#which is it??? it cannot be both. if she's in a league of her own she'll be criticized differently

[theghostofashton]

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[dark-night-hero]

「We found love」 Kamisato Ayato

↳ In which as fate lead the two of you together, an unfamiliar yet strangely warm feelings starts to grew on both of you leading you two to find something that you had never felt before. But then again, what could fate possibly lead you two when you are leagues apart.

Ayato was bored, annoyed and is quietly disgusted. The smell of body odors and the strong smell of flowery fragrance that tried to hide it was unpleasant to his nose. The constant shattering around him that makes the corner of his lips thug down if it was not for his good sense of control in his facial expression. He constantly, though not in anyones watch, shift on his seat. He does not like anything here at all, if it was not such profitable deal he would not have come here at all. And now that the deal have finally been sealed, there was nothing left but to enjoy the presence of the courtesan that entered the room as soon as the deal was done.

Ayato never liked it on brothels. In the first place, he rarely went into one, and even if he did, that was because of his retainers choosing it as a meetin place, in which never happened again by the way. And some for importsnt meetings like this that he cannot refuse. Ayato never saw nor think of any reasons to go to one. Recalling the constant reminder of his late father not to be involved in such things. There is nothing good that would come into him if he were to get involved and get into brothels. A place where nothing but temporary temptation and pleasure there is to come that might drove someone into their own demise once out of control.

Ayato was just about to leave, seemed to be done for today as he stood up when he was grabbed by the wirst of his hand by his business partner. It took him all of his facial muscles to keep the smile on his face as we asked, "What's the matter?" The man just smiled at him, his free hand warping around the oiran, considered to be a high rank courtesan, and bringing her close to him. "Don't leave yet, Mr. Kamisato. The main show is just about to start." Just as Ayato was about to refuse politely, the door opened gently, and the first thing that Ayato noticed was the smell of spring filling the room. It was not that strong smell of flowers that he had smelled earlier but the smell of spring, the smell of blossoms, the sweet and air smell of perfume fills the air.

The second thing he noticed was the sparkly ornaments all over the hair and elegant kimono that they were wearing. And then the kitsune mask that they were wearing, hiding away their face from anyones sight. "Ren Sakura?!" The man beside him utter in disbelief as the figure elegantly walks in, in their hand was a string instrument. She walks in a stead phases of that of a noble, no, perhaps she walks even more of a noble than by far all the nobles Ayato have seen. Ayato watches with curiosity, eyes never once looking away now that you have caught his interest, watching you sit down gracefully and set up your instrument to your liking. "Apologies our dear guest, Hanahime, my beloved oiran could not make it tonight. In return, I hope you would not mind me filling in on her behalf."

In that split secons, Ayato felt like the two of you looked at each other. "Of-of course! Who would dare rejects to be in the presence of you, a tayu, Ren Sakura?!" A tayu? As far as Ayato could remember, oiran was considered a high courtesan, and right above that was a tayu, the highest class courtesan known to entertain only the nobility and emperial court, in short, the almighty shogun. "I'm glad that is the case." The masked tayu giggles, "Then, I shall play a familiar piece befitting for tonights gathering." Once again, Ayato felt like his eyes met those that were behind the mask.

Ayato thought it was a bad idea, after all. He does not like brothels. The place, the smell, the people in general. It would be the last place you would ever expect him to be found. And yet there he is, asking for a familiar name that seemed to be coming out of everyone's mouth but only a few get to really see. Ren Sakura, Ayato knew it was not their real name. Most of the courtesan in here has a name that they use and not their real name. And for someone who rarely went and vowed not to long ago that he would never set foot in here again, he was quite knowledgeable. Even he does not fully know why he was here, whether it was the smell, the mask, the way they played the instrument or even the way they giggle, Ayato does not know which one to choose.

But if there is one thing for sure is that you have caught his interest and nothing could stop himself from finding more about you. Though one of the main reason why he chooses to go back in here was to prove to himself that nothing good would come out of here. It was just a passing interest, it would not last long, right? Once again, the door slide open and the scent of spring enters the room. With no hint of hurry, Ayato raise his head to look at you who was quietly and gently entering the room. Once again, you were wearing a kitsune mask. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mister." You bow to him, raising your hands together along the process as you bow your hands. "Is there anything you would like me to do?"

Kamisato Ayato was honestly the last man you would expect to be your client for the night. But then again given his status in life, it would not hurt his pocket to afford you for the night. Still, glancing at him underneath your mask, his beauty was just like what you have heard from your fellow courtesan. He looks a lot like a gentleman, his aura radiating of that of a highest noble but his fake smile tells something else. Just what does this guy want from you? You doubt he was the kind of person who actually comes into a brothel for pleasure, in the first place, you bet many female nobles would actually wanted to be- to die just to be in the arms of his man right in front of you. "Do you know how to play shogi?" He asked and you halted for a moment. "Yes I do, I shall go and set up for us."

"I... lost." Ayato utter in disbelief, back straightening as he looks at the board pieces with wide eyes before looking at you. You who was smiling underneath your mask after managing to finally defeat him after five close matches of shogi between the two of you. "If you have not make a mistake during the first five move then perhaps I wouldn't have beaten you Mister." You chuckle, once again setting uo the pieces back in their starting place, once again serving the commissioner another cup of tea in which he gladly took a sip. "You gave yourself a little credit. Not to brag but no one has ever come close into defeating me and you actually did that five times and really did beat me one match." This time it was his turn to chuckle.

When the Kamisato Ayato left that day, you never thought to see him again. But you did, once in a while, you did. And you are not sure fi you are glad he did. Maybe it was the sense of boredom that you are feeling due to the lack of customers that were actually availing you for their entertainment, then again, you could only have your price to blame for being so expensive that it might even cause them half of their yearly income for you to be on their presence.

Kamisato Ayato, or Ayato like he told you to call him when the two of you were in each other presence was quite an unpredictable young man. There were times were we would came in the brothel only for you to watch him sleep, playing the flute for him as a lullaby. In most of the cases, he would be in here to ppay shogi with you, bringing over some unique beverage and foods that is tasting weird most of time. But there would also be one of those rare days where he would just bring his leftover paperworks to the brothel and do it there, leaving you to fill up the tea cup that he has just consume and sometimes, he would let you handle some of his paperworks, entertaining the basic questions of the papers that he had assigned to you. Nevertheless, for someone whom rarely set foot out the brothel, you only have to thank him for the things that he would often get to you. If there is one thing that remains the same though would be the fact that Ayato has never seen you without your kitsune mask.

"Will there ever be a day where I get to see your face?" Ayato asked out of the blue as he lay his head on your lap as you hummed a lovely tune underneath your mask. And then by his question, you stop. "Did the madam not tell you?" You asked him. "If you're willing to pay the price, that is." You chuckle when you felt his finger traces all the way from the back of your ears down into your chin. You halted for a moment, before you relax. The feeling of your beating heart in yor chest was getting harder and harder to ignore the more time you spent with him. It was actually dangerous.

You always warn yourself not to get too attach with your clients. In the first place there is any room for attachment because you knew they only want something from you. The way they would look at you with such lustful eyes always leave a bittersweet feeling on your tongue, so you only have yourself to thank that you manage to price yourself up as a tayu. Whom unlike oiran is not for the work of pleasure. You are mostly for entertainment. Then again, due to your high price, only those with the highest class individuals get to afford you to be in their presence. And even if they did, you were only to attend gathering to perform. Unlike Ayato who seemingly spent his free time with you and you do not know how to make something out of it. You felt like there is something going on between the two of you but you yourself was quite afraid to accept it. Because somewhere deep in your heart you alreay know that you had fallen for him. But you also know that nothing good will come out of it.

Ayato on the other hand has his mind in the midst of chaos. Ayato was in love with you. That was truth. It's been over a year ever since he irst met you. And he could still remember the day he realised he was in love with you. You see, Ayato was a meticulous, cunning and a mysterious person. A man who would do anything to achieve his goals and eliminate anything that were to stand in the way of his family. The same man who once in a while would felt a huge amount of fatigue. Maybe it was all due to his paperworks or maybe because of during those times the conflict of opinions between his retainers just would not subdued. Or maybe the fact that his parents death anniversary was approaching. He just felt tired and exhausted.

That night, all those months ago. Ayato find himself on his way on the familiar path to the brothel, just like usual, wearing his robe that hide away most of his figures underneath, in the night of his parents date of passing. That night, Kamisayo Ayato find himself seeking to be in your arms. You have quite the wit, and your intelligence was second to none. Ayato have never seen your face, but to be honest that is something he cared about. That night, Ayato just remained in silence as he listen to you playing the string instrument. He just sat there staring at you in silence that is when you sense that something was wrong. "Is there something bothering you?" You asked, setting the instrument down as you stood up and approached him. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you do not want to talk about it." You utter as you sat down beside him.

That night, the two of you just sit there on silence, your hand above his as he lean in head on your shoulder. It was nothing but an act of comfort, yet that simple act seemingly touched the depths of his heart as he cane to realize one thing before he fell asleep in your arms that night. "Take a rest hmmm Ayato." As fatigue slowly takes over him, he felt himself being gently laid in the mattress and in those split moment, his lavender iris met with a pair of (eye color) ones before everything went black. In the following morning, Ayato find himself all alone in the room, feeling new as ever. Still he felt like something was missing, so he woke up and was about to leave when something caught his eyes. It was a letter saying. "I have told the others to prepare you a breakfast before you leave, but feel free to leave if you're in a hurry." Then he laugh, he laughs then fold the paper and kept in the pocket right within this chest, close to his heart. Right, the moment when he felt like you were his one and only solace, he knew he was in love with you. He knew you were the one for him.

And yet he was contemplating which is only natural. He was a man with noble bloodline, he is the current head of the Kamisato clan, and the current commissioner of the Yashiro commission. He was one of the faces of Inuzama. A well known bachelor and is expected to be wed with a fellow noble blood, one of the prettiest and elegant among the rest. What would his retainers- the citizens say if he were to be fall for someone like you. Although you were the highest along the courtesan, in most cases Nobles only see courtesan as their pass time and play thing. Ayato knew you were different, you are not just a courtesan in his eyes, you are more than a play thing to him. Ayato wanted you, he was in love with you after all. But if the price of his love would cause such scandal, such ruin in his- their image. Would his love remains the same?

Ayato find himself visiting the brothel less and less, telling you advance he would be busy and would not be able to visit for a while. You would reply at him with a laugh, joking letting him now you would not be having someone too entertain you for a while. Ayato knew you were rarely seek out due to your high price. Maybe that was the reason why he was so relaxed. He knew that no matter what, you would be in there, waiting. Be waiting for him to come. Even if you do not love him, he might be a friend at least to you, right?

Weekly visits turn into trice a month, then turn into monthly visit. This visit started going less and less until he visits you twice in every three months. Ayato thought that that would lessen the feelngs he felt for you. But no, in fact, it grew stronger. His longing for you intensified and yet you remained the same, giving him the same enthusiasm and welcome wheneverhe come back. He does not know it he should be hurt of revealed.

And then one night, you started being affectionate than you usually do. Dropping hints here and there. Being all over touchy. And man, he was barely hanging on a thread. And so he pulls away, grabbing your hand that was inside his shirt. "Wai-" "Do you not want this?" You asked, masked still in face. "I-" Holding your hand, he realised that you were trembling, your hands were trembling. Suddenly he became aware of one fact, you were holding back too. And is ready to withdraw with one single word from him. With a moment of silence he opened his mouth, "Do you, want this?" He asked, letting go of your hand as both hands fell to his side. And when he say you nod. His hands unconsciously went towards your mask. You did not move, you just let him pull the string that is holding your mask before it falls off the ground.

There his eyes widen as he got to take a look at your face for the first time. Your (eye color) eyes looks more mesmerising than he imagined it to be, those lips, those lips that were curled up into a beautiful smile. Without thinking much about. Ayato grabbed you on the nape of your neck and pull you into a deep and hungry kiss. It was as if he was starving, starving for a very long time in which he did. He might not have admit it but he was waiting, fantasising for this night to come. It was night full of unsaid words and feelings and yet the way the two of you hold each other says it all. "Stay for the night?" "I will."

Ayato was the one who left first when the morning come. To him, that night was not a mistake, at the same time. It was a night that is to be buried on the back of his mind. It was the same night he, the two of you realised that the two of you were leagues apart. A love that could only be kept in the dark, away from the world to see. In a coincidence, Ayato was not able to visit the brothel in the following days and weeks due to the following festival to come at the time. Thus it is only natural that he was unaware of the things that were happening within the brothel.

"Have you heard? A high ranking courtesan has been bought from the Hōkōtei?" Ayato did not mean to eavesdrop, but was not that the name of the brothel you work ay? "Huh?" "Yeah it's true, they have been bought a month ago but the news were just spreading because an official tried to spend a night with them recently but it turns out they were long gone from the list of courtesan from the brothel." "That sounds impossible, just how rarely were they were-" "It's Ren Sakura! Of course only a few coould afford Ren Sakura! Do you know that the cost of spending a match of shogi with themm would cost a yeat of our earnings? What more was a night with them?! Argh! Just how much were they b-" "What did you say?" "Huh- oh! Yashiro Com-" "What did you say?" "Hu-uh?" "Tell me everything. Now."

Ayato never run. He was a man with elegance, you would never see him run in which dishevelled manner. And yet here he was, sweat rolling down his chin, clothes dishevelled, hair in a mess as he pant heavily in front of the familiar brothel, people who seemed to recognise him started whispering with each other and yet he did not give a damn about every single thing instead, stromed inside the brothel, to be specific, into the room of the owner, the madam. "Where were they?" He asked as soon as he saw the familiar madam who was casually smoking with a pipe in hand and then his lavender ones met with a pair of violet ones. "I'm afraid I cannot disclose the location of my client, Yashiro Commissioner." She laughed as if mocking him. "Where-" "They waited for you for years, at being said, I suppose its natural that if you won't make a move, someone else would. Do you think that they would just sit still and wait for you every single time?" His lavander iris tremble upon the madam statement. "In the first place, you were never interest in buying them. Why are you getting so worked up like they were stolen from you?" "You never plan to take responsibility for my child because you two were leagues apart, they were just a courtesan and you're a noble. The two of you were never meant to, isn't that right?" Every words that left her- the madam's mouth felt like a dagger stabbing his heart. Because it was true.

"Get out of my pavilon and never set foot in here every again." "Mada-" "Do I have to drag you out myself? Kamisato Ayato?" Her piercing violey eyes bore before him. "You brought this upon yourself, stop looking like you just lost the love of your life when they surely meant nothing to you and oh- here. Wear this and this." He felt numb, whether it was his heart of his body. He felt numb. So following the madam words, he left upon wearing the robe that was given to him. He felt like his body was moving on its own, his mind was foggy, he wanted to cry at the same time he could not. "My lord- are you alright?" "I'll be in my room, Thoma. Thank you."

Inside his room, Ayato sat in front of his shogi board and started playing alone, moving the pieces by himself doing the moves you would often does. In the end, he find himseld loosing in his own game. And so he laugh, he laughed as tears roll down his cheecks. Teeth grinning as he felt mad, mad to himself for lying, lying to himself. For being selfless, for losing the love of his life so easily. He angrily throw away the shogi board to the side, scattering its pieces all over this room as he stood up. He then proceed to remove his robe that was given by the madam back in the brothel. He was about to trow it too when his hands was pierced by something. On the robes pocket was a hair piece ornaments. But then again, he mad. About to throw the piece of ornaments into the ground with his bloody hand until he realised how familiar looking it was and his eyes widen. It was your hair ornament. The one he have seen you often wear. "This.." Then he found a letter.

