#because isn't that just the way for the major named adult characters that are involved with these kids in some capacity
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I don't understand some people's obsession with the age difference between Edwin and the Cat King.
Yes, Edwin is a perennial 16 year old.
But the Cat King isn't even human. He is literally a cat deity. And as someone @jaks21 pointed out to me in the comments, the Cat King has the overall behavior of a cat : "I think it's also being forgotten that the cat king isn't human. He can shift into human form, but he is essentially a cat. This is all cat behavior. They have absolutely no sense of personal space (unless it's their own), they like the thrill of the hunt and they like to play."
Soon people will talk to me about zoophilia maybe ?
Beyond that, the Cat King's behavior seems to be quite immature most of the time as well.
So why are people absolutely trying to categorize him as a straight-up adult when he's not a human being ? Who tells you that his brain works like a human's ? Who tells you he's not a baby compared to other supernatural beings ?
It's all well and good to judge Edwin for his reality on the show, but give the same courtesy to the Cat King in this case, otherwise it just seems designed to unnecessarily lower the ship.
Also, if we want to speak realistically... since the Catwin plot revolves around Edwin finally coming to terms with his sexual orientation through his attraction to the Cat King (even if we know that there is also an important emotional context involved ) well it seems to me that Edwin is exactly the age of consent required for sexual relations, namely 16 years old.
Sexual maturity is not the same as legal age making you an adult and I feel like people often confuse the two.
I also find it paradoxical to say that Edwin, who lived more than a century, is judged as not being able to date an almost immortal divinity (because yes, one day the Cat King will no longer have his 9 lives and will therefore die for of good) clearly outside human norms because he happens to be a Cat King and not having at all the behavior of an human adult, or even of a real human, under the pretext that Edwin has his brain blocked at age 16 years old.
But many people will also say that Edward in Twilight cannot love Bella, a teenager, on the pretext that he has lived several centuries due to being a vampire, even if this type of vampire in this universe mentally stops evolving at the age where they were transformed, making Edwin an eternal teenager of 17 years old. Yet he is considered disgusting for wanting to be with a human teenager of almost the same age mentally ?(Be careful, I'm not saying that Twilight is an excellent and brilliant story, I'm just talking about the context of the age difference between the protagonists and the ridiculous discourse around it)
The battles over the age difference in fiction featuring supernatural beings are almost never consistent. And for good reason, I find it useless !
Because most of the time, the supernatural creature does not meet human standards in order to be associated with the younger person (at least if this person is actually younger, in the term of non-majority, because otherwise, as long as everyone is an adult we don't care). Or if it is not the creature that follows a particular pattern, we are for example transported into a universe inspired by a particular era, where the legal age is then different.
So, we must stop judging imaginary beings as if they were human adults, it makes no sense.
Yes. Edwin has been a 16 year old ghost for a very long time and technically cannot mature beyond this age. Tragic. But in the show, which is not the comics, it doesn't really matter. Edwin remains a character with an arc and evolution. So he has undeniably experienced things as a ghost that allow him to change and evolve in his own way.
Of course, it can be confusing, but Edwin's case aside, the Cat King does not meet human standards. And he clearly doesn't behave like a human. Even less that of an adult human. So stop judging him as such.
Essentially the Cat King resembles in his behavior a mixture of... well, a cat, since that's what he is, and a form of immature teenager.
That the Cat King is older than Edwin doesn't matter if he doesn't have a maturity greater than Edwin.
Once again, the Cat King clearly doesn't have the mentality or maturity of most healthy adults of our world. So why absolutely try to judge him as such ? Again, that doesn't make sense.
The Cat King is a being to be judged outside of our realistic standards.
Plus, being uncomfortable with the Cat King & Edwin relationship because Edwin is 16... seems ridiculous again.
Although I would love for the show to make Catwin canon in the future I doubt that will be the case (but good if it happens !), as things stand the Cat King only seemed to be a tool to allow Edwin to open up a little more about himself, in particular about accepting his sexuality, even if not only that. So, since the sexual aspect is very much emphasized in this relationship, it must be taken into account. And Edwin is a 16 year old teenager. Not only do adolescents inevitably have a period of trouble linked to sex, but in fiction the treatment of sexuality is sometimes done through a creature outside the norms of reality, therefore fanciful, often morally dubious.
It’s a classic trope in the world of fiction !
And if that makes you uncomfortable... well I don't know what to do for you.
Again, as I said before, Edwin is of the required age of consent in terms of sexual relations.
So how does it shock you to see someone old enough to explore their sexuality find themselves in a sexuality-related scenario with the classic trope of a fantasy creature to do so ?
This kind of controversy is beyond me! We're talking about fictional characters of a supernatural nature !
#catwin#cat king#the cat king#edwin payne#edwin x cat king#cat king x edwin#edwin and cat king#cat king and edwin#edwin x the cat king#the cat king x edwin#edwin and the cat king#the cat king and edwin#the dead boy detectives#dead boy detectives
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hi, i have a few questions about felix if that’s fine! do felix’s alters all stem from trauma - or rather do they all have a protective role, or front for different, completely separate reasons? and does the plushie felix being the main host of cat felix mean cat felix’s personality is most based off of that? and is deadname’s name literally just felix’s past name, or the word “deadname” itself? trying to understand some stuff!
hi. first question: i don't want to sound like i'm correcting you or chastising you when i'm saying this - when i talk about DID on a platform, i'm talking to an entire audience with almost as many differing opinions as i have in my brain.
i'm of the belief that an alter stemming from trauma doesn't necessitate that the alter plays a protective role. i used to think about them this way because it helped me accept them on principle, but acceptance based on utility isn't really meaningful acceptance. altered states of consciousness are a product of a failure to cohesively integrate the personality in childhood, which then manifests in adults, when said personality has finished forming. i'll be more specific and say that i think they unilaterally stem from trauma because the sole difference between an integrated personality and a significantly unintegrated one at the end of the day is the inability to fluidly and consistently control or understand the parts of itself to such a degree that the parts are categorized as something external.
i choose to believe this because i don't find the argument that a traumatized child's mind has the foresight to create efficient and cogent compartments as a reaction to distress compelling. i also don't believe that people are born with personalities straight out of the box and the personality involved in such dissociation is therefore not so much fragmented or shattered from trauma but never put together in the first place.
hopefully this brick wall of text provides you with some insight into how i write characters with major dissociative disorders nowadays.
with that said: yes they all stem from trauma. no they don't all have a protective role but some of them do. some alters front for reasons completely different and isolated from the rest (ie. brigitte and deadname) but many of them front simply because they're parts of felix's entire personality and people in general tend to want to express their true selves in some way.
second question: yes, outer felix's personality is largely inner felix's personality. i am sorry that there is no good way to refer to them as separate entities Y_Y
third question: deadname's name is literally "deadname" as part of the treaty signed to end the thousand-year cold war caused by deadname going by a name that at least half of the squad hates. in their own inner monologue they undoubtedly still use the actual deadname in reference to themself.
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so. I have. some thoughts about TotK.
they're not happy ones.
(behind a cut for spoilers and negativity)
to be clear, the gameplay is mostly fun. that's what's kept me going this far. but... I'm not sure anymore if it can keep carrying me. because this is, honest to god, one of the biggest stinkers of a story I've ever seen in a video game. and I DO NOT say that lightly!!! I have seen some SHIT, okay??? time travel and alternate dimension shenanigans that left me unsure of what the fuck the situation was after the ending, a reveal that the universe was one big MMO... those have stuck in my mind for well over a decade for being just that fucking bad.
and this story isn't just as stupid, no. it's as stupid as those, AND it's INCREDIBLY poorly told. like I cannot stress that enough!!! as of this writing, I have found every single glyph on the world map + the bonus tear that you get for seeing all those + the little bonus scene from getting the Master Sword. they're all numbered in more or less chronological order in the menu, 1-18.
so.
why in god's name am I still missing 11, 14, and 16????????
LIKE
AM I JUST GONNA GET THEM AFTER DOING PLOT-MANDATED EVENTS?
this is deeply fucking terrible!!! at least in those other bad stories I got to watch all the nonsense unfold in linear order, AND! AND AND AND!!! I WAS INVOLVED IN IT, IT WASN'T SOMEONE ELSE'S MEMORIES
and also the writing for Zelda herself is just atrocious and embarrassing, like I'm genuinely cringing here. in the flashbacks she does little aside from stand around and talk, her love for history/science only comes up in the intro, and functions as long-winded exposition, and she unfortunately was handed the Idiot Ball on top of it (not figuring out that Ganondorf was the the Basement Mummy till after he transformed? girl... Urbosa even SAID that CALAMITY GANON was said to have been born as a Gerudo man... why are Nintendo's writers determined to make her look stupid like this???). and in the present time, she's apparently good at everything and everyone loves her (even the unhinged flower lady), and she gets a super special gold horse, and it's just... she's barely a character. she's more like the overpowered OC everyone loves that kids just starting to write come up with.
which is fine at that stage! necessary, even! we all start somewhere, and I am NOT shaming anyone for doing that when they're just starting out. goodness knows I produced my share of embarrassing crap as a baby writer.
but this is a main installment of a major franchise by one of the biggest video game companies, made by paid adult professionals. that is. embarrassing.
and... as far as I've seen/heard from others who have seen more cutscenes than I have (again, this is bullshit, why are these apparently key scenes being withheld from me?), there's never an explanation for the Calamity/Calamity Ganon and he doesn't seem to be the same entity as Ganondorf. Zelda also never once considers trying to prevent the Calamity, either, and save all those lives, because Reasons, I guess. and the time travel magically doesn't affect anything but the current crisis???? calling BS on this too. plus, it doesn't help that there's so little flow/build-up/connective tissue between the cutscenes. next to nothing, in fact. it feels like I watched the isolated anime cutscenes of an older RPG whose story was told mainly through scenes in the game engine, and tried to understand the plot from there.
except that for this game, that's all I get.
also they managed to make the Silent Princess metaphor even more ham-fisted than in BOTW, which is quite the achievement. good lord. the way my eyes rolled seeing that, the incredulous laughter I burst into... sheesh.
at this point I just. don't know if I should try and power through and rush to the ending, take a break, or just drop it entirely. either way, it would never get a replay the way BOTW did. it's just. bleh.
and don't even get me started on how they fucked up the Poes and Gibdos, way to even disappoint my desire for the return of favorite creepy enemies, I didn't even get my ReDeads. I DIDN'T EVEN GET MY REDEADS
in closing, everyone who complained about the story/time travel in AOC owes me the cost of TotK. that game may have been silly, but at least it respected the Champions and I got to see more characters interacting and everything playing out as it happened and I didn't feel so distant/isolated from it all. ugh. I need to replay THAT game!
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Hilarious, well-researched, dragging its feet: "My Dress-Up Darling"
When I picked this one off my watch list, I was a bit concerned. This was due to the vague synopsis Crunchyroll had provided - I couldn't tell whether this would be a romantic story or something of a fetish thing or what. Would it be overly dramatic, funny, light-hearted, no idea? Welp, no better way to know than diving in and finding out.
Wakana Gojou is a high-school first-year living with his grandfather, apprenticing with him to make hina dolls. He became deeply fascinated with the beauty of this work as a young boy and dedicates serious effort in learning the craft. An incident in his youth made him think that all the other children will think of him as weird for adoring dolls so much. He doesn't have any friends and spends lots of time honing his skills.
All of this changes when Marin Kitagawa comes into his life - a trendy beauty from his class. She finds out what he kept hidden so well from everybody else and her reaction is... pure delight! Because Marin wants to be a cosplayer and make her own costumes, but she lacks the skills, so she calls on Wakana to make her a costume to truly embody her favorite character.
(After this point I will drop spoilers, but I think all of that above was fair game because it's in episode 1.)
The lively and sociable Marin is of course the perfect counterpoint to the reclusive, devoted Wakana. She's bursting with so much genki and passion that she struggles with keeping the serious faces and poses needed for taking good cosplay in-character pictures because she's so damn happy about it. It's quite infectious.
The tongue is deep in the cheek
Wakana gets drawn into the cosplay world and begins to develop his own utter infatuation with it - with how to make a perfect outfit down to the smallest details, or how to do makeup. When he goes into creator mode, Marin becomes the canvas on which he projects art. At the same time he's also dealing with the fact that he's suddenly all the time involved with a lively, good-looking girl that isn't the least bit shy. It's a great setup.
One of the hilarious aspects of the story is the light it shines on many parts of otaku culture by being just a tad over the top with them. Her first outfit choice is based on a hypersexualized computer game named Saint ♡ Slippery's Academy for Girls - The Young Ladies of the Humiliation Club: Debauched Miracle Life 2, a game apparently featuring girls as BDSM subs just as a starting point. Adults overhearing the casual conversations the characters have about the game are deeply shocked, given that the intro scene features a character who can't stop ejaculating or a major plot arc in this "high school" game is the Spurts Festival.
Or take the light novel they draw a character from: It has a title spanning several lines, putting everything about the main plot/setup into the title. This shines a spotlight that even good Japanese works might have lousy or at least completely on-the-nose titles. (Seriously, even German movie titles have nothing on it!) After all, right now I'm reading the wonderful Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway and have in the past talked about Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious...
