#helping out the kid. we go back to the flashback. she's leading the charge. she isnt captain but shes in the running

[basically-i-write-shit]

Being a 9-1-1 fox fan and a teacher is so interesting and fun bc we took our preschoolers to the local fire station today and one of my only thoughts was about the 118 going offline for a bit just to give local schools and daycares tours. Special interest brain rot.

[walker-extended-universe]

We Go Down Together, Chapter 3

Relationship(s): Cassie Perez & Cordell Walker, Ben Perez & Cassie Perez

Tags/Warnings: Captivity, Fighting, Escape, Trauma, Aftermath of Trauma, Poor Mental Heath, Flashbacks, Triggers

Summary: Cassie and Cordell escape captivity. At least, physically they do. Mentally is another story entirely.

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

-------

After what happened yesterday, Cordell wasn’t going to wait around for a rescue anymore. Seeing what they did to Cassie only proved to him that these guys weren’t playing around. They were going to break him or kill Cassie trying and he couldn’t let that happen.

“We’re getting out of here today,” he said quietly after their breakfast was delivered.

Cassie paused in her struggle to reach her MRE without agitating her broken ribs. “We are? How?”

Cordell got it for her, opening it as he handed it to her. “I’ve got a plan. I’m gonna need you to play along with me on this one.”

Cassie nodded and nibbled on her “meal”. “What’s the plan, partner?”

Cordell sighed. “You’re not gonna like it but… I’m gonna need you to play damsel in distress.”

She rolled her eyes. “If it gets us out of here, I think I’ll manage. What do you need me to do?”

At least she wasn’t complaining about it. “I need you to act like you’re really hurt. I”ll call the guards in and tell them they need to help you or I’ll never comply. Once they’re in, I think we can overpower them and get the keys and rescue ourselves and Julia.”

Cassie nodded. “Gotcha. I think I can handle that. Did I ever tell you I was a theater kid?”

Cordell chuckled. “No, but I’m sure that’ll come in handy.”

He waited until after they’d both eaten. He’d started to lose track of time during their captivity, but he knew they had a little time to prepare themselves before the guards would show up for their “fun”.

“Alright, just lay still and act really pitiful,” he said once they were both ready.

She rolled her eyes but complied. “Ready when you are, Walker.”

He winked at her and started yelling for help, hoping someone was wandering around close enough to hear it. As soon as someone answered his calls, he launched into the play. “She’s not breathing right! I don’t know what the hell you did to her but if she dies, you may as well kill me too because I’m not joining your little anarchy LARP.” He tried not to think too hard about how easy that rolled off his tongue. He also tried not to think too hard about how Cassie’s exaggerated coughs tugged at his heart.

With the men distracted by Cassie, Cordell made his move, tackling the one closest to the door and knocking him out against the metal bars. Cassie then kicked up, knocking back one of the other two guys. Cordell stopped the third from grabbing her and held him in a chokehold. “Where’s Julia?” he hissed. “The woman that was above us, where did you move her?”

“First floor, cell 3,” he wheezed as he ran out of air.

Cordell didn’t let him go until he was completely out and he looked up to see Cassie unlocking herself from her leash. “Got the keys,” she said, brandishing the key ring as she stood up. “Let’s go.”

Cordell nodded and grabbed a spare pistol and a phone off of one of the unconscious men. “Let’s do this.”

They moved through the labyrinth of halls quickly. Almost too quickly. There was no one around the halls to slow them down. Normally Cordell would be suspicious but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

They made it to Julia’s new cell and he quickly unlocked the door, almost getting a fist to the face for his trouble. Luckily, Julia recognized their voices and they were back in business. They stealthily made their way to an exit and were about to leave- until an alarm sounded for their escape.

They hid behind some boxes while guards ran back to their abandoned cell. Once it was clear, Cordell was ready to lead the charge out of there- until he saw the symbol on the boxes he was crouching behind. He’d seen that symbol before in his Marine days- he couldn’t let these maniacs use what was inside them.

“Cassie, you’ve gotta get Julia out of here,” he said once they reached the door.

Cassie stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “What? What about you?”

“I’ve gotta take care of what’s in those boxes. I know what it is, it’s nasty stuff.”

“I’ll help-”

“No, Cass. You need to go.” He handed her the phone. “Call James once you’re a safe distance away. I’ll catch up.”

Cassie took the phone. “Good luck. We’ll be back for you, partner.”

Cordell nodded. “I know.”

With that, they parted ways.

Running into Sean on his way to hide the dangerous chemicals in the radiation wing was unexpected. So was the grenade Sean pulled out after Cordell shot him in the shoulder.

Cordell didn’t really remember how he made it out. He just remembered that it didn’t really matter once he had his eyes on Cassie again.

They were alive. They were okay.

Everything was gonna be okay.

—----

They were free. The nightmare was over.

She fidgeted in her loose hoodie while she waited in the atrium. She’d already given her statement and was waiting for Ben to pick her up and take her home. But first, she wanted to talk to Walker.

She didn���t even know where to begin on recovering from this. Her injuries would heal, the bruises would fade, but she wasn’t sure when she’d stop seeing that cage every time she closed her eyes.

If anyone would have answers, it would be Walker. He’d been through things like this before. Or, at least, similar things. He’d know how to answer questions she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to ask her new mandated therapist.

“Hey, Cassie.” Speak of the devil, Walker stepped in and walked up to her table. “You need a ride?”

“Uh, no. Ben’s coming to pick me up. But actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Uh, sure. About what?”

Cassie took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts in order. “I…. You’ve dealt with stuff like this before. I mean, probably not exactly this but given your history…. You know how to deal with it, right?”

Walker nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“....How do you deal with it? Because I’m not really sure what to do. It’s like every time I close my eyes-”

“Cass- Cassie.” Walker pet her shoulder and smiled tightly. “We- We don’t need to unload all that right now. We’re out, there’s arrests being made across the state. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but we’re okay. And after some time… you’ll feel okay. We just gotta keep going, alright? The only way out is through.”

That was…underwhelming advice. She’d been hoping for something a little more actionable. “I… If you say so….”

“Cassie!” Ben’s sudden arrival and crushing hug stopped her from pushing the issue further. She returned the hug just as tight. Part of her wanted to make a joke about missing Ben too but it got caught in her throat. “Thank god you’re back,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” was all she could say.

Ben pulled back just enough to Help her out of her chair. “Thanks for waiting with her,” he told Walker. “I’m just gonna take Cassie home now.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask y’all if you wanted to come to the ranch. Mama’s making a roast and I know the rest of the family would be happy to see you.”

Ben looked at her and Cassie tried not to look back. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s late and I think Cassie just needs some rest. Maybe we can come over tomorrow?”

Walker smiled the way he usually smiled at members of the DPS brass he didn’t like “What? And waste a perfectly good welcome home party? Come on, it’ll be fun. Why wait to start things off on a good note?”

“That’s a kind offer, really,” Ben said, smiling the same smile he gave to demanding customers. “But I think-”

“I think it sounds great,” Cassie interjected. “I love a good roast.”

Walker smiled a little more genuinely. “Great! I’ll let everyone know. It’ll be great having you there.”

To his credit, Ben stayed quiet about his disagreement until they were in his car. But then….

“You know you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, right? We can just let them have their little family thing and I’ll just take you back to my place. I can just text Liam-”

“It’s fine, Ben.” Cassie tried to smile. “He’s right. Why wait to take things in the right direction? I’m sure I’ll feel better once I’ve eaten real food.”

“I have real food at my place.”

“But they’re expecting-”

“Cas, stop.” Ben sighed. “I know you don’t actually want to go to this thing, okay? I knew as soon as he brought it up. You’re gonna be miserable the whole time because people are going to be asking you how you are and you’re going to worry about slipping up and telling the truth and you’re probably not even going to be able to eat whatever they put on your plate. Just let me make an excuse for you and take you home? You’ll feel better, I promise.”

She shook her head. “Ben, I- It’s not about me pretending and failing. I know I’m not fine and they won’t expect me to be. I just…. I don’t know how to deal with this except to just push through it. It’s not like I’ll feel any better in the morning if I don’t go.”

Ben sighed. “Fine. But we’re leaving as soon as it’s over. Because you are tired and they have no excuse to keep us there longer.”

“Fine,” she agreed. “Just try not to be too ‘overprotective brother’ about it, okay? They’re not the bad guys here.”

“Sure.”

That was as good as she was going to get out of him and she wasn’t going to push it.

Though, as soon as they arrived, Cassie wondered if maybe she should’ve. It would’ve given her an excuse not to go in.

Even though she’d accepted the invitation and really did need a distraction from everything, she wasn’t sure she was ready for something like this. The Walker family had a tendency to be intense on a good day and it only got worse when emotions were high. It was only the thought of having to deal with Walker’s worried texts for the rest of the night if she didn’t show that made her walk through the front door.

In all honesty, it could’ve gone worse. There was too much worried hovering and Walker’s disaster of a “graduation speech” didn’t exactly set things off on a good note. But Abeline’s food was as good as ever and no one seemed to want to talk about the elephant in the room.

All in all, she’d had worse family dinners.

After they left, Ben drove her back to his apartment because it was closer. “I’ll take you back to your place in the morning,” he said. “Why don’t you grab a shower and I’ll make some sleepytime tea?”

Cassie smiled. “Sounds like a plan,” she said as she headed toward the bathroom. With the door closed behind her, Cassie got undressed after she started the water. Once she was ready, she put her hand in to test the temperature.

The cold water beat down on her arm and she jerked back, hitting the wall with a cry.

Cold. Cold. Waves and waves of cold. Choking. I can't breathe. They’re laughing. They’re enjoying this.

I’m going to die here.

“-ssie? Cassie?!”

Cassie flinched away from the voice, throwing off the hands that were shaking her shoulders. It took her a few moments to calm down and remember where she was, who she was with.

“You okay?” Ben asked softly.

Cassie shook her head. “I can’t- The shower, I can’t-”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay….” Ben rubbed her back and turned off the water. “How about I just run you a bath, hm? I think I have bubbles somewhere if you want them.”

Cassie nodded, not moving from her spot on the floor until he finished.

[stillness-in-green]

Chapter 361, Abnormal Happenings

Did this chapter feel extremely short, or is it just me?

On Tenko:

Honestly, the stuff I have the strongest reaction to is the sort of things I see other fans saying about Tenko, and I’ve resolved to try to get away somewhat from responding-to-responses in these posts.  So trying to look at only what’s going on in the story itself, my problems with Tenko are much as they have been.  He feels like a weird idealized vision that’s easy to look at and want to save when the truth of Shigaraki and his grudges are much more challenging and difficult to address.

I feel like Tenko could work better as a sort of metaphorical “pole” within Tomura, a representation of, if you will, his nature contrasting AFO’s nurture.  However, this would work better if the AFO inside him were also a metaphor, rather than a literal invading consciousness.  As it stands, Tenko and AFO don’t represent equal forces in Tomura—not in the sense of being equal in power, which I wouldn’t expect them to be, but rather, they literally aren’t the same type of entity, so they don’t feel like appropriate foils.

I have read at least one rather fun fic where Tenko is a quirk vestige—a quirk neither the Shimuras, AFO, nor Tomura himself ever realized he had.  And that would certainly be a twist, though it would raise the pressing question of where the vestige for Decay is.(1)

Though, one thing that would be an entirely delightful twist—and credit entirely goes to @codenamesazanka for this—is if Inner Tenko is the “lump of lead” Shigaraki talks to Ujiko about, the source of Shigaraki’s never-ending rage.  His anger predated AFO, after all; it was forged in his childhood home and on that long walk where no one helped him.  That holds, I think, even if AFO gave him Decay.(2)  You could even draw the parallel that AFO gave Tenko his family hands to preserve the negative feelings from that day, and here we find Tenko, still covered in those grasping, clutching hands even after Tomura cast off all but one of them months ago. And he certainly had quite the angry reaction to Mirio's statement about him lacking friends!

A huge chunk of the (English-speaking) villain fanbase would riot, but I would like it.

(Speaking of the friends bit, it has been pointed out by a chat buddy that while Mirio and Inner Tenko use tomodachi there, the word the League use for one another is that good old shounen standby, nakama. So perhaps it makes sense that what falls out of the messy amalgamation that is Tomura right now is an appeal to the tomodachi he once had, rather than the nakama of today. I have been mildly placated by this.)

That all said, I do wonder what’s up with this particular flashback here?

I had assumed that this moment was ShigAFO leaning down and using some kind of quirk to detect things underground.  He even gives that word of warning to Dabi, who charges ahead regardless.  But that doesn’t seem to be even slightly relevant to Vestige!AFO thinking about his and Shigaraki’s mind-meld, so....?

On the 3As:

Mirio continues to be a good kid.  His stammered apology is good stuff, and I love him thinking that he felt Shigaraki hesitate—making villains hesitate is, in fact, a great reason for heroes to try talking to them!

More significantly, I appreciate Nejire getting some actual development.  She went felt wildly underutilized in the Hassaikai arc, and her her big thing being winning a beauty pageant while Tamaki and Mirio were out there having big dramatic flashback-filled battles against villains was just insulting.  So I like her flashbacks here, and I particularly appreciate that it circles back to her weird nosy questions.  Frankly, given the sorts of questions she asked Class 1-A when she was first introduced—asking Shouji about his mask, Shouto about his scar, Mina about her horns—it’s no surprise she makes bad first impressions!

…It is a bit of a shame to just cram Yuyu into the background of that panel with Suneater and then exclude her entirely from people Nejire reflects on learning about at UA, though.  I suppose the generous read is that she’d been friends with Yuyu prior to UA, so she didn’t need the confines of UA to learn about her.  Still.

I also don’t love the ongoing adventures of giving the gals in this comic supporting roles to the dudes,(3) even though Nejire herself has the quirk that, on the surface, should have the most raw oomph of any of the Big Three.  Eh.  It’s a toss-up, but I do like the development, anyway.

Do your best, Suneater!  Though I expect about the best you can hope for is a result akin to burning AFO alive and then watching in horror as he evolves into his next form.  At least it’s one more form down before the final one?(4)

We'll see how that works out for you or doesn't next time.

--FOOTNOTES--

1: One of my assumptions about the difference between an original quirk and one of Ujiko’s lab-created replicas is that only the original has a vestige.  So I suppose Decay could be a created quirk AFO was just carrying long enough to pass it off to Tenko at the door.

2: It had better hold, anyway.  Making AFO the author of Tenko’s grudge against society would be this manga’s ultimate high crime against its own themes, the single thing it could do that would most succinctly scoop out all of its own meaning and impact.

3: See also: Tsuyu's job in the teamwork play at USJ being to get Deku and Mineta off the ship while the boys combine forces to actually deal with the villains; Kendo dispersing Mustard's gas for Tetsutetsu to get the finishing blow in; Momo providing the tracker that got the boys to Kamino but having no role in Deku’s plan to rescue Bakugou; Ryukyu and the girls staying outside at the Hassaikai compound to buy the all-male everyone-else team time to continue on inside to where all the character development is happening; La Brava powering up Gentle; probably a bunch of school stuff I don’t remember; Mina fumbling her dose of sedative just in time to give Kirishima an extra shot at it after he blows his own; and so on.  Even when this goes the other way—e.g. Kamui Woods trying to get Midnight up close to Gigantomachia; Lady Nagant using Overhaul to distract Deku—it seems like it fails a lot more often than the other way around.

4: Or, you know—spoilers for 361—it could have no effect at all.  I choose to chalk this up to the ongoing messaging about the futility of taking out Shigaraki with violent force and not the manga being deeply muddled in how much it actually values teamwork.  More on that next time, maybe.

[raininyourblackeyes]

BSD Formula 1 AU

I know it sounds ridiculous but hear me out. THE POTENTIAL IS HUGE.

The characters are just the right amount of silly to be put in those funny cars, and the exact amount of dramatic to reflect whatever the fuck is going on in the circus (F1) in general.

First of all, this was brought to you by me watching one of the most chaotic races ever last weekend and I couldn't sleep last night which meant my brain had free time and BSD brainrot is 24/7.

Basic idea is that various organisations are different teams and all characters have different positions in the team obviously, not everyone is a driver. This will be long so the details about each team and headcanons about each driver and team member are under the cut.

ADA

ADA is a long standing team that has produced several successfull drivers. It is well known and beloved by the fans. “Everyone is a Ferrari fan!” in Seb Vettel’s words except it’s “Evereyone is an ADA fan!” in our case.

Last season was a wild ride for them, with their no.1 driver and another driver basically fighting to win the Driver’s Championship in the final race of the season and they were leading, they were winning, ready to celebrate but then an incident happened and the stewards made a completely illegal decision based on their own rules which resulted in their driver losing his title. What followed was a lot of controversy, possible lawsuit etc. Ultimately the team decided to just decimate them in the new season.

Team Principal Fukuzawa was a famous driver for the ADA team himself and is now doing his best to lead the team filled with absolute chaos to the victories through fair play and respect to integrity of the sport.

Ranpo is the team’s chief strategist whose biggest secret weapon are his deduction skills that help him figure out other teams’ strategies. Every time he’s shown on TV he’s snacking obviously. He is also lowkey Fukuzawa’s adopted son from all the way back since Fukuzawa was still racing and he met this amazing kid that started ranting why exactly was his strategy shit at first glance.

That one rich kid that was supposed to become university professor or something but at 16-17 fell in love with f1, too late to become the driver but just in time to go into mechanical engineering and become team’s first engineer - Kunikida. His goal for this season is to build a fucking rocket for the team’s first driver which, rip his nerves, requires him to spend a lot of time with the menace. Watching Dazai go another lap on dying tyres when he told him to box already: “I don’t know how long can I live like this.”

Team’s second engineer was the chief mechanic until last season - Tanizaki. This season he is going to be working mostly with the team’s new driver to develop their car. He once hacked into PM’s database to get all info on their cars. His “sister”, one of the biggest mysteries of f1 really, Naomi is the intern in charge of team’s social media and public relations. 

Yosano is the team doctor, fresh out of university but wanted something other than the hospital. She may or may not be having a thing going on with PM’s chief strategist...

I really have no idea what to do with Kyouka and Kenji since they are just 14... unless we age them up and say Kenji chief mechanic and Kyouka one of the analysts. 

Now onto the hot topics. The drivers: ADA’s 2nd driver is a rookie in f1 getting ready to start his first season. Atsushi doesn’t have a wealthy background like most drivers, and nearly gave up on it several times but in the end was scouted by ADA and admitted as their reserve driver. He comes into the team hopeful to have a good first season, and during the development everything is smooth sailing. The mechanics and engineers are very wellcoming, the first driver becomes somewhat of a mentor to him. And then the first race comes up and he and PM’s new driver fucking crash into each other on the first corner (you know who PM’s driver is lmao). Fans are having flashbacks from seven seasons ago when a driver parked his car on top of another driver’s car in the first lap on his first race (guess fucking who!!??), and are like damn not again we can’t do this drama again. Went through the most traumatic crash where everyone thought he was dead for a terrible second; “it is what it is.” Tanizaki on the radio: Don’t slow down Atshushi-kun, keep pushing, keep pushing. Atsushi: I AM!!!!

ADA’s 1st driver, the GOAT basically, the walking red flag in the paddock, the most controversial motherfucker on the grid, brilliant driver who won not only his first ever race but also won the entire championship in his first season, but above all a suicide maniac - Dazai. He got screwed over by the race control last season and is now walking around the paddock like a Bond villain. He started out as a rich kid driver whose family invested in this back-of-the-grid-team and he became a superstar overnight.  Four years ago after a fiasco that resulted in PM’s reserve driver dying in a car crash because of team orders he disappeared from the sport. Two years later he showed up as ADA’s driver and has been serving cunt ever since. Despite the sudden team switch, he is usually paired with his ex-teammate during pre-race press conferences because the tension is through the rooftop and that’s what the fans want. Like are they going to fuck? Are they going to strange each other in front of the journalists? Both? Who knows. He’s mostly a clean driver but when he does cause an incident, the red flag lasts at least half an hour. Annoying af on the team radio. 

PM

PM is a relatively new team when it comes to being in the top positions on the grid. They used to be stuck at the back of the grid until the old team principal’s doctor didn’t take over all of a sudden, bringing with himself a driving prodigy. Nowadays they are one of the top 3 teams always fighting for the Constructor’s and Driver’s Titles. Last season they finished 2nd in the Constructor’s and their driver was 3rd in the Driver’s championship. 

Mori is the team principal. He wanted to race when he was younger but just wasn’t really good enough to make it, but he found a way to remain in the sport. He was quite envious of Fukuzawa’s fame when he was younger. As a team principal, he brought fresh ideas to the team even if they sometimes seemed crazy - in the end they worked. Not well liked among the fans but brutally effective in giving team orders. Calls the race director over radio at any minor inconvenience. Sighs “If only Dazai-kun was still here” at least once during every team briefing. 

Kouyou is the first strategist. Takes no one’s shit. Also brutal in the team orders (something PM team is famous for, and not in a really good light (beloved driver Oda kind of died because of them after all...)). Ambigous relationship with ADA’S team doctor hmm. Will do anything to have her drivers on top of the podium. 

Hirotsu is the chief mechanic. He is getting old but he loves his job so he’ll be damned before he goes to retirement. Is probably secretly no.1 Dazai fan even if he switched teams. 

His assistant and brilliant young mind, Gin. Apart from being a sister to the team’s 2nd driver, she is also dating Hunting Dogs’ 2nd driver, Tachihara who just this season made a transfer from being PM’s reserve driver to Teruko’s team. They are the sport’s sweethearts. 

Another strategist, kinda terrified to work under Kouyou, especially as she seems to be making all the wrong decisions regarding 2nd driver’s strategy, but hey it’s her first year too! Higuchi! Poor girl kinda thinks she’s living in a kdrama. She is doing her best!

Kajii is one of the engineers obviously. He is driving the other engineer through the roof because he is mostly focused on the next season developments as soon as a season starts, and has these crazy science ideas. Also who the fuck eats raw lemons to help them think? I’m rlly nerfing Akutagawa by putting this dude in charge of his car.

