#and likewise i know i must being chaos to other people's when i hop between different fandoms and genres

[decidentia]

Hey gang, happy weekend. ♡

I’ve really been enjoying having Royce on his own blog, and I’m now planning to curate similar single-muse spaces for my other primarys – Anri, Farkas, Odessa.

If you’re interested in interacting with any of them, please drop me a DM or comment on this post with the blog(s) you’d like me to follow you from.

This blog will remain as a multimuse, so have no fear!

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 13 Review/Remix

We should have guessed something would go wrong. Things were going way too right at the end of the last chapter. But shit didn’t just hit the fan, it hit the ground and then bounced over the edge into an abyss. And with only the finale chapter left in this Volume, I can’t imagine how they’re going to fix all of this before we have to wait another year for more good news.

Since we can’t have bad without first knowing good, the writers are kind enough to open this episode with some hope. Jaune’s half of the group, that is to say JNR plus Oscar and Emerald, see one of the portals open for them in the communications room. They don’t know if people will actually know to use these things to evacuate without the message Jaune was trying to send, so they decide to do some portal hopping and spread the word on foot. But first they have to make sure these things actually work, so they need to send a giunea pig through. Just his luck, they send Jaune and it does not pair well with his history of motion sickness. He doesn’t hurl, but he does land on his face and rise to his hands and knees when he safely comes out the other side of what looked like the trippy space rift from 2001 a Space Odyssey. The others follow close behind and take a moment to be in awe of this pocket dimension they find themselves in. Jaune recovers quickly and takes command. He and Nora will be going from portal to portal spreading the word about evacuation to Vacuo, while Ren Oscar and Emerald will be leading the pack and calling Shade Academy once they’re in Vacuo that they need to prep for hundreds of refugees. They part ways and Oscar gives a playful little salute, then Jaune leaps over the edge of the platform they were on. Someone should have told him about Ambrosius’ dire warning last week... Okay fine, we see a frame or two of him opening his shield so clearly he’s gliding down to the nearest other portal not falling into the void. Meanwhile Nora is once again riding Magnhild like a rocket powered broomstick to fly away into a portal of her own. We abruptly cut to a subway station where everyone is comedically hiding behind the stairway and peek out to look at the portal before them. One civilian is coaxed into stepping forward and checking it out, so he throws a rock at it. Because his luck continues to screw him over, Jaune comes through at that exact moment and gets hit on the head with the rock. His sudden appearance scares everyone into diving behind the stairs again, but they do peek out once more after taking a second to realize they just saw a person come through to talk to them. Jaune pulls out his Scroll to show them his Huntsman license so they’ll take him seriously, and presumably it works out great. We see Penny and RWBY coming in through their own portal and likewise being amazed by Ambrosius’ handiwork before seeing other people starting to pour in while Nora and Jaune are calling out directions and reassurances, such as the Happy Huntresses and the refugees under their protection. They wonder aloud about how few people have come through yet, but the priority is getting Penny and the Staff into Vacuo safely so they’ve got to trust Jaune’s team with this. Speaking of Vacuo and Jaune’s team, we see what happens when the green team gets into the desert outside the city. There’s an intense sandstorm raging around the area where the portal lets them out, and they can’t see which way to go to reach Shade. Worse still, cell service is down so they can’t call anyone. And civilians are starting to come through into this chaos so it’s just getting worse and worse. Ren can mask them from any Grimm that might catch a whiff of all that negativity, but only for so long.

As Nora is leaving one crowd of incoming civies to go help bring in another, Cinder arrives hiding beneath a cloak and we see her give a little smirk. Next thing we know, and explosion goes off and at least a dozen innocent people are launched into the void below. Irreversible consequences there, as far as we know, and it causes a real panic. Team RWBY tell Penny to just keep going into Vacuo while they deal with this, and we see Cinder gleefully flying around looking for the object of her hatred. She spots which way the team is heading and blasts some fire in the path to cut Ruby off. Cinder makes a clear reference to something Oscar said in an earlier conversation the heroes shared, and this throws the girls for a bit of a loop but they’re still ready to throw down. 

