condemnation,

the guilt,

and the penalty of sin,

by grace, while, at the same time,

declaring the ungodly to be righteous,

through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice.

  Section 1:

 The Church Debates the Nature of Salvation

 Acts 15:1-5;

 Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers,

"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses,

you cannot be saved."

 After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate,

Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

 When they had been sent on their way by the church,

they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria,

describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles,

and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church,

the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

 But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said,

"It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses."

 From the very beginning, different people had different understandings about salvation. It’s important that we be constantly vigilant of the things we accept as truth. We just can’t afford to allow things like legalism to creep into the church. So, what’s legalism look like? The 1st verse I just read to you: Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers,

"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses,

you cannot be saved."

At the very heart of legalism, is the idea that ’unless you add so-and-so to your faith, you cannot be saved. The Bible teaches us that we are graciously accepted by God as righteous by faith alone in Christ alone; nothing else. I have attended churches over the years who preached and believed that unless you…… well, they were hanging

customs, rituals, and “procedures” onto this simple salvation that the Lord offers us. So, always remember, salvation comes ”by faith alone in Christ alone.” Nothing else. Seriously, adding any other means of seeking God’s acceptance is misguided, wrong, and, quiet frankly, it’s downright dangerous. That group of Jewish Christians that spoke up were insisting that the Gentile converts had to   become Jews through the rite of circumcision in order to become Christians. These Jews who resisted the idea that Gentiles were converting to Christianity without becoming Jewish believed that salvation was something that had been offered to the Jews alone. These very same people believed Jesus was the Messiah, and that salvation was in Jesus alone. Yet, they were trying to add ritual or custom to salvation in demanding the converts become Jewish as well. We just studied the subject of “unity.” Legalism is a device of the devil. When people among the congregation go down that road of legalism, their words and actions rob the members of their joy and unity. In adding their demands to the gospel of grace, these legalists begin to pass judgment on everyone who does not meet the new demands. Then, the legalists criticize the leadership for not imposing their standard on the rest of the body. Then, division begins as the legalist tries to gain support for their position. Now you have two sides. The demands and judgments of the legalists continue to tear the church apart. Never let your guard down. It’s so easy to be drawn in, and the truth is still as simple as I’ve already stated. Salvation is in faith alone, in Christ alone.

Legalism distorts our Biblical view of God. The root of legalism is our own distorted view of God. When we have a wrong view of God, we WILL have a wrong view of salvation. A wrong view of God is why sinners are still sinners. The world does not see our God as we do. This is why it is so very important that we live our lives in a way that others can Jesus in us.

 Section 2:

 The Church Affirms Justification by Faith Alone

 Acts 15:11, 14-18;

 The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them,

"Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you,

that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit,

just as he also did to us.

 He made no distinction between us and them,

cleansing their hearts by faith.

 Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved thorough the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are."

 ..................................

 Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

 And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

 After these things I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent.

I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord..... even all the Gentiles who are called by my name.....

declares the Lord who makes these things

 known from long ago.

 What’s being described in these verses was the 1st church council; the Council of Jerusalem. The Apostles and the church elders convened together for the purpose of making an important decision concerning a matter of salvation through justification. In all, there have been 22 councils held. By the year 325, the year the Council of Nicaea was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine, the church was already calling itself “Catholic” (a word that means all-encompassing, universal, or all-embracing). The Council of Nicaea, and the following 20 councils were convened primarily because of, you guessed it, legalism that had entered the church. There was great division within the body of Christ on a variety of subjects that the church “fathers” felt they had to over and over again to settle the matters. By 1517 the German monk, Martin Luther, nailed his proclamations onto the church doors and started the Protestant movement. Today, there are those who claim that as many as 38,000 different denominations of the church exist. Churches have split over things as simple as whether to use the word, “is” or “as.”

 One that I’ve toyed around with for years, is often quoted from the pulpit. It’s: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:8 KJV "We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Preachers will misquote the Scripture and say something along the lines of: ”To be absent from the body IS to be present with the Lord.” The words “is” and “and” are not equal and they do not mean the same thing. But I’m not telling y’all this to divide us; it’s just an example. An example that illustrates how easily you can be drawn in to a “legalistic” argument. But, before moving on, I would like to point out that the example I just used has absolutely nothing at all to do with salvation. The important thing to always remember is that salvation comes by grace alone, in faith alone, in Christ….ALONE! This is not double-speak; it follows a very logical progression of thought.

This message of salvation is for everyone; whether Jew or Gentile.

 Section 3:

 The Church Advocates Freedom in Love

 Acts 15:19-21;

 Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles, who turn to God,

 but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols,

from sexual immorality,

from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

 For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day

he is read aloud in the synagogues."

 If memory serves me right, Moses issued a total of 613 laws.

There was a reason God gave these to Moses. It was to show the children of Israel that no matter how hard they tried, they could not save themselves, because they could not keep the law in its entirety. So why did the Jerusalem Council tack on four of the Mosaic laws? (abstaining from things offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating things that have been strangled, and from blood?) For one thing, these four things were tied to the pagan temple practices of their day. This was certainly the case for the people of Corinth at that time. It was there that some in the church believed that since they were saved by faith, it freed them to actually continue to sin. And, there are folks out there today who believe that justification by faith frees them to continue to sin. The Apostles mentioned these things because they understood that the gospel still has expectations for holiness and for love in the lives of believers. There’s a section of Scripture in the 1st chapter of 1st Peter entitled:

Living Before God Our Father.

