#ruby: calls people shithead... but in a loving way

[alcottsangel]

Stranger Things Library

when the party’s over

everyone in high school knows him as the guy with a big house and parents who are rarely around. but what happens when he can’t leave that role behind?

Sweet Caroline

Billy Hargrove is a California bad boy with a tough exterior and rough history. He is frustrated, angry, and feels the need to bring back some sense of control in his life. If he is going to be his dad's punching bag, then he needs a punching-bag of his own. His stepsisters, Caroline and Maxine, are weaker than him. When Caroline starts to get a backbone and stand up to him, all hell breaks lose.

took a hard left (but we’re alright) ✔️

the two lines are unexpected, but you and steve have a village of support

unless it's you ✔️

The thing is, Mike wasn't planning on not telling his friends about the whole- having a baby thing. He really wasn't. How was he going to hide it in the long run anyways? He just...wasn't going to ever tell them who the father was.

oh you kissed me, just to kiss me (not to make me cry)

Billy and Steve had… something. Steve’s not quite sure what it was, doesn’t know if he ever really agreed to it. And then the Mind Flayer happened and Billy died and Steve got beat up by Russians and the mall burned down. And Eddie showed up, all flashing smiles and sure hands, and Steve can’t take his eyes off of him. There’s just that pesky, niggling possibility that maybe everything with Billy fucked him up more than he’s ever willing to admit.

The Joke

"Steve Harrington never says no to anyone." When he first heard someone say it, he thought maybe it was just a weird way for people to say that Steve was too nice, which made sense to Lucas. Despite the fact he used to be a huge public facing douchebag, Steve was nice. Almost painfully so. Sure he called them shitheads sometimes and argued with them like he was their mom, but he was always there when they needed him and always saving them from the end of the world at the expense of his own physical safety. Steve Harrington was nice, and Lucas thought it was cool that other people were realizing that. But the more he heard that sentence, the more it felt like that wasn’t what anyone was implying. The more he heard it, the more it kind of made Lucas’ skin itch.

Baby on Board

It took less than a day after the news that Steve Harrington had gotten Tammy Thompson pregnant for his friends to all but abandon him. It took less than a ten minutes after finding Eddie Munson under the bleachers for Eddie to adopt Steve into his merry band of outcasts.

Nothing About The Way That You Were Treated Ever Seemed Especially Alarming 'til Now ✔️

Hopper Lives, he doesn't go to russia but he is held by the russians for a bit before he's rescued by Murray and Joyce but he isn't moved to RUSSIA, that plot was kind boring and I didn't love it so we aren't keeping it lol. Steve Harrington knows Vecna is going to get him soon, with the headaches and nose bleeds and visions he's been having. But has he said anything? No? Will he say anything? Probably not. So what happens when everything he's tried so hard to hide comes out. His parents, the russians, his insecurities.

Sweet Child O Mine ✔️

The worst part is it was supposed to be a quick run. (Ruby Munson is 16 when she sneaks out of her house in the year 2005 and somehow ends up in the 1980s looking at a young version of her Dad and all his friends.)

I Can('t) Live With This ✔️

Unsure how to deal after the Upside-Down, Steve starts a bad habit of taking out his depression on his body. With each battle that passes, it gets harder and harder for Steve to cope. Coming to terms with his feelings for his straight friend Eddie does not make things better. Steve begins to play a dangerous game with death. How many times can he pass out in his own blood before he doesn't wake up? How long can he live with this? When Eddie finds him one night things take a drastic turn. Steve doesn't think Eddie should try and save him. Eddie doesn't think Steve gets to make that decision.

Promises, Promises ✔️

When Billy shows up to the Byers house and attacks Steve, the Reader comes up with a quick plan to save Lucas and the kids from harm - by finally agreeing to go out with Billy after he's hounded her for weeks. Her plan works, but lands her in a bloody, brutal fight to escape his grasp.

We'll Make It I Swear ✔️

The truth about Steve's injuries and home life comes to light following the final battle with Vecna and Steve begins to learn that not every adult is out to get him. Or... Joyce, Hopper and Wayne look after Steve while trying to show him that he's allowed to be a kid and that how his parents treat him is completely unacceptable.

Crows' Feet

In which Eddie and Steve grow up, find themselves, and discover just how much they mean to each other.

Death Be Kind to My Mother, Be Kinder Than Man

Steve's Mom Suffers a Massive Stroke and Passes, How Does Grief Find Steve?

[collisiondiscourse]

meet you in the middle // bkdk (ch. 306) fic

Katsuki meets him at the edge of the world.

Standing on the rubbles of a once-thriving city that his people had called home, Katsuki sees him at a distance. A lone figure, standing beside broken statues that overlook a cliff of failures and broken promises. Katsuki sees him at a distance and feels something inside him break like a dam of something unmentionable. The glass beneath his worn combat boots crunches and cracks like the remains of his heart, every step heavy with the weight of the world around him slipping unto drooping shoulders. He says nothing, knowing the other runaway could hear his approach all the same.

Deep purple bruises set themselves under dull viridian eyes, the mixture of color out of place but lovely all the same. His hair’s a mess--greasy in the way that tells Bakugou he hasn’t showered in days, yet Katsuki would love nothing more than to bury his face in the tangled mass of green. The suit and armor he wears is torn, dented, fractured, dirty; it’s scarred like the skin it tries its best to hide. Deku stands still and watches him approach.

The blond halts in his steps.

In that moment, when red and green meet at the edge of the world, time stops completely. The broken concrete beneath their feet feels like a vast and endless void of nothing, silence wrapping around them beautifully and painfully. Between them, the few meters feel like blocks, to miles, to lightyears apart.

It is endless.

Between them, there is pain and sorrow. There is a hurt so deep that neither of the boys could begin to comprehend it--old scars and fresh wounds mending and tearing open, pace akin to the shift of the weather. Between them, Katsuki can feel things that feel like they should be impossible but aren’t. Between them, Katsuki can feel the contradictions that ripple beneath the surface of their skin.

Between them, Katsuki can feel it all.

The distance is staggering. It chases after the two of them like they had chased each other, something like a curse that pulls them apart while simultaneously keeping them at arm’s length.

Katsuki used to beg for it, he knows. (God, does he know.) He used to spend day-by-day stretching that distance, yanking the string that kept them tied together in hopes that eventually it would snap.

Yet that same distance had become something he’d grown to hate. He hated it in the way that it caused Izuku to close himself to the world and nearly cost him his life when Shigaraki had pierced him in battle. He hated the way it shut doors and cuffed him to his hospital bed when he’d found out that Deku was in a coma.

And he hated that distance the most when it brought Deku all the way here.

“Kacchan,” Deku says, the old nickname leaving his mouth simultaneously like a prayer and a pained gasp of fear. “Why are you here?”

The ‘why’ rings in the blond’s head like the sound of a gunshot, piercing and painful at the audacity to even ask such a thing. Why? Why did I come here? Why did I leave everything I’d ever dreamed of in order to chase your dumbass here?

Because. Why the fuck wouldn’t I come here, Deku?

“I got your letter,” Katsuki grunts out instead. His hands clench and unclench, tired and a little bit pained from his journey to find Izuku as fast as possible. The stupid fucking paper rests inside the pants pocket of his hero costume, setting his insides ablaze and leaving the taste of battery acid at the back of his throat.

“You still shouldn’t have--”

“--Shouldn’t have what, Deku?!” He inevitably yet suddenly explodes. The green-haired boy startles from across the building’s roof, jaw shutting with an audible click. “Shouldn’t have dropped out of UA? Shouldn’t have left every single person that loves me and sent myself out on a suicide mission? Shouldn’t have left my fucking mother without even a proper ‘goodbye’?!”

Deku snaps, “You damn well know it wasn’t that simple, Kacchan--”

“It never fucking is! It never fucking is that simple, Deku! You think I wanted to abandon our class? You think I didn’t care about the fucking fact that I just dropped out of UA and will probably never become a fucking pro-hero because of it? I destroyed my own dreams, you idiot!”

“Then go back!” the other boy replies, furious tears welling in his eyes. Katsuki feels paralyzed, unable to move through the surge of emotion that overtakes his mind. Deku takes a step forward, shaking so hard that the blond fears he might pass out. “Go back, you ass! Don’t let me take anything more from you, Kacchan, just please don’t. I can’t handle something like that! Go back and become the number one hero like you always promised, please.”

(A dozen meters apart.)

Izuku’s voice trembles and wavers, desperation seeping from his figure as teardrops fall to the tarmac below. He stands firmly on his two feet, but Katsuki can feel the way his heart begs on its knees. Bakugou’s glare softens.

“I can’t do that, Deku.”

He sniffles. “Why not?”

Tentatively, Bakugou takes a step forward, pacing himself. He opens his mouth to answer, but can’t seem to find the right words and looks away with a frustrated snarl. Deku’s eyes, red-rimmed with agony, peer up at him through his unruly green hair and the wound on Katsuki’s abdomen throbs with heat.

“...Because. I nearly died for you, didn’t I?” the blond eventually replies. “Because I know you think that that means you have to go and fucking do things alone because you don’t want me to nearly die for you a second time, but that’s exactly fucking it.” Katsuki huffs. He takes another step further, watching Deku crumple to the ground as sobs rack his figure.

“Kacchan got hurt, but it wasn’t your battle. It’s mine,” he chokes out anyway, stubborn as he is in the way Bakugou had grown to admire. As much as the blond’s soul rattles with anger, with hatred at the society that forced his childhood friend to bear the weight of the world upon his shoulders, he forces himself not to shout.

(Five meters apart.)

“‘Wasn’t’, was the word. Now, it is. I’m not letting you do this alone whether you fucking like it or not, shitty nerd.” Katsuki sucks in a breath. “You never gave me a choice, did you? I didn’t have a choice into knowing about your cursed fucking quirk, I didn’t have a choice into you leaving us to fight Shigaraki alone, I didn’t have a choice in knowing whether you’d be okay or not in the hospital after I myself nearly fucking died--and now that I finally goddamn do have that choice, you better make sure you let me have it, Deku.” Another step.

Deku lets out an anguished gasp for air between his hiccups and tears, and wails, “But why? Kacchan, you have the choice to be safe and let yourself win without One for All getting away! Why would you let me bring you more harm like this?!”

“Because you never fucking let me apologize to you, shithead!” The blond succumbs at last, yelling in hurt and in pain. The distance between them is so small, yet every goddamn particle feels like a world’s away in which Kacchan and Deku were made to fall apart. His skin prickles, air buzzing with the energy of a feeling so big contained in something so small. The moment suspends itself in time, fragile as glass and broken shards twice as painful, “I wanted to say that I was sorry, okay?!”

