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the-voice-of-hell · 4 years ago

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Rent is Theft, part 24

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here. Note: My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not. If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

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The air was thick with heat. Was it my imagination, or was the ceiling softly glowing orange? I felt like there was a wind coming from somewhere, like what you’d imagine the wind felt like in Mount Doom that was blowing Elijah Wood’s shag around. I felt it in my ears and it made it hard to hear myself or Leimomi.

But I persevered, running through any faerie tales I could remember, and making them as baroque with silly details as I could manage. The little mermaid had a waterlogged beanie baby collection with individual names, Bluebeard’s bride stuck her sisters back together with novelty Hello Kitty duct tape stolen from his sex dungeon. I couldn’t hear a word of it outside of my thoughts. Was I making a sound? Was I even breathing?

A building ache finally forced me to face biological reality again. I had to pee. My skin was on fire, the world was on fire, but it was still an invisible flame - nothing smoking, nothing scorching, no yellow inferno roiling out of my ruined flesh. It was just a feeling of dangerous, alarming heat, dancing over everything. Were there actual heat waves coming off my skin? I couldn’t tell. Sweat rained over my eyes and I blinked it away, but I forced myself to stand up.

I felt like a wooden skeleton. No muscle, just clacking fake bones. How was I moving? I reached the bathroom, stumbled through the door and almost fell down. Instinctively I reached for something to hold onto. I grabbed a dangling hand towel.

It immediately slipped out of its perch, causing a weird floppy piece of shiny garbage to double over and splatter to the ground. It was my improvised *redacted* How had I not noticed it sitting where I left it, at any point in the last few days? Where it hit the floor, a spray of green trash slime splurted out of the midsection, onto the tiles and my feet. It smelled like a dumpster.

I was just glad I didn’t fall on the floor, either from the incident or from despair, because I knew I would have pissed myself where I lay. I turned to the toilet and laboriously went through the necessary motions. In my imagination, the flushing toilet would have blown miraculously cooled pisswater back in my face, granted a moment’s surcease from the invisible flames, but no. This air wouldn’t take moisture, and that water was probably warm enough to slow boil eggs.

I walked again, the burning wooden skeleton, clacking away. In the bathroom door I was arrested by the scene before me. There were our little beds, like funeral biers - mine empty and Leimomi’s occupied by a limpid melting Ophelia. The upholstery glistened like the sweat on her body, drenched. The lighting fixtures held a dull light as if the heat in the air was pure electricity half waking them from the slumber we’d induced. Was that blackening along the walls, in the areas nearest the ceiling? The ceiling itself was definitely glowing orange now.

Leimomi lifted her head - clearly an agonizing thing to do - and tugged a pillow under it so she could more easily look at me. Drops ran down her face, but were they sweat or tears? She was too weary to make a facial expression that would tell. “Courtney,” her voice was minute, distant, rippled the way light is rippled by heat waves. “Tell another.”

As I walked back to my bed, black curls of slow-burned posters crumbled in my wake and fell like dry leaves. I surrendered to gravity carefully, one hand, one more, my hips, rolled over, feeling like dead weight. “I love you,” I said, not hearing a word of it. I took up my water bottle again, dribbling what I could past the lips, then told another story.

Were these thoughts without sounds? Could she hear them? Could she hear them with her mind, our bodies burned away from our souls, free to listen without ears? I didn’t know.

Once upon a time there was a young gal with a bad family. Maybe dad died, leaving her in the care of wicked stepmom, or maybe that was her real mom but she liked to pretend it wasn’t, due to the pain that somebody biologically obligated to care for you just doesn’t, a way to not feel like that was her fault - that she was inherently and uniquely horrible. People called her Cinderella because she was covered in the ashes of rock star posters.

Stepmom and three stepsisters made her do all the chores and such, but you know, that sort of thing isn’t usually like they say it is in stories. It’s not like, do these chores or we cut you, you ugly slag. It’s more like, “Oh I just can’t right now, could you please? You’re so much better at that,” or malicious compliance where they do the chores so bad it makes the more responsible person stop asking.

They’d make Cinderella do emotional labor too. The girls would gab about their drama all day, say “You’re such a good listener,” but never afford a moment of reciprocation. Stepmom would get home from work and need to take a shit, but had constipation so she’d be in there a long time. At some point back when Cinderella was eleven, she invited her into the bathroom, so she could pass that time venting about coworkers she hated. Cinderella was too young to realize this was a flavor of child abuse, putting worries onto someone who doesn’t deserve them, isn’t equipped to understand them - and also making it pretty likely she’d grow up into that “amirite ladies” culture of woe and bitchery, unable to have a conversation of her own about the nice things in life, only ever able to talk about who was a bitch to whom, or who’s getting fat, or whatever.

And there she was, a young lady, still not out from under the shadow of that porcelain throne. But somehow she hadn’t absorbed that particular type of damage - she still had the ability to dream, to think of things beautiful and interesting. It was worn down every time her stepmom spoke, but it still remained. She had a spark of life.

One day prom was coming - man I’m like the five hundredth person to turn this into a modern high school thing aren’t I? - and Cinderella really wanted to go. She just wanted a chance to feel beautiful, to maybe dance with somebody. There was no dream she would be loved, but just that she could feel something glittering and sweet. It went without saying then, that she was not going. Nobody had specifically forbidden it, nobody made any mention of it, but all preparations and discussion revolved around stepsisters and their needs.

The night of the prom came and those kids were out the door. Cinderella knew it was coming, but somehow spaced out on it until the last minute, until there was no denying it. As the door clicked shut, stepmom put up the legs on her recliner and turned up the volume on a commercial for the Kia Summer Sales Event. Cinderella walked upstairs like a ghost, and fell down crying in the hall.

The door to the linen closet opened, and a beautiful little figure in taffeta, purple,and rhinestones appeared, hair a beautifully piled coiff of glossy black ringlets, a pencil thin moustache on their lips. She looked up in amazement, not able to see clearly through the tears, no idea if she could trust what she was seeing.

“Prince?,” she asked.

It was indeed Prince, and he was funky. Perhaps in becoming a ghost he had lost a foot of height. But why was he appearing to her, and not to Morris Day? He said, “Yes, Cinderella. This is no dream. I was sent to make your life beautiful - but only for one shining moment.”

“Wow. But aren’t you a total *redacted* hound? How can you be a fairy godmother?”

“I might be the crown champion of boy vs. girl ball, but do I look like someone afraid to be called a fairy?”

“And you did that homophobic song about how a lesbian girl needs to learn to be straight.”

“Like I told Lisa and Wendy, we don’t talk about the back catalogue, girl.”

“Is this your punishment for something?”

“Being a Jehovah’s Witness. Turns out telling babies not to get crucial healthcare is a bad thing. But let’s focus on your problems. What is keeping you from the prom tonight?”

“My stepmom and stepsisters don’t care about me, just want me to slave away for them forever, never have a time for myself.”

“I will make them care about you, make them slaves to you, and make this time be only for yourself.” He pulled out a magic guitar, spraying sparkles across the beige carpet.

“No! I don’t want any of that.”

“But you want to go to prom, right girl?”

“Yeah. Yes, please, my lord.”

“I love the respect, but I am not allowed to be addressed as such, at this stage in my career. And so again, pray tell, what keeps you from this promenade? If you would not have me remove your problems, perhaps there are boons that can be offered.”

“Well, I don’t have a dress, or makeup, or nice hair, or a way to go to the school.”

“Crucial. I can work with this. Come.” He clapped twice above his head and led her into her bedroom. While he was unusually small, his magic guitar was full size and dragged on the carpet behind him.

