#and wanted to get ahead of things and ask the moment it became relevant; specifically because he knew the partner had jealousy issues | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shihalyfie · 3 years

Text

Comparing the original Best Partner character song series and the new one, and what that says about the 02 cast

youtube

So if you haven’t heard yet, a new series of 02 (it’s actually Kizuna) character songs dropped! Allegedly intended as a slightly delayed 20th anniversary project, the series is a callback to the original “Best Partner” character song album series that released during 02′s actual airing.

If you know anything about the original Best Partner series, it’s one that sets an insanely high bar, even for Digimon standards (and that’s saying something, given the deep associations this franchise has with music). The series of character songs before it, Adventure’s “Character Song + Mini Drama” series, has a…kind of questionable amount of relevance to each character; it’s not like they’re super amazingly out of character, but they don’t really tell you a lot about each character beyond some gloss details (this is probably best demonstrated in how Mimi’s song is blatantly just an AiM single disguised as a Mimi song). Best Partner, on the other hand, very intimately goes into each character’s head and their relationships with their respective partners, even putting in direct words what wasn’t stated explicitly in the series.

So does the new series live up to the high bar its predecessor sets? Answer: on top of some abnormal attention to detail on the covers, it is very obvious that the new series not only has a lot of the depth of the 02 characters in mind, but also is made in direct response to the original series itself. Moreover, putting the original Best Partner series and this one side by side reveals a lot about each of the 02 characters and what they got out of 02′s story, in a surprisingly neat summary.

Let’s go into how!

Since this is something that has a deep relationship with all of these characters in regards to the series, this particular meta would not have been possible without input from multiple people who know these characters better than I could ever hope to by myself. Thank you for all of your help.

A bit of historical context

The original Best Partner series consisted of a set of albums, one representing each pair of partners in 02. Notably, even though nowadays there’s a specific order of the Adventure/02 characters that’s used in modern media, not only does the original series not follow that ordering (as it hadn’t been set in stone at the time), it also leads with the original Adventure characters and not the 02 ones, which is pretty unusual for a series that’s ostensibly supposed to be for 02 (modern lineups will usually favor leading with whichever group the relevant product is branded with).

A lot of this probably makes more sense when you realize that the original Best Partner series was released during the first half of 02’s airing. The final album was released on August 23, 2000, four days before the fateful 02 episode 21 (yes, that means the third track on Ken and Wormmon’s album is actually a spoiler). So in other words, while the original Best Partner series accurately reflects the older Adventure group’s character development and what problems they were able to sufficiently overcome, the 02 group does not have anything about their character development from 02′s second half reflected in it at all.

That’s actually a really huge disparity, when you think about it, especially because a lot happened with the 02 group in that second half – that second half was where the emotional payoff and the results of everything that had been building up over that first half came together. So in comparison to the Adventure group, composed of people confidently talking about what they’ve decided for themselves from now on, you still have the 02 group drenched pretty deeply in insecurity. Watch 02 to the end and listen to those songs again, and you might even think “wait, this is supposed to represent these characters?” So, in essence, the new Best Partner series serves to address that gap, and what the 02 group gained and learned out of 02′s second half.

Best Partner (and its successor series for Tamers, Best Tamers) follows a uniform format: a solo song for the human partner, a solo song for the Digimon partner, and a duet between the two. (Given that, the original Best Partner series was really huge, at a whole 36 songs.) Recalling that, in the Adventure universe, a Digimon partner reflects the human’s inner self and psyche, it’s pretty extensive coverage: what the human has to say about themself, what place their Digimon partner is in relative to that, and what the nature of their relationship is due to that.

Let’s go into each pair of partners in detail!

Daisuke and V-mon

For those who love 02 and love Daisuke in particular, when you ask “what kind of character is Daisuke like?” or “what’s Daisuke’s best quality?”, you’re probably going to get answers like “forward-thinking” or “positive” or “good at uplifting others” – basically everything to do with how Daisuke is an encouraging presence who doesn’t give in easily and has a strong mentality of moving forward in the face of despair. Someone who appreciates and understands others’ best qualities, and loves them for everything they are. So when you look at his original Best Partner solo song, Goggle Boy…

But more than just saving the world I really don’t want to lose, you know

…Uh…

These goggles are my proof Given by a certain someone to me The precious thing he handed over It’s just like his Crest, you know Aren’t they cool?

…Well, that’s nowhere to be found.

This is the kind of song that might make you think “wait, this is supposed to be Daisuke’s representative song?!” (It’s possibly because of this that Daisuke’s song from The Bridge to Dreams, Tomorrow, generally tended to be far more favored among Daisuke fans, although it’s more relevant to 02 as a whole than it is to Daisuke in particular.) if you listen to Goggle Boy knowing about what Daisuke’s best qualities should be, this is almost a little frustrating, because this is the kind of thing he really shouldn’t be pigeonholed as – basically, begging for others’ approval and praise and focusing on idolizing others. Even his most insightful moments in this song come from his appreciation of something that came from someone else (Taichi), not from himself.

Well, the thing is, that was Daisuke’s character for most of the first half of 02. Of course, even in early episodes, there were many times where Daisuke’s potential for positivity and forward-thinkingness were starting to poke through, but most of the time he was rolling over trying to please others and chasing after his seniors. The real period of time he started to grow into his own about this was 02 episode 24 and its aftermath – when his time spent with his friends started to fill the void in his life and his need for validation, and the escalating situation, especially with Ken, led him to have a proper grasp of what was properly important and what needed to be done.

So when we get to his new solo, RUNNING MAN…

I’ll keep on running far ahead Let’s bring everyone along with me, today, too Really, always, thank you, Thank you so much Riding the wind, going past the sky Grasping your hands and flying I’m even starting to see beyond my dreams

Even in only one section, you can get an instant image of the Motomiya Daisuke we all know and love – someone who appreciates his friends’ role in his life, loves their company, and moves positively towards the future. Because, again, after the events of 02, and after being able to bond further with his friends and gaining his own strengths in leading everyone forward, he became able to more properly express his love for everything instead of constantly vying for others’ attention. Even the title reflects the change, from a “boy” who’s flashing the symbol of courage he got from someone else, to a “man” who’s positively running forward on his own merits.

(Interestingly, RUNNING MAN is composed by Ohta Michihiko, a legendary composer who’s made many of some of the most important songs in the franchise, and also composed many of the original Best Partner songs, including Goggle Boy. It’s interesting how RUNNING MAN is the one most like the original songs in atmosphere as a result – possibly representing how Daisuke is a simple-minded person who ostensibly doesn’t change drastically in disposition – yet has lyrical content that’s so starkly different.)

As a result, this is subtly reflected in the other two songs in each album as well – remember that V-mon is one of the partners who most “matches” his own partner in terms of disposition and mentality. So as Daisuke shifted his own priorities, V-mon did too; we go from Go Ahead! being about taking a stand and fighting, whereas Beyond the Future is about a similar forward-thinking mentality to Daisuke’s.

Likewise, the duets have different priorities as well; 2-TOP was composed of Daisuke and V-mon bickering for the most of it, and the most substantial point you could get about it was that despite their bickering, they made it work, whereas HEY-rasshai! has them almost entirely in sync (with one minor moment of deviance). It’s also interesting to see the topics covered in each; 2-TOP is about soccer, which ultimately is revealed to be a fairly incidental hobby for Daisuke, whereas HEY-rasshai! is about ramen making, which, while comical, also has a very strong tie to “Daisuke’s dream for the future, and his willingness to single-mindedly dedicate himself to something when it’s something he truly wants”. In other words, while Daisuke knew what he wanted since elementary school, it says a lot that he’s at a point where he and V-mon are now taking proactive steps to have that dream achieved, now that they’re able.

Ken and Wormmon

Like with his position in 02 itself, Ken’s is probably the easiest to see the contrast without trying too hard, but there’s still quite a lot to unpack!

When you think about it, in the modern era, it’s actually surprisingly hard to find stuff too relevant to Ken’s time as the Kaiser. The reason is, simply, that the series itself discourages this – Ken himself had an obvious aversion to dwelling too much on it, and the entire series itself has a strong theme of “moving on”. It’s not to say that the Kaiser doesn’t have a fanbase (I’m sorry if you’re reading this and find that I might be implying too hard that you don’t exist), but rather that there’s a franchise and fanart tendency to focus more on “Ken-chan” than “the Kaiser” these days, and old merch from the first half of the series will all too often get responses of “it’s really sad Ken-chan can’t be there…” Of course, 02 itself was also about accepting one’s mistakes, not pretending they never happened, so it’d be foolhardy to deny Ken’s dark history entirely, but it’s retroactively interesting to see such a prominent and persistent piece of merch like Ken and Wormmon’s original Best Partner album focus so largely on Ken’s time as the Kaiser when most of the franchise ended up trying to move on.

Starting with Ken’s solo songs, and his first one, ONLY ONE:

I’ve lived without showing my true feelings, wearing this mask

Well, this was easy to tell from the series itself, but the point driven home is that Ken didn’t want to expose his true self to others, putting on a front of “strength” and smashing his true feelings into the corner so that he could become more of the “perfect” person he thought he was supposed to be. There’s also another interesting line that one should pay attention to:

I polished the knife in my heart and put my belief in infinite power

Basically, putting up a defensive front to prevent anything from approaching his weaknesses.

Anyway, moving onto his new song, Never Ending:

If I want to be proud of tomorrow’s version of myself I wonder, what can I do? Never Give-up I’ll keep fighting, even doing someone else’s part No, I won’t be afraid anymore

First of all, the main theme of the song is about putting conscious thought into understanding how to stay true to himself – basically, understanding what it is he really wants to do and become, instead of putting on fronts and hiding it from others. Not only that, we see traces of what exactly he gained over the course of the second half of 02 – because so much of it involved constantly trying to blame himself for everything, this song is about what he came to learn in terms of proactively making it up and actively fighting forward. He’s working hard!

We also have this part:

The knife that’s pointed at someone, or at myself If it’s been let go of

Two things going on here: firstly, we have an explicit reference to the metaphorical “knife” Ken referred to putting up in ONLY ONE, talking about finally letting it go instead of bothering with this kind of front. He also points out that, in a sense, the knife was pointed at himself too, either in the sense of actually having hurt himself through this entire ideal, or in the sense that he constantly was trying to blame and punish himself for everything. None of that should be necessary anymore. Moreover, Never Ending contains a lot of references to “daily life” and the happiness that comes with the simplicity of just being alive – because that was indeed what Ken gained through his experiences, the ability to treasure living life in itself instead of aspiring to an impossible standard.

Another interesting thing about Never Ending is that it’s technically in a similar rock genre to ONLY ONE instead of being “soft”, like Ken’s personality is often thought to be. This was a surprise to a lot of people who commented on how surprisingly “cool” the song was, but this is actually completely in line with Ken arguably being one of the most openly assertive people in this group even after his reformation. Note that it’s very difficult to call this song purely angsty – it’s definitely positive and forward-thinking, and the chorus itself is partially in major key – but it has the vibe of someone who’s fully aware of everything that’s happened, is putting proper thought into it, and is pushing on despite everything. Remember, the intensity the Kaiser had originally came from somewhere; Ichijouji Ken is the same person, in the end.

In regards to Wormmon’s song, the contrast is also obvious: The Future You Dreamed of, the Future I Dreamed Of. is of course about Wormmon’s tormented feelings during the Kaiser’s abusive relationship with him, whereas can change it! is about its aftermath and how they made up (including copious references to the events of 02 episode 23). Even then, there’s a certain “forward-thinking” attitude that marks this song as being representative of being after 02’s events and not during – see the line “The mistake we made that day/is exactly the reason we’ll never let it happen again”, instead of the self-punishment and shame Stingmon expressed in 02 episode 26).

On top of that, the duet song Forever Adolescence also marks a subtle progression from the point they were at from True Strength – remembering that Best Partner 12 was released at a time when True Strength was actually a bit of a spoiler, while Ken and Wormmon obviously had made up by that point, the key line in it is still “everything truly begins from here”. So what, exactly, happened after that? According to Forever Adolescence, the decision made was to keep moving forward, and, moreover, to stay “the way they are”, especially with the nuance that it means it’s okay to not force oneself into the role of an adult and stay “young at heart”. This is really, really important in light of the events of Kizuna, the 02 group’s unusual role in it and its relevance to 02′s themes (more on this below), and how Spring 2003 referred to the pressure placed on Osamu as him being “forced to grow up too quickly” – in essence, Ken and Wormmon have firmly resolved to actively move away from that kind of pressure.

Miyako and Hawkmon

I’ve pointed out several times on this blog that the actual complex Miyako was going through in 02 was that she hated herself more than anyone else in the group would be willing to criticize her – and if you don’t believe me, it’s put in a pretty heavy-handed manner in her original song, Crash and Bingo!:

Fussing about it won’t get anything done But my selfishness and problems and panic keep coming out

…and even more viciously in her own and Hawkmon’s duet, Fly High:

I can’t do anything right, besides playing around with computers

Everyone would be still be fine if I weren’t there

If you thought it was subtle in the main series, it certainly isn’t here: Miyako considered herself good for absolutely nothing and unable to be accepted by others for being too useless – in these songs, despite Hawkmon’s attempts to uplift her, she criticizes her own messy tendencies and considers herself a burden. Best Partner is a positive series, so it still has the attitude of “we’ll try anyway”, but it’s clear that Miyako really didn’t have the highest opinion of herself at all. Hence, Fly High also shows off the worst of Hawkmon having to deal with the fallout – with Miyako flailing around in panic and considering herself good for nothing, he’s forced to carry her around.

But come Miyako’s new solo, From Spain with Love!, we see a huge contrast all over the place:

I, who have evolved into an adult make everyone do a double-take at me when I walk by!

Exhibit A: actual confidence in herself and ability to consider herself worth something;

If I can always, always be honest with myself Even if I don’t put together some program, even if I keep screwing up Ah, you understand me

Exhibit B: understanding that she’s worth something to others besides her utility abilities, and knowing that she has friends who’ll support her despite her flaws (which is very true);

When things are feeling hard, the first thing you should do is call me, okay? I’ll take the wings of love and purity, spread them, and get there as fast as I can Ah, I’ll open up any gate I need to

Exhibit C: indulging in her capacity for helping and supporting others;

Al mal tiempo, buena cara We laugh exactly when things are hard

Exhibit D: understanding the strength to get through hard times, instead of emotionally crumbling under the pressure.

Yep, that’s exactly what her character arc in 02 was about; 02 episode 31 was a huge turning point for her because, in the depths of her berating herself for her messiness and expecting Hikari to be secretly judging her the whole time, Hikari revealed that she was outright jealous of Miyako being able to speak her mind, and Miyako shortly after ended up showing her true capacity for reaching others who needed her help and supporting them, a role she ended up growing into for the rest of the series. Note that, other than the casual remark of confidence at the beginning, Miyako hasn’t necessarily become arrogant or anything – it’s just that, by focusing her energies into how much she loves everyone and turning her “nosiness” and “sticking herself into others’ business” tendencies into positive energy to help everyone, she gained more confidence in her ability to be loved and accepted by others.

This is reflected as well in her new duet with Hawkmon, where, instead of Hawkmon dragging her around everywhere, their differences and mismatched personalities are outright celebrated, and while Miyako still has awareness of her messy tendencies, she’s no longer letting it emotionally rip her apart and has confidence that Hawkmon can be by her side to help her through it. Perhaps reflecting that, Hawkmon himself goes from the over-the-top, dramatic, high-strung Knight of Love to the more calm and straightforward Gentle Tornado, perhaps because his own partner isn’t constantly bouncing off the walls recklessly nearly as much anymore.

Incidentally, it’s not like all of this is without nuance, either; even if Miyako’s become more of a confident person, she’s not all put-together. Considering that the entire song has her gushing about how she’d be willing to drop anything to go see her friends (which was pushed forward in Kizuna itself, what with her willingly taking the same request she’d refused to do earlier just because her friends were involved, and even inventing D-3 gate exploitation just to go see them), when you get to the end, and her gushing about her fun in Spain suddenly derails into reminiscing about the events of 02 episode 42, the implication is clear: for as much as she wants to be wholeheartedly enjoying this fun trip abroad for what it is, she can’t help but let her thoughts float back to memories and friends she cares about, and her bonus conversation with Hawkmon drives it in further that, ultimately, she dearly misses them too much.

Iori and Armadimon

Iori also went through some drastic changes in character over the course of 02, so when you look at My Conclusion, it’s basically Iori at his “worst” point of black-and-white morality:

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Evil will not be tolerated Even evil in itself will be defeated by justice That will always be a certainty in the end

I mean, let’s even consider the fact that the song is called “My Conclusion” in the first place. Iori’s slamming this all down like this is the end-all of everything, and you can’t change his mind! He does briefly admit that there are certain things reason itself won’t change, but it’s more like he’s on the verge of having an out, because in the end, really…

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Our enemies are beyond reason Again and again, to the very end They will certainly use cowardly means to come and attack us

Rationality. No feelings involved. Evil is evil, and justice is justice. No takebacks. Life exists by rules, and nothing else.

Message to the Future is possibly one of the most interesting songs in the original Best Partner collection, because it does actually provide hints about where Iori should be going in the future, and also has a lot of things that retroactively hit a lot harder from the meta perspective. The song fully fleshes out Iori’s feelings and concerns about how to grow up into a proper adult (which was hinted to be his real motivation as to why he was so strict with himself in 02), and that, most of all, what he wants is for his “feelings” to never change no matter what happens. Iori expresses concerns about how he might change as an adult to Armadimon, and Armadimon assures him that he’ll still be “Iori”, no matter what.

So, come the new character song collection, Iori’s new solo song is aptly titled “Things That Won’t Change” – because, in the end, despite everything that changed, his feelings did not. He says it himself: the important parts that he really wanted, the desire to do the right thing and to protect others, never changed a bit at all since “back then”. What did change, however, was his way of going about it.

