#just kind of goofy!!!! unclear what point it was trying to make. with such a sexy cast too.....m
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the menu (2022) sucked . i rly wanted to like it
#have u guys seen it. girl#when i saw initial criticism that it was just trying to hop onto the eat the rich success of parasite and triangle if sadness etc#i was like well there's plenty if stories to tell in that realm i don't mind#and i enjoy media abt the restaurant industry and all that#but . idk it was so heavy handed and escalated so quickly and also didn't function very well as either horror movie or satire imo#just kind of goofy!!!! unclear what point it was trying to make. with such a sexy cast too.....m#and u know i love a good for her moment but it felt so . . . cheap..... ehhhhhh#idk. would love to hear someone else's take#elli.txt
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🐀Junkrat (OW I & II) x (gn) Reader💣
(Confession Edition!)
(Picture’s not mine!)
(Been wanting to write for him for a while now and I wanted to start up the writing process while the skillet was still hot, hope I convey Junkrat well!)
- Alright, this guy, it would take a bit for the junker to even realize his feelings for you are romantic, let’s all be honest with ourselves.
- Whenever he’s near you and feels fuzzy he just thinks it’s the after-effects of the excitement he has when he uses his bombs and makes people fly.
- He can’t differentiate those kinds of feelings, the difference between platonic and romantic is something that passes him by.
- It’s unclear if he even has feelings on top of that, treating you like a good friend that he’s particularly touchy with, which might discourage some.
- You could say something referencing your feelings to him, like complimenting him sincerely only for him to be like, “Thanks, mate! That’s mighty kind of you!” With that goofy ass smile plastered on his face.
- But knowing the people who are into Junkrat (me included), it’s a temporary setback, a momentary loss before you spring back up and try more for this weirdo.
- After all, I think that consistency and being a constant helps a lot, I mean, look at Roadhog— He’s the appointed best friend and pal to Junkrat, always with him. The reason I ascertain is due to Roadhog being a strong, reliable, and constant aspect to Junkrat out in the Outback.
- Roadhog himself is what I believe would be the knife that pops the tension between you and Junkrat, there’s only so much that a pig can handle. Especially when it comes to you trying so blatantly while the rat remains oblivious.
- On one particular day he just gets fed up and grabs him by the tire before he can run into the mission after seeing you interact and fail to get the point across to Junkrat for the umpteenth time. Makes Junkrat look him in the eye and doesn’t sugarcoat anything when he says, “Reader likes you. Fucking moron.”
- Then promptly drops him and starts making his way out of the building to do the mission as Junkrat is left sitting there on the floor, a baffled look on his face before hastily getting up and running after Roadhog, hastily asking what meant by that as his arms flap around manically.
- After that, he is quick to start crafting a “master plan” (as he so proudly calls it) excitably rattling about ideas swirling in his brain as he slaps together a planning board. Roadhog is subject to this rhymeless madness and gives him the nod and thumbs up method.
- He, as anyone might expect from him, wants it to be a grand affair. You are the subject of his affections after all, so naturally you deserve something grand, so, grand it will be.
- His definition of grand is… Odd of course, but do we expect from him? Yeah, and what we expect him to do is what he exactly does. Making it a spectacle that he tries to invite everyone to, unsuccessfully, and he gets talked out of it by Roadhog because of three reasons: One it’s a bad idea if anything goes south and you get something stuck or some shit, two it would take away the surprise and you’d probably find out what he’s trying to do, and third it would be awkward in front of so many people.
- After that hiccup he still wants it to be grand, and include explosives indefinitely, but more tame variations, like glitter (do NOT LET THIS MAN OBTAIN GLITTER) or smoke bombs with pink smoke that leaves stains.
- With the creation and attention he gives this plan it takes from the time he usually spends with you, but he makes up for it.
- After setting everything up, he excitedly drags you by your arm to a secluded area and promptly ignites a wired construction of said bombs all together creating a big fat heart shape on the floor. Then eagerly grabbing you by your shoulders and basically yells at you when he tells he’s all sorts of crazy about you and how he now knows you feel the same, as well as apologize that it took so long for him to realize it.
- Yeah, mouth full, and when you confirm that, yes, you feel the same he’s fighting the urge to bounce on the walls. Opting to hold your hands tightly, jumping and spinning the two of you around as he looks at you with a lovesick smile and gaze.
- At that point forward, you, him, and Roadhog are joint at the hips if you guys weren’t already.
- He’s so giggly about you, that he makes it a bit obvious that you guys are a thing now and it divides people on how they react to it, for example, one-half are relieved that the tension and pining is over or the other half are straight up horrified that the disgusting, gross, vile rat man that is Junkrat was able to get with someone.
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Ok ok finally MacKay issue 21 thoughts. This is somewhat of a rant/ramble/drawn out analysis and summary created as I did a reread, so it’s a bit rough as far as flow of ideas go but I hope it’s interesting to y’all. But TLDR: MacKay dug into a truly essential aspect of his cast this issue, AKA, who they are outside of business, what living means to them, and how trauma affects and is shown in them all, and I’m excited to see that trend hopefully continue.
First off, I feel like I remember noticing it in the past but only solidly realized that Reese has a nose piercing when looking over this issue again. I think her design has been wonderful to see evolve, from the recent hairstyle change to locs to just her solid almost punk-ish style in general. Her dress and moon shoulder things are gorgeous this issue, and overall her styling is just a really nice visual way to give a vibe for her as a person.
And of course! First issue from her point of view. I hadn’t realized how much we had been needing that. It’s been so many issues now from Marc’s point of view or the system’s in general, that getting another one from the Midnight Mission crew feels refreshing. It allows us a look into Reese as a person again, instead of her just being part of the job or the system’s friend.
And that seems to be the focal point of the beginning here, of taking characters outside of where we’ve seen them. It’s been months, maybe almost a year that they’ve been working together, and Reese is only just now getting Soldier to loosen up and go out. She’s having to give him a crash course on how to be a person, both in the social and vampire sense. She makes him fill up on blood because she knows the rules and how it works, but MacKay also shows us it’s not just natural, they can still taste the blood, they don’t like it. Vampirism is not benign and in the background it’s front and center and constantly there to remind them what they aren’t.
But even then… they still have friends. Or Reese does at least.
I love Teddy and Shannon’s intro, because it helps to retroactively show us that Reese isn’t isolated. She’s been going out and making friends with other vampires. It’s domestic and human and normal, Teddy joking with the Draculads and Draculadies greeting (a line I just think is super fun and sweet), and Shannon wrapping Reese up in a hug. Reese has connections even when separated from humanity, friends and colleagues and people struggling with the same thing she is.
I wonder if Shannon and Teddy were vampires she met after being turned, ones who taught her the ropes, or if they were friends before hand, all getting turned in the same kind of nabbing. We get a line later about stuff they used to do “before” and how they’re just now getting back into it, but it’s unclear if they were friends and all turned to vampires, or just had similar outings. Either way, how those connections were formed opens up a lot of possibility into the world of shared trauma and experience, into finding your community and your people and moving forward with each other.
It also highlights how much of an outsider Soldier is in all this. Teddy and Shannon know him, he knows them, they’ve probably exchanged brief words when Reese has gone out with them in the past, maybe even tried to goad him into coming along, but it’s not his friend group. It’s a bit awkward. Soldier is trying but even at the start he’s confused, but they’re bringing him into the fold because it’s what he needs, and they care about him.
Then of course!! Jake! He immediately comes in with a big smile, and nicknames, and his face visible, calling them kiddos and picking them up like a chaperone to prom. Since these few pages were the preview, they’ve already been talked about a lot, but it’s deserved. MacKay nails Jake so well. He’s personable and goofy and has the warm vibe of an uncle and an old friend. He clashes slightly with Soldier’s formal vibe, again highlighting the out of place-ness Soldier has in normal friend and social interactions. Jake isn’t a boss, this isn’t a mission, Jake is for the people and they’re going out to dance!
It’s just a lovely display of Jake’s role and vibe and the relationships that have been building. Jake calls Marc and Steven the boys and slightly teases them on how they worry about mission things, once again showcasing the central focus of this issue of duty vs life, the job vs the people. And of course, all his lines are just delightful.
There’s also more hints and foreshadowing in the car ride of the overall plot we may be seeing, references to whether or not Zodiac is pulling strings again, what his influence may be in all of this. It’s a new mystery we’re being led into, and I’m excited for it.
The art on the drive is also gorgeous, the squeak of the tires the lights blurring, the city coming into view. Rosenberg, the colorist, always does an amazing job, and Cappuccio’s art (while I don’t always love how he does faces or proportions) captures movement and texture so well.
And then there’s the club scene. Jake drops them off, using his connections to get special treatment for those he cares about (and people in the line are mad about it), and then assuages Marc’s worries about having what they need (which obvs comes back later). You can tell Marc is hovering close to front because of how on edge he’s been, something I’ll touch on in a further scene.
Reese’s narration mixed with the visuals here makes for such a wonderfully tactile experience for the heightened senses of a vampire. We get to see her joy, the almost overwhelm of sensation but also how visceral and filled with life it makes the experience. The line that really gets me is “…I had to remind myself to breathe so I could talk.” It nails not just the breathless feeling of community but also the breathless feeling of being dead, the normal impulses of a body that now have to be a conscious effort.
And then Soldier.
We cut to him and his face is uncomfortable, he’s shrunken, slow, reserved. He looks out of place and it’s obvious he feels out of place, that he’s unsure and confused and doesn’t know how this works and is aware he doesn’t. There’s been an underlying current to everything of his inability to separate himself from his duties, from being the tool for something, that’s been present throughout the whole run but was especially highlighted during the end of the Structure arc, and is brought back again here. Reese even states this, states how she’s seen his patterns grow, how she doesn’t even know his name. He’s just Soldier. He’s just a soldier. But she won’t let that stand. Her smile is bright and she shoves him and teases him because he is her friend and they are still people and still get to have fun. He gets to have fun. The entire exchange about who’s in charge, and seeing a small smile grow on Soldier’s face as he finally gets into it just showcases something so special and sweet about the ways these characters exist outside of the fights and searches we’ve mainly seen them in.
This progression… it makes me so happy. (ID in ALT)
They’re friends having fun, getting out of their shell, living an unlife and losing themselves in it together.
But it doesn’t last, because for those involved in moon knight business, life gets taken over by the job, almost like it can’t be escaped. I think it’s also important to note the fact that when Reese pauses and looks concerned, Soldier immediately thinks he’s doing something wrong, that he’s doing the social activity wrong and she’s upset with him about it. There’s a lot of bigger and smaller ties into how he views himself and life, how he’s been conditioned to be a certain way an has to work to let himself go.
Reese’s immediate honing in on something being off and the way her face falls is also crushing. Even trying to be human again, even being just people, they can’t escape their hyper vigilance, the way their senses are tuned for threats and able to pick up on things others don’t. She even says it. “We had been made, or remade, to hunt and kill at night. So even across the warehouse, even through the dark and the lights, I could see him. I could see what he was doing.”
And they can’t do anything. They can know something is going to happen but not what, they’re helpless to wait to react because they have to know what they’re reacting to. And then the chaos hits and it’s mission mode. Solider pushes Reese out of the way and the glass crashes down as Marc breaks in and normalcy and an attempt at it is shattered.
And as with the rest of this run, colors work to highlight this. The pink of the club becomes tinted red by violence when the mind control audio hits, and the cool blue of moon knight cuts through to handle it. The colors are gorgeous and contrasting and show the moods of the scene and the people involved, the water on the wound.
And of course, Marc was standing by. What Jake references in the trunk had to be the suit, because Marc’s also the uncle, the watchful leader worried about the young adults he’s pulled into his crazy shit. He’s the parent walking you home from work and parked outside as you close up shop. Protection is a love language for him and it’s also compulsory. If you’re in his group you are in his group and he would fucking die for you. Normalcy scares Marc and yet he craves it, because it is both harder to control, but desires deeply. Reese and Soldier and their friends go out scared him, and he had to watch, especially after losing so many close to him so quickly in the previous issues. Just like them he’s also on watch, hyper aware, only able to act when something has happened to stop.
But Reese is right that it can’t all be rage. The people are innocent and their violence isn’t the root of the problem it’s the sound. And continuing with brute force is only going to cause further issues. Reese knows vampirism she’s lived vampirism and she doesn’t want to hurt people. We see it at the start with telling Soldier to top off and here knowing that spilled blood could send them into danger, make them a threat.
And so what does she do? When there is a threat that’s disrupted normalcy and a problem that’s hard to combat and rage may only bring more pain?
She dissociates. Physically.
It’s easy to, when it’s needed, when it’s the necessity, but pulling things together, making things work, living with what you’re able to and need to do and not just letting things drift and become chaotic, it takes effort and grounding.
And that’s… well that’s very similar to what Marc’s arc has been. Very similar to mental dissociation. It’s easy for him to try and ignore his problems, to brute force his way through them and separate himself from them, but making things work, maintaining system communication and balance, not letting him and his headmates get distanced and striated from each other, not losing hold of themselves, is hard. It takes work and practice and intention, not just what feels easiest.
And there’s also that tie between vampirism and trauma, between the way Reese has dealt with her stuff representing healthy and routine coping, versus Soldier and Marc still struggling with that. They struggle with working with what they have and both knowing it’s there, but not letting it take over or define everything. The hyper vigilance, the fear of worse happening, the self isolation and the push away from what they're experiencing because there is "shame" (other headmates, having to drink blood for safety). They’ve all been through a lot and lost people and lost themselves, and they’re working on it in different ways.
And also. Well Reese turning into smoke/mist looks super fucking cool.
And she’s not perfect! She falls mid air and doesn’t quite tackle the villain but she still ends the immediate problem. And then she gets shot. She’s fine but it still hurts. Small victories can still be rough, working towards something better can still sting.
It also sets up this arc’s conflict well. Our main characters are immune to these sounds, because they’ve been alienated from people as a whole and as a concept, even if at their core they’re still human, and that grants a separateness from the threat of being forced to lose control. But if it’s experimentation, if someone is behind the scenes pulling the strings and trying to cause conflict, how long will that safety last? Trauma can in some ways grant an awareness of threats that works as a heads up or a numbing agent, but that doesn’t mean it’s a shield. There can be cracks and people can still get in, and the hurt still happens.
They may be safe for now, but will it be that way always? Will the mission really be forever, not allowing for a break, not allowing for a breather?
This issue was from Reese’s perspective, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it shows some of the most normal activity we’ve seen in the entire series. Her lens on life is different from the others, she’s found ways to work on healing, to not be trapped in one place, and as such her story gives us a view outside of direct missions, to other places of town and other joys. It contrasts against Marc, to the story we’ve been told thus far mainly from his perspective.
So to the previous to questions, no, it won’t. For both. The cast can’t escape their situation, they have to deal with it and confront themselves and what happens, but it also isn’t everything. There are people besides them to connect with, moments of downtime, lives to live that are not defined by a midnight mission that stretches into dawn.
It may just be a while until they’re really able to rest their feet.
(And on a side note, this can all be applied even to members not in this issue, to Steven, to Badr, both dealing with trying to make things work via logic and faith, working to make things work, to do a duty. Is Badr immune like the system? How will his changing views on the world and Khonshu and relationships play into a plot revolving around enemies being created even from people you love? The cast has been working to build up relationships and trust for so long and this, I assume, will be testing that. And it seems like next issue Greer will be involved as well, based on the cover, so we’ll see how other characters are further affected (-: )
#moon knight 2021#reese moon knight#soldier moon knight#marc spector#jake lockley#mikes mk meta#the fruit is talking again
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Larry the Legionnaire
I’ve lost it guys finally I’ve gotten around to the Larry post! Larry the Legionnaire (as he is sort of titled in the wiki which makes me giggle though it’s not an accurate title) is a character that shows up in SoN and I believe some point in ToA,
Larry is a Son of Mercury, Centurion to the second cohort and a Senator; though I believe that he swapped cohorts? In SoN I think it’s mentioned he was from the second but from what I’ve seen in Tyrants tomb he’s referred to being from the third. He first shows up in SoN to yell about how Frank shouldn’t be made Centurion because of several technicalities, and then from what I’ve seen he shows up in ToA though because I haven’t read Tyrants tomb and I’ve been… struggling through the hidden oracle and taken a break so I won’t really talk about it other than the brief notes on his personality.