It was not that long until silence once again field the room followed by sobs. "I'm sorry." He cried. "I was a fool, I'm sorry." The letter was slowly crumbling on the palm of his hand as he pull it closer to his chet as well as the piece of ornament. As if doing such thing would bring you close to him. "I love you." He utter in helplessness. "I love you..." He cried. But it was already too late, for you have already went away. Far within his sight to see, far within his arms to reach.

My Ayato,

Funny how you're "my" Ayato when you're not.

I thought we found love.

But perhaps that was just me, for the moment when I woke up in the morning, you were no where in sight. It was such a shame. I thought we had something. Turns out I was just being delusional. After all, how could a noble like you fall for a mere courtesan like me.

Still, I am grateful for the times we have spend together. I will treasure those moments deep within my heart.

I am glad that my first time was with you, my one and only love.

Come to think of it, I never told you my name, no? Then again, what would be the use when we sould never see each other again? But still, I still want you to know it.

My name is (First name). I doubt you'll remember it though.

Then, I apologise that I have to leave without saying anything I am afraid even if I did, nothing would change. If it wasn't the case, you have long take me away from this place. But you never did.

Your Lovely courtesan, Ren Sakura.

[ⓒdark-night-hero] 2024°

: late na ko fuck, bye.

[livwritesstuff]

i hit 100 followers while i was asleep (absolutely bananas imo but i’m so thrilled y’all are enjoying my steddie dads verse bc i’ve literally never had so much fun writing before) so here's a sneak peek of a wip featuring the Harrington fam

Eddie does not understand sports. 

He may be approaching fifty years old and way past his old ways of rejecting every notion that doesn’t perfectly align with his own interests, but even after all these years, the wires in his brain simply cannot wrap themselves around sports no matter how hard he tries.

And he does try because, naturally, he has three daughters, Moe, Robbie, and Hazel, all of whom play sports.

To be clear – his kids can do literally anything they want, bar none.

He’s still in goddamn awe with the whole arrangement that is the life he lives every day – kids and a house and a job he loves and all that with Steve Harrington of all people. There’s no way Eddie would start fucking all that up by projecting his own weird quirks onto his children. He refuses to be the kind of parent that prevents their kids from doing anything just because they don't get it. If the girls want to play sports, they’re gonna play sports. Nothing wrong with that.

Still, sports are one of those things he takes the back seat and lets Steve hold the reins for, especially now that thirteen-year-old Moe is pretty deep into the whole basketball thing. 

Steve understands the politics of the game, both on the court — like knowing which refs are gonna be biased towards which team and noting Moe’s play-time each game — and off. He schmoozes the coach, he’s friends with all the parents, all the things Moe, at thirteen, doesn’t even notice and Eddie, while aware of it, doesn’t understand. He still can barely follow the games themselves (and he goes to as many as he can, though he and Steve are outnumbered by one and with the prospect of the girls carting themselves around still a distant fantasy their schedule is insane so he can’t make them all). He does his best to follow his husband’s lead but Steve doesn’t always react to things the way Eddie thinks he will. He doesn’t bat an eye when a kid gets smacked in the face with a ball, nor at the impossibly loud thud when someone hits the deck (look — he gets the floor is hollow, but it is loud). He’s completely unbothered by the fit Moe throws every game whenever she’s inevitably benched for having an attitude with her opponents or her teammates or the coach or the ref or just about anybody who tries to get in her way.

As is what happened at Moe’s game yesterday.

Eddie hadn’t seen it — well, he’d seen it, but seeing something and understanding what he’s actually looking at are two totally different things. From what he gathers, Moe had missed an easy shot and gotten pissed off in her own little way about it, so she’d launched herself at whoever on the opposing team had gotten their hands on the ball after it ricocheted off the backboard. Unfortunately for Moe, the team they were playing had a reputation for being a little too aggressive for a middle school league, so when she’d hit the ground, she hit it hard. Moe had been pulled off the court by her coach (carded, maybe? Eddie still isn’t sure how that works in basketball) and scowled on the bench for the rest of the game.

Steve had tried to reason with her on the drive home (an interesting choice, in Eddie’s opinion).

“Darling,” he’d said, “I totally understand being upset about missing a layup, but I don’t know how to get it through your head that intentionally fouling someone isn’t the way to go about resolving that emotion. I love you and I support you, but I’m getting tired of watching you play for three minutes and then sit on the bench for the rest of the game.”

“Talk to the coach then,” Moe had grumbled.

“About what?” Steve exclaimed, “Moe — you do it on purpose!”

The conversation had ended not long later because Moe decided to give them both the silent treatment (a clear sign that she knew she was in the wrong even if she didn’t want to admit it) and Eddie thought that was the end of it (for that game, at least). Then, Moe threw them a curveball by spending most of that evening in the bathroom throwing up, at which point she admitted that her head had caught more of that fall during her basketball game than she’d originally let on.

Steve doesn’t mess around with head injuries (for obvious reasons), so the next morning he calls Moe out of school and brings her to their pediatrician to get checked out.

A couple hours after Robbie and Hazel boarded the school bus bound for their elementary school, Steve and Moe return home.

“So what's the verdict?” Ed asks as they enter the kitchen.

“She's concussed,” Steve announces.

“Like father, like daughter.”

“No sports, no bright lights, no reading, no school, no phone,” Steve says pointedly, and Moe only scowls harder. She’d been using the incident as a leveraging tactic in her crusade to get a phone. Not being able to play sports was a no-brainer; they’d all seen that one coming, so even as recently as this morning, she’d been claiming that she’ll “die of boredom without a phone,” while she recovers.

Even as recently as this morning, she’d been largely unsuccessful.

“Thirteen-year-old children do not need phones,” Steve had told her, “If someone wants to talk to you, they can call the house, and if it's urgent enough that it needs to be right now, you can get walkie talkies.”

“No one uses walkie talkies.”

“Your dad and I used walkie talkies all the time.”

“Uh, pretty sure it was just the one time, Steve,” Eddie pointed out.

“Yeah! And it worked out great!”

CONTINUE ON AO3

[ohnoitstbskyen]

The weirdest thing to me about League is that for some reason in a pool of amazing characters my brain latched into Lux of all people. Why? Who knows but I want her to leave Demacia and hunt down Nocturne and meet people who grew up with magic and accept her as she is and she learns through these experiences that she has to return home and really take a stand.

Why Lux. Why did it have to be Lux and not... idk Veigar or smth

Lux has a compelling story - not an especially original one, but a compelling one, built on compelling tropes.

She's this sheltered girl raised in privilege, who should have every reason in the world to simply embrace her fortune, go with the flow and live as her family wants her to. The Crownguards are more than capable of protecting her from the persecution that Demacia heaps on every other mage and magical creature, and more than happy to, so long as Lux lives up to the family name.

And yet... she can't do it. First of all, as she grows up, she becomes ever more sickly aware in her soul how inhuman the treatment of mages is under Demacian law, the brutality and oppression that is leveraged against them, all to prop up the legitimacy of the government. Second... she doesn't want to repress her magic. She has a light inside of her which is intrinsic to her being, a true and natural extension of who she is, how she exists in the world, and pushing it down and denying it is painful. She is full of curiosity about it, and eager to see what she can do with it, but she cannot be both a free mage and a Crownguard.

Lux is, in other words, a queer trans nonbinary lesbian genderqueer aroace gay gay gay homosexual gay. Or, to be less flippant, in her story magic is an extremely apt metaphor for queerness and how to navigate being queer in a bigoted environment.

It also works for other things, of course, there are other reasons to feel stifled and trapped by the rules and restrictions of society or by the demands of your family. Lux could also be a secret socialist, and the oppression of mages could reflect the way the bodies of the proletariat are abused to build capitalist state power - or you could read it as a theme of neurodivergency in a world that is still run on a lot of eugenicist logic. Although to be perfectly frank with you, if Lux is cishet, then I am a honey badger, her magic power is literally rainbow lasers.

So there are themes there, there are things to relate to, to hold on to, to be carried away by. There's a lot of great characters in League of Legends, all of which deserve better than to be owned by Riot Games, and Lux is one of them.

Also, her best friend is a building-sized himbo dragon statue which comes to life when she uses her magic around him and gives her friendly life advice while musing about how much he wants to punch kaiju in the face, which, like, I don't know how to NOT be charmed by that.

[shamelessexplosions]

What I've learnt about the Batfamily from Tumblr

I know nothing about Batman - I have never read a comic, I have never watched a Batman series or cartoon or movie with him in it (except from that one scene at the end of wonder woman). This is what I have learnt about the members of the Batfamily entirely from tumblr and other social media.

1. Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne is Batman, and his superpower is being richer than God.

He lives in a mansion in Gotham, which is basically a city entirely made up of psychos

He cannot stop adopting children

Like I'm pretty sure he sees a child on their own with a vaguely traumatic backstory and has to adopt them.

Probably carries adoption papers in his utility belt for that very purpose

I'm not entirely sure how many children he has but that's okay because I don't think he knows either.

When he's in the mask his voice is really deep and he keeps saying "I'm Batman"

When he's not he acts like a complete idiot but probably tips a waitress by paying for their collage tuition

His parents are dead and this is very important - in a world of orphans, he is THE orphan

2. Dick Grayson

Bruce Wayne's oldest adopted son

He was in the circus as an acrobat until his parents died in front of him

I think they were murdered

He was the original Robin

Then he got bored or something and moved to somewhere called bludhaven which honestly sounds Norwegian, and renamed himself Nightwing.

Has extreme big brother energy

3. Jason Todd

Robin #2 because apparently there's a second one

I think he met Bruce after stealing the tires off Batman's car (the batmobile?) and then hitting him with a tire iron which is such a power move, especially for some random kid

He died but it's ok because he fell in a pit and got better

He renamed himself red hood and became a mass murderer for a bit

I think it was just a phase?

He was trained in the way of murder by someone called Talia. He either slept with her or was adopted by her.

I hope it's the second one because I know Bruce slept with her

Likes guns

4. Tim Drake

I think he stalked batman until he found out he was Bruce Wayne

In other words this random kid did what no megalomaniac with a grudge against the furry that routinely beats them up could

But then I think he was Bruce's neighbour pre-adoption so maybe he just noticed batman flying out from under the mansion each night, which says something problematic about his secret identity

He became robin too like how many robins does one city need?

Jason refers to him as 'replacement' which seems cold given 1. He himself was a replacement and 2. tim got replaced as well

I think he's Red Robin now, so clearly not too interested in change.

5. Damien Wayne

Bruce's biological son with the aforementioned assassin/murder trainer Talia.

Was in something called the League of Assassins but left to find his father, which given the name is the League of Assassins sounds like a smart life choice

Talia may have sent Damien to Bruce so she didn't have to deal with a teenager, but it also sounds like he left after an argument with his grandfather and League head-honcho Ra's so not sure whats going on there

Also Robin but I think at this point someone is taking the piss - possibly Batman

Feral Child(tm)

Likes swords

6. Cassandra (Cassie/Cass) Cain?

Maybe her surname is cain? Or maybe it's not?

I'm really confused because I'm pretty sure there is both a Cass and a Cassie in the Child-soldier Justice League and I think one of them is a bat-family member and one of them has something to do with Wonder Woman and they may or may not be the same person

Was an assassin involved in the same organisation as Jason and Damien

Is this where Bruce Wayne is finding his kids?

Was a Robin too (yay for feminism, boo for originality? Get some other names for your feral murder children Bruce)

Now called Spoiler and likes purple

May have at one point been batgirl?

7. Duke ???

Honestly I have no idea, I've just seen his name a couple of times

He was probably Robin at some point - they all appear to have been Robin at some point

I think he likes the colour yellow

8. Stephanie Brown

Another person that I have only vaguely seen the name of

She might have dated one of the batkids, Tim maybe?

May or may not be a batkid herself

May be batgirl, or maybe that was Cassandra, or maybe both. There have been so many robins nothing would surprise me

9. Barbara (Babs) Gordon

Daughter of a police commissioner

hacker

Her father may or may not be aware of her extracurriculars, but Commissioner Gordon has a massive flashlight for summoning batman when he needs help with a case so I don't think he has any room to talk

Goes by Oracle

Not a proper batkid but I doubt that stops her being on the family Christmas card

May have at one point been a Batgirl?

But at this point I'm just guessing everyone was batgirl

Maybe Duke was batgirl!

May use a wheelchair but I'm not certain

10. Alfred Pennyworth

Indeterminate age, may be immortal

Bruce's bulter

Raised Bruce Wayne, but still calls him 'Master Bruce'

Also refers to the batkids as 'master xx'

May or may not be sarcasm

English, ex-army and all-round exceedingly polite badass

Correction, he's English, I can say with confidence it is sarcasm

That is all the people I can think of, sorry if I missed anyone

[codenamesazanka]

I've been looking at some old Japanese villain fan tweets about Toga from Chapter 395, and most of them seem pretty okay with Toga's ending - her dying on her own terms. Which is 😕 to me but.

The overwhelming conclusion from both japanese hero and villain fans alike that no matter what, the League will be getting the death penalty. Maybe life in prison, but most agree it's the death penalty for Shigaraki, Toga, Dabi had he been less burned. Even Spinner and Compress, the less notorious members, might be getting it, because they were part of the terrorist cell. Not immediately that we would see in the epilogue, but eventually.

From the book The Culture of Capital Punishment in Japan:

...Murakami noted that “as a general argument, I adopt a stance of opposition toward the death penalty” but then said “I cannot publicly state, as far as this case is concerned, ‘I am opposed to the death penalty’,” because he had acquired “a painful awareness of the feelings of some bereaved families.”

By arguing that he opposes capital punishment but not in this case, Murakami is articulating a sensibility—the death penalty is “unavoidable” (yamu o enai)—that is ubiquitous in Japan’s culture of capital punishment. [...] Japan’s government uses it to ask citizens whether they support capital punishment (a typical survey question asks “Do you agree that the death penalty is unavoidable in some cases?”). The “unavoidable” expression simultaneously suggests that the death penalty “cannot be helped” and that the speaker is ambivalent about this purportedly “inescapable” outcome. The reservations wrapped in the expression suggest that Japanese capital punishment continues to operate because agents of the state (prosecutors, judges, politicians) and citizen-onlookers represent themselves, to themselves and others, as cogs in a machine over which they have little control.

This punishment simply is. Even in this fictional world. Even though a lot of the League were victims. Even if the villains we saw locked up in Tartarus are never put to execution, and the death penalty is only offhandedly mentioned.

And if this is inevitable in the League's future, then why not go out on your own terms? If death is certain, you might as well die by your own hand (Toga), or go out in battle (Shigaraki). (Never mind that Toga's death was preventable, and Shigaraki was possessed and all he got to do was help punch-kill AFO.) Japanese villain fans are upset about Dabi's fate, but from what I saw, it's mostly because he's meeting such a quiet end.

Another thought: perhaps it's because the Villains were saved, they also had to die. If you stay a unrepentant mofo, like Muscular, then you don't have the decency to recognize your sins and allow yourself to die. But if you were saved and recognize your sins, you have no choice but to die for all the deaths you caused.

(Again, I don't think that works quite for the League, who stay pretty unrepentant about the upheaval they caused??? especially Toga, who states that she was gonna skeddadle; but in a way, she recognized that she hurt Ochako, so she gave up her blood.)

(also. to say nothing of Enji and Hawks being alive. or even Nagant. But some japanese fans are at least upset that Enji and Hawks aren't going to receive any in-universe official punishment for what they did.)