“Kacchan--”

Bakugou growls, “No. Let me say this, Izuku.” He waited, so goddamn long, for an opportunity to say what he wanted--no, needed--to say. The distance that felt like a whole galaxy between them burned something fierce, a serendipitous inevitability that felt like it was reaching its boiling point as the world around them reduced to ashes. The blond musses up his hair and exhales heavily, letting his angry demeanour calm for Izuku’s sake.

“I used to resent you. So much.” Katsuki starts. He’s close enough to Deku that he can see the subtle way the shorter boy scrunches his brows together, letting out a shaky breath of incredulousness. “When we were in middle school, I tormented and bullied you under the guise of hating you for something that you couldn’t control.”

“The truth is, that wasn’t why I resented you.” He blows out a breath. Deku looks up at him in shock, so Bakugou ploughs on. “I resented you because I didn’t understand you. At that time, I couldn’t understand how anyone, especially someone virtually powerless like yourself, could somehow still be a better person--hell, a better hero--than I was.”

Ruby red eyes gazed at the horizon.

“I always thought myself to be the best at everything. Always knew I was destined for victory. That hasn’t changed,” Katsuki swallows as Izuku pulls himself back on to his feet. Now standing, Izuku looks at him as if he’d suddenly had the revelation of his life, (which, Bakugou assumes, was paramount to this in any case.) “What has changed now though… is that I think I finally get it.”

He coughs.

“... I think I finally get you,”

(Two meters.)

“Katsuki… I’m--” Deku swallows, eyes shiny again as he tries to compose himself. He nods at the blond and in that instant Katsuki knows he’s been forgiven a long time ago. The distance tugs at the pit of his stomach, feelings of something warm and strange writhing inside. What once was a flood of misunderstanding that crashed and pulled the two of them apart had dried into a lively valley. Deku takes a step closer.

“But it isn’t just that anymore,” the blond is quick to blurt out. He looks at Deku and for once instead of a regretful past or an ongoing development, he thinks he sees a future.

“If this were all for atonement, I wouldn’t have left UA like you said. It’s… deeper. I’m workin’ on it, but there’s just something that pulls me to do this. It pisses me off, but it also makes me want to keep you at an arm’s length.” Katsuki shakes his head at the bullshit that spews out from his own mouth.

“I don’t fucking know what it is, but I know how it makes me feel.”

Izuku stares into his eyes, wide and innocent in a way that used to make him angry but now only makes him… dazed. “And how does it make you feel, Kacchan?”

He huffs a laugh of rueful acceptance. “Fucking weird. Like I suddenly want to chase you to the ends of the fucking earth just to make sure you’re alive. Like I want to be close to you again and again and again even in our next fucking lives.”

Katsuki takes another hesitant step forward.

“I want a lot of things now. I want shit that I can’t name but I sure as hell know won’t relate to becoming the number one hero. I want to keep you within sight, keep you close and alive because of the fact that it’s you and nothing else. I want…”

(Three feet.)

The distance around them is reduced to a little less than an ache. Issues like theirs aren’t solved overnight, but for the small distance they have between each other it feels less like a curse and more like the moment before an inevitability. They can’t quantify all that they are to each other--can’t begin to measure it in fickle things like centimeters or miles or inches or lightyears--but in that moment Katsuki supposes one could label what they have as ‘love’.

He’s never spoken this much in such a short amount of time, never let himself be wordy when his concise speech was efficient and easy. Yet, something about freckles and scars and green hair makes him want to run his fucking mouth off and list his every feeling under the sun. The vice-like grip over his heart that had been there since the moment he’d woken up in the hospital eases a little, and Katsuki’s broken heart feels like it is coming home.

(Two feet.)

“You want…?”

Katsuki looks into Izuku’s eyes, really looks. He looks and he sees life and salvation and something that he’d been missing for so long that tasting it for the first time has left him wanting like a man in a desert. He reaches out an arm, now fully within reach and gives Deku a pleading and weak stare that says everything and nothing at once.

“I want everything that I can get. Everything you can give me. No matter what the cost.”

(One.)

Deku crashes into his embrace, pulling him close and meeting Katsuki somewhere in the middle as the chase finally fucking stops. To Katsuki, it feels like the birth of a star as the warmth engulfs him fully, setting alight to every one of his nerves. The feeling of holding Deku fills him with all the words he cannot name and it feels like he’s reached some impossible height at the top of the world.

The war has not been forgotten, and the road ahead of them is long, but the distance between Kacchan and Deku--Katsuki and Izuku--is now nothing more than a physical concept. The hug blurs the line between the two young heroes, shaping itself until it is indistinguishable where one ends and the other begins. There is a sensation, one that is burning like an inferno but comforting all the same because at this point in time, Katsuki vows to run after and find Izuku Midoriya in every lifetime after this, in every world that they’ll be in. He vows with all his heart that he’ll be the one to watch Deku while Deku watches the world, to protect Deku while Deku protects the others. Katsuki vows to take Deku for everything that he is and isn’t, wholly and unconditionally because the distance is gone and there’s nothing now that can stop him from following this boy to the ends of the universe.

Katsuki Bakugou vows all this because here, right now, on top of the ruins of a city he’d once known and arms full of a boy he’d been trying to chase for a lifetime--Katsuki comes home.

(Zero.)

[viscountessevie]

A funny bit, but I was on youtube watching one of those list videos, and one about famous romcoms, talked about My best friend's wedding and one producer said they had to come back and film a different end, because in the original, Julia's character got the guy and the focus group was pissed because everyone felt bad for Cameron's, their idea didn't work on screen, so they saw the mistake and changed the end, they could go on like Bridgerton, not even acknowledge the mistake but then again there are creators interested in making things people will enjoy and bring more $ others are way to worry about their own ego with the check already on their bank

Related to this post

Thanks for this ask anon! Super cool info on an old movie I like and I'm always here for dragging the Bridgerton Production 😂😂

Okay firstly: let's talk about the Best Friend's Wedding of it all because holy shit what!!! I may be in the minority but I would have lovedd that ending. I was always rooting for Julia Roberts to be happy even though I thought Dermot's character was a shithead for leading her on (however cluelessly) and they didn't really seemed to have chemistry which is why it was so surprising when Julia and Dermot had INSANE chemistry in interviews. Like I once watched one of their interviews in recent years and had to check if they were actually married to one another. Their friendship is what soulmates are made of tbh.

Honestly, I thought both girls could do better than Dermot's character 💀💀 Rupert Everett was the only valid man in that movie.

My dragging of My Best Friend's Wedding aside, I like that they did take into account of the test audiences' response to some extent (cos it doesn't always work tbh and you just gotta stick to your vision) and realised they could do better and did just that.

As for Bridgerton, D R A G them anon. They refused to listen to us about how problematic the SA scene was and instead CVD doubled down on it saying it was a monent of empowerment for Daphne 🤢. Of course this season, they COMPLETELY butchered one of the most beloved book of the series (don't get me started on butchering my culture but that's for another post) and made Penalty girlboss some more and ruin her so-called best friend's life. Like I love drama but this isn't Big Brother or Gossip Girl, it's a romance show I don't know why they moved away from that. It's fucking annoying. If I wanted drama, I'd tune into my reality shows.

I will give them *some* props for certain changes - the new Bee scene, new accident scene (though I hated the motivation of it for the Sharmas - like you're going to finally notice and forgive her after she almost dies???) and Kathony choosing each other before marriage (though fuck buddies married Kathony sex montage I'll always miss your potential for the show 😭😭)

Other than that, it was ALL Jimone carrying this season because aside from their scenes and storyline, the whole season was a fucking mess. It was not cohesive at all and because of the Featherflops, it felt like I was watching two different shows. Literally who approved this season to drop in the state it was in?? Did no one on the Executive Producing Team and Higher Ups at Netflix take a SINGLE writing/storytelling class???

But yeah this season's writing and CVD acting like he is God's gift to humanity for writing, just proved this show isn't really worth my time. So they can take other people's time and money next season and keep putting out the shit they're putting out. Some people will clearly eat it up. I'll be here watching Lockwood & Co. supporting Ruby instead (may pirate S3 but I'm undecided).

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I might be back on my bullshit thinking about Louis [as if I ever stopped] and episode 2 again. Like... there are a lot of things that could’ve been handled better when it comes to ep2, but can we just appreciate his apology to Clementine during the archery scene? 

[note: this turned into a bit of a rant, and for that, I apologize]

It still baffles me that he gets dismissed as a shitbird by portions of the fandom to this day for being upset with Clem and AJ when he just found out his best friend gave away the twins, murdered Brody and tried to pin it on Clementine to cover his tracks... only to then be murdered by AJ after he already gave up, shot him in the back of the head right in front of everyone and left Louis heartbroken and traumatized. 

Like I understand that some of y’all think Clementine and AJ should never be held accountable for anything they do and they’re always right, even when they’re in the wrong because you’re the player projecting yourself onto them and everyone who is mean to you is a stupid head unless they’re mean in the right way.

Or you’re one of those violentine stans who feels like the only way to validate your ship is to create this narrative that Louis is a traitor and Clementine would never love him after he voted for them to leave as if the only way you know how to make Violet look good is to make Louis bad by comparison instead of like... y’know, being one of the decent stans who explain and gush about the positives of the ship itself and why they love it rather obsessing over the other ship. 

Either way, you’re really gonna look at that situation of Louis reacting to his best friend’s death after what just went down and be like “calm down, Louis, you’re being a jerk :/” like.... I’m sorry? 

Aren’t you the same people who complained about Luke not giving a shit about Nick’s death back in s2? how he didn’t have a reaction? In fact, aren’t you also the same people who vigorously defended Kenny for his reaction to Sarita’s death after he lashed out at Clementine? Remember? When he yelled at her and called her a stupid fucking kid who thinks she can just get anyone killed and it’s okay because she said sorry? but it’s fine because Kenny’s reacting in a realistic way that makes sense for his character and he later apologizes for it? 

but now here you are, getting a realistic reaction out of Louis that makes sense with his character and all of a sudden, you don’t like it? You want him to just be like “Oh no, Marlon.... anyway.” Really?

Louis is hurt, he’s pissed and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s so shaken by what the hell just happened, Marlon’s dead body is bleeding out on the ground, Ruby’s talking about getting fucking medicine as if that’s gonna do anything, Violet waving her cleaver around at them even though literally none of them were looking at AJ they were all looking at Clementine, Violet you are not helping anyone in this situation, you’re only making it worse and adding to the aggression... but no, Louis shouldn’t be a fucking mess right now. He should just shrug his shoulders and be like “Welp, this is fine.” 

Then there’s the damn funeral. Look, Clementine and AJ shouldn’t have been there. I know they had to be for story purposes, but it’s such a bad idea that it makes Violet, the one who wanted them there, look like an ass who has no regard for anyone other than herself, Clementine and AJ, and those who agree with her... which is only Tenn and I guess everyone else sucks and their feelings are invalid because no one else wanted them there since it’s not a good idea to have Marlon’s murderer attend his funeral and if you believe that isn’t going to piss people off or make them uncomfortable, then either you don’t care or you don’t know how to read a room. 

