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richardsondavis · 2 years

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This post will NOT cover everything that took place in GamerGate. That simply isn't possible here. GamerGate wasn't one drama, it was many small and large events that unfolded and built upon each other over a period of years, and took place in every part of the internet at once. My aim here is to lay out the key figures, and give a general understanding of what happened and why. There are resources linked throughout the post which can expand on events I mentioned, but there are many more that I left out.

Come with me as we explore the dark corridors of the internet that gave birth to the modern alt-right. I'm going to try and keep this gaming related, because this isn't a political discussion board, but references to greater political movements are unavoidable.

Be warned, this post contains basically every ism and phobia that you could possible imagine. Tread with care.

Also, when I refer to 'gamers' with a lowercase G, I just mean normal gamers as a whole. When I say 'Gamers', I mean Gamergate supporters.

Anita Sarkeesian - Sexism in Gaming

This shitstorm began in 2013, though its roots trace back far earlier, and while it would come to suck in thousands of pundits, politicians and thinkers from around the world, it began with one woman: Anita Sarkeesian.

Anita is a Canadian-American media critic. She started her Youtube Channel Feminist Frequency in 2009, analysing portrayals of women in pop culture. In 2011 she worked with feminist magazine Bitch to create a series of videos titled 'Tropes vs Women', which examined the damaging cliches and stereotypes against women in film and tv. It did pretty well, but she was still a small voice in a small circle. The natural next step was to talk about games, and that's what she did in 2012. 'Tropes vs Women in Video Games' criticised the sexualisation of women in games, the way they are treated as helpless damsels in distress, or given to the player as a reward. As Sarkeesian herself points out in her first episode:

"It's both possible and necessary to simultaneously enjoy media, while also being critical of its problematic or pernicious aspects'.

The videos were pretty even handed, and never really took the 'rabid angry feminist' tone that people have come to portray. I recommend taking a look. Anita was clearly not much of a 'gamer' herself, but she saw the positives that could be drawn from them.

In order to fund the project, Anita created a Kickstarter - which was all the rage back then. The kickstarter drew attention from every corner. Some of it was positive - she asked for $6000, but ended up with almost 7000 backers and $160,000 pledged. However a lot of it was bad.

Keep in mind that this all took place at a very critical moment in the feminist movement. Tumblr and Twitter were at their height, and a lot of positive momentum was being made. The video game industry was gradually becoming more inclusive too. Games at the time were - to much controversy - including more POC, women, and LGBT characters. But at the same time, a push began against this. A lot of men were feeling alienated by the rapid change, and this negative stance on feminism tended to look past the majority (who were pretty reasonable) and focus only on the minority of feminists who were explicitly anti-male. And in time, the progressive community would make the same mistake with gamers. But for now, it was these anti-feminists who saw the premise of Sarkeesian's videos as a threat toward 'their territory' - the male oriented video game industry. Anita became the poster child for everything these men hated. There was a coordinated effort on 4chan to destroy her Kickstarter, to DDOS the site, to report her twitter accounts, and otherwise eliminate her. It got pretty nasty. At the time it was a bit of a shocker just how nasty it got, but little did we know it was just the start.

A number of articles started to surface on various sites documenting the bizarre outrage, and that only lent it more momentum. Kotaku, Polygon, and other more left-leaning gaming news sites headed the exposure.

Anita received enormous harassment on social media, including vast numbers of rape and death threats, and she was doxxed multiple times (a practice in which a person's home address is posted online). Her wikipedia articles were vandalised with racial and sexual slurs, and she was sent drawings of herself being raped. A video game was created, 'Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian', in which players cover a photo of her in blood by clicking on it. Critics who disparaged the 'game' received death threats themselves. The creator of the game, Gregory Alan Elliot, was taken to court. The case had significant implications for online freedom of speech in Canada. She was accused of being Jewish, and received enormous amounts of antisemitism dubbing her Jewkeesian, until it came to light that her heritage was actually Armenian - and the harassment switched to an Armenian theme without skipping a beat.

Anita capitalised on her infamy, and used it to speak out on sexual harassment at TEDxWomen, as well as several universities. She was scheduled to speak at the 2014 Game Developer's Choice Awards, and would receive an accolade herself, but an anonymous bomb threat was called in to try and get the event cancelled. It really is hard to overstate the sheer level of vitriol this woman had thrown at her. But she would not be the only one.

"I don't get to publicly express sadness or rage or exhaustion or anxiety or depression, I can't say that sometimes the harassment really gets to me, or conversely that the harassment has become so normal that sometimes I don't feel anything at all. I don't get to express feelings of fear or how tiring it is to be constantly vigilant of my physical or digital surroundings. How I don't go to certain events because I don't feel safe. Or how I sit in the more secluded areas of coffee shops and restaurants so the least amount of people can recognise me."

Zoe Quinn - Ethics in Journalism

Zoe Quinn is an American video game developer and writer. In 2013, she released the game 'Depression Quest', a text-based game in which the player roleplays as themselves and is taken through a number of scenarios relating to depression. The game was based on her own experiences, and was received positively by critics. It's a raw and heartfelt project, and I really recommend it. However, there was a contingent who insisted that Depression Quest couldn't really be called a game, and it's true that it blurred the lines between a book, a visual novel, and a game.

This began a broad - and still ongoing - conversation within the gaming community. What is a game? People tried to come up with a clear cut definition, but there was always something that fell outside it. Does it need a failure state? That rules out Animal Crossing, which is definitely a game. Does it need an end point? That rules out Tetris. Does it need violence? Does it need characters? Does it need interactivity? Does it need choice? Does it need goals? Does it need visuals or sound? It's easy to look at most games and say 'yes, that's a game'. It's easy to look at a book or film and say it isn't. But when projects approach the line, things get a bit confusing. There are those who looked at Depression Quest and saw a book with extra steps, and there are those who insisted it was a game, but with all the extraneous stuff taken away. This is a massive philosophical debate, but we're here for drama, so let's move on. All you need to know is - it got great reviews, and some players were unhappy.

Zoe was added to the list of persona non grata. She received her own wave of death and rape threats, but rather than backing away, she documented them and spoke out about them to the media. This earned her even more hatred, which steadily grew more and more intense, to the point where she fled her home out of fear for her own safety.

But it wasn't until August 2014 that 'GamerGate' as we know it would officially begin. And it started at the hands of a relative unknown name, even now. Zoe's former boyfriend Eron Gjoni published a long and sprawling blog post about their relationship in which he levelled a number of accusations against her, the most inflammatory of which was that she had been given positive coverage (of Depression Quest, among other things) by a Kotaku journalist with whom she was sexually involved. This was a false accusation. It later came out that this journalist, Nathan Grayson, had barely ever mentioned Quinn or her work, and when he did, they hadn't been together. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story. The letter included copies of chat logs, text messages, and emails, and for all the world appeared to be legit.

The Gamers in question accused Zoe of exchanging sexual favours for positive press and professional advancement in what they called the 'Quinnspiracy'. Of course, Zoe Quinn stood to gain nothing from the praise Depression Quest received. Contrary to the claims that she was using her status as a woman to gain money... the game was free. And always had been. But this spawned one 'debate' which would go on to define GamerGate - that of ethics in game journalism. Video game press came under enormous scrutiny, especially the left-leaning Kotaku. The idea was that if a pundit/reviewer/critic was left leaning, their views could not be relied upon, because according to GamerGate, they were biased. Large lists were created to map out the various 'SJW Journalists', which boiled down to a blacklist of public figures who spoke out against GamerGate.

But for Zoe, it just meant abuse.

A lot of this began on 4chan - because of course it did - and users leapt at the chance to renew their attacks on Zoe Quinn and Depression Quest. Adam Baldwin (yes that one) coined the term GamerGate on Twitter, and his followers sent it trending. GamerGate gradually developed into a movement which would viciously attack anyone it saw as a target, and had its base in 4chan and Reddit.

Within four months of the blog post, Quinn's record of threats had exceeded a thousand. Around that time she is quoted as saying:

"I used to go to game events and feel like I was going home [...] Now it's just like... are any of the people I'm currently in the room with ones that said they wanted to beat me to death?".

I would go into detail on the exact content of these threats but frankly, I don't want to. All you need to know is that they contain the worst possible things that some very creative people could come up with. Quinn's Tumblr, Dropbox and Skype accounts were hacked, and she once again fled to live with friends. Everyone even tangentially connected to her got showered with hatred. It was a full on witch hunt.

In a BBC interview, Zoe summed up her experience.

"To me, GamerGate will always be glorified revenge porn by my angry ex. Before it had a name, it was nothing but trying to get me to kill myself, trying to hurt me, going after my family. GamerGate will always be that to me. There was no mention of ethics in journalism at all, besides making the same accusation everybody makes toward any successful women, that clearly she got to where she is because she had sex with someone".

EDIT: There was a section here in which I covered the Alec Holowka scandal in 2019, but commenters pointed out that it isn't really relevant to GamerGate, and I agree with them, so I removed it.

Brianna Wu - Taking Action

Wu is an American video game developer and the founder of Giant Spacekat, a small game studio. In October 2014, she began monitoring 8chan (think 4chan's even worse cousin), and began tweeting about GamerGate, ridiculing them for:

"...fighting an apocalyptic future where women are 8 percent of programmers and not 3 percent".

In the process, she placed herself in the sights of the mob. Anonymous details about her, including her address, were leaked on 8chan, and of course she got the standard death and rape threats, and had to flee her home. If this seems like it's becoming a pattern, that's because it is. The pattern would repeat itself over and over going forward. A minor figure speaks out about something, right wingers try to shut them up with abuse, they use that abuse to increase their platform (thereby becoming a minor left wing celebrity), they become an even bigger target, and they soon end up plastered across the internet.

But to the fury of many Gamers everywhere, none of these women were backing down. In February 2015, Wu declared:

"By attacking me so viciously, they're helping give me the visibility to usher in the very game industry they're terrified about".

Wu created a legal defence fund for women targeted by GamerGate, offered cash for information leading to the prosecution of its worst members, and became heavily involved with the FBI. She exclusively attended events with a security detail. As of today, she and her husband continue to live under aliases.

In 2017, the FBI closed their investigation and declined to prosecute any of the men who sent threats (even though two had confessed). Wu went to the media, campaigning for dedicated FBI agents who understand and monitor the dark corners of the internet like 8chan.

While Wu, Sarkeesian and Quinn would become the three horsewomen of the GamerGate apocalypse, they were not alone. Other women who became major targets include Jenni Goodchild, Liana Kerzner, Devi Ever, Leigh Alexander, Felicia Day, and more. It simply isn't possible to cover every single victim of this movement.

At the time, most people who played video games had no idea this was even going on. And often it was getting swept up in generalisations that turned regular gamers into Gamers. There were those who felt like they were being unfairly portrayed as sexist/racist/whatever else, and responded indignantly. This became heavily involved with the #notallmen and #yesallmen movements (and then #notallgamers). But sometimes those generalisations were right. There was a lot of anger going around in general.

Vivian James - Politics in Gaming

Of course, to the 4channer, the ideal woman doesn't exist. She has to be created. And so Vivian was born. Vivian James (chosen because it sounds like Video Games) was created as a mascot for GamerGaters on 4chan, and her portrayal tells us a lot about what Gamers wanted women to be. She was an anthropomorphized avatar of the /v/ (Vidya) community on 4chan, created in response to a totally separate Zoe Quinn controversy surrounding game jams (events in which developers race to make weird and wacky games). She was used in propaganda as a champion of ‘free speech’.

You see, one of the many debates (and we must use this term loosely) that GamerGate created was that of 'politics' in gaming. Representation was increasing of LGBT people, POC and women in games, and some players insisted that these inclusions were politically motivated. They claimed that games as a medium were not meant to be 'political', and forcing 'politics' into the games was a negative thing. They wanted a return to the 'non-political' status quo - and it just so happened that the status quo was white straight American men (usually with guns). Because they themselves were mostly white straight American men, it never struck them as political for a game to feature a white straight American man, it was simply normal. The default. And any deviation from this was labelled as 'political'.

Of course, any intelligent person can see through this to its deeper meaning - these players didn't want gays, women, and non white characters in their games because they were prejudiced. All media is political in some way. Even games which try not to be political.

This is what GamerGate boils down to - a war over the status quo. One side pushing for change, the other pushing to stop that change.

Vivian never mentioned her gender, her ideas or her politics when she played a game - you could play against her and mistake her for a guy. Rather than disrupt the status quo by existing, she allowed it to absorb her. And that's what Gamers wanted from all minorities - they were welcome as long as they didn't disrupt games as a haven where everything is catered to the default player, a white straight American man. Vivian was a 'real gamer' because she embraced the default. Anyone who rejected that default was a fake gamer, whose love of games was a lie, and whose real purpose was sabotage.

This links in pretty heavily to the #NotYourShield movement, basically a platform for women, POC and LGBT Gamers who supported GamerGate and saw its opponents as exploiting them as a shield to deflect criticism. Ironically, GamerGate used these people as evidence that they were not prejudiced at all, in a very 'I'm not racist, my best friend is black' kind of way.

Penning the Playbook

GamerGate had found an effective way of tearing down its targets, and its playbook would come to include strategies like gaslighting, dogpiling, sea lioning, gish galloping, and dogwhistling - and would inform the strategies of the alt right. By creating a state of fear, where people are too scared to even speak against GamerGate, they were able to silence opposition. And unlike its opposition, who were very real and public figures, GamerGate was decentralised and anonymous, akin to a swarm with no individual leader or face, and which therefore was incredibly hard to defeat. This was never a two way street. Of course, GamerGate had its open and public supporters. Let's go through a few of these colourful characters now!

Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad)

Sargon is your standard basement dweller youtuber, the kind of guy who DESTROYS libs with FACTS and REASON. He gained a lot of traction from GamerGate, and he explains why here. You can kind of imagine him as a more extreme Ben Shapiro.

Richard Spencer

Another Nazi. Richard Spencer was a big supporter of GamerGate. You can look into himself if you like but frankly I don't want to do the research into him because that means I have to watch and read shit he has said. His main claim to fame is being the man who coined the term 'Alt Right'

John Bain (Totalbiscuit)

Totalbiscuit was a popular game critic who died of bowel cancer in 2018. He is widely credited with being the man who legitimised GamerGate. It should be pointed out that Bain was never a white supremacist or abuser or anything like that - and he is often wrongly characterised as being more extreme than he really is. He was conservative, aggressive and thin skinned, but he wasn't evil. To him, GamerGate was always about ethics in journalism, what defines a game, and politics in gaming. He had been an ethical crusader long before GamerGate, and so none of this is truly surprising. He was either incredibly naive or just wilfully ignored the fact that these online movements were just fronts. It is somewhat ironic how much he had in common with James Stephanie Sterling (once known as Jim Sterling before transitioning), another British pro-consumer activist and long-time collaborator, who was always on the total opposite end of the GamerGate spectrum. Indeed, most of John's closest associates were anti-GamerGate.

I met TB once at a convention and he seemed nice enough.

Milo Yiannopoulos

During his time working at Breitbart, Milo was an outspoken supporter of GamerGate. His big thing was that he was a gay right-winger, and he used his homosexuality to deflect criticism for his views. He has since been banned from basically every site possible. Like many others, he seemed somewhat right leaning at first, but gradually unveiled himself as a full on nazi.

Steven Jay Williams (Boogue2988)

Boogie is a youtuber who came to fame through the persona of 'Francis', in which he would put on a funny voice and rage about minor things. But gradually he became more popular just for being himself, and his own views. When GamerGate first emerged, Boogie tried to stay moderate, but his views got more and more extreme as time went on. In 2017, Boogie had a gastric bypass surgery, which made him lose weight. But after that, he revealed himself to be quite a nasty person.

Christina Hoff Sommers

Sommers is an author and philosopher of ethics, and a resident scholar of the American Enterprise Institute. She is probably the most 'legit' of GamerGate's supporters, and has carved out a niche in making right wing talking points palatable to the average person, before they move on to the more extreme online figures.

EDIT: Steve Bannon

As a commenter pointed out to me, I've left out someone important. While Steve Bannon himself was not very strongly linked to GamerGate, he was the founder of the heavily right wing site Breitbart, which gave a platform to Milo Yiannopoulos and many others. Bannon would go on to play a pivotal role in the Trump presidency.

Sexism in Gaming Studios

While this is far removed from GamerGate, it's a case of 'the birds coming home to roost'. The movements that GamerGate helped to start have returned and taken many large game developers by storm in recent years. I thought I would go over some of them.

Part 1: The Fellowship of the Rats

The first big publisher to go under the magnifying glass was Ubisoft. In mid 2020 they came under fire for sexual harassment allegations.

Last month the company, one of the world’s largest video game publishers with a portfolio including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, launched a probe after allegations of sexual misconduct were shared online. Serge Hascoet, chief creative officer and the company’s second-in-command, has resigned, as has the human resources director, Cecile Cornet, and the managing director of the Canadian branch, Yannis Mallat, Ubisoft said on Sunday.

MANY of Ubisoft's executives were forced to stand down.

This video goes into a lot of detail on exactly how much of this abuse was covered up at Ubisoft.

Unfortunately a year later, Ubisoft had made minimal changes. Luckily for them, the spotlight would soon be stolen away.

Part 2: The Two Lawsuits

This particular controversy concerns Activision Blizzard. After a two year investigation, the company was found to have extreme harassment against women and minorities, and has discrimination baked into its terms and conditions of employment. Everything from compensation, assignment, promotion and termination is affected by gender. The entire company is governed by a 'Frat Boy Culture'. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against them..

At first, Blizzard's president Allen Brack claimed no knowledge of this. But then numerous former and current Blizzard employees spoke up to support the accusations. They insisted that almost nothing was being done within the company to fix it. On 26 June, more than 800 employees (eventually as many as 2000) signed an open letter too their leadership demanding that Blizzard recognise the seriousness and show compassion for victims. When that didn't work, employees held a meeting and on 28 July, organised the Activision Blizzard Walk Out For Equality. Turnout exceeded two hundred.

Renowned scumbag Bobby Kotick released a statement describing Blizzard's earlier statement as 'tone deaf' and promised 'swift action'.

An article by Kotaku went into more detail on the infamous 'Cosby Suite', and revealed that Ghostcrawler (one a high-up on World of Warcraft) was on the list of guests.

Numerous developers left the company, either in protest or due to allegations against them. More and more horrible stories began to emerge, far worse than the original lawsuit had uncovered. Sponsors pulled out, investors filed a class action lawsuit toward the company, and Brack stepped down.

You can read more about it here

Hilariously, Blizzard also completely neutered any remotely sexual or flirtatious lines, emotes and jokes out of WoW.

Part 3: The Return of the Gamers

Since then, numerous other companies have been accused of similar problems. Paradox Interactive, SCUF, Insomniac Games, Bethesda. In fact, it might be easier to list the gaming companies that haven't had any allegations.

It turns out that the people who worked in these companies were often just as nasty as the fans.

Luckily, the reaction has been a far cry from GamerGate. On that, at least, we seem to have made some progress. And I suppose that's something to be optimistic about.

A Troubled Legacy

So what is the legacy of GamerGate? It never really 'concluded' or 'finished'. But if we zoom out on our scope a little, we see that it was just a tributary which flowed into the greater river of the alt-right. And from that river would spill forth Donald Trump, Pizzagate, Qanon, the Manosphere, and Incels. GamerGate was arguably just a microcosm of a much greater societal movement, not its cause, but it was the moment that young online conservatives began to push back against progressivism, and collectively organise. It was the moment where their techniques for censorship, propaganda and recruitment would be rewritten for the internet era. And it was the moment when thousands of online fascists looked around and realised their views weren't that rare after all.

