#do you. think Frank enjoyed being Atlas

[raptureshots]

Atlas is Frank's antithesis in a way . if you think abt it ,,

but also they're also. incredibly similar sometimes

[americas1suiteheart]

speaking of Atlas, maybe you should do an Atlas x Reader possibly?🤭

Why of course I can! I'm doing headcannons for him instead though if that's alright! (Totally didn't push this off for a day and then immediately write it after, oops! Sorry Anon!)

Dating Atlas Would Include...

Atlas (Bioshock) x GN Reader

[Notes; I'm going to completely forget the fact that Atlas is in fact Fontaine, hope you enjoy!]

[Warnings; Violence, smoking, drinking, all that Bioshock fanfic jazz]

He's a very caring person, you saw how he helped Jack in the game and how much he talked about saving his "wife" and "child," so you'd assume he'd be the same way towards you.

Not the biggest on PDA, he might hold your hand in public though.

In your own privacy he tries to be as affectionate as possible towards you being you two might not get to be around eachother often.

He definitely loves to hold you in his arms as if your the only thing in the universe, it helps calm him and forget about all the wrong with Andrew Ryan and Rapture.

I'd like to think that the only reason he's not as affectionate in public is because he wants to hold up this tough guy kinda figure so no one thinks he's weak.

He really does love you though. He'd probably do as much as he can for you it's insane. Possibly even as far as, murder? He's just very protective of you, even if you werent stuck in the chaos of Rapture he would still be just as territorial and protective of you.

He's such a great listener. Though he's used to everyone else listening to him as he talks about how to put an end to Ryan, he'll put everything aside to listen to your worries and whats troubling you.

Being It's the early 60s I'd assume he would call you love, sweetheart, darling, and maybe even doll a lot.

He's definitely mentioned marrying you a couple times, yet he's scared of actually moving forward and committing to it because of where you two are stuck.

Not thinking about having kids as he doesn't want them to be born into Rapture and have with all the bad, would wait until you two can get out of there for good.

This man just absolutely adores receiving kisses. Something as small as you giving him a gentle peck on the cheek or even a small kiss on his hands just makes him melt.

He loves giving you kisses as well! He would be one of those guys to kiss you on the hand very often but loves kissing your forehead and your lips. His lips would probably taste of alcohol and cigarettes though.

Probably sings to you when you can't sleep. Id imagine he'd love singing The Ink Spots, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, its just kinda what I'd assume would be in his vocal range.

Oh boy don't even get me started with his accent. His accent would probably be ever so slightly prominent when he would sing for you. You and I know very well it's one of the things you fell in love with Atlas for.

Loves words of affirmation. He loves when you tell him how good he's doing and to try and not to worry, he'd instantly calm down and maybe even cry?

He definitely has a bad smoking problem there's no denying that, but being It's the 60s and smoking was a fairly common habit, you don't get on about him for it at all.

You and him have definitely gotten in a couple of nasty arguments, most of which were because of the state of Rapture and how little time he would spend with you. Some of which had eventually led to either one of you leaving for the night to have a couple of drinks. But regardless, you two always talk it out and forgive eachother for your own nasty behaviors.

Even through your fights, Atlas is very loyal to you and wouldn't stoop as low as to see the girls in Eve's Garden. As I said he cares very deeply for you and only you, your the only person he fancies at that moment and won't hurt you that way when he's still very much in a relationship with you.

Eventually in the end though, it definitely wouldn't end up working out. Eventually you'll get tired of all that is happening with Atlas and how often he's gone doing work that you'll either leave and avoid him best you can, or you'll tell him yourself. You two definitely aren't good for eachother with Atlas having so much influence over Rapture and you trying to have as much of a quiet life as you can get in Rapture after the downfall, and also with the fights and arguments to never end as long as your together.

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Send in your requests for stories! Look at my introduction to see if anything you like is something I'll write, and DM me for further questions!

Little bit of angst at the end if you could consider it that, but I'm a sucker for a bad/unhappy ending. Anyways, I hope it's up to your expectations of my writing and I deeply apologize it wasn't an actual fanfiction but I'd figure headcannons are just as fun to read. Bye for now!

[itsclydebitches]

I kinda hate ‘The Indecisive King’. Like, I get the moral of not letting fear of potential problems stop you from living life, but since the vision is a quantifiable proble (If really vague to the point of worthlessness), it comes across more of “just ignore anything bad, it’ll work itself out somehow.” Which is really bad considering how relevant this is to V7 and 8. Our heroes were indecisive and thus did next to nothing while our real hero Ironwood lacked information to solve the problem.

Yeah, I get where you’re coming from here. This is partly why even though in some ways I enjoy the vagueness of the vision, having some details would actually help justify why the King can’t, apparently, do anything now. I mean, he spends a significant amount of time pondering this problem himself, then summons a slew of wise men to think it over too. No one comes up with anything, but that just begs the question of what could possibly be coming that doesn’t benefit from thinking things over beforehand? To be frank, I can’t think of a situation like that.

And that’s specifically because the Crown presents a choice. Looking back, I think the fairy tale—and the Crown’s presence in RWBY as a whole—would be far stronger if it simply showed a vision of the future, rather than a choice the wearer will have to make. Because a choice comes with agency and, by default, limits the available options. If the King puts on the Crown and sees a generic vision of his Kingdom destroyed by war, then yeah, I 100% get why he’s paralyzed by indecision. What choices might he be making now that are leading to this outcome? No one can agree on how best to avoid that future. He’s so overwhelmed by trying to discover what one thing he can do to prevent this that he misses how the future is ever-changing and made up of a thousand different decisions, many of which might be outside of his control. In this version of the Crown’s power, it’s the lack of a single choice that’s hard to come to terms with, making room for the advice to remain in the present, take things one day at a time, and tackle this problem when you have a better handle on it. But by showing the King a choice he'll have to make… he’s only got two options here. Maybe three if there’s a way to postpone things, like how the Queen’s vision comes with a “Yes, I’ll marry you,” “No, I won’t marry you,” and “I can’t decide just yet. Please ask me again some time" checklist. I’m honestly failing to picture a vision that shows the King a choice tied to that ‘Everything is Very Bad’ vision that still leads to this complete paralysis about what to do. He should already know his options, it’s just a matter of deciding which seems best to him, and he doesn’t even need to decide now. Thanks to the Crown, he has until that moment to make his decision.

It kinda feels like the fairy tale doesn’t understand how the Crown’s power (supposedly) works. I mean, why is it implied that thing King is seeing an outcome here—a clearly negative result of screams and flashing lights? He should only be seeing the choice. The Queen sees the choice of marrying him, not whether the marriage will work out. Yang might see the choice of helping or leaving Blake, not that this will lead to her losing her arm. Ruby might see the choice to stand with Ironwood or oppose him, not that Atlas eventually sinking into the arctic. If anything, based on the established power, the Crown sounds like a kind of Oedipus situation, where even if someone has some foreknowledge of future events, their natures in the moment all but ensure that they’ll still make the same choice. It’s not destiny, just the inevitability of their personality when pit against not knowing the outcome. The Queen will always say yes, Yang will always try to help Blake, and Ruby will always stand her ground by virtue of their ignorance. By being denied a glimpse into what each choice will lead to, characters can only act as they would if they had never worn the Crown at all. The Crown would be better served as a burden after the choice has been made. The characters look back, realize they were shown a moment when they might have avoided this fate, and buckle under the realization that they still made, if not a "wrong" call, at least one that still had a pretty awful result. They're tormented by the idea that if they'd just sat with what the Crown showed them more, maybe they would have somehow seen what their choice led to and found a way to avoid it.

I guess, to summarize a long post, I’m confused as to why the implication of “The Indecisive King” is ignoring a future problem—which, as you say, doesn’t pair well with the Atlas arc—when the Crown shouldn’t be showing him a problem at all, only a choice. I mean, maybe the King was shown something like, “Due to circumstances you have to go to war with us, or with them. Pick your poison” but that’s still a broad and malleable enough situation to make having that foreknowledge really worth it. It doesn’t fit with every wise person shrugging their shoulders like, “Idk, man. I’ve got no ideas whatsoever about how to avoid some future war. There’s definitely nothing in the present we can do to mitigate those circumstances now that we know they’re a problem. Totally useless Relic, that.”

The Crown’s iffy power, the writers flat out ignoring Ambrosius’ rules, Jinn being a Ruby fan for no reason established in the show… everything we’ve seen thus far just emphasizes that the writers haven’t put any real thought into these Relics. Their natures bend (or break) depending on what the heroes need at any given moment. At this point, I fully expect to get a long, somber, convoluted scene about all the limitations attached to the Sword of Destruction… only for Ruby to stab Salem with it and then boom, we’re done. Cue fandom debates about whether this completely ignores the Relic and immortality rules set down, or if our heroes are just that brilliant in (somehow) finding a loophole. The rules of the Relics appear to be RWBY’s window-dressing, not embraced limitations for our heroes to overcome.

[feather-dancer]

Tales of Arcadia Fanfic Recommendations - Part 6

I do admittedly have things left to read in my tabs I’d normally prefer to clear out before posting one of these but when you sail past the 30 mark I think it’s about time to get it out my drafts, yeah? Most importantly means this will be out before Rise of the Titans comes and emotionally destroys us all.

Needless to say soon as this is posted I give it 24 hours before 7 starts, we’ve got some amazing writers in this fandom and there’s a couple I juuust want one more chapter before I feel I can recommend it. Hope you find something you enjoy :)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

If at all interested in my own writing you can find it here!

General Trollhunters

Romeo, Question Mark - Jim is figuring himself out and has a question for Toby though nervous of how he might react. Honestly the support Aromantic’s need when they’re either questioning or coming out, Toby is a gem.

By The Book - After his dad left changing his world Jim had moments in his life where he needed to wrangle things in a way he could understand them with some moral support along the way that wasn’t there to do it for him, just give a light nudge the right direction. Comes with light Jilaire fluff.

That I Could Fear a Door - Jim was pulled from the Darklands whole but you cannot escape the trauma of your experiences quite so easily. It will take a little time, a lot of patience and perhaps the right ear to listen but with it can come hope.

Lest Back the Awful Door Should Spring - Sequel to the above, Jim’s capture to be sentenced by the tribunal echoes his experiences in the Darklands a little too closely sending all his careful progress hurtling back in one fell swoop. Is it any wonder he chose a false freedom that Unkar offered?

Façade - The confirmation that Mr. Strickler is not the man you thought he was probably was not going to be an easy one, Jim’s thoughts sit ill after that dinner.

Fashion - All changelings take root somewhere in a human life before their changeling one succeeds it and Nomura is no different. She felt love she could not understand and the ache of loss will follow for as she meanders through this world by the Whisper Man’s orders and her own volition of needing to belong somewhere. She will try her hand with the humans and the trolls, paint the road with blood as much as indulging herself with the arts and even risking her heart until everything leads her to Arcadia’s doorstep.

In Deep Trouble - What happened in the Deep during Season 2?

Aftermath - Just after the finale of Season 2 the Market trolls are forced to run leaving their homes behind and follow the Trollhunter they had dismissed so many times into the great unknown before them.

Don’t think - Jim weighs up his options and attempts to settle his thoughts before making the final decision whether or not to go through with using Merlin’s potion.

Nocturne for a Trollhunter - Jim learns a new hobby that gives him another way to relax that doesn’t involve cooking, one that follows him beyond Arcadia.

The Asteroid - A rare 3Below fic for my lists if centered on a certain hedge witch and Wizard. The end of the world is coming but not by Morgana’s hand and Merlin certainly never warned Douxie about it so if this truly is the end then it’s the best time to bring your loved ones close so you won’t be going out alone. Yes it’s Zouxie.

A bright future so it seemed (but that light grew a little less bright) - Claire’s parents (Or more specifically Ophelia) set her on the perfectionist’s path early, even a little slip can feel like the end of the world

Rest, Master Jim - You might be able to escape the Darklands but you cannot escape the consequences of being trapped there for so long as easily.

General Wizards

Not Found - So why did neither Douxie or Archie find the two remaining changelings in Arcadia or bring back the sole Akiridion when Merlin asked?

Place of Power - A lovely bit of shameless Zouxie fluff in that brief period the gang was at Hex Tech before the plot came to get them.

Bitter Water - Only two of the old team remain in Arcadia and those were Jim and Krel, the rest having left to pursue educational pursuits and in one particular case kept away for Nari’s safety. For the Akiridion he is still here with reminders of his heritage and what it took to have this life on earth chasing him all the way. It’s always good to have friends with a listening ear and hot chocolate.

Together, Dearest - The very act of resting is a potential invitation for nightmares and Nari is no different but when once more in the waking world you will find you’re not alone, there are hugs available.

The Night Belongs To Us - Lovingly described Skraelroc fluff during their long hunt for Merlin and the strangeness that can be observed on clearer nights.

Nineteen Plus Nine Hundred, Give Or Take - 900 years is a long time by anyone’s standards but perhaps during that Douxie can figure out how to truly live.

Twelfth Century Wizard, Twenty-First Century Witch - The follow up to the above, when you’ve lived a long and interesting life things can still pop up in odd ways... Even if you haven’t quite mastered the sacred art of texting yet.

