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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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SO. Back to the beginning, Episode 1 of Word of Honor. This is likely to be a little bit different experience than the prior posts, when I was watching the eps as they aired, compared to now approaching the show as whole and complete. May be rummaging around for things I missed the first time through, stuff that takes on new meaning set in additional context – we’ll see how it goes.

With that in mind, spoilers for not just this ep but possibly for the entire series. Get out of the car now and come back later, if you haven’t seen all 36.5 eps and want to watch it unspoiled.

First thing to strike me, right up front: You know, I think we tend to lose sight in later parts of the show – when we’re getting Laopo!Zhou Zishu pouting so he doesn’t have to cook dinner - how terrifying ZZS is in his own right (and by “we,” I actually mean the show, too). One of the things the first few episodes gets right, I think, is the sense of eerie inevitability and dread created by both the falling lanterns of Tian Chuang and the blowing paper figures of the Ghost Valley, and how similar they are. I think it’s easy to lose that - when the lanterns and the paper figures are gone and our charming and adorable couple are busy being charming and adorable at each other, in between varying rounds of being wracked by guilt and PTSD – easy to lose that this is there too, part of them – both of them - under the skin. I think it’s particularly easy to lose that for ZZS, when he’s already done a lot of work, off-screen, pre-Episode 1, during the 18 months he was putting in those first six Nails, to come to some kind of equilibrium, and meanwhile we watch Wen Kexing’s entire torturous process play out on-screen. Wen Kexing’s story is one of reaching an equilibrium, but Zhou Zishu’s story is one of maintaining it, which I think may be less showy, but is equally valuable, just as I value the Four Seasons Manor arc, especially, for giving us a vibe of two adults comfortable in an already intimate relationship, as opposed to the veritable sea of will-they-won’t-they tug-of-war coming-together-for-the-first-time-as-emotional-AND-plot climax relationships that we’re usually awash in.

Anyway, straight up we’re introduced to an assassin who, we discover, doesn’t like to get blood on himself. It looks like metaphorical blood is fine, just not actual blood, but then we discover, well, maybe he’s not as OK with metaphorical blood as he schools himself to look. Also that conversation with Li Jingan about her dad having to die because he’s a traitor to the country – I now wonder how much of that particular conversation Zhou Zishu mentally brings to the table in later conversations about his own father being executed for the same reason. Also, wait wait wait. Zhou Zishu tells Jingan that he took Jiuxiao’s body back to Four Seasons Manor and buried him next to their shifu, but I don’t remember seeing another grave there, other than Qin Huaizhang’s and his wife’s. Script inconsistency, or are you supposed to be lying, ZZS? I mean, would you be so downcast at the state of Four Seasons Manor when you arrive with your husband and son for your honeymoon, if you’d actually been there only a couple of years before? It didn’t fall to pieces overnight. Also, HAIRPIN FORESHADOWING ALERT. Our first sign of how important the hairpin is, the way ZZS’s impassive face cracks wide open when he sees the hairpin that Jiuxiao made and realizes he must have given it to Jingan. Clearly important!

Mmm. Here’s a point for the “Prince Jin is a f’kn asshole” list – Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with Bi Changfeng personally when Bi Changfeng requests to leave Tian Chuang. And OK, ZZS is the leader of Tian Chuang. But you’re never going to convince me Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with it personally because Prince Jin is actually so very furious that Bi Changfeng made a mistake. You will never convince me this isn’t a … it’s not even a test of loyalty, at this point, because Prince Jin has no reason to think yet that ZZS is anything other than the faithful hunting dog on a leash that he’s been, lo, these many years. Putting ZZS in a position where not only is he losing the last of the direct disciples of Four Seasons Manor, but he’s being asked to (as good as) kill him with his own hands - it’s just cruelty for the proof of your power and influence over someone. Also, given Prince Jin’s later diatribe about how everyone leaves him OMG (have you considered it’s your personality?) (But also Beiyuan! I know who you are now, and yeah, I would have let Wu Xi bride-kidnap me away from this jerk, too), I have to wonder if Prince Jin isn’t trying to make ZZS feel exactly as isolated as he, himself, feels, as part of his overall desire to make sure that ZZS has no one other than Prince Jin so that their positions are parallel – only having each other in the whole world. I also have to wonder if he’s not hoping for precisely the reaction ZZS has to Bi Changfeng – you’d rather be dead than be with me? Because that hurts, you can see it on ZZS’s face (thanks already, Zhang Zhehan), and I rather suspect Prince Jin wants it to hurt. I notice we get an echo of this later in the ep, with Prince Jin saying pretty much the same thing when ZZS asks for the final Nail. GOOD. I hope it hurts you just as much. I wonder if ZZS realizes this while he’s kneeling there in the throne room. It’s probably too late for him to get any satisfaction out of it.

OH, HEY. That’s HAN YING already, one of the two people accompanying ZZS to put down Bi Changfeng, looking super-pained like he knows what this is all costing his beloved. Han Ying, I really hope you got to tap that at least a few times before ZZS made his break for it. Is that one of the reasons Prince Jin seems to have such antipathy for you, or is it really just that he can’t stand the idea of someone whose loyalty to ZZS is greater than their loyalty to Prince Jin, himself? (Seriously, y’all, why is there not much much more Han Ying/ZZS fic?) Meanwhile Duan Pengju, omg, this asshole, is already looking smug and punchable. Really, he’s kind of enjoying the Seven Nails placement a little too much. Showing your hand pretty fast on the petty evil thing, show.

So, one thing I didn’t catch the first time around, is that ZZS isn’t just self-injuring to punish himself when he takes the knife to his chest – he re-opens wounds on all the places where the first six Nails have already been placed, so it will look like the placement is fresh. If you can’t tell he hasn’t just put them in, there’s no reason for anyone else (read: Prince Jin) to suspect he’s bought himself some time before he loses his senses. As far as anyone knows, he’s going to fall over with locked-in syndrome any day now. Which just makes the implications of Prince Jin vowing that he’s only letting him go for now EVEN ICKIER. For all Prince Jin knows, what he’s going to get back is a flesh doll that will just lie there, although I guess on the plus side, ZZS would never leave him again. Thanks, show, I need a shower, now.

ZZS says all the right things to argue his case to Prince Jin – he’s only good as a weapon, he has no skills nor utility for building and governing the country – and I think partly this is because he just knows the right things to say. I mean, you don’t become the Number Two guy in the country, with thousands under you and only one above you, if you can’t play imperial politics. But I also wonder if deep down he doesn’t actually believe it – he was successful at building Tian Chuang, but he couldn’t maintain Four Seasons Manor and even drove it to ruin. So, I’ll just be over here, clutching my chest, over my heart. Fortunately, Zhang Zhehan provides quick distraction from this pain, and I … Y’all. I can’t. I just. I CANNOT. When ZZS drops to his knees and starts stripping in the throne room. Just. Mmmmmrgh. THIS VISUAL. Although, you want to know what one of the hottest parts actually is? That pair of leather bracers hitting the floor on top of his belt, and ZZS isn’t even in the shot at that point. OK, fine, I am willing to read some dirtybadwrong fic with this whole scene premise at its heart, even if it does include Prince Jin. Zhang Zhehan, you are KILLING ME. I might have rewound this part. More than once. You can’t prove anything.

Aaaand then we get that gorgeous, painful shot of ZZS riding out into the snow that I know I’ve talked about before (including the way I get an odd echo of Lan Xichen off of it). There are several places in this ep where the cinematography is to die for, and this is one of them, the bleakness of the landscape and Zhang Zhehan (and his FACE) deep in that shadowing cloak against the stark snow as he rides out into freedom and the unknown. Then cut to somewhere green and forested. Interesting that the show starts with snow and ends with snow. That parallel with the imperial cage says some things about immortality that could stand to be unpacked – but later. Because ZZS is putting his face on – literally – and I am once again in pain, only it’s not the good kind of pain. It’s caused by that dreadful fake facial hair. There are some things that could be unpacked here, as well, about the fact that making ZZS supposedly unattractive involves a clearly fake goatee, a single aesthetically placed scar, and darkening his skin. I’m going to try to step carefully here, because this is kind of out of my lane, but it is … a noticeable thing. That probably ought to be noted.

So, ZZS takes just a moment to turn his (fake) face up to the sun and feel the warmth on it … and then with 10 minutes left, we’re on our way to Ghost Valley, where there’s some chaos and then Hanging Ghost gets got by a Mysterious Stranger To Be Revealed Later, who chokes him out (remember this). The Mysterious Master of Ghost Valley appears dramatically on his High Ledge to Make Some Pronouncements while playing with some walnuts omg (rolling two of them in one hand – remember this), and we see his eyes, which are partially obscured by chunky sidebangs, which are farther forward on his forehead than we’re going to see later, not only hiding some of his face but making it look more angular. The troops get berated, shit rolls downhill, and another dude gets choked (remember this) as Ghost Valley Master’s hair continues to artfully hide most of his face and he worries about his manicure post-kill (remember this). War is declared on Hanging Ghost for stealing the Glazed Armor, and more chaos is set into motion.

All of that takes literally two minutes, and then we cut to three months later, and no one realizes it yet, but the fam is getting together. ZZS is tits out in the gutter - only beginning his career of being a minx who flashes his collarbones an awful lot for someone who has Very Secret Scars He’s Hiding On His Chest - happily drinking himself to death in the sun (we really need to talk about this correlation of snow and immortality vs. sun and happiness …). Meanwhile, slo-mo shot of Wen Kexing looking precious and perfect, with delicate pink lips and dove-grey robes, as he checks out the rough trade in the gutter. Oh, the expectations this show is getting ready to smash. We cut from a shot of pristine precious WKX to ZZS holding up his hand, and we get a shot of the sun through ZZS’s fingers looking an awful lot like some shots of characters halo’d in light that we’ll get back to much much later in the show. Chengling appears out of nowhere to be Best Boy. A-Xiang is purple and smol and ready to brawl, and I already love her. I already love them all! So much! Here are my delicate and precious feelings, show, go ahead and stomp all over them!

#zhou zishu #prince jin #han ying #wen kexing #gu xiang #zhang chengling #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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pluviophile-bookworm · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x11: Let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents... the reason for my next mental breakdown

I can't believe myself, honestly. Oversleeping on the one day of the week that I've got something exciting to wake up for? Oh well, I'm up now and I'd better go ahead and do this before my dashboard has showered me with spoilers. I mean, I have never really minded spoilers, but when it comes to this, somehow I do. Though I do wish something had forewarned me about last week's snap ending (get it, 'snap'... I'll see myself out). I'd better dive in already.

Yes, Mr Mazzara, that's what I've been saying for a while! Ok, maybe I haven't been very vocal about it, but it was in the foreground of my mind that they should have asked for Mr Mazzara's help re: transformation! I'm just glad he pointed it out. Not that he could have done much while he was busy playing therapist for his beloved Miss Jenn. Oh well.

Were those Ash and Ricky doing actual paired-up warmups? That is what they should have been doing for weeks now. That and having actual off-stage interactions, too. But I still subscribe to the theory that the gang had some good rehearsals off-screen — otherwise there's no way they could have been this good on stage as we saw in the previews. I said it last time and I'll say it again — not everything is for us to see.

Wow. The one time our leads are in unison, and it is about both being injured. The East High drama club must be cursed — they can't have one production run smoothly and without what can only be described as pure unbridled chaos.

They don't have any understudies? That explains some things... but also how? But also, I'm so happy Ashlyn is going on. No way she would have missed her first (first of many, right?) chance of being the lead because of some 'minor' injury.

Ricky and Nini still can't talk to each other properly. Oh well. Take your time. It's not like I care about this pairing anymore.

Did EJ just use the word 'dig'? Boy, the boy's got it baaaaaad. Also, what is it going to take for these two to realise they're in love? For all we know, they might have that big kiss we're all dreaming of and still be like 'nah, it's nothing, we're buddies'... give me a break! But I mean, at this point they might just be turning into Redlyn 2.0, where even a kiss doesn't define things. But hey, if they do follow in Redlyn's footsteps, that only means good things in their future, right?

What did that fake French git do to my boy Carlos? He's not supposed to look this inanimate until right before the climax of the play! Well, I mean, at least Seb serving as his interpreter means that Seb gets more lines for a bit. Too bad he can't go on for someone with more lines in the play.

Miss Jenn's 'words of inspiration' were less than inspired... yeah, this show's going down. Or it would, if it depended solely on her. Let's hope the kids do better. I mean, I know for a fact they will... at least for about 5 minutes of the thing. There is still room for things to go wrong and I'm scared.

Oh, my sweet boy... I wish I could jump in there and do something to help him feel less nervous. Thing is, if I were there, I'd probably be the most nervous of them all, even if I were playing Townsfolk #3 or something, and everyone's nervousness would rub off on me, and I would be making things worse instead of helping. So yeah, I'm kind of glad I'm not there.

Ahhhh who called it? @redlyncentral was it you? Ash got flowers for her Biggie! And there's a card whose contents we've yet to see. But that doesn't seem to be helping either. My sweet, sweet Reddy... I hope and pray he'll be alright.

Well this is awkward! Who told Mike to show up and shake everything up right now? Miss Jenn is literally on the brink of exploding, and now she's stuck in this completely unnecessary love triangle. She needs some space. And a quiet place to breathe, thanks Mr M for suggesting it.

'Did we forget to build a mote around the school or...' Yeah, you tell her, Rick! That girl whose name I never want to pronounce (because it makes me think of much nicer people and she's making me hate it) has no business being there. She's not... being given a redemption arc, is she now? Some people just don't deserve it. And if hating her is an unpopular opinion now, well, I never did care much about having popular opinions. I can live with that.

'Lily, scram!' Yes, thank you, Natalie! I've always wanted someone who would voice my thoughts in a way that the characters can hear them. Make this girl a main next season, won't you? (Just so we're crystal clear, I mean Natalie, not the other one.)

OMG Mr M is in the play! In a way... I love that!

I love, love, love the way they did the prologue. 'Repulsed [the prince makes an over-the-top gesture of repulsion] by her haggard appearance [the witch shows off her face to the audience]...' I love this. I would pay a lot for a chance to see their entire play, you know?

Oh dear, somebody give my boy Reddy some sort of... medical aid against all the throwing up! I've got a nice pill that helps me with my bad cases of motion sickness. Hey, so maybe I could have helped if I were there after all. Great, now I feel bad. But also, is all the throwing up an excuse on the writers' part to keep my boy off-screen for the majority of this episode? Because it's a really lame excuse.

Gina's 'Many questions' continues to be a mood. What exactly is Miss Jenn expecting from the kids? Last-minute adjustments? No way. This spells disaster.

Was Carlos on vocal rest or something? Because he shines like the star he is... despite all the very obvious nervousness backstage. I mean, I wouldn't have it any other way, but... oh well, I wouldn't say it's unrealistic. In my personal performing experience, the most nervous ones perform the best. (So... what is that saying for my boy Reddy? Good things only.)

I've already had the opportunity to geek out about Be Our Guest yesterday, but... I mean, just look at them! Carlos doesn't need actual candles to be on fire, Ashlyn is stealing the scene without any lines in it, Gina is absolutely gorgeous, and don't even get me started on EJ and Big Red looking at their girls in absolute awe! This is everything!

Aww, look at them! Gina and Ashlyn dancing together, I mean. They're sisters and it really shows. And I love them both so much.

Kourtney is an absolute show-stealer! I'm still upset about some casting choices (one of them is in this scene, doing his absolute best with the crumbs he has been given), but she is absolutely perfect. I think I'll rewind and watch this entire scene again before moving on with the rest of the episode.

I'd just like to point out that Frankie's voice in his lower register is everything!

'You absolutely dusted that stage'... Not EJ making a pun so punny even I could not have thought of it... boy is absolutely smitten!

Not me tearing up when Jordan Fisher appeared as Gina's brother... like, I knew it was happening — I knew it even before it was announced. And I still teared up because, well, it's emotional in-universe and out.

Awww, my boy Reddy is so in love with Ashlyn... I mean, who wouldn't be... but — not Ricky saying Lily might not be as mean as they thought. Especially not to Big Red of all people. To him, she was just as mean as they thought.

'Side hustle project in the south hallway'? Ooh, what is it, I want to know now!

Why do I feel like things are a bit too awkward between Kourtney and Howie? Not that I'm too invested in their relationship, but if it bothered me, imagine how it must feel for the stans.

No, Ash, you absolutely do not need to add any fancy riffs to the song! Especially not just because L... well, that girl did it. You're unique and lovely and a literal Disney princess inside and out. That girl? She's just a wolf in a sparkling golden dress.

Awww... Big Red literally lowers Ash's blood pressure! Those two are such an amazing couple! (Full disclosure, though, he kind of does the same for me too; the other night I had this horrible nightmare, and I woke up in cold sweat in the middle of the night, and then... ok, getting too personal there.) The point is, if even the fantasy of a Big Red hug makes me feel better, imagine what his actual presence would do for Ash at that moment. Where is my boy? Everyone seems to be looking for him.

Oh... guess they took my advice to give the poor boy something for his vomiting issue. Good for whoever thought of it.

And we're back to the Porter siblings... forgive me if I still can't wrap my head around calling Gina's brother Jamie. I don't know about you guys, but thanks to my lovely new friend Paz he will always be Theodore to me. I guess we can headcanon that as his middle name. Anyway, I love it that they made a joke about the hilarious height difference between him and Gina because, well, it's the only thing I can think about when I look at the two of them. It reminds me of me and my little cousin who has been taller than me since she was 10, and is still growing taller now at 13. But, I mean, it's not very hard to be taller than me, since I'm so, so short... ok, this is not about me. Moving on.

Was I the only one who actually laughed out loud at Ricky drinking from the bowl as the Beast? I mean, that part has always made me laugh in the original movie, but something about Ricky's take on it makes it even funnier.

Meanwhile, my girl Ash is absolutely killing it as Belle. Not me having the very same expression as Big Red while watching her... gosh, I love both of them so much! Also, no offence to the rest of the cast, but Julia really is the best vocalist out there. Out of all of them. I said what I said.

My apologies to Ricky, but his voice is just not it when it comes to playing the Beast. Still, with the other option being him putting on that fake deep voice from the audition, I'm glad he didn't.

Ahhhh Portwell nation you ok guys? Since we didn't get them singing Something There, this is very much the next best thing... and boy, is it good!

Those glances between Kourtney and Howie, on the other hand... what on Earth is happening there?

Ok, so you all know just how strongly I feel about Seb's casting as Chip, and yet... boy had one line and absolutely ate it up! Give him an actual singing role next time, Miss Jenn!

EJ being starstruck by Jamie not because he's a big music producer, but because he's Gina's brother... excuse me while I sob!

Excuse me, what!!!! 'A big brother figure'? Boy, this didn't turn out the way I thought it would... now I'm scared.

Way to ruin things, Jamie! And I don't even mean the fact that his name is not Theodore. It doesn't matter what his name is anymore. He might just have put a spanner in the works of Portwell, and they were just doing so well! Ugh, I'm so frustrated. I wish I'd never boarded — what did I call it — 'the majestic S.S. Portwell'. What if it doesn't set sail now?