 In it, Peter quotes from the Law of Moses by saying, As Christians, we’re to seek, to strive to live our lives in love and holiness; not because we’re attempting to gain God’s favor, but because He has clearly told us to be holy because He is. Paragraph from lesson: …………………��……………………… The apostles and the elders, with the help of the Holy Spirit, maintained the unity of the church by not adding anything to the gospel of grace. But with their four commands, for the sake of the Jews, they did ask the Gentiles to obey the “law of Christ”, or ”the royal law”…… ”Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our obedience to God and His Son, Jesus, is out of love. If we love God, we will obey Him.

 If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments. The doctrine of justification by faith does not free us to sin; it empowers us to love….. to love God and to love others. ……………………………………….

 The thing is, the Jews had been dispersed throughout the known world of their time. These people, God’s chosen people, though scattered, continued to take part in their traditions and their law-keeping in their synagogues. So, to maintain a faithful witness to the Jews and to maintain loving fellowship with their Jewish-Christian brothers, the apostles asked the Gentiles to abstain from those things that most offended the Jews. So, out of love, Gentiles were

To pursue holiness and leave off their old pagan ways. The gospel of grace frees us to love one another. We are no longer under the Old Testament and it’s myriad of laws. However, the Mosaic Law still has implications for believers because it’s God’s Word. The 10 Commandments were given under the law. Just because Christ came and fulfilled the law, does that mean it would be okay to murder, to steal, or to lie on your neighbors? Of course not! The Scriptures are an infallible guide to salvation. The Bible does use round numbers here and there, and varying perspectives of different events, but it is still completely truthful. As for Christianity, until Christ returns, there will always be disagreement over issues; both small and great. We really do have the freedom to disagree with one another over some things in our faith and understanding. But I like to think these are things that, in no way, affect our salvation. Our understanding of God and of the gospel of Jesus Christ just can’t be a point of divisiveness. Eternity lies in the balance. We should all be determined to contend vigorously for the foundational doctrines, like justification by faith alone. From Jesus to the apostles to us, the Holy Spirit has safeguarded the Christian faith over many, many generations. That’s how the Spirit keeps us united in faith and united for our mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Let’s pray….

[katsidhe]

15.12 Final Thoughts

Bye, Earth 2. Bye, French Mistake alpaca farm.

Chuck makes for a challenging antagonist, because, well, there is no real way to fight him. He’s omnipotent, for certain values of omnipotent. The only thing keeping him in check is himself. That is to say, his own needs, desires, and self-image. He didn’t torture Sam personally in 15.09 not because he couldn’t, or because he found it morally repugnant, but because it conflicted with the way he thinks about himself as, on the whole, a generous guy who dislikes dirty work. Culling the multiverse is something Chuck is careful to justify as simply brushing aside knock-offs.

I’ve talked about this before: I think Chuck’s complexity as an antagonist rests on seeing himself as, in a very fundamental sense, a benevolent narrator. Importantly, this means that he doesn’t view himself as a moral actor in the stories themselves—which means that his brief dips into direct interaction with his creations always run the risk of dulling this juxtaposition by turning him into a more conventional type of enemy. 15.12 (and s15 as a whole so far) flirts with this edge, but on the whole does a fair job of keeping Chuck aloof and distracted, rather than cruel.

I am going to take issue with the idea that Sam and Dean’s was the ONLY story he’s interested in. It seems to have become his favorite, certainly, but, come on. Billions of years versus about four decades? Pretty sure Chuck’s had millions of other OCs to pass the time. (This type of thing is another item on the list of Main Character Essentialisms, a predictable plague of the last season of a popular TV show, and a habitual off-and-on problem of SPN.)

Kaia and the storyline I don’t care about—y’know, not every hanging plot thread needs to be sewed up, Show. I’d have been happy to forget that the weird spear ever existed. (Hanging plot threads I am interested in include wtf is up with awake Lucifer in the Empty, but at this point it looks like everyone’s decided it’s fine and no problem. Okay, whatever. I also want Michael and Adam to hang out w/ everyone, because bonding, amirite.)

Something something, gotta register my annoyance at the assumption that a queer ship is Good Writing simply because it’s queer, one conversation does not a two-year true love revenge quest make, no diversity points (tm) awarded /end discourse

When is Cas going to stop fucking calling Sergei??? The last time he did that, Sam nearly died, and the time before that, Jack DID die. Why do you still have his number, Cas. Hell, calling Michael would probably be safer. (And significantly more entertaining.)

The cycle of blackmail in this episode is HILARIOUS. Threatened Kaia—>got her trapped in another universe—>blackmailed a reaper to save her —>got the reaper executed. Nnnnnnicely done, guys. Net gain = -2. 

Billie! I love how her confidence is that of deep inevitability. She’s one of the only truly, deeply Lawful characters on SPN, and she’s always a pleasure.

Jack and soullessness and suspicion about him, his motives, what he is. It’s an old refrain. And yet the Jack we see is the same as ever—quiet, unsure, until he identifies a moral issue he cares strongly about, and then he’ll plow ahead and damn the consequences.

I wish, deeply and bitterly, that Jack had held onto any of his resentment or his fear and anger from 14.19. Instead, he’s faced with Sam weakly reassuring him that he could have come to them.

Which, first of all, simply is not true (see: 14.19, 14.20). But it also implies that Jack had actually committed an additional sin—one of SPN’s cardinal sins, that of keeping ~Secrets~. It’s yet another Sam parallel—the guilt, the idea that a secret is another thing owed to family.