And by the way, Louis wasn’t the one who suggested voting them out. He wasn’t even there when MITCH said they should take a vote and everyone agreed to it. So why is it that Louis gets all this blame for how the vote turned out? Oh, Louis is such a traitor because he’s the reason they got kicked out.... except no? 

First of all, if you’re so mad at Louis then how come you’re not mad at Ruby? She voted them out, too. So did Omar. They contributed to kicking them out. How come no one else talks about how much they hate them after they said having the vote was a fair idea and then voted them out? Oh, and Willy, too. Willy voted them out. The only other person who gets heat for the vote is Mitch, and he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place... but no one else, huh? 

Also, how come only Violet gets praise for wanting Clementine and AJ to stay? Never see anyone talk about how amazing Aasim is after he was the third vote for them. He has legit reasons for wanting them around, too, but he didn’t want them at the funeral either so what, does that cancel out his vote for you? Where is the Aasim love? 

Then we got the dorms where Louis and Violet come to escort them away, and once again, I have to mention that both of them are wrong in this situation. They’re on the extreme opposites where Violet thinks they should stay because they didn’t do anything wrong, and Louis thinks they should leave because AJ’s dangerous. Both of these view points make sense with their characters.

However, I guess some conveniently ignore how conflicted Louis is about the whole thing and how he’s feeling about it because it doesn’t fit with the narrative they’re trying to push about his character. 

Again, he’s dealing with a lot of shit right now only to be constantly invalidated by Violet, who keeps telling him what a shithead he is for hurting about this, how he’s just burying his head in the sand again and all this other shit, and he eventually snaps at her and says AJ’s dangerous, which hurts AJ and it’s all over Louis’ face that he realizes he snapped and he feels bad about it. 

But Louis never got aggressive with them, he never laid a hand on them, and he was there to escort them out in the woods. And that argument of “he sent them out there to die therefore Clementine and AJ should hate him, Clem shouldn’t want any friendly/romantic relationship with him because he put AJ at risk and got him shot” is.... I dunno, ugh? It’s ugh. You act like Louis did this to intentionally get them hurt when that’s not true. 

Clementine and AJ have survived on their own for years, so it makes sense that Louis would try to justify this to himself like “they’ll make it out there, they’ll survive because they’ve done this before... this is for the best for everyone” and no, him telling them that this is probably like going home for them isn’t okay, but it makes sense for his character because he doesn’t actually know how bad it is out there. 

None of them know, they’ve all lived in walls their whole lives. It’s naïve of him, yes, but it makes sense and he didn’t do this with shitty intentions of wanting them to get hurt. He didn’t know that Lilly and Abel would be out there, he didn’t know AJ would get shot, he didn’t know any of it. He didn’t think that if they voted them out, this would happen. He was struggling with his feelings about them and saying goodbye to someone he was starting to feel a connection with. 

And he let them back in. Hell, he carried AJ into the school himself when they showed up wounded and you still wanna call him an asshole and a traitor? He could’ve said nope, get the hell out. We kicked you out, you’re not welcome here. 

He didn’t do that, he ran to them to see if they’re okay, he brought AJ to Ruby and stayed with him the entire time Clem was in the office with Violet.... AND he apologized to AJ, quietly begging for him to be okay... and when he’s faced with Clementine after what happened, he doesn’t know what to say to her. He can’t even look at her because he feels so ashamed of himself and feels all the blame for this. 

This is a moment that ties back to backstory. Louis’ emotions overpowered him, he made a decision and now AJ is shot and bleeding on the couch.... when he came to the school, they [the staff, I assume] said these kids were bad people, they told Louis that he was bad after what he did to his parents and he internalized that, and this whole this just reaffirms that idea “I am bad, I hurt people, this is my fault.” He blames himself for everything even though there’s no way he could’ve known. You can feel Louis’ genuine concern for AJ and how he’s doing, but at the same time, he’s trying to distance himself from Clementine… and well, sorta failing since he brings her clothes and they have the conversation in the dorms. 

Then the archery scene.... y’know, the scene I was gonna make a simple little post about that somehow turned into this. 

Once again we have Louis and Violet arguing because that’s what they do now, and Violet continues to tell him to get over himself without listening to anything he says, and he goes to practice archery so that y’know... when the raiders come he can use a weapon to help defend them since he’s not very good with it and needs practice.

Clem goes to check on him, and Louis apologizes for voting them out, explains that when AJ shot Marlon, he blamed Clementine when that wasn’t the right thing to do. He had a lot going on emotionally on top of what was happening around him, but after having two weeks to work through things alone, even though he’ll never be happy Marlon died, he can understand why AJ thought it was the right thing to do... and if he could take everything back, he would. He knew that the moment they came back, and he still does. 

I just.... how often does Clementine ever get an actual apology from anyone who has hurt her? A real apology from someone who means it and then doesn’t just turn around and repeat the same hurtful actions? Like... it baffles me that people will look at this genuine apology and tell him to fuck off, but will accept and continue to adore someone like Kenny who will apologize for hurting Clem, only to never try to be better and ends up hurting her even more next time. 

Or they’ll accept and justify Violet’s last minute apology for punching Clementine in the face on the boat and putting everyone [including AJ, rememeber?] at risk of either dying or being made into brainwashed soldiers by the delta. 

They both have reasons for their behaviors and you’ll work your ass off to justify them, and I’m not saying your points are wrong or invalid, but you seriously won’t even try to extend that same thing to Louis? Why? 

Well, jokes on you because I too will work my ass of to talk about Louis and what he’s going through and that’s how posts like this get made. I know not everyone is going to feel that connection to him that I have, and you’re allowed to not like him as a character, but realize that I’m also allowed to give my perspective on his character and why I disagree with points posed by those who don’t like him. 

The archery scene is one of my favorites. It’s Louis and Clementine proving that they’re able to open up to one another and say they’re sorry, to forgive the other without being petty or holding it over the other to throw back at them the next time they argue. It proves that Louis wants to put in the effort to repair their relationship and atone for the mistakes he made, to step up and not be “bad” anymore. 

I mean, Louis says it best himself. Everyone heard the jokes and the piano, after that, they stop listening... a lot of people just boil him down to a funny man who never takes anything seriously and the only thing he could ever bring to Clementine’s life is a good laugh, but those who stuck with him and put an effort into building his and Clementine’s relationship know better than that. They know how much this apology in ep2 means even with the downer that the timeline of events rushes everything a bit. 

The fact that Louis doesn’t have this big ego that prevents him from apologizes, that he can forgive AJ for what he did and still build a strong relationship with both him and Clementine, that if you earn his trust he will follow you to hell and back, that he isn’t afraid to call Clementine out on her bullshit and doesn’t have a come apart when she does the same to him, that with her and AJ by his side he finally doesn’t feel alone anymore.... it’s all just so fucking good. 

I dunno, maybe you can understand why I get so ugh whenever I still see these same arguments about him being made with this double standard that doesn’t apply to other characters.

[fiddleabout]

10 and 17 for the salty ask meme (also do 17 for star wars pplease!)

10. Most disliked arc? Why? 

jaune :|

but also i mean in seriousness... i don’t know that i would call it a specific arc but i’ve been generally frustrated around how rwby’s handled the faunus of it all throughout the show.  mostly the fact that most of what we’ve seen or heard about the discrimination of the faunus has been from, y’know, characters like adam, who went for violent retribution, or bits like back at beacon where you just saw cardin bullying velvet.  it’s created a nice neat binary of “good humans are nice to the faunus” and “bad humans are cruel to the faunus” and leaves no room for the vast array of human nature in between it-- specifically that a lot of good people can be and are still racist or prejudiced.  it’s also infuriating that there’s been so little of it in the atlas arc so far, given that atlas has been so heavily implied to be the worst offender of racism against the faunus; there was the bit early in v7 with the drunk guy in mantle, and the crotchety racist grandma in v8, but aside from that it’s just been throwaway bits.  add in the fact that both of those bits have been more about weiss and yang, respectively, than blake, the actual faunus on the team, and...yeah.  the whole faunus situation in the storytelling hits very much like a series of whiffs for me.

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

for rwby hmmmmm.  v4′s adventures of team rnjr frustrated me because in a lot of ways it supplanted ruby as a main character with jaune, and in a lot of ways put ruby’s trauma related to pyrrha’s death in the backseat to jaune’s lost not-girlfriend, and also because in general it seemed to prioritize jaune and ren over ruby and nora.  both ruby and jaune’s survivor’s guilt and trauma surrounding pyrrha are equally valid stories, but it seemed like it focused more on jaune than ruby, which frustrated me.  similarly, v4 was where we got the groundwork for ren being a shithead in v7-8, and in a lot of ways treated nora as a prop for his storyline than her own character. 

also like-- and i acknowledge that this is probably generally colored by opinion of how ruby and jaune were handled in the volume-- v4 had a lot more dudes ~saving~ girls in it than i ever like.  qrow showing up to save ruby from tyrian-- because honestly, that really did read more like a ruby fight than a team fight-- and flashback!ren saving nora with his semblance and sun helping/saving blake from locking herself away and tai helping/saving yang with her trauma.  individually each of those stories worked well, but all of them happening in the same volume was like. no thank u.

for star wars: there’s a really great post somewhere that i’m too lazy to find that’s like instead of making anakin basically a war machine when they took him in, the jedi should have made him a crechemaster; if his inability to sever human connections is the worry, then make him connect with a lot of humans and leverage that as a strength instead of a weakness.  rigidly sticking to the dogma of connections = bad and forcing anakin, a traumatized former child slave who loves deeply and without reservation, into being a weapon who’s constantly told he’s forbidden from loving other people, is a recipe for disaster with a dessert of stupidity.  yes, i realize this would mean there’s no epic space opera story to tell and no, i do not mind.

also like.  the entire sequel trilogy tbh.  finn getting a lightsaber and being a jedi just like rey because didn’t they learn in the original war that p much wiped out the jedi that working as a team is better than alone. poe not being a plot punching bag.  rey not being palpatine’s grandkid because what the fuck.  the way they really took the worst part of the og trilogies-- aka that the whole galaxy suffers because of the stupidity of one or two families of people-- and doubled down hard on it and leaned even more into the idea that people are only viable heroes if they have the right bloodline.  i am Not A Fan.

[mcustorm]

Thoughts on Jamie Johnson 5x06

SPOILERS

Old habits die hard...forgiveness...cancellation. This episode's main theme is how it can be hard to shake who we’ve been, how we have to reconcile that with who we’re trying to be. Zoe and Liam both are having a mirror thrown up in their face, and they unfortunately act pretty much like how I’d expect.

