#and mark has literal *superpowers* but it didn’t change things

[enderspawn]

GOD I’m. Thinking abt Mark. He never hated Ashe, he loved Ashe to the point of suffocation. He wanted to keep him safe and alive so he locked him away. Even if he was miserable, he was here. After losing his wife, he couldn’t take another death and projected all that fear onto Ashe. It didn’t matter if he was a shit dad, he was keeping Ashe alive and safe and clothed and fed and everything else was the cost to pay to achieve it.

But god, after Ashe’s mom died, he didn’t blame Ashe— he blamed the book. He hated the book, hated what it could do. It would’ve been so easy to hate Ashe for it too, but he didn’t. Despite all that, he trusted Ashe to still be able to control it. He let Ashe help the PD initially with the spirit world bc he trusted Ashe to keep himself safe too, he told him that! It was after Ashe got shot that he realized it didn’t matter what Ashe did, he wasn’t going to safe at all bc of the situation they’re in and tried he to make Ashe stop and leave, but Ashe told him he wanted to be a hero.

Do you think anyone ever told him what happened to his son? That he was a hero? Or did he go to prison forever unsure. Do you think him trusting Ashe that first time and letting Ashe help haunts him?

[nabrizoya]

honestly would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the nikolai duology because i really only see blanket praise or blanket hate for it whereas I see a lot of wasted potential. Bardugo's actual writing was beautiful as ever for the most part, but the choice of the plot/beats feels baffling to me. I love Nina, but her parts felt so separate from the rest of the book until the very end, and even that felt off. I liked the first 2/3 of KoS enough, dealing with the monster, political tensions, 1/2

and even the cult of the starless saint was at least interesting because dealing with people trying to rewrite the narrative of their greatest enemy (who hurt these young leaders in deeply PERSONAL ways) was really compelling (making him literally come back was. a choice) but I feel like somewhere in the last third, KoS went in a wholly differeent direction, and RoW has this vibe of feeling like she definitely wrote it after reading the show scripts or even seeing some footage. idk. 2/2

I will try to be brief (1/12)

Hey anon! Thank you so much for asking this even though it took 38756588247834 years to answer this I’m so sorry !! The Nikolai duology was good—wonderful too maybe because of the myriad of themes and topics it discussed and explored, all in addition to how beloved these characters are. For me, it’s the end of KoS as it is for you, and the entirety of RoW in particular that irk me the most.

I have very little issue with KoS, and I agree with everything you’ve said. The political tensions, the sort of urgency in trying to secure a country at the cost of personal reservations, preparing for a war that seems unforgivably near the door, etc. was all thrilling. After all, it is the first installment in the duology, and it’s supposed to set the course for the upcoming books.

KoS managed to introduce the stakes and the circumstances, lay the rails for what the characters will face and what it might mean to a vast set of entities connected to the events. And it’s hardly out of sense to expect Rule of Wolves to pick up where the previous book left off and carry forward the themes and plot points introduced in the first book.

Except, RoW failed spectacularly in that aspect.

Rule of Wolves: the second book, and the supposed finale to the Grishaverse and the Nikolai duology; it fails to continue the other number of threads that KoS set up for it, effectively compromising the characters, their characterizations, the themes and other political tensions and stakes. The due importance that should be given to the heavy set of topics that get brought up in the povs are not through, nor are the small details that Leigh added to the conversations evolve into something worth talking about, which are the actual points that could have been given some more page time to explore than just making them facts or points of nostalgia for the characters.

If you take a step back and analyze the whole timeline, events, characterization, objectives of the arcs and the plot points etc. etc., all the way from Crooked Kingdom to Rule of Wolves, there’s so much that is left out and tied in, quite haphazardly, which leads me to believe that Leigh wanted to attempt writing a duology that is more plot-driven than it is character driven. And we know that Leigh writes character driven stories brilliantly, and SoC, CK and TLoT are testament to the same. Heck, even TGT has more consistency than whatever TND has.

So, objectively? Plot possibilities? Characterization? Potential? Personal goals? Addressing the very serious themes it brought up, in little or major light, but give no proper elaboration about them?

The lost potential readily compromised the characterizations of many characters, and it all amounted to their arcs being very underwhelming.

I’m dividing this into four parts and here’s the basic outline.

Writing and Plotting

The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Remedy (what I think would've worked better to tie this all up)

This can get very looong, so be forewarned.

I. Writing & Plotting

Now, Leigh Bardugo’s writing is exceptional, no doubt. The sentences are short and flowy, and convey the tone, psyche, environment and the setting and its effects on the pov character marvellously. It's also immersive. It’s the same in Rule of Wolves, except, a little or a lot weaker.

The two main parts of this is that one, that Leigh slightly overdid showing a lot more than telling, and two, that the RoW (and perhaps KoS too), was more plot driven than character driven, the latter of which is actually Leigh’s strength.

In Rule of Wolves, Leigh’s writing seemed very choppy and snappish. The descriptions were lacking, or maybe that’s just me wishing for more internal conflict and dilemma, and going back and forth in one's own head for a bit. It felt like she showed more than she told.

Example being how Zoya ‘snaps’, ‘drawls’, ‘scoffs’, or ‘scowls’ less, and even if that’s supposed to be show Zoya beginning to be a little less unpleasant than she usually is, the tone in those chapters was not strong enough to distinguish how and why the character was acting a certain way. Nor pinpoint an explanation on what brought that change about. (And there were many instances like this with many other characters), which resulted in the characters themselves feeling so off to me.

Leigh’s characters are important to the story. They carry tremendous weight and actively contribute to the plot. Except, by focusing a lot more on the plot, some parts of these characters’ relevance was not up to the mark. It is greatly due to how weak the plotting and pacing of the book was, tbh, more than just her writing.

Consider: Mayu Kir Kaat. She is integral to the story, but she is thrust into responsibilities, and that doesn’t give us much time to see her as a person, and then as a person with a duty, like we see with most other characters. Whatever parts of her we did see were very circumstantial and timed, which is probably the reason why not many we’re unable to appreciate Mayu as much as we should. (Maybe fandom racism also plays a part, so, well,,,).

Like, we know from Six of Crows and with The Language of Thorns, how great care went into describing the characters’ state of mind, which further heavily influenced their choices and decisions. This time though, I think she wanted it to be more plot driven, hence the whole crowded feeling of the book and general worry about oh my god too much is happening, how will all this be solved and all that.

And this, I think, greatly hampered Leigh's writing, leading to unsettling and rather unsatisfying character arcs. Not to mention that there was quite little space given for the characters to develop or let them grow in a satisfying way which touches on most of the elements and themes that get brought up with regard to their powers and potential,,, and when it was indeed brought up, it was all in vain since they were never followed through.

That's one of the biggest problems for me in RoW: Plot points brought up in KoS were not brought forward in RoW.

II. The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Phew. Truly buckle up because this train has too many coaches. And to discuss them all, let’s keep the starting point as Crooked Kingdom.

a) Parem

Now, by the end of Crooked Kingdom, we know some important things about the parem.

It's dangerous asf for the Grisha who have to sacrifice their will and capabilities for a short time superpower high that they didn’t even ask for

Which means they are more often than not forced to consume the drug

Shu Han is the creator of the Parem and are also creating a new kind of soldiers called Khergud (who additionally require Ruthenium, but we’ll talk abt that later)

Fjerda snatched the formula after kidnapping Bo Yul-Bayur, keeping him away in the Ice Court and in their possession, and used the Parem to further their own heedlessly heinous agenda

I think it’s easy to understand how KoS started off on the right track, considering that Kuwei Yul Bo is mentioned, the antidote and jurda is brought up and so come the political tensions alongside it (what with the impending war, the demon, the lack of funds in the coffers and security and peace for the country alongside safety for the Grisha).

The point is, parem is a character of its own. CK was its inception, and its fate was decreed along with its lifespan and its doom. Ideally, by the end of RoW, parem should have been vanquished while addressing its nature as a deadly drug, the addiction and aftermath, and the key person who will guide the plot: Kuwei Yul Bo.

Parem is a political tool that pitted countries against each other, making one another their allies or enemies. (Though parem is not the only one factor). Ravka doesn’t yet know about Kerch’s neutrality. The Shu made their move to assassinate in the end, just as Fjerda cleared the air about their goals.

Point is, parem is weapon, a new kind of warfare that keeps getting alluded to in KoS. The first book gave a glimpse of how the Shu and Fjerda are using parem, thereby exploiting, prejudicing etc. the Grisha in their countries. Khergud whose humanity is washed away with parem + ruthenium, and the Fjerdan Grisha (are targeted) drugged and exploited while be subjected to torture, training and imminent death, parametres of these outcomes being severely gendered.

Ravka too wanted to weaponize it and create a usable strain that would still give the Grisha their powers but at a minimal cost, until Nikolai’s conversation with Grigori convinces him out of it and to use only the antidote for the Grisha.

And when are the contents of this conversation brought up again?

Never.

Another aspect of parem (that the conversation also covers) is this: that what was once merzost, parem is its strange cousin. Parem parallels breaking the bounds of Grisha norms unnaturally, while merzost takes it a step further to break the bounds of nature itself, which comes with a heavy price. They're both the same with little differences. Amplifiers are in tune with this discussion, hence the conversation between Zoya and Nikolai about how, and whether or not the abomination in him, the parem, and the amplifiers are tied together. This gets brought up again in the conversation with Grigori.

Parem parallels the superpowers, something that Zoya too manages to achieve once the corruption of the amplifier business is resolved, which makes her realize how in tune with nature the Grisha must be, and how limited the Grisha powers until then had been. And why the amplifiers were a corrupted piece of magic.

Zoya was supposed to be the conduit in that sense that she reversed the Grisha norms and understood the importance and nature of small science. This is alongisde parem getting abolished or resolved in the least, be given a redressal.

Yet instead in RoW, we barely see any of Zoya’s powers, nor even her experimentation and hunger for power which would give her protection. We don't see how she begins to realize that while power was indeed protection, it was also a responsibility. Not clearly, anyway.

So like, not only is this entire discussion thrown away in Rule of Wolves, but no matters are resolved either. Parem did not reach its end like it was supposed to. Merzost with regard to parem would have been an excellent thing to address, with or without the Darkling being present, because the blight is there. But that doesn’t happen.

What happens instead? We get one chapter of Grisha getting the antidote during the face off at the start of the book, the women in Fjerda are not brought up again and instead we jump to Shu Han. Kuwei is also conveniently forgotten because hey, the Zemeni are here so it’s all sorted!

RoW could have (should have actually) sought to address both the political and medical (?) aftermath and implications. Maybe it did succeed in showing the political side of it, with regard to Mayu, Ehri, Makhi and Tamar’s storylines. But that’s only in Shu Han, whose state of affairs we had NO idea of until RoW. No idea, so much that it was completely out of the blue.

And what we did know (get to know about in KoS) is Fjerda and the affairs there remained… unsolved.

(...sorry).

b) Grisha Powers

Re: From the conversation between Nikolai and Grigori, and Juris and Zoya, about how parem and the amplifiers are parallel to each other in terms of being abominations, a corruption of Grisha powers. Now the theory of it is not entirely explained, but we do know that the parem and whatever Zoya learnt from Juris was meant to move along in the same direction.

But we don't see another mention of it, except maybe we could dig a little deeper and realize that it all adds up because Zoya is the Grisha Queen of Ravka, Summoner, Soldier, Saint, all of it rushed and unnecessarily magical in a war so dire and realistic in RoW.

Welp.

c) Spy business

Just… genuinely what even was Nina up to in RoW? A spy, sure, but only to garner information on the pretender?

Why couldn’t there have been two responsibilities for her to uncover: the lies or truths about the pretender while the Apparat causes hindrances, and Nina trying to seek out more documents of the locations and labs where the Grisha women are being tormented and the other Grisha being weaponized? It could have been a leverage to discredit Fjerda in front of everybody in the Os Kervo scene. Imagine if Nina whipped out the documents of Grisha labs and brought the truth of the exploitation and killing and kidnapping etc. in front of the convention of all nations. All of it together would have upped the political tensions by quite the notch.

Even then, there’s a possibility that it wouldn’t matter either because the Grisha aren’t exactly valuable to all the nations. But killing and exploiting is still wrong so maybe it might have worked? Or see, even if it wouldn’t have, the slow and sluggish realization of Mila’s identity by Brum, and alongside writing it as a tragedy where Nina’s efforts seem to have gone to waste, or where Nina is telling Zoya about not accounting for Prince Rasmus’ word and she informs her about the documents she has snatched? Something could have been done here?

The point is, KoS focused on Fjerda and its unraveling, and it wasn’t continued with and through in Rule of Wolves. Instead it sought to find the problem in a whole new country, Shu Han, and fixed it within the same book leaving the other country as it is.

d) Ruthenium and the Blight

Ruthenium, the metal that is an alloy of regular metal and Grisha made steel, could have been utilized more significantly in the books.

I mention it in association with the blight because while on one hand it is true that the blight is an area full of nothingness, ruthenium as a metal could have been utilized to show the effects of rushed industrialization that is leading to the ground losing its essence. This is supposed to be advanced warfare after all. Besides, Makhi loses someone very dear to her. Perhaps ruthenium is more dangerous in Shu Han because the Shu use it to create the khergud, so the constant manufacturing of it has been leading to the metal leeching the lands of their fertility, along with the blight.

And so also to broker peace, Ravka could have provided aid in some ways. :

1) The Darkling sacrificed himself, as a result of which the blight vanishes. While the blight took away her niece, the possibility of a blight persisting despite the ending of RoW could be attributed to ruthenium.

2) Ravka could provide the reversing effect to the alloy of ruthenium and metal using Grisha and otkazt’sya engineering and ingenuity to replenish the lands.

All in addition to whatever will be Shu Han’s policies to bring lushness to their lands.

e) Women and War:

Holy fucking Shit, where do I start with this?

Whatever we saw in Fjerda was haunting, and we see it from Nina’s chapters. There’s literally no resolution for it, nor is it ever brought up again, at all. In Zoya’s chapters, we see through her eyes the brunt that Grisha faced with the war, and in a country that has refused to recognize Grisha as the citizens and considers them expendable.

Add to it her own narrative of how the women are never mentioned, let alone the ones that she has lost or has known to suffer, at the hands of the war, at the Darkling's torture and powers. The description of these women suffering, often being forgotten and thrown aside as mere casualties… where or when was it ever going to be brought up again?

Like, switching between such horrifying things happening in Fjerda to whatever was happening with Zoya and Nikolai and Isaak is such a contrast, horrifyingly demeaning and insulting, even more so when it failed to align with the importance of parem and offer a solution to both these problems.

Now switch to Rule of Wolves, where the Tavgahard women immolate themselves on Queen Makhi’s orders. Not only is that such a cheap and insensitive thing to do, it gets treated a simple fucking plot point in the book, and it barely gets addressed afterwards. Women in Asia have a vastly complex and complicated history with fire, and this is a serious criticism that culturally affects readers in personal ways. And what gets done about it? Fine, Zoya feels baaaad, sorry oops why would the women do that?!?!?

Where is the adequate sensitivity to the topic? Where is the continuation of the pain Zoya feels for many people, despite them being the enemy? How does she honour them? Where is all that dilemma and pain? Why does she not think of them or just get a line or two to talk about them?

Where is the due importance for this suffering given? Structurally and culturally?

f) Soldier, Summoner, Saint / Yaromir the Great

We never really get any explanation for why Zoya deserves to be the Queen, and why she is the best. But we do get to see why Nikolai isn’t the one supposed to be on the throne, and it’s not just because of his parentage but also because of his failings and doubts and the need for acceptance with the secrets he carried.

Here's the thing though; it’s not just about her showing mercy. It’s very subtle, and in good sense, should actually have been given a little bit more importance that be loosely brought up at random times.

Keeping aside the fact that Zoya is representative of Ravka—a woman, a Grisha, a Suli girl who changed the course of war and who knew what it was like living in poverty, being as an underprivileged person of the society in addition to the trauma from then and the state of living at her aunt’s place—which is meant to be covertly apparent, the other reason tracks back to Yaromir the First, who with the help of Sankt Feliks of the Apple Boughs—the one who raised the thornwood—lead Ravka at that time into the age of peace.

The Darkling testified that in his POVs, that while Feliks and Yaromir worked in tandem for Ravka, Aleksander worked for safeguarding the Grisha. In one sense, Zoya is supposed to reflect that moment in history in the present moment, except she is Queen and Sankta, and Grisha, all three at once.

It is brought up in one of the Darkling’s POVs and once in the conversation with Yuri in KoS. Other than that, we never actually get any more hints of this explanation in the text, which is the reason why the entire ending felt so so rushed, and like a fever dream, that even if it was a plot twist, it was kinda very baseless when it should have been more ohhhhh sort of a thing.

g) The Starless Cult and Saint Worship

This cult had immense potential to blossom into many things, some of which were indeed touched upon in KoS when Zoya says that she saw a bit of herself in Yuri, and brings up time and again how easily she’d been led and had not been aware enough of what’s right and wrong, just as she supposes Yuri is too. And to some extent, there is truth there, because in the Lives of Saints, we do see why Yrui comes about to hail the Darkling and how it parallels Zoya’s, of being helpless and ten being saved by a different power/ their own power, respectively.

That’s where it forks, that Zoya is older and realizes the path that Yuri has chosen and understands that it won't happen until he realizes it himself because the Darkling’s crimes are so obvious.

Even then, there’s still more potential: This cult could have been the mirror that would make Zoya reflect on the questionable methods of the Darkling, and the ways in which she might be mirroring them, despite or not it is the necessity because of the war. How she is training soldiers too, just as the Darkling did, and while the need to take children away from their homes just as soon as they were discovered Grisha was abolished, it was war, and they needed soldiers.

So like, there’s quite a big narrative going on here, how mere children are pushed into one path of becoming a soldier and the whole system that was that the Darkling followed to train the Grisha and all of that. All of this in addition to the juxtaposition to the Grisha being seen as elite despite them being hunted, and the people who are not Grisha frowning upon them. This is also the work of the Darkling, which actually paves the way to see how there can be a world where the Grisha are not feared or seen as abnormal, despite or not they are given a Saint-like narrative.

This cult could also have been the segue to discussing Yuri and his brainwashing, and the sort of cult-ish behaviour of believing in something firm when you couldn’t believe in yourself, or not seeing the magnitude of the crimes of their supposed Saint, alongside always staying focused on becoming a soldier only and never actually thinking beyond what is told.

Some of these are very subtle and some are brought up, but never given too much of an explanation.

Genya brings up another good point in the funeral chapter, about how Fjerda seemingly taking into the whole Saints thing could mean that if the Darkling moved there, he could very well sprawl his influence there to bring in supporters. Which leads to another discussion that gets brought up towards the end of the book: about Nina telling about the Ravkan Saints to Hanne and therefore to the Fjerdans,,, which doesn’t exactly sit right with me. It’s still a very nascent topic, and I think SoC3 will explore this path of faith and personal beliefs etc. but leaving it just there, while talking so much about Saints in both the countries,,, don’t exactly know how to put it into thoughts here.

But regardless, the cult of the Starless had different potential to talk of (blind) worshipping of an ideal without critically examining why the person must be put on the pedestal in the first place (and if it is simply power, then there is actually a narrative right there, which RoW gets right, about the people valuing the power still, as a result of which the monarchy still persists at the end of RoW. Even then, there’s more discussion awaiting there).

Not sure if any of this makes sense, but I’ll leave it at this here for now.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I think what I was trying to say here is that we do not have any kind of narrative evidence to seeing how and why it seems right that the Fjerdans will worship Ravkan Saints; is it merely because they are all Grisha? Or is it because of the segue explore this path of faith and personal beliefs and all of that, of the talk of the monastery and the Grisha there being of all identities, that a monastery is in Shu Han, that it has Djel's sacred Ash tree so far away from Fjerda... much to think about.

III. Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Mostly going to be about Nina and Zoya, but I’ll bunch up the rest of them at the end.

a) Nina

*head in hands*

I severely mourned how poorly Zoya was written in RoW, but then I realized that more than Zoya, it’s Nina whose potential was severely undermined and wasted. On one hand, I’m glad she uses her powers and quick thinking,observation and her own tactics to analyze the population and opt for the best way to make them see the truth she wants to show them (eg: making Leoni and Adrik and Zoya saints and also showing that the Grisha are the children of Djel via people’s belief to Joran and Rasmus’s mother).

But then, it’s like you said; her parts were so offbeat and outpaced and completely disjointed, when in fact, Nina is the thread that ties all the characters, their plotlines and potential, together. Nina is connected to Zoya and Hanne, two equally important characters and main characters of the duology. Whatever scope Nina has, they are greatly in parallel to Zoya and Hanne. And it’s all literally there, in the text! What a waste.

Though keeping aside these parallels, Nina’s own journey from Ketterdam to Ravka to Fjerda, while is spoken about, doesn’t touch some other parts that I see potential in. Or this is just meta.

Nina has grief not just from Matthias’ death but also from the loss of her powers as Heartrender. So much of the Second Army was built on being a soldier, and perhaps the Darkling was not outright disdainful of racial differences in his army, yet he still stripped every part of the children away until they weren’t children anymore in his view. They’re all soldiers… (albeit his soldiers, preparing them to do his bidding because hey, give and take right?). Nina was a soldier, and she is a soldier still under Zoya’s role as a General, but an ‘other’ of a soldier. That’s her only identity, and the loss of her powers means that she’s a different kind of soldier.

I imagine that this entire time, some small part of Nina longed for normalcy, or whatever settled as normal for a life like hers. In the sense that she wants to go back, but what is back and where exactly did she want to go back to? What was the before and after and where did things go wrong or change? There’s tragedy in the realization that whatever you were before what you became is not a place you can return to, and that’s a different kind of loss that she has to bear, and all by herself. She has powers over the dead now, a strange power she learns to grow to, but all the places she has been, all the lives she has led and people she had been, everything might seem like they’ve all been locked away in some strange place leaving her barren and indisposable.

She’s off to Fjerda as someone she isn’t, figuratively and literally. In KoS, Nina brings up many times how odd she feels as Mila and in some capacity longs to be Nina Zenik again. This ties in with the previous point of returning to somewhere, but where?, but is also a segue towards body dysmorphia, the thing that Nina and Hanne’s storylines parallel and connect too with in a small way. It’s a great line to follow to discuss what her discomfort with her body means to herself while it means something entirely different to Hanne, who is also not entirely comfortable being who they are. (This discomfort further which leads to gender dysphoria, while for Nina, it will be about learning to accept her powers. I’ll add on to this in a bit,).

I'm mourning the lost potential of that experience being a parallel to Hanne’s own feelings, of a discussion between people being uncomfortable with their bodies, something that can mean multitudes to each person and on their own accord.

In parallel to Zoya, I like to draw it from the fact about Nina wanting to go back to who she was, while Zoya actively tries to lock her past away and drown it somewhere or throw it to the storm, never to hear of it again. She has no identity other than being a soldier, and that’s enough for Zoya, because who she was before she was a soldier is not pleasant. But moving from being just another expendable shell of soldier under the Darkling’s rule, Zoya becomes the one third of the Triumvirate, and then the King’s general, all of which bring self-awareness of Zoya’s capabilities and challenges that are bound to excite her. But all of these also compel Zoya to be many other people to others as she slowly grows to realize that power is not just protection but also a responsibility, and it will inadvertently mean confronting her past of her lost identity, realizing the how of the Darkling, and how harmful it was. As Genya puts it perfectly in Rule of Wolves, that they were all taken away when they were young kids, not even barely children, and then thrust into responsibilities that didn’t allow them to be anything else other than what the Darkling told them to be.

