#I thought about this for quite a while after reading the Unhinged comics

[masquenoire]

Roman didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, at least not inside his social circle. He was too rough, too vulgar for the other socialites to warm to even with his parent’s ‘education’ on how to behave around their sort. He did, however, get along with a few, most notably @babydxhl and @sanguine-salvation, whose company Roman liked enough. @brutalscaled​ was the very first friend he made without his parent’s knowledge, early one spring while holidaying at their country estate. Roman had taken a liking to the scaled boy, preferring his company over the hateful rich kids his parents forced him to befriend. During his teens, Roman would go on to make more friends. One of these new friends was a boy named Garfield Lynns. Angry delinquents at heart, the two got along like a house on fire, committing petty crimes and even acts of arson together. After Roman was caught sleeping with Circe (and summarily disowned), he knew exactly who to turn to and together they burned down the Sionis Estate, their first crime that result in people’s deaths.

[emmym1]

My thoughts on... X-Terminators 2022 (#1-5)

After reading through most of Laura Kinney's solo runs I was dying to read more comics with her in it, and X-Terminators seemed perfect for that considering its fairly standalone story plus its fun premise and cast of character! Not to mention it was a perfect way to learn more about other characters! It's safe to say that it didn't dissapoint as it's absolutely one of the craziest comic series I've ever read. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this series as it consisted out of characters I had seen before such as Jubilee and Laura but also characters I wanted to learn more about such as Dazzler of whom I'm currently really enjoying the earth-65 version of in Spider-Gwen: Smash. Boom Boom also provided some really amazing comedic moments and added a fun dynamic to the team. She was a character I didn't know much about so it was really fun to see what's she's all about! I loved how this entire series starts of as a group of besties helping their friend with a breakup which then slowly evolves into them helping a whole lot of women escape and confront their abuser. The overarching story of this series was something I actually quite enjoyed a lot and something I feel gets a bit overshadowed at times when I see people discussing this series. The humor and jokes in this run were absolutely unhinged and hillarious for the most part. There are a few moments that felt a bit weird to me and didn't land. But overall I laughed a lot while reading this series and had an absolute blast with it. The self awareness the series has really adds a lot to the humor. And overall all of it really made for some incredible one liners and character interactions. Another thing I really appreciate about this series is the consistency in Laura's characterization and past (despite a few nitpicks i have here and there). I love that they remembered the friendship Laura and Jubilee have and how in a way it's partially a follow up to the events of the Misadventures In Babysitting arc from X-23 2010B. It was really nice that they remembered those details and made it part of the series! I also loved the absurdity of it all when they desperatly try to explain everything to the Quiet Council and how the X-Men experienced the situation. It was so fun to see them try and explain everything after falling through a massive portal in the sky and landing onto the X-Men sports game while wearing all sorts of halloween costumes and how the X-Men basically had 0 context for any of it. I really hope that they revisit this team at some point in the future because i absolutely love the chemistry they have together and how fun they are to watch! All by all X-Terminators was a really fun miniseries with incredibly fun and hillarious moments and character interactions even if sometimes the humor didn't land or certain parts of the comic were a bit weird. The overarching story was really good and I wish more people would mention that part of the series as I think that it gets overlooked quite a bit. I'm really happy that I ended up reading this as it was an absolute blast!

[eyedelater]

i have been reading some of the mangas i was recommended after seeking recs a little while ago (those being mangas that are life-changingly good and/or starkly bizarre). here is a little update. if you have more such recommendations, i will gladly accept them in reply to this post!

i will talk about 3 mangas in this post. there are only spoilers in this post for the third manga, which starts in the third paragraph.

i got the most recommendations for dungeon meshi. i read from the beginning and caught up with it and really enjoyed it. it is excellent. there is truly something special about dungeon meshi. i will note that "delicious in dungeon" is a stupid title translation when either "dungeon dining" or "dungeon dinner" would be smoother and more accurate. unless kui-sensei decided on that herself. but no, even then i think it's dumb. anyway the comic is really good. i don't especially have a lot to say about it, though. i'm going to reread it soon and then maybe i will compile some thoughts.

i only got one recommendation for witch hat atelier, but some of my mutuals have posted a lot about it in the recent past, so i went for that one next. this manga also has something very special about it, and it is quite good. it's just that it's a little saccharine for my taste. i really appreciate the striking main conflict of the story's world (i.e., that there are human-imposed restrictions not only on who can perform magic, but on which magic can be performed, and there are disagreements on which restrictions, if any, are actually necessary), which is both thought-provoking and not easily solvable. the worldbuilding is the strong point of the story, in my view. the magic system is intriguing and charming. but i guess i would just say… that this manga… doesn't pass the C.O.C.K. test. (3 out of 4 points; it is not Completely unhinged). but it's good! it's wonderful. and the art is amazing, of course. i can't believe shirahama-sensei signed herself up to draw those outfits over and over and over and over. speaking of which, shirahama kamome has to be a pseudonym, right? there's no way someone would actually directly be named "white beach" (shirahama) "seagull" (kamome). i'm pretty sure. also i really hate olruggio's nasty little beard and i can't get over it. sorry olruggio. also there's no good way to transliterate his name...

i got several recommendations for golden kamuy. i don't remember why i decided to take the plunge with this one, but it's worth noting that i did not remember (though i was once told) that it was historical fiction about a military guy searching for gold in hokkaido. i think i might need to start every manga without knowing a thing about it, because if i had properly understood the premise before i started reading, then i might have been turned off by my own internal prejudices. for example, i am not necessarily inclined to read historical fiction. military historical fiction in particular is actually something i actively would not care to read because i am so absolutely uninterested. and military historical fiction that doesn't have anything weird about it (like time travel or something), military historical fiction that ostensibly takes place in our real world, would strike me as the least interesting subset of the already not very appealing historical fiction genre. and realistic military historical fiction where the main character is motivated by MONEY sounds even worse to me! but because i started the comic having forgotten all that (though i knew it once), i was able to give it the benefit of the doubt. and i was greatly rewarded! because this is the life-changingly good AND starkly bizarre manga i've been looking for!!!

you see… the genre doesn't matter here… all that matters is how Completely unhinged it is!!!!! any genre can be great if it's insane enough!!!!!!! all you have to do is make everyone really messed up in different ways and have weird and stupid shit happen! i love it! and it's not just shenanigans! there's beautiful stuff and heavy stuff and strong character building and painstakingly researched everything mixed in. it's a 10 in too many categories. there's so much to take in and think about. the comic relief is so rewarding. everyone jumps when they get to the beach because that's what you do for the beach episode. i LOVE erstwhile enemies to tentative allies. i LOVE frenzied action pulling you rapidly toward a truth you're not sure you want. i LOVE alliance of opportunity growing into real friendship. i LOVE unnecessarily sexy bath scene where everyone is posing for the camera. i went into a frenzy of bewildered rage and delight when ogata did the flehmen response. what could have prepared me for that?! THERE'S TOO MUCH GOOD STUFF!!! do i have any complaints?! NO!!!!t right now. i mean i guess i can complain that i still don't care about military history. but it all always comes down to "war is hell" in the end, so you can say that i got the message. and some jokes… were taken about 25% too far. but i can overlook that as a mercy on my part.

i watched as much of the golden kamuy anime as there is, and they sure cut out a lot of stuff (usually justified). i only realized about an hour ago that a lot of the cut out parts were made into OVAs, which i'll have to watch next. the voice actors are all great for their roles (especially ogata) uhh except maybe for some of the protracted russian speech, which is not very acted. i do have to say that the OPs and EDs are very milquetoast. it's like they were designed to be skipped (and maybe they were?). if it's not clear, i think the wackiness of golden kamuy is a great strength. yet the OPs and EDs played everything completely straight and kind of framed the series as if it were first and foremost a drama. but even if it were just a drama, the openings could have been better. i can't help but compare to jujutsu kaisen, where the OPs and EDs were pretty much stellar; they were full of energy and bright and exciting and the songs were good. i was often compelled to NOT skip them. they more than did justice to JJK's story and its weak characters. [this has been my obligatory shitting on jujutsu kaisen.] for golden kamuy, it's the opposite situation. maybe it's mostly that i didn't like the songs? perfectly generic anime OP limp rock music. liiimp.

anyway i also have to give golden kamuy props for delivering me the happy ending i was DESPERATELY hoping for. my default treatment for an unknown manga is utmost distrust with respect to character death (i hate character death), and that's how i treated golden kamuy right up to the end, despite tonal indications that there would be a happy ending. it's especially worrying when there are two protagonists! i can't allow myself to vulnerably believe in my heart that they'll BOTH survive, because maybe the plot armor will only cover one of them! but noda-sensei brought me just what i wanted, and i'm so happy. golden kamuy was so good that i've decided to instantly reread it, with a closer reading this time, given that i now know how certain characters will develop (and what kind of glow-up they'll get, like with ogata. please ignore how many times i've mentioned ogata in this post.) also, i read the whole thing without really fully actually understanding how popular it has been… particularly among the fujoshi. the pixiv ship tags are heaping with bounty… though as i was reading, i'll admit i didn't have shipping on the brain too much. the momentum was pulling me along too much for me to focus on anything but canon. but, you know, the ships... i'll consider some of them.

anyway, in conclusion, the golden kamuy manga gets an A+ from me. though i don't know who i might recommend it to in my personal life because i don't know if anyone around me has the appropriate appetite for stupid dick jokes specifically. and i don't know if anyone around me has the appropriate appetite for this amount of Strange Men. golden kamuy is truly a bumper crop of Strange and Exciting Weird Horrible Men. Something is Really Wrong with All These Men.

i also want to note (this is still about golden kamuy) that Everyday Heroes scans did a fantastic job (insofar as i can tell without having seen the raws) with their scanlation and especially with their truly indispensible glossary/translation notes at the end of most chapters. i would have been absolutely shit out of luck if not for their careful explanations of cultural and ecological and historical notes carefully compiled for us clueless readers. i mean, i think they said that they got a lot of the content of the notes from reddit, but what matters is putting it together and putting it with the chapter where i can't miss it. i bet the official translation has no such notes and leaves readers as clueless as ever. and the scanlation itself was always very clean, consistent, natural, and respectful. good job EH Scans.

maybe i'll make more posts about golden kamuy in the future.

[rreyie]

can I make a request for a reader x connie x jean x sasha fic where reader eats out sasha (or vice versa) and jean and connie are just watching? excited to see what you do with this one 👀

YES YES YES! i’ve been debating doing something like this for a long time but doing sexual stuff with these three could be so much fun :)))

afternoon snack

summary: you eat sasha out while jean and connie watch

warnings: nsfw- voyeurism, exhibitionism, pussy eating, fingering

a/n- hey luvs! this one was a fun one to make but i had no clue how to end it, so i gave this a shot! also this is my first time writing about wlw content, but i tried my best! hope you all like it!! :)))

you had no clue how you ended up here, it just happened.

you, connie, sasha and jean were all hanging out in your bedroom. connie was splayed out in the floor, pillow beneath his head as he read a comic book, jean on a chair sketching something, and you and sasha laying on the bed as you braided her auburn hair.

out of nowhere, your hormones got to you. you pictured yourself between her legs, eating her out as she called out your name like a prayer. your cunt clenched at the thought, feeling a pit grow in your stomach.

so, you started sneaking in some curious touches. around her neck, her waist, even underneath her boobs when you knew for a fact that neither of the men were looking. your fingerpads ever so gently trailed over her clothed abdomen, going a bit lower every time you came back for more.

it was jean who first noticed it- after all, he’s amazingly observant. he could see your hands trailing along her waist, the way sashas mouth was slightly open and the manner in which you looked at her, like it was some well kept secret.

“having fun over there?” he growled. “you don’t have to be all lovey dovey in front of us.”

he tried to act angry, maybe even a little bit disgusted. the last thing he wanted to see were his two girl best friends fucking each other, right?

wrong.

he could feel his pants tighten a bit, cock waking up due to the sudden corrupt thought. quickly, he placed his sketch pad over his crotch, an action that didn’t go unnoticed by you.

your cheeks turned warm at his words, sashas cheeks also turning flush at the statement. your embarrassment soon faded away, seeing the bulge begin to form in his pants.

“hmmm...your little friend down there doesn’t seem to agree with you”, you snickered.

now jean was the one who was red in the face, connie looking up from the comic book to see what the commotion is about.

“the fuck is going on?” he asked.

“sasha and y/n are literally touching each other while we’re in the room.” jean grunted, hoping that his very obvious boner would go away soon.

connies eyes lit up, a smug smile forming across his face.

“okay, okay. i’m sorry if i sound like a pervert but can you guys like... eat each other out?” he asked. “i’ve never seen girls do it, i’m kinda curious.”

“what the fuck connie?” jean asked. “that’s sick-“

“i’ll do it”, sasha says, a growing heat forming in her stomach. “only if y/n agrees though.” she wouldn’t admit to it, but the fact that her two best friends would be watching her give you a little bit of taste turned her on.

you nod. “sure, let’s give these horny fucks something to watch. connie, pull up a chair.”

connie and jean looked at each other with confused faces, but were they going to protest to this? absolutely not. connie hurriedly pulled up a wooden chair with salmon-colored cushions and sat next to jean.

sasha rested her head on the headboard as her hands slid down to her hips and began to remove her pants by the waistband. you helped her out by practically ripping off her shirt, revealing her toned abs and rather large chest that was hidden by her bra.

you could’ve sworn you saw connie drooling while he watched you remove sashas bra, jean beginning to palm himself while you fiddled with the clasp. the white bra fell on the mattress, sashas pale tits now being exposed to everyone in the room.

if connie didn’t have a boner already, he did now. jeans boner only got worse, now feeling the precum trickle out of the head and down his shaft.

sasha pulled off your shirt as you threw it into a random corner of the room, and you discarded your pants along with it. your heat was throbbing at this point, a stain of arousal lining the bottom of your panties.

now you knew sasha was a boob woman, and every single time you showed her your breasts they never failed to amaze her. but this time, she quite literally ripped the bra off of your body with a hunger you’ve never seen in her before. maybe it was the fact that people were watching.

she gave your breast a quick nip before you pushed her against the headboard once again. out of the corner of your eye, jean had a devious grin on his face while connie just gave you two a little smile. both of them were starting to jerk themselves slowly to the sight, both tips red and veins protruding through their shaft. both men had impressive sizes.

now sasha was prettily laid out on the bed, those braids you had made earlier now messy and tangled. you moved your head in between her soft thighs, which she gave you a squeeze with.

you started out by just dipping your tongue in between her folds to collect the juices you had made beforehand. she had a good taste to her, slightly salty and smooth. she tugged at the sheets, letting out a small moan.

you quickly found her clit, inflamed and needy. you gave it a little flick with your tongue.

“oh- more, please...” sasha begged. “need your tongue...”

you looked up from in between her legs, and gave her a pompous smile, your dimples showing along the corners of your mouth. your chin was wetted with her slick, and oh boy was it a sight to see.

without warning, you plunged a finger into her tight hole, sending her hands flying into your locks. sasha moved her hips slightly as you moved it back and forth around her, getting a feel of her soaked walls. she was trying to hard to feel full, but failing miserably.

“nother’ finger”, she gasped. “please- please y/n...”

you stuffed another finger into her greedy hole, just touching on her sweet spot that sat along the bottom. this sent sasha into a frenzy, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, that was now empty with not thoughts except pleasure.

you continued to lap at her soaked cunt, like a little kitten drinking milk from its bowl. though you may have been content at the moment, sasha was becoming continually unhinged at your constant movements.

jean spat on his hand and continued to fist his hungry cock while connie rubbed the tip of his own, spreading more precum along his swollen tip.

sashas thighs began to tremble, you could tell she was nearing the edge. you’d like to tease her, you really would, but now wasn’t the time. you could tell the men were awaiting sashas climax, hoping to cum with her as their fists wrapped tightly around their cocks. their pace was fast, and you needed to hurry things up.

your fingers practically went into overdrive, curling around her sweet spot as she yanked your hair. her tits jiggled ever so slightly as she let out a gasp, followed by a moan that bordered on screaming.

as soon as you knew it, your girlfriend was creaming around your fingers, the milky fluid dripping off of your fingers.

jean and connie hit their climax too, as their white cum spat out of their tips in ropes. connies eyes were rolled to the back of his head, both men were panting as they rode their orgasmic wave out.

“shiiiitt”, jean exaggerated. “that... was fucking hot.” he looked down on his hand and laughed at the load of cum that stained him.

“made me bust a fucking nut too”, connie added in. “what time is it?”

you checked the clock that rested on your nightstand. “bout’ noon. better start heading down to the mess hall.”

sasha seemed to put her clothes on rather quickly, not saying a word to you, or anyone else in the room. you found this questionable, she was normally chatty after sex- telling you what she liked, what she wanted to do next time, all that.

“you’re awfully quiet”, you say to her. “what’s that about?”

sasha sighed. “getting horny makes me hungry, remember?”

you nod. now that you thought about it, sashas appetite skyrocketed after she climaxed. no wonder why she was so quiet.

you four all walk out of the room as if nothing happened, the only mention of what you did came later that night.

“hey, quick suggestion”, jean said. “can we like... do that again? what we did today?”

you and sasha both blurt out a “yeah”, laughter following while you all walked down the hall.

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981

The X-Men, those back-to-the-future mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(Uncanny X-Men 141 - 152) - by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Brent Anderson, Dave Cockrum, Jim Sherman, Bob McLeod and Josef Rubinstein

While I also committed various fashion atrocities at the age of 14 (tye-die and fauxhawks, oh my), even Liberace would find Kitty’s outfits too much. (Uncanny X-Men 149; Uncanny X-Men Annual ‘81)

We dial back from the v. epic scope of the last few arcs. Instead, 1981 is just a lot of fun! We get:

Storm and Emma doing a Freaky Friday!

the X-Men vs. Magneto (again!)

