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#WHICH DID NOT LEAVE A BOAT FOR THREE EPISODES STRAIGHT
thenightlymirror · 9 months
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So, for anyone paying attention to narrative, a lot has happened in the last week.
I was going to start on Tuesday, but then remembered that quite a lot happened on Monday too. So, Friday, I suppose.
At some point Friday, after days of the superintendent telling me that he would get to my dozens of foundation requests and work orders sometime next week, I learned in the last hour that he was actually going on vacation. Which enraged me. I'm an idiot. They spent the week after Memorial Day recovering. The next week saw the GM off sick almost the entire week, while I sort of ran things.
I started Monday by explaining to the GM that nothing has been for our State of Emergency Shithole Cemetery in two weeks, even when I tried to plan ahead for the next delivery which was coming very soon. Welp.
A few minutes later, I heard her addressing the grounds crew so, stood up from my desk and crashed the meeting. These are our priorities until I receive the granite manifest. This marker needs to be done today. These, when there's time. Two weeks ago I cared about these. Fuck it. I'll be by to look for paperwork in the garage.
I found the garage breakroom table covered in unfinished stacks of my work orders, old food, and a thin, even layer of mouse shit. Buck, how do you feel about being made to eat your meals on rat shit?
"I think it's a crime."
Correct.
After collecting my papers and taking lots of photos, I talked to Buck about his various grievances. He asked me if I was a socialist. "At least," I said.
I decided to go back to the GM and confront her about the rat shit. She explained that she bleached that table a month ago, but the boys leave the door open, and even when the exterminator visits twice a month, there's nothing they can do. Also. Buck was caught feeding the mice water.
Hm.
Well, I mean, wouldn't you? Honestly. Who among us if forced to live in rat shit would not feed the miserable poisoned rats? Since you're essentially in the same boat, all about to be fired, thrown out on your asses. Murdered.
Tuesday, grounds continued get more work done. The manifest arrived. I made the No. #2 a packet with the four foundations that were absolutely necessary by next week. Andrew invited me out to trivia later than night, and I spent the rest of the day feeling tired and headachy and convinced that if I didn't go, I'd probably be alone for the rest of my short life.
So I went. It was pretty good. Most of the table seemed a little snooty, and also worried about something I wasn't a party to. Nervous. They're pretty serious about it all. We got second place in the end. I was really good at naming movies just by single frames. I also got the two other Latin American countries that use the American Dollar correct, but they weren't very confident about it. Neither was I, really.
Afterward, me and Andrew went to a bar and a girl there talked to us, got our numbers. I assumed Andrew went home with her. Maybe he did. He was discreet about it, if he did. She liked us, and we hit our stride as two (likely) bisexuals performing as horny straight men for our own amusement. It was a lot of fun.
The next day Buck and I exchanged numbers and made plans to hang out at his place, smoke weed, listen to Norwegian black metal, and watch old Incredible Hulk episodes. Nice.
There was this whole thing about going to Wisconsin to pick up some vases for a customer. The GM wanted to go. Sandra also happened to be going on the same day. I made a million calls and now it was just me picking it all up for everybody. No Spotted Cow. No Cheese Castle. Solamente Cox.
I woke up an hour early to lay in bed and feel utterly convinced I wanted to die. Something was up, and my brain turned in on itself instinctively. Always embarrassment, humiliation. Clarity. Brutal clarity. I got up. Rushed a day's work in three hours. Drove to my old cemetery where Sandra ran to give me a hug and pointed to the breakroom where Carlene was eating lunch. Something was definitely weird with Carls. Seemed miffed. I avoided immediately attacking Harper and talked logistics with Carlene by repeating every sentence she said until she noticed.
I entered the office to pick up the keys, and asked Harper how she was. I was pretty clear. She just kept working, didn't even look up. I just shrugged. Sandra gave me the eyes like, Holy Shit Dude, and I turned to go, but Carlene intervened like "HARPER!" and she finally looked up, so I asked her gently, Harper, what's up. How's it going, and she looked embarrassed and talked for a few minutes. Totally normal.
You could not convince me for the next four hours that is what happened. I only remembered my guts falling out on the floor in front of everyone. Hahaha. Such a sensitive baby.
Everyone at my place went on and on about how they might give me a tour, and I'd get to meet the owner and nobody there gave a shit. They just passed me through like corn. Not that they were mean in the slightest. I don't know what I expected.
I got back to the old cemetery. The new counselor-at-large was there and I said hello and she looked right fucking through me. Haha I was not quiet. She just sucks. That's fine.
I got in the office and Sandra was stuck in an email. I was like, What the hell are you doing? Can't say. Ok lol. "What the hell is wrong with everyone today?"
"I was about to say that myself," Harper says. "People standing in doorways all day." Fucking body snatchers. Then Margie caught me. Harper made the "You did this to yourself by being nice to her, and I am getting the hell out of here" face. Have a nice weekend!
I pull out of my parking space in my own car again, and rip off the front bumper. The counselors come out to laugh and Sandra clandestinely takes photographs with her phone. We all laugh for a while while no one gets to leave the parking lot, and I go straight home to Winnetka with the vases in my car.
What else?
My trainer asked if I went to the Cheese Castle. No. I was depressed. She shoots into my dms to ask me why I'm depressed. I'm fine. Just woke up this way. My brain's just broke.
I woke up this morning sadder than ever. As I got in the car, my old trainer called me and said that she got a new job. The office manager position she always wanted. Fuck all the rest. I said thank god you did something, or else I was going to have to. Congrats. She said not to tell anyone, and to get out of this place as soon as I can.
I went to work and got on the golf cart and rode around for a while, took it up to the secret lake. Hiked around. Scared some birds. Took the cart off-roading down a steep hill convinced I was going to flip myself.
Later, rushing through work, I got another call. Sandra. She's leaving. Got a job with the city. Which means. Her position will be open. I jumped out of my seat and started punching the air. Holy shit. Suddenly the day flowed right over. Not only would this whole nightmare end, I'd get the position I wanted in the first place. The position I wanted like... years from now. Gene's place. I wouldn't have to be miserable. I still doubt it will actually happen. But it might. I might just be happy. Over in the admin office between Harper and Carl. Easy.
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bu1410 · 2 days
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Good afternoon TUMBLR - March 26th - 2024
''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."
January 1998 - October 1999 - NLNG - TSKJ Port Harcourt Project (Nigeria).
Part 8.
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SITE LIFE
BLACK FINGERNAIL
It was an hot and humid afternoon, but obviously the work had to continue. We then did an inspection around the construction site, Monceri and myself. We entered the building intended to house the diesel generators, and in a separate room we noticed a local worker sleeping on the floor, leaning against the wall, holding a hammer and chisel. Security Officer Mr. Pepper – who was accompaning us – woke up the worker by topuching his shoulder with a stick.
- Sorry Sir!! Sorry Sir!! I hit my finger with a hammer and passed out from the pain Sir!!               He said showing a black fingernail, the result of an accident a few days earlier.
Come on??!! Said Mr. Pepper, it seems you react in a completely different way from any other! when a similar episode happens, everybody start jumping, swearing, maybe running to the emergency room, but I have never heard of one of us falling asleep as a result of a hammer on the finger.
IMMIGRATION POLICE STATION'S CHIEF
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The site, as already mentioned in another episode, was located on a branch of the Niger river which, through tortuous channels, gave access to the island of Bonny and then to the open sea. For this reason, next to us, there was a pier from where speed boats were leaving for various destinations, and where a delegation from the Immigration Police was stationed. After the episode of Commander Zampatti - in which the Immigration station Chief had detained our compatriot because he at the time lacked identification documents - he had no longer shown himself. But personally I thought that sooner or later the Chief would show up, and in fact... He showed up in my office one afternoon, and after the usual pleasantries, he addressed the topic of the visit head on:
- Do you know why I came to see you? He suddenly said to me, pointing his index finger at me inquiringly and implying ''You can't know... because 'I'm smart and unpredictable and you white people are dull and stupid''.
- No Sir, I don't – I replied while I looked at him sideways expecting ''anything''.
- I came to tell you how you can help me! He said, looking straight at me to gauge my reaction.
- And I - not to disappoint him: Really??!! And how could I help you??
- You see – said the Chief with a confidential air – I am building the house for my family, and I tell you, you are a lucky man!! And do you know why? Because you don't have to worry about sending anyone to see if things are done properly, nooooo... I'm here for that! You just have to regularly send all the necessary materials, sand, cement, bricks and everything else! These are materials that you have in abundance here, no one will notice if you send small quantities to build my house!
- Yes?? Well I confess that I didn't know you were building a house, and I congratulate you - but unfortunately I'm not alone here, and if I did something like that my superiors would find out, so I would suffer all the serious consequences... you know what I mean ?
- Sure, sure, I understand – he says – mmmm……then…you could send at least two or three of your best workers, so the construction of the house will proceed quickly!!
- Mmmm……You know, I don't think it can be done! Imagine if an accident were to happen – accidents at work are frequent here, aren't they? – who would take responsibility for what happened? Who would compensate the unfortunate worker involved, given that he would not be here, in his usual workplace, but in your home?
- Well... this is true... I hadn't thought about this eventuality... and so, in short, I know a supplier of building materials, he has practically everything for a building site like yours!! From tomorrow you go and buy everything you need in his warehouse, and then I'll make do with him!
- (It smells like crest…)
- Naah... no it can be done... I'm not authorized to buy materials, if you want I'll give you the name and telephone number of our Procurement Manager, talk to him and if everything goes well, then I'll go to that supplier to get the materials.
The pantomime went on like this for more than an hour, with him proposing increasingly more imaginative solutions, and me finding a way to get rid of them. Until, exhausted, he said to me:
- I have the impression that you don't want to help me...isn't that so????
- I – I said – would be more than happy to help you, but as I explained to you, my hands are tied so I can't do anything.
-Good – he said, getting up – I'm leaving for now, but you'll hear about me very soon!! And he left the office throwing his hands in the air, with those gestures typical of Nigerians when they are very angry at having been defeated.
The Major's threats were not followed through, also because few days later  I was the one who paid him a visit. With me an Army Colonel who bluntly told him that if he allowed himself to enter our construction site one more time he would would have to pay the consequences bitterly. At those words, theChief jumped up, clicked his heels and said
- ''Yes Sir…yes Sir…I'll follow your instruction Sir…Yes Sir!!
CHINESE METRIC BINDS  
We were at the beginning of the work, and the perimeter of the foundations of various buildings on the base was being traced. The local surveyor – a very polite young Nigerian – came to my office with a worried expression on his face:
- Sir...something is wrong with the measurements of the Store Building, the building seems to take on a strange shape, not rectangular as in the drawings.
- Let's go and check, I said.
Indeed, after careful measurement, the tracking had one diagonal of 55.00 meters and the other of more than 70 meters! It couldn't be like this, obviously the diagonals had to be perfectly equal.
We spent the whole morning trying to discover the reason for this error. And then the light bulb went on for someone: let's go and buy a new metric rib and check that the two that were already supplied were correct. Two hours later we were in possession of a new 100 meter rib, Made in Germany. The 'suspected one ' Made in China ribs were laid out on the ground along their entire length. The new rib was laid exactly next to it and...the Chinese ribs were missing about 30 cm every meter!! Basically the Chinese ''meter'' was actually 70 cm!! What wouldn't a Chinese manifacturer do to save money??!!
We had solved the mystery of the different diagonals, we threw the Chinese ribs in the garbage, and I sent the warehouse worker to buy another Made in Germany rib.
BUILDING’S PLASTER
To create the internal plasters of the Base buildings, it was decided to install a ''ready-to-use'' product in order to facilitate the work of local bricklayers. Before deciding to purchase, we received a visit from a strange character - very frequent in Nigeria - one of those ''alleged priests'' of the countless ''alleged churches'' present in the country. Dressed in gold vestments and lizard green, which not even the Pope would wear during the opening of the Holy Door of the Jubilee, Father Oluwa Sunday offered to provide the material for the plastering:
- I came here – he said making large gestures with his hands as if he were flying – to help you to find this material but – he continued – if you want me to help you, you have to help me: pay $120,000 cash, and then I will assure you that in 10-15 days you will have the material on site!
- Okay – I said – Father Oluwa let me think about it for a moment, I will consult with the Procurement Dpt and then I will let you know……
Having avoided the certain scam on the part of Father Oluwa, it was decided to purchase the material from the French construction company Spie Capag, SAIPEM Sub Contractor for the civil works of the SOKU gas plant project. However, they too required payment in cash before the material delivery.
In consideration of the fact that they were Sub Contractors of SAIPEM, the payment of 218,000 USD was granted. The material was stored in SOKU, so it was agreed to transport it by barge to the Support Base site. The loading of the material onto the barge took place under the eyes of SOKU's SAIPEM warehouseman, an Italian - He informed me by radio that the barge had set sail towards Port Harcourt around 9.00 AM. At 5.00 PM of the same day the barge arrived at the Support Base dock. I saw from afar that the crane was unloading the large jute bags that were supposed to contain the 25kg bags of ready-made plaster. – I use the conditional because we were on the verge of having a shocking surprise: I immediately realized that something was wrong, the jute bags were dangling and the crane made no apparent effort to unload them from the barge. When I got closer I discovered the sad truth: the bags were empty!! No material! We immediately checked the other 3 jute bags on board of the vessel: they were also empty! At this point we questioned the barge pilot:
- Where is the material???
- What material? He replied with an incredulous face.
- Inside the big jute bags there should be several bags of cement material!
- Ahhh...I don't know that...I witnessed the loading and it seemed strange to me that they had hired me to carry bags that seemed empty...
- You're joking...
- I sweare to God it's like this....
I called SOKU on the radio, and spoke to the warehouse SPV, who confirmed that the jute bags were full when they were loaded. At this point there was nothing left to do but call the police, who arrived less than half an hour later. Having reported the disappearance of the cargo, the police questioned the sailor, who repeated the statement he had made to us an hour earlier: he had not had any inkling that the bags were full of other material. So the police got hold of him and transferred him to the nearby station under arrest.
It really seemed that this material was ''cursed'' or affected by one of those spells that Nigerians blindly believe in. In fact, upon learning of what had happened, all our local employees favored the thesis of the ''magical disappearance'' of the material:
- ''They played an evil juiju on us, it's a bad sign for the project’’ was the common opinion among the locals.
The material was never found again, and we were forced to buy another batch.
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cabbageslost · 1 month
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Live Reacting to Live Action AtLA - ep 4
Nothing about this is spoiler-free. You have been warned. Skip til after you've seen if you're worried.
..
Okay, just like with the first three, this will be my space to blather my way through the 4th NAtLA episode. Almost to the halfway point. Here's hoping this one brings it, cuz if there's a Bumi who is "toned down" I will be just screaming into the void. Firing it up now...
..
Well. At least they let Katara be the one to be out looking for Aang. I feel like she hasn't gotten enough "umph" in this version.
Secret love cave is turning into secret haunted tunnels. *sigh* Gonna guess this change won't be one I like.
Wait, what? They're skipping WAY THROUGH a ton of Bumi lead up. Straight to instant knowing. *deep breath*
Yay, she gets a water skin now an-- oooh, Jet's back. Kick his ASS, girl! One hope speech then his stubborn ass goes down. YES! Yes that WAS you!! woohoo.. okay, favorite part so far. LOL
Pun game is strong with Bumi.
At least we still get the nomads, but.. this bit isn't even a book 1 thing. And it being here is gonna probably mean skipping a fairly iconic part from the OG.
Wait, Iroh dropped a pai sho tile? But that stinky sandal turned out to be an MVP later.. lol..
Okay, still having crazy Bumi trials of a sort.
Sokka's instincts showing up to lead them out of the cave. I kind of love their sibling fights. Giving me hope for Katara getting better writing as we're going on, because she clearly acts well (and her imperfect, layered self was always my favorite and I want none of that toned down.)
Guard/Iroh exchange is actually a pretty standout scene, acting-wise. And Iroh's expressions.. oh man, if those expressions didn't hit you in the feels enough, here's the flashback. Shades of Leaves on the vine..
Ah, sibling love. Um, okay. Yeah, still don't like it. This adaptation already has so much they cram in, no reason for them to try and reach out for more season 2 stories to shove in.
Aang and Bumi fight.. I wish that they would have Aang explain that he didn't "leave", not in this version. He and Appa were out for a midnight stroll when stuff happened to go down. What's the point of making that change if he's still letting the world think he left them? (Which, I mean, he was 12 and understandable.)
Yes!! A (very brief) mail chute ride AND a MY CABBAGES!! Some of my prayers have been answered.
Okay, and I approve the addition of this Zuko/Iroh flashback. "Everything I need is on this boat." Uncle Iroh, you and these ninjas-chopping-onions moments.
Ah, ending on Zuko ignoring an Appa sighting. Guessing that's why they were making Bumi completely hammer on Aang having run away (though he didn't) - because they were trying to get a couple points from The Storm in.
..
Alright, well. This one was a roller coaster for me. I actually did love the added scenes (the Iroh/Zuko flashbacks), and they seemed to start writing Katara better (please keep it up), and I got my tiny glimpse of a fun ride. Also got to see Katara put the smack on Jet, but the awesomeness was dampened a bit since she was immediately making excuses for him in the cave with Sokka. And then a lot of the rest of it was disappointing. Putting Cave of Two Lovers in there for no reason was a big L, and I remain frustrated by the repeated "you ran from this" stuff that is getting tossed at Aang - including by his own past life who would 100% know that didn't happen (in this version). It was a decision to change it to make it not a running away, but then there's no decision to have Aang reassure the world he never chose to leave them? Bonkers. I mean, it was frustrating enough in the original, since when he ran was when they were removing him from Gyatso.. he had been still around the temple after being told he was the Avatar, he wasn't running from that alone. But at least he was choosing to run, so I kind of "got it" then. But they changed it and now he hasn't even run and just.. meh. I'm also frustrated at the pretty big lack of showing the Gaang actually forming a close bond. It's all the little "fun" things that they cut out that just don't let us see how they're close friends.. we just have to be told at the end of the fight, I guess.
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malyen0retsev · 3 years
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"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚! 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪! 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚! 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚..."
"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙐𝙗𝙗𝙚, 𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙍𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙧. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝘼𝙇𝙒𝘼𝙔𝙎 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀!"
Vikings Season 6 Episode 17: The Raft of Medusa
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daisydaisybilly · 3 years
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life on mars | one | b.b
summary: after an accident y/n wakes up in 1940s Brooklyn with no idea what happened they had no option but to accept help from two stranger
word count: 1.3k
warnings: inaccurate knowledge of Brooklyn, mention of violence/fights, questionable medical stuff, swearing, hints to drowning and that's it i think
A/N: this is something i've been working on for a while and i feel like it's finally ready to be put out there. opening from a grey's anatomy episode!
shout out to @rosewrites for letting me borrow Sparkles from her story Cardiac Arrest which is amazing and you should all check out!
!!has been edit but likely missed a few things!!
MAIN MASTERLIST | REQUEST OPEN | SERIES MASTERLIST
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The back of the ambulance was tightly packed . This was your least favourite part of being a trauma surgeon, being the one they called when they needed someone fast. A handful of doctors were already at the scene tending to people.
You ran through all the information Joy, the paramedic had mention before you sent off. A boat had capsized near the pier, you weren’t sure what injures you would need to treat but you were ready.
As much as you wanted to keep your mind on your job, your mind kept finding its way to Stephen. After his accident he became more of an ass than he already was. You did everything you could to help him, gave him all the time you had to give. You were there every time he woke up from an operation along with Sparkles his not-girlfriend.
Operation after operation. The only thing that changed was his mood. After his last chance failed, he disappeared looking for something that would help, you only reason you knew he was still alive was thanks to Sparkles, she was the only person he’d talk too.
"Dr Gold we're here" Joy called from the front seat.
You snap out your head, grabbing your kit jumping out the back of the ambulance. when you were out you looked out at the scene before you, people lay on the floor, doctors attending to at least three patients each.
After a deep breath you got straight to work, assessing how serious their injuries where and if they could wait. Thankfully there wasn’t many serious injuries, you started to walk towards the information centre when you spotted something, no someone in the distance.
You started to run towards them, no wonder they hadn’t been seen they were hid behind a shipping container. “Sir can you hear me?” you reached down and tried to find a pulse, you sighed with relief finding one. “Okay sir, can you tell me what hurts?”.
Turning away you reached for your kit, you looked around wishing you hadn’t come alone if something happened now you didn’t have many options.
“Sir. I need to check your injures. Can you to tell me where it hurts” you tried again, checking his pupils, at least you could rule out a brain injury for now.
