#it’s a rehash of an old original work
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would anyone be interested in familiar!ghost x witch!reader 👉🏼👈🏼
vague horror, cottage-core meets cabin fever and a very unsettling cryptic simon who refuses to do anything for you without a proportionate enough sacrifice
#I will probably write it anyway but i need to know if it’d be worth posting since i haven’t written for COD in a while#it’s a rehash of an old original work#because i’ve been very into the idea of horror meets cod#im also hoping it’ll push me outta my writing block#call of duty#modern warfare ii#simon ‘ghost’ riley x reader#simon ‘ghost’ riley#ghost#simon riley#fanfic#༄wips
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last forever [1/13]
Summary: Zoro only offered to marry you to keep you out of an arranged marriage with a man much older than you. You agreed with the caveat of ending it via annulment once you received word from your parents regarding the original engagement, despite your growing feelings for your close friend.
Pairing: Zoro x Fem!reader, mentioned Sanami later (like epilogue later so chill)
Warnings: Marriage of Convenience, Fake Marriage, referenced sex (waaaaaay later on), mutual pining, Zoro is bad at feelings but what's new there, eventual romance I promise, mention of past attempted assault (I'll warn in that chapter), creepy older dude later on
Notes: Hello, this is a fanfic I've been working on for a few months now. I'm still not done, but I figured I would go ahead and start posting it here as a cross post with Quotev and AO3. Sometimes I find this, Zoro and the story, hard to write, but I'm trying. This will NOT be a one-to-one rehashing of the arcs but will have more focus on Zoro and Reader's relationship as it progresses. The first two chapters are written in past tense, everything afterward is present tense, sorry about that. I've been having more fun writing present tense instead of past tense. I have the first three chapters completed, I'm still working on chapter four, but hope to have it done for Monday, and I intend to update mostly on Mondays for this one. Zoro and Reader call each other husband and wife at times, it's in italics on purpose. Hope you enjoy this one.
No, you and Roronoa Zoro weren't in love, but he was trying to help you out so you didn't end up in a bad situation or with bodyguards chasing you down to force you back to your home village. When you had told him the story, he was honestly disgusted hearing how your family was treating you like an object to be sold, instead of as your own person. The whole reason you'd run away from home was to avoid this, but a letter brought to you by your family's personal carrier bird a few weeks ago changed that. As soon as you turned eighteen, if you weren't married or engaged to someone else, you'd be forced into marrying the creep that agreed to this when you were just fifteen. While you broke down in tears out of fear, Zoro told you he'd marry you to keep you from being taken back home. You told him he didn't have to, but he brought up that after your family heard, if they dropped the arranged marriage, you could get an annulment and it would be like this marriage never happened. You'd be free from your family and the creep, still able to travel and live your own life.
[Ch. 2]
Never did you think or imagine your wedding day would be like this. In a courthouse in a backwoods town with no real witnesses, to someone you'd only known for about a year and a half now. This wasn't even out of love for him, he'd only agreed to prevent you from being legally forced into marriage with a man several years older than you who had two other wives already.
You were so grateful you couldn't stop crying and thanked him numerous times, never once telling him you hoped you'd never have to get an annulment with him. Your feelings for him were still new, he was a year older than you, but he'd protected you well in the time you knew each other. Of course, you could hold your own as a swordswoman yourself, but Zoro always tried to leave the recon to you while he took out your bounty targets.
So, a week after you turned eighteen, once you reached a small town with a courthouse, you both immediately went there to get this sham of a marriage completed. The clerk looked you both over several times, asking your ages and you lied, claiming you were both twenty-one when she said you'd need parental approval if you were younger than twenty. She didn't ask for proof, instead mumbling something to herself about how it seemed people were getting married younger and younger every year. No more questions about witnesses, parental approval, or identification to prove your ages, the older woman just filled out the paperwork and had you two sign it for processing.
While it was being processed, she sent you to the other side of the room to sit and wait.
"Thank you."
Zoro just shrugged, wishing the old bat would hurry it up so you could find a hotel and get a room so he could go to sleep. "You don't have to keep thanking me."
Nodding, you bit your lip. It was weird to think you'd legally be husband and wife, despite not being in love with each other, but part of you hoped that maybe over time Zoro would come to love you, and you him, so you'd be a few steps ahead of the curve.
The clerk called you both back over a few minutes later, stamping the papers in her hands and pulling a few more. "You're legally married now, congratulations. I've given you an extra copy since you requested it, and here's an annulment form if you've decided you made a mistake. You have six months to fill out and submit it, at any courthouse, otherwise you'll have to get a divorce."
You nodded and thanked the old woman, who told you two to be careful as you both left. You weren't entirely sure why, but if Zoro knew, he kept his mouth shut about it. Once you left, Zoro started looking for a place to stay while you found somewhere you could have dinner. Neither of you planned to stay in this town for more than a night, so you weren't worried about cashing in any bounties that day.
After finding a place to eat, you stayed nearby while you wrote a brief letter to your family and sent it to them, with your marriage certificate, by your family carrier bird. You really just hoped and prayed that they would accept this information and not still demand you return home, whether they wanted to meet Zoro because they believed your letter, or they wanted you to annul the marriage immediately to marry the creep that agreed to it first. Either way, you had no plans to follow their demands or return home.
You and Zoro didn't meet up until it was about dinner time, not a word about your marriage being spoken but your plans to leave the next morning and head to the next town were the main subject. You split off again after dinner, Zoro giving you the second key to your hotel room while he took a walk, in case you wanted to go and shower or go on to bed. You did so, taking a long shower to keep yourself distracted before choosing one of the two beds as yours for the night, laying face down with your face in the pillow. By the time Zoro did return, you were nearly asleep until he woke you when he opened the door.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine…I wasn't sleeping yet."
You weren't sure if it was just you, but things felt awkward with Zoro now. It probably was just you, because he went to bed like nothing was different, telling you that he wanted to leave as soon as possible in the morning. Shells Town was the next destination for the two of you, since a Marine base was there you figured new bounty posters would be available.
You spent the night half awake, unsure of what you were feeling anymore, but you knew one thing.
It was definitely not the kind of wedding day you ever expected to have.
+!+
What do I do, what do I do??
Pacing around the Marine fortress, you didn't know if you should even try to break in and free Zoro or just wait for the month he agreed on with Helmeppo to be up. All of this because he protected a little girl from the brat's dogs and punched him in the face, the spoiled boy using it as an excuse to bring Zoro in like a criminal, and you just weren't sure what you should do. He'd told you not to interfere and when Helmeppo tried to include you in it, you were surprised Zoro threatened him further and said you had no part in the matter.
Stopping, you sighed and crouched, holding your head in your hands and whining. "What do I do…?"
"Hey, you okay??"
The voice above you sounded kind, and you looked up to see a boy with a straw hat and a scarf under his left eye, with another young boy who had pink hair and glasses. Both looked concerned, wondering why you looked like you were fighting a headache outside of the Marine fortress.
"I'm fine…"
"You sure?" The boy in the hat grinned at you, wanting to really make sure you were fine, getting eye level with you while the other boy looked nervously around. "You don't look fine!"
"Luffy!"
You laughed, sighing a bit and standing up, the boy called Luffy following suit. "Yeah, I'm…I'm sure. My friend just…the Marines got him, I'm not sure what to do."
Luffy and the other boy, Koby you learned, both questioned you until you revealed it was Zoro that was your friend, causing Luffy to get excited as he climbed the wall to look into the yard, while Koby was even more nervous than before. He couldn't even believe that you were friends with the notorious pirate hunter Zoro, let alone traveling with him.
"Hey so that's him??"
Koby climbed up with Luffy and nearly fainted, almost falling off the wall when he saw Zoro. You were so focused on the two boys you didn't notice the little girl, Rika, climbing in and over the wall with rice balls in hand. You could hear her offering them to Zoro despite him telling her to scram, before Helmeppo showed up and had her thrown back over the wall, Luffy catching her and surprising you.
"Hey, I'll take her back to her mom's place!"
Luffy nodded and gave Rika to you, letting you run off with her. You got Rika back to her mother's restaurant, making sure she was alright when Luffy and Koby arrived. Luffy told Rika that Zoro actually ate the rice balls Helmeppo ruined, which didn't really surprise you. He had a soft spot for kids, you'd noticed over time, and always tried to help them if he could.
When Helmeppo came back around and started bragging that he was going to have Zoro executed in a few days, Luffy did the same thing and punched him in the face. The three of you ran off, Luffy jumping over the wall to tell Zoro that if he helped him out, he had to join his pirate crew, but Zoro didn't get a chance to fully agree or deny before Luffy ran off to the fortress to find his swords. Koby and you attempted to untie Zoro, but he was arguing against this due to the deal he made with Helmeppo.
"Come on, I only have to last a couple weeks more!"
"He's not gonna let you go! He's gonna have you executed tomorrow!"
"What?!"
Zoro looked at you, wondering if you had heard that or if Koby was lying to him, even though the younger boy had no reason to lie to him.
"I heard every word, that's exactly what he said."
The Marines, including Axe-Hand Morgan, came after the three of you and attempted to fire at you and Koby, but you knew how to use your sword well enough to block them from hitting Koby or you with their bullets.
Luffy returned finally, blocking another set of bullets about to hit the three of you, showing off his rubber powers which actually kind of freaked you out. Zoro, finally having his three swords back, was able to get free and stop the Marines from attacking all of you any further, calling Luffy Captain after agreeing to join his pirate crew. Another shock for you, one that you'd have to deal with later on.
Luffy was the one to beat Morgan, the other Marines all cheering once they realized they were free from the tyrant's reign.
The whole thing made you smile, glad things had worked out, even as Zoro nearly passed out from hunger, making you laugh and shake your head.
"You're so lame sometimes, husband."
+!+
"So why'd you call him husband earlier??"