And there goes another disappointment... Carlos' 'the orchestra hasn't vamped this much since Bop to the Top' line had nothing to do with Seblos, and everything to do with what might still be the downfall of this show. I am not ready.

No. Miss Jenn did not just say that. She did not just tell Ricky — who, may I remind you, not that anyone's forgotten, just fell off of a high place last episode — to 'jump off of something high'. I realise she's under all the pressure, but that is not an excuse. Well, at least she heard herself.

Oh my gods... Nini — well, Nina, actually — did not just call him 'Richard', did she? That's it, that's the point of no return. And well, I kind of wanted them to reach it.

Told you, didn't I? I told you that-girl-who-must-not-be-named was evil! I always follow my intuition and it has not once deceived me. Redeem that, if you can! Guess what? You can't. We've just reached another point of no return.

Wait, a bloody cliffhanger? I cannot handle this. I physically cannot handle this. If you need me, I'll be sitting on my bed in shock, trying to process everything that happened. I'll need a while to get a grip on myself.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #ricky bowen #nini salazar-roberts #gina porter #ej caswell #ashlyn moon caswell #big red redonovich #carlos rodriguez #seb matthew-smith #kourtney greene #hsmtmts miss jenn #hsmtmts mr mazzara #hsmtmts howie #jnk

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ceruleanmage · 3 years

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Hi!!! So if we're talking about re-main, do you have any theories? Which character do you think will be your favorite, which ones are going to be shipped together, etc... Grant us your wisdom ✨

Sorry I’m getting to this so late!

I’ll admit I haven’t studied into the characters as much as some others have, so my possible wisdom may barely scratch the surface

I shall try my best!

(This is a long post. Sorry about that hdjsksk)

Theories

The only plot theory I have mainly surrounds Minato, our MC. (That feels like a Captain Obvious statement but what I mean is that I don’t know how the whole cast will play in jdksksk)

First off, from the trailer and from the character description, we know that Minato had some kind of incident involving water polo, and given that he was shown in a hospital bed, whatever happened was pretty serious.

In the shot in the trailer, he’s blocked by who I assume are his family and friends/old teammates, so we don’t get to see if he’s sporting some visible injury. But whatever it was, he swore to never play water polo again.

But in the next few shots, we see him with his past team, and he’s ripped as hell. Then the next scene shows him standing in front of a mirror, and it seems like he lost a lot of muscle definition.

I have two theories as to what may have happened (and watch both be wrong lmaooo)

1. He broke a bone and needed surgery to fix it, so that’s why we see him waking up in a hospital. (Because most people don’t go to the hospital for broken bones, you know? Unless it was life threatening or impossible to fix without surgery. This is why I have a second theory, but I’ll get there). As a result of his injury, he had to quit the sport. He vowed to never play it again, so I assume this particular incident haunts him.

2. This one may be WAY off and I have a penchant for bringing in angst, so be ready for that. My second theory is that maybe he nearly drowned while playing the sport in his past. Woah Dramatic I Know but it was my first thought since he’s shown in the hospital. Countering the other theory, most people don’t go to the hospital for a broken bone—and I don’t think your whole family and close friends would be there when you come to.

I think whatever it was possibly put him in a coma, whether it’s some serious injury or losing consciousness underwater. Either of those is enough to make someone reluctant to play the sport again, and avoiding it for a long time will surely cause one to lose muscle mass.

Maybe he developed some kind of fear of water? Though if this is the case, it probably gets resolved pretty early into the season, but I have a feeling whatever this incident is will haunt us again when we get towards the final episodes. Bakuten style.

Now, I have another thing to bring up.

Kawakubo Chinu, the one girl in the trailer, knows about Minato’s past.

Either she was there when it happened or she heard about it/learned about it from one of the other characters, possibly Eitarou since he also knows about Minato’s past.

I assume she’s their age, and even though she’s famous she probably stays with the team a lot. Perhaps she’ll help them train, or she’ll help Minato overcome his past incident.

Favorite Characters

From the brief descriptions we had, I think I’ll have three possible favorite characters.

One is the one kid who admires Minato—Eitarou. See this kid looked so bright and happy and Babey. He’s gonna be like Futaba I just know it. *gently holds*

Another possible favorite will be that one who’s super withdrawn from others, I think his name was Yoshiharu. Idk I just tend to gravitate towards these characters. Kin material methinks /hj

And, the character who will be my all time favorite for the rest of time — drum roll please — Kameyoshi!!!! How could I not. Our beloved tortoise deserves the world. I’ve only had Kameyoshi for a day and a half but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone in this room and then myself

Shipping

Shipping is scary to talk about before a show starts but I do have a couple guesses as to who I and many others will probably ship

The first guess is Minato and Eitarou, since Eitarou admires Minato. (Reminds me of Misato and Futaba, and it’s a dynamic I love and can personally relate to hdksks)

Another ship I can see happening is Minato and Jou, since it seems like Minato, Jou, and Eitarou will be the main trio. Jou (and Eitarou) convinces Minato to join the sport again so I can see where people (and possibly myself) will be like !!!! SHIP !!! (Valid, by the way)

(And who needs love triangles when there’s an easy answer? Can’t decide between those two? No problem! All three are in love Thanks For Coming To My Ted Talk) /lh

We also have the one (1) girl character, so I desperately hope she won’t be there just to be ogled at by the boys yknow? Anyway, there will probably be a ship or two people might like her to be in, but since we don’t have a description on her other than that she knows Minato’s past and is famous, imma hold off on possibly guessing who she’ll be shipped with. (Me. She’ll be shipped with me. Kawakubo Chinu I ask for your hand in marriage)

That’s really all I can guess so far! Again I haven’t studied the characters much, but I did rewatch the trailer a bunch of times lmaoo.

The trailer doesn’t give much, or anything really, in the way of rival teams, so I’m not sure how that plays into to the plot or even Minato’s past.

If you read all this, 1) thanks 2) I’m so sorry jdjsns this was a lot

Anyway this is probably very far off the mark so take my theories with a grain of salt!

#re main #I spent over an hour on this and I’d do it again heheheh #asks #ask #papillon-de-porcelaine #that’s a nice url by the way! I like it a lot #mage’s answered asks #long post #(my apologies)#mage of fruity sports anime #I’m tagging my theories and asks about fruity sports anime with this because I love it so much

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supernatural-jackles · 4 years

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Owe You One - Part 3

Title: Owe You One - Saving You

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 5,141

Warnings: Angst, Self Hate, Nudity, Depression, Anxiety, Mentions of Sex, Minor Fluff, Self Loathing.

Summary: Dean Winchester has been your best friend and neighbour for the last year. A year of finding comfort in random drop ins and casual conversations, but neither of you know the pasts that the other has. Not fully. Pasts that come back to haunt you, and ruin everything you want in life. Can you find what you’re seeking in a couple of favours and a good time between the sheets or is history doomed to repeat itself?

Owe You One - Masterlist

Square Filled : Best Friend for @spndeanbingo

A/N: Here we go! I hope y’all enjoy this part! Please please please, leave a comment, reblog or ask! Your response is very important to me! Happy Reading!

*Tags are still open! Please send an ask*

Three Months Later

“Hey Y/N, it’s me, Dean. Again. Uh, look, we need to talk. It’s been three months since I last heard from you. I haven’t seen you since the night out. I’m getting worried now. I’m stopping by tonight around seven. Have a good day.”

You listened to his words, letting them swirl around in your head as they sunk in. It had been three months since you last saw him. The night of his mom’s party. He called and left messages. Knocked on your door a few times and sent a bunch of texts. You didn’t return any of them. It was for the best.

You couldn’t get his mother’s words out of your head since that night. You were never going to be good enough for the Winchester family. You were never going to measure up because you were the same filth that your mom was. You were bound to repeat history with their oldest son and she was going to make damn sure nothing happened. Hell, you had no idea what had happened. You were clueless, helpless and most of all, you were completely and utterly alone.

You glanced around your messy bedroom, knowing fine well it was time to get up to get ready for work. That didn’t help you move. Your room hadn’t been cleaned in close to two months. You had probably vacuumed about three times. You had clothes everywhere. Your sheets were half on the bed. You had blankets on the floor, and the odd pillow. You just stopped cleaning up and taking care of yourself. There was no motivation in you to do anything. You slept, are the odd meal, went to work and repeat. There was nothing special about your life now that you didn’t have anyone in it.

You rolled off of your bed, your feet landing in what felt to be a sweater that you had worn yesterday or the day before. You couldn’t quite remember. You took a deep breath, searching your drawer for something you could wear that was semi presentable, and not already worn and on the floor. You didn’t have a whole lot of clean clothes left.

As soon as you pulled on your pants and shirt, you slipped out of your room and into the main part of the apartment. Your dishes were piled up in the sink, and all over the counter. You hadn’t bothered to clean anything in your apartment for awhile now. You just didn’t have the energy to put into cleaning up.

You shoved your shoes on your feet, wanting to leave the apartment as quickly as possible to get out before you had the chance to run onto Dean. That was the very last thing you wanted. Especially after the message on your phone. If you were lucky and timed everything out, you’d be home early and you could ignore him like you had done for the last three months. Dean and the rest of the Winchester’s were better off without you.

You hopped on the number five bus that took you straight to the stop right outside your work’s building. You barely gave his beloved impala a second glance as the bus took off down the road. It was filled with the usual crowd. Some in their business suits, others in scrubs. It was always the same people that never said a single word to each other. Not even a hello.

The ride was exactly twenty six minutes. The average amount it took you to get there. This morning, the lady with the stroller didn’t get on, which saved you three and a half minutes. The old man with the big hat got off at a different stop, and a few new faces got on at a stop that wasn’t typically used. It was all so routine. Nothing ever changed.

Maybe that was part of your problem. Your life was so routine now that you were alone. You didn’t run the odd chance that Dean was coming over to hang out because you had shut him out. You didn’t go out. You lived the same daily routine every single day. No change. Maybe that was why you were in the slump you were in. Partially anyways.

You pulled the string, letting the driver know you needed off. You stood up, heading for the side door to get ready to leave. No one looked at you, or even paid any attention to you. They were all staring at their phones, not taking in their surroundings. It made you wonder how they ever got off at their stops.

You stepped out onto the cracked sidewalk, heading straight towards your building’s entrance. You had your key card ready to scan when you walked in. You took a deep breath as you pulled the door open, your footsteps light as you made your way to the front desk. You slipped your card in the slot, hearing the click to unlock the door.

The exact same routine every morning. Your work station as you liked to call it was on the third floor. You had your own little cubicle that you made yours. The elevator dinged as it stopped on your floor. You heard the conversations the second you stepped out and headed into the big room. Your area was to the left of the room, near the conference office.

You arrived at your cubicle, removing your bag from your shoulder before placing it on your desk. You took a seat in your comfortable chair. Your eyes wandered in the same place they always did. The picture of you and Dean that you had there. It was the only picture you had the two of you. You didn’t have the heart to remove it. You loved the picture. He was smiling wide while you were laughing. His younger brother Sam had taken it. What you would do to go back to that day.

“Morning Y/N,” Charlie beamed, handing you your morning tea with a smile. “Your morning pick me up.”

“Thanks Charlie,” you smiled softly at her.

“Are you caught up on The Walking Dead yet?” she asked, leaning against your desk.

“No not yet,” you shook your head. “I’ve been a bit busy. I think I’m six episodes behind now.”

“You are and it’s killing me,” she sighed. “Okay, what about we get together this weekend and catch up. Or have a Harry Potter marathon.”

“I’ll see what I’m doing,” you nodded. “I’ll text you and let you know.”

“Will you?” she cocked her eyebrow knowingly.

“Promise,” you said, looking directly at her.

She gave you a weak smile before heading to the next cubicle with their drink. You let out a breath, turning your computer on. You were just going to focus on getting your work done so you could go home and feel comfortable once more.

Your job wasn’t hard. You worked for a magazine company called Asemodeus and you wrote articles. It wasn’t your dream job by any means. When you moved here, this was the only place you heard back from that the pay was decent. It was better than nothing. You just weren’t challenged as much as you would have liked. It was all a routine to you.

Your column was strictly fashion. Nothing to write home about. You worked with a bunch of other woman who helped get the main parts of the magazine together. Your boss, Abaddon was the daughter of the company’s CEO. She ran this floor and was the one in charge of getting everything done. Charlie worked alongside her. She was in charge of everything Abaddon couldn’t get done. Everyone else was just like you in some sense.

The day was dragging on. You had nothing due. Nothing to research and nothing to write. You were ahead and there wasn’t anything you could help with in anyway. Your eyes kept slipping over to that picture and how he was coming over tonight. He was worried about you. All you could think about was his mom’s words. You weren’t good enough for any of them. What made you think that Dean wasn’t going to realize it at some point? As soon as another woman came into his life, you would be shoved out of his life anyways. You were saving yourself the heartache.

Six o’clock finally came. You shut down your computer and turned your side light off before standing up. You had your sweater close to you and your bag over your shoulder. If you were lucky, you would catch the first bus back to the apartment, you thought to yourself. You pulled your hair out from beneath the strap.

You slipped your card in the slot once more, signing out for the day before pushing the door open. The cool March air filled your lungs instantly. The wind had picked up a little. You were looking forward to spring finally making its appearance.

The bus stopped in front of the stop for you to get on. This ride was shorter than the last one you reminded yourself as you took your seat at the back of the bus. It was a different crowd on this route compared to the morning round. There was a man always on his phone with his wife. Today they were arguing about something which sounded a lot like what to get for dinner. Most of the time, he was telling her how his day went and how much he missed her. He couldn’t have been much older than you by the looks of him. He wore a suit and carried a briefcase. It wasn’t new by any means. A hand me down at best. His suit was one of three he owned. He was definitely just starting out.

Your stop came quickly and before you knew it, you were back out into the cool evening. You glanced both ways, checking for cars coming before stepping out onto the street to cross over. You couldn’t wait to be in your bed. It was all you could think about.

It was just after six thirty when you stepped foot on your floor off the stairs. You searched your bag for your keys. You pulled them out of their spot, finally look up, only to have your heart sink in your chest. Dean was sitting on the floor outside your apartment with his knees up to his chest. It wasn’t even seven yet. So much for getting home early enough that you could avoid him. There was nothing you could say to him. There was no point in conversation.

“Y/N,” he half smiled, getting up off the floor.

“Look, now’s not really a good time,” you said, slipping the keys in the lock as quickly as you could. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”

“Not even ten minutes?” he asked, his tone almost cold. Not that you could really blame him.

“As you can see, I’m fine. I’m still alive and all is good. I’m just busy. You can stop worrying,” you stated, pushing the door open.

“Y/N,” he breathed out. “Please.”

“It’s not a good idea, okay?” you muttered, stepping inside your apartment. You turned back, finally looking directly at him for the first time. He had a sad, broken and defeated look on his face. It damn near broke you. You didn’t want to hurt him. That wasn’t your intention in the slightest. You were saving both of you from heartache later on.

“You have someone over last night?” he asked, pointing towards your kitchen, furrowing his eyebrows. Shit. Of course he could see your kitchen from where he was standing.

“No,” you shook your head. “I gotta go.”

“Y/N, please,” he pleaded. “I talked to my mom about what happened.” You stiffened at the thought of him talking to her about you. The mere thought of you on her mind, her face turning angry and filling with disgust.

“That’s great. I don’t want to hear it, okay? Please, leave me be,” you said. Your voice laced with defeat. You moved to shut the door closed, only to have Dean’s hand stop it before he entered your apartment. He wasn’t going to give up. There was no getting him to leave now without a fight.

“You’re not okay,” he said sadly. “Are you?”

“I’m okay,” you lied. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Don’t lie to me,” he stated. “Your kitchen is a mess which is completely unlike you.” He walked over to the fridge, opening it up. “You have nothing in your fridge, Y/N. Not even a carton of milk. You haven’t done the dishes in what looks like a week or two. God knows, the last time you had a proper meal.”

“I’ve been busy,” you whispered, trying to make yourself small. He wasn’t going to buy a word you were saying. You could see it on his face. Maybe if you kept lying, you’d piss him off to the point where he’d leave. Maybe if you pretended not to need him.

“Y/N, don’t lie to me,” he frowned, making you feel guilty.

“Can you please, just go,” you swallowed hard, not daring to look at him.

“Let me clean up, okay? Go shower and do whatever you do after work,” he told you. You didn’t have to be told twice. You turned on your heel, heading into your bedroom. You shut the door quietly, taking in the darkness that was the room. The curtains hadn’t been opened in months. Dean was going to leave after he did the one thing you couldn’t do. You could handle him doing that. You were tired of fighting.

You shed out of your work clothes, dropping them near the overflowing laundry basket. You never bothered to make sure they were fully in there. It didn’t matter anyways. Your room was as much of a mess as your kitchen was, if not worse. You reached for your pyjamas that you had on this morning, pulling them on your body before slipping beneath the covers of your bed.

You lay your head on your pillow, bringing your legs up to your chest as you settled in. You felt everything, but at the same time, you felt nothing. It was one of the worst feelings in the world. Knowing something was wrong, but not having the slightest clue how to fix it, or the energy to even try. Nothing was going to make you feel any better.

You had no idea how much time had past when your bedroom door opened, letting in a little bit of light from the main part of the apartment. You had no energy to move, let alone talk. You didn’t want to do this. You didn’t want to have to fight Dean on this.

“Y/N,” you heard as the bed dipped down next to you. You felt his hand coming down to the other side of your body. “How bad is it?”

“What?” you mouthed.

“The way you’re feeling. How bad?” he questioned. His tone was light. There wasn’t a single hint of anger or judgment.

“‘M fine,” you replied, nuzzling your head into your pillow a bit more.

“Y/N, please don’t lie to me. This is my fault; I know it is. Please just, talk to me,” he almost begged.

“I would like you to leave,” you asked politely. You couldn’t handle the hurt in his voice. He was worried and you knew it was a long shot of him leaving after he seen you like this.

“Not without a fight, sweetheart,” he half smiled. “C’mon.”

He stood up, throwing the comforter back without your consent. You felt the draft instantly, wanting the warmth back. Before you could reach for it, Dean reached down, pulling you into his arms, lifting you out of bed. You could barely protest as he carried you into the bathroom. He placed you down on top of the counter before flicking on the light.

“Alright, arms up,” he pointed to your shirt.

“Dean,” you shook your head.

“I’m going to say this as nicely as possible. You smell terrible. Now arms up. We’re showering,” he explained.

“I don’t want to,” you protested, casting your head down.

“Okay,” he nodded. “Then you can go for a bath instead. You can soak in there while I clean up your room.”

“No,” you refused.

“Y/N, please,” he declared, raising his voice just a little. He turned away from you, reaching your tub. He turned the nozzle, beginning to fill up the tub. He grabbed the bubble bath from the shelf, adding a good amount into the water before testing the temperature. He never uttered another word to you. You knew he was irritated with you, and you did nothing to make that any better. You were pathetic. Why was he sticking around?

