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cuttoothed · 3 years

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Fic for day 3 of @jonmartinweek for the prompt "Healing & Recovery". We've all been saying jmart need a lot of therapy after the finale, so...yeah.

Disclaimer: I have never been to couple's therapy. I have done some reading on it, but this is not intended in any way to accurately reflect real world therapy practices. Please just assume that anything "off" is due to the way couple's therapy is practiced in AU-land (though of course feel free to let me know if you spot anything egregious).

“Why don’t you start,” Judith suggests, “By telling me about the incident?”

The two men on the sofa give her identical startled looks, as if she’s uncovered something incriminating. Martin seems to regain his composure first; he clears his throat, and his hand moves to cover Jon’s, unconsciously protective.

“Sorry, wh-what do you mean by “incident”?”

“For most couples who come to see me, there’s an...inciting incident,” Judith explains. “Something that makes them realize they could use some professional support to work through things. Of course any couple can benefit from seeing a therapist together on occasion, to deal with small issues before they become big ones. But, well, it’s the same way that everyone knows they should go for regular check ups with their GP rather than waiting until they actually get sick—it’s just not something most people get around to until they need it.”

She pauses to give them time to consider that, and after a moment Jon nods, looking mildly embarrassed.

“Right,” he says. “That’s, ah, I think that’s fair.”

“There are pretty strong extenuating circumstances, though,” Martin huffs defensively. “We didn’t exactly have the option for therapy in the a—wh-where we lived before.”

“It’s not intended as a criticism,” Judith tells him. “You’ve chosen to talk to a therapist, and that’s a big step—one that many people never take. You’re ahead of the curve, Martin.”

Martin looks mollified at that; he’s clearly a bit touchy about perceived criticisms of their relationship, and Judith doesn’t want to get him on the defensive. She gives them both an encouraging smile.

“So,” she says. “Is there an incident you’d like to talk about?”

The two of them look at each other expectantly, as if each is waiting for the other to start. After several long moments of silence, Jon raises his eyebrows meaningfully, and Martin sighs.

“Fine,” he says. “So, we, uh, we recently realized that our...garden was a-a bit of a mess. So we—Jon and I—we get together with our...housemates, to figure out what kind of flowers we should plant. Fuschias or—or hydrangeas. ”

He pauses to glance nervously at Jon, who gives him a reassuring nod, squeezing his hand.

Right, Judith thinks, This is probably not about flowers.

“We agree we all want fuschias,” Martin continues, “Except Jon—he wanted hydrangeas. But we took a vote, and it was fuschias.”

“Except of course most of our—our housemates weren’t there for that meeting,” Jon interjects, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yes, but we agreed we couldn’t wait to ask every single person,” Martin says sharply, back on the defensive. Jon’s brow furrows and his mouth opens as if to say something, but he changes his mind and shuts it again. Conflict aversion is one of the most common dysfunctions Judith sees in the couples she treats; very few people want to disagree with the person they love, and even fewer know how to have a constructive conflict. She makes a mental note of it for later.

“Go ahead, Martin,’ she suggests gently. Martin looks unhappy, but continues.

“So we agree to plant the fuschias the next day, but Jon—Jon sneaks out in the middle of the night and starts, uh, planting hydrangeas. Without telling anyone.”

Without telling me, Judith hears in his hurt tone. Jon’s arms are still folded, and he’s almost squirming in his seat with the effort to not interject; Judith decides it’s a good time to invite him into the story.

“Jon, why did you feel so strongly about the hydrangeas?”

“It’s—it wasn’t that I wanted hydrangeas, I just couldn’t a-accept the idea of—of fuchsias.”

“Couldn’t allow it, you mean,” Martin grumbles. Judith lets it pass and continues to focus on Jon.

“Why is that?”

“They, uh, they spread…” Jon waves his hands vaguely. “Their—their...roots? They would get into the, uh, the neighbors’ gardens, completely take over, destroy everything.”

“Potentially,” Martin insists. “There was no guarantee—”

“There was no reason they wouldn’t,” Jon snaps.

By now Judith is not only sure that this has nothing to do with gardening, but suspects that neither of these men has ever seen a fuchsia in their lives. It’s fine, though. This is far from the first time a client has invented a story out of whole cloth so they can work through something uncomfortable without actually describing it. And this is their first session; Judith hopes in the future they’ll trust her enough to give her the real story.

“Remember,” she tells them. “We’re not here to decide that someone was objectively right or wrong, we’re here to help you understand each other and improve your communication skills.”

“Right,” Martin mutters, unconvinced. Jon’s expression is distressed, but he continues.

“There was no other choice,” he says wearily. “The only other option was—was azaleas, and I know you didn’t want that, Martin.”

“Absolutely not.” Martin sounds horrified. “But hydrangeas, Jon? Do you really think that was a better option?”

“You have to see the difference.” Jon’s tone goes stiff and incredulous, as if he’s winding up for a lecture, and Judith decides to cut that off before it starts.

“So what I’m hearing,” she says, “Is that you both had very strong, conflicting opinions on this topic. And that’s okay—it’s okay for you to disagree, even on something important. You’re not always going to agree on what the right thing to do is. Often there is no single “right thing,” so it comes down to how the different choices make us feel.”

“That doesn’t seem like a good way to make a decision that affects the wh—a lot of people.” Jon clearly considers that his opinion on not-flowers was the objectively correct one. Judith smiles.

“People aren’t computers, Jon. Even the most logical minded person in the world is influenced by their feelings—about important issues, about other people. You’d be surprised at how much of our decision making is rooted in emotion; either how we anticipate the outcome of our decision will make us feel, or how we are feeling in the immediate moment of the choice.”

A spasm of something that might be grief or pain flashes across Jon’s face, and he leans unconsciously in Martin’s direction. Martin’s arm instantly goes around him, offering comfort without thought. It’s clear that these two love each other deeply, unquestioningly—and that’s also part of the problem. When someone you love thinks that you’re wrong about something that’s important to you, it can feel like a rejection of your entire self.

“I’d like to pause this discussion for now, and try a little exercise,” she says. Jon nods, sitting back up and disengaging from Martin’s embrace; Martin looks attentively at her, though his expression is unsure.

“One of the biggest challenges we face with people we love is recognizing that they are separate from us. I know—” she says, raising her hands to stop the objections she can already see forming on their lips. “Of course you know that you’re separate people. We all know that, rationally. But emotionally, it’s natural to see the people you’re close to as extensions of yourself—it’s an evolutionary impulse to aid group bonding. It happens with friends and family, and it’s an even stronger impulse between partners.

“We have to do a lot of work to truly internalize the idea that the people we love have their own inner emotional lives that drive their opinions and decisions. But once you are able to fully grasp that truth, it makes disagreeing with the person you love feel less emotionally fraught; it’s a powerful tool for navigating conflict constructively.”

Jon is frowning, but it’s in consideration rather than disapproval. Martin still looks skeptical, his body language defensive, though he doesn’t say anything. That’s probably the best she’s going to get for now, Judith thinks.

“So,” she says. “The exercise is this: I’d like each of you to take a few moments to think, and then tell the other person something about yourself. Not a fact, but something that you feel. And I would like you to listen without interrupting when your partner tells you their feeling. Can you each do that?”

“I, ah—” Jon’s frown deepens. “That’s...rather difficult to do on demand.”

“I know,” says Judith with sympathy. “That’s why I’m here, to support you both in doing the difficult things. If it was easy, you wouldn’t need a therapist to facilitate.”

“Right,” says Jon. “Okay.”

“Martin?”

“Fine,” he says, but his tone is reluctant. Judith gets it; vulnerability is hard enough in front of someone you love, never mind with a stranger in the room. It’s easier to pretend that it’s pointless, that you’re not really putting yourself out there to be hurt. She has the feeling that Martin is someone who would rather avoid being hurt, even if it means closing himself off.

“All right,” she says. “When you’re ready, Jon, would you mind going first? No rush, take all the time you need.” Hopefully, seeing Jon take the first step might help Martin get over some of his defensiveness.

“Oh,” he says, and for a few moments his expression devolves into one of intense concentration. Then he nods, turning towards Martin.

“Start with “I feel”,” Judith suggests.

“All right,” he says, breathless with nerves. “I, uh, I feel...responsible. For—well, for everything, basically. And for everyone. Bad things have happened to people, and it’s my fault, because I should have done something. Everything that happened, back there, it was all because of me.”

“It wasn’t you, Jon!” Martin protests. “Annabelle told us—”

Judith is about to remind him that he’s supposed to just be listening, but he cuts himself off first. Jon laughs, an ugly sound that’s more like a sob.

“And how is that supposed to help? Knowing that the—that they were using me my whole life, how does that absolve me of any responsibility for what I did? For the fact that I failed to do anything to stop them? I couldn’t even go through with the one thing that could have actually meant something, because—”

He clamps his mouth shut, his jaw locked tight; Martin looks down at his hands, his expression distraught.

“Because of me.”

“Martin—” Jon’s tone is wounded, and he reaches for Martin’s hand. Judith sees reflections of a shared pain in both their faces, though she doesn’t understand why; this would be a lot easier if they’d just tell her the truth.

But you didn’t get into this profession because it was easy, did you?

“Thank you for sharing that, Jon. I think there’s a lot more for us to explore there, but let’s give you a break and give Martin a chance to share, okay?”

Jon nods, clutching Martin’s hand in his. Martin gives a long, slow exhale.

“Righto,” he says with false, brittle cheer. “”I feel,” wasn’t it? Right. Jon, when you do something stupidly self-sacrificing for other people, I feel like everyone else is more important than me.”

Jon flinches.

“Martin,” Judith says, keeping her tone level. “Let’s keep the focus on what you feel, not on what causes you to feel that way, okay?”

“Right,” Martin mutters, and glances at Jon. “Okay. In that case, I feel...like I’m not important. Like the only thing I can really do is—is take care of you. And if I can’t even do that, then what bloody use am I? That’s it, I suppose.”

“Martin…” Jon says again, softly. His eyes are wet, and he’s clinging to Martin’s hand like a drowning man to a plank. Martin swallows hard and shakes his head, but he makes no move to extract his hand from Jon’s grip.

“Thank you, Martin,” Judith tells him. “I know that wasn’t easy to share, for either of you. But this is the kind of honesty that we need, in order to build strong communication. Let’s all take five minutes—if either of you want to take a bathroom break, or get some water—and then we can talk about where to go from here. All right?”

Martin disappears to the loo, while Jon wanders around the office, looking with polite interest at the shelves of books and ornaments. Judith writes a few notes for herself, to follow up in future sessions. She hopes there’ll be future sessions. Both of these men seem deeply hurt, traumatized by events that they’re just barely alluding to, and have clearly been struggling through as best they can with less than ideal coping mechanisms, trying—and likely failing—not to hurt each other in the process. They both need individual counselling as much as couples’ therapy—maybe more. She’s certainly going to recommend it..

They clearly love each other, though. And they want to make it work. If they’re willing to put the effort in, they have better than even odds in their favor.

Martin’s eyes are red-rimmed when he returns; he sits on the sofa as near as he can to Jon, who presses their shoulders together. Judith can’t help smiling at the sight.

“How long have the two of you been together?” she asks. She always asks new clients at the end of the first session, rather than at the beginning; that way she can get a feel for the relationship without preconceptions based on longevity. The two of them look at each other properly, for the first time since Martin came back in, and matching, sheepish smiles break out on both their faces after a moment.

“So it was three weeks in Scotland,” Martin begins, ticking it off on his fingers. “And then—how long?”

“Uhh, it’s...let’s say half a year, give or take?” Jon makes a face that says he’s really not all that sure.

“Right, and then we’ve been here nearly six months. So...about a year, all in all?”

“But we knew each other for over three years before that,” Jon insists earnestly.

“It sounds as if the two of you have been through a lot,” says Judith. “And not all of it gardening related?”

“No,” Jon says with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Mostly not.”

“We barely scratched the surface today—and that’s normal. Relationships are complicated, and it takes a lot of time and hard work to build understanding and communication. But I promise you, it is worth all the effort. You both made a really strong start today—it takes courage to be that honest, even with your partner.”

The two of them give each other a long look, and the smile they trade is tentative, but genuine. They haven’t solved anything today, have only just begun to reveal their hurt and their insecurities; they have a long journey ahead to get to a truly honest, healthy place both for themselves and their relationship. Judith has a feeling they’ll persevere, though—that losing each other simply isn’t an option.

“So,” she says, “Should we make this a recurring appointment?”

Jon glances questioningly at Martin, who bites his lip and then nods firmly, taking Jon’s hand in his.

“Yeah,” Martin says. “We’ve done much harder things. We can do this.”

“Together?” says Jon, and Martin smiles.

“No matter what.”

#the magnus archives #tma #jonmartinweek2021 #my fic #jonmartin

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beanieman · 2 years

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Something I love about YTTD that’s not brought up often is how the characters aren’t expected to forgive the people that hurt them.

The first example that came to my mind is on the emotion route. When Shin dies in the emotion route, Sara doesn’t spend his last moments giving him forgiveness, instead she tells him point blank that she hates him for everything he’s done.

This is not unwarranted. Shin has attempted to kill her during the first main game and with the sacrifice card at this point. Sara has every reason in the world to hate him, and instead of forcing forgiveness Nankidai allows her to be angry without villainizing her for it. In fact Sara gets rewarded with an AI of Joe for allowing her feelings out instead of holding everything in. Sara voting with hatred has been so far framed as the correct decision.

In so many pieces of media forgiveness is framed as the best and only choice after someone has done you wrong. Your Turn To Die however never goes that route. It allows it’s characters to be angry and not forgive others without making them out to be a bad person. I really love that about the game and hope it continues that theme in the next chapter.

Here’s a few more examples of this to show that it is a recurring theme in the game. I’ll put these under a cut so this post doesn’t take up your entire dash.

- Keiji not forgiving Megumi is never framed as a bad thing. It’s the fact that he killed her is what gets treated as a bad thing. The story seems to treat it as a “His feelings were valid, but the actions he took because of them were not.”. situation.

- During the recollecting scene in the lobby, Sara is given a choice to make up with Kanna and Shin. The player can decide to forgive neither of them, forgive them both, forgive Shin but not Kanna, or forgive Kanna but not Shin. None of these scenarios are treated as the morally superior one.

- Shin not forgiving Sara after Kanna’s death has not been treated like a bad thing by the narrative. When he does petty things like not take an elevator with Sara no one jump to give him a lecture on why he’s in the wrong for not wanting to be around her.

- Shin doesn’t excuse or forgive the way Sou emotionally abused him.

- Sara can choose to not forgive Doll Reko after she breaks the bongos Alice gives her.

- After Mishima’s death, Joe is surprised Nao isn’t more angry at the group because if Sara had died in the test trial he would have been furious.

- Alice and Reko are not villainized for still holding a grudge against Sou after he tore their family apart.

#sara chidouin #Shin Tsukimi #YTTD #Your Turn To Die #keiji shinogi #kanna kizuchi #Sou Hiyori #nao egokoro #joe tazuna #alice yabusame #reko yabusame

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renardtrickster · 3 years

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Now, something I wanted to acknowledge concerning the stupid-as-shit move from Republican Texas Senators trying to eradicate Civil Rights from the history books. That being, that the Democrat Texas Senators all exeunted from the state, thus basically putting a lock on the bill’s passing. Specifically, people call attention to the fact that Republicans in Oregon apparently pulled a similar stunt and were called traitors by many people online, that this is the Democrat Senators basically choosing not to do their jobs, and that this is an overturning of democracy. I wanted to say a few things on this matter.

First, I don't know the circumstances behind the Oregon Republicans apparently doing the same. As such, I officially don't give a shit. I will as a matter of principle say, most likely cringe. However, also according to my principles, I think that the Texas Democrats are pretty Based, at least in this circumstance.

The reason why they all fucked off from Texas was to prevent this bill from even being voted on, thus shooting it dead in the water. And I've made my opinions on this bill, as well as my prediction on the ramifications of it, known. But not all of them because I think this is part of a wider plan to basically instill outright white supremacy in American society by way doing nothing to approach or even address systemic racism, then eradicating the very concept of racial inequality while spreading the myth of meritocracy, thus leading people to come to the only possible solution they can come to given their (purposefully engineering) limited understanding of the situation, “maybe black people are just kind of dumb and their being disproportionately represented in prisons and poor neighborhoods is their own fault I guess”. But we don't have time for that.

Now, you can make a point that their job is to vote on bills, and that by doing this stunt, they should lose their jobs. Or that this might be illegal. I will instead say that legality, the rules, whatever, and morality are not one and the same. By merely allowing this bill to enter play, you allow the possibility for this bill to pass. Thus, preventing the bill from entering play is a moral choice. The correct moral choice. Because “we should remove the entire history of civil rights and slavery from textbooks” is an insane position to take, and any institution worthy of respect wouldn’t even entertain the idea. Letting it be entertained is risky because it opens up the potential for it being passed, and if letting it be entertained leads to it passing, then you were responsible for that. Responsibility and consequence are tricky like that.

Now, on democracy. I believe in the saying that democracy is, hands-down, the worst system, except for all the others that have been tried. In other words, it is good and based. And what the Texas Democrats are doing is basically not letting this bill be democratically decided upon. And if I were a believer in democracy, I would say that allowing civil rights to be obliterated from existence in a democratic manner is all fair and good.