The positive effects have been there too, however. The push back against Gamergate has definitely helped us recognise the dark corners of the internet, and also led to widespread changes in the industry. But the consequences of GamerGate have not yet fully shown themselves.

It's hard to say where it will all lead.

#gamergate #anita #sarkeesian #brianna #wu #reddit #from rumbleskim of rddit in r/hobbydrama #I meant reddit

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shuuji-thoughts · 4 months

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on Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1954)

Initial Impressions

I was initially pretty excited to finally see this after having marathoned the Monsterverse series and Shin Godzilla over winter break, as I was pretty curious about how many elements from those later iterations were present from the first film. I can definitely say I wasn't particularly surprised by anything I saw here, and I can also say now that this is somehow probably my least favorite out of the iterations I've seen lol. There's certainly a lot to appreciate from a filmmaking perspective, and the plot is relatively consistent and well-presented, but as an experience, there were just way too many things that took me out of it for me to really appreciate it (i.e. broken cuts, shoddy acting, and a lack of suspense due to how ridiculously funny any scene with Godzilla in it was). Obviously though, it's really cool the impact the film had on the anti-nuclear movement in addition to the film industry, so at least there's that.

Further Critique

Of course, the main thing to talk about in regard to this film is no doubt the practical effects. A brief glance at the wiki page will make it clear just how much time, effort, and manpower went into making the miniature sets, the weather effects, and scaling everything properly to match the Godzilla suit. I found it particularly interesting that Godzilla's famous roar was made using loosened contrabass strings. Also just in general, the careful attention put into how each shot of Godzilla was framed could be clearly felt throughout. I'm still curious about what exact techniques were used in the shots where crowds of people are framed in the foreground with the rampaging monster in the background.

Plot-wise, this iteration of Godzilla felt immensely lacking. For example, we had the typical "professor who wants to study Godzilla instead of killing him", but we don't really get much out of him regarding what exactly he'd propose doing. Also, the whole "Oxygen Destroyer" thing was fucking stupid. I hate the idea of a Godzilla film ending with Godzilla being killed by something similarly comparable to a nuclear weapon. Also, literally none of the characters were even remotely interesting or of note aside from maybe Serizawa, and the acting was extremely mediocre at times, particularly Emiko, I genuinely couldn't stand her performance lol.

I think it's also worth noting my particular gripe with most of the Godzilla films I've seen, that being that I feel as though Godzilla's thematic role/ purpose is never really fully explored to its full potential. In some films, he's just a simply rampaging monster, in others, he's this vaguely altruistic force of nature who just happens to kill a bunch of people. Idk if it's just me but it feels like just about every iteration of the character has been somewhat confused and unfocused. This might literally just be a me thing and I might just have no media literacy, but I'd love to see a film that really utilizes Godzilla's full symbolic potential.

Overall, a pretty impressive and inspiring film, but a pretty mediocre experience at least for me personally. 5/10

#japanese film

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beels-burger-babe · 3 years

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A Little Voice Told Me - Pt.2

Poly! MC Summary: Words hurt and leave their scars. MC learns this the hard way after hearing some not-so-nice whispers about them while on a date with Beel. How are they supposed to be the partner of the seven lords of the Devildom when they just don't measure up? Part 1: HERE, Part 3: HERE ***Good Golly!! Y'all really like the angst, huh? Here you guys go. Cry your hearts out and enjoy! - B*** Beelzebub woke up the rest of his brothers early the next morning. While most of them attempted to flip him off or threaten him at the initial disturbance, all it took was him saying that they needed to talk about you for them to shoot out of bed. In a matter of minutes, all of them, except Levi, were seated around the breakfast table. "If we're talking about MC, why aren't they here?" Satan asked while poking at a piece of fruit. "I don't know about you, but I personally don't feel right talking about them behind their back." Belphie scoffed and laid his head in his arms. "It's not like we're gossiping about them or anything. They were acting off last night, and Beel thought we should discuss what we're gonna do about it." Beel nodded, "They pulled into themself halfway through the night, and was upset but kept brushing me off whenever I tried to talk to them about it." Mammon huffed and crossed his arms. "Maybe they just didn't feel like they could talk to ya about it," he rose to his feet and began to walk towards the door. "I'm the first! I'm sure I can get it out of them, easy peasy! I'll just head in there and-" "Mammon, sit down!" Lucifer hissed. Mammon grumbled under his breath but did as told. Lucifer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've talked about this. Stop bringing up the whole 'first man' thing. MC is in a relationship with all of us. Not just you." The second-born pouted and stabbed an egg with his fork.

Lucifer rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and looked back at Beel. "Something clearly happened during the date. Do you have any ideas at all at what it could've been?" Asmodeus stirred a swirly straw around in his drink. "I mean, I would be pretty upset if I spent three hours of my evening at a barbaric sporting event too," Asmo chuckled and smirked. "The only good thing about sports is that you get to see all those rippling muscles of the athletes in action." Beel scowled at his brother took a bite out of the omelet that was on his plate. "It wasn't because of the game. MC loves coming to my Fangol games and was having a blast with me until halftime. Something had to have happened while I was gone." Asmodeus opened his mouth to counter the statement when Leviathan came rushing into the room carrying his laptop. Lucifer raised an eyebrow at the sight, "What have I told you about devices at the table?" Leviathan shot him an annoyed look as he plopped down in one of the chairs. "This isn't about table etiquette. This is about MC," he looked over at Beel and Belphie. "I think I have an idea on what may have caused them to start distancing themselves." Everyone perked up in interest at the news; each one of them eager to know what was distressing their loved one so much that they felt like they couldn't talk to them. "Well are you going to tell us, or are you just going to sit there?" Satan quipped, his anger beginning to get the better of him as he sat on the edge of his seat. Levi gave him a flat look before he typed a few things on his keyboard. "I was doing a raid last night trying to keep my mind off of what might've happened with MC and decided to ask my party members about it," Leviathan's expression darkened as he began to explain. It was clear to everyone that whatever was said, wasn't taken lightly by the otaku. Rather than reading the conversation out loud, he turned his laptop screen for all his brothers to see. Leviachan: Gaaah! I just can't focus on the game tonight. My partner came back from a date tonight and has been acting kind of sus. There's definitely something bothering them, but they refuse to tell anyone. Ruri-Chans-Husbando: Dude, you're talking about that stupid human right? Why are you even with them? You shouldn't give a Normie like them the time of day. Waifu-Addict: Exactly! Listen, we've all been talking and you need to drop that whore. They're totally just using you and your brothers for your titles and power. The demons read in horror and rage as the chat room filled with messages from the members of Leviathan's party all saying similar garbage about you and degrading you in every way they could think of. Satan stood up and began to pace near the table as he used every inch of his self-control to keep himself from lashing out. "I want names, Levi. Who are they and why do they seem to think it's okay to talk about MC like- like that?!" Satan snarled as he curled his hands into fists. Levi tsked and crossed his arms, as Lucifer took the laptop to look more closely at the messages. "You say that as if I haven't already used my 'title and power' as Grand Admiral to have my men collect and imprison them. They're at the navy base waiting for us to get our hands on them as soon as we sort this whole mess out." Belphie growled, now sitting up and wide awake. "Get our hands on them is right. No one gets away with this shit," Asmodeus glared at the computer as though it had just dyed all of his clothing brown. "Rotten brats. They're all just jealous of stunning MC. Ugh, Diavolo, haters are the worst." Beel pushed his plate away from himself as he frowned deeply. "As disgusting and horrible as this is, what does it have to do with MC getting all quiet during our date?" A low rumble came from Lucifer as he handed the laptop back to Levi. A fiery hatred was burning brightly in his eyes as he gritted his teeth. "If a bunch of anti-social shut-ins are going around talking about our dearest MC like this, I believe Leviathan's point is that others probably are."

"Ouch. I wasn't going to say it l-like that, but yes," Levi winced and continued, "MC probably overheard people saying something about them. I mean, if people said that crap about me I'd probably hide in my room and not come out for months!" Mammon, who had been surprisingly quiet during all of this, had a very serious expression on his face. "Right, and we don't want MC to go through that. For Diavolo's sake, they've left alone to overthink this enough," Mammon stood up and headed towards the door again, Satan hot on his trail. "I'm going up to there to talk with them. Ya'll are welcome to come with, but you ain't stoppin' me." "Actually, Mammon, you're not. We should wait until MC comes to us," Lucifer interrupted. An animalistic snarl tore its way from Satan's throat as what little self-control he had snapped. Wrath incarnate lunged himself at Lucifer, grabbing his older brother by the collar of his cloak. "Are you serious, Lucifer?! You're seriously putting your stupid pride first, now?!? MC needs us!" Lucifer growled and pushed Satan off of him as he stood to size him up. "No. What they need is to not feel pressured to open up when they aren't ready! We can't make them feel like they can't come to us!" Mammon scoffed from where he stood in the back. "Oh, cause that's perfect logic! News flash, oh wise one, They ain't gonna come to us if they're thinkin' they're a burden! But you wouldn't know anything about that would you?!" Lucifer's eyes widen and he took a step back in shock at the statement. "What is that supposed to mean?" Mammon and Satan both opened their mouths to put Lucifer in his place when Beel all of sudden cleared his throat loudly. All three of the angry demons turned to snap at him but froze as they saw you standing in the room behind them. They instantly straightened themselves up gave you their full attention. The air seemed to lay still between you as everyone waited for the other to make the first move. As with almost every situation, it was Mammon who broke the silence. He took a step towards you. "MC, I was just coming to get you actually. There's somethin' we all wanna talk to you about." They could hear your breath catch in your throat as you took a step back. Panic filled your eyes the moment the words left his mouth. "O-Oh. I, um, I was actually just going to grab an apple and then head off to RAD for class. M-Maybe we can talk afterwards?" Satan frowned as you walked past him towards the fruit bowl. "MC, it's the weekend." You stopped mid-step. An uncomfortable tension filled the room as the obvious excuse was exposed. The brothers waited for you to move, to speak, to do something to give them any sort of sign for what you wanted them to do, but you just stood there, still like a statue except for the tremors in your hand. "Come on, Darling," Asmodeus spoke softly. His face clearly showed the hurt and concern that was coursing through him. "Everything's alright, I promise. We just need to talk about a few things." The brothers had thought of a number of ways you could've reacted to them confronting you. Lucifer thought that perhaps you would snap at them and distance yourself further. Mammon, Levi, and Asmo expected a few small tears followed by a cuddle session. Satan imagined a slightly more dramatic telling, like something from one of his novels, that ended him being your hero and massacring all those who dared speak ill about you. Beel thought perhaps you could talk over a bunch of comfort foods that allowed you to remain calm and feel safe. Belphie had hoped that perhaps you hadn't believed what you overheard, and the two of you could laugh at how idiotic even the idea of them not loving you was. But you, breaking down into tears, sobbing the words "I'm sorry" over and over again? None of them had expected, nor were prepared, for that. ***Apparently this is now going to be a three-part series. This part was interesting to write. I fully believe that if the brothers were in a poly relationship with the MC they would definitely bicker and argue about

who knows MC best and who had the better date whenever MC isn't around. Honestly, they probably have a score chart 😅 I hope you guys liked part 2! Keep an eye out for part 3, where MC finally opens up to the boys and we have some hurt/comfort times \uwu/ ***

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain

Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.

Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.

lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then

“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh

so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down

his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch

(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)

side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”

ha ha ha, fucking ouch

are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??

huh

you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you

(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)

also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice

fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two

All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you

is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist

look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is

ffkdjslk

“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what

-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol

okay fuck this

see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight

just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up

oh my god

“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob

omg why am I laughing. shit

this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it

lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao

just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me

adsfklwkfsdwgkj

ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg

STAIN: heard you talking shit old man

ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain

STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way

ME: gljfljgk

(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)

sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”

good thing he still knows how to do this party trick

A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything

lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone

way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one

oh wait

Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride

oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this

(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)

Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony

dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue

oh my god my heart

shit

why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters

“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit

and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could

so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might

“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks

wtf

are you dead All Might

I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol

oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??

hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??

oh my godddd

and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much

FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON

holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol

OH ARE WE STILL GOING

my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think

...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time

I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma

YAYYY

it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit

anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech

I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place

-- okay LISTEN

YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this

holy fucking shit

“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”

so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then

“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”

it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip

anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol

“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort

so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol

mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit

#bnha 326 #all might #yagi toshinori #stain (bnha)#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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momsopposed2theoccult · 3 years

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It’s come to my attention that a good majority of people on this website have a really poor understanding of the conflict between Toph and Katara in “The Chase.” As somebody who loves both characters and their friendship, this irritates me. Without further ado, let’s unpack that in what is in theory supposed to be a meta but turned out more like a rant.

“Katara was hostile towards Toph because the fact that she’s a gender non-conforming girl made Katara uncomfortable because Katara is obsessed with gender roles.”

Alright, so right off the bat this is just... completely idiotic and clearly fuelled by an agenda (and likely also a lot of projection). First of all, how is Katara of “I don’t want to heal, I want to fight!” fame “obsessed with gender roles?” There’s an entire episode in Book One dedicated to Katara refusing to conform to societal norms for women in the Northern Water Tribe! Katara routinely calls Sokka out on his misogynistic bullshit! (Mind you I adore Sokka but he could be a little twerp at times and Katara was 100% right to challenge him on it) Katara is the feminist icon of ATLA! The fact that people act like Katara is some sort of conservative tradwife who loves gender roles instead of the outspoken feminist and political activist she is makes me incredibly angry.

Second of all, Katara was extremely kind and welcoming towards Toph at first. She gently encouraged her to join in with the group as they all set up camp together as opposed to setting up her own private camp. It’s only when Toph refuses to comply with her that Katara begins to get irritated. Mind you, Toph has her reasons for this, something I’ll get to in a minute, but from Katara’s perspective (key word here is perspective) she’s just being an annoying little stubborn, selfish, lazy, anti-social, entitled brat. Of course we the audience find out later that this isn’t the case at all (or at least in theory we should find out later but apparently some people on here skipped that part), but for all her many talents Katara is not a mind reader and has no way of knowing what’s going on inside Toph’s head, nor does she know her well enough yet to fully grasp the context behind why Toph acts the way she does. Katara is somebody who greatly values community and believes in teamwork, so Toph turning down her warm welcome in favour of “carrying her own weight” likely felt like a slap in the face. Not to mention that she’s already emotionally exhausted from having to constantly mother Aang and Sokka. If I were Katara, I likely would have reacted the same way.

Oh and I agree that the “the stars look beautiful tonight, too bad you can’t see them, Toph” comment was out of line, but it doesn’t make her a horrible person. It makes her a 14 year old, and 14 year olds can be nasty, especially sleep deprived 14 year olds. Katara is otherwise a very kind and compassionate person. Other characters have said worse than that. Hell, Toph herself has said worse than that. That being said, it was a deeply hurtful comment and I do like to imagine that she apologized for it off-screen.

“Toph is a lazy, entitled, and classist spoiled rich brat who just didn’t want to do chores and expected other people to wait on her.”

This is another one that makes me roll my eyes and ask if they even watched the show. First of all, the presumption that Toph is a lazy or entitled person is just... laughable. I feel like people forget that Toph isn’t actually an earthbending prodigy in the way that Azula is a firebending prodigy (I could say more about Azula and how her belief that she was the unshakeable prodigal daughter ultimately caused her downfall and how by the end of the series Zuko is arguably a better firebender than her but this isn’t a meta about Azula and Zuko, now is it?). Nah. Toph was a sheltered kid who discovered she had the ability to earthbend, was told that she could never become great at it because she was blind, and in response said FUCK THAT and decided to work her ass off until she was not only great but the very greatest all thanks to her crazy, stupid, off-the-charts nerve, drive, grit, ambition, and desire to prove people wrong about her. Does that sound like a lazy person to you? Believe me when I say that you do not achieve that kind of skill level by sitting around on your ass and expecting to have things handed to you. And entitled? Don’t make me laugh. Toph hates having things handed to her, that’s one of her defining characteristics.

As for the implication that she’s classist and enjoys basking in her family’s wealth and being waited on...... are you stupid? Did you even watch the show? Toph absolutely despises everything about her parents’ lifestyle. Growing up like that was traumatizing and restrictive for her. We’re talking about a girl who likes to play around in the mud for fuck’s sake. Toph does not care how much money you have. She never wanted any to begin with. She even says it herself; “I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. They gave me everything I could have wanted. But they never gave me what I actually needed - their love.” Not to mention that she easily could have continued to freeload off her parents wealth but instead chose to sneak out of the house and make her own money doing what she did best; disproving people’s assumptions about her earthbending. Oh and I’ve seen someone point this out before but WWE is generally considered a “low brow” activity that “proper” people frown upon and shouldn’t associate themselves with. Toph fucking loved it. I don’t know how seriously people take the comics, as they often miss the mark when it comes to characterization (Toph’s, however, was generally pretty accurate), but there’s a part in The Rift where Sokka asks her when she’s going to start charging people to learn metalbending and she gets all serious and flat out tells him that she will never do such a thing, because money doesn’t matter to her. Sharing her one true passion with the world is what matters to her. Oh and the part where she basically tells a bunch of rich and sleazy businessmen to fuck off and “stop thinking about money and start thinking about people’s lives” is just... *chef’s kiss* Sorry my thoughts here are so incoherent but this take is so piss poor and makes me so angry that I don’t even know where to start. As for “Toph enjoys being waited on” I just- *sigh* Toph has such a visceral and defensive reaction to any implication that she is unable to take care of herself. Like I said earlier, that’s one of her defining characteristics as well as the reason for her behaviour in “The Chase.” Where are people getting these takes?

You wanna know why Toph acted the way she did in The Chase? Well, first let’s recap her life up to this point. Toph was born the blind daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the Earth Kingdom. From day one her parents treated her like glass due to her disability. She was not allowed to leave her house unsupervised, and even then she was only permitted to walk around the gardens of her home. Every day of her life she was pitied, gaslit, babied, ignored, emotionally neglected, and made to feel ashamed of herself. She was not allowed to make any decisions for herself. She was not allowed to do anything for herself. She was not allowed to talk to other children. She had no friends. Other people didn’t even know she existed on account that her parents kept her locked up in her own home and didn’t tell anybody about her because they were so ashamed to have a blind daughter. Flash forward to “The Chase.” Toph begins to set up her own camp separate from the rest of the Gaang. Considering that she flat out was not socialized as a child and hadn’t even interacted with anybody her own age prior to a few days ago, this is understandable. So then Katara comes up to her and asks her why she isn’t setting up camp with the others as if she’s somehow incapable of taking care of herself (again, this is just what happened from her perspective) like she’s her mom or something and it just angers her because she thought she joined this group to get away from all that and she doesn’t understand how friends work because she’s never had one, all she knows is that apparently this girl thinks she isn’t capable of taking care of herself, and that infuriates her because it’s the exact same bullshit she thought she was running away from.

