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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “The Final Word”

Well, we made it to the finale, everyone, and if you're reading this it seems you've survived the watching of it too. Barely. To say that some questionable choices were made across these 20 minutes is... an understatement.

But before we delve into the episode, I want you to cast your mind back to November 7th, 2020. A horrible year that heralded a horrible RWBY volume. There, coming off the shaky writing of Volume 7, I posed a number of questions and concerns that the show needed to tackle, with the promise that we would return to these expectations in four months time. Now, here we are! Let's refresh everyone's memory, yeah?

Taken directly from that recap, what RWBY promised us, through various teasers and Q&As, included:

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

And you know what? They did all this. In the spirit of being fair and honest to this show, RWBY succeeded in delivering on everything they promised... it was just our foolishness that expected that these ideas would be delivered well. Ruby's leadership took center stage in the form of her hiding for multiple episodes and then others telling her she's still The Best before the plot dropped a solution into her lap... one she could have used at any point prior to this. Summer's death certainly has an impact, though it's an impact born of a crazy reveal that Summer likely isn't dead, but turned into a horrifying grimm monster. Ren and Nora both delve into their flaws, but heaven forbid either grow from that reflection. Ren learns that if he pushes past his primary flaw of keeping his emotions buried and actually expresses his doubts for once, he'll be yelled at and ignored until he admits how wrong he was. The "real" flaw is being a bad friend, with "bad friend" equaling "Not agreeing with Ruby 100%." Meanwhile, Nora considers that maybe she shouldn't rush in recklessly and hit things with her hammer... which is why she rushes in recklessly, hits something with her hammer, gets grievously injured, and is told that this is just who she truly is. No growth there, not unless we count her sudden desire to figure out who she is without Ren... but that exploration hasn't started yet. Too bad she wasn't the teammate separated at the end of the volume!

Meanwhile, May did indeed have a larger role to play, one I quite liked, it's just that this role — like all the others — inevitably circled back to realizing how wonderful Ruby is. May challenges Ruby to make a decision, but instead of being the catalyst for Ruby's growth, May becomes another forgotten side character who does a sudden about-turn regarding her perspective, leaving the group with the contradictory message that Ruby is actually doing her best, she's just a kid, no need to try any harder... everyone who claimed otherwise up until now was mistaken. May is another Cordovin. She's another Qrow. She's another Maria.

Fun fact: we don't even know if Maria is alive right now. That's how little she means to the show!

Actually, wait... anyone remember this nonsense from Volume 7?

I was too lazy to change the date.

Moving on, Ozpin's cane turned out to be a stakes obliterating bomb that came out of nowhere, makes no sense logistically — how do battles store energy that only hurts grimm? — yet nevertheless seems to have killed Hazel? It's a disaster of unanswered questions. Similar to the disaster of our two day timeline when, I'm fairly sure, we've had an unnatural number of sunrises and sunsets. I'll have to take a look back at the volume as a whole now that it's complete to be sure of that though. As for our themes... did we really explore the idea of respecting someone even if you disagree with them? Because Ironwood wasn't shown any respect. Ren wasn't shown respect. I think the closest we got was Oscar calmly validating Yang's worry about getting buddy-buddy with Emerald, but the whole point there was that Yang was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but that's what the text would have you believe. She is indeed "very suspicious and distrustful," but that's hardly unjustified in these circumstances. I'm still boggling at the fact that it took the group three volumes for forgive Ozpin, even while he was actively working to assist them, yet I-helped-destroy-Beacon-and-tried-to-kill-everyone-you-love Emerald is the group's new BFF after she... ran away with Oscar? She didn't save him, she just went along for the ride. At the very least we might have gotten a scene where Penny was like, "Hey, why are you all laughing with the woman who just tried to kill my dad?"

But oh yeah, the story doesn't remember Pietro exists either. His daughter is DEAD and he hasn't been on screen since Episode Five, let alone there when she passes.

I had my own list going in, including such expectations as "Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this" and "Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake." Obviously these needs were not met.

So what, given this mess of expectations, did we end up with?

Our finale — for some reason — breaks the one word title trend with "The Final Word." It's an expression that refers to the final word in an argument or a discussion, the idea of winning by making a last, devastating point. It can also refer to making the final decision on something, which is the best way I'm able to apply the title to this episode (outside of any “final” comparisons). Penny's death is certainly all about choice and making some kind of decision... but on the whole, this title doesn't feel like it fits well. Not like "Worthy" or "Creation" or "Risk." The two latter titles had obvious connections to the episode in question through dialogue and plot, while the former was a deliberate callback to Watts' speech. "The Final Word" feels... less obvious in what it’s trying to say.

That's a minor nitpick though. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

We open on the grimm whale still disappearing, which is weird. I get that it's massively bigger than any other grimm we've seen, but they all turned to dust near instantaneously and it's been, what? At least an hour since Oscar blew it up? Likely longer when we factor in their walk back to the manor, the fight with Ironwood, fixing Penny, and this entire evacuation. It certainly makes for a nice visual, but like so many details in RWBY, it raises unnecessary questions along the way.

The important bit though is that amidst the whale carcass a blob of evil is swirling about. Salem, obviously.

She’s not reforming in time to actually do anything though, don't worry.

Instead, we cut to the Ironwood vs. Winter fight and there's at least some dialogue this time. Ironwood yells that he's sacrificed everything to keep Remnant safe. Winter yells back that he actually sacrificed everyone else. Obviously, Ironwood should be called out for things like, you know, his unprompted murders, but instead they have Winter listing stuff that she was never shown to have a problem with before. The embargo? "Squeezed Mantle until it broke?" She, as Ironwood's second hand, understood and supported both the decision to close the border and the need to collect resources for a plan designed to take out Salem. I hate that no only did she turn without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but now they're having her act as if Ironwood forced these decisions on everyone, rather than everyone supporting him through them. We all remember Volume 7 when Ruby pressured him to finish Amity, right? And in trust RWBY fashion, most of these words are meaningless. Mantle "broke"? What does that mean? The class disparity did not come about through Ironwood: that's been in the works for generations. The lack of resources made things harder, yes, but when they were reclaimed by Robyn nothing improved. Watts is the one who turned off the heat and Salem attacked Atlas, leaving Mantle alone. Now, all the citizens have escaped through magical portals. So how is Mantle "broken" exactly? More importantly, why is Winter upset over this vague, nonsensical dilemma when she could be yelling about Ironwood wanting to bomb Mantle?

Again: this woman watched Ironwood shoot the councilman, shrugged, and continued to believe in him up until she realized his bomb threat was real. That was one of the main reasons why I thought the councilman might be alive, with Ironwood only shooting a warning shot past him. Because this is how you react to a good person unexpectedly killing someone else

whereas this is what we got from Winter and Harriet.

Hell, Weiss has more of a reaction to Yang telling Ruby things aren't super great right now.

So either Ironwood didn't do something that bad, thereby justifying these tame reactions (unlikely, given where his character ended up), or we should believe based on the animation that everyone was super chill with him killing an unarmed civilian. Which is then directly contradicted when they're like, "You're going to shoot Marrow? Bomb a city?? How could you do such horrible things??? 😲" Friends, buddies, fictional pals... you already watched him murder a dude.

The point is, there's a lot for Winter to be upset about, but she's not upset about that. There's a lot that Winter herself believed in, but the writing has forgotten that. This entire arc went off the rails a volume ago.

Also, why is Ironwood fighting with that giant gun? This is his final battle, presumably ever, and he's wielding this awkward, sluggish weapon we saw him randomly pick up two episodes ago? Let him use his regular guns! Give us a fantastic battle like he had with Watts! Instead, RWBY's final showdown consists of him using this no-name weapon as a unwieldy club in some of the most boring choreography we've seen to date. It doesn't help that this fight needs to share time with three others. Instead of an epic showdown, we're given glimpses of the battle before continually cutting away from it.

During that first cut we return to the Team RWBY battle where Penny, doing her best to stay out of Cinder's reach, is whisked away on Weiss' wasp.

Too bad she didn't do that for Yang...

Jaune and Nora watch this horror unfold until Jaune says, "Priority one!" and they split. Except... what is priority one exactly? Helping the civilians? I guess, because they don't enter the fight until the very end of it, when everyone else seems to have made it to Vacuo. And you know what, I like that. For once it feels like the group — or at least the B Team — is acting like huntsmen, putting the needs of the people over their own, personal desires. I'm sure Nora wants to help the group after Yang's (presumed) demise and that Jaune would like nothing more than to get his hands on Cinder, but they put those grievances aside to do the work they signed up for. Good job!

My only real gripe is that we don't really see this struggling in the animation, I'm just assuming it's there. In particular, there's a moment when Jaune sends Nora through the portal for reinforcements — not knowing they can't return — and they seem a little too jovial when, by this point, three friends have died.

There's letting your cast be supportive, and then there's having them ignore that three teammates have perished in an abyss. It really doesn't help to sell the idea that Yang, Ruby, and Blake are in any danger here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder is really just after the Maiden powers, she can buy the rest of the group time to escape. Weiss, obviously, isn't fond of this idea... and then the both of them are blasted off the wasp by Cinder's fire. Which they deserve, frankly. They're just having this casual conversation about sacrifice while in the middle of a battle. Did they somehow forget that Cinder can fly too?

Note that multiple attacks from Cinder, another blast, and a hard landing on the pathway gives their auras a knock, but doesn't break them. The primary defense for Yang's aura shattering in a single, simple hit was that everyone is exhausted and running on little to no power... yet here the rest of the cast is, tanking multiple hits as we've come to expect. There is no explanation for Yang's defeat except that the writers chose to ignore the rules of their world for a dramatic death scene... even though that drama was erased a week later as half our team falls into the void too.

We'll get to that though. For now, Cinder corrects Penny's belief with "I want it all" and proceeds to try to finish them off, only for Blake to arrive, having made her choice from last episode about who to help. It's a legitimately nice attack, but I happened to pause at the bEST MOMENT

Anyway.

We leave that fight to return to Qrow and Harriet who have, off screen, started an entirely different battle. What I mean is, last we saw Qrow had broken through the windshield of the airship, roughly pinned Harriet, and was taunting her about getting the fight she wanted. Now, suddenly, he's going “You’re making a mistake, Harriet, what happened to Clover—” as if he's been trying to talk her down this whole time. It's jarring, especially when we consider that Qrow had a volume long "kill Ironwood" arc that was dropped because... Robyn reminded him that murder is bad? RWBY feels like a storytelling pinball machine. Characters bounce from one personality to the next, one perspective and another, round and round until you don't know where they'll end up.

Harriet screams for Qrow to just shut up already and honestly? Same. I love Qrow, he's one of my favorites, but I can't deny that he's been done dirty like so many others since Volume 6. I love who Qrow was, not the mess RWBY has created the last few years.

Time to delve back into fic after recapping!

Sadly though, this strange dialogue wasn't the only "wtf" moment. Harriet is still trying to drop the bomb — which is its own mess of confusing motivations — when Vine and Elm show up on Harriet's ship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this "because you’re our friend!”

Am I glad that they finally acknowledged that the Ace Ops have always been friends? Sure, but why did we spend two volumes claiming otherwise? They were friends, a fantastic team, then Harriet announces that's a lie and we get a bunch of "Team RWBY is superior because they're actually friends" messages. Except this entire time we're still watching the Ace Ops be kind and playful with one another. But they're not friends, the story says. Not friends as they fight these battles. Not friends as they grieve for Clover. Definitely not friends as they react in horror at Ironwood nearly shooting Marrow. No, there's nothing there... until Elm claims there is! Then Harriet reacts in shock. I have friends?

Except Elm was labeled the one "just following orders" by Yang. Elm is the one who shook off Vine after the whale exploded. This isn't the story of one character, Harriet, thinking she was alone and then realizing that people do care for her, this is a story that, seemingly at random, had this group being BFFs or acting like they hated each other — and at each point the visuals are contradicted by the story's message. When they act like friends, we're told they're not friends. When they don't act like friends, we're told they really have been this whole time. I mean, do any of them even care that Marrow teamed up with Qrow and Robyn to take them out five minutes ago? All three were going along with Ironwood's scheme until they were physically stopped, but now Elm is convinced this is a bad decision she needs to talk Harriet down from with the power of friendship?

None of these characters are characters, they're just slapped together reactions based on whatever the plot needs. Who is Elm? I've got no clue. Her personality changes every episode.

Also, love that Qrow moves to stop the bomb from dropping and Harriet screams at him to "Get out of the way!" rather than just... attacking him? She even throws her hands out like she's having a temper tantrum. This feels like schoolyard bickering, not a life or death struggle.

Even though, you know, the audience is aware that the people of Mantle have already been evacuated and Qrow's group is aware that Atlas is falling on top of Mantle as they speak, so... why does the bomb matter? It's going to, what? Destroy the city thirty seconds before Atlas does? Oh no, the horror.

Things then, if you can believe it, get even worse. The bomb is still about to drop, so instead of doing anything to stop it — I mean seriously, we know it takes four people to shoulder the bomb's weight, but you're telling me Qrow and a reformed Harriet can't snag it in a pinch? — Qrow sits there, looks at Clover's pin... and the bomb careens towards the side of the airship instead, stopping.

Because I guess Qrow has good luck now? Or always did and somehow never noticed it? Or his semblance evolved?? Again, we don't know, but it's a bad moment any way you slice it, imo. Qrow has always been defined as the guy with a bad luck semblance and, much like Penny's android struggles, the allure was in watching him overcome those challenges, not having the show erase the challenge entirely. Especially when we don't even understand how it was erased. Qrow just... stops drinking, stops caring for Ironwood, stops wanting to kill Ironwood, stops causing bad luck, I guess. RWBY takes major character traits and flips them off like a light switch, leaving the audience with no emotional tether. We didn't watch Qrow overcome his drinking, or realize he can't bear to kill Ironwood, or discover a way to live life with the horrible hand he was dealt, he just blinks one day and those things are gone. Why? No one is sure. Not even the writers, I'd wager, because otherwise they would have written explanations into the text.

Many in the fandom insist that any basic information provided by the story amounts to "hand holding" when in fact there is a massive difference between the sort of unnecessary exposition that bogs down a tale, and having facts enough for the audience in its entirety to be on the same page about what is actually happening. For example, recently someone argued strongly that the "Penny is human" take is incorrect because Penny isn't human, she has an inhuman body made entirely of aura... yet where in the world does this exist in the story? Ambrosius may have been unsure about what Penny would be prior to removing her robotic parts, but that ambiguity is gone once her body forms, the equivalent of worrying about that gun only for a flag with 'BANG' to appear instead of a bullet. Worrying about something doesn't mean that something actually occurred. Penny appears human, expresses human sentiments, and then, this episode, dies as a human. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and succumbs to the mortal peril that all ducks face... it's probably a duck. As I said in a recent ask, I implore the fandom to stop writing RWBY's scripts for them. Or rather, do so in some amazing fanfics. Don't do it on critical posts as a means of insisting that your revision is canon.

So Qrow has good luck now, maybe, but this character change doesn't amount to anything because Watts remotely starts the bomb's countdown.

At least he’s entertaining and competent. We had that for a time.

Back to the main battle, Neo is kicking Ruby's ass. Why? Because there's no consistency in power levels in this show. The ancient woman who hasn't fought in decades dances circles around Neo, highlighting how weak she supposedly is, yet now Neo dances circles around our main character. None of us should expect fights to follow the logic of the world, only what drama the plot wants to stir up. Ruby is eventually knocked down from a hard hit — yet her aura's intact! — and is saved at the last second by Weiss tossing Neo into one of the portals.

Far more of a problem than the power leveling is that Ruby gives no indication here that Neo just murdered her sister. Again, that's what the characters are meant to believe, yet Ruby is as stoic as she would be fighting a bunch of White Fang grunts. If you showed this scene to a RWBY fan on its own and asked, "What do you think happened prior to this?" the answer would be, "Uh... nothing? Ruby is just fighting Neo like she did on the airship in Volume 3." Nothing about this scene — from dialogue to animation — sells the idea that Ruby just lost the person most important to her in the world.

When we do finally mention Yang, it's Weiss who goes, “Come on, we have to do this for Yang” and the delivery is... meh. Honestly, I normally don't pay much attention to the voice acting, but I had a problem with most of Weiss' lines this episode. The "Leave her alone!" during this fight and later a "Get back!" as she attacks Cinder both fell really flat for me. Given the devastation and charged emotion that's supposed to be here, we can't give her anything better than generic cries that, again, she’d throw at any grunt? In that later scene the animation absolutely helps sell Weiss' distress, but the dialogue is common and the delivery has no emotional punch, leaving it feeling like Yang is just hanging out in Vacuo and they promised they'd beat the baddies before catching up with her. No one but Blake is acting like Yang died.

In fact, we see more emotion from Ruby when Weiss shoves her back, taking the brunt of Cinder's blast.

Weiss' aura breaks, not that that's a danger or anything. Everyone falls before they're injured, Winter gets the Maiden powers, Ren barely has to fight. Losing aura in this show used to be a moment of peril, where just last volume Winter was bruised, bleeding, and now needs an assistive device because she had to continue a battle with no aura. Now it's a joke. Aura breaks left and right across the volume with no repercussions attached to that.

We see a bit of the Blake and Penny vs. Cinder fight where Cinder blasts Blake off the edge. Penny rushes after her because at least one character remembered that they can fly.

Ruby, meanwhile, remembers that she can fly when it benefits her. After getting hit down onto a lower level and watching Crescent Rose plummet, she taunts Neo into an attack with a move that's actually quite good. I like the confidence with which Ruby riles her up and I like the strategy of darting behind Neo to knock her off the path instead. “Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it."

The only thing I don't like is that this speed and ingenuity had to disappear to justify Yang falling.

Cinder breaks Ruby's aura from behind though, sending her over too and grabbing onto Neo's leg. In an obvious moment born of the trope, it looks as if Cinder is reaching to help Neo, only for her to snag the Relic instead. “You should have never threatened me," she tells Neo and to Ruby: "you should have never been born.”

Love that they erased all that cool growth from last episode! And by "love" I mean "hate." As I said last recap, I'm not going to pretend that Cinder's character isn't riddled with problems, but realizing she was stronger by teaming up with Neo and Watts was one of the best things they've ever done for her. It made Cinder dangerous again and showed Watts' speech having a clear impact. It also made her more entertaining, creating a new dynamic among the three villains. Now though, Cinder is just... Cinder. The same boring, stupid Cinder we've had since Volume 4. She betrays Neo and then later betrays Watts.

So Cinder kicks Neo and Ruby both over the edge because why would we want to make her interesting? Neo falls, but Ruby has friends there to catch her! Unlike Yang. Jk. Weiss’ aura is gone and Blake actually tried both times, so major kudos for her. Using momentum supplied by Penny, she snags Ruby and hooks her weapon into one of the pathways... only for Cinder to cut the ribbon. Both plummet and once again Penny has a more believable reaction to all this, just like she did last week

Speaking of reactions, does anyone else find it weird that Cinder finally succeeded in killing Ruby and... doesn’t seem to care?

No? Just me?

At least we get that good animation with Weiss I was talking about before, even if the dialogue is lacking. I love that she snagged Blake's weapon and uses it to try and take out Cinder, shaking the whole time. Those are some great details.

Back to the bomb, Qrow is trying to escape, but Harriet says there isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. "I've killed us all." Vine has the solution though, using his semblance to wrap up the airship, thus containing the blast when it goes off. His final words are to reassure Elm that he can give his life, "if it means saving all of my friends." Just in case you missed the part about the Ace Ops being super close this whole time. Even though they also weren’t. Trying to eat your cake too, RWBY?

Frankly, I didn't feel much of anything during this scene, not when Vine made the sacrifice, nor when Elm and Harriet look on sadly while Robyn pilots them away (that's her contribution this episode).

All I can say is, good on RWBY for not killing one of the three dark skinned characters, or just murdering the Ace Ops as a whole. What the story is going to do with them though, who knows.

Jaune and Nora have that ‘You can do it!’ moment after three of their friends have presumably been killed. I swear, about 80% of Jaune's scenes do not work tonally and oh boy, things only get worse from here.

First though, I like his entrance. He slams into the fight against Cinder and lines up with Penny and Weiss, who is still dual-wielding her and Blake's weapons. That's an epic shot.

It looks as if they stand a decent chance against Cinder — Weiss' lost aura notwithstanding — except then Cinder's arm starts going crazy and she gleefully announces that Salem has returned.

Working on a time limit now, Cinder unleashes a volley of attacks that Penny steps in to protect the other two from. It's here that Cinder grabs hold with her grimm arm.

It's here that Penny dies. Again.

For the third time.

Friends, I am tired. This moment honestly deserves the most epic of rants, but that, in turn, requires energy. Energy? In this economy? Ha! That's hilarious. Taking this seriously though, the problem here can — as usual — be boiled down to a single question: What was the point?

Penny died in a horrible attack that shook the cast and audience both to their core.

That emotional impact was erased through her resurrection.

The resurrection did not create a new emotional impact for our heroes to grapple with.

Penny is given the Maiden powers, solidifying the fact that she's always been a "real girl."

That lesson was erased when the story decided to make her human for unexplained reasons (because no, she never needed to be human to survive the virus).

Penny then dies, passing the power to Winter... who was set to get the power in the first place.

We have, once again, come full circle. You can take Penny out of the story and nothing changes. Does Ruby lose any lessons or emotional growth? No. Does anyone survive who would have otherwise died? No. Does her getting the powers lead to someone unexpected snagging them upon her death? No. Penny's existence was filler. She was put in the story to take up time and, that done, was removed from the story once again. It's a choice that wouldn't be half as horrible if that filler hadn't done so much damage along the way.

First is the obvious: that Penny didn't deserve this. As a character, she didn't deserve to be brought back just to be killed off again, seemingly without narrative purpose, serving only to draw in viewers who RT knew loved the character. Second, keeping her in the story led to her entire arc unraveling. Initially, Penny died as an android in the world's eyes, but those who actually knew her — Ruby and Pietro — mourned the girl she really was. Now we have this horrible message that being a machine isn't real enough, so she has to die as a human being. It's a disservice to her character and, as an allegory for many minorities, downright insulting to the audience. Third, this offensive 'better to die as a human than live as a robot' message is wrapped up in the claim that Penny finally gets to choose something — “Let me choose this one thing. Trust me” — but she already did that when she chose to take the Maiden powers. We already had the better written version of this last volume!

And the fourth issue...well.

Fourth and fifth are the real kickers. Fourth is that Penny's death was an assisted suicide. She explicitly asks Jaune to kill her so she can ensure she's thinking of the right person when she passes (never mind that her thoughts would probably be on Jaune while this is happening) and that's... pretty horrible. Look, I'm no purist. I like a great deal of dark, gritty stories whose plot exists to make us uncomfortable. That's a valuable emotion that fiction can generate. The problem is not that RWBY is tackling a sensitive topic, but that they aren’t tackling it well. Yes, they put in a content warning and (from what I've heard) a suicide helpline as well, but providing the already necessary resources is not the same thing as writing that kind of scene with respect and care. All of the above tells us that, no matter what RT may have intended, that respect and care weren't communicated to the audience. Like Yang, they didn't even bother to keep Penny's death within the rules of their world. Jaune is right there ready to heal her and Penny says no, there's supposedly not time.

Um... since when?

Jaune's aura boost is instantaneous. The second he amplifies aura is the same second the healing starts and their talk could have been spent saving Penny. There was certainly time to save Weiss in Volume 5. To have a character go, 'Nah, it's too late' when the solution is right there is the ultimate cop-out. Suddenly announcing that the solution will no longer work For Reasons is not a legitimate limitation and it's made doubly insulting that RT didn't simply use the limitations already available to them. Jaune has been running low on aura since the whale. He then expended a great deal of aura boosting Penny to keep the virus in check. Every other ally has had their aura broken in this fight so, there. That's your solution. Have Jaune take a few hard hits from Cinder, his aura breaks, and then when Penny is mortally wounded he no longer has a semblance to heal her. It's that easy! Yet instead they had Penny reject help so that she could ask to die. That's what's offensive here.

Finally, reason number five... why is this moment given to Jaune? That's another easy solution: Jaune has gone through the portal and can't get back to heal Penny. There. Done. But logistics aside, this scene should have gone to any other character. Who is Jaune to Penny? Or Penny to Jaune? No one! They don't have a relationship. I get that the writers didn't want any of the girls at her side because then it would be hard to justify Penny not passing the power to them (which I get: making one team member a Maiden changes the show drastically), but you know who should be there instead of Jaune?

Pietro.

Pietro, who built Penny as a weapon and who was never given the chance to apologize for that. Pietro, who told Ruby he could only rebuild her once more, setting up an expectation that he'd sacrifice himself for his daughter (despite the complicated racial issues that would bring up). Pietro, who watched Penny plummet and has no idea what happened to her, let alone that she's been made into a human girl. Pietro should have been at her side, saying goodbye to his child and helping her complete her last wish.

And it would be so very easy to pull off. All it takes is a single line where Penny remembers that her father exists, asking Ruby to ensure a portal opens up in Amity. There's a quick reunion along the pathways before Cinder attacks. We hear a cry of despair as Penny falls and she looks, seeing her father racing towards her, though she thought he'd already made it out. There, you’re done. We open ourselves up to a lot of attacks whenever we say, "Why didn't RWBY just do ____?" because those who vehemently defend the writing like to go, "Oh, you think you could write RWBY better?" and no, I don't. I struggle with long-form storytelling and massive casts. I don't think I could do justice to the sort of show RWBY wants to be, but I do think I'm a decent enough writer to spot when there are major problems like this. The question of "Why doesn't Penny remember that her beloved dad exists?" and "Why, out of that massive cast, is Jaune the one to do this deed?" are both things that a newbie writer can spot, and a sometimes okay writer can figure out how to fix them both simultaneously. A good writer will start thinking about themes — what might it mean for Pietro to kill the creation he made? — and a great writer will find a way to pull that off without having that insulting, discomforting feeling pop up. At this point, our RWBY crew feels less like new writers making mistakes (because they're not new, not at all), but rather just writers who haven't bothered to learn from their mistakes after eight years. That's a lot harder to watch.

Because putting Jaune here doesn't just mess with RWBY's internal rules (not using his semblance) and it's not just useless in terms of Penny's development (she doesn't know him outside of "dude who boosted my aura for an hour"), but it also falls back into a pattern I thought RWBY had finally broken from: making Jaune the story's emotional center. This is not the JAUNE show. It's the RWBY show. Yet here, once again, we have Jaune in the spotlight. Why, after a whole volume of Ruby avoiding making decisions, does Jaune finally make the hard call? Why, after a scene where Penny asked Ruby to kill her, does Jaune do that deed? Why, after a divisive arc where all the grief for Pyrrha went to Jaune, is Jaune now set to shoulder the grief of Penny? At least Jaune had a relationship with Pyrrha, even if Nora and Ren did too. Yet with Penny he seems to be there solely because the writers can't bear to keep him out of that center spot for long. All of Team JNOR make it through to Vacuo... except Jaune. Jaune falls into the abyss too because, if the show goes this route, we apparently can’t have a volume just about Team RWBY, the main characters. The main characters are separated from the rest of the team and it's Jaune, not Oscar and Ozpin with a connection to the lore, not Nora or Ren whose development now hinges on them learning who they are without the other, it's Jaune who follows the title characters into a new dimension.

The issue is not whether Jaune deserves to grieve over the truly traumatic thing he just did now that he’s done it. He obviously does. The issue is the writers setting up a scenario where Jaune is situated to do that emotional work in the first place.

I like Jaune as a character. I don't like how the writing uses him as a character. RWBY is built on the idea that these four girls are the heroes of this tale, not the expected blond, blue-eyed, sword wielding guy we’ve seen in so many other stories. So why does that guy get the most important scene of the finale? Yes, Jaune had much less screen time this volume than he did in the past, that’s a good thing given the number of important characters RWBY has to balance, but that hasn't erased the problem of him being given significant moments that should be going to title characters. Does Ruby’s team rescue Oscar and take on Salem? No, Jaune's team does. Does Ruby's team save Penny? No, Jaune's semblance keeps her grounded and then holds the virus off. Not everything is a problem — we've also got good choices like having Ruby defeat the Hound and Ruby's team take on Cinder for the majority of the fight — but that doesn't erase that Penny’s death wasn’t something Jaune should have been a part of. Not unless he was going to heal her. Doing better than they have in the past doesn't mean that RT isn't still slipping when it comes to giving him undeserved focus.

They took one of the most controversial characters, controversial because of how much emotional focus he's gotten in the past, and had him help a fan favorite commit suicide while he cried about it, showing more emotion for a near stranger than our title character showed for her sister. This is a character who, up until two or three episodes ago, had no connection to the victim and still has no reason to thematically be the one committing this act. That is why the fandom goes, “The crew loves Jaune and does everything they can to put him in the center of the action.” Ruby, as main character and Penny’s first friend, is the obvious choice here. Pietro, as Penny's father, would be a good choice too. Hell, Nora is a better option given their moment in the Schnee manor this volume. Or Winter given their moments in Volume 7! Have her escape Ironwood, find Penny, receive the powers, and then finish him off. Literally anyone would be better than Jaune, not because Jaune is a bad character, but because Jaune has no emotional stakes here and putting him in a position where he could heal Penny but doesn’t is massively stupid. No one should be surprised that a lot of the fandom is upset about this. It was one hell of a reach to give him this moment and, since Jaune's problem has always been getting too much screen time and emotional nuance compared to our main cast, it's no wonder this act brought up a lot of bad memories. RT fell back into an old pattern after two volumes of improvement and they did so at the worst possible time.

The tl;dr is that Penny's third death is a writing travesty, just like her second. I shouldn't be surprised, given that this is the same volume that tortured a kid and the only thing they did with it was have him blindly trust his torturer... yet I find myself surprised nonetheless. Because Penny had such potential as an android Maiden and, as much as I personally hated it, potential as a former android learning to be human too. But why explore any of that when you can kill her off instead? Again.

As a final, far smaller note about this scene, we have the continuing problem of what purpose Cinder's arm is serving. If everyone recalls, its threat comes primarily from the fact that she can "siphon off" power from other Maidens.

She did it to Penny during the Amity battle and now she does it again, a great deal of green energy absorbed into Cinder. So what's left to give to Winter? Why doesn't Cinder become noticeably stronger with each successful theft? Like so much else in RWBY, we're told it exists without actually seeing the impact of that. Winter isn't a weaker Maiden for having lost power and Cinder isn't a stronger Maiden for having snagged it. It's just.. there, hanging out and looking vaguely menacing, I guess.

Outside of this unnatural not-transfer, we get to see how the power normally passes as Penny meets with Winter in some in-between place. It's a soft, heartfelt scene... with the exception that Winter says, “You were always the real Maiden at heart. I was just the machine. Just following orders."

I don't know how any viewer can doubt that RT now believes machinery = evil. Penny's machine body is magicked away so she can be a real-real girl. Yang announces that the arm she worked hard to make a part of herself is just "extra." The man with half a metal body is made this volume's villain and losing his second arm is, by the authors' own admission, a symbol of his lost humanity. Mercury with two metal legs remains a bad guy while Emerald and Hazel are hastily redeemed. Tyrian with his cybernetic tail is the most devoted crazy of the bunch. Maria, blind and in need of assistive lenses, is so forgotten by the story she was left in the tundra nine episode ago and won't be mentioned again until next volume (if then). Pietro, the guy in the wheelchair, is forgotten too, despite it being his daughter who dies on screen.

Now Winter, also bearing an assistive device, says that she's the real "machine" here and tells Penny, now human, that she was always the "real Maiden." I don't know what happened to make RT do a 180 lately, but the disability rep is no longer what it was.

Penny reassures Winter that she'll always be a part of her and then passes on, for good this time.

The rest of the episode feels lackluster, if I'm being honest. Images of Cinder beating Weiss are intercut with Ironwood beating Winter, getting her to a point where her aura breaks.

But then the powers appear and, as we'd expect, she easily turns the tide.

Gorgeous animation there.