When he was satisfied with the bath, he made his way back to you. This time, you didn’t protest. You weren’t sure you had any fight left in you. He pulled your shirt over your head, revealing your breasts to him once more. He didn’t look at you with the same lust filled eyes this time. Then again, this wasn’t the time or place. Next were your pants and your panties, which were off quickly. What you weren’t expecting was for him to carry you over to the tub. He was careful when he placed you in the water. It wasn’t too hot. It was the right temperature to provide you with some relief. It felt nice to be in the water.

“I’m going to go clean up,” he stated lowly. For a split second, you didn’t want him to leave you. After telling him to leave so many times. After avoiding him for so long. You didn’t want him to go. If he was in here, you weren’t alone with yourself and your thoughts. You weren’t alone with your fears, and your depression. You would have him here with you and it was a lot less scary if he was here.

“Stay,” you whispered. Your voice was weak and barely even there.

“I’ll just be out there-”

“Please,” you mouthed.

“Alright,” he nodded. “You want me to wash your hair?” You nodded your head this time, not daring to try to speak again. He opened up the cupboard door, grabbing the pitcher from the shelf. He moved to the shower, grabbing your shampoo and conditioner from the perch before settling down next to the tub.

You moved to the middle of the tub, giving him some room to work. You brought your knees to your chest, letting him do what he needed to do. He was gentle, which you should have expected but didn’t. He worked in silence, solely focused on washing your hair the best he could. You didn’t want to do anything to make him mad. You just let him do his thing.

You couldn’t deny that it felt good to have him run his fingers through your hair. It was that comfort thing again. Like the way he kissed your head at his mom’s party. It was little things that put you at a little more ease. You never really realized just how much you missed him until you thought about these things.

“I’m sorry,” you mouthed.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart,” he assured you, running his fingers through your wet hair once more. “You want to get out now so we can dry you off?”

“Okay,” you breathed out. You moved your hands to the side of the tub, finding the energy to prop yourself up to a standing position. He reached for your arm, helping you climb out of the tub and onto the soft mat to dry your feet. He wrapped you in one of your warm towels, trying to dry you off the best he could. He held out his finger to you, taking off into your bedroom a second later. You moved the towel around your body, drying yourself off in all the places you knew Dean would miss.

“Clean pyjamas,” he said as he stepped foot in the bathroom once more. Dean took the towel from you, and handed you the clean clothes in exchange. You managed to pull them on without too much of an effort. Dean stepped over to the counter, grabbing your hair brush off the little shelf. What you didn’t expect was for him to begin brushing your hair. You felt useless. You couldn’t even take care of yourself and it took to Dean barging into your apartment to help you for you to actually do something. He had to be thinking about how pathetic you were. How much of a broken fucking mess you were.

“De-”

“We’re going out,” he told you, throwing his arm around your shoulder. You furrowed your brows. Where in the hell could he be taking you that you could be wearing your pyjamas. He lead you into your bedroom, heading over to your closest to grab you a sweater before exiting the room.

You followed him into the now clean kitchen. He was setting out your comfortable slip on shoes for you, and he had your bag ready for you. You weren’t really up for going out, but there was no way he was taking no for an answer. Not this time. Even if you tried, you were still going. You were breaking routine, you told yourself. That was good.

He threw his arm around you once more, pulling you into him as he lead you down the stairs and to the impala. The wind had picked up a little more, chilling you instantly due to your wet hair. Dean still opened the door for you first like the true gentleman that he was. You couldn’t wait for him to get in and turn the heating on.

You were on the road within seconds, heading left instead of right, which was what you were expecting. The car heated up pretty fast, warming you up slowly. Dean hummed along to the Queen song that played on the radio. The car ride was pretty silent all in all. You didn’t know what to say to him. You were sure he didn’t know what to say to you at this point. You were a mess. You weren’t his responsibility.

He made another left turn up a road you weren’t sure about. It was a dirt road that went uphill. You weren’t sure how long you were in the car for or where you were for that matter. Dean knew what he was doing and that was more than enough to put you at ease. The car eventually came to a halt and Dean cut the engine. You were at the top of the hill, overlooking the main part of the city.

It was just starting to get dark out and the lights were becoming brighter. You couldn’t stop staring out the window, taking it all in. It was breathtaking. You took a deep breath, letting the calm feeling take over you. It was the first time in a long time that you felt a sense of ease. You didn’t want that feeling to leave you.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Dean said lowly, grasping your attention.

“Yeah,” you breathed out. You could sense that he wanted to say something more but chose not to. Not yet. You knew after everything he did for you, you owed him an explanation. You owned him something. There was no nice way to put any of it. You had no idea why he even cared. After everything with his mom. You knew she didn’t want you around him or any of them. You shouldn’t have been with him now.

“Y/N,” he sighed, almost as if he was defeated.

“I’m not okay,” you confessed. “But Dean, we can’t be friends.”

“Why not?” he questioned.

“Because your family hates me,” you reminded him. “Because for some reason that I don’t know about, they hate me. My existence was enough for your mom to tell me get away from her family. I’m not good enough for you, Dean. Or anyone for that matter.”

“Is- is that why you didn’t answer any of my calls, or texts? Because you think you’re not good enough for me?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Partially.”

“I’ve been so fucking worried about you,” he revealed, turning to face you. “And clearly I’ve had a good reason to. Talk to me, Y/N.”

“There is nothing to say,” you shook your head.

“Yes there is,” he pointed out. “Since when do you not have something to say?”

“Since my best friend’s mom hates me,” you raised your voice. “Since the one person I actually got along with was told to break up with me, because my bitch of a mom fucked your mom over in some way that I don’t even know about!” You let out a huff, crossing your arms over your body, trying to make yourself small.

“I’m sorry,” he frowned. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve done something sooner. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

“We can’t be friends, De-”

“I don’t give a fuck what my parents think, Y/N,” he stated clearly. “I care about you. The one who stuck by my side even when she wanted to run. I’m never going to leave you behind because my parents feel a certain way. They can go to hell for all I care.”

“I’m not going to be the one to break you from your parents, Dean. I’m not worth it,” you argued.

“I’ll be the judge of that one,” he told you. “I like you and that’s all that matters. I’m not going another day without knowing you’re okay.”

“You said you talked to your mom about what happened?” you brought up, finally turning to look over at him. He gave you a soft smile, motioning for you to move over to him. You took a deep breath, not fighting him this time. He threw his arm around you, tugging you into him, giving you a squeeze.

“From what she told me, she said your mom and her were best friends growing up. From Kindergarten to junior year. She didn’t speak kindly of her, I’m going to tell you that now-”

“I figured,” you shrugged.

“Your mom cared more about her boyfriends that she did about her friendship with my mom. My parents were together in high school. Have been since sophomore year. Apparently they took a break during senior year and during that time, your mom hit on my dad and said a bunch of things about her to him. Their friendship was over after that and your mom took off. I know there has to be more to it, but that’s what she told me.”

“I’m trying my hardest not to be like my mom,” you breathed out. “She made it pretty clear before she died that I was going to end up the same way as she did. A slut who was never going to settle down with anyone.”

“Sweetheart, you’re not your mom,” Dean declared. “You’re not a slut. Trust me, someone is going to fall head over heels for you someday. You’re definitely a little naughty though, I’m not gonna lie.”

“Shut up,” you let out a chuckle.

“You are,” he laughed, “I’d fuck you anytime. You’re hot as hell.”

“I’m a mess. You don’t want me,” you half joked, swallowing hard.

“I’d take you no matter what,” he assured you. “Best sex I’ve ever had.”

“You already know you’re the best I’ve ever had,” you shrugged. “Backseat is free.”

“As much as I’d love that, I’m not sleeping with you. Not tonight,” he breathed out. “You’ve clearly got a lot going on and I’m not about to make that any worse for you. Just, don’t shut me out again, okay?” he said, nudging you.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered. “Things just got dark, you know? My head got the better of me after that night and I just kinda stopped. Everything whirled around in my head and I convinced myself you were better off without me. After that, I felt trapped in a loop. Everyday was the same shitty routine. I didn’t want to talk to you because of what happened, and I worried that because your mom told you to break up with me, you were going to leave me in the end anyways. You deserved a better friend that your parents didn’t hate. On top of that, I never told you that I have bad anxiety and a bit of depression all wrapped up in this tight little box. I’m a mess nine times out of ten. And everything with my mom and growing up - I figured I’m only good for a night between the sheets and nothing more.”

“You are worth a lot more than that, sweetheart. I can promise you that,” he stated, pressing his lips to the top of your head. “You might have a few dents, but you aren’t broken and you aren’t a mess. You’ll always have me, no matter what. I’m right next door, neighbor.”

“Thank you,” you nodded, swallowing hard. You leaned your head over, resting it on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I’ve been a terrible person the last three months.”

“You do owe me a birthday present,” he joked. “I get it. I don’t mind helping you clean up your apartment when things get to be too much. I don’t want you to feel like you have to shut me out. I’m always here for you. I don’t care about what my parents think. You’re always going to be my friend. I’m not a kid and I can make decisions for myself.”

“I might need you to remind me of that from time to time,” you shared. “I’m not going to be okay all the time. I’m never okay all the time.”

“I’m a phone call and probably about twenty two steps away. Anytime,” he assured you.

“Can - can you stay over tonight,” you inquired. “I don’t really feel like being alone. Not after three months of it.”

“Only if I can sleep in your bed. I’m not sleeping on the couch,” he chuckled.

“Yeah you can sleep in my bed,” you nodded.

“Good. Your bed is comfortable,” he smiled. “We’ll get your room back in order this weekend.”

“Thank you for being a good friend, even if I’m a shit friend.”

“You’re not a shit friend, Y/N. You thought you were doing what was best for you at the time. You’re overprotective of yourself and I get it,” he smiled. “But remember I’m here for you.”

“I know,” you breathed out. “Thanks for caring.”

“Always!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 4 will be out on Sunday 👀

Did you like it? What was your favourite part? Any theories? Please share your thoughts with me via reblog, reply or send me an ask! Nothing is stupid! I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Your response is the ONLY thing keeping me sharing this story!

Dean Babes

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gillian-greenwood · 3 years

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My Episode 7 Predictions!

Mother of God! How have these weeks passed by so fast?! I've decided to share what I think will be answered tomorrow night and some of the fates of our beloved characters! The series has gotten off to an even bigger success than it's predecessor and EVERYONE'S talking about it! Without further ado, let's see what I'm predicting!

Who's H/fourth man (or woman) and will we find out?

The question that's on the nation's minds. That has been boggling us since 2017... My personal prediction still stands as CC Philip Osborne, however... I think he's purely sitting on his arse and pulling the strings, whilst others are doing his dirty work. Those people are Patricia Carmichael: who in all honesty I'm manifesting isn't actually bent but is so career driven and a bit of a lick arse that she's just taking orders and not questioning anything, plus she doesn't think much of Ted either... I have joked that she's been shagging Osborne on the side which would be quite funny. I also believe Buckells has been Osborne's true scape goat for years. Someone as laid-back and unpassionate as Buckells is easily manipulated - I mean how the hell has he become a super? As Steve rightfully says, he couldn't order a piss up in a brewery. Seeing the connections go well back into the early noughties whilst Buckells was part of an oasis tribute band, it's an easy conclusion to make. Lastly I will mention Thurwell, now I think Thurwell may have been more involved on his own doing anyway but I think he'd still been pretty busy doing things on behalf of Osborne up until his alleged death in sunny Spain (Belfast but shh). I know a lot of people still think Buckells, some reckon pas-agg Pat is the top woman... and a few still think our beloved Kate is 'H'.

Now the other part of my point is actually finding out... I think us as viewers will certainly know the identity of this mysterious individual. But, I think we'll find out in the very last few seconds and poor AC12 won't be any the wiser which will open up the foundations for a possible series 7. I think a lot of things will be answered for us viewers but not everything for the characters. I know that if they had a series 7 there would be an other primary focus but I just think it would be clever. Just like how we found out as viewers at the end of series 1 that Dot was a wrong'un.

Is Thurwell really dead?

I'm still very amazed by the whole induction of Jimmy Nesbitt as a series of photos. I know we were supposed to have a secretive guest actor appearance and I believe it was Robert Carlyle's name floating about which would have been insane! But that moment we saw Jimmy, I yelled at the screen. So, this answers the question of seeing a character that had only been mentioned previously - which has been very much hiding in plain sight. Even with a rewatch, I had forgotten about Thurwell and therefore hadn't even considered him. But, I did mention the list from series 3 which did loosely tie in. Anyway, when we learned that Thurwell and his Mrs were now dead and clearly had been for a while - it was cleverly shot so we didn't see who it was, only the Spanish Police's word. You know, I think if we were to get a series 7, Thurwell could appear and he's in fact not dead. It's very rare you get a very well known actor in for something so small without it leading to bigger things. Although, they got Andi Osho, a very much loved comedian in purely for archival photos and videos... I do feel that Thurwell could have easily been on the other end of the fake MSN, and doing Osborne's dirty work - especially with the Spanish connection. In a BTS photo we have seen a clue to a piece of paperwork regarding a time share (Spain mentioned) in front of Kate which will likely have a connection to Thurwell and Spain. I think he's possibly still alive but we'll see...

Joanne Davidson

Kelly Macdonald has been welcomed with a very warm reception. Wow, her connection to Tommy Hunter (albeit disturbing, homozygous DNA... nasty business) was not something I ever expected although I guessed very much so when we learned of the DNA match with a nominal. Would I define her as bent? I mean in layman's terms, yes she is. However each guest star has had a very complicated relationship with the definition - all have done dodgy things and usually for good reason... But I do sympathise with her because of her background, born into trouble, it was very hard to escape - even if her mum took her to Scotland for a life away from it all. From the very start of her career she was doing the OCG's bidding and it transpires she was in the police on Tommy's orders - so very much another caddy. I do feel Jo had always wanted to be a good person and do right and in some ways she did - however she's in too deep. Next I'll mention her relationship with Kate and it's something I'd never have predicted. A lot of suggestive and sapphic behaviour from the off. Now, I do think Jo cares deeply for Kate and has developed strong feelings - and I think Kate deep down has also but I don't think anything will happen sadly. And that's more for the fact that they had run out of track before they could even get going as so much has happened. Kate's gonna save Jo when her transport gets ambushed, that's a given... but I don't think we'll see anything happen that we want to happen. I hope I'm very wrong and we get something but with the hour we've got I don't think it'll be the case. And as for her fate? I think she'll survive. Guest leads usually die, eventually... with the exception of Roz who's serving time with one arm in Brentiss. Giving how unfortunate her life has been from her conception, I think it'll do her justice to escape with her life. Witness protection? Hmm perhaps... Although I think she's done enough dodgy stuff to warrant a prison stretch. Will she be instrumental in revealing who the fourth dot is? Well yeah actually, I think she grew up thinking Thurwell was her dad... and of course having connections to both Osborne and Buckells. Jo joined the force just before the turn of the millennium so would have been a copper when the Lawrence Christopher case occurred in 2003. Even though not directly working with them, I'm sure she knew what was going on and would have come across Osborne and Buckells at that time. I have a strong inkling that she knows exactly who she's been talking to and has been under their wing since the start. If she dies I will be gutted.

Kate

Where are we going with Kate? Well she's just killed Ryan (lawfully) and has gotten away with it. But Carmichael isn't thick... and nor is Steve and Ted. They all know but I think that'll be that for now. For ages I thought she was gonna D word but I think she's gonna be alright now. I hope that somehow she gets back into anti-corruption permanently because that's where she's best suited. I'm shocked that she hasn't had a glass box spectacular - my predictions for her to be accused of being bent and all that were way off the mark... and not a single mention of the two dying declarations... With only an hour tomorrow and so much to deal with, I guess that's not going to be mentioned. And Kate ain't gonna be sanctioned either. But, there's always opportunity with a series 7... She'll definitely be back in AC12, interviewing... I can't see all the BTS photos being Jed Herrings. But we'll see tomorrow!

Steve

Poor Steve eh? He's not had an easy time of it. Addicted to painkillers as I rightfully predicted, unable to trust his gaffer, torn on a transfer and a up and down friendship with his 'mate'. Oh and the car, actually let's not talk about the Mazda... Anyhow I believe that Steve will talk about his back and recent struggles with meds after a lot of emails from occupational health. Will he get pulled off the job at the last second because he didn't book an appointment... yeah I think that might happen and Kate takes his place or something. But there is a counsellor or something credited so I'm pretty certain on that. Will he lose his long overdue promotion? It's possible! I don't think the test was going to come back as a fail but more of a cause for concern - just that the levels of codeine etc in his system was higher than it should and it would be best advised to talk to someone. We haven't seen much pill taking going on since the drugs test so has Steve been going cold turkey? Or have they just veered away from that part of the story? In all fairness he's appeared fine with his back since the Windermere convoy - he ran across an industrial estate... I mean. I hope Steve gets a glimmer of hope and happiness because he rightfully deserves it. Ever since the start he's had his fair sharing of aggro and he deserves a break. I do think however he may be partly responsible for nailing the final nails into Ted's coffin - especially after he discovered the 50K up Merseyside and the truth from Lee Banks. I think he could be potentially happy with Steph, it would be nice for something to happen with them but we'll see. Steve needs a big hug.

Ted

This is going to pain me saying it. But, I don't think Ted is going to make it to the end. His retirement is inevitable. I can see the argument of the retirement being rescinded if they unmask the fourth dot etc and solve stuff but realistically, he's past retirement age. He's so focused on getting to the end of this marathon that I don't think he will see it through and know who it is - because he'll... yeah I don't need to say it. How? I've been saying his heart is gonna pack in. He's going to be in deep trouble over that 50k because Steve and Kate know the truth. But why would the likes of Carmichael find out... Well we've seen a clue of 'definate' on some paperwork - I reckon Ted by coincidence also makes this spelling mistake often as it is one of the most commonly misspelt words and therefore will be in the 'H' running again - he wont be 'H' as I reckon Osborne makes the same mistake... He alleges he misspelt it cos he studied the texts carefully but I think he spelt it how he usually would. They'll all go down the wrong path and accuse him which will lead to his ultimate downfall. Another little teaser is Steve appearing to listen to Ted's 2019 glass box spectacular however notably Carmichael says AC12 interview and not AC3... so mixing two different interviews to tease us? Maybe Ted might feel he has no choice but to sacrifice his career for the truth. However it all gets too much. Lies cost lives... I can't see Ted going on from beyond here and Ted was always supposed to be a minor character until he was very well received by the audience and he was made a main character. Realistically, his story is told and he's at his endgame. I hope he survives, by god I do... He's one of the most loved fictional characters at present. But I have a really bad feeling and I'm worried! It seems a total Jed thing to do for Ted to meet his end without ever finding the truth... seeing that's what his heart has been set on for about four years... I'm sorry to even be going there but it's what I think will happen. And I want to be wrong.