“my arm”
You looked down to his left arm, “okay, everything will be alright sir” you smile down to him, he just nods weakly back.
From where you were you couldn't get a good look at the arm. With one last look around you walk around and knelt by his other side. The cold sea air hit your back making the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
You breathed. Reached down to pull away his coat. Saw a deep red cut. You reached across to get some gauze from your kit. And then you were falling backwards. Everything moved in slow motion, you didn’t feel anything until you hit the cold water.
Shock. You were going to go into shock . You started to kick against the current as it tossed you around, you saw the water ripping above you. Just a little more and you’ll be fine, then you hit a pillar. You gasped pain distracting you, the water rushed into your lungs.
You felt a burning in your chest. The dizziness from your head was worse, you were sure there was blood mixed with the water.
You movements got slower, you breathed again, forgetting it was all water.
Would anyone find you? would they get to you in time?
Your movement was no existence now. The burning stopped, not a good side but you were too hazy to care. You closed your eyes.
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A cloudless blue sky met your eyes. Birds flew above calling out to one another. Blinking you tried to remember where you were and why you were looking up at the sky in damp clothes.
You remember the water, it filling your lungs until you couldn’t take it anymore. You must have washed up on the shore, slowly you stood up looking around for help. Everything was the same. But everything was different. You were forgetting something, you just didn’t know what.
“How did I end up here?” you wonder turning in a full circle. Looking down at yourself, the blue dress and white apron sent an odd feeling through your chest. Lay on the floor next to you was a long brown coat.
You tried to think back before you fell in the water but nothing came up, whatever you were doing before was out of reach now.
You walked from the shore, trying to find your way to the streets. After 5 minutes of wondering around until the site of a building stopped you. You couldn’t point out why but you knew it.
You needed to touch it, something about it was different, you thought it you didn't feel it everything would disappear like a dream. Your hand was shaking as you reached out, the brick was cold and hard under your touch “what am I doing?” you murmured questioning yourself.
All around you people were getting on about their lives, talking, and laughing, among it all only one thing stood out. Someone was yelling. Either no one else heard what was going on or they just didn’t care.
When you looked down the closers alley you saw two men fighting, no, a man fighting a young boy.
“Hey!” you yell before you could think. The two, stop fighting looking your way.
“Nothing to worry about, honey. Move along” he man winked over his shoulder.
You huffed a breath of anger and walk closer, you pulled the man back by his shoulder. “I think it is”. The man was too shocked to move at first, staring at you opened mouthed like a fish. “Word to the wise don’t call anyone, love again”. You pulled him further away from the kid.
His eyes flashed with anger , he lifted his hand to hit you. You dodged it, then threw your own punch to his chin, then a kick to his stomach. He fell to the ground, your breath came heavy as you looked down at him.
A noise to your left took your attention away. That when you remember the young boy. “Are you okay?”, you reach out and to help him up.
“ Thank you miss, but I had it under control” he got up without your help, leaving your hand hanging in the air.
Closer up you could see he wasn’t a boy but a smaller grown man.
“He says that all the time” a voice laughed from behind.
You jumped turning around. There was another man, a rather handsome one.
“I’m guessing he likes to make a habit of it then” you breath smiling. “I’m afraid I can’t just let a bully get his own way” you nodded down to the passed-out man by your feet, “I might have hit him a bit too hard”.
The handsome man shrugged. “Teach him a lesson, no one wants to get taken down by a woman”.
You laughed.
Someone clears their throat, “Bucky”.
You turn away raising an eyebrow. “what?”
He nodded to the handsome man behind you, “His name. And I’m Steve”.
You smile nodding, “Nice to met you”.
“So Goldie, how come you’re soaking?” Bucky spoke.
You looked at him confused. “That’s not my name-“.
“Sorry nurse Gold how come you’re soaking wet” he waved his hand.
“Nurse?” you laughed.
Bucky pointed to your chest, “Your name tag says nurse Gold”.
“Is everything alright?” Steve had moved so that he could stand in front of you, Bucky had come closer too.
You reached up again and touched your head, it was still wet. “I feel into the water and I must have hit my head”.
“Can we help?” Steve asked worried, he put his hand on your shoulder, like you were going to fall any minute.
You laughed, “You don’t have any dry clothes lying around do you?”.
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mfb-better-fury · 3 years
Text
Episode 1
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Night
In an observatory, a boy is alerted to the new star fragment and searches for it through his telescope. Upon seeing it he becomes excited to have finally found it.
In an area of ruins, a hooded figure watches the star fragment fall and speaks to himself: “When a dazzling light shines brightly on the earth, from the heavens a new star fragment will arrive and awaken a great power.” He then calls to the star fragment to give that great power to “the black sun”.
As both watch, the star fragment splits into 13 pieces. One piece targets the observatory and hits the boy and his bey Mercury Anubius. He is knocked to the floor from the impact but quickly rises to his knees to ensure his bey’s safety.
As the other fragments fall, one piece makes its landing near the ruins. The hooded figure demands to know what’s going on then calls for Johannes, telling him to collect the scattered pieces. When Johannes disappears, the figure muses to himself that it is only a matter of time before “Nemesis” is revived.
Madoka has just finished the repairs on Galaxy Pegasus from the battle against Spiral Force when she watches a piece of the star fragment fly past her window. She assumes that she imagined it due to her exhaustion.
A woman with long blue hair is cleaning the parts of a bey when a piece of the star fragment comes in through the window, knocking her from her chair. It’s a struggle for her to get to her knees and look across the desk, but she finds the parts of the bey dimly sparkling. After the brief difficulty to get back in her seat, she picks up the parts to look at them closer, then sighs and decides it’s something to worry about in the morning. She reassembles the bey and uses a cane to get to her feet, then turns off the desk light. Storm Aquario is left gleaming in the darkness.
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Next Day
At Bey Park, the semi-final round of a tournament is taking place, commentated by Blader DJ and Gingka. Kenta is battling.
Gingka continuously tries cheering for Kenta even though DJ keeps reminding him he must be neutral.
In the final battle, Kenta uses Flame Claw, raising Gingka's urge to battle. After the tournament, Kenta and Gingka head to the B-Pit, Kenta with his victory trophy. Madoka is asleep at her desk, but Pegasus' repairs are complete.
Madoka is awakened by Gingka's antics, and he thanks her fervently for her work.
With Pegasus repaired, Gingka and Kenta are eager to battle and run out, Madoka chasing after them. Immediately after exiting, a plunger arrow shoots down at them, prompting Gingka to push Kenta down. The arrow sticks to the B-Pit’s outside wall just as Madoka steps out.
Gingka finds a message tied to the arrow, challenging him to a battle. They head to the misty island mentioned in the letter.
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Gingka, Kenta, and Madoka arrive at the coast of the misty island to find no one waiting for them, prompting Gingka's anger. Kenta and Madoka discuss the strangeness of Gingka being challenged right as Pegasus' repairs are complete.
A rowboat appears in the mist and the challenger is revealed to be Kyoya, rowed by Benkei. Kenta and Madoka express their lack of enthusiasm to seeing another battle between Gingka and Kyoya, causing Benkei to get riled up and then fall out of the boat.
Benkei reminds them that in Gingka and Kyoya's last battle during the World Championships the two tied. Kyoya is here to settle that score.
Kyoya jumps out of the boat and readies Leone. Gingka agrees to battle with him. Kyoya states that the entire island will be their battlefield.
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Rock Leone VS Galaxy Pegasus begins
There’s an immediate burst of dust at initial contact. Gingka and Kyoya begin running along the island coast, causing their friends to make chase. Using Lion Gale Force Wall, Kyoya has Leone create a tornado of sand, which Benkei boasts about. Madoka uses her computer to gather an explanation they can understand.
The sand twister picks up Pegasus and hurls it against a nearby boulder, smashing the stone into rubble. Pegasus recovers at Gingka’s call, but Kyoya has Leone and its twister pick up the debris to hurl at its opponent. Madoka and Kenta call this out, but Benkei quiets them and Kyoya claims this is a battle to see who will survive.
Gingka is a little miffed at the realization that these tactics are why Kyoya picked the location he did. Kyoya declares this is the way of the lion’s hunt and the way of his strength. At this, Gingka can’t help but agree, knowing Kyoya’s ways and recalling their first battle.
Gingka then announces that he won’t let himself lose, and directs Pegasus straight for Leone and its tornado. Kyoya mocks this, but Gingka knows what he’s doing. When Pegasus is picked up by the wind this time, it crashes into a tree that topples over on top of Leone, instantly dispersing the sand twister. Madoka and Kenta cheer.
Kyoya initially gives brief props to Gingka, but Leone then breaks through the tree and frees itself. Seeing this Gingka decides to lead Kyoya into the forest for a change of environment. Coming across a gathering of tall boulders, Leone uses them to gain height and achieve a domino effect of knocking the flat-sided rocks forward with the intent of crushing Pegasus.
Madoka calls a frightened warning to Gingka, who in turn calls for Pegasus to ride the last boulder, slanted like a ramp, and jump. It evades the falling domino rocks and smashes into another boulder ahead, which shoots debris back toward Leone. Madoka, Benkei, and Kenta have more trouble avoiding this debris than Kyoya and Leone do.
As the beys continue clashing, Kenta complains the battle is getting out of hand. Madoka growls about having just finished repairing Pegasus.
More boulders are destroyed in the fight and Gingka commends Kyoya on his strength and the battle. Kyoya replies with a promise to settle things, which Gingka denies due to Pegasus’ attack-type strength giving him the advantage in a head-on battle. Gingka aims to prove this by having Pegasus loop around to hit Leone just as such rather than in a racing style. Leone is sent flying and lands in a lake of mud, though manages to stay above the surface.
Gingka calls for Pegasus’ Starbooster Attack, using two trees as walls to gain height and soar above. Pegasus’ spirit appears, making Kenta cheer. Madoka adds that Leone is stuck in the mud meaning it’s unable to use its own move in retaliation.
As Pegasus shoots down, Kyoya calls to Leone, which swirls up the mud in a tower to catch Pegasus’ attack. Benkei attempts to name this move but struggles, making Kenta comment to simply call them all “Lion Gale Force Wall”.
Both battlers urge on their beys, with Pegasus cutting through the tornado. However, when the light clears, Pegasus is now in the mud and Leone is nowhere to be seen. Kyoya calls their attention to the sky, where Leone now spins after riding its tornado. Benkei praises his friend.
Leone flips itself over and Kyoya calls for its King Lion Reverse Windstrike. He then taunts Gingka for his backfiring plan in changing their location and claims his only reason to grow stronger is to finally defeat him.
Gingka counters Kyoya’s words claiming that whenever Kyoya gets stronger, he’ll become stronger still, and that he and Pegasus are in agreement on this. Kyoya brushes this off and calls to his own bey, having it ride down the center of its reverse tornado to smash into Pegasus, yelling that this time he will defeat Gingka.
In this moment, Kyoya and Leone awaken their power. The resulting energy destroys the mud pond and leaves a crater in its wake as Leone evolves, and Pegasus plummets to the ground beside Gingka, landing on its side. Everyone is completely stunned.
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Kenta questions Madoka as to when she added this feature and why she kept it a secret, but she denies having anything to do with it. Rather than cheering, Benkei suddenly quiets them, staring intently at Kyoya who has gone completely still.
Kyoya’s face holds a bewildered and somewhat haunted expression. He’s completely ignoring the still-spinning, transformed Leone, instead staring across the crater at the defeated Pegasus. “I...won…?”
An energy pulses across Kyoya and he grabs his head. His vision darkens until only he, Leone, and Pegasus are visible. Whispers start to echo around him and he mutters shaking denials, even before the words become clear. The voice is dark and harsh, ordering him over and over that his job isn’t done until Pegasus is destroyed.
In desperation, his eyes shut tight as he continues clutching his head, Kyoya cries Benkei’s name.
Benkei rushes to action, demanding Gingka not touch Pegasus as he runs across the crater to get to Kyoya. As Gingka wonders what’s going on, Madoka sees hints of dark energy flickering around Kyoya, making her think back to Tsubasa’s battles against the dark power during the World Championships. Realization hits and she cries out in alarm that Kyoya’s been hiding an infection from his battle with Ryuga this whole time, startling Kenta and causing Gingka great concern.
As Benkei gets closer to Kyoya, Leone reacts and moves to block his path. Deciding to shout from where he stands, Benkei calls encouragement to Kyoya, reminding him that he’s beaten this before and he can do it again. This only further worries the other three as they learn how oblivious they’ve been to Kyoya’s plight when Benkei seems to have known all along.
In Kyoya’s blacked-out vision, Benkei’s words are staticky like they’re coming through an old radio, but they are getting through. Slowly Kyoya starts getting a hold of himself and manages to open his eyes, hesitantly looking toward the fallen Pegasus. He doesn’t need to go further. The battle is over. It’s over and he needs to calm down, take a breath-
The whispers turn into a roar, drowning out Benkei’s voice and ordering Kyoya to attack. His strength falters, his eyes glowing red as he stares at Pegasus. The others see Kyoya lower his arms as the dark aura around him starts to grow. Benkei calls out to him, but goes quiet when he hears his friend speak as if in a trance: “Destroy...Pegasus…”
Leone responds, rushing around Benkei toward Gingka and the others. Gingka moves to grab his bey, but Benkei once again orders him not to touch it. Before Leone can make contact with Pegasus, Dark Bull slams into the motionless bey, sending it flying away from danger. Bull takes the hit from Leone head-on, and the explosion knocks Gingka, Kenta, and Madoka back due to their close proximity.
Benkei grits his teeth and holds his ground, ordering Bull to attack Leone in an attempt to divert Kyoya’s attention. Kyoya roars behind him, claiming that if he gets in the way he’ll be destroyed too. The dark aura now fully envelopes him. Madoka is frantically trying to collect data on the new Leone but comes up with nothing. With the way Bull is being pushed back, Kenta realizes Leone isn’t behaving like a defense-type bey at all.
Benkei refuses to surrender, leading the battle away from Gingka and the others and calling Kyoya’s name. There is no reaction.
As Leone mercilessly attacks Bull, Benkei calls out again, this time telling Kyoya to remember Battle Bladers, to remember how they were hurt during it because of the Dark Nebula and Lightning L-Drago. Benkei demands to know if that’s what Kyoya wants to happen again, and if he wants to be responsible for repeating it – responsible for hurting his friends. Benkei asks Kyoya if he intends to hurt the people he’s been trying to protect all this time.
In the darkness, Kyoya jolts. Fuzzy memories of Battle Bladers dance around him – Reiji’s battles against Hyoma, Kenta, and Gingka. Yu showing up severely injured due to his own battle against him. Ryuga’s battles against Hikaru and Tsubasa. Ryuga’s battle against him.
Beyond the voice controlling him, Kyoya begins to hear others. Benkei’s first, encouraging him, promising that he won’t tell anyone and he’ll stay by his side. Nile’s comes next, chastising Kyoya for being stupid enough not to tell them about this; Demure’s voice chimes in with concern and asking what they can do to help.
Then, Kyoya’s own voice: “I know how to stop this. But I can’t do it by staying here.”
Tsubasa answers: “Whatever happens, we have each other, right?”
Hikaru adds: “Maybe I can’t be out there battling with you guys right now...but I’m with you no matter what.”
Kyoya slowly clenches his firsts, his breathing becoming strained. “I...won’t…”
In the battle, Leone’s attacks against Bull start to lose power and speed. Kyoya begins to growl, catching everyone’s attention. He grabs his head again, but this time the dark aura appears to be shrinking, bright green taking its place. Benkei immediately starts calling to him again, affirming his belief that Kyoya can pull out of it. Though scared and still not certain of the entire situation, Kenta and Madoka do the same. Gingka is silent, watching the events fearfully.
With a roar echoed by Leone’s spirit as it appears in a sudden storm of wind around them, Kyoya breaks free from the dark power’s grip. Both the aura and the glow to his eyes are fully replaced by blazing green. In response his bey shoots away from Bull, driving itself into the forest leaving destruction in its wake until at last becoming trapped within a boulder and ceasing its spin.
Calling back Bull, Benkei rushes to Kyoya’s side with the others close behind. Kyoya is unsteady on his feet when they reach him. He tries to turn to Gingka, but his vision doubles and he falls against Benkei due to sudden dizziness. He manages to get two words out: “I’m...sorry…” before losing consciousness. Benkei fixes his hold on Kyoya, promising that it’s alright and that everyone is safe. Madoka and Kenta decide to go off to search for Leone.
Gingka stares at Kyoya for several seconds before turning around to look back at Pegasus, still resting where Bull had knocked it back to protect it from Leone’s attack.
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The boy from the observatory has arrived at a harbor and is in a great hurry to find Gingka. Unknown to him, Johannes is on his tail.
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longitudinalwaveme · 3 years
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Longitudinalwaveme Reviews Some More Old Comics (and One New One), Part 2
Batman #321, “Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!” 
The story opens with Commissioner Gordon receiving an invitation to the Joker’s birthday party. “Black tie optional, funny hats mandatory”. A few seconds later, everyone in police headquarters doubles over laughing, the victims of Joker’s, well, Joker gas. 
Batman is on the scene only a few seconds later, and starts punching out Joker’s goons. Unfortunately, by the time he’s finished doing this, both Joker and Commissioner Gordon have disappeared. 
Eminently Quotable Joker: “Ah---the Batman! What an expected surprise! And what a waste of a perfectly good window! Couldn’t you have used the door?” 
As Joker leaves in his Jokermobile, the police officers tell Batman that the Joker also captured Robin earlier that day (by pretending to be a woman with car problems!) 
Meanwhile, Selina Kyle, Lucius Fox, and Alfred are talking when the Joker bursts in and kidnaps them as well. Notably, Selina mentions that she’s been having terrible headaches. 
Selina Kyle wakes up in a room with Batman; the other kidnapees wake up in the Joker’s “Ha-Hacienda” on his “victim-go-round”. 
Eminently Quotable Joker: “Tomorrow is my birthday, and by way of celebration, I intend to eliminate all you who’ve crossed me, while all of Gotham watches! It’s not exactly the catcher’s mitt I really wanted...but it’s a pretty fair second place! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” 
Hawkman stars in a Hostess cupcake ad! 
The Joker murders one of his own henchman with his “BANG!” flag gun for not laughing at his joke. 
Eminently Quotable Joker (in response to Robin saying “You’re out of your mind!”): “Gloriously so! Isn’t it wonderful?” 
In order to get his audience, the Joker put an ad in the newspaper that states that the “Harlequin Baking Company” will be inviting all of Gotham to  sample its wares at the Seaside Coliseum. AND IT WORKS, because everyone in Gotham has the IQ of turnips. A bazillion people come to the Coliseum to get free food. 
Joker dramatically reveals himself to everyone and explains that he’s going to blow up all the people he hates with a giant cake bomb. Then Batman arrives and offers himself in exchange for the other hostages. This goes exactly how you’d expect it to go, but Batman manages Batman his way out of the trap, saving both himself and all of his friends. 
Joker runs away and jumps into a boat. Batman follows him, they fight for a bit, and then the Joker apparently blows himself up. But he’s not dead, because nothing can kill the Joker. Batman even says so. 
This would’ve made a great episode of B:TAS. 
Batman #322, “Chaos--Coming and Going!” 
And now for something completely different! 
Catwoman looks at a bunch of old newspaper clippings of herself, as the comic hints fairly subtly that she might be unwell (just as her headaches last issue did). 
Meanwhile, a van is delivering issues of the tabloid The Gotham Guardian...when a thrown bundle of newspapers is intercepted by a boomerang! Captain Boomerang is in Gotham City! 
The two men in the van react by promptly trying to run Digger over....only for him to slice their van in half with a boomerang!
Digger yells at them to tell their boss that this was only a warning: the mysterious boss owes him a million dollars, and he wants it in 24 hours or else. 
Then Batman shows up out of nowhere and he and Boomerang get into a fight. Digger distracts Batman by using his exploding boomerang to damage a nearby building. This causes some rubble to fall on one of the drivers. Batman goes to rescue him, and Digger vanishes. 
Green Arrow stars in a Hostess fruit pie ad! 
Batman talks to Alfred about Captain Boomerang, telling him to ask Lucius Fox to find out who owns the Guardian, since he’s probably Boomerang’s next target. He also refuses to call the Flash in for help. “The night I can’t handle a punk like Boomerang is the night I hang up my cowl!” 
Catwoman goes to a doctor and it’s confirmed that she is, in fact, dying. She has less than a month to live and the only cure is some Egyptian herbs that have been lost to time. 
