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professoruber · 2 months

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Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

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heckyeahponyscans · 11 months

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The Jinxie Games

Thoughts on G5 MLP Make Your Mark Ch. 4, Episode 3

This episode has three subplots: Hitch competing in the Forest Critter Field Day event, Pipp and Zipp discovering their mom is dating Alphabittle, and Misty attempting to find something in the Brighthouse that she can take home to appease Opaline.

The latter two plotlines are pretty good, the first one drags and I think they should've moved it into the background more. Maybe have Pipp and Zipp find out about Queen Haven's date earlier and try to scuttle it, but then see that their mom is truly happy and have a change of heart?

Anyway, I feel very vindicated in having shipped Queen Haven and Alphabittle as far back as the original G5 movie. They just had that vibe.

Even though Misty spent most of the episode in one place, rifling through the Mane 5's belongings, this was a really good episode for her, first exhibiting her bitterness and jealousy at the main cast ("Ohhh, we're so HAPPY, we all have cutie marks and we get to live with our best friends!"), which helps the audience understand why a fundamentally nice pony keeps spying on / trying to steal from the other ponies, and then coming to a turning point when Misty finds that Sunny has included a picture of her, Misty, in her journal.

Misty's VA is so good; the gasp she gives when Misty finds the picture tells you everything you need to know. The foundations of her world have been shaken.

Later, Misty has a chance to kidnap Sparky--Opaline's main objective--and instead she leaves him at the Brighthouse, purposely disobeying Opaline's orders even though she knows she'll be in trouble.

Here's Misty, nervous because Opaline just called bellowed for her, metaphorically stuck between the two pictures: a childhood picture of Opaline and the photo of herself with the Mane 5.

Even though I do think this episode, and some others, have parts that drag, I do think Misty's story being spread out across the entire season is genius. It lets us really see what Misty's going through, the toxic push-and-pull of serving Opaline. There's no way her story would be as impactful if it was condensed into one or two episodes; we would get an info-dump of facts, but we wouldn't feel the weight of her burden

Random notes on this episode:

Queen Haven sending Zipp a text that just said "Don't" was extremely funny

the Forest Critter Field Day occurs every 4th purple moon

there's reference to bits as currency (Hitch mentions "flipping a bit" to see who goes first in a game)

When Hitch and Izzy initially explain what Forest Critter Field Day is, Pipp is zoning out on her phone

Queen Haven postponing brunch to "a time that's more inconvenient to you both" is the funniest bit of the episode

"Unicorns didn't have access to their magic for many thousands of moons." As previously noted, a moon seems to be the equivalent of a year. How many thousands is "many"? It's got to be 3000 minimum, right? Assuming Skye Silver is correct about this information, that is.

Speaking of Sky Silver and Dazzle (the reporters), one thing G5 does much better than G4 is parody. G4 is leaning towards Looney Tunes in its style of humor (slapstick, pianos dropping on people, Pinkie Pie leaping out of mirrors, etc) and whenever they tried to do parody on top of that already exaggerated humor it was juuust terrible. With Sky and Dazzle, they don't do anything specifically "comedic" but their performances are just over-the-top enough to be funny. Like the way they do scripted lines to "each other", but they're turned towards the camera because it's actually for the TV audience's benefit . . . Man, that is the kind of humor G5 should harness more.

I assume this ZBS special is based on a real life show about the British Royal family or something, because the ponies look so dour . . . lmk if this is the case, I don't watch TV anymore except cartoons based on Hasbro properties.

literally a wedding ring chilling in the background there, nice touch

Nice to see Hitch isn't the only non-unicorn contestant, Windy is there too. The purple unicorn, Elderflower, was mentioned in a previous episode as being the oldest and wisest unicorn in Bridlewood.

Once again Sparky shows some kind of earth or plant magic

"This is what every sport looks like to me." Same Pipp, same.

#My Little Pony #G5 #Make Your Mark #spoilers #The Jinxie Games #Hitch Trailblazer #Pipp Petals #Queen Haven #Alphabittle #Misty Brightdawn #Zipp Storm #Sparky Sparkeroni

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anachronic-cobra · 26 days

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So I'm in Salem, MA rn due to housing circumstances, taking a nice weekend at the Hawthorne hotel, and figured I'd toss in some photos of very haunted historical sites I took on a night tour

1-4 - the Salem Witch Trial memorial and burying point/charter cemetary. Allegedly haunted by the Woman in White, who died in a house fire

5 - this house is largely still the original wood and material from when it was first built. A man who bought it feared it would be taken by the government as a historical site, so he encased it in stone to disguise it as a newer building. It was protected from the elements for 300 years this way.

6/7 - building built over what used to be the jail where people accused of witchcraft were kept in coffin cells in hellish conditions. Originally the Bell telephone company and social security offices worked in this building, but when employees of the phone company became too terrified to answer the phones, hearing screams on the line frequently, they had to leave the building. Now it's rental space for offices, as they can't keep any businesses there long-term.

8/9 - belong to a very wealthy man who was VERY certain he was going to be murdered, and who apparently appears very frequently. Tour guide believes it's because he feels vindicated hearing people talk about the fact that he was, in fact, murdered. Also, this is the house that inspired the board game Clue!

10 - across the cemetary where Giles Corey was pressed to death and later buried are the houses that the houses in Monopoly were modeled after, which is a dichotomy of facts I was not expecting to learn today

#from the desk of anachron

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tameimpala222 · 6 months

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Wowww I was on this fan forum from 2006 where they were speculating about Justin and Britney’s relationship post breakup, and all my theories and speculations about them in 2006-2007 are confirmed!

Britney literally left out a whole chunk of stuff that happened between her and Justin in 2006-2007 (right before her meltdown) in her memoir and acted like he was already out of her life by then, BUT weirdly enough all these events between them were captured in Justin’s 20/20 Experience part 2 album (2013).

I mean… all of the tabloids and rumors and gossips posted in this thread (it goes on for another 3 more threads until mid 2007) were basically confirmed in Justin’s album. Like the craziest part is that the fans were posting all these stuff in like, 2006 and Justin kind of confirmed these stuff like, 7 years later lol. I am feeling so vindicated now!!

Some points:

1. Daily Mail tabloid about Britney bombarding Justin with 10-20 calls everyday after her divorce with Kevin and him having mixed feelings about it because he tries to be there for her but feels like she’s using him as a crutch and wants her to get herself together and come out on top —> Justin sang about it in ‘Only When I Walk Away’ in 20/20 part 2

2. OK Magazine reported that Justin was seen going to Britney’s pre-birthday celebration in a club with JC and the MMC gang in Dec 2006 (after divorce from Kevin) and she was caught on video dancing to SexyBack, other reports saying they hooked up (he ended things with Cameron in Dec too), other tabloids saying he flew down to Manhattan when Britney called him saying she ended things with a boyfriend and stayed at his rented flat until 4am —> TKO in 20/20 part 2

3. OK Magazine reported they saw Justin and his mom driving into Britney’s Malibu house right after her breakdown to meet up with her family despite him being busy on tour for FSLS, reports of him asking his mom to keep watch on Britney’s condition until she gets better, Justin sending a letter to Britney while she was in rehab telling her that he wishes they met when they were older because they would probably be married with kids by then and told her he’s rooting on her to get better - Pair of Wings, Blue Ocean Floor in 20/20 part 1 and part 2

4. There are other stuff like Justin and Britney saying in one interview that they haven’t spoken to each other for 2 years or since the breakup, then in other interviews Britney would say she talked to him once or twice after the breakup, Justin would say he called her up after her breakdown to ask if she was ok, Britney was papped leaving his house in March 2003, Fred Durst telling an interviewer that Britney ditched their date to visit Justin in London, tabloids of Kevin and Britney arguing because she and Justin still talk on the phone, etc. They’re literally contradicting themselves so I say they’re just lying about not contacting each other. - ‘Amnesia’ on 20/20 part 2 was written due to these conflicting feelings about her I guess.

I think there’s more but I need to listen to 20/20 part 2 again to see if Justin has addressed some of the tabloids/rumors in his songs.

But yeah… sus af that Britney conveniently left out this entire chunk from her book. I mean, she didn’t even mention about him trying to talk to her after the disastrous 2007 VMAs performance backstage but was stopped by her team (their mutual friend Nikki Deloach actually confirmed all this on her podcast actually so it did happen).

If one day Justin decides to tell his side of the story about his relationship with Britney, I hope he will address this ‘black hole’ period of time, but then again he has technically already told it in 20/20 Experience part 2 so…

#justin timberlake #britney spears #i can’t believe i’m going on a deep dive for this couple #20 years later and their relationship is still a mystery #what are they trying to hide?