In Cinderella’s room, under a silver shaft of moonlight, he did a little dance and grabbed his crotch. It was part of the magic, completely justified. Her room was basically a walk-in closet, and some of her cleaning stuff was jammed in there as well. He pointed his finger at a mop with a spray of sparkles. It transformed into a beautiful silver-white wig. He spun his finger in the air and it flew onto her head.

“Wow,” said Cinderella.

He picked up the guitar, did a spin, then played a cool riff. Her ratty sweats changed into a fuchsia ball gown with neon purple lace and a bodice covered in purple rhinestones. “It’s so beautiful,” she cried.

“You know it,” he said. “Now let’s sort out this situation.” He pointed the guitar’s head at her face like a gun and played a wild guitar solo. She could feel the ashes sliding around her skin, changing shape. Looking at a dingy mirror, she saw the carbon condense into eyeliner, eyeshadow, and glittering lipstick, leaving her skin clean and clear.

“I’m gonna cry again, I’m sorry,” she said, hand on her heart.

“Don’t ruin that makeup, girl. There is one item left to attend to. Thy conveyance. Approach me.” He turned his back to her and with a wave of his hand the window opened.

She came near to the little man, not knowing what to expect. As she drew near, he seemed to increase in size - no, the whole world was increasing in size, or she was shrinking! He scooched forward on his guitar, leaving room for her to straddle it in the back, and then it started to fly. She grabbed his little waist and they flew off into the night sky.

Smoke then, curling around my body like tendrils from incense, rising to pool and eddy at the ceiling. It intensified, white and opaque at the corners of my vision, but inverted to darkness as it reached the glowing orange expanse - a negative print of the ocean, the opposite of water.

Prince flew her to school and daintily alit to the gymnasium roof. “I’ll wait for you under the north bleachers of the baseball field. If you aren’t there at midnight, I cannot help you get home.”

“Thank you so much, Prince! I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“All I really need is to know that U believe.” He pointed at the sky and took a tiny bow.

Cinderella found a hatch to get down from the roof. There was a ladder to a catwalk high above the gym floor, and she could see the prom below. A few people bustled to do the last minute preparations, but there was only one dim light on.

She wandered around looking for a way down and found nothing. What good was it to be at prom if you could only watch it from afar? But at last she found a rope to climb down on - one of the ropes they’d use in PR class, with knots at regular intervals. She tossed it down and started climbing.

When she got to the bottom, she realized she was in the middle of the dance floor. As party lights came on and the rest of the students came in, she was the center of attention. “Who is she?” “How did she get in here?” They were impressed.

She humbly demurred and headed to the punch bowls. A chaperone was glaring at her and not noticing somebody else spiking the punch. It was going to be one of those nights. The DJ led off with “Fight for Your Right to Party,” which was ironic because fighting for your right to party is expressly against policy at school events.

Phew, I thought. Are we alive or dead? Will this ever end? I can’t stand it. Christ.

A kinda short dapper gentleman approached Cinderella and said, “Hey babe, I haven’t seen you around the school before. Wanna cut a rug?”

“There’s no rug, but I’ll dance.”

“Let’s buff this basketball court wax to a high shine.”

They danced and chatted softly between songs, and enjoyed each other’s company. Occasionally people would congratulate the dapper gentleman on his fortune in monopolizing the attention of a radiant queen. People would smile at them and ask questions, take pics of her dress on their cellphones.

Her own stepsisters didn’t recognize her. It was a magical and glittering moment. But best of all, she was really starting to feel like a woman, like a person who could be sought after by a dashing suitor. It was the dapper gentleman that was making her feel like that, with his smooth ways. Maybe he felt the need to stay with her because he was insecure about his height, or maybe she was just that appealing to him, but he was gently affectionate and suave and cool, and he knew how to dance.

I could see myself limned in blue and yellow flames like a gas stove burner. The world above the orange glow of a furnace, the walls around cracking and blistering, the world below a whorl of charcoal and soot. In between the flesh cooked with no end.

Proms crown people, right? That’s why people make Cinderella into a prom story on Nickelodeon or whatever, so they can get the prince in there. So ceremony begins and they crown dapper gentleman and mystery girl! They say come to the stage, so we can crown thee at the stroke of midnight.

That reminds her that she’s about to lose her magic, miss her ride. But will it be worth it? No, if she was left in dingy sweats and a mop wig on stage, she’d never live it down. This was supposed to be a glittering and magical moment, but now it would end in tragedy.

She couldn’t resist, she kissed him one time, then said, “I’m sorry,” and bolted for the door. People were too surprised to react fast, and she lost any pursuers on her way to the baseball field. Would Prince be there? Midnight was so close.

At the stroke of midnight she was halfway to the field, when she saw him rise into the night sky, momentarily silhouetted by the moon - Prince, straddling a magic guitar. And just like that, the mop head fell into her hands, the ashes spread over her skin, the dress became dirty sweats.

A whirlwind of ashen scraps blew past my face and I choked on the burning trash.

There’s more, there’s more. I swear. I can do it for you, Leimomi. I can do it for what’s left of you. She, um, she went home on foot, right? Fuck, glass slippers. There’s supposed to be slippers. I forgot them.

I know, facial recognition technology. Yeah. So dapper Deandre is going through the school after that, using the facial recognition software on his phone, comparing all the girls with the mystery lady on his phone. The stepsisters are all like, me, me, but... No, that doesn’t even make sense.

She’s going to get found, like, maybe she’s the equivalent of a TA but for the janitor instead. A JA, that’s our Cinderella, and he takes a pic of her face almost by accident and it matches and he’s like, baby it’s me.

She can’t see that, doesn’t want to be known the way she is now, which the janitor thinks is lame because you shouldn’t be ashamed of your class, you know? Patrick’s a janitor. Ugh, where was I? She like, um...

Bursts of sparks and chunks of molten rock fell in random splashes around us. If any of that touched our boiling meat, it would bore a hole straight through like industrial acid. No escape was possible, only luck of the draw. Who would survive and what would be left of them?, like the movie said.

Cinderella! Dapper Deandre prom king finds her and says, “It’s OK, sometimes your clothes and your hair and stuff are gonna suck, but you’re beautiful and cute and I will never forget our night together. If you don’t wanna be with me, that’s cool, but I just hope, I dunno...” And she kisses him It’s romantic because she looks gross but he’s like. Fuck.

The world was coming apart into orbs of light raining into an abyss. Nothing remained between what had once been the floor and ceiling, and no one. There was only a heat too intense to even bother with becoming fire. It had become another state of matter, or nothing at all.

At last the light was consumed with black.

***

Read next chapter here.

#Rent is Theft #part 24 #nanowrimo july 2021

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recentanimenews · 6 years ago

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THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Has Come To An End!

Welcome back to the final edition of THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH. I'm your host this week, Daniel Dockery, and after 200+ of episodes of high stakes ninja battles, low stakes ninja filler, and medium stakes ninja fart jokes, we've come to the end of Naruto. Every week since the beginning of the year, we've watched seven episodes of the show and every week, we've come together to discuss our feelings on them. Whether we were basking in the wonderful glow of Rock Lee or begging to be done with another filler escort mission, we did it together. We're like a family that gathers on a weekly holiday to complain about Sasuke. That's truly a family that we should all aspire to have.

