#i always found it so cool how they kept subverting tropes

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

oh goddamn ive never met a fellow magisterium enjoyer before 🤝🤝🤝

Magisterium is one of my favorite trilogies!! (if I don't acknowledge The Silver Mask or The Golden Tower I can pretend that they don't exist)

[turtle-go-brrrr]

4 times Leonardo was a dork and the time he wasn’t

Heya! I adore the "strong stoic character does something embarrassing or dumb" trope, and Leo has been left behing from that one. Also, my fervent Leo Simp Friend said these were all good ideas and I trust his judgment completely, so it's also for him. Enjoy, you Dork-ass Looser (affectionate) @weird-flex-but-ok

I have one of these "4 times ______ and 1 time ______" stories for each of them, I just got really inspired by him all of a sudden. But they're coming!

There might be a few typos here and there, but I really don't wanna wait any longer to post it :3

Requested: No

Pairing: None, platonic

Word count: 2500 +

Triggers: cursing, injuries, blood, intrusion

Summary: You were always sort of intimidated by the leader in blue, but a series of events shows you he might not be as serious as he wants you to think.

__________________________________________

First time

It took you a while to get along with all of them.

Not because you didn't trust them, or because they made it difficult, and certainly not because they're mutants. You're just not that good with new people, and you tend to shy away. Especially when you have New York's heroes in front of you.

So yeah. It took a while. But soon enough, you warmed up to your new friends, and you had a great time. Mikey was the first who made you feel welcomed, always asking questions about you and insisting you came to the lair in the first place. Donnie followed soon, after you started asking about what he was working on. It took a bit more work to get closer to Raph, but it turns out sarcasm was the way to go.

If only their leader was as approachable.

He never made you feel unsafe or unwelcomed, don’t get me wrong, he just kept a professional distance with you, which started to become quite painful as time went on. You tried not to take it personally, thinking he maybe was as shy as you were.

You had time anyway.

It was early in the evening when you made your way to the lair. For the first time since you met the turtles, you went there alone. You were a little nervous, thinking you might get lost in the maze of tunnels under the city, but figured you could just call someone if anything happened. Lucky for you, you found your way to your friend’s place, but not without hustle.

As you entered, you realized it was uncharacteristically quiet. The only sounds you could here were the faint music and the not so faint curses from Donatello’s lab. The smart decision seemed to be leave him alone, which is exactly what you did.

You haven’t been here long enough to know where to find the others, and as you didn’t exactly felt like staying alone in the living space, you tried finding your way to the dojo, as it was one of the other places you knew well.

Of course, now you got lost. Venturing into the sewers was fine, but walking into your friend's home wasn't, apparently.

You found something else, however. This particular tunnel led to a room you could identify as someone's room. You could see the large bed in the middle of the room, a small table with a bottle of water, a book, and a makeshift alarm. A set of twin swords were hanging on the right wall, just above a small bookshelf.

On your left was another table with a (healthy, you noted) bonsai tree, and next to that was Leonardo, facing a mirror. He had his right arm lifted up to his head, and was looking right to you through the mirror.

He looked absolutely horrified.

What the fuck.

He slowly rubbed his face in his hands, let out a long sigh, and turned to you, more tense than you've ever seen him. He cleared his throat as you pince your lips in a thin line to hold back a smile.

"Hello, Y/N. I... didnt think you'd come in so early."

Despite the badly lit room, you can see him bite the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah, uh, I didnt mean to... interrupt you," you say. Your voice is slightly shaking as it takes all of your willpower not to burst out laughing. And he definitely notices.

"You didn't! I uh, wasn't doing anything anyway. So, tell me- what brings you to the lair?" He asks, avoiding your eyes.

"Oh, Mikey invited me, he said I wasnt allowed to skip on movie night. You know how strong willed he is," you smirks, unable to handle it much longer.

Stiff as a board, you see the corner of his mouth twitching and hear him whisper, "... I wasn't flexing."

Silence.

You snort laugh hard enough to choke on it as you quickly turn around to hold yourself against the wall, the insanity of the situation crashing on you. Leo sat at the foot of his bed, head in his hands, and you could see him shake in repressed laughter once you wiped your tears away.

You sit next to him after finally calming down from the hysteria. He sighs, straightens his back and gives you a side glance.

"I'm not judging."

"You're still laughing, though."

"Yeah, but like, I guess I just wasn't expecting that. Still not judging."

He nods, still smiling. His voice is at least 3 octaves higher when he asks, "Please, don't tell the others."

"And what, give them the privilege of knowing about your little... ritual? Nah, don't worry about it."

_______________________

Second time

The second time your assumptions about the leader were subverted happended only two weeks after the... incident.

You had invited the whole crew to your place for the very first time, and they were all excited to come. You made a copious dinner: a few veggie cakes, chicken wings and a bowl of roasted potatoes. They were supposed to bring the drinks and movies, and April and Casey were in charge of the desert.

A perfect night, it seemed.

And it would have been if they could decide what to watch first without jumping at each other's throats.

"You guys need to grow up."

"Leave me out of thi-"

"Donnie's suggesting Velocipastor of all things and you think we need to grow up? Come on, Y/N, I thought you were better than that."

"Okay, first of all, how dare you. And second, this movie's a masterpie-"

"Yeah, because everyone knows that his supremior intellect means he's the only one who gets to choose a dumb movie. Why won't you guys watch Sharknado?"

"Supremior isn't a word. And it's because unlike you, peasants, I have taste." A devilish smile creeps up Donnie's face. The bastard is doing it on purpose.

"Peasants?!"

"You ugly-ass son of a-"

"Hey! Leave Dad out of this!"

"We could watch Shrek instead?"

You decided to go get some glasses in the kitchen, leaving the children to their stupid fight. Searching through your cupboard, you hear a crashing sound, quickly followed by utter and complete silence.

Oh no.

In insight, leaving them alone was maybe not the best idea. You were reconsidering bringing glasses into the mess as you made your way to the origin of the sound. And what a mess it was.

Your friends were all expressing shock in some way, Casey (surprisingly) being the most dramatic of them all with his hands right in front of his face and his jaw hanging open. They were all looking back and forth between you and another direction near the table.

The really cool bowl that held the delicious potatoes you made was broken on the floor. There was glass and potatoes everywhere, but the biggest shards were in a neat pile, right behind Leonardo, who looked like a deer in headlights.

"... nothing happended."

"I'm... starting to think it's a habit of yours," you say as you watch him not so discretely try to hide the broken pieces behind his foot.

"Look, if you keep putting your foot in there you're gonna hurt yourself. Just, step away a bit, will you?"

"I'm sorry I broke it. Let me help you clean up, I don't want you to cut yourself."

"It's okay! Don't touch it, I'll get a bag," you say as he starts to gather the biggest shards.

Won't even listen for one second, will he?

Raph was already picking up the untouched potatoes to put them in the plates on the table, and April went to the kitchen with you to retrieve the bag and cleaning supplies.

"Ew, Mikey don't eat that."

"Thirty seconds rule, baby."

"It's five seconds, you moron. And it's way over thirty anyway. Spit it out."

The rest of the night went on without further issues, but Leo still looked apologetic during the movie. Which is probably why he was standing before you as his brothers were leaving.

"Thank you for the evening. And I'm... sorry again for the bowl."

"Hey it's okay, man. Don't worry about it. As long as no one gets hurt it's not that big of a deal."

"I'll get you a new one." He doesn't wait for your answer and ruffles your hair before taking off.

"Text me when you guys get home!" You scream into the night, hoping one of them heard you.

______________________

Third time

It's surprisingly easy to mess with Fearless.

You were in the living room, getting your ass beat on Mario Kart by Mikey, when you decided to take a break for your stomach (and ego)’s sake. You made your way to the kitchen, where Leo and Raph were in a heated discussion. Raph looked

“I’m telling you, 4 inches is too small. What do you get from 4 inches ? Nothing. But 10 inches ? It really makes you feel something.”

…

What?

You looked down on the table and saw multiple ingredients lined up on the table, with a long piece of bread on the side.

Oh, sandwiches. Got it.

Leo’s back was facing you, but Raph gave you a knowing glance, one that said ‘do it’. So, you did. Not without a smirk, first.

“Oh, wow, Leo ! I didn’t think you’d be so open about that kind of conversations.” You open the fridge, hoping you can hide your smile behind the door.

“What ? What do you m-” His face falls. Raph starts chuckling next to you and it looks like Leo’s brain is rebooting. 

“I mean, I’m not judging. You do you, buddy, I’m happy for you. Just surprised you choose lunch time to talk about it.” And in other circumstances, you’d mean every word. But right now, messing with your friend is too good to pass on.

“No, hold on- I didnt mean- It’s not what you think ! I’m talking about sandwiches !” He tries to show you the ingredients currently on the table, but Raph decides it’s time to join the fun.

“Lying isn’t vey Bushido of you, Honor Boy,” he winks at you and you can’t repress a giggle.

He puts his face in his hands, knowing very well that the both of you ganged up on him but unable to save face. He just smiles, goes back on his chair and hides his head in his arms, hoping you won’t see how embarassed you made him.

“Hey, you like what you like. Have fun with your sandwiches.” You give him an innocent smile, pat him twice on the shoulder, and join Mikey back on the couch with a plate of grapes.

You could hear Raph’s light chuckle from the kitchen.

______________________

Fourth time

Mornings are hard.

And they’re even worse when you spent the whole night sewing an arm back together after a sword gave it a nasty cut. And getting glass shards off of your friend’s shell. And putting a bone back in it’s rightful place after a particularly bad fall.

Yeah. Long night. And a tense one, too.

Because with the physical pain came the chock and residual fears, the anger and blaming. Everyone was stil on guard, and all that tension was exhausting. You barely slept, too worried that one of your friend’s state would degrade if you didn’t keep an eye on them at all times. Which didn’t really help you get the rest you needed.

If you were hoping the morning would be kinder on all of you, you quickly realized that it was a mistake. While, luckily for the turles, the mutagen was already healing their physical wounds, the emotional exhaustion of the previous night was still heavy. Of all of your conscious friends, not one dared break the eerie silence.

It was weird, seeing them like this. But you couldn’t force yourself to say anything, strangely scared of what could happen. You resumed to making breakfast for everyone and bringing clean towels to the still sleeping feverish turtle in the medbay. Splinter and Mikey were at the kitchen table, quietly accepting your offering, when Leo came into the room from the medbay.

He was still half asleep, and in his drowsiness didn’t see the wall he accidentally ran into.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there.”

Everyone turned to Leo, who it took a solid minute of staring blindly at the wall to realize what just happened.

Donnie was the first to laugh. It didn’t take long for april and Mikey to join, soon followed by Splinter affectionately patting his son’s arm. Leo smiled and shook his head, as their lighthearted laugh was contagious.

The leader in blue was more of a goofball than what you first expected, and you were grateful for it in the fading tensions of the morning.

______________________

One time he wasn't

When someone intrudes your home, especially at 4 am when you were sleeping in the next room, a lot of things go through your head.

Did they take anything?

Yes. Your bag with your wallet, some cash, your credit card, your ID, and a few fidelity cards from various stores. Your laptop. A set of keys. That one blanket Raph made you (probably to carry everything without making too much noise).

Why you?

Why not? Your apartment isn't isolated, but it's not exactly on a main street either. It was probably practical for them.

Were they armed?

Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. Statistically, most likely.

What could have happened if you had tried to confront them?

A lot of things. Maybe, if you let them know you were awake and knew what was going on, without necessarily confronting them, it would have been enough to make them run away. Or maybe there were multiple armed people, and they wouldn't hesitate to use force if necessary.

Who knows.

Can the police find this person?

Statistically? No. At least, that's what Casey told you when you asked him. Unless they got really lucky, they won't find anything.

Or at least the stuff they stole?

Again, unlikely. Unless they can trace your laptop back to the guy, or someone can give a physical description and a direction, there's not a lot they can do.

What can you do now?

Call your bank. And your insurance. And your landlord. Let them know what happened and follow their directive, they'll guide you through their procedure and help you soften the blow.

Casey was the first person you called when you woke up this night, and he was at your place within minutes with two other colleagues (the closest he could find). He spent the rest of the night reassuring you, helping you with the phone calls, asking around for witnesses, but nothing.

