#i hope i didn't get any canon events wrong its been some time since i first saw the first 3 games

[moonjellyfishumbrella]

AA3/AA4 spoilers!!

I draw the connection between narumitsu and "i had all and then most of you, some, and none of you." and you think oh from them as children to their first case together? No. Oh so after miles "chooses death?" Not that either. IT WAS POST AA3 BUT BEFORE AA4!!

Just imagine after miles came back due to larrys over exaggeration and he sees pheonixs' perspective for the first time as he's solving iris' case. He even helps save maya, AGAIN. Not to mention the emotional breakdown that mustve ensued in that private jet he charted while thinking pheonix had died. Undoubtedly they got closer after this case, maybe they called each other more often afterwards; talking about whatever wild cases they were investigating, maybe new larry chaos, miles "complaining" about whatever trouble Kay stirs up or about how hard Sebastian is working on a case he's been assigned to, if miles was still in japanifornia maybe they got coffee together and talked about anything and yet nothing ofcourse because theyre them, maybe they couped up in miles' apartment and worked on their cases together into obscene hours of the night. And then miles hears the news of pheonixs' disbarment, likely not even from pheonix himself. And the quiet it leaves in its wake, for both of them. Miles shock and subsequent hurt as pheonix shuts him off. Thats,,, what i mean.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Not that anyone asked me but I dont think anyone should get to married to the idea that anything Eddie and his parents confirmation have anything to do with his sexuality. We only have canon confirmation of how they made Eddie feel as a father and a man. The writers sometimes surprise us but I feel strongly they won't here. A theme this season is parenting and I really think its more about how they made him and how he's trying to break cycles for Christopher. I would just consider it a win to have him say but guess what Buck is his legal gaurdian. But assuming his parents would even have issues with him being gay is people making assumptions TBH.

Honestly I'm actually OK with that 2 because we only have 2 episodes left, we still need to deal with May's life choices, Jonha, the Madney reconciliation and and the next step for Athena and Bobby. I really dont want the Buddie canon to be rushed.

They deserve to have a few episodes to deal them a proper romcom get together. Some pining. Some talking to the others about do you think he might like me lol. I sound juvenile but I need all the things with them. We still dealnin a situation where they assume the other is straight to the best of our knowledge.

Also Buck needs to finish his self worth journey and get his shit straight with Taylor. As always I would be happy to be wrong but I'm just hoping for a finale of Buddie making heart eyes at each other like the very first epsiode. Both single and ready to mingle.

Hey Nonnie

First off - you are always entitled to your opinion and secondly you do raise some interesting points.

you say about the writers sometimes surprising us but they won't here - the GA will more often than not be surprised by what happens and the only reason we in fandom are less often surprised by things than the GA is because we spend time looking for the clues etc. Also I wouldn't say Eddie queer awakening would be a surprise because the writers have been leaving clues for us everywhere this season (and a good chunk of last as well).

Yes one of the themes this season has been parenting - but actually its been the subplot to the larger idea of building a family - (which is the main overarching plot of the entirety of 911 ) like a second string to that bow - and thats the thing - its the sub plot so it won't likely be the main focus of Eddies trip to Texas - its part of that plot, yes, but not the main focus, because yes Eddie is trying to break the cycle for Christopher, but thats been an ongoing concept since at least the beginning of season 3 so it was already something Eddie was and is doing - it doesn't warrant a trip to Texas on its own.

This seasons main themes are the heart, healing, identity and Queerness and they all interconnect.

We have had hearts being thrown at us left right and centre all season and so our characters are being told to follow their heart (Eddie has quite literally been told to make sure he is following his heart by Carla in S4). Healing - both Maddie and Eddie have spent this season grappling with their mental health and the fall out from years of trauma stacking up on top of each other and finally tumbling. we've seen other characters grappling with healing as well - some in a constructive way, others less so - but every single main (and many of the recurring) has had some form of healing journey this season - several of which came to a conclusion in pertinent moments in 5x16.

Part of healing and part of the meaning behind hearts as well is the concept of identity - who are you what has made you the person you are and do you still want to be that person or is there another version of you that you didn't get to be for various reasons. Again we have seen all our mains (and many of the recurring as well) grappling with various aspects of identity this season

We have had more rescues and accidents involving explicitly queer characters this season than in any other so far and the big happy family event at the end - its a Queer vow renewal.

All of these themes interconnect with each other - the idea of following your heart, healing and becoming your true self - accepting what ever it was in your past so that you can embrace the you that you want to be - that is what Eddies trip to Texas is about, and yes that of course involves the theme of family, but that theme of family isn't just about the one in Texas, it also involves the one he has in LA - there is a reason we have gotten so many Buddie and Buddifer scenes - that is Eddies family - the one he has been building these past few years.

As for the Queer connection to all of this - well he is literally the only one this theme fits with in this season - there would be no need to have all the explicitly queer accidents and rescues - of which two people becoming a couple has been heavily implied (Chloe and Gabi and Josh and Carlson). If it was only about Hen and Karens vow renewal - they are the OG couple of the show - they have been happily married (with their share of bumps along the way) since before 911 started - we don't need the idea of queer people getting together - they are already together so their story is not about the idea of new love and finding your person - the only reason you need that idea is if you are planting in the audiences subconscious because you are moving towards there being a new queer couple within your mains - such as Buddie going canon

Eddies trip to Texas is about healing and identity and following his heart, that means Eddie needs to embrace his Queer self - the one he has been repressing and now, having spent time working on himself in a position to do just that. So Eddie coming out as Queer to his parents and potentially to the wider firefam - thats not rushing things, thats just what we've been building to.

it also doesn't mean Buddie is going to become canon within in the next two episodes - because yes we do need more time for them (especially Buck) to work on themselves as individuals. The audience explicitly knowing Eddie is Queer - that just gives the writers time to have Buck and Eddie keep working on themselves - it gives them so many narrative options to work on themselves at the same time as moving ever closer together until we get to the moment Buddie goes canon so I don't think it will be rushed in anyway, or a surprise if we have Queer Eddie by the end of the season its what everything has been building to and there is still plenty of time for all of the other storylines to unfold this season and sett everything up for next.

[thehomothings]

Analysis of Kite's conflicting moralities, relationship with death, and the toll reincarnation may take on one's psyche

So, today I decided to compile all the thoughts I have had about Kite's interesting worldview since the first time I saw him into one post, mostly for my own sake, really. If you're familiar with the few posts I've made, you know it's gonna be a mess, but hopefully a comprehensible mess.

A heads up, this is going to be spoiler-heavy, and very much deal with subjects of death and dying as a whole. Also, some of these conclusions are drawn from my own experiences and close brushes with death, I'm not going to go into much detail but it might get personal and definitely dark. I'm not even sure if I can call this a meta-analysis, and I'm obviously no expert, so mayhaps take all of this with a grain of salt.

Been getting into drawing lately, and during the more simple and mindless part of the painstaking process of dotting every single star in this, I let my thoughts wander through the latest part of the fic I'm writing, and I got a better grasp on what exactly made Kite such an elusive character to me.

I'm not quite sure why I got so attached to Kite. Perhaps it was the air of tragedy surrounding him, how despite his sordid past he remained still open and gentle even if outlined by a healthy dose of cynicism.

But sometimes, I think it's the fact that he is so paradoxical. He's brave, yet fears death to such a degree that creates a whole Nen ability around it, is a pacifist yet will not hesitate to spill blood for his own sake or someone else's. Despite the many ultimatums and warnings of 'I will not protect you', he gave his arm and then his life to save Gon and Killua. He approaches each hunt and battle with a clear plan of action in mind, but his Hatsu takes the form of a roulette that gives him random weapons which are never what he wants, but what he seems to need for that exact situation, which he cannot dispel without using. When he draws a weapon, the decision is locked in and his or his opponent's fate is sealed. That's why each time he dubbs his weapon a bad roll. Every time he has to gamble, he sees himself as having run out of luck. When it comes to having to choose between himself and somebody else...well, there had never been a choice. In fact his aversion to using it may feed into its sheer power that we, unfortunately, saw too little of.

Let's go over his very first appearance when he saves Gon from the mother Foxbear.

It's not hard to see the strain searching for Ging has put on him; he's rash, prone to anger and punching a child for daring to get into trouble. In his mind, he's failing at his most important task, has not yet earned the right to call himself a hunter despite being in possession of his very own hunter license.

After killing the mother Foxbear and raging about having done so, he says this interesting line:

So yes, he finds killing for any reason rather irksome as most would do, yet I think something deeper caused him to absolutely lose it in this scene:

He had not been aware of Gon's identity, and despite being an animal lover and a naturalist, he made a choice to save the human instead of allowing nature to run its course. In fact, he says: 'No beast that harms a human must be allowed to live.'

How does one weight one life against another? How is the worth of it determined? The value of life... an impossible choice he's faced with and a choice which he seems to regret to some degree.

The Foxbear cub.

Here, he's speaking from experience, a tangible loss he has felt himself, and a hard and bitter life he does not want to impose on the cub.

His backstory is exclusive to the 2011 anime adaptation but there are hints alluding to it in the manga, for example, the fact that he does not seem to know his birthplace, or:

The choice of words is chilling.

Reading between the lines, one could draw the conclusion that he is an orphan. Something supporting this hypothesis is how he visibly deflates after Gon tells him his parents have (presumably) died.

So we see he is willing to go against his own moral code of not killing as to not doom another living being to the life he led, a lonely, hopeless existence that could barely be called one. He saw it best to put down the cub rather than leave it to die a painful, slow death.

The reason Kite himself isn't as cynical and cold-hearted as one would be after witnessing cruelty in its rawest form is those small crumbs of human kindness which he may have found in Ging.

It was not only a chance at an honorable life being Ging's apprentice gave him, but it also 'saved' him from being broken and twisted into what he hated and worst of all, death.

If we take that one minute of backstory as canon to his character-which I find myself inclined to do- these quirks of his make much more sense. He lived on the run. He lived on the knife's edge between giving up or pushing forwards. He lived as so a wrong move could be the difference between survival and the end.

Between rock and a hard place creates a mentality of black and white, absolute good or extreme evil, this or that. Except in reality, it's much harder than that. Deciding who to save and who to strike down is a heavy burden to bear.

It's almost easy to see how struggling to keep surviving could lend itself to a crippling fear of death and subsequently developing a Nen ability which once more goes against his own moral code in order to give himself a second chance...yet something about it strikes me as unlikely when I look at it this way.

Living life knowing it could end at any moment has the opposite effect, at least for me it did. One comes to accept that it is fleeting and while not eager to let it go, when death eventually and inevitably does come, there is no fighting it.

Especially when there is no hope that tomorrow will be a better day than this one.

Frequent near-death experiences numb one's fear in a way, even if it drives them to take precautions that render it unlikely to happen again and results in c-PTSD, but still, it does. It sparks a certain nihilistic view of 'if it all can end so easily, then what's the point of it all?'