But it is now over, which means that it's time for reflection. It's time to look at the series as a whole and see what we liked most, what we got out of the whole experience, and what we want in the future. If this was a movie, "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" by Green Day would be playing as the school year ends. We'd all give each other hugs and cry a little bit and then Joe Luster (played by Miles Teller, probably) would say something like "Same time next week?" and we'd chuckle, because it's only kind of a joke. We'll be starting a few new series soon before we jump into Shippuden, and you'll just have to wait to find out what they are.

We're gonna START this week with the HIGHS and LOWS from the last few episodes:

Joseph: The high point for me was seeing this series of corny battles wrap up and finally, FINALLY send us packing toward Shippuden. The low point was... I just can't believe this filler story was the finale.

Kara: The high was the very end... seeing how far Naruto and everyone else have come both in their own skills and their estimations of each other. I think I mentioned before, but it's wild to realize we've gone from "tie Naruto to a post and make him skip lunch because he failed that hard" to his peers talking completely unsarcastically about trying to measure up to him. Low point was the fact that I couldn't focus when I realized this series was going out on a story where Naruto tries to teach Japanese Merlin the power of friendship or whatever.

Kevin: High - I actually kind of liked the last scene or two, where everyone realizes that Naruto's about to leave with Jiraiya, and Naruto stops for a ramen lunch with Iruka before heading out. It's a nice bit of counterpoint to the beginning of the series, showing how Naruto's succeeded in getting people to recognize and accept him.

Low - Gaara's basically out of chakra to the point that the enemy doesn't think he can even fight. Clearly that means he has just enough power left for three major attacks, the likes of which we've either never seen or would almost certainly exhaust him if he were at full strength. I guess this arc really is taking ideas from Shippuden, because willpower is apparently more of a factor in battle than actual physical limitations.

Dishonorable mention - Admittedly, I don't think anyone ever explicitly stated how Gaara's sand works, but I was always under the impression that Shukaku was in control, or at least powering it, rather that Gaara using his own chakra. Also, when I heard that the armor absorbed chakra, my first thought was that Lee was a great match, because Taijutsu doesn't use chakra. I guess I was wrong. Either that, or the people writing this last arc were making some assumptions about how Naruto works.

Carolyn: I would have to agree; watching everyone actually care about Naruto leaving was very sweet. He's spent so much time caring for his friends and feeling like an outcast and now he's found a family. That's a definite high point. My low point would be the fact that the final episodes weren't really about Naruto at all. They were about Gaara. Which, while I like Gaara, seems like a weird choice.

Jared: That last bit with Naruto leaving was real good. Seeing how everyone was reacting to him heading off with Jiraiya, although it's kind of funny that Jiraiya gives him the whole spiel about training and it takes him 80+ episodes for him to actually do it. There was also a small scene where I liked how Neji was basically trying to wingman for Hinata by having them stop training so she could see Naruto off. Low point would be just how bland the final villains were for this last arc.

Noelle: I'm with everyone else, Naruto leaving was definitely my high point. After all, this is his home, and he's leaving all he's familiar with in a bet to possibly get stronger. It isn't just hollow either, because he has people who will miss him and come see him off. It's very touching, especially considering how Naruto has always been framed as being alone. Low point... this last arc felt so dull? Surprising, considering I adore Gaara but I really wasn't feeling it.

Paul: My high point is the realization that Sakura's Medical Ninja training consists of using her Chakra to revive progressively larger and more expensive fish. My low point is related: Sakura and Ino have now both been relegated into roles as healers. I think Kara previously brought this up many, many episodes ago: that sort of power, while crucial, is a fundamentally reactive power rather than a pro-active power. I worry that going into Shippuden, the girls will still be playing second fiddle to the boys.

Danni: The high point for me was the final few scenes. Seeing Naruto say his goodbyes to the Leaf Village while everyone else vows to get stronger as well got me real excited for the impending timeskip. I really can't wait to see how much they've grown when Shippuden begins. The low point for me was how underwhelming the villains turned out to be. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish this arc had been longer so there could be more time to flesh out the Artisan Village and the Four Celestials. The inexplicably magical Voltron armor gets an honorary mention.

David: My low point is similar to last week: despite liking everyone involved in this arc, all the best parts mostly felt like the show nudging my shoulder and asking if I remember this cool stuff from forever ago. High point seems to be echoing most everyone else: finally saying goodbye before we come back to see how everyone has changed.

Welp, that's it, y'all. How are you feeling? Relieved that it's over? Ready for a break? Eager for Shippuden? Frantically writing Sasuke fan fiction?

Joseph: I'm somewhere in the middle. I'd say I'm eager for a little bit of a break, but I also desperately want to wash this taste out of my mouth with some sweet, sweet, main storyline action in Shippuden. I wanna watch Naruto get good again!

Kara: It's about the same for me. As excited as I am about Shippuden, that was a lot of filler and I need a few minutes.

Kevin: Honestly, I'm ready to go to start Shippuden. Throughout this rewatch, I kept remembering just how much changes between the two series. Naruto starts with actual ninja techniques and ends up with Naruto being accepted by the other genin and a selection of higher ups. Shippuden starts with Naruto trying to save a world leader, and (without spoiling too much) ends with fights to save the planet and a war that takes over 200 episodes.

Carolyn: I'm very happy to have a break in between Naruto episodes.

Jared: It's going to be real weird not having Naruto in my weekly schedule, but I think a break is going to be good. I'm pretty excited to get back to non-filler writing though.

Noelle: I have been in filler jail for so long, I'll take that break.

Paul: I'm ready to move on to Shippuden, and I've even added it to my queue. When I was in college, among my social circle, Naruto was held in low regard. People treated it as a series for babies, and being a Naruto fan was synonymous with having questionable (or at least very "basic") taste. I never thought I'd pick it up so many years later, or that I'd enjoy it as much as I have.

Danni: I'm not gonna lie, as soon as I finished episode 220, I considered secretly starting Shippuden right away anyway. It's been the light at the end of the filler tunnel for me for so long that I'm actually bummed I can't dive right into it just yet. I just bought my first Naruto t-shirt from the Crunchyroll Store, and now I have to wait to break it in until [redacted].

David: Despite the last few months of disappointing filler, the actual show up until the retrieval arc turned out to be some of the most fun I've had watching anime every week, so count me in with those who kind of wish we were just going straight into Shippuden.

What is one character that you desperately wish had been given more to do?

Joseph: I would have liked more Kakashi in these filler storylines. The fact that it was a shocker when he occasionally showed up speaks volumes. Instead it felt like we were getting the same or very similar teams on each mission.

Kara: Hinata. She got to do some awesome stuff, granted, but I'm so tired of her one line being "Naruto-kun..." I mean I know how they end up, and it's kind of a gateway spoiler for even knowing what Boruto is about. But considering her capabilities, it's a little annoying to see her constantly fall into the role of Girl Who Likes Naruto instead of that being, you know, just one of her things. Because it's okay to have a crush on a boy. It's okay to have an embarrassing crush on a boy. It happens. But I'd love that to be an aspect instead of a good chunk of her identity.

Kevin: Tenten, absolutely. She's a bit of an obvious choice, since most people know the joke about how little screen time she gets, but her abilities are legitimately interesting and could be extremely versatile, she's just not given any time to show off her prowess.

Carolyn: S A K U R A

Jared: Basically any of the girls. I don't know if the last bit with Ino was an actual tie-in to what happens in Shippuden, but to have her just do the same thing as Sakura really feels like a "hey we have no clue what to do with you" type moment.

Noelle: We all know that Kishimoto is really not good at writing women, but it just stands out so, so much with Sakura. She has a couple of moments and that's it, versus Naruto and Sasuke who are consistent all throughout. Give her something to do, it's not that hard. Please.