First driver’s engineer and absolute fucking legend - Albatross (I’d rather die than kill off the Flags thank you very much). Maybe once punched Dazai in the face for damaging his baby (Chuuya’s car) when they crashed (again.). Became the most popular PM team member when he once stole the mic from Mori to yell “FUCK ‘EM UP CHUUYA” at the top of his lungs when his boy was making his way to the front all the way from the back of the grid. 

Apart from him, Doc is the team physician. Other Flags are leaders of Chuuya fanclub the official race commentators. Piano Man just retired from the position of the 2nd driver (he replaced Dazai when he vanished) because of an injury or something and decided to just waltz into commentating together with Iceman and Lippmann. More about the media team later on. 

Akutagwa was scouted to the PM academy by Dazai and his goal for his first season in f1 is to beat him obviously. It goes as amazing as you can imagine. He and Atsushi crash into each other on the first corner of the first season. Stellar start. He is extremely stubborn and rarely listens to team orders which drives Higuchi insane as that gives her trouble with Kouyou and Mori. His first season is set to be one hell of a ride. “Grill the Grid” oh he’s going to grill them.

Now onto the hottest driver on the grid. Much like Dazai, he has hordes of fans following him round the world. He is always so chill and appreciative of them, very laid back person. You are as likely to meet him in an art gallery as in a night-club and fans love that about him. On the track though, he is a storm. You just know the dick is big based on his overtakes. Sometimes it feels he’s bending the laws of physics to his whims when he’s racing. Chuuya is PM’s first driver. His first race in f1 ended with his car parked on top of Dazai’s almost killing him, and this weird image of Chuuya dragging the other out of the car, checking if he was fine (he was), and then starting to yell at him at the top of his lungs. Born in Japan, he was adopted by this fancy French family whose biological son was dead set on becoming an f1 driver and Chuuya followed in his footsteps. Has three Drivers Championship titles, but finished 3rd last year.

DoA

RB Racing of this AU lmao. fia is dancing to their every whim, inventing and reinventing and bending their own rules every race because they are choking on DoA’s dick beeing paid insane amounts of money. The most controversial team on the grid, espeically after a stunt that was pulled to secure their driver’s victory last season. Fans are basically manifesting their engines dying every race. Remember the whole “Red Bull went over the cost cap because of catering” bullshit, yeah that’s this team right here. Their cars are fucking illegal and it drives Dazai so pissed because HIS car is a rocketship but this shit straight up goes at the speed of light

Team principal is Fukuchi duh. Has been fighting with Fukuzawa over the radio the entire last season. This season he banned the media team from coming any close to his team after the Flags kept spilling the tea and asking the right questions without stuttering. Accidentally claimed Dazai won last season; somewhere deep in his sub-conciousness he’s aware of the bullshit he pulled off. 

Because I’m not insane enough to put him in a car, Nikolai is team’s cheerleader and one of the engineers. Once their crew messed up Fyodor’s pit stop so bad he had to retire early and he made them all wear clown wigs until the end of the race. You have to give it to them tho, you cannot fuck up the strategy if you forget to put wheels on a car. Unlike Bram, he plays Fyodor very specific music to piss him off during the race (Rasputin or Party Like A Russian). 

Bram is also an engineer. The most delighful part of every race weekend is his little daughter, Aya, in the DoA garage. She does sometimes escapte to bother Kunikida - the only DoA team member that ADA will tolerate. Plays absolute bangers for his drivers over the radio. The only normal person on the team. “Box Box Box Box” gets ignored. Nteflix Drive to Survive team entering the DoA garage hoping for tea; Bram: coffee is disgusting! rant

Sigma is the team’s 2nd driver (rip). He gets thrown under the buss every race and everyone is waiting, praying for him to just one day cut his mic and do his thing, not letting Fyodor through. He is an amazing driver if not a bit inexperienced, and easy to stan despite his team. Has anxiety induced by whatever the fuck is DoA doing to his strategy. There are talks he might join ADA as the reserve driver next year, let’s have our fingers crossed for him. Nikolai once taped his rear wing in the middle of a race so it wouldn’t fall off. Yeah the car is several million dollars worthy. Yeah Nikolai used actual tape so it doesn’t fall apart on track. 

Fyodor is the current champion although it is obvious he shouldn’t be. Won championship once, changed his car number to 1 immediately. Nature heals a bit more every time he flops in a race. Is he actually homophobic or is he just live slug reacting to whatever the fuck Dazai and Chuuya have going on during press (he is sitting between them). “F1 is about driving, not penalties” my brother in christ you’ve been trying to kill a man in every single race last season. Kisses an icon of a saint or something before every race.  Throws other drivers under the buss every drivers’ briefing with a smile on his face. Plays cello during red flags. New season objective: win no matter the cost. 

HUNTING DOGS

Fukuchi’s old team. They are usually a mid-field team but with talented drivers that are able to bring out the most out of their engines, they do podium!

Their team principal is Teruko, the only woman to be a team boss. She used to be a strategist and got promoted when Fukuchi moved to DoA. “IF YOU IMBECILES AREN’T ABLE TO GET PAST THAT OLD MAN I’LL GET IN THE CAR NEXT TIME” a bit childish at times, sweet little Teruko until it’s the time to race. Secretly loves her team. 

Jouno is maybe blind but he can still see through everyone’s bullshit. Chief strategist of the team and is considering running Tecchou over with his own car every time he has to talk to him over the radio. “STOP SINGING BABY SHARK WHILE I’M GIVING YOU INFO ON ROAD CONDITION”. Fukuzawa, Mori and Fukuchi arguing on the radio; Jouno cutting in out of nowhere like “Sorry to interrupt gentlemen, but there is an actual tractor on the track. My idiot almost crashed into it. Yellow flag maybe, no?” 

Jouno and Teruko’s no.1 idiot - Tecchou. Most clean-racing driver ever. Sings to annoy Jouno on the radio. That one Carlos Sainz radio that was like “De Vries behind, on an outlap” “What? DEBRIS?” yeah that’s him and Jouno. Questionable fashion choices in the paddock. “It was just dangerous driving dude” in the most chill voice when Fyodor nearly crashed into him on a turn (it was probably deliberate). He’s like gym buddies with Chuuya or something. 

Tachihara is the no.2 idiot of the team. Used to be a PM reserve driver and just signed for Teruko’s team. 5s penality for incorrect starting position; 10s penalty for serving the og penalty wrong; 15s penalty for speeding in the pit lane; DNF all in one race. Teruko on the radio: Okay what damage do you have. Tachi: TALENT. Is like besties with Chuuya. Is also dating Gin, people were afraid his team change would affect the relationship but nah. Still the cutest in the paddock. Retweets memes from fan accounts after the race. Lippman interviewing him: So how do you feel about the race? First pole position ever... Tachihara: I’m not comfortable at all, not feeling confident either. I got nothing but problems. His wheel just randomly fell off during pre-season testing. Tweeted the it ain’t much but it’s honest work meme once when he spun on the wet track and caused a Guild driver to crash into the barriers. He’s just vibing tbh.

THE GUILD

That one team whose team principal knows shit about racing. Can they even be called a racing team? Yeah they can, because their boss has the money. Treat the sport as a reality show. Honestly I have thought about them the least but here’s what I have:

Fitzgerald is the rich team principal obviously. Had absolutely no connections to f1 prior to buying the team. Supports the idea of more race weekends and sprint races even if that exhausts both the drivers and their teams because it’s more fun! It’s not. If we take out the free practice sessions the races will get more unpredictable mindset. Is most likely using f1 as a way to launder money...

Lucy, poor girl, is stuck as his assistant or something because obviously a rich guy like him needs an assistant. She’s secretly rather good with the mechanics and will be recruited to an actual team (ADA) at one point by Atsushi. 

Louisa is the principal strategist obviously.

Poe is the chief engineer. Has to pay fines like every weeekend because of Karl. Goes with Ranpo to all his fave restaurants each weekend. Ranpo is also trying to get him to come work for a team with better prospects. 

Herman is the chief mechanic. He really should be retired tho. 

Mark Twain and Steinbeck are their drivers and are usually the wild cards of the track. Like a podium here and there, even a win sometimes but those races have to be the most chaotic events ever. 

I have no idea what to do with them actually. 

Media Team and Race Control (basically everyone else)

Starting with the media team. It’s kind of a reversed situation from that with the founding of the Flags in terms that Piano Man was the last one to join. Also I’m bringing Adam into this. Adam used to be the head of the media team which was a lot of work that he’s glad he’s not doing anymore. Now he’s just in charge of Grill the Grid which are basically the games they have drivers do for fun and fanservice. The games range from Driver Heights (you know who got bullied with that one) to Name Every F1 World Champion to Drivers Explain F1 and more. Iceman is the most brutally honest commentator. Calls FIA out on their bullshit at every opportunity. Used to be a mechanic for PM and he misses the thrill sometimes but he’s happy with where he is right now. The famous “THROUGH GOES HAMILTON” commentary - that’s him with Chuuya’s overtakes. On the other hand, Lippmann wasn’t even supposed to be there lmao. He is a movie star, a very popular one at that. Went to one race because that’s what rich people do you know. Got charmed by one the back-of-the-grid-team’s driver and got passionately invested (Piano Man before he signed for the PM). He’s not there every weekend because he is a famous actor after all, but when he is... Sat down to interview Dazai once this season and next thing you know Fukuchi is announcing his team will be boycotting the entire media team. Another media team member is the newly retired former PM driver, Piano Man whose career was a wild ride but he’s just had enough. The picture of him and Chuuya from the last season went viral because he just told him he’s about to announce his retirement moment before it was taken so he is smiling like a lil shit at the camera and Chuuya is visibly shook. Perfectionist really, he has not exceeded the track limits once in his career. Joined the team as the new full time commentator and is having the time of his life. 

Continuing with the Stormbringer squad, Shirase is actually a successfull Moto GP racer, but likes to hang around the F1 paddock when he can to support Chuuya (now that Dazai isn’t sharing the garage with him because fucking hell he did actually try to run him over once or twice). 

An ex-driver with several titles to his name, Verlaine. He was born to this rich French couple that let him do whatever he wanted to do, which is why he turned out the way he is. At one point when he was already in F2 his parents decided to do some “charity” and adopt a kid, Chuuya. And then they also proceeded to ignore the kid the same way they did with Verlaine and well, basically, Verlaine was like I am not just a big brother now, I am a dad. His career was also smooth sailing mostly. He got retired the season before Chuuya became the PM driver saying how he didn’t want the fans to see him get beat by that kid. A few years later and he is just casually hanging round the PM garage, offering Chuuya advice or is watching the Monaco GP from his yacht with his husband Rimbaud who has no connections to racing, idk I just can’t see him into F1. 

Now onto the most hated people - the Race Control Clowns! Chief Taneda is the race director so basically the man who makes all the final calls regarding anything really, from the rules to the penalties and disqualifications. What bullshit DoA and The Guild teams get up to enables him to make a lot of money. And finally the man who suffers the most (conducts the drivers briefing after the race) is Ango. It is the worst job ever. You put a bunch of grown men in one room and it’s an episode of gossip girl. Example of shit he has to deal with. Ango: any more complaints (praying they all stay silent). Dazai: just after my pitstop, Chuyua deliberately, DELIBERATELY, ran wide out of Turn 9... camera moves to chuuya on the other side of the room gesturing how he’ll kill the bitch the moment they’re out of the room. Another example: Fyodor looking to cause trouble: You say if we were missing Turn 2 we have to go behind the bollard, correct? Ango: Correct. Fyodor with a smile: What do you make of the situation with Tecchou and Dazai then? Ango: Well, the interesting point there was, it was very close because what the notes that I wrote said... camera zooms in to dazai’s murder face and atsushi looking scared for his life next to him. So, Ango’s lfie is the most difficult here.

Am I missing characters here? Yes, just like I have a bunch of random scenes playing in my mind, but this is already getting way too long. 

[rachelbethhines]

Do you think Abuela Alma is a terrible person and abuser like King Fredric?

The grandma from Encanto?

No, of course not.

For starters we never see nor hear about Alma abusing her authority over the town, which is mostly ceremonial and not a legally inherited authority backed by money and armed forces like a king would be. She's in charge because the people respect her. They respect her because she actively helps them. If she was to undermine that by not helping or by causing intentional harm then she would no longer be in power.

So right off the bat the politics are very, very different.

Secondly, we only get a very vague insight into her familial relationships. At most all she does is look disappointed, or orders her kids about. It's not a healthy way to communicate with her family, which the movie points out, but you can't claim it to be abuse without further context.

We get context with Frederic, he doesn't just talk down to his daughter, he lies to her, gaslights her, denies her bodily autonomy using excessive force, and deliberately wields the power imbalance he has over her to force her to comply to what he wants.

Alma nags at her kids, but they don't have stay there and take it. We find out later that Bruno didn't really leave, but that was by choice. No one stopped him from going or setting up boundaries.

Contrarywise you have Isabella making poor life choices because of the pressure of feeling like she has to be perfect, but at the end of day it's still her decision to make. Alma isn't actually threatening her with anything for not going through with the engagement. In fact I'm fairly sure no one knew of Isabella's true feelings until she yelled them at her sister. Which is poor communication on Isabella's part, which she in turn learned from Alma.

That's the point of the movie. Learning to communicate, and how generational trauma can stunt that communication and cause emotional damage even years later.

Which leads to point number three. Intent.

Abusers know what they are doing, they just don't care.

Alma honestly doesn't realize that her behavior is harmful until Maribel points it out to her. Because Maribel is the only one in the family who is willing to honestly communicate. She sincerely believes that she's helping her kids and is blinded to how her actions harm them.

She mistakingly thinks they want what she wants, because who would ever want to go through the horrors she faced? What she does protects them right? Yes in a way, but it's a protection that comes at a price and Alma and most of the family isn't willing to examine what the costs are.

Frederic fully knows what he is doing is wrong. He even abuses Rapunzel with the exact same abuse that she had just escaped from with Gothel. This is pointed out to him multiple times by serveal people throughout the course of the story. But Frederic doesn't care how his actions harms others so long as he feels safe and secure.

He deliberately hides important information that could mean life or death for people just so he won't have to face consequences for his actions. And keeping Rapunzel 'safe', is nothing more than an excuse to avoid his own insecurities.

To Frederic's mind Rapunzel isn't her own person, with her own needs or wants, but an extension of himself. So he tries to force her to comply to what he wants for her without her consideration, despite her actively voicing to him several times that she doesn't want this life.

Which leads to the final point. Redemption.

Alma acknowledges what she did wrong, apologizes, and changes her ways. Frederic never does that.

Alma's past is there to provide context for her actions, it's not intended to be an excuse for anything; which is why she admits she was wrong to both Maribel and rest of the family after the flashback. Then in the final montage song, the family is happy, getting along, and most importantly communicating with each other! Meaning Alma kept her word and did change.

Frederic never acknowledges those he's hurt. His 'traumatic past' is used as an excuse and in actuality doesn't aline with the majority of his actions. It's just a sad thing that happened to him and the audience is expected to feel bad for him even though his victims had it far, far worse.

He also never really apologizes to anyone, not even Rapunzel, and shoves the blame for the rocks onto a poor child that he had been abusing for half a season. Then come to find out, he didn't mend his ways and kept on abusing that poor child even after promising to help him. Nothing was learn. No redemption was to be had.

Not every unhealthy relationship is automatically abusive. You can be trapped in a toxic environment with people who genuinely love you and not even realize that it is toxic because no one taught you how to communicate properly. However, if you're all willing to work on those issues you can make the relationship stronger.

Abuse, though, that's intentional. That is someone deliberately behaving in a toxic manner in order to gain something from thier victims. They know what they are doing, and 90% of the time do not care. Because they know they can get away with it because there is an power imbalance between them and thier victim.

I call Frederic abusive because he exhibits toxic behavior with a clear intent to gain something for himself and goes through with that behavior even though he knows better.

Alma though is someone who has unhealthy relationships because she just doesn't know how communicate with her children and doesn't know how to process her own trauma. She's not after anything specific, doesn't realize the harm her actions cause, and is working towards bettering herself upon realizing her faults.

[ootahime]

what is utahime’s role in the future? — a prediction (manga spoilers)

part 2 (unedited)

part 1 is here!

let’s continue answering the question: is utahime weak?

chapter 135

what preparations is utahime making? like i’ve mentioned before, i theorize that she needs to charge up in order to use her technique. since momo and the other kyoto students are fighting on the front line to buy time for utahime, i believe that they trust that their teacher’s ability can help turn the situation around.

what do the students think of her? do they think she’s weak?

chapter 128

mechamaru manipulates the circumstances in a way that allow him to keep the kyoto people away from danger. this has more to do with how much he cares about his classmates and his teacher rather than seeing them as incompetent sorcerers who can’t hold their own. notice how he says “EVEN utahime”.

chapter 128

kamo thinks mechamaru doesn’t have that much faith in the Kyoto students—but this isn’t true at all! he knows who the enemy is and has a grasp of how dangerous they are. he just wants to keep his friends safe. besides, kamo is a semi-grade 1 sorcerer which means he’s more than capable of defending himself against curses. but since he’s being kept safe too, it suggests that this is not a matter of keeping weak people away from fighting :)

chapter 41

this seems a bit off topic but let’s talk about the misogyny in jujutsu society. momo points out to nobara that the women from the zenin clan are expected to be perfect. the misogyny runs so deep to the point where some women aren’t allowed to even fight. you may think that this is just about the zenin clan but it’s about society as a whole. that’s why nobara responds to momo in a more personal sense. she doesn’t care about the boys versus girls issue because she embraces all aspects of herself. she loves herself when she’s strong, and she loves herself when she’s dressed up and beautiful. if it only applied to the zenin family then nobara wouldn’t have responded the way she did.

in the chapter before, nishimiya explains, “even if a girl has skills, if she’s not cute, she’s looked down upon. of course, if she’s only cute with no skill, it’s the same. women sorcerers aren’t expected to be skilled, they’re expected to be perfect.”

some of the female characters in jujutsu kaisen apply to this. for example, maki and mai. they’re looked down upon because one can’t use a cursed technique or see curses, while the other’s cursed technique is weak. in chapter 148(?) naoya says the only thing maki had going for her was her face, but it’s ruined now so she’s nothing. the zenin twins fall under the “cute but not skilled” category in jujutsu society. before we can put utahime into a category, let’s examine mei.

i promise this will all connect so please bear with me LOLLL let’s move on to mei. we find out that mei has the ability to control crows. she deems this ability as weak because it’s simple and doesn’t have much attack or defense power.

she convinces herself that a sorcerer’s worth doesn’t revolve around their CT. by following this ideal, she soon found herself at her limit because you can only hone your physical abilities to an extent. she said she was crushed because she thought that her weak CT would forever stunt her ability to grow as a sorcerer. but because of all the training she did in order to not rely on her CT, she was able to combine her physical prowess with her technique to make what’s best of her ability to control crows.

mei is an example of a perfect woman based on the standards the jujutsu world has established for women. although she has a weak technique, she makes up for it with adept use of weapons and physical prowess. she found a way to incorporate this “weak” ability to make it something strong. she’s beautiful and powerful so therefore, she was promoted to be a grade 1 sorcerer. she is what a woman is expected to be in order to be acknowledged by others.

what about utahime? why couldn’t she follow the same footsteps as mei?

i can’t answer that because we don’t really know much about utahime so far. i can only speculate why. being a grade 2 sorcerer at 20 is not bad at all. but why is she stuck as a semi-grade 1 sorcerer at 31? that surely proves she’s just weak, right?

semi-grade 1 sorcerers are sorcerers who have performed well on missions with a person accompanying them. i feel like when utahime was on a mission to exorcise a grade 1 curse on her own (the final step of the grade 1 promotion process), something happened that gave her her scar and made her unable to fulfill the mission. it’s either that or she did complete the mission but her appearance is too unsatisfactory. can you recall what nishimiya said? if you’re cute and not skilled, you’re not good enough. if you’re not cute and skilled, you’re still not good enough.

in men, scars are a symbol of honor and strength. on the other hand, scars on a woman’s face are seen as an imperfection. as a result, those who are scarred are deemed imperfect and unsuitable for marriage.

gojo hates the way things are run because the higher ups are so close-minded. they make decisions on a whim and have no compassion for sorcerers who are breaking their backs on their orders. he wants to change jujutsu society for the better by raising the next generation of sorcerers to be as strong as him. the old-fashioned and narrow-minded attitude of the higher ups leads me to believe that utahime is stuck as a semi-grade 1 sorcerer because she is viewed as imperfect. utahime’s scar is most likely the reason contributing to her being held back. who would want to promote a woman who isn’t beautiful enough to be a grade 1 sorcerer?

she obviously has a lot to offer because she’s a teacher at Kyoto. todo, a grade 1 sorcerer, has never shown any sign of disrespect towards utahime despite the fact that he surpassed her in rankings. he trusts in her and believes she has some things she can teach him.

can we additionally address the fact that gojo respects mei? he refers to her as mei-san and says that there’s no way she’d cry because she’s strong. mei has a weak technique though? 🤔🤔🤔 controlling crows?!?!?! nah im jk, mei is strong with and without her technique, of course. since gojo respects someone like mei, a person who doesn’t have an out-of-this-world technique, i believe his view of someone strong isn’t solely based on their technique. when he calls utahime weak, he may not be insulting her CT. it’s just all jokes because in chapter 65, geto and mei join in on the fun too and pick on her. mr. hot shot knows that utahime is a valuable asset to his plans so he entrusts her with the task of unearthing the traitor(s). if she was so incapable of such a thing, why did he pay mei to do the same job? 🤔

*a lot of people think mei was actually paid by gojo to promote his students but that’s incorrect. it goes against everything gojo advocates for. he wants his kids to enjoy their youth because his was taken away. being a sorcerer is not a smooth job and no matter how many years you’re in the profession, it never gets easier. he doesn’t wish for his students to be thrust in a world full of hardship and loss, which is why he was so against yuuji and yuta’s execution. he works hard to preserve the innocence of his students. he doesn’t want yuji’s heart to break, not even once. why would he pay mei to promote his students to grade 1? that would automatically strip them of their innocence and youth and push them into a world full of burden and pain.