Rather than what someone else has decided I’ve chosen my own future now

and again:

Rather than imitating someone else This is to shout out my own future

The emphasis on this being Iori’s own choice is important because Iori has finally decided not to live by strict rules imposed on him nor by imitating others (remember, part of the reason he kept doing what he did back in 02 was because he had such a strong belief “my father would have done this”). Others had been encouraging him to “make his own decisions” from the get-go – even Hida Chikara himself had told him that he was the one who needed to decide what to do in any moment in 02 episode 5 – and after dealing with a violation of his own morals in having to kill a Digimon in 02 episode 44, one episode later, in discussing with Takeru, Iori has to come to terms with the decision to continue fighting because “this is what I have decided myself”, because it’s not about whether he has an obligation to keep fighting for the sake of justice, but because he, himself, wants to protect others, and will do what it takes to do so. There’s no more of these strict rules of “because it must be this way” or the black-and-white morality that caused him to be so initially hostile towards Ken and Oikawa, but an understanding that these things need to be decided from the heart.

Moreover, unlike My Conclusion, Things That Won’t Change isn’t written like Iori’s turning in some school essay, but rather, more than half the song is in casual-form Japanese (which was associated with Iori when he became more emotional and wasn’t keeping himself in check anymore), and is more of a thoughtful reflection of his own feelings rather than trying to pass itself off as following rules because he must.

Thus, while the duet Choo Choo Tryin’ isn’t as heavy-handed as Message to the Future, Iori and Armadimon acknowledge that they need to be forward-thinking and keep going (generally tied to the message of 02 in itself), and Iori outright discusses the potential pitfalls of becoming too stiff. Furthermore, the song has copious rap portions, which seems rather unfitting for Iori on its face – until you realize that not only was Iori sometimes willing to indulge in more fun even back during 02 (just because he was strict with himself didn’t mean he was a complete killjoy), Iori’s also just a lot more flexible-minded in general, and has a penchant for wanting to do things right when he’s given a task. (His delivery of the rap in the song isn’t monotonous nor overly emotional, but has the nuance of someone who’s trying to recite all of it with caution.)

The part that’s particularly striking from the meta perspective is that Iori and Armadimon are no longer voiced by the same voice actress; Message to the Future was essentially Urawa Megumi talking to herself. So now, Iori has a new voice actor, and in many ways has become very different from Armadimon – but because Armadimon sounds a little like Iori, you could say he’s helping preserve the childish side of Iori that’s more important than ever to hold onto, especially since Iori himself worried about changing too much. And so, Iori’s still willing to indulge in a sort of “fun” song like this, and in the end, despite everything, you understand that they haven’t drifted apart at all in the slightest.

That’s not to say that Armadimon himself hasn’t changed either – in fact, he’s changed himself in response to how much Iori has. His original solo song had a lot of easygoingness to it, and some constant reminders for Iori to please, please chill – but his new one has a much stronger sense of resolve and forward-thinking attitude, reflecting that, while Iori himself technically had to learn to embrace more emotional uncertainty through the events of 02, it was also able to give him much stronger resolve that this was something he was doing because he was emotionally prepared for it, not out of some sense of moral obligation.

Takeru and Patamon

I’ve already covered Takeru’s original Best Partner song Focus and how it’s probably not about shipping as much as the fanbase tends to pin it as, but in any case, the operative part is here:

Before I knew it, I was watching over you Still standing at a skewed angle from behind The focus of your heart I wonder, is it on me, or… No, I can’t ask

Takeru couldn’t bring himself to ask sensitive questions or be straightforward about his emotions – which is basically what was Takeru’s lingering problem over Adventure and 02, that he kept swerving around or even lying about sensitive topics and holding everything inside, until one of his triggers was hit and everything exploded. Therefore, even when an important question about someone else comes up, he “can’t ask”. Moreover, for all Takeru is known as a lighthearted and kind person, Focus is a really turbulent song with a really harsh arrangement, and it’s a pretty accurate view of all the complicated and sometimes even negative emotions that Takeru was (badly) coping with over the course of 02.

This was the whole issue with Takeru and Iori’s Jogress arc in 02 episodes 34-36 – that Iori felt he couldn’t understand nor communicate well with Takeru, and had to eventually take matters into his own hands in order to properly understand his feelings. Takeru’s further interactions with Iori were significantly more straightforward for the rest of the series, and the experience also led to Takeru being able to more openly communicate with Ken as well, since the two had been on awkward speaking terms for most of the third quarter of the series.

So when we get to Step High Step…

You lament, you don’t have confidence in yourself I’m saying this to you as I’ve been watching you You’re amazing at all times

The song features Takeru being fairly straightforward about his feelings and opinions instead of just dodging it and going for an “everything’s okay” keeping-the-peace attitude, and not only that, he’s commenting on someone else, something that he probably would have refrained from in 02 for being intrusive. Of course, Takeru was always a nice person, but he wasn’t exactly straightforward about being nice back then – and yet here we are.

Since Focus is probably about his relationship with Patamon and how he kind of wasn’t exactly straightforward about his worries with him either (see 02 episode 34), it’s also interesting to compare Takeru and Patamon’s duet songs as well. Steppin’ out does portray a progression from Adventure in that they’ve accepted they can “do things over” again after things crash down (presumably referring to Angemon’s death and rebirth), but you’ll notice there isn’t much in the way of actual communciation between the two – something that’s not only present in Le Lien, but also portrays them as outright in-sync to the point of “telepathy”. We’re talking about a pair where the fanbase has historically had doubts about how similar they were back in 02 because of how “mismatched” they seemed!

Which, incidentally, they weren’t actually – you can see Patamon pretending he’s not about to cry in his original Best Partner song Don’t Stop Pata-Pata, much like how Takeru would cover up his own emotions, and gritting his teeth and resolving to fight harder. Meanwhile, while Ring of Smiles ostensibly continues to have Patamon be “sweet and cute”, it contains a lot of important nuances of “appreciating daily life with friends”, even if Patamon himself can’t quite find words for it – in other words, it’s actually some rather insightful and thoughtful sentiments from Patamon about the importance of being with and connecting with others, mirroring what Takeru himself learned in connecting with the others around him, especially Iori.

Hikari and Tailmon

Remember, Hikari has two lines (one in Adventure and one in 02) that basically summarize the main “issue” she was dealing with in both series: she was selfless to unhealthy levels, and would prioritize others’ welfare over herself to the point of self-destruction. So in her original solo Best Partner song, Gentle Rain, she puts it pretty explicitly:

I want to always be wearing nothing but smiles But I can’t be cheerful all of the time

or:

So that I can become a greater version of myself Please give me strength

All things considered, Gentle Rain is full of Hikari’s own insecurities, and her belief that she doesn’t have enough strength to do anything for herself. She makes references to being pulled to the Dark Ocean, mainly because – as she says – she doesn’t want to go there, but she doesn’t have enough strength or willpower to resist it. In fact, Best Partner 11 is full of a lot of angst; Gentle Rain is Hikari angsting about her own weakness and inability to do much for herself, Getting up is Tailmon angsting about her painful past and everything to do with it, and Shining Star is basically a plea for both of them to be able to do anything despite all the pain. It’s all pretty severely heavy content, despite the initial sparkly-looking sentiment of it all.

Considering the circumstances, it’s not really all that surprising. Hikari spent her time in Adventure and the first half of 02 very “emotionally isolated” from the others, to the point very few people could understand what she was thinking, and while she’d never hesitate to put herself out for other people, anything to do with herself, like getting pulled to the Dark Ocean, would result in resignation “it’s over” and “I can’t do anything about it”. Tailmon came from the background of being effectively raised by the abusive Vamdemon, so 02 was really only part of the earliest portion of her moving on with her life and being able to spend happier moments with Hikari. But, of course, the real turning point was 02 episode 31, when Miyako finally managed to break through to her and convince her to not accept the inevitability of things happening to herself, to accept help with the support of others, and to not take things happening to her as a sign she’s doomed.

So when we reach Hikari’s new solo song, Tomorrow’s Blue…

I want to chase after my dreams and hopes, it’s fine even if they’re incomplete I won’t lose, I won’t stop, I’ll do this to stay true to myself

The most striking thing about the song is that it features Hikari assertively talking about her own desires and feelings, when back in 02 she basically tried to kick them out of the picture for the sake of everyone else (and, really, even in Tailmon’s new solo song, Tender tale, she outright calls Hikari out for still prioritizing other people over herself). It’s not demeaning herself, it’s not resigning herself to anything, it may have a slight admission that she’s not super-confident about everything yet, but it’s still her looking forward and choosing to pursue what he wants. It’s a big deal!

And instead of the constant angst that permeated Best Partner 11, the new album is about Hikari and Tailmon talking about their feelings towards each other – something that neither of them really verbalized that well over either Adventure and 02 – and contextualizing their importance to each other over the course of their “story”. Hikari talks about Tailmon’s role of assertiveness in helping her break out of her shell, and Tailmon generally provides an extremely accurate description of Hikari in a nutshell – that she’s a bit mysterious, that she’s emotionally sensitive, that she’s cheerful and lifts others’ spirits. What’s more, Tailmon makes a reference to the same kind of “pain” and “losing things” she referred to in Getting up, but instead of angsting about it, she positively accepts it as something that may happen in the process of protecting others. (Oh, and it and the new duet A Tale of the Light also make reference to Hikari’s photography hobby in 02, contextualizing it as something Hikari did to chronicle their precious memories.)

So in summary, Hikari and Tailmon have both been able to accept 02′s philosophy of becoming forward-thinking, positive, and accepting the help of others in order to move forward. Not bad!

Conclusion and digression

Despite how these songs are almost polar opposite in portraying their before-and-after development of the 02 kids, nobody’s really argued that any of them are out of character! In the end, it’s a pretty succinct depiction of what these kids were dealing with and what they grew into by the end of the series. Seriously, I never, ever want to hear that these kids were underdeveloped nor that they didn’t go through any significant development over the course of 02 ever again. That’s just not true at all, and this simply happens to be one of the many illustrations of how.

Moreover, the songs themselves and the “conversations” that came with the new albums solidify firmly that the 02 group has extremely tight relations with their partners even at this time – with Daisuke actively consulting V-mon for help, Miyako, Takeru, and Hikari actively dragging their partners everywhere with them, Ken having Wormmon be his effective alarm clock, and Iori being so close with Armadimon that his Nagoya dialect is rubbing off on him. Daisuke, Miyako and Hikari have a huge point made that, regardless of the rather easygoing way they’re going at it, they’re very aware of what they want to do from this point out and are following it with gusto (and while it’s not stated in words, Iori carrying a huge textbook, presumably a law one, with note markers all over it drives the point home that this applies to him, too). It’s a really, really huge contrast to what was going on with the directionless Taichi, Yamato, and Sora effectively neglecting their own partners back in Kizuna – and further reinforces the reason the 02 group was in such an unusually favorable position during the movie.

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #shihameta

61 notes · View notes

canyouhearthelight · 3 years

Text

The Miys, Ch. 158

Thank you to @the-raven-fae, @baelpenrose, and @charlylimph-blog for all your day-to-day help with this story.

I am scheduling this ahead of time but want to keep the note short so everyone can focus on the chapter itself. I think it is one of the best things I’ve ever written...

Fingers flying, Grey glanced between the projection above the Council table and their datapad. “Sections three and five securing.” Antoine nodded as he swiftly but calmly sent reminders.

On either side of me, Parvati and Hannah were sending similar reminders. “Ten through fourteen secure, we have a few stragglers settling down in sections nine and fifteen.”

“Atmo generators spooling down,” Charly confirmed, her tone bizarrely crisp and professional.

Huynh grunted in approval before sounding off. “Waiting for confirmation that equipment is secured in deck two and engineers have strapped in.”

One by one, all Councillors and relevant admins confirmed that equipment and personnel were secured in all human areas of the Ark. As the numbers left dropped further and further, the air in the chamber became heavier with anticipation of what came next. With the exception of one unexpected month roughly a year into our journey, the Ark would soon be dropping out of relativistic space for the first time in almost ten years.

We were almost at the end of our journey.

Pranav, Alice, Eino, and Arthur sounded off the final numbers remotely as they confirmed everyone in the ‘observation decks’ were strapped in for the change in momentum. The cameras that were last used by Maverick and Evan to navigate when our sensors were damaged were still in place and functional, despite not having anything to broadcast for the past nine years. Teams had been working around the clock to test and confirm they could handle what we were asking, and now the four largest mess areas were waiting to broadcast the drop back into objective space - and an entirely foreign starfield, something no other human had ever seen.

Once the last person was confirmed to be strapped in, we all gave Evan and Maverick an expectant look. After much consideration, it had been decided that they had more than earned the privilege of addressing the Ark on what was about to happen and what to expect. Both had flown outside of Earth atmosphere, and had been instrumental in getting us the resources needed to repair the sensors eight years ago - we literally may not be here without them.

“People - “ Maverick gasped before clearing his throat and trying again. “People of Earth.” I fought to smile at how clear he sounded, knowing that his palms were drenching the sides of his pants where he kept them clenched. “We have undertaken something no one else alive can say they have done - we have travelled to a new system, a new home world waiting for us. We are now, and will forever be, a people of the stars, of the galaxy.”

Hesitating for just a moment, he glanced at me and Tyche. Both of us gave the smallest of nods, encouraging the speech he had practiced until we all three had it ingrained in our hearts. “Soon, all of you will have the chance to see something we took for granted throughout human history, and may we never take it for granted again: the night sky. And though it may not be the same sky our poets wrote about, or that our artists painted, we have the chance to write new poetry and songs, compose new works of art, and draw new constellations.”

Having reached his absolute limit of public speaking, he nodded to Evan before collapsing in his seat. Smoothly, she took over. “However, today’s triumph can only continue if we are prepared for the changes ahead. As all of you are more than aware, the Eko-mari fleet will rendezvous with us inside thirty Von-days. You have all more than exceeded expectations in the necessary - though painful - drills we have undertaken in recent months to prepare for the eventuality of the ship being attacked in that time frame. There are, today specifically, a handful of risks we had no way to prepare for. All of you have been briefed on these, but I want to take a moment to recap the more salient points so they are fresh in your minds.

“Most importantly, you may experience a feeling of vertigo and all the symptoms that come with it. Everyone who is prone to vertigo has been asked to secure themselves lying down in a comfortable position in order to minimize the risk of any injuries from falling. It has also been mandated that any human exceeding six feet in height should be secured in a seating position at minimum, as you will be most affected by the sudden change in gravity and momentum. Conor, Coffey, and Jokul, this means you.” A wry grin just barely slipped as she tried to lighten the mood.

“Be prepared for extreme symptoms of anxiety or panic, including but not limited to agoraphobia or mania. We specifically have medically trained personnel ready in the observation areas for anyone who may not realize they are experiencing these conditions. In extreme cases, Miys has agreed to assist any humans to the med bay who may need a hand or four. Thank you.”

“I didn’t realize she had a sense of humor,” Tyche murmured. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad, but… dad joke bad. Not bad-bad.”

I nodded as the lights dimmed and the projection over the table was replaced by a countdown. No one in the chamber dared chant above a whisper - most of us remembering the last countdown humanity had joined together in, not wanting to jinx the moment. But no matter how quietly we all counted, ten thousand voices still vibrated through the Ark right up until the three second mark, when - with only subconscious and silent agreement, we collectively held our breaths.

Three seconds felt longer than the nine years we had spent suspended in space, hurtling toward an unfamiliar destination. And then, with no warning that could really prepare us for what we were about to see….

Let there be LIGHT!

Stars flooded the projection and spanned the ceiling. I couldn’t tell if I gasped or if all of us in the chamber did, but my eyes watered and my stomach dropped at the sight of so many. Giant, pinprick, warm, cold, solid, and flashing - it was more beautiful than I remembered even in my wildest dreams, flooding and washed across the viewports in a river of glittering color. The sheer scale of openness made me feel like the floor had dropped out from under me -

My reverie was broken by two things - a sudden feeling of wrongness and the projection splitting. One side remained showing the star field, while the other started populating line after line of something I couldn’t quite read. Antoine and Grey surged to their feet so fast my head spun - or was it already spinning? Something was spinning…

“Reports are coming in, largely vertigo,” Grey announced calmly. “Falling injuries are minor, mostly shallow contusions. Nausea and vomiting are most prevalent.”

“Speak for yourself!” Arthur’s voice burst in. “We have at least five manic episodes, a full on agoraphobe in the making, and what might be religious psychosis down here.” We heard a yelp, followed by garbled shouting and the, unfortunately, crystal clear sound of Arthur swearing. “If you don’t get your hands off of me, you are going to be having a religious experience of the up close and personal kind… Noah!” After sounds of a scuffle, he managed to add “Confirm: religious psychosis. Please send medical assistance of the tall, brown, and mushroom kind, and I’ll restrain them the best I can without causing permanent harm.”

Something cool and damp covered my forehead and eyes. “Add this one to the list,” Tyche suggested as calmly as she would discuss dinner ideas.

Weakly, I swatted at her. “Only religious experience I want right now is one with the porcelain god,” I groaned.

“Then hold still,” she instructed with an aggrieved sigh. “You always handled vertigo better when your eyes were closed.” Right when a pair of long-fingered hands covered my shoulders, her tone got sharp. “Maverick, I swear on everything you hold dear, do not pick her up no matter how badly you want to.”

After a couple of forced swallows, I added, “I will get sick - “

“You already are!”

“- on you. Specifically. For moving me.” I finished.

The hands hesitated until she added “She did it to our cousin once. She is dead serious.” All of a sudden, they migrated from my shoulders to one hand and one knee.

With one hand, I gave a thumbs up, while I motioned the other in a circle. “Reports people. Talk, so I can focus on something other than how gross I feel right now.”