Unless there are things to live for, a sure promise of a better future, and Ging gave Kite that. When he faced the threat of losing his second chance at life:

Really, what else could lead someone to develop the ability of 'the hell I'm going to die like this'?

I think a separate event, an even more brutal near-death experience that almost cost him his life as the hunter he so strived to be set him off to develop the secret roll of Crazy Slots, what I call Roll No.0, Ars moriendi. Unlike other weapons, it cannot come up in random and is directly summoned by him, or better said, summon by his overwhelming will to keep going and hopelessness of fighting a losing battle. I don't believe roll No.3 was the weapon that allowed him to reincarnate. I've named that one Wand of Fortune, a sort of armor instead of an offensive weapon since I find it hard to believe Kite, a Conjurer, would not focus on defences as well, and I will go into both mechanisms of these weapons hopefully in his backstory.

Despite knowing this battle to be a pointless one and being acutely aware of his soon to be demise, he did not immediately draw Ars moriendi, no, he stayed back and fought for the sake of the boys, kept Neferpitou occupied until they could reach safety. We can see evidence of this in the aftermath of the battle that seemed to have gone on until dawn, a torn apart landscape only signaling a fraction of the devastation that was Kite's power unleashed. It still wasn't enough.

In the anime sub I watched, when Gon apologizes to Ging about Kite's death, Ging said a sentence that infuriated me, because it belittled the utter suffering of the NGL trio.

"He would not die in your place." (No screenshot, sorry)

And I remember practically shouting at the screen, screaming 'how could you possibly say that? Of course he did. He absolutely did die in their place. How could you not know your own apprentice? Why-'

It was only last night that it hit me why Ging would say that.

Once upon a time, maybe Kite would not have given his life for anybody under any circumstances, even if he had a way out of it all. He would still need to die to come back to life.

His Thanatophobia could be attributed to the (possibly untreated) PTSD of the near-death experience in his later life, being so certain of dying that finding himself alive afterwards drove him to never want to go through that again. He quieted his fear by creating a sort of a loophole, that even if he lost the battle he would remain. Ging remembered that, but as evidence shows, something changed. Maybe he healed a bit, perhaps growing up dulled his fear to a certain degree, but eventually when it came down to his life or another's, he didn't choose himself.

Now, I can hear you saying 'but he didn't die, so what are you going on about??' And so I reply: Yes, he is alive, but he did die. He experienced that painful, horrible moment of staring death in the eyes and thinking 'This is it, this is the end', went through the actual process of having his soul removed from his body. And that moment stretches into infinity, ten lifetimes condensed into the mere seconds before oblivion.

Dying isn't so hard if one stays dead.

It's not so easy to open one's eyes and find oneself alive again after that, no matter how much that is the heart's desire. It's difficult, nigh-impossible to reconcile with life and walk amongst the living when everything had been so final, when death had been accepted to its fullest.

So Kite awakens, the twin of Meruem and back from the dead, his mind and identity both intact and fractured. In that he is Kite is no mistaking, yet he is not the same gentle pacifist whose first reaction upon sensing a monster's aura was to shield two kids from it at the cost of his arm.

I don't think many of you are familiar with Zoroastrian ideology, but Togashi is known for loving his religious imagery, and it's not only Christianism he derives inspiration from (evidence of which can be seen all over Kite's character and resurrection).

In Zurvanism-a branch of Zoroastrianism- there is talk of the twin spirits: Ahura Mazda -epitome of all that is good- and Ahriman -epitome of all that is evil-, the parent god Zurvin decides that the firstborn may rule in order to bring "heaven, hell, and everything in between."

Upon becoming aware of this fact, Ahriman forcibly tears through the womb to emerge first. Sounding familiar yet?

Zurvan relents to this turn of events only on one condition: Ahriman is given kingship for 9000 years, and then Ahura Mazda may rule for eternity.

Meruem ruled for 40 days, his death leaving the throne vacant for ant Kite, wearing a dead girl's face and seeming to be brewing some nefarious plan. No more is there any sign of that unrelenting pacifism and the sanctity of life he held so high, losing his own may have only served to show him how meaningless the pain and suffering he went through had been, dying only to be reborn as a member of the species that killed him. It may be that he has no desire to rule over the remaining Chimera ants or create an army of his own-

Yet I dread to think what a broken mind possessing limitless power might do to the world.

And that's it. If you made it this far, thank you for reading! If you found it interesting, stay tuned, as I think a lot and I will make it your problem.

[polarishymn-blog]

I'm bored so here is another theory. Be warned HERE BE SPOILERS!

Tacking on to the Elgar'nan theory here:

I discussed how I think the Evanuris were originally spirits. Well folks I have a personal head canon for my Inquisitor. Let me make this clear MY LAVELLAN INQUISITOR. NOT SAYING ANYONE HAS TO AGREE. I JUST USE THIS WHEN I PLAY THROUGH.

Ok? Ok.

Get your tinfoil hats on. This one is a doozy.

Lavellan is the spirit of sacrifice.

I hear people now like "that's ridiculous." Give me a chance to explain before you scroll on.

The Inquisitor is in the fade after being part of an explosion that kills EVERYONE ELSE. Even Corypheus takes a big ol L on this one.

Everyone is dead. What happens to Divine Justinia? A spirit that identifies with her so much it takes on her persona and memories. As does Compassion who becomes Cole. So we have a precedence for this.

Cole shows us that a spirit can take physical form. Justinia shows us that a spirit can fully believe they are that person. And the ancient elves just...these guys...looking at you Solas.

Var lath vir suledin!

I digress. So a spirit can not only retain the thoughts and memories of a person but take physical form.

"Then how come she doesn't know she is a spirit?" You ask?

Simple the spirit doesn't want to remember. It was a traumatic event. The person they identified with, quite possibly has been watching for some time, died a horrible death trying to save Justinia from that red lyrium blight infused ballsack. They basically ran into a situation any of us would have noped out of. All to try and save (for Lavellan) a woman that made no nevermind to them.

Instead our intrepid little elf is like "nah I should definitely fuck with that big scary guy and grab this clearly magical item."

In the immortal words of Sandal "BOOM!"

Everything goes to shit. Our lady elf wakes in the Fade with no memory how she got there. She recovers her memory later but not all of it. After the explosion there isn't shit until she wakes up.

Sus.

So she wakes up and spends the rest of her time throwing herself into one hellscape after another. Putting herself in constant danger and giving up whatever life they had before to save the world. Spoiler: and her fucking arm. Thank Solas. You lying manipulative beautiful bastard you.

Var lath vir suledin!

Speaking of that wolfish sex pistol...he has some...odd dialouge.

Solas: spirit wish to join then living. Demons are that wish gone wrong.

Interesting. He doesn't say they can't. Cole is proof they can. So lets look at some Cole and Solas exchanges:

Solas: The rifts draw spirits through, and the shock makes demons of them.

Cole: Pushing through makes you be yourself. You can hold onto the you.

Cole: Being pulled through means you don't have enough you. You become what batters you, bruises your being.

Solas: Yes, exactly. Deliberately crossing the Veil requires that a spirit form will, personality.

Solas: That concept of self gives a spirit the chance to maintain its nature.

So according to Cole a spirit that comes through willingly doesn't necessarily become a demon. Solas follows up with a spirit needs the will to do so and to form a personality. If the spirit has a blueprint...say...a person they identify with...they could assume that person's personality and indomitable will and focus.

His voice....sigh.

Let's move on to:

Solas: You may well become fully human, after all. I never thought to see it.

Cole: When did you see it before?

Solas: I did not say that I had.

Cole: No, you didn't. It's harder to hear, sometimes. Sorry.

Solas: Good luck, Cole. You have taken a difficult road.

Ya'll Cole can see/sense that Solas has seen this before. And he also knows who and what Solas is. Our murder bebe all but outs him several times. After Tresspasser you see the breadcrumbs clearly. This exchange could on the surface just be about them but as Solas is also a spirit taken form I find it interesting he doesn't say "You where once like me Solas." If he doesn't out him here he may not out the Inquisitor.

Next! Ah...the balcony scene. WHY MUST YOU BE SO DAMN CHARMING!

Solas: Has it affected you? Changed you in any way? Your mind, your morals, your... spirit?"

Lavellan: If it had do you really think I'd have notice?

Solas: No. That's an excellent point.

Lavellan: Why do you ask?

Solas: You show a wisdom I have not seen since... since my deepest journies into the ancient memories of the Fade.

Solas: If the Dailsh could raise someone with a spirit like yours. Have I misjudged them?

Ok...why is he emphasizing her spirit. Not soul. Not you. SPIRIT! He asks if the mark has affected her. But it could be his way of prying information without "hey bitch are you aware you are a spirit. I know crazy, right?" Js he does this "I like your spirit" talk more than once.

I enter into evidence a snippet from the heart shattering breakup conversation:

Solas: You have a rare and marvelous spirit.

I'm not crying. You're crying. DRINK MY TEARS PATRICK WEEKES YOU BEAUTIFUL BEING!

A rare and marvelous spirit huh...Cole what was it he said to you?

Cole: I didn't know there were spirits of wisdom.

Solas: There are few. Spirits form as a reflection of this world and its passions.

Solas: We will never lack for spirits of rage, or hunger, or desire. The world gives them plenty to mirror.

Solas: The gentler spirits are far more rare. We can ill afford the loss of even one spirit of wisdom, or faith...

Solas: Or compassion.

Or sacrifice! If compassion and wisdom are rare. How rare would sacrifice be?

Solas says the Inquisitor changed everything for him. He is someone who is ready to do whatever it takes to restore his people. Surly he would value sacrifice. If he came across a rare and marvelous spirit of sacrifice would he not at least be intrigued? Or inspired?

Let's face it he is an artist. His lady would definitely be his muse. Especially after she accidentally gives him permission to destroy the world.

...Dammit Lavellan.

Finally, why didn't our precious lying egg not mention this? When the Inquisitor is having the very terse elven conversation and the city elves are brought up this is the dialogue:

Solas: Why? What would it benefit some poor man in a Ferelden alieanage to learn his ancestors strode the land like gods? It would only make him bitter. Or inspire him to take a foolish risk and get himself killed.

Lavellan: You have decided his reaction for him.

Solas: Perhaps I have.

Clearly wolf boy has no problem keeping information from someone he thinks will only serve to harm them. If the Inquisitor knew they were a spirit perhaps Solas would think their reaction would be troublesome. Or even dangerous.

There is more but this is already ridiculously long. All this is to say my Lavellan was a real elf. She was killed during the explosion and a spirit of sacrifice identified with her so much she became her. The elf Solas falls in love with is (in my rp) like him. A rare spirit that became flesh and blood. She chose to be real like Cole can. Her lack of memory of the moment it happened is both self serving and part of the effects of becoming real. I know it is most likely all bs but it makes for an interesting thought.

