#His arc isn’t perfect it’s far from it but the guy was in an abusive relationship for most of his life | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

willowser · 3 years

Text

pleased to meet you—

dabi x reader

wc: 6.5k+

warnings: hurt/comfort, explicit language, implied/referenced drug abuse, implied/referenced suicide attempt(s), suicidal ideation, canon divergent, implied/referenced sexual abuse, heavy mentions of severe mental illness, touya needs a goddamn hug, and some therapy, eventual smut, post paranormal liberation war arc, AU

—hope you guess my name

CHAPTER 1/?

Please draw a picture to show how you feel about being here today:

Gotta be fucking kidding.

If the world were a perfect little cage, Touya might’ve been better at art. The new pack of unopened markers that are taunting him from the edge of the table: if only he had the talent to illustrate himself burning down to his bones, the ability to show a sack of meat rotting in a field, turning green and growing putrid with time. Enji without a face; an azure flame smothered; headless Shouto; Matsui, the smug fucking bastard, with his heart on a platter.

Bon appétit, fuckhead, Touya would say, it’s important to open up.

But, he’s not supposed to be like that anymore, not with all the medication he's on. And he's not that good at drawing, anyway, so he just stares at the smiley faces looking back at him. There are eight in total on the print-out, two in every corner, encouraging him to create more to join their little party. Touya thinks that in this moment, he would rather die than draw a stupid fucking smiley face, anything, really, that would somehow make him a willing participant to this crackpot evaluation.

(Touya thinks that in this moment he’s being awfully taxing, but he’s a Todoroki after all, and the men in his family tend to have a flair for the dramatic.)

Convenient, that blue is missing from the pack of primary colors. Red, too. In the back of his mind he thinks, what a goddamn psycho, can't even stand to look at the color of blood anymore after all the shedding of it he's done. At one point in time, he could have bathed in it, probably did after a decent night out, but now—now it just makes his scabs itch. Makes his wounds fester. What a joke.

Touya glances up from the page and at the fucking dolt, the absolute tool with the PhD sitting like a badge of honor on his wall. Congratulations, people probably say, you've come so far.

Touya says, "gotta be fucking kidding."

Matsui makes the face of an ugly fish, shrugging as if he can agree it's stupid as fuck to do this exercise, as if he isn't the one that pulled the paper packet from his drawer the minute Touya walked through the door. Fingers laced, ever the patient saint—he just wants to be friends, you know? Pals. That’s why Touya is in here, is at home and not in the goddamn nut house, because of his buddy Hayate.

"I think illustration could be very helpful for you."

Matsui Hayate—thirty-four, MA in psychology and social care, real proud of himself, has great parents, single, small guy. So far, he's the youngest person Touya's talked to, which is probably the whole point, to see if they can bond or whatever—and Touya is the oldest patient Matsui has ever counseled.

Because this program is designed for fucking kids.

The staples in his face pinch when he grins but he does it anyway, since it adds to his charm and all. The pages slap against each other as he waves the packet around, showing off all the negative space. “C’mon, it ain’t that hard to tell this is the inside of my cell, is it?” Matsui is a champ at not rising to any bait, which is what makes him the best, worthy in Enji’s eyes. “You wound me, really wound me.”

“Would you like to talk about Tartarus?”

In the movies, when triggering words are used, the subtitles do something like (%^#^$&%&); in a perfect little cage, Touya would just hear a bunch of static or beeping or noises that soften the blow a little, but Matsui thinks that shying away from these subjects will only “make his symptoms worse”. In a cage like this, which isn’t so much a cage as it is a hand around his throat, Touya doesn’t hear the echo of classical music or the twinkling of fairies or whatever the fuck; he hears the sound of rushing water, can picture it when it comes out of the hose, when it forces him into the corner of the room. Can feel it when it tears at his naked skin, the skin that’s still skin, the parts of Dabi that are still Touya.

(In this moment, he thinks he would rather die than be ripped open again. Probed. Assessed. In this moment, he thinks he would rather take his own heart out himself.)

People probably tell Matsui, you're doing so well for yourself. You're amazing at what you do.

"This event is causing me to feel," Touya squints down at the page; something else of Enji that is trapped within him: a shit eyesight, "very afraid, upset, and helpless."

"It's good that you're able to recognize that, Touya. Why don't you draw what that looks like to you, on that paper there?"

People probably say, I'm so proud of who you've become, Hayate.

They probably tell him, your parents must be so happy.

Touya takes the brown marker—because there isn't a black either—and draws a big X in the middle of the page.

—

3. Recreate Relationships

Positive social experiences are imperative for reintegration to be successful, and these can be provided by individuals that will offer support, advice, and the friendship you may need to move forward in life.

Touya isn't allowed to walk down the block without Fuyumi.

In the beginning, he thought this would be fine because he had no interest in going down the block, up the block, or even leaving the house, really. In ten years, when they finally came into the musty, forgotten sector that is his childhood bedroom, he wanted them to find him under the desk, a skeleton with a middle finger raised. A fuck you from the grave; it’s what they all deserve. All of them.

But it’s turning out to be not fine because Fuyumi likes to do things. Together.

"We used to eat dinner at a place just like this! Don't you remember? They had a waterfall in the corner, just like this one!"

No, he doesn't remember.

Touya tells her, "no, I don't remember," and she presses her pout into the rim of her glass so he doesn’t see—but he does, he always does. Natsuo doesn’t say anything, only copies her frown emphatically, swiveling his head around to show off the roll of his eyes.

Sometimes Natsuo tries too hard to be an asshole, as if Touya will appreciate it and slap him on the back and say, you get it, you get why this shit sucks! You, little brother, totally, for sure get why things went south and why I had to try and murder our dad. I am so relieved to be a captive in your presence.

It never works out that way, though, and Fuyumi doesn’t ever say anything because she knows he’s just trying too hard. Coping, or something, that’s what Matsui says.

Fuyumi has ordered some cherry-floral-espresso-thing, one she keeps trying to give Touya a drink of, probably because he looks like shit even though she won’t say that, but he wants to order a beer. Or any alcohol, really, since it’s on the menu and just within his reach. It churns the acid in his stomach, revives his addictions like a roach that can’t be killed, even when you cut the head off—and Touya thought he’d cut the head off, that (%#@&*#!*) had cut the head off, but the little beasts are still there.

Reminding him of all the things he could be, with just a sip. Reminding him of all the things he’s been.

Touya doesn't drink anymore, not with all the medication he's on—and because he's been locked up for three years. Sober by force, not by choice, but it doesn't matter because he's different now. Touya is better now.

Touya doesn't do that anymore.

(Natsuo says, "cut it out, Yumi, he doesn't want any of your espresso crap," and Fuyumi still doesn't say anything, only presses her lips down into a thin line and shrugs like she doesn't mind; Touya really, really wants a hard drink. Or to blow his brains out. Either would work.)

There's yogurt from a doughnut in the corner of Natsu's mouth and Touya tells him it looks like cum, which turns his little brother's face red, which makes Touya laugh for the first time in a few days. Not a real laugh, not the kind that lights him up from the inside or makes him feel like these strangers mean anything to him, but enough that it placates them—for now. His sister turns her nose up at the joke (a joke, goddamn), but she eyes him all the same, that way she always does, that little triangle.

Left eye, right eye, chin, left eye. Observing him. Searching through all the ugliness to find someone she recognizes, someone that’s not a stranger to her, either. Touya wants to say, he's dead, Yumi, let it fucking go. Release me.

But he doesn't, just tapers off his laugh and then plays with a loose string from his sweatshirt, the same one he’s been wearing all week.

They're not even supposed to be here, because he isn't allowed to be within 300 feet of alcohol but Natsuo says, “this ain’t a bar”, in that tone, that kind of voice that tells everyone he doesn't care because he's an asshole, too, just like his brother. The kind that tells Touya they aren’t strangers.

This ain't a bar, and you're here Fuyumi, so what do we have to be worried about?

The royal douchebags two tables down keep nudging each other and nodding their heads toward Touya, probably asking each other if he's the guy, you know, the one that…? And the school girls that left when he'd walked in, they're wondering it, too. And the waitress that looks at his face too long and the couple walking by the window. They're all wondering, can’t believe it, rethinking their faith in the justice system because isn’t he the guy that…?

But what does Touya have to be worried about anyway, with his sister-slash-guardian here beside him.

"You should order something, Touya," she says, crossing her arms on the front of the table and smiling at him. "My treat." As if that's supposed to persuade him and not make him fucking sick.

The staples pinch again, but it's okay, because of the charm. "Y'know, I used to scrape mold off the bread I found in the dumpster."

Natsuo puts his doughnut down and looks up and away, as if whatever sports thing on the television in the corner is suddenly interesting (maybe it is, maybe Natsu likes that kind of shit, Touya wouldn't fucking know), and his sister just stares because she doesn't get it. She doesn't hide her frown this time, either.

"s'good, you should try it, Yumi."

There's a wanted poster outside the door of this place, pasted onto the red brick walls, this portrait of a blonde girl and her two little buns. Touya noticed it the second he rounded the corner.

"Probably could find some out back, if you wanted."

Maybe that's why he's in such a bad mood.

Maybe it's that, and maybe it's because he's a prisoner in his own skin now. Always was, really, but now he and Dabi have been lumped into the same meat husk, forced to fight it out day-by-day just so Touya isn't in a straight jacket for the rest of his life.

"I know this area pretty well, actually, think I got the shit kicked out of me two streets that way."

"Touya."

Matsui says not to dwell on that stuff, or talk about it with his family. Families are triggers, he says, for people who have suffered from this kind of trauma. So close to home, robbed of a safe space.

Touya is the first to break eye contact. Natsuo doesn't say anything, just stares at the television and furrows his eyebrows, because he's still just a kid that doesn't fucking get it, or listen. And Fuyumi doesn't want this, want Touya, as bad as she thinks she does; she doesn't say anything, either.