Where there is absolutely no tongue in-cheek is the absolutely wonderful depiction of the world of cosplay - the relation to the fans, the effort that goes into costumes, the growing industry behind it, the techniques and tricks, the resources, people who "crossplay" to a different gender... all is handled with great respect. I don't know much about cosplay, and I found this aspect of the anime and manga quite unique, and in many ways, educational.
It's actually a teenage love story?
Remember the title above this article? There's a reason why I said this show and manga drag their feet. I watched all of the wonderful season 1 and dove right into the manga after. And boy, is it indeed dragging its feet on the love story. And love it is!
Yes, Marin and Wakana become friends. Fast friends, people that spend lots and lots of time together. Marin is not in the least shy about her body around Wakana (we learn later that she also models as a part-time job)... until she realizes she has a crush on him. This is actually played funnily and wonderfully, and I find it very enjoyable.
This part of the story seems at least "on track" until the anime finishes, with things escalating in a love hotel that Marin booked as their "studio" backdrop mostly by accident. A rather believable series of events lead almost to a kiss as they are both dropped into a situation that gets all their hormones going, and yet it completely lacks the contrivance of "boys falling on girls" and similar anime tropes usually employed to bridge the physical distance. I loved it.
What I don't love is how season 1 leaves us hanging. I then read the next three translated manga volumes (all there is until July). And I'm getting annoyed that there hasn't been any development since. It's as if that incident didn't happen - almost. The story is back in the jail the author designed to prevent things from happening. I guess if the cat was out of the bag too soon, this would remove a lot of tension from it. But come on - Wakana is so utterly clueless, there would be plenty of things to put after a first kiss or a confession for these two to navigate.
But so far, nothing happened.
Fridge Logic that cools down the love story
You know what fridge logic is? It's those gaps in the logic behind a story that you notice only after you disengage with a medium - like on your way from the couch to the fridge after watching a movie. And boy, this show has its fair share!
The basic setup between Wakana and Marin is that he is shy, has been raised by his grandfather (and therefore might have outdated standards on what is "inappropriate"), he definitely was sheltered and had no link to youth culture, his age peers, or even events in his area (come on, he never went to the local fireworks festival!!). Marin may be all genki, lively, sexy, but we seem to catch her in the time of her life - remember first year of high school, I think it's mentioned she's 15 - before dating entered her life for real. But that's only part of the setup.
The trauma of feeling ostracized about his passion for dolls and doll-making - and it not being what a boy "should" do - and his lack of friends has left Wakana with low self-esteem. In spite of how he feels about Marin, he cannot imagine that she would want him. Whenever people mention that they look good together or assume he's her boyfriend or ask if they are dating - after all, they have an awesome energy together - he goes into denial mode. Because Wakana thinks it would bother Marin. He can't even see that she actually wants him to consider the possibility.
Both of them are not helping. Wakana's denials are taken quite literally by Marin who thinks Wakana might not reciprocate her feelings. Marin in turn tries to flirt with and tease Wakana, but she always escapes into "just kidding" the moment it has even a chance to get serious. (She cannot own the boldness or the tease she puts forth, which is actually quite adorable as well.) This locks both of them into a stalemate because neither of them can make a move - either not contemplate it or not pull through with it.
After having finished Volume 8 I have to say this has become frustrating. Because the fridge logic is so apparent! Yes, Wakana essentially has nobody to talk about this, but Marin has friends. Friends that know about Wakana. Friends with an increasingly good impression of Wakana. Friends who think they actually would make a cute couple! There's nobody trying to get in between them out of jealousy. Nobody trying to mislead them.
All it would take for this to move forward is for Marin to confess her crush on Wakana to a friend because she cannot keep it in anymore, and that friend would set her head straight and say: "I think you need to make the first move. Wakana is too shy. He probably cannot even imagine that you want him. Have you any idea how out of his reach you must seem?" And things would go from there. There's no way a 15 year old girl can not spill the beans on this to a friend. (As long as she has friends, mkay.)
Missed opportunities
The other disappointing thing is that the story never makes use of or make explicit the other possible hindrance. His low self-esteem hinders Wakana. So does his childhood trauma. But he never seems to speak these out loud so anybody can engage him on them. Marin never gets a chance to say "Hey, you're wrong." Nor does his grandfather.
Even worse, it never makes use of a potential dramatic setup that the show naturally created. Marin is Wakana's only real friend, the channel for his passion. Can he actually risk all of that for the potential to be more to her? It's never even addressed or spoken out loud that risking losing Marin might seem losing everything he loves in one go. Now that's a high bar to clear, but I didn't find a hint of this rather natural development in the manga.
He learns valuable lessons - that there are people who will not think less of him because of his passions. That it can actually be cool to be skilled when most teenagers have barely any actual skills or all trained to acquire the same ones. He learns to lean on others, to not burn himself out or take on too much - and I appreciate his growth arc in this regard.
But if you make a damn romantic anime/manga, you need to get things moving at this point. And you can't act like both of them are utterly braindead. They both know they almost kissed. How can months pass after that without anything happening? That feels like The Simpsons continuity where everything resets after the episode ends. And I don't like that.
So, I'm bummed out having to wait until July and October to know how the story continues. I hope the show will get more episodes, it was a lot of fun. And I wouldn't be bummed out if I hadn't enjoyed it to begin with.
Now throw us a damn bone!
#anime series#manga series#romantic anime#high school anime#cosplay#my dress up darling#dragged out romance#pacing#my dress-up darling#marin kitagawa#wakana gojo
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How my main OC would interact with canon characters!
Henry Stickmin
You are probably expecting to say enemies, but that's not really that accurate. Henry has a "crush" on Lexi, well he convinces himself he does but he doesn't. They used to be friends when Henry became leader in the first timeline, but had a slow painful falling out due to the other routes. Lexi now is driven mad by him and Henry still thinks they're friends
Charles Calvin
Childhood best friends, been friends since kindergarten. But Lexi has "mysteriously" disappeared, so Charles hasn't seen Lexi in quite a while... expect at the end of 2019 and then the start of LetterTale. Their relationship is very strange, Charles and Lexi both don't want to hurt eachother but also still want to do their jobs, which involves killing eachother. This just ends up with them constantly finding eachother then doing nothing until they lose the other
Ellie Rose
Ooohh, this is a big spoiler so I won't say much, but Lexi absolutely despises Ellie and Ellie has no idea Lexi has this much hatred towards her. Lexi keeps all this hate to herself and would never dare talk about it expect if you were a close friend of hers
Reginald Copperbottom
Well they are currently dating, and have a very sweet relationship with eachother. They never keep secrets from eachother and are almost always seen by eachother. Some even claim to have spot Lexi wearing a ring, but she will deny this.
Before they were dating, they were very secretive with their feelings but kept trying to make the first move... too bad they both overthink. They were still pretty close back when they were friends though, the only difference is that Reg always kept himself busy as he was trying to move on with his feelings for Lexi.
Right Hand Man
Lexi and Right have a weird friendship. They don't really talk to eachother in public, but behind the scenes they talk all the time. Many people make theories that Lexi and Right are jealous of eachother, but they are completely inaccurate. The only concerning part is Lexi knows Right Hand Man's real name and past, but it only was because Terrence told her. RHM would never want that to be known, and Lexi never told him that she knew. If Right knew... he wouldn't take it very well
Sven Svensson
They are almost exactly like siblings. Lexi was Sven's first friend in the clan, and was the reason Sven even lived. Lexi and Sven can constantly fight, either with words or physical, but they do genuinely care for eachother. They do keep their secrets from eachother, but they both think the other is completely honest and isn't hiding anything
Burt Curtis
They have a very chill friendship. They just became friends "recently". They don't talk very much in person but seems like when they are online, they have very long conversions. Burt doesn't know about Lexi's personal life and neither does Lexi, but they want to keep it that way
Dmitri Johannes Petrov
The reason why I'm including him is because Lexi used to work at the wall. Lexi worked there when she was a teenager under her father's guidance as her dad thought she would be working there when she became an adult. Dmitri never really liked teenagers, and Lexi was no exception. Lexi constantly broke the rules purposely and even tried to make the innocent prisoners escape (though she always failed). Dmitri hated talking to Lexi, but never fired her... nobody knows why
Rupert Price
Not enemies, but not friends. Rupert and Lexi used to date before she "mysteriously" disappeared. Rupert doesn't count it as a break up, but has moved on slightly... seeing Lexi again ruined that. But they work on different sides, and Lexi is dating Reginald. They both don't know how to interact, it's just awkward everytime they spot eachother
Dave Panpa
The strangest friendship to ever form. Lexi actually did try to steal the Tunisian Diamond with some other Toppats, but she was the only one who didn't want Dave to be taken with them. But majority rules, so Lexi just ended up feeling bad for the guy. She is the only reason why Dave isn't starving to death, and Lexi constantly has Dave's back. They talk privately, as Lexi would get in big trouble if she was caught talking to Dave. She never helped Dave escape though, as she's afraid he might betray her
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Well, that's all the major characters so I'm done for now. Might make a part 2 but idk
#henry stickmin#henry stickmin oc#the henry stickmin collection#thsc#thsc sven svensson#thsc right hand man#thsc dave panpa#dave panpa#reginald copperbottom#thsc reginald copperbottom#thsc rhm#ellie rose#thsc ellie rose#charles calvin#thsc charles calvin#lexi mary
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Watching Through My Collection: Day 4/36
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Day 3 / Day 5
TOILET WORM! TOILET WORM! TOILET WORM!
I'm pretty sure this was one of those movies I had seen a single scene from on TV at some point, and it was specifically and only the part with them catching one of the alien worms in a toilet, so that's all I knew about it going in.
As well as the usual Stephen King tropes.
CW: The magical disabled person trope
So if you grow up in Derry, Maine you either get hunted for food by an evil alien entity or you get cool psychic superpowers from a benevolent alien entity disguised as a mentally disabled kid. Either way, you'll be bonded for life and have to fight an alien as an adult, and also the one with glasses gets to say all the funny lines and has just so much tboy swag.
This was a really fun sci-fi horror movie with a lot of the fun banter between the characters as one can always look forward to from Stephen King.
It helps also having some faces I'm always happy to see. Timothy Olyphant, Jason Lee, and Morgan Freeman are all names I was pleasantly surprised to see in the opening credits. Damian Lewis, who plays Jonesy and carries a lot of the most direct conflict of the movie, adds a lot of charm too.
He looks at a man called Beaver like he's the prettiest girl in school I swear.
Unfortunately, despite Morgan Freeman putting his whole pussy into playing the ruthless military commander, the subplot involving the military was extremely boring. It made the movie feel like just another sci-fi action movie like Independence Day. It just didn't have nearly as interesting character interactions and a lot of the exposition they spout in the army base scenes feels redundant because we've already been shown more than enough about how the aliens work in action against the main group of guys.
I'm already afraid of these things and don't want them getting out into society. If you wanna explore some more stuff about the ruthless leader not caring about how many people he kills to get rid of the aliens, maybe show more people to remind the audience this isn't a secluded event? I think I saw like 7 people in the present day setting that weren't the main group or military personnel.
But around the weird army stuff, the actual interesting character moments and fun make up the majority of the movie.
My only regret is Beaver dying as early as he did to a penis with a vagina-mouth full of teeth.
#nick is a dangerous man#collection reviews#stephen king's dreamcatcher#dreamcatcher 2003#dreamcatcher movie#stephen king#stephen king dreamcatcher
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wha... whats mob psycho 100 about
the only thing i know about the window is when the ginger lost to sans
*deep inhale*
okay! so mp100 is about this fourteen year old named shigeo kageyama (aka, mob) and he is an esper and a SUPER powerful one at that!!! he works at spirits and such which is reigen's psychic business. here's the thing, tho, reigen arataka (ginger who lost to sans) is Not a psychic - he pretends to be one because he got bored one day.
mob is scared of his powers and doesn't like using them due to an incident from his childhood involving his younger brother, ritsu kageyama (aka best character baby boy my favorite my blorbo my skrunkly my silly little guy i have feeligngs). i won't spoil that tho! anyways, he has ✨trauma✨ because of it (so does ritsu) and reigen actually helped him out with it, even tho he was kind of just making stuff up, he actually really helps mob and is like a mentor to him!
along the way, mob meets dimple - an evil spirit who started a cult and then follows mob around everywhere!
teruki hanazawa (aka, teru) (today is his birthday!) - a fellow middle schooler esper except this boy is so very cocky and beats up thugs! he gets in a big fight with mob but the fight is very one-sided! they become besties <3
the plot really thickens in s1 at the bg clean up arc! ritsu is just a normal middle schooler - he's on the student council, he's *popular* (lol not really but he Is but he Isn't), he's good at sports, his grades are amazing... he's everything mob wishes he was. and yet... mob is everything ritsu wishes he was. all ritsu wants is psychic powers. he has a MAJOR inferiority complex.
luckily, he gets so stressed out about framing a middle schooler for stealing girls' recorder mouthpieces to lick them that he develops psychic powers! dimple manipulates him for a bit, ritsu has a breakdown, someone tries conning mob into giving them five million yen, ritsu starts becoming like teru was...
anyways, he ends up going to a facility that's trying to like... learn how to develop psychic powers and meets other kids with powers there (he goes under mob's name because he was mistaken for mob - he starts before he develops his powers) and that facility is how this organization called "CLAW" finds him.