A surprisingly effective Alien rip-off

An dystopian future! (OoOoOoOo)

Last year was the year of the Dark Phoenix, this is the year of Kitty Pryde. That’s not to say Jean’s death is swept under the rug: all throughout, we see her friends mourning her loss or remembering her fondly. (Scott even gets to have a demonic adventure about it.) But in general, Claremont puts Kitty in the forefront, fleshing out his YA-addition to the team. And what would a YA heroine be without a grim dystopia? Roll out the iconic Days of Future Past!

To be fair, 2013 was a dark time for all of us: What Does the Fox Say somehow got to the top of the charts and I was still watching Glee. (Uncanny X-Men 141)

How cool would it have been to see a name like Jonothon Starsmore or Eva Bell on those tombstones?

Anyway, that’s Kate. Kate’s had it rough. Mutants are at the bottom of the foodchain, most X-Men are dead and only a small cadre of resistance fighters remain, Sentinels dominate, and while she is married to Piotr, her children have been murdered. Bleak. Luckily, the rebellion has concocted the plan to shunt Kate’s spirit back in time to prevent this awful future from happening. (You’ve seen Days of Future Past, the last passably good X-Men film, you know what’s up.)

Let’s do the time warp again! 1981!Kitty’s mind gets taken over by 2013!Kitty, who promptly tries to convince the X-Men that a new Brotherhood of v. Evil Mutants will try to kill Senator Kelly, a presidential candidate who tries to put the mutant menace on the agenda. (Mutants tend to blow stuff up when he’s around.) Since the X-Men recently took a literal trip to Dante’s Infero and also befriended a cosmic world-ending entity, they basically shrug and go: “Yeah, this checks out.”

Off to Washington they go (zoommm) and there, they happen upon the Baddest Bitches in Herstory:

“How dare you hate mutants, senator Kelly! We’ll fix that by killing you!” (Uncanny X-Men 141)

This All-New, All-Different Brotherhood consists out of:

Destiny, a blind woman who can see the future. Definitely the eeriest member of this group. Badass lesbian, though that won´t be canon for years.

Avalanche. Greek who makes things shake. Is a long-standing member of the X-Men Rogue’s gallery, but rarely features in the spotlight. I think he got more characterization in four years of X-Men Evolution than he ever did in the comics.

Mystique. Shapeshifter. Ruthless and unhinged, the Cersei Lannister of the X-Men universe. Absolute legend, secretly the wife of Destiny, currently not as unhinged as she’ll be later. Immediately implied to be related to Nightcrawler: it’s the yellow-eyes-blue-skin-combo.

Pyro. Can manipulate fire, not create it. Absolute pillock, in all the best ways of the word. Originally intended as gay, but they decided to make him Australian instead. (?!)

Blob. Big, strong, immovable. We’ve seen him before.

One of the details in this fight I enjoy is that Storm is still struggling with her leadership, although she has a better grip on things than Cyclops:

Wolverine then proceeds to use those iconic but deadly claws about twice per issue for the next, oh, forty years. (Uncanny X-Men 142)

While the X-Men fight the Brotherhood in the present, we cut back and forth to the future. There, the X-Men consist out of some familiar faces - Storm, Colossus, Wolverine - and some surprises: Magneto (in a wheelchair), Franklin Richards (son of) and an unfamiliar ginger girl called Rachel. (She’ll be important later.) We even learn (one of) Magneto’s names: this is the first time he’s canonically called Magnus.

One of the strengths of Days of Future Past lies in its brevity, the way it tantalizingly taunts us with a brutal but familiar future without giving away too much. It’s single-handedly responsible for all those dark future timelines the X-lines are so fond of which will eventually culminate in time-displaced grandsons from alternative dimensions and the impossibility of a succinct answer to the question: “Who’s Cable?” Too much of a good thing and all that.

Still, what Days of Future Past does so successfully is:

Put the idea of the mutant menace back at the forefront, hammering home the metaphor of mutants being a minority. Mutants being put in camps and being forbidden to breed should - regretfully - make us think of all too many real life equivalents. (Specifically, all of the imagery harkens back to the Holocaust.)

It starkly shows what happens should the X-Men lose, reminding everyone of the stakes. The X-Men are here for a reason: bridging the gap between mutants and humankind. If they fuck up, we end up with mutant concentration camps.

It helps that the X-Men in the future almost all die horribly: Franklin is incinerated, Storm is impaled… It's brutal stuff. The only one to survive is Rachel, who wonders if their plan actually changed the future or if they created an alternative timeline. (It did the latter, sorry ‘bout it, Rachel.)

In the present, Kate chases after Destiny, who trains a gun on senator Kelly. I always wondered how this works: if Destiny saw the future, she knew that killing Kelly would trigger a terrifying future. What in the current Marvel timeline made her decide that the Days of Future Past was better? Did she see her own death? Did she see the Onslaught-crossover coming? The Chuck Austen run? What was it?

In any case, time-anomalous Kate stops Destiny from killing Kelly and the future is safe! For now. Kate disappears, Kitty returns to her body and some of the Brotherhood are apprehended. All is well, for now.

After being a key figure in DoFP, Kitty is also the main character in the Christmas special, which is basically a straight up horror and a pastiche of the Alien-movie.

Seriously, John Byrne still isn’t sure why he wasn’t sued by Ridley Scott for this. (Uncanny X-Men 143)

If you love Kitty Pryde? Read this issue. If you’re not convinced you like 80’s Kitty? Read this issue. It’s not continuity relevant and it’s basically Kitty playing the part of a Final Girl in a horror where she’s being chased by a demon, but it’s so good. It showcases all her strengths and her foibles. Kitty’s intelligent, cute (sometimes preciously so) and brave, but she’s also young, self-conscious and hot-headed. And it's not as if the other X-Men automatically adore her: Storm berates her all the time, she’s afraid of Kurt because of the way he looks (though she grows out of that) and she fights with Professor Xavier a lot. Moreover, she has a clever power-set for a young superhero who faces menaces on a daily basis: a thirteen year old who can go intangible is far less likely to have reality ensue on her and be dramatically offed because she's better at protecting herself.

I’m sure there are people who thought Sprite was hogging the spotlight, but I, for one, say she brings more to the table than, say, Angel. She’s not the Dawn Summers of this franchise.

Scott also gets a side quest. Poor guy can’t catch a break: first the love of his life dies, so he quits the X-Men, then he realizes he can’t do much else than be a superhero. He becomes a sailor on the ship of spunky captain Lee Forrester, is drawn into the sadistic plans of a demon unironically named D’Spayre and then shipwrecks in Bermuda with Lee.

The X-Men, meanwhile, are tormented by a team-up of Doom (who’s currently Latverialess and working on a comeback) and Arcade, that annoying crony. Locke, Arcade’s dom, has kidnapped the loved ones of the X-Men (Moira MacTaggart, Jean Grey’s parents, Illyana Rasputin and Amanda Sefton) in order to blackmail them into getting Doom to free Arcade. Apparently, Arcade accidentally insulted Doom and DOOM DOES NOT FORGIVE THAT FOLLY.

While the B-Squad (Polaris, Havok, Banshee and Iceman) goes to save Arcade’s hostages, the X-Men sneak into Doom’s castle. Well, except for Storm, who doesn’t give a single fuck and simply flies up to Doom, demanding an audience. Doom likes the cut of her jib and invites her to have dinner. (This is pre-Tinder, so this is a legit way of scoring a date.)

If Storm has a flaw (I said if!), it’s got to be her atrocious taste in men. (Uncanny X-Men 145)

The X-Men find Arcade’s cell empty, while Arcade casually saunters up to Storm and says hi. Storm realizes too late that this is a trap: while the X-Men are all trapped in Saw-like traps, Storm is encased in ‘living chrome’.

If you remember she’s claustrophobic, you know why this is a bad move.

While the X-Men free themselves from their traps - Polaris hilariously has to deal with a murderous merry-go-round - Storm is slowly driven mad in her prison, triggering a worldwide tempest. (She causes Lee and Scott to shipwreck.) Under the threat of Wolverine’s claws, Doom releases Storm - or rather, unleashes her.

“Instead of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen, not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Tempestuous as the sea, and stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me and despair!” (Uncanny X-Men 147)

The memory of Jean brings Ororo back to herself and she starts undoing the superstorm she created. (If only climate change were reversed that easily.) Their confrontation ends by Storm easily forgiving Doom, because she apparently trespassed on his grounds without adequate cause.

Mkay.

All of Arcade’s hostages return to their homesteads, except for Illyana Rasputin, Piotr’s sister: she’s staying at the mansion for a while. Angel, who’s sort of been a part of the team since the Phoenix thing, has had it with Wolverine and his ‘tude, and decides to quit the X-Men : he doesn’t want to be a part of an outfit that has a killer like Wolverine on it. (Or maybe he’s just mad Claremont didn’t give him any storylines: his presence has been mostly pointless.) It’s too bad he left before Kitty started experimenting with her outfits: I bet he would have loved her ugly-ass costumes.

Equally inconsequential is the introduction of a brand new character, who then proceeds to disappear from the narrative for the rest of the year:

Black Tom has tried to kill you at least twice, but him sending you a long-lost daughter doesn’t give you pause? Ugh, Sean, you deserve Moira. (Uncanny X-Men 148)

Intrigued by Theresa? TOO BAD, WON’T SEE HER AGAIN ANYTIME SOON.

Another new character is the lonely, decidedly mutant looking Caliban, who can sense “people like him” and is on the lookout for companions. Like many lonely people who try and grasp at friendship, he decides to overshoot his shot and ruin the night of Storm, Kitty and Jessica Drew at a Dazzler concert. Because he tries to kidnap Kitty, the girls react a trifle aggressively. When they realize their mistake - the eerily pale Caliban is a simpleton rather than a menace - he’s already fled. No mention is made of the Morlocks yet!

There’s also another dull annual where the X-Men team up with the Fantastic Four to save Arkon’s dimension from the Badoon and yaaaaawn. Far more interesting is the landmark issue #150. Slowly, through the adventures of Scott and Lee Forrester, Claremont has been setting things up for the return of a favorite villain. While the X-Men investigate Magneto’s old base in Antarctica on a hunch of Professor X and tangle with Garruk, Scott and Lee survive Storm’s tempest, only to wake up next to a strange island that seems to have been raised from the ocean.

It’s apparently some ancient citadel from a long forgotten civilization with a fondness for squid statues. (I don’t know man, I’ve never been to the Bermuda Triangle, maybe this is just super-accurate.)The tentacles make Lee Forrester feel very amorous, but before Scott can tell her he is way too repressed to just have sex with an attractive someone he’s known intimately for a month or two, Magneto saves his ass by revealing he, in fact, raised this island from the seafloor.

Oh, Magneto. So extra.

My ambitious little mutant demagogue then proceeds to take the entire world hostage, showing how much he’s grown from the pompous, raving madman from the sixties. (Sure, Magneto is still a bit of a madman, but increasingly, he starts being on the right side of history.)

“I’m trying to make Magneto more sympathetic.”

“Just put him on a page with some bigger villains who are less noble, like the Vanisher, Count Nefaria, or…”

“Reagan, Thatcher and Brezhnov?”

“Er.” (Uncanny X-Men 150)

It’s obvious Magneto is being pivoted as a more noble villain, codified into the well-intentioned extremist we know and love today. Not only do we get the first hints at his past, fleshing out his motivations, he’s also not wrong. Humans are historically not great at taking care of the planet or each other.

When the Russians call his bluff and launch nukes at Magneto’s new island, he quickly disarms them. His retribution is swift and ferocious: the entire citadel is a machine that massively amplifies his powers. He sinks the submarine that launched the missiles, condemning the entire crew to death, and he casually erects a vulcano in a Russian city in Siberia.

Damn. Not messing around this time.

Despite his good intentions, Magneto is still definitely in the wrong: not only because of his methods, but as Scott points out: if Magneto unifies the world under his kind of benevolent dictatorship, all of that will simply fall apart as soon as Magnus dies.

In a way, Magneto is just as big a dreamer as Charles is: Charles believes in peace and integration, whereas Magneto believes his iron fist will be enough to make a perfect world happen. Both of them ignore the reality that acceptance is difficult and messy, because you’re trying to change essential human nature: the fear of the other. Magneto believes in big, sweeping gestures that will fix the world in move, while changing the world is also boring, hard work. One step forward, two steps back. Magneto just wants to leapfrog to his ultimate goal.

The X-Men fly over the citadel, returning from Antarctica, and their plane crashes into the ocean. (Magneto does not brook planes over his territory, humans!) The Professor is also nearby, looking for Scott with Moira, Peter Corbeau and Carol Danvers. The X-Men sneak onto the island, but to their horror, their powers are nullified by some machine of Magneto. They reunite with Scott, who formulates a plan to thwart the would-be ruler of the world.

While the rest of the X-Men go to trash the machine, Storm, Kitty and Lee infiltrate the control chamber where Storm finds a sleeping, shirtless Magneto. Once again showing her terrible taste in men, she is not weak in the knees at the sight of a sleeping Magnus: instead, she contemplates killing him.

Storm knows how dangerous he is, but she also knows that he’s a great man who’s fighting for ideals, no matter how misguided. She hesitates too long: Magneto stirs, suspects an attack and tosses her out of the window, to her death.

Magneto quickly undoes the sabotage the other X-Men have wrought to his machine. A fight erupts. Storm, meanwhile, has managed to grab hold of a ledge. She crawls back up and smashes an important-looking computer, restoring everyone’s powers.

The battle turns grim, but Scott sends Kitty away to wreck Magneto’s machinery. She sneaks off, following Scott’s orders and destroying both Magneto's power-up device and all of his plans by phasing though the computer circuitry. Magneto senses this and furiously gives chase. Overcome by rage, he attacks Kitty and disrupts her phasing power with a magnetic bolt, seemingly killing her?

Everything about this story beat is great: mama bear!Ororo, mournful Magnus and even the fact that Kitty’s godawful outfit serves a narrative function: highlighting to us (and Magneto) just how young she is. The fact that Kitty’s Jewish is just icing on the cake. (Uncanny X-Men 150)

And thus, the softening of Magneto commences. 1981 might be a year with wildly varying narratives, but it has given us at least three enduring legacies to the X-Mythos: a new kind of Magneto, a fondness for dystopian futures and the character of Kitty Pryde, who's really come into her own this year.

Ugliest Costume: Kitty! Purposefully, but still. Best costume, by the way, goes to Destiny, with her creepy, creepy golden mask. Just imagine this lady casually strolling across a battlefield, eerily calm and collected, dodging everything you throw at her. Awesome design.

Best new character: I usually pick one character - what good is having a shared award when declaring the best of anything? - but this year, it’s going to one of my favorite couples: Mystique and Destiny. Can’t wait to see more of them.

Most audacious retcon: Blob somehow retroactively becomes a member of the original Brotherhood, which is not what happened. Ever weirder is Xavier pondering that he never met Magneto before his attack in X-Men #1, while their cordially adversarial relationship rooted in a youthful friendship would soon become a cornerstone of the X-Men.

What to read: Uncanny X-Men 141 - 143 and 150 - 152

[kuroopaisen]

tiny love || 8

➵ as tooru’s younger sister, falling in love with iwaizumi hajime was easy. iwaizumi ultimately decided to rebuff you. through a few strange twists of fate, you’ve ended up living with the very boy who’d broken your heart. but, perhaps it’s not as bad as you thought it’d be. he is the perfect gentleman, after all. 

warnings: f!reader, angst??

wc: 3.9k

m.list |  ch. 7 ↞ ch. 8 ↠ ch. 9

The film was alright. There was a certain chaos to it, an unhinged energy that gave it real character. Although, you weren’t quite sure how to feel about the reverse-Freudian implications of Marty’s mother getting a crush on him.

The phone in your lap buzzed, shooting light upwards into the darkened room. Glancing down, you read the name ‘Kohei’ on the screen.

It’d be rude to text him back during the movie, right? Since Iwaizumi was showing you this specific film… Although, it’d been your choice.

You turned your mind away from the question, your eyes flitting back to the screen.

The man with the frazzled white hair – Doc, was it? – was speaking at a rapid-fire pace. If it weren’t for the subtitles, you would’ve been totally lost.

Your phone buzzed again. Still Kohei. You covered the screen with your hand, trying to block out the ambiance-ruining brightness.

Yet another buzz.

“Who is that?” Iwaizumi frowned. “They’ve got a lot to say.”

“Sorry,” you blushed, turning your phone over so it was face down on the arm of the couch. “It’s Kohei.”

“Kohei?” There’s a strange lilt in Iwaizumi’s voice.

You ignored it. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure you met him at the party.”

“Oh,” Iwaizumi hummed. “Right.”

He said nothing more, turning his attention back to the screen.

You bit your lip, fingers tightening around your phone.

It felt a little weird, doing something so casual with him. Well, you’d been doing casual things with him for a while, but something about this just felt so domestic. Probably didn’t help that the last time you did this together, he’d kissed you.

Your stomach twisted at the thought.

God, that felt like a lifetime ago now. And maybe it was, in some way; neither of you were those people anymore.

But a part of you still wanted to kiss him, just like back then.

You knew you shouldn’t think about it. He’d pushed you away two years ago for a reason. If you wanted this whole living situation thing to keep going smoothly, you had to respect that.

And yet, it felt unfair.

This was all so easy. So natural.

But it was something you couldn’t have. Something you couldn’t hope for.

You swallowed roughly, slipping your hands under your thighs.

You couldn’t think about it. If you did, you’d just make things worse.

And you were willing to do just about anything to maintain the delicate friendship between the two of you.

✧ ✧ ✧

“So,” Tooru’s voice came through the speaker with its usual levity. “How’s living with Iwa?”

Your stomach dropped. “It’s good!”

It’s not a lie. You just didn’t want to talk about it with Tooru. At least half of the things that made the whole arrangement so fun were things you didn’t exactly want to mention to your older brother.