Face turning red, you looked at Zoro who sat next to you in Luffy's small boat that just barely comfortably held the three of you. Your husband was fast asleep, arms behind his head, but you waved your hand in front of his face to make doubly sure he was asleep, before hearing a light snore come from him.
Scooting across the boat, you sat right next to Luffy who gave you a confused smile.
"Look, Luffy…you can't tell anyone else you recruit."
"Huh?"
You were trying to keep your voice down so Zoro didn't wake, but Luffy acted like he couldn't even hear you.
"Zoro and I are married."
"You're WH–"
You threw your hands over his mouth, looking over to Zoro barely moving, but still fast asleep. You'd quieted Luffy just in time so he didn't wake your swordsman.
"We're married, but it's only because he's helping me with something. We're not in love, we're not a couple. It's…a marriage of convenience okay?"
Luffy nodded, like he understood everything you just told him. He didn't really, but he at least understood you and Zoro weren't in love, just married.
Weird, but he thought he got it.
"Please, don't tell anyone. I'm waiting to hear from my family before we annul the marriage."
That part confused him, but Luffy decided to agree and promised he wouldn't tell anyone, he didn't question you further. He thought you and Zoro were close, he wouldn't have been that surprised if you said you two were in love and together, but if you said you weren't, that this was just a friend helping another friend, he'd believe you.
That, and as soon as his stomach started growling he forgot anything else he wanted to ask.
"Do you have any food, Luffy?"
"Nope!" Luffy grinned and your face paled, looking at Zoro who just snored again and you had a feeling of dread.
"Oh lord what have we done?"
#one piece#roranoa zoro x reader#zoro x reader#fem!reader#reader insert#one piece x reader#last forever
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Okay, so, working on a fic here, but does anyone remember when JoJo posted Shady Escape Part 4? The arc where the shadow first smushed Wind and opened a portal in front of them?
Well JoJo posted this with the comic
This would mean that prior to this point the Links have been in the same world the whole time (and the portals are apparently not portals, but "gates"!) and since Shady Escape, they've only traveled to one other era, the one we're still in in the Dawn arc.
Jojo originally never meant this story to be an actual story, just quick AU comics and sketches
So I understand that things are still a bit unclear as she shifts from having random ideas to having to create a cohesive plot, and honestly she's been doing a fantastic job of setting the stage for us and slowly introducing concepts, characters and other important pieces of the story, but it does leave us with one major question: do the original doodles count as cannon?
The Malon Arc, the Chain meeting Ravio, these things would have required the boys to shift worlds previously, or be in either Time or Legend's eras in order for them to have happened. They haven't been to both though. Thus far, they've been to two different eras, the second being one where none of them knew where they are, and it's only the conversation between Twilight and Four in Divine Dark Reflections that tells us they are even aware of the fact that they're traveling through time!
So, this would mean that anything that has to do with them being in any hero specific era until now has not yet happened! Other than perhaps Time's era, which is only supported by this panel from Deep Shadows part 2
Time knows the woods they're in, so his recognition would indicate that this is most likely his era. So, maybe they've met Malon at this point in the story, but that means anything else (Linkle, Ravio, anything fro the others' eras) hasn't yet happened, and considering the fact that the Malon arc isn't included with the rest of the official story, but instead with the early doodles, we can't even be certain that it has happened yet.
All this to say, fic writers technically have free reign with what they want to boys to know about the other eras, and who they want the to know about (other than the Ordonian people, who Twilight apparently can't shut up about lol). That, and, we have no clue whether JoJo is going to rehash old comics or cut them entirely from the story cannon.
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quiet night in listening to you speak another language (it's so casual)
summary: it's the eve of christmas eve and nate's somehow found himself listening to you speak french (he's not complaining)
warnings: swearing, tension?, mentions of christmas celebrations
the series!
< this was originally going to be longer but i need to rehash the lore first >
In all actuality, Nate hadn’t actually realised that he’d even owned a book in French. He’d scoured past every title and spine of each single one at least three times before, and not once did he clock the French one. In his defence, the title was pretty misleading – that was in English – and still, according to you, the inside pages were all in French.
French. He’d shaken his head, and if it had been anyone else, he might have scoffed and not believed them, but he was beginning to get the hang of reading your body language and facial expressions pretty well in the five or six months you’d been friends – and he’d yet to decide if that little skill of his was a good thing or not. On one hand, it let him know exactly when to shut the fuck up (now, for instance), and on the other…well, the more he thought about it, the more he was coming to the realisation that there wasn’t much to not like about getting to know you more.
But now? You standing in his living room because you’d both miraculously managed to get back to Cole Harbour for a few days at Christmas? If he was being completely honest with himself, it was kind of driving him crazy.
And for the life of him, he couldn’t work out why.
It might have something to do with the fact that he was a little bit tipsy; it might have had something to do with the fact that maybe he found he wasn’t entirely too bummed out that he’d just made a fool of himself in front of you; or it might have had something to do with the fact that he’d just realised your voice changed when you spoke French.
Was that something that happened to everyone who spoke more than one language? He couldn’t remember. He’d heard Jo speak French on a number of different occasions, even you when he’d met up with you in Montreal, but with the close proximity forced by lowered inhibitions from the alcohol in both your systems, he was just now figuring it out.
Your voice was deeper, but somehow softer. And Nate found himself wondering if it changed yet again if you spoke a different language. He found himself wanting to find that out. Actually, that seemed to be a recurring theme lately: you’d say something or do something, and he’d stop for a moment, his mind soaking in that new piece of information – the calm before the storm – until his brain would ultimately spiral into a smattering of different thoughts and questions, all of them pertaining to you.
He’d considered writing them down and making a note of them, but the risk of someone accidentally stumbling across such a list was slightly mortifying, and the only thing he could do was promise his future self that when things stopped being a little bit awkward (i.e. silences where both of you would remember that the person in front of you was still a stranger and not in fact an old, good friend), he’d just start asking them. Out loud. And without shame.
Take this moment, for example:
It was the day before Christmas Eve. He’d spent the morning dropping off presents to non-family in the local area (mainly Sid and some other childhood friends that he still kept in touch with), and along the way he’d received a phone call from you and walked home to the sight of you huddled on his doorstep, clutching a bottle of wine with the excuse that you thought it’d be more bearable to drink with someone else than alone.
And if he was being completely honest, when his phone first lit up with that incoming call, he felt himself perk up, a grin already on his face when he answered – of which he was entirely sure you could hear in his voice down the line. Though, that was nothing compared to the actual proof of you on his doorstep, nothing at all.
He’d had to keep his hands from shaking when he stuck the key in the lock, and stop himself from staring for too long, because you’d clearly come from some sort of dressy-gathering and were wearing pretty, formal clothes and you’d clearly had a good day already because you were practically already glowing.
Needless to say, it hadn’t taken much for the two of you to eventually settle in his front room, a Christmas movie on low volume in the background as you trawled his bookshelf with curiosity. That was when the little debate had started, and it was also when you’d rather unapologetically rolled your eyes and shoved the pages under his nose to prove you were right, because what else would you have done?
What would he have done? Probably the same thing. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen your competitive side, either, and if every little discussion ended up with you sitting right next to him, your legs folded underneath you as you held the book in front of your face, eagerly rattling out sentence after sentence in French – he figured maybe losing this kind of this wasn’t such a bad idea. He also figured he could cope with going a little bit crazy every now and then.
(Nate hated losing, that should be known.)
Though, one thing he found sufficiently annoying was his own inability to understand just what it was you were saying. He’d always wanted to learn French – he’d have probably ended up on a different team in his youth if he had known French – but he’d never really committed himself to picking up the language, not even when he met Jo. Sure, he knew basic phrases, as did most people, but this was something else.
Every sentence or so you’d have to reread what you’d just read in French in English for him to understand, and even though he wanted to know the translation, he also wanted to batter his child self for ever turning those lessons down, because hearing English after speaking French was incredibly…well, as much as he liked the English language, it lacked the unique beauty of the French language.
“Do you want me to keep reading, or–”
“Yes please.” He instantly regretted interrupting you – not only because he was honestly so eager to keep hearing you talk, but because of your own reaction to said eagerness. He didn’t even need to be looking at you to feel the heat of your amused stare into the side of his face.
Though, he also knew, at least some unconscious part of him did, that it was also because he liked being close to you in this way: a kneecap pressing into the side of his thigh, one sock-clad foot under said thigh, and your shoulder leaning against his bicep from where it had previously (already) been outstretched across the back of the couch. After all, you’d put yourself there. Initially to prove a point, but you hadn’t moved, neither of you had.
The glasses on the coffee table were empty, as was the bottle, and it was getting pretty dark outside already. The fire was on, While You Were Sleeping was playing, and he felt comfortable. Infinitely more comfortable than he would have done if he’d have just come home to an empty house, though he half suspected that if you hadn't been here he’d have just asked to have dinner at his parent’s house, but you’d sorted that too with a few clicks on your phone.
He rather liked having you around, it was something he’d recognised from the very beginning but he seemed to be reminded of it each and every time you saw each other – which wasn’t very often at all, not often enough: you were in Montreal and he was in Colorado, and very rarely were the two of you ever in the same place at the same time. Not unless he had a game in Montreal or you had to visit the chain in Colorado, or you were both at home. Other than that, your friendship was strictly limited to the confines of technology, and even then there was often a small conflict with the time difference.
Two hours wasn’t much, but with his constant travelling and your workload, you’d come to learn it was no easy feat trying to organise a video call – hence, texts just seemed to be the easiest thing to do.
Yeah, he found himself thinking, fuck knows when you’d get to see each other next.
It was why he took the chance of sounding like a bit of an idiot: if he wasn’t honest then it’d take forever to actually get to know each other properly, and he wasn’t going to have that, at least, not if he could help it too much.
“Does your voice sound different when you speak Spanish than when you speak French?” He wasn’t looking at you when he asked it, but the burning of his cheeks did intensify when you slowed to a stop, the book lowering to your bent knee.