With a swing of Crescent Rose, we cut back to Cinder and Watts meeting with Neo in the alleyway. She’s learned you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, so she apologizes for how she’s treated Neo and promises she will get the revenge she wants so badly this time, but in order to do that Cinder will need to use the Lamp. Neo reluctantly does some magic of her own and pulls the Lamp out of her hat. The two glare at each other for a moment as Neo refuses to let it go, but she conceded and through unknown means tells Cinder the password. Maybe she wrote it on her Scroll and showed her? Either way, Cinder uses the final question to ask to be shown what Team RWBY’s plan is for the handoff with Ironwood. Jinn seems upset to hear she has to go against those nice kids, but the rules of her existence must be obeyed so she grants it anyway. I got some real “Jafar steals the lamp from Aladdin” vibes, and I can’t say I minded being reminded of that great Disney film. Cinder’s trio get to see every conversation the heroes have planning out all the successes we just saw last episode, and now we know they’re totally prepared to make it go wrong at every turn. Seeing Cinder so in control and prepared brought me back to Volume 3 where she was at her most dangerous as a villain, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s been a long time coming and justifies her continuation as a threat. What quelled the pit in my stomach a bit was the look of betrayal when Cinder realized Emerald switched sides on her. She recovers quickly and suggests they help Watts finish what he started and tear the Kingdom down with his intellect. To that end they break into Atlas central command and slaughter just about everybody inside. This would seem to include that devil of the workplace Bill who spilled coffee and microwaved salmon at work. And if that was Velvet’s dad as we liked to theorize, then that’s a real shame. The ladies leave Watts to his work, but on her way out Cinder tells Watts this is everything he deserves, possibly as a way to mend bridges between them. I prefer to hope she sealed that door shut behind her and she’s leaving him to die with the plummeting city because she’s still mad he roasted her. We see that Jaune’s warning broadcast getting cut short was indeed Watt’s doing, and just to be more of an asshole he wipes a bloodstain off an apple and eats it while he does so. With that sabotage taken care of he shifts focus to the airship hangar where the birds are cuffing the Ace Ops. But they only manage to restrain Elm before Watts sends an AK (Atlesian Knight) into the area and has it charge right at them primed to self destruct. It almost gets Robyn but Marrow jumps in the way and is knocked out. That means his Semblance wears off and Harriet is free to sprint into the airship the bomb is still loaded on to. She’s intent on finishing this last mission even if it means killing herself. Vine runs after her and manages to grab the closing cargo door with his stretchy arms before it’s too late. Robyn and Qrow are left quite worried.

Speaking of desperately destructive military personnel, Ironwood regains consciousness in his cell to the sound of crumbling debris and the realization of his failure at the hands of these teens. Jacques is in the next cell and wastes no time criticizing him for failing to keep Atlas afloat. He’s happy to gloat that his fellow man has lost, though he does wistfully admit he’s lost too. Ironwood looks like he might have a breakdown as he processes the fact that all his efforts have been foiled and he can’t be the hero of this situation, that those he thinks are the dangerous insurrection who will ruin everything are going to win... when he hears a buzzing sound. The door to his cell seems to be glitching before shutting down entirely. He’s hesitant to walk out but it stays deactivated and he finds his weapons just casually lying on the ground a few yards away from his cell. Jacques seems to not understand there are consequences to insulting a person every chance you can get and pleads for James to let him out of his cell too. Ironwood just silently loads up his big laser gun and turns it on the door of Jacques’ cell. Sure, he’ll open the door, he says emotionlessly. And the man opens fire. Jacques has a moment to realize what’s happening and seems fearful, but he lost the pity of the FNDM 4 Volumes ago. Whatever Ironwood calls this cannon of his, it leaves behind green fire and annihilates Jacques’ cell... and him along with it. Weiss’ father in name alone is dead and the Schnee family will never get a chance to settle things properly with him for how he treated them. Weiss arresting him, Winter promising him Weiss wants him to be rescued from the falling city, gods only know what Willow had said to him last, and whatever obedience Whitley showed him before he was dragged off to jail. There are the last things they said to him and they have to live with that forever. Question is, who’s going to tell them Jimmy did the deed? He’s got no time to do so, he’s a man with a mission. 