However, as I said before, morality and legality. I believe that breaking the rules if the rules dictate you take immoral actions is an action that should be taken, if the need arises. The obvious counter-argument is that "well republicans can just do the same and they would also be breaking the rules for their morals", to which I say, you're a fucking idiot. Riddle me this Batman. One priest lives in a state where gay marriage is illegal. He marries a gay couple anyway. Another priest lives in a state where gay marriage is legal. He refuses to marry a gay couple anyway. Both broke the rules, and both did it out of the belief that this was the morally correct action. But are they of the same moral weight? Is one good and one bad? Or is this all equal and everything is the same?

Now, this is a subjective question. I acknowledge that. But this was a dual-ended question. I was not only asking you which you think was moral or immoral, but I was also testing to see if you were capable of recognizing that this is subjective. As far as answers go, "this is subjective but the first one is morally in the right" is the best possible one. And I think that issue is basically central to "were the Texas Democrats in the right".

Because one perspective, the virgin perspective, is that the Republicans were following the rules and the annals of democracy, the Democrats weren't following those rules, therefore the Republicans are in the right and the Democrats in the wrong. But the other perspective, the Chad perspective, is that this bill is fucking evil, the Democrats prevented this bill from even breathing, therefore the Republicans are in the wrong for trying to destroy basic awareness of civil rights and the Democrats are in the right for Not Letting That Happen. The third possible position is that the Republicans are bad for trying to destroy basic awareness of civil rights but the Democrats are also bad for not letting it be fairly tried, in which case I am stuck between saying "I disagree but I see your point" and wanting to club you with a chair’s leg. I don't know if this is Virgin but it definitely isn't Chad.

My final thought is, if you truly believe that the Democrats were in the wrong and the Republicans in the right, why. Substantiate your argument. You must acknowledge and take into account the fact that the goal of the Republicans here was to remove Civil Rights and MLK from the history textbooks, and then you have to tell me why you think that the Democrats were in the wrong for not letting this be decided upon, and/or why you think this bill is good. To leave out the nature of this bill while discussing actions taken around the bill is inherently dishonest, and is akin to saying “they removed this man’s post just because he spoke his mind” when the post was actually just holocaust denialism.

#oh no renardie is posting #infoxicated #long post

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teachingtales · 3 years

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I’ve had to answer this a couple times already so I want to share it with you to help make some sense of the Capitol Hill Attack. In bold are the questions/comments from someone else and then my response follows.

I don't know what these people expected by doing this. We must first remember that these are not the "average person". These are people who firmly believe in an underlying persecution. I grew up in such a cult, where we were taught that everyone is persecuting us, secretly or overtly. To account for the fact that we were part of a religious majority in the US, we were taught that the "other Christians" were not "true" Christians. They were liars who pretended to believe in God hoping for eternal life, but would vote for "worldly and Satanic" ideas like gay marriage or abortion.

These people genuinely believe that the entire political system of the United States is a Satanic cult that sacrifices children. They are told not to donate blood because the Satanic Leaders (politicians and celebrities) steal this blood in order to use it for youth (by putting it on their skin or ingesting it or both). In some cases, young Christian children are stolen and drained of blood for this purpose. They believe that Trump, and only Trump, was fighting a secret battle against the Powers That Be. They believed that Trump's lack of presidential activity/effects was due to him being far too busy fighting the secret Satanists. In other words, the fact he was ineffective (in public) meant he was effective (in private).

So, to your question: what did they expect by doing this? Any or all of the following:

die a glorious death for the man hand-selected by Jesus, thus gaining access to Heaven

they believed they would find the "hidden votes", exposing the Satanic Politicians and showing the world they were really right this whole time

force another recount, which would finally prove that Trump actually won

The election was fair, there's no damning evidence of election fraud and Trump's legal bullshit is baseless and a desperate attempt to cheat the system.

True. But these are not reasonable people we are dealing with. In their minds, the lack of evidence is the evidence, that cheating the system was done so well that they made sure to really cover their tracks. Oddly, they also believe that it was done so sloppily that they do have evidence in the form of a video that Trump referenced multiple times in his Georgia Phone Call. It doesn't matter that the actual, unedited footage wholly disagrees with Trump's accusations; remember, he was hand-selected by Jesus, and the people in possession of the unedited footage are hand-selected by Satan. This, then, means Trump's video and Trump's claims are automatically correct, while anyone else is a liar and holds forgeries. After all, Lucifer is "the Father of Lies", so his agents (politicians) surely can lie effectively.

Again, we are left with this problem: the lack of evidence is the evidence.

Storming the Capitol was a shitty idea, what was going to change? People are dead because of this "overthrow". The government wasn't going to be affected by this.

In addition to what I mentioned earlier, they have a very small view of the world. These are people who typically believe the Earth is only 6000 years old and evolution cannot happen because they cannot fathom the long periods of time it takes. These are people who believe that those of us outside of the US are all collectively lying about the SARS-CoV-2 virus so we can hurt President Trump's reputation. They cannot understand scale. They are the people who watch movies like “Independence Day”, where a single person who has no knowledge of alien computers can take down the entire fleet. They don't understand how complex things really are. Thus, they genuinely think a "last stand" type of attack on a building will bring on the glorious end to this troubled tale.

Trump repeatedly bashed people who protested for BLM and said it was violent, unnecessary, etc. But when people riot and kill in his name he's just like "well they didn't do anything wrong".

This is unfortunately an easy one to answer: if they're against me, they are wrong...but if they are for me, they are right.

This is a classic "in-group/out-group" type of thinking. In-Group: the group you belong to Out-Group: the group you do not belong to (often with directly opposing views) In this type of thinking, you stereotype the Out-Group by their worst actors but your worst actors in your In-Group are different. We can see this in the media in the form of the following examples:

Example A: foreigners who attack something on national soil are "terrorists", but domestic attackers are "troubled individuals"

Example B: if the majority is white, a 17 year-old black male who shoots some people is written about in the news as a "violent man" or "man opened fire on innocent victims". If the shooter is a 17 year-old white male, the news is characterizes him as a "troubled teen" or "boy open fires at school, family wonders where they went wrong"

Example C: if the minority religion has a passage in their holy book that says "Women are less than men", it's because that religion is clearly false and laughably erroneous; if the majority religion has a passage in their holy book that says "Women are less than men", it's not sexist and just needs to be understood in cultural context

The subconscious reasoning for this type of thinking is very tribal but also ego-preserving...that we each believe we are always making the most correct and most reasonable/logical choices, so if someone makes a different choice, that person and choice are unreasonable and illogical.

None of this excuses the behavior, but I hope it helps shed some light on this type of extreme thought process.

#capitol hill #teacher #teaching #student #students #history #capitol hill attack #trump #insurrection #terrorism #terrorist #impeachtheloser #impeach the president #impeach45 #government

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seraphsurvival · 3 years

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episode 1: 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜

with their first official challenge on 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇 complete the angels group up to compete in 2 groups. after hours of practice and fighting for the spotlight will their groups be enough to impress the judges? will they soar high or fall from grace ?

* note that indented + italic text like this means it is confessional footage *

Team One :

MIMI ( @inter-stellar-jyp )

HAEJU ( @hcney-moon )

SUMMER ( @se4sonz )

JAY ( @dulcetgg )

EDEN ( @inter-stellar-jyp )

AME ( @triptychexe )

Everybody wants to rule the world! When it came to picking positions for this week’s competition, everyone in Team One had raised their hand to be center. Tension fell over the group. Being the center of the first round of group performances could be a game changer. On the other hand, no one wants to come off as too greedy. Team one had to decide if they wanted to fight for it or sit back and enjoy the show.

Team One chose: fight for it AND sit back and enjoy the show. through voting the two options tied.

Outcome: The girls equally fight and sit back. the members summer , jay and eden fight for center while haeju , mimi and ame decide to sit back. the team can’t pick a center, which causes a divide among the angels. but as they grow closer, they recognize each others talents. they remove the center position entirely this week and work on their team performance and cleaning it up and form a strong team bond that makes their performance stand out. 300 bonus points for true teamwork . TOTAL: 300 points.

the morning of team one’s first practice was full of excitement. the six girls walked together from the dorm building to the practice room, giggling and chatting together as if they had been a group for years and friends for even longer.

“i knew of haeju prior to being on SERAPH together.” ame shares with a smile. “our companies often work together, so we have a lot to talk about. the other girls are really sweet too.”

“the energy of our first morning was so vibrant and fun and exciting…” jay shakes her head. “i really don’t know where it went wrong.”

once the girls finished setting up, they gathered in a circle to discuss positions for the performance. they all unanimously voted haeju as the leader as well as mimi as the main vocalist. all that was left to do was select a center.

“so,” haeju snapped into her newly-appointed leadership by popping the big question. “who wants to be center?”

all six hands flew into the air. everyone’s eyes widened in shock. upon seeing the amount of hands in the air, mimi put hers down.

“i’m already lead vocalist anyways.” mimi reasoned. “i didn’t want to look ungrateful for the position i had. center position is a big deal but… i don’t know if i wanted to stir the pot right away.”

following her example, ame also returned her hand to her lap.

ame gave a shrug, licking her bottom lip. “i don’t really know why i changed my mind. i really don’t like conflict and i didn’t want to cause any trouble. i probably should have fought for center but… summer, eden and jay all looked so fiery… i couldn’t go against them.”

“okay... well… how about we run through the chorus a few times with different centers?” haeju suggested. “then we can see who we think fits it best?”

“i’ll go first.” two voices spoke at the same time. summer and eden snapped their attention towards each other, surprised that they both spoke. the tension between the two was so thick, the other team members couldn’t even muster a chuckle to dissipate the atmosphere.

“how about jay goes first.” haeju offered, breaking the silence.

all the girls repositioned to place jay in the center and run through the song multiple times trying to get used to the new formations. the rehearsal went surprisingly smoothly much to eden and summer’s dismay.

“i know i deserve center. all the practices where i was center were the cleanest by far. i’ve got it in the bag at the point.” jay bit her bottom lip to try hide the smug smile she had on her face.

the tension still hadn’t dissipated after all three girls swapped around for center. despite how perfect the choreography flowed no matter who was center their dynamic as a group had seemingly fallen apart.

“i’m really nervous about how this week is gonna go,” mimi let out a long huff. “there’s a lot of tension amongst the angels and i’m worried it’s going to jeopardize our performance.”

“i think we need to call it a night everyone. get ready to work extra hard and be ready to fight for that center tomorrow.” haeju spoke before dismissing all the girls back to their dorms. the walk back to the dorm was quiet unlike their energetic lively departure from it just that morning.

“i don’t think it’s that hard to pick a center in my opinion. some people have it, some don’t.” summer folded her arms as she spoke, her annoyance palpable. “ we should’ve sorted it out before bed but i’m not this week's leader so what do i know honestly.”

after days of practicing with a constant center change the girls had to perform in front of the judges.

“we can’t keep changing positions forever, it's unprofessional.” eden let out a long sigh. “the performance is in a day. i just want to impress the judges.”

the silence following their performance had each angel’s breath ringing in their ears. their nerves were unshakeable.

the 3 judges looked amongst each other before each breaking out into a broad smile. much to all of their surprise their rehearsal wowed the judges. each of them applauding the tightness of the choreography and overall teamwork. sunmi didn’t even try to hide her satisfaction as she brought her microphone up to her red lips, “i don’t know what i was expecting but it was not that! wow team 1 you’ve really impressed me today.”

the girls smiles grew as she spoke, each girl bowing respectfully.

the other two judges hummed in agreement with sunmi, j-hope even lifting his thumbs up with his signature smile.

“so haeju you are this weeks leader correct?” hyuna asked. haeju was visibly flustered , having a one on one conversation with someone who inspired her to be an idol is obviously nerve racking. with a shaky hand haeju received a mic.

“yes that’s me.”

“well done the girls look perfect. the choreography was clean, each angel shon and we could tell you fully grasped the concept of the song.” haeju smiled broadly, pride swelling in her chest.

“may i ask who is the center this week?” j-hope asked. “umm,”

“i was worried that if i told them that we had no center yet their view on our team would change. after all the praise we received i didn’t want to taint that image they had of us but i couldn’t lie” haeju looked down at her black tights , hands cupping her face as she took a deep breath.

“we actually don’t have one yet we’ve been trying random combinations but today we just performed without one.”

j-hopes expression was unreadable as he looked down at his notes. “i like it that way. i say get rid of the position this week and perform the way you just did. it was perfect.” his smile broadened as he spoke, “well done team 1 i’m excited to see the final performance.”

the angels all laced their hands as they bowed before exiting the stage. their excitement coming out in tiny squeals.

“getting rid of the position entirely is perfect ! i’m so glad that the judges suggested it. now we can just focus on cleaning up our performance and move past the bickering and tension.” ame clapped her hands excitedly in the booth, relieved that all the conflict could finally end. “it is definitely better for us, maybe now i’ll be able to sleep without worrying about another angel sneak attacking me.” jay joked, making both her and ame burst out laughing the aforementioned tensions were nowhere to be found.

“i cant believe the judges loved our performance i has been so stressed all week. but we don’t need a center, we're all centers,” mimi spoke in a sing-song voice making both her and eden giggle. “i still would’ve killed it as center though,” eden joked, nudging mimi’s shoulder. “of course you would’ve eden.” mimi cooed, slinging her arm around the younger girl, their smiles mirroring each other’s.

“i think this is really the best option. even though i know i deserve the position , the tension was not letting us perform to our best ability.” summer spoke, a slight sense of disappointment in her voice but it was quickly brushed away as haeju rubbed her should. “we’re going to kill it this week , i can feel it!” haeju cheered. with a soft chuckle summer nodded ,”we’re going to kill it !”

all their confessional cams linked up to show them place a fist up as they cheered in unison. “team 1 fighting!”

[ WATCH TEAM 1’S PERFORMANCE OF FAKE LOVE — HERE ]

Team Two:

BAEBI ( @whileinvenus )

CHLOE ( @chloekwon )

DAHLIA ( @d3adfl0wers )

YURI ( @cube-vivid )

JADE ( @nct-krown )

RICKY ( @unholiied )

This week, Team Two’s lead vocalist, Chloe, had woken up to a sore throat. After examination by the in-studio medic, it was confirmed that Chloe had stressed her vocal cords during rehearsals. The medic suggested that Chloe rest up her voice and take on a minor role this week. Team Two had to decide if they were going to keep their vocalist or change positions.

Team Two chose: change positions.

Outcome: This opened up the floodgates. The other angels started ruffling their feathers for a chance to get a better position. This creates some tension within the group. When a vocalist was finally picked* (*randomized), they barely had any time to learn their parts. The performance didn’t suffer, but it wasn’t anything special. No one can out do the doer. 200 for making a tough choice, plus 50 for the performance not burning up in flames.

TOTAL: 250 points each.

the girls sat in a semicircle, awkward silence falling over the group. it was time to make a decision.

“i think we should change positions this week.” chloe croaked, her throat still dry and strained.

“there’s no chance you can power through?” baebi asked as this weeks leader it was her duty to look out for the girls. chloe shook her head making baebi’s frown deepen in concern.

“i didn’t want the other girls to suffer because of my condition.” chloe explained to the camera. “plus i would rather have another shot at main vocalist when my throat is better. i don’t want to give off a bad impression.”

jade clapped her hands together. “well? who wants to take chloe’s spot?”

hands flew up in the air instantly. of course, everyone wanted an important position within the group.

“we have a lot of strong personalities in our group. everyone is very talented.” yuri shares with a shrug. “it would have been more surprising if no one raised their hand at all.”

“okay…” jade breaks the silence. she turns to chloe. “chloe, how about you decide who gets your parts?”

“oh, okay.” chloe looks a little uncomfortable as she shifts her weight from one side to the other. “um how about you each try to hit the note?”

the girls went around, each angel singing their heart out. each solo got a little bit more passionate than the next, and it was obvious how badly everyone wanted this positon. finally, it was ricky’s turn.

ricky took a deep breath before attempting the note. to everyone’s surprise, ricky’s voice unexpectedly cracked on the high note. a hushed gasp chorused over the group. they all exchanged looks within the group as they exchanged unspoken opinions. ricky’s cheeks flushed as she shook her head slightly.

“sorry! sorry!” ricky covered her mouth with one hand. “can i try again?”

“i felt very intimidated.” ricky admits to the camera. “plus i didn’t have time to warm up. i needed to prove myself. everyone on this team is a star. i wanted to shine brightly too.”

“yeah, of course.” chloe nodded. dahlia gave side eyes to jade, who returned the look. no one spoke up, however, and let ricky finish.

“well, you all did great.” chloe smoothed her palms onto her track pants. “the amount of talent in this group is really… wow.” chloe giggled at her simple description. the other girls chuckled politely, but none of them could quite shake the tension building up in the practice room.

“i’m going to have to go with…” chloe inhaled. “ricky.”

ricky beamed at chloe. yuri gave ricky a supportive shoulder squeeze.

whilst the other angels began congratulating ricky, jade and dahlia exchanged obvious looks of shock and disbelief.

“i know ricky and chloe have grown close this past week,” jade crosses her arms. “but if i was chloe, that squeak would have thrown me off completely. we can’t afford for that to happen on performance day and it’s not fair to put us all in jeopardy because they're friends now. i think chloe needs to realize that this is a competition, not a playdate with the besties.”

