#character fully intent on dying killing themselves only to be brought back

[blindtaleteller]

Marvel Comic moments and character points that deeply inspire my MCU-flavored Lokiverse, followed by some of the exerpts that result from that influence. Because someone in my discords asked, and said I should.

LISTEN (Vestibule HVRA-0616.04.03 - Door/Universe 3)

  " They all are; the last safe pieces of me left; that none of them, or the ones they left me in the hands of to torture.. to be made to give it up just to survive because they knew, and they saw; and.. " that sharp breath in and the slow breath out: audible. Reaching for control when that and his words had sped up with the edges of anger was forced to drop off. " They left me there. Watched through Heimdall's eyes and did nothing, nothing to stop it. That's how valuable a son I was as what I am. What they lied and told me I wasn't, for all my life. How loved a brother. A year of .. all, that. Left to be tortured and definitely killed without that deal, once he was done with me. "

           Oh.. god Thor. You big stupid idiot. That had better not be true. He had better be lying..

      " If you don't wanna talk about-- " Tony, badly wanting to backtrack. Natasha wanted him to too, just hearing the way, never mind the words coming out of his mouth.

                " I say the summary of it now or I won't get through saying any of it again any time soon. " was just as quick and .. a little defiant. " I refuse. And refuse to refuse this to you especially, if those words are real. " was almost clipped. And she got it.Nat almost wished she didn't. " Do you love this me. Aaron? "

 " I love you. "

       " You love the last pieces of me that still matter then. The man still left that took that deal with every, malicious, vindictive intent to kick it back in his face and steal everything that bastard wanted as repayment; and keep what was left of me, and all of you who had the memory whether you knew it or not, safe. Or as much as I could under the stone's influence, with Ultron still running around inside it. Or the Other constantly in my head as a reminder and near constant watch. A few hundred, for a few billion lives. The whole of everything left I loved here, to keep that alive? Stay me regardless of him? Or of Odin? Or of any of the rest? Worth it. Always, forever; worth it. No matter how much I missed coming here the way I used to. At least it's here still to keep growing. Even if it's a few people short, it's a few heroes greater too after I pushed you. It's all I could manage. "

     Cue Clint rushing the back door. Cue the bang of it being all but kicked open as that registered. She only looked up and after him stomping and kicking at the gravel on the side of the road when he stopped to snap a particularly hard kick of gravel across the grass in the ditch. Because what else was there to do, but rage, and squat down like that with your back to the road? How could you not, grip at the back of your head when you learned that the man you had been blaming for the blackest marks there were in your recent history; had been tortured and left to it and dying that way by his much more capable intergalactic family to force him into it, and doing what his torturer wanted?

     Who was there left in reach to blame now?

          What was there to ask? Why he hadn't chosen to just die? In a way they didn't understand, for people who had all but abandoned him to that, and from the sounds of it more?

GROUNDED (Vestibule HVRA-0616.01.08 - Door/Universe 8) Book 2: Chapter  11

When the clash came, Bucky barely caught it. The pressure grinding their blades against each other. He’d have to sharpen his again after this. “ There are times when the faces beyond that particular threshold are all we have, and all we can have. “ Loki was stronger, but Buck noticed the control too. It wasn’t that he was holding back; it was that he was measuring a limit to set himself to; when Buck was half pushed back by the shove. “ For some of me, I am better family to myself than any other in our own worlds. “

           “ Is that how it is for Gin? “ Not even a nod when they clashed again; Loki wrestling by half with his prosthetic arm; the even catch of their calves wrestling below for the imbalance turning into a stalemate. “ You’ll know it anyway on your own, but aside from one particular person; yes.  His world is  ..far  harsher. Things did not go as planned.  Many more died. He bears the brunt of it. The rest, you should find mostly on your own if you want it. “

              “ You think of him like a brother… a  real brother. “ surprised him a little bit as those tones registered and they conceded that draw, a step back for both of them. Adjusting grips, assessing movement; potential strikes.

                      “ Yes. You’ll  probably  understand why before long. It’s rare he takes to  anyone  not one of us. And he  never  claims as much outright, even in the  exceedingly rare  occasions when he does. “

Roll Call - Vestibule HVRA0616.01 (aka The Inbetween [platovember prompts FINAL BONUS ENTRY])

       " I think I heard enough.. " was the bile rising with that last one. Tony didn't think he could do that, even if Loge looked at Gin's door fondly. His eyes ended up on his mug.

              " Have you really? " in that tone, oddly sympathetic; tugged his browns up to silvery, too-blues quicker than he thought he should like. And put a pause on the thoughts he had there for the expression. " The point is.. all of us are different, but all of us are the same man, somewhere. "

    " Yeah, I know. Same Loki.. different choices. "

           " The same Anthony Edward Stark, before you choose differently; too. " was what cocked his head back a little. Knocked the breath out of most of the downward thoughts. More so when he slid the point of that finger fully around the room looking right at him. " Twenty one of you. And every single one a champion. Perhaps not always on our side. Perhaps not always finding themselves with the option to choose to step into this room or not. But still you, the same way every one of those who opens the door in the first place is still me. Every single one.. " pointed still, along the turn of the walls to land on him. " Could have been you, but wasn't. Just as easily as you could have been any single one of them; but you aren't. Very few of them, have the balls or desire to face this room and what it is and what it means; and what it represents. This is why we call our others Mirrors. And why the universes connected are also called shards. These are the stories of your life, and our lives too yes; that you were never able to tell. The pieces you missed catching; and the pieces you have caught. The care, and passion, and handsome defiance still remains. You are you and separate. But you are also much more than what anyone sees, that doesn't come into this room; peek into it's doors: and see or hear for themselves. "

    " ..so basically; Fate has the ball: so you may as well roll along with it? "

            " Or learn her habits so you can shift her direction. " came with a soft huff of a laugh before Loki finished off his coffee. " I'm saying; whatever brought you in here to take my usual stance and sit against the door frame to sulk, or distract yourself from eyes that know you better -- " made Tony look at this one differently, but then : he was pretty sure that was the point. " -- will still be there when you go back. But; if you must come in here to steal my internal drama time: at least make certain that while you do you take note that whatever it is that brought you here, it could as easily be worse rather than better. "

[obae-me]

The Demons Inside- Part 3

Part 1 (Lucifer)     Part 2 (Mammon) 

Word Count: 2185

Description: Levi’s Part of the request “The brothers reacting to an MC crying suddenly in front of them and then trying to act as if nothing happened”

Levi had been waiting for tonight. He’d been antsy about it for days, anticipating it so immensely, he was jittery. Although, it’s entirely possible his twitches and little shakes were thanks to the many energy drinks he had downed today. No matter. He needed to be fully awake and aware in the present. Today he would be spending every hour with the resident human. His Henry, MC. 

Envy had nearly driven him mad these past few weeks. MC had done nothing but spend seemingly every precious moment with one of his brothers. Everyone but him. And he knew why, it wasn’t hard to guess. Lucifer was perfect in every way. Mammon--despite his general scumminess--was fun to be around. Satan was vastly intelligent. Asmo was gorgeous and friendly. Beel was strong and supportive. Belphie was relatively calm and clever. And him? Well, he was an eccentric shut in. But despite all that, MC had made sure to hang out with him today, on a day where they both knew no one would be around to bother them. 

He jolted out of his frantic thoughts as soon as a knock could be heard from the door. Usually, he’d have his visitor answer, but he was aware of who it was, and he was so excited to get on with their activities he had no patience for his many passwords. Swinging the door open with quite a wild look in his eyes, MC appeared a bit startled. Levi, feeling embarrassment seep into his bones over his eagerness, had his face flush a bright red. Adjusting to his normal sheepish behavior let MC smile, holding up some grocery bags he could see were filled with a plethora of snacks and drinks. 

“Sorry I’m a bit late,” MC apologized as Levi held the door open for them to enter his room. “Not only did I buy some snacks, but I had to shoo away my chauffeur.” 

Levi shook his head, his long bangs threatening to cover his vision. His core sin threatened to burn at the thought of, again, any sibling other than himself hanging out with MC. Maybe he had wanted to go to the store to buy snacks, so why did MC not ask him? You hate the grocery store, you know that, he reprimanded himself. “No worries, it gave me time to clean my room a bit!” Levi pushed his intrusive thoughts to the back of his mind as he gestured proudly at his now immaculate room. Trash was devoid from the floor, old clothes were put in the laundry bin-- “And I even dusted off all my figures!” To prove his claim, he snatched a frilly figure off one of his many shelves, holding it out to MC as they observed it. 

They beamed at him, forcing a persistent flutter in Levi’s chest. “It looks great!” Levi noticed something lacking from their expression, like they seemed a bit drained. This urged him to take the items from them and shut his door before the human could think of leaving. Was that faded smile due to him? Had they not been looking forward to this as much as he had? Did they not want to be here? Panic made it hard for him to breathe, but he handled it as best as he could as he pulled up a second chair to his desk for the human to sit in. MC’s eyes flickered over his fancy monitors and equipment, slightly transfixed by all the pretty lights. 

“I’ve got lots of things planned, if that’s okay,” Levi told them, the confidence in his voice wavering. The last thing Levi wanted was for himself to blow this fun day with something stupid. 

They nodded to assure him, and while their smile might’ve still shown hints of something more, Levi’s panic melted away. “Of course! What’re we doing first?” 

Too giddy for words, he opened a game on his desktop, doing his best to explain the rules to MC as he handed them a controller. It was some kind of online fighting fantasy game, and while there were many like it, Levi promised that this was the best of the bunch. They both settled in, picking their characters. Without a second thought, Levi picked his; a bright colored female character with a glowing staff and too many bows on their clothes to be considered natural. 

“This is Luma, she’s my main! Who’re you choosing?” Levi squirmed in his seat, ready to get started. 

“I don’t know...there’s so many to select from...I’ll just pick someone random for now,” MC shrugged, clicking on the first character that caught their eye. Not wanting to waste any more time, Levi set up a lobby for their matches. 

Everything had gone fine...at first. Of course, MC kept dying, but Levi assured them it was their first time playing the game, and the character they had picked was set at a larger difficulty than others. The human nodded and pushed forward. The first match ended with MC getting no kills, stacking up the most deaths, and looking at Levi’s score in shame as the demon had racked up more K.O.s than any other player combined. 

MC laughed sheepishly, letting the controller settle languidly in their hands. “Guess I’m no good at this game.” 

A pang of something familiar flashed through their eyes, and Levi felt the pain. “Not true! Here, try this character, they’re ranged and a little op, so you’ll be just fine!” They started again, Levi bursting forward from the starting point, already landing a triple kill. Meanwhile, all MC got ten seconds away from base was a magical explosion to the face, killing them rather instantaneously. The further they went forward, the more MC’s shoulders slumped. The more they died, the more the fun light they had started with drained in their eyes. At one point, after MC had gotten nuked right after they respawned, their character stopped moving. Levi glanced to the side, watching as MC placed the controller away from them on his desk as they used their hands to cover tears starting to drift down their face. 

Panic flared in his chest again, his skin prickling. He practically threw his own controller away from him, turning in his fancy gaming chair as he placed his hands on their knees. “What?! What happened? What did I do? Oh no, you hate me now, right?” As they sniffled and sobbed, his lungs felt themselves shrink smaller and smaller, air struggling to get in. The match ended, and before it could automatically have them play again, he turned to the screen to leave the lobby. Fumbling with the cursor, he ended up closing the game altogether instead of trying to remember where the Leave Match button was. Swiveling back to look at the human, he blinked in confusion when their eyes were dry and their grin was fully repainted on their lips. 

“MC? But you were--” 

“--Oh, it was nothing, I had an eyelash in my eye. Want more snacks?” They interrupted him as well as quickly changing the subject. They lied to him, right to his face. Something was up, and yet they would rather do anything else than tell him. Despair overtook his thoughts as MC refused to look at him, opting instead to reach for a bag of puffy chips. 

Speaking low, the demon of envy clutched the fabric over his heart as he felt it breaking. “You can’t stand me now, is that it?” Levi brought his arm up to cover his eyes as his mind swirled in dark reasoning, coming to the wrong conclusions out of self-depreciation. “You didn’t even want to hang out with me in the first place?! You came to my room out of pity?! You’re so ashamed to be with me you had to cry?!” His demon form slid into view, his tail slinking against the cold tiles of his floor. Hot salty drops of tears streamed down his own cheeks, his fingers moving up to wrap themselves in his hair as his Envy began to spiral out of control. “Of course you’d rather be with my brothers, of course. Why would you want to hang out with someone like me when...when…” 

“When you’re a demon? When you’re a powerful ruler of hell? When you have extraordinary powers?!” Levi lowered his hands and opened his eyes at MC’s escalating volume. Their lip quivered, the bag of snacks fell from their grasp, now abandoned on the floor. “These past few weeks since I’ve been hanging out with your brothers really just drove home how...useless I am. I’ll never be as put-together as Lucifer. I’ll never be as cool as Mammon. I’ll never be as smart as Satan, as pretty as Asmo, as strong as Beel, as witty as Belphie. And I--and I thought maybe hanging out with you would make me feel better but--” Their voice cracked, resulting in the demon nearly flinching as the pain in their voice almost physically hurt him. He expected them to list the many reasons they couldn’t stand to be around him, how he had done everything wrong. Expecting the worst, he curled up in his seat. “But I can’t even play a game correctly...I can’t do anything...I just wanted to be fun like you…” 

He had seen so many shows and anime, read so many perfect fantasy romance novels, played so many dating games, he knew exactly what to do. He’d wrap them into his arms and say some gushy poetic speech that would make sparks fly and every bit of doubt in each of them flow away. And yet...all he could bring himself to say was, “H--huh??” A few lingering tear droplets let themselves drift down his face as he attempted to process the words he had just heard. They both sat in a painful silence for a moment, both blubbering messes, both ashamed to be looked at by the other. But as Levi finally comprehended what MC had told him, he began to laugh. “You were envious of me?!” Falling into a giggle fit, MC stared at him, jaw agape. “I was worried that--that you thought I wasn’t good enough for you!” 

MC briefly wondered if they had broken him. “But you’re a powerful demon!” 

“You’re an amazing human! You watched me dance in cosplay for four hours the other day!” The mental image of the situation bubbled in MC’s brain, causing their tears to transform into laughter alongside Levi. The two of them chuckled uncontrollably, drying their cheeks, thankful they were alone in the room, far from judging eyes. 

“You made a cute magical girl,” MC grinned, no malice or intent to harm behind the teasing words. “But...I still don’t see how you can possibly think I’m amazing. I have little talent, no grand prospects for my future, no powers to speak off, a plain personality, and I have the obvious penchant for crying over silly things.” 

Biting his lip, Levi slid his own chair closer to theirs, the armrests brushing side by side. “Umm...well...the--the way I see it, you have things that are almost impossible for demons to have. Compassion, empathy, an open mind, it takes a lot of effort for demons to feel those things. It’s something that is rare to find in any living being nowadays, except for maybe angels, but even then you’ve heard Luke’s opinions on demons. Angels do like to condemn. I don’t know what’s typical in the human world but you seem rather extraordinary to me.” Taking a deep breath, he gently used his thumb to wipe away the last stray tear on the human’s face. With a single finger, he rubbed absentminded circles into MC’s knee. “Anyone different would’ve taken one look at my brothers and I and ran away as fast as they could...and yet you stayed. We’ve done everything we can to push you away, and yet you never gave up on us...on me...You’re wonderful, more than I could ask for, I--” He cut himself off, cheeks burning red as he bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking. He’d almost let something embarrassing slip. Racking his brain for something else to say, he felt the tips of his ears start to burn as MC grabbed his hand and let it settle in their palm. “I don’t think,” Levi blurted, recalling and nearly quoting a line from a Ruri-Chan anime, “that worth is defined by power and popularity. I like you just the way you are, isn’t that enough?” 

MC initiated it first, almost fully sliding into his lap as they moved from their chair into his to hug him. To prevent them from falling since his seat was only made for one person, he wrapped his arms tightly around their waist.  Both of them felt the heat and warmth from one another. It made Levi want to melt and yet explode at the same time. MC pulled him close, his face pressed against their shoulder. “Thank you, Levi.” 

[floraluniversal]

My main muse, Stephanie, is a pretty interesting character, but the character I tend to overlook in art and writing is Celeste. Thus, I decided to dedicate an entire post to Celeste and why she's actually one of my most tragic characters.

(Warning: Very long and also I guess there is one description that could be considered gory?)

What is Celeste's story?

Celeste is the oldest of the three Rikka sisters and is way older than the other two, she is 6 years older than Ember and 12 years older than Stephanie. While her sisters only know her as the beloved prodigy wonderchild, she definitely did not start off that way. There is no way a young child can meet the expectations of the Rikka family, she was simply too weak and her powers took two years longer than usual to develop, so she recieved abuse from her mother, just like her other two siblings.

When she was 8, the girl finally developed her magic, turning out to be a spiritual elemental. Spirituum is a very rare element and it's incredibly difficult to master. She finally had magic, but that did not help her get any appreciation from her mother. As she was learning her element, Celeste noticed a tall ghostly figure following her and as she got stronger, that figure became a fully recognizable person. It was her soul ancestor (a person who had the same soul as her at one point and was forced to reincarnate to fulfill their destiny), her name was Aanga and she claimed to be a Rikka woman too, however, Celeste could not find her in the well kept family tree, though she decided to look past that. Aanga gave the little girl an offer, she would enter her body and train her during practice to properly become strong, no strings attached. Desiring the love of her mother, Celeste immediately took the offer and slowly became the prodigy everyone knew her as.

It didn't take very long for her mother to start favoring her over her two other children and it didn't take long for Celeste to be offered her military training 5 years early, leaving home to study under the king's army men at only 13 years old. At this time she didn't get to see her sisters much, but when she did, she made sure to secretely help them with their chores and work loads as well as their training, so they could spend time together as actual sisters. Everyone loved her, she was seen as a very kind individual, despite kindness not being a trait the Rikka family desires.

The trouble began when she had to return home after finishing her training, having to wait to turn 21 to join the king's army. All of a sudden, Aanga has begun taking control of her body outside the training and combat. It was difficult for her to push Aanga out, because without her, she was a lot weaker. With their agreement guaranteeing her mother's love, Celeste did not tell Aanga off, out of fear that she would back out of the deal.

Eventually, Stephanie got her powers at 6 year old and was nearly murdered by the people from her village with her mother at the lead. Celeste heard spiritual cries for help, following them, she discovered both of her sisters in a forest, hiding from the rampaging mob going after Stephanie. And while Stephanie's body miraculously activated the healing reflex (despite her being rather young for that) and saved her, Celeste knew this wasn't over. Her sister was a universal, they all had to run.

The three sisters ran, spending two whole years on the run and settling in another world (ours) that is connected to theirs. (All worlds and universes exist on the same mortal plane and there are tiny spots where two world overlap, this is where you can create a portal to safely pass through). At this point, Aanga seemed pretty aggitated by Celeste's decisions. The spirit was constantly hurling abuse that no one else would be able to hear, slowly breaking down Celeste's mental state. And once the agitation reached its peak, it became clear that there were strings attached to their deal, that Aanga had a certain plan with Celeste's body. With Celeste's mental state at its lowest, Aanga was able to enter Celeste's body through her left eyeball with the intention of taking it for herself. Celeste never even had a chance, she tried to fight, but her posseser was far too strong for her to remove her with magic... There was only one way.

The young woman dug into her eyesocket with her fingers and with great difficulty, sliced off the optic nerve, then she tore the eyeball out of her head. This caused great damage, losing her eye as well as causing great pain and bad magical burns on her face, and the worst thing of all was... That she did it far too late. The pain of her tearing her eyeball out of her face was the only thing she could feel as Aanga pushed out her spirit out of its own body. With them both being the rare case of a spirit and the possessed having the same eye colour, Aanga was able to become Celeste with little difficulty. Everyone attributed her different behaviour to the trauma caused by her physical exorcism.

Now Celeste is a spirit floating around her own body, being forced to watch every single thing Aanga does to hurt her sisters, all those painful decisions and horrible acts. She can feel all the pain her body goes through, while Aanga is painlessly continuing on. Celeste will never again be able to reach her magic and reclaim her body, living in the pain of being a silent observer to all the tragedies.

So, why did Aanga do it?

As Aanga told Celeste, she truly was a Rikka woman, a truly remarkable one who lived nearly a thousand years before her. She had three sisters as well as a twin named Corvenia (both twins in the faunal element, being able to create animals with magic, speak to animals as well as turn into a single animal ). While very strong, poor Corvenia was the most disliked of the four siblings for her kindness, deep curiosity and the desire to be with nature and to create, but Aanga was powerful and merciless, even from a young age. She was allowed to start her military training at 14, far before her other sisters. All this prodigy talk and early training truly turned Aanga into an ego monster, so when Aanga became the king's general at 19 years old, all of this success has fed into her already existent narcissism. Why should she serve this old fool? She could easily take him and his army... Wouldn't she make for a stronger monarch and form a stronger world?

Aanga has set a plan into motion. A fail safe of sorts. Using her twin sister's better knowledge of their element, they both had built a great dragon body together. Corvenia did not know of her sister's intention, but having so much love and admiration for her, she was happy to help. Thus Aanga began her take over, she easily took over the capital and killed the king, but once the news spread, all the Rikka family members (all her sisters, mother, even aunts and cousins) came after her with a small army of their own. It was a tough battle, but they had managed to win and kill Aanga. Or so they thought.