When he did look at you, your head was tilted, a careful look of consideration melted into your features. You rested your head momentarily on his arm and he had to fight to not react to that.
“Probably.” You settled on, voice rough from the alcohol, “You have to use your facial muscles differently to produce the sounds depending on accent, rhythms and intonation patterns.”
Your head lifted off his arm, and for a second his mind went blank.
“What does your Spanish sound like?”
You raised your brows, eyelids heavy, “You want me to speak Spanish?”
He just nodded, fighting off a cheeky grin.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything.”
“Cualquier cosa.” You muttered, watching his face carefully for any indication your voice had changed.
It was a little odd to admit, but there was something entirely endearing about watching Nate react to things – whether it be something you said, or something that happened. It was fascinating: the way his mouth would twitch or his brows would dip down or raise, or the different creases that would appear. It felt like a game trying to predict what would change on his face to formulate a complete reaction, but it was weirdly adorable.
Though, your favourite thing just had to be his nose – mostly because it was the one constant: you could always rely on the sharp slope and slight curve to stay the same. The relevance that had to your previous observation was little to none, but…you liked it.
This time his mouth twisted, and he glanced away from you momentarily, like he needed the extra few seconds to replay the moment in his mind to make the decision. In truth, you already had an idea of what your own voice sounded like speaking different languages: part of the learning process was to record and talk and relisten to improve pronunciation, and it was then that you’d realised for yourself that you sounded slightly different.
Spanish was a higher pitch, probably because you found it less comfortable than speaking English and French. English was a nice medium to refer back to, and French was lower even then, probably because of the accent itself, and the fact that you’d been speaking it just as long as you had English.
Still, it didn’t take ten minutes for you to notice the differences like it had Nate – it took a good couple of days.
“Spanish is higher than French and English.” Nate turned back to you, confident in his answer, and for the sake of not showing just how shocked you were at that, you nodded.
“A propósito, tu cabello se ve bien de ese modo.”
He blinked, eyes lazily focused on your mouth as you moved, and his lack of reaction to the unfamiliar phrase prompted an unintentional blush to warm your cheeks – the sheer intensity of his eyes and the mix of his slightly parted mouth (either out of curiosity or lack of self-awareness) bringing something a little heavier to the moment. You attempted to distract him from the colour of your cheeks by nudging his thigh with your kneecap.
He swallowed, mouth closing, “What does that mean?”
And because he usually had pretty pale cheeks, the flush of the alcohol blended seamlessly into any further reddening making it almost impossible to distinguish if he was the least bit embarrassed about you having caught him staring so unashamedly – if it weren’t for the tips of his ears burning.
“It means ‘by the way, your hair looks good that way’.” You muttered a little sheepishly, lifting the book up to hide the bottom half of your face, eyes peeking over the top to spy on his reaction whilst also trying to appear nonchalant.
You watched his eyes widen a little bit, jumbled mind digesting your compliment, before running a self-conscious hand through his waves. They were probably the most messed up you'd ever seen them: unruly and a little floppy. It wasn’t exactly a sight that screamed ‘Nathan’ to you, but you weren’t lying when you said it looked good. He looked good.
Only, he didn’t seem to agree, because he frowned, fingers twirling the ends of his hair, eyes cross-eyed as he dragged strands down to his own view, “My hair’s a mess.” You heard him mutter rather confusedly, and you lowered the book once more, leaning your head against your fist, mindful not to knock his arm off the back of the couch.
And maybe it was because you were also tipsy, or maybe it was because you didn’t want him to start fixing it, or maybe – just maybe – there was a small part of you that needed him to know you weren’t teasing, convince him that you you weren’t just saying it for the sake of saying it, “Stop fussing with it.”
“I can’t, it’s pissing me off.” He groaned, using both hands to scrape his hair backwards, which did nothing but draw your attention to his features: the shadows under his eyes from the light and his lashes; the prominent hook of his nose; the precise groove of his philtrum; the shape of his mouth; the soft stubble decorating his chin.
You were staring.
And he opened his eyes, the clear blue startling you to look sharply at the TV, now acutely aware of the fact that you were tucked against his shoulder, pressed against his thigh and under his thigh, all in pretty close proximity to say you’d only known each other for a few months.
Usually it took you a while to get comfortable with someone as a friend, even in the physical sense: hugs weren’t usually a comfortable thing – you didn’t know why, you just weren’t like that – though alcohol was the only thing that made you more comfortable with that kind of thing.
The common denominator.
“When do you go back to Colorado?” You spoke as you turned your attention back to him, speaking the first thing that came to your mind to get his sudden frustration away from his hair.
“Christmas morning.” He sighed, thumb scraping his eyebrow, “What about you?”
“Christmas evening.”
There was a lull in conversation after that, the both of you quiet as you took in what it meant. Usually you hated uncertainty and having such a lack of control over future plans, but it was something you’d had to quickly accept and adjust to if it meant you wanted Nate in your life. You didn’t know when you’d next see each other after this holiday. It could be weeks, it could be months.
You swiped your phone from the coffee table, pulling up your calendar app and scrolling through the dates. You knew he didn’t have any games left in Montreal, which left (at least, up until the play-offs) it up to your own work schedule. Sometimes your boss would have you travel to other branches across Canada and the US to implement training or just to evaluate how different departments work in your division – maybe you could learn more efficient techniques etc. But that was rare – you’d been down to Colorado once in the last seven months, and it was only luck that Nate was at home then.
Which put you up to Summer if the Avs clinched the playoffs, and even then it was fifty-fifty as to whether or not you’d be able to take holiday, obviously not to just see Nate, but to spend time with family that you didn’t get to see as often as you’d like. Though, your holiday leave tended to be used for birthdays.
You switched off your phone, running a hand through your hair and placing the book on the coffee table, untucking yourself from Nate to sit next to him instead, a suitable amount of distance separating you on the cushions. It wasn’t an obvious gap that you’d placed, but it was appropriate enough.
“Two days to spend time with the family.” He murmured, arms crossed over his chest.
“I think that’s the thing I miss most about not living here anymore. But I’m always ready to go back to my little apartment – I hate feeling like a kid again.”
Nate hummed in agreement, though a part of it felt fake. He knew what you were saying, he understood where you were coming from, but it felt fraudulent to sit on his couch in his house and agree with you – you who had to go back to your parents and probably get pestered (lovingly) as to where you’d been all day, before getting told not to go to bed too late. He hadn’t had that in years. He’d spend days at his parent’s house, but he’d always come back here.
“You can stay here tonight, if you want.”
He’d said it quietly, a part of him wanting to be drowned out over the sound of the movie, and despite wanting to come across as it being a casual suggestion, he couldn’t help the note of sincerity seeping into his tone. He supposed it was that that had you hesitating, eyes carefully roving his face.
“I have a spare room already made up, it’d be no trouble.” He shot you a wry smile, shrugging helplessly, before turning back to the TV to give you space to think.
Only, you just sighed and picked your phone up again, before throwing him a glance out of the corner of your eye, “Are you sure?”
He nodded, offering a small, reassuring smile, “I’m sure. I can drop y’off in the morning.”
#nathan mackinnon x reader#nathan mackinnon oneshot#nathan mackinnon imagine#nathan mackinnon fic#nhl fic#nhl oneshot#nhl imagine#hockey fic#hockey player x reader#funny how life works out
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Are Tim and Cass Cain actually close in canon? Or is that more of a fanon thing that gained canon status?
Alright, so the tldr answer is that yes pre-reboot they were close—but it wasn't something that happened immediately/right off the bat, it took time, and they didn't always perfectly see eye-to-eye. But like, it's not just some totally fanon thing, they were absolutely close.
I'm using past-tense in the above though because it's like... all the actual content with them becoming/being close is pre-reboot. Anything post-reboot with them either had them back at square one (during N52 stuff) or like, just sort of handwavey 'oh they're close again' without much actual elaboration/explanation. Theoretically nowadays everything's canon again so all the old stuff applies, but as far as I'm aware nothing has really dug all that deep back into the two of them/their dynamic.
Now, to give a brief crash course on Tim & Cass's relationship in canon...
Early on they weren’t all that close because Tim was absolutely intimidated by her & her background and like, in general seemed to just find her kinda off-putting:
(Robin (1993) #73)
However Tim eventually gets over himself & after working side-by-side with her a little bit realizes he shouldn't let being intimidated by her stop them from being friends and working together:
(Batgirl (2000) #18)
After this point they work together on several occasions, definitely communicating much better than in their initial appearances together and clearly getting along well. They're a fun lil duo:
(Superman/Batman Vol. 1 #5, Superboy Vol. 4 #85)
Then… after a while, War Games happens. Gotham goes to shit, Steph dies (well, we nowadays know she didn't really, but they sure were both grieving) and so they both independently move to Blüdhaven, which leads us to the Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood crossover. Which has some fun little moments with them:
(Batgirl (2000) #58)
As well as some on the more tense side, as they both navigate mourning Steph and the clashes in their ideologies/approaches to hero work—the fact that Cass wants to be & be like Batman, and the fact that Tim absolutely does not:
(Batgirl (2000) #59)
After the crossover they mostly do their own thing staying out of each other's ways in Blüdhaven—though they do get another little story together in this timeframe in Batman Allies: Secret Files & Origins that sort of rehashes the above conflict during some training together & a team-up.
And we DO also get the cute (and oft-mentioned by the fandom) moment where Tim mentions she frequently breaks into his house to shower & steal rice krispies (just for clarity sake, while fandom almost exclusively calls her 'Cass' largely to avoid confusion with Cassandra 'Cassie' Sandsmark, within the comics themselves both Cassandras get called 'Cass' and 'Cassie' at various points—considering Cass is the one who lives in the same city as Tim at this point in canon, that's definitely who he's talking about here)
(Robin (1993) #138)
So like, at this point they are absolutely comfortable with one another and pretty close, but just, they don't see eye-to-eye on everything so it's not some flawless friendship (and I say friendship specifically because at this point we're still a few years out from them actually becoming siblings). But it's absolutely an interesting dynamic!