It's weird, feeling unsafe for the first time in a place you had called Home for years. It's disturbing. You can feel the nausea your anxiety is giving you, and a headache starts to grow at the back of your skull.

You don't really like this feeling.

So when your turtle friends dropped by the next evening without telling you and you welcomed them with a swing of your favorite pan, let's just say reactions were split.

"I can hack into your computer to find its location if you want. Wouldn't be the first time."

"What?"

"What? I mean, I didn't do it for your location last time. I know all about your search history, though."

"We're gonna have a talk about boundaries and privacy once we're done dealing with that," you sigh. You crash down on the couch next to your friend and mindlessly watch him work.

Leo comes up to you and gently nudges your shoulder. "Hey, do you have a toolbox somewhere? We brought locks to put on your door and windows. You know, just in case."

You nod, quiet, and lead him to your room where you keep most of the most useful stuff you own, including but not limited to a toolbox and a first aid kit.

Your movements were almost mechanical as you retrieved the box and handed it to him, and you decided to help him put up the locks to keep your mind occupied.

He was concerned. You looked like you were still in choc, which he could completely understand. Getting robbed is awful in itself, but getting robbed while you're sleeping in the next room? Horrific, in his mind.

He was also furious. He couldn't be there for you. This person had the nerves to go after his friend, and what if you got hurt? He wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

He noticed he was staring when your eyes met his.

"Hey. We're gonna do whatever we can to find them. We're also gonna focus our patrols in your neighborhood for at least a few weeks, until you feel better," he puts a hand on your shoulder. "It's gonna be okay Y/N. Trust me."

You look up to him, and when you look into his eyes, you know he means it. You let your head fall against his plastron as he holds you against him, a silent promise for safety.

"Hey shorty," Raph pulls his head into the crack of the door to address you. "Wanna learn how to fight? I can turn you into a death machine."

You heard the faint "Raph, what the fuck" coming from Mikey who was still in the living room.

You gave a small laugh as you got up, Leo following you closely to the living room.

"Hey! Fighting isn't for everyone. But I could make you a really cool taser, if you want."

"What's with you and tasers?"

"They're efficient."

The bell ringed and April came in holding 4 boxes of pizza, that Mikey assisted her with as soon as she set a foot inside.

You looked around at your friends as April brandished the pizzas like a trophy while Raph and Donnie went back and forth trying to decide who, between man power and electricity, would win in a fight.

And you realized that yes, Leo was right.

It's gonna be okay.

[ltleflrt]

So I was having a conversation on Discord about omegaverse tonight, and my brain won’t shut up about it, because as usual I come up with my arguments after the discussion is over.  I should have been asleep 3 hours ago, but it’s hot and I can’t unwind, so I’m going to stay up EVEN LATER while the a/c brings things down a few degrees, and I try to get these thoughts out of my head.

I was pro-omegaverse, and trying to explain why *I personally* like the genre, and why I think even with it’s problematic origins and frequently used elements, it’s still a cool genre.  I was essentially having 2 discussions, but they were both using my answers to their questions, even though I was usually addressing them 1 at a time.  That happens when you’re in a Discord chat, and I wasn’t @ing my answers to them, since we were all in the room together.  And I think that cunfuddled the discussion and my thoughts.  So here’s a breakdown.

Issue 1. Biological Essentialism is gross and rapey.

Answer:  Yes, it is.  But so what?  Some people like pure rape-fantasy.  Is it healthy?  That can be argued either way, and it definitely depends on the person writing, or the person reading.  People like gross and rapey stories to get their rocks off.  Whether we like non-con or not, rape fics should be allowed to exist because some people like it.  It doesn’t matter if I think their reasons are valid.  As long as they’re not actively trying to harm someone, let people get down and dirty with their rapey fantasies.

Also, the whole biological imperative to mate isn’t that far off from Soulmate AUs.  Truemates = Soulmates.  Whether we like Soulmate AUs or not, are we also arguing that they shouldn’t exist because they’re problematic?  No, we’re not.  Soulmate AUs are romantic for a lot of people.  Let people have their uncomplicated, fluffy, 1 Destined Love stories.

Something to keep in mind though, is that not all omegaverse fics use the true mate trope.  And quite a lot of fics have characters with a lot more self control during their mating cycles than what you’d find in the short smutty one shots.  It’s common for them to avoid each other during heats, and only share their mating cycle as an act of love, trust, and devotion.  After they’ve been dating for a while.  (I love it when the alpha brings over snacks and water for the omega, and immediately hightails it out of there once they get a whiff of their sexy love interest.  “Take care of yourself, text me when you feel better, loveyoubye! *nyoooom*”)

Issue 2. It’s transphobic.

Answer:  This one is harder to argue, because yeah.  It can be.  But so can non-omegaverse.  Transphobia is, unfortunately, everywhere.  Exploring human gender through non-human gendered beings isn’t a bad thing though.  Cis people should be allowed to explore those things too.  This is step 1 to fighting the Patriarchy.  Questioning it.  Someone may come out of the experience still cis, but they’re going to be more open minded to trans people.  Not to mention, all the trans and enby folks who probably figured themselves out through the gender exploration to be found in omegaverse.

Now, if someone’s into omegaverse and they tell you they won’t read a story about a trans character?  Red flag.

Personally, I like the gender exploration in omegaverse.  Not just in the hormonal stuff, although I do kinda love the idea of seeing cis male characters suffer cramps once a month lol... but I like the stuff about social inequality that women have to go through mapped onto a male character.

I brought this up in the chat, and my use of the term “women’s issues” raised a terfy flag I think, which upset me and made it harder to make my point.  Cuz if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s terfy.  But I do see women’s issues as also trans issues.  Trans Men are treated differently after they start to present as male.  There’s a marked difference between their treatment as a woman pre-transition, and as a man afterwards.  And they still have to be really careful about accidental pregnancy.  I cannot fathom how awful the dysphoria would be for them if they get pregnant.  Trans Women are treated horribly pre-transition if they give any hint of feminine interests.  There’s a reason “girly” is an insult, and it’s because Toxic Masculinity Is The Worst.  And then when they transition?  Hooooboy, gods bless those ladies because Trans Women are treated worse than Cis Women on the social pyramid.  And Enbies?  Oh you sweet things, how the hell do you deal with the rest of us bastards? 

When I say that I am interested in seeing the characters I like deal with women’s issues, I am talking about social inequality, not just periods and cramps (although that a little bit too, because I wish a cis man could just fucking UNDERSTAND why I need a goddamn nap okay? lol), but also sexual health rights, including birth control, including the right to choose whether or not to take hormones, the right to equal pay, the right to equal education.  Feminism, for me, includes trans and enby folks at the table. 

But anyway, the characters I like right now just happen to be men.  I see Dean as a man.  That could mean he’s a trans man too, because trans men are men, yo.  Castiel I see either as a man or non-binary.  So if I want to put them through “women’s issues”, I have to plunk them in a special universe for that.  No one is writing Matriarchy AUs, so Omegaverse it is!

(Side note: If my OTP were f/f, I’d still like omegaverse.  And I could see lots of interesting ways to use all those same tropes for 2 female presenting characters.  So it has nothing to do with genitalia.  Unless it’s smut.  But I swing all the ways, so still not an issue for me lol)

(Side note part deux: I like to read trans stories too.  They have unique things about them that cannot be found in stories about cis characters, even in omegaverse.  And when I see Dean and Cas as men or enby, I’m not putting down people who like them gender flipped.  I just see myself enjoying Trans Woman Claire dating Enby Kaia, more than I’d like to see Dean or Cas written as cis/trans-women.)

Issue 3.  Internalized misogyny!

Answer: This is an argument used against women shipping m/m in general, and has nothing to do with omegaverse.  It just so happens that omegaverse was created for m/m pairings.  But there are TONS of reasons we ship more m/m than any other pairings, ranging from those are the most interesting characters presented to us, to--yes--internalized misogyny.  But I’m tired of that one.  Internalized misogyny is rampant, and telling women that their fantasies are problematic isn’t going to cure them.  There’s better ways to go about it. 

Omegaverse now covers m/f and f/f pairings as well, sooooo... yeah, this one just doesn’t hold water like it used to.  We just need to yoink the media out of the hands of the cis-men who are mostly in charge, and make them give us more compelling women to ship.

Issue 4: That’s not how human bodies work.

Answer: They’re not human lol!  Okay but real talk here.  This issue actually sounds transphobic to me, because it strikes very close to the XX vs XY chromosomes argument.  Omegaverse characters have intersex variations.  Alpha females and Omega males can have both a penis and a vagina in some fics.  It depends on how the author wants to write it, of course.  I usually go with the (horrifying) cloaca for omega males, and the (hyena inspired) psueudo-penis for alpha females instead, but to each writer their own lol

But again... not human.  Let wet buttholes be a thing, lube is expensive and sometimes the bottle gets tangled in the sheets, and you have to stop what you’re doing to find it and... anyway, convenience in fantasy sex is nice lol

In Conclusion: 

Personally, I only like non-traditional omegaverse.  The stuff that subverts the “problematic” tropes.  I was asked what I liked about the genre, and when I explained, it devolved into discussion of the topics above.  But I think what was forgotten in that discussion, was that I kept saying I don’t like the “problematic” things.  I like flipping the tropes.  Which I like in general, when I’m looking for things to read.  I mean, how many Castiel Thinks He’s Straight fics are there?  Not many!  So I wrote one!  Because flipping tropes is my jam! 

I don’t like Soulmate AUs, but with the proper twist I can still enjoy it.  I don’t like Highschool AUs, but I’ve read some that touched me so deeply I still think of them years later.  There’s always someone subverting the tropes I don’t like and turning them into something I do like.

And yet even though I kept saying I liked the subversion of the genre, the discussion kept coming back around to the parts of omegaverse that I *don’t* like.  I will still defend anyone’s right to like the parts of it that aren’t for me though, so I argued away XD

And? Sometimes I like the dark problematic stuff when I’m in the mood to get my rocks off.  Don’t judge, you’re all a little weird in some way or another ;D

Anywho, now that I got this stuff off my chest, hopefully I can sleep.  It has also cooled down by like 4 degrees, and I no longer feel like I’m going to melt in my sleep.  Tomorrow is going to suck, because I have to get up in 5 hours.  Yay!

[my-happy-little-bean]

The Bookkeeper – Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Dispossessed

pairings: logan/patton (logicality), roman/virgil (prinxiety) words: 3399 chapter warnings: mild swearing, arguments chapter summary: with one sunrise comes a sunset.

[read on ao3] [masterlist]

< previous chapter

—

For the next couple of days, Logan felt like he was walking on clouds. 

He glowed pretty much anywhere he went, leaving a dainty trail of blue magic dust behind each step. It felt as though the stars themselves were following him. 

Since the night of the movie, Logan and Patton have been inseparable. Each day was a new adventure that not only Logan embarked on, but Patton as well. Together, they pieced together the fragments of Logan’s question — not to the point where he was able to write about any of it (everything he came up with was too annoyingly optimistic with not enough patched holes to make something interesting), but really, he had little time to write much nowadays.

Patton consumed his vision at almost any given moment. When he turned to grab a book off a shelf, Patton was already doing it for him. When he rolled over to the middle of the bed after a restful night, Patton was there, softly snoring beside him. When he blinked, there was Patton, alongside the feeling of blossoming flowers in his stomach. 

And he found himself mere weeks before the university conference, but he couldn’t care less. All that mattered was that he was filled with a feeling — one of butterflies and light and the kind of magic that would flicker in a child’s eye, except now it’s right in front of him. 

On one of the afternoons in particular, Logan found himself flipping in and out of Virgil Aries’ book, idly writing and, soon after, crossing out any progress he made. He wasn’t necessarily stuck—he had many avenues to go down—but he was swarming with so much new knowledge, he didn’t quite know where to start. 

He levitated another book across the room with ease and brought it to him, just as the door opened.

“Heya, Lo!” Patton beamed. Logan felt his shoulders relax as he set the book aside. 

“Hello, dear.” He walked over to Patton and kissed his cheek. “How are you?” 

“Excited to see you!” Patton giggled. “What are you working on?"