Matsui says Touya has a problem accepting help, even with all the medication. Even though he's better now. Maybe he’s in a bad mood because that makes sense—because Touya never needed their fucking help anyway—and he’d rather color a little rainbow in his workbook than admit his psychiatrist is right. The air at the table settles and the urge to disturb it rushes like the blood in his ears, but he just lets Natsuo order him a doughnut, too.

The guys two tables down start squaring their shoulders and shaking their heads, saying something about if he fucking tries it, dude, I'll take him out, as if Dabi isn't a killer.

As if he hasn't turned people to goddamn ash in the alleyway and laughed about it, as if he hasn't ruined families and killed heroes and orphaned children and tried to burn his own brother alive. As if he hasn't loved every sick fucking second of it. As if he wouldn't melt their eyeballs into some kind of jelly to put on Natsu's doughnut.

Yes ma'am, I would love a to-go bag, thank you.

Touya isn't like that anymore, though, because he's on medication. Because he's better now. So he's able to tuck his chin back into his arms and ignore them—for now, at least—and count the wood grain on the table. Fuyumi notices the conversation happening and tenses her fingers around her cup in the most minute way, in the way a criminal would around a knife they were getting ready to slash, or in the way a mother would around a boiling teapot she was getting ready to pour.

Matsui says it's important Touya learns how to "chill out". Chilling out, checking in, that's what he calls it and all the details are on page 23 of his workbook. Whenever he's experiencing intense emotions, he's supposed to ground himself.

That's how you chill out, you ground yourself.

Touya can see five things: the guys looking at him, the yogurt clinging to Natsuo's bottom lip, the letterbox menu behind the counter, the beer they offer on the letterbox menu, and the waitress behind the counter, trying to pretend like she's not freaked out by him.

Touya can feel four things: the heat from the cherry-floral-thing Fuyumi is drinking, the crinkly paper under Natsuo's doughnut, the woodgrain on the table, and the illicit vibration of the phone in his pocket.

Touya can hear three things: the shitty radio station with today's greatest hits, the guys saying they'll end Dabi if he tries anything, and his sister telling Natsu to wipe his mouth.

Touya can smell two things: sugar on the pastries and his brother’s overpriced cologne.

Touya can taste one thing: ash, like always.

Chilling out, checking in. This is how you ground yourself. This is what stops Dabi from winning the fight this time and coming out of the meat husk. This is what stops Dabi from flipping the table and ruining Fuyumi's game of pretend just so he can burn all the patrons down to their bones. To their own husks, just so he can set himself free.

That, and all the medication.

—

Initially, 0.5 mg to 2 mg by mouth 2 to 3 times per day in patients with moderate symptomatology or in debilitated patients. For severe, chronic, or refractory target symptoms, initiate with 3 to 5 mg by mouth given 2 to 3 times per day.

The home security system is supposed to chime every time activity happens outside the front door, and it does. It fucking sings every fucking time and sends a live feed to Enji's phone, to Fuyumi's phone, and that little shit Shouto.

(Look at this beautiful home, it says, look at this wonderful haven you are keeping safe. Nothing can get in to hurt the ones you love, and nothing can get out either.)

Except when it's raining. Except when a car drives by.

The downpour has to be heavy, real heavy, like sheets-of-rain heavy in order to throw off the camera. In that kind of darkness, at 2:35 am, you can't see shit out there on the lawn, can only see anything at all when headlights go by, and headlights don't trigger the security system. It's a tricky little pickle: can only make a break for it in the rain, in the dark so the cameras can't pick up your shadow, and you have to move as the headlights flash without getting caught in them, or else it fucking chimes.

And Dabi ain't been caught yet.

Not that he's been doing this all that long, heading back out into the streets, two or three times maybe. Touya is lucky enough to have both negative and positive symptoms of his "condition", and that means withdrawal and flattening, means he doesn't want to do shit, like ever. All day long; he's lucky if he has the will to drag himself down the hall and into the kitchen just to eat some rice in order sustain his human body.

Sometimes the medication works and sometimes it makes him so anxious he has to rip out of his skin at 2:36 in the morning, in the dark, in the rain, just so he can breathe.

That's why he's texting Giran again.

Fuyumi, bless her little heart, thinks that Touya should have some privacy. Enji vehemently disagrees, however, but no one is really surprised about that, so that's why he's not actually texting Giran himself, but some asshat-offshoot kid, one that has a friend of a friend of a friend that can find shit for Dabi to do. Ways for Dabi to earn his own money.

Dabi.

Not Touya: Dabi.

Even though he's as good as some born-quirkless loser now: Dabi.

Yeah, he hates the suppressants because they don't get rid of the fire, they just hinder it, leave it with no place to go but up into his nose and throat—but there is something about being stripped of this stupid fucking thing that has ruled his life for so long. Nobody wants him anymore because he doesn't have what they want anymore, this fucking shit he's been cursed with. The makings of his very design.

And if they do want him, they're getting Dabi, without the wildfire. They're getting Touya. And if they want Touya, well—

—here he is, in all his rain drenched, mud and grass covered glory, trying to keep a cigarette lit under a shallow overhang outside a konbini. The lighter in his hand hurts the tips of his fingers every time he strikes it, but he can’t really help that he needs it, can he? And the son of a bitch he’s meant to be meeting is late.

(Or, Touya is just early, considering he only has a limited window to escape.)

(Either way, it’s miserable.)

At least twenty minutes go by before the friend of a friend of a friend shows up, looking surprisingly dry even though the rain is coming down hard, like the concrete when the fuzz has you backed into a corner and you’ve got nowhere else to go but down to the ground, and the first thing he says to Dabi is,

“Fuck, you’re ugly.”

It’s not like he has feelings to be hurt, but it takes him off guard, is all, so he just stares for a minute before flicking the damp cigarette at him.

“You’re late,” Dabi says.

“It’s pissing rain, fuck off,” as the kid says it, little things start coming out of his face like whiskers or worms. It’s not until he picks one out that Dabi realizes they’re quills, and he flicks one at Dabi in return before gesturing to the konbini like he’s waiting for this show to get on the road. “Well?”

Dabi doesn’t have anything, especially not a weapon, not allowed to these days. Every store clerk and their grandma knows what his ugly mug looks like, and he isn’t allowed to hold even a metal fucking chopstick. “Take it away, Needles, I’m followin’ you.”

The porcupine mutters something like gotta be fucking kidding, and it fills him with enough hot anger—embarrassment—that he wishes, just for a second, that he could sear the kid into the concrete, a bloody stain under a fucking streetlight. Yeah, that would feel better than any amount of money he’s set to make for the night.

“If you’re taking this,”

Something heavy, weighted and steel, is shoved into Dabi’s hands. Something that feels like something with a trigger, with a barrel. Something that Dabi has never even held before.

“then you’re leading, so go, before you fuck this up for us.”

The konbini chimes when they step through. Even with all the rain. Even with the street lamps and headlights, it still dings! Touya wonders if a live feed is going straight to Enji’s phone, of his fuck ugly face, holding a gun and pointing it at a man that hasn’t even looked up from the book in his lap.

Dabi hopes so.

Congratulations dad, he thinks, look where all that training got me.

(Matsui once asked Touya if he thought he really was a psychopath, after hearing him use the word over and over again, and Touya said yes. Yes he thought so, because he looks like one, he can tell; the fear living deep within him has become violent, become an ulcer of anger and grief. It’s left him a tragedy, marked, ever present like the staples holding him together.)

The porcupine starts shouting loud enough that the cashier looks up from his book—something in a foreign language, with desserts across the cover—and it crashes to the floor when he sees the gun. A bag is tossed across the glass counter, for the money. A fucking cliche.

Touya thinks about the frosted cookies on the page facing the floor.

“Put your hands down! Get the fucking money, now!”

About the pink rice cakes and the sweet fish pastry.

“He’ll blow your head off, do it!”

About the poached pears, about the kind of delights he’s never known, never had the chance to. That's why Touya can't kill the cashier, who is talking rapidly in a language he doesn't know, because he can’t stop thinking about the kind of things he’s never had. Because he can’t stop looking at the picture on the counter, of the cashier and a little girl in a pink dress.

The bag isn't full yet, but the man is just crying and babbling and raising his hands above his head.

Touya thinks about a birthday cake and a lonely child. About a lonely child. About a fatherless child.

Touya doesn't know Korean, but fear transcends all languages. Can always tell when someone is pleading for their life. He’s seen them do it enough times before their skin melts off their bones and their muscles turn to soot under his boots, smoke on the wind. The worst thing about being sober is having to remember it all.

The quills sticking out of Needles’ face are what protect him from the gun when Touya spins around and launches it at his head, but the surprise of it all gives him enough time to shove the kid over and make a break for the door. It chimes, and he wonders if Fuyumi can see him sprinting through the rain on her phone, if the headlights are bringing attention to the catastrophe that is her older brother. If she’s watching him run from the ghost he’s been.

That restaurant he doesn’t remember is only two blocks down and Touya thinks it’s all Fuyumi’s fault that he dives into the cover of darkness in the alleyway behind it. There’s another wanted poster that he ignores, because he doesn’t have time to unpack all that (Matsui says something about “found family”), and there is one single light shining through the window of the back door.

It’s dim, just enough that Touya can see an idle kitchen through three thick plastic flaps at the end of the short hall. There’s enough blood pumping through his veins and ears that his eyes must be wild, a little savage, a little frenzied, and when he tugs on the door handle, it comes open.

By some rotten luck, the fucking thing comes open, and it doesn’t ding or chime.

There’s enough silence in the place that he can count the beats of his heart, every rapid one, and something like vomit builds up in his throat as he sees dirty plates in the sink, wrinkled paper wrappers, empty espresso cups. The ulcer that sours him burns, like alcohol going down, like alcohol coming back up, and his phone won’t stop vibrating in his pocket.