Meanwhile, Captain Boomerang lets us know that he hates Gotham. “Lor’, but I hate this cronky town! I never would’ve come her from Central City if it wasn’t for my million quid!” 
Apparently, Captain Boomerang set up a retirment fund for himself and is ticked off that has money was subsequently stolen. 
“It’s really rum--downright ironic! The one time I play the game by their rules--and it’s me who gets taken for a sucker! Well, nobody crosses “Digger” Harkness--and gets away with it intact!” That’s our Digger! 
Also, he has a giant boomerang hidden under a tarp. 
Catwoman goes to the museum to see a display about cats...and conveniently, some ancient Egyptian medicinal herbs are there. Catwoman determines to take them so she can save herself. 
Batman asks the most Irish Irishman to ever walk the pages of the comic book about where he might be able to find Captain Boomerang, but he hasn’t heard anything. Then Alfred calls Batman and tells him that Lucius has discovered that the Gotham Guardian is owned by a corporation which serves as a front for a guy named Gregorian Falstaff. 
The man in question is eating dinner at a hotel when he is rudely interrupted by Captain Boomerang, who knocks out Falstaff’s bodyguard and demands his money. Falstaff plays dumb, claiming that the whole thing was an unfortunate accident and offering to write him a check. Boomerang insists that it’s cash or nothing (since he doesn’t trust Falstaff). Then Batman shows up, and Digger throws a smoke bomb boomerang that distracts Batman long enough for him to knock him out with another boomerang. 
“You gave it a fair dinkum try, cobber-but fair ain’t enough when  you’re dealin’ with the likes of me!’” Didgeridoo! Crikey! Steve Irwin! Can you tell I’m Australian yet? 
Selina Kyle tries to call Bruce but can’t get ahold of him, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and pulls out her Catwoman costume. 
When Batman comes to, he’s been tied to the giant boomerang. 
“Nothin’ permanent, mate--you’re simply tied to my giant rocket-powered boomerang! Only Flash’s super-speed saved him from the original--and without super-powers you’ll never escape this improved version!” So...which one of the giant boomerangs you used to launch the Flash into space are we talking about here, Digger? Because there’ve been at least four at this point. 
Boomerang launches the boomerang into the air and it explodes. Digger is naturally convinced that he’s killed Batman, only for Batman to promptly prove him wrong by showing up alive and well. “Nobody could possibly survive a flight on my Doomerang!” Oh, Digger...
Batman explains that he survived by “maneuvering my bonds toward the Doomerang’s rocket-jets--and the ignition-flames freed me! Then I simply slipped away under the cover of all that smoke before the Doomerang took off!” I love that Batman also calls the thing a Doomerang (with a totally straight face, mind you.) 
Then Digger throws a boomerang at Batman at the same time Batman throws a Batarang at him. But because Batman is Batman, he wins the boomerang duel and knocks Digger out. Way to take away Digger’s only accomplishment there, Batman. It’s like if Superman won any of his races against the Flash. 
Batman decides to investigate Falstaff. 
Meanwhile, at the museum, someone who looks like Catwoman is stealing one of the exhibits....
Flash #286, “The Color Schemes of the Rainbow Raider”
This issue introduces the greatest villain of all time...the dreaded Rainbow Raider! 
After a long day at work, Barry Allen is heading home...only for an alarm to go off at the Centrex Art Museum! Barry has to promptly go into action as the Flash as Barry thinks about how tired he is. Apparently, his new police chief, Darryl Frye, has made him work overtime three times in one week alone. 
Suddenly, a rainbow appears, bewildering Barry, as it hasn’t rained for the past week. Barry runs inside the museum to find the guards crying inexplicably. Barry deduces that the thief has been altering their emotions and realizes that this is probably not one of his established Rogues. 
Sure enough, he soon comes face-to-face with the Rainbow Raider!
“Welcome, Flash! I didn’t think you and I would be meeting so soon...but sooner or later we were bound to clash! Allow me to introduce myself! I am the Rainbow Raider---the most colorful criminal this city’s ever seen!” Oh, Roy. You’re so amazingly silly, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. 
Roy shoots a beam of blue light at Barry, who somehow deduces that this was what enabled him to mess with the emotions of the guards. Barry dodges the blast of blue light, but it hit and knocked out by a blast of black light. 
The police are suitably baffled by the Rainbow Raider, who, incidentally, signed his crime scene with “The Rainbow Raider was here!” That’s amazing. 
Meanwhile, the Flash runs home, for the Rainbow Raider has...uh....sucked all of the color out of his body! Somehow! Wha? 
Meanwhile, in a mobile trailer, Roy is gloating to himself. “Now I know I’m ready for the big leagues--on a par with seasoned criminals like Captain Cold and Mirror Master!” Uh...sure, Roy. 
Batman and Catman star in a Hostess cupcake ad! 
“Roy G. Bivolo is compelled by higher motivations--like art appreciation!” 
Roy reveals that he suffers from achromotopsia, a rare form of colorblindness that means he sees the world entirely in greyscale. This fact apparently scuppered his burgeoning artistic career, because the art critics of Central City have never heard of black-and-white artwork even though it totally exists. 
Also, Roy’s dad was apparently a, quote, “leading world-renowned optometrist”, and he tried to create goggles that would allow Roy to see color. He passed away shortly after Roy turned 21; having finished the googles just days before. 
When Roy tested them a few weeks later, he found that they hadn’t cured his colorblindness...but that they could shoot out “bands of multi-colored solid light particles that I could literally “ride” through the sky”. Roy then uses his father’s notes to unlock even more abilities with his goggles. Eventually, his mother also passed away, and Roy decided to turn to crime. 
“Since I was robbed of a brilliant art career as a painter--I think it’s only fitting that I rob others....rob them of the pleasure they’ve derived all these years from priceless works of art I myself have never been able to enjoy! If I can’t see them in all their glory---then neither will anyone else!” Roy...that’s insane. 
Barry Allen fails in his attempt to flirt with Fiona Webb, then exposits about pseudoscience. “The color black appears black because it absorbs the light waves of all other colors...without reflecting them! Those black beams the Rainbow Raider enveloped me with must’ve had a similar effect--saturating my body with radiation that prevents me from reflecting any and all light-waves...leaving me totally colorless!” SCIENCE! 
Barry uses makeup and hair day to make himself look normal. As a result, he’s 20 minutes late to work and gets chewed out by his boss. 
Also: “The unnatural inner-vibrations from this color drain are steadily sapping more and more energy from my molecules by the minute!” More SCIENCE! 
Barry is about to get to work when he hears about the opening of the Skytop Art Gallery. Assuming that this would be an ideal target for the Rainbow Raider, he goes into action as the Flash. 
Roy has created a distraction by using his emotional manipulation powers to get all of the art patrons to fight each other while he escapes. Barry runs up a building and onto Rainbow Raider’s rainbow...whereupon Raider shoots a blinding light at him, causin him to slip off the rainbow and almost fall to his doom. Luckily, his ability to vibrate through anything saves his life, as he manages to vibrate through a green car he was about to land on. 
Barry then finds that he’s turned totally green. ‘I must’ve been vibrating on the precise wavelength of the color green when I passed through this heap--somehow allowing me to regain my capacity to absorb green light-waves!” SCIENCE! He then starts running through vehicles of other colors to regain his capacity to absorb those light-waves, too. Since Raider is colorblind, he can’t figure out what the Flash is up to. 
When Raider takes one last blast at the Flash, the effects restore him to normal, and Flash is able to make quick work of the Rainbow Raider. 
I love the Rainbow Raider so much.
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popculturebuffet · 3 years
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Ducktales Della Arc Reviews: The Spear of Selene or THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES, GOD OF HOMEROTIC SUBTEXT OUT OF MYTH!
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Hello all you happy people and welcome back to my coverage of the Della arc! It’s our last 2017 episode before the Finale, and it’s a huge one as we delve into a fan faviorite that introduces a pair of fan faviorites, a drum of tzatkiki sauce worth of gay,  an asshole so odious getting sent to the bowls of hades and laughed at for all enternity after being cast out by eveyrone he knows really was getting off light, and at last some plot progression on this arc. At the time it aired mind you at this point Dellas been a beloved cast member for three years, and we’ve known what happened to her for longer than that. 
At the time though.. it’d been 8 MONTHS since the Great Dime Chase. Let that sink in. The Della reveal was the biggest hook of an already exceptional pilot: It not only promised to flesh out a character who’d had all of one story in the comics at this point in present day, but solve the mystery of why she was gone. Not only that but Scrooge and Donald’s feud clearly stemmed from this exact moment. And the first full episode in the arc confirmed it: Della had taken whatever “The Spear of Selene” was and apologized to Scrooge for it. So why had she taken it, why did Donald blame scrooge, why did Scrooge not blame himself, at least outwardly, where was she, what was the spear of selene...
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As I pointed out last time airing order didn’t help and due to airing the arc episodes really close together, gave the impression the arc would not only move fast but take up more of the season than it did. In practice both arcs take up a fourth of the season not including the finale, which would take both up to about a third. The expectation on how much of the season would be taken up by the arc.. was on Disney for airing things badly. I will give credit where it’s do as they moved this episode up in the order to try and make up for it (and give themselves a huge mid season opener).. but then for some reason shoved the last episode before last crash, ie. the only one they coudln’t move, way back to right before that episode. “ Here’s an actual photo of the person who made this decision
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As I said they did get better next season with only a few swaps and only for good reason. So props. 
HOWEVER.... this episode still has some  flaws with pacing and revealing info, with or without Disney drunk driving the schedule. The wait between episodes in this plot is an episode LONGER in production order... and dosen’t move the plot forward by much. I will get to that when the time comes.. and that DESPITE this treatment of the fans.. this episode is still one of the seasons best. How are both things true? Join me under the cut to find out. 
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Thunderstormy to be precise and the Sunchaser is natrually encountering loads of turbulence with Launchpad barely holding int here while Donald’s buffeted around the back. Why Donald’s with them... 
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But it’’s one of his only five starring episodes in the season, out of 9 appearances total the rest of which are cameos.  Yeah now seems as good as time as any to talk about Season 1′s Donald Duck problem. 
See Donald was promoted as a major part of the series, rightly so since he was reduced to a guest star for the 87 series due to a combination of Disney not wanting to overexpose the characters, people possibly not being able to understand his voice and thus making plots hard to understand, and Tony Anselmo being new to the roll at the time. So the reboot went all out promoting the fact Donald would be in it, front and center and gave him TWO character shorts to the rest of the casts one. Disney really went out of their way to show he’d be in there so as a certified Donald Fanatic, I was sure he’d actually be in the show a lot and on the adventures a lot. The crew were not blameless as both promotional arts featured him. Launchpad and Beakly conversely were asbent, so the impression given by all of this was that Donald would be central to the series and in a lot of episodes, given equal focus to scrooge and the kids. 
This.. didn’t happen as you all know. Instead as stated he’s up front and center for 5 episodes, and makes cameos in others, but generally is hardly around. Now there is KINDA an excuse to this as he doesn’t want to adventure, be in the mansion or any of that.. but it’s a REALLY weak one. He still at least could’ve made more cameos, the fact he was working on the boat all that time isn’t made clear till last crash, and his two spotlight episodes both have him dragged along on the adventure anyway, so it’s not like his not wanting to be there meant he woudln’t be forced to join in anyway. There were ways to include him, still have him in a supporting role instead of leaving him back at the mansion.. and even the second episode proved there was still comedy to be mliked from that.. and pathos don’t forget the pathos. So yeah this was easily the biggest mistake of the season and one season 2 largely corrected: He got four dedicated plots, and was around a decent amount in the first half of the season and while he DID get shot up to the moon... it was for valid reasons. They wanted to focus on Della and the kids, give her room to breathe as a brand new major addition to the show, and thus him being around and the elephant in the room of his and scrooge’s feud that was never dealt with on screen, would’ve distracted from that. And even with that they still gave him a focus episode that somehow added more depth and MASSIVELY advanced the main plot, and a sizeable roll in the finale. Season 3 likewise had things better: while he shows up as much as in season 1, the episode count is lower by one, and he’s a major part of the plot in every one BUT Last Christmas, with four of those having the spotlight on him in some way. They eventually did figure out how to use him far more ballanced. So yeah credit where it’s do it got MUCH better, but he still felt like a recurring character in his own series, that was still bad, and I still needed to give out about it. 
But Webby and Dewey have a mission even if Dewey dosen’t quite get what’s going on so they flip a switch to turn on a warning light of some kind forcing Launchpad to make an emergency landing on a gorgeous tropical island. To Huey’s amazement, as the place was apparenlty only a myth, though naturally the guidebook did have it’s aproximate location listed... Ithaquack, home of the gods. Naturally Scrooge and Donald want to leave as soon as possible for reasons we’ll get into but Launchpad , for once is being a responsible pilot “Better safe than.. something right? Scrooge is of course irate that Launchpad picked NOW of all times to be safe, and the Kids.. don’t listen because Huey sees a beautiful realm of myth, Louie sees a beach vacation and Dewey and Webby.. have work to do. Webby eventually fills Dewey in on why their here, having wrongly assumed he got why they were going to a mythical greek island. As Dewey delightfully puts it later “Don’t assume I know anything. “ So she pieces it together for him: Selene was the greek goddess of the moon... Della took the SPEAR of Selene. Ergo this island is the best place to find the Spear and failing that, Selene herself to get more info on it and Della. 
So we have our two plots. Scrooge and Donald dealing with their pasts and the gods, and Dewey and Webby diving into his mom’s past. And unlike the last review where a genuinely unsettling story about an abuse victim forced to manipulate her girlfriend not going into a murder vault was paired with Louie having to deal with a Sasquatch while Huey catches a case of Dewey’s stupidity somehow, these two plots are perfectly paired: Their both perfectly thematically connected, both dealing with the past, Della’s absence and Scrooge and the Twins past encounters with the gods.. but both being self contained outside of that, entirely unconnected but stilll necessary to be in the same episode. THIS is how you do two plots. But since they don’t really synch up again till the end, let’s cover each one at a time shall we?
“What if My Mom was a Bad Person?” 
The plot is pretty straight forward but expertly done: Dewey and Webby first check your standard Zelda dungeon which apparently has a cursed weapon at the end. We also get an utterly adorable and sweet shot of Webby comforting Dewey after he’s clearly shook from it. Awwww. Turns out it’s the SWORD of Selene. and quickly turns into a game of put the Cursed Sword back before we all die. 
Next up is a monster who nearly kills both protecting it’s spear.. the spear of POSIDEN. (Look at meeeeee). And since they aren’t going to be on a boat that isn’t a house boat anytime soon, they don’t need that and the monster cheerfully redirects them, with Dewey apologizing for calling it ugly. 
So all pretty standard stuff for the show and really good stuff.. but it’s the building tension underneath that truly makes the episode and leads to one hell of a climax for this plot. All the while Dewey is DESPERATE for some explination for his mom’s disapperance that isn’t her betraying Scrooge, maybe returning the spear because it was cursed or getting eaten by a monster. Just ANYTHING but the mounting and horrifying suspicion.. that his mom was a bad person who destroyed her family and betrayed her uncle and laughed all the while. Webby.. does not help, backing that side of things and constantly voicing hte idea Della betrayed Scrooge, so obsessed with solving the mystery of her life.. but so unfamilliar with people she dosen’t see the very real toll this is taking on her best friend. To her she’s just making a logical counterpoint.. to him it’s just another idea in his head about the way his mom could’ve betrayed everyone she cared about. 
So that climax is where it explodes. Our heroes find a scale model of ithaquack (Complete with Tiny Maniticore! It’s so cute Webby just wants to slay it)  and an opening.. with an ominous message about incurring the wrath of the god seemingly conforming the worst. So Webby prepares to find out the whole story.. only for Dewey to stop her. No one’s finding this out, whatever it is, no matter how far they’ve come. And given this is the biggest mystery of her life and she simply dosen’t understand WHY Dewey dosen’t want to know.. both sides are ready to fight for this. And Webby DOES try to back him down, pointing out he really can’t beat her in a fight. But Dewey’s already grown leaps and bounds form the pilot and is working smarter not harder. Beat Webby, who spent a good chunk of her life being honed into the most badass child on the parent, one who can take on several of scrooge’s worst foes one on one? Not on his life. But hold her off long enough for the gate to close? He can do that. 
So the result? One of the best fights of the series... and given the sheer amount of great ones we’ve gottten since this one it still says something it holds up THIS well. It’s an even, furiously paced fight, with Dewey using every advantage he has including tossing said manticore to keep up, but not slowing down one bit. It’s heartbreaking to see the two come to this but it’s an delight to watch. Webby DOES win eventually, though time’s running out to get in and she finally asks WHY. And  while the stakes have been crystal clear for both this whole time.. we get them laid out in the most painful way for both. 
Webby: We're so close to the truth! Why won't you let us find it?! Dewey: Because...*his voice cracks* what if my mom was a bad person?
It hits VERY hard. For Webby this has been a puzzle something to solve the greatest achivment of her life, her chance to make her mark... and her best friend just wanted to abandon it. But in one swift response, he disarms all of that.. and makes her see how insnstivie she’s been: He may not know his mom.. but he can’t bear the thought she was a bad person. That she left or WORSE, because she didn’t care about him, or scrooge or ANYONE. Knowing nothing is better than knowing she was a monster. 
Webby realizes what she’s been doing to her friend and is horrified and offers to back out. The answers.. aren’t worth destroying her brother. But her willingness to back down.. finally gets Dewey to see the light. His fear was valid.. but at the end of the day,  it’d never go away. it’d just keep eating him for the rest of his life, every time she was mentioned or he found something else out he’d just wonder if it was a lie and wonder wht he COULD’VE learned this day. And if Webby’s willing to sacrifice THIS MUCH to give him peace of mind... then he can sacrifice that peace of mind for the truth, for her, and for himself. So he pulls them inside. 
Inside they find Selene who suprises them.. and is then confused. Their not della. Also I guarantee mentally she’s thiking “Thank me I didn’t do it naked this time. “. After some confusion as to who this is, Webby explains that IS Selene, and Dewey begs for answers about the spear... only to find out she dosen’t have one. Nope. The sword seen before and a SPHERE, yes.. but no Spear. So the poor boy breaks down, back to square one. It’s hard not to see why... all this effort, all of this sacrifice.. and he’s no closer than when they first set down. 
Selene does help though... giving him an idea of who his mom WAS: one of her closest friends (And let’s face it  Della named the ship after Selene and Selene casually uses Della’s shower. If they didn’t go out at least once, I am an outer god. And I very much am not and they very much banged hard. Goodnight. ) , a good person who brought fun to everyone, and loved her family more than anything. Wether she betrayed Scrooge or not, she wasn’t a bad person. And her own orb shows it showing Della in her prime, brightly smiling next ot her family. Selene encourages the boy not to give up, that his mom always loved a mystery.. and he can solve this one and gently hugs the sobbing child.. with Dewey quickly pulling webby in. It’s genuinely touching and a satisfying ISH ending. 
The ish... is because while this is a VERY good plot, i’ll gush more about it at the end, it does have one supreme flaw: the mystery dosen’t progress. And with the huge gaps between this episode and hte next one, in BOTH airing orders... it’s unforgivable to not have EITHER plot give us any hints about what happened. I don’t ask for much, but they could’ve found a clue in the sphere Dewey got, or saw a memory of her that brought up the next place they look, just something a little. While it’s still a very fine story, the main plot suffers a bit by having one of the ONLY three episodes delving into the della mystery before it’s fully revealed in sunchaaser have almost no progress. Della was probably a good person, which comes from her ex who clearly still loves her so that’s not really reliable, and the spear isn’t literal. While the lack of progress works for the story in the episode itself.. it comes at the cost of any actual plot progression. We end up exactly where we started and have to wait SOME TIME before we get to the next spot on the tour. Well we did, you guys will find out Monday or Tuesday depending on if the finale goes up in the morning or Disney holds it till the actual airing. Please don’t you bastards. Point is it’s  VERY good plot, but it’s hampred by not really progressing the arc. 
The arc progression for this storyline is painfully slow, and tha’ts not on disney. In either order there’s a MASSIVE gap of 15+ episodes between what we learned in the great dime chase and what we learn in castle mcduck. It’s sloppy writing and I expect better from this team, especially since the Lena plot the same season is far tighter paced: each one builds a bit, both on Lena as a character (Why she’s doing this etc), her development as a person, her relationship with webby growing and Magica and her growing more and more spiteful with one another. They could’ve had at least ONE MORE subplot to build this up, especially since we really dind’t need the sasquatch episode but just.. didn’t for whatever reason and it’s still frustrating.  But as always credit where it’s due.. the next two seasons were better about it. 