There’s a lot more I could say about this but I’m sick of typing so yeah in conclusion both of these takes are piss poor and I’m sick of having to read them. Stan Toph, Katara, and their friendship.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #toph beifong #nora speaks

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thebigqueer · 3 years

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Ok, here we go. Dark!Bianca idea. Shortly after the events in the desert, a severely injured Bianca is found by agents of the Titans who were shadowing the quest party off-page. She is brought back to Titan HQ and is convinced to join their crusade against the gods while her friends and family think she's dead. Jump ahead to BotL, instead of Kelli the Empousa, it is a mysterious masked assassin who attacks Percy and Rachel at Goode. The events mostly play out unchanged until Geryon's (1/8)

ranch, where instead of Bianca, it is the ghost of Maria di Angelo who is revealed to be sending Iris messages to Percy about Nico, while also strongly hinting that Bianca's still alive. Jump ahead to Mt St. Helens, Percy fights the assassin again, and during his stint on Ogygia, Percy begins to put two and two together after the assassin demonstrated skills similar to the Hunters. At Antaeus' Arena, the assassin is finally unmasked to reveal a still-alive but scarred Bianca, replacing (2/8)

Ethan Nakamura as the demigod enforcer. Percy is convinced that Bianca is being mind-controlled and goes to Mt Tam to rescue her as well as stop Kronos. However, when he confronts her, Bianca reveals that she's operating of her own free will, feeling vengeful against the gods for robbing her of her life and having pledged her loyalty to her new Titan master. Kronos intends to make Bianca the prophesy kid, promising her the free will she craves so badly as well as promising not to hurt (3/8)

Nico. Going into the Last Olympian, Percy and Nico are both determined to convince Bianca that she's making a mistake, and this time Nico's duplicity is not to simply learn about his mother but to try and summon her spirit to get through to Bianca. At the same time, Kronos gradually starts treating Bianca as less of an ally and more of a tool, and the Titans' actions cause her to have doubts even though she dosen't know what else to do. It all comes to a head in the final battle.(4/8)

Nico returns from the Underworld by himself early, giving Hades an ultimatum to come and fight or hide. Just before the final attack, Kronos sends Bianca to infiltrate Olympus to disable the magic defenses, but Nico arrives to intercept her and make one last bid to save her. They fight, with both begging the other to stand down even as they slug it out. Finally, just as Percy arrives to chase Kronos, the battered siblings' duel ends when Nico gives another ultimatum. He throws down his (5/8)

sword and gives Bianca, now reduced to fear and frustration-induced tears, the choice between perusing her grudge and allowing herself to continue being Kronos’s slave or doing the right thing. Finally able to make a legitimate choice of her own, Bianca chooses to turn her back on the Titans. She still ends up wounded, but unlike Ethan in canon, Nico manages to save his sister while Percy and Kronos have their final battle. After everything ends, Percy petitions for Bianca’s pardon along (6/8)

with the rest of his list, though Bianca turns it down, realizing the harm she almost caused to the person she loved more than anybody else. She is given a reduced sentence in service to her father, and though she does not properly forgive any of the gods that hurt her, she does recognize that the spite and anger she felt would only lead to more death. Nico gets to visit her occasionally, and she starts a road to redemption that Luke never got the chance to take. In HoO, Bianca is (7/8)

more of a background character, but it is she that finds Hazel in Asphodel and alerts Nico to her. Overall, dark!Bianca is an anti-villain who’s affiliation with Kronos is clearly drawn from her pain and grief over the gods’ interference in her life, but her saving grace is her brother. Nico manages to pull her out of the darkness and save her from becoming the same monster Luke became. What do you think? (bear in mind, this is my rough draft) (8/8)

Okay, WOW. Anon, I am actually going to start a petition to make you the new Percy Jackson author because that was such an interesting plot to read.

First of all, I love that you replaced Bianca with Ethan. As interesting as he was in the series, and as much as I loved his character, after reading through your rough draft, I feel like Bianca would have been a much better character to use throughout PJO. Her arc could have been expanded upon and completed thoroughly, and it could have made a lot of sense. Ethan felt more like a representation of "demigods turned to the other side," which I get is the point, but I loved the way you used Bianca because with your plot, her character could have been used so well to properly show how easily the Titan army manipulated kids.

Furthermore, I feel like your plot with Bianca could have been a much better way to use her character throughout the series. From my interpretation, in canon she seemed more like a stand-in tool just to enhance Nico's own character arc and his motives, but your plot for her would have actually given her some kind of foundation and an actual arc for her to go through. You've given her such an interesting character and I think it really provides more justice to what she could have been.

I also love the way that not only did you give her a better arc, but you also enhanced Nico's own arc and the plot, too. Her death in the books seemed more symbolic to him and a turning point in his character, but with her character in your AU, it's both important to Nico and Bianca. You've given her an actual character, and you've set up such an interesting conflict between Nico and Bianca.

Additionally, I love the divide you've created between them. I think that - based on what we know about her in the books - as much as she loves her brother, Bianca also feels very limited with him because of how she's been forced to grow up and be his savior. She understands that he's only a child, though, which I think could also play into her own hatred for the gods - they've not only destroyed her family, but now they're forcing her to take the role of an adult when she's a mere child, too? She was never angry at Nico - she was only ever mad with the gods.

Maybe that's something that Nico also feels bad about, and maybe he tells her about it when they're standing each other down. Maybe she lets him know that she never hated him or felt that he was bringing her down.

Also, I want to add that I adore the way you put them on opposite sides. It sets up such an interesting dynamic to their relationship because here you have two people who love each other so much, but they're on two different sides of a large war. They're both too stubborn to go onto each other's sides, and Nico knows Bianca's only going to get herself into more danger. I just love the potential that has for both of their characters.

I know Percy had a large fear about Nico being another kid to join Kronos' army, so I bet Bianca being on his team would have left Percy incredibly terrified for Nico, too, because he knew how much Nico loved Bianca. Would he have been nervous for Nico's ability to change his mind? Nico knows he'd never join Kronos, but would Percy have known?

And, knowing that Bianca's now on the Kronos side, how would Percy react? Because he felt pretty guilty about her death in TTC, right? Would he feel guilty that she's on the other side now, too? Would he try to reason with her, only to push her further away? I'd love to see how Percy would deal with knowing that Bianca - an important child of the Big Three - would react to her being there. He was already nervous about Nico joining sides, but having Bianca there would have really scared him.

And the part about Bianca finding Hazel instead of Nico? That was mind-blowing. I love everything about that situation because now that introduces Hazel into the narrative of Nico and Bianca's story. My question for you would be how does Hazel's character change now? How does she fit in with Nico and Bianca? Because in Heroes of Olympus she's clearly very insecure about her relationship with Nico and how he views her, but if she actually knew Bianca, how would she feel? Would she feel more left out (knowing that Bianca and Nico have known each other much longer and have a stronger connection with each other)? Would she be distrustful? And how would the three of them adapt to this additional family member? I have high hopes that by the end they would all love each other very much, but I'm just really curious into how Hazel's addition would influence the dynamic of all three.

And, essentially, it all ends into a somewhat win-win situation. Bianca's still living; Nico's got two new sisters; Hazel now has a new family.

I think this is such an interesting concept, and I'd love to read it. If you ever post it anywhere, please do share the link! This was such an intriguing plot to go through and, again, I think this could have been a much better use of Bianca's character.

Thank you so much for sharing it with me.

#WOW #I seriously wish you had a Tumblr because I just know you would post the most interesting takes #anon tag #asks #pjo meta #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #hazel levesque #rick riordan #riordanverse #nico di angelo headcanon #bianca di angelo headcanon #hazel levesque headcanon #riordanverse headcanon #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #hoo

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

Text

10 Anti LO Asks

1. Leto being the literal Goddess of Motherhood and yet being a villain is pretty on the nose as to why LO constantly shits on every good mother figure like her and Demeter, unless they can be used to to give Hades man-pain over.

2. so much of the fashion in LO is like ... anti drip. there are occasional good outfits but most of the time its the same generic white dresses or black suits and thats it, or its some weird dated fashion from the 80s or 60s. these are supposed to be powerful gods with all the riches in the world yet none of them have heard of patterns, color, or even basic accessories.

3. I think RS is genuinely convinced she's "making the Gods Realistic™️" when it's like? The Greek Gods? The pantheon that's been well known for being complicated beings with very human flaws since 900 BC? They're in need for some random Kiwi woman who is more knowledgable on 90s anime to "fix" mythology and make it "realistic"? RS making Hera a cheater, making them have divine racism/classism, making Apollo a r//pist, Persephone worthless w/o Hades etc etc only breaks the myths!

4. LO stans are genuinely such awful and obnoxious people. They argue that LO is a retelling so 'of course it's not going to be faithful to the myth!' and when people, especially Greeks, say it's disrespecting their culture and gods, the stans get upset?? That their uwu shitty story is getting critiqued? By the people who it's profiting off of???

I literally saw someone reply to this point with 'then those people (greeks) can just choose not to read LO!' followed up with, and I kid you not, 'there's also bible fanfiction, just saying 🤷🏻‍♀️' like as if that somehow absolves LO and it's whole plot and characters.

Some also say that multiple other series based off of the Greek mythology don't get as much flak for being a retelling (like Percy Jackson and Hades game) and like idk what to tell y'all except these other series also get equally critiqued, as everything does, but the fact that it doesn't get as hugely lambasted as LO does means they're not half as offensive as it is. (it's also already been mentioned multiple times too that PJO's author tries his best to learn from his mistakes in the series)

I basically just hate how LO stans will defend RS and her story and think our valid concerns and critiques are just mindless attacks on her.

Casual LO fans are cool though, this isn't aimed at you guys cause I know some of y'all come here and actually like to discuss/talk about the series, flaws and all.

5. -le me, watching witchtok on yt

-the video is "best of witchtok part 5" uploaded by "your witchy cousin", around the 7 minute mark

-witch with persephone as her patron, talking about how persephone is not to be messed with because she's a terrifying Goddess if needed be. proceeds to say "this is not lore olympus, people"

-me, putting my phone aside and crying in my room

i hate lore olympus so much it's unreal

6. Rachel also clearly doesn't know mythology because how can Hecate be such a major character in this and yet has zero connection to Apollo or Artemis, who in mythology is her full blooded cousins? Apollo even had epithets making him as similar to Hecate (with some versions seeming to imply Hecate and Apollo were lovers, but w/e) and Hecate and Artemis both being maiden moon goddesses who were also divine midwives. How can she claim to be so well researched when these connections are missing?

7. Minthe isn't a nice character, but I find it so disturbing how RS, the fans, and even WT love just making fun of her trauma and watching her suffer for?? Reasons?? If anyone said Persephone was overreacting to how Demeter overprotects her, they'd say you're condoning abuse and an awful person, but it's a marketing tactic to mock Minthe for being cheated on, manipulated and used by Hades, and laughing that she's been phsyically crippled and left as a plant for the rest of her life. Like WTF?

8. Ok, so, wait, Persephone the 'Dread Queen" is perfectly fine to threaten and cripple nymphs and kill humans for her lack of control of her anger issues, but she shoots down the idea to punish her literal R//PIST? is this supposed to be some 'she's the bigger person here" thing? so random humans are supposed to die, but an actual sexual abuser is supposed to just get a slap on the wrist at best? why cant she be allowed to be angry and want revenge on him for that? i dont understand.

9. IDK what you lot mean LO isn't good rep. I, as an NB person, am delighted the only NB rep in LO is the same person who made sure Hades can't have kids. I will happily take pride in the fact my own kin made sure that capitalist slave owner can never have his one dream realized. Thank you for this, Rachel.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

10. FP Spoilers Chapter 187: I can't stand how Hera shows not even a hint of remorse about having gone behind Demeter's back like she did. She's Demeter's sister for god's sake, she must have known how horrified Demeter was about Persephone potentially getting taken advantage of for her powers. Which, as we see in this very episode, was a very reasonable fear to have. And yet Hera still put Persephone into a prime positon to get groomed by Hades, helped cover up her disappearance and never challenged either Zeus or Hades about their treatment of her niece beyond some token scolding that gets brushed aside as easy as that. Demeter deserves a better sister.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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ohmysparkle · 3 years

Text

🔮 A New Arrival 🔮

✨ Spellbound: Prologue

Series Masterlist

✨ Pairing: Hyunjin x reader

✨ Length: 2.9k

✨ Warnings: none in this chapter

✨ Tag List: @xviternity @straykisz @97lovestay @aliceu @meow-minho @velvetand-roses

✧･ﾟ🌑: *✧🌙 . *⭐️:*✧✨* : ･ﾟ✧ *.🌑 ✧･ﾟ

A dainty young secretary in a stylish little skirted suit dashes down a hallway towards an office, holding a telephone receiver in her hand, careful that the wire doesn’t snag behind her lest her boss get upset. Afterall, he’s been waiting for this for quite some time.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Yes?” A sharp voice calls out on the other side of the heavy wooden doors. She opens one wide.

“Mr. Mayor! They’re on the line for you!” She urges.

“Damn time, Alyssa! Come in, hurry up and bring your notebook!” He shouts. The secretary dashes back to her desk and grabs her notepad, looking back to the Mayor’s office to see if he’s connected to the line before she hangs the receiver. She dashes back, little heels clicking on the glossy floor.

“Speaker.” She insists to the mayor, urging so that he presses the button in time for her to hear the person on the other line answer. His neat mustache wiggles before he gives a stern “Hello.” for whoever is on the line.

“Hello, this is the Old Zealand Office of Coordination for the Association of Guilds, Clans and other Specialists on Magical, Supernatural and Paranormal Affairs, also known as SMSPA Central. This is Ezra, Lead Coordinator, speaking. What may I help you with today?” Both the Mayor and his assistant quirk eyebrows at the upbeatness of the man's way of speaking, and the mayor clears his throat before his focus escapes him.

“Ezra, good man! This is Mayor Armand Brandywine speaking from Nocturne Town, from the League of Lake Towns… Uh, calling because, hmm… I believe Ezra, it’s been two months-“

“Nocturne, Nocturne, Nocturne… hmm?” Ezra ponders, measuring the familiarity of the name - “Oh yes! The Ponies! I saw your Towns in a travel magazine just last week! My wife has insisted we go over to the League for our anniversary, she says apparently the great lakes over there are crystal clear, and that there are hills full of flowers and quaint little towns pocketed beneath, and that you use the most darling trains and ferries to move about. And the semi-annual pony contest!”

“I - yes, well - we do. Listen Ezra, as I was saying… it’s been four months since we filed an official request to have a specialist come here to help with a witch problem…”

“A witch?!” Ezra exclaims in disbelief, “A witch way out there? No way, you’re not even close to any of our mildly risky areas… there’s hardly any magical activity on your continent. Are you sure it’s a ‘bad’ witch?”

“Yes, positive.”

“Like a ‘sold her soul’ to the devil kind of witch? Or ‘weird lady who lives in the woods and smokes a pipe that makes people sort of uncomfortable but is actually really harmless’ kind of witch?” He questions.

“The former.” Armand replies flatly, giving Alyssa a look.

“Bad?” Ezra confirms.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And to whom did you submit your request with this claim?” Ezra continues asking.

“To a mister…” Armand looks at Alyssa.

“Zachary Z.” Alyssa whispers, clearly mouthing out the name.

“It was addressed to a Mr. Zachary, I believe he was the liaison for this region.” Armand states.

“Oh no…” Ezra does not say anything after this exclamation, and again, Alyssa and Armand share a look throughout that moment of silence.

“Oh… no?” Armand asks after uncomfortably expecting Ezra’s reply..

“Yes, ‘oh no’... you see, Zack was on a field assignment a few months ago and… well, he died. He was assessing if a local pyromancer had become a danger worthy of sending a specialist.”

“Oh.” Armand mouths to Alyssa, with her silently making the same gesture.

“We wouldn’t have any record of his assignments - he had his suitcase with him when he burned.” Ezra continued.

“Oh!” Alyssa silently exclaimes, again, crossing wide eyes with her boss, both of their faces contorting into grimaces.

“Oh poor Zack… He burned, suitcase and all…” Ezra reminisces. Armand is at a loss of words in the awkwardness of it all until the man on the other end bounces back. “So anyways, tell me about this witch of yours to see if I can help. When were the first and last reported sightings? ” Ezra returns to his upbeat, almost musical tone of speaking, having not missed a beat despite the sorrowful interlude.

“Well, you see… no one’s actually seen here. But - “

“Invisibility, you say?! Now that’s something you don’t see often!” Ezra prematurely interrupts, not missing the opportunity for his pun.

“No, no! I mean we haven’t sighted her… yet!” He corrects.

“So you are… placing a request for a specialist… for a witch that is unconfirmed?” Ezra says rather skeptically.

“But, there have been signs! Items, I mean trinkets, of witchcraft appearing in people's homes, dead animals stuffed with tokens…” the Mayor explains.

“Don’t forget the symbols!” Alyssa urgently whispers.

“And symbols! Runes! Painted on people's doors and under their beds!” Just as if he were visiting a skeptical doctor, Mayor Brandywine made the symptoms seem as serious as he could in fear that he would not be taken seriously.

“Hmm… could just be a prankster… any other proof? Any bewitchings? Hexes? Evident signs of curses or dark magic?”

“Well… people have dreamt of the same faceless woman, but I’m afraid we can't prove anything.”

“Well, in that case, it might be difficult to process a request on the basis of a witch. Besides, if there really is a witch, and she’s not actively harming the population, it might be better to just… let her be.” Ezra muses.

“Let her be?!” Alysaa mouths to Armand, which he repeats verbatim to Ezra on the line with emphasis on his outrage.

“Well, yeah, I mean… ‘evil’ and ‘bad’ are both pretty wide scopes. Maybe, if you think about it, witches are almost still human. Just think of her as a bad neighbor. Sometimes it’s more bothersome to deal with them and confront them than to simply let them be” Ezra suggests.

“Wait! Hold on, hold on! Can’t you at least send us someone to evaluate the situation? Maybe one of those fancy Black Knights?”

“Ha! Black Knights, ha! Get a load of this guy Zelda, he wants a Black Knight for one witch!” Armand and Alyssa can hear several people laughing on the other end of the line, most likely seated in desks beside Ezra’s. “No way… have you not seen how things are over in Arcadia? Necromancers, lots of real witches that people actually see, all kinds of undead… ha! Good luck trying to find a Black Knight at this rate, they’re all boarded up in their own country. Simply no way. They won’t leave their little civil-war-issue-thingy over there unless it's something serious. Like bad bad bad black magic serious, not ‘maybe a witch’.”

“Fine!” Armand says with an eye roll, “What about an Other Brother, or a Ghost Buster?!”

“Listen to this guy! Are you honestly willing to go beg one of those associations for an unconfirmed witch?”

“Alright, alright… What about one of those Arctic Druids?”

“No! No! Simply no! We do not work with those people anymore, they are way too fond of human sacrifice. No!” He firmly refutes.

“Then who the hell can deal with a witch?” Armand asks in exasperation, still communicating with Alyssa in silent glances.

“Oh we’ve got a handful of people available… but not for your case, seeing how it is. Hmm… let me think… Are you maybe dealing with anything else?” Brandywine takes advantage of this question to put in complaints that have been more complicated to deal with.

“Yes! Werewolves - plenty of them, and I’m pretty sure someone has been sneaking some bloodusckers into town.” The mayor emphasizes this with a slammed palm on the table.

“Well, Mr. Brandywine, I’m seeing here that some of the towns in the League allow werewolves… hmm.” The sound of flipping papers and heavy slams of stack of folders is clear over the speaker. “But I see here in my records that Nocturne itself is not a ratifying member of the ‘Treatise on the Rights of Magically Affected’ of ‘78, yet I also see that werewolves residents are allowed so long as they adhere to specific medical protocol - which as I see, is being tended to by a Dr. Nemo…”

“Yes but they are a danger to the population! They - they…” the Mayor looks at Alyssa for guidance.

“Say they spend the full moon naked in the woods!” She whispers with fervent urgency and he nods. Bingo!

“They transform without any kind of restraint, running free through town. The woods are like a hunting ground for them, God forbid any innocent happen to roam near there at night. Near feral, I say!” Armand dramatically states.

