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vetlan · 3 years

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Summary: There's a certain thrill to this, her feathers bristling as a chill runs through her. It almost takes her back to her youth. Almost. Neither of them is a young duck, but from the sharp glint in the masked mallard's eye, she can tell they're sharing the same thought: age has only brought them closer to their prime, not further from it.

Notes: See, I wish I could explain this, but all I have is the flint inside my head and also "haha wouldn't it be funny if" mindset. My writing style can be best described as "I don't know where this is going but I like it". Is the ending totally rushed? Yes. I sat down to write this all in one go but then work called and said I had to be in there in the morning, and I do like my sleep.

Characters: Launchpad McQuack, Bentina Beakley, Jim Starling, Drake Mallard, Your Suspension of Disbelief Please I Beg You

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Although she wouldn't say that she and Launchpad were the closest of friends, she had still developed a soft spot for the chauffeur and how he brightened the kid's days, and so his presence was genuinely missed the more and more time he spent in St. Canard.

The stories he told when he came back, however, almost made it worthwhile.

It all started with a movie set.

Needing to confide in the loss of an idol, but not wanting to burden the kids with the heavy subject, he jumped on the chance to talk to her, Mrs. Beakley offering her ear upon seeing the pensive look on the usually jovial duck. Everything that happened that day, he let out in a nervous and even slightly guilty ramble that at first, she didn't understand… until he got to the part with the breaking and entering into Scrooge's movie studio.

But he assured her that things worked out! So she let him continue, her glare only slightly disappointed… until it softened into a sympathetic furrow of her brows.

It was a bittersweet story, admittedly, wherein Launchpad got to meet with a childhood idol only to learn that sometimes, meeting your heroes only shows you their flaws, and how you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Yet, through that, he managed to find a genuine friend in the shape of one such Drake Mallard, and she couldn't help but poke fun at the young man, ever one to get a crush on every passing pretty face -- let alone one that shared his niche interests. He bumbled through his words, assuring her it wasn't like that, and they shared a comfortable laugh, the weight off his shoulders now.

And just like that, this story was tucked into a mental manila folder, dated and put away in the tidy office that she imagined her mindscape to be.

A corner of it stuck out, wouldn't let her close the drawer.

Bentina picked at it from time to time, trying to find what wouldn't let her put it to rest, a crossroads puzzle drawn out when she already knew the words.

(Declared missing, assumed dead, never found.)

She let it be. It wasn't her story to unfold.

The next one came as filler to a bigger story, but it captivated her nonetheless. Launchpad rattled off excitedly about fighting villains side by side with Darkwing Duck, about how scared he'd been but yet how cool it all was, and Bentina was almost jealous, but she's had enough excitement to last her a lifetime. No, what got her attention was the mention of a child in the middle of all of this, and eventually, under her prying, he confessed to all the things she had already figured out. Yes, yes, Drake was Darkwing Duck.

What she cared about was that his friend Drake had taken a young girl under his literal and metaphorical wing until the girl's grandfather could be found. It was nice and all but was he equipped to care for a child.

No, Launchpad didn't have much of a choice in the matter, he was going to take her to Darkwing Duck, and she was gonna give everyone there a masterclass on childcare and welfare. They might be well-meaning, but a diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches paired with hamburgers and fries isn't a diet a child should grow on, and from her past experiences with free agents, they aren't the perfect role models for self-care.

She tried not to acknowledge the thankful sag of Darkwing's shoulders as a smile threatened to tickle her beak, just as she tried not to see another little girl in Gosalyn's place, and how she doesn't want another to repeat her mistakes.

To protect, but not to smother. To teach, but not to scar.

(She was all too familiar with taking on parenthood unprepared.)

This memory, too, is filed away fondly, even if the bulk of its annexes means that again, her drawer won't close shut. Old habits die hard, she was a director once, and with the sight of someone so positively green with nothing but bravado and want to do good propelling them forward she couldn't stop herself from looking over his shoulder, pointing him in the right direction.

And she alone understood the strain in his voice once he finally relents and lets her in, calls her one late Duckburd night. He knew it was true, but he couldn't be the one to say it and with a tired sigh, Beakley accepted the burden of connecting a name to the gruesome crimes that had been popping up in St. Cannard.

Jim Starling, now seen clad in a mismatched parody of his old costume, seemingly set on doing his best to tear down Darkwing Duck's reputation.

(A masked mallard has been causing havoc, and civilians only know the one.)

And just like that, the stubborn folders she'd been fascinated with for months now are pulled out and inspected, and she tells herself not to get dragged into this -- she had a mansion and multiple children to take care of, she retired. But as Launchpad himself witnessed, Bentina Beakley had to see things through.

Loose ends and open-ended questions were unacceptable.

Where has he been all this time? How was he managing to get away with his crimes? How long has he been planning this? Does he have help? What will he do after this?

But just as he resurfaced, back under the surface he went, and Bentina tried her best to swallow down her frustration when Darking was the one on the line, now left with nothing but vague footage of a lookalike in a different costume to clear his name.

(It did nothing, but he didn't give up on the city, and that too felt bittersweet.)

There was one thing, however, that she had on Darkwing Duck. Contacts. A considerable amount of them, and she wouldn't lie and say she wasn't considering sharing them if Darkwing Duck proved his worth. And learned to play nice with others.

St. Canard might have gone silent, but a caped duck dressed in yellow maiming people as he goes on a massive crime spree across various cities is very hard to miss. But where before Jim did everything in his powers to make people think he was Darkwing Duck, now he seemed almost offended by the comparison.

You are to call him one thing if you know what's good for you: Negaduck.

A mouthful, in her opinion.

Still, there was a pattern to it, and in the morning after news would always come to find that something has been stolen by F.O.W.L. while Negaduck positively demanded their attention. There was no confirmation on if he worked for them directly, but whatever the case was, there was a connection there and she… admittedly saw it as an excuse to look into it with Scrooge's permission.

Alone.

Much like Darkwing Duck, her hesitation stemmed not from putting herself in danger, but the precious people in her life -- a blood racing adventure is one thing, a bloodthirsty ego-maniac with a chainsaw is another. If she had her way, Negaduck would never as much as step foot in Duckburg.

But first, she'd have to find him, and all it took was following the pattern he blazed through the map, trailing right to the next city over. It was more of a sense of when he'd strike, but Bentina had a hunch for that too -- all it took was remembering who was behind the mask.

What day of the week has the biggest pay-off? At what hour is the bank full? When would it be most dramatic? Jim Starling is a showman to his core, and he can't perform without an audience.

Well, hopefully, he wouldn't mind a fan of his cutting in line.

Armed to the teeth, he looked almost cartoonishly evil, and she's not a single second off in ruining his entrance, dropkicking him away from the bank's beautiful skylights, hopefully, they could manage their fight without ruining -- ah, shots immediately fire in her direction, shattering the skylight behind her and sending the people on the inside of the bank into a panic as glass rains on them. That's a shame.

The shots don't stop, however, and the other duck's aim hones in on her as he gets back up, a pure snarl on his beak at having his big entrance ruined, and he unloads an entire clip into the wall behind which Beakley was hiding behind just to make sure she knew that he was a little upset. This doesn't calm down the screaming inside.

"You! Ruined! My! Entrance!" With every word, he sprays the wall with more bullets, storming his way over to where he saw the other duck hide, but when he turns the corner with his gun at the ready, there's no one there -- not in front of him, at least.

A fist from behind him is headed straight for the side of his head, but the feeling of the brim of his hat brushing against something tipped him off and so he dodges down, causing Beakley to instead whiff her punch and slam her fist into the wall, but any pain from that she's quickly distracted from when the bottom of his automatic is slammed into her beak, the bigger duck stumbling back. Reactively, her hand reaches for it as she sucks a tense breath in through her pained teeth. She's had worse, and the hard glare sent his way definitely let him know so.

It seemed to frustrate him. Good.

"I would hope that an actor of your seniority would know how to improvise."

And that seemed to infuriate him. Even better.

"If you're looking for autographs, granny, I can't seem to find a pen…" There's a theatrical apologetic show of patting himself down, but Beakley predicts his attack from the saccharine grin on his face, a dagger brought out from his inner jacket in a sweeping arc that she pushes to the side, yet it still manages to cut the very tips of a couple of hairs loose. "But I can CARVE one right into you!"

After that, the gun he had been shooting at her with is tossed to the ground in favor of being more aggressive with his melee attacks, quick jabs that she has to doubly focus on as to not get stabbed and not cut herself while redirecting, looking for any opening to wrestle the dagger away from him.

"Flattered for the offer," she starts before ultimately kicking Negaduck back just so that she can catch her breath for a precious few moments, well aware it could mean he draws another weapon on her, "but I'll have to say no. I'm afraid I can't say I'm the biggest fan of your more recent works."

"Bah! Everyone's a critic these days!" He almost barks a laugh at that, slowly unholstering the shotgun from his back, relishing the wide-eyed look Beakley gives him as she's the one that closes the distance between them now, fists in a flurry to keep him from being able to actually use it. Both hands on the shotgun, he pushes against her, only to then pull it back towards himself when she tries to wrangle it out of his hands, patronizingly close for just a couple of seconds. "Everyone's been telling me to let go, try something new!"

There are sirens in the distance.

"Well, here I am!"

He lets go, and Beakley stumbles half a step back, not quite as much as he'd hoped, but he still tries his luck with a jumping kick to her already bruised beak -- instead, he gets the butt of the shotgun slammed into his stomach before his foot makes contact, and his years of stunt work have him performing a perfect roll as he recovers, but not without a hand at his bruised midsection, a grin still on his expression.

"I can assure you, this is not what they meant." It falters, however, when Beakley doesn't break eye contact as she tosses the shotgun off the rooftop, the masked mallard looking as if she'd tossed away one of his toys.

The sirens grow louder.

Negaduck straightens up, then, making a show of stretching his limbs and taking a little too much pleasure in how his back cracked as if reading up for a second round. Even Beakley couldn't help but roll her shoulders and wrists at that, feeling the tension pent up inside her.

The knife is back in his hands, and he's tossing it up nonchalantly in one hand, trying to read the bigger duck in front of him, gather any clues at all about who she was a person.. and coming up absolutely blank. He hasn't even seen her hanging with that actor kid, so what were her stakes? Why bother talking and entertaining him with a fight?

"What's it to you, anyway?"

(Questions. Answers.)

"You will not step foot in Duckburg."

He brings the tip of the blade to his beak, pouting with it at his lips as if deep in thought before giving her a look that let her know exactly what he was about to say.

"Or what?"

The sirens are deafening.

She throws herself at the other duck, and he has the gall to laugh, even when his own brand of martial arts blended with stuntwork starts to lag behind her skills, honed over a lifetime. There's a certain thrill to this, her feathers bristling as a chill runs through her. It almost takes her back to her youth. Almost. Neither of them is a young duck, but from the sharp glint in the masked mallard's eye, she can tell they're sharing the same thought: age has only brought them closer to their prime, not further from it.

But neither can afford to stay on the roof much louder, a helicopter approaching in the distance, law enforcement speaking on a megaphone from the bottom of the street.

Her thoughts stray for a second, and a smoke bomb is deployed. She loses sight of him --

There's a sharp cut on her feathery cheek, and she can feel them getting damp from the cut, and Beakley turns around in an instant, her hand clasping anything she can get a hold of. His cape --

But as when she reaches to restrain him, as the smoke dissipates, he is nowhere to be seen.

The signs of their fight are as clear as day, his discarded weapons are where they were left, yet the only thing left of him was the damned cape. A shaking fist clenches in the fabric, before ultimately Beakley forces herself to relax, and find her own means of escaping attention. She did what she set to do:

Interrupt Negaduck, interrupt F.O.W.L.

Leave a message.

She would get her selfish answers some other time.

#dt17 #fanfics.#bentina beakley #jim starling #negaduck #bro its 1 am im sleep deprived dont @ me this is all gonna make sense later i think #if you think i re-read this before posting im sorry to say you think too highly of me

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eulau · 3 years

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⟨ ROSS BUTLER. CIS MALE. HE / HIM. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, CHARLIE LAU is actually a descendent of ATHENA. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-SEVEN year old ELEMENTARY EDUCATION MAJOR from VICTORIA, MICHIGAN, US has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite APPROACHABLE & RECKLESS.

character details. ♡ pinterest. ♡ wanted connections. ♡ playlist.

hey all, i’m jj and i’m a full disaster. my pronouns are she/her, i’m 26 and i live in the cst. i work full time but i’m also fake so i’m on discord like ... the entire work day unless i’m in meetings. but i am busy so i can be pretty slow and am likely to be most active on the dash with replies on weekends, but i’m around to plot all the time so hit me up. i’m also in the indie rpc which is where i’m most active and by most active i mean barely there, but anyways. i’m the worst so i’ll probably end up writing a full bio at some point, but in the meantime check out the bullet points and his stats.

PERSONALITY

at his core, charlie lau is warm. raised by a grandmother who loved him fully, he learned that the only way to live a life that is full, you need to put your heart into it. so that’s what he has always done. while some may challenge him by saying if he truly wanted to follow his heart, he’d pursue art, he disagrees. because while his art may be how he illustrates his heart, teaching is how he best thinks he can fill it. he is passionate and empathetic, always willing to take a step back and help whoever is a step behind him. and from his own experiences in school, he knows how important a good teacher can be. how they can change a student’s entire view of learning. he wants to make school not only a safe but fun space for kids, regardless of how they learn. he wants to help them figure out their how, and give them the tools to do so. he’s almost endlessly patient, only waining with those who who insist on bringing others down.

while there is uncertainty in life, he has none in his plans for his career. he is facing the future with bright eyed confidence, a smile on his face as he prepares to do what he can in a world designed to kick the spirit out of you. he likes to bring an excited energy to everything he does, and while he doesn’t always think things through enough, he finds that a positive attitude can get him through even some of his worst screw ups. charlie is the person you want on your side, and the shoulder you want to lean on. if you give him a chance to hold your heart he’ll do nothing but keep it warm.

POWERS

genius intelligence — charlie has always been smart, his education coming easier to him than it did with any of his classmates. if he could ever sit still. while incredibly smart, he was always critiqued by his teachers for his more hyperactive tendencies and the way he never seemed to be paying attention. he was often accused of cheating on quizzes, as his teachers didn’t think it were possible for him to pay such little attention, but still do well. however, he did pay attention. they just couldn’t realize that this is exactly how he did that. he’d been known to help his friends study, although he struggled to be very good at that. apparently not everyone learned best if you ran through flashcards while physically hanging upside down on the monkey bars in the local park. however, over time he learned just how his friends best needed to study, and that’s what he’d do. it started a pattern that lead to what he knew he wanted. he hated seeing his friends, or anyone really, lose their confidence in their own minds. he wanted everyone to realize they were smart. capable. and could learn. their minds may just work a little differently.

skilled craftmanship — while he did well in school, there is something he kept to himself. something far more personal than the way he could get away with not really studying for quizzes so long as he listened in class. his love for art. from a young age, charlie was always drawing. on paper, on the walls, it didn’t matter. life was his canvas. and while his grandmother didn’t necessarily discourage it, he did feel as though it was something that he should keep to himself. something that was just his way of reinterpreting the world for his own thoughts, particularly when things seemed to get just a little too crazy. but nevertheless, he finds himself always turning to his art. he always has a sketchbook in his bag and can be found doodling on napkins and the edges of paper placemats. while he doesn’t see anything he draws or paints as impressive, there are always looks of shock as people notice the intricacy of his drawings. as he’s gotten older he’s gained some confidence in his art, however, it is still by far the ability he is least confident in. leading to most of his art being kept shut away in notebooks and folders, away from judgmental eyes.

superhuman agility — charlie likes to think it’s just because he puts in the work, but there is definitely a genetic component to the ease he has in various physical activities. while it is not very obvious, it is subtly super-human, proven by the exasperation of his friends his adolescent years. particularly when playing games like dodgeball or jail tag.

OPTIONAL INFO

charlie is part of a few student organizations at eonia, including the feminist alliance, asian students alliance and the rollerskating club.

he works as a student tutor at the library, primarily helping with math and history courses.

he was raised predominantly by his paternal grandmother after the death of his father, who passed when charlie was merely two years old. while he doesn’t remember his father, he grew up with plenty of stories and pictures of his father’s childhood all around the small midwestern home.

charlie and his grandmother lived in a small costal town along lake superior on the upper peninsula of michigan. his grandmother making a living as a home health aid, driving around the few towns in their area. because of this, when charlie was younger he was often taken along with her, a sketchbook in hand as he tried to do something other then kick the back of the passenger seat from his perch in the back of her car.

as a kid, charlie was very active. he’d grown up playing sports, the attempt of his grandmother to keep a very active child as content as possible. he played baseball and hockey, and as he grew older became one of the several regular bikers that took to the trails for their cardio.

charlie was raised with a pretty heavy religious upbringing by his paternal grandmother, which inspired a great deal of his values. however he doesn’t consider himself religious. he just pulls from teachings about acceptance, loving thy neighbor, and the like. he doesn’t really identify with the “godliness” of any religion as he knows that the greek gods exist. so who’s to say others don’t? he is focused on the humanity of the all.

charlie’s favorite band growing up was jimmy eat world and no you can’t make fun of him for that because he stands by that choice.

#euintro

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violethowler · 4 years

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Between Light and Darkness

As I briefly touched on in “The Heroine’s Journey of Sora”, a major component of the Heroine’s Journey is the protagonist being pressured to suppress important parts of who they are in order to conform to a set of traits that the world around them sees as desirable. More often than not, the traits that the main character suppresses are ones which the audience associates with femininity, and the ones the main character conforms to coded as masculine. This is why Maureen Murdock’s template gives its stages labels like “Identification with the Masculine” and “Urgent Yearning to Reconnect with the Feminine”.