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leftnotright · 8 months

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PROOF APOLLO WEARS HAWAIIAN SHIRTS

“The Tri-Ni-Sette machine is failing. The world will die.” “We can’t do anything going forward. Going backwards, however, is another matter.” Ryohei had his mission: To go back. To before the most recent Arcobaleno Curse, to before the slaughter of the Simone. To before the Tri-Ni-Sette System finally gave out. Ryohei was used to loss, in the ring and in life. But this time, he promises, he’ll win. Reborn had his mission: Get in this man’s pants, or die trying. After all, Reborn was nothing if not an Icarus. (Or: The ‘size matters’ fic)

Parings: Reborn/Sasagawa Ryohei Characters: Reborn (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Ten Years Later Sasagawa Ryouhei, Sasagawa Ryouhei, Vindice (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Arcobaleno (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Checker Face | Kawahira Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ryouhei Time Travels

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

CHAPTER 6: IF THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO TAKE A FALL…

Ryohei smiled thinly as he sat on a comfortable, leather upholstered chair, his hands clasped in his lap and his feet planted firmly in the rug that lined the floor of the Vongola Mansion’s main drawing room. He was seated in the centre, perfectly poised to see the painting and ornaments of the room.

Ryohei refused to look upon that single painting that hung over the head of the couch across from him, the Vongola First Generation spread across the wall. Mukuro had said it was referencing ‘The Last Supper’, and was used to remind allies and enemies alike of what the Vongola had done in shaping and maintaining the Mafia.

Ryohei had always found it funny how similar he and his family looked to the First Generation.

Now he wished anything but.

Giotto looked so much like Tsuna. It wasn’t funny now.

He missed his family. Kyoko was due to go into labour in thirty years and five months. He hoped she wouldn’t be too upset that he missed it.

Ryohei closed his eyes and calmed himself and that sting in the back of his eyes.

“Sorry for the wait,” came a warm, fatherly voice and Ryohei had to pry open his eyes so he wouldn’t see all those times that voice, rusty with age, had told the emerging Vongola Generation stories of his own time, of his mother Octavia.

“No problem! So, what did you need to talk to me about?” Ryohei smiled, and Timoteo, barely into his fiftieth year with hair a dark chestnut, smiled back.

Ryohei looked upon him, clean-shaven and young, and realised why Xanxus might have thought there was a chance. Timoteo sat on the couch across from him, just as a member of the Vongola staff served them some light food and coffee.

Ryohei blinked at the set they used. The Important Guest Set.

Timoteo smiled.

“Help yourself, Ryohei. I quite like the biscuits, Maria makes them fresh for guests.”

Tsuna had once utterly gorged himself on these biscuits when they were new to the Vongola Mansion, and the kitchen staff would all but bend over backwards for their soft-cheeked princeling. He had spent the rest of the afternoon kneeling beside a toilet, Hayato patting his back and Takeshi assuring him that, yes, he would survive this. Ryohei himself had been put in charge of ensuring Tsuna kept to his strict biscuits-per-day limit.

Ryohei took a biscuit and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, humming at the buttery, sugary taste. He hadn’t had one of these things in months.

“This is good!” He grinned and pinched another one from the plate.

Timoteo chuckled and then looked around to the room almost wistfully, the adornments, the paintings on the walls. There were landmarks of the Vongola territory through the ages, the Second Boss looming behind his desk, a still-life of the Fifth’s Jur knuckle dusters with an arrangement of fruits and candles.

“I like this room. It has a good feel to it, like a walk through history.” Timoteo touched the couch he sat upon. “This seating set was a gift from the Governor of Provence, Villars. That painting there, done by Paul Cézanne. This one, the one behind me thought?”

Ryohei gritted his teeth as he was told to look upon those faces.

“It was done by a woman, Sister Lodovica. She lived in a convent nearby, and worked closely with a man named Father Knuckles.” Timoteo pointed to the man two seats down on the right-hand side, caught in mid-laughter like that was the only way the artist could remember him being. “He was the first Vongola Sun, a man many of us still look towards when the darkness of this life becomes too much. The Patron Saint of the Vongola, almost,” Timoteo finished with a laugh.

Ryohei smiled thin. He knew all this.

He had spent his fair share of time sitting alone in this room, staring up at that painting, hoping he could have what Knuckles had, that the Patron Saint would bless him with a Family and Home.

But with the whole of the Vongola looking for guidance, Ryohei’s prayers must have been lost in the noise.

“You look like him, you know?” Timoteo almost breathed out, looking upon Ryohei with something almost…covetous in his tone.

Ryohei pressed his feet into the rug and settled back into his chair. There it was. That Vongola Greed. That desire to hold onto everything they were so proud of, their heritage. Tsuna had worked hard to beat that old blood out of the Vongola, Enma at his side, but this Vongola was still steeped in their old sin. The history they refused to let go of.

“Tell me, Ryohei,” Timoteo said, “How well do you know your family tree? Do you, perhaps, have any Italian heritage? Blond hair isn’t exactly Japanese, I must say.”

Ah, so Timoto had done his research. He knew Ryohei was Japanese, so he had definitely done some digging and came up with Tabolt’s trail.

Ryohei tilted his head, trying to think, “Not that I know of. I mean you know how after two or three generations things can get,” Ryohei made a vague motion with his hands. “Messy?”

Timoteo nodded understandingly, despite how strictly the Vongola monitored their bloodlines. “Of course, of course, without proper bookkeeping it does get foggy after a while.”

Timoteo then took a sip of his coffee, humming in satisfaction at the taste. Then he sat the cup in his lap, palms cupped around the mug to soak up that warmth. He looked at Ryohei, a soft smile in place.

“Ryohei, are you aware that you have a very, and I do not say this lightly, strong Flame?”

Ryohei breathed deep, taking the scent of coffee, biscuits and badly concealed Harmony. Ryohei fought not to scrunch up his nose in distaste.

That moment of hesitation seemed to be enough for Timote to reach his own conclusions. He cradled his cup in his hands and looked over to Ryohei, a concerned pinch in his brow, and in that moment, Ryohei saw the face of every father.

Except his own.

That quiet concern did not suit a Sasagawa.

“Then you must realise a strong Flame, out on their own? It can get dangerous, to say the least. You’d have eyes on you wherever you go. You’re just fortunate to have chosen our Vongola territory to settle in, or you’d have been swarmed by Families for recruitment!”

Ryohei smiled and tilted his head at Timoteo, “Like you are, Vongola Ninth?”

Timoteo, to his credit, didn’t so much as waver.

“If you would like to join us, of course, I wouldn’t turn you away. In times like these having someone to call Family can make all the difference.” Timoteo hummed a bit, that look in his eyes again; young, jovial and sharp as a hawk. “My eldest son, Enrico, is around your age, maybe a bit younger. I think you and he would get along, he’s rather sharp, if a bit shy. I think your boisterous attitude would do him well.”

Silence hung between them. The artisanal clock, all but deafening.

Ryohei continued to smile, but didn’t move. Timoteo waited.

The painting of the Vongola First Generation seemed to stare down at Ryohei, with those half-lidded eyes a soft amber glow.

☀

Reborn strolled the streets of Sicily with his hands in his pockets and his eyes turned heavenward, watching the stars dot the night sky.

He was bored. Usually, at this time of night when the urge burnt his heels, Reborn would galavant his way across town to that red building on the corner, and slip into that second-storey apartment where Ryohei’s window was always aglow in the dark, no matter the hour. But, Reborn had already passed that window tonight. It was dark and dull, no spark in the night. The Sun wasn’t home.

Instead, Reborn found Ryohei on some lonely bench, sitting in the bloom of a streetlamp, his head tilted back as if to bask in that honey-yellow light.

Reborn crossed the distance, watching the rise and fall of his chest, each controlled, measured breath. His hands were loose in his lap, his feet were pressed into the earth. Ryohei was meditating, utterly still in the night.

Reborn loomed, a long, lanky figure dressed in black from hair to toe.

Warm brown eyes cracked open, and Reborn got to witness, up close, the moment Ryohei’s expression softened, and his eyes lit up like he was looking directly into the midday sun. Reborn stared at the reaction, soaking it in.

Then he let his lips curl, hands behind his back as he bowed from the waist and observed Ryohei, letting his eyes rake the man’s whole figure.

“You look like you could use a drink.”

Ryohei let out a short puff of a laugh, “Yeah, I probably do!”

The bar was a shady hole-in-the-wall, with more class than deserved for a pub of Mafia goons. But Reborn wasn’t here to be gawked at, and this particular bar had no shortage of booths and nooks for those paranoid Mafia men to squirrel themselves into.

Reborn picked two seats at the far end of the bar, well soaked in shadow where the dull ambient light didn’t reach. They settled on their stools and Reborn ordered them a drink: two whiskeys, neat, leave the bottle.

The bartender didn’t need to be told twice.

Reborn rested his elbows on the bartop and fingered the rim of his glass, watching the amber liquid ripple and stir at his touch.

Ryohei slammed his cup down on the table with a puff of a sigh. Reborn blinked. Ryohei had just taken a generous helping of neat whiskey like a shot.

“That hits the spot,” Ryohei groaned, “A good burn.”

Reborn huffed and took a sip, feeling it bite his lips and sting his palate. Ryohei poured himself another glass and Reborn realised one bottle wasn’t going to be enough as Ryohei drank it down like water.

Reborn shrugged and did the same, tipping his head back as he took easy gulps.

Suns were notorious for their alcohol tolerance, and a Sun of Reborn’s size, let alone Ryohei’s? They’d be stone-cold sober by dawn. Their Sun would burn it out of their system within hours.

It took an unethical amount of liquor to get Reborn drunk.