“You don’t have to rub it in!” He whined.

“Rub what in?” You blinked, a little lost.

“The fact that you get to live with Iwa!”

Oh. Right.

“You’re the one who suggested it,” you teased.

“I know, but it doesn’t make it sting any less!”

“He would’ve killed you within the first day,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Not true!” Tooru barked.

You laughed. You didn’t need to see him to know the exact expression on his face. He’d always been comically expressive, even as a child.

That warm silence that always followed laughter settled over the call.

“Oh, man,” Tooru chuckled. “No, but how are you going?” He asked.

It’d been a while since the two of you had really gotten the chance to talk. Both of you had just been too busy; any catchups you managed to sneak in didn’t allow for much time to really get into the details of your lives.

But today was the day.

“I’ve been doing really well, actually!” It was such a delight to be able to say those words with full sincerity. “I’m still adjusting and everything, but… I think it’s going to be good.”

Small hiccups with Iwaizumi aside, everything was under control. Sure, sometimes you weren’t quite sure what they were saying in class, and yes, you did procrastinate more than perhaps you should’ve – but you were making a life here.

“See, I told you!” He chided.

“Yeah, you keep reminding me of that,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“I’m just saying,” he hummed, adopting his favourite ‘hoity-toity older brother’ tone, “you should’ve listened to me in the first place.”

“I know, I know…” You sighed.

Tooru had told you time and time again that things’d worked out. ‘If I can move to a whole new country on my own, then you can definitely do it with Iwa’s help,’ he’d said. You’d had trouble believing him at first; but for once, he’d been right.

“I’m glad the two of you have each other, you know?” He said.

You flinched. Now those were words you hadn’t expected to hear.

“Huh?”

“You and Iwa,” Tooru explained. “He doesn’t talk about his feelings often, but I think you being there has really helped him relax.”

Your stomach churned.

Was that true? Had your presence really made Iwaizumi feel better? He’d done a lot to help you, but you felt like you hadn’t really done anything for him. You’d just felt like something of a burden.

But if that wasn’t actually true…

“What do you mean?” You asked quietly. God, you hoped your voice wasn’t giving anything away.

“Well, you know,” Tooru said, “you’re someone he knows from home. That sounds pretty comforting to me.”

You were grateful he couldn’t see the pink blooming on your cheeks. “Are you asking me to move to Argentina?” You teased. You didn’t know what else to say.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no—”

“Because I’d rather die.”

The gasp that erupted from Tooru was so loud it peaked the audio. “How dare you? If we were living together, I’d be able to keep an eye on you. And, I could ward of any pesky boys.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Don’t be so inappropriate!” Tooru shrieked. “I don’t want to know the details!”

“I wasn’t going to tell you any of the details!”

“You were about to!”

“No I wasn’t!”

“I’ll have you know, you are far too young to be dating, young lady, and that—”

“I’m only a year younger than you!”

“And?”

“Shut up, Tooru!”

✧ ✧ ✧

You sighed, running a hand through your hair. The kitchen table was supposed to help you get your ass into gear. But instead, your laptop was open, but nothing had been done. The screen was probably a few moments away from turning idle.

A to-do list stared back at you, unrelenting. The sound of rain against the windows was your only companion. Iwaizumi had left for the gym some time ago, and you’d decided that music would be too much of a distraction.

Not that the absence of it was helping you.

Come on, you thought to yourself, just focus.

Easier said than done.

You groaned, leaning back against your chair. Why was it so hard to focus?

A deep breath, and then—

Slap!

Your cheeks stung from the impact of your own palms.

No difference.

The sound of the door opening was a beautiful reprieve. Finally, a worthy excuse to procrastinate—

“Hey.” Iwaizumi said a little breathlessly, holding his hand up in greeting.

You gaped at him.

Words might’ve come to mind if it was any other circumstances.

But when he was just standing there like that, you couldn’t help it.

A white shirt that clung to his torso, cheeks flushed with recent exertion, hair all messy—

It was official. You needed to start writing up your will, saying your goodbyes, getting all your chickens in order. Iwaizumi was certifiably too much, and you couldn’t handle it.

You were doing your best to respond. Truly. But it’s like his chest was a damn magnet, drawing your eyes back to it no matter how hard you tried to look at him respectfully.

Stupid Iwaizumi Hajime and his stupid shirt and his stupid chest—

“You good?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

“Me?” Your gaze snapped up to meet his. “Oh, yeah. I’m great, actually.”

“If you say so,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“Well,” you gaped at him, trying to fight off the myriad of phantasmal shirtless Iwaizumi’s dancing around your head. You were losing. “I’m offended that you’re not more concerned.”

“You’ll recover,” he grinned.

You pouted at him, crossing your arms over your chest. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this treatment.”

Iwaizumi chuckled again, ambling across the room with an aggravatingly slow pace. The sooner he was out of sight, the better.

“It’s tough love, sweetheart,” he tutted. “It’s how the world works.”

“Well—” You huffed, trying to think of a retort. But, you were far too distracted by the use of ‘sweetheart’ – even if it hadn’t been used in an affectionate way.

“I’m going to have a shower,” Iwaizumi said, smirking at you. “I hope you’re feeling better by the time I get out.”

“Mhm,” you nodded, eyes fixated determinedly on your computer screen. If you looked up and saw his glutes, you were sure you’d implode.

You covered your face with your forearms, letting out a silent scream.

Why did God hate you? Why did he want you to suffer? Every time you thought you’d got it under control, you were reminded of the fact that Iwaizumi looked like that, and any work you’d done to neatly tuck your romantic feelings into a box managed to wriggle like a rebellious young cat.

Every goddamn time, you were reminded of just how determined he was, how responsible, how quietly caring, how—

No. You shook your head. No need to indulge those thoughts. Not when you were supposed to be doing work.

Although, there was no way you were getting anything done today.

✧ ✧ ✧

“How old are you in these?” You grinned, glancing at Kohei.

His cheeks flushed. “I think I was like… sixteen here?”

“Sixteen, huh?”

“You know what high schools like back home,” he whined. “We all deserve some stress relief.”

“And yours was… running at each other across a field while screaming at the top of your lungs?”

“You should try it,” he beamed. “It’s surprisingly effective.”

You laughed, your body curving towards him.

You hadn’t planned on inviting Kohei over today. You’d just happened to bump into him by chance on campus as you were heading home. As usual, he’d struck up quite the conversation. But you’d wanted to get home before it got dark, so you’d invited him to come with you.

So there you were, sitting on your couch in the front room, listening to Kohei tell you about the stupid video he and his high school friends made back in Osaka. Most of them were re-enactments of Naruto scenes.

To each their own, you supposed.

The creak of front door came from around the corner.

“Hey Hajime!” You called out.

“Hey,” he called back, voice warm.

“You’re home later than usual,” you said.

“I was hanging out with Taiki,” he explained. “We got bubble tea.”

“Oh, nice,” you nodded, watching as he came into view.

He smiled as he caught sight of you. It took him a moment to realise you weren’t alone.

“You remember Kohei, right?” You gestured to the boy sitting next to you.

“Hello,” Kohei nodded, bright smile on his face.

“Hi,” Iwaizumi said. His smile disappeared, expression becoming even stonier than usual.

The atmosphere felt a shade cooler than it had a moment prior.

“You didn’t tell me you were having someone over,” Iwaizumi said coolly, heading to his bedroom.

“It was impromptu,” you explained.

“Mhm,” was the last sound you heard before he disappeared down the hall.

You clenched your fists in your lap. Had something happened? Was it okay to ask?

If something was up, Kohei certainly hadn’t noticed it. Not that you expected him to.

“How’d you feel about the most recent Godzilla film?” He asked.

“Uh… I don’t think we have it.” That was the polite way of saying ‘Iwaizumi hates that film with his entire being, and he wouldn’t dare debase this household by buying it on DVD.’

You’d heard his rant a couple of times, actually – insufficient screen time for Godzilla, a lack of understanding of the point of a monster movie, mediocre battles.

“Oh, that’s okay,” Kohei shrugged. “It’s on Netflix.”  

“Ah, I see,” you nodded.

Why did it already feel like agreeing to a movie was a mistake?

✧ ✧ ✧

Thirty minutes in and you knew it was a mistake.

You were bored. Horribly, terribly bored.

But you didn’t have the heart to tell Kohei that when he, at least, seemed to be enjoying himself.

Besides, you could find other ways to occupy yourself. You could just think (see: fantasise) about Gojou Satoru. That’d been more than enough to keep you entertained during your duller classes.

Iwaizumi ambled into the kitchen, his eyes flicking to the two of you for only a second. You held up your hand a little as a greeting; he didn’t return it.

You swallowed, turning your ‘attention’ back to the TV.

Something was wrong. You didn’t know what, but… If Kohei wasn’t there, you would’ve just walked over to Iwaizumi and asked him if there was any way you could help. But having a guest… complicated things.

Said guest stretched his arms over his head. You hoped, absentmindedly, that he’d had a shower recently.

He laid one of his arms along the top of the couch, just ghosting your shoulders.

You managed to hold back a frown. What was he doing? Was he trying to hit on you? Or was it absentminded? If it was the former, then it was a rather childish way of—

A loud clutter erupted from the kitchen. A quiet ‘shit’ quickly followed.

You shot to your feet on instinct, rushing over to where a very disgruntled Iwaizumi stood.

“Are you okay?” You asked, looking him up and down.

Water stained his shirt, the water jug lying sideways on the countertop.

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi grunted, setting it upright.

You grabbed the tea towel, dabbing at his shirt. Sure, it wouldn’t be much help, but—

“I said I’m fine.”

You draw back sharply, shocked by the harshness in his voice.

Instead you turned to the puddle of water on the counter, laying the tea towel over it. You watched as it turned a shade darker, seeping through the cotton until there wasn’t a single inch of dry cloth left.

Iwaizumi had turned away from you, standing in front of the sink as he refilled the water jug.

You pressed your lips together, concern and agitation brewing in your gut.

He seemed… Stressed? Irritated? Bitter?

But you couldn’t ask. Not right now. You’d have to wait until Kohei was gone, at the very least. And you didn’t want to pry. Iwaizumi didn’t appreciate that sort of thing.

Was there anything you could do for now? Anything at all?

“Did you want to order food with us?” You asked, tilting your head to the side. It was the best thing you could think of; giving him one less thing to worry about might help, right?

“No,” Iwaizumi said curtly.

You blinked at him. “You sure? It’ll save you the trouble of making dinner.”

“I’d rather eat on my own,” he grumbled.

“Oh,” you murmured.

You were at a total loss. Something was wrong.

But you turned away, slinking back to the couch.

“Is everything okay?” Kohei asked as you sat yourself back down.

“Mhm,” you nodded.

As a precaution, you set a little more distance between the two of you. If you sat any closer, he might get the wrong idea.

✧ ✧ ✧

After what felt like three days, the film was over. What’d happened in it? You couldn’t say. You hadn’t been paying attention.

You’d instead been preoccupied with Iwaizumi.

Maybe you were worrying too much over something minor. Maybe he’d just had a bad day at work. Maybe Taiki had just been a brat. Maybe he just had a few assignments due in close succession.

But that didn’t stop you from feeling anxious. Was that pathetic?

At the very least, you wanted to make sure he was okay. This behaviour seemed… weird.

“What time is it?” You turned to Kohei, tilting your head to the side.

“Uh… eight,” he said, checking his phone.

It was that late already? But there was still so much you needed to get done…

You yawned, stretching you hands above your head. “Thanks for hanging out with me today,” you said, turning to smile at Kohei.

“No problem,” he nodded, in response, offering you a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Nothing more needed to be said to get the message across.

The two of you walked towards the front door, Kohei’s steps a little slower than yours.

You didn’t want to make it look like you were trying to rush him out of there, but you also didn’t want to give him the impression that you wanted him to stay. Everything just felt so weird, so… so high stakes. Like any little action you made was at risk of being misinterpreted.

“Well…” Kohei lingered at your door for a moment, looking at you with what seemed to be hope in his eyes.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” You smiled.

“Sure,” he nodded, opening the door. “Thanks.” He seemed a tad more dour than usual. Your stomach twisted a little.

“Bye!” You said, hoping that this, at least, would set your boundaries.

He didn’t seem bold enough to make an actual move, but you’d rather save the trouble.

You watched with a tiny sense of relief blooming in your chest as he stepped over the threshold and walked away.

Once the door finally closed, you let out a long sigh.

Something was up. Even you could tell that. His attempts at flirting, while juvenile, were earnest. What a strange evening this had been…

At the very least, you made a note to not invite him to your house alone again. That’d been your first mistake.

You dragged yourself to the kitchen, pouring out a glass of water. The tea towel was still soaked through, laid out on the counter. You’d probably have to get a bath towel to clean this mess up.

You sunk to the floor, feeling the cool tiles against the back of your thighs.

Were you going to have to turn Kohei down? God, you didn’t want to do that. That sounded awkward. And he was genuinely a sweet guy – your heart just wasn’t in the right space.

Not while you were living with Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi.

Something was off with him, too. But you had no idea what. He’s always been tight-lipped about his own feelings. Even two years ago, it had never been about him; it’d be about the potential ramifications his actions could’ve had on the people around him.

He never wanted to be a burden. Even though he’d leant you a hand so many times these past six months, you knew he’d never ask for the same in return.

But you wanted to help. He deserved support.

Should you ask? Should you try bringing it up, or—

“Oh, fuck.”

Your looked up sharply.

Iwaizumi was stood at the entrance of the kitchen, shoulders tense with surprise.

“Oh, sorry,” you swallowed, crossing your legs.

He just grunted in response, turning his attention to the fridge.

You bit your lip, watching him closely. His posture was tense, his jaw stiffer than usual.

“Hey, Hajime?” You asked, voice soft and quiet.

“What?” His response was quick, sharp.

“Are you alright?” Perhaps you should’ve asked this earlier. Perhaps you shouldn’t ask it at all. But it was too late to take it back.

“I’m fine,” he grunted, half-slamming the fridge door.

“I know you’re lying,” you said softly.

He may keep his feelings to himself, but he wasn’t the best at disguising them. Especially when it came to annoyance.

With Tooru, it tended to bubble over, resulting in some rant or threat. But these days, you didn’t really see him get pissed except for when the washing machine wasn’t working properly.

“Mind your own business.”

Those words cut you to your core.

This was… strange. Unusual. He’d seemed fine this morning, and as far as you knew, he’d just… been to the gym. His demeanour had only taken a nose-dive when…

“Why are you being like this?” You asked, voice thin and tight. God, this better not be what you were thinking.

“Being like what?” Iwaizumi mumbled, staring at his phone.

You bit the inside of your cheek.

Did he really have no idea that he was acting like a petulant child who didn’t want to eat their vegetables?

“Do you have a problem with Kohei?” He couldn’t dodge that question.

“No,” he said, still looking at his phone. “He just comes off as a bit desperate.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“You can’t be serious,” Iwaizumi scoffed. “He’s not subtle.”

You stared at him, total confusion clouding your mind.

What on earth was he on about? Desperate? Subtle? Wasn’t it just a case of him having a grudge for no reason?

Wait. Holy fuck. Was he… jealous?

The realisation washed over you like a fever.

Anger, rage, bitterness. It all collapsed in on itself, feelings you’d been supressing for two years.

He’d crushed your heart in the palm of his hand two years ago. Told you that any kind of romantic relationship between the two of you would be too much of a risk.

And you’d let him.

You hadn’t fought back. You hadn’t stood up for your own feelings. You’d just let him do what he wanted, what he thought was best. And never, not even once, had you made your feelings known.

But here he was, with the audacity to be jealous of a guy flirting with you.

He didn’t own you. He had no say in what happened in your personal life. If you wanted to sleep around, if you wanted to have a long-term partner that wasn’t him… it didn’t matter. It was your business, not his.

And yet, the worst thing of all was that this response, this jealousy, made your heart flutter. It made you hopeful; that maybe, this time, things might be different.

That Iwaizumi Hajime wasn’t so far out of reach. That this time, you had a chance.

Fuck him.

“No,” you hissed. “I’m not letting you break my heart again.”

Iwaizumi’s eyes blew wide, his lips parting slightly.

“You dropped me like I was nothing two years ago,” you scoffed. “You don’t get to act like a spoilt little brat just because you’re jealous.”

“Look, I—” He stopped himself in his tracks.

He really had nothing to say for himself, huh?

You glared at him, the corners of your eyes beginning to sting. “You’re acting like a child,” you hissed. “I hoped you were better than that.”

You didn’t give him time to respond.

He didn’t deserve to.

You stormed off to your room, slamming the door behind you.

A deep, shuddering breath wasn’t enough to still your stuttering heart. Nor was it enough to move the lump in your throat.

God, what a colossal disaster.  

But for once, it wasn’t your fault.

✧ ✧ ✧

a/n: sorry this one’s late! thank you for your patience :( i hope it was worth the wait

[motherstone]

Your comic is awesome, feast for the eyes. How did you develop your skills for it? Did you have certain references and resources that helped you make it?

Ohh hmm umm it’s a bit of a long answer, but to give you a sum, it’s a combination of all the media I’ve consumed throughout the years, be it something I’ve invested in or just heard in passing.

Some of inspirations for me:

Comic composition:

Mp100 – yeah, be surprised but this goes on the list! ONE may draw crudely sometimes, but his panel composition is quite good in clarity and not very difficult to follow the flow. In fact, you probably won’t realize how smoothly it flows until you encounter a comic where it doesn’t. Therefore, the emphasis on CLARITY , PACING, and FLOW as a priority on panel composition, instead of shoving too many events in one page at once (Kazu actually suffers from this)

@sandflakedraws – They used to draw mp100 comics, and there was a boatload of symbolism in well, everything, I wouldn’t have noticed if he hasn’t made a post that explains all of it. It’s amazing!