Paul: My first instinct is to say Kakashi, but I'll echo the others and say Sakura, and I'll add a little Hinata into the mix. I'd like to see them given a chance to shine, too. Sakura and Hinata have had a few iconic moments, but not to the same degree as Neji, Choji, and Kiba, who not only got dramatic death scenes but also got to survive their heroic sacrifices by pure plot fiat.

Danni: As much as I missed Kakashi in all this filler, I'm gonna have to go with Sakura as well. Despite being one of the three main characters, she's done next to nothing at all. Her main roles have been victim and healer, which are some really disappointing tropes to fall into when writing a female character.

David: It feels weird to say this since everyone including me loves him, but Rock Lee actually? After his big moment he gets relegated to a hospital bed with no discernible improvements made until suddenly he's ok now, I guess. I wish that were handled a little more gracefully.

Have any favorite moments from the series? Favorite fight scenes? Favorite quotes? What sticks out to you as the curtain (momentarily) closes on Naruto and His Amazing Friends?

Joseph: I miss the tournament arcs during exams. Those were really fun, and it was always exciting to see who would emerge victorious and how the animators would handle it. For sheer animated splendor, though, I have to go with the battles during the whole attack on Konohagakure village.

Kara: As messed up as their individual stories can be (especially Jiraiya), I really love the older generation. I like the feeling - not just the feeling, the fact - that the story didn't just magically begin with Naruto, and that there are several levels of information we're still unpacking. My favorite moments tended to touch on those multigenerational elements in some way.

Kevin: If I had to pick a single high point in the series, something that would be an exemplar of how good Naruto can be when it isn't bogged down by endless filler, I would probably go with Naruto's Rasengan training into the Kabuto fight. It shows off Naruto's dedication, ingenuity, and willingness to put himself in harm's way in a fight to save those he cares about, and also opens up the world more by revealing some of the history of the Leaf. It's not quite as emotional as some of the character deaths, like Zabuza and Haku or the Third Hokage, but it showcases some of the best aspects of the show in quick succession.

Carolyn: I think I'll always be partial to Rock Lee training outside the hospital. He's such a good boy.

Jared: I came into this knowing relatively little about the series and leave knowing that Rock Lee is the best boy. That fight against Gaara is just something else, even if that was one of things things I actually knew coming in. When this show is good, it's amazing, which is kinda hard to remember when you're locked in filler jail.

Noelle: I think overall, my impressions stayed fairly consistent from when I first watched it to now. I think I definitely enjoyed the Chunin arc more, since I thought it dragged when I was young, and I really appreciate Rock Lee. I can't believe I used to think Rock Lee was annoying, this kid rules.

Paul: My favorite moment is still the scene where, while training with Sakura and Sasuke under Kakashi, Naruto gets caught in a rope trap, escapes from it, then immediately gets caught in another rope trap. Another scene that really stuck with me was when Naruto and Sasuke teamed up against Zabuza and together they hide Naruto (disguised as a shuriken) in the shadow of another shuriken. Finally, a phrase that stuck with me is: "A ninja is one who endures." That phrase is the thesis statement for what defines heroes and villains in the world of Naruto.

Danni: The battle between Naruto and Sasuke in the Final Valley, for sure. Their relationship is the backbone of the entire show in my opinion, and that fight was an incredible turning point and moment of understanding between them. It also just looked really freaking cool.

David: The scene where Sakura tries one last time to stop Sasuke from leaving. It's sort of understated but there is a lot of emotional complexity going on there, down to her 'confession' hail mary that is completely ineffective. The show isn't usually great at writing women, or even emotions in general that aren't loud and clear, but that's definitely a place it got things right and sticks out to me even now.

I want you to sum up your experience with Naruto in three words.

Joseph: Always Craving Ramen.

Kara: My Queen Tsunade.

Kevin: Ninja wizard president.

Carolyn: I like Naruto?

Jared: So much ramen.

Noelle: Power of friendship.

Paul: Not Kid's Stuff.

Danni: Only just beginning.

David: Please less filler.

What advice would you give to someone that hasn't watched Naruto but plans to try?

Joseph: Don't be stubborn. Listen to what longtime fans say about the filler and don't bother with it. Don't feel the need to absorb every bad episode and just follow the main story through both this and Shippuden. Failing that, read the manga.

Kara: I know the main advice is "seriously, skip the filler," but my friend circles are made up of a lot of completionists and telling them to skip it would just make them watch it harder. So whatever. Honestly, even without the filler, Naruto has highs and lows. So I guess I'd say don't expect all 220 episodes to be fried gold, but enjoy it as a chill watch and just appreciate when those really solid stories come along.

Kevin: If they already want to start, my advice would be to binge the first season to get to the Zabuza arc. The earliest stuff is important, but not necessarily the most interesting. If I need to show them something to convince them to watch, then I'd probably recommend the Chunin Exams. Some of the details might be confusing, but it's some of the best self-contained storytelling in the show.

My general advice is honestly to go back and keep pace with the Rewatch if you want to watch the entire show. There are over 200 episodes, around half being filler, so you're not going to watch the entire show over a weekend. The Rewatch keeps a brisk pace that gets through all of the less interesting bits without going so quickly that you accidentally skip the emotional resonance of the better arcs. If they just want to watch those better arcs and skip the likes of Filler Jail, then watch from around the Genin Exam or Land of Waves arc to episode 130 or so (it'll be obvious when the filler starts).

Carolyn: Yeah, skip the filler. Watch until Sasuke leaves and call it a day.

Jared: You don't have to watch all of the filler. There's certainly a few arcs that if you wanted to check out as a buffer for Shippuden that would be fine, but going through it all isn't necessary. Although if you're liking things and get to the filler and want to keep going, who am I to stop you? I'm not your dad.

Noelle: It's a lot less compact compared to more modern shonen, but it's still got plenty of substance. Naruto, at the end of the day, is a good kid that's worth rooting for. Also, skip the filler, you won't miss anything.

Paul: When you're going through Filler Hell, keep going. A ninja is one who endures.

Danni: Just skip the filler. I'm saying this as someone who endured all of Dragon Ball without giving in to everyone telling me to skip certain batches of episodes. Skip the filler.

David: Don't watch too much at once! This show doesn't exactly have a reputation for solid emotional or thematic setpieces but I think that's because there is so much content people lose the details, so watch a little at a time and let it sit with you.

And before we depart from our journey, we have a question from a reader:

"What were some of your favorite Opening and Ending Theme Songs (or intros and outros, respectively)? Are there any bands/groups/artists you are now a fan of, but weren't previously, because their work was featured in Naruto?"

Kara: "GO!!!" by FLOW is absolutely my favorite opening. I envy everyone who gets to see them live at Crunchyroll Expo this year! As for endings, "Yellow Moon" by Akeboshi really hits me. I also liked "Wind," but this is the one that sent me looking for more music by him. "Parade" by CHABA is a close second, but that's mostly because it sounds like it's by The Killers.

Joe: I'm gonna go classic with Far Away as my favorite OP, and Wind as my favorite ED.

Noelle: Far Away is probably my top fave op because of how absolutely rad it is, but I'll be lying if GO!!! isn't the first thing I think of when I think of Naruto openings (fighting dreamers!). I'm also feeling Wind for my favorite ed, because it's very touching, but it's also so radically different compared to the rest of the endings? A top fave.

Jared: "GO!!!" and "Wind" are definitely top tier when it comes to openings and endings. I also actually went and purchased "Far Away" and "Pinocchio" so those would be up there too.