Season 2 while not perfect, and we’ll get to it’s plots someday.. and I do say plots as not alternating between the two plots for season 1 was a mistake if a well meaning one as not to drive up the price for Kev but for future refrence if any of you want me to cover an arc for something I WILL have to cover all of it or any adjacent to it that flow into it. Point is they move faster and both Glomgold and Louie’s are pretty lowkey and low stakes so while enjoyable, their not moving incredibly fast dosen’t hurt the show. And the Moon plot has the best pacing of the three and possibly of the series plots period: We get filled in on Della fairly quick, getting answers on her WAY faster, get introduced to the moon and it’s people right away, get a whole episode on them, and the most importantly in sharp contrast? She returns HOME halfway into the season. 
I will probably go into this again when I get to nothing will stop della duck but Season 1′s pacing and general wisdowm made me think she wouldn’t get home anytime soon and she’d return in the finale. Instead? We get a whole half a season fleshing her out further, seeing her connect with her kids, all that good stuff, WITH an episode advancing the moon arc, without that arc feeling unimportant, but still having the slow pacing. 
Season 3 meanwhile while again not without bugs, the last few episodes before the finale having no real build up to it really wasnt a good idea and I question why these two episodes were the ones leading into it, has two seemingly barely related plots.. that EFFORTLESLY merge into one, with one hell of a huge twist in impossibin that ratchets up the stakes. I don’t know how it’ll payoff.. but we’ll see. 
So they did get better, i’m still hard on it because it happened.. but I will never stop stressing how this crew usually corrected a mistake. If they fucked up, they LEARNED FROM IT, course corrected, and made it better and they listened to US. IN the good way, not letting fans run the series but listening to valid concerns and adapting to them. And given how fucking rare that is and how hard it must’ve been with the tight schedule, I.. I really appricate it and i’m going to miss it. And I can’t think of a segue so enjoy this picture of a turtle hitting a trapper in the face with a bat instead. 
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“Someone Always Gets Hurt”
So let’s take it back a few hours. Hit it boys!
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Donald tries getting the boys back on the ship, clearly fearing something coming for him.. and we soon meet that something. Yes it’s the hero of legend, the stork out of myth, the star of a LOT of Donald Duck Slash FanFiction only half of which he wrote, STORKULES!
In case I didn’t make it clear when I reviewed New Gods on the Block! I love this guy. He reminds me a LOT of the marvel version: Boisterious , horny (if in a far more pg version), Gay (Pansexual for the marvel version), flawed but still immensley likeable. Stork is a bit diffrent, a bit more naive, a bit peppier and entirely blind to the fact his father is a terrible person. But my love of the marvel herc means Stork was an easy sell for me and Chris Dimatopolis’ performance is second to none, only topped in this series by his later work as Darkwing where he got a bit more range than “Joyous ham who wants to bang”. Also I’m 100% convenced he’s made this memetic expression to donald at some point... 
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If someone hasn’t redrawn that with Storkules yet, we have failed as an internet. And if someone has please show me. 
His crush on Donald is also endearing even if I don’t ship the two. And if your curious as to why it’s simple: Storkules is attracted to a version of Donald that no longer exists. Storkules craves a Donald whose a brave daring hero who loves adventure. And while still a brave hero when the situation calls for it as this episode will bare out.. he just.. dosen’t have the passion for adventure he did as a kid. While a LOT of that is loosing his sister for a decade, even once he makes peace with that and later gets her back... he just wants a normal life. His greatest wish was for one. He apparenlty “wishes for this every day”. He dosen’t hate adventuering anymore and by season 3 has come to terms with the fact he’ll never get everyone else to stop.. but I also think it’s always been obvious he clearly wants to one day. To have a normal life, settle down, find a girl, and if she wants to get married. Get old , fat and happy. I honestly think that’s the direction the finale’s heading in judging from the previews. I don’t think he’ll ever stop entirely, his family life’s too insane for that.. but he just dosen’t want to keep going forever and Stork, being an immortal hero does. They want diffrent things entirely and that just won’t work. Though that’s also JUST me and if you ship them or have a way around that, feel free. This is just my opinon. 
Anyways Donald’s not happy, the kids are confused  and Scrooge. has problesm bigger than simply not knowing how to say i’m not into you.... aka Zeus, king of the gods and of all assholes. He was originally supposed to be a swan due to a certian myth.. but they realized since that myth is both really fucked up and really not for children to not do that because why the fuck would you. Point is Zeus in myth is an asshole, a rapist, a cheating husband, and a vengeful, petty dick and that’s with barely any knowledge of Greek Myth on my part. He’s played by Micheal Chiklis whose famous for The Comissh and the Shield.. but whose famous to me for playing the ever loving Blue Eyed thing in the Tim Story Fantastic Four movies.. and honeslty, at least till marvel takes a crack at it soon, is the best screen version of the character. Look the film is flawed and I don’t remember a lot of it.. but his stuff in it just NAILS the character perfectly, at least the first one, and while the look is.. eh, he was the perfect casting. He just wasn’t in the right movie. So he’s naturally awesome here as history’s greatest douchebag. 
As for why Zeus is pissed at him unlike say Donald (The whole Spear of Selene fiasco) or Magica (Who while even worse than Zeus still lost her brother because of his callousness), or others he’s wronged.. Scrooge did absolutely nothing wrong here. During a beach party Storkules intiates, he reveals he used to be king of the beach and loved and worshipped by the people of ithaquack, which last time the adult ducks visited was a lovely hideaway for heroes. Scrooge naturally did a bunch of heroic and cool stuff, and upstaged him, and then bested him in various games and what not. Zeus claims they ran off because of this and because they didn’t want to party with a god bested by a mortal.. but scrooge reveals pottery showing it’s because Zeus threw a temper tantrum aka “a year long lightning storm”. So yeah for once all Scrooge did was just upstage someone who was already objectively horrible and who brought all of htis on himself. Scrooge even points it out perfectly “They didn’t leave because they liked me, they left because they didn’t like YOU. “ 
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Pissing off the god who already didn’t like you for stupid reason goes about how you’d expect and when Storkules tries to cool things down by suggesting a game, Zeus turns it into a contest. His son against Scrooge’s nephews. Because he uh dosen’t want to lower himself. Yeah that’s it, totally not that Scrooge would kick his ass and then fucking kick his ass. Yeah that’s the ticket. 
So our boys don Toga’s, and gear up for the first challenge: grabbing the bag of winds. In case you thought Spongebob just made that up. Zeus of course opens it so Donald can’t just leave, but Huey simply thinks his way out and wins , Zeus demands best 2/3 and we soon get a montage of various events from chariot racing to sculpture where we get our title picture, lest you thought I was kidding abotu Storkules obession with donald. I mean there’s subtextually having a character have a crush on another and then ther’es making a naked muscular statue of him. I.. I don’t even have a joke here. He made a naked muscular statue of Donald. The only way they could be less obvious without just coming outright and saying it was if hte statue was of hima nd storkules making out. And i’m 100% sure Frank, Matt and Dana, yes Dana Terrace was involved in this one i’m as unsurpised as you are, only didn’t do that because Disney said no. 
Zeus declares one final round because he’s tired of this..e ven though he CLEARLY won the last one while Donald once again tries to just leave and Storkules finally calls him on it wondering why he’s given up adventuring and wondering what della would say if she could see him like this, having just given up and not caring anymore about any of ths stuff.  “Well she can’t! Someone always gets hurt....”
And that one very sharp and painful line both outlines Donald’s arc here, and for the season, and makes it VERY clear why he retired and why I felt like he was already on his way and the spear of selene was simply the final straw. He gave up.. because he was just tired of it. Tired of being the one who got hurt.. and devistated when it wasn’t him that time. When he lost his sister for what he felt was NOTHING. Sure hte stars would be great but they’d done everything and gone everywhere..w asn’t.. wasn’t that enough/ Couldn’t they just be done? Couldn’t he just stop. The spear gave him an excuse to do what he always wanted, but it also caused him to harden up and view EVERYTHING about his old days of adventuring as bad when like most things i’ts not that simple., There were good times, sunshine, giant sized gay men obessing over you.. okay maybe the last part isn’t a plus in his book, but point is there was good and his arc is seeing that and realizing he can’t just cling to his pain. He has to let go so he can move on heathliy. 
As for said final challenge Zeus tasks the boys and Storkules with stealing the golden fleece from a little girl. While this is part of a whole scheme... he undereistmaed his son’s valour and Storkules is naturally sent spinning over having to steal from a child and is sent into a crisis. Louie however has no such qualms, as he is a children.. and he’s also louie.. but as he tries to the child starts singing. As Scrooge puts it “nothing good happens when creepy children start singing. “ Very true, it’s usually a sign freddy kruger’s about to show up or your  about to be taken by a miltiary orginzation obssed with The Doctor. 
The boys plug their ears.. and Zeus’ plan becomes horrifically clear. Turns out he had no real interest in an actual contest this time, and has the child take control of Storkules to murder them. And gives the doucheist shrug imaginable when his OWN SON IS BEGGING HIM NOT TO MAKE HIM MURDER SOME CHILDREN. 
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Scrooge naturally gets involved. Meanwhile Donald is trying to escape the lightning cage Zeus is using to make sure no one leaves... when he hears the boys cries of terror. He may hate this kind of thing.. but there’s one thing and only one thing that can make him snap back into who he used to be like it was yesterday. And that’s harming his boys. So Donald snaps into action and it’s a glory to see as Scrooge snaps back with him “Just like old times”. The two once again get a little closer to reconclisation by wrestling a golden pansexual to prevent him from brainwashdely murdering two children. God I love this show and this job. 
Huey however is more of the aim for the head sort and Louie simply uses his natural talent to talk the siren into working with him, with him as her agent. As he puts it Zeus just wants to use her.. he wants to use her too.. but to make them BOTH rich. She agrees, Louie wins, and Donald finally accepts storkules is his friend. Scrooge TRIES to use this to mend fences with Zeus.. but Zeus being a petulant dick wants another game and Scrooge simply throws a game of billiards or something like it to get this over with. 
So we get our wrapup. Dewey and Webby return, and Storkules and Donald say their goodbyes. Donald finally admits he’s his friend.. and in that one act finally admits he can’t just bury his past because parts of it are painful. And as Storkules puts it he may be done with adventure.. btu adventure’s not done with him. He’s got more of his old self in who he is now than he thought. Dewey also accidently wins and our family finds launchpad took the plane apart. There.. there’s no real ending. I can only assume Selene said knock this shit off when she found out or beakly later came in guns blazing. I don’t know. 
Final Thoughts: This episode is excellent. It has it’s fault: there’s no plot progression, and the ending is just stupid and is the only one of the series that feels like nothing was resolved. That being said.. the rest of the episode makes up for it. It’s filled with great gags as usual.. but the real meat is the character work. Dewey’s worries about his mom, and Donald’s attempt to literally leave his past behind, it’s really amazing stuff that elevates the episode past it’s flaws and into one fo the series best. Wheras revisting Other Bin reminded me it had a bad subplot that drug it down.. revisiting this one showed me just HOW near perfect it is with only a few things holding it back. Even with the dispaoitnment factor.. this one’s still excellent, with Ben, Kate and Tony all at the top of their games. Great stuff. 
Next Time on this Arc: Dewey has to face the future when the truth comes out. And Scrooge.. bitches with his dad for half the episode. Sure beats his dad sadly btu sweetly passing on to be with his wife huh?!
Next time on this blog: Amphibia time! Speaking of facing the consequences of lying to your family, Hop Pop’s FINALLY forced to face hiding the Box from Anne, and we also get an ivy episode. Super fuckin shooters. 
If you liked this review, consdier joining my patreon, link’s in the blog and next stretchgoal is a darkwing duck episode a month. Until the next rainbow it’s been a pleasure. 
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readyourimgaines · 4 years
Text
Age Doesn’t Mean Much
Summary: Five times the BAU remembered Reid’s younger than them plus one time they were violently reminded he’s not a child. 
Spoiler/Trigger Warning: The entire ending of the second season’s 15th episode: Revelations. 
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Dr. Spencer Reid was merely 21 when SSA Jason Gideon convinced him to join the BAU. With the exception of Aaron Hotchner (who had also read the young doctor’s file) the team wasn’t sure how to feel about the inexperienced man. 
Other than giving a pointer or two to a professor lecturing on a cold case, Reid had no experience working in the field. The others figured that was why the poor kid pushed himself so hard: to prove himself. 
Right after the first case, Elle stopped talking down to him. Half way through the same case, Morgan decided he’d taken the doctor under his wing. JJ was the first of Hotch’s subordinates to warm up to Reid. Their friendship was an awkward one for a couple of days. To an outsider, it looked as though a childhood friend was trying to help the other through a bout of amnesia. 
Though the team never again questioned Reid’s ability on the field, there were times when they were suddenly reminded of Reid’s age. 
1: Trying to Balance on a Curb While Walking
Hotch lost count of how many times Jack would walk on the curb, one foot in the front of the other, both arms outstretched for extra balance. Almost always, one of Jack’s hands would be firmly holding one of his father’s. SSA Hotchner almost laughed at himself when he nearly held Reid’s hand on instinct. 
Reid and Hotch were walking alone to get lunch for the unit while between cases back home. They’d been walking side-by-side while Reid babbled happily about the last book he finished. Hotch contently listened, his mind occasionally wondering. 
Hotch’s mind was pulled back to reality from one of its wonderings when his hand had brushed against Reid’s. The doctor’s hand quickly formed into a fist as he concentrated on his balance, his lips pressed tightly together. While Jack had his arms stretched straight out, Reid held his at more of a slant. 
One thing Hotch quickly noticed, and was surprised the scientifically minded doctor missed, was that Reid’s ever present satchel was throwing him off balance. 
“Reid.”
“Hm?”
“Let me hold onto your bag.” Hotch held his hand out to take the leather bag.
“Why?” Reid’s foot touched down on the road as he lost balance now that he was doing more with his brain than focussing on his footing. 
“It's a hypothesis.” Hotch smirked but Reid missed it, not taking his eyes off his sneakers. 
Carefully, as not to fall, Reid removed his satchel and held it out, blindly, for Hotch to take. The older agent held it by the shorted of the two handles as he continued to walk alongside Reid. 
Hotch chuckled to himself upon seeing the look on Reid’s face. The young doctor was looking at his feet, almost in awe. He hadn’t needed to touch down since Hotch took the bag half a block back. 
Once he walked two blocks on the curb- without losing balance- Reid was content and took his bag back, putting it back over his shoulder so the pouch of it bounced against the opposite hip.
“Did you know the position of an object’s center of gravity affects its stability? The higher the center of gravity is, the easier it is for the object to fall. That’s why a small boat- like a kayak or canoe- is less likely to tip if the occupants are seated lower in the boat. 
“Textbooks usually demonstrate this with either a bus and or two cars of different heights and lengths…” 
2: Mismatched Socks
One of the first things Emily Prentiss noticed about Reid were his mismatched socks. Of course, the other BAU members noticed it too, but they never questioned it. It’s just part of who Reid was. Curiosity got the better of SSA Prentiss. 
“Reid?” 
The doctor looked up from his case file. “Yeah?”
“Why do you never wear matched socks?” She looked down at Reid’s ankles and he followed her gaze. One lavender sock, one pink with blue stripes. 
“My uh- When I was a kid, my mom would tell me it was bad luck to wear matching socks.” Reid pulled the lavender sock back up to where it should be. 
“That doesn’t sound like something that could be scientifically verified.” A slight smirk spread across Emily’s face. 
Reid huffed slightly. “The night I was taken by Tobias… It was the first time I wore matching socks in five years. Burgundy with orange stripes.” Reid blinked heavily, clenching his eyes shut. “I don’t wear socks if they match.” He paused again. “Besides, matching socks are boring. Some people say socks should be a shade darker than their pants or a shade lighter than the shoes- Hotch does the former.
“Also, 82% of men in my age bracket wear mismatched socks at least once a week because we keep losing one of a pair. And a family of four- on average- loses 60 socks a year.” 
3: Playing With Jell-O
Reid loved Jell-O. No-one was really sure why, but didn’t ask, either. Everyone had their favorite dessert, so maybe Jell-O was just his? He liked cake, sure, but he didn’t eat it nearly as often as he ate Jell-O. 
On jet rides back home, no-one ever knew what conversations were bound to come up. This week’s was what the team was going to do with a three day weekend and morphed into best desserts. 
“What about you, Reid?” Prentiss drew Reid from his train of thought.
“Hm?”
“You like Jell-O, don’t you, Pretty Boy?” Morgan checked.
“Yeah.”
“Not even Henry likes Jell-O,” JJ smiled at the thought of her young son. 
“It doesn’t have much of a taste,” Rossi added. 
“I think that’s part of why I like it, actually.” Reid fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. 
“Because it tastes like watered down Kool-Aid?” Rossi frowned.
“Yeah. All the other foods are so strong and Jell-O’s not. It’s cool, but not cold, and it’s fun to play with.”
A ghost of a smile danced across Hotch’s face. “Jack likes playing with it. He gets sad when I don’t buy finger Jell-O on accident.” 
“That’s the only kind I buy.” Reid nodded. “The red is my least favorite- It takes like Red 40.” 
“What is your favorite kind, then?” Rossi couldn’t help but ask. 
“Pineapple. Minimal amounts of dyes and you can see through it.”
“No numbers about Jell-O?” Prentiss challenged with a grin.
JJ, Hotch, and Morgan all smiled while Rossi teasily groaned. The groan got a smile from Reid too. 
“Actually, in the US, the Jell-O brand is recognized- by name and product- by 99% of the populous.” Spencer chortled. “That means that if you got a group of 100 people together, only one person would have no idea what Jell-O is.”  
4: Doodles on Everything
Dr. Spencer Reid didn’t always carry his leather satchel with him. Hotch more or less ordered him to get a notebook he could keep in a pocket. The unit chief didn’t care if Reid drew on his arms. The unit chief cared when Reid jotted down notions or points for the running case.
Garcia loved Reid’s little doodles and had a decently sized collection. She referred to him as a “chronic doodler”. The analysis tech found it almost funny that someone as brilliant and talented as Reid had so little artistic skill outside of his geographic profiling maps. 
Reid knew full well that Garcia collected his doodles. After a particularly stressful case- which always resulted in more doodles, Reid would sign and dare the flip book page before tearing it out and leaving it in Garcia’s bunker. 
There were times when Reid would doodle on his arm rather than the flip book simple because it was more convenient. That didn’t mean Garcia didn’t see those ones. No, no, no. These ones, Reid would take pictures of and send to Garcia when a case was getting to her.
Morgan talked to Garcia more than anyone else on a case. Whether or not Penelope voiced her unease, Morgan- ever the profiler- could tell. He’d have Reid a certain look and the younger man would send Garcia texts of his doodles- evenly spaced- throughout the case. If he did the math and found he didn’t have enough, nothing stopped him from drawing a couple more. 
Hotch and Gideon thought of the times their sons would draw a picture or make them a card when they had a bad day at work. Morgan was reminded of the beaded bracelets his sisters used to make him when he was injured in football or his team lost a game. 
The one hitch with their theory? Garcia was the one person who got to keep the drawings. Not even Reid kept them. She knew this fact and gloated about it to the team whenever she got a new one. All of her computer screens in her bunker had a different doodle as the screen saver. 
5: Dependent on the Team
For the most part, the BAU stuck to themselves after hours if they weren’t going out for drinks. Reid was the one exception and the rest of the team found they didn’t mind. 
JJ was the first one he texted. The message was a simple worded question: How can you tell the difference between romantic feelings and transference? The gentle blonde took it upon herself to explain to the doctor that he’d know when he was in love because how being near the person or even just thinking about them made him feel. 
The media liaison assumed she’d never really see the person Reid texted her about that Sunday evening. She was a little less than shocked to see the light in the young doctor’s eyes shift when Morgan wandered into the bullpen Monday morning.  
A month passed before JJ got a message along the lines of the one she was expecting: Reid asking for advice on how to ask someone out. How to better the wording, how to keep from straying off the point. 
The next day, he texted Elle about flowers: I have a date next weekend. Are flowers too forward?
Elle smiled down at her phone, at Reid’s innocence. She told him that flowers were a nice and caring gesture, but that he’d want to be careful with what flowers he got because different flowers sent different messages. 
This was the first of this Reid was hearing. He thanked Elle and thought more. Hotch was married. He must know a decent amount about flowers and such romantic ideas, right? So he texted Hotch: Do you know anything about flower symbolism? Elle says flowers have different messages to them.