Then… after Infinite Crisis we get to the One Year Later/OYL era which is... bad for Cass. Terrible horrible character assassination we all refer to as the 'Evil Cass arc' which began in Tim's book. I don't wanna pull panels from it because it's just... it's bad!!!!!!!!!!!! There's a reason it got retconned into Cass having been brainwashed—because it was bad.
I guess the only thing worth bringing up here in relation to Tim & Cass's relationship though (because as mentioned, Cass gets retconned into it having been brainwashing so anything from her in this era is irrelevant/moot) is the fact that Tim was obviously very upset about the whole situation because Cass is someone he cares about and he even says he considers family.
To fast forward through that mess, when we get to the end of it and the 'oh it was brainwashing haha!' retcon, Tim was the one to have on hand a counter-serum that could free her from Deathstroke's control:
(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #44)
Once Cass is no longer forced to be evil and ooc, she gets a little mini at the end of which Bruce formally offers to adopt her (and Tim, who had earlier been adopted by Bruce, is present for this—so from this point on they go from a more general 'we're like family' to actually 'we are adopted siblings').
Buuuut then Final Crisis & Battle for the Cowl both occur and Cass gets extremely pushed aside by DC, giving up the Batgirl mantle to Steph and heading off to Hong Kong.
At which point we find out that Tim & Cass have actually kept in contact (just... off-panel) during this time when she's been out of Gotham and he's been off doing all sorts of stuff:
(Red Robin #17)
When they see each other in person again, Tim urges her to be a Bat again. Maybe not Batgirl if that's not what she wants, but to wear the symbol and be part of the family. (Which she does take him up on, keeping the suit he brought her and becoming Black Bat).
She pops up again at the end of Red Robin to save Tim & also help him pull off a fake assassination attempt on himself—ya know standard stuff.
And then right before the reboot we get to see them working alongside Damian and Dick in Gates of Gotham, and see one final time that yeah—these two have kept in touch after everything, and are definitely far more on one another's wavelength nowadays than they were back in the 'fresh out of War Games' era:
(Batman: Gates of Gotham #2, #5)
So like, does fanon over exaggerate them and their relationship? Aaaaabsolutely—that’s what fanon does. But they did definitely become close after everything they went through and had a fun dynamic together!
Sadly though, as I mentioned at the start of the post, the n52 wiped everything back to a clean slate. And while nowadays post-Infinite Frontier everyone’s histories have been restored their dynamic has never really been the same again.
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Laura Kalpakian’s Cosette (1995)
All I really knew about this book before reading it was the "This is a nipple line" (and if you don't know what that is, we will get there) so my expectations were not high. But I will say I enjoyed it, not as a sequel to Les Misérables but as a wild ride from start to finish. And thank you to @cepholliepod for getting it for me. Now, if you are up for it, see below the cut for a detailed plot summary!
The book starts by rehashing the last two volumes of Les Miserables and inserting the author’s original characters such as Eugène Verdier, a printer who escapes from the barricades by wearing a National Guardsmen's uniform and Victor Pajol, Verdier's apprentice. We are made to think that Pajol dies on the barricades but he is actually in jail for years (make note of that). While in jail he is visited by Achille Clerons. Clerons had also been at the barricades. In fact he was the fifth man who left the barricades, the man wearing Jean Valjean's National Guard uniform. Pajol learns that Clerons was actually a spy in league with Javert and who is still looking to track down Verdier and Marius.
Right away you start to get a feel for the author’s interesting word choice, such as when Eponine dies "with a raucous gurgle that sounded as if the life were being brutally sucked, not merely drained from her body." Or when Javert tells Enjolras "One day more and you'll piss blood. I'll meet you in hell." (Sometimes a line like “one day more” just smacks of the musical.) I personally really enjoyed the part when the sergeant guy tells the insurgents “no one is coming to help you to fight!" and Marius asks the insurgents if they remember Cambronne’s response to the English at Waterloo and so Enjolras yells “merde.”
The other purpose of starting this book prior to the conclusion of Les Misérables is to insert some sex appeal. We learn from the very first page that Cosette doesn’t want to go into “celibate exile,” she wants to have sex asap and she is willing to do it before getting married and she writes as much in her letter to Marius. As we know, they do get married and that leads us to the infamous wedding night scene. Suggestive cream-colored wax is flowing from the candles by their bed. Cosette asks Marius to teach her anatomy and Marius begins with “This is a nipple.”
Yes, “this is a nipple” is real but the context makes it worse, which is that he named the nipple "much as an old explorer might name some new land, some heretofore unseen country." Okay, so he is colonizing her body? Sex, love, and colonization are a running theme throughout the book. See for example: "They made voyages of discovery on the great galleon of their bed." Marius and Cosette constantly refer to their relationship as its own country which is threatened by the world.
Besides Marius and Cosette fucking (which they do at every opportunity throughout the book), there are also a lot of dogs copulating in this book. Dogs get mentioned a surprising amount and when they do, they are always going at it.
Fun fact: we learn that Jean Valjean’s true passion all those years in the convent was the cultivation of a rose the color of Cosette’s eyes, which are blue. Which he eventually achieved. Later we learn that when Haussmann tore down the convent, Jacques Offenbach saved the blue rose and it became wildly popular during the Second Empire.
Then, after Jean Valjean dies, Marius starts a radical newspaper called La Lumière at Cosette's suggestion and with Cosette's dowry money. Marius is committed vaguely to the ideals outlined in the preface of Les Mis and is arrested 67 times. When Marius is in prison, they will bribe the guard to let Cosette in so that they can fuck (and so that Cosette can smuggle out Marius’s writing, which she finds very erotic.)
Verdier works for the paper and so does Clerons (his spying is the reason for Marius’s many arrests). Pajol eventually finds Marius and Clerons’s cover is blown. Theodule also works for the paper, but he is called Cousin Theo and he is dumb and only works there because Marius takes pity on him. Everyone agrees he has no talent.
Marius and Cosette both write for La Lumière but Cosette's main conflict for the first half of the book is that she loves her husband more than she loves politics but she isn't sure if he feels the same. Cosette is shown to not really understand the plight of the poor and really seems to just follow her husband's political opinions. She is very insecure and begs Marius never to leave her.
They have two children. Jean-Luc Pontmercy is their first, named after Jean Valjean and Luc-Esprit Gillnormand although I think we all can agree that he should have been named Jean George instead. He is simply a terrible child who grows up to be a terrible man. We don't really learn if this is because Cosette and Marius made some mistake raising him; he just seems inherently bad. The one person who really likes him is Aunt Gillenormand but for some reason, she is named Aunt Adelaide. She forgets about Theodule and devotes herself to Jean-Luc even though he is terrible. He sleeps with grisettes and passes notes in class (the contents of the notes seem to be important but they never are). Jean-Luc falls in love with an aspiring actress named Nicolette Lauriot. He wants to marry her but he has no money or parental support
Marius and Cosette’s second child is Fantine Pontmercy. She seems to be inherently good, although she is a bit of a brat at first and mostly mopes around complaining that girls can't do anything. Cosette told Marius that "Fantine" was the name of a childhood friend because she was afraid to tell him that her mother was a prostitute named Fantine. When Marius eventually finds out the truth about the origin of their daughter's name years later, he isn't even mad and agrees with Cosette that she was right to hide it from him.
Cosette also sort of adopts a gamin named Gabriel Lascaux. She saves him when he is caught stealing bread and gives him a job at La Lumière. We learn that his mother is a registered fille publique and his father is a convict. It kind of seems like the identity of his father might be important since it keeps coming up but it never is. Fantine and Gabriel fall in love despite their differences in upbringing.
Gabriel’s maternal grandmother is The Countess Crasseux aka the Changer aka Dahlia Drion and yes, she is OG Fantine's friend Dahlia. She makes a business in the underworld supplying people with fancy clothes and disguises. She initially doesn't like Cosette's influence on Gabriel but she eventually realizes that Cosette isn't just a stuffy bourgeois woman, that she is Fantine's daughter, and the two become friends.
(Side note: In December of 1832 the mômes were adopted by Dahlia and they work for her. They are known as the Jondrettes. They are selectively mute and only communicate with each other.)
Next comes 1848 and February Revolution, and the characters discuss liberté, égalité, fraternité so much that you would think it was the only issue in French politics (and a vague one at that.) Marius and Cosette are disillusioned by the brutal suppression of the June Day uprisings. Cosette is frightened when she sees Marius running to the barricades with a look in his eye that she only ever sees when they have sex and this makes her more insecure. Marius and Gabriel are arrested for demonstrating and Cosette appeals to Thiers to get them out. Yes Adolphe Thiers, future president of France, is a character in the story. Cosette must promise that La Lumière will support Thiers in the upcoming presidential elections but for some reason that literally never is relevant again.
(Side note: My favorite chapter in the book was an aside which described the paintings done of the Pontmercy family in this period by an artist employed by La Lumière, and which included where you could view those paintings today (as if they were real). There were also some fun epistolary chapters.)
Anyways, in the election La Lumière supports Louis-Napoleon for president, which brings us to our next character. Napoleon III: Yes he is a character too. He reads La Lumière and personally comes to Marius and Cosette's house to ask for their support. Oh and also he HAS A CHILD WITH AZELMA THENARDIER. Yeah, while he was in exile in America he met Azelma and they had a child together, named Eponine-Hortense (Hortense was the name of Louis-Napoleon's mother). Azelma was not successful in America, though she did own one slave.