The purpose of the great dragon was now obvious to everyone, as Aanga had brought her spirit into the lifeless body, taking on a second life with a vengence. She attacked the already very weakened warriors. Fearing damage to nearby villages, they trapped her and themselves in a protective bubble and the battle continued.

It seemed like the family's luck had ran out, as the warriors were falling one by one, either killed by Aanga, or dying from pure exhaustion. Only three people were left. Corvenia and her two sisters. The battle seemed hopeless until Corvenia's arm was chopped off by Aanga's attacks. The two sisters screamed at her to leave, opening a small hole in the bubble for her. They screamed at her and insulted her for being useless, that this is all her fault, because she helped Aanga. Corvenia, stressed and fully knowing that she won't make it to a healer in time, have had enough of everyone always putting her down. She was full of magic, as her family didn't allow her to fight much out of pure hatred for her. Using her last minutes, Corvenia fully charged at the great dragon, changing herself into her raven form to fly up high enough to attack. As she flew high enough above the dragon, she changed herself back and used her only remaining arm to charge a desperate final pure magic attack (no elemental energy channeled), putting every single bit of magic she had, blowback be damned.

The attack worked. Corvenia managed to burn off the dragon's head, killing it instantly, but this resulted in her completely burning off her remaining arm. The woman toppled to the ground, knowing she had redeemed herself and won. Surprisingly, the fall wasn't what had killed her, it was blood loss. She laid there, completely motionless, but still aware, as her sisters rushed over to her, surprised that she actually won! However, this surprise immediately turned into opportunism. As Corvenia drifted off into the great beyond, the two sisters have made a horrible decision: They were to take credit for Corvenia's victory and make her out to be Aanga's accomplice. Corvenia died feeling betrayed, hurt and angry.

The two faunal twin sisters were erased from the family tree, so no one could tie them to the attack years later, and Corvenia's body was disposed off in a swamp, not even getting a proper burial, as she was erased from history.

With both Aanga's and Corvenia's fate being victory without death, they were both doomed to reincarnate. Corvenia only reincarnated once (Stephanie), but Aanga had inhabited hundreds of bodies before Celeste. When a person reincarnates into someone with a different element, that person is then able to easily relearn their old element, making them bi-elemental. Realising that now in death, her potential is higher than a simple kingdom, Aanga had taken up a new goal: She wasn't going to replace the king, she was going to kill and replace the goddesses and reshape the world to her wishes.

Celeste only happened to have the final element she needed, so Aanga shaped her herself to be the perfect fighter. The circumstances were perfect, she could use Celeste's possessing dagger to easily relearn all the elements. She could possess Stephanie by stabbing her with the dagger and practice all of them through her with ease. Aanga had essentially made herself a universal and she is not a force to be messed with. It's only a matter of time and practice until she puts her plan back into action.

Final thoughts:

I am not the best writer of all time, but I feel like the story of Celeste/Stephanie and Aanga/Corvenia is an interesting one! I really like this reincarnation incredibly slow burn plan. With both sisters having destinies that contradict one another, the only way to put a stop to it for good is to shatter the other's soul... But can Stephanie really push herself to do that to her sister? Would it be killing Celeste? Or would it be saving Celeste? All the poor girl wanted was to be loved by her horrible mother... And that lead her to lose control of herself for 20 years and die the most terrifying death imaginable. :C

This one was a real long one. If anyone who reads this (please do, I spent a lot of time writing this post) has any thoughts on Celeste, I'd love to hear them! You can comment on the post or shoot me a DM

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 67

In theory this was queued to post at 2pm EST today... so, 4.5 hours ago.  I am SO SORRY it didn’t post on time!

I’m baaaaack!

The break after the holiday was very much needed, so thank you for your patience with no chapter last week.  Taking the time helped me level-set a few things and get back to a good place with this.

Also!  This chapter has been beta’d, once again, by the fabulous @satan-parisienne.  What I would do without her is a mystery of the universe some days.

I’ve received some very curious and polite feedback about how out-of-character some of the main characters have behaved in this arc - I have the nicest readers, ever, I swear! - and I wanted to let everyone know that it’s actually intentional.  I wanted to show them fraying at the edges a bit, showing various levels of cranky from feeling the effects.  Something true-to-life, in my experience.

Trigger warnings: Mention of sorta-suicide in this chapter.  About as much as that sentence, honestly.

As soon as Conor heard that our microscopic new friend was safe for the time being, he gave Maverick very stern instructions to make sure I lied down and did not try to sit back up once I had done so.  While one of my partners gently but firmly ensured just that, the other started dragging an empty berth until it was pressed directly against my own. Rapidly, and with focused determination, he rigged the two together so they would not move apart – although, given the sheer weight of the berth, I was surprised he moved it in the first place.

Miys seemed to understand entirely what Conor was up to, as it very gently lifted me and placed me in the center of the combined platforms, carefully ensuring any tubes were tucked where they could not be pulled loose or crimped. Before I realized exactly what had happened, I was sandwiched between Conor and Maverick, their own transfusion ports reconnected.

Gently, I tried to loosen the arms both of them had thrown across my stomach. “I’m not trying to get up, I promise.  But I need to breathe, you two.”

“Sleep,” Maverick mumbled in my right ear, the one that could still hear. “You promised lots sleep.”

“Else – “

Conor sat up slightly, leaning on his elbow so I could see his face and read his lips. “You’ve been debriefed.  And you heard Xio as well as the rest of us: Else is sentient, so killing them is off the table. You promised.”

Picking my head up slightly, I dropped it as dramatically as possible and huffed. “You’re right. I did promise.  I’m just worried.”

“Worried for a bacteria that could potentially kill you.”

Conor chuckled. “That’s her nature, mate. Forgiving as the moonlight, dancing on water, our Sophie.” Gently, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I bet you’ve already forgiven us, too.”

“You were scared – “

“So were you,” Maverick argued mournfully. “And we still stormed out of here.”

I tried to stifle the yawn that crept up on me, but judging by the looks I got, I was unsuccessful. “Can we table this until I wake up again?  Or until this crisis is over, just before the next one.”

“No more crises,” he mumbled into my neck, burrowing as deep as a grown man possibly could.

“If only,” I sighed. “That would be nice.  But a nap sounds nice, too.”

“Lots of sleep, you promised.”

I nodded. “I did.” Glancing at Conor, I nodded again.  That seemed to satisfy him, because he dropped off his elbow, grabbed the knee Maverick had hooked over my hips, and proceeded to do his part to pin me to the bed.

“I’m gonna snore, you two,” I complained weakly.

“Least we know you’re asleep if you’re snoring.”

“As opposed to awake?”

“As opposed to dead if you three don’t shut up,” Tyche’s voice called from across the room.  I was extremely grateful she couldn’t see past the shaggy head of black hair that was hiding my blush from her.

When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed vaguely.  I could remember seeing the Ark again, this time in the best shape it had been in yet.  Else spoke to me, but I could only recall that they sounded tired, frail. I’m worried about you, I remembered telling them.  They already knew.  They were worried about us, about humanity.

I woke, eventually, and I immediately recognized two distinct sensations. First, I was incredibly well-rested, more than I could say I had been since before the Food Festival.  My body practically sizzled with unfamiliar energy and begged to move.

Second, I felt an overwhelming amount of dread.  Something terrible was happening, but I couldn’t remember what it was. I sat bolt upright, belatedly realizing that I was no longer being cuddled to the bed. “Where is Grey?” I gasped, looking around wildly. “Xiomara, anyone.  I need a member of the Council. Or Tyche.”  In my panic, my eyes were entirely unseeing, and I jerked violently when I felt something touch my hand.

“Wisdom.”  A familiar buzz brought me into focus.  Miys had one liw on my hand, another on my shoulder. “You must calm yourself. No one is in any danger.  Antoine is retrieving Xiomara as I speak to you.”

“Thank you,” I panted.  Pulling my free hand to my chest in an attempt to calm my breathing, I bruised my sternum with the sheer amount of force I used. “What in the – “ Staring down, I felt my eyes start to hurt with the effort of opening even wider.  “That hurt.”

Gingerly, I held my hand out, turning it back and forth, flexing my fingers, trying to figure out what was different.  “Bones and ligaments, check,” I muttered to myself. “Five fingers, palm, wrist, check. Whopped up bruises, check…” Something caught my eye – or rather failed to – and I held up my arm further, looking at the crook of my elbow. Bruised.  A glance at my other arm showed more mottling. Frantic, I carefully patted my body down as quickly as I could without hurting myself.  A few more bruises made themselves known.

The bruises weren’t the alarming part… “Where are the transfusion ports?”

“They have been removed, Wisdom. You no longer need them.”

“Am I dying?”

A humming, clicking noise that I was pretty sure involved profanity followed. “You are not always dying, despite what Human Conor seems to believe.”

Human Conor. Someone was on Miys’s bad side.  “Am I dying at this moment?”

“No, Wisdom. You are not.  Your red blood cell and hemoglobin count are well within range for a Terran, and have been for quite some time – “

“How long?”

Wringing vomu were not a good sign. “I would prefer to let Antoine and Xiomara explain that.”

“How long, Noah!?”

The door hissed as my fellow Councilor breezed in, followed by a very concerned Antoine. “Oh, for about two days,” Xiomara answered airily.

“WHAT!?” I squawked elegantly.

She whirled around on me about the time Antoine came to check my vitals. “No one could wake you up, bonehead. So, before you get mad at us for drugging you, or not waking you, or some crap like that, we tried.  You were barely not in a coma, woman.  We didn’t drug you, and gods above and below know we tried our damnedest to wake you.”

I glanced at Antoine, who was nodding furiously. Mollified, I made a point to tone it down a notch. “So, I was asleep for two entire days?”

“More like four, sweetie,” she grinned unrepentantly. “You were ‘clinically exhausted’, which I didn’t even know was a thing…”

Her eyes widened comically as I waved her off. “Eyeah, it’s a thing. Feels like the flu. Nothing new.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but Antoine sent a Tyche-level cutting look at her. “I told you that it was in her file.”

“I thought you meant the current situation.”

“I TOLD you she has a history of this!”

Tears pricked my eyes as I turned to face him fully. “You didn’t let them give me medication to wake me up, did you?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed, his eyes kind and giving lie to the harshness of his comment. “Conor and Maverick were right about you needing sleep.  I made sure to tell them as much so they would be as insufferable as possible about allowing you to sleep.”

“Sneaky motherfucker,” I whispered with a smile, earning myself a conspiratorial wink.

Xiomara rolled her eyes at our antics. “Anyway, you called us here for a reason…?”

Sitting up abruptly, I narrowly missed headbutting my favorite nurse on several worlds. “Something is wrong.” I waved off the inevitable request for clarity. “Not all of us being sick, or Else eating all the iron in sight.  I talked to Else while I was asleep, and I don’t remember much, but they are weak.  Frail is the word I remember saying.  I know I told them I was worried for them, but when they responded, they said they were worried for us.  They sounded like they were… dying, honestly…”

“No one has taken action against them,” Xiomara asserted. “Even Grey. Once you fell asleep, Grey was frustrated that we had to wait to negotiate with Else, but made no further attempts to eradicate them.”

”How sure are you?”

“Pretty sure, considering they have been holed up in their office since then, trying to determine logical alternatives such as relocation.”

That tracked. Grey was like logic made into an organic body, usually. “Then how am I getting better?”

Xiomara shrugged and looked to Antoine.  He gave us each a regretful look and shook his head. “We do not know. It is not only you, but everyone on the Ark who is improving. We do not know why.”

My mind raced, feverishly looking for an answer. “Nixe.  How is Nixe?” I demanded.

“Out of her life support tank, being transfused regularly.  Noah is working to clone new lungs,” Xiomara reassured me.

“They didn’t want to hurt anyone,” I whispered, but Xio caught Antoine looking at me strangely. I spoke up. “Else didn’t want anyone to die. They didn’t want to hurt anyone, they said.  They were sorry.”  I gasped and tried to get out of my berth, but Antoine firmly pushed me back and shook his head.  “Don’t you two see what Else is doing?”  I repressed a groan as both of them only returned my question with confused looks. “Noah! Noah, you have to know what I’m referring to. If your use of resources hinders the life of another being, what do you do?”

“I place my bodies in hibernation until equilibrium is reached.”

“And when your race couldn’t place itself in hibernation, what did it do when resources were strained?”  I hoped and prayed I got the answer I was expecting, but prepared myself for the instance I had to argue.

Fortune favors the bold, it turned out, and Noah told me exactly what I anticipated. “My kind would return our bodies to the soil, Wisdom.”

Xiomara looked frustrated, but Antoine gasped and covered his mouth. When she gave him a confused look, he actually groaned. “Killing themselves, Xiomara.  They killed the extra bodies to maintain ecostasis.  They aren’t individuals, so it isn’t really suicide, but they still killed the necessary amount of bodies to reduce resource demands.”

“Except Else isn’t as evolved as the Hujylsogox are,” I continued. “There is a possibility that, once they reach a certain point, they aren’t sentient anymore.”

“So, they can just grow more, right?”

I shook my head emphatically. “They may not be the same being anymore – Antoine! I’m fine! This is urgent! – If they drop below threshold and then essentially re-evolve, we have no guarantee that we are parleying with the same group. They could hate us for all we know, if that happens.”

Realization dawned on her face. “We have to do something.”

I nodded in grim confirmation. “I need an open channel to the Council, and I need it right fucking now. We have to figure out a solution that doesn’t result in giving PTSD to a bacteria that can easily kill us.”

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[abusedapricots]

I JUST finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. WOW

I really enjoyed it, though not sure if I’ll feel the same way in a week when the book high has worn off, we’ll have to see.

*UPDATE: its meh, I dont regret reading it but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Honestly this book didnt need to be a thing but its not the worst.

I’ll admit, at first I was skeptical. I thought this would be a cash grab returning to an old world with guaranteed readers. I was worried that Panam would feel phony, after 10 years away from the original trilogy I didn't think it would feel real. I was quickly proven wrong. Coriolanus Snow definitely had his own story. The post-war capitol felt real even district 12 felt real. This book surprised me. Though my expectations were low I’m really happy about TBOSAS.

CORE-E-O-LAN-US or CORE-E-O-LANE-US?

I just quickly typed this up for some unbiased thoughts before I watch/read some reviews. As I'm sure there are lots of typos grammatical errors, and sloppy writing, I'll be back in a week to revise this review once I've let the books simmer.

Spoilers Ahead

I loved Coriolanus’ story. LOVED IT. He was smart, reserved, calculating, only ever giving away what was needed of a situation. Maybe it was the narcissist in me but I loved being in his brain. I liked how this book dealt with the other side of classism. How the once-revered Snows had fallen and Coriolanus need to keep up appearances, refusing to let the snow dynasty die. I like how thought-provoking the three C’s, chaos, control, and contract were. I liked how Coriolanus didn't have hard-set opinions, they changed as he grew. I find that a lot of the times with YA novels characters had a very strict world view of what is good and what is bad. Coriolanus’ view of humanity is never really clear until the end. He teetered on good and bad. Suzanne wrote a great villain, Snow was always able to justify his actions. He says it himself, he’s a capitol boy and he decides to play the game of fame and fortune instead of rising against injustice.

Coriolanus’ Superiority Complex

I think my favorite aspect of the book is how unattached Coriolanus was. Every time Coriolanus had to do anything he always weighed his options. He never rushed to help because it was the right thing to do, he did it to preserve an image. He’s all about his image. In the beginning, when he and Lucy Gray begin their relationship, Coriolanus never felt fully in it. Suzanne Collins writes in a way that obscures his motivations. He would often do and say things that made me believe that Coriolanus was really falling for Lucy Gray but then shortly after Coryo always mentions how he could benefit. He’s ‘love’ for Lucy Gray came from the want of the prize, the full ride to university, to bolster him and his family name, I don't think Coryo ever did anything out of pure intentions. He was never blind with love, he could still clearly see the options in front of him and every move was calculated, always self-serving. This is why him switching up on Lucy Gray wasn't very surprising, he saw a better opportunity and he took it. He never really loved her, he loved what she brought him, fame, attention, a chance at the prize, freedom once he used her up he had no use for her. Sure he was drawn in by her charm but in the end, he never really knew her, he had been too self-involved to ever really get to know people.

I think his lack of attachments was best represented in his unwavering distaste towards Sejanus. While he and Sejanus grew close (even just by proximity) Coryo never failed to look down on him, he never seemed to acknowledge that Senjanus’ worries were valid rather, he brushed them off as Sejanus being a district kid, never worthy of respect. When it came to it he was ruthless in his betrayal. Returning to the capitol and having the Plinths care for him as their own only solidified Snow’s heartlessness. I don’t think Snow was a psychopath, lacking all emotion, I think he definitely could have teetered over to the good side, but his superiority complex kept him from doing so. His classist need to divide and look down upon only grew as he goes on to become president. He has a very us against them mentality, a rich vs poor outlook where if you were born district that's all you'll ever be despite proving otherwise. Call it old fashion or heartless? He even had to convince himself and the capitol that Lucy Gray wasn't ‘truly’ a district kid, much less from district 12. He couldn't bear it, to be into someone from the lowest rung of society. It wasn't he style, not for the exceptional Coriolanus Snow. Funny how during the game when choosing which of the remaining mentors to eat with he thought “cannibal over cutthroat” while he was the most merciless himself.

Thoughts On Lucy Gray

I didn’t think she was anything special. Sure she was that cool, quirky™ girl but I’m not head over heels for her. I wasn't ever super invested in her. This might be because I’m reading in Coriolanus’ head, not seeing her as more than something to be used. I liked that she was nothing like Katniss though.

I liked it when Coryo saw her as a killer. When he had found the guns when his heart decided to kill her then. Lucy Gray knew the future too when she saw the guns, she knew it before Coriolanus knew it. She was smart, maybe reading from Coriolanus’ point of view shrouded her intellect as he refused to see anyone being better than him. He justified killing her by thinking of her as a killer. He altered his thoughts of her arena killings as a must for survival to cold-blooded. He no longer saw her as a ‘Poor Lamb’ but instead the “clever, devious, deadly girl”.

It was a shift for both Coryo and Lucy Gray. This showed that Lucy Gray wasn't without fault, she too could be cunning and ruthless, when need be of course. These few pages of the book were monumental in proving why Coriolanus was a bad person. It allowed the audience to see that everyone had this malice in them yet the majority chose not to listen and do the right thing while Coriolanus lead his life with that voice. He actively chose to do the wrong thing to move up in the world. His behavior was not special to him, his up growing, experience, and hardships didn’t make him an evil person, Coriolanus’ choice to choose evil at every turn to do good made him an evil person. Everyone has this malice in them but the majority chose not to act on it while Coriolanus welcomed it.

For Coriolanus, it showed that in his head, he could justify any action despite how cruel. I think this is where Coryo lost any last bit of humanity. He refused to see the world and its people to be good, to be capable of free thought. He saw the world to be controlled. These few pages were my favorite out of the book, I feel it to be the catalyst of his tyrannical rule. He couldn't trust the girl he “loved”, much less the district people.

Concluding Thoughts

This book made me think about responsibilities to preserve humanity vs our individual need to survive and be successful. If this what it takes to be president then so be it? how can you stop someone's pursuit of success? At what cost is someone's dream. At least we know that Coriolanus knows that the hunger games are wrong, he knows but to him its worth the cost of keeping the district complacent.

I think the cruelty of Dr. Gaul was needed to make Snow seem like a halfway decent person. With the addition of Dr.Gaul, it softened Coryo’s shitty behavior because what Coriolanus thinks and does pale in comparison to what Dr. Gaul thinks and does. Without Dr. Gaul, Coryo would have been the only one with these sick cynical thoughts, amplifying him to be the bad guy. I think it would be interesting to re-read this book while writing off Dr. Gaul’s action just to see just how evil Coriolanus is without the comparison of Dr. Gaul’s cruelties. I wonder if I would still be as understanding towards Coryo and if Dr. Gaul’s character had that large an impact to make Coryo seem not too bad.

Though I am left wondering how Tigris was left in the dust by the end of Mockingjay. It seems unlikely that Coryo would have just left Tigris to fend for herself given how fondly he spoke of the sacrifices she made for him and the family name. I wonder how she ended up with a failing fur undergarments business by Mockingjay. Had Coryo betrayed family? Coriolanus is callous but he still had loyalties, his family, Pluribus. It just doesn't seem like his style to leave the few he actually cared about to fend for themselves while he had the means to help. I mean even as peacekeeper Coryo sent most of his money back home. Maybe Tigris was the one that left Coryo as she was made out to be kind and caring, lacking the grandiose nature Coryo possessed. Also given that Tigris is older than Coryo, and him being a pretty old dying man in Mockingjay I can't seem to see Tigris being alive much less as active as she was in helping Katniss (and crew) in killing Coryo. Maybe it was her capitol surgeries that allowed her aging to slow?

I think its interesting that in the end Coriolanus still saw what he had with Lucy Gray as love. Maybe to him what he had was his version of love, being able to use someone and for them to be used so willingly. I wonder if he knows the difference between the two and what real love looks like. I wonder what he thought of Katniss and Peeta, stupidity? what's the point in being with someone if they dont benefit you?

Some stand out quotes:

“Oh, no. You don’t like it?” he exclaimed. “I can try and bring something else. I can-” Pg. 85. When Coryo brings Lucy Gray the bread pudding Tigris made. Coryo’s care of Lucy Gray’s taste preference was sweet. She hadn't had food in a while, having this bread pudding should the highlight of her day. The fact that Coryo cared that she didn’t like it and was quick to offer something else was very sweet of him. Ugh, image the type of gentleman he could have been if he had been genuine and not so rotten.