PHEW that was long. how does this all tie back to utahime’s future role in the story?

her CT will probably come in clutch in an important battle

she might be the one to help get gojo out the box (A REACH i know)

she will help gojo with his plan to overthrow and change jujutsu society as a whole

i don’t really have to dive into the first bullet point. as for the second one, look at what i found!

in the second opening, utahime is seen searching for something in a dim forest.

*i read an analysis about opening 2 and apparently this just symbolizes her looking for the traitors. that makes sense too.

in chapter 144, this scenery pops up right before they enter master tengen’s base(?) the branches are thicker than in the opening but it gives the same vibes to me. i think utahime will be the one to break gojo out.

why utahime? well, gojo is their best shot at stabilizing whatever the fuck is going on right now. she knows it’s a crime to unseal him, but she wants her students to be safe so she’ll probably risk it. plus, gojo’s flashback starts with him breaking utahime and mei out of a building with a barrier.  i think utahime breaking gojo out of the prison realm will make a perfect parallel :3

that theory is a massive ass pull I KNOW. it’s just fun to think about. it’s likely that kurusu hana will be the one helping yuuji and megumi out with that.

if utahime isn’t the one freeing gojo, she will definitely come face to face with the other traitors.

ive read numerous Reddit threads and tons of users think she’ll play a small role in the story—nothing too significant. i’m perfectly content with that as well. i never expected her to be gojo level or anything like that LMAOO. as long as we get to see her technique in action, i will be satisfied 😮‍💨

——

i feel like there may be a few things i missed but i tried to include everything i could think of. the organization of this post is quite off but im too lazy to rearrange it in a way that makes it more coherent LOL. thank you so much for reading. ill probably analyze gojo and utahime’s interactions in the manga and anime next :-)

[shihalyfie]

A meta and analysis on Yagami Taichi

Being the face of Adventure and arguably the rest of the franchise, Taichi has the honor of being an important figure in the realm of shounen anime overall, which has the unfortunate side effect of very often being described with things that don’t actually match him at all -- the way people often talk about him (especially mainstream press) tends to portray him like a stereotypical shounen hero who charges aggressively into everything and is hot-blooded all of the time. That’s not...quite on the mark.

I think “impulsive” is certainly a correct way to describe him, but in a very different way than one might think -- and, in fact, Taichi is much more of a multifaceted character than he’s often pigeonholed as. How? Well, let’s talk about it!

Taichi in Adventure

The main reason it’s probably incorrect to call Taichi “hot-blooded” by nature is that, in actuality, he is far more often too chill than otherwise. It’s not that he aggressively charges into everything without any rhyme or reason! Rather, it’s more like he takes everything very easily and has a “don’t worry about it!” attitude.

In fact, I think our friend the Animation Chronicle explains it better than I can:

If he doesn’t know/understand something, he acts while he tries to figure it out...

So in other words, rather than our conventional version of “being impulsive” meaning beelining to the most aggressive possible action, rather, it’s more like “the first thing that pops into his head” -- even if it’s a fairly easygoing or relatively harmless-seeming solution, he just goes for it because it sounds like it’ll work and he doesn’t see any reason why not.

That said, it’s also made abundantly clear by multiple sources that his ideas do come with some kind of consideration:

From the Animation Chronicle: “He appears to move with reckless abandon, but he actually does take in his surroundings and he takes good care of his juniors in the soccer club.” 

From the Adventure novels: “Taichi treated everyone without discrimination, as equals. That attitude of his didn’t change, even towards Koushiro. If Taichi hadn’t invited him, Koushiro was sure that he would have never gone to summer camp.”

Sora and Koushirou even back this up personally in Adventure episode 16, when Koushirou points out that Taichi had always been kind to his juniors, and Sora recalls an incident when he’d foregone an opportunity to score a goal because he’d known Sora was more likely to pull it off successfully.

So in other words, Taichi is, fundamentally speaking, not someone who does things for personal glory, but does want to work for other people’s sake. It’s just that, in trying to carry that out, he has a tendency to default to the first thing that pops into his head. Or in other words, Taichi’s primary way of thinking is “act first and figure out the details later” -- and this has both good and bad things about it.

Firstly, the fact that Taichi has such an “action-first” philosophy means that he’s capable of acting very practically in situations when others would freeze up. A very good example of this is Adventure episode 21; after angsting for half an episode considering quitting the fighting and enjoying his life at home, the moment he realizes that everyone else will be in danger if he leaves everyone be, he immediately instinctively steps in to help everyone. It’s not necessarily that Taichi doesn’t feel the stress or danger of fighting; it’s just that when he sees the practical impact of people he cares about getting hurt in front of him, all bets are off, because he needs to help people now.

The second thing is that, as Koushirou points out, he’s very kind to his juniors, and people in general -- he doesn’t really pay much mind to things like seniority, and is more concerned about treating everyone in accordance to their practical capabilities. This means that he’s someone who has a certain sense of charisma, especially since he’s appreciative of people’s abilities.

This is best indicated in Adventure episode 28, when two important things about Taichi are brought to the forefront:

Taichi’s natural charisma and ability to appeal to people makes him someone good at “bringing people together” -- indicated by the fact that the group hadn’t taken long to completely fall apart after he’d momentarily departed in Adventure episode 20, but came back together after he’d rallied them. The Adventure kids, coming from rather different social circles and backgrounds, were not originally the type to stay together or be particularly tight with each other by default, and so, during the first half of the series when they still had ways to go in terms of having any kind of meaningful bond with each other, they were unconsciously dependent on the charismatic Taichi to keep them together.

Taichi is a “natural leader” in every sense -- “leader” meaning not only someone who pushes people forward, but also someone who recognizes others’ abilities and is willing to delegate rather than trying to do everything by himself. This was briefly demonstrated in Sora’s Adventure episode 16 flashback when she remembers that Taichi willingly gave up the opportunity for a goal when he understood she could do it better (it’s reflected in his soccer position, too), but also here in Adventure episode 28, he gives the task of solving the card puzzle to Koushirou because he (correctly) determines that Koushirou, not himself, is best equipped to do the job. Also note that the episode makes clear that everyone agrees to it specifically because Taichi appointed him to the position -- much like how “understanding everyone’s abilities and delegating properly” is an important and necessary skill for a leader, everyone trusts Taichi to make that decision, and therefore trusts in Koushirou because he was appointed by said well-informed decision.

So those are the good things about him. What about the drawbacks?

The first is that Taichi is, unfortunately, a little emotionally insensitive. He doesn’t mean badly, of course -- you can’t deny that his penchant for teasing or trolling people makes him quite a fun person to be around -- but he tends to lack a bit of emotional insight and is prone to crossing the line with his remarks. Again, this is a symptom of him being too chill about things at times; he tends to react with “what’s the big deal?!” -- a statement that one should absolutely not say when arguing with someone, and which tends to get Taichi in hot water, especially with Yamato.

While the trope of “the shounen hero and the cool rival often having friction” is quite common in anime like this, Adventure’s play on it is actually quite different from how it would usually be played elsewhere. In most other shounen anime, this kind of relationship would have to do with something like the hot-blooded protagonist wanting to charge in and the cool-headed person wanting to be more “rational” about it, but in Adventure, Taichi and Yamato are pit against each other due to reasons that have to do with emotions. Yamato, contrary to what his character archetype might suggest, is someone who’s openly passionate and emotional, and is also someone who goes out of his way to care about others and their welfare -- so he often gets into fights with Taichi because he perceives Taichi to be insensitive and not putting sufficient thought into the others.

Yamato’s reactions are certainly extreme -- Adventure episodes 9 very clearly depicts him as the one losing control of his emotions and escalating the argument with Taichi to a full-on fight, whereas Taichi wanted him to calm down -- but he’s not fundamentally wrong in that this is an aspect Taichi needs to improve about, because it is true that Taichi tends to take the first suggestion of “what’ll get something done” that pops into his head, but also has a problem of vastly underestimating how dangerous things might be.

Again -- and this is very important to stress -- it’s not that he doesn’t care about others, and it’s not that he’s unaware of the dangers around him or the potential for repercussions! As Sora says in Adventure episode 16, he is conscientious of his surroundings and aware of potential risks. He has always put thought into his actions, and he doesn’t just charge into things with no rhyme or reason. He just has an abysmally poor sense of judgment, because he’s so naturally chill that he thinks “it’ll be fine, don’t worry!” -- and thus starts stubbornly locking down on what he wants to do because he’s so sure it’ll be fine and that everyone (usually Yamato) is overreacting.

If you want a specific example about Taichi’s tendency to misjudge: in Adventure episode 9, Taichi and Yamato get in a fight when Yamato perceives Taichi as too insensitive about Takeru’s potential welfare, which weirds Taichi out because Yamato’s being awfully overprotective. On its face, it might seem hypocritical because we later find out in Adventure episode 48 that Taichi is just as overprotective of his own sister, but it’s important to note that in the relevant episode, Taichi states that he has to go out of his way because Hikari continually fails to vocalize whenever she’s hurt or in pain. This implies that Taichi sees Takeru as someone who’s clearly capable of taking care of himself because he expresses himself better (and thus, Taichi doesn’t understand why Yamato has to go out of his way for him). Indeed, Takeru ends up latching onto Taichi because he sees him as treating him with the independence that Yamato won’t -- but Takeru has his own very deep-seated emotional issues that he just happens to be very good at hiding, and while Taichi is certainly always looking out for Takeru, he never seemed to have become aware of this problem.

This difficulty in judgment leads into a certain pattern of behavior that Taichi exhibits that only comes up in very specific situations, but is so consistently depicted that it’s basically an inherent trait of his: what I call the “Yagami Taichi stress response”.

Taichi is the kind of selfless person who prioritizes others’ welfare over himself, and there are times when it will often fall into almost self-destructive levels. (This is a trait he actually shares with his sister, although the two of them naturally deal with it in very different ways.) His first priority is “helping everyone”, and especially “helping anyone who’s in trouble” (especially when it’s happening right in front of him). Which means that whenever he feels that others are depending on him for something, he ends up often taking too much responsibility for everyone’s welfare, and starts cracking under the pressure.

Because Taichi is the kind of person who prioritizes “action first” and figuring things out as they go along, this means that his reaction to stress is basically becoming a completely unfocused mess. Or, in other words, he lets the thought of but we have to do something!! completely consume his head, methodology be damned, and he starts panicking and doing everything in every which way to get it done, to the point he starts lashing out at others or becoming an emotional wreck because of the stress. The first time we see this is Adventure episode 16, where, being the only one with a working Crest and feeling that he and Agumon have the responsibility of protecting everyone, starts pushing himself and Agumon to carry everyone’s burdens, resulting in everything going wrong and the dark evolution to SkullGreymon at the end of the episode.

Again: It’s important to remember that, even at his “worst”, Taichi’s main priority is helping and protecting others, which means that his way of responding to that stress is basically determining that he’ll take all of the responsibility onto himself. That involves things like forcing himself to “work harder for everyone’s sake”, or becoming dangerously self-sacrificial, or at least allowing himself to become an emotional wreck because as much as he knows better, his one strongest thought is always we have to do something!!

Taichi exhibits more of this behavior in Adventure episodes 48 and 49, to the point he gets unusually aggressive with Koushirou (which is also explicitly pointed out as him not acting like his usual self) once he starts panicking about Hikari’s welfare. Again, note that all of this stems from we have to do something!! -- he basically starts panicking because despite Koushirou clearly doing the best he can, once things start going south, it’s just not enough.

So, speaking of things going south: because Taichi often misjudges situations, whenever things go wrong, he takes it badly. This is someone whose first course of action is to “act first and work it out as we go along,” but the number one thing he can’t stand is seeing other people get hurt, and so when other people do get hurt because of the consequences, Taichi shuts down -- for instance, when he learns that his ploy to attempt to get Greymon to evolve ended up hurting Koromon and everyone around him in Adventure episodes 16-17, and when his taking the Digital World too lightly (taking Koushirou’s explanation of it being “like a game world” at too much face value) ends up getting Sora in trouble and his own life in danger.

Which leads to a certain degree of irony: Taichi’s behavior isn’t normally out of solely recklessness -- mainly really poor judgment and a tendency to underestimate things -- but when he does slip up and start having to deal with consequences, he does become reckless. But because this recklessness is out of a desire to “not let anyone else get hurt”, it results in him being reckless specifically with his own welfare --  he’s the kind of person who “takes too much responsibility onto himself”, and his way of responding to the issues of “someone might get hurt” and “but we have to do something!!” means that he, by default, responds to everything with “okay, then I’ll be the one who gets hurt!” Or in other words, his solution to preventing other casualties while still doing something to help others involves becoming dangerously self-sacrificial. Because in the end, Taichi is the kind of person who hates seeing people being in trouble or hurt in front of him, and his instinct is to always protect people, no matter what.

But, again: Taichi’s way of “action first” is not a fundamentally bad thing -- remember, Adventure episode 21 established very well that this trait of his is very good for bringing him out of his biggest bouts of hesitation, because he has a very practical understanding of the need to fight in order to prevent more casualties. This is especially because the final arc of Adventure deals heavily with the concept of “collateral damage”, or the question of how to handle fighting to save people, when people are inevitably hurt (or, in this case, dying) in the process.

Yamato accuses Taichi in Adventure episode 43 of not being conscientious enough about the friends they’ve lost in the process, but once Yamato succumbs to his resentment and personal beefs and starts selfishly picking a fight with Taichi in Adventure episode 44-45, Taichi indicates that he is keeping his fallen friends in mind -- it’s just that, to him, not continuing the fight is an insult to everything they’d died for (especially because, indeed, more people will get hurt if they don’t do something). 

And, ultimately, in Adventure episode 50, Taichi does conclude that Yamato, Jou, and Mimi are right about one thing: while he’s always been right about them needing to do something, they do at least need to be careful about how they go about it so that they don’t incur more sacrifices along the way. Fortunately, Taichi is a soccer captain and perfectly capable of quickly coming up with a suitable plan on the fly (he even cites it in this episode, and in fact had already demonstrated an ability to come up with tactics when necessary back in Adventure episode 20) -- it’s not that he’s never been able to do flexible thinking, it’s just that his natural tendency to be “too chill’ about things and overestimate the efficacy of the first thing that popped into his head was something he needed to learn to think through a little harder.

And so, the final episodes of Adventure indicate him finally starting to tap into his capacity for that -- thus truly becoming the definition of the Adventure group’s “leader”.

Taichi after Adventure

We learn in Our War Game! that Taichi still has a bit of a way to go in terms of the “emotional sensitivity” part, most notably when Taichi starts getting defensive when he accidentally disrupts the computer connection, and Koushirou (most likely correctly) pinpoints this insensitivity as the likely reason he and Sora got into a nasty fight prior to the events of the movie. In fact, while Taichi already clearly had some shades of this in Adventure, when his “teasing” of others or stepping over their boundaries could sometimes go a little too far, it’s especially indicated here that Taichi is very, very bad at dispute resolution, because he keeps trying to deflect blame for his own actions and indirectly accuses Sora of being the irrational one in regards to their argument. (Again, for anyone entangled in a dispute with a friend: “dismissing the other person’s feelings” and going for the ad hominem, instead of at the very least acknowledging them in the process of making your point, is the number one worst way to handle this.)

Of course, Taichi wouldn’t have gotten this far if he didn’t have the natural charisma to compensate -- again, he’s fundamentally someone who cares about other people and attends to them. But, unfortunately, he’s still bad at knowing how to deal with other people’s emotions and learning to deal with them with proper empathy...

...So, in fact, it’s striking that the Taichi we initially meet in 02 is someone who, most of the time, seems to come off as very mature and put-together. The fact that he so willingly turned over his goggles to Daisuke at the beginning of the episode is a really huge deal, frankly -- even if you don’t subscribe to the theory that there’s any major sentimental backstory to it a la V-Tamer, that’s still an item he’s kept on him since he was a tiny child and clearly must have a huge amount of attachment to, yet he immediately handed it over to Daisuke the moment he felt Daisuke was worthy of it.

It’s actually quite a bit of a swerve for those of us used to the more “playful” Taichi who sometimes took things way too lightly, but it’s also important to realize that this is the Taichi that Daisuke and his friends see. This is especially in light of the fact that Daisuke starts off the series with a very severe inability to be assertive, so Taichi, who’s always been naturally assertive from the get-go (almost too much sometimes), is everything he is not, and therefore admires.

Taichi is still Taichi, which means that he’s still subject to the Yagami Taichi stress response, and he gets very close to blowing up angrily at the others when they show up late. But unlike how he had a whole train of being rather out of control when emotionally compromised in Adventure episodes 48-49, he gets himself together fairly quickly and admits that he also didn’t want to force everyone to come if they didn’t want to (to the point where he had even thought about going alone with Hikari in the worst-case scenario -- again, note the tendency for self-sacrifice and putting responsibility on himself).

We also see him about to lapse into it again at the end of the episode, when he freezes up because he’s not sure about what to do in regards to the potential of hurting Agumon in the process of getting him back -- but Yamato manages to get him back on his feet, rather literally, and with a punch to the face.

This punch tends to be really often misinterpreted as if violence is just a fact of life when it comes to Taichi and Yamato, but it is very, very important to understand the context behind this scene and how it differs from the two’s relationship in Adventure. Whenever the two fought back in Adventure, it would be a very vicious argument with the two genuinely angry at each other, and with Yamato accusing Taichi of being insensitive and thus becoming hostile and resentful towards him. In this scene, however, Yamato has become conscientious of Taichi’s own feelings and reasons for hesitating. This is evidenced by the fact he only does a single punch and holds out his hand to Taichi right after -- said punch was strictly meant as one meant to snap him back to reality, and Yamato holds out that hand knowing that Taichi will not take it as anger or resentment, but rather “I did this because you needed something to get you back into focus, I know you also know this and won’t take it as an insult, and I understand your feelings and want to help you.”

It’s important in establishing the level of deep trust Taichi and Yamato have where they understand each other’s positions now without fighting over it -- the two of them even point out in the next episode that the reason they can get away with this is because of how much worse they used to go through before, but now, the two of them treat each other with mutual sympathy, understanding, and support, and devoid of condescension whatsoever. And because of that, Taichi is able to “snap out” of his hesitation much more quickly than he would three years prior, because now he has Yamato’s emotional support, and Yamato even frames the situation in a way the “we have to do something!!” Taichi would understand: if they don’t do something, Agumon will continue to be the Kaiser’s slave destroying everything that he himself would never want to see destroyed, and even if they end up accidentally losing him in the process, it would arguably be a bigger mercy to him than it would to let him continue in this state. It’s all very practical reasoning that works best with Taichi’s way of thinking, and because of that, they’re able to push forward into the events of the next episode.

But just because he’s become more mature doesn’t mean he’s lost his characteristic charisma or ability to be playful or a tease -- after all, Taichi has always had a penchant for a bit of a smug personality, sometimes even bordering on the petulant. This especially comes out when he’s with Agumon, but, really, Taichi is a person who really likes fun.

On another interesting note, however, Taichi sends Sora off in 02 episode 38 when he’s very heavily implied to have caught on that Sora is about to confess to Yamato, and pushes her on without giving her grief for it. Regardless of whether you subscribe to the theory that Taichi has his own unresolved feelings in the situation, the important part is that he understood that this was a grave enough situation for Sora that this did not merit teasing her or insensitively poking into her feelings on it -- in other words, it’s a huge contrast to Adventure episode 26 when he was clearly at a loss on how to deal with her when she was emotionally compromised, and Agumon and Gabumon commented that he wasn’t as mature as Yamato in dealing with this.

But now, Taichi is much more capable of showing actual empathy for others and understanding when it’s the time to hold back on the teasing or potential insensitivity, and for that, Agumon compliments him on the same maturity he’d failed to express three years prior.

By the time we get to Kizuna, the fact that Taichi is one of the lead protagonists is for obvious meta reasons (he’s the protagonist of Adventure, after all), but it also makes sense that a movie centered around the millennial existential crisis -- and, specifically, the issue of career uncertainty -- would have him as a major player in it. Remembering that Taichi is fundamentally the kind of person who operates as “act first, deal with it later,” it makes perfect sense that the terrifying pressure of dealing with something as vague and uncertain as career pressure would be something that Taichi would continually put off. Again, Taichi is a very practical-minded person who usually works best with things that are clearly happening in front of him, so “wide-ranging” things are things he plays badly with.

Despite Taichi being very clearly depicted as “out of it” for this movie, at the very least, certain fundamental personality traits of his haven’t gone away -- for one, he’s still one of the most expressive characters in the movie (to the point many a fan has commented on his jackpot of facial expressions) in terms of petulance, sometimes getting a little defensive, and driving poor Koushirou a little nuts with his tendency to be reckless with electronics. He also gets a bit cocky during the battle with Eosmon, which, again, tracks with his tendency to do that every so often (and to be fair to him, everyone was guilty of severely underestimating Eosmon at the time, so it’s not like this was a major miscalculation on Taichi’s part).

Moreover, much like in 02, Taichi and Yamato are understanding of each other’s feelings to the extent that Yamato is the first person Taichi calls to dump his feelings about his existential crisis over. Even though they’re still prone to some mild bickering at the beginning of the movie, they immediately go back on high-fiving terms right after, so it’s a very far cry from the time back in Adventure when Yamato would look down on Taichi for being insensitive.

But here, we have this one line that basically represents the source of all of the problems Taichi ends up going through in this movie, including the reason for his loss of Agumon: Taichi is trying to “force” himself to become an independent person, and in the process is pushing Agumon away, and, on a more metaphorical level, his own self.

Taichi moved out of his parents’ house under the pretense of not burdening his family, but Hikari’s comment about their mother wanting him to drop by indicates that it’s not likely they necessarily wanted him to move out -- and despite that, Taichi is miserable in his daily routine of walking back and forth from school and working at a part-time job and eating convenience store food. He’s clearly lonely, yet he won’t allow Agumon into his room (it’s stated that his visit midway into the movie is his first time here). He keeps his old goggles and Digivice, yet he shuts it in a drawer and only opens the drawer to stare at it from time to time, and when Agumon finally does visit and finds his AVs, Taichi freaks out and pins it as an “adult thing” before he finds himself in the awkward situation of basically gatekeeping his own partner with a societal standard he doesn’t even understand.