In a story that correctly follows this version of the Heroine’s Journey, the protagonist of a coming of age narrative learns to balance these traits in order to grow into a mature adult. This makes the emphasis on the importance of balance between light and darkness in the Kingdom Hearts series and how neither force can exist without the other a perfect illustration of this theme of balance. Even more so when you take into account that light and darkness are each coded to represent specific traits.

If you pay careful attention to the way that characters talk about light and their connections throughout the series, there is a recurring pattern where light represents and is generated by the connections between people’s hearts[1]. When Sora tells Kairi in the first game about what he remembered about his time as a Heartless, he says “Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness[2].” When confronted before the boss fight of Toy Box, Young Xehanort says “if the light of friendship is a form of power… the darkness of being alone is a power… even greater,”[3] and talks about how Buzz’s tremendous darkness is the direct result of his separation from Andy.

So if light represents people’s bonds and emotional connections, then darkness represents solitude and the absence of connection. It fits with what we have seen across the series thus far, as the antagonists who we have seen utilizing darkness were all focused on themselves with no concern for anyone else, and why darkness is not something inherently bad, but too much of it is. I believe part of the reason some fans still associate darkness with evil is because it’s more immediately obvious to casual plays how easily it can be misused. The consequences of relying too heavily on darkness are shown overtly throughout the series, while the consequences of over-relying on light have been a lot more subtle, and have only been shown more explicitly in Kingdom Hearts III.

In the first game, Donald and Goofy openly tell Sora “no frowning. No sad face” and “This boat runs on happy faces[2]” when the trio agrees to travel together. Though Donald and Goofy mean well, they are through implication sending the message that the peacefulness of the group takes priority over an individual’s problems. And we see in future games how this early attitude has affected Sora, as we see him repeatedly hide his own sadness and frustration in front of his friends, the only negative emotion he displays without attempting to hide it is anger. This is very similar to the beginning of the 2015 Pixar movie Inside Out, where Joy does everything possible to keep Sadness away from the control panel at Headquarters in Riley’s mind.

So if relying too much on darkness translates to focusing only on your own desires and not caring about anyone else, focusing too much on light looks like focusing so much on other people that you ignore your own needs. Taken to its logical extreme a light-based villain in a Kingdom Hearts game would personify the words of the late Leonard Nimoy in his iconic role as Spock: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.[4]” The best demonstration of this in the series thus far is Eraqus’ willingness to kill Ven and Terra in an attempt to thwart Xehanort, disregarding his own feelings for the sake of his perceived Greater Good.

And the more one focuses on the light of their connections at the expense of their own emotional needs, the more their inner darkness is amplified. “The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes,” after all[2]. Putting on a positive front for the people around you only results in your negative emotions building and building until they finally explode out in a way that is harmful to both yourself and others. This is precisely what Young Xehanort speaks of in Re:Mind when he tells the Master of Masters about how the light of people he met on his world tour was a farce: every person has light and darkness in their heart, but denying their darkness only makes it stronger.

Sora has spent the entire series ignoring or refusing to acknowledge his own hurt, putting on a smile so that his friends won’t worry about him, and in Kingdom Hearts III the cracks in his facade are finally beginning to show. Even aside from his breakdown at the Keyblade Graveyard, we see his negative emotions explode out of him through Rage Form, and we see throughout the game how badly failing the Mark of Mastery exam has rattled him. He still has not accepted that his own darkness is not something inherently negative.

As of the end of the Kingdom Hearts III Secret Episode, Sora is officially entering the Descent stage of the Heroine’s Journey. It is at this point that the protagonist must confront the parts of themselves they have been burying in order to find balance and move forward. It’s not unintentional that Riku is the character with the healthiest approach to handling one’s own inner darkness because in many stories I know of that follow the Heroine’s Journey the protagonist is able to achieve the necessary balance to move forward by learning from the example of their Animus.

Even if one ignores the metaphors or symbolism of the games and only looks on a surface level, the divide between light and darkness in the Kingdom Hearts series still aligns with the core themes of the Heroine’s Journey. Strip away all the literary analysis of what light and darkness in this series represent, and you still have a very literal depiction of a world that stresses the importance of balance between a trait that the dominant social group sees as desirable and one that the group does not. The contrasting traits whose balance is central to the Heroine’s Journey are presented in the Kingdom Hearts universe as metaphysical forces that have tangible effects on the material world, presenting through implication that in order to achieve true balance in the outside world, Sora must learn to achieve that same balance within himself.

Sources:

[1] Reblog conversation between @kitsoa and @blowingoffsteam2 about the metaphysics of the Kingdom Hearts universe; November 16, 2018. https://blowingoffsteam2.tumblr.com/post/179836265129/kitsoa-blowingoffsteam2-sorry-this-post-is

[2] Kingdom Hearts; Square Enix, 2002.

[3] Kingdom Hearts III; Square Enix, 2019.

[4] Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Paramount Pictures, 1982.

#kingdom hearts and the heroine's journey #kingdom hearts meta

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jaegerbroshoe · 4 years

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Breaking the Cycle: Eren’s Real Plan and the Ending of Snk

The more I thought about it and reread, the more apparent it became that Eren’s real plan is to unite the world against him. I know a lot of people dislike this theory, but Eren’s conversation with Reiner as well as Willy’s speech throughout chapters 99-100 make it very clear that this is the case.

I mean, why go through the Attack on Liberio if he was going to kill everyone outside of Paradis anyways? Eren could’ve made physical contact with Zeke months ago and ended things without risking the safety of his friends, whom he wanted to protect the most. And why forgive Reiner, go out of his way to let him know that, and not kill him when he had the chance if he was going to kill all non-Paradisians eventually?

Why announce his plan to all subjects of Ymir if most of them would be dead soon? Why say he rejects the world’s desire after mentioning how their hatred would eventually spread to the rest of Ymir’s descendants if he was going to kill them himself? No matter how you look at it, Eren’s current public goals don’t quite line up with the rest of his actions or his core values.

Moreover, I believe Willy’s narration of the world’s history has a lot more significance than meets the eye. If you look closely, it’s setting up the key players in the upcoming battle in accordance with this theory. Given the strong emphasis on cyclical patterns throughout the story, it’s not surprising that Isayama would foreshadow the ending in this way.

Before delving any further, a key point I want to draw to your attention is that Eren went into the festival undecided and unknowing of why exactly his future self activates the Rumbling (see his conversation with Falco in chapter 97 for proof; I’ve also talked about his mental state prior to this scene here and here). This is necessary to realize in order to see past the outward surface of this scene and fit all the pieces together. In essence, Eren’s decision fully relied on Willy’s narrative and the rest of the world’s reaction to it.

WARNING: Really long analysis ahead, but I encourage you to read all the attached panels to fully understand my argument.

NOTE: [chapter ###] will be used from this point on to indicate “refer to this chapter ### for proof”.

PART 1 - CONVERSATION WITH REINER

First off, the conversation between Eren and Reiner needed to happen for several reasons: (1) closure, (2) juxtaposing the two sides of the narrative to bring major themes full circle, (3) portraying Eren’s character development/intentions, and (4) founding/foreshadowing the ending.

It’s not a coincidence that this conversation was carried out in the presence of Falco at the same time as Willy’s speech. Eren blatantly requests the former and guides us to pay attention to the latter because his subsequent actions relied on these two factors.

Chapter 99, Page 12

Chapter 99, Page 23

Throughout this scene, Eren keeps directing our attention to one key point by drawing connections between Willy’s narrative, RBA’s mission, and his own intentions. The recurring theme here is the desire to save the world. The historical tale of Eldia’s fall leads to the topic of RBA’s mission, which connects back to what Eren alludes to at the beginning of his conversation with Reiner:

Chapter 99, Pages 21-22

At first glance, it’s natural to conclude that Eren was foreshadowing his recently publicized plan of massacring the rest of the world, just like RBA’s mission was to wipe out humanity inside the Walls. This is precisely what Reiner assumes, but as Willy delves into his speech, Eren makes a point of bringing up the official motive behind their attack:

Chapter 99, Pages 30-31

Recall that Eren was still uncertain about the future at this point [chapter 97]. He wanted to see what the world intended and desired before making his decision [chapter 123]. Thus, it’s only logical that “the same thing as you” was actually referring to “trying to save the world” rather than a particular course of action.

Eren’s relentless prodding as he pressured Reiner into stating Marley’s superficial reason for breaching the Walls further proves this:

Chapter 100, Page 17

Chapter 100, Pages 20-23

Although Eren labelled himself as the “bad guy” here, note the uncertainty in “I might just destroy the world”. This is because Eren had not yet seen the entire future or past the Rumbling at this point [Chapter 121]. Thus, he did not know the outcome of his plan. I think he may have actually seen his announcement from last chapter without context and assumed his future self really meant it, but it wasn’t until he heard Willy’s speech that he got the full picture.

In any case, the followup to his “I’m the bad guy” statement is another clue to his real intentions. Eren juxtaposes his role as the villain with his original perception of RBA. This then paves the way for him to make the connection between RBA’s motive and the recurring theme of saving the world once again.

Finally, Eren goes on to point out how there is a spectrum of “good” and “bad” people throughout the world. He also addresses the issue of ignorance, and how it can impact one’s actions regardless of their age. This is the cumulation of Eren’s character development:

Chapter 100, Pages 23-27

Unfortunately, Reiner’s guilt prevents him from accepting Eren’s empathy and forgiveness, so it’s really only Eren who gains any closure from this conversation (if any, considering Reiner’s state).

To conclude this part of the discussion, I want to point out how Eren lying about his plan would brilliantly contrast RBA’s mission. Remember that their official motive was to save the world, but we know Marley’s true intention was the genocide of all Paradisians. The flip of that would be Eren superficially claiming he wants to wipe out all non-Paradisians, only for him to end up saving humanity.

Inverting expectations in this way would not be far-stretched considering the flip in the storytelling perspective ever since the Marley arc. Moreover, this technique of addressing past storylines and juxtaposing them with the current situation is the backbone of this scene. Throughout these two chapters, Isayama uses this approach to foreshadow the ending and allude to how Eren will tweak the repeating patterns to break the cycle illustrated by Willy’s speech.

PART 2 - WILLY’S SPEECH

The necessity of Willy’s speech boils down to this: (1) showcasing Marley’s corruption, (2) demonstrating the cyclical nature of human history by drawing parallels between the three storylines presented in Part 1, (3) founding Eren’s real plan by showing the world’s desire for a common enemy, and (4) foreshadowing the ending by setting up the key players in the upcoming battle.

Eren’s Plan: The Why and How

To start off, Marley’s intentions were clearly laid out during a private conversation between Willy and Magath:

Chapter 100, Pages 6-7

Willy admits to using their knowledge of the “unforeseen” attack to paint Marley as a victim, hereby shifting the world’s growing animosity towards them onto Paradis. By scapegoating the island, Marley would get to (a) wash its hands free of its crimes, (b) improve its public image, (c) get help in annihilating Paradis, and (d) maintain its status as the global powerhouse by gaining the resources on the island and reforming their military.

So while Willy revealed their true history during his speech, he only did it to obscure other truths regarding the present, hereby constructing another web of lies. In other words, he’s just another perpetrator of the cycle, keeping the masses ignorant by feeding them a little bit of truth to make his lie believable.

Chapter 99, Pages 38-39

But with his decision to pin the blame on Paradis, Willy set up the foundation for Eren’s real plan. The deciding factor was the audience’s reaction to his speech (which we’ll get to later), but it was his narrative that first introduced and promoted this idea of uniting against a common enemy. In fact, he specifically frames Eren as the main threat:

Chapter 99, Pages 47-49

Willy wasn’t wrong about Eren opposing Karl Fritz’s ideology and the world’s current definition of “peace” here, because Eren’s perspective has always been the polar opposite of the Fritz’ [chapters 120-122]. This is why Eren is the only one who can break the cycle. There hasn’t been anyone else in history willing to play this role (as it requires sacrificing oneself selflessly), but Eren fully embraces it the minute he realizes how things need to play out:

Chapter 100, Pages 31-32

The panel placement here is very important. As many have pointed out before, "I wished for the extinction of all Eldians” foreshadowed Zeke’s ideology. This is followed by “but I do not wish to die. Because I was born into this world”, which very obviously reflects Eren’s core values. In fact, during the Battle of Trost, Eren gave this same exact reasoning in regards to his motivations for fighting.

Thus, based on Eren’s strong connection to this phrase and the emphasis on his reaction to it, I believe a future memory was triggered in this moment that finally pieced everything together for him. We see Eren painfully smile in understanding, close his eyes in resolution, and then stand up to accept the role assigned to him with an “I get it now” as Willy continues to advocate for world unison against “the devils on Paradis” to thunderous applause and the majority’s approval:

Chapter 100, Pages 33-35

This is followed by Eren offering his hand out to Reiner, which he accepts just as Willy continues to talk about the prospect of people setting aside their differences to band together and overcome their problems (i.e. the handshake symbolizes unison). Note that as the instigator of the handshake, this visual brilliantly foreshadows how Eren will be the mastermind behind the world’s unification. He took the first steps by committing himself to the “bad guy” image the world desired. Thus, the handshake combined with the audience’s cheerful reaction to Willy’s proposal demonstrate the feasibility of this plan:

Chapter 100, Page 36

The scene then closes off with a very important series of panels that tie up Eren and Reiner’s conversation by affirming that they’re the same, as Eren too submits himself to fulfilling his bitter duty to the end:

Chapter 100, Pages 37-38

Once again, Willy’s dialogue is used to reflect Eren’s true desire: his “wish for world peace”. I think the placement of this line could also be alluding to how Eren will be the one fulfilling this wish by willingly becoming the world’s common enemy, allowing them to unite.

Eren’s facial expressions here are also very important. Note the despair on his face following his look of sad understanding [chapter 100, page 34] and leading up to his transformation [chapter 100, page 37]. The shift in his demeanour occurs after he fully accepts his role with “I just keep moving forward” and “until my enemies are destroyed” marks the start of his role as the Devil. The change in his facial expression here reflects the perception he wants Reiner and Falco to have of him. And that’s how the chapter concludes, with Eren taking the first step in becoming the “Devil”:

Chapter 100, Page 39

In conclusion, Willy’s narrative gave Eren the answers he was looking for [chapter 97]. As he listened, he understood that Willy was shifting the blame, saw that it clearly worked on the general public, and realized how this gave Paradis the chance it needed to break through to the world. By complying with Willy’s narrative but isolating his actions from the rest of Paradis, he could shift the world’s target from the group to himself. Willy already set him up as the main bad guy after all.

This would explain Eren’s estranged behaviour following the Attack on Liberio, his silence and refusal to cooperate with the Paradisian government/let anyone in on his plan (including Zeke, whose brother complex would get in the way), his need to break ties with Armin and Mikasa, and his public announcement detailing his fake intentions.

By forewarning people in other parts of the world about the Rumbling and letting them know that Paradisians are the only ones who are safe, he built a strong case for his friends’ inevitable opposition. It doesn’t matter if there are people inside the Walls who do support the Eldian Empire. As the soldiers with the most experience in Paradis, Eren knows the veteran SC members would be the ones to represent the island in this fight. By helping out the other nations despite their guaranteed safety in this situation, the whole “devil” narrative would be disproved once and for all.

Last but not least, this plan would simply be a direct application of a major theme that’s been around since the very beginning. Recall Armin’s conversation with Jean during the Female Titan arc:

Chapter 27, Pages 19-22

This describes the current situation perfectly. Eren has replaced Erwin as humanity’s hope, which required him to throw away everything that’s dear to him and leave his humanity behind. He chose to sacrifice the lives of the people in Liberio, push away his loved ones, and become the Devil because that was the only way to bring about change. In this way, Eren uniting the world against him would bring the themes of the story full circle. Simply put, you can’t break the cycle without becoming involved in it; change requires sacrifice and if you don’t fight, you can’t win.

The Cycle: Parallels and Deviations

Now that we have the full picture, let’s take a look at how the historical reveal foreshadows this ending too. There are three key positions in Willy’s narrative: Helos, the Tybur family, and Karl Fritz.

We’re told at first that Helos joined hands with the Tyburs to defeat Karl. In other words, a Marleyan and a subject of Ymir worked together to take down the Founding Titan:

Chapter 99, Page 27

But then the truth about Karl Fritz being the one to actually end the Great Titan War is revealed. We find out that he staged his own defeat by conspiring with the Tyburs and fabricating the story of Helos:

Chapter 99, Pages 40-42

Chapter 99, Pages 44

Thus, it was the person in the Founding Titan position that was the true saviour. The Marleyan and the Eldian family were mere puppets that acted out the roles assigned to them by the Founding Titan.

Applying this to the present-day situation, the role of Karl Fritz clearly belongs to Eren. Not only does he possess the Founding Titan, but he’s orchestrating his defeat in a similar way to end the situation. As such, he will become the “detestable [usurper] of the Walls who protected this world” [chapter 99, page 44].

It’s also interesting to note some similarities between Eren and Karl from the panels above:

“Even before he inherited the Founding Titan, he lamented the Eldian Empire’s brutal history” [chapter 99, page 41]. In comparison, Eren opposed oppression and advocated for freedom ever since he was a child.

Both of their goals involve peace and the liberation of a victimized group from many years of persecution.

The lines “he offered himself as a way to bring the history of the Eldian Empire to an end” [chapter 99, page 41] and “he did not truly mean this” in regards to Karl Fritz’ publicized threat [chapter 99, page 42] are two more hints at what Eren is doing.

