#but maybe… perhaps…….. idk maybe if a character is off-screen and needs to be indicated. i draw all of em interacting in groups anyways

[goosessideblog]

what if… think tank speech bubbles…

+ alt version

[eddiegettingshot]

Tbh I was radicalized this summer when you said we have progressed past the need for eddie therapy spec and fics. i havent read a single one since and probably wont again and my life has been so peaceful since… he literally does not need that. He just needs to feel secure and open with his feelings, needs to let people love him fully, and maybe some grief counselling/a support group to go to occasionally. If frank was going to help with that he would have in s3. (no offence to people who write/read therapy fics Im sure they are wonderful and profound and frank is actually good at his job in them)

helpppp good. thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about my beloathed therapy eddie because i think it’s so so so funny that after 8x06 the predictable response was that eddie needs to go to therapy. which i feel like there are soooo many things happening on both the character and the story level. like what’s funny is that frank really could not be a good therapist on screen because that’s not interesting tv. i’m not a therapist but i imagine that in fear-o-phobia he should have probably like. worked with eddie to decide on who he’d try to contact, figure out how the conversation might go, work on coping strategies, etc. but obviously eddie had to blow up. it’s funny because all of the other presumably “good” work frank does is completely off screen. because it’s uninteresting. so eddie wouldn’t have the kind of therapy arc people think he should have anyway, it’s quite literally just something people demand because they need a virtue signal that eddie is “trying” (and of course therapy is the only picture of “trying to heal”). the fact that he’s growing and dealing with stuff outside of therapy is like, not acceptable i guess? i think it’s also funny that as far as fic goes eddie is pretty much always in therapy but it is truly once in a blue moon that we see buck or really any other character talk about therapy.

anyway on the character level. obviously people who relate to eddie’s experience might find therapy really useful but i am not talking about real people i’m talking about a character who is fake. something that is very funny and interesting to me is that in the fear-o-phobia scene eddie is pretty much being resistant and mean and a bitch the whole time but when frank says “you can’t put all your feelings in a box eddie because someday it’ll blow up” and eddie literally already knows what’s going on (“…and take me with it”). actually eddie pretty much always knows what’s going on when he’s having issues it’s just he packs it all down. so seeing a character like this do the internal pathologized work of therapy with just. A Therapist. is… soooo boring to me. it’s funny because i do think frank was right. like in the end i think it’s sort of indicated that eddie is not only feeling this survivor’s guilt/pointlessness but that he also fears he’s going to end up like all the other people who share his pain. so he does need that sort of external pathway to dealing with his issues, like… exactly what you said… leaning on the people in his life… loving them and letting them love him… perhaps a support group or volunteering or whatever… in terms of an actual story these things are soooo much cooler and more fun than what therapy stuff can offer eddie specifically (like… strategies? identifying various cognitive distortions? idk). because he’s already a character who’s always in his head… it’s so much better. To Me. to see him work through things in other ways. such as by talking to a gay priest.

[cumplanecrash]

Image ID: a Novelist screencap of some section titles in the Shizun Babies AU. The sections are:

Shen Jiu on surprise Qi-ge! In the bamboo house [two white square emojis]

Shen Jiu: mu shidi arrives [two white square emojis]

Sy: YQY bullies lbh (real) [one white circle emoji]

Sy: go the fuck to sleep challenge (failed) [four white circle emojis]

SJ: midnight whispers [one half moon emoji and two white circle emojis]

End ID.

so to try and explain what happened. and i DO realize this is my own silly lil brain I'm actually mad at for the record.

So this app doesn't have a clean way to like, track posting progress, or at least not in Easy Mode, so I've been using emojis: a checkmark [✅] means the post has been posted or at least scheduled, a white square/blank checkbox [⬜] means that it's been tidied up. I don't have a beta, posting on tumblr is kind of like a public beta for me rn because I haven't done fandom in an active way in literally 15 years and have no one to ask, but I've at least removed the jokes that don't land and checked the grammar and such. A white circle [⚪] then means a part that has been written but is not ready to post, I tend to do these in batches. That half moon [🌓] is being used in place of a partial circle, i.e. a scene that needs more written at the front, since it's the left half that's dark. the number of emojis indicates the number of posts i anticipate getting out of the section, based on where I was able to find clean divides. I think less than 1000 words, like closer to 500 words, makes for a good tumblr post. Not too long, not too short, a nice fifteen minute read perhaps. (ignore that everyone reads at different speeds for me.)

last night I finished cleaning up what I already had written, deciding that the rest of the ideas that spawned from my lil idea gathering/second guessing post made more sense when MQF had a chance to consult his notes and scream "what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck" at his poor plants off screen, which meant I was basically caught up to myself for this au. This is the most writing i've done at once in years btw, life's been a struggle.

so this morning I decided to start writing for like. an hour at work, because I get there half an hour before we open to turn stuff on and Saturdays are usually a later start for people since it's a day off. So I wrote the SJ pov scene (the one with the half moon emoji), scheduled today's update, and went to bridge between where I had left off last time I wrote and where I started this morning.

everything between the last white square and that half moon was mean to be a 200ish word bridge. 5 posts worth of material. Actually, that's not even counting the two scenes I started writing and had to move to later in the fic, that I stopped writing mid word because they deserved more gravitas and also this was supposed to be a quick 1 hour writing challenge. (it was NOT. I didn't get shit done at work, killed my tablet's battery, recharged it when I got home, and kept writing. Love the productivity, hate the lack of self control. at least it was slow as balls today)

I still need a damn bridge btw

SJ and SY have a pillow fort in the middle bamboo house now. that's fun.

there's a lot of headcanons of mine mixed in there, some good interactions between SJ and SY which is great because I want characters not in the know at the end of the fic to genuinely wonder if SQQ is fucking his brother (maybe another fic but no pseudo incest in this one, sorry, they are currently four), but like. IDK if I can actually, like, use any of this? There's some heavy shit in there, ngl, which is interesting but throwing off my Cute Shit Ratio.

The scene where YQY "bullies" LBH is gold though. Shen Jiu is my favorite character to write, I love letting him let loose and be a bit silly, lol. definitely worth.

Shen Yuan, shut the fuck up, I'm at work 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[dragonofdarknesschaos]

Chase Young Can’t Read

Okay, but do we ever actually SEE Chase reading?  He’s never shown writing.

I know he’s sown looking at Evil Housekeeping in “Judging Omi,” but there is no proof that he was actually reading the magazine.  Magazines have pictures too, and who’s to say that Chase doesn’t just subscribe for the pretty pictures?  Have you SEEN the man’s lair?!

Further proof of Chase’s illiteracy is in how Chase’s underlings convey messages to him.  One of Chase’s fallen warriors is a Gaelic werewolf that can transform into a crow and play back or show what it has seen and heard from its’ eyes.  In “Hannibal’s Revenge,” “Omitown,” “Oil in the Family,” and others the crow is shown whispering to Chase or sharing a look.  Another scene shows the crow flying back to Chase’s lair, transforming to a warrior, and presumably telling Chase the information it gathered in person off screen, before walking out of the throne room on screen.

It’s one thing to be a spy and not leave a paper trail, but it’s another thing entirely to be a spy and leave your post to convey information  Most spys only leave their posts if their cover is blown, the information they have gathered is too sensitive to document on paper, their assignment has been completed, or a mix of all three.  The fact that the crow repeatedly goes back to Chase to report directly for all messages, no matter how trivial is a bit suspect.  About 99% of the time the Monks do not even notice that the crow is watching them.  Why fly off to report to Chase that they’re on the move?  “Phoning in” and reporting remotely would make more sense to continue the mission of watching the Monks.  The fact that time and again the crow is shown watching the Monks means that this is a recurring, if not ongoing, mission of some importance.

What the Food Tells Us

“But what about the recipe for Lao Mang Long soup?”  You ask.  Yes, the recipe is written down in a book about Chase, but that doesn’t mean Chase ever wrote or read the book (though he is vain enough he at least knows it exists).  Canon doesn’t go into it deeply enough to form a concrete decision, but Hannibal made the Soup, Chase turned evil and imprisoned Hannibal.  Now Chase makes the soup for himself.  Chase is never shown reading a recipe--why would he?  He’s been making this elixir for the last 1500 years (or more), by now the recipe is routine; Chase has no need to refer back to any written document of the elixir.  Or maybe, he could never read a recipe in the first place?

It is unclear if the Lao Mang Long soup ever spoils as evidenced by “Time After Time, part 2″ wherein Omi hides the soup, and then digs it up over 1500 years later, still steaming.  But most who work with any kind of food, or food prep, or both, know that dating food and packages is mandatory to know how fresh the products are.  Chase is often shown using CANNED soup.  If he’s caning the soup himself, why are there no dates?  Surely one as methodical as he would want to use the oldest batches first.  Without written dates he must have an elaborate system of organization (otherwise it’s like having no soup at all--and Chase says he’s very attached to the soup, as it’s what keeps him forever youthful and pretty [”Master Monk Guan”]).

Chase is making the soup for himself too, so there’s not even a need to list the ingredients on the package.  However, there is no written label--there is only a picture of a dragon on the can.  While this was done to cinematically highlight the fact that each can contains at least one whole dragon (don’t forget this is a TV show for 6-12 year olds), it then questions why Chase would label his elixir in such a way.  Why label your food with a picture of one ingredient instead of writing what the can contains?  It would be like labeling lasagna with a picture of just noodles, or a chocolate cake with just a doodle of chocolate chips.  Why label food in this way, unless you don’t know how to read or write?

The League of Overcompensating Villains... with Giant Citadels!

Furthermore, much of Chase’s lair has boobie traps and combinations to turn off or activate security systems.  There are no number pads, or combination locks, or physical keys of any sort.  There are only “super old school” “classic” secret levers, buttons, walls, and compartments for Chase to utilize, like in the regular Showdown of “Master Monk Guan,” how Jack opens the front door to Chase’s lair by pushing a hidden button in “Evil Within,” and the various boobie traps the Monks encounter in “Finding Omi” as well as a hidden Wu safe room.  Since Chase is unable to read, an alphanumeric combination or security key is meaningless to him.  Physical key holes are too easy to pick and bypass.  What better way to cover up your lack of literacy than to use really cool, distracting tricks and illusions?  One would have to be really smart to remember all the tricks and hidden items and how to avoid them, right?  Or at least that’s the stereotype.  This elaborate, over the top method of covering up an apparent “lack” is Chase’s modus operandi and he does it constantly throughout the series.

What does it all mean?

Chase not knowing how to read or write would cast him as a poor person in ancient China, as around 500 AD only the sons of Nobles were educated and learned to read and write.  This goes in stark contrast to many who headcanon Chase as the [bastard] son of a nobleman.  Coming from a poor, likely farming, family would make the life of a Monk seem like a step up.  It could also be indicative that Chase is an orphan.  Why strive so hard to achieve and prove your greatness unless you came from nothing?

While the desire to “prove oneself” is universal, it’s usually explored by characters who either have great power and prestige and want to prove themselves worthy of wielding their own power (Marvel’s Thor) or characters who have nothing and want everything because they believe they deserve it in some way (Marvel’s Loki).  The only thing Chase knows for certain about his destiny on either the Xiaolin side or the Heylin side is that he will become a great warrior.  Joining the Xiaolin Order would have been the first step towards receiving military or battle training through the art of Kung Fu.  What he does with that training is up to him.

Can XC Chase Read?

XC Chase is potentially in the same boat as XS Chase.  The biggest difference is that in XC, Chase is shown looking at and reacting to a text only status post on Facelook from Jack (”Who Shrunk Master Fung?”).  While text-to-speech is a thing, it’s unlikely that Chase fully understands how to operate the tech.  Chase dislikes Jack enough that, despite Jack installing the Wifi Chase used to access Facelook, as well as the giant monitor Chase was viewing the status update on, and never adding Jack as a friend, I doubt Chase would have tried to figure out the text-to-speech on his own.  Even if Shadow helped him, she is out of the lair at the time of him reading the status, and also temporarily transformed into a bird with Chase’s magic.

There is another scene in “Princess Kaila and the Thousand Layer Mountain” where Chase says that great tales will be written and told about his coming victory against the Xiaolin Order, and perhaps he or the cats can read it.  But can the fallen warrior cats even read?  Questions for future victorious Chase to answer.  Chase is also shown crumpling up a resume Jack hands him in “The Laws of Nature.”  If Chase is illiterate it’s just crumpling up a bit of useless trash.  However, it also asserts how little Chase cares about Jack’s credentials and achievements.

To summarize, Chase likely cannot read in the XS canon.  He goes out of his way to cover up this flaw by having intellectual puzzles as security precautions, has all his underlings report verbally, visually, or both, usually in person, and does not label any of his canned foods with words or numbers, instead only using pictures.  His illiteracy is indicative of a life lead by a poor farm boy or orphan who joined the Xiaolin Order as a stepping stone to achieve his destiny of becoming a great warrior.  XC Chase is possibly illiterate too, but there isn’t enough evidence either way to confirm or deny this possibility.

TL;DR:

XS Chase can’t read.

XS Chase goes out of his way to cover up this little fact by having intricate boobie traps throughout his lair.

All of Chase’s underlings report to him in person.

Chase doesn’t label any of his canned food with letters or numbers; only pictures.

Only noblemen were able to read and write in 500 AD China, so Chase was likely a farm boy or orphan.

He then joined the Xiaolin Temple as a stepping stone to achieve his destiny of becoming a great warrior.

XC Chase is likely illiterate too, but there are too many inconsistencies to confirm.

Random Headcanons under the cut:

I’m not saying Chase was kicked out of the Xiaolin Order because he couldn’t read, but what if that was literally the only reason?

Please consider dyslexic Chase.

Remember all those various scenes where Jack asks for Chase’s autograph and Chase just glares at Jack, as if the boy genius knows that he, Chase Young, is illiterate and is taunting him for it.

Chase never responding to emails because he literally cannot.

For that matter, why and how does Chase have an email?!  Who was Jack messaging?????????

Someone writing a really witty and heartfelt love note to Chase, but he can’t read it.

Chase turning Wuya solidly just to read his mail because she can read for some reason???  IDK?????????

Wuya is shown reading a magazine called “Woman”--likely a parody of Womens Day--but finds it too drab and changes it to “Wuya” (“The Citadel of Doom”).

Even if Wuya is in the same boat as Chase and just “reads” magazines for the pictures, she still formed an opinion about the magazine being “drab” and changed the entire thing.  Most people would just get a different magazine.

I guess Wuya took that mag from “drab” to “FAB?”  Amirite?  XDDD

Okay, but please imagine Jack teaching Chase how to read and write.

Also, Omi trying to teach Chase how to read and write, but he’s really bad at it, and Raimundo steps in to help because he’s got the highest reading comprehension.

The Monks are all shown reading and writing at various points throughout the series, but all are shown writing out their ideas for quests in “Hannibal’s Revenge.”

I believe Dojo said this in XS, but “penmanship wasn’t always a strong suit of the old masters.”  Big oof.  However, this means that the Temple will teach literacy, so then why didn’t Chase pick it up?  (more fuel for dyslexic Chase)

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 14

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE OFFAL HUNT LIVEBLOG:

On the other end of the line, Cinder let out a tight sigh. “Yeah. Okay, well—I’m in a difficult position right now. I’m balancing a lot. So, that wasn’t, you know, directed at you or whatever… I’m just trying to deliver you to Atlas. That’s all.”

“Yeah,” Glynda said. “This apology sucks.”

CINDER FALL TRIES TO HAVE MANNERS. AND FAILS. BUT SHE TRIES.

it’s been a WHILE but i’m STILL HERE!!!!!!!!! also i’m a little late to the draw and also unlike w/ prior chaps i did actually read this one when it came out so i’ve had my first run already. BUT that means i actually get 2 Focus so lets get this party started

so we’re now entering into the New Umbraroot Arc which Frightens me on a deep and intrinsic scale because now i have no padding to ready me for whatever the Hell is going to occur, but i do know it will be gay(er) than the current content was (is/shall be) and here’s the proof

It had only been a day, but the sound of Cinder’s voice was a relief to Glynda’s senses.

glynda that’s gay. hey. hey. glynda have u been told yr a lesbian. lesbeeb. besbion--

“Not at all.” Thank god. It was one thing to be traveling with Cinder Fall. It was entirely another to have her checking in on Glynda’s well-being.

cinder: my well-being is SHIT but thankfully there’s someone nearby doing WORSE than me, which makes me feel better at least,

“Oh.” Our sounded strange in her mouth.

my favourite thing abt any gay media and content is that it’s gay in ways that hettie(tm) nonsense can only dream of being. when a story is abt a guy and a gal all the romantic tension comes from like. looking at a tiddy or getting naked or w/e the shit. here? it’s literally found entirely in the use of the word our. such power. i love it.

I went from unknown to one of Atlas’ most wanted overnight, which is charming… And also annoying, because they refuse to stop pasting wanted posters on every street corner.

i feel like cinder is the type of bitch to send pics of them back to emerald like ‘is my face ACTUALLY that janky??? my hair is a state. you think they’ll use a selfie if i ask nicely???’

Cinder hummed, affirmative. “Which would be unnecessary, if you hadn’t reported me.”

Glynda returned, “I wouldn’t have reported you if you hadn’t been committing a crime.”

glynda you snitch. you narc. you bootlicker. does be gay do crime mean NOTHING to you,

We left a funny taste in her mouth, almost as strange as when Cinder had said our. She tried not to examine it too closely.

again. look at this shit. this is real slowburn hours. this is how u DO IT.

Her heart was beginning to feel like a pin cushion with all the needles pulled out, little holes left in their wake.

would i be showing my age if i glanced at this and wondered if it were a reference to the inciting og offal hunt inspiration fic or. it does doesnt it. okay moving on.

“Okay.” And then, in an effort to change the subject to something lighter: “I’ve never broken into a country before.”

glynda’s complete and continuous inability to actually like. do what she plans on doing is SO funny to me. she’s going to be stealthy, she says, throwing a man aside in obvious fashion. i’m going to be subtle, she says, being as conspicuous as possible. she’s a disaster and i live for it.

"The Faunus." Cinder's voice was cold. "Don't speak to her."

this part of this fic is subtitled ‘cinder’s rank opinions time’, apparently. not that u can tell. but it is. dsfhgjsdfghjghfjdk

In the silence that followed, Glynda thought of the stunted horns jutting above Cinder's hairline at the restaurant.