I should point out that the AVs are not strictly porn, if you want to be really technical about it; it’s “gravure” videos, involving a cosplayer dressing up in sexy/high-exposure outfits and striking suggestive poses, but it’s not actually explicit porn. Moreover, a toned-down version of this scene exists in the Shueisha Mirai version of the novel, where the issue is not about AVs but rather the fact that Taichi only has alcohol in his fridge -- absolutely nothing non-alcoholic, despite how impractical this is -- because “[he’s] an adult, after all.” So the point of this scene is that Taichi’s being performative, or in other words trying to do Adult Things because That’s What Adults Do. And since a Digimon partner is representative of the inner self, and especially established in 02 to have relevance to one’s “less dignified and more childish dreams”, Taichi looking down on Agumon, i.e. looking down on himself, becomes the reason why he ends up losing him at the end of this movie.

As things get worse for Taichi and the crisis escalates, we actually get another glimpse of the Yagami Taichi stress response -- Yamato confronts him on whether he’s okay with going in to save all of the Eosmon victims despite knowing what’ll happen to their partners. Taichi, frantically (Hanae Natsuki’s voice acting really sells it here), has an emotional outburst and professes that, no, of course he’s not, but, again: they have to do something!! Because in the end, Taichi is a selfless person who understands that bad things are happening to people now, and the important thing is saving them now and dealing with the consequences once that’s done with, and even Yamato admits that, as much as he hates it, this is the correct answer.

Taichi does, unfortunately, lose Agumon at the end of the movie, but there are multiple indications he’s already on his way to getting him back, given that Taichi’s starting to address all of the problems he was neck deep in at the start of the movie. In the middle of the movie, after having shut his goggles in the drawer all of this time and only pulling it out whenever he was depressed, he decides to embrace the courage they initially symbolized and puts them back on his neck, and when we reach the climax of the movie, he uses Hikari’s old whistle to wake everyone up. This needs to be distinguished from all of the “nostalgia” everyone else had been drowning themselves in by looping themselves eternally in old memories from a desire to never move on from them; symbolically speaking, Taichi’s blowing of the whistle represents acknowledging the important things in your past, and making productive use of them to move onto the future, rather than the unhealthy reactions of either drowning eternally in nostalgia, or performatively shutting everything out about your past in a bid to reach some arbitrary standard of adulthood.

Hence, Taichi’s thesis -- the one he had failed to write at the beginning of the movie -- is only filled out once Taichi embraces that past version of himself, because his thesis summary is about reflection on his past experiences, and making use of those to think about how to apply them to the future.

This is, obviously, intended as a lead-up to the 02 epilogue in which Taichi becomes an ambassador -- or in other words, someone who indeed specializes in “bringing humans and Digimon together” and offering proposals on how they can coexist in the future. Agumon, of course, is an important part of this job (look at his suit and bowtie!), instead of Taichi shutting him out and treating him like someone who doesn’t belong in his adult life.

Of the careers depicted in the epilogue, Taichi’s is the most “furthest-reaching”, since, as a diplomat, he has influence over a pretty huge range of things, which fits with Taichi’s tendency to shoot for some pretty high things -- and, also, conceptually, it works well with what we’ve always known since Adventure to be Taichi’s true specialties as a “leader”: having the charisma and understanding to bring people from different places together, and to lead them all forward.

[saby-chan]

Fire Lord Ozai: A blood thirsty monster or the less fortunate “Zuko” of his generation?

Hello again and thank you as always for clicking and allotting some of your time to read my humble post! Since I’ve happened to notice quite an increase in posts lately regarding the controversial character and nature of the former Fire Lord, the now imprisoned fallen prince Ozai, and I’ve personally promised in my previous post that I will share my own analysis on him if people asked me to do so (which actually happened), I am here to deliver my own take on this very intriguing man’s character, while also building a potential past for him based on stuff gathered from the show’s cannon.

I would like to start this essay with what I find to be my favorite quote ever: ”Monster’s aren’t born, they are created.” ~ Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto) What I like about this quote soo much and find very inspirational is the truth it holds within its short, yet powerful message. We are often fast to judge a “book by the cover”, to reduce others to what we assume of them by their appearance or latest actions that we’ve seen them do, but never actually take a moment and wonder where they come from, if this person we soo harshly look down upon really has been this way since their very beginning?

I’ve come across many comments on social media related to ATLA, especially on YouTube videos on which people would throw with harsh comments such as “Aang being a coward for choosing to spare the villain just because they saw a dumb baby pic of them” or “Ozai is the essence of evil and even as a baby he’d been a monster”. I can’t help but wonder who hurt these people to make them be so cruel? Like, how messed up must you actually be to say that a baby, a friggin baby, is the embodiment of all evils? Or that a child was a coward for choosing to see his opponent’s last bits of humanity and opted to spare them?

Aang was soo morally conflicted about the idea of killing Ozai not only because it contradicted the morals of his people, but because he himself understood that this man hadn’t always been the cruel beast he came to met in their first and final showdown. It’s important to note here the fact that upon finding that picture, Aang was actually convinced it had to be Zuko as a baby since it looked so innocent and cute and was actually surprised to learn it was Zuko’s father. And that’s the thing, Ozai was born like us all as an innocent and sweet baby. Babies aren’t in any way evil or twisted, they don’t even have the notion of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ defined in their small, still developing minds. In fact, the very choice of the creators to add this picture in the show is meant to tell us this very thing: this man wasn’t always like this. But if he wasn’t always like this, then what happened to make him become this way?

Well, in order to find out the reason, we must go back in time to the very beginning: Ozai’s childhood and upbringing. For this next part I am going to solely focus on the show cannon, as the comics aren’t the products of BryKe and have a lot of inconsistencies to the source’s cannon (you can go and read my other post on why they fail when it comes to Zuko’s character and his family).

 From what we know and can easily deduce by ourselves just from their appearances, Ozai and his brother Iroh have a huge age gap between them (somewhere between 10 and 15 years). This has to be our first red flag: isn’t it soo odd that this family opted to have their children at such a long distance between pregnancies? It almost feels as if Ozai hadn’t actually been part of his father’s actual family planning... In other words, he was a ‘mistake’ child (I actually hate having to use this terminology, but it will become relevant to when we expand on Azulon’s relationship with his sons). Sure, some may argue that Azulon actually decided to have two sons in case something were to happen to his first born, but wouldn’t it have been more logical to have his second born at 2-3 years max distance from his first? Why choose to have your second child when you are much older and thus risk having a baby with issues, if your sole purpose of this child is to serve as an insurance that you don’t ‘run out’ of heirs? It just doesn’t make much sense, so let’s go for the moment with the possibility that Ozai was an unplanned pregnancy.

This perspective actually gives way to another very interesting aspect: remember the infamous “Born lucky...Lucky to be born” quote? What if I tell you that there is a possibility that this quote wasn’t Ozai’s personal wicked invention, but actually something he himself heard from his very own father? It had been puzzling me for a long time why he choose to say “You were lucky to be born” to Zuko, which implies that Zuko wasn’t supposed to exist. I mean, it’s soo odd that Ozai went with something implying that Zuko was an unplanned pregnancy, since Zuko was the first born. So my theory is that maybe Ozai wanted to convey a different message to Zuko when he said that quote, but due to his anger he ended up replicating the same line he received from Azulon at some point in his childhood. We never got the exact flashback when the line was delivered from Ozai to Zuko, so we don’t have the exact context that lead to it (remember, we are excluding Yang’s take on the matter from the comics).

I mean, this feels like something that wicked old Azulon would have said to his least favorite child. Okay, so let’s go with the scenario that Ozai was an unwanted child, to which we could also add the possibility that Ilah’s health deteriorated after the first birth, which makes plausible the family’s initial decision of stopping at 1 kid.

Moving on, we know from the old ATLA character wiki’s that Ozai’s character design was made with Zuko in mind, being meant to be a grown up version of Zuzu, without the scar. An interesting choice indeed and even Iroh’s letter to Zuko on Ozai from one of the ATLA books describes Ozzy in a similar way to teenage Zuko in book 1: stubborn, feisty, determined and with a volcanic personality (easy to anger and competitive), so it means that these were intentional choices to imply that Zuko and his father are more similar than we were led to believe at first glance. Maybe Ozai was the “Zuko” of his generation. Also, in one of the interviews on the royal family, BryKe stated that Ozai worked very hard to get where he is in book 3, referring to his firebending specifically (we all know how Ozzy got the throne, so clearly, he didn’t “work hard” for that), so maybe he wasn’t always the strongest man alive, with the most exceptional firebending skills out there, like Azula who showed ease in her learning, but rather someone closer to Zuko’s weaker performance as a child, building his way to success through endless hard work until he became the prodigy we know today.

Continuing with our theoretical scenario, after his birth, the second child show’s lesser skills compared to his brother Iroh (by that I don’t mean that he wasn’t gifted at all, but that maybe Ozai wasn’t as fast and great of a learner like his big bro), so Azulon opts to just ignore him and continue focusing solely on his golden child. In my headcannon I actually think that Ilah survived the birth and so she was left in charge of the younger child’s education and upbringing. At this point Iroh is already 10 or older, so he is forced to focus on his development, which prevents him from spending time with his lil brother, but just for the sake of being positive, let’s assume that Ozai still had both his mother and his big brother to keep him sheltered from Azulon’s darkness for a small portion of his childhood.

I choose to believe that Ozai had his mother’s love for a small bit of his childhood due to his willingness in the show to allow Ursa (who mind you, as the granddaughter of Roku was considered a treacherous individual) to spend a ton of time with both Zuko and Azula and share her philosophy with the children, as seeing his wife playing with their children probably reminded him of his own bitter-sweet memories he had with Ilah. They also probably spent a lot of their time near the turtle-duck pond since that pond’s existence prolly dates long before Ozai and Ursa married and had their own children.

Unfortunately, Ilah dies and little Ozai remains all alone, to be influenced negatively by his father (and even by his grandpa Sozin, we don’t really know for certain when the old man died, so he prolly was there for a short time when Ozzy was still a child). Azulon most likely blames Ozai for his wife’s death as the second birth might’ve really had a huge toll on Ilah’s already fragile body, bringing her closer to death, so he still neglects and ignores the child, if not straight out bullies and abuses him for not being on par with Iroh. This prolly leads to Ozai becoming jealous of his brother since Iroh has their father’s love, pushing them further apart. I headcannon that this jealousy between the siblings led to Ozai complaining to his dad when he finally had too much of their father’s discrimination (at a similar age to when Zuko prolly did and got the infamous line, if not younger) only to get the “Iroh was born lucky, you were lucky to be born!” line with the sole purpose of hurting him since now the child knows that he was never wanted.

When Azulon scolds very furiously adult Ozai in Zuko’s memories for daring to ask to be named crown prince, he literally says something like “What, you dare ask me to betray MY own son?!” (this is like red flag number two), line that pretty much testifies how Azulon chose to pretty much treat Ozai as if he wasn’t his son too, showcasing how much he despised his second born and favored the first child over him. Since we are on the topic of their last conversation, the punishment Azulon gave to his son alone proves this man’s level of sadism, which leads me to be believe that Ozai’s childhood was full of this type of punishments for bad behaviors that could be easily corrected trough a long serious lecture or a lesser punishment focused more on teaching him an actual lesson. 

The old wikis also mention on the page about the hall with portraits of the previous Fire Lords that it was the place where Ozai chose to spend most of his time in his youth, seeking advice from his ancestors. I mean, seriously now, if he had a good and supportive father and a present brother in his life, would Ozai had chosen to seek guidance from the dead instead of his living family? That piece of information that was easily overlooked by many proves how lonely this man was in his youth.

So for the most part of his life, Ozai grew up under the toxic influence and abuse of his tyrant father who refused to acknowledge him. Yet he managed to grow up still full of determination to one day prove his worth to Azulon and gain his acceptance (just like we saw with Zuko in book 1, who was desperate to regain his honor and be accepted by his father). But unfortunately, no matter how strong he became or how good of a firebender he was, Azulon was unmoved and unphased by his second son’s performance.

From what we could gather from the little info we received in the show, it seems that Ozai was never sent to the battle field to aid his older brother, being kept as a stay home prince, with the only occasion he actually left home being to search for the Avatar (I don’t think Iroh was sent to do his part on searching the Avatar since he strongly believed that there wasn’t going to ever be one, so it’s safe to assume Azulon assigned Ozai with this mission just to get rid of him for a few years) and the only purpose he ever served to his father was to become part of the old man’s genetics experiment in order to create strong unparalleled firebending offspring (which I am pretty sure were meant to be ‘biological war machines’ used by Azulon in the war, as he didn’t really seem to give a shit about Ozai’s children compared to Lu Ten). So just imagine the level of disappointment and dishonor Ozai must’ve felt as a man and young aspiring soldier to find out that he was going to be used like a ‘non-bending daughter’ in a strategical marriage and never get to serve his country in what he’d been taught was the greatest and most important war for their Nation.

All in all, this marriage didn’t really end up that badly because it seems he and Ursa were actually very compatible. The old wiki for Ursa states that she was a noble woman and the perfect match for Ozai, which leads me to believe that show Ursa was intended to be a very strong willed and determined woman who earned his respect. The show never stated that Ozai never wanted his first born or that he was disappointed with Zuko from birth like the comics say, so it’s safe to assume that Ursa and Ozai actually ended up falling in love at some point since they had not one, but two kids with relatively a short time in between pregnancies. 

There are actually many signs in the show that actually prove that these two loved each other and Ozai didn’t abuse his wife: from the fact that they went every year to see Ursa’s favorite play despite Ozai hating the poor performance of the Ember Island Players (I mean, what man would do such a sacrifice as to endure the same torture every single year just to make his wife happy if he never loved her?), Ursa’s undeniable and sincere love for their children (in the show it was never stated that Ursa saw Zuko and Azula as someone else’s children, so if she were indeed an abused woman who was forced to have these children, she wouldn’t have ever loved them to such an extent, especially Zuko who resembled his father the most physically), the fact that Ursa had equal rights in their marriage and raising of their children (her even scolding and grounding Ozai’s favorite child without hesitation), to the most significant scene to the Urzai ship in Zuko’s flashbacks: Ozai sitting troubled all alone in Ursa’s favorite spot by the pond, in a sad and brooding atmosphere, after he lost her, instead of celebrating what had to be the happiest day of his life since he was finally crowned Fire Lord (it’s clear who had more importance in his heart: Ursa meant more to him than the throne, so losing her outshined his achievement). In fact, Ursa must’ve been the only thing that still kept him outside of the darkness that threatened to swallow his heart and once he lost her, Ozai had nothing else to keep him on the right path.

And even as a father, it seems that Ozai wasn’t always cold and distant to his children, as his true self depicted in Zuko’s memories on Ember Island shows him caring for both of his children, even holding Zuko close to him with a protective arm on the boy’s shoulder. Except the Agni Kai, there don’t seem to be any instances in which he was physically violent towards his son before the banishment (Iroh literally let Zuko in to join that faithful war meeting willingly. Would’ve he done that if he knew his brother to be very violent towards his children in case they disobeyed? If yes, then it would make Iroh actually very questionable on a moral standpoint) and even on an emotional level, I don’t really think that he was actually abusive to him (at least while Ursa was there) because from Zuko’s conversation with Zhao, he’s adamant that his father will take him back and even states "You don't know how my father feels about me. You don't know anything!", meaning that the father he used to know showed him a level of respect and genuine affection (if Ozai were to bully Zuko since the boy’s very early childhood, do you think this kid would grow up to be so sure that his father wants him around and would he defend this bully when someone badmouths them in front of him?).

Even with Azula, despite people demonizing her from early childhood and saying that she was manipulated since birth by Ozai to become a war machine, I do believe that she shows genuine love and affection towards her father. I do choose to believe that back in the good times when the family was happy, Ozai spent quality time with his daughter, filling in the gap left by Ursa’s neglect. I theorize that the reason why kid Azula badmouthed her grandpa and uncle was because she was being very protective of her father: since she used to like spying and eavesdropping, it’s safe to assume that she prolly witnessed many instances in which the old man bullied or insulted Ozai, favoring Iroh over him. It’s a bit harder to see it that way since her snarky comments involve dark topics, but since they live in a society governed by power and war, I see them as something similar to if Azula would’ve said “Uncle sucks and he will surely be fired from his job!” or “Grandpa is old and weak, he should leave the family business to dad!”. Even the fact that the only thing capable of shattering her to pieces was her father leaving her proves how much she cared for him. Ty Lee and Mai’s betrayal was a big blow on Azula’s control and sanity, but she didn’t breakdown until Ozai discarded her after his coronation as Phoenix King. There’s nothing more painful in this world than to be left behind by the person you loved the most and was there by your side your whole life, whom you wanted to follow to world’s end and back. That was the moment Azula finally realized that the father she used to know and love was actually gone and had been in fact, long gone for years at this point.

But if Ozai cared for his family what made him change? Easy, it all comes back to the fact that his father never acknowledged him. The throne doesn’t seem to be his ultimate goal in life since Ozai discarded of the Fire Lord title very easily, tossing it to Azula without any remorse or hesitation. It was more about the meaning behind getting the crown: replacing Iroh in the line of succession was the ultimate proof of his father’s acceptance, that he wasn’t only a “mistake” and “failure” in his father’s eyes, but since Azulon ended up saying and doing what he did, backfired Ozai and made him understand that no matter how hard he tried, the old man will never see him for what he is. So yeah, for a proud man like Ozai this was a hard defeat to swallow, which in turn sparked his strong desire of winning the war and becoming the king of the world: if Azulon wouldn’t accept him even in death, then Ozai will prove to the whole world that he was above his father and his “perfect” brother by accomplishing what they never could and even better and no one was going to stop him, not even his own family.

This is what differentiates Ozai from Zuko: while both had similar upbringings, Ozai never broke away from his obsession of gaining his father’s admiration, allowing himself to fall prey to the darkness left by Azulon in his heart and abandon his true self, only to become the copy of his abuser, while Zuko stood up to his dad and chose his own destiny. If Aang were to come back around 20 or 30 years earlier, then he might’ve actually been able to save Ozai just like he saved Zuko, but unfortunately it wasn’t this way.

Do I think that Ozai could still be saved and redeemed even after the events of book 3? Definitely! Since he’s actually a broken man and still has a tiny bit of humanity left within, I think he still has a chance to change his heart. The only thing is that it’d be a long lasting process: first off he needs to spend a long time in solitude and reflect on his life’s choices and his past, understand where he went wrong and that what happened to him in his childhood is called abuse, which he ended up replicating on his own children. After he understands his wrongdoings and becomes willing to rediscover his true self, he needs to understand the truth about the war, that everything he’d known was fake propaganda and that there was nothing glorious in what he, his father and Sozin did under the excuse of “sharing their Nation’s greatness with the rest of the world!”. But most importantly of all, the only remedy that could possibly save him is love. It sound cliche, but by responding to hatred with more hate like Zuko did in the comics would never change the world “for the better” or bring it “to reality”. The only way to save both Azula and Ozai would be trough showing them the power of love, hope and empathy, how they don’t have to struggle alone and push everyone away. And especially by redeeming Azula, she would be a very important piece in Ozai’s redemption: since he had a closer parent-child relationship with Azula and cared for her the most when he did care, realizing how much he made her suffer through his actions, that would probably break Ozai enough to make him admit that he was wrong all along.

So yeah, this is my analysis on Ozai’s character using the cannon information from the show and old wikis and why I think he is just the product of a very bad environment and an abusive parent who never showed him love (if there’s a reason for why Ozai might be uncapable of showing a healthy parental love to his children is because you can’t show what you’ve never learnt yourself), being the Zuko of his generation who never got to experience the positive influence of an “Uncle Iroh” to guide him on the right path. 

You can agree with me or not on this one, but this is what I choose to believe. Maybe I am way too good by choosing to see any potential good in anyone, but I feel it’s a better way than to counter hate with more hate like Yang did in his monstrous portrayal of Ozai in The Search.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you agree with anything I’ve said, feel free to leave a like and to reblog this post.

See you next time and stay safe! Bye-Bye!

Saby out.