As for the positions of the Tyburs and Helos, there are multiple ways to assign these roles in the present-day situation. Various interactions fit their dynamics: (1) Willy / Magath, (2) Eren / Reiner, and (3) Eren’s friends / Reiner, respectively.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the current situation isn’t an exact replica of the past. There are some tweaks when it comes to the dynamics between the different key players. For one, Eren isn’t conspiring with anyone else, but we can view him acquiring the Warhammer as being equivalent of the King/Tybur transaction.

{1}: WH + FT = Eren

In this way, Eren and Reiner’s handshake (2) is also a parallel to this:

{2}: WH + FT = Eren, Helos = Reiner (NOTE: we can also look at it as Eren working together with Reiner to destroy the world built by the Fritz: in this case, WH = Eren, FT = the Fritz, Helos = Reiner)

Backtracking a little to (1), we have Willy and Magath’s handshake in the car:

{3}: WH = Willy, Helos = Magath (NOTE: Willy and Magath are fakes so their actions won’t actually be responsible for saving the world; in fact, Willy has a mentality that’s very similar to Karl Fritz; as such, his speech simply perpetuated the cycle)

Although Magath is heavily compared to Helos throughout these two chapters, given the situation in the present, I think it’s clear that Reiner is gearing up to fulfill this role in the upcoming fight. The current conflict requires Eldians to be the saviours after all.

Thus, in terms of the final battle, it’s pretty obvious that Eren’s friends (the Survey Corps) have been set up to serve the role of the Tybur family while Reiner will act as Helos (3). This would make the WH = the SC, FT = Eren, and Helos = Reiner in {1} and {2}.

So you might be thinking, “that’s great and all, but how does all of this fit together to cause a break in the cycle?”

Well, we’ve already established that Eren is the opposition of the Fritz family. Isayama has highly contrasted the two by continuously comparing them to show that Eren opposes the ideology of King Fritz, Karl Fritz, and even Zeke. As such, although he is filling in the role of the Fritz in this cycle, Eren having a polar opposite ideology (and therefore intentions) will cause the system to turn against itself. In other words, Eren will use the system to break the system.

PART 3 - OTHER MISCELLANEOUS PROOF

To end off this really long analysis, I want to point out a few other supporting details.

First, Eren’s decision not to kill Porco/Reiner and his departing message during the Attack on Liberio. I believe Eren either saw a memory (closeup on his eyes [chapter 104, page 37]) or made the connection that Reiner was needed in the future to end the conflict. In any case, he knew they would meet again, hence his “see you...Reiner”:

Chapter 104, Page 34

Chapter 104, Pages 37-39

Note that look of pure sadness on his face [chapter 104, page 39]. Also, recall that Eren didn’t find out about Marley’s counterattack here [chapter 117]. This is why I believe he saw a memory from much further down the line, closer to his “defeat”. Perhaps this is why he says, “as he is, Reiner won’t be able to kill us right now”.

Secondly, there’s Eren’s reaction to the surprise attack. If his plan only required the sacrifices in Liberio to happen, then it’s natural for him to be pissed off at Marley for doing “something this stupid” that would cost them more lives [chapter 117]. His “wait!” also made it very clear that he didn’t want Zeke to scream [chapter 119].

Third, Eren’s demeanour towards “that sight” changed between when he first saw it and after his trip down memory lane with Zeke. If Eren only understood everything after Liberio and realized Grisha gave him the powers in the end because he found out the truth after his younger self told him about Carla’s death, then that would explain why Eren confidently told Zeke they should see that memory, and why he spoke of “that sight” with happiness when he originally found it horrifying [chapters 90/121]. It’s also interesting to note how Eren’s repulsed face coincides with “Zeke, you have to stop Eren” in chapter 121. I don’t think Eren had the full context back then.

Chapter 121, Page 37

Chapter 121, Page 41

Fourth, this theory also explains why Eren would want the world’s military power to gather in Paradis, which Zeke suggested was a shared desire between them [chapter 113]. This way, the world could witness his friends taking him down, and thus be more willing to believe in them.

Which brings me to my next point. We have proof of this unification idea working in the past: during Trost when people overcame their fears and trusted in Eren, and in Uprising when people readily accepted Historia as their Queen after having seen her defeat Rod’s Titan. The narrative has made it clear that you can only push humans so far before they set aside their differences to survive.

Last but not least, this theory complies with the ending of the Guardians of the Galaxy II, which Isayama last shared was the direction the story was heading in. I believe the duality of the situation reflects the influences of The Mist (the original inspiration for the ending) as well. Eren could have gone down that dark path, and that’s what Isayama is fooling us into thinking. I’m sure we’ll be in for a twist though. Otherwise, there would have been no need to keep Eren’s thoughts so hidden.

Bonus

The fake volume previews can contain some hints/spoilers regarding the storyline. I believe this is the case here:

Volume 30

#snk 123 #snk analysis #snk 124 #snk predictions #snk ending #eren #snk character analysis #eren's plan #reiner #willy tybur #snk 99 #snk 100 #snk 104 #snk high school au #my opinion #I'm sorry if this is all over the place #there were SO many points to cover lol and I'm tired of rereading and writing this #so let me know if something is unclear and I'll try to clarify #and also sorry if like I missed a word here or there; I'm falling asleep

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monsterstewwrites · 3 years

Text

Bar fight in the Void: A space Samurai story

This is a concept chapter of an original character and story I’m planning on writing. I’m putting this out here to get some feedback and maybe gain some fire under my butt.

Warnings: This snippet contains space violence, a bit of unruly drunkenness and suggestions of sexual violence, though nothing is said outright. Also this is unedited so beware for my terrible raw writing.

Satellites were a dime a dozen, just ask any hauler and trader moving from one system to the next. It was a long endless grind that made the need to the various satellite commodities a welcome respite.

These small pockets of life among the emptiness of space were often romanticized by people who remained on their planets. A small place where scattered beings would step out of the void and meet someone else, perhaps for a battle or even a moment of passion before flying back into the blackness.

The thing about them that many ground bound didn't consider when talking about the satellites, tavern or no, was that laws were at the whims of whoever owned the satellite. Many if not most of them were owned by people who, at one's most polite, could be referred to as unscrupulous.

Needless to say, that often made a simple pit stop dangerous if you weren't connected to a trading company or group of some kind.

No one liked to make enemies of a syndicate, or worse, a capitalist.

One such satellite, the Lost Star, was one of the literal type, where a slightly larger than average asteroid had been colonized enough to sustain a small group of people and their business, a grimy little tavern and inn.

In truth it was better than most satellite taverns, big enough to house plenty of patrons but not to big that anyone shady would be interested.

At most of just had the usual gang, which weren't that bad in the grand scheme of things. At least they paid for their drinks.

The Lost Star danced on the fringe of an asteroid belt, fitted with rockets to keep it from drifting too far inside the thick of the space rock river. A dense oxygen field coated the surface and a cluster of tethers were affixed to it's core for smaller ships to dock onto it, or for it to dock to a large trading vessel.

Looking at the building itself, one would typically think of a hole in the wall sort of place, carved out of a hill of melted stone that had been dug out of the desolate rock and made to look vaguely building shaped.

Inside it at least had decent furnishing, steel tables and worn tapestries with artificial lighting to balance out the bleakness of space.

The owner was indistinguishable from the other workers with his spotty leather apron and grease stained shirt. At his hip was a heavy duty blaster in case things got too rowdy in his establishment.

You'd have to be stupid to not have one in your staff.

In spite of that, the other employees didn't have a blaster, but they did have some hardcore taser systems on them. They weren't top of the line or anything, but enough to keep the people working there safe enough from the average belligerent drunkard.

That day in particular wasn't all that different from any other day in the Lost Star, a number of tethers connected to the asteroid meant a fair number of patrons drinking their fill.

It was a decent selection that had been shipped in too, one of their regular suppliers. No one was really focusing on anything, just drinking and trying to forget the sensation of loneliness that traversing through space could bring.

The only people not trying to drown themselves in enough booze to forget about existence were a trio of young men who clearly hadn't been traveling in space for a long time. True they were a small group, but the fact that they were chuckling about something with them was a clear sigh that they were some young punks cruising around space to cause trouble for those who had enough problems.

It was clear that they wanted to spice up their little rest stop, but had yet to decide on a target from the limited pool of miserable specimens among the bar.

The employees of the tavern were looking at the three of them, who seemed to be getting antsier by the moment.

Luckily for the other people at the bar, someone new walked into the establishment.

She didn't seem to be different from any other lonely space traveler, with a belt of weapons around her waist. Her clothes were a tad strange for that area, loose sleeves and pants that seemed to close around her like a robe of some kind. The shirt top itself was a rich blue and dotted with a silver flower pattern, while the pants were a simple dark gray.

Every stitch was a clear indication that wherever she was from it was pretty far off.

Her species was clearly mammalian at first glance, the sight of her long ponytail trailing behind her being the biggest indication of that. Such a species was fairly common everywhere, nothing to special. Still, anything was possible this far out in the void so she was likely yo have a few secrets in her genetics.

Her eyes connected with one of the servers, who nodded as she sat down at one of the empty tables that sat a little ways away from everyone else.

After a moment that same server came up to her and she ordered a glass of something sweet and flavorful.

“I mean it when I say flavorful,” she said. “Most alcohol is pretty bland, but if you have to add a flavoring I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't put you out.”

The server paused a moment before making a face that said the woman had something of a point, especially as she held out a vial of tellurium and they suddenly didn't care about whatever she asked for and went over to the back to prepare the drink.

Such a move seemed like an amateur one, to flash something so valuable in an asteroid tavern like it was a bottle of oxygen on a forest planet. A few of the other patrons raised their eyebrows as they watched her actions, but since most of them were old enough to know not to pick a fight there was even a chance they could lose they left her to her own devices.

At their corner, the three young hotshots interests were clearly piqued.

The woman didn't pay much attention to the eyes on her as she reached into her belt and pulled out a tablet, standard as a pair of boots if a bit cracked in places. After that she removed an old looking leather journal with paper and everything, clunking it on the desk.

Only getting her drink was enough to pull her attention away from what she was doing, and as she held her tablet in one hand she used her free hand to take a sip now and again.

Everyone kept an eye on her as she sat alone and sipped her drink. Her loose sleeves swished as she brushed a stray hair out of her face and behind her ear.

The rhythm of what she was tapping out cut through the murmurs in the tavern, erratic and only half certain as she poured over between the screen and paper journal in front of her.

Had she been at a more populated place she might have been able to hide into a crowd and keep anyone from caring about her, just another face in the crowd. Here though, she was a bit more of a sore thumb. She was even a species who actually had thumbs!

All around her the tavern shifted into an atmosphere of tensity. Anyone with a decent amount of experience knew that something was going to happen with this woman, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who would be the catalyst.

It took a few moments of silence, her fingers skimming over the paper journal in front of her as she drank, before the trio of men made their move.

The largest among them stood and threw a grin back at his comrades, who were hooting after him as he approached the woman.

She didn't seem to notice him, but her movements seemed to slow a little bit.

“You're a long way from home, aren't you little thing?”

He words dripped with toxicity and smugness that made anyone who was within earshot feel skin crawl.

His whole weight was leaned against the table she was sitting at, the whole of his body towering over her.

“You're blocking my light,” she said to him without looking up. “If you don't mind please.”

He only leaned in further, breathing heavily as she sat there not looking up at him. His lips curled into a sneer as she squinted at the paper journal below her, trying to make do with the light that was now limited due to being blocked.

“I would much rather play,” the aggressor said to her. “You seem like the perfect toy to relieve my boredom.”

That made her finally look up at him.

Her eyes flicked up to the man in front of her, glancing him up and down for a moment before turning back to her tablet to brighten up the screen. In spite of the casual threat he had said to her, she didn't seem impressed by the look of him enough to take it seriously.

The guy didn't seem to mind being ignored, if anything he was happy to use it as an excuse to get into her face and use her desire to not be bothered as an excuse.

“You might not understand this,” he said, leaning down close to get into her face. “But I have no intention of taking no for an answer, and my boys don't either.”

Back at their table to other two men hooted at her, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the tavern. The girl though, ignored them and stared up at the man who was trying to front on her.

His eyes roved her body hungrily, and there was no need to guess what he had in mind when he referred to her as a toy.

And yet...

“I'd like to be intimidated for you,” she said. “But I'm afraid you're not intimidating.”

A snarl pulled across his face and he threw his fist at her face.

She artfully ducked underneath his swinging fist, practically planking on the chair to avoid his attack and seemingly bounced back with an open palm directly into his mouth, knocking a few jagged fangs loose in the process as he stumbled back.

Her attacker spat out a few fangs and snarled at her as his friends started to surround her. They drew their weapons, guns in each hand that had heavy grip that was good for striking, and glanced at each other to gauge what to do.

Nearby the other patrons watched the small brawl that was breaking out, hoping that it was kept to the four of them.

Meanwhile the woman was putting her book and tablet away and standing up. She pushed off her loose robe to reveal a slightly tighter bodysuit underneath as she wrapped the sleeves around her waist and tied them off.

The potential assailant gripped his rapidly bleeding mouth with one hand as he swung the other to rally his boys, and they came without him having to say anything.

One of them pulled out a knife and the other pulled on some knuckle dusters that sparked with electricity across his fingertips. It seemed very impractical to the woman, but she supposed it was meant to just look cool.

Knife moved first, striding ahead and swinging the knife in a downward arc in a stab. The woman pivoted away and used the momentum to spin her leg into his arm. The strike of her foot was enough to knock the knife out of his hand.

She then leapt up off of the ground to kick her other leg onto his head, sending him sprawling back a few feet as his vision swam for a moment.

As Knife wobbled from the hit, Knuckle Duster dashed past his companion to try and electro punch her while she was regaining her balance from the kicks. She raised her fist to block him as best as she could, the electric current of his weapon pressing into her arm and burning into her clothed flesh. The bodysuit blocked a bit of the damage but it still hurt like a bitch.

But hit threw her balance back in check to she could better defend herself from him.

Knuckle Duster swung his other fist, but she was able to better block him so his taser couldn't brush against her body again. This time she could redirect his attack instead of straight out putting her arm in harms way.

She knew she had to take him out quickly, and her chance came as Knife ran forward to try and hit her from behind with a chair.

A quick duck as Knuckle Duster pulled his arms back and Knife swung the chair was all she needed to get the punching jerk out of her face. And she used Knife's panic at hitting his friend to spin around and punch him in the face and knock him down.

To make sure that Knuckle Duster was out for good the woman raised her leg back and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him down further.

She sighed in relief, only for the footsteps of the leader to reach her ear. He was running towards her in fury, likely with his own weapon drawn.

Rather than turning to him, she kept her eyes on the fallen comrades until she could gauge he was close enough.

Then she tripped him.

A small scoot to one side as she stuck her leg out was all she needed to do and he was tumbling face first into the table that she had been sitting at before he approached to bother her.

Her unfinished drink was jostled when he made contact and fell to the floor. Sadly it didn't hit him, but some of the glass scattered around his head as he groaned in pain.

Now that they were all down on the ground, the woman took the chance to restrain them and pulled out some sturdy carbon cord and tied each one's hand behind their backs with it.

Because the action was over, the rest of the patrons of the bar turned back to their drinks and the staff all breathed a sigh of relief and rushed in to take care of the damage. The owner and bartender on the other hand opted to approach the victor of the fight.

The owner was diving her a stern expression, his beak grinding together as he scratched at his blue tinted neck.

She smiled apologetically at him and scratched her head, looking at the damage that his employees were cleaning up.

“I apologize for that,” she said. “I'll pay for the damages.”

She bent over and rifled through the pockets and pouches of her attackers, eventually finding a few small canisters of neon and one lithium vial that looked to have been made a good while away, more than enough to pay for any damages.

“I don't know the value of these in this part of the void,” she said. “But it should get far enough for you to at least cover the broken chair and glass, not to mention the price of my drink and the work it takes to clean it.”

He glared at her, but snatched the vials out of her hand anyway and walked away from her to put it in a safe place to trade with properly later. Along the way he stopped to squawk something to his employers, but that didn't matter to her.

“Before I leave,” The woman asked, pulling her journal out again and approaching one of the employees. “Can I ask something of you?”

She opened her journal into his face and showed him a vaguely drawn picture of some sort of star system. It was roughly drawn and had a number of symbols over each planet, mostly skulls.

“Can you identify this place?” She asked.

There was a pause as the image was absorbed by this person who really had no patience for such sudden questioning by the person who managed to knock out three rough looking jerks about some old sketches.

“That's probably the Skeretti system,” the put out employee said after a moment. “Pretty empty due to a lot of wars that happened years ago. Left most of the planets there uninhabitable and the asteroids are pretty damn irradiated, only life left out there is ”

Looking at the page herself, she nodded firmly and shut the book with a snap and she turned away to head outside and put her own spoils of the battle into her own ship.

“Thank you,” she said over her shoulder before leaving.

Mercifully no one else opted to follow her out of the tavern and into the cold air of the Void.

Around her, pixels of light glinted across her body to indicate that her space suit was operating properly as she exited the oxygen and gravitational field of the tavern itself and wandered into the tether field where her ship was waiting for her.

It was floating in space with the line out farther than all others no one else could hit it.

Carefully she hooked herself onto the tether with a secure carabiner. She then reached down to press a small button on her boots to release her gravitational lock that auto jumped when she exited the building.

And then she jumped.

Moving along a tethered lines was easy in the Void, no gravity an all that. One hand over the other with way less strain on her body than if she was planet side and she honestly found it fun as she passed .the other ships along the way.

Once she got to the ship it took a quick slip inside and a few buttons and she was able to properly breathe oxygen inside her ship again.

She didn't untether just yet, wanting to wait and sit in the silence for a bit.

Sitting in Constellation's cockpit she pulled the journal out of her sleeve and opened it to look at the first page.