First things first, the show is called Jamie Johnson! Our title character is entering that Hey Arnold!-esque role where we are now fully aware that so much of the show’s strength is because of the ensemble. Anyways, Jamie’s going through it; he’s delusional and just kinda wants to yeet off his cast with a quickness, kinda like how we here in America basically said “Yea, the virus is over.”  As I fear we may find out soon, these things take time. So Jamie finds solace in video games (Let’s discuss how *terrible* I am at FIFA). Which isn’t too bad...for now.

Let’s talk about how Boggy is such a good friend to these people. Episode 1, Boggy could not care less about football. Episode 50, it is basically his entire identity, and he doesn’t even play! Football had an extensive hand in ruining his relationship, ehh nobody cares. I don’t like how Boggy constantly is the biggest cheerleader for various characters in the show (Jamie, Jack, the whole mascot era, this episode he went out of his way for Zoe), but *whenever* he has something of his own to do (which is rare!), they just pat him on the back, say “Oh you’ll be fine,” and head off to the pitch. Justice for Boggy!

Before we start with Liam, let me preface by saying I like Eric and Freddie. They remind me of younger cousins of mine, warts and all. And the show has really humanized Alba in her episodes. The point is, generally, I like those characters. I do not necessarily like that trio’s dynamic. I said last week I didn’t trust Liam, well I still don’t. One of the scenes that I really liked from seasons prior is after Dillon gets kicked out of Hawkstone Academy, Hansard sits him down and basically tells him, “You lost out big not because they’re jealous, not because of your diabetes, but because you’re a shithead.” Point blank period, “You’re a shithead, Dillon.” Some people just need to be told.

And for me, a large part of what makes Dillon’s character so compelling is because in that moment, he really dashed his chances of becoming as successful as he could be. I mean, it still could happen, but it’ll be a helluva lot harder. Hence why Liam’s “redemption” I’m really cold on. Both Dillon and Liam have to learn the same lesson: How you treat people has substantial impact on how successful you’ll be. But Dillon never had a shot of making it back to the Academy, so he used that lesson to impact his general outlook. That’s why he told Jamie “don’t do it sis” when he started to steal the bikes with Jethro. He was being empathetic.

Liam, on the other hand, is only using that lesson to get back on the pitch. He realized that shit-talking to Alba took him off the field, so he plays nice with Alba to get back on. That easy, right? It’s not genuine. And Alba knows that he’s gonna play nice with her, so she’s fine letting him back on to win. The only people who are as unsympathetic to this character as I am are Eric and Duncan the Snake (Mike keeps shading him about how much of a snake he was, so there ya go). Also, you wanna talk about redemption? Duncan has just about done everything right since the incident.

Is Eric arrogant? Yes! Is he absolutely right to not like Liam and not want him on the team? Yes! Was he wrong in being cold and cautious? Naaaaah. Was he wrong in being openly antagonistic, as well as dumping Liam’s bag when it had certainly already been searched? Okay, fine I’ll give you that. Were Alba and Freddie wrong for saying “Oh Eric, you’re being an angry shithead again. We’re going to hang out with Liam who is totally and completely redeemed because he picked up some trash!” AN EMPHATIC YES! 

Ruby is also here, and this week *she’s* the one to tell Dillon he’s a shithead. The only thing these quick scenes do is 1) tide us over till next week, when this is gonna get gud and 2) inform us that Dillon has already scored a date-but-not-a-date with Elliot?! WHAT? What in the hell is going down in those DM’s?! We DEMAND a Jamie Johnson text app, Andi Mack style.

Finally, Zoe. Oh Zoe. What’s her last name again? Sharapova? I’m gonna be straight up: I am VERY hot and cold on this character. I cannot stand the whole “there can only be one” trope, because it only ever is applied to girls, and of course Zoe is the embodiment of it. Remember when she bent over backwards to avoid having Jack know about the contest, and then got mad when she found out Jack neglected to mention it to her? 

For the record, we don’t know if Jack did this intentionally or not. All we *know* is that Jack told her before the deadline and encouraged her to apply, way more than Zoe ever planned to do for Jack. At worst it was a front-stab, and everybody knows you’d rather be front-stabbed than back-stabbed.

And then of course there was the whole stealing incident that she only did to undermine Jack’s success that day. So yes, Zoe is a hater, and a hypocrite, and a snake. And I forgot all about it after Jack left. I actually was warming up to the character, especially as she pushed to lead the team last season. But then, Jack showed back up and her character reverted back like 1.5 seasons. Haven’t cared for the character since then.

So now, there’s a new girl in town, and Zoe is back on her bullshit. Once again, she is insecure. Once again, she is projecting. Once again, the girl tries to be nice to Zoe and she gives her nothing but grief. Now, in a full circle moment, it’s Dillon’s turn to tell her “Hey, you’re kind of a shithead to these girls.” And just when I’m about to forgive the character and move on, the plot steps in and says “Nah, bruh. We still got like 7 episodes left this season. Maybe later.” The show pulls the ol’ “if she had stayed just 3 seconds longer she would’ve gotten the whole context” trope. So for now, I still can’t stand Zoe and I’m patiently awaiting her redemption. Also, Kat needs to put the damn necklace in a picture frame or a lockbox or sumthin. 

So all in all, a delightfully frustrating episode that does exactly what it’s supposed to do: set us up for some juicier content down the road. The first stop on that road being next week -- *the* episode of the season so far and Love, Victor (early!). Yall already know what time it is.

[cinnabea]

hospital flight

did another twitter thread my beauties, this one I’m pretty happy with! It’s bkdk, 2k, canon-compliant, light angst, some action, and a buttload of fluff.

the thread is here, and it’s formatted for the character limits, but I’ve put the full text under the cut for your convenience.

~~

“I really hate it here,” Izuku said, picking at the flimsy hospital gown he was all-too-used to wearing. “Sometimes I feel like I spend fewer nights in my own bed.”

“So leave.”

Izuku blinked. “Kacchan, I'm not cleared yet. I won't be discharged until at least tomorrow.”

Kacchan shrugged. “So what? You're fine. Leave.”

“I-- What? Kacchan, you can't be serious.” Izuku frowned, unsure if he was just missing the joke or if Kacchan really meant it. It was weird enough that the other boy was even still there.

Visiting hours were just about up, and Kacchan had lingered longer than any of his other classmates. It twirled something warm in his chest. Sure, their relationship had been knitting itself back toward something resembling friendship, but it was still unexpected.

He was probably only here to yell at Izuku. ‘Stop being so reckless, shitty nerd! Get better faster so it won't be meaningless when I stomp you into the dirt.’ Something like that.

Kacchan sneered, “I'm always serious, asshole,” before abruptly ripping the IV line out of Izuku's hand.

Izuku yelped.

“What the hell, Kacchan!?” Izuku cradled his stinging hand to his chest, watching dumbly as the blond strode over to the window and threw it open.

“Since you can't do anything for yourself--” Kacchan returned, deftly discarding the hospital blanket from Izuku's lap. “I guess I just have to do it for you.”

And without further ado, he scooped Izuku off of the bed and tossed him over his shoulder.

“Kacchan!” Izuku cried out, scrabbling weakly at the broad back he was draped against, upside-down. There was a reason he was in the hospital!! Entirely drained, he had no hope of stopping Kacchan physically. So he tried with his words.

“What are you doing?! Put me down!”

“Nah,” was the reply.

Kacchan moved over to the open window, and Izuku's heart flew into his stomach. Was Kacchan going to throw him out from three floors up?!

But Kacchan stepped himself up onto the sill, and without another word stepped out into the night.

Wind whistled in Izuku's ears for a heart-stopping moment as they fell to earth. Kacchan slowed their descent with his thrusters, but it was awkward, sloppy - likely because he had to manage keeping Izuku on his shoulder at the same time. They hit the ground hard.

Izuku's brain hadn't time to catch up - it was still three stories above them - when Kacchan spun him down into a princess carry and took off running.

Izuku couldn't help it.

He laughed.

“Kacchan!!”

Kacchan had Izuku pressed close to his chest, and Izuku's face was similarly pressed into the other boy's neck.

Izuku's heart was racing. That burnt sugar scent, the proximity, the absolute thrill of being kidnapped by Kacchan made him giddy as they flew through the streets.

The thrill of being--

of being--

“Kacchan,” Izuku squeezed out, mind racing. “A-aren’t you worried about breaking rules? Getting in trouble??”

“I’d break all the rules for you, Izuku!”

Izuku's blood turned to ice in his veins.

Absurdly, the first thing his panicking brain spun up was that Kacchan hadn't stayed late with him. He hadn't come to visit him in the hospital at all.

Of course he hadn't.

Izuku didn't fight against Kacchan in the hospital, but like hell he wasn't going to fight now.

He twisted, pulling hard on the neck under his arms and throwing their weight off balance. They stopped running, but Izuku was still firmly in the fake's clutches.

Fingers dug harshly into Izuku's side and leg as the doppelganger adjusted, stumbling only briefly before righting himself.

Izuku cried out in pain.

“Let me go!”

“That wasn't very nice, Izuku!”

The strong arms around him crushed Izuku tightly to Fake-Kacchan's chest.

Izuku struggled, but he was exhausted; One for All burned under his skin but he didn't have the energy to call it up. He had to think of something! Think, Izuku, think!!

..

“Oi!”

Izuku's heart stopped.

The voice was the same as the one belonging to the blond holding him, but it was distant, came from behind--

“Drop the nerd, shithead.”

“Kacchan,” Izuku whispered.

Sure enough, now there were two Kacchans standing in the dark, deserted street.

This one looked a lot angrier.

His palms crackled as he advanced.

“Aw, that's no fun,” the first whined, sticking out his lip in a very un-Kacchan-like way. “You sure you don't just wanna play with him together? Bet he'd like that!”

The fake flipped up the edge of Izuku's hospital gown, flashing his bare hip at Kacchan.

Izuku socked him in the jaw.

Without OfA and with the past few days’ events still dragging heavily on his body, there wasn't much power behind it; more of a clip than a proper uppercut. But it did the job - Fake Kacchan staggered, and Real Kacchan closed in.

In a flash, Izuku hit the asphalt, his bandages stopping only some of the scrapes from blooming across his skin. They burned, sure, but Izuku had suffered far worse.

He rolled out of the way.

Literal sparks began to fly. Kacchan vs. Kacchan, explosion vs. explosion. But it became very quickly apparent that only one of them truly knew how to use the quirk, and Real Kacchan gained the upper hand within minutes.

In a comic book, it would have been hard to tell them apart. ‘I'm the real Kacchan!’ They'd say. Or. ‘I'm the real Katsuki?’ What would Kacchan say that would be the dramatic tip-off for Izuku, gleaned only from their strong bond forged over a lifetime together?

“Oi, Shitty Deku, look alive!”

The Kacchans came barrelling toward him, and Izuku had to scramble with a squawk to avoid getting squished.

“Nooo, sweet Izuku would look so much better if we hit him!!”

It wasn't hard to tell them apart in reality.