But with how fast Ryohei was drinking straight, neat whiskey, he might get close to it tonight.

Ryohei hummed and played with his cup for a bit, watching the light warp through the glass, the two of them quietly drinking their way through another bottle. The bartender resolutely did not look in their direction.

“What happened with the Vongola?‘ Reborn asked, putting his cup down on the table and tried to breathe through the burn in his throat even as Ryohei continued to drink like a fish.

Ryohei’s lips were still pressed to the glass when a pouting frown formed.

“They wanted me to join or something.”

Reborn glanced at him. Being asked to join by the Vongola was no joke, but being asked by the Boss? You’d be set for life—practically political immunity within the Mafia.

“What did you say?” Reborn asked, stirring the contents of his cup.

Ryohei shrugged, “Said no. I don’t really wanna get involved with, you know, Families anymore.”

Reborn took another long drink.

“Families are a messy business,” he agreed. “All those loyalty ties, bargains and politics. All too restricting for my tastes.”

Ryohei hummed in acknowledgement, but not true agreement.

“I didn’t mind that part honestly. It wasn’t too hard to figure out.”

“Oh?” Reborn eyed him as Ryohei finished off his glass, and the last of their second bottle wordlessly. The bartender offered them another, and Reborn inclined his head in thanks as their glasses were refilled.

Ryohei grabbed the bottle and poured them more, topping up their glasses until the whiskey nearly rolled over the edge.

“Did you have to deal with politics a lot in your old Family?”

Ryohei seemed to wince and swallowed half the glass in a single singing gulp. But, Reborn saw, even those winces were slowing down. Nearly two whole bottles of whiskey within half an hour dredging Ryohei’s nerves.

Even Suns took a while to burn off that much so fast.

“Yeah, a bit. I mean, I wasn’t their foreman, but I can be charming!”

Reborn let out a chuckle.

“Yes, very charming,” he purred, and Ryohei, bless his soul, beamed at the praise.

Then Ryohei tipped the other half of his whiskey into his mouth and swallowed with revel, like that burn comforted him as it traced a line down his throat, chest and pooled in his belly. Ryohei sighed and relaxed, that whiskey finally melting his muscles and the tensions with it.

Again, Ryohei poured himself another cup. Reborn couldn’t remember the last time he drank so much in one sitting. Where his belly felt warm with whiskey, and his head felt cloudy from the heat the man beside him gave off as, one glass at a time, the two worked through five bottles of neat.

Ryohei laughed as Reborn complained about his eyesore of a Hawaiian shirt and, not for the first time, tried to convert Ryohei to the wonderful world of solid and cohesive colour schemes.

“But I like my shirts!” Ryohei said, pulling at his collar to see the pink flamingos on blue skies. “And colours always go together! I knew this guy who had, like, three different hair colours and a whole uniform! And they pulled it off great!”

“I do not wish to meet this person,” Reborn said flatly and all Ryohei did was giggle.

“Damn, they were great. My first proper Mafia fight too! They really broke me in,” Ryohei recalled almost wistfully, and Reborn saw him gently rub his left hand, running his thumb along the knuckles.

Ryohei’s hands were covered in scars. Each a tally of the battles he had fought.

“Your first? Popped your cherry, did they?” Reborn chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “What, did you get roped into a turf war or something?”

“Nah, inheritance issues,” Ryohei shrugged, then he smiled, a soft, bitter thing that made Reborn keenly aware of how much alcohol Ryohei had drunk that night. “That was when I was brought into the Family, when I was made their Sun. I fought for them on the first night, no one knew what was coming. We had never had to deal with something like that before.”

Ryohei took a gulp from his cup, then snorted so hard he nearly coughed the liquor back up.

“My Boss,” he started, voice thick with humour, “He had a huge crush on my little sister. The completely-lose-your-cool kind. I didn’t realise it at the time, but thinking back on it, the poor bastard probably could have used someone to tell him ‘hey, she’s a lesbian’. Probably would have saved him, like, three years of his life.”

He took another drink, and smiled when Reborn gave a pitying scoff.

Ryohei emptied his cup and opened his mouth. He grinned and kicked his feet under the counter as he talked, voice all grumbley with whiskey as he told Reborn about his Family — and his family. He told Reborn about their trips to the beach, the stupid games they played at sleepovers. How they had trained together, bled together. Learned about everything life had to offer — one way or another.

“I sat them down one day, got everyone on the roof,” Ryohei giggled, yet another glass in hand. “Spent the whole of lunch giving them The Talk. God, their faces! It took all lunch because they kept screaming! But the teacher said it was important, so I needed to tell them!”

Reborn snickered into his cup and had to put it down, the true and pure earnestness in Ryohei’s voice utterly tickling Reborn. He had turned in his seat during the regaling, watching Ryohei and all the information he had been spilling.

All of it careful, not a single name dropped, not a single detail unobscured. A perfect omitter.

Ryohei laughed with him and threw his head back as he drained another glass. Then his laughter faded off, his smile lingering even as that slow, loneliness started to seep out. That weight he seemed to always carry, could never burn off, floated to the top of the bottle.

“I miss them,” he said, voice suddenly low and bitter-sweet. “I wish I hadn’t hurt them.”

Reborn leant his elbow on the counter and listened.

“I wish I had been right for them.” He took a long breath that shuddered down his throat, “I knew I didn’t quite, you know, fit in the set. It wasn’t Boss’ fault, he didn’t know. He’d never had a Harmony before. None of them had.” He reached up and rubbed his jaw, “We didn’t know what we were getting into. We were just following what we were being told to do.”

Reborn frowned.

“Boss — He had this tutor. The most extreme man I ever met. He was the one who brought us together. He—” Ryohei coughed, “He chose me in a pinch. They ran out of time, they needed a Sun to fight. I was nearby.”

“It’s not his fault either, though. That tutor thought he was doing the right thing, the best he could work with but… But I just wish I was the Sun they needed. The Sun they deserved.” Ryohei bowed his head and laid both his hands on the back of his nape. “I burnt them, Reborn. I burnt them, for years, from the inside out. My family, my little brothers and sisters. They were so tired of the heat.”

“What complete and utter bullshit.”

Ryohei blinked and pulled his head up, looking at Reborn with a confused wrinkle to his brow. Reborn sat on his stool, arms crossed and a severe frown on his face that spoke of several different kinds of pissed and indignation.

“That tutor is an absolute idiot,” Reborn continued, his cheeks flushed with whiskey and his arms heavy even as he pointed at Ryohei. “He didn’t take into account what could be coming, and made you suffer for it? He didn’t manage his time well enough, so he went ahead and grabbed anyone off the street to force a Harmony! Did he not realise, or was he just willfully ignorant that you can’t just stuff a bunch of boys into a room and expect them to create a sustainable Harmony? Jesus Christ, he fucking forced a Harmony.”

Reborn pressed his hand to his face like he was reeling. Then he ripped his hand away and glared full force again.

“As a tutor, he should have seen the damage he was doing not just to you, but the whole Harmony! You were obviously too big for that Sky! For that Set! How did he not see!?”

Reborn reached out and grabbed Ryohei by that unbearable, flamingo print Hawaiian shirt, and said in a voice that gave no room for doubt, “It was not your fault. It’s not your ex-Sky’s fault. It’s that stupid fucking tutor’s fault. If anyone burnt your family, it was the man who put them in the line of fire.”

Ryohei stared at Reborn, hanging off every word said even as they pounded his ears like an assault. He swallowed, collar tight against the side of his throat in Reborn’s fist.

Ryohei looked upon Reborn’s face, flushed with alcohol and righteous anger.

Ryohei laughed. And laughed. A loud and deep laugh that bubbled from the belly and pulled at his cheeks. He saw his vision blur, tears stung the corners of his eyes. His head felt hazy, his shoulders felt light.

He wheezed and let his head fall back, laughter bubbling over as the warmth of whiskey and something that rang so close to closure mixed hot in his belly. Ryohei felt warm to the core.

Reborn stared upon Ryohei’s face, laughing from the belly, loud and clear and utterly lighting up that corner of their dark, murky Mafia bar with sunlight and glow. Reborn swore he could feel the wooden bartop under his hands warp from the heat, his cheeks flushed like he was basking in a summer’s midday.

Reborn stared upon Ryohei, and realised the feeling that bloomed in his stomach, that scorched paths down his back like melted wax. He breathed in, and felt the air scorch his lungs and feed that undeniable realisation—

Reborn was falling in love with Ryohei Sasagawa.

But before he could cringe, before fate allowed Reborn even a chance to flinch back from the blaze that lit under his heart at the moment of horrible clarity, the dawning of this thunderstrike, Ryohei leant forward. Ryohei leant towards Reborn, inches away, with eyes brighter than the sun and a grin that could ignite a horizon. This man was tipsy and powerful as he leant over Reborn, those yellowing wall sconces haloing him as he said the words that would damn Reborn to an eternity of wax between his fingers and sun in his eyes—

“I’m going to raid the Vindice! Wanna come with?”

And Reborn felt it, the moment it was welded into place. The moment, with a promise of unrivalled chaos and near stupid endeavour, that Reborn realised that he was falling. Falling in love with Ryohei. That he, Reborn, was going to be in the fiery pits of tar and feather of love whether he liked it or not.