[dailytogachako]

Hi...if you don't mind, can I ask something from BNHA? What do you think are Toga and Uraraka’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Since what moment that you start shipping them? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....

Hellooo dnana!! I don't mind getting questions, so don't be shy!!!

one thing i've always loved about uraraka is her willingness to help others and also her empathy. she would never hesitate to help anyone, no matter who it was. i also really liked her backstory, and how she was fighting so that her parents wouldn't have to worry about money in the future. it's something admirable.

which is something funny cause to me, one of her weak points is precisely her empathy and your need to help others. she's always thinking about others, doing everything for the others and this becomes a problem when she ends up not thinking about herself. It is very noticeable how much she avoids talking about her feelings, this becomes more visible when toga dies and she goes to cry on the terrace alone, without asking anyone for help how to deal with all this pain.

her need to help others can end up becoming a bad thing when she realizes that she often cannot help others all the time, which ends up becoming frustrating for her and she blames herself for not being able to help even though she does everything she can. and when I say help others, I mean both ways: saving their lives or trying to help them in small things

Now, talking about toga: she's been one of my favorite characters for a long time, I liked how she expressed herself and how she didn't hate heroes at all (at the beginning of the anime). and I love how little by little we saw more of her backstory and understood why she acted that way, because until then many people considered her a "crazy psychopath yandere"

one great thing about toga is simply the fact that she loves, and that's it. I think it's beautiful how she loves everyone who has blood running through their veins, and as if it were her way of saying that everyone can be loved, including her. she's not afraid to express her love and to say that she loves someone (even if it is in her own way). also she was not afraid to try to be herself, even when her parents and old school friends told her she was weird and a demon. It may not have been the "right way", but she tried, she wanted a world where she and her friends from the league of villains could smile. and i think that's beautiful after all.

and her weak point is: not facing the past

toga avoids her past, avoids talking about what happened because it is something sad and scary. this becomes a mistake when we realize that not talking about what happened in the past can influence the present.

In the final arc, before she dies, she finally faces the demons of her past with ochako, and we realize that there is still a lot of stuff stored away, especially hurt. we finally managed to understand that she's not a bad person, she was just lost and wanted to find someone who understood her. and that she never wanted to hurt someone and steal their blood, she wanted to ask but knew that if she did, they would call her a demon.

I've been shipping them since 2019 (when I started MHA) and i just loved the hero x villain dynamic, it was something cool for me. as the story progressed, I started to like how toga seemed to genuinely like ochako (more than she apparently liked deku) and how uraraka seemed curious about toga, and that she wasn't really afraid of her (which later turned out to be canon)

this shipp is something sweet to me, how ochako sought to know about toga and how she didn't give up until the end. and how toga was so hurt but allowed herself to open up to ochako and talk about what happened. I'm sure if they had a chance... things would have been different.

[snarksalon]

In Defence of Tsuyu....

The Hospital scene is, I think, one of the most misinterpreted scenes in the series and it fuelled a lot of Tsuyu hate. The scene is written clumsily, but the underlying point that Tsuyu is making isn't naive. Tsuyu is commenting on the separation between law and morality and demonstrating that the two in many circumstances may not overlap.

In Hero Society, both heroes and Villains exert force over the general population. The distinction is that Heroes are authorised to do so by law and submit themselves to a regime of laws that designate when they are permitted to exercise their powers. Heroes effectively operate in a similar vein to cops, soldiers, et cetera. In Hero Society, Heroes form a branch of the criminal justice system, which is important to note. Restrictions on Cops, Lawyers and Judges exist to ensure that the rule of law is respected and maintained. Often, nebulous moral questions arise. Take for example a police officer who decides to obtain evidence illegally due to their own belief in the guilt of a defendant. Even if the defendant was guilty, the police officer has exercised substantial impropriety and interfered with the defendant's opportunity to receive a fair trial.

There are also instances where a breach of a legal rule is indicative of criminal conduct. Many might claim that it is morally correct for a parent to lie on the stand to prevent their child from being convicted as parents generally have a duty to protect their children. This does not negate that the conduct is criminal and misleads the court. Obviously, there is substantial nuance here, but the point is that Tsuyu is highlighting the fact that a disparity exists between moral and legal obligations.

In Hero Society, Villains disregard the law. Of course, laws exist on spectrums and Jaywalking cannot be equated to Robbery (I do agree that Tsuyu is making a massive false equivalence in the panel). I think Tsuyu saying this post Stain Arc, is a realistic reflection of how she would feel following Stain's ideology becoming widespread. The Stain arc, demonstrates that some heroes are corrupt and directly calls into question the commitments of Heroes to moral good. Tsuyu makes this statement at a time when public scrutiny against Heroes is ESPECIALLY high, and where the boundary between Heroes and Villains is being contested. Later in the story Tsuyu's position on the matter changes, but this perspective was not an unreasonable or ill-conceived conceptualisation of the distinction between Heroes and Villains.

It is also reasonable that Tsuyu advises against taking action. One failure of the Kamino arc is the lack of consequences. Yes, All Might loses his powers but I think letting all of those who go to rescue Bakugo get away unscathed seriously lowered the stakes of the story. Class 1-A are first-year students and are relatively untrained. Even if they are being evasive, they should struggle against the leadership of the League of Villains. Out of all of Hori's writing failures, Kamino has always stuck with me. The rescue group put on objectively terrible disguises and Bakugo manages to hold his own quite successfully.

It is easier to critique Tsuyu's words because of a lack of consequence. If a member of the team had died or been seriously injured, no one would have taken issue with her objections. I think Kamino was a missed opportunity to raise the stakes in the Manga and to build upon the ideas raised in Stain's Arc. This is why Tsuyu's words fall flat, and why her subsequent rant makes little sense.

This scene feels futile and pointless because there are NO consequences for their breach of the law. There isn't even a close call. Hori could have directly linked All Mights Demise to the rescue team messing up or being in the wrong place at the wrong time or generally being inexperienced. OBVIOUSLY, Tsuyu makes an incorrect equivalence but it is something which contains an interesting point and is completely mismanaged by Hori.

Tsuyu isn't wrong to criticise a decision made by her classmates, it is a decision that is reckless and could have endangered others. The rescue team knew nothing of the pro-heroes strategy to recover Bakugo and could have jeopardised that mission entirely. She also isn't wrong for reminding them that as Professional Heroes they are obliged to follow the law and may only use their powers when authorised. Though her delivery is blunt, and the equivalence is clunky (I blame Hori's writing here), she is making apt commentary on the limits of power.

[axelsagewrites]

Jan Maas*Buttercup

Pairing: Jan x pregnant!reader

Word count: 2479

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, morning sickness, petty arguments, mentions of childbirth but nothing detailed, Jan being the biggest girl dad ever

Requested by @hypocritic-trash-baby (sorry it took sooo long)

Masterlist Here

There were many, and you meant many, downsides to working in a pub but one of the upsides just walked in. the Richmond coach Ted lasso and beard came in pretty regularly already but recently Dani, Sam, and Jan had also become regulars with the latter being the only thing you can think about. Jan mass was tall, handsome, and his jersey number was 13 which was basically fate since it was your lucky number.

“Hello,” his adorable Dutch accent greeted you as Sam and Danni claimed a table. “Three pints please,”

“Hiya and no problem,” you grinned, already holding the first pint in your hand since you knew their order by heart not that it was hard to remember, “How are you?”

“Better now,” he smiled, sipping on the first pint you slid him. “I was wondering if I may ask you something?” he asked, his smile dropping for a second as he glanced to his friends.

You tilted your head but smiled anyway, “Course you can. What’s up buttercup?”

Jan chuckled at this, always finding your expressions funny for some unknown reason to you. however, everyone on the team knew why. The boy was absolutely smittened by you. “Would you like to go on a date with me?”

You almost choked on the pint you weren’t even drinking and for a second his smile faltered before you quickly began to splutter, “Well yes that sounds I mean yes I think I mean fuck-“ you paused, sitting the final pint down before smiling, “I’d like that yes,”

“Okay great,” he said but it came out as a laugh, “Could I pick you up tomorrow? Say seven o’clock?”  he asked as he handed you the money for the drinks.

“Seven. Perfect. I can meet you here if you’d like?”

“Okay,” he said, picking up the tray of drinks before adding, “Buttercup,” with a large grin.

You watched him walk to the table for a moment before turning to Mae, “Could you- “

“Yes, I’ll cover your shift you little pest,” she rolled her eyes before finally grinning, “Told you he bloody fancied you,” As she said this however cheers came from the Richmond players who were now patting a very happy look Jan mass on the back.

-

The first date had gone so well you woke up in his apartment the next morning before he whisked you out for breakfast and a second date. You didn’t actually sleep in your own apartment for the first four days after the date you were that wrapped up. Thank god for the off season.

Jan mass was everything you could hope for. He was sweet, kind, honest, and downright gorgeous which helped. You had been dating for 8 months now before the first problem arose. Sure, you had had petty arguments, but this was far more serious. Two pink lines stared back at you in the bathroom.

“Honey, I need to leave now or ill be late!” Jan Mass called through the flat you had now moved into with him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah!” you called back, wrapping the stick up in a ton of toilet paper before stashing it in the back of the bathroom cabinet behind the spare toilet rolls. You’d deal with it later you told yourself as you quickly washed your hands and pressed the cold backs of them to your eyes to try depuff them.

You ran out the bathroom with a forced smile, but Jan mass was angrily pacing the room, “I cannot be late,”

“We won’t be late,”

“We will,” you began to bicker as you both ran out the building to the car. The whole way there he complained as you drove, but you saw the way his leg was bouncing. After all each of these games were important if they wanted to make it back to the premier league but his constant petty jabs were not helping the delicate situation.

When you arrived at Richmond he basically ran out of the car, ditching you to find a parking space. Technically he’d been right but by the time you parked he was only 3 minutes late but only to the recommended early start time Ted recommended to get them ready.

After another quick cry in your car, you headed up to Rebecca’s office to meet her and Keeley. “You alright babes?” Keeley asked, her head tilting like a puppies when she saw your eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine just allergies,” you smiled. Somehow you managed to dodge the rest of their questions as you headed to the stands.

“Look at your man,” Keeley grinned, nudging you as Jan Mass ran onto the field. You smiled lightly and just nodded making her sigh. “What happened babes?”

“Nothing- its just he was being annoying today that’s all,” you tried to assure her, but she gave you that look like Rebecca screamed her team on. “He was just getting all bitchy cause he thought we were gonna be late,”

“Maybe he’s on his period,” she joked, and you felt your stomach drop as you tried to laugh along.

Richmond tied, again, which even though was technically a good thing was just starting to get everybody down. You’d decided to head home before Jan and when he arrived you were in no mood to talk to him. Especially not since morning sickness decided to hit your mid game instead of the expected 8am.

By the time you made it home you honestly just felt like crap and collapsed onto the bed. At some point you must’ve fallen asleep because when you woke up Jan was sat beside you on the bed stroking your back. “Hey,” you muttered, your head falling back onto the pillow.

“I’m sorry. For earlier. I shouldn’t have snapped,” Jan said as he moved to lay in front of you, wrapping his arms around you, “Everything has just been so stressful you know? especially with another tie,” he half laughed but you knew it had been weighing on him, “You disappeared half way thought though. I thought you’d already left but I saw you just before we finished,”

You tried your best to smile but you could tell he didn’t believe you, “Just didn’t feel very well but id never miss a game. You know me,”

“I do,” he smiled, wrapping his arms tight around you and bringing you into his chest, “My little trooper,”

-

You knew you should’ve told him, but you didn’t know how. As you searched online for ways to tell him you fell down a rabbit hole of unhappy reactions. He was already so stressed with football a baby wasn’t exactly going to help with that or fit into his busy schedule. What happens if he has an away match when you’re in labour? Or if he wasn’t ready to settle down? Or if it throws him off his game?

Eventually you snapped under the weight of it all and broke down and told Keeley. She came over in a heartbeat to help you hug it out and try get you excited. “We should go baby shopping!” she said suddenly grabbing your arm, “Cmon it’d be so cute! We can pick up a baby Richmond jersey or something,”

“Okay alright,” you laughed as you tried to pick yourself off the couch to get ready, “And thanks for coming over, babes. It’s just been so hard wrapping my mind around it,”

“I know babes,” Keeley said as you both got ready to leave. You sent Jan a quick text saying you would be back around 5 since he was still at practise, “But hey once you tell him it’ll be a thousand times easier,”

“I hope so,”

“I know so,”

-

Shopping defiantly helped lift your spirit and Keeley even agreed to stash the baby things at her place, but you did take the baby Richmond jersey with you and stuffed it in the bottom of your handbag. You came home all smiles as you opened the front door. “Honey I’m home,” you jokingly called as you tossed your keys in the bowl by the door. “You home yet?”

“In here,” Jan called from the bathroom. You sat your bag down and wandered to the open door, seeing Jan standing in front of the sink looking at something. “I was looking for bandages,” he said softly as you walked in and went to wrap your arms around him, pressing your cheek into his back.

“Oh no are you okay?”

“Yeah um. I hurt my ankle a bit but its fine. What is this?” he asked, his voice coloured in shock however when you looked past him the colour drained from your face.

You started to stutter, all the joy vanishing when you saw his blank expression. “It’s a pregnancy test,” you eventually managed to say, swallowing the lump in your throat.

You unwrapped your arms around him as he turned to face you. “And its positive?” he asked as if he wasn’t holding the literal evidence in his hands.

“Yes,” you said, your eyes falling to the floor as you felt them start to well up.

Jan sat the test down and you have expected him to push past you and straight out the door. but instead, his hands moved to cup your face, his thumbs rubbed over the tops of your cheeks, “I love you. so much. I cannot wait to meet them,” he whispered as you noticed his own teary eyes.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little as you lent up to kiss him, “I was scared to tell you,”

“Why?”

“Encase you hated me,” you confessed, seeing his face fill with guilt, “I didn’t want to ruin you career or throw you off- “

“Football is a job,” he interrupted, “one that yes, I love and yes has become my life. But you are my family. never for a second think you don’t come first,” he said before he tightened his arms around you and you allowed yourself to cry into his chest while he stroked your hair, “We’ll make it work baby. We always will,”

After a few moments you pulled away, “You wanna see what I bought?” you asked while leading him into the living room to get the tiny jersey out the bag.

You turned and showed it to Jan who’s smile somehow got even wider, “See,” he said as he took the jersey, “How could you possibly ruin anything? We’re going to have another player on the team,” he said, and you both laughed this time.

-

You did however make him promise not to tell anyone about the baby however keeping it a secret was hard. Jan’s birthday was coming up however and with the whole team really needing a chance to blow off some steam you both decided to invite them over and tell them at the same time.

The players had completely taken over your flat, every seat was taken and half of them were sat on the floor. Jan however made sure you had a seat. As everyone was sat around the room Ted stood up to give a birthday toast to Jan. “So, a very happy birthday to you my friend,” Ted finished his speech, all the boys giving a small cheer or a clap.

Jan stood up from where he’d been sitting next to you on the couch to take Teds place at the front of the room, “I would also like to thank you all for coming however I have a confession,” he said, looking at you with a wide smile, “I have an announcement to make,”

“Now you better not be quitting on us,” Ted joked making you and Jan both chuckle.

Keeley sent you an excited grin when she realised what was happening, “I’m not going anywhere,” he laughed, “No actually there is someone coming to meet the team. And they are very special to me, so I hope you love them just as much as I do,”

“Is it Zava?” someone asked causing a flurry of conversations and a very loud ‘shut it’ from Roy.