Miscellaneous Predictions

I want to round this all off with other little points. Carmichael won't be bent, maybe still involved with anti-corruption, you love to hate her, there's so much more they could do with her character. I don't think Steph's dodgy at all, she's just a widow whose been helped out by Ted in an unlawful way. I think her and Steve would be well suited. I hope Chloe will get to the end and continue on in anti-corruption, she's got a lot of potential. If Osborne isn't sussed, I reckon he'll still be CC. DCC Wise isn't bent either, just getting on with her job. But if Osborne does get caught and I'm wrong, there will be a lot of chaos for both him and Wise. Farida gets out of jail and starts afresh. Buckells I reckon will get out but won't be apart of the police force anymore. Lomax isn't bent, just a regular cop trying to get the work done. The rest of Jackie's remains will be found under the workshop floor, maybe with someone else? God knows who. Or maybe with some evidence that helps lead AC12 on the right track. Steve will still be an officer and Kate will be back where she belongs. There's probably more but my head hurts.

Will there be a series 7?

Yes.

Thank you all for reading my jumbled thoughts all packed into a text post. I'm nervous but excited for tomorrow night's finale. Let's see if I get anything right... probably not...

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Strings”

Happy Saturday, RWBY friends! I am, quite obviously, going to dive into the recap in just a moment, but first I wanted to take a short detour to discuss the elephant in the tumblr room. Namely, Supernatural.

For those of you out of the loop, the tl;dr is that a fifteen year, beloved show ended with a truly horrendous finale. Specifically, the finale rejected everything that the show had been building towards: the logical conclusion to character arcs, the theme that “family don’t end in blood,” the potential for a queer romantic relationship… I could go on. The point I want to make is that the fandom had every reason to believe we’d be getting these things. This isn’t a case of fans upset that the finale didn’t go the way they wanted as an individual viewer, but rather that the finale didn’t go the way the show clearly and explicitly said it would. It’s not an exaggeration to say that in many respects, viewers were straight up lied to.

(I recommend reading the reviews.)

What does this all have to do with RWBY? Well, I can’t help but think that history is repeating itself. Certainly there are some notable similarities between the two series. Both have long, meandering plotlines with no clear end in sight (though I hope RWBY doesn’t reach the 15 Volume mark…). Both began with a small, core cast, but quickly expanded—generating the expectation that these now equally important characters will be given their due. Both have moved from the small conflict of fighting everyday monsters to a god-based mythology. Both have a popular queer relationship dangled in front of the viewers, featuring scenes where they’re “obviously” in love… but will it ever be confirmed? Both have a fanbase that says loudly and confidently that the writers know what they’re doing. Just wait! It’s all been planned! We’ll be rewarded for our patience and soon all the naysayers will be proven wrong.

Thing is, the Supernatural fandom wasn’t rewarded. Right up until a week ago those fans—myself included—had faith that the writers knew what they were doing because they can’t really be that out of touch with their own story...right? It’s not possible. Yet they were, it was, and now that I’ve gotten solid proof of precisely how far a show can go to reject its own logic, themes, and premise, that just makes me more wary of RWBY’s mistakes. Before I had a solid faith that things couldn’t possibly get that bad, that no matter how much RWBY might be messing up in the short term, it will undoubtedly pull it together overall, because what show wouldn’t? Especially a show with such promise and, at times, wonderful storytelling. Well, Supernatural didn’t manage it and frankly I’m not sure what to do with that information.

Seriously. I don’t have any grand conclusion here. It’s not my intention to suggest that anyone should stop watching RWBY, or to claim that it will absolutely fail because Supernatural did. Obviously, we don’t know what will happen until we get to see it in the show. I only want to acknowledge these parallels and the similar journey I see both fanbases on. I can’t help but wonder if, a couple years from now, RWBY fans will be making incredibly optimistic posts about how it’s all coming together, just have some faith, everyone who says that the group won’t get a satisfying ending, or Blake and Yang won’t be confirmed are just mean trolls… only to wake up that Saturday morning and get another metaphorical slap in the face.

It’s something to think about.

But here I’ve spent a page talking about the wrong show. Let’s get into the episode!

We open on a black screen with lots of ambiguous noises. At first I thought this was Oscar struggling in the Hound’s grip or something, but then I remembered that RWBY likes to insert an episode between cliffhangers. I watched Ironwood (presumably) shoot a guy and he only came back this week (though that question still isn’t answered. At this point I kind of wonder if it will be). Oscar was kidnapped last week, which means we won’t get to see him until next week. Or… two weeks from now? RT skips the week of Thanksgiving, don’t they? Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Something horrible happens to Oscar and we need to wait two weeks to find out how it’s resolved.

Watch him escape the Hound off screen and return to the group with a new outfit 😂

So it’s not Oscar we hear, but Ruby, the last one coming out of the tube. Weiss is in the process of pulling Nora’s ear for that stunt… with a frankly strange looking hand. What’s up with RWBY animating weird hands lately? I’m pretty sure that’s not how anatomy works.

Anyway, Nora counters that this was a “Once in a lifetime experience,” but they were all going to go through the tubes regardless. Weiss isn’t pissed that you sent her through, she’s pissed that you did it unexpectedly when she was alone, heading into enemy territory. But of course, there’s no one in the room to hinder them, so the mistake is meaningless.

We’re setting the tone again though. For the first half of this episode everything is sunshine and giddy adventure, which doesn’t fit the situation at all. It also creates emotional whiplash when I’m suddenly supposed to be super worried about things later on. This sort of about-face works once in a blue moon, as an emotional punch, like we see in Mulan:

But RWBY does it every other episode, which makes the overall tone of the series confusing instead. Half the time RWBY feels like two different stories—the cartoony tale of girls going on fun adventures, and the traumatic tale of a fantasy war—that have been badly spliced together.

“Alight, Robo-Girl, which way?” May asks and Penny demonstrates why she’s the best for sneaking into a facility. She’s able to map out the whole place, including seeing where everyone is so they can avoid detection. Kudos to RT for going this route. I was worried that they would have Ruby and the others straight up attacking Atlas grunts, knocking them out/potentially even killing them because who cares, right? They’re the bad guys! So I’m glad they’re working to get in and out undetected. Granted, we see in some places that they’re clearly willing to fight the soldiers if it comes to that—they’re reaching for their weapons when Penny opens the final door, expecting the room to be full of people. They were going to attack—but at least they’re trying to lessen that conflict as much as possible. That’s the sort of choice I expect to see from heroes and I’m glad we got it here.

After scouting the area Penny corrects May: “And my name is Penny,” to which Ruby gives a satisfied “Heh.” I’ve got no problem with Penny rejecting nicknames, even potentially well-meaning ones, because she’s always struggled with her status as a real girl and her name is her own. She gets to decide what others call her. I do, however, have a problem with making the presumed trans character the one who is corrected. Granted yes, we haven’t gotten confirmation in the show that May is trans, but RT doesn’t get to cash in on that rep without likewise suffering the consequences for how the character is treated. You’re telling me that a trans woman is going to roll her eyes when someone asks her to use a specific name? Please give May flaws, yes, she’s a person, but out of all the millions of flaws across the human spectrum, this is the one we’re shown?

Not to mention Ruby’s continued attitude. It’s like, ‘Yeah, May. Stop being a horrible person who draws attention to the fact that Penny is a robot. I never did that.’ Except when Ruby first met her she didn’t know Penny was a robot. Just like she didn’t know Blake was a faunus—something we’re reminded of this episode. We might assume Ruby wouldn’t have ever made any missteps at the beginning of these relationships, but the fact remains that she got to know both girls before their minority status was ever revealed. Ruby loved them before she ever had to grapple with their differences.

Put in her place, May then demonstrates that she can make lots of people invisible, not just herself. That’s handy. She creates an invisibility bubble that reminds me of Harry’s invisibility cloak. In the sense that others might not be able to see you, but they can still hear and touch you, which makes sneaking around still pretty challenging.

No sooner have I thought that then two guards get into the elevator with them. The group keeps quiet as the duo discusses how no one can get close to Salem’s storm without “getting shocked right out of the air.” Interesting. And frankly one hell of a roadblock if the Hound escapes into the clouds. Oscar may be gone for a while if he doesn’t escape on his own... The woman also comments about how creepy it is that all the grimm are just hanging out, waiting. It’s “worse than if they’d attacked.”

No it’s not! RT, stop trying to implement the idea that Salem withholding her forces is some epically cool choice. She should have decimated everyone by now and the fact that she hasn’t just shows how transparent the problem is: you’ve created a villain that’s too powerful and now you don’t know what to do with her.

As the group sneaks out of the elevator Nora grins and presses all the buttons, which is, as expected, a dumb move. They’re supposed to be sneaking into this base. If they’re caught they’re going to be thrown in jail at best, killed at worst, but Nora wants to risk that for a practical joke? Again and again we see this insistence on incorporating comedy where it’s not only unnecessary, but actively interferes with other aspects of the scene.

Reaching a terminal, Penny inserts her finger and gains access via Pietro’s credentials. She’s really demonstrating this episode why she’s… pretty terrifying? I mean, Penny is an incredibly powerful fighter with a computer’s view of the world, access to everything in the most powerful Kingdom alongside its information, and she now has Maiden powers to boot. Which, I should add, it took her one fight to master (because remember, the heroes are now always as strong as they need to be to win…). Now that Watts is planning to hack her, I expect her to be an incredibly formidable enemy, just given the amount she could potentially do. I think Penny herself is too kind to exploit all that potential and as we’ll see via Pietro briefly taking control, she doesn’t always have the knowledge to use the tools at her disposal. But in the hands of someone like Watts? He’ll turn Penny into the ultimate weapon.

Access granted, they learn that they have to go “Right through central command!” Of course, Penny makes it sound like a fun game and the spy-movie music/cartoon lecture doesn’t help. Again, tone. It’s adorable! It just doesn’t fit sneaking into a military base with your lives on the line while Salem waits outside. That was a RWBY Chibi moment.

Penny explains—twice—that Ruby can use her semblance to fly them all through central command and it’s treated like a revelation. At first, I was pretty confused because Ruby has been dong this for ages? She carried Weiss in “Argus Limited” and Nora during the Geist fight. But upon close inspection, what Penny seems to have “figured out” is that Ruby can carry multiple people at once because the “mass doesn’t matter.” Okay. Not a contradiction then, though I think RT could have made it a little more clear that Ruby was shocked at the idea of carrying multiple people, not carrying someone at all.

What I do take issue with though is Ruby mastering this skill instantaneously. I mean, why is Ruby being forced to try this on the fly (pun not intended)—Penny has known the layout of the building since they made this plan. She knew they had to get past central control and that it would be packed with people. She’s obviously thought about Ruby’s semblance a great deal—and why is she succeeding? Give me a Volume 7 where Ruby actually trains in this technique, set up via Harriet’s comment early on about her semblance, and then she’s victorious here when it finally matters. Or give me Ruby assuming she can pull off this incredibly difficult skill only to fall out of her semblance halfway through, a roomful of Atlas personnel staring at them. Then what?

Not this.

This is a character who does everything perfectly on the first try without ever having to fail. Ruby is boring like this.

Crisis averted, we transfer to Ironwood who is… working with Watts.

What else is there to say? I’ve already laid out all the reasons why this is stupid and makes no sense. Others keep coming onto my posts to explain to me how Ironwood’s awful deeds up until now fully show his decent into villainy, conveniently ignoring the numerous limitations he was under and his choice to do what he thought was best for the world using inaccurate information. Ironwood was always a divisive character and many are happy to ignore the years’ worth of deconstruction done—a man who looks like the Evil Military General but actually isn’t—because they never liked him to begin with. Not liking him is fine, no one has to like any character, but I’m honestly shocked by the number of viewers who refuse to acknowledge how bad the writing is, even if it means defending a character they hate a teensy tiny bit (#SupernaturalVibes). As a friend put it, Ironwood now feels like a caricature of his former self, a Pure Evil Ironwood who appeared out of nowhere and is now here to stay. He shoots kids. He shoots unarmed civilians. He teams up with Salem’s men and tries to hack Penny. These are undeniably horrible acts, they’ve just been given to a character who never would have done them until RT randomly flipped the Evil switch.

The “RWBY” tag, alongside all the fluff moments of this episode, is now filled with posts encouraging Marrow to turn, yelling at the Ace Ops for being “bootlickers,” and capslock screaming at anyone who dared to speak up for Ironwood. It still sucks to have bad writing twisted into an attack on the fans and it’s going to continue to suck until at least the rest of Volume 8. I’d like to again remind everyone that Qrow teamed up with Tyrian a few episodes, yet because he’s again in Ruby’s graces, that was twisted into a ‘not that bad’ situation. The issue isn’t really that Ironwood is teaming up with one of Salem’s subordinates, but that he’s doing it to go against RWBYJNOR… the second a character teams up with Salem to get what Ruby wants (to not have her team in jail) then that’s totally fine… but that’s a wrinkle a lot of people are happy to ignore.

So yeah, Ironwood is an idiot now too. Like Qrow also was last Volume. He really thinks Watts isn’t going to betray him somehow? Although, I do wonder if the chance to ruin Pietro’s creation outweighs his loyalty to Salem, but the point is that Ironwood can’t be sure of that either. At least he’s smart enough to keep Watts under continuous guard. He puts his hand on Watts’ shoulders and goes, “I’d hate for us to have to try motivating you. Again.”

So he tortures people too now? Like I said, caricature. This was Ironwood and we were given no clear idea of where he disappeared to.

RIP a great character.

Watts notices though that Pietro has apparently accessed a secure area and alerts Ironwood to it. I laugh that the information is just ¡EMERGENCY! In large, red letters. Ironwood immediately makes an announcement for everyone to be on guard. It’s a level 3 lockdown — that won’t impede the group leaving via airship! — and they’re to use “lethal force” if necessary. Weiss is disgusted.

As much as I disagree with making Ironwood into a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy — he’s definitely wrong to be doing this — I also find myself rolling my eyes at reactions like that. Yes, Weiss. You attacked four operatives until they were knocked unconscious. Prevented an entire city from escaping Salem’s wrath, endangering them all. Now you’re breaking into the most classified room in the Kingdom to steal an equally qualified project and use it for your own means. There’s no reason why Ironwood would level his might against you. Is death still an extreme response? Yes. Should Weiss be acting like Ironwood is crazy for responding to them in an extreme manner? No. Her remark makes it sound like Ironwood is attacking her poor, innocent, defenseless team… not the team that’s been lying to him, betraying him, attacking him, and stealing from him. Not the team carrying deadly weapons into a facility to take what they want at any cost.

With their presence known, May wants to go grab an airship. That’s the series now.

Meanwhile, Penny insists that they can still complete their mission and we see Nora come up with some sort of plan.

Except, what plan was this?? What did she say to the group? ‘Hey, let’s wait around until some guy conveniently walks by with a full cup of coffee. Then we can trip him and the mug will fly alllll the way across this gap to land on a terminal, startling at least two workers. Except this guy will be hated by the whole room because he’s always messing things up—his coffee mug has been changed from #1 Dad to #1 Dud—so that this little mishap will create a ruckus that gets everyone involved, giving us the opportunity to slip by them all.’

Seriously, what? This kind of “plan” only works with someone like Clover, where we know he has a good luck semblance and thus all these unlikely pieces fall into place. I could absolutely buy Clover smiling smugly, working under the knowledge that he just has to wait around a few minutes and something will come along that works entirely in his favor. But Nora? How did she know any of this would happen? Obviously she couldn’t have, so what exactly was their intention if this coffee carrying, hated guy didn’t show up? RWBY, your contrived plots are showing.

I do, however, love the grimm Jaws poster. Jaws is an absolute favorite of mine, so seeing a reference to it in RWBY? A funny one at that? It almost makes up for how bad this episode is lol.

Because frankly I’m bored. The group sneaks around, criticizes May and Ironwood, briefly confuses me about Ruby’s semblance knowledge, and gets through tons of Atlas personnel in the stupidest way possible. I have to watch this guy running out of the room with coffee on his pants screaming, “WHHHYYY???” and he doesn’t notice the five girls standing right next to him. It’s silly. It’s boring. Luckily for RWBY, things are about to pick up in the second half.

After Ruby gets them upstairs and the final room is also conveniently devoid of people, Pietro takes control of Penny—including yellow possession eyes like Oscar has with Ozpin—and he...gets Amity started. That’s it. After a whole volume of ‘It’s not finished yet’ and ‘We barely have the resources’ and ‘Robyn stole what we were using to do idek what with’ he presses buttons for a while and they’re in. How good for them!

I do love that Penny calls Pietro “Dad” though. I’m here for the android-father relationship.

While Pietro works we turn to Blake, Weiss, and Nora. Blake tries to convince the audience that Ruby and Yang had an actual fight with, “I’ve never seen Yang and Ruby fight like this.” Yeah, because no one in this group has ever said the sliiiiightest thing against Ruby, so you all read the tinniest disagreement as a “fight” to be worried about. I mean, doesn’t RT have friends to draw inspiration from? They’ve never disagreed about Huge and Complex Questions before? Never gotten pissed and then shrugged it off the next time you want to text? RWBY’s idea of a diverse friend group feels like many other writers’ idea of a sibling relationship: anyone with an actual sibling goes, “What is this?” Speaking of, Weiss explains that sisters often have “very different ideas about what’s right” as if, again, people don’t have different ideas? Just in general? Why is this suddenly a sister thing? She’s clearly thinking about Winter, but doesn’t actually bring it up, so all we’re left with is the same situation we had last Volume. Weiss thinks she’s right, Winter is wrong, and they’re just going down their separate roads because there’s definitely no reason to re-examine any choices here. It’s all static.

Until Winter betrays Ironwood, of course.

Nora tries to reassure Blake that the group will be fine (ha) even though they’ve split, the irony being that we, the audience, know they just got wrecked by the Hound. Jaune is a great leader though, Oscar has grown so much, Yang could defend them all in a fight, and Ren… well, she can’t think of anything to say about Ren. I hate the Nora is acting like Ren has drawn away from her for no reason, after she chose to kiss him—without consent—rather than listening to what was bothering him, then proceeded to pretend that this mystery problem never existed. What does she expect? I do, however, like the general acknowledgement that she doesn’t know who she is without Ren. Who is Nora? Someone who is “strong and hit[s] stuff?”

See, this feels like RT writing self-consciously because Nora doesn’t have much of a personality. Oh, on a surface level she’s bursting with it, but past the bubbly exterior? That single layer? We can add maybe one thing to this “Likes Ren, is strong, hits stuff” list: she’s funny. That’s it. Anything else we might add like “she’s loyal” or “she’s kind” is just a generic characteristic of this entire team. They’re all meant to be crazy talented good guys and even the “is strong” aspect is suspect when others frequently pull off attacks as showy as Nora’s hammer hits. So who is she? What are Nora’s dreams? What are her hobbies? Her fears? Her history? We’ve seen a single flashback of her on the streets and one scene back at Beacon where she listens to music and reads a magazine. Seven years worth of material and that’s it. There’s a reason why the go-to, non-combat action for Nora in fics is “makes pancakes.” We know so little about her still.