This man who burnt brighter than the sun itself would not settle for being a passing interest, or a momentary blip in the grand scheme. Ryohei would not be a footnote in Reborn’s story, a side character in his legendary anthology. Ryohei would blaze bright, front and centre. His epic, his supernova. His Icarian Sun.

Reborn gazed upon Ryohei, who called for another round of whiskey and drank that liquid fire without a flinch. Reborn swallowed and felt wax burnt his oesophagus.

He was going to chase this sun, fly high and reach for it until his fingertips burnt black and gold and he could feel the grind of stardust between his teeth. He would follow this glow, this heat, this feeling, wherever it took him, see the world bathed in this man’s light.

And if he crashed and burnt? If one day Reborn heard the rush of wind in his ears and felt the scorch of his skin? If this love of his burnt him alive and left him brokenhearted and black with ash?

Then it would be a hell of a story to tell. A turning point in his legendary anthology. A dramatic odyssey of love and loss befitting the World’s Greatest Hitman.

Because Reborn was nothing if not an Icarus.

And if Reborn was going to burn, he was going to be blinding.

#sasagawa ryohei #reborn #fanfiction #khr #leftnotright #ao3 #fix it fic #khr rare pair #proof apollo wear hawaiian shirts #time travel fic

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jewishbarbies · 1 year

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Taylor changed her story regarding the Famous song back in 2106 MULTIPLE times. But yes I'm pretty sure her initial reaction was to act like she'd been blindsided by the song. I'll never understand why Taylor played it like that. If she'd just admitted that her and K*yne had had a conversation about the lyrics but that she'd never found out what the finished lyrics about her were or indeed heard the completed song in advance then everyone would have been on her side and K*m wouldn't have had a leg to stand on.

That whole mess really is a case of "multiple things can be true at once" because it goes without saying that K*yne and K*m are terrible people, K*yne in particular is a disgusting excuse for a human being, but it's also true hat Taylor 100% used that situation to further her "innocent white women who is the victim of the big bad black man" narrative that she'd been milking since the original "imma let you finish" thing at the VMA's all those years ago.

And personally I don't think that if the FULL conversation had been released back in 2016 it would have vindicated Taylor anywhere near as much as it did 4 years later. Because 4 years later K*yne had well and truly gone off the deep and had very few defenders left while Taylor managed to tone down so much of what everyone was annoyed at by the summer of 2016.

yeah, waiting so long really did help her case, and it only adds to my theory that it was probably one big PR stunt. either they did it together or they did it separately, but the whole thing feels very orchestrated and fake.

taylor relies too much on her PR team telling her what to do, and usually the instruction is to deny everything, then minimize it as you can moving forward. it’s only ever worked out for her because of her rabid fans.

#Asks #anonymoose #anti taylor swift #swifties dni

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streets-in-paradise · 5 months

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𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅...🙈🖤🌌𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒖?💞

Ohh i feel you!

I'm slowly getting the feeling again, and that's a lot to say. In my case, all the revisionism i'm seeing about the franchise is getting me in the mood for Thor.

I backed away back when Ragnarok was released because I loved phases 1 and 2 Thor and prefered the tone of those first films while the fandom massively gravitated towards the new one. It kinda felt like there wasn't space for me anymore, since people who preferred the old films were looked down back then, so i abandoned. I haven't touched anything Thor in years, not because I ever stopped loving him, but due to how the Thor of later entries didn't feel like him to me anymore.

So now that Thor 4 has crashed and people are becoming more critical of the last two films, i'm slowly getting back.

( Vindication for original Thor fans lol)

Regarding life? I'm fine, overworked with college things but relatively fine.

How are you?

#asks #messages #anti thor ragnarok #tagging just in case

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thequeenofmyownscreen · 1 year

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Nineteen things I noted about CR2E123 “Fair-weather Faith” and the Talks Machina about it :

I'm not apologizing for this post, the episode was 5 hours and 24 minutes long !

The fact that we had, almost back-to-back, a moment where Beau was like "No ! Don't pour acid on my hand ! I need my hand for... like, stuff... Combat !!", and a moment later, this gem : Ashley : "I'm going to grab Beau's hand and just start just trying to rub it [the eye] off." Laura, with her 14-year-old adolescent mind : *snickers* Ashley : "Just rub one out real quick !"

Travis, overjoyed at this turn of events, in vindication : "Ah, this is great ! Who's having the fucked-up dreams now, huh ??"

I'm crying with laughter, they are so FERAL, they went from "let's cast Greater Restoration" to "maybe the only solution is cutting off their heads !!" while also doing "let's pour acid on the eye on the hand !" and "maybe if we cut the hand and grow it back ?" !! Poor Beau is having the worst night.

Ashley's "I rolled a dragon !! I'm sorry !!" was entirely too cute.

Ooooooh, the Beau-Jester team up was HOT. Bonus, Sam, having a flashback to CR1 : "Dimension Dooring to a dragon ? That sounds like a terrible idea."

This fight is awesome because a) I fucking love dragons b) they are learning a lot about how Lucien & Co work in battle !

The image of both Otis and Veth trying to hide behind Fjord (who is... a half-orc, yes, but not that massive) while they're bickering is so hilarious.

Jester cast Heal on Fjord, true love, babyyyyyyyy ! Caduceus : "That feels good, doesn't it ?" Jester, not convinced at all : "Def' !... whatever..."

Ashley 'Pool Hall' Johnson : "I summoned this bitch, AND WE'RE GOING TO END HER !!"

Me, after this fight versus an ancient white dragon, when Matt calls for break : "well, this was dangerous but fun !" Also me, remembering the total length of the episode and knowing that most episodes of CR that are that long tends to end up in tears and bone-deep anxiety : "... cool... So THAT WASN'T the thing I should be worried about ??"

OTIS STOLE THE FUCKING BAG OF HOLDING DURING THE FIGHT WITH THE DRAGON when they were hiding behind Fjord. I hate them !!!! But also, respect.

me, 5 seconds later : "Oh yeah I understand the runtime now"

Liam, about Taliesin's former character (Lucien) attacking Taliesin's current character (Caduceus) : "That is a man going down on himself !" You would know, mister Liam 'I was once so agile I publicly bragged on my podcast with my best friend that I could have sucked my own dick' O'Brien

You know it's bad when the DM almost say "I would consider getting out of here" to his players

Caleb Counterspelled a Counterspell that Counterspelled a Slow spell, oh my god this fight !!!! I can't believe it will see that animated

Sam : "Remember when I said I didn't want it to end ?... I want it to end now, I want it to be over !" That's the mood though. This fight was harrowing, because the Mighty Nein were at a disadvantage from the beginning, and the Tomb Takers were out for blood, they even prevented them to escape !

They took 5 minutes of Talks to drag Sam's mustache (fair). Then, Brian made some great comments throughout the show : "You look like if Tim Curry moved to Nantucket to become a sommelier", "Before you go to your audition for Gang of Newark...", "tell us more, Tony Shalhoub character guest spot", "that mustache looks like my garbage disposal when it's malfunctioning"

Sam goes on a rant about how he hates the inherent Luck halflings have, and it's glorious.

At this point in time, Liam reveals he chose Sam's next character class/race combo, and that Sam has accepted it. I do wonder if Sam abided by those choices, or he changed it for Campaign 3. Since we don't have Talks anymore, and I don't think they answered that kind of question on 4 Sided Dive, I don't know...

#my thoughts #critical role #cr campaign 2 #CR2E123

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tolerateit · 2 years

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i had a friend breakup 5 years ago, me vs two bffs. tried to have a Conversation with one of them 4 months later (after summer break), but we both doubled down. the other one i didn't talk to for a year, until we had our Conversation and were able to get past it. she was friends with both of us for a while, but i recently found out she is no longer friends with the first girl, which makes me feel so vindicated. the breakup with that first friend haunted me for so long and completely shot my self esteem, but knowing the second friend sees our friendship as worth fighting for and the other friendship as disposable was immensely healing. for those of you going through similar shit - things have a way of getting right, i swear.

things!! have a way!! of getting right!!

#you ask for the tab*

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californiaprelawland · 2 years

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Twibel

By Noah Stark, University of California, Davis Class of 2022

May 29, 2022

The early days of the internet drove a need for a series of court cases and laws to clarify how existing policies were to be applied or modified to remain applicable in the digital age. Copyright, fair-use, and libel are among the many topics debated in the context of rapid and quite anonymous sharing of information. Surprisingly, Grammy and Golden Globe-nominated singer and actress Courtney Love would lead a landmark case which was centered around the intersection of Twitter posts and defamation. Affectionately coined as “Twibel” (Twitter’s “tweet” combined with the legal action of libel), Love’s case was one of the first — and a very high-profile case at that — to go to trial. [1] Twitter is not a newspaper, yet individuals or corporations can make statements and publish materials that have the potential to reach massive audiences. Holmes, et al. v. Love (2016) helped set the precedent that courts use today when deciding whether or not statements one makes on the internet qualify as libel.