Separating violently, the fake began stomping his feet. “No, no, no! You ruined it! Agh!! Hey, hotshot, can I get some more of your blood? I'm outta time!” His face horrifyingly began to melt, dripping down his jaw and revealing that it was, in fact her jaw. 

Toga Himiko.

“Fuck off,” Kacchan snarled, spreading his arms wide into an attack stance.

“Okay!” she chirped, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Bye!”

And she ran off into the darkness.

Kacchan started after her like he meant to pursue, but halted, eyeing Izuku still crumpled on the cold ground.

With a huff, he stalked back over.

Izuku jolted up to standing, but the sudden movement left him light-headed and dizzy, and blacked out his vision. He tipped over.

And Kacchan caught him.

Kacchan. Caught him.

“The hell, Deku? How'd you get tricked by some shitty fake?”

His words were angry but he sounded.. hurt.

Hot hands on Izuku's arms, gunpowder and caramel and smoke, and oh, how could Izuku have ever thought that Toga was genuine?

Because the smell was right but the eyes, how had he not seen it in the eyes?

Kacchan's intense, wild, eyes; rubies dipped in fire and blood, burning with a fury and a brightness that left Izuku breathless.

This was Kacchan. No one else even came close.

Izuku turned away, his face hot. “It was too late by the time I figured it out,” he mumbled.

“Tch,” Kacchan scoffed, snatching his hands back and shoving them into his pockets. “Can you walk?”

“Um.” Izuku looked down at his bare, bleeding feet under wobbly legs. “Yes?”

Kacchan scowled.

“Stupid idiot,” he muttered, before roughly sweeping Izuku right off of his scuffed-up feet.

Izuku's heart had never beat so fast.

He was in the same bridal position as he had just been in while being held by Toga-Kacchan. But these arms were different.

If Kacchan had ever held Izuku before, there would have been no way he would have been tricked by that fake.

Strong, unyielding. Rough. Gentle.

Izuku was falling rapidly and he had nothing to cling to to stop it. Nothing but those hard-earned muscles cradling him.

Burying his burning face in his own hands, Izuku desperately tried to stop himself from coming undone in his rival's arms. He had whiplash from everything that had just happened. What was wrong with him? Was he just in shock?

Kacchan had rescued him like some helpless maiden, and now he was acting like one, falling in love with his hero!

Falling in--

Falling--

“Earth to Deku.”

“Ehh?!”

“I said, you got a fever or something? You're hot as fuck.”

Izuku groaned.

“M'fine, Kacchan. Just. Embarrassed,” Izuku pushed out. “Sorry for the trouble. Sorry you had to.. fight yourself.”

Kacchan grunted, and began walking. “It's whatever. Like I was gonna let some shitty extra with my face take you.”

Izuku's heart fluttered.

“H-how did you find me, anyway?”

“Saw your ass go flying out the window. And somehow mine, too.”

The ward Izuku was staying in didn't face the front of the hospital, the visitor's lot, or anywhere where people would naturally loiter. It opened up to little more than an alley.

How could Kacchan have seen him?

But more importantly..

“You were at the hospital?”

Kacchan was quiet.

The incident that landed Izuku in the hospital had been an attack on a theater, where he had been seeing a show with his mother.

Izuku had tangled with the villain alone, and had barely made it out with his life. But thankfully no one else had been hurt aside from a few minor bumps and scrapes.

None of their other classmates had been there.

It was just Izuku.

When "Kacchan" had shown up at the hospital with Kirishima, Izuku had been surprised - but assumed their boisterous friend had dragged Kacchan with him.

When "Kacchan" had stayed, even after everyone had left, Izuku had been elated.

When "Kacchan" hadn't been Kacchan at all, it damn near broke his heart.

But Kacchan, real Kacchan, had been at the hospital after all. Not to see anyone else and not dragged by friends.

“Kacchan, why were you lurking outside my window?”

Kacchan flinched, jostling Izuku in his arms.

“Sh-shut up, you shitty nerd! I wasn't doing anything like that!”

Even in the dark, illuminated only by soft streetlights, Izuku could see the pink coloring Kacchan's cheeks from his vantage point. Red eyes flicked down before deliberately looking away. Kacchan's scowl deepened.

“Shitty nerd,” he repeated, grumbling.

Izuku couldn't help the tears welling up in his eyes, even as a wobbly smile spread over his face. “You came to see me?”

“Shut. Up,” Kacchan hissed between clenched teeth. “Or I'll leave you in the damn gutter!”

Fully smiling, Izuku scrubbed at his face. His chest felt unbearably full. If this was love his heart couldn't have picked a better target. Knowing he was pushing his luck, he tentatively let his cheek rest against one firm pectoral.

Kacchan didn't drop him.

“..Why didn't you come up?” Izuku asked after a minute of biting his tongue.

“What'd I just say?”

Izuku pressed his lips together. He didn't want to be left in the gutter.

Kacchan sighed.

“Didn't think you'd want to see me,” he muttered.

“What?!” Izuku squawked. “Why wouldn't I want to see you??”

Kacchan's feet slowed to a stop, and he looked down at Izuku in his arms with an odd expression.

“You asked if I wanted to see that stupid show and I told you to go fuck yourself.”

Oh.

Honestly, Izuku had barely remembered that had happened. He never expected Kacchan would say yes, but they were both home for the weekend, and he figured he'd ask anyway.

Did Kacchan feel guilty that he wasn't at the theater?

“I still wanted to see you,” Izuku said quietly.

Kacchan grimaced. “Idiot. Stupid idiot who can't keep himself out of the damn hospital when some small fry attacks. If I had been there it woulda been different.”

Izuku hummed, closing his eyes. “Sure, Kacchan.”

“Oi, what's that supposed to mean?”

“It means don't beat yourself up. Well. Unless it's Toga.”

“Tch,” Kacchan spat, resuming his walk. “Cheeky little shit.”

Izuku smiled, peeking up through his lashes. “Thanks, Kacchan. For saving me. And for coming to see me. In your own way.”

“Whatever!!” Kacchan sputtered.

Kacchan was blushing furiously and Izuku felt like his heart was going to explode. In a good way.

“Where are we going, by the way?”

“Back to the hospital, useless Deku.”

“Oh. I hate it there.”

Kacchan snorted.

“Tough shit.”

-END-

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hai! I saw your post about the three Schnee siblings formerly being together to do arts- pianist, singer, dancer. But I read the RWBY Manga Anthology 'Mirror Mirror' and turns out that when she was a child, it was Weiss who was a pianist! I think that when Weiss decided to be a huntress, she gave up playing the piano, but because he admired his sister greatly, Whitley took it up right after. I don't think that inside, Whitley is truly, really an asshole, maybe he's just pressured or something.

I really likethat idea of yours anon-chan. I like the idea of Whitley taking up playingthe piano out of inspiration from Weiss. Perhaps playingthe piano could be Whitley’s coping mechanism with his loneliness. With hissisters gone, perhaps playing the piano was Whitley’s way of connecting to Weiss or at least the fond memories he cherished ofher.

Even ifWeiss was the one to learn the piano first, I do love the idea of Whitleylistening to his sister from afar. Perhaps Whitleyused to watch Weiss whenever she had her piano sessions and he always wanted tolearn how to play the piano---not out of his own interest but purely so that hecould have something for him and his sister to do together.

What if…growing up, Whitley wasalways kept apart from his sisters. Imagine if…Jacques wasn’t the type of father toencourage his children to be close with one another so he always found ways tokeep the siblings apart. But while Winter and Weiss bypassed that, Whitley waskept in the shadows. I can seriously picture Whitley desiring to be closer toWeiss since she was the sister he saw the most (perhaps Winter was away atschool all the time and lived on campus). Picture Whitleylistening to his sister from afar, longing to reach out and join her---playmusic together with Weiss and share in the warmth and happiness of the twobonding.

Now I’m imagining achildhood memory where a toddler Whitley tried to join Weiss playing the pianobut his efforts ended up getting Weiss in trouble with Jacques. And rather thanpunishing them both, Weiss is the only one scolded by Jacques and after that,Weiss refused to talk to Whitley demanding he stay far away from her and lether be alone. Tragic but surprisingly fitting especially with what we know sofar of Weiss as a character.

You and Iare definitely sailing in the same boat anon-chan. I, too, don’t believe Whitley is trulyevil. Just misunderstood.Tremendously misunderstood to the point that it’s kind of ridiculous when Ithink about it. Whitley literally did nothing to deserve the hatred he’sreceived from characters like Weiss in the show and even the FNDM. I rewatchedall of V4 and there was nothing to highlight Whitley as being the manipulativebastard that Weiss painted him to be. If anything, Whitley was one of thecharacters who suffered from the admittedly not-so-good writing during V4’s runtime.If Whitley is truly meant to be the kind of whipped person who is a carbon copyof Jacques Schnee and is completely subservient to him then I wished they hadplayed up that side to his character and actually showed more evidence of himmanipulating his sister in a similar fashion to how Jacques manipulated MamaSchnee long ago.

I’m hopingV7 makes up for the qualms of V4. That being, speaking for myself here, I don’t dislikeWhitley. On the contrary, of all the Schnee Siblings, he’s prettymuch my favourite and the one I’m most interested in learning more about.Whitley is a blank canvas. V4 gave me stuff on him and yet none of it reallypaints a clear picture of Whit to me, y’know what I mean? Rather than jumpingimmediately on the bandwagon of hating Whitley and deeming him a lil shitheador Shitley as he’s been dubbed, I’m left feeling more intrigued by Whit and wishing to learn more about him.

As of now,I don’t have a clear final opinion of Whitley but for the most part, myfeelings toward him as a character are mostly positive. I’m especially intriguedto see how his initial interactions with Weiss’ comrades will be when they allfinally meet face to face. Particularly his encounters with Ruby and Oscar. Ya’llknow how much I’m looking forward to that introduction.

Referringto Whitley and Weiss’ relationship, I’m on the side that firmly believes thatWeiss and Whitley were once very close at some point during their youngeryears. It’s disappointing to learn that the RWBY Anthology specific to Weissdidn’t touch base on Weiss’s relationship with her brother. Then again, as faras I understand, the Anthologies comprised of side stories written and drawn byfans with the approval from the CRWBY. So it’s pretty much the stories and popularrelationships specific to Weiss that the fans wanted to touch base on that theCRWBY greenlit.

It’s ashame there was no story in the Mirror, Mirror Anthologythat focused on Weiss growing up with Whitley. If I were to envisionWeiss’ ties to her brother, in my imagination, Weiss and Whitley are nodifferent than Nebulaand Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Not to spoil muchfrom GOTG but in the end, Gamora misunderstood her sister’s anger toward herfor competition and jealousy when all Nebula truly wanted was a sister inGamora.