Hotch chuckled, getting Haley’s attention.
“What’s so funny?”
“Do you remember Dr. Spencer Reid?” Hotch looked at the blonde. 
“He’s the shy, Autistic boy, right?” Haley glanced up from feeding Jack.
“Yeah. He’s nervous about an upcoming date and texted to see if I know anything about flowers.” Hotch’s thumb was dancing across the flip-phone’s buttons.
“What are you telling him?”
“That roses have the highest chance of getting him in his date’s bed. Pink camellias and carnations are signs of love and longing; ivy means friendship.” Hotch typed this by naming the flowers, placing an equal sign, and the meaning. 
“Do you know who his date is?”
“Not as far as Reid and his date are concerned.”
So yes, he did.
Friday morning- the morning before his date- Reid sat by himself on the jet ride home, trying to read a book he brought. He couldn’t focus on it for the life of him. He’d been staring at the same page for then minutes. He jumped a little when Gideon sat down across from him.
“What has you so nervous?”
“Noth-” Reid stopped short. That wasn’t the right word; the date meant everything to him. “I uh… I have a date tomorrow evening and I’m worried, I guess. I’ve never actually been on a date, but I really like this person.”
“Okay. So what about it has you worked up?” Gideon’s eyes were gentle and fatherly.
Reid thought about how to answer the question. “We’ve been friends for a while and I don’t- I don’t want to mess up so badly that he doesn’t want to be friends-” Reid froze, his eyes wide. “G-Gideon, I-”
“There’s nothing wrong.” The older man squeezed the younger’s shoulder. “If your friend know you as well as you know him, I think it’s safe to say he’s not too worried about the friendship failing. Sometimes, Reid, you have to take a leap of faith.”
+One: “I choose...Aaron Hotchner.”
“Choose, and prove you’ll do God’s will.”
“No.”
Click. “Choose.”
“I won’t do it.”
Click. “Choose.”
“I...I choose...Aaron Hotchner. He’s a classic narcissist. He thinks he’s better than everyone else on the team. Genesis 23:4, “Let him not deceive himself and trust in emptiness, vanity, falseness, and futility, for these shall be his recompense.” 
Bang. Raphael took a bullet from Tobais’ pocket and held it up, showing it to Reid. “For God’s will.”
Morgan’s heart shattered at seeing his boyfriend crouched over the body of his captor and tormentor. The side of Reid’s head was coated in dry blood, he was avoiding putting weight on his sock-less foot.
Reid limped his way over to Hotch and hesitantly put a hand on his superior’s arm as though he wasn’t sure the man was there. The young man quickly and tightly hugged Hotch.
“I knew you’d understand.”
JJ was the next to hug Reid, the doctor losing his balance slightly and the liaison easily caught him. 
“I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
The second JJ let go of Reid, Morgan stepped forward and pulled Reid into as tight of a hug as he dared. He needed to feel his boyfriend in his arms but he’d seen the same video as everyone else and didn’t want to hurt him more. 
Prentiss was shocked and looked at JJ with wide eyes when Morgan kissed Reid and the doctor eagerly reciprocated. The blonde just smiled.
*****
@stxrryspencer​ @chaoticgremlinwholikescheese​ @the-need-for-reid-speed​ 
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prepare4trouble · 3 years
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I think I figured it out. Or if not, I think I've found myself a head canon that means I can live with the Vikings finale; specifically with the end of Ivar's story in the Vikings finale.
I know I'm a few months late to the party and probably everyone has already been over this before and drawn their conclusions, and maybe there have even been interviews with the cast and crew that have told us what was going on in Ivar's head during his last scene, but if there are, I haven't seen them so until I do, this is what I think and I'm sticking with it.
This may seem really badly written and all over the place, but that's just because I'm thinking as I type, right now I have the bare bones of a head canon and I"m going to flesh it out and try to get my thoughts straight in my head.
So, the first time I saw that last episode, I hated the conclusion of Ivar's story but I think what made it worse was how fucking pointless Ivar's death felt on that first viewing.
But the more I have thought about it, and I've watched it a couple more times since, the more I have started to see the logic to it. I said in another post that it made sense within the narrative; it was necessary for the story that they were trying to tell. At that point, they were telling a version of the beginning of the end of the Viking era, the beginning of the end of the old Gods and the spread of Christianity across Scandinavia, and the last of the Vikings that fell into legend. Ivar was one of those legends, and for the story to be complete, he had to be gone. He wasn't the kind of person that would get into a boat and sail off in search of adventure, like Ubbe did, and he certainly wouldn't have settled down and given up the Viking life like Hvitserk later does. If he were the type that was even a little bit tempted to do that, he would have pushed harder to stay in Rus, even if it meant only seeing his child from afar. He would have stayed with Igor, who desperately didn't want him to leave. But he didn't, because he couldn't. No matter where he went in the world, or what happened to him, something always pulled him back to Kattegat. That look he gave Hvitserk when he was talking about leaving Rus and Hvitserk asked him where they would go. That "Duh, where do you think?" look, said it all.
So yeah, if they wanted to end the show with him out of the picture, they had to kill him, or else that era wouldn't end, and the story, and specifically Ivar's story would have felt incomplete. So maybe if I'd been writing the show, I'd even have killed him off too. But maybe not.
Or maybe I'd have done things differently earlier in the series so that Ivar's death felt more like a natural point in the story and less like a massive slap in the face. Or maybe I'd just have done it so that he didn't just stand there on the battlefield and wait for that random Saxon to stab him. Maybe I wouldn't have had him be so afraid in his final moments, maybe I just wouldn't have had him cry.
But I'm three viewings in now, and I think I know why it happened like it did. I think Ivar was reading the battlefield, as he always did. He was a brilliant strategist, and to use the slightly clunky chess analogy they went with in those last few episodes ("I'm going to take his queen", anyone?), he was always thinking several moves ahead of his opponent. He knew what moves Alfred was going to make, and he could force moves by his own actions. He would have been several steps ahead of everybody else on the battlefield, and he knew that the Vikings were going to lose. Hell, he probably knew that when he spoke to Alfred before the battle. He also knew, as he showed when he correctly predicted what the response would be to him deliberately injuring the Saxon soldiers, that he understood how Alfred thought, and so he knew that the moment he, Ivar, fell on the battlefield, Kind Alfred would call a halt to the battle.
In a way, it's not dissimilar to what Ragnar did, sacrificing himself to achieve his goal, but while Ragnar's goal was to raise a huge army to take revenge on the Saxon kings, something he had learned back in Kattegat that he didn't have the power to do in life, Ivar's goal was smaller, yet no less important.
Ivar wanted to save Hvitserk.
The Saxons had spotted Hvitserk and started to attack him one after the other. He was weakening, he was injured, and if it had continued, he was going to die. That's why, when Hvitserk staggered to his feet and went to fight again, Ivar stopped him, told him to stop fighting. And then, he tells him, "I could never kill you." For a while there has been this assumption that one brother was going to kill the other and right now I can't remember where it came from; whether it was something that the Seer told one or the other of them, or it was just something that Hvitserk dreamed up for himself. Either way, it's something from the times of belief in prophecies and fate, which are strongly linked to the Old Norse belief system that, at this point in history, we are leaving behind us.
So when Ivar presses his forehead to his brother's and tells him, "I could never kill you," I think he realises that by continuing the battle, knowing that they are going to lose, he would be responsible for Hvitserk's death. But also, by making a conscious decision to not 'kill' Hvitserk, even Ivar, staunch believer in the old ways that he is, is turning his back on some aspects of his beliefs.
And then there was Ivar's speech a couple of episodes earlier, the one about how, hundreds of years in the future, people, probably all over the world, would be proud to learn that his blood was in their bodies (or however he put it, I'm on a bit of a roll here and I can't take a break from typing to go back and check the dialogue) Now personally, I didn't like that speech. To me, it felt like too much of a nod to the modern audience. It took me out of the story for a moment and into the present, where people do DNA tests and find out their genetic histories. But that's neither here nor there, the point is, that knowing he was going to be a father, Ivar felt that no matter what happened, he had achieved the immortality that he craved. He would live on, not only in stories and legends, but also in the long line of descendants that he had never expected that he would have.
So, as much as I hate that he walked out onto the battlefield with a giant metaphorical 'stab me' sign, screaming that he can't be killed and that he's going to live forever, while simultaneously doing absolutely nothing to stop the Saxon soldier that stabbed him. But as much as I hate that it happened, I think I understand why he did it.
I still hate it, though. I still hate how scared he was; scared enough to actually tell Hvitserk that he was afraid. It was almost as though he had realised a moment too late that he didn't want to die. I hate that everything he went through in Rus, all the ways that it changed him for the better, felt wasted. But then, maybe if he had never been through what he did in Rus, he would still have been the same selfish Ivar that declared himself a God and murdered anybody who dared to oppose him. That Ivar would have fought on no matter what the cost. That Ivar would not have cared if Hvitserk fell in battle. So maybe when he said that his whole life had been in preparation for that moment, maybe he was right.
But I don't know. Most likely all of this is just me trying desperately to justify what happened. And I think that id my interpretation is even a little bit true, it should have been made clearer in the show without having to watch it a few times and then sit down and think about it for ages. Ivar's death, even on the first viewing (because let's face it, most people don't watch things over and over like I do), Ivar's death felt more like a satisfying conclusion to Ivar and Hvitserk's story, and not just a tragedy and a massive downer of an ending.
Or, more likely, this was all obvious and I was just too stupid to realise it right away.
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RWBY vs Comic
Alright, I said I was gonna do this back when the comic first started getting published but I got so frustrated reading it that I couldn’t actually keep up with it enough go through with it. I think I stopped around issue 4 because that was when I just got angry and threw my comic back into the plastic. I figure now’s as good a time as any since I’m actually rereading it now. My whole issue with the RWBY DC comics is that they’re super canon divergent but somehow still canon material. It’s so frustrating that this is the case because we’re supposed to take into account things that happen in the comic as gospel- things like Adam revealing he’d always been genocidal, Bumbleby’s bottlecap, Weiss’ zoo animal arc, etc, but a lot of these different story arcs don’t make sense in our current canon. So I’m gonna talk about them because why not.
 Issue #1:
The first issue actually isn’t that bad- mostly because it’s just an intro to the series- but there are still some huge inconsistencies between the comic and official canon.
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These two panels are a fucking mess.
1) Ruby was passed out when she was delivered to Patch by Qrow. She’d just used her Silver Eyed Warrior powers for the first time, hurt Cinder, frozen the dragon, and passed out. We were literally forced to listen as Qrow carried Ruby out of the rubble and back home, because she was unconscious. But the comic has her just arriving back home all on her own. “I came back to my dad’s house.” No you didn’t, you literally woke up in your bed after what must’ve been days of being unconscious.
2) We know Blake didn’t get to Menagerie on a little wooden boat. We all watched the episode. It was a decent sized ship with multiple crew members, dozens of passengers, and literal armaments designed to destroy Grimm. Sun can’t hide in a robe for 3+ days on this boat. This boat wouldn’t have survived a Grimm attack in the first place. Idk why they decided to draw this boat instead of just drawing the Pride the way it was designed in the first place, but whatever I guess.
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RNJR didn’t tell Taiyang they were leaving. Ruby and her team just left. There was a whole scene dedicated to showing the shock and horror on Tai’s face as he saw Ruby’s letter and ran out of the house hoping to catch up to his daughter before she left. Also not as important but still relevant, RNJR left during winter. There was snow on the ground. I don’t see no snow in this panel- that tree looks real green. That last issue is mostly a nitpick- who cares what season they left in tbh. But the fact that they just wrote this panel into the comic despite the fact canon shows Taiyang had no idea of Ruby’s departure- and the fact that Ruby’s departure is actually really important to a bunch of later scenes in this show is really fucking weird.
Issue #2:
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I know we know next to nothing about Raven Branwen, but holy fucking shit do I wanna believe this is ridiculously out of character for her. You’re telling me that Raven actually did come visit Yang and Tai and Ruby, but the one time she ever made her presence known to any of them was to berate and terrify Ruby the one time she’d learned anything about Summer?! Like BRO. This is so fucked up! This is too fucked up! This is straight early 90′s level villainy right here. What was even the point behind this?! This scene tells us that she felt so negatively about Summer Rose that she was willing to break her silent cover just to disillusion Ruby for no other reason than to tell her she was weak. Which makes no fucking sense because when we finally meet her during season 5 Raven has nothing bad to say about Summer at all! What did Qrow say to her after they spoke? “Hey sis why the fuck are you flying around your ex’s home scaring his daughter who just lost her mother? You realize you’re talking shit about the woman who raised your child too right?” Like, this is so wildly terrible, that if we’re meant to take this into account, I don’t see how anyone who reads these comics could say anything positive about Raven ever again. This is strike one, two and three for her entire characterization.
Issue #4:
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I’ve said it already but fuck this boat.
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Not so much an issue with the comic as it is with RoosterTeeth’s sometimes sloppy storytelling, but we really need an exact age on Adam. Is this man a pedophile? We know Blake is about twelve here, meanwhile- besides looking maybe a little scrawnier- Adam looks the same as he did during the show. How old is this kid right here? Fifteen? Seventeen? Was he 20 during the events of volume 1? Was he 25? I really dislike this specific problem RT has created because at no point during canon were we led to believe that Adam was significantly older than Blake or our other characters, but here in the comic we’re getting huge pedo vibes. Idk if this was RoosterTeeth retroactively trying to throw Adam’s character even further into question but... Idk man, RT y’all need to hurry up and carbon date this kid because I’m really not liking this.
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I’m not gonna harp on the whole “Adam as a revolutionary vs Adam as a genocidal maniac” issue again. Most of y’all already know where I stand on this and have either made up your minds that either, yes, Adam’s sudden change towards being genocidal after being forcibly conscripted by Cinder doesn’t make much sense, or, no, Adam’s behavior is entirely in line with what little we’d seen of him up to that point in the story. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinions on this issue, I’ve got about a dozen other posts for that. My issue with these panels specifically is that this is the moment Blake discovers Adam is genocidal. This is the moment Blake realizes that Adam never wanted peace, never wanted coexistence, never wanted what the White Fang actually wanted in the first place. He wanted Faunus supremacy- a goal entirely removed from the White Fang’s goal of equality between Faunus and humans. This is the moment Blake realizes that his ideology is so far from what it is she herself wants. If this is correct, why does Blake never mention this AT ALL when she’s talking about Adam. When the conversation comes up during season 3, she specifically states that Adam’s change was gradual. Not that he’d been hiding who he really was from her but that he’d become a completely different person from the man she’d originally known. I recognize that a lot of people say that this could be explained away as evidence of Blake’s abuse- oftentimes abusers don’t even realize just how monstrous their abusers are, even after they’ve escaped from said abuse. But this is just such a monumentally larger issue than manipulation and abuse. Adam is outright saying that he wants genocide! He’s not trying to hide it, he’s not trying to lie, he’s not trying to manipulate her! He’s telling her explicitly that he wishes he could kill as many humans as possible. But during the Black Trailer she’s still asking Adam about the crew members as if they hadn’t had this conversation hours ago! During season 2 she’s drawing him in her notebook as if she misses him! During season 3 she’s explaining that he’s simply misguided! This is apologia of the umpteenth level that is absolutely inexcusable. If I’m honestly supposed to be made to believe that Blake knew Adam was genocidal from before the events of the Black trailer and season 1 but still had feelings for him... I’m sorry but I’ve lost any and all respect for her entire character. You can’t have feelings for someone who’s genocidal- who you know is genocidal- and expect sympathy. No amount of abuse would forgive someone for having feelings for Hitler.
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I recognize the comics aren’t supposed to be a shot for shot recreation of the show, but what the fuck is this panel? The frame of Adam dismembering Yang was such a good, amazing, impactful frame. The black and red framing, the yellow of Yang’s hair and weapons, the red of Adam’s sword. Why would you not even try to recreate that?
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Leaving nitpicks for the end, really wish they hadn’t used “sunflower” here. That’s Yang/Ren. But again, the comic is made by people who aren’t in the fndm and don’t interact with the RWBY community at large in the first place, so of course they wouldn’t know.
Issue #5:
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Why does Blake seem so ooc here. Like, the fact that she’s trying to make Weiss feel guilty for “cheating” in a “win by any means necessary” free for all match is really??? Weird??? When we know Blake isn’t above using underhanded tricks herself considering what she did to Reese during the tournament and her Semblance in general??? But whatever, that’s mostly a nitpick as well.
Issue #7:
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My issue with this story is that it ends with Yang like, wistfully thinking of spending more time with Blake. But this is before she even put the prosthetic on. This is before she even got to talk with Weiss after meeting up with Raven. This is so early on in her healing process that I find it extremely difficult to believe that Yang is fondly remembering any time she spent with Blake. When Ruby talks to her during 3.12, she was angry that Blake had left her! Abandoned her! And then in the conversation she has with Weiss that happens after this event in the comic she’s still frustrated with Blake for leaving. So like... did she suddenly forgive Blake just a few weeks into her recovery and then relapse back into feeling like she’d abandoned her? Wtf is this?
Issue #9:
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I know she’s obviously supposed to be drunk here, and we barely got to know her during the short scenes she had, but like... she never struck me as this kind of person. To literally forget how old her daughter is? Like...???? The same woman who was so perceptive she was able to recognize that Whitley was acting out because he’d felt lonely and abandoned by his sisters? Doesn’t know how old one of her children is? This is silly.
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This isn’t the same woman we met during season 7. This isn’t the same quick witted woman who immediately directed Weiss to the cameras she’d hidden around the house when it was time to spring the trap on Jacques. This isn’t the same woman who was so honest when she admitted to her own faults just a few short months after this scene supposedly took place. You could argue that the events of this comic are what led Willow to become the person we meet later on, but like... That’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of offscreen growth you’re expecting me to just assume has happened. These aren’t the same people. This is ridiculous.
Issue #12:
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This seems so ooc for Sun. Why is he literally begging her to run away and not face a problem when his entire relationship with Blake up to and past this point is him teaching Blake to love herself enough to face her problems head-on in the first place? This is so weird and gross imo because it just feels like they’re warping Sun’s character to make it look like Yang is the only good influence in her life when that’s simply not the case. Every conversation Sun has with Blake from season 1 to season 6 is him telling her that she deserves happiness, love, and to forgive herself. There are multiple songs about this aspect of their relationship! Sun has helped Blake grow just as much as Yang has. Why is Sun taking this approach to manipulate Blake into staying silent about something that’s bothering her? On top of that, Sun’s never been the brightest banana of the bunch anyway, why the FUCK is he smart enough here to recognize that if Blake tells the truth and makes those people feel bad, that they’d draw more Grimm? He’s never been this intuitive before. It really feels like they made him smarter than he normally is just to make him scummier than he’s ever been so that we could feel that Blake’s relationship with Sun is less than her relationship with Yang. Awful writing and characterization from the RWBY DC team here
Issue #13:
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This is so wrong and despicable and manipulative and terrible. Again, this isn’t the same woman we met in the show. 
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Willow never made excuses for herself or her actions like this. Not once during the entire time she was on screen did she do anything like this. She knew she wasn’t a great mother and she took full responsibility for her actions- and inaction- I don’t know WHY she’s trying to excuse herself here. This is more Cruella De Ville than it is Willow Schnee.
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I’m not gonna explain how lumping this “prized menagerie” story with “Faunus slave labor” story together is godawful but just recognize that it’s Black History Month and this plot point they decided to write in is not MLK approved.
Anyway, that’s the whole RWBY DC run. All in all it wasn’t the worst adaptation of an established series, but goddamn. I’d rank this up there with Eragon or Percy Jackson or the end of the Soul Eater anime or something. This is such a slap in the face by people who obviously only ever skimmed through the show for the explicit purpose of writing this series that I’ve read fancomics and fanfiction that handle canon better than this. It’s really frustrating too because this comic run is like, beloved by certain people in the fndm who are only in this for the ships, and people who refuse to see anything wrong with this series ever. The healthy servings of Bumbleby and crumbs of Monochrome and White Rose are apparently enough to make people go “fuck all the inconsistencies, this comic is great.” Cannot express how much these people make me wanna slam my head into a wall. 
I did this just to highlight all the issues I have with the run, but I’m sure other people have other issues with this comic than I do. Have fun in the comments I guess.