We go from one fiery dilemma to another as Team RWBY are still struggling to deal with Cinder even 4 on 1. She flies upward and creates a cyclone of fire beneath her to make it that much harder to reach her, before complimenting the team on the depth of their plan. She acknowledges she wouldn’t have been able to deal with it by herself, so in a way she’s grateful these girls taught her to ask for help. That help indeed comes from Neo, who’s approaching in disguise from behind Ruby. Yang notices Neo approaching, and charges in to push Ruby out of the way. But that means Yang takes the hit instead, and it takes out the last of her Aura. She hits the ground hard, and tumbles over the edge of the platform. In a threefold shot we see Neo mad that someone got in the way of her surprise attack, while Ruby and Weiss are freaking out and Blake immediately sprints past the latter to try and make a save. She throws Gambol Shroud as far as the ribbon will let it go, but it’s not far enough. Yang falls into the void below, dissolving into gold sparkles once she reaches a certain depth. This has all seemingly happened in a matter of seconds, which would explain why Ruby didn’t have enough time to get back on her feet from being shoved to the ground and use her Semblance to try and save her sister, and why Weiss didn’t have a chance to try and catch her on any glyphs or summon a Lancer to ride down and catch her. She’s not the fastest with making those summons anyway, she’s still got some room for improvement before she can make instant saves in that way. Long story short, 

Don’t give the writers shit for having Blake be the only one able to try and help.

The fact that she fails to save her partner is of course very upsetting for Blake and she screams Yang’s name with all the appropriate despair and sorrow. Ruby doesn’t have a lot of time to process the fact that her sister may have just died since Neo wastes no time attacking her and all her focus has to go into self defense and trying to win that fight. We can see in the background Weiss holding Blake back, because this poor woman seems to want nothing more than to dive in after Yang either out of suicidal despair or a last feverish hope that she survived and can be rescued. The denial and depression soon turns to anger though, and she grabs her weapon with a look of murderous rage before charging in to attack Neo for what she did. She grabs Neo with her ribbon and tries to slice her in two, but it’s just an illusion and the real one is fighting with Ruby heading up a pathway towards one of the portals. Weiss turns her attention back to Cinder, and is doing an okay job of holding her own but not getting any hits in of her own. The tables seem like they could turn for our protagonists when Penny flies in to join the fight and punches Cinder in the face. But Weiss didn’t want Penny getting involved, and Cinder seems pretty glad to get another rematch with her. And she certainly is more prepared this time, compared to Penny who tries to summon her swords and forgot she doesn’t have them anymore. She takes a hit and lands in a crowd of civilians, though she does land on her feet and quickly improvise by making some new swords with her magic and then flying back into the fray. Weiss skates on her glyphs up a path to get a better vantage point, and pulls Cinder out of attack mode with a black holding glyph that seems to yank on her like gravity. Turns out the glyphs are vulnerable to fire though, so Cinder burns through it and quickly finds where Weiss is so she can send a flurry of fiery glass blades her way. Weiss happened to choose a spot right by 3 portals so there’s about a dozen innocent bystanders around her that are in danger. She thinks fast and summons her Knight’s sword to shield them, but some of the blades do go through a portal and send some other people diving for cover in the train station. Jaune is there to defend some of them with his shield, and immediately realizes the evacuation job just got a lot harder. Unfortunately for Weiss, these glass shards superheat and explode at her feet, sending her flying off the platform. She still has Aura though, and catches herself on a glyph to catch her breath. In the meantime, Cinder goes back on the defensive against Penny and Ladybug continue to tag team against Neo. Blake hears screaming and realizes she could also try and help Weiss and Penny deal with Cinder, but feels really conflicted about it. Who needs her more, can she just give up on getting vengeance for Yang? What can she even do against a Maiden? She just doesn’t know.