Back to Nina; a few other great parts about Nina’s arc could have been about her connection to languages, as language being a mode of strengthening identity, in addition to growing to her powers. In RoW, there’s this line that goes ‘how sweet it was to speak her language [Ravkan] again’, and the feeling of homesickness. Like, Nina is trying to connect to Ravka through what she knows best—language, and then stories. In that, Nina realizes a part of her identity, which could also act as a segue to Zoya reclaiming her own heritage and ethnicity. Not only that but Zoya and Nina’s stories are literally so intertwined that it’s hard not to see how their choices and line of thought affect one another’s arcs, in the grief they have and how they choose to treat it, and also show why Zoya is particularly protective of Nina (and keeps wishing that she doesn’t become the monster Zoya had become, in the sense that Nina is more mature in handling her grief than Zoya was and the entire mercy plotline ties Nina, Zoya and even Genya together. More meta, haH).

And that’s why the ending doesn’t make sense. Even though the part about her not being comfortable as Mila is not brought up many times in the continuing chapters (and that’s why perhaps naming Nina’s discomfort as body dysmorphia may be wrong), there’s still the part of Nina readily accepting to be who she was a Mila and remain in Fjerda that seems iffy to me. Especially when Nina and Hanne literally a few chapters ago think about running away (it may be just another alternative they might be fantasizing about, but I think it still means that they both want to be their true selves without hiding any parts of it away). So her staying as Mila… well, it doesn’t exactly add up.

I’d also add the part of Nina’s story mirroring Leoni’s, and how she is from Novyi Zem and being a part of the Second Army meant that she had little to no connection with her past, her culture etc. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part that Leigh went for that arc.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I don't agree with my point anymore about Nina not having the kind of ending I assumed she might have, considering that it is very well possible for Nina to treat her identity as Mila as a fresh start, as a Grisha with a command over the the dead and begin a new normal that is suited for her. You can read more here.

b) Zoya

For one, white passing Zoya is not canon to me. I simply pretend I do not see it.

See, her race was handled very badly. Making her half-Suli was supposed to show the struggles and the trauma that the ridiculing of her identity by other people has caused to her. Except, not enough time nor text is given to thoroughly discuss it. Not to forget how problematic of a narrative in itself it is to make Zoya white passing.

It would have made more sense to make her dark skinned and predominantly Suli-looking than whatever yt bs she was put through. Her not being white-passing would have led to conversations about tokenization, or people caring little about her and not giving her any respect because she is Suli. Or being called beautiful to the face and praised just for it or a harmless tumble in their point of view.

So like, instead of making the ‘mistake’ of seeking for acceptance, seeking appreciation and love, from her mother at first and then the Darkling, Zoya instead makes herself someone to be feared, if respect was not what she deserved. The iciness is a part of her and has always been, but all of it soon became a shield, an armour that she vowed to harden her heart with. Just the sheer impact of this narrative and her reluctance, and seeing Nikolai love her for beyond who she thinks she is… if all of this was canon, I’m pretty sure I’d have built a shrine for this duology.

Let’s now talk about her grief, and...

…

Okay it’s not for me to point fingers at how Leigh chose to write about grief because there’s no one way or one proper approach to go through that pain, and if that’s how she chose to write about grief for Zoya, fine! But I really wish we’d have gotten a little more into her head to see how the trauma has affected her thoughts and how she struggles against why and what exactly it is that Juris wants her to do. That enough time and text was dedicated to Zoya’s feelings and the mayhem it caused her, as a result of which the dragon’s eye took its cue and made things more unbearable to her because she was the only one to bear them all.

Like, I feel like Zoya was overwhelmed throughout the book and in between she had some skyhigh responsibilities to discharge and it’s all so inconsistent and poorly woven,,, it completely dissolved her character from KoS and made it 10000000x more miserable for me to read her POVs. And honestly, what even were her assignments that the Kirkus review mentioned? Never an inch of text in RoW is given to decipher her complications of her mind, the muddled sense of hopelessness and fear that grips her time and again. Why overwhelm her so much that you fail to do her mental state and capacity any justice?

I’m not going to be harsh about how much David’s death bothered me-- no actually fuck that; what’s the point? Fine, he died. All because you wanted to make his death a plot device to make Zoya reconcile with loss and deal with it? Where was Genya’s grief? Literally no point of having a death in the book at all, and it didn’t even achieve anything. (I’m still trying to wrap my head around why David’s death was important and maybe if I find some straws, I’ll consider…)

There were so many other ways around it; could have brought back Lada and killed her off, or have the Darkling piss her off so badly or just. Something. Instead of whatever happened with David. I think this is too harsh and insensitive of me to say about Leigh, but still… there’s a myriad of other ways to have gone about it. Helping Zoya deal with her grief with Nikolai at her side, to understand that the rage that was fueled from her loneliness, like it had been in the past, could now be a weight that Nikolai was willing to carry with her… Helping someone with their grief, staying and choosing is also a love language you know?

So in that regard, I won’t regret saying how flat the garden scene was to me. Zoya’s lines, though tinged with grief, were so out of what I would expect KoS Zoya to say. Maybe it’s also because of how bitter I was reading about David's death, despite that part being spoiled for me.

The cost shouldn’t have been David’s death, especially not when his death too wasn’t properly handled at all, and Genya’s grief was never spared a second thought beyond bringing Titanium.

+

Now let’s talk about how Out of Character Zoya was throughout the book. Her punchy attitude was missing, and even if she was warming up to her friends, we see little of the iciness she continues to retain. Another part of this is about exploring her relationships, particularly with Nikolai and her growing feelings for him. I wish we’d have seen them grapple with more of their confusion and propriety, if only for the yearning™. Besides, no matter how cute their scenes were, they were mostly (like maybe some. 70%) awful to read them, simply because it felt so odd to see Zoya be so open with Nikolai, all of a sudden.

A part of this definitely has to be the fact that we don’t know just how much time has passed between the end of KoS and the start of RoW, and we never, never see any description of they regarded their feelings for each other and how they understood it themselves. I don’t actually know how exactly I can put this into words in a manner that will make sense, but the only scenes where I appreciated Zoyalai were in the Ketterdam chapters, ONLY. The rest was… bleh lmao. Their scenes were so cute and brilliant, and if only we’d seen more of the internal conflict and had given some more time for them to practically approach their feelings but still end up in the puddle of it. If only.

Their scenes apart were the good ones, because that’s where we finally see Nikolai feeling the loss, no matter how temporary (on the verge of being permanent since it’s the war), of not having Zoya with him, of not being there with Zoya because who else would it be if it wasn’t her? Zoyalai had good scenes but they barely lived up to the mark lol. Their feelings are never thoroughly explored, nor their mental capacities.

While we’re talking about Zoyalai, let’s also talk about how lame it was for Zoya to say that Nikolai was the golden spirited hero all along, from the very start, when canonically we know Zoya had little to do with him in the earlier books, that she may have only been physically attracted to him and never saw him as more than just some guy with a responsibility to manage, and had sooooooo much distrust about him. And that it was only in the next few years of working with him and alongside did she grow to recognize his efforts and relish in the hope that he was building for Ravka, inadvertently making Zoya hopeful too.

Nope. Instead, we’ll just throw in some destiny bs that he was the one all along rather than show that the beauty of their relationship did not stem what they perceived of each other, but was instead built on strong respect and admiration for one another and their capabilities. 100% destroyed their relationship for me.

+

Some good parts about Zoya’s arc in RoW was how she acknowledged her past mistakes, and the nuance that was touched upon in seeing sense in becoming a soldier from the start, that offered her a chance to be anything other than a bride. That some part of her was grateful for the Darkling for teaching her how to fight, while still keeping Genya’s words in mind about how they were mere kids, children who had only one path to traverse because the Darkling (who wanted their acceptance and loyalty) nor the Kings of the country let the Grisha be anything else other than pawns of the war. That she recognizes her mistakes as a teen and how self centred she was, that her being snotty had at times cost some peoples’ lives too. And she doesn’t take the blame all up on herself, because it’s not hers alone to bear. Super good.

Also, the way Zoya comes to view power as responsibility instead of merely as protection was something cool to read about. It’s not clear in the books, but Zoya actively tried to not be the Darkling while still continuing to build an army for the war out of necessity, and actually sharing some parts of the dream that the Darkling had for the Grisha. I can’t articulate this so perfectly, but the point is, Zoya trying to avoid becoming a tyrant like the Darkling was an active process that she was constantly trying to change, and where Zoya could not recognize her own feelings and inherent thoughts about warfare that in some ways did mirror the Darkling’s, by the end of book, Zoya is much more self-aware and conscious of herself and her power than she was at the start of the book. And this was well done.

+

Now, what is up with YA and making people turn into giants or animals lol wtf. Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya use her dragon powers in a way that symbolizes the conditions of her dragon amplifier and the power of the knowledge she obtained from Juris? She is a Saint, and we’ve seen that their powers allowed them to cause ‘miracles’ and such, as we see at the start of KoS and at the end.

Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya dabble with her newfound powers and completely lose her shit in anger during the wae, only to rein back in mercy, just as someone from Fjerda begs for forgiveness since they see her then as a Saint? Adrik and Leoni used their powers in Fjerda, so having Zoya bring about a conundrum of all orders and do something about it would also have been cool, wouldn’t it? In the funeral scene we see her turn water into ice, thereby making a path for Genya. Why couldn’t we have had more exploration of the importance of the dragon’s eye and the general nausea of being overly empathetic every. damn. time? Why didn’t we get to see her powers? Why couldn’t we have seen her fail in them and realize that the reason she was not perfect was because she was trying to be strong on her own and was not relying on others and joint effort?

Her turning into a dragon was genuinely the most baffling part bc here’s a war that’s so serious and dire with metals and bombs, and then here’s this magic that will solve all of it entirely. Like I’m not saying it was bad, (I am actually saying just that) but I also don’t know what I am saying, except that the ending felt like a fever dream.

…?

Not sure if I’ve managed to convey it properly, but well. Zoya felt out of character throughout RoW, and that the only place I saw KoS Zoya was in the final Os Kervo scene where Zoya finally agrees to be the queen.

c) Nikolai

Nikolai’s arc was very satisfying and brilliant to read about in RoW. In KoS, he seemed very much like a passive character, one of the reasons why his stunt with the Shu in RoW was appreciable, no matter how ill-timed of a plot turn it was. His journey throughout this book was also introspective to see why others deemed him unfit as the King, and even if they were his enemies who thought that in want to dispose him from the throne, Nikolai realizes that him being on the throne is not of much value and that this book was entirely about him seeing his privilege and making decisions to counter and correct the mistakes he’s made. That was nice. Oh, also his father not being an antagonist was a pleasant surprise.

I don’t have many complaints about him, except perhaps wanting some more internal conflict and elaboration about his feelings for Zoya. Them being apart was where it was satisfying, and then in the Ketterdam chapters. His arc could have been better in KoS, but that’s to blame the plot for the characterization.

d) Hanne

Now, from the very start, their arc was super good and it only got better and better until… the ending. Except it’s so odd that Hanne, a poc, has to now live as white person, while feeling comfortable in their transmasc identity. Icky, no? That you need to eliminate one part of your identity in order to feel safe and comfortable about another? Add to this the whole white-passing Zoya thing,,, doesn't exactly send off the right message.

Together with Nina, the ending seems uncharacteristic for both of them. Them coming to accept their powers and knowing to use their powers on their own accord was brilliant, though the entire husband business felt very,,, eh to me, even if it did make sense. The ending about their name and their new identity was too vague.

e) Genya, Leoni and Adrik, Kuwei, Mayu,

Genya is the one who faced the most disservice along with David. While there were exceptional parts to both of their plotlines, it's still sad that even if David's death was necessary, we don't get to see the entirety of her grief and the possible anger, and that her kindness is simply used as the justification for lack of portrayal of grief.

It really did take me by surprise, mostly because I wasn't a fan of the original Shadow and Bone book, but seeing David's conscience and self-awareness, along with Genya's (and Zoya thinking of how she wouldn't let any harm come to them, which shows a bit of her development towards her character development), was plenty refreshing. David and Genya were genuinely the highlights of the book and to kill David off was just. doesn't sit right with me.

Leoni and Adrik deserved more page time. They’re saints and immensely capable (no wonder they’re now the Triumvirate), but a few more pages for them to shine would not only have been nice, but also a necessity.

And now, Kuwei...

....

I mean,,, parem should have been the plot, alongside the entire weaponry and the discussion of making a city killer. But uh… that didn’t happen.

There's not much I have to say about Mayu, Tamar and Ehri, except that their plot was superb, only very badly timed.

There's more to talk about them in the remedy tho.

IV. Remedy

Here’s the deal. Before KoS release, there should have been a Nina novella.

Nina is a very important character. All of her potential, alongside many other parts of her personality--from dealing with grief, to accustoming to her powers, to growing stronger--there could be so much to do with her as a protagonist, alongside another character: Mayu.

A whole book dedicated to Nina in Fjerda with Hanne? Brilliant. Show Stopping. Mind blowing. It gives SO much page time to explore not just Nina and Mayu, Hanne, but also Zoya, Leoni and Inej. All together.

How?

Nina’s plotline carries the entire medical effects of the use of parem, just as Mayu’s will carry the pain she feels about her brother being a part of the khergud program. The novella will give ample time to flesh them out as characters and protagonists, each dealing with plot problems and problems of their own--like the loss of ones powers and newfound responsibilities, and the shared loss of a beloved person in parallel, even if neither Nina or Mayu interact on page.

Fjerda and Shu Han could be tied together with one chapter as a POV from Zoya (or maybe two), who, along with the Triumvirate and Nikolai, are completely at loss with the political scenario in the country, and are debating over what should be the course of action. Zoya receives news from the scouts, and missives from Nina, and Tamar takes care of the information she garners from the rest of the network, including Shu Han.

Like, the entire surprise of finding a Zoya POV, from a character whom until CK we’ve known as cold hearted and stern and not giving a fuck about anything or anyone, be humanized in that one chapter, thereby building up the anticipation for her arc,,, the very potential,,, *chef's kiss*.

And by the end of book, we could have an POV--or maybe a cameo if not a POV--of Inej meeting Nina on one of her travels of slave hunting. Inej could help take care that the women that Nina has rescued (as Nina does in KoS) reach the Ravkan shorelines safely. But, for a price.

The entire parallels between Leoni and Hanne and Nina could be set up, while also building up the narrative for the Saints’ plotline with Adrik's, Leoni's and Nina’s powers (like it was at the end of KoS). KoS and RoW would thereby continue it by tackling the weaponization and the antidote, Sainthood and the rest of the politics of it all.

Coming to Shu Han: one key aspect that I’d love to have explored would be the importance of art, during or despite the war. Of how war or pain chips away culture, while detailing on the ill effects of it from the commoners' perspectives, from the soldiers etc. Art is integral to Shu Han and could be portrayed by Mayu’s pain finding balm in poetry, of seeing glimpses of Ehri poring over poetry also mayri ftw, of politics that Makhi is weaving against Ravka, etc.

Or also add some more length to Zoya’s POV and explore a bit of Tamar and Tolya and Kuwei’s interactions and perspective added to it, of missing a home that they seemed to not know, or know; of discussing culture and differences on the basis of where they’re from (maybe the twins are from the borders, while Kuwei grew up near the capital or somewhere distant from the borders etc.), all while directly pointing at Zoya’s heritage and how it ebbs at her conscience, no matter how much she wants to bury it.

POTENTIAL !!!

Like,,, Nina novella would have been too powerful. It would have been perfect. I think I’d excuse bringing back the Darkling too if this was the case. (Or maybe not).

But welp.

Hey, thanks for reading! Not sure if you could make it this far, but if you have, you honestly deserve a medal for sitting through this all. I can’t imagine how tiring it must be to read through this, considering it seemed to take it more than month to compile this there’s also me procrastinating on it too so i’,mbhbdhshfsdn

Drop an ask if you want to talk more about this!

Sincerely, thank you!!!

[that-bi-bitch-writes]

P S Y C H (ch.3)

Alright so to clear anything up, anytime there are single quotation marks ('blah blah') with no obvious speaker, that is [Name]'s internal thoughts. I think i'll probably change the writing style in the future to make it more obvious but that's what i've got for now.

Previous // Next

[Name] had become extremely guarded at a young age. Dealing with bullies before he had developed his quirk and a mom who was an empath taught him bad habits. Obviously, being bullied can make you defensive against harmless teasing. Normally people can almost never tell if they’re being laughed at or laughed with and if you’re used to being laughed at, lashing out is the easiest way to kill the joke. When your mom can read your emotions you can’t exactly have privacy, and the easiest way to get around all of that is to share, share and overshare. By dumping the most useless details and confronting most of your negative feelings people think you’re being honest with them because you trust them. In reality you’re protecting yourself by never giving them a reason to pry. [Name] has mastered being an open and honest person, that no one knows anything about.The problem is, now he’s forgotten how to socialize. And the first day of school is rapidly approaching. 

“God is testing me. I am not one of his strongest soldiers, push me too far and our next meeting will be in person” [Name] thought as he tried on his uniform to make sure everything fit nicely for school the next day. The uniform wasn’t bad but there was no way he was putting on a blazer every day. He’d wear it for the first day, appearances and all (and of course [Mo.Name] would want a picture) but henceforth blazers would be a special occasion thing.

Sighing, [Name] got ready for bed and turned out all of the lights before praying. It was a quick prayer, one done out of habit and not necessarily belief before scrolling on his phone to distract himself from the self doubt and anxieties about his first day.

“I was really gonna be too powerful with this quirk and this body so I was born with crippling insecurities and anxiety. Thanks G-man for humbling me”

The next morning was a fumbling of nerves for pretty much everyone involved. [Mo.Name] had gotten up early for work and made [Name] lunch for his first day even though he’d politely asked her not to worry too much about his first day. As an empath her emotions might carry over onto him and as someone who already HAS anxiety, he didn't need any extra. 

“GOOD MORNING”

“Why are you always so cheerful in the morning? For someone who wakes up at like the crack of dawn you’d expect a little ‘don’t talk to me before my coffee’ behavior”

“Did you want me to be all grumpy as soon as you wake up?”

‘....”

“I thought so. Can’t you just say good morning mom”

“Oh mother, it is of the best news that you were able to wake me this morning. Your delightful smile I will never tire of”

“Smart ass”

“Better than a dumb one”

“True. Hurry and get dressed if you want to stop by the bakery before school. I might not be an asshole before coffee but YOU definitely are nicer to talk to with some sort of morning beverage”

“Fair”

[Name] dressed as quickly as he could and met his mom at the front door. He paused in the doorway and decided to be honest. He was terrified. He was starting a new school as a socially awkward kid who has some bad habits. He didn’t know if he’d step on people’s toes and ruin his chances of making friends. And there was the whole issue of the fact that he was more than likely behind all his classmates. He’d gotten his quirk much later than the average kid which meant he had less time to practice and master his gifts. Using telekinesis without getting a headache had just become an unconscious reflex. In his mind everyone else in 1-A could use their quirks as easily as breathing.

“I can feel you panicking from out here. Literally. Just get your stuff and let’s go.” When [Name] made it to the front door [Mo.Name] stopped him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Looking in his eyes she projected calmness through his skin using her quirk. Once [Name] had obviously returned from the reality in his head to the world of the living she removed her hand and spoke to him earnestly. 

“Your grandmother used to say two things.” She began “‘When you’re blessed be a blessing’, and ‘God don’t like ugly’. Looking at you, I can tell you must truly be favored by God. He has blessed you with a great quirk and you’re doing His work by becoming a hero. I know you’ll be great. It might seem like a big shot school with superpowered hotties to you. But they’re awkward 15 year olds who blush when they see boobies. You’ll be fine”

“Yeah”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

“What fresh hell is this” [Name] whispered to himself as he stared at the giant building. “Whoever designed this building is now my number one enemy. How am I supposed to find anything in this maze modeled after a letter in the ENGLISH alphabet. We’re fucking in Japan!”

[Name] had unfortunately not had a chance to down his matcha latte considering the long line at the bakery when his mom dropped him off before going to work. He GOT the matcha latte, but it was just freezing his hand off because he had to rush to the trains to be on time for his first day. In a stroke of luck the train was too crowded for him to comfortably move so he just had to hold it until he got to school where he got lost looking for class 1-A. 

Whatever happened to being one of God's favorites?

When he finally reached 1-A he was stuck in the doorway behind All Might’s successor as the green haired boy panicked about a stuck up rule follower and the blond bombshell that was Katsuki Bakugou. [Name] managed to maneuver around Midoriya catching Bakugou’s eye before the blond looked away dismissing [Name]’s presence. [Name] was not offended. No, not at all. It wasn’t the first time he’d been underestimated. And it wouldn’t be the last. But everytime it did happen, it would play into [Name]’s favor.

[Name] found his way to his seat and decided that the chaos of new students arriving as well as Bakugou’s… abrasiveness would be the best opportunity to do some research on all of his classmates. Nothing too invasive but a quick scan of their surface thoughts so he could create a profile for each student. He got about halfway through the class when a gruffy man in a yellow sleeping bag hijacked his focus. 

“If you came here to socialize, then get out”

‘I am terrified of you. Please continue’ [Name] thought

“This is the hero course”

‘There’s someone in there’ the class thought simultaneously

“It took eight seconds for you to quiet down. Time is a precious resource, you lot aren’t very resourceful are you?”

‘Our teacher???’ they all echoed

‘Then he’s a pro hero too…’ Midoriya thought out loud

‘I thought you would know…’ [Name] whispered to himself

“I’m your homeroom teacher. Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you” 

‘Homeroom teacher???’

‘how is everyone thinking the same thing at the same time??’

“Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds”

‘The system here at UA is like no other. Today the homeroom teachers will conduct..’ Midoriya thought to himself, and consequently [Name] who was eavesdropping

“A test of quirks”

[greenninjagal-blog]

Deja Vu

I spent some time thinking about Remus having the superpower to see the future and this happened, whoops. Might write more if I get some free time.

Summary: Remus sees the future and it often involves Roman’s death.

Words: 2284

Quick Taglist: @chelsvans @faithfulcat111 @felicianoromano @holliberries @jemthebookworm @killerfangirl3 @lunasfriendgabby @never-end1ng-suffering @silverflame-wc @stricken-with-clairvoyancy @thenaiads @treasureofpriam

TW: Death, attempted murder, not being believed/listened to, unhealthy sibling relationships,

Read on Ao3 || My general Writing Masterlist

Remus is eight and only eleven minutes younger than Roman the first time he sees his brother get run over by a car.

He’s eight and only eleven minutes younger than Roman and its the middle of the day in summer and Roman has on bright red sneakers that match his favorite jacket. They’re on their front lawn because Mom said they were being too loud and they can’t decide on a game to play because Roman wants to play Wizards and Knights and Remus wants to play Escape from Monkey Island. Roman calls him a name, a mean one, a childish, dumb, cruel one that would mean nothing in a year, a month, a week, a minute. Remus picks up the ball by his knees and throws it as far as he can, because he doesn’t want to be the wizard who fights the knights again.

The ball hits the ground, bounces twice and drops off the curb right into the street.

And the teenager driving the silver sedan is going twenty over the speed limit because they still believe nothing bad can ever happen to them.

Remus is eight and only eleven minutes younger than Roman.

Roman is on the ground and not moving and not breathing. 

The silver sedan screeches to a stop ten feet past, ten feet too late, ten feet. And everyone is screaming: The teenager who just ran over Roman, the neighbor who had been mowing their lawn, Mom who came sprinting from the house. 

And then Remus is eight and only ten minutes younger than Roman because Roman is dead in the middle of the road. 

That’s the first time.

When he blinks, the vision is gone and Roman is in front of him calling him a mean, childish name and Remus has the ball in his hand ready to throw and a grey sedan is turning down their street going far too fast--

And Remus stumbles back and falls off his feet. His butt hits the ground hard and before he even knows what he's doing he's sobbing.

Roman twiddles over him with a bunch dumb, stupid apologies because he thinks that Remus is crying over name calling.