ERAS TÚ (It was you). | Tales of Arcadia One-Shot - Would you want to live forever if it meant leaving everyone behind? Jilaire.

the only way for us to go - From his rescue from the streets of Camelot to the eventual guardian of this realm, Douxie has come a very, very long way. Through the frustrations of trying to learn magic, the belittling of others, the faith of Morgana and the power of music his experiences throughout 900 years truly make him what he is.

lay down your head - Even the mightiest can be plagued with the not so humble migraine. Skraelroc fluff.

Stricklake

Merry Christmas, Doctor Lake - Some Christmas gifts are worth going all out for and getting your friends and family to help out to make it extra special.

Grocery Run - After the incident where Merlin dismissed Strickler for being a changeling it is time for an excuse to get out the house for a bit and have a frank discussion about their relationship, the future beyond the incoming battle and lingering insecurities of two worlds colliding.

Alternate Universe

Fashionista, How Do You Look? - An AU that very much takes the term very literally here where everyone is human, Skrael, Bellroc and Nari are fashion designers plus many other ToA characters we know and love are either in the industry in some way themselves or on the fringes because of their jobs/who they know. Sometimes you work with catty bitches and want to kick back and watch the fireworks you know? Contains friends to almost to enemies to friends to maybe we’ll get our shit together this time but the odds aren’t great Skraelroc. There’s also a Zouxie oneshot in this collection that was a gift for meee because of the corner I dug in the AU.

Atlas, Fallen - When a star falls from the sky it is a punishment so when Atlas suddenly finds himself amongst the humans he had observed from above for countless ages in a flesh body like theirs he fears his Mother is punishing him and unable understand what he did wrong. While trying to find his way back home he gets a crash course in what it’s like to be human making friends along the way. Slow burn Jilaire.

she once was a true love of mine - I put this under the AU section even though it wavers between that and not, a mixture of classical Arthurian mythos and the glimpses of the Camelot in Tales of Arcadia where one kingdom collapses from war another strengthens by taking their princess as queen. While Arthur might have turned her head once it is the sibling that seems to be catching Gwen’s eye of late as much as her thoughts. Morgwen but in the department of pining.

Pulled From The Ocean - AU doesn’t quite fit this one but it feels a bit more fitting than general. A little oneshot snapshot of Jim living with deafness and the contrast of one world that falls easily into supporting that whereas the other tries their best but it makes the slip ups sting even more.

you are a stranger here, why have you come? - Fate is a funny old thing, something happens a little bit differently such as a father not leaving alone and everything can change so drastically. Nari’s fondness for children strikes again and this time it involves a 5-year old Jim Lake Jr. ending in the Order’s care and their foray into found family. Somehow Jim is even more of a disaster and as likely surmised from the fact I write this trope myself I am very weak for it.

go into your local forest and you will find a friend and a boy - Toby was unlucky in the friend department and by the time he is ten he still feels miserable and lonely having to endure Steve’s increasing bullying all the while. This is of course until he finds a blue half-troll hiding out the daylight hours munching cans in the local woods...

[theonceoverthinker]

I wish I could be happy, but I’m not

(I made a thread of this on Twitter this morning, but I’m going to elaborate on it here because as you’ll see in a different sense on this post, character limits are BS)

So I'm not gonna lie, I think the line about Clover that many in my neck of the fandom are getting excited over isn't the loving acknowledgment of how Qrow felt about Clover that many seem to think it is. 

Follow me on this one:

Is it good that Clover was finally explicitly brought up? Yes. 

Did they do it in a terrible way? YUP, and I'll explain how in just a moment. 

Am I surprised? Less than I ever wanted to be.

Actually, before I begin, because I KNOW people are gonna come after me for this post one way or another, I just want to ask those people if they think I LIKE being this negative? Do they think I LIKE being so cynical towards a show that I used to have so much fun with, a show that I was starting to trust? Don’t you think I want to be excited about Volume 8 with everyone else, and that prior to Volume 7, I wasn’t having the time of my life thinking about and enthusiastically waiting for the new episodes.

No, believe me, I’d be thrilled to enjoy this new volume with everyone else, but after the waking nightmare that was 7X12 (An episode that keeps getting worse and worse the more you look at it, as if an evil version of a Where’s Waldo artbook), CRWBY made it pretty apparent to not trust them as far as I can throw them, to guard my heart, and to temper any positive expectations I have for this show because they can and will likely let me down.

Full disclosure: I’m not watching the volume itself in the traditional sense: I’m having the context of the scenes explained to me by a wonderful friend, and seeing and reading the dialogue and facial expressions of the scenes through gifs, pictures, and the like on various Twitter and Tumblr blogs. That having been said, I take confidence that I am getting an accurate and complete understanding of the Qrow scenes.

Okay, let’s go...under the cut because this got LONG!

The line that starts with "The thing that really stings..." is the line in question, just in case there was any doubt since Qrow speaks a fair bit in this episode (Yes, I’ve read through the full line, but this post is already gonna be long enough without transcribing the whole thing, here it is if you haven’t checked it out yet). It comes up right after Qrow talks about Clover's death.

“The thing that really stings” is a crucial opening line. It implies that on a list of important matters pertaining to the given topic being touched upon, what he’s about to state is the most important of them.

And what does he go on to talk about after that opener? 

Semblances. Just semblances, or rather, just his semblance.

Qrow talks about how he was finally entertaining the notion that there was somebody he could be around without having to worry about his semblance complicating things, but that he now believes that possibility was nothing but a childish dream.

This line (which I HOPE is just accidentally clunky because I DO want the Staff Theory to be true so we can start to recover from all this BS in a way that lets me keep enjoying this series) is a lot more harmful to the Fair Game relationship than anyone in the Clover and Fair Game fandom seems to think it is. I genuinely don't want to rain on anyone's parade because I know a large part of my fandom is pretty excited about it, but I can't leave this alone. 

I'll be frank: This line implies that Clover's death on it's own (The act of the character of Clover dying, his entire being, personality and all) isn't as important to Qrow as what that death symbolizes. All it does is just talk about how Clover meant he could be around someone and not have his semblance mess things up.

It doesn't discuss the bond they formed over their time in Atlas together. It doesn't discuss how Clover was someone who was addressing his self-loathing and absence of a team or how they cared about each other. These things would imply that Clover meant something to him as a person outside of his semblance.

Now did the paragraph need to go into detail about or even discuss Clover and Qrow’s bond? Not necessarily, but with a line starting with "what really stings" that only on to talk about Clover as he relates to his semblance undercuts what made Clover's character so beloved in the first place.

Clover fans didn't fall in love with Clover because of his semblance. It was an interesting aspect of his character, sure, but it wasn’t the only one by a long shot.

We fell in love with Clover's unique personality, how he was cocky without the pompousness or bullying that tends to come with that cockiness, as well as his emotional softness and how it contrasted with our expectations at every turn, even extending to his support-suiting weapon.

We fell in love with how Clover, even dealing with people he was technically sort of opposed to like Robyn Hill, he made every effort to be diplomatic, careful towards her election, and sincere. 

We fell in love with how Clover, unlike the rest of his team, was the notable exception to the rule of the Ace Ops not being friends with their teammates.

We fell in love with the many, many interesting visual aspects of his character design, both individually as well as how closely they mirrored Qrow’s.

We fell in love with the concern he had for Qrow, someone who Qrow was finally on an equal playing field with and could grow to trust as well as willingly and happily team up with.

We fell in love with Clover’s persistence in getting close to him and having Qrow come to a place where he could acknowledge his own worth.

So understand that this line says that the thing about Clover that left the biggest impression on Qrow (And by extension in terms of the show’s meta narrative, the audience) was not that character that we cared for because of who he was, but instead that Qrow cares more about how Clover benefitted him personally on a strictly utilitarian level than the actual connection he and Clover shared as people.

That sentiment does an incredible disservice to Clover's character. Despite what those who defend 7X12 felt, Clover was a character with dimension (And by no means was an Adam, just to stop that garbage comparison in its tracks before it comes up again). What that line does is callously strips away that dimension to make Clover almost something closer to a one-note manic pixie dream boy, and only for the purposes of his semblance, at that. 

That’s not good writing, and it shouldn’t be as revered as it presently is (I know the episode’s only a few hours old at the time of writing this, but this seems to be the line’s perception by the Clover and Fair Game fandoms).

More than anything -- more than the possibility of Jailbirds becoming canon, or the lack of connecting Clover and the staff this volume -- this sentiment that Clover’s only worth came from his semblance said by Qrow himself (The character who spent a lot of time bonding with him) makes me worried about whether or not we will actually get a Clover revival. 

Again, I don't want to ruin anyone's fun (Though I know I risk it just by making this and will probably be subject to all manner of online torment as a result because that’s just the way things go around here), but I think we Clover fans need to acknowledge the dangerous wording of this line and temper our expectations accordingly.

Today's Clovember theme is 'wish.' I'm not gonna stop wishing for Clover's return. I'm not gonna stop hoping for Clover's return, either. 

However, I don't want another 7X12 to happen to myself or the various others in the fandom that I’ve grown to care about this past year again. I can’t ignore a bad sign when it’s staring me in the face, leaving such a foul taste in my mouth in the way that this is. Fair Game Buddies and Clover fans alike, please just be careful. I love you all.

[ljf613]

For the ship rating: korrasami/makorra/masami

Alright, I’ve been relatively quiet  about this love triangle up until now, but y’all seem to be appreciating the blunt honesty I’ve been using for the rest of these asks, so I figure I may as well be frank. 

Love triangles are not a trope I particularly care for, and this one was really handled poorly by the narrative, on so many levels. I don’t like it. 

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into each of the individual ships we’re dealing with here. (Rather than doing them in the order they were asked in, I think I’m going to go in order from least-disliked to most-loathed.) 

Makorra: C+ 

I binged this whole show over the course of about a week or two, and there were plenty of things I knew about it beforehand-- namely, that Mako and Korra were going to date for a while, but she was eventually going to dump him and get together with Asami. 

Keeping all of that in mind, I came into LOK warning myself not to get attached to this ship. 

And for the first season that was really easy. I spent most of the time wondering why Korra was crushing on Mako instead of Bolin. Not because I shipped Borra (I didn’t), but because I was honestly so tired of the “girl falls for bad boy/brooding loner instead of the sweet guy who clearly adores her” category of stories. 

I wasn’t too torn up about the way season two handled their relationship. This was the season I actually started liking Mako (who is now probably my favorite character), and I honestly felt kind of bad for how he kept getting caught on the short end of the stick. 

Seasons three and four are where I really started enjoying their interactions. Their commitment to maintaining their friendship, and the way they stood by each other, was really sweet and inspiring. 

All in all, they were able to form a great friendship, which could have been a foundation for a strong relationship if the show had chosen to take it that direction, but I’m not the slightest bit upset or disappointed that it didn’t. 

Masami: D- 

I should clarify that I... don’t particularly care for Asami. Not to say that I hate, or even dislike her-- I don’t! But the narrative did not do a very good job of handling her character, and she comes off as more of a Mary Sue than anything else. She’s smart, she’s super-talented, she’s freaking gorgeous-- but that’s all she is. She doesn’t have any flaws, or even very much in the way of character development. She’s just.... there. 

And Masami was a big part of that. Season one Asami really seemed like she was just there to get in the way of Makorra, and season two didn’t help matters very much. 

Mako and Asami don’t seem to have much in common, they don’t even seem to be good friends, and by the end of the show the only thing they have tying them together is Korra. 

I honestly can’t picture them making it work as a couple for very long. But, as always, that’s just my opinion. 

Korrasami: E- 

I went into this show knowing that Korrasami was going to be endgame. I put on my shipping goggles, ready for the romantic tension, the ship teasing, the cute flirting..... 

And you know what I got? None of that. I literally finished the show wondering “did they actually get together? Because that final scene could be read as completely platonic.” 

(I really enjoyed Korra and Asami’s friendship, especially in books two and three-- but that was all I saw.) 

I saw a post one time that basically summed up the problem (can’t find it now)-- Korra could have hooked up with anyone in those last few minutes, and it would have made zero difference to the story. 

(Sure, I get wanting representation, but the relationship should still make sense, ya know? Some kind of build-up?) 

(Think about it this way: if they hadn’t both been girls, if Asami had been a boy instead, or worse, Korra had, would anyone like it as much, or would it just feel like a cheap “hero gets the girl”/Strangled by the Red String subplot?) 

Now, none of that means much. I’ve shipped things with less basis before, and even if I wasn’t especially into it, I might have been able to see the appeal well enough to give it an E+ or D- rating. 

Except. 

Except that, while I may not have been part of the LOK fandom for very long, I’ve done enough digging around to get some vague idea of what it was like in its heyday. 

And the picture I’m getting is.... not very pretty. 

Take everything I said about (certain) Zukka shippers. Imagine that it’s for a show that is not nearly as well-done as ATLA. Keep in mind that it was not old yet enough to have a super-large fanbase. Realize that people are not quite as attached to this story as some others they like, and weren’t going to bother investing as much emotional energy if all they were going to get for it was toxicity and hate. 