The worst thing about making an awful mistake is when you realize you’ve made it, when you realize it’s too late to go back and undo it. In the movies, you can rewind, you can stop the tape before it gets to the part when the love interest leaves or when the gun fires, but not in this life. Not in this little cage.

That’s what reminds Touya that he’s crazy, psycho, bat-shit: the guilt. Fuyumi’ll be upset, he thinks. She’ll be disappointed, she won’t think he deserves any more privacy because he’s fucked it all up, just like always.

Congratulations dad, Touya thinks. Fuyumi’ll be so upset.

But he doesn’t have a lot of time to dwell, for his face to puff up like a fish or for the staples in his cheeks to pinch with his smile, with his frown—because plates drop and someone gasps and Dabi has to tackle the waitress, the one who looks too long, near the bar into the dining area.

“Get off me!” She screams, frantic, even though she should be crying, even though she shouldn’t be here in the first place. “Getthefuckoffame!” Stinging, her little hands are stinging as she slaps at his face and his arms; it hurts, just like it always does when someone puts their hands on him.

“Shut up!” Dabi shouts, “Shut up! Pipe down or I’ll fucking kill you!”

One shrill scream nearly breaks all the goddamn windows in the place as she forces all her energy into her throat, to make as much noise as possible in hopes that someone will hear, some fuck in a cape that will save her stupid life, and Dabi has to take his hands from her arms and wrap them around her throat.

That’s what reminds Touya that he’s a psychopath.

It only takes one gag and then she's silent, hands flying to claw at his as her eyes go wide. Teary. Huge, like the plates she dropped when she saw him. It would only take a little more pressure, and then she’d be fucking quiet.

That’s what makes Touya realize he’s making a big mistake: the guilt.

What if he fucking kills her. Fuyumi’ll be so upset.

What if he fucking kills her and gets sent back to (&%@^#*%!) because he fucked up again, choking this waitress that looked too long at his ugly face. Wrong place, wrong time—shouldn’t have been here at 3 am, shouldn’t have been washing dishes or putting up plates—and now he’s going to ruin two lives before this is all over.

There’s a slam in the kitchen, like a door banging against the wall because someone has kicked it open so hard, and then that son of a bitch kid yells, “Where the fuck are you, you ugly bastard?”

The minute the waitress is able to breathe, she does it all heavy and ragged and Dabi—no, Touya—Touya has to clamp his hands over her mouth. Immediately, she tries to scream again and he has to get all up in her face and say, shut up, he’ll kill us, you idiot, seriously, and then she starts crying finally. There’s some more chaos in the kitchen, like that kid is pulling open cupboards and knocking over silverware looking for him, so Touya drags himself and the waitress behind a decorative wall. The one with the waterfall, which isn’t flowing because it’s 3 am.

Fuyumi’ll be so upset, he thinks, if his blood gets in the reservoir for this thing when the porcupine kills him.

"I know you're in here!"

Yeah, no shit, where else would he have gone? Touya has the urge to text Giran—or whoever is supposed to be relaying his messages to Giran—and say, wow, a real winner, Needles is.

The waitress beside him wrenches her arm out of his grasp, but doesn’t make any moves to get up, only leans away and claps her own hands over her mouth. Disgusted by him, with all the touching—he doesn't blame her.

Tables get knocked over and chairs roll; she flinches so hard that her entire body starts shaking, like a little leaf, and the thing that really, finally draws the line is that she cries without making a sound. Just staring dead-eyed at the floor, tears pouring down her face, hard, like the concrete that doesn’t kill you when you jump off the third story building. Like the binds on your hands when they throw you in an institution.

Touya knows that look, feels it.

When he stands, the staples pinch and tug, pull on a mask of falsified surprise up around his eyes and mouth. The girl still doesn't look, because she's past the point of fear, because she's envisioning her death. Trying to swallow the realization that there isn't a scenario here in which she makes it out alive; she sours, already reeking, already rotting.

"There you are," Dabi says, "Been looking for you."

"You cheap fuck!" Three quills come out of the pores on Needles' face, but they don't leave his skin yet. "I knew the minute Renzo mentioned you it would end like this, because you're worthless now."

Yeah, probably.

Dabi says, "yeah, probably," and, "your fault then, for expecting otherwise."

The waitress flinches when he takes a step forward, so he grits his teeth and stills.

"My therapist tells me it's important to take responsibility for your fuck-ups—I'm paraphrasing—so it'll be better for your mental health if you start there."

"You fucking—!" The porcupine starts to dole out another insult, about him being ugly or weak or something, but he can't make it that far before rage is shooting those quills, and a few more, out of his face.

Dabi takes five in the shoulder before he manages to dive behind an overturned table and he knows that if he waits, the kid'll advance, so he flips himself over the top and straight into the son of a bitch.

Not a great idea, in retrospect, considering the guy is made up of pins and needles, but it knocks him off guard enough that Dabi can get a few hits in. The skin of his knuckles gets ruined and the staples on his left hand become loose enough that he loses four.

How will he explain that to Fuyumi?

There’s no time to figure it out; the kid sends a wave of quills his way, getting stuck in his hair and all his gaps.

There's some instinctive side of him that laughs when he's in pain, maybe because it was all he had at one point, and he does it again, here, beneath this fuck that will probably kill him because he's worthless now. Underneath his skin, between his bones, his whole body is heating up in the way that it's meant to, the way Enji wanted, but it just builds and builds and builds. As if the edge of the cliff keeps extending, never quite letting him meet the end he’s always chasing.

Fuyumi’ll be so upset, he thinks, when they find his body at the bottom of the river in three months. If they ever find it. If they can identify him.

And then there is the sound of plates crashing and another gasp, a wet one, and another curse and the beating stops. When Touya opens his eyes—which are already swelling—the porcupine is still, looking at the decorative wall before easily dodging flying ceramic.

A ramen bowl.

A bunch of wooden spoons.

A sushi tray.

Six quills come out of his forehead as he leaps off Touya, the sound of them getting stuck in the plaster is barely audible underneath the shriek that echoes across the empty dining room.

“Hey,” Touya croaks. Another plate sails. The kid advances, fast. “I said, hey!”

The wall comes apart with a terrible snap and crunch, one that sounds too loud for this time of night, and the waitress scrambles back so fast that all her little weapons spill out of her hands. There’s a mess of black makeup across her face, like she’d tried to wipe away all the tears before facing her own doom, and Touya might have thought it was funny if she wasn’t about to die.

“You little bitch!”

Crawling across the floor and grabbing him by the leg earns Touya a kick to the face and it's—nice, almost. How comfortable the floor becomes, how much heavier his eyes get. Finally, Touya thinks. Finally. It’ll end, every last crack in his being will split open and his organs will be soot under a boot, smoke on the wind. His skin will unravel and whatever still lives, whatever it is that keeps his bones moving, will finally get the ending it should have received years ago.

Finally, Touya thinks.

The sound of screaming is most often the background noise in his dreams. Sometimes it's from a crowd of people watching on as he burns a hole through Enji's skull, sometimes it's his own while he's getting dragged away in quirk suppressing handcuffs, fighting so hard that the muscles in his arms are tearing.

Sometimes it's his mother, when she sees him for the first time in years. How putrid, how fuck ugly.

Very rarely is it from some random woman that's made herself his next victim; Dabi never sought out little girls on the street to grab, to abuse or torture. Matsui says, "the women in your family mean more to you than you might realize," and he must be right, that stupid fuck, because Touya opens his eyes to stare at the ceiling, thinking,

Fuyumi'll be so upset, if she finds out he's come back here. To this life that doesn't want him anymore, to this life he's clinging to, the shadow that has ruined him. To Dabi.

The screaming is all from the waitress, loud, bloody fucking murder, and Touya is thinking of his sister, of his mother, of how the women in his life mean more to him than he realizes, and that's why he's up and falling over the her as quills fly.

They don't hurt bad enough to kill him, but he's already bleeding and he must be getting it all over her. There’s a stabbing pain above his right eyebrow and in his top lip that has him flinching, which only makes it worse. Touya is thinking, we're going to fucking die here, me and you.

They'll think his body laying over hers is because he killed her. They'll paint him as the villain one final time.

"C'mon motherfucker," Touya leans his back against her chest and yanks one of the quills from his lip, just so it doesn't get in the way of his charm. When she gasps, he feels it, the hot breath of her panic right at his ear, and if he had any skin on the back of his neck, it might have given him goosebumps. “Fucking do it already.”

“Whatever you want, if it’s money, just take it!” The waitress sits up a little, bringing Touya with her, and her arms shoot out over his shoulders. “Please, just take it and f-fuck off!”

The porcupine steps closer and the waitress, she, her, crosses her arms just a little, resting them right under his neck. Against his skin, her skin, in the way that always hurts, and her fingers dig into the fabric of his sweatshirt, the one he’s been wearing all week.

“Renzo is gonna put your head on a fucking pike and that’s the only reason I’ll keep you alive, just so I can see it.” The kid kicks Dabi in the knee once for good measure before letting out a pathetic little huff, waving a hand through the air and turning like neither of them are worth his time. The girl doesn’t breathe until the backdoor swings shut.

Even when she scrambles back, she doesn’t say anything, just hyperventilates as his head falls back against the floor. Then she starts all the crying again, though it isn’t the scary silent kind, but the kind where she can’t catch enough of her breath to make the wailing sound that must be building in her stomach.

The women in his family must mean more to him than he realizes, because Touya just stares at the ceiling, thinking, Fuyumi’ll never know. Because he didn’t kill the cashier or the waitress, and Needles didn’t off him like he wanted to. Like Touya wanted him to.

“Y’r fine.” He mumbles, then repeats himself when she wipes her snot and glares at him. “s’fine.”

“It is not fine, asshole!” Her hand swipes through his hair, which has just started to stand out now that it’s drying, but she never actually hits him. There’s a quill stuck in his ear and she tugs it free from his skin without remorse. “We almost died!”

“We didn’t.”

“You were going to kill me!”

“No, I wasn’t.”