Not because he saw himself throw a ball towards the road and Roman died, or he threw it softer and Roman was quick enough that he survived to hear the ambulance arrive but not to make it to the hospital, or he threw it towards the house and it broke a window and Remus got grounded, or he threw it at Roman and it left a bright red mark that Remus got sent to his room for, or he dropped it and it fell in the gutter and Roman didn't talk to him for a week--

And Remus doesn't know how to explain it to anyone. He doesn't stop sobbing until Roman is grounded for making him cry and he's bundled under a mountain of blankets with Mom right next to him holding him tightly and whispering softly in his hair. When Dad comes home and joins the hug, he asks Mom what happened and she can’t answer any better than Remus can.

They talk about keeping an eye on him, about doctors, and therapy and the words quite literally go over his head. Every time that Remus closes his eyes sees the bumper of the grey sedan, and his head echoes with the sound of his brother’s body hitting the ground again and again and again.

He’s eight and only eleven minutes younger than Roman when he first sees his brother die. 

There’s no explanation for it. No reason why. But it happens again and again and again: Roman goes running around the pool and slips on the concrete turning the water red, Remus gives him a playful shove off the play set and he hits the ground just wrong enough that he never gets back up, they leave their shoes on the stairs one time too many and Remus finally knows why Mom is always so insistent that they not do that.

Mom and Dad take him to the nice doctor, who tells him these pills will help him get better.

They don’t.

Even though he wishes they would so badly. He clings to the hope that every time they change the number of pills or the amount of them or the type of them that he’ll stop seeing his brother die or get hurt or cry.

(Its not just his brother: Dad falls off the ladder while putting up Christmas lights, Mom gets scared by a spider and hits her head on the cabinets, the next door neighbor and his wife get into a fist fight, his teacher chokes on a sandwich,---)

By the time he’s ten he knows the truth: He isn’t going to get better. There are no magic pills that will save him, no amount screaming or crying or begging that will make the visions stop coming, nothing.

“Remus!” Mom cries frustrated, when he won’t let her leave for work on time because there’s ice on the deck and she’s going to fall. “You’re too old to be doing this!”

Too old to be crying about every time his family gets hurt, too old to be worried about things that can happen, might happen, won’t happen. He’s too old for anyone to believe him when he says he knows whats going to happen.

In the middle of the night, he wonders what will happen if he runs away.

And that’s when it starts: the vision of Remus in the pajamas he’s currently wearing packing his dinosaur bag with t-shirts and pants and Roman’s jacket and sneaking down the stairs only to be caught by Dad who was up for a midnight snack; the vision of him in the pajamas he’s currently wearing packing his dinosaur bag with t-shirts and pants and Roman’s jacket and struggling to get his window open, which wakes up Roman who starts crying loudly and Dad comes running; the vision of Remus packing nothing and running down the stairs to hug Dad; the vision of Remus rolling over and going back to sleep--

That’s when it starts to make sense.

Remus is ten and eleven minutes younger than Roman when he realizes he can pick and choose what vision he wants to happen of the millions of ones he can see all in his head in that instant. 

When Remus pulls Roman back before he gets scratched by the neighborhood wild cat he smiles and tells Roman, “I’ve seen it before!”

“Oh! Like Dejavu,” Roman says and Remus doesn’t correct him.

He stays closer though, watching and wondering what happens if “x”, and preventing bad things from coming to them. When the seventh grade bullies coming looking for them, Remus convinces Roman to follow him to the theater room to hang out; when there’s the pop quiz that no one studied for he memorizes the answers from the version of reality where he steals steals the smartest kids paper; when it snows Remus doesn’t shove a snowball down Roman’s back because he knows that it will cause him to get sick.

“Hey Roman!” Some kid in eighth grade says during lunch, “Wanna hang out?”

And Roman who is fourteen and only eleven minutes older than Remus grins brightly, “We’d love to!”

And Remus sees every version of how the conversation goes: Every version where that nameless senseless kid shrinks back and awkwardly admits the invitation doesn’t extend to Roman’s crazy weird brother, where Roman gets angry and mad and destroys his own reputation, where Roman falls to peer pressure and admits Remus is pretty weird---

“Nah!” Remus says before anything can actually happen, “I don’t wanna hang out! Ro, you go ahead.” (Because he’s seen ahead and knows that Roman comes back bursting with excitement and happiness and really thats all Remus has ever wanted for him, isn’t it?)

Even if the whispers through the highschool begin because of it. Remus can take a few rumors, a few snide remarks, a few isolations, to make his brother happy.

“He’s on drugs you know,” One girl says once Roman is out of earshot. Always out of earshot. “Totally crazy.”

“The way he looks at everyone is creepy.”

“Sometimes he acts like he already knows what people are gonna say and its annoying.”

Remus never felt the need to experiment with his power that much. 

“Just leave me alone, Remus!” Roman yells when they are seventeen years old and only eleven minutes apart.

“I’m not gonna let you go to that party!” Remus yells back.

“You don’t control me!”

“You’re going to do something stupid!” Remus snaps back, “You’re going to get drunk, and then drugged and then--”

“I’m not gonna get drunk! I’m not even gonna drink!” Roman throws back.

“Yes you are!” Remus snarls because he’s seen it time and time again, the way that Roman loves attention the way that he becomes pliable the second an older boy looks at him and compliments his hair and the second he’s convinced to have just one drink. Remus has seen the way his own knuckles look bruised and broken against the skin of those college kids that had looked so cool, the way that metal handcuffs feel as he’s loaded into the back of a police car with the sounds of two ambulance sirens wailing over the music.

He’s seen this, seen the way it ends if Roman goes to the party with or without Remus.

He’s always been able to see the way it goes.

“Shut up!” Roman yells.

And that--- that is not what he’s supposed to say.

“Shut up, Remus!” Roman yells, again. “You’re just mad because I got invited and you didn’t! I’m sorry I have friends, Remus! I’m sorry they like me more than you! Maybe if you weren’t such a freak you would have been invited too!”

Remus doesn’t know what to say. It feels a lot like he was shoved on stage without being told what show they’re preforming.

Roman shoves by him, which is not something that Remus saw him do in any of the visions. Why hadn’t he seen this version of the future? Why wasn’t this going as expected?

“Roman--”

Roman whips around to face him, and his red in the face, bursting with angry and emotions and Remus feels himself get angry too. 

“I don’t need you!” Roman spits like hellfire is in his veins.

“Yes you do!” Remus shouts back, because he can’t even count the number of times that Roman almost got hurt this week. There’s a terrible taste in the back of his throat, like fresh squeezed limes and hot sauce that makes his head pound. It makes him want to laugh, want to cry, want to pick something up and throw it, but his future visions are all messed up and nothing works--

“You can’t see the future, Remus!” Roman says and it sounds like he’s wanted to say it for a long time.

Remus is seventeen years old and only eleven minutes younger than Roman, when oh. 

When he realizes that he’s far too old to cry over watching Roman die, far too weird to get any friends at school, far too much to keep having Roman believe him when he says anything.

It’s Deja Vu. Its Coincidence. Its a trick and a joke and nothing more than that.

Oh.

Roman doesn’t know a single thing about him, doesn’t know how much time Remus put into making sure everything great happens for him, doesn’t know how much of himself Remus gave up for Roman to be happy. He doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know.

And Remus, with his blood boiling because Roman was his brother and clearly he didn’t feel as strongly about Remus as Remus felt about him, wonders what would happen if he punched Roman in the jaw--

They end up fighting on the floor in the hall between their rooms, Mom and Dad come running and Remus gets grounded while Roman gets to go out to the party with a black eye.

--if he shoved Roman down the stairs--

Roman screams as his arm breaks and he spends the night in the ER, Remus is grounded and Roman stops talking to him for a very long time.

--if he grabbed the snowglobe on Roman’s desk and slammed it into Roman’s head--

He topples to the ground, screaming glass and silver sparkles shatter all around them like pretty little snowflakes, Mom and Dad come running and the screaming doesn’t stop.

--if he fit his hands around Roman’s neck and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed--

Roman claws at Roman’s hands, but he’s too off balance, too surprised, too unprepared. He gasps for air and it takes longer in the real life than it does in the movies for Roman’s pretty brown eyes to roll back in his head and his pulse to flutter to a stop and Remus keeps hold him for three minutes more before he lets go and Roman is… Roman was… suddenly there’s only ten minutes between them, nine, eight.

Remus digs his nails into the doorframe of Roman’s room. He laughs.

“Fine,” Remus chokes on his laughter, his mouth tasting like his own stomach acid. “Fine, go to the party, Ro. I’m done caring.”

“Good!” Roman yells.

The door slams in Remus’s face and he can’t stop laughing about it. He drags his fingers through his hair and laughs all the way to his room, gasping for breath as he empties his backpack of school work and notebooks and everything. 

Remus is seventeen. 

And he runs away from home.

(Part two)

[bssaz97]

RWBY Post AU: Training Pains Part 3

|Day 1|

– Rose Household –

[05:59 AM]

Rowan lightly snores as he sleeps on his comfy bed, covered with warm blankets. Turning only slightly as to find a more comfortable sleeping position.

..........

[06:00 AM]

BBBEEEEEEEEERRR!!!!

Rowan screams in shock, jolting up from his bed into a sitting position and extremely alert.

Whitley puts away the air horn he was holding, storing the item into his coat, “Well it’s about time you woke up.”

Rowan rubs both of his eyes, blinking confusingly at the man before him whispering, “Wha, Mr. Whitley? What are- What are you doing in my room?!”

The young boy was still recovering from the shock of being so abruptly awakened in the morning. However, his new tutor gave no instance of remorse, “I seem to recall telling you not to be late. So I decided to wake you up myself.”

Rowan was baffled at his tutor’s words, “But you said to wake up at 06:00!”

Whitley rolls his eyes dismissively at young Rose’s objection, “It was a figure of speech. It means you should have been up and ready to start by now.”

“Then why didn’t you ju-?”

Rowan is interrupted by a bundle of clothing that was tossed at his face. He looks down and upon recognition sees that it was a set of his clothes that were picked out for him.

“We’ve wasted enough time. Get dressed and be down in five,” Whitley tells the boy sternly and begins leaving the bedroom.

Gasping, Rowan quickly sits up on his bed and starts to change out of his pajamas to get ready for his first day of training, “Yes sir! ...Can I at least-?”

“You’ll eat when we’re done,” Whitley shouts from behind.

The boy whined silently, but continued getting prepared for their first day.

—————————————

Rowan, now fully awake and clothed, opens the door to the back of his home where he sees Whitley standing by a nearby tree. It looked like he was marking something on the bark of the tree.

“You’re here, good. Did you get plenty of rest last night,” Whitley asks but never turned around to face the boy.

“Uh, yes sir,” Rowan tells the man.

Whitley nods then turns to face him, “Good, you’ll need it. Today’s lesson is simple, we’re going to be going over the importance of Aura in battle.”

Rowan blinked, raising an eyebrow, “Huh? But Mr. Whitley I know about Aura though from class.”

“Oh really? Well then, enlighten me on what you know about Aura,” Whitley said.

“Ok... Well, aura is the embodiment of one’s soul. It can protect us from mortal wounds and it empowers huntsmen with the ability to use a unique ability called a semblance. With this we’re more able to combat the Grimm,” Rowan recites to his tutor.

While listening to Rowan’s understanding of Aura, Whitley began pacing back and forth while a smirk formed on his face. However that look on his face took new meaning when the Schnee began shaking his head.

Whitley chuckles, “‘...we’re more able to combat the Grimm.’ So that’s your honest belief then?”

“I... guess so,” Rowan replied.

Whitley sighs, “Well that certainly explains a lot.”

Rowan tilts his head, “What do you mean Mr. Whitley?”

“Unfortunately what they’ve been feeding you children is that Aura is a magical force field that gives you superpowers.... Of course they’re not entirely wrong but they sure did take the liberty to sugarcoat the absolute hell out of that mess of an explanation,” Whitley said to the young student.

“So you're saying that there is more to aura than what they’re teaching us?” Rowan asks.

“Precisely. Granted I never attended a combat school like yourself so I have little knowledge on how gradual your education progressing. But I believe we shouldn’t have much challenge getting you ahead,” Whitley stops pacing to face the boy.

Rowan quickly perked up at that, his eyes shining with excitement and hands shaking, “Really, you mean it?!”

Whitley motions the boy to settle down, “Rowan, you’re at ten again. Go to a four.”

Rowan does as he was told and returned his hands to his sides, “Sorry.”

“Now onto what we will be doing today,” Whitley began instructing.

Rowan clenches his hands together in excitement. He was certain that whatever this training was going to be, it would certainly be epic!

“You... are going to stand in place and focus on maintaining your aura to its maximum state until the sun reaches noon. I’m going to watch you from by that tree over there,” Whitley said, pointing towards the tree he was standing by originally.

Rowan’s hands fell as did his excitement, “....Wait, that’s it?”

Whitley nods in confirmation, “That’s right. So get your aura all the way up and keep it up for as long as you can.”

Rowan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Keep his aura up all the way to noon? That was the easiest thing in the world! Too easy!

“Mr. Whitley I thought-?”

Whitley cuts the young boy off, “Also you can’t speak until noon. Just focus on breathing and keep your aura up. No words.”

Rowan's mouth was gaped, this was how his training would be starting? By just standing in place?!

Rowan sighs, ‘...well I might as well get started,’ he thought to himself.

—————————————

[ 5 Hours Later ]

Rowan admits that he may have spoken too soon about the ease of this task. While he remained in place, Rowan began to feel his body ache. After standing in place for a few hours without moving an inch his limbs became tired and were almost on the verge of collapse. It seemed that the only reason he was still standing was because he was focused on maintaining his aura, which was beginning to become harder and harder to maintain. Who knew focusing on your Aura was so tasking?

Just hold it... hold it... you can-

“Bah!” Rowan cried his knees giving out and fell on his butt.

Whitley looks up from his scroll to see his student has fallen over, “Well it’s about time.”

Rowan pants tiredly, “I’m sorry Mr Whitley... I did my best, but I- ‘pant pant’ couldn’t hold it ‘pant’ ...any longer... I failed.”

Whitley stares curiously, “Failed? Who told you that you needed to pass this lesson?”

“...wait what?” Rowan said, looking up at the man confused. “But you said-?”

“I told you to focus your aura until noon, yes, but this particular task wasn’t designed for you to pass,” Whitley explained.

“Wait so ...this was a test? For what?” Rowan asks.

Whitley sighs, but starts to explain further, “I wanted to see how long you could endure continuous aura application. Most kids your age and skill would’ve dropped after one hour. You, however, managed to stay on task and keep your aura which means either of two things.”

Whitley walks over to the boy and tosses him a towel. Rowan catches it in his hands, looks up to his white haired tutor before rubbing the towel on his face, cleaning off beads of sweat that had been staining his face.

“One, it means that your natural aura capacity are quite high. While not a rarity, it does speak volumes of the amount of control you have over it at such a young age,” Whitley said.

Rowan looks at his tutor surprised, “Really? But I barely held onto it for the last one and a half hours.”

Whitley shakes his head, “That only means you were able to push through the strain your aura and body was undergoing. You were training your aura as if it were muscle, an extension of yourself.”

Rowan looks down at his hands with curiosity, “Extension of myself? But I thought that only the semblance was meant to be an extension of ourselves?”

Whitley nods his head, “True, a huntsman’s semblance does indeed derive from oneself. But remember, aura also comes from within. It’s often said that aura is to be a finite source of power that ranges differently from person to person. I do not believe that to be the case. I have come to believe that aura is an infinite pool of energy that exists in every living being, and that only those with powerful wills can fully utilize it. Those that can accomplish this are often unstoppable in the battlefield.”

Rowan stared in awe after listening to Whitley’s words. They seemed to have a sense of clarity but also depth that he never heard from the man before.

“Whoa...” Rowan mouths.

“Or two, it just means your dumb and don’t know when to quit,” Whitley commented.

Rowan frowns, “Hey!”

“Either way, you did well. How did you feel?” Whitley asked.

Rowan groans, “A bit tired. But I think I’ll be ok.”

Whitley hummed in approval, “Good. Now get up so we can start the next part of training for today training.”

Rowan stood up on his feet, “Ok, I’m ready!”

“Very well. Your next task is... to take this flag away from me,” Whitley instructs as he began wrapping a handkerchief around his neck.

‘Ok Rowan, you can do this. All you gotta do is be smart about this, do a fake out, reach for that handkerchief and step away before he notices. A piece of cake,’ Rowan told himself mentally.

Rowan moves toward his tutor, fakes a reach for the handkerchief with his left hand but pulls it back quickly. With his right hand going for Whitley’s neck, Rowan gets caught off guard when the man simply grips his right forearm.

‘Uh oh...’

“You have made a grave mistake.” Whitley chides as he uses his other hand to grip Rowan’s shirt.

Rowan swallowed, “I figured. WWOOOAAAAH!!”

Whitley lifts Rowan above his head and tosses the boy to the ground. Rowan, with his aura still recovering from his earlier training, experienced the literally meaning of being ‘tosses like a sack of potatoes.’

Rowan groaned painfully as he laid down on the ground.

Whitley crossed his arms as he looks down at the young Rose, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Rowan groans, “Regretting following through...”

“That is true, but I don’t seem to recall telling you to take a break. Now... get up,” Whitley said.

Rowan groaning continued as he got up from the ground, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’

—————————————

[ 4 hours Later ]

Mother and daughter are seen walking up a trail that leads back to their home, after a long day out taking care of some errands and getting groceries in the process.

“Hey Mom. How do you think Rowan’s training is doing?” Summer asks her mother.

Ruby looks to her young daughter and smiles, “I’m sure they’re doing fine. Whitley is a friend of your Auntie Yang and Auntie Weiss’s little brother. So I think anything they’re doing is standard and–”

“AAAH!!”

*THUD!*

Both mother and daughter stopped mid-stride, having heard the loud cry in close proximity of their cabin in the woods.

Summer swallows in worry, “That sounded close to home. You think-?”

‘Darn it Yang!’ Ruby mentally cursed.

The two Rose women made a beeline to their house to investigate what caused that scream. Once they arrive and quickly place their things down, they go to the back of the house and see the young boy and tutor in the back opening. The man looked unharmed, standing wearing a handkerchief scarf and the boy very much on the ground with an excess amount of dead grass and grime covering his face.

“Get up. You’re not done yet,” Whitley said to the boy.

Rowan groans, straining to getting back up.

Ruby’s eyes widen and her face pales, her motherly instincts kicking in and her only focus at the moment is her child who is still struggling to get up off the ground. With one foot in front of the other she strides towards them.

Whitley turns his head taking notice of both the mother and daughter’s arrival, but fails in anticipating the atmosphere, “Oh you’re both home already? How was your day?”

Ruby looks at him, giving him a menacing stare, “My day? Whitley what have YOU BEEN doing?! Rowan, are you ok?!”

Quickly the young mother runs to and cradles her child’s head.

Whitley's eyes widened upon realizing how this situation was making him look, so he tried to defuse the mother’s frustration, “Ruby listen, he’s fine, I didn’t throw him that hard.”

“Fine? Fine! Look at him! Does he look fine?!” Ruby shouted angrily.

“A bit dirty but that’s about it.”

“Wha- Whitley, I can’t believe you! I thought you were training him, not beating him up!” Ruby continued to shout.

“Technically-”

“AH! I don’t want to hear it! I can tolerate many things Whitley but I won’t tolerate this! ...Whitley I want you to leave,” Ruby said.

Summer tries to interject, “Mom-”

“This isn’t a discussion Summer,” Ruby quickly tells her daughter, then turns to look at Whitley with narrowed eyes, “this contract is over. Now please leave my-”

“Not yet...”

Rowan shook himself from his mother’s grasp until finally he’s able to break from her hold and roll himself face-down on the ground. Despite feeling his aching arms begging him to stop, he raises from his sides and uses them to partially lift himself by upper torso which feels thousand times more heavy.

“Rowan, what are you doing?! You’re hurt!” Ruby said as she tried to reach out to him.

“No!” Rowan yells.

Ruby halted, staring in shock at her son who raised his voice at her. Sounding both frustrated and sad, almost pleading.

Slowly his legs slide up, despite lacking any strength. Even so he pushed on.

“I-I’m... n-not... d-done yet,” He groans.

The boy manages to raise himself to rest on his hands and knees. His breath is hoarse and he feels his heart racing through his ears. Rowan closes his vision was gets blurry, perhaps from all the times he was tossed into the dirt.

He closed his eyes and all he saw was Peri with his smug face, but it wasn’t just his face he saw. Rowan saw the faces of the three Beowolves in the forest, looking to make easy prey of him. Then he saw the faces of everyone in class that looked at him in pity. He knew not all of them were doing it intentionally, but he didn’t want them to look at him like he was hopeless!

Rowan needed to be better before his next match, he couldn’t afford to hold back a year. They were all supposed to be going to Beacon after completing their fourth year of basics. Summer, Liena, Joanna and Blaze. They are expecting him to be there!

Rowan slowly stands up, groaning out, “I-I’m... not... done...!”

Slowly Rowan walks towards the male Schnee, who remained standing in the same spot he had for four freaking hours! After nearly falling under his weight three times, Rowan finally made it close enough to where he could grab tight hold of his tutor’s shirt. So that Whitley couldn’t throw him again, and to have something to hold onto because he could barely stay standing for so long.

One of his hands lets go of the man’s shirt slowly and reaches up until his fingers had met and were firmly gripped onto that damned handkerchief. Then in an eased motion, Rowan removes the handkerchief off Whitley’s neck.

Rowan began laughing with glee, “Hehehehe! I did it... I finally got... that stupid... flag...”

His eyes drift close as he begins collapsing.

Whitley catches the boy with one of his arms, then carefully lifts his weakened form in both arms.

“Well done,” he whispered.

—————————————

Rowan stirs upon awakening and quickly regrets the action as he still feels slight pain in his limbs, but not as significant as before. He slowly looks around the room and sees that he is back in his room and on his bed and not outside on the ground. What happened?

“Rowan?”

He turns to his left where he sees his twin sister’s face, her eyes puffy and dry. Something had made her upset, and judging from how her expression turned from worried to annoyed, it seemed to be directed at him. Rowan was going to ask what was wrong but she beat him to the punch by using her finger to block one of his nostrils by poking at his nose really hard.

“You stubborn dummy! You had us all worried after you passed out! Why did you push yourself so hard?! Do you want Mom and me to have a heart attack?!” Summer cries out.

“Summer! Can’t breathe!” Rowan shouts, voice becoming nasally due to the poking.

Summer ceases her poking, then glares at him angrily, “Well I’m sorry, I’m just the one who was worried sick, thinking if my twin brother died during his first day of training!”

Rowan’s eyes widened in shock, “Wait what? I almost died?!”

“Yeah dummy! You were barely standing yesterday and you almost stopped breathing three times while you were passed out!” Summer yelled.

‘Whoa... Mr. Whitley really wasn’t holding back was he?’ Rowan mentally said to himself.

“Why do you always gotta be the one to make me worried sick? First with the beowolves, now this, can you ever not get into situations that will not let you almost die in the process?!” Summer cried out, her eyes began shedding tears again.

Rowan looked at his sister guiltily, “Summer-”

“Look I know you’re trying your best. So just.... don’t be a dummy and die before you get to Beacon. Because if you do, I’m gonna kick your butt!” Summer said while dropping her head down, her bangs covering over her eyes.

Rowan didn’t know how he was supposed to react to his twin’s statements, on one hand she was correct to call him out on his reckless abandon for his safety, but on the other hand neither of these instances did he ever predict would happen. So how would he calm his sister down?

“Summer, look at me,” Rowan said.

Summer reluctantly looks up, wet streaks falling down her eyes.

Rowan asks, “How long have you known me for?”

Summer looked at him with confusion, “What? What kind of a question is that? I’m your twin sister, I’ve known you my whole life.”