CLAW is made up of *mostly* adult espers and they like... want to take over the world lol
also mob is in love with tsubomi but is a wuss (affectionate), he joins the body improvement club instead of the telepathy club because he just wants muscles and that pisses tome off (tome is the telepathy club president and she just wants to meet aliens <3), reiegn is conning people, teru gets a wig... it's a lovely show <3
#jingyi tag#SORRY THIS TOOK A COUPLE WEEKS I AM SO SO SO SORRY I HAVE FELEINGS#my summary does not do the show justice i just REALLY didn't want to hardcore spoil anything for you#if you do choose to watch/read it that is#it's one of the best shows i have EVER seen#it's all very intentional and thoughtfully executed#the characters are all diverse and dynamic and they all go through SO much growth#and reigen is one of the first adults in media to like. ever. say 'idc if you're the most powerful person here. you're a kid you shouldn't#have to fight anyone - much less adults' and it's SO incredible#lemme know if you have anymore questions <3 i could talk about this show FOREVER#like. this is my dream unit. if i could teach anything i would teach this manga#corey rambles:)
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You know what, I do have some thoughts about my fic "Beware of the Bunnies" and related. It may become a long post since I'm writing on feelings and flow here, so I'll just cut it here.
Or just ignore the post.
I'll be honest, BotB is one of my favorite fics I have written and completed. But it's one of the fics that I'm surprised actually been read. I'm still surprised to see "You Got Kudos!" and see that this fic gets them almost every day. It's almost at 700 kudos. I thought it would just be reaching 100 at this time.
Why?
It's not because I think the writing sucks. Not the best writing, but it's the best writing for me for what it is.
BotB is a comedy, a fic that plays on the relationship (IN A PLATONIC WAY) between two of my favorite BNHA characters Miruko and Midoriya. I wrote on whim, just bouncing off the idea of "What if Midoriya did his Work Studies with Miruko".
It was nothing serious, just a fun fic. I just wanted a fun fic where Deku got Miruko as his mentor and it wasn't because of some drama, angst plot point or whatever. So imagine my surprise when I got so many positive comments before even reaching the third chapter. I really did think that fic wouldn't get comments at all or kudos.
Around the time I started writing BotB, I noticed that most fics that do get a lot of attention are fics that involve explicit content, romance, angst, all that stuff. Before anyone comes after me (and I'm sure some ass hat will ignore this bit, it has happen before), I find nothing wrong with any of that stuff. You like what you like.
It's just with BotB, I don't have any major angst, drama, romance, none of that.
It is not a serious fic AT ALL. It's "crack treated seriously" at best. Who really cares nowadays to read something that is fun and not angsty and lacks romance?
Also characters. I chose to write a fic about Midoriya and Miruko being the main characters. I figured another reason why BotB even got touched is because I included other characters. Example, I'm sure a Hawks fan pressed on the fic just to read about Hawks. I'm not trying to sound salty here.
Be honest, though. Most fics that center around less popular (especially female) characters, platonic relationships, and rarepairs don't get touched as much as the other fics that do in this fandom. Miruko has 4000+ fics under her tag. Hawks though? 20000+.
Miruko may have gotten a growing fanbase (a guess), but be honest. If someone asked you to name a BNHA character, she's not the first character to come to your mind, is she?
Note: there's a little ship bashing in this next part, so if you happened to like Miruko being shipped with Midoriya, skedaddle and never return.
On top of that, the relationship. Now I wrote about the Miruko & Deku thing so long ago, but to reiterate... there are a lot more romantic Miruko & Midoriya fics than there is platonic. I HATE that ship like you wouldn't believe. It irks me thinking about it because when I wrote that fic, a lot of readers understood that the Miruko was just being a big sis (or mom figure some saw her as) to Midoriya. I only had one reader to comment if it was going to be a smut and I truly wanted to reach through my screen and grab them.
There is little less 150 fics involving the Miruko & Midoriya tag currently compared to the 200+ "/" tags for them. For goodness sakes, that tag is bigger than Shigaraki/Miruko and at least those two are adults!
So yeah, I was annoyed that that reader had the fucking nerve to ask. If I was going to write smut, I would have. If I was going to write romance. I know how to use tags, damn it. And if I was going to write something like that between them, I would have. But I hate that ship, I hate just how many fics exist of it, I hate someone even asked...
But I digress.
Writing and finishing BotB made me realize just how much I love writing Miruko fics where she isn't always this "always fighting", aggressive woman without the need to sexualize her or pair her WITH A MINOR.
It's the start. I don't think there is a lot of fics that explore Miruko as a person. We don't know much about her backstory except for Vigilantes, but I don't think a lot of people take the time to explore and make up more fan content for her be it a fanfic or art.
I really enjoy writing Miruko being Rumi. A woman who isn't always in a fighting mode. Someone who likes to laugh, watch her favorite shows, maybe go off the idea that she does have a pet rabbit. Relationship wise, I like her writing her interacting with other characters that isn't Fuyumi, Shigaraki and Hawks. (Again, nothing wrong with those characters. I swear, say anything I will block you)
That's why my other fic "There's Miruko, There's Rumi" exists. I wanted a fic where Miruko isn't always her hero persona. She's Rumi who is a human being with feelings, family and friends.
When people complain about the lack of content for their favorite characters and/or the specific content they want to see, I don't think they realize they can create that content themselves.
I wanted more wholesome Miruko content, guess what? I fucking wrote it. And I love doing it.
#kiya writes#just kiya's thoughts#bnha#mha#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#miruko#mirko#rumi usagiyama#usagiyama rumi#rabbit hero: miruko#rabbit hero: mirko#midoriya izuku#izuku midoriya#deku#beware of the bunnies#bnha fanfic#kiya feels
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An Objectively Correct Rewrite of The Arthur Finale
'Sup nerds and nerdinos, I have a problem with Arthur.
No, not Arthur Koestler (though no one with CBE after their name escapes my wrath on principle alone). I'm talking about Arthur Read, the autistic aardvark who dresses like an 8 year old Mr. Rogers and somehow still has more friends than you.
But my problem isn't with the twerp's fashion sence, it's with Season 25, Episode 4b: All Grown Up, aka Arthur's final episode. The very moment it released in 2022 the ground quaked, the oceans roared, the angels wept as the sky tore asunder and God Themself¹ decended to personsally task me with rewriting it. I said I'd get around to it.
Babies and mentlegen, that day is today because I have nothing better to do.
TW: SA, drugs, death, TERFs, student loans
The Correct Futures
The only thing you need to know about the old version is that they got old, cuz we're scrapping all of it aside from that. The adult versions of each characters was so far removed from the actual futures of these characters that I am personally insulted and have filed with my lawyer to see everyone responsible for it given a restraining order. So we gotta fix that. This episode here is gonna be a feature-length anthology film. Every character gets a 5-10 minute sequence where we see how the next 20 years of their life unfold. I'm gonna put them in alphabetical order because the only one who can tell me what to do is my talking cat. Oh, and remember: Habrá Examen, Langosta Perezosa! ***~~~*** ***~~~***
Alan "Brain" Powers: Goes to MIT and finds that, after being "The Brain" for so many years, he is suddenly just average. It's such a shock to his ego that he begins to instinctively lash out at everything he finds unfamiliar, eventually dropping out and becoming a moderately successful right-wing podcaster and youtuber.
Arthur Read: Our boy grows up to be a perpetual grad student (English major, of course). He pays the rent as a TA and is so terrified of the world outside of academia that he finds comfort spending quiet evenings in, grading papers from the comfort of his dingy bachelor apartment. He lives off instant ramen and spends most of his free time escaping into his books. He sometimes daydreams of getting a "real job", owning a house, and raising a family like his parents did, but dismisses it as too idealistic.
Buster Baxter: Eventually gets Diagnosed with ADHD and an Adderall prescription changes his life. He starts excelling in school and fixates on a dream of becoming an indie film director. At age 14 he is diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a few weeks after his 17th birthday his dying wish is fulfilled when his ashes are sent to space². Every year that passes his friends take a little longer to remember his name.
D.W. Read: Develops symptoms of BPD and a coke addiction. At age 16 she uses a fake I.D. to get a job as a stripper until her cousin Ryder recognises her mid-lap dance. She spends a year in juvie and drops out of high school. She drops by the Read household every few months to ask for money, but the rest of the time no one knows where she is.
Fern & George Walters: Fern and George marry when they are both 18, he takes her last name. She is a stay-at-home mother raising their two young children, writing BDSM-fueled erotic fiction while the kids are at school. George keeps the bills paid with a steady office job as a software engineer and maintains a healthy work-life balance to ensure he's present for his family. They've never left Elwood and wouldn't have it any other way.
Frank Frensky: Frank (still going by "Francine") goes through an extended period of identifying as a butch lesbian before finally coming out as trans-masc. When he finally transitions it involves cutting off his family and moving out of state to start fresh. He plays drums in an underground queercore collective and self-publishes a zine featuring semi-biographical comics about a young boy growing up in Elwood.
Jenna Morgan: Disappears under mysterious circumstances. No one notices for 7 years, which then sparks a city-wide furvor as everyone tries to investigate the disappearance at once. Later found to have not actually gone anywhere.
Muffy Crosswire: Dates Frank ("Francine") for most of high school. Muffy ends the relationship when Frank comes out as trans and gets deep into TERF circles. After graduating Yale and getting her LLM in constitutional law she enters state-level politics as an openly queer Republican. She uses LGBTQ+ and Feminist talking points to advance a far-right cryptofascist agenda and is generally considered to be "one of the good ones" by both parties.
Prunella Deegan: A naturopathic wellness-coach with extensive collections of both healing crystals and cats. Her entire segment is an extended anti-vax rant with hippy aphorisms sprinkled throughout. Enthusiastically voted for Muffy.
Shelley "Binky" Barnes: His mother begins an extended affair with Pickles the Clown, leading the already-distant Mr. Barnes to file for divorce. Binky is left in his mother's care, but she soon finds him too much to handle, especially with how little he seems to respect his new step-father. He is passed around various aunts and uncles for most of his adolescent life and begins to act out at school as a result, earning him a reputation as a troublemaker. When he's sixteen he attends a house party and finds Sue Ellen alone in a room with the dead body of a boy from their class. She frantically explains that he was trying to assault her and hit his head on something after she pushed him off. Binky opts to take the fall for her, stating to police that he punched the boy in jealousy. He is sentenced to 10 years in prison for aggravated assault and 3rd degree murder. Even while in prison he maintains a close friendship - bordering on romance - with Sue Ellen, but he insists that she not wait for him because he wants her to be happy and loved. A week after his release he is arrested for armed robbery. Officers report that the suspect seemed relieved when they arrived, and said something to the effect of "I'm going home".
Sue Ellen Armstrong: Sue Ellen becomes an ardent activist in middle school and is a regular face at demonstrations and community support orgs alike all throughout high school. When she's 16 a boy tries to force himself on her at a house party and she fights him off, accidentally snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Binky perjurs himself in order to take the fall for her. As the years pass, Sue Ellen gets burned out as an activist and instead works as a graphic designer for NPOs. She continues to visit Binky in prison and considers him her one true love, though he insists they can never be because she deserves someone who can be there for her. Sue Ellen never commits to a serious relationship, but does occasionally entertain casual encounters with older, often married, men. Occasionally speedruns Virtual Goose: Unleashed on Twitch.
Third Grade Male Rat #1: Killed in an altercation after sexually assaulting Sue Ellen. Is mourned by no one.
No one.
So yeah, I think that's pretty much it. Make it hand-drawn, black-and-white, and have it on my desk in an hour kthxbi
#¹The Catholic God is three persons in one and therefore canonically uses They/Them pronouns when referred to in totality#²The ~$5000 cost is raised via a fundraiser held by the school and Bitzi Baxter selling Buster's film gear#arthur read#writeblr#unintelligible goblin noises
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The Inheritance Games - A book review
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This was the first book I read, not only after a two-month period of no reading but also after reading exclusively bad YA fantasy. So there is a pretty good chance this book isn't as "good" as I think it is. I could very well be biased because I had so much fun reading it.
The story follows a young girl (Don't think they ever give us the exact age and the American schooling system confuses me, but I believe she's 17) called Avery. Avery is technically not an orphan, because her father is alive, but because he's not in her life she might as well be an orphan. The first thing we learn is that her mother loved playing games. Her favorite one being I have a secret, she believed that everyone should have at least one secret at all times. That is, as Avery says until one of her secrets landed her in the hospital. After her mother's death, Avery lived with her sister, Libby, and her sister's abusive boyfriend Drake. Absolutely hate Drake, during one of the first interactions we see between him and Avery he calls her "jailbait". I know it's a difficult position to be in, especially after being basically brainwashed by an abusive, manipulative partner, and I empathize with Libby. However, as an older sister, there is no way in hell I would let a man like that live anywhere near my sister. Alright, back to the plot.