.....And suddenly you understand why the Makorra shippers are still afraid to poke their heads out from wherever they’ve been hiding for the last six years. 

This behavior is insulting and obnoxious, and I don’t like it. At all. You are entitled to ship whatever you want. But sending hate to someone just because they want the “wrong” pair of fictional characters to kiss is cruel. 

“No ship, or any aspect of a fictional universe, is important enough to treat another real life human being badly.”

[noneatnonedotcom]

Accidental villain jaune: judgment

Jaune took a deep breath as he walked into the light of the stage, he barely heard the sounds of his introduction or the sounds of the audience’s polite applause. This was too important for someone like him to handle and yet here he was the only person who had actually tried to do this. He took a deep breath, letting the memories of his time with yang filter through calming him. Reminding him that even if everything went wrong, that even should the worst befall him and his enemies destroy all he built.

They’d still be there, they’d still love him.

All that was left to do was show them the levels of devotion he had for them and build a better world for them to live in.

He smiled at using their memories for strength and opened his mouth, his voice clear and confident, a little deeper than natural but hey he was a ruler, and lords were known for their lies. 

Even the small ones.

Thank you for that introduction, Elbasan, and thank you for the invitation to speak in defense of my ideals. It is a privilege to be here, as a representative of Patch to offer my thoughts on a topic that is vital to Patch’s future: how institutions and individual citizens can work together to strengthen the rule of law and make Vale a more just society.

First, let’s define the terms.  We often talk about “rule of law” in Vale, and I think the dictionary definition is pretty clear: the principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced.

In democracies like the Atlas and Vale, writing, interpreting, and enforcing the law is the formal responsibility of the government, the council,  but it is also the responsibility of citizens to participate in ensuring that—I will say it again—all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced.

The glory of justice and the majesty of law are created not just by the King– nor by the Council – nor by the officers of the law – nor by the lawyers – but by the men and women who constitute our society – who are the protectors of the law as they are themselves protected by the law.

But I submit to you that following the law is only one element of justice. Now, what do I mean by justice? Try Searching the word, as I did while writing this speech, and you’ll find some vague and unhelpful definitions. For example: “Justice is the quality of being just.”

Jaune smirked as the audience chuckled, he was on a roll now he had to do was keep up the momentum

“So “justice” is hard to define, but having seen many kingdoms, I’ve come to realize that attitudes about justice often deeply reflect history and culture.”

“In some places, history and culture dictate an emphasis on strict administration of written laws—written by a legislature or perhaps derived from religious texts—to ensure fairness and impartiality.”

“Citizens are expected to accept a court ruling, even if it is negative. In other places, people view the law more as a general guideline, but if a court rules against them, they are quick to dismiss the decision and assert their own definition of fairness.”

“This is frequently true where a minority group believes, perhaps with good reason,” Jaune quickly emphasized as he raised a hand in a placating manner to stave off the shouts and arguments that were sure to come

“That their government does not offer them equal protection under the law, or even that laws which were written specifically to disenfranchise them and deny them equal justice. And in some places, people are raised with the idea that providing opportunities for family or friends is more important than any responsibility to an abstract law or to society as a whole. I’ll be coming back to this point in just a moment, trust me when I say that it affects that greatly.”

He took a breath looking out over the masses of people all waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

“This would be a good place for me to say that The Kingdom of Vale, the birthplace of democracy, is still struggling to build a society where all citizens and residents can be confident of equal protection under the law.” 

No one spoke too enraptured by his speech, by the confidence in which he spoke the truth, to offer an argument

“So, I don’t want to give you the impression that building a just society is easy, or that Vale has all the answers. But we understand the importance of the goal of equality under the law, and we keep fighting to make it a reality.”

He took a breath drinking a glass of water even as his thoughts went back to his girls, to the women he loved more than anything. To the people who gave him a home after he had lost everything save his sister

“Let’s talk about Patch for a moment. I submit that an expansive view of justice, a concept that includes equal rights and opportunities, equal protection under the law, and confidence that government officials will be held accountable to the people, would create hope for Patch’s youth and confidence among Patch’s partners.”  

“This view of justice expands its benefits to all of society, but what are the benefits of living in a just society with equality for all?”

“I believe that a just society is a more peaceful society, not without disagreement, but with established, non-violent means for working out differences among groups, and between citizens and government. In a just society, people feel that justice has been served when they understand how decisions are made, even if they don’t agree with the final result.”

“Finally, a just society is the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous society. A society in turmoil—a society without the predictability that rule of law brings—is a less attractive place for entrepreneurship and job creation.”

“Justice—the kind that protects all citizens equally—requires consistency and predictability, and respecting and implementing court decisions is an obligation of government agencies. Where rule of law is respected, court decisions are not open to negotiation or personal interpretation.”

“But, by embracing justice based on equal rights and opportunities, rule of law, and accountability for all of Patch’s citizens, you can ensure Patch achieves a brighter future. A future in which people succeed based on merit and talent. A future in which all citizens, faunas, and humans, enjoy equal opportunity.  A future in which no person is above the law, and no person fails to receive the protections of the law.”

“The first step in this is the idea that I have put before you. The ideals of a trial by a jury of your peers, and that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty.”

I won’t lie to you on this, these ideas are radical,” he stressed, making sure to get across the trepidation that even he felt at moving so far so fast.

“but these are the first steps, and every individual citizen has a role to play in upholding the rule of law.”

“Expect more from your elected officials, the establishment of democracy in Vale was a gift from the last king.” “Expect politicians, police, prosecutors, and judges to meet their responsibilities of providing justice fairly, equally, and with honor.”

“Engage in formal legal processes, even if it takes more time and effort. Invest in justice institutions and hold them accountable to ensure that they live up to the ideals enshrined in the bedrock of your rich and multi-ethnic society.”

“Finally, expect more from your fellow citizens in building a just society.”

“I thank you for your attention and look forward to a frank and open discussion of these issues. If you’ll allow me to, I’d like to close with one more statement that I hope will stick with you.”

This was it, the final blow

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

 Jaune bowed as rapturous applause moved through the auditorium he’d borrowed from signal, due to the government building of patch being too small for his conference. But as Jaune flashed a brilliant smile to the cameras and waved to the crowds before him, he couldn’t help but wonder what Yang and Ruby had thought of his speech.

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

“you know I figured you'd be more impressive up close" said a voice from within the hallways of signal, the steady rhythm of her heals signaling her approach

jaune raised an eyebrow at the declaration "while I do hate to disappoint a lady, I'm not sure what you're talking about" he said with a small smirk as he turned to look at none other than weiss schnee.

"you," she said standing a little straiter "there's been much talk about you, how you're an up in comer but all I see is a man spread thin, you have the start of a business, you have the start of an army, you're a powerful combatant I'll grant you. definitely the best of our generation. but that's it. I find myself..." she trailed off for a moment "wanting more"

jaune chucked "well, that's the business we're in I suppose but I think you've made a pretty large mistake on where my capabilities lie." he leaned back against the wall relaxing as he saw the Schnee grill raise her eyebrows

"and just what abilities am I overlooking?" she asked in a huff

"I'm very good at making friends"

a scoff was her response "you think that will make a difference? having friends? you're a child"

jaune smiled "no, I'm a realist. recent events have stressed that I have no real ability to do everything myself. I can hardly protect the people close to me as is. so I need more power. the best way to do that is to make friends. not just for political power, or economic power, but for personal power. for peace of mind. I have been... arrogant, I'll admit. I thought myself an island untouchable by all around me due to my power.” “but the loss of a friend has shown that I am still only a man." jaune stood to his full height "miss schnee I hope you understand what I'm saying. perhaps I am above others, they have made it apparent that they want me to be there, but I have long since moved past the childish ideals of doing everything on my own. Do you want to know why the world has been watching me? it's because when I listen to others. while your father has traded the respect and good name of your family and company for the short term gain of lein, I have garnered a reputation. it alone is not enough but I do have plans,"  he let loose a little further with his aura, reveling in the power he had over others "when I speak people listen, that is far more than a spoiled child like you can say"

there was a long silence before jaune turned away walking past the watching girl

from over his shoulder jaune called out "if you're interested, you may tag along. I can only imagine you'd learn far more from me than from your petty dictator of a father"

he didn't need to look back to know Weiss was angry, but that was a victory too. 

she'd be thinking about him all month.

next chapter we go to beacon for real, i’ve already got it written up.

[captainkirkk]

the bnha atla swap au is so fun to think about because listen; zuko has gotten used to his authority. he’s the fire lord. he’s had to reshape fire nation society to accept the water tribe and earth kingdom as equals. he’s had to deal with older nobles who would look down their noses at the young leader. he and his best friends saved the world, and he’s learned to take no shit and command respect. The authority is a comfortable mantle at this point. so.... he gets to U.A. and (1/2)

i’m just imagining him casually saying, “well, that’s a stupid law,, what monarchy do we need to overthrow?” or even just, the teachers deciding what to do with him in the meantime and he is very self assured and doesn’t need anyone acting as a caretaker. the other kids are mind boggled that he leaves the dorms whenever he wants and rolls his eyes at the concept of curfew. zuko’s hasn’t had ground rules since he was 13. He’s polite but he’s not listening to adults tell him what to do. (2/2)

This is honestly one of my favourite things about this AU. Teenagers are treated very differently in atla. Zuko was scarred and banished at 13yo and from that point on, he was treated like an adult. He might have had Iroh there to gently guide him and look out for him, but Iroh wasn’t in charge. Zuko lead that ship and that crew, and he made his own decisions. And now, years later, Zuko rules over one-third of the world. He’s not just used to being treated like an adult - he’s used to fighting against adults, used to solving adult’s problems. That’s why Zuko seems so much older than Class 1A. He was forced to grow up so much quicker, and he doesn’t have the space to be a kid like they do. 

So Zuko gets to modern Japan and the way the UA staff treat their students is wild to him. Zuko talks to the UA staff with respect, because he recognises their authority and his place as a stranger in this universe. But he still talks to them in a markedly different way than other teenagers. Like an equal. 

Thankfully, I think the UA staff are smart enough to tailor their approach to Zuko. This kid is a king in his world, so they can’t expect him to suddenly fall into line the way Class 1A does, who are used to attending school and listening to adults and being kids. But they also have frank discussions with him about being expected to follow rules and act like a UA student when he’s in this world, just as Todoroki would be expected to. And Zuko understands that. “You have to listen because you’re a kid” is nonsense to him, but “you have to listen because you’re a guest in this world and you agreed to follow these rules” makes sense.

It might seem strange and he might slip up and still be very self-sufficient, but there’s something very nice about Zuko getting to come to modern Japan and be treated like he’s a teenager, a high schooler with teachers who care about him and are attentive to his needs. It’s an alien experience, but... he grows to enjoy it.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Do you think ,oscar wilde ok fine nal get an episode to him self in v8 caz I love to see him m out for ng something by him self in maybe episode 1 or 2 than meet back up with the other ,we never get to see Oscar do anything it's really starting to up set me

“…Do you think Oscar Pine will finally get an episode to himself for V8?”

 …Uhmm…well given the sneak peek footage that was shown prior to the trailer and given the fact that we know that Oscar will meet up with Ren, Yang and Jaune down in Mantle, my assumption is we probably might only see Oscar on his own briefly during the start of the first episode before he reunites with his peers. That’s my best guess here.

“…We never get to see Oscar do anything. It’s really starting to upset me…”

…Well……I can’t really say that Oscar doesn’t get to do much, anon-chan.  

Personally I was hoping that us Pineheads would’ve gotten to see Oscar go on his own journey back to Atlas, during which he and Oz reconcile and learn to live in harmony with one another before reuniting with the others. Unfortunately, the CRWBY Writers felt it best to have Oscar reunite the others immediately despite where last volume left him off out in far Mantle without the slightest clue where he was or where the others will be for that matter.

…Look, I’m going to be frank with you here anon-chan. This squiggle meister can’t really speak for the CRWBY Writers and their writing decisions regarding particular characters. I don’t wish to knock you for your own issues with the show in respect to Oscar’s treatment. I don’t want to sound like one of those RWBY fans who like to kiss up to the CRWBY Writers and think that everything they do is absolutely perfect while ignoring the legit glaring issues with the writing of the show and roping anyone who says anything negative about the series in with the HTDM; even if it’s constructive.

Despite having my own grievances with the writing of RWBY, I will give the writers credit where it’s due. While I haven’t enjoyed everything they’ve done with Oscar over the course of the show, I will admit that they have done things with him. Some actually really good. Like for example, I still hold the Dojo scene from V5 as one of my favourite Oscar-worthy moments since, apart from helping Ruby to confess her true feelings regarding her repressed pains from the Fall of Beacon, that scene also did a lot to reveal more about Oscar as a person, at least for me.

Like I said, Oscar does get to do some things but… only things that I realized either services the PLOT and/or the development of other characters while his own growth is quite sparing ^^);

Needless to say, all I can do as fan of Oscar Pine is hope that the story uses him less as a plot device and do more to develop him as a character; particularly his supposed shared story with Oz.

Oscar represents one half of the Man with Two Souls archetype. Based on what we learnt in the Lost Fable, part of Oscar’s development is supposed to be him learning to coexist with Oz as a part of him since it will help in the ole soul’s transition to merging with Oscar completely in the end.