I feellike that is the same for Whit. What if…part of the reason why Weiss thinks solittle of Whitley is because growing up Jacques showed more favouritism toward Whitley being that he was his only son. WhileWeiss and Winter had to work harder to live up to their father’s expectations, what if Whitley was treated with more appreciation and dueto this, Weiss harboured a silent sense of jealousy toward her brother.

At the moment,I think Weiss views Whitley as being a younger version of their father when inreality, Whit is far from that. Some RWBY theorists have brought up the idea ofWhitley beingsecretly abused by Jacques and…notto sound sadistic but I’m fully on-board with that theory.

I like itbecause it ties into my hunches of Whitley being misunderstood. Imagine if…allthose times growing up when Weiss figured Whitley was being spoiled by Jacques and never had to work as hard as hissisters, the reality is that Whitley was giving a much stricter treatment thanhis sisters as a means of keeping him in line.

I find itvery sad that Whitley has basically been abandoned by all the women in hislife. Neglected by both his mother and his sisters. It is sad that Weiss andWinter leaned on each other but left Whitley in the dark. It’s sad that Winterfocused on supporting Weiss but never extended that same olive branch of compassionto her baby brother. Seriously, what is up with that? Why is Whitley beingtreated like such a lost cause by his own sisters?

And what’sworse is that both of Whitley’s sisters left him in the end. Winter went off tojoin the Atlesian Military and Weiss moved away from Atlas to study abroad atBeacon in Vale. The only people that Whit seems to have had to depend on isJacques and possibly Klein.

Speakingof Klein, I seriously hope that Klein became a surrogate father to Whitley duringthose days when Whitley was left alone. I understand that Klein favours Weissfor the sake of plot but…notice that Klein never spoke ill of Whitley. Atleast…not to my recollection. Correct me if I’m wrong.

WhileKlein, in one of his seven personalities, voiced his disdain for Jacques, henever showed that malice toward Whitley. If there is one person who I can seebeing in Whitley’s court, it’s Klein. If the theories are true and Whitley isindeed being silently abused by Jacques then Klein is the one I’m expecting tospill those beans especially to Weiss.

Oh! Imagine if…Kleinhas been hiding Whitley’s abuse? Not out of loyalty to Jacques but to Whitley.Imagine Whitley locked in his room after another vicious beating---the firsttime it happened and Klein voicing his desire to inform someone but Whitley forbadeKlein from doing so.

Imagine Whitley even threatening to have Klein fired if he told anyone of his abuse soKlein decides to keep his mouth zip because he’d rather stay and hold histongue if it would mean being there to at least look out for Whitley.

Imagine Klein being placed in adifficult position where he’d rather chose ignorance over the risk of leavingWhitley completely alone with Jacques on his own. That could be veryinteresting thing to delve into for both Klein and Whitley’s characters. Buuuuut…atthis point, as usual, it all boils down to what the CRWBY Writers have plannedfor Whitley and his story with Weiss.

For whatit’s worth, I hope it’s satisfying andwould leave Whit fans, like myself, content.

By theway, what are the Whitley fans called? I knowPinehead became popular as the name for Oscar fans (which I’m pleased caughton) but what would Whitley fans be called? Whitties?

If Oscarfans are Pinehead then would Whitley fans be…Whittie? As in ‘witty’.

Or maybejust Whits. I’ve developed a habit of calling Whitley, Whit for short so maybe that can work to define myself asa Whitley fan. I’m a Rosegardening Pinehead anda Whit.I could work with that.

Anywhozzits,I do think the possibility of Whit being the Nebula to Weiss’ Gamora is verystrong but…again, only my hunches for now.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[forgetspecifics]

Murphy’s Law: Stupid sexy grin™

Rated M

Story summary: Because anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Mutual pining, mutual sexiness. Slight AU.

Chapter summary: 1. Blake wants Yang in her pants, and has a difficult night concerning it.

AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9450161

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12335981/1/Murphy-s-Law

Chapter 2: With friends like these

Chapter 3: Rainchecks, refunds and returns

Chapter 4:  ... --- ... ---... / ... - --- .--. / --- ..- .-. / ... . -..-

Available below

Blake was pissed. Though, she wasn’t exactly sure why; nor could she bring herself to waste time figuring it out. All she knew is that it was because of Yang. No, that gave the blonde too much credit. It was, undoubtedly, Yang’s fault.

Except that didn’t help the fact that it was entirely, one hundred percent; not Yang’s fault, and that she was being melodramatic – but Blake wasn’t about to go back and admit that to her.

As she slammed the door to her apartment, locked it behind her, and threw her keys somewhere in the vicinity of the cat head-shaped bowl that Ruby had made for her; she stalked directly to the kitchen to get an almost criminally large glass of red wine to nurse on the couch in the dark – and cursed her incredibly forward and incredibly attractive friend for ruining the excuse she had for not crossing the line entirely and just sleeping with her.

Because that was the thing; Blake had been ebbing on the edge of caution and keeping Yang at bay, even if they both knew that it was going to happen eventually (or, alternatively, that they simply wanted it to).

The flirting was friendly at first, and Blake had no problem with it. Then it was casual; she flirted back in her own dismissive, dry way that always elicited that stupid, sexy grin from Yang. Then Blake realised that Yang was flirting exclusively with her. Then she realised that was exactly what she wanted.

Maybe she couldn’t explain why she was prolonging the inevitable, but maybe she didn’t want to. Maybe she just liked the way things were. Maybe she preferred the thrill of the chase, and maybe that was due to being part cat. Maybe.

So when Yang had asked her, admittedly while not entirely sober; why she hadn't had a chance 'at that Bellabooty' yet, Blake simply gave a coy smirk and fired back, “What makes you think you had a chance in the first place?”

Such a challenge was not to be met with disappointment, and the fiery girl accepted it with glee. Blake was considering dropping her hard to get act, perhaps in favour of something that involved being a bit of a tease. After all, this part was half the fun. She thought that tonight, finally, she could just have enough to drink to disguise and excuse her eagerness.

Yang then did something she was not expecting – though she probably should have – unable to resist temptation, the idiot came up with all the wrong words that she obviously thought were good enough to get Blake into her bed.

“Blake, when're you just gonna admit that you want me? You really need to stop...pussyfooting around!”

Not even a second had passed and Blake was pocketing her things and abandoning Yang, her drink, and leaving the bar mumbling something that sounded like 'absolutely braindead goddamn shithead'. The bartender; one of Yang's acquaintances, whistled lowly and quipped, “Your jokes reallyare shit, blondie.”

Yang’s disappointed expression had quickly turned into a scowl. “Cram it, Junior, and get me another drink before I remodel your club again.”

Her threat earned her another Strawberry Sunrise – of course, Junior put the little umbrella in it – which she promptly flicked at his face, but her accuracy was not at its best; to her chagrin it ended up bouncing off his chest. To his chagrin, Yang subsequently sat there for the next hour sulking in between five more stupid drinks with stupid umbrellas, until he half-assedly encouraged her to either pursue Blake or to just give up and go home (read: 'get the hell out of my establishment').

Thus the streets of Vale housed a stumbling Yang Xiao Long. Eventually, she found the building she was looking for – at least that was what Yang hoped it was – that held the woman she was looking for.

Blake was halfway through her wine; she definitely was still pissed (whether that meant angry or drunk was up for debate).

She contemplated calling Yang but couldn't find it in herself to actually regret her reaction to the feline-themed joke made at her expense (no matter how much her lust regretted it). Then again, Yang had no idea that people still bothered her about her exposed cat ears; Yang was all too accepting and loving of them herself. Yang had no idea that it actually still bothered her that much as Blake always shrugged it off in her presence.

She also contemplated digging up her favourite romantic novel (Ninjas of Love wasn’t erotica no matter how much Yang argued it to Blake. It was, however, the “filth” that Ruby claimed it to be) to quieten her frustrations, that may or may not have been very sexual in nature. Some small part of her – the part that insisted she had overreacted in the first place, and argued said frustrations could have already been solved if she had just agreed with Yang and asked her to take her home in the first place – also knew it was a possibility that Yang would show up of her own accord anyway, or at least if Blake made a booty call. But, no, she’d never live that down. But, yes, because then she’d be happy that at least they’d have finally done it(and any smugness could have been erased with even more doing it).

Her apartment’s front door then started sounding a lot like drunk Yang mumbling. And usually, her front door didn’t proclaim that it missed out on a ‘sexy piece of ass’. As much as she enjoyed the flattery, as much as Yang was oblivious that she had heard it (of course she heard), Yang was most likely very drunk. It felt almost criminal to want her right now – having sex with a drunk person; having sex with someone while drunk – didn’t sound like the best experience. And, oh, did she want the best experience.

As her Faunus eyes spied the door handle jiggle (in a feeble attempt), and then, the mail slot open with force as Yang shoved her hand through it, Blake noted to herself that Yang probably still had the capacity to give her a pleasurable experience and should probably open the door. She had even resorted to flat out thumping into the door with her body; her tall, muscular, curvaceous, downright unfairly attractive body.

Fuck. Blake didn’t even have a chance. There was no part of her that didn’t want to fuck Yang right now. All four of her ears could hear her own frustrated growling.

Apparently Yang heard too, as the exclamation of ‘shit when did Blake get a dog it’s going to bite my tit’ and heavy and fast footsteps fading into nothing suddenly brought the growling to an abrupt halt. Pleasurable experience aside, Yang was too out of it to remember Blake didn’t even like dogs. And so she tried to convince herself to let the idiot go.

At last Blake settled on drinking the rest of that big-ass glass of wine – because something needed to finish tonight – and resigned to think of everything not sexy and blonde for the next half hour. When she got to bed, however, that was a different thing. Maybe she’d have the willpower to just fall asleep, and maybe she’d be lucky enough to have a fulfilling dream experience instead.

With that prospect in mind, the now empty glass was deposited in the kitchen for a quick getaway to the bedroom. Blake had almost shuffled to awaited bliss when she was bestowed a new disturbance. This one sounded like metal clunking and a struggle at her lounge window that looked upon the alley below. It also sounded ridiculous, but, alas her night vision allowed her to see none other than Yang trying to yank the window open from the fire escape.

Of course, the window was locked. Of course, at this point, she wouldn’t put it past the determined woman outside to break and enter – even if Blake one hundred percent wanted her to, she didn’t want a broken window that badly – which lead to her quickly unlatching the window before any more openings of her apartment could have Yang’s hand shoved through it (because that hand needed to be put to better use, to be frank).

This meant that her anticipated dream sex was now being replaced with the possibility of real sex. Blake was still on the fence about that, though. She knew that she had to give Yang the benefit of the doubt and entertain the idea that Yang had not dedicated all this time and effort to just to sleep with her.

On second thought, that sounded exactly like something Yang would do. Still, benefit of the doubt, right?

As the pane of the window was wrenched up, and a stupidly alluring ‘nailed it’ floated inside, Blake summoned all the self-control left in her desperate body. As a toned leg that went on for days (seriously, it lasted longer than she could ever hope to in bed) slid in, followed by a head of mussed golden hair, she felt her self-control waver.