[planetsam]

One of Alex's airforce buddies not knowing who "Guerin" is but knowing exactly who "Michael" is.

“Who are they?” Michael asks.

Maria glances over at the group, not needing him to elaborate on who ‘they’ are. He’s got a suspicion but he wants to be sure. Why he wants to be sure, he can’t say. This has nothing to do with him. The minuscule head-shake Alex gave when he walked in made that pretty fucking clear.

“Alex’s air force unit,” she says. In a kindness he doesn’t deserve she smirks, “they make plane noises every time I bring them shots.”

“Cliche’s just keep coming,” he mutters, knocking back his beer.

“Tell me about it,” she says looking at him for a moment too long before she perks up. “What can I get you?” She asks.

“I’ll take a jack and coke,” he says. He glances at Michael and does something of a double take.

“Ignore Guerin,” Maria advises, rescuing him from some awkwardness, “he’s just going to pick a fight to get out of his tab.”

The man looks surprised but nods at both of them, takes his jack and goes back to his buddies. Michael has given up on what people here think of him and Alex won’t acknowledge him in front of his buddies. He knows he shouldn’t care what they think of him. He refuses to turn and look but Maria glances over and her eyes narrow slightly. His resolve caves and he sees Jack-and-Coke has pulled someone off to the side and is talking to her. She rolls her eyes at something and moves away, shaking off the guy’s attempt to stop her. He risks a glance at Alex whose got pure panic starting on his face. Michael turns from him because he deserves that. The girl isn’t bad to look at and Michael knows that sex can get him into trouble but if he’s inviting that trouble in—

“You’re Guerin right?” She says.

“Depends whose asking,” he says with a smile that earns him a swat from Maria’s dishtowel.

“He’s Michael. I’m Maria. We’re friends of Alex’s. I hope Alex has only told you good stories,” she says with a laugh Michael can only smile along with, “you’re in his unit?”

She glances back and Michael follows her gaze to see every single one of them is glancing at the exchange. Alex has gone silent and looks like he wants to murder the beer in front of him. Worse, he looks like he wants to disappear. Maria’s smile slips and she looks worried. Michael can be an ass but he flat out refuses to get anywhere near the ballpark of Jesse Manes. He’s not ruining Alex’s night. He sets down his beer and looks at Maria whose worry turns to a full on scowl.

“Put it on my tab,” he says.

“You lost tab privileges,” she says, “how much you got on you?”

“My winning smile,” he says.

“I’ll get his beer,” the woman volunteers, reminding him she’s still standing there.

“You don’t have to—“

“I insist,” she says.

“I’m sorry,” Maria looks at her as he’s still trying to object to the charity from one of Alex’s friends, “what did you say you did?”

“I didn’t,” she says, “I’m a medic,” she explains.

Michael freezes on the chair. Maria’s flirtatious pose shifts to something far more genuine. They look at each other. It’s not as if Alex talks about a specific day. Michael doesn’t even know if soldiers celebrate days like this, though it seems like they might. He feels woefully outmatched in this strange world, but his curiosity gets the best of him and he forces his defense mechanisms back before Maria can give him a warning look.

“So you know me?” He says.

“Well, no,” she tells him. She looks over and shakes her head, “men,” she mutters and lowers her voice, “I recognized you.”

“From?” Maria prods

“Alex had this picture,” she starts.

Michael chokes on his beer.

It’s a good thing there’s a medic because he can’t fucking breathe. Maria swears as half his beer comes out his nose all over the bar. He just does his best not to go all telekinetic over everything. One life shattering revelation is more than enough for tonight. Fortunately he’s got an air force medic standing there. So all he needs to do is go unconscious and she can save him. He sputters and coughs and of course the universe is really determined to tell him to go fuck himself because the hand that lands on his back isn’t the nice air force medic he was potentially planning to seduce. It’s Alex. Who despite being a monumental dick is glancing around to make sure Michael hasn’t outed himself.

“Picture?” He wheezes at the medic. She presses her lips together and he turns to Alex, “what picture?”

Alex opens and closes his mouth several times. For a man whose been adamant about hiding everything when it comes to his sexuality and Michael in particular, the notion that there’s a picture of him somewhere in the desert isn’t something he can wrap his head around. He looks at Maria for an out but she’s watching this as hungrily as any of the air force people. Alex finally pulls his wallet out and holds out the same god damn picture Michael has in his trailer. The sight of the guitars makes his hand ache, but not as much as the water damage. Or liquid damage. He imagined it wasn’t rusted water that browned the corners. He can barely grip the photo without damaging it further or touching a place he knows was covered in Alex’s blood. He coughs into his elbow and  a nauseating thought occurs that somewhere a world away Alex was choking and looking at the picture. He shoves it back at him. Alex slips the thing back into his wallet with so much care Michael wants to demand to know why the picture gets to be around him more than he does. He knows the answer. He doesn’t fit like that photo does.

“I knew I should have listened to Isobel when she said I needed a haircut,” he mutters and turns back to miss medic, “how’d you find it? I’m guessing Alex wasn’t showing it around.”

“I’ll let him tell you that,” she says, “come join us after.”

Alex sits down next to him and rubs at his leg. Michael’s not sure if it’s a mental thing or if he’s cycling through another prosthetic. Alex has made it clear he doesn’t have the right to ask. If its the anniversary of it though, Michael has a feeling it’s mental. It took him a good few years to not have that vicious ache in his hand right before that day. The other ache it brings up isn’t so easily escapable. Alex folds his hands and looks straight ahead.