“Someone even better,” Jan said once he finally had their attention again. He pulled the tiny jersey out of his back pocket and held it up, “We’re having a baby,”

To say the team erupted in cheers was an understatement. You were suddenly being hugged by about 20 different footballers all at once who were all congratulating you both. Even Roy gave you a hug it was wild.

-

However, it was not easy being pregnant. Especially not when your stomach suddenly became the size of a large watermelon that weighed what felt like 100lbs. between the stress of Jan’s job and the constant pressure on your bladder and joints there was defiantly some struggles but some how some way you managed and now you were holding a baby girl in your arms.

“She’s so beautiful,” Jan whispered as he sat beside you on the bed. “Just like her mother,”

As you leaned in for a brief soft kiss a nurse knocked on the door, “Hi you have um some visitors?” she said making you look at Jan.

“Who did you tell?” you sighed but he just gave you a sorry smile. “How many are out there?” you asked.

The nurse popped her head out and did a brief count before giving you a sorry look, “20ish people?”

You groaned but internally smiled since you knew your daughter would be surrounded by love. You turned to Jan, “Two at a time. two minutes each. No one gets to hold her, but they get to see her,” he nodded and instantly got up to fulfil your wishes.

The first in were Roy and Keeley. Keeley instantly rushed to give you a hug on the side that you weren’t holding your daughter while Roy slowly wandered over to look down at the small bundle in your arms. “She’s fucking beautiful she is,” he said, voice choked with tears making you and Keeley chuckle.

Jan however was less than impressed, “Hey! Language,” he said rolling his eyes.

“Sorry, sorry. Effing beautiful,” you let that one slide, however. Half an hour later the whole team had finally met her and were content enough to finally leave though they all left some kind of gift for her ranging from baby cleats she wouldn’t be able to wear for months to a massive panda bear from Isaac.

Finally, though it was just you, Jan and your baby again. “Can I take her?” he asked and you of coursed passed her over, “Hi baby,” he cooed as he held her to his chest. “I love you so much. Both of you,” he added, kissing the top of your head.

You smiled up at him, watching how he awed over your daughter. “I love you too,”

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[outsideratheart]

Te Quiero Mi Amor (Alexia Putellas x reader)

A/N: Part 2 to Adios Amor. I hope you guys like it!

You hadn't seen Alexia since the day you said goodbye in her apartment. Months had past yet you couldn't remember a day when you didn't talk to her. It’s safe to say modern technology played a huge part in the reconciliation of your friendship. Your days would start and end with face time calls, you would never tire of seeing her face and with each day that passed you both got closer to healing in more ways than one. 

It took a while for you and Alexia to trust each other again on an intimate level and it lead to Alexia confessing that she wanted more than a friendship. It wasn't that you didn't want Alexia but things went from good to bad very quickly last time and you were scared that it would happen again. At first it was easy to turn her down, you told her that you both needed to focus on your rehab and returning to the field. 

Soon enough you could no longer hide behind that excuse. You made your highly anticipated return in December whilst Alexia's comeback took place in the champions league quarter final against Chelsea. You watched the second leg in anticipation, the former winners had to beat Chelsea at Stamford bridge in order to go through to the Semi-final, a game which would be bring them to Lyon. 

It was a rematch of 2 finals and whilst Barcelona was chasing their first win against Lyon, you wanted to reach the final and would do everything in your power to make that happen. Alexia is very important to you and whilst you hated to see her lose you were loyal to the badge on your shirt not the woman that owned the thing underneath it. 

When the game ends, the score is 3-1 to Lyon, you may have won but you still had to go to Camp Nou and defeat Barcelona who are yet to be beaten at home in any competition. You knew it would be tough and you wanted to begin preparing for that match but you also wanted to see Alexia before she left France. 

"Y/N Y/L/N is coming over. Are you going to walk away like last time?" Mapi teases her captain. 

Alexia couldn't tell if the defender was being serious or if she just wanted to get a rise out of her. She bites though and turns around to see that Mapi was in fact telling the truth. 

Being fully aware of the cameras and eyes around, you shake Alexia's hand followed by a quick hug. 

"I told you that you'd come back stronger" you whisper in her ear. 

"Not strong enough to beat you" Alexia quickly responds, the disappointment in her tone is obvious. 

"You couldn't do that before the injury" 

Alexia pushes you away but grabs your hand to pull you back. 

"We are both back on the pitch and I'd say we are healed. I --" 

"Can we talk about this later?" You ask even though no part of you wanted to have this conversation, not right now. 

Alexia nods her head. She knows you well enough to know it wasn't a question. 

"Can we at least swap shirts? I know we lost but I am proud of this game" Alexia looks almost embarrassed to ask you. 

"For a fan like you I’ll even sign it" 

You see flashes go off as you pull you shirt over your head and swap it with Alexia. Both team's photographers come running over to capture the moment. Two Balon d'Or winners, who prior to this day, have never interacted on the pitch are suddenly friends. 

You might have been willing to swap shirts with Alexia but wearing her shirt when they are still the enemy, at least for one more game, is something you cannot bring yourself to do. Instead you tuck the gold shirt into the waistband of your shorts. 

Whilst talking with Lucy about how she is settling in at Barcelona you notice that Alexia is ogling your exposed torso. As Lucy speaks you glance back and forth between her and Alexia. You shake your head when you see Alexia biting her bottom lip, she may be quiet but her thoughts are very loud. 

You are rushed to say your goodbyes when a member of the media team calls you over. The Barcelona girls go to the away stand to thank the fans that travelled to support them, some of their families included. 

Luckily your pitch side interview lasts no longer than 5 minutes, but you weren't ready to leave just yet. You run back over to Alexia who is talking to Alba and her girlfriend. When you pinch her hips, a small shriek escapes her lips. Alba stifles back a laugh at the sound her sister has just made whilst Alexia's cheek redden. 

"Meet me outside the locker rooms and we can talk. Bye Alba and Alba's plus one" 

By the time Alexia turns around you are already halfway across the pitch. 

"Talk? Are you two finally going to get together?" Alba asks. 

"I have a feeling she is only having this talk because I suggested it, not because she wants to" Alexia could tell by your body language that the thought of finally having the conversation made you uncomfortable. 

“She, like you, just has a lot on her plate right now. Listen to what she has to say then you can make your judgements” Alba replies. Her sister’s happiness is her priority, but she has a soft spot for you and her heart is telling her to give you the benefit of the doubt. 

Deep down Alexia knows her sister is right and it is just her insecurities getting the better of her. She gets showered and finds you standing outside your locker room which is opposite the visitors. You stand there fresh faced, hair wet yet Alexia is in awe of your natural beauty. 

“Hi” Alexia says. 

“Hello you” you tip your head back in the direction of the locker room “I didn’t think you’d want to talk out in the open and our locker room is empty” 

Alexia follows you into the home team locker room where you absentmindedly began pacing the room.  

“You have just played 90 minutes in a champions league semi-final yet being in a room, alone, with me is making you nervous” Alexia jokes slightly at the difference in your on pitch and off pitch personalities. 

“You have always made me nervous Alexia. Now what did you want to talk about?” You ask even though deep down you already know the answer. 

“I want to talk about us. You said that we should focus on our recoveries but we have both made our comeback. I’m done waiting"  

Alexia was telling you everything you wanted to hear yet you still felt the need to hold her at arm’s length. The hesitation in your reply lead Alexia to fear the worst. 

“We don’t have to rush anything. I’m asking for one date” she adds. 

Say yes, it’s what you want. It is what you have wanted for years. 

“I need to focus on the champions league” You are aware how heartless you sound and whilst it is true you know you are only saying it to delay pursuing something real with Alexia. 

“So you won’t go on a date with me but if I asked you to come back to my hotel room, what would you say?” 

“I’d say yes” you answer honestly but the look in Alexia’s eyes tells you that you should have lied or at least avoided answering the question. 

“Why?” She asks. 

“Because going on a date with you is real and sex” as soon as the words leave you mouth you regret “wait no, that’s not what I — “ 

“Sex is what? Meaningless. Wow, you haven’t changed at all. How could I have been so stupid!!” Alexia storms out of the changing room but you follow after her. 

“Alexia! Wait!” You grab her wrist making her turn to face you “That’s not what I meant. You are putting words in my mouth” 

You recognise the look on her face. It takes you back the night she walked out of your apartment and you know you are about to lose her again, all because you are too scared of hurting her again, but what you fail to understand is that you are doing just that by trying to protect her. 

“You want us to focus on the champions league, your wish is my command. I’ll see you at Camp Nou where we will beat you and send you back to France knowing that you lost the game and you lost me” 

Watching Alexia walk away hurts more than before because this time she was yours to lose. You waited ten minutes before leaving yourself hoping not to run in any of the Barcelona players and lucky for you by the time you exit the stadium the Barcelona team bus has left. You are about to order an uber when you hear your captain shout of you. 

“I take it you let fear get in the way again” Wendie says. You have always been a private person but she is someone that you go to when you need advice. The trust with her coming after her been your captain at both club and country for years. 

“I don’t want to talk about it. Can you take me home?” You avoid eye contact so that she can’t see just how hurt you are by what had happened in the last half an hour. 

When the taller woman pulls you into her arms you protest for a moment before succumbing to her hold. She tells you to let it out and you don’t need to be told twice. You could be described as many things but emotional isn’t one of them and that’s the way you like but it this moment you have no control and you let yourself be vulnerable. You pull away, close your eyes and when you open them it is as if you feel nothing. 

“Don’t do that Y/N” Wendie pleads having seen this before. 

“Do what?”  

“Turn off your emotions”  

“I’ll be fine. I told Alexia we should focus on the champions league and that it what I’m planning on doing”  

The next week passes by in the blink of an eye. There has been no communication with Alexia although Lucy has texted you saying that something is off with her captain and ask if you knew why given the way you acted in Lyon. 

The atmosphere in the stadium was electric but in the tunnel, it was the opposite. The rivalry that had been built over the last couple of years seemed to create this pressure and it made the tension high between the two teams. Due to picking up a slight injury Wendie was in the stands and for some reason that you didn't quite understand, the team had voted you captain which meant you are at the front of the line and Alexia was to your left. 

You look over at her, waiting and hoping that she would return the gaze only she doesn't. You lead the team out to a sold-out Camp Nou, an experience that you never thought possible and you would remember the moment for the rest of your life. After the teams shake hands the captains get called over for the coin toss. Alexia has no option other than to face you and the sight that you are met with is not one you like. Her eyes are dark, almost as dark as the circles under her eyes, she hasn't been sleeping. 

"Amor" you whisper whilst posing for a photo with each team’s pendent. 

"Don't call me that" Alexia spits. 

Nothing else is said and Alexia leaves you standing in the middle of the pitch. You play it off by bending down to tie your laces even though they are already tied. 

The referee blows her whistle and you are focused on the game but every so often when play stops you glance over to Alexia. When half time comes the game is tied 1-1 but it still means Barcelona are losing on aggregate and in the second half they come out giving everything they have. It works because Geyse scores and not long after Pina scores from outside the box. The game is tied. 

You and Ada begin playing more in sync than ever before and it starts to frustrate Barcelona's backline. Both of you are taking shot and shot but somehow Sandra keeps saving them. When Frido goes down medics are called over to check her over. You take this time to make plan your next attack. 

Alexia watches you from a distance and she recognises the look on your face, she has seen it before. First in 2019 then last year, you were determined and when you are in this state no one can stop you, it's why you are considered the best forward in the world. 

"Lucy, watch Y/N. Mapi and Irene watch for Ada" Alexia may not know what you had planned but she knows how lethal you can be on the wing. 

"Stay alert and be prepared for the switch, it's what they're good at. Play strong because those two are sharks, when they smell blood they attack" Lucy informs her fellow defenders. 

Barcelona manage to get a freekick just outside of the box. Alexia steps up to take it, she sees you in the wall and it throws her off completely. She sends the ball full pelt in the wall and directly at your face. 

You fall to the floor and Selma is straight in Alexia's face. The young defender sees red and begins shouting at her in French. Your team mates surround you, each doing their own thing to make sure you are ok. 

"Del, go get her before she gets carded" you wave off the medics whilst arguing that you are fine. 

"Y/N, She--" you cut Delphine off. 

"She didn't do it on purpose. That freekick could have won them the game. Alexia wouldn't miss that just because she hates me" 

The medics help you to your feet. You hold on to them when you get a little light headed but that feeling soon fades when you see that Alexia is surrounded by Lyon players now that they know you're ok and whilst they want to protect you, Barcelona players soon step in so they can protect their captain. 

You hear the referee shouting your name but you ignore her. 

"Arreter. Eloignez-vous maintenant" your raised voice gains the attention of your team mates whilst the Spanish girls wonder what you said. 

It works though because the French team walk away, all but one player and she is the one that started the attack. 

"Selma, leave her" you pull her away and go back to your position but the referee still tells you to go the sidelines given that you took a hit to your head. 

The game continues but the incident has lit a fire in Lyon as they push forward time and time again. Aitana passes to Alexia but it is a little heavy. She attempts to control it but doesn't get the chance, you come out of nowhere and start running down the right-hand side, the unexpected interception annoys Alexia but she has no choice other than to regain possession. She sees you eyeing up Ada in the middle and Macario is running up on the left. Alexia slides in but you are too quick and instead of getting the ball, Alexia's foot connects with your ankle, the one she injured almost a year ago. 

You scream out in agony as you yet again fall to the floor. You instantly grab your ankle praying to any god that will listen asking for it not the be serious. Amandine calls for the medics before she even gets to you. Unlike last time Selma is by your side, the young defender was like your little sister so you wanted to make sure you were ok but that doesn’t mean Alexia is off the hook.

"What were you thinking!" Ada shouts as she gets in Alexia's face "It wasn't enough that you took away her Euros last year, now you want to take away her World Cup”

Alexia doesn't retaliate, she can't. Her focus in on you and how you are not moving. She didn't mean to do it but nobody would believe her. She sees the way her team mates are looking at her and she knows some of them are thinking it too. 

"I didn't mean to" tears begin to brim Alexia's eyes and it takes everything in her not to let them fall. 

"I know you're upset but she chose to protect you instead of being with you. She loves you and you do this. I don't understand you Alexia" Ada doesn't wait for a reply, she doesn't need to. 

Barcelona take this time to regroup and take a drinks break. Although Jona is talking them through tactics Alexia cannot focus on anything but you who is still getting treatment on the pitch but now only Ada and the medics are around you. The stadium applauds you as you stand to your feet and even though you try, you cannot put weight on the injured ankle. As you leave the pitch you can feel Alexia's eyes on you but you cannot bring yourself to look at her. Ada hands you off to Wendie who is now waiting in the tunnel for you. 

"Allez! We end this now" Ada shouts and the Lyon players head back out to the field and wait for the home side to join them. 

Barcelona don't stand a chance in the last 20 minutes. Lyon scored within 5 minutes of the game restarting and showed no sign of back down. It's attack after attack, Patri drops back to defend, Frido isn't getting the chance to push forward. Ada’s words ring true when the final whistle is blown. Lyon ended it, they ended Barcelona's hopes of reaching and possibly winning another final. 

The French side thank their travelling fans and leave the pitch so that the Barcelona team can have it to themselves. The girls are obviously devastated at the loss and this is true for Alexia too, but she finds herself staring at the tunnel hoping that you would come back out. She overhead you and Lucy agreeing to swap shirts when the teams were doing their pitch inspections. Surely you would keep your word to your friend. 