As Yang’s head collided with the partially open frame with a resounding thunk; as the rest of her fell through without any grace (let’s face it – she didn’t have much grace when sober, anyways); it was funny enough to forgive her for bad choice of words earlier.

Because in truth, she already had. Yang was probably left quite confused, considering past cat puns were met with a much sassier retort that outwitted her. They exchanged banter frequently, not out of malice, but out of friendship. Blake was comfortable with Yang being able to speak to her freely, they understood each other on a level she never would have dreamed of.

Yang viewed her as an equal, she knew that; Blake felt a little guilty that the actions of a few had caused her to give the cold shoulder to somebody she trusted.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy, Blake.”

“Hello, Yang. I’m surprised you came back,” she began to help her fallen friend up from the floor. “After all, you didn’t want your boob to get bitten.”

As Yang’s warm hands gripped her for balance, she gave a sheepish laugh. “Well, I did. Just…not by a dog,” Blake felt her face flush and Yang gave a smile that was entirely unapologetic. “I also realised you would never own a dog halfway up the fire escape.”

It was Blake’s turn to smile. “So, you started climbing up with the belief there was an angry dog here?”

“Well Blakey, I couldn’t just give up without knowing whether or not I hurt you,” the look in Yang’s eyes was one of concern, which then closed briefly in remorse. “I’m sorry for being an idiot.” And then one of her warm hands was touching her face, brushing her hair away from her eyes. Blake then wanted to experience that kind of tenderness, instead of what she was fantasising about before.

Oh, how ironic Yang’s apology was.

“No, you’re not an idiot, Yang. I ruined the moment. You didn’t mean it like that. You never do.” Blake grasped the hand that was touching her distractedly before it induced any more thoughts about skipping to the good part. “I’m sorry. I let what other people say get to me and took it out on you. Wrongly.”

Yang led her over to the couch in the light of the moon, gesturing her to sit. “Hey, I get it. Buuut we both did dumb things. I’m a little drunk because I was frustrated, and didn’t chase after you,” as Blake settled down, she pulled Yang closer. Which Yang easily obliged.

Yang shouldn’t have to chase after her. Not anymore, at least. “I’m glad you eventually did, Yang,” Blake was very glad. “Were you going to give up if I hadn’t opened the window?”

Her raised brow was accusing. Yang laughed that time, unashamedly. “I was going to get in here somehow. The window seemed like a better thing to break than your door.” Blake laughed along with her, embracing Yang around her neck and steadily leaning back into the soft cushions. This was what she wanted. Yang, in her state was not catching on; Blake tugged her a bit more into following her down.

Yang’s arms finally shot down to support her torso; Blake felt Yang’s lower half finally join her own. Apparently, she had forgotten entirely what this whole ordeal was about. “What’re you doing, Blake? I admit that I was going to break in, and you don’t even care,” Yang’s surprised eyes squinted down at her face questioningly, “Are you okay? I thought I was the one that hit my head!”

As much as Blake was getting impatient, she was happy to play along. This was the flirtatious crap they had been doing all along; this was the teasing she revelled in; this time she would finally find out what Yang Xiao Long was really like.

She deliberately ran her hands into the neck of Yang’s clothes. “You did Yang. After you shoved your hand through my mailbox and banged on my door,” Blake then gave her the smirk. The one reserved for Yang. “Seems like my apartment got more action from you tonight than I did.” Blake raised her knee, adjusted it, until her thigh came into contact with the apex of Yang’s legs.

Yang’s world came to a standstill as her inebriated brain caught up with what was happening. Blake’s knee. On her. A satisfied groan escaped from her throat. “Oh. So you- wait. Did you make a joke?”

“A joke is all you got from that, really?”

“I like jokes, Blake! Especially dirty ones. Especially dirty jokes from you,” Yang raised herself free of the pressure on her centre – Blake was quick to throw her a displeased look – but Yang was just as quick to manoeuvre her hands underneath Blake’s ass and lay completely on top of the Faunus.

Blake felt her back arch of its own volition, the grip Yang had on her easily taking her mind into a foggy haze because this was actually happening. The slow grind back down onto her thigh, and the way both their shirts had caught up to allow bare slivers of skin to touch was enough.

In an instant Blake had cupped Yang’s face and brought it hastily to her own, in an instant they were finally kissing. It was warm and slow; it was hot and fast – which one they preferred was the battle that their tongues were trying to decide.

Blake was unable to really process anything but the mouth on hers and the hands desperately squeezing her behind – they were pulling her up while Yang pushed down just as hard – and the minute movements the woman on top was making served only to excite her more.

She had barely noticed that she was not actually breathing until Yang abandoned the kiss to gulp in air. She had the stupid sexy grin (that should be trademarked, honestly) going again. “Why haven’t we done this before?”

Blake had hardly breathed herself as she replied, “This isn’t going to happen if you don’t keep going.”

Yang set back to work, hurriedly burying her face under Blake’s chin and laying down some tongue work that she was certain would be better applied something called the clitoris. Although, it was delightful where it was as nonetheless. She may have been rough and boisterous at times, but Yang was undoubtedly good at teasing her by changing pace - with the measured and deliberate kisses and licks she was giving Blake now, she was looking forward to every intimate moment they could share together – though she was awfully quiet.

Taken by her racing thoughts, Blake hadn’t realised that Yang had stopped. Though she could feel steady humid breath under her human ear – at least she isn’t dead – for once, the brawler was still. Overcome by emotion, maybe?

“Yang?” Blake carefully removed her fingers that had found their way into Yang’s blonde hair. Nothing.

Absolutely braindead goddamn shithead – she fell asleep.

“Fucking hell.”

That part of her that knew she should have slept with Yang a dozen times already – one of those times being about an hour ago – said ‘I told you so’.

Notes:

I really feel like this was unfairly cut short - but in its imagining, it was going to cut off before anything sexy even began. Never written anything like this before, but I actually really enjoyed it. I busted it out in less than a few hours, which I am happy about. Now I'm just fighting an internal debate whether or not to write the follow up (it'd probably take awhile). I guess you should let me know!

This was also titled 'Fight, fight. Kiss, kiss.' until I realised I kept mentioning the stupid sexy grin. This also was the first Bumbleby story I started to write (two months ago, ew).

Please leave any thoughts, I'd love to read them (any criticism is welcome).

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

So... have I ever told you guys that Louis is my favorite character in TWDG? No? I didn’t have to? You could tell by the everything that is my blog that he’s my favorite? 

Well your deduction skills are great because it’s true-- Louis is, indeed, my favorite character and after all the nonsense going on with last week’s T5F, I wanted to talk about my boy to get that salty taste outta my mouth, y’know? 

I want to talk about some of my favorite Louis moments from The Final Season, and in turn, about why I love him so much.... also this challenge of giving myself only 5 moments was just cruel and I struggled because I love nearly every Louis moment. I had to narrow it down to the favorite moments where I believe his development as a character were at its greatest, because that’s something I love about him-- his growth through the season. 

Wanna give a quick shoutout @pi-creates​ for letting me use some screenshots for this post! I’m also doing a bit of a collab with Pi and a few others for this T5F. I thought it would be fun if they did some lists for other characters! I’ll update this post with links to their Top 5′s as they come out. :D

Pi’s Top 5 Aasim Moments @kaylee-wolf’s Top 5 James Moments @taurusicorn2400′s Top 5 Favorite Things About Violet  @akemi-rose578′s Top 5 Favorite Ruby Moments

5. Appealing to Louis

I won’t spend too much time on this one because I talked about this entire scene in great detail in my Marlon character study, but I do truly love everything about it. 

When you appeal to Louis, he’s pretty insistent about staying out of it... even though you can tell this whole situation is hurting him. With Marlon still having a grip on him, Louis feels like he has to side with Marlon because he’s his best friend, he’s always had his back, he’s gotta trust him... Marlon wouldn’t kill Brody like that, it just doesn’t make sense, right? 

Add that on top of the fact that Louis is already established as “Marlon’s lap dog,” as Aasim puts it, and Marlon himself even implies that Louis is irresponsible and doesn’t ever step up.

So to have Louis instinctively puts his hands up like “Oh no, no, noooo I am not involved! Sorry, I like ya Clem but yeah, you’re on your own.... sorry,” makes sense with how he’s established, and you as Clementine have to sway him to your side by giving him some much needed courage and a chance to break from Marlon’s control to do the right thing, which is executed super well. 

My personal favorite choice is to ask Louis if he’s really going to just let Marlon shoot me just so that he doesn’t want to get involved. You can see from his body language and facial expressions that Clementine’s words struck a nerve... he doesn’t want that to happen, that he doesn’t want Marlon to murder Clementine like this, and that he knows this is all wrong. 

Also, Clementine’s “I thought you were more than that” is just.... so good. When you consider his entire arc... as far as we know, this is the first time someone has said something like that to Louis and it shows.

So he tries to talk to Marlon the first time, and Marlon intimidates and manipulates him to where you believe he’s not going to help you... and I love it. I love the way this is shot where Louis, with his hands up, slips right in front of Clementine and talks Marlon down. He sees that Marlon has a damn gun pointed at him, but he puts himself in danger to protect Clementine [and Marlon, in a way]... someone he doesn’t know that well, and he even walks towards Marlon while the gun is still pointed at him to protect her and those around him. 

There’s also the other bits where Louis tries to be reassuring to Marlon, that they’re gonna help him out, that they’re all they got, that Marlon wasn’t always pathetic.... which that last one prompts the “Yeah I was, you’re just the only one who didn’t see it,” and that’s... a whole thing. 

This is the first glimpse of growth we see with Louis and I love it. 

4. The talk in the dorms

Okay... this scene. 

I love this scene... obviously. One of my favorite’s from Ep2. After AJ is patched up and recovering in the dorms, Louis comes by to bring AJ some new clothes since his got torn up from Abel’s magic shotgun. 

At this point, we already know that Louis is dealing with a lot of shit-- his best friend of 8+ years was murdered right in front of him, he’s traumatized, mourning, and hurting buuuuuut most of the Ericson crew don’t seem to care that he’s going through this. Violet keeps invalidating this pain and calling him a shithead while talking shit about Marlon right in front of him without any care. Mitch acts like Louis should be more aggressive because he was Marlon’s best friend, which results in Louis feeling even shittier. 

He doesn’t know what to do about Clementine and AJ, all he knows is that them being there makes everything feel worse and he’s scared... AND on top of that, he just learned what Marlon was really like, Brody did indeed die because Marlon hit her, the twins might be alive because Marlon traded them away, AND there are asshole raiders coming to kidnap and/or murder them.

AND because he took part in the vote that got Clementine and AJ kicked out and insisted they follow through, AJ ended up getting shot by Abel’s magic shotgun and could’ve died... and Louis feels responsible for that, but he’s conflicted because this kid literally murdered his best friend that’s why they were kicked out in the first place. 