“It was in my flak jacket.”

“Jesus, Alex,” he swears, glad he’s not about to choke on anything but his own crushing disappointment, “you carried a picture of us?” Alex has the grace to look slightly embarrassed at the fact that he’d carry a picture but not speak to him. “What the hell? Why?”

“A lot of soldiers do it,” he protests

“Yeah they also write letters and do skype calls. Why?”

“I needed something!” Alex says. Michael scoffs, “I couldn’t have you,” he continues, “this was the only thing i could think of.”

“Well i guess it’s easier to walk away with something that fits in your back pocket,” he sneers and Alex recoils.

Michael says he’s perfectly justified in being pissed about it, but the wounded expression on Alex’s face brings him a lot closer to Jesse Manes territory than he ever wanted to be. Hurting him in any way has never been something Michael’s tried to do. His stomach hurts at even slightly crossing that line. Maria’s expression is somewhat neutral but when their eyes catch she comes over. He shakes his head because he did not send out the call for help she’s interpreting. Alex pauses half getting up and Maria sighs. He sits back down.

“I don’t know how I didn’t see this before,” she says, shaking her head, “you two are as subtle as Guerin’s hat.”

“Hey!” He objects half heartedly.

“How come you don’t want to introduce him to your buddies?” She asks, “they seem to know he’s important to you,” Alex flushes, “is it the shirt?”

“What’s wrong with my shirt?” He demands.

“The top 5 buttons?” Maria asks. Michael scowls and she smiles back in a way that’s sweet like arsenic, “what else?” Alex says nothing, “look I get it’s weird knowing you slept with the town’s resident genius/cowboy/manhoe—“

“I’m right here!”

“But once you tell the first person, it gets easier. And everyone benefits from communicating. Secrets lead to awkwardness, Alex, I don’t like that in my bar. Happy people tip better with less talking.”

“Look i’ll solve this right now. Goodnight to both of you,” he says, standing up.

A chorus of disappointment echoes and he turns to see the airmen all looking at him. He looks at Alex because while they seem great and he could personally kiss every one of them for saving Alex, he’s only got one reason to go over there. Alex holds his gaze and Michael knows what he’s going to say. He can’t stand it though. Not knowing about the picture or how close Alex came to dying. So he turns away, for the first time properly, and gets the hell out of there. He drinks something harder and tells himself it doesn’t count. If Alex wants to live a lie, Michael doesn’t need to spend his time searching for the truth.

He wakes up a later to a knock at his door. Fuck him if he knows who that is. He wants to roll over but he also wants to see Alex. Its the ultimate catch-22. Seeing Alex wins as always. Maybe if he catches up with his drinking they can hate fuck and blame it on that. He opens the door to find one very agitated airman, which he expects. And several other cars, which he doesn’t. He wants to make some joke about project shephard and probing but it dries up when Alex steps forward. Irrationally Michael would take the probing at the moment than having him in his space without permission.

“How much have you drunk?”

“Nothing!” Alex says, “i fucked up. I’m sorry. I got scared,” Michael sighs and stops just short of rolling his eyes, “they found the picture because I was holding it. It got me through the medvac back. I was going into shock and when I focused on this I could get through the pain.”

“That’s not fair,” Michael says, the livewires twisting in his chest, “that’s not me.”

“I know,” Alex says, “i know. But you’re—“ he stops, “you. You’re here. This isn’t more important,” he says. Michael raises a disbelieving eyebrow, “it’s not!” Alex says, fumbling with his wallet. Michael stares as he gets the picture out and tears it in half. Michael’s jaw falls open, “I don’t want the picture.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Michael says.

“I know,” Alex replies, taking a deep breath like he’s set down something impossibly heavy. “i don’t know what to call us,” he tells him.

“Complicated?” Michael offers.

“Cosmically complicated?” Alex says, so low Michael almost misses it. He has to fight not to laugh. He can already feel his resolve weakening, “it doesn’t matter to them.”

“I’m so glad,” he says around the old hurt.

“It matters to me,” Alex continues, “i don’t want this to be some undefined thing for—-however long you’re here.”

Michael’s eyes narrow at the flash of pain. He files it away for later because when Alex gets all stubborn and talkative, short of an alien spaceship Michael has yet to see him pause. Alex swallows and meets his eyes.

“That’s everyone who was with me and helped save my life. You’re not your picture and I know it’s not fair and I messed up, but please come meet them.”

Michael kicks the door open a bit wider until Alex gets the message and holds it. He snatches his bigger copy of it and comes back to him.

“You’re right,” Michael says, “you did mess up. Alex stares as he holds out the picture, “I’ll make you a copy,” he says. Alex looks down. “Just call me Michael,” he says. There’s such hope in Alex’s eyes when his head flies up, “that’s my name.” He scrubs his face with his hands, “lets go,” he says.

“Literary reference?” Alex tells him as they head to the cars, “Does Max know you read Moby Dick?”

“Don’t push it,” Michael warns him as his friends clamor out of their cars, “you think this intro is awkward—“ he trails off as Alex looks nervous for a moment before he takes control.

“Amelia this is—“ Michael takes pity.

“I’m Michael,” he says, “it’s a pleasure.”

He’s an alien, after all, not a monster.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I'm worried about Volume 7 for RWBY. What if they pander to the Bumbleby fans again like they did in Volume 6? What if they make Blake a full-on lesbian and make her and Yang kiss in front of Sun? WHAT IF THEY MAKE EVERYONE IN THE SHOW LGBT!!!???? D:) I'm just a little worried that CRWBY is going to make the show more LGBT (Not that I hate LGBT even though I'm heterosexual, its just that there was too much in Volume 6.