But RT once again rewrites earlier scenes by having Ironwood claim that the "destiny" he chose for Winter has finally arrived — isn't that Cinder's MO? — and Winter shoots back that he chose nothing, this was a "gift." Except, it was never about destiny or orders? This was why Weiss' anger in Volume 7 was ridiculous. She acted like Ironwood forced Winter to accept the powers and Winter told her point blank she chose this. Ironwood didn't decide anything, he offered and Winter chose... kind of like how Penny is choosing now. I hate how nearly all of Ironwood's character has been ignored or, during times like this, outright lied about to make him seem super duper evil. He tried to bomb a city! You don't need to make him seem evil anymore, that job is done! Like their sudden change regarding disability, RT now seems to be allergic to nuance. Heaven forbid Ironwood be allowed to have valid points like he did in Volume 3. No, if you've got an antagonist every single thing they've ever said must be twisted into a display of their evilness.

Unless you're Hazel, who Oscar trusts for #reasons. Unless you're Emerald, who the group immediately embraces. Unless you're Cinder, who gets to cry on a rooftop and secures the trust of her allies long enough to betray them again.

But Ironwood? Nah, screw that guy.

Salt aside, the fight is pretty boring. Winter literally just throws up a wall of ice and Ironwood's blast rebounds, taking him out.

Winter flies through the portal and we return to Jaune. His sword is broken by Cinder, so weapons should be quite the problem in Volume 9.

There's a bit of sword vs. sword Maiden battling — this episode really pulled heavily from both Volume 3 and 5's finales — before Cinder gets smart again and attacks Weiss, currently trying to escape with Jaune. Weiss goes right off the edge and Winter isn't able to reach her in time. That's the entirety of Team RWBY, lost to the magical void.

Kudos to Winter's VA and the writing here though. This feels like an appropriate reaction to losing a sister. Screaming, sobbing, falling to her knees and beating the floor... Ruby, take notes.

A roar sounds through all the portals though, the sort of roar a pissed off witch might give. Jaune convinces Winter they need to leave Cinder behind, but before they can escape Cinder... makes a new wish?

Look, it works on all the major fronts. Cinder has the staff, check. We've basically established that Ambrosius can make an unlimited number of things per era, check. We know the previous thing disappears when a new wish is made, check. My only question is the timing. In all honesty, I'll have to re-watch the scene to be sure, but at the time it felt like the portals began disappearing almost the second Cinder left. Did she really have time to summon Ambrosius, deal with his explanatory nonsense, and get him to make a new wish without any fiddly concerns? Sure, fire is just fire, but it still felt like way too much happening too fast off screen.

Either way, the portals are gone and Winter makes it through in time, but Jaune does not. He falls through the void along with Team RWBY. And Neo.

Neo is the only addition I'm looking forward to here.

We get a few shots of our other characters as Winter arrives, saving the day by taking her grief out on the grimm. So glad something came of Ren breaking his aura again! Maybe they'll be more fighting at the beginning of Volume 9? If we see any of this group outside of 9's finale. My worst fear right now is that we'll spend an entire season away from the main action — remember how I said it would be stupid for Team RWBY to go on a side adventure while Salem is attacking the world? — and when they return there will have been some major time skip. Salem has destroyed most of Remnant, only pockets of survivors remain, it's all dark and dystopian... and oh look, every bit of character development happened off screen. How did Nora discover who she is without Ren? She did it while Team RWBY was gone. That merge we've been teasing for five years? That happened while you were gone too and, btw, Ozpin has ceased to exist. So sad, right? Not that anyone will actually mourn. Just take comfort in the fact that his last line was an "Oh no" about Ambrosius and his last major scene was apologizing for how the group treated him. Emerald's redemption? Off screen. Winter's grief? Off screen. Any and every one of these challenging beats to tackle can be waved away with, "We went through that arc while you were lost in the magical realm. Just get to know our new, improved selves now!"

Please, oh writing gods, don't let that happen.

Though I do worry because my last prediction came true.

But we all knew we’d end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He’ll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it’s some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city.

Ironwood didn't make a break for the portal — too busy being unconscious — but we got everything else. Winter left him, he falls with Atlas, and this is some poetic justice, I guess. Really, it's just an undignified death. I'd hoped for a sympathetic kill, something that showed the characters still cared about him even if they knew Ironwood had to be stopped. Baring that, I'd hoped for an epic battle that took him out with style. Instead, no one even bothers to kill him. Ironwood is now beneath the entire cast, not even worth finishing off. Winter casually tosses his blast back at him and leaves. Cinder throws out a "that's checkmate" and leaves. I don't think Salem even looks at him. Ironwood (presumably) dies with no one and nothing, just a casualty of the city Team RWBY made fall. And I say "presumably" because the audience isn't even given the satisfaction of being sure he's passed on. Like Hazel, Ironwood's death is this weird, ambiguous moment that, based on the other character reactions, isn’t meant to be ambiguous. Is he dead? Most likely. Is it possible, based on what we've seen, that he'll pop up two volumes later like

Yes and, memes aside, that sucks. I don't want to be wondering for the next couple years if Ironwood survived and if they'll bring him back just to drag his character through the mud again. Move on.

But no, we don't even get that.

I've spoken at great deal about Ironwood both in these recaps and on my blog more generally. Last week, I said I'd covered it all and there was no need to rehash it all again. I stand by that, so let me just conclude this travesty with a final note: if your bad guy's final moment is using the last of his strength to point a gun at the actual villain of this story, and you don't realize the problem of how this image contrasts everything else the story has insisted about his character? … I just don't know what to do with that.

Oh, actually, final-final note: Ironwood’s semblance is officially a Schrodinger's semblance. It is both canonical and noncanonical simultaneously. Wooo.

Cinder tells Salem she used her wish to "add more flames to the first of Atlas" and we cut to Watts, trapped in a roaring fire, unsuccessfully trying to break his way out. Wow, I hate that too! Next to Tyrian, Watts was our last remaining, entertaining villain. He carried a lot of the last two volumes and, I had hoped, was going to add some bright spots to the coming volumes as well. Apparently not.

Just another waste.

In addition to this casual, second murder of her ally, Cinder successfully convinces Salem that Neo killed Ruby and Ruby used the Lamp's last question, but she's back in her good graces since she snagged the Relics anyway. “You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done" and they leave, blasting off like a less cool Team Rocket as Atlas plummets into Mantle.

Let's spend a second to tally things up then, shall we? What happens if Ruby, instead of throwing a moral fit, says, "You're right and we never should have lied to you, or betrayed you. But we want to help now. You get the Relics and the Maiden to safety in Atlas, if you can, we'll defend the people of Mantle"?

Well, they can still tell the world about Salem and call for help, much more easily now since Ironwood would likely just give them the code rather than them needing to spend an episode stealing it.

The Staff at least may not have ended up in Salem's hands and the group could have actually focused on getting the Lamp back (also solved if they'd been smart and just put it in the vault to begin with).

Mantle would still have been safe because Salem was never interested in Mantle to begin with.

Atlas wouldn't have fallen.

Ironwood wouldn't have died.

Penny wouldn't have died.

Even Vine wouldn't have died!

Our heroes unambiguously made the situation worse. Rather than banding together with their allies to fight the real enemy, Salem, they pushed until they made enemies of Ironwood and the Ace Ops both. Then they asked for help — which a pinch of logic said would never arrive — and twiddled their thumbs waiting for it. When it was clear none would come they...did nothing. They sat around, upset that the people were in danger, but not willing to do anything about it. It's only when one of their own, Penny, is threatened that they kick into high gear, hitting on a solution that they could have posed to Ironwood from the very start if no one liked the fly away plan. Yet instead of taking a few minutes to brainstorm other ideas — doing anything other than denouncing Ironwood to the rest of the group and attacking the Ace Ops — they spent two days sitting around, fixing minor messes they’d helped to create, then rushed through the portal plan, messing up the wish and stranding an entire kingdom in a sandstorm, with only Winter now to protect them from grimm.

Fantastically done, team.

The villains won, yes, but not because the villains were smart and compelling. Watts' hack on Penny and the heat petered out to nothing and Salem... well, she sat around for the whole volume, expending energy only to torture Oscar and try to (unsuccessfully) stop some escapees. Neo and, miraculously, Cinder did the most damage, but only in the final hour, with this "damage" being that our characters fall into a void that we now know looks remarkably like a paradise! Everything bad that happened was a result of our heroes being stupid and stubborn. That's a compelling story to tell... but RT isn't trying to tell it. Our heroes caused so much damage, yet that damage goes unacknowledged — or worse, ignored into silence like with Ren — and everything else is waved away with the magic wand the series claims isn't there. The cold doesn't kill anyone. Oscar has no problems walking off the torture. Nora hops back out of bed. Ruby one-shots the Hound. The civilians lost to the void must have survived too. The entire kingdom successfully makes it to Vacuo... unless you count the massive army we never saw making use of the portals, but who cares about them, right?

The villains won, there was indeed something resembling consequences, but none of it was emotionally satisfying. Not even when the series tries so hard to insist that emotion is there.

Qrow watches Atlas fall, mouthing Ruby and Yang's names, but it's too little, too late. Where was this care for his nieces when he was obsessed with killing Ironwood? When did they care about him? Was it when Ruby shrugged at his arrest, when neither cared that he was missing, or when they were designing an escape plan that didn't include putting a portal where Qrow could reach? RWBY markets itself around the found family-ness of its cast, but they're done a poor job in recent volumes (not others) of convincing me that most of these characters care for one another. We went from Ruby denouncing all adults, to Ruby pulling an Ozpin with Ironwood, to Ruby watching blandly as her sister falls to her presumed death. This is my hero? This is the simple soul we're supposed to rally behind? Ruby doesn't feel like a character who cares about other people anymore and, given that she leads the charge, neither do most of her friends. Or, when that emotion appears, it's jarring and undeserved. Jaune cries over Penny's death? That's tonally and characteristically backwards.

This volume was the culmination of so many mistakes over the past two years. No, Covid couldn't have made things any easier for the crew — the fact that they got a volume out at all is amazing — but the pandemic isn't to blame for the problems in the story. These seeds have existed since Volume 5, with some (like Jaune) going back even farther. I don't think we're ever going to get that flawed, but emotionally fulfilling RWBY back. The show has dug too deep and unless it somehow manages to create a clean slate — those time travel ideas get more and more alluring! — there's nothing they can do but keep on digging. At this point, I can only hope that the series does wrap up within the next two volumes, rather than dragging RWBY to a Supernatural-esque length.

Our final shot of the episode proper feels fitting for what this volume has been. Atlas and Mantle flood rather than exploding, something that makes a certain amount of sense, sure, but definitely wasn't what I was expecting. And after all these shocking images — Penny dying, the grimm attacking, our main characters disappearing in a puff of gold dust — we end it all with bits of random debris. It's strange and underwhelming. Out of everything you could have done with the options you had, you choose to do this?

Of course, RWBY always has an after-credits scene (RIP Raven's, still amounting to nothing). Here, the sounds of water return to show us a beach. Crescent Rose imbedded in the sand, mirroring its classic pose in the snow.

There's a tree. It's a very different kind of tree from what we saw in Volume 6, but the height and shape is nevertheless reminiscent of Light's domain.

A tree of life, anyone? After all, the group has fallen into a dimension created by a Relic, the gift of Light himself. It certainly seems as if RWBY is heading towards another encounter with the Gods, though what that will look like and how narratively satisfying it will be remains to be seen.

As for our bingo board, RWBY certainly pulled its weight! Only three squares got gold stars: Watts and Jacques didn't manage another team up because both are dead, Oscar didn't apologize for getting shot because he was too busy being tortured, and Qrow didn't drink likely because he didn't have access to any alcohol across the whole volume. Can't say that's a stellar result. The final image is something to behold though lol.

What a mess.

And on that less than exciting note... we’re done. This has been the volume of desertion, with a large number of fans telling me that they will no longer watch RWBY, but baring something entirely unexpected in my future, I'll be back next volume, for whatever that's worth. It never ceases to amaze me that even one person would give these nonsense recaps the time of day, so in all seriousness: thank you for reading. You rock.

Now go forth and fill the hiatus with great RWBY content!

✌️

#suicide tw #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby the final word

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eunjidrabbles · 3 years

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YAYYYY your asks are finally open!!! hi hi im the anon may i ask for a hwasa one shot wherein reader is courting hwasa but hwasa doesn't find fem! reader attractive. after one date, hwasa decides that reader isnt really her type which r is bummed about but respects her decision. however, one day hwasa finds r's genuine character and somehow, she falls for r's charms uwu angst to big big fluff please! sorry this is long :3 i really like tropes like this thank youuu!

Just One

(I realized writing hurt/comfort stuff soothes my soul a lot. Probably because I like making it hurt and then I feel bad and try to make it warm and fluffy so no worries. Longer requests help me with plotting out the story.

Edit: Sorry this took longer than expected, I just started my first day of work again and guess who is now a barista? Also Wheein’s solo album just dropped today so go give it a listen ya’ll)

Word count: About 2.4k

Ahn Hye Jin is a goddess. Everyone who has seen her either loves her, or hate her because they want to be her. With beauty, fame and charisma that goes off the charts, who could blame when you were to be drawn in like a moth to the light? Of course given the opportunity, you chose to chase after her disregarding the fact there were probably many others like you. It was a chance given, and it would be foolish not to grab at it. Be it getting your manager to buy her favorite drinks so you can drop it off for her whenever she was at the company practicing, leaving little notes with a container of food for her to heat up when she stays back for more practicing on her own or even occasionally popping by the studio when you had some free time off your schedules, you did you best to let your presence be known to her. Management didn't know of your crush, brushing it off as admiration for your senior whose group literally built up the company, and you'd prefer for it to stay that way lest you get kicked out barely a year into debuting. Hyejin however, knew of your intentions. You've made it clear to her when you gathered up the courage to manage to stammer out a "I like you." Before you could hear whoops from Wheein and feel the stares coming from the other two older members directed at you.

Over time, you've managed to also worm your way into the rest's hearts as they realized how pure your intentions were, and how far you'd go to try take care of their strong-headed maknae. Seeing as to how Hyejin has never properly rejected you, they slowly started putting in words for you whenever they spot your gifts for her, planting what they'd hope to be the seeds that will help make their youngest happier. It started from "Look at how thoughtful she is!" To “Hey look, guess who dropped by again today~?” Each time, she would only smile and wave away at her member’s teasing as she accept her gifts with a smile.

The small interactions with Hyejin and the rest of her members were great as you slowly got to know them more, just as friends. Sharing jokes and they would sometimes even invite you up for a meal together. It wasn’t until a few weeks later of skirting around your very obvious infatuation with Hyejin did you actually put up your mind to do something. Nodding to yourself, you gathered up the courage and knocked on the door. Cheers were heard from inside and as routine, Hyejin came to the door to open it for you. Passing over her drink with a smile, she stood waiting accepted it with a small chuckle and thanks. Right before she turned away, you called out to her. Looking back at you questioningly, you took a few deep breath to try settle your pounding heart. “One date. Just give me one date. I’ll show you that I’m serious.” You could see her eyes widen in surprise and slowly cover her mouth with her hand. You shift nervously, not daring to break the eye contact. She was the one who looked away first and her gaze fell to the ground, seemingly deep in thought. Noticing the longer than usual interaction, the rest of the members curiously peeked over one another to observe the situation. Putting the pieces together, Wheein shared glances with the older members and back to her best friend and voiced out her thoughts. “Why don’t you give it a shot?” Slowly looking over to her, Hyejin studied her expression, followed by the encouraging looks Moonbyul and Yongsun was giving before going back to her own thoughts for a bit longer. All the while you stood, head slowly lowering, feeling your throat and chest slowly coiling and tightening on themselves while you prepare yourself for the rejection incoming. “So what do you have in mind?” Snapping your head up, you find her staring right at you. You could almost hear your own heartbeat as you let out a breath you didn’t even notice you were holding. Glancing past her, you see the enthusiastic nodding and thumbs up given to you by the rest of her members and you pulled out your phone. “I’ll text you the details?”

As far as records go, the company only saw this meet up as a nice meal between a member of their top girl group and their solo artist. You’ve managed to book a small table at a café that you were introduced by a few friends. It was a cozy little place near an alleyway, just a little out of the way of where the crowd would usually go. Settling down in the corner, you were both handed a small menu. Skimming over, you decided to place an order of a cup of coffee and a macaron for a sweet treat. Hyejin took a little longer to look through the menu but also ended up with just a cup of coffee. There was an awkward tension in the air as you constantly try to find topics to speak about to engage the woman sitting opposite of you when all you could get in reply was a few words in reply. With a smile, you could only nod and let the silence blanket the both of you as your drinks and snack came. Every time you looked up from sipping your drink, you could see her silently in her own thoughts and decided not to bother her lest she finds you annoying. It was when you were on the last few sips of your drinks did Hyejin finally speak up.

“I don’t want to be harsh but I don’t think we’d go well together.”

The words echoed in your head as they processed into what she was trying to say. You swallowed down the harsh reality that hit you right in your chest and nodded with a small understanding smile. “Thank you for at least giving me a chance, and of course, being honest with me.” Nodding back, Hyejin went back to sipping her drink as the silence once again settled between the both of you, this time for you to quietly nurse your heart. Setting down the empty cups, the both of your stood as you pulled out your phone and texted your manager to pick the both of you up. While waiting outside the café, Hyejin couldn’t bring herself to look at you. A part of her felt that she had led you on, despite it just being that she couldn’t understand of her own feelings. To make everything simpler for everyone, the best choice would be to reject and ignore it. A hand coming towards her in the corner of her eye surprised her, and with that she finally look at you again. “Friends?” Raising your eyebrow, you silently prayed that whatever happened wouldn’t ruin whatever relationship you had between her and her members. “Friends.” Raising her hand to shake yours, a smile bloomed across her face in relief that you held no anger towards her.

You understood that it will definitely take time to get over the fact that you had a crush on Hyejin, so you chose not to avoid it. Instead, you faced the rejection straight on, and went up to Mamamoo’s studio even more often to interact more with everyone whenever you had the time. Every now and again, you’d also have a member or two pop up in your studio to join in the chaos, much so adding up to your manager’s headache of trying to keep your appearance as an idol intact, knowing well fully that the random moments you shared with the group would most likely air out as update episodes in your mini vlog series. It took a while to realize that by taking a step back from pursuing Hyejin, that you got so much more closer to her. The awkwardness melted away and what was left was a healthy friendship.

It also took a while for Hyejin to realized how much more she had been looking to spend time with you. Or that the increasing number of comments in your vlog series were commenting on how much and fondly she looked at you. It became almost a daily thing to exchange greetings from dawn and annoy one another through text till dusk fell. It got to the point where whenever her phone’s notification rang, does she perk up and rush to it and if it was not a reply from you, she would falter and according to Wheein, “Look like a kicked puppy.” If you had a schedule when she was free, she sometimes tag along with an excuse to keep you company but if you could see her behind all the staff, you’d notice her intense gaze as she studies you. The way you moved, the way you laughed, and even to the way your chest rise and fall as you breathed. Part of her knew what was happening, but she refused to act upon it. It wasn’t fair that you were the one who risked your career to chase her only for her to reject you, and now suddenly changing her mind. You on the other hand didn’t seem to notice all the extra attention you were getting from her and it annoyed Hyejin to a certain extend. She wanted the smiles you gave to everyone directed to only her. She wanted the jokes you shared and the laughter you gave to just be shared between you two.

It drove her crazy, the more she explored her feelings for you. It made her feel things that scared her. Scenarios would appear in her head as she watches you interact with others. Your words would race through her mind as she goes about her day. Images and memories of your gifts and notes pulled on her heartstrings. Maybe. Hyejin silently thinks to herself. Just maybe, I might be crazy. Chuckling to herself as she stopped in front of a set of doors, she sighed. That’s still better than letting someone else hold you, right? Looking up at the sign that stated the opening hours, she pulled out her phone to do a quick check of the time and pushed open to step through the set of doors.

The bass vibrated throughout the entire room as music boomed from the speakers in the practice room. Your eyes were trained upon your form as you connected each movement of your body to flow with the beat of the music. Seeing how focused you were on perfecting the dance routine, your manager could only sigh in failed attempt of trying to make you promise to not overwork yourself when your comeback was right around the corner before leaving for the night. At some point through the evening, you had shed your hoodie, leaving you in a cooling sports bra and sweat pants. Despite the lesser layers, you were drenched in sweat, and your hair had fallen from their ponytail, leaving them sticking uncomfortably to your face and body. Your body cried out in exhaustion as you slowed to a halt along with the music and panted to catch your breath. Slowly pushing yourself upright again, you groaned, body resisting the idea of one last run through of the routine. Right as you were about to hit the play button on your phone again, the soundproofed door of your studio swung open.

Your squeak echoed the room and your eyes darted up and widened in surprise to meet hers through the mirror’s reflection. It took a second for your body and brain to relax when you realized that the intruder meant no harm when you noticed both her hands were occupied. Slowly turning and walking over to the back of the studio where she had moved from the door, you look at Hyejin questioningly before your gaze dropped to the contents in her hands. Instead of putting it down onto the table, she waited for you to walk over to her to pass you the warm cup of coffee and a paper bag. Carefully hold the cup in one hand, you opened the bag to see a lone macaron sitting inside. A wide smile bloomed on your face when your body understood that the sweet treat was a form of energy for you to function and you eagerly pushed it up the bag to take the first bite. You then remembered the very person that delivered it to you and with your mouth full, you could only smile even wider to her as you closed your eyes in bliss as the sugary snack awoke your senses again.

“One date.”

Your eyes snap open as your jaw stopped its movement.

“One date. Just give me one date. I’ll show you I’m worth your time.”

Your smile slowly dropped as you processed what you just heard. Looking back down at the bag and the cup of drink, you recognized the name imprinted on its sides. It was from the very café you two went to on your first and last date. Forcing yourself to look busy by continuing to slowly chewing the one bite in your mouth, you subtly turned your head towards the mirror to look at the woman, not daring to risk eye contact by looking directly at her. Even from the mirror, you could see her intense gaze, as she fidgeted her hands behind her, anxiously waiting for your answer.

“So? What do you say?”

Swallowing the now mushy mess in your mouth, you slowly looked right back at her. Lifting the drink to your lips and taking a small sip, you looked for traces of this encounter merely being a bad joke of the rejection you faced at her hand a few months ago. When you could find none, you slowly lowered the drink and sighed. Even at such mundane actions, you could see her tense up in anticipation.

You chuckle suddenly, breaking the silence and causing Hyejin to flinch. That in return made you chuckle even harder when her look of confusion and surprise slowly melt away as your laughter went on. Finally taking a breath to stop, you smiled and answered her.

“I was hoping it will be more than just one.”

#mamamoo imagines #hwasa imagines #hwasa x reader #I highkey give up on tagging properly #just look at my masterlist #hope yall enjoy

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shreddedleopard · 3 years

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Twelve-million more reasons Historia and Levi are part of the Endgame. With Pictures.

You can read the first post I made on this here:

10 reasons it would make narrative sense for Levi and Historia’s character arcs to end together.

(This is the mega-evolved version.)

Okay, I’m going to put this out there now, and before you judge me, please just read the posts. You don’t have to agree. This is just an idea. But it makes a stupid amount of sense, at least to me. So here's your fair warning (and now I'm being bold): If you don’t want to potentially be spoiled, Do Not Read On.

Here’s the Theory:

Historia Reiss will give birth to a half-Ackerman child, and together with Levi, from the ashes and ruins of the world Eren destroyed, they will welcome the dawn of a new age for humanity, where Ymir’s curse and the power of the Titans is extinct.

I know. I sound like some crazy, Rivahisu nut. Granted, I am, but I’m not mad enough to make a claim like this without a shit-ton of evidence, because it’s such a damn twist it feels like it can’t be true. But just humour me.

Here’s the theory, then we’ll look at why it makes sense and how it might have been foreshadowed. Please note: I have less clue how this will tie in to Eremika endgame, so I haven’t mentioned this as much, but obviously that will be the other very important side of this coin.

10 months ago (In Japan, full term pregnancy is counted as 10 months), at the banquet celebrating completion of the new railroad, Levi and Historia, having had 3 and a bit years to bond over their shared experiences and become close, may have gotten carried away together and shared one night of being a bit more than friends. She’s well into her 18th year at this point, just to clear that up. This resulted in Historia getting pregnant. Okay just stay with me; I know. I know. I sound crazy. But hear me out. So this pregnancy, contrary to the belief of the MPs and rest of the damn world, was the complete opposite of planned. Historia tells Levi, and Levi immediately panics. Because, to steal Kenny’s famous line, Levi thinks to himself ‘I can’t be some kid’s dad.’

Levi does what he always does best, and shuts down into business mode, telling Historia she will need to cover it up somehow. Historia does as he asks, probably reluctantly, because she really has developed very deep feelings for him during the timeskip, and finds some farm hand to take the blame, likely saying she made a silly mistake with some random and the father doesn’t want anything to do with the child, and so she needs a father for the child not to be illegitimate. Which is her worst nightmare, because of course, that’s what she was. Levi watches the exchange hidden in that famous hood, feeling very conflicted, because although he cares about her, he thinks it best if no one knows that it was him that got the Queen pregnant, and of course, he’s duty bound, with a vow to fulfil, so he has no time to be worrying about a family. (Silly Levi!)

How ironic this conversation would be if this theory were true. Remember, Historia was completely willing to eat Zeke if needed. Instead, she got pregnant, unplanned, nothing to do with any plot or selfish wishes, just the result of a spontaneous act of love by two people who’ve grown to care for one another a lot. ANYWAY.

Because we know Levi actually has a good heart, he feels immensely guilty for all of this; he's just a product of his upbringing and thinks he doesn’t know the first thing about families, so it's better for all involved if he not be. See where this is going? The old cursed history repeating? Making the same mistakes as our parents? Plus, Levi is bound by his duty. He is incredibly important to the military still, and he cannot just abandon this for any of his own selfish wishes. He’s supposed to be the one to vanquish the beast titan.

Cue ten months of Historia looking hella depressed and hopeless, and Levi being even more of an asshole than usual to everyone, and not really wanting to say too much at all, as well as making some terrible workplace decisions (lol) poor boy be distracted.

Look at his face 😭

Yes Levi. A month. Which means Historia is now due and you’re still stuck with beardy, without a solution and pretty soon no reason for the MPs not to turn the mother of your child into a Titan.

That’s what that face is. I thought he looked a bit weird first time I read these panels 🤔 He didn’t know about the wine. We see that later. Anyway, I keep getting distracted, stop. I’ll come back to this.

But fear not; Levi will have a choice to make.

So this is where it gets a bit more iffy for me, because I'm not sure how it would work, so this could be a way off, BUT. I believe it will come to light that the combination of Royal and Ackerman genes will somehow cancel out a person’s ability to turn into a titan and connection through paths, thus making them truly ‘free.’

The founding titan has the ability to change Eldian physiology, according to what Zeke learned from professor Xavier.

EDIT: Okay so here’s where I’ve had to tweak this a bit in light of there latest chapter. So we just had Zeke in PATHS. With none other than our second resident genius, and as proclaimed by Eren, the saviour of humanity: Armin. What do our boys have a conversation about? Reproduction and the importance of the small moments in life - it’s these little moments which matter, regardless of the desire or need to recreate. Interesting how both the leaf and baseball link back to what their ideas of ‘family’ became. If Historia and Levi were to be in the same scenario in PATHS, what would their items be? What truly means family to them both?

Perhaps Armin and Zeke realise what is needed to lift the curse of the titans - maybe a blueprint for genes which can cancel out the connection to PATHS and the founder? If only they had a child with a new type of Royal-Ackerman DNA which might fit the bill ...

Here’s Levi’s moment. He, with Historia, has created such a child - completely by accident, because of one of those ‘moments’ that both Armin and Zeke mention - moments that are simply just about enjoying what you have with no sense of how it might relate to anything bigger - a real rarity for both of them, considering their roles and constantly being asked to think about the good of humanity as a whole. What a beautiful irony, that in the moment they chose to be selfish and, to use freckled Ymir’s own words, really live for themselves, they set a chain reaction in motion that would ultimately save humanity.

Where does this leave Eren and Mikasa? Good question. I believe Eren will die once the curse is removed, because tragically he is the character that has been forced to choose humanity over his own personal relationships. As Isayama has said before, Eren is a victim of the story. Mikasa will be the last thing he sees, hence the original dream at the start of the manga, where he wakes up crying. Something like this. But probably a lot better. Yeah.

Out of the ashes of the old world, a new one will be built, but through Historia’s kindness and love, and Levi’s guilt and understanding of what was sacrificed in the past, society will not repeat the same mistakes. The final panel could be Jean holding his child, perhaps with Mikasa, if she ever manages to get over losing Eren. That would be vague enough so that Isayama was able to show it to us already without spoiling much. Or maybe Jean’s dead and it’s not him at all. I don’t know. 😭

Right. Okay. So now you’re going, sweet story, but uh, there’s no way Levi could be the father. He’s so much older. Isayama wouldn't write a moment of romance like that. Not with him and Historia. YOU’RE JUST CRAZY.

Well this is where it get’s interesting. LET ME SHOW YOU. It’s foreshadowed literally everywhere. Right under our noses.

There is so much symbolism.

Dedicate your heart to what? has been Levi’s question recently. What are they all fighting for? What is he fighting for? How will he give meaning to his dead comrades sacrifices? Is killing Zeke really the extent of it? Is vengeance the true meaning of their sacrifices? Or is it something a lot more hopeful?

The answer is shown to us in the opening credits. And the ending credits. Several times.

Levi says so himself - he keeps messing fulfilling the vow up - why? Why is he so worried about killing Zeke?

Eren has the same questions to consider. Which PATH is the right one to take - revenge and violence with the rumbling, or love ... with Mikasa. We are literally shown what their choices will be in two virtually identically designed panels, which I’ll show you. Tragically, Eren’s choice is taken from him. He is a victim to the story - he must chose the path that saves humanity. Levi and Eren have been bound together through the theme of choices, and taking the ones which leave you with the least regrets, throughout this entire manga.

The upcoming anime episodes literally plot out the timeline of Levi and Historia’s changing attitude to one another, and then Historia’s pregnancy, it’s just so cleverly subtle. Isayama even tells us when/ during what event her child was probably conceived by just dropping dates in from other, seemingly unrelated plot lines.

Zeke gives pointed comments to Levi constantly - every other line of his is either a different jab at Levi about Historia’s pregnancy, a veiled question, or a reminder that he’s under the pressure of a 10 month time limit to do something about him, or Historia will have to eat him once she’s given birth. We start to see Levi unravel because of this, and make mistakes over and over.

It’s in official art. It’s in the soundtrack. Its in music videos. There’s interviews from Isayama that, when read in light of these ideas, suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

Isayama even trolls us. He’s laughing in our faces, the madman. Like, gotchu 🤣 suckers. While we’re all on Reddit and Twitter like, ‘Levi’s character has become so stagnated! He’s making such poor choices or not giving anything to the plot at all. All that’s left for him now is to give up and die! Be at peace, your story is over.’ OOF. Or, ‘Historia has just been forgotten! She’s become such a pointless character. Isayama just got bored with her and sidelined her.’

I’m going to try and write stuff up in the rough categories below, but these might change. I’ll link them when I’m done, and then pin this post. I’m a bit of a rambler so heads up - this may take a while 😅

There’s also a ton of people I have to mention who have contributed to this - I didn’t spot it by myself. I’ll tag them in the finished post too.

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 1

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 2

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 3

Ackerman-Royal Bloodline and Levi’s Choice Pt. 1

Levi’s Choice Pt. 2

Suns, Moons and Songs

Akatsuki No Requiem - Right theory, Wrong guy

The Farmer and The Cattle Farming Goddess, or WHAT’S IN A NAME.

Mistakes of our parents and breaking the cycle

Memories from the future & Levi’s Guilt

Watch this space. And hold on to your pants. If I’m right, I’m getting very drunk.

#shingeki no kyojin spoilers #shingeki no kyojin manga theory #historia pregnancy #snk #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #aot #levi ackerman #historia reiss #rivahisu

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lizacstuff · 3 years

Text

SCK/Edser Asks Episode 36 (+37 spec)

(asks under the cut)

Anonymous said: I really liked parts of SCK this week, but other parts made me want to scream. What did you think?