Kevin: Interesting that someone asked this actually. Since we're nearing Shippuden, I've been occasionally listening to all of the Shippuden themes together, and it is quite an experience to go through 500 episodes of content in a half an hour via song.

To the actual question, for openings my favorites are probable Far Away and GO!!!. Between the two, I'd probably have to go with Far Away as my favorite, because while I didn't know the artist when I first heard the song as a kid, it technically introduced me to Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and I don't think I've heard a song of theirs yet that I don't like.

For endings, to be honest I had to go back and relisten to literally all of the Naruto endings, because I seriously don't remember any of them. As a result, I guess the first ending, Wind, wins by default since it is the only one that I've actively sought out and listened to outside of the show. That being said, I actually found that I liked Mountain-A-Go Go-Two and Speed much more than I thought I would.

David: I really couldn't believe how good Wind is as it had somehow left my mind but now it's my favorite ED in original Naruto by far. GO!! is unsurprisingly my choice for OP both because it is very good and how much it represents the feeling of watching Naruto in general.

COUNTERS:

Week Ramen: 2 bowls Hokage: 0 Clones: 0

Total Ramen: 210 bowls, 20 cups Hokage: 62 Clones: 940

And that's all for the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH. Once again, thank you for joining us and we hope you'll accompany our merry team on our next adventure!

CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 211-217: Nearing The Finish Line

Episodes 204-210: Escort Mission Time

Episodes 197-203: Solving a Mystery

Episodes 190-196: Matchmaking Gone Wrong

Episodes 183-189: No Laughter Allowed!

Episodes 176-182: Reach for the Stars!

Episodes 169-175: Anko’s Backstory At Sea

Episodes 162-168: The Tale of the Phantom Samurai

Episodes 155-161: Quickfire Curry

Episodes 148-154: The Forest is Abuzz With Ninjas

Episodes 141-147: Mizuki Strikes Back!

Episodes 134-140: The Climactic Clash

Episodes 127-133: Naruto vs Sasuke

Episodes 120-126: The Sand Siblings Return

Episodes 113-119: Operation Rescue Sasuke

Episodes 106-112: Sasuke Goes Rogue

Episodes 99-105: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

Have anything to say about our thoughts on Episodes 218-220? Let us know in the comments!

------------------------

Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. You should follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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brokenwandsrpg · 8 years ago

Photo

Welcome to Broken Wands Roleplay, Elva! The way you’ve fleshed-out Ted’s background in a way that meshes with canon while twisting him around to the opposite side of that coin is exquisite and we look forward to seeing where you take him. Check out this page for what to do next and let us know if you have any questions. We’re elated to have you join us!

OOC INFORMATION:

NAME & PRONOUNS: Elva, she/her or they/them

AGE: 27

LANGUAGE: English

EXPERIENCE: [redacted upon request]

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I aim to be online and reply to plots/messages daily, however I am currently at uni and assessments take precedence. In the event that I have a looming deadline, replies will be done hastily, for which I would like to apologise in advance.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO TELL US: Thank you for reading my application. You have put so much care and attention into creating this rp, and whether I am a part of it or not I wish you the best with it.

DESIRED CHANGES: none

CHARACTER BASICS:

NAME: Edward Tonks, better known as Ted. The only people who use his full first name are those high up in the Ministry for Magical Investigation who know him only by his file. In training, he is addressed as Ted. Only his mother and sisters have Ted’s consent to call him Teddy. Used by anyone else and the nickname feels like a dig, a purposeful deviation from Ted’s stated preferences rather than a show of affection. Teddy is used to mock and belittle: “No worries, Teddy,” one of his colleagues might say with a sneer, when he offers to lend a hand with a particular task, “we’ve got it covered. Haven’t we, men?” There are Junior Agents his age who aren’t belittled in the same fashion, but their skin is white; it affords them a certain immunity in the training program.

BIRTHDATE/AGE: If the year is 1975, Ted is 19, nearly 20. Birthdate tbd.

BLOOD-STATUS: Muggle-born. Despite being born to a muggle family, Ted is a wix; magic runs through his veins, though he and his parents have gone to great lengths to conceal it and so far their efforts have been successful.

GENDER & SEXUALITY: Ted is cis-gendered and assumed straight. He is attracted to women, and that - along with his inexperience in matters of love and sex - means he has never had cause to question his sexuality. Ted believes in love without judgement or shame. He doesn’t view gender as a boundary or obstacle; you love who you love, with very little choice in the matter. Ted is pansexual, although he is unfamiliar with the term or concept. Ted doesn’t speak openly about this, or act on his attraction for people who aren’t cis women very often. He presents himself as an ally.

WAND/ETC: Unbeknownst to Ted, there is a wand in the Ministry for Magical Investigation allied to him and him alone. In one of his first hunts, he struck the blow which caused a wix to relinquish his wand. It was Ted who plucked the wand from the ground and bagged it for transportation. In the brief seconds that he held it, Ted felt a tingling in his arm, which he credited to the C.E.W. he had fired only moments ago. Ted hasn’t touched a wand since. Sure, he can rationalise the sensation in his arm, but not the thoughts that coursed though his mind as a consequence, the surge of curiosity those few seconds in contact with the weapon sparked. Ted might not carry a wand, but he is not short of other weapons and tools. He is authorised by the Ministry to carry a C.E.W., as well as a hand gun, and Ted also keeps a dagger on his person should the situation require a silent weapon. Thankfully for Ted, he’s yet had reason to use it.

APPEARANCE: Ted doesn’t apologise for who he is. He exerts enough effort trying to control his magic; there simply isn’t enough left for anything else. A wiser man might keep his hair short, but Ted can’t be bothered with any of that. He keeps his hair grown out, despite it being seen by his white colleagues as unprofessional. He is well-groomed and though he doesn’t put much thought into what he wears, he takes care of all his possessions, clothing included.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

FAMILY: Ted is the youngest of William and Cheryl Tonks’ children. He has two sisters, Joyce and Patricia, six and eight years older than Ted. William and Cheryl had gone through the motions of parenting twice with few hiccups besides a fever, contracted by Joyce when she was only four months old. Ted was the first and only of their children to arouse their suspicions that he was a wix. They took precautions. Joyce and Patricia were discouraged from playing with their brother, given chores to keep them busy or urged to do their homework. If Ted spoke openly to his sisters about the things that happened beyond his control, acts of magic, his parents chided him for his silliness. Good boys don’t make up stories. Those were words he heard often during the years to follow. Good boys don’t tell lies. Good boys eat their vegetables. Good boys keep their heads down, they listen to their mamas and papas. Good boys become Witch Hunters. Joyce and Patricia remain none the wiser about Ted’s magic, and as a consequence he doesn’t feel the connection to his sisters that he knows he ought to. Even as an adult, they look upon him as their baby brother. Though he and his sisters show all the outward signs of being close and affectionate, Ted knows a secret lies between them. His sisters are oblivious to this fact, which makes the distance feel all the more prominent for Ted. His parents each hold positions in the Ministry: a scientist, his mother is part of a team of people researching wands, while his father is a Witch Hunter like Ted. Patricia is an archivist. Only Joyce strayed from the family’s line of work, instead opting for a career on the radio.