It feels like a secret, like an unholy confession he shouldn’t be sharing, and it shuts her up. Her, the waitress, she. There’s the sound of her pants sliding across the tile as she gets closer, and she tugs out the three quills on his neck a little easier. Gentle, almost, if Touya knew what that felt like.

“I don’t do that anymore,” he says, “I’m better now.”

The view of the ceiling is obstructed because she leans forward, sniffs and puts her face above his so that she is all he sees. Her. The waitress. The tears tracking down her face look like they’re going to drip on him, but they don’t, just slide over the edge of her jaw and make a dark trek down her neck. One that he follows with his eyes. It’s hard to see her face, what her eyes are saying, but the dim light from the kitchen gives a hint to the slow blink of her lashes, the scrunch of her nose when she sniffs, the pout dragging her lips down. Touya hasn’t been this close to a girl in years.

“Are you?” She asks. Her. The waitress. Touya doesn’t reply, because he doesn’t know what to say, and she just stares, like she’s waiting. Like she wants to hear the answer.

She.

Her.

The waitress.

You.

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teamfreewill56-blog · 3 years

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Shinjurou did not physically abuse his boys. He. Did. Not. He is a passionate, enthusiastic, loving father who fell into a horrible depression and downward spiral. The only time he ever laid a hand on them was when Senjuro was trying to separate him from Tanjiro when he attacked him in anger. Senjuro and Kyojuro are not afraid of him, Senjuro gets nervous around him because he wants to make his father happy just like Kyojuro does, he wants to please him, and he wants to help but he doesn’t know how and so that makes him nervous. But he still tries to help and interact with him. If Shinjurou beat them Senjuro wouldn’t talk as openly with him as he does or go so out of his way to speak to him, being struck in the face by his father would have had a different reaction from Senjuro after he and Tanjiro sat down to talk. He probably would have been more downcast, upset, and normally animes and manga will give hints to physical abuse going on but that never happens here. When Senjuro and Tanjiro talk about Shinjurou, Senjuro is sweet and chipper and he immediately brushed it off because he knew Shinjurou didn’t mean it. And Shinjurou isn’t perfect, most people aren’t going to freeze in an attack if their kid grabs the arm they’re using to swing at someone. Kyojuro is also a extremely righteous and protective person guys, if Shinjurou laid a hand on his little brother Kyojuro would have addressed it. When you’re close to your siblings like Kyojuro and Senjuro are, you don’t let ANYBODY touch your younger sibling, parent or not and you will go to blows with anybody regardless of how kind and gentle you are---that’s not a cute story trope guys, I’ve seen it many many times, including in my own life. Kyojuro isn’t afraid of Shinjurou at all either, just like Senjuro he goes out of his way to interact with his father, he isn’t ever nervous around him. He doesn’t flinch when Shinjurou throws a sake jug at him because he knows Shinjurou would never hit him because he never has. He goes as far as to say he thinks the reason Shinjurou keeps telling them they’re bad swordsmen is because he believes his father doesn’t want to lose his boys too. They’re all he has left of his wife, and they’re his sons, of course he wouldn’t want them to do something as dangerous as the Demon Slayer Corp. Having his wife be taken from him by an illness he realized he can’t protect his family from everything, but he knew if he told the boys not to join the Demon Slayer Corp that would at least lessen the chances of them getting killed early. You have to also remember the first time he said this to Kyojuro he was still actively the Flame Pillar. They’re also his sons so just like Ruka he knew they wanted to be Flame Pillars so he couldn’t just ask them not to join, their family has been the Flame Pillar for generations. He tore up the records after he heard about Kyojuro’s death not only because he probably wanted to guarantee Senjuro couldn’t become the next Flame Pillar so he wouldn’t risk losing him too but also because he probably completely blamed Kyojuro’s death on the fact that he became the Flame Pillar. He thought if he told Kyojuro and Senjuro they weren’t good enough they’d eventually abandon it and it didn’t work, so that’s something to be upset about for him. When people are upset, it’s easier to blame someone else for the bad thing that happened, and Shinjurou (especially drunk) wasn’t going to admit to a stranger he felt it was his fault Kyojuro died, and that’s why I think he told Tanjiro that Kyojuro died because he was “weak”. Because blaming it on Kyojuro meant he didn’t have to reflect on the fact that he left Senjuro and Kyojuro alone. I don’t believe Shinjurou truly believed either of his sons to be weak, I think he told them they weren’t good enough because he hoped that if he said it enough they would eventually abandon it and then he wouldn’t have to risk losing them. In Rengoku Gaiden he was still grieving Ruka, and doing his Pillar duties and as we see it was taking its toll on his emotions, he wasn’t able to handle the grief and anger of losing her properly and at some point his depression just got so bad that he couldn’t function anymore and went to one of the darkest depths of depression where he just stayed in bed all day. Guys he never looks at Senjuro and Kyojuro when they’re talking to him, his back is always to them, because he can’t even handle the reminder of his wife in their features anymore. Especially considering Kyojuro is a exact replica of her but with his dad’s hair and eyes. That’s not even touching the traits in personality he shares with her. That is how hard her death hit him, instead of being glad that he could see her face every day it just hurt him to see her in his boys because it reminded him she was gone and not coming back and it was too much for him. Shinjurou was mad at himself, he felt like he was worthless, he probably felt like Senjuro and Kyojuro blamed him or resented him for letting their beloved mother die. He felt so badly about himself that he assumed Kyojuro had a complaint about him before Senjuro could even tell him what Kyojuro said. When he hears what Kyojuro actually said, and thinks back to the last time he saw Kyojuro he openly cries, and it’s not like a tear trickle it is grief-stricken crying just like what Senjuro was doing. Once Shinjurou stops drinking we see what I believe is the real him. The letter he sends to Tanjiro in the Entertainment District arc is a great indicator of the real Shinjurou. He has nothing but praise and affectionate words for Tanjiro and for his sons, he thanks Tanjiro for grieving Kyojuro, apologizes for his actions, explains how he got to that point in his life, praises Senjuro’s growth and his and Tanjiro’s friendship, praises Kyojuro’s accomplishments and affectionately tells Tanjiro about how they are so much like their mother. He didn’t have to send all this. He could have just sent the info, but he doesn’t, because he does love his family and he loves his sons and he knows them and he appreciates how much Tanjiro cares about his sons and so feels comfortable enough to share these thoughts with him. If he was abusive to the boys he would not say all those things, he wouldn’t care about their emotions or their accomplishments but he does care, Shinjurou loved and adored his family, he made some mistakes in his grief, and went about dealing with it wrong, but he loved his boys, he definitely loved them too much to harm them.

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dr3amofagame · 3 years

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hey guys !! i am back lmao ,, sorry ive been a bit busy with irl stuff but MANNN that quackity stream huh ????

i’ll be working on asks today, but first have this quick snippet i wrote up following that stream bc holy hell that’s gonna be the only thing on my brain for days now. take care of yourselves, and PLEASE be cautious - this is DARK content, thanks to this frickin arc jfc the streamers did NOT hold back huh.

for anything to do with quackity’s stream and its implications i’ll be tagging with -> q stream aftermath , so feel free to block that if you don’t want to see it!

tws: aftermath of torture, (physical/emotional) abuse, blood, head trauma, trauma, death mention, dissociation, mental illness, unhealthy coping mechanisms, dark content, injury, c!sam critical, c!quackity critical

A hand runs through his hair.

Dream blinks, slow. His eyes are heavy. Sam's hand is in his hair, his head in his lap, and it's nice. It's so nice. He blinks again, feels his eyelids slide over his eyes, lashes brushing against his cheeks, and for a moment he doesn't know if he has the strength to draw them back up.

The hand in his hair stops, pulls. "I said stay awake, prisoner."

Dream's eyes snap open. The Warden stares down at him, eyes red and narrow through the mask. He's angry. Dream whimpers, pulls away, stops; that's not allowed. The hand in his hair tightens and another soft, high-pitched noise leaves his lips; his throat hurts.

The Warden sighs, and Dream stares at the wall. The block he's facing is crying obsidian; a drip runs down its leftmost edge, tracing a crack in the dark block. Dream watches. It's purple. Purple is a pretty color. He didn't have purple before the Warden put in the crying obsidian but now he has purple all around him and it's pretty. He likes purple.

The hand loosens, goes back to running through his hair, and Dream relaxes. It's nice. Nobody's done this in a while; it must be special, for Sam to be here. Usually it's the Warden (or worse, Quackity) but right now it's just Sam brushing gentle fingers through his tangled hair and making tap-tap-tap noises of his fingers against the obsidian and moving to the rhythm of his breathing at the side of Dream's face. Sam is nice.

Not many people are nice anymore.

"Prisoner-" the Warden is back again, pulling his head back harshly with one hand so he has to look up into the creeper mask, "What did I say about staying awake?"

Dream looks up, watches the Warden; he has to stay awake, or the Warden will be mad. He has to stay awake, or the Warden will be mad. He has to stay awake or the Warden will be mad. HehastostayawakeortheWardenwillbemad-

"Prime," the Warden grumbles, grips him by the side of his jaw, moves him to look at him closer. "He got you hard in the head, didn't he?"

Dream blinks.

"That regen potion better do what it's meant to do; we still need the information from the book." The Warden lets go of Dream's head, and it falls back into his lap. It's soft. Not many things are soft anymore either. He hears a heavy sigh above him. "You there, Dream?"

Dream nods. He has to respond when the Warden asks him a question. He'd talk, but his tongue feels heavy and his throat hurts and everything hurts if he thinks about it too much so he floats, instead, focusing on the feeling of Sam's hand in his hair.

"You can just tell Big Q everything, you know," Sam's other hand brushes over one of Dream's bandages, and he flinches away. Quackity went too far today, the Warden said. He nearly died. He's not allowed to die until he tells them about the book. His head is hurting a lot, just like everything is hurting a lot, but the world is going fuzzy in the edges a little like when he'd go floaty, push himself as far away from the cell in his head as possible. "If you just tell Quackity then we won't have to keep going."