Then it is 1851 and Napoleon III stages his coup d’etat. When Azelma reads that the father of her oldest child has become Emperor, she returns to France with her husband and children. Because Napoleon III acknowledges that Eponine-Hortense is his, Azelma becomes rich and influential. She is known as the Countess Troussebois.
Meanwhile, the police are looking for Marius and Cosette to arrest them because of their political activities. They have a deus es machina opportunity to escape to England but Marius won't go. So Cosette learns that he does value his political ideals over their relationship but there's really no fallout or conclusion from this, she just decides that if he is going to the barricades, she will go with him. Remember how they always said that their love was it’s own country?? Cosette concludes that Marius is equally devoted to that country as he is to France but that she is only native to the country of Love and for that reason she follows him to the barricades. Also Jean-Luc betrays his parents to the police, Marius tries to convince the army not to participate in the coup, and Marius is killed.
Actually, Marius is not killed. He is actually in prison, like Pajol was earlier. But Cosette doesn't know this and she lives disguised as a beggar for years. Here we spend a lot of time with "les misérables" and they all have nicknames, such as les Genoux, Toutes-Nations, the Ark, and the Captain. (Side note that Kalpakian seems to like unconventional names quite a bit, as she named her own son Bear.)
We see how and where les misérables live (especially with the Haussmannization of Paris), and only when Cosette lives among them, lives like Jean Valjean and Fantine lived, in dire poverty, do Cosette's politics develop. She writes anti-Napoleon III political pamphlets (The Toad Napoleon and Bonapoleon) and publishes them with the help of Pajol (Verdier was killed alongside Marius but for real). One of the main themes of the book is that you can’t change who you are on the inside (there is this story to that effect called “The Costly Omlette” which is mentioned many times). Cosette is given many, many nicknames, such as the Plumed Lark, la Mauviette, the Vegetable, the Oyster, Foundling, and Mea Culpa but Cosette’s most important journey is that she learns to connect to her childhood identity as “the Lark” and her legacy as the child of Jean Valjean and Fantine but that is a generous interpretation.
Eventually, Cosette learns that Marius is alive and she and Gabriel break him out of prison by dressing Marius as a woman. Cosette and Marius are close to starving to death because unfortunately, Clerons is still chasing after them. However, they are saved by the help of Nicolette. Remember Nicolette? She became the most successful actress of the Second Empire. She wouldn’t marry Jean-Luc though, and she said to him: “I am not some small savage country to be conquered by one man…I don’t want to be colonized…You want to colonize me.” Maybe if Cosette and Marius represented the future of France at the end of Les Mis, Nicolette is here to spread an anti-colonization message...no I think that’s too much of a stretch.
Anyways, Jean-Luc marries Eponine-Hortense for her money (Azelma arranged the marriage because she knew she could control him and therefore her daughter and because she wanted revenge on Cosette). Jean-Luc and Eponine-Hortense have a child named Louise. She is named after her godfather, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. Azelma brags to Nicolette about her scheme, revealing her shared childhood with Cosette like an evil villain, and Nicolette sympathized with Cosette because she also came from poverty. Therefore she gets Cosette a job in the theater (where Cosette is able to hide Pajol in the basement a la Phantom) and hides Marius at her house. Also Nicolette is pregnant with Jean-Luc’s child.
Meanwhile, slight tangent, Clerons is also looking for Gabriel. Fantine, who had been living in exile for years comes back and lives with her brother because she wants to find Gabriel also. Jean-Luc is furious about their relationship. However, he tells her that she and Gabriel can bop in the basement. Weird but Fantine wants to fuck SO badly that she goes for it. She lets up the room (Jean Valjean’s candlesticks are there) and invites Gabriel over but it’s a trap! Clerons barges in before they can get down to business. Fantine hides Gabriel under her giant skirt and when Clerons finally leaves, Gabriel goes to town down there and Fantine utters “moist cries of freedom.”
Back to the plot. Nicolette is in a hit play and Napoelon III wants to have sex with her. She does it, just to get the scoop on what sex with the Emperor is like and she, Marius, and Pajol think that Cosette should write a pamphlet about the Imperial member. Despite her reservations, Cosette writes a pamphlet called Tadpoleon. Although the pamphlet is very funny, it has no political impact and, worse still, Clerons goes through Napoleon III’s sex calendar and connects the dots between the pamphlet and Nicolette and Nicolette to the the author of the pamphlets (who he knows to be Cosette because she used the alias "La Lumière.”)
Knowing that his mother and former lover are about to be captured, Jean-Luc goes to the theater. In the middle of the act, Napoleon III’s soldiers storm backstage. Nicolette and Cosette hide in the dressing room. Jean-Luc is there. They tell him that they hate him. Clerons bursts in. Nicolette lights a fire. Pajol pops out of his hiding place and sacrifices himself so that Nicolette and Cosette can get away. The theater burns down while the rich people in the audience applaud, thinking it is part of the show.
Then there’s an epilogue (because of course there is). Cosette and Marius own an inn. They are raising Nicolette’s daughter while she performs in England. Fantine and Gabriel have a child have a child together. Jean-Luc shows up. He wants to be forgiven. Marius says that he can forgive because Jean Valjean forgave (although the things Jean-Luc did were way worse than anything that Marius did tbh). Cosette doesn’t forgive him (yet). The End.
Now simply, with no context, I will share some of my favorite lines:
“All young men are hard.”
“Go shit yourself, bourgeois pig.”
“Sucking your short cock? Merci, no.” (The character always say merci no, merci yes.)
“You will hang by your cock in hell.”
“Cosette teased Marius that he loved the sea because it was as gothic and unpredictable as he was.”
“Those with penises were for Bonaparte.”
“The turnip seller grasped two of her wares high overhead and waved them about, crying out lyrical comparisons between the size of her turnips and the balls of the men who ate them. A juggler’s balls spun high in the air, and given the thin, flappy garment he wore, no doubt his other balls contracted with the cold.”
Clerons: “Everyone knows the pen is truly, well, the ‘male member.’”
Cosette: “That explains why it grows in women’s hands.”
“I need the Priest. I am the Monkey.”
“He could, as they say, strike the pose.”
“Jean Valjean had gone through the sewers to save Marius; what did Cosette care if she had to beg Adolphe Thiers?”
“The gulls’ cries drowned out the sounds of Marius and Cosette making love…Marius [was] careful to bring Cosette to that high clear peak, that vanishing pinnacle, moments before he went there himself.” (Good for him.)
“Louis-Napoleon sat down gingerly, the caution of a man who suffered pain in his testicles.”
Maybe I’m a bit immature me but you have to admit, that’s a lot of balls being referenced.
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Meaning of 陈情 Chenqing
This is going to be a rehash of the old Taming Wangxian footnotes, but I’ll be adding a little more.
The term 陈情 Chenqing has two meanings. The first would be to reminisce past relationship (former friendship), and the second would be to provide a full account of (an issue).
To gain further context about this term, let us look at where it originated from. It was first originated from Wenxuan (‘Selections of Refined Literature”) compiled by 萧统 Xiao Tong, the Crown Prince of the Liang Dynasty. In the Wenxuan, there is a segment called the 陈情表 Chenqing Memorial (to the throne), which is a letter written by Li Mi, a scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty to the Emperor Wu of Jin. The Emperor Wu of Jin had employed him to work in the palace stables but Li Mi wanted to take care of his elderly grandmother. His father died, his mother remarried and he lived with his grandmother. So he wrote this heartfelt letter about his family circumstances and the hardship that he’s facing. (It’s basically a resignation letter lol). The story didn’t end well and he was removed from his post, defamed and he died at home.
This term is also used in the modern context of confessing before a court. Hence, a 陈情 Chenqing is almost like a plea of sorts. It fits so well as firstly, Wei Wuxian is essentially treated like a criminal throughout the entire book and everyone in the series expects a “confession” from him. The confrontation at Nightless City was almost like a court that wanted to trial him. And secondly, from the historical context of the word, it could have hinted that it wouldn’t make a different no matter what he said and he wouldn’t have ended well.
陈情 and 随便 are commonly thought to depict the shift in Wei Wuxian’s character. 随便 (suí biàn) represents his youth; he is carefree, relaxed and without worry. 陈情 on the other hand, is a depiction of his loss and loneliness. Chenqing was created from his time in the Burial Mounds - it’s a turning point for him because at this juncture, he had no means to give his own account or prove his “innocence”, simply because he has walked the demonic path. He’s unable to tell his loved ones that he lost his jindan, and as much as he misses his past relationships, he’s unable to relive them because he’s labelled a “demonic” Yiling Laozu.
An interesting titbit can be found in the title of the Untamed, 陈情令 (chén qíng lìng). There are two possible interpretations to this.
(i) The main focus of the story is on Wei Wuxian and his character growth, hence placing 陈情 in the title puts the emphasis on him.
(ii) 陈情一曲令天下 (chén qíng yī qū lìng tiān xià) - According to a forum, the producers have used this line to describe the drama’s title. It can be translated to, “a song from Chenqing commands the world”, aptly depicting Chenqing’s power.
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i don't want to rehash any old discourse on your blog so i'm sorry in advance if this does, but anyway
it's so hypocritical and strange that swifties laud taylor's artistry and call her the best songwriter of all time in terms of creativity and novelty (whether this is valid or not is a different conversation)
but when it comes to her writing songs like champagne problems and you're losing me in 2020-21, they have to be about what she was going through at that time in her personal life, when she has explicitly said that folklore and evermore were based on fictional stories, and her and joe would stay together for a year after you're losing me was written
i feel like one of the marks of an artist is to be able to empathize with others or come up with artistic responses to a situation that you might not necessarily been in yourself, which is what taylor was doing on folklore and evermore
when it comes to ylm i feel like she just released it to capitalize on the drama surrounding the breakup
i don't know if this makes sense but it's just super weird to see from swifties.
Yes! This is such a good point to be made time and time again.