@/stil_lindigo – (IG) the artist and writer of Pulse, which is a marvel fancomic I used to follow faithfully back when it was updating. They usually post a scene breakdown after they post a chapter, and tbh I was most inspired by that. Like the prev one, they also put a lot of work into panel composition and symbolism.

Webtoon – I was invested in a couple of Webtoon comics back then, and when I tried to upload a comic of mine, I was dismayed it looked janky. It made me realize that Webtoon composition is wildly different from Book composition, and it made me wonder if I could challenge myself into drawing a comic that seamlessly scrolls down.

Witch Hat Atelier – Check the link. It’s a damn good video, very informative. In fact, this was the cincher to me and opened my eyes to the possibilities of storytelling through drawing. You’ll learn a lot!

The content:

Watership Down – I haven’t really read or watch it (although I’d love to if I could!), I did see some fanart and a few excerpts here and there. This, especially, if you see it is the crux of why it intrigues me so much. There’s a lot of connection between what I want with the comic and what Watership Down is about (emphasis on El-ahrairah), so I had to incorporate it somehow.

Journey – Been obsessed with this game, but especially with the architecture and environment design. It is also about a fallen civilization, and a Hero’s Journey, except I put a bit of a twist on it.

So those were the inspirations. I had a very concrete idea before I started, but even then, it underwent three drafts, various research before I could fully finalize it. The first one was one paper, which I had to put down before I forget, and these were the two digitized drafts:

A Bride’s Story – Like Journey, I also based the cultural design here somewhat, especially in terms of architecture.

Before I start a page, I had to think while I draw. Drawing this def wasn’t effortless, and a lot of brainstorming and redrawing occurred, hence why it took months to finish in comparison to my other comic, which took less than a week 😭

I hope this helped you out anon! Yeah, admittedly my thought process is extremely unhinged and not connected with one another. That’s the ADHD for ya

[alaffy]

Thor:  Love and Thunder (spoilers)

What in the hell was that? 

I really am going to have to see the movie again because I’m not sure what I feel about it (also, the sound was really terrible at the theater I was in and so there were several pieces of dialogue I couldn’t hear).  Now I should be clear, this isn’t the worst Marvel movie or the worst Thor movie (hello, Dark World).  In fact, I did enjoy the story of the film.  But there’s some things that are done here that I’m not quite sure worked or were a bit....I probably would have wondered if this was just a story Krog was telling and that none of it was real, if it wasn’t for certain serious events that happen during this movie.

I think the biggest part the bugged me was the whole backstory of Thor’s and Jane’s relationship.  I mean, I know Marvel does have a tendency to retcon things but that’s....a lot that has suddenly taken place between Dark World and Age of Ultron.  And, yes, I know Thor says they’re taking a break in Age of; but there’s no indication that they had a whole ass relationship like this.  This feels out of nowhere because it came out of nowhere.  

Also, who the hell thought it was a good idea to let Russell Crow speak in that accent?  

Also, if you’ve seen the trailers then you’ve pretty much have watched all of the Guardians scenes in this movie.  Now that being said, this is more of a complaint of the trailers.  I’m actually glad The Guardians weren’t in the movie for that long as I feel like it would have made the movie feel bloated.  

Christian Bale’s Gorr was not what I was expecting.  I don’t mean this in a negative way.  I think if he had been just played straight, we would have had another Ronan the Confessor.  He unhinged behavior was unsettling, but I think in a good way.

There are several cameo’s I was surprised to see in this movie, but I was glad to see them.

I don’t know why I found the jealous weapons and the screaming goats to be so funny and yet...

Of course, the biggest event was the return of Natalie Portman as Dr. Jane Foster.  If you’ve read my previous posts on the first two Thor movies, you’ll know I’m not a fan of the character.  Eh, let me rephrase that.  I didn’t dislike the character as it was more that I didn’t see the point of her in the first movie (other then to be a love interest) and then they turned her into a literal plot device in the second one.  As for this movie, well, she is still a plot device to a certain extent.  However, she also has her own story.

Of course, her storyline is based on The Mighty Thor comics.  The biggest difference in her origin is that, in the comic, she was diagnosed with Stage One Breast Cancer which became Stage Four after continued use of Mjolnir; whereas, in the movie, she already is at Stage Four when she first uses it.  And so Jane’s story is one where....she knows her time left is limited, so how does she want to spend that time? Does she continue to fight the disease with treatments that might keep her alive a little longer, but are ultimately are not working well enough to stop the disease?  Or does she chose to use the power of Thor to help others, knowing that doing so will end up allowing the Cancer to kill her quicker?  In other words, this is a story of a terminal person’s right to choose how they live the end of their life.  This story is probably the strongest part of the movie.

Of course, with the teasers, we have a couple of questions.  Does this mean Jane can return?  Well, I would say (as of this moment) I saw it more of a way to let the audience know that, while Thor and Jane are parted now, they’ll be reunited when Thor dies and goes to Valhalla (we all know he’ll die in battle).  That being said, Jane did die and go to Valhalla in the comics.  And Thor did bring her back, so it is a possibility.  

Also, I think it’s very clear that between this movie, The Eternals, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel; Marvel is bringing in the more mythological aspect of the Marvel comics to the MCU.  Also, Hercules cameo...there has to be more to that, right?  

[sunflowerheartsandstarryskies]

My Golden Curse - Maxwell Lord x Fem!Reader

Author’s Note: Hello again, I may have stumbled upon the Pedro Pascal fandom and I can’t get out, and I saw someone posted that they wanted an imagine with Maxwell Lord and the reader in which one of them gets kidnapped and the other just goes ballistic, and I basically kept getting that idea stuck in my head, this was only supposed to be a drabble but oh well. This depiction of Maxwell Lord is closer to the DC Comics version of him and not the movie but it has Pascal’s Lord’s likeness, so it’s like a combination of the two.

Also, I have survived my finals and had taken a break from writing for a while but I’m back and I have some ideas for my Lucifer multi-chapter fic as well. I also have an idea for a John Wick fic but I have no idea if anyone wants to read that.

Warnings: Typical comic-book violence, cursing (like two curse words), blood mentioned, kidnapping, bruises and injuries (like ribs breaking, a concussion, and a few lacerations

______________________________________________________________

Maxwell Lord IV prided himself on presentation. Everything had to be pristine and everything, even the garbage can by his desk had to be impeccable, because his business and himself in general, are put out on display for the public. He is a figurehead and a showman, so when you came along to be his assistant and secretary he was at first apprehensive because you didn’t dress as provocatively as he may have like and you didn’t look as model-esque as his other secretaries in the past. You didn’t apply to Chimtech to be fucked by your boss, you were good at your job and you aspire to show off your skills.

However, time went on when you first started to work for Maxwell Lord and you did a phenomenal job, whenever he was in a meeting you would always make sure to listen and take notes of what he needed while he was in the meeting. Whenever he requested for you to fax an item you would’ve made sure to have done it five minutes prior. Maxwell had no idea how you could be so efficient at your job, but he damn well appreciates it even if he rarely ever mentions it to you.

It’s an odd relationship that you guys have worked yourself in, a friendly relationship it seems, but both of you are teetering on the edge of wanting more. There have been teasing nicknames, mostly from you, you had a plethora of nicknames that you would give him, ranging from “Sandy” to “Ken”, but “Golden boy” was your favorite.

You would never admit this to him or even to yourself but you actually liked his blonde locks. In certain lightings, when you look at him you swear he was Midas, covered in his own golden curse. It was breathtaking to watch him at some points, but you always try to cover up your flustered state.

You knew Maxwell well, some may say too well for a secretary, but you rarely saw the side of him that most of his competitors and fellow businessmen saw, and that was the merciless and ruthless side to his tactics on getting what he wanted. Everyone in the public eye saw him as just the “King of Infomercials” but there was a reason why and how he got that title in the first place. Who knew the infomercial world could be so cruel and hectic?

You were able to catch glimpses of Maxwell’s amazing abilities of persuasion and showmanship, he was able to get people to admit to what they want and get them to go out and seize, whether that was good or bad. There was a particular talent that you find out he has and it was his ability to drag out people’s hidden desires, there were times when the people he used this talent were a shock as the people around them when they admitted to what they really wanted.

He was a golden idol of his own creation; he had to be especially to the people around him. However, that golden facade can only keep him held up for so long when the people he handed gold to realize that it’s fool’s gold.

______________________________________________________________

It was earlier in the day, you just woke up and got dressed in your office attire with a cup of coffee in hand as you try to will yourself to get going. You looked up at your apartment’s clock and it was 7:00 am, you needed to get going if you were to make it to Chimtech in time.

As you stepped out of your apartment building you felt a gloved hand over your mouth and panic flooding your whole body, but before your body could even fully process a flight or fight response you felt a sharp pain in your neck and you passed out.

When you come to, your vision is blurred and you can’t understand where you are and your brain just has confusion filling your senses. Why can’t you process what is around you? What happened to you? After a couple of more seconds went by you felt a rope tightly woven around your wrists, and you comprehended that you were sitting on a floor. What happened to you?

“Ah, there’s the little doll’s eyes! I was wondering if you were beginning to ever wake up,” a voice filled your ears. You blinked furiously trying to get your eyes to focus and you found yourself face to face with a man, who was grinning at you like a shark finding the prey they smelled a mile away.

“I’m sure you understand why you’re here? I don’t need to monologue it to you, do I?” the man asks.

“Mr. Vince, right? You were in a meeting with my boss Maxwell Lord, a month ago, right?” you questioned him as the drug and weariness started to seep out of you, and you gained more awareness of your surroundings. The man, Mr. Vince was a part-owner of a tech company that Chimtech was interested in making an investment in, however from what you were aware of was that the true goal of the meetings with Vince and his company was to absorb it into Chimtech, forcing Vince and the other owners to give up their powers over to Maxwell Lord and the other board members of Chimtech.

“I see the drugs didn’t impair your memory, I assume you are aware that I am no longer a CEO? That I was tricked by your goddamned boss?! That he put me in a corner to give up my company over to him!” he screamed. He was half an inch from your face and you were terrified of this man, he was unhinged.

“What does this have to do with me, Mr.Vince?” you asked, forcing yourself to not push him over the edge.

“Ooooh this has everything to do with your boss, I remembered that you are his secretary, so you must know some secret of his, something I can leverage against him to make him give me my company back,” he said.

“Even if I have any sort of information to give you, the damage is already done, your company is done in, it’s already been processed into Chimtech, there is none of your company left.”

That was the wrong thing to say as you felt a kick to your stomach. You groaned and rolled onto your side, and before you could recover from that there was another swift kick that you felt go directly to your ribs.

______________________________________________________________

Minutes blended into hours of constant yelling from Vince to him pulling you off the ground to throwing you back down like you were a piece of litter to being his personal punching bag. It was all you could do to just protect yourself and persevere through the pain because you were just a secretary, you were never trained in self-defense, hell you never even did track in high school.

Through the pain, you felt complete distortion and a high pitch whining going through your head, and you finally realized it was a telephone- a landline. Where the hell did this guy get a landline in this beat-up place?

Then, you hear Vince say, “Oh you want to hear how (Y/N) is?” you hear footsteps coming towards you then cold plastic was pressed to your cheek then Vince continued loudly, “Well here she is, talk.”

“(Y/N)?” You heard Maxwell, your golden boy, say your name and all you can do was say his name back in a raspy voice.

“What did he do to you?” Maxwell asked.

Before you could say any more the phone was taken away from you and Vince’s voice filled your ears.

“Tick tock Maxwell, I want my money and you can get your fuck toy back.”

Then silence, a sickening silence filled the room which made you feel every ache and pain that has been put on your body has made itself known by increasing levels of agony. You didn’t even feel it in you to even try to correct Vince’s words about you. You just wanted to sleep and not wake up for a whole day, maybe if you laid perfectly still and just not move a muscle the pain would go away.

As you lay there you tearily open your eyes back up and you can hear the tinny sounds of the echoing footsteps of your captor pacing back and forth in the room you were held in. It was nauseating, and you were confused as you thought, When did you close your eyes? How long were you out?

Then you fell back into your head, and you felt like you were spiraling in your own mind mixed with dizziness and nausea. You just wanted this to end.

A male voice was shouting so close to you and you can feel the panic coming out of his voice, and you can tell it wasn’t Vince because why would he do that?

You felt yourself being lifted from the ground and all you could do was cough sporadically from the new movements on your injuries. It hurt, it hurt so bad.

“I know (Y/N), but you just need to keep going a little bit longer,” the same voice told you.

You couldn’t quite pinpoint where you heard that voice before but you thought it was your boss, Maxwell Lord, but it couldn’t be. That would be the last thought that went through your mind before you lost it to the void.

All you can see at first was just bright and it hurt so bad. When you turned your head you saw a flash of gold and your first thought was, ‘Maxwell’. When your eyes adjusted to the room around you it really was your boss, Maxwell Lord in the hospital with you. He was slumped down in a chair beside your bed and you saw there were roses in a vase on the table next to you.

“Gold-golden boy, hey,” you rasped out trying to wake him. You coughed and then groaned as you felt the lacerations and bandages around your torso.

You saw him stir in the chair and his eyes opened and landed on yours. “Hey boss,” you whispered cringing at your voice. Your hands clenched at the sheets around you as you saw him blink furiously and stood up fast. You flinched at the fast movement but he didn’t seem to notice, as he moved closer to you.

“I am sorry about what happened to you, I didn’t think that our clients would go so far as to do this to you. I can’t believe that bastard did all of this to you-”

“It’s okay, I mean it hurts like a bitch but you ended up finding me didn’t you? What happened to him anyway?” you cut him off.

“Ah well, I may have gotten violent with him before the law enforcement could get him,” he said twisting his hands around and that’s when you saw the scrapes on his knuckles.

“I don’t know if you were a white knight to me but you certainly are a golden devil for doing that,” you replied.

He huffed out a laugh at your reply and he opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted when a nurse arrived.

______________________________________________________________

After the nurse left, you found out you still have a concussion lingering still, three bruised ribs and lacerations across your whole torso and arms.

When he listened to the whole list of injuries that you had gotten in the three days that you were with Mr. Vince, he felt rage boil over him but he tried to keep calm as he remembered the battered state he left Vince in. At least he made him feel some of the pain that he made you go through, Maxwell was a very prideful man in how he acts so for him to act like that was completely out of character for him.

He must be looking worried because he noticed your furrowed brows and you glancing at him every so often.

“Did you want to say something?” he asked

“Well, I was gonna ask you a similar question because I think you were interrupted by the nurse. Also are you okay?”

Your question startled him and the mention of the interruption made him clear his throat and fidget with his suit to try to hide the blush that was threatening to come up to his face. Your inquisitive expression on your face was watching him.

“I’ve been thinking that if you would like to leave the company, I won’t force you to stay, especially with what happened this week,” he said.

Listening to him say this made you panic and as you tried to sit up, Maxwell came up to you quickly as he says, “What do you think you’re doing? You got to take it easy.”

As you are situated in your bed you went to reach for Maxwell’s hand as you say, “Why would I want to quit? I love my job and I love working with you even if at times I don’t seem like it. None of what happened to me was your fault, how could you have known that Vince would react to the merger the way that he did.”

Maxwell was startled by this, he never had anyone in his family nor his company is so willing to stay with him especially when they are given an out.

He bowed his head toward you and said, “If you keep saying things like that I might want to keep you by my side for a long time.”

You laughed as you replied, “If you let me I will, you are a weird but kind man-” you stopped yourself as a thought came to your head.

“How long have you been here? What about Chimtech?”

“Ah well if my secretary didn’t get kidnapped and injured I wouldn’t be here right now, but you made me worried and how can I do my best work without my best assistant around me?”

“Now you’re just flattering me”

“But it’s true”

“Hmmm if you say so, Sandy”

______________________________________________________________

Four days have gone by and you were finally released from the hospital to go back to your apartment. You tried to go back to work at Chimtech, but Maxwell found you were released and gave you the rest of the week off to recover. You would become the envy of the company at this rate with how well the boss has been treating you.

Now that you have been just lounging in your apartment watching TV movies, and eating takeout for meals it has given you time to properly understand what happened to you for the past two weeks.

The way your boss, Maxwell, has been treating you made you see a whole new side of him. At first, you thought of working for him as both a blessing and a curse. At first, it was hell on earth, you ran yourself ragged making sure everything was up to par with Maxwell’s standards but after the next three years working with the man you considered him a friend of sorts. Even though you always tried to make sure to never consider employers and colleagues be separate from your personal life but it’s hard to do that when all you have is your work life.

Ever since the kidnapping incident, Maxwell had visited you every day in the hospital he even gave you flowers on the last day of your hospital visit, it was a beautiful vase of sunflowers.

You didn’t realize how long you were sitting on your couch thinking about your boss when you heard a knock on your door. You looked at the clock near your tv and realized it was nearly midnight.

‘Who could come by to my apartment at this hour?’ you thought.

You got up carefully minding the bruises still littering your body, and you opened the door surprised to see Maxwell.

His hair was a bit disheveled and he didn’t have a suit jacket on showing off the suspenders he likes to wear. He looked quite cute seeing him like this.

“Come in, Mr. Lord. What brings you to my place this late at night?” you inquired.

He ran his hand through his hair as he entered your apartment and he turns to look at you as you closed the door.

He sighed as he said, “I don’t know how quite to put this without sounding terrible, but after what happened to you, I can’t stop thinking about you. You are the best woman-the best person I’ve known and for you to still want to work with me after everything that has happened.”

He looked like he was getting frustrated with himself, you were shocked because how could you have gotten the king of infomercials to be so frustrated with his own words?

You took a tentative step forward to him as you placed a hand on his arm.

“Sandy, what’s going on?”

He was silent for a moment before he looked into your eyes with a strong determination as he says, “You know more about me than my own mother does, and after all this time together I’ve grown to respect you more and more. When I saw you in that hospital I wanted to kill the bastard and send him to hell when I found you like that in the warehouse.”