Ooof! This is a pretty touch and go subject anon-chan. So I will do my best to remain as humble and respectable about it while still providing an honest opinion on the matter. Fair warning, it’s a rather long answer post:

I see what you’re basically saying anon. I’m also a straight person but  I am supportive of the LGBT community. Like anyone in today’s media, I’d like for my LGBT brethren to receive just as much good representation because why not? Why shouldn’t their stories and experiences be told too, y’know what I’m saying? Why shouldn’t they be able to look at a character on screen and see themselves in said character since they can relate to who they are as a person and what their experiences?

That’s how I look at it. But there is a fine line between what could be considered great representation and pandering. I’m a glutton for good storytelling and character writing so what I consider great representation is when you’re able to take a certain kind of character—any kind of character regardless of who they are— and just tell a good story with them. Something that makes me as the audience care about said character regardless even if I may not relate directly to them as a person or their experiences.

For example: I may not be LGBT but if you give me an LGBT character with a great story and terrific writing to back them up—one who is not just an LGBT character but a good character overall who is LGBT (believe it or not,there is a difference) then I can support said character. Not just because they are LGBT but because they are a good character. Just like in real life, there is more to an individual than just their sexuality or one characteristic about them. I get that a character’s orientation is a part of who they are but it’s not ALL that they are; y’know what I’m saying?

What I personally don’t like seeing is when showrunners make half-ass attempts at appealing to certain demographics by introducing characters who feel more like cardboard cut-outs or props placed on a string to dangle to said target audience as opposed to being actual characters who feel like real people with exceptionally-written stories that the audience can connect with.

Personally, I am tired of the whole schlock where showrunners introduce LGBT characters like it’s a last minute brain fart. It’s especially worse when they take characters who weren’t initially confirmed to be LGBT at the start of the series but suddenly make this a big reveal later in the series run. I’m not talking S2 but like in way later seasons; like near the very end when the series is about to wrap up. And I’m not even talking like it’s a thing where the character go on a journey of self-discovery where they are unsure of their orientation at first and the seasons are about building up to them coming out. I’m talking straight up saying “This character is LGBT now. That’s it. They just are. Nevermind that they weren’t that several seasons ago. They’re just that. The end.”

I’m looking straight at you Voltron: Legendary Defender and before you, Legend of Korra.  

Additionally, what sucks is that often times, if an LGBT character is introduced in a such a contrived way and you as an audience member complain about it due to how it was portrayed, you end up being labelled with some derogatory term that overlooks what you were trying to say. It’s like some folksactively believe that you should automatically support something just because it represents a minority group and you should be happy that this is what certain shows are doing to breech that.

For example: I, as an audience member, should automatically be supportive of an LGBT character and relationship within a show I like because it is LGBT. Nevermind if it’s good representation, I should just like it because it is this and if I don’t, I’m labelled as being homophobic. Nevermind that I have justifiable reasons for not supporting said character or pairing that have nothing to do with them being LGBT. I’m just automatically roped in with the people who are like this despite my views not highlighting any kind of animosity towards LGBT representation overall.

To tell me that I should automatically support all LGBT rep in RWBY because it is LGBT is like telling me that Emerald Sustrai should automatically be my all-time favourite character because she is a black female character in the show and I am a black female.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Emerald but she isn’t my favourite. Ya’ll know who my favourite is. I don’t need to repeat myself. But should I be considered a racist just because I say Emerald isn’t my favourite despite my reasons having little to do with the colour of her skin but rather how she is written in the series? No.

This is why I don’t like seeing examples where fans are labelled homophobic just because they don’t support Bumblebee or any other LGBT character or ship within RWBY.

Let’s use the favourite character example again. My favourite character in RWBY is Oscar Pine. Oscar isn’t the best developed character within the series but my interest in him stems from the tremendous potential he has to become one of the best written characters in RWBY given the calibre of characters and stories he draws inspiration from. That being said, I can understand why not many people like Oscar. As a matter of fact, my main frustration with Oscar as a fan of his is how he’s portrayed within the show and how his growth and development is often handled by the CRWBY Writers. I understand why it’d be difficult for others to get behind Oscar as a favourite character since the writing, more often than none, doesn’t support how good he could be. (We’ll see if V7 finally changes that).

The same thing can be said for the Bumblebee pair and why there are those folks who are unable to support it 100%. I’ll focus on the Bees as my primary LGBT rep example since they’re the pair you mainly brought up.

I’m aware that there are those special folks out there who harp on this pairing simply because it is LGBT. I know those fans exist and it’s a shame that that’s their feelings but, to each their own. However, as I must say with great emphasis—not everyone who dislikes or isn’t supportive of Bumblebee are homophobic.

I’ll use myself as an exemplar of this. I’m a BlackSun shipper who has zero issue with Bumblebee or the prospect of it becoming canon endgame. On the contrary,as of V6, I’ve wholeheartedly stopped caring about who the showrunners put to be Blake’s final love interest. After watching 6 seasons of the showrunners tease both BlackSun and Bumblebee, I’ve grown tired of this charade they’ve forced us fans to dance to. 

I don’t care who Blake ends up with. I just would very much like for the CRWBY Writers to make up their mind on who they wish to push to be with Blake and stick with said person.