Libby goes to high school, has all As, has a full-time job, and lives in her car. In her spare time, she plays chess at a local park with a homeless man called Harry. This might seem like boring unnecessary information, but trust me, it will be very important later.
One day she gets pulled out of class and asked to go to the principal's office. Apparently, she got a 100 on a test, designed by the teacher to be so difficult that no one can pass it, most definitely not with a 100. She gets mad at them for assuming that she cheated and says she will retake the test right then and there. And she does.
Fast forward a few days later, she gets called to the principal's office again. Once again she passed the test with a 100, but that is no longer relevant because there is someone else in the office who wanted to see her. Here, we're introduced to a man called Grayson Hawthorne. Well, I say man, but he's about a year older than Avery, which makes him either 17 or 16.
What is it with YA novels, and books in general, and young protagonists. Why is every romance novel about teenagers and children. I understand that technically YA books are aimed at 13 to 16-year-olds, but would it kill the authors to at least make the characters legally adults? It feels so weird and uncomfortable reading a romance novel, especially if it has sex scenes when the people involved are 16.
Sorry, back to the book. Grayson then tells her that she's been named in his grandfather's will and will need to be present for the will's reading. I know this isn't exactly relevant to the story yet, but Grayson gives me major Redditor vibes. He's not unlikeable, don't get me wrong, but he sounds like a kid who just stumbled upon a thesaurus and is trying really hard to sound smart. And we know that's not because the author didn't know how to make an actual smart character because Grayson gets made fun of for it by other characters.
Naturally, this freaks Avery out completely. Even if she doesn't get a lot of money, anything would help her now since she is, you know, living in her car. But money aside, she is very confused as to why a random man she has never met would even include her in his will. She assumes it had something to do with her mother, especially since that woman was full of secrets.
Obviously, she gets on that plane and heads to Texas. We find out that the man who has passed away, Tobias Hawthorne, who I will be referring to as either Tobias or Grandpa from now on, was not only rich but the 9th richest person in the world and the richest person in the state of Texas. His net worth was $46,200,000,000. 46.2 billion dollars. Man, when is it my turn to be included in a billionaire's will :/
I keep going off on a tangent, my bad. So she gets to this enormous house, the Hawthorne House, which is so big they might as well start calling it a castle. Here she meets Alise, the lawyer, Zara and Skye Tobias' daughters, and Tobias' four grandsons — Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. (I can't imagine Nash as anyone other than Nash Grier, which is so funny considering that this Nash is supposed to have a heavy southern, Texan accent)
Nash is the oldest brother, he's a cowboy nomad. Never stays in one place for a long time. He's a sweetheart who's always ready to help and protect, but that's because he has a serious savior complex. I wouldn't say he believes the world would stop spinning if it weren't for him, but he can sometimes treat people as projects, which can be very dehumanizing. Another thing we find out, Nash and Alise used to be engaged.
Grayson is the second oldest brother. A major pain in the ass. Doesn't trust anyone and like all rich kids, believes the world revolves around him. He walks around as the human embodiment of the "Uhm, well actually 🤓☝️" meme. He thinks he's the smartest person in the room at all times. Because we don't get to see him all that much he doesn't really develop as a character, but there are two more books in this trilogy so he might get more "screen time" later.
Jameson. He's uh special. Definitely my favorite, but oh boy. So damaged. He's the same age as Avery. The troublemaker of the family. His mother said, and I quote:
We'd look away for a second, he'd disappear into the walls. And every time we found him, I'd pick him up and cuddle him tight and know, to the depths of my soul, that all he wanted was to get lost again.
He hid behind this jokester, clown persona. To him, everything was a game. Nothing was meant to be taken seriously. But, this is so obviously just a front. Yes, he is immature and competitive, but it's not all he cares about. The boys have an emotionally neglectful and absent mother, they never knew who their fathers are, and on top of that, both Jameson and Grayson watched a girl they loved die. They obviously both need therapy.
Finally, we have Xander. The youngest of the four brothers. We don't get to see him very often in this book, but the next one will focus heavily on Xander. He's very similar to Jameson in the sense that he too treats life like it's a game. The main difference between him and Jameson is that he acts way more childish despite being the more mature brother. There were a few moments where I felt like the character was supposed to be 6, not 15/16, but in an endearing way. For example, when Avery asked him why he doesn't hate her he replied:
If you notice, I have kept the blueberry confections for myself and gave you, he shuddered, the lemon-flavored scones. Such is the depth of my loathing for you personally and on principle.
He later goes on to say that he has no reason to hate her since none of this was her fault.
Nash never cared about the inheritance or the "game", Grayson was mad at Avery and believed she had somehow manipulated Tobias, Jameson wanted to win, and Xander pretended to play along. Later we learn that Xander knew a lot more than he initially let on.
After the reading of the will, the five of them got letters from Tobias. Nash, Grayson, and Jameson all got the exact same letter.
Better the devil you know than the one you don't—or is it?
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
All that glitters is not gold.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes.
There but for the grace of God go I. Don't judge.
— Tobias Tattersall Hawthorne
But Avery's letter just said I'm sorry. The first time we got to see her letter, what I assumed that meant was that he is sorry for dragging her into this mess. It felt like she was just a means to an end. But Avery thought he left her the inheritance as an apology. She believed it just had to have something to do with her mother and one of her many secrets.
Jameson and Avery end up working together to solve this riddle. Quickly they realize that every sentence in the letters the boys received is a proverb. Except for Don't judge. Which they then realize is the first half of Don't judge a book by its cover
They search Tobias' libraries until they find a book whose cover doesn't match the book. Which just happens to be Faustus. The devil. It was never clarified if the Proverbs were referencing the book or if that was just a coincidence. This book made me question every single little thing. Every time they found something or said anything I was wondering if it had a second, hidden meaning that might help us solve the riddle.
As they're searching for clues and deciphering the riddles, we get to see the subplots. Libby went home to get their stuff and was assaulted by Drake, she then broke up with him and Alise (the attorney) filed for a restraining order in Libby's name.
Avery starts going to this private school that Jameson and Xander attend. Thankfully, we didn't get a bullying side plot since most of the kids in the school just ignored Avery. She could tell they were staring at her and they whispered sometimes, but none of them were mean to her. Except for Thea. Thea is the daughter of Zara's second husband. So not exactly related to the Hawthornes, but they're technically cousins. She is a sneaky little bitch. She walks up to Avery on her first day of school and tries to scare her away, under the guise of helping her. She then tells Avery to be careful because the last time a girl spent a lot of time in the Hawthorne House she died.
Skye, the mother of the four boys, was acting weird and suspicious. She made a couple of passive-aggressive remarks, and I believe this is the second time we hear about a girl called Emily. (I think this is the second time? She doesn't know much about Emily, all she knows is that she was involved with the brothers in some way and that she had died) Skye tells Avery that Jameson is special, but to not believe that she is in any way special to him. That both she and Emily were just an escape for him, just a game.
Okay, enough of that let's get back to the mystery. Jameson, Grayson, and Avery realized that the next clue is in the Red Will. Which is just a copy of the will written in red ink. They use some kind of rolling paper to find hidden text on the will. The words that show up are Westbrook. Davenport. Winchester. Blackwood. Which happen to be the middle names of the Hawthornes.
Skye tells them that those aren't the last names of their fathers and that she doesn't know what they mean because Tobias had chosen them.
Jameson and Avery (separately) were the first to find out that those aren't just their middle names, but after the locations surrounding the property i.e. The Black Wood - Blackwood; a brook, on the west side of the property - Westbrook.
They searched Westbrook first I believe, on the bridge they found a number, 8. Jameson and Avery talk, and Jameson tells her that he watched Emily die. Some time later they searched The Black Wood. Unfortunately, before they found anything someone tried to shoot them. They missed and shot one of the trees, but the debris hit Avery and she had a chunk of wood stuck in her, just below her collarbone.
They take her to the house of one of the families that work for the Hawthornes. There we learn that Rebecca, a girl Avery goes to school with, is the granddaughter of the help. And also Emily's sister.
Jameson helps Avery clean herself up and they kiss. He then breaks the kiss to talk about the "game" and, understandably, Avery gets mad at him and he leaves. As she was leaving the bathroom she runs into Rebecca and they chat. She asks about Emily and finds out she had some kind of heart disease. But also that Emily liked both Grayson and Jameson and didn't want to choose between them. The boys treated it like a game and apparently cared more about winning than they did about Emily. She then asks how she dies and all that Rebecca says is that Grayson told her it was her heart.
So now two brothers were in some way involved in Emily's death. We already know they were also both dating her. Honestly Queen shit, she had two hot guys wrapped around her finger. I assumed that they believed that her death was their fault because she did something stupid and they didn't/couldn't stop her. I was pretty sure neither of them has murdered her. I was just hoping she didn't commit suicide.
Eventually, they find out it was Drake who tried to kill Avery. Imagine shooting twice and managing to miss both times. This dude is a loser, can't do anything right. They arrest him, but he's trying to frame Libby and claim it was her idea. The authorities investigate and come to the conclusion that he's full of shit.
During some kind of charity event Avery and Xander hang out alone and he tells her that he used to date Thea. After she's like ew she's your cousin, he explains that they were fake dating. Thea used to be best friends with Emily but had a crush on Rebecca. Emily was against them dating, because she was jealous and wanted to be both Thea and Rebecca's favorite. (rip but Emily sounds like a spoiled brat) Xander also tells her that Emily found out about Thea and Rebecca, and had Jameson break up with her on the same night. The night she died.
Xander then tells her that Grayson and Jameson will be waiting for her in a helicopter if she wants to join them in the search for the last number, so far they have 8, 1, 1.
She joins them and they learn that the last number is 0. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what the correct combination is, Avery excitedly says that it has to be 18. 10. 18th of October—her birthday. The boys get mad and say that can't be the right answer because that isn't just her birthday, it's also the day Emily died.
So far, it seems like Emily's death is a big part of the riddle. Grayson and Jameson both believe that this entire thing is their fault. Obviously, it was all about them. How they should've chosen family over a girl, if they had none of this would've happened. Avery, however, disagrees, she believes it has to be a coincidence. A few chapters ago we found out that Tobias lost his son, Toby, and hasn't been the same since. 20 years have passed since Toby's death, and it was right after it that Tobias changed the will and decided to plan this game. So there is no way this had anything to do with Emily, she wasn't even born yet at that point. But Jameson and Grayson won't listen to her, they're done playing.
Avery doesn't give up, she continues searching for clues. Soon she realizes that 1810 is everywhere around the house. This part was a bit confusing, but there was some sort of safe behind Tobias' portrait, and when she typed the password in, it opened and there was a glass pane inside with a poem engraved in it.
Top of the clock
Meet me at high
Tell the late day hello
Wish the morning good-bye
A twist and a flip
What do you see?
Take them two at a time
And come find me
Since Jameson and Grayson didn't want to speak to her, let alone help her she had to figure this one by herself. Thankfully, Xander came to help her. He took her to the Great Room. She rotated one of the glass panes of a glass window and exactly at noon, it showed them which floorboard they had to remove. The secret passage took them to the tunnel. Xander and Avery went down the stairs into the tunnel, after a few minutes of searching they find a big door, in order to go through however, they needed to unlock it and the "key" was Avery's face (facial recognition), unfortunately in order to go through the second door they needed handprints. Of all four brothers.
Xander goes back to get his brothers and Avery stays behind. Rebecca then shows up and starts rambling. This girl is obviously mentally ill and needs help. I can't even be mad at her it's just so sad. She keeps going on and on about how she never does anything that Emily wouldn't want her to. Then apologized and said she had to do "it" because that's what Emily would've wanted. She had to do it because Emily would've hated Avery. Obviously, Avery gets scared thinking Rebecca might try to kill her. However, Rebecca then says that she knows she should've told the authorities it was Skye who sent Drake to kill Avery. At that moment Grayson, Nash, and Xander show up. Grayson says he will handle it. They then wait for Jameson who finally shows up like 30 minutes later.
They unlock the door and all there is in the room is a box with Avery's full name on it. They realize it's an anagram for a very risky gamble. She opens the box and inside is a package of sugar.
We see a flashback of little Avery stacking packets of sugar. An older man asks her what her name is and if she can spell out her full name. (In an endearing, did you learn to write way, and not in an interrogative way) She says yes and does it.
Avery realizes that the old man was Tobias Hawthorne. Then it hits her, she was nothing but a cute little girl with a silly little name. She wasn't special, there was no secret reason she inherited the money. Tobias left her the inheritance, and all he has left to his grandsons is her.
In the Epilogue, we find out that Xander's letter was different from the ones his brothers got. His letter just says:
Alexander, Well done. Tobias Hawthorne
Before Tobias passed he told him he needs to make sure his brothers play. And when their game is done, yours will begin.
He placed the paper in water, and around the signature words appeared. Spelling out Find Tobias Hawthorne II
We then see Avery and Nan, Tobias' mother-in-law, listening to the piano and talking. Nan shows her a photograph of a man and says that was Toby. Avery's heart sinks to her stomach when she realizes she knows him. Toby was Harry, the homeless man she played chess with.
And the book ends there.