Larry is a character that I think is silly. He is a goofball. But he also has one of the most frustrating roles to be played in like Camp Jupiter meta.
He is a character that directly muddles the water with rules over Camp Jupiter Centurion ascension requirements and Senatorial(?) requirements. Originally he could be read as a Senator who knows the rules and doesn’t like them being broken, he would’ve been the only named Senator we got- and that could’ve been interesting and would’ve solidified the idea that there are legionnaires whose other role is to be a Senator. But then we had to make him a Centurion, which (like I said in a different post) really made the Centurion and Senator roles very unclear (let’s be honest every role except Probatio and Legionnaire are unclear in the terms of ascension, the rules surrounding them, etc). But by making him a Centurion it only furthered the concept that they serve in the Senate as well and that rules applied to Senators could apply to Centurions (I don’t know if anyone else had that misconception, but I really did lol) and it just kind of sucked. I’ll make a post about my ideas over CJ role ascension and that stuff (not exactly canon because I don’t want to re-read through SoN and MoA trying to find that stuff)
Anyway! Uhhh, I would love to tell you about all the cool stuff about Larry, but all I really can say is the super limited things we get in SoN. Due to the fact I haven’t read Tyrants tomb..
However I will say the fact that according to the wiki they described him as, “Goofy” and said he expressed interest in becoming a pirate and that is very silly. I like the idea of Larry being just a goofy little guy that tries his best to be a good guy for the legion.
What I can draw from his character surrounds the idea that he is both a Centurion and Senator. The Senator is a voted on role in the legion and there’s only 10 of them (2 per cohort. And if we want to bring up the 5 outpost cohorts I talked about waaaay back in my earlier posts then the outposts have a separate group of senators that are sent down to New Rome) and that implies to me at least that we can draw that Larry is a likeable guy, he’s reasonable, from the fact he was in opposition to Frank’s ascension because he didn’t meet the requirements I feel we can take that in a couple directions,
One, that Larry is rule-oriented. He may canonically be lighthearted and goofy, but he still very well can be attached to the rules. Also would like to sort-of tangentially add that he was canonically one of the legionnaires that didn’t like and looked down upon the fifth cohort though that’s what everyone in Camp Jupiter commonly has agreed upon
Two, Larry was trying to say what was best for the legion. We know Larry is loyal to the legion and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he thought this would negatively impact the legion and tried to say his resignations; the fact that Frank was inexperienced and it’d be breaking the rules to make him a Centurion (but I guess Mars just didn’t care about that. Really like I don’t see much of a reason to make Frank in a position of power- but if someone else does feel free to tell me)
Anyway another notable thing is that Larry is a demigod. In a Camp where we’re told that legacies are the majority (or at least it’s implied? It’s certainly made to look like Legacies are the more common body in Camp) where seeing a Demigod says a lot. He’s not engrossed into Roman culture the same way legionnaires who grew up in New Rome and surrounded by it. How does that affect him? He gets to have the ability to not have that New Roman edge, to have a goofier nature that probably would’ve been frowned upon amongst the Romans. He’s fresh he’s knew, it’s relatable for other demigods in his position because they all come from not New Rome! And in the way of my headcanons he’s either in the Second cohort which is just full of legacies from New Rome who’ve gotten a higher cohort because of their letters of recommendation and continue to play second fiddle to the first- which makes it interesting to think about how Larry got into the cohort he did. And if it’s the third cohort than that’s the competitive cohort, then that puts an idea that Larry had some trait and characteristic that the third wanted. All of that is things I want to figure out in the future- which uh technically is the point of this post but Larry is a newer think for me.
We get no physical description for Larry, no last name for Larry. We get nothing for Larry!! And here is now some of my more random misc. ideas,
Larry’s name comes from Laurence- which itself means, “Crowned with Laurel” and I like giving character who have shorter names longer names (I don’t know why but I do). Though, as much as I want to go make his name Laurence- we have a Laurence, sure it’s a Bryce Lawerence. But the two would still be too similar, and I like just Larry- it’s silly, it is a short way to name a character that shows personality. In the best way Larry is just a silly name, it’s fun to say, I like saying Larry and a Larry looks like a good person in my mind. Though I’d like to say his last name is Ahlgren. Ahlgren is a Swedish last name that combines words for Alder and branch. This continues the plant theming in his name (first laurels and now Alders) while I also just wanted to use a last name from a place I usually wouldn’t. While I believe that Larry is from somewhere in Maine.. he just feels like a Maine guy, Larry’s mom worked in a little bakery in a small town and they had a pretty normal life. Sure the monsters were kind of odd but Larry mentioned them only for it to be his imagination. I’d like to say Larry came to camp when he was 11, his mother at some point sends him over (maybe due to Mercury or Lupaor some of Lupa’s wolves? We never like get how Camp gets legionnaires to the Wolf house other than Frank who like his grandma is like “okay go” and then like ??? Implied his mom and Grandma knew about it but still can I have details? Maybe I’m just forgetting.) where he survived through the Wolf house and went on to Camp. His quest (as funny as it is in my mind to just make it Luke’s quest again but I already did that gag for a Oc and I’m not doing it again) but his quest was definitely just a re-skinned old myth quest (because it feels like Hermes/Mercury likes doing that).
Anyway that’s all I have currently swimming around in my brain about Larry, I’ll probably add more in the future but for now, I just realized that Camp doesn’t seem to do offerings during meals from the one meal we saw which is… off? Odd certainly, maybe I’ll do a post over the offering/Divine side of Camp at some point but whatever. I don’t have any planned posts but I have a Castor/Pollux/Kind of Dakota post in my drafts that might be finished soon, I also took a nap this day and honestly couldn’t recommend more, feel asleep watching MandJtv plays I think? I like the Team Sky playlist.
Anyway goodnight!
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Episode 26: Char Returns
saw the title of this episode and now all i can think about is how hyped i am to see my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good-time boy again
unreal to me how unfitting this opening is lmao. something like a cruel angels thesis is a banging pop song, but it's at least got a melancholy to it, and the visuals are way less straightforward
oh good it's this stock footage again. i was hoping we were done with it after the g-fighter was introduced
it's good to see the actual justification for why it does that though (the core fighter is an escape pod that you can get out of the gundam in easily, but it takes longer to get back together) but i feel like 26 episodes in is a bit late for that!
oh? a new person? and she's a zeon spy?
this balloon transfer system seems risky. gotta be a better way
it's a char! i guess all the people he was demoted to being under have gotten killed by now
how does radio interference make the picture like that?
this is kind of a coincidence, but it should lead to some cool stuff happening so whatever
someone needs to tell this kid to cut it out with the roman salutes
i don't think the orphans need to be in this meeting, but i guess fraw bow should be there and they don't exactly have a lot of childcare options, what with most of humanity being dead
fraw bow, you could have left. it's too late to leave now! (except, i assume, for the 4 year olds. i feel like they'd make an exception there)
yeah you're all soldiers now. the last offramp was probably in like episode 11, but you could have still made it out if you convinced bright before now
"ratings are low, so we're going to have zeon throw a bunch of new mobile suits and mobile armors at you to try and drive toy sales to keep from cancellation"
the goggs are kind of goofy looking (not to be confused with goufy looking, though there is a little bit of that)
kai sees a spy and immediately starts flirting, since he has the worst instincts known to mankind
it might be cruel to separate them; it would also be the right thing to do. you can't have 6 year olds around for this kind of thing!
that's either a sturdy mobile suit or a crappy mine
the gundam is good to go, but the others aren't since their names aren't in the shows title
the gogg emerging from the sea is very kaiju
oh good he's using the gundam hammer (which still isn't a hammer). my interest in this fight has just dropped dramatically
oh no! he caught the gundam hammer! this is unprecedented! what a way to introduce this mobile suit as a threat!
more seriously, a zaku could probably have caught that with a skilled pilot
unclear what this is about. bad fight.
these things have stronger armor, to the point where the beam saber requires a lot of work to cut through
episode has lots of good setup and then a not so good fight. so it goes
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Ok I was trying to be understanding and nice but you're just a goofy ass. I'm not even non binary. I'm a man. Dipshit. The person who provided sources or whatever wasn't me. You say you hate identity politics and shit but you expect everyone of one belief to be nb or for nb ppl to all share one belief. Humans are fucking humans. You think nothing sets us apart from other animals? Nothing? I don't think we should have gender at all, it's just a way to navigate a world where you don't fucking fit in the roles ARTIFICIALLY CONSTRUCTED FOR YOU. Gender is fake. God you think you're some kind of intellectual asking for a biological basis for everything. You literally are tip toeing on eugenicist talking points ie bioessentialism and act like you're some kind of genius by constantly asking for a biological basis for everything. I followed you for years because I thought you were a rational human being who can actually be reasoned with but now i see you're just another internet loser jacking off your superiority complex
The amount of times I have had people tell me how long they followed me for, or how much they enjoyed my blog, up until I touch on something they strongly disagree with, and bam, out comes the anger. How does someone who followed me for years act surprised about my stance on gender/transsexualism? Or did "can actually be reasoned with" just mean "can be made to change their mind to my ideas"?
Of course I expect the term "non-binary" to have one consistent definition. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything. Is it a biological concept? Is it a purely sociological one? Why was it made up in the first place, if its basis is unclear? You may not be non-binary yourself then – doesn't really change anything about what I'd answered at all, the point of which, as per usual with debates over anonymous asks, gets ignored.
You're turning this into a dumb semantic argument about what the word "gender" means. I believe it was coined to refer to a biological concept, you think it represents the whole of gendered roles and expectations. At the end of the day, I don't really care what it's called, so long as these two concepts are understood to be separate things. And there is a lot of scientific evidence to support the former concept, i.e. that there are some biological differences to be found between males and females on a neurological level. Is that… really such a crazy concept to some people? When there exist differences between males and females in so many other physical ways?
As for oppression as a consequence of these differences: there are so many things that could be (and sadly have been) misused to discriminate against women, or any other group. Males are, on average, also larger and physically stronger than females. Could also be misused to justify sexism. But are you going to deny those biological facts in an attempt to fight that? It's not going to be any less true, and it's a weird stance to me – it insinuates to me that you too might believe that such a difference existing is a reason to oppress a group, and that's why it has to be denied. I don't fear research finding potential differences between males and females; it's not going to change that they deserve equal rights. And countries with equal rights aren't suddenly going to start installing misogynistic laws left and right because of brain sex research, so I don't understand this paranoid point of view. If you understand that a woman being shorter and physically less strong than others doesn't decrease her value as a human being, then you can apply the same concept to other differences, such as neurological ones. And after all, you're the one that seems to be assuming that these differences hold negative implications about women; in reality, they mostly seem present in brain areas involved in the brain-body connection, or what is understood to be the whole of elements that make us consider ourselves a male or a female. None of this is about inherent intelligence or capabilities. Unless you mean to argue that there is nothing neurological that makes us feel male or female either, but then we've crossed into the territory of "transsexual people's sense of gender identity is made up." I'm not following you down there.
TL;DR: These aren't my opinions. These are the views of researchers with a lot more experience and relevant education than either you or I. Enough supporting evidence for The Endocrine Society, a global community of scientists focused on hormone science & health, to put out a statement saying that gender identity has a biological basis [summary] [full source]. So, why on earth should anyone listen to your random, baseless opinion that actively goes against the incredible amount of research they base their professional view on?
Also, maybe next time grow the balls to say these things off anonymous. I've grown so tired of anonymous cowardice.
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every road leads back to you ; john b routledge
summary: after running from the cops, john b finds himself at his ex’s door, needing her help
pairing: john b routledge x fem!reader
word count: 2k
warnings: mentions of season one finale, lil’ bit of angst
masterlist
Your (mum/dad) had always tried to instill in you the idea that once someone was out of your life then that was it, they were meant to be gone and you wouldn’t need to see them again. It was always unclear why they told you this, maybe it was to try and minimise the pain you felt when someone left but it never worked because, as much as you didn’t want, you got attached to people, easily.
You had met John B. when you started middle school. Your parents had decided to move on a whim, in the middle of the school year so starting a new school in the middle of the year was unbelievably nerve-wracking.
With your backpack slung over your shoulders, you had wandered through the halls of your new school. Your number one fear: not making any friends. That was instantly quelled when an excitable blonde boy had bounded up to you, with a slightly taller, brunette boy following close behind him.
“Hi! I’m JJ!” He grinned from ear to ear. “This is John B.”
“I’m Y/N,” You said, waving nervously and shuffling from foot to foot. “Do you know where I go for Miss Tutweiler?”
JJ whipped around to face his friend. “I don’t but he does.”
John B nodded and smiled, still without saying a word.
“I gotta go, my mom’s picking me up early, see ya!” JJ took off down the hallway, leaving you alone with John B.
There weren’t many words exchanged as you walked to class together, but when you entered the classroom, John B. grabbed your hand and pulled you to sit in the desk next to his, glaring at anyone that tried to make you move.
What began as a hesitant friendship engineered by JJ eventually became a long-lasting relationship. Until John B, one day, out of nowhere, decided that he was done and broke up with you.
“I need your help.”
Which is why when he showed up at your doorstep, unannounced and uninvited, with a gaggle of teenagers behind him, you were shocked and more than a little bit wary. You looked over his shoulder to take a note of the people with him. You instantly recognised JJ Maybank, his grin was still as infectious, and Pope Heyward, who had joined your little gang a short while after you. You didn’t recognise either of the girls with them, though one of them definitely seemed to have come from the richer side of the island you grew up on.
Taking a deep breath, you moved to the side and opened the door wider, just enough for them all to walk through, into your apartment, before closing the door behind them. They awkwardly shuffled around for a few seconds before you led them through to the living room and let them find a seat as you collected your thoughts.
“So,” You said, sitting on the arm on the couch, shooting John B a tight-lipped smile, fixing him with a cold glare that sent shivers down all of their spines. Besides John B, JJ was the only one that knew how bad your temper could get. “Are you going to tell me why you’re here and why you’ve dragged the scooby doo gang along or am I gonna have to guess?”
The silence was almost deafening and the others watched in amusement as he opened and closed his mouth, trying to form the words that could begin to explain their situation.
You glanced around at the others. JJ was sitting on the loveseat in the corner of the room, along with another boy dressed in a Pelican Marino shirt, looking extremely uncomfortable and out of place. On the couch next to where you sat, there was a blonde girl sitting with her legs thrown over the lap of another girl that was looking between you and John B, you could tell she was trying to suss you out.
“It’s really complicated,” The blonde girl said, meeting your gaze. “I’m Sarah, it’s a long and , kind of, unbelievable story but we really need a place to stay for a while.”
John B felt like flinching when your eyes flickered back to him, after nodding at Sarah. His eyes were wide and looked like the epitome of a deer caught in headlights, stuffing his hands into the pockets of shorts. “That’s Pope and Kie.”
The tension in the room was broken by JJ, who gazes had been glancing around the room. “Woah!” He exclaimed, with a chuckle, gesturing to the machine in the corner of the room. “Is that a Robotron?”
You let out a low chuckle at his enthusiasm. “Yeah, it’s my roommates, we still need to set it up though.”
It was lost to you what they could’ve done or gotten involved in that they would’ve needed to hide out with you. From what you can remember, JJ had never had any plans to leave town.
“Soda?” You offered, wandering into the connecting kitchen. JJ nodded and smiled when you passed a bottle over to him, throwing one into Pope’s lap as well.
Kiara, or Kie, was still looking around your apartment, approvingly and almost enviously. “Why did you leave?” She blurted out when she met your eyes.
“Kie,” John B. hissed at her before his eyes met yours once again. “I’m sorry, Y/N/N.”
“It’s alright,” You laughed. “I needed a fresh and I didn’t really have anything holding me back so why not? Anyways, you guys mind giving a little more info? I’m gonna need to know more before I agree to let you stay.”
No one but Kiara and John B were able to meet her gaze. “It’s nothing to worry about,” Kiara insisted. “We’ve got it handled.”
“Give the fact that you showed up here at about,” You paused to quickly glance down at your phone, flashing the screen on to show the time. “Four o’clock in the morning makes me think that you don’t actually have it handled but I guess I could be wrong.”