Solas is the force that will end Thedas. Lavellan may be the sacrifice needed to stop it.

I hope you enjoyed this rant nobody asked for.

Oh and:

SOLAS! VAR LATH VIR SULEDIN!

[marshmallowprotection]

Sorry to bring this topic back now, but I'm honestly glad to see you talking about the passport tequila(?) thing. I haven't read your passport post yet because I wanna avoid spoilers for the passport just in case I manage to get it one day (but it'll take a while till that happens, seeing Cheritz still isn't shipping to Finland and I still haven't got the bodypillow I ordered from them in May), but I've seen two pictures of some of its contents already. The second one a photoset of him and MC (which btw was seriously adorable and made me wanna get the passport immediately, man he's so cute) and the first one I saw was the doodle of Saeran being passed out.

My friend messaged me about it, also pretty devastated and disappointed that the artist had drawn something like that in the passport, completely forgetting his past and trauma with alcohol. Honestly, because it was the first ever thing I heard about the passport's contents and the first doodle I saw, I was really disappointed and felt hesitant about ever getting it. I went on a whole rant about it back then and then later started feeling like I overreacted a bit...

But not gonna lie, it kinda upset me too because it just seemed so OOC for him to do? You pretty much already put how I feel about it into words really well. I just don't think he'd drink alcohol, seeing that's pretty much where his trauma came from, and also when I think about the friends and mutuals I have who've had alcoholic parents and swore to never drink themselves thanks to that, and how Saeyoung doesn't wanna drink because of his mum and they share that trauma…

Then after talking about it with a few friends I began to think that hey, maybe he wanted to try it out once and already after ONE sip went "too bitter DX" and didn't want more. He likes sweet stuff anyway, even if he didn't have all the trauma, I doubt his sweet tooth would like the taste of alcohol. The first impression my friend and I got was that he was DRUNK, but nah, now he just looks like he's suffering because it was too bitter lol

But then I saw someone here mention that it might not even be an alcoholic drink (or that he passed out from the heat) and hey, I'm just gonna go ahead and headcanon that now, it was just way too bitter for him

In the end I do think that the artist who worked on that passport wasn't entirely aware of his past, which is a shame. Or just didn't think about it. I think someone told them to "make some cute and funny doodles of him" and they thought "hey drunk Saeran lol that could be funny and cute" without thinking about it more, and that's how the doodle became a thing

You’re still waiting for that? Jesus, I hope that the mail service is able to open up soon for your country and that it’s okay for them to ship things around. It’s been a while now, I would’ve thought that they might have been able to work around to get it to you! Well, precautions are precautions, and those are important when the world is like this but huh. Odd that it’s not working around yet. 

It really unsettled me when I saw it. I thought, “Okay, maybe it’s not actually just straight-up tequila or booze, I can rationalize this away as something else cause it’s really not okay to me.” I know someone said in the post that it’s on the Wiki that Saeran’s not a big fan of soda because it gives him headaches, and I know that feeling, so if one wants to think it’s soda, they can. It’s easy to say, well, it’d be possible that it’s the dry heat of the country and he’s flopped over from that after finally getting something chilled. 

It’s easier for me to rationalize it in that manner instead of saying that it’s alcohol even though it’s clearly intended to be seen as that. I’ve unfortunately got similar trauma and I see myself in the Choi boys. Do you know how rare it can be to find characters that are adults that don’t drink or aren’t invested in drinking culture as a whole? I’m fine with people enjoying their vices and doing things in moderation but—

I just cannot relate to it. I’m nearly 24 and I cannot stand even the smell of that stuff. It’s fine if you enjoy your wine or liquor or whatever, it just feels in such poor taste to draw out someone drinking that has made it very clear that they aren’t comfortable with drinking, and they shouldn’t have to explain out their trauma to have their feelings justified. The whole, “Just one sip, it won’t really hurt you,” is so toxic.

Can’t tell you how many times someone has told me that when I’ve made it very clear that I’m uncomfortable with that and I would rather chug dish soap than be subjected to booze. 

I’m proud of Saeran for how far he’s come in his AE. I sincerely am, emotionally he’s doing so much better and he’s working on himself, but I really don’t see him or his brother ever trying alcohol. There could be a point where maybe they just say, “What the hell did she even see in this? What do people even see in this stuff?” and they try one singular sip, and go: “Yeah, no, this isn’t the thing for me, no thanks.” 

I’m cool with that if that is what they choose to do. It’s their body, their trauma, and their choice. 

Saeyoung and Saeran have very clear trauma from Alcoholism. It’s made very clear from the both of them that they don’t drink. Seven notes that he’s about as straight-laced as they come when it means alcohol or smoking. Unknown can’t really be counted as a smoker, he literally used that as an excuse during the SE to contact Mint Eye. So, I’ve never read him as a smoker, either. It was a good excuse. Neither of them gets involved with addictive vices that are legal for you to use. 

I struggle with fanon content sometimes because I’ll find stories or imagines where the writer has shown Saeyoung or Saeran drinking, and I just have to nope out of that setting. It’s not cute or cheeky. I personally don’t answer any requests that involve the boys drinking because I’ve made my stance very clear on the subject and how I feel about depicting characters that do not want to drink and have made it known that they do not want to drink as drinking. The rest of the RFA? Sure, some of them drink occasionally, fairly in moderation, which is alright. 

The Passport itself is really cute, no spoilers, but that’s the only thing within its contents that made me uncomfortable. The rest of it was definitely worth what I paid for and it made me smile if that’s any comfort to you. It’s just that one little doodle that just... yeah, I think I would go with your theory on this one, and that being that the artist might not have known specifically about the brothers or what they’ve dealt with in their lives, and just went with a cute idea they had and it’s not really anything huge. 

It’s fine to drink and all, but it’s equally important to respect when someone says that they don’t want to do it. That is a personal choice, and I just wish more folks would consider Saeran and Saeyoung’s feelings on the matter since it’s been stated in the canon plenty, specifically by Saeyoung during his Routes events in the game, and you can infer from Saeran fairly easily given what he was subjected to in his life. 

TLDR; It’s fine to drink when you want to do it, and there’s nothing wrong with it in moderation; but, it’s important to respect that not everyone wants to drink or get involved with that sort of stuff. 

[kali-writes-meta]

Oscar and Ironwood Part 2: The Toxic Bromance

I apologise for taking so long to post this essay. Recent events haven't been conducive to a contemplative state of mind. In Part 1 I covered the pile of rather ominous foreshadowing of Oscar and Ironwood's relationship, now let's see how it actually played out.

Oscar and Ironwood's relationship has the rhythm of a toxic bromance story. Ironwood is pining for someone else to come sweep him off his feet, and he gets Oscar instead. Ironwood makes no bones about the fact that he would prefer Ozpin, and spends their every moment together trying to turn Oscar into Ozpin. Then, at a dramatic moment, Oscar saves Ironwood by doing something that Ozpin would never do, proving that Oscar is the better man for this moment. And does Ironwood thank him? No, he's still too busy pining for Ozpin, unable to appreciate the man standing in front of him. Finally, Oscar makes one last attempt to reach Ironwood, who cruelly dumps him. It's a perfect example of a toxic bromance.

But, maybe I'm wrong. There are people who say that the final scene with Oscar and Ironwood in Volume 7 had Ironwood acting completely different from how he had previously acted towards Oscar. I didn't see that big of a difference, but maybe I missed something. Let's look at every single interaction between the two characters and see what we find.

When they first meet Ironwood warmly greets a bunch of people he hasn't seen in over a year, but doesn't ask about the one stranger in the group. It's a small incivility that could be put down to the stress of discussing highly classified information, if he didn't then proceed to discuss highly classified information in front of a COMPLETE STRANGER. Whether you see it as an etiquette failure or a security failure or both, it's clearly a failure.

Ironwood announces a new plan that will undo and replace Ozpin's plan, since Ozpin is gone and he has to use his "best judgement". Then he is introduced to the strange kid as "the next Ozpin" (Really, Qrow? You could have worded it better than that.)

Ironwood is overjoyed. He smiles broadly and quickly races to Oscar's side, even going down on one knee in front of him, at the thought that Oscar might not really be Oscar.

Let's pause on the kneeling bit. Who is Ironwood kneeling for? One kneels before a child, one's lover, or one's monarch. Ironwood might be kneeling before the child Oscar, but he NEVER kneels before Oscar again, so he's not kneeling for the child. He's kneeling before a lover or a monarch. I highly doubt it's for a lover, and "monarch" seems closer to how he was treating Ozpin earlier. But it is definitely someone for whom Ironwood feels a passionate bond. There's no doubt that this is the most emotional we have seen Ironwood to this date.

After Ironwood goes down on one knee, he learns that this is not the Wizard he has been looking for. Ozpin.exe has gone offline, and only Oscar is at home.

Ironwood is crushed. Instead of responding to Oscar's introduction and without saying a single word to the young man he's just been introduced to he looks away from him,

turns his back on Oscar,

and walks away!

If one of the main cast had been that rude to Oscar we still wouldn't have heard the end of it, but for some reason Ironwood gets a free pass.

Ironwood: Ozpin told us that too, once upon a time. (turning to face them) At least we have you, Oscar. You're safe here in Atlas. Maybe together we can figure out how to bring Ozpin back.

That's an interesting statement. Notice he still hasn't exchanged pleasantries with Oscar. He's saying that Oscar is safe, but he's not saying that he will take care of Oscar or do anything at all for him, except "figure out how to bring Ozpin back". He's setting the terms of their relationship at the start. He doesn't see Oscar as his own person, but only as an obstacle he has to get through to reach Ozpin.

Note the discrepancy between Ironwood's tone and his wording. Research has shown that some people pay more attention to tone than they do to word choice, so when there's a discrepancy between tone and wording they'll give more weight to the tone and dismiss the actual words. (It's a valuable tool for unscrupulous salesmen and con artists.) Ironwood's tone is warm and friendly towards Oscar and apparently it fooled some viewers, but his words are much cooler and less friendly.

Oscar notices the discrepancy, and it confuses him. He responds first to the warm tone and then to the cool wording.

Oscar: (grinning) Thank you, sir. (stands at attention) I mean, uh, general. Uh, Ironwood? (smiling awkwardly)

At this point their relationship is spelled out. Ironwood is deeply disappointed and dissatisfied that Oscar isn't Ozpin, and is going to try his best to turn Oscar into Ozpin. Oscar, responding to Ironwood's warm tone, is going to do his best to cooperate for Ironwood's sake. Ironwood's stance reminds me of what was said to another Atlesian back in Volume 1:

Port: "So the outcome did not fall in your favor. ...(I)nstead of fretting about what you don't have, savor what you do. Hone your skills, perfect every technique, and be... the best person you can be."