I like how Suzanne Collins didn’t try to get the audience to love and sympathize with Coriolanus. Instead, she makes it clear that Coryo activity chose to do the self-serving thing at every turn.

I genuinely really enjoyed this book. Maybe my second favorite out of the entire Hunger Games books (bold ranking!!! but it might change once the magic of being nose deep in a book for 3 days has worn off). I think this book works great as a stand-alone, I wouldn't be afraid to recommend it to those who haven't read the trilogy.

UPDATE* woah my post book high is bad. DEFINITELY NOT second favorite??? HUHH?? what was I saying? what was I thinking?? (my deep seeded resentment towards mockingjay is showing) this book in no way supersedes any of the trilogies, yes including mockingjay 😒.

I’m not gonna lie, I did start developing a crush on Coryo in the beginning. Him being so smart and driven, so gentlemanly, caring about the little things like handkerchiefs SWOON. Buuuuut he quickly became an ass.

I said that the title “The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes” was a ripoff of “A Song of Ice and Fire” before reading the book. I thought Miss Collins just wanted a super sick book name but as I have finished the book, I would like to formally apologize and retract my statement. The title does fit this book.

SNOW LANDS ON TOP

[bigskydreaming]

Ultimately I think the most defining characteristic of Dick Grayson - and the thing that makes him most distinct from Bruce, Jason and Tim (though possibly not Damian)....is that Bruce, Jason, Tim and most of the other Batclans’ morality is based on their worldviews, certain personal codes.

Dick’s sense of right and wrong is based entirely on people.

Don’t get me wrong, Bruce, Jason and Tim all care very deeply for the people they let into their hearts, but they all have certain lines they won’t cross. With Bruce and Tim, its because they’re afraid of what crossing those lines would turn them into, who they might become. With Jason its because he’s always had a personal code of honor, who deserves his righteous anger and who doesn’t....and there are absolutely certain things that a person can do that might result in moving from one side of that line in his head to the other. He partners with morally gray characters all the time, and is fine with them up until the moment he’s not; there are some things he can overlook and other betrayals he won’t tolerate. In ways that are more reminiscent of how strictly Bruce sticks to his personal standards than the way Dick will bend until he breaks in order to make allowances for those same things.

With Dick though...he doesn’t care about right or wrong so much as he cares about people. For the people he values most in his life, there is NO line he won’t cross. People focus on the fact that he freaked out after killing the Joker and that Bruce brought him back, but that doesn’t change the fact that he still killed the Joker. When he went undercover with Spyral while knowing how much it would hurt his loved ones to believe he was still dead, I’ll always emphasize the fact that he was in an extremely traumatized state of mind having literally just DIED and also Bruce was using every tool in his I Know Dick Grayson And How Much He Needs to Be Needed And Valued By Me toolbox to browbeat him into taking the mission, BUT I think in particular, its extremely key that Bruce was able to convince him that was necessary not because the mission required it, but because it was what was safest for his friends and family. 

(And someday soon, I reeeeally need to make a post talking about how the thing on Dick’s mind the entire time he and Bruce fought in the cave in NW #30, and the death he was feeling guilty about...was Damian’s. Because Damian, not that long before, literally died TO SAVE Dick’s life, and there’s no way Dick doesn’t blame himself for THAT in particular. And add in Bruce’s tendency to tunnel vision in his grief, and despite how good he is at comforting his kids when grieving for others he doesn’t have a close personal relationship with, like helping Dick deal with his first parents’ deaths, when Bruce additionally is grieving, he absolutely loses his perspective and fails to EVER factor in the fact that people other than him are grieving too. See his reactions after Alfred’s death, Damian’s death, Jason’s death....at no point does he EVER check in with his kids and acknowledge that many of them have their own feelings about these losses and are grieving, that its not just HIM affected by these things. Taking Jason back to Magdala Valley after Damian’s death, kicking Dick out after Jason’s....Bruce has an unfortunate tendency to compound his childrens’ grief by virtue of the writers making any loss all about being HIS loss and never even considering that his kids are feeling things too. The second someone in Bruce’s family is hurt, the writers are like, well clearly Bruce is the only one who cared about them, and this trend fucking SUCKS, but I progenitor-fucking DIGRESS. 

Anyway, my point being.....Dick absolutely blamed himself for Damian’s death, and fearing someone else getting hurt because of his actions or inactions was I think the pivotal point in getting him to take the Spyral mission, and it being Bruce who expressed that in particular.....matters. Because I also think Dick ADDITIONALLY felt that because of how Damian died, BRUCE blamed Dick for Damian’s death, and Bruce never offered anything to make Dick feel otherwise, or make Dick feel like Bruce in any way acknowledged that Damian’s loss weighed heavily on Dick too, as Dick had freaking RAISED the kid for over a year when Bruce was thought lost....AND I also think its important to acknowledge that the LAST time one of Bruce’s children, one of Dick’s siblings, died.....when Jason died in A Death In the Family....Bruce ALSO blamed Dick for that, verbally and with intent. And never ever walked it back, apologized or expressed otherwise. 

And that’s a HUGE plot/character point that has never been adequately examined in my opinion...that Dick’s tendency to be self-sacrificing when it comes to his siblings’ safety is NOT because he doesn’t care about their own autonomy or wants to take away their choices or doesn’t trust in their own competency to protect themselves....its because history has shown that BRUCE tends to hold Dick accountable for what happens to his siblings, as Bruce desperately attempts to deflect from his own feelings of guilt, and Dick’s the closest/easiest target for deflection. Except given that Bruce sucks at apologies, Bruce also fails to ever point out AFTER the fact that no, Dick isn’t to blame for these tragedies, and without that crucial point....why WOULDN’T Dick believe that deep down, Bruce DOES blame him for these things, and thus Dick considers his own safety less paramount than that of his siblings? 

Also keep in mind that when you factor in Bruce’s death-wish after Jason’s death and quest to bring Damian back to life, versus after Dick’s death sending him into kinda exile where he’d be literally out of sight/out of mind in a constant state of danger rather than where Bruce could reassure himself that Dick was safe and protected by him and the family....and ALSO factor in the period after Dick left home, when they went over a year without talking and which included myriad missions where Dick came very close to dying and there was no acknowledgment of any of this from Bruce or attempt to reconcile on his end or even make sure Dick was doing alright by checking in......and all Bruce really had to do to change this situation was like.....take the initiative to reach out to Dick.....basically I’m just saying, from Dick’s perspective, it looks like history proves that he’s the one kid of Bruce’s that Bruce is most capable of living without. And all that matters in the Spyral discussion. BUT I DIGRESS).

ANYWAY.

Back to Dick and his morality:

For the people he loves, there is absolutely no line he won’t cross, no crime he won’t commit, no betrayal he won’t enact. He might beat himself up for it until the day he dies, never forgive himself, decide he deserves to never be forgiven by anyone else....but he’ll still DO it, first. 

After the Spyral mission and Dick being alive was revealed, Tim accused Dick of being just like Bruce, but I disagree. The lines Bruce crosses in others’ eyes, he crosses for the sake of his mission, for the good of people in the ABSTRACT, the overall populace. There’s never been any mission that makes Dick cross similar lines...unless that mission is saving or protecting or rescuing someone he loves INDIVIDUALLY, a specific person or persons. And at that point, he’ll go much further than even Bruce will, no matter what it costs him.

Because of that, this trait of Dick’s is a flaw as much as its a virtue. DC writes Dick as a multiversal constant, with him being incorruptible across all universes. I agree and don’t agree. I think this could certainly be true, but from a different angle than DC usually goes with. Its not that Dick will always stick to ‘the right side’ in every reality, based on what the majority of people would deem being the right side. Its that what Dick views as the right side is whatever’s on the side of those he loves. THAT’S the way in which he’s truly incorruptible...the one essential truth of what it means to be Dick Grayson that he’ll never betray.

So IMO its not really a given that Dick would always be a hero, no matter what....its more that those who have his loyalty most, earned that by being the people who showed him the most genuine affection when he needed it most. And in most realities, these people are heroes themselves, hence Dick is a hero like them. In a reality where say, Slade Wilson rescued him from juvie before Bruce found out he was in there, if Slade took him on as his apprentice and gave him at least as much praise and attention as Bruce did in other realities.....there’s every likelihood that Dick Grayson would have grown up adhering to Slade’s far more flexible sense of right and wrong.

Back to the various canons however, this is why Dick will never fully separate himself from Bruce, no matter how mad Bruce makes him, or how much he hurts him. It’s also why Dick’s always so prone to trying to play peacemaker in his family....while the times he fails at that are the times someone in his family NEEDED him to take their side, and he’s trying futilely to take ALL sides. He could forgive Jason for anything Jason does....but he can’t defend Jason trying to hurt Bruce or Tim or Damian, who have Dick’s loyalty just as fully. He can understand and sympathize with most anything Bruce does....except for when that leaves Jason out in the cold. He’ll give Robin to Damian because he truly believes Damian needs it more than Tim, but fail at explaining himself to Tim, defending himself, because he doesn’t actually believe he can defend himself, he knows he hurt Tim, he’ll beat himself up for it forever, but he also knows that it was what Damian needed, so he’s just sorta....stuck. 

He’s always on every one of his family member’s side, but never as much as they WANT him to be, because they’re all usually so at odds that sometimes they basically demand that you’re either with them or against them, and Dick just fundamentally can not DO that, make that choice. He just tries to...and fails, because its literally the definition of impossible for him.

And it becomes even more of a problem in the instances where he gives his loyalty to someone who doesn’t deserve it or have his best interests in mind. Its why he gives more second chances than most anyone else, something that’s been to the benefit of many of his friends and family....but also why he gives more second chances than he should to Slade or others that he feels a sense of responsibility or obligation or even just kinship to. 

Look at the fallout of Blockbuster’s death. As much as Dick blamed himself for not saving Blockbuster, that he decided that was his responsibility (based on his perception of the moral codes he lives by when a loved one’s life isn’t on the line, his ‘default’ morality, one shaped by the opinions and values of the PEOPLE Dick values most)....the other side of the Blockbuster fallout was that Dick felt that he’d failed TARANTULA. Blockbuster’s actual murderer and Dick’s actual rapist. This is actually completely in character if you consider the fact that Dick took responsibility for Tarantula long before this. He agreed to take her on as kind of an apprentice, try and steer her away from her tendency towards killing and teach her to be a vigilante in line with the Batfamily’s personal code, someone who could work with them and gain Bruce’s approval. 

Problem is, after Tarantula made HER choice to turn her back on that and go in the opposite direction, it wasn’t that simple for Dick, not a matter of just snipping the thread that connected them in his mind. He still felt responsible for her, and thus responsible for her decisions. Her murder of Blockbuster was his failure because he’d failed to convince her to act differently. He held himself accountable in place of the accountability he knew she’d never accept...because in Dick’s mind, a mind where right and wrong are dependent on how much he cares about the person doing right or wrong, feels responsible for them....he’d already designated Tarantula as someone he’d go to most any length for, and thus he genuinely had trouble accepting her actions as wrong, and something he should turn his back on her for....and the only option that left him was accepting her actions as HIS fault, that HE’D been the one to do wrong, by not keeping things from ever getting to that point.

And the other area where this tends to be a flaw most, is the way this creates such a disconnect between him and people he cares about, who don’t get his reasoning, the fundamental logic at the heart of all his decisions. Because most of the people in his life DO base their sense of right and wrong on certain immutable standards, rather than their morality being inherently flexible, depending on who they focus it on at any given moment, like Dick does.

Again, look at what Tim said when they all found out Dick was still alive. Tim was disappointed, he said he’d thought Dick was different from Bruce, that this was something Bruce would do but he’d never have expected it from Dick.

Except its about context. Dick IS different from Bruce, just as much then as any time before. Bruce would always have done something like that for the sake of his mission, if he felt it demanded it. And Jason, Tim, the rest of the Batclan, they would always say that was wrong, because THEIR code of conduct, their sense of morality was set to different standards, ones that didn’t go as far towards the mission and away from its effect on people. They couldn’t sympathize with ever going to that length, doing that to people they loved, for the sake of the mission. And in that context, Dick would always be on the same side as them, here. Because he would agree, in his mind it would be equally indefensible to do that for the sake of an ABSTRACT, you don’t do that to the people you care about, for some goal or ideal or pursuit that you’ve placed above the actual people you care about. 

But where I think Tim and Jason and Barbara don’t understand Dick is they read his siding with them on matters like that in the past as an indication his sense of right and wrong is right in the same general area as theirs.....instead of being the complete opposite end of the mission vs people spectrum. Bruce is unerringly on the side of the mission, the thing he values most because he bases his OWN worth to people on how well or not he commits to the standards he’s set for himself. The others are in the middle of mission vs people, sometimes choosing one over the other, sometimes the reverse, with it dependent on context - who are the people in question, what is the mission in question, what matters most in this particular instance, someone they know or something they know they’d agree with them is the right thing to do, etc. But though Dick is facing Bruce from the same general direction as the rest of them, resulting in him often taking their side of an argument more fully than he takes Bruce’s.....Dick’s in a whole separate sphere behind them, fully in the people above all zone. 

So Dick never changed position, he never swapped his morality with Bruce’s, he never did anything differently from how he’s always acted...he’d just never before been in a position with his family, where they realized they weren’t as much on the same page with him as they’d thought. Dick understands what he did hurt them, he always knew it would, he accepted the guilt from that....but he never apologized, because he knows he’d make the same choice again. He didn’t do it because the mission demanded it, because Bruce said this was important enough to warrant lying to everyone - because he’d never agree with that. He did it because Bruce said this was the only way to keep his loved ones safe, and that he needed Dick to go on this undercover mission to end Spyral’s threat to the family and hero community at large....and ‘you need to do this for your family’s sake’ are the magic words for Dick. The ones that’ll make him agree to anything. (Such as agreeing to be the Court of Owls’ Talon - even with the intention of bringing them down from the inside, he’d still never agree to that, submit to that, unless someone he loved was on the line, like Damian had been). And that’s the part Tim, Jason and Barbara didn’t get...he acted like they expected Bruce to act, but for entirely different reasons.

Don’t get me wrong - I think Dick knows right from wrong no matter the context. Its not so much as his view of whether or not something is right shifts from one moment to the next. Its more just how much he allows whether something is right or wrong to influence his actions, based on the context around it...THAT’S what shifts. Because again.....his willingness to BE wrong is key. He engages in a lot of actions at times that on the surface might appear hypocritical given how much he talks about those very kinds of actions being wrong in other circumstances....but I’d argue that its not really hypocritical because at no point does he reverse course in what he actually states or believes is the right thing to do, just because he actually does something he’s previously stated is wrong. Its not hypocrisy when he does something he’s said is wrong, because he’s not fooling himself that its suddenly NOT wrong just because he’s the one doing it. Its just he believes its necessary to the point where he’s okay with the consequences or moral conundrums of doing it even WHILE accepting that its wrong.

He thinks killing is wrong. But if it came down to killing someone or letting someone he cared about die, with NO other way out....Bruce might find himself frozen, paralyzed by being faced with an impossible choice that he finally has NO alternative to without plot contrivance, which is realistically all that really keeps Bruce from never ending up in this situation. Thus keeping Bruce from acting, meaning his loved one dies....and then Bruce would torture himself forever with that failure, and with his choice or lack of action. In the exact same scenario though....Dick would have no illusions about what he was doing, he wouldn’t suddenly decide, oh, killing this person is fine....but he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them to save his loved one’s life....and then Dick would torture himself forever with THAT choice, that action, with his failure to find an alternative solution. Similar situations, similar outcomes, entirely opposite motivations and choices.

So yeah, Dick always knows right from wrong, no matter the situation - its just that he doesn’t always CARE. Not when someone he cares about is at stake. The moment that becomes true, the second he can’t find ANY viable alternative to whatever ‘wrong’ thing he’d have to do to save or protect or rescue them....he’ll do what he thinks he has to. He’s the walking epitome of ‘they can hate me as much as they want, as long as they’re alive to do it.’

And similarly....he might lecture or yell or judge or any and all of those things, but again I think that has less to do with hypocrisy and more to do with being caught between a rock and a hard place. I think he KNOWS his moral flexibility works way differently than most people understand. He doesn’t expect people to be like him, or even understand him, it just is what it is. So he doesn’t bother trying to explain it nearly as much as he should, I think....probably because it IS so opposite to Bruce’s motivations and personal code, that Dick decided early on there just wasn’t any point trying to convey how and why he makes certain decisions he makes. 

So yeah, he might lecture Jason about killing, but he’ll never actually give up on Jason, no matter what he does. But at the same time, Dick can’t ever actually give up on Bruce, no matter how much Bruce pushes Jason away because of their opposing stances and how much that hurts Jason. And it all tends to snowball, because as much as Bruce and Jason are frustrated at each other for their opposing stances and are unwilling to concede, Dick’s eternally frustrated with BOTH of them, because the part he thinks is most significant is that they both still care about each other and he just bottom line doesn’t GET why that isn’t enough for them to find an understanding. 

Back to Damian....I said at the start of this that Dick might not be so distinct from Damian here, and I think they actually have more in common than people realize. They DO have a closer relationship than any others in the family, and its not unreasonable that Tim and Jason have concluded that Damian is Dick’s favorite and vice versa...but I don’t think that’s quite true. It’s not that Dick loves Damian more than them or that Damian loves Dick more than their father. Its that they understand each other in a way that the others don’t. (I also think it has to do with the fact that as much as Dick eventually made his peace with Jason, Tim and even Steph being Robin and taking his family name, IMO its still a big deal, even if only subconsciously, that Damian was the first time HE got to give Robin to someone, to choose, to say here is my name, my family name, I’m inviting you into my family with this).

But yeah, as much as Damian’s learned to question the teachings he grew up with, I think ultimately that’s only been possible to the degree that its happened, because Damian is like Dick in that his morality revolves around people. Whether or not this is because Dick was the one to first break through the walls he put up, the first one to truly show Damian the affection he’d been starved for his whole life....who can say. He definitely played a formative role in who Damian’s become, but I think it comes down to the nature vs nurture argument, and where you stand on that. Is Damian like Dick because Dick’s the first one to really care about him and make him WANT to be different? Or is Dick the one who got Damian to care and want to be different because Dick was the one most like Damian in this particular way?

Regardless, yes, Damian knows right from wrong now, he understands his family’s stance on killing...but his abiding by those rules and overriding everything he’s been taught about killing, I think has less to do with him AGREEING with this new stance and everything to do with him wanting to be who they want him to be. Refraining from killing because he knows its what Bruce - and Dick - and the others he cares about want from him and for him. But no matter how far in the future, or how long he lives with Bruce and the family and goes without killing, if it came down to a choice between killing someone and letting someone he cares about die - Damian wouldn’t hesitate. And I think a lot of people both in universe and in fandom would point to that as him reverting to form, or character regression, or have them say he hasn’t changed as much as people thought after all....but I think that’d be just as much a mistake as the way Tim said Dick was just like Bruce now. Because if that happened, it would be because Damian NEVER changed....in the sense that he was always going to do what he thought was right based on what was at stake for the people he values. And he always has.

I think it fits perfectly that Damian was the only one who didn’t give Dick any shit about his death and Spyral when he returned - and not just because Damian had been dead when that happened and thus Dick hadn’t actually ever lied to him. It was because at the end of the day, Damian instinctively GOT IT in the way the others didn’t. He understood Dick’s reasoning because he knows Dick in ways the others don’t, because the things Dick taught him that resonated most with Damian, Damian in turn knew Dick only said because he understood they would resonate, and why. Damian didn’t judge Dick for it, because Damian would have done the same thing. And for the same reasons Dick did it, not because Damian’s any more like Bruce in that regard than Dick is.

So yeah, for all that the various members of the Batfamily have very different specifics to their personal moral codes, I think Jason and Bruce are actually the most alike in WHY they do what they do, and Damian and Dick are the most alike in the opposite regard. And Tim I think is in between them, not AS flexible in his morality as Dick and Damian, but not as rigid as Jason and Bruce are either. His flexibility has more to do with Tim NOT wanting to be anything like Ra’s and keeping a tighter leash on his own views and choices. Tim’s probably the most introspective of the Batfamily, and I think he’d likely be closer to Dick and Damian in this way if not for the fact that he’s also so analytical and constantly evaluating his own choices and reasoning in ways Dick and Damian - both more intuitive and emotional people than Tim - don’t necessarily bother with as much. Tim’s also come closer to making decisions he REALLY isn’t proud of or comfortable making than either Dick or Damian, and thus like Bruce, he’s more afraid of who he might become if he doesn’t keep such a tight reign on his actions.

[maria-chwan]

T’Challa, (Y/N) and two dying brothers

(So this is how use use a “Keep reading” link! Sorry for my latest post with the whole story laid out like a lake of soap water! Here’s the same story, but in a neater form. It’s for ruckystarnes 2k writing challenge. The prompt was fairy tale and the character T’Challa.)

Before any of you were born there was the tribe of Wakanda. Members of this tribe lived in a village in the middle of their open lands. Chief T’Challa led the tribe of Wakanda with patience and trust. They hunted where the ground was more green and lived in another place, where they could seen from a mile away.

Neighbour tribe of Kutshata hunted on the same grounds as T’Challa’s tribe. One time they went against the tribe of Wakanda in a war. It’s been told in another story. In this tale we only mention that chief T’Challa fought with his tribe and in the end they gained a peace with Kutshata.