“I-I don’t know what to say, Mr. Lord-”

“Call me Maxwell, none of your silly names, not boss, not my last name, just Maxwell”

You could tell he was earnest with this and sincere it took your breath away to see him like this. He was beautiful and it made your heart flutter when you realize what he might be trying to confess to you.

“Maxwell” you breathed out testing his name out. You said his name once before and that was when you had gotten kidnapped but now this is completely different, almost like a prayer. A prayer to this golden devil of yours.

He smiled when he heard you say his name and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“I wish I could kiss all the scars away from your body so you never have to live with them again. I wish that I could be yours, fully and I want to be clear that I would never use you like I may have done to my secretaries in the past. I want to be yours, in any way you may want me.”

“Oh Maxwell, I think I might have to grant your wish this time,” you say blinking away tears that were threatening to spill as you were listening to his confession.

“(Y/N)” he whispered reverently.

He cradled your face with both hands as he studied your face to see any resistance than he gently placed his lips on yours.

You made a small gasp as you finally felt his lips on yours, you clutched onto his shirt as you pulled him closer to you. He tilted his head and pushed your chin up to meet in for a deeper kiss. It felt amazing and you felt loved.

When you parted you were chasing each other’s lips to crash back into each other as you kissed each other until you both need a break. Both of your lips were swollen and you looked at him with such love that when Maxwell saw, he almost wanted to take you then and there but he was mindful of how fragile this love could be.

Author’s Note: I might do a second part if people want it but whew this took a lot out of me, I hope you guys like it!

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[organabanana]

you're not saved until you leave this place | harley/ivy

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: DCU (Comics)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence

Relationships: Pamela Isley & Harleen Quinzel

Characters: Pamela Isley, Harleen Quinzel

Additional Tags: Past Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, Abusive Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, Mild Blood

Series: Part 1 of the 2021 Writing Challenge series

Summary: Harley Quinn - she's not Harleen Quinzel anymore - has just been saved by Poison Ivy. The problem is Poison Ivy doesn't think Harley can really be saved. I just finished reading Harleen by Stjepan Sejic and I'm feeling A Certain Way. Reading it first is encouraged (and recommended because it's amazing) but not necessary to know what's going on.

Notes: This is not meant to be particularly true to any canonical storyline beyond using Harleen (the comic) as a starting point. I took the liberty of taking bits and pieces from different storylines because I could.Written for the prompt "I should be in pain . . . . . why am I not in pain?” for week 4 of the 2021 writing challenge made by @butterbee-writes.

[ao3 link]

Harley regains her consciousness slowly, as if she was struggling to emerge from an ocean of molasses. What a strange image, an ocean of molasses. That’s what it feels like, though. Thick and sticky and dark. As her senses begin to work once again, though, Harley realizes wherever she is smells nothing like molasses at all. It smells both fresh and damp somehow. Like she imagines a rainforest might smell like. Green and thick with life. And then there’s something else. Lighter. Floral, even. Jasmine, maybe?

“Doctor Quinzel.”

The woman’s voice doesn’t immediately ring a bell, but it feels familiar somehow. Under different circumstances, she’s sure she could figure it out. But Harley’s tired of fighting the not-really-molasses threatening to swallow her brain whole. She can’t play detective right now.

“Doctor Quinz—“

“It’s Harley,” she interrupts, her voice hoarse like she’s using it for the first time after a night of hard liquor. This doesn’t feel like a hangover, though. And she doesn’t feel like Doctor Quinzel anymore.

“Open your eyes.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” This may not be a hangover, but her head still feels like it’s balancing precariously on the edge of the kind of headache that drives people to insanity.

Heh.

Like she needs a headache for that.

“Your eyes might be damaged. I don’t have all day.”

The woman’s tone is hard to read. Somewhere between annoyed and caring, somehow. Like she wishes she didn’t care, but she does anyway. Harley can sympathize.

“Damaged by what?” Harley asks, already opening her eyes and struggling to focus. All she sees is varying shades of green. “What happened?”

The woman doesn’t speak. Harley sees a blurred light among the greens and feels that flowery smell grow stronger when the woman leans closer to her face. It reminds her of her time as Arkham’s psychiatrist, asking questions and being ignored. And that’s when it clicks. Arkham. Of course.

“Ms. Isley?”

“Ivy.”

Under different circumstances, Harley might have taken offense at the sharp tone of Pamela Isley’s correction. But she’s not exactly in a position to pick a fight with a supervillain, and - if she’s being perfectly honest - this may be the third or fourth time Ivy’s corrected her since they first met. No wonder she’s annoyed.

“What happened?”

“Your eyes are fine. Your vision may be blurry for a while. I assume your glasses are still in the acid. What’s left of them, anyway.”

“Acid? What aci—“

Harley’s eyes widen even if she still can’t quite see. The acid. The vat of acid, and Jay’s hands around Harley’s wrists, and his smile… and then the searing pain. She brings her hands up with some effort, and even with her limited vision she can see they look bleached white. And yet…

“I should be in pain…  Why am I not in pain?” She should also be in some major emotional distress, given the circumstances, but she’s more or less given up on her own mental stability these days.

“My abilities aren’t limited to toxins, Harley. You’re enjoying a very good, very potent, all-natural anesthetic.”

“You saved me?” Harley wonders, briefly, whether she has any right to sound this surprised when this is the second time Pamela Isley has done just that. Save her. “Thank you.”

“Like I told you last time, don’t thank me yet,” Ivy says, and there’s a certain emotion in her tone (Dr. Quinzel might have been able to define it, but she’s not around anymore) that makes her sound nearly human, “you’re only truly saved—“

“If I leave Arkham. I remember.” Those words haunted Harley’s nightmares for weeks. “But I left. This isn’t Arkham, is it?”

There’s a moment of silence that stretches for longer than it should, somehow. Like Ivy’s having to really think to figure out whether they are in Arkham or they aren’t.

“This isn’t Arkham,” Ivy finally says, “but you haven’t left.”

“What do you mean, I haven’t le—“

“I really don’t have all day, Harley.” That emotion — that near humanity — is completely gone from Ivy’s voice now. “Do you have a place to stay while you recover?”

“Yeah. I can- I can stay at Jay’s.” What does it say about her, that she doesn’t even hesitate to name the man who threw her in a vat of acid as her emergency contact of sorts?

If she was still working, she’d write a thesis on herself.

Pamela Isley doesn’t say anything else, and for a moment Harley wonders if she’s been alone all this time and her admittedly off-kilter brain simply hallucinated a beautiful, jasmine-scented supervillain for her to talk to. It wouldn’t surprise her. Nothing does anymore.

With some effort, Harley sits up and notices where she’s been laying all this time. It’s not a bed — not a normal one, anyway — but it’s soft and comfortable. It’s somehow both cool and cozy, and… alive, somehow. Like moss, but not quite. Which fits, because Pamela Isley happens to be human, almost, but not quite.

Harley doesn’t necessarily mean that in a bad way.

“What did you mean?” Harley says, looking at the blurry outline of Ms. Isley’s — Ivy’s — back. Her eyes are getting used to the light, and she’s pretty sure the current lack of focus is mostly due to her glasses being gone. “When you said I haven’t left?”

“You shouldn’t get up yet. You’ll faint, and pheromones won’t fix a cracked skull.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Do you want to call him to come pick you up?” Ivy pauses for a second, like she’s reconsidering her own words. “Does he even have a phone?”

“I—“

Harley clamps her mouth shut. She doesn’t know if Jay has a phone. She knows the exact location of every scar on his body. She knows exactly what to say and do to make him smile. She knows she can help him — fix him doesn’t sound nearly as good — and she knows she belongs with him. In his world. But she doesn’t know if he has a phone.

The giggles come before she can stop them. It’s not funny, but she’s laughing. She can’t stop. It feels almost like… like in a different life she’d be sobbing instead, but all she can do is laugh.

And it’s cathartic. Like a good, loud, heart-shattering crying session. Like a night of binge-drinking to quiet her thoughts. The laughter grows louder, shriller and more unhinged as she thinks about Dr. Harleen Quinzel no longer existing. Not just because Harley says so, but because she melted along with her glasses when Mr. Jay shoved Harley into that vat. She thinks about a job and a life she’ll never go back to. About the fact that she doesn’t know if Jay has a phone, but she knows the exact sound a skull makes when a mallet cracks it open.

It’s not funny, but she’s laughing. And when she stops, she feels different somehow. Like she’s laughed whatever was left of Harleen Quinzel away.

“Are you done?”

Pamela Isley isn’t laughing. She’s not even smiling. She’s just staring, in silence, like she either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that being in silence is a recipe for thinking. And thinking… well. There’s nothing fun about that. Can you blame her for trying to entertain herself somehow?

“So. Pam.”

“What did you just call me?”

Pamela Isley is suddenly dangerously close. It may not be jasmine after all. It’s something… earthier. She’s so close Harley doesn’t need her glasses to see the dangerous glint in bright green eyes.

Harley could push it. She tilts her head to one side, smiling faintly as she ponders what would happen if she said it again. Would Pamela Isley kill her, if Harley called her Pam again? And, more importantly, would that be so bad, all things considered?

“Sorry,” she finally says, making sure the mocking tone is audible in her voice, “I figured saving my life twice would’ve kinda put us on a first name basis.”

“Not quite.”

“Right. Well, Ms. Isley—”

“It’s Ivy!”

Pamela Isley — Poison Ivy — raises her voice. Harley swears the plants around them grow, like they’re getting ready to attack her the second Ivy orders them to.

Except she doesn’t.

Does this count as saving Harley’s life a third time? Choosing not to off her when she could’ve?

“Why do you keep saving me?”

“Excuse me?” Ivy takes one step back, and it’s like the greenery deflates just so. Like it’s all lost steam all of a sudden.

“You heard me,” Harley shrugs, carefully standing up and noticing the oversized t-shirt she’s wearing for the first time, “why do you keep doing it? Not too super-villainy of you, if you ask me.”

The more time she spends with her eyes open, the better she seems to see. Can acid burn somehow fix someone’s vision? She’ll have to tell Mr. Jay about the  potential untapped marked in back-alley lasik surgery.

“I wouldn’t call myself a super-villain.”

“Your file at Arkham sure would.”

“Would it? And what does his file say?”

Harley stops staring at an exotic-looking flower to glare at Ivy instead. His file is wrong. His file is the result of a series of biased psychiatrists with questionable methods. They didn’t know him like she does. Nobody does. She’s the only one who understands.

He needs her. She can help.

“And what will yours say, Harley Quinzel?”

“I don’t have a—“

“Oh,” Ivy lets out a chuckle and it kind of feels like Harley figures being hit with her mallet might, “but you will.”

Harley licks her lips. Will she? Will she have a file at Arkham? Have a shrink sit across from her, on the other side of a bulletproof glass, and ask her what went wrong and when? Will she have to talk about Jay’s smile and his scars and the way he pressed her up against the padded wall of the interrogation room?

Will they call her call her a sociopath, too?

Probably. They’ll be wrong, though. She does feel remorse when she kills. It’s just she’d rather feel that than the absence of him.

“So don’t thank me, Harley. I never saved you.”

~*~

Harley doesn’t remember what she used to look like anymore. Harleen Quinzel may as well have never existed. It’s been three years since she fell into that vat of acid — it sounds better than saying someone threw her in, doesn’t it? — and so much has happened in her life that she can’t remember anything from before she was Harley Quinn anymore.

She’s been in Arkham… a number of times. Let’s leave it at that. She’s still with Jay. Mostly. On and off. Mostly on, though, other than that nine-month break she took for personal reasons when she went to stay with her sister Delia.

Mostly, though. Mostly, they’re on. And they’re so good when they are. Mostly. Mostly good.

You wouldn’t get it. Only she gets it. Only she gets him.

“Hey, Red?”

Ivy doesn’t even look up from whatever science-y stuff she’s working on, and Harley doesn’t really mind. They’re best pals. They don’t need eye contact to communicate.

“Why d’ya hate him?” Jay finds her new accent cute, like her higher-pitched voice and her red-and-black leotard.

“Huh?” Harley can feel Ivy’s frown even if she’s currently looking at the back of her head. “Who are we talking about?”

“Mistah Jay.”

She can feel the sour expression on Ivy’s face without seeing it, too.

“I don’t remember having said I hate him.”

“Ya don’t need to. I can just tell, y’know.”

“Can you.” Sometimes Ivy does that thing when she asks a question but her tone isn’t really question-y. Kinda cute, if you ask Harley. Over the years she’s grown to see many of the things about Ivy most people find intimidating are actually pretty dang cute.

“Yeah,” Harley stands up from her favorite moss-covered pouf (Ivy took offense last time Harley called it a beanbag chair) and sits on the edge of Ivy’s desk instead, “kinda like how ya don’t have to say it for me to know ya love me, Red.”

Ivy doesn’t smile, but her skin does. It turns this vibrant green and Harley knows it means Ivy’s smiling on the inside. It’s a whole thing. Just trust her, all right? She knows her Red.

“So. Why d’ya hate him?”

Ivy looks up from whatever botanical gibberish she’s been writing and stares into Harley’s eyes like she’s trying to read her mind.

Good thing her Puddin’s right when he says it’s mostly empty space in there, right?

Heh.

“You should’ve paid more attention when you worked at Arkham, Harley.”

Ivy stands up and leaves Harley there, dumbfounded and confused, because what does that even mean? She doesn’t even remember those months. She didn’t even think Ivy remembered. Had they ever even interacted back then? All she remembers are her… sessions, with Jay.

“Hey, wait! Come on, don’t be mean!”

Ivy rolls her eyes at Harley like she’s being overly dramatic (she isn’t), and starts collecting samples from this pots and plants.

“Why won’t you just tell me? Come on, it’s been forever, I don’t rem—“

The happy sound of a circus fanfare comes from outside Ivy’s lair, and Harley knows exactly what it means.

“Saved by the… honk, Red.” Harley winks, grabbing her mallet and putting on her hat. She can drop the subject for now. There’ll be more times. “I’ll bring ya somethin’ pretty from the heist, yeah?”

“Be safe.”

Harley’s already skipping towards the exit, but she turns around just to blow Ivy a kiss. “See? I knew ya loved me, Red.”

Ivy doesn’t just smile with her skin this time.

~*~

Harley watches the trial from the couch in the apartment she shares with Ivy and their (Ivy will deny it, but Harley knows she loves them) hyenas. It’s a happy little life. After so many years of super-villainy, switching sides has been kind of weird.

Well.

They haven’t switched completely. Just ask Batman. But they’re cool with the Batfolk now. Mostly. They promise to keep casualties to a minimum (she vaguely remembers Batman insisting on zero, but that’s a ballpark number, she’s sure) and help them catch the really bad guys, and in exchange they’re mostly free to do as they please.

It’s kind of weird, watching a trial on TV. A real trial, she means. But she figures when the person being judged is famous enough — and hated enough — it makes sense. And Gotham doesn’t hate anyone as much as they hate Jay.

He doesn’t look scared or nervous at all. Maybe he figures he’ll get out again whenever he pleases. But Bats said that’s not happening this time. Not with all the evidence Harley provided. Having bested it a dozen times herself, Harley can’t say she trusts Arkham’s security system that much. But it doesn’t really matter. She doesn’t really care.

“Ugh, commercial break. Can ya believe it?” Harley scritches Lou’s ear and nudges Bud off the couch so she can stand up. “They can call it a recess all they like, we all know the judge needed to pee.”

She chuckles to herself on the way to the kitchen for a glass of water, and on her way back her gaze lands on the carton box Bats gave her when they made their deal. The one full to the brim with everything that used to be in her and Ivy’s files at Arkham.

And she’s about to flop back onto the couch when a little tape recorder catches her attention instead. Her old tape recorder, from about two lifetimes ago, when she still wore a white coat and was called Dr. Quinzel.

“Let’s see who’s in this tape,” she says out loud as she presses the rewind button, and the two hyenas sit at her feet like they’re waiting for the best kind of treat, “maybe it’ll be Uncle Swamp Thing!”

But when the tape begins to play, the voice that fills the room is Ivy’s instead.

“Oh, jackpot!” Harley grins, muting the television to put her full focus on the preserved moment from over ten years ago. She kinda knows how the trial ends, anyway. Bats spoilered her.

“I do appreciate it, you know… the fact that you’re using a recorder instead of paper.”

Ivy sounds so different. Harley wishes she could remember the conversation, but all she has from those months are snippets of moments with him.

“Others before you had different methods. One of my previous doctors, he brought a potted plant.”

“Well, that’s nice of him, right boys? Mama loves a plant.”

“Watered it with bleach in front of me.”

Harley gasps, both at the cruelty of what she’s hearing and the fact that she suddenly has the answer to the question she asked so many times over the years. Why did Ivy hate Jay so much?

Harley looks at her bleached skin and can’t help but grin. She’s the one thing Pam loves as much as she loves her plants.

“…Doctor, your hormones are elevated. Every time you smile, you blush. Usually, I have to kiss a person to elicit such a response…”

If she could still blush, she would. She feels her cheeks burn anyway, because back then it wasn’t her girlfriend making her hormones get elevated (or whatever the Ivy from the past just said) but now… well. Now she elevates them plenty.

But more than that, she realizes, suddenly, exactly what Ivy meant when she insisted Harley could not be saved until she left Arkham. How could she really leave when Jay still owned most of her heart?

“They didn’t have double decker poptarts, Peanut. Are you sure they even exist?” Ivy interrupts Harley’s moment of reflection by walking into the apartment carrying several grocery bags and sending the boys into a flurry of excitement. “The lady at the register looked at me like I’d just asked for dragon eggs, so— wait. What are you listening to? Is that me?”

Harley nods, even if she knows Ivy can’t see her while she’s bent over leaving all the grocery bags on the counter.