Logan’s eyes lit up as he pointed to a few books on the counter, and lifted all of them into the air in a flurry of blue dust. Patton’s eyes went wide with awe as Logan let them circle around their heads, flawlessly flipping through each one and explaining the many ideas he had scrawled on sticky notes, which poked out of each book.

Halfway through his ramble, he heard someone clearing his throat behind one of the books. He frowned, swiping his hand downwards in the air and letting the book dip down in motion. 

Behind the floating book was Roman, arms crossed with a slight frown. Logan smiled sheepishly. 

“Ah! Roman, you’re up.” He quickly made a brushing gesture with his hands, and the books scattered back onto the shelves. “I hope I didn’t wake you, heh.” 

“I just rearranged the books yesterday,” Roman grumbled, but shook his head. “And you didn’t wake me, I sleep as soundly as Aurora herself.” 

Patton laughed, waving at Roman. “Hi!” 

Roman narrowed his eyes at Patton and gave him a tired, but present, smile. 

“Ah, Patton! Hello!” He let out a small yawn. “Just the person I woke up for.” 

Patton tilted his head. Even Logan frowned, equally confused. Roman stared at both of them, deadpanned, and sighed.

“It’s book nook day, remember? You said last week that you’d rather have it today…?”

“Oh!” Patton looked at Logan with a frown. “Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about the book nook. I know we had–”

“Do you guys have plans?” Roman cut in, face twisted with disappointment. Logan concealed his wince.

 “No, no, we can always postpone.”

 Patton’s frown deepened. 

“Are you sure? You’ve been looking forward to this opening ever since we booked tickets…” 

“Janus can give us their own tour at a later time.” Logan took Patton’s hand into his own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Besides, we may still be able to catch the opening depending on how long you are in the book nook with Roman.” 

“Oh, not long at all!” Patton said, perking back up. Logan grimaced. Roman was steaming red, even without his magic. 

“I sincerely don’t want to interrupt.” 

Logan opened his mouth to protest before Patton’s eyes widened. 

“Hey! I have a nifty idea.” He turned on his heel to face Logan. “How about you come with us?” 

A beat of silence. Logan let the idea, and its implications, settle into his chest. It’s been...years, and it felt even longer than that. The last book nook he had been in...goodness, he didn’t even know what it was, but he knew it was his grandfather’s choice, because his grandfather was still around. 

Even Roman, all hard feelings aside, gave Logan a worried look. 

“I– I’m sure Logan has other things to do, Patton. Right, Lo? Don’t you have any writing to catch up on–” 

“No,” Logan blurted out. Roman and Patton exchanged glances. Logan straightened himself up, clearing his throat and smiling at Patton. “I...I would love to join you both.” 

Patton broke into a wide grin. Logan then looked at Roman, almost searching his face for any semblance of approval. Instead, he was met with a tight, almost bitter smile. 

“That settles it!” Roman clapped his hands together. “Time for an extra special adventure, then! I would never have expected it to be like this, but...well, here we are…” 

Roman flew past bookshelves and searched for possible books. As he did so, Logan felt Patton’s hand find his own. 

“Hey,” Patton murmured. “Are you okay? I’m sorry for kinda jumping the gun a bit there, heh.”

“No, I’m...I’m fine.” 

Patton frowned. “You don’t really have to come with us– I mean, I’d be thrilled, but obviously if you’re not comfortable…” 

“No, no.” Logan brought Patton’s hand to his lips in a soft kiss. “I will be okay with you.” 

Patton nodded, gently resting his head against Logan’s shoulder. Roman levitated a few books onto the front counter. 

“Okay, so we have a few options here.” He juggled each book in the air over his head as he described them. “We got swash-buckling adventures, architectural wonders– ooh, this one’s in a series of books detailing the adventures a guy who solves moral dilemmas in his living room and is helped by the physical manifestations of his personality– it’s lacked new installments as of late, but it’s still fun...” 

“Ah! Wait a moment.” Logan reached over Roman’s head and grabbed one of the books hovering in the air. He brought it closer to the eye's view and smiled. “How about this one?” 

Roman flew to rest on Logan’s shoulder, reading the title aloud. 

“Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. ” He glared at Logan. “Really? Kinda old, isn’t it?” 

“I suppose, though I remember my grandfather reading this one to me sometimes.” Logan turned the cover to read the synopsis. “ ‘An ambiguous utopia’...” 

“It sounds cool!” Patton said, grabbing Logan’s arm and pulling himself closer to Logan’s side. He scanned the synopsis alongside Logan. “All about the future and different planets and stuff– I don’t know if we’ve visited a sci-fi book before!” 

“Hmm, fine. I don’t know what I expected from Sir Geeks-A-Lot, but whatever!” 

Roman motioned for Logan to set the book open on the counter. He floated off of Logan’s shoulder and went to kneel on the pages, pressing his hands on the words below him. Roman looked down. His hands were starting to glow red, but ended up flickering in and out. 

“Come on… ” 

“Everything okay?” Patton asked. Logan looked over at Roman in keen curiosity, but Roman waved him off. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Roman kept his stare glued to the page, muttering to himself, “Maybe I just need a running start…” 

He cleared his throat. 

“ ‘ It was the most beautiful view Shevek had ever seen’, ” Roman read aloud. “ ‘ The tenderness and vitality of the colours, the mixture of rectilinear human design and powerful, profligate natural contours’... ”

Words slowly began to lift into the air and weaved themselves in Roman’s faded, but pulsing, red magic. Logan, almost instinctively, held close to Patton, whose eyes were fixated on the swirling words around them. In the corner of Logan’s vision, he swore he saw a skyline. 

“ ‘The variety and harmony of the elements gave an impression of complex wholeness as he had never seen, except, perhaps, foreshadowed on a small scale in certain serene and thoughtful human faces’. ” 

Roman squeezed his eyes shut and finished his excerpt: “ ‘ This is what a world is supposed to look like’.”

And when Logan blinked, he was no longer in his shop. 

Instead, he found himself standing on a hill overlooking a city skyline, double helixes of what he assumed were roads suspended in the air and circling some spires. A rising sun peeked through the tall building; and a faded, but ever present, moon eclipsed the sky, larger than life and persistent in the morning glow. 

But this city was miles away from where he were. The grassy hill beneath his feet was lush and soft, and swayed gently in the wind. He looked behind him and saw a glimpse of a forest that lined his vision, which was filtered in warm colours; a stark contrast from any city he had ever visited. 

And it was here , all of it. Logan reached his hand out and there it was: air from a different world. He was really here, in the middle of someone’s mind and creation. He was here. 

“Wow,” Patton breathed out beside him. “This is so cool.” 

“Le Guin has been known for her world building, grand and sprawling with rich imagery,” Roman hummed. He flopped on the book and exhaled slowly. “She was quite brilliant. Subverted a lot of typical speculative fiction tropes, especially for her time.” Roman smiled. “And she made these really good muffins…” 

Roman’s words were drowned out by Logan’s mind as he turned around slowly in his place, capturing each landmark in his mind. It was all real. He was really in Urras– Le Guin’s interplanetary utopia– and he was really in her book. 

“Lo?” Patton placed his hand on his shoulder. Logan jolted upon contact. “You’ve been quiet for a while...are you...okay?” 

“I’m...I…” Logan took a deep breath and faced Patton with a shaky smile. In the distance, he swore he could hear the voice of his grandfather lingering in the air and continuing where Roman left off.

“I’m here,” he finally said. “I’m really here.” 

“ Duh .” Roman laughed from where he laid on the book. “I told you, you’ve been missing out.” He smiled smugly. “Still think there’s nothing in books, Specs?” 

Logan shook his head, not answering Roman as he sat down on the grass beside the laid out book. Patton joined him, watching the sun rise over the horizon.

“I can’t believe it was real,” Logan whispered. It was an illogical thing to say– of course book nooks were real– but he hadn’t been truly immersed in one for so long. Their existence barely flickered in the back of his mind. 

“Just enjoy the view,” Roman murmured from beside him. For a moment, Logan thought Roman sounded almost proud – whether in himself or Logan, he couldn’t quite tell. 

They sat there in relative silence for a few moments, only interrupted by Logan conjuring up a sketchpad and a pencil for Patton when inspiration had struck him. But he relished in the quiet, in the whispering winds that carried a story Logan now knew better. He rested his head on Patton’s shoulder and soaked in the company, feeling an absence that was buried deep in his chest become full. 

“And what have you been up to these past few days?” Patton asked, snapping Logan out of his stupor. He hadn’t even realized that Patton and Roman were talking. 

He looked down to see Roman fiddling with his thumbs. 

“Nothing much.” Roman averted his glance from both of them. “I’ve just...done a bit of soul-searching, I guess you can say.” 

Logan furrowed his brow, but said nothing. Patton obliviously nodded along. 

“Right! That sounds fun!” 

“Yeah, heh. Gotta have something else to do other than cleaning the book nooks.” Roman sighed wistfully. “It’s not a bad gig though. Plus, if someone doesn’t visit them for too long, they start to get a bit grey, heh.” 

“Grey?” Patton tilted his head. Logan decidedly tuned into the conversation, intrigued. 

“Not exactly,” Roman said. “They just...well, they lose their soul.” 

Patton gaped. “They what?! ” 

“I don’t know if you ever mentioned this before,” Logan said, looking at Roman. Beside him, Patton mumbled a whole list of books he vowed to visit. 

Roman shrugged. “You never asked. Besides, it rarely happens. Reading the book is usually good enough, but visiting its nook kind of gives its soul a bit more of a kick.” 

“So all books have a soul?” Patton asked, leaning forward. Roman nodded. 

“Yup! Stories are people, and people are stories — and souls keep both alive.” Roman smiled softly, looking up at the skyline. “There are multiple parts that make up a soul, which is why you’re able to open different kinds of book nooks in one book. Some books have souls with fragments of knowledge, fragments of adventure and exploration; there are even some books with a soul so powerful that it could breathe life into its author.” 

“ Wow ,” Patton awed. “So...souls are real.” 

“Of course they are, padré!” Roman flew off Patton’s shoulder and hovered in the air in front of him and Logan. He pressed his hands together until they glowed red and pulled them apart, revealing a lively scene of books opening and letting out pencils and scrolls, airplanes and a solar system, hearts breaking and forming and pulsing with light. 

“A good book has a soul that even those who are blind to magic can sense,” Roman continued, balancing each image in the air before they fizzled out. Roman pressed his hands together. “All I do is enhance them so they become physical manifestations. That’s why I usually only bring out landscapes. There’s very few books that have a soul of life. Not to say most books are bad, it’s just that it takes a lot of passion. And for myself, it takes a lot of energy. So I don’t get to do it very often, heh.” 

Logan perked up. “Is that the aforementioned ‘powerful soul’ then? Passion?” 

Roman nodded. “Mhm. An author can usually write one in their whole lifetime, and sometimes not even that.”

Logan’s mind raced, the new knowledge buzzing in his veins like a flame running down a sparkler.

A visit a day before the nook goes grey. 

A soul so powerful that it could breathe life into its author. 

Books that have a soul of life. 

Passion . You need passion; you need revolutionary, blow-the-people’s-minds-in-ten-years passion. You need someone who has spent all their life wondering and wondering, and then you can–

The gears in Logan’s head stopped turning with a loud click! Logan’s eyes widened. 

“So you can bring back Virgil Aries.” 

A beat of silence.

(A building falls in the distance. No one sees this, but it does, Roman knows it does, it does with a crash and it kills the budding life beneath it, it crashes against xylophone ribcages and reverbreates the sound of a heart shattering again, Roman fucking swore he’d never let his heart drop this far again but it does, it does with a rattling clang, it does with the force of the storms that passed over the home he died in, he died, he died without knowing– he died and came back knowing, but he can’t go back, he just can’t .)

“What are you talking about?” Patton stared at Logan with wide eyes as Logan stood up, pacing back and forth across the hill. 

“I…” Roman blinked, falling to the ground in a clumsier way than usual. For the first time in a long time, Roman looked lost for words. 

“I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it?” Logan continued. “I read Virgil Aries’ book everyday– sure, I don’t ever visit its book nook, sure, but that shouldn’t matter because Virgil Aries’ book is rich with his passion– it was his life’s work.”