But only three months later they got visitors from a tribe that ruled an area beyond Kutshata’s territory. Those visitors brought a frightening danger with them.

When T’Challa was washing himself in the curer’s hut, a man slipped in through the passage. T’Challa lifted his head and saw the man standing legs apart, edges of the window behind the sight of him. The man put on a red mask before attacking T’Challa without a warning with a wooden staff in his hand.

That was when somebody roared out a wild battle cry inside the small hut. Masked warrior and T’Challa flinched when they heard it. Half naked T’Challa dodged the wooden staff, which dug itself into the ground. T’Challa got on his legs, but stayed near the ground. Masked warrior pulled the staff back and turned around to look.

A warrior was standing in front of the passage way. Drops of spit flew from their mouth as they breathed heavily. They were called (Y/N).

What the masked man didn’t know was that (Y/N) was one of the most inexperienced warrior in the tribe despite the fact that they were one of T’Challa’s peers. (Y/N) was curer’s apprentice. They did train to fight, but didn’t pay much mind to it. It caused them to have a bad reputation in those few battles they took part in.

On this evening (Y/N) had walked past the curer’s hut and gazed inside from the window. They knew that the curer was away and T’Challa was washing himself in the hut. It wasn’t the first time when they were drawn to T’Challa because of their feelings for the chief. When they had seen a man with a staff standing before T’Challa, they had barged in and roared out a battle cry.

(Y/N) looked down. Instead of throwing themselves at the enemy, they hurried to grasp the corners of the rug that was under the masked man’s feet. It was too late - the enemy was faster and swung his staff to hit (Y/N) to the head. They would have cracked (Y/N)’s skull open if T’Challa hadn’t been there to pull the masked man’s feet from under him. It made him fall down against the rug.

(Y/N) lost the time advance to pull the rug from under the enemy. They had to let go and back down. They didn’t make it to snatch any weapon or shield to defend themselves. The masked man started to already get up. While Chief T’Challa was wearing only a rag but a strong warrior, (Y/N) was fully clothed but inexperienced in fighting.

(Y/N) and T’Challa shared a look over the enemy. They knew that a new strike would be coming soon. They weren’t breathing. Both of them thought for a moment that they wouldn’t have enough time to get any weapon in their hands. However, T’Challa figured out that wasn’t true.

T’Challa took a large pot of boiling bathwater in his hands and dumped it all on the masked man’s face just when he had stood up from the ground. The masked man let out a pained howl and and fell down, gasping through the burning sensation.

“Run, T’Challa!” (Y/N) cried out and kicked the masked man in the face, making him fall on his back. T’Challa glanced at the enemy and threw the heavy pot painfully against their back before taking off through the window. Half of the tribe had already gathered near the curer’s hut because they had heard the alarming sounds of a fight. Two members of the tribe tagged quickly along with T’Challa to help him as he hurried to clothe himself. He was very restless.

(Y/N) flew out of the curer’s hut through the passage and ran to the next hut. The masked man was clawing his way after them in rage. He damaged the passage in a strange way: when he grabbed the straws that formed the doorway, they burned in his hand. He left black straws after him.

Once he got outside, he was forced to face the warriors of the tribe. The enemy was alone against twenty trained fighters, but he didn’t run away in fear. He lowered his stance and raised his staff.

Behind the group of warriors there was a heated conversation between the few locals and the visitors who had brought the masked man with them.

“Did you betray our hospitality?! Were your intentions to attack our village?!”

“No! We are just passing through your territory! It’s just that one man! He is from Kutshata, we took him with us because he wanted to travel beyond the mountains too!”

“Really? We thought that all of you were from Aoma! We didn’t hear you mention that he was from Kutshata!

“We know! We thought that he would be as friendly as we intended to be on our visit, so we didn’t see need to alarm you about him!”

“Why did he attack our chief then?! What is his name?! Why is he doing this?!”

“He said that he was just someone whose blood was from a different tribe! That was the reason why he wanted to travel beyond the mountains! His name is Uko!”

The warriors of the tribe of Wakanda leaped forward and tried to pierce the enemy’s skin with their spears. The masked man showed better fighter skills: he stepped aside from the way of the first spear and brought his staff down to know it out of the warrior’s hands. Then he thrusted the staff forward, hitting the warrior to the chest and causing them to scream like they had gotten hit by a lightning instead of a wooden staff.

The masked man injured five warriors like this. After the warrior were hit they struggled to get to their feet and felt painfully sore. The masked man’s strikes did more damage than they should have done. Rest of the warriors stepped back, whispering about magic. They gathered together and prepared to strike in a group, when..

Someone stroke the masked man between his ribs silently with a battle knife from behind. The masked man gasped and doubled over, lowering himself to the ground. Then he laid slowly down and stayed on the ground, starting to wait for his death.

The attacker didn’t have to wait. He had dropped dead on the ground the moment his knife has sunk into the masked man’s flesh. His eyes were cold and lifeless.

The attacker had been one of the visitors, a teenager from Aoma. He had ran from one of the huts to bring the battle to the end and clean up his family’s honour. Sudden death confirmed the rumour about magic.

(Y/N) stepped carefully out of the hut where they had hid in. They approached silently the weeping family of the teenager, or more the masked man next to them. He was to one who was still breathing.

After witnessing the death of the teenager from Aoma, the visitors and members of the tribe of Wakanda had both stayed away from the masked man and his deathly touch. They settled for insulting him with hateful shouts from the distance.

“Rot in the afterlife, Uko the cursed!”

“May the flies eat your corpse!”

“What reason did you have to do this, Uko?” (Y/N) asked.

Uko removed his mask. Underneath his face was round, he had long eyelashes and small teeth. His body was strong, but he was short.

“My brother… will come after me…” Uko mumbled. “Uko is… a fake name… I’m Yam… We are… the two men… who were conjured... by a traveling mage… and became powerful enough… to win the war against the tribe of Wakanda. Our parents… gave us for that purpose… to win the war...”

(Y/N) listened. They felt T’Challa arrive behind them.

“We are… the two sons… of the rulers… of Kutshata… The mage… conjured me… and made me… able to… use destructive magic… in a battle… I would have… won the war… if the ritual… had been performed… in time… Now Kutshata… are at peace with… Wakanda… and me… and Yakho… are dying… because of… the magic… in our blood… without being… able to be useful...”

(Y/N) glanced at the dead teenager.

“We will be… useful… before we… die…  We will refuse… to live peacefully… when we… are forced… to die… We will kill… chief T’Challa… Even if… they don’t… need us to do that… anymore…”

Then he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

(Y/N) turned to look at T’Challa. His eyes were sharp from sadness and refusal.

“I haven’t met them. Only their parents”, he said.

“They were unhappy”, (Y/N) said in a heavy tone.

“Come away from them”, T’Challa said and stepped between the corpse and (Y/N). “You will touch them because of a habit.”

“You are right”, (Y/N) said and stood up to their feet, putting distance between themselves and the corpse. As a curer’s apprentice their job was to prepare the dead before their funeral. They wondered if it was possible now. Did the deadly touch stay in Yam’s death?

T’Challa’s foot made a slight movement towards the dead teenager and the weeping family to signal where he would go next.

“Thank you”, he said shortly, but gave a nod that was full of relief. (Y/N) accepted it gladly. T’Challa had always been the overachiever of them too, while (Y/N) had kind of gone below the bar more often.

“It was nothing”, they gave a comforting answer before T’Challa turned away to express his sorry of loss for those who needed it.

They both remembered that they would have to fight Yakho next.

[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #54: COVER ME (7/13/2018)

Finally, after months of solid drought, the barren wasteland known as the TØP fanbase has finally been blessed with rain. And not just a gentle sprinkle; it’s been a consistent heavy downpour, a veritable flood. Even before new music, this week gave us new content from the group every single day. There will probably be something new out by the time you’re done reading this. So let’s not waste any time! Here’s your week in Twenty One Pilots news.

This Week’s TØPics:

Your Band Is Back: Trench Coming This October

“Jumpsuit” and “Nico” Released

New Logo/Theming/Everything

Josh Speaks

And SO. MUCH. MORE.

Major News and Announcements:

This time last week, I was certain that we would be getting new music on the 6th because it was my birthday. Turns out, myself and many others in the Clique read a little too deeply into Clancy’s promise that “everything would be different” by morning. We did not receive new music on that date, which, for the record, was way earlier than most reports had pegged. The fanbase wanted music ASAP and interpreted the letter to fit that, and anyone who said the band lied about when music was coming was just not being honest with themselves. 

Things were different starting last Friday. On the one-year anniversary of their departure, Twenty One Pilots directly reached out to their fans for the first time, not through the wide platform of social media, but with an email message to their mailing list.

The message only consisted of the subject line “ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?” and a gif of an opening yellow eye, with images fitting the iconography of the Dema site flashing under the eyelid. The Clique basically lost their minds at this direct contact, so much so that major publications like Billboard finally started to report on the long gestating speculation. Everyone was excited to see the eye open over the course of the day, bringing everything full circle and culminating (presumably) with new music.

That... didn’t happen. Rather, dmaorg.info was restored after being down for only a few hours, and this gif of torches was added onto the site. This indicated that Clancy had escaped Dema, and the Clique promptly set about assuming that the next day would mark the band’s full return. Further, the name of the gif, “they_ca_ntseeFCE300″, seemed to confirm what people would be speculating ever since Josh dyed his hair nearly two years ago: the next era’s color would be yellow (specifically, FCE300) to symbolize hope and light pushing back against the dark.

The next day brought with it another update from Clancy (and the general concession among the Clique to stop expecting new music every night and just go to bed). In one of my favorite bits of attention to detail so far, Clancy’s latest journal was messily handwritten on a scrap of paper, due to the fact that he had successfully escaped Dema and was now traveling through- big shock- a region called “Trench”. The writing itself is kinda rambly and generic (so I can relate), with Tyler Clancy marveling at how much he loves being in the trees being alone out in nature. That said, I do love that there is a definite story being presented, with Clancy experiencing changes, taking action, and going on a real journey through this world that Tyler’s created.

On the back of the paper, however, is something much more interesting: a blown-out image that, when reversed, revealed a dead body. That was creepy enough as is; far more creepy was the Clique’s CSI-level discovery that this ripped photo fit with several other dmaorg.info images in a giant puzzle. Who was this man? Was this a random poster that Clancy grabbed as he escaped, or are we supposed to take it as a metaphor? Was it a random citizen of Dema? A bishop? Clancy himself? Blurryface? So many questions.

Twenty One Pilots truly made their mainstream return on July 9th, when they posted a second video of a half-opened eye, not just for hardcore fans, but on all of their social media platforms. This return was accompanied by a total overhaul of the band’s general branding: a new yellow-and-black ||-// logo was revealed for the new era, while the old “silence” banners and even the website subscription box were covered up by bright yellow tape. Billboards featuring the logo on this yellow tape aesthetic sprang up in cities all around the world, from London to Toronto, Berlin to Melbourne, even an entire building in São Paolo. The boys were back.

On Tuesday, Twenty One Pilots again returned to social media to post a second video. The eye, now about 3/4 open, depicted even more of this medieval battle, now with the addition of the Watchers on the cliff throwing... something (rocks? rose petals?) into the air. Instead of generic white noise, this clip was scored by a muffled but still obviously crunchy bass line. As radio stations across the country began to tweet about a major alternative release coming Wednesday morning (with a few even mentioning they were from Columbus), we finally knew that we were going to be ok....

New Releases:

And then I was not okay.

Early Wednesday morning, Twenty One Pilots dropped two singles and announced the names and dates for the next album, Trench, and tour, Bandito. My prediction from last week was 100% correct, and you all may thank and validate me in the comments below like and subscribe. “Jumpsuit” is our main single with a full cinematic music video, while “Nico and the Niners” is the more lore-heavy low-key song for the fans. I’m going to pull back from fully going in on picking apart every sonic and thematic element of both songs and save that for (hopefully) a less busy week, but you know I gotta write about their first new music in two years. Cause that’s what I do: I write too much.

Guys, “Jumpsuit” is a straight-up banger. Featuring a killer driving bassline, some of Tyler’s most impassioned screams, and a truly devastating bridge, I have not tired of this song one bit in the last few days. It takes me on a complete emotional journey in just four minutes every time, and it does so mainly through its soundscape (there’s only the hook, three couplet verses, and that damn bridge). It’s so, so, so, so good, potentially (dare I say it) the best sonically arranged and produced song the band has ever released.

So... what’s “Jumpsuit” about? Well, a lot of things, but in a word: pressure. Again, the lyrics are super vague, I think deliberately so. Clearly the song is about the singer feeling pressured by others into taking a path that he does not want to travel down. That bridge, delivered in an eerie detached falsetto, shows Tyler pushing back even at his weakest point, stating that he will not submit to what others want him to do unless they “grab him by the throat, tie him down, and break his hands.” Certainly you can argue that this is about the music industry. The “breaking his hands” line is killer in that context, as it signifies that the industry can’t control him without taking away the things that makes him valuable to them in the first place, his artistic ability and freedom. You can also say that it’s just playing straight into the concept, with Clancy breaking away from the bishops’ control. But the deliberate vagueness of the lyrics means that the audience can apply the message- and the empowerment of that killer bassline- to whatever struggle they are facing. That’s pretty darn rad.

The music video, directed by “Heathens” and “Heavydirtysoul”’s Andrew Donoho, is sick. Tyler (looking extra fly in his new yellow hooded jumpsuit) attempts to flee from this creepy Red Riding Hood old dude on a white horse (Nico?) through what is certainly a Game of Thrones filming location while other figures in yellow duct tape jumpsuits look on from the cliffs above. Tyler is captured by the bishop, who “smears” him by putting the black Blurryface makeup on his neck. Tyler is freed briefly from the bishop’s control when the other yellow-clad figures throw yellow petals down on him, but he is chased down knocked out or killed. The others flee the scene, save for one very handsome looking drummer boy... Oh, and there’s a bunch of intercut clips of Tyler on the car from “Heavydirtysoul” for some reason.

Besides those “Heavydirtysoul” scenes, which truthfully don’t connect much to the story of the video beyond artificially welding it onto the end of the Blurryface Era, this is one of the band’s best videos yet. It totally fulfilled all of my expectations of a more epic scope for this era, from the gorgeous Iceland setting to the dope as hell costumes to the implication that the story might continue on from this point. And there are tons of little Easter eggs, from brief flashes of the nine bishops to possible cameos from the Josephs and Duns. We don’t really know for sure if Tyler is playing Clancy or if the red dude is Nico, but it will certainly be fun to continue to fill in the blanks as we move forward and (hopefully) hear more from Tyler directly.

“Nico and the Niners” is a weird track, but one that I still absolutely love. In some ways, it’s a more traditional tøp track, with some of the raggae elements found on Blurryface and a rap verse to fit all of Tyler’s lyrics in. But in other significant ways, it’s a totally different path for them. For starters, just look at that title: it’s very explicitly about this album’s concept from top to bottom, with Tyler singing about fleeing Dema and its bishops’ control and even heavily referencing “Jumpsuit”; there’s clearly going to be a great deal of thematic cohesion in this project. But there’s also just the general vibe of it: just as “Jumpsuit” was a heavier rock song than anything we’d yet seen from the band, "Nico” is way more laid back, its repeated references to being high and even its visualizer of assorted shrubbery making it a potential stoner anthem (whether that was Tyler’s intention or not). Regardless, the song is brimming with character and hooks, and it’s already grown on me significantly in just a few days.

Oh, and one more thing: this song lives up to its Dema-referencing title and content by being cryptic af. The track is littered with reversed audio in the instrumental bits, including the “we are banditos” snippet from dmaorg.info and another sample of someone who sounds a lot like Josh saying “We will leave Dema at true east, renounce Vialism [the bishops’ ruling philosophy, alluded to be Clancy in an earlier journal].” I swear, if all it takes for Tyler to make all this stuff is a year break, he should do this after every album.

With all that new music, the fact that we finally have a name for Album 5 almost got lost in the shuffle. Trench was a popular guess over the last few days thanks to dmaorg.info, but it’s good to finally know for sure. Graphic designer Brandon Rike from the Blurryface Era is back again, revealing a cover featuring a badass-looking vulture/falcon/whatever, some new logos (including the return of FPE!), and some more yellow tape that appears to be covering the names of the rest of the album’s songs. Not too much else to say at this point; we’ll just have to wait until some of that tape gets peeled off between now and October 5th.

Finally, let’s talk about the Bandito Tour. It bears mentioning that, amidst the otherwise overwhelmingly positive positive atmosphere of the band’s return, this tour name received the most general opposition from fans and non-fans alike. The fact that “bandito” was probably going to turn up in a lyric from two decidedly white dudes was already enough to put some folks on edge, but the idea of an entire tour of predominantly non-Hispanic tweens flooding arenas and calling themselves banditos was enough to turn a few people against the band. And look, I get it- I hear “bandito” and the first things I think of are John Wayne Westerns and Speedy Gonzalez, and I get why a lot of fans might feel uncomfortable with that. But, to be fair, the band hasn’t used any of those stereotypes and banditos is a word for outlaw used in a number of Romance languages. Perhaps most interestingly, there’s not yet any evidence that the word even appears in the album itself. So far, the only appearance of “bandito” is in a coded message on dmaorg.info and in reversed audio in “Nico”. If this does turn out to be a name meant to only make sense to the most hardcore of fans, it is almost redeemed (I mean, I still think the name is a little silly, but I’m already in presale).

So, with that out of the way, let’s actually talk about the tour itself. It will be an international arena tour- even if the band’s sound is not going in a pop direction, they still clearly feel confident that the Clique will show up wherever they go. The first show will be hosted in Nashville (their first arena concert in that market) on October 16, not even two weeks after the release of the full album. What a baller move, and much preferred to the Blurryface rollout where we didn’t hear most of the songs on the record until nearly two months after the album release and they didn’t play near me for even longer. The boys will tour the U.S. until November 21, even playing arenas in a few markets that they’ve never played large venues in before, and then hit up Australia and New Zealand in December.

The most objectively interesting leg will be in Europe from January through March. Not only will the band play their first arena shows in markets like Moscow, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Central Poland, and Manchester, they will return to markets like Dublin and Glasgow they’ve been absent from for years. Most exciting, Twenty One Pilots will play their first shows in Bologna and Stuttgart and venture into the countries of Ukraine, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal for the first time ever. Needless to say, the rabid fanbases of all of these regions are super excited, and I’m super excited for them!

Other Shenanigans:

While Tyler has continued to stay silent (much as he has since mid-Blurryface Era), Josh immediately jumped back on Twitter with a standard Josh joke and even resumed his morning workout Snapchats. On Thursday, Josh even called into BBC Radio One with Annie Mac to give a quick interview about the new era. He didn’t provide a ton of information, but it was just a delight to hear our kid’s voice again. A few tidbits of info:

Josh reported that he was calling from Trench, I hate him.

The sick bass riff on “Jumpsuit” was born from soundchecks toward the end of Emotional Roadshow. He says that, as a result, it sounds closest to the Blurryface sound, serving as a good transition into the new era. (If this is what he thinks is close to Blurryface on Trench, this album’s gonna be nutter butters.)

Both Josh and Tyler are really nervous about the elaborate rollout, both out of the usual fear that no one stuck around and out of wariness of severely disappointing people when they hear the actual music (so far, so good...)

Trench continues to have the “diverse” sound of the previous records and also was designed to be played live.

Josh also tuned into Apple Music’s Beats 1 for an interview with Hanuman Welch. This conversation was less about the new album and more about the “hiatus”. More tidbits: 

The band views collaboration as a “sacred” thing, and while they’re not against it in the future, it has to be done in a context that makes sense and not merely for marketing purposes.

The band has never used the word hiatus because they’ve been working. They drew back from the spotlight to allow themselves some time to recharge, but also because they were worried of oversaturation (particularly after the Grammys pushed them into that next-level pop culture sphere). Rather than make a bunch of social media posts that didn’t mean anything just to stay relevant, the band decided to draw back, focus on music, and in the process “thin the weeds” of fans who weren’t the diehards.

For the last few albums, the music has come from a specific personal place the band was at while write, whether it be a spiritual journey with Vessel or tackling insecurities on Blurryface. Josh says the same remains true with Trench, but notes that there will be a little more fleshing out themes by working on a specific story with this one (he still says it’s not really a concept album, but ok).

Believe it or not, we are not done. While the boys were blazing a brave new path forward, another bit of content reminded us of where the band came from. Greg Wells, the producer who made Vessel the masterpiece it was, gave an hour-long interview to Billboard’s Pop Shop Podcast. He mainly speaks about getting started in the industry back in the 90s and working on the mega-blockbuster Greatest Showman soundtrack, but he does talk about Vessel for a bit approximately forty minutes into the interview. I won’t give the exact time-code, not because I’m lazy, but because the entire interview is worth listening to. Greg just seems like a rad dude. His laid-back nature and the seriousness he takes with his craft really shine through; he and Tyler must have gotten along just fine.

Community Spotlight:

The Clique took some heavy losses over the last year, as a great deal of old fans moved on to greener pastures. But that just left room for a whole host of new fans to rise to the occasion and help us get through that long drought. Today, I wanted to give a shout-out to GingerSheep and Stolen Potential, two Clique vloggers that have really kept the fanbase informed and uplifted and have been working their butts off reporting on the daily content. I know how long it takes me just to research and write one of these- I can’t imagine the work that then goes into filming and editing on top of that nearly every day. Hats off to you, good sirs. Make sure you all check out their channels if you haven’t already! But, you know, don’t stop reading these. I have bills to pay with all the Tumblr money I’m not making.