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cal-tries-to-write · 3 years
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Chris’s not so imaginary imaginary friend
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A/n I know a lot of the firefighting stuff I say is extremely incorrect but for the sake of the story it needed to happen also to be in true 911 fashion. So I am sorry for anyone who can’t read this because of the in accuracy’s I feel for you I do. Also if your wondering why I picked the shows I did I just said whatever was playing in the background when I was writing. (Just a little fun fact I do that a lot)
“Has Chris ever mentioned a imaginary friend to you?”
Eddie turned his head from his son to the therapist next to him. “Why do you ask?”
“Ever since the tsunami Chris has been drawing pictures of himself and this person he calls Buck.” The therapist handed him a drawing, it was of a little boy with Chris written above him and he was holding someone’s hand. The person next to him was taller with blonde hair and blue eyes, he also had wings and what looked to be a crown on his head, above it written in black crayon ‘Buck’.
“No he’s never mentioned any imaginary friends or anyone named Buck either.”
“So he doesn’t know anyone with that name.”
“No.”
The therapist nodded.
“So I shouldn’t be worried?”
“As far as I can tell no. Though I do encourage you to talk to Chris about this Buck person and maybe find out more. That may help figure out who he is and why he showed up now.”
Eddie thanked the doctor as Christopher came out of the room and towards him. Telling him he was ready to go home.
Later that night when Eddie went to put Christopher to bed he saw him drawing again. The same person from the picture he had seen at the therapist’s office, except this time he was pointing to someone on a rescue boat.
“Hey,” Eddie leaned on the door frame, “what are you drawing?”
“Me and my friend Buck.” Chris put down the crayon to smile at his dad, “he saved me. Helped me find you.”
“Really? Can I meet him.”
“No.” He answered bluntly before going back to working on his drawing.
Eddie moved so he was now sitting next to Chris, “How come?”
“He’s shy. He’s also worried he’ll scare you.”
Eddie though for a moment before replying, “Well how bout you tell him that I’m not scared of anything and that there’s no need to be shy.”
A smile spread across Chris’s face as he looked up from his drawing, “Your scared of Santa.”
Eddie let out a small laugh, “Your Abeula told you that story.”
“Yeah.”
“Well I’m guessing she left out the part that i had the flu.”
“She said you say that to make it seem less worse.”
“Does she now? Well just for that,” Eddie stood up scooping Christopher up in his arms, “it’s time for bed.”
“Noooooo!” Chris turned into a ball of laughter as Eddie put him down on the bed and pulled the covers up tucking him in.
“Good night buddy.” He kissed the top of his sons head.
“Night dad. I love you!” Chris called as Eddie walked over to the door.
“I love you too.” And with that Eddie turned off the light and closed the door behind him.
Walking over to the couch Eddie sat down and turned on the tv absently scrolling through Netflix trying to find something to watch. Though his mind kept wandering to Chris’s imaginary friend. How come he did tell him sooner? Was he worried that he’d say that he was to old for imaginary friends? Did he talk to anyone else about Buck? Was this an actual person that he had met an was misremembering how he looked? Was it just someone who helped him and now he had become attached? Was Chris lonely? Realizing he was overthinking he finally redirected his focus to the tv, realizing that he had stopped scrolling in the middle of his over thinking. Netflix started playing the show that he apparent stopped on,Supernatural, he remembered Bobby talking about the show one time, apparently May really like it. She even went to comic con to meet the actors. Deciding he didn’t have anything better in mind he put the remote down and let the episode play.
Eddie groaned as he slowly opened his eyes trying to wake up. He looked around and saw he had passed out on the couch, there was a pillow under his head and a blanket over him yet he didn’t remember grabbing a pillow or blanket the night before. He was for once thankful that he had the second late shift because that meant he could spent time with Chris because it was the weekend and have some time to actually wake up before heading to work. He bolted up when he heard a crash come from behind him.
“Sorry.” He realized it was just Christopher who had dropped something on the ground.
“It’s alright,” Eddie walked fully into the kitchen now, “what are you doing?”
“When I woke up you were still asleep on the couch so I decided to make you breakfast.”
“You were? Well that very nice of you. How about I help you though?”
Chris looked at him and contemplated it for a brief moment, “ok.” He smiled picking up the bowl.
“Ok.” Eddie smiled back as he headed to the pantry to grab the ingredients they would need.
“Hey dad,” Chris had finished his pancakes and was now looking at Eddie who was still eating.
“Yeah,” Eddie put down his fork to look at his son.
“Did you know Buck has a sister?”
“I didn’t.” Eddie was glad that Chris at least seemed more comfortable talking about Buck now that he knew Eddie knew about him.
“He does. Her names Maddie she’s Chimney’s guardian angel.”
“I’m pretty sure Maddie is Chim’s girlfriend bud.”
“I know but she’s also an angel like Buck.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Eddie some how manages to be running late even with the fact that both Carla arrived early to pick up Chris and he managed to leave his house early himself. Damn LA traffic. When he finally did get to the firehouse his team already left on the first call of the shift. He knew he wouldn’t hear the end of this from Chimney, he’s been living in LA for almost two years and yet he still seemed to forget about midday traffic. Deciding the best thing to do would be start his chores and pray that that getting them done would at least help Bobby forgive him for being late he headed to the locker room to get changed.
“Eddie did you forget about traffic again?” Chimney walked up behind him slapping his back.
“No I actually left early.”
“Yet you were still late.”
Eddie shook his head ignoring Chimney’s remark and faced at Bobby, “I really am sorry about being late, I did get my chores done for the day though while you guys were at the call.”
“I’ll let it go this time because I’m pretty sure this is the first time you’ve been late since you started here. Just don’t let it happen again.”
“It won’t.”
The day was fairly slow after that, meaning everyone was just sitting around at the station. Bobby was baking, Hen was next to Eddie reading some medical textbook while Eddie was catching up on the news, and Chimney was playing pinball trying to beat the record Hen had set. The peace and quiet was suddenly interrupted by the bell going off signaling for an apartment fire.
When they arrived to the building other teams where already working on getting people out. Bobby headed straight to fire chief to find out what his team needed to do. She explained that stations 19 and 144 were clearing floors 1-10 so his team needed to clear floors 11-15.
Heading back to his team he relayed the information and assigned one floor for every three people so one truck could hold take two floors. Hen and Chimney were paired with another firefighter while Eddie was partnered with Lewis and Anderson, two paramedics that he knew somewhat well, which was a relief.
After clearing their floor, 13, Eddie, Lewis and Anderson heard Bobby called over the radio that everyone needed to get out, the building was going to collapse soon. As they walked down the hallway to the stairs Eddie swore he heard someone yelling but when he asked the other two about it they said they didn’t hear anything. As they reached the stairs Eddie heard the yell once more and not being able to leave the building knowing that their might be someone calling for help he told Lewis and Anderson to go while he double checked the room he thought the yelling was coming from. They both gave him a look and said that the building wasn’t stable and they needed to get out. He reassured them he’d be right behind them.
As he entered to room he was reassured in the fact that someone was calling out. He walked through the living room calling out to them trying to get another response. After clearing the living room and kitchen he headed to the two bedrooms. Grabbing the door frame to the master bedroom he felt the building shake, he was running out of time. He then saw something move in the corner of the room. He called out one final time and finally got a response a weak one but a response none the less. It was a little kid no older than 7 curled under the bed looking terrified.
“Hey, I’m here to help.” He walked over and knelt down, “Can you come out. Then we can get out of here together.”
The kid slowly crawled out from the bed and grabbed Eddies hand. As soon as he was out Eddie picked him up and ran out of the room, out of the apartment and into the hall, knowing he was going to be out of time soon. As he was halfway down the hall he felt the building shake and the floor give out beneath him. He held the kid closer, closed his eyes and waited for the impact of hitting the floor beneath them, but it never came. Instead when he opened his eyes he was outside the building. He was in the alley next to fire escape. Slowly he set the kid down try to process what had just happened, he looked around thinking maybe he passed out when he hit the floor and someone dragged him to the fire escape? But then someone would have been around. He shook his head, what had just happened he could try to figure out later right now he needed to get the boy to Chim and Hen so they could make sure he really was ok.
“Hey buddy,” He took off his helmet and mask so he could talk easier, “you alright? Can you walk?”
“I think so?” The kid mumbled looked confused himself.
“Alright follow me. I’ll take you to the ambulance where my friends can check you out and make sure you’re not hurt.” He took the boys hand once more and lead him out of the alley where he saw his team looking at the building collapsing in on itself.
“Hen! Chimney! I got a kid I need to to check out.” He called waving to get their attention. As soon as their heads turned they, and Bobby, started running over.
It was 4pm by the time he got home which wasn’t late which wasn’t late enough for him to just go to bed even though he was beyond tired. Even though he just got off a 24 hour shift he really didn’t feel like messing up his sleep schedule more than it already was. Instead he compromised with sitting down and relaxing that way he didn’t have to do anything but would still sleep tonight. The only downside was Christopher was hanging out with his aunt meaning that if he did fall asleep no one would wake him up. But he could stay awake so that wasn’t a problem, pulled up Disney+ this time and put on the Simpsons, not really paying attention he drifted off to sleep half and hour later.
Once again he was awoken by the noise of something crashing this time it sounded like multiple cookie trays had been dropped, the loud noise was followed by a quiet “shit!” It’s takes Eddie a moment to realize that he’s supposed to be home alone and the second he does remember he’s up off the couch and quietly walking towards the kitchen trying to see who or what made the noise. As he gets a clear view of the kitchen he sees a man with dark blonde hair mumbling to himself holding a recipe book. Normally Eddie would be confronting the man asking what he’s doing in his house, or he’d be moving to make the better move, calling the police. Yet he just stands there frozen because from where he’s standing it looks like the man has soft barely blue wings and a glowing golden halo around his head. Eddie just froze, he finally shook his head and rubbed his eyes but nothing he did changed what he saw.
“Kära gud,” Eddie breaths out, he realizes he said that aloud when the man turns around and drops the book as his wings flair up. Eddies first thought is he looks like a big chicken ready to fight. When Eddie looks from the mans wings to his eyes he’s meet with the beautiful blue eyes it hits Eddie who this person in his kitchen looked exactly like,“Buck?”
A/n that last thing Eddie says is Dear god in Swedish and it was Spanish but I changed it because I saw a post about him also muttering under his breath in Swedish.
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r0s3mm · 4 years
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Stone Cold
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General Masterlist
Series’ masterlist
Sweeter masterlist
Pairing: OC!Elizabeth Miller x JJ Maybank
Word count: approx. 4507
Episode: 10, it’s the end of sweet y’all! I’ll try and do the requested one shots in a timely manner but i’m also craving to go back to “La Beauté Humaine” 
I will see y’all for season ✌🏻 which i’m freaking excited for.
A/N: languages, angst, angst (again), new character ooooh, i think that’s it... ? Let me know if I missed any please 
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************************
In the morning, after joining Kiara and Pope at the Wreck, Elizabeth sat on a chair while JJ leaned against the door frame, his thought going wild with worry for his best friend. Beth’s eyes were stuck on JJ’s hands, playing with the Zippo lighter when they heard Pope groan. The teenager sat up, walking towards Beth before leaving a “good morning” peck on her forehead, JJ’s eyes trained on him.
“He’s pinched for sure, man.” JJ said, the echoing sound of sirens quiet.
“No. They wouldn't still be patrolling if they caught him.”
“Let’s hope.” The blonde said looking at the other man.
“Guys, we were there too you know, in the car. There’s a good chance they’re looking for us too.” She said tightening the jacket she’d brought over from The Chateau.
“Well, if we're gonna be outlaws, we might as well help John B.” Pope said, his eyes trailing over the girl’s newfound jacket.
“So, find him before they do?” JJ asked, Beth turned around, hearing Kie sit up. All three of them could feel Pope’s energy shift at Kie waking up... Like he was about to explode or something. “Pope?”
“I'm gonna get gas for the boat.” He said grabbing the keys to JJ’s motorcycle.
“Hey, you be careful. Okay?” Kiara said and Pope simply ignored her, deciding to turn to the blonde and Brunette instead.
“Meet me at the dock at three. Don't be late.” Pope instructed, a frowning Kie followed after him and two very confused teenagers following after them to stand on the balcony.
“Okay, what is your problem?”
“No problem, Officer. I'm just doing my job.”
“Look, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings.” She said while Pope, with a clenched jaw and hardened eyes turned on the vehicle.
“What was that?”
“Look, I didn't mean to.”
“Sorry, I can't hear you. What was that?” he said, revving the engine over her voice.
“Pope, I'm being serious—" Kie looked at him, a little bit of hurt in her eyes, ignoring her completely, he left. “I'm trying to talk to you!” She turned around, seeing her best friend watching her with pity. The sound of a helicopter made them look up, all three of them puzzled at the sight of the flying vehicle.
“Who the hell is that?”
After the chopper passed over their heads they got back into the restaurant.
“So, what will they need?” JJ asked, letting the two girls pass in front of him.
“Food, lots of food. Stuff that won’t die on him, so can, food’s that’s gonna last.” Beth answered, tying off the jacket around her hips.
“You went to The Chateau last night?” Kie asked her, seeing that she wasn’t dressed the same.
“Huh, yeah. JJ and I went for a drive and stopped at The Chateau, brought you a change of clothes if you want, it’s in my bag.” She pointed towards the black blob on the floor.
They moved towards the pantry, filling up a box of food that John B could eat during his time away.
“You sure he wasn't just being weird Pope?” JJ asked putting the food Kie handed him in the box.
“It wasn't really the kind of thing that needed interpretation.” Looking down at what they had put together Kie frowned. “Is that enough food for them?”
“I mean, for a couple of weeks, and that's all they need, so...”
“Look, I think I actually hurt his feelings.”
“Kie, don’t think about it too much, the guy’s done a complete one eighty in the last day.” Beth said sending her friend a smile.
They walked to the back, JJ carrying the box, but Beth stopped when she saw her godmother stand in front of her.
“I hate to admit it, but I miss the old Pope.” Kie responded. “At least I knew what to expect from him.” She said before walking right into her best friend.
“Where you been?” Anna said, her eyes looking at both girls.
“Uh... we’re fine, slept here.”
“Well, we were up half the night, scared to death, lookin' for y’all.” Kiara’s mother said, her eyes going over their faces to make sure they weren’t injured. “Were you even gonna tell us?”
“Well, I'm telling you right now.”
“What the hell are you three up to?”
“I'm sorry, Miss Anna, we gotta go.” JJ said, pushing Beth with the box.
“Sorry. No. I'm sorry. Absolutely not.” Anna said, stopping the teens from going into the car. “Have you heard what's going on?”
“Mom, I'll explain later.”
“Have you seen the storm? This is not safe, Robin’s worried, Ellie.”
“I'm sorry, Mom. I have to go!” Kie tried to get away from her mother, Beth and JJ going to sit in the car.
“These cops are armed, Kiara. You'll get shot.” Anne said and Beth closed her eyes, their voices growing louder, voices that were restrained in the small space of the car.
“I have to go!”
“I am not letting you do this!”
“Mom, John B needs me!”
“You need to stay here.”
“I understand. I'll be careful.” Kie said while shutting the door of the car, her mother hitting the car window. Without really thinking, Beth reached forward with her right hand, grabbing JJ’s upper arm and gently pulling it towards the back seat, searching for his hand, she laced their fingers together, squeezing his hand tightly.
“Sorry!”
“Kiara! Open this door! Stop it right now. Right now, Kiara! This is not safe! Stop! Stop! Kiara!” Her mother pleaded while Kie and Beth started crying silently, their hearts heavy.
Kiara pressed down on the gas pedal, wiping a few tears out and she sniffled.
“Ok, where are we going now?” Beth asked between two sniffles.
“My dad’s.” JJ mumbled and Beth released his hand, sitting up in her seat.
“What? No, no, no, why? Why are we going there?”
“We gotta get the boat, Beth.”
“Where’s the key, JJ? I’ll get it.” She said her tone dry, she watched outside of the car, seeing that they had cross the bridge already.
“No, you won’t, not going in. My dad’s probably drunk or something at—”
“And you think you going in is better? You coming out with blood oozing out of your nose is not something I call a nice image. I’m quieter, he’ll never know I was even there.” She argued, nervously playing with her rings.
“That’s a fuckin’ plan for him to knock you down.”
“Let him try, I just fucking wished he tried once, just to somewhat justify the fact that I’d kill him.” She said and Kie looked at her in the mirror with concern.
“Stop it.” He said, his eyes closing at the images assaulting his mind.
“No! I won’t JJ, someone needs to push him down the pedestal he put himself on all these years ago, enough’s enough—”
“Shut it.” JJ almost growled, hearing her talk about him.
“He thinks he can just go around and fuck with everything he touches? He thinks that you’ll never fucking leave, he thinks that he’s—”
“SHUT UP ELIZABETH.” JJ said loudly, hitting the dash just as Kie parked in front of his house. Ellie flinched, cowering a little in her seat, anxiously pulling at her fingers. “Stop talking.” He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes, he leaned forward.
Kie looked back at Beth seeing her look at the old and unkept house, her eyes welling up with tears. The blonde sniffled a few times before sitting up, his eyes going over the place, his jaw clenching.
“Home sweet home.” He said bitterly.
“Do you want me to come? 'Cause I'll come.” Kie offered and Beth’s head snapped towards them.
“No. This will only take a second.” He mumbled before getting out of the car, looking back at Kiara, trying to reassure her the best he could. Beth sunk into the seat.
“Are you okay?” Kiara asked, seeing her best friend scrunch up her nose as she tried to peak into the yellow house.
“I’m fine, he’s fine, hell you’re fine. Yup, yup, we’re all fine, all good over here.” She sounded distant and it worried Kiara, her hazel eyes never meeting the green ones. It was silent for a few minutes, the quiet was broken when JJ threw the door open, Kie’s eyes going straight to him and Beth leaned forward, her eyes screwed shut while her head rested against the seat.
“How did it go?” Kie started the engine JJ once he got into the car. He showed her the keys, with an unconvincing smile, sniffling a little.
He tried to reach behind him to grab any part of flesh from the brunette he could find but he was met with air. She sat with her legs crossed underneath her; legs, arms, hands, face. She was out of reach for the first time.
Kiara tried to get to the hangar as fast as she could while still following the speed limit. The trio passing by a few police cars on the way, Kiara and JJ on edge while Beth stayed silent, her eyes fixated on her lap.
“It'll be fine. It'll be fine with the Phantom. She'll get out quick.” JJ mumbled playing with the keys.
*****************************
Beth jumped out of the car, following a few feet behind her two friends, they walked in and JJ took a few seconds to admire the boat.
“There she be. Hey, girl.” He said taking off the dusty sheet over it. “A 1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom.”
“Mmh-mmh” Kiara shrugged not knowing as much about boats. Beth going to the other side and letting her finger glide over dusty the side, finding the inscriptions written in Sharpie from fours summers ago.
“The first boat to make the run to Bermuda in under 16 hours, Kie. Forty years old! Forty. And still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen.”
“It's kind of a junker.”
“Really? She's right there, Kie. She can hear you. Let's just put it this way. You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?” JJ said with all the seriousness he had in him.
“I just hope it runs.”
“Oh, no, she'll run all right. She's faster than any cutters the boys in blue got.” He said just as the sound of a car engine resonated outside.
“Pope. Finally.” Kie sighed.
“Hey, there. What's goin' on? JJ?” Beth heard Barry’s voice, the hand holding her bag in place tightening over the material as she felt the boat rock slightly, she hid behind it, looking up to see Rafe’s back. “How you guys doin'? Well, well...” Barry said, pulling out a gun, a sound that Beth recognized easily, now. “See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road. I'm here because I want my motherfuckin' money.” Barry said before hitting the blonde, Kie calling out for him immediately, only to be held back by Rafe. The kook literally sweeping her off her feet and carrying her away. “That's what I'm here for!”
“it's not you we want, Kie. Where's John B?” Rafe asked the girl, his mouth opening in shock when her palm collided with his face.
“I don't know!”
Beth’s hands were over her ears, trying to cut out as much of the sound as she could, she could feel a pressure on her chest, and it made her want to scream. Her head snapped up when she heard another voice, her trembling breath being released once she recognized Pope’s voice.
“Hey! Don't touch her!” Pope yelled hitting Rafe. Her mind snapped back into the present and she started to search in her bag for the cool metal not finding it.
“Kie! Kick it!” she heard before a gun slid right at her feet. She grabbed it running around the boat and her eyes took in the scene before her, Pope choking Rafe Cameron while JJ and Kie pleaded him to stop.
“LOOK AT ME!” Kie screamed at the same time that Beth released four bullets in the air, then pointing the gun at the dark blonde heaving on the floor. Rafe’s face was bloodied, probably from Pope’s assault she thought and she mentally high fived the teenager.