So I was excited for a brief, shining moment. Yes! Explore who Nora is outside of being strong and hitting stuff! … and then her big action this episode is, as she says, being strong and hitting something. Don’t get me wrong, outside of that setup it’s pretty epic. I like Nora going to those lengths to save Penny and I absolutely love the repercussions of the choice: a broken aura, passing out, and badass lightning scars all over her arms and neck (especially when women often aren’t allowed to accumulate scars in visual media). That’s pretty damn awesome. It’s just that it comes on the heels of the story insisting that Nora is more than this, that we’ll learn something new about her… and we haven’t. This is indeed cool, but we already knew that Nora was willing to crazy lengths by hitting things really hard. That’s already her established norm.

At least this moment has some really nice characterization alongside the stupidity. The conversation between Ruby and Penny is just plain stupid. Penny wants to stay to help with the evacuations, but Pietro says she should come with him in Amity. Why? As Ruby says, because then she’ll be up in the sky and Salem won’t be able to access the relic.

That’s what Ironwood wanted to do! We could have had this conflict episodes ago with you all working with him! I really can’t with this cast. Also, the rest of this is still confusing. I thought pretty much everyone was in the slums by now, so what evacuation are they talking about? Do they plan to evacuate everyone in Mantle out of the kingdom somehow… like Ironwood wanted to do with Atlas? And why are they acting like Amity is evacuating some people too? I thought they were just using it as a communication device? To add insult to injury, Ruby then contradicts herself a minute later when she tells Harriet that Ironwood can’t have the relic because “Salem will find her way to the relic no matter where you go.” Ruby, if Salem can access the relic high in the sky she can also access Penny in the sky. If you believe that literally nowhere is safe then why are you sending Penny away under the claim that she—and via her the Relic—will be safer? If you want Penny in Amity to lessen the chance of Salem getting the Relic, why can’t Penny be in Atlas while simultaneously (hopefully) getting a whole slew of people to safety?

I’m continually confused by this “plan” of theirs. Their claims just flip-flop according to what (supposedly) contrasts them with Ironwood. Even though that’s not actually the case.

Penny is me, sad while watching this train wreck of a scene.

So yeah, the Ace Ops are here. I’ve wondered since the trailer why Weiss looked smug while everyone else was startled. Turns out it’s because of her line, “So, your first time losing to us wasn’t enough?” I can’t express how much I dislike all the girls’ personalities now. I want to shake some compassion and humility into them. Plus, they never should have won that fight in the first place. Marrow yells, “We were holding back!” but coming from the team’s weakest member it reads as defensive. Like we’re supposed to go, ‘Lol yeah right, Marrow. Just admit you got your ass kicked,’ even tough the Ace Ops should have wiped the floor with them, holding back or not. That’s my biggest takeaway from this fight: it’s the reverse of what we should have gotten. The Ace Ops should have beaten Team RWBY with ease and struggled greatly against an android Maiden, not falling before a bunch of teens and succeeding against Penny if not for Nora’s timely breakthrough. Your half-trained cast of growing heroes should not come across as more powerful than an intelligently designed weapon now wielding magic.

Before the fight starts we get a whole lot of lines that are, frankly, frustrating. Vine tells Penny, “I thought you were supposed to protect the people, not hurt them” which is true enough. Penny is taking action that is putting a lot of people in danger, regardless of the fact that Ruby is at the helm. Problem is, the Ace Ops then blame her for Winter’s injuries and “stealing” the power? That’s not the issue here. The issue is Penny’s blind loyalty to Ruby, but by having the Ace Ops back a stance that is clearly inaccurate—Penny didn’t cause Winter’s injuries, Cinder did; Penny didn’t steal the powers, she was encouraged to take them—it makes them come across as Very Evil people who will twist things to make poor Penny look like the villain. Even if this is a case of Ace Ops having bad intel (which seems unlikely. Wouldn’t Winter have told them what happened?) RT has avoided letting the Ace Ops take a justified stance here because that would make them look too sympathetic… even though they do have multiple justified stances to take. Like, ‘Hey, stop keeping half a kingdom here where Salem can easily kill them all’ or, ‘Hey, why did you spend months betraying Ironwood and then turn on us instead of trying to find a compromise?’ Even, ‘Why did your uncle help kill our leader?’ There’s plenty that the Ace Ops should be rightfully pissed about, so choosing Penny and Winter out of everything feels like RT is firmly backing them into Ironwood’s corner: you’re just bad now and bad people blame innocent girls, rather than acknowledging the actual wrongs done against them.

So we have Ruby contradicting herself and the Ace Ops backing warped ideas that make them look worse than they actually are. Adding to the stupidity is the fact that Elm mentions that Winter is in “critical condition” and Weiss… doesn’t care. Harriet then tells Ruby that she’s “throwing [her] in jail right next to your uncle, runt” and... Ruby doesn’t care. Qrow is missing and Ruby just found out he’s been captured by Ironwood, yet there’s no reaction whatsoever. This show continues to go hard on the ‘screw adults’ mentality, huh? Ozpin needs to keep quiet and is horrible for coming back. Ironwood is now a cartoon villain. Winter made the wrong choice so no one cares about her anymore, not even her sister. The Ace Ops remain enemies despite trying to talk things out. Qrow? Barely know him. Who’s he? This is a Ruby loves Penny episode. There isn’t enough emotional nuance for her to care about him too.

The sad thing is I adore Nuts&Dolts. In a different context these moments would be a goldmine for me.

If anything, this episode feels worse than the majority of last week’s because there are good things here that have been thrown into a bad setup. I can’t get excited for the group’s battles when I see who they’re attacking. It’s hard to squee over Ruby hugging Penny when she doesn’t react to Qrow. Watching Nora go all Thor feels like it only has half its potential when it’s coming out of a very messing, ‘I’m more than just being strong and hitting things… which is why I’ll continue being strong and hitting things.’ RWBY has excellent moments set into a terrible story.

The fight, at least, is exciting. The Ace Ops goad Penny into stepping away so they can trap the rest of Ruby’s team—smart—and she’s forced to hold her own while Weiss tries to break through with her knight, then Nora overloads the system. To be frank, I’m not great at analyzing combat. Not unless I’m looking for something specific like whether a win is justified. I’ve already mentioned above the broad issue of the Ace Ops very nearly beating the most powerful fighter next to Salem herself, yet failing so spectacularly against Team RWBY. Outside of that context though? I really enjoyed this. Lots of tight action, creative attacks, teamwork, some emotional pauses throughout… it feels like a pretty solid battle. Put it on Youtube as a clip, outside of the rest of the story’s messiness, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic watch.

We can’t stay in the combat forever though. During all this Weiss calls the Ace Ops “cowards” for making it four vs. one. You know, RWBY should really just do away with dialogue and make the show purely action because the cast frequently sounds so stupid when they speak. Like her comment about Ironwood’s lockdown… really Weiss? ‘Yes, we might be wanted criminals who betrayed this group in the worst possible way, but how dare they not do the honorable thing and have three of their teammates sit out while trying to capture us? Even though the girl they’re trying to capture has magic. I mean, the nerve of them!’

Weiss, at this point I’m not sure how to explain to you that the people you’ve made into your enemies do not owe you a fair fight.

Another detail: we get to see Ruby fall off the edge of the walkway and this time she remembers she can fly! A definite improvement from Volume 6.

Finally: by the time Penny’s eyes go full Maiden in Elm’s grip, I think we’ve seen everything from our trailer. Episode 4 will truly be a mystery.

Ironwood has, of course, been watching the fight this whole time. When it looks like the Ace Ops will lose against the team he means to send in reinforcements, but Watts says he has “a message for your operatives.” Instead of capturing Penny they steal one of her swords instead, ending with a shot on Marrow looking conflicted.

Because remember, there’s no actual moral grayness in this story. The protagonists are right and everyone else is wrong. It’s (supposedly) black and white. Which means that if the Ace Ops have any hope of surviving this Volume and being seen as anything other than evil bootlickers, they have to join with Ruby. Marrow seems primed to do that.

Am I surprised? No. Disappointed? Always lol.

May has the airship ready to go and they fly off… despite the shields. And the lockdown. Consistency? Who’s she? Nora is said to be “in bad shape” and after another hug Penny leaves to hide in Amity, even though Ruby thinks that hiding is a useless, cowardly choice. Just not when she and her allies choose to do it.

We end the episode with Watts receiving Penny’s sword and making the statement, “If you can’t beat them… then make them join you.” I have to say, his cheesy villainy is something I continue to enjoy, even if it’s heavy handed at times. Watts is just fun. I do have to say though: if Penny is hacked, what does that say about her agency? We double-downed on the ‘real girl’ narrative by giving her the Maiden powers, but she’s simultaneously synthetic enough that a single piece of her can remove all autonomy? It once again feels like RT isn’t sure what point they’re trying to make, they’re just chucking a lot of themes at the wall and seeing what sticks. Still, we’ll have to let it all play out before making any judgements.

And that’s it for this week. It seems like this is a slightly shorter recap than normal, though that may be because I struggle with discussing pure action sequences, which made up a decent chunk of this episode. I’ll no doubt return to the Ace Ops vs. Penny fight when I’m not on a self-imposed, one day deadline for posting. The only thing left is to update the Bingo Card, but I don’t think we made any headway this week. So... good job, RWBY?

I’m still going to hold off on the civilian’s square until Salem’s army actually attacks, as well as the two day timeline square.

No Winter this episode

Watts is teaming up with Ironwood which is… so much worse than him teaming up with Jacques again. Does a square get an X if the canon is even worse than what you assumed it would be??

Maria was mentioned this episode. Jury’s out on whether she’ll actually do anything.

Atlas is still standing, we knew Penny was heading towards a hack so it’s not much of a cliffhanger, no Qrow, no Ozpin, no Neo or Cinder.

It certainly looks like we can check off “The team gets Amity up and running,” but let’s just see if there are any problems next episode. If the problem is only ‘We would have launched it if not for Salem’s attack’ or something, I’m checking it off. The point is it would have worked.

I’m also leaning towards “More obvious Blake/Yang implications without confirming a relationship” given Blake’s heart-to-heart with Nora… but let’s see if the Volume does anything more egregious.

All in all (and perhaps despite what I’ve written above), I don’t think it’s fair to totally drag this episode. As said, this feels like a strong episode in a bad story, something that I would have LOVED if a) Salem weren’t here and b) the ‘ethical dilemma’ wasn’t boiled down to a ‘Team Ruby is good’ and ‘Ironwood and everyone associated with him is evil’ situation. It’s an episode whose tone and character action belong in a different version of RWBY. If you gave us this fun episode in an earlier Volume against a Pure Evil antagonist? It would have been great.

Ah well. It is what it is. Expect more emotional whiplash when we come back and everyone learns that Oscar has been kidnapped by Salem’s talking pooch 🙃

See you then! 💜

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby strings #mymetas #rwby recaps #apologies if this Recap is messier than normal #I have a zoom meeting in five minutes lol #gotta go fast!

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ziracona · 3 years

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Pretty sure your sudden spike in Fate content is gonna be like the third time I check something out bc you started posting it (I know next to nothing about Fate. In fact, I think I now know less than before you started). I'm rly not sure what the best starting point to get into it is, though. Any recommendation? (also I got Moriarty on your quiz and now I want to know why he's so beloved)

Oh sick! Awesome! I hope you enjoy it!

Uhm, so, Fate notoriously swaps out like their whole creative team from work to work, so some of it is really good, and some is really bad, and some in the middle, because it’s made by very different people. The things I am most into are UBW, and Fate Go. Fate Go is a little gatcha phone game, that suffers from the fate of the whole fate franchise but as a single unit. They swap out writers from arc and event to arc and event, so sometimes you’re living and thriving, and sometimes you’re like *thousand yard glazed, pained stare* ‘why the fuck did I download this game?’ Very mixed bag. I enjoy it because I just kinda blow through any arc I don’t like and skim, and then go hella into the good ones, but it’s very much an individual matter of taste one. It’s very fun to collect spirits and get to know them though, and some of the arcs are fantastic. Also, they have made/are making some of the Fate Go arcs into shows, and I expect the ones that are of good game arcs are good? But I haven’t actually checked any out myself yet--I really need to watch E Pluribus Unum, because it was an easy top 3 arc for me in the game.

I’m big into Fate, but I actually have approximate knowledge of many things? And have not consumed as much media as you’d think. I tend to hear people really like Fate Zero, and very mixed reviews of Apocrypha, but I would wholeheartedly recommend the Fandom Classic(tm) and my personal fave as where to start, which is Unlimited Blade Works.

Sorry this is so long. Okay, so. Originally, Fate Stay/Night was a visual novel with three paths/routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel. All of these are shows now. Unlimited Blade Works was made twice. Do not watch the early one; it’s bad. Watch the 2014 TV series--it’s on Netflix right now. Don’t watch the English dub--the VAs are...not great. 110% recommend watching it in Japanese/original dub, with subtitles. (This one)

My usual pitch is that if you’re a normal person, you’ll probably go “This was a little confusing, but I really got into it: 8.3/10″, and if you’re like me and you never really gave up on wanting to become a superhero and save the world some day, you’ll go: “It was fantastic, 18/10, but it also ripped out my soul and left me wounded but somehow in an okay way.” Either way very worth watching. Since it’s not the first route, there are some things they don’t explain about the world because they kind of assume the viewer will know, but that’s pretty minimal--it’s def coherent enough that the more confusing bits are more of a “Uh, okay. I think.” than a “W-What the fuck is going on?”

It’s really good. Two seasons, the most beautiful fighting in almost anything I’ve ever seen, phenomenal soundtrack, and one of the best show opens (Season 2′s) of any show I ever saw. All around a just big blanket rec from me. It’s a long-time fan favorite for a reason. It’s one of my fave shows ever :’-] It was. Very personal to me.

Uhhhh what else--okay so, on Netflix if you watch it there, and a lot of streaming sites, they list “Episode 0″ or “Prologue” as the first episode? This was originally bonus content, not the first episode. It’s basically the first episode from not the MC’s point of view, but a different major character. It’s got some really great character moments and insight into Rin and Archer, and it’s fun, but since it was originally bonus, the pacing is super weird? So I would recommend you start with actual episode 1/Winter Days, A Fateful Night instead? Unless you just want to. Like it won’t mess up the show, but it might give you a weird idea of what the pacing is. So you can watch it first if you want, or later whenever you’re curious about those two, just like, if you start on it, don’t get overwhelmed by the stuff they’re not explaining, or the weird pacing. It’s supposed to be bonus content haha.

Very happy you’re interested! I really love UBW so I hope you enjoy it! If there’s anything else you want to ask feel totally free! I just don’t want to ramble for eight years about my special interest and fall into a black hole unprompted haha. : D Very happy you’ve been intrigued by my weird spike of fate content WAIT YOU ASKED ABOUT CRIME GRANDPA HOW COULD I FORGET.

Woof this is gonna be a long ask answer. Uhhhh, so Moriarty is from Fate Grand Order/Fate Go, the phone game. The game has three major arc sets so far: Grand Order, Epic of Remnant, and Cosmos in the Lostbelts. He’s from Epic of Remnant, and he’s universally beloved because he’s amazing. The MC in Fate Go is like 16, but he or she (you get to pick) is constantly having to risk their life and be hurt and traumatized and watch people die to save the world because there’s no one else to do it, and usually people are...not super nice to them. Moriarty shows up in the first of the second set of arcs and is like ‘Haha that’s a wholeass human child tho. Guys. Guys, a-are you sure about this?’ and he’s really there to pull of a massive evil culmination-of-my-life’s-entire-work-and-value scheme, but this kid is nice to him, and has nobody who looks out for them, and Evil Has Standards, so (Arc End Spoilers for that one ahead) he ends up giving up basically at the last minute. He had a plan that was totally working and could have won, but can’t really pull the trigger, because winning would mean this kid who has been nice to him and is already a massive pile of trauma and pressure and mental illness would die, and he cares more about them than his life’s goal. In Go usually boss fights are progressively harder, but his is super easy because he throws it, and chooses to lose, and basically throws away his life’s work for this one kid because nobody else is taking care of them, and lets himself get killed. This is a pattern with him. Other high points include later being 5 seconds into a scheme when Frankenstein (the girl one, who in fgo is like 14) stops him to call him Papa and asks for help, so he adopts her on the spot and just is her dad forever after that. He’s very goofy and I love him; he’s evil, but I’d trust him with my life, because he’s more good than he is evil, even though he’s both. Basically he’s just a very interesting and well written villain, but he’s also like, the /best/ dad in the game at the same time, and his dialogue is amazing. Evil Has Standards team dad poster man. He’s like the only adult in Fate Go who actually is responsible, which is fuckin wild. I’ll try to find some good screenshots of his dialogue. Anyway he’s incredible and I’m so happy you got him; Crime Papa is life.

Here have some Moriarty junk: (Shinjuku arc you have 3 partners, and the other two are adults but harass the MC constantly, and this was the dynamic. Bless Moriarty)

And here’s some him roasting Sherlock memes and being good dad to the MC

#ask #tathracyn #fate #long post

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sir-silly · 4 years

Text

The Last War fan review

So, our beloved show has ended. And while I wish things would have gone differently, I did cry with relief when Clarke looked over and saw everyone already waiting for her.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the finale.

1) Going right into the title sequence kind of shocked me. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I was just immediately like “oh.” It was a bitch-slap in the face that they left a gap in the credits for Bob Morley. Why you gotta do us like that?

2) Murphy screaming “come on” while they used the defibrillator on Emori was heartbreaking. And his little whispered encouragements were so freaking cute.

3) Clarke rampage? Yes, please! I love me a badass woman. However, unlimited ammo is a sin in writing. The moment Octavia picked up the sword was a big “oh yes.”

4) Did Cadogan not care about his son like at all? Lmao. Why is he so hung up on Callie and not his other kid (who I can’t even remember the name of). I don’t care if they explain in the prequel, that’s still a shitty parent choosing favorites. Along with his wife, like, was she not his greatest love? It was Callie? Kinda fucked up.

5) Why the fuck could Jordan figure out it was a test and not a war in 5 seconds when the Disciples were studying that shit for decades? I know he’s Monty’s son, but he’s not a genius or anything.

6) Thoughts on the test: I think Cadogan would have failed and the human race would be destroyed. Why bother asking questions if you already know all the answers?

7) Why wasn’t Gaia in the finale like at all?? Like, what the fuck. She was hunting??? For what?? That really annoyed me because I’ve grown to really like her and there was no point in her not being involved in the last episode. They seriously couldn’t have thrown her in there? Like, come on! Even Niylah was there! (not saying that I don’t like her, it’s just that Gaia has felt far more important to the story than her).

8) I do think that Jasper and Hope are cute together, and I know they spent the majority of their lives either alone or only with their parents, but GOD I can’t stand how awkward they are. Also, I know ya’ll have feelings for each other and shit, but is now really the time to be making out?? Why do people think that’s okay in literally the worst situations? I know it’s a show, but come on.