[liquid-luck-00]

The death we never knew 2

Part 2

@maribatmarch-2k21 Day 14: Death

This is the second part, Part 1, while Reverse Robins I wrote today’s prompt simultaneously and I decided to do both off the same idea also here ya go

~~~~~~~~~~

How did this happen. They had no idea what the akuma could do so they had to act. Unfortunately, the akuma could reverse the age of whoever they hit. For most people it was that they seemed to cease to exist. Except when he was hit, he turned into a toddler, something about the miraculous stopping it enough that he would not go poof. But that lead Bunnix to push him through the Borrow and into the Wayne Manor living room.

"I don't see why we had to jump into another timeline, Bunnix," he spoke up.

"Because whether or not you like it, Hellcat, you can't fight that size or age." Bunnix answered. "There is too much strain on you by the miraculous."

"Fine," He walked towards who he could recognize as an older version of himself (Heretic flashbacks). "Plagg, claws in." In a flash of green there he stood as a toddler version of himself, Plagg flopped on his head. He fed Plagg ad then he addressed his older self, as he removed his miraculous. "This is the Miraculous of the Black Cat; with it you gain the power of Destruction. You will use it to help Ladybug and the court to defeat the akuma. The cure will return you here afterwards."

"What the bat is going on!" One of the others yelled.

Damian had snuck his ring on Big Damian's hand. "Say Plagg, claws out." Big Damian repeated and in a flash of green appeared to be in a more complex version of Hellcat. "To use your power, say 'cataclysm' and whatever you touch will be destroyed."

"Enough of the tutorial, come on Hellcat senior." Bunnix grabbed older him and pulled him through the portal.

---

Damian was left in a silent living room moments before questions erupted.

"Damian?" Father asked, quieting the rest. Damian walked over and sat next to Bruce.

"Yes?" he answered once seated.

"What happened?"

"First where is Marinette?"

"Who?"

"My sister, your biological daughter."

"What! I have another sister! Yes!" the youngest there after him began to jump up and down and doing flips on the furniture.

"Dick?" Damian breathed, the boy in question froze.

"Did you just call me Dick." A smile spread on his face.

"Yes," he was charged with a hug. "Wait if your Grayson, then your Todd, and Drake. I'm the oldest here?"

"Why is that so surprising Demon spawn." Todd asked.

"Because I'm the youngest in my timeline." He shot up and squirmed out of Grayson's hug. "Drake, can I?"

"Sure." He moved the laptop towards him.

He quickly typed in the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the name she uses in France. Immediately the first result was from TVi.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was revealed to be the Parisian heroine, Ladybug, who perished shortly after the defeat of the Magical Emotional Terrorist, Hawkmoth, or Gabriel Agreste. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng fought for close to five years along side Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, Honeybee, Viperion, and Ryuko. The Miraculous Court later revealed the reason for the passing of Ladybug. As many Parisians know, Hawkmoth sought out the Miraculous jewels used by Ladybug and Chat Noir. The court revealed that by combining these two the person is able to be granted a wish. Why are we revealing this? Well in order for Hawkmoth to not get the jewels in a final attempt. Lady bag combined them and hand the wish to release all deities bound to all the Miraculous. However, a price had to be paid, the price was Mlle. Dupain-Cheng's life.

The family was silent for a while as they processed, they had a here sibling/daughter they never had the chance of meeting because she died. Damian tentatively broke the silence.

"Drake," he began. "Were you. Were you tortured and brainwashed by the Joker?" Sure, Damian was still blunt, but he had tact when dealing with sensitive topics. Even if this was spoken slowly and questions laced every word.

"I was. Why is it important?"

"Todd?" with uncertainty he asked another question. "Did the Joker kill you?" Damian shut his eyes as the room went quiet for the second time in fifteen minutes.

"No. I haven't been killed." he answered just as slow.

Damian took a shattering breath.

"Damian what is this about?" Father asked, hesitantly placing his hands-on toddler Damian's shoulders.

"Certain events must and always will play out for the timeline to remain stable. Grayson's parents, Todd being a street kid. Tim figuring out your identity." He looked up meeting his father's eyes. "For you it's to be a witness to your child turning against you and for another to be killed."

"You asked Jay as if he was brought back." Grayson supplied with a hint of optimism.

"He was in my timeline, using the Lazarus Pit."

"Why can't we do that with your sister?" He asked even more hopeful.

A humorless chuckle escaped him. "Apart from the fact my mother would have tried. There are two reasons why Qamari wouldn't have been revived if we try now. One the body has decomposed too much by now and her soul has most likely left completely. And two her soul is that of creation itself. Souls directly linked to the miraculous like hers cannot be revived no matter what, since they are reborn, the moment they truly die."

"But it's not fair that she can't be brought back." Grayson hugged him again.

"Sure, you didn't meet her here, but I know my sister. She wouldn't want you to cry for her. Actually." His head shot up and looked for. "Grandfather can you help me in the kitchen?"

"Of course, Damian," Alfred responded in turn. "May I ask what we are to make?"

"Mari's double chocolate chip cookies."

"Very well."

With that the entire Wayne household marched into the kitchen. Watching enthused as Damian specified what was needed, how much, and when to Alfred. Writing down the recipe for him exactly. Damian didn't cook or bake but he watched Mari to it to the point he memorized her recipes. So, each on a different page he wrote a recipe Mari makes for each one of them, even for the him of this world. Folding each and writing their respective names on their recipes.

"So, you all have a piece of her." He set the stack of cards next to the cooling cookies and stepped away from the counter, anticipating what was going to happen next.

---

A swarm of ladybugs covered him and grew into the Damian they all knew before.

"Why did we all move to the kitchen?" he asked almost immediately.

"Little you gave Alfred your sister's cookie recipe." Todd spoke up. "And he left these."

He handed him a stack of cards.

- From our sister to all of you.

He handed out the cards as they ate the cookies. Sure, he saw his sister again, even if she wasn't the one he lost. But he will never forget her, how could he when he can see a bit of her in each of his siblings.

Part 1

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist: @itsmeevie01 @adrestar @miraculouspenta @vixen-uchiha @animegirlweeb @jumpingjoy82 @thedragonbug

Part 2 tagist @thefangirlwholiterallydies

[darklingichor]

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir **MAJOR SPOILERS**

So, this is a first, I've never written a revisit this fast.

I do often read or listen to an especially good book, again, right after I finish it. Usually because I can't get into another book until I do.

I did it with Lamb, and I did it with the Martian.

This one is going to be chock full of spoilers, I really want to analyze the main characters in this book, and I can't do that without going into details. This is why I marked the hell out of this.

Project Hail Mary is even better the second time around. This is often the case. Books are like soup. The leftovers from the fridge are often even better than when you had it the first time.

*SPOILERS* *SERIOUSLY SPOILERS TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS BOOK* *SPOILERS* *THE REST OF THIS RAMBLE WILL RUIN THE BOOK* *SPOILERS*

Okay, so run down.

The book opens with our main character waking up to an annoying computer asking him basic math questions. This is detecting cognitive function, that's my guess anyway.

Our character quickly discovers a few things. First, he's in a room with robot arms tending to him, including unhooking him from various life support systems as it figures out that he is awake and functioning. He's not alone in the room, there are two others, but they are long dead. And he has no idea, who he is, where he is, or why he's there.

What follows for a little while is what I would call a psychological screwball comedy. It takes him several days to work out that his name is Ryland Grace and he is a microbiologist PhD who had a falling out with the academic community and found his calling as a Jr. High science teacher. Though exploration, experiments, and memory flashes, he works out that he is on a spaceship, the corpses were his crewmates, and he is on a mission to Tau Ceti to save earth from an alien algae like creature, called Astropgage, that is dimming the sun and setting earth on the course to an ice age that will begin to wipe out humanity in 30 years. Tau Ceti, which is 12 light years away from earth, is resistant to this energy sucking algae.

We get all the backstory of how he became a crew member aboard the ship Hail Mary, in flashbacks as his memories return. A big memory that returns? Project Hail Mary is a suicide mission, he will not be going home.

In the meantime, he is slowly trying to figure out how to save earth, while he does this, he sees a very weird spaceship and meets an intelligent alien being. This being (Grace calls him Rocky) comes from a world (Earid) that is in the same situation as Earth. Together, Grace and Rocky have to work out how to save both of their home worlds.

Ryland Grace is a complex character, he’s very very different from Mark Watney (I haven't read Artimis so I can't make comparisons to those characters).

The Martian points out that Astronauts are inherently noble, willing to risk their lives for science and a good cause.

Grace is not an astronaut. That's not to say that he isn't a good person, just that he is an average person. He can be all at once self-sacrificing and selfish.

Early on he is drafted into the research team on what would be called Astropgage as a science expert by Eva Strat, a woman in charge of figuring out what is going on and how to stop it.

Once he was released from his part in this research, he goes back to teaching, only to be struck by the fact that his students would be in their early forties when all hell breaks loose, and that they might die. He then goes back to Strat and demands to be part of the research again.

This back and forth happens a few times in the story. In fact, it becomes a big part of it. See, the crew of the Hail Mary were put into comas to ensure that they would not go nuts and kill each other on the 12 light-year (four years from their perspective) journey, a medical company discovered that 1 in 7000 people have the genes to survive long comas and still function when they wake up. Grace is one of those people, but he is not volunteering for this mission. It's not that he doesn't care, or even that he doesn't want to help, it's that he's scared. And who wouldn't be? But honestly? I think Grace has imposture syndrome and is generally very sensitive. He realized that his kids would suffer, after starting to teach a class, that speed him to become a part of Strat's team again. Events happen that lead him to being the only logical candidate for the science expert aboard the Hail Mary. He refused, Strat basically kidnaps him, sets the computer induce amnesia in only Grace and plunks him on board.

Before she does this, she harshly calls Grace out.

“Do you think I don’t know you, Dr. Grace?!” she yelled. “You’re a coward and you always have been. You abandoned a promising scientific career because people didn’t like a paper you wrote. You retreated to the safety of children who worship you for being the cool teacher. You don’t have a romantic partner in your life because that would mean you might suffer heartbreak. You avoid risk like the plague.” (pg. 392 Kindle Edition)

This all seems to be true, but we don't know Grace's full story. Other than a mention of one girlfriend in college, and brief mentions of friends, There is nothing in the book about his life before he started teaching. This could be because the amnesia has left those things fuzzy, but in my head, it's because he doesn't want to think about it. Maybe he had a bad family life, maybe he had *no* family life, maybe he had an early tragedy. Maybe he realized his short comings and that, no matter his talent, he just didn't have the temperament for acidemia.

He does like being the cool teacher, he does say he likes being looked up to, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's a *good* teacher.

I had cool teachers before I switched to home school. They weren't all good. I had one that would literally just let us mess around during class because they didn't want to actually grade papers. Cool to a kid? Absolutely! Good for education? Not on your life.

Grace isn't like that, he loves science, he loves teaching, and the kids are learning.

He doesn't like animal testing, he's emotional at the fragility of humanity. In short, in his quiet way he loves life.

He leaves his comfort zone to be a part of Strat's team because he knows he's good at what he does and he couldn't look at his students and knowing they could die when he could help prevent it. That doesn't mean he thinks he will be Earth's savior, just that he can help.

He's unwilling to die.

Usually in books and movies, this translates to coward, but really? It's not. Most people wouldn't volunteer for a suicide mission, especially one this pressure filled. "So, we need you to go into a coma, go to a different solar system, save your whole species, and then kill yourselves so you won't starve to death. We good? Cool."

You can't fault a living being for wanting to live. Plus, the other crew members had time to think it through, really decide, make peace with the decision and *then* carry through with the training. Grace? He was given the training, but Strat always said it was for the science of the mission. She was a little like Dumbledore, in that she was training him in case he had to go, but never told him it was a possibility. When it became clear that he was the choice for the vacant spot, he was given less than five hours to decide, and then was told he had no choice.

He makes noble choices throughout the book, but that one choice was not his own, because Strat was given absolute power and used it absolutely.

I can't say that Strat is a villain, either. She was elected to save earth and given the power to cut through any red tape. Handed all this authority, she doesn't become corrupt, she uses this power ruthlessly, but always with the only goal being Save Earth, full stop, that's it. And even as Grace, understandably terrified, yells at her she tells him that she likes him, that she knows that he is a good man, that he will give this  his all. She doesn't *want* to send this unwilling and scared man on a suicide mission. She *has* to. Strat is also complex, she is not nonsense and is committed to her role in saving humanity. I like the reason she gives as to why, toward the end of the book. She got her undergrad degree in history. She takes to heart the old saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The climate scientists and their models assumed survival based on the idea that all countries will work together for the common goal. However, Strat points out that history shows that that ideal scenario, is not likely to work. She says that most wars, up until very recently, were fought over food, and resulting in famine.  As the sun loses energy and crops fail, there will be wars, and they will be over food. And that is what she is desperately trying to avoid – the horror of history brought to the modern day.

I started as a history major, and history is interwoven into anthropology – I understand this perspective.

I am not going to get into politics, but I’ve experienced the agonizing frustration of watching history repeat itself, more than once in the last couple of years. Guessing at how something will probably go due to how something lines up with a similar event in the past and knowing that if someone in power would just listen it might turn out different, or that the eventual problems could at least be prepared for, and watch it happen anyway and everyone act surprised. It’s enough to make you pull your hair out.

Strat has the knowledge and the authority to act on it, I can’t say, that in her position I wouldn’t act the same way.

That is the major difference between Grace and Strat: viewpoint. By necessity of her position and by virtue of her education, she sees the big picture clearly, Grace, however, doesn’t. He’s a microbiologist, his entire career and education is looking closely at the small things and how they would translate to big things. He studies the universe by studying the smallest things in it. It is no surprise that he would need the smaller things to make the bigger things to snap into focus. When he was forced to start research on astrophage, it wasn’t until he was faced with the small scale (his kids could suffer) to make him see his part in the grand scheme of things. Strat is right, he does avoid risk, because he’s avoiding pain, he doesn’t let things in because he feels too much. Yes, the realization about the kids, puts steel in his spine, but not before he narrowly avoids a break down. For Grace, seeing Strat’s point of view, without being able to work it though to his scale, is like yelling at someone standing too close to a mountain for not being able to see the peak. It just can’t be done from where they are.

It makes me wonder, had Strat been up front with Grace, would he have willingly gone? It takes him a while to come around to the idea of helping the project in the first place. If he were told sooner, given some time, had been able to go home, and think, I feel like he would have gone. Something would have set him on the course. Maybe it would have been one of his former students, telling him about their plans for trying out for high school track, or going to college,  maybe he would have gone to his usual cafe for breakfast and found out that one of the waitresses had just gotten engaged, maybe he would be told these things and see the fear and desperate need to keep life as normal as possible in the person's eyes, and then he would decide, if, on the off chance  no one else could go, he would. Until he remembers his refusal, nearly at the end of the book, he accepts quickly that he volunteered for the mission. Of course, that could have been simply because he couldn't imagine someone forcing someone into something like that, but even as his memories and sense of self come back to him, he doesn't have a sense of terror or blind panic at the fact that he's not going home. I would think that if his unwillingness were something hard wired into his personality, he would know soon after remembering who he is, that he would have never considered being a part of the voyage.

So, I think, had Strat told Grace early on that he had the coma resistant genes and that there was a small possibility that he may have to be the backup for the backup, and then allowed him to come to terms with it, he would have gone without the drama. Don’t get me wrong, there is the possibility that he would have run off and had to have been hunted down, but I think, just like when he went to his class and saw his students, something would have made his conscious kick in, and he would have come back.

That might have been interesting, him running scared for a little while and then coming back? Might have given a little more background into why he is the way he is. But that’s not really what this book is about, I think it’s a forgone about conclusion that Grace would have helped, but what’s really interesting is how Grace and Rocky work together.

Rocky is cool! I love that Weir didn’t go the easy route with the creation of an alien character. Rocky is no Roswell gray with a humanoid form. No no, for our sympathetic alien, we have a spider like creature with liquid mercury for blood who “sees” with echolocation and speaks in musical notes. And it works!!

Rocky is expressive and funny and is great with Grace. It’s hilarious, other than the Russian scientist on Project Hail Mary, he doesn’t get along with anyone as well as he does with Rocky, out of everyone in the book, Grace connects most with a spider shaped rock being, he has to make a computer program to speak with.

Rocky is a tad steadier than Grace, but that makes sense simply because of the two, Rocky knew what he was getting into, and Eridens not only have more time before their star dims to the point of causing a problem, but also, they live a long long time, so, Rocky knows he is going home. But the steadiness is also built into his personality. He and Grace are both analytical problem solvers, but seeing that Rocky is an engineer, his focus is to fix things. A problem arises, and his first reaction is “I will fix that.” He won’t be dissuaded until he has all avenues exhausted.

Grace has a habit, early on, of moping for a little while before rallying and getting to work. His interaction with Rocky brings that pouting time down a bit, and he even pulls Rocky out of a slump a time or two.

The relationship between these two is interesting because Grace says flat out that he is not a social person, he feels awkward in groups with people. But he easily communicates with his students, and he easily communicates with Rocky. Rocky is not childlike, but he does have something in common with the students, Grace, like any teacher, teaches his students, and learns from them. Grace teaches Rocky and learns from him. Grace is comfortable with this sort of interaction; with his students this is where the relationship stops. With Rocky, it doesn’t have that boundary. By virtue of the fact that both are alone in space and crave interaction, they talk a lot. Also, activities that Grace is use to doing alone, Rocky’s culture requires to be done in pairs. The biggest: Sleeping.

Eridens do not sleep without another person watching them. So, he insists that he watch Grace sleep and that Grace watches him. It is not expressly said what other things Eridens don’t do alone, but it is implied (at least to me) that they work better in pairs or in groups. This is true of humans as well, but Grace in particular is a loner, even as he complains that science doesn’t happen with one scientist doing the work (and he’s right) but he does work alone even when the astrophage project opened up to more people, the feeling I get is that he still does most of his work alone unless asked to teach others, or forced to come along by Strat.

Grace quickly becomes acclimated to Rocky’s way of doing things, in an odd way, Grace is more comfortable being Eriden, than he is being human. And I really think that this is the crux of their relationship.

I read somewhere recently that family isn’t necessarily blood, but who you would bleed for.

I feel that Rocky and Grace would sacrifice themselves for their respective home worlds, but they will bleed for each other. Grace must go to a different star system to find family, which is actually really cool to me, because the story manages to have Grace have a story of growth and even a quiet redemption arc all with the background noise of a potential double Armageddon, and we manage not to lose sight of any of these elements. Add to this that the book will make you laugh, cry and think all at once. I love the Martian, but I honestly think this one is better!

[libraryofloveletters]

Lovers That Went Wrong

Aaron turns to you, his closest friend in a time of desperation and need.

Aaron Hotchner x Reader 

Warnings: fem!reader, cheating, fighting, crying.  

Category: Angst 

Author’s Note: This one is mostly flashbacks and time jumps. oops ? Also! if this gets 100 notes, I'll write a part 2 ? if you guys want one :)

Word Count: 2k 

*The bolded italics are flashbacks*

Part 2!

----

You were laying there, your head on his chest. His arm wrapped around you, his hand rubbing up and down your bare back.

“We can’t do this anymore”

His head shifting, he looked down at you “I know.”

The two of you laid in silence. The sheets and his arms were the only thing separating you from the real world right now. You wondered if all those years ago, if you had just acted on your feelings, whether the two of you would be in the position you were in now.

*12 years ago*

You were cold and alone. You stood outside of your boyfriend, now ex boyfriend’s apartment with nowhere to go. You called the one person you knew would always be there. Your best friend, Aaron Hotchner.

You and Aaron had met in law class your graduating year. You were sitting behind him and accidentally hit over your coffee cup causing you to spill it all on him. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry!”

He turned around laughing “it’s alright, you’ve just given me a reason to leave early.” His laugh was a lot higher than his voice but it made you smile. 

“I’m Aaron by the way” He smiled at you, you could already feel the butterflies in your stomach. You bought him a coffee the next day as a peace offering. You later learned that he has a girlfriend and was working on getting his law degree.

He picked you up even though it was the middle of the night. Getting into the car you both sat there, the only sound was a humming coming from the radio.  ”I’m sorry I had to pull you away. I know you were with Haley tonight, I didn’t know who else to call” you said quietly fidgeting with your hands on your lap.

“It’s okay. I’m glad you called actually. We got into a fight.” he glanced at you. It was strange, Aaron wasn’t one to talk about his feelings plus his fights with Haley usually over before you could figure out what happened. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“No.” He pulled into his apartment parking lot. 

“Let’s go” 

“isn’t Haley here?” You glanced at him and he sighed and shook his head.

The two of you walked up to his apartment. 8 flights of stairs wasn’t a workout you didn’t need right now but you couldn’t complain after he rescued you. He walked in and went straight to his room, you shut the door behind you taking a seat on the couch.

“Y/n come here, I have clothes for you” you walked over to his room, changing into his t-shirt and taking a seat on his bed. “Do you want to tell me what happened between you and him?” “he cheated.” you couldn’t bear to look at Aaron when you told him. He had never liked your ex, he always warned you that he was bad news. 

He looked at you with a sad expression on his face. “Do you want me to beat him up?” you laughed at his comment and shook your head no. The two of you laid in silence. 

“Thank you” 

“For what?” 

“Saving me tonight” 

He slid his hand across the bed and held yours. You had always had a crush on Aaron, from the day he smiled at you, you knew you liked him. The past year, he spent everyday making you feel like the only girl in the world, even if you knew he had a girlfriend. You couldn’t deny your feelings for him. 

“Aaron I love you” 

He didn't say anything or react. He just laid there, looking up the ceiling. You moved your hand from his, realizing what you said was stupid and sat up. 

--

He shifted, reaching for his phone. Laying back, you thought about all the things that lead up to this moment. He didn't tell you he loved you back, the two of you drifted after that. He worked things out with Hayley and they got married. You met Sam at your nephew’s birthday party and started talking to him. Shortly after, the two of you got married. Although you were married, your heart hurt every time you thought of Aaron. You hadn’t seen him in nearly 10 years. 

Your friends had told you that he started working for the Bureau and you were happy for him, that was always one of his goals. He was a witness in this case, but you weren’t even supposed to be on it. You had to take it over at the last minute due to the fact that the original attorney had just given birth. You didn't expect him to be there, the defence said he would send in a written statement.

*10 years ago* 

You hadn’t seen him when you walked in, you were secretly hoping he’d be there. You went about making your opening statement to the jury, as did the defence. You took a seat, speaking quietly to your client when the defence called out their first witness. 

“The defence calls Aaron Hotchner to the stand” 

You looked over your shoulder and spotted him instantly. He stood at the back of the courtroom, he looked the same only older. He walked down and took a seat at the front, his eyes on you. He was wearing a blue button up under his black suit. That’s one thing about him, he always carried him with a certain standard of class. He had a red tie on, the one you had gotten him as an early graduation present. It had his initials sewn in black at the bottom of the tie.

The case went on and you won, clearing your client of all charges. You were stepping out of the courtroom when a hand on your arm stopped you. Turning around, Aaron stood there looking at you like he was looking at an alien or something. “Uh, Earth to Aaron?” you chuckled at his expression. He smiled  at you “It’s nice to see you y/n” “you too Aaron” 

The two of you stood, chatting for a few minutes. “Would you like to get dinner with me sometime ? As friends of course. It’s much easier to catch up over dinner than it is outside a courtroom” the two of you chuckled at his comment. 

“I’d love to, when are you free?” 

“Tonight ? you can bring your husband if you’d like” 

“I’ll be there” 

Aaron handed you his business card. It read “Aaron Hotchner, Behavioural Analyst Unit” you smiled, it was always an inside joke for the two of you to have business cards. He joked that you’d get the framed together. You hand him your card. “Y/N L/N, Ross and L/N. You’re managing partner ?” he looked at you, shocked. “A lot has happened since we’ve last seen each other Aar” He nodded, saying that he’ll call you and let you know where to meet him tonight. 

He left you standing there, his words ringing in your head. “You can bring your husband if you’d like” Your husband, the man you forgot about the moment you set eyes on Aaron. 

----

Aaron got up off the bed, putting on his boxers. “I’m going to take a shower, will you still be here when I get out?” You nodded watching him walk into the bathroom. Slipping into his shirt, you sat back on the bed reaching for your laptop. You replied to some emails, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. “Is that my shirt ?” “mhm hm” you didn't look up, still typing on your laptop. He changed into a pair of sweatpants and sat beside you. You still paid no attention to him, working on replying to your clients. Feeling the shifting and then something heavy on your lap, you looked down to find Aaron’s head resting there. 

“Hi baby” 

“Hi Aar” 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m typing, what are you doing? 

“I’m just laying here” he smiled up at you. 

Your hand found its way to his hair, playing with it as you typed with the other hand. He leaned into your touch, eyes closed and smiling. You closed the laptop, resting it on the table beside the bed. He sat up “Are you hungry? We could order room service or I can run out and get something ?” 

“Where does she think you are right now?” you looked at him, hoping he’d answer you and not push you off. Sighing, he answered you “Dallas on a case. She thinks I leave to come home tomorrow” you nodded. “Where does he think you are?” “In London, working on a case for the firm” he nodded. 

“Aar, we said this was the last time, 2 months ago. You said you were leaving her.” 

“You’re still married to Sam” 

“That’s different” 

“How is that different y/n? You’re cheating on him. My marriage is over, we aren't even living together but you and Sam are. I don’t have to tell her everything I do. You’re lying to Sam. You’re no different than Haley.” 

You couldn't believe what you were hearing. He’s the one that started this. He came to you after dinner, telling you that he was tired of going home to an empty house. It started out innocently, he invited you over for coffee, one thing led to another and you ended up in bed with him. Aaron has this pull, one that you could never resist but you swore to yourself, it’ll never happen again. You’re a married woman and you couldn’t do that to Sam but then it happened again and again and again. 6 months later, you and Aaron have gotten yourselves tangled in a web of lies. 

You got up and began getting dressed. Shoving all your clothes in your bag, as well as your laptop. “Where are you going?” he asked you obliviously.

“Are you kidding me? You have the nerve to ask me where I'm going? You just compared me to your wife, who cheated on you! Must I remind you that you were the one that started this?” You leaned down to help your foot into your heel. “You called me in the middle of the night, begging me to come over, you are lonely and just needed a friend. After the first time, I promised myself I wouldn't go back to you because I know I can’t resist you. But you sounded so broken, I couldn’t just leave you there, Aaron.”

He sat there, not saying anything to you. Like he did so many years ago when you told him that you loved him. 

“You have a hold on me Aaron. You hurt me and I always come running back expecting different. You hurt me when I told you I loved you and you didn't say anything. You hurt me by telling me I’m no different than your cheating wife. You break my heart every time but I always come back, always. Not anymore, we’re done Aaron. I don't know what we were but whatever it was, it’s over.” 