It's tempting. Dream won't ever tell Quackity, because Quackity wants to hurt people and isn't going to stop at anything to get it. Dream saw it, during the election, then with the creation of Mexican L'manburg, then the first time he entered the cell - Quackity doesn't care about much at all besides his city, and Dream wishes he could care as little as him. He won't tell Quackity, he can't, but this isn't Quackity.

This is Sam, his green hair flopped over his face, crown shining soft and golden over his forehead, gentle hands smoothing Dream's hair from his forehead. This is Sam, holding him in a way no one has for months, warm and soft and kind, and for a moment Dream's back at the community house roof, sprawled in a mess of blanket and pillows and watching the fishes with his friends on all sides.

It's not a perfect image. Sam's armor is scratched and the air smells of blood and the eyes looking down at him are dark and flinty and cold, the Warden's eyes, and Dream aches all over in a way that makes it hard to breathe but it's - close. When he blinks and his eyes are closed for a moment he's away and out and the world is lovely and kind and it's enough.

It has to be enough.

"Dream," the Warden calls, voice steely, and the image fades. The knowledge he's kept locked rises in his throat, settles there. Sam watches him, prompting. "If you tell us everything, then we'll stop."

Please stop, he nearly begs. It doesn't matter if he does. He's learned that now.

He looks away, instead. He's done everything for this book. Lost everything, for this book. He can't tell, not when telling means Quackity can use it to hurt everyone, not when it's the last thing keeping him useful, not when useful is the last thing keeping him alive. The Warden sighs, heavy, damning.

"You better get ready for the visit tomorrow, then," the Warden says, standing, letting Dream drop to the ground. Something cold and sorrowful rises in his chest - where has Sam gone? Why did the Warden have to come back? "We'll continue this after, prisoner."

Sam, something in him calls, desperate, young. Please.

Out here, he just watches as the man disappears into the lava.

Sam is nice. He hopes that he can see Sam again, soon.

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zeta-in-de-walls · 3 years

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My interpretation of Tommy’s character.

Hey, have some C!Tommy thoughts!

I like to interpret Tommy’s characters as a hero. He is a character who always tries to do what is right and fight against evil.

It’s pretty popular these days to consider all characters as morally ambiguous but I feel like that makes Tommy less compelling for me. I like fairly idealistic characters who try to be good. Indeed, I find it inspiring when they prevail and it feels very satisfying for me when they choose to do the moral thing in spite of everything.

Now, I get the impression that moral characters are often seen as boring? Like these characters can do no wrong and are therefore less interesting? I don’t see it like that and I also don’t think that this sort of character cannot make mistakes. (Don’t worry I’m not suggesting Tommy’s never done anything wrong xD) These aren’t like ‘perfect’ characters - they’re characters who fight against their inner demons.

See, Tommy gets tempted a lot and faces many trials and struggles in the story. In fact he’s getting constantly challenged and his ideals are put to the test. He fails, he has flaws, he gets angry, he gets hurt. He learns, he reflects.

But in the end, I trust in his character to always do the right thing. Tommy once considered running away from it all just before the festival, with Tubbo, leaving everything behind. But he chose to stay. That’s just the kind of person he is. He doesn’t give up on the things he loves and takes responsibility for his actions.

A defining character moment for me was when Wilbur tempted Tommy with the idea of blowing up Dream’s house in revenge, Tommy chose not to. Later, in Pogtopia, Wilbur suggests they be the bad guys and in spite of how much Tommy’s always looked up to Wilbur and the fact that they’ve both been banished - he rejects him. He says that’s not the right way to do things, that they’re better than that. In Pogtopia, Tommy spends his time trying to save Wilbur from himself, ultimately failing but he doesn’t give up. After Wilbur blows up Manburg, Tommy rallies everyone around the L’Mantree to give an inspiring speech. ‘As long as we’re still together, L’Manburg lives on.’

Tommy gets tested some more with season 2 and the exile arc. A question is raised of whether he’d be the next Wilbur. And we see him at his lowest, at his darkest on that path to becoming like Wilbur. He’s angry, he lashes out at everyone, he hurts people and it seems the world’s cruel and unfair. He even goes as far as agreeing to destroying L’Manburg with Techno.

But he ultimately changes sides. He realises he too had been selfish and was using his suffering to justify hurting other people and he realises that’s not the person he wants to be. So he apologises, making amends, changing sides right there and then - realising his priorities were wrong and that revenge was also not the way. He rejects his villain arc.

Now, Tommy is at the centre of a lot of conflict on the server and I think that’s important. Being a hero-type does not mean being nice. The thing is, conflict isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes its necessary. When Dream is abusing his power, threatening L’Manburg, appeasing him may avoid war - but it will lead to him abusing his power more. Those obsidian walls were not fair and characters should fight injustice! Tommy fighting Dream leads to conflict - but that’s good because Dream’s power should not go unchallenged. There are many characters who are less involved in conflict and trouble than Tommy - but doing less wrong doesn’t make you more moral and heroic, it can just mean you’re more passive.

Now the role of a hero in-story is a complicated one for Tommy. He has had a lot of character development. An interesting one is that he is far less sure of himself. Where once he was confident that he was generally in the right and that he was the good guy fighting the bad guys, now he realises that it’s far less simple than that. He realised that he himself is fallible, he can mess up and he’s questioning himself. He also realises that people doing bad things aren’t necessarily bad. They may be suffering and have lost faith - maybe society has failed them. Where Tommy had once dismissed Pogtopia as a bad guy now he wants to help Wilbur once more, the leader he looked up to is the same man as the one who blew up his home. He understands suffering more now and wants to help.

All this is good growth. His previous certainty in himself was flawed, making him more blind to his mistakes and was a very black-and-white approach to the world. In questioning his actions, feeling guilt, he’ll be willing to reflect, to admit fault and learn. A person too proud to see their flaws can turn into someone like Dream, who has a very warped perspective on the world. It’s one of the biggest differences between them.

Tommy finds the role of hero to be a burden. He is tried of fighting but he has never been the sort to stand idly by. He believes he must make a stand. Tommy is a very active character, involved in a lot. It’s an interesting dilemma his character now faces - wanting a peaceful life but unable to accept it. His character gets very few wins - and yet when they do come they feel fantastic.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on his character. All in all, he’s an active character always trying to do the right thing, he has standards and will challenge others too. He’s really determined, never giving up, never losing hope, not giving in to temptation even if it’d be easier. He cares about his friends, connects with others easily, shares his feelings and believes in making his community a better place. These are some of the things I love about it and I think considering him from this perspective is super interesting and makes it really satisfying to see him do well.

#tommyinnit #meta #analysis #dsmp meta #hero characters are my favourite #i thin they can be so complicated and interesting #and yes i do see tommy as fulfilling that sort of role for me #i didn't give specific examples but id be happy to elaborate on anything i mentioned here #i didn't want this to get too long xD #dream smp

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sam-t-a · 3 years

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I'm praying really hard for a plot twist next episode that redeems Han Seo.

However, wishful thinking aside, I think the show set this episode up with Han Seo's arc so perfectly that it could go either way.

Han Seo is the perfect underdog, easily endearing and impossible not to sympathize with. We've also only seen it very briefly, but he has the capacity to be resourceful and generous, and he's a lot more resilient than he looks at first glance. All those things can make for a wonderful addition to an already colourful team that clearly benefits from growing and doesn't mind integrating reformed criminals into their newfound family. He has also pretty much cut all emotional ties with his brother and no longer struggles with the thought of betraying him.

His interactions with Jipuragi, especially in comparison with his interactions with the other side, are proof that working alongside them makes him feel good about himself and helps him in many ways. And while we've seen that he can be an astoundingly bad liar/actor at times ("You made a chess pun. It's so cool") he can also be a great one when necessary (the whole Babel Tower event), so just because he's convincing in the interpol scene, doesn't necessarily mean he isn't acting and making the best out of his new relationships.

In the hockey scene, for example, one nice thing that stuck out was that they were both dressed in the same type of clothes, as opposed to one of them wearing a suit and being in a position of weakness and the other wearing his gear and causing physical harm (which is the only way hockey has been portrayed so far in the show).

Him asking Vincenzo if he would kill him was also very different from how he asked his brother if he would kill him if he kept disappointing him. Neither one actually responded with anything resembling "no", and in both cases he had to guess the answer. With Han Seok, I would say it was "I think you will, but I'm still hopeful", whereas with Vincenzo, it was "I know you won't, but I'm still worried."

But on the other hand, much as I tried to focus on the "sweet" part of it (and I tried really hard), that scene still felt bittersweet. Han Seo has very traumatic experiences with hockey stuff and (most probably) with being punished for using banmal (I don't think we've ever heard him call his brother Hyung, it's always Hyungnim, which I think is telling, but that might just be me misunderstanding the culture). So, when Vincenzo hits the puck very hard and startles him and when Han Seo complains that he wasn't wearing the helmet or backs away from Vin, or says "thank you" and Vincenzo trips him in response, it stings a bit. Mainly because achieving that kind of rapport with someone (anyone) takes time, and achieving it with a torture survivor who has had little to no agency over his body since childhood is even harder.

Him being loud and brash isn't really an indicator that he's feeling comfortable or brave because we've seen him raise his voice multiple times with Han Seok and get punished for it and still do it later. Being cheery and smiley after the scene could mean a lot, because he's rarely ever seen happy, but it could also mean very little because he was equally cheery and smiley after his brother threw the lamp at his head just because he felt cool for dodging it.

A lifetime of handling abuse has not only taught him to bounce back really quickly, but also really raised the bar for what he would consider awful enough to pause at. Han Seo also definitely has major trust issues, regardless of the fact that Vincenzo hasn't really explicitly said he wouldn't hurt him, which would understandably be heightened by the fact that he just watched that one guy die after Vin promised him money and freedom.