9) And how the fuck did Jordan throw and catch that sword? He’s a child who’s never fought a day in his life. Unless they suddenly want to tell me that Harper and Monty were secret ninjas and taught him all their tricks, I don’t believe that.

10) I’m being pissy and bringing up things from the past, but I don’t care. Why the fuck couldn’t Harper and Monty gone into cryo? I know they were happy and shit, but I’M NOT. How the fuck did it take so long for him to get into the files for Sanctum? His ass has done that shit a thousand times before in about two minutes and suddenly it takes him 80 years? Bullshit.

11) I’m still being pissy, but how the fuck does Jordan know what a magician is? “For my first trick, I will make an army appear.” Bruh, no. Monty wouldn’t have known what a magician was either. If they weren’t being taught what a Navy Seal was, there’s no way they knew what magicians were. Calling bullshit on that one as well.

12) I was pretty surprised that the Disciples didn’t start firing on Wonkru immediately. Like, this is the war they’ve been gearing up for forever and they don’t attack as soon as possible? Also, where the fuck did Wonkru get their war paint? Do they just constantly have it on their person? Or did their asses literally spend time making their paint before going to Bardo?

13) I fucking love Miller and Jackson. They’re freaking adorable. Murphy’s flat “I am glad you are safe” was so fucking funny. Also, saving Emori in one scene just to kill her in the next is bullshit. They should have just killed her the first time and done the same thing anyway. Murphy screaming at Jackson to do something and sobbing was heartbreaking. Fantastic acting on Richard Harmon’s part.

14) Octavia putting on Lincoln’s same warpaint again was once again, so sad. I miss that man. He was too good for his own good. And while I do think that her and Levitt are very cute together, I’ll always prefer her with Lincoln. But I think that he would be really happy that she has found someone new to love.

15) Apparently whatever Echo “did” to Levitt was so forgettable that I don’t even know what she’s talking about. Bad writing. I shouldn’t forget that in just a few weeks, I should remember as soon as I see the two of them in the same room.

16) Lexa. Just all of it. There were some suspicions that she would show up for the last episode, but I didn’t really believe them because I didn’t understand how she would be integrated. I’m glad that they did bring her back, but I’m also not. It was amazing to see her back by Clarke in all of her armor and glory, but knowing it wasn’t actually Lexa was just a punch in the face. It wasn’t her mind, so it’s almost like they didn’t bring her back anyway. I honestly would have preferred if they used someone else for her Judge, because that just really didn’t do it for me. Their hug was sweet, but it didn’t even count as her returning. I personally think that her Judge should have been Bellamy or Madi instead, as they both certainly could fill the role of “the subject’s greatest teacher or the source of their greatest failure...it can be their greatest love.” This is just my preference. Believe me, I know how much Lexa meant to Clarke, but as a fan, bringing our favorite Heda back in that way wasn’t the best way to do it. As a writer, it makes sense, but it doesn’t as a fan. The writers can’t just think of what is the best storytelling, they have to think of what those watching will think.

17) I’m confused about the mindspace? Why did Clarke wake up in her solitary room with her memories painted all over the walls, but Emori woke up in the castle with a view of the desert? Why wouldn’t it have been her and Murphy’s cave? Is there a reason it was the bedroom and not the cave?

18) I know this isn’t canon in any sense, but could you imagine if Murphy and Emori fought over John’s body and she won, and then suddenly woke up with a penis? How fucking funny would that be? Just had to throw that out there.

19) Can I just again reiterate how fucking cute Miller and Jackson are?

20) I’m curious about the location of the test. Why did Cadogan’s take place on a pier, while Raven’s happened on the Ark? If it was their favorite place, wouldn’t Raven’s have been actually out in space? Like during a spacewalk? I’m confused about that.

21) I knew that Raven was somehow going to be involved in the test just because of the trailers we got for the final episode. My two guesses for who the judge would be were Finn and Abby. Though I am happy that we got to see Abby again, I would be curious to see if the scene would have played out any differently if it had been Finn.

22) Where was the full line that was given in the trailer? Because that was amazing. “We’re selfish, and we’re violent, and we have destroyed too much, but we survived.” I loved that line far more than what we got instead, which was simply, “Have we made mistakes? Yes. Clarke, me, all of us, but we were just trying to survive.” I definitely would have chosen the former over the latter. Poor choice on the editors’ parts.

23) How the fuck did Octavia and Echo go out to the field and get Levitt with Echo only being shot once? With all the bullets, the three of them should have been torn apart, I don’t care how much Indra could cover Octavia. Calling bullshit on that as well.

24) Bringing this up kind of late because I’m giving my reviews as I’m rewatching the episode, but what they had Eliza do was really fucked up. Her and Bob suffered a miscarriage during the filming of season seven, so the scene of her holding Madi and crying “my baby” is like 10 times more heartbreaking. If they made her film that after having a miscarriage mere days, weeks or few months before, that’s really, really messed up.

25) They really played-up Sheidheda’s bringing back of “jus drein jus daun” in the trailer. In reality, it was far less intense. I would have preferred what I had been expecting, which was him coming to help convince Wonkru that they would be able to win. However, I am super glad that he is dead and Indra finally got to kill him. I love how that bigass gun just turns people into mist lol.

26) The beginning of Octavia’s speech was literally like “what the FUCK guys” and it was hilarious. And I swear to god if I hear her say “we are Wonkru” or “you are Wonkru” another time, I’m gonna scream. I know it was legit the last episode but I’m sick of it by now lol. When Indra was like “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Octavia’s face was just like “omg me too” and it was really funny.

27) Bellamy. His situation was a whole problem itself. He deserved a hell of a lot better and wHY DID HE CUT HIS HAIR I LIKED IT THE LONG WAY. Anyway, you can bet your ass I’ll be writing a different ending where he didn’t die because FUCK THAT. When I do, I’ll be sure to share it.

28) I’m fucking confused about Murphy and Emori both transcending. Because, what the fuck. Emori died. The dead don’t transcend. Her mind wasn’t even in her body, it was in Murphy’s. So how the fuck did she end up alive and in her own body again. I’m glad she’s alive, but I just don’t understand. It would have made way more sense to have either not had her die in the first place, or to have Murphy, Miller, and Jackson keep pumping her heart so she technically “lived” anyway like Echo.

29) If Madi had decided not to transcend, would she still have been paralyzed? I mean, I would assume not because Levitt and Hope’s gunshots were healed, as was Emori, but I’m curious. Also, wouldn’t Raven’s leg have been fixed? Because if they only fix recent wounds and not old ones, that’s stupid.

30) On the point of Madi deciding not to transcend, why did she? Why didn’t so many other people choose not to? Like, not one Eligius prisoner or person from Sanctum chose to live? No one else from Wonkru? Why didn’t anyone else other than the main cast and guest stars not transcend? I totally understand the Disciples transcending, but seriously, nobody else wanted to live? That’s really weird. Madi and her friends really couldn’t have chosen to live on Earth with Clarke and the others? I just think it’s really unrealistic that not one single person outside of the group chose not to transcend.

31) I was really surprised that Murphy and Emori chose not to transcend, because as the Judge said, they would eventually die and not join them in the infinite. It shocked me due to their fear of dying and wanting to be immortal, but I’m really proud of them.

32) I’m disappointed that those who don’t transcend can’t have children. There were suspicions that Emori might have been pregnant (which were never confirmed), but the idea of her and Murphy having a kid together was adorable. They’d have their teeny tiny families with those two, Hope and Jordan, and Octavia and Levitt.

33) This isn’t as much me pointing out a problem as me wondering, what was Clarke going to say to the Judge when she turned around? What else did she have to say or ask? Was it about Madi? Or maybe Lexa? Or just transcending in general?

34) It’s pretty shitty that some of our questions went unanswered due to the fact that there will be a prequel. On the other hand, I live for lore, so I’m just glad that they eventually will be answered. But still, that doesn’t excuse shitty writing.

35) I want to see a stupid edit of Picasso taking the test where the Judge is Madi.

I think we all know that season seven was really not what we wanted it to be. We’ve been really disappointed by the writers and unfortunately, this is what we got out of it. I believe they really could have done a better job, but I am at least glad that everyone ended up together.

The writing was lacking. Too many questions were left unanswered, I don’t care if you’re making a sequel or not. Plot holes. It really could have been a good season if it was done better.

My ranking of the seasons is as follows: 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 7. Seasons 4 and 1 are kind of interchangeable for me in spots three and four, as are 6 and 5 in the two spots behind them, whatever the order may be.

But I still love the show. I love the characters, their development, and many things about it. It has been quite the journey and I am glad to have been a fan of the show.

May we meet again.

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fireflyfish · 4 years

Text

Hop on the Wen Chao Haterade Express!

Hahah! I hope you weren’t expecting something about Tano and Kenobi right? Because I have thoughts that must be shared with others and you are all my unwilling victims. Can one be a willing victim?

Episode 17: Wei Wuxian goes to the Ancient China Google School of Medicine

After Episode 16: Running and Crying; Now with Running and Crying In The Rain we left our hero sitting in a boat having an existential crisis because that’s what happens in boats in ancient China. Crises and crying. Nothing good happens in boats in Ancient Fantasy China. Wen Chao was probably born in a boat.

Wen Ning is flawless and really strong for the local Woobie Badass and carries our 200 lbs of whoopass and Mommy issues to the crisis boat and Wei Wuxian with the promise that everyone back in Lotus Pier is drugged off their asses and will wake up with the same headache I have every morning when I remember the state of the world I’m living in.

There is no ibuprofen that can save you Wen Chao. I hope you suffer you unmitigated twat. I hope you trip on every loose board in Lotus Pier and break all your toes. I hope your hideously tacky and vicious little bloodsucking mosquito of a girlfriend lands face first into a pile of fire ants. I hope...

Woah... I’m not even sure I hate Palpatine that much. Wow. Fire ants... damn. I need to calm down.

Eh-hem. So When-Will-His-Face-Make-an-Expression Zhuli is very zen about the whole thing and I just don’t get his character. What is going on? Why is he all :| when he is serving the Wen Clan? He seems so annoyed by Wen Chao, which automatically makes him better than all the other Evil Wens, but he still goes around melting cores and killing Beloved Parental Figures and having respectful dialogue like he’s not the bag man for the WORST heir to a fantasy throne since Game of Thrones. I bet he and Joffrey when to some kind of evil royal boarding school together. Ramsay Bolton was probably there too.

Then we float on a boat of sadness and pick up Yanli, who is understandably sad and say goodbye to an old lady who I think is going to die off screen? Who are you? Where did you come from? Does Jiang Cheng need to avenge you too?

The boat floats on until it transforms into a cool box carriage thing and My Perfect Son Who Gives Me Echo Vibes smuggles our beleaguered family into the earth kingdom Yiling which hold up! Isn’t that where Wei Wuxian is supposed to be like the Great and Terrible Yiling Patriarch? Where he did such horrible things like make a compass that detects ghosts and cool goth varsity flags that summon ghosts? I feel like this place is important and LOOK AT ALL THE TREES!!! *cries in Central Texan about trees*

My Other Equally Perfect Son Who Does Not Deserve This Jiang Cheng is sick and feverish and Wei Wuxian decides this is the perfect time to get him a blinging black cape with red accents and I swear I am hearing the Imperial March in the background. The I-Do-Bad-Things-For-Reasons-I-Think-Are-Good-But-Are-Ultimately-Bad-And-My-Light-Side-Boyfriend-Gets-His-Heartbroken-Because-Of-It vibe is very strong.

Anyway, Dr Wen Qing Medicine Woman shows up and looks at her baby brother and understandably gives into that sweet innocent face because Wen Ning Has Done Nothing Wrong In His Life. AND WHY THE HELL IS HE THE GHOST GENERAL?? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PRECIOUS SON WEI WUXIAN??? DO I NEED JIANG CHENG TO STAB YOU AGAIN?

After some ancient Chinese medicine, which looks so much more pleasant than my last visit to the GP, The Radiant Goddess Wen Qing explains that Jiang Cheng has no golden core and that’s clearly bad but it isn’t until Jiang Cheng wakes up and tries to apparently suckerpunch Wei Wuxian with all his spiritual energy that we learn the truth.

Wen Zhuli is a Monster and He Hurt My Precious Child. Madam Yu energy intensifies.

So then Wei Wuxian basically badgers Wen Qing into letting him look at all her medical books and of we go into a studying monologue where time is measured in stubble and plates of uneaten food. Wen Qing is being very patient and gorgeous about the whole thing even though she knows there’s Nothing You Can Do Anakin Wei Wuxian. You Cannot Keep People From Dying Rebuild People’s Golden Cores After The Palm d’Or of Death Smacks Them.

Then Wei Wuxian makes Yanli cry and he is on my List now because Yanli is Perfect and Flawless and none of you bastards deserve her, except you Wen Ning or possibly Meng Yao WHERE IS HE? HOW DID HE NOT DIE FROM BEING STABBED IN THE CHEST? QUI-GON JINN FELL OVER LIKE A SACK OF BAD POTATOES BUT MENG YAO IS JUST OUT THERE LOOKING FOR WORK WITH A BLEEDING CHEST WOUND?

Then Wei Wuxian mentions Lan Zhan and Yanli tells him “Listen, Asshole. ACheng is Sick and trapped in an acupuncture coma because he won’t sleep, I am ominously coughing and you have HIDEOUS stubble. Your Robot Bunny Boyfriend will just have to wait. We are the A plotline in this story, not your bromance with the reserved and gorgeous nerd in the back of the classroom who knows all the answers because he’s already finished the text book. Focus on my face and my tears you idiot. You made me cry!”

Wei Wuxian understandably feels bad, sleeps, shaves and then goes back to studying after Wen “I am so going to regret this in two episodes” Qing picks up her library and decides that someone with ACTUAL medical experience should be doing some research.

Also... what is going on with those pots that Yanli and Wen Ning keep fanning? What is in those? Medicine? Ox bone soup? Poison I can give to Wen Chao?

After some more lovely shots of Yiling that REALLY make me want to hire their set designer to build my dream house, Wei Wuxian finds the wooden scroll book “How to Give Your Core To Your Adopted Brother Because You Have SO Much Guilt And Also Your Promised Your Adopted Father Figure You Would Take Care of Him And They Don’t Have Talk Therapy In Fantasy China Yet”.

There is some dramatic sitting, some dramatic “Hell No I am not doing this” on Wen Qing’s part and lots of “No, really, you have to do this. I am totally okay sacrificing for the Jiangs because it’s REALLY going to make everything hurt so much worse later on when ACheng murders me to death on the edge of a cliff on Mustafar Quishan”

Wen Qing is probably thinking of all the horrible ways this could go south and is trying to be An Adult when Wen Ning shows up and is pure and good and full of faith and devotion to Wei Wuxian and I think I need to send a clone extraction team to rescue my poor baby boy.

Unable to withstand the purity of Wen Ning’s smile and because the script says she has to Wen Qing agrees and gives us some ominous stats and Wei Wuxian is cool with that because “It might work and if it doesn’t who cares? Wen Chao is going to show up at any minute to murder us and probably you and Wen Ning and then Lan Zhan will show up with his Guzheng (yes I did have to google that) Of Pretty Magical Death and then we’ll just have to wait for the next episode after that where everybody magically survives except all the people *I* like because that’s how these things go.”

WHEN DOES WEN CHAO DIE? HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET FROM LOTUS PIER TO YILING BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE IT’S TAKING WAY TOO LONG AND I AM SO VERY WORRIED ABOUT YANLI’S COUGHING. WHAT IS THE STYGIAN TIGER AMULET AND WHEN DO WE GO BACK TO THE FUTURE??

WHEN DOES WEN CHAO DIE??????

#No Spoilers please!#The Untamed #Wei Wuxian: The Grandmaster of Bad Life Choices #Jiang Cheng Deserves Better and Needs Therapy #Someone please give Yanli Padme's cell number. These two need a girls' day out #Wen Qing you need to grab your adorable baby brother and GTFO out of Ancient Fantasy China

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

Text

Vengeance Chapter 10

((Thank you so much @sinfulwonders for betaing this chapter for me. You’re always so kind. Also thank you all for the reblogs and for the likes. Just a heads up, not only is this chapter long, but it does contain two deaths that may be disturbing to you. Please be advised.))

Rating: M (Violence)

Summary: Amateur Detective Shuichi Saihara knew that searching for the "Usual 16" wasn't going to get him anywhere. The disappearances weren't being tracked in any news outlet, and very few families even tried to come forward to ask for help, let alone to report them missing. Yet, Shuichi can't shake off the feeling that there's a reason behind the disappearances, and he's close to the answer. He just didn't realize that the answer was going to hit close to home, in more ways than one.

Previous Next

You can read this underneath the cut or at my A03

Shuichi knew that the tranquility wasn’t going to last, but he did his best to milk it anyway. He let Kokichi drag him out of the house, in clothes that would make anyone do a double-take. They hung at the ice cream parlor for a little bit, Kokichi smearing a bit of his ice cream on Shuichi's cheek when Shuichi sniped at him too much and didn’t let him get away with any of his lies. He let Kokichi sneak him into a movie theatre without paying, trying to ignore how his hands sweat with nerves and how his heart continued to pound and race even though he knew that there was little to no chance that they were going to be caught when the movie started. He let Kokichi drag him all over the city, trying to find an arcade that Trick wasn’t at so that they could have some fun.

Shuichi played Yu-Gi-Oh at home, and bartered with Kokichi to go up against him with Smash. Kokichi bantered with Koji, with Keiko, and tried to fill as much light and laughter in the living room as he possibly could. For the first time in a long time, Shuichi had forgotten about the case that he was working on.

It really didn’t surprise him when they were in his room, sitting on the floor, playing slap jack when his phone went off. It wasn’t just his phone either, Kokichi’s phone also went off at the same time. Both of them looked at each other and they both dived for their respective cellular devices. Shuichi half-expected it to be D.I.C.E. He thought that Shuffle might’ve already found a building to hop into, and was going to send the GPS coordinates with a “don’t be late”. He would’ve preferred it honestly to the Danganronpa email that was staring at his face. It’s Voting Time!!!!

Shuichi felt his stomach twist and the room spin uncomfortably. His throat squeezed tightly as he opened the email.

Pick a Death!

Falling?

Drowning?

It was...vague. Shuichi pursed his lips together as he read the question again. Both of them sounded painful, and neither of them sounded quick. Shuichi could imagine the fear and panic from both of the deaths. He knew from his time at the agency that both of those were common suicides. Most of the time those who decided to jump usually picked to jump into rivers, or off of buildings so that there was little to no chance of second-guesses or take backs. The worst suicides were those who decided that it was best to jump in front of a train. Plenty of people went into Aokiagahara Forest because it was quieter, secluded, and less people around to try to talk them out of it. Of course Shuichi knew there were people who constantly wandered the forest to see if they could offer their assistance, their shoulders and ears.