“i’m the lead vocalist of my own group.” dahlia reasons, her words coming out a little bitter. “i knew chloe was going to pick ricky though. they’ve been growing really close these past few days. it’s just…” dahlia inhaled through her nose, trying to compose herself for professionalism sake. “it’s just that this is a competition. i think chloe should have chosen someone a little more… suitable. even jade would have been a better pick than ricky.”

maybe if chloe had chosen a more ‘suitable’ replacement, team two’s practice would have gone a little smoother. with the change of positions and lines on top of the new and unspoken divide between the teammates, the last three days of rehearsal were tense ones. mistakes were made left and right, lines were forgotten, and toes were stepped on.

the dress rehearsal resulted in a very different performance than the group originally imagined.

“chloe and ricky have two very different stage personalities.” baebi, this week’s leader, shares. “ricky’s stage presence is really strong, but i’m not sure if it fits her role. yuri is supposed to be this week’s center, but ricky is trying to overshadow her. this isn’t a solo performance but she’s not allowing anyone else to shine.”

“so…” hyuna brought her microphone up to her lips, admitting a sigh. “i was really excited to see this group, but… i felt like i was watching three different performances in one.”

sunmi nodded in agreement. “this team is composed of really impressive members,” the idols hand swooped over the group in a generalizing gesture. “but it’s obvious to the audience that you are not on the same page.”

“is yuri the center?” j-hope asked, looking over his notes. yuri nodded. j-hope gave a thoughtful hum. “i couldn’t really tell. to me, it looked like ricky was the center.”

yuri looked a little deflated, her eyes focusing on a spot beyond the camera. “that was hard to hear. i think our dynamics really changed within the group when ricky became the main vocal. ricky is great, but as a performer she doesn’t like to share the spotlight and i think getting the main vocal really highlighted that.” yuri sighs.

“today, work on isolating your own talents.” sunmi suggested. “the final stage should be a harmonious performance showcasing all your skills.”

“honestly, we wouldn’t have this problem if ricky wasn’t our vocal.” jade frowns in the confessional. “i don’t think ricky knows how to share the stage. she’s used to being the popular one.” the singer shook her head. “she needs a reality check, if you ask me. someone more professional and a team player should be the main vocal.”

“i really hope we can pull this performance off.” ricky nods to the camera. “i’ve been working really hard to live up to the expectations of everyone. i can tell there’s tension after i was picked but i hope we can work together well on the stage tomorrow. i am just trying to show my talents off and prove why i deserve to be here. i shouldn’t have to dull myself so others can shine. if that means some of the angels don’t like me then…” she shrugged letting out a long sigh. “ i just hope they bring their all too .”

[ WATCH TEAM 2’S PERFORMANCE OF LOVE SHOT — HERE ]

#[ 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇 ] : ゝ ʚ fly me to the moon ɞ #aeskocnet #bbkoc #kpop idol oc #idol!oc #idol!au #oc survival show #kpop addition #fake kpop girl group

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atomicblasphemy · 3 years

Text

Blight Industries Board Meeting

I have some thoughts about that EE episode. Being myself I just couldn’t put them out in a sensible fashion, so I put on some crust in my headphones, amped everyone’s cynicism, and here’s the result.

O: Good evening everyone and welcome to the Blight Industries board meeting of number...

Ed and Em shoot glances at each other as confused about how they ended up there as when it happened for the first time.

Al looks longingly at his workshop door.

Amity glares.

Am: Mom, can we try to have dinner like a normal family which, according to Merriam-Webster at least, we technically are? For once at least?

O: That can wait, Mittens. Anyway, I called you all here to announce I shall be making some changes to our company. Namely, I shall change the job titles of the three of you. I’m still CEO, Alador still development, research and, well, the assembly line I suppose. As for you, Emira, Edric, you’re now in charge of security. I don’t want to hear about company secrets leaking out, okay? Mittens, you’re our new marketing department.

Am: Marketing?

Em: Seriously, mom?

Od: Dearests, this is a meeting please use our appropriate titles.

Ed: No no no no. They have a point. Okay, let me see if I understand your thought process. So, you’re the head of a company, right?

Od: I don’t like your tone, Edric. But okay, I’ll humor you. Yes I am, go on.

Ed: And said company essentially sells only guns.

Od: Mhmm, what’s your point?

Ed: And you think that the best way to convey that is by using your local annoyed teenage lesbian that half the time looks like she would be rather doing literally anything else? Is that a correct assessment, ma’am?

Od: Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea?

Em: Yeah, we do. ANYONE ELSE. We *frantically and repeatedly points her finger from herself to Edric* could do this, I mean we tried to leak our sister’s journal just a few weeks ago so we clearly know nothing about keeping secrets. You could do it. I mean, no offense, but putting up a show seems to be your only useful skill because if this your idea of how to run a company, we... aaaaand now I’m suddenly starting to realize where we get our decision making incompetence from. Anyway. This guy *points at Alador* could do it if you just made sure to remind him that that’s what’s funding his little research. Heck, you could hire Luz. She’s pretty charismatic and just took a shot at the Emperor himself. I’m sure having someone like that vouching for our products would do wonders for our business. See? That’s how you make a half-decent marketing strategy. Besides, I hear Luz could use the money and I’m sure Mittens would be happy to have her working here.

Am: Yup, normally I’d have other reasons but honestly I’d just be happy someone else is doing this particular job.

Al: *woop there goes gravity* Why? I told you this wasn’t the best idea. Besides, we agreed, twice at least, that I would take care of the abominations and you’d be in charge of everything else *leans in closer to whisper conspiratorially to Odalia* I don’t like dealing with them *points at their very loving children*.

Ed, Em, and Am: HEY!

Al: *sighs* Listen to your boss, children.

The children huddle closer, they are the conspiratorial ones now.

Am: We’re gonna end up broke and starving, aren’t we?

Em: Yeah, isn’t it weird though? I mean, you’d think they’d have found someone better to... sponsor by now. Apparently that’s not the case. Moreover, why do they, our parents I mean, keeping putting so many resources into product development then? And it’s not even like we’re branching out into new markets, making some groundbreaking products. Nope, just shinier versions of the old stuff.

Am: Hum... Can either of you teach me how to write a resume?

Ed: I... uh... was going to ask you the same thing.

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

Later.

Em: Okay, let’s recap the recent events, shall we?

Odalia and Alador were sat side by side in flimsy wooden chair at the factory’s storage area. Their children loomed over them with stern faces.

Am: First off, you decided to entirely restructure the company, you know, the one with our name in it. And you did so by making all possible wrong choices. Especially putting me as the face and head of marketing.

Ed: Then, secondly, when you realized that wasn’t working due to Mittens, justifiably I might add, wanting to do pretty much anything else with her time. So you two in a strike of parenting brilliance decide that the best way to deal with all of that was not to, oh I don’t know, hire some specialist or anything like that for the position and let her, and us, be teenagers like any normal parent would do. No, instead you think: “Hey, I’ll double down and alienate the one of my children giving me a hard time from the only people she seems to like.”

Al: In our defense...

Em: AND THEN, when one of said people decide to actually do something about, and in a very diplomatic fashion given the circumstances, mind you, you go ahead and try to commit murder in front of a large audience of potential witnesses. Granted, not a particularly morally upstanding audience given the type of products they were trying to buy, but still. Do you have any idea how many people would want a piece of you if you actually hurt the human? You have three of them standing in front of you right now.

Od: Well, Emira dearest, you can’t argue with the numbers. Tonight’s sale was an astounding success.

Am: And she still has her poise despite all the failures... Look, the three of us, we’ve been talking. We somehow are also part of the board, right? Moreover, we are, despite all evidence on the contrary, still employs of this company. So we put things through a vote.

Ed: First off, we’re unionizing. And your first demand is better working conditions...

Od: I’m not putting apple blood fountains in the factory floors. That’s off the table. I already told this Edric. The abominations take a surprising liking to the stuff.

Em: We can discuss the specifics later. We have other topics at hand.

Al: Okay, like what?

Em: You two are out. Actually just you mom. We still need dad for development of new products and stuff.

Od: WHAT? You can’t do this.

Am: Let me rephrase what Emira said: you’re not CEO anymore. She is.

Al and Od: EMIRA?

Ed: Yes, Emira. I’ll be in charge of supply and distribution as well as any other duties dad still had besides research and develop. Mom, you’re the new Mittens. I mean, marketing. You’re in charge of marketing now. Just marketing and literally nothing else. I’m sure we won’t regret giving you this much responsibility. And, by the way. One mistake and we’re hiring Luz for the job. AND we’re giving her enough shares to sit at the board.

Od: *starts chuckling while reaching for a small book in her vest* I can’t say I’m not angry at the three of you, but it is indeed nice to see you trying to take a more active role in the company. But there’s a big flaw to your little coup. You see, according to article 15 of the Blight Industries statute, Alador’s vote, as well as mine...

Al: I’m voting with them, Odalia.

Everyone else turns to look at him, wide eyed.

Al: Look, I’m not ecstatic about this or anything. But at the end of day if Edric is taking half the load off my shoulders then I’ll have the more time in my workshop. And away from them. Odalia, don’t look at me like that, I told you the other day I was wanting us to develop magic powered air fryers. Now I’ll have the time for that. We can tap onto more markets this way, more money.

Od: ... You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.

Al: *sighs* How about Mittens, what will she do now?

Am: Librarian. That’ll be my new job title.

Al: We have no use for a librarian, Amity. You know that, don’t you?

Am: I know. I’m not working here anymore. Gary had been telling me for some time about this internship opening. I start Monday. But don’t go thinking I’ll leave the board. I’m keeping my shares and besides, Ed and Em agreed to keep me as an adviser.

Od: Oh look at our daughter, Alador. Going all out on that daily grind, making the minimum wage. Are you sure you can handle it, Mittens my dear?

Am: Well, you paid me in passive aggressive comments and threats so far. I consider minimum wage a raise if anything.

Od: Whatever you say... In any case. I suppose I’ll now be some sort of glorified secretary then.

Em: What do you mean, mom?

Od: Oh, right. You weren’t there at the time. We struck a big contract, big enough so we won’t need to worry about marketing for the foreseeable future.

Em: What? HOW?

Al: That uhh... That kid, what’s his name again? The new head of the Emperor’s coven. He came in after the sales ended, said we should go around building Frankenstein mercenaries, and that the Emperor would be buying all of our Thanos thingies aaand on top of that the state would fund all our future research.

Ed and Em: Oh... Oh... Ohh Titan... Didn’t he get ahold of Eda’s portal? Mittens, we have to tell Luz.

Am: *chuckles* Yeah, good luck with that, Emperor.

Ed: I... Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be worried?

Am: Eh... I mean... First things first. Yeah, I know he’s building an army to invade the human realm and yeah, I know we’ll be supplying the weaponry and that I should probably give Luz a heads up. But, you know. That’s pretty stupid of him when you think about it.

Ed: What?

Am: I mean, think about it. He is getting a supplier that he knows, for a fact, has a positive connection to his enemies. Meaning it would be in our interest - especially mine, you know, the other Blight with Abomination know how and the one closest to the one human living in the Boiling Isles, as proven today - to put some back doors in all the tech we’ll be selling them. Moreover... Sure humans don’t have magic but they make up for it in other ways. Luz was telling me about her realm the other day and... Well... Let me put it this way: we are not humans, meaning we are not covered by the Geneva convention. Best case scenario once Bellos opens the portal we, not them, become a colony. And humans don’t make a habit of treating their colonies with any decency. So, you know... Anyway. Worst case scenario, they’ll just start pumping napalm, anthrax, mustard gas, and all sorts of fun stuff chemical and biological weapons through the portal. Meaning we’ll die. Painfully. Heck, they can even make good on their anti-nuclear proliferation treaties and just throw it all here and make it go boom. Trust me, that alone will be enough to finish sinking the Titan.

All the other four Blights look at her wide eyed.

Am: Eh... But you know, I’ll go and tell Luz and Eda. Fir witchkind’s sake or whatever. So... See you guys later.

Od: *shaking the shock away from her head* Oh... Quite a hurry to go and see Luz, aren’t we Mittens? *a sly smile forming* I’m sorry... I meant YOUR Luz.

Ed and Em: Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Damn, missed the joke.

Al just nods in agreement.

Am: What are you people talking about?

Od: Oh, it’s nothing really Mittens, my dear child. It’s just that, you seem to be rather attached to her, aren’t you? In a very weird way, but still.

Am: Weird? Weird how? You’re talking non-sense.

Ed: No, Mittens, the lady has a point. I don’t get your thought process tonight either.

Am: I have no idea what...

Ed: No, seriously. I mean, no need to beat around the bush here: you have a gargantuan crush on her. That’s plenty obvious to everyone here.

Am: *blushing* No comments.

Ed: Whatever, I’ll take that to mean you do. So, you see your crush up on the stage. She’s fighting dad’s Thanos thingy. Which, might I add, was being controlled by him. Seriously, what the hell, dude? Is this a way to meet your potential daughter-in-law? Anyway. She’s potentially in mortal danger. And your first thought is: I’m gonna woo her.

Am: That’s... not what I thought...

Em: Yeah, Mittens. Sure. That’s why the first you did was to turn around and start climbing the ladders.

Am: I... They were fighting up there, I wanted to get to close quarters.

Em: Nope. Not buying it.

Ed: We were watching it all unfold Mittens, you started climbing the ladders before, long before, they were up there.

Am: But... the crowd.

Ed: Dispersed pretty quickly, and knowing Abomination magic, as you do, you definitely knew Thanos would have that effect.

Am: I... But... I wanted to fight close quarters... and I wanted... the higher ground.

Em: So... You are up in the pipes, and by then Luz and Thanos are already back in ground level. So you position yourself in the spot with the best lighting and a means for you to quickly climb down - I swear, I’m certain I saw you double checking to make sure you were positioned just right. Then you take your sweet time pulling your hood back up. And finally, then and only then, you go to Luz’s rescue by using your magic. And you do that before you climb down, meaning your magic has enough range, as we’ve all always known, to be effective without the close quarters or the higher.

Ed: Come on, Mittens. Just admit it. You wanted to do a super-hero landing in front of your crush. Come on...

Am: I... Do you think it worked?

Everyone, expect for Amity, looks at Alador.

Al: I dunno, why are you asking me?

Ed: Because somehow out of all of us you’re the one most likely to pick up that sort of stuff.

Al: Right, and I’m also the one least likely to care.

Am: I’M YOUR DAUGHTER.

Em: *taking a deep breath* Okay, lets pause for a second here. Ed, Mittens. Pat yourselves on the back. Come on, do it. Look, I’ll do it too. *begins patting her own back in tandem with her siblings’ more tentative display*

Am: Em... Why are we doing this?

Em: For not succumbing to drugs and alcohol (shrewd ad campaigns on Twitter aside). *Edric and Amity begin patting their backs more enthusiastically, Emira turns to their parents* You know, you two. You should pat yourselves on the back as well. I mean, sure, we’ll need years of therapy to undo all the damage the emotional neglect the both of you show us has caused so far, but no one can say we don’t get plenty of variety.

Al: Are you done being passive aggressive, Emira?

Em: What can I say? I’ve learned from the best. *looks at Odalia, who just rolls her eyes*

Al: *sighing* As for your previous question. The human seemed to be blushing as well. So my best guess is that Amity’s little... spectacle... did work.

Od: See? And you dare say it was a bad idea to put her on marketing.

Am: That’s because I had a reason to care when I was doing all that.

Od: Ohh right, then what do you suggest I had done to make you care about our, emphasis on our, business.

Am, Ed and Em in unison: Pay us for our labor.

Am: I mean, seriously. You guys built a whole business model around Abominations: a.k.a. free labor. Sure you could afford to pay us, a.k.a. self aware creatures that are not (and I’ve checked this) Abominations, something.

Ed: So... again to recap the day. Mom and dad lost their company, Bellos shot himself square in the foot. Hell, even this new coven head pretty much proved his lack of intelligence gathering competence by doing business with us. Today was a failure on every front. Even Luz when you think about it.

Em: Luz?

Ed: Yeah... She trusted... her *points at Odalia*.

Em: Ohh...

Od: HEY! I’m still your mother.

Em: Nominally, maybe. Jury still out on that one. Anyway, that reminds me. I want all our financial books for the past five years i my desk, formerly yours, in two days.

Am: I think my day was pretty successful. I have reason to believe my crush likes me back and I’ll know what a healthy professional and financial life looks like for the first in these 14 groolling and long years of existence. So things are looking up for me. Anyway... Are we done here?

Am: I guess so, why?

Am: Cool. Gonna head out.

Em: Oh, going to let your Luz know of the Emperor’s plan and bask in her presence.

Am: Emira, I swear in the Titan’s name that if you ever address her like that in front of her they will never find your body. But yes, that’s the gist of it.

Em: Fine. Actually, wait up. Lilith is living there now isn’t she? I wanted to talk to her.

Am: Lilith as in Lilith Clawthorne? Eda’s sister? Former head of the Emperor’s Coven? My former mentor? That Lilith?

Em: Yup.

Am: Why, pray tell, do you want to talk to her?

Em: Wanted to hire her. We need a new accountant.

Am: And you thought of her because...?

Em: Lack of options?

Am: I... You know what, fair enough.

Ed: Hold up. I’m coming with. I don’t like being around them *points at Odalia and Alador*.

Am: Sure.

They leaving. Only Odalia and Alador are left in the room.

Al: Wow.

Od: I know.

Al: Just... wow...

Od: I know.

Al: I don’t know how to process any of this. It happened all so fast.

Od: I know.

Al: Like... no sense of pacing at all.

Od: I know, Alador. Titan do I know.

Al: Almost as if everyone’s words were being written by an extra-dimentional entity that reaaally wanted to rant but didn’t want to put out their opinions in a more reasonable manner, and wasn’t even remotely concerned with making it sound like a normal conversation.