'To my beautiful daughter, Ame Yozora. Our scattered roots may belong to the stars, but they will always be yours'

The Skeretti System, she would have to see if this wild goose chase got her to where she needed to go.

#original writing #writing #feedback #sci fi #science fiction #samurai #concept idea #please don't tear her apart too much

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athela-3 · 4 years

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mankai company: cyberpunk

I never asked for this. But that’s just how ideas work, ain't it? One minute you’re mindlessly going through the daily grind, and the next moment it hits ya like a sucker punch to the gut. Then your mind’s racing, and you think: Why not? Whaddaya have to lose? You’ve rambled your way through semi-coherent flashes of inspiration before. Why should this one be different?

Note: everyone is aged up, oh, let’s say at least five years. Also, long post is long. I’m not joking. The page break is there for a reason.

Mankai Company is a modest-sized corporation specialising in biotechnology and cybernetics. But operating beneath its public face is a semi-covert band of mercs, private eyes, and fixers called Kaga Solutions, fully-equipped to navigate the mean city streets on command. Their founder and CEO, Yukio Tachibana, has recently disappeared; as per his express wishes, the company leadership is transferred to his estranged daughter, Izumi.

Izumi Tachibana: the new CEO, more experienced in programming than in biotech, she wants to lead Mankai in a new direction focused on augmented reality and fluid human-machine interfacing, while also investigating her father's disappearance with its covert Kaga operatives.

Isuke Matsukawa: Yukio's—and now Izumi's—personal assistant who also handles most of the day-to-day finances, a seemingly bumbling man with hidden talents. He has more connections than you'd expect, and his loyalty is bone-deep.

Yuzo Kashima: a major shareholder in the company whose investments helped Yukio jump-start his dream into reality. Initially skeptical of Izumi's direction, he slowly grows to believe in her vision, even if he's still brutally honest about many things. He's aware of Kaga and the hidden side of Mankai, and is implied to have once partaken in it more personally.

Tetsuro Iwai: the local hardware genius. If you need something built, he'll figure out how to do it in record time. He's happy to work with the old boss' daughter, even if her ideas can stretch him to his limits sometimes.

Ken Sakoda: nobody's really sure what his official job is. He's just always there, usually appearing out of nowhere to do whatever Sakyo asks him to (there's rumours of a personalised cloaking device). This ranges from coffee runs to, ah, semi-legal inventory procurement.

Kamekichi: a robot parrot Yukio personally built as a pet project. Originally a prototype for robotic therapy animals, his code gave birth to his own emergent sassy personality.

Sakuya Sakuma: head of Engineering, what he lacks in experience he makes up in talent and dedication. Has politely declined playing a more active role in Kaga's assignments, declaring his current job to already be his dream job anyhow.

Masumi Usui: a tech prodigy, a quick learner who's always keen to impress Izumi for reasons which may not be strictly professional. Built his own memory implants from scratch, and is always willing to help with Kaga if ever asked.

Tsuzuru Minagi: the top dog when it comes to programming and software. Tends to overwork himself, especially at crunch time, but he writes top-notch code that leave Mankai's competitors scratching their heads. Also helps oversee and plan Kaga's missions, especially when it comes to concocting cover stories and identities.

Itaru Chigasaki: yet another punch-clock worker whose only skills lie in testing and bugfixing… or so he'd have you believe. In reality, he's one of Kaga's most reliable operatives, using his salaryman persona to relieve suspicion and gain people's trust. By the time his targets notice the "GG EZ" hacked onto every screen, it's too late.

Citron: another Kaga operative, people see him and think he's the expat office worker who struggles to string a coherent sentence together, so they don't always pay attention to what they say around him. Big mistake. If he can't evade you in conversation, then he'll evade you the traditional way and vanish seemingly into thin air.

Chikage Utsuki: formerly Itaru's senior at their old job, who followed him to Mankai for reasons of his own. He does minor coding for them now, but his primary focus is on being a field agent for Kaga, where his charm and covert investigative skills really come into play.

Tenma Sumeragi: a former child actor, now the company's face, appearing in advertisements and endorsements. He's great at both presenting Mankai's personable, human-interest agenda and selling Kaga's sharp professionalism to potential clients.

Yuki Rurikawa: hired fresh out of university, his sharp sense of aesthetics led Izumi to trust him with practically all of their product design. Every concept has to have his seal of approval before moving to the production stage. He also handles disguises for Kaga's operations.

Muku Sakisaka: formerly slated to compete in the Olympics before an accident, he now provides another public face for Mankai alongside Tenma. He writes a good deal of the company's promotional material, and has a strong sense of what would affect their clients.

Misumi Ikaruga: officially, he tests the more physical cybernetics, such as Sakuya's impact-dampeners or Tasuku's mountain-climbing legs; his videos performing literally superhuman parkour feats often end up as promotional material. Under the table, he's Kaga's go-to operative for situations requiring speed and agility.

Kazunari Miyoshi: head of the PR department, in charge of keeping their public image in the positive while also keeping Kaga’s activities mostly out of attention. He keeps everyone in the loop with current affairs, often feeding intel to his old friend Tsuzuru for planning.

Kumon Hyodo: baseball's new rising star, he started doing sponsorship and endorsement deals after Muku and Juza introduced him to Izumi. He's enthusiastic about working with them and often helps coming up with ideas for reaching into the sports demographic.

Banri Settsu: a bio-augmentation enthusiast and grey hat hacker, he once breached Mankai's firewalls basically out of boredom; when Izumi tracked him down, she decided to offer him a job in her cybersecurity division, and he agreed. Of course, as soon as he hears about Kaga, he all but jumps into it headlong.

Juza Hyodo: wanted to be a cop as a kid; that was before the city's corrupt police force disenchanted him of the idea. His cousin Muku convinced him to work for Mankai, so he thought he'd give the corporate samurai gig a chance. His earnest dedication quickly wins him a spot on Kaga, as do his excellent combat skills.

Taichi Nanao: initially a mole from Godza, sent to tear Kaga apart from within, he went turncoat within months and is now their primary source on Godza's methods and internal affairs. He balances quick and dirty combat tactics with his boyish charm and knack at appearing harmless.

Omi Fushimi: former military, honourably discharged after a terrorist attack took out his best friend and left him heavily injured. Now he works for Mankai as head of security, with a bit of unofficial HR thrown in there. Unlike the rest of Akigumi, he isn't part of Kaga, as he believes his focus should be on keeping the company safe and secure.

Sakyo Furuichi: head of Kaga, and its oldest member still on active duty. These days he mostly sticks to mission control, but occasionally lends support on the field if he deems it necessary. His sharp mind and eye for patterns makes him particularly good at planning missions, exit strategies, and backup plans.

Azami Izumida: the son of a yakuza boss who decided to leave the family business behind to strike out on his own, he still keeps a number of his old underworld contacts. Officially an intern, he's also eager to get into fieldwork with Kaga, putting his years of swordsmanship lessons to use.

Tsumugi Tsukioka: head of biotech, his research on how cranial implants can be used to treat sleep disorders turned him—and Mankai—into a household name. He infrequently lends a hand to Kaga by developing and fine-tuning their cybernetics.

Tasuku Takato: a former member of Godza, he quit his job to work for Mankai instead, and is now a valued member of their biotech team. He specialises in developing prosthetics for their more athletic clients, and like Tsumugi, focuses on his R&D most of the time.

Hisoka Mikage: formerly working for a similar fixer/PMC group, a near-fatal neuro-implant malfunction caused him to forget everything that happened since its installation. As Mankai found him, removed the bad implant, and nursed him back to health, he thought it's just apt to repay the debt by working for them. One of Kaga's most well-rounded operatives, he is strongest in stealth and wetwork.

Homare Arisugawa: an eccentric professor to his core; his studies range from urban to agrarian, sprawling across fields and topics, but his passion project lies in developing ocular implants that can read micro-expressions on the fly, allowing its owner to identify and record people's emotional reactions easily.

Azuma Yukishiro: the face of the biotech divison, he works closely with Mankai's clients to help them find the perfect cybernetics for their personal needs. He also often gleans information and gossip from his endless well of unsuspecting acquaintances and old contacts, passing them on to Kaga for their missions.

Guy: a friend of Citron's from his homeland; extensively cybernetically augmented after a major accident years ago, he claims to be more machine than human by this point. Ostensibly Homare's research assistant, he is a field agent for Kaga, equally skilled in hacking as he is in hand-to-hand combat.

#a3!#a3! au #mankai x kaga #that's what imma call it #not gonna tag everyone bc hoo boy #a3! act! addict! actors!#it started from an icon #then a header #then a whole bloody au #also #in which azami is kinda genji shimada #hisoka owes inspiration from morgan yu #guy and omi bears the adam jensen legacy #and homare's backstory has a random mordin solus reference #don't mind me explaining my own jokes lol #ari's stuff

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askwhenerosmetpsyche · 4 years

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I really like the way you analyse things. Even the way you put forth the information is nice. You pinpoint things very accurately. Have you learned astrology professionally? If you don't mind sharing do let us know. How did you go about studying astrology? Were you just a natural at it? The way you answer just makes one feel so you know. Most of all your Aquarian nature of wanting to help people genuinely, I feel at ease sharing something with you. Because above all I know you are a good person.

Thanks for writing this oh so long ago. I appreciate you noticing that and I apologize for the looong delay. Part of my challenge with astrology is working at a consistent pace. The impetus to practice comes in waves that feel utterly beyond me, so I try to honor that energy. I go through long resting periods.

My interest in the night sky goes way back, as does mythology; however, astrology is rather new. I feel like it found me. I didn’t know it when I started on this journey, but my chart is very, very conducive to practicing astrology and it came very quickly to me. It felt very natural and easy and fun and the system made complete sense once I learned it.

At this point, nearly five years into my journey of almost full-time study (I am finishing up a PhD so I have a lot of unstructured time and astrology is what I did /do to relax), I am almost ready to practice professionally. It’s not the many classes I have attended or books I have read that will make me feel ready (although they help!); rather, it’s a personal hurdle I need to clear. I don’t take the information I dole out lightly and I’m still rather unsure about how to handle negative information when I see it. This is a huge part of why I have to check out when the sky is like this -- I don’t see a lot of good in general right now as we are in the thick of revolution. Natal charts are much easier to handle and I like the evolutionary aspects a lot. I like to help people see the wonder that I see in their chart, and help them along their journey.

As for my methods of studying astrology, I tend to start in an area that interests me and go from there. I pay attention to who is being cited, and then read them as well. I love ancient mythology, and so I glean as much as I can from ancient astrology texts and tradition. A key element in my approach is to reach down to the core of where astrological practices derived from (my ascendant is in the nakshatra mula which loves that stuff -- or Venus depending on which calculation you go by -- in any case mula is involved), and base my understanding from that point. Once I understand the origin of these ideas, I can begin to piece them together.

Because I have a background in psychology and mythology, I take a very Jungian approach to connecting the archetypes highlighted in astrology. These are the stories that unite the human condition and they are found again and again and I’m pretty good at pattern recognition which I thank Pallas Athene conjunct mercury and my moon for that!

Then I just started reading charts for my friends and family who found my insights useful, and would help clear up discrepancies between what I had learned and what they told me. I’ve described the process similarly to playing chess -- you learn a lot of moves and play a lot of games, but so much is intuitive. That’s how I feel when I look at a chart -- it’s the accumulation of hours upon hours of study and analysis and chart reading and it only comes after practice.

So thank you so much for picking up on my desire to help! I really appreciate your acknowledgement (and especially off my main blog where I would get really bashful). I hope you get this message as it has been months since you wrote it.

XOXO

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ashfountainfanfics · 5 years

Text

“This is ridiculous,” Mike sighs in exasperation, “my friends and I had nothing to do with any of this.”

The detective at the other end of the table doesn’t seem to accept this. She’s a recent transplant from another state. Most of the Derry police department leaves Mike be, summing up his interest in police matters as a side effect of his fascination with Derry history. She doesn’t seem to be interested in giving that same assumption.

“You keep saying that,” she pushes, “but I think it’s strange that you show up to all the crime scenes and that two of your friends harassed one of the victims. Not to mention that Henry Bowers was found dead under your place of residency.”

Mike is growing more and more frustrated. It was surreal when the police showed up at dinner last night. The Losers Club plus the small group of cops nearly overwhelmed the small Italian place they’d been enjoying.

Bev, Ben, and Eddie are sitting in the lobby while Richie and Bill are in cuffs. Mike is somewhere between the two options or so he figures. He’s not sure he likes those odds.

Detective Lopez fixes him with a look that lacks any hint of retreat or gentility. She’s a no nonsense kind of woman. Her curly, dark hair is cropped in a pixie cut and her face is bare and set in a deadpan expression. Her blouse is a gray button up and the lanyard of her badge is tucked under her collar.

“It’s a small town,” Mike responds, “coincidences are everywhere.”

“Nothing is ever just a coincidence. Did you know Mr. Bowers?”

Mike calmly explains how Henry Bowers was the resident bully when they were children. How often that bullying went past simple pranks and low grade violence. To stop at calling Henry a bully was like trying to call Ted Bundy just an unfortunate date.

“You can ask Ben about his scar, that should give you a clue.”

“I understand that Mr Bowers had a history of violence and mental illness-“

“Being an angry white boy is not a mental illness,” Mike points out.

“Agreed,” Detective Lopez says flatly, “but that isn’t my point. My point is that several children and a man named Adrian Melon are dead and the escape of Mr. Bowers does not correlate with those deaths.”

“It doesn’t correlate with the arrival of my friends either. They weren’t here.”

“But you were.”

Mike is taken aback by the remark. All this time he’s been keeping watch, dreading the day that Derry needed saving but looking to save it nonetheless. Not that this town ever gifted him much beyond tolerance. He has no adult friends here, no significant others, only a series of routine faces that note his presence. Derry, Maine isn’t friendly or good. It’s not even scenic but he wanted to save it anyway. His jaw tightens.

“Of course I was here. I live in Derry. I’ve lived here most of my life, where else would I be?”

“You didn’t know these kids. You didn’t know Adrian Melon. Why did you visit the crime scenes? What business did you have being there?”

Detective Lopez is standing over him now with her hands planted on the table. She does this all calmly with very direct body movements. She never lets her frustration get to her. She harnesses it into orderly conduct and in a way it’s terrifying.

But she’s an outsider without all the facts. You can tell she comes from a big city by her demeanor and her thought process. Often a crime is committed by someone close to the victim or someone that makes themselves close. Contrary to the movies, the person most likely to kill you is the one in plain sight and right next to you. Monsters that hide in the dark and stalk you like prey aren’t the norm.

Mike is glad that he and his friends got rid of that norm for Derry.

“Detective Lopez? Have you ever seen someone die-“

“Of course I have. I’m a homicide detective.”

“I wasn’t finished,” Mike insists, “I was asking if you’ve ever seen someone die when you were a child?”

This gives her pause. Her elbows soften the smallest amount and her hesitancy is plain to Mike. She doesn’t sit. There’s no way she’s backing down that quickly but it’s clear she’s listening.

“I can’t say I have, why?”

“If you take the time to look into me a bit more you’ll know that my parents died in a fire and I was in the other room. I was too little to help them. I couldn’t save them.”

Now Detective Lopez sits down. Her posture is unnaturally straight and her gaze is still unwavering. This is either the best she can do to convey being receptive or it’s the most she’s willing to give.

“Can you imagine the sort of impact that has? I couldn’t even put down a sheep on the farm I grew up on. The idea of causing harm to anyone or anything, indirect or necessary or otherwise, still makes me sick. So please, Detective Lopez, don’t insult me with what you’re trying to infer.”

“Be blunt then. What were you doing?”

“Trying to see if there was a way to stop it. If you look at our history, you’ll see there’s a pattern. Every 27 years since the town was formed, a stretch of terrible things happen. That’s longer than I’ve been alive. Longer than my family’s been in Derry.

I thought maybe if I could pay attention for the next phase I could find the connection. I could save them.”

Mike can see that she’s regarding him as an absolute looney but Mike hopes it’s the harmless kind. She can picture him tinfoil hat and all if it means she doesn’t see him as a murderer.

“And what did you find?”

Mike decides that this is as good a time as any to tell one last lie. It’s not like she’d understand the truth of the matter. She’s the type to only accept hard facts and indisputable evidence. There isn’t anything he can show her to back the truth. Nothing but a lot of rubble on Neibolt street.

“I found nothing. Whatever makes this town the way it is, it’s not for me to understand.”

It’s not entirely a lie. Pennywise was just a part of what made Derry the way it is. Its death isn’t going to cure Derry of its bigotry overnight. There will still be small minded people, violent people. Mike will never understand that.

“So you’re giving up? Just like that?”

“I almost died because a literal living relic of my past broke out of an insane asylum and tried to kill me. I think that’s a sufficient wake up call that I’ve wasted too much time on this town and my own baggage.”

Mike can’t tell if she’s buying it or not. Detective Lopez gives away nothing. She’s an absolute professional to the core. Mike respects that. Derry could use someone on the force who can’t be swayed.

“I may need you to call you back in to corroborate a few stories so don’t skip town,” she gives him a curt nod, “You’re free to go.”

Detective Lopez opens the door to Mike’s freedom. Mike has a feeling that the others have been given similar instructions or that they will be given them. He wonders briefly if they should have thought ahead to confirm a set story with each other but he thinks better of it. None of the Losers are crazy enough to tell the truth.

“Hanlon, wait,” the detective stops him as soon as he’s out of the door frame, “tell your comedian friend that making jokes isn’t going to work with me. It’s not endearing and he’s digging a much bigger hole for himself.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, trying to get him to stop is a joke in and of itself.”

—-

“Her first name is Jennifer!” Richie shouts as if wounded, “Last name Lopez! What did you want me to do?”