The book was an emotional rollercoaster. I'm still not sure if Avery actually was being used to bring Jameson and Grayson together and help them forgive one another, or if there's more to this story. I feel like with Tobias there are no coincidences. However, I may just be overthinking. At one point I was questioning everything and I'm glad none of my family members heard me yell out "Oh God what if Tobias and Toby are the same person. Maybe he's his own father?". So yeah, definitely overthinking a bit.
Avery has mentioned her mother has a secret about the day Avery was born. So there is no way this is the entire story, especially since there are two more books. Fingers crossed that we won't find out Avery is related to them. I actually would love to see some romance and that wouldn't be exactly possible if they were cousins or god forbid siblings.
Personally, I don't think Jameson and Grayson should be dating anyone, it's clear they're not over Emily. After all, it's only been a year since she died. But they're also still blaming themselves for her death.
Oh shit, I just realized I forgot to say what happened to her. So basically Jameson broke up with her, she ran over to Grayson and told him she wants to go cliff diving. Grayson hesitates but doesn't stop her. They jump and he goes to get towels. While he's gone, Jameson shows up. Emily smirks at him and he turns around to leave. She grabs her chest and falls down to her knees. Thinking she's teasing him, he turns around and walks away. But when Grayson comes back with the towels he finds her dead on the beach. Her heart gave out and she died.
This review is just all over the place, damnit.
I really love this book, I can't wait to finish the trilogy. Although I kinda do like the idea that perhaps Avery was just chosen randomly and there's nothing more to it, it just feels too simple. But as Occam's razor states, the simplest answer is most often the correct one.
Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
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Following from the reblog: what kind of AUs or plot threads have you been dabbling with for Dal lately? Or alternatively (or both, whichever): what's the biggest thing Dal has ever stolen?
Thank you for the ask!! <3
Dal has a modern Earth AU, where he's named Damon Rex and owns a jewelry store called Aeternum Rex! He's still a vampire, but it's a well-kept secret because vampires, werebeasts, etc, are all thought to be myths and legends.
He's also still a thief and pickpocket--but where Dalamus isn't particularly stingy about who he steals from, Damon steals primarily from the rich. Things like wristwatches, rings, necklaces, etc, are all fair game. He then brings them to his store, where he deconstructs/modifies them, and sells them back to the rich when they come looking for a replacement.
Whatever isn't stolen from the rich is synthetic gemstone jewelry he buys, modifies slightly to add imperfections and make them seem more natural, then sells at a great upcharge as "real" gemstones. Them being synthetic also allows him to offer huge discounts to the rare non-wealthy teen or young adult looking for jewelry for a nice occasion. Damon only cares about inconveniencing the rich.
As for his employees, they don't know any of this! They don't know about his vampirism or his thievery or the synthetic gemstones. The less they know, the less trouble they can get into if Damon is caught.
The large majority of his employees are young adults or older teens looking for a source of income to become more independent and get out of bad home situations. Damon had an awful father and had to get not only himself out, but his mother. He succeeded, but it was difficult, and now wants to help others who are going through similar to what he did. He offers extremely flexible hours and very generous pay.
And because I'm a complete sucker for Found Family, he eventually becomes attached to them and thinks of them as his own kids. A lot of what I think of is just cute shenanigans while the "kids" are at work.
As for his TES Self, I'm currently working on a short story in which he sees his awful father again, by coincidence. It starts with him being asked by the local Alchemist to deliver medicine to Shor's Stone, a mining town. They've fallen ill from the mining work. Dalamus somewhat reluctantly agrees to do it, figuring it's just a delivery job and everything will be fine.
Reader, everything was not fine. I like to call it Dalamus Rex and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
What starts as a simple delivery job soon turns into a murder mystery, a fight with a troll, and a confrontation with his father, who happens to be one of the sick miners that the medicine is supposed to help. Dalamus, however, is not shy about his hatred towards his father and makes it known. Will he kill Drevain? Will he let him live?
Either way, there's some catharsis involved, and some character growth. I just have to get to writing it again haha.
I wish I knew what the biggest thing he ever stole was. But I know the most surprising thing I think he's ever stolen is: hearts <3 Figuratively, that is! Probably.
#missy rambles#my oc#dalamus rex#missy writing#dal#rush-wing#thank you so much for enabling me to ramble!
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Light Yagami/GN! L’s Sibling!Reader — Protector
⚠️Warnings: Unhealthy relationships, manipulation, reader experiences grief, major character death, open ending.
requested by @darkrose33 ! sorry this took so long, I mostly finished writing it and then changed ideas halfway through, so I rewrote it all lol. I could not think of a way that the dynamic and story line that was requested could work in the context of a healthy relationship, so this isn't exactly a happy or romantic oneshot. I wanted to make this as realistic to Light's motivations and character as I could. I apologize if this isn’t what you wanted but you can always request something else if you would like :)
For as long as you can remember, your big brother was the person you looked up to the most. He was the brains, the one who had no trouble with the academics but every ounce of trouble with the social aspect of life. He wasn’t one to care what people thought about him socially, which in turn allowed him to behave however he wanted. He was an expert at leaving a room silent and stunned with just his words because of his lack of filter, telling only the brutal, honest truth when necessary. You couldn’t help but admire L Lawliet more than anything else in the world.
And because you held such admiration for the boy, you appointed yourself to be the role of his protector. Some kid called him a weirdo behind his back? Not to worry, with a little persuasion you can get them to apologize. He’s feeling overworked and you overhear one of the adults talking about a pile of paperwork they are about to drop off to L’s room? Huh, it seems that paperwork somehow ended up in the fireplace, nothing but a pile of ashes left of it. How strange. However you could protect him, you took on that challenge, even if it was simply being in the same room as him for emotional support. If you knew he needed to consume at least one vegetable that week, you were there to deliver, even if you had to hide it in a piece of cake. Whatever you could do, you did. Some told you that was what made you two so interesting – he was the brains, and you were the brawn, but you both needed each other to balance out. Like Yin and Yang.
So imagine your despair when, quite suddenly, L didn’t need you anymore. He was solving more cases, gaining in fame as the world’s greatest detective in his mere teenage years. He would, undoubtedly, need more protection than little ol’ you could provide once professional criminals found the desire to seek him out and kill him. And of course you wanted him to be safe, wanted him to thrive in the occupation that he excelled at, but…you missed your big brother with all of your heart. Not a day went by that you didn’t wish you could bring L his lunch or defend his honor out in the kickball field when some kid wouldn’t shut their big fat mouth. You missed those days.
You heard about the Kira case and how it was kicking everyone on the task force’s ass, including L’s. It only made you wish you could be there more. You kept up on the news, though. It was just about the only thing you could do. You tried to distract yourself with your own studies, but it was difficult to even try when you knew you could never in your wildest imagination come close to rising above your big brother.
You kept reminding yourself that you were grown now. You were fully capable of making a life for yourself that didn’t involve L – that didn’t include worrying about him every few moments. So you worked however pointless it may have seemed. You cooked, you did chores, even started taking up odd jobs to complete during the little free time you would have spent sleeping if you weren’t prone to dreams about the danger L could be in. Every moment in life was spent trying not to worry…only for you to realize that you had every right to worry all along.
The news itself was not particularly surprising. L and every single one of his runners up had to write out their will in advance – about a decade early. Death was to be expected in that line of work.
You had since moved out of Wammy’s house officially, but always stuck around to do the gardening, occasionally the cooking as well. Also the cleaning…you were basically the Wammy house maid, but you were grateful for the distractions.
When the news came, you were in the middle of planting a batch of bulbs you had bought at the store the previous day – white lilies. You had nearly passed them by in favor of a more colorful flower, but when your eyes caught the lack of pigment of the fully grown lily on the packaging, you couldn’t help but be reminded of your big brother’s pale as bone skin. You had chuckled at the memory, blinked away a few rising tears, and plucked the bulbs from the shelf. Now, with about half of the bulbs buried under the soil and half waiting to be planted, you listened to Roger’s words grow increasingly louder the closer he came to where you sat crouched in the dirt. You wished you hadn’t listened, though. For he only brought you sorrow.
It wasn’t that you didn’t believe Roger when he had come to tell you of your brother’s passing, it was simply that it was near impossible for you to imagine a world without the eccentric boy you’d grown up alongside. Sure, you’d been separated for some time now, but you’d grown used to knowing that even if he wasn’t with you, he was still somewhere fighting for the justice he believed in. To be told that he suddenly wasn’t in this world anymore…? You had to see it for yourself. So, despite Roger’s warnings, you ran inside and booked a flight to Japan as soon as you could. In your blind panic, you must have trampled the remaining bulbs you had yet to give life to.
…
The flight was stressful, the landing equally so. The drive to the task force building – torture. By the time you made it out of the car and through the doors of the task force building, you swore your throat was closing up. A glass of water was offered to you and, gratefully accepting the offer, you glugged the water down in a matter of seconds before someone else was offering you a seat.
You sat, pulling your legs up and curling them in. The chair was then pushed into place at a table and the man who offered it to you…placed a hand on your shoulder…?
You jolted, the empty cup in your hands almost toppling out of your grip.
“I’m sorry…! I should have asked first. My apologies…and my condolences.”
He appeared younger than everyone else around you. Young enough to be just about your age. His apologetic smile shone down on you like a beacon of light in the dark and dreary times you had seemingly been trapped in for so long. After that thought, you had stared in disbelief when he told you his name. Light. Fitting, you thought.
Light placed a hand onto the chair next to you, looking at you as if for permission. You nodded vaguely, hoping to convey your silent gratitude for him being so considerate. It wasn’t as if no one else had been this kind to you since hearing about the news, it was more so that you got the sense Light actually cared rather than simply spouting out the usual ‘I’m sorry’s you’re supposed to when someone experiences a loss. His words were not empty; they were full of life and intent. What that intent was, you didn’t know, but you wanted to keep feeling it over the usual hollow atmosphere you and your brother grew up in. So, before you knew it, you were spending hours at a time talking with Light Yagami, the very man who would be taking over the Kira case since your brother’s death.
It was indeed shocking to you how someone so young, even young in comparison to L, could lead an entire investigation. Granted, he had the rest of the task force by his side, but after only one day of observing their dynamic, you could feel the disconnection between them. Light was multiple steps ahead of them; there was no question about it. At times you got the sense he was keeping things from them. But, then again, you were almost certain L had done the same thing while he was leading them. It was difficult to blame someone so intelligent when they wanted to save time and not explain to everyone what their plan is, but lead them all like sheep. It would be faster that way, easier too.
With that final thought, the pedestal you were putting Light on became visible to you. But it couldn’t be a bad thing. It was normal for you to look up to your brother, yes? With Light, it was a different sensation altogether, but the same idea. You admired him, and you couldn’t see the harm in that when he was rubbing your back in comforting circles as you cried, talking to you and telling stories when you wanted to focus on something else. He was helping you, and because he wanted to, no less.
…
It was a strange sensation to wake up and have everyone you know suddenly become cautious around you, treating you like glass that would break if they said the wrong thing. After just a few minutes of this, you knew exactly what day it was. It somewhat startled you, your brother’s funeral being so soon. You wondered if the date had been pushed up, but no. You had simply been…distracted. In a good way, that is. When you first arrived in Japan, you thought that nothing but dread would accompany your visit. You had no clue how you would make it through the couple of days leading up to the funeral, how you would occupy your time. Sightseeing felt disrespectful. Besides, how could you appreciate fine architecture or lush greenery with such a weight in your heart, spreading throughout your body like a disease? What you hadn’t expected was to find someone who seemingly made everything more bearable. Someone who made the days pass faster.
This special someone helped you into your outfit – all black, casual yet put together. Light was gentle with you that day. Not skittish or cautious like the others were, but soft and loving. He would touch you, hands on your shoulders and a brush of his fingers through your hair every now and then, but it would be feather light and comforting all the same. He knew exactly how to make you feel noticed and cared for, but not in the least bit overwhelmed with affection – a perfect medium.
Driving to the graveyard was not as stressful as your initial drive from the airport. You originally suspected this was the case because you had time to accept the reality of it all; you were able to let the information ferment and sink in. But, as you got steadily closer to your destination and all the grief you had avoided for the last few days began to bubble to the surface of your mind, you realized this was not the case. What you had time to do was ignore the truth, become distracted as you always did. It had always been your way of dealing with your own problems. It was L’s problems you could face head on. But anything personal to you? No sir. You desperately wished you’d taken the time to develop a better coping mechanism as the car pulled into the small patch of asphalt among a sea of grass and graves.
You hadn’t even realized how fast you were breathing until Light clasped your hand, his free hand reaching to turn your head to face him directly. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?” You nodded. “Good. Now, I want you to take slower, deeper breaths, alright?” you nodded again and followed his instructions – in then out at a slow pace, inhaling as deeply as you could before blowing the air from your mouth. You squeezed Light’s hand and sent him a weary smile when you had gathered your wits.
The fresh air did you good as you stepped out of the car, shoes crunching in the loose grains of asphalt and soon gliding through blades of grass. You started to calm down, internally congratulating yourself for not freaking out with each step. This was the continued routine until the gravestone came into view. The task force was heading toward it, so no doubt it was L’S. It was marked by a fairly large, golden cross that reflected the setting sun like a mirror. You ducked your head, pretending that it was indeed the sun in your eyes that caused you to stop and cover your face. You waved for Light to go on ahead and assured him you would meet him there in a bit. You were absolutely sure no one bought your excuse, but they still respected your wishes and left you behind to gather around your brother’s grave while you turned your back to it.