Well, that wasn’t too much, was it? If you made it all the way to the end, mad props. See you next week for a slightly tamer week (probably).

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

[judgeanon]

A SHORT HISTORY OF FEMALE JUDGES IN JUDGE DREDD FROM 2012 TO 2015

Seemingly satisfied with having thoroughly destroyed Mega-City One and making Dredd horribly responsible for and uncharacteristically powerless during all of it, John Wagner let go of the reins of 2000AD’s flagship character after “Day of Chaos”, leaving the strip in the hands of a new crop of writers who’d waste no time in staking their territory. First with an absolute tour de force of storytelling, and later with epics of their own, filled with supporting casts either handpicked or created by themselves, these writers have carved their own place in the strip by exploring the themes and characters most interesting to each other.

Speaking of characters, the most important development of this era as far as this series is concerned is the return of Judge Hershey to the Chief Judge’s seat. Ostensibly brought back to form an interim administration while the city gets back on its feet, Hershey would end up staying far longer than anticipated, mostly on account of there being nobody else willing and able to take on the monumental responsibility. Least of all, Dredd himself. More on that… right away, actually.

(Previous posts: 1979 to 1982 - 1982 to 1986 - 1986 to 1990 - 1990 to 1993 - 1993 to 1995 - 1995 to 1998 - 1998 to 2001 - 2001 to 2004 - 2004 to 2007 - 2007 to 2009 - 2009 to 2012. Cover art by Cliff Robinson)

We hit the ground running with “Bullet to King Four”, by Al Ewing and Henry Flint (prog 1803, October 2012) a prologue to the year’s first epic. Back in the driver’s seat of a city dangling from a cliff, Chief Judge Hershey is already hard at work. During an interim council meeting that includes Dredd, Judge Stalker and new Wally Squad acting chief Judge Folger (Judge Hollister is mentioned as being MIA, her cover blown during Chaos Day), she reveals her plan to merge Justice Dept’s various units into larger divisions as a way to consolidate their beleaguered forces. She also introduces, to Dredd’s immediate disgust, a new head of Undercover Division and obvious source of future trouble: Judge Carolyn Bachmann.

Bachmann had been introduced in a Megazine story set during Tour of Duty called “The Family Man” by Ewing and Leigh Gallagher (Megs 312-313, July 2011), where she was hinted to be the secret head of Justice Dept’s Black Ops Division, introduced years ago in Si Spurrier’s “Dominoes.” An incredibly shrewd, cunning and manipulative woman, Bachmann clashed with Dredd over unsanctioned killings in the mutant townships, but he was ultimately unable to gather enough evidence to go after her in any official way. In fact, during “Bullet…”, Hershey directly references having heard Dredd’s accusations, but stands by her decision to keep Bachmann around. And then we get three of the most savage panels in the history of the strip:

Oof.

Clearly, the good old days of the Dredd/Hershey team are over. Or at least on life support. There’s definitely a lot to be said about Hershey’s words here, starting from the fact that she’s unequivocally, absolutely, 100% right. Dredd has proven, again and again, that he has extremely little patience or desire to deal with the logistical consequences of his decisions. The clearest example of this is back during “Mutants in Mega-City One”, when Dredd arm-twisted his way through the entire Council of Five, but then grew tired with all the politicking he himself started and left them to deliberate it on their own. It was Hershey’s cunning and willingness to stay the course that saved the repeal then.

And then there’s the resignation thing. This is something that Hershey’s not only had to deal with twice (first in “Total War”, then in “Mutants...”), but she was also there when Dredd did resign and eventually came back, during McGruder’s second term. She knows, arguably better than anyone alive, that Dredd is a judge and could never be anything else. What’s interesting is that this time, she doesn’t hesitate to call his bluff. While before, Hershey would’ve been more open to cooperation and second opinions, now she’s stuck doing triage for a half-dead city. And the last thing she needs is Dredd’s constant small picture problems meddling with her attempts at saving what’s left of the big picture, a responsibility that Dredd is staunchly reluctant to take as long as there’s someone else available to do it.

But although Hershey is right in her assessment of Dredd’s mindset, Dredd is likewise right in his assessment of Bachmann’s intentions. In fact, it’s even suggested at the story’s end that Hershey and Bachmann might be working together, which, given Hershey’s penchant for secret operations during her first reign, isn’t entirely unfounded from an in-universe perspective. Par for the strip’s course, nobody is entirely right. But despite the particulars of the story, the key element of “Bullet…” is how it has come to define Dredd and Hershey’s relationship for the last six-odd years.

Following such a strong start, we have “Asleep”, by Rob Williams and Mark Harrison (progs 1804-1805, idem), about a sov sleeper agent being reactivated by accident and gunning for the Chief Judge. The end result is an unabashed Hershey-in-peril scene, complete with her staring down the barrel of a gun on her knees and Dredd saving her life with some quick talking. So bit of a disappointment after the previous story, but hopefully it won’t become a trend or anything. Also of note: yet another redesigned female med-judge.

Then we get to the first epic of this new post-Wagner era, “Trifecta”. Which, in my opinion, is one of the strongest and smartest uses of 2000AD’s anthology format in storytelling since “The Dead Man”. Even in collected form it’s still not quite as interesting as it was reading it in the progs, and that’s because it is formed by three different series by three different creative teams that all started independently, and were only revealed to be different parts of a same story one third into it. Now, because I’m a stickler for the self-imposed rules of this series of articles (and certainly not because I’m a lazy bastard), I’ll focus only on the Dredd portion of it: “The Cold Deck”, by the returning team of Ewing and Flint (progs 1806-1811, October-November ‘12).

The story starts with the news that Judge Folger has been found dead in rather grisly circumstances, and to make matters worse, she’d also taken an important file from Wally Squad’s computers and erased all copies before dying -- a file so top secret, nobody knows what it is. Dredd suspects Bachmann, and Buell, former head of the SJS, agrees, further suggesting that she’ll use the scandal to prompt a reorganization, strengthen her position and eventually become Chief Judge herself. Which of course, doesn’t sit well with Dredd at all.

We’re also introduced to Judge Estrella, Bachmann’s partner in crime. A psi-judge, she spends most of the story mentally spying on Dredd on her boss’ behalf. Bachmann is not one to leave anything to chance.

Dredd tracks the file down but intentionally fails to stop it from being sold to someone off-world, where it’s revealed to be a list of every Wally Squad judge in operation. For this, Hershey summons Dredd to her office in an episode that picks right up where “Bullet...” left off, in more ways than one. Opening with Hershey having a flashback to the final pages of “The Judge Child Quest” during a budget meeting with Judge Maitland (who’s also hinted at being part of the epic’s underlying plot), she’s left alone with Dredd. The chapter, set almost entirely from Hershey’s perspective, is an exceptionally sharp bit of writing that segues flawlessly from plot to character development and then right back to plot with notable ease, comfortably aided by Flint peppering the pages with tight close-ups that convey a feeling of claustrophobic closeness between the two judges.

On one hand, we find out that Hershey was fully aware of Bachmann’s underhanded tactics, having made good use of her advice in the past, and wanted her in the Council as a way to get her out in the open and hopefully find something more solid to arrest her for. For the sake of the city, Hershey is willing to give an ambitious spymaster just enough rope to hang herself with, while Dredd would prefer to just hang her himself. But now, both Dredd and Hershey find themselves playing different games but not trusting each other enough to let the other in on them.

And on a deeper level, we get to see the differences between Hershey and Dredd’s conceptions of what it means to be Chief Judge, which is where the flashback comes in. After all, it was Dredd who refused to bring Krysler back to Mega-City One, espousing the notion that the Chief Judge had to be incorruptible. Hershey notes that Dredd idolizes the position of Chief, often leading him to stand in harsh judgment of the men and women who have taken it in the past. Indulging in a bit of armchair psychology, I feel like a lot of it has to do with Dredd’s relationship with the closest he had to a biological father: Judge Fargo, the first and best Chief Judge, against which all others have to be compared. And even if Fargo proved to be more human than it seemed, his myth and Dredd’s indoctrination have created an impossible set of standards in the latter’s mind that nobody else is able to live up to.

But Dredd has never been Chief Judge. Hershey has. Twice. If Dredd knows what the position should be, Hershey knows what it is. And she has no qualms in admitting that it comes with a hefty amount of compromise, subterfuge and even corruption. She laments the loss of her ideals, some of which we’ve been first-hand witnesses to over the years, but still proves to have the good of the city as her ultimate goal at all times. In fact, her attempt at ousting Bachmann is likened to her “victory” over Judge Edgar during her first reign. But in an even more personal level that has very little to do with the current situation, Hershey is shown to be wounded by Dredd’s lack of trust in her, when she trusted him enough to be kicked out of office for him. Dredd’s narrow focus on his vision of what the Chief Judge and the city should be makes him willfully blind to the compromises needed to fulfill it and to the sacrifices others make for believing in him. And Hershey, who has already given everything save her life for him once, is officially through taking his stomm.

And on a personal (for me) note, having such an exceedingly layered, compelling relationship between two estranged former friends without any romantic tension at all is one of the reasons I absolutely love Judge Dredd.

Things escalate pretty quickly after that. Bachmann is forced to execute her plan sooner than expected due to the Wally Squad list being a fake used to lure her out and ruin her scheme to create a shiny new Mega-City reserved for indoctrinated citizens with the assistance of an insane shark-headed (that’s not an euphemism, he literally has a shark’s head) business mogul. Her black ops troops start taking over the Hall of Justice, and she herself beats up and guns Dredd down, but he’s promptly saved by Maitland, who also kills Estrella in the process. This all sets up the stage for the last episode of the epic, the titular “Trifecta”, by Al Ewing, Simon Spurrier, Rob Williams and drawn (gorgeously) by Carl Critchlow (prog 1812, December 2012). 

With all the conspiracy and most of the character bits out of the way, the conclusion is a very two-fisted action affair that includes an honest-to-grud flashback cameo by Chief McGruder of all people, a hilariously uncomfortable one-panel reunion between Dredd and Galen DeMarco (who’d been featured in Spurrier’s portion of the story), and one of the all-time greatest Hershey panels:

So with Dredd finally fessing up to knowing about Bachmann’s plans and Hershey admitting that she underestimated their scope, all that’s left is dealing with the mastermind herself. Like any good final boss, Bachmann proceeds to beat the crap out of everyone, including lobbing a stun grenade at Hershey to get her down on all fours which is awkwardly similar to the end of “Sleeper” up there. But in the end, she gets killed from behind by Judge Smiley, a more-secret-than-secret black ops judge who’d been brought in as a countermeasure by Judge Griffin after Cal’s reign, to prevent something like that from ever happening again. Hershey is understandably upset to learn there’s been a presumed-dead spy living in the walls of the Chief Judge’s office for the last 20 years, and berates him for not coming out for any other previous crisis and Dredd for not trusting her. So although the day is saved, it wasn’t without damage, both inside and out.

To Dredd’s credit, however, he’s not a bastard to everyone in this story.

What’s especially notable about “The Cold Deck” is the sheer breadth of roles in display for its female characters. The antagonist, the main side protagonist, the sidekick, the antagonist’s sidekick, even the catalyst for the story itself are all female, plus a handful of background judges in the final chapter. In many ways, this story is the end result of all the past years of development for female judges in the strip. Women encompass all possible roles, from minor to major, from incidental to fully developed, and on both sides of the conflict. By comparison, the other two parts of the story have either no female characters (”Saudade”) or only DeMarco in a very secondary role (”Jokers to the Right”). Meanwhile, the many female characters in "The Cold Deck” are all established characters with different degrees of development, none of which were created for this story except for Estrella. And while it can be argued that it’s astonishingly easy to introduce new characters in Dredd, the fact that a major storyline can encompass such a wide variety of female characters in an organic way still speaks volumes of the people behind it.

After such a whopper story we get a chance to catch our breaths with a Judge Hughes doing sidekick duties in prog 1818’s “Witch’s Promise”, by Alan Grant and David Roach (February 2013) and then it’s right back into the fray with 1820-1822’s “Wolves”, by Michael Caroll and Andrew Currie (idem). The story concerns Dredd and Hershey’s efforts to stop a wave of violence against sov-born citizens after Chaos Day. When things come to a head, Hershey orders all citizens with roots in East-Meg to be taken to a massive internment camp, and then repatriated by the sov block in exchange for much needed food rations, a plan that Dredd is adamantly against. When the citizens refuse to be moved, Dredd proposes relocating them to Mega-City Two instead.

So we can see how Ewing’s character development threads have been picked up by Carroll: Dredd’s increasingly humanistic streak clashes with Hershey’s cold, pragmatic worldview, and in the end it’s Dredd who suggests the solution. At times it reads like a modernized version of much, much older stories where Dredd suggests a straightforward solution to a complicated situation (“Bob’s Law”, anyone?) but I’d argue that the wider context upon which it happens and the decision to let these problems become longer plotlines instead of isolated incidents all conspire to create some annoying quibbles, at least for me. But more on that later.

The story continues in “Cypher”, by Carroll and Iñaki Miranda (1824-1825, March ‘13), where Hershey and Dredd have a meeting with a soviet envoy and his bodyguard, Judge Caterina Pax, to discuss their reneging on the deal. The meeting is almost immediately broken up by a sniper who wounds Hershey and is driven off by Dredd and Pax. With the sov judge’s assistance, Dredd manages to kill the sniper, who turns out to be a cyborg hired by the envoy to kill Hershey for not quite clear reasons, and Pax expresses her desire to defect to MC-1, netting us our first new recurring female judge of this period.

Speaking of new recurring female judges, Psi-Judge Hamida returns in “Suicide Watch”, written by Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby, and drawn by Paul Davidson (1826-1829, April ‘13). The first Dredd story written by a woman, it features Hamida having a bit of an Anderson/Corey moment, hallucinating a chat with her dead imam over halal hot dogs and feeling the weight of all the dead citizens killed by the Chaos Bug. She links up with Dredd after having a psi-flash, and together they go on the hunt for a potential suicide cult. But things get complicated when Hamida reveals that there’s a jinn -- a supernatural entity who erases people from existence and history behind it, and then even more complicated when Dredd finds out Hamida has been a suicide risk herself since Chaos Day. Ultimately, Hamida perseveres and beats the jinn, saving both Dredd and the day in a rare case of Dredd playing sidekick.

Carroll returns with PJ Holden in tow for “The Forsaken” (1830-1835, June ‘13) which features no less than five female cadet judges, each one with full names and in one case a big secret. Lori Cassano, Madison Echavez, Cheryl Tanuma, Angela Sorvino and Jessica Paris are all part of a group of cadets left for dead after Chaos Day who, feeling abandoned by Justice Dept., made a run for it. The story is told mostly in flashback as Dolman and Dredd track each surviving member, some of which are terribly wounded, and eventually manage to find Paris, who is then revealed to be a clone from Fargo’s DNA strain, effectively making her a female Dredd. Dolman brings her back to the city, with the added complication that she’s carrying the child of one of the other survivors of the incident.

The main hook of “The Forsaken” is getting to see a group of would-be judges giving in to absolute despair, their training falling apart under the strain of an extreme situation and how they form bonds and relationships between each other. While we’ve seen female judges “give in” to their humanity more than once, it rarely comes accompanied by dereliction of duty, and this one has it en masse. Unfortunately, far as I know neither Paris nor her child have appeared again so far, so we’ve yet to see what a fully-fledged female Dredd can look like.

Up next, a Judge Lawadski meets a gory end in Rob Williams and Trevor Hairsine’s “Skulls” (1836, idem) and we check in on Judge Beeny in John Wagner and Dave Taylor’s “Wastelands” (1837-1841, July ‘13). She only makes two short cameos in here, but we find out that she’s been taking a page from Dredd’s book and keeping busy to stop herself from brooding. Interestingly enough, Dredd suggests that she take a break, noting that she’s “going to have to deal with it sometime” and that, if she really wants to change things, she’s going to have to do it “from the inside.” 

That last comment in particular is interesting, as it sets up a plotline that Wagner will eventually bring to the Megazine while also staying true to Dredd’s characterization. Dredd, like Beeny, wants Justice Dept to change, but he remains reticent to go in and do it himself. And now that Hershey’s been compromised, he’s putting all his chips on Beeny, making sure that she doesn’t burn herself or become too attached to the streets. Dredd even sugars her up a little, off-handedly noting that she’s one of their best judges. Of course, Wagner being Wagner, this is all conveyed in about eight panels and less than twelve lines of dialogue, all book-ending a completely unrelated plot. In other words, a grand study in character development economy.

Carl Critchlow comes back to art duties in the Rob Williams-written “Scavengers” (1842-1843, August ’13), which sees Dredd travel underwater to the submerged ruins of Bachmann’s new Mega-City. The story features a Judge Chen who sacrifices herself in a fight against a giant mutated squid in order to keep the mission a secret and also a rather handsome Chief Judge Hershey appearance. We have a Judge Bova in Wagner and Ben Willsher’s “Bender” (1845-1849, September ’13) and Judge Pax returns as one of the stars of Michael Carroll and Paul Davidson’s “New Tricks” (1850-1854, October ’13). After an in-depth screening, she has been allowed to join judges from several other Mega-Cities (including the son of Irish judge Joyce, from “Emerald Isle”) as part of a transfer program to pad out the city’s drained forces.

Pax is shown to be exceedingly competent from the get-go, and the story is even narrated entirely from her journals, through which we learn, among other things, that Dredd seems to have taken a slight shine to her. The main plot involves a Judge Gwendolyn Kilgore, who’s returned from taking the Long Walk into the Undercity to ask for help in taking down a mythical Troggie gang boss called the Goblin King. Fairly standard action strip fare, mostly used to showcase Pax’s skills and to introduce Joyce. But it is certainly interesting to read the former’s thoughts on Dredd and MC-1 in general.

Hershey comes back for another round of workplace awkwardness in “Prey”, by TC Eglington and Karl Richardson (1855-1857, November ’13), although she seems to have grown accustomed enough to crack jokes about it. And that leaves us right at the doorstep of the first of a three-part epic by Rob Williams and Henry Flint: “Titan”.

This first part, which ran from progs 1862 to 1869 (January-February, 2014), kicks off with the news that all contact has been lost with the judges’ penal colony in the eponymous moon of Titan. Without an army to bring any possible rebellions to heel and unwilling to destroy the whole colony before getting all the facts, Hershey sends Dredd and a team of space marines to Titan to recon the place and see what’s going on in there. But after a seriously messed up landing and a couple of betrayals, Dredd finds himself alone and at the mercy of the masterminds behind the convicts’ uprising: former Chief Judge Sinfield, and former Wally Squad Judge Aimee Nixon.

Nixon, of course, was one of the main characters of Williams’ own Low Life serial. An undercover judge on the edge, she eventually quit the department and joined the Hondo City Yakuza in a bid to save her sector from a gang war, but was brought back by her partner, Dirty Frank, and put in an iso-cube for a debriefing, her intel supposedly keeping her safe from Titan. But after Chaos Day, her and several others were shipped there anyway, breaking their deal and leaving her even more embittered and vengeful. Her appearance here is quite the surprise, but makes sense considering the creative team. As Williams’ time became more focused on the main Dredd strip, more characters from Low Life would begin appearing there in guest spots. We’d already seen a hint of that in the last epic.

Back in the plot, once she realizes who she’s got in her hands, Nixon begins negotiating with Hershey. Unlike the last revolt (“Inferno”, all the way back in part four of our retrospective) the inmates here only want to be given Titan as an independent colony. But meanwhile, Nixon has also begun torturing Dredd, trying to break him down to make the man underneath the stoneyface come to the light in hope that his desire for revenge will overcome his loyalty to the law. It’s all a bit “The Killing Joke”, as Nixon seems intent on proving that every judge, even the toughest of them all, hides a human being inside, full of human desires and emotions -- just like she had.

But ultimately, Dredd proves to be too tough a nut to crack, and even when the only survivor of the marines sabotages the colony and Aimee and co are forced to evacuate towards Enceladus, Dredd still refuses to destroy their escape ships, ruining Aimee’s plan to destroy him by making him break the law. The former judges escape, Dredd survives to fight another day, and everything works out alright… for now. Overall, “Titan” is a fairly intense start that goes to some surprising places, but it also does rely a bit too much on a foregone conclusion, which is Dredd not choosing revenge. It’s also pretty funny that this makes it two epics in a row that include a scene of a female judge antagonist arguing with Hershey over a monitor. Wonder if that will be the real trend?

Also of note: Flint seems to have some trouble keeping Hershey’s eye color consistent, since they were blue back in “The Cold Deck.” Or maybe she just has a box of contacts.

We take a breather with a Judge Sisulu side-kicking it up in “Squirm!” (Carroll and Nick Dyer, 1870-1872, February ’14) and then we’re back with Williams and Flint for prog 1873’s “Fit” (March ’14). An epilogue to “Titan”, the story has Hershey send Gerhart, an SJS judge with an axe to grind who was with Dredd during the ill-fated mission, to check on Dredd for any lasting side effects of his experience on the colony. The most interesting part of this one-off for our subject is the very last page, where Gerhart notes that, owing to her history with Dredd, Hershey is ultimately ready to follow him anywhere despite this ongoing cold war between them, which zeroes in on a particular wrinkle in their relationship. For all their mutual posturing and disagreements, ultimately both Dredd and Hershey are fueled by a strong sense of duty towards the city. But while Hershey is worried by its continued day-to-day survival, Dredd is increasingly driven by his vision of a fairer, more human society. In an overly simplified nutshell, Hershey cares about the city, but Dredd cares more about the citizens. And despite her barely being present in it, the next story is one of the strongest examples of this seemingly irreparable schism.