“Hmm… Well, they should be following medical protocol under the supervision of a trained magical practitioner. I see you have someone assigned,,, a Dr. Nemo? And, these vampires, they are outlawed within your jurisdiction, is that correct? I don’t see any record of any vampiric trespassing, no reported cases or documentation here at all.” Armand worries at Ezra’s skeptical tone, concerned he’ll lose his request.

“It’s that damn Doctor, I tell you!” He finally exclaimes, “I’m sure she’s been bringing in all those vampys under the table. You know what we do to them, they must submit to the authorities to be defanged and treated - that is the law here. Some of those free loving magi hippies on the other Islands may think differently, but everything to the west of me is a Vampire Free Zone.”

“The sirens!” Alyssa quietly interjects.

“And do not get me started on the damn sirens! Zombies too!” Armand concludes.

“Hmm…” Ezra thinks, he has quite a dilemma. According to all records, Mayor Armand Brandywine and several other governors in the League of Lake Towns are quite ‘anti-magic’, not so much the practice of it, but the act of being magical. He isn’t a stranger to getting calls like these, trying to put much needed specialists in situations that are otherwise political, and quite frankly, he was quite clear on not having one of his guys go in to terrorize people.

Ezra considers some of Zachary’s old notes… scribbled on some files in a shared folder. “Mayor Brandywine - staunch anti magi-humanist” meaning, he did not consider magically affected peoples, such as vampires and werewolves, zombies and sirens, to be human at all but instead monsters. Ezra could not allocate a particularly special specialist such as a Black Knight for such a frivolous case. After all, there were greater urgencies elsewhere on his hemisphere. Besides, his organization did not treat such individuals as monsters, he could not give Brandywine what he seemed to suggest he wanted. Monsters, by the standards of the SMSPA, were non-human entities. Enchanted animals and whatnot, ghouls, definitely the incurable undead - so long as they were precisely incurable. He thinks of a possible solution until something catches his eye…

A sheet tucked neatly into the regional folder where Mayor Brandywine’s town’s information was, titled simply “Dr. Nemo - Practitioner of Magical Medicine and Professor of Magical Biology”. Most of the fields were blacked out with ink, a brief description stating that her office was in Nocturne Town, despite the stance of Brandywine, and that she taught a focus course in a magical academy on the other side of the League. Hmm, no picture either, and suspiciously young.

Ezra continued to study the sheet, finding something of particular interest. A stamped red seal that every coordinator in Central knew, but that he had only come across twice before in all of his years of service:

Do not intervene - Tier S approval. The licences assigned to this person were quite… advanced, and quite… obscure. And below… request submitted by the Armed Forces of the League of Lake Towns.

Ah yes, a centralized police and military force for all of the smaller cities and townships in the League. Must be messy, especially considering the polarized stances on magic from the different members on the lake. But why would a magical practitioner require such high level authorization? He’d only seen it used for instances involving Black Knights and the like… never for something as lowly as medical men.

This is definitely one of those hush hush situations, lots of the specialists in his region required anonymity, hid from persecution because of their skills, or ran from some of their previous targets… especially if those individuals worked in the same field as this so-called Dr. Nemo. But this person… he didn’t place them in Nocturne, or else he would have remembered. This must have come from higher up - one of those top secret cases that Zachary would occasionally manage.

It certainly was curious. He held the blacked out form in his hands, retracing the dented letters that pressed this curious name on the paper… Dr. Nemo. Sounded like something out of a book.

“I have… a possible solution.” Ezra finally states, after the Mayor and his assistant had been expectantly leaning into the speaker for some time. “Maybe, perhaps, I can send you someone… Zandor!” Ezra calls to someone who seems to be at a distance from him. “Have we got any newbies?”

“What field?” A voice calls back in the distance.

“Monster hunters.” Ezra specifies.

“We got a class of newbies from that place they sent us that last guy from - the one you sent after that undead bear.” Zandor answers back.

“Gimme!” Ezra orders with a couple of finger snaps, and soon enough Alyssa and Armand hear a heavy folder plop on his desk. “Let’s see here… hmm, quite a few available clansmen… eenie meenie miney mo! Aha! No, not this one… aha!”

Ezra studies the page. The picture is of a young man who looks a bit too young to be in the field. The boy is trained to deal with most issues passively, good references, a bit inexperienced. No reports of excessive force. Mayor Brandywine won't be able to do much harm with the kid’s stats, he thinks, and he’s got good training and just the right licences. Silence again, until Ezra resumes after having studied the file.

“Aha! I’ve got your man. Hmm, and he’s quite a looker! Hyunjin, Hwang Hyunjin. Recently licensed as a tier one monster hunter… deals with all kinds of threatening non-occult entities... authorized to identify threats that are of the occult or ‘other’ nature. Can dispel moderately complex dark magic… transfiguration, discretion, stealth. Sounds good. The boy won’t cost you as much as a Black Knight, that for sure. If you have a werewolf or vampire problem, he can deal, and if you do have a witch, he can send us the claim and we’ll scale it up. How does that sound?”

“Not ideal.” Armand replies with a sigh. “How much does he cost?”

“Hmm…” Ezra presses keys into some kind of machine, “two and ninety seven hundredths of Zealand Zeals per Rupee… fifteen point two Limnian Ponies per… He’s gonna cost you twenty thousand Ponies a month.”

“How much do we have?” Armand quickly whispers to Alyssa.

“We can go up to thirty grand.” She replies. He nods, knowing what part to play.

“Twenty thousand?! We don't have that kind of money!” the Mayor exclaims, putting on the best of his acts. “We can do fifteen!”

Ezra takes a good, long sigh before replying. “Fifteen… and you offer top quality room and board, full, two days a week off, and one day a week for him to take private jobs in the area. He works four days for scheduled items, but will be available 24/7 for emergencies pending his acknowledgment of it actually being an emergency.”

“Deal.” Brandywine quickly affirms, quietly snickering at his accomplishment.

“That being said… I see you only have one other magical specialist in the region, that being this Dr. Nemo. You will make sure Clansman Hwang has access to medical care in the case of any event, and you will make sure he is given a thorough briefing on the area he will service, in this case I am writing his permit to do his work in Nocturne Town, and authorizing him to take up private commissions and attend to emergencies throughout the entire League.”

“Done.”

“Very well Mister Brandywine - “

“Mayor.” He corrects.

“... Mayor Brandywine. You can expect your specialist to arrive in ten days, please be mindful of the documentation and permits he hands you, you will need to keep them safe. Payment instructions will be attached, we collect monthly. For any additional inquiries, feel free to call, and I’d greatly appreciate if you could stay on the line to answer a quick survey if you considered my services satisfactory this day. Thank you for calling Old Zealand Office of Coordination for the Association of Guilds, Clans and other Specialists on Magical, Supernatural and Paranormal Affairs, goodbye.” Ezra’s tone had become flatter, but in view of his dirty victory, Mayor Armand Brandywine did not notice.

The line soon goes dead.

“So… looks like we’ve got a fix to our little problems. Make sure to register the expenses as twenty thousand ponies. Understand?” He says to Alyssa.

“And if it’s not billed in the invoice? They said only fifteen.” She questions.

“Administrative expenses.”

#strange devotion skz collab #straykidsland #hyunjin imagines #hwang hyunjin #stray kids smut #hyunjin au #stray kids fantasy au #stray kids au #hyunjin smut

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hufflepuffhollander · 4 years

Text

the photoshoot: tom holland imagine

a/n | i got this idea from a facebook post i saw and ran with it! i’ve never included a photo story in my writing so i hope i didn’t botch it! my WIPs are all pretty angsty so i figured i’d fluff it up a little for y’all (also this gif amirite)

summary | you are picked for a social experiment: a couples’ photoshoot where you don’t meet the person you’re posing with until the beginning of the session.

tom x fem reader | contains fluff, fluff, and more fluff | word count: 2.1k | enjoy!

“My god, just pick a dress, y/n. We’ve been here for hours.”

Your friend stood with her arms crossed as you studied yourself in the dressing room mirror, making faces of content then unrest, unsure if this dress was the one to go with- or if it could’ve been any of the last 15 you’d tried on.

“I can’t decide, maybe I just need to go through them again-”

“No!” your friend said, grabbing the pile of hanged clothes off of the hook on the wall and holding them out of your reach. “You’re overthinking this, it’s just a photoshoot! You don’t even know the guy! And the one you have on is obviously the best choice.”

You turned back to the mirror and stared at the starchy white fabric of the dress, its eyelet lace design making it a tight fit that accentuate your curves. You sighed in resignation. “Fine. But if the pictures come out and I look like a ghost, I’m blaming you.”

You took the outfit home and laid it out in preparation for tomorrow, kicking yourself for having signed up for this in the first place. After a long week, you only wanted to stay in your sweatpants in bed tomorrow instead of getting all dolled up to go take photos in cliche poses with a total stranger. You sent your friend a passive aggressive text about it, since she was the one who made you sign up for the ‘social experiment’, and all you received back was an annoyingly curt “you’ll thank me later”. You threw your phone aside and went to bed early, crossing your fingers that tomorrow would go by as quickly as possible.

You arrived to the shoot location the next day- a vineyard an hour away that you got turned around twice trying to find. Once you stepped out of the car, the photographer came to greet you, a friendly woman in her mid thirties wearing all black and a massive camera swinging around her neck like an oversized necklace.

“Ah, y/n, thank you so much for coming! It seems like your partner is running a little behind, so we’ll just have to wait for a few,” she smiled bleakly, running away to ridicule one of the men setting up the reflective umbrellas.

“We want to capture the people, not the sun, Nicholas.”

You leaned against your car already annoyed at your partner for failing to show up. You had woken up two hours early to curl your hair and do a full face of makeup, and this is how you get rewarded? You swore up and down that you’d smack your friend when you saw her later. The photographer, whose name you learned was Karen—typical—brought you into a tangle of grapevines to test the lighting and shoot some practice photos. You were already horribly uncomfortable when it was just you standing alone, and couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be when another clueless anti-model had to pose next to you.

“Doll, just put your hand on your hip, like this-

“Well no, not like that—uh, Nicholas, can you go pose her?

“Just smile, dear. You look...really unhappy.”

It was nightmarish.

You were saved by the bell as another car pulled into the lot and a guy of average height wearing a crisp blazer stepped out, wearing the snobbiest looking pair of wayfarers you’d ever seen.

“Oh, great! Tom’s here,” Karen cheered, happy to rush away from the agonizing one-on-one session you’d just had. You looked at Nicholas, trying again to fix the umbrella.

“Tom?” you asked, and he just nodded.

“Yeah, Tom Holland. Don’t know how she managed to get an A-lister out here for this, but that’s Karen,” he responded, walking away.

Wait, what?

Karen waltzed back over to you with him in tow, a smile plastered on her face so big you thought the one she flashed you earliest must’ve been entirely insincere.

“Great! Here we are! y/n, this is Tom,” she said, pushing him forward to stand in front of you. He gave you a bright smile and stuck out his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, love.”

You shook his hand without speaking because you literally had forgotten how to breathe. This was your stranger? You’d had the biggest, most incurable crush on Tom Holland since you were a teenager, and all of your social skills that you’d picked up as an adult had clearly just evaporated in the sun.

“Uh, hi-” Karen and Tom shared a laugh at your starstruck expression. “Sorry, do you two know each other?”

“Yeah, Karen and I go way back,” Tom said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her tight. “She taught me how to model.”

“Well, it’s not hard when you have this face to work with!” She pinched Tom’s cheeks and grinned, then looked you up and down, reminding you with a glance how hard it had been just to get you to smile for the camera without looking deranged. Ouch, Karen.

“Okay, well, let’s get started then,” she skipped off back to the rows of vines lining the field and Tom ushered you with his hand. “After you,” he smiled.

You tried not to stumble over your heels stepping in the uneven earth below you, and Karen brought the camera up to her face with a squeal. “Alright, sweeties, let’s make the camera think you’re falling in love!” Karen, you decided, was an extremely over-the-top human. “This is your meet cute. You’re just seeing each other for the first time. Make it sparkle.”

That was all she gave you direction-wise, and you and Tom just stood staring at each other a few feet apart as the camera started clicking. The shade of your cheeks made it look like you’d just run a marathon and you just started giggling out of sheer nerve, making Tom start to work up a laugh, too.

“She’s a bit much, isn’t she?” he motioned with his eyes so Karen couldn’t pick up on his comment.

“I don’t even know what she wants me to do.” you said, concentrating on a bushel of grapes instead of Tom’s dreamy face because you were worried if you spent more than three seconds looking into his eyes, you’d pass out cold.

“Well I’m basically a pro at this, so let me help you, okay?” he said, reaching out for your hand again. You took it as your heart did somersaults in your chest, and as he exclaimed “ooh, nice nails”, you genuinely smiled, giving Karen exactly the shot she wanted.

Your hand was shaking, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Why are you so nervous?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m absolutely clueless!”

Tom shrugged and looked off to the side. “Well, you said it, not me...”

You gasped and feigned offense, whipping your hand out of his. “How dare you!”

He laughed and tried to take your hand again, but you dramatically swiped your arm out of his reach, and the camera picked up a series of shots that made it look like you and Tom were playing ninja.

“Uh, what are we doin’ here, folks?” Karen questioned as you and Tom ran in circles around one another, him trying to get at your hands and you doing everything in your power not to let it happen. Your nerves melted away as the endorphins kicked in. Eventually Tom gave up and decided to grab hold of you, pick you up and twirl you around, in the chaos yelling “We need to please the Karen!”. You were laughing and out of breath from running around, and you slowly lowered your head to his, the look in his eyes reading that he was about to kiss you...

“That was amazing!” Karen squealed, shaking you from Tom’s mesmerizing stare, pushing the moment past you. Tom let you down to the ground, both of you shocked that he’d made such a bold move in the first place. He wiped his hands on the legs of his pants and cleared his throat as you fiddled with some of the curls that had come loose around your face. Karen couldn’t be happier; the money shot came out looking like a magazine ad.

Tom gave you a sheepish smile. “Uh, sorry if that was too-”

“It wasn’t,” you batted your lashes at him and could’ve sworn his cheeks were tinted just as pink as yours.

Karen’s loud voice pitched in as you had ended up standing still, a photographer’s worst nightmare.

“Okay, so we’ve met, now show me that chemistry!” she shouted, getting an eye roll from you and a snicker from Tom at your reaction.

“Is she expecting us to fall madly in love now that we’ve known each other for more than five minutes?” you asked, fluffing out the skirt of your dress.

“Weirder things have happened,” Tom shrugged his shoulders and winked at you before turning around and walking towards a cluster of vines, picking off a grape and popping in his mouth with a satisfying crunch.

“Oh, are we allowed to eat them? I’m dying out here in the sun!” You followed his pattern and picked a few grapes out of the brambles, noticing a few rows away that there was a small table with two glasses and a bottle of wine. Tom followed your gaze to the alcohol and looked back at you, his expression reflecting exactly what you were thinking.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he smirked.

You collectively ignored Karen’s remarks as you wandered to the table and filled the glasses.

“Are we sure this is here for us?” you looked around skeptically.

“I have no idea, darling. Cheers.”

You sat down in the grass and clinked the flutes together, still unable to believe this was really happening to you. You and Tom started to talk about nothing, already feeling a thousand times more comfortable around each other, bonding over this shared weird experience—and the fresh off-the-vine wine certainly didn’t hesitate to calm your nerves.

As Tom was leaning closer to you, gaze notably flicking from your eyes to your lips, Karen snuck up to you—pretending to be a grape?—and snapped photos of your impromptu picnic.

“Just adorable,” she murmured, and you almost spilled your wine because of how startled you were. Damnit, Karen, you keep ruining the moment. But she didn’t think twice about the interruption; she almost had tears in her eyes because of how perfect the shots were.

You both sat up and away from one another, feeling stiff now that a lens was pointed at you.

“Well, don’t stop on my account!” she chortled, wholly unaware her debut was what killed the vibe.

Tom stood up and offered his hand to help you stand, not immediately letting it go as you wandered to a different part of the sunny vineyard. You pushed the photographer out of your mind as you chatted again, bumping each other’s shoulders as you walked and not minding it a bit. Every time you saw a certain glint in Tom’s eyes, any moment he caught you looking, there could’ve been a spark there that ignited something more. But you were constantly interrupted by shutter clicks, yells at Nicholas, and annoying directing interjections by the appropriately-named Karen.

At one point, Tom had clearly had enough of the pestering, and took your hand, pulling you into an array of closely packed trees so you couldn’t be found.

“Woah- what are you doing?” you asked, confused at the sudden change of scenery.

“Guys? Where did you go?” You heard a shrill voice coming from outside the trees, and Tom attempted to shush you by pulling you close into his body and covering half your face with his hand.

“Shut up shut up shut-”

You heard Karen’s voice grow quieter as she searched in the opposite direction.

“Tom!” you chuckled, prying his fingers off of your cheek. “You’re going to smear my makeup!”

“It’s not like you need it, y/n,” he said without thinking, attention still focused on hiding.

Your whole face grew hot and you couldn’t help but smile like a complete fool. When he looked down at your reaction, he noticed the weight in what he’d said, and made the cutest giggle you’d ever heard, trying to avert the focus from his compliment.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t handle another photo directive being shouted in my ear,” he breathed while pushing his hair back out of his eyes in some devilishly handsome way. You were still clutching the hand that had been on your face, and Tom looked down to interlock his fingers with yours.

“You do know we’re at a photoshoot, right?”

He playfully shoved your shoulder with his free hand at your sassy comment.

“Just saying, I thought you were a pro-”

You heard the photographer’s voice come into the foreground again and you abruptly ran as fast as you could with heels on, still holding Tom’s hand as you trailed behind him. You found yourselves in an even more tightly packed bramble of trees, facing each other with barely a grapevine’s width between you.

“Oh, you have a stick in your hair,” you whispered, reaching up to pick a tiny branch out of his curls. As you looked from his hair to his eyes, he was staring deeply into yours, prompting you to leave your hand resting at the back of his neck.

Wordlessly, he leaned in and kissed you in one fell swoop, and you thought you might implode on the spot when his lips came in contact with your own. He tasted like cologne and crisp grape juice and it was a mixture of scents you hoped would never leave your nose—just the way he kissed you so sweetly made you want to bathe in the stuff.

When he pulled back, he brought your intertwined fingers up to cup your cheek, and you let your hand rest on the back of his as you tilted your head to instigate another kiss, still enjoyably dizzied from the one before.

Tom let his mouth linger over yours after another long kiss before coming up for air again, and you could see his eyes wrinkling at the corners, knowing he was smiling without being able to see the rest of his face.

“You know, I was hesitant to do the whole ‘stranger photoshoot’ thing, but now I’m pretty happy I was able to be convinced.” He sighed contently.

“This was more of a stranger hide-and-go-seek than a photoshoot, I feel like,” you spoke from your lighthearted chest in airy breaths and moved to lock lips again, unable to get enough of your stranger. He put his hand on the small of your back and leaned you backward, deepening the already electric hold he had on you.

“I don’t want you to be a stranger anymore, darling,” he mumbled against you, sending vibrations through you with his voice. You just whispered a soft “okay”, lost for words, as his mouth touched your cheek, your jaw, and then back to your lips for more of your wine-infused kisses. You were wishing this moment could last forever, Tom holding you and sending shivers down your spine, right as you heard a click and saw the bright white flash of a bulb.

“Jesus, Karen!”