Same, same. This episode taken as an exercise in just watching Hande and Kerem doing their thing... AMAZING. But... even they can’t save the writing.

I’ll get into detail as I answer asks, but I felt this episode was a bit disjointed and I’m wondering if that is due to some of the alleged rewrites that happened. We know for sure there were rewrites for Bige, for instance I’m guessing that the Serkan/Selin conversation was supposed to be in person and not on the phone and that it might have been watered down due to that. But even prior to that, we know that they delayed shooting for a day and a half and it was said to be because there were rewrites. I’m honestly wondering if they got the scripts and there wasn’t enough Eda and Serkan, and so maybe the producers had the writers go back and try and fix that and maybe that’s why there seemed to be some emotional inconsistencies scene to scene? Who knows, but I got that feeling just like I did with episode 24. Another one with great scenes that didn’t always make sense one after the other.

That being said, lets jump in:

Anonymous said: Just me or did anyone else feel uneasy at how quickly everyone in SCK decided to just forget the last 6 weeks? Eda & Serkan were just so happy to be back together and we got lots of sweet moments but it just felt like something bad was going to happen. Plus did the characters (and the viewers) really go through all this pain just to gloss over it and pretend things were normal again? While I think the Selin pregnancy story will be wrapped up quickly mostly due to Bige’s current situation, I think (and hope) it has brought to light that Eda & Serkan have some work to do before getting married. They love each other but something feels off. The super quick proposal with a random ring just felt so wrong to me. I am still struggling with Serkan’s character and Eda needs some time to process everything that has happened.

Uneasy is a great word to describe how I was feeling. I think that was a huge problem with this episode. It’s almost like as the audience we’re being gaslit. Like they write this huge traumatic, dramatic storyline, they have Serkan go through hell, break Eda’s heart over and over again, they have Selin and Deniz as awful, manipulative people terrorizing the protagonists, but then at the end the narrative is like *handwave* “Nah, you’re crazy, it wasn’t that bad. These people don’t need to talk about anything or heal, no apologizes, no emotional showdowns and the villains don’t need to be punished, we’ll all just move on.”

IT’S UNSETTLING AS A VIEWER. I feel cheated. I invested in this story, watched in week after week, and then they’re not even going to give us a remorseful, devastated Serkan? Everything was glossed over. They gave us some wonderful, sweet Edser scenes (especially visually) but on my first viewing it felt like this weird cloud was hanging over everything and I couldn’t really enjoy them because I kept expecting the narrative to make some sort of meaning out of everything they’d been through, and that did not happen. (notes on my second viewing down below)

The problem is these writers. They seem fine at coming up with melodramatic plots and shocking cliffhangers, but they have no idea how to give the emotional pay off for what they’ve set in motion. When you put your audience through hell, you owe them to really deliver the emotional climax and these writers dropped the ball pretty much in every way they could throughout this story.

The random ring felt very wrong, but I’m sure they didn’t want to go back to the flower for a proposal that wasn’t going to be successful. No need to make it even more cursed than it is. Serkan’s decision to propose while sweet, was way too soon. I think what the writers were going for was having him propose in front of all of their family and friends, because deep down he knows how much he hurt her when he proposed to Selin in front of all of them. There was a hint of that at the wedding when he wanted to make sure everyone knew how he felt. Especially with the imagery of him getting down on one knee. Getting down on one knee signifies loyalty, obedience and respect so I think there was a lot of significant to him laying himself open to her, and symbolically declaring himself subservient to her in front of everyone.

It’s actually very sweet and does a bit of work in the righting of wrongs, but it’s misguided, and I’m glad it failed. Maybe if we hold out, there were be new writers before she next proposes!

Anonymous said: The real crux of SCK is that these writers cannot write for Serkan. They do not understand his character and probably never watched previous episodes. Since episode 29, there almost seems to be an internal battle with the character because he jumps back & forth between almost being old Serkan & then a straight up cold jerk usually directed at Eda. Still felt it in this recent episode, honestly the only thing that seemed to change was having his memory back & being 100% sure that Eda loved him. Maybe Eda turning down the proposal and him confronting Selin about the pregnancy will finally bring him?

You know maybe that will bring him back. I agree with you, I very much doubt these writers have seen all the episodes, it almost seems like they’re writing him from a character description or something.

On the other hand, I could see after being through a plane crash and having a brain injury, amnesia, PTSD and then weeks of brainwashing and manipulation, that Serkan might be different, especially at first as he adjusts to getting his memories back. I don’t know how retrograde amnesia usually works, if it’s just bits and pieces as he learns to access them or a flood, but I’m sure it’s a lot to handle. And I would be FINE with that, if that was the story they were telling. That he’s overwhelmed and hasn’t processed everything yet, that he’s not exactly the same as he was. However... I have zero faith the writers are doing that on purpose or telling this story. They just ain’t that nuanced.

Anonymous said: I am wracking my brain trying to come up with something to justify Serkan asking Selin to stay at the company & not sell her shares. Like how is that acceptable? And he wanted Eda to be happy with just getting an apology from Selin.....nope, still do not get it. We all know that Serkan does not love Selin but he is never willing to make her feel bad about awful decisions & never goes out of his way to humiliate or hurt her. Nope, he tends to save all of that for Eda.

As I was watching, that scene made my blood boil. BOIL.

However, afterwards, I calmed down, and I can think of a few reasons to justify where Serkan’s head was at. First, we don’t know what Serkan exactly remembers, or if he’s just been hyper focused on Eda. He might not have thought a ton about what Selin had done and how they parted when she left the country the first time around.

Second, remember that Serkan does not know what we know. He doesn’t know that Selin has been actively conspiring with Deniz to keep him and Eda apart and working against them every step of the way. He doesn’t know that she sabotaged Eda’s presentation and Art Life, he doesn’t know that the car accident was fake, that her injuries were fake, that she has been stalking him or that she goaded Deniz in to running from signing the marriage thing.

He doesn’t even know all the things she did in the past. He doesn’t know that she leaked that story to the press which caused Eda to faint. And he can’t even be sure she switched the addresses that caused them to miss each other at dinner, though we assume he suspected her.

From what he said to her, he now has processed enough to realize that not all was on the up and up, she was trying to steal their love. Insert herself where she didn’t belong. But as soon as he said that, she started manipulating him again. She instantly turned herself in to the victim and put him on the biggest guilt trip ever. Blah Blah He called her. She was there for him. She loved him. She was trying to build their life together. Blah Blah Blah. All his fault. She’s spent months brainwashing him, that doesn’t wear off in a few hours. Manipulation. Guilt. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I also think they wanted to show him being more than fair to her, so that he wasn’t the asshole in her story and it would be clear that he doesn’t deserve anything she’d done. We saw him tell her that he wants her to be happy, to show that he is a much better person than she is. She’s still trying to ruin his life, when he’s being more than fair and equitable about things. Plus the guilt is not new. He’s felt guilty about Selin since the beginning, because he knew he used Selin as an excuse to keep Eda near during the entire fake engagement period, and it led to her broken engagement with Ferit, that’s why she got away with a lot in the first 20 eps, Serkan's guilt, and she’s still playing on it.

Also, lets remember he did give her that epic take down in 20. Which lets face it, does it get any more hurtful or humiliatingly to have your ex yell in your face that he never loved you and your childhood friend say that your friendship is over? So I don’t entirely agree with you that he’s never done that. He has, it just took him seeing her hurt Eda to get him to act.

You also say that he saves all his hurt and humiliation for Eda, first for most of that he had amnesia and was being brainwashed, so lets take that into account. Second, he also saves ALL his love, trust and admiration for her. And I think that’s part of it, its the dynamics of the relationships. I don’t think Selin and Serkan really ever fought, there was no passion, there was no heat. They seemingly treated the relationship as an extension of a business relationship. Very cold and impersonal. Simply stated he rarely gets upset and angry with Selin, because he just doesn’t care. With Eda their relationship was built on passion. They spark. They argue, they like to argue. And for her, he cares more than he ever knew was possible. Falling in love and learning to be in love is part of the character’s journey on this show

It goes back to that scene in 18, where he came down a little hard on Eda. Maybe it’s not right, but from Serkan’s perspective, how he interact with them is very different because how he feels about them is very different. He said it during that conversation when Eda asked how he can be kind to Selin when she sold the shares, but discard her... and Serkan blurted out because he has never loved Selin. At that point she couldn’t inspire him to anger. But with Eda sometimes all the emotions overflows and erupts.

Anyway, to that scene, yes it pissed me off, but I do think there is a way to justify it. Also I wonder if they watered it down and decided to save some of it since it had to be a phone conversation instead of in-person because of the death of Bige’s father?

That being said, I would have stood up and cheered if Eda said right then and there that it’s her or me. Serkan needed to be shaken out of his stooper and made to realize that they can not have Selin’s toxic presence anywhere near them and he needs to understand how hurt Eda was. I’m hoping he just hadn’t had time to put all the pieces together yet.

Anonymous said:Mar 21 · a day ago 1) i've seen the garage scene has been making its round across the fandom as the #1 example of how "this is not our serkan" because of he was "being cold." what are your thoughts on it? because to me.. they were literally just stress bickering and then made up. eda wasn't offended by anything, so why is the fandom tied in knots over it? isn't this what we wanted from them? for them to bicker and fight but at the end of it just BE together? i guess i saw that scene differently than most people.

I think that’s exactly how that scene was supposed to be taken. IMO it was the writer’s attempt to insert an argument (because Serkan and Eda’s relationship is always going to have arguing, and the audience loves it, so they have to find a way to give us that every so often) to get that dynamic going.

But the problem is the narrative didn’t earn Serkan bickering with her after everything that’s happened. If you take that scene and insert it after they’ve had a heartfelt talk where Serkan has acknowledge how hurt Eda was through everything and we saw real remorse from him, then those scenes are absolutely fine. Well minus the one line where Serkan tried to dismiss her talking about things with, “Didn’t we talk about this yesterday?” That was not great. Serkan has not earned the right to shut down any line of conversation about his amnesiac behavior.

The writers are just so BAD! They trapped them together with nothing to do but talk, this was the perfect opportunity for them to actually go deep and real and to have Eda tell him how hurt she’d been and for Serkan to really show some emotion and let us see that it hurt him that he hurt her. But they didn’t do that.

I went back and rewatched these scenes and I enjoyed them. Hande and Kerem were great. Without the angst of expectation hanging over them, they’re good scenes. As two people under stress from a race-against-the-clock situation, stuck in a garage and arguing about that, and then making up they were fun. It’s just that lack of emotional consistency after everything they’ve been through that is a problem.

I have no idea why the writers didn’t have the big conversation between them. They gave hints of it. We saw Serkan offer an apology while dancing the night before and Eda shut it down. They had some tender moments in his loft, but it wasn’t enough because we really didn’t see that Serkan was hurt by how he hurt Eda. He seemed to realize that he needed to apologize and that she was the hero and that he needed to make things up to her, but the thing that was missing was them really talking about it. And that would have been okay, Eda was exhausted, both physically and emotionally after everything, but then they should have addressed it later in the episode.

Anonymous said: Can we talk about how the side characters actually serviced the main EdSer plot this episode? I loved that Aydan/Ayfer/Seyfi were out there trying to catch Deniz, and they still had time for an Aydan/Kemal conversation. That Alex plot did these women a huge disservice.

Yes! I agree the supporting characters were all doing what they should be doing, supporting the A-story. I enjoyed the Aydan/Ayfer/Seyfi scenes, glad they were useful!

Plus I was actually touched by how Aydan called Ayfer in her time of need, they’ve actually become real, true friends which is a cool development. I’m looking forward to the Kemal storyline. Dude is way too interested in Serkan... I’m not sure if he’s Serkan’s father or not, but I think he thinks he might be. Loved that Serkan’s spidey-senses were tingling when it came to him and he was on his guard... if only those spidey-senses worked with Selin.

Melo remains queen and Ceren earned a few rights back by getting the legal in order.

However, WTF was that random Piril/Engin storyline with the hospital? For a second there I thought this show was going really DARK.

Anonymous said: Is it weird that the scene with Serkan apologizing to Eda in his apartment and her kind of brushing it off with the comment “you did not do it on purpose” reminded me a lot of Max trying to apologize to Liz after getting his memory back? Like you just knew that the happiness was not going to last for very long. You cannot gloss over all that pain just because the person you missed is back. Although I will say Max was a lot more apologetic than Serkan and did not act like a jerk during the rest of the episode. Feels like even if this Selin baby situation is resolved quickly that Edser still has a lot of work to do before getting married.

Oh interesting comparison, but right, Max lost his memories for about 30 minutes of screen time (vs Serkan’s almost 900) so Max had a lot less time to do damage! I was always left unsatisfied with that memory-loss storyline I think it should have lasted until the next episode, but everything with the timing in S2 RNM was a little off for me.

But to you point about Edser having work to do before marriage, I completely agree. Although, I don’t even think it’s like they need to take a ton of time, they just have to spend some real, uninterrupted time together and talk all this through. There is no need to rush it when they haven’t dealt with any of the trauma. Like a nice two-week vacation would do them a world of good.

Anonymous said: So are we supposed to think that Eda slept by herself on the sofa downstairs after they had sex? Not exactly romantic. Serkan’s character is still coming off very cold to me although it was definitely a lot better than previous episodes.

Not sure what that was, other than maybe (HOPEFULLY) they want to show us Edser’s carnal reunion and that episode wasn’t the place for it? Also, tbh, I assume with shooting schedules they just didn’t want to have yet another location to prep and shoot in, which the bedroom would have been, so Eda on the couch. Though I don’t know why we couldn’t have had both of them waking up on the couch like ep 11.

Anonymous said: The whole scene at Serkan's house at night felt like such a balm to my soul after the past few episodes. Him telling her that she's the hero in their love story and he owes all the happy moments for the rest of their lives to her... whew it had me welling up. I feel like we'll get more of that guilt out of Serkan after this whole new Selin plot is unraveled, but that scene (with the beautiful music) was honestly what I NEEDED after ep 29 onwards.

Oh I’m so glad it worked for you. I enjoyed those scenes, especially on rewatch. On rewatch I could take them for what they were, but while watching the episode as a whole I was so on edge waiting for some sort of emotional conversation or breakthrough, so that was harder to enjoy.

Hande and Kerem were terrific in them as always. I like that Eda suggested they start fresh in a place of their own, and that he immediately agreed. I liked him wanting to dance with her and hold her, and he did say some very nice things, apologizing and saying she was the hero of their story, but the scenes just didn’t go deep enough for where they were the next day with Serkan being a bit flippant at times. These scenes didn’t do enough repair work to warrant his behavior, though I do acknowledge he was under a lot of stress.

Anonymous said: I'm convinced that these writers are here to sabotage the show. There is no other explanation. No offense to Bige but they should've just cut all of her scenes out and have Selin leave the country abruptly. We didn't need Serkan wishing her happiness, wanting her stay at Art life, and arguing with Eda over it. (what the actual fuck?) To have Bige come back to set this week to play out this pregnancy plot is unfortunate - they really could've just ditched it last minute and that makes me so mad.

The writers suck, and I need them to go like I need a giant vat of sangria while watching this show, but they are not here to sabotage the show.

Anonymous said: I've seen some people say that the serkan now is not "our" serkan and serkan from 28.. do you agree with that? Because of COURSE he won't be the same after everything they've had to go through since then.. I think mainly people seem to think that unless he's like on his knees sobbing for Eda's forgiveness, he's not "back" which I don't agree with. Or maybe I'm just personally over the sadness and don't need a huge breakdown scene and would rather just see them move past it.

I’d take the breakdown scene. This is the man who sobbed when he found out his father was responsible for Eda’s parents death. How has he not had been devastated by how badly he treated her? He said some very nice things in the last episode, but hasn’t offered any specific apology or explanations. It’s all been very broad and on the surface.

Seriously, the scene could last only 3-5 minutes and be amazing and not drag down the entire show. The writers insisted on Serkan treating Eda pretty roughly for a LOT of episodes in a row, they owe it to us for him to face that and deal with it. Maybe it will happen when this Selin stuff comes to a head.

Anonymous said: idk if i'm the only one who feels this way, but after 6 WEEKS of no edser, we get an episode full of happy (except the last 10 mins) and somehow people still nitpick the scenes? and im the first one to admit the writers have sucked all through out the memory plot, but im also not gonna just hate scenes automatically bc i hate them? if you're at the point where you can't even enjoy edser in love and together then what's the point watching? maybe i need to get off twitter after watching the ep.

First I do agree with that. Twitter after the episode is a toxic pit of joyless negativity. Also it always has been that way, even after awesome episodes. For whatever reason on that platform, people knee-jerk react to everything and it’s super unpleasant.

As to your point about nitpicking, I agree. It’s very prevalent in fandom. Because maybe you watch something and liked it. There were a few things that weren’t great, but over all, enjoyable. Then you go online and you see people spiraling about things that hadn’t even hit you and you start thinking about them and all of a sudden something that didn’t bother you while watching is now looming large as as a huge flaw in the show.

In a vacuum the Edser scenes were great. Lots of sweet moments, stunning visuals, H/K chemistry on full display, it’s a shame that it was all a bit disjointed while watching the first time through. The writers just can’t seem to do the big moments justice.

Anonymous said: Thoughts on the ending? She can’t really be pregnant can she? At least not with serkans kid. How the hell are they going to solve this if bige probably isn’t in the next ep or more? :(

Well since you sent this we’ve seen the fragman. At this point, my money is on her being really pregnant with Deniz’s child (By the way, before the fragman I wasn’t sure if she was really pregnant, but if she was I was pretty sure it was Deniz) and I still have a ton of hope that Serkan will know it’s not his, because they didn’t sleep together.

If she’s really pregnant and there was any possibility that Serkan could have been the father she would have been throwing it in his face and making a play to keep him. There is no doubt about that. The fact that she was fleeing the country and adamant that she didn’t want Serkan to know? I think it’s because it can’t be his because they never had sex and she doesn’t want him to know she was cheating on him while they were engaged. She couldn’t continue to play the victim card if he finds that out.

Anonymous said: Selin is def not pregnant IMO. But would she have even concocted this plan if there wasn’t a good chance of eda and serkan believing it for a while? So does that mean the writers are going to make it so that Selin and serkan slept together :( would they really go there?

I think if you watch the Eda/Selin scene again you will see that Selin never says that Serkan is the father, she just says she’s leaving and she repeats again and again that she doesn’t want Serkan to know.

As I said above if she’s really pregnant and there was any way to sell it as Sekan’s, then she would tell him right away and keep on keeping on with the guilt and manipulation.

Even if it’s fake, then she’s doing it just to try and throw one last wrench at the relationship. She told Eda not to tell Serkan over and over again. It it’s fake, maybe a Hail Mary hoping Eda will pull the breaks and potentially leave. This woman is desperate to ruin their happiness, she would do anything even if all it does it cause upset and turmoil for a day.

Anonymous said: I keep hoping that they would pull of one of the biggest twists in dizi history and say that these last 7 episodes were a dream. Imagine how epic that would be.

That would be amazing. Let it all be Serkan’s coma dream after the plane crash and he wakes up to Eda at his bedside.

Anonymous said: While I don’t like Eda saying no to the proposal due to believing Selin’s pregnancy story, I was actually happy that the Edser reconciliation was not wrapped up so quickly. I want them back together but had a real problem with Serkan’s attitude for most of the episode. And him allowing Selin to still work at the company and just apologize to Eda like she borrowed her favorite sweater & never returned it....like who is this guy? And being unwilling to take any blame with the Deniz situation? He needs to actually seem remorseful considering everything that Eda went through. I fear the real problem with his character is the writers which means we may never see episode 1-28 Serkan ever again 😭.

I’ve pretty much addressed all this, but, yes, I feel you. I think it’s a good thing that their reconciliation is going to take more work. Let’s hope the writers find some sort of nuance and skill and get it done!

Anonymous said: I wish bad things on those people who came up with the rumors that we were getting new writers 💀Or the ones who keep saying that Selin will be gone in the next episode and we are coming up on #9 with her. I know it's my own fault for getting my hopes up but still lol - they are purposely extending her stay on this show to spite us, no? This is starting to feel like a personal attack 😂

I KNOW! Those damn spoiler people with their snake oil and false promises! LOL. I have believed them more than once (mostly because I wanted to so badly). That Yasin person (who lies more than he tells the truth) still insists there will be new writers. We shall see. I know more than a few hearts broke when we saw the same names wrote ep 37.

Anonymous said: Do you ever think we’ll get our serkan (ep 1-28) back? Even though he recovered his memory he’s acting so different. In the moments when he’s not being super sweet with eda, he’s inexplicably cold or apathetic. Like when they were stuck in the garage, it was hard to believe he just dismissed her when she brought up being hurt by the memory thing. And telling her to shut up when she was worried instead of comforting her? ESP bc he knows she’s claustrophobic. And answering the phone in the end, even though that “efendim... sevgilim” was turned into a comedic bit, the way he just didn’t seem excited to talk to eda at all? Compared to their phone convos in 12(?) and 27. Idk I can’t believe he has the audacity to be 1) annoyed with eda’s lingering frustration 2) in general not be more apologetic 3) so civil towards Selin? Asking her to stay and saying he wants her to be happy? What the ABSOLUTE FUCK?

I get it, but I think you’ll enjoy the show more if you take a deep breath, realize these writers SUCK, and then try and enjoy the Edser scenes individually. They’re actually pretty good that way. It’s like what I said last week, in order to enjoy, emotionally detach yourself from the plot, and view this as an excuse to see Hande and Kerem make their magic together.

Anonymous said: Ugh sheesh of eda doesn’t tell serkan about selins non pregnancy right away and we have to spend a whole episode with both of them hurt and serkan confused idk how I’m going to have patience to watch it through

This came before the fragman, but from the fragman it appears it’s going to take the whole episode, but I thought it looked like it would be watchable. Seems to me Eda is not going to tell Serkan about the pregnancy. Deniz is going to tip Eda that Selin might be up to something. Cue the girls investigating. At the same time maybe Eda tips off Deniz that Selin is pregnant. Deniz confronts Selin asking if he’s the father. Separately Serkan is trying to find out what’s going on, he finds out Selin is pregnant and the trailer is him telling Engin. I think his reaction could very well be because he’s super confused because how can Selin be pregnant when she was engaged to him but they weren’t sleeping together?? Or he’s furious because he thinks Selin told Eda that and he knows it can’t be true (at least that he’s the father). At least we know that Serkan and Eda have a romantic night at some point...

Anonymous said: I feel like the SCK fandom is on pins & needles waiting to find out in the next episode if Selin & Serkan actually slept together during the 3ish months they were together. Like I want Eda to be honest with him about why she turned down the proposal but then it is either a quick “we never slept together so not possible” that ends that storyline or he admits they did and we spiral into figuring out if she really is pregnant/who is the father. But if she decides not to tell him then he has to spend the episode trying to figure out what happened. Worst case scenario is her not telling him, him spending the whole episode trying to find out and then it ends with a reveal that they did sleep together & pregnancy is possible.

I’m still sticking with that they always purposefully showed us them not sleeping in the same place AND these writers have proved they are aware of the whole “Nobody touches you but me” thing. Why, out of everything, with this storyline looming, is that what he remembered if it wasn’t going to come into play?

And honestly, I don’t want to even speculate it could go the other way, so everyone can stop asking me about that. If we have to cross that bridge, we’ll do it when the time comes. As long as there’s hope, that’s where I’m camping.

Anonymous said: damn, people were just joking about it, but selin and deniz really DID get freaky in the woods lol. no wonder the next time she visited the cafe after the trip she was all awkward about it.

She was totally awkward! And she was checking herself out in the mirror, primping, before she saw him. That’s totally when they did the ugly.

I was cracking up today reading all the people on twitter screaming about “HOW? WHEN?” in regards to Selin and Deniz. UM... they had ample opportunity. They were constantly meeting to discuss their nefarious plans. She was always at his coffee shop. That night at the cabin, Selin and Deniz both went away disappointed and angry leaving Eda and Serkan at the shelter, makes sense they would find cold comfort in each other’s arms. She was acting weird in the last couple of episodes like she’d almost given up and like she was disheartened by how into the sabotage Deniz still was. Also they are side characters in the Edser show, we’re not always going to see what they’re doing. (THANK GOODNESS, last thing we need is that burned into our brains!)

#Sen Cal Kapimi #Edser #Sen Çal Kapımı #sckask #sck episode discussion #sck speculation #sck 1x36 #sck 1x37 #asklizac

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livinginsunnyhell · 3 years

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My rewatch is up to 5x07. Yes I will be finishing this before the end of the season. I have no idea what episode is even out for 11.

-Sammi is batshit!!! I forgot how crazy she gets cause frank couldn’t care less about her. Her shooting Frank is crazy as fuck and I don’t understand why Lip atleast didn’t tell Fiona so they could get her out of there before the shit with Carl and Ian happens. Frank should’ve listened to Sheila. But also why is fiona letting her move into the house and take care of the kids? It’s like they all just accept it even though Sammi adds nothing but drama and then the way she tries to push Fiona out is annoying.

-Frank was a better character when he bounced off of Sheila. I liked their chemistry and storylines. Sheila made everything better.

-I really could care less about Fiona’s boy drama. It takes away from her quality as a character. But also I hate how she just kinda drops her duties of taking care of everyone just cause some guy is in her life.

- I’m not sure if I should feel sympathetic or not for V and the babies and Kevin. The whole storyline confuses me. Adding svetlana to the mix is just eh...

-also Fiona subtly moving out is super shitty.

-I think I skipped 90% of her scenes with Gus. I just could care less.

-Sammi claiming she’s trying to keep the house together is laughable. It’s like debbie six seasons later. It also shows how Fiona is legit the only person who runs the house and can keep it together.

-the end of season 4 are the best two episodes of the entire show.

-Ian! Mickey! Omg! Mickey hugging Ian’s jacket is the sweetest thing. Mickey and Ian at the psych ward. Also basically Mickey and Ian from 4x06 to now is just amazing. I love them so much. There’s so much that goes on with them in this part. The way Mickey handles Ian in the psych ward and getting our and disappearing once he does get out it’s just very emotional. It makes me love Mickey even more.

-my favorite moment between then will forever be sorry I’m late. It just speaks volumes from when Ian is trying to get out to go back to Mickey and then his constant calling to see where he is and Mickey obviously has been fighting and drinking. It’s just a really great culmination.

- they both have their own sides of the bed.

-my favorite Ian and Mickey storyline is 4x11 to now. I love how worried Mickey is. I love Mickey facing his dad. I know there’s a lot of feelings about it but when everything is said and done it just shows his strength at facing something he’s struggled with for years. I know it’s not the ideal way for everything to fall out but Mickey puts everything on the line for Ian and Ian fights beside him. And then he steps up to take care of Ian like this is the only option. It just speaks to him as a character.

-svetlana blackmailing and mocking Mickey for being gay and nearly being killed because of his dad’s hatred of homosexuality it’s really telling of her character. I know everyone likes her but I do not...

-I hate Ian cheating but I love how he can barely look at himself in the mirror. It says so much about where his head is now. Ian cheating always brings up so many confused feelings for me. I don’t condone it but they never talk about what they are to each other etc. so when Ian says he doesn’t realize how much it meant to Mickey after the porno you realize how even though they’re so connected they suck at communication. Logically you’d understand that if they’re living together etc. you shouldn’t cheat. But Ian is dealing with all of this stuff. You can tell when the porno is brought up how he doesn’t realize he did anything wrong. On some level I wonder if Ian didn’t think his happiness with Mickey would last.

-Ian’s silent tears at the psych ward hits you. Hard. So does the kiss on mickeys forehead after the bar fight.

-Mickey getting dressed up to see Ian hits you. Hard. So does the jacket hugging.

-there’s such a problem with rape in this show. No one addresses rape at all. I don’t like Matty but what happened to him was shitty and the way lip kinda laughs about it the same way he does Mickey in season 3 is just a lot to take in. And don’t even get me started on the Mandy stuff from season 2. Or the fact Ian was probably also raped when working at the club after going home with random men when he was so drugged up. I know this has been touched on before but seeing lip kinda joke about matty and Mickey at such different times is a lot.

-fionas comment about not thinking Mickey would show is valid. She saw how freaked out he was at the psych ward. I honestly don’t blame him for wanting distance and not showing up. It’s a lot to take in. She has an idea in her mind that family only takes care of family (she’s so protective over her siblings) and I think she recognizes that Mickey wants to be there for Ian and wants to make sure he’s okay (4x12 she recognizes this I think) but like she said knowing it and getting the cold hard truth by hearing it are two different things. Also all the Gallagher’s have an idea about what they’re going to have to deal with in terms of Ian so she assumes that it’s going to be like Monica but like the doctor says Ian has his own diagnosis and it’s not really fair to compare them. But from right off the bat they all do whereas Mickey is just trying to wrap his head around the fact that the man he loves is sick and he can’t do anything about it. I think if they had touched on this a bit more other than the scene in 5x08 we would’ve seen Fiona singing a different tune and recognizing how hard Mickey is willing to work to make sure that Ian is okay. And I have to wonder if maybe that was the direction they were going to go in.

-debbies raw confusion at raping Mattty and Ian’s bewilderment at doing a porno has the same energy. Except Ian’s dealing with some real shit and Debbie just doesn’t understand consent.

-I surprisingly don’t mind Amanda. I like her dad.

#gallavich #shameless #mickey milkovich #ian gallagher #ian x mickey #rewatching shameless #unpopular opinions #I don’t like svetlana #I just love gallavich so much #I can’t believe I’m almost into the Mickey missing years #idk how I’ll get through it

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ladylunasolis · 4 years

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Zutara Week 2020 - Day 1 “Reunion”

This is my first ever work for Zutara and ATLA - also my first work of any kind in years. Zutara has always been one of my OTPs and the re-watching the show reminded me how much I love the ship. We only had so many episodes to see them together...but this fandom keeps them alive. This is a more Zuko-centric piece, as I really like to wonder about his POV. Please enjoy “Reunion!”

Rating: G

It has been almost two years after the war had ended. There were some things Zuko had a more challenging time with as new Fire Lord. One was weeding out the Ozai loyalists in his councils. Second was smiling so much. He barely got used to that when he was with the rest of the gang. Of course, he didn’t necessarily need to smile but with the right people, it helped. He was initially a bit rusty with economics but with Iroh’s occasional visits and reading recommendations, Zuko made great progress.

Another area for growth was replying to the numerous gifts and letters he received from dignitaries throughout the world. After one round of answering letters took over an hour in a chair (he insisted he reply himself to make things more personal) he realized he was not quite there yet. Zuko tended to think better while pacing so he employed a transcriber.

As many things were challenging, there were many things Zuko did well. Some of these strengths include memorizing the names of his servants and being able to take into consideration the viewpoints of the needy/working class. He was for the people. He was open to hearing input, though did not hesitate to tell someone when their words were disrespectful. Although he was awkward, kids liked to talk to him. He was great at international relations.

And he always, always replied to Katara within 2 days - in his own writing.

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter of Hakoda, waterbending master, ambassador. The girl who saved his life. Not too long after his coronation ceremony she had left to fix the rest of the world, alongside Avatar Aang. In the months that passed her departure, every time he closed his eyes he would see hers. He would see those deep blue eyes peering down at him, the first thing he would see after Azula’s attack. He remembered how they brimmed with tears. He remembered that not even the blue of Azula’s fire or hell, the blue of Azula’s lighting, could compare to the blue of Katara’s eyes.

He had wanted to say it, wanted to ask her if he was crazy to think there was something there because she felt it too right? A few days had passed after the pomp and circumstance of the coronation. She was checking to make sure he was healing well, her glowing hands running over his exposed stomach, making his abs contract.

“So...” Katara started off shyly. She had a blush on her cheeks and a small smile, but did not meet his eye. This was it, Zuko thought. This is the moment!

“I think me and Aang are going to give this a shot. I mean this, like, me and him. Together.” She became very flustered and brought the water back to the bowl, looking to see if any drops had fell though he damn well knew that wasn’t possible. Silence came over the two of them, except for the roaring of Zuko’s heartbeat in his ears.