Running in progs 1874-1878 (April ‘14), “Mega-City Confidential” marks the return of John Wagner to the strip, accompanied by Colin MacNeil. A delightfully bleak conspiracy procedural, it ends with the reveal that Justice Department has been taking advantage of the post-Chaos Day rebuilding projects to install covert surveillance equipment in millions of homes, accumulating information that is then parsed by human operators to seek out any signs of criminal activity that may necessitate a not-so-random house search. But when one of those operators escapes and turns whistleblower, Dredd is forced to defend the secrecy of a project he himself had grave misgivings about, calling it “a rare mistake” from Hershey. And once the secret is out, public outcry forces Justice Dept to roll the project back, but not before jailing the operator and probably having the journalist responsible for the leak murdered. Light reading, this ain’t.

That sounds familiar. Also, while not named, this might be Judge Stalker.

On its own, the story works as evidence of Dredd’s growing disgust with the dehumanization inherent to the judicial system, and his own discomfort as a cog within a machinery that seems increasingly prone to falling into these excesses. As such, Hershey’s error of judgment is mostly an afterthought, but I do find it’s interesting to put it within context. The Chaos Bug attack, for example, relied heavily on privacy and subterfuge, so it’s easy to see why Hershey, who’s trying to keep a dying city alive, would be tempted to go forward with something -- anything that could prevent something like that from happening again. It’s a steep change from when Hershey was considered the most liberal of all the candidates for Chief Judge, but makes sense given her own personal development and the circumstances of her return to the position. As she’s grown older and her situation direr, she seems much more open to sacrificing the liberties she used to champion for the sake of keeping people alive. So in a way, her character development has taken on a polar opposite route to Dredd’s.

Wagner stays a little longer for “Shooters Night” (art by John McRea, 1879-1882, May ‘14), which nets us an unnamed female judge and a small Hershey cameo at the end. Then Carroll returns with Nick Percival for “Traumatown” (1883-1887, June ‘14), a story about Dredd being haunted by a near-dead Psi’s vengeful spirit that features a veritable cavalcade of female judges: Pax and Hershey guest star alongside new Psi-Judge Lewis, and there’s even a funny little cameo by a Judge Parkhouse, clearly named after long-time 2000AD letterer and unsung heroine Annie Parkhouse. After that blowout, we get a small med-judge appearance in 1890-1891’s “Student Bodies” (Wagner and Boo Cook, July ‘14) and a new crisis for Dredd and Hershey in “Cascade” (Carroll and Paul Marshall, 1894-1899, August-September ‘14) as the Lawlords, a race of brutal alien overseers whom Dredd had already faced in a previous story, attempt to take over the city. The story features a Judge Reyer who dies trying to stop the attack early on, and unfortunately, Hershey’s role in it is mostly just glowering a lot while Dredd saves the day as usual.

Up next we have the return of Judge Beeny in Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s “Block Judge” (1900-1909, September-November ’14), where she assists Dredd in bringing a troublesome block to heel. But although it’s great to check on her progress as a judge, there isn’t much character development to be found here, and it’d seem Beeny is on the track to becoming another Dredd sidekick template. Wagner, however, has bigger plans for her, although as mentioned before, the big turn will happen in the Megazine.

The story also has a couple of guest appearances from Hershey, as Dredd for once acts very tactfully around her, asking for her help in keeping a couple of crime lords locked up for incredibly petty crimes until they can uncover more evidence. As usual, a common enemy does seem to unite them well enough, although Hershey can’t resist calling Dredd out a little on his criticisms. But for a moment, the old team is back together, with Hershey making sure Dredd is able to do his job as effectively as possible.

Another nameless female judge shows up in Alec Worley and Leigh Gallagher’s “End of the Road” (1911, December ’14) and the year closes with a return appearance by Judge Lewis in Carroll and Karl Richardson’s “The Ghost of Christmas Present” (prog 2015, idem). And if things sound like they’re finally settling down a little, don’t worry, because our last stop of this post features the biggest return of them all...

“Dark Justice” (progs 2015-1921, January-March 2015) was famously born out of artist Greg Staples’ desire to paint a classic Dark Judges story. And although John Wagner had admitted to basically having run out of ideas for them, he was happy to go back in after seeing Staples’ test sketches. The end result is a visually stunning mini-epic with an otherwise fairly standard plot, as Dredd and Psi-Judge Anderson team-up to hunt down Judge Death and his pals onboard a deep space colony ship. Not much to say character-wise about this one, as both Dredd and Anderson seem to revert back to their early 80s action hero selves, filling the story with wisecracks and one-liners as they batter the fearsome foursome. Anderson does get to shine pretty brightly on this one, pulling Judge Fire’s spirit out of Dredd’s mind and revealing that her past experiences with Judge Death have allowed her to develop a slight immunity to his powers. In the end, the superfiends are ejected and left drifting in space while our heroes await a rescue, and there’s not really much else to say.

One thing that is noteworthy is that Staples used model and cosplayer Lauren Integra Fairbrook as his model for Anderson in “Dark Justice”. Which makes sense, considering she’s the official Anderson model for Planet Replicas and has featured in the Judge Minty and Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy fan shorts. In fact, there’s even a reference to an “Lauren Integra Cosplay Ground” in “Mask of Anarchy”, a previous Dredd story.

And as an extra bit of trivia, Planet Replicas’ official Dredd model is… Greg Staples himself.

In our next episode: two epics! Two thousand progs! And... The End?

[kaette-kita-slayers]

More Q&As

Here’s the March-August 2014 fanclub interviews with Hajime Kanzaka.

March 2014:

Q: Are you going to write a side story or short story about Gourry's past---about the Gabriev family fighting with one another, or about his brother? I'd love it if you did! I'm dying to know about them!

K: When I drop hints about characters' pasts in Slayers, there are some things that I have a rule against writing about in too much detail, so that readers can enjoy imagining it for themselves. Gourry's past is one of those, so I'm afraid I don't intend to write about it.

Q: If they brought back Fanroad, would you buy it? Do you still think about going to work for an ordinary company? Or have you made enough you're going to fully retire?

K: I would buy Fanroad out of nostalgia. I'm getting a little old to go back into the workforce, and I don't think anyone would hire me anyway.

Q: In a creator interview in Blaster!, you said that Zel's skill at cooking was at a level where he was just good enough to grill fish. So does that mean that Rezo, from a previous generation, isn't all that great a cook, either? If you scored both Zel and Rezo's cooking skill, which would be better? But if that's true, what did Zel do about meals when he was growing up, after losing his parents? Assuming Rezo only visited occasionally, did he eat somewhere like a Sorcerer's Guild cafeteria? Or did a friend of Rezo's take care of it? Like, Noonsa would say, "Oh, Zelgadiss, you're taller than yesterday! You're a growing boy, you need to eat right. All right, I've packed you a lunch and dinner!" Or was Zel made into a chimera not long after his parents were killed, and then started eating with Rodimus, Zolf, and the others?

K: As a comparison, if Zel is at the level where he can manage to fry an egg, then Rezo is at the level where he'd add the sauce to an instant yakisoba cup before he even put the water in. As far as meals go, they sell kinds of preserved foods, so he probably ate that.

April 2014

Q: What color hair and skin did Zel have when he was human? Did his personality change when he was made into a chimera? If you have any background information about what he was like, please tell me!

K: I don't think anyone could be combined with something else and not have it affect their personality at all, but I'll leave it to your imagination what he was like before. I don't think that the basics of his personality changed that much, though.

Q: Was Luke famous back when he was an assassin? Did he have any nicknames? And who was the first to become a treasure hunter, Luke or Milina?

K: Luke was only an assassin for a short time before he met Milina and got out of the business. So I don't think he would have been particularly famous or garnered any nicknames.

Q: If Amelia and Milina fought without using spells, who would be stronger? According to an answer you gave to an old question, they're both stronger than Lina but couldn't beat Zelgadiss. I feel like Amelia is probably stronger in terms of physical ability, but Milina does some pretty incredible things, like being able to fight on an equal level against Zord and Jade after he turned into a demon.

K: If you just look at their specs, Amelia and Milina would be equal. If they were going to fight without spells, Milina would have a pretty good advantage since she knows how to target an opponent's weak spots, while Amelia is more direct.

May 2014:

Q: Going by the map, it looks like the majority of countries in the Coastal Alliance are landlocked, so why is it called that?

K: When the nations were at war, the first to form an alliance were ones along the coast, and they called them that. Later on, countries further inland joined too, but the name stuck.

Q: Golden dragons, elves, blow demons, and fishmen - please rank them in terms of magic capacity.

K: If we're talking about the average for each, it's something like golden dragons>elves>blow demons=fishmen. However, the fishmen have a much greater range of variation than the others. There are some fishmen who have even greater magic capacity than a golden dragon.

Q: Is the Gabriev family - the lineage of the swordsman with the Sword of Light - not well known to the general public? If the legend of Zanaffar is from 120 years ago, then I think that would be a couple of generations before Gourry. But no one reacts to hearing his surname, so I thought maybe they weren't connected to the legend of the Sword of Light. Maybe it's just that information about them didn't make it to the wider world, but they're locally famous?

K: The Swordsman of Light is famous, but the Gabriev family isn't particularly, to be frank. They've secretly kept [the Sword of Light] through the generations, because if people knew that they had it, there's a high possibility that some king or lord would come along and take it from them.

June 2014

Q: In part 2, the Mazoku find out that the dragons have been using the Claire Bible. Do they not do anything to deal with this? Though at their current fighting strength, it does seem like they might have the tables turned on them.

K: The fact is, they aren't in a position to do anything. The elves and dragons advanced their plans in secret, since they knew that if the Mazoku found out, they would be targeted. And thanks to Lina, the bigshot Mazoku have been taken out one by one, so they've suddenly found themselves shorthanded.

Q: It sounds like Deimos Dragons are the strongest among the dragons, but are they intelligent like Golden Dragons? They can be summoned with spells, and there's no indication that they can speak or use spells, so I thought maybe they're more like beasts? But if that's true, then it seems strange that Golden Dragons like Milgazia would be considered inferior to a species that has nothing going for it but powerful scales and breath attacks. Also, since they inhabit the Kataart Mountains and have even been kept as pets by Mazoku, they seem closer to demons than gods. Why is that?

K: They are intelligent, but since they have no intentions whatsoever of trying to achieve mutual understanding with humanity, they don't seem like it from the perspective of humans. And about what "strongest" means here, it's mainly referring to physical strength. That's why they're often used by Mazoku.

Q: There was a description where it said that a country with a few sorcerers capable of casting Dragon Slave would be able to throw its weight around. So in this world, when countries are at war with one another, do they primarily have sorcerers throwing spells at one another? If so, then it seems like soldiers marching in formation could be blown away all at once, so do they spread out troops at random when attacking?

K: The main part of any military force is ordinary soldiers, of course, but if they have a sorcerer who can use Dragon Slave, they also have the option of using guerilla tactics to directly attack the enemy capital. Whether that option is available can be a decisive factor.

July 2014

Q: In Slayers volume 8, page 12, Phibrizzo says that Gaav isn't "complete". Is that because he was damaged in the fight with Lina? Or because he wasn't at full power yet because he'd only just revived?

K: It was because he had become very human-like, mentally, due to being reincarnated as a human over and over.

Q: Do you have a stock of spell chants and things like that that you thought up but never used in Slayers?

K: I do. I didn't create them as unrevealed background, though. There were several that I made for the anime at the director's request that were used there. There may also have been some that never actually made it into the anime, but I don't have the materials on hand anymore, so I can't confirm that.

Q: In Slayers, if someone showed up who said they were in love with Lina (unlikely as that might be), would Gourry, as a man, be jealous over her?

K: Gourry's only human, I think he'd be jealous, of course. However, I think he'd be reeeeally slow to catch on to a lot of things.

August 2014

Q: Is Gaav weaker than when he was a pure Mazoku? I get the impression that they're stronger when mixed with a human, like Seigram and the human-demons. ("Human-demons" meaning people like Zord from the second half of the series. I'm not sure if there's any commonly agreed on translation for this term?)

K: He's certainly weaker in terms of sheer power. Depending on the Mazoku, they may end up with the best of both when merging with a human, but Gaav was so overwhelmingly powerful as a Mazoku that the part of him that's merged with a human is holding him back.

Q: The Hell General and Hell Priest both died in the Demon War. Even if they weren't as strong as Xelloss, they were created by Hellmaster, the strongest of the five retainers. Were they not any stronger than the Dragon General and Priest?

(Uggghhh, I struggled with this one for a while. There are no nouns or pronouns or much of anything to indicate exactly who Kanzaka is talking about.) K: They weren't really any stronger than the others. [Phibrizzo] would never have intentionally created extremely powerful retainers, because to put it nicely, he's practical above all else, or to put it bluntly, he uses even his allies as pawns.

Q: I assume that if Zel ever gets his body back to normal, his magic power will be diminished, so will he no longer be able to use Ra Tilt? What kind of spells would he be able to cast?

K: Even if Zel returned to normal, that wouldn't mean that there would be no influence remaining from when he was a chimera. What he would or wouldn't be able to use would depend on what process he went through to get back to normal. But even if he were still able to use them, he would be undeniably less powerful.

[calliecat93]

ST: The Next Generation S4 Watchthrough Episodes 2-5

Family: I fully expected the episode after the whole Borg thing would just be another typical episode that maybe brought it up, but otherwise be business as usual. Thank God that they didn’t go that route. This was the follow-up needed, a calmer, more introspective episode. No aliens. No politics or social issues. No heavy action. Just a cool-down, character-driven episode to let the audience breathe and allow character development. Picard of course is the big plot, going back to France (is this a joke because Patrick Stewart is British?) to reconnect with his family and deal with the trauma of the Borg assimilation. Robert is kind of an ass… but he does care about Picard and does ultimately help him open up about the trauma. Seriously, Patrick Stewart’s acting in that scene? 100% perfect. I like his sister-in-law and nephew as well and I liked finally seeing Earth outside a Starfleet base/an area not technologically advanced. We also met Worf’s adopted parents! While they’re a little much, they clearly love Worf, did their best to adjust in properly raising a Klingon child, and I’m just glad to see some actual competent/caring parents in something. Crusher and Wesley’s plot isn’t much… but not gonna lie, if my mom hadn’t been in the room I’d have likely cried. Wesley watching the hologram of his deceased dad… while Wil Wheaton’s acting was a little underwhelming… yeah God that hit far too close. My dad died three years ago and I still get choked up about it sometimes. And when Crusher was going through Jack’s belongings and picking up his uniform? Just… damn. I’m so glad to see an episode that just… lets the characters develop and grow without having to add a whole bunch of melodrama or an over-complicated plot or anything like that. It’s about family, and it was freakin’ perfect. 5/5.

Brothers: Well… I should have seen this coming eventually. Lore is back folks. Oh but it’s not just him. After three seasons, we finally meet the infamous Dr. Soong. Guess this is why Data wasn’t in the last episode, his family issues needed one all their own. So first… Brent Spiner deserves every freakin’ acting Emmy ever because he played all three of these characters. Yep, all three at the same time in the same episode. And he plays all three with great distinction and character and… the man is freakin’ good. The whole episode was just… damn. The first half where Data essentially hijacks everything.. yeah if Data ever went evil, everyone would be screwed. That was legit horrifying… though why they left Data alone on the bridge when something was clearly wrong with him I’ll never know. As for Dr. Soong himself… I’m not sure how to feel about him. Oh as a character he’s great. Brent Spiner really put a lot into him. I’m just not sure whether to call him out or feel bad for him… but maybe that’s part of the point. And Lore? Well… while he’s certainly evil… I actually felt bad for him? I can’t blame him for being angry and resentful because… yeah him being deactivated/disassembled while Data got to live out a life and shown clear favoritism is very understandable. He truly feels like the angry older brother whole Data is the younger, more inquisitive brother not quite sure what to think. Soong does seem to regret decommissioning Lore, especially now that he’s dying (which Lore’s actual emotional reaction… it was possibly an act but IDT it was, again excellent work by Brent Spiner), and it does feel like he summoned the two (even if Lore was unintentional since he didn’t know he’d been reassembled) to make some form of amends, but IDK if it’s legit regret or some form of ego. It really feels open to interpretation or perhaps a mix of both. Despite that, Soong being killed by Lore who escapes with the emotion chip not designed for him implanted to wreak havoc again in the future… yeah him accepting that it’s over and his and Data’s goodbye with Data calling him ‘father’… again, just perfect. This whole episode was perfect, Event the subplot with the two kids was done well and served as a good parallel to the Data and Lore situation. Those two were able to forgive… but I don’t think it will be that simple for Data. I’m still hoping that Data gets happy things later (WHEN DOES HE GET HIS KITTY?! I WANT HIM TO GET HIS KITY!), but still a fantastic episode. 5/5.

Suddenly Human: So in this episode, we have a human boy who was raised by an alien culture known as the Talarians. Due to being raised among them, he acts and views himself as a Talarian moreso than he does a human. Well… that’s certainly an interesting episode topic. It’s kind of like with Worf, a Klingon, having been raised by humans, albeit they did try to keep his Klingon heritage intact as much as they could. I think that this may be the first tme we’ve had a human being raised in an alien culture? Spock may have kinda counted, but he was half-Vulcan, half-human, and still had both parents so that’s still a different situation compared to someone born and raised human until his parents died and was taken into the very group that caused their deaths. I guess the title character in Charlie X back during TOS may have also counted, which I do get similar vibes from especially the whole ‘captain super awkwardly stepping up as a father figure against his will’ part… albeit I feel more sympathetic towards Jono than Charlie who went thoroughly power-mad, plus Charlie very clearly didn’t want to go back to the aliens. Jono just wants to go home. Honestly… IDK how to feel about the situation. I get wanting to have Jono connect to his human roots and being concerned about him being among the Talarians who have a… rather ruthless, very patriarchal lifestyle. However, the man who took him in does genuinely love him and it does seem like he’s been accepted into their world and he’s content with that. It’s where I get the crew’s concerns and while a little too excessive Crusher’s concern about Stockholm Syndrome does make sense somewhat… but I’m also like ‘this is his choice, if that is what he wishes then grant it to him.” . Trying to make him get in touch with his roots as though they know what’ best for him when they absolutely don’t, no matter how well-intentioned… yeah don’t agree with that. Even if he has remaining family on Earth, then as sad as it is, he gets to make that choice for his life no matter what the consequences may be. IDK is they intended to bring up the moral complexity of these kinds of situations because there are solid arguments that you can make for all sides here, but I do think it’s there and is very much a relevant topic in today’s world. I’m very much on the ‘make the choice for yourself and allow one to make that choice’ opinion. Allow them to learn about their heritage and the truth about how they ended up where they did, and let them decide what they’d like for themselves/how they’d like to lead their lives. Ultimately that’s what Jono did. He understands what happened and he finally expresses missing his parents and the trauma he endured due to it… but he also chose to remain with his adopted father and those who raised him, but maybe now more open in getting in touch with his Earth/human heritage. IDK if it was the right or wrong choice, but it was his choice. 4/5.

Remember Me: 🎶Though I have to say goodbye. Remember me, don't let it make you cry.🎶 Sorry, the Disney/Pixar nerd in me required me to do that XD Okay in all seriousness... guys they did it! They made an episode centering on a female character (Dr. Crusher) aND IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD! So we have huge chunks of the crew disappearing and everyone’s memories of them wiped… except for Dr. Crusher. So… I won’t go into the plot twist here. Like with The Survivors it is really something I’d rather not spoil. But damn, I already liked Dr. Crusher… but this made me love her. The poor woman keeps questioning her sanity because of all the disappearances/memory gaps. To everyone else, nothing is out of place. To her? Everything is breaking down. I do like that the crew does listen to her and take her fears seriously. No one questions her going insane, Troi even telling her that if she thinks that something is wrong, then she’s acting as she should. Even when it’s only Crusher and Picard, despite clearly getting tired of it… Picard still listens to her and trusts her word. With how in both this and TNG they sometimes have dropped in common sense, it’s just so nice to see them treat this situation seriously and carefully and not act like Crusher is just a hysterical woman. Which she is not. While she understandably is freaked out and upset, she acts competently and intelligently especially when it’s only her left. Again, without spoiling anything, the way she gets out of it shows just how freakin’ awesome she is. Just an overall really good episode and Thank God that Dr. Crusher finally got the focus that she deserved. Sorry Pulaski, but them ditching you was worth it for this~! 4.5/5.

Wow we are off to an excellent start! Brothers may be my favorite episode in the whole show thus far. Much more to go, so hopefully the quality remains consistent. We shall see~!

[ashadowcalledkei]

Now that I’ve had some time to get things done, here’s the next chapter of TLtN!  See, not a long wait at all.  It’s also the return of chapter art.  Admittedly I just decided to draw this one super fast because I could, but there will be nicer, proper art on the next one.

To Last the Night

Sequel to Whispers in the Dark

Pairings: None Characters: Grillby, Dogaressa, Dogamy, Sans and Papyrus (background),  W̵̧͟͠.̸̡̀͝ ̴͝D̷͘͜.̷́̀̕ ̴̷̨͜G̸҉a̢͜ś҉̴͘t҉͘e̛͏ŕ̶̷͡ ̵̶̸͘͜

Warnings:  extreme bodyhorror, temporary character death (ish), implied torture of underage characters, general dark themes, zalgo text (I tried to keep it minimal)

Notes: Baby Blasters AU belongs to the wonderful @spacegate​​, I just love writing awful angst for it.