“Okay, we gotta go. We gotta go.” Kie urged, grabbing JJ and running towards the car. Beth stayed behind with Pope, recognize the savage and wild look in his eyes.
“Stay off the cut.” Pope said lowly to the young adult, Beth crouched down next to his body, the man looking at them with a little bit of fear.
“I swear to god, Cameron, next time, you’ll join Peterkin. Murderer.” She said before shoving the gun in her bag and following after her friends.
*****************************
Elizabeth Miller P.O.V
We’d been waiting for John for about ten minutes, all of us getting a little bit angsty. Sure, the guy wasn’t the most punctual, but you’d think he would at least show up on time when he’s running away.
“Dude, where is he?” Kie asked for the third time in the past ten minutes.
“Give him a second. He'll be here.”
“He's coming. He'll be fine.” JJ replied and I turned around when I heard police siren, my first instinct being to jump on the boat, so we would be safe if we ever need to run away.
“JJ!”
“Hey, yeah. Get back on the boat. Untie it.” JJ urged us.
“Shit.”
“Wait.” My blonde friend said, and I looked up, moving the sunglasses off of my face. I saw John B, his head hanging low as he placed his bag on his shoulder. “No way.”
“No f'ing way.”
“I'm sorry.”
“You've gotta be kidding me.” I said under my breath moving off the boat, my legs carrying me to the tall brunette. “You fucking asshole. We said three, not three eleven. THREE JOHN!”
“Shoupe let me take it for a spin.” He mumbled with a small smile before squeezing my body into a hug.
“That's believable. I'll buy that for now.” Letting him go he walked to Kiara, repeating the same action.
“It wasn't easy, bro, but I got the Phantom for you, and she runs like she was made yesterday.” JJ said, throwing the keys to John. “You ready to go?”
“Where's Sarah?”
“Last time we heard of her y’all were leaving together, is she not with you?”
“No, we got separated in the swamp. She said she'd meet me here.”
“No, we haven't seen her.”
“Okay, well, I'm not leaving without her.”
“John B look at me. I know you feel bad for leaving, but there's no time, man. You've got plenty of gas, plenty of food. Once you get around that point, it's a straight shot across the sound to Dismal Swamp, okay? Once you get there, lay low, all right? Hang out for a couple of weeks and then go overland, cross the border at Brownsville, you got that? Brownsville.” JJ instructed him, his eyes never leaving mine. “You... Hey! You got that?”
“Yeah, yeah. Brownsville.”
“All right. Saddle her up, saltwater cowboy. Let's do this. Yeah.” JJ stepped off the boat, joining us on the deck, moving between me and Kiara as John jumped on, looking down at us.
“Hey. Hey. I'm sorry for basically... throwing us off a cliff with this whole treasure hunt thing.” He said, his voice cracking.
“Hey, John B, yo... we were bound to run off a cliff at some point, right?” “At least we did it together, though.” JJ said, pulling Kie and I to him, Pope following.
I looked up at my brother, tears and heart feeling heavy. I tried my best to smile at him, but it came out more as a grimace.
“Pogue style.” John B whispered and I nodded along with our friends.
“Yeah, Johnny, pogue style.” I winked at him.
“Get out of here! Please. Now.”
“We'll see you in two months, down in Mexico."
“Love you.”
“Hey, wait... wait a second. Tell Sarah I said goodbye, okay?”
“Don't forget. Cross the border at Brownsville, okay?”
“Got it.” He said before I jump onto the boat, my friends screaming in fright.
“John wait!” I said and he turned around, his eyes going over my face, holding back a sob I hold his face between my hands, my red eyes going over his features.
Hazel eyes, brown curly hair, freckled face, tanned skin, family, Mom, Big John and Johnny. Home. John Booker Routledge was my anchor, the one permanent thing in my life, the one person I knew would always be there, the one person I’d been depending on for the past 8 years.
“What are you doing, E?” he asked confused. “You can’t come.”
“I know, I just- don’t leave me, okay John, please” he swiped my tears away, hugging me tightly to him as he kissed my forehead. “Please don’t leave me- please, please, please, please—” I begged him, my body shaking with sobs.
“Hey, look at me E, I love you. I’ll come back I promise. Here.” He said, grabbing a bandana from his backpack. “Keep this safe for me, yeah?”
“That was your mom’s J, I can’t.”
“You have to go, they’re on their way here, you gotta go, Tiny okay?” he said tying the cloth around my bag strap. I look at him one last time, nodding before I ran out of the boat.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” JJ asked, my eyes never leaving Kie’s face as I throw myself at her, clinging onto her for dear life.
“Good luck, Johnny.” I mumbled under my breath, feeling Pope’s comforting hand on my back.
We all watched as The Phantom grew smaller and smaller.
I walked back up the dock, back on the sandy ground while Kie and Pope talked. JJ following but staying a few feet back. JJ and I turned around at the same time seeing Kie lean in and finally kiss Pope. I stared at JJ, expecting to see a disgusted or amused expression on his face but his face betrayed him, instead showing surprise, disappointment and the one I didn’t expect to see; heartbreak.
I sucked in a gasp before turning around from them, grabbing a rock and throwing it against the shack just as police sirens echoed closer and closer.
“Hey, guys, I'm sorry to ruin the party, but, uh, we gotta go right now.” JJ said, our instincts telling us to raise our hands up when the police officers ran out of their cars.
“Pope. Move. Hands up! Hands up!”
“We're too late. He's gone. God damn it! Bratcher, have your guys stand down. Let me talk to these kids.” Shoupe said, walking towards us.” All right, where the hell is he? Elizabeth? Where’s John B? Huh, where’s your brother? JJ? I see you're livin' up to your name. Pope, how about you? This isn't a fucking game! You can do the right thing now! Where'd he go?” he yelled at us and I bit down on the inside of my cheek, hard enough that it draw blood.
Shoupe made them sit in the patrol car, the four of us not all fitting in the backseat so I rode in the back of another officer, the man talking my ears off almost the whole time. Trying to convince me that by telling them what John B planned to do next I was doing the right thing; I was choosing the right side. I didn’t say anything. I was reunited with my friends, Kie grabbing my hand in comfort and I recognized the now familiar look of worry and concern in her eyes. I walked with them to the tent where we would be “held”.
“Sit down. Don't move. We got a lot to talk about.” I sat down between Kiara and JJ, the blonde trying to sneak glances my way. “Keep an eye on these kids.” He instructed an officer that, after Shoupe left, stood there and watched us. Pope reached for Kiara’s hand making me sigh, I stood up, the guarding officer moving towards me.
“Hey, I’m just standing, no need to tase me or anything, kay?” I told him. I paced back and forth behind my friends.
I saw who I only could only assume was the officer in charge look towards the sea with his “spy night goggles”. A lot of noise surrounded us, and my thoughts moved to JJ, watching him anxiously bounce his knee, a lot of words were shared between the agents, the officers and the analysts, some were coordinates, others were temperatures and weather reports. What seemed like hours later, Ward Cameron became visible to us in the neighboring tent, my blood boiling at the sight of the man, his innocent man an act no one would suspect from the man living “the perfect apple pie life”.
“John B, I know you are there, son. I know you can hear me, and if you love my daughter like I think you love my daughter, then you will turn that boat around and come back. You are going into a storm that you cannot survive. John B, please, I will make it right. I promise you. Come back.” Ward said into the radio and I walked closer, trying to make out what was being said. “John B, I am begging you. Think of her and turn around.”
“Ward Cameron, do you hear me?” John B’s voice resonated around the room, a breath leaving my lungs. He’s alive. “Yes. Yes, son, I'm right here. I'm right here. Please bring her back, okay? We'll work it all out when you get home.”
“You killed my father, and you framed me for a murder I didn't commit. You took everything from me! You took everything from me! But I'm still here. And I swear to God, Ward, I will come back one day and take what's mine. So, you listen to me, all right? I'm comin' for you. I'm coming for you.” A silent sob left my body just as Shoupe’s eyes met mine, John B’s voice echoing inside of me.
“HEY! GET HER OUT OF HERE!” He instructed one of the officers and he escorted me back to my friends, who all looked surprised to see me come back into the tent soaking wet.
I was given a dry towel, wrapping myself in it, I sat back down in my chair. We stayed in silence, in a silence that wasn’t usual for us. It stayed that way for many minutes, how many? I stopped counting after four hundred and eighty seconds. We all stood up when Victor Shoupe walked back into the tent, the somber look on his face telling me everything I needed to know.
“Did you find them?” Pope asked first.
“No.”
“So, they got away?” Kie asked looking at me.
“We, uh... we lost them. I'm sorry.”
“You lost them? What do you mean you lost them? Like, they're gone? What are you talking about?” Pope questioned the man, his tone more urgent with each question.
“They took an open boat into a tropical depression, Pope.”
“So, they're dead?”
“We don't know.”
“You drove them straight through the storm, man! Are you kidding me? Come here! I'm gonna kill you!” JJ said but his voice got muted halfway through his sentence.
My eyes not registering the blonde’s threats, his heavy breathing, the deeply rooted rage in his voice or even the tears streaming down his face. I didn’t react when Kiara started calling out for him, when she started calling out for me, asking me to do something about the blonde breaking down, asking me to do something about Pope that was also screaming at the smaller man, she shook my arm when the tears started to run down her face violently, sobs racking through her whole body, making her look like she was convulsing. I didn’t notice when Kiara’s or Pope’s parents walked into the tent, I didn’t hear their sobs, their cries... I didn’t hear when Victor Shoupe called my name, but I felt his hand on my arm when he shook me, but again I didn’t register what he told me.
“You promised me you would protect him, you promised me you would do your best to help him.” I mumbled to the police officer. “You promised him you’d look out for his son, his only child. You lied, you fucked up a dead man’s wish. He promised me he would come back, he promised me he wouldn’t leave me. He- John promised me, he never breaks his promises, not to me.” My ear let in the cries and sobs of my friends and their families, seeing JJ huddled up with the Heyward’s. “YOU LET HIM DIE, YOU LET HIM DIE AND YOU’RE LETTING A MURDERER, FUCK YOU’RE LETTING TWO MURDERERS WALK FREE.” I yelled at the man, hitting his chest but he didn’t stop me, he knew he had failed us, failed the island, failed me, he had failed a friend. “JOHN BOOKER ROUTLEDGE DIDN’T DO SHIT, Y’ALL KILLED HIM, IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT HE DIED, HIM AND SARAH CAMERON. YOU KILLED TWO TEENAGERS.” I screamed feeling JJ’s hands wrap around me, picking me up and lifting me up the floor and carrying me away from the group who stared at me as I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“BREATHE!” JJ yelled at me for what seemed like the tenth time that day, snapping me out of the fact that everything I saw was red. “Breathe, baby, breathe.” He said, between sobs, he came to wipe away my tears only to find my eyes and face dry of any salty water. His eyes searching mine, trying to break the walls he saw I was building up, higher and higher at each stroke of his thumb against my cheek.
“Get off of me.” I told him, my eyes not meeting his. I walked past him, heading straight for the outside of the tent when I saw the Carrera’s look at me with a shocked expression.
“Ellie, who’s that?” I heard Pope ask, pointing to a six-foot four dark haired man. “Who?” I asked, seconds before my eyes fell on said man.
“Is that Ollie?” Kie asked me and I nodded, a quick laugh escaping my lips when his eyes met mine, green meeting green.
“Yeah, Kie, it’s Ollie.” I said running towards the man who picked me up easily, wrapping his arms around me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked him, my hands cupping his face.
“Heard you and Johnny Boy were in trouble, drove all the way here.” He said and at that, my eyes filled up with water, again and I nodded. “So, where’s your mom?” he asked, and I looked around, trying to remember when I had seen my mother last.
“I- I don’t know. Don’t really remember.” 
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TAGLIST: @siwiecola @gigi-june - @stiles-o-dylan24 - @alexa-playafricabytoto - @jjxobx - @pink-meringues​ - @stilinskiswritings - @k-k0129 - @frankiebcanon - @jaxandcomet - @taaniesha - @sunflowerbecca - @obx-direction-sos 
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angelthefirst1 · 3 years
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The three missing weeks after Grady, Beth's funeral and Daryl's delusion all in 1018.
Okay so I've taken my time with posting any analysis of 1018, mainly because I was trying to figure out exactly what's being repeated (beyond the obvious Alone and Still repeats) and also understand the weirdness of the episode and how the loops will play out going forward. Since I first watched 1018, I realised they are showing us a representation of the three missing weeks after Grady, and Daryl's mindset (He goes a little cray cray) during his second search for Beth (her body anyway) This episode will have future and past fulfillment when/if we finally see the missing 17 days and the attempt at Beth's funeral-during which her body is going to go missing... Emily's song Omaha hotel holds clues about Beth's (attempted) funeral and the outcome. Go listen to the song if you haven't...
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The group is going to take Beth to a church-most likely this one...
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To give her a proper funeral-which as Daryl knows, Beth found it beautiful that someone dressed the walkers up (as dolls he says) to give them one. So...the group will want to do this for Beth.
She will be left in a car park (probably left in a car for a bit) to “watch the bugs fly around in the parking lot lights”. They will change her into a nice dress with flowers and make her all pretty, repeating what happened with the funeral home walkers-they get dressed up and even had makeup on. They could possibly put her in a coffin like Daryl was in the funeral home... As they go to dig the grave a massive storm will roll in (there has to be another storm, because it will be fulfillment of the music box "waking up" or playing again, and the storm from 510) During this storm walkers will come, taking the groups attention and Beth will "Step away for a minute" leaving before they can bury her. Daryl will try to track her, thinking she's a walker, but her footprints will be washed away in the storm, causing a repeat of this moment...
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The map Daryl is using to find Rick will be repeated as Beth's "footprints" being washed away, causing him to scream and start to lose it. The rain and it pouring/flooding with water is symbolic of Beth's return representing Jesus the the living water.   Daryl in 1018 is screaming one minute in the rain, and smiling the next. 
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Showing him both losing Beth in the rain and finding out she's alive on two different timeliness. Carol will most likely have played a role in going with Daryl to search for Beth after her "funeral", repeating their search from Consumed. The going fishing/fish symbolism in this episode is a play on the biblical concept of fishing for men (finding/saving the lost) As others have already mentioned, I also believe Leah to be either in part a hallucination or completely.
But Daryl did not have a romantic relationship with her.
Just as the 'oh' funeral home scene hinted at a potential romance, we never actually got to see it. Only a hint of it... They have repeated that here, and it's almost as if Daryl is on the outside looking in at his own past story. But this is Beth's story not Leah's and they haven't repeated almost every major Beth scene only to give it to Leah now... There is WAY to much weirdness in this episode for everything to just be as we see it, they are misdirecting us. 1018 heavily repeats both Daryl's search for Sofia and Rick losing Lori. This is about Daryl losing his future wife...Beth not Leah. Rick hallucinates Lori in this white dress next to some graves...
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This will be inverted with Beth in her funeral dress, walking away from her grave, and just like Rick, Daryl can never quite reach her, even though she is alive. Rick started going crazy after losing Lori, when Maggie (Beth's sister) delivered or “birthed” baby Judith. Lori dies and Judith became Beth's...
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Do you see the twist from this scene with Leah, talking about losing her son whom her sister gave birth to, or birthed? When Rick is outside the prison because he keeps seeing Lori he says to Hershel he has "Stuff and things to do" so he won't come back. Same as Daryl says to Carol when she tries to get him to stop looking for Rick, Daryl says "I've got stuff to do", once again hinting that this is some kind of mind trick, with Daryl seeing Leah not the real Beth...
Just like Rick was seeing-not the real Lori... The same episode Rick loses Lori, shows Maggie and Glenn in the watch tower messing around and Daryl crassly yells to them "Are you coming?"
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They have actually used this with Daryl and Carol in the beginning of 1018, twisting it with Daryl saying "You want to come right?" And "I didn't say you could come". 
Daryl even closes the one eye, because of the glare. Exactly the same in 304 and 1018.
Now don't freak out this will find fulfillment in the future with Beth and Daryl, and yes...most likely on a motorcycle. I don't usually get crass but that's what they are repeating and lining up for the future here, so I wanted to point it out. The previously on clip from 1018 shows Daryl say "We just got Maggie (and little Glenn) back"
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Around the same time Rick loses Lori and he is having his breakdown, Maggie and Glenn get taken by the Governor and as soon as they get back, that's when Rick starts "seeing" Lori. Fulfilling the "We just got Maggie (and little Glenn) back line". In 304 Daryl jump starts his bike while Axel looks on saying it needs a tune up. Repeating the beginning of 1018 when he can't start the bike. 
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Another call back is when Daryl and Carol come across a dead deer in 1018, it's bitten in an almost identical way to a deer that is shown in the opening of 304 (The episode Lori dies)
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Carol also gets lost in the tombs during this episode, and eventually gets an empty grave with cross allocated to her, even though she isn't dead. So Leah could well be symbolic of both missing Carol and Missing Beth combined. And the cabin crosses a reminder of them both...
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The repeating themes from around the time Rick loses Lori are very obvious if you go re-watch that story line. One particular location that they visit on the way to rescue Maggie and Glenn from the Governor is a cabin, that very much reminded me of Leah's cabin...
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It’s next to a river...
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And has taxidermy fish on the walls, and pots and pans too.
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But most significantly is a dead pet dog inside...
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Before they see the dog, they smell him and Daryl says "What's that smell?, it's got to be a dead fox or what's left of one" Leah wears a dead fox around her neck and has a pet dog, so this repeating could actually point to Leah being a walker/hallucination...
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I have been trying to remember any past fox symbolism in this show to explain Leah's fox fur, but couldn't think of any other instances, so this is a really interesting clue to the fact that Daryl mistakes a dead dog for a dead fox. The dead dog is on a blanket similar to the one Dog sits on when Leah has Daryl tied up. And it's collar looks to say Hunter!
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The owner in this cabin also has a shotgun like Leah and points it at Rick and Daryl when they first enter.
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He gets killed almost straight away because he keeps marking noise and drawing walkers. The very next scene shows Andrea standing in front of a painting with a boat, repeating the boat symbolism from 1018. And the clock just happens to say 10.10
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Daryl is also seen collecting fire wood, just like in season three with Rick and Glenn...
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When walkers come, Leah shoots some of them (Lori shoots some in season 3) and motions Daryl to follow her somewhere safe, repeating this moment with Beth and Hershel from the episode Rick loses Lori...
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The scene where Daryl gets knocked down and his ears start to ring is pivotal because it's a repeat of Daryl's other great search-his search for Sofia.
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During which he falls down into a river and starts hallucinating his brother Merle..
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So while 1018 is showing him searching for and losing Beth's footprints in the rain and screaming in anger about it, the moment when he gets knocked down by a bolt of lightning and his ears start to ring, the story becomes a weird mix of Beth and Leah. This is a representation of Daryl passing out after falling and some kind of injury, just like he did when searching for Sofia. Repeating but inverting his search for Sofia, where he fell into a river bed, had a head injury/concussion, hallucinates about his brother and finds Sofia's doll not the real Sofia... So Leah could also be a representation of finding Sofia's doll. The doll represents a walker, just like Daryl said in the funeral home. Sofia was lost on a road/highway, goes into water in a river but disappeared and was then found dead coming out of a barn. Beth however is the opposite, in that after her funeral she will end up in a body of water/river because of heavy rain, then the barn in 510, she is represented as being alive coming out of it.
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And lastly Daryl says to Beth in Alone "Go up out off the road, I'll meet you there". Which is where they could well meet again-on a road. (Saying meet you up the road, also indicates a lengthy time period) All this would in fact make Beth, Sofia 2.0 but with the opposite outcome. In 1018, once Daryl falls down and his ears ring, he is effectively passed out and dreaming from that point on. We see him then pick up his crossbow and smile in the rain, because what comes next indicates he finds Beth (Leah) When Daryl hallucinates Merle, he tells him that he is looking for a girl and Merle says "You got a thing for little girls now?" and "You going to die out here looking for her?" Merle gets mad that Daryl isn't looking for him. They have switched it in 1018, in that Daryl is looking for his brother Rick now by a river and hallucinates a version of Beth (Leah) who gets mad that Daryl keeps looking for Rick.
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Merle, during the hallucination also mentions Daryl's Chupacabra (a mythical blood sucking dog) he apparently saw, which could be a representation of Leah as the dead fox/dog/walker or him seeing Beth and thinking Beth is a walker. 