“Y/N/N-” John B. stumbled over his words, attempting to diffuse the potential argument. If there was one thing he knew you and Kiara had in common, it was that you were both very headstrong and stubborn people.
You shot a glare at him. “I’ll get to you, Routledge, don’t think I won’t.”
Turning back to face Kiara, you noticed that Sarah was running her hands up and down the girl’s legs, in an attempt to calm and soothe her. You smiled at the sight, at least they had each other. “The truth is,” You began. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me but I’m willing to bet that one, you’re a lot smarter than this idiot is,” Pointing towards John B. “and that you didn’t let him drag you here in the middle of night for me to play a guessing game.”
“So,” You continued. “And I mean this in the nicest possible way, either give me more or get out.”
JJ piped up. “Basically everyone thinks that John B. killed someone and now he’s on the run. I wasn’t gonna let him go off on his own and get himself caught.”
“And I wasn’t letting John B get himself caught or let JJ get himself killed,” Pope explained, placing his empty bottle on the coffee table in front of where he sat with the blonde. “Didn’t exactly think it through though.”
“Then Kie didn’t want them to be separated,” Sarah said, filling in the last piece. “And with her gone, I didn’t really have anything keeping me there so here we are.”
“Alright,” You nodded, taking a deep breath. “We’re getting somewhere, kind of. My room’s down the hall, to the left, you girls can take the bed in there. Pope and JJ, that couch pulls out into a bed, you can take that one for the night. And, Routledge, you’ll have to be in with me, I guess. Everyone get a few hours and we’ll try and figure something out in the morning.”
Sarah pushed Kiara’s legs off her own and pulled up off the couch and down the hallway into your bedroom. You grabbed John B’s hand and started pulling him down the same hallway, after turning back to check on the boys. “You’re alright sorting the couch out, right?”
Pope nodded. “How hard can it be?”
When you entered your roommate’s bedroom, you threw yourself down to sit in the bed, leaning backwards, rolling your stiff neck, and crossing your arms over your chest, resting your gaze on your ex-boyfriend, who sat at the desk, opposite the bed.
“Hey, Y/N/N.” He drew out, his shoulders hunched, his hands running up and down his thighs nervously.
You pursed your lips, clenching and unclenching your fists into tight balls, your nails marking your skin with crescent shapes. “Are you naturally this much of a rage-inducing dumbass or do you have to work at it?”
“Thanks for this.”
“I’m not doing it for you.” You unclenched your hands, moving your gaze and focusing on a spot on the wall just above John B’s head.
His shoulders slumped down. “I know.”
“Seriously, how the fuck did all of this happen?”
John B took a deep breath, leaning his head back to gaze up at the ceiling. “We were trying to find this gold but so was Ward, Sarah’s dad, and it got so fucked up and there was some shit about my dad and then Peterkin died, then there were wanted posters with my face on them and I had to run.”
Complete and utter silence enveloped the room as John B’s voice trailed off, neither of you saying anything or knowing what to say. The silence was shattered by a loud crash that came from down the hall, making you both jump in surprise. John B quickly jumped up and moved in front of you, arms stretching across to try and cover you from harm.
You scoffed, pushing him out of the way before walking down the hallway, towards the noise.
When you came to the end of the hallway, you found JJ, laying on the floor with a goofy grin on his face, and Pope, standing above him, shaking his head, smiling down at the boy. “The dumbass fell.”
Your head tilted to the side, didn’t look like JJ had changed a bit since you’d known him, and you definitely weren’t complaining. “Is the couch gonna be alright?”
They both nodded, Pope reaching a hand out to pull JJ up from the floor, both of them erupting in laughter once again.
John B. leant against the wall opposite from where you stood, smirking at them. The smile slowly slipped from his lips when he noticed your eyes on his. “I didn’t mean for them to get mixed up in this, I just wanted it, so badly.”
“I know, Johnny.” You whispered into the air between you.
“I really miss you, ya know.”
“John.”
“I do.”
“You dumped me, John B,” You snapped, waving your arms in his direction. “Out of nowhere, no warning, no explanation, just nothing. Do you have any idea what that did to me? You weren’t just my boyfriend, you were my best friend and it was like I meant absolutely jack-shit to you.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly. “I didn’t mean to but I started freaking out, I was already on edge about my dad and then JJ kept making jokes and saying stuff about how we’d probably end up getting engaged soon enough and it freaked me out.
“You could’ve talked to me, you should’ve talked to me, anything would’ve been better than throwing me away like yesterday’s trash.”
“I know,” He conceded. “Maybe we could start over? It’s not just me that’s missed you either. JJ mentioned a least every couple weeks how much he misses surfing with you, no one else can keep up, apparently.”
You chewed on your bottom lip as you considered his words. “After we get this whole mess sorted, I’ll think about it.”
John B let a smile spread across his face. He could sense that it was the last thing you would say or hear on the subject for the time being but it was much better than any other outcome that he had imagined happening.
As you both walked back towards your bed for the night, he allowed himself to dream of a time that he got to be at home with you, like he used to be.
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BNHA Theory: Why Aoyama Isn’t the Traitor
Debunking common claims because I love my boy and don’t want him to be evil. This is all for fun, and if you still want to believe he’s the traitor then I'm not stopping you.
This will be spoiler free, and will only cover stuff we see in the anime.
“We don’t know where he was during the USJ attack”
Ok, very fair point. However, have you ever considered that the USJ attack doesn’t actually matter when it comes to the traitor? Whether it’s Aoyama or not, I don't think this is a solid place to look for clues.
We know how the villains got the class schedule, there was no need for a traitor. Shigaraki noticed the press was desperate to get in, he disintegrated the barrier, and let them storm the campus
Then, while all the students were trying to evacuate, the teachers were also busy dealing with the reporters.
We only see Aizawa and Present Mic, but we can assume the others were dealing with the security breach too (and if not, then perhaps a teacher is the traitor? it doesn’t really matter, but the point is: it’s not a student).
Now, it’s possible that Aoyama was not affected by the rush of students, as he usually eats in the classroom, but he’s still pretty innocent. Students likely didn’t know the schedule, and had no idea All Might would be taking them to the USJ. I doubt the traitor would go through all this trouble if they weren’t absolutely sure that All Might would be taking them off campus sometime soon. Shigaraki could risk coming up empty (as in, finding a schedule where All Might never leaves campus) because he just doesn’t know what to expect, but a STUDENT risking themselves is a lot less unlikely. They’d risk getting caught and possibly expelled, or worse.
As for the USJ attack itself, Aoyama was most likely hiding. I’ll talk about this more in just a second, but in scenarios where he’s put in danger, Aoyama gives up and hides (even if there’s no one around).
So why’d he call attention to his absence? Well, to figure that out we need to look at...
Aoyama’s goals, personality, and motivations
Aoyama’s shtick is that he wants to stand out and be the centre of attention, yet is constantly pushed to the background.
His costume and hero name are meant to stand out, and the way he constantly talks about how wonderful he is is an attempt to get attention. He’s also obsessed with his appearance (as shown when Mina ruins his cape). None is this proves he’s a traitor, it’s just a form of comic relief.
When he asks if anyone wanted to know where he was, only to say “it’s a secret”, he was most likely trying to garner attention and make himself seem more cool and mysterious in the eyes of his classmates, but as an audience, it’s a lighthearted moment to ease us out of the heavier storyline. Again, he was probably hiding in fear, but wanted others to THINK he was bravely fighting like everyone else, which takes us to our next point to break down...
“Dabi didn’t attack him during the training camp”
This is probably the most damning piece of evidence.. If you need a brief refresher, Aoyama is hiding behind a bush, peaks his head out, and is almost immediately noticed by Dabi (it’s unclear if the villain sees who is behind the bush or not, but Aoyama says, “he saw me”. Even if Dabi didn’t see his face, he saw that there was a person). He goes to check but is immediately sidetracked by Twice, who reminds him to call back the Nomu he sent out. Dabi proceeds to forget about the student behind the bush.
Here’s the thing; this scene says more about Dabi than it does Aoyama. People tend to forget, but at this point in the story Dabi has not killed anyone. Heck, he’s not even in the criminal data base. Maybe he’s just sneaky, but Giran specifically calls out the fact that, “he hasn’t done any flashy crimes”. If he’s a criminal, he’s never been caught.
Back to that comment about the criminal data base, it’s a detail a lot of people overlook. When Tsukauchi is taking statements from Aizawa and Vlad King, he tells All Might that they ran a search through the CRIMINAL data base, looking for a man that matched Dabi’s description, and they came up empty handed. Not the quirk registry, they were specifically looking for criminals.
Dabi’s appearance is distinct, to say the least, so even if he was caught for petty theft, they’d be almost certain to catch and identify him. But no, he’s not a criminal at this point.
That being said, let’s look at how Dabi acts during the rest of this arc. For the most part, the real Dabi isn’t attacking unless he’s provoked first. When Deku, Shoto, and Shoji fall from the sky, he attacks to protect his teammate (since the boys had just jumped Mr. Compress). The exception is when Dabi’s clones goes after Aizawa and Vlad King, but in these situations he is very much aware that the two are pro heroes and will protect their students. Aizawa says it best, they’re trying to keep the pros distracted.
This isn’t meant to be defending Dabi, but instead to point out that, at this moment, he’s not very experienced in being a criminal. No spoilers but it’s obvious that CURRENT Dabi has no hesitations about killing people (see: those thugs in the alley and the hero Snatch). But, in this arc, he didn’t seem to want to cause any unnecessary violence. For these reasons, I believe he would have spared ANY kid behind that bush, not just Aoyama (forgetting to go back after Twice distracted him was a conscious choice, it would have taken literally no time out of his day to go check who it was, and instead he decides to let the kid live). Dabi’s purpose is to seem intimidating and distract the pros, not to attack recklessly.
Whoops, I went on a tangent. Back to my twinkling boy!
Aoyama is a coward
(meant in the most loving way possible)
Aoyama is a coward. I brought it up with the USJ that he was probably hiding, and we saw it with Dabi when he was cowering behind a bush. But the important thing is that, at the training camp, he actually does get the courage to attack (specifically when he sees Deku and the others fighting back).
We see this again during the license exam
During the test, he was scared to fail, so he hid until Iida found him. And, once again, the courage of his classmates gives him the strength to act. Aoyama is just scared. Some people point to this as evidence that he’s the traitor, since he doesn’t have the character of a hero, but actually think about it. Hero society is corrupt; people are becoming heroes for a whole host of other reasons. Almost no one has the motivations of a hero out of Class 1A.
Bakugo wants to be the best, Todoroki wants to stick it to his dad, Uraraka wants to make money, Iida is carrying on his family business, and Mineta wants girls. And hey, Mineta is also a coward, so take that as you will. Not everyone becomes in the hero course is suited to becoming a hero, and that’s the whole point (it’s the entire motivation behind Stain and his followers).
“How about the secret message?”
Ah yes, the secret message. "il faut se méfier de l'eau qui dort", literally translated to "beware the water that sleeps". It basically amounts to “there’s more than meets the eye” or “watch out for the quiet ones”.
Would a traitor expose himself? Probably not, the only reason I could say yes is if the traitor was helping the villains against his will and needed to tell someone, but what’s more likely is that Aoyama knows who the traitor is.
This next little theory isn’t really based on anything, but it’s possible that, while he was hiding from Dabi and Twice, the villains mentioned who the traitor was. Twice seems like the kind of dude who’d accidentally let it slip, or if he didn’t say a name, maybe he mentioned that SOMEONE at UA is a traitor and Aoyama is trying to get Midoriya’s help in figuring it out. Either way, he may be trying to alert Midoriya that someone can’t be trusted.
Alternatively, he could be referring to both him and Midoriya, and may not be talking about the traitor at all! When Aoyama wrote “I know” in cheese, he specifies that it was meant to say, “I know you have a quirk like mine” or “I know what you’re going through”. This could be similar, attempting to tell Deku “we are the same, there’s more to us than people know because we go through things that others do not.”
But wait, “the water that SLEEPS?” Mr Aizawa sleeps! Is Mr Aizawa the traitor?!?!?!
Tangent: Is Mr Aizawa the traitor?
No. This dude puts himself at risk for his kids more times than I can count. It makes no sense for him to go so out of his way to protect his kids (like at the USJ) only to be the traitor. As well, Aizawa could have easily texted Shigaraki and been like “yo change of plans, All Might isn’t here, don't bother showing up”.
In addition, Dabi actually DOES attack Aizawa at the training camp. No one is around to see it, so it’s not like it’s for show, and Aizawa is deliberately shown to not know what Dabi’s power is. (As seen when he says, “the fire wasn’t his quirk?” when the clone melts).
So yeah, “the water that sleeps” isn’t referring to Aizawa.
Some final thoughts about the traitor
I personally don’t believe there is one. In one chapter of the manga, the teachers are talking with the principal and mention how the dorms have revealed nothing suspicious from the students. As well, when Present Mic first brings up the idea of a traitor, he actually points to a STAFF MEMBER before bringing up the possibility of a student.
He mentions that only the teachers and first years knew where the training camp was, and then says, “I guess a student could have used their phone”. He says it like an afterthought, as if the possibility of it being a student hadn’t even crossed his mind until he said it out loud.
So yeah, I don’t think a student is the traitor. I am also hesitant to think it’s a teacher since Nezu says he can trust everyone in the room during their meeting. I think the traitor theory was just an excuse to get the kids living in dorm rooms for all the goofy teenage moments that could arise from that.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! And I hope all Aoyama fans can feel a little more at ease, knowing their boy (probably) isn’t the traitor.
#bnha#boku no hero academia#mha#my hero academia#yuga aoyama#ua traitor#ua traitor theory#long post#bnha theory#bnha analysis#mha theory#mha analysis#bnha meta
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BOOST/SINKER - MISCHIEF (200 FOLLOWERS BINGO)
(The first prompt! Asker wants to remain anonymous, so I won’t say who they are. Anyway, I hope you like it!)
“This is stupid,” Boost grumbles, less willing to go along with this kind of stuff than Sinker’s is.
“Oh shut it, I know you’re enjoying it too,” Sinker retorts immediately, having noticed the way Boost is trying very hard to fight back a smile from appearing on his face.
Boost grumbles some more but he doesn’t say anything back, and when Sinker raises the datapad to his face, he poses so that Sinker can take another picture. Wolffe is going to be so mad…
Why would Wolffe be mad? Simple: the datapad they’re using is his. Wolffe has forgotten it at the cafeteria, and Sinker and Boost have decided to have some fun with it before he comes looking for it.
It’s a real fancy thing, Wolffe’s datapad; it even has a camera, which is a feature that they’ve been abusing for at least half an hour, taking pictures of themselves making goofy faces that the Commander will have to delete one by one.
He’s gonna be furious, that’s for sure, but the months of fresher duty - ‘cause they’re surely going to get that - are going to be worth it just to see the face Wolffe will make.
Sinker steps closer to Boost, pulling his arm around his shoulders only to then lean in, eyes still on the camera, and pressing his lips to Boost’s cheek. He takes another picture.
“Too bad Wolffe will delete them…” he says then. “Think we might convince him to keep them?”
“If he hasn’t killed us before we get the chance to ask,” Boost points out.
“Oh come on, he won’t,” Sinker retorts. “He’ll be mad, sure, but we’re too useful to him. He won’t kill us.”
At those words, Boost rolls his eyes.
“So, think we can manage?” Sinker asks again then.
“Nope,” is all Boost replies with, before taking Sinker’s chin in hand and drawing him close for an actual kiss. This time he’s the one who snaps the picture.
Something happens, however: they get into the kiss way too much, and for a moment they forget about what they were supposed to do, which isn’t a problem in itself of course, but…
Crash!
Both Sinker and Boost immediately pull away, staring in horror at the datapad that has fallen on the ground. It seemed like such hot shit but, judging by the cracked screen, it’s also pretty fragile. Uh-oh…
“He’s going to kill us. He’s so going to kill us.”
“He needs to find out it’s us in order to kill us,” Sinker replies, with a smirk already on his face. He’s always plotting something.
“What do you plan on doing?” Boost asks, “Put it back at the cafeteria and pretend we didn’t touch it?”
“Exactly,” Sinker replies, “But first…”
He bends over to take the datapad in his hand.