"Let's go Capi" Patri pulls the Catalonian towards the tunnel and into the locker room. 

"Did you mean to?" Lucy asks when her captain sits opposite her. Alexia rapidly shakes her head "I didn't think so but—" 

"But I did before" Alexia slumps down in her locker. 

A few minutes later and there is a knock on the door. The brunette is quick to her feet hoping to see your face when the door opens only that isn't the case. 

"Lucy, Y/N asked me to give this you" Amandine passes the defender your game worn shirt. 

"Thank you. Will you give her this?" Lucy strips herself of her shirt and passes it to the French midfielder. 

"Sure" with that she leaves. 

"Wait! Can I see her?" Alexia stands to her feet and approached the Lyon player. 

"No" the response is short, but it cuts deep. 

After taking a shower and getting changed, Alexia lingers outside the visitors changing room. She knows they are in there because she can hear the music, they are still celebrating. 

"Knock, I'll be your back up in case they want to go for round two" Mapi says jokingly whilst also trying to reassure her friend. 

When the door opens, the sight of them celebrating is tough but Alexia remembers the reason for her being there. 

"Please can I see Y/N?" the majority of the team are confused by her request, them not knowing your history. She looks around the locker room for someone that might be able to help her then she realises some players are missing. Wendie and Ada aren't there. 

"I didn't say no because I didn't want you to see her Alexia. Ok, maybe part of me did but you really can't see her, she isn't here. Our medics did their checks but decided that the best option is for her to go to the hospital for some scans" 

Alexia is riddled with guilt as she begins second guessing her actions. Could she have subconsciously done it on purpose? 

Meanwhile at the hospital, Ada and Wendie try their best to distract you as you wait for the results of your scans but nothing they do seems to work. That is until they receive a message from Delphine. 

 "Alexia is asking about you" Wendie says. 

The mention of her name gets your attention. You can only imagine how much Alexia is beating herself up about the tackle and your possible injury. Your team mates who are still at the stadium most likely jumped at the chance to make her feel worse. 

"I can't believe she did it again. She is supposed to be a role model, a face of women’s football yet she purposely tries to end your career" Ada lets her frustrations out by making alexia her verbal punch bag. 

You want to tell the forward that she is being dramatic but this is the second time in the span of a year that you have injured this ankle. The thought of missing the world cup is enough to make you feel sick and whilst you want to be mad and scream at the top of your lungs you know it won't change anything and deep down you know Alexia didn't do it on purpose. 

The scans reveal that you have a minor sprain, a bruised bone and you have re damaged the muscle that was injured last year. It wasn't career threatening and the doctors are confident that you will play the world cup, the champions league final on the other hand is still under question. 

You are told to wear a boot for the next two weeks and to not put any weight on it for the next 48 hours. 

"Some of the girls are going out for a meal to celebrate. We are going to join them, can I tempt you with some Spanish food to ease the pain?" Wendie asks you. 

"There's somewhere I need to go but I'll check in with you later" 

"You going to see her, aren't you?" the look on your face gives Ada her answer "Why?" 

"Because I love her" 

You text Lucy and cash in every favour she owes you from her time in France. The defender picks you up from the hospital and takes you to Alexia's apartment only there is no answer. You call her but she doesn't answer so you call the woman who should know where she is. Alba lets you know that Alexia is at her apartment and texts you her address. 

"That looks bad" Alba says as she welcomes you into her home. 

"Thanks Alba, that's just what I wanted to hear" you hobble further into the apartment only Alexia is nowhere to be seen "Where is she?" 

"In my bedroom, second door on the left" she points to her room. 

"Y/N" you turn to face her "She didn't mean it" 

"I know" 

You knock on the door not wanting to invade Alexia's space. She mumbles something about wanting to be alone. 

"If anyone has the right to be in bed feeling sorry for themselves it's me" 

Alexia head wips around in your direction. She is quick to her feet when she sees you on crutches. She looks you up and down and not in the way you like, she has pity and guilt in her eyes and within a matter of seconds they well up like they did on the pitch. 

“Are you crying? Come here” you toss your crutches aside in favour of comforting Alexia, who when in you hold bursts into tears.  

It wasn’t the reaction you expected. Sure you knew she would blame herself and that would make her upset but this, you cannot help but feel this is about more than football.  

“Lo siento mucho” she buries her face in the crook of your neck and mumbles word in Spanish. Now it wasn’t that you didn’t understand the language but you could barely hear what she was saying.  

When she pulls away you are quick to wipe the tears from her face. Alexia waits for you to respond to what she had said only you can't. 

"Can you repeat that?" you ask nicely. 

A small chuckle escapes your lips when Alexia rolls her eyes and tips her head back dramatically. 

"You said you understood Spanish?" Alexia says almost like it's your fault that you couldn't hear her. 

"I do, very well might I add, but when you are talking into my neck it's kind of hard to hear what you are saying and on top of that you tend to speak very quickly when you are upset or mad" 

When Alexia doesn't respond you know she is thinking so you give her time. Then she begins busying herself instead of talking to you. First she closes the door and then she picks up your crutches but when she bends down she stares at your boot. 

"Does it hurt?" she looks up at you but doesn't stand. 

You didn't like this dynamic. You were literally looking down on her. 

"Yes it does now please stand up" 

When she is at your level, Alexia hands you the crutches and you use them to help you to the bed where upon sitting down you pat the place next to you. 

"Why aren't you mad at me?" Alexia asks. It's like she is waiting for you to snap, either that are you are trying to kill her with kindness. 

"I know you didn't do it on purpose. The ball to the face, that I'm not so sure about" you try to lighten the mood but it doesn't work. 

Alexia lays back onto the bed letting out a loud sigh as she does so. 

"Reina del drama" you playfully tap her thigh twice. 

"Am not" Alexia argues. 

"You are and you'll be happy to know I only have a slight headache" you try to reassure her. 

"Why do I keep hurting you?" Alexia says although she is unsure whether it is a question she is asking you or one she is asking herself. 

"Because I hurt you first" you lean back on your forearms so that you can look into her eyes "Are you ready for that talk you wanted?" Alexia nods "ok, heard goes nothing. I knew that you wanted more and it scared me. I'm not sure if I can be the person you deserve Alexia. I don't want you to get hurt again so I--" 

"You did the same thing you did years ago. You made my decision for me" you know what Alexia saying is true but you thought you were doing the right thing "We cannot change the past and you need to stop letting it affect the future" 

"But what if" you are letting your fears get the better of you. 

"No. Instead of thinking you know best why don't you ask me what I want" You wait for Alexia to tell you but then she raises her eyebrows, she wanted to you actually ask her. 

"What do you want?" you ask. 

"You" 

You cannot help but smile at her confession. Never in your entire life has someone told you they want you, not in this way. 

"I know it can be scary but all good things in life come with a little risk. You told me that we have a chance, did you mean it?" 

"I did" for a few seconds you think about the possibility of being with Alexia "It won't be easy, you live here, and I live in France" 

"We made it work before only this time you will stay for breakfast and not sneak out" 

Your mind automatically goes back to the past, only now it is the good times you and Alexia shared. 

"But sneaking around was fun" your low tone matches the darkness that has flooded her eyes. 

"We can still have fun Y/N" Alexia raises your teasing. 

At this point you only want one thing and that’s Alexia. You shift your weight so that one of your hand sits on her chest. The smile that grows on her face tells you that she wants you just as much as you want her. You lean down slowly as if delaying the connection that little bit longer. When you are millimetres from Alexia face her patience runs out causing her to lift up to meet you. It might have been years since you shared this kind of intimacy but at the same time it's like no time has passed at all. Your lips move in sync as the desire you both share is proven in that moment. It doesn't take long for things to get heated but the moment is interrupted by a knock on the door, a reminder that you are not alone in the apartment. 

"Your sister has the worst timing" you groan in frustration. 

"We better go out there before she comes in here" Alexia helps you stand. 

Ever the gentlewoman she is, Alexia holds the door for you. 

"Y/N" Alexia says causing you to turn and face her "Je vous aime" 

 "Te quiero mi amor"

[crystalstylehexagon]

"The Light and Darkness Reversed"

Looking at their In-game moves from Naruto Ninja Storm and League of Legends, they're basically analogies of one another: Their Kit is similar, and their ultimate is literally the same. Both destroy things out of seeking "Justice", though Kayle is BLINDED by the "Just and glorious light", following in the shadow, much like Indra to Kaguya, of her mother, Mihira, who is the true aspect, if not, the holy light itself. This analogy works well with Indra as well, not only unknowingly walking under his grandmother's shadow, but also his father's. He, before fully coming to be evil, is the man who had been strict and a relentless teacher canon-wise, he was a "Just", or "By the book" type of character, or in other words, the perfect soldier/heir for his father, only to be betrayed by the very own ideals he stood for and this might just also be the case for Kayle.

This will turn into a giant post, but bear with me.

That reminds me,

We can't forget

Ashura and Morgana The Fallen:

While Morgana's Ideals of rebellion take a similar path to Indra's, binding her wings out of spite for her kin, the ascended (People who gain powers through a holy  variety of magic, chiefly celestial magic, granting them the ability to become something more than human, channeling that power through their connection to the celestial entities), sore the ground, to feel what humanity really was about, to find out why her sister spited them and called them "Deceivers and the unjust".

she's not driven by vengeance against her own kin, nor is fully spiteful towards them, especially her just-blinded sister, but driven with the hopes of making her sister and the ascended see the beauty of mortality, of making mistakes, of love and pain, of fear, so Kayle could see what she saw in these humans.

This was also a way to stop her sister from bringing forth the "Judgement day" (basically something out of a bible story. What else do you expect from good and evil story?), meaning she would "vanquish the evil and filth from this world." even if it meant burning the planet alive from the inside out granted by the flames of her mother.

Guess who else holds the ideology for love of humanity?

Ashura.

Aside from the still-confused Hagoromo, Ashura outside of all of the Otsutsuki was an empath. From a young age, he seemed talentless, despite being the son of Hagoromo, the sage of six paths, so he spent a lot of that time playing with children his age, helping out and loved his brother very much, but slowly, their relationship grew colder

Indra, much like Kayle was afraid of making mistakes, being the perfect son, following the path of ninshu, which we could arguably call the path of "ascension from something beyond human", teaching humans how to unlock their superhuman talents, but much like every mentor, he was biased towards strength, especially as black zetsu slowly poisoned his mind.

While Kayle was afraid of feeling pain, Indra honed it to his advantage, and with that he unshackled himself and became something, not human, but back when Ashura was away and he taught ninshu, he shared same sentiment as Kayle did.

"I must feel nothing to fight injustice" - "To find grace, I cannot rest, I will not" - "I have given up everything for the light" - "The law does not tolerate imperfection. I am no exception." "If I slip, I will fall, so I must fly." - Kayle.

And Indra before finding out he was, in fact- was not the inheritor of ninshu, basically shared the same ideals. He was afraid of being imperfect, he was afraid to make mistakes at that point, he was doing everything by the book, knowing he was superior to his brother, he gave up his childhood because he was given a promise of a rightful inheritance, he knew this, he was born for this.

But he got screwed over and completely fell into the abyss of darkness and rebelled and from what I can tell, Kayle's story is going there as well: To sacrifice your whole life for a cause, only to find out you were fighting on the wrong side/get absorbed by your mother (Probably, this is just my theory.)

And then, when she would know pain, she would probably take a similar path as Indra did: Vengeance and hatred.

(Mihira: mother of Kayle and Morgana)

Then we, once again have Morgana and Ashura: The empaths who took the side of humanity, who in a way rebelled against their own system and decided to explore what being human was like; hence, Ashura's Journey.

As we know, Ashura came back home much later than Indra, and that was because he accomplished great feats. While Indra was looked onto as a god for his power, Ashura humbled himself, working with what he had honed from his ninshu training, and he worked HARD for it.

Eventually he, in a way, became a part of this community and even gained followers from his journey back, told his story to Hagoromo and hence got chosen, because not only Hagoromo saw a strange darkness in Indra,(I can't live that down, like, how could he not suspect. He has THREE EYES for fuck's sake, counting his marking as the third eye.) but because he saw HIMSELF in Ashura. He remembered his journey, his bonds and his connections with people. He saw all that was good in him (Basically the Cain and Able analogy).

And guess who does the same thing? Morgana

While she conflicted between her celestial and mortal natures, Morgana bound her wings to embrace humanity and inflicted her pain and bitterness upon the dishonest and the corrupt. She rejects laws and traditions she believes are unjust and fights for truth from...

While this may sound like Indra, i'd say it is more of an Ashura analogy.

Ashura, in his own way, rejected the traditional ways of ninshu and teachings of ninshu from a young age, because he was simply bad at it and got mocked for it, even in this journey, their father sent him to do... Whatever and come back and tell him the story so he could choose a successor.

Unlike Indra, Ashura, much like Morgana bound her wings, learned more about humanity, and bound himself and his overpowering ass. He instead felt the pain and suffering of humans, he felt their sorrow and cries for help, and he empathized with them. While being an extrovert, we cannot forget that Ashura was still - partially alien, and much like Kaguya, we don't know how Otsutsuki's emotions work. We only know that Kaguya hypothetically managed to humanize her emotions, actually felt them, maybe she mimicked, maybe Otsutsuki, when coming close to emotions, simply get overwhelmed by them (Stone-faced: Ishiki, Momoshiki, Urashiki, who, if you take a closer look, simply did not function like human beings, have similar emotions. It was either a stone face or a sadistic look, which points to Otsutsuki simply being born as dickheads, but you may prove me wrong since I hadn't read or watched the full Boruto series, only snippets).

And while being on earth for decades, I believe those genes got mixed and mutated, hence Ashura and Indra developing more but the inner conflict, something aching deep within would likely stay.

Because they're both basically demigods and they're alien demigods, I'm pretty sure both had some struggles and questions about their humanity and otherwise, and Ashura is a perfect example of overcoming that "darkness within". While Morgana uses darkness to inflict suffering on those who do evil, power does not matter, what matters is that these two have similar views about humanity, love, and family.

Ashura loved his brother dearly, and even at the end of the fight, he tried to check on him.

Morgana loves her sister despite all, and just like Ashura, she wants to make her sister see the truth, blinded by light, only Indra's vision was blinded by darkness.

When i watch Naruto, i come across some very interesting characters and analogies like these and I think out of all of them, this one is the most beautiful and poetic one out of all.

Siblings, ripped from one another by fate, forever to battle one another.

Darkness vs Light

only in League, the Light is the true evil.

But both of these come to the yin and yang theory: One cannot exist without the other, darkness needs light, and from mythologies, the Sun needs the Moon.

In Naruto, true evil is taken as a concept, not an actual literal thing, and I think Kishimoto tried hard to point that out with the end game and executed it beautifully: Evil does not exist, black and white make grey, it is all about the balance, hence Naruto and Sasuke:

The Moon and the Sun come together to defeat a great threat to protect their world, the cycle of hatred between Indra and Ashura ends with them, and both accept their roles in the world. Naruto being the light, and Sasuke being the Light's shadow.

And pretty much, if Riot doesn't come up with some weird shit, or drops the whole concept altogether, I believe that the path the story of Kayle's and Morgana's story will take is the same as Ashura's and Indra's/Sasuke's and Naruto's, which, out of many other Anime/Stories, is one of the most perfectly executed story, if we look at Naruto series like the "Good and Evil, Cain and Able, Lucifer and God" analogy path it had taken towards the end of Shippuden.

"Through light, we find darkness, and through that darkness, we find the light once more"

That's all i have to say about this.