Od: I know.

Al: Anyway. We failed as people, didn’t we?

Od: *sighing* I know.

#THE OWL HOUSE #Edric Blight #Luz Noceda #amity blight #odalia blight #emira blight #Alador Blight

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anthonybialy · 3 years

Text

Disturbed as Policy

The crazy people were always around. It's just that now they have backing. Coddling lunacy is a popular trend for very advanced people who think mental illness is to be celebrated as an indicator of unique diversity. They're right in a way.

Letting those with disturbing notions set the agenda is uncannily popular in an era of forestalling adulthood indefinitely. That characterization is unfair to children who possess enough sense to know everything won't be free forever. Not paying for one's own education is the surest way to become a grownup.

An entire political movement revolving around baffling notions requires lockstep compliance. You can't allow dissent when it's so obvious. Contemporary comrades are frightening in their zealous opposition to science and math. It's no wonder they were loath to criticize China like they were movie producers, as admiring struggle sessions is part of the ethos.

It was already risible to believe that government is a helpful presence in their lives. Now, such daftness is oh so pleasantly accompanied by strident shrillness in demanding banishment for anyone who noticed June's rainbow corporate logos embody pandering.

English is part of our society, which is why it must be destroyed. This whole scene is hateful. Those who preen about blatant disregard for evidence aren't going to respect what words mean, either. Changing pronouns with one's mood is certain to bring fulfillment. Go ahead and call yourself the precise opposite. If you're tired of overwrought comparisons to George Orwell's work, stop proving him correct.

Pronouns are merely a way to distinguish between two genders. That's the two genders, which should sentence me to canceling before this sentence is finished. Forget noting why the distinction between the two are important lest you'd like to be sentenced to summary execution by roving woke gangs.

You sure put oppressive words in their place. People referring to you by your genital style can't see your precious feelings. Choosing terms in contrast to what has already been determined is an act of juvenile rebellion that symbolizes dodging adulthood despite the explicit intentions. Remember that it's as monstrous to claim homosexuality is a choice as it is to say people are born with genders. Don't mix up hate crimes.

Those interested in tolerance must change how to refer to different types of people that are meaningless, anyway. Gender has been declared irrelevant by people obsessed with it. The distinction between the war-fighting spider-killers and feelings-based brats-birthers is as antiquated as buying one's own things.

Mean jerks in lab coats have what shouldn't be surprising news about genders. You already have one, and it's fairly easy way to check. Don't let someone talk you into performing it unless you're being courted.

Some things have remained with people because they're so obvious. Many old-fashioned behaviors resulted from everything humans can possibly observe. Stubborn seething contrarians who spend every waking moment scolding reactionary social media users who deadname refuse to accept the wisdom of the elders. I'm sorry to be the bearer of hateful news, but some topics are undisputed no matter how much some care to debate. Nobody wins an argument with biology.

You'd struggle to breathe for another year if you cared. Masks remain a great way to announce something despite muffled voices. Permanent fright is a virtue for a certain type of person who thinks rationality means being scared incessantly.

Those who want a life without risk are pathetic enough without trying to impose their pain-free existence on anyone who's braver by comparison. Everyone should've learned by now that trying to avoid any danger ever makes problems far worse. Irony is the top symptom. Softening immune systems is bound to make fighting off future viruses easy.

Drawing in the impressionable is the natural tendency of cults. People confused about their own lives and life in general find themselves attracted to anyone who claims the bizarre is to be embraced.

Sometimes, not being alone should be disturbing. Read a Tumblr post about warping distinctions that have served humanity for as long as there have been humans for mind-warping perspective. Well, that sounds like something insane with which to eagerly align. Political dealers are like drug peddlers, only less honest.

You believe any special thing you'd like. Just know it goes against everything humans have learned. People who proclaim to be on the side of research sure don't like evidence right in front of them. One doesn't even have to rely on lab findings churned out by scientists who vote for the same candidates. There's no way an experiment's results could ever be incorrect, especially when it's conducted in the replies of socialist baristas.

A desire for therapeutic assuaging motivates many people trying to avoid the cruelty of facts. Noting who hasn't suffered is the most hateful thought of all. It's a badge to have been wronged amongst very reasonable types who think they're resisting tyranny by supporting a maniacal federal government. Those who wish to have trauma to flaunt must be victims first. Oppression means you have something to righteously fight. Someone hurry up and be hurtful.

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frightfurtabby · 3 years

Text

HimiKiyo Week 2021 Day 4: I Am Not Your Queen

// Mastermind Kiyo AU for day 4! Because that’s a pretty good reason to be enemies. Could things be different? It’ll take a while for these two to figure out.

Word Count: 2848

Links-

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34159447

Amino: (coming soon)

“That’s right. If all other alibis check out…” Shuichi said, hand on his chin. This was the final class trial, everyone’s fate hinged directly on what was going to happen next. It depended on the case they’ve built up so far being absolutely correct. One irrefutable accusation and the mastermind’s entire game was crumbling to pieces like a house of cards. “Then there can only be one person that was behind the lies that killed Kaede, Rantaro, and all our other friends.”

His finger pointed across and to his left, at the person standing between Tsumugi and Maki at their trial bench. “Korekiyo Shinguji, you’re the real mastermind behind the killing game!”

The detective's words echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the walls. Himiko, in spite of how many times others called her “slow” grew increasingly silent as the discussion kept going back to them and their actions from earlier. They had been outed as a serial killer in a previous trial but in spite of everything they helped Himiko at her lowest point immediately after what had happened with Angie and Tenko.

She remembered crying on Kiyo’s shoulder, listening to their soothing voice put her at ease, advice like a wise sage being passed down. Each and every time she needed it, she would go to that anthropology lab. Each time her footsteps took her in, her feelings only grew stronger. Her first kiss was in there, with them. Before what happened there was a pull she felt, but she never got much of a chance to get close with how intimidating they came off as.

Kiyo, who was now replying calmly as though none of it was bothering them. This was how it started in the other trial too, So that should be reassuring right?

“Yes, it was me.” they said, “I just so happened to pick up my own after noticing Kaede had taken one with help from my nanokumas.”

Oh.

Oh no.

And now it felt like the world was crumbling again. Only instead of feeling deflated and alone she was enraged. Enraged that the case against Kiyo didn’t have any holes in it. How could it be true? And now just admitting to it?

“Was all of that… was all of it a lie Kiyo?” she begged that what they had was real. Even now standing across from them as enemies.

“No. I’ve been up front with you this whole time. There were simply parts of the story you weren’t ready to know. And you still… aren’t ready yet.”

“But you- but you-” words escaped the Mage, leaving her unable to think calmly and properly. “You could have stopped this at any point, but you kept going.” She didn’t even notice they felt a tinge of fear underneath the words she was replying to.

“Why assume I have enough control to end it early, that would be going far off-script.” A small bead of sweat formed which the killer wiped away.

Wait… off script? What did something like that even mean?

Himiko turned to notice that Maki was giving them a death glare. “Because you’re the mastermind, obviously.”

“Oh, I see. In that case… no, I wasn’t working alone to do this.” they began to explain. “This wouldn’t have been possible without Team Danganronpa and all the fans watching right this very minute!”

“T-Team… D-Danganronpa?” Tsumugi stuttered in shock.

“Yes, the studio that put together the killing game with me on the ground so to speak to act on their behalf. We are not actually the only ones left alive, there are more humans alive than any other time in history and millions upon millions of them tune into this program.“

“The world is… fine?” Kiibo pondered. The revelation made him tense about what his inner voice may be.

“Why would the world want a killing game?”

Kiyo responded “It works as a kind of release valve, I suppose. Conflicts have dwindled over the existence and increasing popularity of this show after all.”

“Can we… Can we go home? Kiyo please, let me go, let *us* go. You can do that right?”

“Even though it is not destroyed, you still cannot.” The other voice came from Korekiyo once more. Sister was back in action. Sternly she looked over each of the remaining survivors. As though she was looking down on them.

Himiko glared at her from under her hat. “You again.” While she was feeling so complicated about Korekiyo right now, she unambiguously disliked their “Sister”. Then it hit her. Maybe if the Sister personality was the one that was the one really in charge she could forgive them… maybe.

It would take a lot after something as horrible as this. Especially since Maki and Shuichi swore to never forgive the mastermind, she was certain that she wouldn’t either. Even if Kiyo was just a lackey it would take time to trust again.

“I’m pleased you’ve all made it this far.” Sister said, sounding incredibly pleased with herself, rather than anything they’d accomplished. “I wasn’t sure you had it in you. I’d like you all to meet the fans.”

The blush bear sweated, making the cartoon ‘awooga’ sound like a character seeing an attractive person. “Yes ma’am.”

Futuristic gears spun in front of Monokuma, bringing a keyhole to in front of him, he stuck the key in and several screens proceeded to descend. Faces appeared: Asian, white, black, men, women, even children. Various expressions across their features. None of them stayed long enough for any witness to recognize, even if they remembered anyone they had known.

“These are the fans of Danganronpa.” Sister explained. “Danganronpa is their collective favorite show. The 53rd season has been one of the most successful in years.

The discussion was halted. It was surreal, more so than even waking up here originally was. All of those people had been watching the whole time.

Himiko asked “So the fans they saw… everything?” Did they know who the mastermind was?”

“I presume some of them did, but this reveal is equally for their benefit. There’s a vibrant debate each season about who the mastermind is and how they did it. Occasionally spoilers will get leaked.”

“So this… was the killing real?” Tsumugi’s voice wavered as she tried to speak up.

“Yes, that part was real. The people playing those eliminated characters are gone from this world as well as the real one.” Sister took off Kiyo’s hat and put it across their chest looking solemn. “They knew there was a strong chance of that, and signed up like many other fans before them.”

“Was it you or Korekiyo who committed Rantaro’s murder?” Shuichi prodded. The shock was wearing off. The trial was continuing at last in the wake of 2 extremely unnerving revelations.

“I feel like that’s a question dear Korekiyo should give the answer to.” Their shared body pulled up the mask and Kiyo began to speak again

“It was as I said many times, I’m only meant to be an observer. I… admittedly broke that role when I chose to do what I did. I even apologized to them, to myself for it.”

“Then why, surely you must have had a reason.” Shuichi prodded.

“Regrettably for my ethnography, our class that should have been in a completely fresh, sealed environment was muddied when I did it. Sometimes what I want comes into conflict with a higher power and they were banking on Rantaro Amami’s death being the hook for the episode.”

“So then Kaede’s shot put ball really missed…then why didn’t you kill all of us when we got the answer wrong? Simply f--for Television ratings?”

“I’m afraid the answer to that is yes. That is why everyone survived the sham trial. The fans would have completely revolted.”

“But maybe we’d be spared this revolting game continuing. Do you understand all of this is wrong?” Maki shot at them.

“Those are quite the harsh words from a professional killer. Though… maybe I shouldn’t say that, your backstory is fake after all.”

“So then… I didn’t spend all that time…” Maki muttered. That wouldn't stop all of it from feeling deeply real.

“No you did not. That is part of the Ultimate Real Fiction.” Kiyo explained. “It was put into your mind by the flashback lights, as Shuichi deduced. All of our lives were.”

“Being fundamentally changed into a completely different person with a completely different life… what kind of cruel person would force someone to-” Maki

“Forced to?” Kiyo asked quizzically. “No, I can assure you every one of you wanted this. Team Danganronpa takes all of your input very seriously.”

“Our… input?” Himiko asked.

Kiyo clapped their hands together. “Of course. Now I shall show you!”

The screen cut away from the faces of the fans and to some kind of tape. Shuichi Saihara stood in front of the camera. He spoke about how he loved Danganronpa and wanted to be a detective character.

He finished with “ And I’d do anything to be in danganronpa. I will come up with the best, most gruesome murders. Everyone would love it! And, a detective character hasn’t been the blackened yet, so I’m sure I could do that. I’m even thinking about the perfect punishment… for the ultimate detective.”

His glee was evident. Someone so against the killing right now had been one of the biggest fans ever, with a Junko like joy in thinking about how he would be punished as the culprit. It really was like before coming here he wasn’t the same person.

They even went so far as to play Kaede and Kaito’s revealing in part they had said things like “I don’t have any faith in humanity” and “I’m going to kill everyone and win.” respectively.

“So you see… none of us were the same. If you like how you are now then you may stay perhaps? Finish the fight of hope against despair. Or we, as friends, could all stay here?”

“No, we won’t do that.” Shuichi said, pointing dramatically. “Right guys? The only way to get through and win this. It’s to reject hope and despair. The very premise of Danganronpa.”

It was put up to a vote. Before that, the outside world had tried to argue Hope or Despair, reinforcing the choice. But the cast continued to refuse.

“We’ll end this with our own hands!”

It came and went. And… Everybody abstained.?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiibo flew out of the trial room, determined to end the entire killing game now no matter the cost. Everyone would finally be free. All he needed was to finish off this prison school with his upgrades. Rocket boosters made it easy to fly to the next part to blow up.

Down below him, the remaining survivors stood in the courtyard. Kiyo had stopped right before outside. Himiko stopped as soon as she noticed they weren’t running like the others. And those three stopped everything because their friend was endangering herself.

She approached them, which caused a curious head tilt. They had been waving before that moment. It should have been goodbye forever.

“I can’t… let it end like this. It shouldn’t end with you dying like Junko.”

“Why not? Do you not doubt my feelings? I’m just playing my part after all.”

“Your part, look… about that, listen.”

“And what a grand p-” It seemed like they wanted their final words to be some grandiose speech.

“We don’t have time, please.” She grabbed them by the hand, watching the school building collapse further as it became less able to hold its own weight with all the holes punched in each wall. Over her shoulder she pleaded with Maki to help move the obstinate murderer.

The rock above must have spurred Maki on. If she had done nothing, surely both of them would have been crushed. And as painful as it was to keep someone who worked for the captors around she wasn’t about to lose another friend after watching what had happened with Kaito and Kokichi getting themselves killed in that harebrained scheme.

If it ended like that, it felt like it was disrespecting their plan to stop the killing.

Maki also helped Himiko pull Kiyo away towards an opening that formed after Kiibo blew himself up to take the cage down with him. Four people crawled through, blinded by a bright expanse.

Birds chirped. Several voices could be heard shouting. It was time to go home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The campus was in a bright field. In fact they could clearly see the ruined courtyard from where they all stood. The wall was broken down and so all that was left behind was the twisted, warped metal of their former cage and the buildings they had walked for the several months they were in a fictional world cut off from everything else.

The line separating the two worlds was broken. It was really that thin the whole time. And it reflected the true reality they found around them.

It was as unfamiliar as their memory of waking up inside what they had just left. Nobody but the mastermind retained any memory of ever being in this place.

They were led to a hallway by uniformed employees, many rooms lining each side of it. It looked exactly like the dorms that had been in the fictional hope’s peak. Save for the fact all the placards were for them: the survivors and the deceased.

If there was much spoken, Himiko didn’t pay attention to it. She didn’t know what to say, how to process much of it internally.

Korekiyo was much more aware and listened, chiming in hoping to be helpful in spite of the fact none of them would want their help.

The mastermind was almost always scripted to be killed, to be thoroughly and finally defeated by the hope of the students. It was in fact what they had agreed to happen. This class was very different. Shuichi and Kaito and Maki of course, but the whole time Himiko was special too.

And she didn’t remember why that was.

They had agreed in private at some point before the procedure to fully become their characters but after the first scene’s rehearsal that it would be terrible if only one of the two had to die. In the moment of escape there was a split second where Kiyo could swear a spark in her eyes indicating some kind of memory of this.

Was it an unspoken acknowledgement? They had to check. If she had really remembered something, then maybe there wasn’t a need to perform a routine as enemies. And they could be forgiven for what happened. At least, more easily so than if she did not recall what things were like leading up to the actual game.

After things settled down, Himiko and Kiyo privately met once again. Both were nervous.

“Himiko Yumeno. I… would like to ask you something.”

She didn’t look up, just sitting in the chair and debating whether or not she should be afraid of them. They could go back to being Sister at any point, and that would really freak her out.

“Go ahead.” the redhead muttered.

“Why did you save me?” Kiyo leaned forward trying to listen more closely.

“I don’t know. I… maybe it was a mistake letting you live. For some reason though I felt… like I had to.”

Maki, Shuichi, and Tsumugi certainly let her know how much of a mistake they thought it was. It didn’t feel good, even if the latter two tried their best to be polite about it.

“If it makes you feel any better I’m not sure how I feel about this either.”

“Do you… no, did you want to die Kiyo?”

“Yes. I was quite fine with it.” they held their tongue upon finishing, hesitating. That statement was not entirely true. They had accepted it, but part of them still felt bad that only she would get out of this if they had. And that was debatably the worst outcome. The other two options would have been preferable, and they got one of them!

“I… well you know how much I wanted to die in the killing game. How scared I was.”

“I knew how much you wanted to die before, from your audition.”

That reminded her. “Why didn’t you show any from mine then?”

“I…” Kiyo started, rubbing the back of their neck. “I was sure you would hate me even more than you already should if I showed it the way I did the others.”

“Can you show me it?” she perked up a little bit. Why were they so concerned about if she hated them? They certainly seemed willing to tell her all sorts of things even though they were enemies.

They nodded and produced a USB drive. They walked over to a laptop and put it in. “And if you don’t remember anything after this, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Promise?” she pleaded with them.

“Yes.” a small smile was hidden by their mask. Maybe being enemies wasn’t a forever thing.