“Lemme delete all proof that we touched it,” he says then, beginning to delete all the pictures. It’s a shame that he has to do it, but it’s for their own sake. Besides, they’ve already established that Wolffe would’ve deleted them anyway, so it’s not that big of a loss.
“Hurry up so we can leave it and be done with this whole thing.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m working on it,” Sinker replies. “Almost done…”
Despite this being a very lethal situation, they forget about it pretty quickly once they leave the datapad back to where it originally was, which is good because it’ll help giving off the impression that they’ve been doing other things and have nothing to do with this accident at all.
At the moment they’re on their way to take a shower, having spent the rest of the morning at the shooting range; sure, they are on leave, but this doesn’t mean they get to slack off. No, this isn’t what they’ve been taught on Kamino: constant exercise is paramount. If you slack off, it’s easier for you to die in battle.
Besides, it’s always fun challenging each other about who can take down most targets; it’s a good motivator to improve, and also the loser gets to do something the winner will choose for him, which let’s be honest, is the best part of this whole deal.
Today it’s Boost’s lucky day, cause he has won. You can tell by the confident way he’s walking, while Sinker follows him with a frown on his face.
“Oh please,” he says once they arrive to the communal showers, “Stop doing that!”
“Doing what?” Boost replies, as he begins to take his armor off, followed by Sinker.
“You know what you’re doing, don’t play fool with me,” Sinker retorts. He hates it when Boosts wins because he always acts like this. Smug bastard. His smug bastard though.
In order to shut him up, Sinker grabs him by the neck of the blacks and pulls him in for a kiss, slipping his tongue between his lips; he can’t help but to smirk at how pliant he immediately becomes during the kiss. This is his favorite version of Boost.
Unfortunately, however, their fun is cut short.
“BOOST! SINKER!”
Oh no, that’s the Commander’s voice! Has he found out about the datapad?
“WHERE ARE THEY?! I SWEAR I’M GOING TO KILL THEM!”
Boost and Sinker look at each other. Oh no, it looks like Wolffe hasn’t taken kindly to what happened - though nobody was actually hoping for the contrary, it would’ve been too good. More than anything it’s a shame that he has somehow already understood that it was their fault, though to be fair who else could’ve been?
“Ready to run for your life?” Boost asks.
“As if you need to ask,” Sinker immediately replies. “Follow me, I know a place where we can hide.”
Boost nods, and here they go now, running away from a constantly closer Wolffe who, as soon as he spots them, begins to chase them, furious.
Sinker and Boost keep running, uncaring of the fact that they’re armorless and half-naked, because they know that the moment they stop they’ll be dead men.
And yet, despite everything, they can’t help but to laugh as they run, though it’s unclear whether it’s because they’re actually happy or it’s just the nervousness taking control of them.
At least this will be a funny anecdote to narrate, when they get out of this mess, if they manage.
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I don’t know a whole lot about the technical side of figure skating, usually I choose favorite skaters just on whose performances I enjoy the most, but I’m curious since a lot of people seem to really dislike her: what do you think of Evgenia Medvedeva? since you seem to know a lot and be very invested in the figure skating world, I’m interested to know your opinion
Oh wow. I am very honored to have someone want my opinion 👀
First of all I am by no means an expert on the technical sides of figure skating - still learning - but I give it a try and your observation is correct that I am very invested in this sport and I know how (shitty) the fandom can be. And to warn you you're in for a long read. 😅
I will give my opinion on both, the aspects of her skating and the person Evgenia Medvedeva. And on why I think ppl may dislike her/hate on her.
1. About Evgenia Medvedeva - the skater
I hope you understand at least the basic terms of the technical aspects in figure skating as I will refer to them a lot in this part.
Jumps - Zhenya is a better edge than toe jumper. Her 3Loop and her 3Salchow are one of the best in the field and imo extremely pretty. Her 2Axel is usually her biggest problem, she muscles the jump. Her toe jumps have issues too. Zhenya has a wrong edge on the Lutz, called a "Flutz", she is working on it but it's still the wrong edge. She mostly didn't get an edge call on it though by the judges. The other aspect ppl often talk about is the "prerotation" in her toe jumps, especially the Flip. She does prerotate more than some other skaters. She is often criticized for it. But to make it short imo the rules about prerotation are a bit blurry (at what point is prerotation normal and when is it excessive prerotation?) and in fact judges doesn't seem to penalize prerotation at all. Some fans like to nitpick on this matter a lot. For some it's almost some sort of crime. Let's just say it's not easy to fix it and I think Zhenya improved on this matter with time. I think Zhenya definitely has some issues on her toe jumps and Axel, but I don't think just because someone has a flawed technique the person is a bad skater. So there are things you can rightfully criticize but also things to love in her jumps like not only are Salchow and Loop beautiful, but also her leg extension on landing is good and she usually has good flow in her jumps. The Tanos (one arm over the head while jumping) aren't my cup of tea but they have a positive influence the GOEs.
Her Salchow:
Her Loop:
Spins - I think she has beautiful spins, but they are not the fastest. And I think her spins were better in the early senior years. The back that is bothering her is making the Bielmann spin not doable for her anymore, which is a shame.
Programs and performance - I think Zhenya does portray characters exceptionally well. Yes some ppl don't like the excessive pantomime in her earlier programs and I also think less is more, but she always captures the audience with her charm and personality on ice and her programs always have a concept she can bring across (even sometimes with questionable theme). She has some very beautiful programs, I recommend her "Anna Karenina" 2017-2018 program and her "Memoirs of a Geisha" 2019-2020 program. What stands out of Zhenya and also has been a reason she has earned high PCS - especially in her first senior years - is that her programs are full of difficult transitions between the elements. I don't want to pick all of the PCS categories apart, just that I think she is selling her skating exceptionally well. (She doesn't have thousands of fans for no reason. 😉)
Scoring - I think this is actually the main point why some skating fans didn't like her in the first place. She emerged to a scene with extremely high scores for being a first year senior, scores that matched past heroes of skating like Yuna Kim and Mao Asada. Even though Zhenya never skated against Yuna and shared only few competitions with Mao, ppl always referred to the old scores of them. (which were former world records) Zhenya's consistency made her get world record after world record and flaws in jumps have often been overlooked like not calling the Flutz and her PCS seemed super high in comparison to other skaters of the same level. Even though the scoring is hardly her fault, she got the flack for it and tbh the way she was scored was also turning me off for a while but Zhenya captured me with her performance. Her high scores also have some justification. Zhenya had the most difficulty in her programs in 2015-2017. She was the skater to start the trend to backload the jumps to the 2nd half to get the bonus points (rules have been changed after 2018 because of this). Her PCS being high can also be justified to some extent, like she does have a lot of transitions and her skating is clear (turns and steps are recognizable and mostly of high quality) etc. I still do think especially after her coaching change to Brian Orser that her scores have been worth a discussion and I think that in comparison her scores were too high, but I don't think there is any doubt that she deserved the world titles she got. (Just look at those comps and tell me who was better?) Also her consistency between 2015 and 2017 is unmatched and is admirable. I think Zhenya has been overscored in her career a lot, but not to the extent that made her "unrightfully" claiming the titles and again that's hardly her fault.
I actually like Zhenya's skating a lot. I wasn’t a fan the first time I saw her but she grew on me a lot, especially in the last two years. She can create magic. 😊
If you want to know more about Zhenya and the technical aspects of her skating you can go through the Evgenia Medvedeva tag on @the-real-xmonster (the blog is not active anymore but has tons of technical explanations)
About the person Evgenia Medvedeva
I personally admire Zhenya for her guts to keep competing in a country where a lot of ppl think she is "too old" for the sport. I also admired her for the coaching change to Brian to go a different way (I hate how she had to return to Eteri because of the pandemic). I like that she is speaking up towards online bullying she and others received. She keeps on sharing on Instagram though she has been harassed there a lot. I think in her interviews she is thoughtful (she is speaking her mind, which I like), but she can also be goofy and funny and her love for anime and being an "Otaku" is making her relatable.
Her Sailor Moon exhibition is such a fun program I can recommend to everyone.
(GIF by @the-real-xmonster)
About the "hate" towards Zhenya:
Some of the criticism Zhenya is receiving is understandable in my opinion. For example lately traveling during a pandemic to another country is something worth talking about or her mother letting a fan into TCC or some of the statements towards media can be criticised. But some "critic" is not criticism but hate for example when she changed to Brian Orser, calling her a traitor, badmouthing her for being ungrateful or being an attention seeker or making assumptions about her relationships with other skaters to the extent she deleted all the pictures with Yuzuru Hanyu from her Instagram etc. (especially when Eteribots or some Fanyus are involved things can turn ugly in the fandom) I also don't think ppl should put all some media is reporting as truth and stalking her Instagram backgrounds to see if she violated her quarantine is crossing personal boundaries. I think these are things that are not ok at all. (and to hate someone for their scores is really stupid imo)
However I think part of the problem why ppl dislike/hate her is her popularity (She has 700k followers on Instagram) . If she would be a no name skater her actions or scores wouldn't be discussed across the fandom. But actually most of the time you can follow the hate back to a few accounts...
Just to be clear it's totally fine to not get into Zhenya's skating, to point out flaws in scoring and in her technique, to not like some of her actions or criticize them, but I don't think it's fair to hate on her or make fun of her injuries or bad performances, she is human and deserves respect. The tone is important. Be kind and respectful! We don't know any of those skaters personally, so what does it cost to be a bit kind? Figure skating is a small fandom and believe me skaters see what ppl write. And it can hurt an actual human being. So please be considerate.
I am not sure if this is the kind of answer you were looking for anon, but here are some of my opinions on Zhenya 😊 You're welcome to ask more if something is unclear or you want to know something about another skater.
Anyone who read 'til the end should have a cookie! Have a good day! Thanks for reading!
Let's end this long read with a happy Zhenya!
#evgenia medvedeva#figure skating#anon#replies#i can't do short answers sorry#the reason i hate Twitter i can't keep it short 😅
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Deceit’s Somewhat Acceptance Arc (And Why It Feels Off)
So I was gonna do the video game post first, but then I remembered I’d started this one before I left for the weekend and decided to finish it. As a result, it’s kinda messy and my thoughts are all over the place, I had to delete and rewrite is several times, but I think I managed to get my overall thoughts there.
As always, this is just my opinion. You are free to agree, disagree, or feel completely indifferent towards a random person who spends their free time dissecting fictional characters.
We all good? Let’s go then.
I won’t lie, Deceit was the best part of this video. I didn’t think he’d be included as much as he was. Originally, I thought he’d be content to lurk in the shadows and let Thomas deal with the repercussions of not heeding him in the first place and leave him to sort through the mess himself without his help. Possibly having a cameo in the end, foreshadowing some major event that’s soon to take place, but I was completely wrong and he got the best freaking entrance and completely owned the episode.
It was great, seeing him take on his role of self preservation and defend Thomas, who was being harmed unknowingly by Patton with how far he was taking things. He encouraged Thomas to start taking better care of his mental health, was given a seat at the table, and even showed they could trust him by revealing his name: Janus
It was wonderful, beautiful, and I have a lot of issues with this.
Let me explain, on its own, the whole scene building up to Deceit revealing his name, and the following aftermath, is perfect.
What feels off to me is Janus himself, he feels like a completely different character compared to the Deceit we met in Can Lying Be Good? and saw in action during Selfishness vs Selflessness
To start, let’s briefly go over Deceit’s character throughout the first 5 episodes we see him in before we get to POF.
In his debut, Can Lying Be Good? He spends a majority of the episode disguised as Patton. Pushing Thomas to lie to his friend in order to spare their feelings and to avoid the possibility of Thomas being hurt. He’s shown to enjoy the distress the others are going through as the situation becomes more and more uncomfortable, and even gets close to being aggressive when Thomas decides he needs to be honest in this situation. Once it becomes clear Thomas won’t listen to him as Patton, he drops his act and reveals himself.
Immediately, we are given the impression that this is not someone we can trust. From the music, to Deceit’s entire demeanor, even the Sides’ reactions to him are enough to enforce that idea, as well as Deceit’s reactions to them.
With Logan, he immediately silences him, growling almost as if he’s annoyed and has had to do this before. He doesn’t really pay Logan any mind after his reveal and ignores him for the most part and Logan is more than eager to expose him for what he is.
Roman states that he “Hates this guy and his creepy snake face” while adding that he’s “Very kind” which Deceit responds to by giving him a false compliment. Showing right away that this has also happened before with these two (Logan is about to comment on the exchange but decides not to bother)
Virgil clearly has some deep rooted animosity towards Deceit. With the glare he shoots him and the two immediately throw insults at each other which comes back to play in almost all of their interactions.
We don’t really get much in terms of what Deceit’s character is really like with this first episode. We know he can be a threatening presence, but also has a bit of a goofier, dorky side to him as well. At this point, we’re not sure what his goals are or what his relationships with the other Sides are like (It’s obvious they all don’t like him) but for a while, this was all we got.
His next appearance was a brief cameo in Logic vs Passoin where he showed up after Logan exclaimed “I won’t have you lying to yourself!” Where he gave an evil chuckle, flipped Thomas off, then sank out without a word. This still didn’t give us much in regards to Deceit’s character, other than enforcing the fact that he didn’t like Thomas and showing that he had a bit of a mischievous side as well. It did, however, show that Thomas was easily distressed by him and wasn’t entirely on board with having Deceit for a Side yet.
After that, he disappears for 2 episodes before showing up during the end card of Embarrassing Phases, which is one of my favorite scenes in the series, and one that now causes a bit of problems which I will get back to later. Just note that this scene once again reinforces these things about Deceit: He is a threat, he can’t be trusted, he still has a bit of a goofy side, and on top of that his rivalry with Virgil is expanded upon and the idea that these two have a history is put up front and center.
Then finally, we get our first official episode that takes all we’ve learned about Deceit and amplifies them in Selfishness vs Selflessness. What we get is a character that can be cool and charismatic, but can also be silly. It’s still unclear what his overall goal is, and he delights in being proved right and winning against the others.
An interesting thing to note here is that all of the interactions Deceit has with the other Sides in CLBG Come back into play here.
He ignores Logan and keeps his input limited, he uses flattery on Roman to sway him to his side, and of course him and Virgil still have their rivalry, revealing more and more just how much Virgil hates Deceit. We also finally get to see his relationship with Patton, and see that he seems to hold almost the same amount of animosity towards Deceit as Virgil does. Thomas himself isn’t as frightened by him anymore, and is willing to hear him out, but he still doesn’t trust him.
Throughout the “trial” Deceit openly mocks the others, discredits them, and when he “wins” he rubs that victory in Thomas’ face and is shown laughing and celebrating while the others are at the lowest they’ve been. Things then take a turn when Roman decides to sentence Thomas to go to the wedding and give up the callback, which clearly distresses Deceit to the point where he nearly has a breakdown due to the others not being able to comprehend what he’s trying to say. Which is basically, selfishness isn’t always a bad thing, which he articulates a lot better in POF, but we’ll get back to that.
He leaves the episode shortly after Logan shows up, but not before delivering this rather ominous line: “It’s clear you all don’t want to listen to reason (while the embodiment of Thomas’ logic and reasoning is standing right next to him) but hear this: I’ll always be a part of you. I’m not going anywhere, and there are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway.”
Does that sound like a threat to anyone else? Or is it just me? Keep in mind at this point, everyone is still very much against Deceit, and he clearly is about to change tactics when it comes to dealing with them and getting what he wants. Another important thing to note is that this is the last time Thomas sees and deals with Deceit directly before we get to POF.
I should probably bring up Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts because while Deceit isn’t in the episode, he is mentioned a couple of times by Remus, who implies that it was Deceit himself who’s responsible for sending Remus out to antagonize the others. While this can’t be confirmed, Remus claims that Deceit said “You’re wanting to be more honest and be direct dealing with your issues, no longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you.”
(Admit it, you all sang that and added the little “Neat!” at the end. If you don’t, I’ll know you’re lying.)
This shows that Deceit is switching things up and making good on his “promise” that he made at the end of SVS by forcing Thomas to accept yet another part of him that he doesn’t like. One that, by comparison, is much worse than anything Deceit could bring to the table.