However, the show hasn’t done much to really develop Oscar and Oz’s relationship with each other. As a matter of fact, Oz was absent for nearly two whole volumes, during which we barely heard Oscar even mention Oz unless encouraged by another character who was closest to Oz before; like Ironwood.

I was honestly hoping that V8 would’ve involved Oscar bonding with Oz during their separation from the team. It really would’ve been the best time for the two souls to truly connect with one another while allowing the audience to see the development of this relationship. I don’t know how much of Oscar reconciling with Oz we’ll get to see next season if he re-joins the group so soon. However, I’m willing to give the Writers a shot at seeing what they actually do with Oscar for next season before giving my opinions on his development.

One thing I’m actually hoping for is that Salem will be successful in taking Oscar prisoner leading to the poor little prince being locked away inside his own lonely tower similar to how Salem was in First Remnant. I really like this concept since, as I said, the solitude would definitely provide a great avenue to bond Oscar to Oz as all they would have is each other while in captivity.

Seeing that the V8 Trailer teased Oscar becoming a target for Salem, I want Salem to succeed and for V8 to conclude with Oscar becoming Salem’s prisoner while our heroes are left to lick their wounds from a humiliating defeat that costed them the life of one of their comrades.

In the Wizard of Oz story, Dorothy Gale was captured and taken to the Wicked Witch’s Castle by her flying monkeys. During her imprisonment, Dorothy Gale was made into an unwilling slave to the Wicked Witch of the West while she plotted to steal her ruby/silver slippers.

Since it has been said before that Oscar bares inspiration from Dorothy Gale of Oz as well as Princess Ozma (who also had a book where she was captured leading to Dorothy leading the charge to rescue her), I’m hoping this is paralleled in RWBY. As strange as this may sound, this squiggle meister WANTS Oscar to become Salem’s prisoner. I WANT our heroes to lose Oscar to Salem. Perhaps then Oscar will finally get to grow from his experience as Salem’s slave. 

This is yet another opportunity for the CRWBY Writers to develop Oscar; both as his own character and as the successor to Ozpin in the Ozma Lineage. Whether or not they will actually do it this time, I don’t know. Not going to lie to you anon-chan. As a fellow Pinehead, I’m also getting fed up of the Writers setting up chances for Oscar to receive great character development only to do absolutely nothing with it.

V8 will mark the fifth season where Oscar has been in the series as part of the main cast. And it honestly hurts my heart as a fan of his character when other RWBY fans still comment that Oscar isn’t really a character after all these seasons based on how the showrunners continue to treat him and his writing.

What’s even sadder is that Oscar isn’t even the only RWBY character who suffers from their writing! I would go as far as to say that our four main girls---Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang also suffered their own fair share of shortcomings when it came down to how the CRWBY Writers progressed their respective storylines and developments. Yet they’re still considered to be ‘characters’ compared to Oscar.

Basically what I’m trying to say here bottom-line anon-chan is that I feel your pain on wanting the show to do more for Oscar. But as of now, we can’t really know what’s in store for sure. All we can do is wait and hope that the show does better for our boy. While I doubt Oscar will get his own focus episode (since the showrunners don’t really like to give those out), what we can at least hope for is that Oscar has more great Oscar-worthy moments next season.

Since Ozpin is back and there is still tension between him and the group, I’m hoping this will be Oscar’s chance to step up and be the mediator within his team. I want to see Oscar mend the broken bonds within the heroes. Since he showed a willingness to do so last season I hope to see more of that next season; hopefully.

I’m also hoping that since the show highlighted Oscar using magic at the end of V7, this means we’ll FINALLY get to see Oscar in a real fight where he gets to showcase everything he’s learnt over the seasons in respect to combat. He might even get his own battle team finally.

A part of me is eager to see if that scene where Oscar is taken by a Grimm leads into him making a daring escape and then defeating the Grimm on his own with his newly awakened powers.

That’s what I want to see. But who knows? We’ll see how things go when V8 drops next month.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Bioshock Rebirth Playlist

I made this edit 4 days ago(That I recall. I tried to make it as professional or fitting as possible.) and it’s in a different draft. Being inspired by seeing some people make playlists. While I don’t have Spotify and I don’t know how to link songs showcasing the songs and titles. The only person I’ve told about this idea is @feckinatlas​ who I am grateful to discuss a lot of Bioshock with and other things. 

While I do think this playlist may be a bit too serious. Yet you will get the feel for this AU or you ever wanna check it out. Hopefully you don’t mind some of these choices. Including I listen to a lot of stuff .But I wanna chose the ones I feel that are fitting here. Including some ones I looked for while making this.

I took a break from this once and it’s 5:29 am....a bit nervous to post this. I’m gonna add the keep reading thing. Be warned it’s long. I even looked to see how long Feckinatlas’s Atlas playlist was before then. Hope you folks enjoy this if you wanna check this out.

1. Beyond The Sea by Bobby Darlin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OlDPqYBLw

2. Something In The Way by Nirvana. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXFiaJr9los

3. I Am by Digital Sons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5SF4mt-xmU

4. I Am Machine by Three Days Grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flq30E6LI9E

5. The Dark Of You by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_S9jqXb5Q

6. Papercut by Linkin Park. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-RmfB4hY4  Archie’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

7. Tourniquet by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wahmfx54lhU

8. Torn In Two by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyTIT0Bt-0Q 

9. Gravity Lies by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6nUKNpJfg

10. Wasting Time by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_rE2Z1gw64

11. Who We Are by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxPX3dOEHo4 Delta and Archie’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

12. Not Alone by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwTCG6zAqI Delta and Eleanor’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

13. I’m Alive by Disturbed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqlbDMLBArs Johnny Topside/Subject Delta’s theme.

14. Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysho2xTWUYo Despite whatever my plans are for Booker. Let’s just make this his theme.

15. And Your World Will Burn by Cliff Lin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyF2XTAgqos

16. Bong Squad by Blues Saraceno. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVyTR6ckQU

Instrumental songs. 

17. The Ocean On His Shoulders by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6QpMWaKpE

18. Welcome To Rapture by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEFIZh_Zscc

19. Elizabeth by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JO8MqT4cCE

20. The Songbird by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wojIYpwUpmM The theme of Bluto, the Proto-Daddy.

21.  Big Daddy Level 3 Super from PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koMyj3TX9ZU

22. Lost Soul by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ0-aIt_DrM A Man Chooses. A Slave Obeys. A broken slave has no purpose.

23. Coup De Grace by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_5-Y2B7E-Y Atla’s betrayal and true identity.

24. Revelations by Sean Murray. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TkgNEYtwVU Nearly dying because of the Code Yellow command. Archie’s life flashes before his eyes, hallucinating and seeing things. While Tenenbaum, Elizabeth, and others try to save his life. Archie starts remembering EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that changed the course of his life forever. Along with remembering certain characters he met along the way. But also remembering the man who was responsible for him being what Ryan called him, “A broken slave.” That man was Johnny Topside.

Bonus. “I Need To Know” by Hans Zimmer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CNAc8GW-4 And, “Beautiful Lie” by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9BL59uiAz8 I feel these tracks are better to capture the emotion of Archie discovering the truth of what happened to him. Especially finding out who Johnny Topside was and how he changed his  Jack’s fate.

25. Sandman Confesses by Christopher Young. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwp1SYeghs8 Enraged by Tenenbaum lying to him and taking part in ruining his life. Finding out he’s Jack Ryan. He wants to kill the woman. With Elizabeth desperately trying to stop him. Despite Brigid telling him his gun was empty because she thought this would happen. Brigid tells the truth about Johnny Topside. That all he wanted was for Jack to live a normal life. Because he saw Jack as a human being. Including Brigid admitting she was involved in Jack’s rebirth. Despite not asking for forgiveness, Archie forgives Brigid. Because throughout his life, she was the closest thing he had for as a mother. Afterwards with Brigid and Elizabeth embracing him as he breaks down. Because they see him as a human being as well.

Bonus. “The Rest Of My Life” by Hans Zimmer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdEoP7swYdU Another fitting yet emotional track to highlight the feeling of Johnny risking his life for Jack to some how have normal life. And that Jack had lost the one person that was basically a REAL father to him. Especially since some of Johnny’s personality traits passed on to Jack during his, “rebirth”. With the two women comforting him. This shit makes me tear up.

26. Retreat And Reveille by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZRl32PAJk On a mission to kill Frank Fontaine AKA Atlas and save Elizabeth. End the Rapture Civil War. Showcase to Fontaine his greatest mistake was his, “Ace In The Hole” going against him.

27. Protocol by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNov4oWNHs Archie vs Fontaine. The Ace In The Hole vs Rapture’s Boogeyman. The brutal fight between a super soldier and a con man who is half transformed by injecting himself with lots of ADAM. Granting Frank powers to stand a chance against Archie. Fontaine fights and tries to kill the one man that was the closest he can get to having a son. But also hating him because Archie represents everything he despises. The fact Jack had become similar to Johnny Topside. Including Archie admitting that Johnny was more of a father than Frank of Ryan ever were which angers Fontaine. The fate of Rapture and it’s citizens is decided by whoever wins.

28. End Fight by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDM5WnHxcMU The death of Frank Fontaine. The end of the Rapture Civil War.

29. Pairbond by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV9kg-M1RJw The theme of Delta and Eleanor. But also the overall theme of Johnny/Delta himself. The sadness and outcome of Johnny’s life in Rapture.

30. Two Worlds from King Kong the 2005 video game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjEMedxfvUQ The tragedy of Johnny Topside. Leading into his eventual transformation into Subject Delta.

31. Eleanor’s Lullaby by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rmU0PDS2o The end of the conflict between The Rapture Family and the Vox. With Eleanor freed and Delta saved. But also Sofia being allowed to live, and Archie winning over his internal battle with the Atlas hallucination with the help of his family.

32. Victory Big Daddy A from PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYtC1yJqCw

Bonus Tracks.

33. Afterlife by Magnum Opus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Iytor-qbk

34. Rise Of A Hero by Sonic Symphony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWlwRiDTbOE

35. Rapture Rising Reimagined by JT Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvI9JmC7TkU

36. Daddy’s Home by JT Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5PMJ-pn48

[americas1suiteheart]

Since you did Atlas... maybe one for Fontaine x reader?

I most certainly can! Now would you kindly give this a vote?👀

Dating Fontaine would include...

Frank Fontaine x GN!Reader

[Notes; I've been inactive on here for a while and hadn't seen this request until far later, apologies anon!]

[Warnings; Violence, smoking, manipulation(?), again all that Bioshock fanfic jazz.]

This was one of those sorta enemies to lovers type deals I guess. Sorta like allies that hadn't yet trusted eachother at first, but through time they lernt to finally trust eachother and went through a slow burn romance type deal y'know

He's actually quite vulnerable when it comes to you, hes typically the typa chap to be very confident with himself and to have some massive manipulation skills and be kind of an ass to other folks but with you in private moments it seems like hes a completely different person. Kind of like Atlas I guess.

Most definitely a partner-in-crime romance.

I'd think the two of you would be intellectual equals. Having deep conversations about politics and philosophy as its something that you find interesting to talk about.

Fontaine is the typa guy to bring you things of his killings like a cat would. I don't know why, I just feel that would be a very Fontaine thing to do. Nothing insane like a fuckin' hand, but like jewelry, guns(?), or trinkets they might've had in their pocket or purse.

He just absolutely loves to spoil you rotten. If he's able to get you all these things, believe me he will.

Showering eachother in compliments is a huge thing for you two. It surprisingly doesn't heighten Frank's already high ego, if so it makes him more of a softie around you.

Loves kissing your hands, cheeks, and collarbone. He loves kissing your lips too of course but there's something about those three specific areas that feel so much more special to him, I think he would like receiving cheek and nose kisses though.

Sharing cigarettes with eachother as you stand and look over at Rapture is probably one of his favourite things to do with you. He absolutely adores being able to talk to you with no interruptions other than the cigarette running out.

Fights, lots and lots of fights. Unfortunately thats what you expect being in a romantic relationship with a gangster. He's got a lot going on, and so do you. He would probably think his needs and problems matter more than yours. Very selfish person.

As terrible of a person that Fontaine may be, he would never ever hit you or allow anyone else to lay a single hand on you. If you say someone even tapped your shoulder to get your attention, he's killing them.

I think if you tried to leave he would beg and plea for you to not leave and if you did he would do something extreme like kill everyone in rapture or even himself. He's still Fontaine and he's still very much so manipulative and will do anything to get his way.

Throws tantrums like a toddler. Throws stuff, yells, stomps around, hes like a child.

But same as Atlas, it would 100% not work out. Too much toxicity, not healthy whatsoever and after the events of him "dying," you'd finally leave (or try to leave,) Rapture.

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I tried my best with this one, and I think it turned decently. I do hope you enjoyed it and sorry about it being a little shorter than most of my writings.

Send in your requests for stories! Look at my introduction to see if anything you like is something I'll write, and DM me for further questions!

[quartings]

My thoughts on DT17 character changes!