The Council-wide band must have still been open, because Alice’s voice rang through. “We are receiving an incredible amount of data to the servers, but it’s not in any format or language anyone here is familiar with. Miys says we aren’t under attack, it’s just updates from the Galactic Database on the events of the last - hundred years!? There is no way that’s accurate.”

Alistair, who had been silent up until now, spoke in a shaky voice. “I would like to remind the Council that Councilor-Emeritus Simon Rodriguez has advised on several occasions that his decade-long round trip to the homeworld of our hosts was, to him, only a year. I would not consider the extrapolation math so much as using the metric system.”

I was still face down on a damp rag, and I could feel him giving me the special glare he reserved for ‘Yanks’ and made a mental note to be offended later.

“Is there anything about Earth?” Hannah asked, her voice so soft that you couldn’t tell if it was despair or hope.

A familiar buzz came from overhead. “Our apologies, Hannah. Information regarding the past, present, and future status of Earth has been classified until a time that the Galactic Council agrees that humanity no longer poses a threat to your homeworld.” The chamber fell silent for a heartbeat as you could feel everyone swear mentally, before a sigh-hum continued. “And to ensure that it stays that way, the Ark has been quarantined from any information regarding the Sol system for the previous century along with the next three subsequent ones, with review every fifty Terran years or so.”

I want to say that Alice muted her channel before swearing at Derek. I really do.

<< Prev Masterlist Next >>

#the miys #found family #humans are weird #science fiction #aliens #apocalypse #humans are space orcs #humans are space fae #earth is space australia #post apocalypse #post post apocalypse #original science fiction #original sci fi #original writing

44 notes · View notes

gunnerpalace · 4 years

Note

hey there! so i used to be a huge fan of bleach, and loved ichiruki, and i was reminded of them today but i haven't been involved with the fandom since the series ended. however, i've heard of different variations of why the series ended/ships happened the way they did, and was wondering if you knew or could direct to me a post that explains that? i apologize if i'm bringing up bitter feelings, but i've always been curious if bleach's ending was a big FU from kubo or if he always intended rr/ih

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post that really goes over it structurally in that kind of way (from a shipping perspective). I’ll get back to what you actually asked me after some asides, because it’s not so simple to just analyze the ships in a vacuum.

I’ve had my own post about why the ending was a fuck you moment, thematically, because it failed to resolve any of the themes and momentum of the series in a way that would be appropriate (either internally or in the context of the supposed genre of shounen.)

I would also say that the ending was a fuck you moment in terms of lore, backstory, and mystery, because all of the historical and political dimensions (i.e., things involving the Soul King and Great Houses) were unceremoniously shuffled off to Can’t Fear Your Own World. Not that any of those things were ever brought up properly in the manga to begin with; the proper and natural time for that would’ve been at the conclusion of the Soul Society arc, when Ichigo and co. spent a week there, which we saw none of. So I would say that everything in CFYOW is basically retconned bullshit hung off prior convenient plot hooks, and that the same was true of TYBW and LSS/TLA/Xcution as well. There may have been some notes and forethought, but it’s about as “valid” as Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert’s Dune works are compared to the original Frank Herbert ones; it’s second-hand, at best.

(This is setting aside that Bleach was clearly made up as it went along. For example: Noriaki literally admitted that he didn’t know who had killed Aizen in Soul Society until he realized that Aizen not being dead was the most shocking answer; the clear baiting and abandonment of Kisuke as the villain hinted at through various means such as his unclear and later retconned reasons for being exiled, and so on. Bleach was very much a J. J. Abrams-style mystery box work that was made as it went with, at best, rough notes, which is why its themes and focus change, for the worse. I also have a post about why it stopped being special, which is part of a running series I intend to write on how to rewrite it to fix and preserve that)

The best recent thing to compare it to is, really, HBO’s adaptation of Game of Thrones, wherein D. B. Weiss and David Benioff openly admitted to removing or deemphasizing story elements, and ignoring themes in adapting the work. The difference is that Bleach was not being adapted from anything; it degraded due to its own creator not understanding what he had created.

(To put it very simply, because this would be the point of Hyperchlorate Part II and would take a whole post to explain: the ending of the Soul Society arc did not properly establish and flesh out Soul Society as a place with a history, space, and purpose. Instead, the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs decided to be a thematic inversion and deconstruction of the Karakura and Soul Society arcs. This again had an ending that did not establish or flesh anything out after Aizen’s defeat, with an even greater diffusion of focus onto ancillary characters. The Xcution arc tripled down on this by addressing something entirely new and retconned in, only to abandon it midway through in favor of going back to invoking Soul Society. And Thousand-Year Blood War took all of these problems to 11. tl;dr: Noriaki tried themes, people hated it, and so he just shoved in more and more dumb sword fights between people nobody cared about, half of whom hadn’t previously existed.)

So, let’s get back to your question. Let’s talk about ships. I’ve clicked a lot of keys and spilled a lot of ink on this subject over the years, but I no longer particularly feel like searching my own archives (really ought to go back through and organize them better) beyond this post and my own follow-up to it about the chronology of IR interactions, so I’m just going to repeat myself.

First, let’s say that Bleach was not ever a manga about ships.

I’m not disavowing that what Rukia and Ichigo had was special. That was called out multiple times through the focus of the art, the dialogue, and by the characters themselves. (Directly by, for example, Orihime’s outright statement to the effect in Soul Society, and her later jealousy regarding it. Indirectly by, say, Uryuu’s acknowledgement that him saving Rukia first would piss Ichigo off. In fact, the biggest indirect indicator doesn’t even involve Ichigo and Rukia; Shunsui asks Chad why he’s there and Chad says he wants to save Rukia, Shunsui calls bullshit that two months isn’t enough time to risk your life for that, and Chad agrees and says he’s there because Ichigo wants to do it. Shunsui moves on, but his argument is left hanging: why was two months enough for Ichigo? Because, as Orihime will later say out loud, Rukia is special.)

What I’m saying is that that was never the focus. It was explicitly constructed that way.

How do I know? The Grand Fisher fight. The Grand Fisher fight is emotionally charged, bringing up both Ichigo and Rukia’s greatest traumas, and is their one real moment of not understanding each other for a time. It was a triumphant moment that made them truly glad to know one another, and you can see it in their reactions afterward (Rukia thanking Ichigo for not dying, Ichigo asking Rukia if he can keep being a Shinigami). There was a lot to unpack there, and you can see it in the way they look at each other.

What happened immediately after the Grand Fisher fight? Noriaki skipped a whole month. We go from June 18th of 2001 to July 17th of 2001. He deliberately skipped all of the emotional impact of that event, and Rukia being around for Ichigo’s 16th birthday. Just never happened. We never hear about it. Wasn’t his focus as a writer.

Now, I’m convinced that was because he was scared of what he had on his hands. He wasn’t willing to commit to either a couple’s battle shoujo or a shounen with male and female seemingly-heterosexual co-equal deuteragonists who clearly had a strong emotional bond. More specifically, he wasn’t willing to make Rukia a centerpiece of the manga despite having designed her first, having made her the moral and philosophical core of his manga, and having based Ichigo entirely around completing and complementing her. But hey, that’s just my opinion, right? Except it kept happening.

From the Grand Fisher fight onward, the name of the game in the manga, structurally, became keeping Ichigo and Rukia apart.

The moment she was taken back to Soul Society, her prominence dropped. We got emotionally charged scenes of them regardless. Right at the conclusion, after yet another emotionally heavy set of Ichigo and Rukia interactions, we again skip almost a month, from the end of the first week in August of 2001 to September 1, 2001. (Due to some completely unnecessary timey-wimey bullshit with the Precipice World.)

In the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs, they have roughly a day together over the course of three months. What happens after every meeting? They’re shuffled apart and split up, and we cut away. This time, for over a year!

Ichigo and Rukia again have a very emotionally charged meeting in the Xcution arc. And what happens at the end of that arc? We skip ahead another month to TYBW. (Xcution ended sometime in May of 2003, TYBW starts June 11, 2003.)

And in TYBW, Rukia and Ichigo barely meet up at all. Indeed, the focus is scarcely upon them.

In CFYOW, neither of them even appear, let alone have any relevance to the plot.

The implication, in my opinion, is pretty obvious: Noriaki was deathly afraid of dealing with the outcomes of their interactions, and that ultimately became him being deathly afraid of allowing them to interact at all to begin with. Why? Well, as I said in one of the last linked posts:

As an author, sometimes you will find your characters will do things you didn’t anticipate or plan for, and you’ve got two choices: you can go with the flow and do what’s natural and deal, or you can fight it and try and impose your vision anyway.

He refused to let his art take the direction it needed to go in.

Now, some people might say he got bored of them, or of having them together. I say that’s bullshit. And the reason I say is down to three things:

He didn’t ignore them, he did his best to keep them apart. I outlined this above.

He did not emphasize anything or anyone else instead. His focus was all over the place. While, admittedly, Ichigo’s prominence also declined, so did everyone else’s.

It would have served him well to focus on their interactions to expand his universe and explore its lore. The things that were detailed in the databooks and CFYOW could’ve been presented naturally and easily if they were together. But that came with a cost of shifting the focus. A cost he refused to pay.

Let’s talk more about (2) and (3) now.

Regarding (2), Chad and Orihime are inextricably linked in Bleach, because they essentially have the same relationship to Ichigo. “But Orihime loves Ichigo, and Chad is his no-homo bro!” someone proclaims. So what? They’re presented as equal and parallel at every step.

They both gain their powers at approximately the same time.

We are told they gained their powers due to the Hogyouku (in Rukia at the time) interpreting their wishes (and no one else’s, such as Tatsuki, Keigo, or Mizuiro), meaning they probably had the same strength of desire.

They both go to Soul Society “for Ichigo.”

They both utterly fail against Yammy and Ulquiorra.

They both spend most of the Hueco Mundo arc doing nothing.

They are both featured prominently in the Xcution arc, and both fail to see through Tsukishima’s powers despite their love for Ichigo. (Meanwhile, Byakuya coolly tries to murder someone who he thinks is his mentor, in Ichigo’s name.)

They both get sidelined in Hueco Mundo with Kisuke in TYBW, doing little to nothing.

They both are utterly ineffectual in the final fight in TYBW.

They are often portrayed together, they are often as effective as one another, and they are equally as developed in their relationship to Ichigo going forward, which is to say: not at all. The loss of focus on IR did not come with an attendant rise of focus on IH, any more than it did with the sudden rise of IchiChad. Nothing was built in IR’s place. There was no emotional or human content which filled its gap.

This is where the IH ending coming “out of nowhere” stems from: it indeed came out of nowhere, because Ichigo was never shown to have any interest in Orihime in all this time, nor an especially close relationship with her. He never hangs out with Chad or shows a bond with him either. He never hangs out with anyone, in fact. (Indeed, “friends” in Bleach do not do any of the things that friends actually do in real life. Nor do parents. You might say that interpersonal relationships and communication largely don’t exist in Bleach. But that’s its whole own topic.)

I would honestly say that more time and emphasis was given on Ichigo’s pseudo-surrogate mother relationship with Ikumi than was spent on him interacting with Orihime. (I would say Noriaki has serious hangups about relationships of any kind, be they romantic, familial, or friendly, and also has some severe hangups regarding mothers and fathers, but that is also its whole own topic.)

Regarding (3), Noriaki apparently wanted this big, Game of Thrones-style world with a long history and political machinations and so on. This is the whole point of TYBW and CFYOW. Trouble is, early Bleach was successful because of its small-scale intimacy. So how do you go from one to the other? You have to lay the foundations at every step. And Noriaki steadfastly refused to do so at every step. Having Ichigo and Rukia interact, and focusing on Rukia while Ichigo was sidelined without powers, would’ve permitted that organically. Indeed, if RR was the endgame, it would have given time to establish that, were it his desire. (Because Rukia never showed any interest in Renji, and frankly Renji always seemed way more preoccupied with Byakuya.) It didn’t serve his goals, but he did it anyway.

It’s much simpler to say he lost focus, and that he started to hate the manga as a whole. Why else would you have Mayuri fighting a giant hand when that achieved nothing, and Kenpachi fighting Thor when that achieved nothing? It became empty. Hollow, you might say.

But that takes us back to the question you posed: where did the ships come from? Nowhere. IH, RR, and fucking TatsuKeigo weren’t established anywhere. They just appeared. Why?

Well, why did every single character wind up doing the exact opposite of their intended and stated goals in the end?

Why did Soul Society revert to its previous attitude and rebuild the Sokyouku?

Why did nothing get resolved?

Why did nothing change?

Why was it all revealed to have been completely and utterly pointless?

In my view, it’s because that ending was a giant fuck you to the readership and Shueisha. There is no other way to interpret an author pulling a 180° and completely nullifying their characters’ arcs, and their work’s themes. Aizen’s little speech at the end is the cherry on top. I read it as Noriaki saying that he’s showing “courage” in telling us all to fuck off.

As to why? That’s an open question. His relationship with Shueisha was contentious, so maybe he was mad at them. (They gave him a deadline once he was dragging his feet, and reclassified Bleach as a joke manga.) His readership was on the decline after the Soul Society arc ended, so maybe he was mad at the audience. I don’t know. I also don’t really care. What I am convinced of is he decided to blow up his franchise and to not leave a single stone unturned when he did so.

That’s where that “ending” comes from, which is why despite it featuring IH and RR, both are thoroughly unsatisfying and without setup: it was the only way to piss absolutely everyone off, including people who wanted that outcome.

In a way, it was his greatest success since the early days of the manga.

Anyway, this was messy, but it’s not a simple topic to address. The tl;dr is that Bleach was a trainwreck from the very beginning that only succeeded on the merits of its characters, and that Noriaki deliberately avoided the promise it had to be something unique and grand. The ships are just a part of that, and cannot be understood in isolation from it.

#Asks #Bleach

153 notes · View notes

helihi · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on RWBY Vol. 7

Quarantine day 20: I finally force myself to re watch volume 7 instead of doing my French homework.

Spoilers ahead for RWBY and How I Met Your Mother (yes).

Volume 7: The Story of a Broken Narrative Kingdom

The day has come where I finally sit down and watch the whole season again. Some of you wondered why I didn’t simply do a The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty review on the last episode of the volume like I did with the previous ones. The answer is the same reason why Ozpin’s speech at the end of the volume encapsulates the volume’s theme as a whole: finales affect the way you look at shows, comics, movies, and books. It provides a framing.

Did any of you watch How I Met Your Mother? For those of you who didn’t, it was a often called the show “which could replace Friends”. Something that you may not know is that fans of the show renamed it something among the lines of “How I should date your Aunt Robin” after the last episode aired. You see, the ending of the show changed the way most viewers see the show in the present.

The show had main character Ted Mosby narrate to his children how he met their mother. However, the story doesn’t begin during the day that encountered happen; no, it starts years before, when Ted declares he wants to settle down and find the love of his life. In that very same episode, he meets Robin Scherbatsky. In the end it’s revealed that the mother (the character we spent years speculating about) is dead (which I expected), and Ted asks his children if they give him the blessing to date their Aunt Robin. Originally, the fans could excuse episode 1 centering around Robin because it was the instance where Ted decided he wanted to settle down, but after the veil was lifted; there were no excuses, this whole story was a Ted’s way of convincing their children he should marry Robin, the main woman in his life during the whole show (even if we spend the last season on her wedding with one of Ted’s best friends).

Perhaps the ending of Volume 7 didn’t destroy the character development of 3 main characters, but it drastically changed the way I felt about the volume.

“The Kingdom of Atlas will remain safe, that’s my promise”- James Ironwood, Volume 7, Episode 1.

If you go back in my blog and read my reviews for most of the volume, you will find glowing ratings and stars. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good politics game in the shows/stories I read, so I was really excited when the writing team started developing that during the first half of the season.

Our gang (RWBY+JNOR+Q+M) reach Atlas after finding out that Oz is a fraud, that Salem cannot be beat (by Oz), and that Cinder almost took another maiden’s power. They quickly realize that Atlas is in a state of chaos and Ironwood is consumed by fear taking authoritarian measures, which keep the kingdom divided.

The stage is set:

Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Ops.

Robyn, the Happy Huntresses, and Mantle.

Watts, Jacques, and Tyrian.

I thought the way everything was set was fantastic, I loved the political drama, and I thought the writers were taking their time properly. Even now I give huge kudos to the Schnee storyline, which is my favorite. The volume showed us how flawed Winter’s coping mechanism is, how Weiss is still susceptible to her father’s gaslighting and manipulation, and how the household isn’t just broken by Jacques (Willow apologists, pls read this).

However, the cracks started showing during the first episodes and I noted that on my reviews. We have characters used for exposition dump: from the Robyn supporter, that explains what we could’ve learned by the normal progression of the story, who gets killed as soon as he returns home, and other characters like Maria talking about Pietro while he’s standing right there.

In contrast to that, we get wonderful montages which show the passage of time. The kids interact with one another and the Ace Ops, they train, they help with Ironwood’s plan. It seems weird to have 2 different tools one after the other.

Also, it it weird for anyone that Qrow and Winter only interact 1 time during episode 2 when in Volume 3 a clear rivalry was established? Winter’s storyline was supposed to follow Penny’s, while Qrow was supposed to grow attached to Clover. Because these 2 characters had to reach a certain point in the story, they are not allowed to deviate from the interactions needed for the plot to advance.

Another thing occurred to me while re-watching the season again... Why is Ironwood so fixated in protecting Atlas when it’s floating in the air away from Grimm? Yes, we know that some Grimm can fly, but by the many times we see Mantle in chaos, you would think Ironwood would repair Mantle’s wall to keep it safe?

That’s the theme, guys, girls and nonbinary folks: a kingdom divided.

Just like the Atlas kingdom falls apart, the narrative of Volume 7 has a specific breaking point that marks the decline in quality (you can see that in my reviews). The moment everything went downhill starts in Episode 8, with the dinner at the Schnee Manor.