He waves it off when Vincenzo doesn't answer his question, but the fact that their interaction could still be seen as brotherly when one party is literally afraid the other might kill him only works because "that is my brother" and "I'm not entirely sure he wouldn't kill me" aren't mutually exclusive in Han Seo's mind.

On Vincenzo's side, I think it's totally feasible that he would refuse to fully accept Han Seo. He's shown an appreciation for enemies joining his side, especially if they do it voluntarily (Bye Bye Balloon), but not when it's personal (the shadows responsible for lawyer Hong's death). The time Han Seo's resourcefulness shone was when he caused the deaths of the victims' families by helping his brother find them. Not only was this a very personal turning point for Vincenzo and Chayoung, but it was also completely his initiative. Han Seok didn't ask him to do this and might even have said no if Han Seo had asked him before doing it since he thought his way was "the hard way", but Han Seo did it anyway, and he did it purely to get his brother's validation and has shown no remorse or empathy throughout the whole ordeal.

There were times like this and like the time he basically begged his brother to assassinate Chayoung and Vincenzo where the only thing stopping him from being as ruthless as Han Seok was that he couldn't, not that he didn't want to, but perhaps the fear keeping him in check is now gone.

We've seen his personality completely change from the beginning of the show to this episode. Where once he would have pounced wholeheartedly and gratefully at what Han Seok is offering, he now hesitates and even turns it down at first. Han Seok comes saying "You're my brother" after Han Seo had already made peace with being a puppet and cut the strings off. He couldn't go back to being his brother if he tried. In fact, in none of the situations where Han Seok was at risk did he seem remotely worried about him. And the distance goes both ways - no more "stand with me while I do bla bla bla" from Han Seok. It's always "leave, get out, stay away".

Another reason might be the fact that Han Seok's olive branch (aside from being so obviously fake, even before you google Elizabeth Holmes), comes in the wake of weeks of escalation. First, we went from mark-less physical violence to wound-leaving violence and then to slapping on the face. I'm not sure if this is universal, but in so many cultures, a slap in the face is so much worse than most ways of hitting because it might mean less pain, but infinitely more degradation. It could also be the ludicrousness of Han Seok's phrasing, (I mean, "be nice to you and take care of you"? get outta here!) and he takes it with a lot more self-control than he originally would have.

Han Seo has learned how to emotionally distance himself from a lot of things, but he still doesn't have a real support system of people who care for and respect him. He has as much potential as he does baggage, and the transition phase he's going through guarantees that his feelings about everything and everyone, especially his brother and Vincenzo, are bound to be mixed and messy, so whichever way this swings, narratively speaking, I would totally buy it.

But I'm really really hoping this works out for him, because I'm going to be totally heartbroken if it doesn't.

#I have no idea how this got so long I'm so sorry #jang han seo #jang han seok #ok taecyeon #kwak dong yeon #vincenzo meta #vincenzo #what to do with all the feels

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haleigh-sloth · 2 years

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I wish people are more honest with there takes this is a shounen story mha has a lot of fans from all over the world with various age group but let not kid ourselves and think it a Japanese shounen story who caters mainly to Japanese audience is it bad writing or it is what one not used too this tale has always bother me cause I see this discussion in school I remember showing someone a folktale from Nigeria and he told me it don’t hold up to Greek stories and who made that rule

LOL at the guy comparing a Nigerian folktale to Greek stories???? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway….I mean yeah. Cultural differences aside because I’m not Japanese and can’t comment on what Japanese fans want or expect or whatever, with literally any story there is an obvious role assigned to each character within a story.

Somewhere along the way, my guess is after MVA, I think some people expected the story to suddenly be about the LOV and be narrated by them and for them. I’m of the opinion that the LOV do in fact carry the story because their writing is ten times better than any of the hero characters. I genuinely think Hori just likes writing and drawing them more, but with that being said—I had to remind myself at one point “This story is not about them.”

Like yes, to and extent, it is about them. But they’re not the protagonists. No matter how much we joke that they are, by definition, they are not. By this point, they will be the reward FOR the protagonists. I understand people not wanting or liking that, given that the story handles heavy topics like abuse and discrimination, and some people personally want to see different outcomes for their own enjoyment for those topics. I get it. But at some point you gotta remind yourself that literally from chapter 1, this story was about the younger generation being better heroes than the older gen. It’s honestly a very basic coming of age story.

On top of that, just like you said: This. Is. A. Shounen. Manga.

So on the cultural note you mentioned, there IS a basic recipe being followed and to an extent, it’s expected to be followed by fans. BNHA is unique in many ways, but also in many ways, it is nothing new at all.

I’m honestly baffled by the people who were convinced Hori would turn it into a seinen halfway through to focus on the LOV. Could Hori write that? Oh fuck yeah I bet he could. He handles dark imagery and tones really well. But man, read his past published stuff and tell me it’s not literally just pre-BNHA material. Oumagadoki Zoo was literally about “Show your love to others and accept it when it’s shown to you.” Literally in the dialogue, paraphrased but, it’s in there lol. Pretty cheesy and shounen-esque.

And, Bnha isn’t as psychologically focused as people think either. Like god, I’ve read Monster by Naoki Urasawa and THAT is a seinen with a heavy focus on psychology. So comparing BNHA to that, BNHA is not seinen material.

Could it be? Sure sure, with the focus having been on someone like Shigaraki or Touya from the start. There are characters in BNHA who would absolutely fit that genre due to the potential of the layers in their psyche, and I’d say Touya, Shigaraki, and Hawks are really good contenders for something like that. But alas. In this story, the LOV are traumatized and sad, and tragically misunderstood. And they need to be saved. That’s what we have, what’s what Hori wrote.

And then lastly, I get that the corrupt hero society issue hasn’t had as much focus overall and I get the disappoint. But I’m a little tired of people being mad at only Deku’s character not focusing on it. Like dude, Shouto is kind of a direct victim of that toxicity their system holds and I have not seen Shouto’s thoughts or arc so much as even point in that direction. It’s not in his dialogue. I think this current confrontation with Touya can change that and might, but so far? Nada, even though Shouto is like….the perfect character to bring that into question. And I don’t think the hero society stuff was ever gonna be the main drive. It’s world building put in place so that saving the villains is not only possible, but makes sense. But, imo, that’s all it serves for. If the hero society system was gonna be more of a prominent focus for the end game then the HPSC would have been WAYYYYY more relevant throughout and not only a little side piece for Hawks’s character—whose relevance lately has all but disappeared for quite a long time. All that to say, it’s a valid annoyance than it isn’t brought up more and made more of a focus for the protagonists. But it’s not a complete failure on the author either that he didn’t, as it isn’t the MAIN drive for the ending to the story.

Saving the villains is the main drive. The villains getting to be heroes is the main drive. It’s the story of how “we ALL became heroes”! Come on!

#this turned into a longer rant than I had originally intended #but anon made good points and also made me laugh #with that last comment #and idk I just had to let it out #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha league of villains #bnha lov

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personuhh · 3 years

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okay so awhile ago you posted something about Yosuke (crazy, right?) and in the tags I believe you mentioned something about how you don’t like Yosukes parents? Could you elaborate? bc I have not stopped thinking about it since you mentioned it (sorry this is so vague my memory is horrid skjdjfjgj)

OYSUEJGHHBKEJHDSGVDH oh my god okay SO. At first I just got ~vibes~ from him... like, I couldn’t quite pin down what made me think he had abusive parents, because obviously he never says anything to indicate it explicitly, but then I started noticing... small things.

I don’t want to say outright that I think they’re abusive (physically or verbally) and I also don’t think that Yosuke hates them, or necessarily even sees anything wrong with how they treat him, but I do think that their behavior has severely impacted Yosuke and led to a lot of the negative traits he displays.

To me, the most telling example is this conversation where he talks about Teddie being praised by his parents for being “thoughtful” very pointedly in front of him. It seems to be a reoccurring thing where they compare him to other people (primarily Teddie) and make him feel inferior. Yosuke’s a bit of a pushover, and frequently gets taken advantage of monetarily, and in this case he’s caved and lent Teddie a significant chunk of his savings for their trip to Tatsumi Port Island... only for him to spend it on presents to suck up to Yosuke’s parents which makes Yosuke look unthoughtful. Yosuke clearly sees it that way, even if Teddie hadn’t intentionally planned it out from the start as such (he calls Teddie “surprisingly shrewd”).

Yosuke gets told off either because a) he didn’t want to fight back/argue, and instead just took a passive stance instead of telling his parents that he was the one to lend Teddie the money in the first place, and thus didn’t have any left to buy them gifts, or b) his parents think so little of him that they don’t believe him at all. He specifically says he doubts his parents understand, which makes me think that he did try to explain the situation.

There are also several instances of a large Junes event being Yosuke’s responsibility, or at least of him thinking that he has to scramble to make things work, like the Junes concert, where he says he’ll have to move away if it doesn’t pan out; maybe this is his own thinking, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was something his dad said to scare him into helping, especially considering he MUST know that Yosuke is friends with Rise, or the time during the summer where he calls Yu and begs him to help out. Yosuke isn’t a manager, but he’s still got all the responsibilities of one, and even tries his best to work out other employees’ problems as well (look at his SL).

The Junes concert in particular really sent up some red flags for me, especially because Yosuke says this.

“Awfully nice for some reason”?

Yosuke’s got terrible self-esteem, there are countless times where he’s shown to be overwhelmed and embarrassed by completely genuine praise from his friends. In one of the drama CDs he mentions that he intentionally doesn’t try his best in school because he doesn’t want to disappoint himself by doing poorly while also knowing that he gave his all. It really makes me think that his parents just have an abysmally low opinion of him, and he’s adopted that same view of himself.

There’s also several scenes where he talks about his parents finding his porn (or Teddie showing it to them) and in his SL he says his mom “read the title out loud to [his] family” which on top of obviously indicating his family is pretty conservative about that kind of thing, also means he’s had to learn to be secretive with them to some extent. In Arena, Yosuke’s mother goes as far as burning the porn Teddie finds. Even if it's meant to be humorous, Yosuke's property is still being destroyed.