But she didn’t care that you were mad; her experiment had worked, she’d gotten her strangers together—and just look at that shot.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland one shot #tom holland blurb #tom holland pictorial #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland imagines #tom holland one shots #tom holland blurbs #tom holland pictorials #tom holland fanfictions

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littlelovelyspiderling · 4 years

Text

The Competition

I’d say oops part 3 but these are so fun to write and bring me such joy that I’m gonna stop apologizing for it haha

The avatar gang competes to see who can get Zuko to laugh first. Adorableness ensues.

word count: 8116

__________________________

“Zuko doesn’t emote much, does he?”

Katara was staring at the young Fire Nation prince as she said it. He was lying against Appa, fully asleep even though the sun had only set an hour ago. She had noticed that, if circumstances permitted it, Zuko tended to rise and fall with the sun, waking at sunrise before anyone else to meditate in the soft morning glow, then nodding off quickly after the last whispers of light had vanished behind the horizon. Perhaps it had something to do with fire benders’ dependency on the sun: the way it fueled their strength and abilities, just as she drew power from the moon.

Whatever the reason, it was amusing—the way he conked out like a baby polar leopard long before anyone else in the group had even considered turning in for the night.

Sokka scoffed, tearing eagerly into a strip of salmon jerky. “Are you kidding me?” he said between bites. “The guy yells every other sentence that leaves his mouth. How is that not emotive?”

“He does have a bit of a temper,” Aang admitted, shooting an anxious glance in Zuko’s direction before continuing. “But it’s something he’s told me he’s working on. I think being angry is like his base temperature, so we should try to be patient with him.”

Aang grinned enthusiastically. Katara shook her head.

“I know he’s good at expressing his anger. I guess I meant emoting in more...positive ways. He barely ever smiles, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh before.” She stared at him sullenly. “Do you think he’s all right?”

The rest of the group followed her gaze to the slumbering teenager. The campfire in the center of their circle rose and fell with his steady breathing.

“He does have a lot going on, what with the having to betray his nation and leave his home and help Aang defeat his dad and all,” Toph pointed out. “But I think you’re reading this wrong, Katara. Maybe Zuko just doesn’t express happiness the same way we do. Maybe it’s more subtle.” She popped a berry into her mouth. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not enjoying being here with us.”

Katara crossed her arms in thought. “Yeah,” she conceded. “Maybe.” She turned back to the group with a line between her eyes. “It just...makes me sad. It’d be nice to see him be unsubtly happy for a change, wouldn’t it? I know all of your laughs and smiles by heart at this point. I feel like I’ll never know him completely until I recognize his.”

The only times Zuko ever flagrantly expressed himself were when he was shouting angrily about something or shooting awake from another horrendous nightmare, drenched in a cold sweat with tears shining in the corners of his eyes. Happy emotions were restricted to tiny smiles that vanished in a heartbeat and the slightest lift in his otherwise level voice. Katara wondered what kinds of hardships he’d endured to make him this way. What cruel forces had forged him into the teenager that slept by their side—a person who shrunk from joy like it was dangerous, poisonous.

Aang sprung to his feet suddenly, making the others wince in surprise. “Ooh, ooh!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I know what to do! We should have a competition!”

The group sat in silence for a moment. “A...competition?” Sokka parroted, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah!” Aang cheered, pointing at the still-sleeping Zuko. “Whoever can get Zuko to laugh first wins!”

The gang exchanged a look of confusion and intrigue. It was such a silly proposition.

“And I mean really laugh,” he elaborated. “Like, Sokka-after-Toph-inhaled-fire-flakes laugh.”

Sokka burst into giggles at the mention of the incident while Toph frowned at her feet. “Oho man, that was the best!” he cackled, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah, like that!” Aang continued exuberantly. “For the next few days, all of us should try to make Zuko do the Zuko-equivalent of that. And whoever gets him to do it first wins!”

Katara grinned at the idea. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t imagine what Zuko’s laugh might sound like. She needed to hear it firsthand, which would clearly require creativity on their end. Her mind was already grasping for potential leads.

“I like it,” she decided. “Are there any rules?”

Aang tapped his chin in thought. “Hmm. No telling Zuko about the competition or what we’re trying to do. That’ll spoil it. We also have to take turns trying to make him laugh—as in, you can’t try something once then immediately try something else; everyone has to go again before you get to take another stab at it. And everyone has to witness it happening and agree on the winner for it to count.”

Sokka stretched his arms over his head with a smirk. “Well then, the rest of you might as well duck out now. Everyone knows I’m the king of gut-busting jokes and sarcasm. Sokka’s got this in the bag.”

“The Air Nomads are famous for having great senses of humor,” Aang retorted cheerfully. “I’ve got an entire cultural heritage of making people laugh on my side. Don’t count me out just yet.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “You guys are so conceited. Always thinking your hilarious wit is the answer to everything.”

Aang and Sokka shared a puzzled scowl. “What’s your plan then, Miss Anti-Humor?” Sokka asked.

Katara colored. “Um, w-well—” Her eyes darted around their campsite before landing on Momo. She scooped the lemur off the ground and placed him on her head. “I’ll make him laugh with fun! See? Fun!”

Momo warbled lazily as Sokka shook his head. “You’d best leave this to the experts, Katara. Fun hasn’t ever exactly been your thing.”

Momo leapt off her head as Katara pouted. “We’ll see,” she grumbled.

“What if none of us find a way to make Zuko laugh?” Toph inquired. “What happens then?”

“Those sound like the words of someone who is going down!” Sokka cried triumphantly. Aang shrugged.

“Then I guess we just keep trying.”

Toph pursed her lips before hinting a smile. “All right. I’m in.” She polished off her handful of berries. “Oh, and I’m one hundred percent winning this thing.”

“That’s the spirit!” Aang said. He pumped his fist in the air. “The competition begins at daybreak tomorrow!”

The group settled in for the night, brainstorming their own series of elaborate, laugh-inducing schemes to test out in the morning. Zuko slept soundly, unaware of what awaited him once he woke.

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

“You seem distracted.”

Aang blinked, his focus snapping back to the tranquil cliffside and the scowling fire bender standing in front of him.

“Oh, uh, distracted?” he said, balling his hands at his sides with an innocent smile. “No, I’m not distracted.”

“Then get it right this time,” Zuko snapped, assuming a low stance. “Kick up, recenter, then punch out. Fire comes from the breath, so exhale at the peak of your move, not a second too early or late.”

Zuko demonstrated the action again, thrusting his foot in the air, reclaiming his balance, then jabbing his fist forward, flames gliding and shooting with his movements in perfect harmony. A burst of fire exploded from his knuckles at the end of the move, sending a wave of heat washing over Aang.

Aang winced back and swallowed. “Right. I’m sure I’ll have it down in no time.” A smile seized his features. “But before I do that, I have a surprise for you!”

Zuko’s fierce expression shifted to puzzled. “What?” he said, relaxing out of his solid stance for a moment.

“Wait right there!” Aang said, then darted away, disappearing behind Appa. Zuko huffed, crossing his arms against his chest.

“If you’re trying to bribe me out of today’s lesson, it’s not going to work. You still have five sets of fire lunges to get through.”

“It’s not a bribe!” Aang’s voice insisted from afar, echoing down the cliff side. “It’s just a token of appreciation—you know, for joining the group and being such a wonderful firebending teacher.”

He reappeared with a giant grin on his face and his hands hidden behind his back. The rest of the gang sat around their campsite, looking unusually interested in Aang and Zuko’s training session.

Zuko scanned the avatar warily as he approached. Aang stopped a few feet back, chipper as always.

“Are you ready?” he asked, smiling wide.

“I guess,” Zuko deadpanned.

Aang extended his hands forward, revealing his gift. “Ta-da!” he exclaimed.

Zuko blinked. It was...a cake. Of some sort. A small, round pastry with some kind of red jelly in the center. It was surprisingly professional-looking, especially considering they were out in the woods with no markets or ovens nearby.

“I baked it for you with firebending!” Aang explained. “I even flavored the center with fire gummies so it’d taste like home.”

Zuko was taken back by the thoughtful gesture. This all felt largely unwarranted. “Um,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Thanks? I guess?”

Aang held it out eagerly. “Go on, try it! It’s an old Air Nomad recipe. It’s really good!”

“I’ll try it after we’re done training,” Zuko said, re-assuming his power stance. “Now then—show me the move I just demonstrated for you.”

“Aw, come one,” Aang whined. “Just one bite! Please? I promise you won’t—”

Aang staggered forward suddenly, tripping over his own foot. He hoped it didn’t look too staged—like falling with the cake in his hands hadn’t been his plan all along. The alarm that crossed Zuko’s expression indicated his performance was a success. Zuko tried lunging forward to help him, but it was too late—with a yelp, Aang face-planted into his culinary creation, splattering cake and jelly at the prince’s feet.

A beat passed where Zuko just stood there, mouth agape. Then the rest of the group exploded into hysterical laughter, gripping their stomachs and doubling over themselves.

“Ohokay, that was pretty good,” Sokka admitted between giggles.

“Look at Twinkle Toes, starting things off strong,” Toph agreed.

Aang lifted his face out of the cake, letting the goo and batter slip off for a moment to enhance the effect. At the very least, he expected a smile to cross Zuko’s lips. Instead, he just looked startled.

“Aw, man,” he said, offering him a hand. “Are you okay?”

Behind the layer of flattened pastry, Aang frowned. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I just tripped.”

“Sorry about the cake. It, uh, sounded like you worked hard on it.”

The others were still cackling like hyena bats behind them. Aang swiped his hand across his cake-covered face bemusedly. It didn’t make sense. Why wasn’t Zuko laughing?

“But don’t you think it’s funny?” he asked. “That I, you know, tripped and fell face-first into it?”

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “Do you...want me to think it’s funny?”

“Kinda! I don’t know. Everyone else does.”

The firebender wasn’t sure how to respond. “You worked hard on something, and now it’s ruined. That’s already bad enough. I didn’t want to make you feel worse.”

Aang couldn’t believe how spectacularly his plan had failed. Everything had gone perfectly except for Zuko’s reaction. This might be harder than he thought. He dropped his face back into the cake, groaning in defeat. While the others continued giggling, Zuko placed his hands on his hips.

“Let’s, uh, break from training for today. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

Aang gave a halfhearted thumbs up as the prince walked away. Zuko: 1, Aang: 0.

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

It was around lunch time when Sokka made his move. The rest of the group watched in anticipation as the next competitor approached their target.

“Hiya, Zuko!” Sokka greeted him. The teen sat by the fire pit with the others, eating a bowl of soup.

“Hi...Sokka,” he addressed him hesitantly, popping the spoon out of his mouth. “Can I help you?”

Sokka jabbed his index finger into the air. “As a matter of fact, you can! I have a very important question to ask you.”

Zuko shot dubious looks at the other members of the group before sitting up a little straighter. “Okay,” he said.

Clearing his throat, Sokka broke into a grin. “Why are firebenders always the slowest runners?”

Zuko thought on it for a moment. A frown wrinkled his features. “We are?”

“Because they get too easily burnt out!” Sokka howled, laughing wildly at his own joke, slapping his knee and hugging his belly. Zuko just stared at him, blinking his strikingly golden eyes. A few seconds later, the tiniest of smiles lifted one corner of his mouth.

“Oh, I get it,” he said. “That’s funny.”

Toph, Aang, and Katara giggled softly behind their hands—more out of pity than anything else. Sokka gawked.

“Wait—that’s it?”

Zuko tilted his head slightly. “What’s it?”

“I spent all night coming up with that joke!”

“I said it was funny,” Zuko said defensively.

“If you thought it was funny, why didn’t you laugh?”

Zuko downed the rest of his soup and shrugged sheepishly. “I’m...sorry?”

The rest of the gang snickered into their palms. Sokka groaned.

“Wait, wait—one more chance,” he pleaded, more to the others than to Zuko. Zuko had no idea why it was suddenly so important that he found Sokka’s jokes hilarious. Recovering part of his trampled dignity, Sokka coughed, then tried again.

“What do you get when you dunk Momo in a pitcher of lemon juice?”

Zuko sighed, leaning back with his hands folded behind his head. “Gee, I don’t know, Sokka. What do you get when you dunk Momo in a pitcher of lemon juice?”

Sokka’s eyebrow twitched crossly. Patronizing, much? “Lemurnade,” he muttered out. “You—you get lemurnade.”

At that, Aang cracked up, his laughter ringing like a bell. “Haha! Good one, Sokka!”

Sokka hung his head. “Thanks, Aang,” he mumbled, then sulked away, heavily chagrined. Zuko watched him go, feeling like he’d done something wrong.

“What’s his deal?” he asked the group.

“Don’t worry about it,” Toph assured him, stifling a snort. “That’s just Sokka being Sokka.”

Zuko furrowed his brow. Was it just him, or were all of them acting...strange? It felt like they were paying more attention to him than normal, and hanging on his every response to their interactions like it was life or death. Around these guys, he preferred to fade into the background rather than be center stage; they were all such good friends, and they had so much history together, whereas he...well, they had history, all right, but not exactly the good kind. He found he was perfectly content listening to them talk from the sidelines, only joining the conversation when he was directly addressed.

After lunch, the group headed to a nearby stream to wash off and cool down. Zuko stood at the edge of the riverbank, watching Momo paw at the minnows in the shallow pools between the reeds, when Katara tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey Zuko,” she said, looking artificially high-spirited. “You want to see something fun?”

Zuko gave her a questioning look. “Fun?” he repeated, turning to face her. What is with everyone today? He hunched his shoulders. “Um...okay.”

Zuko didn’t know what he was expecting her to do—propose some kind of group activity, show off a new waterbending move, maybe—but it certainly wasn’t her placing both hands on his chest and shoving him full-force into the river. The prince yelped and flailed, teetering frantically on the edge of the bank before tipping backwards and dropping into the water with a splash. Zuko resurfaced a few seconds later, his wet hair sticking to his face, his eyes wide. Immediately, the group erupted into a chorus of laughter, making the firebender blush.

“W-what on earth, Katara?” he stammered, slicking his hair back so it wasn’t falling in his eyes. “What was that for?”

“For fun, of course!” she exclaimed nervously, as if she was trying to convince herself. “Wasn’t that fun?”

“Not really!” he growled. He clambered up the riverbank, griping and grumbling the whole time, steam rising off his thoroughly soaked clothing. The others continued to giggle at his dripping, disheveled appearance. “What part of that was supposed to be fun?”

“I thought it was pretty fun,” Sokka chuckled from the opposite side of the river. Zuko reddened beneath their stares and quickly turned away, crossing his arms tight to his chest.

“Sorry, Zuko,” Katara said. “Here.”

Using her bending, she pulled the water out of his clothes so he was dry again. Zuko scratched at his wild mess of hair, eyeing Katara thoughtfully.

After a pause, Zuko made a rash decision. His arms jerked forward before he could talk himself out of it, pushing Katara into the river, making her fall faster than she could react. She hit the water with a shriek, sending waves in every direction. The rest of the group gaped.

“Hey!” Katara gasped as she broke the surface, hands balled into fists. Zuko smirked.

“I take it back. You’re right, Katara. That is pretty fun.”

The others laughed again, and Katara eventually joined them, drawing the water from her hair and flinging it playfully at Zuko. Zuko flinched back with a smile, but that was the closest she got: still no progress on the laughing end. Not even the tiniest giggle.

It looked like The Water Tribe siblings had struck out as well.

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

Toph’s decision to strike at night had been her plan from the start. Laughter always flowed more organically after dark, after all. The more tired you were, the more funny things seemed—even things that arguably weren’t that funny in the first place.

The light from their campfire gilded the group in an orange sheen. Zuko blinked sleepily, watching the flames lap toward the night sky, his golden eyes reflecting the glow in an arrestingly brilliant way. She waited until his heartbeat began to slow before executing her plan. While Sokka studied a map of the Fire Nation, Katara charted the stars, and Aang scratched Momo’s tummy, Toph rose to her feet.

“Watch this,” she said out of nowhere. Then she pounded her heel into the ground, causing the earth underneath Sokka to jump up like a spring, shooting him high into the air. Sokka screamed in surprise, bounced between the branches of a nearby tree, then crashed to the ground with a grunt.

Katara and Aang’s jaws dropped open. Spitting and sputtering, Sokka scrambled to his hands and knees in a befuddled fury. “Toph!” he screeched, leaves and twigs sticking out of his hair.

Toph busted out laughing while everyone just stared. When she realized no one else was joining her, her giggles gradually petered away.

“What? You guys didn’t think that was funny?”

“It was certainly...surprising?” Aang ventured to say.

“A bit violent, though,” Katara added.

“A bit?” Sokka cried, wagging his arms through the air. “She catapulted me into a tree!”

Toph snorted. “Well I thought it was hilarious. Zuko?”

All eyes turned to gauge the prince’s reaction. They were stunned to see his body slack and his head lolled to one side. Their resident firebender was out cold, sleeping peacefully.

With a huff, Toph flopped to the ground. “Are you kidding me? That was some of my best material!”

“Wow,” Aang mused, resting his chin on his kneecaps. “I can’t believe how big of a bust today was.”

“Seriously! I laughed at everything everyone tried with him! All of us are objectively hilarious, but still nothing!” Sokka jabbed an angry finger at Toph before she could respond. “Not you, Toph. I’m going to be picking bugs out of my hair for weeks!” He slumped to the ground, gazing at Zuko through the flickering tongues of the fire. “Man! What’s it gonna take to get this guy to laugh?”

Toph shrugged. “Maybe I was right. Maybe laughing just isn’t the way he expresses happiness.”

“That can’t be true,” Katara stated indignantly. “We’ve just got to keep trying. Maybe in Fire Nation culture, royalty aren’t allowed to laugh or something, and he’s still stuck in that mindset. All we need to do now is find the right way to draw him out of it.”

“First dancing is outlawed, now laughing?” Sokka slapped his forehead. “Why is the Fire Nation so obsessed with destroying all things fun?”

Toph swirled her finger in the air. “Or maybe you’re all just not as funny as you think you are.”

While Sokka viciously protested Toph’s proposal, Aang narrowed his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip. “If we’re determined to make Zuko laugh, we have to find out what he thinks is funny. Perhaps his sense of humor is just different from ours.” Aang smiled at his friends. “Don’t worry, guys. I have a plan.”

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

Zuko yawned and rubbed his eyes as he strolled up the quiet hillside. The grass shivered in the cool breeze and the sky was a painting of pinks and purples and blues.

Morning meditation was a drag sometimes, but it helped him clear his head, reorient his senses, and tame his inner fire. Plus, after his haunting betrayal in Ba Sing Se, it was one of the only ways he could still feel connected to his uncle. Uncle was the person who taught him the value of disciplined meditation—a practice he hadn’t realized wasn’t widely exercised among firebenders until he was older. Rather, it was actually an Air Nomad tradition Iroh had picked up and passed on to his nephew.

Sticking to his uncle’s mindful regime didn’t make Zuko feel better about what he’d done, but...it was something. A small memento to Iroh’s unconditional kindness and wisdom that he could maintain, even if he never got the chance to redeem himself.

As Zuko rounded the crown of the hill, he was surprised to see smoke rising from their campsite. The others were usually still asleep by the time he got back. He heard chatter and the sound of something hissing over the fire. A wave of smells washed over him that was oddly familiar—warm, spicy, nostalgic.

“Zuko!” Aang cried once the prince stepped into view. The sleepy prince was shirtless and wore pants that cut off just above his kneecaps. He tended to run hot, being a firebender and all, so it wasn’t an unusual sight. The others popped up excitedly and grinned, as if they’d been waiting for him.

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked, kneading the heel of one hand into his eye. He sniffed the air and frowned. “Are you...cooking jook?”

“Yeah! And ash banana bread!” Katara presented a hefty portion of each for him. “Aang swung by the market at the base of the mountain and found all the ingredients.”