Glynda murmured, "That’s a horrible thing to say."

"Don’t start." There was no concession in her words. “I mean it.”

“...I just didn’t expect that from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

There was something in Cinder’s tone that told Glynda that nothing she said would be correct. She said nothing.

cinder’s! rank! opinions! time! honestly this section victimises me the MOST as i very famously cried over an earlier section in which cinder thought abt all the faunus she grew up with, so i know that kc and diesel were looking to hurt me directly. that said i DO find it funny that cinder, yet again, looks like a pile of shit.  she can’t do anything right. naturally inclined to be the villain completely unintentionally. what a moron.

A harsh laugh. “What do you think we are, friends?”

“Well, no—um. Not really, but—”

YOU SEE. CINDER. PLEASE. £10 FOR U TO BEHAVE FOR FIFTEEN SECONDS.

“Then, just—just listen to me. I’m going to get us there. I p-promise.” There was a soft sound, like disgust or the prelude to a gag. “Urgh, your soul—give me more space.”

cinder: i’m inclined to being an asshole glynda: every time yr mean 2 me i’ll make u feel worse cinder: ah no. ah shit. i have to be nice??? ah fuck. what the shit is this.

Glynda thought of Ozpin. It wasn’t a comforting thought—more like the memory of a near-accident, like sliding on ice and feeling the world shift beneath you. It was a flinch-thought, and it would have made her miserable instead of just homesick had she not shut it out so quickly.

god the writing in this fic is so especially pristine. everything feels so real and visceral and you just know Exactly how that feels. it’s brilliantly punchy and i adore the way u get have the exact sensation click into place. it’s SO good.

She wondered if it was the same moon Bacia and Vivienne had looked upon. If they had felt the same beneath its pale light. The Great War had seen two shatterings of the moon, so perhaps it had appeared different, but… Glynda couldn’t help but wish that it was something they shared, even lifetimes apart.

👈😎👈

actually im a little nervous abt doing fingerguns because WHAT IF SMTHNG HAS CHANGED... but i think this bit is. safe. maybe. diesel. kc. am i safe,

Glynda closed her eyes and tried to feel out that instinctual power within her. Tried to know herself better. It resonated around her like a water in a tank, nearly palpable.

again this is just GREAT storytelling. i just LOVE how well kc and diesel turn abstract ideas into such physical manifestations it’s completely unreal. r y’all seein this shit???

upon checking his number, she’d discovered it had been blocked.

i love that glynda is abt as knowledgeable abt little jumps like this as the reader is. are we surprised as a reader? yes. is glynda also surprised? HELL YEAH SHE IS. SHE AIN’T GOT A FUCKIN CLUE MY DUDE.

Remembering the notes to herself not to trust Winter, Glynda opened the log hesitantly.

glynda no yr sending read receipts to yr future gf and thats a bad move on everybodys part

The indicator showed this wasn’t the first time Glynda had accessed the message. She couldn’t remember doing so. 

OH NO BITCH U ALREADY DID

“Special Operative Schnee, things are…” Glynda paused, searching for something suitably vague to say. “Proceeding.

do you see what i mean abt glynda’s ineptitude. it’s slapstick levels of ridiculous and i’m living for it.

Do you suspect she’s attempting to cross the border?”

“Maybe.”

‘sure,’ glynda says. ‘you could word it like that if you wanted to.’

“Bold of her, if nothing else. She should know there will—” Glynda skimmed through the rest of the paragraph to reach the end, the corners of her mouth curling. “—can make arrangements. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

HGSDFGKHJSFDGHKJDF JESUS CHRIST

its like in fallout 4 when someone tells u important info and when u click past it the main character just goes ‘uh huh’ ‘yeah’ ‘okay’ ‘sure’ ‘mm-hm’ as the text boxes whizz by GLYNDA PLEASE

Bubbles appeared, showing that Cinder was typing. Glynda waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The bubbles appeared and disappeared four times.

She flipped back to Cinder’s conversation and found that, after all that time, Cinder had finally settled on a reply.

It said:

“Good.”

i just had to pair these up for a second if only to say: dis me lol

okay let’s double back for a second just to cover this Juicy Lore:

If you’d like, I can arrange a bouquet of flowers to be left at your mothers’ memorial site. My thoughts are with you.”

For a long moment, Glynda simply stared at the screen. [...] In quick succession, she realized that it had been sixteen days since she’d met with Cinder in the restaurant and that it was soon to be the anniversary of her mothers’ deaths.

WHAT IS THIS LORE MA’AM AND MX??? **MA’X**??? firstly idk what the HELL the Black March tragedy is but im fascinated but also: did u have to do that. can ONE person in this fic not have [spoilers redacted cant say that yet no sir] problems??? no??? die. dsfhjgghjkfsddf

Glynda picked herself up from the armchair, neat and tidy, and disassembled into bed, pulling the covers up to her throat. With her Semblance, she turned off the lights. She closed her eyes.

It was quiet. Cold. The only thing she felt was the weight of her soul.

Her Scroll buzzed. Glynda answered it.

“Glynda.” It was Cinder. “I can feel that.”

okay following on from cinder’s text message, i just. love that cinder’s having such direct repercussions to her shitty shitty actions. like this is all tying together in some 👈😎👈 instances but having cinder be her usual callous self and having to literally turn around and start fucking Being Nice For Once is VERY gratifying. fuck you you lil round-faced one-braincelled baby. time to learn to have some Manners. jgdsfghsdfghfjd

She’d simply resigned to the loneliness of having no one to trust but Cinder, and then, not even having her.

... thats gay. hey lads is that gay? its gay. it feels gay.

On the other end of the line, Cinder let out a tight sigh. “Yeah. Okay, well—I’m in a difficult position right now. I’m balancing a lot. So, that wasn’t, you know, directed at you or whatever… I’m just trying to deliver you to Atlas. That’s all.”

“Yeah,” Glynda said. “This apology sucks.”

this feels like a reference to 👈👈👈😎👈👈👈 (IS IT. AM I RIGHT. IT IS ISNT IT) but also: LOOK AT CINDER GO. TRYING. BADLY. BUT TRYING. i love her she sucks so much shes such a dumbass. feel the consequences. feel them.

Glynda chided herself; Cinder Fall wasn’t capable of remorse, but she was more than capable of simple math. It seemed the worse she treated Glynda, the worse she herself would feel.

glynda: she’s doing this because it makes her feel better, not me cinder in like idk 20 chapters down the line:

(i guess thats another 👈😎👈 moment but for GOOD REASON)

There was a shift, like Cinder was rolling over, or maybe propping herself up. Was she in bed also? It triggered the remembrance of Glynda’s own physicality, and she turned over as well, searching in the dark for the nightstand and the lamp upon it. The light clicked on. The room brightened. Glynda settled in, ready.

OOOOOH THE PARALLELS. glynda turning the lights off and sinking into darkness and the void versus perking up and sitting up and turning the lights on when talking to cinder!!!!!!! POETIC CINEMA. OOF. OOF. HOW DOES FIFTEEN POINTS OF LOVE TASTE.

“Great! Lovely. Glad to hear it.” Fangs rounded out the words like scissors. A pleasant sense of satisfaction unfurled in Glynda’s chest. “So, once upon a fucking time—”

there were two gays and they were enemies to lovers but didnt know it yet. but they will be.

THATS CHAPTER 14 BABEY!!!!!!!! i LOVED this chap and i can rly feel kc and diesel gearing up for umbraroot. its great being able to like. feel the shift of focus goin on here and im SO ready to see this arc play out. once again offal hunt is the best fic ever made. this is a fact.

[daresplaining]

Hey, Idk if you know this but imma ask you anyway cause I think you’re cool. ANYWAY, how do other hero’s react when they find out Daredevil is blind? (You have any HC’s that go along with it?)

    Hi, and thanks! I’m happy that running a comics blog is considered cool.

     This doesn’t actually come up as much as you’d think, because this kind of revelation almost never starts with people discovering that Daredevil is blind. Matt is (mostly) good at pretending he can see while in costume, since that’s an illusion he feels the need to maintain. Instead, what usually happens is this: someone (a fellow hero or otherwise) will learn that Matt is Daredevil, they’ll assume he fakes the blindness, Matt will then explain about the hypersenses, and that will be that. Sometimes he’ll be asked to prove it, but not always. 

[ID: Excerpt from Kesel’s Daredevil run. Matt and Foggy are standing together in an office. Foggy has his back to Matt (and the reader).]

Foggy: “Okay, Matt– you can stop pretending, now.”

Matt: “Foggy–?”

Foggy: “This whole ‘blind’ thing. I know you’re really Daredevil! Some ‘best friend’– lying to me all these years… playing me for a fool…”

Matt: “No, Foggy– you’re wrong! I thought you understood… I really am blind, from a childhood accident that heightened my remaining senses–”

Daredevil vol. 1 #353 by Karl Kesel, Cary Nord, and Christie Scheele

[ID: Daredevil and Karen Page are sitting together in a large, fancy, primarily green sitting room.] 

Karen: “And, your brother ‘Mike’… the aerial explosion in which you ‘died’… even your ‘blindness’… they were all nothing but ingenious frauds!”

Matt: “Two out of three right, my darling! I never had a brother… and that explosion was trumped up to flush out a would-be blackmailer! But, I have been blind for years… perhaps in more ways than one!”

Karen: “Really blind? I don’t… understand…!”

Matt: “When you get down to brass tacks, Karen… neither do I! As Matt, I told you once about the childhood accident that blinded me! That story was true, but not the whole truth!”

[ID: A panel showing a montage of Daredevil doing cool acrobatic tricks against an orange background.]

Matt (off-panel): “For, in some mysterious way, the same mishap that robbed me of my sight… amazingly sharpened my remaining senses, to far beyond those of other men… enabling me to avoid disasters, and to perform athletic feats that few people even dream of! Taste… touch… smell… hearing… all my senses were heightened! Except perhaps for that secret ingredient called… common sense! Why else would I never have told you before… that I love you?”

Daredevil vol. 1 #58 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

[ID: Daredevil and Black Panther are swinging in tandem across the nighttime city.]

T’Challa: “DD… I know I promised no questions… but I have never comprehended how a blind attorney can battle crime with the best of them! –If you truly are blind, that is!”

Matt: “I am… but I’ve got some other super-senses that just won’t quit! Remind me to tell you about ‘em sometime!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #69 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

[ID: Daredevil and Spider-Man– who is in his black costume– are crouched on a rooftop, talking.] 

Peter: “So… ‘Peter’, huh?”

Matt: “Yup. And in case you’re wondering, my handle is… Matt Murdock.”

Peter: “You’re kidding, right? I mean… Murdock’s blind… I mean… that is… uh, let’s go someplace and talk about this…”

[In the next panel they’re in Peter’s apartment, and in civvies. Matt is sitting on a chair, wearing a white shirt and blue pants. Peter is walking into the room, wearing a green shirt and blue pants.]

Matt: “Faintly acrid, but a nice apartment.”

Peter: “Boy, you really must be blind. And yeah, I had a fire recently. Let me understand– you could tell when you heard my heartbeat as Peter Parker and later as Spider-Man that we were the same guy? That’s some power. What do you call it?”

Matt: “Listening.”

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 1 #110 by Peter David, Rich Buckler, and Bob Sharen

[ID: A panel of Luke Cage and Danny Rand– both in civvies– standing on a rooftop at night. They are looking up toward the viewer (at Daredevil, off-panel). Danny is holding up a newspaper.]

Luke: “You can put that down. He’s blind.”

Danny: “Oh, he really is blind. I thought he was pretending because of all the heat on him.”

Luke: “No, he’s really blind.”

Danny: “Oh.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #38 by Brian Michael Bendis, Manuel Gutierrez, and Matt Hollingsworth

    These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. It’s very rare that someone figures out that Daredevil is blind without it being tied to a full-on secret identity reveal. The best example I can think of is this great moment from one of the Daredevil/Batman crossovers. Trust the World’s Greatest Detective to figure it out…

[ID: Daredevil and Batman are standing together on a rooftop at night.]

Bruce: “Let’s say you’re visually impaired. You favor your other modes of sensory input. A subtle inclination of your head when there’s a sound. An extremely slight flaring of your nostrils, probably indicating olfactory acuteness. You’re practiced– or possess sensory enhancements– making your powers of observation markedly proficient.”

Matt: “Thanks. Yours aren’t bad, either.”

Daredevil and Batman by D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel, and Gregory Wright

    I love this because Matt’s blindness and powers would affect his body language, and I kind of wish that more characters– particularly those with combat expertise– would notice. As it stands, pretty much everyone who knows that Daredevil is blind also learns about his hypersenses immediately afterward, and since there’s always been a tendency for writers to allow Matt’s powers to get him out of situations that would generally require sight, his blindness doesn’t come up as much as I wish it would within the context of his actual hero work and team-ups. The little evidence available suggests that his fellow heroes are accommodating (we get little details, like the fact that the text on Matt’s Avengers ID card is written in braille) and they’re generally impressed by him, but they don’t make that big a deal of it. Sometimes they’ll forget he’s blind, but he is quick to remind them. In the wider context of the Marvel superhero community, a blind superhero isn’t that weird, no matter what Brainwashed Wolverine™ might claim:  

[ID: Wolverine and Matt (in costume, but without his mask) are fighting in Matt’s apartment. Wolverine is slashing with his claws; Matt is trying to restrain him]

Logan: “Hands offa me, you blind freak!”

Matt: “This isn’t you that’s saying this. You have to fight it, Wolverine. You’ve just been reprogrammed.”

Logan (caption): “Listen to you, Murdock: talking like you’re some kinda super hero– Ever wonder why they didn’t ask you to join their fancy teams, big shot? Ever wonder why you always work alone? ‘Cuz you’re blind. Handicapped. Oughta hear the sick jokes they crack behind your back–”

Wolverine (2003) #24 by Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr., Paul Mounts

    (This comes after a long rant about how Matt gets more dates than him. Brainwashed Wolverine™ was going through some stuff in this issue…)

    One context in which Matt’s blindness does come up is in his interactions with other blind superheroes. In these cases, it usually serves as a source of bonding. Gerry Conway gives us this weird-yet-touching issue in which Matt encounters a blind hero from another dimension:

[ID: Daredevil is standing over a figure (Tagak), who is wearing a purple and orange skin-tight suit and a leopard-print mask that covers his whole head.]

Matt: “Now maybe I’ll get some answers! Like, number one… who you are… and number two… how you pretend to see– when you’re blind!”

Tagak: “How…?”

Matt: “Big clue: the way you hesitated just now… and let’s just say it takes one to know one!”

Tagak: “Then you…? It seems there is much to speak about, my friend!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #72 Gerry Conway and Gene Colan

   Since Matt generally works so hard to hide his blindness while in costume, it’s notable that he shares this information with Tagak within minutes of meeting him– especially when he didn’t actually have to.

    Here’s a more recent example, from after Matt has revealed his secret identity to the Inhuman superhero Reader:

[ID: A panel showing Reader sitting at a table, with Matt– in civvies and with his arm in a sling– standing next to the table.]

Reader: “Wait… are you really blind? Gotta admit, I kind of liked being on a team with another blind guy.”

Matt: “I’m really blind.”

Reader: “Then how…”

Matt: “You’ve got your tricks, Reader, I’ve got mine.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #609 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

    This example is a bit more complicated, since (spoiler alert) it’s all in Matt’s head, but 1. this conversation seems in-character for Reader anyway, and 2. the fact that Matt would want him to react this way is still significant.

    And then there are the villains! One of my favorite examples of Matt’s blindness coming into play in his hero work is this great scene from Waid’s run, in which the Jester– having learned Matt’s secret identity but assuming that the blindness is just an act (as everyone does at first, see above)– sets a trap that is entirely vision-reliant…

[ID: Matt, in civvies, comes across a life-sized dummy of Foggy hanging from a noose. He perceives it in an unrecognizable form with his radar sense. This alternates with panels of the Jester, who is sitting in front of an array of computer screens and getting increasingly agitated.]

Matt (caption): “And what is this? A Jaycees haunted house? Who are you supposed to represent?”

Jester: “He’s staring right at it! Why– why isn’t he reacting?”

Matt (caption): “Real dead bodies have a distinct odor, Jester. This smells like foam rubber and latex. What were you trying to accomplish here? Fail.”

Jester: “React, damn you! That’s your best friend hanging from a noose! Anyone who’s ever seen Murdock in a fight knows the ‘blind lawyer’ gag is a put-on! Open your eyes!”

Daredevil vol. 3 #32 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Javier Rodriguez

    I don’t really have headcanons as much as I have a wish to see more of this sort of thing in the source material itself (though I would love to hear other people’s headcanons, if they have some!). We’ve come a long way, in general, from the “Matt’s senses more than compensate for his blindness” attitude that plagued early (and some more recent, unfortunately) Daredevil comics, and Waid’s run in particular made great strides in this area, but I always feel like more can be done. I want Matt to hang out with more of the Marvel Universe’s other blind characters (there are a bunch of them!). I want his blindness to come up more often in his team-ups with sighted heroes. We’ve seen antagonists target his hypersenses, but I was surprised and a little disappointed that, back when his blindness was public knowledge, his rogues didn’t try to use that against him. On the other hand, we got awesome things like this during that period…

[ID: A panel showing Matt on the street, in civvies, signing an autograph for a blind kid with a service dog.]

Daredevil vol. 4 #11 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson

    …which is another of the many reasons I’m sad it’s over, as Matt/Daredevil interacting more with the non-powered disabled community is another thing I want– including negotiating his identity as a superpowered disabled person. 

    There’s a tricky line that needs to be walked in handling this aspect of Matt’s character. In making his blindness too prominent, or too debilitating, there’s a risk of turning him into a caricature or making it seem like a burden rather than a simple fact of his existence. Matt is a complex character, and his sensory array is only one part of that complexity. But he is one of the most prominent blind characters in comics– if not media in general– and I still feel like there are a lot of stories surrounding this part of his identity that haven’t yet been told, in the context of both the civilian and superhero sides of his life. 

[capnmarvell]

Here is a whole thought dump from me after seeing Frozen 2 tonight

(Mind you, I am not a “super fan” as a lot of people on tumblr are, I’m simply a fan of Disney and animation so I’m not interested in arguing over all this lol)

A big factor of seeing this movie was the animation. I had honestly forgotten about Frozen for a hot minute over the years, and when the first trailer dropped a few months ago I was completely stunned by that opening shot. The shot alone sold me to see it for the animation, I didn’t do too much digging into the plot.