[graysoncritic]

A (Negative) Review of Tom Taylor's Nightwing Run - What Went Wrong? Villains

Introduction Who is Dick Grayson? What Went Wrong? Dick's Characterization What Went Wrong? Barbara Gordon What Went Wrong? Bludhaven (Part 1, Part 2) What Went Wrong? Melinda Lin Grayson What Went Wrong? Bea Bennett What Went Wrong? Villains Conclusion Bibliography

During a discussion, Dick Grayson Fan C explained the importance of a balanced hero and villain dynamic by describing their relationship as inherently “symbiotic.”  The two, after all, are interlinked, and the success and failures of one affects the way the audience perceives the other. When the audience knows that the hero will win the final confrontation, the questions surrounding how they will do so and what price they’ll pay to achieve said victory is what creates tension. In other words, the way in which a struggle unfolds is just as, if not sometimes more, important than its outcome. 

Note that this symbiotic antagonistic dynamic is not limited to physical confrontations. A good hero-and-villain relationship is also an exploration of the protagonist’s psychology, their motivations, and the thematic questions of a story. A well-crafted villain should not only be providing a challenge to the hero in the battlefield, but also call into question the truths — or lies — that the hero believes in. 

Taylor’s antagonists fail to provide Dick with any such challenges. And, as such, they fail to provide Dick with the opportunity to truly demonstrate who he is and what values Nightwing embodies

To prove my point, I wish to compare Taylor’s handling of Blockbuster with that of Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson. While I considered also analyzing Heartless in detail as well, because the main Heartless confrontation is currently unfolding as time of writing, and because my main gripes with how Heartless was handled during the beginning of the run have already been addressed in other parts of this essay, I opted instead to keep my mentions of him brief. Furthermore, not only does Taylor’s parroting of Dixon’s and Grayson’s runs makes the comparisons between their Blockbusters unavoidable, but his take on Roland Desmond perfectly demonstrates how his simplistic morality contradicts the nuanced themes of social justice that seem to interest him. 

(Similar to an earlier disclaimer I made on Dixon, I want to make it clear that just because I am comparing Grayson’s run favorably to Taylor’s, it does not mean that I am unaware of the issues present in her own story, nor that I disagree with much of the criticism directed at it. Despite enjoying much of what she wrote, I also readily concur that there are problematic elements to it, and I often found myself questioning her intentions as I was unable to discern them. But that is something that would deserve its own essay and I do not want to further derail this one by discussing the extensive controversies about Grayson’s run and the way it is often regarded by Dick Grayson fans. Regardless of one's opinion of Grayson’s statements, I believe it is unquestionable that she handled Blockbuster’s ruthlessness and the way he personally terrorized Dick through a form of targeted persecution that was mentally and emotionally torturous was leagues above the generic intimidation tactics employed by Taylor’s Blockbuster.)

When I claim that Taylor’s characterization of Blockbuster reveals his simplistic morality, I do not mean to imply that I wish for Blockbuster (or even Heartless, for that matter) to be sympathetic. I do not believe that they must have redeemable qualities that endear them to the reader in order for them to be interesting. While I enjoy the tragic villain trope, I’m also a big fan of the terrible villain who gets under your skin and inspires such hatred that you cannot wait to see them defeated. I believe that just as a person can enjoy both comedies and dramas without thinking one genre is superior to the other, we can also have all sorts of villains and enjoy them on their own terms. 

That being said, I do expect villains to be interesting. I expect them to be meaningfully contributing to the story not only in terms of narrative conflict, but in challenging the protagonist, in creating stakes, and in being in conversation with the themes explored in a story, whatever those themes may be. 

So know that when I am criticizing Taylor’s villains, I’m not doing so because I wish they were completely different characters from whom they were intended to be. When I critique their simplistic morality, I do so because Taylor invited such criticism when he coated his run in the veneer of social and political justice commentary by alluding to real world problems and trying to show how Dick Grayson would resolve them.

Let’s start by defining who Roland Desmond is, what conflicts his presence generates, and what he is meant to stand for in the narrative. 

When examining Redondo’s design for this character, their intentions come through almost immediately: Blockbuster is meant to be threatening, corrupt, and ruthless. He is meant to be the type of oppressor who enriches himself at the expense of others. He yields his power to remain on top of the food chain, shamelessly bribing politicians and threatening his enemies. He will stop at nothing to retain control, he will not hesitate to destroy those who so much as dare to think about standing in his way. He has no sympathy for others, he does not care about their suffering, and he will gladly sacrifice their lives and the lives of their loved ones to get what he wants. All of these characteristics are physically manifested in his design, in which his oppressive frame demonstrates how he overpowers others and his giant hands are shown to be the type that could crush one’s bones just as his shadowy reign over Bludhaven crushes the city’s soul. 

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Leaping into the Light Part Two. Nightwing: Rebirth. 79, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 14)

We can see this also through the dialogue of the story. For example, in #81, Melinda gets sworn in as mayor and Blockbuster’s men, in order to demonstrate the power they have over the politicians in the city, give her a suitcase full of money as a representation of the bribes that will be coming Melinda’s way.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Bruno, illustrator. Leaping into the Light Part 4. Nightwing: Rebirth. 81, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 04)

Melinda, in order to continue her work undercover, plays into that by stating in a line that is as devoid of personality as it is of subtlety that, as mayor, she will make them all wealthier.

Similarly, in #83, Blockbuster states (also with little personality and little subtlety) that he owns the courts, that he sees himself as entitled to Bludhaven, and that because of the power he yields, he sees himself as invincible. 

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Leaping into the Light Part Six. Nightwing: Rebirth. 83, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp. 08)

Nightwing reaffirms this idea in that same issue when he says (also devoid of personality, subtlety, and this time charm or wit) that Blockbuster is “everything wrong with this city in one convenient, oversized package.”

This is what the conflict between Blockbuster and Nightwing is meant to symbolize — a struggle for the city’s future. Will Bludhaven continue to crumble under Blockbuster’s rule, or will Nightwing free it from his corrupt grip so that its citizens can finally have a chance to thrive? Even in the 1996 series, during both Dixon’s and Grayson’s runs, Blockbuster did not pose a threat to Dick’s morals or his world view. He did not make Dick question the way he saw people. Blockbuster’s targeting of Dick Grayson and his loved ones demonstrates how those with privilege go after the people who are fighting for change. Dick’s exhaustion and hopelessness mimics the same sense of helplessness one feels when it seems like the entire world is against you and the consequences for doing what is right can seem too great of a price to pay. 

For this reason, Blockbuster does not need to be complex. He does not need to be sympathetic. But he does need to be powerful, threatening, and ruthless. He must push Dick to the edge, to make it seem like all it is lost, and in turn, when Dick finally pushes through and wins, it is a victory on both a personal and a societal level.

And this is where Taylor fails miserably. 

Now, I have stated previously how, despite Taylor’s attempts, his rendition of Blockbuster comes off as flatly incompetent rather than threatening. I have discussed this under the context of how it influences the way Dick’s and Bludhaven’s portrayal. Now, I wish to dig deeper into this issue. 

We are told of countless attempts on Dick’s life, but the only ones shown are overcome by Dick and his allies with ease. Either that, or the tension is undermined by a one-line joke or a general tone of casualness that fails to properly convey the stakes of the moment. Any threat that could have been created with Haley’s kidnapping or any intimidation tactic is destroyed by the gimmicky nature of the issue. This makes Blockbuster less of a threat. 

And yet, we are told by Wally that Dick is stressed and overworked. But because there is not a lot of tension on screen, that telling rings hollow. The reader is not shown that Dick is overworked, and he is not shown truly struggling alone against the obstacles he does face, so this idea of Dick coming apart at the seams because of Blockbuster is not something the reader gets to truly experience. As a result, it often appears that Dick is coddled by his loved ones as everything always ends up alright with little effort made on their part. Rather than witnessing true danger take a toll on Dick, we are simply told this is something that is happening. 

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Get Grayson Act Three. Nightwing: Rebirth. 90, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 16)

By comparison, when Grayson first wrote this same story nearly twenty years ago, she made it carry weight. She made it have consequences. While Dick was already coming apart from a myriad of different stress factors that unfolded on screen (overworking himself as Nightwing, as a police officer, saving Amy from Deathstroke, being fired from his job, Babs breaking up with him, and finally the circus fire), it was the explosion that made Dick fall apart, serving as the catalyst for his downward spiral. As Dick hunts down those Blockbuster employed, the readers get to see Dick’s exhaustion, Dick pushing himself to his limits, sleeping on fire-escapes while wearing his Nightwing uniform because he cannot bring himself to stop.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch, illustrator. Rekindle. Nightwing no 91, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 15)

Similarly, when the Judge returned to Bludhaven in The Untouchable, we see Dick keeping count of the bodies he left behind, we see Dick push through a bullet wound and beatings, we see him chase the Judge restlessly while neglecting his personal life. In both cases, we see the consequences of what Dick’s failure means, we see him struggle with those outcomes, we see what is at stake if Dick loses. And that, in turn, makes us not only care, but become invested in his success. 

(Humphries, Sam, writer. Chang, Bernard, illustrator The Untouchable: Chapter Four: Infiltration. Nightwing: Rebirth no. 38, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2018. pp. 19)

By contrast, in Taylor’s run we never see any of that danger, and the few times we are presented with some threat, the conflict is handled with laughable ease. Blockbuster’s plots are foiled without Dick ever needing to do much of anything as he mostly relies on others to come to his aid. In this Nightwing solo series, the Titans, Batman, Robin, and Batgirl often do much of the hero-ing. Rather than putting the spotlight on Dick as a hero, Taylor lets others take the center stage, making this into an almost ensemble book. Because of this, the idea of Dick being near a breaking point, exhausted, and feeling unsafe wherever he goes is not supported by the narrative. By not giving Blockbuster a win, Taylor undermines the story he is attempting to tell. 

This continues on through Nightwing #91. While Wally and Dick’s friendship were portrayed rather nicely, the villain that Taylor so ominously built up is taken down with an ease that is devoid of tension. The villain who is supposedly so good they’ve kept their existence a secret from Batman himself is quickly undermined by Taylor’s unwillingness to have his characters struggle. 

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Get Grayson Act Three. Nightwing: Rebirth. 91, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 16-17)

Besides the poor execution of his plans, however, it must be stated that Blockbuster’s plans and his motivations are poorly developed. Again, I’m not saying that Blockbuster needs to have a single sympathetic aspect to his character, but he does need to be threatening, and he must have some internal logic. Looking at the story Taylor has created, I wonder… Why does Blockbuster care that Dick Grayson created the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation? Why does he care about the creation of Haven? I understand that Blockbuster is meant to be a corrupt crime boss who wants to retain control of the city, but how does Dick building Haven interfere with his plans? Why was one billionaire throwing his money around to help homeless youths a bleep in his radar? Blockbuster already has politicians and the police force in his pocket while Bludhaven’s systems were constructed to benefit him and those who endear themselves to him. So why is he so focused on destroying Dick Grayson and not Nightwing?

I am trying to restrict my comparisons to DC Comics media, but in this, I cannot help but think of President Snow’s portrayal in the Hunger Games movie adaptations. In a movie-only scene, President Snow tells Seneca Crane about the importance of having a winner in the games. He explains how it is about letting the people have hope. As he put “A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.” 

In other words, giving the people a spark of hope to keep them distracted can help prevent mass mobilization required to disrupt the system. Give them a goal to focus on, and you can redirect their attention. It would, then, be far more sinister and make far more sense from a narrative standpoint if Blockbuster allowed Dick to focus on his one project so that instead he would not turn his attention to Blockbuster. Perhaps he could have attempted to manipulate the project from within, folding it into Bludhaven’s corrupt social systems. Dick would have been that little spark that Blockbuster could have cultivated, giving the people of Bludhaven "hope" so that they would focus on that and not on what is going on behind the scenes. The narrative arc, then, would focus on Blockbuster failing to contain the spark as Dick became the flame that breathed true systematic change.

I do not want to dwell too much into fixes, as I merely wished to analyze Taylor’s run and not to go full on script-doctor and rewrite the entirety of his story. Rather, I just wished to use that as an example of how Blockbuster does not have sound plans or internal logic, and that, too, contributes to how his character comes across as incompetent and nonthreatening, and as a result, even his supposed ruthlessness is undercut.

Taylor’s Blockbuster does not have a concrete goal. He wants power and money, yes, but for what purposes? And how does he acquire said power and money? Why is he threatened by Dick Grayson’s personal project? How are his intimidation tactics challenging Dick in an interesting way? How are Blockbuster and Nightwing meant to narratively play off each other? How are Taylor’s Blockbuster tactics any different from a generic villain with any other name?

To be fair to Taylor, I do not believe Dixon managed to fully nail this part of Blockbuster’s character. I did not find Dixon’s writing of Blockbuster to be a particularly compelling part of his run. However, Dixon countered this lack of substance by leaning into what Blockbuster was meant to represent — the system inside the machine that allowed evil to flourish. Blockbuster’s influence may have been everywhere, but Blockbuster himself was hardly ever confronting Nightwing directly. Dick was fighting a war on multiple fronts, and while he could stop an enemy on his right, two more appeared on his left. The way the struggle between Blockbuster and Nightwing played out during Dixon’s run emphasized why protecting Bludhaven was so difficult — because there were so many immediate crises that needed to be dealt with on the surface, it was difficult to get to the root of the problem.

This was why, during Dixon’s run, Blockbuster could remain a threat even if he would remain unseen for long stretches of time. And this was why when Dick stopped one of the underlings, Blockbuster himself could remain an intimidating force. Blockbuster’s machinations were varied — some of his plans targeted Nightwing directly; others Dick only stumbled upon when investigating a matter he believed to be unrelated. Furthermore, the limited number of allies and the prospect that Blockbuster could only be taken down for good once his grip on other institutions of power and influence were weakened emphasized just how this was no ordinary fight, but rather a mission requiring Dick to operate on multiple fronts and strategize on a long-term basis. 

Taking down Blockbuster was a multi-step process. Each of said steps offered their own challenges and opportunity for storytelling, for fleshing out Bludhaven, and for allowing Dick to grow as the protagonist of the story.

Dixon’s approach to Blockbuster requires Blockbuster to stay in the background, looming over the city as Dick fights his way forward. It’s why he remains present for all 70 issues of Dixon’s run without undermining Dick’s competence or his dedication to his city — as a stand-in for corrupt power, Blockbuster himself is not an immediate threat even if he is the powerful underlining one. Dick must constantly fight others in order to eventually be able to fight Blockbuster. To borrow video-game terminology, Blockbuster is the final boss, and Dick must first go through a myriad of levels and smaller enemies before he gets to finally take down Blockbuster for good. 

It was Grayson who made the conflict between Dick and Blockbuster personal and, as a result, far more sinister. After the death of his mother in a car pile up caused by Nightwing’s activities, Blockbuster was determined to get his revenge on Nightwing. After finding out Nightwing’s civilian identity, Blockbuster came up with a chilling plan that was specifically made to destroy Dick from the inside out. Blockbuster understood that Dick did not value his own life, but rather, those of the people around him. And so, he decided that rather than killing Nightwing, he would instead kill everyone around Dick, tormenting and terrorizing him until he felt as if he were poisonous. What was so poetic about this strategy was that it mirrored what, in Blockbuster’s eyes, was Nightwing’s biggest sin: the danger he imposed on others through his actions which resulted in the death of Blockbuster’s mother. 