We spend much time developing the political tensions of the volume for Jacques to be promptly arrested and taken away from the scene in a second.

While Ironwood, Winter, Penny, and Clover are shown doing plot relevant stuff, team JNOR does that ridiculous gag to get Whitley out of Weiss’s hair. The rest of the team do jackshit, and we don’t hear anything from them until everything is over. Again, the writers reached the plot point and forgot about everything else.

Also, Ruby looks sadly at Weiss when Whitley mentions that Klein was “let go”, yet Weiss has never talked about him to Ruby on screen. Claiming Weiss could’ve done that off screen strips away the possibilities of Weiss bonding with Ruby the same way she did with Yang when talking about their pain during Volume 5.

Such a large table, and only 4 council members, isn’t that kind of stupid? I mean, if Ironwood had 2 seats, numbers wise it makes sense, but who are those other 2 supposed to represent? Why haven’t we seen them before?

Robyn is told by Yang and Blake that Ironwood doesn't know who to trust. She proceeds to pressure him in front of people he clearly doesn’t trust. This is the first instance of OOC Robyn.

The walls crumbled, and everything became obvious as a viewer. Some other notable flaws:

Tension jojoing. The people in mantle will revolt! Except they aren’t. This happens in Episode 5, 6, and 9. The only real uprising is the last one. The other two were silly cliff hangers that make no sense when you watch the show again. (they didn’t make sense before either and I complained).

Hey there, Watts! You may have an interesting backstory, except it’s only implied you are pissed off Penny got chosen as a major project instead of whatever yours was. Also, Paladin incident? What? If he is the main villain of the Volume, why not expand on him? I shouldn’t be surprised, Hazel and Tyrian are not that complex. And Cinder? It’s been 5 volumes and we barely know anything about her haha.

Robin! I love how civilized and smart you are when the volume started, choosing to observe and talk instead of acting against the main characters. How awful is it that you forget to keep your calm when a Serial killer is on the loose. It would be a shame if someone were to... die.

I already gave my 2 cents over Clover’s death, and I’m not going to repeat myself. I am sorry to all the Fair Game fans, I’m afraid bury your gays is till alive and well.

The nail on the coffin is the final episode: after making a speech about how Salem wants to divide people and how the only way to go is to remain united, James does the exact opposite thing the moment something doesn’t go according to plan. Don’t get me wrong, his PTSD regarding the queen chess piece was foreshadowed, but the moment team RWBY offer an explanation and identify the person behind it, he’s to far gone. Then, Salem shows up, and goes for Team RWBY when Ruby gets under her skin. This shows that Salem has a weakness and that Team RWBY can be trusted when it comes to defeating her, yet that is promptly ignored.

Also, Ironwood might be hurt about Yang and Blake talking to Robyn, but after everything, they were proven right: Robyn is to be trusted, Ironwood was making a mistake.

The whole setting up a trap to attract Tyrian wasn’t Ironwood going “mad with power” or something. Robyn knew he has lying and allowed Ironwood to catch someone who could hack everything. Not only that, but the camera zoomed in on Ironwood, so nobody could see Robyn’s handy Semblance going red. Or... maybe I’m looking too much into it and the writers expected you to forget.

Sorry, I guess James Ironwood had to take a bunch of stupid pills.

“I wish it didn’t have to end this way.” - Clover Ebi.

“It doesn’t have to, but the writers need that Branwen angst.” - Qrow Branwen.

Volume 7: Part 1 of the Atlas Arc

Have you ever heard of Checov’s gun? It is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play. Let’s play a game called the false promises of the volume that may carry over to volume 8?

Renora: Nora sides with Robin, Ren sides with Ironwood. They do not communicate with one another and the tension builds throughout the volume. They kiss, nothing gets resolved. Ren cries when Neo turns into Nora.

Training: Ren is shown to throw himself into the enemy as a flaw, he repeats the same mistake when fighting with Neo. Oscar’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it. Ruby’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it.

Cinder got beef with Atlas? For some reason, Cinder talks about Atlas hoarding power when speaking with Winter. Bitch, where the fuck do you come from? Who are you? Do I know you? Sorry, the writers forgot to write a growth arc for you. My bad.

Nora, daughter of Atlas? Can someone explain to me why she became a SWJ (/s) during this season? We never get a backstory of her previous to Kuroyuri and for some reason Nora is super attached to the people of Mantle. The daughter of Atlas title was thrown around, why?

It’s so nice to see tea FNKI back! Too bad they are there for 5 minutes and never show up again, not even when Mantle is supposed to be defended by all huntsmen. I guess this was fan service.

What’s the purpose of the Happy Huntresses? Isn’t it funny how the only one who got wounded by Tyrian is the only character who could see in the dark, but didn’t tell Robin that Penny wasn’t guilty? Hi Fiona, I don’t know why you exist.

Marrow: the butt of the joke. Since the first episodes, Marrow is shown as the outsider inside the Ace Ops: his teammates don’t take him seriously, Ironwood doesn’t think Marrow is up to the challenge of some missions, and he’s the only Faunus, the only one that seemed to sympathize with Robyn at the end. Too bad he wasn’t allowed to break his mold.

The World Building looks pretty, but it doesn't play the part.

I have to praise the art direction of this season. I was blown away by the aesthetics of Mantle clashing with Atlas, the details in the backgrounds, the world building by back messaging, screens, and posters. My favorite scene of the volume is the penguins in the tundra.

However, you have to walk the walk, and the writing team failed to deliver.

Racism: hey, I know you guys kinda messed up the White Fang’s internal struggles and opportunity to expand on Adam’s power grab and Sienna’s leadership, but maybe don’t skip the racist elements of Atlas? All we get are Faunus mine workers looking angry, that drunk dude who yelled at Blake and Marrow making a simplistic comment about politics. What...? What’s the point of acknowledging u are bad at writing racism and then do nothing about it? Did none of the new writers know how to tackle this?

In-World Continuity: Hey, wasn't the Vytal festival broadcasted to the entire world? When I saw that camera focusing on Yang on episode 1, I thought there would be a call back to what everyone saw her do during the finals, but nope. Let’s not bring that up again. ever. The only important thing about the Vytal Festival is the tower, move on.

Weapons upgrade: We were told that weapons were an extension of each huntsmen; too bad none of our gang actually work on them. Pietro makes all the modifications and repairs. I remember the bumblebee fans eager for a scene of Blake repairing Gambol Shroud, don’t tell me you’re not disappointed.

Atlas ball: not found. Hey! We have Jacques Schnee celebrating his fake victory on the elections! It would be a perfect moment to showcase the disconnect between what’s happening in Mantle and what the people in atlas thing. Too bad we didn’t wanna make extra character models.

Closing thoughts

I wanted to re watch the whole season again to see if the bitterness left on my lips after watching that chaotic finale went away, but it only grew. There are so many character choices that made no sense, so many scenes where characters stood around in the background doing nothing.

WHY THE FUCK DID OZPIN ONLY APPEAR AT THE END?

Oh, I’ll tell you why: he needed to give a speech about themes to justify the stupidity that happened during the last episodes to get to that cliff hanger.

I am disappointed in volume that seemed to be doing so good at the begging, but hey... at this point we shouldn’t be surprised, should we? Interestingly enough, the people who dreamed about the ball and the scenes of Blake fixing Gambol Shroud grew quiet after the episodes aired...

Almost as if criticism wasn’t allowed on the RWBY tag.

AN: The titty window isn’t justified Salem, your ex is now a child that’s PEDO—

#rwby #volume 7 #rwby7 #RWBY review #Me #The good the bad and the dirty

55 notes · View notes

mxliv-oftheendless · 4 years

Text

Starstruck Velma, Chapter 2

Diiiiid someone say they wanted a sequel to my Fantasy story??? No??? Well TOO BAD THIS IS A FULL-BLOWN FIC NOW.

I really loved writing that story for Writer’s Month, and really wanted to expand upon this world @tanookiroxx had created for her amazing story Starstruck, and the world I was able to write for in the Fantasy story. So after discussing it with @tanookiroxx and also @cosmicrealmofkissteria I decided to give it a go! Here’s hoping it goes well! Thank, you two, for bouncing around ideas with me on this! Hope you all like it! Please go back and read the first chapter for a refresher because I don’t give much context. Enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It seemed sleep was what Velma needed, because she ended up sleeping for most of the day and woke up in the early afternoon. A quick message to the gang’s groupchat confirmed they had all done the same thing. Luckily Daphne had called ahead to Demon and told him they would let him know when they could come in and debrief with him on how the night went.

Velma still wasn’t looking forward to that; she knew the minute she told people she had been knocked out and probably hypnotized by Starchild, panic would ensue. Even if she insisted nothing had happened, they would insist she had no real way of knowing that. And really she didn’t—she didn’t have any memory of what happened after Starchild lulled her into closing her eyes. All she had was a strange certainty that nothing had happened. But that wouldn’t be enough for people.

Even so, she knew it had to be done. So she dragged herself out of bed, got dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast/lunch, and waited for Fred to text her that they were outside her apartment building. It wasn’t hard to spot Fred’s van that had become their designated mode of transportation; it was reminiscent of a black government van, except it was painted a robin’s egg blue and had neon green hubcaps on the wheels. It was incredibly outlandish, but Fred stubbornly refused to repaint it, so bright blue it stayed.

She got into the backseat, Shaggy and Scooby moving over for her, and buckled her seatbelt. Daphne passed her a white paper bag. “Here. I went to that cafe by our office building and got us breakfast.”

Velma opened the bag to find a small egg, ham, and cheese sandwich inside. “Thanks, Daphne,”

“Like, you okay, Velma?” Shaggy asked as Fred pulled out of his parking spot.

“I’m fine,” Velma nodded.

“You sure?” Fred asked, glancing at her in his rearview mirror. “You did get knocked out by Starchild last night.”

“Really, guys, I’m fine,” Velma assured. “I checked for any injuries or bruises when I got home, and I didn’t find any. Let’s just get to Demon’s office so we can tell him what happened.”

Fred still looked skeptical. “Okay… If you’re sure.”

“I am sure,”

But as Fred continued driving, Velma put her hands in the pockets of her coat... and her fingers brushed a folded piece of paper. And then she remembered; she hadn’t taken the note Starchild had left for her out of her pocket.

See you soon, pretty thorn.

She didn’t want to think about when “soon” was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When they arrived at the K.I.S.S. agency building they headed straight up to Demon’s office on the top floor. They stepped out of the elevator and headed for his office, when suddenly someone turned the corner and almost ran into them. It was a man, older than them, with a build that was so slender it bordered on skinny, pale skin, rather feminine features, and long black hair. He was about as tall as Daphne. And as he was walking he appeared to be straightening his clothes, but stopped when he saw them.

“Hi,” Fred said amiably to him. “We’re here to see Demon. Is he in his office?”

The man tilted his head at them, then nodded in recognition. “Ah, you’re Mystery Incorporated, aren’t you? We had heard Demon called you. Demon is in his office right now. I was just there… debriefing on a case with him.”

Fred was silent for a moment, then he grinned. “Great! Thanks. Hope to see you again.”

The man was about to walk past them when his eyes suddenly fell on Velma. A funny look came to his face. “You,” he said, “you’ve encountered Starchild, haven’t you?”

Velma stood there for a second as she tried to think of how to respond. But she couldn’t think of what to say. How did he know?

He answered before she could ask that. “I can feel it on you; his hypnotic touch always radiates off of those who have been caught in his trance. Be careful, Velma; once he has put you under his spell once, he will never let you go. It has happened before. If you aren’t careful, your next encounter with him will be your last taste of free will.”

And without another word, he walked briskly away. It wasn’t until he had disappeared around the corner that Velma realized she had never told him her name.

“Who was that?” Fred said aloud.

Shaggy was visibly shaking, as was Scooby. “Like why did he have to be so creepy?”

Daphne scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I swear, this place is full of weirdos. Come on, let’s just go to Demon’s office.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When they entered Demon’s office, they found it was still as shrouded in shadows as it was before. But strangely, as they entered, they were just in time to see him straightening his shirt and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. He looked up at them. “Ah, there you are.” He sat down at his massive oak desk as the gang sat down in the chairs in front of them, and his face turned stern. “So… What happened?”

The gang all glanced at each other, and then Fred decided to speak. “Well… We set everything up the way we planned. And then at some point Starchild broke into the museum.”

“And? Did you catch him?”

“Well… No.”

Demon frowned darkly, and Velma heard Shaggy whimper in fear. “Then what happened?”

“Starchild must have figured out our trap,” Daphne said. “He managed to lure Velma into a trap of his own, then knocked her out with sleeping gas.”

Demon’s eyes widened and he rounded on Velma. “You got captured by Starchild?”

Velma sighed quietly, but nodded. “Yeah. He knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was tied up in the Japanese wing on the third floor.”

“Did he hypnotize you?”

Here Velma paused. How was she going to say it?

Her silence was enough for Demon. He cursed. “Goddammit. I can’t have anyone else getting hypnotized by that…” he sighed in frustration and sat back. “I suppose you don’t remember what he did to you?”

Velma shook her head. “No, I don’t. But nothing happened.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

“I just… I just know nothing happened. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but I know nothing happened after he got me to close my eyes.”

Demon sighed heavily. “Fine. Did you at least figure anything out concerning him?”

Everyone looked over at Velma. “Yeah, actually, I did,” she said, steeling herself for what was about to happen. “I figured out you know Starchild. From before you started this manhunt. And that he knows, or used to know, you too.”

Demon’s face went blank, but he still calmly replied, “Of course I knew who he was. He’s a criminal, but he never became a bigger threat until a few months ago.”

“But what about the part where Starchild used to know you?” Daphne reminded him. “Is that true?”

“That isn’t relevant,”

“But what is relevant is that we didn’t get enough information on Starchild,” Velma spoke, unaware of where this newfound bravery was coming from. “We need more than we’ve been given if we’re going to catch him.”

“Velma’s right,” Fred nodded. “If we knew more about him, maybe we could set a better trap.”

“Much of the information you want is classified,”

“But, like, how’re we supposed to help if we, like, don’t know anything?” Shaggy pointed out. “L-Like, no offense, Mr. Demon, sir.”

Daphne nodded and gestured to Shaggy. “See?”

Demon looked like he wanted to argue and throw them out of his office. But finally, he just sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll give you more information. Is there anything specific you want?”

“The files on the three missing agents would be nice,” Velma piped up.

“And details on Starchild’s other robberies would be good too,” Daphne added. “So we can see if there are any patterns.”

“Your best profile of him, psychological and physical and biographic information included,” Fred threw out.

“And like, visual cues so Scoob knows what to look for so he can attack,” Shaggy finished, scratching Scooby behind the ears.

Demon raised an eyebrow. “It seems you’ve got everything figured out,”

“We wouldn’t be as great as we are if we didn’t think ahead,” Fred said proudly.

“Fine. I’ll get you the info you want, and anything else I think you may find useful. You’ll receive your files tomorrow.”

His tone of voice left no room for argument, so they all accepted that and walked out. They headed out of the building and piled back into the van.

“Like, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starved!” Shaggy said aloud as Fred turned on the ignition. “Let’s get lunch!”

Daphne laughed at him. “We just ate our breakfast not even two hours ago,”

“Like, exactly!”

Velma laughed with the others, but couldn’t help falling quiet as Fred began to drive, no doubt looking for somewhere they could eat. The words that that agent had said to her were still playing back in her head.

Once he has put you under his spell once, he will never let you go.

If you aren’t careful, your next encounter with him will be your last taste of free will.

See you soon, pretty thorn.

What was she going to do?

#starstruck #starchild x velma #starvel #poor velma i'm sorry i'm doing this to you sweetie lol #Enigmatic Warnings are Enigmatic #also bonus points to anyone who can sniff out what's going to become the running gag of this story #hope you guys like this because there's more coming!#kiss au writing #my writing #thanks for reading!

11 notes · View notes

seanfalco · 4 years

Text

(More Than Just) Travel Partners - Part III

Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Jaskier x f!Reader Word Count: 3.1k Rating: M (for now, will ramp up to E in later parts) Warning(s): Implied past assault/non-con a/n: okay so, I promise this is a reader insert. There is a plot relevant reason why the reader is introduced with a name, you just have to find out why. :3 Oooh we’re getting closer to the climax if you know what i mean

[ Masterlist ]

——

Almost two months.

Almost two months now spent on the road with Jaskier and though you felt happier than you had in living memory, every day that passed it became that much harder to keep the truth from him.

The truth about what you were running from, the terrors that haunted your dreams.

The truth about your identity -- if only to hear him call you by your real name and not the latest alias you’d had to adopt.

By now you knew he would want to help you in any way he could… if he knew.

If you let him.

And you wanted so badly to let yourself trust him. To let him in.

You often found yourself wondering just how much he’d managed to guess at on his own. He wasn’t an idiot, no matter how some people tried to paint him as one. He was sharp. He noticed things.

So what had he noticed about you?

Chewing your lip as these troubling thoughts circled your head and churned your stomach you barely noticed that Jaskier had stopped singing, his hand going still on his lute, and had asked you a question; Swift still plowing along stolidly beneath you.

“Aev?” he repeated, glancing over his shoulder at you; the adorable flower crown you’d made for him earlier still perched jauntily on his head.

“Hmm?” you hummed, jarred from your dark thoughts.

“What do you think about that line? Too much, right?” he asked, pulling a face.

“Which line?”

“Only the one I’ve been agonizing over for the last half hour,” he sighed. “Haven’t you been listening?”

You grimaced as you answered truthfully. “I’m sorry. I kinda got lost in thought... and wasn’t paying attention.”

You waited for him to crack a joke or tease you about spacing out, but were met with silence. “You know… if something’s troubling you, I’m always here to listen.”

The worry that laced his voice tore your gaze to him and upon glimpsing the serious set to his face white hot guilt seared through you and you felt sick. In that moment it took all your willpower to keep from spilling every secret you’d been carrying.