Back in the skies, Harriet is getting close to Mantle when she gets an alert of a disturbance in the airship’s cargo hold. Putting the controls on autopilot, she goes down to check on it and sees Vine made it aboard. She’s about to arm the bomb, but he stops her and voices his thoughts that this may not be the best plan for them anymore, much to her annoyance. She asks him if this is really the side he wants to take here and now, and he doesn’t want to call it a divide like that. But he lays out the facts: Their commanding officer has been deposed so his authority is moot, the city is going down and there’s likely going to be no stopping that, and the people are going to be brought to safety regardless. So why bother bombing a city full of innocents whose other options are run away to the barren desert or be crushed under a giant hunk of rock? But Harriet isn’t having that shit. It’s the principle of the matter, it’s about following through and standing with her decisions. If she’s not obeying what Ironwood ordered... then what is she anymore? To disobey him or let the teens continue their rescue efforts means acknowledging they’re in the right and she’s wrong. And after the last few days of seeing them as her enemy and losing a fight to them... her pride just won’t allow it. She has to see this through, because it’s what Clover would have done. He was a good soldier, he died doing what the general told him he had to. Vine admits that doesn’t mean he was right to die on that hill. He wasn’t an infallible paragon of good judgment. Harriet doesn’t like hearing that either, but she can’t seem to find the right words to defend her stance on Clover. Probably because those words are something to the tune of “Clover was my friend, and I want to do right by him because I miss him dearly”. But to say that would mean the Ace Ops were also wrong after the mission in the mines, when they were so condescending in telling Team RWBY that you have to just be coworkers with your team and you can’t be friends. And she seems to prefer suicide bombing death over admitting some teenagers knew more about friendship and teamwork than her and her squad. That ego and temper really need some working on, and one starts to worry she’s too far gone to ever get a chance at working on them. Before Vine can give some heartfelt reassurances about being allowed to feel their feelings for each other the airship gets bumped hard and Harriet goes back into angry work first mode. She arms the bomb and tries to dump Vine out the cargo doors before rushing back up to the cockpit and regaining control of the ship. The bumping was caused by Robyn flying another airship into them to try and keep the bomb from being delivered, because how was she to know Vine was about to defuse the whole situation? She does have the good sense to let up on her efforts and come around behind the other airship to rescue Vine when she sees he’s hanging on for dear life. In the meantime, Harriet has to deal with another angry bird as Qrow uses his bird form to fly right up to her windshield and turns back at the last second to crash through the glass and tackle her to the floor. The two fall down the ladder back into the cargo hold, where Qrow seems ready and willing to give Harriet the rematch she’s been wanting so badly. But since nobody’s at the controls and Harriet didn’t turn autopilot back on, the ship’s going to crash... except it’s not because Watts overwrites that too and makes sure the bomb is gonna get where he wants it to.

Down in the Vault, Winter is trying to call any of the teens she can reach to get an update on the plan’s progress. No signal, we know now to thank Watts for that, but what she does find is a red dot appearing on the ground and quickly moving to the center of her chest. She promptly realizes its a laser sight and puts up a glyph to shield herself, but it’s a real strong green blast. Ironwood is coming down the elevator with his greek fire cannon, and he fully intents to put his former lieutenant down for betraying him. For all his paranoia he never thought she would stab him in the back, but that’s just what happens when you have good people at your side while you go mad with power. James tries one last time to insist he knows the right course of action for Atlas. Winter should just step aside and let him kill Team RWBY to reclaim the Staff and Make Atlas Floating Again. But she won’t back down, it is her job and her passion to protect Atlas and its people, and she’s not quitting in the face of this new enemy of the peace. Because Ironwood is the villain here, as much as he thinks he’s right. The extremes he considers necessary are too far. Ironwood actually sheds a tear when faced with this declaration, but I think it’s the last of his heart and humanity leaving as he shuts himself off from all but his machine like devotion to the cause.

Back in the Vacuan desert, Ren’s Aura runs out after spending a few minutes masking thousands of refugees, and the three green teens wonder where the heck Penny is, since she should have been among the first through the portal and her Maiden powers would be able to make quick work of the sandstorm. Oscar grows especially concerned and tries to run back into the pocket dimension to go check on her, but he hits the portal hard and gets bounced back. Oz realizes this new issue is Ambrosius’ doing, and we flashback to when Weiss was telling the big blue builder how to make the central location and all its portals. She happened to use the phrase “a one-way ticket to Vacuo”, since they had no intention of going back to the crashing Atlas. But Ambros took that too literally in the wrong way, and made the Vacuo portal the only one to be one way. They can hop around between Atlas portals all they want, but once you’re in Vacuo there’s no going back to help with the fight they don’t even know is happening yet. But these three have problems of their own, because bat-like Grimm are swarming in and attacking the unguarded civilians. We end the episode there, and boy am I not ready for the finale to only make things worse before 8 months of no resolutions. Are you?