He was unsure how much time has passed until Katara started to shift and stand up, brushing off invisible lint. “Okay well you’ve healed past anything serious, it’ll just be some pain—.”

“Thank you.” Zuko tied his shirt and stood up as well. He towered over Katara, who was looking down, playing with her hair. Zuko was definitely aware of the pain he would be feeling, now and for a long time coming. But it wasn’t from the agni kai. The next words kind of just came out on their own.

“Are you happy?”

Katara looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes, with a small smile. She kept eye contact for a moment, which made Zuko wonder if she was searching for something in his own eyes. Then the moment passed. “I am! I really am.”

Zuko felt the urge to say more, but another thought crossed his mind. Who was he to get in the way of her happiness? He saved her life and almost sacrificed his own, sure, but Aang had done just the same. Aang was a good kid. Aang would protect her. Aang is in love with her... With Zuko, he wasn’t even completely sure yet how he felt - he just knew that he wanted her around. But that wasn’t enough to keep her from love. So Zuko cleared his throat and returned the soft smile, placing a hand on Katara’s shoulder.

“I’m really glad.” And he meant it.

He watched her leave a few days later, after hugging both her and Aang, wishing them both safe travels and letting them know they were welcome any time. Zuko could distinctly remember standing on the palace steps long after the air bison had disappeared into the horizon. To distract himself from regrets, he buried himself in work. It was effective about 90% of the time.

Zuko would also still see Mai, and though he felt a familiarity for her it wasn’t the same as what he felt for Katara - whatever that was. He would spend time with Mai when he could, try to get things back to where they were before he left to join the gang, but his mind would wander. To the argument they had on Ember Island “At least I feel something!” Or to brilliant blue. The kisses and touches he shared with Mai paled next to what stirred within him when Katara merely said his name.

Then the letters started arriving.

The letters started a little more than two months after Katara and Aang left. They would come once a month, or two if they were closer. They started off with many “we went to” “we met with” “we did.” After another seven or eight months it was mostly Katara writing about her day and asking about Zuko’s day.

The fruit in the Earth kingdom are great, but I still like the Fire Nation’s better. Especially that one that’s soft and yellow in the middle. I forgot the name. But nothing beats sea prunes! You have to try some next time you come here.

Despite Mai’s lack of expression, Zuko knew she was very perceptive. Try as hard as he could, he wasn’t able to ever give her all of his attention. If he was honest, he would say he was almost desperate to forget Katara but it wasn’t fair to Mai to use her for that. Zuko opened his mouth to say something one day and she put a hand up to stop him.

“I get it. I don’t want to fight about it, but I never want to speak to you again either.” That stung, because in a way she was pretty much his only friend in the nation, but he knew it must have hurt her worse. And so he buried himself completely in work and firebending training.

A year after the war ended and peace had begun, a conference was held at the Fire Nation palace. It was decided the leaders of each nation would come together to encourage international coordination and morale between the nations. Zuko had fought against those Ozai-loyalists daily to combat the ideals that the Fire Nation was the best of all. He had advocated diligently to open their eyes to how the other nations work, to be able to learn from them, and to share the Fire Nation’s ways without having to over their land.

Plus, it would be a good chance to see his friends again.

On the day of the Conference of Peace Zuko awoke even earlier than usual and went through some of his firebending forms. He felt jittery, shaky, alert. But he was excited. Him, Zuko, excited! He was sitting in the conference chamber an hour before the meeting started that day. It had been too long since he had seen Katara. Is she taller? Is her hair done in the same way? Will she still smile when she sees me?

Then the nerves set in. Am I taller? Am I fitting into my royal robes well enough? Wait, are the royal robes too much? I know Katara’s not the type to—. He had to shake his head quickly, before his thoughts ran away with him. “It doesn’t matter anyway, because she’s with Aang. So stupid.”

When Sokka came announced as Water Tribe Ambassador, Zuko had to grit his teeth to curb his initial reaction. Sokka was charming and cheerful as usual. “What’s up, Fire Lord? I’m here reppin’ the Water Tribe!” He wrapped an arm around Zuko’s shoulders and leaned into him.

“H-Hey, Sokka,” Zuko managed. He cleared his throat. “It’s great to see you. Uh where’s Katara?”

“Oh yeah, so right before she was gonna leave I guess almost all of the village got sick with something they haven’t seen before. Katara had been healing for days but it’s something that needs multiple treatments or something. Wait, you didn’t get a letter? Well I guess I got here before the letter since I’ve been traveling closer with Suki.”

At this point they heard the unmistakable groan of an air bison and Aang landed Appa in the square, and from far away they could see his arm up and waving. Everyone will remember that first conference as one where Fire Lord Zuko was informative, but his expression hardly changed the entire time. Some would say he was even a little surly.

Zuko caught up with Sokka and Aang and while it was truly great to see them, he couldn’t help but wonder where Katara’s letter was. As curious as he was about her, he wasn’t going to bombard her brother and her boyfriend for information. Sure enough, he had found her letter at the end of the second day.

I’m so sorry Zuko, my people need me. Even though people are recovering it’s taking multiple rounds of healing for each person and I’m the only one who can heal at this pace. By the time you read this Sokka will probably have told you already. But I just wanted you to know I really did want to see youand everyone.

The last words seemed to be scribbled together, like she had an afterthought to add “and everyone” over where she originally placed a period after “you.” I’m probably just imagining it - the thought flooded Zuko’s mind, but he was able to sit up late and respond.

You’re right, Sokka did get to me first. But don’t worry, your people come first and I’m wishing them all a quick recovery. They have a great healer there after all, Master Katara. Zuko paused, before continuing on. It would have been great to see you, too. Hopefully that will happen some time soon.

After the conference, there were no letters for a month or two. Needless to say, Zuko berated himself. “Scared her off,” he muttered to himself, throwing a towel into a soiled linen basket. He had just finished some training, taking his frustration out on himself. Zuko noted there was a mail delivery and his eyes lit up when he saw the blue water tribe symbol. He opened it eagerly and skimmed through the long letter.

. . . Anyways, I love being home. It’s nice to be with family and wear my furs, though I’ve been growing a bit so I may have to get new ones soon! I’ve been so busy ever since 2 of the kids found out they can waterbend. Being home does sometimes feel different though. I guess it just takes a little getting used to for me to be back here because this is the longest I’ve been home or even 1 place since me and Sokka found Aang. But since Aang and I broke up, I just decided to stay here for a bit. We’re still friends, probably better friends than girlfriend-boyfriend, but thought that the space would be good.

Zuko stopped. “Since Aang and I broke up…” A fire lit within him. He read it over again in disbelief. This was his chance! Finally! He was going to-! Zuko shook himself, and ran a hand over his face, eyes skimming the letter over. “No. Come on, Zuko, she probably doesn’t want to be jumped on after a break up. They were together a while. How long have they been broken up for anyway?”

After some thought, and calming exercises, he picked up a quill. Zuko wrote out the general greetings and response to the daily activities she had in her letter. He hesitated and continued on.

I’m sorry to hear about you and Aang but that’s great you two are still friends. As you know, it doesn’t always end up that way. I’m sure you two will continue working on making the world a better place.

Zuko grimaced as he read his letter over. Before he could change his mind, he rolled the scroll up and went to the aviary.

The letters were different from then on.

I was really missing the turtleducks today! I wonder if those babies are all grown up now! Remember when you first showed them to me? We had so much fun.

The sunsets here are great, but sometimes I think about the sunsets in the Fire Nation. They’re completely opposite but still just as beautiful.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing all that I can to help people, or if I should be doing more. I’m doing great work here I know but I’m thinking about traveling again, learning more and bringing that knowledge back home.

Zuko would reply. He started to confide in her his fears and insecurities, in response to her becoming vulnerable with him too.

Those turtleduck babies have gotten bigger, but there are always more born every year. It would be nice to have a picnic by the pond to introduce you to them.

Next time you’re here, you have to see a sunset from my favorite spot. I’ll take you. And you’re right, opposites can both be equally great. Before I got to know you, I never knew water could be so strong and beautiful.

I know how you feel. Even though I’m seeing changes it can feel like I’m still fighting a battle. Sometimes I just get tired, but I just have to keep going. Sometimes broadening our horizons are the best ways to help our people.

The second Conference of Peace was approaching in another two months’ time. Of course, Zuko had invited Katara to be Water Tribe Ambassador once more and he waited with bated breath for her answer.

Zuko, of course I’ll be there! I can’t miss it two years in a row. I actually wanted to let you know, I was thinking of spending time there before the conference. I’m in the Earth Kingdom right now. I traveled here since my last letter, thanks to your encouragement! Since we’ve been talking about the Fire Nation and things I haven’t seen yet, I thought it would be a good chance to do a little bit of that before we have to all talk business. But if it’s not a good idea, or if you’re too busy, I understand.

Zuko, who had been working on the speed of his replies, replied and sent right after he read her letter.

Of course you’re welcome to come. I would love to have you here.

Weeks later, Fire Lord Zuko stood on the docks, staring out to sea. Many citizens were quick to recognize him and Zuko gave each of them a nod of his head or a wave. He knew this was a little odd, but he didn’t care. He was finally going to see Katara again. They had so little time together in person before she had to depart so he didn’t really know what to call his feelings then. All he knew was he cared enough about her to give his life. That had not changed with Zuko, but he now knew what he feels for her now.

He saw Katara on deck, leaning on the railing, before she saw him. Her chestnut hair was partially up, hair loops still in tact. She was wearing a new blue outfit that matched the tan of her skin. And her smile when she saw him was brighter than the sun. He noticed the way she flicked her wrist, and the sudden wave that brought the ship closer even quicker.

She made her way down the dock and Zuko had to remind himself he is the damn Fire Lord, look noble! But he sure as hell still felt like a teenager despite his age making him an official adult now. He wanted to run and hug her but was able to control himself enough to take a few steps towards the smiling waterbender.

“Hi Zuko,” Katara said, and her voice was a song to his ears. Better than any song he ever heard on music night, by far. She smiled up at him, because even though she had grown a little he had grown a lot. “It’s been too long.”

And then he looked into those eyes, just as blue and expressive as he remembered them. They had haunted him in the most tormenting way but now that his eyes were meeting her’s again, all the pain was worth it.

“You’re right, Katara. It has been.” And Zuko smiled, the emotions reaching his golden eyes. His smile was a promise - a promise to show her everything she wanted to see, and that he wasn’t going to take this chance for granted. Not ever again.

Thank you for reading!

#zutara #zutara week #zutara week 2020 #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #writing #reunion

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glumpiglet · 4 years

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Close Encounters of the Beej Kind (F!ReaderxBeetlejuice)

Uh hi everyone.. K This started as a request but then i took another look at it.. And it didn’t even do what was asked and I was like … i might just post this as a fic.. So here we are! Many apologies to that person, hopefully this could be a bit of a compensation and it WILL be answered I promise!

To anyone asking for a pt 2 to my ghost s/o I definitely have more to do with that one…we got a WEDDING TO PLAN MY DUDES….. Eventually..i'm trying to get these requests done (which are Always Open ;) ) and I want to do a second date to my Dew fic. I’m very a stop and go writer, I like to try and keep these to a 3-4k length...sometimes that can take me 2 days… sometimes 2 weeks. Lol you know the struggle. hope you enjoy this one. Stay lovely out there hotties.

Warning: Beej is a voyeuristic, thieving little trash boi and there’s some swearing… That’s all.

It started out an average day when you officially met Beetlejuice.

Moving into a new place alone was always so much work. The organizing, the packing, the stress. It would be ultimately worth it, you realized. This would be the first time you lived alone, no roommates, no family. You were a real, genuine adult now.

Laughable, you thought, as you shoveled the spoonful of cereal into your mouth before returning to your controller. There might still be unpacked boxes around you, but sometimes video games were just higher on the priorities list.

The whole ordeal was almost over with. What was left was pictures to hang up, you bought a bookshelf that needed to be built… Nothing crazy. Lucky enough there wasn’t too much of a headache.

That came surprisingly after the move-in.

It wasn’t something you voiced out loud, but you were sure the place was haunted.Believing in ghosts was a difficult subject for you. Having had… Things happen to you when you were a child, whispers of your name in the basement where your mom would do laundry. You had an argument once on New Years at a friends house because you were certain you were hearing someone in the house.

Ghosts were like Religion or Big Foot to you: Not a firm believer but definitely had some ‘need more answers’ kind of person. The human mind was a confusing piece of machinery. It came up with all sorts of insanity.

Still, a list was started to be compiled of odd occurrences in the short time of living here.

One day, you had been binging a couple Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes ironically enough when you should have sworn you could hear low-pitched laughing in your living room. Not from an adjacent apartment. Like it came from right beside you on the sofa. Pausing the video you listened for any more sounds. Complete silence greeted you and couldn’t tell what would have been creepier: if you had heard the laughing again or the quiet. Deciding to not finish the episode, you turned the t.v off and sat there in the quiet room for a long time

There was an odd smell in your apartment. You didn’t notice it when viewing the place but every morning you woke up to a pungent, musky odor that almost made you think your neighbours were smoking weed or living in garbage. The smell came and went throughout the day, sometimes wafting over you so unexpectedly you swivel your head to see what was behind you. Nothing was ever there.

Things were disappearing. At first you thought it just got lost in the mix of moving. Some cheap jewelry. Old photos. A hairbrush. It wasn’t until your clothes just started disappearing that you became troubled.

As you were for sure your panty drawer was being raided, you couldn’t figure out what the fuck was going on. You checked the dryer to see if you accidentally left any behind, you were a forgetful thing. It wasn’t impossible that your underwear had simply.. Disappeared. You tried to chalk the whole thing up to paranoia. You had been celebrating with the new apartment and was drinking a bit more than usual.

Blame the alcohol. Blame yourself. Anything to not think about the possibility of an actual haunting.

Not until a hot autumn night did you get any actual proof.

Sleeping nude has always been a thing for you. Your parents would scold you as a child for walking around naked. Leaving your windows wide open as you changed. They basically had to force you into pajamas. You didn’t want to be a nudist or anything, there was just something constricting about wearing clothes to bed. Pants were unbearable, anything with long sleeves suffocated you and god forbid if you ever wore socks. Even in Winters.

Living alone meant you slept nude nightly, even had the insight to splurge on some silk sheets finally, it was literally the best sensation you had ever felt. It was still unbearably warm in September and you had not been wearing much clothing since you moved in. You were saving up money for an A/C unit but it would probably be snowing by then. Slipping between the cool covers, you sighed as you drifted as you usually did, that space between sleep and dreams where your brain was beginning to shut off….

In a split second, the desire to open your eyes overtook you. Hovering above you was a large, dark figure. Clear as day. No mistaking it for something else.

Struck still with terror, the intruder didn’t see your wide, open eyes apparently, leaning down over your vulnerable body. In your restlessness, the sheets had been kicked off, leaving way too much exposed skin. Looking horrified, your skin began to break out in goosebumps, perking your nipples. The air to scream wasn’t finding you.

You heard a sound. Growling, like a dog. Vulgar, nasty sniffing noises were blowing from the beast, like the bellow of a forge. This was a nightmare, you clamped your eyes shut. If only you could pinch yourself… Striving to find the will to move your arms, fingers. Anything.

The shadow spoke. It was like gravel hitting the pavement. Striking and rough.

“MMmm.. So sexy...”

That was it. His voice snapped something in you and you felt yourself come alive. Jumping up in bed, you had screamed in panic, stumbling to your light to reveal an empty room.

In the terrified state that found you, pacing, in your robe, in your kitchen. Waay to wired now to return to bed. You had decided that night it was a dream, a type of sleep paralysis. No way in hell did your new apartment have a poltergeist.. Some demon?! No fucking way.

The idea of buying something: smudge the house, a ouija board, had crossed your mind. Before you realized what a terrible idea that was. If this was real, you weren’t communicating with it.

You weren’t thinking about it. Not at all.

Fate was funny, however. Destiny or kismet, whatever you want to call it. With every weird occurrence, it never occured to you that slowly but surely it was getting worse.

Not one week after the whole night terror debacle, did you catch someone in your bedroom.

As you said, average day. Meaning you stayed out in the living room, trying to find the energy to be productive beyond sitting on the couch, playing. Glancing at the clock intermittently, watching as the morning shifted into afternoon. You sighed and put the controller down, compromising with yourself.

Okay, get the boxes out of the closet. Put the shelve up and unpack three boxes then you could return. Sounded fair.

Walking into the room, reaching the closet, you leaned your head in to find the boxes, and heard a bump. Thinking the sound was just coming from something you hit in the closet, you continued reaching further in… Clothes shuffling made you pause. Turning towards the sound of an impulse, you gasped aloud as you took notice of a man opening your dresser drawer.

“Holy Fucking Shit!”

The first thought in your mind was he was a burglar. Afterwards, you had to chuckle at the idea, he was definitely not dressed for a B&E; terror made funny things make sense.

Grabbing the first thing in your reach, the contents of your vanity. You began hurling them at the now stunned creature, hands up on his chest, eyes wide in surprise.

“Get out, Get out!” Practically shrieking in the small bedroom, you backed up to the wall, trying to find the courage to escape. In your hysteria, you failed to notice something.

The items were flying right through him.

Adrenaline pounding through your body, making your head throb. He wasn’t doing anything, just standing there, confusing you through the panic.faintly you looked down and saw what he had in his grip. One of your shirts.

You had broken out in a cold sweat. Feeling like you were going to be sick.

“I’m serious guy, I’m gonna call the cops!” The booming voice you tried was being to sound more wilted, your heart was about to burst from your chest. Tentatively stepping a few more steps towards the door, brandishing the thing in your hand like a weapon, no matter it was just a mascara bottle.

“Uh-....yo-...” He continued to blunder through a breath, like a match striking against sandpaper.

You didn’t notice him pocketing your clothing. You dropped the thing in your hand.

The voice... That deep, dark rasp. You had heard it before. In your living room… In your bedroom.

Great timing, you couldn’t catch your breath. Gasping for air you slid to the floor, clutching at the ground for some balance.

This was not happening. This couldn’t be happening.

Every ration, logical, scientific part of your brain screamed for solid facts. The Afterlife wasn't proven real. Death was unknown. This wasn’t a movie and he wasn’t Casper. This was NOT a ghost. This was a human being, totally alive, uninvited in your home.

Watching with sight blurred around the edges, he was approaching you slowly. Clenching your eyes shut, you cowered in on yourself as you waited for the attack.. This was it, this was how it ended.. You could see the headlines now.

‘Local Girl Found Dead: No Witnesses. No Suspects.’

Family would never know what actually happened to you. Search for answers until they found this creature and the vicious cycle would continue.

The stench got infinitely worse as he approached, and your eyes began to water with more than fear.

“Hey, hey.. Breathe, breather.”

His voice was calm… Forced but calm and you didn’t take the bait. He was just playing with his prey and soon would sink his fangs in.

“You can actually see me?”

His voice was incredulous. A happy tone that made you look up, he was doing something odd. Not acting frightening in the least, not attacking. He was talking to himself. Angled away from you as he gave himself a pep-talk..What?

“Okay calm down… Play it cool….”

His eyes met yours. He rearranged his features to appear to be.. Smoldering.. He looked to be trying for suave.

“Heyyy.”

Not what you expected. In any other circumstance, you would have laughed. The air wasn’t found to make the sound. Instead you choke on your tongue. “..I-...Wh-”

That was all you could get out. It seemed his speechlessness had traveled through the room and now possessed you.

There was a knock on your door. It was the sound that brought you back to reality. The normalcy of a knock meant you had to interact with a human. You raced towards the door, ready to cry out in panic.

Retching it open, your breath caught in your throat.

It was your attractive neighbor. You had talked to them a total of three times including the time the landlord introduced you. In your hyper aware state, you couldn’t even reach in your mind for their name.

“..Hi.” You said breathless, wondering how much of a mess you looked. Attempting to discreetly pat your hair down, the neighbor explained their hearing you screaming, wanting to make sure you were okay.

On the tip of your tongue was ‘No, actually. There seems to be a poltergeist in my bedroom. Do you have the number of any good priests?’ But what came out of your mouth was surprisingly calm and normal. You were so sorry, you were playing and sometimes could get a little loud and competitive, you’ll try and keep it down.

Feeling the back of your head prickle, it seemed now you had obtained the power to tell whenever it’s eyes were on you. Great.

Seeing the ghost peeking from around the corner, not subtle at all in the ordinary background of your apartment, his contrite countenance almost making you smile. The words left your mouth before you could catch them.

“..Can you not see him?”

Your neighbours' confused silence answered. You took a deep breath, savouring this human interaction. Alrighty then.

“Gotcha! Sorry, I get spooky around this time of year.” It wasn’t even October, six weeks until Halloween, but it seemed to do the trick.

Sharing a laugh with the neighbor, you expressed your desire for them to enjoy their weekend, and bid them goodbye, promising to be quiet. Hoping they didn’t notice how fast you closed the door.

You turned back around to regard the ghost.

It.. Certainly didn’t look how you imagined it.

He looked worse.. Dirty and disheveled in a striped suit, you tried to picture how he might have died and carefully watched as he shuffled forward. Wide, yellow ambers glittered at you.

“Listen.. I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, but… You can see me.”

“Yes.” You had to clear your throat, the voice that came out of you was dry and cracked.

“Stop saying that, please. Why can I see you?” He stepped closer to you, head tilting and you had the space to break free into your living room, walking backwards as he stalked you.

“Beats me, sweetheart. Breathers are usually so self centered they never notice the dead.” You plopped down on the sofa, processing that bit of information. So it was all real. Ghosts were among us. Unbelievable.

He began to fiddle with the cuffs of his jacket, you almost wanted to ask him to sit down, the nervous energy you felt from him not helping with yours. What do you offer to a ghost for comfort? Smooth as always you blurted out the first thing.

“So… You’ve been haunting me. You were-”

Sudden, potent anger flushed over your skin. It came together. Your underwear. That night. This pervert!

“Have you been watching me sleep?!” You felt yourself screech before trying to lower your voice, remember the promise to the neighbor. Shooting up from your seat, the ghost floundered under your glare, eyes flickering towards the ground, refusing to look at you.

Lowering your voice to a dangerous whisper, the anger was making you brave. You began to advance on this deviant spectre. Realizing you had the daily source of your misfortune in front of you fueling your fire.

He had been around the whole time, through your daily routine like… He was your boyfriend or something. As uncomfortable as that was, maybe he couldn’t help that, but you drew the line at theft.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?! I don’t care, ghostly apparition or not, that’s just rude! Stealing my clothes?! What do you have to say?”

“Woah-woah.. I-I’m sorry! I just… You’re so…Hey!”

Continuing your pursuit despite his stuttered protests, you found yourself standing up close. The closeness was pungent, but it was becoming kind of bearable as the minutes passed on… Up close he was..

Strangely handsome, your brain chimed in for you. Not the fucking time!

Arms crossed tight, you glowered at him. Unexplained, you waited for his answer. Obviously he wasn’t going to hurt you. This stupid, smelly, handsome ghost had had plenty of opportunity, you thought sourly.

“Look, this really isn’t going the way I wanted it to. You’re the most interesting breather in this hellhole……. I’ve been stuck here for so long, but if-if you want.. I’ll stay away...”

Deciding to proceed with the first bit of what he said: going the way he wanted? You watched as he began to slump away. He was muttering to himself again.

“Probably go down and haunt Mrs. O’Reilly in 2B. Heard she got a new pacemaker...That could be fun”

Viewing the sad spectre slink away, the rage was strangely dissipating. Maybe it was the down tilted head, the kicked puppy expression, the idea of this dude with poor little Mrs.O’Reilly. Something made you call out.

“Wait.”

He perked up almost comically, twirling back towards you, having to bite your lip to keep from smirking. Maybe this ghost wasn’t so bad, he was certainly interesting. Entertaining. Handsome. Shut up brain. Didn’t mean you forgave him yet. He was giving you every piece of clothing back.

“Did I tell you to go away?”

“Yeah.. Earlier..” His fingers twitched together and now taking notice of how open and earnest his expression was, it was making you smile. Right, when you were freaking out. Could you be blamed? Now it seemed implausible you were ever scared of him.

“Okay, well that was then, this is now. Let’s start over, I’m (Y/N).” On reflex you held your arm out, and kept it there before you thought better of it. Why you were attempting to shake hands with a ghost was beyond you, but as this was of course the weirdest thing to ever happen, what else could be done that didn’t make sense?

He, with rapt attention, reached forward and you watched in astonishment as his hand drifted slowly through yours. The sensation was an icy buzz shooting up your arm, tingling through your neck into your brain, even your scalp felt the jolt. You felt like you just been electrocuted.

Both of you shivered at the contact. The air was filled with a growl and once again you were transported back to you in bed and him above you. For the first time.. You felt yourself throb in pleasure at the memory rather than fright. This was slowly becoming dangerous, you could feel it.

“Ooo… That’s different.”

Studying him as he glowed green, he began to lewdly run his hands down his chest...Down his thighs.. Your eyes snapped away, suddenly very interested in your own hand..Certainly different.

“I like it.”

“So…. Have you been here the whole time?” You asked, desperate to change the subject in a strangled voice, turning away so he couldn’t see your burning face. This was dangerous. Impossible. Not healthy. Deciding to let this ghost stick around perhaps wasn’t the best instinct.

“I’m not sure you’re gonna like the answer to that, babes.”

Revolving around to ask him what he meant, you paused at him... Flushing pink. Definitely not.

#beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice broadway #betelgeuse #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice fic #beetlejuice x reader #beetlejuice #lydia deetz #charles deetz #delia deetz #adam maitland #barbara maitland #reader x beetlejuice #beetlejuice x you

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps - Volume 8 “War”

Hello, everyone! Story time.

Yesterday food was delivered for my two idiot dogs (they’re thrilled about it) but, because it was delivered by Fed Ex, shenanigans were bound to ensue. These particular shenanigans involved realizing that the food had not been left at the front door like tracking said it had. Instead, it was down the very long driveway by the mailbox. Specifically, it was on a low wall beside the mailbox, currently inaccessible due to a mound of plowed snow.

Now, how the delivery guy managed to get it there I’ll never know, but given that our postal system is currently killing itself to get us our Amazon orders for Christmas, I shrugged, let it go, and resigned myself to lifting an 18 pound bag plus box over that snow without dying. Which meant that in reality I just dragged it, uncaring what bumps the bag might accumulate along the way. What are the dogs gonna do? Complain about presentation?

Snow successfully circumvented; I was home free!

… until I was lifting the box into the car, hit a patch of black ice, and was suddenly looking up at the sky, my right hip and leg screaming.

I’m fine. Bruised, but fine. It’s 2020. Did I expect to not fall? C’mon, Clyde. Be sensible.

The reason I'm telling you all this is because falling on ice at 10:00pm with an oversized bag of dog food was less painful than watching this episode.

I jest... but only a little. To be fair to RWBY, it admittedly wasn't painful in any new way. Everything that's a problem this week has been a problem for years now: confusing motivations, changing semblances, unpersuasive character beats, etc. So in some ways this episode — especially as a hiatus episode — is rather underwhelming. I expected RWBY to do something big before taking six weeks off, but this episode simply set the (unstable) stage for what's to come. With the exception of Ren, nothing changed this episode, which makes for a rather "Okay..." note to end on. It's not inherently bad, it's just a bit of a letdown after hyping ourselves up over the expectation that something even crazier than grimm soup will happen. Which, to again be fair, is on us as opposed to the writers. But that feeling of, "If this was last week, what in the world will we get right before an unpredicted hiatus?" was palpable. Turns out the answer was, "A pretty tame episode."

As always though, let's start at the beginning. This episode is titled "War" — straight to the point — and it's actually a little shorter than our last three episodes, adding to that "Okay..." feeling overall. We open on the outskirts of Atlas, amidst what appears to be a wheat field, or something similar. Upon reflection, it makes sense that the bubbled city would be able to grow things not normally growable in the tundra. This might also explain Cinder's strange beginning. Perhaps her orphanage existed on these rural outskirts and then she was brought into the city proper? We'll probably never know for sure, but at least this is a simpler answer than, "The Madame went off to an entirely different Kingdom to secure her child slave." Occam's Razor and all that.

Ironwood's army has assembled to hold off Salem's army. Wow, aren't we glad Ironwood invested in thousands of trained professionals rather than a handful of independent fighters? Seriously though, this is now a battle of numbers. May says later in the episode that Ironwood's forces are doing their best to assist Atlas, so they should go help Mantle... but that help only exists because years ago he recognized that the tiny class sizes of the Academies, this

wasn't going to be enough if grimm attacks suddenly increased. Sure enough, now they're in a situation where Ironwood needs even more men to keep up with Salem's creation magic. The fact that he has any at all is crucial to what little hope is left. How do Jaune, Yang, and Ren think they're going to get the time to look for Oscar without everyone dying while they're gone? Because Ironwood's army is keeping the attack at bay. I love how the story keeps angling for the "Military people are evil" message while actively showing us how much a military is needed in this world. If Ironwood had been a generic Good Guy who dismantled his armed forces because others wanted to ignore that they've always been at war against objectively evil creatures — both the grimm and Salem — then there would have been nothing to hold Salem off until small team rescue/bomb plans could be implemented.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. As usual. The army is on the front lines and one guy is scared enough that he's shaking. Can't say I blame him. As always, RWBY functions best when it leans towards horror, with skeletons rising alongside the normal grimm and intense music playing to convey the stakes. Ironwood watches the onslaught and immediately calls for a civilian evacuation into the subway system. Get people below ground, behind a few, defendable entrances, rather than wandering about the city where land or sky grimm can pick them off easy-peasy. Makes sense. Yet I'm already seeing fans make snide comments about how Ironwood is "still running," which just demonstrates how many viewers take the emotions of the show at face value — who is Good and who is Bad — rather than considering the situation and deciding for themselves. What's far more egregious than viewers enjoying a story however they'd like on a Saturday before the holiday though (seriously, my salt aside, no one has to enjoy RWBY any one way) is that RT again tries to paint Ironwood as crazy when he's... just not? Beyond the choice to animate him with scary expressions

once he gives the order the soldier starts to say, "But sir — " and Ironwood yells for him to obey right now. The scene makes it look like Ironwood is doing something shady again. Here's this goon balking at the order, but we're not told why. What's bad about getting the people to (relative) safety? Why is this order treated like something to question at all? We're not told and, from what we do know, it's not something that would be questioned, so unless we learn something new post-hiatus, that line exists only to make Ironwood look bad. It's a (nonsensical) excuse to have another ally turning against him (slightly) and to give Ironwood the chance to look scary and violent again. Nevermind that his city is under attack and if a subordinate started questioning a completely sensible and time-sensitive order? I might yell too.

So we're off to a great start. The above looks particularly stupid given that we immediately see the flying grimm arriving in a populated area, terrifying all the civilians there. Everyone bolts for the subway and we cut away from a man trying desperately to reach his daughter, unsure if either of them survive. But people want Ironwood to not use what few resources he has? See, this is why generic messages like, "You have to stand your ground" don't work. Sometimes there are situations where you should run and that doesn't automatically equal being a coward. It means you're smart enough to take the actions necessary to save as many lives as possible.

Later on we'll have a similar issue with the message, "You have to trust people" when my darling Oscar briefly loses his mind.

Now though, we see that the "fugitives" Yang, Jaune, and Ren have been taken into custody. Of course they have. Look, when the preview dropped yesterday I saw a number of takes along the lines of, "How dare the Ace Ops do this. They need to put aside their differences until the attack is over!" but no, they really don't, because it's no longer their responsibility to extend trust towards this group. Especially when doing so, to their mind, has a high chance of making a horrific situation that much worse. What are they going to do if, in the middle of a Salem attack, the kids they decided to trust betray them, attack them, and leave them knocked out somewhere while the world burns?

...Oh wait, they already did that.