#himikiyo #himikiyo week #himiko yumeno #korekiyo shinguji #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #fanfic #writing #AU

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snkpolls · 3 years

Text

SnK Episode 62 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 314 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

RATE THE EPISODE 303 Responses

There was an interesting contrast this week between anime only viewers’ and manga readers’ reaction to the episode. Anime only viewers overwhelmingly felt positively about the episode. But for manga manga readers, many of the cuts in the anime dampened their enjoyment of the episode, and for some ruined it entirely. Still, overall, the episode got positive reception, even if it wasn’t overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

a little rushed but still very enjoyable. it defo got the point across about Reiner's struggles

It was... Fine. I'll give it a solid 8/10 on emotional value and finally seeing these chapters animated. But accepting that the anime and manga are not the same and that there will be cuts is hard.

Wasn't very good. The cut scenes really hurt the pacing and overall story.

i thought the pacing was way too fast :(

Stunning. Beautiful

Another great episode. My only criticisms are the music that was used at the beginning of the episode, which didn't really work, and the cuts but I understand why that had to happen.

Disappointing

Impeccable. The adaption was both efficient and emotionally effective. Zero misses so far - I'm officially a MAPPA ho.

Really great! Feels different from the manga and makes me excited for future episodes, because even if it's not perfect, we will always have the original material + some fun new scenes that the anime is adding, can't wait for more

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 304 Responses

The much-anticipated scene where we learn amputee-kun is actually Eren was the most favored of the episode, with 37.5% of the vote. Following behind that with more narrow margins were the introduction to Marley’s titans, Annie and Reiner’s fight and Reiner’s suicide attempt.

The first part was very rushed and I wasn't as impressed by it. But I was very impressed by the second part of the episode once the warrior kids made it to paradise. I also very much enjoyed how they animated the scene of Annie taking out her anger on Reiner after Marcel's death. There was just something about the use of colours that really appealed to me.

The Reiner and Annie fight and Reiner's suicide disturbed me a lot more this time around, partially because I haven't read the chapters in a while, but this is easily one of my favorite episodes now.

WE GOT THE FULL ED LAST WEEK. AFTER SEEING IT IN ITS ENTIRETY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW? 294 Responses

The majority of the fandom are enjoying the new ending, with 65.6% loving both the song and the animation. 11.2% are enjoying the song… but not so much the animation. 11.9% feel that it’s “just okay.” Some are enjoying the animation, but not the song, and a few more dislike both.

The song and the animation are truly beautiful and gorgeous. I couldn't imagine better. It is always so peaceful after the full of emotions episode.

Beautiful song, although the bit with the streaks of shiny animation look like 480p and are a little boring.

I didn't see it

Bold of you to assume I watch the EDs and don't just skim ahead to the preview.

i'm not interested in the ending

There was a half ED?

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, HOW MUCH DID YOU ENJOY THE SEQUENCE INTRODUCING ALL OF MARLEY’S TITANS? 303 Responses

A very tiny fraction of voters weren’t impressed with the way MAPPA executed the scene that introduces us to the Marley titans and why each warrior was picked for the titans they received. However, the majority of respondents felt very positively about the scene, with 221 even feeling they, too, will become a titan as a result of the awesomeness.

I really liked the marley titan montage but why the hell were the female titan's boobs so big? It looked so out of poportion

It was awesome and I loved the introduction to the Titans

OUT OF ALL THE TITANS THE MARLEY MILITARY HAD 9 YEARS AGO, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE? 299 Responses

Whether it’s for practicality or aesthetic reasons, we all have different titans that appeal to us more than others. This race was a close one, with the Female Titan holding on just slightly over the Jaw Titan in terms of favoritism. The Armored Titan came in at a distant third with the Beast Titan and Colossal closely behind. Only a very small fraction would like to inherit the Cart Titan from Piku-chan.

WHICH OG WARRIOR CANDIDATE WOULD YOU WANT TO ADOPT? 299 Responses

Overall, the majority (29.1%) wouldn’t want to adopt any of the OG warrior crew, whether because the responsibility is too much or because they don’t like kids at all (or perhaps, a missing third option being they don’t like any of them). But for those who would happily take on one of the OG warrior kiddos, 24.1% would most like to take Reiner home (and probably give him lots of hugs). 21.1% adore little Pieck and would shower her with parental love forever. 9.7% probably want to pinch little Bertolt’s cheeks, and 8.4% wish they’d adopted Annie instead of her father.

A LOT OF THE SHIGANSHINA BREACH HAS REUSED WIT ANIMATION FROM PAST EPISODES - THOUGHTS? 303 Responses

The majority of respondents felt positively enough about seeing WIT’s S1 style mixed in with MAPPA’s, with 42.9% feeling it flowed together well enough, and 26.4% understanding why they didn’t reanimate the event (despite preferring it if they had). 11.2% don’t care at all, and 8.6% think it was way too jarring. There are some who are reminded that they miss WIT’s style, and others who have a continued appreciation for MAPPA.

KAJI YUKI HAS LOWERED HIS VOICE A BIT TO DEPICT AN OLDER EREN. THOUGHTS? 301 Responses

Overall, nearly everyone seems to be pleased with Kaji Yuki’s more “mature” sounding Eren, with 76.4% feeling he is portraying an older and more jaded Eren perfectly. 11.6% are lost in their lust for a 2D drawing and are focused entirely on that (we understand lol). A few are simply indifferent to the lower tone, and a smaller percentage just prefer Eren’s voice prior to the timeskip.

Anime onlys can spot him more difficult, which I like

Made sense to me, he’s not a teenager anymore after all, plus works better for this “new” Eren who’s less angry and shouty all the time.

I didn't even notice lol

Eren is adult so changing his voice was a very good choice. I like his new sound.

It was stupid that he ever talked so low before now. He was fifteen and he sounded like an adult, well they all do that bc it's standard anime shit but it makes it even harder when they become real adults.

NOW HE REALLY SOUNDS LIKE KENMA 🔥

WE’VE LOST COUNT OF HOW MANY TIMES WE’VE SEEN MARCEL GET EATEN. BUT OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHO DID IT BEST? 296 Responses

Seeing Marcel get eaten 2000 times seems to be a running gag at this point, so naturally we had to include this question. Whether it’s recency bias or objectively true, 44.6% feel that MAPPA’s take on Marcel’s death was the best. 30.4% feel that Isayama’s more recent art style truly does Marcel the most justice. 14.2% liked the way WIT Studio portrayed the scene and 10.8% like Isayama’s older, more grungy art style.

RIP Marcel

DO YOU THINK THAT REINER WAS CORRECT, THAT MARLEY WOULD HAVE HAD ALL OF RBA EATEN IF THEY HAD FOUND YMIR AND RETURNED HOME IMMEDIATELY? 292 Responses

In the hypothetical scenario that Reiner hadn’t convinced Annie and Bertolt to stay on the island, the majority feel that Reiner was wrong in his assessment that they would be executed practically on-site. 55.1% believe that the idea would have been out in the open, but ultimately rejected. Though, 35.6% feel that Marley is too ruthless and uncaring toward Eldians to care what the situation is, and would absolutely hand over their titans to others deemed more capable. Very few felt Marley would be understanding by default. Many write-ins feel that Reiner is the only one who would have been executed for the failure.

Depends on if B/A emphasize that it was Reiner’s fault rather than their own.

If all of RBA got eaten then I think they wouldn’t use kids for their next attempt. Maybe teens around the age RBA were after training in Paradis military

Magath would have pointed out how wasteful it would have been, but probably even him couldn't have saved reiner

He was wrong. What would be the point of feeding them to other children, if they were the best candidates? Too much of work.

Reiner said that there's a possibility that they couldn't find Ymir even if they try. He has a point. But I don't think Marley would have RBA eaten even if they lose Jaw.

They wouldn't go through with it because they seem to lack other qualified warrior candidates.

I think Magath and maybe Zeke would have tried to convince the government to not go through with it and that Reiner might have been the only one sacrificed.

Obviously. They would have indisputable proof that sending a bunch of kids to carry out a massively important mission is the dumbest shit they could have ever done and immediately they'd put the titans into older soldiers.

They'd let them live a few more years just for propaganda and used them for other battles, then they'd have them killed around their midterm.

Possibly, but they put a lot of time, effort, and money into training their warriors. It would be a big decision to execute all of them and start over. Maybe they would have executed Reiner as an example.

WHAT’S THE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT? 295 Responses

In our least-serious question of the poll, we asked you guys to try and predict the weather based on Bertolt’s sleeping pose. 18.3% believe his legs-on-the-wall pose means clear skies, 13.9% are certain it means rain. 13.6% are confident in an overcast night. At 11.5% foresee storms coming and 11.2% think it’s gonna be snow. 18% are probably just annoyed with the question. A few write-ins pointed out that Bertolt was, indeed, sleeping in the Hanged Man Pose.

It’s gonna be partly guilt ridden old man with a 90% chance of suicide by hanging

Blood and guts

HOW IS THAT EVEN COMFORTABLE?

Let's just call it hail

Hanged man posture, dreamed about the old man

raining titans

No one can make me like the warriors even if I don't blame them for what they were forced to do as kids. idc what quirky habits they have.

There'll be clear skies for some time but don't be deceived, heavy rain is incoming

This was amazing because it's a reference to The Hanging Man on Tarot cards: he's willingly being hanged for his sins. Look it up, it's so cool.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAPPA CUTTING A GOOD CHUNK OF REINER’S TRAINING? 302 Responses

With only 20(ish) minutes to fit in all of Reiner’s backstory, cuts were inevitable. MAPPA made the decision to nerf most of Reiner’s struggles training as a Warrior Cadet (among a couple other more lengthy scenes during and after the wall breach). 62.9% are sad that some of these scenes didn’t make the cut, but also understand that we can’t have it all. 13.2% actually preferred seeing Reiner’s backstory in MAPPA’s condensed version, while 12.9% feel it completely ruins the characterization of the warriors.

I don't even remember what was cut 😂

Slightly ruined the warriors’ characterisations (especially Reiner’s)

I thought they could have shown a bit more about Reiner's underdog, it's something that really made me sympathise with him in the manga.

Kinda disappointed, since some scenes were essential for a little background on their lives

Honestly, even after all the cuts and the restrains it tells the story of a "warrior", Reiner.

Mappa fucked RBA backstory and I would bet it's because they are biased towards Eren and 104th...

I wouldn't say it ruined their characterisation, but it did leave it a lot more shallow. I would've loved to see those scenes animated, but I also realise that things will have to be cut to fit everything in, and I think these cuts still preserve the forward momentum of the story reasonably well.

The important scenes were animated, so it's good that way

MAPPA cannot animate every panel and the best will be, if fandom finally understands that. Every episode has limited amount of time and MAPPA is doing everything they can to make episodes good and easy to understand for anime onlies. I was fine with cutting because I know that episodes aren't long and there are more important stuff to animate than every part of training.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT NOT SEEING ANNIE PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST WALL BREACH? 298 Responses

MAPPA completely glossed over Annie’s role in the wall breach, showing her being choked by Reiner and then waking up in the refugee camp later. 40.9% state they would have preferred seeing Annie play her part in the mission, though they accept that it isn’t there. 34.6% are concerned that those who don’t read the manga will just be confused as to where Annie was during all of the chaos (Oh no! Did RB leave her passed out in the fields!?). 16.1% are simply just disappointed altogether. A small fraction felt it wasn’t necessary anyway and have no problems with the cut.

I feel kinda iffy about it because that was one of my favorite parts of the chapter, but oh well... it is what it is.

Kenny's scene should be eliminated.

I mean it's not like the female titan could destroy the walls herself. I think nobody expects it and then her absence makes sense

Yams did an oopsie in the first place retconing

It really confused me lol for a moment I completely forgot what she even did in the manga and had to reread

KNOWING NOW THAT ANNIE IS ACTUALLY ADOPTED, DOES THE JOKE ABOUT HER BEING KENNY’S LOST DAUGHTER HIT DIFFERENTLY NOW? 299 Responses

We learn after Annie comes out of the crystal that her father is actually an adoptive parent. Annie, in an attempt to cover up why she’s stalking Kenny in the underground, claims (or jokes) that she was born to a brothel worker and is Kenny’s lost daughter. We asked if this made the joke any less funny to readers, though most of them didn’t think so at all. Only 14% of respondents say the new knowledge actually makes it a little sad. Some people forgot entirely that Annie is adopted and voiced their confusion in the write-ins.

wait,,,,, she.,,,, she's adopted ??? wha- how did i completely forget about this

Kenny's gay anyway so it's impossible! Sorry, Annie :/

I don't really get this joke tbh 😅 Do people think she and Kenny look alike?

We're all Kenny's lost daughter

It just brings into question her true parentage, like how she can scream summon other Titans and if that’s a royal blood thing or not. But probably doesn’t matter since it hasn’t come up in the manga yet

I hadn't thought about it before today.

She's adopted?!?

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAPPA’S EXECUTION OF REINER’S ATTEMPTED SUICIDE? 302 Responses

With such a weighty scene, execution is of utmost importance. So we were curious if you guys felt that MAPPA hit the mark. Overall, MAPPA’s take on this scene got positive responses from the fandom, with 42.4% feeling they felt about the same as they did when the scene came up in the manga. 26.5% actually thought that MAPPA did a better job with the scene, whereas 26.2% felt that Isayama’s original take on the scene is still superior.

I think that while the manga's intent is for the reader to feel Reiner's pain and emotions during what he thought were his last moments, the anime focuses much more on making it disturbing and depressing (both taking into account the same things, just choosing to highlight different aspects of the scene). Not a bad change but I prefer the manga's portayal, it made me feel so much more attached to Reiner

Actual scene was good, but the build up was lacking.

I really liked the flipping back and forth

Not nearly as emotional as I expected

The lighting was so good in the anime version.

Bruh we needed the flashbacks cause they depicted Reiner's journey and regrets

I think it was more impactful in the manga, but MAPPA did it amazing too

The scene looked more serious but the building of the characters didn't live up for the moment.

It impacted me differently than in the manga. I prefer the manga scene, but the anime's was still really good

I was worried about it being overly censored so I’m glad it wasn’t

The execution was about the same, but it had a bigger impact when you read it for the first time

The drool was a great touch

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING CUTS WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED DIDN’T MAKE THE EPISODE? 292 Responses

While we shouldn’t dwell on cuts too much, there will still be things that people are disappointed didn’t make it into the anime. The scenes which were most missed this week were Annie’s role in the wall breach, Reiner passing along a tired Annie over to Bertolt atop the wall, RBA discussing their infiltration plans in the field (also known as the tree-uprooting scene), seeing Bertolt, Annie and Marcel surpassing Reiner in their training, and Reiner breaking up Eren and Jean’s fight (noticing Annie is exhausted). Well, at least the manga still exists, right?

I wish they didnt cut some of the flashbacks right before Reiner tried to kill himself.

Really great episode, but Bertholdt looking up at the wall before breaking it was such an iconic panel, I'm a bit sad

Any cuts are a negative. I dont care how much it makes sense for the anime onlies, I just wish they somehow incorporate some of the small slice of life scenes that made the Marley arc special.

Truly loved it despite cuts and pacing, but just wish we could’ve seen that tree uprooting scene!

I still hold the sentiment that Mappa is cutting way too much from these episodes. The amount of small details getting cut from every chapter/episode results in losing out on smaller moments that in my opinion have a real impact. While I understand a 1 to 1 replica might not be possible, the amount of cuts is too much imo. Missing out on nearly all of RBA assaulting Shiganshina was a huge disappointment, and less Falco and Gabi scenes makes it tough for me to connect to them. Talking to my Anime-only friends though, they are very into this season, so I'm glad to hear it works for them.

I'm not necessarily sad they cut so much, I feel like as an Anime only I wouldn't have noticed! The only thing I wish that had been kept was Annie's involvement in the destruction of wall Maria.

I was sad they cut stuff but that’s inevitable. The only cut I’m sad about is the scene before Bertholdt breaks the wall.

some of the cuts made sense, some made other scenes kind of occur out of nowhere, like annie with kenny.

SO FAR, WE’VE LOST A FEW INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FALCO AND GABI AND SOME MOMENTS WHERE FALCO IS BLUSHING OVER HER. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL LESSEN THE IMPACT OF HIS EVENTUAL LOVE CONFESSION TO HER? 296 Responses

While the Falbi romance isn’t a major focal point of the series, it does play a big part in their storyline and overall character development as their involvement in the plot increases. MAPPA has had to let a few scenes go, so we were curious if manga readers felt it would lessen the impact of Falco’s inevitable confession just before the rumbling starts. 31.4% feel that the anime is doing just fine at portraying Falco’s feelings. 28.4% feel the impact will be lessened, but that it’s fine due to it being a minor plot point anyway. 14.5% are upset about the missing pieces and 11.8% think MAPPA will make up for it later. Smaller groups of voters either don’t understand why Falco likes Gabi or just don’t care.

I'm more dissapointed about Zofia and Udo getting cut than those two.

Kid romance is lame anyway

It's not gonna hit like the manga but it's still pretty important plot imo

What works on paper doesn't always work animated, they're doing ok

I hate gabi gahh

It is obvious he likes her anyway

Not really, they've established he has a big crush on her since he pretty much came out and told it to Eren

DO YOU THINK MAPPA DID A GOOD JOB OF HIDING EREN IN PLAIN SIGHT? 297 Responses

We failed to ask this question last week, but it still applied well to this week’s episode. When it came to anime only fans, we wondered whether manga readers felt MAPPA did a good job at making him as mysterious to anime watchers as Isayama did to us manga readers. 40.1% felt that MAPPA did a great job, as many anime watchers didn’t seem to catch on. 25.6% feel that they didn’t do any worse or better than Isayama did. 13.8% feel MAPPA did not do as well as Isayama, as some anime watchers easily caught on. 9.4% think they did completely awful at pretending it’s not Eren. Some write-ins felt we couldn’t objectively judge this as we already knew it was Eren anyway.