“What is it? Is that from— oh.”

“Mhmm,” Harley grins, stopping the recording for now. She has the real life version of Ivy right here, so she doesn’t need the past at all. “Ya liked me already back then, huh, Pammy?”

Ivy rolls her eyes, but Harley knows. She knows she did.

“Where’d you get the tape?”

“Bats brought all that over,” Harley points in the general direction of the box, “said we can have it since we’re no longer the baddies.”

Ivy looks in the box and seems genuinely surprised when her gaze returns to Harley once again. “Our files?”

“Mhmm. All of it. Gone.”

It’s only when she tells Ivy that it fully registers for Harley, too. Their files are gone. No more Arkham.

Somewhere in her peripheral vision, she can see the trial’s back on the air. He’s going back in, and she… she wouldn’t say she doesn’t care at all. But she’s not going in with him. Her heart’s not his anymore.

She’s left.

“Pammy?”

Pam doesn’t look up from her hands as they rummage through the contents of the box, but she doesn’t need to. Harley knows she’s listening.

“Thank you.”

“Why?” Ivy looks at Harley then, frowning slightly in confusion. “I wasn’t the one who negotiated with Wayne.”

“No, I know.” Harley smiles and walks over, just to be closer. To smell the jasmine on her girlfriend’s skin. “But you saved me. A couple times. So thank you.”

And for the very first time, Harley’s pretty sure she’s figured something out before her (very smart, super quick-on-her-feet) girlfriend. Because Ivy looks at the box again, and at the muted TV where the trial is still happening, and then at Harley… and she smiles.

“You’re welcome, Harls.”

[himikiyo]

kerosene lemonade // himikiyo week day 4

Himikiyo Week Day 4: Soulmates + Enemies

“Oh my, I suppose you’ve caught me, haven’t you?” Shinguuji asks languidly, gazing up at her. “But what will you do now with me at your mercy?”

The group decides that Korekiyo, a known murderer, can't be allowed to move freely around the academy. Himiko ends up as their guard.

Read on AO3, DRA, or under the cut.

“We aren’t trying to be cruel,” Himiko says weakly, head pounding from the frustration of having had this same conversation several times already. “It’s not like that. It’s just for everyone’s safety.”

“Hmm, is that so?” Shinguuji responds, just as she expected. Just as they had all the previous times. “Or is it just what you’re attempting to convince yourselves of? From an outsider’s perspective, I wouldn’t call your actions anything resembling merciful. Particularly not Momota-kun and Iruma-san’s.” They shift slightly and wince at the movement. Himiko can’t say for certain whether it’s staged.

“I...I don’t agree with the way they did things, but...” She trails off, hands subconsciously bunching into fists at her sides. The tension is unbearable, and she can’t entirely figure out why yet.

Shinguuji breaks the pattern. In their earlier conversations, they goaded her further, trying to coax out a slip of the tongue or contradiction in her views. Now, they don’t respond verbally at all, bringing a hand to their side. They look at her, eyes cold and calculating. Trying to guess at her reaction? They must be satisfied with what they find, because they tear their gaze away from her. A bandaged hand hitches up their jacket and shirt just enough to inspect a truly nasty bruise blooming along their side.

It’s more of a contusion, really, already a sickly, mottled pattern of black and blue despite being less than a day old. It’s hard to be sure without getting closer, but she can almost make out a bootprint. She must make a sound without meaning to, a gasp or similar, because their eyes immediately shoot over to her again and they rearrange their clothes to hide the injury.

“Am I restricted from whatever passes for medical care in this place?” they ask, voice deadly sharp.

“Wh— Of course not,” she insists. “I keep telling you, it’s not like that. Not for me anyway. The only reason I volunteered to be the one watching you in the first place was—” She cuts herself off, looking away.

“Was what?”

She didn’t (still doesn’t) want something like that to happen again. Iruma kicking them, Momota getting in a good punch. No matter what Shinguuji did, that kind of thing isn’t warranted. Not if they have any desire to keep the moral high ground. She doesn’t say that though, reticent to admit to anything that could be interpreted as fondness for them.

“No one’s stopping you from taking care of it,” she mutters instead. “Do you want ice?”

“You aren’t afraid I might find a way to escape while you’re gone?” They bat their eyelashes in mocking innocence, seemingly exchanging the spitefulness for that. Ever since the trial, their behavior is far more unpredictable than before. Whether they are unable or simply unwilling to rein themselves in again, it’s hard for her to say.

“You know what’ll happen if you do.” She doesn’t take pleasure in threatening them, but it’s the truth. The rest of their surviving classmates would gladly heap more intense forms of punishment on them if given half a chance, save perhaps Gonta.

“Only if I’m found.”

“You think you’ll be able to hide forever? I doubt it.” She doesn’t realize exactly what she said until they point it out.

“Forever, hm? Does that mean you’ve given up on any hope of us escaping this place?”

“I...I don’t know. That’s not the point.”

“Then would you be so kind as to clarify what the point is, if not that?” Their hand cups their cheek in a familiar gesture, though something about it seems to be done more gingerly than usual. That would make sense. Momota punched them pretty hard.

“The point is you aren’t going to figure out a way to sneak out when I’m not looking. Right?”

The way they slump against their desk slightly is, she figures, the closest to agreement she’s going to get.

She nods despite the lack of response, double checking her pocket for the key before stepping out. Iruma had been the one to modify their door to be lockable from the outside, allowing them to be imprisoned in their own dorm room. As the one on watch, so to speak, Himiko has custody of the key, control over their ability to participate in the miniature society the rest of the academy has become.

She doesn’t like having that much control over them, she realizes. Something about it is tantalizing and sickening all at once.

By the time she gets back with an ice pack, painkillers, and a nighttime snack, Shinguuji has moved from the desk to the bed and no farther. They barely look up when she enters, displaying no desire to pull any tricks like forcing their way through while the door is open. Her stomach twists.

“I brought the ice,” she says uselessly, setting everything down on the edge of the desk before backing away. She doesn’t dare get too close to the bed, like there’s a force field keeping her away.

“More than that, it seems.” Their eyes track her movement, stopping on the plate of food. It isn’t much, just what she could grab in the last moments before the dining hall closed for the night. Hardly anyone had dinner after the trial — no appetite.

“It’s nothing,” she mumbles. “I thought you might be hungry.”

Shinguuji’s hand drifts up in the direction of their face, then pauses.

“Your hospitality is appreciated. However, I think it’s time for you to go get some sleep, yes? Surely our friends,” and she thinks they put a special emphasis on that word just to get under her skin, “don’t expect you to watch over me all night.”

They expect exactly that, actually, but Himiko can tell what they’re trying to say. She can see the way their fingers hover near the edge of their mask. They weren’t executed, but they killed Chabashira all the same. They bragged about all the other girls they killed before, the ones they hope to kill in the future. They included her. There’s no reason to show them mercy.

“You’re right,” she says. “I’m feeling kind of tired.”

“Good night, Yumeno-san.”

---

She volunteers to supervise them again the next day, acquiescing to only a few hours off in the morning before going right back to guard duty in the afternoon. The others assume that her desire to take on this work is to avenge Chabashira. She doesn’t correct them.

A night’s rest has done nothing positive for Shinguuji’s demeanor. If anything, they seem even more unhinged in the daylight, every bit the part of someone who committed murder barely 24 hours ago.

“Hey,” she says as she lets herself in, hoping the lackluster greeting does a little to mitigate the surprise. Maybe she should have knocked first even though they can’t actually let her in.

“Back so soon?” They chuckle. It takes half a second of observing the twisted smile that accompanies it for her to process the fact that their mask is pulled down around their neck. Have they forgotten, or are they newly okay with exposing their face around her so casually?

“Are you disappointed?”

“On the contrary, I’m quite pleased. It’s good to know my cherished classmates haven’t yet decided to just let me rot. I wonder who would be considered the blackened if I starved to death in my room...” Getting up from where they’ve been lounging on their bed, they make their way closer to her, backing her up toward the wall. “Perhaps it would be you, as the last one who locked me in.”

“Wait, nobody gave you breakfast? Or lunch?” She’ll deny it later, but maybe she does feel their hand brushing along her side, slipping into her pocket.

“No, no one came,” they say, almost mournful. Then they back off and twirl the key between their fingers, letting the light glint off the metal just for show. “It’s quite alright. I can get it myself.”

“Wh— No! Give that back!” Himiko closes the distance between them, grabbing for the key, but misses. Shinguuji just raises their hand straight up, lifting the key out of her reach comically easily. She jumps, misses, and then grabs at their arm, trying to wrench it downward.

She’s terribly weak. They resist easily, moving in the direction of the door all the while.

“Mm, I don’t believe I will. Maybe next time you’ll be more careful.”

“You can’t just leave,” she insists. “I won’t let you.” She can’t allow it, both for everyone’s safety and for her own reputation. Protecting them in private is one thing. Bungling the one major responsibility she’s been entrusted with would be quite another. Shinguuji won’t be swayed by that argument though, that much is obvious. So she does the next best thing. She tries to tackle them.

Despite being at a major disadvantage in both strength and size, the suddenness of her throwing herself at them (and perhaps the fact that they’ve hardly eaten anything in over a day) is enough to make them stumble, scrambling to regain their balance. With an unceremonious crash, they both go down in a tangle of limbs, toppling the desk chair as well.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” they ask, sounding calmer than she might have expected.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m stopping you from escaping.” Once again, she makes a grab for the key before they can get up. To her surprise, they don’t put up much of a fight, letting her snatch it from their hand. Clenching it tight in her hand for fear they’ll just try to take it back again, she finally has a chance to catch her breath.

“Oh my, I suppose you’ve caught me, haven’t you?” Shinguuji asks languidly, gazing up at her. “But what will you do now with me at your mercy?” She’s close enough to see the smudged mascara under their eyes, like they didn’t bother taking off last night’s makeup before putting on more. Their lipstick is a bit smudged too, right at the corner, but the bruise at their jaw is more dramatically eye-catching. It’s that odd moment of calm that allows her to finally realize how the situation looks.

Shinguuji is sprawled out on the floor, hair in their face and fanned out around them. The bandages are coming loose around the hand she took the key from, and the way they’re looking at her is somehow lazy and dangerous all at once. She’s still half on top of them, straddling them from her ill-advised attempt at a tackle. One hand still clutching the key and the other braced against the floor, she isn’t technically sitting on their lap, but only barely.

As she looks down, she tells herself she’s inspecting the bruise on their face, but really, her gaze is lingering on their lips, reveling in how soft and kissable they look. Even the act of allowing her to look feels so intimate.

It would be so easy to lean in, and she starts to do so, compelled by forces beyond her control. She doesn’t think about their contentious relationship or about the fact that Shinguuji is technically her prisoner. All she thinks about is the crackling tension between them, the way their hand has moved up to rest at her waist, and how wonderful it would feel to kiss them.

Before she can get far though, their voice cuts through the daze.

“You have no answer then?” The question doesn’t make sense to her at first, but with a moment’s thought, she’s able to remember that she didn’t answer them before. They asked what she was going to do now. Despite forgetting to reply verbally, she thinks her actions must have been answer enough. Based on the look they give her, she thinks they agree and merely want to force a response anyway. Just to embarrass her, or for some other reason? She doesn’t know.

“You were never at my mercy,” she says eventually. “I just wanted the key.” She really is sitting on their lap now — when that happened, she isn’t entirely sure. Their faces are still so close too, and yet she can’t bring herself to pull away.

“A compelling answer. I can’t say I agree, but it wouldn’t be half as interesting if I did.” There’s still a slight smile on their face, and the hand against her side makes no attempt to push her off.

They both feel it at the same moment, the entire atmosphere shifting slightly. Himiko nods, unsteadily getting up.

“I’ll make sure someone brings you dinner.”

When she leaves, they’re still on the floor.

---

As she promised, she brings up the issue of Shinguuji’s meals with the rest of the group. It doesn’t matter that a couple of missed meals here and there aren’t enough to kill them — denying them food is inhumane.

Momota is the one to bring them dinner; she watches until he opens the door, just to make sure he really delivers it.

She isn’t assigned another shift with them today, technically, but she drops by late at night anyway, after everyone else should be in their rooms. It’s a moment of weakness, a guilty sort of indulgence. She lets herself in expecting the same sort of behavior as earlier, perhaps with a bit of awkwardness about the intimate moment they shared. She doesn’t expect to see them handcuffed.

“What’s this about?” she asks aloud, brow furrowing in concern. Unless someone else snuck in, this could only have been Momota’s doing. But why?

Shinguuji sneers at her from behind their mask.

“Momota-kun seems to be under the impression that I’m misbehaving. Filling your head with all the wrong ideas and trying to turn you against the rest of the group. How these,” and they lift their hands to indicate the cuffs, “are meant to have anything to do with me talking, I’m unsure, but he never does much critical thinking, does he? I do wonder what you said to him to give that impression though.”

“Huh? I didn’t say anything to him like that.”

“Then are you suggesting he merely came up with the idea on his own?”

“I don’t know! He must have, because I...the only thing I said was that it was wrong of them not to feed you.”

“And there it is. I wasn’t supposed to complain about that, it seems.”

Himiko’s head hurts. All of this is so incomprehensible and unfair. No matter what she does, she ends up disappointing everyone. If Momota really thinks Shinguuji is corrupting her somehow, it’s only a matter of time before no one trusts her, and now Shinguuji themself is upset with her too.

“But you weren’t complaining, I asked you.”

“The others don’t see it that way,” they answer simply. “You must have realized by now that they hardly even see me as human. They will do everything in their power to demonize me, even if it doesn’t make sense. That’s how they preserve their worldview. It’s now impossible for me to have any motivation other than killing. Foolish. If I intended to strike again while trapped here, they haven’t done nearly enough to prevent it. Nobody even bothered to search this room for weapons.” Shinguuji laughs then, turning her blood to ice water. “Even handcuffed like this, I could still kill you if I wanted to.”

Just like that, with no warning at all, they lunge at her. Startled (and yes, maybe a little afraid for just a moment that they really intend to hurt her), a shriek escapes her throat, but it’s only half a second before their hand is covering her mouth, silencing her.

“No, no, none of that,” they croon, pulling their hands away again. “Wouldn’t want anyone else to interfere, would we? I’m still uncertain just how strong the soundproofing is.”

Boneless and shaky from the sudden fright, she can’t help but sag against them, trying to regain her bearings. The fabric of their mask brushes her neck, betraying just how close they really are.

“Right,” she mumbles absently, though none of this makes any sense at all.

“What do you think?” they ask softly. “Shall I try it?”

“Uh, no, I’d rather you didn’t.” Her voice is weak, tremulous. She doesn’t really think they will, and yet...

They laugh again, supporting her body against their own.

“Luckily, I wasn’t planning on it. How about I teach you to pick the lock on these cuffs instead?”

---

Completely (mostly) unintentionally, a routine is established over the next few days. They still tease and taunt — if anything, they’re getting more overt about that — but there’s an intimate, almost seductive undertone to it that wasn’t there before. It isn’t enough to needle her about the others’ behaviors and how unfair they consider their imprisonment to be. They have to fluster her in other ways too as they do it.

One of the most noticeable changes is that they no longer stray away from physical contact. They don’t go out of their way to initiate necessarily, but if she gets too close, they jump on the opportunity without hesitation.

“Why is it exactly that you like coming here so much?” they ask her, arms coiling around her waist to pull her closer until she tips onto their lap. “And after I’ve made it abundantly clear how easy it would be for me to kill you too.” It would be even easier now than the first time they taunted her about it, since the handcuffs thankfully hadn’t made a reappearance yet.

“Does it matter why?” she replies, not even pretending to struggle against their grip. “I’d think you’d just be happy that I do.”

“Perhaps it’s that you enjoy watching me.” The tone in which they say that makes her blush, even without getting a look at their expression. “You all look down on me for what I do in the name of my mission, but you take pleasure in keeping me locked up in this room, controlling every part of my day. If anything, I would think that would make me the merciful one. I don’t cause my victims to suffer any longer than necessary.”

“Me coming here has nothing to do with liking the fact that you’re locked up,” she argues, trying to ignore how closely they’re cuddling her, uncovered lips brushing against her neck. She already knows she’ll have to be careful when she leaves — Saihara almost saw the lipstick marks the day before. “This isn’t some kind of power fantasy.”

“No?” Shinguuji nuzzles against her, somehow managing to weave aggression into such a sappy, affectionate gesture.

“No. What you did was bad, obviously, but I don’t see what this is supposed to accomplish. If you...if you killed someone again, you’d get caught and executed for sure, so there’s no reason for you to want to hurt anyone. Right?”

“If I agree with you on that, will you be persuaded to let me out?” They kiss her neck again. Now that she knows the reality is even better than her imagination, it’s hard to resist the urge to turn and kiss them properly.

“I can’t. What do you even think would happen? I let you out and then what, everyone else suddenly decides it’s okay?”

“Not okay, exactly, but not worth the bother of apprehending me again. I certainly wouldn’t go quietly.”

She hates it when they sound so reasonable. It makes it so much more difficult not to give in to their cajoling. Cajoling that often turns to something on the verge of outright begging, as they seem to be gearing up for now. As recently as a week ago, Himiko never would have pictured Shinguuji Korekiyo as someone willing to stoop to begging for any reason. Amazing how quickly things could change.

“I think it’s better if I just keep trying to convince everyone to lighten up.” She finally gives in to the kisses. threading her fingers through their silky hair. The bruise on their jaw (as well as the one on their side) is finally beginning to heal, but is still plenty visible for the time being, a reminder of exactly what they’re up against.

“Everything would be far more entertaining if I was free,” they urge softly, drawing back just enough to speak. “We could have much more fun together. We can work on escaping this academy together. That’s what you want, yes?”

“I...” She falters.

“We could make it happen, the two of us. All you have to do is let me out.”