“And how many times have I ever left you behind or hanging?” Rowan asked.

“Not....many times, ‘sniff’ or any times I think,” Summer said.

And when I make you a promise?” Rowan asked her.

Summer sighed, “Rowan...”

“Come on Sum, what do I do with all my promises? What mom taught us to do?” Rowan asks his sister.

“...We keep them,” Summer answered finally.

Rowan laughs, “Good. So when you hear me say, ‘I promise to not die on you or leave you all by yourself,’ you can always trust that I will alway be here for you. That’s because...?”

Rowan pats her head, then uses strands of her hair to wipe away her tears.

Summer does her best to laugh, wiping away the remainder of her tears, “You’ll keep it.”

Rowan nods, “Yep, so don’t expect me to die or anything, anytime soon. Kay Sum? I’ll make it through this training and be up to par with the rest of the class in no time.”

“Hmm right,” Summer sniffs before she pauses, remembering something important, “Oh... yeah, I just remembered something.”

“What’s that?” Rowan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Summer pokes her fingers while looking to the side,“Well, while you were unconscious, Mom kinda... fired Mr. Whitley as your tutor.”

“She WHAT?! Why didn’t you say that before?!” Rowan questioned.

“I was under a lot of emotions at the time! I’m sorry it wasn’t the first thing on my mind,” Summer said defensively.

Rowan groans, “I gotta talk to Mom-Ah!”

Summer reaches to help her brother, “Easy Rowan! You’re still pretty banged up. Also why do you want to talk to Mom?”

“Why else? To change her mind,” Rowan tells her.

“Wait, you want to keep Mr. Whitley as a teacher? Why? All he did today was toss you around,” Summer asks him.

“That’s not the point Sum, I know it doesn’t make sens but there’s a theory to his teaching. He’s methodical in his own way and was testing me today,” Rowan said.

“By pommeling you to the ground?” Summer asked unconvinced.

“...Yes? Look, I know it sounds really backwards, but he’s my last chance at passing this class, so if I have to get my ass whooped in order to get better then so be it. But to do that, I need to convince Mom to change her mind,” Rowan said urgently, trying to get off his bed.

“No need, kiddo.”

The Rose twins directed their attention towards the entrance of Rowan’s room to find both their Aunt and Mother standing outside. The former smiling at her niece and nephew, the latter looking at her son with concern.

“We heard a good bit of your conversation from here,” Yang told her niece and nephew.

“That we did,” said their mother.

Rowan swallowed, “Mom, I-”

Ruby raised her hand, causing Rowan to stop what he was trying to say and pay attention to his mother, who looked to want to say something.

“Rowan, I know you want to do anything that could help you get better in combat class, but I also want you to be safe while doing so. Training this way... being toppled until your black and blue, is not the way to go about it. I’m only looking out for your safety,” Ruby said to her son.

Rowan lowered his head, guilt swelling inside his stomach after seeing his mother’s concerned face.

“But it’s not Mr. Whitley’s fault...”

Ruby sighs, “Look I know you’re trying to defend him but he went-”

“It’s mine mom!” Rowan said to her.

Ruby looks confusingly at her son, she didn’t understand what he meant but decided to hold her tongue to hear what he had to say.

Rowan takes a moment to find the words he wants to say, “...Mr. Whitley wanted to stop after he saw that my aura was going into the red, he insisted that I stop and that I was done for the day. But I didn’t stop.... I kept pushing myself, kept charging him for nearly two hours because... I didn’t want the day to be wasted for nothing! I wanted to win! I want to prove to those other students that I have just a right to be there and not to feel like I’m some.... loser!”

After finishing, Rowan is left panting, his face red from all the hidden frustration that had been plaguing his mind. He now waits with nervous trembling, fully certain that his mother’s reaction will be very disappointed now that he has metaphorically spilled the whole can of beans.

He was partially right.

“Rowan, who’s been saying that you were a loser? Is it another student?” She asks.

“Peri Phelps,” Summer said.

“Summer!” Rowan yells.

Yang's eyes widened in realization, “I remember that name, he’s that student you were sparring with the other day wasn’t he?”

Rowan sighs, “Yeah, he was.”

“Rowan why didn’t you say anything to me about this, if he’s bullying you then the teacher has to be notified,” Ruby asks her son.

“It’s not that he’s bullying me mom, he’s just a competitive jerk who thinks he’s the best in the class and likes to rub his victories into other’s faces, just because his semblance gives him a better chance at winning,” Rowan tells his family.

“Yeah,” Summer said angrily while pouting.

“Well either way, training like the way you did today isn’t going to help you get better,” Ruby chided gently.

“Okay...” Rowan tells his mother.

“Which is why Whitley is going to make sure you’re being properly trained and not pushing you’re self too harshly,” Ruby adds.

Rowan perks up on listening to her, “Wait really? You’re not firing him!”

Ruby wasn’t finished, “Only because today’s mishap was your doing and he’s a family friend, kinda, so I’ll give him a break. But I expect you to do everything he says, understand?”

“Yes mam!” Rowan said happily, giving a nod and toothy smile.

“Good, now get some rest, both of you,” Ruby tells her children.

“Yes mom,” Summer said.

With that all three female members of the house began leaving Rowan’s room to allow the boy to continue resting. Ruby stood by his door and told him goodnight.

“Goodnight sweetie, sleep tight,” Ruby said.

“Goodnight mom,” Rowan returned.

Ruby whispered, “Also, don’t think we’re done about this Peri issue...”

“Yes mam,” He nods.

“...and make sure to hit him extra hard, ‘kay?” Ruby adds with a smirk.

Rowan laughs before smiling, “Yes mam.”

– End of Part 3 –

A/N: I wanna give special thanks to @thatorigamiguy and @tanakaclinkbeard for both being Beta-Readers and giving me feedback on this post. I spent A LOT of time on it and it’s thanks to them I was able to get it done.

Also thanks to you, everyone, for sticking with me, I know I haven’t been too active on this blog for awhile, but hopefully I can get back into the groove of things.

So I hope you all enjoy this post. Have a great day and be good people :)

[lizzy-williams]

𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦

Part 1

((This is about Colson Baker’s character in Project Power, he has fire powers, imma have a field day with his one. Because he had very little backstory, I feel like I can kinda shape him and imagine his life with someone. Hee hee. By the way, in my stories he doesn’t... you know... explode.

🔥Warnings: Language, drug references, sexual references

🔥Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIzL1OdKMI

Fire by KIDS SEE GHOSTS

masterlist

𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘒𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 Newt was a drug dealer, that’s actually how you met. You were just buying weed, and the next second you were back at his place, hooking up. You kinda just kept... coming back, until eventually, he was willing to call you his girlfriend. 

He liked you because you were carefree like him. You had the same interests, liked the same things, and were rockstars in the sexual department. You were the best he’s ever had and vise versa. You even thought his alligator was fucking awesome, the girls he hooked up with in the past just ran away. But you found it cool that he owned a living, breathing gator. 

He made good business, not to mention the fact that he flew under the radar. He was very underground. And that was perfect for you. You didn’t need him getting arrested for a fucking gram of cocaine. 

But one-night Newt went out, and you stayed at his place, anxiously waiting for his return. He said that there was a new product, something people had never seen before. And if Newt, the man who had tried every drug he got his hands on said that he hadn’t heard of it, there was definitely something worth seeing there. 

You suddenly heard a knocking at the door, the rhythmic knocking recognized as the secret knock you and Newt came up with to signal that it was one of you. You got up, grabbing the pistol that was laying on the coffee table, and rushed to the door, unlocking it immediately. 

Newt burst in the door, looking behind him anxiously as he closed the door frantically behind him. 

“Newt, what’s wrong? Were you followed?” you questioned anxiously, automatically pointing the pistol at the door. 

“Lock it, baby, I have something amazing to show you,” he motioned in your direction, your feet patting back towards the door, locking the 4 locks on the door quickly. 

You then jogged over to where Newt had set his goods. 

“Ooo, fancy metal case, huh?” you joked, “What are you? The Matrix? Men in Black?” 

“You’re joking now, but wait till you see what’s in here,” he smirked, taking a key out of his pocket, unlocking the case. 

As he opened it, you looked at what was placed inside. There were two rows of metal containers, 6 in each row, holding a small, slightly glowing pill. 

You picked one up, looking at it closely. One half was grey, almost metallic, the other half looking like a mini glowing galaxy. You shook it a little, “What is this?”

“It’s Power.” he replied, “I’ve been hearing about these things for weeks. They give you power for 5 whole minutes. Like a superpower. We’re talking like superman shit. But there are catches,” he took the case out of your hand, taking the pill out of the case and held between his fingers vertically. 

“What’s the catch?”

“You never know what power you’ll get. It’s different... for everyone. Like I could be invisible, while you have...like bulletproof or something. It’s real, I’ve seen it.”

“Are you sure this isn’t some sugar water in a pill casing?” you were skeptical, the concept of superpowers almost childish. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pulling up a video. You took the phone from his hand and pressed play, and you were presented with a man. It looked like it was in an airport runway. 

You saw him hold a pill up, and twist it, the pill lighting up like a lightbulb before it disappeared down his throat. You watched as his body twitched, his body kneeling down. But after a few seconds, he stood back up. Suddenly, you watched a mere man, run up and down a runway in 30 seconds flat. He did it several more times, back and forth, back and forth, before the video ended.

“Holy shit, was that real?” 

“Shit, baby, I wish you could have been there. I saw it with my own eyes, it was like watching The X-Men but in real life.”

“Are there any other catches?”

Newt knew the other side effect... but he didn’t want to tell you, as not to make you worry. So in return, he shook his head.

“How much are they?” You questioned. 

“500.”

“For the case??” you were shocked at the amount of money, more than you could make from even heroin.

“No. Per pill,” he looked at the small pill between his fingers then back to you. 

“Per pill??!!” You beamed, “Holy shit, baby! In that case... that’s... 6,000 dollars!” you watched as he put the pill back in the case. 

“I know, and there are more getting shipped in to me tomorrow, delivered personally...,” he smirked, your arms were thrown around his neck, pulling him down for a passionate kiss, as you felt him chuckle, the vibrations making you all the happier. 

“I can pay for school!” you smiled, “And we can get you a new car...” you began to daydream, as Newt smiled at you, his lips colliding to yours again. 

“This is amazing...” You muttered against his lips before pulling away, “Have you tried it?” 

“Not yet...,” he smirked, “But do you wanna come with me when I do?”

“When?” you laughed. 

“Now,” he responded, you squealed as he picked you up and threw you over his shoulder, walking out of the apartment and to his car. 

******

“Where are we going?” you asked, turning to Newt in the driver’s seat, his eyes on the road ahead, the sky dark. 

“Somewhere safe. Just until the effects of the pill pass,” he responded, his anxiety apparent. 

“Are you sure you wanna try this?” you asked, your hand going to his knee, “I don’t want you to get hurt,”

“I’ll be fine, baby, I swear.” he ensured. 

You simply nodded your head. Even though this small pill was going to make you and him a lot of money, you were still skeptical about your lover trying it. 

The car then pulled into an empty parking garage, driving to the top floor, and then stopped. 

“You still got it?” he turned to you, turning the car off. 

You nodded, opening the glove compartment and taking out the pill’s case, holding the thing that was supposed to change your lives forever. 

“Maybe it can give you more stamina, maybe keep you going after round 2,” You smirked, Newt looking at you and rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, well, whatever it does, it’ll probably be pretty cool.”

You both stepped out of the car, Newt walking a ways away from you, making you frown.

“I don’t want you close, just in case something goes wrong, okay?” 

“Wait why would something go wrong??” you asked anxiously.

“I don’t know what powers there are... or how many there are. I don’t want something unexpected and hurt you.” 

Before you could respond, he twisted it, the pill glowing brightly as he held it in his teeth, “See you on the flip side,” he joked, before swallowing it, wincing in anticipation. 

He started coughing, dropping down to his knees, starting to hold where his heart was, his other hand going to his heart as he let out a yell of anguish.

You watched Newt convulse, letting out coughs and yells of pain. You began to rush towards him, but he stopped you.

“Stay back, stay back,” he coughed out, yelling out more in agony.

In seconds, you saw his body become ignite into horrifying, bright orange flames. His clothes were burned away to a crisp. The fire on his skin crackling and snapping as the screams and yells began dying down to pain-laced grunts as the form of his body began to stand up, making your hand cover your mouth, your eyes tearing up in fear. 

You had to watch him...for 5 whole minutes... watching his stumble around, waiting until the pain died down. Until the fire went out. Until it was over. 

His body suddenly collapsed to the ground, the fire dulling down to glowing embers on his skin. 

You couldn’t take it anymore, your legs carrying you as fast as they could to the charred body of your lover. 

“Baby? Baby can you hear me?” you were sobbing, half of his body crispy, covered in black remanence of skin. 

He let out groans of pain, his body barely moving. 

You ran quickly to the car, opening the back and pulling out an old blanket, running back and wrapping his body up in it. You tried to set him up, but all he did was yell out in pain. 

“Come on, Newt, I’m gonna get you to a hospital, but you gotta help me!” you cried, trying to lift if the skyscraper-like body over your shoulders, “Please, Newt, come on!” 

With all the strength left in his body, he tried to hoist himself up, but only enough to drape over your shoulders as you literally dragged him over to the car. You opened the back door, laying him down in the back seats, him groaning out in pain. 

“You gotta stay awake, okay, Newt?” You panicked, “Just blink twice if you can, okay?”

You watched as his body responded, his eyes closing two times, making you nod and run to the driver’s side, getting in and starting the car. 

“Babe...” you heard him wheeze from the back seat. 

“Yeah, what is it, are you okay??”

“Call my cousin when you get there, ok?” his voice was horse.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” you smiled, turning back to the road. 

******

You sat anxiously in the waiting room, black marks from the char on your boyfriend’s body covering your white tank top and skinny jeans, even your converse, your leg bouncing anxiously up and down as you watched the phone, waiting for Newt’s cousin to text back, tears still stringing down your face.

How do you tell a family member something like this? Your cousin tried a new drug and caught on fire or Hey, your cousin was on fire cause superpowers are real?

You heard the phone ding, and all the text read was “OMW”.

“Ma’am?” you flicked your head up, making eye contact with a woman in a white lab coat, holding a clipboard, “Are you with Newton?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m with Newt,” you stood up, wiping away the tears that were falling moments before.

“I see, well, his body was covered in 3rd-degree burns, do you have any idea what happened?” 

“N-No, I found him like that, he was at home...,” you tried to lie, you couldn’t let it slip he was a drug dealer, let alone selling a drug that would be both yours and his payday for at least a month or two, “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Yes, we’ll have him stable soon. We’ll prescribe some painkillers and antibiotics.” As long as he doesn’t sell them you would think, “He’s gonna be pretty much out of it for a few hours after you take him home. Does he have someone who can take care of him for a few weeks?” she glanced down at her clipboard.

“Y-Yeah, I can do it,” you choked out, the tears partly because you were upset this happened, but mostly because he was okay... and not dead. 

“Where is he?!” Robin burst through the doors, her eyes laying on me and the doctor. 

“Robin,” you muttered, Robin jogging over to you and hugging you tightly. 

“Is he okay? Tell me he’s okay,” she murmured into your shirt. 

“He’s gonna be okay, alright?” you hugged her back. 

“When can we see him?” she pulled back, looking at the doctor. 

“Just as soon as we stabilize him.” the doctor smiled. At least she wasn’t delivering bad news. 

******

You and Robin rushed through the halls of the E.R. hand in hand, looking for room 293. You were moments away from talking to him again, touching him again...

“Here!” Robin pulled you sharply to the left, opening the sliding glass door, seeing Newt wrapped in bandages, his one eye that was uncovered landing on the two of you. 

“Fuck,” he whispered, watching you and Robin walk up to each side of the hospital bed.

“I’m not getting out of here for a while, am I?” he asked, disappointed. 

“Obviously not,” Robin responded.

“But we’ll be here until you do.” you comforted him, holding the hand that wasn’t burnt to a crisp. 

And to that, he gave a small smile. 

******

((Part 2 comin real soon :) ))

[colorseeingchick]

The Inevitable Dystopia of My Hero Academia (WITHOUT manga spoilers)

As noted by your local political science anime lover.

(This is a summary/rambling about a political science paper I wrote on My Hero. This is only based on the anime. I’m not caught up on the manga)

Warnings: Vague reference to abuse (Endeavor), discussion of political theory, discourse.

A/N: It’s lengthy and all over the place. It also might be impossible to follow. So I’m sorry in advance lol.

THESE ARE JUST MY OPINIONS AND A FORM OF DISCOURSE. I’m open to discussing if you have thoughts! Political science is about understanding policy and structures, not taking a stance. Any comparisons to ‘modern society’ are in reference to 1st world/developed societies, as those are the governments that parallel the My Hero Academia government. 

The politics of My Hero Academia is... pretty morbid if you ask me. It’s not worse than the real world, sure, but maybe that’s why it’s all the scarier. Even with quirks and super powers, the impossible becoming possible, it isn’t enough to save them from the undesirable. Their society seems to have fallen into a cycle of suffering and oppression that has no end. 

Now, I know no one really gets excited about political theory (unless you’re like me, then please be my friend), but there are some concepts that you’ll need to understand in order to follow along with my argument. So bear with me. 

First, utopia. Utopia is probably a term you’ve heard casually, but the definition political theorists hold it to is simply- “a good place.” Often times it is depicted as a far away dreamland, only possible in the realm of fiction (and this makes sense given that My Hero is fictional). It is very important to understand that utopia is not necessarily perfect. It’s just better than average. There are a few standards that characterize utopia, one being the utopian focus on having very strict laws to repress the unstable nature of mankind [1]. I’ll come back to this. 

Next is dystopia. Dystopia as an idea was actually made in response to utopia. It’s the ‘not-utopia,’ and is lumped with ‘anti-utopia’ (this comment is in reference to the semiotic square, if you would like to develop a further look into it). The simplest way to understand dystopia is to know it’s ‘a not-good place.’ [2] But that’s surprisingly broad. Dystopias can be a failed utopia, or they could have developed on their own as a result of any number of reasons. You’ve probably seen all sorts of depictions of dystopia (climate dystopias, medical dystopias, technology-based dystopias, literally any YA novel from my childhood, you get the idea). Its key to note that unlike an apocalypse, where there is utter destruction and it ends with complete annihilation of humanity, there is hope* inherently written into it. 

*Hope here meaning there’s theoretically a way for the government to be changed/overthrown without death of the majority. 

Now that all that boring stuff is out of the way- let’s talk about My Hero Academia. 

I’d argue that, at first glance, Hero Society seems to be working towards utopia. When reading from Deku’s perspective, especially in the beginning, you would think that their society is close to becoming utopian. The impossible is possible, being a hero is a reality, and a symbol of peace tangibly and definitively exists. When you compare it to pre-quirk society, these changes would appear to be developments. As for the ‘in progress’ aspect, I think Hawks verbalizes it best when he says his goal is for heroes to have too much time on their hands. They aren’t there yet, but if that goal is achieved, it would be a mark of utopia. 

They’ve achieved some level of utopian standards by meeting the ‘strict laws to repress the unstable nature’ standard. Think about the concept of licensing quirks, quirk regulation, and the government institutions that regulate quirk society. Remember when Tomura cornered Deku at the shopping mall and mentioned something along the lines of, ‘all these people could wield their quirks at any moment they want, but choose not to? Instead they smile and laugh.’ 

He has a point. Why is that? From a political theorist point of view, it’s honestly very shocking. For centuries, theorists have argued about how to manage human nature. It’s a difficult task as is. Give everyone superpowers? That would have to be 10x as chaotic. But in the My Hero world, it’s not. It’s well organized. The government took action to regulate the physical instability of humanity which arose from quirks. What’s so impressive to me is that they managed to mitigate (not eliminate) the instability of human nature/behavior along with it.

But if you take a step back to look at My Hero Academia, slowing down and stepping out of Deku’s shoes, I don’t think the instinct is to classify it as a utopia in progress. Of course, its superpowered with quirks- adding to the realm of possibility. But crime of all sorts is superpowered, just as the justice systems/law enforcement in the country. 

When I made this realization, I understood I had kind of been drawn into the propaganda the society puts out. It’s a sort of cloak built up by the positive media around the heroes, the narrative being focused on young heroes and their great mentors, and the universal title of ‘villain’ being put on everyone that breaks the government’s laws (this really bothers me, and maybe I’ll discuss it another time). Things aren’t better. Crime rates have gone down I believe, but the anti-hero sentiments being harbored are more intense than in certain real world societies. Hero society hasn’t necessarily resolved any of the problems that our society would have. The balance is the same, but the possible actions people can take, or the behaviors that are exhibited, are scaled up on both sides of the law.

What’s worse is that- even if its not a universal experience, this society is also a dystopia for many people. The first hint of this society being less than perfect is when we hear from Stain and his pursuit of a ‘just society’ by eliminating fraudulent heroes. His ideals are surprisingly level-headed, and very rigorous in standard, even if it is based in questionable morals. But it’s easy to brush it off. However, its less deniable as you learn more about these characters. 

Shigaraki was abandoned and waited for heroes to save him, but they didn’t. Overhaul was also an orphan living on the streets. Eri was abandoned by her mother because of her quirk. Twice was villainized, when in reality he has mental health issues (dissociative identity disorder I believe). It broke my heart when Twice said “heroes only save good people.” Who decided they were bad people? Why weren’t they saved?

Also, can we talk about the quirkism? (Which I don’t know if that’s a real term within this fandom yet, it might be, but just to be on the same page, I mean quirk-based discrimination) You have people like Shinsou, who’s treated as villain even though he wants be a hero- solely because of his quirk. I believe Toga was also treated poorly because of the nature of her quirk as well (correct me if I’m wrong). And then you have Midoriya, who was harassed and bullied for not having a quirk at all. Clearly none of them have control over the way they were born, and yet they all had to deal with how society treats them because of the uncontrollable. (At this point I’m sure its clear there are a lot of parallels with the discourse around quirkism, racism, and sexism, which is a whole nother conversation).

Having good quirks also seems to get you a pass, or puts you outside the reach of the law. The only example I need for this is Endeavor and his children. Despite all the abuse he’s done that makes him a villain in my book, he stays the number 2 hero. That’s all I need to say. 

The suffering of all these individuals is a direct result of the failure of the government. And this isn’t a ‘government should have taken extra steps to help them.’ This is a situation where the government’s structure, including the sensationalized media and monopolization of quirk use, has actively attacked and oppressed people who otherwise would have been untargeted. 

This is a world of misery for them- the people who make up the underworld. We call them villains and criminals because they are- but I don’t think its fair to call all of them bad people. They definitely didn’t start out that way. They are the results of suffering. They are created by a society that solely aims to remove them from existence. This hero society is so unjust that its faults create its own villains. The villains they aim to stop came to be because of the ‘heroes’ in the first place. The irony there is painful, and I hate that it’s a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. 

The reason why I think it’s morbid is because there is no escape. Quirk society in its current state is undeniably a dystopia for many. But the issue is (and this was the crux of my argument in my paper) dystopia and utopia inevitably and consistently coinhabit space. What is utopia to one will be a dystopia to another. There is no way to get everyone to uniformly view society. 

What that means is, somebody will always be suffering in this society. At least, that’s the cycle that’s been set up. In the episode where Tamaki got shot with a quirk erasing bullet and Kirishima fought the gangster on quirk enhancing drugs, that gangster did say that this was ‘their time’ to rise. “It’ll be the age of those who live in the shadows.” They’re not looking for resolution. They’re looking for revenge. They want to flip the script and be the ones living in utopia while everyone else is subject to suffering. The concept of everyone living happily in harmony and true peace isn’t even in consideration. 