Ironwood is fretting about what he doesn't have. He isn't interested in helping Oscar be the best Oscar he can be. Ironwood just wants to turn Oscar into Ozpin as fast as possible.

We see the difference in the two mens' attitudes play out in the mine clearing story. Oscar expresses concern about how they are treating Ironwood.

Oscar: Ruby, hiding things from Ironwood, doesn't that feel like what Ozpin did to us?

But Ironwood shows a lack of concern for Oscar by not inviting Oscar to a surprise party Ironwood throws for Oscar's friends. If he was concerned for Oscar, why not invite him? But if Ironwood's only concern is turning Oscar into Ozpin, it makes sense that he would not even think to invite the young man. Such an action would not serve Ironwood's purpose, so why do it?

Later, Ironwood begins training Oscar.

Ironwood: You might not hear Oz anymore, Oscar, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to jog him loose.

Once again, Ironwood's tone of voice is warm and friendly, but his words are not. Notice that Ironwood doesn't say that he is training Oscar for Oscar's benefit. His sole stated reason for training Oscar is to "jog (Ozpin) loose". Ironwood has a good reason for believing this sparring technique will work to bring out Ozpin, but that topic deserves an essay of its own, so I'll cover it separately later. However, it doesn't work to jog Ozpin loose. Instead it helps Oscar improve and make more friends, to become more "the best Oscar he can be."

When sparring doesn't work to turn Oscar into Ozpin Ironwood falls back on the classic trope of the lovesick swain, he shows the substitute the special place where he and his idol made special memories.

Ironwood: I hoped bringing you down here might jog some memories.

This interaction is the third time that we've seen Ironwood speak to Oscar, and it's the third time he's said he wants to turn Oscar into someone else. There's no canon evidence that they have any other relationship at this point.

But, I can hear some people saying, how is this different from what the main cast did to Oscar? Didn't they treat him like a walking meat suit as well? It's true that in a fit of rage Jaune accused Oscar of being Ozpin in disguise, but he quickly dropped the delusion and apologized to Oscar at the next opportunity, and that was the end of it. There's never been another time when they have treated Oscar as if he was Ozpin when Oscar was in control of his own body. Ironwood is a different story. He persists in trying to turn Oscar into Ozpin.

For the third time, his tone of voice is warm and friendly, but his words are all about how he doesn't want to be here with Oscar. He wants to be with someone else. He seems to look forward to a day when he believes Oscar will be gone and Ozpin will stand in his place (in spite of all the evidence to the contrary) to Oscar's noticable discomfort.

Oscar: It feels strange, knowing that part of me helped come up with all this.

Ironwood: You’ll get used to it, I’m sure. Eventually, you won’t even know who’s who anymore.

Then, in that special spot, Ironwood tells Oscar his dream for the two of them.

Ironwood: We... didn’t always see eye to eye, but... I wish I could ask Ozpin what he thought of all of this.

As is common with lovesick swains, Ironwood is looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses. They didn't merely not "always see eye to eye". Ironwood was constantly arguing with Ozpin, keeping secrets from Ozpin (Penny), and going behind Ozpin's back to undercut Ozpin's authority (taking over the Vytal Festival). It's doubtful how much he would listen to Ozpin if Ozpin was there, but Ironwood is still making himself heartsick imagining the encouragement that Ozpin would give him. (You can tell he's viewing the past tinted with nostalgia, because if Ozpin were really there Ironwood would be getting a tongue-lashing.)

Imagine how dehumanizing this must feel to Oscar. It's entirely to the young man's credit that he does what he does next.

Oscar: Well, I can tell you what I think. The path you’re heading down where you’re the only one with the answers, where you do the thing you think is right no matter the cost, it’s not going to take you anywhere good.

Oscar has been giving Ironwood what he thinks Ironwood wants, to no avail. Now he gives Ironwood what Oscar thinks Ironwood needs.

And it seems to help Ironwood open up a little bit.

Ironwood: We have to stop Salem. Nothing matters more.

Oscar: Some things matter more, I think. Keeping our humanity. It’s what makes us different from her.

Ironwood: Sometimes I worry that’s her greatest advantage. Without humanity, does she still feel fear? Does she ever hesitate? When Salem hit Beacon, even with all my ships, all of my soldiers... I was no match for her. I’ve never felt so helpless. The way she told me she was there.

Oscar: It’s okay to be afraid. You just can’t let that fear control you.

Ironwood: I am not going to end up with Lionheart. Do you believe in me?

Oscar: I do believe in you, but not only you. I think the best thing you could do is sit down and talk with the people you’re most afraid to.

And how does Ironwood express his gratitude for Oscar's help?

Ironwood: (chuckles) Now you are starting to sound like him.

By denying Oscar's humanity once again.

Then comes Jacques' ball --, er, dinner party. Oscar is worried about what will happen to Ironwood there.

Oscar: Ironwood's going to be locked in a room at his rival's own dinner party. I know Jacques says he's happy to moderate, but all that really means is he'll be the one controlling the conversation.

Ironwood doesn't appear to show the same concern for Oscar, but drags the young man along into a potentially dangerous situation. Why? It's not for anyone's entertainment. It's not so Oscar can testify before the Council, which is the excuse for bringing the others. Oscar's secrets are not ones that Ironwood wants out. The only plausible reason left is so that a 14 year old kid can provide a world leader with advice and emotional support.

To everyone's surprise, that's what happens.

Jacques' treason and Watts' shenanigans come to the surface, culminating in a simultaneous cyber attack with a major DOS, riot, and Grimm invasion. Ironwood freezes in the clinch, unable to decide what to do.

Clover: Sir, we need ground support now.

Robyn: What we need is to start evacuating Mantle. If it's completely overrun, it's not going to be safe anywhere. Use the fleet to get--

Ironwood: If I move the fleet, then Atlas is vulnerable. I… I tried to keep the kingdom safe. And now we're losing everything.

It's Oscar that comes to Ironwood's rescue.

Oscar: General? Earlier, you asked for my advice.

Ironwood: I wanted Ozpin's advice.

Ouch. For the fourth time, Ironwood shows that he sees Oscar as nothing but a poor substitute for Ozpin. But then Oscar shines.

Oscar: And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets. When we first got here, you already knew that wasn't the right course. You had a new plan.

Ironwood: It's time to give up on that plan. It's all falling apart.

Oscar: The panic you were worried about? It's already happening. The secrets you're keeping? They're about to be in the open anyway. It's time. Tell the truth.

Here is where Oscar does what Ozpin couldn't do, proving that he's not just a second-rate substitute for the real thing. This time he was better than Ozpin.

At this point Oscar has just pulled Ironwood's fat out of the fire, and what does he get? The only thanks Ironwood gives him since they first met, right before Oscar is literally told to go to his room.

Ironwood: Thank you. Oscar, I think it's time you get back to the Academy.

Afterwards Oscar tells Ruby, "He's finally choosing the truth over fear. We should do the same" and with her permission tells Ironwood the rest of the story.

Ironwood -- some folks think he took the news well. I don't. That looks to me like monumental "just this side of throwing up" shock, to be followed by monumental rage. As upsetting as he finds the news of Salem's immortality, he's even more upset that his adored hero kept secrets from him.

Ironwood: (distraught) Why? Why would Oz keep this from us? From the people who trusted him?

(You mean the person who went behind his back and undermined his authority?)

Oscar: He was worried you would lose hope. We're sorry we kept it from you, too. We didn't know who to trust. I figured you should know before you make any… sacrifices.

It's Oscar who prods Ironwood away from his pain and back to the present.

Oscar: Sir? What are you gonna do?

Ironwood: I… (collects himself) All we can do for the moment is what we can to save Mantle. That's what's in front of us.

Oscar: (smiling) He'd be proud of you. You're bringing the hope that Atlas was meant to inspire. A city in the sky is held to a higher standard.

Ironwood: You say that... like you were ther--

One again, the only compliment Ironwood can give Oscar, even after Oscar has done what Ozpin couldn't do, is to tell him he sounds like Ozpin. The man needs to work on some new lines.

Oscar goes back to JNPR's room with an escort of robot guards. Ironwood goes to deal with the crisis, and makes a good show until Cinder and Salem rattle him. The good news is that his monumental shock subsides. The bad news is that it's followed by monumental rage.

In the middle of a battle Ironwood decides to arrest the allies whom he now considers questionable, instead of using the age-old tactic of dealing with such a problem by sending them to the front line. (You can tell these boys haven't fought a war in a while.) He sends an Army unit to capture a same-sized Marines unit, and things go as well as could be expected. Meanwhile Neo goes to retrieve the Lamp of Knowledge, currently in Oscar's possession, from Oscar and JNR, and things go as well as could be expected.

Then in the middle of the Great Escape, Oscar turns back to try one last time to do what Ozpin couldn't do and would no longer have tried to do -- talk sense into Ironwood. Talking sense into Ironwood is something Ozpin had been failing at since Volume 2, and going by what he said to Oscar about Hazel during the Battle of Haven, "He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed", we can safely say that by now Ozpin would have given up on Ironwood as a lost cause. But, just like with Hazel, Oscar is going to try.

Their sixth and final interaction starts with Ironwood repeating basically what he said in the other five interactions, another variation on, " Are you Ozpin yet?" Even after Oscar has done for him what Ozpin wouldn't do, he still wants Ozpin over Oscar.

Ironwood: And... whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?

Oscar: Still just me.

Then the conversation takes a different turn. Ironwood knows he's crossed a line, and he knows Oscar knows. The warm and friendly tone is gone. But Oscar tries to de-escalate the situation.

Ironwood: It was smart of you not to bring the Lamp down here. I wouldn’t trust me either right now.

Oscar: Trust is what I’m hoping to fix. I know we can still figure this out, all of it, together. Please.

Ironwood: Do you intend to fight me?

Oscar: No. That’s exactly what she wants.

Note that Ironwood anticpates a beating for what he's done. As the adult in a room with a teenage boy, HE should be the one pointing out the importance of not being bullied, manipulated, or coerced into doing anything stupid. Instead it's the teenage boy's job to point it out to him.

I've posted about this conversation in detail before, so I just want to make three points this time. The first point is that Ironwood's refusal to admit he's afraid is what triggers his violence.

Ironwood: You still think I’m afraid?

Oscar: We all are. It’s what we do in our fear that reveals--

Ironwood: That’s easy for you to say!

The second point is that Oscar finally understands what Ozpin meant about some people being "wounded in a way that can't be healed." Whether he agrees with Ozpin is something we'll find out in Volume 8, but he understands Ozpin better now.

Finally we have the end of Ironwood's toxic bromance with Oscar. And just as he did at the beginning, he insists on being the one to set the terms.

Ironwood: I am done letting others’ inability to see the big picture get in the way of doing what’s right. Robyn, the council, this kingdom... even you.

Oscar: Then you’re as dangerous as she is, James.

Ironwood: James is what my friends call me. To you… it’s General.