I did see the spoilers a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t too excited about it all. I don’t expect Disney to actually do something so big as to openly have Elsa be a lesbian, they don’t want to risk that money from Christian homophobe parents. But I did expect something...more...storywise.

Look, animation was stunning. The details were great. I wish I was talented enough to go to school for animation because wow. This movie was stunning to me. I still love that water scene with Elsa, and the scene with Anna during “The Next Right Thing” was also another favorite in animation.

I enjoyed the songs, as well. I really liked “The Next Right Thing” and “Lost in The Woods.” I would have liked a duet between Kristoff and Anna, as it’s still odd we have a duet between the actual villain and Anna in the first one, but nothing for the actual love interests in either film.

But I just keep going back to the actual plot in my head.

Now, I could understand Elsa’s apprehension with being Queen, since we’ve seen her apprehensive about it in the first film. However, that was solely because she was hiding her powers. We see at the end of the first Frozen she is more confident in herself now that her powers aren’t a secret, therefore she becomes a better Queen, a better Ruler.

Suddenly, in Frozen 2, Elsa seems enticed by the idea of Freedom and Exploring, as the Calling she hears is pulling her into another adventure. She’s never given any real indication in the first film that she wants adventure, that she wants to explore. Honestly, I would expect Anna to want the freedom and to travel and see the world after she’s been forced inside the Castle most of her life without any real reason.

I liked the hijinks of Kristoff trying to propose to Anna, I thought it was a sweet storyline. However, I could have done without the comedy of the “Torn Music Video Style” animation with his “Lost in The Woods” song. If it had been done with more realism, similar to Anna’s “The Next Right Thing” it would have been a nice parallel. Instead I just kind of cringed the entire time. I enjoyed his song, but damn was it just a big cringe-fest. Lots of people laughed in the theatre, but his song wasn’t funny to me. And the comedy really misses the mark of his song regarding his feelings for Anna and the situation he’s in. Great song, but poor choice to make it funny for the audience. ( I get it’s a kids movie and you gotta keep the kids attention, but it’s a disservice to Kristoff and the song).

With Elsa’s journey, I really felt like they didn’t actually tell us anything. They just kind of...explain Elsa’s powers as a gift from the forest spirits because Iduna saved Agnarr. and Then Elsa and Anna are basically the 5th spirit of the forest? Because they’re the bridge that connects magic and humans?

Is it just me, or is that just...not satisfying at all? The explanation of her powers is solely because Iduna saved Agnarr and got the two of them out of the forest before the spirits locked everyone in?

Not only that, but there weren’t any real consequences. Elsa “drowned” and froze, and was able to warn Anna in her final moment, but once the day was saved, Elsa was brought back to life.

Like, Disney has done some dark shit before. It REALLY would have impressed me if they had actually kept Elsa dead, and have her be “brought back” as an ACTUAL spirit - the 5th spirit of the forest. They could have Elsa come back for one final goodbye to Anna after the dam breaks, like in the movie, and perhaps the movie ends with Anna telling her own children the magical story of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle and spirit of the forest.

But of course Disney needs a happy ending, and Elsa alive, for merchandise and the potential Frozen shorts and possible third movie - anything for the money.

Not to mention how meta the movie was too. It just kept...bringing up the first movie and that moment with Olaf explaining the whole first movie in the forest. Or Elsa cringing when she was reliving all those moments from the first movie and she walked past the ice sculpture of her singing “Let it Go.”

Now look, in a perfect world we would have a gotten a movie with a much better origin story of Elsa’s powers, and perhaps some flirting with Elsa and Honeymaren (I can see it), and Elsa is still Queen because she does make a good Queen, and Anna and Kristoff get married and maybe Elsa names their first born as her next heir or something.

I think Anna will make a great Queen too, but Elsa just deciding to fuck off into the woods all of a sudden didn’t make much sense. The logic just...wasn’t there or it just wasn’t enough.

I think it’s realistic, though, to separate the sisters. I’ve seen people say they were angry about the two not being together after all these years apart, but I mean...? Idk the idea from hardcore fans that I’ve seen defending the idea of two grown siblings NEEDING to be stuck at the hip in their adulthood isn’t realistic to me.

I think perhaps it was definitely the plan to have Elsa die, since it really did seem like it was going that way. But I remember reading the other day that they apparently changed up the ending or something after some test screenings, so perhaps that’s why it gives off that feeling.

I absolutely don’t want Elsa to die. I enjoy her character, and I headcanon her as a lesbian too and love that kind of representation, but with the story they gave us in Frozen 2, the stakes would have felt much higher if she - and Olaf too - really did die. I personally, would have liked an altered story with an actual villain (their grandfather started all the drama of this story, but I honestly do miss the old fashioned Disney with hero vs. villain) and better story of Elsa’s powers, and Disney actually taking some strong choices with it.

This movie was very safe, and very weak storywise.

The songs and animation were good.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Disney milked the Frozen money maker by doing a third film, but I doubt they’d actually do anything big with that one either.

Overall, it was mostly pleasing to the eye (I’m still cringing at the “Lost in The Woods” montage) but the story was weak, but not surprising with how safe Disney tends to play it.

I’ll give it a 6.5/10, mostly because that animation is really pretty.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Vol. 6 “Uncovered”

This is a re-posting from Nov. 4th, 2018 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

So much for Thursday/Friday postings. This episode ripped my heart out through my teeth, so you know I've gotta get thoughts down on paper. What’s today’s theme? The folly and inexperience of youth, but as much as I want to dive straight into my impassioned defense of Ozpin, we need to make sure that we unpack the new intro first. And, you know, the rest of the episode...

The highlights have already been circulating for the last week, most notably the animation of Ozpin’s (presumed) past reincarnations… and the fact that the one right before the guy we think of as Oz looks like a dad. He looks like Tai’s brother. One of these Ozpins is not like the others and honestly I kind of love it. Seriously though, in the realm of actual analysis there are a number of details I want to make sure we put a pin in before moving forward. Let’s make use of our good friend the list:

The beginning is super fluffy with the gang hanging out while waiting for the train, Ruby chasing after Weiss, and Blake watching them fondly. Out of the whole group Yang is the only one who appears upset, staring morosely out the window where we get a flash of Adam. I think this is significant given that she seems to be the most volatile of the group right now. As we’ll see, though most of them have beef with Ozpin, Yang is the one instigating the fights.

We have a moment where the camera moves through Maria’s eyes and then immediately does the same with Ruby’s. Are Maria’s eyes also important? Perhaps her semblance is connected to her blindness somehow.

We see (I think??) Roman’s hat blow by right before the hooded person (Cinder) is broken up by red slashes across the screen. Omg could he actually come back? I mean yeah, he literally got swallowed whole by a grimm, but he also might have cut himself out a la Hannibal Chau style. Please bring back my flamboyant fave and have him get revenge on Cinder. That would be so very excellent.

There’s a young woman (Salem) staring up at a statue of Oz. Last week it seemed weird that this statue looked so very much like his Vol. 1-3 reincarnation, but considering we’re in Jinn’s story world she might be borrowing imagery that the gang is familiar with. Either that or the reincarnations tend to look like each other in time? Idk. To be decided.

Jaune slams Ozpin up against a freaking wall. Given how this Volume is going so far, I’m pretty confident that it’s Ozpin and not Oscar. Wonder if Jaune is finally going to confront him about his part in Pyrrha’s death…

Plenty of potential WhiteRose (as mentioned in the first recap). Seriously, I try to keep shipping out of these (a few Ozqrow jokes aside…) but I’ve also gotta call any potential setup as I see it, and given the happily chasing after her, using her glyphs at the end, the final shot of Weiss helping Ruby to her feet, Ruby collecting dust cartridges later in the episode, her calling Weiss's name in Jinn's world, Weiss doing the same for her… all of this could just be them re-developing their relationship after the separation. Could also be something more.

Also in terms of that final shot: having the whole group—Ozpin included—standing together and facing down some threat is very reassuring after this week’s episode. Ngl lol.

Finally, we have those grimm arms reaching out to drag Qrow into darkness, notably while he’s drinking. “Wow,” I say to myself. “Those arms sure do look a lot like Cinder’s!”

Oh look. We open on Cinder.

Classic rule of television: if you don’t see a body they’re not dead yet. (Unless, apparently, you’re Ozpin.)

(…but maybe not Roman.)

She’s clearly terrified, waking up in water with her eyes darting every which way, groaning when she finally pulls herself to shore. It’s always good to throw your villains into moments like this where their basic—human—instincts take hold. It makes them a little more sympathetic (if not more justifiable) and therefore more compelling. At this point I really have no desire to see an attempt at a Cinder redemption arc, but even I’m wincing at that panicked look on her face.

She’s having trouble summoning up her power, presumably because she just got her ass beat by another Maiden. It comes back pretty fast though, which really helps put into context how powerful these women are. Even freezing them from the inside out is only going to knock them out of commission for a little while.

Cinder takes a look way up to where the tree stands and pounds her grimm hand against the rocks in frustration. Apparently these things are ridiculously strong because it opens up a crack in the mountain, letting a sliver of light shine through to her face. (A trope normally reserved for the heroes.) Cinder then uses her One Punch Man powers to break out, considering that her flames are still sputtering.

Outside she meets a sweet, no-name woman who makes the mistake of stopping to help. Cinder steals her clothes, her money, and presumably kills her. RIP nice lady just trying to do her grocery shopping.

We realize that Cinder woke up weeks ago as we move into another flashback at the house. There the team has their first conversation about the relic.

Ruby: “We need to take the relic to Atlas?”

Qrow: “That’s what Oz said.”

For all his banter and bluster, Qrow is a very passive character. He has so little faith in himself that he needs to put it in others—so he fosters pretty much all of that onto Oz. Ruby is the one who subtly questions why they’re taking the relic all the way to Atlas. Qrow is the one who just reiterates that these are Oz’s orders, so that’s what they’re gonna do. Right now he’s not questioning his general and I’ll be interested to see if and how that changes after the events of this episode. One of the reasons for Qrow’s dark descent in the intro?

We have a funny exchange where Ren points out that the borders of Atlas are closed, but no worries. They have a missing Schnee heiress to get them through! What’s less funny is when Qrow mentions that they actually wanted to seal the relic back up in the vault but can’t because they don’t have access to the Spring Maiden. Cut to a guilty looking Yang. Not that they’d have much chance convincing Raven to help them (what is she up to with Tai??), but again: Oz isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

Ozpin comes out leaning heavily on his cane and wincing with each step. Hmm. Another indication that, despite his power, he’s surprisingly fragile? I’m still wondering how Cinder won that fight and it looks like he isn’t recovering as quickly as the rest of the group, despite the fact that everyone took a beating in Haven. Something to chew on.

Still talking about the relic, Jaune mentions that they don’t know what the thing actually does and we get to see Ozpin’s conflicted expression before he whirls around with a smile. He’s clearly weighing what he should and shouldn’t tell them, secrets later revealed in the episode. He says that the relic has a “wonderful and incredibly dangerous ability”—important wording! We’ll come back to that. It can answer any three questions every 100 years, provided they’re not about future events. Ozpin claims that the questions were asked before the relic was sealed away so, sorry, no knowledge to gain right now.

Jumping a little farther into the episode, we also continue the plot-line with Cinder sneaking around in the dead woman’s clothes, realizing that she’s very much a wanted criminal now. She heads into this super sketchy spider gang and asks for information on Team RWBY and the others—not going back to Salem then—throwing down the woman’s lien as payment. The leader assures her that she’ll have their locations within a week… despite the fact that she already knows where they are. The “big guy,” Hazel, was asking first.

Back with the group. Ruby finds the relic lying nearby while Yang tries desperately to get her bike out of the snow. Despite having agreed to this plan of separating and stranding themselves, Yang is expressing her frustration by treating it like a cruel trick of fate, complaining about that as well as the fact that they’ve “gained a defenseless old woman.” After Maria introduces herself and comments a little about being hard of hearing, blind, and how her glasses need a tuneup, we slam hard into the heart of the episode. Good. I’ve got things to say about how these kids are acting like… well, kids. Yang has basically just had a temper tantrum in the snow and Qrow rightly points out that they need to try to keep calm so as not to attract more grimm. Yang—as we expect—uses this opportunity to segue back to the relic. She wants to know why Ozpin lied to them. Oscar thinks they deserve to know too and forces (maybe?) the switch.

“I didn’t lie,” Ozpin says. He just didn’t provide them with all the information. This immediately sets Yang off because that’s just a technicality. An excuse. Right? Well, yes and no. Do people sometimes manipulate others by doling out pieces of information and then claiming, “I didn’t really lie”? Yes, absolutely. But there’s also something to be said for adults withholding information in an effort to protect their charges. Like… if a kid asked you how someone died there’s a BIG difference between saying, “They were murdered” vs. “Oh, well the murderer tortured them for days and then sent pictures of it to their family and then gutted them very slowly….” Yeah. Sometimes you don’t need that kind of shit weighing you down and in this case Ozpin has an additional, practical reason for not telling them that the relic attracts grimm: their worry would just bring more. Which is exactly what I said last time. Telling them wouldn’t change the situation—there’s a very good chance it would actually make things worse—so he tried to give them what little peace he could.

Weiss: “You know, I’m getting real tired of people choosing what’s best for me”

An understandable statement? Sure, but Weiss is still a kid. Yes, 14, 15, 16, and even 17yos are still kids, whether we want to give them the label of “teenager” or not. It’s sometimes hard to remember given their responsibilities, but Team RWBY is still a collection of developing brains challenging thousands of years of experience. Kids never like it, but sometimes adults do know what’s best for them. All of this is complicated by the abuse in their lives—notice that Yang (Raven), Weiss (parents), and Blake (Adam) are far less trusting of Ozpin than Ruby is—but that doesn’t change the fact that a teenager is not equipped to make these world-altering decisions in the same way an adult is. Combine this with the fact that they have implicitly acknowledged Ozpin as their leader and them thinking they can challenge his well thought-out choices in this manner is a big problem.

Ironically, Ozpin and James have a lot more in common than they think they do when it comes to leading: they both understand the importance of compartmentalization, it’s just that James is more obvious about treating subordinates as subordinates. Ozpin cozies up to people and then they’re surprised when they don’t have his ear. As I said before, you can trust your army without giving them every single secret. That’s dangerous, and the girls aren’t entitled to dangerous information just because they want it.

Ozpin says he’s not entirely sure why grimm are attracted to the relic (another lie?) and we learn that he was the one who spun the story of Lionheart’s heroic death. Again, Yang sees things in a very black and white manner—that’s another lie and lies are bad—and Ozpin angrily argues that Lionheart doesn’t deserve to have all the good he did erased by his final mistakes. That's a pretty loaded conundrum and I’m definitely not equipped to untangle it. Rather, I’m more interested in how the girls are completely unable to consider that viewpoint. Because (common theme here) they lack the experience that Ozpin does. To them Lionheart was just a Bad Guy and should be treated accordingly because they’re teenagers who have never faced a betrayal like that. They might have a very different reaction if, years down the road, one of Team RWBY succumbed to Salem and betrayed them in the end. Would Blake want Yang’s name forever tarnished if she gave in and joined Raven? Would Ruby be okay with the whole world thinking nothing but awful things about Weiss if she went dark? No, it’s more complex when you love someone… but they’re too young to understand that yet.

Age matters here. Experience matters.

Just as important, Ozpin is an emotional, flawed human being who is being cut very deeply right now. That is, the girls have 100% condemned Lionheart despite the good he did in the past… and Ozpin has no doubt done things just as bad, if not worse. Though unintentional, their rejection of Lionheart’s worth is a rejection of Ozpin’s as well. If they can’t consider forgiving Lionheart for his mistakes, how could they possibly forgive him? “Does one lapse in judgement truly negate all of his good?” he asks, a question he no doubt poses to himself all the time. As Ozpin defends his friend he’s also trying desperately to defend himself and what he’s hearing from Yang is, “No. You’re irredeemable.”

Whether we consider Ozpin’s past to actually be irredeemable or not, that’s a pretty hard blow. Remember last recap I pointed out how shocked he looked at Ruby’s support? It’s because this is what he’s used to hearing. Everyone (like Qrow) looks to him to be their leader and then reacts with fury when he makes decisions they don’t like; people insist they care for him and then condemn those who have made far fewer mistakes. And he’s been dealing with this for thousands of years. Honestly, I’m surprised the guy can even get out of bed anymore.

“Do you really think Leo was the first?” he growls when Yang insists that he can trust them. Of course Leo wasn’t the first to betray him and, as Ozpin points out, he said those exact same words. You can trust me. Ultimately, why are these kids any different? Because they’re the heroes? No, that’s the perspective of the audience. From behind our fourth wall we know that Team RWBY is trustworthy, but Ozpin has no such reassurances. If a friend he had for years could suddenly betray him like that, what the hell is stopping a bunch of former students who are already frustrated with him?

Also… just pointing out… Yang insists he can trust her and then two seconds later she, along with Blake and Weiss, have their weapons pulled on both Ozpin and Qrow. So he can trust them… but only if he does what they want and tells them what they want to hear. And people question why Ozpin has trust issues.

I do want Ozpin to trust more—both for himself and for others—but my god does he have good reasons for holding back.

Sadly, we don’t get to see Yang try to grapple with the revelation that she’s parroting Lionheart’s words (because, as I’ll discuss a bit below, RWBY ultimately dodges any real sticky moral questions and segues back into simple story logic). Instead the conversation is derailed as Ozpin realizes that the relic is missing.

Ruby has it, but she’s not willing to hand it over. So much for my theory of her sticking by him this Volume. At least right now, she’s acting as much like a kid as any of the others. In what I think is a reckless move, Oscar realizes that Ozpin is hiding something from them and briefly takes control, telling Ruby to say the name Jinn.

She does and all the snow stops.

A sort of genie appears and says that she was created by the God of Light to “aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge.” Jinn then reveals that Ozpin did lie outright. There are still two questions left.