In 2008, Courtney Love hired attorney Rhonda Holmes to help investigate “missing funds from the estate of Kurt Cobain, Love’s late husband.” [2] For a variety of reasons, the two parted ways less than a year later, with each privately (and later publicly) accusing the other of inappropriate behavior — such as Love refusing to return calls, and accusations of substance abuse. Then, in June of 2010, Love tweeted:

“@noozjunkie I was f**king [sic] devastated when Rhonda J Holmes Esq of San Diego was bought off @fairnewsspears perhaps you can get a quote” @CourtneyLoveUK [3],

Which was subsequently deleted from Love’s twitter page, as she claimed she had mistaken the public tweet for a direct message. The message was already made public — and therefore effectively permanent due to the nature of the internet — so Holmes was made aware of the publicized claim Love had put on the internet for everyone to see. Regardless of Love’s intentions, and if the tweet truly was intended as a private message, the damage had been done. So, Holmes sued Love for libel. According to Cornell Law School’s definition, libel is a form of defamation “expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that is injurious to a person's reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business or profession.” [4] While the tweet certainly could be seen as harmful to Holmes’s reputation by indicating that she was bought off by a third-party — the questions nonetheless centered around Love’s intentions.

Courtney Love tried to get the motion thrown out, “claiming that she should not be held accountable for her statements on Twitter because hyperbole and sensational language are normal and to be expected on social media.” [5] This was unsuccessful. At trial, Love used ignorance of Twitter and computers in her defense — how could she have intended for everyone to see the tweet if she had no knowledge it was to be made public? Her defense was in the fact she quickly deleted the tweet, after realizing it was not a part of a private conversation. After “eight days of testimony and statements” the jury found Love innocent. [6] The jury “determined that although Love’s statement had a natural tendency to injure Holmes’ business, they did not believe she knew the statement was false” — with the intention serving as the crux of determining guilt. If Love had no intention of harming Holmes’s reputation or business, then she could not be charged with libel. Additionally, Holmes’s team saw their own victory despite the jury ruling in favor of Love. During the trial, the court found that Love’s original statement — which tarnished Holmes’s reputation — was in fact, false! Both parties walked away from the trial feeling at least somewhat vindicated. But the message sent in Holmes, et al. v. Love will not be limited to disputes between people over a mistweeted message. Future posts which disparage another will be subject to the same legal analysis that was seen in Holmes. This is important, as more of cultural dialogue is posted to the internet — intentionally. Making claims that can be seen as false or libelous on Twitter is currently allowed. Unless future cases make their way up to higher courts, and see different judgments, it is likely that one can make false claims online — for now.

______________________________________________________________

Noah Stark has studied Political Science for 4 years at the University of California, Davis. He plans to attend law school in California in fall 2022, with the intention of becoming an appellate lawyer.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Feicht, Roger W. “Twibel: The Intersection Of Twitter And Libel.” Florida Bar Journal 90, no. 8 (2016): 32. https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/twibel-the-intersection-of-twitter-and-libel/.

[2] Knoll, Corina. “Singer-Actress Courtney Love Wins landmark Twitter Libel Case.” LA Times. California Times, January 24, 2014. https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2014-jan-24-la-me-love-libel-20140125-story.html.

[3] Love, Courtney (@CourtneyLoveUK). “@noozjunkie I was ... devastated when Rhonda J Holmes Esq of San Diego was bought off @fairnewsspears perhaps you can get a quote.” Twitter, June 2010.

[4] “Libel.” Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School, Accessed May 24, 2022. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/libel.

[5]Feicht, Roger W. “Twibel.”

[6] Knoll, Corina. “Singer-Actress Courtney Love.”

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testudoaubrei-blog · 3 years

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Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won��t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend.

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did.

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way.

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina). Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

#she ra #she ra spoilers #she ra adora #spop #catradora #she ra netflix #she ra and the princesses of power #goat ship #long #meta

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leftnotright · 10 months

Text

PROOF APOLLO WEARS HAWAIIAN SHIRTS

“The Tri-Ni-Sette machine is failing. The world will die.”

“We can’t do anything going forward. Going backwards, however, is another matter.”

Ryohei had his mission: To go back. To before the most recent Arcobaleno Curse, to before the slaughter of the Simone. To before the Tri-Ni-Sette System finally gave out. Ryohei was used to loss, in the ring and in life. But this time, he promises, he’ll win.

Reborn had his mission: Get in this man’s pants, or die trying. After all, Reborn was nothing if not an Icarus.

(Or: The ‘size matters’ fic)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

CHAPTER 3: I AM A COLLAPSING STAR WITH TUNNEL VISION

Ryohei stood among the trees, alight with florals and fresh sproutlings. A forest in the midst of Spring time — so far from the Autumnal colours of…thirty years from now.

Ryohei swallowed his panic and took a large breath, tasting the warm air and let it settle inside him. And let the knowledge that it was over now settle along with it. He was, once again, a Sun without a Sky.

Again.

His Sun flickers in his chest like a solar flare, a single spire of golden light reaching out, out, out— And it felt nothing. No atmosphere to hold it, nothing to reach back to keep it together. No greeting, no welcome, no Home.

Again.

The Sun was Skyless Again. He had tried, so hard, to be right. He had tried to be small, tried to be something they could cradle in their Skies and hold in their Harmony. And he had to leave, again. Had to love and lose again. Ryohei had to leave his Home again-

Enough. Ryohei had had enough. Of loving and losing. Of being welcomed Home and then being forced to leave, lest he burn those inside.

No more. No more leaving Home. No more Skies. No more Harmony.

Ryohei took another breath, taking in the sunkissed air and the life it brought to the world around him. He breathed it all in, letting his chest and stomach expand with it — and felt his Sun swell within him. Sun bloomed from within him, breaking those learnt restraints of Harmony that begged him to be smaller, begged him to be more palatable.

Sun stretched and Ryohei stretched with it, raising his arms up and bending his back. Every muscle seemed to activate at once, pulling and warming and feeling alive. He felt his blood warm and his hair stand on end as everything filled and grew, Flames roaring free and high.

No more Harmony. No more small Suns.

Ryohei took one final breath and recentred, feeling his Flames relax into place, light and refreshed for the first time since...Since before Kyoko. He rubbed his chest absently and turned his eyes to the greenery of Spring around him.

He had a job to do. One last mission as their Big Brother. It was time to get busy.

“I need to find the Vindice,” Ryohei murmured to himself and squinted up at the sun. “I have no idea where their base is…”

Ryohei put his hands on his hips and hummed loudly to himself, wondering how to go about this. He really hadn't thought of this.

Mukuro would track them down somehow, probably involve himself in some great information network to figure out where the Vindice would pop up next.

Ryohei frowned a bit and rubbed his nape. That seemed hard and tedious. Ryohei didn't think he had the patience for something that long-winded.

“How do I get their attention then?” He whined and looked off to the side. “Ooh nice flower.”

Tsuna was always the one who dealt with Bermuda. As far as Ryohei was aware, Bermuda just showed up sometimes at the Headquarters like Bermuda knew when he was wanted or needed by the Vongola Don.

He supposed that made sense. ‘Cause weren’t the Vindice meant to be able to tell when there was an Omerta breach? Like some kind of Mafia “Big Brother” sort of deal?

Ryohei tilted his head. Well, if they were as all-knowing as they said they were then… Maybe he didn’t need to find them. Worth a shot.

Ryohei planted his feet solidly on the earth he had been plotted upon by the time machine, cupped his hands around his mouth and let his chest swell with air.

“HEY! BERMUDA VON VECKENSCHTEIN! BERMUDA VON VECKENSCHTEIN! BERMUDA VON VECKENSCHTEIN!” Ryohei bellowed out into the world, feeling like he was doing a tongue-twister. “BERMUDA! HEY! HEY! VINDICE CAN YOU HEAR ME!? I GOTTA TALK TO YA 'BOUT THAT WHOLE TRI-NI-SETTE CURSE, CAN YOU COME HERE FOR A SECOND!? BERMUDA!? VINDICE!? BERMUDA VON VECK—”

The warm Spring light of the clearing was disturbed by a patch of thick darkness and a chain lashed out from within.

Ryohei choked on his shout and stepped out of the way as three others reached for him again. More chains shot out and buried themselves into the earth, taught, tight and clinking against each other as that darkness swallowed more and more of the forest treeline.

Slowly, bodies began to emerge from the murky haze. Bandaged and broken, they dragged themselves through by those chains. A pungent, rotting smell hit Ryohei in the back of his throat and stuck there like molasses as he tried to breathe in sun-warmed air again.

The Vindice were here.

“Who are you to call upon us?” One spoke with a voice like sandpaper, raspy and cold.

“Who are you to utter his name?” Another hissed.

“Who are you to—”

“Name’s Ryohei!” Ryohei introduced happily, looking around at the small group of Vindice that had appeared, five in total. “I need to talk to your Boss, is Bermuda around? Or Jaeger? Jaeger works too.”

The five Vindice stood silently, each regarding Ryohei with some kind of cautious annoyance. Then they all turned slightly to the one who spoke first. That Vindice slowly stepped towards Ryohei, appearing to float on air and without the slightest sound of a footfall.

“What business do you have?” They asked with their hoarse voice.

“I gotta talk to Bermuda about the Arcobaleno Curse,” Ryohei answered readily.