Richie can tell that his lawyer is not amused. His voice sounds really far away and it is. He’s driving to Derry as fast as he can.

“Richie, this isn’t your usual legal trouble. This isn’t stolen material or a damaged room-“

“That was one time and I was still a baby! How was I supposed to know what ecstasy looks like? You’re about to see the podunk town I grew up in, man.”

“They’re talking homicide!”

“I still cry over Bambi, for fuck’s sake. Do you seriously think I’d kill anyone for fun?”

“Of course not.”

Roger Clemming has been Richie’s lawyer since the start of his career. He’s a cousin of his manager and normally Roger has no qualms about representing Richie. Most of his legal cases aren’t even his; the man doesn’t write his own stand up so he can’t exactly be held responsible if it’s stolen. Richie Tozier is an easy client.

“I didn’t even mean to kill him. He had Mike and it was clear that old Bowers was totally batshit. I reacted. I don’t know.”

“So we have a witness. That’s good. The more witnesses the better. I just wish you hadn’t pissed off the Detective.”

“Yeah yeah I’m an asshole but I didn’t say anything about the case. And I stayed away from ass jokes!”

“I’m sure that’s what will save you.”

The Derry police station is not a big place. The holding cell is visible to the front lobby and there’s only two private rooms; the sheriff’s office and an interrogation room. Richie can see Eddie, his arms crossed and his face looking like he bit into a lemon.

Stressed out, Eddie spaghetti? You’re not on this end of the station.

“Be honest with me, Roger, am I going to jail or not?” Richie clings to a rare moment of seriousness.

“You defended someone from an escaped convict. If you sit back and don’t make an ass out of yourself we may not even go to court.”

Richie sighs and he wishes he could telepathically share this news with Eddie. He stares down Eddie in the hopes that somehow they do share a psychic link. Eddie remains pissed at some very specific wall instead.

“And, uh, my friend? Bill?”

“I’m not sure a trial can be avoided on that, but as long as there’s no physical evidence then the best they’ve got is circumstantial with no real motive. They’ll be grasping at straws if they charge him. Dead kids do make for angry parents though and sometimes they’ll pull a guy to trial because they’ve got no one else to blame.”

“So 50/50 chance?”

“40/60 of an arrest being made and I can’t begin to estimate the odds on him being found guilty. That all comes down to the kind of town your Derry, Maine.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Richie groans and buries his face into his free hand.

“Watch it, Tozier,” the nearby cop warns him.

Richie apologizes and feigns composure.

“Sorry kid,” Roger’s using his turn signal given the soft ticking in the background, “I’ll do my best but I make no promises.”

Richie mutters a sentiment of gratitude before hanging up. It would still be the better part of a day and a half before his representation gets here. Technically he’s not even sure if Bill wants Roger to represent him but Richie figures it couldn’t hurt to arrange it. After all, do either of them really want to trust whatever a Derry lawyer looks like?

---

Bill settles in for the night. To be honest, he’s slept in far more uncomfortable places than a holding cell. He wasn’t always a big famous writer. He remembers when he had to sleep in his shitty, used Toyota back in the early days. Now he’s got two houses, a celebrity wife, and a second movie deal. None of which he’s particularly sure he wants anymore.

It’s startling how unconcerned Bill is about the charge against him. He’s been taken in on suspicion of murder but Bill knows damn well he didn’t kill that kid and Detective Lopez doesn’t have much of anything on him except that he was seen yelling at the child earlier at the day and had been spotted at the carnival.

Bill didn’t want to seem entirely unhelpful though despite knowing they were never going to catch what killed that boy. He offered an account of what he thought was an animal attack but it was difficult to make out. Richie’s lawyer probably won’t like that he talked without him present but Bill doesn’t really care.

Bill blamed the yelling on a mental breakdown. His hometown memories were complicated and a failing marriage and work pressure wasn’t helping. When he saw a kid about Georgie’s age living in his old house, he lost it. It was easy to sell this because it wasn’t really a lie. Detective Lopez did make a comment to Bill about how childhood trauma seems very convenient in this town but Bill didn’t know how to respond outside of confusion.

“All right, everyone,” a tired cop announces into the lobby, “Y’all should get yourselves to bed. Visiting hours are over.”

The other members of the Loser’s Club are essentially draped across each other in the lobby and half asleep already. Ben is in the middle like some sort of handsome centerpiece. He has an arm over Beverly and Mike is leaning on his free shoulder. Meanwhile, Eddie is sitting on the floor at Ben’s feet looking tense and irritated.

They gather themselves up except for Eddie who continues to sit on the floor.

“Eddie, honey,” Beverly says softy, “it’s time to go.”

“Richie and Bill didn’t do anything wrong. I will leave when they do.”

Bill chuckles a bit at this and looks over to Richie on the other side of the holding cell. The look on his face gives him pause because it’s not what he was expecting. Eddie looks genuinely frightened in here. He’s also watching Eddie as if looking at the last boat on a sinking ship; one that’s just too far out of reach. Bill isn’t sure what to make of that.

“They’ll be okay,” Mike assures the sulking man on the floor, “I know these cops. They’re decent.”

Eddie doesn’t respond.

“Sweetie,” Bev is getting a hint of irritation to her voice, “we can come back in the morning.”

“I refuse to get up. This is a protest.”

Bev sighs and looks to Ben.

“We’re going to have to force him.”

“Force him?” Ben asks back incredulously, “Force him how?”

“Ben, he weighs 90 pounds soaking wet, what do you think?”

“Oh Lord,” Mike immediately understands the implication.

Ben thinks about it for a second and it dawns on him the same exact time it dawns on Eddie. Ben is briefly horrified by the idea.

“You wouldn’t” Eddie challenges him.

Ben looks helplessly at Bev who shrugs as if to say that there’s no other way. Eddie recoils as Ben clearly accepts his orders and approaches Eddie with strong arms ready to lift him. His stance is that of someone attempting to capture a wild animal.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t you fucking touch me!” Eddie screams while rapidly kicking his legs to slide away.

Bill again turns to get Richie’s reaction to all this. He’s pleased to see Richie desperately stifling a chuckle. The cop stationed here for the evening seems to be frozen in disbelief as one grown man is trying to catch another and that other fully grown adult man is essentially crab scuttling his way to safety.

On reflex, Eddie sends a hard kick and gets Ben right in the shin. Ben stops his pursuit to cradle it.

“Eddie! What the hell!?” Bev scolds him.

“Now that’s enough!” the cop finally sees fit to reanimate, “I’ve seen some bull shit in my day but I won’t have a brawl in the station! Sort yourself out or I’ll put you in holding! Got it?”

Eddie gets up from the floor.

“Oh no,” Richie says quietly.

Bill’s confused but looks back to the scene playing out before him. Eddie looks apologetic and humbly confronts Ben.

“Sorry, Ben” he says meekly.

“It’s just my shin,” Ben responds, “It’ll bruise but it’s fine.”

“No, I’m sorry about this.”

Eddie uses his whole body to send a punch right into the side of Ben’s scruffy and very shocked face. Eddie’s fist retreats just as quickly as it had departed and he’s shaking out the pain of contact. Ben cups his cheek, obviously not very wounded. The man’s essentially built like a brick house for fuck’s sake. This does get the cop moving though.

Eddie is escorted into the holding cell with Bill and Richie. Richie looks in awe of Eddie either because he was so reckless or stupid Bill can’t figure which. He does have sneaking suspicion however that Eddie’s little stunt has more to do with Richie than with Bill himself.

Eddie is still pouting and sits square on the floor all over again.

“The little guy will be free to go after he cools down, unless you want to press charges,” the cop asks Ben.

“What? No. No… it’s fine.”

Mike quietly exits as quickly as possible. He’s clearly done with the nonsense that just played out. Bev and Ben stay behind a minute as Bev checks his cheek over again. Bill can make out the soft conversation they’re having but just barely. She’s apologizing for her plan, saying she didn’t think Eddie would fight that much.

“No no, it was a good idea,” Ben assures her.

Bill can see the way that comment washes over her. Ben was always full of a certain sincerity and purity that none of the other Losers ever really had. He’s soft and probably the only one of them that didn’t end up with a ridiculous amount of paranoia or cynicism. Bill doubts that Ben is unscathed but it looks like he at least had the good sense not to unleash his unknown trauma on anyone else.

Unlike Bill and his marriage to Audra.

It’s painfully clear to Bill right now just how much Audra looks like Beverly. They’ve got similar frames, similar facial structures and they’re both redheads. Granted, Audra’s red comes from a salon but it suits her as naturally as it does Bev. They could be sister’s.

‘Why can’t you be how I want you to be?’ Bill remembers saying to Audra not long before he took off to Derry. He’s disgusted with the comment now. He’s disgusted with the fact that he kissed Beverly and it meant more to him than his entire marriage. He’s disgusted with himself.

“See you in the morning, boys,” Bev waves to everyone in holding.

She doesn’t give Bill any special treatment. No lingering eye contact or wistful gaze. It’s as if she never had a crush on him at all, as if they’ve never shared anything. Before it always felt as if she was looking to Bill and now she’s looking at Ben.

Despite a sense of heartbreak, Bill takes comfort in that difference.

---

There’s only two beds in the holding cell. One of which is already taken up by Bill who is sound asleep. Eddie is still sitting on the floor and up against the wall. He watches for the cop to doze off. Sure enough, he’s starting to snore in his chair.

Eddie quietly and carefully scootches over to Richie. Richie’s been lying on other cot, entertaining himself with some sort of impromptu, silent puppet show. He breaks from it as he notices Eddie encroaching on his personal bubble.

“Hey,” Eddie whispers.

“Hi…” Richie answers.

Eddie isn’t sure of how to move forward. Originally he had mapped out exactly what to say after the gang’s celebratory dinner. He was going to apologize for kissing Richie, explain again that he had panicked. He would ask that they move forward from this and go back to normal. He wanted to reassure him that he is very alive and not going to die anytime soon too. He wanted to know how much it meant to him that Richie cared so much. He never knew he was that important to anyone.

Eddie did not plan on embracing his inner chaos and landing himself in a cell for the night. He still isn’t entirely sure what came over him in that moment. The idea of leaving just hit so hard and quickly that he couldn’t do it.

“I went to jail for you,” he glares at Richie.

Well that’s not a good start, Eddie mentally notes.

“I see this. I’ll file it under your list of uncharacteristically brave fuckery.”

“I mean that I want to talk. We need to talk.”

“Oh.”

There’s a pause between them. That pause grows into a prolonged period. That period slinks into awkward silence. Eddie is aware since he brought up the conversation that he should actually start it but his head is empty. All he can think about is how the stab wound in his cheek hurts and how flustered Richie looks.

“Look, man,” Richie gives in, “We don’t have to talk. I get it. You panicked. Case closed. Mystery solved. We both deserve a Scooby snack for that epic conclusion.”

Eddie realizes for the first time that Richie is hiding behind his humor. He feels like an idiot for not noticing sooner but his eyes are a dead give away. Richie is making more eye contact now than usual. It’s like he’s forcing himself to present a put together facade. He’s watching Eddie to make sure he believes it.

Eddie wonders if it might be prudent to look at Richie in a different light. In childhood, he was always just that asshole friend. He liked to pick on him but never past annoyance. You’d think trying to steer clear of Henry Bowers would have made Eddie resistant to a friendship built on teasing. In retrospect, Eddie’s not sure what did open him up to it. By all logical accounts, Richie shouldn’t mean much of anything to Eddie and vice versa.

“Why do you do that?” he decides to approach it directly.

“I’m a comedian, Eds. Cracking a bad joke is as natural to me as breaking wind.”

Eddie could easily feed into this but he doesn’t want to. He physically sits up straighter and takes a calm breath in. It’s tempting to write Richie off as immature and continue down the rabbit hole of humor at Eddie’s expense but he refuses. Richie is keeping a secret of some kind which seems painfully obvious to Eddie now. If he’s ever going to move forward from recent events he’ll need to know what it is.

“What are hiding?” he leans in close.

Richie’s face loses all color. He stammers for a moment and Eddie is secretly pleased with himself. He’s so used to Richie getting at him that it is deeply satisfying for the tables to turn. Eddie tries not to stay in that mentality though. He wants answers not revenge.

“Bill’s the one with the stutter,” Eddie points out, “fess up. You’re hiding something from me and you’re using your crap jokes to do it. I won’t go to sleep until you tell me what’s going on.”

It seems a little overkill but Eddie is feeling the dramatics today. They saved each other’s lives earlier. They should be able to talk. Eddie debates their closeness as he waits for an answer. Sometimes it felt like they were the closest two people in the room and other times they were the furthest. Eddie wants to know why.

“I- uh,” Richie is sweating at the forehead, “I want to say first that- shit no. Okay, growing up I- fuck no that’s going to take forever.”

Eddie continues to glare down his friend. It’s not that he wants to force the truth out of him but rather his concern is growing. Showing Richie his soft side doesn’t come naturally though. So here he is trying to be a good friend but acting like a displeased asshole.

“Okay, here goes,” Richie takes in a breath of confidence, “Dinner.”

“...dinner?”

“Yes.”

“What about… dinner?” Eddie says bewildered before getting accusatory, “I swear to God, Rich, if this is a set up to a mom joke I’ll-“

“Dinner!” Richie says again a bit too loud.

The guard stirs. The two men freeze. A few seconds later a loud snore emerges. Eddie sighs in relief. He’s done just enough to end up in here. He doesn’t want to get in enough trouble to stay.

“You and me. Dinner. Us. Dinner. Together. Y’know, dinner?”

Eddie rolls his eyes and relaxes his shoulders. So it’s not a joke about his mom but a joke nonetheless.

“Oh. I get it. Ha ha, very funny. Like a date,” Eddie comments sarcastically.

“Yes.”

Richie isn’t grinning. He not casually avoiding eye contact either as he does with a usual set up. Instead he’s looking directly at Eddie with everything he’s got. It’s the ‘please believe me’ look from before but in an entirely different context. It’s sincere.

Jesus Christ, I think he fucking means it, Eddie panics.

“Okay,” he finds himself saying even as confused internal screaming fills his insides.

“Shit. Really?” Richie is as shocked as Eddie is.

“Yeah.”

“You’re going on a date.”

“Yes.”

“With me.”

“I guess.”

This is all on the premise that Richie is released in time for a date. He may end up in real jail. Then what would they do? A prison dinner date doesn’t have the most enticing ring to it.

Eddie feels like a part of him has detached from his own brain. Whatever his body is doing is past his control now. The surrealism of this unexpected direction broke him.

“Move over,” Eddie demands quietly.

Richie backs up as far as can, looking absolutely befuddled. Eddie climbs into the small space left on the cot. He’s tired. There’s only two cots and one is taken. It makes direct sense to share at least when you’re not entirely in your own body anyway.

Eddie remembers briefly about how the two of them would often share the hammock as kids. Eddie unceremoniously plopped himself in and fought for space so often that it became customary. He never did it to anyone but Richie though. He was the only one.

Richie braves putting an arm around Eddie and at first Eddie’s spine goes rigid. He’s not ready to think about this, not even sure if acting on it is right yet. He still feels far away from all this even as he Richie’s body heat cradles him.

Something about the way Richie’s hand cups the small of his stomach feels...good. Eddie’s body relaxes and he realizes how fucking exhausted he is. It’s been an exceptionally long 48 hours. A little shut eye and a cuddle isn’t so ludicrous. Even if it is with Richie Trashmouth Tozier.

“Just keep it in your pants,” Eddie yawns before falling asleep.

#it chapter 3 ff #ich3-2 #i really wanted to mimick the scene where richie sets eddie's arm in chapter 1 #like I love that chaotic energy #billverly #light #reddie #benverley

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kyndaris · 4 years

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Date with Destiny (with a Capital D)

When I watched the announcement at E3 about Final Fantasy VII Remake, I was terribly excited. Though the Final Fantasy series has been one of my favourites since I first played Final Fantasy X, I have never actually played the original Final Fantasy VII.Instead, I read everything I could find and watched walkthroughs (including Dirge of Cerberus) as well as the film: Advent Children and Advent Children Complete. When Crisis Core released on PlayStation Portable (PSP), I also bought that to immerse myself in the entirety of the Final Fantasy VII universe. And when I told one of my close friends, Bleachpanda, about it, they were surprised that I had never played the original. But while I could have purchased the re-release on the PlayStation 4, I wanted to see the game that had captured the imagination of so many people in high definition quality.

As most people in Australia know, the game released a whole nine days earlier than it was supposed to: on 1st of April. After I had mistakenly taken the express train, I was perusing my messages and saw my friend post her excitement that Final Fantasy VII Remake was out. Immediately, I used my situation to my advantage and went to buy the game - despite the fact that I had no facial mask and was entering a shopping centre with a possible high risk of infection. After sweating up a storm by rushing to all the stores, I finally had the copy in hand.

However, it would not be until I had finished Yakuza 4 that I could begin my journey with Cloud and the Avalanche team. Suffice it to say, I was incredibly excited. From the score to Cloud’s lovely cheekbones. In fact, I could not believe my good fortune that I was actually playing the game. It didn’t seem real that I would have in my hands despite the ongoing pandemic. From there, my hype built as I defeated the Scorpion sentinel and moved on to the Seventh Heaven. When Tifa’s theme sounded, I had to resist the urge to shed a tear.

I might not have played the original, but gosh darn it, I loved the characters as much as any fan.

Even the little details were so exciting to see. Though there were several changes to the game, it was clear that the developers loved the game as much as its fans did. I liked how Cloud and the gang kept their victory poses for when they were in the Coliseum. The up-scaled Church, the bar, Wall Market and Aerith’s house. Learning more about many of the side characters also helped build a solid connection to them. From Jessie’s tragic backstory of her dad collapsing in Mako storage in her debut as the role of Princess at the Golden Saucer (goodness me, if she knew about the shenanigans of Cloud and the rest of the party, she’d probably throw a fit), to Bigg’s contribution to the Sector 5 orphanage. This even extended to the differences in Tifa’s and Aerith’s cleavage sizes. Not that I was paying particular attention...