And with this revelation we come to the crux of the matter. His own very personal history aside, compartmentalization aside, why doesn’t Ozpin just give the gang all the information they want? Why all the lies? Because they’re children and right now they’re acting like it. Yang isn’t interested in making sure everyone gets to a safe place after Qrow mentions that they’re probably attracting grimm, she wants answers right now and she won’t move until she gets them. They’re not considering the hypocrisy of demanding Ozpin’s secrets when they’ve all had (and for some still have) secrets of their own. The girls aren’t responding logically to Qrow’s innocuous “Hey” later—why does he deserve their wrath?—they’re reacting with pure emotion, pulling their weapons on him for daring to just try and voice an opinion. That is an incredibly extreme reaction and in my opinion shows how little they’re thinking through their actions right now. They are, to put it bluntly, acting like a bunch of bratty teenagers. They want something and the adults in charge won’t let them have it, despite having numerous good reasons for withholding it (both practical and personal). So they throw a fit. The only difference is that instead of stomping their feet these girls have crazy powerful weaponry and a relic at their disposal.

All of this culminates in the release of Jinn. Let’s think back to that moment in the house: Ozpin tells them that the relic has a “wonderful and incredibly dangerous ability”—emphasis mine. Do the kids stop to wonder why the ability to answer questions is called incredibly dangerous? No! They’re just fascinated by the shiny new toy. Ren thinks it’s cool, Blake is amazed, Yang notes that picking the right questions would be a big responsibility but doesn’t back down from the challenge, and Nora immediately leads them in a charge to determine what they’re going to ask. Not one of them says, “Hey. What’s the catch here?” They’re all ready to jump into asking three questions without thinking through any of the potential repercussions of messing with an ancient object they know absolutely nothing about.

This no doubt tells Ozpin, as it told me, that they’re still kids and as such are in many ways still thinking like kids too. They don’t have the experience and the maturity yet to consider the consequences of their actions. What? Do we think someone as controlling as Ozpin just let two questions remain without a very good reason? That it’s a coincidence that immediately after he—or someone else—used the first question the relic was sealed away? No, there’s some downside here… but the gang never considered that possibility. So rather than explain all that and risk them insisting that they use the questions anyway—as kids are wont to do—Ozpin says the questions are used up for now. That way there’s no risk to them.

I’m thinking that when Ozpin charges Ruby he’s trying to reach her to protect her somehow. It's not just about him keeping his secrets. Jinn’s smoke is reaching for her too and he’s trying to get there first. He’s flawed, yes, but he’s not going to attack her. When has Ozpin ever been violent towards them? When has Ruby ever hesitated to defend herself? This isn't an experienced Huntsmen going on the offensive, nor a talented Huntress scared for her life---it's a desperate man and a young girl panicking at this mess of a situation. Because let's be real, if Ozpin had wanted to take the relic by force he easily could have. But he wouldn't do that. He’s not the one who drew his weapon here. No, if there’s a catch attached to these questions he wouldn’t want Ruby to pay it. He literally begs her on his knees not to use the relic… and when that fails he gets desperate and uses incredible speed to try and reach her before the magic does.

Remember, he wanted to immediately seal the relic back up in the vault and would have it they’d had access to the Spring Maiden. It might not just be because they’re worried about the relic falling into Salem’s hands. It sounds like there’s danger attached to using it too…. and people would absolutely be tempted to use it.

As we see here.

Ruby says, “What is Ozpin hiding from us?” WHICH IS ABOUT THE WORST QUESTION YOU COULD POSSIBLY ASK.

That’s not a targeted question to help you understand what Oscar was hinting at before. That’s an entirely open ended question that, depending on how Jinn works, will show you every secret Ozpin has ever had. What kind of fucked up invasion of privacy? Granted, we don’t have time in RWBY for something like that to actually happen—looks like Jinn is going to show us Ozpin’s greatest mistake/regret, something he thinks they’ll abandon him because of—but that doesn’t change how horrible that question was. I don’t care if the girls are right that Ozpin needs to work on trusting people more. You know how you don’t help people do that? By forcibly pulling all their secrets out into the open without their consent. Ruby’s question wasn’t just horribly invasive, it wasn’t thought out at all because no matter how frustrated she might be I don’t think she’d ever want to do that to a person. She, like the rest of her team, isn't thinking clearly.

Finally, you know what the real kicker is? All of this—everything I’ve mentioned throughout this scene—is done in front of Maria. What’s the latest definition of oblivious immaturity? Demanding that your leader reveal his secrets in front of a complete stranger.

Honestly I wanted to rip out my hair through this whole part of the episode. It’s easy to identify with Ruby and the gang because they’re our protagonists. The show wants us to empathize with them, but in this case it doesn’t change the fact that they’re acting their age and making really uninformed decisions. Despite the huge range of ages in this fandom, sometimes I feel like I’m watching RWBY very firmly from an adult’s perspective while the vast majority of the fandom is watching from the perspective of our heroes. They see the mean adult keeping secrets—and in a black and white universe secrets are bad!—while I’m seated firmly in Camp Context. It’s like that post about watching The Little Mermaid at different stages of your life:

As a child: She loves him! How romantic…

As an adult: You love him? You’re sixteen and you met him yesterday!

The thing is, I know RWBY isn’t going to take that adult perspective. That’s not how most stories go. Ozpin’s secrets will be revealed, he’ll probably be forgiven, and he’ll learn the lesson that it’s Bad to keep things from your friends. The intricacies of the situation and his very justifiable reasons will be brushed aside because he’s not our primary hero. Ruby is and her view of the world is that nearly blind faith in humanity. She doesn’t understand that after thousands of years Ozpin’s fractured faith doesn’t mean he can’t encourage others to be better than he is, she just pouts and says he should trust them specifically because he preaches trust as a general principal. At its core RWBY follows the simplistically moral logic of a fairy tale and though that’s great in many ways, I’m still at times frustrated by how the show introduces adult viewpoints without ever having the narrative justify them. Ozpin tells the group that he has more experience than them and has carefully considered his choices, but we’re encouraged to frown at him like the rest of the cast. Except Ozpin is right! He’s right!! He’s right and he should say it!

But most people don’t seem to agree with me. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We end the episode with Jinn’s magic reaching the group before Ozpin can reach Ruby. They’re all seeing the same vision of a castle and a beautiful woman, Jinn’s voice telling them a fairy tale:

“Once upon a time there stood a lonely tower that sheltered a lonely girl named Salem…”

So Salem’s backstory coincides with whatever Ozpin is so terrified of them figuring out about him. Full disclosure: if he starts crying next episode I will also be an emotional wreck. Here’s hoping that whatever the girls see, they’ll start mending their trust in one another once it’s over. I’m not sure I can take a whole Volume of everyone eviscerating Ozpin for trying to protect them, himself, and the rest of Remnant.

What’s he doing? His best. It’s far from perfect, but give the poor immortal a break.

Here’s hoping for one in episode three!

Other Details of Note

Of course it’s raining when Cinder leaves the vault. We need appropriate atmosphere for her dramatic collapse and rejuvenating murder lol

Except can we please have women remove their heels when everything goes sideways? I’m sorry, but if I were that exhausted and injured getting the spikes off my feet would be the very first thing I did.

Love that they essentially gave Maria’s glasses eyelids. Makes it very easy for her to express herself.

Okay so we pretty much know for a fact now that Ozpin and Oscar are starting to share thoughts both ways. I can’t imagine that Ozpin went, “Yeah so I’m still hiding something and you can figure it out by saying ‘Jinn’ to the shiny relic over there, but don't tell anyone else, okay?” Oscar is starting pick up on things as they (presumably) merge.

The relics are entities! And now we know why the the statue in Haven was of a woman bound in chains—she’s Jinn. Look at Ozpin’s dramatic ass designing lairs that reveal secrets no one realizes are there.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, old man”—evidence that Ozpin either used that first question himself, was there when it was used, or has used the relic at another time in the past.

[killianmesmalls]

In Defense/Support of KnightRook

First, this is not in response to any particular anon that has come through the inboxes of those who happen to be like-minded about this season of Once Upon a Time, but more general thoughts of why I in particular truly appreciate KnightRook, both as a unit and as individuals, and why I believe others appreciate them, sometimes more than the previous iterations of their characters. This is not to say that I do not appreciate Storybrooke Killian—he is still absolutely my favorite SB character, I still ultimately ship him with Emma, and I sincerely hope his fictional little self is happy in his fictional little life.

Below the cut are some thoughts on what I’ve personally noticed in these past thirteen episodes that helped turn me from largely ambivalent to Alice/Tilly and the-pirate-previously-known-as-Wish Hook.

Clearly, I have thoughts on Alice Jones. If you’ve come to my blog at all since I started it after 7x08, you’d know this for a fact. To be honest, she wasn’t someone I was thrilled about in the first few episodes of season 7. I believed her being Killian’s daughter as too obvious (the chess set in the hospital was so blatant it felt like too much at the time, though now I love it) and thought they were pitching her too hard to be a wild-and-crazy potential villain or just the token headcase character. However, starting a bit in 7x04 and progressing through to now, I am thrilled to have been proven wrong. I have loved the Alice character since I was little, from the original stories to the Disney cartoon to all sorts of terrible TV shows and movie offshoots. Rose, her dynamic with her fellow actors (mostly notably Colin and Bobby), and the writing of her character have endeared her to me as my now-favorite version of Alice.

Depiction of Mental Health We're in a time where there's constant overstimulation, we're never allowed to shut off, we don't know how to tune out, and then there's a culture of self-medicating, rubbing some dirt in it, and walking it off. Our media still does a poor job of showing even conditions on the “lesser” end of the mental health spectrum to the point when one show gets it right there’s a sense of shock from the community that endures those same symptoms having them finally depicted well on TV. For instance, when Randall was displayed having a panic attack in a realistic manner on This Is Us, it was worth discussing and had several articles devoted to it. There’s a celebration in someone “getting” it.

Which, considering the fact that, due to the above reasons, so many of us suffer from depression, anxiety, insomnia, addiction, etc., the lack of many of these being handled with honesty and sensitivity is both mind-blowing and sad. I believe Alice, or at least her HH counterpart Tilly, help to show another character with mental health issues in a realistic and, largely, positive light. Though we don’t know fully what she’s been diagnosed with in Hyperion Heights, and we do know some of what even she’s led to believe about her condition is made up in order to keep her under the curse, we can still see her battling with conditions not unlike anxiety or schizophrenia. In the Enchanted Forest, she is shown to “see the world in a special way,” which we have yet to get fully fleshed-out details on, and to behave in sometimes eccentric ways. While I doubt we’ll see a concrete diagnosis for anything she has, either as Alice or Tilly, I believe based on what we’ve seen we can at least takeaway that those with the above conditions can find some solace in having a character like her on their screens.

In addition to how they handle her behavior, never overly hamming it up or calling it out like she needs to be put on display, we get the reactions of others. Rogers/Killian never seems to invalidate her feelings. In the EF he says she has a special way of seeing the world. He doesn't, again, call her crazy or invalidate her feelings. In fact, just the opposite, he believes in her fears and does what he can to help. While he does brush her off as Rogers when he's focused elsewhere, he doesn't call her crazy, ask her repeatedly if she’s on her medication, or otherwise treat her with kid gloves. He uses her own terminology in HH (her "upside down" thinking) and doesn't point to her mental health as a sign of evidence that she could be guilty of anything.

Which, considering the state of mental health issues and the gun debate in this country, I feel is a topic they're handling in a very subtle way. Perhaps unintentionally, and maybe I’m reading too much into it, but when the current topics for debate are how everyone with mental health issues are a problem and how to deal with keeping them away from others or away from weapons rather than acknowledging that mental health issues, like many other things, are on a spectrum (or, I suppose, a series of them), and immediately pointing to them as evidence for why someone did something terrible instead of looking into other factors, I feel like showing the interactions between her and him in both the EF and HH are important. He knows she thinks differently from others, but in no way is that an immediate indication that she is a danger to herself and others, even when one takes into consideration the fact that her “upside down” thinking had her shooting Weaver.

Now, yes, they can add to this, expound on why he feels such a trust in her in spite of that previous incident, but just seeing someone who thinks “clearly” trusting in her enough to not immediately place blame at her feet in spite of what others would see as evidence against her is refreshing and needed in this current climate. And, yes, I feel like people are going to call me out for saying how refreshing it is to see Tilly believed to be innocent in spite of her mental illness and then for me to compare it to the gun debate vs mental health awareness when she did, in fact, shoot Rumple. However, she was asked to do that and, arguably, did it then in her more "right" mind, so there’s going to be a lot of “if” and “or” involved in any back-and-forths there. The point here is to address the well-handled aspects of her “upside down thinking” and how others can relate to it and its more realistic portrayal than other forms of entertainment have displayed previously.

Single Parent (Shock! Single Dad) Then we get to the fact that it's not really discussed in depth the fact that Killian is a single parent and had all the struggles that came with it. I could be wrong and am open hearing out if I am, but I feel like single parents aren't really handled on non-overly-dramatic TV shows often, and certainly not often showing a single father, let alone a single father with a daughter. I still recall comments to a friend of mine who was raised by her father, and all the comments he’d receive by women about how incapable he was in raising his own daughter (a then-toddler), to the point where they didn’t trust him in dressing her or bathing her.

We have an issue in a lot of cultures of pretending like men don't know how to take care of children or take care of housework, boys will be boys, and we perpetuate these stereotypes. Seeing softer, nurturing men is an absolutely needed thing. Bigger points for it being a formerly ruthless pirate because it's not like you can take the next character that comes to mind (for some reason for me), Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and say "well, he's arguably on the spectrum and more effeminate." The next one to come to mind is Danny Tanner, the widower from Full House, who was teased for his “mothering” ways and even then had two other men in the house to help with his three daughters because “IDK how parent?” No, Killian is plenty traditionally masculine (guy-liner and leather pants aside), and yet has, thus far, shown himself to be perfectly capable to also be a nurturing, loving, supportive father. Completely on his own, to boot.

Killian didn't have anyone, and as much as I love the fluff of KnightRook, I also think it's important to remember how difficult it must have been for him to have raised her while isolated. He had Liam as an influence, but Liam could only parent so much. His childhood was traumatic and arguably abusive in various ways, so he couldn't use any of that to model his parenting off of, his father abandoned him, and he only had so many memories of his mother, I'm sure, considering how young he must have been when she died.

Yet, with the lack of a parenting influence, we see that Killian managed to raise a well-rounded, polite, patient, and brave little girl. Killian managed to do all this in an extremely confining environment with no doors, no bathroom, and absolutely no privacy. After all, there is only so much a curtain can do. Even with these uncomfortable truths, there is no hint of embarrassment with Alice, no strong sense of shame, and she genuinely seems to be close to him even with this occasionally uncomfortable living space. He got her dolls and wooden swords, she had all sorts of toys that could be for boys or girls, and, please, no one come at me about how she's a lesbian and he forced her to dress like that—for all you know, she enjoys dressing like that and I don’t condone dressing for a stereotype. Anything regarding her preferences is conjecture.

Yes, I know he made a mistake in choosing to duel with Ahab, but his reasons for doing so (for better or worse) have been discussed a number of times in some very well-thought-out metas, and honestly most of it is speculation. Gothel mentions it’s for his pride, Killian doesn’t deny it, but there are arguments to be made for him hearing the Dark One’s voice behind him telling him to go one way and Ahab insisting on the other, using Alice’s name against him. Also, one mistake does not a bad parent make, and it certainly doesn’t negate all he did in raising her to that point. I’m sure we’ll see more of the fallout from his decision, but honestly the punishment is cruel and unusual for the crime.

And, yet, for now there is proof he keeps trying. In spite of the threat on his heart and, arguably, his life, he continues to try to get back to Alice and to right his wrong. I’m sure we’ll see just how much he tries in upcoming episodes, hopefully the next one, but for now I’d like to believe he repeatedly attempted to fix his mistake and make it up to Alice. Again, until anything comes out, it’s all conjecture, but I do believe the foundation is there.

Additional Notes/Reasons/I Just Love Them, Okay? The dynamic between the two of them has been absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking to watch, and both Rose and Colin have brought their A-game for this season. Both as Tilly and Alice, Rose has shown a character with so much heart yet so much pain, who attempts to do the right thing and be a good person but is often unfairly robbed of the same kindnesses thanks to her awful mother and further reasons I’m sure that will be revealed later. Colin has performed an amazing (and, I’m sure for him, fun) balancing act between revisiting “Old” Hook, getting to walk in the footsteps of a new version of the character he played for the better part of five years, and getting to play a character in our world who is so dramatically different from all versions of Killian he’s been handed since season 2. Though the change of pace and storyline was initially jarring to me, I agree with Colin that (timelines aside) this has been some of the best writing I’ve seen on Once.

Witnessing Rogers struggle with various temptations and trying to be the man he wants to be, trying to find these missing pieces in his life and gain some sense of self while helping others has also been bittersweet. I have such a soft spot for this cranky, gullible sweetheart. He’s offered to help Rumple in his quest to be reunited with his wife in spite of the many reasons given to him not to fully trust his partner (Weaver has also been a breath of fresh air, but perhaps more on that another time), he’s developed friendships with Sabine (YAAASSSSSS), Henry, and Regina, all of which I am enjoying immensely.

SPEAKING of friendships, this is a Killian that has bonded with people in various ways outside of his true love. Based on how close he is to the queen of that realm, another queen (that he has a history with), and arguably a prince and maybe princess, I feel like I’d be shocked if he weren’t part of some royal court with how much he’s around. He’s being given little things like pats on the back, supportive looks, reassuring words, and it’s refreshing to see that happen. It’s nice to see them support his quest to get his daughter back and also support him as a person. Honestly, his friendships, both in the EF and in HH have been a breath of fresh air. I loved Captain Charming, I still do, but that basically started to feel like his main friendship once Smee was out of the picture (SMEE! Ugh, that might be another rant) and still, clearly, David was going to care for Emma more. It’s natural. It makes 100% sense. Still, it’s a little sad knowing that the only person in Storybrooke that would put Killian first is…. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would. Emma would rightfully put Henry first, Killian never thinks of himself, and everyone else is holding hands with everyone else while the world ends.

I just think Killian was a side character in another more prominent character’s story for so long that he occasionally became more a prop for her happy ending than his own person. I still love him. I always will appreciate so many parts of who he is and what he did, but in this season Killian seems more part of an ensemble than a side character. I suppose if we’re going to reference back to more pop culture references, and these may be poor which I’m sure someone out there is going to harp on and point out, but seasons 2-6 was like seeing Katniss with Peeta in the Hunger Games series and season 7 feels a little more like Harry Potter and its main character but stronger group adventure. In 2-6, he didn’t really have his own story, just a part in Emma’s. And that, sometimes, was fine. But along the way the writers forgot that even side characters need their own moments and nuances and to be treated as if they’re at least the main character in their own story that isn’t being told to the audience. Season 7 Killian is like part of a trio that clearly has things going on, on the side free from what otherwise may be the main story arc.