“It wasn’t his–”

“Do you know what this means, Patton?” Logan ignored Roman and instead outstretched his hand towards Patton, who took it and hesitantly stood up alongside him. “It means that we can ask him questions — questions that maybe he never got to answer in his life– Patton , I could know everything. ”

“Love, I don’t think–” 

Logan pulled away from Patton and knelt on the ground in front of Roman. 

“Roman, please , we have to try.”

“I– I can’t just do this for some speech , Logan–” 

“This goes beyond just ‘some speech’, Roman. I– I could publish this, I could finish Virgil Aries’ work– with his permission of course, just– just imagine what we could learn from him if we just had a moment of his time. ” 

Logan felt himself vibrate with energy, catching a glimpse of his hands glowing blue in the reflection of Roman’s irises. Roman stumbled back, almost horrified, and turned away from Logan, shaking his head.

“The world can do without a couple of sad saps running around and placing seeds of doubt in people who are just trying to get by,” Roman said, bitterness dripping from his voice. 

Logan gritted his teeth. 

“Okay, Roman. Say nothing happens to my work. Say it goes nowhere. What if I just want to talk to him? Is that really so important to admit? What if I just want to talk to the person who built the foundation of my thinking. If you have the resources and energy you need to do this for me, why can’t you?”

“It’s more complicated than that, Logan–” 

Patton reached out for Logan. “Lo, I think you should just–” 

“I don’t understand, Roman.” A flash of blue darted across his vision. “All you do is open books and– and I don’t know, clean them?! I don’t understand how you can’t just do this one thing– just one thing for me–”

“I do a lot for you!” Roman snapped. Logan froze. 

Behind Roman, Logan swore a piece of the sky fell down onto earth. 

“I do a lot for you, Logan,” Roman hissed again. Logan heard the ground crack beneath him. “I force myself to sit down and listen to you go on and on about a question that goes against the very foundation of my being, yet I support you. I support you through and through, even if I know you know the answer. And I force myself to watch you use some– some stupid philosopher to guide your every purpose in such a small, short life– you don’t even know this person, how could you let them run your fucking life?!”

And suddenly, Logan heard the sound of buildings crashing. He tore his gaze off Roman to see the skyline crumble from miles away, then turned around on his heel to see the forests sinking down into the earth. He felt Patton grab his arm with a yelp, and then in the blink of an eye–

 … 

Logan jolted forward, crashing into a display table and falling onto the ground. Books tumbled down around him, crashing like the pieces of the sky that once filled his vision. 

“Lo? Logan, oh my gosh, are you–” 

Logan blinked, rubbing his head and adjusting his glasses. Replacing the skyline were shelves, and he was on wooden floors, not grassy hills. 

He was back in the shop, and everything was gone , just like that.

He looked up and saw the blurry image of Patton sticking out his hand towards Logan. He shakily took it and pulled himself up. 

“Where did– what–” 

Before Logan could finish, his eyes landed on the shelves behind the front counter. In one second, he saw a blur of red move behind the wooden shelves. He swore the red glared back at him. And in the next second, it was gone.

—

next chapter > 

[mysterioushedgehog]

Awesome close read of bookJaime/bookBrienne relationship.

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/1dl37d/spoilers_all_brienne_and_jaime_an_indepth/

V. Knights in Shining Armor

The previous post in this series demonstrated how Brienne's relationship to Jaime subverts the typical male/female relationship in Westeros. Jaime gave Brienne a sword and a fight instead of roses and kisses. For Brienne, there's much symbolic importance in Jaime's gift of Oathkeeper. It represents a chance for her to redeem herself and Jaime's honor. More importantly, the sword grants her the ability be self-sufficient instead of relying on male gallantry to accomplish her goals (as most women are forced to do).

Another way their relationship subverts gender roles is that Brienne and Jaime have taken turns playing the rescuing knight and maiden to be rescued. At first, the references to traditional gender roles are mostly ironic:

Armed men lined both sides of the brook... “Well met, friends,” [Jaime] called to them amiably. “My pardons if I disturbed you. You caught me chastising my wife.”

“Seemed to me she was doing the chastising.” (ASOS 21/Jaime III)

Later:

After the second time he fell from the saddle, they bound him tight to Brienne of Tarth and made them share a horse again. One day...they bound them face-to-face. “The lovers,” Shagwell sighed loudly, “and what a lovely sight they are. ‘Twould be cruel to separate the good knight and his lady....Ah, but which one is the knight and which one is the lady?” (ASOS 31/Jaime IV)

And:

The eyelid was swollen, but Jaime found he could force it open halfway. Qyburn’s face loomed above. “How did you come by this one?” the maester asked.

“A wench’s gift.”

“Rough wooing, my lord?”

“This wench is bigger than me and uglier than you. You’d best see to her as well. She’s still limping on the leg I pricked when we fought.”

“I will ask after her. What is this woman to you?”

“My protector.” Jaime had to laugh, no matter how it hurt. (ASOS 31/Jaime IV)

Then Jaime does take on the chivalric role of male protector by preventing Brienne from being raped by the Bloody Mummers (ASOS 31/Jaime IV) and rescuing her from the bear in the pit (ASOS 44/Jaime VI). But what distinguishes Brienne and Jaime's relationship from the knight/maiden trope is that they are essentially equal. They've each in turn assumed the role of rescuer and rescued: Brienne saved Jaime from being recaptured by the Starks. Jaime prevented Brienne from being raped. Brienne kept Jaime's spirits up after he lost his hand. Jaime rescued Brienne from the bear pit. Brienne goes off to redeem Jaime's honor. This basic equality was evident when each (amuthingly) kept trying to protect the other in the bear pit:

“What are you doing here?”

“Something stupid. Get behind me.” He circled toward her, putting himself between Brienne and the bear.

“You get behind. I have the sword.”

“A sword with no point and no edge. Get behind me!” (ASOS 44/Jaime VI)

Afterwards, Jaime again ironically casts himself as Brienne's hero, but without the nasty edge:

“Her name is Brienne,” Jaime said. “Brienne, the maid of Tarth. You are still maiden, I hope?”

Her broad homely face turned red. “Yes.”

“Oh, good,” Jaime said. “I only rescue maidens.” (ASOS 44/Jaime VI)

There's always been some mockery mixed in with Jaime's 'flirting'. He behaved similarly to Catelyn Stark while he was a prisoner of war. But at a certain point, he starts to actually care about what Brienne thinks of him. Jaime became aroused in the Harrenhal baths when he saw Brienne naked, though he dismisses it as evidence that he's been celibate too long (ASOS 37/Jaime V). He then tells her his greatest secret though he's not sure why ("Why am I telling this absurd ugly child?" ASOS 37/Jaime V). After he tells Brienne about Aerys's plans to burn down King's Landing with wildfire:

The wench looked ridiculous, clutching her towel to her meager teats with her thick white legs sticking out beneath. “Has my tale turned you speechless? Come, curse me or kiss me or call me a liar. Something.” (ASOS 37/Jaime V)

After that moment of honesty and intimacy (Jaime bares pretty much everything to Brienne) in the bathhouse, he starts to suppress his urge to be mean to her (ASOS 44/Jaime VI). When Brienne learns about the Red Wedding, "She looked so miserable that Jaime almost found himself wanting to comfort her." (ASOS 62/Jaime VII). He even compliments her appearance at one point:

“Blue is a good color on you, my lady,” Jaime observed. “It goes well with your eyes.” She does have astonishing eyes. (ASOS 72/Jaime IX)

To be clear: this isn't simply a case of 'shipping Brienne and Jaime. I think their changing relationship is significant for their character development. Brienne's growing regard for Jaime, a disgraced knight, echoes her disillusionment with knighthood. Jaime's growing regard for Brienne, a naive idealist, has changed his attitude towards knighthood in a positive direction.

Just as he used to defend Cersei from rude remarks, he chivalrously defended Brienne from Ser Ronnet:

Jaime’s golden hand cracked him across the mouth so hard the other knight went stumbling down the steps. His lantern fell and smashed, and the oil spread out, burning. “You are speaking of a highborn lady, ser. Call her by her name. Call her Brienne.” (AFFC 27/Jaime III)

Jaime is so disgusted by Ser Ronnet that he "charged Red Ronnet with the task of delivering Wylis Manderly to Maidenpool, so he would not need to look on him henceforth" (AFFC 30/Jaime IV).

Contrast the above to the deterioration of Jaime's feelings toward Cersei. Back at the beginning of their journey, Jaime defended Cersei against Brienne ("'You will be courteous as concerns Cersei, wench,' he warned her" ASOS 1/Jaime I). But in the Harrenhal baths, Jaime compares her favorably to Cersei "Brienne caught him before he could fall. Her arm was all gooseflesh...but she was strong, and gentler than he would have thought. Gentler than Cersei," (ASOS 37/Jaime V). Unlike Cersei, Jaime can rely on Brienne, who is kinder and more selfless. Their relationship is far less one-sided.

VI. Warrior, Maid, Strangers

In AFFC, Jaime becomes increasingly disenchanted with his beautiful twin. He's still physically attracted to her, but realizes what a terrible person she is:

Of late, Cersei always seemed to have a flagon of wine to hand, she who had once scorned Robert Baratheon for his drinking. He misliked that, but these days he seemed to mislike everything his sister did (AFFC 16/Jaime II)

Besides comparing her unflatteringly to King Robert, he also compares her to King Aery when she watches the Tower of the Hand burn:

The green light of the wildfire had bathed the face of the watchers, so they looked like nothing so much as rotting corpses, a pack of gleeful ghouls, but some of the corpses were prettier than others. Even in the baleful glow, Cersei had been beautiful to look upon (AFFC 16/Jaime II)

And:

Cersei had never taken kindly to being balked, he knew that. Softer words might have swayed her, yet of late the very sight of her made him angry. (AFFC 27/Jaime III)

Maybe falling out of love with Cersei was inevitable. Jaime's journey with Brienne has changed him so much that even self-absorbed Cersei has noticed:

"...What did they do to you?”

“They cut off my hand.”

“No, it’s more, you’re changed.” (ASOS 62/Jaime VII)

Jaime himself feels like a different man. He's lost everything that made him who he is:

...Half the court no longer seemed to know him. I am a stranger in my own House. His son was dead, his father had disowned him, and his sister... she had not allowed him to be alone with her once, after that first day in the royal sept where Joffrey lay amongst the candles. (ASOS 67/Jaime)

The cooling of Jaime's relationship with Cersei is connected to the evolution of his relationship to Brienne. Her idealism about knighthood has actually rubbed off on the cynical Jaime--a change that irritates the hell out of Cersei, who is more interested in having a co-conspirator than a hero by her side:

[Jaime] Once a man puts on that cloak, it changes him.”

[Cersei] “It certainly changed you, and not for the better.” (AFFC 12/Cersei III)

The twins have become estranged from each other. Remember that Jaime joined the Kingsguard for Cersei, that he tried to kill an innocent child for Cersei. Now he is a stranger to her:

He was your twin, your shadow, your other half, ...Once, perhap...No longer. He has become a stranger to me. (AFFC 12/Cersei III)

And she has become a stranger to him:

I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze. (AFFC 30/Jaime IV)

Embracing knighthood has distanced Jaime not only from Cersei, but from his father as well. Jaime rejected Tywin's offer of Casterly Rock and Lady Margarey's hand in marriage. Astonishingly, the notorious oathbreaker and kingslayer asserted the priority of his vows as a knight and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard even over loyalty to his House:

“I am a knight of the Kingsguard. The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard! And that’s all I mean to be!” (ASOS 62/Jaime VII)

This is a significant change. When Roland Crakehall found Jaime standing over Aerys's body, "[h]e had not seemed surprised to find Aerys slain; Jaime had been Lord Tywin’s son long before he had been named to the Kingsguard" (ASOS 11/Jaime II). In AGOT, Jaime thought it was more important to avenge Tyrion than it was to remain at his post as kingsguard. Now Jaime prioritizes his duties as Kingsguard over his family duties.

Later, Cersei attempts to seduce him in the White Tower and he rebuffs her advances, telling her he won't have sex with her in that particular place (ASOS 72/Jaime IX). This is interesting since he had no problem violating the sanctity of a sept and his own son's wake in order to fuck his sister. Yet he refuses to do the same in the Lord Commander's apartment. Jaime is taking his position as Kingsguard very seriously.