For context, I wanna say that as a kid I only had experience with a few DT87 episodes and the movie. I didn’t watch any Darkwing, and I watched a lot of Rescue Rangers!

I’ve always thought of Ducktales as the reboot that gives the most respect to its original (In a world of terrible TTG, Ben 10, ATLA and PPG reboots) But-! If you’re a longtime Ducktales fan and disagree with anything I say here, feel free to correct me! That’s why I’m making this post!

Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, and Beakley: Much better than the originals, since they decided to give them actual personalities and character arcs! (Bonus: I like that they made Webby an avid historian and tough but not violent to distinguish her from the many other Genki girls Disney has been making these days)

Duckworth: Since they made Beakley more serious, I like that they made Duckworth a ghost and her rival to distinguish the two of them!

Glomgold: Apparently while different from his DT87 counterpart, he matches his original comics version much more! I like that they redesigned him to be less of a Scrooge clone and Keith Ferguson is a fantastic actor!

Magica: I really prefer Catherine Tate’s performance, and how well Magica was set up as main villain of Season 1! I will say that I think the DT17 team has been struggling a bit to return her to being a minor villain like in the original, since she has to be powerful enough to be a threat but not too strong to overshadow other villains. (Bonus: I really like Lena as a foil to her and Webby- she’s my favorite new reboot character!)

Gyro: The first character I heard worries about. I just wanna say that I enjoy the jokes and plots that come from his new madder scientist persona and that if he was as nice as the original Gyro was, it would make him too similar to Fenton I think? I’m glad we got to see his original nicer personality in Astro Boyd, though I do wish we got to see the exact moment he became colder.

Doofus Drake: Another character who went from nice to mean. I think maybe they changed him to allow for Boyd to have the role of the triplets’ woodchuck friend? I might be biased because I think the Doofus jokes are some of the funniest in the whole series, but if you think they could/should have found a way to make him nicer or if they could have given his “spoiled kid�� role to an existing or new character, let me know!

Fenton: The ethnicity change wouldn’t nearly have been as genuine without LMM’s sincere voice acting- I really like Fenton and can’t wait to see more of him and Darkwing in the future!

Djinn(?): Apparently he’s a non-racist version of Dijon from the movie instead of an original character? I do like how he breaks from the generic foreign edgy guy stereotype because he has a good sense of humor and loves his family.

Gandra: I also like Gandra’s character in the reboot, but this is one case where I think it’s so different from her original femme fatale counterpart that they might as well have made her a new character. It’s like an MCU MJ situation, y’know? Not a bad character, just one who has to live in the shadow of another.

Phantom Blot: I heard complaints about this character too, but after looking him up on Wikipedia, I’m surprised his character has been changed so much already! I thought he was some meta ink guy in a cartoon world, but it turns out that’s just the Shadow Blot from Epic Mickey? He’s just a dog in a mask? And while I’m not a huge fan of the weird Mordo+Thanos Blot they have in DT17 it’s at least slightly better than the generic thief/supervillain I’ve seen him as elsewhere I guess?

Darkwing Duck: I like that his origins seem much more sincere this time! I’ve already expressed a lot of my thoughts and questions about Let’s Get Dangerous in Part 1 of this post, so I’ll just add: I was never a fan of “toony physics” characters. An example being how every WB character either always wins or always loses and it gets boring (Looking at you, Animaniacs coming back…) So I at least enjoy that this Darkwing is slightly less toony!

Steelbeak: This was actually the character who inspired me to make this post! So, if I have this right, the original Steelbeak was this fast-talking crime boss type with a high-pitched Rob Paulsen voice. And the DT17 version is a much more short-tempered and slightly slow-witted character with a gruff and gravely voice? And a lot of people were upset about that right? The thing is though, I do agree with the theory that once the FOWL arc ends in season 3, Steelbeak will become much more confident and independent, but also the appropriate level of bumbling like his original counterpart. So while I understand if any fans are hurt, I think we should just wait and see how things go!  

Bushroot: Another character I’ve heard complaints about- I know Frank Angones has already explained his reasoning behind zombie Bushroot, but I’d like to add on to that a bit more. I think having the original timid Bushroot hidden beneath his new monstrous persona would make him seem much more tragic and give Darkwing a good chance to redeem him in a future episode! Also, when I looked up his character on the DW wiki, he seemed like kind of an incel…? So I’m also hoping they fix/address that too.

And that’s it! Did I miss any characters? Do you disagree with any points I made, or did I actually help you enjoy some of the DT17 changes a bit more? Let me know! 

[be-compromised]

Recathon 2020 Masterlist

Hello and welcome to the Recathon 2020 masterlist! This masterlist will be comprised of all recs posted to this post (all 144 of them!), with some small edits. Those edits are: (1) Duplicate recs have been discarded. Fics appear under the first theme they were rec'd under. (2) "Self rec" and "rec one of your own fics you think didn't get enough love" have been combined. Unless otherwise specified, all recs are Clint/Nat or Clint & Nat. Also, unless otherwise specified all recs are fanfiction. On to the rec list!