I think the voice gave it away the most. The sneaky animation was great!

Hard to answer because chapters were a month apart while episodes are weekly and I’ve already read the manga when it came out

well, I can't say much about this. since I know he is eren, I was just focusing on how Kaji Yuki will handle this important speech

They even didn't try to hide him. I'm disappointed because I wanted anime onlines to feel what we - manga readers - felt, when after few chapters we found that the hobo man was Eren.

I honestly didn't even realize he was supposed to be hidden from the readers/viewers at this point. It was so obviously him in the manga and the anime. Genuinely confused by how many people did not catch on.

Watching some reactors they were like "...wait...that *looks* like Eren...but his leg is amputated...his leg would've grown back??" but as soon as you heard his voice it was instantaneous

I, being a manga reader, had a hard time getting how you couldn't see that it was Eren, but some of my friend only got it at the last scene.

Hard to say. WIth the manga, it took me a few reads to catch on, but now that I KNOW, it's hard to say anything.

Yes, I'm watching the episodes with my anime-only friend and he still hasn't figured it out

I think they did a good job, but with anime being the medium it was easier to guess due to both hair/eye color and voice.

It was nice, I was actually surprised that some of my anime only friends didn't even realize that it was Eren talking to Falco this episode

When Eren was finally revealed in the manga, I was *shocked! I had *no clue that was him! I think the anime did a great job, but of course had to reveal him sooner. It was perfect both in manga and anime imo.

It's obviously him once you see his eyes, but I don't think that the animation team were trying to make it a big shock reveal, they want this scene to say "this is probably Eren, but can you be 100% sure" to keep anime onlys engaged and reassure them that the main cast is still relevant.

Yes, but the manga hid him better, it took me way too long to realise it was him while reading

HOW WAS KAJI YUKI’S DELIVERY ON EREN’S SPEECH TO FALCO? 299 Responses

The vast majority of respondents were very pleased with Kaji Yuji’s delivery on one of Eren’s most prominent speeches. 38.1% felt it was exactly as they had hoped it would be. 28.1% were extremely happy, and feel that any delivery by Kaji Yuki as Eren will be 100% spot-on. 24.7% are simply just content with it. Smaller fragments of respondents just wanted to voice their thirst, or felt that the delivery could have been better.

Better than I could have ever imagined

I don't really care

Eren is the best main character ever

Not my native language so I can't really tell how good it is, but Kaji's delivery seemed about right

It was a bit fast but good

Very good. You get a real sense of how clueless but trying to be tough Eren really is.

EREN TELLS FALCO HE HOPES FALCO LIVES A LONG LIFE. KNOWING WHAT WE DO NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HIM SAYING THIS? 298 Responses

Eren already knows he will bring destruction upon the world, so it’s a wonder why he would bother telling Falco he hopes Falco will have a long life. 64.8% believe that he truly means it from the bottom of his heart, despite knowing his future actions will likely affect Falco. 10.7% believe he said this because he has already seen that Falco will survive the Rumbling. 10.1% aren’t really sure what to make of it at all. Smaller numbers of people think Eren was only trying to gain Falco’s trust and didn’t mean it at all, or believe that Falco will take part in Eren’s eventual demise and Eren is already aware of that.

He saw him in his memories so imma believe what he says

I'm sure there is part of Eren that hopes for a good long life for Falco. Just like there was part of him that couldn't help but save the refugee kid. But that doesn't mean he isn't any less dedicated to his plan to genocide a whole lot of people. He has his conflicts, but in the end he's still going ahead with the attack on the square and later with the rumbling.

I think it's the same deal as him saving the immigrant kid when he knew that he would die in the rumbling.

In an ideal world Eren would want *everyone* to live a long life--he's been portrayed as someone who cries and disassociates while he commits his genocide so we're meant to understand he doesn't enjoy it. Sadly it doesn't matter what he hopes or wants when he's decided murdering everyone is what has to be done..

THE PREVIEW SHOWED PIECK AND PORCO NEXT TO REINER AT THE DAYTIME FESTIVAL. THIS WAS NOT IN THE MANGA. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MEANS ABOUT POSSIBLE ANIME-ONLY ADDITIONS? 298 Responses

Many of our respondents seem to be looking forward to Pieck and Porco’s inclusion in the daytime festival. 47% are hopeful that this will mean some wholesome bonding scenes between the Warriors and the kids. 26.5% don’t know what to make of it, but are looking forward to it nonetheless. A handful of people think it will be similar to how WIT included Sasha in the Clash arc - adding minor details without changing anything in the story-line. 7% wish that MAPPA wasn’t doing this at all, and 5% are hopeful this means that MAPPA will find a way to repurpose Pieck crawling on all fours next episode.

I still want Pieck butt

IN THAT SAME VEIN, IT SEEMS LIKE EPISODE 4 WILL ADAPT CHAPTERS 97 AND 98, ENDING ON THE FINAL PANEL OF 98. HOWEVER, THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHAPTER 97 WAS ALREADY ADAPTED IN LAST WEEK’S EPISODE. WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR EPISODE 4? 293 Responses

Who wants to place bets on the contents of next episode? While the largest chunk of people don’t know what to expect in episode 4, others are happy to speculate. 19.8% feel (or are at least hopeful) that MAPPA will fill in some screen time by repurposing already-skipped scenes. 19.1% feel that there will be minor additions, but not too much. A solid 16% feel that there will be a few anime only additions during the daytime festival. 10.9% are placing bets that episode 4 will actually bleed into chapter 100 before the end.

Mappa won't have to cut a lot of stuff like they did to ep 3

The title "From One Hand to Another" immediately made me think we would actually be getting Eren grasping Reiner's hand and transforming at the end (meaning chapters 100 and 101), but that's just so much. The title may just refer to Magath and Willy's handshake.

What about just enjoying the show?

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 298 Responses

As expected of the fandom! Reiner and Eren’s reunion is the most anticipated scene for episode 4, with 74.8% having voted for that. 17.1% are most looking forward to the daytime festival, and 6% are excited to meet Willy in anime form for the first time. One commenter is very invested in the banquet and how it’s executed.

Not this ep but if they cut the Udo and Kiyomi scene I'll RIOT!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I'm upset so much was cut from Reiner's backstory but the cinematography is freakin' excellent I can't even complain

*cheers MAPPA animators for their hard work* ... Perfect for anime onlies, I think. Made me almost wish I hadn't read the manga so I wouldn't have missed the cut scenes.

Cuts aside, the animation was much better than the previous episodes.

"The one scene I really wanted was Bertholdt looking over the wall and seeing the EMA trio. Of all the cuts, I think that was the only one that was damaging to the story. I also kind of wish that MAPPA animated the reused scenes. I kind of like comparing and contrasting the animation styles of both studios so its a bit of shame that we didn't get anything new from Episode 1.

I'm really impressed with how much MAPPA is managing to squeeze in each episode and I'm content that Reiner's flashback was covered in a single episode rather than two. It just makes sense pacing-wise. The only real criticism I have is that in the flashback scenes where everyone is supposed to be 12 years old, they don't sound 12 at all. Their voices are way too mature, especially the males, and I understand they're voiced by adults, but I feel like they could have at least tried to sound more like kids. Other than that, great episode.

Elaborating on the missing content: they really shouldn’t have cut Annie’s transformation prior to wall Maria being breached. It makes it look like Reiner choked her out and then a minute later bert was kicking the wall through.

I'm in the boat, where i think it wouldve been better if Mappa didnt cut out so much, but considering what there is to cover, we will live,but i hope they dont end up butchering everything Also the bit with reiner’s dad would be confusing to anime-onlies since it cross-cuts between that scene and him on the parade. I’ve seen some reactors think it was a daydream, or that he left during the parade.

It was quite rushed, but I understand why they did it, the flashback wouldn't have been as impactful over 2 episodes, and I do think when the Marley arc was first introduced in the manga, manga readers were quite inpatient to get back to the main cast, so they might be feeding off that feedback.

Mappa has become my favorite studio of all time. Not just in regards to anime, but studios in general. Their discography is on another level (imo) and the fact that on top of every other masterpiece they’ve made, they’re doing an outstanding job with my favorite series of all time just solidifies them as the first and probably the only anime studio that I can truly Stan.

Lots of (I think) Important stuff cut, but the meat is still in place. I like my meat to be juicy and marbled, while Mappa cut out all the fat that makes for a flavorful meal. I completely understand why and I am apathetic about it.

disliked the fact the wall breach was so quickly glossed over, and the transition between mappa and wit style was jarring to say the least

Regardless of the cuts, i think it flows together nicely. The anime has always been more speedy than the manga so i kind of expected this. I don't think it'll get as bad as s3 part 1 in terms of pacing. I trust in Mappa, so far i haven't been disappointed at all. The animation and backgrounds are absolutely stunning. That warrior titan sequence was incredibly well done. Props to the animators!

It was a bit confusing mishmash of scenes, but there were some good moments sprinkled in like the introduction of all of Marley's titans. The emotional reactions, however, just weren't the same as they were when reading the manga, to be honest.

I’m really glad they cut the part with RBA hanging onto Female/Armoured neck by a rope. That whole thing seemed stupid to me. Doesn’t match up with previous chapters and I feel like SOMEONE would have noticed two kids hanging onto the Armoured Titan’s neck.

I think MAPPA is doing a really good job so far, can't wait to see the battle in Liberio. I'm not bothered at all with the CG titans because firstly, they look really good, and secondly, I understand why they had to do it. I also hope they don't censor many things or cut out some dark scenes that are important to the season because I would love to see everything animated.

Felt like watching a recap episode... And it wasn't supposed to be one, so

I'm really dissapointed that mappa cut so many things from manga. Reiner's backstory is my favoure part of snk. Suicide scene completly lacks impact.

I really dislike the fact that MAPPA is trying to show only bad side of the marleyan officers. They removed the gate guards, they removed the scene where Magath is telling RBA to stay safe (on Paradis). One of the best parts of the manga is showing that the both races (Eldians and Marleyans) have good and bad sides. By removing positive aspects of Marleyans MAPPA is creating totally different picture. This way the anime onlines may find the whole rumbling even more justified. The episode was pretty good and the OST has made some scenes to feel more dark and serious (especially the moment where the new titans are introduced), but sometimes I feel like the characters are speaking and acting way too fast. I was waiting for the scene with Kenny and Annie, but it took only like few second and was cut. I love MAPPA's version of Kenny. He has more serious aura and looks more like his manga counterpart. In other words; wrinkled grandpa with skinny neck :)

It honestly wasn’t my favorite, but I still loved it. I feel as though they skipped around a lot and there wasn’t a lot of scenes that actually tied together and I’m worried anime only watchers might get confused. Definitely some of the stuff I wanted to see animated didn’t make the cut, but I still love the animation style, the characters and the story!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 285 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again next episode.

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk spoilers #snk s4

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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years

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Anonymous asked: I love your blog it’s definitely one of the most smartest and cultured ones around. Since you are a super chilled out military vet (flying combat helicopters, how cool is that?!) and also a very thoughtful and devout Christian (I think you talked about being an Anglican) I know this is a cheeky question but I’ll ask it anyway. Would you rather live in a military dictatorship or a theocratic dictatorship?

Now this is an interesting question you play at 2am and the wine is dangerously low.

I have to correct you on a couple of things. Yes, it was ‘cool’ to fly combat helicopters especially in a battlefield setting but it was just a job, like any other. And it’s never about the pilot it’s about the rest of the team behind you, especially your ground crew who make sure you go up and come back in one piece. As for being super chilled you clearly have never seen how sweaty one gets flying in high stress situations. Oh and the stink! A skunk wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my cockpit.

As for my Christian beliefs, I’ll settle for being a believing one. My faith, such as it is, is about living - and failing - by grace day by day than being fervently devout. Faith is a struggle to not rely upon one’s own strength but on divine mercy and grace.

Anyway....

Would I rather live in a military dictatorship or a theocratic dictatorship?

History has shown there's not a lot of difference between the two...

No, wait. On second thoughts maybe I would rather live in a military dictatorship as the lesser evil.

As an ex-officer in her HM armed forces, I know things will be run pretty efficiently with no dilly-dallying. So there’s that.

I suppose even if one does say it’s preferable to live under military rule rather than a theocratic one there is still the question of what kind of military rule? Every nation that has been under military rule came to power and sustained their hold under different dynamics. And of course it also depends on how mature civil society and the rule of law as well as the democratic culture really was in the first place. A lot is tied up with the brutal nature of the personality of the regime leader too. There are simply too many variables.

So one is forced to generalise. So l can’t get too serious in answering this question.

Rather than focus on the negative side let’s look on the bright side.

Just off the top of my head I can think of these reasons why I would choose to ‘live’ under military rule than a theocratic one. There are in no real order:

Beds will be made properly subject to inspection.

Families will be run like military units with the man at the head of the table.

Family meals will be taken at set times.

Public civility will make a return (e.g. no public spitting, drunken, or loutish behaviour).

Freedom of speech will more likely be censored than abolished (better than nothing I suppose)

Elections would be rigged rather than banned (but who really votes anyway these days?) 

They will most likely make the trains run on time (unless you’re British or Italian).

Military leaders often enjoy genuine popularity - albeit after eliminating plausible rivals - that is based on “performance legitimacy,” a perceived competence at securing prosperity and defending the nation against external or internal threats. The new autocrats of today are more surgical: they aim only to convince citizens of their competence to govern.

Maintaining power, for military dictators and their court, is less a matter of terrorising and persecuting victims than of manipulating beliefs about the world. But of course they can do both if backed into a corner to survive.

State propaganda aims not to re-engineer human souls but to boost the military regime leader’s ratings.

The military tend to stay out of personal lives. They have a political police but not necessarily a moral police.

Economic growth is more likely to be stable than under a theocratic state.

Military dictatorships are more likely to build vast bureaucracies to run the state - more jobs for everyone

The military put on great events. Their parades are more colourful and spectacular.

Having a sense of humour is more likely to get you imprisoned than executed for telling an anti-regime joke. It’s no joke to say that people develop a more refinery subversive sense of humour when oppressed. Take for example a famous comedian in Myanmar, Zarganar, for whom comedy is a shield and a weapon. During the time of the military dictatorship (1962-2010) he would make jokes like, “The American says, 'We have a one-legged guy who climbed Mount Everest.' The Brit says, 'We recently had a guy with no arms who swam the Atlantic Ocean. But the Burmese guy says, 'That's nothing! We had a leader who ruled for 18 years without a brain!" It was for jokes like this that Zarganar received a prison sentence in 2008 - for up to 59 years.

Military dictatorships don’t last long. They are more unstable. They tend to fall from the weight of their own contradictions.

One of the problems of living in a theocracy is how absolutist it would be in looking at life in terms of clear cut black and white according to those who rule over you. I strongly suspect in a theocratic state the morality secret police will be all over you looking for any social or moral infraction. In a Christian Theocracy, you'll never be Christian enough - the same would be for states that were Islamic, Judaic or Hindu etc. There's always going to be some pious asshole there with another version of Christianity that is more Christian than you and you're going to lose the freedom to make your own choices.

Under theocracies, unlike other authoritarian regimes, the rulers are the moral authorities that legitimises and fuels their political legitimacy to govern. It assumes its own moral correctness married to its political destiny to rule over others. As C.S Lewis memorably puts it, “Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.”

Finally, I’ll go with the military dictatorship with the hope that there might be some way of bringing the system down with a bit of logic and rationality. Hell knows that wouldn't be possible in a theocratic system!

I agree with Margaret Atwood when she said, “If you disagree with your government, that's political. If you disagree with your government that is approaching theocracy, then you're evil.” There’s more wriggle room with fighting against a military dictatorship because it’s usually against an asshole tyrant - or a ruling oligarchy of a military junta - and not a pernicious idea soaked in theological bullshit or an entire ideology divinely santificated by God himself.

A more interesting question is not to ask is why many people are so readily drawn to be ruled under a military rule or a theocratic one and especially a benevolent dictatorship (like Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore or Paul Kagame in Rwanda) but why increasingly more people in the Western world look to authoritarian figures to rule and shape their lives?

Why do Silicon Valley titans like Peter Thiel and others like him think fondly of ditching democracy in the name of some utopian hyper-capitalist vision of ‘freedom’?

I hear murmurs of the same talk when I interact with corporate colleagues and high net worth individuals I hear it around dinner tables about how democracy is bad for business and profit. Often it’s accompanied by praise for China's ability to "get things done." I just roll my eyes and smile politely.

I think - outside of the legitimate concern of the decay of civil discourse, the corruption of politicians, and corrosiveness of crony capitalism - it’s because democratic politics is hard. Damn hard.

Moreover democratic politics does not have a "right" answer. There never is.

In our Western societies it is the playing field (or market place?) where our values compete. Surely, you say, there is a right way to get the job done: to fill in the potholes, build the roads, keep our streets safe, get our kids to learn reading and math. Ah, but look how quickly those issues get contentious.

Whose potholes should get filled first? Do we try to keep our streets safe through community policing or long prison sentences? Should teachers be given merit pay, are small classrooms better, or should we lengthen the school day? These issues engender deep political fights, all - even in the few debates where research provides clear, technocratic answers. That is because the area of politics is an area for values disputes, not technical solutions.