[chocobostrinket]

Story between reader and Ignis. She's known the guys for ages and is invited to a camp gathering and becomes upset due to her years long crush on Igis and fears rejection due to his duties and lack of interaction so she leaves mid way in secret and sits on a high rock crying and having anxiety but she's found by her crush himself.

(Righto! Second story ever using second person. :D….TBH thisended up being a character study on…well, you the reader. Pfft. WILL ALSO BE A TWO PARTER! D: It’s been forever since I’ve been able to write guys, and I’ll hopefully have the second part done soon. I hope this is alright!)

 It’d been a long time since you’d last seen them all. Sincebefore Insomnia fell to be exact. So, the invite was welcome when it’d come. Anight out with the boys at the camp site, just for friends to catch up. Youwere going of course, being one of the unfortunately few survivors that got outof Insomnia. Iris and Jared, along with Talcott, were also going. A few peoplefrom Hammerhead were coming out as well.

It would be a small affair, but one that meant a lot to you.You saw it as a signal that things would return to normal.  After all, it wasn’t easy being the lastliving member of your family. And everything you’d owned had been left in yourfallen city. A gathering of friends was just the change of pace you needed. Anight to forget about the problems being a refugee presented.

You’d been staying with Iris for the past few months, justuntil you saved enough working in Lestallum to get your own apartment. Eventhough Jared had assured you that you’d be welcome to stay with them if you’dlike, it didn’t feel right. They’d done enough when they had taken you out ofthe city with them.

You were lucky.

You’d been Iris’ tutor in some of the subjects she wasstruggling with in her high school classes. You had been going to theuniversity at the time, and welcomed the Amicitia’s offer of a part time job asher tutor. Your mothers had been friends and that day, it had saved your life.

The attack happened during one of your sessions. Your motherhad been in the next room speaking with hers. It happened so fast, and bothyour parents rose to protect their children. You, being of a lower name, hadbeen told to escort her away and OUT of the city. It had been hell, and you’dhad to cut through most of the chaos to reach the gates. Of course, it waslater, when you’d reached the city of lights, that you’d been informed of yourfamily’s passing.

Normal would be welcome.

You moved across your room and grabbed your jacket, carryingit in your arms rather than put it on. It was too warm in the city, but youfigure that if you were going to be outside city limits until morning, you’dbetter have it with you. Iris and the other had already gone ahead witheverything else you needed. You’d have gone with them, but the shop you worked part time in needed you to stay for a bit longer than usual. Not that it mattered. Youcould still make it before the sun was completely down.

You left the room and descended the stairs, waving at thehotel clerk as you left through the doors. As you headed to where you had lastparked, you greeted everyone and chatted as you went. It had become habit, andthough you found being greeted so warmly by strangers’ odd at first, it quicklybecame a part of why you loved the city.

A small smile crossed your face as you reached the parkinglot and slipped on your jacket. Both hands found their way into your pocket,one pulling out a pair of shaded goggles, the other pulling out your keys. Youcouldn’t wait to see the boy’s reaction to what you had managed to buy, and thenget working.

Without further ado, you lifted your leg over the motorcycleand took your seat. The engine started easily enough, and you gunned it out ofthe lot, flying down the road faster than what any car could do. Or that’s whatit felt like anyways. You gauged the sun and then mapped out your route in yourhead, speeding up.

You’d make it.

~

You did not make it.

Night had fallen quicker than you’d anticipated, and youcursed your luck as you turned on your headlight. It was bright enough to lightyour way, and you were certain your bike was quick enough to avoid any majortrouble. But it still made your heart beat a little faster with worry. You’dtaken off your sunglasses and returned them to your pocket so you could see abit better, but it was still too dark to see much beyond the headlight. Youcould see the lights from the camp site ahead of you though, so you relaxed abit.

And thankfully the Astrals must have been smiling at you,because you got the rest of the way unharmed. As soon as the engine was cut,you quickly hopped up into the haven and dusted off your jacket. However, rightas you were about to greet everyone, you found yourself wrapped in a pair ofarms and tightly squeezed.

“You’re late!!” Iris squeaked, lifting you off the ground. AnAmicitia through and through, the girl had more than enough muscle to managethat and squeeze the life out of you while she did it.