IDK guys, is there a main story arc anymore? Maybe that’s also why I like season 7 the most. There isn’t one prophecy with one savior with one goal and everyone else has to help with it. No one is hope or light or whatnot. Everyone has a part in each other’s happy ending, and it’s been amazing to see the different ways Alice and Killian play into each other’s, their own, and everyone else’s.

If anyone has further thoughts, including polite disagreements, that’s completely fine. However, due to the habit of some I’ve seen, please be sure you’ve read through the whole thing (I know it’s long) before sending an ask informing me of how I feel through your lens. Also, do not make assumptions based on anything you don’t see clearly written. Finally, if I choose not to engage with you, don’t assume it means I think you’re right and I’m hiding. I might just choose, for my own sanity, not to engage. 

[elizabethrobertajones]

13x13 watching notes

*goes to sit at the unpopular table*

Went to bed at 10, up at 7 for the ole watching Supernatural grind... *offers you all a chocolate biscuit*

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*waves hi at Michael* *and Kevin*

All the PoC are shoved in an AU... Thankfully now Rowena is back I can't say with the SOLE major female character but

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Oh gosh they're using Yockey's dialogue to explain everything, I don't know if I should laugh or cry

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IS CAS OKAY?

Why are you spitting blood... You weren't stabbed THAT badly were you?

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*remembers stabbing Lucifer*

You know in AtlA where Zuko made a good decision and prompty collapsed in an angst coma at the inner turmoil of doing the right thing?

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I have no clue why that all happened except to allow Lucifer to leg it.

Which, I mean, at least something happened to explain why Lucifer legged it.

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WHIMSICAL MUSIC.

OTT HETERO NONSENSE

I guess Dabb era means they're allowed to destroy expensive wedding cakes again now no one can tell him off for it

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Is that an Observer?

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Oh, creepy cupid

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It can not be good for Lucifer to eat cupid grace even more than normal grace because it's probably a Voldemort thing about love hurting him blah blah blah

Marghe was talking about this episode being a potential 9x03 parallel and I agree - and Lucifer's already messing up by voluntarily stealing grace just to keep himself alive for his own wanting to be alive purposes at the first opportunity. And we have cupids instead of reapers

and also I guess Cas wants to go back to the Bunker and no one's gonna boot him out if we're lucky :P

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Poor cupid. You only looked creepy as a circumstantial thing to watching these people fall in love with a besotted smile, no one understands your work :<

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Omg we didn't even see if Cas stole a car to get back... I must KNOW

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Anyway here's the sneak preview scene

Oh it gets worse; Cas is like "I met with Lucifer" instead of "Lucifer showed up and I had to hustle him off to a bar to stop the angels coming back and killing us, and then when I tried to contact you he stole my phone, and btw thanks for coming to my rescue in time."

Aka Cas can only be on the backfoot in this argument by his own social ineptitude at describing it/because the writers want him there

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"She's alive. That's all I know, sorry." Yes, good. Because Jack's with her so he'll make it all good and honestly the fact we haven't seen what's going on there since 13x09 is kinda weird because this is all time passing that Jack is with Mary and they only have one clip to show us of that - this is stretching the dramatic irony writing of the season to breaking point by not revisiting them sooner, as it's a loose end that would have IMMEDIATE pay off aka they aren't just sitting there staring at each other for months, and we know off-screen since BEFORE CHRISTMAS that Jack would help Mary and whatever delays are keeping him and idk his new BFF Kev from busting back to our world are manufactured to fill these weeks. I mean not like they can't have delays and problems, especially as Jack is out untested learning what's up with himself away from all his parental influences, as his big test, but the storytelling in the main part of the show is relying on what's happening in the AU for tension and Lucifer telling Cas she was being tortured is like, the last time HE saw her, and WE know Jack is with her so things are probably different, and now Cas is lying to the Winchesters about Mary so as not to upset them while unintentionally perhaps backing up whatever is going on with Jack. Or not! Who knows! It's been long enough the one glimpse of them staring at each other is starting to wear thin to give us any meaningful dramatic irony in these moments and they really ought to have had at least a teaser in the AU in 13x11

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Yep here's the parallel to the street scene in 9x03, except that Mark P is such a ham that he's doing a pantomime version of "I'm cold" complete with the directing showing us some warmer winter coats in case we didn't get the message, and then he starts staring at food... He can't be human so idk why without headcanoning hard about why it's affecting him so much when Cas immediately stopped caring about food when he stole grace.

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Maybe, I headcanon, being stabbed was bad enough that all the grace he had and stole went to repairing himself but it's a finite supply and he's already to the stage Cas was in in 10x01

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Oh now he's miming being hungry. "Hungry? Ew!"

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The fact he was looking at burgers as a Cas parallel and not a fried chicken joint for immediate emotional pay off is honestly the biggest failing of this episode so far

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Asmodeus is like "shit they got away as soon as my back was turned" Ketch is like "lol (but posh)"

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They have a weird staring each other down moment which Ketch either wins or Buckleming think that Asmodeus won but Ketch still won because Asmodeus admits to being monumentally stupid before giving Ketch his orders.

Like

I literally can not tell what the intent was here which is the most meta commentary on their dialogue I have ever witnessed and if it was not 7:30am and still mostly dark I would be howling with laughter. As it is, I feel a tear appearing in my eye as I take another chocolate biscuit.

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Now HERE is a surpringly good use of dramatic irony from Buckleming which unfortunately is not actually betrayed anywhere in their dialogue (e.g. "I stabbed him but he seems to be fine") when Asmodeus tells Ketch an angel blade to the heart will down Lucifer at this point. Basically relying on that this happened at the end of last episode (and the directing reminds us in flashbacks & recap) to confirm the dramatic irony and with these writers I'm only like 63% sure they meant to do this because I have a strong nagging doubt that they don't even read anyone else's scripts.

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If Asmodeus/Ketch becomes this fandom's Kylux I'm outta here

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*Lucifer fails to learn basic human decency from the homeless man* I'm really hoping this is a metaphor which they actually stick to - that he's self-serving and mean and refuses to even adapt his behaviour as a guise to benefit from human decency by pretending to be nice to get what he wants then...

They could just be showing him to be hopeless now and then use a stronger inciting incident later - Jack is a motivator for him like basically nothing else, but none of this *so far* indicates we should actually care about him as a person regardless of what he might do for Cas's son later in the season

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I also thought he might offer to heal the guy for food that didn't come from a dumpster but instead he's getting a tip off about Sister Jo

(Honestly, I've never dumpster dived but the stats about throwing perfectly good food away are so horrific that this seems like really misrepresenting dumpster diving, mostly because it implies the restaurant would keep food around long enough for it to go slimy and smelly, rather than throw it out while it's still completely good but no longer something they can sell, e.g. unclaimed pizzas, mishapen stuff, slightly burnt things, etc.

The fact that Buckleming seem unaware that "Next day pizza" is literally a thing and not gross and that fast food doesn't immediately expire but that you can eat left over pizza the next day without incurring any wrath of god speaks a lot to their privilege and Hollywood's impression of poverty, and this utopia where there's no waste and you can just throw out last night's pizza which is now skanky and rotten, and eat something better >.>)

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Huh, Dean and Cas appear to be alone and Dean is apologising for not knowing he'd been kidnapped which is literally the sort of scene which I'd hope would mean no one is in my inbox saying he doesn't care this time around.

"I-I-I-We should have known it wasn't you."

Sooooooooooooooooooooo close. SO CLOSE. SOOOOOO CLOOOOOOOOOSE.

Awww they're making excuses at each other. "He's a shapeshifter. I got myself captured." "but if Sam and I knew..."

"I'm fine Dean." "You sure about that?"

in 100 years when I get here THAT's going in the "Dean n Cas are in love" meta series.

-

"I told Kelly I would protect HER son. I intend to keep that promise."

Interestingly, we're halfway through the season and Cas appears to have no idea Jack thinks Cas is his father, or any inclination to do more than protect him out of the goodness of his heart and another promise to look after someone in need of protection, making no positive affirmations to suggest he thinks of Jack in a fatherly way. Noted last episode, feeling the urge to comment this episode :P

I am not implying this is an entirely bad or ominous thing or whatever, but 1: Cas barely knows him so this is perhaps more healthy, 2: I am still dubious about how Jack originally nabbed himself a guardian angel and Cas has made NO comment on this scenario or, 3: discussed what it felt like on his end of what Dean has been accusing Jack of "sockpuppeting" Cas... I think it was much more grey area than that and Dean's mostly stopped accusing Jack of it, but it leaves massive questions. And 4: it means Cas is still doing this as a duty to Kelly rather than personal investment/parent feelings as his outwardly stated motivations, and it plays into the grey area of 5: we still thematically have Cas with a guardian angel burden just like I thought after 12x19 that this is what Jack wanted from Cas and after the presentation of how it was so bad for Cas to be the Winchesters' guardian that season, coming to a head in 12x19, I still think that his relationship with Jack is offering an alternative to directly critiquing that relationship anymore without damage between himself and the Winchesters, but still allowing some exploration of duty and the guardian angel burden, and perhaps the show is in no rush to have Cas leap into fatherhood when this parallel serves his arc so much better. Which also means 6: that nothing is over despite the progress he's made towards personal growth recently and all his old trauma and burdens are still hanging from him, he's just in a better place than he was with various new hopes and directions.

-

Dean says nothing, and Moose Interruption Occurs.

-

I have been wondering since the first promo clips revealing Donatello returning if they'd try and have a prophet-off with the AU and use his powers to either connect with Kevin or the AU... I wonder how right I'm about to accidentally be now we know a bit more about all this

-

"... Now, it's gonna be harder than it sounds"

you think.

So this is Dean completely ignoring Billie's warnings and going full steam ahead huh

-

*pulls out the demon tablet as well*

Oh boy you guys are really getting into the bad decisions

-

Not mentioning what happened to the angel tablet is a pretty good swerve around reminding us Cas destroyed it "all for one man" because he's "in love with humanity" but you can't get past me that easily *taps nose*

-

... this is a good time to remind everyone that Gadreel left all of Kevin's notes on the table when he walked out with the angel tablet.

You know

the notes where Kevin translated the entire angel tablet including the footnotes into ancient Sumerian

you know

a language

that maybe

someone who's been around

since ancient sumerian times

might be able to read

you know

like

Cas

*points at him for emphasis*

-

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/170677457313/i-i-hit-a-wall-translating-the-tablet-into

-

Also seriously why would the same spell be on both tablets. I'd be extremely Buckleming disappointed if it was, and much much happier if 13x12 was an ominous warning about going around reading strange tomes and tablets and just doing whatever freaking spells you half understand that you find on them.

Remember, Kevin is a super-genius Princeton applicant who even in the AU was nurtured by Michael to be super smart like his freaking COURT WIZARD, and did a lot of maths and theory to make it work that apparently even Michael couldn't. (Obligatory throwback to the intro of the tablets and the reminder that human creativity and genius can do what super-smart monsters can't, via Charlie, Kevin's narrative pair.)

-

Chicken wings, huh

(37 buckets tracks with how many bad hotdogs Kevin ate and gave himself a stroke over while translating the demon tablet the first time, I suppose.)

-

I mean we knew it was coming, because set spoilers, but you KNOW how much happier I would have been if it had been the Lucifer thing. You know.

-

Meanwhile: the extent to which I don't trust Buckleming is that I am wondering if the director cut an anvil line when they're like "who's killing angels!?" and it just cuts to the next Lucifer scene wordlessly

-

I also would have no clue how intentional the "who's killing angels" connection is to 4x16 where that was the line of interrogation on Alastair and it turned out the first angels to be killed on the show were by Uriel for Lucifer, meaning that question still at the end of the day is answered by "lucifer"

-

Hi Danneel

Query: if she is an angel, what does SHE need the cash for? :P

I assume that "for the fallen" sign is high irony about her being a fallen angel and she's pretending it's a charity donation in exchange for healing

I suppose she can buy nice outfits with it

-

*exposition crime scene*

tiny redeeming factor about Dean talking about how boned they are and Cas turning to look at him and agreeing "epically"

Also for the first time they're all in long coats together praise the lord

-

Okay I think her name is Eliel? I am not sure how to spell that at all, I'm just guessing because it sounded like "L I L" and then I angel-fied it, so tl;dr I'm gonna keep calling her Sister Jo and/or Danneel :P

-

Oh good some exposition. Well at least she has literally explained the money is for the nice outfits XD

I like her. She's not scared of Lucifer, and she's one of the angels who slipped notice after the fall and started living her life as she wanted.

"So... Ca-ching!" I really like her now :P

This puts her in direct opposition to Cas not just at the start of season 10 when he was rounding up fallen angels and sending them back to Heaven with Hannah - when his heart wasn't really in it anyway - but more directly and importantly with 9x22 where he had sent a large amount of his army out to local hospitals to perform miracles on the DL for no reward except,  you know, angels should help people. Their hearts are in completely different places, with completely different understandings of what angels can and should do on earth if they are to be here.

-

She bargains for her life with the same thing the wraith was going to do with Patience in 13x03, and how we've seen some monsters feeding in the past - notably the grigori angel that was eating soul energy in the place of grace but was essentially the same set up.

-

Lucifer's also found someone smart enough to help him who he might actually listen to (since the homeless man would have helped had he listened but he wouldn't respect what a human says vs another angel maybe giving him some pointers for surviving down here).

-

Sam, being the good wingman, leaves Dean n Cas to interview someone together while heading off alone

-

Sam's hair is ENORMOUSLY fluffy

-

Which reminds me, it's pouring with rain outside so I'm not going to get away with leaving my hair a day after getting it dyed, I sort of need to wash it BEFORE the sky does it for me and turns everything I own purple :P Idk if I'll be able to finish the episode before I have to go to yoga... hm. It's finally daylight-ish

-

Oh of course they have creepy sexy grace eating going on because this whole grace vampire concept wasn't sexy enough when it was bald little cupids.

-

*Dean casually in the foreground pulling out an angel blade*

That is your WIFE, sir

-

And you should hear what she and Lucifer were doing

-

Cas goes first :D

-

LOL Ketch

-

"Oh it's only you"

How DARE

the original flavour TFW line up has just busted into the room with you, you are in the presence of GODS

-

"Isn't it possible that I'm simply trying to strike a blow for the good of humanity?"

"No, that's not possible"

Listen Cas's snark is weaponised now. How did Ketch not crumble into ASH

-

no one says Huzzah

-

Thanks Cas

-

Listen however many gifs there are of that move (omg Cas looking at Dean, Dean nodding to him, Cas Doing The Thing) there are not enough so I'm gonna just... make one...

-

Lol, just throw him in the trunk.

"I like that plan."

Oh the wall dividers from the fake 5x04 set are on the stage too. It's DEFINITELY being used for performances of Supernatural The Musical in between healing sessions

-

Aniel? Eniel?

Danniel

-

Stop putting Cas in the backseat to moodily stare into the middle distance between the Winchesters! He's earned shotgun a million times over! He was in PRISON and you DIDN'T KNOW

-

A neon sign where all the letters are out except "AU" in "Restaurant"

-

At this point I'm assuming Danniel is seducing Lucifer for her own purposes and honestly whatever go for it I guess, if you win, and this isn't any creepier than it already is

-

The fact he ate a cupid and all that is probably relevant

-

Tbh them flopping onto the bed after is still somehow the least weird of all the weird crap Buckleming have made the characters do and I don't know if I'm numb to it or because it's Lucifer I have negative investment in his character anyways but you know, whatever floats their boat :P

-

"It's always so strange, that final moment, when I've lost just enough grace that I'm almost - " "Human." "I feel... emotions. Sensations. Things they must feel."

Honestly she's sounding more like Cas or Hannah than Lucifer going through his experience, almost like being a more generic angel, as soon as she loses grace she gets more affected than he does in the ways he's been affected where he cares only about being cold and hungry. And lonely. Bleh :P A concession to emotional weakness - he does love to be adored and surrounded by people who'll tell him how great he is.

He says he can't see how they go on but she says she sees how there can be pain, "but also hope. Love even. Angels can only imagine."

She's reeeeeally getting back to that Cas in 10x01 dialogue where Hannah was confused about human things, and Cas described to her what they were and that they were good things to feel on earth.

Ow.

-

She envies humans, because they can "Be anything."

it's like we've come full swerve back to the stuff from the start of season 10 that was so exciting for Cas exploring the intricacies of humanity... Yikes.

-

Wow her job sucked :P I can see why she went and asked for change when facing an eternity of that... More suggestions that Heaven is not really something that can or should be restored, never mind how volatile it was and how the angels engineered the original apocalypse. The entire system is pointless and just makes dangerous bored angels... The kind of angels who hop on the Lucifer bandwagon as soon as it comes into town because being righteous on behalf of Heaven is pointless to them. Why take a stance against Lucifer in the first place if your moral alignment was always to Heaven first and Heaven sucked that much.

"Goodness" is not an inherent alignment for angels... Looking to a leadership they trust to be good is what they were built to do, and assuming their causes are good because they're on them is another pitfall of that. The other is just all the angels who turn against Heaven entirely >.>

-

Lucifer says he's "going to be a father" which, uh, seems like this episode was written last year and then re-written for THIS year because he really ought to be talking about how he IS a father and he's looking for his son...

-

He starts maybe feeling feelings, and hastily gets up to start posturing, at which point he does actually say he's going to find his son.

-

Lol, HERE'S Casmodeus in a scene that doesn't have anything to do with anything.

Donatello casually tells Casmodeus that he has the demon tablet. Honestly, they probably ought to have, you know... explained everything that happened to Kevin to him... Like oh hey btw this is one of the most desired objects in the universe being the word of god n all and wowweee we've had some problems with people stealing it and our prophets in the past. Maybe sit tight and don't answer the door?

-

Or go out and get huge buckets of chicken and chat to any of us who isn't where you think we should be

-

Please don't start talking about the ingredients for the spell in public

-

dear god the worst bit is they made a character plausibly dumb enough to drop the idiot ball for them to the point where Asmodeus is probably best served to just leave Donatello where he is and walk him back and forth from the chicken place every day

-

They become unexpected friends and at the end of the day he can't bring himself to kill his goofy prophet buddy

-

"I'm the only person on the planet who can read the thing"

Budddyyyy.