You walked back to the car almost on autopilot. You could barely see, so you trained your eyes on the ground as tears freely flowed down your cheeks, not a sound leaving your lips until you were safely beside the vehicle you arrived in. You stomped your foot in the asphalt, kicked the loose pebbles around, feeling just like the child you used to be. Throwing a tantrum was not on your funeral to-do list, but there you were. You just didn’t know if you could bear it, seeing your brother for the last time as nothing but a slab of stone. You could sit by it, protect it all you wanted but it would never need you. Not like he used to. You could plant those lilies you had abandoned by it. That wasn’t actually a terrible idea.
You didn’t know how long you were standing there, pacing in the middle of the parking lot. Mustn’t have been too long, as the sun hadn’t even passed over the horizon, but it felt like an eternity.
Until…what was that? Something caught your attention, causing your head to snap up in search for the source. The others were nowhere in sight, all that stirred were a couple of birds from a nearby tree. That could have been another family visiting a grave, which would make sense given that the noise sounded similar to hysterical crying. Or…was that laughter?
You began to grow worried, deciding on a whim to check up on the others. You wouldn’t approach the grave unless you had to, you decided. Yeah, good plan, you managed to convince yourself as you took steps toward the grave. With every few feet, the noises grew louder, and you were soon able to recognize words. You sped up your pace until you made it over the hill that separated the parking lot from the field only to find…
What was Light doing on the ground? No, a better question would be: what was Light – the person who was working his ass off to catch Kira – doing kneeling on your brother’s grave, shouting that he would get rid of the police? That this is his perfect victory? That he wins?
You felt…what? What could sum up that feeling that filled your chest when that sight was exposed to you? You felt confused, you felt unsure. Then, with the realization of what was going on, you felt betrayal. Then, in a sudden wave intense enough to make you feel as though you would fall over, you felt furious. You felt a sudden need to protect your older brother just like you had done for years with playground bullies and critics, but this time with someone you thought you could trust. Someone you loved who had apparently taken advantage of your care for him – someone who had lied to your face about who they truly were.
Before you knew it you were sprinting across the field. You had no clue what you were going to do until you got to the grave and quite literally kicked him off the soil your own flesh and blood was buried under. The move was so swift you wondered if it had actually happened or if this was all some sick nightmare. God, you hoped it was. Although you almost didn’t want to pray to god now, as there was a self-proclaimed god sitting with the wind knocked out of him at your feet.
“You…you GODDAMN FUCKING TRAITOR—” you couldn’t tell if Light was actually looking at you with eyes glinting with fear or if the sunset lighting was playing tricks on you. “THAT’S MY FUCKING BROTHER—YOU CAN’T—I SHOULD NEVER HAVE—” It was impossible to finish a sentence or even a thought in your own brain. There were so many things you wanted to say and kill him for but right now everything was jumbled together.
The way Light was staring at you didn’t exactly help. Eyes that now looked red in the setting sun bore into your own pupils from the ground. He looked dead serious, almost angry that you had the guts to knock him to the ground in your fit of rage. But although your words were coming out in screaming stutters your movements seemed swift and sure, as the moment Light moved to stand up your foot flew to action once more and planted right onto his chest. His back met the ground for a second time. He wasn’t even trying to contain his fury, clawing at your ankle and baring his teeth like a dog trying his best to be intimidating, but still eager to know what you were planning to do next. After all, he could have easily shoved you off. But he was curious.
You spoke calmly now, mind set on what you wanted to ask. “You never cared about me, did you?” Light’s mouth opened to answer but you went on without letting him speak. “No, you cared about me, but only because my brother was L, and I could give you information now that he’s gone. Am I right?” again, his mouth opened, but when your heel unexpectedly dug into his chest he let out a pained and irritated groan instead of coherent words. It was like you were teasing him, not to get a laugh out of his pain but…for what? You barely even knew yourself. It wouldn’t do anything. It wouldn’t make you less humiliated for being tricked and it certainly wouldn’t bring your brother back. Either way, Light definitely didn’t like it.
Before you had the chance to react you were thrown onto your back. Light had pushed you back by your leg and rose to his feet, now above you in every sense of the word. He – Kira – had carried out his plan. Meanwhile, you had nothing left.
“You don’t have to go against me,” Light seethed, “All you have to do is let the new world take its shape, and everything will fall into place.”
“That’s a shitty sales pitch.”
“It’s an offer. You’ve done nothing wrong, committed no crimes. You’d do well in my world.” The look on your face made it apparent that you had no interest in his words. Light furrowed his brows, then the ghost of a smile twitched at the corners of his lips. “I know you –”
“You don’t know anything about me. And I clearly didn’t know you.” You pushed yourself up onto your elbows.
“—you wouldn’t want your brother’s death to be in vain.”
“I—” you paused. “What?”
“L was an obstacle I had to pass to get to a world where less people would have to suffer the same loss you have. I expect you don’t want to just throw away his death and turn me in. you can make something out of his sacrifice—“
“He wasn’t TRYING to be sacrificed; he was TRYING to put a vigilante maniac to death.”
“But if his death could mean a better world for others, you would just throw that away for your own revenge?”
You blinked, once, twice, then rapidly, shaking your head as if trying to prevent dust from getting into your eyes, or Light’s siren song from getting into your head. “Stop. That’s not…Just stop.”
“You know I’m right.” He stepped towards you and for a second you thought he was about to repay you for crushing his lungs moments ago. All that followed was his hand shooting out, stopping in front of your face. You looked up at him in disbelief. “I’ll love and care for you as I did before. I can be the one you care for in his place. All I ask is that you help me create a better world, or at least don’t try and stop me.”
You nearly scoff, but some of his words actually catch your attention. He’d love and care for you…but it would all be fake. Still, what kind of person would you be to reject others a grief-less world just to avenge your brother? But who ever said Light would follow through, not become corrupt along the way if he wasn’t already? There were so many possibilities and so many possible outcomes, all influenced by this one decision that you had to make right now.
You choked on your words.
Familiar voices were approaching.
Time was ticking.
“I…”
#tw unhealthy relationship#tw manipulation#death note#light Yagami#death note x reader#light yagami x reader#x reader#reader insert#angst#heavy angst#no happy ending#l's sibling reader#tw grief#tw grieving#death note oneshot#x reader oneshot#light yagami oneshot#death note fanfiction#oneshot#open ending
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Personal Recommendation (04/25/21)
The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter
Why am I recommending this book?
I've had my eye on this book for so long. I love when characters that are typically thought of as villains rise up and take hold of their fate (yes I read all those villainess mangas).
Want something quick and short? Check out my tiktok
Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Everly and her twin, Hartly, were raised in our world, but their mother hails from another dimension known as Enchantia, a deceptively pleasant name. Everly, Hartly, and the people around them are prophesized to eventually take part in the fairy tale of Snow White and the Evil Queen, and everyone seems to think Everly is the Evil Queen. It especially does not help that her magic involves her speaking to mirrors. Everly enters Enchantia in order to discover the truth behind her mother's escape and what the prophecy really means.
The plot was mostly character-driven. There was no big goal the characters were working towards; they made their decisions based on their emotions and in reaction to the other characters. Because of that, I could never really predict where the book was going to go next. Unfortunately, I was a little spoiled because one of the last chapters is at the beginning of the book. I get why it's there–it removes any expectations that Everly will come out of this untouched–but I still recommend that you skip it. There's just a bit too much there, so it's a major spoiler.
Showalter does a really good job of evoking outrage in the reader. At a lot of points in the book I was genuinely mad at what the characters decided to do, but it only made me want to keep reading so I could see what Everly would decide to do in response.
Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Everly is so great. It's so nice to have a YA female protagonist that is completely unapologetic. She's not the nicest person, and she knows it. She gets her revenge and takes pleasure in it. It was very cathartic to read from her point of view, especially after all the horrible things that happened to her. It was really great because she was 100% justified in doing so many horrible things to the people who wronged her, but she chose to have mercy not because it was the right thing to do but because she knew she was better than them. At times, I felt like she sort of fell into the trap of brash, over-sharing girl from another world, but she moved past that in the second half of the book.
Roth. My opinion on Roth went from one extreme to the other in the book. His general personality was good, especially for a traumatized and somewhat entitled prince. He was a good example of what happens to good people when they're taught to hate, and he really did love Everly. I really did enjoy their relationship for the most part. It was some weird balance between enemies to lovers and friends to lovers which doesn't sound real, but it is. There were some points that threw up some red flags for me (you'll know it when you read it), but I think he's on the way to redeeming himself by the end of the book. I did appreciate that Everly didn't just immediately accept him at the end; it'll take some time for them to work things out and set boundaries before even considering running off together.
God, I was so ready to end up hating Hartly. I was just bracing myself for that inevitable moment, but I loved that she turned out to be perfect throughout. Also, she made me cry. As for Truly, she swapped sides so often during this book, but I did end up liking her. Her conflicting relationships with Farrah and Everly were pretty interesting.
Below here are characters that will spoiler the book! Skip this part if you haven't read it yet!
I'll keep it short. Ophelia and Noel were awful; I can't believe Everly ever trusted them again after what they did to her. I loved to hate Farrah. I thought her punishment was fitting although I wouldn't have been mad if Everly killed her. Nicolas was definitely a wild card; I'm still not entirely sure what side he's on, and I finished the book.
Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The book is from the perspective of Everly, a modern teenage girl, so I felt it was mostly fitting. I did really like how the way Everly and Hartly talked contrasted with the fairytale world inhabitants like Roth and Truly. However, there were some points where it felt like Everly was trying too hard to be a ~relatable teenager~, which is a pitfall a lot of adult YA authors fall into.
I loved the map, I always love the maps. The poem that was written line by line at the beginning of each chapter was a nice touch too. I also really liked how Everly, Hartly, Truly, and Farrah were all based on fairytale-ish words (ever, heart, true, and fair), but Farrah's was still a little different because she distinguished herself as the protagonist and therefore didn't have the lasting bonds like the other girls did.
Meaning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I wouldn't say there was a big, glaring, over-arching message in this one, but it did have some really poignant commentary on hypocrisy, stereotyping, and hating for the sake of hate.
To start with, everyone dislikes Everly because her powers involve taking it from others, but everyone is also 100% ready to use her powers for themselves. Also, Everly is pretty much constantly railed on for the sake of the fairytale in the middle of the book. Even though she's done absolutely nothing to warrant it, she's forced into these horrible situations because people have pegged her as the Evil Queen, not realizing that they are why she will eventually become the antagonist. God, I love shit like that. When she retaliates to protect herself, she's all of a sudden this unforgiving, violent witch (which might also be a jab at how society shits on women and then villainizes them when they fight back). The best thing is that Everly doesn't stop standing up for herself and the ones she loves, and, while she isn't actively cruel to those against her, she certainly doesn't let them get away with it.
Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I loved this book. I have always loved twisted fairytales, and now I also love stereotypically evil women taking back power for themselves. I genuinely liked the main character, the romance was pretty good, and the side characters were all well-developed. The social commentary wasn't subtle, but, like Everly, sometimes being unapologetic isn't bad. This book was kind of cathartic to read. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy fairytales, romance with a lot of sexual tension, and those villainess mangas.
The Author
Gena Showalter—46, America, also wrote Alice in Zombieland, Firstlife, and The Glass Queen
The Reviewer
My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, and I take recommendations. Check out my about me post for more!
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1, 21, and 22 for the character asks
Hey breastie <3 @mossheartlesbian | meme
I will be mixing Vaste's pronouns so don't be confused it's still all about Vaste
TWs as always: references to manipulation/abuse, self harming, PTSD symptoms
Also me spending two paragraphs on connecting the main thematic parallel of Revolutionary Girl Utena to Vaste's abuse cycle and abuse in general
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1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?