You wheezed and lightly kicked your feet. “S-sorry! Sun wentdown quicker than I thought it would!”

Your arms found hers and you tried to pry her off once sheset you down. But it was hopeless as Talcott rushed the other side of you andwrapped his around you as well, excitedly babbling about his day. Normal for aboy his age, and hearing him set you at ease. Though you didn’t want to admitit, you all were very attached to each other. Having lived together for thepast few month, and being survivors of the mess in Insomnia, had made you allcloser than friends. Family would have been the word to describe yourrelationships with them, if the word didn’t hurt so much to think about.

“We called the hotel and they said you had left two hoursago. We thought…” He said, a slight waver in his voice calling you back to thepresent.

You sighed heavily and draped your arm over him, “I’malright. I would have called to let you know where I was, but didn’t dare toonce the sun went down.”

Iris squeezed you tighter for a second and then let go.Talcott on the other hand held on. But you didn’t mind. Instead you walkedbeside him as he led you to Jared, who subtly fussed over you as well. At leasthe trusted your skills enough to get there unscathed. It was only after allthree had ensured you were unharmed that you could go and join the smallgathering at the campfire.

Instead of saying hi, you just plopped down in an open spotand grinned at everyone. You had taken Iris’ spot, which no one noticed untilIris made Gladiolus scoot over. It was only then that everyone’s eyes slowlyslid over to you and you smiled.

“Long time no see fellas.”

“Holy shit you made it.” Noctis said.

Prompto responded by lightly smacking him in the back of thehead. “At least say hi first Noct!”

“I did!”

The two proceeded to bicker back and forth, forgetting youwere there for a moment. Which was fine. Sunshine and the prince always wereeasily distracted. You were used to waiting for their attention. However, youweren’t expecting the voice that spoke next to affect you so much.

“What he meant was, it’s great to see you again.” Ignissaid, softly smiling.

You grinned and tried to brush off the sudden feeling ofbreathlessness. “Likewise.”

You’d assumed that after the trauma of Insomnia, and theordeals you’d been through since then, that the feelings you’d held for Igniswould have dissipated. Most other childish notions had. You were an adult infull now, and adults didn’t get crushes. Or so you told yourself. But clearly,by just your reaction to hearing his voice, you still liked him.

You cleared your throat after an almost unnoticeable pauseand looked across to Glaido and his sister. “I thought there were others supposed to be here?”

The shield nodded and said, “There were. But they couldn’tmake it this time. Maybe next time when we all get together.”

“And next time, we’re all staying in the hotel!” Promptocalled before getting distracted again. 

You looked over to him and blinked in surprise, as he and Noctis werebusy grappling back and forth where they were seated. They were doing theirbest to annoy each other by pushing and jabbing the other when they weren’texpecting it. It was mildly entertaining seeing the two. Prompto managed to getNoctis moving, while at the same time the prince managed to get the flightyblond to calm down…Well, calm down as in stay in one place.

“They…always at each other like that?” you said with achuckle.

Ignis chuckled as well, noticing what was going on, “Unfortunately.It gets old after a while.”

“I can imagine. God, the car rides must be terrible.” Youteased, loud enough to get the other’s attention.

“We -ow- We’re not that bad.” Noctis grumbled, trying toprotect the side of his ribs where Prompto had just jabbed.

Ignis looked at you with a raised eyebrow, as if asking ‘See what I put up with?’

And you laughed.

Somewhere in the heart of you, you knew it hadn’t been acrush at all. It had been a seed and somewhere along the line, it had bloomedinto love. But if you still called it a crush, you’d hoped the feelings wouldfall away. Or at least make it easy to suppress. Because unfortunately, justthe feeling of your returning crush was enough to tip you backwards into thepast. It made you nostalgic. Just hearing his voice took you back to Insomnia.To memories you simultaneously treasured and wanted to forget. There was a knotin your throat that you barely managed to swallow down, and you yawned to coverup the burning you felt in your eyes.

You still had not dealt with your grief. You didn’t know howto.

Gladio whistled lowly at what Iris had said and caught yourattention, pulling you out of your thoughts before you wound up crying in frontof everyone thankfully. Iris was talking about what life had been like, andwhat you had been up to in Lestallum. Hearing your current life grounded youback in the present. You let her speak for you, not fully trusting your voice yet,only correcting small details when you had to.