See, the group broke trust first. Numerous times. The Ace Ops listened to Yang admit that she and Blake had betrayed Ironwood days ago. Then they watched Ruby betray him again by alerting the rest of the team, turning them against him. They swore they wouldn't attack, so Team RWBY attacked them first. They learn that Qrow had a hand in murdering their leader. They encounter the group again and Weiss gleefully asks if they want a second defeat. They watch Ruby tell the entire world to dismiss Ironwood because he’s the one who can’t be trusted. Outside of JYR not immediately attacking them when they arrived to help (something I praised them for), this group has never put their trust in the Ace Ops. So why do they — and we — expect the Ace Ops to do so now? Imagine for just a moment that it was reversed. We find out that someone betrayed the group for no good reason, set themselves against them, continued to do so as everything fell apart, told the rest of the world they’re the enemy, and then a close associate is involved in Ruby's murder. How many people would expect the group to just shrug all that off? Would they put their differences aside and embrace these people because blind trust is (supposedly) the right thing to do? Of course not! Yang would punch their lights out and everyone would cheer, but that's because they're the established heroes. Outside of that role, no one else is allowed to mistrust those who have proven themselves untrustworthy and take precautions against getting betrayed again. To say nothing of how these characters don’t have our meta perspective. Meaning, they live in a world where this trio is not a part of a protagonist group destined to remain a part of the plot because that’s how story conventions work. They’re three random teens who were promoted to huntsmen early. They’re three soldiers out of many who can, at any time, be taken out of the fight. No one on the Ace Ops is working under the belief that they “have” to be a part of this fight. From their in-world perspective, you could toss them in jail for the rest of the battle and that’s that. Outside of their fugitive status they are entirely unimportant.

So yes, Jaune, Ren, and Yang are in handcuffs. They deserve to be. Don't worry though, they get out very soon.

Yang makes a snide comment about Winter "Still just following orders" and honestly? I've lost the love I used to have for her as a character. Yang is just an exercise in frustration whenever she speaks now. Thus far she's blamed Ruby for everything that's gone wrong (ignoring her own choices there), did a 180 to yell at Ren for acknowledging how bad things are, worried nonsensically about Blake being disappointed in her even though Ruby is the one she fought with, and is now back to the "You just follow orders" shtick. Yang will label anything she personally doesn't like as evil order following, but conveniently ignores how following Ruby's orders helped get them into this mess, and how the one time she went AWOL made things even worse. These characters don't actually have beliefs they stand behind, they just say whatever is currently necessary to make themselves look good, even if that contradicts previous statements or actions.

She also gets mad at Vine for saying that grimm don't take prisoners, ignoring that she only found this out a few hours ago. No one in the group is equipped to navigate the emotional minefield that is this war because they can't even take two seconds to put themselves in another’s shoes. Weiss doesn't bother to consider Whitley's situation. Jaune points at the snow and gets frustrated that Harriet doesn't magically know there's grimm soup flowing nearby. Yang snaps at Vine for stating what she also knew to be a basic fact about grimm up until Oscar's kidnapping. It's all framed as, "How can you be this stupid?" rather than, "Oh yeah, these people haven't had the experiences I have. If I was randomly told this I'd doubt it too. I should try to explain this in a way that will make sense to them and increase my chances of being believed."

This is the group who decided it was a good idea to tell the whole world about Salem and did it just as badly as I suspected they would. The story has shoved a delicate, information-based war into the hands of punch-happy teenagers and refuses to grapple with how that's a bad thing.

Anyway, Ironwood comes on the radio to say that the whale is pretty indestructible on the outside, but it might be vulnerable from the inside, so let's get a bomb in there. Seems like a good enough plan as any, especially given that the grimm is currently on the very outskirts of the city, away from the civilians if/when it's blown up. What kind of bomb might this be though?

Could it, perhaps, end up being a now severely damaged android who is based off of Pinocchio?

Time will tell. For now, the group is quite obviously upset that Ironwood is planning a big BOOM while Oscar (and Ozpin! Tellingly, no one mentions Ozpin...) is still inside. Here's the thing: Both sides are right here. YJR are right to be worried about their friend, while the Ace Ops — who have no emotional ties to Oscar and, as just established, are questioning whether or not a grimm really kidnapped him — are right that they cannot prioritize a single life over the entirety of Atlas. They just can't! And any hero worth their salt is going to recognize this. You cannot knowingly sacrifice thousands of people (if not more) for one (admittedly awesome) farm boy. It would be a different situation if the people of Atlas volunteered to remain in danger to give Oscar a chance at escape, but that obviously isn't the situation here. If someone told me, "Sorry, Clyde, we can't get you out because the place you're in is super dangerous and attempting to extract you would likely cause the rescue party to die. Also, the longer we don't blow this location up the longer lots of other people die" I'd be like, "Fair enough. Have a nice life!" I mean, obviously anyone would be terrified and devastated by the news, but if you're still thinking straight and have even an ounce of compassion for others, you don't trade all those lives for your own. Spock does not open the door to flood the whole Enterprise with radiation!

And notably, neither does Kirk. Oscar isn't given the chance to sacrifice himself — ignoring his choice to try and undermine Salem's forces rather than escaping — so Jaune, Ren, and Yang are deciding that for him. Which, again, makes sense for them emotionally, but it's still a selfish choice. They're prioritizing their family over everyone else's. If someone ever told me they’d risked a whole city for my sake I’d be touched, but also pissed as hell. Because what were you thinking?

Which is really my biggest issue with this divide. It would have been nice if the show had done more to make me believe these three are that ride and die for Oscar. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that they are and I'll take this characterization over the apathy we had in the past, but let's be real, it kind of came out of nowhere. The group as a whole pretty much ignored Oscar up until the movie invite and two of these characters — Yang and Jaune — have actively hurt him in the name of getting at Ozpin. Now suddenly they're willing to toss aside their huntsmen duties — protect the people — in order to save him? Nice sentiment, it's just that, as always, we have very little development for it, especially given the level of emotion shown. Particularly when it comes to Ren. The prospect of someone sacrificing Nora? I 100% believe that he draws a hard line and this kick-starts a change in his semblance. Ren is shown to be thinking about how he lost his teammate Pyrrha? Totally believe it! Someone is sacrificing the kid I'm not sure he's ever had a conversation with? That's less persuasive. At the very least, it would have been nice to have the trio grapple with whether they can or should prioritize Oscar over everyone else, rather than taking such a black and white stance of, "Of course taking the time to save this one guy while everyone else dies is worth it. You're evil for thinking otherwise."

We even get a shot of Winter's hand shaking and clenching like Yang's used to, just to hammer home who the correct party is.

While they begin this argument we cut to Salem who is literally conducting her grimm in their attack against Atlas.

Very nice. I love when a villain has

Emerald watches her, clearly freaked out, and then sneaks off to where Oscar is held. In the hallway she encounters one of the jellyfish grimm, so she casually makes it not see her until it has passed.

Her semblance works on grimm, but not “real girl” androids? Okay.

We all realize how crazy powerful Emerald is though, right? The stuff that she could do in a fight is staggering and I'll be forever salty that all she managed in the Penny battle was to create a couple different Cinders. Emerald, Marrow, Salem herself... RWBY has a real problem of having the antagonists conveniently not use the power at their disposal when the heroes need to win.

So Emerald starts listening in on Ozpin's torture. We learn that Hazel was recruited when he tried to kill Salem numerous times and had to watch her keep reforming. Which, if I remember correctly, is a technique she used back when she and Ozma were playing at Gods. It worked and now Hazel believes that they "share a vision. She's going to create a new world order," one without Kingdoms or Huntsmen Academies. No, says Ozpin, she's going to divide humanity past reform, summon the Gods, and hopefully die when they take out all of Remnant.

...My god, did we finally get Salem's motivations after seven years?

Seriously though: seven years. It's way too late, especially when we now have so many questions attached to this supposed goal. If Salem always wanted to divide the world irrevocably, why didn't she attack, oh, say, a thousand years ago? Why has she kept to the sidelines until now? None of this answers why she held off until our simple soul was conveniently ready to fight her. We also have the issue of Salem's knowledge, or lack thereof. So she obviously knows about the Relics and that they'll summon the Gods, but not how to work them? How did that come about? Even Ozpin's motivations are murky now. He repeats Salem's curse word-for-word — though notably, minus the "You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest" part — yet unless Salem told him this herself when they first reunited — and we know they both hid things from the other — Ozpin could have only gotten this line from the lore episode, something he witnessed along with us just a few weeks/months back. So is he only now realizing that this is what Salem wants the Relics for? Might he be wrong? Or did he somehow figure this out lifetimes ago and we're just not told how? If this is the case, why haven’t Salem’s motivations come up before now?

This sudden, "Oh yeah, she's always wanted to die" feels pretty tacked on. Like RT had Salem arrive last Volume because that's ~cool~ and then suddenly realized that they have to deal with her motivations now, so they hastily cobbled this together. But, as said at the start, this is entirely expected for RWBY nowadays. A problem to be sure, though one we've been putting up with for a couple of years now.

During all this, Hazel shouts that this is what Ozpin deserves and the first word out of his mouth is, "Yes."

But Oscar and the rest of Remnant don't deserve it, so make the right choice for them. How did RT think they were going to make this guy an antagonist? Ozpin has so much self-hatred and yet is still trying SO HARD that he makes Ruby Drinking Tea While The World Burns Rose look laughable.

Oh yeah, we'll be getting to that scene in just a second, but for now I just want us all to appreciate Ozpin as a character, even if the story won't.

....

.......

..............

...Okay, moment done lol. Sorry, Oz, there's a lot to cover this episode.

We cut to a semi-conscious Nora who asks Weiss, "Now what am I good for?" So that’s a double serving of oof. That's when Ruby arrives with fine china steaming with tea. Or coffee. Or hot chocolate. Whatever it is these girls are drinking. What comes next is accompanied by a strange kind of vindication for me. I mean, the fandom dragged me so hard for taking issue with their snuggly smiles during Ruby's message, yet now we literally have the girls sitting back in a mansion as everything goes to shit around them. I know the knee jerk reaction to this will be, "They have to watch over Nora" and “They deserve a break” but really? All three of them need to watch her? And a break during the height of the action? Blake says she hopes everyone else is okay, but who is actually out looking for information about the rest of their team? May. Who's going to do something to get Nora help? Whitley. These characters are so good at telling us they're the heroes while rarely ever displaying those traits. They all (somehow) saw the attack on Atlas and have the ability to get out there and defend people — the job they wanted — yet Ruby looks out the window and asks, "What can we even do?" while taking a long sip of tea. The people of Mantle are (supposedly) freezing to death, yet one of the few with aura, Weiss, sits by a roaring fire going, "Do we just wait for someone to come? If they even come.” I'm sorry, you didn't consider this before you told the whole world about Salem? No one questioned whether asking for potentially non-existent help was worth the risk and what they'd do if it never came? Or even just what they’d do in the meantime? I’m not saying the girls can’t have basic necessities like drinks, or that it can’t be done in style when that’s conveniently available. I’m saying them enjoying the food, warmth, and relative safety of the Schnee household (built on racism) while casually talking about what, if anything, they should do for the people dying outside looks a bit Not Good. "Should we wait for the fire department?" Asks the character as their kitchen burns, sitting beside a number of water buckets that could help slow things down. "If they even come," they sigh, taking another sip of tea. This is ridiculous! The city is currently under attack by the series' Big Bad and half our heroes are just sitting around, watching the evil lightning, wondering if they should try to do anything about it.

"How did it all get like this?" Ruby asks her cup, ignoring the many steps she took to make things this bad. It continually boggles my mind that Ironwood is out here trying to keep people safe in the subway, coming up with a plan to blow up this whale, sending out an army to kill countless grimm... yet "What can we even do?" Ruby is supposed to be the hero here. You know, the one who has silver eyes and could one-shot huge numbers of Salem's army if she actually went out there and tried to help.

Ironwood is taking action... and so is May. As said, she's the one out looking for info on their teammates and when she returns says that they should all get back down to Mantle. Why? Because, as mentioned earlier, Atlas at least has an army to help with things. Mantle only has them.

Yet suddenly, Weiss doesn't want to leave.

Where did this come from? They succeeded in their preferred plan of telling the world what's going on over Ren and Yang's plan of helping what people they could, and now they're looking for something to do. Why wouldn't they head back to help? (Especially now that the shields are down.) Weiss yells that there are people dying in Atlas too but, as established, Atlas has the army. And where was this concern when they refused to let Atlas leave? After a Volume and a half of pro-Mantle content, this seems to come out of nowhere. Worse, Weiss tries to guilt May by asking if she has family in Atlas, which leads to the reveal that she's trans. Her family rejected their daughter.

I want to be clear that I'm very happy RT made this canon. For what she is — a side character we know incredibly little about — I really like May and the fact that they were clear in her identity rather than keeping it to twitter deserves recognition. Yet I'm not going to pretend that the reveal didn't leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, simply because we have this incredibly privileged cis girl, who knows a great deal about shitty families, hearing how horrible May's was and still trying to tell her she needs to suck it up and help Atlas over Mantle. When May angrily asks whose side she's on, Blake makes a comment about hearing that before, comparing her to Ironwood. May is painted as the misguided one here, but can you imagine if someone told Weiss to go help Jacques over her found family, Team RWBY, regardless of what he's done to her? The fandom would explode, and rightly so. There's something to be said for realism here, showing us Weiss and Blake's inability to see where May is coming from... but it doesn't feel like a commentary on that. It feels like another Penny situation: May is put in her place for being inconsiderate, even though this time it's her choosing to help people who are ALSO in danger over the people who represent family she's broken with.

I wanted conflict this Volume and I absolutely got it, but damn if it isn’t badly thought out at times.

Because rather than grappling with these personal motivations, Ruby brushes them aside by yelling, "There are no sides! We want to help everyone."

Does that extend to Ironwood? Ruby's speeches started falling flat when she betrayed Ozpin, attacked Cordovin, betrayed Ironwood, attacked the Ace Ops... This girl does not want to "help everyone." She wants to help those who agree with her.

Yet her rock solid optimism generates the question, “So how exactly do we get out of it?” which, as expected, Ruby has no answer to. The story keeps showing us how bad a leader Ruby has become, yet no one is actively responding to that. They kinda disagree about lying to Ironwood, but still go along with it. Yang kinda criticizes her sister, but that's then lost to general worry as they split (on Ruby's end, anyway). They want to know how she'll lead them next and are seemingly fine when Ruby continually says, "I don't know." At this point I'd be like, "Well... you didn't like May's plan of going back to Mantle, but apparently can't come up with a plan yourself... so I'm going to go with her."

This is the same conflict we had last Volume: Ruby spoke optimistically about saving everyone, yet was unable to come up with a way to do that. Ironwood had a plan that, while horrific, might save a lot of lives. Yet Ruby is presented as the one to back. Now here she is, hours later, still unable to figure out a way to achieve her perfect outcome. Ruby wanting things to be a certain way is not going to make them so and I’m wondering when someone within the group is going to recognize and act on that.

As Ruby fails to answer this crucial question, we pull back to see Whitley listening in at the door.

Cutting back to Ozpin and Oscar, Hazel has listened to all this craziness about Gods, immortality, the destruction of Remnant... and literally goes, "Cool story, bro."

Okay, he says "Nice story" but the emotion is the same. Which I'm really happy about! I mentioned in a recent post that, as far as we know, Hazel hasn't been told anything about the Gods up until now. What Ozpin is telling him sounds like gibberish at worst, incredibly hard to believe craziness at best. Now chuck in Mercury's point that as a tortured prisoner he'll say anything to get free, as well as the fact that this is Ozpin talking to Hazel... and I'm really glad Hazel just ignored his speech (for now at least). It wouldn't make sense otherwise. Granted, this means that the plan literally amounted to, “Let’s info dump a bunch of nonsense-sounding lore on our enemy in the hope that he’ll believe us and betray Salem.” It’s something to try, certainly, and it admittedly is a much better plan than what Oscar is about to cook up.

So since Hazel won't listen to Ozpin, Oscar wants to try instead. Why did you two switch in the first place? It's really obvious that RT is having the characters do weird things in order to stretch out the plot.

Either way, our farm boy is in control again. What new strategy will he try?

"Her name is Jinn."

This is BEYOND stupid. No, none of this "You have to trust people" nonsense. This is not “people,” this is Hazel. There is a Grand Canyon's width of difference between learning to trust your allies and blindly trusting an active villain who just rejected your "Please defect :(" speech. Even if we remove Hazel from the equation, this is still a monumentally foolish move. I mean, has Oscar considered where he is? This isn't some random warehouse he's been taken to, this is a semi-sentient grimm, a creature creating other creatures out of its ceiling

and whose doors automatically open when people need them to (Mercury). This is a living being created by and connected to Salem herself. How does Oscar know Salem can't hear everything he says? Or that the whale can't relay information to her? That the grimm in the walls won't pop out and run to their master? Or even that a normal person isn't listening in at the door — like Emerald is. If that had been Tyrian instead, that's it. They're done. Game over.

Someone: "Wow. Salem got the Lamp and managed to ask where the Beacon Relic is. Since the school is still overrun by her army, she snatched it up quick, finished destroying Atlas, and is now on her way to Vacuo. She's nearly completed her plan in days! How did all this happen?

Oscar: I, um... told her what she wanted to know?

Someone: You what?

Oscar: But not Salem! I just told Hazel! ... and then the information somehow got back to her.

Someone: "Somehow?" You deliberately told one of Salem's henchmen this crucial piece of information, in a place where there was a good chance you would be overheard by conventional or magical means, and you're surprised that she "somehow" learned it and used that information to doom us all?

Oscar: ...Yes?

This is so staggeringly stupid it... well, it could only have been done by a kid. So at least that fits lol. Oscar, I love you, but Ozpin should have been screaming in horror the second those words left your mouth. Generations of precautions undone because a kid wants to believe the best of the guy currently pummeling him. Sweet, but stupid. I’m all for optimistic characters, they just can’t risk the whole world on that optimism. Oscar risking himself on the seemingly doomed plan to turn Hazel is one thing, Oscar risking all of Remnant on the seemingly doomed plan to turn Hazel is another thing entirely.

Even though you know this is precisely how the story will go. Oscar willingly hands over Jinn's name to Salem's forces, but happily none of the THREE who hear about it will tell her. The story's unwillingness to follow through on consequences doesn't change what a bad move this was. I mean, Oscar himself accused Ironwood of playing into Salem's hands by disagreeing with them about how to not die, yet a few hours later he will willingly give Hazel the one piece of information Salem needs to move closer to world-wide destruction? That's uh... well, that's something.

They should have just had the poor boy be tortured, spill the beans to make it stop, and start an arc of self-forgiveness. Oscar can be awesome without coming up with world-dooming plans.

So yeah, Oscar is hoping that Hazel will use the Lamp himself and find out the truth. He wants Hazel to trust him and the man he despises most in the world enough to go against the immortal woman he's terrified of, get the Lamp away from her somehow to use for himself, wasting a once in a generation question to confirm all this, so that Salem will lose a guy with muscle who, to be frank, is absolute insignificant in the grand scheme of her power. Fantastic.

As said, Emerald overhears all this and immediately runs to Mercury, who is less than convinced by her "Salem wants to destroy the world" talk. Just as he's expressing doubt, Tyrian appears to confirm that this is exactly what she wants to do — and he's loving it.

“Of course she is! You’re surprised? Salem is destruction incarnate!”

It's a legit point. Are our villains so dense they never considered that Salem might do something to the world they didn't like? It's like the group not thinking about how Salem is still around if Ozpin has been fighting her for a thousand years. RWBY continually gives the impression that these characters don't think about their situation past what they're doing at any given moment.

Tyrian maintains his title as best villain though, simply because I understand what he's doing, why he's doing it, and he's so damn good at it.

Also, can we appreciate Mercury's face here?

Amazing. This is the kind of humor we should be getting in such a tragedy-laden Volume.

The two of them, Tyrian and Mercury, head off to Vacuo for the Secret Mission, despite Mercury's newfound hesitation. I quite liked these quiet moments between him and Emerald. It has a very "Do what you've gotta do" vibe while showcasing their care for one another, something we haven't seen in a while.

Back with the airship group. YJR are still horrified that Ironwood would blow up Oscar (even though he has no idea Oscar is there), begging the Ace Ops to give them "a chance to try to rescue him first.” Ren goes pretty hard on the "no one is replaceable" bit, which is frustrating not being what he’s saying is inaccurate (it’s not), but because that's not the issue here. The writing has Harriet start yelling about Marrow replacing her old teammate and Winter replacing Clover, but the question is not whether you'll just forget a teammate and move on with someone new, but whether you're willing to sacrifice them for the greater good. That's the stance: Should we sacrifice one life to save thousands? Will you, as a protector of the people, put those people before your own found family? Yet what RT has Harriet say is: Oscar is replaceable. Which obviously makes her come across as an ass. Like the random soldier questioning Ironwood — or making Elm about to punch a defenseless Ren in her anger — it exists solely to show how bad these character are... even as they say pretty persuasive things.

The writing also continues to be confused about whether the Ace Ops are friends or not. Yang certainly didn't think so... up until she asks (rhetorically) whether Marrow would sacrifice himself for Elm, Harriet, and Vine. Since their introduction, the story has loudly insisted that the Ace Ops aren't friends... up until it's revealed ("revealed") that Harriet is actually gutted about Clover. So which is it? Are we supposed to believe that these are cold soldiers who only work together out of duty, or that they're a team who clearly love one another? I'd say that show has shown us the latter, but it doesn't seem to understand what point it's trying to make. Does this look like a soldier who doesn’t care?

It’s especially weird when Ren again makes the claim that this is why they lost to Team RWBY. Because they're not a team.

...So is this why they did such a fantastic job fighting the geist, demonstrating such perfect teamwork that the group was open-mouthed impressed? Is this why they nearly took down a Maiden together? Is this why Ren, while furious at Yang and Jaune, was still able to work seamlessly with them to try and rescue Oscar? Do we think if Yang was suddenly beside Ruby again that the two would fail spectacularly in a fight because they had a minor disagreement?

This is now the third time RT has tried to excuse nerfing the Ace Ops with, "They disagree about things and are thus not friends and thus can't fight well together" — despite all evidence to the contrary — and it's getting really old.

At one point Harriet tells Ren, "I had you pegged as the most level-headed of the bunch, but I guess you’re just as naïve" which, ignoring her then random claim that people are replaceable, is correct. I also pegged Ren as the most level-headed of the bunch considering he was just yelling at Yang for how much damage they've caused, all the mistakes they've made, and that maybe — just maybe — they should have tried harder to work with Ironwood. Yet now here he is, in a position to start that process, and the Ren we got in the snow is simply gone. He's fully Team Yang and Jaune again, facing off against the evil Ace Ops.

I knew this was going to happen, but it's still disappointing. The story gave Ren a great speech to appease those of us frustrated with the direction the story has taken... and now we’re back to ignoring that. Ren was told off for daring to question how great the group is, apparently thought it over in the snow, and is now of the opinion that yes, they are that great. People are going to die because of us? Who cares about that anymore! We will absolutely, single-handedly rescue Oscar and there's no reason why this might be a questionable choice when an entire city is on the line. Again, emotionally understandable (if we buy into the group suddenly loving Oscar this much), but it rings hollow right after making Ren the one person who was willing to look at the big picture.

Good news though: Jaune got the braincell this week! He suggests that they go in to try and rescue Oscar/provide intel, but won't stop the Ace Ops from launching the bomb when necessary.

See, this is heroic. This is what the group should have done during the Mantle conflict: Volunteering to take the personal risk of facing off against Salem while letting Atlas try to escape. Basically, not forcing everyone else to risk their lives for their pipe dream, which is what Ren and Yang want by rejecting the bomb entirely. Jaune recognizes here that they can't prioritize Oscar over an entire city, but also that they may still be able to save him before the bomb is complete and ready to go. So they compromise, with JYR the only ones at risk.

Good job, Jaune!

Winter agrees to this plan with a firm, "I outrank you" to Harriet. People are going to love that.

Oh, but in his anger Ren's semblance suddenly changes. So we're back to the ridiculous.

Truthfully, I like this direction. Granted, I would have liked some buildup to it, especially since this is the second time this Volume that RWBY has dropped a major semblance change on us, but the idea itself is really cool. Ren can now see emotions! Awesome! And I don't mean that sarcastically. I actually think that’s a neat extension of his original semblance.

Too bad the story seems to think he's a mind reader.

Seriously, take a look back at the dialogue. What Ren sees are confetti-like petals floating around a person, their color seeming to determine their emotional state. Red means Harriet is mad, blue is sadness for Marrow, etc. But what Ren ends up saying is a great deal closer to mind reading. Harriet is angry about Clover and is gutted at his loss. Marrow is questioning his place here and wants to leave. These aren't base emotions, they're targeted thoughts and feelings about situations not immediately apparent from the verbal conversation. “In fact, you don’t want to be a part of it at all anymore." How does Ren know that? They just gave him telepathy instead of the cool power with firm limitations that the imagery suggests.

There are also some, uh... iffy implications in all this. For example, Ren allows Yang privacy by not reading her mind emotional state, but has no qualms about reading every one of the Ace Ops’. So privacy is only for the people you care about, huh?

We could also say something about RT perpetuating unfortunate racial stereotypes: the two women of color are pure anger, the marginalized man is pure sadness, the Asian coded character is pure calm... and the white woman set to turn against the others gets a mix of all emotions. AKA, human complexity.

To be clear, I don't think RT is doing this deliberately. Rather, they’re writers who have demonstrated time and time again that they don't have a good handle on depicting the sort of sensitive material that RWBY is infused with, and that extends to the mild, but still unfortunate, implications in scenes like this. Even if we ignore the iffy details — a benefit of the doubt that, at this point, many fans aren’t willing to grant — we're still left with the continuity errors. Visually, we're presented with a woman who is experiencing multiple emotions at once and is, therefore, torn. Yet Ren reads Winter definitively: "I know you [don't want this] either." It's yet another moment that makes me wonder how much communication there is between the writers and the animators, because too often the two seem to be at odds with each other.

As the group prepares to go into the belly of the beast (literally!) we return to Ruby who is, once again, failing to make me believe she's this super compassionate person.

“Wait! What about Qrow and Robyn? Maybe if we get them out of wherever they’re held—”

Please tell me I'm not the only one who took issue with this? Ruby doesn't express an ounce of worry for her uncle, not even when she learns he's been arrested, and the one time she brings him up it's in the context of what he can do for them in this fight? Ruby doesn't grapple with whether to rescue her uncle (personal desire), or get the message to the world (her version of the heroic action) and then realize that, now that her duty is done, she can finally turn to the more selfish act of helping her immediate family. Instead, Ruby seems perfectly happy to let Qrow stay in prison up until she's unsure what to do next and thinks that maybe he has the answer. Heaven forbid Ruby think about rescuing him because she loves him.

Sadly, this Ruby is long gone.

In recent years she's expressed no gratitude for him saving her life, no respect for him as her teacher, demonstrated incredibly little compassion for his own struggles, and outright told him that if he wasn't going to listen to her then he doesn't need to be part of the team. Then he's arrested and she doesn't care until she deems him useful again. Like the fandom wondering where the sisterly bond between Ruby and Yang went, I'm likewise wondering where the bond between Ruby and Qrow went.

May outright rejects this though, yelling that they still don't get it. “This is not a situation where everyone wins!"

She tells the trio they have to choose for once: Are you going to help Mantle, or Atlas?

...which means there's immediately a knock at the door, interrupting the moment where they have to decide.

See, this is just like Ren. The story keeps giving us moments where characters speak absolute truth, dangling the potential for the group to grow from these realizations... only to pull back before it goes anywhere. Ren is once again aligned with Yang and Jaune in their desire to save Oscar. May's demand is interrupted by the plot. If means nothing to give us these moments unless the story acts on them.

It's Klein at the door. Whitley called him to help with Nora because I guess he's a doctor now, as well as a butler? Fine. Let’s run with it. Weiss is super pleased to see him and hugs Whitley for the good deed.

Why so shocked that Whitley would look out for another, Weiss? Could it be because he's had so little reason to be kind when everyone, including you, has treated him horribly? If Klein always had these medical skills — if you’ve grown up with a doctor — why didn’t you talk to your brother and ask if he knew how to contact him? And of course, she apologizes to Klein for her father’s actions, but not to Whitley for her own. Whitley's surprise isn't cute to me.

Weiss stuck a weapon in his face, insulted him, sent him to his room like a toddler... and now is randomly hugging him because he did something she liked. The context of this scene doesn't paint Weiss in a good light. Like the rest of her friends, she only extends basic respect and kindness towards others when they're assisting her. Whitley was nothing to her until he suddenly proved himself useful. That's not cute sibling love, it's a love that's going to run out the moment Whitley puts a toe out of line, according to Weiss' unspoken list of what behavior keeps him in her good graces.

I believe that Klein cares for Whitley because he greets him kindly and gives him that shoulder pat on the way up. Whitley didn't need to first prove himself to Klein somehow and Klein didn't start this interaction by shoving a gun in Whitley's face, just in case he wouldn't let him through the door. They feel more like family than this hug does.

So yeah, Whitley and May have done more good this episode than our entire main cast. How about we just make this story about the side characters instead?

We then hear a massive boom and the group runs out to find a crater. Penny has landed in front of the manor, which is pretty convenient considering we saw her pass out as she fell.

She's somehow still in control despite the hack and apologizes to Ruby, then falls unconscious (again).

And that's where we end! Definitely a cliffhanger, though a rather underwhelming one considering we already knew Penny was in serious trouble. As said at the start, this episode felt rather underwhelming to me, especially as a halfway point before a hiatus, and compared to some of the stuff we've seen previously. It's not bad per-se — especially if we ignore the issues that have been around for an age now, which is most of what this recap deals with — it's just not terribly exciting either. Everything of importance — Salem's attack, Oscar's rescue, Penny's demise, subordinates turning, Nora's condition, etc. — had already been established in previous episodes and very little of it moved forward. Ren's semblance is the only thing the episode gave us that we couldn't have (generically) guessed for ourselves between last Saturday and now.

So yeah, underwhelmed is the mood of the day, with a hefty dose of salt for everything that continues to be a story-breaking problem in this show. I will say though that, as has become the trend for this Volume, all the establishing shots are gorgeous. RWBY is, at the very least, pretty to look at.

As a final note, in lieu of the Bingo board (since, again, not a whole happens plot-wise) I want to point out something mentioned by a friend: how absolutely bonkers our timeline is now. We began the second day last episode with the sun rising (recall that Jaune had tried to sleep that night at the outpost. So it’s definitely sunrise as opposed to sunset).

And we re-confirm that it’s sunrise at the start of this episode.

Yet throughout the episode many of our shots take place at night (note the stars behind the trio).

These moments with Ruby can't take place in the past because they're talking about the attack, an attack that only happened after Jaune's group met up with the Ace Ops and the geyser attacked — during early morning. I doubt I'm supposed to believe that it has been another full day of Salem starting an attack, a full day for the group to fly to the whale, a full day for Penny to fall, a full day which would put us at the end of the Volume’s timeline at only the halfway point... so I think RT is just going for the aesthetic of night shots without thinking about what that does to the continuity. It's a mess.

Not the highest praise to end on, but I’m working with what I’ve got lol. I feel as naïve as Oscar when I say that maybe Part II will be better.

I will, of course, see you all in six weeks. Until then, I'll do my best to catch up on asks. Another doomed endeavor, but one can try!

A very Happy Holidays to all of you who celebrate and, as always, thanks so much for reading! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby recaps #rwby war #mymetas

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letterstothemidnightsociety · 3 years

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Alright, so if you've been following along with me, Supernatural season 3 starts out on a trio of episodes that are Really Fun, slides into some episodes that are Pretty OK, then takes a real nose dive into Bummersville. Hoo boy guys, I really hope that this season picks up. I mean, it won’t, but I can still dream. 2021 was maybe not the year to start watching this season. Fair warning.

The next three episodes for this season are just, like, real downers. First we get “Fresh Blood,” which, aside from the terrible title, starts out on a high note. Gordon (gross) somehow manages to catch up with Bela (HOW??) and threatens her if she doesn’t hand over the Winchesters. Bela, in all of her class and grace, won’t give them up because she has a high price point and Gordon is really lowballing her here. Just like, yes, ok, please stay forever, you’re amazing and I love you. And what a scene this is! You have two characters, one with a strict moral code (albeit one that allows for violence and winning at all costs) and the other with almost NO moral code, but an allegiance that can be bought with the best price and it’s such a fun back and forth until Gordon pulls out a gun. And then she pulls out her phone and just has Dean on speed dial and that’s maybe my fav part. Bela has run into the Winchesters twice and they maybe legit hate her but she’s very much like, oh yeah, my BFF’s the Winchesters, I love those idiots!