“How do I even know any of this is genuine?” she asks, finally putting voice to one of the things that’s been troubling her most since this began. “I mean, you’ve basically said yourself plenty of times that you’re toying with me. Once there’s nothing you want from me, how do I know you’ll care at all about escaping together or anything else?”

Shinguuji is quiet for a long while. At first she thinks that she hit the nail on the head and they simply can’t deny the truth. But they haven’t made any move to nudge her off their lap, nor anything else that would indicate an end to the intimacy that had gradually become routine. Finally, they speak.

“I suppose there’s no way to know that for certain. That’s part of the beauty of human relationships. No matter what assurances you receive or how much trust you possess, it’s impossible to ever know with complete certainty that someone will not betray you. Sometimes your trust is misplaced, and that ugliness and sorrow is part of what makes life worth experiencing.”

“That’s unexpectedly deep,” she quips, trying to buy time while she considers how she actually feels about all that. “It’s been a while since you’ve gone on one of your anthropology lectures.”

“I didn’t realize you were interested in them. That’s another thing we could do more of if you decide to let me out, my dear?”

She stifles a gasp at the unexpected term of endearment, face reddening when she realizes that shocked reaction is exactly what they were trying to get out of her.

“Ugh, you’re so persistent. It really is a pain.”

They shrug. “I have little else to occupy my time, so continuing to wear down your defenses is a worthwhile effort. At the very least, you could bring me some documents from my research lab to make my time away from you less tedious.”

“I can do that,” she agrees, offering a small smile when she meets their eyes. “And it’s not that I want you to stay stuck in here. I just...need to think about the best way to do things. Because I want to get out of here together too.”

“Perhaps Momota-kun was right all along. Maybe I did corrupt you.”

She laughs, already leaning in for another kiss. “Or maybe you just didn’t realize how interested I already was.”

[shewholovestoread]

Birds of Prey (2020) Review

I’ve seen Birds of Prey twice now and both times, it was an absolute joy to watch! Never have I enjoyed myself quite this much, I screamed, I shouted and laughed throughout the film. Birds of Prey was everything I hoped it would be and so much more.

Where do I even start with this film? I loved everything about it, the writing, the cast, direction, the action, all of it.

Now, lets get the negative out of the way, I’ve read some reviews that pointed out that the film has pacing issues and maybe it does but only if you’re looking for it. Birds of Prey is also operating from a place of disadvantage where other superhero films are concerned (predominantly Marvel) Barring Harley, whom we saw in Suicide Squad, the rest of the squad is not very well known. Birds of Prey had the tall task of introducing all of these other characters in a way that made sense and still have a reasonable run-time. Black Canary, Huntress, Renee Montoya did not have the advantage of having their own standalone films. Christina Hodson, Margot Robbie and Cathy Yan did a great job integrating all of these characters and their arcs and the intersection of said arcs.

The writing was so on point, it felt like the writers had a keen sense of the characters they were writing for and to an extent that is true. Robbie was part of the writing process and helped shape the film and it’s not surprising, I doubt anyone (barring those who write the actual comics) could have had a clearer picture of who Harley is. Cathy Yan does a great job of bringing the words to life and infusing them with an energy that was electrifying. It was cohesive and coherent film, full credit to Hodson and Yan.

I loved that all of the women are badass without exception but the film also gives them time and space to be vulnerable. These are not male characters in a female body. These characters are feminine and lean on their emotions instead of shutting them down. The ass-kicking aspect is amazing, the action set-pieces are fucking fantastic but it was equally gratifying to see the women be supportive and protective of each other. They quickly became a sisterhood once they came together and that was a pleasure to see on film.

Birds of Prey is feminist, explicitly queer, diverse, irreverent, brash, unapologetic and a no-holds-barred female power fantasy, it is wish fulfillment at its finest. It was so gratifying to see the female characters defy conventional, patriarchal expectations time and time again. They are allowed to be messy and flawed, they make mistakes and bad decisions and they are better for it.

Margot Robbie has made Harley hers in a way that I doubt another actor could match in any capacity. I loved her journey, I loved that she was a mess after her breakup and she needed time and space to truly heal, to discover her worth independent of her partner. I loved that she is canonically bisexual in the film. Her action sequences are some of the best in the film and she is amazing in them but I loved that we also saw her pain and loneliness, her desire to be a part of something and be appreciated for who she is. Her act of blowing up Ace Chemicals, while not thought through completely, is symbolic of her beginning to breaking away from the shackles she placed on herself.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary was amazing. You can see her feel torn between her need to survive and the terror and disgust she feels for Roman Sionis. Plus the Canary Cry was fucking epic and I wish we’d gotten more of it.

Rozie Perez as Renee Montoya was perfect, she brought dimensions and layers to the role that a younger actor would not have, the film is richer for having her in it and I am glad that both Yan and Perez fought for it. She had the right amount of cynicism and weariness that her role needed, like she’d been doing this for a while and though she was great at her job, she rarely got the credit she deserved. I also loved that she was also explicitly gay in the film and even meet her ex-girlfriend.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / Huntress was plain delightful! I wish she’d had more screen-time. She was the right amount of socially awkward paired with someone with deep-seated rage issues. But she never loses herself to that rage, case in point, when the women are fighting together in the amusement park, she takes a moment to speak to Cassandra, give her something to ground her, to distract her from the violence and brutality.

Ella Jay Basco was great as Cassandra Cain. I loved her spirit and her interactions with Harley and the gang.

Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask was equal parts spoilt brat and sinister and he played it so well. He was unpredictable and that’s what made him so menacing, you never knew what could set him off (snot bubble) And then there’s Chris Messina, brilliant as the unhinged Victor Zsazs, they were perfect for each other, 2 peas in a pod, each feeding the others’ sociopathy.

The action in the film is one of the best parts of the film, it is beautifully choreographed and you can feel the impact. All of the women get their time to shine, given that each has their own individual approach to how they fight. I also loved the costume design, I loved that NONE of the women were sexualised or objectified. They all looked amazing! But they were practically dressed, the way one dresses in real life but with more flair. Credit to Erin Benach.

Films like Birds of Prey that are written, produced and directed by women, for women are sometimes held to an unrealistic standard, almost as if they need to be perfect films (such a thing does not exist)They are held to standards that films made by men are not, which is why a man can make one mediocre film after another and no one blinks but if woman makes a film and it’s anything short of spectacular then it’s labeled a failure and used as an excuse to dismiss other proposals / pitches by female content creators, that is a deeply misogynistic approach and it needs to change. But we also need people to go out and watch films like Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman so that we can have more diverse voices and experiences reflected on screen. So please, if you haven’t already seen the film, make sure you do, go with your friends, mothers, sisters, whoever and watch it. It is a joy and a delight to watch.

Now, can we please have a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy team up! Please, I desperately need it And while we’re at it, I need to them to get romantically involved. Pretty please

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Birds of Prey (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a week after the movie airs worldwide, so if you have not yet seen the movie do not read on until you have.

Characters:

Harley Quinn:

This is most definitely Margot Robbie’s signature role. Just like Johnny Depp has Jack Sparrow and Gal Gadot has Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn and I am not just saying that because she’s the only cinematic version we have.

I really enjoyed the “Galentine’s” movie angle as this movie was released around the traditionally loved-up holiday and Galentine’s is an anti-approach to it. But showing how Harley bounced back after being dumped by the Joker with the traditional break-up tropes of a bad haircut, partying, drinking and generally hitting self destruct was a lot of fun, particularly from Harley’s perspective.

Also the link with her roller derby hobby at the start of the movie showing how she’s moved on to the end of the movie when she uses her roller derby skills in a positive way was really great, and one of the few things I really like about her comics redesign.

As I said in my non-spoiler review, I thought Margot Robbie’s comedy as Harley Quinn had greatly improved from Suicide Squad to here, whether or not that’s better writers or Robbie’s own performance I don’t know. But Margot Robbie, to be fair to her, is funny when given the right material. Just look at how she delivered Brad Pitt’s acceptance speech at the BAFTAs.

But she had a lot of great one-liners and even character moments where it was just physical acting or face acting that just make me laugh every time I watch the movie, and I so far have seen it three times.

My favourite funny lines from her are “Run piggy run!” when she’s gunning down the GCPD officers with glitter rounds, “Does she have to keep running?!” when trying to chase Cassandra through the evidence room while also battling with the mercenaries looking to claim Sionis’ bounty, and when she is explaining why the main women of the movie need to team-up in the most realistic way possible ending with “...so unless we all want to die extremely painful deaths and let Roman go finger fondling around the kid’s intestinal track...”.

In terms of her silent comedy, I loved when she ran for the truck she used to blow up Ace Chemicals, Margot Robbie is a good drunk actor. The way she ran with her arms out but then momentarily stopped seeing the actual driver before continuing anyway, I’m cracking up now just thinking about it.

Also whenever she came across someone who was after her or she had an idea, the way she would sign or look confused or have her trademark devilish grin was fantastic.

In regards to her character development, I am beyond thrilled that they let Harley be Harleen in this movie.

During Suicide Squad she had one or two moments where she did analyse the team and especially in the extended cut she went through the group.

Here though right from the start with Roman in his club she lays out his psyche in front of him and in turn I believe throughout the movie analyses all the main players with the exception of Zsasz.

It did weigh in to the comedy but the fact she had an analysis for everyone so unique to them; Sionis with his insecurities, Canary being a harlequin of sorts, Montoya being stuck in the past, Huntress and her childhood trauma. It was all superb and exactly what I want from Harley.

Even psychoanalysing herself when explaining herself to Cassandra, how she was a psychologist working at Arkham before falling in love with her patient and helping him escape, then being arrested herself and becoming a member of the Suicide Squad, but escaping before being dumped. Serious and professional Harley is just as important to me as the wacky Harlequin of Chaos.

Also the fact she is still a dangerous character both with her actions and unhinged mind. She is a very calculating individual and that’s again a lot to do with her psychological background.

When she manages to save her skin (literally) with Black Mask by telling him she can get his diamond back from Cassandra Cain, the fact she’s clearly hesitant from just turning her over and simply wants the diamond, you can see the frustration in her when Cassandra originally refuses to hand it over before admitting she ate it.

Speaking of what I want to see from my Harley, her action sequences were so good. Harley is an acrobatic character and while we saw shades of that in Suicide Squad, here not only was she doing kicks and flips, but the way she used that baseball bat and her roller skates was everything for me.

Yes Harley with a mallet and a form of firearm will always be Harley, but this is old-school Harley and it works so well.

While I do think Margot Robbie’s storytelling style could be considered all over the place, in the context of Harley Quinn it is such a good narrative because Harley’s mind is all over the place.

I love me a cute animal sidekick and, while neither animals in this movie are cute (or real), I thought Bruce the Hyena was a great addition despite not really doing anything. If you’ve seen him in the trailers you’ve seen him in the movie.

I am hoping that some day soon they could afford to render two hyenas so we can finally get Bud and Lou on the big screen because Harley with her hyenas is such a great partnership.

Harley with a beaver on the other hand...I am just glad it wasn’t played up and used in cheap inuendos. It is slightly annoying that when her apartment was blown up, she had to save the beaver and even at the end of the movie, once it was revealed that Bruce was safe, the beaver was also there. I just don’t get the fascination with it.

Black Canary:

Jurnee Smolett-Bell, as I said in my non-spoiler review, is the breakout star of this movie for me. I know Black Canary quite well thanks to Injustice 2, the Arrowverse and even some animated properties, but seeing her in a more realistic setting rather than the suited up version was very refreshing.

Even the smaller moments for Dinah worked really well thanks to Smolett-Bell’s acting. For example, when that one guy roufees Harley and tries abducting her, the look on Dinah’s face as she’s deciding whether or not to get involved or not was really great.

Giving Black Canary some good action sequences was also the right thing to do because that’s partly what Canary is known for. Not only did she have some great kicks but it was just her attitude and her bravado about how she engaged in her fight choreography.

Also allowing her to sing, I haven’t talked about the music in this movie because while I do love some of the songs used here it wasn’t a lot to rave about, “Man’s World” may be slightly too on the nose for this movie but Smolett-Bell delivered it very well.

And let’s not forget the other way her voice was used, we have our Canary Cry and I am thrilled...mostly. Having it used once at the end of the movie and that’s it does seem like a bit of a waste, but it does make sense with in the context of this movie.

Black Canary is the only metahuman in this movie and on the team and so if she used her power all the time there would be no need for Huntress or even Harley.

However, the fact she fainted after using it once I found interesting. I am not taking the same approach as some by saying it was stupid because I feel the way Dinah’s story is told in this movie that she may not use it a lot and so she may not be vocally trained or durable enough to sustain.

On that note, the nod to Dinah’s mother, aka the original Black Canary, originally being a vigilante with the same Canary Cry as Dinah I also felt played into Dinah’s character. She knows what her mother was like and the fact she died, so of course she didn’t want that life and so didn’t use her power which is why it’s so overwhelming for her.

I do wish her outfits had been more Black Canary-esk. I would have loved more fishnets and definitely a leather jacket rather than that weird disco suit jacket she had on for a lot of the movie.

However, the gold trousers and matching boots were fabulous.

Black Mask:

Ewan McGregor can do no wrong for me really, there is just such a charm and charisma about the actor that I can’t help but like him in everything he is in.

That being said, I will say I know nothing about Black Mask from the comics other than he is a psychologically damaged crime lord. I do not believe he is this campy but I am sorry it works for the movie.

I did like how the movie played up Black Mask’s insecurities which Harley diagnosed at the start of the movie. When that one woman was laughing and he thought it was at him so decided to humiliate her, then later on when Zsasz revealed that Dinah betrayed him and he just flipped.

I’m not entirely sure if Black Mask is this misogynistic in the comics but it seems to be that every woman in this movie was at his mercy. At the start of the movie he clearly had a begrudging relationship with Harley because of her association with The Joker, however, after it was revealed that she had been dumped it seemed like he wanted her but then it’s revealed he just wants to kill her.

Bottom line, Roman Sionis was definitely a dangerous individual and Ewan McGregor played that brilliantly, but there was also a campy and somewhat sadistically comedic edge to him which gave way to a rather brilliant DC villain.

However, the very fact that his tenure in the DCEU is short-lived given that he was literally blown up at the end of the movie, it is sad that we will never see him going forward.

Also on the subject of his actual mask, I know it’s supposed to be welded to his face or something, I’m kind of glad it wasn’t but do wish we had seen it more throughout the movie. Also I feel it would have popped more with the white suit rather than the black, just saying.

Huntress:

While Mary Elizabeth Winstead was a great choice for Huntress here, I do feel that the movie missed a trick and a way to bring other strong female characters into the movie.

Alright so the movie honours Helena’s origins of being the daughter of a crime boss whose entire family is murdered and so she trains to become an assassin and comes to Gotham seeking vengeance.

However, how great would it have been if, rather than Sicily, if she was trained by either the League of Assassins or even Lady Shiva herself.

I know that this is more of a Cassandra Cain origin, which they still didn’t do, but it would have been a great way to tie-in these characters and also show a bond between Helena and Cassandra being raised by the same woman maybe.

Then also, if Black Canary and Huntress do get their own spin-off, Lady Shiva could come in as an antagonist and it would see Huntress going up against her old mentor.

I do think that Winstead did a good job with what she had, I am hoping that Huntress is meant to be socially awkward because that’s definitely the vibes I got from her.

I appreciated her tracksuit attire because Gotham is meant to be in New Jersey and it’s a very gangster Jersey attire.

I hated her last outfit though right at the end, loved the mask but that actual outfit was hideous.

I do see a future for Huntress going forward which is great, I’m not as disappointed with the character as I thought I would be.

Victor Zsasz:

This was an interesting conundrum of a character for me because, like the other two left on this list, if you don’t read the comics or watch the TV shows with these characters in, you’re not going to know who Victor Zsasz from this movie.

I will say, having seen the actor’s transformation from how he normally looks to his Zsasz look, it is a very impressive change and does fit in with the Suicide Squad level changes made to the characters.

Unfortunately though this is where the impressiveness stops. Yes, Zsasz is an assassin and I did like how they confirmed that he works for various employers, despite the fact it seems that the crime boss who had the Bertinellis killed was in fact working for or with Sionis so was Zsasz just on loan?

But the misogyny of the character was so cringe-worthy and at times unnecessary that it actually makes me side with the fans who put misogyny as this movie’s biggest problem, despite knowing logically that is not strictly true but I do accept it is one of the big problems.

For instance, it is implied that Zsasz only cuts himself to tally the number of women he’s “set free” as opposed to everyone he kills...that is not how Victor Zsasz is supposed to operate. He gives himself a point for every person he kills, that’s what makes him such a terrifying and grotesque adversary.

Okay so I know Anthony Carrigan on Gotham also didn’t go deep into that side of the character, but they didn’t have that Zsasz single out women either.

Also, when he paralysed Harley with that dart and then was effectively playing with her while she was unresponsive...I get she was still aware but even so where I thought that scene was going to go was both unnecessary and only added to why fans were laughing when Harley started repeatedly stabbing Zsasz with that same dart despite him already being dead.

I did like the subtle LGBT representation they tried to showcase with him and Sionis, because even if Sionis wasn’t reciprocating, this was a case of one guy crushing hard on another and feeling he knew what was best and wanting to protect him. That I liked and they played that rather well in my opinion.

But overall, I just didn’t feel that threatened by a supervillain who is essentially the living embodiment of torture porn. I know he cut off people’s faces and had visible scars, but there wasn’t a lot of anything else to make me believe this was the same Victor Zsasz that can easily inspire nightmares just by looking at him.

Cassandra Cain:

I’m just going to put this out there, I don’t know that much about Cassandra Cain. From what I have been told, she was someone who became Batgirl, I know in Young Justice she is in it as Orphan despite I don’t think ever speaking or having her real name revealed, and I know her mother is Lady Shiva.