The temptation to share your burdens with someone else nearly out won your better senses, but by the time you’d taken a deep breath you had it under control once more. You couldn’t burden Jaskier with this. It was already enough that your very presence could potentially put him in danger as well.

“It’s nothing important, really. Just got caught up thinking about the past.”

You were surprised at how even your voice sounded and Jaskier caught your eye over his shoulder, studying you for a moment before he nodded.

“Alright, well, my offer still stands anytime. I know it might not seem like it, but I am a good listener,” he said, his usual grin slowly returning, “and an even better shoulder to cry on.”

The smile that tugged on your lips in return wasn’t forced and you huffed a small laugh.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The mood back to normal, you gave Jaskier your full attention. “Okay, so what’s this lyric you’re stuck on?”

——

Not less than an hour later the imposing walls of Tretogor loomed ahead and you firmly tamped down the flutter of worry that was attempting to worm its way back into your gut. Cities were dangerous for more than one reason, and a capital even more so, but Jaskier had asked for this destination specifically, and you couldn’t say no.

“So where is this friend you need to meet?” You asked as Jaskier helped you down from Swift’s back.

“Well, he’s less of a friend and more of a uhhh, friendly rival,” he explained, adjusting the strap of his lute case over his shoulder.

“So he’s another bard?” You asked, raising a brow.

“Well, yes. He usually hangs around the tavern, the Radiant Rooster, but you don’t wanna go there,” he quickly added, frowning slightly.

“Are you trying to get rid of me, Jaskier?” you asked, half teasing, unsure what to make of the fact that didn’t seem to want you to accompany him.

His blue eyes widened. “Noononono, that’s not it,” he was swift to assure, raising his hands defensively. “It’s just… how do I put this nicely? He’s kind of a dick. And I didn’t want—”, he sighed, cutting off, his eyes flitting away anxiously, not quite meeting yours.

“Didn’t want what?” you prompted taking a step closer and tilting your head to catch his gaze.

Taking a deep breath he met your eyes. “I know how he can be with women, and I didn’t -- I don’t want him to hit on you.”

“Oh.” You couldn’t seem to form any other words for a moment and Jaskier flushed endearingly. “That’s… that’s very sweet of you Jaskier, but you know I can handle myself.”

“I know that,” he replied sheepishly. “To be honest, it’s more for my benefit than yours.”

“Oh.”

Now it was your turn to flush and look away. “Alright then,” you said, deciding to cut him some slack and honor his wishes, “I’ll go check out the market while you’re at the Radiant Rooster and I’ll... meet you in about an hour?”

Jaskier sighed with relief and handed you Swift’s reins.

“Perfect! I won’t be long!”

“Oh, wait!,” you called, lunging forward to grasp the cuff of his doublet before he took off.

“What is it?” Jaskier spun back around to face you, his eyes briefly flicking to your hand at his wrist.

“You, uhm, you’re still wearing the flower crown,” you explained, pointing to his head while trying to hide your grin.

Glancing upward Jaskier grimaced, reaching up to delicately remove the chain of daisies and buttercups you’d weaved for him earlier. “Ah, no wonder the guards were staring at me strangely,” he sighed before a grin flashed across his face moments later. “Oh well, it’ll probably look better on you anyways,” he announced, placing the flowers over your hair and stepping back to admire you, his gaze tender. “Yep. Absolute perfection.”

Your heart in your throat you reached up to gingerly brush the flower petals with your fingers, waiting for your voice to return. “I dunno,” you said weakly, “I thought you looked rather lovely yourself.”

“Flatterer,” Jaskier whispered, leaning close to your ear before grasping your hand and squeezing. “Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone.”

“I should be the one saying that!” you called after him, not quite able to stop smiling.

——

The market was bustling and to kill some time you peered at some of the stalls with little interest before moving on, weaving through the dense crowd. One stall, however caught your eye and you stopped, ducking under the awning to linger over the wares; your fingers brushing over the small trinkets on display. One small silver brooch in particular seemed to call to you and you couldn’t help but think how striking it would look pinned to Jaskier’s lapel. After a moment’s hesitation you purchased it, exchanging a few coins with the shopkeep and slipping it into your belt pouch to surprise him with later.

After circling the rest of the market you picked out a spot off to the side with a good view of the mouth of the street and stood, stroking Swift’s velvety nose while attempting to both stay alert and block out the majority of the noise pressing in on you. Several minutes elapsed as you watched the people around you, your sharp eyes checking each face that passed; always on the lookout, before you felt someone bump into you hard from behind and stumble to the ground at your feet.

At first glance you could see it was a wizened old crone and you hurried to help her stand; grasping her arm to pull her up.

“Are you alright?”

“‘m fine, fine,” the old woman mumbled, straightening as much as her bent back would allow. However, when her deep cowl turned toward you, you nearly stumbled back in fright at the sight of her large milky eyes staring straight through you until you realized, feeling rather foolish, that she was merely blind. Her hand on your wrist tightened painfully though as she continued to stare, bringing you to wince.

“T-that hurts --”

“Be wary child,” her voice rasped urgently; the rest of your words dying on your tongue as she pulled you closer. “He hunts you still and he is closing in. Nowhere is safe. Not until he draws his last breath. You cannot run forever.”

Unable to speak you merely stood frozen as her bony fingers bruised your skin; fear enveloping you as a mirthless hollow laugh rang in your ears, magnified by the sounds of the market, voices overlapping; too loud in your ears. Too loud. Suddenly the crone was gone, disappeared into the swell of the crowd and you whipped your head around, searching the street for her, her warning taunting you until it was all you could hear.

Out of the sea of people a face suddenly swam into view and you flinched back as it moved straight toward you as if in slow motion -- the face that haunted your dreams nearly every night, and suddenly it was if you had never left; emotions rolling over you, threatening to pull you under.

Pain. Punishment. Anger. Bruises and wounds soothed by soft words and false promises, empty apologies, and poisoned professions of undying love. Fear; lingering, choking, festering. Always there, even in the good times. Always the fear of angering him, his mood darkening in the blink of an eye. Never knowing which version you would see from day to day, sometimes even hour to hour —the charmer or the monster. Hands at your waist, pawing at your clothes; alcohol drenched breath on your skin. No. No! Protests ignored, overpowered. Your duty. Tired of fighting. Close your eyes, wait for it to end.

“Aevryn!”

Strong hands grasped your arms and you struggled for a moment, panic flaring in your chest as you tried to push him away until you realized it was Jaskier.

“Hey, it’s me, it’s me! Are you alright? You’re pale as a sheet. It’s like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Closing your eyes you tried to ground yourself; focusing on Jaskier’s grip on your arms and the blue of his eyes. “Aev? Did something happen? What did that beggar say to you?”

“Nothing.” You shook your head, your pulse pounding deafeningly in your ears. “She just… startled me.”

The bard frowned, unconvinced, but he didn’t press any further. “Come on, we need to get you calmed down.” His hand slipped down to your wrist as he led you to the nearest tavern where he proceeded to order you both drinks, choosing a booth tucked into the corner, far away from the other handful patrons.

“Here, drink this. It’ll calm your nerves,” he said, pushing one of the mugs toward you.

You stared down into the mug of pale amber liquid in front of you for a moment before nodding and lifting it to your lips to take a long draw, swallowing the somewhat bitter ale thirstily. As you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand you noticed Jaskier watching you warily; his eyes worried and his usually grinning lips pressed together in a tense line.

You opened your mouth to try to explain, but he took a deep breath and spoke first. “Whatever you saw in the market, whatever you were experiencing, it wasn’t real. You’re safe,” he insisted, moving his hand hesitantly across the table, placing it over yours.

You didn’t move your hand away.

“Thank you,” you murmured, trying to sound as calm as possible, you even managed to look him in the eye though your pulse was still tremulous. “I’m fine Jask, really.”

He still seemed doubtful as you took another drink, searching for anything to say to distract him. The ale was starting to calm your nerves, and the warmth of his hand on yours didn’t hurt either.

“So, how did your meeting go at the Radiant Rooster?” you asked, grasping at the distraction.

It did the trick because as soon as you asked, Jaskier’s eyes lit up. “That’s right, I almost forgot!” he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in excitement. “I have amazing news. So, how’s this for exhilarating? You and I are going to be performing at the palace tomorrow night for the King’s birthday celebration.”

“What?” you asked, gaping at him across the table, the incident in the marketplace all but forgotten for the moment. “Did I hear you correctly? We’re playing for the King? At the palace? How did you--?”

Jaskier merely grinned, basking in your amazement. “We’re not the only musicians that will be there,” he admitted, a touch sourly, “but I have it on good authority that we will be amongst the best there and that the party is going to be one to remember. Or forget, depending on how much wine is served,” he added with a shrug.

“Is your friend going to be performing as well?” you wondered, trying to imagine this man that Jaskier had been so keen to keep you away from earlier.

Jaskier’s grimace was confirmation enough.

“Unfortunately,” he grumbled, folding his hands around his mug. “But it can’t be helped, at least I’ll be able to enjoy watching the pompous ass’s face when we upstage him on his own turf.” He paused to take a drink, seeming to remember something else mid-swallow. “Oh! There is one more thing. Before tomorrow night we’ll need to upgrade our look,” he explained, picking at the worn silk of his open jacket. “My doublet’s seen better days and as lovely as you always look, I think something just a little flashier will be just the thing.”

“Flashier...?” Suddenly self conscious you glanced down at your dress. “How flashy?”

Sensing your trepidation Jaskier was quick to ease your worries before rambling on. “Trust me, I’ll make sure you look amazing, love. I’m thinking something colour coordinated. It’ll be costly to have something made at such short notice, but I know a guy--”

——

“So, what do you think?” Jaskier asked, pulling aside the curtain with a flourish and stepping out, his arms spread to show off his new outfit. As he approached he made a small 180 so you could see him at all angles before stopping in front of you and waiting for your appraisal.

Stepping up to him, a smile playing at the corner of your lips, you straightened his collar, your hands running over the slope of his shoulders, smoothing the silky dark blue fabric. “You look quite dashing,” you murmured, your fingers moving to fasten the topmost button he’d forgotten. “You look good in anything, but I think this colour suits you best. It brings out the striking blue of your eyes, and there’s just enough gold embroidery to draw attention without looking gaudy.”

Your gaze flicked up to find him watching you, smiling softly and you suddenly realized how close you were. Just a few more inches and you could easily tilt your head back and press your lips to his. Shaking yourself from this thought you quickly stepped back, slipping your hands from his chest to clasp in your skirts, your face heating.

Perhaps it was merely your imagination, but you could have sworn Jaskier’s grin faltered slightly, disappointment flickering across his face for an instant before smoothing as you stepped back. “I’m glad you like it,” he said, glancing down at himself as he ran his own hands over the fabric as well. “Now, it’s your turn,” he exclaimed with a grin, gesturing toward the changing curtain. “I’m excited to see how yours looks on you.”

Slightly nervous you slipped into the small changing area to find your new dress hanging there waiting for you. Jaskier had ordered it to his specifications and this was the first time seeing it with your own eyes. Running your fingers over the rich midnight blue velvet of the bodice with a soft gasp, you admired the intricate thread of gold embroidery around the neckline, thinning out into little starbursts as they trailed down toward the gauzy tulle of the skirt. You wondered how much extra Jaskier had to pay to have this made in a day and a half’s time. The embroidery alone had to have taken a considerable amount of time to apply and you felt kind of sorry for the poor seamstresses who had to work so fast.

Taking a deep breath you stripped and pulled the dress up, slipping your arms through the snug sleeves… there was only one problem you realized, reaching behind yourself… you could only tie the dress up halfway and there was no attendant to help you finish.

Taking a deep breath you called through the curtain, “Uhm, Jaskier?”

“Mhmm? Almost done?” His voice sang back. “I’m on pins and needles waiting here, please come out and end my suffering.”

“I uh, I need a little help…” Pulling back the curtain you stepped out reluctantly, holding the front of the dress tight against your chest so it wouldn’t slip down. “I can’t finish tying it up on my own.”

Jaskier’s eyes widened noticeably as they very obviously swept down your form and he swallowed. “Of-of course.”

You turned so he could tighten the laces, shivers racing up your spine as his fingers brushed against your skin. He fumbled a couple times, but soon he announced he was finished and stepped back so you could turn to face him once more.

“I was right. Absolutely breathtaking,” he murmured and you had to duck your head to hide your burning cheeks. “Do you like it?”

“I do,” you replied, arranging the skirt and swinging your hips to make it swish around your legs, a smile pulling your lips. “I feel like a princess in a fairytale,” you admitted with a laugh.

“Does that make me the prince?” Jaskier asked with a wry smile, offering you his hand. You glanced at it for a moment before taking it and he spun you, dancing without music.

You thought for a second and couldn’t help but laugh harder. “More like the court bard who constantly tries to woo me with song and sweet words; promises of running off into the sunset together to escape my imminent and unwanted betrothal.”

Jaskier’s brows rose and he chuckled delightedly. “Ooo I like that even better. Fits me to a t.” He hesitated for a moment and you came to a stop, his arm still wrapped loosely around your waist. “And do you?”

Somewhat dazed by the sudden stop you tilt your head in confusion. “Do I what?”

“Run away with the bard?”

“Jaskier…” Your voice dies away and you can’t seem to make it come back for several moments. “Thank you for the dress,” you finally manage with a whisper, avoiding the question. “We’re going to look amazing tonight.”

#jaskier x reader #jaskier x oc #jaskier imagines #the witcher fic #the witcher imagines #jaskier #julian alfred pankratz #the bard #fic: traveling partners #we have two parts lefttt!#my writing

75 notes · View notes

chaoticspacefam · 3 years

Text

OC Music Meme

I was tagged for this by @actualanxiousswampwitch ! Thank you & sorry it took so long, didn’t have time to write this out before I left for holiday stuff so here we go! I shall tag: @actualanxiousswampwitch (go on give us another one XD), @a-muirehen , @kyber-heart , @thedinalixlegacy (no pressure as always, I know I’m kinda late now sksjkshskhs!) and anyone else who wants to do this, yes, I promise I mean you!

art is by @ ocellifera on deviantART! :D

Let’s do Aria this time, shall we! Since her playlist is the second-longest, and her and Vano’s ship playlist is the longest, we’ll have the most (probable options! Long post so goin’ under a cut. Additional TW’s for: drugs, alcohol, alcoholism, drug addiction and murder, in case I’ve forgotten to add it to the song-specific sections. If you click past this cut, know that this is what you may find there.

reminds you of them most: It was super hard to pick just three for hers, there were so many others I wanted to include here, but couldn’t, as I wanted to make sure I included songs that covered as much of her over-arching characterisation as I could. Honourable mentions to: Miss Jackson - Panic! At The Disco feat. LOLO, Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) - Fall Out Boy, Beekeeper - Keaton Henson, and Bones Of A Rabbit - Young Heretics, which can all be found (and more) on her Spotify Playlist - catch-all warning for: sex, drugs, violence and murdering of parents applies here, be aware her playlist is very dark, just as dark as Rai’s but with differing subject matter, proceed with caution if you find anything like that triggering!)

You’re Going Down - Sick Puppies :: This one is kinda self-explanatory. I heard it on a Spotify or Youtube shuffle at some point a year or so ago and immediately went “Oh, hey Aria!” so onto her playlist it went XD “Because I'm hyped up out of control If it's a fight, I'm ready to go I wouldn't put my money on the other guy If you know what I know that I know.” don’t mess with the Tiny Sith, guys, she will put you in the medbay. She’ll do it, she’s done it before ask Vano what happened to the last guy *nods*

Liar - The Arcadian Wild :: This is a relatively “new” song in comparison, which was sent to me by a good rp/writer friend on Discord (who afaik doesn’t have other socials!) that I often discuss plot points etc. with among other things, saying “hey this reminded me of Aria thought you’d like it!”. I listened to it and yep, sure enough, it’s an Aria song. A big part of Aria’s character is that at the start, she really is quite a bad person. She’s nasty, and cantankerous and she really doesn’t care about anybody except for herself (and maybe her dad. A tiny bit.), as things progress, however, while she is still inherently quite rude and selfish, she DOES learn to value other people...provided they are people she cares about, like Vano, and her friends, and so on, as well as (sometimes, she’s working on it still) taking the blame for her own actions and learning it’s not “weak” or bad to a) admit you care about people, b) make mistakes and c) admit those mistakes and take responsibility for them. "I sense there’s trouble ahead, it’s clear by the signs and warnings. That should tell where all blame is due, So why are they pointing at MY head? [...] I sense deception to come. Honestly, truth and I are never one. 'Cause I am the lying man and I have made you my next victim. I need you to see through my act, to tell me I'm wrong, to take off the mask, or else I'll be left in the lie. And I'll deceive my way straight to demise! Cause I’m not in the right state of mind, I just wish I had strength to admit it. My stubbornness will put up a fight! But I don’t deserve to win it... I’m left in the dark, pondering my mistakes But in the light I swear I will, deny it all...”

I didn’t mean to post like half the song but woops it’s done so have it anyway lmao

Brutus - The Buttress :: TW: intense violent imagery in the lyrics. This one is very relevant but contains spoilers for upcoming and as of yet unposted/incomplete chapters (as in...like 3 ish chapters time at most) of Creeping Shadows, so I’ll post this quote as “explanation” and let you theorize who it’s about

“My name is Brutus and my name means “heavy” So with a heavy heart I'll guide this dagger into the heart of my Enemy! My whole life you were a teacher and friend to me Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy I too have a destiny! This death will be art! The people will speak of this day from near and afar This event will be history, And I'll be great too! I don't want what you have, I wanna be you!!“

reminds another character of them:

Where’s My Love? - SYML :: (Vano) I think the acoustic version is especially emotional : ))) Vano looked for her for years but couldn’t find her and genuinely thought Aria was dead. You can understand why she was so fucking angry when she found out that was a lie...but at the same time, she just wanted her love to come home :( “Did she run away? Did she run away? I don't know If she ran away, If she ran away, Come back home Just come home“

Mothers - Daughter :: (Myla, her mother) “Love all you need to love before it goes... When your face becomes a stranger’s that I don’t know. You will never remember who I was to you [...] I’m called “mother”, but they’re called “home”.”