Zuko blinked at the offering then between his four friends. “This is Fire Nation food,” he said.

“Is it!” Sokka agreed. “Well, our attempt at it, anyway.”

“You guys hate Fire Nation food,” Zuko continued skeptically. “Why are you making it?”

“Just because we hate the Fire Nation doesn’t mean we hate all Fire Nation food,” Toph said, wrinkling her nose. “Although, I think I’ll pass on the jook.”

Sokka took a large bite of banana bread. “And even if we did hate it, it doesn’t matter. You like Fire Nation food, right?”

Zuko hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the delicacies of his country until now. After weeks of eating nothing but what they could forage and hunt in the wild, his stomach ached for an authentic taste of home.

“Yeah,” he finally answered, still unsure what all this was leading to.

“Great! Because we made this for you!” Sokka slurped up a spoonful of jook and smiled wide.

Warily, Zuko accepted the bowl and the bread from Katara. He didn’t know what to say, other than—

“Why?”

Aang cocked his head to one side. “Why what?” he asked.

“Why...did you make this for me?”

The group exchanged a look, like that was the silliest question they’d ever heard. Toph chuckled.

“Because we like you, stupid. You're our friend, and we like doing things that make you happy.”

The words floated around his head for a while before seeping into his brain. Once they did, Zuko’s face flushed warm and pink. “Oh,” he said. He gazed into the steaming bowl in his hand. It looked just like the kind Uncle made for him. Where is all this coming from? he wondered. Was it something I did or said? This slew of kind gestures felt so undeserved and foreign, especially coming from the people he’d spent a significant portion of time terrorizing. A few moments later, a shy smile lifted the corners of his lips.

“Well, thanks. I’m touched.”

“Here, sit,” Sokka said, scooting over to make room. Zuko sat down beside him and took a sip from his bowl. He brightened delightedly.

“It’s great,” he said. Not as good as Uncle’s, he conceded; Iroh had a much heavier hand with the ginger. But still great—better than he could ever make. He fidgeted beneath all their attentive stares. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”

“It was a lot of trouble,” Sokka admitted, earning a whack from Katara. He winced, rubbing the fresh bump on his head. “But—ow—we were happy to do it.”

Aang floated into a sitting position on Zuko’s left, landing beside him like a leaf drifting delicately to the ground. “Speaking of happiness, I’ve been meaning to ask you: can you remember the hardest you’ve ever laughed in your life?”

It was a very bizarre and random inquiry, and didn’t seem at all like a natural segue in the conversation. But that appeared to be a theme among the avatar gang, so Zuko played along.

“Um,” he began, shifting to cross his legs on top of each other. “The hardest?” He grasped for a memory from his youth, but it was all so distant and fuzzy. Whispers and sprinkles of laughter buried beneath years of fear and obedience. Eventually, he shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe when I was little, with my mom. Or maybe with Uncle.”

He went back to his jook, thinking he’d satisfied their curiosity. Katara leaned toward him impatiently.

“Maybe that’s too specific. How about the happiest you’ve ever been? When was that?”

Zuko lowered the bowl from his lips and eyed Katara curiously. “The happiest I’ve ever been?” he repeated back.

“Yeah! Like, what period of your life would you consider the most joy-filled?”

Another unexpected question. This was getting weirdly personal. He could sense there was an end goal to all this prying, but he had yet to pinpoint it. Zuko ran the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Uh...well...again, I’m not sure.” He thought hard about it for a few seconds, trying to recall an era of his life when he’d felt happy—truly happy, for an extended length of time. “I guess I remember moments of being happy, but...not entire periods. Working at the Jasmine Dragon with Uncle was nice while it lasted. But even then, it felt kind of forced.” He nibbled at the ash banana bread. It was warm and cinnamon-y and tasted like autumn. He swallowed and hinted a smile. “But being here, helping you guys...I’d say this is the happiest I’ve ever been. Because for once in my life, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

The statement was small but sincere. As his words sunk in, the group mirrored his smile tenfold. They shared knowing looks with one another, each with the same thought in their head. So this is Zuko’s version of happy. It’s definitely different, definitely subtle, but it’s him—and it’s genuine.

Maybe Zuko didn’t laugh loudly or smile all the time. That didn’t mean he was sad or broken. He just had his own way of expressing joy. And that was okay. It was reassuring to know that Zuko was in a good place, even if he didn’t show it as obviously as the rest of them did. The competition wasn’t over yet—that was a given—but if they continued to fail, at least they knew it wasn’t because Zuko was upset or discouraged.

“Aw, Zuko—ya big softy,” Sokka teased, poking him in the ribs. To his surprise, the prince jerked away from his touch, a small yelp escaping him. Zuko turned to him bewilderedly, eyes wide. Oops, Sokka thought. Had he hurt him by accident? Maybe he had an injury he didn’t know about. He’d nearly made him drop his jook.

“Oh, sorry,” Sokka said. “Are you okay?”

Zuko clenched his jaw. “Y-yeah,” he answered quickly, rubbing at his rib cage. “You—sorry, you just startled me.”

He appeared flustered suddenly, like he was hiding something. Maybe he’d wounded himself in a really embarrassing way and didn’t want anyone else to find out about it. Sokka looked to the others for insight, but none of them seemed to have noticed Zuko’s weird reaction to his touch.

“This startled you?” he inquired suspiciously, poking him again, lower this time. Zuko responded the same way as before, flinching and squeaking like he was being electrocuted. But as Sokka watched his expression change, he realized he wasn’t wincing or grimacing in pain. Instead, a grin flashed across his face, bigger and brighter than he’d ever seen, then vanished a second later, smothered by a look of shock and anger.

“Quit it!” he snapped, hopping to his feet. He pursed his lips to keep them from turning upright.

Sokka recognized his response. He’d seen it from the kids in their Water Tribe village as they wrestled playfully with their mothers and one another. Katara, too, when they’d played as children. A devious smile gradually spread across Sokka’s face. No way, he thought.

The rest of the group looked at Zuko confusedly but shrugged it off. He yelled a lot—it wasn’t anything new. Now was Sokka’s chance.

“Aang, let’s go. Time for your firebending lesson. We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

He was talking rapidly, eager to abscond this situation before it escalated any further. Aang let out a disappointed groan.

“Okay,” he murmured, floating to his feet. Sokka stood with him.

Oh no you don’t.

As Zuko turned to leave, Sokka ran up behind him, wrapping his arms around his midsection.

“Sorry—one more time. This startled you?”

With fiendish glee, he dug into his torso, wiggling his fingers into his belly and sides. Zuko yelped and flailed, not anticipating the surprise attack. He tried to pry Sokka’s hands away, but the Water Tribe teen was stronger than he looked. His flustered sputtering transformed into stifled squeaks. Two seconds later, the dam finally broke.

“Ahahaha!” Zuko belted out, grappling at Sokka’s hands as they clawed at his tummy. “S-Sohakka! Whahat are you doohooing?”

“Winning this competition, that’s what!” Sokka exclaimed. He poked and prodded at his ribs, making Zuko thrash and giggle.

“Hahahagh! Gehet off me!”

Zuko broke Sokka’s hold and wrenched out of his grip, staggering forward so fast he fell to the ground. He rolled onto his back and scrambled a few more paces away, staring up Sokka in disbelief, blushing violently.

“W-what is wrong with you?” he stammered, hugging his stomach protectively.

It took a moment for everyone to register what had just transpired. But as soon as it did, shock and delight sprawled across all of their faces.

“You…”

“Did he just—?”

“Oh man! You did it!”

“Yeah I did!” Sokka cheered, striking a pose. “Told you I was gonna win this thing! Bow down to your champion!”

“Win what thing?” Zuko growled, his face still tinted pink. He stood up nervously, scowling between them. “What’s going on here?”

“We’ve been playing a game to see who could get you to laugh first,” Aang explained. “None of us had ever heard you laugh before, so we wanted to try to make you do it. And now we finally have!”

“You mean I have,” Sokka corrected him smugly.

The idea that they’d spent the past twenty-four hours committed to hearing his laugh puzzled him. Why did it matter what it sounded like? It wasn’t particularly important or helpful information to have. Why did they care so much about something so trivial? The situation was odd and embarrassing yet strangely heartwarming. But mostly embarrassing. Zuko hunched his shoulders crossly.

“That’s what all this weirdness has been about? Why didn’t you just tell me what you were doing?”

“Because we wanted it to happen naturally!” Katara said, throwing her hands in the air. “But apparently none of us are funny enough for your taste!”

The group giggled. Zuko wasn’t sure what to say. A smirk touched Toph’s lips.

“Huh. I never would’ve thought to try tickling you.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I guess I just didn’t expect the Grumpy McGrouchy Pants prince of the Fire Nation to be ticklish.”

“And that laugh!” Sokka snickered. “Have you guys ever heard anything so adorable?”

Heat boiled to the surface of Zuko’s skin. “I’m not…!” he began, but he had no idea where he was going with this. For people who claimed to be his friends, they sure liked humiliating him and making him blush a lot. With an angry huff, he turned away. “Whatever. I’m going fishing.”

As he started to leave, Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph shared a wicked grin, locking down their next course of action without exchanging a single word. Sokka moved first, dashing after him and hooking his elbows underneath Zuko’s armpits, making the prince start.

“Hey!” he cried, struggling against his hold.

“You’re not what, Prince Zuko? Not ticklish, or not adorable?”

Zuko burned inside and out. He tried to throw Sokka over his shoulder, but the other teen planted his feet and hoisted Zuko off the ground, taking all of his leverage with him. He kicked and floundered, feeling small and ridiculous.

“Let me go!” he demanded.

“Either way, we’re obliged to prove you wrong.” Sokka beamed at the others, voice laced with mischief. “Get him, guys!”

Zuko opened his eyes to find Katara, Aang, and Toph approaching him, smirking with fiendish delight. This cued the prince to fight even harder to escape, his legs flailing through the air.

“Besides, we only got to listen to you laugh for a few seconds,” Katara pointed out, curling her fingers into claws. “I’ll need to hear it a little longer than that to memorize it.”

“And to determine just how adorable it really is!” Aang added.

There were a lot of things Zuko had dreaded facing after joining the avatar’s gang. His dark past, the Fire Nation’s tyrannical cruelty, his plethora of failures and mistakes. This, however, had not been one of things he’d had in mind.

Zuko considered heating up his hands just enough to make Sokka release him, but he didn’t want to betray the trust he had only just recently earned from all of them. If he accidentally burned another person on their team, he’d never forgive himself.

Though perhaps that’d be worth avoiding the mortifying predicament he currently found himself in.

“W-wahait!” he yelped, giggly dread amassing in his belly. He kicked in their direction to keep them from getting any closer. “Stay back!”

Sokka wrestled to keep the squirmy prince still. “Toph, a little help?” he called.

Toph grinned and thrust her palms toward the sky. Two hands made of earth rose up from underneath Zuko and grabbed hold of his ankles. As she lowered her hands back down, the earth hands moved with hers, dragging his legs toward the ground then morphing into a pair of rock bonds encased around his feet, keeping them firmly trapped in place.

Oh no. Zuko wriggled and wrenched, but there was nowhere for him to go. Unless he firebent his way out, he was defenseless.

Before he could voice any more protests, Katara closed the space between them, her hands reaching his torso and scuttling up his bare sides. Zuko jolted and gasped, a giant smile lighting up his whole face despite his attempts to squash it.

“Ahahaheehee!” he giggled, squirming and shifting to try to get away. It was no use. Her fingers needled his exposed midsection freely and mercilessly, driving the sensitive prince absolutely nuts. The blush in his cheeks bled down his neck. “Wahait—mmheh—ehahaha!”

“Not ticklish at all, I see,” Katara said smugly. “And certainly not adorable, no.” She scribbled her nails all over his belly, parroting his endearing smile. It was so big and radiant and happy—a hundred times more so than she ever could’ve imagined. His laugh was another matter entirely—bright, bubbly, hysterically shrill. Far too cute for the human language to articulate. Plus, outrageously contagious.

“Stahahap it!” Zuko cackled, tugging uselessly at Sokka’s arms. The boy’s grip was like iron. Katara ignored him, testing and teasing every inch of his twitchy torso, kneading his tummy and pinching his sides and fluttering her fingers underneath his rib cage. He couldn’t believe how much it tickled, or how wild his own laughter sounded. None of them had realized how loud and uncontrollable Zuko’s laugh could get until now—including himself.

Two hands on his ticklish belly were already enough to drive the giggly prince out of his mind. Of all days to meditate shirtless, why did he have to choose today? But then, to his horror, two more hands joined the fray, drilling into his hip bones with diabolical intensity and precision. Zuko bucked and squealed, his laughter reaching an entirely new caliber.

“Ahahahaha!” he bubbled, shaking his head from side to side. “NohohahahAang!”

Zuko thought out of everyone present, the avatar would be the one to approach this situation with the most mercy and compassion. Boy, was he wrong. The airbender attacked his weak points like he’d been trained in the ancient art of tickle torture—as if tickling was a fifth element, and he’d already more than mastered it.

“I can’t believe we went a whole day trying to be funny to make you laugh when all you needed was a little tickling!” Aang chirped cheerfully. “I also can’t believe you made us go this long without hearing what your laugh sounds like. It’s so cute and happy! Why don’t you do it more often?”

If Aang expected Zuko to reply, he wasn’t making it easy. He furrowed his brow and stuck out his tongue as he explored the prince’s sensitive midsection, working in tandem with Katara so that every tickle spot on his torso got a turn being poked and squeezed and stroked. Zuko couldn’t stand another second.

“Guhuhuhuys!” he howled. This was a nightmare. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse. He had to make them stop.

“Try tickling his ribs!” Sokka suggested suddenly, grinning with malicious glee. “He was super jumpy when I poked them before!”

“Ooh, good idea!” Aang said. He skittered his hands up his sides then shook them viciously into his rib cage, making the poor teenager squawk.

The universe just loved proving him wrong, didn’t it?

“NOHOHAHA!” he bellowed, throwing his head back, nearly hitting Sokka in the face. “Gaha! Youhou—jerherherherks! Ahahaaa!”

The gang giggled along with him without slowing their attack. “Hey, there’s the Zuko we all know and love,” Toph chuckled. She sat on top of his buried feet and began skating her nails against the backs and caps of his knees, drawing feathery circles into the sensitive skin and causing goosebumps to shoot up his legs. It was gentler than Aang and Katara’s cruel tickle tactics—a fact he had to be grateful for—but still contributed significantly to his overall state of flustered, twitchy hysteria.

“Aw, look at you, Prince Zu-Zu! So smiley and giggly and squirmy!” Katara bunched up her hands and spidered her nails against his belly button, making Zuko shriek and thrash like a little kid. “I can’t believe we were ever afraid of your adorable little face! If only we’d known back then how easy it is to defeat you! Just a couple tickles here, a few pokes there…”

She moved her hands across his tummy while she spoke, wiggling her fingernails as they dragged along his skin, cooing at him the entire time. Meanwhile, Aang was absolutely wrecking his ribs, grinding his knuckles ruthlessly into the bone.

“Right? He’s cuter than a baby turtle duck!”

“No wonder his uncle adores him so much,” Toph agreed.

Zuko wanted to disintegrate. The relentless teasing was just as cruel as the six hands tickling him to pieces. He’d never been taunted or tickled to this extent before, and the only thing he could do about it was blush tomato-red and laugh himself silly. He didn’t consider himself to be that sensitive of a person, seeing that no one had really tickled him since he was a child, but the avatar and his crew were doing a pretty good job convincing him otherwise. At this point, his entire body was bright pink and sizzling like a space heater.

“PLEEHEASE STAHAHAP!” Zuko begged, hiccups leaping from his throat and puncturing his endless giggle fit. No point in trying to retain some shred of dignity—every last drop had already been spent. “I CAHAN’T TAKE AHANYMOHOHOREHAHAHA!”

“Aw, but this is so fun,” Sokka pouted playfully, poking at his neck with the fingers that could reach. “You sure you can’t take just a little more?”

“We haven’t even tickled your armpits yet!” Aang protested, immediately shoving his hands under his arms and wiggling his fingers against the hollows. It was a welcome break for his ribs, but also gave him giggly whiplash.

“AHAHAHACK!” Zuko squirmed helplessly, tears welling in the corners of eyes. He barely had the strength to even writhe in place anymore. “IHI’M—GOHONNA—DIHIHIHIE!”

Katara’s hands slowed to a halt against his sides, granting him a sudden rush of relief. “Okay, maybe we should stop,” she said, smiling sympathetically. “He does look pretty wiped.”

“He’s not going to die,” Toph assured the others with a chuckle. She took her hands off his knees. “Still, that’s probably a good idea.”

The absence of Katara and Toph’s tickling gave Zuko the chance to catch his breath a little. The relief was astronomical. Aang, however, had yet to let up, keeping the prince twitchy and giggly with his rib cage and underarm torment.

“EhahahAang!” Zuko wheezed, wriggling helplessly. “Pleehease!”

Aang smiled wryly. “All right, I’ll stop,” he conceded, worming his fingers between each individual rib. “But first, you have to admit out loud that you’re adorable, because I’m still not convinced you believe it. Say that, and I’ll stop.”

Zuko thought it impossible for things to get any more embarrassing than they already were. Wrong again. Being disowned by his father and banished from the Fire Nation hadn’t been as humiliating as the past five minutes. Now this?

The group grinned at him expectantly, waiting. Zuko shook his head.

“B-buhut—I—” he stuttered out between giggles. Then Sokka dug his hands into armpits, making him squeal with laughter and shrink into himself.

“No excuses!” he demanded playfully. “Go on! Say it!”

Zuko tried to thrash out of Sokka’s grip now that it wasn’t so tight, but Sokka still had a strong enough hold on him to keep him trapped—even while he was tickling him. He buried his face into his shoulder to hide his goofy smile and flushed cheeks.

“Ahaha! Youhou’re—s-soho—meahean!” To think that he used to be the one considered cruel and evil. Ponytail Zuko had nothing on these diabolical tickle monsters and their degrading requests.

A moment later, Katara started squeezing his sides again, causing Zuko to twist and yelp. “We’re mean? But look how happy we’re making you! If anything, you should be thanking us.”

Toph wiggled her fingers against the middle of his tummy. “We’re waiting, your highness.”

It was too much. He couldn’t bear it any longer. He needed this to end.

“OHOKAHAHAY!” he cackled, squirming and hiccuping and craving the sweet escape of death. “IHI’M—I ADMIHIHIT IT!”

“You admit what?” Aang asked, grinning innocently as he revved up his rib tickling to a maddening ferocity. Oh, he was so getting them back for this.

“GAHAHA! FIHIHINE! I’MAHAHAHADORHORABLE!” He ducked his head, blushing brighter than their campfire. “NOHOW STAHAHAHAP! PLEEHEEHEASE!”

The group laughed and cheered at his miserable defeat, then finally ceased their attack. Katara and Aang stepped back as Toph freed his feet and Sokka released him from his grip. Zuko was left standing in the center of the team, panting and giggling dazedly, guarding his torso with his arms held tight to his skin. His whole body tingled and burned. His face hurt from smiling so much.

“Well, you heard it here first, folks—Zuko is adorable, and he knows it!”

“And he can laugh! Like, actually laugh!”

“I guess he can express happiness the same way we do. You just have to push the right buttons.”

“Was that emotive enough for you, Katara?”

Zuko was at his wit’s end. Again, with the teasing? Couldn’t these guys give him a break? He was never going to hear the end of this for as long as he lived. Giggling breathlessly, he sunk to his hands and knees, making his friends flinch.

“Whoa,” Katara exclaimed. “You all right there, Zuko?”