As you can see, in this scenario, Blockbuster has become more of a proper character rather than just a stand in for corruption. That is not to say that wielding power for self-serving purposes at the expense of others isn’t a factor in his character during Grayson’s run, but rather that while Dixon’s Blockbuster was more of an embodiment of an idea, Grayson’s was more human, with more personal motivations. One approach is not inherently better than the other, they simply lean towards opposing sides of the spectrum, and that affected the type of story told and the type of confrontation Dick and Blockbuster had during their runs. 

Because Grayson took a more personal approach towards Dick and Blockbuster’s dynamic, she also fleshed out their relationship to the point that it was not generic. Blockbuster’s campaign of terror against Dick was intimate, for it was something that could only have played out between these two characters. And while Dixon laid out the groundwork to build Blockbuster into a threatening figure by the time Grayson took over the title, Grayson’s strategy to have Blockbuster go after those around Dick allowed her to have Dick win and lose simultaneously. 

Blockbuster starts his campaign of terror slowly. First, getting Tarantula to contribute to Dick and Babs’ breakup. While she is not the sole reason why they break apart — they are shown to have had some tension long beforehand that comes from incompatible personalities and desires — she does become a factor in their falling out. This ends up isolating Dick even further, who was already stressed due to the fact he lost his job once his boss and superior Amy discovered he was Nightwing.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch Snowball. Nightwing. 87, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2003. pp 17 - 18)

Then, Blockbuster strikes closer to home by hiring Firefly to set fire to the circus Dick grew up in. While Dick was able to save many people who were inside the tent (and had his own life saved by Zitka), over twenty people lost their lives in this incident. 

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Davis, Shane, illustrator. Flurry. Nightwing no 88, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2003. pp. 16)

While that certainly worked in breaking Dick’s spirit, it wasn’t until Dick’s building exploded that he realized this was a targeted attempt to get to him. All of those innocent people died not because Blockbuster was trying to kill Dick, but rather, because Blockbuster knew that their deaths would destroy him.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch, illustrator Avalanche. Nightwing no 89, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 12)

What follows is a downward spiral that demonstrates just how thoroughly Blockbuster is able to break Dick. Even as Dick gains new ground by taking out some of Blockbuster’s hired assassins, the threat still looms over him. And even when it seemed like Dick finally found a way to take down Blockbuster for good, that hope is snatched from him. The anger and helplessness Dick experiences in this moment truly speaks to the same feeling many of those who stand up against their oppressors feel whenever they are faced with setbacks in their constant battle. 

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Garcia, Manuel, illustrator Flashpoint. Nightwing no 92, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 21)

The carnage continues. The reporter who had uncovered Nightwing’s identity and just so happened to be standing next to Dick is mercilessly shot dead in front of Dick’s eyes. 

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch, illustrator. Slowburn. Nightwing no 93, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 07)

And as Blockbuster chases Dick down, putting others in harm, we can see as Dick tries to protect innocent people around them that Blockbuster will not stop. He will not rest.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch, illustrator. Slow Burn. Nightwing no 93, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 10-11)

Blockbuster says it himself in a speech where he lays out exactly what his plans for Dick are. Dick is at a breaking point. The enemy, huge and impossible to overcome, towers over him. As the climax reaches its crescendo, Blockbuster asserts his power by mocking Dick and laying out a future in which Dick can never escape this hopeless terror. This city belongs to Blockbuster. Dick is powerless. There is no winning.

(Grayson, Devin, writer. Zircher, Patch, illustrator. Slow Burn. Nightwing no 93, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2004. pp. 13 - 15)

This speech is visceral. Personal. Evocative and filled with character and emotion. These words could not have been uttered by anyone else but Grayson’s version of Blockbuster. And they could have not been directed at anyone but Dick at this very moment. This speech has specificity that was purposefully crafted to raise the tension of this moment to its fullest potential.

By comparison, Taylor’s “I am this city” line is generic. Like much of his dialogue, it lacks character — nothing about what Blockbuster says feels distinctive to him. Nothing sets it apart from how other characters speak in Taylor’s world, and nothing about it is unique to this particular confrontation. Even the way he bangs his hands on the ground like a toddler throwing a tantrum (and resulting in Dick’s second unmasking in this run) is childish and undermines the tension of what is meant to be a climatic moment.

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Part Four. Nightwing: Rebirth. 95, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 20)

The themes in Grayson’s run are not the same as the themes in Taylor’s run. However, Blockbuster still invokes the threat of an oppressor. By isolating Dick from his support system, his terror and the helplessness it generates are intensified. Rather than making Dick question his own morality, he makes Dick doubt his abilities to be a hero.

While Dixon used Blockbuster’s intimidating build and power to explore the ways in which systematic corruption is responsible for the immediate evils we encounter in everyday life, Grayson used those very same characteristics to explore how one copes with being oppressed on a personal scale. Grayson’s Blockbuster pushes Dick to the darkest place he’s ever been, and the aim of her run was to see how he would be able to put himself back together again after he lost faith in his ability to make a difference.  

Those two runs demonstrate how Blockbuster’s grip on power can be used to oppose Nightwing in two very different ways. Dixon’s approach requires Blockbuster to stand at a distance, the unseen machine that Dick will have to eventually destroy. This allowed Blockbuster to remain Nightwing’s main opponent for all 70 issues of Dixon’s run without ever calling into question Dick’s competence or his dedication to his mission as Blockbuster, the themes he embodied, and the struggle Dixon built clearly signaled that, no matter how great Nightwing was or how much he might wish to do so, the circumstances were not at a point where Dick could take on Blockbuster and succeed. By contrast, Grayson shifted Blockbuster from a long term, simmering threat to an immediate and personal one. This, though, also meant that the conflicts in Grayson’s run were more internal than those of Dixon’s. While Blockbuster was the enemy, the true antagonistic force that Dick would be forced to battle throughout Grayson’s run was Dick’s depression, his self-loathing, and his self-doubt. For this reason, rather than standing in the background while others did his bidding, Grayson’s run pushed Blockbuster to center stage. As he became an urgent threat who was costing people their lives every minute he roamed around free, apprehending him was no longer something Dick could afford to create a strategy around — it was something that demanded prioritization. 

Nearly twenty years later, Taylor’s attempts to merge these two approaches only serves to lessen Dick’s competence and Blockbuster’s threat. Like Dixon, Taylor uses  Blockbuster to represent, as it was plainly stated in his run, everything that is wrong with Bludhaven – the men in power who “have everything and still want to take more.”

(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Finale. Nightwing: Rebirth. 96, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022 pp. 08)

And yet, it is Grayson’s plot beats that he copies by having Blockbuster personally target Dick in a myriad of unsuccessful ways. 

While Grayson’s Blockbuster targets Haly’s Circus, Taylor’s Blockbuster targets Dick’s dog, Haly. While Grayson’s Blockbuster successfully kills Dick’s neighbors, Taylor’s Blockbuster fails to kill Dick’s neighbors thanks to Melinda and Wally’s intervention. 

Because of this personal persecution, Blockbuster becomes Dick and his allies’ priority. However, because Taylor’s Blockbuster’s actions never have any negative consequences; because the humorous tone is always undermining the tension; and because the reader does not get see Dick struggle or fail against Blockbuster’s attempts the way he does in Grayson’s run, Blockbuster’s does not come across as the larger than life villain he is meant to be. Rather, his constant failures, his generic dialogue and unclear motivations, and his straightforward intimidation tactics make him more into a fumbling fool whose powerful position is incidental rather than the result of merciless oppression. 

And yet, he becomes Nightwing’s priority. Thematically, Taylor’s Blockbuster is meant to imitate Dixon’s, but the narratively he acts like Grayson’s Blockbuster. This makes it so he is more of an immediate threat than Dixon’s villain, but less effective in his terror tactics than Grayson’s. 

With the consequences of Blockbuster’s crimes being non-existent plot-wise, the stakes of the plot are never elevated. Blockbuster’s threat remains abstract because in Taylor’s run, everyone who is not an explicit bad guy has plot armor so thick that they cannot be forced into an uncomfortable on-screen situation for more than two or three pages at a time.

The clashing of theme and plot create enough of a dissonance as it is, but the presence of Heartless, who is actively and brutally murdering people and leaving children orphan, only deepens the problem. Heartless’ gory crimes not only overshadow Blockbuster’s failed assassination attempts, but the sheer amount of people who have fallen victim to his deeds creates an urgency and a tension that demands to be resolved. 

Though Dick is aware of Heartless' existence, he does not make the serial killer his priority. When Grayson made Blockbuster’s threat more immediate and Dick became aware of the rising body count, stopping Blockbuster became his sole focus, to the detriment of his own health. Dick’s obsession with catching Blockbuster at all costs helped add to that intimidating aura around him. 

Humphries understood this when crafting the dynamic between Dick and the Judge in The Untouchable. Heroes and their villains have a symbiotic relationship. When the Judge kills people in brutal ways, Dick jumps into action and stops at nothing until he catches him. This shows the audience that the Judge is a threat to be taken seriously, and it shows Dick to be a hero who will always put others first. When Dick fails to take the same approach with Heartless and instead focuses on Blockbuster, Dick comes across as an incompetent and self-centered. 

(Humphries, Sam, writer. Chang, Bernard, illustrator. The Untouchable: Chapter One: Hunter. Nightwing: Rebirth no. 35, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2018 pp. 20)

At this point, one might be wondering why high stake conflicts and ruthless villains are even needed in a Nightwing comic. I have seen many people defend Taylor’s writing by claiming that they enjoy the fact that it has no tension. They like the easiness of it, the slice-of-life nature of his storytelling. And while even his slice-of-life writing is not really my cup-of-tea, I can understand this sentiment. Taylor seems to truly enjoy writing the more sitcom-aspects of Dick and Babs’ life together. It is not the fights, the mystery, the intrigues, the nuances of living a double life that interest him — it’s the taking care of the rescue puppy, the sharing of a pizza in the park, the two childhood friends finally getting to live an idealistic millennial adult life together without having to worry about everyday problems like work, rent, family troubles, or disagreements. He thrives when writing stories that remain static, with simple episodic plots that never truly lead to character development or a change in the status-quo. He excels in quippy yet straight-forward dialogue where things don’t need to be taken seriously.  

And to be clear, I don’t think that is a bad thing. I don’t think slice-of-life or sitcoms are a lesser art form than dramas or action series. Like many people, I too, have been comforted by that type of entertainment. I, too, find escape in those sorts of stories. I daydreamed about a life where I could just enjoy time with my friends without thinking about work, where the worst problem I face is how to avoid going to a party without appearing rude. Those stories have value, they have their place in our culture… But Nightwing's solo series is not that place. 

Now, this will probably be the one of the most controversial things I will say in this entire essay, but despite my love for Nightwing, I do not believe that the Nightwing mantle is Dick’s ultimate true form. 

In DC Secret Files: Nightwing Secret Files #1, Dixon explores the aftermath of Dick being fired as Robin by having Dick confess, with a certain amount of shame, that he always thought that he would eventually become Batman. Bruce understood that and he was preparing Dick to be his successor. Losing Robin, then, means losing any certainty Dick has for his future. Suddenly, he is adrift, not only having lost Robin, but also Batman. And that’s when Clark tells him the story of Nightwing. 

(Dixon, Chuck; Grayson, Devin; Peterson, Scott; writers. Ha, Gene; Scott, Damion; Land, Greg; Stelfreeze, Brian; Guice, Jackson; Eaglesham, Dale; Floyd, John; Jimenez, Phil; Brown, Eliot R.; McDaniel, Scott; Nolan, Graham; Rosado, William; Kuhn, Andy, illustrators. DC Secret Files: Nightwing Secret Files #1. DC Secret Files: Nightwing Secret Files #1 no. 01, e-book ed. DC Comics, 1999. pp 15)

Personally, I think there’s something really special about that idea. The Nightwing story grounded Dick during one of the most uncertain times in his life. Dick wanted Robin and Batman, but once both were taken from him, he created Nightwing as a way of coping with the trauma of having his identity, future, and certainty taken from him.

Braxi concludes his essay On Superman, Shootings, and the Reality of Superheroes by saying that “I don’t need Batman to end homelessness. I need Batman and Superman to provide moral and spiritual guidance to show us a better world is possible. I read Batman to transform trauma into will power.” (Braxi, Steve, “On Superman, Shootings, and the Reality of Superheroes” Comics Bookcase, September 2021)

The same, I believe, is true for Dick. As the character created to accompany Bruce and mirror him in as many regards as he foils him, Dick transforms trauma into power. He makes his own suffering a source of good.

As I said, I do not believe Nightwing to be Dick’s ultimate, truest form. I believe that to claim that Dick’s only happy ending is to have him be Nightwing not only diminishes the importance that Robin and Batman played in his life, but it also undermines what is so unique about Nightwing as a mantle. 

Dick loves being Nightwing. Nightwing is an extension of who he is. But Nightwing is not the only happy ending Dick could have had, and to treat Nightwing as inevitable is to ignore the fact that Nightwing was born out of a trauma and a loss that could have been prevented had the circumstances that led to Dick losing Robin been different. Nightwing means transformation. He means change. Nightwing is a phoenix-like Kryptonian myth, raising himself from the ashes. But for the ashes to exist, a deadly fire must first occur. Nightwing, this great hero of light, can only be born out of pain. He can only arise from conflict.

This is one of the things that makes Dick so special. When he is overpowered, he does not give up. When he is hurt, he transforms that pain into power. No matter how many times he loses, no matter how many times he is lost, he always rises again, with a beautiful smile and an unwavering kindness that inspires others — including Superman, especially Batman — to do the same.

That is why a Nightwing story needs conflict. This is why he needs ruthless villains. That’s why a Nightwing story needs the occasional failure. Because it is only when we see Dick at his lowest that we also get to see him overcoming darkness, showing why he is the best of the best and why we love him so much.

[tetraharmonic]

Finally jumping on the oc train 👁 👁

I present, the inspector Kira and her other harem!

Aria Bell, second year (kinda self insert imho)

- cannot stand her last name, ready to smack Amano senseless if he doesn't stop singing the Bells of Notre Dame anytime he sees her.

- American Exchange Student, gifted student burnout. Was on track to go Ivy League but her pact got in the way big time, and she spiraled. If it didn't come easy to her, she hated it, and gave up, because she never learned how to work for things until late into highschool.

-Made her pact to protect her younger sister from a hit and run. The demon paused time to give her the one chance, and she took it without even thinking of the consequences.

-Her stigma, Augere, allows her to amplify her own abilities based on her own self confidence and belief she can accomplish it. She used it to enhance her speed and push her sister safely out of the way. It caused an uproar about super humans and all that, which resulted in being transfered to Darkwick. Now, she just uses it to absorb herself completely into her studies and enhance her memory like crazy.

-She can fight, but she doesn't want to. She'd rather dodge, avoid, and outsmart an opponent before it even starts.

-Absolutely thriving in Hotarubi, enjoying her time there as a poet.

-Her artifact is a cloak of invisibility.

- picks at her nails, Kira smacks her when she does, only for Irina to smack Kira for smacking Aria.

Irina/Hisako

-Was known as Hisako while she was alive, but she couldn't remember her name, so she picked one from a TV show she saw as a ghost while haunting a hospital. She goes by that name now, Irina.

-She regained consciousness in a hospital, and kept herself entertained by observing the processes and procedures, as well as enjoying the conversations of both the people there and on the televisions.

-Was believed to be a vengeful spirit, and so, Darkwick sent the Mortkraken ghouls to retrieve her. She turned out to be a Yurei, or a Zashiki-Warashi, as the patients in the hospital had an unnaturally high success rate: she was blessing them all when she could. She came back to Mortkraken willingly, after the promise that she would be helpful to them.