Again it goes into swifties hypocrisy and actually not really liking taylor because, we know they limit her work to only fit into her personal life and never allow it to grow into anything else, but to limit her own skills as well to say ‘she could never write you’re loosing me and still be in love with Joe’ is so…. reductive and simplistic. Taylor’s written songs for films and hasn’t experienced the exact emotion, she wasn’t reliving a time in her life when she fought for her district when writing for the hunger game’s soundtrack. She wasn’t having in depth conversations with her cats about feline emotions when writing for cats. She writes from different perspectives and sources all the time because on a human level she can draw inspiration from it. And while it never matters what the original inspiration was, it could’ve been a movie she watched, could’ve been a friend going through something, who knows. This narrative people have made up of ‘she was unhappy with Joe for a year before they broke up poor thing :/‘ is so like?? Out of nowhere and based on nothing factual and it’s all just so pointless
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MyHouse.Wad: What a fucking trip
Just finished MyHouse.wad. And goddamn, just goddamn. First of all, it is a fucking fantastic game let alone considering it's a free mod, easily on par with the original doom in terms of quality.
My overall impression is that this is a type of game that could ONLY come out as a mod. I mean, can you imagine say the next Call of Duty game where you can beat the whole thing as normal, but if you dig deeper it has a whole separate game exploring an endless house?
That all being said, two main gripes
The final fight was waaay too large/long, and if it was half the size it would be twice as impactful imo.
Ending is somewhat underwhelming, although that's somewhat inevitable since it's not going to straight up tell you what happens.
Oh yeah and 3) The labyrinth.
I love the idea of the labyrinth, however wish it was developed slightly more. I don't want there to be any enemies, but maybe a scrap of story or flavor would've been warmly welcomed. As is it's completely optional and you can't do anything apart from leave. However, it is indeed very unnerving (loved the touch of having the doors you open while inside being louder than average when they close by themselves).
Oh yeah, plus the blood appearing in the airport's bathroom did feel a bit janky/random and somewhat frustrating to trigger.
But in general it's all in the spirit of what it is trying to accomplish, and it absolutely excels in making you feel on edge, like the House is trying to get you to leave while drawing you in further and further.
But, you may be asking, what about the central mystery? What the heck is MyHouse.wad about anyway??
So, I won't rehash the exact wording (you can find that online easily enough), but to put it simply the creator of the mod is allegedly brushing up an old .wad file found in the floppy disc of a deceased childhood friend, and a journal as a word document plus some photos are attached to the mod when you download it.
Reading over the journal, a few odd section stuck out to me. He mentions that an old childhood friend passed away, and yet the very next day he writes "I never imagined that I would be saying goodbye to my friend so soon." Not something you would say about someone you only knew when you were a child, and hadn't been in contact with for years.
He starts working to restore and add things to the .wad he found. Over time, he becomes increasingly obsessed with it and it starts to affect his dreams.
He dreams about a house burning down, and finding a still born baby in the attic, of being hunted and finding refuge in a cave...
Something *very* strange happens on Dec 16. He seems to revert to a childhood persona, writing "it'll be nice to have some time away from the school", despite mentioning his job earlier, and "i'm sure they'll be a lot of fun and there wilL be plenty of laughter and good times". The day after he makes a comment about lack of sleep.
He dreams more. He dreams his reflection winks back at him, that he enters his bathroom mirror and finds comfort in that strange world.
He dreams he is in a car crash, then a plane crash. He survives the car crash. He does not survive the plane crash.
Valentines day: "Happy Valentines day to the only person I ever loved. For a short time, you brought a little happiness to this painful existence called life. I hope we can be together again one day. In the meantime… I’ll keep looking for that other someone who can be the ray of light in my life that you turned out to be."
He mentions how "After 13 years" he finally has the skills to finish the map, despite him mentioning he worked on it first 20 years ago with his childhood friend, according to the original description for the .wad.
He writes how the map is altering code by itself, growing when he's not looking;
"Without my guiding hand, the map doesn’t know what to build. But I can help it. Guide it. It seems to respond to my designs, changing them to match my emotional state. It knows what I’m feeling. It knows how Thomas felt."
He dreams of lying on a beach, safe and content, only to realize it is all fake. He writes about the agony of a heaven, and eternally being tormented by your own anguish, and how lucky his winking self is, to live a mortal life on a real beach, finding happiness in the small things he can control.
He finally publishes the mod, with no further entries apart from how he managed to publish a "safe" version. He won't allow the House to corrupt anyone else.
So, what to make of it all.
First and obviously, he clearly knew his childhood friend a lot more recently than his childhood, and the Valentine's Day strongly supports the fact they were partners - however, I do think they weren't in contact for at least a few years before his friend died. The "13 years ago" comment, plus the fact that items in the mod state "It was not to be" when picked up suggest that they were together for a time after, but then broke up. Both the crash and plane crash suggest something went wrong - maybe they fought, maybe there was an actual physical action - who knows. The airport section of the map further suggests that perhaps one or both of them traveled away from where they grew up? Moreover, the creator's comments about a "mirror version, happy on that other beach" suggests that maybe he made a mistake, and he's tormented knowing in another universe he could have been happy with his partner.
During the Brutalist area of the mod, you find two dogs - one completely harmless, the other a two headed monster that can kill you relatively easily if you aren't careful. But if you kill one, the other dies as well. Similarly, they can never meet each other. That could be a metaphor for their relationship - they couldn't be together, but couldn't bear being apart either.
However, there is of course a far darker possibility. A few items in the mod tell you "I want pop", and "The boy deserves a milkshake." This suggests a father-son relationship of some kind. Indeed, the very first area outside the house itself is a nursery for very young children, suggesting at some point he and his childhood friend adopted a child at some point. However, the fact that the house can burn down at some point, plus the constant dreams of disaster and the stillborn child could point to the fact that the child died somehow, possibly in a violent manner. If this is true, this would explain why they broke up, and why the original creator buried the memory - it was simply too traumatic to think about, until the death of his former partner forced these memories up to the surface, leading to him creating this mod as a coping mechanism. His comments about dealing with his own thoughts for eternity also suggest this - he could not bear to think about what had happened over and over and over again without being able to change anything.
The constant use of mirrors within the mod also tells us how much he wishes things had turned out differently - how he wants to live in a different dimension altogether, where this didn't happen, where he remained with his partner. The fact that if you leave the house without grabbing all the items might suggest they also sold (and potentially demolished) the house itself.
The house that can never leave his mind.
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Now that YJ Dark Crisis has been over for a bit and I’ve had time to reread I’m going to share my thoughts on it.
I do get what Fitzmartin was trying to do with calling out toxic fans who dislike legacy characters and diversity in comics. I also get her trying to call out YJ98 fans who don’t want to see the characters progress and want them to stay the same. However, this operates under the assumption that these characters have been treated well by DC, which they haven’t been! The fans are not holding YJ back, DC is. Cassie, Kon, Bart, and Cassie have not been managed well by DC. Tim is the only one who shows up somewhat consistently in stories and has arcs. Kon’s name was turned into a slur, Impulse hasn’t been focused on in years, Cassie hasn’t showed up in the main Wonder Woman comics in a long time, and Cissie has been more or less in the wind. The girls haven’t gotten solos and Cassie was completely done dirty post-YJ98 with the sexualisation and ooc writing. Hell, all of them suffered in Teen Titans with ooc.
Fitzmartin writes like fans want YJ to be their old selves and not change at all when that’s not the case with most fans I know. These characters have been treated like shit (w the exception of Tim) by DC since YJ98. I don’t want them back to their old selves, I want them to be treated right and grow as characters in ways that makes sense. I want them to actually be featured in comics and do things that are meaningful. The reason so many fans wish YJ98 was back is because this is the only time they were doing these things.
Fitzmartin’s argument only works for Tim and the backlash he has faced after coming out, and it’s kinda obvious she doesn’t really care that much about the others. It’s also quite obvious she hasn’t really read the material she’s critiquing. She makes Anita a villain, uses the wrong Bedlam despite that being the YJ origin story, and rehashes conflicts between the characters that have already been resolved.
All in all, the story had potential but fell short. It would have worked if it had been a Tim solo story. Fitzmartin’s lack of research into the characters and into the fans pokes holes in her argument and the story. I did like what she did with Bart and calling out his constant infantilization and the ableism often paired with it, but that’s about it.
#young justice#young justice dark crisis#tim drake#red robin#kon el#superboy#bart allen#impulse#cassie sandsmark#wonder girl#cissie king jones#arrowette#dc#dc comics#meghan fitzmartin
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Branchline engines.
Story 1-Thomas has his controls messed with by a cleaner, causing him to crash into a house..
Now every other time an engines controls are messed with, its not their fault (ie old iron), but for some reason its treated as Thomas's fault. A headcanon I've tried to not have for years is that Awdry resented Thomas, but I keep coming back to it. Which, I kinda get. The character he made up on the spot is the famous one, and everyone wants more stories about him, not the characters he actually had interest in.
Story 2-A new top of the line passenger engine arrives, and thinks pulling/shunting goods is beneath them, forcing the older engines to do the work for them....now where have I seen this before?
Story 3-Prideful engine is brought down a few pegs by a cow/bull on the line. The engine tries to shoo the cow, only to be scared off by the cow, forcing another engine to come to the rescue...I swear I've seen this one before.
Story 4-Percy forgets troublesome trucks are troublesome and gets pushed down a hill, leading to an accident. Sir Topham Hatt comes to scold him while he's stuck in a precarious position...Why is this so familiar???
The only original ideas Awdry had for this book was to have female engine and a permanent diesel character. Everything else was a rehash of already existing stories.
Daisy=...most of the early big engine stories tbh. Troublesome engine most specifically.
Bullseye=Cows
Percy's =Predicament takes the plunge.
Hazel: You can't keep repackaging old material. You gotta come up with new ideas, man.