I love that we come back to this moment later in the episode when Bela, like, three days later, is like, Oh! I guess I should warn the Winchesters that some crazy guy is after them! She’s just so casual about it you kind of get the feeling that, even though technically Gordon was threatening her life, she doesn’t view him as A Threat. She gives the Winchesters a heads up just to be like oh yeah, you might want to watch out for this mild inconvenience, and she seems legit shocked when Dean freaks out. There’s this moment that plays across her face like, oh shit, did I...did I fuck up? And it adds a nice bit of depth to her character. She’s seems honestly worried, both for the lives of the Winchesters but also that Dean won’t like her anymore and that is just a charming bit of A C T I N G!

I am gonna miss her SO MUCH when she dies at the end of this season. WHY did we CANCEL HER???

But despite the fun beginning, this episode is about monsters and how people become monsters and how other people are probably the reason. Because our main baddie is a vampire who hunts to...well, listen if we look at the facts that he lays out in his monologue, it’s a little more tragic - he’s trying to replace the daughters that he lost hundreds of years ago, cool motive, still murder. In practice though, he goes around turning hot blonde coeds into vampires and then ?????? Who knows. I’d like to believe that this was a problem with the CW executives or maybe casting/directing and not with the writing, but it’s SPN and you really can’t be sure with anything. The fact is, this is a CW show from the early 2000’s and a lot of their extras are cast to type. And that’s maybe me exhibiting some girl-on-girl crime, but there are other episodes that did a much less blatantly gross job casting their extras/Very Special Guest Stars.

Anyway, the POINT of this guy is that he’s a monster because someone killed his daughter and he’s just been trying to fill that grief hole inside of him for centuries. This is not unlike Gordon, who ALSO has been trying to fill a grief hole that he’s had for decades, except he’s not killing people and resurrecting them as blood suckers, he’s just killing them. And then, when the Vamp decides to turn Gordon it’s a real sweet moment of comeuppance for like, a HOT second and then you’re like, awww dude, ya done f’ed up. That was a bad idea. You’ve made a HUGE mistake.

More importantly, our Vampire In Question finally runs into the Winchesters and get’s to say things like “I was desperate! You ever felt desperate? I've lost everyone I ever loved. I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse hell?” and also “I just ... I didn't care anymore. Do you know what it's like when you just don't give a damn? It's like ... it's like being dead already.” and Dean’s v. much like, THIS IS TOO REAL ROY.

Sam may ALSO be feeling Too Real feelings because he is DONE dicking around with Gordon and honestly yes, I like this, this is good Sam development. It’s nice to know that Sam has a breaking point. And I admit I’m of two minds about this moment because 1) I love the idea of Dark!Sam this season and that maybe Sam’s decision to actually kill Gordon is just one step in that process but 2) I ALSO love the idea of Sam Lite finally having a breaking point and Gordon is IT. I don’t know which theory I like more in this scenario, but they are both good theories.

I think as much as this episode wants to draw parallels between the monsters and Dean (thank you artful editors), you can’t look at the “I’ve lost everyone I ever loved,” line and not think of Sam? Cuz he’s got one (1) person left in his life that hasn’t died horribly, so how desperate is he about to get through the end of this season? I’ve definitely been watching this season with eyes on all the ominous Dean foreshadowing, but the Sam foreshadowing is also there, just buried under the heavy weight of a thousand smulders and suicidal levels of denial.

And also, FUCK the tag on this episode! Guys, it is CUTE but it is also HORRIBLE. Dean starts teaching Sam how to fix the Impala and at first it’s all, “Oh! Adorable Brothers Being Brothers!” and I loved it but then I almost immediately hated it because you realize this is about making sure Sam can get along without him once he’s gone and Dean just accepts his own death with such casual ease that it’s just...INFURIATING!

This scene was rude and I HATE IT!

Cut to - “A Very Supernatural Christmas” Special!

Guys, I was so excited when I got to this episode. THIS is Classic Supernatural Shenanigans. Plus, you know a Holiday Special is the ultimate sign that this show has Made It, right? Or it could be a sign that they’re selling out, who knows, but I think we can say that at this point in the series, SPN is established enough to start having fun with their fans. That’s what this says to me. BUT THEN what we get is like...oh boy.

First - like, I’mma beat this horse to death, but what is WRONG with this FAMILY? John Winchester very quickly devolved into the sort of father that forgot about every single holiday and did not ever, even a little bit, make up for it. It’s not a surprise, but it kind of wrecked me seeing a flashback where Baby Dean is just so attached to a father who can’t be bothered to actually care for his children. I know he’s not in this episode because Jeffrey Dean Morgan was tied up in other projects, but the fact that John doesn’t show up at the end to button the flashbacks with a But then he DID show up for Christmas! just makes this plot line that more gutting. And despite Dean’s hero worship of their father, this is maybe the Christmas where Baby Sam stops believing in his own father. The only bright side to this is that it continues to enforce the fact that Bobby should have sued John for custody. Bobby should maybe STILL Sue for custody so that Dean at least would feel like someone wants him for once in his life, damnit.

And then we wrap this episode up with the Best Worst Christmas of all, because we see Sam start to...also?? accept that Dean is about to die? Cuz that’s what this episode is really about - Dean’s Last Christmas. And everything about that makes me ~ u p s e t ~.

So Sam decides to put his curmudgeonly grinchy attitude aside in order to make it a special day for Dean and ugh. UGH. UGHGHGHG. Season three is the worst guys, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize that until right this second now.

So let’s wrap this up with "Malleus Maleficarum", honestly an episode that is mostly forgettable until we get to, like, the last five minutes. Sure, witches and curses and selling your soul, woohoo whatever.

But then we get some real Ruby centric reveals and like, WHAT is happening?? First off, the scene where Ruby and Tammy have a moment is a real Moment. There is some baggage and tension here and it is heavy. And then Tammy drops the mic when she reveals that Ruby used to be human.

THEN, Ruby legit saves their asses by killing Tammy with a fancy magic knife. Ok, Dean does the actual killing, but Ruby brought the fancy magic knife. So between the hot and heavy tension with “Tammy” and her repeated attempts to keep the Winchesters alive, we’re left wondering what IS Ruby’s deal? I personally wonder how much of the show’s mythology the show actually has figured out at this point? Because interviews with Kripke definitely walk the line between “Oh we definitely have this whole thing worked out,” and “yeah, we’re sort of finding things as we go along,” which is maybe why it’s able to last as long as it does. More on that later.

Of course the big kicker is the final scene between Ruby and Dean. Dean is almost on board with Ruby at this point in the season, and much like his scene with the demon in “Sin City”, they share a kind of vulnerable moment together where Ruby admits that, yeah, she was human once and yeah, Hell will destroy you, body and soul, and yeah Dean’s worst fear will probably come true - he will become the thing he hunts, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And Dean knows that Ruby knows that Dean knows that there’s no way to save Dean from his fate, but they both agree that they can’t take Sam’s last ounce of hope away from him because, for both of them, Sam is their hope. Ruby and Dean both see the war happening around them and they know that with Dean gone, Sam’s maybe the last guy holding back the tide to save all humanity.

Which, honestly? Bull shit. Do you know how many hunters are out there? Neither do I, but this season seems to indicate that there are a LOT. We have barely scratched the surface on the hunter community and it’s a damn shame that they are all weirdo loners because there is a war going on. You know what works great in a war? An ARMY. Buncha mentally unstable, martyr-complex ijits who can’t put their differences aside for one damn MINUTE so that maybe, JUST maybe, the could actually defeat the evil they’ve spent their entire lives dedicated to fighting. And if Ruby and Dean wanted to help Sam, what they should probably do is get him plugged in to that community. I do believe that of all they backasswards, self-obsessed, painfully anti-social crazies out there, the Winchesters are THE WORST.

Listen tho, this was like, a solid scene between these two. Just a lot of work goin' into this and it paid off.

Anyway, back to the mythology for a hot second - This sort of loosey-goosey stumbling into your own world building is probably another one of those things that you’ll only really get in a show with this many episodes per season? It’s that room to play and experiment and just make stuff up as you go along. I think the slow drip method of releasing episodes ALSO helps in this scenario because you’re able to see what fans are reacting to in almost-real time. When viewers are binging episodes, I think you're less likely to see what specifically they’re reacting to and more wholistically they’re reacting to. And that’s not to say you won’t see those specific things that they like/love eventually, but by the time you get there, your season’s been produced in its entirety and you’ll have to bear that in mind for (hopefully) next season. But with SPN, they were writing and producing the show at the same time that some of the episodes were airing. That’s why they were able to make decisions on the fly, based on what fans responded to. And definitely by this point in the show, there was a sizeable and vocal fan base that made their feelings VERY well-known. We’re only in season three, but they’ve already had a number of con appearances and a pretty active online presence. That kind of feedback has got to be helpful, from a writing perspective, but it also allows for things like characters getting cut because nobody liked them for some dumb reason. BUT, if you’re fighting to stay on the air for 100 episodes or longer, responding to fan reactions is what’s gonna do it and that’s a fact.

#Supernatural #Supernatural rewatch #SPN #Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester #Bela Talbot #Gordon Walker #Ruby #SPN Season 3 #Fresh Blood #A Very Supernatural Christmas #malleus maleficarum #It's gonna lighten up on the next three episodes #I promise #I hope #Don't watch this season if you're still feeling 2020 #Is my personal opinion

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Nightmare Time Episode 1 Review: The Hatchetfield Ape-Man/Watcher World

I take a look at the first episode of Starkid’s new show Nightmare Time! Starkid, returns for a zoomcast, bringing back the casts of both Hatchefield plays for an anthology series of science fiction double feature picture shows! This week’s tales of terror:

The Hatchefield Ape-Man: A british heiress gets romanced by a shaved bigfoot with the help of everyone’s favorite kooky college professor. Forgotten fiances, murder and described nudity naturally insue.

Watcher World: Bill and Alice return as Bill drags his daughter to a kitschy theme park for a day of family fun, which Alice enjoys and is as respectful about as much as you’d expect. As you’d also expect given Bill’s general luck, things take a turn for the Shining real quick. Spoilers and full review under the cut.

Well this was a nice suprise. With the ongoing pandemic I genuinely did not think Starkid would be back anytime soon. Having just gotten back into them this years after several years of forgetting they existed via the Hatchetfield plays, I was pretty bummed, if understanding. So last week’s announcment of not only this series but a full scripted series from their sister production company the tin bros was a HUGE shot of happy I needed in this troubling times. Still need to watch spies are forver love the soundtrack nto important.

Point is the Lang Brothers and their merry band of actors found a way to continue on via format I didn’t realize existed outside of table reads but is a nice way to do things: The Zoomcast, basically a podcast done live on zoom, with the actors in plainclothes for the most part, with one person, in this case Nick Lang, reading out descriptions of what’s going on. Being a starkid production this also has musical director Matt Bohm playing accompaniment and pretaped if still via the actor’s own camera musical numbers. Overall while i’ts an understandably cheap production, only what costumes the actors have on hand and most props mimed, it WORKS, allowing for way more elaborate set pieces than the stage would allow and is anchored by Lang’s impeccable descriptions and the cast’s amazing as always acting really making the stories pop. So things worked on a technical level despite having the barest of bones to work with. But did it work on a story level? Well yes, but if I ended my reviews with just that i’d have less than the 3 or 4 fans I do have, so without further ado, it’s nightmare time! The Intro:

Now normally in my reviews I don’t talk about the intro because I come in mid way or because I just didn’t think to. This is an exception since

A) I should be doing that anyway or at least when I cover a show’s first episode since intro’s are sometimes one of the most memorable parts of a show

B) It’s a full musical number that’s been stuck in my head since the trailer for this series and has now set up an apartment there. C) This series is a musical, if not to the same degree as the two plays before it, so it’d be weird NOT to talk about it’s signature song.

So with that out of the way the intro.. is fucking impressive. Seriously taking disparate videos with probably as much as the directions “Sing this part of the song and be kind of creepy or alluring or whatever” and making it really flow? Good work, both to the starkids for bringing their a game to it as always and to Nick and Matt really did a good job editing this together, musically and visually to be an abolute jawdrop. And somehow finding utterly stunning stock image animations that none of us realized were stock footage but still fit the tone perfectly. Just great stuff. Some stray notes: Mariah is absolutely stunning in both voice and apperance in this, John Matheson’s bit as paul was great, and Jeff Blim of course got a great bit with his always astounding hair blowing in the breeze with him at full high pitch. Just an utterly great intro, and for Starkid’s first series in over a decade, and really ever but semantics, they really brought it. Good stuff. Onto the actual episode content.

The Hatchetfield Ape-Man: Lucy, a british heiress played by Angela Giarratana, was saved by the legendary “Hatchefield Ape-Man”.. who apparently has a hyphen like spider-men because while sasquatches can do that. Point is she’s come back every year in the hopes of reuniting with her savior but has so far failed. But as Lucy prepares to leave from this year’s failed expedition, an old friend finally gives her what she needs... old friend to us to her she’s just some grey haired lunatic who showed up out of the mist. Which while accurate, dosen’t quite quantify everyone’s favorite playwright/college professor/murderous psychopath/composer.

Yes at long last Professor Hidgens has returned! I honestly didn’t expect the anthology to bring in such a huge fan faviorite so soon. I mean I expected returning characters, mostly because the project allows old faviorites to come back for their own stories or for the stars of the musicals to get a chance at a much happier ending... there’s a lot of potetial there. That and let’s face it “Jane’s a Car” is a pretty dead giveaway it’s going to be about Tom’s dead wife and Tim’s dead mother coming back in horrible mash up of christine and my mother the car. Maybe. I could be wrong. I also doubt many of you know what my mother the car is and to that I say it’s an old sitcom i’m honestly suprised I know exists and know nothing about other than the title and it being about a son’s mom’s ghost possesing his car apparently. Well that and it was the basis for this.

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Point is, while I expected some returns, I wasn’t expecting one this large and this bombastic so soon, but BOY was it welcome. So getting back on track after all that, HIdgens seemingly takes Lucy to meet her ape man, who goes by the name Klonk, played by everyone’s faviorite sexy caveman Joey Richter. Also it’s adorable he and Lauren share a streaming screen. I know practicality and all that but their engagment is genuinely a sweet thing to hear about at a time when the world’s going down the toilet fast. Fun Fact: I pegged the Ape-Man was either going to be Jeff or Joey, leaning towards Jeff, though given my love of Joey I wasn’t disapointed with him, especially with the twist... but I was EXASTIC to learn the answer was basically “Both.. kinda?”. But yeah Lucy soon bonds with the ape man, with HIdgens encouraging her since it’s more than he’s gotten out of Klonk in 11 months of looking after the guy, and this way they can get him to learn enough to decide what he wants for himself.

So a few months, and some romantic bonding between woman and ape-man, pass but a wrench is thrown into Klonk’s wooing and attempt to tell lucy he loves her: Jonathan, Lucy’s just now mentioned fiance and royal dickhead played by Kurt Mega. And credit where it’s do whlie he clearly didn’t have to dress up, he did have a nice 50′s monster movie british person suit he put on. Lucy is now conlficted and what not even though Jonathan is kind of an asshole who just wants to drag her back home. And i’ts not like Lucy didn’t keep in touch: she sent him texts and probably called, so i’ts not like he didn’t know she was here. He’s also a hunter for extra dick points as if he needed them. Naturally when meeting his romantic rival he’s a dick.. but raises some valid questions: While Hidgens claim he shaved Konk due to lesions, there’s no mark of lesisons or the shaving. But his natural dickheadedness shines through and Jonathan talks about shooting Klonk before lucy takes his ring off and throws it and Jonathan goes after her. Annnnd yeah turns out the disposable dickhead fiance for once is RIGHT. In a twist I did not remotley see coming but damn if it wasn’t clever, Klonk.. is Ted from TGWDLM and the plan was to seduce lucy with this con, marry her and then bump her off. It’s a hell of a twist and cleverly hidden since Joey’s such a starkid mainstay, it’s not a huge suprise he was Klonk and thus easily hid the fact he was also Ted. It’s clever stuff and pivots the story nicely.

Ted is naturally a douchey as ever, going along with Hidgen’s plan to have him marry lucy then kill her and take her dough for themselves.. and unsuprisingly, so Hidgens can get Workin Boys off the ground. Granted there are easier ways to do this with the same scooby doo scheme: Just have HIdgens plan working boys casually, have Klonk really love it and being the sweetheart she is LUcy would fiance the thing just to make them both happy. I mean he can still marry her and ted can still have direct acess to her money if they want, it’s just an easier way that dosen’t shine supscion on the caveman who looks exactly like a local douchebag who everyone he’s met would testify against him. I mean would Paul and Bill REALLY be that suprised that Ted did this?

Exactly. Then again neither of our “heroes’ Here is very bright, and this scheme only works because Lucy is clearly very sweet, very naive, and very much wants a romantic evening with an ape man after all this time and effort searching, so she wants to believe him. So the fact the best they could come up with is something out of Scooby Doo is unsuprisng but still great. However things take a turn for the

Pretty quick as Hidgens takes disposable british douche fiance hunting.. then kills the guy after freely admiting he’s a fraud in what’s an INCREDIBLY chilling scene. Seriously it’s amazing how Robert takes a character as loveably redicilous, even his evil and murderous plan during TGWDLM was still hilariously rediclous, and makes him UTTERLY TERRIFYING. Even when dropping my fair lady refrences. Amazing stuff. So the next day, after Konk “asks” what an engagment is and what not, we then get Lucy wondering just WHERE jonathan is and we get the second biggest laugh of the night as Hidgens gives us the iconic line of “Oh he left... said something about you being crazy and going back to london and basically to go fuck yourself. “. Naturally Lucy has followup questions and goes to find out while Ted, also naturally, isn’t exactly pleased when he finds out his partner in crime did a murder on someone.

Ted may be a sleazy dickhead.. but even he sees maybe murdering a rich british person who just came here, went basically ONLY to this one location, and whose probably got many people who will misss him, one of whom is their primary target, is kinda dumb. Then again this is a plan that hinges on someone who could easily be identified, as he has or at least probably had an office job and three coworkers who know him, assuming a false identity to marry someone for their money. But again we’re dealing with a guy who thinks working boys is marketable to anyone who isn’t a starkid, and a moron who soon says he does his best thinking while erect. They only got this far because their target REALLY wants to fuck a sasquatch, is sweet but naive and well Ted IS still joey richter, and no longer has the porn stache so there you go. Ted decides to cut Hidgens out of things.. partly because you know, he killed a person, and partly because instead of killing Lucy, Ted realized he honeslty has a LOT to gain by simply marrying her and staying married. He gains a hot rich wife (his word’s not mine, but angie is genuinely beautiful so fair point), a mansion, and while Hidgens points out the obvious, he has to stay Konk.. that’s actually appealing to Ted as he feels better as Konk, not just because he impresses an attractive woman for doing basic stuff, but because he feels better as Konk. This is.. an intresting turn for Ted i genuinely like. It shows that Ted may, as much as he presents with bluster and ego, actually LIKE the kind of shithead he knows he is. I mean looking at his life he has two workmates who calling them friends is a bit of a stretch, and one who he’s having an affair with but seems detemrined to make her doomed marriage to an even bigger asshole work. He really dosen’t have much as ted so it’s easy to see why being Konk is better: He’s a better person as him who actually has someone who cares about him. Naturally Hidgens takes this as well as you’d expect and when Ted/Konk tries proposing he goes with the logical option for taking the fourtune for himself:

Yes really. Hidgens strips naked, and swings his arms around like an orangutan to try and convince Lucy he’s the real hatchetfield apeman. Sadly this dosen’t mean we get a shirtless robert manion as he needs to keep the turtleneck on for later, but the mental image.. I had to pause the video for a good minute to laugh over it. Just everything about it from it somehow being a dumber plan than his scheme this episode, to the orangutan swaying to just.. everything. It’s fucking genius. But Higdens has more than a mighty penis to compete with Ted.. he reveals ted’s phone and Ted ends up revealing himsef by telling Hidgens to go fuck himself. Naturally Lucy is distraught and tries to leave and the professor pulls out his shotgun to threaten her into financing his musical because of course it’s about workin boys. Lucy tries to run, Hidgens tries to shoot.. and ted , doing the first good thing in his entire life, takes the bullet. Lucy gets ted out of there then locks the door behind them, and we get the SCARIEST bit in this segment as Hidgens leans into the camera, simulating the peep hole of the vault door to the ape man inclosure and begs her to let him out. It’s some real Jack Nicholson in the Shining stuff and it’s utterly terrifying, but it’s also an amazing bit of acting. Nice job Rob. So ted bleeds out, as much as Lucy wants to save him he knows he’s not going to make it and prefers to die as Konk, finally happy with himself. And I just realized everyone at Paul’s job is horribly miserable. I mean good god, Paul himself has serious depression issues judging by “Let it Out”, Ted clearly hates himself, Charlotte is in a horrible marriage and Bill just got out of one and has a strained realtionship with his daughter we’ll get into more in a bit. I mean honestly, Mr. Davidson is the only one of them who really dosen’t need therapy.. he just needs to tell his wife he wants her to choke him while he jerks off. For as ungodly hilarious as that line is he’s probably the most well adjusted person there. Go figure.

Naturally being already insane, Hidgens breaks out, still naked mind, and chases after Lucy. Also noticable is apparently some people thought hidgens was manipulated by the blue shit hive mind in TGWDLM. Which.. no. I do love the guy dont’ get me wrong.. but it was very obvious both from the way his musical number was done compared to the rest of the ones in the musical, and his actions that was entirely him, and his playing the music was so he could join, especially since we don’t see the hive mind use any mind manupluation on anyone else. Regular manipulation sure as seen with you tied up my heart and not your seed, manipulating charoltte into freeing her asshole husband so he could infect her and torturing bill for funsies. Just something to get out of the way. Point is he was always crazy we just now have him chasing an innocentish woman with his dong hanging out to prove it. He eventually catches her as Lucy catches herself in one of his bear traps when she hits the woods, because he had those for some reason.. and he has a resonable way out: Just give her the 30,000 dollars he needs for his musical. Thing is she dosen’t have the money.. or hardly any. She spent all of it trying to find the ape man and was marrying jonathan for his money and him for her title. And while it is a bit skeezy, it’s very clear both were using each other and likely knew it, and Lucy still comes out the most moral of our cast here.. granted it’s not a big stretch as hidgens is criminally insane, ted’s a skeeze and Jonathan.. well he’s just a diiiiiiccckkkk. It’s not hard is what i’m saying.. much like hidgen’s dick flopping around in the rain. But yeah he dosen’t take it well, Lucy goes up a tree, which is apparently something Becky did once. But before Lucy can die at the hands of a naked thespian, the REAL Ape-Man shows up and tears Hidgen’s arms off, taking lucy in his own arms afterwords and revealing he remembers her. The two hit it off instantly, it turns out his name is chumby in an excellent gag as that was what Hidgens wanted his fake ape man to be named but Ted froze, and go off into the night together. Awww.. what if a naked ape man played by my boy jeff blim and a british person can’t work who can?

We then close out the segment with a cameo appearance by Jamie Lynn Beatty, who while not part of the cast for this double feature, does get a fun showtune about the ape man. Also fun fact that i found out here on tumblr: That costume is from something Jamie did in HIGH SCHOOL. As in well over a decade ago. Like holy shit, good for her. She looks great in it. But yeah it’s a fun song and a nice way to close it out. Final Thoughts on the Hatchetfield Ape-Man: This was a great way to start things off. This one was more in line with starkids pre-hatchetfield work, a goofy story with some hidden depth inside. And like the guy who didn’t like musicals it was utterly terrifying in spots so yeah good stuff ,utterly hilarous and a great way to bring back some old faviorites while giving us a neat new protaganist. Good stuff.

Watcher World:

Now from a mostly comedy with a horrifying ending to just.. pure unfiltered horror and depression! It’s Watcher World! Bill and Alice are back! And given I love Mariah Rose Faith and Corey Dorris, I was exastic to find this was what the second segment was about.. mostly because I had no idea Starkid had teasers for the episodes on their instagram, or I would’ve known Hidgens was coming. I wouldn’t of known he’d be stark naked for the last third of his story but still, pleasant surprise.

So Bill and Alice are spending the day at Watcher World, a run down amusement park on the edge of town. It’s Alice’s last weekend before College so Bill’s trying to reconnect with her by cramming a good old fashioned family vacation down her throat. Alice is less than enthused, both because she clearly resents her dad in general, and because Deb is throwing a huge rager on the same night. My honest interpretation of that is that Deb fully inteded for her girlfriend to come but Bill sprung this on Alice at the last minute and being pretty oblivious and hating Deb, either didn’t care about taking alice from one last night with her friends and girlfriend or didn’t generally think that through. I mean don’t get me wrong normally i’d side with a parent not wanting their daughter to attend a huge teen rager on their last weekend together.. but it’s also Alice’s last weekend in town for some time, and it’s likely a saturday.. so he has another day, and presumibly had friday before this and while things with his ex wife are tense, fighting for an extra day with her would be understandable and i’ts not like Alice, even if she hates Bill, would really fight him on getting an extra day in the town she didn’t want to leave.

But that’s what I really like about this one that it’s layered. While Alice is slightly more in the right, she’s still shutting her dad out, refusing to let him follow her on instagram (though he does agree with her keeping it private as he dosen’t want Ted perving on her, which tracks, or Ted’s brother doing it which.. wait what?), and being on her phone the whole time to very clearly spite him and rub how much she dosen’t want to be there in her dad’s face. She dosen’t WANT to be at watcher world but instead of trying to talk to her Dad just wants to complain and apparenlty has on all their vacations.. it’s easy to see why Bill is annoyed by his daughter at times and thinks he has to FORCE HER to have fun with him, because otherwise she’d gladly ignore him for their entire weekends together for Deb. She’s so determined to punish her dad for the divorce, that she refuses to see on some level he IS trying, and is just sad about her leaving, and possibly leaving him forever and alone with nothing else in his life but his buddy Paul, whose getting married next week so that’s probably not helping. On the other hand the reason I say Alice is more in the right is that well.. Bill’s a grown ass men. And while, speaking for himself, grown ass men don’t always make the right decisions, and not speaking for myself neither do fathers... Alice’s acting out is understandable coming from an 18 year old whose been through hell over the last year, having her parents divorce being forced to move, loosing her friends. Bill however just kind of uses her age and angst as an excuse to undermine and belittle her feelings. Because he doesn’t like deb for the very stupid reasons of she does pot, instead of assuring her that Deb wouldn’t cheat on Alice with Deb’s former crush Zigg, starkid’s first non binary character in a nice show that Nick Lang wasn’t just covering his ass when he said there’d be more representation in starkid, which in his defense I didn’t doubt him on but it’s still nice he did so at the earliest opportunity and very clearly plans to use Zigg if he can find a nonbinary actor for them.

But yeah instead of assuring his daughter, Bill is just like “well sometimes relationships don’t work out” which while true is clearly his self serving way of trying to get Alice to break up with someone he dosen’t like. INstead of supporting her in her dreams of writing plays, one of which was good enough to get her a scholarship, he tries to act like she has no plans for her future and get her to be a doctor for more security, even though having a secure job has done.. no one at his office including him favors. I mean again, the most stable and happy person at the office is the guy in charge, and even he can’t tell his wife he wants her to choke him out at night. He wants her to choke him, he wants her to choke him while he jerks off, he wants her to choookeeee himmm while heeeee jerrrkssss offfff.

While part of this seems to be that Deb plans to be a starving artist who can mooch off her parents in a pinch, Alice GENUINELY seems to have a full plan for her life. I do get his worrying about her future.. but she’s a smart kid. A bit of a brat but she knows what she wants clealry and clearly has talent. He’s just projecting his own fears on her. He also refuses to accept any responsibility in the divorce.. his hating his ex wife IS valid, as she took his daughter away, uprooted her life a year before graduation and spends gobs of money on impressive outings, the latter two seemingly just to spite him when honestly, it’d of made more sense for Alice to stay with Bill for the year before she graduates and been better for her. However, Bill still doesn’t take responsibly that he too is shoving fun down her throat to try and win her over, hates her girlfriend and refuses to treat her with any respect, and really DOSEN’T know Alice all that well. As we learn during their fun day she has anxiety, and he never knew about it. And the divorce isn’t really an excuse when he had years before that. It’s the real problem of their relationship: Bill feels ENTITLED to a good father daughter relationship, but isn’t working at it and blames his ex wife or Alice for it instead of himself. While Alice isn’t an innocent as i’ve made clear, putting up walls and not telling dad things, given bill ignores her when she DOES try to tell him about her life, it’s easy to see she’s just given up. If he won’t listen why bother. Which yeah i’ve found myself there with my own dad from time to time. Bill’s not a bad person, he genuinely loves Alice, as he says “to the moon and back”, but it’s very clear from this outing he still loves the little girl who loved him unconditionally and not the complicated and mopey adult sh’es become, and dosen’t WANT to adapt to that and fears once she leaves for college she’ll avoid him for good, which isn’t unfounded. It’s a good, complex rich dynamic. Naturally with.. all this I covered up front instead of sprinkling it throughout, the day doesn’t go great, with Alice utterly miserable most of the time, and ending up in a goofy novelty t-shirt due to a log ride. She also has an unsettling encounter with park mascot Blinky, our newest adorable abomination, who not only shows up the moment she does something bad on camera but also stares at her ass, which.. Paul you mind coming back for a second?

Thank you. They end up at the Watch Party, a cheesy kids show musical because Bill apparently equates this with his daughter loving musicals. I mean granted cheesy kids stage shows can be rad just listen to this.

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But I get Alice’s annoyance here. Thus we get the return of the sniggles, who apparently serve whatever eldrich deity is around this week and our first song of this segment, The Blinky Song. Which is catchy as hell as well as hilariously dark (”I’m so hungry”), and uses the stock footage well, as I could buy a cheap theme park ran by an eldtirch eye goblin using stock footage. But yeah it establishes Blinky as always watching and kinda fucked up. Also the sniggles are now clearly the smurgs with Angie’s now being named Sniglette, Jeff being papa Sniggle and James being Snigglotts. However Sniglette considers leaving with another song with a long string of words. Then, things get.. dark as the rest of the sniggles don’t want her to leave and try and mob her, and then Papa Sniggle accidently wings her with a mallet and apparenlty injures the actual performer, before everyone’s ushered out and the usher pretends nothing happened. Good mind screw horror stuff.

Alice and Bill then bicker a bit with my above point being made as Alice TRIES to get Bill to accept some respoinablity but he refuses and blames her mom. It’s now time for the Tear-Jerker, the reason they came. Bill’s buddy Paul says someone died. They also find three other people waiting in line and when one goes to the bathroom the other two start making out which.. yeah, dosen’t help Alice’s worry Deb’s going to cheat on her. So she takes the first single rider pass she can, with Bill worming his way in as to not let her get away. The two naturally end up fighting on the Tear-Jerker before it stops up high, and ends up stalled, with the gloriously returning Nerdy Kid played by Joey from Black Friday being as helpful as usual. Seriously bless them for bringing him back. Man in a Hurry also showed up again, bless him too. Alice picks this time to reveal her fear of heights and anxiety, and an approaching storm isn’t helping. So Bill.. steps up. He helps ease Alice down taking her phone for her, if loosing it due tot he rain and helping her stay calm. It’s a REALLY nice portrayal of an anxiety attack, with Mariah herself apparently having them and thus portraying it really well. As someone who has them myself it really hits home and Bills calm attempts to help her are really heartwarming, getting her to describe her musical for him and the two bonding. It’s genuinely sweet. But.. it can’t last, as Alice freaks out about her phone and Bill for once is in the right, as .. he was you know.. trying to save his daughter having a panic attack, and really stepped up given he was obnovious she had anxiety in the first place, and managed it well. He then gives the utterly heart stomping line “I love you to the moon and back, but sometime’s it’s really hard to like you. “

Just damn. So Alice runs off and both find their way to the fairway. Bill tries winning a doll for Alice, getting into a test of strength where he fails repedatly and is constantly mocked by the barker, played by James Tolbert who also played Blinky..