There seems to be no middle ground, no solution to the push and pull between the ‘heroes’ and ‘villains.’ The unfairness will continue to be passed around, and unless someone can break the cycle, attack the corruption of the system at its roots,

the problem is not going to go away. 

Sources!

[1] Claeys, Gregory, and Fatima Vieira. “The Concept of Utopia.” In The         Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

[2] Robinson , Kim Stanley. “Dystopias Now.” Commune, November 17, 2018.            https://communemag.com/dystopias-now/.

Copyright © 2020 Colorseeingchick. All rights reserved. 

[finallyaniguana]

Watch The Eyes: Paris [8]

[7]     masterpost    ao3    [9]

The next day at school was like every other. Marinette arrived only a few minutes before Mlle Bustier took roll, breathing heavily.

Alya shook her head at her best friend.

"At least you're on time," she sighed.

On the other side of the room, Lila was spewing lies as usual. She had failed to make good on her promise to turned all Marinette's against her, but she was still going strong with her tall tales.

"I really hope we win that trip to Gotham. It would mean so much to me! I have such good memories there," Lila was saying.

"Oh, yeah? Do tell," Alix requested, expression a careful neutral.

"Well... it's a bit of a secret. But, I can trust you all, right?" Lila giggled. "Okay, I'll let you in!"

Chloe was rolling her eyes next to Adrien. She caught his eye and shook her head.

That caught Marinette's interest.

'Is that secret that you've been lying to everyone and will now be moving to Gotham, never to be seen again?' she thought sarcastically.

"Bruce Wayne's youngest son, Damain, is actually my soulmate," she claimed.

Adrien raised his eyebrows incredulously from the front row. If she has a soulmate thats 'oh-so important to her', then why has she been hanging all over him?

"We decided to wait until after we graduated to be together of course. So we could find ourselves before really turning to each other," she went on.

Adrien slumped down. He may never be safe from her fawning.

Rose sighed, almost literal hearts in her eyes.

"That's soooooooo romantic! How did you guys meet?" she begged to know.

Lila pretended to be resistant to sharing her little story before sitting up straighter, gaining energy from everyone's attention like a sadistic leech.

"Well, when we were seven, my mother was stationed in the US. In Gotham. We met in the hotel lobby. While my mom and Mr. Wayne talked, of course he insisted I call him Bruce after, since we're practically family now, I spent time with his son. When I looked into his eyes for the first time... it was like a whole new world opened up," she forced a dreamy sigh.

Marinette had no idea how everyone was falling for this. She and Adrien made peripheral eye contact. He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She held back her laughter.

"I didn't even realize I was missing a color, but now I know I will never look at blue the same way again."

'You would have never looked at blue in the first place.'

Of course, Bruce Wayne kept a private household. No public pictures of the children still living with him. There was no way to prove that. Bruce Wayne had blue eyes and so did his first ward, Dick Grayson, judging by the tabloid pictures of the time (Marinette had done a bit of research on the family before even considering applying for this trip).

Mylene spoke next, "Do you have any pictures together? I bet you were so cute!"

Lila dramatically draped herself over the back of her bench.

"Sadly I can't show you. We made an agreement not to share photos of each other. Wouldn't want to paparazzi catching on, now would we?" she smiled, sugary sweet.

"You have to tell us about him!" Rose interjected.

Lila turned back to the petite blonde before looking off into the distance like she was having a dramatic flashback.

'I wonder if she's visualizing the lie.'

"He's just soooo sweet and affectionate! He's always holding my hand and writing me sweet notes and-"

At last Mlle Bustier entered the room, saving Marinette and Adrien from busting their sides from holding in laughter and Chloe from yacking up her gourmet breakfast from the front row.

"Class!" she buzzed with excitement. "I have a very important announcement to make!"

The hum of small voices quieted.

"I know you've all been anxiously awaiting news about the Wayne scholarship trip application! I can finally tell you the winning class. Thanks to the hard work of our class president," she gave Marinette a dazzling smile. "We have been selected to go on the trip to Gotham! We will be put up in a hotel, given a tour of Wayne Enterprises, and given an opportunity to sit in on Gotham Academy classes!"

The class practically exploded with sound. Alya grabbed her friends shoulder, shaking her.

"Girl! You did it! Oh my god, you did it!"

Marinette was practically glowing with praise over the next few hours.

After class that day everyone was congratulating her on her essay skills. Max even asked her for a copy to read on the plane. She happily told him she would print him a copy and bring it to him at the airport before their flight.

"Isn't this wonderful, Lila? You can finally go back to Gotham! Ooooooh! Maybe your soulmate could take you out for a super romantic dinner!" Rose squealed.

Lila was hiding her pained look. She honestly hadn't expected Marinette to win this competition. Now she just had to pray they didn't run into the subject of her lies because that would send her delicate house of cards crashing down.

"Well, I'm just lucky to have a soulmate. I know there are some people out there," she made eye contact with Marinette across the room. "that weren't meant to have a match."

Adrien scoffed next to her. He looked at Marinette with a slight annoyed look. He'd always hated it when Lila used that to try and make his Lady feel inferior. Marinette learned quickly to brush off the hurt after years of dealing with Chloe's bullshit. Not that Chloe hadn't made an effort. All it took was an ultra liar to see how bad it was to be a target.

Almost everyone in the class had a mark or some form of palpable sign that signified their other half was out there, if they hadn't already met their soulmate. Marinette and Lila were the only two in the class that had no sign (that she knew of) at all. Until now. Her soulmate was out there. He might have a tendency to fight superheroes in caves at six in the morning... but he was hers. Whoever he was.

They were set to fly out in two weeks. Two stressful, jam packed weeks. Principle Damocles had been in to give them a presentation on what he expected behavior wise and to congratulate them. Mlle. Bustier had been in contact with the Wayne representative and he had sent them a list of things to bring and what not to bring. They also received a base schedule so parents would have a general idea of where their children were during the day. Despite the stress, the time flew by.

All the preparations were being made, belongings packed.

The main issue for Adrien and Marinette was figuring out to get back to Paris if the need arises. Akuma attacks had declined over the last few years so it would most likely be okay. But to be safe, the two heroes went to see the Guardian. He provided them the horse miraculous for quick travel if they needed to be in Paris quickly.

They argued for over a half of an hour trying to decide who would hold onto Kaalki while in Gotham. Eventually they decided that Ladybug should hold onto it since she had the best strategies if needed in a pinch.

All three of them thought it would be quite unlikely that Hawkmoth would attack Paris while they were away. He had severely limited his activity to almost once a month. They weren't sure what the change was, but they were grateful nonetheless.

Everything was ready.

"Are you sure you have everything, sweetie?" her mother asked.

Her papa looked at her with admiration.

"I'm so proud of you, baby," he gushed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I must have double checked like a million times. I have my luggage, my carry on with my sketchbook, my phone," 'the horse miraculous,' "and Mlle Bustier has the plane tickets. That should be everything." She smiled at her parents.

"What about your dress base for the Wayne Gala?" her father reminded.

She lightly patted her red roller suitcase. She intended to buy fabrics in Gotham with her free time and finish it there. She was going to the gala in an MDC original, as was Alya. Marinette had already been making a gown for Alya to wear (and a tie and pocket square for Nino, if need be), just in case she was invited to any events due to her aspirations in reporting. She had also been intending to invite her best friend to the next event she attended with Jagged Stone. Marinette knew Alya would flip at the opportunity. She put the finishing touches on Alya's floor length gown last week, spending the following week doing as much as possible for hers so it could be done in time for the Gala.

They handed off a box of macarons to her to share with her classmates before boarding the plane. She popped the lid. They were based off Gotham's heroes. Her smiled tightened.

She thought back to her conversation with Alya.

"Alya. There are heroes in the US, right?" she asked, eyes serious and spine straight.

Her auburn hair whipped around and smacked herself in the face. She grinned really wide, not even noticing Marinette's out of character demeanor.

"Yeah! Alot of the Justice League has home cities in the US. Superman in Metropolis, The Flash in Central City, Green Arrow in Starling City, Green Lantern in Coast City! And of course! Batman is Gotham's Dark Knight. I could go on. What do you want to know?"

"Um..." she tried to broach the subject without being suspicious. "I saw a picture of a hero I didn't recognize. So, I assumed you would be able to tell me who he was."

Alya spread her hands out.

"You came to the right superhero fanatic! Show me."

"Oh, well I didn't save the photo... I saw it on a blog post on my desktop," she lied, wincing, the strange standoffish energy fading.

"That's okay. Describe him. I'm sure I can figure it out."

Marinette thought back to the man she met through her soulmates perspective.

"Black hair I think. Black suit and domino mask. Blue symbol thing on his lightweight armor chest plate? Staff? Like Chat Noir's I think... but not magic. His suit was built for agility not power," she provided.

The blogger thought for a moment. Her eyes lit up as she fell on an answer.

"That sounds like Nightwing. No superpowers but still really good. One of Batman's partners. Started out in Gotham but has been spotted pretty frequently in Blüdhaven. Were you doing more research on Gotham when you saw the picture?"

Nightwing...

"Are you sure, Alya?"

Her best friend smiled smugly at her. She whipped her phone out if her pocket and quickly typed something in. She flipped it around and showed her the search results. There he was.

"That's definitely him! Nightwing..." she trailed off.

"Yeah, girl. I know my stuff," Alya bragged.

"Okay, you said he was just one of Batman's partners. He has more?"

Alya huffed and blew a piece of stray hair out of her face.

"So, this was all pretty hush hush since Batman's clearly a very private person but there has been a couple different sidekicks and partners to cycle through, at least from what I can gather from different media sources. So there was the first Robin, then I think there was a second one... but... he fell off the radar. Since then there's been two more Robin's. You can tell because the costume changes every few years. There's also a few Batgirls out there."

"Okay... would you say any of them were... our age?" Marinette asked.

Alya looked at her friend, a strange smile on her face.

"The current Robin is probably pretty close. Why? You trying to talk to a superhero, girl?"

She back pedaled.

"No, no, no! I was just asking because of Ladybug and Chat Noir! So, they look our age! I just wanted to know if anyone in Gotham was too," she managed to come up with.

Alya looked like she was about to continue questioning her about why she wanted to know.

"You sure do know alot about superheroes... what do you do in your free time?" she tried for a humor redirection.

"Like you haven't had an obsession before. *cough* Adrien *cough*," she shot back.

"Um, no fair? I thought he was my soulmate so give me a break! And, in my defense he kind of is," she pouted.

"Oh, please. You did not think he was your soulmate. You wanted him to be your soulmate. Big difference."

She'd told Adrien about the switching, but not the circumstance. She had to figure out who he was before it got dangerous.

She shut the box again and smiled up at her parents.

"I'll call every night," she promised.

Just then, Adrien walked in. He was giving her a ride to the airport.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes! I'm ready!"

She kissed both her parents on the cheek before collecting the rest of her things and following Adrien out the door.

"I'll text you when we're boarding! I love you!"

They waved at her until she got into the car and drove away.

taglist: (CLOSED)

@vixen-uchiha @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @violatiger8 @mochinek0 @constancetruggle @yamadochie @seraphichana @captainmac6 @nataladriana9 @iggy-of-fans @riarkle-felinettelove @luciferge @mystery-5-5 @mellownieice @northernbluetongue @imanerddealwith @ayuchan07 @poshplumcot @annabellabrookes @legendaryneckjudgestudent @chez-pezeater @friedchickening @da-tasuky @crazylittlemunchkin @g-arya @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @witchbitch1998 @theatreandcomicfreak @lysslovsanime

[kingofthenorth49]

Made in China

I don’t know about you, but it sure feels like we are living through the start of World War III.  

Now before you scroll past and think my tin foil hat is on too tight this morning, hear me out. It’s not like this doesn’t make sense or anything, if you connect the dots it would appear that the next global conflict will look much different than the previous two.  

Think about it. China has been posturing for years to become the next world superpower, and if you can see through the medias bullshit you can read the overtures that are being made in the Asia region along with the saber rattling in the Middle East, you can see that it didn’t take long for Biden to unravel almost 50 years of progress towards peace.

War is inevitable and necessary to the state, and if you ever read Sun Tzu “Art of War”, a Chinese war treatise from the 6th dynasty you would understand the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. He also said that the outcome of war is pre-decided and gave solid advice on the best way to conduct campaigns to conquer foreign powers.

Now before you get your panties in a bunch, I’m not accusing China of deliberately inducing a world-wide pandemic through the use of a genetically modified pathogen after spending years devaluating the US dollar using printed money (not like we have room to talk, but we also haven’t been on a buying spree like the Chinese have in say, Canada for example.), but if I were President Xi Jinping that’s what I’d do. The best war is one where you risk no resources.

Again, not saying the Chinese are attempting to destabilize the United States, not at all. Just saying if I were going to take over the world that’s how I’d do it, from a far, using disinformation and creating confusion and chaos in the streets of my enemy. Not like it hasn’t been done before.  

See many of you see people like me as conspiracy theorists, people who are to be dismissed because we believe in things others’ think are foolish, things that seem farfetched and impossible to be going on in a frame of present reference. I just see myself as a guy who likes history and reads a lot of books that were written before Google came along and dumbed down our nations. Anyone who has ever read a book on the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in 1920’s Germany would understand completely. If you were to pick up a couple other books on how Hilter rose to power on the back of that party, you’d understand also how quickly people can be manipulated, and how the media and ideology can quickly create a firestorm of hate that makes it easy for societies to crumble. Read even further on how the German army used deceptive tactics to invade Austria and Poland so quickly they didn’t have a chance to prepare.  

That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s history and we all know those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  

I guess watering down history is a good thing, right? Taking down statues, changing historical accounts in the name of political correctness, and not encouraging people to critically examine all aspects of history to learn from them helps us become a better society.  

Let me give you the Cole’s notes version of how quickly things can go off the rails when the wrong ideology gains traction in a society where people intend to do evil. Again, not saying our current situation is remotely commensurate with our current situation, but it’s a good example of how quickly things can go from good to evil.

Here we go.

1933 - The Nazi Party takes power in Germany. Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor (or Prime Minister) of Germany. Nazis temporarily suspend civil liberties.

1934 - Hitler combines the positions of chancellor and president to become “Fuhrer” or leader of Germany. Jewish newspapers are no longer allowed to be sold in the streets of Germany.

1935 - The Nazis intensify the persecution of people that do not agree with their political philosophy. Jews are deprived of their citizenship and other basic rights.

1936 – Nazi's boycott Jewish owned businesses. The Olympic Games are held in Germany; Signs barring Jews are removed until the event is over. Jews no longer have the right to vote.

1938 - German troops annexed Austria. On Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass,” Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria and 30,000 Jews are arrested. Jews must carry ID cards (papers!) and Jewish passports are marked with a “J”. Jews no longer had businesses, attend plays, concerts etc. (maybe they were unvaccinated??)  All Jewish children are move to Jewish schools. Jewish businesses are shut down; They must sell businesses and hand over securities and jewels. Jews must hand over drivers licenses and car registrations. Jews must be in certain places at certain times.

1939- Germany takes over Czechoslovakia and invades Poland. World War Two begins as Britain in France declared war on Germany. Hitler orders that Jews must follow curfews; Jews must turn in radios to the police; Jews must wear yellow stars of David.

Now I’ll stop there.  

Those are all non-debatable historical facts, no subjectivity in my interpretation, just the facts m’am. Look how quickly one ideology took hold in a country ripe for change. At the time of the 1930’s German’s were desperate for change as they had just came out of world war 1 and were suffering from paying reparations for their conduct during that conflict and when Hilter came along he lit a fire under the German people by blaming the Jews for the loss of WW1.  

Five years. Five years from the time a tyrant took power until he was able to start killing 6 million people.

Now if you are one of those types that believe “it can’t happen again” look no further to all the other genocides over the past 100 years, up to and including the Uighur crisis currently going on in China where they have over 1 million Uighur Muslims in concentration camps and they are mass sterilizing these people to the point it’s actually consider a genocide, as it’s reducing the Muslim population in the western provinces of China though declining birthrates. If these women don’t submit to forced intra-uterine devices or monthly pregnancy tests, they are put in prisons.  

Put in prision because they needed to take a test, shot, or device and wouldn’t?  

Say it ain’t so Joe, say it ain’t so.

Folks, some people are evil. Rotten to the core. They have no soul and are in the most desperate need of getting laid of any person on the planet. That’s reality. You can choose to stick you head in the sand and pretend the boogeyman doesn’t exist, but in truth the boogey man will always exist because humans are nasty evil creatures capable of the most horrendous conduct, and if you think ignoring them or passing laws to prevent them from doing things are going to stop them, well you are just stupid. Sorry, I can’t soften that up any because I owe it to you to be blunt in these times.

Now if you’ve made it this far I think you would agree that something is amiss these days, there’s too many conspiracy theories of the past few years that are now seeming to be true, yet no one wants to talk about where the end game is. I’m not sure what it is, but I have some theories, most involved China or George Soros, but the data indicates more towards the former versus the latter.

Trudeau loves China, he’s said so on many occasions to the point of gushing over their communist form of government. His father was a Marxist, and his mother loved communists. Literally. **bow chica bow wow**

Hunter Biden and the Big Guy are in bed with the Chinese in a different way that Margret and Fidel. We’ve seen the emails, the testimony, and the allegations. For them, it’s about money. Last week the Big Guy shut down the investigation that Trump started into the Wuhan lab. That’s now created a firestorm that will likely make 9/11 look like a traffic accident. Coincidence? I think not.

We recently had two Chinese scientists with ties to the Chinese People’s Army kicked out of our highest security epidemiology lab here in Canada after CSIS had concerns they were passing information back to the Wuhan lab (a lab so highly classified Canadian scientists have a hard time getting security clearances to access it), and Trudeau drew the ire of senior Canadian military personnel when he bullied them into allowing the Chinese to hold winter war games at CFB Petawawa. Why is Trudeau so moonstruck with China?

Dot, Dot, Dot.

Once again, I hope I’m wrong. I really, really do, but go back and walk that timeline again and ask yourself if you now understand why Netanyahu hit Hamas as hard as he did.

Never again.

Can you blame him Comrades?

Now as you sit here in North America today, especially in Canada, does it not seem eerily similar to what has happened before in history? Keep in mind that Jews were loaded onto boxcars under the premise to take them to safety from the angry German peoples.  

I really do hope my tinfoil hat is too tight and it’s cutting off the circulation to my frontal lobe, I want the Canada back I grew up in, and the America I fell in love with. I just hope this really is just a bad bug that’s part of a cyclical pattern of virology and this isn’t the start of a global war to reorganize the planet power structure and de-populate the globe.

The dots just tell a different story.

Jim Out.

[script-a-world]

Do you have any existing examples of world building a future that's actually accurate and predictive of the future? Say, ones that have depicted the last 5 years with some accuracy but created over 15 years ago. Or perhaps some future ones that aren't extreme sci fi writing genetically modified humans with superpowers or time travel in the next 50 years.

Tex: The Simpsons sure did give things a go (Metro, Business Insider).

That said, I could throw out some arguments in the line of “100% predictions are plausibly from time-travellers and would skew the time-line, likely creating catastrophic effects on spacetime as we know it” or something, but that would very quickly derail your question.

More realistically, Star Trek did a damn good job on the technological front (The Portalist, Quartz), and their cultural impact has been so significant that there’s a wiki on it. In this instance, I would argue rather more that the genre of sci-fi in particular has inspired our current technological advances - when we have an idea posited to us, it no longer becomes “impossible”, merely “improbable”.

Humans have historically liked a good challenge (or on the flip-side, really dislike being told no), so I would say that eventually most sci-fi things are created by sheer stubbornness. A warp drive, for example, has been talked about since at least the 1960s, but we’re slowly getting there in terms of real-world development (ScienceAlert, Universe Today).

We might not have the superpowers thing down yet (though that might take some paradigm changes, re: quantum entanglement in the brain and related topics - let’s scale our expectations of a “superpower” gradually), but we do already have genetically modified humans. Germ-line therapies (also known as somatic gene therapy, ScienceDirect) have existed for a while, and have many ethical issues arising from it (SingularityHub, National Academy of Sciences).

I do my best to keep up with as many STEM fields as I can, but in the past decade we’ve had a boom in development - I think if you asked someone in 2000 what sort of scientific and technological developments would exist by 2020, a good half of them might be wrong due to the simple fact that many fields just didn’t exist.

Given how long it took us to posit the theory of cellphones (in 1917 by Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt), to how long the first commercially available mobile phone was sold (by Motorola in 1973) - never mind flip phones (first posited in 1964 by Star Trek: The Original Series, first seen in real life via the Motorola StarTAC in 1996) - I would challenge anyone to bring a concept from drawing board to production line within ten years and have it be a commercial success!

There’s approximately 46 listed fields of engineering in this wiki, the Bureau of Labor Statistics cites that seven out of ten of the largest STEM fields were computer related in 2017 - the first concept of the modern computer was by Alan Turing in 1937 (Wikipedia), the first realization of this concept was with the Ferranti Mark 1 in 1951 (Wikipedia), and the first mobile computer was the IBM 5100 in 1975 (Wikipedia) - between Alan Turing in 1937 and the job statistics of 2017, a full 80 years had passed. I won’t delve more into the details of things like the history of social media, the Dot-com bubble, or literally anything about the 2000s, but suffice to say:

Description: Exponential Growth in STEM? Articles Published Worldwide, 1900?2011. Source: SPHERE project database of SCIE publications (Thomson Reuters' Web of Science).

STEM is likely increasing at an exponential pace (ResearchGate). I don’t know whether this means we’ll see things like the Enterprise, a TARDIS, or even Spiderman within our lifetime, but I distinctly would not preclude their possibilities just because our literature and scientific experiments didn’t have a palatable success rate. We got cell phones and 3D printing! I’m sure humans might be able to see things like superpowered humans or time-travel eventually, if not in our lifetime.

Delta: I’d also recommend The Martian by Andy Weir if you haven’t read it. It’s not super advanced sci-fi, so I’m not sure if it’s exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s an extremely realistic look at near-future space travel and Mars missions (realistic in every way, that is, except for the privatization of the American space industry; Weir wrote publicly funded space travel, which is looking less and less likely to be the case).

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, is less sci-fi and more apocalypse/dystopia fiction, but takes a realistic, hard look at how humanity would actually react to an apocalypse, and is disturbingly familiar in 2020 (the main plot is a pandemic, so read with caution). Similarly, Octavia Butler wrote a great deal of similar future dystopia fiction; I’m particularly thinking of Parable of the Sower (warnings for rape, violence, riots, looting, etc.).

Mary Doria Russel’s The Sparrow is another good one. The timeline is a bit outdated, things didn’t happen as quickly as she thought, but her ideas about everything from space travel in asteroids to continuing violence in the middle east are more or less shaping up the way she predicted. She also takes a realistic look at what “first contact” would actually be like, as well as the actual ramifications of relative time caused by space travel. (While Russel is herself Jewish, Roman Catholic Christianity plays a very important role both thematically and in the plot, so this won’t be everyone’s cup of proverbial tea).

(On a related note, the movie Arrival by director Dennis Villeneuve is another sci-fi story that’s a very realistic (if somewhat trippy) look at “first contact,” but is set in the present day, rather than the future, so it’s not necessarily what you’re looking for, but I think very highly of it because of its realism and creative restraint, so it felt worth a mention.)

[andcurioser]

So. Let’s talk about Veronica Mars. *deeeeeeeep sigh*

Ok, friends. It’s been a goddamn whirlwind for me. I actually went to the Veronica Mars panel at Comic Con, which I thought was a highlight at the time. They screened the first episode before the panel, and I was all ready to report back to you all that it was real good and to get excited for the new season, but then Hulu had to go and drop the whole damn series during the CC panel, which was a STUPID thing to do (or, at the very least, an extremely stupid thing to announce to the panel at Comic Con - the exact people who would not be able to watch it until after Comic Con, putting them at risk for some really big fucking spoilers. It’s genuinely surprising to me how little the people who are in charge think about these things. If you want to do a surprise drop (which, why, but whatever), sure, go and do it, but definitely don’t announce it to a room full of people who can’t enjoy it and expect them to be excited??). But regardless. That was just a wtf moment. I was still filled with enthusiasm and excitement and happiness that this show was back and seemed to be in good form. 