“-sometimes when she’s getting back from a hunt, she’d sobanged up we don’t let her near her bike for a week!” Iris finished, and yougave an embarrassed laugh, finally joining back in the conversation.

“That’s only happened twice.” You countered, trying to keepyour face from turning red.

“And counting.” Talcott added with an innocent smile.

“Hey!”

“Bike?” Prompto frowned, cutting in. “Bike as in…?”

You coughed and turned away, not meeting anyone’s gaze asyou replied. “Motorcycle.”

“Aren’t those kind of…” Prompto said with a concerned lookon his face, “…dangerous?”

“It got me here didn’t it? And what isn’t dangerous thesedays?” You laughed it off, playing it as a joke, and everyone, thankfully, letit slide, returning to brighter topics.

You knew the risks of riding a motorcycle. Considered dangerousfor their lack of protection in the case that their riders should wreck. (You’dexperienced that first hand plenty of times while learning.) Also, the highspeeds one could attain on one was also many peoples concern. And that was insidea brightly lit city. Outside the city? Easy pickings for a Daemon. What you’drun into a lot of was people worried for your health, both mental and physical,for choosing to ride your bike. But the speed was worth it. You could drivefrom Galdin Quay to Lestallum in half the time it’d take a car.

Plus, what was a little danger these days? Just by being a refugee from Insomnia you were always in a bit of danger. 

You didn’t try jumping back into the conversation after that, becomingmuted once more. You simply sat back and enjoyed being with the others again. And the didn’t seem to notice. So you considered everything alright.(But you couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was staring at you. And if youhad happened to look to your left, you’d have seen a pair of green eyeswatching you.)

[fathersonholygore]

AMC’s The Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 16: “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life” Directed by Greg Nicotero Written by Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, & Matthew Negrete

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Something They Need” – click here Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) is on the edge of life and death. I only hope she holds on. Will she? Or has she decided to choose death, once and for all? She has a dream, of being back with Abraham (Michael Cudlitz). In their home at Alexandria. Quickly, she’s back with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He’s brought her something to eat. And he has plans to use her to get things “back on track” – whatever that means, we’ll soon find out. She even gets a blueberry, smiley face pancake with eggs and fruit for breakfast. Yum. The sinister plot of Negan begins. Back at Alexandria, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) has his gun on Dwight (Austin Amelio), who says he only wants things with Negan and The Saviors to end. It’s all pretty tough, Daryl (Norman Reedus) doesn’t like it, neither does Tara (Alanna Masterson). Nobody really trusts him, even though he gives a passionate speech about why he’s done what he’s done. Except Daryl does know more than the others about him, about his wife, what happened with Negan. They also worry about Sasha, that Dwight may be their only lifeline to getting her back, as well as their best way to infiltrate the Sanctuary and end the reign of terror. So they must prepare, one way or another, for Negan and his Saviors coming soon. Poor Sasha, she keeps flashing back to Abraham. Not sure which existence is a dream. Flashing to Negan and his plan, his breakfast. Her mind is being absolutely tortured. She sees, more and more, there is no way forward with Negan other than “punishment” and death by Lucille. He wants three to die, but would settle for just one. And for now Sasha agrees: only one. Negan (to Sasha): “You‘ve got me wrapped around your little finger, y‘know that? And it‘s not a man-woman thing. I mean, if you had a dick I would still have these feelings.” Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is figuring out what to do with Hilltop, with Gregory (Xander Berkeley) off elsewhere, and Jesus (Tom Payne) happy to help her with anything, glad to have her leading the place. What to do? They need to fight. Just depends on how, what they can contribute to help Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) and the rest at Alexandria in taking the fight to The Saviors and Negan. I have faith that Maggie can play a big part, she’s a force. Then there’s another force of fucking nature – Carol (Melissa McBride). She and Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) and Morgan (Lennie James), her pals from the Kingdom are on the road together. Well, Morgan likes to go it alone, but they’re together in one sense. Ezekiel wants Morgan with them. Once again, the man cannot forgive himself or get past things long enough to help those around him. A trouble dude in troubled times. At least he has Carol and his pals from the Kingdom, and Shiva! Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) and her people arrive, garbage trucks and all. They’re an odd bunch; Jadis says she wants to bang Rick later, which neither he nor Michonne like to hear. In other news, Daryl, Rosita (Christian Serratos), and Aaron (Ross Marquand) are wiring an explosive they’ll put to good use soon enough. At the same time, Negan and Co are held up in the road, coming across the downed trees knocked over by Dwight.