All heads turned on a dime to Ryohei. He resisted the urge to flinch. Ah, that might not have been the most sensitive of ways to go about that. The Curse was a sore spot for the Vindice.

Ryohei shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, half out of habit and half out of instinct, feeling the charge in the air.

Then one turned and let the darkness swallow them up, disappearing from sight into that void.

Left standing with four of the Vindice, Ryohei idly started to sway on the spot, looking around the place. He had never been good at standing still and waiting, and having the Vindice mere metres from him didn’t seem to stop that habit.

“So,” Ryohei began absently, kicking up some dirt. “How’re you guys? How’s work?”

The Vindice didn’t answer.

“That good huh?” He muttered.

Ryohei reached for his Ring to run his thumb along the edges of the Sun jewel, a mindful, repetitive motion — His fingers found bare skin. Ryohei bit the inside of his cheek and put his arms behind his back. Out of sight, out of mind.

The dark space began to move again, shifting and shaping like something alive. All Vindice stood to attention, two to each side.

Ryohei straightened his back and shook his head to scramble those thoughts. They’d do him no good now — now he needed to concentrate. He had his mission.

In a rush, that acrid stench renewed. The scent of rot and death, this time underlaid with a kind of damp that came on a cool night. It was almost cold to breathe in. Ryohei resisted the urge to hold his breath.

Bodies came pouring out of that dark void, one after another until the clearing was lined with Vindice of damaged bodies and bandaged limbs. Their cloaks seemed to swallow the fading light of the evening, dark masses of tatter and tear nearly floating like wraiths before him.

Ryohei tried not to react to how they slowly started to surround him, ringing the man with their line. He wasn’t going anywhere until they were done with him.

“So, this is the one who was screaming earlier,” came a dry voice, wrangled by a childish pitch. “To call upon the Vindice so brazenly. I don’t know if you’re brave, or just foolish.”

“More likely the latter, sir,” a gravelly voice chipped in, low and raspy.

Jaeger stepped out from the dark portal, a single eye peering out from his bandaged face and glared at Ryohei with such an intense suspicion. He wasn’t the one Ryohei regarded, however, despite his imposing height and presence. It was the baby-sized being, sitting lightly on his shoulder, that drew Ryohei’s attention.

After so many years, Ryohei had forgotten how small the Arcobaleno were. Drained down in both Flame and form.

Bermuda von Veckenschtein was tiny. Only made more so by Jaeger’s towering figure. But it was his Flame, fueled by the humiliation and fury of his state that burnt and blistered — it reminded Ryohei that Bermuda was not a simple baby. And that size, in this situation, did not matter.

Okay, he thought to himself, don’t fuck this up Ryohei.

“Hi Bermuda!”

Somewhere down the line, a Vindice twitched.

“Sorry to call you out like that, but I’ve got something extreme to tell you,” Ryohei began, trying to fight the nervous energy that made him want to pace while he spoke.

Bermuda didn’t respond, and silently, impatiently waited for Ryohei to continue.

“Speak quickly,” Jaeger warned and Ryohei rubbed the back of his nape in a nervous habit. “We do not have time to entertain you.”

“Fair!” Ryohei agreed, and reached into his jacket.

It was deceptively small. The cure to the Arcobaleno Curse, the cure to the stripping of the Tri-Ni-Sette System. The saviour of the world, condensed down into four hand-written notebooks and a large page of blueprints, folded and folded again down to match their size. All of this was placed inside an envelope. The cure to the world fit inside Ryohei’s breast pocket.

“I’ve been sent to help you end the Arcobaleno curse,” Ryohei said, extending the small, beige package towards Bermuda. “And save the Tri-Ni-Sette System from breaking down.”

There was a ripple in the crowd.

This was a bold claim, Ryohei knew that. He also knew that Bermuda was glaring at him with a mixture of enmity and confusion.

Tsuna had once asked how old Bermuda was, ‘a few centuries’ was his answer. Ryohei had no doubt that Bermuda had combed the globe once, twice — hell, hundreds of times over to try and find a cure, an end to this Curse.

Ryohei wasn’t the smartest man out there, but he knew he was lucky to still be breathing.

“You don’t believe me, I get that,” Ryohei continued, keeping his voice even. Bermuda hadn’t moved even once, not a shift of the shoulders or the twitch of the hand. “But, please, at least look at these. They were written and designed by the smartest men I have ever met; entrusted to me for you.”

There was a moment more of stillness. No Vindice moved, waiting for Bermuda’s call. Bermuda continued to stare at Ryohei, like a small gargoyle upon Jaeger’s shoulder.

Ryohei was still holding up the thick envelope, and had been for nearly a full minute now. He kept it out, offering, waiting. He knew how scary a supposed ‘easy out’ was. And to Bermuda, it must have sounded too good to be true.

So Ryohei waited. It was up to Bermuda now.

After what felt like hours, but must have been only minutes of deliberation, Bermuda’s voice came, sharp and gritted.

“Bring it to me.”

A Vindice stepped forward and reached for the package. Ryohei handed it over without fuss, but watched it, eyes like a hawk, as it made its way across the clearing and to Jaeger’s awaiting hand.

Ryohei had to be ready. If things took a turn and Bermuda decided he didn’t trust Verde’s Machine, he needed to be fast to take that information back.

Jaeger unpacked the thick envelope, turning the stack of notebooks over in his hand before giving Bermuda the folded paper.

“You may want to see this,” Jaeger murmured under his breath.

Bermuda took the page and unfurled it.

“This is…” Bermuda continued to look through the blueprints, turning pages after page with interest. “This is surprising. And you’re sure this will work?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” Ryohei stated without missing a beat. It was designed by Verde and Talbot together. Nothing with that much mastery behind it could fail. “Those who made it are the best the world has ever seen. They won’t fail you.”

Bermuda looked over at Ryohei again, seeming to see him in a new light.

“It claims here that the Curse is using the wrong ‘fuel’,” Jaeger uttered, showing Bermuda the notebook he had been paging through. “What is the correct ‘fuel’ then?”

“It says it further in the notes,” Ryohei explained, knowing that Verde’s notes weren’t the most linear of instructions. “Sky Flames are too, uh, all over the place? We need Earth Flames. What better to care for Earth than Earth?”

“Earth Flames,” Bermuda repeated, “You know of the exiled Simone.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty good guys. And they’re the key to saving the System.”

Bermuda made a noise of acknowledgement and continued to look through the notebook handed off to him. Then he flipped it back shut and gave it to Jaeger to slide back into the envelope.

“We have nothing to lose,” Bermuda announced, “Very well. we will try this Tri-Ni-Sette Machine of yours. Thank you for bringing this to us.”

“That’s great!” Ryohei beamed.

The line of Vindice began to move, one after another filing into that still writhing portal to darkness.

Ryohei took another quick look to the clearing, seeing the exact spot his Family had been just…thirty years from now. He shook his head and turned forward again.

The last of the Vindice were leaving. Ryohei moved to follow them, taking his last breaths of sunshine before he would probably surrounded by that smell —

“This path is not for you,” a Vindice denied sharply, pushing Ryohei back.

“But the Machine—”

“We have the blueprints, and all the information we’ll need to complete its construction,” Jaeger huffed, still clutching the packet of notes. “We, the Vindice, will take it from here.”

“Make sure that Machine gets built! Please!”

Ryohei looked to Bermuda, “I need to be there when the Machine is being built.”

“Why?” Jaeger asked, “Do you possess an important component?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Then we do not need you.”

“No, I need to be there! My brothers, they said I—”

“Understand us,” Bermuda said, voice cutting through Ryohei’s. “We are thankful for you bringing this to us. If this works, we will be freed from a terrible Curse.” Then he turned his head towards Ryohei, regarding him through bandages. “The Vindice know this System best. We will take it from here.”

“No! No wait, my Family told me to—” Ryohei ran forward and reached out. His fingers grazed the edge of Jaeger’s coat.

The black portal dissipated like shadows suddenly cast in light, and Ryohei was left alone in that clearing.

“...make sure it gets built,” Ryohei finished quietly, his fist still extended out in front of him.

Ryohei stood there, staring at where the darkness had once occupied.

No. Shit, no, no, no this was bad. His Family had given him this job, he had taken this job, and they had trusted him to see it through! He had to be there when it was made, had to make sure it gets built.

“Vindice!” Ryohei bellowed, hearing the forest echo with his voice. “Vindice! Bermuda! I need to be there! Bermuda Von Vichtenstein! Bermuda! Bermuda! Bermuda!”

There was no answer. Ryohei was alone.

Ryohei needed to fix this.

☀

The Vindice were the arbiters of the Mafia. A great power that struck fear into the very hearts of the greatest among the ‘world-class’ criminals. They knew everything, heard everything. No one could get away with breaking their law, their Omerta.

And yet, Ryohei was out of luck.

Ryohei had walked through town idly chanting the names of all Vindice he could recall. He had casually mentioned Vindice-level secrets and brought up the Tri-Ni-Sette to more cashiers and little ol’ nonnas than he cared to admit — nothing dire, he didn’t want that on his hands.