(Continued in the comments)

[nellie-elizabeth]

Elementary: Reichenbach Falls (7x12)

I can't help but feel that this episode was slightly anticlimactic. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

Anybody who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes knows what "Reichenbach Falls" means. So honestly it's a little insulting that they tried to fool us for even one second with the idea that Sherlock might really be dead. When they did the "reveal" that he had fled the country, I sighed and rolled my eyes. They did that thing where they kept him off-screen for as long as possible so we'd all be "surprised" at the last second. But like I said, was there really a single person watching the show who was surprised by that twist?

It's also patently obvious that Joan was in on the plan. There's that moment when Sherlock says they have to "plan a murder of their own" and it's supposed to be a trick, like we think Sherlock and Joan are planning Odin's murder. But obviously he's talking about the plan to fake his own death in order to frame Odin for killing him. I just don't want to waste any time in next week's finale hashing out the details of this ridiculously obvious plan.

Doing the Sherlock Holmes death fake-out thing is a classic of adaptation. I don't begrudge them for putting their own spin on it, and as I will discuss below, there were things about this version that I actually really enjoyed. But on the other hand, it felt a bit forced. Like of course they had to give it a try, and this is what they came up with. Sherlock states that they missed their one and only chance to get Reichenbach, and that leads him to the desperate plan that we see him enact. But I don't know if I'm convinced that their backs were really up against the wall. They needed to do more to convince me that this was really the best and only solution to the Odin Reichenbach problem.

One last note on how this all went down: they subverted many of the expectations about the classic fall/death moment, and I did appreciate that. But earlier in the season, when Joan's name was being thrown around as a potential weakness for Sherlock, I really thought they were building to an even bigger subversion. I thought maybe when it came down to it, Joan would be the one to "die." Think of how interesting and different that would have been. Imagine a true Reichenbach fake-out ending, where Joan is forced to make a move without the time to properly prepare Sherlock for it. She seemingly falls to her death, and Sherlock believes it, until the truth comes out. Now that would be something different, and interesting, and intense. I can't blame the episode for not doing what I hoped it would do. But I guess I just wish that in its final episodes, Elementary could have found a way to pull off another Natalie-Dormer-sized twist. If they couldn't get their Moriarty back, they might have found another way to twist a classic into something shiny and new.

Pros:

All that said, they did make some changes to the formula that I thought were pretty cool. Other than the obvious fact that this villain isn't Moriarty, although he does fulfill the tropes of the classic spider-like Professor from the originals, there's the fact that Odin doesn't die. Instead of Sherlock faking his death to ensure his nemesis will perish, he uses the fake-out to capture Odin, to get him arrested and start him on the path to his own destruction. This is a really clever change, and one that I definitely wouldn't have expected. It makes perfect sense, though - it's the ultimate sign of the philosophical differences between these two people. Sherlock knows that Odin is dangerous - knows that he has killed, and will kill again. But he still wants to find a way for him to be punished through legal channels, without resulting to vigilantism. Odin, on the other hand, continues his plan of executing potential threats, right up to the end. The system doesn't always work. In fact, it often fails. But Sherlock knows that killing people isn't the answer. He's not willing to cross that line, even now.

I also appreciate that Joan appears to be in on the plan, even though it's telegraphed far too obviously within the episode. Traditionally, Watson isn't supposed to know that Holmes is alive, but for Sherlock to pull that kind of a move here would have been wildly out of character. So I appreciate that it seems pretty clear that she was fully aware, and worked with Sherlock to pull this off.

Also, there's just the general angst of this scenario. I'm a sucker for it, as always. While Joan appears to know what's going on, Bell and Gregson seem ignorant of the plan. This means that we got to watch two of Sherlock's dearest friends try to process their grief and anger over what happened. Gregson getting in Odin's face was particularly affecting. And Bell has this quieter grief going on. I think he's in shock. He's just looking for answers, like if he can find Sherlock's body, it will allow him to accept the awful truth.

Despite my many problems with how this went down, the acting in that final moment on the bridge was really great. So much tension. I almost wish Odin could have been more Moriarty-esque. Not in the traditional Arthur Conan Doyle sense, but in the later-adaptation sense - a long-standing villain, cropping up again and again through the life of the show. But even without a multi-season buildup, this scene had a proper epic scope. It was very simple. Nothing elaborate, nothing too built up or ridiculous. Just two men talking on a bridge. Very well performed by both actors.

I think that's where I'll leave it. As you may be able to tell from my above comments, one of my main disappointments with this episode is simply that this show has never managed to top what it did at the end of the first season. Here at the end, I was hoping for something to really blow me away, and instead what I got was... perfectly fine. I'll still be a bit sad to say goodbye to these characters next week!

7.5/10

[howlsmovinglibrary]

So i noticed you reblogged a lot of got. I followed you bc of your book reviews. I wonder if you read ASOIAF? It'd be cool for you to review it. And also it'd provide me see your stand towards the writing of the last season, & your perspective towards Arya as retconned Night King slayer, the dull (and abusive) romance bw jnerys, jon's character assassination and the lack of his POV, and the show being Dany's show (at the expense of other chars).

Oh wow anon, it’s very rare that I get asked to go off, but I’m more than happy to take you up on the invitation to rant!

In answer to your first question, I have read the first book of ASOIAF, but unfortunately I personally feel George R.R. Martin’s strength is his plotting, and now that the show has kind of unmasked the plot of those first books I find it difficult to slog through his writing style, just because it’s not suited to me. I got to 100 pages from the end where Ned Stark is wondering whether or not he’s gonna die and was like…I kind of know how this ends.

As for my manifold problems with the writing of this last season, I have them, although they don’t seem to be lined up with yours exactly. I have placed this under the keep reading tag, because Long Post. And Spoilers.

Arya

Ok, so as for the Arya plotline, I actually didn’t mind this. I realise it goes against a lot of the material of the books (which I haven’t read), but I think that however much of a retcon it is it makes a lot of logical consistency within Arya’s storyline itself. I was personally getting to the point, with Arya going around Winterfell and not really doing much, of wondering “why did she go to assassin school again?” I think that her getting to kill the Night King validates a lot of her plot arc, whereas before her training was slowly becoming useless and irrelevant to the current situation the writers had put her in - of course this goes out of the window come the last war.

I would actually argue that this decision, bar its illogical and rushed execution, had elements of why I loved GoT’s more established plot twists. You had a strong fantasy genre trope, the Chosen One, in Jon, and then reality intervenes and breaks it. Jon is trying to fight a fucking huge dragon, and is therefore, logically, preoccupied. So someone else gets the kill. I liked that. I mean, it seems like prophecy has just been UTTERLY DISREGARDED in this entire season rather than twisted or subverted, so I guess if we’re feeling particularly generous (which no one is) it might even be “making a point”.

 And yes, we haven’t seen any of her assassin powers over the course of this season (because the writers are retconning her into a nicer ‘antihero’ and not outright eviscerating psychopath), which makes me wonder why she even has them. But I’m actually ok with her getting the Night King kill.

And I’ll dream of the alternate universe where Arya kills Cersei wearing Jaime’s face, actually utilising her skills, getting her ‘green eyed’ kill, and fulfilling Cersei’s prophecy.

Danaerys

So, I hate Danaerys, but I don’t really agree with your viewpoint of her. I don’t really feel like this became ‘her’ season at all. In fact, I feel like this season was just a lesson in how to gaslight a woman into madness and relegate her entirely from her own fucking story.

I will outright state that, I wanted Danaerys to go Mad Queen. I think her character has had problematic elements from very close to the beginning: regarding her sense of entitlement which is not underpinned by an actual competency in regards to ruling, her idealism, and her tendency as a white character to weaponise the brown people she essentially colonises for her own goals. These are not the reasons D&D give to justify her ‘madness’. In fact, they say she’s always been mad for punishing abusers. It just shows now…because of a bad break up.

Danaerys’ “descent into madness” was so badly written that I get mad just thinking about it. It essentially comprises all the men around her having conversations with each other saying “I think she might go mad”, and then her doing a Bad Thing for no discernable reason. This is 1. BAD WRITING, because SHOW NOT TELL. Also, NARRATIVE CONSISTENCY. If you have to have Tyrion outright narrate what you are retconning as her evil past, which is what he did in the final episode, you have not written a consistent plot. Viewers are not stupid. And 2. It’s just awful in terms of gender. Literally, Dany is a woman who becomes isolated and the men around her pathologise her as mad rather than communicating with her and allowing her the agency to authorise her own existence. It’s like The Yellow Wallpaper. There’s so much gaslighting! Everyone says she’s mad for thinking people will betray her as they betray her in the same breath! Jon says he loves her and then punishes her for desiring him! It’s just absurd. I wanted this to happen and they still fucked it up.

Once her sexual desire is just for her and no longer consumable by the male viewer, because its incestuous, and her ambitions outstrip the men around her, suddenly she’s evil. 

And do not get me started on all the awful racial connotations of her story a) being fuelled by the pointless fridging of the only named black woman and b) being utterly endorsed by all the people of colour within the show unquestioningly while all the ‘good’ white men suddenly have their doubts. The way Dothraki war cries were basically used as background music to signify evil savagery made me sick. They literally weaponised race as a way of connoting fear and evil. The fact that her “evil speech” was basically a straw feminist recycling of her liberation rhetoric in a way to condemn all her thoroughly understandable and initially intentions from the very beginning was just a way to validate every Incel’s fear about SJW discourse. Instead of, I don’t know, CRITICISING HER AS A COLONISER. Maybe unveiling her hypocrisy? Nope! All black people are evil and will never question orders because they have been consistently stripped of their humanity! They are a faceless army of non-whites! And oh yes, all women are evil for wanting to enact violence on those who want to abuse them!

Honestly, I think this season of the show has been as much at the expense of her character as anyone else’s. Because it’s not been written well, or believably, and it feels like a complete reduction of the very real potential she had as a critique of imperialism. She’s just a mad woman. 

Jon

I can’t really talk that much about Jon. I kind of cover it above. I’m not sure if you think Jonaerys is abusive to Dany or to him, I would argue the former because of the gaslighting. 

But I will say, he must’ve taken his refresher course in Stark Honourable Stupidity after actually being competent in Season 7. According to D&D’s logic, if he had simply slept with Dany, a woman he loves, she wouldn’t have gone mad. It’s only in GoT that I can justify incest, but he should’ve taken one for the team. 

And maybe kept secrets better.

Just…the show in general

Really, I’m just so disappointed with the show in general. The plot, like Jaime’s characterisation, is so profoundly circular.

We still have an iron throne. We still have an utterly corrupt council elected through nepotism (although I guess we’re supposed to like them now?) Fuck, we still even have a wall even though ALL THE WHITEWALKERS ARE GONE.

Everything was so rushed and irreverent to the point of incompetency - I mean, everyone has seen the coffee cup. Prophecy and foreshadowing was utterly disregarded (I’ve spared you my Jaime Lannister rant because you didn’t ask), nuance was completely lost. I cannot believe that Cersei’s death was an anticlimax, that she didn’t do anything in that final battle but shed a manly tear, had barely any lines of dialogue despite the fact that she is one of the strongest characters of the entire series. And yet EURON GREYJOY got a triumphant death. It is so disingenuous. I really don’t think the fanbase would’ve been that hard to please but it seems like everything was denied us in the name of ‘subverting expectations’.

And however well shot the battle scenes were, I found it profoundly boring because there was no real motivation to drive the action. It was just screaming, and death, and oh yes some gratuitous rape because that’s what every viewer is here for, right?! I watch Game of Thrones for the character intrigue, not the violence or the blatant misunderstanding of what “authentic medievalism” entails. The fact that I watched the finale of my favourite show and did not cry once - me, who cried four times in a single Critical Role episode - is just a testament to how hollow and heartless the writing became.

[libralita]

March Wrap Up | 2019

This was a decent month for reading. I read twelve books but a lot of them were manga and graphic novels so that helped boost the amount of books but didn’t help with the page count. But there were some pretty good books!

The first book I read was Little Witch Academia Vol. 1 by Yoh Yoshinari:

*takes a deep breath* SO PRECIOUS! I started watching the anime on Netflix and I am in absolute love. I saw that the first volumes of the manga were on Amazon so I snatched them up. They’re just as cute. We even get to see a little bit more of the backstories to our protagonists. I like the twists the mangaka does to the stories and the little changes. Wonderful start! Five out of five stars.