Also, presumably, he’s dealing with all this by himself. 

Honestly, I’m surprised he’s still functioning because that’s a lot. 

Despite all that, he still sticks with Ruby in helping patch AJ up, and is thoughtful enough to bring him new clothes so he’s more comfortable. It says a lot about him, y’know? He’s still hurting, he’s still angry, but he doesn’t hate Clementine and AJ for what happened. He never did, he just didn’t know what to do. He’s still processing what happened and sorting out his feelings. 

Oh and then the talk with Clementine... okay, I love the talk. 

It’s quiet, sincere, and emotional. Clementine kinda begins to pry about whether or not he’s okay with them staying after AJ gets better and the raiders are taken care of, and he avoids giving her a straight answer until she pushes, to which he answers with an honest, “I don’t know, Clementine.” 

Then AJ wakes up, and I love the way Louis responds to AJ asking if they’re friends again. He doesn’t lie to make AJ feel better, but he’s not a jerk about it. 

And finally, we get the final dialogue prompt with him. I usually tell him I really missed him, to which he responds with, “Missed you, too. Goodnight.” and I just... it’s so good. 

Honestly, Louis could’ve turned into a real bitch and not bothered, he could’ve remained angry and took every opportunity to remind Clem and AJ of how terrible they are... I can think of plenty characters that would’ve done that in his situation, but that’s not Louis. He’s not that kind of person... which is interesting when you consider his backstory and what landed him at Ericson in the first place. He’s seen what that kind of resentment, no matter how great, can lead to. 

Overall, one of the best moments in his character development. 

3. Louis opening up to Clementine in the music room

Oh, where to begin?

First off, not gonna gush too much about the clouis because this is a list focusing on Louis, not necessarily his romance with Clementine... I’ll only bring it up when it pertains to his character development, y’know?  Second, not gonna get into the poor lead up to this scene where the writers dropped the ball with the ‘go with Violet to protect the school vs screw around with Louis and probably die’ thing. That’s a topic for another day. Just talking about the scene itself. 

Because this moment is so damn good. Honestly, these last three entries I could probably do entire posts picking them apart and analyzing everything but we don’t wanna be here for hours so I’ll try to condense it the best I can. 

So Louis invites Clementine to the music room because he needs up with a project. Clementine enters to find him playing a song that he wrote, and they have a fun conversation. Right off the bat, we get Clementine mentioning that they haven’t heard any music for a while [implying that Louis hasn’t been playing] and Louis responds with, “Some say you’re not about to hear it now.” which we all know is him trying to make light of people telling him he doesn’t have any music talent and like.... his face. The way it falls as the music goes from cheery to sad. The way Clementine looks at him. 

I talk about Louis having a wall around him a lot. Well, that’s because he does. It’s the irony thing where the happy, loud, funny character is actually putting that on as a façade because they’re hiding behind a wall too scared to let anyone in because it’s either bit them in the ass before or no one has bothered to ever take them seriously anyway or a number of other reasons. 

Louis seems to let that wall down for little bits at a time without realizing it, then when he does, it shoots right back up. A great example of this is in ep1 when he and Clementine talk in the woods. The shift is obvious, and here he’s still doing it. 

He turns around and asks Clementine how they feel about their imminent deaths in a jokey tone. My favorite thing to do is here is remain silent. When you do that, he becomes serious again and in a soft voice, he tells Clementine that he’s here for her. 

I find this whole sections of the scene, including the tuning the piano part, so interesting because it’s him testing the waters with Clementine, if you will. He’s inching the wall down until they’re both sitting comfortably at the piano when he begins to play his song for her. They mark the piano, and I think that seals it for him that they’re here together, that Clementine isn’t like the others who have never taken him seriously or never bother to look below the surface. 

So, he takes a chance and fully brings the wall down, opening himself up to her as he thanks her for being there with him, even after everything. 

Like... Louis is just so aware of people’s perceptions of him. This is a discussion that I’ve had with people before where Louis is very much a people person in the way that he’s not just charismatic, he’s observant, too.

Anyway, you can have Clementine confess she has romantic feelings for him, establishing them as a couple, or you can remain friends but now you’re super best friends. You know me, I go the romance route because clouis. 

I do wanna point out that Louis does have romantic feelings for Clementine no matter what you pick, but if you do wish to remain friends, he’s incredibly respectful of that. There’s no bitterness, there’s no pushing. He’s maybe a little sad for two seconds before he realizes that he has a new [and probably better] best friend and embraces it. He’s just happy to have Clementine at his side.

As for the romance, I will never get over his reaction to Clementine confessing. His face? So good. Then he becomes so giddy talking about how he was hoping Clementine felt that way and “Holy shit, it’s me!” 

Then he names the song he wrote after her and they smooch~!

uhh sorry, said I wasn’t gonna gush about clouis but can’t help it... and hey, in my defense, it does pertain to his development because this relationship influences him greatly. 

What else can I say? It’s fucking great. 

2. Louis finally shares something from his past & plays Don’t Be Afraid

Yeah I’m combining them, they go hand in hand okay. 

Listen.... like I said before, I could write an entire analysis of Louis in this scene, but I’m gonna reel it in. 

We finally get the reason Louis was sent to Ericson in the first place-- he was stupid rich with parents who gave him whatever he wanted except singing lessons, and being the spoiled child he was he didn’t take kindly to that... so he broke into his father’s credit card accounts and faked an affair in order to break up his parents marriage, and then when it was all said and done, he threw his fathers words back in his face.

Like.... I’m pretty fucking sure not a single one of us thought this was going to be the case when it came to Louis giving us his backstory.  

He finally puts it all out there and now Clementine knows what kind of person he was before he arrived at the school, what he was capable of before she met him. That wall is gone.

But this is what I was talking about before. Louis knows first hand what can happen when feelings go unchecked, when resentment is held onto, when you don’t apologize or try to repair mendable relationships, when you’re vindictive and bitter and take it out on others. He’s been there and now he’s here, and he holds a lot of that with him. You can see he does in the way he talks about himself and struggles with confidence in his abilities. 

I also love the line he says when you remain silent about how he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about, how it’s like the only thing they share is the same name. He then goes on to say that Clementine should know who she’s riding into battle, which I’ve always seen as his way of telling her she should know who he really is, good and bad, before she puts anymore effort, faith, love, etc. into him and their relationship. 

Then there’s the song. 

Tenn asks Louis if he can play Don’t Be Afraid for them, a song that he composed with Minerva back before she was taken by the delta, and it’s my favorite version. 

Just the way he looks at Clementine before he starts and she gives him a small reassurance before he starts, and he fucking dedicates the song to Minnie... who is going to try to kill him later and that’s a whole thing, but it’s still a sweet sentiment. 

Then the song plays and it’s that calm before the storm moment, y’know? Like, everyone is sitting there listening to him play this beautiful song while realizing that shit’s going down soon and this might be the last happy moment they get.... and then as he’s playing, Louis looks over at AJ’s drawing of Violet, Aasim, and Omar and just.... his expression. 

Also, he looks up at the ceiling as he’s playing and given how glossy his eyes look at the end of the song.... you know he was trying to hold it together. And that last look he and Clementine share? ugh.... it hurts my heart. 

I adore this scene.... We finally got something about Louis’ past, which is something he hardly shares up to this point. Anything shared is minor, like how he used to play baseball or he hates cantaloupe.... but nothing major, y’know? So good. 

1. The walk back to Ericson

This is it. 

When it comes to Louis’ development as a character, this is it. Let me tell you about this moment because oh my god.

To start things off, Louis gets back to the school with everyone and then alone decides he’s gonna go look for Clementine, AJ, and Tenn. Which I don’t know if that’s something he would’ve done in ep1, at least he wouldn’t’ve gone alone. This to me says that he got back, made sure everyone was taken care of based on his comment about Violet’s eyes, and then set off on his own to look for them. 

Then we get the cute clouis, Louis celebrates victory a little too early, and they begin their walk about to the school... and it starts off so quiet. He and Clementine steal glances at each other before Louis brings up Dorian. Y’know, the woman he killed. 

We learn that it’s his first human kill ever.... in the 8+ years of the apocalypse, Louis has never had to do that and it’s one of the things he was so scared off. We were supposed to get a bit about that during the party but y’know, it was cut for budget reasons.... which is lame but you can figure it out from his behavior before they snuck onto the boat anyway.

It’s a great talk between them. I usually tell him that it’ll get easier, and he acknowledges that it’s fucked up, but he believes it will get easier and he’s just glad he has it in him at all. He tells Clementine that having a home means protecting it, he shares some things about his past, and then he and Clementine talk about a dream house together. 

And this.... THIS. Okay look. Listen. I know people give Louis shit for how he behaves in ep1. You don’t have to go far before you see people writing him off as lazy, irresponsible, blah blah blah..... and like, I think people forget that character growth is a thing? That a character usually starts out flawed and over the course of a story, they change? for better or worse? 

I’m perfectly okay with Louis being portrayed as irresponsible and carefree and whatnot because from that point he grows. 

Remember what he said in ep1? He says he prefers to think of survival as a day-to-day task, he says that the future doesn’t exist and there’s only today, that the only thing anyone has is this moment. 

Louis didn’t look at the future because he didn’t care, or rather, it wasn’t a priority for him. He slacked off because he turned away from responsibility when Marlon needed him, and while I don’t disagree with his view of appreciating the now, I do believe the future should be considered. 

Now compare that to Louis in ep5. 

That whole conversation is Louis telling Clementine he wants a future with her and the rest of Ericson, and while maybe they can’t build that 914-floor purple mansion, they can still try.... they can still create a home together. I think he still believes his this moment talk, but has a better grasp of what he really wants, y’know? 

His whole journey when you stick with him is just.... so good. It’s not perfect, I mean y’all know that I have my issues with how some things were done, but Louis’ development as a character is one of the greatest accomplishments in TFS. 

Also, Louis lost the 4th grade spelling bee because of “recommend” and he had a pet turtle named Geoff. My patience has been rewarded and I know more about his backstory. 

I don’t even know what else to say? It’s #1 for a reason? Because it’s a great showcase for how far he’s come? and I love him so much? Seriously this scene is so good? 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Louis’ introduction in the music room. It’s a classic fave.  -The walker piñata moment where Louis lets his guard down around Clementine to tell her his view point on survival. -The archery moment where Louis apologizes to Clementine and opens up a bit about Marlon. -The card games. Both of them. He’s great. -Everything in the dorms in ep3. -y’know what? Just everything that isn’t the cell scene okay? 90% of Louis scenes get honorable mentions. 

---

So there we go. There’s all my gushing about Louis. Could do it for much longer, but I don’t think we wanna be here for hours. So, what are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices? Or have anything to add? I’m always down to chat about muh boy. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

—

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Doug Was Pretty Great