Sasha’s decided not to take that pill after all. What she’ll decide in the end ought to be interesting. In the meantime, her friends at Alexandria have readied for the coming fight, even Carl (Chandler Riggs) has himself an assault rifle. Everybody’s braced for war. As The Saviors and Negan arrive, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is up in front with a megaphone greeting his old friends. Nobody’s impressed with that, particularly after he tells them: “I‘m Negan.” Rather than suffer any fools, they opt to set off their explosive. Instead nothing happens. Jadis and her crew turn their weapons on the Alexandrians, Dwight hops from the truck with Negan. No explosions. No surprise assault. Oh, fuck. “We win” The tables have turned, drastically. Rick is not happy, as Negan gloats with everyone on his side. He lays it on thick while the Alexandrians await whatever comes next. Then, Dwight and Simon (Steven Ogg) wheel out a casket. Inside is Sasha, says Negan. He’s going to take all the guns, whatever food they can get. Rick also much choose a victim for Lucille. Plus, Daryl and the pool table go, too. Or else Sasha and a few others die.

Rick demands to see her first. So, Negan opens the casket – we get another flash of Sasha and Abraham: “It‘s always for someone else,” he tells her; a resonant point about The Walking Dead as a series as a whole. We also see Eugene give Sasha an iPod for her ride in the casket. She still has that pill, too. And she takes Abraham’s words to heart, in the worst way possible. She swallows the pill. When the door comes open, a zombie Sasha appears! She lunges at Negan, then Carl takes the first shot initiating total chaos amongst the crowds. Bullets fly everywhere. Michonne wrestles with the other sniper on the rooftop. Rosita takes a bullet as Tara helps her away from the action. Jadis and Rick face one another down at the wall’s top, then she fires a shot into his side, tossing him over. With gunfire everywhere, the Alexandrians struggle to stay alive. Jadis brings Rick to Negan, dead bodies litter the streets. The Saviors have Carl, and it seems as if he’s the next target for Lucille. Furthermore, he wants to use the bat on Rick’s hands. “I guess I gotta start all over again,” he taunts Rick. In the distance he also believes he hears Michonne dying. Somehow he stands against the tide, strong: “You‘re all already dead,” Rick tells Negan. But before any more death can come, Shiva leaps in behind them and takes down a man, scaring The Saviors and Negan away. Ezekiel, Carol, Morgan, Maggie, they all appear to push back the villains. And though the biggest baddie’s run off, he’s taken aback by the tiger, the living widow of Glenn “guns blazin‘” and sent packing with his tail between his legs. Nice to see Morgan and Rick together again, as well. Fighting side by side. Once the smoke clears, Alexandria still remains standing, though the threats likewise live on. And Michonne, she made it out alive, if not a bit worse for the wear. She hasn’t given up, either. Not one bit. Back at the Sanctuary, Negan’s wondering how Sasha actually died. Eugene bullshits saying it was probably suffocation in that casket, but the boss ain’t sold. Nevertheless, he’s prepared for war. Things in Season 8 will get fucking ugly. Although with the force of The Saviors coming down upon them, Rick and Maggie and the rest are also prepared for war. They slipped this time, managing to regain their footing. Next time, I don’t think they’ll go in trusting another group. It’s all on them now. Alexandria is full of life, with all the groups in one place for a while, each ready to fight for the person next to them.

A great season. Loved this season finale, because we ended last season and began this one on a devastating note, a weak one for Rick and everyone around him. At the end of Season 7, they’ve all regained a strength, and some they didn’t know they had, which will serve them well. We needed this progression, and as Maggie points out in her ending monologue this all began so long ago, at the beginning when Rick and each of them decided to stand for the other, to help, to love, to protect, to fight on the one side The Walking Dead – Season 7, Episode 16: “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life” AMC's The Walking Dead Season 7, Episode 16: "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life"