Now these next few things are more... abstract and can definitely be argued, but personally I still find them important to point out when discussing the topic.

Yosuke obviously struggles with toxic masculinity, and similarly to Kanji, feels like he needs to be the ideal, strong man that protects the weak, etc. Even without looking at specific dialogue, you can tell that Yosuke’s been raised to think he needs to be a “real” man, that displaying more “feminine” behaviors is a sign of weakness; because that isn’t just subtextual, it’s something he very visibly displays, it’s part of his arc. He can’t mourn and cry, he has to get revenge (because he couldn’t protect Saki at the time and he watched helplessly as she died, it makes it his fault), he says hugs are for girls (a common sentiment, but he had to learn it from somewhere), and any time he slips up and reveals his actual feelings, he has to overcompensate, let everyone know that he’s just your average teenage boy who’s definitely interested in women. Yosuke’s not the most masculine guy, he likes fashion and cares about his appearance (the bar is so low) and I’d bet that if he were given space to explore his interests without any expectations, he might actually find he’s into stuff that goes against what he’s been taught. He admits to liking crossdressing, then walks it back; not because he’s ashamed of it (on the contrary, once he realizes people found him cute, he openly brags about it), but because he thinks he SHOULD be ashamed of it.

It’s why he feels so threatened by Kanji, who completely takes him by surprise when he realizes his outer appearance and interests don’t match up. Now Yosuke’s got to compete with Kanji over who’s the manliest, show that he’s not like Kanji, because Kanji’s already accepted that side of himself, and it totally goes against everything Yosuke’s been taught to think is “normal”.

So then we look at lines like this.

On its own it’s nothing special, but it’s not just the slogan itself, it’s the way that Yosuke specifically says that his dad is still saying it. Combining this with what I mentioned previously about Yosuke’s behavior, and a few other tidbits, like Teddie mentioning that he watches violent war movies with Yosuke’s dad, it definitely makes me think he’s the type of guy who’d try and push Yosuke into being more masculine, being a traditional, unshakable, unemotional man.

Lastly, there’s the recently identified album on Yosuke’s shelf in arena, and what do you know, one of the songs on it (The Chain, by Mr. Big) has these lyrics...

In my mind, I see Yosuke’s mother as an incredibly controlling, strict woman who expects her son to be utterly perfect, and even when he’s good, it’s never good enough. Yosuke’s father is busy with Junes, and while he isn’t around the house too often, Yosuke sees him at work quite a bit, large and in-charge, not allowing anyone to see weakness, he leans on his son because he can’t bring himself to ask for help. Yosuke’s left to pick up the slack, and he’s taught by example that relying on others is cowardly, that being intimidating gets you further than being “nice”. Even though Yosuke obviously goes against this, he can't fully commit for fear of standing out and disappointing his parents, and that makes him passive; he ends up being a pushover, and neither of his parents are happy about that. He’s a “disappointment” to them, it’s one of his defining traits that everyone loves to bring up. It's something that's shown to really get under his skin, but he can never do much more than get angry, because he truly thinks he is a disappointment, he doesn't think highly of himself, even if he protests.

Maybe I’m reading into all of these things a little too much, but... I don’t know, I’ve said it before, but I just don’t see how half of Yosuke’s personality would have been shaped by anything other than his parents being Not Great.

#ada's writing #yosuke's parents #yosuke hanamura #yosuke appreciation #WHEW. THIS WAS A LONG ONE.#i literally spent like 3 hours on this and i still couldn't find most of the examples i wanted to lol #mentions of abuse #mentions of neglect #official-redhood #ask ada #ada's analysis #yosuke meta

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raguna-blade · 3 years

Text

Persona 5, Makoto, And Cops

So, like...We can all agree that it's weird that Makoto want's to be a cop in the game right? Aside from general cop bastardry irl, there's like precisely one police officer in the entirety of P5 who's at all a clear cut good guy and even he basically just says out and out, super explicitly that the cops are like...Not great.

At BEST, at BEST, they ensure the laws are followed, but that doesn't always equate to justice being served, and it is hilariously easy for them to be made into tools of opression, and to be made into stooges of people who want to do wrong.

Like Zenkichi out and out says “You really shouldn't be a cop.”

But Makoto still want's to be, despite knowing this, despite agreeing with this, and it's a weird gap right? Of perhaps everyone in the group, she should know best how following the rules and laws can lead to people doing pretty screwed up things if her little stint stalking and then blackmailing joker and company.

And she's just a student council president you know? It's not like she has anywhere near the same authority as a police officer, and unlike Chie who (for sake of argument here) has pretty objectively Upstanding Excellent Cops in her neighborhood except for you know the one who decidedly wasn't but P4 isn't really dealing with Laws and their problems, so them not leaning into law enforcement is a problem makes sense. Dojima is a just dude trying to do his best and even here the only other cop of note is uh...A straight up monster who abused his position of authority to get away with terrible things.

But back to P5, like...The game isn't subtle about it's feelings about law enforcement. Every Single Shadow is represented in the field by varying kinds of law enforcement operative types. Guards, knights, actual cops, prison wardens, etc etc. The Ultimate Big Bad basically posits that humans can't follow the rules and for that need to be severely punished and so laws and rules more or less end up being the big bad foe here.

The motivation to be a cop is well...Painted as whole heartedly misguided at best. We never get to know anything about Makoto's dad, and he's her inspiration for that goal, but at the same time, we get to see the other daughter who I think it's safe to say ALSO had him as something of a goal and...Sae also doesn't exactly come off as a perfect avatar of justice here either.

She very clearly WANTS to be, no doubt, and the massive shock of the games events does change her trajectory, but she's been deep down in the swamp of the system and she knows intimately that well...It's a shit show at best.

So i'm circling back to it as...Why? What's the deal here with what the game is going for theme wise? The idea of internal reform I suppose is being suggested, but the game's also make it remarkably clear that that actually won't work.

I'd say even textually, not even dipping into subtext, the game is out and out saying that you cannot reform a system from the inside like that when it's that far gone. Between P5 and P5S it's made abundantly clear that even what is functionally in a metaphysical sense a hard system check of things going out of whack law wise like the phantom thieves (what with their flipping of the table) they can't actually solve the problems of the system itself being super fucked. At best they can stop it from going full on malignant, but the cancer is still there. If the people don't actually band together to overturn things that are broken, especially when it is well within their hands to do, it's not going to improve, it's not going to get better. It's a delaying action at best.

Like the Phantom Thieves can't save everyone. Akira Konoe bluntly makes it clear when he asks them and the PT can only really go...No we can't. If we knew sure, but we don't possess the ability to do that. It's outside our ability entirely to do so for everyone.

So...Back to Makoto then. It's abundantly clear, I think, that she's very much of the mold of she want's to be a cop to protect people. That's what the job description is, even if that's not what it is in reality. And I think we can at least say that she's not so naive by this point to think that if she goes in she's going to be able to reform things, not by herself. It's worth noting that her intended goal is to become a Police Commisioner, and basically form her own police branch under her rules and regulations which...Fair. Fine. There's something to be said for being an apt demonstration but it doesn't actually fix the problem at it's core does it?

Which I think pushes this into the funky grey area of things because I don't think she's precisely...Wrong to want to do this. As stated, I think the games make it abundantly clear that one person on their own can't make radical and deep changes. You need people and momentum and everyone willing to work and all that.

Certainly, I think, it would be tremendously easier to reform an organization if someone in that organization is willing to make calls against what they're doing presently. But by the same token, it's also clear if you're entering an organization to try and change that organization it's uh...Not precisely a good bet. Now there's something to be said for being willing to try it I think. While the game doesn't exactly indicate how it'll go, we can imagine that following the events of the game that Makoto wouldn't be crushed under the weight of it all and change for the worse....Though the question of if she'd be able to make her goals a reality are a different question. She has allies in that fight for sure, between Zenkichi, Sae, and (from all indications) Kaburagi, there is at least some element of reform at play, but it's also well...

The big ass conspiracy didn't exactly come out of nowhere no? And the cops at every level more or less were compromised to some level or another, and this includes these prospective allies.

But then, I guess this goes back to the Phantom Thieves themselves. They're not able to actually fundamentally fix the problems at play. They stop the worst excesses certainly, the most terminal aspects of it, although in doing so they are very nearly destroyed outright and with barely a thought. In that spirit, Of doing what you can with what you can it changes the read on the decision at least somewhat.

The Daughter of a well decorated cop, sister of a particularly well known ex prosecuter now defense lawyer, in addition to being a top honor student type, certainly gives her a bit more leverage to attack the problem, especially in the sense of getting into a position to actually change things. To say nothing of Joanna.

Taking her awakening quote into consideration

"Have you decided to tread the path of strife...? Very well. Let us proceed with our contract at once. I am thou, thou art I... You have finally found your own justice... Please... Never lose sight of it again. This memorable day marks your graduation from your false self..."

and the general story the game presents of Joanna as one who rose to the top of the organization she was in and shook it to it's core (doesn't particularly matter how true that is in reality, merely what the game says for this instance) it's clear that indeed that's her gambit, if not the specific trickster archetype she's supposed to embody (as opposed to Joker's completely outside the law rogue, Anne's Femme Fatale, or Morganna's Layabout by Day Vigilante by Night as off the cuff examples), of someone who appeared to all eyes to be a harmless simple part of the system until it was simply too late for them to do anything about it.

There is a solid arc there, and a story to be told, and I think in that light makes the continued ambition make sense especially given what we're shown of well...Uh, everything to do with law enforcement in P5.

Now if they actually communicated that idea WELL is um...probably a different story. I think it's there to see, but I can easily see this being overlooked if this was the actual intent. Though, thinking about it, the way the various trickster archetypes are shown to function isn't quite as clear as it could be, though I think there's something to say for looking into that.