One person's "right" is not another's because people prioritise different values: equity versus excellence, efficiency versus voice and participation, security versus social justice, short-term versus long-term gains.

Democratic politics allows many ideas of "right" to flourish. It is less efficient than dictatorship. It also makes fewer tremendous mistakes.

The longing for a leader who knows what is in her people's best interests, who rules with care and guides the nation on a wise path, was Plato's idea of a philosopher-king. It's a tempting picture, but it's asking the wrong question.

In political history, philosophers moved from a preference for such benevolent dictators to the ugly realities of democracy when they switched the question from "who could best rule?" to "what system prevents the worst rule?"

But clearly democracy is buckling under pressure in our torrid times. Populism - the logical end consequence of a purer democracy - is chipping away at the edifice of democratic norms and conventions. Increasingly inward looking nativism and nationalism fuel passions beyond the control of reason.

Perhaps it is time we went back to the tried and tested example of a monarchy, a constitutional one that is.

A revitalised monarchy in Britain needs a Head of State that can provide a personal identity to an impersonal State, and a collective sense of itself. A Head of State who does not owe his or her position to either patronage or a vote can more properly represent all the people. Consider that a President who has been elected, often by a minority of a minority of the electorate, cannot adequately speak for the people who did not vote for him or her. It is even worse if the President has been appointed, because then he owes his position to a small clique.So, the accident of birth is the best means of appointing a Head of State. Someone who has no party political axe to grind, or special favours to repay to a vested interest. Someone whose allegiance is to the people. Not just allegiance to the people who voted for him or his political party, but allegiance to all the people of the country equally. Far from being "incompatible" with democracy, a Monarchy can thereby enhance the government of the land.

The Monarch is a national icon. An icon which cannot be replaced adequately by any other politician or personality. This is because the British Monarchy embodies British history and identity in all its aspects, both good and bad.

When you see the Queen you not only see history since 1952, when she took the throne, but you see a person who provides a living sense of historical continuity with the past. Someone who embodies in her person a history which extends back through time, back through the Victorian era, back into the Stuart era and beyond. You see the national history of all parts of our islands, together, going right back in time.

As Edmund Burke, Roger Scruton and Michael Oakeshott would say, the monarchy is a living continuity between the past, the present and the future.

With its traditions, its history, its ceremonial, and with its standing and respect throughout the world, the British Monarchy represents a unique national treasure, without which the United Kingdom would be sorely impoverished.

If you value national distinctiveness, you should be a Monarchist.

If you are anti-globalist you should be a Monarchist because Monarchies represent the different national traditions and distinctions among the nations.

The desire to secure, strengthen and promote your own distinct national icons, whether your Monarch, or your own unique national identity, should be your concern, whether you live here in St Andrews, or whether you live in St Petersburg, or whether you live in St Paulo.

As the global financial system rushes us all towards a world intended to eradicate all local and national distinctions, the Monarchy stands out as different, distinct and valuable. Constitutionally, practically, spiritually and symbolically the Monarchy is a national treasure, the continued erosion of which would change the character of Britain, and not in a good way!

I’m speaking as a High Tory now, sorry. And so of course I only see it working for the United Kingdom....and the Commonwealth (slip that discreetly in there for you India, Australia, Canada, and Africa).

Still, if you want egalitarianism then look at Norway and the Netherlands - both highly "egalitarian" societies, and both monarchies.

Everyone else will just have to jolly well do without or ask us politely to come back (I’m looking at you my dear American colonial cousins, all will be forgiven).

The best of all worlds? Time will tell.

At your service, Ma’am....

Thanks for your question.

#question #ask #military dictatorship #government #rule #democracy #culture #society #theocracy #army #christianity #religion #nd high net worth individuals

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kjack89 · 4 years

Text

Personal Gain (Chapter 4/?)

This chapter got long, so I decided to split it. This may have one or two more parts after this, depending on how writing the rest of it goes.

My personal appeal is that if you are an American reader, please make sure you vote if you are able. Seven days to go!

Modern magic AU, developing E/R and Courferre. Read Chapter 1 here, Chapter 2 here and Chapter 3 here (or catch up on AO3).

Courfeyrac waved his apartment’s warding spell off with a distracted hand, barely noticing that Combeferre had apparently been in his apartment at some point. He had spent the entire meeting wracking his brain for things to try next, and he was drawing a blank.

He didn’t like drawing a blank.

He flopped down on the couch, barely glancing up when he felt the warding spell tingle as Combeferre came in. “Come to gloat some more?” Courfeyrac asked sourly, staring up at the ceiling.

“As much as I may love gloating, no,” Combeferre said, hanging his coat on a hook and heading over to the couch, lifting Courfeyrac’s feet and settling them on his lap like he had a thousand time before. “I come bearing inspiration.”

“Oh?” Courfeyrac said mildly, propping himself up on his elbows.

Combeferre nodded and pulled a bottle from his bag, setting it down on the coffee table with a clunk. “Yep, inspiration in the form of a bottle of Jägermeister.”

“Jäger?” Courfeyrac asked, wrinkling his nose. “The only thing Jäger ever inspired was bad life choices.”

“Yeah, but Grantaire gave it to me forever ago, and besides, it was between that or a bottle of absinthe, and seeing as how we’re not characters in a nineteenth century French novel—”

Courfeyrac laughed. “Fair point.” He held his hand out and Combeferre pressed the bottle into it.

“Do you want a glass? Or a mixer, or—”

He broke off as Courfeyrac screwed the cap off and took a gulp straight from the bottle. “Oh, God,” he rasped. “Tastes like freshman year.”

Combeferre grabbed the bottle and took a swig, making a face. “Tastes like a frat party,” he said, handing the bottle back to Courfeyrac, who sat up, looking intrigued.

“When did you ever go to a frat party?”

“Despite what you may think, I didn’t spend my entire college career in the library,” Combeferre said.

Courfeyrac snorted and took another sip of Jäger. “So you say,” he muttered.

Combeferre rolled his eyes but didn’t push it, instead leaning forward to grab the Book of Shadows off the coffee table. “So what are you thinking?” he asked, flipping idly through the pages. “What’s your next grand plan?”

Courfeyrac sighed somewhat mournfully and cast a baleful look at the grimoire. “Would you believe me if I said I didn’t have one?”

Combeferre hesitated. “Would you be mad if I said I wasn’t surprised at all?”

Courfeyrac groaned and took a gulp of Jäger before passing the bottle back to Combeferre. “Just shut up and drink,” he sighed. “And let’s hope the inspiration hits us soon.”

Combeferre wisely chose not to say anything to that, just raising the bottle to his lips and taking a sip.

----------

“What about lightning?” Combeferre asked vaguely, the now almost-empty bottle of Jäger sitting between him and Courfeyrac, who had swung his legs up over the back of the couch and was resting his head on Combeferre’s stomach.

“Lightning?” Courfeyrac repeated.

Combeferre waved a hand. “Yeah, you know, like the, uh, coup de foudre.”

Courfeyrac turned his head to look up at him, looking amused. “I don’t think an actual lightning strike will help with that,” he said, with a slight hiccup. “Besides, I thought the point of the Jäger over absinthe was so that we wouldn’t get our inspiration from French fairytales.”

“Nineteenth century French novels,” Combeferre corrected, before sitting up, almost knocking Courfeyrac off the couch in the process. “Wait a second – fairytales.”

“Ow,” Courfeyrac complained, sitting up as well. “What about fairytales?”

Combeferre ignored him, flipping through the Book of Shadows, before landing decisively on a page and pointing excitedly at it. “Here,” he announced, shoving, the book at Courfeyrac. “Like a fairytale!”

Courfeyrac blinked down at the page, finding it difficult to focus enough to read. “Draught of Living Death,” he read outloud, before looking at Combeferre incredulously. “You want me to kill them? I don’t think we’re that desperate.”

Combeferre rolled his eyes. “No, don’t you see?” he said excitedly. “Give one of ‘em that, and then the other can wake him up with True Love’s Kiss! Like a fairytale!”

Courfeyrac started at Combeferre for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Ferre, True Love’s Kiss is not a real thing,” he said, reaching out to pat Combeferre’s head patronizingly. “That is a fairytale. So the only thing I’d be doing is putting one of them in basically a coma. Which I’m not gonna pretend I haven’t thought about. Especially Enjolras.”

“You’re not wrong there,” Combeferre muttered.

“But that magical coma can’t be broken by Grantaire kissing him. Not to mention you were the one all concerned about consent.”

Combeferre sighed, looking crestfallen. “Well, I thought it was a good idea,” he said, slumping against the couch cushions and grabbing the bottle of Jäger.

“Better than anything I’ve come up with,” Courfeyrac sighed. “Since all I can think of is locking ‘em in a room together.”

“And casting a spell on them?” Combeferre asked interestedly.

Courfeyrac sighed. “No. Just making them stay in there until they either confessed or...I dunno. Something.”

Both men fell silent, Combeferre staring at the Book of Shadows as if it might somehow reveal something to him, while Courfeyrac played absently with the crystal he wore on a chain around his neck, feeling the gentle flare of the spells his father had placed on it, spells of charisma and luck and strength and…

“Wait a minute,” he said slowly. “Lock ‘em in a room together.”

“You said that already,” Combeferre sighed.

“Right, but not put a spell on them.”

“You said that too.”

Courfeyrac shook his head. “No, but I can put a spell on the room.”

Combeferre glanced over at him. “Like your worthless warding spell?”

“It’s not worthless,” Courfeyrac said impatiently. “But yes, kind of like that. I’ve trying to cast the spell on them directly, and that hasn’t worked. So maybe I need to try spelling a location they would both go.”

“Like the Musain?” Combeferre asked doubtfully.

Courfeyrac shook his head. “No, that gets too much traffic from outside parties, it’d be impossible to limit the spell effects.” He fell silent, wracking his slightly drunk brain for an alternative before brightening. “Enjolras’s apartment!”

Combeferre nodded slowly. “That would probably work,” he said. “But, uh, what spell would you use?”

Courfeyrac grinned. “The exact same spell I was gonna use from the beginning – the attraction spell that I used for Marius.”

Combeferre didn’t look convinced. “Ok, but Grantaire already hangs out at Enjolras’s apartment all the time, frequently without Enjolras, because it’s closer to the Musain and his work and because he claims Enjolras’s couch is more comfortable than his bed—”

“Having seen Grantaire’s bed, I believe him.”

Combeferre was undeterred. “Right, but my point is that Grantaire is there all the time anyway, which brings us to the same problem we had when you originally suggested this idea.”

“Exactly,” Courfeyrac said. “Which is why the attraction spell won’t be focused on Grantaire. It’ll be focused on Enjolras.”

Combeferre blinked. “You want to attract Enjolras to his own apartment?”

“Yep,” Courfeyrac said with a confidence only alcohol could provide. “Because that man barely spends any time there. This way, he’ll want to spend all of his time there. With Grantaire and away from Les Amis or anything else to distract them.”

He was so confident in this idea that he was actually taken aback when Combeferre asked, still sounding doubtful, “Ok, so we get him to spend time with Grantaire at his apartment, and then what? What if that’s not enough?”

Courfeyrac frowned slightly. “Well, if they’re spending that time there without any distractions, maybe it’ll just...happen?” he suggested, wincing at how weak it was.

Combeferre gave him a look. “They’ve been spending time together for years. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing this.”

Courfeyrac sagged back against the couch. “Damn, I really thought we had something there,” he said mournfully, leaning over to rest his head against Combeferre’s shoulder.

Combeferre sighed. “Well, we can always go back to my idea.”

Courfeyrac made a face. “Draught of Living Death?”

“No, not interfering.”

“That ship has long since sailed,” Courfeyrac reminded him, glaring up at him. “Besides, you’ve done enough interfering already that you should probably let that idea go.”

Combeferre half-smiled. “Fair.”

“You know, that reminds me,” Courfeyrac said, lifting his head off of Combeferre’s shoulder. “I know why I’m doing this, but why are you? You’ve been against this from the beginning, but you keep coming back.”

“Well, someone’s got to stop you from making a complete fool of yourself,” Combeferre said lightly.

“Ha ha,” Courfeyrac said dryly. “C’mon, I mean it – why’re you helping me?”

Combeferre glanced over at him, something unreadable in his expression. “You really want to know?” Courfeyrac nodded, and Combeferre took a deep breath. “Well, honestly—”

“Wait, that’s it!” Courfeyrac burst, realization hitting.

“What’s it?”

Courfeyrac grinned. “An honesty spell. I can cast an honesty spell on Enjolras’s apartment along with the attraction spell.”

“You can do that?” Combeferre asked.

“Oh, sure, you can layer all kinds of spells to work in tandem.”

Combeferre nodded slowly. “Ok, so you do a truth spell, and—”

“An honesty spell,” Courfeyrac corrected. “Truth spells tend to backfire and make people confess all kinds of deep dark secrets, and I don’t think sending Grantaire down that path will lead to the kind of confession we’re hoping for.”

“Grantaire?” Combeferre snorted. “I’d be more worried about Enjolras confessing his plans to violently overthrow the government.”

Courfeyrac considered it. “Fair point,” he allowed. “But in any case, I’m taking chances this time, so no truth spell, just a mild honesty spell so that they can’t lie to each other. That’s as far as my magic can go. The rest’ll be up to them.”

Combeferre was silent for a long moment before he nodded again. “You know, this just might actually work.”

“What was that?” Courfeyrac asked distractedly as he grabbed the Book of Shadows.

“I said, this might actually work,” Combeferre repeated, slightly louder.

Courfeyrac looked up from the grimoire, grinning at him. “Oh, I heard you the first time,” he said smugly. “I just wanted to make you say it again.”

Combeferre scowled and punched Courfeyrac lightly on the arm. “Well, I’m certainly not going to say it a third time,” he said, slightly petulantly. “Not until it actually works, at least.”

“Trust me, this time, it will,” Courfeyrac said, his confidence less fueled by Jäger this time and more by sheer determination. “It has to.”

>>Read chapter 5 here>>

#exr #courferre #enjolras x grantaire #combeferre #courfeyrac #enjolras #grantaire #les miserables #fanfiction #modern au #magic au #developing relationship #chaptered #part 4

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theotherjourney7 · 4 years

Text

“"I never thought trucks would pile up at MY border," weeps Ashford MP Damian Green from the Trucks Piling Up at Borders Party.

Since this is blowing up a little, let's talk about why this parking lot is being built and the choices (beyond holding a referendum and implementing its result) that brought this about.

“Why do we need giant truck parking lots?"

Because from the end of the transition period, trucks moving things UK-EU will need to stop and present significantly more paperwork than before.

The lots are for trucks without papers, wrong papers, or if there are queues.

“Why do they need more paperwork?"

Because now the UK and EU will be two distinct trading areas, and trading areas need to know precisely what's crossing their borders, in what amounts, owned by who, driven by who, and liable for which tariffs.

That's a lot of new paper.

“So they'll fill out the forms, what's the problem?"

Even if every truck is carrying perfect paperwork, that's thousands more forms that have to be processed, and thousands more confirmations happening at the port every day.

That alone could overwhelm the port's capacity.

“What if the forms aren't done, or aren't right?"

That's even worse. Customs documentation is complicated, and it's not going to be something the driver can just correct with a sharpie.

They'll need to contact head office, which may need to consult the customer or an expert.

“How long can that take?"

Hours, sometimes longer. Many ports don't have room for trucks to sit idling while someone on the other end of the country corrects errors on a Rules of Origin certificate.

Ergo, you need these big parking lots.

“But this was always inevitable, once Brexit was voted in, right?"

Not entirely.

First, the way the Future Relationship Agreement was done, ruling out Customs Union membership, is what made this volume of paperwork needed.

A CU has much less paper at its internal borders.

Second, the reason the HMG is frantically buying up hectares of land to put trucks in, is because it anticipates freight operators not being ready, port processing not being ready, or both.

Not extending transition, despite a pandemic, made this far more likely.

“Can electronic systems fix all this?"

They can help a lot, but they're not a magic bullet.

HMG is obviously not expecting tech to enable a frictionless end to transition. I can tell because they just leased half of Kent.“-Dmitry Grozoubinski, photos credit to Kentish Express

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sweetiepie08 · 4 years

Text

RebelZ Chapter 6

Invader Zim fanfic

While analyzing Zim’s PAK for weaknesses, Tak discovers strange coding that sends her on a search for answers. The clues lead her to uncover a conspiracy that governs all of Irken society. When the truth sends her on the run, she has no choice but to return to the one place the Tallest would never willingly go: Urth.

Meanwhile, Dib has noticed odd changes in Zim’s behavior. Has the invader simply grown bored of his mission over the last few years, or is there something more interesting going on?

People who asked to be tagged: @incorrect-invader-zim , @messinwitheddie, @reblogstupids, @cate-r-gunn, @agentpinerulesall

If anyone else would like to be added to the tag list feel free to message me. Also, if you’re on the tag list and you changed your name, please just let me know.

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10.

[-]

Dib flipped through the streaming services, looking for something to watch. The documentary had ended, pizza had been eaten, and Gaz had gone upstairs to fix some emergency with one of her online gaming groups. He knew he had surveillance tapes waiting for him on his desk, (or worse, college applications) but he wasn’t ready to check up on them just yet. He was actually enjoying some downtime for once, and he didn’t want it to end.

Then, he heard the all-too-familiar sounds of an alien spaceship landing outside.