ASSOCIATES: Recently, Ted has been trying to keep his work and social life separate. This is partly down to the fact he can’t bear to talk or think about his official dealings with the wix any longer than he has to. He has friends in training and acquaintances elsewhere in the Ministry, but Ted doesn’t see these relationships as particularly close or lasting. When Ted is looking to blow off steam, he turns to his three flatmates, one of whom is a childhood friend of Ted’s. At the end of a full day’s training, it’s a comfort to know the odds of having company when he returns home are high. Many a late night have been spent drinking wine around the table in a kitchen filled with friends and laughter, or out dancing. Ted is known for being one of the quieter of the crew, which speaks more of his friends’ outgoing natures than anything else. Lucius Malfoy: Ted will know about Lucius, maybe he’s even gotten to know him a little bit in the past, before the Ministry uncovered the Malfoys’ lies. Lucius is on the the Ministry’s radar. If Ted ever crosses his path, he has orders to kill, if all other methods fail. That’s not what Ted has planned however. Lucius, like the rest of the Malfoys, used to be one of them - not a witch hunter, but an important presence at the Ministry nonetheless. Ted has to believe a better fate awaits those like Lucius who keep their status as a wix secret; people like himself. Sybill Trelawney: They are both running on borrowed time. It’s only a matter of time until Ted’s secrets are exposed, given that he can’t carry on like this, inflicting cruelty on people for no reason other than the fact they used magic. Sybill’s predictions are unpredictable and lately they have a tendency to lead to dead ends. Maybe they can help each other out. Andromeda Black: Any interactions between Andromeda and Ted would be delightful. Their roles are reversed; in this game, it is Ted who would be betraying his family by falling in love with a wix. I am curious to see what Ted will do when he meets the force of nature that is Andromeda Black standing beside her sisters instead of against them, without the reputation of a traitor or muggle-lover. I imagine he is wholly unprepared for the savage, spiteful woman portrayed in her bio. Be it canon or AU, I imagine the relationship between Ted and Andromeda is challenging and full-on, whatever form it takes, be it romantic or otherwise. (I would just like to add Ted is well-positioned to plot with absolutely everyone, so I will be hitting up every roleplayer in this game first chance I get. Plotting makes me very happy indeed.)

LIFESTYLE: After three months on a trainee Witch Hunter’s salary, he left his parents’ home in Hackney London and moved into a shared house with three friends. His room is on the third floor, just high enough from street level that he can open the window without feeling as if he’s just opened a floodgate to London’s traffic. Being settled is not the same as being safe; Ted has a false sense of security. He has yet to realise how dangerous being a wix actually is. As the stresses of his job mount, Ted will find it increasingly difficult to control his magic, namely because he will spend so much time dwelling on it. As he learns more about wix, how human they are, the desperate conditions they live in, Ted’s discomfort with his profession grows. Had his life gone differently, he would be the one sitting in the interrogation room, not as trainee interrogator but as the criminal. Ted survives through constant denial.

PERSONALITY: William and Cheryl placed a mold around their son and as he grew, he grew to fit that mold. Ted is unquestionably loyal to his family. His parents protected him when they could have abandoned him without any shame or remorse. He’s heard of people doing it before, turning on family and friends when they discovered they were a wix all along. People say love is unconditional. Ted knows love is unconditional. His parents love him, despite what he has the potential to be, and for that he owes them a world of gratitude. Or at least he did, until he saw first-hand what it meant to be a Witch Hunter. Ted never imagined wix as people, strange considering in another life he might have been one of them. He has found a thousand and one ways to shape them into criminals in his mind, but they look more like victims to him, scared, afraid, dirty, sometimes even half-starved. Unconditional. Everything he thought that word meant is beginning to dissolve. It’s turning sour. What would his parents do if he quit, packed it all in; stopped trying to keep it all locked inside; stopped humming the magic away. What would they say if he admitted it aloud, I am wix. Their love isn’t unconditional at all, but Ted will watch a thousand wix fall before he admits it. Ted is an earnest witch hunter, holding firmly to the beliefs that were taught to him growing up. Earnest is one word for it. Stubborn is another. Ted is frequently confronted with reasons to question his conviction, which he determinedly ignores. He doesn’t want to ask himself too many questions, because in his gut he knows he won’t like the answers. Ted is more than happy to suffer in silence if it means he can carry on the status quo for just a little while longer. Nobody wants to be monitored by the government. No one wants to be on the receiving end of hate. What does he do to protect himself from such threats? He joins the very organisation which inflicts hate on others. Needless to say, Ted sees the hypocrisy and he is conflicted. He joined the Witch Hunters thinking it would further distance him from the magic inside him, but it’s having the opposite effect. It hurts to watch wix suffer. He was an ignorant fool to think it wouldn’t. Ted strives to be kind, to himself and to others, however there’s little room for kindness in his training at the Ministry. It’s a ruthless job. Ted entered training fully aware of the protocols, but imagining it and living it are two different things. When he imagined being a Witch Hunter, he thought only of the pride of getting a job done, another dangerous wix caught. Since entering training and dealing with wix himself, the job has lost all appeal. There’s nothing noble about hunting wix. It’s an ugly task, and yet Ted hasn’t walked away, partly out of stubbornness, and partly because he is curious about the wix and their magic. For Ted, magic is like a weight in his chest; it has grown heavier with the years. Like pain or love, it demands to be felt. Despite believing in self-care, Ted doesn’t treat himself with the same care he would treat his friends. His self-image is poor, a consequence of being the only wix in his family. Subconsciously, Ted carries the shame of that with him everywhere he goes. His shoulders are just slightly slumped when he walks. He is reticent, even cold, when in the company of those he dislikes. Though he rarely voices his discontent, Ted has a tendency to hold a grudge. He collects information about people; in his head, he builds profiles of his colleagues, friends of friends, anyone whose ignorance has made itself known to Ted. It is fair to say Ted is untrusting. Being a wix - having that secret - sets Ted at a distance. In his adult years, he is becoming increasingly independent, even self-serving; it is slowly dawning on him that he can rely on himself and himself alone. He doesn’t expect anything from anyone anymore - a pre-emptive attempt to save himself from disappointment. Soon he will realise he doesn’t owe anyone anything either.

SKILLS: Ted has a remarkable ability to offload stress. When he leaves training, he doesn’t take his work home with him. It was the same at school; if there was a class he didn’t like, he put it out of his mind as soon as the bell rang, signaling time to go home. It has taken Ted years to affect this skill, and he wouldn’t be able to keep his magic pent up without it. Ted had to find a way to keep his magic contained. To do so, he needed to channel the emotions that provoked his magic. It only ever came out in bursts, when he was angry, or as a reflexive response to fear. Ted found solace in music. When angry or afraid, he sings a song in his head. When he’s really angry or afraid, under his breath. He loses himself in his records, closes his eyes and imagines the music washing over him, erasing vaporous tendrils of magic with it. Ted also has a knack for defusing a situation. It’s a useful skill in training, where he and other Witch Hunters in training are pushed to breaking point. It’s even more useful when dealing with wix. Ted doesn’t enjoy violence. He takes no pleasure in using his C.E.W., only ever firing it when words fail. Ted is a team-player, a skill which has proved highly beneficial since he began training. Whether other Witch Hunters-in-training like him or not, they want him on their team. He is reliable and mindful of those he is working with. No one gets left behind, which is crucial against the wix. Despite this, Ted is regarded by his peers as soft or weak. In the Ministry, strength is measured in how readily you will strike down your opponent. Ted’s tactics often frustrate his fellow agents, many of whom joined the Ministry looking for a fight. There are some at the office who believe Ted lacks the nerve to get the job done, which is nonsense. Ted doesn’t fire his weapon at every wix that moves, but that’s not to say he doesn’t achieve the same results.