For a moment, the team worried that they’d gone too far, that they’d somehow broken Zuko by making him laugh for what might’ve been the first time in his life. Zuko doubled over himself, wheezing dazedly.

“Uhuhugh…” he whimpered, voice muffled. “Y-you’re...gohonna...pahay for that…”

The group let out a sigh of relief. If he still had the strength to threaten him, that was a good sign.

“Don’t worry, Prince Zu-Zu,” Sokka said, patting him on the back. “Having a cute laugh doesn’t make you any less intimidating.”

“It’s nice to know that you can laugh though, even if you don’t do it very much.” Katara smiled somberly. “I was worried something was bothering you, or that you weren’t happy here with us. That’s why we started this whole silly competition in the first place.”

After a pause, Zuko slowly lifted his face from his lap. His cheeks were still rosy, but he was beginning to tame his breathing.

“But if that’s just not how you normally express yourself, that’s okay.”

The prince sat back on his haunches, still seething with humiliation, but to a semi-reduced degree. He didn’t think he’d ever fully understand the way this group functioned, why they garnered such delight out of poking fun at him and each other, why they were so concerned and endeared with his behavior and emotional expressiveness. But it was clear they cared about him, however bizarrely they chose to demonstrate it.

“I...I am happy here,” Zuko eventually ventured to say, his voice still shrill and brittle. Hearing it out loud made him blush some more, but he continued. “I wasn’t trying to make you think otherwise. I’m just…” he swallowed. “Weird. And bad at...stuff.”

The gang snickered. “Yeah you are,” Toph said, hugging his arm. “And we love you for it.”

The firebender blinked and hinted a bashful smile. Aang placed his hands on his hips.

“Who knows! Maybe you just forgot how to laugh for a while, but now we’ve reminded you!”

To everyone’s disbelief, a chuckle escaped Zuko, short and authentic. “Maybe,” he said.

Then, an instant later, he shot to his feet. “But don’t ever do anything like that to me ever again! I’ll burn down this entire hillside and run back to the Fire Nation if you even think about it!”

Flames rose from his clenched fists as he glared daggers into each of them. But Aang just laughed.

“Sure you will,” Aang teased, fluttering his fingers against his side. Zuko winced and smiled, then whirled on him with a growl.

“Touch me again, and I’ll have you doing fire lunges until you puke.”

Aang shrunk away with a nervous chuckle, folding his hands behind his back. “R-right. Sorry, Sifu Hotman.”

If anyone noticed that Zuko started laughing more after that, whether it was at Aang’s antics or Sokka’s jokes or Katara’s ridiculousness or Toph’s sass, they thought it best not to point it out. Now that he’d started emoting more positively, they didn’t want to shy him away from it. It was still small and fleeting, but it was progress from absolutely nothing. Perhaps they had helped the Fire Nation prince rediscover his laugh after all.

But that didn’t stop them from poking and teasing him whenever the urge hit. While his everyday chuckles and giggles were great, nothing compared to the sound of Zuko’s wild, bubbly, tickle-induced laughter. And unless he firebended at them to get them to quit, they didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

#ticklish!zuko #zuko #atla #atla tickle fic #sfw tickle fic #sfw tickling #tickle fic #avatar tickle fic #avatar fic #avatar tickling #avatar #avatar the last airbender #the last airbender #zuko fanfic #zuko tickle fic #avatar gaang #lee!zuko

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nat-the-cat-123 · 3 years

Text

(this will be a VERY long post)

✨Time to criticize Yashahime ✨

First of all:

I will only criticize the writing aspects, so don't expect me to say anything about the animation since I barely know about that stuff

Because of this I also won't address anything of Sessrin or the discontent because of Moroha's and Inukag's separation because that's more of a fandom thing

And this is only the opinion of someone who isn't any kind of expert in writing or something like that

Uff, Yashahime finally ended and it was... Interesting.

So let's criticize it :)

So first of all let's tell the ✨the good things✨ because even if there are more bad things, infact there are very little good things, we have to give credit where credit is due.

Good things :D

The girls' originality

Something that I saw other fandoms have complained in their own "next generation sequel" (like in boruto) is that the kids were just a "copy paste" of their parents, and when Yashahime was just announced I saw the same concerns (specially with Setsuna and Moroha)

But in the end I think any of them ended up being just female Inuyasha/Sesshomaru, and all were able to be their very own character.

Half of their relationship

Ok, I'm specifying that only half because sometimes the twins would be a little unfair with Moroha, but then be her "new family"(?), But then they proceed to leave her behind, and then AGAIN being like bff's so there is no consistency.

But in the first episodes Sunrise got it right and we could see a pretty good and functional dynamic between the 3 that was consistent and made sense.

Each one had a defined role that worked, Towa was the "moral" one, Setsuna the "cold" one who took more drastic decisions, and Moroha intervenes mediating both and brings information that may help please both sides. (At the beginning)

Moroha

I'M SORRY, I'm sorry, I can't help it, it's just that she has so much charm and is so lovely and innocent. And you can totally ignore the fact that she's InuKag's daughter and still love her just because her personality brings so much to the story.

It's such a shame that they didn't really use all her potential but I'll get to that later.

Aaaand that's all ;-;

Now let's go to the interesting part...

The bad things D:<

Towa

This point I actually want to explore it further in another post, because there's a lot I want to talk about her to specify what exactly went wrong and how I would have managed her but here I will leave it simple.

Towa in any way possible wasn't properly used, and even if almost every character suffered of bad writing, she was the most affected one.

She honestly isn't interesting, everything that could have been done with her according to her backstory was completely wasted, because even if she was the one with the least tragic story, there was a lot to work with (I mean, just look at Kagome's case and still most of the fandom loved her)

She kept changing her personality and ideology according to what the story needed, and at some point her only trait was "Setsuna's protective older sister"

And don't even get me started with how overpowered she is without any kind of training (I get she knows how to fight with bullies, but clearly that isn't the same as fighting demons with demonic energy)

Phasing

When people argue if the phasing is too fast or too slow, I think it's both, but in the worst way possible.

They waste so much time in scenes that aren't really that necessary or could be much shorter, and rush at incredible speed things that should actually be worked slowly and carefully.

The fights

I only can remember two or three that I actually liked because most of them were just exchanging hits with the sword, sometimes an special movement and that's all.

Half of the battles didn't affect the story in the least, and the worst of all was how the villains were defeated wether because they were lame as fuck or because Towa's random power up appeared out of nowhere.

Meanwhile in Inuyasha even if we didn't always had the best fights of all anime, we did get some pretty interesting choreographies and some villains really had an impact on the characters in a natural way.

Talking about villains...

Naraku is laughing from his grave

You know? I'm not a Naraku fan, but he was a bastard that you loved to hate, he maybe wasn't the most powerful character when we talk purely about his strength, but he was intelligent as fuck, he was always one step ahead, he had some pretty interesting abilities and plans, with him he brought other AMAZING villains (or anti heroes) like Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi, the weird baby, or even Sesshomaru back at the beginning, and the best part was how he was written being a complex character (like when he struggled with his human feelings for Kikyo)

But on the other hand we have Kirinmaru, Zero, the four losers (I mean, perils), probably my boy Riku, and who knows what other random villains.

First of all, ONLY RIKU would be a good villain (maybe I should have put him in the good things ;-;)

But then we have the four perils who, out of them the only one who seemed to know what he was doing was the green guy that did weird witchcraft, but the rest? They are just randomly bothering people because they have nothing else to do and honestly they didn't seem to be that powerful.

I'm not sure about Kirinmaru because I don't see anything clear with him, I mean, I'm not even sure if he's a villain.

And Zero... *Sighs*

I don't get what the hell she's trying to do. Anything that she does makes sense. She's just alive because of Riku, without him she can't do anything.

Like seriously, half of the world was after Naraku's ass, even his allies, and still he could get away with it. Zero can't even get her army in order to take care of 3 fourteen years old girls.

(Sorry for letting myself go with this one ;-;)

Not using half of your characters

I guess the best example is Moroha because even with an interesting backstory, mysterious abilities, and most of the fandom's love, they just used her as comedic relief for most of the series instead of developing her character or explaining better her spiritual abilities or Beniyasha.

And not only her, Hisui and the rest of the demon slayers were more of a background character. For example, in Hisui's episode we should have gotten to meet him, Gyokuto, and Kin'u better, but they preferred to focus in the twins AGAIN and not work the MirSan family. (Guys, first season and I still can't tell Hisui's definitive personality)

Same Takechiyo, Kyubi, Yawaragi, Kohaku, the villains, some past characters, sometimes even Riku. Basically every character who isn't Towa and Setsuna are walking tools for them to use whenever the plot needs it.

And no, I'm not saying "The twins shouldn't be the protagonists", a I'm saying "SIDE CHARACTERS AREN'T JUST PLOT DEVICES, THEY ALSO DESERVE DEFINED PERSONALITIES AND CHARACTER ARCS TO MAKE THE WORLD RICHER, OTHERWISE IT FEELS LIKE THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THE PROTAGONISTS"

Inuyasha knew when and how to dedicate an episode to a character, Yashahime doesn't.

Lack of character development

No one, except for Setsuna who is learning to rely and trust more on the girls, has any kind of development (sorry Moroha (･ัω･ั)).

I see Towa exactly the same as in the first episode, and because of how they've barely put attention to Moroha, she has barely shown any growth as well.

And I guess Hisui learnt how to trust his dad, but again, I can barely tell which is his personality, and the rest are background characters.

Powers / Abilities / Weapons

Here they neither explained ANY of the characters abilities properly or made them more powerful making sense.

Towa, just randomly learnt how to concentrate her demon energy in a sword and just keeps getting new abilities without training, and any of them seem to have any effect on Towa like (idk) having the risk of running out of energy. And at the beginning I liked how she struggled with her other demon abilities like smelling things but then they just forgot ;-;.

Setsuna's stick just produces wind and lasers without explanation, and her sealed power doesn't really work naturally.

And Moroha... EXPLAIN BENIYASHA BETTER. SAME FOR THE SPIRITUAL POWERS, that was supposed to be impossible!!! And again they recognized that at the very beginning, why did they forgot about it later???

There barely has been any "world" expansion

Something that Inuyasha never really got into was the "demon society", because with the exception of some tribes they never mentioned anything related to that BUT...

With that thing of Inu no Taisho and Kirinmaru apparently being "royalty" I thought they would talk more about that "Demon hierarchy" or if "Setsuna's courage trial" was something like a demon tradition (damn, that was honestly pretty interesting) but NO.

The topic has been barely mentioned and let's keep saying over and over again what the audience already knows for 24 episodes.

Weird Exposition

The way they threw information at us was pretty weird, like it didn't feel "organic" because instead of the girls getting into whatever situation where "x" character tells them certain things because it is related to what is happening, again, they chose pretty weird ways.

There were like 1,000 different options to tell us what happened to InuKag and Sesshomaru and all of them, like the girls talking with Myoga or Kaede...

BUT THEY CHOSE TO BREAK THE FOURTH WALL.

Comedy

I'm not saying Moroha is a bad comedy relief, she actually came with many good jokes, but you can't leave only ONE character to take care of the comedy. Towa and Setsuna also came with some good funny moments, so why would they only reduce the comedy to Moroha????

(In Inuyasha EVERYONE gave amazing comedy moments, even Sesshomaru)

And the worst part is that they only use the same joke with her most of the time! Losing her bounty and being poor.

"Atmosphere" (?)

I Promise I don't want to sound pretentious with this one ;-;

Those scenes where we were supposed to feel sad because of someone's death, intimidated because Kirinmaru appeared or excited because of a fight didn't work out.

I don't know exactly why but I think that it is because of a combination of lazy animation, bad selection of soundtrack, weird dialogue and the characters' lack of reaction.

So now that I think I've said all the points that they got wrong, let's get to the conclusion.

They stablished side plots or mysteries everywhere and didn't really do anything with them.

The girls never advanced with the story, they just kept running in circles around the same point during 24 episodes. (And no matter how long or short a story is, you can NEVER do that or you'll lose the audience's attention).

And with or without a second season, they made terrible mistakes that won't be able to be fixed. If it is only one season, TERRIBLE, they left way to much things uncovered, and if they plan another season, ALSO TERRIBLE, they rushed essential things and if they work them again they'll repeat one of their biggest mistakes.

And honestly I really tried to love this sequel, almost up to episode 12 I really tried to appreciate the small good things but they just kept slapping me with disappointment every single episode, and if they release a second season, I'll watch it but this time only expecting the worst of it.

In resume, yo can only truly enjoy Yashahime if you completely turn off your critical sense, and expecting nothing from it, otherwise you'll only keep asking yourself "why?"

#inuyasha #hanyou no yashahime #moroha #hanyo no yashahime #setsuna #towa #hanyou no yashahime spoilers #sesshomaru #kagome #kirinmaru #zero #the four perils #this is a mess

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carewyncromwell · 3 years

Photo

“Oh, you're everything I'm wanting -- Come to think of it, I'm aching... On account of my transgression, Will you welcome this confession? Could this be out of line? Could this be out of line, To say you're the only one breaking me down like this? You're the only one I would take a shot on -- Keep me hanging on so contagiously...” ~“So Contagious” by Acceptance

x~x~x~x

In Estrid Soelberg’s @thatravenpuffwitch sixth year, there was a noticeable shift in the kelpie who’d taken on the identity of Rudolph Ollivander. Ru was as snarky and anti-status-quo as ever, but they also didn’t seem to look upon everyone with so much universal disdain or distrust. They would initiate a game of Wizard’s Chess with their fellow Ravenclaws now again, including Siobhan Llewelyn @kc-needs-coffee. They enjoyed spending time with Galen Stagg @cursebreakerfarrier, even going so far as to rope the meeker Gryffindor into helping him scare some of their classmates at the Shrieking Shack (which resulted in the two “running for the lives” to get away from their targets’ retaliation, Ru laughing their head off all the while). And with Estrid herself, Ru had actually started taking to asking her to dance with them and then whisking them away so that she wouldn’t have to deal with a hundred and one guys trying to court her at parties. Admittedly that particular behavior only made the rumor machine at school work double-time -- the entire school, it seemed like, saw Ru and Estrid as a couple, or at least sweet on each other, just because of how much time they spent together. It had been rather aggravating for both Ru and Estrid for a long time, even after they stopped actively hating each other and started nurturing a real friendship.

As their seventh year began, Ru’s relationships with both Galen and Estrid grew even closer. Before long, you wouldn’t see one without the other two. If Galen ever got bullied, Estrid and Ru would ride to his rescue. Whenever Estrid had to brave parties, Ru was her shadow, warding off all unwanted advances. And once, when Ru was challenged to a duel by a Gryffindor and one of his buddies and then attacked from behind upon them winning by throwing a potion in their opponent’s face, Galen went full-on “Papa Bear,” blocking the spell before it could land on Ru, disarming the bloke who’d attacked them, and sticking his wand right in the other Gryffindor’s face until he backed off. And as the three’s friendship grew stronger, Estrid really started to realize how much she dreaded the end of her time at Hogwarts. She’d miss spending time with Galen and Ru -- having them always there.

Ru in particular she hated the thought of saying goodbye to. As a kelpie, Ru had no real family, and they didn’t see themselves as having many prospects for a real future. They didn’t have very strong magic, and their life-span was short enough that they’d have trouble disguising themselves after a while.

“Sooner or later, any folks around me at a job or some such would start giving me the side eye,” Ru had said at the time, sounding rather grim and resigned, “they’d dismiss all the theories like botched Transfiguration or a Dark curse, and Bob’s your uncle, they’d figure out the truth. At that point...well. The game would really be over then, wouldn’t it?”

It was that masquerade that was central to Ru’s current life. They’d only gotten into Hogwarts by pretending to be Rudolph Ollivander, so without their identity as Rudolph, they didn’t have a pair of shoes to fill that wouldn’t arouse suspicion. And once that identity was taken from them and they were revealed for what they were, Ru seemed pretty convinced that no one would want to stick by them. They hadn’t even told Galen the truth about what they were yet, and Estrid suspected it was largely because they feared what their best friend would think, if he knew they’d stolen the identity of the Ravenclaw boy they’d drowned in the Lake four years ago. Estrid got the feeling that Ru was already preparing to say goodbye to their life as a human and retreat back to that solitary existence they led prior to attending Hogwarts...and that thought hurt Estrid. She hated the thought of Ru living out the rest of their life alone...only being able to look back at all of the fun things they did at Hogwarts, and never be able to try anything new ever again. Never be able to take any more pictures, or get any better at their crude animations, or even take a stroll through the pouring rain again...

The memory of the two of them dancing in the rain together the previous year rippled again over Estrid’s mind.

Ru had been so happy, just dancing with her in the rain and enjoying the squishing, squelching sounds made by their shoes and their sopping wet clothes. It just didn’t seem fair that someone who could be happy with so little had to condemn themselves to a life devoid of even those little pleasures. But could she really expect a wild creature to put their own self-preservation at risk -- expect Ru to actually brave the consequences of their past actions? As much fun as they had as a human, and as much fun as they had at school...well, it’d already seemed like they’d given up. Like they’d seen the writing on the wall and were prepared to go out quietly, like a very old cat sneaking out of the house to die in peace. And as human as they were...they were still a kelpie. Would they even be happy with the kind of life witches and wizards led post-Hogwarts -- one with structure, with employment and responsibilities -- with family?

Perhaps it was because of how guilty she felt about Ru’s situation that Estrid agreed to go with Ru when the kelpie decided to take advantage of the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend to sneak out to a photography exposition in a nearby Muggle town. It was likely because of his loyalty as a friend than Galen tagged along too...and perhaps because Siobhan Llewelyn had also caught wind that Ru was sneaking out and decided to tag along too.

It was a bit strange, dressing in something other than their school uniforms. Estrid had decided it would be practical to wear pants, since they’d probably have to be able to run quickly in case they got caught sneaking out or sneaking back in. She hadn’t been sure what Ru would do, exactly, since she’d never seen them in anything but their school uniform -- when Ru met up with them, though, dressed in a flared red hunting jacket and khaki trousers with no shirt underneath, she found herself completely unsurprised. Ru already never buttoned their uniform shirt, presumably because of how much they hated collars -- Estrid supposed it was only the next step, to walk around just in a jacket without any shirt on at all!

The exhibition showcased a series of so-called “moving pictures” -- compilations of still photographs that, when put together, created the illusion of movement. Magical photography tried to create such movement through the use of enchantments, like the kind used on enchanted portraits, but the technology of photography didn’t mesh well with those sorts of enchantments, since it was harder to “fold” the enchantments into the photographs the same way one could with paints, and so they were often poor quality and would often lose a lot of the magic trying to give them the ability to talk and move before long. But, as Ru pointed out to the others, these “moving pictures” the Muggles had developed could be played over and over and over again in a loop, and even if there was no sound included, the overall quality of the pictures remained the same.

“It doesn’t even try to recreate life, like wizards do with their pictures,” said Ru. “Instead it creates the illusion of life -- records one moment, rather than stupidly trying and failing to recreate everything that person was. And that one moment is enough! It’s more than enough. With that one moment recorded, you get all the information you need. You can fill in the blanks of everything else on your own.”

The four spent the day watching and enjoying moving pictures of walking in Paris, France, galloping horses, and even a girl feeding her cat. The entire time, Ru was transfixed, sitting awkwardly as ever on their chair between Estrid and Galen with their way-too-long legs crossed at a weird angle and leaning across their own lap to look at the pictures better. At one point, Ru leaned their head very far to the side close to Estrid, to try to see the picture from a certain angle, and their long black hair came down like a curtain beside Estrid’s face.