Nope, he thought as he hit play on whatever show he landed on. Didn’t matter what, so long as he could pretend he couldn’t hear what was going on in his driveway.

Some muffled arguing came from the front door, followed by the bell ringing. Dib turned up the volume. Not getting out of this chair.

Loud pounding began, accompanied by cries of “Dib-human! Open this door!” Dib turned the volume up as loud as it would go as the pounding continued.

“Jesus Christ, Dib!” Gaz shouted from upstairs. “Just answer the door!”

“Fine!” Dib shut off the tv and stalked to the front door. When he opened it, he found two Irken idiots.

Zim and Tak hung off each other and drank from plastic bottles while their robot pets bolted right in and made themselves at home. “Hey, you grew into your head,” Tak said, lazily pointing her claw at him.

“You know, Dib, there’s a lot of reasons to hate your planet,” Zim slurred, letting himself in. “You keep chihuahuas as pets, some of you refuse to inoculate against deadly diseases, and that Game of Thrones finale was garbage! But at least you don’t need identification to buy gingzor, and that almost makes up for it.” Zim punctuated his short rant by taking a long swig from his bottle.

“And look,” Tak said, pulling a box of ginger snaps out of a plastic shopping bag, “they had edibles.”

“Are you guys drunk? What is this?” Dib grabbed the bottle out of Zim’s hands. He checked the label, gave it a sniff, and took a small taste. Yup, it was exactly what the label said it was. “This is just ginger ale.”

“Eee-yup,” Zim said, swiping his bottle back. “Your light brews aren’t as potent as the ones we’ve got on Irk, but it gets the job done.”

“Wait, are you guys seriously telling me your species gets drunk off ginger?”

“Why?” Tak asked, shoving a cookie in her mouth. “What do humans consume when they want to forget the futility of existence?”

“Uh, alcohol, usually.”

The two Irkens locked eyes, then burst into laughter. “Seriously?” Tak squealed, wiping a tear from her eye. “That’s an antiseptic.”

“Humans really are stupid,” Zim agreed.

“Not that kind,” Dib grumbled, knowing he would be ignored. Then he felt his temper boil. “What are you two doing in my house?!”

“Oh yeah,” the two brushed past him and hopped on the couch like they owned the place. “We need to crash here for a while,” Zim explained. He turned on the tv, got blasted by an old episode of The Office, then turned the volume down.

“Why?”

“We uncovered a conspiracy behind the Irken empire and our government tried to kill us.”

“I discovered,” Tak corrected. “They just caught you harboring me.”

“Eh, details.”

“The point is,” Tak went on, “we’re both marked as traitors and we need to lay low for a while.”

Dib could have sworn his ears perked like a dog’s. An intergalactic conspiracy? There was a story here so juicy he could almost taste it. Still, as he watched the earth’s total Irken population spill ginger ale on the couch and grind crumbs into the cushions, the only question on his mind was, “why here?”

“Need your lab,” Zim tossed off as if it should have been obvious.

“So? Why don’t you go back to your base and use your own lab?”

“Can’t.” Zim took a teal cube out of his pocket and tossed it in Dib’s direction.

Dib caught it and brought it up to his eye to inspect. “What’s this?”

“My base.”

“Your whole base is in this?” Dib strained his eyes, looking at the cube. “What’s going on? How did this even happen?”

“How far back in Irken history do you want to go?” Tak asked, popping open a bottle.

“Wait, you mean you’re actually going to tell me?”

She gave a non-committal shrug. “Eh…”

“Hold on, wait right there.” Dib zipped upstairs to his room, grabbed a notebook, pen, and recorder, then zipped back down. He grabbed a chair, hit record, and poised his pen. “Let’s start at the beginning.”

[-]

Dib scribbled furiously, trying to keep up with Tak’s slurred ramblings. Zim interjected occasionally to add something or explain an Irken concept, but it was clear exactly who the conspiracy hunter was.

“So, anyway, that’s when I realized this parasite has been controlling our entire society for generations and, you know, it’s just a real buzzkill to find out you’re basically living food.”

“I see,” Dib said, making a note to ask about this library planet later (maybe get coordinates?). “And this parasite has been masquerading as the Control Brains.”

“Not ‘masquerading’ exactly,” she explained. “They always were the Control Brains.”

“And, just to make sure I got this, the Control brains are what, again?”

Before they could answer, he heard a loud “eh-he-eh-hm.” He looked over to see Gaz standing in the kitchen doorway. When he met her eyes, she curled one finger, ominously beckoning him over. “Uh, one second, guys.” He put down his pen and followed Gaz into the kitchen.

“Make this quick, Gaz,” he said, peaking back into the living room. “These two are giving me everything.”

“Okay then,” she said, her voice displaying her irritation. “Just answer me this: why are there two destructive aliens drinking like civil war amputee patients on our couch?”

“Revealing their government’s secrets, that’s what,” he answered with unbridled glee. “Turns out, ginger gets them drunk and when they’re drunk, they have no filter. They’ve been rambling on and on about their creepy big-brother-like society for an hour now. Look at all these notes.” He shoved the notebook in Gaz’s face and flipped furiously through the pages. “As long as I keep them drunk and happy, they’ll keep talking. Which reminds me…” He took out his wallet, grabbed a bill, and handed it to Gaz. “Go to the store and buy them out of ginger ale. We can’t let them sober up.”

“Five bucks?” Gaz said, wrinkling her nose. “I assume you’re planning on reimbursing me for the grocery bill later.”

“This isn’t about money, Gaz.”

“Then dig a little deeper, Scrooge. I know your part-time at Dad’s lab pays more than this.”

“And you make plenty off of your twitch gaming streams,” Dib argued. “Come on, this is about furthering human knowledge.”

Gaz raised her eyebrow in her ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ way. “You’re offering me $5 to drop everything, go to the store, and buy out their entire supply of ginger ale without reimbursing me for the bill.”

“Uh…yes?”

She scoffed. “Get a pulse.”

Dib pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed the corners of his eyes. Was she seriously arguing with him about money at a time like this? “Look, what if I give you an acknowledgement when I publish this baby? Like, say, in the forward?”

“You mean the part no one reads?”

“Uh…”

Gaz let out an exasperated huff and looked into the living room at the two Irkens. “So, they’ll really ramble on and on if you stuff them full of ginger, huh? About anything?”

“Yeah, pretty much. We managed to stay on topic so far. I mean, Zim did go on a tangent about the Game of Thrones finale, but we got back on track.”

Gaz smiled. “Did he, now? About what?”

“Something about Westeros crumbling as soon as the credits rolled. I don’t know. You watched that show, not me.”

“Hmm…” Gaz murmured, looking pointedly at Zim. Oh no, she was thinking… Worse! She was plotting!

“Gaz? What are you doing?”

She threw him a wicked smirk and sauntered into the living room. “Hey, Zim!” she called, clear as a bell. “That Game of Thrones finale sucked, right?”

“Don’t even get me started, Dib-sister!” Zim called back, slapping his hand on the couch. “Zim has never seen such a staggering drop in quality!”

Dib dropped his face into his hands. Was it too late to offer a twenty?”

[-]

“I guarantee Dorne and the Iron Islands rebelled as soon as they stepped out of the Dragon Pit.” Zim said, splashing ginger ale on the couch with every gesture. “I’ll bet they only voted ‘yes’ on Bran because this would be the easiest reign to overthrow.”

“Exactly!” Gaz said, slapping the arm of her chair. “Dany promised Yara independence two seasons ago. There’s no way she’s just going to watch him hand his sister a kingdom and not demand what’s owed to her.”

Dib twisted the notebook in his hands as he listened to them rant. They’d been at this since Gaz brought up the subject.

“And what was with them acting like Dany was in the wrong for executing Varys?” Zim added. “He tried to assassinate her!”

“As if Jon didn’t execute a child a few seasons ago for the same thing. And it was obvious that kid was coerced into it by the higher-ranking Night’s Watch men.” Gaz said. “You’ll notice Dany didn’t execute the child Varys manipulated into poisoning her. And he only thought she was ‘mad’ because she stopped listening to his shitty advice.”

“Their ‘advice’ lost her the Dornish forces, the Iron Fleet, and Highgarden’s armies,” Zim agreed.

“Plus another dragon and her best friend. And when she goes into mourning, he’s all ‘Welp, she’s clearly gone mad. Time to put her down like Old Yeller.’ Oh! And what was with Tyrion’s ‘everywhere she goes, evil men die’ speech? Like that’s a bad thing? Yeah, I know. That’s why I liked her.”

“You know wat she should have done?” Zim said. “She should have flown her three dragons to the Red Keep like she wanted to do last season. She could have taken the city with fewer casualties.”

Gaz nodded in agreement. “Maybe even no casualties if King’s Landing surrenders immediately.”

“Then she’d have all three dragons and all the armies in the Seven Kingdoms to fight the White Walkers with!” Zim added.

“Yeah, then maybe there’d be enough time to make the army of the dead live up to the hype! Nice Long Night. Lasted about six hours.”

“What is this show?” Tak asked. “I want to watch.”

“Enough!” Dib burst, jumping out of his seat. “Enough Game of Thrones! If you want to keep complaining, go on the internet and do it! Now can we please get back to you two spilling the secrets of your evil intergalactic empire!”

“There are no more secrets, human,” Tak snapped. “We’ve told all. The only other information I could find is on this.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a square, plastic information drive. “But this technology is too outdated to decode. So, unless you have access to an ancient computer…”

Dib took the square and held it up to his eyes. “This just looks like a floppy disc.”

“Really, Dib-beast?” Zim scoffed. “Your planet’s technology is antiquated, but it’s not that archaic.”

“Actually, that’s pretty outdated for us too,” Gaz said, “but our dad’s got a computer graveyard in the attic. Maybe we can get one of those to work.”

Tak regarded the disc suspiciously. “You’re serious? You think you might be able to get it to work.”

“It could be possible,” Dib answered, eyeballing the disc. It looked about the right size and shape. It may at least fit into the disc drive. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve gotten Irken and Earth technology to work together. It’s worth a shot.”

[-]

After about an hour and a few trips to the attic, they found an old monitor and hard drive they managed to turn on. As the computer booted up, they compared the Irken disc drive to a standard floppy disc. Dib was right. They seemed to match up.

“You really think this has a shot?” Tak asked again. She looked skeptical they whole time the were getting set up, but as the computer whirred to life, Dib thought he could detect a hint of hope in her voice.

“It could,” Gaz answered. “If the magnetic polarity is the same as we use on earth, the computer might be able to read the disc.”

Dib nodded along. While he was good with technology, his area of expertise was more on the engineering side. Gaz was the one with an affinity for coding.

Once the computer was ready, they popped in the drive. They all gathered around the monitor and held their breath. A buffering window popped up on the screen and they let out a collective gasp.

After a few minutes, the picture went black and green Irken text scrolled up across the screen, accompanied by, what sounded to Dib, like a series of chirps, clicks, and hisses. “Um, is it supposed to be making that-”

Tak and Zim threw a sharp hiss in his direction, then went back to staring intently at the screen. When Dib quieted and listened harder, he realized the sounds came from an organic voice and had a deliberate pattern. Holy shit, it’s reading the text! This is their language!

The voice stopped and the screen froze on another set of Irken symbols.

“Oh, my…” Zim choked out, eyes still glued to the screen. “We’ve got to write that down!”

“MiMi,” Tak commanded, “my tablet.”

“Wait, what was that?” Dib asked as he watched the two aliens scramble to scribble down the symbols on the screen. “Was that guy speaking Irken? What did they say?”

“Yes,” Zim answered. “And those are coordinates to the next place we need to go.”

“You mean, I need to go,” Tak cut in. “I’m the one who uncovered the conspiracy, remember?”

Zim scowled and stomped up to her, getting in her face. “You made this my problem when you crashed at my house, drank all my gingzor, and got my base cubified.”

“Why would I ever team up with you?” she shot back.

“I’m every bit as Irken as you are,” Zim argued. “I deserve answers as much as you.”

“Will someone please tell me what that thing said?” Dib shouted. The two stopped their bickering long enough to cast him an icy stare.

“Well,” Dib growled impatiently. If these two thought they were going to force their way into his home, spill ginger ale on his couch, tell him about an intergalactic conspiracy, and not let him in on the details, they had another thing coming.

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Zim snapped.

“You two waltzed in here expecting me to hide you form your creepy totalitarian government and let you use my lab. Unless you want me to throw you out on your ass…”

“Fine, fine,” Tak said, waving an arm dismissively. “That voice claimed to be Krislotch. He confirmed that he left the clues that lead me to discover the truth about the Control Brains. He also claims more information is waiting on a planet at those coordinates. I must go there next if I want to solve this mystery.”

“We must go there,” Zim but in.

“This is my conspiracy, Zim,” Tak growled, turning back to him. “If there are more answered waiting on that planet, I will be the one to find them.”

“Oh yeah?” he said with a smirk. “How you gonna get there? I’m the only one with a working ship.”

“Dib’s got a ship,” Gaz chimed in. She turned to Tak. “Actually, I think it’s your ship.”

“You!” Before Dib could say anything, Tak had already jumped on the coffee table and grabbed his collar. “You have my ship?!”

“Uhh…”

“Take me to her!”

[-]

“wha-wha…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

They group stood in the garage and stared at the collection of barely-held-together parts, also known as Tak’s ship. Dib had to admit, his last few forays into space hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

“It doesn’t look like this all the time,” he tried explaining. “I’ve gotten it to work. But, you know, sometimes things happen… and when they happen, I have to convince the ship to let me fix it again.”

“And why is she blue?”

“Um… I like blue?”

“Stupid human!” Tak spat, rushing up to her ship. “You have no idea what you’ve been toying with!”

“Fine,” Dib grumbled under his breath. “Only repaired it multiple times of the last six years but whatever…”

“Ship,” Tak commanded, laying a hand on the ship’s windshield. “Respond.”

“Biosignature detected,” the ship said as it began to light up. “You are Tak.”

“Yes, yes, ship! It’s me!” she cried. Dib could almost swear there were tears in her eyes.

“Hmpf, what took you so long?”

Tak looked taken aback. “I was, uh, had a lot going on, you know? Schemes and such?”

“And you never once thought to check in on your ship?”

“When I have to eject, I thought I’d lost you forever,” Tak explained, pressing both hands on the windshield. “I never wanted to leave you behind, but I’m here now. I can take you back.”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Dib protested. He started forward, but Gaz pulled him back.

“It’s her ship, dummy.”

“And how exactly did you get here?” Ship went on.

Tak hesitated. “Well, I…”

“I knew it,” Ship huffed. “You have a new ship now, don’t you?”

“It’s not like that,” Tak insisted. “Yes, I needed a new ship to get around, but I swear, it was a simple matter of transport. That ship means nothing to me. I would trade every other ship in the universe for you.”

The ship went quiet, as if thinking it over. Dib found himself oddly captivated, like when he’d accidently get sucked into his grandmother’s soap operas. He quickly shook himself out of it. This is ridiculous. She’s talking to a ship.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Ship finally said.

“I promise, Ship, I will fix you myself and, after that, I will never even look at another ship again.” She gently caressed its side and the engines purred.

“I will allow you to repair me, for now. After that, perhaps I can allow you to pilot me again, in time.”

Tak smiled and continued to pet her ship while it continued to purr. The scene was almost sweet until Zim decided to break it up.

“Well, well, well,” Zim said, a smug smile on his face, “looks like I’m the only one here with an operational ship.”

Tak only hissed in response.

“So, I guess I’ll be taking those coordinates and be on my way,” he continued, “unless someone wants to grovel for the chance to accompany me.”

Tak stomped up to Zim and unleashed a cavalcade of Irken at him. Dib wasn’t sure what she said, but if cricket/bat/snake could cuss someone out, he imagined it’d sound something like that.

“Okay,” Zim squeaked out, looking up at Tak who now towered over him. “I suppose I could let you come, but only because you asked so nicely.”

“I’m coming too,” Dib declared.

Tak and Zim both turned to him with questioning looks on their faces. “Uh, what?” Zim said.

“I’m coming. I want to see what’s on that planet, too.”

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Tak spat.

“Excuse me? Who’s house are you two crashing at? Who’s ancient computer did you use to get those coordinates? And who’s been keeping your ship running while you’ve been got?”

“We don’t need-” Zim started, but Dib cut him off.

“Yes you do,” he shot back. “You need my lab to get your base working again. You said so yourself. And Tak, you need my garage and my tools if you’re going to fix your ship. If you want to stay here and use my equipment, to fix your stuff, you need to let me in on the conspiracy.”

The two Irkens looked at each other intently, as if holding a telepathic conversation. Dib briefly wondered if they could communicate semi-telepathically, or at least through pheromones. They did have antenna after all.

Finally, they broke their stare down and turned back to Dib. “Fine, the Dib can come,” Zim conceded.

Dib felt a jolt of excitement jump through his body. “Yeah, Gaz and I-”

“Nope,” Gaz said, turning on her heals and heading back inside.

Okay, so no Gaz. Aw well, he could at least count on her to cover for him while he’s gone. “I will get my space travel equipment and be ready to leave within the hour.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever,” Zim said, and he and Tak headed back inside as well. Dib went further into the garage and began preparing the things he’s need for the trip.

“You’re seriously going to let him come along?” Tak asked as they walked away.

“Eh,” Zim said with a shrug. “If the Dib-worm wants to come to a dead planet where total species-wide genocide took place, let him.”

Dib let the helmet he’d been holding clang to the floor. “Wait, what?”

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