This is really dependent on mood and life stage but the one constant is that he puts his whole effort into it if that makes sense, even at times when she's poised and controlled none of it comes off as limp or half assed, Vaste is always someone with a strong desire toward a sense of purpose
As a kid she's full of energy and curiosity and walks like it, bounce in his step, exaggerated movements, fully emotive with her tail and ears knowing no restraint etc. he was slow to pick up the social lessons on self control and composure other kids eased into better, it was apparent from the start that she would be one of those (along with others and some siblings) in the tribe who needed extra attention toward conforming and being given a place in U society, never cast off as a lost cause just like, a difficult child toward the violent, emotionally regimented ends the tribe wanted as he got older and proved that energy wasn't a early childhood phase
For a good example like, you know when you have a friend or family member or just someone you're chill and aquatinted with where when you see them or send someone their way you're like Oh yeah that's ____ they'll get what you mean if you're patient with them or treat them like X way, you have to get on their level but they'll come around to what you're getting at in the end
It's like that, the U collectively weren't malicious or constantly giving her shit over it, it was like I wish you weren't so weird for us to deal with and perfectly fit into all our boxes but you're still one of us at the end of the day, though of course some people were just bullies about it either aggressively or passive aggressively with exclusion mostly (unfortunately when you're a kid and adolescent the extremes of this balance will be something you internalize hard and it felt more and more like even his body language was another reason he wasn't a fit to belong with her family thus pushing her to leave)
Which leads directly into body language gait and posture as an adult and WoL with the Scions whom I will continue to rip a new asshole on till the end of time
There wasn't an immediate, total change at first to everything, he kinda compartmentalized the way Hydaelyn violated him as a coping mechanism toward avoidance in the days and first few weeks afterwards; had she never met the Scions it would've still been a major trauma that would've slowly crept into the way she carries herself, however thanks to their involvement and eagerness to turn her into their savior guinea pig that wound tore before it could even begin closing
All that natural energy from growing up turned toward rage and fear that was ripe for her growing PTSD and its symptoms that she couldn't understand and didn't have a name for
I feel like I have to explain that a little just for better context, because from how I've seen people treat PTSD in pop culture or elsewhere it's seen as 99% the disassociating, the angry/violent outbursts, and flash backing (maybe the avoidance if someone isn't completely ignorant) that all paint this picture of a disorder that makes you stoic or sassy and crass or even predisposed to being abusive and the 1% is for everything else about it, if anything else even exists in the average public view and all of this is applied to a PTSD person with a universal brush- and that's not true
Every person with PTSD manifests it differently and disproportionately even if we share or pull from a range of the symptoms that make the disorder, in my case I'm often hyper vigilant a lot, about as much as I can also disassociate, so I may seem to have too much energy or just be an energetic people pleaser or outgoing/confident in real life and online- it's not always that I'm consciously doing this behavior on purpose but more often that my hyper vigilance makes me flighty, nervous, and panicky about literally everyone and everything around me so that I exaggerate every part of my behavior in anticipation of something going wrong or having to react, like when small animals make themselves look bigger to scare off bigger ones if that helps
I act like I'm over compensating or exaggerating on energy with how I talk too and even in the way I walk really fast down the street because I'm anxious and my body and mind both think I'm being hunted or targeted at any time, it makes going outside and doing tasks that are basic to most people an entire ordeal because my entire being thinks What if I get attacked or something bad happens and I'm not ready? the whole time, it's physically and mentally exhausting (my tendency in online/texting casual speech to just run on and on in my sentences is another symptom of this, anxiety makes my mind race)
All of this also just scratches the surface of racial disparity in diagnosing and treating PTSD because if a White person develops it it's a genuine concern and social issue to rally behind- they get to be traumatized, while a PoC especially Black & Latina women developing the disorder is seen as them playing into the Sassy Angry Always Arguing/Aggressive stereotype, which itself exists from the racist idea that PoC don't feel or develop mental illness and diseases the same as Whites- and this disparity is translated into how we create or perceive characters like this based on their skin color
Piggy backing off that actually for a second the reason why a lot of PoC negative stereotypes in fiction and in real life propaganda boil down to a race being either submissive to the point of inhumanity or aggressive/emotionally cold to the point of inhumanity in part stems from this same racist belief that PoC don't experience the world with the same complexity and biology Whites do- so if we can fucking stop making PoC characters especially dark skin characters like either of these extremes and check ourselves when we might be that would be great
Also the way Colorism turns PoC against each other based on our individual proximity to imitating Whiteness in each other's eyes and the privilege light skins have even if at the end of the day you're still lesser cuz you're not actually White and the way some light skins do weaponize this dynamic to suck up to Whites for security and self hatred haha as a light skin I'm fine lol I'm having a great time I'm-
With that explained I imagine most of this is true for Vaste as I can only intuitively imprint how I experience PTSD onto my PTSD having character, her energy turns to rage and fear and infects every gesture as well as gait and posture
When she's not disassociating the hyper vigilance gives her moves either or both of these emotions and their spectrums at any given time, her walk is measured but has this intimidating weight, this cautious reined in aggression in her steps, this slight sense if you're keen to it of her hovering between fight or flight as your eyes meet, this sense of how she wants to flee and is hoping you don't make her fight but she's prepared to fight if it comes to that
She still gestures with her hands when she talks or thinks just a gesture will do, but now it's become clipped and forced out almost comically so, as if she wants to get the communication over with so she can retreat into some semblance of safety in going back to being unnoticed, because being unnoticed means less chances for pain and being targeted into something, she's granted to be more scared of you than you are of her and she moves like it
He moves with a charged energy rather than a free spirited one if I had to sum it up, no movement lacks enthusiasm nor exaggeration, but the motivations and reasoning behind that enthusiasm comes from a place of hurt rather than peace
Only people she trusts get to see something like that original energy for energy's sake, it's always there it just becomes buried under the complications of trauma after repeated trauma, he does his best to not let the aggression and fear slip in and remind herself this person won't have intent to harm him and that she knows rationally they won't harm her on purpose, which leads into him getting handsy again as I've mentioned in the past whenever I've described Vaste as loving touching and expressing with touch like she did as a Drake
Once he's free after all the gods are dead and magic is destroyed, he moves so freely, her energy can finally refocus and heal even if it's forever scarred, and she becomes much more open to touching and just being happy or lively both consciously and on instinct because there's no overarching stress, no battle to confront, nothing to kill her, there's only her wonderful support of friends and family who truly let her know it's ok to be herself, even on the days when that old guardedness and pain returns
21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?
Oh this is perfect for expanding more on his abuse by others and how easy it was to manipulate her until she starts wising up
When she's young she wants love and affection like any child, to not let her elders, peers, and direct family down because of her sensitivity to other's feelings and expectations; she wants to make them proud so that they don't associate her with anything bad or with failure, because some of them like U'rahtalo and another sister U'thulani and even brother U'nkanyezi (I will be introducing them on the GoT carrd soon) as well as her father do what they can to make her happy, she wants to repay their feelings- and no one ever really told her she doesn't have to take that gentle emotion to such an extreme that she sacrifices herself in the process
This is exacerbated by the lingering feeling of not belonging at home, as if he has a personal failure by his existence
Which of course proves a glaring flaw when she's an adult on her own, she still seeks relationships that give her the love and affection and most of all the fulfillment her tribe couldn't give in its entirety; except that inability to not stop short of sacrificing herself as a person thus creating an exploitative relationship for her, now leaves her extra vulnerable to manipulation because of how much she wants to make others happy
She saw the Scions as people who could give her answers and make sense of the senselessness that had happened to her and this new world outside the Sagolii Desert; they offered to guide her and she felt in their debt for it at first, determined to prove her worth and pull her weight to make this potential new family happy with her, hopefully happier than her native home
In his blindness for praise and satisfaction he did all manner of things as they asked, subjected his body even when the pain emotionally and physically was so great it made him sick or near dead- still chasing the chance that it was all for something and that those ideal loving relationships would come if he just kept dragging himself through the mud long enough, unable to see that in abuse, there is nothing you can ever do that will be enough for the abuser to stop until you drop dead or have been rendered nonessential
It all stems from the belief that there is something fundamentally wrong about him; a belief that starts in childhood and blooms under this repeated abuse once the perfect conditions are met
So I can say she strives for loving equal relationships that let her believe in herself, and goes looking in the shithouse at the first promise of this where all the garbage is and is fooled into thinking that's where love is because he doesn't know better thanks to no one helping or teaching otherwise
Then she meets Yugiri, the Fisherman's Guild, Leveva and her Astrologians, she meets those few who can show her there's another way to live even under hardship, who remind her the world isn't the lies she's come to accept about herself and how it must be to live by their honesty and bravery despite their own fears; they are powerful examples of regaining her personhood and that's what leads to him shaking everything up
(You already know how I feel about the main theme of Utena, Moss, and it's recurring here- we in abuse cycles need people to show us we can make our own choices again, not to rescue us under the pretensions of satisfying their ego but because they love us and see our humanity to make our own choices; someone has to show us we're worth the change before we can save ourselves, self love is the Revolution before life can truly begin- Revolution is inside everyone not a chosen few)
22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ?
It depends on who's doing the responding and in having said that the emotions they get back will also change to fit
I sort of covered this idea here before, but this is technically another angle of the same question too just with more room for depth from the other side
Commoners who don't know who she is will treat her manner however they treat the average person who talks extensively only in replies, keeps to themselves unless they do want to initiate something, and who generally tries to mind their behavior in public- the attitude of most Eorzeans universally seems to be as long as you're not starting shit and bothering people and being in the way, then you're ignored or given small talk before you're sent out again
The common assumption would probably be he's someone with a past and who wants to take off at a moments notice, but besides that he's nothing noteworthy and he at least isn't being an asshole in your face
Kinda circles back to the U going You're weird but you fit in just enough and mind yourself so it's not a big deal
This was different when she was just another adventurer however, before becoming WoL
Adventurers are generally seen as a nuisance, disposable labor, and too stupid or naive for their own good, they're destined to become beggars, die young, or be stuck taking exploitative jobs for mediocre pay; add to this what amounts to a fresh new immigrant who's never ever seen any of Eorzea's city states or customs and has no clue what she's doing and you're in for a mountain of discrimination and people taking chances to make a fool of her in ways she may not even realize- she was Disposable x2 especially given how xenophobic Gridanians typically are
Now as a WoL, for those who do recognize her they range from outright adoration and hounding to restrained idolization that shows in their shift in bearing or how much more accommodating they suddenly become; everyone who knows her loves her for her service and the rumors/stories that have followed her wake, she is this Other, this great champion, this pedestal upon the world they enjoy must revolve and they will virtually NEVER question her on principle for any of her actions, as she is the one who takes their agency, their burdens, their patronizing, their fears, and their presumptions of what her life is like and who she must be in relation to them, and they think this is respect
This goes back to the interpretation of Princehood in Utena now that I'm exposed to the series, the Prince figure is positioned as a delusion that patronizes people and strips them of humanity when taken to its logical extreme, it's harmful to both the Prince, the person taking up all suffering for others, and toward the saved- because the Prince acts out of ego, out of a desire to save others for their own image and as reassurance that they are Good
But beyond doing the initial saving they don't actually care for those they believe need help, they're patronizing them by presuming they know how to act for another without understanding them and also taking away the self determination of those they patronize; a Prince is simultaneously punishing and destroying their own health and self by never carving an identity and agency of their own as they presume to bear responsibility for the agency of others, which all circles back into Toxic Masculinity as well with how people are groomed based on gender to fall within this Prince narrative/ideological structure and have their self agency and worth taken from them in order to fit in with everyone else
Basically everyone is suffering because of an idealized lie, an ideal that can exist only in fantasy, to cope against facing reality as it comes, and then assigning how to deal with reality in cartoonish categories for others to follow
The same concept applies to Warriors of Light or really the majority of traditional Western hero figures, they're scapegoats when actually practiced, scapegoats for the world to bear everything it can experience onto one source so there's less for the world to deal with and everyone forgets they're all human beings capable of choice and the daunting work of self determination (a part I feel like the Abrahamic Religions contributed to in their own ways)
This is Vaste's situation as a WoL, and it's another reminder of how much his body language wants to flee from attention because in this era he conflates attention with her negative self image or pain or overwhelming stress, people sometimes don't even let her reply or finish her sentences because they jump into pouring their feelings or adoration or how many favors they want to do for her and it's like talking to a brick wall (which is also part of why he largely shuts up in this era too because why bother talking when people aren't actually listening to a word!)
People don't even have to jump to lavishing him with their idolatry in words they can literally just try like touching him without permission for Good Luck or take their hats off or bow or kneel or whatever action for reverence they choose and it all enough to set off his anxiety and unease and anticipate not being treated like a real living person
It sucks, like leave the cat girl husband alone please, you don't even know her? You wouldn't treat someone you know like this so why do it to a stranger? It's inconsiderate and obsessive
Kids on the other hand are much more honest and less likely to conform to social standards, most have zero problem pointing or outright staying away from her if they find her scary (and given that he's killed kids for the Alliance this is like, double fair) for how imposing and flighty she often is, mostly while on official business
When they see him off the clock and slightly relaxed though they will tend to stare and gape at him like when you make eye contact with a baby or kid at random on the street and they keep looking at you till their parent pulls them away, the bolder ones outright approaching him to compliment or smile at, and even shy children may hide but still peak out to glimpse at her- she just has that kind of vibe, though sometimes she is doing something ridiculous enough to justify the stares
Her friends love seeing her always, over time they learn to read his moods at a glance; at first though each of them were introduced to different sides of him, but the broad picture ranged from sensing theres more to her she’d rather not talk about (something Lewena & Mercuo felt uncannily hard because it reminded them of themselves after their own traumas, Weyd read her as this too but that Vaste plays the fool to hide it- she was respectful to him all the same because Manners of course) into he’s very silly/humble and nothing like you’d expect from a legendary figure- they almost didn’t know how to approach him, especially when they sensed he's as haunted as they are
None of them were immune to viewing her with idolatry before they actually met her, except for Gan, to him he had no clue what the fuck a Warrior of Light is until he left the Arulaqs; I would say Vaste felt the most comfortable with him on a first impression just for that alone, a lot of barriers were broken for everyone to get used to recognizing and caring for one another and each other’s triggers, but it brought them closer together
Yugiri? I could make a whole separate essay on her first reaction but in short- heart eyes internally (Vaste Hot strikes again, and she was willing to help Doman strangers without question?? Wow. King.) along with emotional denial, mixed with business only externally because she has to keep things professional and she’s there at first for her people’s safety, not for hunky handsome kind cat girl husbands
I will say when Vaste proves to be a really honest, capable warrior with a genuine interest in other people and their wellbeing, Yugiri is very happy the hopes from her first impression won over her fears of a callous, rough, and cold Vaste- that’s when she really starts seeing the similarities between them
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i find it hilarious that margaret (@featherrwbyrnjr) who i guess has me blocked now would assume a lot of things especially because i was in no way hostile in my recent post.
the image i sent her in her ask box was actually one sent to me per someone else.
margaret and her friends have all been monitored by twitter countless times and suspended for abuse and harrassment. this includes monty (margaret's friend) telling me he hopes i get hit with a car, and promptly getting suspended afterwards.
margaret has said extendedly homophobic, ableist, and transphobic things towards several of my friends, including my current boyfriend. monty has stolen art from one of my friends.
monty and margaret are adults. ADULTS. who have been harassing people who are as young as 13 over a ship.
here's a link to margaret's response on my last post
let's unpack just a little bit.