His next actual appearance is another cameo in Are There Healthy Distractions? where all he does is take his hat back from Roman and berates him for it. The only significant thing to happen here is Virgil’s reaction to seeing him, which again, I’ll get back to in a moment.
This was the last time we saw Deceit for awhile, we were then subjected to a long drought between episodes as people waited to see the aftermath of the wedding that was the main conflict of SVS. Keep in mind again that so far, Deceit has remained relatively the same mysterious, slightly villainous character that we’ve seen throughout his 5 appearances thus far in the series.
So you can see why some people would be shocked when he suddenly does a complete 180 and is going about promoting mental health while acting silly around Thomas and befriending Patton, the Side he went head to head with during his last main appearance, and is now being offered a seat at the table while showing genuine concern for Thomas and aiming to protect him, which goes to show that he cared all along.
Right?
Uh, yeah, I’m not buying it.
Well let me clarify, do I think Janus is evil? No.
Is it impossible for him to actually care about Thomas? Of course not.
And do I think it’s possible for him to change from his villainous persona to a more friendly one? Absolutely.
The problem here is that it doesn’t feel earned. We’ve only had one full episode with Janus before this, and even in the brief appearances we got his character remained consistent throughout them all. It’s almost like there’s a piece of this puzzle missing, and I have a theory as to where it is.
In short, Janus has not been fully accepted yet. Thomas trusts him, and even Patton does now, but does Roman? Don’t make me laugh.
Logan? He was once again removed from the discussion by Janus, which is a running theme with these two, so I doubt he’d be quick to accept someone who continuously silences him unless it benefits him.
And the biggest factor of them all, Virgil.
He hates Janus, every interaction these two have had is filled with insults, glares, and Virgil becoming more aggressive than he’s ever been towards anyone in the series.
Just look at him in ATHD, when Janus shows up hardly anyone pays him any mind. Heck, Remus has continuously popped up throughout the episode and no one has batted an eye, not even Virgil. But as soon as Janus shows up he goes feral, hissing at him while Janus pays him no mind.
What is going on here?
It’s glaringly obvious that something has happened between these two, something that won’t be easily swept under the rug when it comes up.
For one thing, just compare Virgil’s relationship with Janus to his relationship with Remus. We see at the beginning of DWIT that, of course, Virgil is hostile towards Remus and hates him, while being distressed by him. The two know each other and seem to have a bit of a history of their own.
What’s the difference between Remus and Janus?
Well, Virgil gets over his fear of Remus in just one episode. By the time it ends, he isn’t bothered by Remus anymore and tells him as such. Remus even seems to be kind of fond of him as well. And when Remus appears again in ATHD, Virgil doesn’t acknowledge his presence at all. Yet when Janus shows up just to retrieve his hat from Roman, he goes into fight mode and probably would have attacked if he’d stayed for even a minute longer.
And if you need further proof, look no further than the end card of Embarrassing Phases and Janus’ parting words to Virgil: “Just be sure to keep up that personal growth Virgil. Who knows? Maybe soon you could be rid of us all.”
Again, does that not sound like a threat to anyone else? And why would he say that to Virgil? Is he implying that Virgil is trying to escape from them? Actually get rid of them? There’s so much that this could mean in regards to Janus’ character and what his motivations are, but then POF comes around and suddenly this doesn’t line up with his character at all.
Don’t tell me you could look at Janus at the end of this episode and say that this is the same guy. He’s gone from leaving an episode with a threat:
“You’ve seen the last of me”
“You could be rid of us all”
“There are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway”
To this: “Take some time for yourself, Thomas.”
As well as rejoicing in being told he was right and advising Thomas to stop overthinking everything since, as we’ve now seen, it does not help him in the slightest.
So… What are we missing? What the heck is going on?
Well, I said it before and I’ll say it again: Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet.
Really, only one Side out of the four main Sides has accepted Janus. This Side just happens to be Patton, Thomas’ morality, and the one thing that stood in the way of Janus getting his voice heard. Because as long as Thomas viewed lying as wrong, he’d never listen to him.
Now that he’s proven that isn’t the case, and that he can help, Patton (and therefore Thomas) no longer sees him as evil.
But again, Roman, Logan, and Virgil have yet to do so. We know how Roman and Virgil feel about Janus, but we have yet to get Logan’s clear view on him since every time Janus has shown up, he’s been left out of the conversation. Though it’s safe to assume he’d be somewhat bitter about that.
The main thing is that something has been set up between Virgil and Janus. Something happened to make them enemies and that can’t be ignored, and I believe this will be addressed soon.
Because if it isn’t, and Janus is accepted immediately by Virgil, then all this would just be explained through bad writing. Which, again, I don’t believe the team is incompetent by any means. However, I do think that this all happened way too fast.
Let’s look at Virgil for a moment, we got plenty of time to know him throughout season one. We got to see him in more of a villain role, and saw him gradually become closer with the group. We saw hints of him wanting to get along with the others and be a part of them, but ultimately, decided for himself that he was doing more harm than good and so, ducked out.
We had 12 episodes to get to know Virgil before Accepting Anxiety came out. 12 episodes as opposed to Janus’ 5, two of which were nothing more than brief cameos and one his introduction where he was only truly himself for the ending.
Really, Janus only had 3 episodes where it was relevant to the plot, and only 1 of those was a full episode, which was immediately followed by him being accepted and acting more like a good guy who just has a bit of a chaotic streak in him as opposed to the mysterious, charismatic Side who works in the background.
Now, the way I see, there are two ways to justify this sudden change. The first is what I said before, that Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet and needs to be accepted by Roman, Virgil, and Logan first before this can be achieved.
And the other thing, which I hate to consider as a possibility, would be that Janus is putting on an act.
Think about it, Janus realized at the end of SVS that his methods were not working. So he changes his approach, ditching the villain and becoming a hero. He literally appears at the end during a boss battle and puts himself into the role of a protector, defending Thomas from Patton’s harmful behavior. He acts more silly, loosening up, showing genuine care for Thomas.
Then the biggest red flag, his name reveal.
As I watched the scene I couldn’t help but find it oddly reminiscent of Virgil’s own name reveal. From the build up, to the delivery, it all felt strangely familiar, almost as if it’d been rehearsed. Manufactured to get the exact reaction from the others (in this case Thomas and Patton) that he wanted.
Virgil revealing his name was a sign that he trusted the others, and I believe Janus knew this and thus, used it to his advantage.
And guess what? It worked like a charm. Thomas and Patton immediately began trusting him, Patton even went to him for advice after Roman left. Could you see Patton doing that at the end of SVS? I certainly couldn’t.
Now I’m not saying this is actually what happened. For all I know, Janus was being completely sincere when he shared his name, and it really was a personal moment. The only reason I have such a hard time accepting it as genuine is because, as I keep saying, none of it matches up with how Janus was before POF.
Until this point, his character has been consistent and stayed pretty much the same, but now he’s completely changed. And I know it’s normal for characters to grow and change as a story progresses, but again, it just happened way too fast for this character in particular.
This isn’t helped by the fandom’s complete 180 in regards to Janus. Before this episode, it was still pretty common for him to be seen in a mostly negative light. People outright hated this character, and attacked people who liked him. Then Remus came and wasn’t shown nearly as much hate or negativity as Janus was.
Now all of a sudden Janus is a “Good uwu boi” and everyone loves him. I haven’t seen one person doubt Janus’ change of heart. Which is surprising because given the fandom’s treatment of him in the past, I’m surprised this hasn’t been more common.
But then I remembered that another Side is currently being thrown into a negative light, which is Roman. He’s been thrown under the bus after his recent actions at the end of POF, all while Janus is now being held up on a golden pedestal.
Honestly, I’m debating ending this post right here because this next part delves way too much into conspiracy territory, but since this would be kind of an awkward ending I’ll go ahead and just throw the idea out there anyway.
So, it’s been established that the Sides are aware that what they’re doing is being viewed by an audience. Roman, Logan, and Patton have all addressed the audience directly before. Virgil has given direct glances into the camera, and of course Thomas greets the audience in every episode and closes each one out with a message at the end of every one.
In Crofters: The Musical Roman outright addresses the fact that Logan has become more popular than him. Implying that somehow, he has access to that information. So if Roman does, then why wouldn’t Janus?
Why wouldn’t Janus be aware of Roman’s insecurities? Why wouldn’t he use this to his advantage and spend the entirety of SVS boosting his ego since he knew that’s what he wanted?
What if Janus, being aware of the audience and how they view the Sides, knew that all he needed for his plan to succeed was not only to convince Thomas that he could be trusted, but the audience. He knows that they don’t like him, so what does he do? He puts himself into a much more positive light, while Roman is put into a position where he’s made out to be the bad guy?
And if this was the case, then it worked. A majority of the fandom now loves Janus while Roman is being left behind. He’s the perfect scapegoat, a distraction from the real plans Janus has in store.
But that idea is so far out there and paints Janus as more of an actual villain when really, I don’t think he is at all.
What’s most likely is that we’re going to learn what happened between him and Virgil, and then watch as Thomas and the others rethink their decision to trust him.
I don’t think Janus is evil, this series is constantly pushing the message that everything isn’t all black and white. Janus, like everyone else, just wants what’s best for Thomas but has a different way of achieving that goal.
My hope is that the writers are aware of this and have a plan for Janus’ character to develop more. Because if that isn’t the case and Janus remains a “good guy” from here on out then all of Janus’ previous appearances would be rendered meaningless.
He’d might as well be a completely different character at that point, because the Deceit that I (and many others) became invested in and loved since his first appearance would be gone. Replaced with a softer, less complex, less engaging “uwu soft boi” that now seems to be the fandom favorite.
Which makes me curious, if Janus is revealed to be lying to some degree, and was tricking Patton and Thomas, would everyone go back to hating him again? Would they give him a chance to explain himself and grow, or would they go right back to seeing him as nothing more than the evil villain they believed they were introduced to back in CLBG
Okay, that’s pretty much all I’ve got on this topic. It’s kinda messy by my standards and I’m sure I repeated myself a lot. So you are more than welcome to critique my points and debate them with your own. Just to clarify, I still love Janus. And I stand by the fact that he was the best part of this new episode. I just hope that this isn’t all the development he gets and that he continues to have his ups and downs.
And come on, how could they possibly pass up the opportunity to do the “Liar revealed” trope with the literal embodiment of Deceit?
#sanders sides#janus sanders#virgil sanders#patton sanders#roman sanders#remus sanders#fandom criticism
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Full Gear preview
Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston - Moxley is defending the AEW men’s world championship. (He’s also the IWGP United States champion, but that title is not at stake.) This is an “I quit” match, so the only rule in effect is that the match cannot end until one participant verbally concedes the match; the other participant thereby wins and will be the champion.
Kingston is an unlikely headliner for such a stacked show. Despite a long and storied career, he’s mainly known for his work on the indies, and his reputation among wrestlers who hold his work in high regard. It took him until 2020 to get to this level (when he was on the verge of retiring), and even now that he’s in the majors he’s not a top contender. Lance Archer “eliminated” him to win a September 5 battle royale for a title shot, but the elimination was a blown call. Kingston bellyached about the finish until he was granted a title match of his own, which Moxley won by ref stoppage. Kingston continued to make excuses, and had his “family” beat down Moxley. At this point, Mox is so pissed at his former friend that he’d probably demand this second title match even if Kingston hadn’t issued the challenge.
A big part of this match is that wrestling fandom has woken up about how great Eddie always was, and there’s a lot of excitement about him possibly disrupting the AEW topcard to score a rich reward for 18 years of hard work. But to me the real selling point here is that it’s an “I quit” match where I genuinely believe both guys would rather die than say the words. When WWE does these matches, they usually have a heel give in to cowardice, or a babyface surrender to save a friend in distress, or some screwjob with a tape recorder. I don’t think any of that stuff is going to happen here. These guys are going to endure some sick shit just for the sake of pride.
I think Moxley has to win and retain the championship, which means he has to make Kingston verbally quit. I don’t know what the fuck Mox can do to achieve that condition, but it should be fun/gross finding out.
Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page - This is the final match in an eight-man elimination tournament to determine the next challenger for the AEW men’s world title. Page defeated Colt Cabana and Wardlow to get here, while Omega defeated Sonny Kiss and Penta El 0M.
I was gonna run down the whole Hangman Page saga, from the day he lost to Chris Jericho to the day Omega walked out on him. But then AEW did that “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)” video, so now any summary I can provide seems superfluous. The point here is that Page fell into depression and let his friends down, so Omega broke up their tag team to return to singles competition, and now they’ve managed to cross paths once again. Is Omega slowly turning heel? Will he complete that apparent heel turn by mercilessly destroying Page? Or can they work out their problems in the ring and shake hands when it’s over? We’ll soon find out.
The smart money is on tonight’s show setting up Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega. However, I don’t think AEW needs to get to that destination right away, so we could potentially see a Page win here to keep the story going. Expectations are high for this match being very, very good. Will the story be enough to put it over the top? I’ve got a good feeling that it will, and that the icing on the cake will be an upset by Page.
Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson - Wheeler and Cash are FTR, the AEW tag team champions. Matt and Nick are the Young Bucks, and they earned this title shot by winning a four-way match on October 21. Matt Jackson has vowed that if the Bucks cannot win this match, they will never again challenge for this championship.
This match has been in the making for years, going back to when Wheeler and Harwood (as Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, the Revival) emerged as rivals for the Bucks’ status as the top tag team in pro wrestling. “Fuck The Revival” became a running joke on the Bucks’ Youtube show, right up until Wheeler and Harwood got their releases from WWE in order to come here. FTR stands for the kind of old-school wrestling that the Bucks thumb their noses at, and FTR’s gimmick is that they bitch just like the kind of old-school wrestling fans who thumb their noses at the Bucks.
The Bucks have been trying to win the tag title since it was first introduced, but they’ve always managed to come up short. After FTR manipulated Hangman Page into screwing them out of a potential title shot (clearing the way for FTR to win the gold), the Bucks snapped and started trying to regain their edge. This hasn’t really made a lot of sense, though, because instead of getting more ruthless and intense against their opponents in the ring, they’ve just been behaving like dicks to non-wrestlers backstage. If their bad attitude had directly led to them getting this match, I think the story might have landed better; as it is, they were selected literally at random to enter the 10/21 four-way, so it didn’t really make any difference.
The stipulation has people buzzing because a) Cody Rhodes had a similar stip a year ago, so we know it’s not a joke, and b) Matt Jackson is working through a knee injury, so it may not make sense for him to win a championship right this minute. I suppose it’s possible that Matt knows his in-ring days are numbered and this stip is the beginning of the end of his career. But I think it’s more likely that they just want to set up a scenario where we know the Bucks are behind the 8-ball, to build to more drama when they finally win the belts. The knock against a Bucks title win is that it’s too soon for FTR to drop the title, but then again I think it would work for the two teams to trade the championship back and forth for a few months. I’m going with new champs here.
Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose - Shida is defending the AEW women’s world championship, after somebody finally remembered Rose exists. I’m fine with some major title matches in AEW being thrown together without an epic drama behind them. But in this case it’s just annoying because everything in the women’s division feels thrown together without much consideration. I’m guessing Shida retains to keep everything on the same treadmill it’s been on.
Chris Jericho vs. MJF - This is a rare heel vs. heel battle. If MJF wins, he will be permitted to join Jericho’s stable, the Inner Circle. I was curious what MJF’s next move would be after losing to Jon Moxley on September 5, and this is it. He’s been angling to get into the group through a series of goofy skits, and he’s assured Jericho that he will do anything to win this match.
The main intrigue here is that the Inner Circle seems divided on whether they even want MJF to join. Sammy Guevara and Ortiz are so down on MJF that they tried to take him out so he couldn’t get to this match. Jake Hager and Santana are apparently cool with him, or at least uncommitted. Jericho acts like he sees MJF as a kindred spirit, but he’s too wily to trust the guy, so his real intentions here are unclear.
The easy way to book this is for MJF to do “anything” by way of convincing some (or all) of Jericho’s lackeys to help him win the match and kick Jericho out of the group. I think the only fans who aren’t expecting that are the ones who think it’s too obvious. Of course, any such breakup doesn’t have to be on this show, so everything could be civil here and then the big angle happens in six weeks, or six months. One way or another, though, we’re going to see how far MJF is willing to go to win, and we’ll be starting the next chapter of the story. And I really think that chapter has to begin with an MJF victory.
Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin - Cody is defending the AEW TNT championship. This will be their fourth match; Cody currently leads the series 2-0-1. It feels like they’ve been building up to Darby getting a big win over Cody, and I don’t see the point of going back to this match now unless that win’s finally going to happen. If Cody retains I think it’ll leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, regardless of whether it sets up a Darby win down the road. So I sure hope Allin wins, because I can’t imagine what else will work in this context.
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara - This is being billed as “The Elite Deletion,” and I’ve heard it was pre-taped, so I’m guessing it will be a mini-movie kind of match like Undertaker vs. AJ Styles. Matt Hardy fans will of course recall that he was doing that kind of nonsense before it was cool, going all the way back to 2016′s Final Deletion in TNA and 2018′s Ultimate Deletion in WWE. (How many deletions can one guy have?)
Everybody knows Hardy and Guevara have had a string of bad luck in their feud, with blowoff matches getting cut short or botched spots leaving Matt injured. They were supposed to settle things once and for all on September 5, but that turned into a trainwreck so I guess they decided to call a mulligan on that. The best thing you can say about this match is that, because it’s pre-taped, you can be assured that if anyone got severely hurt it would already be in the news, which makes it easier to watch.
I can’t remember Matt ever losing a mini-movie match, and I don’t think he’ll lose this one either. Even if I’m not sure how one wins an elite deletion.
Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver - After going 2-1 with Chris Jericho, Cassidy made three unsuccessful attempts to win the TNT title, so he really needs to regain some momentum with a win. Silver is a prelim guy, so he should be perfect to put Orange over...except there’s a lot of buzz around Silver lately, which is probably what got him booked for this show. I don’t think Silver can win here, but watch for them to do some stuff to let him look good on his way to doing the job.
Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay - This has been announced for the pre-show. Deeb is defending the NWA women’s world title, as part of an ongoing collaboration between the NWA and AEW. What makes this unusual is that Deeb recently signed with AEW, and Kay recently announced her NWA contract has expired, so no matter who wins the belt will be in the hands of an outsider. I expect this is something of an AEW tryout match for Kay, and if so I doubt she would win here, but I’m rooting for her to do well because the women’s division can use all the help it can get. I think Deeb retains, although I have no idea what that means for the future of the NWA women’s division.
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If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own - Watchmen (TV Series) blog
(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)
If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own feels like a tale of two episodes. One has well written characters, emotive storytelling and exciting possibilities, whereas the other contains ham-fisted, painfully obvious subtext and annoyingly long infodumps told to the audience with all the grace and subtlety of a brick to the face.
Let’s start with the positives. At the beginning of the episode, we’re introduced to the character of Lady Trieu, played by Hong Chau, who buys a farmhouse from an Oklahoma couple by offering them a genetically engineered baby. I love this scene so much. It’s by far the most tightly written and engaging scene so far this series, and serves as a perfect introduction to a genuinely interesting character.
Lady Trieu is a Vietnamese born trillionaire industrialist who absorbed Adrian Veidt’s company after his disappearance and seems to take heavy inspiration from him, even going so far as to have a gold statue of him in her complex. It’s unclear whether she knows about his involvement with the squid (how could she possibly know?), but she clearly shares his vision of making the world better.
Or... does she?
That’s precisely what I love about this character. Trieu is clearly the secret mastermind behind whatever is going on here (more on that later) and it would have been easy to just simply have her be a carbon copy of Veidt, but she isn’t. There’s a subtle, but clear distinction between the two. In my review of Look Upon My Works, Ye Mighty, I talked about the paradox of a liberal capitalist and how it’s often not enough for Ozymandias to simply save the world. He needs to be seen to be saving the world. He wants something with spectacle in order to appeal to his own vanity. This is true of Trieu as well, except, despite all his flaws, Ozymandias clearly at least wanted to help people, albeit in an incredibly flashy way for his own aggrandisement. Trieu doesn’t even want that. She just wants the attention and the good will.
The opening scene is a perfect illustration of this. Giving that married couple their own DIY baby was one thing, but all the crap with the hourglass and the silly monologue and everything, there was no need for any of that. And lets not forget, she didn’t give this couple a baby out of the goodness of her heart. She did it solely because she wanted their land so she could claim a fallen object from space. The same is true of this Millennium Clock she’s building. I’m pretty sure its purpose isn’t just to tell the time, but that’s not the point. It’s described by her daughter as not the Eighth Wonder of the World, but rather as the First Wonder of the New World. Plus, of course, she is a trillionaire. If she just handed out even a small portion of her vast wealth, it would make a huge difference, but then there would be nothing in it for her. Nothing to gain. Unlike Veidt, Trieu is a character driven by pure cynicism. She has no interest in saving the world, but rather the attention and adoration of the world around her. She wants the world and the people around her to rely on her to save them. Basically if Ozymandias is an altruist tempered with narcissism, then Lady Trieu is a narcissist tempered with altruism. It’s a beautifully realised character and one I’m most excited to see more of in the episodes to come.
I also like the connection she has with Angela. Both were born and raised in Vietnam, except Trieu’s mother was a native to Vietnam before the US invaded and absorbed the country, turning it into the fifty first state. This puts Angela in an interesting position. Being an African American, her family obviously has history of being the victims of colonial oppression, but in this alternate history where Vietnam is part of America, Angela is also now in the role as one of the colonial oppressors. A settler in a country stolen and plundered from the natives. It’s an interesting position for her character to be in and I’m very curious to see where the show takes this.
After taking a backseat in the previous episode, Angela mercifully gets to take the lead again this time around and she’s great. With the FBI breathing down her neck, Angela continues to get to the bottom of the mystery involving her grandfather, the murder of Judd Crawford, and the Seventh Kavalry, and I really like where this is taking her character. She privately confides in Wade about what she has learned, even asking him to hide Judd’s Klan robe. This is the kind of character stuff I wanted to see in the previous episode during the funeral. How do you react to the knowledge that one of your closest friends was a hateful bigot? And from the looks of things, it seems as though Angela is doing her level best to protect Judd’s memory, at least until she gets to the bottom of what the fuck is going on here. I love this because it feels totally believable.There’s still a part of her that doesn’t want to accept Judd’s racist ties to white supremacy and clinging onto the idea that he might be misunderstood or that there’s something else going on underneath. This is an excellent internal conflict that has so far been handled exceptionally well. You don’t think less of Angela for not wanting to accept the truth because it’s totally understandable and believable.
Also I just want to briefly talk about what we learn about Wade, aka Looking Glass, in this episode. The man’s a doomsday prepper, living in a bunker in his back garden, preparing for another squid attack. I LOVE this so much. It makes total sense in the context of Watchmen and, like with Lady Trieu, it serves as a really nice inversion of an existing character. Like Rorschach, Looking Glass is a paranoid conspiracy nut, but unlike Rorschach, there’s actually some truth and logic behind his paranoia. Again, it’s a subtle distinction, but it’s enough to allow the character to go off in his own direction.
Here’s the thing. The bits I like about this episode, I really like. Unfortunately the bits I don’t like, I really don’t like.
Let’s begin with Laurie. What is she even doing here? Not only is she so utterly divorced from the character in the graphic novel, she doesn’t even contribute anything meaningful to the plot, other than to bicker constantly with Angela (which, considering this is the first time in Watchmen that we’ve had two female characters together interacting with each other, it feels immensely disappointing that this is the best the writers can come up with) or to spout gratuitous fanwank and pop psychology. The pop psychology in particular irritates me because it simply doesn’t gel with the tone and themes of Watchmen. I’m really hoping all that stuff about trauma and wearing a mask to hide the pain doesn’t in fact apply to Sister Night, otherwise I’m going to be extremely annoyed. Not only is that cliched beyond belief, it also stands directly against the whole point of Watchmen as a concept. Alan Moore’s intent was to scrutinise the reasons behind why someone would put a costume on and fight crime. Some just want the attention, others want to compensate for their own inadequacies, and some just want to live out their own violent, hedonistic fantasies. Only Rorschach fits the trauma model proposed by Laurie, and even then it’s not really accurate. Rorschach uses his trauma more as an excuse than a motivation. Watchmen serves as a deconstruction and criticism of superhero archetypes, so to potentially give Sister Night an obligatory tragic backstory would feel like a grave disservice to the source material.
The pop psychology also represents another problem this episode has. It seems to spend an awful lot of time telling its audience about its themes and commentaries rather than just showing them. One of the things I loved so much about the second episode was that it respected the audience’s intelligence. The connections it was making between the police and mob psychology, the superhero genre and its roots in US propaganda, and the KKK and the moral absolutism of most comic book heroes were apparent in the episode’s visual language and symbolism. It didn’t try to highlight them in fifty foot high neon lettering, instead trusting the audience to make the connections themselves. Here, however, completely the opposite. At numerous points, it feels as though the episode is sitting me down like a naughty school child and straight up telling me the plot, rather than trust that I’m a grown man who is perfectly capable of following this by himself, I pinky promise.
Take the whole subplot with Adrian Veidt for example. By watching the previous episodes, you can deduce that he’s trapped in a prison of his own making and is trying to escape (although admittedly it turns out that the clones aren’t in fact his creations, which is a pity because I think that’s less interesting, but still). Awesome idea. Love it. But showrunner Damon Lindelof is clearly worried that the idiots sitting at the back of the class didn’t get this, so Adrian spends his limited screen time here just explaining his subplot to the audience. It’s really annoying.
Or what about the Millennium Clock? The Seventh Cavalry are clearly in league with Trieu for some unknown reason, and in their video message to the police in the first episode, they say ‘tick, tock’ a lot, which is clearly a reference to the Clock. All a bit goofy, granted, but do you know what’s even goofier? Will getting up out of his wheelchair, staring dramatically into camera and saying ‘tick, tock’ for no fucking reason whatsoever other than to spell out the connection for the slow people in the audience who didn’t make the link. Dude, I promise you, we are following this. It was just pointless. But not nearly as pointless as...
Good God, do I hate Lube Man!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against there being humour in Watchmen. The original graphic novel had moments of dark humour, but there’s a time and a place. It just feels weird and kooky just for the sake of being weird and kooky. And again, it serves as a less than subtle reminder to the audience of the themes of the show. The police are abusing their powers and letting smaller crimes fall by the wayside, but rather than let that come up naturally in the story, we get a random excerpt from the Silver Slider here. All I can say is Lube Man had better play a vital role in the episodes to come, otherwise I’ll be pissed.
See, when Good Lindelof is writing the scripts, I’m enjoying this show immensely. When Bad Lindelof takes a turn at the keyboard, however, that’s when I start to get worried.
#if you don't like my story write your own#watchmen#watchmen hbo#damon lindelof#dc#hbo#review#spoilers
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the funniest jokes in bfdi
flower’s announcer crusher that she just. has, and everyone else just uses it too
trying to put out a fire by holding ice cube’s recovery center over the fire so she just falls into it endlessly
every single one of yellow face’s products, including but not limited to
fork attractant, for when you need a fork but don’t have the cutlery on hand
headphones you cannot change the volume on or remove
money slips, you just write an amount on them, and it counts as legal tender
“thats a pentagon!” “yeah! like if you took my name and added ‘Tagon’!“
in like episode 2 when they all run away from something and a second later flower casually power-walks away from it instead of running
when balloony deflated and a while later cloudy flies over and goes “i cannot believe it! this is a dead body!!”
“he’s not dead, he just needs a little help thats all! (starts reinflating him too fast) but i agree, he is a hindrance when he is deflate- ohh noooo”
hollow jawbreakers that sound can come into but can’t go out of
when they stuck loser in a jawbreaker they inverted it, so they can hear him talk to himself but he cant hear anything around him
no one seems to know that thats why they can hear him
one time they all ended up in space. because of budget cuts.
actually every time budget cuts lead to something that seems way cooler than their previous stuff, like sparkly purple lasers instead of a mechanical arm to eliminate people with
the consistently bad cake at stake prizes. one time it was just a block of ice cut into six pieces. one time it was dirty shovels.
the magical die of judgement
when freesmart drove across the ocean in their van and they managed it by holding their breath and each time one of them died they just recovered them and threw their corpse out the back
golf ball messing up naming her team by saying things like “we need to be another name” and ending up on teams called Another Name and A Better Name Than That
one team was formed entirely around learning to not kill people. pillow overhears them say “youre against killing?” and goes “:D did someone say killing??”
tennis ball admonishing rocky for not knowing how to write: “no arms is no excuse”
they had to find a needle in a haystack and needle just turned herself in, successfully
when they started using a board with the points written on it on flaps of paper instead of a computer screen, but due to budget cuts, it could only display two digits per contestant, so anyone who went over 100 started immediately dropping to the bottom of the rankings
when ice cube was sleeping at the cake of stake podiums and got shot up into the air at like 3000 mph
2763
when the eliminated contestants tried to escape the loser chamber and they just rolled it off into the ocean
theyre saved because the sun rises and picks them up out of the ocean
also apparently the chamber opens for like five minutes a day for sunlight, but instead of just climbing out during that time, which they seem to be capable of doing, they do a much more convoluted thing
they were sick of four so they got rid of him by multiplying him with donut, and it worked
ruby has some really weirdly specific ideas of beauty and coaches flower
the line delivery of “killing a bubble is as easy as one, two, th(pop)” “i just learned two things about bubble: she can be su i c i d a l and she’s S O D U M B she CANT even count to T H R E E!”
a few episodes later bubble angrily shows them she CAN count to three if she lives long enough to do so, and pencil and match are both like :O :O
bubbles first line in season four is her rapidly counting to ten before getting popped
the way each team breaks their jawbreakers
8 ball just goes “MNYAH” and bites it in half
"okay black hole, do the thing”
leafy tries to use woody’s tongue to lick it open even though rocky and balloony were doing just fine using acid
iance just going ‘bwehbwehbweh’ all licking the same one
team ice cube was doing a mix of bwebwhbehbbwehbw and loudly drilling it open with naily
when four loved so hard he shot eraser off over the horizon
when they’re discussing team names in season one and theyre all talking over each other so you cant hear what theyre saying, except match, who grabs a megaphone and screams “SMOKY HOT FIERY BUNS”
when needle made a cake and put so much yeast in it that it breached earth’s atmosphere and astronomers apparently began classing earth as part of a three planet system (”consisting of the earth, the moon, and something called ‘needles cake’”)
“it’s ice cube! and she’s shrinking?” “she’s falling”
saying “(x character)! wake up!!” when it’s unclear (to the audience) why a character looks silly or apparently isnt responding
blocky’s sleeping pose is him with his eyes wide open, sporting a big goofy grin and hugging his legs
david’s sleeping pose is him with X eyes
one time the contest was to fill a tank with water from crying, and golf ball immediately ordered tennis ball to cry. he couldn’t do it on command, so golf ball tried, and cried her first ever tear, just... her first one
when the prize was fortune cookies, the fortunes were bracelety’s notes about how much she loves ice cube
“four, where’d you get these fortunes again?” “dumpster!”
“lightning always forgets to fly, so he had to be the fake”
when they were flying paper planes and stapy accidentally stapled his teammates into theirs, and he just hovered next to it while he was talking to them before they all started to plummet
the entire scene where liy tries to use ice cube to force teardrop to talk
“i’ll hold teardrops jaw open and you wiggle her vocal chords”
“i hate you” “yeah i hate her too!” “no. i hate you.”