That's pretty much the way I saw it play out while watching the episodes in real time. I missed the discrepancy in tone and word choice the first time around; in my defense I'm a Southerner and used to hearing violent death threats dripping from honeyed lips. But I saw no discrepancy in Ironwood's behavior from beginning to end. He always wanted Oscar to be someone he wasn't, and when it became clear that Oscar was never going be what he wanted Oscar to be, Ironwood threw him away like a petulant child throwing away a broken toy. This wasn't the man I wanted Ironwood to be, but it's the same man we've seen since the beginning -- brave, charming, intelligent, and fatally short-sighted.

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober Day 5

Failed Escape | Rescue

Ao3

Warnings: nothing that's not tagged. Canon typical violence.

-o-o-o-o-

Dick didn't know how or when he first realized something was wrong with Bruce. Only that one night they were alone together in the cave, having sent Damian upstairs for rest and everyone else out doing their own things at their own places. He didn't know if it was the way Bruce's shoulders would tense whenever Dick came near, or if it was how clipped and angry his voice was on the comms during the rare—even for him—times he talked.

Maybe it was just a third sense located somewhere in Dick's mind, set to scream whenever his gut instinct decided that something was off. Not right.

"Bruce?" He asked, taking a cautious step forward even though he couldn't think of any reasons why he should be so cautious. Bruce tensed the moment Dick came too close, his muscles bunching like a viper, ready to strike the second it was able to. Dick realized too late that the thing he was preparing to strike at would be… Dick himself.

Dick took another naive step forward, unaware just how much danger he was in until Bruce turned from the computer and in a blink of an eye, he grabbed Dick by the hair and slammed his face on the keyboard of the batcomputer.

Immediately, blood erupted from his sinuses following the sound of a sickening snap. Tears filled his eyes because of the pain, and it was all he could do to throw his body away from the monitor to avoid getting his skull caved in by a heartless fist.

Lettered keys went flinging as Dick went rolling on the hard floor of the cave. His ears rung as bats screeched from above like some sort of audience. Excited to see who would win.

A kick came for Dick's stomach, which he was just barely able to scramble out of the way of. His heart pounded in his chest like a startled cartoon character as he forced himself to his feet, blood dripping over his mouth and off his chin. He didn't need to touch his nose to know it was definitely broken. He could feel it clear as day--the pain like two knives shoved up his nostrils.

Now that Dick was on his feet, he immediately got into a defensive posture, latching onto the first sight of Bruce through his teary vision. His heart skipped a beat at the sight before him; Bruce clutching to the back of the computer chair, his mask pulled off his face to show that the whites of his eyes were now red, pupils blown wide and mouth turned down into a snarl.

Bruce's eyes darted up from wherever he had been looking towards to stare right at Dick, but he didn't make any moves to attack. Confusion, hurt, anger, and betrayal swirled in Dick's gut like a specialty drink at a bar.

"What the hell is-" Dick started, but Bruce's stare turned intense, causing Dick to subconsciously stop mid sentence.

"Dick," Bruce grunted, his voice sounded like he'd just been strangled by a python for a few hours. Filled with gravel and sandpaper. It sounded painful. Physically… and perhaps emotionally too. Dick's rather good at reading Bruce, even though everything he was seeing right now was so… so wrong .

Then Bruce continued, gurgling out a single word that activated every single flight or fight response in Dick's body.

"Run."

Dick took a moment to catch his breath, watching helplessly as Bruce moaned painfully--clutching the chair even harder than before, as if it was no longer a way to keep his balance, but a way to keep him from going anywhere. Something very, very wrong was going on. Well, that much was obvious. Bruce didn't… he didn't hit Dick. Anymore at least. Not since Spyral... and It wasn't like anything verbal was said between the two since then. A sorry for every time Dick found himself at the punching end of a fist normally directed to the worst of the worst in the city of Gotham. But Dick could tell. Bruce regretted it. Dick had forgiven him. So there had to be… a reason for this. A reason that wasn't Bruce falling into old habits and mistaking Dick for a punching bag.

So what was it? Brainwashing? Drugs?

Dick knew Bruce told him to run, but he… he couldn’t just leave Bruce there while he was clearly fighting against something.

Slowly, he moved a foot forward, the soles of his suit’s shoes scraped against the rocky ground. He lifted his arms, hoping to look pacifying and non-threatening. He didn't know what set Bruce off, but he'd like to at least take basic soothing motions to avoid another face-to-keyboard event.

"Bruce?" Dick asked, his voice sounded way stronger than what he felt, even with the change in tone thanks to the broken and bleeding nose. He lifted his arm to his nose and used the sleeve of his suit to wipe away some of the blood. "B? What's going on?"

" Run ," Bruce snapped, causing Dick to stop in his tracks and stare wide-eyed. "I can't- it's strong- I'm fighting it but-" Bruce gasped a deep breath, his face scrunched up in what looked like physical pain. "Dick RUN . Lock me in here- I don't- arrgh- !"

And that was the only warning Dick had before Bruce was barreling forward once again, an emptiness in his red eyes that wasn't there a moment before. Thoroughly freaked out now, Dick took Bruce's advice to heart and turned tail, already mentally mapping his route to the grandfather clock and the emergency lock down on the other side. It was not the first time something sinister had crawled it's way into the cave, and it certainly won't be the last.

All Dick needed to do was make it up the stairs before Bruce caught up.

Which, like most things, was easier said than done.

He was just barely up several stairs towards the exit when a hand suddenly wrapped around his ankle. For a moment, genuine fear spiked through his chest as the hand yanked on his leg, causing Dick to lose balance and fall forward. He brought his hands down in front of him, using them to catch his fall, but the sudden velocity and movement caused his nose to pulse angrily like it had an upset heartbeat of its own, which in turn caused his head to go light-headed for a moment. A moment too long.

He twisted onto his side, kicking out with his free leg right where Bruce's hand still wrapped around Dick's ankle. Bruce growled when Dick's heel met flesh, but barely even flinched. Just yanked Dick downward, the edges of the stairs hitting his spine whith every foot dragged away from escape.

As Dick kicked again--this time at Bruce's face--he thought about his options. He could escape this grasp on him, easy, but Bruce was fast. Faster than most people, especially considering his well muscled build and weight. Dick was lighter, shorter, and quicker on his feet, but Bruce knew how to chase people that were faster than him. Bruce was always like a predator of endurance whenever he and Dick sparred, using Dick's quick movements against him until Dick was forced to take a breath. They say you can walk a runaway cat to exhaustion. It was much the same way with Bruce.

Whatever was going on, Bruce knew how to fight, even with his potentially brainwashed or controlled mind. If Dick ran back up the stairs when he got free of the grinding grasp on his ankle, there was a pretty high chance that Bruce would make it there anyways and stop Dick before Dick could lock him in.

If that happened, then Bruce wouldn't have any reason to stick around in the cave after fighting and potentially beating Dick. He'd move around the manor, looking for more fights, or for whatever this new version of Bruce wanted to look for if not just a fight, and eventually he'd run into Alfred.

And Damian.

Dick's known Alfred long enough to know the man had no issue with fighting back dirty. But Damian… Damian refused to fight Bruce under most circumstances. After that whole Joker fiasco where they were all abducted and mentally tortured by the Joker and forced to believe the skins of their own faces had been peeled off, Dick had overheard Bruce lecturing Damian on the importance of fighting back, even if the person you're fighting back against was your own family.

Dick didn't know what exactly went down that resulted in the capture of Damian by the Joker's hand, but it must have involved a Jokerized Bruce and a Damian who didn't fight as hard as he should have because he was too afraid to hurt his father.

If Bruce escaped to the manor now, like this, brainwashed or mind controlled as he is, Damian won't fight back like he should.

Dick could not let Bruce into the manor, not under any circumstances should he leave Alfred and Damian to fend for themselves against a Batman who wasn't in his right mind.

With his mind made up, he kicked one more time at Bruce, using as much force as he could within the tight range of motion he had on the stairway. His heel whacked against Bruce's jaw, forcing the man's face backwards with a snap. The grasp on his ankle loosened ever so slightly, allowing Dick to tug himself out of the hold and grab into the railing of the stairs above him. In one fluid motion, Dick was one his feet, watching as Bruce recovered quickly from the blow.

With a split second to execute his decision, he didn't even look where he was going. He just grabbed the railings and swung under the bars as Bruce's hand shot out and just barely missed gripping and tearing out a chunk of his hair. The fall to the floor of the cave wasn't long, and he was able to easily lessen the strain of the landing by rolling onto his back and jumping upright onto his feet, leaving him able to immediately begin sprinting away from Bruce. He could hear heavy footsteps pounding after him, and while that made his heart clench in a very agonizingly painful way, it also filled him with just the right amount of adrenalin to ignore how light-headed he was from the broken nose. He could barely taste the blood on his lips, his tears were beginning to dry.

Or he was just getting used to blinking them out of his eyes the more they formed. He hoped he didn't have tear streaks on his cheeks, mixing with the blood and dripping down onto the ground as he ran like he was in some sort of gore film.

He came to a skidding halt right beside the batcomputer. He didn't need to waste any time searching for the button he needed to press, it wasn't the first time they've had to lock down the cave from the inside. He smashed the emergency button just as a fist grabbed onto the back collar of his suit, dragging him back in a choking tug as the soft yellow and white lights above the cave shut down with a whirl, the color being replaced quickly by harsh and flashing eye drilling red.

A piercing alarm screamed out as a heavy arm wrapped over Dick's throat. Dick felt crushing pressure immediately begin to press on his windpipe, and with a choked cry, Dick grabbed onto the arm and bent forward with all his strength, hitting his elbows into Bruce's gut. He flipped Bruce over his back. The sound of Bruce in all his heavy armor hitting the cave ground as bats screeched and alarms blared was almost comical, but Dick didn't stick around long enough to figure out how funny Bruce thought it was.

He would be stuck down here for the next who knew how long. No way out, no way in, not until the right codes, used by the right people were used. And in this case, because Dick activated the alarm with Bruce in the cave, two codes used by any other member of the family will have to be used as a precaution. Because Damian was still young, he didn't have the clearance for that. It would have to be Alfred who put his codes in from the outside as well as somebody else.

The closest bat with shut down codes would be Tim who was currently on the other side of Gotham, probably asleep in the penthouse. Jason would probably be closer, but honestly Dick wasn't sure if Bruce gave Jason access to that level of security in the cave yet.

Hopefully the emergency texts sent out like they're supposed to. Every bat within the borders of the United States should already have their messages. In twelve hours, if the issue wasn’t resolved within the cave, bats outside the country will get a text. Twelve hours after that, the Justice League would be notified.

Dick hoped it didn't get to that point.

Tim. It would have to be Tim.