-

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Now he's just telling Casmodeus that Jack's in the AU and

*takes his chicken away* You're grounded. Just. Go to your room.

-

Asmodeus's voice coming out of Cas is wrong and bad.

-

Asmodeus is unimpressed with your offbrand chicken

-

aw crap I have to go

Last 10 minutes drama when I get home... They'll open 100 portals and it will be a Mess.

-

it never bodes well in a Buckleming episode when there's 10 minutes to go and TFW get out the car to go confront Lucifer.

-

Danniel is like "Castiel, what are you doing here?" like it wouldn't be blatantly obvious :P

-

I am pretty sure she's tricking them into thinking she's more of a hostage than she is but it's hard to tell tbh, given these writers and their history of writing sexy encounters between characters which should not have sexy encounters, and that sort of tension in the writing is not particularly where you want the ambiguity to be resting in character dynamics :P

-

I think maybe she is after telling Lucifer that she told them how weak he was, assuming that he's actually strong enough to take them out and has been snacking on her grace non-stop  somehow

-

Okay yeah she is betraying them for love, and I add a confused "phew" onto the end of that thought. I have no idea how I feel about them tbh and I never worked it out on the bus ride around town >.>

-

Ketch really wants them to stab him, huh? He hasn't said anything this conversation to de-escalate the situation, used a demon bomb on a room full of angels, including Cas so if it had worked it would have hurt him but it didn't even work so he just wasted something expensive, and then he's like, fine, let's all work together and Sam's like dude no and Ketch is like, fine, will you trust me if I tell you I'm working for Asmodeus?

Dean's like "... they don't let me say fuck on this network but how the fuck does that help??"

Ketch offers to pass information BACK to them from Asmodeus, which absolutely does not patch up the leak of their prophet wandering off to get fried chicken and coming back with KFC

-

"I'm the lesser of at least three evils" that isn't really very reassuring either mate

-

Also with the terrible sales pitch: Lucifer trying to convince the angels to let him run Heaven with Danniel as his queen

I can't even work out if he's pretending he can make new angels or not, but I sort of feel like he totally can't and it would go about as well as the Plum sisters trying to resurrect their mom, who in this weird instance stands in for God

-

"How would you like your wings back" baaaaad idea

-

Cut to Donatello munching a million chicken wings

-

How is he not dead

-

*Cas side-eyes the enormous pile of chicken wings too*

-

"We need him" Yeah, being needed still sucks and even if you need someone you can still want to shoot them as soon as they're not useful >.>

-

Oh dear, Lucifer got what he wanted. And Danniel is his queen, exactly as SHE wanted.

-

And Ketch and Asmodeus are back to sharing a drink like THEY wanted since they were on a holiday cruise together when Cas escaped and are apparently just an item now

-

Oh no apparently he was going shopping getting some artefact

An archangel blade which doesn't look anything like any sword we've ever seen any archangel ever hold before and also no one has ever stabbed an archangel with

-

uuuuuuuuuuuugh

-

I don't like this at all and it's entirely because Gabriel had such a good story in the first place and I really really LIKE him. And whatever they explain is going to have to be stupid by neccessity, they're not gonna bring Raphael back which is only somewhat mitigated by bringing Michael back in a black vessel but whatever, if you have all 3 of the others running around and never give Raphael another go, it just looks bad because now we have a forgotten archangel just chilling down in season 5/6 being completely ignored for another go around when all the others do >.>

ALSO HE DIED GOOD and 9x18 was great and all but uggghh it was good because he was safely still DEAD

I mean I guess since Lucifer got free again his sacrifice was pretty much in vain anyway so maybe he should get another crack at killing him but uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugghhhhhhh

I'm going to guess I'm the biggest killjoy at the party right now, which is weird because I actually like 99% of this episode as not being terrible and for Buckleming one of their best non-rapey non-racist, only a few random dropped idiot balls episodes... And I'm assuming the Gabriel decision comes at a higher level, or at least needed a lot of approval and working into other plots.

But uuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhh. That just means I disapprove all over this place and this isn't a criticism of a Buckleming thing, it's the fact that I've had lukewarm to tepid interest in Gabriel coming back the entire time and now he's back and I'm gonna have to live with this >.>

[silkhyung]

MESSAGE DELIVERED | pt.1

→ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader / Namjoon x Reader → Genre: fluff, smut, angst, humor → Words: 2,517 → Rated: NC-17 → Warnings: alcohol, language

→ Summary: A text message sent to the wrong number turns into a long lasting affair between two people completely opposite one another. 

→ Note: This is an old thing and actually the first thing I wrote after the accident, and I decided to post it again because I kind of hold it close to my heart ? It’s not all going to be texts between the characters, but quite a lot of backstory and stuff the more we get into it. It’ll be told from both Y/N’s POV and Jungkook’s. Please enjoy! :)

Parts: 01 : interim : 02 : 03 : coming soon

cr.

The first time you receive one it’s in the middle of the night.

At first you simply stir in your sleep, turning around as if that will somehow stop the annoying buzzing resounding from under your pillow. When it doesn’t, you grab the cursed device and flip it over in your hands, wondering whom of your stupid friends decided to be an excruciating pain in the ass this late.

━ unknown 1:32am Heeeeeey what was the name of the beatle who walked first on the Abbey road cover? I’m trying to get into joys pants and she’s a huge beatles and pop quiz fan Help me out pls Hyung?

You squint at the screen.

The Beatles? Joy? Pop quiz? You are pretty sure you don’t know any people named Joy, and all your friends listen to crappy pop and crappy pop only, and the answer is John. Another thing you are most certain of is that you are not a hyung. But… wait…

… who?

Your text of the standard question “who’s this?” is interrupted by three familiar dots blinking, indicating this stranger on the other side of the screen is writing again. Sighing, you wait for their next text. Perhaps they had realized their mistake and would apologize and leave you alone now?

━ unknown 1:33am she’s abt to bail soon help me

Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes to see better, you quickly text them back.

━ 1:34am Hey I think you’ve got the wrong number But the answer is John Hope it all works out lol

It is silent for a few seconds, your messages staring back at you blankly while the other side seems completely dead. You wonder briefly if the stranger and the even more strange Joy had gotten frisky because of your help as you lock your phone with a relieved puff of breath, burying it under your pillow again.

The buzzing returns just as you settle back into a comfortable position, and even though you don’t want to - you need to sleep - curiosity makes you dig it out again to check what’s going on.

━ unknown 1:37am So not Taehyung?

A tired, lazy smile breaks free and you snort amusedly.

━ 1:38am Nope this is Y/N

━ unknown 1:38am Shit sorry But thanks for the answer

━ 1:39am Np

━ unknown 1:39am Lucky i accidentally texted another beatles fan lol I would’ve known 2 if i wasnt so drunk

You let out another snort.

━ 1:40am Sure dude

━ unknown 1:40am Yeah anyways thanks again

With that, you lock your screen and place it on your nightstand, smiling tiredly to yourself while shifting in bed, trying to get comfy again. Hopefully you won’t wake up with circles as black as your soul in a couple of hours.

The second time the unknown number pops up on your screen you’re in the library trying to work on your latest exam paper due this week. Not exactly something you want to do on a Tuesday night, but what does one not go through to keep the grades up?

Several heads belonging to those study nerds your friends sometimes make fun of but you actually identify with turn to stare at you accusingly and you sheepishly smile back at them, hiding your phone under the table to not disturb anyone else.

It’s been three days since the first text on Saturday and you curiously smile at the screen.

━ unknown 7:11pm Hey last cover song beatles did?

A breathy laugh escape you for some reason, and you quickly sink back in your seat, hiding your smile under the cover of your hand to not irritate any more study nerds than you already have.

You quickly shoot back a question of your own.

━ 7:12pm Is your hyung not available?

━ unknown 7:12pm I think he’s ignoring m

━ 7:13pm Lol poor u. I think it’s Maggie Mae but i’m not sure

The dots showing he was writing start moving, then still and begin moving again several times before your phone finally buzzes again.

━ unknown 7:15pm Wow i might actually score thanks to you Thanks beatles genius

Muffling your laugh with the sleeve of your shirt, you bite into your lip amusedly as you type a quick answer back.

━ 7:16pm Np beatles amateur

━ unknown 7:17pm lol

Even though some small part of you want to, you decide against responding to that. The beatles amateur whose name you still haven’t gotten is probably on a date with that Joy who enjoyed the Beatles pop quizzes so much, and you don’t want to intrude. Especially not since you’re just a stranger in his phone.

Despite this, your mind is very much focused on everything besides the computer screen before you, often lingering on a strange guy - guy since he has a hyung - who sucks at Beatles quizzes and apparently can’t get laid on his own.

Third time, it’s Friday and you’re on the bus on your way to meet up with a friend for a few drinks when your phone buzzes, interrupting the soothing tune of Coldplay’s greatest hit with an annoying pling.

You forcefully fish out your phone from the deep pocket of your coat and despite yourself, you smile at the screen when you see the unknown yet familiar number of your Beatles stranger shining on your screen.

━ unknown 5:45pm Hey another question. Do you by chance own an iPhone?

━ 5:46pm Why are you asking me out of all people? But yeah I do

The three dots start moving, then they stop just as quickly. You bite into your lip watching him start typing and stopping several times. You’re just about to lock your phone when he finally sends you the message he spent almost a minute working on.

━ unknown 5:47pm Idk

━ 5:48pm Really?

While he seemingly writes the longest reply in history, you’re at the street Jeongyeon told you to meet her at, so you hop off the bus. Scanning the crowd for your friend who’s nowhere to be seen, you decide to hang back outside the flower shop she mentioned, waiting for her while simultaneously waiting for a reply about the iPhone from the stranger in your phone.

━ unknown 5:51pm How do I download music?

You let out a loud laugh, your cheeks red from both embarrassment because of your obnoxious laughing as well as the biting cold. It reminds you of why you hate winter so much.

━ 5:52pm How can you NOT know that? What are you, 80 yrs old?

━ unknown 5:53pm Apparently lol pls help me out it’s embarrassing asking my friends

━ 5:53pm Buy from iTunes Or ask someone to help you download illegally i guess? Or u know,,, Spotify, Soundcloud, Naver?

━ unknown 5:54pm Spotify it is! Thanks!

Your thumbs linger over the keyboard, wondering if you would offend him somehow writing what you have in mind, but decide to just fuck it. It’s still just a stranger.

━ 5:55pm Np grandpa

His reply comes so quick it actually takes you off guard.

━ unknown 5:55pm HA HA I’m not that old

━ 5:56pm Whatever you say Grandpa

━ unknown 5:56pm T.T

You smile unnecessarily big, your thumbs hovering over your screen as you’re about to type out an answer when you hear your name being called by Jeongyeon. Looking up, you find her jogging towards you with her phone high in the air, waving the lit screen at you.

“Hey”, she breathes out, hunching over to catch her breath before straightening up. “Didn’t you get my texts?”

You flush, not because of the guilt over missing them but because of the fact you let this stranger take up so much of your attention you didn’t even realize you’d gotten text messages from your friend.

“Oh, sorry”, you say as the two of you begin walking side by side to the apparently amazing bar she’d wanted to go to since she first heard about it a month ago. The only reason you were here with her was because it could be something nice to add to your column. “Mind was preoccupied.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She waves her hand dismissively while checking the directions on her phone. “Oh, great news! I talked to that guy from my history class who recommended the bar and he told me this rising hot band was playing, so I hope you’ve got your notebook in there somewhere”, she says and nudges your purse with an arch of an eyebrow.

A part of you is disappointed by the news, because for once in your life you’d like to be able to go to a bar or club and enjoy yourself instead of having to critique the band playing - because there is always a band playing. Rising hot bands are like mosquitoes in this town, constantly popping up everywhere.

Running a popular music column for an even more popular magazine while still in college may have been your ultimate dream come true, but it was still a lot of work that you sometimes felt like you could most definitely live without. But, to not hurt Jeongyeon’s feelings who probably arranged for the two of you to go the same day as this new band - and judging by her proud grin she definitely did - you give her a genuine smile.

“Really? What’re they called?”

She tells you to turn right while thinking for a few seconds. “BTS, but I have no clue what it stands for. Behind The Scenes seems a little off for a band, don’t you think?”

Snorting, you nod in agreement. “Maybe it’s a name in progress?”

“Bath Time Sucks?”

“Your humor sucks.”

“I know- Oh! It’s here!” Jeongyeon exclaims, interrupting her own sentence with her undying excitement. “This is going to be great! We’re meeting up with the dude from my history class, too, by the way.”

Sighing, you glare at the back of her head as the two of you enter the bar. You’re about to say something to her about what an awful person she tends to be sometimes, but get too overwhelmed by the atmosphere to honestly care.

It is one of the tiniest spaces you’ve ever seen being used as a popular bar, but it fits. It’s warm and oaky, the air carrying scents of musky beers and strong spirits to your nose and you enjoy your stay already. The lighting is dim, yet bright enough to make out everyone in the room and the decor is very exclusively homey, with old leather clad chairs and couches, a lot of wooden furniture and Persian rugs covering almost every inch and corner of the floor.

You fit in perfectly, and despite your initial grim expression as you entered the place, you’re smiling now.

“There he is”, Jeongyeon says, nudging your shoulder while waving at her friend.

With nothing but exasperation, you notice it is none other than Kim Namjoon sitting there, smiling cheekily at the two of you with a large beer in front of him.

He greets Jeongyeon, who easily slides in beside him in the booth, with a high five and a huge, dimply smile. You, on the other hand, gets a cool nod in acknowledgement as he asks the two of you what drinks you’d like. You both opt for the same beer he’s having.

When he’s gotten up to go buy you your drinks, you nudge your supposed friend with your elbow as hard as you can without seriously hurting her.

“Why didn’t you tell me your ‘friend from history class’ was fucking Kim Namjoon?” you hiss, careful not to be heard by the man himself as he’s not too far away yet.

“Ow!” She gives you the softest glare you’ve ever seen before. “Seriously, what’s your issue with him? He’s really nice. And pretty cool, too. He writes for the band that’s playing tonight.”

You scoff. “I don’t care. I still think he’s pretentious for pretending to be a philosopher just because he’s majoring in philosophy or whatever.”

Jeongyeon snickers, shoving a handful of peanuts in her mouth and decides to talk through chewing them. “He’s nice. That’s what matters.” A piece of peanut gets stuck between her teeth.

Gross.

Just as you’re about to throw a retort at her, Namjoon joins the two of you again, handing over a beer each with a smile and you want to punch him in the face. Your dislike towards him origins in his pretentious personality, but you suspect it might also have something to do with those damn dimples.

While Jeongyeon and Namjoon dives into a full discussion about music and what underground bands actually deserves more recognition, you pull out your notepad, getting ready to jot down some notes about the place. Mentioning good bars has become your Saturday morning thing for the blog, and since you only have two evaluations for this week, it wouldn’t hurt to add this one since you’ve actually been here now.

You manage to get the first word down when you’re interrupted by your phone buzzing. You’re about to put it to silent when you see your Beatles stranger’s number lit up on your screen.

━ unknown 7:03pm I’m actually jk

Smiling, you scoot away from your friends a little to get some privacy, angling your screen away from them discreetly.

━ unknown 7:03pm Like u can call me jk

━ 7:04pm You mean ur name is jk? Jk Rowling?

He doesn’t respond immediately, so you wait for a few seconds before you decide to just call him “JK” from now on, even taking the liberty of changing his caller ID from his number to his new name.

Oddly enough, you find great satisfaction in seeing his ID on all of his messages change to “JK” instead of a long row of numbers. While waiting, you put your phone down next to your notepad and begin scribbling down some words to describe the space that you can use later. You’re on the fourth word when your screen lights up again and you giddily grab it, checking to see what he replied.

━ JK 7:08pm Original But yeah I figure i should tell you my name Since I know yours and have been using you as a pop quiz key this week lol

You try so many replies that all sound downright awful that you at last settle for the easiest one, hoping it won’t make you sound like a total fool.

━ 7:09pm Okay hi

━ JK 7:09pm Hi :)

It’s the first time any emoticons or emoji’s have been used, and it for some reason makes something deep down in your stomach flip softly.

━ 7:10pm Anything else? More pop quiz questions?

━ JK 7:10pm Nah i’m good for now Thanks though

━ 7:11pm :)

You nearly drop your phone when your mutual friend Hoseok appears out of thin air behind you, swatting at your phone playfully before embracing you from behind over the booth, his lean arms wrapped around your neck tightly. He’s too happy to notice he’s nearly choking you, and Namjoon only laughs.

Asshole.

“Who’re you texting, Y/N?” Hoseok laughs joyfully while sliding in the booth beside you, followed by Namjoon’s friend Jackson.

It’s suddenly so crammed you feel claustrophobic, but you know no one would let you escape even if you begged them so you stay put, leaning into Jeongyeon for comfort. She rests her head on the top of yours and you stay like that because it’s quite nice. It’s actually so nice you decide to not bother remove Hoseok’s yellow cap he for some reason felt to put on top of your head.

You only adjust it so it won’t fall off when the band starts playing, and even though you kind of enjoy their music and the lead singer’s pretty impressive vocals, you can’t help but ponder over Hoseok’s question throughout most of the show.

Because, yeah, who are you texting?

next part

[dickie-gayson]

Me and the Devil

Jason Todd was tortured and killed by The Joker and Dick Grayson had disappeared; murdered by the Court of Owls.

But everyone knows a Robin Redbreast in a cage puts all of Heaven in a rage. And even dead birds can fly again when the Gods demand it.

So, when the Talon catches wind of a new crime lord gunning for the Bats, he goes to investigate. After all, birds of a feather flock together and nobody clips a Robin's wings and lives to laugh about.

Characters: Arkham Knight!Jason Todd, Talon!Dick Grayson

Warning: Violence

Pairing: None

Genre: Supernatural? Crime? Horror? idk lmao

Words: 3k+

Other Parts: --

Also: I take prompts/requests. Can be found on FF here and Ao3 here

Notes: Mori Shej is 100000% still being worked on, I promise! I'm halfway done with the next chapter, this has just been in my head. ngl this is a self-indulgent fic. There is basically zero canon-compliancy here. Just consider it a total AU. I've been wanting a fic where Talon!Dick and AK!Jason meet.