Stories set in/focused on/including IKEA. Some Assembly Required by @alphaflyer Teen, no warnings: "They say that when you go to the seven circles of Hell, IKEA has taken over the suburbs and parts of the ring road.” Natasha and Clint enter an alien universe. Anything is Possible by @cassiesinsanity Gen, no warnings: It's 3 a.m. and Natasha is struggling to assemble an IKEA bed. Clint is woken up by her loud cursing and now they're in it together, both figuratively AND literally. #27 IKEA by @nympheline Teen, post-Avengers, angst: Clint and Natasha will never have normal lives. They have accepted this as fact. Once a month, they pretend by putting on some old rings and going to Ikea to pick out furniture. Or to Home Depot to look at paint samples. Or to Walmart to check out baby clothes. Because they will never have normal lives, but it’s nice to pretend. Things We Learn About Each Other at Ikea by Vera (Vera_DragonMuse) Chapter 7 of Drips and Drabs from Alliterative Domiciles, part of the Alliterative Domiciles series Teen, no warnings: Natasha and Clint in Ikea. Consumer Affairs by @galwednesday Steve/Bucky, teen, no warnings: “Tom,” Sara, the Senior Marketing Associate, said levelly, “if you don’t let me promote our bedroom product line using the Winter Soldier’s tweet reviews, I will quit. I will quit today. I will leave you high and dry with a junior marketing associate and an intern, Tom. The intern just started last week. He doesn’t even know how to work the copier yet.” Comedy! Frank & Matt: A Summary by Ariel Video. Matt Murdoch and Frank Castle. captain america | crack!vid 2 and captain america | crack!vid 3 by chrissy mae Video. Exactly what it says on the tin. Cursed Fork by canistakahari Steve/Bucky, teen, no warnings: There is a cursed fork in Steve’s cutlery drawer. Life of Crime by neveralarch Clint/Carol, Clint/Nat/Bucky, Kate/America, explicit, cntw: A supervillain AU where Clint shoots arrows at people and gets beat up a lot. So, not really that much of an AU. It's Raining Men by DailyAsgardianNews Video. Again, exactly what it says on the tin. xD Here Are All the Sensations of Being Alive by prettyasadiagram Gen, cntw: Contrary to what Clint likes to tell the new SHIELD agents, Natasha does have hobbies other than coming up with new and impressive ways to kill people with her thighs, even though the slight flinches and rabbit-quick swallows in the hallway are always hilarious. Natasha and a bedazzler. The Amazing Naked Avengers by vain_glorious Teen, no warnings: There were Avenger-sized mouse traps all over the damn bunker. All about as effective. Meaning no one got killed, but everyone is naked and bleeding a little. The Great Avengers Body Swap by vain_glorious Teen, no warnings: Loki and the Avengers spend a month in SHIELD's detention cells, because Loki cast a bodyswapping spell against them and got himself with it, too. The Importance Of Being Spidey by @copperbadge and @scifigrl47 Gen, no warnings: The Daily Bugle has some peculiar ideas about Clint Barton and a spandex bodysuit. Extracurricular Activities by @scifigrl47 Gen with background pairings, teen, no warnings: New York has a party for any taste. Some people like high class lounges. Some enjoy a good dive bar. There are gay bars and techno clubs and all night raves. And somewhere out there, there's a club where the dancers are dressed like Super Heroes, and Spider-Man may or may not be their headliner. Let's face it, the everyone assumed that Clint would be the first Avenger to take up pole dancing. He's a little distressed he's been beaten to the punch. Phil Coulson Knows Tony Stark's Super Villain Name by @scifigrl47 Gen with background pairings, teen, no warnings: Look, I’m just going to say SHIELD team building exercise with paintballs. Transfer Students by @copperbadge Gen, teen, no warnings: Five times the Avengers pawned kids off on the Jean Grey School. The Immortal Hawkeye by @copperbadge Clint/Bucky, teen, no warnings: Clint's a little older than he looks, and his DNA has a few surprises in store, too. Leader Of The Free World by @copperbadge Gen with Clint/Bucky, teen, no warnings: Clint Barton's presidential campaign started as a joke. It didn't end that way, except for Steve. 5 Times Steve Got Arrested and 1 Time They All Did by @heartsdesire456 Steve/Bucky, Clint/Phil, teen, no warnings: What it says, 5 times Steve Rogers ended up in jail (with and without Bucky) + 1 time all of the Avengers got arrested with him. Cap3 helicopter scene but with My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion by @darlingpeggys Video, uploaded to YouTube by punkrockchewbacca Clint/Other and Nat/Other recs Prince Charming by @brendaonao3 Steve/Bucky, Steve/Thor, Clint/Wanda, explicit, no warnings: Bucky's not looking for a girl, he doesn't need anyone for the long haul. Then he meets Steve Rogers and discovers that what he's looking for in a relationship isn't a girl at all. in deep with you by @topaz119 Clint/Darcy, mature, no warnings: Darcy could have, under normal circumstances, resisted the aesthetics (however awesome they are, and holy crap are they awesome), but there's an itch under her skin—apparently, nearly dying by giant, fire-breathing robots from space in the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico will start you questioning your life choices. Who knew? assume a defensive stance by hoosierbitch. Clint/Bruce, teen, no warnings: No one can understand why Bruce and Clint are together. Clint's loud, brash, irritating--exactly what Bruce doesn't need in his life. fast, thorough, sharp as a tack by @quidnunc-life Natasha/Maria, teen, no warnings: Natasha likes getting a rise out of Hill when nobody else can. longing for the last time by @quidnunc-life Natasha/Valkyrie, teen, no warnings: After they imprisoned Hela, after all her sisters fell to inglorious deaths, the last Valkyrie swore she would not love again. In Your Likeness by hailtherandom Clint/Natasha/Sam, explicit, no warnings, post-WS: In which Sam gets a mysterious package from a mysterious person and, after a spell of feelings and a trip to Switzerland, both of those mysterious things get used quite a bit, much to everyone's delight. Two (Sort Of) Truths and One Complete Lie by igrockspock Clint/Melinda May, teen, no warnings: Melinda May was married once. Good luck finding out to whom. Fic with low kudos/comments Smoke on the Horizon by AuroraShard Teen, major character death, post-IW: Clint falls back on old coping mechanisms after the events of Endgame. Pepper joins him. A short fic about dealing with grief. We Are Family by SneakyHufflepuff. Mature, cntw: Natasha had sister-relationships with some of the other girls in the Red Room, and Nat was hardly the only one to escape. Turns out Clint's going to have to meet the family after all. Self-recs/a story of yours that you wish got more attention the shorter story by @cloud--atlas Mature, cntw: "be careful what you wish for" is written in matter-of-fact writing on the little sign by the entrance. he only wishes to be dry, and idly he wonders if there is any way even that can go wrong. Portrait of an Outlaw by RedBirdBella Teen, cntw: Clint is an undercover police officer working to convict a gang of cat-burglars. After being unearthed he’s beaten up and left for dead in an alley. From his hospital bed, he’s asked to work with a sketch artist to put together portraits for each gang member. Unfortunately, he can only remember one. Diamonds and Rust by @alphaflyer Clint & Kate, gen, no warnings: Kate is back; there's going to be laundry. Driver Choses The Music by inkvoices Teen, mild self-harm: Clint shoves his bag in the trunk of the car – a standard, bland SHIELD undercover ride – and doesn’t ask how Nat acquired the keys. Doesn’t ask how, or even if, she’s gotten permission to take him off base, doesn’t ask what’s in the bag she shoved in his arms on their way out, doesn’t ask what they’re doing in a SHIELD garage at ass o’clock in the morning. Doesn’t care. Some Strings Attached by @topaz119 Explicit, no warnings: "You," Natasha says slowly, "thought we should do something for Valentine's Day?" Five Unrelated Rescues and One Reunion by @crazy4orcas Teen, cntw: Rescue: to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger, or evil. Reunion: an instance of two or more people coming together again after a period of separation. Show a Little Faith (There's Magic in the Night) by @alphaflyer Teen, no warnings, Dust Bowl AU: Riding the rails in the last bitter winter of the dust bowl years, two drifters encounter something they haven't seen before. Personal comfort fics Woman in the Crosshairs by @freaoscanlin Teen, no warnings: In which Clint has a new hobby and Natasha isn't curious, until she is. Black Widow and Hawkeye, their partnership—and what it means—throughout the years. The Only John Wayne Left in this Town by @gyzym Clint/Darcy, teen, no warnings: Clint's got a secret love, and it's spelled b-a-n-j-o. and at night be warm by @quidnunc-life Teen, no warnings: If Kate would've just talked to him about the Dog Cops finale, then Clint wouldn't be lying in bed, staring pointlessly at the ceiling, when the Insomniacs Anonymous radio show comes on at 1 AM and changes his life three minutes at a time. The First Annual Avengers Convention by starandrea Clint/Phil, teen, no warnings: With damage estimates topping $100 billion, New York City faces a long and expensive road back. Charity organizations have stepped in to support the Red Cross and provide long-term relief, but the economy is struggling and money has to come from somewhere. Everyone wants a piece of the Avengers. Who better to help fundraise than the heroes themselves? Amateur Theatrics by galaxysoup Gen, teen, no warnings: In which Thor’s primary problem-solving method (a mighty blow from Mjolnir) fails to have the desired effect on a magical artefact, and his secondary method (a mightier blow from Mjolnir) proves to be actively disastrous. The Observable Universe by Serea Okelani (sarea) Teen, no warnings, Jane POV: Jane has a low tolerance for stupidity. Clint and Natasha take exception to being called stupid. Catching Bullets in our Teeth by anothercover Clint/Laura, Clint/Nat, mature, no warnings, slow burn divorce AU: Retirement, it turns out, is not a thing that Clint is adjusting to very well. Or, you know, at all. It didn't occur to him that when he dropped the team, it would mean he'd lose Natasha, too. Under the Mountain by flawedamythyst Clint/Bucky, teen, no warnings: Clint and Bucky get trapped in a cave. Natasha and Kate Bishop friendship fics All Night, All Right by MoreThanSlightly (cadignan) Kate/America, Clint/Nat, teen, no warnings: Despite being young and rich and hot and awesome, Olympic gold medalist archer Kate Bishop finds herself in a bar acting like the world’s saddest, dullest cliché: Area Twentysomething Drinks Alone Because Her Ex Is Getting Married Next Weekend. But then, from across the room, she catches the eye of a girl with a wicked smile and an even better right hook. Things start to look up after that. High School/Uni AUs A Whole Month of Detention by @marvelousmsmarvel Teen, no warnings: The first detention was his fault. The second detention was his fault. Not surprisingly the whole month of detentions to follow were his fault too, but Natasha had to admit, marking her flawless record with a whole month of detentions was the best thing she'd ever done. Just A Little Bit True by @lissadiane Clint/Bucky, gen, cntw: Clint is good at cheerleading and bad at flirting and has been pining for Steve Rogers broody best friend for years. Naked Pantomime in the Dark by @intosnarkness Steve/Tony, Thor/Jane, Clint/Natasha, teen, cntw, Modern High School Theatre AU: Clint Barton has been at Carver High for six weeks when they draft him into the theatre department, and his life is never the same. Two for the Show by mousie-tongue Mature, cntw: After her uncle is taken, young Natasha Romanov ends up in state's custody at a group home. She can tough it out alone... but somehow fellow resident Clint Barton becomes the reason she doesn't have to. Wet Hot Avengers Summer by Sarea Okelani (sarea) Clint/Nat, Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane, teen, cntw: At summer camp, Clint’s met the girl of his dreams. Then he meets her four brothers. Circus or carnivale AUs On the Nature of Dust by inkvoices Mature, no warnings, 1930s dust bowl AU: For as long as he can remember Clint has always been getting into trouble for seeing things that he shouldn’t, or rather for getting caught at it. Oklahoma, 1934, and this time trouble comes in the form of a girl. No Magic Would Save Me by arsenicarcher (Arsenic) Gen, mature, cntw: Once upon a time, an angel with the unlikely name of Pepper came to the circus, and took Clint away. some moments more spectacular than others by @quidnunc-life Mature, no warnings: When Janet suggests a team bonding event, Natasha thinks she means… an art gallery, a movie, even bowling. Something like that. Not the circus. Not clowns. Not falling head over heels for a professional circus archer with an affinity for purple, slushies, and purple slushies. Cover Another Black Eye by @lostemotion Clint/Nat, Clint/Bobbi, teen, some child abuse: History will dub it the summer of love. Natasha neither knows nor cares about love, never has, expects she never will, but history's got one thing right: it's the summer when everything changes. Natasha and the Amazing Hawkeye(s) by @freaoscanlin Gen, teen, no warnings: It starts because somebody orders a hit on the Amazing Hawkeye. No, not that Amazing Hawkeye. The other Amazing Hawkeye. scramble in the summer sky by paperclipbitch Kate/America, background Clint/&Nat, teen, no warnings: Kate’s first week, when she was still pretty sure this was a terrible idea and also not one that real people actually had – seriously, in the twenty-first century, who ran away with the circus – America came up to her three days in and said without preamble: “is anyone going to come looking for you, Princess?” Space AUs The Highest State of Friendship by inkvoices Teen, no warnings: A futuristic space AU in which bounty hunters Natasha and Clint aren’t married. Actually they’re supposed to be hunting each other. We Have Done the Impossible series by Telaryn Explicit, cntw, Firefly fusion, baby fic: Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff were born - and in Natasha's case bred - to serve the Alliance. No one cared when they began sleeping together; under Alliance law an Operative like Natasha could take as many sexual partners as she liked so long as it didn't interfere with her duties. - A baby would interfere. In Two Straight Lines In Rain or Shine by OracleGlass Gen, no warnings, Firefly crossover: "On that barren dustball known as Budapest, Firefly picks up an odd pair of passengers. Homeward Bound: The Adventures of the USS Avenger in the Delta Quadrant by @alphaflyer Teen, no warnings, Star Trek fusion: Sent to track the rebel ship Black Widow and to try and persuade her captain and certain of her crew members to work with Starfleet in defeating the Chitauri invaders, the USS Avenger finds itself displaced to the other side of the galaxy. And that was before the Black Widow opened fire... No Straight Lines by anonymous Teen, no warnings, Firefly AU: “It's curved. You'd end up at the starting point.” Natasha pauses, tilts her head. “Space doesn't have an end,” she adds, trailing her fingers across his shoulders as she passes. Old school, post-2012, they all move into the Tower fics if you let me through the door we can let the world in by @geniusorinsanity Background parings, teen, no warnings: Tony Stark has always wanted a clubhouse. He gets something more than that. Exclusive by @copperbadge Canon pairings, teen, no warnings: Heroes In Manhattan: From Captain America's Hidden Talents To The Truth About The Hulk, We Debunk The Myths And Expose The Daily Lives Of The Avengers. In Great Transition by vain_glorious Teen, no warnings: One by one, the Avengers move into Stark Tower. well, let the drumbeat drop by jonesandashes and @pollyrepeat Gen, no warnings: Pepper leaves, and there’s no more pizza, and Thor’s already talked about Jane, and Tony suspects all of them realize, abruptly and simultaneously, that they actually have no idea what to do now. He is, in fact, pretty certain that they’re just a few minutes away from someone deciding to say something about the weather. It’s probably going to be him. Culture and Other Balls of Twine by LithiumDoll Gen, no warnings: “Okay, I realize this could appear to be poorly conceived - to those of limited vision - but what you have to understand is, I’ve actually just had the greatest, most outstanding idea ever.” Tony’s eyes searched heavenward and then he nodded soberly. “Yes, I believe history will consider this my triumph.” To Be Modified As Necessary by ignipes Background pairings, teen, no warnings: They only need ten rules to ensure (relatively) peaceful cohabitation. Experts at the Fall by @enigma731 Gen, no warnings: After the Battle of New York, Natasha just wants things to go back to normal. But that’s not so easy considering that normal means being a spy, and her partner’s decided to be a superhero instead. And it’s especially difficult when her new assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D. is to collect intel on the Avengers. Fics where Natasha isn't as confident as she likes to pretend to have a home by oceanofchaos Background/past pairings, gen, no warnings: She doesn’t need other people, but she’s beginning to think she might want them. She buries herself in her work instead. Bouncing Baby Sniper by vain_glorious Clint/Nat, Steve/Peggy, teen, no warnings: Clint is actually Peggy Carter's grandson. Favourite kinky fics Get Some by @eiluned Explicit, het anal, butt plug, DP: He had just taken a big drag of coffee, savoring the sugary leftovers at the bottom of his mug, when she turned to him and out of the blue said, "I want you to fuck me in the ass." Cue epic spittake. your mileage may vary by Nonymous Explicit, past abuse, latex, BDSM: Clint's not really sure how to handle this whole BDSM thing. Natasha's not really sure how to handle Clint Barton. But she's definitely gonna give it the ol' college try. Moving the Furniture by @copperbadge Steve/Natasha, mature, friends with benefits: Steve thinks about sex a lot, and he'd like to have some, if he could just stop being an idiot around the people he'd like to have it with. Dropping Glasses Just to Hear Them Break by @lostemotion Explicit, cntw: Clint's mission to kill the Black Widow ends up a disaster when he runs into a third party in the field and finds himself being turned from hunter to hunted. His former target offers her assistance, and soon he's in for a whole other brand of trouble. Favourite poly fics runaways are running the night by anothercover Clint/Nat/Bucky, other parings, explicit, cntw: Natasha, Nakia, Okoye, Jessica Jones, and Valkyrie are the War Dogs: an all-girl rock band navigating their sudden explosion of hard-won success. Clint is a stand-up comedian. Bucky works security. Good People by @paperairplanesopenwindows​ Clint/Nat/Laura, teen, no warnings: "You have ‘Thank God you didn’t die when SHIELD fell’ sex with your wife and partner once and then your partner runs for the hills and your wife turns into a lovesick teenager.” She's My Cherry Pie by sheis-theslayer Clint/Nat/Laura, Nat/Laura focus, explicit, no warnings: If Laura Barton has said it once, she has said it a thousand times: no one touches the food while she's cooking. Especially if it's her pies. But Natasha Romanoff never listens. Alliterative Domiciles by Vera_DragonMuse [series] Pepper/Tony/Bruce, Clint/Nat, cntw: Fluff, schmoop and Tower shenanigans Little Stranger by Not_You OT6, gen, pregnancy: Natasha is not fit to be a mother. She is bitterly aware of this, sitting on the closed lid of her toilet and watching another test come up positive. A Safety in the End by @cloud--atlas​ [series] Clint/Nat/Bucky, teen to explicit, cntw: The relationship adventures of Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov and James "Bucky" Barnes RedStar by @cloud--atlas​ [series] Clint/Nat/Bucky, teen, angst, musician AU: “Clint,” Kate says slowly as two figures emerge from the house, their shapes so achingly familiar Clint wants to wrap himself up in them and never, ever let go. “Are you friends with James Barnes and Natasha Romanov of fucking RedStar!?” this is how it began (this is the secret between) by @notcaycepollard​ Clint/Nat/Laura, mature, no warnings: "Laura's a translator for SHIELD," Natasha tells him. "We're keeping her." i am on a lonely road and i am travelling (looking for the key to set me free) by irnan Nat/Steve/Bucky, teen, no warnings: Wherein Natasha Romanov has a bucket list and a metaphorical feelings-cat, joins the Victoria Hand Rescue Society Inc, and is absolutely not dating either or both of her super-soldier BFFs from the 1940s, no matter what Nick Fury thinks. Friends and Ex-Lovers by @scifigrl47​ Clint/Bucky/Nat, mature, no warnings: Natasha knows exactly what a good thing she's got. She just thinks it could be better Three Step by @copperbadge​ Nat/Steve/Bucky, mature, no warnings: "How many times a week can a couple have a threesome with the same guy before it becomes some sort of three-way relationship?" Keeping Steve by @copperbadge​ Steve/Tony/Pepper, explicit, no warnings: The gifts from Tony and Pepper are nice, and Steve secretly likes showing off signs that he belongs to them -- until some offhanded teasing from Clint makes him wonder if they're gifts from his lovers or payment for services rendered. Hide and Seek by @cassiesinsanity​ Clint/Nat/Bucky, teen, no warnings: There are reasons you should never break into your friends' houses. Kate finds out one of them. Favourite fics 1000 words or less Slow and Simple Melody by limned Teen, no warnings: Today he isn’t expecting to find Natasha awake in the communal living room at two-thirty in the morning, but it’s a pleasant surprise. You Are My Sweetest Downfall by @nympheline​ Teen, mild angst: You know how Natasha’s hair is really long in Iron Man 2 and then for the Avengers it’s completely chopped off? I like to think that’s because she got hurt in a mission in between and loses her hair because of a really serious head injury and Clint’s just going to be a mess because she’s hurt and she won’t say much because she never does. And he tells her she’s beautiful anyway. tower of babel by @sweetwatersong​ Gen, no warnings: Someone very cleverly thinks up a spell to keep the Avengers from talking to each other. They've fallen victim to one of the classic villain blunders, though: Never underestimate Hawkeye. account rendered by Siria Gen, no warnings: Clint lies in the debrief. Favourite Clint/Laura fics Repair Work by igrockspock Clint/Laura, gen, no warnings: Clint says, “I'm retired. One hundred percent. Done with Avenging.” Laura says, “Will that be for five minutes, or for five days?” Fragments by @intosnarkness​ Clint/Laura, teen, no warnings: Clint Barton has brought home strays before, but never one as dangerous as Natasha Romanoff. small town girl by @topaz119​ [series] Clint/Laura, teen to explicit, no warnings: “Oh, nice,” Laura said. “A smartass.” Holding Out For A Hero by @alphaflyer​ Clint/Laura, gen, no warnings: Cooper Barton pens an essay about his father; Laura does damage control. Clint helps (sort of). Topical: favourite trapped/isolated/quarantine fics Time, Baby by cat_77 Teen, cntw: A mission gone horribly wrong leaves Clint and Natasha trapped, injured, and suffering a slow death of suffocation. Time and each other: they have one and kind of need to steal some more of the other. Chasing the Light by Sarea Okelani (sarea) Teen, medical/quarantine/virus themes: A mission that goes awry tests two assassins and their partnership. Kate sets up Clint and Natasha How To Win Friends and Influence People by @cloud--atlas​ Gen, no warnings: For the prompt: Bookshop AU. One is bookseller/bookshop owner, the other a customer. Instead of talking one of them tries expressing feelings through the books they buy. Hawkeye's Pet Supplies by SneakyHuffelpuff Gen, no warnings: For the prompt: AU where Clint and Kate work at a pet supply store. Natasha is a frequent customer, and Kate is suspicious of her motives. Serendipity by silverfoxflower Teen, no warnings: "Why are you still in bed?" Kate demands, kicking at a corner of Clint’s mattress, which, rude. Why were girls and cats always so rude to him. By the Book by @alphaflyer​ Teen, no warnings: Clint Barton's love life isn't just a car crash, it's a multi-vehicle pile-up. Kate decides to lend a hand. Five of Clint’s Relationships that Kate Didn’t Approve of (And One That She Does) by @alphaflyer​ Teen, no warnings: Exactly what it says on the tin Poste Restante by @alphaflyer​ Teen, no warnings: The vials with live pathogens, alien prosthetics and ant colonies aren't the worst things Clint's friends drop off at his place for each other. Matters don't really get hairy for Kate until Natasha Romanoff shows up, with a heart-shaped box that says "Neuhaus". Favourite AUs Brown and Gold by Koren M (CyberMathWitch) Teen, no warnings, Dragonriders of Pern AU: What if they were different people in a different place and time? (A time that just happened to have dragons.) Soiree by ruby_caspar Teen, no warnings, a Georgette Heyer Regency AU: The Dowager Duchess known as the Black Widow is the talk of the ton - rich and mysterious, the only way to meet this elusive lady is through the equally mysterious Mr Barton… no light in this valley by trysts Teen, cntw, wild west AU: It was a good way to end a bad year, Clint figured. Tomorrow Then by @scribblemyname​ Teen, no warnings, reincarnation AU: Neither of them remembers where it started. There is eternity and the earth tilting in the heavens, but there is no beginning. They are not human enough yet for beginnings. Maps by @cloud--atlas​ Teen, cntw, reincarnation AU: Natasha won't let go, no matter what he becomes. Mr. & Mrs. Barton (Or: Why Natasha Sends Jennifer Aniston an Annual Apologetic Fruit Basket) by @geniusorinsanity​ Explicit, cntw, Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl get married. Boy and girl neglect to do background checks. Not a Day Goes By (Not a Single Day) by @intosnarkness​ [HSAU Theatre 'Verse] Gen, no warnings: A Coda: On the life and times of Clint and Natasha Yesterday, Upon the Stair by @intosnarkness​ Mature, cntw: When she was little Natasha had an imaginary friend. But like all little girls, she learned to forget him as she grew up. So imagine her surprise when one day she comes face to face with her old friend. And he's pointing an arrow at her heart. Talking Like Peter Lorre by @freaoscanlin​ Gen, no warnings: Clint has a very important question for fellow zoologist, Dr. Natasha Romanoff. Or: the AU where they’re all scientists in Antarctica and everybody is cold. All Under Heaven by @cloud--atlas​ Teen, cntw: Wherein Clint and Natalia are nature documentary filmmakers, filming for the BBC in Guilin, China. We Together Make A City by @cloud--atlas​ Mature, no warnings: Written for the prompt: Clint was/is a musician. Soft Landing by @cloud--atlas​ Teen, no warnings: Natasha Mends broken hearts. It's easy until it's not. Here I Dreamt I Was A Soldier by @sugarfey​ Mature, cntw: Bletchley Park, 1942: Women are recruited from across the country to decode enemy transmissions. The war stories of Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Carol Danvers and Kate Bishop. Like campfires in the dark by @scribblemyname​ [series] Mature, cntw: There is nowhere to run, nowhere to escape the Great Strangeness creeping over the earth. They don't need to run. Clint Barton, Vampire Slayer by Sproid Mature, violence: The adventures of Clint Barton, Vampire Slayer. Or, how to be a Slayer while working for SHIELD and with the Avengers. Something that made you go: "Wow! This person knows what they are talking about!" Habeas Matrimonium by @crystallitanie​ Teen, no warnings: Five times Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton pretended to be hitched (and one time... well) In The Service: Three Times Hawkeye Questions His Orders (And One Time He Doesn’t) by @alphaflyer​ Teen, cntw: Some Government jobs are more … complicated than others. Samsara by xahra99 Teen, no warnings: Burning down a monastery isn't the worst thing they've ever done. Natasha and Clint take on a mission in Tibet. Everything isn't quite as it seems... Domestic Clint/Natasha Junk Food and Dirty Socks: A Love Story by igrockspock Gen, no warnings: Clint and Natasha show their love in unusual ways. Exciting Adventures in Cohabitation by igrockspock Teen, no warnings: Clint and Natasha try to navigate the mundane problems of living together. Like how someone can't be bothered to pick up her damn socks, and somebody else keeps leaving empty milk cartons in the fridge. Friendship fics Frequently Asked Questions by Mad_Maudlin Clint&Kate, teen, memory loss: Today is Monday, March 18th. You started losing your memories yesterday. still officially lost by @pollyrepeat​ Clint&Coulson, teen, no warnings: “Barton has clearly imprinted on you,” Fury starts, and keeps talking right over Phil’s knee-jerk, horrified, “He has not,” to seal Phil’s doom by saying, “so I’ve decided that you’re going to take primary responsibility for him from now on.” something good waitin' down this road by defcontwo Clint&Kate, gen, no warnings: Hawkeyes' House Rules for Dog Ownership and Other Misadventures. Or: Clint, Kate, a dog, and a study in moving forward. When push comes to Chevre by @copperbadge​ Bucky&Various, gen, Bucky Barnes acquires a plot of land in Wakanda, buys some goats, grows peanuts and sweet potatoes, and fosters a wayward rhinoceros. That's it, that's the story. Silhouette by @mariana-oconnor​ Clint/Bucky, Steve&Bucky, Clint&Natasha, mature, cntw: After a mission in Mexico goes wrong, SHIELD Agents Barnes and Rogers are given the job of hunting down the notorious Hawkeye and the Black Widow, the only problem being: no one even knows what they look like. On the other side of the law, Clint's enjoying messing with their new SHIELD shadows, especially seeing how close he can get to Agent Barnes without him realising, but he makes the mistake of getting attached, and that makes everything more complicated. Best Kept Secret by AlchemyAlice Tony&Natasha, teen, no warnings: In which there is a secret friendship, and Tony can’t deal with feelings, so Natasha has to do it for him. These two features may or may not be related. Heartbreak and angst we were emergencies by @gyzym Explicit, cntw (please see story notes): It's not about being unmade; it's about remaking, one aching step at a time. This Bitter Earth by @cloud--atlas Teen, cntw, dystopia: The only beautiful things here are her and the stars. And he can’t reach the stars. White Blank Page by allisnow Mature, cntw: Debt is beautiful only after it has been repaid. Not Easily Conquered by dropdeaddream and WhatAreFears [series] Steve/Bucky, Steve/Peggy, Clint/Natasha, mature, cntw: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Peggy says, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Warp and Weft by legete Mature, body horror: The muscle apparently talked a little much for Loki's liking. Now Natasha has to pick out the stitches. Favourite long!fic your blue-eyed boys by Feather (lalaietha) [series] and the related series [to see you there] (Clint/Nat, Bruce/Betty and Tony/Pepper) and (even if i could) make a deal with god (Steve/Bucky) Various pairings, teen to explicit, extensive warnings - please see tags, canon-divergent after WS: post-Winter Soldier recovery fic > Specifically: what i thought, what i said (Clint/&Natasha, Steve/Bucky, teen, no warnings) and [your albatross: carry it with no regrets] (Mature, no warnings: Five moments in Clint Barton's life.) To Be Vulnerable is Needed Most of All by perfect_plan Steve/Bucky, Clint/Nat, mature, mental illness and PTSD: Steve is a shy comic book artist and meets his new neighbour, Bucky Barnes. Hyperfocal Distance by @freaoscanlin Teen, cntw: The AU where Natasha is an investigative journalist and Clint has a camera and is pretty good at shooting things with it. we are for each other by @quidnunc-life Steve/Maria, Clint/Natasha, teen, post-Avengers, no warnings: SHIELD has fallen, and Steve and Natasha deal with the questions that fell with the Triskelion: who are they, and who do they want to be? Which parts of their pasts are they going to rescue from the rubble? Where do they belong? letting me in or letting me go by @quidnunc-life Teen, no warnings: Natasha Romanoff has worked hard to become a successful member of SHIELD Investigations, and her hard work pays off when she lands a major job investigating corporate espionage at Stark Industries with Clint Barton and his apprentice, Kate. Working with other people isn't Natasha's forte, and she has her reasons for preferring to work alone; but Clint is charming and Kate is irrepressible, and soon Natasha finds herself wrapped up in a case that could prove to shake the skeletons out of her closet and upend everything, including the friendship (or more?) that's started to develop between her and Clint. Agent, Archer, Widow, Spies by @alphaflyer [series] Teen, cntw, James Bond fusion, excellent mission fics. Brooklyn Baby by sprinkle_of_cinnamon Bucky/Steve, Clint/Nat, mature, no warnings, AU: In which Bucky is just trying to live life and enjoy his unofficial official table at the obnoxiously hipster coffee shop but some guy named Steve stole his spot. Or, the time that Bucky unintentionally befriended the Avengers and had no idea. but the sky is the same by @sweeter-than Teen, no warnings: Takes place one year after Clint makes the unexpected choice to bring Natasha Romanov in from the cold. They've become co-workers and acquaintances, but Natasha is still as much a mystery to Clint as she was on the day he was first sent to target her. A story about making friends and making choices, set against the backdrop of daily life at SHIELD.