One of the reasons I’ve heard folks say the Writers are pushing Bumblebee now is because Sun is out of the picture and in all honestly, I can see the truth in this. It does feel rather suspicious that the instant Sun is out of the story, it’s suddenly bee season. Say what you wish to say, BlackSun is a ship that has always been at the forefront since V1. 

By my observations, Bumblebee didn’t become as glaringly apparent as it is now until the end of V5 going into V6. 

The Beekeepers can debate as much as they’d like about ‘Bumblebee being planned from the beginning’ but this is simply not true. I rewatched all of RWBY with the recent two seasons still being very fresh in my mind. I recapped the series with an open-mind to see if all those hints that Beekeepers have preached about for years on end held up.

In V1, Blake and Yang were teammates slowly becoming friends similar to Weiss and Ruby and that was basically it. In V2, it was the same energy and I know they had their famous moment in ‘Burning the Candle’ that most Beekeepers like to use as leverage to imply that this was the starting line of Blake and Yang ‘falling in love’ but again, this was not the case. 

That moment could easily be argued as a mere meaningful scene between two very close friends. Blake and Yang weren’t lovers or even seen to be falling in love with each other in that scene. It was just one friend trying to help another during a dire time where she almost destroyed herself with her own obsession over Torchwick.

In V3, same thing—friends looking out for each other. You can basically say that the Beacon Trilogy did a great job of establishing the friendship between Blake and Yang. Particularly Yang’s loyalty to Blake as one of her closest friends.   

From V1, Yang was always seen as someone who had Blake’s back no matter what. No matter how many times Blake was called out for her actions, she had Yang’s support. It’s what made it so heart-breaking to watch in V3 when Yang needed that trust and support reciprocated by Blake during the moment where she was framed during the Vytal Festival or even after losing her arm.

Instead of being there for her, Blake either expressed doubt in Yang (due to her past with Adam) or straight up ran. As unfortunate as it is to say, Blake wasn’t as good of a friend to Yang as she was to her and this was good because it was a set up for her whole arc during the events of V4-V6.

Up until this point, everything regarding Blake and Yang’s relationship had been about their friendship. Friends who are there for each other. That’s the thing. I can make the argument that Bumblebee, as a couple, did not become a real focus until the end of V5. 

And from V6, that’s when the pandering started to slowly happen. This is why I never bought into Beekeepers celebrating the Bees being canon after V6. I didn’t see that and I still can’t understand how the Beekeepers can see Blake and Yang murdering Adam Taurus as a triumph for their relationship.

It is…sort of…but at the same time it isn’t. It’s morally stained. On one end, you have two friends who both suffered at the hands of this villain before working together to take him down but on the other hand, they killed him.

Now his blood is on their hands and what’s bothersome is that the series simply treats it like nothing. No emotional or psychological repercussions for either girl. Again we’ll see if V7 does anything with that, but nonetheless, I did not believe Bumblebee being canon after V6.

Bumblebee isn’t there yet for me. It has the potential to get there if that is what the showrunners wholeheartedly wished to do. I just wished they would take their time to continue to flesh out the Bumblebee dynamic before possibly bringing in romance if that’s in the cards for these two. And I certainly hope that they aren’t only pushing the Bees to score points with the Beekeepers, using their support to push the show.

I’m not saying all the Yang and Blake moments were blatant pandering; but I will admit there were one or two that were glaringly obvious.

Similar to you anon-chan, I didn’t particular enjoy the pandering to this ship last season either. I honestly felt that the showrunners were more focused on the pandering than actually continuing to develop Blake and Yang’s bond overall. 

This is especially sad because there was room for further growth as brought up in V5. However it feels like most of the former tension that was highlighted in V5 suddenly got dropped by the finale, which made me question why even bring it up in the first place, y’know what I mean?

My main justification for not lobbying behind this pair is because there hasn’t been much evidence within the show to really sell these two as lovers for me. And the pandering doesn’t help. I don’t like pandering.

Nothing wrong with tossing some delicious breadcrumbs for potential canon ships within a series. But what I tend to dislike is when showrunners only bait certain ships to score points with the audience members lobbying for this kind of pair when in actuality they have zero intentions of making said ship official. I’ve mostly seen this sort of thing done with LGBT ships in animated series and it gets annoying after some time.

Why string people along like that? If you are not serious about making certain relationships canon or developing them in a way that feels natural, realistic and relatable to a variety of audiences; not just the one it’s mainly targeted at, then…don’t do it at all. 

It’s like what J.K. Rowling has been doing with the recent queer baiting in the Fantastic Beasts series. Why claim that you have that rep within your franchise only to not do it when you had the chance to? So basically you were only doing it for the attention it brings in today’s modern media. Gotta score dem sweet woke points. 

That level of pandering is what I find obnoxious and in the case of RWBY, I wouldn’t like for that to be done for Bumblebee ship or any other LGBT character or ship to come out of the series moving forward.

But to be fair, in defence of the CRWBY, sometimes it’s not always them. In terms of LGBT rep, sometimes a show might not introduce two characters or their bond as being LGBT but some audience members, for whatever reason, end up interpreting it that way and that’s the appeal of it for them. Some might even end up advocating for the show to confirm said characters to be LGBT purely because that’s what they like to see regardless of whether it was the showrunner’s intention or not.

This is what I’m seeing currently within the FNDM where a lot of Bee-shippers are seeing the conclusion of V6 as being a sign that Bumblebee is officially canon when the reality is that that’s not the case. You can almost say that is an example of an instance when the show is pandering to a certain type of audience and that audience takes what’s given and runs far with it even though that’s not the confirmed case within the series itself.