You picked up your bag and walked out, leaving Aaron in the room. You held yourself together until you got to your car. The moment you got in, you broke down. You felt so stupid for letting Aaron use you. You loved him and he didn't love you back, it was always like this. You kept hoping he’d leave her and see what was in front of him all these years but he didn’t. You had to let go of him for the second time, but it didn't break your heart any less than it did the first time. You pulled yourself together, realizing how dumb it was for you to be crying over a man just let you walk out. Aaron didn’t say anything nor did he stop you from walking out. 

You were done with him. 

[ahysopae]

The Gifted episode 1, or how to start introducing 15 characters without overwhelming the viewer

The Gifted first foundation are the characters: each of them is beautifully flawed. They're close enough of archetypes to give to the viewer references (it's very important to have elements to link them to another character or to yourself - 'I see myself in them' is the best and easiest way to get you to love a character), but also each one of them has their identity clearly defined. But we have 15 characters in total, and even if some of them are mostly in the background (looking at the twins right now), it was not possible to introduce all at once (luckily, because I would never remember all their names in this case). I suppose it's one of the reasons for the switch of main character between the episodes (and since I'm a sucker for this type of thing, I'm in awe).

The first episode focus on Pang (of course it's our protagonist, our Percy Jackson - maybe I should dive in this later), but also introduce us, at least in the surface, to Nac, Wave, Namtarn, Ohm and Pom and give us hints on almost all of the others. Pang is at first shown to us as a voice-over, solidifying him as the narrator, even if we realize soon that what he says is for his webcam. The bit before the opening presents him like someone charismatic and determined, a teenager speaking about something than most people know, because they live or lived it. For the sake of this analysis/words vomit I will forget the introduction of the episode, with all the teasers for what's soon to come. So the Pang we meet later see himself as dumb: we saw him as a quick-witted boy, good to play innocent, a bit impertinent, not good at test and a bit pouty when he fails - but kind, at heart. A good kid. Through him we discover the school system in all its unfairness, and even if it's shown kinda jokingly, already the horror of it start to be apparent.

Pang for this bit is our introduction to the universe of the show, because we discover the rules with him. It's a pretty common way to lead the viewer or reader in a new universe (in Star Wars, the movie starts with Luke leaving his farm and discovering something else in the galaxy, Harry Potter is literally introduced to the magical world, the hobbits in lotr leave the little Shire to travel in the rest of the Middle Earth, ...). The important part it's that we can link the two: Pang, like the Gifted program, is more that we think at first. He is mostly more dangerous, and we have some clues of that with his first use of his potential - already in the first episode, already on Nac.

Pang's existence is also the first break in the system: him being both gifted and in 8th class is a paradox, and almost everyone seems not sure what to do with him (except Pom, maybe) him the first. He believes that he hasn't his place in the gifted program, and is really insecure about that.

Nac seems at first a nice friend. He is okay too help Pang with his plans (helping him with the phone and lying for him about his class at meal) and to share his room with him. He is also favorable to the school system (clearly because he is in the good side of the fence), even if he haven't a issue to bend or break the rules for his own advantage. His mask breaks when his friend (his dumb friend, to be precise) has better than him.

Nac has two uses in the narrative: he is an opposite mirror of Wave (in words and in attitude - where Wave is prickly, Nac is charming, but both of them use the same insult, leech, on Pang about his relationship with the other) and he is a trigger to Pang's potential. In fact he is probably the one Pang controls the most in the season (I don't remember if he uses his potential two or three time on him, so don't quote me on that, I will probably realize my mistake later on).

Wave - well, Wave is Wave. The first thing we see of him is in the classroom while Pang runs with the phone he takes back (remember, I don't cover the introduction's part here, because the first thing we see of him is, in fact, a background for a second during an exam and him punching Pang). He looks extremely bored, almost sleeping on his table (in contrast with Nac, on the same line than him, who drinks the teacher's words), until Pang literally break the studious ambiance, proving again that he is here to disturb the established order. Already we know that Wave doesn't feel the need to hide when something bore him, even if he is in a social situation where he should. He comes out like not good socially, arrogant and not the type to try to please.

His first interaction with Pang is a disaster (like no Wave, it's not how you flirt make a friend), and could place him on the school's side (symbolized by the ominous Ladda) even if we realize soon enough that the only side Wave chooses is his own. It leads again to a confrontation Nac/Wave, where Wave is defined as a solitary kid, in contrast with the sociable Nac. Nac himself establishes Wave as a mathematical/computer genius who takes pride in his intelligence (and the flashback, by focusing at first on Punn, gives us an hint of him as almost as intelligent than Wave - he raises his hand almost as fast but more politely - until we realize Wave doesn't write his answer. It tells us that Punn is clever, well-mannered and hard-working, and also that his relationship with Wave will be competitive but they are linked in a way or an other).

Him reveling the meaning of potentials just after Pang understood it and seemed ready to give the answer (even if it was in fact to ask to leave), is a proof that they could form a good team -or be the worst of enemies.

For Namtarn, lets first address the elephant in the room: I don't believe one instant the "romantic" interaction between Pang and her (cut to my mum telling "if it's how men and women interact in Thailand, their birth rate must be really low"). It's worst again in contrast with Claire and Punn, who are almost glued to the hips, or the friendship between Korn and Claire or Mon, or between Namtarn and Ohm. They tried romance, I see clumsy awkward people, and I can't believe it's not voluntarily.

Aside from that, Namtarn appears like perceptive, guessing who is Pang and that he is in the gifted class, a bit curious and nice, even if socially she's not the best (and I mean, yeah, they're 15-years-olds, so it's normal, like it's normal if some of them are cocky to the extreme). It could give us some clue about the fact that she grows up pretty sheltered, but it's maybe a stretch for my part.

Ohm first phrase is for asking a pen (does someone counted how many pens Ohm loses? It will be a fun statistic). He comes as the smiley-go-lucky kind of guy, telling everything that crosses his mind, putting his feet on his mouth every time he speaks. Also for the enigma posed by Pom he clearly doesn't know the answer and only raise his hand to follow the group.

Side question but why no one give him tissues? Boy nosebleeds every two minutes.

The first we see of Pom is when Pang and Nac try to steal the exam's results. His face stay in the shadow while we discover he is in charge of the exam. I feel obligated to point that we see his face a bit more after he drops his pen, and we know how much this pen is important for the rest of the plot (I'm realizing right now that it's in fact, a Chekhov's gun) . For his first apparition before the class, he has an image of a nice teacher, asking his students to call him by his nickname. Already we can link the metronome to him, since its in the classroom (since it's shown while Ohm has a nosebleed trying to resolve the rubik's cube, we can say it's linked to the potential too, but it's maybe a stretch).

To ends that, I want to point that the first plan where we see all the gifted class, when Pang enters, gives us a lot of information about the characters and their relationships together (It also puts us in Pang's shoes). We have the group Mon-Korn-Claire-Punn: Korn smile to Mon and Claire, Claire speaks to Mon and Korn before turning her head to Punn, her body already directed to him, Punn is separated to them since he sits on his table, but his body is turned in Claire's direction too. Namtarn is ready to take note, her back straight, while Ohm is slumped on his table and looks around. When we have a plan on each of them watching Pang, Mon's face is open and curious, Korn kinda shy away, Claire is disdainful, Punn is attentive, the twins gauge him (and already they have matching band-aids and Wave rolls his eyes so hard he clearly make it voluntarily.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Do you think animorphs would do well condensed into like, four or five long novels? I feel like the sheer amount of books can be bewildering to a modern audience even if they're so short. I'm a warrior cats junkie so i'm used to it, but if the story was rewritten slightly i bet perception would change a lot

That is a very interesting question, and I think you’re right that if the series came out today it’d be six giant books rather than sixty-odd mini ones.  Sort of like Percy Jackson or Septimus Heap.

I think a six-book series would make the most sense because then you’d be able to keep the rotating narration — one of Animorphs’ greatest strengths — and you could have one book for each of the kids.  Which then begs the question: what story would each of the kids tell?

Ax’s Book: Might make sense to put first in the series.  I get why the original marketing team was hesitant to start with the alien protagonist, but his story is so much about becoming an Animorph that I think he makes sense as a first narrator.  So his story could start with the sequence where he says goodbye to Elfangor and then ends up crashing to Earth.  From there we could get some of the events of #8 with him trying to phone home and discovering in the process that the andalites aren’t quite the saviors he took them for.  Then we could get a plot similar to #18 where Ax is forced to choose between andalite and Animorph loyalties (maybe with bonus elements of #38 thrown in) and ultimately decides that he’s an Animorph first.  It would be a great way to establish the team as a team for the rest of the series, and a chance to convey some important exposition about the whole war between the yeerks and andalites.

Marco’s Book: Would probably cover the Visser One plot.  So the timeline on The Decline and Fall of the Edriss Empire would have to be massively compacted to make it one story.  Which is a shame — I think we lose a lot of nuance if their story isn’t spread out over the course of three years, and if we don’t have Visser One’s and Visser Three’s relative statuses driving a lot of the other plots.  On the other hand, that change could compress a lot of the semi-redundant parts from #15 and #30 into one story, as well as a lot of the semi-redundant parts of Visser and #45.  So there’d be one sequence where Marco finds out about Eva being Visser One’s host, one sequence where the Animorphs help Visser One at Visser Three’s expense and the Yeerk Empire becomes convinced that Visser One is a traitor, and one sequence where the Animorphs end up charging in to rescue Eva from Visser One’s trial.

Tobias’s Book: The hork-bajir plot, of course.  Honestly I think that the events of #23 could easily become an entire Septimus Heap-sized novel without bringing in anything from any other books, just because the plot with Toby and the plot with Elfangor’s letter are both so rich.  However, it could easily loop in some of the events of #13 in order to help establish the hork-bajir, and give us flashbacks to the highlights of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles to give us a sense of the broader scale of the war.  I think the A plot of this book would be the hork-bajir and the evolution of the Animorphs’ complex alliance with them, while the B plot would involve Elfangor’s letter and maybe some of the sequence from #33 with Ax teaching Tobias How to Andalite.

Cassie’s Book: Should probably come somewhere in the late middle of the series, because she’d be alone for a lot of it.  Her story could focus on her relationship with Aftran, including elements of both #19 and #29.  Maybe it could open up with something like #9 with the kids stopping a logging effort in the woods, then go into Cassie ending up separated from the team and forced to rely on Aftran like in #19, culminating in their alliance.  That could launch the plot with everyone getting sick (maybe Ax picked up andalite-flu while looking for Cassie in the woods?) and Cassie going to save Aftran from the yeerk pool alone.  Heck, maybe things could get really interesting at the end if Cassie lets Aftran morph and then makes the mistake of loaning the morphing cube to a different yeerk, who takes it back to the Yeerk Empire and kicks off the plot of #50.

Rachel’s Book: Would be picking up in a very different place from most of her canon narration, if most of the events of #1 - #50 have already occurred.  However, I do like the idea of placing Rachel’s story right as the yeerk threat massively escalates, because so much of her story is about balancing her occasional excesses of violence against the need to do whatever it takes to keep her friends alive.  That means Rachel’s story could cover many of the events of #37 and #7 against the backdrop of an army of morph-capable yeerks who are using open warfare in mass infestation efforts.  We could see a lot of Rachel’s struggle in #41 and #52 with tending to rage against everything that moves, only now with the complicating factor that that might even be a proportional response to the situation.  I love the idea of the climax of the book following #7, with the kids destroying the ground-based kandrona and Rachel trying to figure out if they did enough to make a difference.  Maybe the very last scene of the book could be that conversation with Jake about the final battle plan, only this time we’d get to see Rachel’s thought process as she makes that decision.

Jake’s Book: Would cover the final battle, and most of the story leading up to the final battle.  I love the idea of the book opening on Jake recruiting James, and having most of the emotional core of the story be about that relationship.  There could be so much delicious painful irony if Jake’s stepping into a big-brother role for the Auximorphs while simultaneously planning Tom’s murder.  From there, we could see the final battle play out mostly how it does in #51 - #54, with recruiting the taxxons and dealing with the morph-controllers’ rebellion and preparing the Auximorphs and getting human allies and fending off the andalites’ well-meaning genocide.  Things could play out more-or-less how they do in canon.  It’d be awesome if (much like in the original series) we also get a good long sequence of the book just about the aftermath of the war, with Jake quietly keeping tabs on his team as they spread out and struggle to adjust after the battle is over.

Obviously the story would have to leave out a lot of elements — David, the Ellimist, the chee, most of the Chronicles, over half the plots — but I think if you’re going to do six big stories, then sacrifices must be made.  There would also be a lot of necessary reordering of events if the books are trying to achieve a single story for each of the kids, but I think most of the major beats could be kept intact.

[rainygothherowolf]

Jasonette/ Daminette- Little Sister Pt.3

First ~ Previous ~ Here(Final)

Marinette was bouncing in her seat, her mother and father chuckled at her childlike reaction to the plane landing. When it was finally their turn, the Dupain-Chengs grabbed their carry-ons and exited the plane.

"Come on, Maman, Papa! Damian said they were waiting by baggage claim!" The bluenette helped her parents with their things while they made sure they had everything before eagerly leading them through the now familiar airport.

Damian and Marinette had been together for a little over three years, the young designer was now eighteen, her boyfriend a year older. The couple visited each other throughout the year for birthdays, holidays, and whenever they could- of course, Jason was more than happy to chaperone Damian's visits to Paris, always eager to see his little sister.

The Waynes were quick when it came to accepting Marinette as one of their own, once she'd been fighting one of Hawkmoth's akumas and apparently someone saw. The entire family ended up spending an hour watching her defeat the villain just to make sure they didn't need to go help.

Of course, during some of her many visits Marinette got herself in the middle of more than a few prank wars. At first, she participated to get Damian and Jason to work together- wanting two of the most important boys in her life to get along but it quickly became a free for all. It was safe to say Marinette won, getting the entire family with the exception of: Alfred, Mar'i, Kor'i and  Selina, stuck doing a live interview about the family dynamic with questions written by Marinette.

Marinette dragged her parents past her favorite TSA officer with an excited hello before thinking back to when she saw the Waynes family interview. Bruce thought it was the funniest way to oust her to the public, and allowed her to go through with it. Everyone saw Marinette smiling cheekily from the sidelines as they answered question after question, clearly written by her.

// Flashback, 2 years ago //

"Alright, next question: who is the best superhero?" Everyone laughed softly, darting to each other picking sides for the debate to come.

"Oh boy, not this again." Bruce sighed, Selina patting him reassuringly, she decided to attend the interview, wanting to watch the chaos unfold in person.

"Bat girl!" The three girls exclaimed in unison, hopefully Babs was watching as Stephanie elaborated. "The original, of course. She was awesome, always doing these cool gymnastic tricks- way better than Nightwings!" The boys were quick to counter.

"No way! Robin had way better tricks, did you see the video of him doing that cool triple flip thing?!" Tim offered.

"Nope! Because Nightwing has superior acrobatic skills, I heard he was able to beat the Batman in a fight because of them- when he and the Justice league got brainwashed or something!" Bruce sighed tiredly as everyone else continued to argue, eventually it became a shouting match. Bruce whistled loudly, everyone quieting. The reporter continued.

"This next question is for all of you, except Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, who is your favorite sibling?" They all shared a smug look and answered from left to right, Dick went first. Stephanie and Tim were quick to follow, Cass responding immediately after them.

"Marinette."

"Marinette."

"Marinette."

"Marinette."

"HEY! She was my sister first! Anyways, Marinette." Jason exclaimed proudly.

"tt, all my siblings are annoying- with the exception of Cass, the most tolerable."

"What, brat, you don't like Marinette?" Jason interrupted before the reporter could ask.

"tt, she is not my sister. And she isn't any of yours, I'm the only reason she visits Gotham." Damian huffed defensively.

"YEAH RIGHT! I'm her favorite, she visits for me not you!" Damian scoffed.

"Marinette, obviously prefers me." Damian challenged, standing- dragging Marinette into view as she blushed furiously. She glared at her boyfriend as she was pulled from her hiding spot. 

"Damian! No-"

"Yes. You should know better than to include me in their pathetic prank war." Damian kissed Marinette firmly, she responded out of habit before he pulled away with a smirk, sitting. He sat Marinette on his lap, she blushed but didn't move wrapping an arm behind Damian.

"I assume you're Marinette?" The Parisian nodded timidly at the reporter's question.

"And you're?" The woman asked, curious as to how exactly she was related to the Waynes.

"My girlfriend." Damian answered for her, Marinette flicked his ear.

"I used to live in Gotham, me and Jason looked out for each other but I got adopted by a nice couple in France! My parents are amazing, anyways, I was on a class trip and saw Jason, and met Damian and we started dating."

"Despite my best efforts." Jason huffed, a sixteen-year-old Marinette rolled her eyes.

"He's exaggerating." Damian scoffed at that. The reporter seemed to adapt to Marinette's presence quickly, her teleprompter now changing questions from those Marinette sent to new ones.

"Okay, so Marinette and Damian- who said I love you first?" Marinette smirked, whispered in Damian's ear, and answered:

"I did." Damian blushed softly as he starred at Marinette, she said it well over a year ago to which Damian immediately reciprocated. Just to embarrass him, Marinette said 'Me, beach, bikini.' which always embarrassed Damian because it always worked- he'd immediately think back to the first time they went to the beach her in a bikini borrowed from Selina.

Jason snorted, and everyone else seemed amused to see Damian flustered.

"Who is more romantic?" Marinette hadn't been expecting questions other than the ones she wrote but took the opportunity when she saw it.

"He is." Damian glared at Marinette as his family howled in laughter.

"How?"

"OH! I KNOW I KNOW!" Stephanie raised one hand while putting a finger on her nose. "Damian always sends her flowers, and covers her in a blanket if she falls asleep, and always tries to cook for her even though she or Alfie have to save the day! But she is too! When he got sick, she always called to make sure he was resting instead of working, and sang him to sleep like a little kid! She's an awesome singer!" Marinette seemed to get even more embarrassed as the rest of the Waynes added their own compliments. The interview was about to end but Marinette got an idea, an awfully hilarious idea, it was her emergency back up.

"Well since you all seem to agree on everything, who caught my sketch book on fire?" The family went silent, everyone looked guilty.

"It was an accident." Bruce, shockingly, started.

"We never should have tried to cook." Cass continued.

"But you were sick, and Alfred was out of town." Dick tried to amend.

"The book was right next to the burner- Damian was looking at it." Stephanie added, shifting the blame to Marinette's boyfriend.

"Trying to see what you would make him for Christmas." Jason seconded.

" So he could one-up it." Tim added, unnecessarily.

"Because of how great your gift from last year was." Stephanie mentioned before everyone spoke together in unison.

"Sorry." Marinette laughed, they'd rehearsed that.

"You really think I'd leave ideas for all of your gifts in there? PLEASE! You are all too nosy, I keep the one with all of your gifts somewhere safe." Marinette said, smirking down at Damian who was glaring at his tattletail siblings.

// Flashback ends //

Marinette always smiled at the memory, she loved the Waynes- they had such a beautifully chaotic family dynamic.

"Slow down, Marinette! It's not like they'll leave without us!" Tom said, chuckling as his daughter dragged the adults towards baggage claim, only a little bit further and then Marinette would see Damian again. Last they'd seen each other was when Damian visited Paris three months ago, it had felt like an eternity to her. Marinette was pulled to a stop by Sabine, who was cold, the mother put one of her sweaters on while an impatient Marinette watched. Finally, Sabine was ready, closing her bag with a quick 'zip'.

Marinette immediately dragged her parents toward the sign she quickly spotted, Mar'i was sitting on her father's shoulders with a large poster above her head. The sign was neon pink, with white cut out letters spelling out 'Dupain-Cheng' in two rows. There were little doodles and hearts decorating the borders.

Damian stood next to Jason, impatiently checking his watch grumbling about how long customs takes. Tim and Stephanie were near them with Bruce, Alfred, Selina, and Kor'i. Only Bruce, Damian, and Jason had met Tom and Sabine before hand. Mar'i was excited to meet her twin's parents, hearing about their magic desserts.

"Auntie Nettie!" the half-Tamiranian exclaimed, climbing down her father awkwardly before charging towards Marinette. The Parisian was quick to hug the girl back.

"Hello, Mini Me!" The five-year-old was quick to climb onto Marinette's shoulders, offering her hand to Tom who was now at almost eye level. Marinette's father took the offered hand and gave the small girl a firm handshake. The girl giggled.

"Uncle Dami! I did it, just like you taught me!"

"Good job, Mar'i!" The girl's father praised, grabbing his daughter off the short girls shoulders and placing her on the floor.  Damian was about to hug Marinette when Jason steps in front of him and greets his sister.

"Hey, Marinette! it's good to see you again!" Marinette hugged her brother close before pulling away and turning to greet a now grumpy Damian.

"DAMI!" Marinette said cheerily, latching onto him with a tight hug. Damian hugged back feeling her in his arms again was almost as relaxing as the smell of her hair. The sharp, sweet smell of jasmine invaded his senses with a pleasant undertone of rose water.

"Hello." She laughed as she pulled away to greet Stephanie and Cass. Damian greeted Tom and Sabine familiarly, as did Jason. Mar'i was quick to properly introduce herself to both.

"Hi! I'm Mar'i, and you're Marinette's parents! Tom and Sabine! Auntie Nettie talks about you guys a lot, is it true you two are soulmates like in the fairy tales?" Marinette's parents laughed softly before starting up a conversation with the girl. Eventually, Marinette's parents were acquainted with everyone and they made their way to the manor. Tom called their new employee, George, to make sure everything at the bakery was going well with the holiday rush.

It was December 23rd and the weather in Gotham was harsh, everyone was quick to rush into the warm manor. Tom and Sabine quietly marveled at the extravagance of it all. Marinette quickly led them to their room, promising to help them around until they got the hang of the manors maze-like layout.

"Thank you, dear, where is your room?"

"It's just down the hall, what do you guys want to do? Diner is always at six so you have time to unpack or take a nap."

"That sounds like a good idea, thank you, Marinette."

"Of course, Maman! I'll come get you at five fifty, okay?" Her parents nodded before shutting the door, Marinette made her way to Damian's room- which so happened to also be hers.

The Parisian plopped on the bed, tired from the flight. Damian noticed her 'tired to the bone' sigh from his seat at his desk and went to lay down next to her, hugging her from behind his lips pressed to her neck.

"I missed you." Marinette mumbled, feeling warm and safe in Damian's arms she struggled to stay awake. Damian stayed silent, slowly rubbing her shoulders as her worked the knots out. Marinette was now laying on her stomach, sighing as he worked. The Parisian always melted under his touch. Finals had been stressful, thankfully she didn't have to deal with Hawkmoth anymore. Ladybug was still active, with Selina now wearing the miraculous of the cat, but she only dealt with normal crimes or the odd super villain when she was  in Gotham as Ladybird.

"Father thinks we should stay in tonight, with Drake, to avoid suspicion." Damian mumbled softly, still rubbing Marinette's back through her warm shirt. Marinette hummed in agreement, her body only felt more tired as time went on, her eyelids drooping.

"Of course, we'll have to entertain your parents until they go to bed but after that we have all the time in the world." Marinette could hardly register the words but she caught his tone. He wanted to snuggle, never willing to say the word out-loud.

"Wanna snuggle?" Damian snorted.

"I believe the proper term is cuddle." Marinette rolled her hardly open eyes, they always argued about this.

"Why can't it be both?" Marinette softly slurred, her eyes feeling heavy as lead. Damian gave Marinette a kiss on the cheek as he cuddled close to her, keeping her warm.

"Because that would mean I'm partially wrong and that's impossible." The world faded to black as Damian's warm arms pulled Marinette comfortably against him.

Damian looked down at a sleeping Marinette, her shallow even breathing soothing him, her adorable rosy cheeks now matched her pink nose. Marinette hated the cold but she always looked adorable decked out in winter gear, over dressing to the point where Damian had to coax her out of some of her layers.

Damian looked down at the beautiful, strong-willed, stubborn, terrifyingly tiny girl in his arms he only thought of one thing: he was going to marry that girl.

Selina was guiding the Dupain-Chengs and the rest of her family from the dining room to the living room. Damian and Marinette who were tasked with helping Alfred take everything to the kitchen. Suddenly, the feline woman got an adorably funny idea and led everyone on a short detour to the hallway filled with family photos and portraits.

Marinette was pushed up against a wall, Damian had one hand holding her neck and tilting the girls head up while the other snuck under the girls shirt and gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him. Damian was unyielding, ravaging Marinette's lips as he kissed her senseless. Marinette's hands were in his hair, softly scratching against his scalp or simply running her hands through his soft locks, her hands having a mind of the own as Damian's lips stole all of Marinette's attention.

Damian's malleable lips worked against Marinette's, somewhere far in the back of his mind Damian was thanking Alfred for insisting on his doing the dishes, this gave the couple time to escape from their observant family.

Damian let Marinette breathe as he moved from her lips to her cheek, not stopping as he eventually moved south towards her neck. Marinette was trying to focus on her uneven breathing but Damian was not one to be ignored, his hand on her hip keeping her close as he continued to greedily kiss her neck marking it as his. Marinette's features relaxed slightly her eyes hardly opening, her thoughts foggy but seemed to have a common factor: Damian, it was either Damian's lips as they worked the sensitive skin of her neck, or Damian's smell of peppermint and earl gray tea, or Damian's family staring in shock- WITH HER PARENTS AND JASON!

Marinette tensed as her eyes flew completely open, she squeaked. Damian seemed to notice the change of atmosphere and paled as he saw the murderous look in Jason and Tom Dupain's eyes. Bruce looked so done, as if he'd seen it a million times before. Selina and Sabine shared an amused smirk, Tim and Stephanie just looked away, Dick had noticed and covered Mar'i's eyes before leaving the room, Kor'i with them, blushing intensely- embarrassed for the Parisian, she had been in Marinette's shoes before and did not miss it.

Damian swallowed dryly. Tom and Jason shared a look, Jason was about to grab Damian and Tom, Marinette but Sabine stopped them short.

"Tom! Leave them alone, how else am I supposed to get grandkids?" Marinette was quick to blush, trying to hide in Damian's arms, only securing his guilt in Tom's eyes. Jason was snapped out of Big Brother Mode™ by Tim. Sabine and Selina jokingly ushered the boys and girls out, telling them to give the young couple their privacy.

Marinette wanted to die of embarrassment but once everyone was gone Damian just picked up where he left off, taking his love's mind off the intrusion. 

The couple walked into the living room more than a few minutes later. The lights were off and a movie playing so no one payed them any mind when they silently sat in the empty loveseat. No one noticed the hickies that decorated Marinette from her jawline to her right collarbone, a feature Damian practically worshiped, or the love bites on Damian's neck.

Marinette blushed when she saw what Damian had done as they got ready for bed, Damian shrugged before laying on their bed and opening his arms- begging for cuddles.

Jason asked to be Damian's spar buddy for training the next morning and kicked the assassins ass- literally, but the actual spar was a tie. Tom was heard grumbling about hormonal boys for days, luckily Sabine kept him in check.

That Christmas was an interesting one, to be sure. Luckily some things stayed the same, no matter how hard Damian tried Marinette still out did him. She, as always, received jewelry Damian had been stockpiling to give her on one of the few days she couldn't refuse and a very special pendant he'd handmade for her, after taking a jewelry making class.

Mari' insisted the bluenette try everything on, not giving the girl time to take anything off. By the time Marinette was wearing everything she was literally dripping in jewels.

Marinette gave Damian four sweaters, each in a different size. They were for a picture of Damian with Alfred the Cat, Titus, and a very small one that Marinette said went with her other gift. It was a guinea pig Damian was quick to name Adrien, seeing as  how both were small rodents, saying Adrien the hamster was far better. Marinette chastised him and Damian relented eventually naming the small animal after Circe, explaining that just like the sorceress bewitched sailors that visited her island, turning them into pigs, Marinette had enchanted him.