Biting back a laugh, Estrid carefully brought a hand up to smooth Ru’s hair out of her face. The gesture startled Ru and made them look at her.

“Here,” whispered Estrid with a fond smile.

She very gently reached up to tuck Ru’s hair behind their ear.

Ru’s face flushed slightly. Their electric blue eyes darted off to the side.

“...Thanks,” they muttered.

Close by, a couple of older matrons whispered amongst themselves.

“Ah, that’s how the couples are split, then -- left and right pairs -- ”

“Such a strange-looking pair on the right, wouldn’t you say?”

“Perhaps...but look at that dark-haired lad, he’s clearly smitten -- ”

“Is that a lad? Good heavens, that hair -- ”

Estrid shot a tired look over her shoulder.

“Sounds like people are jumping to that old conclusion again,” she said to Ru with a wry smile.

Ru was still blushing slightly, their mouth twisted in a frown. “...Mm.”

No snarky comment? That was odd. Ru would hardly ever pass up the chance to scoff about how humans’ ideas of “romance” and courting were utterly bizarre. Instead there was almost something...grim in their expression.

People wouldn’t be making that mistake anymore, Estrid thought sadly, if Ru disappeared back into the void, once their class graduated...

The kelpie returned their focus back to the screen, and Estrid followed suit gladly. At least it seemed Galen and Siobhan were too distracted talking amongst themselves to overhear.

Unfortunately the group couldn’t stay for the entire exposition, if they wanted to sneak their way back into school with the rest of the kids enjoying their Hogsmeade weekend without getting caught. And although Ru flagrantly ignored the rules most of the time, they seemed oddly concerned about the others’ feelings on the matter, for once.

“Don’t want your whole future getting derailed right as you’re reaching the finish line, do you?” they said rather gruffly.

Estrid had almost never heard the kelpie think of the future that way before. But, of course, even then...it was their friends’ futures. Not their own. Because they didn’t think they’d have any chance of a future themselves...

As the four sat together at the table in the Three Broomsticks, chatting and laughing over some butterbeers and pickled oysters, a fiery, robust feeling was slowly forming in Estrid’s chest, crystallizing and hardening like some kind of flaming hot diamond.

Ru deserved a future. Even if they had once drowned somebody and stolen his identity -- even if they’d nearly eaten a first year -- they’d grown so much since then, and Estrid had seen there was so much more to them since then. Ru deserved to be able to keep living as a human as long as they wanted. They deserved to live their life to its fullest, even if it was short. They deserved to have somewhere safe to go, even if everyone else found out the truth about what they were and turned their backs on them. ...They deserved to be happy.

“Estrid?”

Estrid felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. It was Ru, looming over her like a shadow as always.

“Everyone’s getting ready to leave,” they prompted her.

Estrid looked up. All the students in the Three Broomsticks were gathering together in a clump that migrated toward the door. Galen and Siobhan had already started heading out too, whispering amongst themselves -- Galen shot a very quick glance over his shoulder at them and smiled before turning back to Siobhan.

“...So they are,” said Estrid.

Despite this, she found herself not immediately getting to her feet. She stayed seated for another moment, her eyes on the table. She could sense Ru watching her, but they didn’t speak again. They sensed that she was deep in thought and decided not to interrupt. It was something Estrid appreciated about Ru -- they were never afraid of silence.

Estrid closed her eyes, exhaled through her nose, and then opened her mouth to speak. Unfortunately, before she could, a voice cut her off.

“Come on, lovebirds!” crowed a particularly obnoxious Hufflepuff boy. “Don’t want to be left behind, do you?”

Both Ru and Estrid shot the boy a very dirty glare.

“We’re not lovebirds, Wilfred,” Estrid shot back dully.

She sighed.

“...What is it you like to say about silence being better than stuffing the space with useless words?” she asked Ru, her voice touched with dry amusement.

Ru avoided her eyes, frowning deeply again. “...Hn.”

The amusement slid off of Estrid’s face. No snarky response again?

“Ru?” she asked.

“What?” said Ru.

“Are you...” Estrid bit her lip, “...is there something on your mind?”

Ru gave a loud bluster through their nose and mouth. “I would damn well hope so -- I don’t know how so many people go around with nothing in their heads...”

Estrid relaxed noticeably despite herself.

“Well, now you’re sounding more like yourself, at least,” she said with another light sigh and a small smile. She rose from the bench at last. “Come on then...suppose we’d better catch up with Galen...”

She’d barely gotten all the way to her feet when she suddenly felt a light tap to her cheek.

Estrid turned her head. Ru had brought a hand up beside her face, their long pointer finger and thumb only touching her skin just enough to prompt her to look at them. They’d also bent down enough that the collar of their jacket gaped slightly, showing off the Adam’s apple and the top of the pale chest under their silver chain, and that Estrid’s and their faces were only a few inches apart.

“Estrid...”

Ru swallowed. Something seemed to harden in their electric blue eyes, and they plowed on bluntly.

“...Look -- I’m attracted to you, okay?”

Estrid gave a light start, but Ru pressed on, undeterred.

“I know it’s stupid, but I like you. I don’t need you to act any differently, and I’m not going to prance about like a show horse trying to make you like me too. If you don’t like me as I am, I’m not going to change myself so you do. The only reason I’m telling you is…”

They glanced away uncomfortably.

“...Well, for once, everyone else isn’t being stupid when they talk about me being interested in you – and I just thought you aughta know.”

They looked her full-on again.

“Now you do.”

Estrid was left speechless. Ru’s electric blue eyes were very intense, and more serious than she thought she’d ever seen them, as they removed their hands from Estrid’s shoulder and away from her face.

It was strange, for Ru’s face to be so serious. It made them look oddly grounded, steadfast...dedicated. Ru had never been particularly suave or romantic in their manner of speaking, but the bluntness in their tone only seemed to highlight how very truthful and sincere the sentiment behind their words was. It was...really quite sweet. It was like Ru had rested a warm hand over her heart, along with lightly touching her face. A hand that made her feel fuller and happier than she had in a really long time.

Estrid had already come to the thought that Ru wanted to stay as they were, as a human -- to keep enjoying little human pleasures like wearing earrings and taking pictures...but now she also knew for a fact that if Ru could...they would also stay. They wouldn’t just charge off into the sunset and disappear. They might even, if she asked, not hate the idea of living like a human -- of having a job and a home like a human, of dealing with everyday human problems...of settling down and laying down roots and...staying.

If she asked...Ru might stay.

“Ru...”

Estrid reached out and took hold of the red sleeve of their jacket, preventing them from completely straightening up.

“...Come home with me.”

Ru stiffened. “What?”

“After graduation,” Estrid clarified. Her words came out at a bit of a rush, despite her best efforts. “You can stay with my grandfather and me in Denmark. I’m sure Grandfather won’t mind. You could look into a job with the Daily Prophet -- they could use someone who knows what they’re doing with photography. And if you’re sending stuff in through Owl Post, no one’ll notice if you don’t look human...I can always answer the door, if someone comes to call and you’re not yourself...”

Ru stared down at her, not quite comprehending what they were hearing. Estrid could feel her face flushing, but she kept a brave face on all the same.

“...You don’t have to stay here all alone, Ru,” she said under her breath so no one else could hear. “I’ll help you protect your secret. And even if everyone does find out what you really are...I’ll stand by you.”

Ru seemed stunned. Their electric blue eyes ran over Estrid’s face, dipping in and out of her eyes and into the corners of her lips. They didn’t say anything for a long moment, but Estrid could sense they were searching her face for any flicker of doubt. When they didn’t find any, their face seemed to lose the rest of its color.

They bit their lip, looking hesitant in a way Estrid had never seen before.

“...You want me to follow you?” they asked very lowly. “To live with you?”

Estrid’s cheeks were burning, but she nodded all the same.

“Yes,” she said.

And as soon as she said the word, she realized how deeply and sincerely she meant it.

She wanted Ru to follow her. She...wanted them to stay with her.

Ru’s expression seemed to clear. Their face broke into a broad, beautiful smile, full of both a childish kind of delight and quiet, soothing relief. They bowed their head toward Estrid, their lightning-like eyes sparkling just like the silver chain on their neck.

“...Well, then...”

Ru brought a hand up to tuck some hair behind Estrid’s ear, trailing their long fingers through it so that it lay flat.

“...Guess you’ll be my ‘keeper’ a bit longer then...won’t you?”

Estrid felt her own lips curling up in a smile too. “...Guess so.”

“You’d better keep a tight hold of me,” Ru said with a mischievous smile. “Kelpies don’t tame easily.”

“Oh yes, I’m very well aware,” Estrid said coolly. “Your lack of table manners alone make that obvious.”

“Humans have hands, we may as well use them.”

Once Estrid’s hair was smooth enough for Ru’s liking, the kelpie’s smile grew a bit more wry as they extended their arm to her in a mockingly over-the-top formal gesture.

“Lead and I’ll follow, madam,” they said dryly.

Biting back a laugh, Estrid brought her arm down onto Ru’s and started to walk with them toward the door.

“Oh...and Ru?”

“Yeah?”

Estrid moved up onto the tips of her toes as she walked and just barely managed to graze their chin with her lips.

“I like you too,” she said softly.

Ru looked down at her, startled. They examined her face again, searching it for any hint of insincerity or teasing, but Estrid merely smiled.

“It is weird,” she admitted, “considering everything we’ve gone through -- where we started...”

“...What I really am,” Ru pointed out lowly, cocking an eyebrow.

Estrid nodded. “But, well...I guess both of us were always a little weird, to begin with.”

Very slowly, Ru’s lips spread into another beautiful smile, purer and happier than ever. They moved into Estrid, leaning down enough to rest their head down on her shoulder and gently nuzzle the crook of her neck.

“More than a little,” they whispered into her skin.

With a light pink flush to her cheeks, Estrid secured her hold on Ru’s arm, and Ru straightened up again as she led them out.

The pair left the pub together, perfectly unaware of how many people around them were exchanging Galleons.

Turns out that Ru and Estrid had been the subject of quite a few bets around both Hogwarts and Hogmeade village.

#hphl #hogwarts legacy #my art #ru ollivander #estrid soelberg #galen stagg #siobhan llewelyn #my writing #yesssss our two gender-role-defying victorians!!#when I found out estrid likes wearing pants I knew I just had to draw her in them at some point #particularly since ru just doesn't give AF about staying inside the gender binary #they may present male but if they like something out of comfort or because it's pretty then they will wear it #hence why collared shirts are a no but flared coats earrings and long hair are a yes #hope I did estrid justice lovely!! xoxo

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 3 years

Text

Back at it again with my self-indulgent comic posts. This time! It’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3, perhaps the most tonally-distinct entry yet, with shades of The Twilight Zone.

Spoilers!

So, as mentioned, this issue is the most deliberate in terms of both its pacing and its tone, IMO.

What is that tone, you ask?

To quote Alex Danvers, from “Midvale”: Hello, darkness.

THE STORY:

Kara and Ruthye are still looking for Krem Clues in the alien town of Maypole.

(Which is actually just Small Town, USA, complete with vintage 50s aesthetics.)

But the locals are clearly hiding something! So Kara and Ruthye continue to investigate, and they eventually discover what it was that the residents of Maypole were so keen to keep hidden.

Genocide, basically.

As I said, this issue struck me as very Twilight Zone; a genre story involving the build-up to a dark twist, all set against the backdrop of an idyllic small town. (Think, like, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” but instead of focusing on the Red Scare, it’s classism and racism.)

The wealthier blue aliens kicked all of the purple aliens out of town, and when space pirates showed up to pillage and plunder, the blue aliens made a deal with them: the lives of the purple aliens in exchange for their safety.

Which is where the episodic story connects to the larger mission; it was Krem who suggested the trade, and then joined up with the Brigands (space pirates) when he was freed by the blue aliens.

The issue ends with no tidy resolution to the terrible things Kara and Ruthye discovered, but they do have a lead on where to find Krem, now, as well as Barbond’s Brigands.

KARA-CTERIZATION:

Ironically, it’s here, in the darkest chapter yet, that we get the closest to what might be considered ‘classic’ Kara.

Which I think comes down to that aforementioned deliberate pace--this issue is a little slower, a little quieter. It gives the characters some room to breathe.

That’s not to say Crusty Kara is gone. Oh no. She is still very much Crusty. XD

But anyways. A list! Of Kara moments I loved!

I mentioned a few of these in a prior post when the preview pages came out: I like the moment where Kara blows down the guy’s house of cards, and I like that the action is echoed later in the issue when she grabs the mayor’s desk and tosses it aside. A nice visual representation of the escalation of Kara being, like. Done with these creeps. (Creeps is an understatement but you get the idea.)

Another one from the preview pages: Kara explains to Ruthye that her super hearing won’t necessarily help her detect a lie, especially if she’s dealing with an alien species she’s not familiar with.

It not only reveals her level of competence and understanding of her super powers, it also shows that, you know. She’s a thinker. She’s smart.

Amazing! Showing, rather than telling us, that Kara is smart! Without mentioning the science guild at all wow hey wow.

(Sorry, pointed criticism of the SG show fandom.)

Anyways.

I dig the PJs!

And Kara catching the bullet! Not only are the poses and character acting great, it’s also a neat bit of panel composition:

We start with Ruthye’s POV, and then move to the wide shot of the room. The panel where Kara actually catches the bullet is down and to the side of the wide shot panel--we move our eyes the way her body/arm would have to move to intercept the bullet. Physicality in static, 2D images!

Also, like. It’s a very tense moment, life-or-death, but. Ruthye’s wide-eyed surprise at the bullet in Kara’s hand? Kind of adorable.

I was pretty much prepared for the page of Kara shielding Ruthye from the gunfire to be the highlight--it was one of the first pages King shared and I was like, ‘yeah, YEAH.’ But, shockingly? The TRUE highlight of the issue?

Where do I BEGIN?!?!

EVERYTHING. About this moment. Is lovely.

From Kara holding Ruthye above the bench to explaining the concept of a piggyback ride, to telling her:

“I’m going to hold my hands here, and these hands can turn coal into diamonds, so they’re not going to let go. I’m going to keep you safe.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG.

Ruthye’s narration--about how Kara had avoided flying as she was concerned it would freak Ruthye out--just adds a whole additional layer of YES, GOOD, YES, and her line on that splash page is great: “You see, all that time, she was worried about me.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG. AGAIN.

To say nothing of the STELLAR ARTWORK.

And SPEAKING of that stellar artwork, Evely and Lopes continue to knock it out of the park. Each issue is distinct and beautifully crafted, a true joy to look at.

Before I jump into more of the art, a few final notes of character stuff in general.

Ruthye is the one most affected by the experience in Maypole, as she can’t comprehend how a society of people that look so nice and gentle and peaceful could have been party to such a horrible act.

One of the big criticisms of the book thus far is that Supergirl is not the main character, and I guess I can agree with that observation. Typically, in Western media, the main character is the one who goes through the most change in the story.

And, yeah. That’s Ruthye.

As I was reading the end, where Ruthye sits on the curb and Kara hugs her, I was imagining how the scene would’ve played, had King stuck with the original idea for the series: Kara as the one learning to be tough/experiencing all of this for the first time, and while I think that could certainly work...

I continue to appreciate that King literally flipped the script; that Kara, especially in this issue, is like, ‘I’ve seen this, I know this,’ as opposed to being the one going through a loss of innocence.

*Marge Simpson voice* I just think it’s neat!

Because Kara’s been a teen in DC comics for so long--ever since she was reintroduced to the main DCU continuity, actually--so this is all brand new territory, here. Having an older Kara who’s SEEN SOME STUFF.

(Alsoooooo, since Bendis made the destruction of Krypton not just inaction and climate disaster, but rather, genocide, and the subtext of a Kryptonian diaspora text, the waitress’ derogatory comment regarding the the destruction of Kryton, as well as Kara picking up the bad vibes the entire time, suggests not just a broad commentary on discrimination in all its forms, but specifically allegorical anti-Semitism. The purple aliens being forced out of their homes and into substandard living conditions, then the blue aliens--their neighbors and once-fellow residents--essentially allowing the space pirates to kill them, making them literal scapegoats, Kara discovering the remains of the purple aliens, and Ruthye’s horror at the ‘banality of evil’...yes. A case could be made, I think.)

(Which would probably require a post unto itself and a lot more in-depth discussion, nuance, and cited sources.)

(Should mention that King has brought up that both he and Orlando--the other Supergirl writer he talked to--are Jewish, and for him personally, that shaped his views on Kara’s origin story.)

I guess my point is that this issue is perhaps not as out-of-left-field as some might think, and just because there isn’t as obvious an arc for Kara, doesn’t mean there isn’t some sharp character work at play.

(I could be WAY OFF, of course, and I’m not suggesting it’s a clear 1:1 comparison. I’d actually really love to hear King talk about this issue in particular.)

Anyways.

Here’s the final page, which I think works, because as I mentioned before, there is no easy answer/quick wrap-up to the story of Maypole:

THE ART:

I mean. How many times can I just shout ‘ART! AAAARRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!’ before it gets old?

I dunno, but I guess we’re gonna FIND OUT.

There are some panels in this issue that I just. Like ‘em! From a purely artistic standpoint! Because they’re so good!

Like, I just really love the way Kara is drawn in that top panel. Her troubled, confused expression, the colors of the fading light, the HAIR.

Evely draws the best hair. I know I’ve said this before. I don’t care. I will continue to say it, because it continues to be true.

The issue I find myself running up against when I make these posts is that I really don’t want to post whole pages, as that’s generally frowned upon (re: pirating etc.) but with something like this, you just can’t appreciate it in panel-by-panel snippets.

(Guided View on digital reading platforms is a BANE and a POX I say!)

Anyways.

LOVE the implied movement of the cape settling as Kara speeds in and stops.

And, obviously, Kara flicking the bullet away is just. A+.

And the EYES, man. LOPES’ COLORS ON THE EYES???!?! BEAUTIFUL.

Also, should note the lettering! The more rounded letters for the ‘WOOSH’ of Kara’s speed (and, earlier, the super breath) work nicely, and contrast with the angular, violent BLAMS of the gunshots.

And, I gotta say, the editor is doing a really great job of not cluttering up the artwork with all the caption boxes. Which is no small task.

(I assume the editor is placing them, as editors usually handle word balloon/caption box placement, but I suppose it could be Evely? Sometimes the artist handles it. Either way, whoever’s taking care of all the text, EXCELLENT WORK! BRAVO!)

Okay I think that’s everything.

Ah, nope, wait.

MISC.

Just a funny observation, more than anything else: Superman: Red and Blue dropped this week, and King had a story in there, “The Special” (which was very good, btw.) Both Lois and the waitress swear a lot so I’m beginning to think that this is just how King writes dialogue for any adult character who isn’t Clark. XD

This is absolutely a personal preference but when Kara was like, “And my name IS Supergirl,” I was like nooooo. I know King is trying to simplify all of the conflicting origin stories and lore but I LIKE KARA DANVERS, SIR. XD

It’s almost assuredly a cash-grab/an attempt for DC to get all the money it can out of a book they don’t have much confidence in, but I like the cardstock covers! Very classy, much Strange Adventures.

(OH my gosh, can you imagine that issue 1 cover with spot gloss???? Basically the only way you could possibly improve on it.)

Okay NOW I’m done. For real. XD NEXT TIME: Kara and Ruthye go after Krem and the Brigands!

#supergirl: woman of tomorrow #long post #dc comics #supergirl: woman of tomorrow spoilers #kara zor el #comic thoughts #comic opinions #just occurred to me I should be crediting the creative team in these things #I think thus far I've included every title page?#still #will try to be better about that going forward

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