Myla raised Aria for the first few years of her life, and really wanted to keep her away from both the Jedi and the Sith but as it became more and more clear that Aria’s Force affinity was as strong as her father’s, the situation rapidly spiralled out of Myla’s control. She tried to hide Aria, but in the end her father Noctis did find them and take Aria to train with the Sith. She didn’t see her daughter again until she was a teenager, suddenly turning up with the task to kill her for treason against the Empire (Myla is not the canon Imp Agent, but follows the general trajectory of the LS!Agent storyline i.e. an agent disillusioned with the Empire who eventually defects to the Republic with the help of the SIS.). Though she’s a Senator on Onderon now, Myla carried a blaster for personal protection and ofc knows how to use it, except...she couldn’t shoot her own daughter and that was all she wrote. I imagine her thought process during her final moments went something like in this song, especially the bit that I highlighted up there.

reminds you of a relationship of theirs, doesn’t have to be romantic, can be paternal, friendly, etc:

Tongues & Teeth - The Crane Wives :: Aria & Vano (Romantic). Aria’s relationship with Vano is incredibly messy and complicated. On one hand, she knows Vano deserves better, but at the same time she doesn’t want her to go anywhere else and it seems like no matter what she does to try and “warn her off” about what a “bad person” she is, Vano keeps coming back anyway. Ergo, this song. "Oh, I will ruin you. I will ruin you. It’s a habit...I can’t help it. I know that you mean so well, but I am not a vessel for your good intent. I will only break your pretty things, I will only wring you dry of everything! But if you’re fine with that, if you’re fine with that [...] You can be mine.”

Colours - Halsey :: Aria & Merak & Ziri (Friendship/Platonic Love) “You’re only happy when your sorry head is filled with dope, I hope you make it to the day you’re 28 years old...”

Aria “coped” (i.e. not very well but she did it) with the guilt of killing her mother and the stress brought on by the night terrors by self-medicating with glitterstims (spice) and alcohol, and this is how Merak in particular remembers her. Though she got clean from spice after they picked up Ziri, she still continued to drink (and still does) quite heavily, though at least it’s easier to manage that habit. Both of them supported her through this the best they could and it’s probably a big reason (other than Merak being Vano’s little brother) that they’re still Aria’s friends to this day, even if she doesn’t actively travel with them anymore.

(honourable mention to Agnes - Glass Animals which also falls under this “category” but I didn’t want this to get too crowded lmao, it is once again a super long post woops) You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid - The Offspring :: Aria & Roan/Darth Noctis (Familial/Familial Love) Listen, he may have taught her very bad emotional habits and turned her into a tiny attack dog, but her father did love & protect her the best way he possibly could. He was very proud of her and always envisioned her taking his place as a Darth one day (and it takes her a longass while, but eventually she does! Congrats dad!). That’s all I’ve got to say about this one 🤷‍♀️ Monster - Willyecho :: Aria & Satele Shan/The Jedi Order (Enemies to Begrudging Respect (eventually) “I can see the truth. No, you don’t have to lie to me. Don’t fill your head with things and think you’re free~ [...] You don’t believe in monsters, do you~?” ”Of course not!” ”Well, I do...” See me change...into something...darker....” My personal favourite from this “round”. It’s not until Ilum that Satele and the Jedi finally realise they have not “converted” Aria as they thought they did, but rather...they’ve had a Sith hiding under their noses, a Sith related to a Dark Councillor well-known for murdering Jedi no less, and that perhaps...the “deaths” she had convinced them were accidental, were in fact, not an accident at all. 😈 Aria, of course, gets her ass thrown in jail for a few years for this lmao When the schtick with the Revanites happens and Theron needs someone who can “negotiate in a civil manner with Sith”, he and his mother agree Aria is the best bet - if it works, the Sith will respond more positively to her than any other Jedi, if they kill her instead then they’re “rid of” her and don’t lose one of their own - when Lana’s point-of-contact happens to be Vano and the pair reunite after another several years apart, Aria refuses to return to the Republic after Yavin IV. By then, she’s developed enough of a begrudging respect for Satele (and vice versa) that the Grand Master lets her go (not that she was willing to try and fight Vano, Ni’kasi, Marr & Lana to try and take Aria prisoner again anyways). They haven’t seen each other since and though Aria is neutral to the Jedi who have joined the Alliance, she doesn’t care for those who are still loyal to the Republic and would rather have nothing to do with them if she can help it.

3 notes · View notes

hacelee-mp100 · 3 years

Text

What I Am Missing

Reigen’s POV on an old high school friend

The dim lighting blends in with the chattering and the music. Compared to the long bland day I waited out in my office, the sensations from this place are an overload. In a good way, I tell myself as I take a seat at the bar table. It’s good stimulation for someone who’s spent most of the day in an empty office, thoughts bouncing off the hollow walls. I’m in the hustle and bustle again. Now I get to let the outer voices bounce me around.

The bartender catches sight of me and slides over to take my order. A lemon sour cocktail, I tell him. Please. The clink of ice hints at the refreshing sensation of the liquid soon to pass down my throat. I already know what it would feel like. This is more of a routine than a reward. Routines are better than holding a notion of rewards. You get disappointed if the reward doesn’t compensate for what you were building up to. It’s better if you never get started on the notion of a reward in the first place. The cold seeps into my palm as I wrap my hand around the glass. Integrate these mini rewards like these into a routine, like fast food. They’re good, functional. Just a short break from the work you’ll have to get back to one way or the other. Before I know it, I’ve already drowned half the glass. I set the glass back down, the clink barely audible over the numbing chatter. My sigh doesn’t push the burble out of my eardrums.

The bartender must’ve been watching me out of the corner of his eye. “Them kids bothering you?” he asks. “I’d invite you over to a private sector if we had one built into the architecture.”

I glance over my shoulder to see that it’s mostly college students in the bar. “Midterm season, huh?”

The bartender lets out a good-natured laugh. “Looks like you’re in the know. We get more of them during the exam season than after. They need an outlet for all the stress.”

“Don’t we all.”

“We get loads.” The bartender leans forward on the counter and nods toward the rowdy groups of people scattered throughout the bar. “From college kids to middle-aged and older. Buddies living through life, chewing through things together. Sometimes I imagine they’re all the same people. Living out different stages of life.”

“Mmm,” I entertain the thought. “The only stage you’re missing is the underage. You only get to see the weaning.”

“Right, the weaning from protected childhood. I suppose you need a place to chew over and take in the world that slowly loses flavor compared to the childhood glories.”

“Like a good ol’ chewing gum. All the flavor’s bled out, but you keep on chewing.”

“Just keep chewing, just keep chewing, chewing, chewing...“ I recognize Dory's ‘just keep swimming’ tone in the bartender’s voice. He laughs it off and turns his eyes on me. “I see the loners, too. Us analyzers, commentators. There’s the living part. The sharing. And the commenting.”

He’s rushing it. It’s strange to feel the velocity of the conversation when it’s me who normally speeds ahead. I didn’t want to think of him today. There’s laughter among the college students.

“There’s something bothering you. I can tell. Rough day, eh?” The bartender’s voice seems way too far away. I internally shake myself to clear the fog.

“Close. More like loud thoughts.” I look up in my best attempt to imitate the bartender’s good-natured smirk, tapping on my head. “Nothing a good wash of alcohol won’t fix.”

“Ahh. No need to spell it out. Wash it away, wash it good.”

With a reassuring nod that might as well be a clap on the shoulder, the bartender saunters off.

This guy’s the epitome of a bartender, ready to talk about life but knowing when to leave people alone. If this is his regular shift, I’d mark this place as a great hop over spot for whenever I want to feel the bustling. But the crowd. It’s too loud. The chatter’s really getting to me, and I quickly down the rest of my drink.

—————

It wasn’t just the chatter, I realize as I climb the stairs to my apartment. It was the college students, the scene that landed too close to what I’ve been trying to bury. I thought it would be my reality. I didn’t know it would be an image I’d observe from afar. Not that it was tangible at the time. It was simply what I perceived as the given. It’s not part of my life now.

My quivering vision morphs my shoes into sneakers bracing against the metallic ridges of my high school stairs. My feet create the same footsteps as when we climbed up the stairs for our music class.

There’s something hurling up in me. I briefly consider pausing to retch, but decide it’s not worth it. It’s disorienting when I don’t have my sensations aligned and categorized. I need to place my finger on the cause of this nausea. I know what this is. I am already thinking in response to what he would’ve said. I’m preparing to defend myself in a match that will never take place.

“Would you stop it,” he had told me once. He said it like a statement of fact, as if it had the same gravity as the list of evidence I was bringing up at the time to support my claim. I don’t remember the specifics of the topic we were on. I just remember the abruptness that didn’t fit in with the context.

“Mind clarifying the ‘it’?”

“Okay.” He paused. “How do you imagine us seven years down the line?”

Though I was thinking it wasn’t at all relevant, I decided to play along. “At a bar somewhere, I guess, tired from work and washing down our stress with a couple of beers.”

“What will we be talking about.”

“Uh… shitty bosses. Lamenting on our career choices. Commenting on passerby’s.”

“Right. We’ll be talking of others. Talking about other people.”

He let the conversation trail off that time. He was a strange one. He went by his own agenda. It could have been that sense of gravity that drew me to him over and over again, even though he wasn’t in my friend circle at school. We hung out from time to time after the extracurricular activities. I bailed on volleyball practice more often than not because it lasted longer than his book club meetings. When we walked home together, he would tug roughly on his bicycle handles and jolt the hardcover book in his front basket.

I tried to establish a routine, and for a while it seemed like he accepted it. Save for these strange episodes when he would try to tell me something about myself that he couldn’t even name. In moments like these, I would get the peculiar sense of cold metallic ridges digging into my ribs, as if I were the book in his basket.

When the conversation cropped up again, he picked it back up like we skipped over the weeks in between.

“People can sense it, you know. When you put up a front.”

“Yeah, I agree it’s pretty easy to spot,” I said, not missing a beat. I couldn't afford to miss any beats. The cold was seeping into my sides again, and I had to warm them back up. “Body language is bound to give people away, whether it be eye or hand movements. From their gaze to the angle of their arms to the tremor in their hands, it’s really not that hard to detect.”

He didn't fall in pace with my rambling. “But it wasn’t because of the tremor that I caught you.”

“Seems like you’re pretty good at reading contexts, then. Do you get that from all the books you read?”

“They help.” He tugged on the handlebars to get his bike over a bump in the ground. “You don’t need to fake that you’re okay. Not in front of me, at least.” He said it nonchalantly, as if he wasn’t even embarrassed about bringing up to the surface what I would clearly prefer to leave unaddressed.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” That was the truth. I had no understanding of the cold.

“I’m not trying to put you on the spot, jeez.”

We ran into a group of mutual friends at the crossroad, and the awkward spot in the conversation dissipated.

I think I maniacally avoided that train of conversation. Physically avoiding him would only prove its existence, so I tried to crowd our moments with my comments. It was easier in larger groups of people, because there were only so many ways you could act once the group flow was set. I was excellent at tugging the strings in that setting, a power that became null when I was with him alone.

He seemed to have picked up my routine of walking home after club hours, because he started waiting for my volleyball practice to finish. It was during one of those walks after club hours that he finally laid out what was bothering him. There was that telling pause before he talked, the pause that always came before he would make an insight-laden comment in a group setting. He talked slow., like he was just figuring this out.

“It’s hard to get through to you, Reigen. It’s hard to… I always have to spell things out for you to get it, and that sometimes goes against the grain of the whole thing, you know?”

He wasn’t always good with words, and I could fill in the gaps most of the time. I was at a loss for this one, though.

“Dude, you gotta give me more to work with.”

Was it because I didn’t like talking about myself enough? Was it because I liked to categorize other people? I thought I was doing well reading the undercurrents. I knew how to please people, but it was so much tougher with him. Maybe I could cater to his tastes more if I could figure out the part that went over my head. It was body language, most likely, since that’s the only other form of communication aside from words. In the back of my mind, I was thinking: would you put the damn thing in words so I don’t have to keep shooting in the dark?

“I’m trying here,” he complained, as if he could read my thoughts. He furrowed his eyebrows, and his eyes traveled to the book in his basket. I was surprised when he actually picked it up.

“I’ve been reading this on and off. It’s a narrative book on relationships and bonds, sort of.” He held the book out to me. “I want you to read this.”

“Sounds great.” I took the book, feeling the dents it got from getting bounced around in the metal basket.

The continued furrow in his eyebrows told me that he was still on the task of clarifying his words, forcing me to keep my mouth shut. I silently hoped that we’d run into a group of mutual friends like the last time this happened. But it was too late in the day. He had waited for my volleyball practice to end to walk home with me, and there was usually no one around at this time. Our shadows stretched long in the orange light.

Instead of the group of people, I got what I was almost dreading.

“You lack internal narration,” he said, almost proud of having found the words. Finally. “And I want you to stop trying to make up for it by stealing other people’s.”

—————

The book was actually a collection of short stories. Even though they weren’t long in length, the stories’ plot lines stretched out painfully. The characters were all Hamlet equivalents. I never enjoyed the play. I returned the book to him and he did not ask what I got out of it.

This was a full year before we graduated high school, way before we parted ways. That last year was good. We went skiing together with the mutual friend group. He brought me along on a trip with his old friends, too, so it wasn’t like that incident was the beginning of the end.

Except that memory stands out to me as the stamping of the expiration date for my time with him.

At the time I couldn’t understand what he meant by narration. What in the world is an internal narration. I was all but narration when it came to describing situations. The nonstop stream of words was my jam. Besides, it was a harsh thing to say, to anyone. If I cut all context and presented the situation to an outsider, I’m pretty sure the common response would be: that’s a shitty friend.

No, but I liked the guy. He was cool. He would sometimes throw me off because he seemed to be completely oblivious to the social hierarchy in school. He’d casually mention the social pariahs in front of the popular crowd, completely disregarding the unspoken division. This made it hard for me to gauge where I stood with him.

It wasn’t out of malice that he said that to me. He was telling me something because he cared. Something most people wouldn’t have even noticed, or cared to bring up to the surface. I wonder if he knew that we wouldn’t keep in touch, the same way he perceived this unspoken part of me. What I am left with are the bare facts. It’s statistically hard to keep in touch with everyone. It makes sense that he is one of the many I lost touch with.

But I can’t find the narration that connects the dots between these facts.

The night air is sticky. I inhale deep from my cigarette and get a big gulp of asphalt, concrete, and smoke residue. I heave a deep sigh, but it doesn’t push the stickiness out of my lungs.

A part of me wants to dismiss this as an episode of sentiments. Or find a solution. Why mull over something if you can’t do anything about it? Why mull over if you can? Logic cuts off either path. The solution comes in actions because we live in the present.

Another, more sinister part of me notes that I am slipping further away from what I had wanted at the time by thinking this. He knew it. He saw it. I never talked about it but he knew what it was that I wanted. That’s why he was telling me I wasn’t there yet. It wasn’t to present a solution. He probably didn’t know it himself. He was noting my situation because it was visible to him, because he had access to my narration that I never spelled out to him.

My head hurts. Alcohol and smoking probably weren’t a good mix. I cut my entire train of thought short and snuff out the cigarette. There was a kid coming to my place these days. I don’t know how long it would last, but I should try and cut back on smoking just for the time being. Here’s to another beginning to something I have no idea how long it would last.

I will sleep to sink me in the depths, to speed me past to the other side of tomorrow, where busy actions would patch up this gaping emptiness.

2 notes · View notes

bladekindeyewear · 4 years

Text

HS^2 bloggin’ Patreon Commentary Catchup 2020-03-29

I know I’ve been sitting on half-a-dozen asks, but I’m gonna sit on those a little longer because after I’m done catching up on ALL the commentary I’ve missed I’ll probably be a little exhausted.

First the commentary on Chapter 5: YOUR 3Y3S H4V3 B33N CLOS3D. I skimmed this before, just so I could leave a comment about what I’d been told about the suicide feeling / Jaspers funeral when she was “eight” being way too late on the timeline. They still haven’t made any corrections to that HS^2 page. Hm. Are they just feeling the general vibe and tags to help the fandom guide things? I’m wondering if anyone came to any of them specifically with that, since Patreon commentary doesn’t seem to cut it. (Which I might be grateful for, from another point of view, because why would they favor paid methods.)

Sketches and Commentary: Chapter 5, "YOUR 3Y3S H4V3 B33N CLOS3D"

Starting commentary on why they played with the medium by opting for a Longpage with that update. Unsurprising and understandable~

Ooh, they included the commission/sketch instructions for the image they asked from Xam.

I don't know what we did to deserve Xamag.

Yeah few people dispute Xamag’s awesomeness.~

Much of this conversation was written before they launched HS^2′s first chapter, huh?

With the "primary" version of its original protagonist dead in a wallet,

Did... did Terezi or someone else put John’s body in his wallet after he died? I forget. *checks back*

(Meat 35) That’s definitely a fair question. But I have one that’s much more important for her to answer. Terezi, are you seriously just going to leave the body here? “TEREZI: HUH?” Of course not. Terezi’s a practical girl, after all. She digs the wallet out of her blood-stained pants, and captchas the corpse. She holds it close to her heart, like a secret. Like John’s stupid last words: a confession whispered for her and no one else.And then she starts walking home.

(Meat 36) Terezi’s jaw tightens. She’s not ready to hear any words that remind her of those few hours with John. Her hand goes to her pocket, where she’s keeping the wallet. She traces the contours of it with her thumb and forces a smile.