This didn’t sound like a suicide however. Shuichi was certain that the death was going to have to do with a murder of some sort. Falling would be the quickest, but the luring would be hard to do. That person would have to trust the other a lot, especially if they were being coaxed to the edge. Shuichi doubted anyone in that group could call themselves that close. Yuya might fall for it, because she was hyperactive and friendly. Shirogane might, just because she would want to fit in. If Aki wanted to exploit her friendship or if Kokai thought that he could kill Aki or Rantaro, he might be able to convince them to get close and personal with the edge of a building.

He was very certain that Oda would laugh in someone’s face if they tried. Everyone else was too paranoid and not willing to trust anyone with a ten foot pool.

That meant that the most likely way to die was to drown. Shuichi didn’t recall anyone mentioning a pool or a body of water that was nearby the school. The courtyard had a fountain, but...the water would be too shallow for a proper drowning. Shuichi pursed his lips together. It meant a stronger chance of survival. At the same time, Shuichi could easily be misjudging how deep the fountain was.

He didn’t want anyone to die. He didn’t want anyone to suffer. He looked over at Kokichi who was staring at his phone, his thumbnail being bitten between his teeth. His eyes were focused on the small screen, and his brows were furrowed. He was distressed and Shuichi worried for a moment that something happened at home. Kokichi’s parents rarely ever reached out to him in worry or in care. They pretended that he didn’t exist, and Kokichi...well...he tended to like the idea that he didn’t exist. It meant less problems for the three of them, even if Shuichi wished otherwise.

It didn’t mean that his parents didn’t surprise him. Sometimes, Shuichi knew that they’d reach out, only if they thought they could manipulate him to go back home for whatever reason. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. He looked back at the email, and his heart stuttered. How was he going to watch this when Kokcihi was with him? He couldn’t. He couldn’t risk Kokichi looking at it either. No it was best to vote and it was best to delete the email. It was best to pretend that the episode wasn’t happening…

He wasn’t sure he could watch it, knowing that it could be Aki’s murder that he was actively voting for. He wasn’t sure he could watch it thinking that Aki actively murdered someone. He doubted both of those routes, but they were in a killing game. The two day deadline was up.

Someone was dead and he knew it.

Someone was going to pay for it, and he knew that too.

“Shuichi-chan?” Shuichi jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, trying to hide his phone away from Kokichi’s gaze. He knew that outed him as suspicious immediately. Kokcihi’s gaze flicked, Shuichi wondered what exactly crossed his mind, before a smile played at his lips. “You spaced out there for a minute, beloved~. Did something happen?”

Shuichi had his suspicions on Loki being Kokichi, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go down that rabbit hole yet. Especially since the voting was actively trying to goad people into picking someone’s demise. There was no right way to respond to the email. Someone was going to die in whatever the majority decided on, and as much as Shuichi loved and wanted to protect his cousin, he wasn’t sure he could vote for someone else’s death too.

Aki wouldn’t want him to. Shuichi knew that this could bite him in the ass later, but...Aki wouldn’t want him to vote. Not this. Motives? Probably a way to help. Murder? He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t find a reason. Danganronpa wanted him to be an accomplice. He wasn’t going to push someone into hell. He wasn’t going to do that to the victims or their families. With that firm resolve in mind, he gave Kokichi a slight smile. “Danganronpa.” He admitted. “It uh...it was a weird email.”

“I bet...you okay?” Kokcihi pursed his lips tightly. “What did they want?”

“Something I couldn’t give.” Shuichi wished that he had more confidence in his words. He knew that sounded shaky and false, even to him. “It’s okay. I just...it was...a lot.”

“Okay.” Kokichi murmured quietly. “Let’s forget about it for now then. Come on beloved!” He suddenly grabbed Shuichi’s arm and started to pull on him. “Let’s go annoy Keiko-chan in the kitchen.”

“She’s going to hit you with a spoon if you annoy her while she’s cooking, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi admonished as he let himself be tugged out of his room and out towards the kitchen.

“Then it’s all in good fun!”

Later that night, Shuichi woke up. Being a light sleeper that he was, he was used to being woken up at strange times in the middle of the night. Sometimes, Aki couldn’t sleep and suddenly would start playing music as softly as she could in her room. Sometimes, Kokichi would have nights where he tossed and turned and would accidentally kick him awake. Sometimes, Shuichi’s brain just decided to randomly go on high alert and remind him that he was alone in his room and that for whatever reason something was amiss. Shuichi glanced over to the side to see if it was the Kokichi situation when he registered that the boy wasn’t even in his bed.

He reached over to the side and felt the sheets. They were slightly warm, which meant that Kokichi had left and his side was starting to become cold. He must’ve been up for a while. Shuichi carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position and reached over to his bedside table to turn the lap on. The room immediately flicked into soft yellows and irritated Shuichi’s eyes and head as he rubbed the sleep away from the corners of his eyes. Kokichi wasn’t anywhere in his room. Did he think he would be too much of a disturbance and decided to go out into the living room?

Shuichi looked over at his desk and noticed that his laptop was missing. Shuffle mentioned last night that Kokichi would take his laptop and would drag it down to the living room and watch it. Feeling as though he was about to step in on some private mystery, Shuichi walked out of his room with his heart pounding in his ears. This could be his chance to figure out once and for all if Kokichi actually watched the show. He had his suspicions, he had some of the evidence to back up his claims, but nothing would be as concrete as this. He kept his footsteps light and attentive, making sure to keep his back against the walls and keeping note where the shadows are. It was easy to slink into detective tracking mode, even in his own home.

He could strain to hear the little things that the house hid when no one was paying attention. Keiko was asleep down the hall. The small creaks and groans the house made as it settled down into the earth. The small noises that were made outside, the humming of faraway traffic. He noticed that the living room light was on. The table side of it anyway, since the glow didn’t reach too far towards the hallways or the kitchen. Shuichi peered over the corner, and saw Kokichi on the ground cross legged, his laptop up.

There was an investigation that was happening. Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed as he decided to let his presence be known. “Danganronpa?”

Kokichi jumped six feet in the air and he scrambled to find some way to save his face, despite that there was no way he could recover from the jumpscare. “Shuichi-chan!” He hissed, pulling his headphones off. Shuichi hadn’t noticed that they were missing or that Kokichi was wearing them. He was still a little shell-shocked that Kokichi was watching the show. “What are you doing?” He whispered. “Go back to sleep, beloved. I’ll-”

“You watch Danganronpa.” It wasn’t meant to sound like an accusation. He didn’t want Kokichi to look at him like that. His neutral expression was just breaking enough that there was a hint of fear that was in his eyes. He was thinking that this was going to be a showdown of some sort. Shuichi didn’t want a fight. He didn’t want a confrontation that didn’t mean anything. “I do too.”

“I know you do, beloved.” Kokichi sighed, his shoulders relaxing only a fraction. “I see you in the chat logs.” He looked at Shuichi and Shuichi could see the anxiousness. The fear. He was just as afraid of this game as Shuichi was. Yet he was watching it by his lonesome. Shuichi wondered if it was because Kokichi thought he needed the sleep, or if he was worried about the same thing he had been worried about previously. About whether or not Aki was the murderer or the victim. “Aki-chan’s still alive.” He paused the recording and stood up, taking the laptop with him. “We should move this into your room. We can talk there.”

Shuichi nodded and they headed back into his room. They got comfortable on his bed, Kokichi placing the laptop between them and tossing the headphones to the side. Shuichi gave him a small glare for it, those were his good noise-cancelling headphones but Kokichi wasn’t paying attention or caring. He quickly adjusted the volume so that it was comfortable before hitting play. “Should I go back to the beginning?” He asked, hovering his mouse over to the replay button.

Shuichi shook his head and Kokichi took his hands off of the computer, and instead found Shuichi’s under the covers. Rantaro was looking around the crime scene and Shuichi’s throat bobbed when he saw the body of the mangaka on the floor. A scalpel lodged deep into her throat. It looked like someone had tried to slit her throat, but either changed their mind last second, or didn’t realize there was a proper way to do it without getting the weapon caught.

“So Shinigami-san was wrong in thinking the chemist was the murderer.” Kokichi mused softly. “I don’t think this would be her thing.”

“Could be the doctor since I’m sure that’s one of his supplies.” Shuichi mused thoughtfully. “Oh they found the bottle of the chemicals used to knock someone out...or kill them.”

“I think it was a knockout. If it was a killing proportion, then why get stabbed in the neck?” Kokichi theorized as Rantaro started to badger his classmates about alibis and where they were. Shuichi noticed that Aki was looking around the room too, casually going over to Rantaro when she found something to help move the case along.

The scene of the crime was interesting too. It was in an abandoned classroom. If the mangaka was going to die somewhere, Shuichi would’ve thought that her lab would’ve been the prime spot. Someone wanted to have a chat. “Did they figure out the time of death or anything?”

“So far, we don’t know much.” Kokichi murmured. “Apparently this is something new they're trying out.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to some of the backlogs that I was reading before the recording showed up,” Kokichi gestured vaguely to the screen. “Monokuma used to tell the students the time of death, type of death, and little other factoids. This time, Monokuma is giving students free reign. I suppose it’s because they have a doctor on their talent team.”

“How do you feel about the talents?” Shuichi asked softly.

“Hmm...nothing really. It’s just a gimmick isn’t it? I bet that’s why Monokuma isn’t exactly being helpful. If the doctor does a botched up job, well...that means that everyone gets killed besides the blackened riiight?” Kokichi drawled softly. The violinist, Akamatsu if Shuichi remembered her name right, came back with Yadori and gave Rantaro a slip of paper that merely said the words midnight on it.

“So they were meeting up in the classroom.” Shuichi concluded. “To talk probably.”

“About what? Did someone know something? Kind of pointless to start having secret meetings now.” Kokichi scoffed a little. “Honestly some of these kids have no clue what they’re doing.”

“You don’t either, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi winced a little as Kokichi gave him a mock offended look.

Bing. Bong. Bong. Bing sounded through the computer’s speakers and both of the boys’ shut their mouths as Monokuma appeared in the monitor, looking pleased as the cat that got the cream. “It’s now time for the class trial!” He sounded overly gleeful, like this was the best part of the game. The murder was just the cherry on top of it all. He directed the students towards the elevator, and Shuichi watched as fifteen students climbed into the cage like device and go down deep into the underground.

The trial room wasn’t like anything Shuichi had seen before, and he and Kokichi both had been in court rooms. The podiums were like witness stands, all in a circle facing each other so that there was no way to try to hide anyone’s expression or their actions. Everything was for everyone to see. There was one podium in particular that had Chatani’s death portrait, a large X painted in a bright red substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

The room itself was a little insane looking too. Black and white tile reflected a blue light that came from the ceiling, bouncing off of stained glass windows and mosaiced down to the ground. On a red and gold chair sat Monokuma and down in front of him like jury members waiting to hear the deceivsiness of the trial were the loudmouth Monokubs that Shuichi rarely paid attention to.

The rules were simple. Discuss until there was nothing left to discuss. Vote and pray that it was the right answer. If it was wrong, everyone but the blackened would die. Vote correctly and the blackened would die and everyone else would live.

“Usually in trials everyone’s on the witness stand has to say their name and their ultimate.” Aki suddenly spoke up. “And since we know that this is being recorded, we may want to do that just for it to be on the record.”

“Didn’t realize you were the Ultimate Lawyer, Mayumi-chan.” Oda teased.

Aki paused. “My name is Mayumi. I don’t have a last name. I’m the Ultimate Guitarist. I’ll also be bold enough to say that I’m pleading innocent too.”

Everyone in the trial froze. Kokichi let out a high pitched noise that sounded like he was trying to hold back a snicker or a laugh. Shuichi watched as everyone looked at each other, a little nervous. A little less thrilled with the idea that they might be recorded, that someone could actually use this in an actual trial.

“My name is Maeji Sena. I’m the Ultimate Cheerleader.” Shuichi remembered her credits being fun. Her background was usually a gym of some sort with a bunch of people in the stands. He knew about the cheerleader part though mostly because her yellow and blue pom poms that she carried with her gave her away. She was a nice looking girl too. With a side ponytail and a couple of the same colored ribbons. Her uniform supported the color theme. “I’ll also be bold and say that I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Wow. This trial is going to go by so fast.” Shimahara stated, looking completely bored out of his mind. The sparkles of his shirt caught the light of the stained glass, making it shimmer brilliantly. The looks that his classmates were giving him however, were enough to make him shrink. “Fine, fine. My name is Shimahara Yuji. Ultimate Dancer. Ultimate bored out of my fucking mind. I’m not a part of this. Can we move on?”

“Dick.” Yuya grumbled, flapping her sweater sleeves nervously around her body. “Heyo. I’m Yuya Chika and I burn things for fun!”

“Innocent.” Everyone said together at the same time.

“Yuya-chan can’t be a murderer because we’d have a burnt body instead.” Yadori giggled, though there was something off in her posture. Shuichi noticed that she was too tense for that to be genuine. The laugh also sounded shrill, like a panic. “Okay, okay. I’m Yadori Miki. I’m the Ultimate Figure Skater. I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Yeah maybe we should all just agree that we’re all going to say not guilty and maybe not do that.” Oda sighed, taking out a monocoin and flipped it. He watched it fall down to the ground and bent to pick it up. “So you all know me-”

“Pretend we don’t.” Aki cut through quickly.

Oda gave her a small look. “Okay I’ll humor you. Oda Touru. Ultimate Thief. I’ll steal anything so long as it benefits me somehow.”

“Annnd there’s our jackass.” Yuya happily gestured.

“Maybe not everyone’s not guilty after all.” Ajishi gritted her teeth. “Ah, right. Forgive me.” She cleared her throat and adjusted herself and her posture. Shuichi had to admire how quickly she threw on her persona. “My name is Ajishi Misa and I’m a chemist.”

“Ougai Eiji.” The doctor quietly murmured next to her. “I’m a doctor. We should try to remain objective while we’re on trial.”

“We’re not...always going to go around the circle introducing ourselves right?” A boy asked. He wore the same sort of uniform the thief did, but his had a bit more of a flair to it. It was fitted loose on him and Shuichi felt like all he was missing was the cape. “I’m only stalling, I'm sorry. My name is Nakaji Katsuji. I’m the Ultimate Actor.”

“Ultimate could be murderer got it.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Now, now.” Rantaro quickly held his hands up. “Let’s not get into a fight. We’re all in the same boat here. My name is Amami Rantaro. I’m the Ultimate Adventurer.” He looked over at Kokai. “Your turn.”

“I’m Kokai Seijo. I’m a falconer.” Kokai nervously adjusted his gloves. “I’m na a murderer eider.”

“So now it’s my turn right?!” Shirogane asked. “My name is Shirogane Tsumugi. My talent is being the Ultimate Cosplayer. I’m not surprised if no one remembers me.”

“You’re right. No idea who you are.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Well you didn’t have to be so mean about it...but I get it.” Shirogane winced.

“Why didn’t anyone think to kill you off is a mystery.” A girl with blonde hair spoke up. Shuichi really did try to rack his brians, the familiarity of her just bothered him sometimes. “My name is Akamatsu Kazue. I’m the Ultimate Violinist. Let’s solve this mystery together.”

“Horrible catch phrase.” It was a teasing tone and a gentle smile that graced that sentence. The boy had on a heavy utility belt and it was full of different kinds of equipment. His hair was all over the place, and he looked to be in the same boat as Yuya when it came to burns. “So formally I’m Gonoji Yoshitaka, but you guys can call me Yoshi-kun. I don’t care.”

“That leaves me. I’m Kai Yako. I’m the Ultimate Singer.” Kai mused, shifting on his feet.

“Oh. Right I was supposed to say that I was the Ultimate Electrician. Sorry.” Yoshi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Now that we got that all squared away, and it’s on record.” Rantaro spoke up, “We should start by talking about the obvious.”

Ougai straightened his tie. “To slit someone’s throat effectively, you would go from ear to ear with the head tilted downwards to expose more veins. Tilting it up, you expose the knife to different obsticals and instead of making a fast clean death, you made the victim suffer and you fuck up the kill. You don’t look dramatic. You look like an amateur. We can rule out myself and Ajishi automatically for it if that’s the case.” Ougai paused. “Also there were some defensive wounds that were on Chatani-san’s body. Indicating that there was a struggle.”

“Okay so we’re dissing the culprit before we even start, cool.” Oda drawled. “But sorry doctor and chemistry teacher, but I think you two shouldn’t count yourselves out just yet. We know the murder weapon was a scapal. Therefore it was one of yours. I’m thinking the doctor did it. Anyone else?”

“What would the motive be? The flashback light?” Yuya tugged on her sleeves nervously, winging and flapping them around, nearly hitting her peers that were next to her. “I mean, we don’t even know if it’s real or not. Monokuma could’ve just said to throw all of us off.”

“Yes, but that does not mean that someone else would believe the lie.” Ajishi adjusted her goggles over her eyes. “Let’s hypothesize that someone’s motive is the flashback light. Let’s hypothesize that they believed that there was a memory in there that they wanted back.”

“If we’re accusing me first, I can easily say three things. One, I have an alibi. Two, if I’m going to murder someone why would I pick the most obvious weapon that can be pointed out to me? I know more ways to murder someone and get away with it than to do a botched job and leave my own work too behind. Three, I don’t care about the flashback light. I don’t care about my lost memory. If anyone should be worried about their memories, it’s Mayumi-san who doesn’t have a single thing to her name.” Ougai gestured over towards Aki, who was mindless chewing on her finger.

She froze like a deer in headlights, and bit at her nail a little harder, but otherwise stayed silent.

“Why woul’ she go af’er Chadani dough?” Kokai frowned, tugging on his gloves and keeping his gaze down. “We dun dalk da her much.”

“If she was going to go after anyone, it’d be Oda-kun you’re right.” Akamatsu said, as she held her pointer finger up in the air. She had another hand on her hip and she immediately turned the conversation. “So we need to start looking at people who are close to Chatani-chan and who would want to hurt her.”

“So basically all of us and none of all all at the same time.” Oda rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could. “Because none of us are really all that chummy with each other, violin.”

“She’s the weakest member here though, isn’t she?” Yadori asked as she was redoing her hair, trying to pull it back into a nicer looking bun. Her hands were trembling, Shuichi noticed. She wasn’t trying to meet anyone’s gaze. If anything, she was trying to distract, but why? Shuichi covered his mouth with his hand, gazing on Yadori as though she could hold all of the answers. Maybe he was wrong, but...she was acting not herself for certain.

“Where was she during the investigation?” Kokichi murmured and Shuichi felt his heart plummet down into his stomach, icing his veins in the cold realization that Yadori was a suspect. She had acted weird when Ajishi confronted her classmates about her missing things too. Too stiff. Too afraid. Oda was too calm, too certain. He didn’t care that he was an accomplice. Only the murderer was going to get punished. He could do whatever he wanted and help whoever he pleased.

It made Shuichi wonder if Oda had a bigger part to play than the “Ultimate Thief”.