“ice cube will only stop when she WANTS to stop!” “i want to stop”
“YOU SAID YOU WOULD HELP ME! YOU SAID YOU WERE COOL!” “so r r y (starts wiggling)”
“ICE CUBE! I AM APPALLED!!!!!”
ice cube gets bitten and starts screaming while bracelety is yelling “YEAH ICE CUBE! I CANT HEAR YOU, LOUDER!!”
apparently everyone who hates golf ball gets physically sick when they get near her (or at least, ruby does and snowball did once he knew she was there)
blocky got eaten by a monster in episode two but it turned out the monster missed him by a bit so he was fine
taco’s teammates thought she was dead forever and wrote eulogies for her, and once they found out she was alive lollipop threw hers away, but saw kept hers because in her eyes they’re still valid!!
when things started to get dramatic in the s1 finale, and leafy called announcer on the phone and he was in a ball pit
loser’s trapped in a jawbreaker and the only thing with him is donut’s diary. the next time you see him he’s reading it furiously and it’s filled with color-coded sticky notes
pillow decided if you wave your arms it means all your “care spirit” is getting sucked out your arms and sent into space (”a true indicator that person doesn’t give a fluff”)
remote got hacked and her FIRST INSTINCT is to send the hackers a bomb
“if theres an announcer recovery center now, that means we can kill the announcer as much as we want and he’ll still come back to give us dream island!”
they ask black hole to push them in their swing and he says he can’t push, but he can pull like there’s no tomorrow
“no i can literally warp space time so that there will be no tomorrow” “yeah,h don’t do that.”
when they have a tiebreaker announcer pulls out a silk tie and goes “first team to break this tie wins”
the second time, almost before he finished speaking, snowball just reached over and ripped it in half effortlessly
“proves you don’t need frills to make a feast for the eyes!” “more like taco doesn’t need to be dead to be deceased in my eyes!!!”
they had a race where everyone on each team had their legs tied together (like a three-legged race, but with like six people on a team)
pen’s team was doing fine but he wasn’t, so they just dragged him along behind
snowball tied his team into a ball and dragged them himself, to predictable results, and wouldn’t stop until he got to the finish line even though it took him until after the sun went down
he failed, actually, and him and his team plummeted down a ravine when he passed out
“the opposite of dream island! night...nightmare moon!!”
donut stuck his arms through a one way camera to the moon (it transmits matter as well as light), and to fix the fact that his arms were on the moon and his body was on earth, he pushed the entire earth through the camera
the moon is smushed up against the earth now. it has not been resolved yet
“gelatin and firey tied their legs together and fell off” “ya, seems like the kind of thing they would do”
pencil got caught by a monster and couldnt get away, so they had to kill her so they could recover her somewhere else, and they let her pick how they did it, which lead to everyone just sawing her in half while she grinned ear to ear. she was singing too. iconic
but first, match, her best friend, started waggling a big butcher’s knife around at her going “hoohoo hoeheehee im killing pencil loookat me” and pencil said “match put your butterknife away, you have to ACTUALLY kill me”
and when they were sawing her in half bubble had the BIGGEST, most BLISSFUL grin, with her eyes half closed like a happy cat
bell asks for help making people stop climbing her string, and snowball assures her he can do it, but he’ll have to climb her string to get to them
then like twenty people followed him up
when writing utensil characters use themselves to write with
sometimes they have tiny versions of themselves (sans limbs), but sometimes they just like, pull their caps off and write with their heads
(the same scream noise they use every time a group of people screams) “HONESTLY! (grabs a new can of fork repellent from hammerspace) are you guys going to scream like that EVERY time i use up a can?”
dodecadangit
OH THANKS AN OCTADECILLION, MATCH
they were basically playing hot potato where if you look at someone who was glowing you’d catch the glow, and most teams ended up just chilling with their eyes closed, but golf ball yelled “EVERYONE GET ON MY ROCKET” and she and her team just left earth entirely
this did not stop them from catching the glow
someone’s like “the communicator dish still works” and book goes “oh,” dips a chip into the communicator dish and splashes dip everywhere, “THATS what this is?”
the, like, five minute long end-credits scene of ice cube falling off a cliff eternally
pencil tells ruby which button to press and she keeps getting it wrong, partly because NEW BUTTONS KEEP APPEARING
the poison antidote that has the side effect of making the recipient eat one other contestant
pencil coaching her teammates on how to jump higher
“MMR? I love measles, mumps, and rubella!”
“golf ball knows how to do, like, everything!” (cut to golf ball) “i don’t know how to do, like, anything”
basketball invited 8 ball to be on her team cuz they’re both balls, then 8 ball said “sure, and let’s adopt these three” in reference to three other ball characters
loser said when he was younger he used to play with a toy that was apparently only just invented an hour ago, and everyone, like 60 characters, immediately disowned him and started a turf war over the situation
“black hole, you’re strong! open this jar for me!”
(as the world is literally ending) “FLOWER! WHATAVE YOU DONE??” “i got this jar open!!!”
whenever a host dies or is otherwise put out of commission and the contestants just keep trucking along until they remember no one can get the prize if the host isn’t around to give it to them
that time announcer used like ten negatives in a sentence
the way announcer says “wow!” with more emotion than anything else he says? idk if it’s intentional, or even a joke, but it’s the best thing
(slow mo) “i want to cry now, i really do”
“and i cry acid”
ruby died of sadness and book made it big by selling her remains
when they say some line that’s just regular words in a slightly unique way, and then the line gets repeated throughout the series
announcer accidentally-on-purpose got everyone killed, except david (who’s immune to bugs), and he had a david cloner, so he just went ahead and replaced everyone with davids in costumes
halfway through cake at stake, the original contestants show up unexpectedly and explain that they “faked their deaths! obviously.”
“ive decided to not cancel bfdi!” “aw, seriously?”
the noises david and dora make when they do things, like clattering, or sprouting leaves
bubble and match pretending to be trees
“NO BUBBLE! TREES DONT SAY THAT!” “OH, RIGHT! FSSHHHHHH! FWWWSHH!!!!”
when nickel and coiny get close together bad things happen
“how’s the tree-climbing going?” “it’s okay, but it’d be easier if you helped. (swoop) okay, just got to the top”
“yes! I am the first one up the tree!” “that’s NOT true, I was here FIRST”
i guess we’ll just have to use this trebuchet tennis ball built before he died
“wha! yhad this the HWOLE TIME, I DIDN EVEN HAVE TO CLIMB THE TREE?” “physical exertion builds character :)”
when everyone’s begging four to bring back their dead teammates, especially saw, who lost her entire team, and four is like okay I’ll bring back one (1) person, and saw very reverently starts to ask him for her dead team leader, but grassy says “tennis ball!” and four listens to him instead, and everyone immediately starts nagging four again to bring back more important people
leafy, about to melt ice cube down for metal scrap: “ice cube, come on down! you can be my alloy!”
they met a new character and they’re like “who is that?” and pie’s like “I dunno, try squishing it”
“theres another one? whoa! it totally has a different texture from the first one!”
8 ball beginning every single statement with things like “although I don’t have a favorite number...”
“I do this!” (grabs pin and turns her, screaming, into a squiggly pile of lines) “pretty cool, dontcha think?”
“can,,,, you bring her back?” “no” (five seconds later) “HEY CHECK THIS OUT! (brings back pin)”
pen high fived black hole and his arm spaghettified
“what are you doing?” “im going to die!” “hi needle! he’s not going to die.”
iance was trying to dig their way up out of the ground but they couldnt because golf ball kept blocking them from the surface
“maybe theyre trying to communicate with me?” “yeah they’re telling you to stop”
“they raise a very convincing argument. BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH!” “OH what a pain!!”
she accurately guessed the fact that there was a group of people underground running from some lava who “clearly value avoiding [golf ball] more than their own safety”
“ohhhh so THIS is golf balls idea of fun!” “(sigh)... yep”
they looked through a camera and couldn’t see donut (the zoom wasn’t adjusted) and marker went “donut’s a vampire too?”
too???
“meh, I’ve still got other evidence”
one time the eliminated contestants got to vote who to eliminate and snowball was like “ice cube, cuz it’s really hot in the TLC and I can’t be the only one cooling it off”
like four other people were like “oh man he’s right” and did the same thing
“wouldn’t it be cool if the last word of the last episode was the same as the first word of the first episode?” “yeah :)”
“take. a deep breath. you know. A DEEP FRIED BREATH”
at the end of the episode he shows up with some boiling oil and is like “LIKE THIS! ONE, (sizzling and screaming noises)” “COINY NO”
leafy was about to throw a knife at them but watched this happen offscreen with horror and then left them alone
david’s human, and that’s just weird
“im still mad you killed bubble” “youre one to talk, you were about to impale TWO WHOLE teams” “yeah, but bubble’s life? is special”
pen’s like “okay we three need to stick together while we’re picking teams!” but then eraser hears some other team has free food, so he runs off and pen very flatly goes “okay, we lost eraser.”
“well let’s not pick pen, he’s still two hundred bigintillion dollars in debt” which is mostly hilarious without the first three seasons of context, but even with context it’s hilarious. he looks so shamefaced when they say it too. i love pen
once someone finally picks him he IMMEDIATELY perks up and takes charge
the hphprcc went into self destruct mode and everyone started frantically trying to figure out what to do, and book’s like “okay it’ll either just disappear without a trace, or blow up and kill us all, 50/50 chance” and then of course, it exploded, and ruby started screaming, and then book was like “ruby, stop hallucinating! see? it just disappeared, without a trace!”
“YOuuOURE HalLUCINAATING!!” “DON’T do that!! it is K-R-E-P!”
pin tried to knock everyone off the eiffel tower by shaking it and book was like “who does she think she’s kidding? it’s the eiffel tower we won’t fall off”
“name ONE! name ONE friend you haven’t gotten extremely angry at!” “thats not fair,! there isnt even any of them!”
8ball was saying the opposite of everything golf ball was saying, up to and including calling the members of their team, a better name that that, “worse namers”
“is this because i killed you last episode?” “what?? no, i dont care about that!”
“life is CHEAP! get me a BANANA!!!”
flower bit off half of announcer’s head and he couldn’t make the K sound anymore
“have this -ashew” “bless you”
“no i said -ashew. -ashew. -ashew. -ashew.” “wow you must be allergic to something”
“maybe announcer’s allergic to this cashew? here bubble, you can have it!”
pencil won the staring contest because david’s allergic to sunrises
freesmart was making video diaries during the three year hiatus, but apparently did absolutely no editing or even rewatching of the videos, because they found out three years too late that ruby left the lens cap on every time she used the camera
when four played the cake at stake song in the classroom he played it on a low-quality portable tv instead of cutting to a fullscreen video
“iknowafasterway!” “NORUBYYOULLDIE!”
pin said she didnt want to halve the votes she got because she hadnt done anything that would make people want to vote for her, and it immediately cut to a series of old scenes of her throwing people under the metaphorical bus
literally nothing is funnier than “i mean, i havent done anything to make people vote for me” (cut to flashback) “there’s too much weight on this sinking ship!!! we need to throw someone OVERBOARD!!!!”
one team got stuck doing their nine-piece puzzle for a MONTH because all the pieces were the same dark brown color
the pieces were upside down
a month
“the finish line! it’s only twenty or so yards away!”
two people talking and using the word “needy” twice and pausing to throw their hands up protectively and go “HNnnnynGH”
“why do i have filling, but also a hole?” - donuts diary
in 5b theyre talking to some npcs and theyre like “well dont hurt us, because we just got finished being punished in lego brick’s dungeon” and the npcs were like “oh yeah he does that. he’s a great guy, but he does that.”
also in 5b when book met lego brick the FIRST thing she asked is if he’s “safe to look at” which,???
they did a trivia contest and multiple questions were in complete gibberish
presumably this is an actual language in canon since like three other people answered correctly, also in gibberish, but still
“you’ve got this, bubble, you’re great at mental contests” “question one: ooba grooba, grooba shmooba?” “HUH?”
“but tennis ball -- oh... tennis ball....--”
team naming, especially in season four
“we’re not ALL in the alliance!” “well, if you take ‘the all’ out of the alliance, you get...”
“and what is your name?” (everyone says their own actual names at once)
ice cube is not on team ice cube
Death Prevention And Creating Trust
“let’s be called The Losers!” “awww! you didn’t have to”
wheel ooze a hole bunch. WOAH bunch!
“but then it sounds like youre saying free-DUMB!” “and we are so like totally not dumb!”
when the losers decided to use iance’s idea to win the swing contest and it was styled like an overenthusiastic science video
“WHOA!!! iance just had a RADICAL idea!!!”
“TREASON! TREASON! TREASON!” “im in what?”
“seriously why are so many people drowning? it’s not even quicksand, or anything” - announcer, responding to five people drowning in a basket of bread
they were whispering with “susuusus” noises and cloudy whispered “zuzuzuzzuz”
the spaceship with the sign that says “this spaceship runs on big squishy contestants” or whatever and after the credits it slowly flips over to say “this spaceship runs on VOTERS”
“stop shooting at me!” “no way! i got these cannonballs on sale and IM GONNA GET MY MONEYS WORTH!!!”
eggy and cake’s argument over who has a deeper spiritual connection with loser
“my connection is so strong that when i crack, i bleed loser’s COLOR”
playing catch with a star they plucked out of the big dipper, and leafy’s horror over it
adding “ey” to people’s names (personal favorites are announcery, fourty-four, flowey, treey, and belly)
blueberries are EXPLOSIVE, including the ones inside pie, so sometimes she just explodes
“but over a year ago, four said you dont need frills to make a feast for the eyes, so that means hes okay with trash!”
the anti-advertisements advertisement!
four ate a whole team and they just sort of stood around inside him sticking their arms out his mouth and laughing hysterically
“again! again again again !!!!”
“we could be leaving!” “yeah, but when’s the last time you saw remote this happy? this is good for her!”
book, three episodes into season 3: hey, what is it we’re even battling for?
(iconic voice): dwream island,??
when they had a beauty contest and firey speaker box and flower speaker box just immediately chose firey and flower to be the winners without a second’s hesitation
“book! come help us catch a criminal!” “no thanks, im good!”
donut tried to punish people for getting the wrong answers when he was hosting, but it turns out a recording of four screeching doesn’t work... quite as well as the real deal
four zapping gelatin
ok ok ok this is insanely long but please add more if u have any favorites i missed
#honorable mention is 'pen island all caps no spaces'#its so stupid and i lose it every single time#and the reanimated 1a and 1b map when leafy icy and coiny were on their boat and inexplicably dressed as pirates#its the CUTEST Thing and i think about it a lot#bfdi#long post#o
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Sokai: Kingdom of Missing Hearts
More Sokai?! You bet’cha!
Prompts are on shutdown! Don’t send any in until the grand reopening is announced :)b
Prompts:
“The light of our hearts...” The mysterious man walked towards Kairi, who just recently, was still within Merlin’s training but had to flee when it was momentarily compromised.
She adjusted herself and summoned her keyblade.
“Is weak when we’re apart.” The black-hooded man finished, seeming to quote something as his mysterious keyblade began to slowly burst out hazy darkness out of it, growing rapidly as he continued. “Though they say that’s not true... I’d like the vow to remain. Let’s let light die within the dark... if we’re ever too far from its spark.”
He finished and gestured to Kairi to listen, “This poem was written by a depressed lover. I find it rather... touching... to disappear within the void of loneliness than to be too far from love’s light.”
“I... I don’t understand. What do you want!?” Kairi bundled a hand into a fist, placing it on her chest as she readied herself to fight if needs be.
“What? Not a lover of poetry?” the man shrugged, but then chuckled. “Shame... I need you to bring someone to me... someone who would come if you were separated from him... I need him to surcome to the light. Wouldn’t be so bad if you did too. I’d reunite him with his light... through the darkness swallowing you both.” he flung his keyblade back, then rapidly dashed towards her.
She went to strike, unafraid, but the image disappeared the second she did so.
“What..?” she looked around, not sure what was going on before something jammed into her side.
“AHH!!...Ahh...haaa...” she collapsed as the darkness that had surrounded the strange and unfamiliar keyblade seeped over her body.
Leaving the Keyblade in, the figure stood up straight, snapping. “One down...” He looked over his shoulder, “One to come...”
-Yen Sid’s Tower-
“Ah! Kairi!” Riku, upon the door opening to reveal Kairi laying unconscious with a strange keyblade stabbed into her side, immediately dashed towards her and gripped the side of the table. “Kairi! Kairi, open your eyes!” When she didn’t respond, his shoulders slumped and his body began to shake, turning violently to Yen Sid. “Who did this!? What did they want?”
“Calm yourself, Riku... A keyblade wielder has trapped Kairi in a never-ending nightmare realm within her heart.” Yen Sid closed his eyes, “I’m afraid if we were to remove the keyblade... her heart would be lost, and the darkness would corrupt her physical form left behind.”