[...] Here we both are. It’s a beautiful day. You’ve got your dead boyfriend in your wallet. And we’ve already managed to strike such a nice metatextual rapport. So hear me out. [...] I ease the throttle back a bit, just enough so that I’m not whispering directly into her ear when she slips the wallet out of her pocket. She clutches it so hard in her palm that she’s digging dents into the leather, and bites her lip.

God damnit, that was an important fucking thing for me to forget. I hope she preserved his corpse in a better way than just “wallet”. And why the FUCK did Dirk think it was so important to bring him???? That’s not good, is it.

Back to the commentary, going to how the Dirk crew’s conversations especially cover the meta question of why continue the story at all...

This is actually a similar question to one explored by a series that shares a lot of Homestuck's creative DNA, Steven Universe.

Oh god damnit, what timing, huh? And then they go on about what constitutes a happy ending and what’s supposed to happen after, how work might not be done, et cetera. Hopefully these authors take a page from how SU:F finished, because Steven Universe managed to pull it back to uplifting pretty well.

These are two dangerous women, confined together long enough to learn all of each others' weaknesses, and sharp-edged enough to exploit them.

True enough.

Dirk, unfortunately, cucks the audience from seeing the scene's "true resolution." What an asshole. I've never been madder at this guy than I am right now. I bet he didn't even provide a warranty.

Pff.

On to the next commentary:

Sketches and Commentary: Catnapped, Part Three

Catnapped is some of the most fun I’ve had while writing, because Jasprose is just so goddamn fun. Cats don’t plan, they live in the moment. She’s always existing in that moment of pushing a glass off the table.

We can all agree with that I think.

Plenty they talk about here, but I’ll just quote part of anything about characterization...

First, I actually really appreciate getting a lot at Jane's genuine sympathy for Dirk here. There was quite a bit of mutual fondness and care between the two of them – but, at the same time, they enabled each others' worst tendencies.

Hm!

Swifer remains the closest thing to a "straight man" this story has. (Not in the sexuality way. In the comedy way.)

Yep.

There was no universe where we left this story without Jasprose saying "owo what's this". You know it, I know it.

Jesus Christ, I didn’t catch that.

God, Problem Sleuth just has the worst commuting luck. He should put some of his rug money into a permanent locksmith. Checking back in with these scenes is always a delight. It probably took PS like two hundred off-screen panels to get to this point. Miserable.

Wait, that’s right, Catnapped 28 is shown before DDD 12, but AFTER Dad is shown marching up handcuffed in Catnapped 26. And yet in DDD 12, Dad and DD come fetch PS from out of his office, when the handcuffed thing hasn’t happened yet in DDD. You can’t DO that, authors! It only makes RELEASE ORDER sense, not any sort of OTHER sense? What about when people come to catch up or read this later! Come on, that’s sloppy. Unless they’re going to leave PS behind to stay trapped in his office MORE, which I wouldn’t put past them. (But, wouldn’t make sense since the bullethole from C28 is already there in DDD12.) Andrew knew more of how to be responsible telling an out-of-time-sync story, believe it or not.

Commentary ends with a few sketches, like Jasprose doing a The Mask impression, appropriately.

Sketches and Commentary: Chapter 6, "A Conversation Regarding Relevance"

Oh, it’s Jade time.

On alt!Callie’s starting Space rant:

I wanted to impress on everyone just how vast it is, and also to remind the audience that alt!callie has them at the same mercy that Dirk does. She can force us to listen to her pontificate endlessly if she so chooses. She’s slightly less insufferable than Dirk, if only perhaps because her text isn’t orange.

Yep, mostly.

So here she is. Jade. We find out that not only is she conscious inside her own head, she is also incredibly chatty. And not too thrilled with her current situation. I know most of the audience isn’t either, considering the fact that Jade having no agency has basically become a meme at this point.

NEVER. AGAIN. PLZ.

As Callie told us in the beginning of the chapter, it isn’t natural for people to behave like narrative devices. Even within her own thematic framework, Callie has a habit of defaulting to behaving like a person after all.

Even alt!Callie still became a story nerd, not just original Callie -- she just became a different, more insufferable type of story nerd.

Plenty more discussion I don’t need to touch on... keep in mind I’m omitting large parts of this in most cases, again, to respect the paywall.

A remark on Dave and Karkat being two emotionally-constipated early-twenties Bernie Bros, which... I mean. Fair.

She definitely does love them, and she wanted to be with them, but also...Jade has a lot of other prospects. She’s actually the one character who seems to be enjoying her time on Earth c. Hitting up interspecies raves and getting around. We just haven’t seen any of that because none of those other people she boned are main characters.

Maybe that’s why alt!Callie was so blind and dismissive of it? Offscreen experience being less in the Light, therefore less relevant to her, even though that’s the exact attitude she’s ostensibly at war with?

Anyway Jade’s consciousness is huge.

Yep.

It’s been a while since we’ve had any sort of serious meta talk about classpects. Mostly because there’s really no use for classpects outside of the game, unless, for instance, you go around referring to everyone as the Prince or the Witch because you are a dramatic alien in a hood. It does make sense that a Witch’s powers would be more useful than a Sylph’s to a Muse.

Aaaand that’s all the classpect mention we’re gonna get isn’t it? ;P

(Yes I know, the author told us to dial it back. They ARE going ahead and prepping to answer some outstanding questions, though.)

Honestly, the Jade Situation is a tough one. To be sure, she has been sacrificed to the plot again and again, something that probably began as a coincidence and then later grew into a theme. Space players are destined to be huge, cosmic forces in the universe. Big movers. [...] But usually when we hear the story of big, god-like beings, we don’t think about the personalities behind them. What was it like for god to create the universe? Was he lonely? Did he regret it? Did he wish he could live in it instead?

And Jade WAS too powerful not to sideline, by a certain point in the plot. And before that, maybe trapped in a bit of a character arc where she had to get over some notions to step into the action.

I actually think Jade could have been okay with this. With being A Force For The Narrative. [...] But then Callie makes it personal.

Agreed. If alt!Callie hadn’t been so shitty about it in general, they could have worked things out more meaningfully; but the immense resolve and effort it took to dominate Caliborn in her origin timeline has tainted her perception ALMOST as bad as Dirk’s. Much of HS^2 is probably going to involve her gradually learning how to get over that in the background, the balance she needs to take ala the Ultimate Riddle’s lesson.

(Tangentially... it was said that it would have been nearly impossible to make alt!Callie dominate, even across ALL timelines. What if alt!Callie had her timeline’s origin explained in HS^2 by a Third Scratch at this late date with the likes of Davebot running around to do it??? That would probably make me fucking mad.)

Back to the commentary.

Admittedly these last few chapters have definitely been “girls beating the crap out of each other” heavy, and I hope that’s okay.

PFFFFF

Callie and Jade aren’t really sure who makes a decision on what is considered “just” or “heroic”. Plot twist, it’s us. We do. But also the alpha timeline does.

Hmm.

More gorgeous Xam art. Initially we were going to make it more ambiguous whether or not she actually ate the peanut butter, but we decided to have it be a decisive moment of triumph.

Really? Well, you could have made it visually clearer that the candy dropped. A lot of people visually missed that. This is a consequence of the back-and-forth artist-isnt-the-author art-commissioning going on, in part... Andrew was MUCH better at conveying what he wanted to convey BETWEEN panels than this crew, like comic book panels and their composition together; you can see that when comparing Homestuck proper’s sprite animation to that of fan adventures that used sprites, for instance. These guys are at something of a disadvantage due to their disconnect.

Commentary on the Commentary

This commentary uses "she/her" to talk about the alternate Calliope possessing Jade, while the "other" Callie (remember them?) uses they/them. This other Calliope, presumably, has a much different relationship with her gender – and her brother – than the Callie we saw discussing the subject with Roxy and John. One of my favorite things about this update (I can say that, because I'm a second person who didn't write it) was that subtle hint about how different her Caliborn must have been to allow her to predominate in the first place. I'd be really interested in fan works exploring more about her (and his) past.

Hhhhmmmmmmm.

Not sure what else to say to that, but it does make me hmmm.

Sketches and Commentary: Diamonds, Dames, and Dads, Part 1

Probably not much plot-relevant here...

Oh pff.

They had full drawings of them going in for the kiss on standby. They couldn’t resist making them.

Real talk, I have been looking forward to writing this story the most out of any other part of HS^2. Finally I get to combine my passions. Cheesy noir bullshit and old men making eyes at each other.

Pfffffff. Yes.

...the next three or four pages of this writing go on to describe how sexy this is and these characters and setting are. I can’t fault a word of any of it.

The dream team is assembled. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

Wow, I caught up on all this commentary quick. See you next time.

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #Homestuck^2 #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots #Homestuck Commentary #spoiler #spoilers

7 notes · View notes

rockindragonz · 5 years

Text

Theory and Practice

Words: 4554

Summary: Indrid draws a future that forces him to confront the feelings he's been slowly developing for everyone's favorite regular ass dude. AKA 5 times Indrid saw the future vs the 1 time he didn't

Ao3

Time is funny for people who can see the future. Even if Indrid couldn’t see exactly what was going to happen, he could still see the possible outcomes of any given situation. This always put him one step ahead in theory, but two steps behind in reality. While everyone else was living in the present, he was living 3 seconds ahead, so he missed out on the spontaneous things people would sometimes do. It was probably that spontaneity that drew him so magnetically to Duck Newton.

The man was peculiar in more ways than one. His face was soft, but aged beyond his years. His eyes were bright, but constantly exhausted. His body was strong, but his bones cracked and popped with nearly every movement. Most importantly though, despite the destiny Minerva had nicely laid out in front of him, Duck refused it and fought against it as much as he could. He purposely tried to do the unexpected things, the spontaneous things, that made Indrid have to scrap all of his drawings and start over. Normally, this would have been a nuisance, but he found himself drawn to the chaos that Duck created. Whenever Duck was in the room, Indrid found himself anticipating the things he would say, the paths he would take, the new ones he would create. Sometimes, of course, Duck did the expected thing. Sometimes he did his “chosen duty” of saving people, but he and his companions always found a different way of making things interesting.

That is why Indrid finds himself where he is: with a single lonely drawing of an odd future. A drawing of him kissing Duck Newton.

“Indrid, man, are you still there?” Duck said, and he sounded worried. It was their usual chatting time right now. Indrid knew that whenever he went quiet for too long, Duck would grow concerned over the possible futures running through his head. “Hey, uh, listen, I can call back later if now's a bad time.”

Indrid coughed in what he hoped was a convincing way. “I'm okay, sorry Duck, just, um, choking on air, a possible future caught me off guard,” he said as smoothly as he could, “Nothing to worry about.”

“You sure? You freaked me out for a sec there.” Duck's voice was concerned, almost afraid in a weird way. Indrid was certain his mind was conjuring up all sorts of possible reasons one of Indrid's visions would cause him to choke briefly.

“Yes I'm sure, it's not a big deal, just a… surprising future is all.”

“Oooookay man… I trust you. Just let me know ASAP if anything changes,” Duck said.

There was a brief lull in the conversation as Indrid carefully considered his next action. These visions weren’t completely new; there were a few futures where Indrid and Duck kissed at their first meeting, and even a miniscule amount where more happened. But those visions were usually so insignificant that Indrid paid them no mind. The mere fact that he drew that timeline meant that there were enough iterations of it that he might have to plan for it. Indrid shook his head as he suddenly realized that he was still on the phone, and laughed quietly.

“You are full of surprises, Duck Newton, absolutely full of surprises,” Indrid said into the phone.

Duck shuffled around on the other end. “Well, uh, is that uh, a good thing?”

“Yes, it brings variety to my life, so thank you,” Indrid smiled, “It gets rather boring knowing everything that will happen. You frequently send us down unlikely paths and force me to rethink everything, and to be honest I thoroughly enjoy it.”

“You’re, uh, you’re welcome, I guess? I don’t know, Indrid, I just don’t wanna be stuck in a box, you know? I— I’m multidimensional man! I have feelings and shit!” Duck said, his voice raising in pitch slightly. Indrid chuckled as he looked down at the paper with an unfamiliar fondness. As Duck rambled, the future in front of Indrid became slightly more likely, and Indrid found himself wanting this vision to come true. And as soon as that clicked, Indrid knew he was irrevocably fucked.

The drawing had taken up permanent residence on the wall, even if that specific moment had passed. It was odd for Indrid to keep such a drawing; usually he threw them out as soon as they were no longer relevant, but something kept him attached to this one. He wasn’t sure if it was the nature of the drawing, or if it was because of who it was with, or even if it was because it was simply such an odd future that Indrid just couldn’t seem to let go of it.

Duck was set to come by the Winnebago later to talk about the most recent developments regarding Billy and the abomination— sorry, bom-bom. The drawing was carefully stowed away in one of Indrid’s many journals and stashed under his bed. He understood the underside of a bed to be where all humans kept their more private items. That or a bedside table, but this drawing wasn’t something Indrid would need offhand.

Usually, Duck didn’t get the chance to knock, but Indrid was distracted with drawing other possible futures, so he simply let Duck knock and told him that the door was open. As Duck pushed the door open, new and rather… interesting futures appeared with varying levels of appropriateness. Indrid cleared his throat and forced himself not to focus on one of the more explicit ones.

“Hey man, thanks for letting me come over, I just needed to, I dunno, talk through some shit with you without the other two cracking jokes about it,” Duck said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“That’s quite alright, Duck, please sit down, would you like some nog?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, fuck it,” Duck laughed nervously.

As soon as those words left Duck’s mouth, more of the futures Indrid was enjoying popped up, and he smiled a little bit.

“You never cease to surprise me, Duck,” Indrid said. “So what is it you wished to ask me?”

He placed a cup of eggnog in front of Duck and sat opposite him at the small table in his camper. It was nothing special, just a typical plastic table with a bench that was just a little bit too small. Indrid smiled as he watched Duck fiddle with the cup. He seemed to be trying to find the right words.

“How do you - how do you deal with seeing the future? How do you know which ones’ll come true?” Duck said. Ah, so they were in this timeline then.

Indrid leaned casually on the table. “Well, you’ve seen my drawings, obviously, and you’ve seen me at work. Typically, it starts with an event that creates ripples. A person will say or do something seemingly insignificant, but it will affect every single future to come. That being said, sometimes there are multiple futures that can branch off of one incident, but those futures are whittled down by other factors. Things as small as the temperature outside, the wind levels, whether someone sneezes or doesn’t.” He paused. “My best outlet is my drawings and my knowledge that worst-case scenarios are just that— worst case. Disaster scenarios are always present— floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, even something as dramatic as a meteor but these futures are so unlikely that—”

“Sorry, did you say meteor?” Duck interrupted.

“I did, but even as you asked that, that situation became less likely,” Indrid said with a knowing smile. Duck’s cheeks grew red as he continued to listen and he took a small sip of his eggnog. “But those futures are already so unlikely to happen that I try not to worry too much about them. It isn’t worth concerning myself over an almost impossible future, doing that would be maddening. And there are some less dramatic examples, like ones where I have relations with others that I have to ignore so that I don’t affect those outcomes.”

“But what if one of those situations were to become more likely? What would you do then?” Duck asked.

“I would have to warn my friends and family that already know of my abilities to avoid another… incident.”

“Shit, man, I’m sorry, that was real rude of me,” Duck said, face burning crimson again.

“Pay it no mind,” Indrid said with a dismissive wave. “What’s done is done. I may be able to see the future, but I cannot change the past.”

There was silence for a moment as Duck considered his next words carefully. Indrid smiled patiently, but he reached for a pencil and sketchbook he kept handy if a future popped up that demanded recording. He drew idly as he waited for Duck to speak.

Duck finally spoke, “Hey so, this is gonna - this’ll sound awful strange Indrid, but I, uh, I’m… Chosen. I get these visions where I see— I see disasters and I see issues I need to fix and it has been drivin’ me insane.”

Indrid ceased drawing as Duck started talking. Suddenly, he was flooded with an array of new futures. In simply telling Indrid of his status as a Chosen, Duck created new timelines, many of which featured the two of them together.

“I see,” Indrid said simply, “Er, my apologies for my short response, many futures have just been deleted from existence and many new ones just popped up. It’s rather… overwhelming. That doesn’t happen often, Duck.”

“Oh shit, man, I’m sorry, shit,” Duck said, reaching out to Indrid almost reflexively.

“As I said before, pay it no mind. These things happen,” Indrid said. The wave of futures was calming down, and his mind was once again a dull roar of possible outcomes. He scrapped the drawing he had been working on, and pushed the pad and pencil aside. There were too many variables in the upcoming futures for him to truly see which ones he needed to record. “Duck, being Chosen is something very...special. I have known since we met what you are, but I have very little details on it due to you not truly understanding it either, am I correct?”

“Yeah, yeah, I ain’t got shit,” Duck said. A small laugh bubbled up through Indrid as Duck spoke.

“I figured as much. Being Chosen isn’t easy - it is never easy to be special, but you are doing a wonderful job, Duck. You do what must be done and you truly care for the wellbeing of others. Even for someone such as myself, who could have been a temporary aid.”

“Indrid, man, you know you’re more than just a tool, right?” Duck said, “As useful as havin’ you around has been, that's not all you’re good for. You’re funny, and clever, and altogether a really great guy. Despite how you act, you care about Earth. For fuck’s sake, you called us to warn us about Leo. And the runaway train!”

For a moment, Indrid was in shock. No one in all the years he had lived had ever said anything so kind to him. And this man, this ridiculous Chosen man, who had known him for less than a month, was shouting his praises. It was… unusual, to say the least.

“Look, Indrid, I… I should go, but I meant what I said. You aren’t just a fuckin’ pawn or some shit, you’re our - well, you’re our friend.” And then Duck stood up from the table and left. And Indrid was left staring at his wall of drawings. And he was left with a decision.