~~~ 6 years later ~~~

Marinette was bouncing in her seat, her mother and father chuckled at her childlike reaction to the plane landing. When it was finally their turn, the Dupain-Chengs grabbed their carry-ons and exited the plane.

Marinette quickly ushered her parents through the crowded airport, past customs and Christmas decorations as she hurried to meet up with Damian, Marinette had spent the last month in Paris helping out with the bakery when her mother had an accident and couldn't work for a few weeks. Thankfully, Sabine recovered quickly and the Dupain-Chengs decided to visit Gotham for the holidays. Marinette hadn't seen Damian in weeks and missed him terribly, he always complained about how empty and cold their apartment (penthouse) was without her there.

Damian checked his watch, he still had an hour before Marinette's plane landed. The man walked to where Jason and his father were standing, looking over the nights patrol routes. He'd already received permission from his father, Kyle, and the Dupain-Chengs, all he needed now was Jason's approval.

"Father, Todd." Damian greeted, fidgeting with the box in his pocket. Jason eyed Damian suspiciously.

"What'd you do this time, brat?" Jason asked, a look of annoyance flashed onto Damian's face before he controlled himself, taking a breath Damian showed him the box. Jason's eyes widened in understanding.

"Well, brat, looks like you're gonna beat her when it comes to presents this year. What could be better than your last name?" Damian relaxed at Jason's reaction to the black velvet box, Damian's father spoke up.

"You know what you're going to say?" Damian nodded.

"Where and when you want to ask?" Damian nodded again.

"Well, then all that's left is that you actually do it." Damian knew his family would approve but it still felt nice to hear it.

Marinette immediately hugged Damian when she saw him, her parents patiently waiting behind them. Both Marinette and Damian heard the quiet exchange between the married couple.

"When do you think we'll get the grandchildren?"

"I think they should talk about getting married first, Sabine." Marinette blushed softly, they'd discussed both at length and seemed to want the same things the only discrepancy being names. Damian was dead set on naming a girl Amora, Marinette liked Emma. Marinette loved the names Hugo and Louis, Damian thought they were meaningless and simple. He favored boys names like Aaron or Alfred. Marinette joked that he was obsessed with the letter A.

It was Christmas morning, the whole family spent the night at the manor. Word of Damian's gift spread among the ranks like wildfire, a nine-year-old Mar'i could hardly keep it to herself. After the usual Christmas breakfast everyone crowded around the tree, giving each other gifts. Marinette and Damian had yet to give each other their presents, Marinette went first.

"TADA!" Every year, Marinette hand knits sweaters for Damian and all of his pets, so they could take a cute picture. As time went on, Marinette went from cute to ugly Christmas sweaters. Damian smiled as he rolled his eyes, this year's had intricate reindeer patterns. She always surprised him, and he knew she had a secret place to make his gifts because Damian knew every nook and cranny of their apartment and searched it regularly for hints as to what his gift was.

Marinette's other gift for him was, as always, amazing and would have easily topped almost anything Damian got her- but this time he'd win.

"Marinette, you are light of my life, the reason I wake up in the morning. You are such a beautiful and determined woman, and the care you put into everything you do is part of what makes you the most terrifyingly amazing person I have ever met. Your heart is filled with such genuine kindness, compassion, and empathy that the world does not deserve you and neither do I, but I'd like to spend the rest of my life working to be worthy of your love. 'If love is a labor, I shall slave away to the end.' Would you allow me the honor of becoming your husband?" Marinette stared at Damian, his right knee on the ground with his left foot firmly on the ground as he opened the velvety black box.

There were two rings in the box, one was a simple silver band, something that wouldn't get in the way as she worked, running successful brand like hers was a lot of work. The other was a gorgeous sterling silver ring with a beautifully cut diamond in the center, it was clearly vintage. Marinette felt tears of joy sting her eyes as she tried to get her body to move, finally Marinette was able to speak her voice thick with emotion as she hugged Damian.

"Yes!" Damian couldn't believe the words that left his girlfriend- no, fiancee's lips. He was engaged to Marinette, the love of his life. Damian was spurred into action, hugging Marinette back before pushing her away so he could put the rings on her finger, the first was a simple band, the other his grandmothers. At first, Damian had purchased a new ring for Marinette but Selina and Damian's father gave him is grandmother’s engagement ring and it was perfect. Just like Marinette.

Marinette kissed Damian, the feeling of her left hand on his neck, the cool rings against his neck seemed to ground him. Damian never had to worry again, Marinette would always be with him.

Jason smiled as he saw the pure joy in his little sister's eyes, he had been wrong. Damian wouldn't be the reason Marinette's eyes would look broken, he'd be the reason they swelled with love, with contentment. There was no trace of the broken Marinette from all those years ago, she finally became the person Jason was determined to see her grow-up to be.

She was happy, and that was all that mattered.

[storydays]

Season 1, Episode 1, p2

You dodged an Earth disc from the opposing team's earthbender's steady hand and used two water blast toward the earthbender and the firebender, sending them into the sink below. The crowd cheered as Mako and Bolin then sent the remaining benders into the sink. "And what an amazing triple play by the Fire Ferrets! If they can win the expedition match, the rookie sensations will be moving into the championship!" You grinned at your long time friends, brothers Mako and Bolin. Bolin was a rather loud, excitable earthbender and happy go luck person in general. Mako, however was a angst filled firebender, very serious, and could be a bit of an unintentional ass. 

You stumbled across them about 8 years back, while trying to track down your father with your Auntie Kya, who had been on a break from their busy lives. 

*Flashback*

Your Uncle Tenzin was searching with your Aunt Lin, while Aunt Pema and Gran-Gran were staying back with a newborn Ikki and a two year old Jinora. You felt so grown up, helping the adults. Your Auntie was rambling about how her brother's were idiots, and a few not so children friendly cuss words, when you felt a pair of eyes watching you. You stopped, catching her attention. "(Y/N), what's wrong, honey?" She knelt in front of you, waiting. 

You would tell her when you were ready. She knew you were listening, for something. 

Your (e/c) eyes looked down the alley, before whispering into the older waterbender's ear. Kya smiled, before standing up and followed you to the alley. There you found a pair of kids, one wearing a red scarf around his neck, the other with thick eyebrows. The one with scarf, you knew was a firebender, held sadness, and protection for his brother. The other was an earthbender, and he oozed fear for his brother, and he also held sadness, but could be a different reasons. You put on a gentle smile, before holding your hand out. 

"We've been looking for someone, and we found you two. We've been wondering around for hours, and I'm hungry. Do you guys want to join us,at the Rosemary Cafe?" The older brother eyes you and Kya for a moment before looking at his brother, and nodded, trusting your (e/c) eyes. Together, the four of you spent time  in Republic City, until your Aunt Kya ran into the pro-bender gym owner. They were old classmates/associates and knowing how hard it was to survive, the older man, adopted the boys, and they became family. 

After waving goodbye to them, you and Kya found your father making a fool of himself at a local bar. Your aunt whacked her brother upside her head, grinning as you try to stifle your giggles. That was a day, you would never forget, because it made your Aunt Kya proud at your big heart.

*Flashback end*

You grinned, after taking a sip of water as you listen to Bolin chat happily to his brother who replied bluntly. Other than your family, they were the only ones who knew you were an airbending master, and it was the biggest secret Bolin has ever held which, and it made your proud and special that he could help protect you. You finished changing, fixing your hair, so it hid your arrows again, before answering your radio that you kept on your person while off Air Temple Island. "Yes, Uncle?" You questioned, waving goodbye to your friends. "Yes, I'll meet you there, soon." You hung up, and then whistled for your other pet/friend, a polar bear dog, like Naga, but they were sister and brother. "Neo, here boy." You cooed as he sat in front of you, nudging you and looking at you fondly. "Let's go see Auntie Lin, boy." 

He barked happily, and quickly ran to the police station where your Uncle was waiting. Waving down a nearby guard, you asked him to take Neo to the animal section of the station, before Tenzin began walking. "So, why are we here?" You asked putting your arms behind your head, acting nonchalantly. "We're here because of Korra, it appears she ran away, and came here to start trouble." He grumbled, leading you into an interrogation room, where Korra was flinching under the Chief's stern voice. "Let's see, multiple counts of destruction of private and city property. Not to mention, evading arrest." She slammed the file in front of the girl, before leaning in close. 

"You're in a whole mess of trouble, young lady." "But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper and I--" Korra tried to explain. "Can it." Lin growled, walking away. "You should have called the police, and stayed out of the way." "But I couldn't just sit by, and do nothing. It's my duty to help people." She pouted, before giving the Chief an awkward smile, "See, I'm the Avatar." 

You snicker, seeing the unimpressed look on your aunt's face. "Oh, I'm well aware of who you are, and your avatar tittle might impress some people, but not me." Korra looked a little shocked before relenting. "All right, fine. Then I want to talk to whoever's in charge." Unfazed by her tactics, Lin sat down across from her. "You're talking to her. I'm Chief Beifong." 'And in 3,2,1..' you counted down in your head before realization struck Korra. "Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? You're Toph's daughter!" She exclaimed. "What of it?" Lin huffed. "Well, then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends! They saved the world together.." Korra trailed off. 

"That's ancient history. And it's got nothing to do with the mess you're in right now. You can't just waltz in here, and dole out vigilante justice like you own the place!" Your Uncle then ushered you to follow him. "All right, let's go get Korra before Lin kills her." He muttered, making you grin. "Chief, Councilman Tenzin is here." A guard called into the room. "Let him in." Lin sighed before standing up, and folding her arms behind her back. Tenzin walked in with a frown on his face, and you hung in the doorway, leaning against it and crossing your arm with an mischievous grin. "Tenzin, (Y/N), sorry. Got a little sidetracked on my way to see you guys." She shuffled nervously in her seat.

Tenzin inhaled softly, before sparing a grin at Lin. "Lin, you are looking radiant as usual." Your shoulders shake as you tried not to laugh. "Cut the garbage, Tenzin. Why is the Avatar in Republic City?" She growled at the man. "I thought you were supposed to be moving down to the South Pole to train her." "My relocation has been delayed. The Avatar on the other hand, will be heading back to the South Pole immediately, where she will stay put." "But--" Korra tried to cut in, but Tenzin continued as if she hadn't spoken a word, "If you would be so kind, as to drop the charges against Korra," He paused to glare at the shrinking girl's figure. "I will take full responsibility for today's regrettable events and cover all the damages." Lin looked back at the crestfallen teenager, looked at you who smiled cheerfully back, before sighing in resignation. 

She waved her hand, unlocking Korra from her cuffs, before crossing her arms. "Fine, get her out of my city." "Always a pleasure, Lin." Tenzin complimented, before turning sternly to the Avatar. "Let's go, Korra. You as well, (Y/N)." "Wait, I need to talk to (Y/N). He'll catch up with you in a second." Lin stated, fighting a grin as the two made their way out. Korra rubbing her wrists, cast a look behind her, only to see Lin shoot her the famous, 'I'm watching you.' look before Korra replied with the same look, only mushing up and mocking the woman. Lin threw her hand up and scrunched her face in confusion before turning to a laughing you. "So, tell me what happened today!" Lin grinned, no one knew it but you, but she loved watching your matches, and tried her best to catch them when she could, or at the very least, listened to the matches on her private radio. 

You grin quickly explaining everything to her, and she smiled seeing you hyped up. It wasn't often she saw you this excited and it was a breeze of fresh air, and she was happy to see a spark in your (e/c) eyes. "But yeah, and if we win the expedition match, we go to the finals and we could be the champions!" You cheered. "That's great, (Y/N)! I'll be sure to catch those two matches for sure." She smiled before hugging you and sending you on your way. "See ya tonight for dinner, Aunt Lin."

You quickly grabbed Neo, and followed your Uncle to the harbor where he was trying to get a boat for Korra to leave immediately. "Tenzin, please don't send me back home." "You blatantly disobeyed my wishes and the orders of the White Lotus." Tenzin stated.  "It was actually (Y/N)'s idea!" Korra defended. You grumble, ignoring your uncle's withering stare. "It was your idea to have her come here?" He demanded. "Technically, I told her to look for the pro-bending gym, or I'd assumed she would've gone straight to Air Temple Island." Your Uncle then began lecturing you before you blurted out, "I had a vision!" They both looked at you with looks, varying between shock, awe, and surprise. "Why didn't you tell me, (Y/N)?" Tenzin asked calmly, knowing you responded better that way.

"Because I only just figured it out, what that vision meant, and I knew I had to act quickly, to try and speed things along." You fidget in place, Neo whining and gently nudging you in an attempt to comfort you. Seeing you were uncomfortable, Korra spoke up. "Katara agreed with me that I should come. She said my destiny is in Republic City." She felt successful when Tenzin turned his attention to her, face turning redder than his clothing, and you sent a grateful smile to the waterbender. "Don't bring my mother into this!" he snapped, ignoring your laugh. "You look like a tomato, Uncle."

"Look, I can't wait any longer, to finish my training. Being cooped up and hidden away from the world, isn't helping me become a better Avatar. I saw a lot of the city today, and it's totally out of whack. I understand why you and (Y/N) need to stay, Republic City does need you both, but it needs me too." Korra finished her speech, leaving Tenzin to stammer before sighing as a police officer brought Naga to the group. "Is this your polar bear-dog, miss?" He asked tiredly. You laugh before gently taking Naga to see her brother Neo who howled with glee seeing her big brother. 

Korra sighed seeing the boat come closer to the port. Tenzin was really making her leave. You stood next to your Uncle as he studied Korra. "You know she's right. It'd be helpful and beneficial for everyone involved, if she stayed. It's going to happen anyways, so it'd be better if she was here under good tenses, instead of her constantly sneaking off." Your conversation was cut short, as the 3 Airbender kids landed in front of your group. Meelo hopping off of Jinora's back, and the kids hugging her legs and waist. "Korra!" They cried happily. "Are you coming to live on the island with us?" Ikki asked, as Korra knelt in front of them. "No, I'm sorry, Ikki. I have to go home now." She felt her heart break at the kids disappointed cries. 