Dick ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward a particular hiding spot in the cave he'd known the existence of since he was a kid. It was just large enough for Dick to crawl through when he was still sporting pixy boots and a cape. Now it would be a tight squeeze, with Dick having grown over the years, but thankfully his body type remained small and lean so with enough wriggling he should be able to get in.

Bruce was on his tail, panting like a bloodhound on the trail of a startled rabbit. Dick didn't dare waste time and look behind him as he retreated. Bruce would only catch up faster that way. So Dick ran past the most used parts of the cave down towards where the stone became uneven and filled with puddles, stalagmites jutted upwards and the ceiling and walls became less wide.

He jumped over a small underground stream, then latched his hands around a formation of rocks that were slick with water. He then proceeded to use those rocks as hand and footholds to climb up the low hanging ceiling towards a small hole carved into the rock thanks to the centuries and centuries of running water. He dragged himself upward into the hole, wincing at how the rocks clawed into his sides and stomach, but thankfully he was able to quickly slip in before he heard the stomps of Bruce's footsteps approach ever closer.

Dick had never been more thankful for night vision than what he was just now. It made it possible for them to not waste power by supplying light only to the most used parts of the cave, which, in turn, caused dark shadows to form where Dick hid. He squeezed himself back as far as he could into the pocket of space that was chiseled into the ceiling, then watched with wide eyes as Bruce finally came into view.

He looked like a demon. A hulking, beast of man with teeth bared and fingers splayed like claws. Bruce growled and looked around the surrounding cave, making increasingly frustrated grunts the more time that passed with Dick not being found.

After a few minutes, Bruce seemed to get a mixture of too-frustrated-to-care and bored, so with a final growl, he turned cape and stalked back towards the main sections of the cave.

Dick released his breath about a minute after. His heart pounded so loudly that he was sure for a minute there that Bruce would find him by the noise alone. But for now, it looked like he was safe.

He let himself relax ever so slightly, letting the adrenalin drain to the point he could actually feel how messed up his nose was.

He lifted a hand to his nose and tapped lightly on the tender skin and bone. He winced, knowing even without a mirror or a doctor's opinion that this wasn't the kind of break you could just snap right into place. Dick was lucky Bruce hadn't slammed him down harder. The shards could have gone to his brain.

With that morbid thought, he pushed the pain aside when his communicator began to beep urgently in his ear. He poked his head out of the hole to see Bruce pacing the middle of the cave, his hands in his hair and his footsteps rushed and unsteady. Dick slowly brought his bloodied fingertips to his comm and took a deep, low breath.

"Nightwing," he muttered in answer to the beeping. He winced at his own voice. Barbara used to make fun of him saying the reason stakeouts and covert missions always went wrong whenever he was a part of them was because boys didn't know how to whisper.

Static flickered in the earpiece, the lock down of the cave causing the signals to be bounced and absorbed in the walls. He frowned and tapped the wiring, fighting a flinch as Bruce yelled angrily in his section of the cave, causing something heavy and glass to shatter on the floor.

" -ser Dick, what- --"

It was Alfred's voice. But Dick could barely make it out. No doubt Alfred and Damian were in a frantic panic upstairs, confused and worried about what could have caused the cave to go under lockdown. While Bruce restarted his pacing, Dick spoke as quietly as he could into the comm.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but Bruce has been compromised. Something is… warping his mind to be violent. Don't open the cave until you're sure whoever is on the other side can take him down. N out."

More static vibrated in his eardrums, cut off voices of Alfred and maybe Damian demanding he elaborated, but Brice was deathly still now. He stood in the middle of the main section of the cave, unmoving as a statue. Immediately, Dick felt his adrenaline begin to rise again.

That couldn't be good.

He reached up as slowly as he dared to take his static filled communicator out from his ear—which was probably something he'd regret later, but for now the noise was distracting him—and watched as Bruce's arms slowly began to move in slow, jerky movements that could only be explained by Bruce probably not knowing if they belonged to him.

Bruce flexed his fingers. Looked around the empty cave, then immediately began to remove his utility belt. Dick watched in a cocktail of confusion and curiosity as Bruce held the belt in his hands for a moment before hurling the accessory away from him toward one of the drop offs that lead to the underground rivers below.

What the hell?

Those rivers didn’t lead anywhere. There were a million different channels with hundreds of twists and turns, spelunking these caves would be like signing a death warrant. There wasn’t any telling where the belt would end up. Why did Bruce…?

And then Bruce grunted and grabbed at his hair, shaking his head, lips moving in some sort of silent fight with himself.

Whatever was controlling Bruce: Bruce was pushing back against it. Bruce lost the belt so he could insure he wouldn't use it against Dick or anyone else who eventually entered the cave.

Then, Bruce turned and stalked towards the lab tables, grunting and snarling at himself as he stuck a needle in his arm and drew blood.

Bruce was back. He was doing blood work on himself to cure whatever was going on.

Excitement and relief flooded Dick's veins, and he nearly began to exit his hidey-hole, but then Bruce proved himself to be ever vigilant and paranoid. "It's not done, Dick. Don't come out."

Dick froze at the tone. It was still glutal. But there was something laced in there that almost sounded worried and afraid.

"I don't know where you are. Keep where you are, stay silent, stay safe."

Dick longed to ask what was going on. Why Bruce was like this. Dick wasn't ever very good with being kept in the shadows, he liked his colorful suits for a reason after all. He wanted to go out and help while Bruce was in this odd period of lucidity, but for all he knew, the distance between the two could be what was helping Bruce stay sane at the moment. Perhaps the violent tendencies were activated by close proximity.

Dick was definitely not about to test that theory.

He swallowed and settled back, listening to Bruce work on his own blood, trying to figure out whatever had made him act this way and cure it.

A few minutes passed, minutes filled with Dick feeling more anxious than an opossum faced by a group of angry humans. His heart refused to stop thudding against his ribcage as he listened to the tinkling of glass and mixing liquids.

Maybe this could all be over soon. Maybe this will be just a normal Wednesday night and they'll all soon be back in bed and laughing about this.

When Bruce spoke up again, Dick knew the night could only get worse.

"Chum?" Bruce asked, and that was how Dick knew it was really Bruce talking. No evil villain or brainwashing drug had ever managed to make Bruce say that word with that much meaning. "Don't answer, but the solution will need time to become active. The… urge to become violent is becoming stronger. Like it can sense I'm trying to stop it. To avoid… destroying the antidote, I am going to try and…" a grunt escaped Bruce's throat. A deep breath. Dick wrapped his fingers around his opposite wrist. "-and sedate myself before that happens. I need you to get me to the med bay and restrain me until the antidote is completed."

Dick almost wanted to laugh out a joke. Something with a " awe, sleeping on the job while I do all the work ?" or " Gosh, B, this is the fourth time you've been hit with a mind altering drug this year !" but he choked down those words and swallowed them. He remained silent, like Bruce told him to bee, and slowly began to squeeze out from his hiding spot. As he did so, he watched with critical eyes as Bruce turned from the lab tables towards the med bay, a purpose in his step even though there was a slight lethargic drag to his bending knees. It was almost like Dick was watching a robot, one that didn't know it's own body yet and had to intently focus on each body part before it moved. When Bruce entered the med bay, Dick lost sight of him. The medical area of the cave was in its own separate room, carved into the cave and lined with layers of cement and insulation to keep it the perfect temperature for whoever was injured inside. Bruce left the door open though, so once Dick was on the ground of the cave, he was able to sneak over to the foot of the dinosaur and see just barely inside the medbay.

His heart sank at what he saw. Of course it couldn't be easy. Of course Bruce couldn't have lasted a little longer to get the sedative into his own arm.

He was just standing there, the sedative in his hands, glaring at it with an angry downturn to his brow.

Dick took a silent breath and weighed his options once again. He could go in there and try to sedate Bruce himself, or he could go back to his hiding spot and wait this out.

Bruce suddenly turned his head and Dick just managed to squish himself further behind the dinosaur to keep himself hidden. Dick couldn't see anymore, but he could hear. And what he heard was a few terrifying heartbeats of silence before footsteps began to echo around the cave walls.

Did… did Bruce know Dick was here? A pool of unease swirled in his gut; feeling something like a swarm of moths. He couldn’t honestly predict if he'd be able to fight Bruce and take him down on his own. Not with how little was known about this entire situation. He'd fight if he had to, but how bloodied and bruised he'll be after it was in the air.

Right when the sound of Bruce's booted feet slamming against the cold, stone floor became almost unbearable, Dick finally realized that those aforementioned footsteps were actually walking away from the T-rex.

With a spoonful of bravery that he dug up somewhere from his gut, he poked his head around the leg of the dinosaur.

And Dick realized that moment that he didn't have any choice anymore. Bruce was walking towards the lab with clenched fists.

The antidote.

Dick was generally known as an impulsive person. Most people, when they thought of the phrase "leaping without looking" they would oftentimes link Dick to those words.

Dick liked to think that he planned ahead more often than not. That he didn't always make split second decisions based off from adrenalin and the heat of the moment, but right now, he barely even knew that he was running until his arms wrapped around Bruce's throat—his chest going flat against the older man's caped back—and he was tugging back with all his might. Bruce's fingers which had been previously reaching for the in-process antidote hung mid air for a moment, but that moment did hardly nothing for Dick to prepare for just how quickly Bruce moved while being mind controlled.

One moment he was struggling to drag Bruce back, and the next he was in the air as Bruce used the very same move Dick had executed earlier to get out of a similar chokehold.

All the breath in Dick's lungs left in an aching whoosh as his back hit the ground. His vision swam and his nose pulsed with a newfound revenge. With lightning quick reflexes he'd been honing ever since he was a kid, he turned to his side to avoid a heel on it’s way towards meeting his jugular. No thank you, he really didn't want a crushed windpipe or broken neck today.

He sucked in a lungful of air and pushed what will definitely be a giant bruise on his back to a corner of his mind that he'll deal with later. He kicked out at Bruce, hitting the man in the shins, before he scrambled to his feet and grabbed his escrima sticks from his back. He really didn't want to use these, but with how violent Bruce was, he really didn't have a choice.

"Okay," Dick said, hyping himself up by bouncing on the balls of his feet. Bruce stood stiffly before him, eyes narrowed and blank, like the lights were on but no one was home. His body moving for him, calculating the next best step for him. "Okay. Bruce, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

Bruce growled, and not for the first time Dick was reminded of a wild, feral animal.

Dick's body went on autopilot immediately after that. Everything became a blur of dodging and dealing blows. Bruce surprised Dick at first, but now Dick was ready. He knew what to expect. He's fought Bruce in similar situations to this before, all he needed to do was treat Bruce like he would treat any other dangerous villain. Punch until concussion. Deal blows until they're down. And don't you dare fall down first.

For a while, they're pretty even. Bruce was missing as many blows as Dick was, but when Bruce hit, he hit hard . And he played dirty. Grabbing at Dick's hair, going for his groin, looking for those tiny millimeters of a window to throw his fist through. After a particularly forceful blow to his stomach, Dick just barely managed to avoid a knee aiming for his already shattered nose by forcing himself to fall back instead of forward like his knocked out air desperately wanted to.