Read on AO3 here (chapters go up on tumblr first)

Chapter 12

The trio raced through the ruined lab and up the steps.  Even after the slick, black trail dried up, the scent of rotting magic guided them through the house and out the broken front door.  The caverns of Hotland were dim as always, lit only by the glow of red hot magma flowing below.  Grillby was afraid that the dark shape of the doctor might blend in too well for them to make him out, but Dogaressa and Dogamy held no such fears.  Their sharp senses guided them.  They would not allow their prey to escape.  

They sprinted through the cave, away from the red glow of lava and deeper into the twisting darkness of the subterranean kingdom.  The unnatural creature the doctor had become was fast, faster than them to be sure, but without his portals he couldn't outrun them forever.  Not when the dogs had his scent.  Before long the stone ceiling above them began to change its slope, the craggy walls edging closer together, and Grillby knew that their quarry had made a fatal error.  

He caught sight of a blur of movement up ahead, a shadow darting through the darkness.  The dogs ran faster, panting as they pushed themselves to go ever faster.  Grillby couldn't quite keep up, but it didn't matter much.  The passage they were in was becoming tight.  Sounds echoed, bouncing off the unforgiving walls of a sealed exit.  They had the man cornered now.  

With Grillby hanging back to guard the exit, arms extended and hands ablaze, Dogaressa and Dogamy advanced on their cornered target.  He was hunched awkwardly, pressed back against the uneven stones of the cave's far wall.  There was no way out, not even for him, unless he was willing to release his prize.  The dogs stalked forward as one, each holding their weapons out in a show of force that anyone would be foolish not to take seriously.  

“I don't know what you did to those kids,” Dogamy snarled, “but you're gonna pay for it.”

Dogaressa bared her teeth at the man.  “Give back what you stole, and I might be willing to make this quick.”

“M͍̞ ̖͔̥̻̹i͍̣͕ ̟n͎ ̸̞e͉̹̟̫͝.͉̙͎ ”

The entire cavern seemed to freeze in a stunned silence broken only by the distorted hiss of static that lingered around the thing that was once a monster.  

“Did he just … talk?” Dogamy questioned, his gaze darting between Dogaressa, Grillby, and the doctor as if he couldn't believe what his sensitive ears had just heard.  

“T͝ ͟h ͏e y   ͏á ҉r̷ ͞e̶ ̡ m ̛i̷ ̸n҉ ͜e͘ ,” the man said, the words drawn out and mangled but no less present.  And the more he spoke, the more clear the sounds became.  He slowly straightened his long form, rising up to tower over Grillby and the dogs.  His torso was stretched thin and gaunt, morphing into one long band of pure darkness.  The edges of his mouth quirked upwards in manic glee as he forced the otherworldly sounds that came from it to form something intelligible.  “M ́i ̴n͜ e.̕ T ̛a ̴k ̢en f r̶o͝ ̶m ͡ m̡e. ͟ ͜Ss̕s̶sò I ͏ t̛ ҉oo k̸ t̷h͟ em ͞ ͏b a ̴ck͏.͘ ”

“You killed them!” Dogaressa screamed, her own voice cracking under the strain.

“T͏h̸ ȩ y ̕w̸ e̡re̕ … p ͟a͞ ͏s̛s̶t̀  ss ҉a ͏ve ing. ̷ ̴Ţa̧ i ͘nt ed͡. ”

“Like you are?” the guardswoman asked, the subtle growl of her question sharper than any curse.

The man laughed, bubbling and terrible.  “I͟ ͝ ͘a͞m ҉ ̛ss̨s͟ t͟r҉o n̢ǵ ́e͠r.̨ ̨ ͜Į ͝ śss͜s̡ ur͝ ͏vi ve̢. Th ey ̶ w ̢ou̧l͡ ̨d͏   fa ̵ll̛. ”

“They haven't fallen yet.”  Grillby said, the memory of two small, butchered souls driving him towards a new sense of defiance that felt strange and welcome to him.  “You did your best to dust them but it didn't work.”

The man tilted his head slowly, his too wide mouth twisting into an ugly frown.  The fragments he clutched shuddered, pushing against his all too yielding hand.  “Th͏ ey ̡ ̷a̧ re͢  ͝l̸ ͡o ͜c͢k e̵d͞. ̵S̷ss͟ta ͝śss͢i͠ s̸ss͢ss. ͝ I͠t w ͞iļl n o͜t ͜ la ss̷s̴t.̢ ”  Again he smiled, what passed for his shoulders shaking as he let out a hissing laugh.  “Y͝o̧u ̧c ̴an̡ ̕ķee p̛ ẁh at ͞is̶s ̡ĺe ̸f̕t.  Th̨ ̡ey҉   a̛ ̛rȩ ̀u̵ss ̵l͟e͢ssss ̷ ͏to̕ m͞ ́e ̕ n͠o̵w͜. ”

In a sudden blur of motion that took them all by surprise, Dogaressa threw herself towards the man.  She roared like a wild animal and swung her battleaxe, its blade shining orange in the dancing glow of Grillby's firelight.  The metal cut deep, burying itself halfway into the column of the man's torso before finally coming to a stop.  The doctor gasped, cracked, empty eye sockets widening in surprise.  He looked down at the weapon protruding from his body as if unable to fully comprehend its presence there.  Then, with a vicious snarl, Dogaressa yanked the axe blade free.  Inky gore splattered from the open wound, spraying everything around them, but it did not phase the guardswoman.  She swung again, driving the weapon back into the same spot with practiced precision.  His body nearly chopped in half, the doctor howled as he topped backwards.  The sound he made was a mangled, piercing shriek that made both dogs and even Grillby wince in pain to hear.  Yet Dogaressa did not retreat.  She hefted her massive weapon and brought it down once more.  The blade tore through the man's arm, severing it with a single blow.  

The disembodied hand writhed like a dying insect, spasming and oozing as it lost any semblance of functional form.  And as it did, it lost its grip on the two crystal fragments.  The shards floated upwards, idly spinning around one another.  Dogamy ran forward, snatching up the pair.  When the doctor reached for them, his other arm stretching out towards them as he cried out with a static-ruined moan, the guardsman swung his own battleaxe in a one handed chop that severed the remaining semi-solid limb at the wrist.  He backed away quickly, his weapon held in front of him like a shield, as Dogaressa stood her ground.  

The wreck of a monster struggled to push himself up with what remained of one arm.  Inky sludge dripped from the ragged wound in his torso, each droplet leaving a long tail of shining black behind it.  The more drops that fell, the more strands of blackness connected the two halves of his severed body.  Faster and faster they fell, knitting the wound together, until the man was once more able to slide himself upwards.  Long, oozing tendrils snaked from where his shoulders should be, rushing down to the cavern floor where they slithered towards the pale shapes of his hands.  His cracked eye sockets were half melted, but still they stared at the trio with a wide, unhinged madness.  

“M͘͜ ̶i ̨͘͜ǹ ͝e̵̶ ,” he hissed, more distorted than before.  “T ̷h͘ ̡ơ s e ͜ a̕ r̨ e̴ ̡ ̡m ̷i҉ ͞n ͜e͟!͢ ̶Ǵ i҉ v ̷e ͜t ͢h ̸e҉ ͠m͠ ̶̀̋ B̆ ̑ͨͨ̊ͩA͑͜ ̴͒̏C̷ͧ ͗̉͒͢Kͬͪͨ̚͝!̒ ”

A piercing blast of static made the trio stagger backwards, hands pressed tight over their ears.  Shaking her head to try and banish the ringing left behind by the sudden sonic onslaught, Dogaressa growled and readied herself for another attack.  The man reached for her, but she dodged, ducking underneath an unnaturally long arm and bringing her axe around to strike at where his legs should have been.  Though each hit she managed to land was strong, cleaving easily through the dark muck, the wounds never lasted for long.  And what's worse, now that he was aware of her intentions, her opponent was smart enough not to underestimate her.  The doctor moved with frightening speed and unnatural fluidity.  Though he had no weapon and employed no traditional magic, at least none that could be seen, his distorted scream and grasping, lengthened fingers were an undeniable threat.   Grillby had been so transfixed by the display that he didn't notice Dogamy approaching until the other canine suddenly blocked his view.  

“I have to help her,” the guardsman said, the look in his eyes betraying the fear he did not want to show.  

Grillby nodded and held out his hands for the fragments.  They drifted into his palms with no resistance and hovered there, dancing just above his fiery skin, their magic shining with a gentle, blue glow.  Up close he could see how the light shifted, getting brighter and dimmer in a steady pulsing rhythm.  He carefully closed his hands over the pair trapping them between his palms.  They did not struggle against him.  Their power hummed in his grasp, warm and alive.  He knew what he had to do.

“Be safe,” Grillby said, waiting only long enough to see his friend return to the battle before he was up and running.  Behind him, static roared over the sounds of angry barking and the resonating clang of metal on stone, but he did not turn back to see it.  All his focus was on the winding pathway before him and the shining gems of magic he cradled in his palms.  

There were many places he could have gone.  He could break into one of the other houses.  Perhaps hide in a different cavern.  He could even board the Riverperson's boat and go anywhere from Snowdin to Asgore's throne room.  But instead he found himself headed right for the ruined lab they'd only just left.  He didn't know what he was doing, not really.  It was only a hunch, or perhaps wishful thinking, but he knew he had to try.  These weren't just fragments of the boys' magic, they were pieces of their souls.  He was sure of it now.  Even if this desperate act proved to be futile, he had to return these stolen pieces of the children he'd failed to protect.  

Grillby dragged the metal tables closer together.  He quickly untied the straps that had held the boys down, burning through the ones that would not release so easily.  For a moment he was frozen in place, staring down at the pair.  They were too quiet.  Too still.  Too fragile.  He held his free hand out over them and channeled his magic, summoning their souls.  Just like when they'd first found the pair, at first there was no answer.  His call to battle went unheeded, as if the vessels before him were truly empty.  But then there was a faint spark of something intangible and a feeble pulse of magic began to shine from within them.  Grillby looked away as the mangled souls faded into view.  The sight was just as ghastly as it had been before.  In fact, it was exactly as it had been.  The souls he saw now were unchanged, neither healing nor deteriorating from their disfigured state.  It defied everything he knew about the nature of souls and magic, but he had no time to question it now.  

With some coaxing, Grillby managed to separate the two crystalline shards.  They would not be moved too far apart, but so long as he kept his hands close enough together they were at least willing to cease their hypnotic spin.  He carefully closed his hands over them and reached out with his own soul, trying to summon something from within them the same way he'd summoned what was left of the souls he was so certain they'd been stole from.  Blue magic answered him in tiny pulses.  Dark and light.  Honest and patient.  He blinked away the ashy tears that gathered in his eyes.  

Slowly, he opened his hands and guided the two crystals towards the souls that shared their magic.  They followed his movements, drifting down willingly until they had each settled in the open hollows of the two souls.  The shards fit perfectly.  Grillby waited, his flames burning low and quiet, for some kind of sign.  But there was no flash of light or grand pulse of power.  He scooped Papyrus's soul into his hands, not daring pull it any further away from him, and carefully pressed the ragged edges together.  The little soul was cold and still.  Desperate, Grillby sent some of his own magic into it.  A familiar warmth to drive the cold away.  

“Please,” he whispered as he cupped the fragile soul in his hands, “please.”  

The soul's light, dim and dull, slowly began to brighten.  Deep blues and hints of orange, so very like his own yet somehow different, flashed beneath a blanket of white as ragged edges of conjured flesh began to merge.  Grillby held on, watching in astonished relief as the soul slowly reformed itself.  And then, at last, he felt a pulse of magic beneath his fingers.  First one, then another and another until it settled itself into a rhythm that could almost be called normal.  

Grillby was reluctant to let go, still hovering close even after he'd released the child's restored soul until he was sure that fragile pulse wasn't about to stop.  But once he was as certain as he could be, he quickly turned his attention to Sans.  Repeating the process, he held the other child's soul together and carefully poured his own energy into it until it too began to glow and pulse.  This time the rhythm faltered, skipping and shuddering in a way that frightened him, but each time it failed, it started up again on its own.  The elemental couldn't explain it, but in that moment he was just grateful that there was any sign of life in that soul at all.  They had been so broken, ripped to pieces and robbed of some precious piece of themselves.  But now they were whole.  Shining.  Alive.  

As he stared in amazement at the pale glow of Sans's newly restored soul, he noticed something odd.  The dark magic that had poisoned him and his brother was still wrapped tight around it, causing the surface to warp discolor, but there were white streaks where that stain had been cleared away.  Streaks that looked an awful lot like fingers.  Grillby reached down again, placing his hands around Sans's soul, and found that the marks were a match.  In the places he'd touched with his fire magic, the poison had been burned away.  And it wasn't just Sans, Papyrus's soul had similar clear patches on it as well.  All this time he'd been trying to find some way to help them, some cure for the unknown magic poisoning them, and it had been with him all along.  

Grillby released his summoning hold on the pair, letting their souls sink into their unconscious bodies.  Then he settled a hand on each of them, palms resting lightly against their chests.  Almost anything could burn, and bone was no exception, but it took a lot more to char bone than it did to burn most other things.  The heat he'd channeled into their souls hadn't been nearly enough to cause that kind of damage.  He could do this, theoretically at least.  He just had to be careful about it.

The elemental's own soul glowed brightly, lighting up his core with all the bright tones of flame.  It called to two souls mirrored in blue, not with a summons but with a plea.  And they responded.  The notes were faint, their song buried beneath a smothering blanket of shadow, but no less present.  Time and care had formed a connection between them, and it was through that bond that Grillby sent not only the heat of his fire magic but also its light.  

He sent his power into them.  His strength.  His love.  It surged a brilliant white, shining from inside their bones.  A dark smoke rose from the pair as the tainted magic inside them began to burn, permeating the space with an acrid stench.  Their small bodies grew warm beneath his touch.  Then the warmth shifted into heat and he had to pull back some of his power.  Too much and they would burn.  Not enough and the corruption would keep its deadly hold on them.  Grillby focused on the brightness of his own magic,  the potential in it and in him to bring not just destruction but warmth and light as well.  He channeled that light, filling the children he'd thought he lost with a brilliant luminescence strong enough to push back the darkness.  

And white lights flickered to life in dark eye sockets.  

[shewritesforgod]

Six "Must-Read" Short Stories

1. A Rose for Emily

It was written by the American author William Faullkner and was first published in 1930. It starts with the tale of a rich single woman, Emily, who is a mysterious recluse, frequently thought about but little-seen, living alone in a big home, rarely socializing. An old black woman is her only friend. Emily fails to have a street address when the position is first established in the community and refuses to pay taxes; a former mayor has formally released her of her tax obligations, but younger officials want to impose them. Occasionally, those who walk by her house see her on the ground floor, and she seems to have sealed up the top deck, but for certain, nothing else can be told. The protagonist is a part of the citys council, one of many suspicious people who come to snoop as Emily passes away. In the funeral-goers, the old black worker, now very dead, lets softly and then leaves. The stuffy, moldy, grand old house is visited by the writer and other officials and a single upstairs door is closed. Forcing the entrance, they discover inside a bedroom that looks like a gentlemans occupants, with discarded suits, a hairbrush, cufflinks spread out to be put on, but all corroded by time and coated in a dust film. The story kind of reflects how people perceive happiness. Some wanted to relieve every moment that made them happy to somehow feel that kind of emotion again. Sometimes we felt like the things that made us happy are also the things that make our lives worth living. Emily cannot be blame for she just wants to be loved and feel contentment. At the end of the day, letting go and accepting what is present would still be based on our decisions. It is only ourselves that could decide what will really give us genuine happiness.

2. The Cask of Amontillado

It is about a man make revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. The storys narrator, Montresor, tells an unspecified person, who knows him very well, of the day he took his revenge on his friend, Fortunato. Because of numerous insults and injuries. Montresor plots to murder his friend during Carnival, while the man is drunk and unconscious. Montresor tells Fortunato he has obtained some rare vintage Amontillado wine and lures him into a private wine-tasting excursion. Montresor brings the drunk Fortunato into his family catacombs. He chains Fortunato to a wall deep in the catacombs, then bricks up the opening. Fortunato screams for release, but Montresor only mocks him. Fortunatos body remains undiscovered for fifty years. The story is told by Montressors lips, the murderer who seeks revenge in the near future. From this angle, I appreciated how Poe and many of his others approached this research. To achieve his goals, the reader gets to see how the killer is thought, preparing, and organizing. Nevertheless, the more credible source is not Montressor. Although I believe hes frank with his actions and thoughts, he never addresses how he doesnt really seem to want to keep up with his challenge once hes trapped his buddy fully. We can see some of Montressors reluctance in paying back Fortunato, but it never emerges from the conscious thoughts of Montressor. The in-depth look at the reflections of Montressor helps connect the reader with the uncertainty about the future of Fortunato

3. Hills Like White Elephant

It is about a man and woman drinking beer while they are waiting for a train in a train station in Spain. The man is attempting to convince the woman to get an abortion. The man tries to to reassure the woman that the procedure is safe and promise that hell be right beside her the whole time, and it is the only solution to their problems. The girl tries using the things around her and the landscape on the other side of the tracks as a metaphor for the life they could have as a family. The man still pretends to be supportive, and tells that he really wants abortion, until the girl commands him to stop talking. Momentarily silenced, the two drink their last beer before the American carries their bags to the platform in preparation for the train soon on its way. Ernest Hemingways short story Hills Like White Elephants explores the polemical issue of abortion through a wandering young couples character development. Even though the word abortion is not mentioned anywhere in the novel, Hemingways strong use of atmosphere and meaning is irrefutably known. Originally, the narrator known only as the American exploits the meeker and soft-spoken Jig before she utilizes her feminine guiles to outwit him. The use of sarcastic sarcasm, subtle conversational style and verbal intelligence by Jig demonstrates her dominance over her male partner. Going further into the White Hills meaning, one can picture the hills reflecting the womb of a pregnant woman in a metaphorical way. On the other side of the valley, the hills are situated that can only be seen from a distance. The reflection of the remote hills may suggest that the girl finds it a distressing choice between the dry country and the hills. The dry land with the guy is also an abortion, and the hills imply conception, leaving the man. Its also clear that the guy never sees the slopes. He ignores the idea that it is impossible to choose abortion. Finally, the white color in this tale symbolizes the purity of the unborn child.

4. God Sees the Truth, But Waits

The story revolves around a man who was sent to prison for a murder he didnt commit. It implies a general theme in lined with faith and biblical message about what you need to do when the world is up against you. Ivan Aksionov is falsely accused and got imprisoned for 26 years for a crime he did not commit but he still puts his trust in God and still surrender everything and what will happen in His hands. The main character, Aksionov, was innocent in his prison life. What I like most about is that in every circumstance he has faced, he chooses to pray. Putting him in jail renders him godly. He didnt try to run, either. I might tell that Semyonich, deep inside him, lived his free life with remorse. In the first place, I believe Semyonich wants to kill Aksionov because hes jealous of being wealthy. I love the story like that. The occurrences are obvious from the very beginning of the story as well. The title means that, from the very beginning of every case, God knows everything that happens, but he is waiting for the right time to reveal the truth of what actually happened. We just have to wait for the right time to realize what God is actually doing for us. The intentions are not to harm us, but to educate us about lifes ideals. I was born as a Catholic not to keep hate in my bones, but only love and forgiveness. While it is valid that a person cannot step forward unless he / she forgives, in this tale I cant help but feel the injustice of life. It seems that only God can know the truth, it is to him alone we must appeal, and from him alone expect mercy. The only thing we can do in the midst of suffering caused by evil is to appeal to the mercy of God and believe that God knows and is in our suffering with us. The suffering of God with his people in Jesus Christ on the cross is one of the great truths and great mysteries of Christianity.

5. A Father

It is about a father, Musatov, who is blessed to have a kind hearted and dedicated children. Musatov is a drunkard and always asking money from his sons, and these sons always lend him with what he asked. His children indulge their father, Musatov, continually, even though he doesnt deserve it. Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian novelist and playwright, regarded by many as one of the best short story writers in literature history. Chekhov was also a successful doctor, but his true passion was to write. He was quoted as saying Medicine is my wife and my life is literature. A tragic parent, Old Musatov, is fortunate to have children that are very committed. Musatov is a drunkard who continually asks for money from his family, which they offer him over and over again. Musatov expresses drunkly to one of his daughters, Boris, the gratitude and admiration he experiences for all his children, while at the same time admitting his own shortcomings. The children tend to indulge their dad. This short story simply shows how a father loves his children unconditionally despite of him being an alcoholic and imperfect as a father. This could give the readers a realization that it is not only our mothers that we appreciate more but we must also show appreciation to our fathers as well because at the end of the day they are still the ones thatll protect us at all costs, we will still run back to them if we get and hurt and they are also our number one fan.

6. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

It is about the changes brought by a dead man on an entire village. It implies the lesson of how a great person used his power to change others, to inspire them to be better, to make them want be the person theyve always dreamed of. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World frequently examines one dead mans transformative effect on a community as a whole. This claim that a really nice person can change people, motivate them to be different, make them want to be exceptional. It is important that the change of the villager originates completely from within in this novel. After all, the dying man is dead, which ensures that the people are themselves accountable for the changes they make.