Then I read Little Witch Academia Vol. 2:

Another super cute volume! I love getting to see more of Frank and Andrew’s school. The boys are so silly and I love seeing what the “normal” people think of the witches. I still don’t really understand the conflict that much between the normies and witches but whatever. So precious and I loved it! Five out of five stars.

Then I “finished” The Priory of the Orange by Samantha Shannon:

Alright I actually stopped this book with like 50 pages to go because I was just so bored. There’s something about Samantha Shannon that is just too much for me. Her stories are always so convoluted that it’s hard for me to follow. They’re not really particularly complex, just something about them makes them really overly complicated. I had the same problem with the Bone Season. This book was just too long, had too many characters, after a while I just stopped caring. I mean I guess I made it to the 750 page mark so something kept me reading but after a while I just stopped caring. I still gave it three out of five stars just because I got so far but whatever.

Then I read The Walking Dead Vol 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman:

I had the sudden urge to read this…did I mention that zombies terrify me? This was pretty good, I don’t know if I’ll continue with this because…zombies terrify me. However it was a cool comic and a nice break from the other stuff I’ve been reading. Four out of five stars.

Then I picked up This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki:

In my YA literature class my professor had a week on graphic novels she brought this book in and I asked to borrow it. It was pretty good. I don’t have too much to say about it because there wasn’t that much plot to it or anything. It was just an interesting summer between these two girls. It was dull for a few parts but I mostly enjoyed it. I gave it five out of five stars.

Then I borrowed my professor’s copy of Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol:

This was a really good story! I really enjoyed Anya as a protagonist. There were a few points where I got chills. I really felt bad for Emily in the beginning. Then when she said she was murdered, it was really insane. But then when it was revealed what happened, it was so insane! Then everything she was doing to Anya’s family. It was so intense. One of my favorites of the year. Five out of five stars, easily.

Next I reread Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher:

I had to pick a banned book for my YA Literature class, so I decided to reread this one. On second reading it wasn’t as good as I remember it. The ending was still pretty strong but I found myself starting to dislike Hannah. She’s really selfish for doing this to these people, especially Clay. I really liked the ending and Clay reaching out to Skye. It kind of made me want to rewatch the first season of the show but I’m probably not going to do that. I lowered this to four stars.

I then read American Gods by Neil Gaiman:

I really enjoyed this book, the concept is just so awesome. The one problem I have with it, is that Gaiman tends to write giant worlds but only shows a small fraction of them. It’s a little bit better than in The Graveyard Book (by the way at some point Shadow goes to graveyard and I wonder if that’s a reference) but I would have liked to see more of the modern gods. I also really want to see the show now. Five out of five stars.

Then I read Avengers Annual #10 by Chris Claremont:

An absolutely wonderful read. I was recommended this book because it was the origin of Rouge and I loved the character. The art was stunning and the plot interesting. So much action. Could not recommend it more if you can get your hands on it. Five out of five stars.

Then I checked out from my school’s library Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett:

So this book was freaking amazing! The world was so interesting and how the magic system worked. I could instantly tell why Brandon Sanderson liked this so much. I freaking loved Clef. He was my favorite…character! I loved all the objects and felt so bad for them. I’m going to give my computer a hug after this to make sure it knows I love it and it does a good job. The only minor problem I had with this book is the romance between Berenice and Sancia seemed really random. I also shipped Sancia was Gregor because I love their interactions. It’s not a huge deal and I don’t know how I’ll wait until 2020 for the next book. Five out of five stars.

I then read South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami:

This wasn’t my favorite Haruki Murakami book, I felt like there wasn’t much of a plot to this one. It was a little bit dull and I was more interested in the past of the main characters than what was going on in the present. It was an okay book. Three out of five stars.

Sticking the Japanese setting, I read My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn:

This book was massively flawed. Elle was a pretty poorly written character, this book follows the trend of accidently making the main character a hypocrite and having a one-dimensional bully character. However, I somehow really enjoyed it. I think it’s because all the side characters were so good. I would kill for a book entirely about Kenji and the author also subverted a lot of the tropes that I hate for YA contemporary books. Ryuu and Elle don’t have some force drama, Ryuu is actually there for her like a good boyfriend in a healthy relationship. This is a guilty pleasure and for that I gave it five out of five stars.

Those are all the books I read this month, hopefully I have another good month!

[nyangibun]

With Sansa and Arya they could just have been pretend fighting so littlefinger thought he was winning. In littlefingers execution scene Bran has told them everything he knows about littlefinger. Its weird if it was just a last minute decision to have him executed.

According to Isaac, they weren’t?? And Sansa was all ready to kill Arya but then decided to consult Bran, which was when she found out all that stuff, as well as the fact that LF was manipulating Arya. I don’t know how much stock we can place on that because if it was cut out, there might’ve been a reason for it. But a lot of stuff that was cut out (ie. Jon and Ghost scene, Danerice being the one to ask Jon to her room, etcetc.) actually make a lot more narrative sense and shed more light on character motivations, and I personally believe they cut it out not to give too much away. But then I’d be cherry-picking what I like and don’t like, so I don’t know. 

Whatever the case though, they did not handle that situation very well at all. They purposefully kept everything in the dark to have their ‘A-HA!’ moment at the end with LF’s execution. I feel like they wrote that LF execution scene before they figured out the logistic of how to get there, so they scrambled and forced tension and hostility into scenes that didn’t need any just so they could get that moment. Then instead of explaining away the inconsistencies in character actions and motivations, they just glossed over it, like “yeah but wasn’t that execution scene so badass?! The Starks are together and being cool!” 

And to be fair, if you look at how the rest of S7 was handled, this feels even more plausible as to why that whole plotline sucked so bad. D&D needed the Wall to come down, they needed all the characters to meet at the Dragonpit and the needed LF to die. These were the three main points they wanted to reach by the end of S7 and the beginning of S8, so they worked backwards. Now, most of the time, this is actually a really great writing tool. Figure out your conclusion first then work towards it; however, this writing advice also states that 80% of the time, as you’re writing towards that goal, your conclusion will inevitably change as your characters and plots begin to take form. D&D can’t change it. They need to reach those 3 points because they need to reach GRRM’s conclusion, as that is fixed and cannot be changed, and that all leads us to forced plotlines, character assassinations and Westeros’ version of teleportation. 

Without GRRM’s guidance, D&D were always going to fall short, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted how spectacularly short they did fall. GRRM writes as a creative artist, a visionary, someone who has a world in his mind and a story to tell. He subverts fantasy tropes not for shock factor but because it’s more fascinating to read and for him to write. D&D write as creative businessmen. Everything they’re doing now is to appeal to the audience and how much they can keep people talking about their show, for ratings and awards. It’s not about the story anymore. It’s about what will get people talking the most. Unfortunately for them, it’s painfully obvious and painfully misses the mark. Although they’re still getting work and riding high off the coattails of GRRM’s genius, so maybe not so unfortunate. 

[briangroth27]

Tomb Raider Review

I had a lot of fun watching the latest Tomb Raider! Having never played the video games and barely remembering the two movies starring Angelina Jolie, I essentially went into this one fresh and thought it was a solid start to what will hopefully become a new franchise. I'm a big fan of pulpy treasure hunter movies, and this certainly hit the spot!

Full Spoilers…

Alicia Vikander is excellent as Lara Croft and she’s the strongest element of the film. The script gave Vikander a lot to work with, showcasing Lara as a charming smartass, a brilliant puzzle-solver, a badass survivor, an orphan determined to survive on her own, and a daughter grappling with the apparent death of her father Richard (Dominic West). I thought Lara not signing the papers that would declare her father dead and secure her inheritance because it was his money, not hers, was an interesting and unique spin on the billionaire orphan trope (of course her reasoning was also—if not moreso—about not wanting to admit her father was dead, which played really well for me). I liked that they didn’t have her immediately turn to his money the moment she got in trouble with the police, which legitimized the idea that she wouldn’t use it even if she absolutely had to. Had Ana (Kristin Scott Thomas) not shown up to bail her out, it seemed Lara was content to be fined/jailed for the illegal street race she participated in and for me, that defeats the “fake poor” criticism I’ve seen online: Lara wasn’t just acting poor until it became inconvenient. The early scenes do a great job of showing Lara knows how to handle herself and has a likable, winning way about her despite her tragic family history, making her a captivating action hero and lead. What really sold me on the action hero part (aside from Vikander’s clear dedication to the physicality of the role), however, is that the film takes time to show Lara getting winded and hurt by her incredible feats and fights, both of which clearly take a physical toll on her; she isn't an invulnerable superhero. Vikander is great in those moments and even better when the movie takes the time to show Lara's reaction to killing someone for the first time. That desperate fight to kill or be killed was extremely powerful and it made me wish other action movies would take more time to deal with the gravity of their heroes taking lives. Lara's connection to Richard was strong, but I wish we'd seen more of their relationship than him constantly leaving her in flashbacks (though that does connect nicely to their role reversal at the end of the film and as I’ve seen pointed out elsewhere, each flashback ends with her being self-sufficient after he’s gone, which is a cool touch). In addition to the gamut of emotions Lara gets to show off and the thrilling spectacle of the gauntlet she's put through once she reaches a secret island, the film is very clear about how smart she is and I loved that she had to use her intelligence just as much as her fists. Vikander makes a meal out of all of this, playing every aspect of Lara to the fullest, and is clearly having a blast. I hope she gets to come back to this role in a sequel.

Lara's search for Richard (and ultimately, her journey towards letting him go) was a good through-line for the film and I liked what West brought to the role. Seeking out the supernatural as a way to reconnect with his deceased wife was an interesting and understandable motivation. However, we didn't need to hear about the legend of Himiko twice and eliminating Richard’s opening narration would've held the mysteriousness of the island of Yamatai until Lara finds out about it. The film doesn’t really gain anything by putting the audience so far ahead of her and I didn’t need to that hook to keep me interested. I did like that Richard’s madness on Yamatai involved seeing visions of Lara reappearing to him after he'd abandoned her all those times in search of the island, but I wish that madness had been turned into a stumbling block for Lara at some point instead of just something he talks about. He could’ve seen “Lara,” only to have it be an illusion that puts him in danger; the fact that he’s apparently cured of his madness as soon as Lara finds him felt too easy.

Daniel Wu as solid as Lu Ren, Lara’s expedition partner whose father went missing with Richard. I would've liked more to Ren finding out Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins) killed his father; there seemed to be a lot of untapped potential there. That Lara didn't actually lose her dad could've been seen as unfair in Ren’s eyes too. Why not use Ren being such a parallel to Lara's orphan arc to create some drama and possibly division between them? I also found it movie-convenient that Ren wasn't killed for inciting a worker rebellion that lets Lara escape; even with the justification that he'd be a useful slave, he'd been shot and wasn't at full strength anyway. There really isn't a plot purpose to his being around after freeing Lara from Vogel’s work camp either, so while I liked his character and Wu’s performance and certainly didn’t want him to die, I wish there had been more justification to such a ruthless villain not just executing a problem-causer beyond "he's the co-star." I did like that Ren and Lara kept saving each other, though, and would be up for him joining her on her further adventures. I wouldn’t mind a romance blossoming between them at some point, but I also liked that this movie makes no attempt to even suggest that Lara needs a guy to swoon over.

I thought Vogel not wanting to be separated from his family for the entirety of his search for the tomb was not only a clever parallel to Lara, Ren, and their fathers, but gave him dimension most villains in these films don't get. Instead of wanting to rule or destroy the world—or even just getting a big payday—his biggest concern was finishing the job so he could go home. I didn't sympathize with him—obviously his methods were horrid—but I was glad he had that human quality instead of being some monstrous caricature. Vogel is also used exactly as much as he needed to be (except when it comes to the potential fallout of having killed Ren’s father); he has enough presence to be a threat, but he isn’t overwhelming and felt like the cog in a larger machine he is.