Dick though, he went for the legs. Most people when they fight Bruce think all they need to be is quicker and stronger than him—or have the bigger weapons. But Dick knew that Bruce had more muscle on his upper body than lower. Bruce trained his legs to carry him across the city and do amazing feats of parkour, but you're more likely to get a fist than a foot heading your way while fighting him. If Dick managed to get him down onto the ground, he had a split second chance to get him restrained and knock him out.

It was a plan more easily said than done. This… warped and controlled version of Bruce had no restraint. He didn't pull his punches, he didn't take things slow for the sake of his own body, multiple times Dick caught his fingers twitching to where the batarangs would be inside his utility belt just to remember with a snarl that he had gotten rid of the whole accessory.

However, Dick could feel the close quarter battle beginning to wear him down. Throwing punches and taking hits were exhausting. Dick was confident that by the end of this, he'll have bruises to match his suit, maybe even a few broken bones if things went downhill.

Well... more downhill.

Dick slammed his escrima into Bruce's jaw, finally landing a blow hard enough for Bruce to stumble. Not wasting the opportunity presented to him, he dove under Bruce's arms and turned the electricity of his escrima on. He was just about to slam the lightning tipped ends of his weapons down into Bruce's thighs when all of a sudden, Bruce recovered quicker than what should have been possible. Dick only had enough time to think oh no before Bruce swirled out of the way with a flick of his cape. Instead of meeting a fleshy body in his attack, he ran into the darkness of the cape, the weight and firmness of the material forced him to drop his escrima unless he wanted to shock himself. He tried to back out of the way, but then Bruce used that to his advantage. He wrapped the cape around Dick's upper body then punched violently into Dick's gut.

Immediately, all the air was knocked out of his body and his eyes widened like a bug as he started into the dark kevlar, brain struggling to come up with a plan b.

There was no Plan B. It was get Plan A right from the get go. Plan B was figuring out just how far Bruce would go. If Bruce would kill him.

The cape unraveled from his body, and Dick soon found himself being shoved blindly forward. His eyes took in information rather quickly though, and it took every hairsbreadth reflex he had to not completely hurtle himself off the main platform of the cave and down below into the white waters to follow Bruce's abandoned utility belt.

He threw his arms back and desperately dug his heels into the ground, but the world began to spin when Bruce shoved him one last time.

Somehow, within the chaos of being shoved down into the cave waters and the pain his bruised body was in, Dick managed to grab onto the ledge in just the knick of time. His legs swung below him as the strain on his fingers and biceps immediately began to burn. He hung there for an agonizingly long moment, trying to make heads and tails of the new situation he now found himself in, before a dark figure above him came into view.

Dick's never seen that angle of Batman before. All anger. Violent. Below a lifted boot. Dick winced as the sole of Bruce's shoe stepped slowly onto his right hand.

He was officially, royally screwed.

And with that thought, a million more flooded into his brain like a damn burst. He was going to die here. Bruce would kick him into the waters and Dick will never be found again. Or, when he is found again, his body will be bloated and long without a soul to occupy it.

He supposed it could be worse. Bruce could have beaten him to a bloodied pulp and left his corpse on display for whoever came into the cave next. This way, at least, no one would have to see the light gone from his eyes, like he had seen all too often in his own sibling's faces. He'll be dead, gone, untraceable. His only hope was that Damian wasn't the first one down here. The first to realize Dick was dead.

For good this time.

And that was when the complete panic set in. The thought of dying again . He knew what death felt like. He had felt it happen. He remembered exactly what it was like to take his last breath. His last blink. His last struggling move. Sometimes, he'd wake up in the dead of night, hyperventilating and in a cold sweat, wiping at his mouth desperately because he could still feel Lex Luthor there, holding his hand over his mouth and nose, forcing an acidic tasting pill between his lips.

How long would it take this time? Was the drop long enough for the water to feel like cement when he eventually hit it? Would the jagged rocks knock him out before he could really taste death again? Against his better judgement—the better judgement screaming that there was no point delaying the inevitable—he reached with his free hand to grab Bruce's ankle. He didn't want to drag Bruce down with him, but he was scared , and he didn't want to die feeling alone .

Once his left hand was crushed, he would let go.

The pressure continued to come down onto his fingers, Dick grimaced and ground his teeth. This was it, huh? These were his last moments alive?

Right when he felt something on his hand give away with a snap and he was sure that it was time to end, Batman all of a sudden jerked back, small arms wrapping around his throat in a blur of red.

Dick scrambled to keep his grasp on the ledge as Bruce stumbled backwards out of sight; he definitely had a broken finger and his biceps burned with the need to let go. His ears were ringing now, pulsing to the tempo of his heart, but somewhere above him he could hear yelling and the exchanging of blows. Fists hitting flesh. There were multiple voices as well, all yelling above each other, tones mixing with tones. He couldn't tell who was here. All he wanted to do was push past the weariness settling in his bones and heft himself up to help fight. Bruce wasn't someone you could just… fight on your own.

Dick needed to help.

He bent his arms, sweat dripping down the back of his neck, but his strength suddenly left against his will, mocking his title as an acrobat, sending him jerking down and losing the grasp he had with his right hand.

He was hanging on with one hand now, swinging dangerously, just a brush away from falling and getting lost in the underground ocean forever.

He didn't want to die. Not like this. He never expected to live past thirty, but // still . He was twenty-seven, hanging by the tips of his fingers, about to fall.

He was twenty-seven . Younger than what his parents were.

There won't be a body to bury.

He was going to die.

His five fingers trembled under the weight, no amount of adrenalin or hope could get him to climb up on his own power. He hoped Bruce and whoever he was fighting up there won't feel too bad about not getting to him in time.

He finally lost his meager grip, and for a moment he was weightless. Hanging mid air. Eyes wide behind his mask as he stared past his empty hand reaching towards the roof of the cave.

Then, everything jolted. A pair of strong hands wrapped around his wrist, bringing everything to a halting stop. He gasped, cherishing the rush of air that ran past his throat into his lungs, and looked up with wide eyes as none other than Damian hung over the lip of the drop, the edge digging into his armpits, his face turning red as he struggled to hold onto over a hundred and fifty pounds. Damian could hold Dick for a little while, but eventually he'll either fall with Dick or let go.

"Dami-" Dick gasped, his heart twisting like an abused foam ball between the hands of an anxious teen. "Dami no-"

"I won't let go," Damian spat with a fire in his eyes. "I won't."

Dick wanted to yell at him to let go and turn away. Don't watch. The last thing Dick wanted was for Damian to watch.

"Damian!" A new voice shouted, and Dick almost did a double-take at it. Jason?

"I have him!" Damian shouted, tiny, thirteen year old fingers so tight around Dick's wrist that it was almost bruising. "Hurry!"

Jason didn't answer. Or maybe he did, and it was just drowned out by the sound of battle. Perhaps pushed aside as a new hope soured in Dick's gut.

The minutes ticked, and eventually Dick managed to get his hand sporting a broken finger up to clutch Damian's little hands. He couldn't do anything other than that to help Damian hold on. There was nothing else to grab onto.

And that was the point of Robin, wasn't it? To catch Batman if he should fall?

Or maybe that was just Dick's legacy, and it dripped like ink into the ideologies of the suit until it stained the fabric red.

He didn't get much time to think about it more, because a second pair of arms suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed onto Dick's wrists. Dick looked up into Tim's masked eyes as the two boys began to work together to drag him up. It was painful and time consuming. Hard work between two brothers. But soon enough, Dick found himself hooking his elbows over the lip of the drop-off, his brain struggling to take in the entirety of the scene before him.

Jason was kneeling over Bruce, his knee to his back as he locked cuffs over the definitely unconscious man's wrists. Duke stood a little while off, watching Bruce as if he was afraid Bruce would stand up with blood in his eyes any moment now. Steph stood behind Tim, hands outstretched to help grab onto Dick's waist and drag him the rest of the way up. Dick almost questioned how they all managed to take Bruce down so quickly, but then Cass ran up to help Dick get settled in a sitting position so her delicate fingers can brush over his swelling nose, concern pulled between her brow.

They called in the calvary.

He turned his face from where the majority of his siblings were—sitting next to him and worrying about him, asking him questions about what hurt and what happened—and he watched Alfred step up to Jason and place a hand on his shoulder before the both bent down to get Bruce on a gurney to transfer to the med bay.

And the waterworks, right in front of his family, turned on right then and there.

He felt Damian crawl into his lap and wrap his bare arms around Dick's torso. Dick hadn't even noticed Damian wasn't even dressed. He came down here in a white tee shirt and fuzzy Batman pj bottoms to help out. Through teary eyes, he could see that everyone else was in various states of dress, capes gone forgotten, masks not bothered to be put on, only the most important bits of armor applied. Dick had no idea how they all came together like this to fight Bruce and rescue Dick, but he won't question it for now.

He just sat there, trying and failing to hold back choked sobs, clutching Damian as close as he could as warm bodies settled around him.

He sat like that, in bittersweet bliss, until the wrinkled hand of Alfred settled into his shoulder.

"Let's get you looked at," he said, his face pinched in parental worry and relief. Dick sobbed out a laugh and allowed the others to get him to his shaky feet. They led him to the med bay and sat him down in a cot next to the unconscious, bruised, and restrained Bruce. A stab of worry settled in his gut, but it was quickly squashed when Alfred sat in front of him, hands with years of experience hovering above his nose with a what will we do with you now, Master Dick glint in his eyes. Dick flickered his eyes towards the open medbay doors where the others were all either hovering or assessing the damage done in the cave.

"Now don't you worry," Alfred said, bringing Dick's attention back to him. He helped Dick lay back into the cot and inserted an IV into the crook of his elbow without a second thought. He must've put the good stuff in that bag hanging above Dick's head, he immediately felt sleepy beyond belief. "Everything will be fine when you wake up again, Master Dick."

And Dick breathed a sigh—a breath that he had previously thought he would never be able to take—and let the tension in his body fall away.

Dick believed Alfred, because Alfred was always right. And the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner he’d wake up and find the world back on the correct axis again. Bruce would explain what went wrong and why he went crazy, and the others would all dramatically regale their part in the whole thing.

He let his eyes fall closed, safety and sleep working together to lull him to a comforting sheet of darkness.

-o-o-o-o-

Reblogs and comments are always appreciated

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of DC: Week of May 29th, 2019

Best of this Week: Doomsday Clock #10 - Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh

And yet another wrinkle is added to the DC Universe.

Or should I say, “Metaverse” now? Yes, after I think three months since the last issue, Doomsday Clock returns with yet another strong issue that expands upon the mythos of the DC Universe and just how Doctor Manhattan viewed and affected things at the many different positions of time that he has been able to inhabit.