HISTORY: Ted was eight years old the first time he was caught using magic. He doesn’t remember most of the details, only the look on his parents’ faces. One minute he was carrying an over-filled bowl of cereal into the living room. He tripped, and the next minute he was faced with his parent’s wide eyes. His mother looked at him with the same fear she showed when they passed the homeless man down the street who constantly shouted racist slurs. She snatched the bowl from his hands, not caring that she was spilling milk and soggy cornflakes on the tiles; threw it into the bin, bowl and all. Ted never wanted his mother, or any of his family, to look at him like that again. When the school was destroyed, Ted was relieved. It meant no more wix coming to the door under the guise of kindness, trying to take him away. They were exposed for what they were; magic-users, depraved and dangerous. He was proud of his parents. They had helped achieve this. The wix were weakened during the year of 1965 and it was largely thanks to the information his parents had learned from the wix delivering Ted’s acceptance letter, the information they passed to the Ministry. Ted didn’t want to be wix; his parents had set him free from that fate. His body accepted this lie less willingly than his mind. Ted had to learn to control his magic, but he refused to use it; he didn’t want to control it by understanding it. He wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, he tied a tourniquet around it in his mind, denied what he was over and over again, hoping to sever any curiosity about what he could do. It didn’t turn out how he intended. Ted’s magic didn’t make itself known often, only when he was angry or afraid. Ted stopped exposing himself to risk and danger. If his friends suggested something reckless, stupid, exhilarating, Ted sat it out. Ted learned the art of acceptance. It’s difficult to wound Ted with words. Most jibes and taunts slide off him. He doesn’t waste time on things that don’t matter. Everything depends on Ted being mellow, on being the steady rhythm of the tide. It’s the only way Ted has survived all these years as a wix undetected. Ted made one exception; his long-held ambition to become a Witch Hunter would require him to take on more dangerous and stressful tasks than ever before. Ted began Witch Hunter training at 18, however shortly before completing his first year, he broke the shinbone of his left leg on a field mission. He was forced to suspend training for the five months it took to for his leg to heal. During that time, he facilitated the Ministry for Magical Investigation in a non-physical capacity. It has been six months since he re-entered training. Since then, he has passed his physical examination. It is his ambition that shortly after he turns 20, he will graduate from training with this year’s cohort of agents.

GOALS: For most of Ted’s teenage years, his main ambition has been to be accepted into Witch Hunter training at the Ministry for Magical Investigation. When he was eleven years old, his attitudes towards wix were motivated purely by fear. He didn’t want to be different to his family. He didn’t want to be one of them. He saw how they were treated, heard the ill words spoken against them; that was all the information he needed to know he didn’t want to be one of them - wouldn’t be one of them. Over the years, the visceral disgust turned into a blind prejudice which went unchallenged. William and Cheryl talked openly about their disgust of those wix who broke the law by using magic and Ted soaked in every word. He aspired to become a Witch Hunter, not merely to please his parents but to sever that part of him that was wrong once and for all. Since entering training however, Ted’s wants have changed. They are beginning to align with his needs; Ted needs to ask who is really the agitator in the situation, the wix, chased into a corner, robbed of their free will, or the Witch Hunters. Ted wants things he can never have. He wants his family to love him unconditionally, but he’s beginning to realise they never have and never will. Their love is conditional upon him repressing his magic. They don’t see what it’s costing their son. He is increasingly unhappy, and the more unhappy he becomes the more difficult it is for Ted to control the magic. It’s in his biology, his magic was meant to be used, he can feel it. Ted cannot accept what he is until his parents do which will never happen. That’s what he tells himself. He clings to the hope that something will change, that they will love him whatever he does, but he knows it isn’t true. They have poured the last decade into their work; to show any sympathy for the wix, to admit what he is, would be a betrayal, pure and simple. If asked today why he is a Witch Hunter, Ted would tell you it is because he wants to build a safer country, where people don’t have to fear for their lives. He wouldn’t mention that he wants people to live without shame. That’s something most at the Ministry don’t understand, and certainly haven’t experienced for themselves. They don’t understand that everything changed for Ted’s parents when they joined the Ministry. Racism began to take a new form; being wix was so much worse than being black or mixed race, worse tan interacial marriage. Ted’s parents created a world in which Ted didn’t have to live with the hate directed at his skin, but deny it all they like, it doesn’t change anything - Ted is wixen. Hate is a mere breath away. One mistake. That’s all it would take to bring his world crashing down.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW AND WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

PLANS: For the most part, Ted survives by avoiding risky situations. This is impossible to do as a Witch Hunter in training, and yet it’s his chosen profession. He has worked hard to get where he is today and he’s not going to throw it away because of a little risk. I would like to see his magic come out in little ways on the field; the forest catching fire unexpectedly, cornering a wix and nearly enabling Ted to capture them; a spell blocked by a crate in a London backalley, saving Ted from the magic directed at him. I plan for Ted to realise there are benefits of magic - both practical as well as psychological; denying he is a wix isn’t healthy for Ted, and it certainly doesn’t make for a happy life. In canon, I have always imagined Ted as someone torn between two worlds. Ted is part of a community to which his parents and any siblings didn’t belong; as a consequence, I think his relationship with them suffered to some degree. Half the words he used were jibberish to them and no matter how much he explained them, they simply weren’t a part of his parents’ vocabulary. This game offers a similar outlook of Ted’s life, except instead of learning about magic to help their son, Ted’s family learn what they can with the aim of destroying it. I would love to see Ted’s relationship with his family crumble, and what family he will form elsewhere. I would like to see Ted use his position as Witch Hunter to make the world a better place for wix. He has access to files and artifacts, information on future attacks and protocols - by putting this information in the right hands he could strengthen the resistance considerably. This would take place further down the line, as a stepping stone to outright betrayal of the Ministry, accepting himself as a wix and allying himself with the resistance. His parents’ involvement in the destruction of Hogwarts might not be common knowledge, but Ted knows they played their part. He used to be grateful that the school was destroyed, saving him from making a decision or wondering what could have been. He thought it was easier that way, not having an alternative. But the more he learns about the wix, the greater his doubt becomes. With no one to teach them to control their magic, what hope is there for these kids? Ted might not be any better at controlling it than they are. Just luckier, he supposes; the Ministry isn’t watching his every move like they are known wix, or waiting with baited breath for any signs of anything out of the ordinary. As Ted learns how to control his magic, possibly alone but preferably with the help of a more experienced wix, he will want to help those that have been wronged. Ted lacks the knowledge and skill to be a teacher himself, but what he can do - again, further down the line, once he has gone too deeply into the world of magic to continue as a witch hunter - is organise lessons for wix children (and adults like himself).

INTEREST: I was drawn to the game for its exceptional worldbuilding and unique premise. As much as I love Harry Potter, AUs are always more satisfying, giving roleplayers the freedom to explore aspects of the character they don’t necessarily get the opportunity to explore in canon games. In canon games, Ted is firmly played on the defense - he must learn to navigate a world in which he is persecuted. This game offers the opposite, with a twist. Ted is still a wizard, but he has lived a different pathway, firmly fixed in the muggle world. I would love to see him switch sides and lead an attack against the people he has grown up with and loved for all the years of his life; a traitor to his roots.

#marauders rp #marauders roleplay #hp roleplay #harry potter rp #ted tonks rp #application #accepted #ted app

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understandishable · 4 years ago

Text

The Rabbit Died (in a less detailed way)

(An ERF commenter mentioned they would like to continue reading the series but they were not sure about reading something with an animal death warning. So I figured I would make a version of the chapter with that passage summarized without the details. The non-redacted chapter is here.)