"If you could only see the beast you've made of me I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallow'ed ground"

In the belltower of the abandoned Saint Louise de Marillac Cathedral in Old Gotham perched an unholy, subhuman creature wearing the face of a hero. It was truly a nightmare to behold with it's garish blackened veins against lifeless chalky skin. The luminescent yellow eyes that lit up the shadows only added to the grotesque imagery. That it took the church as its temporary home was a travesty of the most profane form. The Talon had been quite handsome once upon a time and so good at heart. That was years ago, before The Court of Owls plucked Nightwing from the rooftops and brought him to their home in the sewers. The horrors that occurred behind those granite and lime walls were unimaginable. They twisted Dick, made him into a cold, cruel monster and they suffered dearly for it.

It was their fault, really. What did they expect, taking a highly trained hero and corrupting him down to the core through torture? Loyalty? No, Dick Grayson was far too stubborn and spiteful to bow his head to his captors. He could play the game though. He could play it with the best of them. For years he pretended to be their subservient little pet; their lethal weapon of mass destruction. When the time was right and they grew comfortable with the horror they created, he struck them down. It had been pure chaos. Only the other Talons posed a threat to him, and hardly so. Before he was given the serum, the Talons had been a challenge, but he could still hold his own. Now that he had their very same abilities? It was laughable how he tore through them. The utter fear in the Parliament members' eyes when they finally realized what Hell they unleashed on themselves was oh so delicious. Each and every one of them was hunted down and executed without exception. They paid for what they'd done in blood.

The last thing Talon remembered before the Court got to him was his frantic search for his missing little brother. Upon his escape and after the systematic capture and execution of the Court, he took to hunting his old family out of curiosity. Dick needed to know why he'd been left to the torture the Parliament put him through; why he was abandoned in the sewers of Gotham to become the monster he was now. What had been so important that nobody rescued him?

It hadn't been hard to get into the Cave and find what he needed. The memorial cases displaying his Nightwing and the Robin suits would have left an odd feeling in his chest, but emotions had all but been stripped from him. Now he was only hollow and so very, very cold inside. It was in his temporary 'roost' that he watched that video. The brutal torture and death of Jason Todd at the hands of The Joker played out on the dimmed screen of his tablet. The piercing 'bang' of the final gunshot may as well have been the sound of the last nail in the coffin for the clown. Talon knew exactly who was next on his list. Nobody clipped a Robin's wings and lived to laugh about.

The whispers of The Arkham Knight reached him in his hunt for the Joker. Word spread through the underground of a newcomer armed to the teeth with a getup like Batman and gunning for the Batfamily. It was more than enough to pique his interest. Curiosity was always a strong point with Dick and that was something no amount of torture could take from him. So, he waylaid his hunt for a brief period to figure out who was encroaching on his territory. After all, if anyone was going to do some bat-hunting, it was Talon.

That's where the stalking began. He dogged the armored man's every step. From his hideout near the Bowery district to the base of operations in an abandoned shipping facility between Otisburg and Burnley. He could go nowhere without Talon shadowing him. The man had damn good instincts. From the way he looked around, often in the direction of Talon, indicated that he could sense he was being followed. It was almost amusing how paranoid the man became. Cameras were set up all over the place, state-of-the-art security systems were installed, and extra guards were positioned. Not that it stopped the highly trained assassin from slipping through it all.

The new gang seemed to be laying low. If Talon had to guess, it was to avoid unwanted attention of the vigilante sort. His constant watching led him to learn the man was indeed planning a big move against the hero. Talon grew bolder in his movements as his curiosity rose. Soon, he was searching through the office and even rifling through the masked man's various hideouts. That was when he learned that it was not some new crimelord in the making, but rather his 'deceased' brother, Jason Todd, beneath that helmet. He wanted to rip the mask off and see for himself that the dead bird wasn't quite so dead. Talon grew nearly obsessive with his stalking. He felt a sort of kinship with the hero-turned-criminal. Both had been snatched from the Bat, both had been tortured, both had been presumed dead (though it was a little truer in Dick's case), and both had been forgotten by their so-called 'family'. All they were anymore were empty suits in display cases and cautionary tales of what happens when one flies too far from the nest.

Perhaps he grew a bit possessive of his brother and killed those that conspired against The Arkham Knight. Perhaps he grew a bit obsessive and watched the man at nearly every waking, and sleeping, moment. Why shouldn't he be? That was his brother, his successor. It was his responsibility to make sure Jason suffered no longer. He failed his brother once already and he'd make damn sure he didn't fail again.

For weeks now, The Arkham Knight had the eerie feeling of being watched. At first, he searched but found no one. Then, he thought it might be his rampant paranoia growing worse. After all, the time to attack Batman was growing near and it was setting his nerves on edge. However, he wasn't entirely convinced it was all in his head. So he decided to ramp up security discreetly. He had extra eyes around the facility, hidden cameras in every nook and cranny, security systems to rival the Cave's. Still, nothing came of it. That would have put his mind at ease, but the feeling only increased. It even followed him to his hideout. In an act of desperation to escape the eyes, he dropped everything and picked out a new hideout. Jason made sure to take obscure routes to throw off any stalkers upon entering and exiting his new place.

The feeling was gone, but only for a short period of maybe two days, before it resumed. It made the man want to tear his hair out. He didn't want to admit the rising fear he felt, but it was absolutely undeniable. The nightmares only worsened from there. There was a constant thickness in his throat and a buzzing beneath his skin. Jason felt on the edge of panic at almost every point. It was a good thing he had full-body armor to cover his discomfort from the world. Sometimes when the anxiety got to be too much and the walls felt like they were closing in, he would lock himself in his office or his room and try to calm himself down through meditative techniques. The fear was all the worse because he had no idea who was following him so closely. The possibilities nearly petrified him.

That fact brought the anger he was oh so familiar with. The heat of rage was almost comforting in these times. He could handle anger. Hell, it was one of his driving forces at this point, but fear? He had too much of that at this point. He was sick to death of being scared of painted freaks and crowbars. More than once he caught himself screaming at nothing to come out already. Jason was so on edge. He just wanted them to stop. But no one ever came forward and he felt slightly silly for shouting into the shadows. He just couldn't help it.

Once, he thought he saw glowing yellow eyes watching him in the hallway of his hideout. Jason immediately went on the offensive and tried to catch the stalker. However, when he got closer, the corridor was empty. He searched top to bottom, every last corner and hiding spot, but he was alone. An acrid taste had coated his tongue and he was afraid he really was losing his mind. Jason thought he escaped the madness of the Joker, but it seemed he was wrong. It only followed him home. He nearly vomited at the realization. It crushed him on a soul-deep level and left him trembling in despair.

Jason had screamed and screamed and beat his fists into the walls as if they were responsible for his state. There was a pounding in his head that wouldn't subside. Laughter shrieked in his skull, so real he couldn't help the tears that burned his eyes. His fists nearly broke from the force and abuse. That night, he didn't sleep a wink. The next night he abandoned that destroyed hideout. Oh, how he wanted to blow the building sky high as a catharsis, but he couldn't. It'd draw the wrong attention to him too soon.

Unknown to him, those luminous eyes were very real and watched his breakdown with rapture. Nightwing would have wanted to comfort the distraught man. But Talon was only interested in seeing the man come undone. The intense reaction was so interesting. The sheer volume of Jason's emotions was almost addictive to watch. Dick felt so incredibly empty inside, like his heart had been carved straight out. To see the fire of Jason's spirit left him hungering. He craved that heat; wanted to tear his brother's chest open, consume him whole, and fill the abyss left in place of his own lost soul. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so cold and hollow. If Dick had even the barest trace of his old self left in him, he'd be utterly horrified and downright sickened at the thoughts running back and forth through his mind. That man was long since dead.

Tonight, The Arkham Knight was running a deal between his own gang and the Falcone on a shipment of weapons. Talon slipped through the security as if it didn't exist and perched in the dark of the rafters. This deal was going to get very interesting. Carmine had no intention of playing fair with the newcomers. He wanted to 'show them their place'. It was going to get bloody, and that's why he sent a lieutenant in his place. Well, Talon was going to make sure 'The Roman' got his message loud and clear. No one was allowed to mess with what was his.

Jason had that feeling of being watched again. He tried to ignore it as he conducted the deal, but that was growing increasingly difficult. It was as if someone were trying to pick him apart through sight alone. Like a mantra, he reminded himself that it wasn't real. It was all in his head. That is, until smoke started forming around his business partners. It was a familiar sort of smoke screen, like that of a pellet he used to carry as Robin. He started to internally panic, thinking the Bat had found him out already. It was almost instinctive to draw his gun and hold it at the ready.

The frantic cocking of the others' guns had him yelling out for everyone to stand down in an effort to prevent friendly fire. His helmet allowed him to see thermal imaging through the thick cloud. It wasn't Batman that dropped into the smoke, however. The figure was far too sleek in build to be Bruce and moved like liquid. At first, he thought it was Nightwing, back from wherever he disappeared to. The fluid way he flipped around screamed of the hero. But then Jason noticed the knives. Bodies dropped like flies around the unknown intruder. Screams filled the air and before he could get a shot off, the group sent by Falcone were dead. All except one.

As the smoke cleared, he got a good look of the assassin. In Jason's opinion, the owl mask was fucking stupid looking, but the rest of the outfit screamed 'professional killer'. He had lethal looking clawed gauntlets with what looked like throwing knives poking up like feathers and a bandolier of more throwing knives strapped to his chest. There were even more knives on his belt and God knows where else. Jason knew those claws could rend flesh because he saw the man take out a few throats with what seemed like casual swipes.

The last of the guest entourage was held by force before the man. The way the assassin had him kneeling was very close to that of the execution position. One of his many sharp blades was pressed snugly against the mobster's throat in such a way that even a wrong flinch could prove fatal. Those hideous goggles were staring directly at Jason but the knife-happy killer made no move to end the man. Jason had his gun trained expertly on the other's head. After a brief staredown, Jason spoke up with anger.

"You have one chance to give me a good reason not to put a bullet through that fuck-ugly mask of yours."

What he got in response was a slow, almost avian-like tilt of the head. Truthfully, it was downright creepy and made him want to pull the trigger. Before he could, though, the man spoke. Jason had to listen closely as the mask distorted his quiet voice.

"Confess."

He was about to respond with a resounding 'what the fuck' when he realized the assassin wasn't talking to him, but to the man in his grasp.

"What the hell do you mean?! Carmine's gonna hear 'bout this!"

The masked killer leaned down slowly until he was nearly brushing against his captive's face. Talon knew the man was lying. They had all been in on the plan. He had already taken out the reinforcements on the way in.

"Confess."

The way his voice dropped, frigid and soft, was frightening on a primal level. The mobster's shaking was visible even to Jason. The sentiment of 'what the fuck' still applied pretty heavily to the situation at hand. It seemed that was all it took to break the man. He cried out with a voice pitched high in fear.

"Alright! Carmine was plannin' on clippin' some of ya 'n musclin' in on the rest! Just lemme go! I won't say nothin' to the boss, I swear!"

Jason's blood boiled at the scheme. He knew doing business with the Falcone was tricky at best, especially since they were new on the scene, but this? Oh, that Sicilian fuck was going to pay. He was brought out of his angered planning when his apparent ally spoke up.

"Omerta, Jimmy. Omerta."

At the word, the man struggled briefly before stopping once the blade began cutting into his neck. He was all but crying at this point. Jason would say he felt for him, but he was a little too pissed to sympathize with the little shit. 'Jimmy' broke the code of secrecy and was fucked no matter which way he looked. It was tempting to just put a bullet through his head right now, but Jason decided to wait and see what the assassin was planning on doing with the man. Then he'd cap this waste of space and ship his body back to Carmine. 'The Roman Empire' was going to come crumbling down after this, he'd make sure of it.

Talon had no more use for the man. Any other knowledge was above the low-level thug's paygrade. Dick had heard far more in his time spying on the gang than this man was granted access to. All he needed was a solid confession, which he just got. His attention drifted back to The Arkham Knight. The gun pointing at him was of no concern to Talon. Bullets, at best, only slowed him down anymore.

"It's your head they came for, Knight. How would you sentence him?"

His voice, just as before, was all but a whisper. Jason was thankful for the enhanced audio of his helmet, otherwise, he'd have trouble hearing the lilted voice. The masked man was poised as still as a statue, ready to execute Jimmy if he gave the word. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about the unknown assassin at this point, though he was relatively certain that this was the one who was stalking him. That would most definitely be addressed later. For now, he had a rat to deal with.

He walked around the table, gun still pointed at the knife-wielding man in case he tried anything funny. When he stopped in front of the two, Jimmy was basically hyperventilating and blood dripped from the worsening wound on his neck. Jason noticed the knife had been shifted to prevent accidental death. This guy was really serious about letting Jason decide his fate, it seemed. It might be flattering if the guy weren't so damn creepy. He still wanted to at least stab him a few times for stalking him.

"I got it from here."

That earned him another one of those odd, bird-like head tilts. Then, the thug was pushed toward Jason in a sort of sacrificial manner. Before he could try to flee, Jason grabbed his collar and lifted him up to eye level.

"You're gonna deliver a message to your boss for me, Jimmy."

The man shook like a leaf as Jason spoke. The fear was evident in the way his voice raised and stuttered over his words.

"S-sure thing, Mr. Arkham Knight sir. Whatever ya s-say."

Jason was smirking beneath the helmet. The deference given to him for his position in the underground crime scene took a bit of getting used to. It wasn't the same sort of respect and fear that Robin had gotten him. Robin scared criminals because that meant prison and The Bat. The Arkham Knight scared criminals because he was either their boss or their rival, and rivalries usually ended in death. They feared for their freedom with Robin. They feared for their life with Knight.

"Never said you needed to be alive to deliver the message."

Before the man could make another peep, Jason threw him to the ground and shot him through the head. He made an indistinct motion for this whole mess to be cleaned up. There was a whole lot of work to be done now that the Falcones pissed him off. But first, there was a certain bird-themed stalker he needed to take care of. He turned around, ready to start grilling the masked man, but was surprised to see the facility assassin-less. The fact that he just got Batman-ed by some guy in an Owl mask made his eye twitch.

"Where the fuck did he go?!"

A few of his men pointed upward. Jason followed the line and immediately picked out the sunroof he could have sworn he reinforced, welded shut, and set up with alarms to prevent just this. He wasted no time in grappling up to the spot and inspecting the window. If the killer had slipped through here, he took the time to rearm the alarms, much to Jason's frustration. The fact that he even knew how to deal with his security system made the situation significantly worse. This was Bat-level tech. Who in the hell knew how deal with Bat-level tech? It set his teeth on edge.

The guy was probably expecting Jason to disarm the alarms and slip out to find him. A diversion tactic to buy him more time to escape. Well, Jason said 'fuck that'. He slammed it open and let his men deal with the blaring sirens now. There were more important things he had to deal with. Like catching a homicidal stalker that liked to cosplay as a bird. The head start he got from slipping out when Jason was distracted made this all the trickier. But he was trained by the Bat, and if there's one thing Jason can do right, it's hunt someone down.

His hunt, however, was cut short when he swung over to the neighboring building and was met with a pile of dead bodies. Jason nearly tripped over his own feet in surprise. There was at least twelve people stacked together and bleeding out over the rooftop. He needed to take a brief moment to recompose himself before assessing the situation. He recognized a few faces vaguely as belonging to a few ranking members of the Falcone. They were strapped with some heavy weapons. Jason had a growing feeling he knew exactly what happened and who did it. That's when the white sheet of paper caught his attention.

Someone, he was betting that black-clad assassin, pinned a note to one of the bodies with a fucking knife. He reached over and ripped the note off. It was a bit difficult to read the somewhat messy lettering when he opened it due to the blood smeared all over the paper, but he managed. The note was short, sweet, and to the point.

You're welcome, Baby Bird.

That was it, but it made his blood run cold. Nobody knew who he was before The Arkham Knight. Jason was really, really hoping it was just a stupid nickname the guy chose to keep on with the bird-theme and not a reference to his time as Robin. It couldn't be. Jason Peter Todd, the second Robin, was legally dead. He wasn't in the system any longer. It was just a name picked by an obsessive freak with a bird fetish. That didn't stop his gut from churning at the thought. He radioed to his men, informing them of the mess that needed to dealt with up here.

Just across the way and perched on a billboard sat the Talon. His enhanced vision allowed him to watch Jason quite clearly, even from this distance and darkness.

"Don't worry Little Wing, nobody will hurt you again. I'll kill them all first."

He watched until The Arkham Knight returned to the compound, out of his sight. Then, Talon turned and started making his way toward the high-end area of Gotham. There was a certain crime lord that made his list tonight.

[nataliecrown]

4x02 Recap - Heavy Lies the Crown (The 100)

This was a quality episode. It’s not gonna jump on to my all time faves list, possibly because pretty much everything was spoiled beforehand (can’t wait to be past the screener eps, honestly), but it was some high calibre shit.

Warning: I am in a foul and irritable mood. If this recap is saltier than usual, I apologise. Unless you like salt, in which case - I did it especially for you!

Onwards...

- NOTE: They fixed Zach’s name in the credits. My question is, how the hell was that mistake ever allowed to happen. My god.

Anyway...

Radioactive, Radioactive

- The butterflies are back! I am HERE for throwing back to the S1 radioactive imagery. Could it be that we will see random dude from S2 again at some point? A GIRL CAN DREAM.

- So this whole opening sequence was seriously rad. We got to see ALIE again. Who knew that would excite me so much (Erica’s performance is just so damn good), we got to hear Tree Adam’s awesome soundtrack again, and we got a pretty brilliant introduction to Ilian. I gave exactly zero shits about RILEY later on in the episode, but I am instantly a fan of this dude.

- I also think it’s worth pointing out that his trauma must be EXTREME. He murdered his family. Yes, he wasn’t in control. But he can remember every damn moment. I doubt he will remain an antagonist forever, but I can’t say I blame him for being seriously fucked up and needing to expel that fucked up ness through violence and rage.

LET’S TALK KABBY

- THIS WHOLE SCENE WAS WONDERFUL.

- It’s legit pretty rad that an older couple get to have proper on screen sexy times on a ‘teen’ show. Kudos! It’s hawt.

- Paige Turco’s legs. Damn.