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Steven-specific: I - P)

Primary General Post ★ Full Article ★  Primary Peri Post ★ Primary Steven Post  

I Miss Mom: Per canon, but only alluded to in GA during Chapter 8 of Act III.

Innocence Lost: Already a major component of Steven’s canon character development; the GA continuity naturally ramps this up to extreme levels as the horrors of reality Steven experiences first-hand get worse and worse. Within Act I alone, he’s witnessing the death of other gems (and Diamonds) while being unable to do anything about it. Then, he’s being forced to abandon Peridot on Homeworld (at first under the impression that she’s being left to die); this nearly renders Steven jaded shell of his former self, but the remaining Crystal Gems manage to snap him out of it by the end of Act II. This experience triggered Steven’s inherited Diamond powers to start going rogue and evolve in a manner beyond his control as well. While the events of Act III bring Peridot back to him, Steven laments being unable to save White Diamond from herself, though it certainly wasn’t from his lack of trying. However, Steven is now forced to grow up in light of the state of his world after the main series: with Homeworld and the Diamond Authority gone forever, Era 3 truly starts now on a clean slate – all Homeworld gems are now refugees living on Earth, and they need guidance in order to be able to move forward and live for themselves. Steven and Peridot are the only Diamonds left in existence now, so while Steven tries his best to cling to his childlike charm, positive outlook, and pacifistic ideals in spite of everything that happened, he’s definitely become much more hardened to the aspects of life that threaten his beliefs.

Insulted Awake: How Steven is brought out of his 20-hour Angst Coma in Chapter 7 of Act II; Pearl plays a recording of Peridot insulting Steven repeatedly to startle him badly enough to wake up.

Intimate Healing: How Steven and Peridot end up having their First Kiss. In the interest of healing Peridot’s widespread injuries that Steven simply doesn’t have enough Super Spit for treating her in one session, Peridot proposes donating her own saliva to mix in with Steven’s. Should her own saliva adopt the healing factor through Steven’s, they’ll have enough to completely heal her injuries�� but in order to do this, they’ll need to kiss. Thankfully, it works out.

Involuntary Shapeshifting: Ends up partially like this while he’s Blinded by Rage in Chapter 4 of Act III. In Chapter 6, White Diamond forcibly completes the transformation, forcing Steven to shift into Pink Diamond 2.0. While he can easily return to his original form, he ends up shifting into Pink 2.0 a few times before GA ends, and at least one of those times was involuntary.

It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Per canon, though now Steven has a buddy in Peridot who’s going through the exact same issues as of GA Act III; she has it just as bad as Steven. While the story tends to focus more on Peridot’s struggles in this (mostly due to Steven’s already being portrayed heavily in canon), she isn’t suffering alone; Steven often isn’t far away or far behind if Peridot’s having a rough time with her ascended role in life. While Steven has shown to be at peace with his destiny as much as one can be in his situation, it’s apparent how overwhelming his responsibilities become in the Post-GA era as time goes by.

Journey to the Center of the Mind: Steven embarks on this during Chapter 4 of Act III into Peridot’s mind in hopes of undoing the damage done by White Diamond. He succeeds in fixing Peridot’s problem, but comes out of the journey with major mental problems of his own.

Kind Restraints: In Chapter 4 of Act III, Peridot (as Chartreuse Diamond) forces him to the floor and ties down his limbs to keep him there until she can figure out how to calm Steven down. At this point, Steven is very much Not Himself and acting more like a rabid wild animal than a person, so it’s all very justified.

Last of His Kind: Subverted, as Peridot’s ascension has since made her a Diamond, meaning she and Steven are the final two known living Diamonds in the universe. However, as far as natural, pure Diamonds go, Steven himself is most definitely the last one standing after Act III.

Living Lie Detector: While Steven can’t read minds with his enhanced powers (which he gains late in Act II), he can passively read anyone’s feelings whether they’re said or unsaid. Since most liars aren’t adept enough to purge the truth they’re trying to hide from their emotions while openly lying about it, Steven can very easily tell not only when someone’s not being honest, but also whether or not they’re bluffing.

Love Revelation Epiphany: It’s vague as to when this specifically happens, as Steven says in Chapter 5 of Act I that he’s at least thought about feeling this way for Peridot in the past. While he willingly kisses her in this moment, Steven seems to be taking it in stride more like a Puppy Love scenario. However, he doesn’t hesitate to kiss Peridot of his own volition a few chapters later (even giving her an “I Love You” that’s an intentional callback to their platonic moment in Gem Drill with a clear implication they’ve had a Relationship Upgrade). It’s arguable that Steven doesn’t officially reach this point until Chapter 8 of Act II, after he realizes beyond a shadow of a doubt the level of Peridot’s devotion for him after watching her Video Will. This causes him to act more like someone who’s just realized how deeply they love someone in return, as he tries to go to Homeworld alone because he can’t bear the thought of Peridot being put through torture, despite even him acknowledging that trying to go back for her immediately by himself is a terrible idea.

The Medic: Whenever he isn’t kidnapped or incapacitated, Steven will be there to heal any wound. He’s responsible for restoring a very battered Peridot back to full health (as well as repairing her fractured mind in Act III) and quickly healing Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst after they sustained heavy damage as Alexandrite before getting captured again. He even heals White Diamond’s wounds and rejuvenates her as a parting gift when she’s finally defeated.

Mind Rape: An unfortunate victim of this, getting it second-hand from reading Peridot’s memories. Specifically, the scene of Peridot being Tricked to Death and ending up with a Slashed Throat (even though it’s fake and he was told as much before seeing it) constantly replays in his head the moment he first sees it. Steven can’t make it stop and he can’t block it out, which quickly induces Sanity Slippage, until he’s eventually Blinded by Rage. 

Mindlink Mates: Getting there with Peridot as of My Time is Now. A simple make-out session becomes something deeper as Steven’s able to pick up on what Peridot is picturing in her mind. Most of it is stuff he’s already seen before when he last journeyed to the center of her mind. However, once Steven is deeply rooted into Peridot’s memories, a new curiosity of his is imagined… and Peridot picks up on it, knowing it didn’t come from her. Given Peridot’s very limited empath capabilities, it’s not expected the couple will be consistently adept like this, but this moment proved it was at least possible. In just a little over a year’s time, Our Tomorrow shows Steven and Peridot able to combine their individual takes on the same dream they’ve often had to create a fully-developed, clearly-defined complete version of said dream. They’re even in tune with each other well enough to create something strongly resembling a photograph from their combined dream; with this, they not only have physical proof of their great leap in progress in this trope, but have a much stronger long-term goal they can always look to for strength when times get tough.

Morality Pet: He’s everybody’s morality pet, per canon. Still, most notably Peridot’s in GA… the runner-up is probably himself, surprisingly.

Mr. Exposition: Acts as this during Chapter 8 of Act II, even Lampshaded by Amethyst.

Nice Guy: Of course he is, per canon.

Official Couple: With Peridot, as of Chapter 5 of Act III.

On Three: How Steven and Peridot prepare for their first kiss.

O.O.C. is Serious Business: After Peridot gives Lapis an Armor-Piercing Slap (and being way out of line in doing so), Steven kicks her head from behind to make a very stubborn, desperate, and delusional Peridot face reality after it becomes apparent that no words or gentle gestures can get through to her. Before this, he speaks very coldly to Peridot to shut down her protests and stop wasting what little time Pumpkin has left to live on nonsense and instead use that time to say goodbye. Despite his good intentions, Steven hates doing every bit of this and apologizes for his actions and behavior almost right away when he next speaks to Peridot.

Pacifism Backfire: A major ongoing problem that Steven is called out on more than once in the series. The main issue being that Steven’s insistence on granting mercy to an enemy actively trying to kill them is putting the lives of all the Crystal Gems at risk in doing so.

Partial Transformation: After being triggered by being forced to see Peridot’s Gory Discretion Shot on loop for a long period of time, Steven starts to physically morph; following his Plot-Relevant Age-Up, pink accents start to appear on his body, but don’t completely overtake him. This form has no name, but is basically an incomplete transitional state. Steven ends up in this form only twice before White Diamond gets her hands on him and forces him to fully awaken into his Super-Powered Alter Ego, Pink Diamond 2.0. 

Percussive Prevention: Steven forces himself to resort to this for a raging, hysterical Peridot who is needlessly taking out her anger on Lapis when she should be using that time to say goodbye to Pumpkin, who’s minutes way from dying from her injuries. He already tried to settle her down with gentle words, but Peridot proved to be inconsolable. Now that she’s hurting his friends while Pumpkin has a very short time left, Steven resorts to superkicking Peridot’s head from behind, sending her falling to the ground. He forcefully drags her over to Pumpkin, admonishing Peridot for her actions and demanding her to say her goodbyes to Pumpkin while she still has the chance, even resorting to guilt-tripping by referencing how he never got to say goodbye to his mother to make sure Peridot would finally understand what she needs to do. While this finally gets Peridot to sober up, she doesn’t get more than a few words out before Pumpkin passes away… meaning Steven did this for nothing (or simply took too long to suck it up and do this to Peridot earlier). He’s very quick to apologize for his actions the next time he speaks to Peridot.

Plot-Relevant Age-Up: When he experiences Sanity Slippage (more details on that below), Steven’s body matures to match his chronological age. Since this was brought on by his primal human urges, this ends up being a permanent change.

The Pollyanna: Per canon, though after Act I, Steven stumbles a lot in maintaining this trope. He’s prone to periods of depression, but often will spontaneously come out of them without needing help and is quick to move on to other matters. His persisting sleep-inducing depression in Act II is the only time he requires outside help in the form of a combined effort from his friends. Seriously compromised after Chapter 4 of Act III, but by the end of GA, Steven still pushes through his obstacles with all the optimism and enthusiasm he can muster.

Positive Friend Influence: Per canon; this trait shines the brightest by far when Steven is with Peridot in the GA continuity. To a lesser degree, Steven continues to be one for the rest of his friends, but there are occasions where his influence is outright resisted (most notably, White Diamond). However, his persistence can be credited to how the Crystal Gems managed to survive past the main series; had Steven not given Peridot some intensive Epiphany Therapy during the climax of Act III, everyone would have died off with Homeworld.

Power Incontinence: Comes up in the advent of his Partial Transformation that was triggered from the mental anguish he suffered while repairing Peridot’s fractured mind in Chapter 4 of Act III. Steven himself was unresponsive and consumed with an unstoppable rage while a war was waged in his own mind over a certain moral dilemma. He was eventually calmed, but it briefly came back a couple of chapters later (though he was much more in control of himself this time). Thankfully, the second spell was short-lived, but Steven’s behavior for that time was very much deplorable and unlike him, that he still has a hard time living it down even in the present day.

Promoted to Love Interest: After Peridot confesses her feelings in Chapter 5 of Act I.

[askmerriauthor]

You want to tell them about what we've been doing recently? I thought last session was pretty good.

You’re just saying that because your sub-plot kicked into gear last game and you got to enjoy the narrative spotlight for a while.  :3c

That said, some other folk have been asking about the tabletop game, so why not?

Each Friday with my local group of friends (@ihavenoideahowthisworks here included in that number) I’ve been running a Pathfinder game, as I’ve had the DM bug recently.  I tend to roll heavy with “Rule of Cool” and “Rule of Funny”, so I err on the side of fun rather than sticking strictly to the hard numbers in the books.  Lots of house rules, lots of alcohol, good times all around.

The current party, all freshly 10th level as of last session, consists of:

Shaemus Sigmindson, a Chaotic-Good Half-Elf Rogue and the party’s friendly neighborhood backstabber.  Due to him hastily putting on what turned out to be a Cursed Ring and a few other magical hijinks, he’s now really good at climbing any and all surfaces at a rate of 60′ per round.  So he pretty much never touches the floor if he can help it and Xenomorph-scurries all around dungeons to literally get the drop on enemies.

Abby Noh Rahmael, a Chaotic Neutral Tiefling Magus.  Despite being highly fiendish in many literal ways, she’s the bubbly, wide-eyed heart of the team.  She has a particular knack for getting along with monsters, which leaves her heartbroken when the party inevitably kills them.  She’s recently adopted a young Cloaker and is raising it as a Monstrous Animal Companion.

Valka, a Neutral Evil Human Kineticist.  He’s a people person… with a drinking problem.  Valka is a former pirate/mafia smuggler who’s since become landbound for reasons unknown, and boy howdy does he make the land work for him.  He’s the party’s personal canon capable of putting out massive volumes of damage via Earth and Fire elemental attacks, Korra-style.  The hard part is getting him to cooperate, not fly into vengeful murderous rages over the tiniest of slights, or do really anything without first being paid.

Wenden Jardecha, a Neutral Good Human Warpriest.  Acts a whole lot like a Paladin despite not actually being one, primarily due to his method of worship.  He follows the goddess Sarenrae - a deity of forgiveness and righteousness, though she draws a line as to when evil people are beyond redemption.  Wenden prefers to enforce that line with a sword.  He’s also proven himself really good at crowd control by locking down Boss-Level enemies with status effects.

Henc Jardecha, a Neutral Good Human Arcanist.  The younger brother of Wenden.  Henc is a know-it-all spellcaster who likes to hang in the background mostly being unobtrusive, maybe casting a little Prestidigitation here and there for dramatic effect.  Until he suddenly decides to Summon a horde of powerful monsters and start tossing around Lightning Bolts when the whim takes him.  He has all of the Knowledge Skills and then some, and boy howdy does he love to rub those high info rolls in everyone’s face.

The game began with an Episode 0 where the party played pre-generated base characters not their own.  They delved into a Goblin-infested ruin after getting word of a mysterious monster living there that had been terrorizing local farmlands.  They met a Kobold Sorceress outside who joined the group and sort of helped them along, discovered a Goblin Chieftain who was weirdly upset with his role of leadership, and eventually faced off with the monster in question - a young Black Dragon.  Despite nearly dying in the process, the party managed to drive off the Dragon… only for the Sorceress and the Chieftain to reveal themselves to be a pair of Kobold thieves in disguise.  They’d been casing the joint before the party showed up and, after using them to get rid of the Dragon, pilfered a small box from the treasure hoard and made their escape.

Following that, Episode 1 kicks in.  The plot so far is that the group - a team from the Pathfinder Society of Adventurers - has been dispatched to the coastal city of Sandpoint upon hearing reports of Werewolves in the region.  Their investigation has taken them to Fangwood Keep - a module I’ve heavily edited and customized - and brought them into conflict with a horde of Hobgoblins that had taken over the castle.  After teaming up with a small militia of irregulars the Hobgoblins had kicked out of said keep, the party took back the structure and discovered that it was actually built from the ruins of an Elven wizard’s tower.  However, nothing was really clean-cut about the whole ordeal.  The party kept finding strange markings set everywhere, oddly mutated creatures, and even Goblinoids altered into far more powerful states wielding unusual magical weapons.  When they finally cornered and confronted the leader of the Hobgoblin tribe, it was revealed that the tribe had been hired by an unknown benefactor to take the Keep so that he could explore its secrets.  After a bit of quick decision-making and some fisticuffs between the Tiefling and the Hobgoblin Leader in an honor duel, the Hobgoblins actually cut a deal to leave unmolested and escape back to their own territory.

Digging deeper revealed the presence of an odd pocket space where the Elven wizard’s inner sanctum lay, filled with Fae and other odd creatures from the First World who had somehow become trapped there.  Some were hostile, others were friendly, but they all just want to go home.  In delving further in, the party uncovered evidence of the strange man who’d hired the Hobgoblins performing foul experiments.  After making their way to a buried chamber deep within the ruins, they finally came face to face with him… so to speak.  Not only was the stranger disguised entirely in a suit of fiendish living armor, but he was accompanied by two Black Dragons: the same young one that the first party had faced in Episode 0 and its mother, a terrifyingly powerful sorceress Dragon.  While their intentions for being in the Keep remained unclear, it all seemed to be part of the Strange Man’s experiments and research.

In the brief conflict that followed, the Strange Man readily offered a bribe to the party to simply turn around and leave without confrontation.  As the value of the bribe rose steadily to over 100k Gold Pieces, Valka happily accepted the deal (Shaemus was incredibly tempted and left his decision up to a die roll).  The Dragons weren’t happy about the Strange Man using their hoard as collateral though and decided to just kill the party instead.  Wenden ended up taking the worst of it and was briefly slain, though oddly the Strange Man exercised magic that kept him from dying even as his associates continued to fight…

While the party fended off the Mother Dragon to varying degrees of success, Wenden ended up being visited by his goddess Sarenrae and one of her Astral Deva heralds in a near-death-experience vision.  It was there the herald explained that the Strange Man they’d encountered was once a follower of Sarenrae as well.  And that he still is, to this present day, a Paladin.  He’s completely turned his back on his faith and has been doing everything he could think of to get the goddess to cut him loose of her influence, yet for reasons unexplained Sarenrae has refused to let him go.  Thus Wenden is given a divine quest: aid those the Strange Man has harmed, destroy his blasphemous Fiendflesh armor, and put a stop to his experiments.  However, the catch is that they cannot, under any circumstances, kill him - there’s too much risk of dark forces just waiting to snatch his soul and put his dangerous knowledge to use.

So, last we left off, the party had driven off their foes, so to speak.  The Strange Man cut the battle short when it became apparent the group was a genuine threat.  After halting time through some arcane scroll, he marked the group as part of his experiments and equipped them with a strange, magical deck of cards they’ve yet to fully understand.  With the Strange Man and the Dragons escaped for the time being, the party is left in possession of Fangwood Keep and a number of its First World occupants all relying on them to find a way home to their native plane.  As if that wasn’t enough, it also turned out that the Strange Man awakened some of his other test subjects on his way out, unleashing a pack of highly intelligent, magically capable Barghest Lycanthropes onto the land to give the party something to worry about rather than chasing him.

[oadara]

So Daenerys has to be portrayed as this powerful, unyielding, fearless robot-like goddess. Nothing fazes her (for more than a moment at least). She gets her ass beaten but she's right back up intent on fighting on. The writers just can't have Daenerys show weakness, be afraid, resigned, tired, overwhelmed, want to run away like they did with Jon in season 6 huh? Of course they can't. How special snowflake of her.

They had Jon down in season 6 and another character had to build him up (a female character because the showrunners need to compensate for the years of having been labelled as misogynists). Is Daenerys so special they can’t have her go through the same? She’s too strong and perfect for that?

…

Jon selling out his people’s independence (on top of it not even giving them a heads-up first) just because he may personally like the girl is the worst case scenario in this whole thing. It makes him look 1000 x worse than Robb. A King should not act on his personal feelings. If he doesn’t have to do it (Daenerys being already willing to fight WWs) then doing it is unnecessary and purposeless. He’d betray the trust of his Lords for what? He already has her support. It’d happen for no reason.

Anon(s),

I’m going to lump all three of these asks together because I assume they all came from the same person. 

The perimeters of your asks are just littered with these simplistic dichotomies, black and white is the only way you and some others seem to think in terms of. You can’t seem to understand or grasp the complex layers of human emotions. And while I’ll be the first one to complain about D&D’s struggle to show the emotional complexity within Dany, having Dany devastated and inconsolable at the lost of her dragon chid and still wanting to get revenge for his death is still well within her character. 

You can’t equate what Jon went through in season 5/6 with what Dany will presumable will go through in season 7. Jon was betrayed by men who called themselves his brother, by a boy he mentored and acted as a big brother too. Being betrayed by your own people and dying because of that betrayal is obviously life altering. Because the world as you knew it is no more. On the other hand being attacked by an in-human horde of ice zombies who go on to kill one of your children is life altering in a completely different way. Dany wasn’t betrayed by the WW, they did what any enemy does, kill the other side. 

Jon had to be rallied because he didn’t know which side was which anymore. He thought he was on the right side, but the people who were suppose to be on the same side as him betrayed him. Can you understand how that can mess with a person? And of course, that’s not even getting into the fact that he died and came back to life. 

I fully expect Dany to be absolutely devastated and shocked at the death of Viserion. I also expect her to need the love and support of her friends to help her get through this. But I would never expect her to be someone that would give up when attached by an enemy. It’s just not who she is. This isn’t just the show, this is in the books too. The difference is that in the books we can read her thoughts, and while she shows the world a strong and unflappable woman, we know that inside she is riddle with doubt, loneliness, sadness and pain. That’s something that the show has had a hard time in portraying. 

Regarding Jon’s actions, as I said before, I don’t know the events leading up to it, I don’t know what is happening at the time he supposedly makes that decision and I’ll reserve judgement until I see it. But as a king Jon does not need to consult the lords to make a decision that will save a great deal of Northern lives. If the North can’t see that then quite frankly they don’t deserve the protection Jon is brining North. It’s false to compare Jon with Robb, while Robb’s decision weakens the North greatly, by breaking promises and eventually alliances. Jon’s decision creates alliances and strengthens the ability of the North to fight the WW and increases their probability of survival exponentially. 

Also, quit it with the fucking misogynist bullshit, the only one here who is being a misogynist is you. It just eats at you that Jon needed Sansa, his sister,  to help him find a purpose after dying and being brought back to life. And it kills you that Jon needs Dany to help fight the WW. You want Jon to be able to do it all on his own but he can’t, and the fact that he can’t makes him weak in YOUR mind. And you can’t stand that Sansa and Dany are show, in your estimation, to be stronger. Your world view is so warped that men can’t be weak and women can’t be strong. 

Sorry to disappoint you but the she-bosses of Westeros don’t give a fuck about you think. 

TTFN