Oy. 

Cut to Tuesday morning. I got back from Comic Con on Sunday night, and life goes on, so of course I hadn’t watched 8 hours of TV by Tuesday at 7AM. Which is precisely when my dear friend, whom I adore, but who is apparently an idiot, texted me about how terrible that VM ending was and how upset she was. Now, because I’m a good friend and I know what she likes and we’ve discussed VM at length, it took me all of four seconds to know the gist of what happens in the end. I didn’t know the how or why, but I certainly knew the what. Cue fun spikes of anxiety and random bursts of rage, because what the fuck. Truly, what the fuck. But I placed my certainty at 99% and hopelessly clung to the 1% chance that I was wrong, knowing full well that I wasn’t. This obviously completely stymied any excitement I had for the show, and I dragged my heels for a full month before finally finishing the goddamn show just to get it over with. And now we’re here. 

I’ve had a month to ready myself for what I knew was coming. It was both a blessing and a curse, since while it pretty thoroughly ruined my good time, it also meant that I wasn’t totally blindsided by that ending. And man, I would have been blindsided, because there was Z E R O reason for that. None. And now I’ve read all the articles in which Rob Thomas tries to explain his reasons, and they’re all nonsense. Absolute idiocy. All I see is a guy who always, always resented the fans for loving a character he didn’t want us to, who tried and tried to redirect us to one of his preferred creations without success, and just when I thought he’d finally accepted defeat, he pulls the most nonsensical of fuckery just to finally win the battle. Fuck you, RT, forever and always. I can’t fucking believe that I allowed myself to think you’d finally seen the light. What a ridiculous fool I was for giving him the benefit of the doubt. 

Since I knew what was coming, I could look for the signs all throughout the season. So I searched for foreshadowing, or at least a narrative through-line. And let me tell you: there isn’t one. The season finally, rightfully seems to address Veronica’s deep-set trauma and trust issues but treats them like a problem and not a secret superpower, and it seemed like the show might expect Veronica to grow up along with the viewers who’ve aged 15 years since the first season? I was excited to finally have Veronica be the problem in a relationship, frankly. It was hinted at with Piz, but glossed over because there was only so much time in the movie, but it was realistic for her to have some trouble adjusting to a long-term, committed relationship, and I was excited to see that journey! I thought it was such an interesting path to go down, watching Veronica grapple with what she wants (or maybe just thinks she wants) vs. what she’s always known, or thought she knows. Lots of stuff there! Good stuff! And you get all the way to the end, when she’s finally decided to try. It isn’t fixed, it isn’t perfectly, she’s definitely got a long way to go, but she’s taken a few tentative steps into an uncertain future. And all of a sudden, quite literally, boom. It’s all gone. 

Listen. I was never going to be a fan of getting rid of Logan. However they chose to do it, it would always feel wrong. I have never trusted Rob Thomas to handle Logan well, because he’s always had this undercurrent of anger in every interview I’ve read, this frustration that people love and respond to Logan when he wanted them to love Duncan! Then Piz! Then anyone else! His creations took on a life of their own, and RT hated it. RT was one of the ultimate examples of writers/show runners who were simply watching a completely different show than the rest of us. I could never understand how he wrote such interesting stuff for Logan but didn’t want us to root for him. It never made any sense. But I didn’t think he would sabotage his own show this thoroughly. 

Because here’s the thing: I was never going to like him getting rid of Logan, but I could have understood it. I could have gone along with it if it had been done right. Frankly, the way it was building, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, nor would it even have been a bad choice, to have Logan break up with Veronica at the end of the season. And if RT couldn’t handle Veronica not being the aggressor, fine, make Veronica do it. She decides she isn’t willing to put in the work to change that Logan needs from her, and she ends it. Fine. Could work, at least for a few seasons. Let her deal with the loss, knowing it was something she chose, and see how it affects her priorities as she continues on. Certainly could be interesting! 

You know what isn’t interesting? This. This is the only - the ONLY - plotline that’s a watered down repeat of a previous story. Veronica Mars, traumatized and hardened by the shocking loss of someone close to her? Quite literally, been there, done that. I know RT has been trying to recapture the magic of season one for every season and iteration since, but just repeating the storyline? Really, really missing the mark. There isn’t anything new that can be added to this. We’ve done this. This will only ever be a pale imitation, a tacked-on sequel hitting the same beats with less force. Lilly was a fantastic inciting incident that yielded a tight, well-thought-out season arc. But why would we want to start over 15 years later? What’s to be gained from this? Literally ANY other ending would have yielded multiple storytelling options, branching out with so many possibilities on where the characters could go. This is the only one that simply slams doors shut. 

The few supporters of this ending I’ve seen around the interwebs keep saying things like “this show wouldn’t work if Veronica was happy!” Hell, Rob Thomas is saying the same thing. And to that idiocy, I can only say 1. of course it would, if you write it well, dumbass, and 2. if you think Veronica getting married immediately = happiness, well, what the hell show were you watching? The marriage, much as it could represent a step forward, was still VERY CLEARLY a huge, impulsive jump that was more a reaction than a measured decision. And that was something I was looking forward to seeing. Fresh off of a near-death experience and a renewed assurance of her love for Logan, Veronica marries him thinking that’s the end of their troubles, only to realize that it’s just another complication. Now Veronica has to deal with the new experience of having no quick exit strategy. All the problems they had throughout the season still exist, thinly covered by the veil of newlywed bliss, and she has to reconcile her happiness with her frustration and uncertainty. Logan still disappears at the drop of a hat because of his job. She still puts herself in danger for the case and uses loved ones and acquaintances alike to her full advantage. They hide things from each other. They love fiercely, they trust the other with their own lives but can’t trust each other to take care of themselves. Doesn’t this sound like a complicated, tumultuous relationship full of narrative possibilities? 

Well, forget it, because why break new ground when you could retread old storylines? Yeah, that’s what we all want. Great job, RT. So smart. 

Something that keeps bothering me is that if RT didn’t want Logan around as the happy husband at home but didn’t want to write more relationship drama between them? He already had the perfect excuse to ship Logan off for entire seasons at a time. Look, Logan’s deployed, oh no, he can’t even skype, he’s undercover! Cool, problem solved. No more Logan, but in a way that still maintains possibilities for the future should we want them. Ideal. Again, options. All you want are places for your narrative to go. Multiple roads it could take so it doesn’t become predictable. 

This is predictable. This is boring. This is trite. Our heroes, struck down in their highest moment of happiness. Holy fuck, it’s dull. It doesn’t feel edgy. It feels derivative, a tired rehash of a narrative structure that should have gone out of vogue ten years ago. The whole thing just exhausts me at this point. 

And I’ve read Rob Thomas’s justification for why he did it. They’re all flimsy, but if he wants to go do a Sherlock-style, Ms. Marple mystery series, flitting in and out as he pleases, fine. It won’t be the worst show in the world. Veronica’s still a fun and interesting character, and I’ll always enjoy watching her. But removing her from Neptune, and more importantly, removing her from all of her meaningful relationships, takes away what made this show special. The new version RT is pitching could be fun enough. But it’ll still be just one in a long, long line of mystery shows that don’t have much claim to my emotional investment. I might watch, but I’ll forget about it the second it’s over. It certainly won’t be the kind of show with a fanbase that will still be interested in watching more 15 years from now. Rob Thomas won’t be getting one of those again. 

So yeah, that’s that. I have much more to say, but really I just wanted to get this rant out so I can put it all behind me. I learned long ago that I can’t trust shows and showrunners, and it’s a lesson I learned partly, if significantly, from Rob Thomas. I suppose it’s on me for letting my guard down, but I guess my hope got grandfathered in from an age when I didn’t immediately mistrust the things that were supposed to make me happy. I’ll know better next time. 

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #293

“your head upon a stick would look really sick, but they would call me crazy for the way i spoke to it”

Hey bitch, what's your fucking name? What a start, jc lmao. Brittany. What color are your nails? They're not painted. Last time you got some ass? Well this survey's gonna be a journey. Many years ago. Do your parents like your style/music choices? Yeah, at least most of it. Some music my mom really doesn't like or just hates, while I can't even imagine Dad's reaction to some bands I enjoy. Ever seen your parents make out? tbh would rather slam my ankle on a Razor scooter. What's your dream height and weight? Forget about my height, if I could just be at least 120 again... Do you put your hair up a lot or down? It's too short to put up. Most of the time do you straighten or curl your hair? Neither. What do you do when your house loses power? Light a bunch of candles and carry flashlights. What piercing do you hate? I'm not a fan of cheek piercings. Were you raised in a religious house? Yes. I grew up going to Sunday school and church, even though I hated both. Do your parents get mad when you're on the computer for hours? Gah... it was a very, very big source of argumentative fuel between Mom and me all the way up to my late teenage years when she just gave up; now, it's to be expected and is completely "normal." I always wanted to be on the computer once I was introduced to it; she tried to limit my time on it, and it was without fail what she would take away whenever I was grounded. I'd even sneak onto it when I wasn't allowed to if she wasn't home and Dad was in their room. My mom really did try to keep me from being hooked on technology, she really did, it just didn't work, but dear god I wish it did. I just about turn into a caveman without some form of it, and it's pretty pathetic. Dad meanwhile has never really cared much, but he'd make a comment here and there that would make me self-conscious about it. Have you ever been asked for a nude picture? No, and guess who would be ignored for the rest of their lives if they did. It's so fucking disrespectful and objectifying to me. If someone wants to send a partner something like that by their own volition, that's cool, but asking, that just seems incredibly rude to me and turns the person into an object of lust. Ever been so scared you pissed? Caaan't say I have. Can you watch scary movies at night and not be scared? Yeah, they've never really fazed me. Last reason you got your cell taken away? I actually don't know if that's ever happened, given the aforementioned computer thing. I was never hooked on my phone. Could you handle working on a farm? Nooooo, that is way too much physical exertion. Have you ever been attacked by an animal? No. Have you ever had to put an animal to sleep? ugh Do you have a favorite type of firework? Well, visually I really just like the big colorful ones, but I don't endorse the use of fireworks anymore. Some animals literally die from fear, they can be seriously upsetting to veterans with PTSD (you could have one in your neighborhood and never know you indirectly gave them a panic attack), and they're a large source of litter. Where would/did you get your first tattoo? My right wrist. What's your favorite kind of pet? Snakes. Favorite dinosaur? Spinosaurus is obviously the coolest. It's always been my fave. How many pets do you have? Sigh, just two. Our landlord doesn't want us to get anymore pets than what we came in with. What were two of your favorite Disney movies as child? The Lion King and Finding Nemo. They're still my favorite Disney movies. When carving pumpkins, how do you decide what you're going to do? I haven't carved a pumpkin in years... so idk. Do you own any art supplies? Some, yeah. Do you believe you have a higher IQ than most? Definitely not. What is the name of the doctor that delivered you? I have no clue. Mom knows him for sure because she's mentioned him from my childhood, but I don't. Have you ever seen a Lamborghini in person? Hunny, I live in rural North Carolina. You don't see that level of bougie here lmao. Shane Dawson: funny or annoying? I honestly think he's fucking hilarious. I just have such conflicting feelings about him after "the drama," hearing so many people's opinions (particularly from those who know him so well, like his fiance and Ryland's sister), fact checking, audio cutting and mixing, the whole "people change" philosophy... I don't know. When you have a container of Neapolitan ice cream, what flavor do you leave for last? I ain't touchin' strawberry. Gross. If you could choose to have any superpower ever, what would you pick? I'd wanna be a shapeshifter/druid. What would you be more embarrassed to buy: sex toys or adult diapers? Yikes, sex toys. Given my age, I'd say if I bought adult diapers, people would assume they weren't for me. I'm awkward enough with all things relating to sex to begin with, so. What’s the biggest animal you’ve ever killed? Yo wtf I never have and never will (intentionally) kill an animal. Well, correction: I've killed bugs before, the biggest probably being some spider or something, but I really try to avoid this now. Could you win the Hunger Games? lol hell to the fuck no, have you seen me??? For you, would getting amnesia be a good thing? ... Maybe? Not saying I wanna find out, though. Have you ever been punched in the face? No, plan on keeping it that way. Is morality universal or relative? I question this myself. Who is your favorite late night talk show host? I don't have one. Where do you put your keys when you get home? They stay in my purse. Do you prefer hot coffee or iced coffee? Neither. The sheer variety of questions relating to coffee and tea in surveys boggles my mind, always feel left out that I can't answer 'em lmao. What’s your phone background picture? My lock screen is this pretty, soft aesthetic screen that has "i am strong, i am loved, i am enough" written in the center. I've really needed it for my mental health lately. My home screen is some meerkats. I know, can you believe neither are currently Mark? Have you ever seen a snake in the wild? Plenty. How do you cope with anxiety? Deep breathing, mindfulness and grounding exercises, confiding in my mom, listening to music (usually my favorite calm, instrumental soundtracks, like from the Silent Hill franchise - particularly the second game! - or Shadow of the Colossus), try to nap, play a game as a distraction, watch my favorite YouTubers (typically something funny)... I'm lucky to have learned a lot. Now, if only I could cope with social anxiety... What was the last takeout food you ate? Oh Jesus, how embarrassing is this timing, seeing as it was one of my unhealthiest fast food orders: Son of the Baconator and Baconator fries from Wendy's. It was so fuckin good tho. Who makes you laugh the most? My friend Girt. What does a successful relationship look like to you? One with great communication and total honesty, and when you are able to build each other up and bring out the best in your partner. It's also imperative for you to feel safe being your authetic safe for me to consider it "successful." What do you like to put on your baked potato? "Salt, pepper, butter, cheese, bacon bits." <<<< That's how we do it, lads. What was the most memorable birthday you’ve had? My 16th, but not for good reasons. Would you rather go to the beach or the mountains? That's easy as hell, mountains. I don't like the beach. Do you look in the mirror before you leave the house? Yeah. Not gonna like what I see no matter what, but I'd like to make sure I don't look worse whan what's normal. Have you ever seen someone quit their job in a dramatic way? No. What do you like to dip your fries in? It varies between ketchup and honey mustard. What’s your favorite kind of museum? Science. Do you believe in alternate universes? Nah, I don't think so. Whose house did you last visit? My older sister's. What games do you play on your smart phone? Mostly just Pokemon GO nowadays. I haven't touched Dragons of Atlantis in a long time... Do you know anyone who is colorblind? Jason's older brother is red/green colorblind, I think? Are you the youngest, middle or eldest child in your family? Middle. What’s something you’ve been meaning to do but keep putting off? Ugh, I need to finish decorating my damn room... Got most of the stuff on the walls now, but it's still pretty skeletal in self expression. My motivation is abysmal. Have you ever flown a kite? Oh yeah, I loved to fly a kite with Dad as a little kid when the tobacco field just across the road was barren. Who was the last person you talked about sex/relationships with? My doctor. How many brothers does your father have? I'm almost certain he doesn't have one, just one sister. Do you think you act older or younger than your actual age? It depends on the situation. When it comes to "adulting," I don't have a fuckin clue what I'm doing. I doubt anyone would believe I'm a month shy of 25. In terms of general maturity, I think I act my age, if not older. When was the last time you swam in a pool? It's been years. What are your parents' views on your relationships? Mom is always very supportive so long as they treat me right; she's taken to all my previous partners very well and treated them like family, too. My dad is also supportive as long as I'm treated properly and happy. Is your best friend dating anyone? No. Have you ever babysat before? Twice, but not really willingly. Way too stressful. Do you delete pictures of you and your exes off of Facebook? It took a very, very long time, but all pictures with Jason are forever deleted. Ever had a huge crush on someone who still doesn’t know? Not a huge crush, no. Ever watched porn? No. You do you, but I don't see the appeal of watching some random people fuck. Ever performed in a talent show? No. Would you audition for a reality talent competition? Nope. How many celebrity crushes have you had? I'd say Jesse McCartney, Link Neal, and Mark Fischbach are my only BIG celeb crushes I've had. How many non-celebrity crushes have you had? I dunno, don't feel like reaching back and counting. Ever been compared to a celebrity? Not visually, but with my adoration of animals. Have any embarrassing pictures on Facebook? Oh, I'm sure. None that are horribly embarrassing though, or else I would have deleted them. Ever seen a therapist? I've regularly seen a therapist since the 6th grade. Ever purposely ignored a text? Yep. A Facebook message? Sure have, when I was beyond done arguing with a former friend. A friend request? No, I just decline or accept it. My page is private, so you can't see my activity, and it's not like they get notified if it's declined, Would you say you read into things too much? I am the fucking sovereign of this. If you turned out exactly like your mom would you be pleased? I love my mom to death, but no. I'd be disappointed. Ever had a credit card denied? I've never had one in the first place. Ever had the lead in a play? No. I do remember though in elementary school, I was real bummed that I wasn't Snow White for one we did for Music class. What about a solo in a concert? Never been in a concert. Would it bother you if you found out that your mother was pregnant? Well. One, she's long past menopause. Two, because of ovarian cancer, she had all those organs removed. So, that would be impossible. Have you ever had a threesome? No; I'm personally strictly monogamous and would feel it to be disloyal, even if my parnter was okay with it. What's the last game you used dice for? Not a clue. Are you interested in surfing at all? Have you ever been? No. What brand of bottled water do you prefer? Essentia. What is your favorite type of bird? Barn owls. What is your favorite chocolate candy? motherfuckin REESE'S Have you ever been called a racial slur? No, considering I'm Caucasian. Why did you last stand in line? I was at the doctor's office, I think? What is your favorite pirate movie? /shrug What is your favorite character from Orange Is the New Black? I've never watched it. What was the most unsettling film you’ve seen? Watching the ending to Paranormal Entity was VERY uncomfortable. It was a decently scary movie, but the ending was seriously intense. When was the last time you were snooping, and found something you wish you hadn’t? I don't recall. Which celebrity or band has the worst fan base? I don't know. What are you interested in that most people aren’t? The sheer degree of my love for meerkats would definitely be missed by probably most people. What smartphone feature would you actually be excited for a company to implement? I dunno. Anything I could think of, the most current products probably already have and I'm just uninformed of them. Like, I use a Tracfone lmao. What’s something people don’t worry about but really should? Their plastic usage and disposal. I'm certainly no saint when it comes to plastic either, but I try to do all I can. What movie quotes do you use on a regular basis? Hm, ARE there any? Do you think that children born today will have better or worse lives than their parents? This depends on what you consider "better" and "worse." Environmentally, I honestly don't think mankind can maintain itself for that many more generations at the rate we're currently at, so that's probably just gonna keep getting worse. On the other hand, advances in medicine and things like that will certainly continue to improve quality of life in that sense. Human rights are getting better and better. I do fear that we're becoming too comfortable with laziness and convenience, but I hope that's a decline we don't continue to venture down. What’s the funniest actual name you’ve heard of someone having? I had a college classmate named Apple. Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? Oh, come on now. It's not a competition. What game have you spent the most hours playing? So. When you type /played in World of Warcraft, it will show you your total playtime, and mine is YIKES. Like, around a year's worth of time of pure playing since 2014, I think. What’s the most comfortable bed or chair you’ve ever been in? I don't recall. What’s the hardest you’ve ever worked? When I did WiiFit religiously and lost around 40 pounds in HS. I was in the best shape of my life. What movie, picture, or video always makes you laugh no matter how often you watch it? Oh, there's certainly something. Probably some Unus Annus clip. That channel was a fucking blessing and a curse all the same. If you could have an all-expenses paid trip to see any famous world monument, which monument would you choose? Oh boy, I'd have to think, but probably somewhere in Rome or Greece. What’s the coldest you’ve ever been? I'm unsure. Probably jumping in the pool as a kid. My sisters and I would nag Dad to put the pool up on like the very first day of spring, so of course it was cold, but as a kid, I didn't mind that. What’s the most ridiculous thing you have bought? Hm. What’s the most depressing meal you’ve eaten? Ha ha yiiiikes, struggle foods... I don't know, but I've had some. What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? Herping, though I change my mind on-and-off about it. I'm not very into the idea of disturbing wildlife just because they're cool and you wanna check them out. I'd totally go exploring with a camera, though, and not actually pick anything up. If you were given five million dollars to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create? Hm... I actually think something like an art museum for the mentally ill would be pretty interesting and educational? Even something that could build empathy. Maybe mix some psychology in there to understand conditions.

[orionsangel86]

Dean is not very good at being angry without being an asshole, but imo he's right in being fed up with Cas. Cas does keep messing up, and if he'd let them complete the ritual on Jack when Jack first showed up, he would have been a human child and not the superpowerful angel who ended up hurting people and killing Mary. Cas never explained why Jack had to be born as the most powerful thing in existence, and never apologized for that. I get it's the writers' fault, but it sucks.

Sorry nonny, but I totally disagree with you.

We saw in Season 14 just what happened to Jack when his grace was removed. It basically killed him. If the boys had used that grace extraction on him from the womb he probs would have ended up still born.

Cas did explain why Jack had to be born, because he believed that Jack would bring peace to the world. Jack represented hope for Cas. 

Cas doesn’t keep messing up either. He does whatever he can to keep his family together. Every decision Cas has made has been explained by him specifically - that he did it to protect his family, and keep hold of his family. The only thing Cas didn’t do was tell Dean about the snake situation, even though he DID tell Dean that he was concerned and Dean brushed him off. Dean’s overreaction towards Cas’s decisions has a reason, but Dean is not correct here.  

There is no point ever trying to point blame in this show on any character as you will end up going around and around in circles driving yourself mad as at the end of the day, you’ll realise that every single disastrous event in this series is just a result of the previous disastrous event. 

Dean is mad at Cas

Because Cas protected Jack

Because Jack killed Mary

Because Jack lost his soul

Because Jack used it to stop Michael

Because Michael was free and causing chaos

Because Dean said yes

Because Sam and Jack were in danger

Because Lucifer had them

Because Lucifer got back from the apocalypse world with Michael

Because Sam and Dean had to go messing with other dimensions because they couldn’t accept Mary and Jack were gone

Because Mary and Jack got trapped over there

Because of Lucifer

Because Crowley let his ego allow Lucifer to live when he should have killed him when he had the chance

Because Lucifer mocked Crowley

Because Lucifer was free

Because Cas said yes

Because Amara was destroying the world

Because Dean and Sam are stupidly codependent and let Amara out

Because Dean was becoming a demon

Because he didn’t read the fine print and took the mark of Cain 

Because he blamed himself for fucking up his relationships with Sam and Cas because he’s insecure and considers himself poison and nothing more than daddy’s hammer.

But also because Abaddon was free and causing chaos

Because Sam and Dean stupidly rebuilt her to use for the trials then didn’t pay attention and let her escape

Because they wanted to close the gates of hell

...

So actually, EVERYTHING in the later seasons is a result of the trials in season 8 which was also the start of the true toxic codependency between the brothers. Every bad decision they made during season 8 was a result of their toxic codependency and it was season 8 that triggered the spell of extremely bad luck that led to this moment. 

Seriously. You can’t even argue that season 8 was a result of Cas in season 7 and the leviathans because Carver era reset the story. Other than the angel storyline which isn’t actually a part of the above sequence of events, this all could have been avoided if Sam and Dean had just saved Kevin, and destroyed the tablets. If they had DESTROYED THE DEMON TABLET NONE OF THE ABOVE WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

So do NOT blame Cas for this. The only characters who are even remotely to blame for all the crap of the past 8 seasons is Sam and Dean themselves, because they had to go and mess with ancient powerful artifacts but then change their minds at the last minute because bRo LoVe.

After all - What’s round and bad-tempered? A vicious circle.