That should be Tolbert’s twitter handle. Anyway point is, Bill keeps trying even as he wracks up 400 dollars in credit card debt, for a 49.95 doll, before eventually the barker and hte crowd’s jeers get to be too much and he does smack it hard, thinking of all of his pent up rage towards alice.. just as the bell at the top takes the shape of alice’s head and explodes. Bill is naturally horrified by this by the barker assures he loves him.. and that he should totally hobble his daughter misery style to make her not leave him and use the mallet for it. Meanwhile Alice is at the shooting Gallery not wanting the blinky doll she wins, just blowing off steam when she runs into an old crone played by Lauren Lopez. But this Crone has her phone... which suspiciously has a ton of instagram photos of Deb and Zigg making out while sharing a toke. Granted Deb COULD’VE cheated, but given Alice is insecure, and her phone was given back to her by a witch working for an eye goblin.. yeah maybe just maybe Deb was loyal, and if she wasn’t wouldn’t be dumb enough to put it on instagram. But given Alice is already worked up it’s easy enough for her to beliive that her relationships in danger and if she gets there in time she can stop it and oh look her gun is now a real gun and can help her get the keys. So yeah it’s time for a creepy as hell Shining-esque showdown, but if both sides were possesed instead of one. It’s.. a CHILLING as hell scene, not helped by Alice wielding a gun again as both fight. I was gripped the entire time and don’t have much to say utter than HOLY SHIT THIS WAS AS TERRIFYING AS IT WAS RIVITING.

But a crowd gathers as the fight continues.. all with purple eyes which ave been seen on and off, watchers with a thousand eyes.. and with Blinky, now revealed NOT to be a costume probably, above them all. We also get one hell of a line. “This is an amusement park but not for YOUR amusement.”

So yeah I love this sequence.. and Blinky as a villain. While it’s vague if he and Blinky are the same entity.. I’m going with not. It’s not a stretch that like Cthulu, Wiggly has brothers in the black and white, with their own motives, methods and ability to get into our world. Unlike Wiggly.. Blinky’s already here and has no real ambition other than to find people to mentally tear apart and set loose on one another for his own amusement. He doesn’t have grand plans of burning the world.. he just wants to be entertained. It’s an interesting and chilling motive and I hope we see him again eventually. I also believe those at the park are trapped there bound after their own day there and trapped doing whatever Wiggly needs. Except maybe squeaky voiced teen. He probably just complains about cleaning up so much blood. But yeah Blinky is very happy as the fight escalates into the hall of mirrors and Alice looses her gun.. with Bill now poised to strike down his daughter as the mirror reflects the various workers at the park, all encouraging him to kill her... it’s utterly terrifying as Bill’s eyes take on a purple tint.. and we get a POWERFUL use of the score and the “why does it hurt to love you’ bit from TGWDLM.. as Bill sees himself and what he’s about to do, sees his daughter understandably having a panic attack.. and calms her, his eyes returning and the two reconciling. Of course Blinky isn’t happy about this “sappy bullshit” and brings htem into his domain, charging at them. But kinda missing that giving a pissed off teenager a rifle she knows how to use when you have a giant target for a face isn’t a good idea and she shoots him, with him bleeding a flood of purple goo that sends them out. While I doubt Winky’s dead, he is done with them. Our story concludes on a sweeet note as the two find their car, and they finally make as tep forward, Bill having seen almost too late how selfish and controlling he was being and accepting his daughter on her phone.. and Alice realizing her need to open up and after checking Instagram, likely finding out those photo’s weren’t real, she throws her phone in the back.. but not before accepting her dad’s request, letting him in. Sure the road ahead is rough.. but the two have made a good first step towards repairing things and loving one another again in a healthy manner. and all it took was bill nearly murdering her and allice shooting an eye goblin int he face and getting covered in his blood. Cue the credits, a beautiful song called “One Thousand Eyes” with Jeff Blim fucking nailing it. A great way to send off this bit. Final Thoughts: This was the best one of the two. While Ape Man is really good too, this one took the darker tone of black friday, but with a tighter narrative. By focusing on a smaller cast, the darker elements really played better and the conclusion felt more satisfying.. though it helped that BOTH of these tails ended without everyone dying, and while I doubt EVERY story will have a happy ending, it makes things more interesting knowing that the heroes can get a happy ending this time around instead of an apocalypse.

Overall Thoughts: This double feature was great, I’ll be getting a ticket to the next one if I can afford it, and if not i’ll see it presumably in December or next year when it comes on YouTube. Really excellent stuff. So this was a first for me but if you’d like to see more starkid stuff from me, let me know in the comments or my askbox, commission me to review one of the musicals via dm, and if you liked how I did this review follow this blog for weekly ducktales and loud house coverage, and amphibia coverage when that returns, among more fun reviews. And until next time.. don’t blink. Play us out Jeff.

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I really hope this is the ending theme for the series.

#nightmare time #hatchetfield #the hatchetfield ape man #watcher world #ted #professor henry hidgens #Bill Woodward #Alice Woodward #Lucy Stockworth #halloween #halloween havoc #paul matthews #jeff blim #team starkid #starkid

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sailormoonrewrite · 3 years

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Episode 1: The Crybaby - Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation

I’m Usagi Tsukino and I’m 14 years old. I’m in eighth grade. I’m a little clumsy and a bit of a crybaby. That’s about it.

“Usagi!” called her mother from downstairs as the blonde tossed in her sleep, pulling the purple blanket with bunnies over her as she tried to drift back to sleep. “It’s past eight o’clock!” This made her practically jump out of bed and rapidly begin to change into her school uniform consisting of a long blue skirt, a white blouse with a sailor-style collar, and a ribbon that was tied at the bottom. Once that was done she raced down the stairs where her mother, Ikuko, was putting the finishing touches on her lunch.

However, Usagi didn’t pay much attention to this as she raced to the bathroom and began to rapidly brush her teeth while crying, “MAMA! Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” Usagi cried as she wiped off her mouth.

“I did darling,” Ikuko replied with a sigh as she walked out of the kitchen to finally Usagi nearly falling over as she piled her books into her schoolbag. “Are you going to have breakfast this morning?”

At the mention of food, Usagi peeked in and began to drool at the sight of the delicious meal that her mother had prepared for her family with her father and younger brother’s plates already gone. It looks so steamy and delectable and Usagi was so hungry but before she could walk in, she heard the clock ticking. She turned her head! It was already 8:15! If she was late again then she would be in trouble again!

Usagi sighed before quickly running over, grabbing her lunch bag, and shoved it into her mouth. “Bye, mama!” the fourteen-year-old said with her mouth full as she nearly tripped over herself as she ran full speed out of the house.

“What am I gonna do with that girl?” Ikuko said, exasperated as her daughter left the house.

Usagi started to run out of breath from running so long, even though she was still pretty close to her house. Taking a moment she began to take deep breaths, slumping over with her hands on her knees. “Why can’t school be closer?” she said in an exasperated voice in between taking deep breaths when she heard the wailing of a cat. Curious and scared for the feline, Usagi took off running in the direction to find some kids harassing the terrified creature which broke the blonde’s heart? How could people be so cruel?

Without another thought Usagi ran towards the children, shouting, “HEY! STOP THAT!” and to her joy this seemed to have been enough to send the children running with their tail between their legs (no pun intended). “Little brats,” she said before looking down at the black cat who was laying on its side with a bandage in the middle of her forehead.

Carefully she crouched down and picked her up, “Ah poor thing,” she said as she held the cat up to check for other bruises. Luckily, it seemed like besides being scared, those boys didn’t do anything too horrible but Usagi couldn’t help but be drawn to the bandage on the cat’s forehead. “That’s weird. Why would they put a bandage on you?” she asked allowed and as if to answer her, the cat began to howl in pain with her paws scratching at the said bandage. “You want me to take it off? Okay,” Usagi continued and in seconds she managed to peel away the offending object to reveal that the bandage had been hiding a golden crescent moon facing upwards. With the bandage uncovered Usagi knew this sounded strange but she could’ve sworn that the cat was staring directly at her. Crazy right? Yeah. Crazy. Like that bald spot. “That’s a crazy bald spot,” Usagi said out loud, and almost like the cat could understand her, she began to scratch up Usagi’s face causing the injured girl to drop the cat. “Well, you’re welcome!” Usagi angrily said as she held her injured face in her hands. Stupid cat! Do something nice for her and the next thing you know they’re trying to scratch out your eyeballs. Ugh! Usagi looked down at the place where she could’ve sworn she saw the cat fall but when she did the feline disappeared. Well, all for the best then, that cat was mean.

Wasn’t she doing something beforehand? Oh, right! School! Oh, she was so late! With newfound energy she bolted to school, hoping that she could possibly sneak in before Sakurada-sensei realizes she wasn’t there.

Breathing heavily and pushing her body to its limits, she made a final mad dash before ducking into the school building where she barely managed to sneak in undetected but somehow she managed to reach class without being noticed by anyone in the halls so that was lucky and maybe even a sign that today wouldn’t be so bad. Sure a messy morning but hey that happens all the time, and if she could just manage to not be noticed by her reading classmates, maybe she could be actually seen as on time for once. Hopefully.

“Tsukino Usagi!” cried her teacher who with the other students were staring directly at her as she clung to the wall hoping to somehow be able to fade into it or develop the ability to camouflaged. Well, so much for being seen as on time. “What excuse do you have for us today?”

“Oh, um...Well, I was on my way to school when I saw this cat who was being beat up by these kids so I, with the courage of Sailor V, herself I fought them off to save the cat,” Usagi replied with her hands on her hips in a heroic pose, looking quite please with herself, only to be met with laughter by the other students and a grim look on her teacher’s face.

“Miss Tsukino. Do you think I was born yesterday?”

Usagi gave a very obvious nervous chuckle before smiling at the teacher. “Well, of course not, sensei,” Usagi replied.

“Then do you think I would really believe such an outlandish story?” her teacher asked.

Usagi looked down and cringed. Why won’t she believe me? Okay, sure she may have made up a few stories to explain her being late like how she tripped and ended up in the hospital but to be fair she did actually trip but the rest may have been a slight exaggeration, but this time she was telling the truth! “But it’s the truth, sensei,” Usagi replied.

“Like that time, you scraped your knee and ended up in the hospital?” asked her teacher which caused Usagi to blush out of embarrassment. “Exactly. Meet me today at lunch, but right now take your seat.”

“Yes, sensei,” Usagi said, dejected as her class laughed at her misfortune. Once in her seat, she rested her head on the desk and groaned. Why was she always messing up?

When lunchtime came Usagi was left in the hallway watching as everyone was happily chatting and laughing with each other while she was stuck waiting for yet another scolding by her teacher and to top it all off she had to do it with an empty stomach. She groaned at this feeling the ache in her belly become immense that she grabbed her stomach to soothe it. She looked over at her teacher who was busy with some papers on her desk and then back at her own hand that held her lunch bag. Well, if Sakurada-sensei was going to be taking a while might as well have something to eat in the meantime, sitting down she pulled open the drawstring bunny-decorated bag and pulled out the bento box that her mother had lovingly made for her. Usagi brightly smiled at that and opened it and pulled out an onigiri and just as she raised it to her lips, “Miss. Tsukino! No eating in the halls!” she was caught by her teacher which nearly made her drop her food.

Usagi gave the biggest, fakest smile as she quickly packed up her lunch and placed it back in her lunch bag. “Sorry.”

Sakurada-sensei didn’t seem to notice or care too much as she pulled out an English test in front of her face with peering, ugly, bright red 30 staring at her, that Usagi recognized as being their last test. “Does this look like a grade you want?” Sakurada-sensei asked.

“No, sensei,” Usagi said as she was being handed the test, still staring at the 30.

“Exactly. Also, does this look like a good use of your time?” her teacher said pulling out a doodle Usagi made of a cartoonish version of her shouting at Usagi which led the former to give a small chuckle. “Well do you?”

“N-no,” Usagi said quieting down.

“Also, you are constantly tardy and to top it off you make excuses instead of owning up to them,” Sakurada-sensei continued.

“I’m sorry,” Usagi said, blushing again.

“I expect you to do better in the future and to pay attention,” Sakurada-sensei tells her before walking back inside her classroom.

Usagi walked out into the hallway with her head hung low staring at the bright red thirty taunting her on the page before sighing and hitting her head against the paper. Sure, she never had the best grades but if her parents see this, it will kill them. Or they will kill her.

“Usagi!” she heard a familiar voice call and the blonde whipped around to see a redhead with a bright green bow in her hair running towards her.

“Naru-chan,” Usagi said forcing a smile onto her face, still thinking about the thirty on her test.

“Hey, Usagi,” she said stopping next to her. “Everything okay?”

Usagi saying nothing just held out her paper to show her friend. “Oh, I’m sorry Usagi,” Naru said placing her hand on her shoulder.

“Ugh. What am I gonna do?” Usagi cries, hunching forward.

“Well you could join me for a study session,” a male voice said from behind the two girls that caused them to jump up in fear...before seeing it was their sort-of friend, Umino.

“Umino!” Usagi cried. “Don’t sneak up on us like that.”

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear your little predicament,” he said, hanging off their shoulders, much to their obvious annoyance.

“Oh yeah, and you’re going to help me?” Usagi asks in a frustrated tone.

Umino holds up his own test which held a 95/100 in bold red coloring inches from Usagi’s eyes. “With a little help from me, Tsukino Usagi, you will be an English genius!”

Usagi stared at the test then at Umino before thinking back to the last time she tried asking him for help and ended up being worked to the bone by him. “Eh...no thank you.”

“Besides she doesn’t need you forcing her to study all night,” Naru said stepping in on her behalf.

“I’m just trying to help,” Umino whined.

“Sure you are,” Naru said rolling her eyes before turning to look at Usagi, “You know, Usagi, why don’t you and I head to the Osa-P after school?”

Usagi looked over at her, “Doesn’t most of that stuff cost 300,000 yen?”

“Well, yeah but it’s still fun to look. Besides it’s right near The Crown,” Naru gestured.

“That’s right! The new Sailor V video game should be there by now!” Usagi cried.

“Exactly! So you wanna go after school?” Naru asks.

“Definitely!” Usagi said hugging the redhead...before they were once again interrupted by Umino who appeared between their hug.

“Speaking of Sailor V, did you hear that she stopped a robbery in Kyoto?” Umino asked.

“Oh, yeah! She’s so cool! Mama told me she beat up all those guys and sent them to jail,” Usagi said. “Oh what I’d give to be just like her.”

Naru smiled dreamily, “Come on, Usagi. Nobody even knows who she actually is. I mean for all we know she could be someone who collects coins as a hobby or something.”

“I collect coins,” Umino said from the sidelines.

Usagi looked over Umino for a minute then at Naru, thinking for a minute before opening her mouth, “Well, even if she did that, she’s still so cool. She’s so brave and strong and smart. Now come on, I’m hungry!” With that, she dragged her friends away to help her find a place to eat.

_____________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in the darkness of an underground cavern far from Tokyo or any sentient life, a woman holding a staff with an orb placed on top, hidden by the shadows surrounding her, stood over a tomb with a dark fog of deep purple spilling out of the lid.

The woman watched before saying, “I understand, my queen. We will not fail you.” With this, the woman cried, “Jadeite, stand before me.”

At this a man emerged, his face hidden by his golden hair as he bowed before the woman, “You called for me, my lady?”

“Our great queen is in need of life energy, and you will gather it for her. Understood?” the woman told him with a voice of ice.

“Of course. Anything to revive our queen,” Jadeite says.

“Good. Now off with you,” the woman said and with one final bow, he walked away into the darkness that glowed with blood-red eyes.

_______________________________________________________________

With the Westminster chime signaling the end of the school, Usagi raced out to find Naru and together they headed to the jewelry store her mother owns which was only a few blocks away, and once there they saw it was surrounded by what could only be described as chaos. Women and some men were pushing and shoving each other, trying to fits through the automatic doors with shouting and crying being heard by the two middle schoolers.

“What’s going on Naru?” Usagi asked her friend who looked just as confused as her friend as the other times she had been there, it was usually very empty besides the occasional customer looking to buy an engagement ring or a necklace for a formal party or a bracelet as a present.

“I...don’t know,” Naru replied. “We should find my mom since she’ll know.” Usagi nodded at this and the two girls tried to squeeze themselves into the store with them being pushed and shoved by the patrons before somehow they were spat into the store with Usagi falling onto her face. “Are you okay, Usagi?” Naru asked looking over at her fallen friend.

“Yeah. This happens all the time,” Usagi sadly said as she grabbed her hand.

“You know you really should get that whole clumsy out of the way. Have you ever thought of ice skating?” Naru asked as she pulled her up from the ground.

“Oh, yeah, imagine me skating across the rink like a beautiful ice fairy,” she said imagining herself in one of those beautiful, rhinestone-covered dresses figure skaters wear...until she’s pushed to the ground again by the customer who didn’t even have the decency to apologize. “Hey!” Usagi cried at the woman as she picked herself up again only for her not to even give her a second glance as she marched towards the oddly familiar woman who was shouting about the low, low prices that the jewels were selling as men and women crowded each other to be the first to have their picks of the remaining jewels.

“5,000 yen necklaces! 3,000 yen bracelets! Diamond rings and earrings only a whooping 6,000 yen!” called the woman.

Usagi’s eyes widened in shock. Only a thousand yen for a pair of diamond necklaces? Sold! She then pulled out her purse only to find that only had enough for games at the Game Center Crown. Maybe mama would give her more money when she got home or-

“Mom?” Naru asked from beside her. Usagi looked up at Naru who stared in shock at the woman announcing her prices.

Usagi nearly burst out laughing since Naru’s mother would never practically give away jewelry like this since she was always so prickly all the time, especially when it came to working. However, just as she was about to look over at Naru to tell her she was crazy, she gave a second look at the woman who was still very familiarly before a realization hit Usagi like a truck. The woman shouting possessed the same auburn hair and blue eyes as her friend and looked to indeed be her mom but that couldn’t be right.

“We have to go talk to her,” Naru said grabbing Usagi’s arm and once again they were being squashed between the crowd before being literally dumped in front of Mrs. Osaka. “Mama, what’s going on?”

Mrs. Osaka paused for a moment and looked at the two girls before putting on a smile, “Oh nothing, dear. I’m just having a sale today,” she then turned her attention to Usagi who straightened up, feeling a chill rush down her neck, but why? This was just Naru’s mom. “Would your little friend like anything?”

Usagi looked at her and then at the absurdly cheap jewelry hidden by the glass case. “Well, I-”

“I have just the thing for you!” Mrs. Osaka said, before walking away from the two girls who glanced over at each other. Seconds later, she came back with a polished black case and held it in front of the blonde fourteen-year-old. She opened it slowly to build the anticipation and temptation towards her before it finally opened all the way to reveal a beautiful and ornate crescent moon necklace of silver with a Gothic red rose being held in between the two horns resting on dark green velvet. It was truly beautiful and it seemed to almost be calling towards her. “Like it?”

“It’s beautiful!” Usagi cried, already reaching towards the purse she kept in her backpack.

“Good. Only 6,000 yen,” Mrs. Osaka replied.

Usagi looked up dejected. “I’m sorry. I don’t have enough money.”

The air suddenly grew colder and Usagi awkwardly smile at Mrs. Osaka as she snapped the box close as one of her eyes began to twitch. “Well, maybe you can ask your mother then.”

This line made Usagi go pale and seemed to visibly shrink at what she said with her backpack, where her failed test was, growing much heavier almost as if it wanted weigh her down and she knew why. She put her backpack down and pulled her test and glared at it, drowning out the voice of Naru arguing with her mother over this sale.

“I gotta go Naru,” Usagi said, as her grip on the test tightened.

Naru paused before looking over at Usagi before saying, “Oh okay, Usagi. See you later.”

Usagi nodded before shoving through the crowds before finally finding herself at the door to the store, her eyes still on the thirty of her test as she walked out. “If only I studied a little more,” Usagi scolded herself, staring at the bright red 30 that taunted her and how it promised her that once her mother sees it she will be in for a world of trouble. Usagi groaned loudly at the taunting number before starting to crumble it up and shouting, “Oh! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you, you stupid test!” before trying to throw it out of her life forever.

“Watch where you’re throwing things bunhead,” came the voice of an unfamiliar male.

Usagi blushed before turning around. “Oh, sorry!” she apologized only to see the guy she had hit in the head looking at her failed test.

“Thirty percent?” he commented and Usagi could’ve just died from embarrassment right then and there. It was bad enough her friends saw it but now this random guy too. “Looks to me like you should study harder next time bunhead.”

Usagi's face turned from embarrassment to anger. Who does this guy with his stupid green jacket, boxy sunglasses, and a red necktie think he is teasing her like that!? “Well! That’s none of your business,” she said, reaching out to snatch her test from his grasp before sticking out her tongue at him and began walking to the Game Center Crown. “Stupid jerk! In his green jacket, making fun of me,” Usagi muttered before stopping for a moment, looking at the guy in the green jacket who was just staring at the Osa-P’s sign without any obvious motion to walk away or inside. If he wanted something just go in! And don’t loiter! “What a weirdo,” Usagi whispered before walking away just as he took off his glasses to reveal his sapphire blue eyes that held a suspicious look.

_____________________________________________________________

Eventually, she made it to the Game Center Crown where she saw an advertisement for the new Sailor V video game and stopped a moment to stare at the poster where the titular hero was fighting off a pair of Yakuza members. “The new Sailor V game looks so cool!” Usagi then stopped to stare at the poster a bit longer, specifically at the illustrated superhero who looked so beautiful and courageous just like in real life, that it made Usagi smile as she imagined her heroine striking poses and beating up the bad guys, but that soon turned into a frown and give a sigh as she plopped down onto the floor. “I wish I could be like you,” Usagi said under her breath to the picture. “You’re my hero. So strong, courageous, beautiful, and you never seem to back down no matter how difficult it seems. You don’t have any tests to deal with or homework, and I bet taking all those bad guys down must be so amazing.” Usagi stared at the picture a moment longer before shaking her head and looking down at the failed English test still in her hand. “And I’ll bet you never disappointed your parents or teachers with bad grades,” Usagi said out loud as she stared at the dreaded paper. “I can’t believe I have to take this stupid test home!” Usagi cried before beginning to actually cry, no bawl, as she realized that she couldn’t even play the new game without her mother being furious at her for taking so long to get home when she had this stupid piece of paper in her hand that guaranteed her being chained to her desk to study.

Sniffling in defeat, Usagi wiped her nose before walking away with her shoulders slumped and her head hung low. However, unbeknownst to her, she was being watched by a pair of familiar red eyes who said as she left, “Tsukino Usagi, I’ve finally found you.”

___________________________________________________________

Usagi took deep, heavy breaths as she pushed the door to her house open. “Hey! I’m home!” Usagi cried in a cheerful voice to hide the nervousness in her voice while hoping her mother had gone shopping but like the rest of today, luck for her seems to have take the day off as standing before her was her mother holding a wooden spoon.

“Oh, you’re back. You’re sure late getting home today,” Ikuko said with a smile which did little to ease Usagi’s fears.

“Uh...Yeah, a little bit,” Usagi replied, scratching the back of her head.

“You know your friend Umino?” Ikuko continued. “I ran into him today at the store earlier today and they told me that your class got your exam results back and his score was a 95%. His parents must’ve been so proud to see that.”

“Oh really? Good for him,” Usagi said in response accentuating with a little, nervous chuckle before you looking to the said and muttering darkly, “Darn you Umino. I’m so going to get you back for this!”

As she grumbled and thought about the different ways she was going to end up strangling Umino, her mother walked closer to her and asked, “What did you get on your test, Usagi?”

Usagi halted her thoughts, her face twisted into one of fear at what her mother will do when she sees her test so quickly she started to think up an excuse, “Well...uh...actually the thing is,” but she couldn’t think up a single one.

“Can I see it?” Ikuko asked, holding out her hand to her daughter.

Dispirited, Usagi said in a sad tone a small, “Okay,” as she handed the test over to her smiling mother which was kept on, but Usagi knew better. She watched as her mother’s hands trembled, her face slowly transitioning into a frown, and the vein in her forehead visibly throbbing.

“30 percent?” Ikuko asked as she brought the test closer to her face, tightly squeezing the paper and wrinkling it in the process. “Usagi!” she cried, barely managing to hold back the frustration in her voice.

“Yes,” Usagi piped up a bit as she braced for impact.

“STOP BRINGING HOME GRADES LIKE THIS!” Ikuko screamed as she shoved the test in front of Usagi’s face. “GO OUTSIDE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” she finished as she shoved the fourteen-year-old outside the front door.

Usagi began pounding on the door crying, “What? But Mom!”

“I don’t wanna hear it!” Ikuko called from inside.

As Usagi was crying at the door, she felt someone kick her behind and when she turned around she saw it was her obnoxious younger brother.

“Hey! You’re in the way,” her brother said. “So what huge mistake did you make for mom to kick you out for this time? You know I sure wish I had a sister that wasn’t a total loser,” he continued as he sprinted inside while flashing an L on his forehead at his older sister.

Usagi’s face turned red at this and she yelled out, “Oh how dare you talk to me like that!” Unfortunately, all she got in response was Shingo in the doorway sticking out his tongue at her. Needless to say, this did nothing to lessen her anger, and in fact, only cause her to shout louder, “That’s it! Sailor V Kick,” and she wound up to kick but only managed to hit her knee against the front door as Shingo shut it which caused her to whimper from the pain that was now flooding her senses. “OWIE!” she cried. “COME ON, MOM! LET ME IN ALREADY!”

_____________________________________________________________

As the sunset, Naru was walking back to the store after having picked up her and her mother’s dinner for the night, just as a woman wearing a ruby necklace passed her. Naru took no mind of her since that was a common sight especially as people were heading home for the night, but what wasn’t a common sight was what happened next. As Naru continued on her path, she heard a loud thud from behind her and quickly turned around to see the woman face down on the concrete, unmoving. Without another thought, Naru rushed over to the woman’s side and flipped her over to get a better look to make sure she had no visible injuries, no cuts or bruises, but she was pale. Too pale. Almost like all the color in her face had been drained out of her. That wasn’t good. “Don’t worry ma’am, I’ll call someone to help you. Just please hang on,” Naru said, as she laid the woman down and ran to the nearest payphone. Quickly, she deposited the coins into the slot and began to dial 119, tapping her fingers impatiently as she waited for the operator to come on.

“Hello? What’s your emergency?” the operator asked over the phone.

“A woman passed out on the sidewalk near the Jewelry Osa-P, please s-” Naru said when she felt the hairs on her arm stand upright, the air around her grew thick, and she felt cold eyes peering into her back. Naru looked behind her to see the woman she was trying to help now standing but her hair was covering her face, her necklace was glowing a blood red now, and her hand was raised above her head to come down to hit Naru! “AHHH!” Naru cried before without another thought, she dashed passed the ghoulish looking woman without even putting the phone back as the operator called out for her. She continued to run, calling, “Help! Please, help!” To her horror, though these would be calls that go unanswered as she saw that the people still on the streets were in the same state as that woman with pale skin and glowing jewelry and they were trying to attack her. “Someone help me!” she continued to scream before seeing her mother’s store still open, she gathered the last of her energy and raced inside, away from the mass of people following her.

Safely inside she pushed the button that allows the automatic door to open before locking it up tight as the mass of zombie-like people pushed against the door trying to force their way in which caused Naru to take a few steps back, trying to process what just happened and what was wrong with all of them. Her terrified eyes watching the frightening display when she noticed the jewels they were wearing looked just like the ones that her mother has sold earlier that day, but how would that be possible? Maybe her mother knows. Oh no. Her mother! Naru turned on her heel, ignoring the creatures outside as she ran screaming until her throat was hoarse, “MAMA! MAMA!” No response. She continued crying out for her as she jumped over the counter and threw open the door that led to the back room where the jewelry was kept where she finally found her mother but Naru couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief for instead of finding her mother safe, she found her bound, gagged, and unconscious. “Mama,” Naru whispered. “MAMA!” she called out again as she tried to run over to her, she felt something sharp dig into her arm.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” an unfamiliar, cruel voice whispered in her ear. Frightened, Naru turned around and screamed.

_____________________________________________________________

“I’m so tired of homework,” Usagi whined as she flopped onto her bed. After her mother finally let her back into the house, she immediately sent Usagi to her room to finish her studies and warned her if she continues to bring home grades like this, she won’t ever see another sweet or TV again. Sighing Usagi flipped onto her side as she stared at the moon outside her window because, for some unknown reason, the sight of the moon was something that always comforted her, even as a little kid.

Yawning, Usagi’s eyelids began to grow heavy as she stared at the pale, crescent moon outside her window. She blinked once, then twice before her eyes shut as her body became still, but unbeknownst to her, a shadow lingered over her half-asleep form which was promptly awoken with the sound of a large thud. Usagi’s eyes snapped open out of fear that her house was now being invaded by a home intruder only to find that it wasn’t a human invader but a black cat that was now staring at her from the foot of her bed. At first, Usagi was simply confused, how did a cat get in her room since she knew for a fact that she had closed her window that night. Did she open it? No. That can’t be it. She was just a cat and yet...Wait why did she look so familiar? Usagi stared at her as the cat continued to lock eyes with her until Usagi shot up from her bed. “You’re that cat with the bald spot!” she cried sitting upright, pointing at her as she prepared herself for another round of being scratched up.

“Um, excuse me. It’s not a bald spot,” a female voice said.

“Who said that?” Usagi asked, looking around her bedroom only to find no one but her and the cat. It can’t be the cat because cats don’t talk and if they do, Usagi might need to see a doctor.

“That was me,” the voice came back and to Usagi’s shock and horror, it was the cat that made Usagi fall off her bed before hiding next to it.

“Y-you can talk?” Usagi asked, staring wide-eyed at strange talking, bald-spot having a black cat. “No way,” Usagi continued since this couldn’t really be happening since this is something that only happened in magical girl mangas. “How can a cat talk?” Usagi then asked out loud.

The cat, completely calm despite everything, coughed into her palm before saying, “Usagi, my name is Luna and you can’t imagine how long I’ve been looking for you.”

‘Oh no, this cat came to eat her or something!’ Usagi thought as she shook in fear at what was happening, though maybe that’s a stretch, but who knows? Maybe talking cats do eat beautiful and amazing 14-year-old girls.

The cat, Luna, continued, “First things first, I just wanted to say thank you for saving me from those kids earlier today and not mention taking that bandage off. With it on, I couldn’t talk and it dulled my sensory powers. I thought I was done when those kids put it on, but because of that it led me to you.” She then chuckled before walking closer to Usagi until their noses were practically touching but the middle schooler now aware of how close they were and out of her shocked state, tucked her head into her arms, praying that this weird dream would end.

“Go away,” she said, as she made loud snoring sounds hoping the cat would get the hint and leave already.

“What are you doing?!” Luna yelled. “This isn’t some kind of a dream you know!” she continued before placing her paws on Usagi’s head and trying to shake her up. “Come on! Stop fooling around!” she cried but Usagi was still pretending to snore away. “Okay! Let me prove to you it’s not a dream,” Luna finally relented, then took a deep breath before doing a backflip with a stream of energy flowing from her that fell onto the body and gathered to create a golden brooch with a crescent moon at the center with four colored jewels in red, green, blue, and orange.

Usagi peeked out from her arms, one eye-opening that landed on the beautiful piece of jewelry. “A little gift from me just to you,” Luna said with a smile.

“WOW! For me?” Usagi asked as she grabbed it to get a better look at it. “It’s so beautiful!” Usagi cried as she pinned it to her bow, completely forgetting about the fact it came from a magical talking cat.

“Usagi, I need you to listen to me,” Luna tried again to no avail.

“Thank you so much!” Usagi said as she twirled in place before rushing off to look at herself in the mirror.