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

hello i read that javert article that’s so funny to me? like did they just gloss over that fact of his death cause i know for a fact that’s not christian theology? and literally the whole point is at the end of the day you have to love one another? the fact that fantine deserves to go to jail? she says herself “took my childhood in his stride” she wasn’t that old she made a mistake and that shouldn’t be her fault?? anyway i’ll stop but that was rly dumb

Hi!

I think McAteer wished to address the symbolism of the book more than the precise nuances--though arguably, "resolving" Javert's plotline with suicide (considered by many Christian sects, as you observe, to be a sin) is its own sort of continued and even ultimate demonization of his conservative ideology.

Different denominations of Christianity choose to put emphasis on different aspects of the Bible. Because of the nature of religion and how it is often inextricably tied with morality, many people who do hold the belief system of the author prefer to interpret those teachings moreso as...well, hm. Puritans believed in predetermination, meaning when you were born whether you were going to heaven or hell had already been decided for you, and your actions had no sway in that decision nor the events of your life. Some modernday Christians believe everyone will go to heaven, or whether or not one goes to heaven will be determined by behavior, or it will be determined by if someone has allowed Jesus into their heart. The sort of conservative Chrstianity John McAteer is born from subscribes to this last opinion, where Christianity is more of an exclusive club and all sins will be forgiven on death as long as you more or less tried. They also hold a deeply karmic point of view regarding what happens to you in life and often use that to rationalize good vs bad, because they believe that God will judge your behavior and give immediate feedback in the form of good/bad things happening to you.

(fun fact: depending on the exact stance, this brand of Christianity can get really uncomfortable when you bust out Matthew 25:31-46)

(but a lot of the Bible, esp old v new testament, is contradictory, so it's very easy to pick and choose passages to support one's ideology and belief system)

Yeah, I mean...some Christians definitely buy into that God makes everything happen for a reason and that going to jail/being forced into sex work/being unable to feed Cosette is the natural karmic consequence of the Sin of premarital sex. I could work myself into a Whole Tizzy over the nature of childhood and maturity and brain development and the sexism associated with putting the burden of responsibility solely on the person who is pregnant, but to be frank Fake Christians Gonna Hate, and I'll be shouting to the wind.

(Also, Fantine is around 18 at the time of Cosette's conception in 1815, so Christians of this mindset, who are frequently pretty callous toward unmarried pregnant people of all ages, would probably be especially unmoved by her pleas of childhood innocence.)