Awdry: hmm... an engine runs away, BUT... the driverless start is, uh... their fault! probably Thomas, the cheeky little rotter. yeah, his fault and not a human's
Hazel, giving the author a sharp bop on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper: NO. Not like that
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Adman and irida ( separate or together you choose ) when they find out theyre s/o was originally from the opposite clan
<3
weh forgot this part. this is good angst material i think!! espeically if the reason they left was because of something (or someone) dangerous
🍓🍓🍓
Adaman:
He finds your old uniform, the familiar pink making his skin prickle. There's a small hint of betrayal that crawls up his spine as he unwraps the uniform to find letters, some small trinkets, and well wishes. Seems you were leaving with the consent of the others, at least. But why? What made you leave?
Adaman approaches you after he finds these things. You're upset, but you know he is as well. He tells you such, asking why you hid something so important from him? You used to be a part of the Pearl Clan. Did you never intend to tell him? He's very hurt by the secrecy, and you both take turns yelling about it for a while
But you have your reasons. You came in when tensions were still high. You didn't want to reveal yourself in fear of being banished, thrown out to the fray. Even as things became better, your fear lingered. What if you were still thrown out due to betrayal?
Adaman understands, he does. He's still upset, as are you, but these things are the circumstance of the situation. It takes some talking through, some time to understand, but you both come to an understanding of one another. And Adaman feels closer to you than ever before
Irida:
You tell Irida about your past some time into the relationship with her. You sit her down, cradle her hands, and describe the past you've withheld from here for so long now. Irida listens, face blank as she learns of your time with the Diamond Clan, up to you leaving them, and assimilating into the Pearl Clan instead. It's a lot to take in, and there's a moment before she says anything
Irida asks you quite a few questions, most surrounding the reason you left the other clan. Now that relationships are being built between the Pearl and Diamond Clan, she worries they did something, and these relationships are built on unstable foundations. Whatever your answer, she cradles your hands back, and thanks you for telling her
After a while of knowing about your past, she eventually asks about why you didn't tell her before, why you didn't tell anyone? Your admittance that you were afraid of the reactions you'd receive breaks her heart. She understands, but it hurts to think that she and the clan scared you so badly due to their bad blood with the Diamond Clan.
Should you want the rest of the clan to know, Irida assists in spreading the word. Most are understanding, but a few are angered to hear of your past as a Diamond Clan member. Should these people give you grief, Irida stops it, reminding them that you're part of the Pearl Clan now, so there's no reason to be stuck in the past. She'll do whatever it takes to protect you
🍓🍓🍓
i hope these are okay! i tired to make them different and not just rehashings f the same thing for two different characters. let me know if it doesn't work tho and i'll fix it!!
~Renee
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The Meeting
Author's Note: I'm combining all of the mini student council meetings from the original game into one in order to make it more realistic.
MC
"Why do we have to be here?" Luke complains fairly loudly. "We're not even officers!"
"I'm sure we will find out shortly," Simeon answers quietly. Earlier this morning, Diavolo texted the angels, Solomon, and me that he would like us to attend the student council meeting after school, but in typical fashion, he has yet to explain why.
If demons run their meetings like humans do, we're in for a long evening.
"I call this meeting to order," Diavolo announces. He sits at the front of the room. Barbatos is on his left, and Lucifer on his right. From the looks of it, Diavolo's the president, Lucifer the vice president, and Barbatos the secretary.
"Barbatos, roll call." Great. This is like a human world meeting. Thankfully, everyone is present, so Barbatos is able to take attendance fairly quickly.
"Excellent. Now, please take a moment to go through the minutes and suggest any changes that need to be made." Even though Barbatos gave the four of us copies of the minutes when we entered the room, I don't think any of us have the authority to do much more than read them. So, once I glance through the minutes, I spend my time doodling on the paper.
Satan makes the motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting, and Beel seconds it. Once the motion is passed, Diavolo states,
"Now, instead of rehashing old business, I want to jump straight into the point of today's meeting. As you all know, the school festival is coming up, and we need to make sure everything runs smoothly. We cannot under any circumstances allow a repeat of last year's disaster."
"The first step is to select a leader for the school festival committee," Lucifer adds. In that moment, I realize why Diavolo asked us to attend the meeting. Flipping the minutes paper over, I write,
One of us is going to get asked to lead the committee.
Since Solomon is the closest to me, he's the first one to see my note. He leans over and whispers in Simeon's ear, who looks over at me with a quizzical look on his face.
Diavolo, Lucifer, and Barbatos are too busy to lead effectively. Mammon is unorganized, Levi and Satan are quick to anger, Asmo would get too distracted with flirting with everyone, Beel wouldn't be able to focus long enough, and Belphie would sleep through the whole thing.
"That's true," Simeon murmurs. It's Solomon's turn to write.
My money's on MC. This place would freeze over if an angel led the committee, and I know that people don't trust me enough to do it.
"What about my classes?" I ask.
"I'm sure everyone in this room would be more than happy to help you make sure you get everything done," Solomon answers softly.
"Then it's settled." I push my chair back and stand up, ensuring that all eyes are on me.
"I'll do it," I say loud enough for everyone to hear. Diavolo smiles widely.
"I am so glad you volunteered, MC! You were the person I had in mind anyway, but I didn't want to force you to do it if you didn't want to. By having an outsider plan the festival, I hope to make the festival exciting again." Barbatos is the only other demon in the room that doesn't appear shocked. Instead, he simply states,
"Someone needs to make the motion." The silence that ensues makes me second-guess myself. After all, has a human ever led anything in the Devildom? What if I mess up and ruin all of the work that has been done over the course of the exchange program? Would I even be allowed back? Would anyone?
"I make the motion that MC becomes the leader of the school festival committee." I thought Belphie would be asleep, but he's wide awake with a serious look on his face, as if he's daring anyone to challenge him.
"I second it," Beel quickly replies. The motion passes unanimously, allowing Diavolo to continue the meeting.
"Your first task is simple, MC. The student council is going to be participating in the festival, just like all the other clubs and student organizations. The question is just what exactly we're going to do."
"Well, I've helped set up a cosplay cafe, a haunted house, and a band, but I don't think any of those options would suit this particular organization as a whole," I reply.
"That, unfortunately, is true," Satan responds. "The student council officers are supposed to set a good example for the rest of the school. We can't do something that would damage that reputation, and everything you just mentioned has gone horribly wrong in the past."
"Good to know." I pause. "Have you guys ever put together a play?"
"No, but that doesn't mean we couldn't do it," Beel answers.
"I think it's a terrific idea!" Asmo exclaims. "I mean, we have everyone we could possibly need in this room."
"What sort of play did you have in mind?" Diavolo asks.
"I haven't thought that far ahead just yet, but between myself, Satan, and Simeon, I'm sure we can come up with something entertaining."
"Really?" Mammon complains. "I get Satan, since he's a giant bookworm, but Simeon? What does he have to offer?"
"If you would like to know my credentials, Mammon, I'd suggest taking a peek inside Levi's room." There's something sinister in the way Simeon smiles at the Avatar of Greed, and it sends a shiver down my spine.
"I don't want him in my room!" Levi shouts. "Besides, what does that have to do with you, Simeon?"
"Because you have one of the largest collections of my most famous work." It takes a second for Levi to understand what Simeon is saying, but once he does, his eyes widen.
"You're the author of The Tale of the Seven Lords?!"
#obey me shall we date#obey me mc#obey me lucifer#obey me mammon#obey me asmo#obey me asmodeus#obey me brothers#obey me satan#obey me levi#obey me leviathan#obey me side characters#obey me simeon#obey me diavolo#obey me belphie#obey me barbatos#obey me belphegor#obey me beel#obey me beelzebub#obey me solomon#obey me lord diavolo#obey me luke
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Thoughts on Kaneko's departure, the current state of Megaten and etcetera
When scrolling through jpn Twitter, I got reminded of a certain Atlus survey from years ago. For those unfamiliar, Atlus surveys often wonder about how receptive people would be regarding derivative content (spinoffs, remakes etc) of several titles you could think of. Among those that would turn out real were Soul Hackers and obviously the Personas.
[Left: Nocturne, both SMTIV games and Digital Devil Saga as part of the selectable options for a "full remake title" in an Atlus survey from 2020.
Right: Shigeo Komori's comment on the future of the franchise in 2022]
The good: the current staff (still) cares enough to attempt to shine a new spotlight on old entries even if some would be deemed less profitable for the current fanbase's standards.
The hmm: with Kaneko gone and cementing that "the old days won't return", the shoes become large for newcomers to fit in. Even if one has soul behind the job, the current industry prioritizing long developments and less risky directions makes it tough for them to create even one third of what the original staff was able to do in the same amount of time. On top of it, seeing this huge list of "potential works to get rehashed" almost in a Disney remake vein isn't particularly exciting. SMTIVA was only 4 years old in that goddamn screenshot and you already are throwing the possibility of a remake? Hello?
Non-Persona stuff is so far in-between nowadays that it's hard to write a conclusive piece regarding how far the current staff can go without relying on already established works.
Well... we can comment on the mixed reaction on popular illustrator Shirow Miwa being hired for a "sequel" of Soul Hackers.
The main point of concern here: with one-time artists and non-centralized direction, it becomes harder to achieve a worldbuilding where the worlds of different games smoothly connect together like they did back in the golden era of Megaten.
Recurring characters like Lucifer or Tamaki felt appropriately part of the universe even across different games they were at due to Kaneko's design philosophy of sticking closely to real-life fashion aside having a character's personality and background closely define how they would look staying consistent in the entries he contributed to.
On the other hand, Shirow Miwa was specifically told he should just design on his own instead of working around Kaneko's style that molded the franchise to this day. The feeling that long-time Devil Summoner fans didn't like it due to aesthetic clash was on the air thus contributing on the motives for why the game couldn't grab a significant part of potential buyers.