I liked that the film fleshed out several facets of Lara’s life with human connections; friends (Hannah John-Kamen), coaches (Duncan Airlie James), gym rivals (Annabel Wood), coworkers (Billy Postlethwaite and Roger Nsengiyumva), and even a lovestruck customer (Antonio Aakeel) on her delivery route gave the sense that she had a full life (despite the hole her father's vanishing left in her) with a lot of history. Even if they only briefly appeared, it was great that the movie took the time to include them rather than limiting Lara’s interactions to plot-centric dealings with Ana and Croft Holdings. I hope to see many or all of these connections continue in any potential sequels: their reaction to Lara's wealth alone, to say nothing of her new day job, would make for some great stuff. Can she keep her normal friendships and be a globe-trotting archaeologist billionaire? Will she find that she’s become more comfortable without the Croft money? Will she need those grounded connections to keep herself level? Would she bring her friend Sophie along on an adventure?

The film reveals an overarching villain and that felt fresh for a treasure hunting franchise, if not Hollywood's affinity for sequels. One thing I found kinda cool about this setup is that Lara probably won’t be raiding tombs for museums (taking artifacts away from their cultures just because), but she’d be negating dangerous potential weapons, which seems more altruistic in a modern context. I liked the reveal of Ana's true motives for wanting Lara to sign off on her father's death, which convinced me of the viability of evil entity Trinity being at least somewhat run by Croft Holdings. I wonder if Richard's search for the supernatural was the basis for Trinity and if he'd been unknowingly feeding them information until his disappearance. If her father inadvertently started/fueled it, that would make Lara's quest to stop them even more personal. Maybe he reached out to those nefarious connections out of desperation on purpose, which could create an opportunity for Lara to see her father as a flawed man, not just the idealized figure whose only sin was that he was always leaving. I'm interested to see what Trinity wants to do if they get their hands on supernatural (or just very dangerous) artifacts; I hope they're not going to be cliché "take over the world" villains. I also wonder about keeping the size of Trinity as an organization to a scale Lara can stop on her own, but that's an issue for a potential sequel.

I've seen criticisms online that the film is clichéd, and while I'll grant that it doesn't have the most distinctive voice in terms of "action movie dialogue," I still found it engaging and thrilling. It's very solidly of the treasure hunter genre and though it doesn't subvert those kinds of tropes often, it executes them very well. A boat crash, river/plane adventure, and fight through a decrepit tomb were all very exciting sequences. I loved the death trapped-tomb and thought the film's spins on classic traps were fun (as was the minor trope subversion that they were in place to keep someone in, not out). I have zero problem with these kinds of pulpy movies embracing the supernatural elements at the center of their mythical legends—in fact, I usually prefer it—but the more grounded approach worked very well here, honoring the supernatural while maintaining a sense of realism and danger. Even without playing the video game this is based on, I'm a casual enough gamer that I caught homages to modern adventure games, like Lara monkey-barring over a destroyed walkway and stealthily sneaking through the villains' camp. Honoring those source material bits didn't pull me out of the movie at all and I liked those nods to the games. On the other hand, Lara getting her iconic twin guns did feel a little more like fan service than a natural evolution of her character (she never seemed to need guns on her adventure and mostly seemed to favor a bow to picking up dropped guns), but that may also be my unease with what felt like a slight glorification of guns (though granted, this wasn’t anywhere near the gratuitous glorification of AR-15s in Thor Ragnarok). Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little fan service and Lara can have a different opinion of firearms than I do without me disliking her character. That brief throwaway nod to the games didn't sully the film for me or anything.

The action throughout the film was solid and surprisingly brutal. The only sequence that I thought felt extraneous was Lara's chase after—and then flight from—a trio of muggers in China, but it was a well-structured chase and did include a moment of Lara hesitating to leap off a dock after them, showing some early limits to her derring-do. That chase also coincidentally leads her to Ren, and he could've been introduced as belligerently drunk (entertainingly so, for sure!) to Lara by herself without having to scare off the thieves. Otherwise, the action was great and had a really nice variety to it. There were only four or five shots where the CGI was noticeable; in the other action sequences it was totally convincing (if there at all). The sense that they were doing practical stunts (even if they weren't) and the danger in Vikander's expressions definitely helped sell the impact of the injuries Lara sustained as she narrowly escaped death over and over.

Despite a few missed opportunities for greater interpersonal conflict among the heroes and perhaps a need to punch up the dialogue beyond what's expected of this genre, Tomb Raider is a blast! The mystery is cool, the action is great, and Vikander is outstanding. I'd definitely follow her on another adventure and absolutely recommend this one!

 Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[it-will-not-last-the-night]

Persona 5 - 3 (4) things

I think I should perhaps stop attaching a heading to everything I write. Hmm.

I think, overall, Persona 5 is a good game and very fun. I did enjoy much of it. However, I do have some major problems with it (3 as I stated above with a fourth which is a lesser concern). These keep it from being a Great Game to me. Now I’ve never played Persona games until Persona 5 so, I hope, the trend is towards fixing these instead of making them worse, but I cannot be sure.

1) The Cheating/Female Agency in general: Does Persona 5 have some great female characters? Yes, yes it does. I mean Ann, Makoto, Haru and Futaba (to name the most important) are truly enjoyable. They are interesting and actually are for the most part strong characters. Which is why the ability of the protagonist to essentially cheat on them (and more) with little to no repercussion hurts so much. It makes it almost impossible for me to respect them as much when I know that, according to the game, even if my character is blatantly caught cheating on them with no remorse he can still pursue a relationship with them and suffers a comedic scene as his only punishment, with no lasting harm to the trust between parties. This does three things which truly upsets me; firstly it portrays that, apparently, cheating on your significant other is not a substantial breach of trust (instead your comedic punishment almost seems to imply it is ‘cool’). Secondly it reduces the likeability and agency of the female characters by portraying them as, apparently, gullible enough to somehow believe no cheating is going on even when it is blatantly happening in front of them. Thirdly it feels horrible that the game seems to still, despite its hard work, at the end of the day take the position that the girls are effectively all into the protagonist at the expense of their dignity. I am not a fan of many ‘harems’, they are difficult to do well, and when I see them in Persona I fear they are there to appeal to base interests, not to make any kind of statement about the fact that genuine polyamory is as valid as any other relationship so long as all parties are consenting. Honestly, Persona 5 could simply of excised the capacity for cheating or, rather, made it that cheating always results in the extreme destruction of your relationships. Not just with the involved parties, but with all your friends. When I was watching the cutscene (on youtube since I’d never be willing to stomach doing it in my playthrough) my first thought was “In a setting in which Ryuji knows the protagonist has cheated on Ann and treated her like trash, how would they possibly go on as friends?”. The protagonist cheating, being willing to lie like that, should have MAJOR negative repercussions for all his close relationships. Sae, for example, should be pretty furious at someone who treats her little sister like trash.

2) The protagonist as Gary-Stu: This can be averted by a player intentionally choosing to sabotage themselves at points, which is fine, but at the same time the game can sometimes become infuriating to me with how I, the protagonist, am some sort  of perfect entity who never makes mistakes and always solves everyone else’s mistakes. I honestly would have enjoyed a game where the different Phantom Thieves help each other through their issues more than a game in which I, the protagonist, am seemingly just the appointed perfect being who knows all. To be honest I think I would have prefered a more scripted protagonist, with set narrative and personality, than an avater self-insert who at times bordered on too perfect for my tastes. A Fire Emblem-esque system by which I could rank up the relationships of my fellow Phantom Thieves also would have been enjoyable, helping to create the idea that the Phantom Thieves are a group and not simple a collection of individuals who all care about the protagonist.

3) Abuse is okay if its a ‘loser’ male: Imagine Futaba being physically beat up for doing something stupid. Imagine Shiho came back as a wet-blanket-ish female character and virtually 90% of all dialogue directed at her was just ‘pssh, what a loser’ to some or other effect. None of this happens, thank goodness, but the game does think its a-okay for it to happen to Ryuji and Mishima, even though BOTH HAVE BEEN PHYSICALLY BEATEN AS CHILDREN. The game’s seemingly cruel delight in torturing Ryuji and Mishima baffles me. Particularly since neither of them are as bad as the game wants us to believe. This part confuses me; if the game wanted me to enjoy Mishima and Ryuji’s near constant suffering why did it go out of its way to make them so pitiable and good-hearted? If their purpose was for me to laugh at their pain then I’d need them to be pretty horrible people to justify it but, instead, most of the time the two are surprisingly good-hearted and kind, particularly Ryuji who is willing to sacrifice himself for us within minutes of our first meeting. I found the game’s treatment of these two characters deeply unsettling. Worst, though, was perhaps how the game kept seeming to give some indication it could do better...but then just didn’t. Now for myself a thing which is good...but then lets me down is always much worse than a thing which is just plain bad (worse here  meaning my experience of it, not objectively, its still better than a plain bad thing objectively). This happened a lot with Ryuji. A small example to demonstrate; after our first journey into a Palace with Ann she texts the protagonist a thank you, I of course responded with ‘you should thank Ryuji too’ since I am accustomed to games like this making it that the ‘idiot’ character never recieves any gratitutde for anything. BUT to my immense surprise Ann shoots back with an immediate “I already did”. I was so impressed and happy. Not only did the game subvert my normal expectations of anime tropes by having Ann thank Ryuji, but the game also recognized that seeing as Ann and Ryuji new each other at that point better than either knew my protagonist character it would make sense for her to thank him first. That was good, gave me hope that the Ann/Ryuji friendship would be the first ‘Girl scolds idiot boy a lot but I am meant to think they are friends’ relationship I’ve ever seen in media I like. But then...then...as if determined to destroy this good will Persona 5 proceeded to muck things up. So after we finally destroy Kamoshida’s Palace and everything we are texted again by Ann to thank us. This time though, when we remind her to thank Ryuji, her honest answer is “I forgot”, as if us remininding her is the only reason she’s going to do it. It is particularly hard to swallow if, like me, you had Ryuji as the one to knock of Kamoshida’s Treasure. The fact that Ryuji tripped and almost died also makes it hard to imagine Ann can somehow forget to thank him. And this applies for Morganna too, she never thanks him either. And it really just gets worse from there. Abuse is not okay. Beating Ryuji up physically is horrible.

4) This is the obvious one which many people have said better than me but I still would like it enough to put it down here; why no relationships other than male/female are possible?

That being said it was still a fun and good game. I only hope that if the series continues these issues are not present in later versions. I’d enjoy a redone version of P5 which removes them as well, but I do not think that is a realistic expectation at all.

[99percentprocrastination]

books read this week - 7/8/17

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel Winter by Marissa Meyer Fire by Kristin Cashore

My thoughts (including mild spoilers) below the cut ⤵️

Last Night in Montreal

This book is unlike anything I’ve read before. I picked it up because I read Station Eleven by the same author and loved it, so I wanted to check it out. And while they are two vastly different books, they are remarkably similar in many ways. Both are told in a disjointed, unchronological style that somehow feels utterly unique and completely controlled. Every thread fits together so perfectly, and each new revelation makes you reevaluate everything you’ve learned before.

I think Emily St. John Mandel is a wonderful storyteller and she can express big ideas amazingly well in subtle, thought-provoking ways. Where she falls short, I’ve found, is in her characters. Last Night in Montreal is centered around Lilia, who at first seemed a little “mysterious pixie dream girl”-esque. (Is that a thing? I’m making it a thing.) Of course, the first part of the book was mainly told from the POV of her boyfriend, which is exactly what he thought of her. But it didn’t exactly make her likable. None of the characters were particularly likable, and while I think that was kind of part of the point, it didn’t really endear me to any of them. I wasn’t even really rooting for Eli and Lilia to get what they wanted. But again, the characters were not the selling point of this novel.

Mandel’s language is stunning and breathtaking in ways that I don’t even know how to describe. Her descriptions of people and ordinary things were so vibrant. I loved the idea of untranslatable concepts and language differences, which fit so perfectly with the themes of the novel. It was one of those books where you had to set it down every now and then and stare at the ceiling, groaning, “This is so gooooood.” The whole thing had a floaty, dreamlike feeling; I read the book in two days and when I set it down I felt like I was waking up from a very strange and surreal dream. (I mean, even more so than I usually do when I finish a book.)

This was a fairly slow paced book, mostly because it kept skipping back and forth in time. Not a lot happened in the course of its 200-something pages, but it definitely leaves an impression on you. The ending shook me up. It’s not a particularly optimistic book about the nature of humanity, but it doesn’t leave you feeling hopeless or drifting. Not particularly memorable characters, but definitely memorable story and ideas.