Hell, Ryohei had given a group of kids a show of Flame! True, he had passed it off as a magic trick and had a lighter on him just in case. But still! The public use of Flames in a civilian environment would have had him in Vindicare before he could say ‘EXTREME’ in normal circumstances!

So it could only mean: the Vindice were ignoring him.

Ryohei had been ghosted by the Vindice.

He didn’t know what to do.

Ryohei sat on a bench in the middle of a bustling town square, just one of many faces. He had been here… days? Maybe a week? He really wasn’t sure.

His suit had been packed away in his suitcase, in desperate need of a wash. It had been too dark for him, always seeing that black cloth had only made his mood worse. He had needed to buy clothes anyway.

Ryohei, days ago now, had walked into a little second-hand op-shop on some quiet corner. He tried to not see echoes of Kyoko and Haru peering from between the racks. Those two girls loved to peruse the mismatched shelves of second-hand stores.

Ryohei only needed a few things, he only had one suitcase after all. And after wearing a suit for days, Ryohei just wanted to be comfortable for the rest of this mission — that would span the rest of his life.

Ryohei had grabbed two pairs of khaki shorts, and smiled when he saw their copious pockets, remembering Chrome always asking him to hold her stuff when she wore her pencil skirt.

There was a large basket full of singlets with faded graphics across the chest, ranging from ‘Coca-cola’ to some unidentifiable, niche Italian band. Ryohei sorted through a few and just stuffed them in his basket; they were only a few cents each. Inflation was a bitch.

With tops and bottoms sorted, Ryohei turned to head towards the counter, when, out of the corner of his eye, Ryohei caught sight of colour galore. Sandwiched between a line up of button down shirts, hung a small collection of maybe seven Hawaiian shirts, so bright and nearly blindingly colourful with their hibiscus and palm frond patterns.

Maybe it was the days in that dark, hot suit. Maybe it was his low mood. Maybe it was the need to separate the past, from future, from present.

Ryohei had taken all seven of them, the equivalent of 50c a piece. Inflation was a bitch.

Now, Ryohei sat on that little bench in the bustling town square, donned in his brightest Hawaiian shirt, a clash of pink hibiscus and green fronds, and tried to think.

He tried to think about how to fix this, how to get the Vindice to come back, how to get them to listen. He tried not to think about how alone he was. How lost he felt. Utterly lost.

He’s alone. Truly alone now. No risky payphone call home. No under-the-table information swap from the Vongola. No brief, passing glances of recognition.

This was nothing like those other missions. Ryohei was alone.

And he’s failed. Oh God, he failed.

He didn’t complete his mission right — yeah sure, he got it to the Vindice, but he was meant to be there. His family and Family, everyone, trusted him to be there.

God, what if Bermuda just decided not to follow through? What if he decided he’d do it later and Verde’s Machine was just sitting in some drawer.

All this work, all his sibling’s hope, his nephew’s future, all if it wasted! Because Ryohei failed.

Ryohei leant back on the bench and closed his eyes, hands clenched together in his lap.

Maybe Mukuro was right. Maybe Ryohei wasn’t the right person for the job. He had gotten ahead of himself, blinded by the idea of being more important than he was. A ‘big brother’ who could handle anything, solve any problem, help no matter the weight. Maybe he had thought too highly of himself.

Maybe, foolishly, selfishly, he thought this was the best way for him to go. Remembered, honoured, idealised. The man who stepped up and made the sacrifice.

And what a sacrifice he made. Everyone’s future in exchange for his memory.

Maybe he should have kept his head down, and instead of sacrificing himself to ensure that his Family never forgot him…Maybe he should have just let himself fade into obscurity, and let himself be replaced one aspect at a time.

“Um… Excuse me? Are you sleeping?”

Ryohei blinked his eyes open and looked down to see two little girls nervously standing together.

“We, uh, our ball rolled under you,” they said and pointed to his bench.

Ryohei lent forward and looked under him to see that, yes, there was a slightly deflated soccer ball just behind his feet. He must have been deep in his own head not to notice it.

“Here!” Ryohei smiled and handed the ball over the girls.

The one on the left reached for it, brushing her hair out of her face as she did. She shoved her hair behind her ear, and nearly as soon as she took her hand away, it fell back into her face.

Ryohei’s smile softened, seeing Kyoko’s stubborn face behind that hair before she had cut it off mid-Elementary. She had been so proud of the fact she could shake her head around without being blinded. Hana had been stubborn though and had twisted, tied and sprayed her hair into submission.

“Why don’t you tie your hair up?” Ryohei asked, as the girl kept fighting with her hair.

“Tie broke,” she answered softly, eating hair as she did.

Ryohei laughed as she spat it out with a frustrated grumble, her friend laughing too.

“Here,” Ryohei said and reached into one of his khaki pockets. “What’s your favourite colour?”

The girls leant over as Ryohei showed them a fistful of hair ties, all different colours and some intertwined with glitter. Chrome wasn’t the only one who often used Ryohei as a human pocket, Kyoko, Hana and Haru had joined her ranks and after years, Ryohei had long grown used to having an extreme surplus of hair ties in his pocket. These were just the ones he had emptied from his suit.

“Can I have the green one?” The little girl asked and Ryohei beamed at her.

“Go ahead, take a spare in case you lose it,” he said, and picked out another shade of green.

“Can I choose one?” Her friend asked and Ryohei showed her the selection.

“Thank you,” the girls chimed together and Ryohei smiled as he watched the girls tie up their hair with their new hair ties.

“Have fun, bye,” Ryohei waved.

Ryohei looked down at his hand, still full of hair ties. A mismatched collection from all his little sisters.

Ryohei shoved them into his pocket again, and took a huge breath in through his nose. Ryohei slapped his cheeks hard.

Someone walking passed hissed in sympathy.

This was no time to be an extreme bitch baby. He couldn’t second-guess himself now. He was in the ring, and there was no throwing in the towel. It was time to put his big brother pants on and figure out what to do next.

Ryohei got to his feet with a heave and stretched up high, trying to pull his way out of that spiralling mindset.

His mind was all fuzzy and he felt physically drained. He wasn’t in any state to try and make a plan, he knew that. Ryohei needed to centre himself somehow, to calm all that energy that was going into a depressive spiral.

“I need to meditate,” Ryohei said to himself, like an order.

Colonello had told him to find a touchstone. A kind of place where he could always return to reset himself. Collonello had chosen cliff faces, where he could see for miles and breathe in the salted air.

Ryohei had chosen churches. Where he could feel the weight of Knuckles’ legacy, and breathe the incense and candle light.

It wasn’t hard to find churches or chapels in Italy, even in the suburban town Ryohei had found himself in on the edges of Vongola territory.

It was quiet in the little chapel Ryohei found, with only one other person in the whole place. They were praying, almost frantically.

Ryohei chose to leave them to whatever qualms they had with God and chose a pew a respectful distance away.

Ryohei leant back in the pew and let out a long, slow breath, feeling the familiar atmosphere seep into his bones. Ryohei wasn’t a religious man, he had never been raised that way. But it was something about the atmosphere; the curling smoke of incense, the low crackle of candles, the way the light shifted as it came through stained glass. After so many years, churches felt like ‘calm’.

He was pretty sure Hana called that ‘Pavlov’.

Ryohei took his time tracing the designs in the large, circular stained glass window at the head of the chapel. It was probably a nod to Notre Dame, with its kaleidoscopic design.

Ryohei wondered if he’d ever have the patience to put together something like that. It must have taken forever—

The window shattered. A man sailed through. The familiar sound of gunshots.

Ryohei hit the ground between the pews, head down and eyes up, trying to figure out who had just crashed through that window and why.

“W-Wait, we’re not enemies! I’ve never done anything to you!” A man yelped.

Ryohei saw the man who had been praying before fall to the floor. He crawled back away with his hands, eyes frantic and looking up at whoever was hunting him.

“You know that isn’t how this works, Emiliano.”

The crunching of glass beneath the hitman’s shoes.

“I can pay you!”

“You couldn’t afford me.”

Ryohei’s breath was steady even as the last gunshot rang out, earsplitting and clear as a whistle. It rang through the halls of that little church.

The praying man hit the floor with a thud.

Ryohei needed to get out. He didn’t have time to get caught up with some hitman on a Don’s dime.

He braced himself, ready to move. The church didn’t have any cover, he’d have to make a run for it.

Ryohei measured his breaths, watching, listening for a queue.

The hitman stepped into sight.

Ryohei’s eyes widened, his breath stopped.

He knew that face. He knew that hat.

“Reborn,” Ryohei uttered, staring at the man in his prime.

Reborn’s head snapped around, dark eyes locking in on Ryohei from across the pews.

Ryohei stood, his legs bent. He needed to get out.

Reborn observed him, eyes flitting over his whole form in less than a moment. He seemed to be looking at something beyond Ryohei, both inside and around. Then, Reborn turned, a dark smile taking his face as he stepped over the cooling body of his hit.

“And who might you be?” Reborn asked.

Ryohei ran.

#khr #sasagawa ryohei #reborn #fanfiction #time travel #fix it fic #khr rare pair #leftnotright #ao3 #proof apollo wear hawaiian shirts

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mircallablue · 2 years

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After being made aware of the most recent Mighty Nein animated recap, which depicts Yasha as being the one who comforted Beau in Kamordah, @stomp-that-ho-regard brought up this old post of mine:

Posted February 22nd 2021. Once again, BeauJes shippers prove to be clairvoyant 💙 Anyway, vindicated ramblings under the cut.

