something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.
“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”
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Here’s the Incredibles au oneshot that I said I was working on that I accidentally deleted and finally rewrote oops
This is set right before supers are officially banned, so Twilight is the only kid born so far. And his poor family is not dealing well with the looming ban.
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Twilight let out an excited yip as he chased his tail, spinning around in dizzying circles. Normally he wouldn’t be allowed to spin so fast, but Mama wasn’t trying to walk past him and nobody else was home, so he could go as fast as he liked!
He spun in even faster circles, and let out excited little growls as his paws pounded the floor. The living room whirled around him, and Twilight nipped at his tail, spinning like mad.
Sudden a weird wriggly feeling lurched in his stomach, and Twilight wobbled to a stop, blinking rapidly as his vision kept spinning around.
Ooh... maybe there was a reason he wasn’t supposed to go so fast.
He plunked onto the floor, shaking his head as his vision continued to spin. Twilight whined and set his head on the floor too, but finally the wriggling in his stomach eased, and his vision came to a stop.
Twilight shook his head one last time, happy he could move without wobbling, but then a noise hit his ears. He raised his head, then tilted it, confused. That sounded like Mama, but he’d never heard her make a sniffly noise like that before...
...was she okay?
Twilight padded out of the room, swiveling his ears as he followed the noise. He walked through the house, listening carefully, then finally poked his head around a corner and found Mama.
She was sitting on the stairs, which was already weird, but she also had a hand over her eyes, and tears were rolling down what bit of her face Twilight could see. He stared at her in shock, then crept over to her, a small whine building in his throat.
She was crying?
He’d never seen her cry before.
“Mama?” he woofed anxiously, knowing she’d understand him. His mother startled and looked down at him, her eyes shiny with tears. “You hurt?”
“Oh... oh honey, I’m okay,” she said in a wobbly voice, swiping a sleeve over her eyes. “I’m just...“
She sniffled, and Twilight rested his head on her knee, nuzzling her leg just a little. Malon breathed out, and Twilight let her gather him into her arms, wriggling around until he was comfortable.
“The world is just... a little sad right now,” Mama said quietly, holding him close. “People are... scared, of what our powers can do, and when people are scared, they... they sometimes make bad choices.”
Twilight stayed quiet for a moment, thinking this through as Mama brushed away a bit of flyaway fur from his eyes.
“That’s why Daddy was hurt yester-a-day?”
Malon startled, then sighed. “Yes sweetie, that’s why.”
Twilight went quiet again, and Malon held him a bit tighter, looking down at him worriedly.
“You don’t need to be scared honey, it’s okay. Me and Daddy will keep you safe,” she said gently, scratching his ears. Twilight wiggled his nose, and after a moment’s concentration, turned back into a hylian.
“Not scared,” he said, and it was true. He wasn’t scared of mean people who didn’t like powers, even if he’d... never actually met any. But he knew he didn’t like them for making Mama cry and Daddy limp around all of yesterday.
Were they also why Sky had been so angry the other night, and why Warriors didn’t play with him as much?
Mama sniffled again, and Twilight looked up at her, that wriggling feeling in his stomach coming back even worse as a tear trailed down her cheek.
“Don’t cry Mama,” he said, and when she looked down at him, he reached up and planted a big kiss on her damp cheek. “Be okay.“
Mama gave him just a little bit of a smile, and held him close, pressing a kiss to his hair. He snuggled closer, and she ran a hand through his hair, smoothing out the little tangles that always seemed to show up.
“Thank you honey, you’re right. It’ll be okay. It’ll all be okay,” she said, almost like she was talking to herself instead of him. Twilight rested his head on her shoulder, and she set a hand on her rounded tummy, lightly rubbing it as she held him close. “Everything will be okay.”
Twilight smiled, and sucked on his thumb as she held him tight.
Mama was still making the sniffly noise, but not as loud as before, and Twilight nestled up to her, happy he’d helped. The wriggly feeling in his stomach felt better, and Mama had said it would be okay, even if the world was sad right now.
She pressed another kiss to his hair, and Twilight closed his eyes.
It would be okay.
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