Merle questions whether Daryl really saw this Chupacabra because Daryl apparently ate some special mushrooms...
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So I see these possibilities... Daryl is reliving his search for Beth in his mind because he is injured causing him to hallucinate Leah, as a less painful substitute. Like Rick hallucinates a dressed up version of Lori to cope with the pain. Daryl has been poisoned or eaten something/drank something (like the mushrooms) to make reality and fantasy mix, causing a repeat of the Merle/walker situation. Where Leah may be real but Beth memory's are mixed with reality. Just like Merle was not real but the walker was. Leah is a walker (dead fox/dog) who looks like Beth to Daryl, and while trying to put her down he is knocked out, starting a weird mixture of memory's. I will leave it here for now, there is always more I could go into but this is way long enough for now...
Beth is coming!!!
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crowdvscritic · 3 years
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round up // NOVEMBER 20
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Hi, I’m tired. Actually, my friend Celeste created a piece of art that puts the emphasis needed on that sentiment:
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I’m very tired. November felt like it was three years and also felt like it went by in a blink and also I’m not sure where October ended and November began—how does time work like that? (I’ve yet to see Tenet, but maybe that will explain it.) But like Michael Scott, somehow I manage, and lately it’s been like this:
Late-night Etsy scrolling. Browsing beautiful, non-big-box-store artwork is very calming just before I go to bed. I’d recommend Etsy stores like Celeste’s chr paperie shop, which I know from experience is full of great Christmas gift ideas. 
Taking a day off of work to do laundry. I’m not sure if it’s more #adulting that I did that or that I was excited to do that.
Eating Ghiradelli chocolate chips straight from the bag. I actually don’t recommend this as a healthy option, but this is also not a health blog.
Watching lots and lots of ‘80s movies. One day I’ll ask a therapist why this decade of films is so comforting for me despite its many flaws, but for now I’m just rolling with it.
Reading. Have you heard of this? It’s a form of entertainment but doesn’t require screens—wild!
Memes. All good Pippin “Fool of a” Took jokes are welcome here.
Leaning into the Christmas spirit by ordering that Starbucks peppermint mocha, making plans to watch everything in that TCM Christmas book I haven’t seen, and keeping the lights on my hot pink tinsel tree on all day as I work from home.
This month’s Round Up is full of stuff that made me smile and stuff that sucked me into its world—I think they’ll do the same for you, too.
November Crowd-Pleasers
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Sister Act (1992)
If in four years you aren’t in an emotional state to watch election results roll in, I recommend watching Whoopi Goldberg pretend to be a nun for 100 minutes. (Though, incidentally, if you want to watch that clip edited to specifically depict how the results came in this year, you’ll need to watch Sister Act 2.) This musical-comedy is about as feel-good as it gets, meaning there’s no reason you should wait four more years to watch it. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7.5/10
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Nevada Memes
Speaking of election results, Nevada memes. That’s it—that’s the tweet. Vulture has a round up of some of the best.
youtube
SNL Round Up
Laugh and enjoy!
“Cinema Classics: The Birds” (4605 with John Mulaney)
“Uncle Ben” (4606 with Dave Chappelle)
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RoboCop (1987)
I’m not surprised I liked RoboCop, but I am surprised at why I liked RoboCop. Not only is this a boss action blockbuster, it’s an investigation into consumerism and the commodification of the human body. It’s also a critique of institutions that treat crime like statistics instead of actions done by people that impact people. That said, it’s also movie about a guy who’s fused with a robot and melts another guy’s face off with toxic sludge, so there’s a reason I’m not listing this under the Critic section. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10
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Double Feature – ‘80s Comedies: National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) + Major League (1989)
The ‘80s-palooza is in full swing! In Vacation (Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 8/10), Chevy Chase just wants to spend time with his family on a vacation to Wally World, but wouldn’t you know it, Murphy’s Law kicks into gear as soon as the Griswold family shifts from out of Park. The brilliance of the movie is that every one of these terrible things is plausible, but the Griswolds create the biggest problems themselves. In Major League (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10), Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Wesley Snipes are Cleveland’s last hope for a winning baseball team. Like the Griswolds, mishaps and hijinks ensue in their attempt to prevent their greedy owner from moving the Indians to Miami, but the real win is this movie totally gets baseball fans. Like most ‘80s movies, not everything in this pair has aged well, but they brought some laughs when I needed them most.
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This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens (2020)
They’re born a minute apart in the same hospital, but they don’t meet until their 30th birthday on New Year’s Day. So, yes, it’s a little bit Serendipity, and it’s a little bit sappy, but those are both marks in this book’s favor. This Time Next Year is a time-hopping rom-com with lots of almost-meet-cutes that will have you laughing, believing in romantic twists of fate, and finding hope for the new year.
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Double Feature – ‘80s Angsty Teens: Teen Wolf (1985) + Uncle Buck (1989)
In the ‘80s, Hollywood finally understood the angsty teen, and this pair of comedies isn’t interested in the melodrama earlier movies like Rebel Without a Cause were depicting. (I’d recommend Rebel, but not if you want to look back on your teen years with any sense of humor.) In Teen Wolf (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5/10), Michael J. Fox discovers he’s a werewolf.one that looks more like the kid in Jumanji than any other portrayal of a werewolf you’ve seen. It’s a plot so ‘80s and so bizarre you won’t believe this movie was greenlit.
In Uncle Buck (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10), John Candy is attempting to connect with the nieces and nephew he hasn’t seen in years, including one moody high schooler. (Plus, baby Gaby Hoffman and pre-Home Alone Macauley Culkin!) This is my second pick from one of my all-time fave filmmakers, John Hughes (along with National Lampoon’s Vacation, above), and it’s one more entry that balances heart and humor in a way only he could do. You can see where I rank this movie in Hughes’s pantheon on Letterboxd.
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Lord of the Rings memes
This month on SO IT’S A SHOW?, Kyla and I revisited The Lord of the Rings, a trilogy we love almost as much as we love Gilmore Girls. You can listen to our episode about the series on your fave podcast app, and you can laugh through hundreds of memes like I did for “research” on Twitter.
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Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (2019)
Most adults are afraid of children’s temper tantrums, but can you imagine how terrified you’d be if they caught on fire in their fits of rage? That’s the premise of this novel, which begins when an aimless twentysomething becomes the nanny of a Tennessee politician’s twins who burst into flames when they get emotional. The book is filled with laugh-out-loud moments but never leaves behind the human emotion you need to make a magical realistic story.
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An Officer and a Gentlemen (1982)
Speaking of aimless twentysomethings and emotion, feel free to laugh, cry, and swoon through this melodrama in the ‘80s canon. Richard Gere meanders his way into the Navy when he has nowhere else to go, and he tries to survive basic training, work through his family issues, and figure out his future as he also falls in love with Debra Winger. So, yeah, it’s a schamltzier version of Top Gun, but it’s schmaltz at its finest. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10
November Critic Picks
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Double Feature – ‘40s Amensia Romances: Random Harvest (1942) + The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Speaking of schmaltz at its finest, let me share a few more titles fitting that description. In Random Harvest (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10), Greer Garson falls in love with a veteran who can’t remember his life before he left for war. In The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10), Gene Tierney discovers a ghost played by a crotchety Rex Harrison in her new home. Mild spoiler: Both feature amnesiac plot developments, and while amnesia has become a cliché in the long history of romance films, Harvest is moving enough and Mr. Muir is charming enough that you won’t roll your eyes. You can see these and more romances complicated by forced forgetfulness in this Letterboxd round up.
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The African Queen (1951)
It’s Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn directed by John Huston—I mean, I don’t feel like I need to explain why this is a winner. Bogart (in his Oscar-winning role) and Hepburn star in a two-hander script, dominating the screen time except for a select few scenes with supporting cast. The pair fight for survival while cruising on a small boat called The African Queen during World War I (in Africa, natch), and the two make this small story feel grand and epic. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
A young man’s (Dennis Price) mother is disowned from their wealthy family because she marries for love. After her death, he seeks vengeance by killing all of the family members ahead of him in line to be the Duke D'Ascoyne. The twist? All of his victims are played by Sir Alec Guinness! Almost every character in this black comedy is a terrible person, so you won’t be too sorry to see them go—you can just enjoy the creative “accidents” he stages and stay in suspense on whether our “hero” gets his comeuppance. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10
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Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1937)
What would you do if you found out you were to be someone’s eighth wife? Well, it’s probably not what Claudette Colbert does in this screwball comedy that reminds me a bit of Love Crazy. This isn’t the first time I’ve recommended Colbert, Gary Cooper, or Ernst Lubitsch films, so it’s no surprise these stars and this director can make magic together in this hilarious battle of the wills. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8.5/10
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The Red Shoes (1948)
I love stories about the competition between your life and your art, and The Red Shoes makes that competition literal. Moira Shearer plays a ballerina who feels life is meaningless without dancing—then she falls in love. That’s an oversimplification of a rich character study and some of the most beautiful ballet on film, but I can’t do it justice in a short paragraph. Just watch (perhaps while you’re putting up your hot pink tinsel tree?) and soak in all the goodness. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 10/10
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The Third Man (1949)
Everybody loves to talk about Citizen Kane, and with the release of Mank on Netflix, it’s newsworthy again. But don’t miss this other ‘40s team up of Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. Cotten is a writer digging for the truth of his friend’s (Welles) death in a mysterious car accident. Eyewitness accounts differ on what happened, and who was the third man at the scene only one witness remembers? 71 years later, this movie is still tense, and this actor pairing is still electric. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10
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The Untouchables (1987)
At the end of October, we lost Sean Connery. I looked back on his career first by writing a remembrance for ZekeFilm and then by watching The Untouchables. (In a perfect world I would’ve reversed that order, but c’est la vie.) In my last selection from the ‘80s, Connery and Kevin Costner attempt to convict Robert De Niro’s Al Capone of anything that will stick and end his reign of crime in Chicago. Directed by Brian De Palma and set to an Ennio Morricone soundtrack, this film is both an exciting action flick and an artistic achievement that we literally discussed in one of my college film classes. Connery won his Oscar, and K. Cos is giving one of the best of his career, too. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9.5/10
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Remember the Night (1940)
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in my favorite team up yet! Double Indemnity may be the bona fide classic in the canon, but this Christmas story—with MacMurray as a district attorney prosecuting shoplifter Stanwyck— is a charmer. I’ve added it to my list of must-watch Christmas movies—watch for some holiday cheer and rom-com feels. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10
Photo credits: chr paperie. Books my own. All others IMDb.com.
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Palletshipping scenes in the original Japanese Indigo League
A while ago an anon asked me if I knew what kind of Palletshipping hints there were in the original Japanese anime. I didn’t know the answer back then but I found out soon after that the Indigo League episodes have been translated into English recently. Inspired by the anon’s question, I decided to make a little analysis on the Palletshipping scenes.
I’ve already posted a few scenes from the sub here and here. I suggest you to watch them before reading further.
Please note that I use the Japanese episode numbers and names. Some of the numbers differ from the English dub. I use the English characters’ names though because I’m more used to them.
I call Gary in the English dub ”dub!Gary” and in the Japanese version ”subs!Gary”. Same goes for other characters.
Also, these are my interpretations and thoughts. Feel free to disagree with me if you have watched the sub yourself.
01 – Pokémon! I Choose You
The first meeting… or is it really? It’s pretty much canon that Ash and Gary were childhood friends because they went to the movies together (shown in AG episode 086: Lights, camera up, action!). When they meet in this episode, dub!Gary says: ”Well, you must be Ash. Better late than never. At least you get the chance to meet me.” However, subs!Gary says: ”That’s you Satoshi, right? Yeah, you are Satoshi! Going to be late from the get-go, Satoshi-kun?” Subs!Gary already uses the nickname and to me it seems like there’s more familiarity in their meeting in the sub. I find it a little weird that dub!Gary says ”you must be Ash” as if he doesn’t really know him and he’s only heard some things about him. Maybe I’m looking too much into this but that’s how I feel.
When Ash asks Gary if he got his first Pokémon, dub!Gary says: ”That’s right, loser.” Subs!Gary never calls Ash a loser. Instead he often calls him ”a fourth place guy” because Ash was the last kid to get a Pokémon. That’s what really caught my attention. Subs!Gary teases Ash and says some rude things but he never calls Ash bad names like a loser.
Talking about names, this is the only episode where Ash calls Gary ”Shigeru-kun”. That’s cute.
Otherwise the dialogue is pretty similar. Also, let’s not ignore the winking.
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18 – Aopulco Holiday
The dialogue or the meaning behind the lines are mostly similar here as well except for a few cases. When Ash challenges Gary to a battle, dub!Gary says: ”I’d love to but I only brought my fans with me” whereas subs!Gary says: ”Sorry, but I’m only taking out the girls today.” In case you didn’t know, subs!Gary calls the cheerleaders his girlfriends. Are you trying to convince everyone you are straight, huh?
When Team Rocket attack the crowd and aim a missile at them, dub!Gary asks: ”So, what are you gonna do now, Ash? Freak out?” but subs!Gary says: ”How about you put your skills on display for me, Satoshi?” That’s a huge difference. Dub!Gary is trying to annoy Ash and put him down whereas subs!Gary wants to see Ash in action. He’s interested in seeing Ash’s skills.
Also, let’s not forget how proud Gary looks when Ash is trying to calm everyone down. Also, the winking again.
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31 – A Whole Lot of Digduh
I posted a few short clips from this episode here. I absolutely love the way subs!Gary says ”Saaaatoshi-kun”. There’s a lot of teasing and bantering in this episode but the dialogue is still pretty same. Ash is first annoyed (or jealous?) when Gary shows off his knowledge on Pokémon but later he admires that Gary has been studying. Please make up your mind, Ash. When Gary leaves, dub!Gary calls them losers but subs!Gary doesn’t. Dub!Ash says ”Aaa I don’t like him” but subs!Ash wonders ”What’s with him?” when Gary disappears.
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48 – Resurrection! Fossil Pokemon
Now, this is a short scene but an interesting one. In the dub, Gary calls Ash a nerd and of course a loser. However, subs!Gary just calls him “a late trainer” and explains the fossil hunt situation to Ash in more detail than in the dub. Dub!Ash wants to find a fossil before Gary because ”that will show him who the real loser is”. Subs!Ash, on the other hand, wants to ”leave him speechless” when he finds a fossil first. I find it interesting that subs!Ash’s motivation is to impress Gary rather than just competing against him.
Another notable thing that caught my attention multiple times watching the subs is that subs!Ash often mumbles ”rival” when Gary appears or leaves. It makes it look like Gary is able to get under Ash’s skin even more in the sub.
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60 – Burn! Guren Gym!
There are two scenes between Ash and Gary in this episode. The first one happens on a ship when they are travelling to the Guren Island. When Gary sees Ash, he asks: ”Who let this loser on the boat?” in the dub. Subs!Gary, on the other hand, just wonders: ”What? Is that you, Satoshi-kun?” This is another example how subs!Gary isn’t as rude as his dub counterpart.
They meet again in the evening when Ash and his companions are hungry and looking for a place to sleep at. Of course Gary takes this as an opportunity to tease Ash again. Subs!Gary says he’ll let them join the feast if they “spin around three times and do a Pikachu cry”. Dub!Gary, however, only says he’d give them the leftovers if they did it. This is another example that subs!Gary is a little kinder than his dub counterpart. This is also evident when Ash’s stomach rumbles again. Dub!Gary says he has never seen anyone as pathetic as Ash whereas subs!Gary ”only” says that he feels sorry for the Pokémon Ash keeps and he should quit being a trainer. In my opinion dub!Gary is once again slightly meaner in this situation.
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65 – Tokiwa Gym! The Final Battle
This is probably one of Palletshippers’ favourite episode. When Gary and Ash meet, subs!Gary says Ash should have quit trying to become a Pokémon master long ago. ”But I’ll praise you for making it this far.” Dub!Gary says kind of the same thing about quitting but he doesn’t compliment Ash at all. When he goes to challenge the gym, dub!Gary says he stopped by ”to see if the leader of gym wants to battle a real Pokémon trainer”. That’s another subtle belittling moment from Gary. In the sub, he just says he’s there to test his skills against the Gym Leader. No teasing, no belittlement.
The best part of this episode is to see how Ash and Gary care about each other. As you can hear here, there is clear concern in their voices. It can also be heard in the dub. I don’t know about you but in my opinion there’s something sweet about the way Ash rushes over to Gary and holds him in his arms. Not to mention how worried Gary seems to be when he watches Ash’s battle. He even saves Ash from Meowth.
When Ash wins the match, Gary watches him from afar with an admiring face. Dub!Gary says ”I hate to admit it but that kid’s a pretty good trainer” and subs!Gary says ”Pretty good for a fourth place guy”. It’s nice to see Gary finally acknowledging Ash’s skills.
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67 – Rival Showdown! Ohkido Laboratory
This episode has so much bantering between these two. It’s very entertaining to watch. Ash goes to Professor Oak to ask about the Indigo League and meets Gary there. When Ash realizes he doesn’t know where the League will be held, he literally jumps at Gary’s arms and begs him to tell him. They are very close and Gary seems to be frozen by the sudden closeness. He can’t even answer Ash’s question.
Gary continues to provoke Ash throughout the entire episode. He criticizes Ash’s training and battling style and says Ash has to train a lot harder for the League. He gets under Ash’s skin very easily. Ash takes everything he says to the heart. Some dialogue is slightly different between the dub and sub but it doesn’t differ significantly.
What caught my attention was the comparison between Ash and Gary. This episode shows how different their training styles and opinions on Pokémon are. There’s a lot of tension between them and sometimes I wonder if there’s more to it. For example, when Ash and Gary keep staring at each other’s eyes outside the lab, subs!Brock says ”Those two are getting all fired up” and subs!Misty answers ”That’s what happens between rivals”. They are about to battle each other when Team Rocket interrupt them. They are ready to fight them side by side as a team but Ash’s Tauros save the day. Ash is really disappointed when Gary isn’t in the mood for a battle anymore.
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76 – Fire! The Pokémon League Opening Ceremony
There’s not really much going on here. The Pokémon League has its opening ceremony and later Gary and Ash meet. Of course Gary uses this moment to tease Ash. Dub!Gary says Ash is gonna need luck and that his chances aren’t that great. However, subs!Gary mainly just talks about how he’s gathered information on other contestants. He doesn’t really tease Ash as much as in the dub until the end where he implies that Ash can’t win whether he has intelligence or not. Subs!Gary also doesn’t say anything about ”catching loseritis” like his dub counterpart does.
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77 – The Pokémon League Opens! The Water Field
The first matches begin today and everyone gets to know which battle field they are gonna have. Interestingly, Gary already knows Ash is gonna battle in a water field. Did he spesifically search for that information or did he just happen to hear it? Anyway, he’s seems to be really excited about the idea of battling Ash in the future – if Ash makes it through his first battles, that is. When dub!Gary leaves, he tells Ash that ”Pallet Town deserves at least one trainer who isn’t a total embarrassment”. However, subs!Gary tells Ash ”to not shame Masara Town”. There’s a light difference here again.
When Gary wins his first match, he’s getting interviewed on TV. In the dub he says he knows trainers who are real losers. In the sub he doesn’t say anything like that all. All he talks about is how important the first battle is, how happy he is that he won and that his real battle was developing his strategy. He doesn’t talk about Ash or even imply anything about him. I wonder why the dub decided to change this.
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79 – The Grass Field! An Unexpected Opponent
This is probably one of my favorite Palletshipping moments this season because it shows a vulnerable side of Gary and how Ash cares about him. When Gary loses his match, Ash is worried about him. He can’t believe Gary lost. He goes out looking for Gary and the shared moment between them is somewhat tender. Gary is clearly sad but he tries to put on a brave face when he hears Ash. Subs!Gary says the ”Goddess of Victory wasn’t smiling over him” whereas dub!Gary just says that he got ”distracted by all the girls cheering for him”.
When Gary leaves, Ash starts to lose his confidence and doubts his chances of winning. He says ”I feel beaten” to Pikachu in the sub while dub!Ash asks Pikachu if they should quit. This shows that Ash acknowledges Gary’s skills as a Pokémon trainer. If Gary can’t make it, how can he?
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TL;DR: There’s definitely a lot of tension, teasing and bantering between these two in the sub as well. What’s different from the dub is that subs!Gary seems to be a little bit kinder than dub!Gary. He never calls Ash a loser or other horrible names. He even praises Ash a few times and acknowledges his skills. However, I think the actual Palletshipping hints that Japanese people have mentioned are mainly in the Johto episodes. 
Thank you for reading this really long post and sorry for any grammar errors etc.
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