Which brings me back to a potential storyline going forward for a Black Canary/Huntress TV series to feature Lady Shiva which could also include the return of Cassandra Cain...because I don’t think we need to see her again in the movies.

It is very harsh to judge a child actress, but much like Zsasz honestly if you are unfamiliar with Cassandra Cain as I am you would not really have much takeaway from the character based on this movie.

I also recall there being reports that Margot Robbie stole Cassandra Cain from the upcoming Suicide Squad as a plot point...but now I want to know what the original plan was for Cassandra Cain in The Suicide Squad and if James Gunn would have handled her better.

There just wasn’t a lot of depth to her character. She had a broken arm, potentially from her foster parents, but other than that she was just so angry all the time. She tried being sassy particularly with Harley but it fell flat.

Then in the climactic battle, she is the girl everyone is after to either kill or protect, but in that fun-house scene, as cool as the action was, Cassandra was essentially a hot potato going from character to character and it reminded me a lot of The Jungle Book when Baloo and Bagheera were trying to keep Mowgli away from King Louis and the monkeys.

I don’t really see the point of Harley having an apprentice either, I like the idea that she’s a free agent with no ties. Now that the Birds of Prey are formed she can float between helping them out and doing her own thing or going on another Suicide mission but the point is she rides solo...how are we going to explain where Cassandra is in The Suicide Squad?

Renee Montoya:

I continuously keep calling Rosie Perez’s character Maggie Sawyer because, in my opinion, this is who she is most like, not Renee Montoya.

Renee is young, determined and the woman who can stand alongside Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock. She comes from the same origin as Harley Quinn which is Batman: The Animated Series. Yet so far the only incarnation to get her right outside of that has been Batman: Bad Blood where she had a minor appearance as Batwoman’s love interest...which is actually supposed to be Maggie Sawyer.

I said how Cassandra was played as angry, Renee was simply one of these rather aggressive soccer mom characters, especially in that final battle.

She had her funny moments and I do understand where the movie was coming from in trying to show how she was hard done by because of her male colleagues always stealing her glory, but this is a character who again led GCPD missions when Gordon and Bullock were detained in the past, yet I am not getting that essence from this character.

Also Renee, like Maggie Sawyer, is an LGBT character, but while her ex-girlfriend was shown here, if it wasn’t for Harley narrating that fact you would not know they had that history.

I don’t understand why she also became a founding member of the Birds of Prey, I get that in the comics she has been a liaison between them and the GCPD, but to actually quit her job and fight alongside Black Canary and Huntress? There is a third member needed in that line-up but Renee Montoya is not it.

DCEU Connections:

I will keep calling this universe the DC Extended Universe because until DC itself makes up its mind I am going to stick to what I know.

So in the wider scope of the DCEU, this movie definitely is a follow-up to Suicide Squad, not only because of Margot Robbie’s Harley and the flashbacks we saw of her diving into the acid vat from Ace Chemicals, but also the cheeky Easter-Egg of Captain Boomerang’s wanted poster at the GCPD.

I don’t understand why Captain Boomerang is wanted by the GCPD particularly when he is supposed to be a Flash rogue but I just loved seeing Jai Courtney getting some love.

Also, when the women are suiting up to fight Black Mask and his army, we see Black Canary equip herself with Harley’s Good Night bat from Suicide Squad but also Renee pick up Harley’s “Daddy’s Little Monster” shirt from said movie which Harley takes back as “sentimental value”. I love little connections like that.

In terms of where this movie could branch out to, again I do see a Black Canary/Huntress series in the future maybe including Cassandra Cain and Renee Montoya as guest characters, but movie-wise aside from Harley returning, I don’t see any of this lot coming back.

Also, despite Arrow severely screwing this over, the Black Canary/Green Arrow relationship I could see happen in a TV series but the way they have developed this version of the character I do not see Dinah needing an Emerald Archer in her life.

Overall I rate the movie a solid 7/10, I know I rated Suicide Squad the same and have said this was a better movie, but with everything that DC is pushing recently like Wonder Woman and Aquaman I expected something at that level rather than Shazam! level. Maybe if we got a Gotham City Sirens movie the mark would be higher.

So that’s my review of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.

[first-living-myth]

Summer Made Children

Picture credit to @unbeknownsst

Jade hurt his ankle, and is laid up with cast and crutches. Jesse is sitting next to him, doodling heart on their cast to cheer him up.

Summer-made children, to come back to,

JESSE

"Did you fell off the tree?"

Mom indeed been working temp as a nurse (that's why she's not home every nigh; she's working in the emergency unit though the evening till early morning) not even once-- Jess ever saw someone with broken bone and casted leg in front of his eyes. He sat a little away from the bed: unnecessarily looking terrified. This is one of the weekly trip to dad's place as the adults call it, holidays. Yet if it's a holiday why Mom always looked rather sour everytime he's being picked up of the apartment? He noticed so; children always do, her tightened jaw and stifled frown and a little bid of adieu that sounded like, I want him back in Sunday before 7 pm, instead of a nice 'Have a nice weekend!'

"Did bad kids hit you?"

His eyes are all doe; the thing that would still be with him once he later grown up into a man, doe, big eyes. Although little legs just decided to took himself onto the chair right next to the older kid's study, keeping distance from the bed, afraid those little clumsy hands of his would leave the boy in pain accidentally. (he is clumsy, big one.)

"Is it broken?"

(Little gasp!)

"Do you need help!"

JADE

Jade Huang was twelve and he fell from the stairs.

The classroom is large and daunting, far too threatening for Jade's tiny brain to comprehend. He did not like it, not even the slightest. However, he dare not to refuse his mom’s will, forced him to get off to school no matter what. Typical Asian parents, he dare say. He wore plain silky white shirt, short sleeve, tapered western, baggy lightweight black pants, then also his most remarkable sceptical and somewhat supercilious, with its odd rectangular, thick dark brown glasses. It was quite unhinged actually, due to the constant damage he shoved.  He likes to throw things around when too immersed with something; bad habit never cease, just like wonder does.

Jade never once revel in commingling coeval groups, simply enough, he prefers to be alone. Hence, he wouldn’t get surprised anymore if the peers around him despise his presence; uncanny, an oddball, yet shrewd to say the least. He could never mingle well, a perfect misfit. Then, when lunch time comes, he always sits beneath the tall primeval, verdant, gigantic and gnarled, shady trees, all alone but with his fine, readable, small leather-bound books. He would read anything, from classic literature, until full-colored comics. 

Whether he will understand the contexts or not, possibly more coherent with the latter, it wouldn't be a problem. Reading was and only his solace, in amidst of boisterous cacophony.

“Oi, clotpole!”

A chubby, bald, slanted eyes, noteworthy flabby tummy, has appeared. He seems cute, yes, to others, indeed. But Jade, himself, saw the other child, named Jason, as his mortal enemy; Jason oftentimes beat Jade until he felt like his end was near, pulled childish pranks, such as stole Jade’s favorite toy and many others. As usual, he chose to be wise, at least he thought, to ignore the impudent boy. 

“I said, oi, clotplole! Didn’t you hear or are you deaf?”

“What do you want this time?” He asked, nonchalantly. 

“Buy this for me! You’re rich, aren’t you?”

Jason said with a glimmer in his eyes, playful just like a misbehaving child would, while proud, holding up a crumpled, frayed brittle, piece of paper. There was a picture of something, he was unable to limn it, because it wasn’t considered as one of his interests. One thing for certain, it was some kind of toy.

“Why?”

“Because I want to!”

“Why?”

“You’re rich?”

“Why?”

“Just buy it, motherfucker!”

“But I don’t want to, and my statement is final.” his tone surprisingly even, almost studious.

“You bloody wonker!”

The next thing Jade knows, he was at home, laid up with cast and crutches. He was unconcious for a while, and refused to talk. Even when the old fine looking aunty was talking to him, he kept his mouth shut. Albeit seen disheveled, his gaze fixated on looking at a child of eight or nine, all pale skin and thin bones and dark, tangled hair. 

Ahn Jaesuk, the name of the child. But he prefers to call him Jesse, as prolly everyone did. This is their third meeting, Jade was slightly content, thrilled yet he did want to show it. 

“Hi, Jesse.”

JESSE

"Did it hurt?"

The kid talks so much. So-fucking much, he pulls the chair closer to the bed that his curious side grows. Frown curls in response; he's so expressive in the contrary to the older boy regarding to his either reaction or feelings, big, even. He gives big reactions to almost anything.

(His expressions changes often when he's trying to read Jade's collection of books; the expression where he barely understands letters, the expressions where he found a new verb he never heard before, the expression where he  found BIG ACTIONS in the comic books! Later growing up he'll find fondness specially towards DC Comics.)

"I mean, when the bad kids hit you."

Did he come too straightforward? No means to offend, but,

"Or did you really fell off the tree!"

He's careful not to jump into the bed. Sick people needs bigger space, Mom once said. She's the nurse afterall; a pro in sick person, making them less sick, helping the doctors to help the sick. The easy way in comprehending the term in the brain of a nine year old.

"So, do you, need a help when you need to go to pee? Was it hurt when they put the cast on your feet? Mom said where the bone is broken it will be swollen and painful.

JADE

Jade is the only child and he didn't know how to deal with a little brother, the one who acted and played like so. He didn’t know how to deal with Jesse, even though he had done lots of research. By all means, reading many books that he could possibly find, few have been proven useful, but the rest look ridiculous though. A snippet from Jade’s reading material, ‘Raising A Kid’, ‘Teaching Boy About Things’, ‘Shit Brothers Said’, ‘I am A Brother’, and the list goes on. Well, what would you expect from someone mediocre, twelve years old, plain yet geeky boy? 

“Hey, do you know what word to describe someone that asks too many questions, talk too much, like you?” 

Jade asked, mimicking a wiseacre or smart aleck look alike’s expression, his brow wrinkled as he leaned in close to headboard, which was covered in white pillows, in his smaller and rather austere bedroom. 

“I read it in a book, apparently those people are called loquacious.” Jade slurs. He was slightly worried if this is the right choice or not; he was concerned, he hardly believed anything at all. One of the human nature, future is always seemed scary, because they cannot control it; predictions, however, is in another hand. Now, Jade prayed with all his might, he's able to, at least, produce a good outcome through this.  

Even so, Jade stilled in disbelief, a hefty sigh escaped successfully. It’s not like it should be a surprise, or anything, because even at the very first meeting, Jesse couldn’t shut up; a brazen young boy, inquisitive most of the time. But the child seemed fastidious about Jade’s current condition and all. Many would think Jesse was being annoying, making the whole plight vexatiously so, most certainly to a sick, helpless boy. However, Jade saw things differently, it was adorable, cute to be truth, and amusing to look at. 

He felt the sudden urge to squish, pinch those plump cheeks, when he was watching vacuously open, soft vermeil, comparatively dainty lips of Jesse’s keep moving and talking. And so, he did, unconsciously and makes wonder spread in his chest.

“It’s hurt, the pain still lingers but I guess I’m okay.” He laughed, dryly. “Someone pushed me. From the stairs. It was scary. It was high. He was bigger than you. Strange.” He said, intermittently so.

JESSE

"What?"

He sounded as chirpy, until a really, foreign word hits his ear, over a pronounciation that the little boy barely could repeat. Mouth opens; involuntarily, a gape visible, and he doesn't even know that he's making that face for that brief moment,

<: O

(That's exactly the face he is making.)

Doe-eyed, mouth-gaped, briefly silent; do all 12 years old be this cool? Or only because Jade spent more times with books instead of communicating with actual person? But Jess surely never heard that word before.

  "--Lo, locucious." Hey, he tried his best to repeat that out. Hopefully the older one still has that emphaty to correct the kid, or he will grow sticking to it until someone else is kind enough to point out. But Jess knows the word, retaliation!

Don't ask where did he learn that but Batman comics taught him so! Inclusing many scientific terms (he believed they are scientific, because, Detective Comics,) that came out of the same comic book series.

Jess also spent too much time reading colorful comics.

He gave out big reactions, remember? Again, big frown curling over his big displease of an expression in which  shifted in no time upon the progression of the story; someone pushed me, fell from the stairs, it still hurt--- he cringed a big fear, he was bigger than you; and his frown curling up into a fright. As if the older boy was telling him a horror, bed story time. (Would Jade read him bed story times?).

And he looked up the other boy with  that same fright. Is he worried? Well, look at his face right now? "....Joshua got his knee hurt too when we played football in school," Joshua, Joshua Carson, his classmate, but he didn't mention about the fact that the mentioned boy as his classmate. "He skipped school for two! Weeks! I envy!! But then I missed him so I visit him everyday after school."

Chirpy, chirpy little boy,

"Uh-oh do you want me to take your drink!!"

(The story is still in progress).

[seyaryminamoto]

I always think about this before sleeping at night: OZAI AND URSA COULD BE ATLA SUPREME CANON SHIP IF SHE DIDN'T CHEAT ON HIM I mean they are doing well (and treating zuko well) before he reads that damn letter

x’D well, before sleeping at night I always think about future scenes of my stories I look forward to writing, but to each their own (?)

Frankly, canon-wise I don’t know what to make of Urzai anymore. Gladiator!Urzai is based on my early understanding of their relationship as was presented in Zuko Alone, but then the comics took a whole different direction to explore their story and it went against pretty much everything I’d expected from these two. It’s probably the most unpleasant take on Urzai, despite it’s far from the most depressing, actually? Had they cared about each other to some degree, their story would have been soooo very complicated, and Ursa’s actions would feel much more like a sacrifice than they do, lending a much more tragic feeling to her tale. But alas, that’s not what we were given...

In any case, Ikem obviously poses an irksome problem in any positive canon!Urzai interpretations. His character is vital to The Search because he’s Ursa’s initial source of misery upon being stuck with marrying Ozai, but he hasn’t had a significant role at all in the comics beyond this. Whatever happens next, I highly doubt that he will be more important in future installments. Removing him from the story altogether could do away with Ozai’s completely exaggerated behavior over Ikem, and he’d probably look a little less unhinged and freakish than he does because most of his paranoia over Ursa seems to stem from the awareness that she once loved someone else. Granted, the letter she writes doesn’t help one bit, but he sends Vachir to kill Ikem after YEARS of doing nothing? Which implies he just... obsessed silently with the letter for that long and didn’t act on it until Zuko was older? 

There’s even inconsistencies in Ozai’s erratic, jealous man behavior that I don’t think I’ve pointed out before and I don’t know if anyone else did:  

Part 1:

Part 3:

Like... let’s try out all the interpretations of this particular situation: say the wedding wasn’t immediate, they had to prepare for a while: why would he need spies to track down her “every move” before marrying her if they took Ursa to  the Capital on the very day they went to Hira’a, and Ikem was left behind in the village? He wouldn’t need “spies” for it, he would merely need maids to inform him of her every move, like the one who intercepts the letters. I highly doubt that woman qualifies for the title of spy...? :’D

Then, the other possibility... is that Ozai found Ursa on his own, and kept her under surveilance BEFORE Azulon found her? Does THAT make any sense? O_o Or did Azulon find Ursa, tell Ozai, Ozai sent his spies to keep watch on her and only after a few months of being sure she hadn’t fucked Ikem did Ozai and Azulon travel to the village? :’D

... Yeah, weird plot contrivances, what else is new...

Anyways, I think it’s fair to say that Ikem was only thrown into the mix to give Ursa a dramatic reason to despise Ozai since day one. So... would they have been fine if she hadn’t “cheated”? Well, for starters I don’t think she cheated while she was living in the Palace, canon-wise, she only does after Ozai forces her to leave (and I won’t argue that it counts as cheating after she leaves, because they’re technically still married, despite they’re clearly 100% estranged and give zero shits about each other, according to the comics). But going by how this relationship was characterized, I’ve always thought the comics were insisting on presenting an absolutely miserable and unhappy Ursa, who only pretended otherwise for Zuko’s benefit. Yeah, the letter made things worse for their family, but even then, that your husband keeps tabs on everything you do, including the letters you’re sending back to the family you’re no longer allowed to meet, isn’t exactly a sign of healthy relationships. Again, it’s all done to show how bad and toxic Ozai is, and why Ursa has every right to get out of this relationship. Everything is unpleasant and straight-forward.

Obviously, in contrast, Zuko Alone presents a picture of Urzai that allows a thousand possible interpretations. I have no doubts there’s some people who actually think they were in love, then there’s others who think they hated each other’s guts. I’ve even seen fics based on the premise that Ursa was actually in love with Iroh all along and had an affair with him behind Ozai’s back :’DDDD therefore... it can go all sorts of ways. There’s no end to the possible interpretations of what Ursa and Ozai’s story could have been like, but sadly, the comics didn’t offer much that would allow a positive interpretation of canon!Urzai, as far as I can tell.

So, while Urzai definitely had potential to be the coolest possible ATLA version of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? The very starting point of the comics, when retelling Ursa’s story, establishes pretty strongly that this isn’t the story of a Macbeth and his Lady Macbeth, but the story of a woman who was roped into marrying a toxic man against her will. Hence... it’s not merely because she cheated or because of the letter or because of Ursa’s actions, it’s because the whole backstory the comics created for them blatantly ruled out the possibility for Ursa and Ozai to be as twisted and interesting as some of us hoped they would be.

If you wish their canon relationship were any better, I’ll just say outright that the key factor to make a more palatable version of Urzai would entail removing Ikem from the picture, and that means The Search would have to be written completely differently... and at this point in time, I don’t think canon will backtrack on that at all. Soooo... I’d say go read as many Urzai fics as you can, because fortunately there’s quite a few. There are countless missed opportunities by canon, there’s no arguing with that... so I feel you, and I share your pain. But we can always find refuge in stories, because ultimately, ATLA is just a story too :’D so, look for stories with interpretations of Urzai you can agree with, and then you’ll be much happier in life, I hope!

(Or, you know, imagine such stories before sleeping at night :’DDD then you’ll be just like me x’D)