Honestly, at this point, the entire ~BeauJester Situation~ is just fascinating to me. Not just what happened with that relationship, but what happened with the entirety of campaign 2 post hiatus. How and why the entire thing ended the way it did. Why there were literally hundreds of people, as late as episode 140, saying “Don’t worry, the campaign is nowhere near over, they have so many loose threads to tie up.” Meanwhile, BeauJes shippers were like “Oh yeah, we’ve known this was the last arc for like 30 episodes. We tried to warn you”. I just think it’s fascinating.

So, to me at least, it’s pretty obvious what went down and why:-

1.Critical Role made the decision to retcon Beaus feelings for Jester over the hiatus.

2.They did this so that Yasha could get together with Beau, and Fjord could get together with Jester.

3.Those things needed to happen to give Yasha and Fjords stories anything close to a satisfying conclusion.

4.Which they knew they didn’t have time for, because they wanted campaign 3 to start around the time that TLOVM came out.

What’s interesting about this is that, to some people, all of this will seem so crazy and insane, that you’d have to be delusional or mentally-ill to believe it. But to other people, it was all so obvious, even at the time, that you could use this information to correctly predict decisions that CR would make about an animated recap over a year later.

And look, I know it’s ~in vogue~ to say that BeauJes shippers who point out the retcon are mentally-ill, but like, looking at this animated recap, how were we wrong? They literally create retroactive continuity to downplay BJ and play up BY. In canon, when the M9 were in Kamordah, Jester was the main person supporting and comforting Beau, both with her dad and with the hag, and Marisha said as much out of game. Meanwhile, in canon, Yasha spoke to Beau the least out of anyone in the M9 while they were in Kamordah. But in the animated recap, Yasha is the only one that comforts Beau.

What is that if not a retcon? They are acting like things that didn’t happen, did happen, and vice versa. They imagine a new continuity in the past, and act like it’s true in the present. Retroactive Continuity. A Retcon. The reason BeauJes shippers could predict that this would happen over a year in advance is that they were doing it during the campaign.

That’s what “I fell in love with you in Kamordah” actually was. That’s what “I guess my feelings just kind of transferred (from Jester to Yasha over hiatus)” actually was. That’s what “There’s just always been something about you” actually was. That’s why Beau went from “I like her because she’s complicated and layered” to “Jester is just easy to lust after because she’s sparkly”. That’s why Veth never said “Hey Beau you just told me you had feelings for Jester, why are you throwing yourself at Yasha all of a sudden?”. That’s why the entire cast started giggling and singing love songs whenever Beau and Yasha so much as looked at each other, when they had never done that before.

That’s why the explicit, in-universe purpose for Beau and Yashas big date was to rewrite their own history. Yasha never stayed with Beau at the Nestled Nook, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha. Yasha never had black-moss cupcakes in Uthodurn with Beau, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha. Yasha never comforted Beau in Kamordah, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha.

If you're a BY shipper, aren't you at least a little insulted by this? The tacit admission from CR that canon BY is still so shit that it needs to outright steal and parody moments from another ship that CR actively spent 41 episodes killing?

Ok, I think I’m done. But I’ll end this with a screenshot of one of the other posts I made a few months before the one above.

#beaujester

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justiceleaque · 3 years

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Hey Leaque! I know you watched the new Justice League movie and I was around when you were doing the very first DC movie reviews back in the day. I would absolutely love a review of this one if you have the time :)

i've been a fan of Snyder's universe from day 1 so i understand this might be considered an off-balance review already, but i want to note that i didn't come in wanting the film to be good or willing to see it as good despite actual impressions. i wanted to watch it as the Justice League movie i was supposed to get back in 2017, the same one i was willing to not watch for years if it meant Zack Snyder got to finish his vision even later down the line

i was actually as neutral as i could possibly get because at this point i don't have any real emotional involvement in whether this version of the DCEU continues or not. WB execs have done some fucked up things with the treatment of the cast/ray fisher, so i take this as Snyder's DC trilogy and nothing more (which makes it bittersweet for me but that's a different topic)

heavy spoilers follow

it's incredibly comic book-like. i remember typing the exact same words back in the Dawn of Justice days: it doesn't read as a superhero film a la Marvel but as a comic book film. each frame could be a realistically painted comic book frame; the dialogues would fit freakishly well if they had to fit speech bubbles. the damn scene overlaps and changes are heavily reminiscent of a comic book. better yet: of a Justice League comic book. if you’re familiar with comic book events where big things happen and it affects everyone, this is how this reads

it’s a heavy film but it’s not hopeless. i’ve been seeing reviews pop-up already: “ZS’s Justice League film is twice as longe and twice as hopeless” is the maybe verbatim title of most articles. the one thing i kept thinking throughout these four hours is how much hope this is filled with. we’re dealing with a post-superman world that was shaken by the loss of a beloved superhero and you see batman, the #1 comic book superhero known for brooding and darkness and all things sad and bad, be the loudest, most hopeful person in the film, trying to get a team together to save the world, and later on being two steps from literally screaming that bringing back superman is what should happen no matter the cost because of his faith and hope in winning. did we watch the same film?

in the same vein, the 4 hours seem like a stretch until you realize each part has an actual purpose that introduces or ties in important aspects related to the film’s one purpose: take down Steppenwolf and Darkseid. i don’t believe any scene was wasted on useless information. it can get tiring in the way watching a shot tv series gets tiring: it does NOT get boring at any point

such wonderful character arcs. seeing each of the team’s personalities and quirks, the way they clash with each other, the way it makes it all work so goddamn beautifully. the way they click because they just keep interacting so much? Whedon’s cut didn’t give me a team, it gave me five different people in costume that were forced to sort of work in the same vicinity as each other. Snyder’s cut gave me a version of the Justice League that worked so flawlessly together by the end of the film it felt like a dance. felt like comic book page spreads

right before the epilogue they all pose together in the rising dawn, clark included, having won. super reminiscent of the JL cartoon intro. i cried a bit

J’ONN J’ONZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YOU KNOW THE AMOUNT OF SPECULATION ABOUT GENERAL SWANWICK BEING THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER BACK WHEN MAN OF STEEL WAS RELEASED???? VINDICATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

listen to me. i need to make this clear. listen. j’onn. j’onny boy. the way he’s designed and cgi’d..........the adorable frown............the kind smile......................his obvious need to make others feel better and to simply help......................i love him

his interaction with bruce only comes in the end and it’s super brief but seeing those two still not know how the hell each other works even in film format is hilarious. bruce having accepted aliens and magic and shit is the new norm after like 20 years of only having to deal with the joker attempting to rob neon green hair dyes or some shit is so much bigger of a character development than i ever expected, especially coming from BvS where he’s just a stupid fat-bat-carrying onion

i wasn’t a big fan of Suicide Squad’s joker portrayal but we get to see him at the end of the film while we’re seeing a possible future where lois lane has died and superman is best friends with darkseid playing tic-tac-antilife equation. Snyder somehow managed to turn jared leto into a disgustingly legit comic-faithful joker. dont’ ask me how

in the same scene they mention jason and his death

: - (

we see a few bits of some green lanterns in some scenes, one from the past and one from a possible ultra dark and edgy darkseid future. still convinced bruce simply willingly did not go looking for hal, which, fair

they cut out the fish joke bruce tells arthur when they first meet which immediately turns the whole film into a 1/10 for me

ben affleck’s bruce wayne and batman continue being my favorite on-screen batman iteration to date. we finally move from the usual dark lone soldier version Hollywood is relentlessly giving us into one that belongs with the Justice League. incredibly heartwarming to see

there’s a scene when the JL are first assaulting Steppenwolf’s base and they’re all fighting parademons and shit and there’s a moment where you see batman fighting the Space SWAT From Hell alone and the way he moves? the way he flows from one position to another and another like i’m watching a damn comic book animation????????? sir????????????????????

barry allen saved them

like, literally, barry allen saved them. superman was back and everyone was ready to dance one final time and they were all going ‘steppenwolf fucking SUCKS’ and steppenwolf was crying to darkseid and then the motherboxes did their thing and they all were obliterated into star dust and then barry allen was like ‘bitch i told you i need FRIENDS’ and turned back time and now they’re all okay again :o)

darkseid @ batman through his magic spacetime portal: i’m gonna get your ass one day soon and take you back in time and you’re gonna eventually bring about the end of the world by having every dark twisted batman invade your universe because you inspired them

batman:

batman: i haven’t read Rebirth bro

i know i’m forgetting stuff but that’s the gist. hands down one of the best comic book film experiences i’ve ever had. with an aside to barry allen being more of a mix of barry and wally, everyone feels incredibly faithful to the source material. also batman definitely killed like, at least 400 parademons in one night, but pest control doesn’t count

(like. he straight up obliterates them)

(pulls out a batbazuka on them)

(amazing)

#Anonymous #asks #zack snyder's justice league #zack snyder's justice league spoilers #JL spoilers #justice league spoilers #/ long post

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