It wasn’t often that Indrid put himself in harm’s way on purpose. He usually tried his damndest to avoid conflict in any situation, but this was different for him. He allowed the goat man to take him hostage and beat him within an inch of his life. Mainly because he knew that the Pine Guard would save him eventually, but also because he knew that Duck needed to see that he would only get in the way. Since Duck had visited him last, Indrid had reflected on the visions he’d been having.

He realized that he was affecting the future, changing it to better fit his own desires. If there were two paths, one leading to Duck and the other leading away from him, Indrid would take the path that led to Duck. At first, he didn’t even notice it. He would see himself tapping three times instead of four and would stop himself at three without paying it any mind. When he finally realized what he had been doing, he forced himself to stop. But going against a future already set in motion was an insurmountable task, even for him. There was no telling how his new choices could affect the future. So Indrid simply tried to stop caring.

That’s why he was telling himself that getting captured was important. He was positive that if Duck were to see him weak and afraid and in pain, he would turn away, run even, like everyone always had. Then there was, of course, the added variable of Duck probably being forced to see Indrid’s true form and be horrified once again.

And, while Indrid would never admit it, there were far too many futures where Duck was horribly injured when Indrid wasn’t there versus the few when Indrid was.

So when Indrid saw Duck burst through the clearing, wielding his sword and positively terrified, he was positive that this would be the last straw for him.

But it wasn’t.

Duck freed him from the chains, or he tried to at least, and in doing so he damaged his Chosen weapon, a feat that Indrid knew was difficult unless the Chosen really wanted to. When Duck punched him to get the glasses off, Indrid didn’t see fear of him in his eyes as he became “The Mothman”, he saw fear for him as Duck urged him to run. So, like Indrid did best, like he always had, he ran.

Indrid couldn’t bring himself to leave Kepler, despite that being the best option for everyone involved. There were many futures where he left and went somewhere far away where none of them would be able to find him, but he once again ignored those futures and stayed put in his greasy Winnebago.

When Duck and the Pine Guard finally defeated the Bom-Bom, it was already dark out. Indrid had enchanted another item for him to wear - an old necklace he kept hidden away - and was waiting with baited breath for Duck to arrive. Indrid knew he would come and insist on giving him the glasses back, but Indrid couldn’t take them, or else it could lead to some of the more serious futures. It was frustrating having to avoid a future he wanted, but he needed Duck to make the decision.

“Hey, Indrid, I’m-I’m here. I brought your glasses back, but the gang doesn’t know I’m doing this, so let’s keep it on the DL?” Duck pushed the door to the Winnebago open slowly and looked around the small camper. Indrid was sitting on his couch, head in his hands, as he saw the futures swimming through his mind. The punch Duck had delivered had been solid, but the time he had spent unconscious when the goat-man had taken him was the time that was only just now flooding back to him.

“Shit, Indrid, are you okay?” Duck rushed over, seemingly forgetting the reason he had come, and he knelt in front of Indrid. Indrid peeked at Duck, and saw a look of concern he was unfamiliar with.

“Too much. Just a moment,” he spoke. Duck simply nodded and made himself more comfortable beside Indrid on the small couch. He bounced his leg anxiously as Indrid attempted to collect himself. His whole body seemed to be vibrating with… something neither of them could quite put their finger on. “Alright.”

“You feel better now?”

“Yes, I am fine now. My apologies, I saw that you were coming and had to rush to enchant this new item so I may not look exactly as you remember.” It was true. Indrid’s form was similar, but there were certain things about him that were different. He was slightly closer to Duck’s height now, and his hair was quite a bit cleaner and shorter than it was before. The most noticeable difference, however, was that he was much broader than before, so the camper felt a little smaller.

“It’s fine, I’m just glad you’re okay. You know,” Duck started, and then paused to bite his lip as if he were contemplating his next words, “you know, I was… worried you would be gone by the time I got here. I practically flew here, I ran so goddamn fast, never run that fast in my life.”

“I appreciate your concern, Duck, but I am quite alright. I… figured you’d be coming by so I stayed put to see what you had to say,” he said. The lie slipped so easily across his tongue, but it tasted like poison. Indrid knew that he’d only stayed because he was selfish and wanted one last chance to see one of those futures through.

“I’m glad you stayed,” Duck said. His face lit up and he sat up a little straighter. “I-I-I mean the Pine Guard is glad, you were real helpful and, uh, yeah you’re a good dude and shit.” Indrid laughed. Duck had no idea how wrong he was.

“I put myself in harm’s way,” he said, “How is that helpful?”

“You kept them distracted. You must have known what would happen with the goat-man and how it would change shit for us. Because of you, they were distracted.”

“Yes, I make a good distraction, don’t I?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Duck said. His voice was deep and loud, and his eyes narrowed at Indrid. “What I meant to say was thank you. I’m sorry I punched you, but I’m glad you are okay. Sorry I yelled, but you have a thick skull for someone who knows what'll happen.”

“I can't help it,” Indrid said with a small, satisfied smile, “I like seeing you all riled up.” He was teasing, of course he was teasing, but his words held some truth. Seeing Duck so fiercely protective made something inside Indrid just kind of smile.

A couple days after the bom-bom was beaten, the door to Indrid's Winnebago slammed against the wall as Duck burst inside. Indrid had been expecting the action, but it caused him to jump nonetheless.

“Duck? Is everyone alright?”

“Indrid, man, I-I'm - I think I'm broken,” Duck said, voice wavering, “I'm not - 'm not tough! I'm not fast or special, I'm just Duck fuckin’ Newton now. I'm helpless, for fuck's sake I asked a gigantic fuckin’ magical cat for a fuckin’ helmet because I am scared shitless. I have never felt so fuckin’ vulnerable in my life, Indrid. What the hell am I supposed to do?” He was pacing about the camper with his hands running through his hair.

Indrid was unsure of what to do at this point, so he took a breath and considered his words carefully. “Duck, I am sorry this has happened to you. This is far more than even I could have predicted. This is a path that seemed so unlikely I gave it no thought.”

It was the truth, not the whole truth, but the truth. Indrid hadn't paid it much mind because it seemed like a disaster scenario, but he'd dwelled on this event longer than the others because of his personal feelings for Duck.

“I am sorry, Duck Newton, I am truly sorry. What you do now is entirely up to you. I see… futures where you are injured and I see futures where you prevail without a scratch, but Duck?” Indrid paused, looking at Duck and biting his lip, unsure of if he should say what he was about to say, but he took a deep breath and spoke, “You are still Chosen. Losing your powers doesn't change that you were Chosen out of billions of people to protect Kepler. You will have to be more careful now, so you don't wind up dead, but so long as you aren’t careless, you’re going to be amazing.”

Indrid felt his heart pull painfully as he took in Duck's full appearance. There were purple bags under his eyes, new wrinkles had formed on his forehead, his shirt was half untucked. Really, he just looked like absolute hell.

“Indrid? You really think all that?” Duck looked up at him.

“Oh Duck, of course I do,” Indrid said, voice betraying something slightly softer than what he’d meant to say. Duck smiled at him and Indrid felt his heart soar. Life was difficult knowing everything that could happen, but Duck made things a little easier to bear.

The two of them talked for hours about life, the universe, and everything. Duck ranted about the expectations that came with being Chosen, Indrid reminded him that he was the one holding himself to those impossible standards. Indrid talked briefly about the more explicit futures he would see, and Duck laughed. The sound was music to Indrid’s ears. Duck talked softly about his sister, June. Indrid said that he’d love to meet her someday, to which Duck responded that it might be hard to explain his whole ‘Winnebago eggnog weirdness’ (Duck’s words, not his).

It was the happiest Indrid had ever been.

Indrid was exhausted. The futures where Duck confessed to him had gotten more and more likely as the weeks went on. They’d begun speaking more frequently, Duck came to the Winnebago more often, and Indrid had even visited Duck’s apartment once; he had the cutest cat that liked to curl up on Indrid’s lap. His life was becoming more involved with the Pine Guard. They’d tried to get him to come with them to the lodge a few times, but he refused, citing that he didn’t really fit in with the rest of the Sylphs.

Today was one of the days where Indrid was staring at the many drawings he’d made of the two of them, debating on whether he should act or not. He’d honestly been waiting to see if Duck even wanted something like that in this timeline, but he was growing impatient. Duck was a hard man to read. He’d say one thing, but his eyes would say another. He’d do one thing with certain motivations, but his actual motivations would be vastly different. As always, Duck Newton was an enigma.

Lost in thought, Indrid almost ignored the ringing of his phone.

“Hello, Duck, how are you?”

“Good, good, I’m all good here. Hey, listen, I’m headed over right now, I needa talk to you about some— some shit, is now good for you? Or should I come later? I can come later if that’s better, I ain’t got anything else to do.”

“Right now is fine, I’ll be busy drawing, so just come in when you arrive.”

“Gotcha, I’ll, uh, see you in a bit man.” Before Indrid could say anything, Duck hung up the phone. As he looked to the future, Indrid was surprised to see almost no futures where Duck ‘made a move’ as it were. There was one, but it was highly unlikely, and would only be determined moments before it happened. With a frown, Indrid studied the futures, looking as far ahead as his vision would allow, and he drew out various likely events and pinned them to his wall. He didn’t know how much time had passed by the time Duck got there, but the door swung open slowly as Duck peered into the Winnebago.

“Ah, Duck, good to see you,” Indrid said, “please, take a set, feel free to get yourself some eggnog from the fridge.”

“Uh, yeah, nah, I’m good man, just uh— I’m good.” He stood awkwardly near the door and bounced from one foot to the other, looking around the small home. It had gotten significantly cleaner since Duck had started visiting, but it was a still barely organized. The awkwardness Duck felt was coming off him in waves.

Indrid set his pencil down and turned to him with, what he hoped, was a reassuring smile. “What’s on your mind, Duck Newton?”

Duck fidgeted for a moment before looking up at Indrid, his eyebrows knitted. “I, uh, I needed to ask about some stuff, like the next Abomination, ‘cause we’re gettin’ real close to the time frame, and we’re all gettin’ super nervous ‘n’ everything and so we just wanna, ya know, know?”

“Well, uh, that is still a little outside of my vision, but I will be sure to let you know what’s happening as soon as I know what’s happening.”

“Yeah, sure, I mean, of course,” Duck said. He stood there, bouncing from foot to foot faster than before.

“Was there… something else you needed?” Indrid stood up, trying to look as non-threatening as he possibly could in his tall, lanky, not-quite-human form.

“Well, yeah, shit— I-I— shit, ‘Drid, this is fuckin’ weird,” Duck laughed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the ground, “I just, well I just wanted to say thank you for everything in the last little while here. It’s been— it’s been real rough without Minerva and without, you know, havin’ all my powers. I’m just a regular ass dude now, and I have pains I never knew I had everywhere. Shit, dude, I feel so much older. But yeah, um, thank you for helpin’ me out and for listenin’ to me all the time.”

Indrid nodded, “Of course, Duck. I know what you went through, maybe better than others on account of my own abilities, but I can never truly understand. I try, Duck, and I’m glad I’ve helped, if even a little bit.”

“You’ve done more than a little bit,” Duck said, stepping closer, “you’ve— you’ve listened and you’ve cared— or at least acted like it— and you’re literally always home and willing to let me come over, even at two in the fuckin’ morning.”

Before he could stop himself, Indrid’s face softened as he looked at Duck and said, “I would do anything for you, Duck Newton.”

As soon as the words left Indrid’s mouth, his eyes opened in slight shock. He was not meant to say that out loud, not in any of the likely timelines anyways, and that could only mean—

Duck surged forward and pressed his lips to Indrid’s. It was forceful, but soft at the same time. Finally, finally, Indrid was experiencing what his visions had shown him, and it was much more overwhelming to feel everything rather than see it from an outsider’s view. But it was so, so nice, and it just felt right.

Duck pulled back, suddenly all nerves and aware of himself, and held up his hands between them. Indrid only laughed and shook his head, and then he pulled Duck back in. This wonderful, perfect, strange enigma of a man was finally within his grasp and Indrid was never letting go.

And he knew he was fucked.

But he didn’t honestly give a shit.

#5 times #5+1 things #5+1 fic #5 times Indrid saw the future vs the 1 time he didn't #taz #the adventure zone #taz amnesty #indruck #duck is trans #mcelroys #indrid cold #duck newton #rockin writes

130 notes · View notes

scruffyhappaboreherder · 4 years

Text

I can only rank the SW movies by evolving weird complicated scenarios in my head, like: you are on a flight and can only watch one movie, and all of the movies are Star Wars, but what if there are technical difficulties and you can't watch your first choice? Or you have three hours to kill while your car gets fixed, and there is a movie theater next door, but it is only showing Star Wars movies, and you have to pick one that whose showing time aligns with your block of three hours.

So, this is the order in which I personally would choose a Star War to watch, if I could only pick one. This ranking is based on how I feel about the feelings-journey the movie takes me on and whether or not I feel like there is a sense of getting a complete story. I talk about that a little more under the readmore.

Rogue One

The Force Awakens

A New Hope

Return of the Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Rise of Skywalker

The Last Jedi

Solo

The Phantom Menace

If someone who has somehow never seen a Star War is in such a weird complicated scenario, I'd probably put A New Hope ahead of The Force Awakens, and Solo ahead of The Last Jedi. The last two are really close to being a coin flip.

If for some reason you want a detailed explanation of my feelings, keep reading. >.>

Rogue One

Diverse cast with great performances, narrow Bechdel test pass, introduces you to the universe, can be watched as a standalone. Only flaw is the CGI on fake young Leia in the coda, and you can probably live with that.

Solo

Decent movie about Han Solo, and yet not really a Star Wars movie. L3 was fabulous and no one in the galaxy is good enough to deserve her.

Prequel Trilogy: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith

George Lucas is a bad director. Fight me.

The best part of the prequels is handmaiden culture. It's underexplored. The worst part of the prequels is that you can watch them and legitimately wonder if Anakin is Jedi mind tricking Padme into having feelings for him. This is because George Lucas is a bad director.

More Padme POV, done well, could have made these movies epic. Groundbreaking.

Also casting someone as young as Jake Lloyd was a mistake. Not because he was bad at acting* but because the age difference with Natalie Portman makes it basically impossible to foreshadow the romance without being creepy.

*George Lucas was terrible at directing him. And he had his issues as a writer too.

The second-best thing about the prequels is that in TPM Liam Neeson was the only person in the cast to have his own hairstylist. His hair is fabulous and probably should have gotten its own credit in the cast. Liam Neeson's hair as itself.

Original Trilogy: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi

Where it all started. It's basically impossible to articulate my feelings about it? Especially with “All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets” echoing in my head. Thanks for nothing, Kevin Smith. But I guess I'll try.

Okay, yes, there are funny animals and funny aliens and corny lines and not-so-corny moments that have become cultural touchstones. But the reason to watch these movies are to see people saving eachother. Specifically various combinations of Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, and Chewie, but also the Rebellion and members thereof trying to save the galaxy.

IMO you watch these movies with your feelings, and that's where the prequel trilogy falls down. You can't really suspend your disbelief and watch it with your feelings because George Lucas is a bad director. No, I will not stop saying that. Or, I will stop saying it when it becomes relevant.

The Sequel Trilogy: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker

Oh, dear dear dear.

So. I loved The Force Awakens. I saw it in theaters like 10 times. Watch with your feelings? A+.

If you've been existing on the internet in the last 5 years at all you probably know that this trilogy sowed division. But almost everyone assumed that there was a plan, that there would be coherence. That's why there was a story group, right?

Well.

It turns out that bringing in a different director for each segment of a trilogy and letting them realize their personal vision is not a viable plan. The original trilogy kind of pantsed it and got away with it. The prequels at least had a plan and stuck with it. The sequel trilogy ... um.

I loved The Force Awakens. I liked The Last Jedi, but in a different way. Call it a B- movie. People are allowed to make mistakes and people do fail. Even heroes are human. That's what I took away from the first two movies. Well, not the only things, but if I had to distill them down to single phrases, there you are.

Then Rise of Skywalker came out, and it became painfully apparent that there was no plan, or at least not one that was robust enough to survive the unexpected death of Carrie Fisher.

There are rumors that J.J. Abrams asked if he could make the third movie into two movies and was told that he couldn't. I sort of believe that because there are characters whose ostensible motivation is insufficiently supported by the text. I'm mainly thinking of Zorii, and yes I know that's strange, but think about it and you'll probably agree that I'm right. Yes, there are characters with bigger roles whose actions required more in the way of an explanation, but that's been discussed elsewhere, over and over, and I don't want to get into that.

If you feel inclined to give the filmmakers a pass, then there was a lot of deliberate ambiguity, and they expected the readers to resolve things on their own. Except, I don’t think that’s what was done, and so I am inclined to say that they didn't work because the filmmakers made mistakes. Big mistakes. Now, maybe some of this was executive meddling ... we can suspect that but we don't know.

I did/do kind of like Rise of Skywalker, but only because I did a lot of fixing it in my head. Like, pretending that Poe's newly introduced spicerunner past happened because he was on a mission for the Resistance, and also that the movie ended with Jedistormpilot being canon. And that all the Kylo Ben and Rey content is symbolic of the relationship mistakes that many young women make in their first romantic relationships. Much appreciation to @oranges8hands, who doesn't even go here but has listened to me yell about Star Wars a lot.

#my posts #whee i did a rankings #i thought it would be too difficult #to be fair i had to write down my feelings as they presently stand first

2 notes · View notes

cindylouwho-2 · 4 years

Text

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, December 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across since the October report, although some may be older than that.

I am also missing a lot here, but pared it down somewhat to make more readable. The lead up to the holiday shopping season was a lot crazier than I expected 🙃

Given the time of year, please do not expect another report until January. However, I will do brief posts of important news/blog posts in the interim as needed.

There are going to be big changes to this report coming in 2020. Have any suggestions or feedback? Leave a comment below, email me through my website, or send me a message on Twitter.