Again, I don’t believe Bumblebee is canon. While I feel like that may be where the show wants to take them, they’re not there as yet. And until the show takes the proper time to develop this pairing in that supposed direction, I’m not going to fully buy into it. But this is only my view. I have no control over how another fan interprets something. I can only speak for myself.

What if they pander to the Bumbleby fans again like they did in Volume 6?

Honestly, I’ll say this again. If Blake and Yang being canonically revealed as LGBT is the CRWBY Writers’ vision for these characters, all I can hope for is that it’s handled well. 

Like I said. I have retired from caring about who Blake ends up with romantically. While I will always remain a BlackSun shipper at heart (since I love my Sunshine boi), Blake’s love life is no longer of interest to me moving forward. I don’t care who the CRWBY picks just as long as they make up their mind and stick with it.

I really hope that the CRWBY aren’t pushing the Bees now because of no Sun. I honestly hope that we don’t get plenty of Bees for the majority of the Atlas Arc only for them to introduce some boring unnecessary drama between them and Sun as soon as they head for Vacuo. Please no! 

Up until now I never got the impression within the actual show that there was ever a love triangle between Yang, Blake and Sun. That kind of stuff was mostly reserved for the toxic side of the FNDM with the ridiculous shipping wars between BlackSun and Bumblebee. I would honestly be mega pissed if the Sunnybees love triangle is made into an actual subplot for RWBY in a future season. HELL NO!

Even now I still believe Bumblebee to be one-sided. What made me get behind Bumblebee was mainly for what it would mean for Yang. Between the two girls, I felt the Bumblebee vibe strongest with Yang more than Blake since at the time back in V5, she was with Sun and her focus was on Adam. 

Because of this, I looked at the show using Bumblebee as a way of showing Yang coming to terms with her sexuality  through realizing what her feelings for Blake meant to her and I was down for that. Very rare do I see animated series touch on the topic of showing characters coming to terms with their sexual orientation and having that ‘coming out’ moment. I’ve mostly seen it done in live action TV shows but not so much in animation. 

After V3, I thought that was what Miles and Kerry were going to do with Yang. Did that happen? Not really. I’m not even sure what was done for V6. All I know is that as soon as Sun was taken out of the picture, the Bumblebee hints started dropping; sparingly but so hard that it’s almost in your face.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting any Bumblebee hints like that. Since V5 introduced Yang still having tension with Blake over the end of V3, I was hoping that V6 would’ve shown these two sitting down, have a nice long talk and then slowly rebuilding that trust and good rapport that was originally there between them.

 Instead Yang just magically forgave Blake at the end of V5 and then they really never honestly spoke about what happened in V3 at all that season. Sure it had the talk during Brunswick Farm which was a good start; but it never really went anywhere substantive from there. At least not to me.

We got one moment of Yang and Blake discussing Adam in V6 C5 and then the next time that actually had relevance was in C10 after Adam suddenly shows up to mess with Blake. We are thrown headfirst into this grandiose confrontation that I honestly wish the Writers had spent a little bit more time building up to. I knew it was going to happen at some point. I just wish it didn’t happen so soon after Team RWBY just reunited at the end of V5.

We barely got a full season of the girls rekindling their team dynamic; particularly Yang and Blake. Yang and Blake barely had time to truly recover from their prior two seasons of ups and downs before being tossed into the literal lion’s den.

If the Writers end up pandering more to the Bees in V7, I think it should be expected at this point anon-chan. If they did so in V6, it’s going to obviously continue into the next season. I don’t expect it to stop any time soon. Not when they can milk it for what it’s worth. Personally I don’t mind if the Writers plan on providing more great heartfelt character building moments between Yang and Blake unless it leads into their relationship being properly developed. That’s all.

If pandering is part of that then…okay,I guess? I just hope it’s not ALL of it. If Bumblebee is endgame and the show is serious about that then they need to stop puppeteering it around to tease those hungry and rather impressionable Beekeepers and actually focus on ensuring that the relationship is a well-written one. Pandering is not exactly development.

Another thing is that the Beekeepers kind need to tone down on taking everything that happens between Yang and Blake are a sign that they are canon. The lengths at which some of them reach to prove that their ship is canon is…wow, what a reach. I get that you guys want this to happen but for Pete’s sake, practice some patience why don’t you. I get that some of ya’ll are really eager and very passionate about this ship but Jeez Louis on cheese, wait for a clear defining moment that cannot be argued, please.

Let your Writers do your ship justice if they’re serious about it. Let them build upon it. Reinforce it. You can’t really complain too much about a romantic relationship that’s been developed properly. If the Writers do that well for V7 and onward—not really confirming the Bees but taking the time to show their bond progressing from close friendship to love before adding romance into the mix.

If the ship is developed well, I can’t have much complaints. I’m no tsure about you anon-chan.

What if they make Blake a full-on lesbian and make her and Yang kiss in front of Sun?

Yang and Blake kissing in front of Sun…I honestly hope it doesn’t happen because it’d be such a tasteless move; even for the show. Beyond that, I honestly don’t see Sun having a problem with Blake and Yang being a couple. While he might be surprised by it at first, it’s been established in V6 that Sun is only out for Blake’s best interest and overall happiness.

Sun Wukong cares more about Blake Belladonna as a person. As he told Neptune, his reasons for following her to Menagerie wasn’t out of a desire to make her his girlfriend or that she’d fall in love with him for it. He did it because he cared about Blake and wanted to genuinely help her get over her problems with Adam and rekindle her friendship with her team. That’s what was more important.