Winter

And with this book, I finished The Lunar Chronicles! I wanted so, so much to love this series. And I did like it, truly. It was entertaining. Heck, I read the last 400 pages of this book in one night, which I wouldn’t have done if I didn’t like it. But I just didn’t love it.

The things I did love were these:

Oh man, I always love a good old heist story, and that comprised most of this book. Characters working together even after every single one of their plans goes wrong, continually regrouping and coming up with new plans to keep going forward. YES!

Cinder. Is. The. Best. DEFINITELY my favorite of the main characters. One of my favorite moments in the whole book was when she went through a traumatic experience that almost killed her and she passes out and when she wakes up her friends tell her that she’s under a lot of stress and she’s like “stress?? What weak shit is this???” I love her.

I also love Kai so much. And Iko. And Winter! At first I wasn’t sure what to make of her, but I came to love her. She’s so endearing and adorable and brave. I just wanted everything to be okay for her.

The ending was extremely satisfying. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was 2 in the morning when I finished it, but I was tearing up a little when everything just came together and the world was finally right. It felt good.

The things that I didn’t like so much:

Most of the romantic relationships in the book (and throughout the series). I continued to not care very much about Scarlet and Wolf. I thought for most of the book that Wolf was going to die at some point, and honestly I think it would have been more interesting if he had. The happy endings for everyone felt almost…too neat? I know; I’m awful that I wanted a sadder ending. What can I say? The most interesting thing about Scarlet was her friendship with Winter, and it could have been so cool to see her turning to this friendship if Wolf died and she felt like she had nothing else.

Also, most of the relationships felt almost too similar and trite. “I like him but does he like me back? Does he like someone else? We can’t talk about this though because we’re bad at communicating and in the middle of a war!” I wish there had been a little more variation between the relationships in some way.

These are very nitpicky things, of course. I truly enjoyed the book and the series, but I didn’t love it like I hoped I would. Ah, well.

Fire

This was a reread because I’m revisiting some of my old favorite books this summer. And oh boy. I read this book sometime in high school, and now that I’m a little older I feel like I can appreciate it so much more. This is a damn good book. Do you ever read a book and think, “Wow, I really wish I had written this”? Yeah.

I spent an inordinate amount of time going through negative goodreads reviews for this book and seething quietly because they completely didn’t understand this book. A lot of them were complaining about how much “adult” content/themes there is. Which, yeah, I can understand. It’s pretty adult for a YA novel. Lots of people having affairs and illegitimate children; the main character was essentially in a friends-with-benefits relationship. But the point wasn’t to condone these behaviors. It wasn’t even to condemn them. It was to show that people are messy, people make mistakes, but people can ultimately be forgiven. Some characters that we’re supposed to dislike do these things, as do characters that we love. It showed these behaviors honestly; how they could hurt people as well as lead to beautiful things like children that we love. And for heaven’s sake, the mentions of Fire’s period were not unnecessary, because women have periods and it was important for this character in this world!

Anyways. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Honestly, I just adore fantasy stories that are ultimately about people. Even though this took place in a fantastical world with magical creatures, and even though our MC was only half human, the whole thing is essentially about love. At least, that’s what I took away from the whole thing. All of these characters were flawed and often made bad choices, but they still learned to love each other and forgive each other. The way the relationships developed was so beautiful. I honest to God had butterflies in my stomach during some of Fire and Brigan’s later scenes.

Fire was such an easy character to love. At first, she seems like the perfect recipe for a Mary Sue: the most beautiful woman in the land who everyone can’t help but love, who is a master musician and can control people with her mind. But she’s incredibly multi-faceted and complex and you can’t help but root for her desperate desires for people to not hate her for who she is. And just because she doubts herself and sometimes makes the wrong decisions doesn’t make her weak! *glares at goodreads reviewers*

Also, I’m so glad that Archer was used to subvert the usual YA trope of the possessive, jealous boyfriend. At first, that’s what he is (sort of), but Fire doesn’t allow any of this behavior and ultimately breaks off their relationship because of the way he acts. Instead, Fire ends up with Brigan, who is basically the exact opposite of those harmful tropes. Archer and Fire’s relationship was complex and messy, but it was made clear from the beginning that the way he treated her was not okay.

Although this book was a little slow paced at times, and I don’t love it as much as I love Graceling (which owns my heart and soul), it’s still an incredible novel about love and war and the terrible mistakes people can make. I can’t wait to reread Bitterblue!

[derkastellan]

Musings: Staying on-topic in setting design

I gave myself the time to read some RPG products, and I ended up in the genre of horror science fiction. I have an enormous backlog of products I have bought over the years but haven’t read, and so I simply picked some - Jovian Nightmares (for Call of Cthulhu), Eldritch Skies (for Savage Worlds), and Shadows Over Soul (especially Siren’s Call but also all supplements, for Saga Machine). Let me say I enjoyed the last series of products so much I basically have not found time to delve deeper into Eldritch Skies.

Jovian Nightmares introduces itself as a supplement for Cthulhu Rising, itself a setting supplement for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. It focuses on “Circum-Jove”, the Jupiter system. Since Jupiter is a gas giant science fiction settings usually focus on the colonization of its moons, or in rarer cases, interaction with Jupiter’s upper atmospheric layers.

Ever since reading the Buck Rogers XXVc roleplaying game in the early 90s Jupiter (and by extension Saturn) have fascinated me. The excellent material from the game box was evoking and interesting, and the distant world of moons and moonlets have kept drawing me back in over the years. So when I saw this supplement, I simply grabbed it. Also, a book can do worse to get my attention than having a dead astronaut on its cover.

So, this started me on the path to reading a bit of sci-fi. (Spoilers ahead, so ye be warned.)

The Jovian Nightmares setting is well-detailed, and you have to read quite a while to notice how the setting misses the mark. Practically all of the book is simply a science fiction setting supplement - and while interesting enough (more about that in a moment) it lacks one thing: Lovecraftian horror. Given it being advertised as “nightmares” this seems surprising. You might miss it if you’re not inclined to look for it. 

The book contains 5 pages of setting secrets, several of which are repetitive paragraphs. Your mileage may vary, but almost without fail I have ended up being disappointed in products that feature a few pages of setting secrets. Almost invariably these come down to a paragraph or two per setting secret and end up not being very evocative, leaving the job almost entirely to the GM. Jovian Nightmares is a bit better than that, but the reality of it all is that its setting secrets are almost entirely useless.

A setting secret must not be “too secret.” Yet some of the secrets have no impact on gameplay by themselves. Who cares what lies at the heart of Jupiter? Or what is the reason for the Great Red Spot? We all do, but the players won’t care because the way the book establishes things they won’t ever find out. It’s useless information. The book also refuses to innovate in terms of Lovecraftian horrors, either repeating same-ol’-same-ol’ by parading out Mi-Go doing Mi-Go things (yes, they still put brains in jars in the 23rd century... we can only assume it’s a fetish), and some randomly tied-in Fire Vampires, Colors-Out-Of-Space, some Deep Ones, a possible tie-in to R’lyeh...

Boring.

Here is someone capable of writing a whole sci-fi supplement of a decent quality, quite readable, and then forgets to put actual horror in. Horror that lurks and waits for players. Horror that wants to jump at players. Yes, there’s a short story and an adventure in there, but in my opinion a setting has to evoke and convince by itself. It is not enough to give it to a GM and say “Now you come up with what to do in it.” After reading it a GM should be inspired, have hooks and leads, and maybe already the spine of a campaign. Here we are left wondering what’s so horrible about the whole thing. 

Another, minor gripe. Circum-Jove is actually not humanity’s farthest outpost. Instead, it fuels humanity’s exodus to other stars. A new element called “Foscolium” is introduced, considered to be vital for interstellar expansion. But it is not tied into the Mythos. That seemed like a big opportunity passed by, the chance to tie a new door opening for humanity with something more sinister. And as I read the supplement I wondered what cool new things humanity would discover elsewhere. This makes Circum-Jove less interesting. It’s not the final frontier. It’s just a frontier. Space travel within the solar system naturally becomes less interesting if somebody can just hop to Alpha Centauri or Barnard’s Star instead. If stuff becomes too hard there, why bother? New vistas!

The setting tries to tie in mining Jupiter moon Io for the new element as precondition for interstellar expansion. This means that the players are working stiffs doing their job so others can go to new worlds and build new lives. That seems awfully prosaic. And while there is a place for such science fiction one is left to wonder if this was a great choice for the supplement.

Jovian Nightmares, in other words, inspired more reading elsewhere. It is a solid work but it has its limitations.

I don’t want to go too deep into Shadows Over Sol since I still want to play it in the future, and saying too much here might spoil it to players. But general thoughts are valid to share.

By not introducing faster-than-light (FTL) travel SOL actually manages to have a foot in two worlds - the 23rd century where humanity expands into the Jupiter and Saturn systems. And the 27th century when human colonists arrive in Alpha Centauri - a 400 year one-way trip. By separating these settings both have validity. The settlers of Siren’s Call have a different world and different problems than the Martian and Jovian settlers of the core game. Both stories remain engaging. By expanding the game into the interstellar realm this way the original game still stays playable.

SOL does a great job of portraying a hard sci-fi setting with humanity split into cultural instead of national tribes. It does a great job of portraying a world of fading nation states, ascending corporations, a networked, simulated world, a “meatspace” world... It seems a tad to conservative on plotting the progress in AI and Augmented Reality, but if you want to write a sci-fi setting not completely colored and taken over by these issues, this is valid. And reality seems to play odd tricks on sci-fi anyway within precious few years - 2015 is already three years ago...

The setting of SOL doesn’t have horror written in big letters over it, anyway. It’s horror seems more personal, encountered by few. Which is of course appropriate. To be entirely fair one gets a much better feel of the horror inherent in the setting by looking at the released adventure books than the core book, which is a weak point it shares with Jovian Nightmares. Nevertheless the book seems to be willing to create its horror from the fact that humanity is always a step ahead with its ambitions of what it can safely do. While this isn’t per se more interesting than Lovecraftian horror, it allows for unexpected variation more than sticking with somewhat tired Cthulhu tropes. (I’m not trying to piss here on the whole Mythos, I’m just saying that some authors simply recycle stuff up to 80 to 90 years old while others definitely expand on the Mythos in interesting ways.)

You could remove the horror entirely from both settings and you would at the very least get a decent (Jovian Nightmares) or excellent (SOL) sci-fi game. In the end, SOL does several things much better than JN. The game constantly expands on setting seeds, introducing some (and originally with the same limitations mentioned above) but also expanding some in interesting ways. Where JN fails to even remotely give the GM an answer, SOL introduces either an answer or several eventually, giving GMs both concrete ideas and a choice. Not all seeds are gold. But some I simply wanted to know more about many of them. I’m in fact waiting for future supplements to tell me more about this world.

So, staying on-topic, eh? Kinda missed that boat myself. Both settings do a bit, too. Both are science fiction settings first and foremost. But SOL makes room for horror, and its adventures give you a guideline how to do horror here. It doesn’t simply throw you a setting and say “Hey, here are some Lovecraftian horrors, do something.” It stays on-topic much better than the other, if in the end not perfectly. It, on occasion, shamelessly recycles other horror as well. I won’t excuse that but hey, that’s what RPGs often do. 

So, what is staying on topic in setting design? If you want to make a horror game, make space for horror. Expand the Unknown. Your world ideally has a dark underbelly which the characters learn about. Something which changes your conception of the world. Something which turns your ideas about the world on its head - you’re not the apex predator. You’re in danger. You’re not safe. They’re coming for you. Frankly, both settings fail this test. Lovecraft (the original) does them both one better. His time-traveling species invade your mind. His classic Ctulhu invades your dreams and tries to subvert the world. His monsters appear and you can do precious little about them. And many of his successors stuck with that - meaningless victories, invasion, loss of control. These themes have to come to the front and be part of the struggle players face. 

That would be staying on-topic in the horror genre. Each genre or mix of genres has its own way of staying on topic. I still wait to do myself a satisfying version of Fantasy Horror. Given how horrific lots of monsters are, the horror part of the experience is frankly still explored too little.

And now to get back to reading Eldritch Skies... Its approach to Lovecraftian sci-fi seems exciting but I cannot say yet anything about the quality of its execution. Another time...