The conclusion here is that some people are always gonna look for ways to cast themselves as the victim, even if that way is to their own significant detriment and makes them look like an absolute ass. Hope John enjoyed his reread of Atlas Shrugged following the publication of that travesty.

[post-itpenny]

How have all of the clowns been? :3

Lets see:

Atlas- is really excited, his mom thinks his new sibling will be coming soon which is awesome. He’s so ready to be a big brother X3

Vespers- Has been making more baby clothes as a gift to his aunt. At this point he’s wondering if he should just start selling children’s clothes as well lol. But on a serious note he’s finally expanded his business and is outsourcing some of his clothing to keep up with demands. He was able to keep things eco and ethically responsible so he is pleased with that. He like’s setting up Phoebe’s play mat in his studio and talking to her about different ideas. She’s a good listener X3

Maggie- Has calmed down and is ok with letting someone watch the kids while she goes to work with Billy or on a date. She’s also been spending time in Bridgett's old realm where beings from all over can come to her for future advice and stuff.  She normally does this during Harper’s nap time uwu

Juno- Believe it or not may be in the works of getting a book published. Turns out she has a bit of creativity in her after all, she’s really good at writing horror and murder mysteries. Honestly it started as a hobby but the thought of having her own thing outside of anyone else make’s her happy.

Maggie- Is doing much better now that she’s chased off the cousins. The expansion of a mini realm? Or whatever you want to call it is rather nice. Vespers would call it a cross of Lisa Frank meets Victorian Goth meets whatever else Magpie is interested in that particular day. She is somewhat... conflicted over her feelings... with someone. But she would rather not say anything at the risk of losing their friendship.

Vega- Is happy that for the most part to have had a such a chill pregnancy but... she is very much ready for the baby to get here X3

Lyra- Is currently staying with her sister so she can help when the baby gets here. Also, she is just really excited for a new niece or nephew X3

Peregrine- Has the castle to himself. It’s a little lonely but he is enjoying a short moment of solitude. He has a lot to think on considering all the recent events. 

[littlemisssquiggles]

A Squiggle Meister’s Blunt Ramblings: So…I’m just going to come right out and ask…have the Writers forgotten Ruby being Silver Eyed Warrior…again?

…Or rather, are they going to ignore all of her development as a Silver Eyes from last season in favour of having her focus on another aspect of her huntsmen training that Ruby up until this point has shown to not really need…in spite of the fact that there’s still more for her to learn and master regarding her becoming a fully-realized Silver Eyed Warrior?

So I’ve been thinking about V7CH3 and I couldn’t help but recall the little moment where Ruby used her semblance to catch the last radioactive dust crystal before Harriet. This then led into Harriet giving the implication to Ruby that there is more to her semblance than she believes.

So…you would think that the Writers would continue to progress Ruby’s development as a Silver Eye. While we did see Ruby have her big (and completely unearned) ‘Indomitable’ moment back in V6, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Ruby still has more to learn when it comes to mastering her abilities.

Especially when you recall the little detail where she didn’t successfully petrify the Leviathan proving that she definitely has more to learn...

Especially when you compare it to a younger Maria Calavera in her prime successfully killing a Nevermore with her eyes in a previous episode...

And ESPECIALLY when in the very same finale episode, Ruby was shown to still be struggling to get into the frame of mine needed to call upon her power and that the only reason she was able to even do anything short of becoming the Leviathan’s next meal was because of Jinn miraculously granting her a one time pardon. How convenient. 

So yeah…bottom-line is, Ruby still needs to focus on honing her Silver Eyes. That being said, that should be a point of focus of hers continuing from last season, right?

WRONG! According to the Writers, apparently that isn’t the case anymore for Ruby in V7 since thus far, Ruby hasn’t even used her eyes...despite encountering Grimm at least twice for this season so far?? Huh??

 I know what you might be thinking now:

But Squiggles, Ruby doesn’t really need to learn more about her Silver Eyes since last season showed her using it to defeat the Leviathan right? Remember? Ruby is Indomitable! That was her big moment, right?

WRONG! As I shall repeat with conviction, Ruby has not mastered her eyes as yet. As we saw with the Leviathan, she failed to successfully petrify it completely especially when you compare it to Maria petrifying the Nevermore back in V6CH7. 

Therefore Ruby still has more to learn. Besides if Ruby had mastered her Silver Eyes then why didn’t she use it against the Centinels and the dust-infused Geist Grimm in V7CH3? 

It would’ve definitely saved Team RWBY’s group with Marrow and Harriet some time if Ruby had just blasted the Grimm with her laser beam eyes, instead of everyone dicking around with their weapons, right?

Ruby went on a mission with the Ace Ops where her Silver Eyed training would’ve come in clutch especially against the ancient Geist. 

But instead of having Ruby use her eyes or at least have the episode highlight again that Ruby still has more training to do, Ruby…sort of forgot about her Silver Eyes? 

As a matter of fact, the closest thing we got to a reference to Ruby’s eyes is Yang’s throwaway line from that episode.

“…Wait till they see what she can do with her eyes.”

I’m sorry…WHAT! What do you mean wait till they see what she can do with her eyes? If that’s the case, Ruby should’ve used her eyes in the mines? But she didn’t. Not to mention that, may I repeat again, Ruby hasn’t mastered control of her eyes as yet!

Instead of Ruby furthering her silver eyed training being a continued aspect for her side of the story, once again, the Writers are ignoring Ruby’s eyes in favour of focusing on another aspect of her character that was already previously established.

Her semblance. 

As far as we the fans understand, Ruby’s semblance has always been speed or at least a type of speed semblance. We’ve known this since V1 and like I said, it’s been an established part of Ruby’s character that’s remained consistent throughout past volumes.

But now…the Writers are trying to imply that Ruby’s semblance isn’t speed. That there’s more to it than what she knew and I am sorry but…NO! This squiggle meister is not buying this.

“Thought you said your semblance was like mine.”

“It…is?”

“I’ve seen other speed semblances before but…that was different. I think there is more going on than you think.”

 …The F*** YOU MEAN THAT WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT?! WHAT DID RUBY DO THAT WAS SO DIFFERENT THAN HARRIET’S? THE GIRL WHO LITERALLY MOVED SO FAST, TIME SEEMED TO MOVE IN SLOW MOTION AS SHE ZIPS ACROSS THE SCREEN WITH NOTHING BUT LIGHTNING IN HER STEP??

WHY IS THIS A PLOT POINT? BETTER QUESTION, WHY IS THIS A PLOT POINT FOR RUBY?!

They are doing it AGAIN!

This is exactly what they did back in Volume 5. 

Dear CRWBY Writers, you did this already and it didn’t exactly work last time. Remember? Remember how back in V5, Miles and Kerry said that Ruby didn’t need to focus on her Silver Eyed training because…her lack in hand to hand combat was her biggest shortcoming and that needed to be the focus of her development for that season. Remember? Remember how much the Ruby stans enjoyed that?

YES, Ruby definitely needed to improve her hand to hand combat skills…even though Ruby lacking in hand to hand has never been a previously established liability to her…

Especially when you remember the fact that she freaking sucker punched Roman Torchwick and drop kicked a Griffon Grimm straight into the fiery pits of hell back in V3; proving that Ruby is just as capable of fighting without Crescent Rose when the plot needs her to be.

And more especially when this plot point is eventually dropped right after V5  in favour of the one fans have been demanding for Ruby since V3---her being trained to become a full-fledged Silver Eyed Huntress.

 It’s the exact same thing again. We back ya’ll. We back on that same ole shit.

Ruby needs to learn more about her Silver Eyes but once again, the Writers have chosen to ignore this fact in favour of focusing on something else about her that didn’t need focus. Last time it was Ruby needing to learn hand-to-hand combat, now it’s her semblance?

Why don’ the Writers just retcon Ruby as a whole because I’m starting to see a pattern here. Each time these chuckleheads write themselves into a corner in regards to her Silver Eye story, they then try to ignore this development by having the plot focusing on something else for Ruby…but it doesn’t work. At least not as well as it should.

So…that being said, we’re probably going to have Ruby focusing on her semblance for V7, as opposed to her receiving more proper training from Maria in becoming a Silver Eyed Warrior? At least, not until the plot needs her to be a Silver Eyed Warrior again, right?

I feel like this should be a running meme within the RWBY community. We don’t get certain things in RWBY…BECAUSE PLOT. Things happen in the story even if they’re done in the most contrived way possibly… BECAUSE PLOT.

Our favourite characters don’t get proper on-screen development in certain moments where it would be expected for them to get said development… BECAUSE PLOT.

We don’t get to see plot points previously established in other seasons being continued for the next one...BECAUSE THE PLOT FOR THIS NEW SEASON DEMANDS IT DOESN’T NEED FOCUS!  

That’s gonna be my new RWBY gag. I’ll add it to the pile next to Jauntus.

But jokes aside, this was my concern after V6. This was why I didn’t particularly like Ruby’s Indomitable scene. If I’m being frank, Ruby’s Indomitable moment was my least favourite part of the V6 finale because it wasn’t earned. Instead of watching Ruby actually train and hone her abilities over the span of the last three-volume arc culminating in this grandiose moment where she fully masters her powers---it felt as if the Writers only shoehorned this to add some zest to an otherwise boring season finale (since they has already wasted most of the action on the Cordovin and Adam fights in the previous episodes). The moment honestly fell flat, at least for me.

I was worried that after V6, the Writers were going to side-line Maria and make her a background character as opposed to continue to build her up as another mentor character for Ruby. Or rather, THE MENTOR for Ruby.

Sure enough. This is exactly what happened; at least thus far. I know I’m only making this assumption based on 4 out of 13 episodes but nevertheless... Where is Maria? 

Maria literally walked off the scene in the first episode and apparently right out the plot and into the black abyss of the pit of obscurity since she hasn’t been seen since she conveniently transported our heroes to Atlas and also conveniently took them to Pietro.

I don’t even know what Maria’s purpose for this season is going to be. At this year’s RTX, the CRWBY Cast teased “Sassy Granny Highjinks” as something to come for Maria this season and while that’s fine, I can’t help but still feel a little disappointed in hearing that especially given how the first four episodes have shaped up.

As much as I like Maria as our veteran ‘pocket abuelita’, I was more looking forward to the side of her character that was secretly a wise old sage who could train Ruby in the ways of the Silver Eyed Warrior (like Yoda to Luke Skywalker).

But if she’s just going to be there for poops and giggles and more random senior citizen jokes then…why even create a character like Maria in the first place?

One of my issues with the third act of V6 is that it almost singlehandedly made Maria’s character useless by CH8. I was looking forward to Maria being the one to shed light to Ruby on the mysteries of the Silver Eyes since she was one herself. I even pegged her a better exemplar than Ozpin since while Oz has only heard of the Silver Eyes, Maria has lived it.

She’s walked the path of a warrior as a Silver Eye. She was even trained by one. Her father was a Silver Eyes too and it wouldn’t have surprised me if whatever teachings and legends of the origins of their powers that Maria’s father learned from his mentor, he would have passed it onto Maria. And now she in turn would’ve passed it on to Ruby.

I was hoping for Maria to be a beacon of answers for Ruby. To shed light on that mysterious side of her powers that she never got to learn from her mother who was one before her. 

Instead...NADA! Turns out, Maria doesn’t know anything. She has no more answers concerning the origins of the Silver Eyes as Ozpin did and that just…that just bummed me out so much. It really killed some of the intrigue of her character for me.

But then you’re like, okay. Okay. So Maria doesn’t have all the answers. She doesn’t know the Origins of the Silver Eyed power. That’s cool. That’s fine . At least she can still train Ruby. Help her to master the frame of mind needed to summon her power, right?

WRONG! The Writers kind of ruined that too with the Indomitable scene from V6. I mean sure, they left things on a good note with Ruby still clearly needing to be trained. But where does things go from there?

You would think we would get to see more instances of Ruby trying to using her eyes only to possibly embarrass herself by failing in the field, resorting to her going to find Maria wherever she was staying in Mantle to receive more proper training, right?

WRONG AGAIN! Instead…Ruby acts like that part of her arc last season never happened? She doesn’t try to use her eyes again nor does she even bring up the subject of eyes herself. Instead its treated as a throwaway line from Yang for her, Blake and Weiss to giggle over.

Because that’s what Ruby’s Mastery of her Silver Eyes is now. A joke. 

I just…I don’t know what else to say man. I know I complain about Oscar’s mistreatment mostly. However he isn’t the only favourite of mine that gets the short end of that PLOT stick. 

Next to Oscar, Ruby Rose is my second all-time favourite character in RWBY and it kind of sucks that even she gets the shaft at times from the Writers since....well…SHE’S THE PROTAGONIST!

How can fumble and bumble with the MAIN CHARACTER OF YOUR OWN SHOW? THE ONE WHO STARTED IT ALL?

I don’t get it. 

But then again, perhaps I am jumping the gun too far here. Like I said, it’s only been 4 episodes. We still got 9 more episodes to go so who knows? Perhaps things might change over the course of CH5 to CH13 and my assumptions for Ruby’s arc this season as well as Maria’s role are proven wrong.

This is one of those instances where I’m actually hoping that I am proven wrong. But we shall see.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)