Unless of course you wanna blame Chuck for everything which is literally current canon so like  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[nsheetee]

Yin&Yang

Pairing: Mark Lee x Reader Genre: Bulleted AU, Superhero AU || Action, Romance, Angst, Mystery Length: 6.3k Details: mentions of Johnny, Doyoung, and Sicheng, major character death, happy ending Summary: In a world where certain people obtain superpowers, you are granted the dark and destructive powers of Yin while Mark is granted the bright and positive powers of Yang. Forced to work together, Mark uses his powers of creation to fight evil and you use your powers of destruction to maintain the balance of the world. The superhero gig isn’t full-time, though; you live as a University student, and when Mark becomes your chemistry lab partner, unbeknownst to either of you of your secret identities, a love blooms that seems to be stronger than any disguise you can hide yourselves under. Will Yin&Yang be able to conquer Imitatrice, a new villian who seems to be able to imitate superpowers? Or will it cost Yin&Yang their relationship? Or worse, their lives? 

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Yin and Yang are forces that are complementary (rather than opposing) to each other 

just like how there can never be day without night or cold without heat

in your city, there can never be yin without yang

any average citizen of your city could tell you that yin&yang are anything but trouble

yin&yang are the city’s heroes

the black and white matching uniforms with complementing masks that cover over half of their faces could be recognized by anyone

children were taught to recognize their figures and how to shout for their help- just in case

people would stop what they were doing and gawk as yin&yang zoom down the streets, cheering them on as they ran to save the city once again

ever since superheroes appeared decades ago, the entire city started to rely on the comforting notion that a superhero will save the day

whether it be from a good-for-nothing criminal that’s involved in petty crimes, or another superpowered human that decided to use their fate-given gift for malicious purposes

these “supervillains” 

(a term appropriately coined by the citizens of the city)

are the reason many wealthier people are opposed to superpowers, and have tried to place a ban on the city from allowing superpowers to be used

this law never passed, the people of the city were too adamant on the idea that superpowers did more good than bad

fate granted you the destructive powers of yin

living life as yin was.,.,. mentally scarring, to say the least

to have the ability to destroy anything you touch from existence was.... a bit difficult to get used to

and finding out that your superpower matched with this other random kid’s superpower (better known as yang)

and finding out that the two of you balance out and help keep the world from falling apart

it was just a little too much for hormone-filled teenagers

despite that, you and yang have worked together for several years to stop criminal acts

yang has the power to create anything he wants

weapons, tools, literally anything you could think of

with one exception

you had to destroy something of the same caliber in return, to keep the balance of matter in the world 

this led to years of fighting crime together

and years of being pushed into the shadow of yang’s accomplishments

at first, you didn’t mind that people only saw you as someone who destroyed things

you were glad that yang was confident enough to handle the press because at that point in time, you weren’t

yang was always at your side

he was always reminding you that he couldn’t do his part without you

to you and him, you were a team- it didn’t matter what other people thought

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on a bright and fresh morning in the downtown area of your city, a shapeshifter wreaks havoc, disturbing several people’s day and destroying businesses and property

you and yang run towards downtown, the wind whipping past your faces and the cheers of people with their cameras pointed at you encouraging you to go faster

you both stop in front of the shapeshifter- you couldn’t really tell what it shifted into

some sort of hybrid between a lion and something with wings with big horns on its head

both of your minds go into a fritz at the sight in front of you- you’ve never had a fight with something that looked this non-human

“you got a plan for this one, yang?” you quietly asked your partner beside you- slowly backing up as the creature catches sight of you

“of course I do, smiles” even during times of stress, yang still throws out his endearing pet name for you with a smile

you relax, knowing that yang is confident makes you feel confident, too

“I just need some time” yang finishes

almost like an answer to a prayer, lissome comes from the opposite direction

his flexible and stretchy limbs propelling him further down the street- his green suit stretching with him and reflecting in the morning sun

behind him is foreshadow, a tall and lanky man with hair as black as the night and a suit as blue as the deep sea

although you and yang were the only superheroes that work together, lissome and foreshadow are known to help you out when a particularly stubborn supervillain appeared

“lissome! foreshadow! I know how we can catch the shapeshifter, I need a diversion!” yang yelled out

with one shared look, foreshadow and lissome took action

foreshadow used his ability of calculating the shapeshifters next movements and pointed that lissome should go the opposite direction

lissome’s malleable limbs seemed to catch the shapeshifter off guard and the constant movement from foreshadow seemed to confuse the supervillain, it was barely able to keep its eyes straight with all the movement from your two helpers

while all this was happening, yang quickly pulls your attention and points towards the multiple clothing lines hanging between two apartment buildings not too far away

knowingly, you sprint towards the buildings and begin to climb up the fire escape

“yin, hurry” you hear a cry from below you

you hang off of the fire escape with your right hand holding onto the railing for dear life, your left hand reaches out to the clothing line

you quickly envision the clothing line out of existence as your fingertips start to turn black with your power generating through you

and with one simple touch, the entire clothing line disappears, almost as if it wasn’t there to begin with, and reappears in yang’s hands in the form of a net

without much thought, yang, lissome, and foreshadow throw the heavy netting over the shapeshifter, stopping it from moving around

the supervillain lets out groans as it tries to shift into something that will break through the net

but it seems that fatigue takes over, and the shapeshifter returns to its normal human form

soon, the police task force used to detain superpowered humans show up and relieve the odd group of superheroes from the supervillain

and from all the ruckus of law enforcement, antidote shows up

his tall figure looms over the street, and as he walks everything behind him slowly moves into its correct place

the scratches left on cars that are parked on the side of the street are gone, the cracks in the concrete from the fighting are sealed, and even the heavy netting used to capture the shapeshifter is now once again turned into the clothing lines that hang between the two apartment buildings

antidote was the only one to ever be able to reverse what you and yang do

when you first met him at the beginning of your crime fighting career, he was a scary, tall guy whose powers seem to be stronger than yours

but slowly, you and yang realized that antidote was just a fellow superhero who would look out for you with all his might

antidote greets the four of you as a crowd forms, several cameramen and anchors ready to pounce on you to ask questions on your latest capture

more like ask yang about his most recent capture

his white mask does nothing to hide the smile on his face as he talks to the press animatedly about the events that went down

“one day, im gonna be busy and won’t be able to come and clean up after you kids and you’ll regret it” you almost don’t hear antidote’s groaning from beside you as you watch yang 

his cool and calm demeanor calms down the citizens who are listening and you quietly admire his way with words- you’re quickly reminded why he is the city’s favorite superhero

“you say that every time we all show up together, but you always arrive on time...?” foreshadow grills from the other side of you and before a cat fight can break out, yang makes his way over to you

“great job today, guys! I know you all say you work alone, but I think we make a great te-” 

“no thanks, one of us already has to deal with you taking all the credit for their work, I don’t want that weight on me, too”

an awkward air settles over the group and it seems like the comment put you in the center of attention, even though no one was looking at you

“yeah... I'd love to stay and continue this thrilling conversation, but I have places to be. until next time.” you end the conversation coldly

the four of them watch as you run through the crowd that parts like the red sea for you, fear propelling them away 

away from your superpower

you’ve never used your power on a person before

you promised yourself you never would- that killing is not the answer to anything that you come across in this line of work

but no one wanted to find out what would happen if you did

▼△▼△▼△▼△

after quickly changing into your regular clothes, you make your way to your first class of the school year

although you love being a superhero, it wouldn’t pay the bills in the future

so you were a college student outside of your superhero persona

(yes, it was difficult to juggling both of these parts of your life)

(yes, you were stressed)

(yes, you were going to continue being yin- there were too many people that count on you and yang to save the city to just drop the superhero side of your life)

you made your way into your chemistry lab, greeting the professor and the professor’s assistant

the assistant’s name tag read “doyoung” and he showed you the seating assignment 

once you sat down, the door to the lab opened once again

mark stumbled in, his backpack half open and hanging off one of his shoulders as he balanced his water bottle, phone, and several papers in his hands

before mark knew what was happening, he was falling over his own two feet with his phone flying up in the air and his papers falling to the floor

in one swift and fluid movement, doyoung grabbed mark’s arm to stabilize him, placing his foot down on the papers so they wouldn’t move away

when mark looked up at his savior, doyoung held mark’s flying phone in his other hand

mark’s gaze shifted to the other student’s in the class, but somehow no one was aware of the scene that just took place

they were all talking amongst each other and some even had their heads down on their table

“next time, tie your shoes. this is a chemistry lab, clumsiness can be fatal.” doyoung preached and sent a dumbfounded mark to his seat

as he arrived, his things practically fell from his hands and onto the table, getting your attention

when you look up at the ruckus next to you, your breathe leaves you

it feels like you can’t move

like whatever comprehensible thoughts you had before were suddenly erased as you looked at the person next to you

“hi, I'm mark. I’m your lab partner.”

he’s preoccupied with his things but he still smiles, pushing up his round glasses with his fingers and you swear you can’t look away from a sight like this

“im y/n”

mark finally looks at you

and everything suddenly feels right

like the feeling of completing a 1,000 piece puzzle

or the feeling of ending a 1,000 page novel 

complete, relieved, and content

you both look at each other for a few more seconds as if the whole world doesn’t matter

“alright everyone, settle down...” the professor interrupts and you and mark snap out of the trance

he takes off his jacket and you gulp down some water from your water bottle because the room just feels a bit too hot for the two of you right now

your mind, that was blank from all thoughts before, was now running a million miles per hour and you try to shake off the weird feeling in your chest

you discreetly glance over at mark

he’s nothing like your type at all

the clumsiness he showed as he came to his seat and the nervous laughs he let out as the professor talked was not something you were usually attracted to

you felt weird to admit it, but you were most attracted to someone like yang, who was cool and confident and almost unbothered

mark tried to listen to the professor as they talked, but his eyes kept wondering over to you

he couldn’t shake off how much you looked like yin

the same hair color and the same shaped eyes, even your lips looked the same

but as soon as the thought came into his mind, he shook it off

yin was a bit... stone cold

the yin he knew wasn’t one to be super warm and fuzzy- they were calculated and decisive 

and you sat next to him with sweater paws and an aura of softness around you that made you look so so so inviting

more inviting than yin could probably ever be

(despite that, mark still admired yin... very strongly admired)

so you both sat through your professor’s talking, silently wishing that the other would say something

hoping that you could catch each other’s gazes just once more

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with all of this going on, neither of you notice beatrice, who sits behind both of you

lets talk about beatrice for a bit:

she belongs to a wealthy family, they fund several activities at the university and are well known in the city

(they are well known for hating superpowers as well...)

despite this, beatrice is not that popular on campus

she mostly keeps to herself, and just sticks to her small group of friends (if you can even call them that)

but she has a secret:

she has a superpower

and it’s a dangerous one

she has the ability to know when someone possesses a superpower, and even worse, she has the ability to copy it

this type of superpower is not common, usually superpowers stick to just expanding normal human traits

because of this, beatrice sees herself as someone special, that fate has given her this gift for a reason

when she told her family of her amazing gift, thinking they would accept her and maybe even change their minds about superpowers

she was shocked when they told her to keep it to herself, to not let anyone find out

she was even more shocked when her parents continued to parade around the city with nastiness dripping from their mouths about superpowers

now, sitting behind you and mark, she immediately understands

she understands her purpose

she understands that you are yin and mark is yang

and judging by the way you are acting around each other, you don’t even know it yourselves

she chuckles quietly to herself

“what a bunch of fools”

after peering her head around to make sure no one was paying attention to her

she leans forward in her chair, across the table, and quietly plucks a strand of mark’s hair off of his jacket that hangs on the back of his chair

she quietly forms a plan in her mind as the professor drones on and on

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the next few months are pretty hectic not only for you and mark, but yin and yang as well

you and mark both realize you aren’t that good at chemistry (I mean, who is?)

so you decide to spend some time outside of class to catch up and help each other with your studies

(this was totally because you are lab partners, not because of how you felt towards each other hahahah.,.,. no- not at all)

the library was extra crowded at the beginning of the school year and you and mark found yourselves sitting on the floor during some study sessions because there were not enough tables

when doyoung, your professor’s assistant, ran into both of you studying on the library floor, he helps both of you pick up your things and takes you to a library cafe a few streets away

there were way less people here and many more seats- also, coffee was discounted for students

this is where you met johnny- the owner of the place, and sicheng- a fellow student at your university who works part time at this store

the first time you met them, sicheng was at the cash register of the cafe part of the store, all smiles and low giggles as you, mark, and doyoung gave him your orders

“what is your major, sicheng? I haven’t seen you around?” you ask and lean forward to hear him better

“dance... which is probably why you’ve never seen me before” you both lightly laugh at the small talk, until you feel mark by your side

he gently pushes you away and gives his order to sicheng

mark didn’t really like how your attention was all on sicheng

how you just met him, but you could start up conversation so easily 

when you could barely talk to mark without stuttering after several weeks of knowing each other

“what the hell is wrong with me?” mark thinks as he pays

you were just talking to the cashier, that was it, he shouldn’t be feeling like this- for his lab partner, no less

thankfully, you didn’t say anything about his small gesture

as johnny started making your drinks, he walked away from the expresso machine for just a moment

an abrupt clatter caught everyones attention

sicheng was holding the coffee cup to his chest and a bunch of straws were spilled all over the floor and the counter

he gives a shy smile “sorry everyone, the cup was about to fall off the machine. I caught it, though!” and everyone turned back to what they were doing as johnny chastised sicheng about wasting product

(you, mark, johnny, and doyoung found it slightly weird how sicheng was able to catch the cup so fast even though the machine was over five feet away from the cash register)

▼△▼△▼△▼△

you and mark LOVE the library cafe, it was cozy and kinda small

but you could actually sit in chairs to study, and you kept coming several times a week

especially when doyoung was there, he would sit down with you and help you with the concepts you couldn’t understand

one particular day, johnny was moving through the tables and replacing the daily newspaper with the one that has today’s date

as he set it on the table you were working on, your eyes stared at the picture on the front cover and you slowly dropped your pencil to pick up the thick collection of articles

taking up half of the front cover was a picture of yang- it was from a few days ago when you and yang defeated an armed bulgur at the city’s bank

but only yang was in the picture as he handed off the criminal to the police, yin’s figure was in the back- a blur as you moved around

the cameras didn’t even bother to catch your presence 

a feeling of anger started to fill the bottom of your stomach

yin was there, too

yin helped capture the bugler, too

you were used to not being on the cover of any newspapers or articles, but for some reason your existence as yin being boiled down to this one blur in a photo made you angry

why weren’t you given any proper credit? 

“y/n... are you okay?” mark asked from where he sat next to you

he noticed your tense figure and something propelled him to lift his arm over you and lay it on the back of your chair as he leaned in closer, all his attention on you

his fingertips grazed over your arm, and for some reason you weren’t taken aback by his sudden closeness

you relished in the attention he was giving you and it made you relax

yang deserved the recognition, the amount of people he has saved is immeasurable, and your power... just scared people away

you could deal with it

you have been for this long

“yeah, I'm okay.” you pushed the newspaper onto the table and a plate that was sitting on the edge was pushed off and shattered on the ground, catching johnny’s attention

“oh god, I'm sorry, johnny-”

“no, it’s okay, don’t move. I got it.”

mark eyed the newspaper on the table in front of you

seeing himself as yang would always be weird to him

he picked up the papers with his other hand and looked at the photo a while longer, sighing at the blurry, dark color of yin in the background

mark was glad that people saw him as a hero, but he wished people saw yin as a hero as well

yin puts just as much effort into fighting crime as yang

yin&yang are a team

the city wouldn’t be the same if there was just yang and he wished more people could recognize this

“are you sure you’re okay? you looked... not like yourself just now?” mark is brought down to earth from his thoughts when johnny repeats the question 

“yes, johnny. thank you. I'm just... a little stressed with all this work, you know?”

johnny seemed to accept your answer “you guys don’t work yourselves too hard, okay?”

you, mark, and doyoung all nodded and johnny bent down to retrieve the plate, picking it up and setting it back on the table and walking away to continue his business

all three of you looked at the plate

it was whole

not in pieces like it was moments ago

and almost as if everyone at the table could read each others minds

you all left it alone

returning to your books and notes, quietly noting the small incident, but not daring to speak of it to each other

▼△▼△▼△▼△

as for your feelings towards mark, they kept coming

you thought that maybe after spending some time together, they would gradually go away

maybe you would find somethings that you hated about him- he must have some sort of faults... right...?

but no, it seemed like someone, somewhere, wanted both of you to keep these feelings for each other

you even tried to find things you don’t like about him

like the fact that he’s super clumsy

(how could you hate the small blush that covered his cheeks when he asked you to help him carry his things, or when you catch the sleeve of his jacket and pull him away from stepping into a puddle or running into a door?)

or the fact that he laughs at everything... I mean EVERYthing, even if it’s not funny

(how could you deny the fact that his giggle sounds so much like yang’s???)

as for mark- he lets himself fall

he falls completely into his feelings for you, at first by accident, but after getting to know you more- he is relieved that he allowed himself the pleasure of loving you

you were different from what he thought he wanted, but he accepted it wholeheartedly

your soft smiles, your hard-working mind set, whatever it was- he fell for it all

unfortunately, these feelings translated to yin&yang as well

the feelings were there because you and mark were yin&yang- but neither of you knew that

which just added to the confusion and made both of you wonder:

who was underneath the mask of your crime fighting partner?

▼△▼△▼△▼△

on one particular night, after catching yet another criminal and handing them over to the police, you and yang made yourselves scarce from the scene 

yang noticed your hunched posture and walked faster to catch up to you

he grabbed onto your elbow and moved both of you into an alleyway a few feet away

“yang, what is it?” you weren’t really in the mood- crime fighting always made you tired

“what’s going on with you? is it the paparazzi again? I know they don’t give you the credit you deserve but you can’t let them get to you like that-”

“no, yang, it’s not that. it’s... you”

yang tilted his head

“me? what did I do?”

you sighed and rubbed your hand over your mask

“you’ve been very.... restricting lately”

“what do you mean?”

“you haven’t been letting me destroy things like you used to. like when we stopped that one armed burglar, you didn’t let me destroy his gun-”

“it was a GUN, you could’ve been SHOT”

“when has that ever stopped me before?” you ask and yang shuts his mouth

“don’t you trust me?” you ask again “because I trust you”

the alleyway becomes stuffy with your choice of words

“I can’t help it, smiles.” he weakly says, using your pet name, knowing that it’ll make you soft for him

you roll your eyes at his tactics but your heart beats a little faster anyways

“I don’t know, I just... I don’t want you to get hurt. what we do is dangerous and if something happened to you- if you got hurt and I couldn’t protect you... or even worse, if you got hurt because of me... I don’t know what I would do with myself”

the confession slips off of yang’s tongue so smoothly that the words pluck your heart strings, a beautiful melody resounding in your chest and you began to feel light

yang sighs, if there was any chance to tell you his thoughts- it was now

“I think I could let you do your part if... we show each other who we are.” yang says and the airy feeling spreading through you abruptly disappears 

“yang... you know that’s dangerous. we can’t-”

“we can, smiles. we can pulls off our masks right now and that can be the end. wouldn’t you feel better knowing who I am?”

you thought about his question, would you feel better if you knew who yang was? it was a tempting offer, and something that you’ve recently thought about...

but you’ve gone this long without knowing who he is.. does it even matter anymore?

yang senses your doubt and steps forward, pushing you against the cold, brick wall behind you

but you don’t feel trapped or pushed, his presence doesn’t frighten you

he looks into your eyes, swearing he’s seen them somewhere else before, and those lips... how close they were getting to his

he’s so close you can see the sweat still sticking to his forehead and the individual strands of his hair hugging his skin, his fair skin glowing even though the alleyway was dimly lit

you can’t see all of him, but you know that underneath the mask he must be beautiful

“there can’t be yang without yin- that’s the whole point of our powers. In our world, there can never be a me without a you. Why are we hiding from each other?” yang whispers, bodies only inches apart now

your mind is infused with him- his proximity and scent and aura so overwhelming you feel like you’ll be complete if you could just lean in all the way

yang’s hand slowly creeps up to his mask, his fingers finding their way under the edge and he takes a deep breathe before-

“yin&yang!! help!! we need you!!!”

the shout pulls yang away from you, and you share one more look before leaving the alleyway and running towards the shouts

but the tension and questions that have risen don’t leave either of you

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the rise of imitatrice came very suddenly, and with almost no warning to you or anyone else 

all you got was a notification on your phone from the local news station

a picture of a woman standing on top of the city hall building, wearing a dark purple uniform with long blonde hair whipping around in the wind

you didn’t think twice about changing into your suit and running towards the center of the city, where city hall is located

when you arrive, the whole front yard of city hall is blocked off and several people stand around along with the police and tv crews, filming the mysterious woman who is now by the fountain that is situated in front of the building

suddenly, on the command of an officer, a line of policemen all shoot a round of bullets right at the woman, making some members of the audience release screams in shock

she reacts quickly, her hands coming up in front of her, and several shields appear out of thin air, blocking the bullets from hitting her 

gasps leaves the audience as the shields fall like dominos to the floor, breaking the concrete underneath

“oh, yin? you’ve arrived, came to join, huh? do you like the show I've been putting on?” the woman yells with a taunting lilt to her voice and the audience turns around at the mention of you

they part for you as you walk towards the woman, a familiar scene when it comes to yin walking through a crowd of people

your mind is reeling- the only other person able to conjure up something like that out of thin air is... yang

you look around- he’s no where to be seen

“where is yang? what did you do with him?”

“oh, I didn’t do anything, dear.” she steps forwards, raising her voice to make sure everyone hears her

“I am imitatrice, and my superpower is to imitate other superpowers. I have been silenced all my life, but no longer.”

“do you have to talk like that? you don’t look that much older than me, why are you so demeaning-” you try to play off her vague threat

but you’re cut off by an uncomfortable feeling in your gut starting to form, it cramps up and makes you feel sick- imitatrice notices your discomfort

“oh, what is the matter, my little yin? do you feel sick? maybe a bit... unbalanced?” she hints and your eyes widen in realization

if imitatrice really is copying yang’s power... then the world is slowly becoming unbalanced from her previous actions

despite the pain in your abdomen, you quickly run over to some parked cars, your left hand gliding over them as you run by, hoping that destroying them could balance out the matter in the world

when the uncomfortable feeling in your stomach goes away, you make your way back to imitatrice who has been watching you the entire time

as if everything is going the way she planned- she looks pleased

“imitatrice, please. you don’t have to do this.” you now try to reason, but the words don’t go through to her

“save your words, listen to me instead.” she counters, “I have yang’s power now, and you have yours.. why don’t we team up?”

her proposition makes the audience gasp and chatter fills the area before imitatrice starts to speak again

“why did you ever think that your powers of destruction could make you a superhero? you were made to DESTROY, for god sakes.” she chuckles and it makes your skin crawl

“If we work together... we could get equal credit, your name could be on all of the tabloids and media there is- not yang’s... yours” no doubt some people in the audience quietly think to themselves that you could do it- you could become a supervillain

“everything you touch dies- it rots away. do you ever think that yang could love you for that?” she asks

confusion runs through your thoughts “why would she bring up yang like that” but it quickly disappears

because a scary thought replaces it

“what if I did join her?”

you would definitely be on tabloids and a talked about person, fate’s gift to you would be used for what it was probably given to you for: destruction

but at what cost?

the cost of death, grief, and misery in a whole city?