“Wow.” Tsumugi drawled, looking insulted. “That’s just plain rude right there. Chatani-senpai’s a strong person. Both inside and out. You didn’t know this, but when Chatani-senpai writes any kind of manga, she does her research. From experimenting with eating disorders to actually going to the gym and working out to be as buff as she can as a female, and asking male bodybuilders to pose for her to practice the anatomy. She isn’t someone that’d just lay down and take a hit.”

“Eating disorders aren’t exactly what you’d consider strength here.” Shuichi muttered, mostly to himself. He heard Kokichi snort beside him and he felt his cheeks flush. He was used to being by himself while he watched the show. He forgot that sometimes he mumbled to himself to get the gears rolling in his mind. That being said though, Tsumugi had a bit of a point. Her determination and perseverance would be considered a strength. If she hadn’t died, she would’ve made it a lot longer than she had, that was for certain.

“Is anyone else disturbed that she actually goes that far for her writing or is that just me?” Oda asked, looking around at the trial circle.

“I mean, I’m a performer.” Nakajima said, picking against his tie as he undid it and was re-doing it. “I also have to determine what weight I have to be if I’m going to be an accurate representation of my character. I destroyed my body in many ways and I recovered it in many ways.”

“I’m not much but a singer, but even my appearance gets me a side-eye every now and then.” Kai rubbed his neck.

Maeji shifted in her stand, “I mean, I was once told to lose some weight if I wanted to be caught easier during the pyramids or any of the tosses, but I never took them into too much consideration. It was a...thought though I’ll...admit that.”

Shimahara just sighed, “Yeah. All of us have body issues. I did the same. It’s stupid. Can we press on now?”

“Dear god, please get therapy, all of you.” Oda’s complexation paled.

“One of us cannot, she’s dead.” Ajishi frowned at Oda. “And also please stop being so insensitive.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Rantaro quickly intervened. “We’re not getting anywhere if we get sidetracked. So we know that whoever killed Chatani-san didn’t know how to slit a throat. We know that they managed to get into Ougai-kun’s lab and get the weapon. We also found a bottle of the mixture Ajishi-san told us would make a knockout gas rather than a poisonous one.

“To be on the safe side,” Ougai commented, “My lab is never locked.”

Everyone stared at him. Rantaro folded his arms and gave him a small look. “You mean to tell me that anyone can go in and grab what they can from your lab?”

“My lab is a medical facility. For me to close it could be hazardous to anyone. I want there to be free reign in case someone gets hurt or needs something and I’m not awake to provide. That being said, I do normally keep my door unlocked too.” Ougai explained. “So that if someone does have a need for me, they can get me as fast as possible. I’m used to not sleeping a lot, so I’m easy to alert.”

“Do we know when Chatani-chan died?” Aki asked, her voice wavering as she tore another piece of skin from her nails. Shuichi watched in muted horror as blood dripped down between her fingertips.

Ougai also looked pained, “Please stop chewing your nails, Mayumi-san, you can’t play guitar like that. Also...I can only give an estimate. I’m no way a coroner. My theory is that Chatani-san met her demise around twelve ten or twelve thirty.”

“So a thirty minute chat.” Oda mused, “What would they be talking about that could take so long?”

“Girls are like gossips. They never shut up.” Shimahara shrugged.

“I knew Oda-kun was a dick, but you, sir, are an asshole.” Yuya frowned, putting her hands on her hips. “Maybe you two should go find a room after this is over and get some of that aggression out.”

“Fucking ex-”

“We’re getting sidetracked again!” Rantaro snapped. “Will you guys cut it out, this is serious. If we don’t figure it out, all of us are dead.”

“Is that really a bad thing though?” Yadori asked, looking apprehensive. “I mean…we’re forced to die anyway. Isn’t this...quicker?”

“Wow.” Yuya stared at Yadori. “You have no balls.”

Yadori spluttered.

“I’m kinda sad really. I thought we were friends.” Yuya pouted, kicking at the stand and placing her hands behind her back. Her eyes looking downcast and her expression clearly betrayed. “I thought that you liked hanging out with me.”

“O-of course I do! I just…”

“Would rather want us dead than alive is all.” Aki muttered. Her finger was bleeding profusely now and she was already going on to the next one.

Shuichi couldn’t remember a time where Aki actively bit her nails. She was always so careful to make sure that they were short, but...had that been to resist the temptation of biting them? He was going to have to figure out how to ask about that habit to his uncle and his aunt. He couldn’t imagine Danganronpa being able to implement new habits, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure what this game was capable of.

They stole everyone’s memory and forcibly removed Aki’s for everything including her name. He couldn’t imagine it just stopped there either.

“Da no’ said dat dey were gonna mee’ up a’ midnigh’.” Kokai broke the conversation, his voice a slow thoughtful drawl. “We know dat dey had da abli-lie da use da chemical da knock ou’ Chadani-san.” He pulled the gloves. “We know dat dey dun kno how da kill eider.”

“You know I don’t know if this would help but here’s my theory.” Ougai suddenly snapped his fingers. “The culprit and Chatani-san both agreed to meet up at the classroom at midnight. The culprit already knew that Chatani only had few friends and therefore wouldn’t be missed. They used the knockout chemical mixture to make the death painless as possible, only misjudged on how to properly slit a throat. The throat is slit and the dead is done.”

“So we’re thinking the chemical was used on Chatani-san. Okay so we’re thinking that this was a mercy killing.” Akamatsu mused, coming back some of her hair as she looked to the side. “God, my sister’s much better at figuring out mysteries like this. I just can’t come up with anyone that’d go out of their way to hurt her.”

“Alibis then.” Rantaro nodded, “We should get those cleared out so that we can figure out who we need to start looking at.”

“Hold on a second.” Oda broke the conversation, looking at Rantaro with a deep frown on his face. “Why aren’t we questioning Mayumi-chan?”

“What do you mean?” Rantaro deadpanned.

“She’s the one with the lost memory, right?” Oda gestured. “We know that the flashback light would be the motive. Why are we ruling her out?”

“I never said that she was ruled out.” Rantaro frowned at Oda, his arms tightly folded against his chest. “What I can determine though is that Mayumi-chan wouldn’t go after Chatani on the mere fact that neither of them are close.”

“We’re stuck in a killing game. Should closeness really be a reason here?” Yadori frowned.

“Then why hasn’t anyone gone after Kokai-kun? Shirogane-san? Mayumi-chan if she’s such an easy target.” Rantaro gestured. “It’s because they’re all connected to someone yeah? A little bit of a threat. Shirogane-san and Chatani-san were probably the only friends that actively hung out all the time.”

“I don’t recall anyone asking me to hang out as of late besides Amami-kun, Mayumi-chan, and Kokai-kun.” Shirogane nodded. “As plain as I am, I’m not surprised that I’d be ignored in the background, but it was nice to see that Chatani-senpai saw a fellow fan and was willing to let me pick her brain so to speak.”

Kokichi let out a suffering sigh, “They’re going around in circles.”

“Yadori-san isn't helping that fact and neither is Oda-kun.” Shuichi murmured, watching the trial dissolve back into disaster. “Amami-kun’s on the right track though. Killers aren’t likely to kill strangers. They’ll kill people they’re familiar with because it’s easier to figure out routine. Getting trust means it’s easy to get them to do what you want them to do.”

“What’s your big detective brain thinking then?” Kokichi asked and Shuichi could feel Kokichi’s gaze on him.

“I think that it’s weird that Oda-kun stole the chemicals. I think it’s weird that Yadori acted strangely in the breakfast hall.” Shuichi murmured. “I wonder...Chatani-san had the chemicals in her possession. She had it there that night when she met up with her killer. I bet it was a struggle and a fight to get both murder weapons away from each other. Chatani-san isn’t strong physically and was most likely overpowered. She was easy to knock out and kill after that.”

“Psychology says that memory and personality are one in the same. If the brain is tempered with in any direction, the personality can change with it.” Aki agreed, speaking around a bleeding middle finger. Shuichi and Kokichi both stared at the screen as everyone else looked over at her. She continued to chew as she spoke, her words muffled against skin and blood. “Closeness isn’t a factor, I agree with Yadori-chan. We can’t rule any one of us out. If we were out in the real world then yeah, it’d be weird for a stranger to go up and murder someone, but that’s not what’s happening here.” She took her finger out of her mouth, blood lingered on her lips as she looked at everyone. “So here’s my thought. I find it weird and strange that Chatani-chan’s body has defensive wounds. While I know some of us are performers and have skills in makeup, I think that we should all offer our own bodies to show whether or not we have the bruises or scratches. Of course, I can always out you now if you’d prefer.”

“What do you mean “out”?” Oda asked, folding his arms.

“We know that Chatani-chan wasn’t late for the meeting, she was right on time because the murder took place around twelve ten to twelve thirty. Without an actual coroner to say anything about it, we can only go by a guess or two. I’m sure Shirogane-san can confirm that Chatani-chan wouldn’t be late to any kind of meeting because mangaka’s are always under strict schedules. Right?”

“That is right!” Shirogane proclaimed, looking excited. “Mangaka authors are used to working towards extreme deadlines, very rarely do they miss. Therefore, the meeting went exactly as planned.”

“What does this have to do...with anything?” Kai asked, looking perplexed. He wasn’t the only one that was lost. Even Rantaro was giving her a mild look.

“Because if the murder was about the flashback light, we would’ve found it in either Chatani-chan’s lab or her room. Both were negative.” Aki explained, looking at Yako. “Which means that’s not the motive. But...if I recall from all the meetings we had. Chatani-chan would always mention that a murder could happen. In particular, the conversation about the chemicals.”

“Now that you mention it,” Rantaro placed his hands on his hips, looking peeved. “I do recall Oda-kun getting upset with you about calling him out for stealing it.”

“Now wait just a-”

Aki barreled on, ignoring Oda’s protests. “Who else acted weird during that conversation, Amami-kun?”

“Yadori-san.” Shuichi breathed just as Rantaro spoke the name. The figure skater was always antsy around the mangaka. Especially when Chatani would mention that there was a method of killing, or that the chemicals and the imbalance of them would be a waste to use. “That makes sense.”

“You and Aki-chan go like seven different hoops and I feel like I’m stuck on level one world one.” Kokichi pouted a little. “How did you get Yadori from all of that?! There’s literally no proof unless…”

“Kokai-kun probably has it. Either that or Aki-chan is hiding her own piece of evidence. This isn’t a real court. Not everyone is going to want to show things off. They’re going to want to put the killer to the back of the wall and force them to see the truth of their crimes.” Shuichi gripped Kokichi’s hand. “This isn’t a game of who's going to go to jail. This is whether or not they survive for the next several hours.”

“But I never really spoke to Chatani-chan so...why would it be me?” Yadori frowned. “How was I acting strange to get the suspicion?”

“Because every time Chatani-san mentioned the flashback light or the chemicals, you tensed up as though you were waiting for her to act on it.” Rantaro continued. “You also keep looking away from us. I mean all of us aren’t exactly thrilled at looking at each other in the eye and accusing each other of killing one of our classmates, but you also said something that threw all of us for a loop. You thought it was a good idea for all of us to suffer and die.”

“I...I was only thinking-”

“That’s some balls right there. Really big cajones.” Shimahara narrowed his eyes at Yadori, and Shuichi watched her cower. “Because if it was the other way around and someone else had said that would you agree?”

“I just…”

“So we weren’t friends.” Yuya sounded tearful. “You wanted us dead so that you could go and get the flashback light, is that what you were after?”

“Chika-chan no, please.” Yadori begged, looking at her friend, tears springing to the corner of her eyes. “That’s not true. None of what they’re saying is true. I have an alibi. I was asleep like everyone else, I promise. I promise. I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I was just trying to protect you. I swear.”

“So you did hurt someone.” Rantaro watched Yadori freeze on the stand. Horror started to carve itself around her face as she realized that she dug her own hole trying to assure Yuya that she wouldn’t go out of her way to hurt someone.

“You don’t get it.” Yadori whispered. “You don’t understand. You guys don’t…” She took a deep breath. “If you think you’re so clever, then come out and accuse me. You don’t have any proof. Everything you're saying is speculation. THIS IS BULLSHIT!” She suddenly screamed, gripping onto the stand like a lifeline. Shuichi felt himself back up a little away from the laptop, staring at her in surprise. The composure that she was was breaking at the seams. “I’D NEVER HURT CHATANI-CHAN. NEVER EVER. Yes I was worried about her being a murderer. Yes I went to check on her to make sure that never happened. BUT DIDN’T DO A DAMN THING TO HER! IF ANYONE SHOULD BE WORRIED, IT WOULD BE WHOEVER CHATANI-CHAN WAS GOING TO GO AFTER! SHE HAD THE BOTTLE OF THE MIXTURE IN HER POSSESSION!”

“But how do you know that?” Rantaro demanded, not daring to let Yadori escape his gaze. “None of us knew who had the chemicals in whose possession. You were there that night.”

“IF I WAS THERE THAT NIGHT THEN WOULDN’T MY CLOTHES BE BLOODIED?” Yadori shrieked. “HOW ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY GIVE ME SOME PROOF BEFORE YOU START COMING AFTER ME?!”

“Oh is that it?” Oda asked casually as he decided to fling a piece of fabric into the middle of the circle. Said fabric, Shuichi noticed, was one of Yadori’s leotards. The bright blue soaked in red. “Oops. My bad. I guess I should’ve been a little nicer and handed it over to everyone before this whole trial.”

“Where did you get that?” Yadori hissed. “You’re trying to set me up you-”

“I don’t like it when people try to toss me under buses. I don’t particularly care that you went off and killed Chatani-chan, but I thought it was cute you decided to try to assure us that you wouldn’t “hurt” anyone at the time very clearly admitting that you did. Also, I thought it’d be fun to watch you sweat a little. You almost got away too. Shame.” Oda taunted, looking completely smug. “Maybe next time I’ll team up with the investigator squad. They make things so much more interesting than you trying to act innocent.”

Shuichi watched Yadori’s expression break, and he knew there was no way for her to recover from this. Rantaro took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, “Here’s how this all went down.” Rantaro mused. “Yadori-san got concernend after the fifth or so time Chatani-san mentioned a murder happening or taking place or even hinting that a murder could have occured. She decided to ask Chatani-san to come meet her in the classroom at midnight. Yadori-san knew she might be dealing with an unstable individual so she snuck into Ougai-kun’s infirmary lab and stole a scalpel from his place. Considering that Ougai-kun does plenty of patrols around the campus, it wasn’t hard. She waited until midnight and at first tried to resolve things peacefully.”

Rantaro looked each of his classmates in the eye as he tried to sum up the case. “But Chatani-san was prepared too. She was paranoid that she might be the next victim or that someone would find her as an easy target. Using the chemicals that she asked Oda-kun to steal, and listened to Ajishi-san’s advice, she was going to knock out her supposed culprit and get help. Somehow someway, it became a struggle. Whether Chatai-san saw the scalpel or had an idea that Yadori-san might be her culprit, or that Yadori-san assumed the bottle and the cloth held the lethal amount of chemicals inside, we don’t know for sure and maybe won’t ever know.”

He folded his arms tightly as he stared right at Yadori. “But it became a struggle, didn’t it? You guys fought and you managed to get the cloth first. You could have left her there, and continued on, but no. You used the scalpel, and tried to slit her throat. Either you were too overzealous, or you really had no idea what to do. You ran off after the deed was done. You weren’t at breakfast this morning because you were trying to find a way to discard the bloodied clothes. However, while everyone was trying to find Chatani-san, Oda-kun came across your dumping grounds and decided to hold onto it for whatever reason. You joined up later and helped us find Chatani-san. All in all, the clues point to you, Yadori Miki, the Ultimate Figure Skater.”

“Was that….accurate?” Kokichi whispered breathlessly.

“More accurate than I can say.” Shuichi agreed. “Yadori-san was the murderer.”

“Jesus.”

“You were the murderer of Chatani Shinko, the Ulitmate Mangaka.” Rantaro concluded. “It was...you this entire time.”

“.....I thought she was going to kill me.” Yadori sobbed quietly, falling apart in the witness stand. “I didn’t know what to do, I panicked. I thought about getting help, but I was afraid to turn my back. What if she was faking. What if, what if…” She trailed off. “You guys wouldn’t get it. I have so much waiting for me at home. I...I was going to be in the Olympics. I was….I was going to be someone. Someone famous. Someone that no one could look down upon ever again! I worked so hard...I worked so hard…”

“Yadori-san…” Yuya whispered.

“I killed her. I stabbed her in the throat and then realized I could have slit it and I was trying to fix that mistake only it was too late.” Yadori whimpered, covering her eyes in shame, still sobbing. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Monokuma cackled from his stand. “Well now it’s voting time! Don’t go picking the wrong one now!”

Shuichi held his breath as he watched the votes get counted. He looked over at the chat log, seeing how many people were commenting about how they were kind of disappointed that Yadori didn’t make it through. Many of them were poking holes in the discussion that was happening, making fun of everyone for one mistake or another. Yet that wasn’t why most of the people in the chat were there. The trials were just like popcorn. A small snack to the bigger finale.

Monokuma hit a red button with a small hammer and everyone paused with a breath as an old fashioned 8-bit screen appeared. A small miniature Yadori standing in the middle of Monokuma’s path before being dragged off. The loading screen disappeared just as a metal grip attached itself to Yadori’s neck and physically hauled her onto a skating rink.

Everyone stared in shock as Yadori was in the middle of an ice rink. A spotlight flashed on top of her in a darkened room. At first it was peaceful. Yadori skated as fast as she could towards the exit door and yanked it open. At first she was greeted with a dark hallway that was still covered in ice. She was just about to move when she was suddenly shoved to the side and a bunch of monokuma bears appeared onto the rink, skating and recreating some of the twirls and catches.

She was about to try to skate through the herd of many Monokuma cubs, but she lost her footing and slipped onto the ice rink. Everyone watched in muted shock as she was being run over and sliced by ice skates. Her screams were muted, but if they were anything like the one she let out in the trial, Shuichi didn’t have to use his imagination. While the monokuma bears were busy tearing her body apart by thinking she was part of the ice rink, the camera momentarily disappeared and showed the real Monokuma at a thermostat, turning the heat up so that the ice rink would start to melt.

Soon enough the monokuma bears got bored and disappeared back into the hallway. She was left on the rink, bloodied and cut. She slowly got herself up on her knees, blood splattered onto the ice as she started to get up onto her feet. Her clothes were torn in a way that looked a bit fanservicey for Shucihi to be comfortable with. She was holding herself up as blood continued to spill down her body. She wobbled and tried to skate towards a different area, trying to keep towards the wall of the rink, a trail of blood following her wake. Whatever she was holding must have had an electrical current going through it, because she was zapped and was forced to let go.

Uncertain where to go, and thinking the other side might be safer, Yadori slowly started to skate her way painfully towards the otherside.

“Oh no.” Kokichi whispered.

She got to the middle of the rink. The ice was thin enough that it cracked ominously underneath her weight. She was in too much pain to try to skate faster and she fell into the water. Monokuma quickly turned the thermostat down…

All anyone could see was red blood going to the surface of the ice, and a small fist banging at the bottom of the ice for a while before sinking downwards.

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