Okay, maybe a little. But I’m glad that they also gave appropriate footwear and gear for the characters.

But my goodness, that pull-up challenge took me fifty minutes! It wasn’t even in the original! And the trophy did not feel worth it after how difficult Jules was. Never again!

Then the characters also called me out for going in the wrong direction. I’m not! I’m trying to explore every nook and cranny of this world Square-Enix has bequeathed us and to find as many items as I can find!

The combat, though, was the one that had the most changes. Gone is the turn-based battle system. While players can play on classic, according to my friend Bleachpanda, it was less than exciting. Particularly when the AI just stood around guarding most of the time. As for me, I played on Normal Mode. The battle mechanics felt like they used bits and pieces from other games: such as Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy XIII. It also incorporated elements of the original Active Time Battle system, but I found it frustrating that all of my more powerful abilities, and even items, were gated behind a slowly rising bar - particularly for the AI-controlled party members. Of course, Final Fantasy VII Remake also allowed players to switch between members and I found I had to do this on a fairly regular basis depending on the battle.

Also, your ATB abilities, spells and item usages could also be interrupted. This proved particularly frustrating in difficult battles where I was hoping to take advantage of an enemy’s weakness, only to be batted to the side because of an air attack.

It also felt, on numerous fights, that I had to think of these battles less like a turn-based battle and more like an action adventure, hack and slash. Instead of just absorbing spells and attacks, I needed to evade and guard. This was clearly evident in several solo battles with Roche and even Rufus Shinra. I had to read attack patterns, avoid some of their deadly moves and strike when they had an opening. All the while, trying to keep my ATB gauge up and ready for some quick healing or spell casting.

Let’s move on now to the characters and the story. But where to begin? How about the ending that proved incredibly divisive among many fans. My friend, Bleachpanda, was sorely disappointed by the presence of the Whispers and how the last two chapters transpired. She, unlike me, had been banking on nostalgia to pull her and was more excited to seeing the original recreated in perfect high definition. If you read her posts on Final Fantasy VII Remake you will learn that she was mightily disappointed that how Cloud manages to obtain his dress was very different (although she probably still liked our ex-Soldier shaking his tush on stage. Heck, I think everyone was channelling Aerith and shouting at our screens for Cloud to work it).

The whole talk of destiny and changing fate, though, probably left many fearing that the rest of the Final Fantasy VII Remake would be a very different beast from their childhoods. What with talk about alternate timelines and the possibility of time travel. As well as that last parting shot of Zack Fair. In fact, there are plenty of videos on YouTube that try to explain the ending.

Now, I profess, time travel has always sat ill with me. And Square-Enix has not always used it well. The first Bravely Default comes to mind as does Kingdom Hearts 3 and the time loops of Type-0. Or even what they tried to do with the Final Fantasy XIII franchise. All those retcons in FFXIII-2 made me wonder if it was all worth it. Lightning’s character development in the first game was all but forgotten and rehashed over Lightning Returns. Still, as this was mostly penned by the original writer (though people will still blame Nomura), I feel like much of the motivations and several story beats will remain the same. The settings will also not change and I am eager to see Cosmo Canyon, Nibelheim, Junon and so many other places.

In saying that, though, I’m not sure if Aerith will die. Or if she does, whether it will have the same shocking effect that it did in the original. Of course, by now, everyone and their mothers know what to expect and perhaps this was a way for Square Enix to keep players on their toes. What about Cloud falling into the Lifestream and Tifa trying to sort out his memories from the false persona he created? The slap fight between Tifa and Scarlet? My friend, Bleachpanda, just wants to see Professor Hojo surrounded by girls that are trying to flirt with him. Who knows. It might happen. Or it might not. Hence why so many are terrified at the direction of the new games.

The rest of the narrative, however, proved just as exciting with a few little additions along the way. Sephiroth appearing, though, in the second chapter threw me for a loop, even though I appreciated the foreshadowing. Chapter 4 was all devoted to learning and bonding more with the other members of Avalanche. I very much liked their expanded roles, although casting Gideon Emery as Biggs was a bit of a distraction as I could clearly hear his Balthier trying to break through, particularly in the earlier scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Balthier. And Biggs is quite good looking himself.

This whole Midgar portion of the game also remained mostly faithful to the original Final Fantasy VII and its timeline. It also made things a little more realistic and showed fans of the original, more sides of the characters they had come to love. Also, I like that despite the love triangle being set up between Cloud, Tifa and Aerith, there was a strong sense of camaraderie among the girls. They lifted each other up rather than tear each other down. Even Jessie was trying to get in on the action with all the flirting she did. In fact, I just wanted to ship Aerith and Tifa for the long haul.

What I also thought cute was the little swear the left Aerith’s lips when the ladder fell and Cloud had to help lift her up. It was also comical to see Cloud try to pull his Buster Sword out when confronted by one of the other Sephiroth clones and having it catch on the door jam.

Barret, on the other hand, was a little preachy in the first few chapters. There can be no denying his love for Marlene, but it grated on me how much exposition he provided on the train ride back to Sector 7. Still, once we finally get into the meat of the games, I would love to see all their backstories, cry when appropriate and cheer for them when they finally emerge victorious.

I also liked many of the environmental story telling. Particularly in Chapter 2 and seeing the aftermath of what Avalanche’s actions had done. Granted, Heidegger and President Shinra had a hand in it, but it was clear that Jessie and many others were devastated by the damage they had wrought. It was also gut-wrenching to see the remains of Sector 7 after the plate fell. Reeve, in the form of Cait Sith, tried and failed to save the people and even though he was controlling an animatronic cat, you could still see his devastation.

Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy VII Remake. By the time the game ended, I felt a little bereft, wanting to see more of each character and really dive down deep into their psych. Just like before, Tifa is much more reticent and closed off. It warmed my heart that in Hojo’s lab, Aerith asked Tifa if she was okay. As someone who is also similarly guarded, it’s good to know that someone else cares. Red XIII was also a great addition in the last two chapters, though it was a shame we could not play as him.

The ending might have left a sour taste in the mouths of many, but I know that I, for one, am eager to see where the unknown journey takes us next and seeing old familiar faces. We still have Cid, Yuffie and Vincent to find! Also, Marlene is so cute and precious and must be protected at all costs.

#video games #final fantasy vii: remake #FFVII #Final Fantasy

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 5 years

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Episode 127: Are You My Dad?

“This might be serious.”

Those of y’all that check out my episode rankings at the end of every post know that my favorite “normal” episode of Steven Universe (so not Steven and the Stevens or Hit the Diamond, which are in their own category of perfect character studies) isn’t Lion 3 or Alone Together or Jailbreak or The Answer or Mr. Greg or Mindful Education. And, spoiler alert, it won’t be Jungle Moon or A Single Pale Rose or Reunited or Change Your Mind. It’s Mirror Gem.

So it’s not a shocker that I’m drawn to another episode that’s the beginning of a two-parter closing out the first half of a fifty-odd episode chunk, which starts out goofy but grows increasingly ominous and ends in a confrontation with a new blue Gem. In terms of tone, Are You My Dad? is an incredible exercise in tension, albeit one that benefits from two prior episodes’ cliffhangers in a way Mirror Gem manages without (but to be fair, Mirror Gem arrives when we still don’t know there are other Gems, which gives its mystery a major advantage).

The silly beginning here is strengthened by the return of all three original Crystal Gems, who haven’t been in a room together since Rocknaldo. They’re increasingly out of focus as we get into more Steven-centric storytelling, and I’ve heard this lobbed as a criticism of latter-day Steven Universe; while I agree that these characters are terrific and am always down to see more of them, I can appreciate that their big moment is Act II (Seasons 2/3), and Steven’s is Act III (Seasons 4/5). If Act I is about creating Steven’s universe, and Act II is about developing Steven’s family, it’s because Act III, which the other two have been building towards this whole time, is about Steven.

Episodes like Storm in the Room and Lion 4 fundamentally don’t work with the Crystal Gems around, and our last two episodes place Steven among Beach City citizens to prime us for a finale about Beach City paying for Steven’s past. So I get why we haven’t seen the trio as a whole for a while. But I sure am glad to see them again.

Amethyst’s offer of beans and suggestion to barter them for donuts is great, but come on, nothing beats Garnet and Pearl’s sand castle. I love glimpses into the Crystal Gems’ leisure time independent of Steven (he’s around, but clearly wasn’t involved with the construction): because the Gems are so often characterized in relation to Steven and/or in big personal ways, it’s a pleasant change of pace to just see them reading the paper in Watermelon Steven or assembling furniture in Shirt Club. Doug Out and The Good Lars are celebrations of the mundane tainted by the supernatural in their last moments, so it’s perfect to ease us into this new story with more slice-of-life lazing.

Still, this beach day is a backdrop for Steven wondering where his mail is (in the first of many callbacks, we get his Mr. Postman song from all the way back in Cheeseburger Backpack). On its own this might not be a big deal, but we know that Onion and Sadie were being stalked by new Gems and that Lars didn’t show up at the potluck (which, for now, we can lump in with other disappearances), so even though Steven doesn’t know anything sinister is afoot, Jamie’s absence sets off warning bells for us.

The scenes that follow build dread with masterful efficiency. First we get an uncharacteristically worried Sour Cream, which stands out even more than normal because we just saw him behaving as usual in The Good Lars. His concern is tempered by fun visuals: our MISSING poster is a repurposed WANTED poster, and we get a neat flashback aesthetic as Onion’s haunts are seen as if through an old-school View-Master (calling back to Onion Gang, Arcade Mania, and Onion Friend). While the audience knows new Gems are to blame, Steven is able to write this off as another weird Onion thing, and is more disappointed than concerned when he hears the Big Donut is closed.

Even now, Steven thinks things are probably fine, assuming Lars and Sadie are blowing off work to watch scary movies (calling back to Horror Club and The New Lars). It’s here where we’re introduced to the most clever element of this first act: Barb Miller. She’s connected to Sadie, so she can reveal that her daughter never came home after the potluck, but is also connected to Jamie, who she sent out that morning with Steven’s package. And she’s overprotective enough that she doesn’t make rationalizations like Sour Cream and Steven did for Onion (although she does reference Island Adventure, finally acknowledging how weird it is that three kids went missing for days and nobody seemed to care). In one fell stroke, Steven realizes that this is an alarming pattern, and starts looking for answers at last.

But he still hasn’t caught up to us. Sure, he knows his friends are missing, but he hasn’t seen the looming shadows from the end of Doug Out and The Good Lars, so when he comes across Aquamarine he has no reason to suspect her of kidnapping. A lesser show might build suspense making its characters too thick to put obvious hints together, but Steven Universe makes it clear that none of these threads are obvious to Steven. A more cynical version of the character might deduce earlier that this new Gem is bad news, but despite everything he’s been through in Season 4 he’s still empathetic to his core. After all, the pivotal event of this season was his own dad’s disappearance, so he’s primed to help a kid in a similar situation.

But finally, after knowing more than Steven from the beginning of the episode, Aquamarine asks the titular question and brings us back into the unknown with him. “Are you my dad?” is a brilliantly weird question: of course it’s odd for anyone to ask this of Steven when the answer is so self-evident, but it’s even odder for a Gem to do so. As Steven later tells Connie when she suggests the stranger might be a hybrid, this is a full Gem, and Gems don’t have dads.

Steven’s council of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Connie shows that his instinct isn’t to go it alone, lending weight to his solo sacrifice at the end of this two-parter. But for now, it offers a moment of respite by reveling in the artistic differences of these characters; on the one hand, it makes little sense for Steven to not just draw Aquamarine himself, considering he’s the one who saw her and we know he likes drawing from Shirt Club and Open Book and Barn Mates, but on the other hand, this scene is a delight. Connie draws a manga-influenced figure using an amateur ball and plane method, Amethyst goes abstract, Pearl undersells her dramatic flourish, and Garnet just draws herself; I actually think Pearl’s is closest, but we go with Connie’s and set off.

This is the second time since Lion 4 where we’ve explored the potential for other half-humans like Steven, and in my first viewing of Are You My Dad I saw it as foreshadowing for fellow hybrid. The trend never really continued, and while it seems like a red herring in retrospect, the close proximity of two stories about Steven maybe not being alone shows just how alone he really is. There’s nobody else like Steven, and while this makes him special, it adds to his burden as a bridge between worlds, a burden that’s partially thrust upon him and partially created by his own sense of outsized responsibility.

Connie lightens the mood as they search by inventing exciting new scenarios to explain this new Gem, contrasting her further with Pearl. Connie’s art is cutesy while Pearl’s is dramatic, and where Connie sees hope for a new friend, Pearl is the only member of the team who advocates preparing for a fight. We don’t go very far down the “optimism is wrong and cynicism is right” road, because that isn’t at all what this show is about, but I love that youthful innocence from both Steven and Connie isn’t championed as an absolute positive in this story.

The light mood of two friends hoping for the best leads to Steven making a game of looking through Onion’s woods, and his facetious search of an empty log ends up getting him trapped. Again, this show isn’t here to build suspense by dumbing down the characters: Steven needs to be out of commission for Connie’s kidnapping to work the way it does, but getting stuck comes from realistic playing around rather than stupidity or ineptitude. And it continues the thread of others getting punished for Steven’s perceived mistakes, which of course adds to his guilt complex (and is furthered by Connie getting kidnapped because Steven shouted her name). These are small moments of getting us from Point A to Point B, but it’s so important that this crew pays attention to such details for the story and themes to flow smoothly.

Aquamarine’s questioning becomes even more confusing when she corrects Connie, saying she’s not looking for “your dad” but “my dad.” Connie’s condescending Tarzan speak is a bit out of character, but it at least makes sense that she wants to simplify her language for someone who doesn’t seem to understand the meanings of words. Aquamarine’s hidden nastiness emerges, with a wicked snicker at Connie’s “Me Connie” routine before she calls for Topaz.

While I prefer Mirror Gem to Are You My Dad? in most regards, the reveal of Topaz takes the cake in the horror department. She’s announced by thundering footsteps that clear birds from the surrounding trees, and emerges first as a shadow before we see our missing friends trapped inside her body. None of the captives’ mouths are free except Onion’s, and he's nonverbal, so their struggles are joined by muffled and incoherent screams while their captor lurks in silence. The soundtrack lurches into unnerving strings as Connie panics at the sight, substitutes more typical digital music as a moment as Topaz splits up, and returns to even tenser strings as Connie is viscerally absorbed into the giant Gem. As with the Ruby Squad’s giant fusion, it’s a brutally practical application of something the Crystal Gems have made beautiful, and Steven is as helpless as Connie to stop it.

A key element of Steven’s martyr complex is that his sense of ownership over everything bad that happens around him is unwarranted, and this sequence is a perfect example. Yes, he’s stuck in a log when Connie is taken, allowing him to blame himself for the kidnapping, but once he’s free he doesn’t stand a chance against Aquamarine’s magic wand. In the best-case scenario, where he and Connie manage to fuse and fight off Topaz, Stevonnie would still lose: as we see in I Am My Mom, even four Crystal Gems working together are beaten with ease by the wand’s ridiculous power. If anything, getting stuck in a log was the only reason Steven was able to regroup and fight back later in the first place. But in the moment, it seems like he made an avoidable mistake that cost Connie her freedom, which is certainly on his mind when he makes his sacrifice.

Aquamarine follows the Holly Blue Agate mold of brief but memorable villains, and while both are petty monsters, Holly Blue Agate’s Professor Umbridge has nothing on Aquamarine’s Eric Cartman. It’s one thing to let middle management power go to your head, but Aquamarine is cruel for the simple joy of being cruel, an attitude captured magnificently by Della Saba’s refined British accent. She taunts Topaz as readily as her enemies, and unlike the fiercely loyal Homeworld villains we’ve seen before, she sees her duty as a waste of time that she begrudgingly fulfills because she’s the best. Like Kevin, this is a troll who’s just mean to her core, but she unfortunately has a lot more power than your everyday toxic douche.

As is standard for two-parters by now, we end with a cliffhanger, this time evoking Steven’s Dream (another first-parter that ends with a new blue Gem). A loved one has been taken, Steven blames himself because he put this person in harm’s way and couldn’t stop it, so now it’s time for a rescue mission. An unprecedented streak of consecutive serialized episodes already began with Doug Out, but now we get a proper two-parter, then a four-parter, then a six-parter, then another two-parter all in a row. It’s a special time in the series, highlighted by Earth plots and Homeworld plots colliding in ways that backdrop Steven’s role as a child of two worlds, and Are You My Dad excellently escalates the plot.

In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is the final episode from the amazing Raven Molisee. Other veterans like Joe Johnston and Kat Morris ended their roles as lead-credit writer/storyboarders to fulfill other roles for the show, but this is it for Molisee’s tenure as an active member of the Crewniverse. Her work speaks for itself: she helped introduce Lapis in Mirror Gem, Peridot in Warp Tour, Jasper in The Return, Yellow Diamond in Message Received, and now Aquamarine and Topaz in Are You My Dad?. She helped bring to life the comedy of Kindergarten Kid and The New Crystal Gems, the tragedy of Rose’s Scabbard and Monster Reunion, the horror of Frybo and Keeping It Together, the wonder of An Indirect Kiss, the catharsis of Earthlings, and so much more. We were lucky to have her, and I really hope she didn’t leave because she was abducted by aliens.

Future Vision!

Steven is down to watch a movie about an orphaned Gem whose parent figure left for Beach City and never came home. So were the fans, apparently.