Goin’ on a Holiday, chapter 6: The Rabbit Died

So much for Grace letting Steve know everything that was going on. He fought his way up from drugged sleep, through a feeling like muddy water. He didn’t open his eyes. He was lying down—well, he thought he was, from his sense of his head and shoulders. He couldn’t feel the rest of his body, of course, but it felt like he was on a hard surface.

There was no point in letting her know he was awake. Bucky had mentioned that Steve healed twice as fast as him—Steve didn’t know how he knew that, but Bucky was always thinking about things. With any luck—not that he had a lot of luck, but hey, it could happen—Grace’s calculations for drugging him would be based on how much she needed to knock out Bucky.

It made him a little sick to think of it. It didn’t matter, it was over, and Bucky would have scowled at him for being upset, especially when Steve’s own life was on the line. But it was hard to know that everything she did to him she’d done to Bucky first, and probably worse.

But he hoped that he’d find some advantage in the space between what each of their bodies could handle. So he pretended to be unconscious and listened to Grace move around the room, followed by the scraping of the arms and the banging of several heavy things being lugged across the floor. Grace was humming.

After what seemed like a long time Grace said, “I know you’re awake, Captain,” and after what seemed like a long time again, Steve opened his eyes. He was indeed lying on a table, and on tables around him were several large metal boxes. Inside them were a lot of wires, but also what looked like flesh and blood.

“Captain, meet your recipients,” Grace said. “They’ll keep your body parts working until I find the best machine or person for them to go to. I’m thinking of giving myself your liver—mine’s about to give out on me, I think. Too much fun when I was your age. And I know a great agent who could use your heart.” She tapped his chest, which was when he noticed he was nearly naked.

“Polite of you to leave my shorts on,” he said.

“Oh, that’s a new pair,” said Grace. “I washed you up. Well, my arms did. But there’s no reason to make things undignified, since I don’t need your genitals for anything.”

“What, nobody wants that transplant?”

“That would just be for novelty,” Grace said; “there’s no real use for it. What am I supposed to do, attach it to one of the spider-bots as a joke? And there’s no point harvesting your sperm, since there’s nothing special in your genes. They’re awful, in fact.”

“Don’t I know it,” Steve said.

“Well, your body’s perfect,” Grace said. Steve lifted his head and tried to watch her as she moved around, looking through the different boxes. She cocked her head to the side and one box, pulled by the arms, made its way to the table closest to Steve. It wasn’t as big as the other boxes. “It’s convenient, not having to test the function of anything, since I know every part of you is the gold standard,” Grace continued. “It’s great. Even though I can’t believe you gave up your life for the equivalent of a Furby.”

“What’s a Furby?” Steve asked. Sometimes it seemed like modern people would stop at nothing to explain pop culture references to him.

“Oh,” Grace said, “it was this toy for kids, in the nineties? My son had about four. They had these cute faces and they would make sounds and say ‘I love you’ and stuff like that.”

The arms were moving around Steve’s torso, pulling some kind of long instrument across his skin, but he didn’t feel it and could barely see it given the angle. Grace stood where Steve could see her, but she was watching the arms.

“I’d be up trying to get a glass of water and the damn things would start talking at me because they have motion sensors. Always startled the crap of me—just like the Winter Soldier coming out of cryo.”

Steve glanced down at his body—the arms had moved down to his legs and were sweeping back and forth across the surface. “Excuse me?” he said. “So that’s—those fur things? That’s what you’re comparing Bucky to?”

“Bucky,” Grace repeated, shaking her head. “Sounds like a name you’d give a guinea pig. Well, I don’t blame you for being taken in. Even agents I never really blamed—they’re not scientists, and he’s such a chatterbox if you don’t take steps to curb it. It’s disorienting. But it did annoy me when the techs would complain about it. They should have known better. Well, I set them straight.” She jerked her chin in the direction of Steve’s head, and the arms started climbing back up his body. They stopped on his chest, just laying themselves across it.

Well, wait. There was only one arm on his chest. Steve hoped it was the right one. “What did you tell them when they complained?” he asked.

“I’d just use lab animals to show them,” Grace said. She leaned back against the table behind her, bracing herself with her arms, looking down at him. “This one tech—forget his name—just too inexperienced, I think, we shouldn’t have put him on the job. His brother was in a motorcycle accident, and he was telling me about it while we were operating on the Soldier. Several months later, we’re unthawing him, and it happens that this kid is the one to sit the Soldier in the chair. The Soldier looks up, fixes his eyes on the tech—”

“—and asked how his brother was.”

“And that’s something that the most basic AI can remember to ask you!” she exclaimed. “I tried to tell him, he’s not really having a conversation with you, any more than you can have a conversation with a Magic 8-Ball. But he’d just snapped. He clearly thought the thing was a friend of his, just like—well, just like you do. So I had to bring in one of the lab rabbits.”

“I’m not following,” Steve said.

“Bear in mind, I wouldn’t normally kill an animal for no reason, but sometimes people just didn’t get it. ‘Oh, he’s so friendly! He understands everything I’m saying!’ So I’d [make him kill a rabbit in front of them].”

Steve realized that this had the rhythm of a story she’d told many times. Grace had fine-tuned the dialogue over many tellings, and she was happily coming up to the punchline.

“[And then, he wouldn’t show much emotion about it and everyone was creeped out.]” Grace looked expectantly at Steve.

“That’s your story?” he said. She looked confused. Jesus. “Okay, you must have had underlings up your ass all your life, because that’s the dumbest story I’ve ever heard.”

Grace looked so surprised at this that Steve couldn’t help laughing. He tried to get ahold of himself—his shoulders were shaking as much as they could, and he didn’t want to throw the arm off if it was Bucky.

“Okay, seriously,” he said. “You could make him kill an animal when you all had enough control over him to make him kill people! That’s supposed to impress me? How could that impress anyone?”

“A normal human couldn’t do that,” Grace said.

“Uh, you did,” Steve said. “You made him do it!”

He lay there laughing. It wasn’t like he thought Grace was going to drop a bombshell that would convince him Bucky wasn’t really a person—after all, Bucky had been trying and failing at the very same game for months—but she could have committed a little more.

Grace actually looked a little pissed off that Steve wasn’t appreciating her story. But she didn’t argue with him anymore. She leaned over him and took something out of her pocket—a felt-tip marker. She uncapped it and started drawing something on Steve’s jaw with her human hand. She moved her head and the arm on Steve’s chest scuttled to attention. But she turned and squinted at it, so Steve jerked his head up quickly and bit her hand.

He didn’t have especially sharp teeth, but he’d learned at a young age that most people don’t expect to be bitten. Grace yelled and jerked her hand away and the next thing Steve knew, the arm that had been on his chest was wrapped around her neck and squeezing tight.

Grace staggered, trying to pull it off her neck; she moved out of Steve’s sightline, but he heard her gasping. He saw an arm on his thigh twitch and reach up helplessly; blood sprayed on the side of his neck, and there was a thud as Grace’s body hit the ground. There was a brief silence.

“There we go,” Bucky said. “Here, Sam—talk into my elbow, like so—”

Sam’s voice came out of the arm. “Hey there, Steve. How’re you doing?”

“Great,” Steve said.

“What?” There was a pause. “Bucky said you were paralyzed.”

“Well, obviously, I’m paralyzed,” Steve said. “I thought you meant compared to being dead.”

There was another pause, during which he was pretty sure he heard them laughing at him. “Well, you keep not being dead,” Sam said, “Bucky’s gonna keep you company while I get in the building, and I should be there in a few minutes. You’re lucky I still do weight training.”

on to chapter 7

#eat rotten fruit

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