If Blake and Yang became a couple and Yang is shown to be the person that makes Blake happy then I can only see Sun being earnestly supportive of that; believe it or not.

I’ve said it before and I will reaffirm this. I cannot picture an envious Sun Wukong jealous of Blake’s relationship with Yang. It’s so uncharacteristic of Sun that it sounds nonsensical to even entertain the very thought. 

As a Sun fan, I would actually be more pissed at the Writers making Sun angry over Blake and Yang’s relationship overall than the action itself. 

Sun has always been one of the most supportive friends to Blake so he’d be happy for her even if she’s happy being with someone else and not him.  If Yang is the one who makes Blake happy then that’s all Sun would need to hear. That’s how this squiggle meister sees it.  

WHAT IF THEY MAKE EVERYONE IN THE SHOW LGBT!!!????

Uhmm…I think you need to give the Writers a notch more credit than that anon-chan. 

Just because they’re introducing more LGBT characters; particularly in the main cast doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to alienate their straight audience members. I don’t see them making everyone LGBT. 

There are characters within the series who were already confirmed to be straight (like Ren and Nora, Jaune, Pyrhha, Ozma, Neo, Qrow, Tai Yang and the list goes on). I’m sorry.  I just don’t see this being possible. I can see them adding more LGBT characters to the cast, but not every character in the show. That’s ludicrous!

The reason why we have more LGBT characters is to push for more representation of everyone regardless of gender, sexual orientation, culture, etc. RWBY has always been kind to include a plethora of diverse characters for fans to relate to. That’s one of the things that makes it such a good show. Making EVERYONE one thing, even if its LGBT, contradicts that.

I don’t see this being possible because I’d like to believe the show will always have that nice blend of characters that can appeal to any and everyone.

 I’m just a little worried that CRWBY is going to make the show more LGBT (Not that I hate LGBT even though I’m heterosexual, its just that there was too much in Volume6.

Uhmmmm…..the thing is anon-chan, inclusion is important.

But I also get what you’re trying to say. You’re not against more LGBT rep, you’re just concerned with the pandering aspect of it, right? The kind where the showrunners only shoehorn in these types of characters to push a certain agenda, steering focus towards these characters who aren’t written to be properly fleshed out characters with good stories but rather tokens to meet a certain quota and score those sweet brownie points with the queer community while alienating or downright changing pre-established characters to fit this new mould? Is that what you mean?

I don’t mind more LGBT rep in RWBY. That’s perfectly fine. Speaking mostly for mysef here, I like my LGBT characters the same way I like my straight characters. Well-written and properly fleshed out with good relatable stories and relationships that can appeal to anyone.

I’m not too big on characters who were originally introduced one way and then seasons later, we get the sudden reveal drop that this character is LGBT. I saw this kind of pandering in Voltron when the character of Shiro went several seasons with his past and previous close relationships (outside of Keith) never being an integral part of his arc. 

It was more tailored at characters like Lance and Pidge who were heavily family driven from S1 (which made the Hunk family focus in S7 so odd to me since Lance was the second character to think about his family next to Pidge buuuuut…I digress).

But suddenly in S7, the showrunners revealed at SDCC that Shiro was gay. They announced it at a con before we got the full reveal in the season. His former fiancé was named Adam. A love interest that prior to that season was never mentioned, teased or remotely made into a recurring aspect of Shiro’s story.

Shiro being LGBT was treated more as a marketing ploy for the folks behind Voltron to sponge off with the massive appeal it received from the queer community. However this also ended up backfiring and blowing up in the series’face when that very season showcased Adam—who was only brought in during S7 being killed off in that very same season. The audience was outraged by this and there was massive backlash (which led to some odd choices in S8).

This brings to light my issue with the way in which LGBT representation is handled by certain showrunners,in animation. I don’t think any kind of representation in media is something that should be pandered to. If straight characters are given the respect of being written well with the audience being allowed to buy into their stories and bonds on-screen then why shouldn’t the same treatment be done for LGBT character. In my experience, particularly for RWBY, the way in which the LGBT characters are revealed in the series often feels…forced.

Take for example; the recent reveal of Scarlet David of Team SSSN and Coco Adel of Team CFVY being dropped as queer characters. For Scarlet, it was done in the RWBY Red Like Roses Anthology and for Coco, it was in After the Fall. While I understand that the argument could be made that we never got those reveals in the main series since the show never took the time to really delve into these characters, that still doesn’t make it look less fishy, at least from my perspective.

I dunno. Because of my experience with the Voltron fandom, I get rather suspicious when showrunners suddenly spring the idea that a character is LGBT on its fans years after the series had been long-running, y’know what I mean?

Overall, I just don’t like it when the promise of more rep is used as a ploy to score points with a certain demographic when the attempt winds up feeling hollow and half-assed. 

Not trying to imply that this will be the fate of the Bees and/or LGBT rep in RWBY. I’m just saying, as far as Bumblebee goes, it needs to be handled much better than what we’ve seen in recent seasons.

For now, only time will tell with what happens next. For what it worth. I hope it’s good. 

Sorry for the long talk anon-chan (or to anyone who reads this post). As always, I hope that my thoughts and view points on this particular subject didn’t end  offending anyone in any shape or form.  I’m mostly expressing my honest views on this topic at hand and disrespect is never a direct intention regardless of how blunt my words can become at times/

Overall that’s all I have to say. Hope this answers you anon-chan.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)