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

The ages of Lars and Sadie were nebulous at first, but it’s more or less been established that they’re teens of sorts by now, which makes Barb’s declaration that Sadie’s an adult confusing in a way that I find surprisingly annoying. It’s really not a big deal, but it bothers me way more than your average nitpick.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

It’s not unheard of for first-parters to make my greatest hits list: Mirror Gem is certainly one of them, and we’ve also got The Return and Steven’s Dream. But it’s hard to put an episode without a proper ending up with the best, and despite its wonderful tone, meeting Aquamarine lacks the conclusive impact of meeting Lapis, we don’t get a huge moment of Steven summoning his shield and protecting his team, and Aquamarine isn’t a Big Deal like Blue Diamond. I still love Are You My Dad a lot, but this is a hard list to crack and it does feel like half an episode when viewed alone.

Top Twenty-Five

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

When It Rains

The Good Lars

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

Lion 4: Alternate Ending

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Room for Ruby

Doug Out

Are You My Dad?

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

6. Horror Club 5. Fusion Cuisine 4. House Guest 3. Onion Gang 2. Sadie’s Song 1. Island Adventure

(It took some serious sleuthing, because the amazing Are You My Mother parody image is unsourced on Google Images and comes from a TeeSpring shirt that is no longer available, but I tracked down the artist as Zaccrim.)

#are you my dad #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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ruebelly · 5 years

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So no one’s gonna read this, but twitter is terrible for long-form essays and I just wanna talk queer sociology shit anyhow, so here goes.

The whole James Charles thing is fascinating to me on so many levels. Like, we’re living inside one of the biggest social media blow-ups in internet history and I give you permission to be interested, because I think there are just so many dynamics at play here. It’s bananas, y’all.

So putting aside that James might be a predator, which I’m not fully convinced he is and certainly his video today provided SOME proof that he very well might not be, I think this whole ‘straight’ men being interested in queer men is the most interesting layer to this story. And the most misrepresented, I think. The fact is that this is absolutely a thing that goes on all the time with queer men. Like, you’ve got a variety of sexualities that mean you’re a man interested in men, first off, and everyone has individual preferences, so that inevitably means that queer men are sometimes attracted to more ‘straight’ or butch-presenting men? That’s not too crazy, right? I don’t think a straight woman is the best to present the nuances of this dynamic, and I think this is at the core of so many misconceptions in this ‘feud’ right now.

And James even goes on to out himself as a virgin and talk about an EXCEEDINGLY common experience among queer people, that despite maybe knowing our attractions early on we sometimes don’t get the opportunity to experiment with love and relationships at the same rate as our straight peers do. We might know we’re queer, but it’s not until college (for some, not all) that we get to act on any of these desires and by then, we’re woefully behind the curve in that department. Which also gets into why so many queer men talk about having relationships with older men when they’re younger and often underage. This is obviously an entirely different can of worms which we won’t get into, but it’s a common experience for a lot of queer men, whether it’s right or wrong. So I feel for him in that regard, but this in no way excuses predatory behavior. But here’s a guy who was vaulted to fame, fortune and a massive following at an early age with no idea how to relate to other men romantically and has a certain taste in men... WELL.

Power, fame and money are the other dynamic here specifically. And maybe he’s not even aware of the toxic pattern that he’s falling prey to. He’s admittedly attracted to ‘straight’ boys of a similar age, and that’s dangerous really at any age. I’m INCREDIBLY thankful not to hear any stories where he got his ass beat. Say what you want about the guy, but I don’t want that to happen to him. He may not even fully understand that these guys are, at least sometimes, attracted to him for the aforementioned attributes. And here’s another thing, certainly the closest thing to a true peer or role model might be Jeffree Star, and James played the clip of Star talking about his own adventures with ‘straight’ men. So he might also believe this is his best option? Or that his desires are possible if he could only find the right guy.

All of this is to say that the stigma against men loving other men is still alive and well, regardless of his own errors. And I think it’s actually an excellent way to explain some of the nuance behind these relationships, why it’s toxic on both ends, and open up and talk about some of the issues that queer men deal with.

As far as James’ actions and the actions of those involved... I’ll try to make this as judgment-free as I can, because I do see a guy that’s still trying to figure it all out. And my heart hurts for him because of all of this, even if I don’t really like him in general. I think his latest video shows SOME proof against the allegations against him, but it also reveals manipulative behavior that he definitely is still oblivious to. He shouldn’t have berated both Tati and her husband into talking about all of this, and then going public with an apology to get people on his side annnnnd... I mean, he was clearly trying to manipulate the situation. But that doesn’t excuse Tati going public with some honestly explosive allegations that blew up everything else.

As far as the ‘straight’ guys involved, it’s hard not to feel SOMETHING for them, even if their intentions maybe weren’t pure as the driven snow. Here’s a charming, gorgeous guy that might be confusing because of his androgynous appearance who’s interested in you and has the money and connections to not only fly you out, but pay for hotels and crazy exclusive Coachella tickets. It’s kinda hard not to see why they would be tempted by all of this. Assuming that they really were bi-curious androgynous, glam men like James seem like an easy way to dip your toe in the water, you know? Courtney Act and many drag queens have talked about this, being the bridge between feminine and masculine where ‘straight’ men feel safe to experiment. The difference being that Act welcomes this attention and fully understands what kind of attention she’s attracting, which is mostly sexual, and I think James is looking for something VERY different. These men aren’t prepared to have any sort of relationship, and that’s the tragedy here on both sides. And why this arrangement CAN be toxic. Or assuming that they were purely in it for the perks, a more experienced person would hopefully be able to parse that. Would be able to either go into the experience with eyes open about it, or avoid these encounters.

So regardless of my personal feelings on James Charles, or yours, I do think this is a good opportunity to take a step back and analyse the queer social dynamics at play here. Hopefully someone else could learn something, and hopefully James can move on from this experience and build healthier relationships with men who can give him what he wants or needs.

#james charles #james charles drama #queer social theory #queer social dynamics #iunno if I should tag it #I'm truly not trying to be inflammatory #just trying to understand the situation #and hopefully parse some of these crazy dynamics for someone else

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xxdearlybeloved · 5 years

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Made With a Kiss

A Modern!John x Reader Valentine’s Day Story

Summary: It’s just fluff. Actually no there’s some angst but no smut and cute John.

“I want a Sunday kind of love

A love to last past Saturday night

And I’d like to know it’s more than love at first sight

And I want a Sunday kind of love.”

A Sunday Kind of Love, Etta James

Your heart beat a little faster as it usually did when you saw his name flash across your phone. Or the way it did when you were with him. Or when his body touched yours in the smallest ways.

No matter how many times it happened, your heart would flutter and a smile would cross your face. He would ask you if you were free, you would make plans to meet up with him. You would check the mirror over and over until you were running late or he was at your door. The nerves would melt as soon as he smiled at you. You were falling for him and you couldn’t help it. But you knew better.

He was a Shelby.

You were not the type of girl to throw yourself after a Shelby. You’d seen them around. The way girls would giggle with their friends when the brothers walked by as if they owned the world. How they would adjust their skirts or wipe their mouths as they came back with one of them, trying to look discreet as their friends excitedly waited their return.

You were often at the same parties as they were, your social circle and theirs overlapping in the presence and pursuit of power. It was at one of these parties that you first met John, heading into the kitchen to get your third – or fourth? – drink of the night.

He was there pouring his own, catching your eye as you walked in. You quickly looked away, standing awkwardly to the side as you waited for him to finish. The last thing you wanted was to be seen as one of their groupies.

You wanted to be stronger than that. But when he came over, lifting the bottle and raising his eyebrows, you nodded. He was only being decent. When he asked you your name, you searched his eyes before you gave it.

His hand held yours steady while he poured, the warmth radiating through you to your core. It had to be the whiskey. As the scent filled your nose, you let your eyes trace his face. His eyelashes were so long, temporarily shielding the blue from your view. When they connected with yours again, you felt as if you could fall into them.

You saw him smile as he noticed you staring and you blushed, turning to walk away before he reached out and brushed your arm with his fingers. You stopped, debating to yourself before you turned. He had closed the distance between you and now he stood, taking a sip of his drink. He was perfectly cool and collected and you were… unsure. You took a sip of your drink as well.

He asked you some questions about where you lived, what you did. He seemed genuinely interested and you weren’t sure if it was because he actually was or if he’d just had a lot of practice. “Is it true what they say about you?” you heard yourself ask.

He was caught off guard but he hid it well. “What do they say?” he returned, with that same cool composure you figured had to be a Shelby trait. You rolled your eyes.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know already. I’m not here to stroke your ego, John Shelby.”

“Then why are you here, love?”

It was your turn to be caught off guard. You stammered while he watched you, a smile playing at his cheeks. Your words were not cooperating so you turned, heading back to your friends. This time, he didn’t stop you.

All of the things you could have said played across your mind as you sat with your friends. You were barely paying attention to the conversation as he watched you across the room. You eyes would meet and you would debate telling him what you really thought of his ego.

You finished your drink and your friends slowly drifted away, the bathroom, kitchen, and potential lovers seemed to call them all at once. You shouldn’t have been surprised when John made his way over to you, but you felt your heart hammering anyway.

He sank next to you, sat back on the sofa as if he owned it and you felt yourself getting annoyed again. “Why are you here?” you asked, cringing at how childish you sounded. He didn’t say anything, he just looked at you, smiling as if you shared an inside joke.

He pulled your hand, turning you so that you sat on his lap with your back against the arm of the sofa. You tried to breathe through your nerves, hoping to relax the tension you felt. Hoping he wouldn’t notice how stiff you were or that you wouldn’t cut off the circulation in his legs. You should have been worried about the people watching, but you felt safely secluded in this dark corner with John.

You felt weird towering over him after you had been looking up at him all night. He ran his hands along your thigh, his fingers lightly tracing patterns that sent shivers up your spine. His smile was boyish, and you couldn’t stop yourself from cupping his face and bringing your lips to meet his.

It was a slow kiss, sweet in a way that made you smile into it. You felt him smile back before he laced his fingers in your hair and kissed you harder, your mouth opening to connect your tongue with his. You wrapped your arms around him, pulling him closer as you let yourself fall into him. You felt your breathing grow heavier, your heart racing, and you swallowed your moan and John tugged at your hair.

You didn’t expect him to call. In the moment, you just wanted to know what his lips felt like. After it was over, you tried not to beat yourself up for becoming another name on his list. You shrugged off our friends, joking that you just wanted to see what the fuss was about. But you still found yourself wondering if every message and phone call since you gave him your number would be from him.

The first time, you were sure it had been a mistake. You answered anyway, still smiling hours later when you finally hung up with him. When he asked you out, you were sure it was for one reason, but you said yes anyway. He surprised you, behaving like the perfect gentleman, only kissing you good night when he walked you to your door. You wanted to pull him inside, but you resisted.

His calls became more frequent, but they still brilliantly brightened your day. The days between your encounters, you would remind yourself that he was still a Shelby. And what were you? A friend, lover, or an option?

You didn’t want to let him in, wanting to spare yourself the impending heartbreak. You would get home, needing him. Wishing he was there to stretch you open, his breath on your neck as your bodies moved together. You would open your phone to text him before closing it and deciding to get yourself off instead.

Of course you would think of him as you reached your high, letting the pleasure was over you. But then you would lay there, alone. The haze would be over and you would see clearly. Perhaps it was better this way.

So when he called you, asking what you were doing Thursday, you said nothing without even checking the calendar. But when you did, you were mortified. Valentine’s Day. He must not have realized. You typed and retyped how to tell him. Maybe it would be less obvious if you suggested a different day or cancelled last minute. Maybe it was a sign that it was time to call off your fun and move on before you got hurt.

But each time you typed a message, your finger would hover over send before you would delete the whole thing. You even came close to just blocking him entirely. But the day came and you agonized over what to wear. Would he even notice if you put in more effort?

You tried to breathe through your frustration. Why had you let it get this far? Why were you putting so much thought in what he probably saw as another day in the week? He was probably taking you out tonight so he could have his weekend free.

The doorbell rang and you collected yourself before going to answer the door, preparing to have him steal a little more of your heart before he broke it completely. He stood there with flowers, a soft smile on his face as he leaned against the door. Your smile was brilliant as you realized he knew exactly what day it was. And he wanted to spend it with you.

So you let him in.

#john shelby #john shelby fanfic #john shelby fanfiction #john shelby imagine #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction

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wickedsingularity · 5 years

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Candy Cane [one-shot]

wickedsingularity’s Christmas Stories 2018 Masterlist

Fandom: MCU Pairings/characters: Steve Rogers x reader (but not really), brief cameo from Sam Wilson and his girlfriend Words: 1926 Warnings: Semi-public sex, bit of fingering, penis in vagina, spanking

Prompt/summary: A cold, rainy, windy day is best spent inside under blankets and with a Christmas movie and hot chocolate and candy canes. But Steve is a bit distracted by his girlfriend’s way of eating her candy cane.

Christmas spirit was hard to come by when it was raining cats and dogs and the wind was howling like a million ghouls. But I had to admit, it was very cosy sitting inside all snuggled up in the crook of Steve's arm. Lights were strung up here and there all over the big room, some blinking gently, other casting a warm glow over the decorations. The Christmas tree decorated with multi-coloured lights was reflected in the windows behind the television. And outside those windows were red taillights on the odd car driving by somewhere in the distance, and rows of yellow streetlights, all blurred because of the rain spattering onto the windowpanes.

It was a rare day in the Avengers facility, calm and quiet, smack dab in the middle between Christmas and New Year's. Some people were out doing errands, some were training, and a couple were off on a mission to tie up some loose ends at the end of the year.

Steve and I were all alone in the entire building, and he had first suggested we take a walk, but while the weather had been bright with barely a cloud in the sky, the forecast had said it would be wet and miserable. Instead, we took full advantage of being alone and occupied as much as possible of the comfiest couch, watching an old Christmas movie, one of Steve's favourites. I made us hot chocolate with marshmallows, Steve had brought candy canes and the rest of the Christmas cookies. It was a perfect afternoon.

"You're not paying attention to the movie." Steve's chastising voice brought me out of my holiday daydreaming. I blinked slowly, glancing up at him, the candy cane I'd been sucking on making a smacking sound as I pulled it out of my mouth. Despite the tone of voice, his eyes were playful.

"I'm revelling in the cosiness instead," I explained, popping the candy cane back into my mouth, letting my tongue curl around it, soaking up the flavour. I continued with it sticking out of my mouth. "Besides, we saw it before Christmas too."

He smiled slightly down at me and when I laid my head back on his shoulder, he pressed a kiss to my hair.

We sat in silence for a while. I tried hard to watch more of the movie for Steve's sake, but the heavy raindrops sliding down the windows made the lights outside flicker slightly and drew my attention. I stared dreamily at the colourful reflections, hearing nothing but the pitter patter of the rain, and continued to suck up the candy cane. But after a little while, something poked at my consciousness, and I pulled my mind back to the room.

Steve was staring at me.

I slowly pulled the candy cane from my mouth again, there wasn't much left of it now. "You're not paying attention to the movie," I said playfully, throwing his own words back at him.

"Watching you suck on that thing is turning me on."

I only raised an eyebrow in response.

"You don't even know how fucking indecently you were doing it." He turned slightly in his seat, causing me to sit up. The way he was looking at me sent a thrill running through my body. I looked him straight in the eyes and reached out with my tongue, to swirl it around what was left of the red and white striped cane, letting it slide into my mouth again. The blue of his eyes was almost swallowed by black in an instant and I felt that sweet ache between my thighs. "Careful..." he warned me, and it did nothing but turn me on even more.

"Or what?"

I could almost see the gears shifting in his brain for a split second, before he glanced around the room, then pulled the candy cane from me and threw it across the floor. His lips crashed against mine, hands cradling my face, tongue wrestling with mine. He tasted of chocolate and marshmallows and Christmas and Steve, and I moaned into his mouth. If I could taste nothing else for the rest of my life, I would be happy.

My moan seemed to spur him on and he ran his hands into my hair, pulling gently on the strands between his fingers, but I pulled away.

"What?" he protested, voice already a bit gravelly.

I answered by rising up on my knees and moving to straddle him, my Santa patterned pyjama skirt riding up a bit. I laid my hands on his chest, slid them slowly up and around his neck. Steve looked into my eyes the entire time, seeming almost enthralled when I leaned down to press my lips against his and finally sat down on his lap, feeling him half-hard against my core already.

Steve's arms wound around my waist, pressing me to him, as I opened up to him, savouring the Christmas on his tongue. I ground my hips down on his clothed cock, earning a groan from him that set the fire he had lit ablaze inside me. My nails scratched lightly along the hairline on his neck, our lips melded against each other. His hands slid down my thighs and then up again, my pyjama skirt sliding up even more. Then they moved to my ass, squeezing lightly and making me hum into him, before sneaking up under my t-shirt his hands so warm against my lower back.

"Want you, doll," Steve murmured against my lips.

I broke the kiss and leaned my forehead against his, breathing heavily. "I can tell." I deliberately pushed my hips down and slid my core over his hard length. I hoped he could feel how wet I was, even though there were too many clothes in the way. "Want you too. Now."

Steve looked up at me, a little bit of hesitation in his eyes. "Now? Here?"

I nodded and moved back a bit, giving me room to untie the string on his sweatpants and put a hand down there to squeeze his length, hot and hard.

The super soldier groaned and threw his head back.

"How convenient that you're not wearing underwear," I commented, pulling down his pants a little to reveal the tip of his cock.

"Saves precious time when I want to fuck you."

I rolled my thumb over the tip and Steve cursed. "I knew you were smart, Captain."