Before going too deep on this, let's not get the wrong idea: non-staff illustrators being collaborators aren't at all new for Megaten titles. Yasuomi Umetsu for SMT Nine, Suzuhito Yasuda for the Devil Survivor duology, toi8 for Tokyo Mirage, Tatsuro Iwamoto for Dx2, the list goes on. But behind those entries, there's noticeably a lack of commitment prevalent in those decisions. Most are treated as self-contained worlds separated from the world of games Kaneko worked as the main designer, thus they're treated as their own thing instead of another part of the puzzle hence considered "safer to experiment".
Anyone can understand the amount of expectation that such a bold numbered title like Soul Hackers 2, in a subseries well-known for hit after hit like the Devil Summoner series carries above these, however.
Specially when one-time collabs have been shown to carry the risk of underperforming considerably.
[SMT Nine and Tokyo Mirage had the excuse of being in flopped consoles but how lenient can you be to Soul Hackers 2?]
Another recent example of mixed reactions (albeit to a minor degree) were the SMTIV-exclusive demons drawn by Tokusatsu media-related artists Keita Amemiya, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Kyouma Aki: most didn't reappear even for the SMTIV sequel and the few ones that leaped had to be redrawn by Doi, the actual staff artist that took over the role of main character & demon designer thus the face of the current mainline.
[Doi-designed demons such as Chironnupu or Mermaid are the sole examples of SMTIV reps carrying over to other games]
The thing is, SMTIV was the fastest-selling mainline game (even compared to big ones like Nocturne or SMTV) while Apocalypse sold enough to beat Strange Journey's sales. Did it sell well because of the collabs or despite them? Either way, they seem to have decided to stick with style consistency over quantity.
Doi worked under Kaneko for several years before being given the opportunity to produce original designs for the games thus the picture of a recurring staff artist that is deeply involved in how the franchise shaped itself and is well-acquainted with elements that both old and new fans want earns more trust and familiarity compared to one-time contributors.
[It's also important to acknowledge that Doi isn't the only artist retouching art for current Megaten around: Akira Odagaki was the one behind the remake of Strange Journey, with Doi only providing Alex and the exclusive demon additions]
While Kaneko's resigning was understandably a shock for many fans, one cannot argue against his desires towards a career path of more freedom, considering the unstable state that many creatives go through in the game industry, veterans and greenhorns alike:
Is Kaneko a misunderstood genius that Atlus was extremely foolish to let go? Or is he out of touch and will be another Keiji Inafune/Yuji Naka case? Only time will tell. But both things can be true
As a sidenote, Kaneko's interest in shady business practices feels similarly disconnected from reality as something Ishida said in the Soul Hackers 2 interview:
[Nevermind doxxing, bots taking over or drones killing innocent people, guys. Technology turned out to be completely harmless]
What else do we have left?
When talking of style consistency and thought-provoking worldbuilding ties to other titles, mainline SMT as of now stays as the one thing I have been interested on even when under a different team.
SMT5 went through the shortcoming of being another unfinished debut release requiring an inhanced version to truly shine its full potential (which is unfortunate for day1 fans but then again, Nocturne was fully guilty of this for three times).
Kaneko is irreplaceable. But I also enjoy Doi's contributions (alongside Yamai's and Kozuka's) and given the appropriate time and budget, I believe in the potential that the staff responsible for the latest SMTs has in building ground on their own, even regarding new ways of twisting expectations of long-time players and extending the world of SMT to bigger horizons instead of plain soft resets in the continuity.
And at the end of the day, other members of the original staff exist beyond Kaneko and are amazingly receptive to keeping on celebrating the franchise such as Tsukasa Masuko (that recently released a new soundtrack arrangement for Megami Tensei 1&2 funded by Kickstarter) or of course, original franchise creator Aya Nishitani himself that often deepdives into Megaten worldbuilding concepts and theories to the franchise on his Twitter account, even going as far as translating for free the last book of the Megami Tensei novel trilogy for the enjoyment of English-speaking fans.
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The Boy and The Heron Notes/Critique:
TLDR: LOVED the animation and it had some impactful themes, also strongly disliked several things.
(SPOILERS)
- War. Very common theme in Ghibli. Always animated with such a punch.
- Hold up, dad married his dead wife's SISTER??? Got her pregnant, and THEN decided to introduce his kid (Mahito) to her for the first time? As they were moving in with her??
- Mahito's aunt/stepmom decides her first-time introduction should be "I'm your new mom." and to grab his hand and make him feel her pregnant belly?
- This kid is so shut down all he does is say yes and keep his head low, trying to avoid conversation & confrontation. He's still clearly grieving and showing some signs of PTSD from the fire. None of the adults address this if they even notice.
- Dad continues to be tone-deaf by insisting on dropping Mahito off to his new, poorer & more blue-collar school, in a fancy ride. He showed up looking like a rich kid who's never worked a day in his life to a place full of children who work all day. Dad put a target on his back.
- Mahito self-harmed and pretended it was from the fight earlier. This is two-fold. It meant he didn't have to go back to that school, and it was an outlet for all the hard feelings he didn't have a safe place to express. Dad does what rich-kid/bad parents do: throws money at the problem, and takes it personally instead of focusing on the kid.
- 2/3 of the first things Mahito takes an interest in are scary or forbidden. The Heron is a horrifying creature, the tower is forbidden, and then there's archery. For the 1st time we get something Mahito could connect with his aunt/stepmom on as a shared interest. But they don't.
- Why did the Heron shit in his window?
- Aunt/Stepmom has a hard time with labor and everyone pressures Mahito to go comfort her. Everything in his body language and behavior indicates he doesn't know her, he's uncomfortable, and he doesn't want to. It's not his responsibility.
- One of the old ladies get some serious character fleshing out. Oh wow I ADORE her. A++ Development.
- The Heron not being voiced by Danny Devito feels like a crime. Bird discovers that sometimes even though you're mostly not a nice being, sometimes someone will still love you.
- Pelicans and commiting violence out of desperation, terrifying self-awareness of the impact on next generations.
- Mahito meets his mom through time shenanigans. They DID NOT have a rehash of the romantic issues around When Marnie Was There. His mom gives off mom vibes and is likeable. Feels like he never gets a full closure kind of conversation with her. (His original reason for going to the tower.)
- Implication that Great Uncle was the death that pulled Mahito's mom into the tower for closure. While for Mahito it was wanting closure about his mom, and then doing the right thing trying to save his aunt/stepmother.
- Haha big murder-birds parakeets.
- Telling a Great Uncle/ancestor that Mahito sees what is left to add to the legacy and it's corrupted.
- The only way to get Aunt/Stepmom home is to give her the unearned & undeveloped "crying for mom" by Mahito. Literally after she told him she hated him. An adult screaming in her stepkids' face that she hates him. And it was rewarded by him calling her mom. In front of his actual mother who he's had nothing but a good relationship build with the whole time.
- Letting a family legacy turn to nothing because it's become unhealthy. Breaking the cycle and the guts it takes to do that. Helping others (pelicans/parakeets) break the cycle in turn
- SO MUCH BIRD SHIT. On everyone, and they're calling it cute & laughing. (Also what happened to active labor??) Why is there so much bird shit in this movie???
- Door is open for Mahito to make his own tower with the stone he kept & talisman of the old woman but we're not going to think too hard about that.
- And then they all left to go back to the city.
#the boy and the heron#I will always stand by how beautifully they animate#and the legacy theme here is awesome#but WHAT??
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@theimaginatrix27 (I'm starting a new post because the other one was starting to get long).
I think that new trek is trying a bit too hard to live up to a legacy that is crushing it. It's trying too hard to be Star Trek instead of using Star Trek as a medium to tell a story and explore a philosophical idea. I think the best thing about Old trek is that nearly every episode poses a philosophical question about morality or the nature of reality or something and then explores that idea. Even if you absolutely hate what they did with the episode, you keep thinking about the philosophical question long after you've turned off the tv. Even though new trek tries to be edgy and dark with the gorn or whatever, it feels like it's playing it safe because the audience doesn't get challenged as much.
Personally I like a darker interpretation of starfleet, but I still don't like how new trek has gone about it. I agree that deep space nine did it better and with nuance. I think that you don't have to invent secret corruption to explore that aspect of starfleet. Starfleet is already deeply flawed in cannon, even in the original series. Star Trek started as a space western, a wagon train to the stars as Rodenberry called it. Which means that starfleet, from it's beginning, is colonial. The federation is constantly expanding and settling new planets that it deems to be unclaimed by sentient life as by it's own definitions of sentient life. It's a utopia, but it's a white american idea of utopia that just can't exist in real life without distopian consequences. North America was not empty land after all. I'd like to see that explored more. I'd like to see new star trek get radical and challenge colonialism. I want to see it challenge the beliefs it held about it's self in earlier trek. I think that it's still possible to have an inspiring message about everyone working together to create a better society without having the federation be the ultimate example of what a better society looks like. I think that having secret corruption story lines takes zero risks. At best it's over done. At worst, it's just rehashing the idea of a mysterious organization controlling the government that must be routed out by the good, innocent starfleet officers and there's absolutely nothing radical about that.
Anyways, I bet we both could write at least a ten page essay on why new trek doesn't work. There was a few episodes I liked. I really liked the episode in Picard where captain Rios gets detained by ICE. That one felt like a deep space nine episode and was powerful. They need more of that. I'm glad that they've been able to introduce more diversity but they've got to do something with it! They need more diversity in their writing rooms. Imagine what it would be like if they hired a bunch of black women to write stories for Michael Burnham. Discovery could have been so cool. I know that they had one black man who left the team after the white staff reported him to hr for using the n word. Hey, imagine if they hired a blind writer to give Hemmer some love! He deserved so much more. Star Trek has been conserned with living up to it's past, but really it needs to get with the program of today. It used to push the boundaries of what was on tv. Now there's hundreds of shows boldly going where Star Trek is seemingly scared to go.
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