He reopened his eyes and placed his hands into his long sleeves, “It’s unclear... how exactly he was able to summon the power. A forbidden poem triggers the cursed realm, but one can’t simply just utter it to bring it forth... we’re dealing with a powerful new enemy... one who seems to want mischief more than simply just chaos.”
“Isn’t that the same thing!?”
The two now looked to Axel, walking into the room, looking even more hostile than Riku had been.
“Whoever this loser is, I’ve never seen his keyblade before. EVER!” he swiped a hand out, clearly upset. “Which means he’s not apart of the organization. At least, not officially, anyway.”
“They can’t recruit?” Riku glared, but Axel flinched back, a little hurt by his expression.
“Hey! Don’t pin the blame on me! How am I supposed to know what’s going on inside those crazy ol’coots minds now!?”
“Enough. Both of you. I know you care about Kairi... but this is no time to panic.” Yen Sid looked kindly to both men, as they did take heed to his words, and looked down in frustration.
“Is there really nothing we can do? Without risking her heart?” Riku spoke up then, unable to make eye-contact with anyone. He kept his anger fixed on a point on the ground, not wanting to upset Yen Sid again, or inadvertently make Axel feel bad.
“There is a chance... But who knows where Sora has gone off too.” He seemed to be a little hopeless on that last part, but Riku quickly looked up.
“The gummiphone?”
-The Gummi Ship-
“Sora! Look out!” Donald cried out in his signature duck’s voice.
“I’m trying! Err... Hyah!” Steering through the universe to get to another world, Sora’s pocket suddenly came to life with sound.
“Hey, that’s that there Gemmiphone, right?” Goofy bent his head down to look but Donald quickly corrected him.
“Gummiphone!” he quickly jumped out of his chair, but Sora moved the ship and he was squabbling across the floor, sliding to slam his butt against the side of the ship. “Heeeyy!!!” He let out his infamous anger and swung his fists around.
“Gwosh.” Goofy put a finger to his mouth, then looked back to Sora.
“Kinda busy!” he admitted, before finding an astroid to hide behind as he sighed. He put his keyblade down, something he was using to guide them towards the world, then pulled out his phone.
“Riku? Is everything alright?”
“Not really. Before me and Mickey could start our search for Aqua, something came up.”
“Woah, Riku looks pretty serious.” Sora lightly stated to Donald and Goofy, who had come up to look over and down at his Gummiphone.
“Sora... I don’t know what’s going on with you right now, but... It’s Kairi.”
Sora’s eyes widened, bulging at her name.
“What was that? Riku, what happened to Kairi!? Is she alright? She’s with Merlin and Axel, isn’t she!?” He leaned more and more towards the Gummiphone, his worry overtaking him as Donald and Goofy looked to each other, seeing him lose his composure.
“D’wah...”, “Ohh...” the two seemed to share the same reactions.
“Not... quite...”
“Huh? Axel!”
Sora saw Axel enter the frame, scratching the back of his head as Riku adjusted the Gummiphone and tilted it towards him.
“We were compromised. Only for an instant, mind you. Merlin sent us through different portals and the guy followed Kairi, coincidentally.”
“The guy..? Wait, where’s Kairi!?” Sora gripped the phone, his emotions getting the better of him.
The two looked to each other, almost sharing Donald and Goofy’s expressions.
They turned back to Sora, as if making a decision.
“It’s best you head to Master Yen Sid’s, Sora. We think your power could help... it’s got to be you, Sora.” Riku nodded firmly to him.
“My... Power? Ohh...” Sora looked off and let one of his hands go from the phone, looking at it. “But my power’s not back yet... I don’t even know if...” he formed a fist, shaking it as he closed his eyes and tilted his head.
“Don’t worry, Riku! Axel! I’ll be there faster than you can say ‘Sora’s here!’.” He gave a confident smile, but once the Gummiphone was off--and after Riku and Axel nodded to his statement--he felt his whole body fall into the Gummi Ship’s chair.
“What if... I can’t even save Kairi?” He felt his head hang low.
Donald and Goofy shared a look again, before changing it to a fierce look of conviction. “Sora!!!” Donald stomped a foot down, bundling his fists together in front of him. “You can do anything, Sora! You just gotta believe you can!” he stepped back as Goofy also gave it a go, encouraging Sora as well in his own words.
“Yeah, that’s right. We wouldn’t be able to do half of the things we can now without each other. I’m sure Kairi trusts you to help her too.”
“Yeah, we’ll do this together! Like everything else!”
“D’ah! You said it, Donald!”
Sora weakly looked up to them, “Donald... Goofy...”
After giving his friends a quick look, seeing each of their smiling and confident faces towards him, he smacked his hands into his cheeks and perked up a bit. “Right!” he threw a fist up, “Kairi’s saved me so many times! I can’t let her down now!”
“Yeah!” The two cheered together, also raising their fist.
-Back at Yen Sid’s Tower-
It was a minute before Sora and the gang arrived, and when they did, they came bolting in like lightning, heading straight to Kairi.
“Kairi!” Sora raced by Riku and Axel, who let him pass as he barged into the heavy table and looked over Kairi’s state.
The darkness was swarming all around her in a moving, living smoke. The keyblade was securely in her side, but there wasn’t any blood. It was strange... even it’s design was something Sora had never seen before.
He fell to his knees, spending a moment to feel before doing anything further.
Just like Axel and Riku, though... anger filled him and he stood back up, reaching for the keyblade.
“No!” Riku swung an arm out.
“Don’t touch that, Sora!!!”
“I can’t use the power of awakening just yet-! But I can use my own power to save her!” he gripped the keyblade’s handle.
Yen Sid stood up, “Sora! Halt!” he was about to cast a spell when he noticed Sora suddenly overcome by the darkness as well.
“I... I don’t feel... my strength...” Sora, losing his fight, suddenly leaned his head back and collapsed over Kairi.
“Sora!!!” Everyone cried out, racing to his side.
Then... They all heard snoring.
“Wha?” Donald stepped to the side, shaking Sora’s body before noticing he looked asleep.
“He... Couldn’t pull the keyblade out?” Riku looked to Yen Sid, “What’s going on?”
“How... interesting.” Yen Sid lowered his once raised hand, “After being alerted of Kairi’s predicament, I thought he might act hastily. However, I never truly expected him to completely abandon trying to awaken her, and instead, diving into the realm himself...”
“He what!? Listen, not one of the things coming out of your mouth is the same as the other words that came from it just a few moments before.” Axel slightly complained, but Yen Sid seemed relatively calm by his reaction.
“The unusual keyblade tore into Kairi’s heart, which is why her physical body was unharmed. But by means of the curse embued in it, that left Kairi’s heart punctured with darkness that took her mind into another realm within her own heart. This is the reason why she seems to sleep... But her training was not all in vain, as she is filled with a powerful light.” Yen Sid began to explain, which captured everyone’s attention. He looked back to Kairi and Sora, “Kairi possesses a strong, kind heart. I worried that if we were to remove the keyblade, it may cause her to falter to darkness. I took this as an opportunity, although unfortunate, to see if her peril could lead Sora to regaining his lost power.”
“Hold up, you’re telling me you used the situation to your advantage?!” Axel burst from his quiet listening, bending his body as though ready to fight. “You’re just as bad as the organization!”
“Bite your tongue, Axel.” Riku looked back to Axel, scolding him.
“What?! You can’t seriously say you stand to reason for this guy!?” Axel swung a hand in frantic gestures, “What has the world of light come to, huh!?”
“I know it sounds kinda harsh... but it’s true. We need Sora’s power.” Riku looked down, seeming ashamed to admit it, but forcing himself too.
Yen Sid looked down as well, “I know it sounds unorthodox, but any way to help Sora regain that power as soon as possible... is crucial to our purposes in this war.”
The others remained silent, but Axel fumed quietly to himself, turning away from everyone and folding his arms. “Hmph. Nothing you say will change my point of view.”
Sora began to speak in his sleep, and the others quickly turned to listen in.
“Kairi... Wake up... I have so many... adventures... to tell you... zzzz.”
Riku suddenly summoned his keyblade, going over to free their hearts but Yen Sid threw his arm up again, “No, Riku! If they do lose their hearts, it’s over.”
Riku lowered his keyblade, “So we have to just stand here and do nothing!? My friends are trapped in an endless nightmare!” He gestured back to them. “My heart’s already been inside the darkness, maybe I can-”
“I’ll not lose another light.” Yen Sid shook his head, “We must believe in Sora and Kairi’s light. There is a second poem to the first, written by the woman before the first poem was ever conceived. She created it as though knowing her beloved would succumb to torment at her lost.”
He began to recite, as Sora’s heart glowed from the words. “Though light seems to dim and fade, never is it darkness made. Though our hearts be long gone from this world, I still believe in the eternal flame. Light connects even within the night. Let stars collide, and a path be made bright.”
Sora’s heart burst and suddenly he woke up on a stained glass window beneath his feet. It looked like... “Kairi’s heart?”
“Sora!”
He quickly looked up and gasped, a Heartless jumped at him and swiped, as he was knocked back away.
Shaking it off, he looked up to now blurred vision. The floor seemed to shift into many scenes of Kairi’s life and adventures, before being swarmed in darkness and then broken through light.
“What’s... going on?”
Kairi swiped her keyblade at the horde of Heartless that quickly formed again after the explosion of Light from Kairi’s heart.
She looked exhausted, as though she had been fighting for a long time.
“Kairi... she needs me...” He slowly gathered the strength to get up onto one knee. “Kairi!” he called out, desperate to help her. “I’m coming!”
He fell again as another Heartless attacked him, then another, and soon he was piled on by a group of them that kept pummeling into him, ripping at his back.
He tried to endure but just like before, the floor became swarmed in darkness, and then a memory from Kairi’s past broke through the last depiction and burst into light.
For a moment, relief. Sora looked around, seeing there was no more horde and quickly got to his feet, dashing to Kairi who stumbled a moment to stay balanced on her feet.
“Sora...” Her eyes seemed distant, but she reached out to him.
He immediately grabbed her, holding her close as their light combined.
“You called me out of darkness once...” He stated as the Heartless hordes grew in number again. The last memory was being overwhelmed in darkness again, and it seemed as Kairi kept summoning new light from herself, it was quickly overcome time and time again by darkness.
She was running out of happy memories to sustain herself...
Sora looked to the horde, gritted his teeth, and summoned his keyblade. He moved Kairi behind him, letting her lean a little on his shoulder and back, as he glared the massive force of dark enemies down. ‘I can do this.’ he took a deep breath, ‘No matter how long it takes..! I will do this!’
He readied himself for a showdown, his typical positioning of his bent knees and keyblade off to his side in both hands.
“It’s my turn to return the favor!”
“But... Sora... You’re powers...” She worriedly placed a hand on his shoulder, sliding it to touch his neck as he looked down. “You still have them... don’t you?”
“I... I don’t know how to awaken your heart, Kairi.” Admitting that almost broke him. He closed his eyes, unwilling to see what kind of disappointed expression she might make.
But instead, she giggled.
He opened his eyes in shock and turned to her, knowing the horde was about to pounce at any second now, their numbers overwhelming at this point.
“I’ve missed you, Sora.” She lightly smiled to him, then tilted her head in a cute sense of trust. She was unworried, how could that be?
“I meant your other power,... don’t you know? The one you never can lose.”
“H-huh?” Sora tilted a little more towards her, his ear now right up by her mouth as he didn’t notice the proximity at the moment.
The horde jumped forward.
“You really don’t know? It’s your smile, Sora... Darkness just can’t stand to be around it.”
In that moment, light overwhelmed the darkness, and Kairi and Sora’s combined light began to lift them out of the dark nightmare realm that seemed to loop in a continual struggle, due to Kairi’s unfaltering heart.
With Sora’s added strength, the mysterious keyblade began to wobble as though floppy, then stiffen and shift before disappearing in balls of twinkling light.
Sora was the first to wake up, shaking his head before Kairi got up too, placing a hand on his head and grinning kindly to him.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“Ah... Kairi!” his eyes shone at the sight of her.
They embraced.
It was bittersweet though. Although everyone celebrated that the first poem was the counter-spell, Yen Sid still reminded everyone they needed further training, and to be careful.
Merlin put an even more powerful spell, thanks to Yen Sid’s instructions, and hid Kairi and Axel better for their training.
At least it wasn’t the organization... but before they all left back to their tasks, Sora and Kairi spent a second to say...
“You have to continue the fight, Sora! I’ll complete my training, just you wait and see!” With that never-ending supply of positivity, Kairi was bubbly with energy.
“Heh.” Sora flicked his finger under his nose, “You never change, Kairi... Though you do get stronger every time I see you. It’s hard to believe that just a little while ago, you had a keyblade sticking out from your side.”
She confidently put her hands to her hips, mimicking her younger years, and leaning towards him, accusingly. “Are you saying I should be complaining?”
He shook his hands out, “No, no! It’s just... I’m kinda torn.” He looked down, admitting how he really felt.
Kairi straightened up, dropping her playful act a moment and listening to him.
“You want to stay... don’t you, Sora?”
He nodded, “Who wouldn’t want to be... with the people they love more than anything?” he seemed to be referring to Riku too, and she smiled at that innocence.
She didn’t take it the wrong way, but... she knew the feeling... and knew what more to say.
“Tell me all about your adventures when you get back. Don’t miss a detail, okay? I want to know everything.” she put her hands behind her back, tilting her head with a modest nod.
It was heartbreaking, but also sweet.
Sora, wishing he could give her one last hug, stepped forward to try for it but then harshly pivoted, ducking his head from her view to hide the painful realization that if he did so, it may hurt them both worse...
“I promise... Wait for me, Kairi!” he shook a fist and then looked up to give her back a overly happy grin.
“Will do!” she chimed before taking a step forward... and then rushing into him with a big hug.
He was taken aback... maybe they were both stronger than he thought.
He hugged her, knowing she was his true strength.
“So long... Sora.” Was she... gripping him tighter?
He knew exactly what she was feeling now, and pulled her even deeper too, digging his head into her shoulder. “Em... Wait up for me.”
“I’m always with you... in your heart... Sora.” she pulled away, but it was hard for the both of them.
It took them a moment, but they finally looked back into the other’s glossy eyes.
“And I with you... Kairi.”
He began to let her go... slowly... before dashing to the Gummi Ship.
She lingered in the moment, watching him rush up the lowered panel that lead into the Gummi Ship before stopping abruptly... looking back, and giving her an energetic wave.
She giggled, waving back just as much. ‘I’ll always miss you, Sora...’
‘I’ll never, ever forget the strength of your light... The presence of your heart... Kairi.’
They both slowly lowered their hands... their eyes turning kinder, before the two headed off.
“You, uh... You didn’t want to give him the letters?” Axel, feeling a bit like a third wheel, still had a hand up and behind his head.
“They’re more for me, remember?” She just walked right passed him, a smile still apparent on her face. She nodded cheerfully, but he could tell there was a quiet sadness there.
“You know... you don’t always have to be so strong.” He walked after her but stopped when she paused. “Just saying. You’ll miss him, right? So it’s okay to have... a shoulder to cry on.” he patted his shoulder with the hand that was behind his head, winking slightly as though to keep everything light.
The wind of the Gummi Ship taking off blew her hair gently back...
She turned around with a sly look, “You say that as though I need to cry.” She then looked up after the Gummi Ship, “But I know we’ll be together again... maybe not now, or even soon... but we will. We’re connected by an unbreakable bond... Our hearts are always filled with the connection of light. We won’t shut them out in fear of losing that connection, that path towards each other...” she shook her head, closing her eyes a moment in the sunlight, “I’m not sure what darkness thinks it can do... but darkness strives to sever the connection of hearts... that’s why, nothing good can dwell in it.”
As she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see Axel staring at her in the way he used to when reminded of something he forgot.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing! Sorry...” He looked away.
“Axel...” she lightly scolded.
“I mean-! It’s just so wholesome.” He faked it off, pretending it wasn’t the thing he couldn’t remember, but Kairi just smiled and followed after him.
She didn’t look back.
She didn’t need too.
Sora was right here... in her heart. She touched it lightly, and Sora--sitting within the Gummi Ship--touched his too.
Neither would succumb, because love can’t exist in darkness.
#sokai#sokai prompt#soraxkairi#kingdom hearts prompt#cutegirlmayra#kingdom hearts#kingdom hearts shipping
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