"Stop teasing, sweetheart." There was a warning note in his voice that did nothing but soak my panties. "We need to be quick before someone comes back."

I pulled the waistband of his pants down and he lifted his hips and helped slide it off just enough to completely free his cock. Then he lifted my skirt a bit and slipped two fingers inside my panties, pressing right down on my clit and making me fall against him in surprise. I caught myself on the back of the couch while he snickered.

"Just get inside me, dammit."

Those two fingers pulled my panties aside and he held his cock with his other hand. I slowly lowered myself and he slid it through my folds, getting it nice and slick, before aiming at my entrance. When I felt the warm tip press against me, I sat down, fully enveloping him in one stroke, both moaning at the sensation.

Steve laid his hands on my hips and signalled for me to move, and I didn't need to be asked twice. Arms around his neck, eyes locked on his dark blue ones, I moved. Pulling up and pushing back down, getting him as deep as I could, feeling every inch of him filling me again and again. Our moans and groans mingled with the audio from the Christmas movie. In the corner of my eye, I saw the merry lights on the Christmas tree. Anyone could walk in on us at any moment. All of it made it that much hotter.

"Fuck, doll..." Steve groaned. "Taking my cock so well."

"Feel so good, Captain. Feel so good." I started moving faster, bouncing on his cock, a wet smacking sound every time our hips met. My back arched, his hands on my hips kept me from toppling backwards. "Make me come, Steve. Please, make me come."

His grip tightened and he began guiding me, harder and faster. It felt like he got even deeper. My hands grabbed the back of the couch until my knuckles turned white as he helped me ride him. The coil was tightening in my stomach, but it needed more.

"Steve... Please..." I begged near his ear.

He gave my ass a hard smack and I made a sound of surprise, faltering for a bit as the pain shot straight to my core, squeezing his cock in delight.

"Damn, doll..."

Two more, quick and hard. The sting of them added to the pleasure, and I whined. The fourth one made the coil snap, a drawn-out moan filling the room, my entire body shaking in Steve's hands. He snapped his hips into mine now, holding me still, chasing his own release and drawing out mine. Only a few moments later and he groaned and pulled me to him, holding me tight as he spilt everything in me. I made sure to squeeze and grind, milking every little drop from him.

We stayed connected, coming down from our highs, arms around each other. I slowly moved my hips, drawing out the pleasure for both of us.

"If you keep doing that, you're going to make me hard again," Steve spoke against my shoulder.

"Oh no..." I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. But I did stop moving. Revelling in the feeling of him still inside and around me, the peace I always felt after he made me come falling over me.

But suddenly there was the sound of footsteps downstairs.

Adrenaline shot through me and we scrambled apart. I stood up on slightly shaky legs and righted my underwear, straightening out my skirt. The Santa-drawings seemed to stare at me in disapproval. Steve packed himself away, pulling up his sweatpants and tried to tie the string again, but his fingers shook too much. He pulled his t-shirt down as far as it could go instead and ran his hands through his hair. I found my seat next to him and pulled the blanket back over us. I felt Steve threaten to spill out and I squeezed hard, just imagining everyone's face if I stood up and revealed a wet spot on the couch.

Just as the footsteps reached the top of the stairs, Steve grabbed his mug of hot chocolate and I grabbed a cookie, eyes on the movie but not really seeing it.

"Oh, hey guys! We thought no one was in."

Steve and I looked over the back of the couch, seeing Sam with an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "I didn't want to go out in that weather," I explained. "So, movie."

Sam and his girl were giving us a strange look. "Uh-huh."

"But I'm feeling a bit sleepy," I said, looking at Steve, his face was tomato red. "I'm going to go lie down."

Realisation lit up his eyes. "Oh, nap, yes. That sounds good." He grabbed the remote and turned off the movie. Trying not to look too guilty, we headed out, me trying my best to hold onto what Steve left inside me.

Right before the door closed, we heard Sam's girlfriend: "Why's there a half-eaten candy cane under the TV-stand?"

Permanent tags: @imamotherfuckingstar-lord @geeksareunique @iguess-theyre-mymess @neeadinghugs @earinafae @mattmurdocksgirl @joulien @imaginesofdreams @brewsthespirit-blog @lemonlime799 @reading-in-moonlight

Marvel tags: @feelmyroarrrr @somethingwitty-somethingsweet

Tag lists are open! Just send an ask or DM or reply or reblog or whatever you want, just let me know which list you want on!

#wickedsingularity's christmas stories 2018 #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers smut #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers one shot #my gif #steve rogers #chris evans x reader #chris evans fluff #chris evans smut #chris evans x you #chris evans x oc #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans one hot #steve rogers imagine #chris evans imagine

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sometimesrosy · 5 years

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Can you tell us, from a writer point of view, what’s Echo’s plot and what you think of it? What type of archetype is she? Where is she headed? How did her character in past seasons influence her character in s5 and how will it influence s6? Sorry if it’s too much, I’m just really curious because barely anyone analyses her character without being biased. If you take this “challenge”, I’ll thank you for it. If not, I understand and thank you anyways.

Okay. First, archetypes aren’t like, a definitive label to place on a character. Archetypes are traditional stories and characters, patterns and tropes and conventions that we are familiar with due to eons of these stories being told.

They help us build our concept of humanity, of ourselves, and of expectations, ideas of right and wrong, and help us make sense of the world around us. They are subconscious stories that *feel* right to us, so we can understand character or personal motivations.

As such, I can explore a character through many different archetypes and might have different understanding through each one. Some might fight more fully, some might be only a partial fit. A character might drop one archetype, and move onto another, like Bellamy starting out as “the rebel” and becoming “the caretaker.” He was DEFINITELY “the rebel.” And then he wasn’t. Or perhaps he still has some elements of “the rebel” in him. The more complex a character, the more realistic, the more we’ll be able to see multiple archetypes within them.

Okay, so I did a little google (with a short trip through some mens rights horror) and settled on our basic idea of archetype. Jungian. Generally with this show, while there are many literary elements going on, they are usually pretty simple ones, and you can find understanding on page 1 of your google search.

So for Echo, I’m going with:

The HeroMotto: Where there’s a will, there’s a wayCore desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous actsGoal: expert mastery in a way that improves the worldGreatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken”Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possibleWeakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fightTalent: competence and courageThe Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player. [X]

She is The Hero before we meet her. I don’t mean the hero of the story, and i don’t meant The Hero’s Journey. I’m talking character type. Personality.

So we meet her in the cages, where the enemy has beaten her and her story is basically over until she meets Bellamy who she blames, sorta, and hates, until she realizes teaming up is the way to survive and win. This actually reminds me of Clarke. She recognized him as “the hero” and leader, the “other” who could be allied with in order to win. Which she did. They work together to defeat Lovejoy, and Bellamy goes on his mission while Echo takes on HER mission, mobilizing the grounder troops.

However, her leader calls her to stand down, so she abandons her new comrade in arms and leaves him to fail, while following her leader, who has chosen to betray their allies.

We know that this bothered her, because she told him it was wrong (as did Lincoln and Indra.) In season 3 she came back, and leaned on her relationship as comrade with Bellamy, apologized for her betrayal, and then, leads him away from the plot against Mount Weather. Thereby saving his life and fulfilling her debt to him for saving HER life, but also betraying him AGAIN. HOWEVER in doing so, she has followed her leader’s requests, again, in word, while also getting her goals accomplished. Saving Bellamy. Who she feels a connection with, as well as owing a debt to.

In season 4, she’s back again. This time, with power. The king depends upon her. She is a warrior again. She makes decisions for the best of her people. She continues with her enmity against the sky people, which has been the case since they landed. (witness her initial meeting with Bellamy.) BUT her interactions with Bellamy have taught her that the sky people have also contributed and are warriors in their own right. She still disregards the skypeople and thinks of them as enemies, but BELLAMY is not like other skypeople, and she would like him to trust her. :/ I am not a big fan of “not like other girls” thinking. Lxa did it too with Clarke.

That actually is important, because there are a lot of parallels between Echo and Bellamy’s relationship and Clarke and Lxa’s relationship. The opposite side enemies, who become allies and comrades and are betrayed, leading Clarke and Bellamy to basically lose it, who must come back to become comrades again in order to survive and then, fall in love.

Lxa and CL was important to Clarke because it allowed her to embrace the dark side of herself, to make the hard choices, and face the terrible repercussions of those things. Lxa was her shadow and she needed to fall in love with her in order to move forward.

Echo and B/E is important to Bellamy because it allows him to forgive HIMSELF, to let go of his hate and resentment of the enemy who has caused him so much pain, so that he could accept “the other” as part of his family. As humanity. He needed this to move forward and lead with his head, while Clarke needed CL to embrace love and lead with her heart.

I point these out because, while Echo is important and has her own story, her MAIN place in the story is to act as a foil for BELLAMY’S journey. Yes. She is there to serve his story. She is a secondary and sometimes tertiary character. because it’s HIS story. Why didn’t we get the story of B/E falling in love? Because it wasn’t about their love. It was about how their love changed Bellamy and allowed him to move forward in HIS story. He is a holistic leader now, he has forgiven himself and his enemy (sometimes the same thing) and now he can live without the trauma he has been holding and we see him as The Hero he is meant to be. For Bellamy, that is not actually his archetype, that is his role in the story. Not personality. Sorry, there are many forms of “the hero” in lit analysis.

Echo’s story in s5 CHANGES. She moves from being a minor or tertiary character to being a secondary character.

NOW we get to see her in her Hero archetype. She is the fighter. The warrior. The team player. She goes on the missions. She saves the day. Right?

Her story in season 5 and I suspect season 6, because it is not over. I feel like she went to sleep in the middle of it, is “The Hero” discovering that she does not need to be the warrior all the time and she has a place in her family without having to be fighting someone all the time.

With the fight for Eden, she had a clear role. It was EVEN how she got Octavia to allow her to continue her relationship with her boyfriend. Her romance is not really the story. Being ALLOWED to be part of Bellamy’s life is. We don’t SEE their love. We see them fighting to be able to love. And to WIN that permission? What does she do? She fights against the enemies. She provides the leader with military advantages. She is The Warrior.

It is hard to tell you what I think her story is this season without speculating, because I don’t believe her story is done.

I do not think her story will be about a romance, but I DO think it will be about belonging, about family, and about being the good guy– and what that means when she can’t just fight “the enemy” and let that be enough to make her worthy. It is part of the main story of the whole show, with different characters exploring what it means to be good. What IS good. Her issue is where does she belong, because she has always belonged AS The Warrior. If she can’t be The Warrior, then WHO IS SHE?

I’m seeing some echo between Echo and Clarke now. The beginning of s1 had Clarke asking who was Wanheda if there was no one left to kill. And I think Echo will be having a similar question in season 6. When the warrior went to space and put down her sword and became a part of a family and found love, but then had to pick up the sword again and fight enemies again. So she had a place. The family, the love, the sword.

I think her question will be “am I worthy if I don’t have the sword?” Partly because the question of love will be up in the air, with both Octavia and Clarke there now, and Bellamy loving Clarke. And to THEN be confronted by Clarke and Bellamy’s decision to “be the good guys” and Bellamy’s declaration that they weren’t going to kill their enemies. It leaves Echo without a place. This would essentially be a confrontation of her archetype. If she’s always playing the role of the hero and that is how she finds value, then having it taken from her and finding her own intrinsic value is a subversion of the Hero archetype.

I think she’ll find that being part of the family is ENOUGH. That being HERSELF is enough. And she might end up making some decisions that are the right thing to do, but not for her family. Hmm. I think she’s going to prove herself as the good guy also, but it may not be how her family wants. BUT that is speculation on what I see her story going towards, not an analysis of it yet. Because it hasn’t gotten to that part yet.

I believe that s5 and s6 are a two year long story arc for all the characters, so I’m looking at where we could go from where we are now.

. What do I feel about her story? If it goes the way I see it, I think it’s good and important and strong for a secondary character. I don’t like the romance because I ship Bellarke, but I also don’t see it as a threat, because I see it as a narrative tool to move Bellarke into the romantic. All the signs are there. It’s slower than the fandom wanted, and left us in the middle of it which makes them feel Bellarke isn’t happening, but it’s all still going along the conventions of the love triangle, so I’m good.

I am leery of the ship wars, and I know the ship wars make me not want to pay as much attention to echo as i might otherwise if i didn’t know people would use the analysis to prop up a ship and shoot mine down, and take my analysis of what I see as a romantic obstacle to Bellarke as an attack on them. And while I appreciate echo, I can’t take part in echo appreciation because people use that to hate on Clarke, which I cannot abide. So the fandom limits how I may address characters and stories. Mainly because I don’t want the drama.

I took the challenge. It was hard. ;)

#the 100 #echo #archetypes #the warrior #story arc #character arc #frogiveness #shadow #betrayal

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/karmic-tools-weekly-forecast-january-27-february-2-2019/

Karmic Tools Weekly Forecast: January 27 – February 2, 2019

The Karmic Tools Weekly Forecast covers the current planetary transits which affect people in different ways and to various degrees of intensity. Take notice when it is a Personal planet (Sun / Moon / Mercury / Venus / Mars) interacting with a Social (Jupiter/Saturn) or Collective planet (Uranus / Neptune/Pluto). And pay extremely close attention when it is a Social planet interacting with a Collective planet because that means something *big* is brewing that will move large groups of people along their evolutionary paths. Tuning in to the energy and rhythm of the planets can serve as a useful *guide* as you move along your Individual Path. It also helps to understand your place within the context of the larger Social & Collective Story. Below, you will find out how these energies tend to manifest, as well as guidance and direction.

*NOTE* There are some days when there are NO CONTACTS (besides the Moon), please note that there are no missing entries, we just list the actual Activations of each week + the day they happen.

Weekly Forecast: January 27 – February 2, 2019

1/29 ~ Mercury (communication & self-expression) ~conjunct~ Sun (core essential Self & Source energy): This is the beginning of a new cycle of personal self-expression. You may feel the urge to express yourself in new ways, and on many different levels. Communication may also be a focus, just make sure it is reciprocated, meaning two-way and not just one-sided. You may have access to some potent energy that can light up your aura and infuse your goals with passion that can (and probably will) make quite an impression on others nearby. This is also a good time for learning, exploring & any literal or imaginative travel. If you can’t travel far, then perhaps within your own area or nearby parks, and pay attention for things you may have never noticed before now!

1/31 ~ Saturn (reality & responsibility) ~sextile~ Neptune (dreams & spirituality): This is a Social and a Collective planet coming together which happens over a much longer stretch of time, however, it is still relevant for us as individuals and is a supportive energy that helps us make our dreams a reality! The last time these two danced together was in 2015-2016 in a Sag/Pisces Square – which is a push to grow in our belief system and our spirituality, a push to learn & expand as an individual and still honor the whole and it was Fire & Water working together, facilitating a purification of sorts. Those years got really *REAL* in a lot of ways, for a lot of people. Reality versus Illusion and a growth moment where things inevitably changed. How’s it been going for you ever since 2015-16?

Now, they are together activating a major opportunity and working via Earth & Water to create something real and meaningful for you personally. Saturn in Capricorn is restructuring our lives on many levels and revealing what we are and are not responsible for at this time. While Neptune in Pisces is reuniting us with our primordial oceanic womb-like Mother, out of which ALL life springs and eternally bonds us all together. If one life or species suffers, they ALL suffer. So, this week’s activation is really good for deepening your dedication to a spiritual practice that fills you with inspiration, clarity & inner peace so that you can navigate whatever life throws your way. This is the best time to work on your biggest dream because Saturn helps you create a step-by-step process of manifestation and keeps you present to the work that has to be done in order for you to embody this new vision completely. This is an excellent time to develop your relationship to your Council of Elders, Ancestors & Guides and remember your magical roots! A reminder that all that you need, desire & deserve is sourced within you and it’s your job to unlock it all this lifetime and see how it all works and what it really means for your individual purpose for being here, a Spirit in human form. Relevant Reflections: I go into more detail of the larger cycle of Saturn & Neptune HERE during their last interaction, which was in 2015-2016. It too will illuminate more clues as to what you are doing and where you can gain some traction in your manifesting realms.

2/1 ~ Mars (lower will) ~square~ Pluto (Higher will): This is a test of what you are made of, on the deepest core level, and will require surrender and a degree of self-awareness to navigate. This energy challenges you to evolve and will make you want to push through any obstacles but you must be careful not to be so aggressive that you are stepping on anyone to get where you’re going. This is a potent energy that can facilitate major transformation in your life if you know who you are, what you want and what you are willing to sacrifice to get there – that includes parts of your Self that may need to shift in order for you to be more effective in life. This energy can bring power struggles, within or without, so be mindful because this energy is affecting everyone at this time. This is the time to tie up any loose ends if you are close to beginning anew. If you do not finish what you already have in the works, it may get in the way of things you want to do in the future. It is time to align your true inner power with balanced outer actions & choices.

2/2 ~ Venus (love, finances & relationships) ~trine~ Uranus (freedom & liberation): This energy is likely to bring a little excitement into your life, one way or another. It is a good time to do something different, try something new & consciously put your Self in situations where you have to improvise or think on your feet. We are in times of breaking old patterns and re-setting them in more positive, effective ways. You can still live your true values & priorities, but something has changed within you. This blessing from the Cosmos allows you to align with more personal authenticity, which in turn is infused into all that you love & treasure. Relationships will have an unusual energy to them. An established relationship may get shaken up or sparkle with some extra “spice” or a new relationship begun under this influence may be stimulating & unusual but probably short-lived too. This is not a bad thing! It’s actually perfect for improvising and experimenting with new ideas & expressions to see what you actually respond to, what your Heart aligns with and responds to. Use this energy to soak up some good energy & rare wisdom from those who are unique, from those who do things differently and live life to the fullest!

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