"Aw." Tenzin watched the scene with sad eyes. Ikki then hopped on your back, and snuggled into your back. "I don't want Korra to leave." She murmured, sadly. "I know, she doesn't want to leave either." You said, clearly, before sharply elbowing your uncle. He looked into your (e/c) eyes, and then looked at the sad faces of his kids, before sighing in defeat. "Wait." He walked forward to a surprised Korra. "I have done my best to guide Republic City towards the dream my father had for it. But you are right, it has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy. But you are his legacy." He put his hand on Korra's shoulder, and smiled softly at the girl.

"You may stay here and train airbending with me." Korra gasped excitedly as Tenzin continued. "Republic City needs its Avatar once again." "Yes! Thank you! You're the best!" Korra cheered as the Airbending kids cheered with her. She grabbed the airbenders in her arms, giving a giant group hug, and making Tenzin groan at the girl's strength. You laugh as Naga snuggled Korra's back, happy that her girl was happy. You smiled softly from atop of Neo, as Nevermore found you and curled in your lap. "Hey girl, didja miss me?" You coo, running your fingers along her scales, before looking into the stars, smiling. 'Things are going to get crazy, aren't they, Mom?' 

--The Next Day--

You stood behind your Aunt Lin's stern figure as Korra was at a press conference. The Avatar didn't know where to look with all the flashing lights, but a quick glance to you, made her get her confidence back, she cleared her throat, before speaking. "Hello, I'm Korra, your new Avatar." "Does this mean you moved to Republic City?" An older reporter called out. "Were you trying to send a message to the  Triads yesterday?" A green eyed woman asked."Will you be fighting crime, the anti-bending revolution, or both?" Another cried. "Will you be working with Chief Beifong and the police?" A final question rang out. "Uh, yes, I am definitely here to stay, but honestly, I don't have a plan yet. See I'm still in training, but all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the center of peace and balance in the world, and I believe we can make his dream a reality, and I look forward to serving you! I'm very happy to be here! Thank you, Republic City!" Korra then walked off with Tenzin, as you stood by Lin's side. "That's all, no more questions." Lin demanded, before tugging you along with her. 

You grin finding Neo and Naga playfully wrestling, before sitting next to Korra while Tenzin and Lin were talking quietly. "Good job, Avatar. I know things will start to get better now that you're here. Just promise me one thing." You refused to meet her eyes, but you knew she was listening. Turning toward her, you raised your pinky to her, "Promise me, we'll do this together." You beg as she studied you. Korra sent you a gleaming smile before hooking hers around yours. 

"I promise."

[reidingandwriting]

Home

Word Count: ~4,100 words

Ship: Emily Prentiss x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mention of injury (concussion), drinking (all characters of legal age)

A/N: Since there are quite a few flashbacks, and some of them are long, I’ve set off the flashbacks in dashes (------) instead of having big blocks of texts in italics. I might change them to italics depending on how they read!

Emily Prentiss didn’t believe in soulmates. Well, she didn’t believe she had one. Except for the occasional fling, Emily’s love life was practically non-existent. Maybe it was for the better that way. She was a strong and independent woman, thank you very much, and she didn’t need a man or a woman to complete her. Besides, she could always get a cat.

Y/N Y/L/N was a hopeless romantic. You loved the idea of having a soulmate, someone who was made for you, someone who just gets you. You hadn’t met your soulmate yet, but you were a strong believer in fate. When the universe was ready for you to meet your soulmate, you’d meet them. God, you hoped you’d meet them soon. But it’s not like your soulmate was the only thing on your mind. You had gotten your masters degree before you applied for the FBI Academy. You then were assigned to work in the Violent Crimes Against Children department, where you worked your ass off until you got the news you had been waiting for since you graduated from college: you were joining the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. 

Working with the BAU was a dream come true for you. The cases were hard and long, the criminals involved really made you question if there was any good in humanity at times. But the good moments? You would never forget them. 

------

You laid back in your seat on the plane and closed your eyes with a sigh. You had just finished your first case and you were on the flight back to headquarters. You couldn’t wait to see your bed again. You opened one of your eyes when you heard someone sit beside you but closed it again when you saw Derek.

“Hey, pretty girl. How do you feel?” You dragged your hand over your face and looked up at the man you would soon grow close to. 

“Exhausted. Happy the case is over and that we saved the last victim. I wish we could have saved the others.” You sighed. “But at least the families of the missing women have closure now.” 

“Unfortunately we can’t save everyone. But with everybody we save, it makes the job easier. You did great, kid. And you’ll get better with every case.” You smiled at Derek’s words and leaned your head against his shoulder. 

“Thanks, Morgan.” You felt your eyes grow heavy and you yawned. “I’m using you as a pillow now, hope you weren’t planning on moving anytime soon.” Derek’s shoulder shook with laughter, and he rested his head against yours. 

“Rest up, Y/L/N. You’ve earned it.”

------

Over the last eighteen months, you had grown close to the team you now considered your family. There were many lows and many highs during your career, as well as many unexpected twists. The best unexpected part? Meeting Agent Emily Prentiss. You had just gotten back to headquarters when you met her.

------

“Hey, Y/N. Garcia, JJ, Reid, and I are going to Freddy’s for dinner. We’ve got room for one more if you want to come.” Derek asked as he gathered his things from his desk. You were seated at your own desk, papers strewn across the space. 

“I think I’m gonna head home once I handle,” you gestured to the mess, “all this.” Derek chuckled and put his jacket on.

“Don’t stay too late, we don’t need two people living here.” Derek nodded up towards Hotch’s office. You looked up and your brows furrowed when you saw two silhouettes in the office.  

“I’ll head out soon. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” You and Derek exchanged goodbyes, your gaze not leaving the window as you heard everyone leave. You shook your head to clear your thoughts and began to organize your desk. You strained to decipher the muffled voices coming from your boss’s office and perked up when you heard an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

“I promise you won’t regret this.” You heard her footsteps as she walked out of Hotch’s office and you looked up as she walked down the stairs. Your eyes traveled up her body until you saw the box in her hands and then met her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes. Her dark hair fell to her shoulders, and there was a smile on her face. She looked proud, but also relieved, and she tried to appear neutral. You didn’t know how long you had been watching her before she spoke to you. “Hi. I’m Emily Prentiss.” Emily shifted the box in her hands to prop it against her hip and held her hand out. You stood up, shook her hand, and offered a polite smile.

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N. Oh! You can set your things on my desk.” Emily smiled gratefully at you and set the box down. “Facilities management has probably left already, they won’t be back until morning. You’re more than welcome to keep everything here if you want, they’ll be safe. Unless you have coffee stashed away in there, then I might have to charge a storage fee.” Emily’s laughter filled your ears and your heart skipped a beat at the sound. New life goal, make this gorgeous woman laugh as much as you can. “The coffee here is less than appealing, so I recommend buying your own. There’s a shop across the street, they make amazing lattes. I’m sorry, I’m rambling, and you probably have places to be.”

“You’re fine, I promise.” Emily reassured and her phone buzzed in her pocket. “But I do need to take this.”

“And I should head out. I can hear my bed calling my name from here.” You picked at the sleeve of your shirt subconsciously, which of course Emily noticed. Gotta love profilers. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow?” 

“Bright and early.”

“Don’t remind me.” You groaned before you grabbed your bag from your chair. “Goodnight, Prentiss.”

“Goodnight.” And if you came to work the next morning with a cup of coffee on your desk, that was no one’s business except for yours and Emily’s. Little did either of you know that you had met your soulmate. You were getting ready for a run the first time you noticed something was off.

------

“Yes, Derek. I’ll be in the lobby in five minutes. You know, you’re really impatient.” You teased as you walked to your closet to grab a pair of shoes. 

“And you’re late.”

“Am not! You said we’d meet at six, I still have a few minutes.” As you bent down to grab your running shoes, your brows furrowed when you noticed a red tank top on the floor. “Huh.”

“Everything okay?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I just found something I forgot I bought. I’ll be down in a minute, and I’ll buy smoothies after. Since I’m so late.” 

“Chop, chop, pretty girl.” Derek hung up and you grabbed the shirt from the floor and examined it. It had been worn quite often, so you knew it wasn’t yours. Or was it? You shrugged but tossed the shirt towards your laundry hamper. That was a problem for another day. You quickly slid your shoes on and left your apartment. You made your way downstairs, Derek and you being the only ones in the lobby at the time. 

“I’m here, I’m here. Sorry, late start.” You said as you walked over. “Our usual path?”

“Lead the way, Y/L/N.”

------

You brushed off the shirt as simply being forgetful. You had bought a lot of clothes when you moved for your job, it must have been forgotten in the back of your closet. You figured it was a one time thing, and the possibility of soulmates never even crossed your mind. It had been nearly a month since the red shirt incident, and nothing else odd had happened since. Until…

------

“That’s a new necklace. Where’d you get it?” Penelope asked as you both stepped off the elevator. 

“I honestly can’t remember buying it.” You shrugged. “I must have gotten it a while ago, but I don’t remember wearing it before.” As you walked towards the conference room, Prentiss walked out of the mini kitchen with JJ. 

“Yeah, I don’t know what happened to it. I thought I had it on my nightstand, but I went to put it on this morning, and it was gone.” Emily said and ran her hand through her hair.

“We can go to my favorite store to look for a replacement tonight if we aren’t on a new case.” Jennifer offered. Emily smiled gratefully at her as the pair walked towards the conference room. Rossi left his office and walked towards the stairs. As he reached the stairs, he met Aaron who stepped into sync with him. 

“What are you thinking about?” Hotch asked as he looked at Dave. 

“Oh, not much. Just wondering who we’ll be chasing on our next case.” Rossi said. Just the fact two of our profilers are oblivious soulmates, he thought.

------

Over the next couple of weeks, you and Emily both found little things scattered across your homes. It sounded weird to admit, but it made Emily’s days better when she found something of her soulmate’s in her apartment. Everything you had lost helped her understand you more- she really felt like she was getting to know you. Emily smiled when she found (your favorite book) in her room, and she couldn’t help but read the book with a dopey smile on her face. God, she couldn’t wait to meet you, whoever you were. Little did either of you know, that day would come closer than you thought.

*Baddies of the BAU group chat*

Pen: girls!!!

Pen: it’s someone’s birthday monday

Pen: @ Y/N

Jayje: our baby’s turning 30! 

Jayje: all grown up

Em<3: we’re celebrating, right?

Y/N: i’d honestly be happy with the weekend off

Y/N: or some of rossi’s scotch

Pen: i can’t promise that, but i can promise you a night of drinks

Pen: our usual time and place tonight?

Jayje: i’ll be there!

Em<3: so will i. Y/N?

Y/N: how could i say no?

Y/N: see you tonight my loves!

*End of chat*

“Derek, I need a favor.” Emily said as she paced across her apartment. Derek’s brows furrowed as he heard all the noise in the background. 

“Of course. Is everything okay?”

“No.” Emily groaned. “Well, yeah, just… shit. I can’t find my keys. And yeah, I could call an Uber, but-”

“I’ll give you a ride. Wonder if your soulmate found your keys.” Emily could hear the smirk in Derek’s voice, and she rolled her eyes.

“With my luck, they’re an ocean away. Thanks, Morgan.”

-

“Spence, what are the odds of me actually meeting my soulmate?”

“Statistically,” Spencer trailed off, “not the greatest. Soulmates aren’t guaranteed to be living in the same geographical area as you, not even the same timeline really. There’s theories about past lives, it’s actually really fascinating.” A pause. “Sorry, that wasn’t an answer. There’s a 3.7 percent chance of you meeting your soulmate. An even lower chance you actually make the connection that they are your soulmate.” “So the chance of me living in the same city as my soulmate and knowing who they are is practically impossible.” You said as you held a familiar keychain in your hand. A keychain that was nearly identical to yours. You had thought it was yours, absentmindedly grabbing the set of keys from your coffee table as you started to leave, until you tried to lock your door. 

“You know who they are?”

“Uh huh.”

“Are you going to say anything to them?”

“Oh yeah.” You tucked the keys into your bag before you grabbed yours. “Sooner than later.”

------

You were seated next to Rossi, talking to Penelope from across the table, and you laughed when Rossi chimed in, agreeing with you. You rested your hand on his shoulder and Penelope grumbled something about favoritism under her breath while JJ laughed.

“You’re my favorite person, Pen.” JJ said, which then caused Reid to protest from his seat. Hotch shook his head, but everyone saw the fond smile on his lips. The energy at the table was light and carefree, something that didn’t happen often enough.

“Got room for two more?” You looked up and smiled when you saw Derek walk in, Emily a few steps behind him. 

“Hmm, I think we’ll take you. If you get our first round.” Derek playfully sighed.

“Deal. Only because you’re the birthday girl. Almost the birthday girl.” He ruffled your hair before he walked towards the bar, and Rossi stood up. 

“I’ll go help him carry everything. Take a seat.” Dave patted Emily’s shoulder as he walked past her to help Morgan. Emily took a seat beside you, and it didn’t take a profiler to notice the change in your demeanor. She noticed how your movements were more calculated and thought out. Any other time you wouldn’t be afraid to be handsy with her, your shoulders would brush together a little more often than necessary, your legs against each other’s. But today, there was distance. Not enough to be noticeable to anyone who didn’t know the dynamic between the two women, but to Emily, you might as well have been worlds apart. After a few drinks, Hotch and Rossi had made their way to the bar, and they watched their ‘children’. Morgan and Garcia were dancing together, Reid in between the pair, much to his protesting. 

“Come on, boy wonder, we aren’t leaving until you’ve danced at least once.” Garcia had said as she pulled Spencer to the floor. You stirred your drink as you leaned against the upholstered booth, Emily and JJ on the other side of the dance floor. You smiled at everyone and didn’t notice Dave walk up behind you.

“You can’t avoid her all night.” You jumped at the sound of his voice and looked back towards him. “I’m not the best person to give advice on love, but I have been married a few times. So I know a little something.”

“I’m not avoiding her- wait, how did you know?” “I watched. And she happens to be missing the necklace you wore tonight.” You felt your cheeks heat up and you looked back towards Emily.

“I didn’t know it was her. Not until I found this.” You pulled the keychain  out of your bag. 

“I’m guessing there’s a story I’m missing.” Rossi took a seat beside you, and you began to explain. 

“It started when we had a case take us to Los Angeles.”

------

“I hate how my first trip to L.A. had to be when we’re chasing a serial killer.” You sighed as you opened the case file. 

“We’ve been to Los Angeles on a case before. It was your third case with us.” Spencer said absentmindedly as he read, eyes darting rapidly across the paper. 

“My second trip, my bad.” You rolled your eyes, but there was a fond smile on your lips. “But we stayed at the hotel, police department, and crime scenes. Not a second of time off.”

“What’s time off?” Gideon asked and you chuckled. 

“I really want to go one day, not as an agent, but as a tourist. Maybe when I retire.” As soon as the conversation started, it ended as Garcia popped up on screen to further discuss the case. 

-

“You would be fine if you flew, but it’s up to you ultimately. It is a long drive back, though.” The EMT spoke, and you were seated on the back of the ambulance with Hotch standing beside you. 

“Could she fly tomorrow? If she feels up to it, of course.” Aaron asked, and there was an emotion in his eyes that you couldn’t quite decipher. 

“As long as her symptoms continue to get better as time passes, she’s clear to fly. It’s all preference at this point. Just be sure to follow the instructions we gave you, and you should start feeling better soon.”

“Thank you.” The EMT dismissed herself to go check on the injured victim, and Hotch turned to you. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I ran into a wall.” You chuckled then winced. “I’ve had worse. The medicine will help, and I’ll feel better after some sleep tonight.”

“I’ll have Prentiss drive you back to the hotel so you can rest.” Aaron paused. “There’s a few tourist-y spots near our hotel, but they’ll be crowded until later tonight. There’s a restaurant on Fifth just a few minutes from where we’re staying, not many tourists know about it. I can send you the address if you want it.” You blushed as you looked up at Hotch. 

“Thank you, sir. Uh, how did you…?”

“You said you wanted to visit the city as a tourist, and for the Prentiss part? Let’s call it intuition.”

-

“Remind me to thank Hotch for sending us to that restaurant. That was the best dinner I’ve ever had.” Emily said and you hummed in agreement. 

“If I got this treatment every time I got injured on the field, I’d let our unsubs pistol-whip me more often.” You laughed as she shot a playful glare at you. “Easy, Prentiss. I do not enjoy any restaurant enough to have another concussion.”

“How is your head feeling? We can go back to the hotel if you’re ready.” Emily paused. “Unless you feel up for another adventure.”

“Please, take me anywhere but the hotel.” And in that moment, the whole city seemed to brighten when Emily smiled. 

“I’ve got a few places in mind.” 

By the end of the night, you had walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame (and took countless pictures), stopped by the Kodak Theatre (“Em, it’s like we’re a part of the Academy Awards!”), and now you were in a gift shop. 

“I remember when I was younger.” You spoke, your voice soft as you looked at a display rack. “I was on a trip to New York, my high school journalism class took the entire group of us up to the city. We went to a little gift shop before we came back home. All the girls went off together, bought those little matching keychains that ‘best friends’ had, except for me. I know it’s stupid to be upset about now, but fifteen year old me felt so lonely. I just joined the school my sophomore year, everyone else had made their group of friends. And I had no one.” 

“Look at you now.” Emily said as she wrapped her arm around your shoulders and neither of you mentioned it when you automatically leaned into her touch. “You’re a profiler for the FBI, and we have some pretty amazing people we’re working with. I think it’s safe to say you’ll never have to worry about being lonely again.” Emily reached forward and grabbed a pair of keychains from the rack. “And now, you can show off your glamorous ‘I survived my trip to L.A.’ keychain to everyone.”

“Look, you can even get the back engraved. We can get something matching, we’ll be the best friends of the BAU.” You teased and Emily gasped. 

“You, Y/L/N, are a genius.”

------

You thumbed over the engraving and read it out loud. “If you ever feel alone, you can always run home.” And in the bottom corner, yours and Emily’s initials were engraved. “We promised each other. No matter how crazy this job gets, if either of us leave, if we just need a break… We can always go to each other, go ‘home.’” You let your eyes wander over to Emily, who was now dancing with Reid. The smiles on both of their faces made you smile before you turned towards Rossi. “I don’t want to mess everything up.”

“Bella,” Dave smiled sympathetically and rested a hand on your shoulder, “I haven’t ever seen someone look at each other the way you and Emily do. If anyone in the world are soulmates, it’s you two.” You stood up and wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tight. 

“Thank you for everything.” You whispered and Rossi returned your tight hug. The man was affectionately nicknamed the dad of the group, while the rest of you (with the exception of Hotch) were his children. But the role of “Papa” Rossi applied especially to you. You two had formed a bond over the months Rossi had been on the team. You were often paired together, your personalities meshing well while working on the field and during interrogations. You often went to him for advice, and Rossi was sure to offer the best hospitality possible. You’d drink the best wine and help him cook dinner while the two of you joked around and talked, Tony Bennett playing over vinyl in the background. 

“Go get her, bella.” You smiled before you stepped away from Rossi and walked over to Emily, keys now tucked into your pocket. 

“Hey, pretty girl! Look who decided to join us.” Derek said as he saw you walking over, causing Emily to look over at you. 

“I will in a minute, you better have saved me a dance. But first, um. Em, can I talk to you?” Emily’s brows furrowed but she nodded. 

“Let’s step outside, get some fresh air.” You nodded and walked out with Emily, and you chewed your lip nervously. This is it. As you walked out the door of the bar, the cool autumn air hit your face, and you took a deep breath. 

“You know, I had this big speech planned. I dreamed of the day I’d be able to meet someone, and tell them all about how I had been waiting for this day for years. And even though there’s the smallest, microscopic chance of me meeting them, I finally did. I met them. My soulmate.” You pulled the set of keys out of your pocket. “I believe these are yours. As is my necklace, according to Rossi.”

“So the extra remote I found in my living room, that was yours.” 

“That’s where it went! I really went out and had to buy a new remote, that was so annoying.” You two laughed and a comfortable silence fell over you. 

“Y/N-“

“Emily-“

“You first.” You smiled. 

“If I were to ask you on a date, let’s say for tomorrow, would you say yes?”

“I like to think I’m a pretty good cook, props to Rossi for the recipes he taught me. And I’ve finally got my Wi-Fi fixed. Dinner and a movie?” You stepped closer to her. “And maybe,” you gripped Emily’s jacket and pulled her to you. Your eyes flicked down to her lips then back to her eyes. Emily nodded and suddenly your lips were on hers. 

You always heard about that first kiss soulmates shared. How it felt like two became one, how in that moment you knew you were where you belonged. Your kiss with Emily? God, it was so much better than that. Neither you or Emily would ever forget this kiss for the rest of your lives. 

———

Some time later….

“Move over, Serg. Pretty sure she’s my girlfriend, not yours.” You settled onto the couch, balancing a bowl of popcorn, careful of the black cat taking over the couch. “Diva.” You tapped the cat’s nose lightly, and Sergio swatted at your hand before he jumped off the couch and wandered off. 

“You can’t be mean to my child, it’s against the rules.” You shot a playful glare at Emily and covered your body in a blanket, the bowl in your lap. 

“Your child? Excuse me, he’s ours.”

“Too bad he likes me more.” There was a taunting tone to her voice and you huffed.

“Alright, Prentiss. You just lost popcorn privileges because of that comment.” Emily wrapped her arms around your waist and pulled you into her, and you squealed before laughing. “Get off me!”

“Oh, you love me.” 

“I tolerate you.” You buried yourself into Emily’s side, tucked in between her and the couch, the bowl now in front of her. Emily poked your side and you giggled softly. “What’s tonight’s movie, Em?”

“50 First Dates. Penelope acted like I insulted her personally whenever I told her I haven’t seen it.” 

“Well we can’t disappoint our girl much longer. Press play, birthday girl.” 

By the end of the movie, Emily had fallen asleep. Sergio was curled up at the end of the couch, and Emily’s back was pressed to your chest. You pressed a gentle kiss to her neck before you laid back and closed your eyes. 

“Goodnight, lover. Happy birthday.”

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