1: you deciding that shuake and shuakes as a whole are bad people because of your bad experience with your ex friends is your own fault.
2: do you even know what yaoi means? yaoi is the sexual fetishization of mlm couples and generally mlm people. the people who usually create yaoi content are usually straight women. a huge majority of shuakes are mlm/nblm, wlw/nblw, trans, etc. this includes myself, apollo, briar, cyber, kayla, and literally EVERYONE who you have attacked on twitter and verbally abused and sent threats to.
3: you repost shuake content with the intent to attack others for shipping shuake. YOU are the instigator. you don't know how to mind your business even if it could save your life.
4: i was actually referencing to a twitch stream in which robbie commented on shuake. get your shit straight.
5: you throw around the term biphobia like fucking CRAZY dude. biphobia this biphobia that do you understand that akechi's entire dialogue is gay coded? do you understand that, even in atlus' attempts to be homophobic in other contexts, you can still have lgbtq undertones? atlus is also notoriously bigoted in more ways than just homophobia yet has several autism coded and otherwise neurodivergent characters in the entire persona series.
6: shutaba is fucking vile, as well as akesumi. these are ships involving characters who are minors shipped with characters who either are portrayed as a sibling figure and/or an adult. akesumi is the equivalent to a senior in hs dating a freshman in hs. shutaba is a literal fucking stepbro x stepsis type ship and it is disgusting. futaba shouldn't even have been a romance route but atlus made her one because apparently female characters in persona games have to be dependent on the male main character.
margaret only ever mentions her autism when someone brings up a valid point - even in a very civil way - just so she has something to pin against the people who are telling her she is wrong.
margaret has told shuakes that she HOPES GORO AKECHI KILLS THEIR PETS, which is an extremely sensitive topic to me and my osdd system as a whole, hence i said some ugly things due to a persecutor's reaction, which i later owned up to and apologized for. upon people telling her sending death threats to ANIMALS was disgusting and uncalled for, she DISMISSED IT and said "goro said it not me".
she denies the fact that a huge majority of shuakes are disabled and/or lgbtq, including myself, and continues to call shuakes who have had it with her vile behavior ableist and homophobic.
upon people who tell her she's in the wrong, she blames it on being autistic, and when someone says "i also have autism/am disabled and i have never said shit like this", she attempts to privilege check people by saying things like "i don't have access to health insurance" or "i work several jobs" etc etc. (also known as the oppression olympics).
margaret and monty both have targeted several minors under the age of 16 to attack them for shipping shuake, including on tweets that do not say a single thing about shuakes or them in general.
they consistently have been caught gatekeeping (i.e. you can't kin/stan futaba if you're not autistic) characters.
are there bad shuakes? absolutely! but when you are fucking told that you are in the wrong, the appropriate response isn't to call people insulting names, wishing death on them and/or pets then denying it, being endlessly ableist and disgusting, or to force your agenda of bisexual goro onto people. you can't have a civil conversation for shit. the only reason you're on the internet is so you can go into the shuake tags and insult and belittle people who don't even fucking know you.
for the sake of keeping the tags clear, i won't be tagging this post, but i just wanted to clear that up.
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Snowbirds of a Feather: Parallels in the Lives of Qrow and Winter
I didn't pay much attention to Qrow and Winter as a potential couple in their introductory scenes in "Brawl in the Family" because I was so blown away by the improvement in the writing that those scenes represented. Such economical exposition! Yes, the couple's relationship could be called "cute", but there wasn't any real "meat" to it at the time. It wasn't until a volume and a half later in "A Much Needed Talk" that it became clear that the two of them had lived parallel lives on opposite sides of the track.
Let's revisit those scenes from the start of Chapter 3. Not a lot has really happened yet. So far there's been students fighting in the Tournament, vaguely underhanded maneuvering from Cinder's crew, and a flashy, drunken stranger watching the fights unimpressed from a barroom TV. Then an equally flashy ship flies overhead, and Weiss runs off showing more joy than she's shown in the entire series to this date. The drunkard also notices the ship, and declares it a warning of a far bigger fight than anything going on at the Tournament.
Weiss introduces the audience (although not Ruby who is standing right beside her) to her flashy older sister, Atlas Special Agent Winter Schnee. It's a painfully awkward meeting. My first reaction to Winter was, "What a tin-plated asshole." A second later it became, "This is the most socially awkward character in an entire show full of socially awkward characters, and probably the shyest as well, hidden underneath a thick armor plating of formality."
In their meeting the Schnee sisters are each "code-switching" with each other between two different behavior models without seeming to find anything odd about it, and giving poor Ruby (and the audience) a case of whiplash, as well as a sense that things are seriously messed up in the Schnee family. Weiss vacillates between excited little girl and cold formality, with a side order of abusive to Ruby when Ruby is informal. Winter vacillates between cold, sneering, condescending, and abusive; and mere cold formality. In the case of both sisters it quickly becomes clear that cold, sneering, condescending, and abusive within a hierarchical structure is what they grew up with. Winter can sneer at and abuse Weiss, but Weiss can't do the same back at Winter. Instead, she abuses the lower-ranked (to the Schnee family) Ruby. More to the point, Weiss and Winter obviously expect nothing else from each other. It becomes clear that they do care about each other, but they don't know any other way to show it.
But while sneering condescension and abuse is clearly the default mode in Winter's mind for meeting with her little sister, it's not the mode she stays in. She overtly makes an effort, not once, not twice, but three separate times in one conversation to code-switch from abusive condescension into the merely cold, militaristic formality that she must have picked up at the Atlas Academy. It obviously doesn't come naturally to her in speaking with her sister, it's the abusive condescension that comes naturally, but darn it, she keeps trying!
It's heartbreaking.
This scene is just so elegant. It not only introduces Winter and shows us a ton of details about the Schnee family dynamics, but it also provides callbacks to Season 1. The audience is reminded of what Weiss was like when she arrived at Beacon and how much progress she has made in socializing. We're also given a hint as to maybe why Weiss chose Beacon over Atlas Academy if that's all the social skills her sister learned there. And we're also given the contrast between the cold formality of the Schnee sisters and the loving warmth of Ruby and Yang. At the end of the scene Winter and Weiss are headed for the dorm, where I am eagerly looking forward to Yang teaching Winter a lesson on the proper care and maintenance of baby sisters, especially baby sisters who also happen to be Yang's teammates, which may or may not involve fisticuffs.
I'm still waiting for that scene, because that's when the story takes a turn.
The drunkard lurches forward, easily decapitating two of the latest models of Atlesian Knights in spite of being unable to walk in a straight line, and begins hurling insults on the Atlas military directed at it's highest ranking member present, Winter. He calls her ship "gaudy", which while it is objectively true, is also ironic coming from the only man we've met who wears a cape. She calls him "Qrow", the name of Ruby and Yang's heretofore unseen uncle, and he calls her "Ice Queen", to the confusion of Weiss.
In this scene what Winter doesn't do is even more interesting than what she does do. She's being insulted by a falling down drunk, and she DOESN'T respond with the same sneering condescension she just used on her own dear sister, even though many people routinely use that tone with drunks. She maintains a now angry formality. He's handing her opportunities to sneer on a silver platter, and she's not taking them. This tells us that sneering condescension is a holdover from her childhood, not something she normally uses in her adult life.
More importantly she allows her own little sister to prance right up to this drunkard and confront him. She doesn't react at all when the drunkard puts his hands all over her sister's head and uses it for balance before gently pushing her sister to the side. This scene tells us one of two things. Either Winter doesn't care about her little sister's welfare, or she is convinced that even though obviously incapacitated by alcohol, with his motor functions, vision, and reason clearly impaired, the drunken man is in spite of this no threat to the young woman. That level of conviction speaks not only of lots of prior experience, but a high degree of trust in spite of their current animosity.
The insults continue with Qrow upset about Ironwood's humiliation of Ozpin before the Vale council at the end of Volume 2 , reminding the audience of that development. However much the two leaders have been downplaying their disagreement in their personal meetings, it obviously has their loyal bannermen up in arms.
(Some people have assumed that Qrow and Winter were former lovers, but I don't see anything here that really supports that premise. They're simply arguing over policy. Lovers would have a more thorough knowledge of each other's buttons.)
Winter holds her ground until Qrow starts threatening to blab state secrets in the public square, then she changes tactics. Unfortunately for her she attacks him instead of grabbing him by the arm and dragging him somewhere out of earshot. But it's fortunate for us, as we get the best 1v1 duel so far.
As good as it is, it's also clear Qrow is holding back. Judging from the Ursa we will see Winter summon in the next episode, so is she.
Qrow keeps one eye on the Beacon Tower, and when he sees Ironwood coming up behind Winter, he goads her into attacking an unarmed man in front of her superior. In this way he publicly humiliates Winter as Ironwood's proxy in a similar manner to how Ironwood has publicly humiliated Ozpin with the council. The action is childish and petty, but not personal, a drunken, juvenile payback.
Winter's opinion on the prank isn't known, but she is clearly furious.
Then the action switches to inside Beacon Tower, where it becomes clear that both combatants are intensely loyal to and highly valued by their respective Headmasters, although Qrow outranks Winter and has her thrown out. Then we move on to info dumps and plot developments galore.
The way these scenes fold so much information inside them is vastly improved over the first two Volumes. But as lovely as our snowbirds look together, there's no real reason to ship them - yet. That would wait until we began to get Qrow's backstory in Volume 4. Once Qrow begins to talk about his childhood, it gradually becomes clear how much his life story has echoed Winter's life story. Shall we count the ways?
1) Horrible childhood: Qrow grew up an unloved, unwanted child in a chaotic, abusive bandit camp, and quickly becomes the camp scapegoat. From what we have seen Winter grew up in a home that was cold and abusive, where order and affection came from the servants, not her parents.
2) Grew up in the shadow of a narcissist: Winter grew up in the shadow of her narcissistic father Jaques. Qrow appears to have grown up in the shadow of his narcissistic sister Raven. Both narcissists have shown that they only regard other people as tools or enemies, including family. This tends to leave a child with major insecurity issues.
3) Escape to Academy: Both Qrow and Raven made it to Huntsmen Academies, where they encountered genuine order and a semblance of fairness for the first time. The Academy was the first decent thing that happened to them, and in that environment both of them blossomed.
4) Remade themselves into the Headmaster's pets: Both characters appear to have used their time at their respective Academies to reinvent themselves. Both of them took the ethos of their schools and their Headmasters to heart. Each one strove successfully to become their Headmaster's trusted eyes and ears in the field.
5) Flashy exterior, insecure interior: In each case a flashy exterior conceals deep insecurities.
6) Guilt over children: This one's a bit of a stretch, but not much. Winter constantly telling Weiss she has to be strong sounds like guilt over the fact that Winter had to leave Weiss behind in an abusive situation in order to go to Atlas Academy. As for Qrow, after growing up unwanted I think he would have panicked over Yang and Ruby growing up motherless, tried to be there to help Tai as much as he could, and felt guilty about having to leave on missions for Ozpin, which wouldn't help his drinking any.
7) Socially Awkward: They're both socially awkward. Winter conceals her social awkwardness behind a formal exterior. Qrow hides his social awkwardness behind drinking and physical seperation.
8) Arrested Development: Both of them successfully escaped traumatic childhoods and reinvented themselves as Teacher's Pets, completely loyal to their respective saviours. And there both of them seem to have stopped maturing. Growing any more would have meant questioning their idol, and neither one was willing to do that. We saw how Qrow was shaken to his core when the man he reveres turned out to have feet of clay. Should Ironwood fall from grace, it will be no less traumatic for Winter than Ozpin's fall from grace was for Qrow. But perhaps on the other side of that they will both finally find themselves standing as their own people.
#rwby#rwby thoughts#rwby theory#rwby7#qrow branwen#winter schnee#weiss schnee#ruby rose#ozpin#james ironwood#jacques schnee#snowbird#qrowin#rwby qrow
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