The issue is framed around an actor by the name of Carver Colman, a very huge star in DCs 1954, who has been referenced or used in previous issues. This gives some kind of continuity in the context of the story as Johnny Thunder was seen watching his movie in the retirement home al the way back in issue two or three. Colman, unfortunately, has a secret that gets him killed soon after wrapping up the filming of his biggest hit, The Adjournment and as we make it through the issue and the back and forth of his life, we find the biggest change to Doctor Manhattan’s character and how he has to bend to the rules of this new universe.

Doctor Manhattan actually meets Colman in 1938 when he was a struggling actor who had just lost his job delivering mail to a movie studio after an unfortunate accident and things he saw. Manhattan takes Colman out for some food, attempting to use him as a rod to focus on to look towards the future as he can’t seem to do so on his own after arriving. He does so and is able to see a year into the future, then four and so on. His abilities work again, but then he hears something strange.

A radio report of a man lifting a car into the air. The first appearance of Superman on April 13th, 1938. Suddenly, it was gone, the crowds of people were gone as if they never existed. He follows the path where Superman existed in 1938 and finds the Justice Society, having formed and waiting for Superman to answer their summons. Jay Garrick “Flash”, “Green Lantern” Alan Scott, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and others, waiting for the Man of Steel to join their ranks and suddenly, they too have never heard of him.

Manhattan follows the many arrivals of Superman, from 1956, to 1986 and sees his arrival change again and again, noting the many deaths of Ma and Pa Kent and how this “Universe” seems to use Superman as a focal point, even going to a thousand years from now when Superman was briefly part of the Legion of Superheroes. So to test how things revolve around Superman, he changes the past by moving the Lantern away from Alan Scott, killing him, and drastically changes the future, creating the New 52 Timeline.

Everything is recontextualized as Manhattan sees that this action changes this universe and that it’s constant state of flux affects the wider multiverse. From the parallel worlds, to the anti-matter, to the Dark Multiverse, Earth Prime is a “Metaverse” in his words. The others change to match whatever is going on in the Prime World and once it realizes what he’s done, it begins to fight back. Manhattan sees Wally West trying to fight his way back to the Universe. This one action causes a chain reaction that will lead to his inevitable confrontation with Superman where Superman either kills him or he kills the Metaverse.

Cutting back to 1954, Manhattan is at Carver Colman’s home on the night that he’s murdered. He doesn’t do anything to stop it.

There’s a saying that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” In the Watchmen Universe, Doctor Manhattan was allowed to do or not do as he pleased because that world was a little bit more grounded or at worst cynical. Though, one might say that because he refused or didn’t care to use his power at a larger scale, Ozymandias’ “evil” won. Though Ozymandias thought what he did was the right thing, this series proved it it be disastrous in the wake of Rorschach’s journal being published, but initially Veidt’s plan did succeed. Doctor Manhattan escaping to the DC Universe put him into direct conflict with the Metaverse and its Hope. Its innate desire to have the good triumph over evil won’t let Doctor Manhattan get away with inaction and in his words, “To this universe of hope… I have become the villain.”

Words can’t describe how hype I was for this. With each and every issue, a new layer is added and brings us closer and closer to the epic conclusion that only Geoff Johns and Gary Frank can realize. I also love how they’ve expanded on the importance of Earth Prime, seeing as how it has indeed gone through many changes. It’s good to finally have an explanation that implies that even through the many reboots and retcons that if DC wanted to, they could tap into those timelines as main universes at any time. Everyone’s favorite time period matters or will matter again soon.

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

"One last adventure together…"

Runner Up: Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 - Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia and Tom Napolitano

Joker's words to describe his and Batman's last run together in the hell that is the world after some unexplained event killed numerous heroes, villains and just about anything else. It also describes what MAY be the last time we see Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo do a big Batman story together and I already feel like we're in for a BIG one.

After a curious case of large scale chalk drawings,  showing a dead Batman, leads the Dark Knight to the Crime Alley he inadvertently sets off a trap laid by an unknown assailant using the decomposing body of a ten year old child. He later wakes up in Arkham Asylum, apparently having been there since KILLING HIS FAMILY in Crime Alley all those years ago. Capullo does a great job of setting atmosphere and making things unsettling as even a small fly buzzing around and "Dr. Redd Hudd" looming over a straight jacketed Bruce Wayne looks creepy.

Arkham appears to be just a regular Asylum with Alfred showing up and trying to convince Bruce that Batman was all in his head, showing him a mock costume they made to keep him calm with a cowl stitched to a straight jacket. Bruce sees through it all and fights his way through Arkham until Alfred reveals the truth. He only wanted to keep his boy safe because half of Gotham was just gone. Years had passed and Batman has no idea what happened.

He later wakes up in a desert and coincidentally finds the head of The Joker. He wakes and immediately begins cracking jokes as Batman takes him and they begin to walk to Coast City. I don't know how much of this is real and that adds to the mystique of the story. We're never given an explanation as to how he got there from Arkham or how Joker is surviving.

They arrive at Coast City and the decayed corpse of Mogo looms over a giant crater and ruins. Joker says that all of the Lanterns fell and rings are just there for the taking. Suddenly the duo are attacked by projections of babies before being saved by Vixen and Poison Ivy. Ivy then knocks Bruce out just in case and he wakes up surrounded by the new Amazons; Vixen, Donna Troy, Poison Ivy, Supergirl and Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman explains that one day, Luthor just… convinced most that they should just take what they deserve. He told them that goodness was a lie and they just ate it up. It echoed the future that Luthor saw back in Justice League/Legion of Doom #5, but given that this is a Black Label book, one wouldn't be wrong if they didn't want to think of this as the explanation of that timeline because they're not in the same canon.

Wonder Woman also tells Batman that the one wielding the Anti-Life Equation may be one of the Boys and pleads with him to join the Amazons in Hades.

But Batman is Batman and he decides that he's going to put a stop to this.

Last Knight on Earth reads like an alternative ending for Scott Snyder's Justice League epic. Even though that story is far from over, not even close, there's this unsettling feeling that, if Scott didn't have to have the heroes win in the end, this should be the absolute endgame. A world, no UNIVERSE possibly, under siege by someone wielding the Anti-Life Equation, hope dead and dying and the ever creeping feeling of dread knowing that somehow life and death have lost enough meaning that Joker as a decapitated head still lives… this story is terrifying.

Honestly, this might be some of Capullos best art to date. With Glapion and Plascencia's help, this book feels so atmospheric and dark. Glapion accentuates Capullos lines and shading well with dark-dark inks, making Batman appear to be shrouded in it even in the sun. It's haunting, especially in the Arkham scenes where things are absolutely not as they seem and dark secrets hide behind and within the walls. Plascencia, on the other hand, can make even light and vibrant colors threatening. The red sand on Jokers jar is intense  and the Green Lantern babies are deadly. Hell, Coast City, Hall Jordan's crown jewel, looks unbelievably desolate, colored like a wasteland. Capullo pulls all of this together with as much detail as he possibly can and his work shows.

Faces are expressive, from Batmans fear, to Alfreds regret to Jokers madness. Body language is utilized greatly as Batman fights like a caged animal. He's taken aback by Jokers head, but still finds his resolve. Wonder Woman is still fierce, but even her edge has dulled with the sheer lack of hope that running away and going underground has given her.

This story is terrifying and I absolutely love it. From the creepy visuals of Capullos art, to the expression of thought because of the mature liberties Black Label books can take, it's all beautiful. This one is absolutely going to match my love for Batman: Damned and every one should go and read this. High recommend!

[darisu-chan]

Hello my dear! What's up? Still didn't read the part 3 but plan to read it today at night (it's still afternoon here in Brazil). I'm very happy to hear that you've liked the idea of us being penpals! WOW, don't even get me started on Steven, it's my favorite show! I love everything in it, the art, the characters, the soundtrack, the story, every goddamn thing! The shame is that Steven spoiled me: IMHO, I loved the ending of Diamond Days, it was perfect, closing everything. (1/5)

And Star ending, was, for me, as you know, awful, a giant smelly mess... Anyway, I just looked some fanarts of Steven, and the only theory I've got since S3 was that Rose was PD, and I got that right haha. And I 100% agree with you: Starco was build up from the very 1 ep, whereas Startom was the most rushed relationship I've ever seen in any cartoon. Don't get me wrong, I loved S3 and its events, because it had the exact tension it was needed for Star and Marco realize their feelings (2/5)and go to S4 already knowing then, just needind a gentle nudge to get things going but nope, they yeeted the whole meaning os S3 out of the window because they simply don't know how to write a proper story... LHF was ridiculous, and CotBM was the point where I got infuriated with the writers... I know it was good for Starco, but it was not good for the show as a hole. They really messed up S4 to a point that it tainted the whole SVTFOE show because of it. I'll get on details later, (3/5)

because I want to hear your take first on your analysis! As for the trope as a whole, people will always have a subjective taste for what they like on a couple, but that doesn't mean that they can just say out loud that the main couple is rushed because they think, when there is objective evidence of its build up. You can like a couple because you think it's cute and forget what is cannon due to your preference and creat a whole new stories out of it, (4/5)

but don't go telling straight up lies about how the show told the cannon story because you prefered X happend instead of Y. Anyway, that's what I think! Until next time and stay awesome!! (5/5)

Hey! Sorry to answer so late! I was busy the other day and I could reply to you just now. I hope everything’s well on your end. Also, hope you liked part 3 of that analysis. Part 4 would probably be late. There’s a lot to cover but oh well.

Steven has spoiled us all. I didn’t like it that much, but friends convinced me to watch it and it’s very cute and endearing, and the season finale was almost perfect! I don’t really like engaging with the fandom, so I never read theories about it, and I’ve been happy about it. Everything has been surprising and very delightful experience.

Yeah, as for Star... I did see Tomstar happening after Jarco became a thing, as to make Marco jealous. Classic trope. I just never expected it to last for so long, get so much screentime to the point Marco got sidelined, and the whole romantic triangle to get more focus than the main plot when we all knew that it was going to end. The ones who didn’t know, well, good you remained oblivious until the very last second, lol. I did not particularly like the first half of season 4, as it seemed it lacked a bit of focus. There were certain episodes which were very interesting, but others not so much. All those “Tom learns to let got” episodes took too much time. LHF was... just to make us feel bad about Tom, tbh, and for people to say he “deserved” more. Not sure a lot of people understand that characters, all characters but secondary characters especially, are plot-devices, by definition. Not sure why anyone thought Tom would be given more importance than Marco, when Marco was the male main character from the very first episode. 

And you’re absolutely right! I haven’t liked some canon ships either, but I least I admit they were always hinted to be together from the beginning. This is actually sound writing advice: if you want two characters to eventually get together, start hinting it from their first meeting and develop it from then. 

Thanks again for your words!

Hope you have an awesome day!