- ‘You are a terrible influence’ has me asking SO MANY QUESTIONS. I WANT TO SEE MISCHIEVOUS KANE PLEASE. THE KANE THAT OPERATES WHEN HIS CHILDREN AREN’T AROUND TO SEE HIM ACTING ANYTHING LESS THAN WISE.

- ALSO when Abby said Roan was expecting her...was I the only one whose mind swept off into an AU where Abby is like...the king’s wife, but she’s getting it on with one of his most trusted Ambassadors and it’s a tale of star crossed lovers and... @kane-and-griffin SURELY YOU WENT THERE?

- Kane’s smile while she has her back to him is just lovely.

- AND THEN the whole interaction with the necklace is just wonderful. Abby will never stop loving Jake, she will never stop missing him. But she is allowed to move on. Knowing that won’t stop her feeling guilty though, at least for a little while. Her hesitation is true to real life, and Kane’s gentle understanding is absolutely exquisite. He is not at all fazed by the spectre of her dead husband, to the point that he does not hesitate to help her put the necklace back on. And Abby does not express her gratitude with words, but with a kiss - her own gentle reminder to him that despite that guilt that is impossibly to not feel, she knows that she wants him. That she wants this.

The T Kru

- So we check in with the new peeps. We have the leader who is alllll about taking out King Roan. I think it’s important to note Ilian pointing out that he only wants revenge against Skaikru, and not the king. 

- HEY LURKING LURKER WHO MIGHT YOU BE?

- Just kidding, it is clearly Octavia and I am about to be controversial...are you ready?

- Yes, Octavia looks like a badass, and angel of death, a vixen ready to get a mixen. HOWEVER...isn’t the point of an assassin meant to be that they are inconspicuous? If she wants to fade into the background and eavesdrop on conversations...if she wants her identity to remain secret for more than two minutes...shouldn’t she dress like everybody else? The cape is stunning but also....VERY UNIQUE COMPARED TO EVERYTHING ELSE WE HAVE EVER SEEN ON THIS SHOW.

- ANYWAY nobody notices her REALLY UNIQUE CAPE and Octavia learns vital information. The T Kru are going to challenge Roan to combat. Which, normally might be sweet, but Roan was shot - remember?

- God, I hate that crown. FREE ZACH’S BROW 2K17.

- ‘Now that the lift has been repaired’ AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA *wheezes* Okay, show.

- I just want to point out that Octavia is still wearing Niylah’s clothes. JUST POINTING IT OUT LEAVE ME ALONE.

- Octavia has continuous smug face going on this season and I love it. Echo, perhaps, is not such a fan.

- ‘You’ll lose. Lexa kicked your ass...’ ROAN’S FACE AHAHAHA. And Kane’s reaction is priceless too. I am living for a season of Octavia just straight talking 24/7.

- Roan, Octavia and Kane are a squad I can get behind. Kane is going to try for diplomacy...we’ll see how that goes...

ADVENTURE SQUAD ASSEMBLE

- Clarke’s look is fucking great, I love it so much. It is hints of S1 whilst also being fresh. I am a staunch defender of most of season 3. I think the overarching...arcs... were necessary and well placed. But lawwwwd it is nice to see Clarke back at home, and looking like Clarke again.

- This scene really nicely sets up the differing stances of Bravelarke. Nobody is right, nobody is wrong. The back and forth is really nicely done. It’s all very head, heart, and hands I must say.

- ‘A choice your dad died for’ RAVEN REYES, SLYTHERIN.

- Clarke’s expression and voice get super fierce here. It makes me so sad for her considering the end of the episode. So Raven is Jake, Clarke is Jaha, and Bellamy is Abby? I’m for it.

- The real MVP of this scene is Monty, and I love how he isn’t actively part of the conversation that the ‘leaders’ are having, but his mind is constantly working. While the others are going around in circles, Monty thinks up a solution.

- ‘We’re standing in our viable solution.’ The way they all look around at the Ark which was both salvation and prison for them, all hopeful and wide eyed...IDK my dudes, it gives me the heart feelings.

Checking in with the other delinquents...

- Something about Bellamy going to Miller and Bryan gives me feelings, mostly bc of the knowledge that Bellamy and Miller are BFFs. RIGHT.

- Bryan is recovering remarkably well. I somehow doubt you should ever base gunshot wound recovery times off of this show folks.

- Bryan gets more character in this episode than he has at any other point. Jonathan does a really fantastic job of portraying his trepidation, his anger, and his general level of irritation at Miller.

- I LOVE THE PIKE CONVERSATION. IT IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT. It’s also super important that what Octavia did is referred to as murder here. Last episode we had Clarke assure Bellamy that Pike had it coming. I think that was said, for the most part, to make Bellamy feel better. But this show is nothing if not fair when it comes to showcasing all sides of things. Pike was, in most respects, a hero and saviour to Bryan. And he was elected Chancellor, fairly. It’s not a simple situation.

- ‘To save you, Nate.’ I’m not hardcore Briller or anything, but the delivery here was spot on. Annnnnd I actually think super important in establishing Bryan’s character some more. We all know Bryan will be heading out the door sooner or later, but I still appreciate how the shows likes to give any and all characters depth.

- The hug and no kiss thing is...weird. There can be no denying.

- JASPER’S WHOLE SHOWER SCENE. I FORGET HOW GOOD DEVON IS AT COMEDY.

- MONTY’S APPALLED FACE.

- HONESTLY THOUGH. When Jasper says ‘Monty’ all serious and turns off the shower, I CACKLE. And then ‘look at me’ I’M TRYING NOT TO. BLESS YOU LOVELY CHILDREN.

- As things stand, I am loving where the show has taken Jasper post 4x01. And I’m intrigued to see where it goes.

- MAYBE MONTY DID GRAB THE WEED. IDK HOW OR WHEN. BUT MAYBE.

- Obviously the best part of this scene is THE JONTY HIGH FIVE. HUZZAH.

- ‘Hey, you wanna hug?’ *giggles*

ADVENTURE SQUAD ASSEMBLE

- MONTY AND RAVEN’S INTERACTION IS SO WONDERFUL. THEY’RE ALL LIKE TEAM BRAIN, AND THEN MONTY POINTS OUT RAVEN’S BOOM FETISH, AND THEN THE I GOT THIS AND THE SHOULDER PAT AND THE JOKE.

- I LOVE ALL OF THEM SO MUCH.

- Okay, so Bellarke. There is this super brief shot after Clarke hands over the whatever whing, where Bellamy looks away from her and she just STARES AT HIM YOU GUYS. HER FACE IS SO WARM AND FOND AND GLOWY. I’VE NOT SEEN ANYONE ELSE MENTION THIS MILLISECOND FRAME BUT IT’S EVERYTHING.

- I’m personally not of the opinion that Bob intentionally winked, I think it’s just a face thing. BUT THERE CAN BE NO DENYING THE CUTE. WHO KNEW THAT IF BELLARKE ACTUALLY GOT TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER THEY’D GO RIGHT BACK TO THE DORKY JOKES AND THE ADORING EYE SMILES.

- WHAT IS THAT SHOT OF MONTY AND HARPER WATCHING THEM.

- Bellamy is so...energised this season? I’m fully loving it. I’m sure his self loathing is absolute, but he’s channelling it in such a positive way since he got to unload at Pike in 3x16. Clarke doesn’t have that same energy though, and you can almost see more of her own seep away as she watches him leave. 

- Also, another cute Raven and Monty nod. I POINT OUT ALL THE DETAILS OKAY. MAKE YOU READ ALL THE WORDS.

- That was a quick trip.

- The Marper hand hold is cute.

- Things go to shit pretty fast! Bellamy is all about making sure everybody else chills out in this episode. Even when he gets smacked upside the head, he is DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE.

- BELLAMY SPEAKING TRIG YO.

- It’s not my place to talk about in depth, but the casting of extras and small bits parts on this show feels remarkably diverse compared to literally everything else I watch.

- We get a clear indication that the Ice Nation are not particularly fond of their King.

- Personally...I don’t reallyyyyy get why they back down? But whatever. I guess the leader does at least slightly fear the king?

PRINCESS MECHANIC RISE

- Okay, so Raven having to do her first mini boss speech and feeling all awkward and overwhelmed is the start of what will end up being another amazing arc. I FEEL IT IN MY BONES.

- SINCLAIRRRRR. But we do at least see now why he kind of needed to die. Kabby must, obviously, be protected at all costs. However, this show very much is about the 100 (+ Raven and Bellamy). Raven has to rise to the occasion in his absence.

- This conversation between Raven and Clarke is EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. It reminds me so much of S1 and ‘I’d pick you first.’ GAH. Just seeing them working together, and supporting each other means so much. Neither of them really know what they’re doing, but they’re doing it anyway. MORE. GIVE ME MORE.

- Fucking Jaha.

- Okay, FINE. Jaha having actual relevance to main characters is infinitely more interesting than Jaha out on his own doing his own wild things.

- I LOVE RAVEN BRINGING UP THE WRIST THING, AND CLARKE FINDING THE STRENGTH WITHIN TO POINT OUT THAT JAHA WAS ALSO CHIPPED. But Raven is having NONE of that. Remember that Jaha, at ALIEs behest, zoned in on Raven. She was the key. He went after her, after her injury, preyed on her pain. No wonder she is seething. Jaha’s zen owning of all his crimes is...vaguely interesting, I guess. 

- Sort the scrap you dumb dumb.

OH MY GOD, RILEY? RILEYYYY? IS THAT YOU?

- Even if preview articles and teasers hadn’t already given away what Bellamy’s choice would be, as soon as we saw that little girl we all know he was saving the slaves, right?

- The appearance of the slaves strikes me as entirely random and contrived though. Why would the Ice Nation have massacred so many of Farm Station if they had a legitimate use for them? Whatever.

- So, Riley! Definitely in to the idea of him and Bryan having a history together, and the two of them rowing off into some off screen happiness together later in the season. I’m sure, given time, Riley may grow on me. This show does a remarkable job of making me care about everyone. But at this point I feel nothing. I’m all in with Ilian, and intrigued by Kenza...Riley, not so much.

- Everything about Echo and Roan’s sparring is attractive. EVERYTHING.

- I’m sorry, but Abby is totally checking Roan out in all of her reaction shots. That, or she’s fantasising about Kane.

- ‘If you can’t help me, why the hell are you still here.’ That clearly influences Abby’s decision to leave later.

- So, I didn’t talk about Roan and Echo much earlier because I LOVE THIS SCENE HERE. I’m so intrigued by where the show is going with these two. It’s a huge deal that Roan trusts her with the radiation information. I suppose it might not be trust per se, perhaps more like necessity - but still! And I also think it means a lot that Echo seems truly dedicated to helping him. As was said in 4x01, she’s very loyal. It’s proving true so far.

- Echo at Arkadia. Now, that will be interesting.

Octavia, back at it again with the sass and the smirks.

- Kane makes a valiant attempt at diplomacy! He points out that while Arkadia might have helped spread the CoL, they also destroyed it and saved humanity. 

- When that doesn’t work, Octavia employs an intimidating lead with some shit talking. Solid tactics, O.

- NIYTAVIA FOR LIFE...but in the meantime, we’re calling it Butterfly Assassin?

- ‘Well that went well.’ Kane’s look up at her is just like, DON’T.

- CLARKE MY LOVE. I AM SO SAD FOR YOU. HEAVY LIES THE CROWN INDEED. IT’S TOO MANY PEOPLE. SO MANY ARE GONNA DIE. DAMN THIS SHOW.

- I kind of adore that Clarke’s reaction to hearing music is DA FUQ IS THIS? NO TO MUSIC. NO TO JOY.

- I really enjoy the scene with Clarke and Jasper. You can still feel his anger at Clarke, but...I don’t know...there’s something different about it. I almost feel like Jasper has put aside his anger, and is just...shooting from the hip, rather than from grief? Clarke’s face breaks my heart when he points out how similar it all sounds to them being sent to the ground though.

THE BIG DECISION

- Okay, so first of all...I love that we got to hear everybody’s perspective. This was democracy at work and it wasn’t a decision Bellamy made alone. So we can put that narrative to bed now.

- Minty lives

- I’m actually not going to go in depth on the choice that Bellamy ultimately makes, because I can see both sides and I don’t think either is right or wrong. We don’t have to justify anything here. Yes, perhaps somewhere down the line the squad will realise that the generator really was their only option and the reality of his choice will crash down on Bellamy. But imagine that he had decided to leave the slaves, and then in two weeks time they found a gigantic underground bunker that could fit 10,000 people. He’d feel pretty shit about letting the slaves suffer then, right? The characters don’t know what the future holds, and they don’t have the benefit of knowing they are part of a narrative which ensures that some of them will at least survive. 

- So, whatever basically. I’d have been cool with this going either way.

- Stoke that they saved Riley though, obviously.

- Important quote to note... ‘we have Raven.’ I, like Bellamy, believe that Raven Reyes can do anything - including make water out of nothing.

- Also worth noting how...incredibly risky their plan was? Like. Yikes.

- Harper kicking due in the face is my kink.

- MONTY IS SUPER GREAT IN THIS EPISODE. Everything about his reaction to meeting his dads murderer is just exquisitely well done. Leaving his death to the slaves is both powerful and also really quite dark.

Heavy Lies the Crown

- The Clarke/Jaha scene is so good and so hurtful to me. 

- Fucking Jaha.

- Clarke referencing her father and being locked up is really important, but...so is the parallel to Jaha’s choices. Ugh. Everything he says is actually so on point, and you can see realisation that Clarke is seeing herself in Jaha is disgusting to her but also unavoidable.

- Back to Kabby. We saw Kane have absolute faith in Abby last episode, so it’s nice to hear her being so sure that he will figure something out (YES, IT’S ALL VERY BELLARKE I KNOW).

- Kane quickly figures out that Abby is going back to Arcadia (judging from the promo, she’s going to be needed). I’m excited for this because more Abby and Clarke, but also maybe some Clarke and Raven please? We get some more gloriously supportive stuff from Kane...

- And then Kane notices that Abby isn’t wearing her necklace! Upon first viewing, I didn’t pick up on the fact that this scene feels a bit cut up. I can see it on second watch, and I can understand that’s frustrating. That being said, I don’t think the scene loses its meaning? To me, the removal of her necklace is Abby’s way of saying she’s ready to move on and it’s her way of saying it to Kane without putting it into words.

- Prayer circle that Abby gives the rings to Clarke.

- LOOK AT HOW MUCH THAT CAPE STANDS OUT OKAY.

- So, I’m skipping straight to the murder. I FUCKING LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTT. I just...I’m so relieved that Octavia’s mudering is FOR her people, and not against. It makes so much sense.

- I can’t help giggling a little at Octavia being so ballsy about dueling these folk. THEY MIGHT ALL BE TONS BETTER THAN YOU, BABE. THEY’VE HAD YEARS TO PRACTICE. But whatever.

- Soooo the stabbing into the earhole to hide the wound and thus make it seem like he died of natural causes is BADASS.

- HEADCANON: Octavia did not learn this tactic on the ground. She learned it as a child when Bellamy was reading her some classic murderous fiction.

- ‘LONG LIVE THE KING.’ Nice.

- Kane is CONCERNED about his daughter’s MURDEROUS WAYS.

- Ilian has also figured it out.

- And Echo too seems suspicious. STICKING A PIN IN THAT FOR THE FUTURE.

Clarke, we have adopted more children

- So Briller are breaking up, and I can’t be mad at the show for it because Jonathan got a new gig and can’t commit (sound familiar, oooh I went there). I do hope that this time around they let him just disappear into the sunset. Learn from your mistakes show.

- Make sure he takes Riley with him.

- Again, kudos to Jonathan for this ep. He really brings it.

- RILEY RILEY RILEY YES WE KNOW THAT IS HIS NAME. STOP.

- Okay, so the scene where Riley and Clarke are revealed as old friends (I have zero romance fears here btw) is HILLARIOUS TO ME. It’s so blatantly shoe horned in. AS IF they would be reunited, hug, and then just...blah. Like...it’s so noodley? 

- Anyway, Raven realises there is no generator and Bellamy fesses up to his maternal instincts.

- I actually love Clarke’s ‘you just did’. The delivery doesn’t imply blame to me, which is backed up by how immediately Clarke accepts his choice. It’s more a simple statement of fact, coming from a place of understanding.

- Raven, on the other hand, is pissed. ‘You’re not the only one who has to live with it. As usual.’ This is a direct throwback to Bellamy chucking the radio, right? That’s pertinent to their history. Look, Raven is a spitfire. She’s scared and under pressure, and she hasn’t had to make the leadership calls yet. She clearly will at some point this season, and we’ll see her gain a healthy dose of respect for Clarke and Bellamy when she does. For now, I think her anger is perfect.

- I know ‘no more than a 100′ is really on the nose but I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH. WHO’S GONNA MAKE IT YOU GUYS. AHHHH. MY SHOW.

- BRAVENLARKE FOR LIFE.

- CLARKE QUOTES JAHA AT BELLAMY AND SHE JUST LOOKS SO BROKEN ABOUT IT. My dear girl, you’ll be okay...somehow.

- Clarke is just the accepted leader of Skaikru now and I love it.

- TOGETHER. Looks at Bellamy. OF COURSE SHE DOES. Can we also talk about Raven’s heart eyes towards Clarke? I mean...they fade to ash pretty fast, but just for that moment it’s the purest of loves!

- So, Clarke lies, and just like Bellamy and the generator...I won’t call right or wrong. There is no answer, just a choice. 

- ‘Your father would be so proud’ OUCH. OUCH. OUCH. Raven lashing out at Clarke here is much more personal than what she says to Bellamy. It’s more vicious. But I’m still not going to rail on her, for the same reasons as mentioned above. It’s time for her to get to work. I am so excited to see her in this role.

- And so Bellamy repeats ‘we save who we can save today’ and the important thing here is how Clarke nods. She’s not mad. She respects and understands his choice. Most of all she trusts him. Even if she CAN’T understand a choice he makes, she’ll always trust that it came from the right place. They’re a team.

- And to reinforce that, the episode ends with a glorious Bellarke shot as they contemplate what is to come.

- How many episodes will end with a Bellarke shot this season? I say 12/13.

- I AM SO VERY HYPED FOR NEXT WEEK.

My laptop is acting up and I’m as grumpy as a Clarke that hears music playing, so I’m not even re reading this. Apologies for typos. And congratulations if you made it to the end!