-She discovered ghouls pretty early on, and, as she watched them all, she felt the strong urge to be like them, or at least, able to reach out and touch them. So, despite being only a soul, she sold it all to a demon, naively believing she could defeat it even in this state. Whether she will or not is unknown, but, in making the deal, she's become tangible and can feel things again.

-She can't taste or smell anything, except two things: blood, and apples.

-If the academy finds out what she is, she'll be sent to Obscuary. It'd break her heart though, as she would do anything to be a doctor like her current housemates, and give them a chance to rest since she's unable to sleep even if she wished to.

-Detatchable prosthetic arms. She doesn't have an artifact, so she detaches one and uses it as a flail instead.

-Amano doesn't trust her.

-Has an unusual twitch in her right middle and pointer fingers, and a habit for breaking and entering.

Amano Watanabe

- Squirel shifter anomaly, but don't let that fool you, Irina says he probably has rabies.

-Formerly an apprentice at a temple for a kitsune, with other shifters running the temple (a fox and an elk). Realized he wasn't fit for it and pestered Darkwick to let him in. Quickly also realized once in, he couldn't get out.

-Highly sensitive to spirits, but not nearly as strong as Haku is. Insists Irina is not to be trusted, and isn't an innocent ghost as she claims to be. And it's not because of her pact, either.

-He would wear an "I eat cement" shirt unironically.

-His artifact is a Taiko drum.

-Loves to pester Aria, because he finds it ironic that anyone in Hotarubi would have such a music heavy name. Bells and Arias? Seriously?

-Chilling in Jabberwock, but often doesn't hang out with the others due to the heavy work load.

Kira, Aka Inspector Gadget

-honor student, but with no honor

-consider your shoe rights revoked

-I haven't developed her yet but all I know is that one more order from Jin and she's going to start doing crimes.

-uses metal bottlecaps as currency for favors, as well as other shiny objects.

There is not a single braincell between them, and I am very normal about them.

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About Moko

(last updated 9/17/24!)

Tomoko Noge, codename Moko, is a second-year at Kokatsu Academy in class 2D. She and her best friend, Motoha Arai, both have an interest in baseball, and were in a little league together when they were younger. She joins the team as a “Phantom Idol”, or cognitive teammate.

A separate, summer event version of Tomoko was added in Version 2.1.2, and has a separate post documenting her combat information. Note that Summer Tomoko cannot be on the same active team as Moko.

Previously, in the second beta, her codename was “Kotomo”, however, it was changed to Moko from the third beta onward.

Her Japanese voice actress is Satomi Akesaka.

Tomoko is a Confidant of Wonder’s, available to start after Tomoko's return to school. Her Confidant focuses on her trying different part time jobs with Wonder, in an attempt to figure out what she wants to do now that she can't play baseball anymore. Kotone Montagne appears during it, and Tomoko recognizes and relates to her, wanting to get to know her. More information about Tomoko’s Confidant can be found here.

Tomoko is first relevant in the plot when Wonder sees she dropped her train pass and returns it to her, though she then continues to be relevant as Motoha’s friend who gets scouted for a baseball tryout. She also develops a bit of a crush on Wonder, to her own admittance, though she says it's mostly an admiration of him.

However, shortly after Wonder and Ruferu begin exploring the first Palace, belonging to Takeyuki Kiuchi, the real-world Kiuchi sees Motoha and Tomoko at the train station and attempts to attack Motoha. Tomoko sees what he’s doing, and takes the blow for Motoha, getting knocked over the guard rail and onto the train tracks. She ends up needing to be hospitalized.

Her injury means she can no longer play as a baseball catcher, which causes her to become extremely dejected and hopeless during her hospital stay, to Motoha’s dismay. This ends up motivating Motoha to agree to changing Kiuchi’s heart, despite the possible risks involved.

Correlating with when Wonder, Motoha, and Ruferu open the next area of Mementos, she mentions suddenly feeling the desire to do something, and returns to school after Kiuchi’s change of heart and recovering from her injuries. Ruferu says this is because her desires were returned to her.

Tomoko’s role seems to loosely parallel Shiho’s in the original P5. Motoha and Ann draw a similarity between the two (and their own motivations to avenge their friends) in the P5 Collab.

Tomoko is quieter than Motoha, but not to the point of shyness, and she's no less passionate about baseball. She has little difficulty approaching the protagonist and talking to him despite her crush (though she does get nervous when Motoha more directly tries to push her towards Wonder), and asks him to work part-time jobs with her during her Confidant because she feels more at ease having him there than she would alone.

While Tomoko ultimately seems to be sad about baseball getting taken away from her, she's also enthusiastic about the jobs she and Wonder try, and is always looking for more things to try wherever they go. She seems to take this as a chance for a new experience, rather than solely a bad thing.

She also doesn’t seem insecure about her role as Motoha’s best friend, though we haven’t really seen her interacting in-depth with anyone besides Motoha and the protagonist. She jokingly apologizes to Wonder for “stealing” Motoha at one point when Motoha drops everything to visit her, instead of Motoha’s original plans with Wonder (visiting Takemi's clinic for the first time).

When Motoha and Wonder are planning to talk to Tomoko's classmate Shun Kanou, Motoha actually texts Tomoko to ask her if Shun came to class today, and Tomoko seems to have at least an idea of Shun's habit of eating lunch alone. Though there’s been no indication that Tomoko knows about what they’re doing as phantom thieves, Motoha does seem to rely on her intel. Tomoko also uses her good awareness of her surroundings while working part-time jobs with Wonder (and one of her Confidant rewards is based around it), crediting it to her time as a baseball catcher.

The above is supported by her profile, which has been translated as “She has a calm personality, outstanding observation skills, and is used to taking the initiative to take care of those around her. As a baseball catcher, she won various championships with Motoha when she was young, and she is full of confidence in her strength on the field.”

Moko's Persona Prosymna (based on a naiad who nursed Hera, alongside her sisters) is categorized as a Psychokinesis type, and resists Psychokinesis while being weak to Curse.

Prosymna is a Superior Persona, meaning she’s good at buffing teammates and improving their effectiveness. Her trait gives her four "green leaves" at the start of combat, and another every other round, which she uses for skills. She has a psychokinesis attack skill that damages all enemies and gives her two green leaves, a support skill that costs two green leaves to buff a teammate's attack, and a status skill that costs two green leaves to increase the next damage an enemy takes, with a chance of putting them to sleep. Her passive skills increase the damage dealt by a teammate when she casts a spell on them, and increase the damage done by all teammates to enemies with mental status conditions.

In combat, her melee weapon is dual daggers (though she can also use Summer Tomoko’s fairy sticks), while her ranged weapon is a bow. Her Highlight is shown from 0:09 - 0:20 in this video, and it increases the next damage the target receives, with a high chance of putting them to sleep.

Her recommended card sets are 1) 4 of Coins (Power) + Queen of Cups (Trust), 2) 3 of Cups (Abundance) + Queen of Cups (Trust).

The game recommends teaming her up with 1) Joker.

[necrotic-nephilim]

do you ship helena bertinelli with anyone? if yes, then which characters and why? what's your favorite helena ship? do you have any helena rarepairs? (i know you've talked about helena/steph and you're so right about it, it's a very interesting ship)

!!!! i have so many ships for my best girl ever yes oh my god thank you for asking.

my top pairing is probably Vic Sage/the Question. Vic is the basic answer, but man. i love them so much. no couple has matched each other's freak like that have. Justice League Unlimited is a great adaptation of Helena in general, but it also did a great adaptation of Helena and Vic's relationship. how he just dedicates himself to helping her with no expected return, but also wants to make sure she doesn't go too far in a hunt for vengeance that never ends for her. i think a lot of characters often want to change Helena or expect things out of her for their own needs, like the Batfam and the BoP. but Vic is one of the few people who just wants her to be better for her own good. when he tries to stop her from killing it's not because of his morals, it's because he doesn't want this crusade to consume her. and i just. man i think about them a lot. Helena rlly likes weird little men who give themselves wholly to her.

Zinda Blake/Lady Blackhawk is also a top ship for me. tbh i just like Zinda. but i do love how Helena and Zinda interact, being the more rough and tumble members of the BoP. they're both outsiders, in different ways. Helena is an outsider of the Batfam and Zinda is literally from a different time and an outsider to the current world. their friendship is so genuine and i think if Babs and Dinah can have. whatever homoerotic nonsense going on during BoP, then Zinda and Helena deserve some homoerotic nonsense too. as a treat.

if we're willing to count New-52 Helena, then i enjoy Helena/Dick/Tiger. i think Helena and Dick being a past relationship is really important in pre-Flashpoint for Helena's development, though i don't ship them as a serious couple beyond a fling. but in the New-52, i think this throuple be fun. Helena and Tiger respect each other as two very driven, no-nonsense agents and then well. they both clearly have some kind of thing for Dick. so it's fun finding the balance of how they could all work together romantically.

and ofc. it's a crime to mention Helena ships and not mention Renee Montoya/the Question. every time they interact it's really fucking gay. it's so gay that Kate Kane, Renee's own ex, assumed Helena and Renee were gay. i cannot be convinced against this ship. i genuinely think this ship should be canon. i mean. DC did tease us with this moment from an alternate universe and it's lived rent for me since. fucking criminal for us to only get one panel of what we could have if DC let Helena be a fruit in the main universe. being in love with Helena Bertinelli should be a right of passage for the Question mantle, i personally believe. if you asked me like. genuinely who i want to see Helena date in the current comics, Renee is my top pick. (i would say Vic but he's fucking dead and the New-52 butchered him so rip my mans-)

lois lane (2019) #10

besides those ships, just about every ship for Helena probably falls into the category of rarepair. like you said i've talked about my love for Helena/Steph before bc god. i think it should be a thing more people ship. once i finish the fic i'm writing about them i will convince others to like it.

i also think Helena/Cass could be fun. in a *lot* of ways Helena and Cass are narrative parallels to each other. Helena was a victim of her family being murdered at about the same age Cass was forced to be a murderer. Helena grows up to believe in lethal justice because of this, and Cass grows up to be staunchly against it. Cass' Batgirl suit was made *by* Helena. they both want to be protectors of the most vulnerable people. they balance each other out in a lot of ways and i think they should kiss about it.

also probably a rarepair, i think Helena/Lady Shiva is fun. their fight during Birds of Prey (2010) had... questionable moments for Helena's characterization, but i do love so much that Helena knocks Shiva off her feet and gains a deep respect from Shiva. like. Shiva gives her a nickname and shows her admiration. i would like to see fanfic where Shiva continues to be weirdly admirable of Helena and bothering her non-stop. they could be a fun fucked up toxic yuri moment. this is just. so gay to me.

birds of prey (2010) #6

my most rare Helena pair would probably be Helena Wayne, actually. but specifically Helena Wayne of JSA (2022). ever since, for some reason, it was made canon that the current Helena Wayne was named after Helena Bertinelli and took the name Huntress to honor her i *cannot* stop thinking about them meeting. because in-universe it makes *no* fucking sense for Bruce to name his kid after *Helena Bertinelli*, someone he's regularly at odds with and doesn't like. it's clearly an awkward explanation to try to make the whole two Huntress situation make sense. (it's almost as bad as Helena Wayne in the New-52 using Helena Bertinelli as an alias.) but because it's such an odd choice, i do think it could be fun for Helena Wayne, when she's back in time to see Bruce, to find Helena Bertinelli to get to know the woman she was named after and Helena Bertinelli just being. baffled by the idea of *Batman* naming his kid after her. it could be a fun fucked up moment.

my other super rarepair is Kara Zor-L/Power Girl. they had like. one meaningful interaction of JSA Classified and it's been PLAGUING me. something about when Power Girl doesn't remember her past and she's seeking a friend, she instinctively goes to find Huntress? but it's wrong bc this isn't *her* Huntress and neither of them understand why Power Girl would seek Helena out? god it's so good. i'm always a big fan of ships where one person in the ship is *so* obviously using the other person as a replacement for someone they lost and they both know it. it's such a doomed angsty thing where you could play with Helena actually really liking Kara, but knowing that she's just a replacement for Kara's Helena Wayne. good fucked up shit man.

and lastly: i really ship her with Dawn Granger/Dove. there's no canon basis for this, they didn't have a ton of interactions even when they were both on the BoP. but there's a very kind innocence to Dawn that contrasts Helena's violence really well. and i do love a ship with a corruption kink vibe to it. let Helena corrupt Dawn. i could write such fucked up porn about these two.

[fbfh]

oh my gosh- i also love dance academy! i was wondering your thoughts on ethan karamakov as a bf? thank you!

OH FUCKING BOY. First of all, yes. Season 1 Ethan is very different from seasons 2 and 3 Ethan bc he actually had a shit load of character development. In general though, Ethan has had a lot of practice at getting girls to fall for him. like a lot. like a nauseating amount /j but there are two things that really set you apart from his past flings. first of all, you didn't start out as friends with Kat, Ethan met you on his own terms. second, you really didn't fall for a lot of his games like other girls have. similarly to Logan Huntzberger, he's surprised when you treat your relationship as casually as he does. he's intrigued even. but what really gets Ethan to wake the fuck up and realize what a catch you are, how much he likes you and wants to hold onto you, is when he realizes that you're seeing other people too. he sees some guy from third year that he doesn't really know that well chatting you up, touching your arm and making you laugh. and he does not like it. not one bit. so when you show up to workshop the dance he's been choreographing as promised Ethan simply cannot focus on the steps or what a perfect choice you are. he thinks he can keep it together, but he's already letting his feelings slip out when you're warming up.

"So, you and Darren, huh?"

he thinks it sounds casual enough, but you see right through him (which is one of the reasons you're so perfect for him) so of course you just laugh.

"Ethan Karamakov," you chuckle, looking up at him, "are you jealous?"

he gets all blustery and denies it, but by the time you're done going over the choreo he's insisting you both stop seeing other people, and planning a proper date to take you out on this weekend, and the rest is history. and let me tell you, even though this is his first proper relationship, Ethan falls hard and fast for you. he gets so invested in you, in being the best boyfriend he possibly can. He really, really wants to do a good job, and it shows. what Ethan starts to realize what he loves so much about you is that you really don't scare easy. you're such a stable, consistent presence in his life, and it's something that means more to him than he can even describe. he gets so scared that Natasha or his dad will scare you off, but not even his... interesting family can do that. and full disclosure, Kat will probably not like you much at first, only because she doesn't want to fall into the pattern of getting attached to one of Ethan's girlfriends then having them leave when he acts like an asshole. but once she sees that Ethan is actually trying, that he's trying to be a better boyfriend, better brother, better person, when Kat sees that it looks like you're actually around to stay and not going flake at the first sign of trouble???? Congradulations, you now have both of the Karamakov siblings attached to you at the hip. Kat will periodically requisition you for much needed spur of the moment girl's days/shopping sprees (usually when her mom flakes), so now it's Ethan's turn to find out what it feels like to be stood up for a date. you barely have time to explain when Kat takes your phone out of your hand.

"uh yeah, Ethan? there's a sale so I'm stealing your girlfriend - who is waaaay out of your league, by the way-"

"Okay, thanks for that, Kat."

"anyway, you'll get her back later! bye-"

And under other circumstances sure, it would suck to be canceled on last minute, but it actually makes Ethan really happy when those days do happen. knowing that Kat is getting to spend time with someone who's both a positive influence AND is somewhat stable gives him a lot of peace of mind. besides, if Kat approves of you, he knows there must be something... real between you. and something real like that doesn't come around too often. he knows from experience.