“USAGI! I need you to listen to me!” Luna yelled again, trying to pull the fourteen-year-old’s attention away from her hanging mirror. “Strange things are happening in this city and the police won’t be able to handle what’s going on. A dangerous enemy has appeared and you might be the only one who can defeat this enemy! You’re the guardian that’s been chosen for this mission,” she continued jumping in front of Usagi who was finally looking at her again. “But there’s more than just that, you also have to find the other guardians and our princess.”

“Wow, really! That’s so cool,” Usagi said with the biggest, fakest smile.

“You don’t believe a single word I’m telling you, do you?” Luna asked with exasperation prevalent in her voice. How is she going to turn this girl into a guardian?

“Oh, sure! Of course I do,” Usagi said, though her shaking her head suggested otherwise.

Luna sighed, “Great. Just repeat the words I’m about to say, alright? Moon Prism Power Make-Up.”

“Okay, magic talking cat,” Usagi said with a salute, not really expecting anything to happen since this is just a dream anyway. “Moon Prism Power Make-Up!” Suddenly, she was sent into a trance as her body began to engulfed in a bright shining light that transformed her normal uniform into something brand new and also felt compelled to salute at the end.

Once out of this trance, however, she saw herself in her mirror but instead of the normal fuku she was used to in its place was now a much shorter blue and white one with a reddish-pink bow at the back with similar colored boots with white trim and crescent moon decoration on each on her feet and a pair of opera-length gloves covered her hands with pink at the edge. On her head, she saw she now had a golden tiara with a red jewel that was also the same as the ones that now decorated her buns and a pair of crescent moon earrings were now hanging from her ears. Taking a minute to register the change in her attire before crying out, “No way! What’s going on!?” Usagi looked herself over just to make sure she wasn’t imagining what just happened. “I don’t believe it! I transformed,” Surely this proves it’s a dream, right? Right?! She then pinched herself but the cat was still there and so was the transformed fuku. Okay, maybe it’s not a dream. “What is this? What’s this all about? Why do I look like Sailor V!” Usagi whined, why was this happening to her, “Tell me!” Usagi cried, tears now streaming down her face.

However, before she could get an answer from the cat, she heard a beeping sound from the hairpieces in her buns that steadily shifted into screams for help.

“HELP! Please, help!” the screams cried from someone very, very familiar. “MAMA! MAMA!” The connection then broke and it was silent once more.

‘Is that Naru?” Usagi thought to herself before looking at the cat. “How did I hear that?”

“Do you believe me now?” Luna asked.

Usagi looked down for a moment before back at the cat who possessed a smug smile. “I’m still not sure what’s going on but I can hear that Naru’s in big trouble!”

“Usagi, you have become a sailor guardian, so you have the ability to go and save your friend,” Luna told her.

Usagi stared at the cat. She knew this was weird and that she should probably just get back to bed, forget any of this ever happened...but she heard Naru’s screams of fright. What kind of friend would she be if she deserted her when she needed her? What kind of person would she be if she did that? Usagi took a deep breath in before nodding at the cat. “So what do I do?”

“I’ll train you when we get there, let’s go,” Luna said as she jumped out the window.

______________________________________________________________

“HELP! Let me go!” Naru cried, tears running down her face as she struggled against the monstrous humans as she stared up at the horrifying monster that had worn her mother’s face before changing into a true form.

“Cry all you want but no one will save you,” the creature said without a hint of emotion as she snapped her fingers and the humans held her head up to expose the pale flesh of her neck as the creature pulled out an exquisite necklace of pearls with an emerald pendent dangling from the middle, but like the others, it glowed with a sickly green.

Naru’s eyes widened as she fought harder against the ones holding her captive since even if she does become like one of them, she refused to go down without a fight. She kicked and screamed and even tried to bite one of them when she tried to silence her by covering her mouth. “HELP! SOMEBODY! HELP!” Naru screamed as she tried to back away from the creature who was now reaching out towards her and gripped her chin between her claws causing Naru to fall into a state of deep fear as she trembled in fear at seeing the horrifying creature move closer and closer towards her, her smile showing off her sharp fangs, the empty sockets with only small yellow orbs where her eyes should’ve been peering at her.

“Don’t worry. It will be over soon,” the creature said, breathing into Naru’s face that smelled like death itself.

“Get away from Naru-chan!” someone called as Naru fell her consciousness slip away from her and fell to the floor in a slump as the possessed humans let the fourteen-year-old go.

“Who are you?” the creature asked the shadowed figure at the doorway.

“Who am I...uh...” the figure asked before looking down at herself and at the moon before snapping her fingers and looked up cautiously at the humanoid monster. “I am the pretty guardian who fights for love and for justice. I am Sailor Moon and now in the name of the moon, I punish you!”

“Sailor Moon?” the creature asked before chuckling followed by the bursts of empty, mocking laughter from the humans around her which caused Sailor Moon to awkwardly shift in her boots. The creature then stopped and glared at the girl before making a flicking motion with her hand at the humans gather around her. “Destroy her,” she said and all at once the humans flung themselves at Sailor Moon.

“AHH!” screamed Sailor Moon as she clumsily ran to the side as the drained humans raced towards her. One tried to scratch out her eyes. Another had tried to hit her with a bat then someone else ran up to her I tried to staple her pigtail to the wall. Sailor Moon was quickly out of breath as she continued to barely avoid the mass of possessed humans who were now crowding around her, holding makeshift weapons around her. One of the women even managed to almost get a good hit in by smacking her into the back of the head with a glass bottle only foiled when Sailor Moon dodged to the ground. However, this didn’t stop the woman who now aimed the sharpened at Sailor Moon who barely managed to flee from its direction before tripping on the ground near a column. Pulling herself up, she stared at the advancing possessed humans and the evil creature now hovering above the ground, her wild tangled spread out as pointed towards Sailor Moon. “Why!? Why is this happening to me!?” Sailor Moon cried as tears came from her eyes.

“Time to end this!” it screeched as it’s arm extended out towards Sailor Moon, ready to strike as Sailor Moon screamed in terror when a rose appeared and pinned the monster’s hand to the ground.

“Now who are you?” the creature asked the figure hidden in shadow on the open second floor above.

“None of your concern,” the male voice replied before he turned his attention towards Sailor Moon who was still cowering against the column. “If you want to defeat this thing, you can’t cry. You have to fight.”

Sailor Moon felt a small bit of relief at hearing his voice, though she didn’t know why. Maybe it was the fact that he just saved her? Or maybe it was just nice hearing the voice of someone who wasn’t being possessed by the abomination before her, but it still wasn’t enough to stop her crying. “But I...!” Sailor Moon felt more tears pour from her eyes as they turned to bawls. “I WANNA GO HOME!” she screamed and as if on cue, her red jewel bun pieces began to vibrate and let out piercing, ultrasonic waves that caused the monster and possessed humans to clutch their ears to protect them and glass to shatter the cases on the empty jewelry cases

“Stop crying!” the monster cried as the frequency continued to leave her wide open something that didn’t go unnoticed by Luna who peeked out from behind the column where Sailor Moon was sitting next to you.

“You have an opening Sailor Moon!” Luna cried. “Take the tiara off and cry ‘Moon Tiara Boomerang.”

Sailor Moon nodded and took off her tiara. “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” she cried and just like that her once docile tiara became a spinning weapon of pure light that searched out the evil that was plaguing the store and it was a direct hit!

“AH!” the creature screamed as the tiara hit her in the abdomen before seeking out Sailor Moon once again who caught it in her right hand. Slowly the creature crumbled to dust before Sailor Moon’s shocked eyes and the once possessed humans fell unconscious where they stood as streams of energy flooded from the ash to their forms restoring them to a healthy state and the jewels to regular jewels once more. Wanting to get a closer look just to make sure that the thing was truly dead, Sailor Moon took a few cautious steps towards the pile of what was just the creature.

“Great job, Usagi!” Luna said.

‘Did I really just do that?’ Sailor Moon asked herself as continued to stare in a trance. Hopefully, that wasn’t a person at one point.

“How unfortunate. I couldn’t find what I was looking for,” she heard that male voice closer again. This brought her out of her thoughts and she looked behind her to see a male figure with his back to her with two fingers on one of the girl’s neck.

“Are they okay?” Sailor Moon asked him.

“They’ll fine,” he said as he stood up and looked back at her to reveal he was wearing a white domino mask covering his face, and for some reason he made her blush.

“W-who are you?” Sailor Moon asked ducking away from his gaze.

He paused before he smiled and turned towards her to reveal he was wearing a classy black tuxedo. He grabbed his cape and held it over his face before swishing to the side as he said, “Call me Tuxedo Mask! I hope we’ll meet again, Sailor Moon.”

“Tuxedo...mask?” Sailor Moon asked as he jumped up to the second floor and then faded into the shadows. She blushed as she watched him leaves as hearts appeared in her eyes, her heart hammering in her chest.

“Usagi?” Luna asked.

“He was so gorgeous!” Sailor Moon said with a dopey smile that she didn’t take notice of the sirens announcing the arrival of the ambulance and police.

“USAGI! We have to go!” Luna cried.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Sailor Moon said as she followed Luna out an open window.

______________________________________________________________

“How are you doing Naru-chan?” asked one of the other girls in their class. It was the next day and all the school had been talking about the break-in and the hypnotized people from last night. The official story the police put out was that someone broke into the Osa-P before escaping and that the people had been knocked out by the thief.

“I’m fine just a little tired,” Naru answered. “You know I could’ve sworn there was a monster and possessed people, but everything just becomes fuzzy afterward.”

“The mind can make up a lot of stuff when you’re frightened,” Umino said in response.

Naru nodded. “But it felt so real,” she continued before looking at Usagi. “Let’s see what Usagi-chan. Usagi-chan!” she called.

“No...Too tired,” Usagi said with a yawn she hid further into her arms as she tried to get a few minutes of shut-eye before class started.

“What? Up all night playing video games again?” Umino asked.

“...Something like that,” Usagi replied as she clutched her brooch.

Up Next: Punishment Awaits: The House of Fortune is the Monster House!

#sailor moon #sailor moon fanfiction #sailor moon rewrite #sailor moon season 1 rewrite #sailor moon season 1 fan fiction #sailor moon season 1 fanfiction #usagi tsukino #mamoru chiba #episode #tuxedo mask

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chaser-mw · 4 years

Text

Game changer

(Based off of BTS Run where they play the pc games)

Paring: taehyung/reader

Genre: crack, fluff

Au: best friend to lovers

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: swearing, bad bitch energy, friendly teasing, sexual tension

You all headed to the set where the boys were filming bts run, they had invited you because you’re their best friend but also because they needed an eighth person so the teams were equal. You arrive and you can tell obviously Jungkook and Taehyung are excited as they would spend hours on end playing over watch or pubg. You had tried to play overwatch with the help of Jungkook but nearly threw a fit after he had tricked you into killing one of your own team members. Now pubg was a different story, you had been playing pubg since you were fifteen after being influenced by the boys at school. Playing pubg was like breathing to you.

You play the first few games of the episode with a clumsy hand, usually placing moderately in fourth or fifth. Jungkook and taehyung play each game with little to no struggle, even if the had never played the game, filling in the first and second spot each round. “Hey Jungkook, wanna take it easy on us for a bit?” you complain after he had won again for the nth time. “Then I would lose and that’s no fun.” he chuckles with a smirk hanging on his lips. Everyone else just quietly grumbles except for taehyung, knowing he’s also doing a lot better than everyone else.

Once you finish the first episode you get a little 5 minute break to have some snacks and chat for a little bit. You hang near hobi and the snacks not really saying anything while overhearing jimin, Namjoon, and yoongi complain about how it’s not fair that Jungkook and taehyung are allowed to play. You laugh in your head thinking about how pretty much every game they came in third last to dead last. You remember that pubg is the last game to play and you get excited to yourself as you plan on busting taehyungs ego by showing him who the REAL boss at pubg is. “Okay, everyone back together. Cameras on in 60 seconds!” You hear one of the staff yell, you all head back to stand in a line in front of the computers to pick teams. One to the camera crew staff members counts down from 3 to 0 on his fingers to let you and the boys know the cameras are rolling.

“Okay the next game we’re gonna play is pubg, here we will split you into two teams and you will fight against each other. There will be 3 rounds and the team that wins the most will win a prize of a 3 hundred thousand won gift card!” You see everyone’s faces light up at the thought of the prize even though you are standing amongst literal millionaires. “Each team will have a captain, team 1’s captain is Taehyung since he plays the most and team 2’s captain will be y/n since she asked.” Taehyung gives you a weird look as the staff member mentions that you’re the second captain. See about six months ago taehyung found out you play pubg by seeing it on your phone, you both thought it would be fun to FaceTime and play duos together when you’re not at their dorm. He hadn’t asked how long you’d been playing so one night when you were playing duos you decided to play it up as if you were a newbie. You have always been told you’re not a good actress or liar but somehow he fell for it, you had unexpectedly kept this act up for a bit longer than you had expected. You couldn’t help it, he looked and sounded so cute when he would give you little tips and you couldn’t help but adore how soft he would get for you and how he would always reassure you it was okay when you died or needed supplies. Saying things like “it’s okay, I got you covered.” Or “don’t worry, I’m right beside you and I have more bullets just in case you need some.” with his sleep filled voice. You spent many nights internally yelling at yourself for almost falling asleep to his voice or imagining his smile while he gently speaks to you.

So when he heard you were the other captain, he couldn’t help but look at you like you have 3 heads while also trying to contain his laughter. You played rock, paper, scissors to see who would pick their teammate first and you won. ‘Off to a good start’ you thought to yourself as you now had the chance to pick Jungkook knowing that’s the reason taehyung looked so annoyed losing at rock, paper, scissors.

You face your whole body towards taehyung with serious eyes and a slightly cocky smirk. “Jungkook” you say looking him dead in the eyes, Jungkook quickly moves to stand behind you with a giddy smile on his face. You can tell he’s excited for this game too. “Jin-hyung” taehyung says while still staring into your eyes trying to figure out what’s going on with you and why you look like you just stole his girlfriend. “Yoongi” Everyone is slightly taken by surprise as he has been in second last place every game but he moves to your side regardless. Your smirk doesn’t falter as you continuously stare at taehyung trying not to get distracted by his unbelievably handsome face. It takes more effort than you accounted for.

“Hobi-hyung” he says with cocky tone but you know by the way his eyes look at you that he is utterly clueless to what’s about to happen and he feels scared that he may be the only hope for his team. J-hope isn’t the best but is very persistent, you somewhat regret not choosing him as you know he will do everything taehyung says and do it exceptionally well. Taking him down will be a challenge but you’ve played long enough and known these boys long enough to know exactly how to take everyone down, including your own team.

“Jimin” you name your last teammate and revel in the fact that you won rock, paper, scissors. You don’t mean to offend anyone but can’t help but be at least a little grateful Namjoon isn’t on your team. He is an amazing human being and truly a breath of fresh air but he has probably never even heard of pubg never mind actually played it, though neither has jimin.

You internally thank your clever mind for asking about future Bts run episodes a few months back. You had heard of speculations of an episode like this and immediately backed it up saying it was their best idea yet. On that same day you set up a whole plan on how to secretly surprise and destroy taehyung at pubg. When you say it out loud it sounds silly but it will be worth more than gold just to see his face, if your plan works.

“Each team gets a 1 minute huddle to discuss, a timer will go off at one minute and you will return to the computers sitting with your team.” Your team makes a huddle and Yoongi and jimin look slightly worried no doubt thinking they’ll be killed first. “Okay, Jungkook I want you by my side always, I know games like these are your forté so I’m not worried about you. Yoongi, as you have probably never played this they will be on your ass like crazy. Let’s keep it that way, taehyung will most likely send Namjoon and hobi after easy kills like you and jimin so I want you to keep their attention on you. Jimin, you are the final puzzle piece. I need to you to do the same as Yoongi while also complimenting and flustering taehyung as much as possible. But not too much to where he notices, just enough to make him blush.” The timer goes off seconds after you finish your little speech, not forgetting to mention to leave taehyung for you and you can’t help but feel proud of your plan. Yoongi being the old soul he is, is 110% being labeled an ‘easy target’ by the other team along with jimin. Putting jimin in blush control has to be the idea you smiled the most about, you know how easily taehyung can be flustered and when he is he can’t focus. And that’s exactly how you plan to get him.

Once everyone has settled into their seats, seconds before the game starts you give everyone a once over making sure they remember their duties. They confirm and you put your game face on, you don’t think you’ve ever taken a game so seriously. It’s like you can’t focus on anything but taehyung and you find that this isn’t the first time that’s happened.

They follow you the whole way til you drop at your location and just as you thought you already hear footsteps heading towards Yoongi. “Yoongi, do you have any weapons?” “No.” He responds meekly with a hint of fear and you think it’s more of fear of letting you down but it’s only making you happier. The closer Yoongi is to you the closer a member of the other team is and the easier you can slowly take them out one at a time. “No rifle, siper, hangun??” You quickly ask fearing Yoongi will be killed quicker than you expected. “No.” This time it’s definitely fear. You can see that the footsteps are close and it seems that Yoongi is just running around him. Jungkook is hiding on the roof one of the buildings, you told him to tap your hand or look at you when he sees someone from the other team, you hear Namjoon mumbling something to himself and that’s when you feel it. Jungkook ever so slightly taps the side of your hand, gunshots fire and Namjoon goes silent. The amount of players in the corner goes from 8 to 7 and you allow a smirk to creep onto your face.

“Headshot” Jungkook says just loud enough for you to hear. “Nice” you give him a light high five when you catch sight of the next poor soul. “Taehyung I wanna find youuuuu.” Jimin whines from your side or the table. You can’t help but chuckle a little as it actually does slightly fluster taehyung. As jimin goes running off to find taehyung of course, not really part of the plan as he will most likely get himself killed but that’s not the issue right now. The issue right now is Jin heading your way with a gun pointed right at you, thankfully you were able to pick up a military helmet and bulletproof vest from the drop box so even after the few shots Jin takes at you, you still have full health. You hide in the building and wait for Jin to move closer. Jungkook seems to be on the move for hobi but still staying relatively close enough to help you if you need it.

You park yourself right at the top of the stairs where you can get Jin first, and seeing as he is wearing a police bulletproof vest, killing him should be quick and easy.And it is. Jin groans from the other side or the room “Yah I thought you loved me so much you would die without me!” You laugh at that but continue on with Jungkook. Jimin got himself killed by hobi a little while before you killed Jin and you and Kook head that way assuming taehyung is over there seeing as Jimin headed that way. You creep along in a crouch hoping for the best coverage from the bushes but you hear a zip and about eight more bullets fly right past you into Jungkook causing him to die.

At this point you slightly get worried but decide not to question you’re abilities, you know how good you are with a good scope and with your 6x scope you should be able to spot hobi like a sore thumb. And you do, now it’s just you and taehyung. “Hm it’s just you and me now, wanna surrender?” “Mhmm I guess it is, now why would I do that?” You question. “Oh well I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings, I know you’ve only been playing for a little while but sometimes you have to lose-“ taehyungs eyes go as wide as saucers. While he was talking you found his location easily as he didn’t move his character. “Hm? What was that?” You chuckle loudly as he is still left speechless, Jungkook throws another high five your way with a lot more weight to it this time and a hard slap is heard throughout the room, followed by two more. You couldn’t have asked for things to go anymore perfect. You all stand up and you give taehyung a hug out of sympathy and he looks like he’s a kid learning the abc’s for the first time.“H-how?? I can’t believe that just happened??!” “I wanted to play a little joke on you, I would say it worked.”You can’t help but say it with the biggest smile on your face. ‘He looks adorable’ is all you can think right now and his pout makes you feel a little bad for lying to him you have to admit it, his reaction was totally worth it.

You and the guys finish up the the filming and grab your things to go home. As you pack into the car with Yoongi, taehyung, Jin and hobi, you notice the slight pout on taehyungs face is still there and decide to sit beside him. “Hey are you okay? I didn’t think it’d hurt your ego this bad?” You attempt to comfort him but it seems that it only makes the slight blush on his cheeks worse. He chuckles “Nah, I’m not that butthurt I’m just sad that you didn’t tell me, we could’ve been the iconic killer pubg duo! IKPD, what about that that doesn’t sound absolutely sick!” You all let out a hearty laugh at that. “That does sound dope, well now we can be the IKPD.” He smiles at that. “So how did you get so good? When we were playing you needed help with basically everything, I think I have less kills then the amount of times I have saved you.”

You tell him the whole story along with the plan and he looks more interested in staring at you than actually listening. He can’t help it though, he is already so enamoured with you. The late FaceTime calls, playing pubg and sometimes just the multiple hour late night talks really created a place for you in his heart. But something about you secretly being really good at pubg and making a plan that revolves around him made his heart swell. He has to be honest he really wasn’t listening completely to you just hearing while admiring your beauty in the terrible car light. He is baffled with how you look so good when the lighting is so bad but what he doesn’t know is you’re asking yourself the same thing. Once you finish your little speech you yawn mumbling something about how you’re so tired from staying up last night with taehyung but all he can focus on is your head on his shoulder and your soft snores ricocheting from you to him. He thinks he’s about to explode and melt at the same time, he can’t help the feeling of wanting to take care of you. After so many months of babying you on pubg he realizes he’s doing it in real life as he slowly takes off his coat to put around you. He wraps it around your frame carefully not to wake you or knock your head. You snuggle a little closer adorably enjoying his warmth and he doesn’t think his cheeks can get any rosier until your lips unintentionally bush against his neck. You decide to place a light kiss there and sleppily mumble a thank you. He freezes, his mind automatically going into overdrive. He’s dreamt about moments like this, the way you talk to him and act around him convincing him he was just a bro was the only think stopping him. But this, bro’s don’t do this. You slightly wince thinking that was the wrong move and you quickly pull your head away, a heavy blush not too far behind.

You look out the window watching the city buildings past by and you’re so completely embarrassed until you feel a finger brush under your chin and pull your head to face the owner. Taehyungs looking at you with the softest look of adoration and he can’t help but think he’s never been more in love with you. “You’re adorable when you’re embarrassed.” He says it as if he’s so cool but his mind is racing and he’s very much not cool. His heart pulls him to focus and not get lost in your eyes. His finger lifts your head up to face his and he leans in. You start to realize what’s happening and relish in the fact that your one and only dream for the past 3 months is coming true. You lean in as well and wait for the connection of your lips, you’re so close you can feel his breath on nose and if you moved less than half an inch closer his lips would be on yours. He moves to fill the gap as you’re so close BUMP! You go over a speed bump and you’re in the parking lot for his building.

Everyone piles out of the car and not wanting to be locked in you both get out as well. You walk into the building and up to their dorm, with taehyung playing with his rings and you holding your elbow, both of which are very clearly nervous habits and you both know it too. Once you get inside everyone is there and obviously you’re not gonna pull taehyung into a kiss in the middle of the living room so decide to wait. It’s almost dinner time so you a few of the guys ask you would like as take out is tonight’s delicacy. You decide on Chinese from a place not too far that you’ve all been to one time or another. The tension between you and taehyung is so noticeable even the other members catch on. Also the fact that the both of you are strangely quiet but what they think the state of your relationship is, is completely opposite to whats going on. They assume you’ve fought because of pubg but really you’re just two fools in love but too scared to say anything. After dinner is finished up and the table has been cleared, you join the boys in the living room chatting with Jin about something, you’re not really focused as you’re mind is clouded with the events in the car. What would’ve happened if you kissed? Is he ignoring you now because he’s embarrassed? All your thoughts pause when grabs you off the couch by your hand and pulls you to his room. Once the door is closed he pushes you against the back of it “I’ve wanted to this for so long.” He immediately grabs your face with one hand and your waist with the other. It takes a second for your mind and heart to catch up but you finally kiss him back realizing what’s happening. Of course his lips feel like silk pillows but you swear you hear fireworks. You only realize how long you’ve wanted this just when he pulls away to catch his breath. You stare into his eyes and already miss his lips on yours. “You’re the only win I want.”

#bts #kpop #kim seokjin #suga #taehyung #taehyung x reader

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sonicringbond · 3 years

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Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 49

Well, now, believe it or not, but there are only three more weeks/episodes left of season 1 of The Journey. There will be several big changes coming once Season 2 gets underway so I’ll have a lot of work to o getting ready behind the scenes, but hopefully it is worth it. Anyway, let me stop babbling and let you dive into...

“It’s so good!” Rosy swooned and held a hand to her face and held up the soft serve ice cream cone she had. “I love festivals! And this one is such a big party! Ooh~! Why couldn’t we enjoy this one without having to crash it Sonic?”

“We’ll just have to blame our purple friend,” Sonic remarked, though there was little humor in his mood.

~I feel really bad for Sonic. He doesn’t usually let anything get him down, but Claymore the Purple really hurt his pride when we met him. That and he kidnapped Tails, Mighty, and Draw. I don’t know what happened to Mote, but I hope they’re with Draw still. It’s a shame they can’t enjoy the festival either. Tee-hee! Maybe I shouldn’t be letting myself have so much fun either.

~Tower Point, it’s not just a small community like I’ve mostly seen in the lands under Yolk, it’s one of the largest cities I’ve ever seen. Its name comes from all the large towers, but it’s crazy! From the cobbled roads there isn’t anywhere to go but the towers. It’s like being walled in with a spiderweb roof of bridges up above. And there are vendors and food stalls everywhere. Bands are playing in the streets and over a radio system that you can hear everywhere in the city. And the sky is full of confetti too! It’s just one massive celebration. But Sonic and I can’t enjoy it, well not as much as I’d like too. We have to face Claymore and rescue our friends. It’s such a waste of a good party too.~

“Stay sharp kid. We’ve got company coming.”

~Well, maybe not a total waste, tee-hee~♥

~As Sonic and I made our way deeper and deeper into the maze of towers and bridges, more and more autogolems started showing up. There were a lot that just looked like suits of armor built on clockwork skeletons, but there were also helmets with wings in the sky, and even more of the helmets with spider legs that were with Claymore when he attacked us. But none of them were going to get me! I could outrun them if I really tried, and Sonic could bash them to bits super easy! But Sonic did one better. Eeee! He held my hand to discourage them from coming after me! Ooh~! It’s so romantic~♥~

Enthralled as Rosy was by Sonic making sure she didn’t get separated in the crowds, Rosy couldn’t help but taunt one autogolem, a Squire Legs as it stared at her with glowing yellow eyes from its black knight helmet. If it could have developed an exasperated bead of sweat, it would have as Rosy pulled down her eye lid and stuck her tongue out at it. As her free hand was being held by Sonic, she managed to get ice cream in her eye and yelped out in surprise.

“Your rascally antics are going to make this harder than it needs to be,” Sonic warned her before pulling her into a bridal carry.

“Eep! S-Sonic!”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, but I think it’s time we take things up to my pace.”

Not wasting a moment longer, or bothering to explain to Rosy, Sonic suddenly speed off and right up the sides of a tower. His speed assured most people wouldn’t get a good look at the cause of the commotion and bouncing from tower to tower and bridge to bridge, it was impossible for the average person to keep up with Sonic. He wasn’t just bouncing about aimlessly either. Though such maneuvers would have easily confused the autogolems trying to watch him and Rosy, his destination was a massive clearing in the forest of towers.

The city of Tower Point was not just home to seemingly countless towers and spires, but it was also the home of the Ring decrying religious group known as the Preservers. As such, most of the architecture looked as though it was fashioned after gothic style cathedrals merged with a steam work pipe system. There were several actual cathedrals mixed into the forest of towers, from their bases and peaks alongside observatories nigh everywhere, to even underground and within some of the larger towers. There was one cathedral though that was a series of towers itself, with the largest in the entire city at its center. It was that complex and the only massively open plaza in the city that Sonic aimed for.

To call the plaza massive however, was an understatement. It was several miles wide and several more long. Canals and parks littered the venue, and the most massive of crowds Rosy had ever seen gathered in it for the Banquet of Claymore the Purple. A celebration in open defiance of Yoluku, the small planet hanging in the above watching the festivities from below the permanent red lightning bolt that arced across the sky from horizon to horizon.

Asides from the main tower itself, the best view of the plaza was from any one of the plethora of airships that filled the skies above. Leaping between several and putting the best distance he could between himself and any and all flightless autogolems, Sonic eventually set Rosy down on the deck of a tadpole shaped one of a coral red hue.

“Sorry, about coming aboard uninvited,” Sonic laughed off his intrusion and offered a wave to the people on the deck of the vessel. A deck that looked familiar to Rosy as it ran back from the main body to the tail of the vessel under and above several propellers and sails.

“Hey, Sonic, isn’t this…” Rosy started, but the variety of people on the deck were all wearing badges with a wrench super imposed over a gear wheel, the symbol of the Engineers. “Uh-oh…”

The sweat drop that ran down Rosy’s cheek and her nervous smile told Sonic something other than what his nose did. As it wasn’t itching, or hinting at a coming sneeze, he was sure they were fine, but put a comforting hand on Rosy’s shoulder anyway. “No sweat kid. A bunch of mechanics aren’t going to be much of a threat to me.”

“We could still push you off,” one of the people on the deck warned and stood up, before stumbling back as Sonic was in their face.

“You really, think so? You’d have to catch me first. And I don’t think you, or you, or…”

Faster than anyone outside of Rosy, who was laughing at the display, could follow, Sonic introduced everyone on the deck to his speed. But even with his speed there were things that could surprise him.

“…or you, or–?!”

“Sonic!”

It was not Rosy who called out Sonic’s name, but the young fox girl who did was nonetheless familiar to both hedgehogs.

“Zooey!” Sonic asked in surprise. “What are–”

Sonic never finished the question. Zooey, not prepared for Sonic was even less prepared for Rosy, who tackled her in a crazy mixture of a bear hug and full-on nuzzling session. “ZOOEY!! It’s really you! I can’t believe it! I’ve been trying to catch up with you forever!”

“I thought I made it easy enough to follow me,” the yellow fox in the red dress stated her efforts to be found, and Sonic could only offer her a shrug and an awkward smile.

“What can we say, these lands are a mess. Great for adventuring and running, not so much for meeting up. But what brought you to this big party, Zooey?”

-|-

“I see,” Zooey sighed. “So, it was Mr. Gill who caused us so much trouble. And if I understand, you’re relying on him to cause even more now.”

“Not quite,” Sonic corrected Zooey as he leaned over the deck railing and looked at the plaza below. “I’m actually going to be the one causing trouble. Think I can use my plane to do it?”

“I’ve been using it and Tails’ X-Tornado for my races you know, Sonic. But I suppose it is yours.”

“You’re a real pal Zooey. Shame I can’t leave Amy with you though.”

“It’s Rosy!” Rosy corrected Sonic and earned a laugh from him. In response she puffed up her cheeks. “Ooh~! I don’t mind you using my real name Sonic, really! But we’re on an adventure! I’d rather go by Rosy while adventuring!”

“You’re enough of a rascal without calling yourself one,” Sonic teased Rosy and made her puff her cheeks up even more. He could have easily toyed with her all day, but he knew he didn’t have that type of time and turned his attention back to Zooey. “So, think you can have the Tornado ready to launch before Sir Buckethead makes his grand entrance?”

“It won’t be a problem at all,” Zooey sighed and earned a questioning look from Sonic and Rosy both. Their questioning eyes on her, Zooey forced a smile and explained herself. “It’s just, well… We finally meet back up and everyone is in this awful mess. I can’t believe Tails got captured too.”

“What can I say Zooey, Sir Buckethead is more trouble than he’s worth. But you leave the rescue operation to me and Rosy, and Gill and Blister too. Though, be ready to run, things might get dicey.”

Scene 49 · CLEARED Party Crashing, to be continued

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ZOOEY!!

XD Yes, Zooey is back just as we reach the end. I can’t say how involved she’ll be at this point as I only have more scenes to work with, and as of the time I wrote this, this was the only scene I had written. Can you believe it’s the 10th of March or later while you’re reading this, yet when I wrote this it was February 3rd? It’s amazing stuff.

For now though though, I’ll leave everyone waiting for Scene 50! What a milestone! I hope everyone is as excited as am =D

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Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Cheers! – Tomomichi Takeoka – Final Fantasy XV Original Soundtrack

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fan fiction #sonic au #sonic au series #sonic ring bond #the journey #classic amy #amy rose #rosy the rascal #au amy #amy redesign #zooey

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