....not on your watch

“if I have to use my power for evil, I'd rather not use my power at all”

your words anger imitatrice and she lets out a growl

“fine. have it your way” she turns around but she doesn’t get far before a voice catches her attention

“imitatrice, there’s room for only one power of creation in this city, and it’s mine”

you whip your head around at the sound of mark’s voice, only to see yang standing by the audience

he sounded so much like mark- but that was not something you had time to think about

lissome reaches over the crowd and the blockade, straight to imitatrice

foreshadow yells towards you and yang about going inside to help the last group of people out

and city hall slowly turns into a hot mess

the fountain in front of the city spills water onto the concrete and the grass has been turned over and ripped from the ground

several objects that imitatrice and yang both conjure up are laying all over the concrete- everything from rope to guns to materials like wood and metal

despite the dangerous action going on, citizens stand around and watch, phones up and recording every last second of the fight

soon yang, lissome, and foreshadow are trapped behind the shields that she imitatrice first made and have been thrown into the ground

you crouch down next to them- you’ve been running around touching anything you can destroy to keep up with yang’s and imitatrice’s tricks

you’re out of breath, but you still focus on what the group is saying

“nothing is working” lissome growls as he rests, at some point his uniform tore at the arm and you can see his skin covered in dirt underneath from all the fighting

“she’s not letting up, how do I defeat her if she’s just using my power against me?” yang asked, frustration seeping through his words

you look at the members of this odd group of superheroes- everyone looked so worn out from the fighting

tired eyes and confused thoughts prominent in all of them

“maybe yin can destroy something that’s the opposite of you, wouldn’t that give you more power?” foreshadow asks

“no that’s not possible” yang shakes his head “the only thing that’s the opposite of yang is-”

“me” you simply state, and all three superheroes turn to look at you

“the only thing that is the opposite of yang.... is yin” you sigh, and the tone of your voice makes yang panic

you sound like you’ve made up your mind on something

“no, don’t even think about it. absolutely not.” yang’s voice rose in volume as he talked

“I know you can defeat her. I mean it when I say I trust you, yang”

you honestly can’t even believe yourself, you were about to do something you promised yourself you’d never do

and you were willing to do it all for yang, for your city

“smiles....” yang says weakly, reaching out to you, but lissome holds him back

and before anyone can change your mind or stop you

your left hand, finger tips black from dirt and from your superpower, comes up and presses into your chest

and like you never existed, your presence was completely erased

gone

just like all of the things you’ve ever destroyed

yang couldn’t believe his eyes, lissome and foreshadow breath heavily as they stare at the space you once occupied

the audience that was watching you gasps and covers their children’s eyes and look away themselves

it was the most sudden death anyone could imagine

yang wasn’t about to let it be in vain

“c’mon. let’s finish this”

for once in his crime fighting career, yang lets anger take over

he doesn’t know if it was the surge of energy he was gifted by you or the fact that you just erased yourself from existence 

but he could barely think about what he was doing, letting his gut take control of his powers

at one point, gray clouds cover the city, and rain starts falling, thunder rumbling and the ground was shaking from the new weather- but yang never stopped

in the future when asked about this fight, he would say he was blinded by the fear of you leaving him, by the sight of you killing yourself for him

he didn’t calm down until imitatrice’s hands were stuck behind her back in handcuffs with dome covers over them to keep her from creating anything else

yang falls to his knees, from exhaustion and from the numbness building in his chest and quickly spreading like a disease

the reality of what happened finally coming to him

as he looks up at the citizens of his city, he does not feel proud to be the hero

he does not feel joy to have saved everyone- because it was really you who saved the city today

“are you happy?” he asks the audience, voice cracking under the tears that threaten to flow down his face, and everyone settles down after hearing his helpless tone, only the pounding of rain on the concrete could be heard

“yin... killed themselves, for me, for us, for all of you.” yang points in the direction of the crowd

“we never deserved yin, no matter how you saw them, they were too good for us.” a blanket of guilt settles over the crowd, but no comfort comes to anyone as yang continues

“none of us really appreciated yin, and now we mourn them. how selfish can we be?” and with that, yang rises to his feet and a commotion is heard from behind him

antidote slowly walks through city hall’s front yard, slowly everything goes back to order

the fountain is repaired, the concrete is made new again, and the rain ceased

almost like the fight that just occurred here never happened

but no one would forget the events that took place

everyone looks towards the area that you had ended your life in, anticipation weighting down everyones chest

but nothing ever happened, you don’t reappear

antidote walks up to yang and places a steady hand on his shoulder

“what happened? shouldn’t they have come back” yang asked, despair dripping off of every word

“I don’t know, yang. I've never brought back anyone who was destroyed by yin’s power. only time can tell now.”

and like that, the crowd started to disperse and yang was left on city halls  front yard with a heavy heart filled with guilt

▼△▼△▼△▼△

johnny messaged the group chat containing you, mark, doyoung, and sicheng later that day

“come to the store, after all that happened at city hall today... drinks are on me”

johnny’s phone notified him that the text was only seen by three people 

▼△▼△▼△▼△

in johnny’s store that night, doyoung and sicheng crowd around johnny’s phone as they watch footage from what happened earlier that day

the mayor issued an investigation into the events of what happened at city hall and a message to yin to show themselves if they are still alive

the message has not yet been answered, and several people and businesses keep their window blinds open in hopes of seeing the black uniform running down their street

although it was once again sunny outside, the weather did not reflect the city’s feelings

as the bell above the door jingled, all heads turn to look at the new customer

mark walks in and stumbles up to the counter

“glad everyone’s here, and that you’re all okay” johnny sighs and mark clears his throat

“where’s... where’s y/n?”

silent looks are shared between the men

they all turn their heads to face the floor, knowing what your absence means

as no one talks and no one moves, grief fills the store, and slowly it turns into sadness

until the bell chimes again

“hey, guys. am I late? I just saw your message, johnny. I came as quick as I could”

your warm laughter never sounded so hopeful and has never been so appreciated until now

mark thinks he could cry when he sees your smile as you walk through the front door

suddenly everyones shoulders seem to fall in relief at your presence

“alright, I said drinks on me tonight, but shouldn’t we go out for dinner? I think we have a lot to celebrate tonight.”

couldn’t agree with you any more, Johnny

you decide that the city should be kept on their toes for a little longer- the return of yin would come eventually

tonight was the time to spend with your friends after so much happened earlier that day

you lock fingers with mark, a sheepish smile rising to both of your faces and you hope your friends don’t turn around to catch the affection you’re showing each other

walking down the street in the city that you and your friends unknowingly (but silently knowingly) saved together

the tune of your friends’ laughter and the promise that everything is okay again comforts you- mark's loving gaze a reminder of all the good things to come

both of you are only slightly aware that fate has brought you together 

whether it’s as yin&yang

or as you and mark

neither of you really care how you stay by each others side

as long as you can keep staying together

▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼

[violettedouceur]

Dragon’s and Snake’s miraculouses  are the strongest and here is why.

Just saw the not so recent episode “Ikari Gozen” which really made me think about the strenght of the kwamis and what it’s based on. The two kwamis I will be focusing more on right now are the Dragon’s and Snake’s kwamis

REMINDER THIS IS JUST AN OPINION and everyone can RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE (if u r rude the block button is free real estate).

Let’s start with what both miraculous holders should have in common: 

• the users should be mature

• the users should learn fast 

• the users should use creative thinking 

• the users should be very concentrated on their surroundings ( by that I mean that not only to be cautious during battle for the enemy or citizens to save, but also for the outcome of different situations.)

We all know what the outcome was when Adrien was using the snake miraculous - he used it for his own selfish reasons, didn’t think at all and didn’t help with winning the battle. It was a mess and Adrien realised it (thank God he did) 

What are actually the powers of the Snake miraculous (based on info from the wiki) 

“ It's special superpower is called Secon Chance , allowing the user to mark a point in time by sliding the snake on the Miraculous and return to it. It would appear that the first thing the user must do is mark their position and then, when in need, they just activate the power to go back to the moment they marked before. The user's memory remains untouched, allowing them to correct anything that may have happened before going back in time. The user can go back in time as many times they want, however, if they don't use it for five minutes, then the miraculous loses power and the user detransforms. “ From the description we see that the whole power of the snake miraculous is very complicated - it needs a lot of critical thinking, attention to details and wisdom. Luka is, obviously, the best choice for such matter. But why do I keep implying his miraculous is the strongest (alongside Kagami's)??? This miraculous, as we see, needs a lot of maturity and responsibility when used. It can change time in the worst ways if in wrong hands (Hawkmoth should really consider it's power, tbh.). Also imagine the user get’s stuck in time if they don’t know how to use the miraculous properly? Yikes. 

 Yes - before someone says something, I know that it can go back or forward in time only for few minutes. But a wrong holder will need only a few seconds to go back in time and kill LadyBug and/or Chat Noir when they aren't cautious, am I wrong? (this went too pulp fiction but u get the idea - it's power can be abused for the wrong things, by the wrong person.)

   What about Kagami's dragon miraculous?? Where do I start from? 

It has three elements - air, lighting (??)  and water. (sorry if I am wrong, I can’t hear the names properly)

The dragon miraculous has a lot of powers to offer. If, again, in the wrong hands it can really have bad consequences for everyone. The first power is some kind of mist?? Turning the user INTO LITHERAL MIST, while the lighting one turns the user into The Flash (literally enchances it’s speed so much the user is almost invisble-like) and the third is water - IT TURNS THE USER INTO WATER LIKE CAN YOU IMAGINE TO BE HARD AND OUT OF NO WHERE TO BE ABLE TO TURN INTO WATER AND GET OUT OF ANYWHERE??? Prisoners would love that power, I am sure. Like can you imagine what would happen to the user if not used properly?? A mess (don’t give it to Adrien... or Marinette) In my opinion it’s way stronger that LB’s and CN’s in terms of superpowers (used in battle).

 So yes, Kagami’s explanation is so short, but it’s obvious what I am implying - wise and cautious people should use both miraculouses otherwise the damages done by them can be way bigger than one can imagine. 

[maddhatterreviews]

So something kinda funny happened a while ago

I was completely unaware that DC Superhero Girls had started airing again. That wouldn’t be that much of an issue, except I also forgot that I set my DVR to record new episodes months ago. So imagine my surprise when I check the DVR and find five new episodes of Superhero girls just there. 

And I thought it would be fun to go over the episodes I saw, since there’s actually some good stuff in them. I doubt I’ll do this again anytime soon, but still. 

Tween Titans: This actually came out after I found the recorded episodes, but I figured I’d throw it in too. Mostly because I don’t actually have that much to say about it. Karen and Jess get a job babysitting Dick Grayson and the other Titans, but they are all around ten years old. There wasn’t anything particularly special about this episode. It was just kinda fun watching Bumblebee and Green Lantern having to deal with a bunch of superpowered kids. 

I will say the time line seems about right. Dick is usually a few years younger than Barbara, and the characters are specifically called tweens, so he has to be somewhere between ten and twelve years old. We also got to see Bruce Wayne first hand for the first time. It is kinda funny to continue to see two of the three members of the Trinity being assholes. Although, to be fair we’ve really only seen Superman through Supergirl’s eyes and she has a pretty strong bias against him. And it’s unsure how much of Bruce’s douche nature is all part of the “Bruce Wayne Act” he usually has going on.

And I have a distinct feeling this episode is a direct response to Teen Titans Go. While most fans of the Titans either actively hate Go or are generally ambivalent towards it. I kinda have a feeling Lauren Faust might be slightly resentful towards Teen Titans Go since Super Best Friends Forever basically got passed over for it. It’s just the fact that they used the most popular version of the Titans, which just happens to be the same lineup as Go. It could be coincidence, but considering the Titans act like hyper-active brats, a fairly common criticism of Go, it really seems like Lauren Faust is taking a dig at Teen Titans Go.

All about Zee: A girl from school nobody talks to or really acknowledges becomes obsessed with Zatanna and eventually takes both her physical appearance and powers. She figures out Zatanna’s other friends are the superhero girls and takes their powers and appearances as well, becoming a hodgepodge of them all. This is easily the weakest episode for me. I’ve seen this premise a bunch of times and it’s never not felt cringy as shit. 

It feels like this was the episode that really felt like it was pulling influence for MLP. People were saying Zatanna was a lot like Rarity, and Rarity’s main thing was generosity right? I don’t know, that’s just how it feels to me. 

I think it is kinda funny that the running joke of the villain of this episode is that no one knows who she is and they can’t remember her name because I can’t either. And I’m also not sure if she existed in the comics either. Maybe she’s a Zatanna villain, I don’t know, I haven’t read many of her books. I thought she was Cole for a minute, but as far as I know, the whole changing appearance thing isn’t something Cole can do. 

I don’t know, this just didn’t feel like this show’s best, you know?

Living the Nightmare: Another Zatanna focused episode, and a marked improvement over the last. The Girls are having a sleepover at Zatanna’s place and they start talking about nightmares, specifically how Zatanna doesn’t have nightmares because she doesn’t have any insecurities or anxieties that can manifest within her subconscious. So, of course the villain of the episode attacks the girls through their dreams. 

I initially thought the villain was going to be long standing Justice League villain Dr. Destiny, but turned out to be a relatively new Zatanna villain named Fuseli. A demon who feeds off of people’s nightmares. And since Zatanna doesn’t get nightmares, she has to enter her friend’s dreams to find the little bastard. 

I usually like episodes like this. It’s a good way to quite literally get into the heads of the protagonists. We don’t get a lot of insight into most of the girls unfortunately. Most of their nightmares are by and large inconsequential. Kara is afraid of cockroaches, Diana is (Inexplicably) afraid of teddy bears, and Babs is afraid of...sharks I think? Karen’s fear has a bit more substance since she’s afraid of public speaking, but that’s to be expected from a character whose main defining trait is being shy. 

The two interesting dreams are Jess’s and Zatanna’s. A common criticism of the portrayal of the characters was the omission of the anxiety and mental issues that were part of Jess’s backstory. In the comics, Jess was an agoraphobic who experienced an extremely traumatic event before having the powers of Power Ring, the evil Earth-3 Green Lantern that’s powered by fear instead of Will power, forced on her. Lauren Faust has openly stated that Jess had gotten over most of her issues before the series began, but this episode alludes to the idea that she hasn’t gotten over them completely. And this could set up for future episodes to further explore Jess’s issues in full context. This episode is about Zatanna after all. 

Speaking of, Zatanna’s claim that she doesn’t have any issues isn’t entirely true. I wouldn’t call it a running joke, but a recurring plot point in the series is that Zatanna’s magic isn’t the best. She usually comes through at the end of the day, but more often than not, Zatanna’s attempts to perform magic will backfire in some way. And after tricking Fuseli out of her friends’ dreams and into her own, It’s revealed that she did in fact have something she was scared of. Zatanna is actually afraid of her own full magical potential, and that if she didn’t have enough control she might hurt someone. The reason she doesn’t have any nightmares about it was because someone, most likely her father, magically suppressed them. 

This is also one of the few times so far that the show brought up and expounded upon a storyline that appeared earlier in the series. Abrakadabrapalooza showed that Zatanna’s powers first manifesting scared the absolute shit out of her. While she quickly accepted her magical powers, I have to assume it still really freaked her out considering she almost destroyed the Green Room she was in, and could have easily developed a complex as she was learning to control her powers. Zatara, seeing the toll the incident in the Green Room was having on his daughter, could have locked away her fears so she could have peace of mind while she trains to become a better sorceress. 

Of course Fuseli, being a nightmare demon, manifests Zatanna’s repressed fears and there’s a big showdown where Zatanna obviously wins. There’s some interesting implications about Zatanna having her fears suppressed; like what will happen to her now that her fears are out and she acknowledges them. This was a fun episode and it does a decent amount to develop Zatanna. 

Dinner for five: Not my favorite of the bunch but it is up there. Dinner for Five doesn’t do much to develop the characters and the only one of the main Girls in the episode is Barbara. It’s just a really fun episode with a lot of action, great interactions and good comedy. It also introduces Deathstroke into the show, which is genuinely surprising. 

The episode is about Babs meeting a new friend in school, Rose Wilson, whose father just happens to be Deathstroke. The fights between Babs and Deathstroke are one of the highlights of the episode. Superhero Girls has some above board animation, but it’s not what the show is known for. This isn’t exactly Avatar, Rise of the TMNT, or even the original Teen Titans. The fight scenes have always been less about choreography and more about Loony Tunes’ esque slapstick and visual humor. And the fights between Babs and Deathstroke are some of the best mediums between the comedic style of fighting this show is known for and more serious fight animation. 

What really surprised me about this episode is the just that Deathstroke was the villain and the show actually named him Deathstroke, kept him as an assassin, and outright claimed that he killed many people, and the entire reason he and Rose came to Mertopolis was to murder Jim Gordon. This is especially surprising considering the reason Deathstroke was named Slade in Teen Titans was because Cartoon Network wasn’t sure they could get away with a recurring villain being named Deathstroke the Terminator. So it’s just kinda funny that DC Superhero Girls did that even though it’s  aiming at the same, if not a slightly younger demographic than Teen Titans. 

The story is also a prime example of the beauty in simplicity. With a premise like “Babs makes friends with Deathstorke’s daughter” I would have figured there’d be some kind of third act twist where it turns out Rose is actually Deathstroke herself, or she takes up her Ravager identity and she and Deathstroke both fight Babs. But no. Rose is just a nice sweet girl that really likes Babs and her dad just happens to be an infamous assassin. She even knows he’s Deathstroke and walks in on him about to murder Babs. And she just scolds him for doing so, and kind of implies Deathstroke has tried to kill her friends before. 

Bottom line, this was a fun simple episode 

Retreat: This is another low point for me. It’s not as bad as All about Zee, but there isn’t much to say about it either. Even though I don’t have a problem with episodes just being fun and not having any relevance to the larger narrative or developing the characters, Retreat especially feels like filler. 

Jess drags Babs, Karen, Hal, and Garth into the woods for a camping trip, and springs on them that she also invited Pam. And Pam immediately freaks out when the others start using various tree parts to do stuff around the campset. Pam runs off into the woods and turns into Poison Ivy to raise a small army of plant monsters to straight up kill the others. As she does this, Babs tells Garth, Karen, and Hal a scary story about a witch of the woods, and of course Ivy’s plant monsters attack just as she finishes her story. 

The rest of the episode is just the heroes fighting off the plant monsters with various shenanigans happening as they try to survive, since Jess insisted that they put all their technology, including all of their weapons, in a bag tied to a tree. And It’s all pretty solid. I can’t think of anything overtly wrong with this episode, it just doesn’t really do anything all that special. It is still a little annoying that the running joke of Aqualad being useless is still going on. But at least they acknowledge that Garth is the only one of the heroes whose powers don’t come from an external source. He still gets taken out pretty easily, but at least they show he is one of the strongest characters in the show, even if he is still a joke. 

It is still funny that Jess is so adamant that she and Pam are friends, when Pam’s antipathy towards her and the other is clear as fucking day. While it is kinda ridiculous that the Superhero Girls and Supervillain Girls can’t seem to put two and two together and figure out who the other is (Especially since Babs put it together that Rose’s dad was Deathstroke pretty fuckin quick) I honestly hope this dynamic sticks around for as long as possible. Logic be damned. 

Ally Cat: This is easily, the best episode of the bunch. And it brings up something I’ve been waiting for since the first episode: Lex Luthor coming back as a villain. And holy shit, was it worth the wait. 

The episode begins with a news report showing Lex digging up Stonehenge to find the mythical Book of Eternity. An ancient tome that Zatanna claims is able to predict the future with perfect accuracy. Because no one in this universe, or at least none of the six main girls, knows that Lex is a massive asshole they’re not too worried about him having a Book that powerful. But Zatanna insists that no one should have that much power and actually suggest they steal the book from Lex. 

Most of the girls are apprehensive, but Babs is surprisingly on board with the idea, and is sure she could come up with a plan to sneak into Lexcorp. Unfortunately, Babs has to go out of town with her dad, and can’t help heist. (And I kinda love that Babs insists that they’re not stealing they’re pulling off a heist, like there’s some kind of difference) So the girls do the only other logical thing they can think of; find Catwoman and get her to plan the heist for them. 

It is a solid plan, and it’s kinda funny that Diana either doesn’t understand the concept of blackmail or is so righteous and good she doesn’t recognize that she and the other girls are doing it to get Catwoman to help them. Either way, Catwoman does come up with a fairly genius plan to get them into Lex’s vault. 

I have to admit I really love what this series does with Catwoman. Making Selina black is whatever, it’s not that big of a deal to be honest. But the fact that Summer Cree was directed to emulate the Eartha Kit version of Catwoman adds a lot to the performance. And it’s kinda great that they made Catwoman the brains of the Villain Girls. Catwoman’s always been clever, but this show almost seems to make her out to be almost, if not just as intelligent as Lex. 

Speaking of Lex, after they just barely manage to get into the elevator to take them to Lex’s vault (Catwoman’s plan almost immediately goes south because the Girls absolutely suck at being criminals) Lex confronts them in his vault, traps the girls, and reveals that Catwoman had actually been working with Lex the whole time. It does make the Girls almost fucking up the plan to get here even funnier in retrospect, since it’s clear Lex wanted them in the vault in the first place. He also reveals that he’s managed to capture the Invinci-Bros and even Superman. 

Lex explains that he read the Book of Eternity, and knew that the Superhero Girls were going to try and steal the book by asking Catwoman for help, so he just got to her first. He was able to predict everyone’s moves thanks to the book, which allowed him to effortlessly incapacitate everyone he’s confronted so far. He claims he needed every hero in the city out of the way so he could enact his master plan. The plan he decides to tell Catwoman, simply because he doesn’t think she can stop him and he’s about to send her out of the city anyway. 

Thanks to the Book of Eternity, Lex knows that a huge meteor is hurtling towards Earth that will utterly destroy Metropolis and possibly cause global ecological devastation. Lex plans to let the meteor hit, have millions of people die and come in as the big goddamn hero he wants everyone to see him as, and have his technology save the surviving citizenry and rebuild the city in his own image. 

This is why I think this series is so good. It’s dumb and goofy, but when it wants to get dark, Holy Shit! They do not pull any punches with this plot. Catwoman out right says that countless people will die if Lex does this; and Lex does not give a shit. Lex Luthor’s main defining character trait is being a megalomaniacal sociopath with little to no regard for human life. He’s obsessed with his own self-image and will destroy anyone or anything to make himself look better. And this episode encapsulates that perfectly 

The show doesn’t do anything too extreme, but this plan shows just how evil Lex can be simply by not sugar coating the death toll that will result from it. To the point even one of our recurring villains is utterly horrified by it. But he does seem to scare her off before she can do anything to try and stop him. Fortunately, like in the comics, Catwoman admits that while she’s a thief, she isn’t willing to let an entire city die just to save herself. She doubles back and releases the Superhero Girls so that they can save the city from the meteor. 

Catwoman finds Lex on a boat and tells him that after he hired her to trick the Girls, she took a look at the book herself and figured out what Lex’s plan was. So she tore out the page that said what she’d do after the Girls were captured and double crossed Lex. This is also completely in character for Lex. He is so smart that Lex will always underestimate whoever he’s dealing with, so it’s usually surprisingly easy to trick or outsmart him. Especially for someone as clever as Catwoman. 

Of course, Catwoman tries to take the Book of Eternity from Lex, but the Girls show up and get the book from her. And the episode ends with Catwoman robbing Lex blind, and showing that the male superheroes are still in Lex’s cages. 

This was another thirty minute long special, and probably one of the best so far. It did a great job of showcasing just how dangerous this version of Lex is, while still keeping him kid friendly. He was silly and danced around during his fight with the heroes, but he still planned on letting an entire city be destroyed just to make himself look good. It was also fun to see Catwoman’s more anti-heroic side coming out in this, since DC Superhero Girls has her set up as a pure villain. 

And that pretty much everything. This took a lot longer to write, and I will never try to review five episodes of a tv show again, but it was fun to get all my thoughts about this show out. A new episode came out while I was writing this, but I’m not gonna talk about that one this time. I just want to get this one done. Still, as simple as this show is, it continues to be a fun superhero cartoon that I hope will get more kids into DC’s heroes.