Later though.

#Persona 5 #makoto nijima #theme analysis

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sometimesrosy · 3 years

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Hey. It's been a long time since I had a question. Maybe the 100's demise was the reason.

Now coming to my actual query. This past year I have binged numerous shows ranging from American to korean dramas or Turkish dizis. There is certain thing that I have felt and noticed throughout i.e., the woman characters aren't given even a slight leeway by the audience. If the even make a slight mistake, the audience remembers it always to stand against that character. Whereas if there is a male villain, people gets cheerful seeing even a slight bit of humanity in him. They even wait for its redemption.

Let me take an example of a Turkish show "kara sevda(black love)". A one line synopsis can be put like- two leads who love each other endlessly but can never be together. So, the villain in that show is beyond redemption. That character has fallen so far off that there is no coming back. But still when he is playing with a baby, people's comments are like 'best moment of the show.' 'see he is such a good person'. 'the female lead should accept his love'. Am like what?

And if I tell you about the female lead. She is a good person at heart who is sacrificing love for family. And she is labelled "selfish" by audience. 'She doesn't deserve the male lead' etc. And you know I too felt like that for the majority of the show until I reached the point of self reflect.

Even Clarke from the 100 faced so much hate that there wasn't any visible backlash when in the end the makers made her a villain. The backlash was for Bellamy death and stupid end instead.

Looking through tv series, it's so easy to see why tv or films doesn't have female anti heroes. Male anti heroes are so easy to find and also widely successful like Damon from tvd or Klaus.

What is your take?

Yup!

Yes.

Definitely.

You are absolutely correct. The leeway for female characters to show human imperfection is very, very thin. Meanwhile, a guy can literally blow up a planet, kill his beloved father, have temper tantrums with kicking and screaming and torture the female main characters and fandom-- and the creators-- think that makes him a hero. And the requirements for his redemption, if there are any at all amounts to:

WOOPSIE! I'M SOWWY.

I simply do NOT understand that phenomenon.

I mean, I get the need to relate to darker characters, morally gray characters, to explore our own negative impulses...but the whole tendency is, for me anyway, given a more sinister light when you compare how the audience tends to treat these outright villainous male characters compared to even SLIGHTLY morally gray female characters. Maybe just flawed.

It also interferes with satisfying redemption arcs. Because YES watching someone face their dark past and attempt to become better and be redeemed is a great story... but if male characters only have to wear a cape and be hot to be redeemed.... then that's not a satisfying redemption arc. And if women can't do ANYTHING to be redeemed because they are considered irredeemably selfish or whatever for the same flaws someone's Hot Dark Badboy smirks about and isn't even sorry for? Then we barely even get redemption stories for women.

And that's part of the problem, isn't it? Women aren't allowed the same representation as men... even as flawed characters.

The point of good representation is not to represent only the best, most perfect, most desirable, most successful type of people. The point is to allow everyone of any sex, race, gender, sexuality, religion, class, ability, etc to take part in the full spectrum of humanity in our stories, good and bad and mediocre. A female Mary Sue is just the female version your general male hero. One is considered bad storytelling the other is taken as The Way It Should Be.

Women are not allowed to have flaws in most of our pop culture, or women are ghettoized into only women's fic or romance or YA, or women take backseat to male villains, or whatever.

I'm writing a book where the woman abandoned her child, and she sleeps around and cons people and avoids commitment. I purposely wrote her to be unlikable.... or rather, she's not unlikable, she's clever and funny and weird, but she has characteristics that women aren't supposed to have. She essentially acts like a male anti-hero, until her call to action and she is forced to face her past mistakes. But I know that these are things that audiences say are irredeemable for women. Abandon her own child?? No. Not allowed. Even though plenty of male characters go off on adventures leaving wife and child behind and it isn't even considered a character flaw, just... a male adventurer. Or honestly, just a guy. Sure one who's imperfect, but that old ball and chain was probably the worst, right? He had to move on and now he has a tragic backstory and complexity and oh the audience will probably either want to be him or want to be with him, because, that's how these things work.

Not saying that characters shouldn't be dark, do bad things, have flaws, be anti-heroes, have redemption arcs, or have a deep, multilayered villainy.

But I am saying we might want to be a little more critical about what we consider irredeemable for certain people and what war crimes and abuse we let some characters get away with in the name of bold (white) masculinity.

IS the nature of being a (white) man we look up to someone who destroys other people?

I think that toxic masculinity IS seen as sexy. Unfortunately, that's one of the reasons it's seeped into our culture. Manly (white) men who abandon kids and kill without remorse, but with muscles. Manly (white) men who murder whole regions because bad things happened to them, and smolder while doing it. Manly (white) men who commit genocide regularly, but fall for the heroine and save her once. Manly (white) men who are serial killers but with an intriguing depth.

tbh there's lots more to say on the topic, some of it very controversial. These are the stories we like to hear and the characters we love. And it might be rooted in the toxic masculinity that our society has been selling to us as propaganda for decades, if not centuries-- but we don't like to be told to examine our biases, our tastes, our preferences, or our beliefs. It's threatening to our sense of self.

However, that is how you unravel all sorts of toxic belief systems, from misogyny to racism to homophobia to bigotry of all kinds. I added the (white) to this post after I read through it, because I realized non white male characters are not allowed this leeway, either. So this phenomenon is generally (not always) limited to white men. Why?????

my theory? we're still making the colonialists the heroes of the story, friends.

#misogyny #toxic masculinity #media #anti heroes and villains #colonialism #pop culture #fandom #redemption arcs

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years

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I've never met ANYONE who actually likes the Chibnall era. Would you seriously say that it's objectively good?

Brace yourself for unpopular (albeit positive) opinions.

Objectively? I don't know, I tend to feel like media is very much subjective and down to opinion. But on the whole...yeah. I'm gonna say yeah. I think the Chibnall era thus far is every bit as good as the Moffat Era and Davies Era were. It actually blows my mind to see the fandom come together and almost universally agree that the show has gone downhill. It's part of the reason why I kind of stepped away from the Doctor Who fandom because there's something very demoralizing about re-watching clips from Season 12 and seeing literally every comment just talk about how the show is ruined. And if I re-watch old clips, very often I come across comments that talk about how the show "used to" be good, and should have ended with Twelve, etc. I know a little reluctance toward the new Doctor can be part of the transition process, but normally the fans are over it by now.

Things haven't really changed.

I've been re-watching Twelve's era, and found a new appreciation for him. But I re-watched Thirteen's era right beforehand, and you know what? It holds up. Season 11 is remarkably strong. I can't think of a single "bad" episode in that season. It focuses on the characters, and thus it doesn't have nearly as strong ambitions, compared to one of the Moffat seasons, which were clever but often convoluted. They couldn't always stick the landing. (Looking at you, Season 6) But every has it's good parts and it's bad. The same man who wrote The Wedding of River Song and betrayed the entire season's storyline in the process...also wrote The Doctor Falls, which is probably my favorite final episode of any season ever. The Chibnall Era is the same way. The Tsuranga Conundrum isn't really a bad episode, it's just kind of forgettable, apart from the Pting. But then it is immediately followed up by Demons of the Punjab, which is an exceptional story in every way. I want the Thijurians to return for Thirteen's regeneration, I'm saying it.

My point being that even if there are episodes you can't stand in the new era, is that really exclusive to Chibnall? All the way back in Season 1, they had The Long Game, which I remember disliking, but it was sandwiched between Dalek and Father's Day, which are in my opinion, the two best episodes of that season. A lot of people don't like Orphan 55, for example. But it's followed up by Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror. Does anyone really dislike that episode? You're valid if you do, but I think it's really good. Ask me about any episode in the Chibnall Era, and I'll find something to like about it. (Except maybe Arachnids in the UK...and that one's not even bad, just kind of weak.) Because like I said, there is good and bad in every season...and I do think that the fandom has overblown how "bad" the Chibnall Era is...though that may be in part because I think this era is generally good? Incredible companions, solid episodes, a great Doctor, and hey...this era actually made the Daleks scary again. That is impressive. Even most of the hated episodes, like Orphan 55 as I mentioned...I enjoy them.

I stand by that. I think this era is great. If anything, I don't like that they reduced how many episodes we get, because some of these stories, like The Witchfinders and It Takes You Away especially Fugitive of The Judoon, are just begging to be two-parters. Spyfall is the only real two-parter we've had, in my opinion (Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children feel like two separate stories to me) and the episode was much stronger for having the extra time. If I have one genuine criticism with the Chibnall Era as a whole, it is the stark contrast between Seasons 11 and 12. I love Season 11, I thought it was beautiful. I like it far more than most people. I also truly enjoyed Season 12. But they are worlds apart, with Season 11 feeling so standalone and Season 12 picking up with a big storyline that really hadn't been hinted at all in the previous outing. The tone is also different, with The Doctor and "the fam" having a distance between them that seems to have developed offscreen in between seasons. It was as though Chibnall wanted to give everyone a breather from big overarching plots after the Moffat Era, but then after one season he decided "break's over" because he wanted to tell his story. And that's okay! It is. But it's jarring. Anyway, let's talk about Chibnall's storyline. You know where this is going.

"That" episode.

I meant what I said before. There isn't a single episode that I actively hate as much as say, Listen. Now let's get very controversial, because I know what y'all are thinking. "Not even The Timeless Children?" And I'll just get this out of the way right now: I don't think The Timeless Children, or it's twist, ruins Doctor Who. I don't think it gets anywhere close. I mentioned before that I was demoralized reading the comments on a clip of Doctor Who...to no one's surprise, it was this episode. Now, I may just be biased...after all, I didn't even hate Hell Bent. But while I have my criticisms of Season 12, The Doctor's revised backstory accounts for exactly none of them. You want to know what really bothers me? That we had a seven season buildup to Gallifrey's rescue, a nine season buildup to it's return...only for the show to do nothing with it, and then just destroy it again a couple of seasons later. As someone who loved The Day of The Doctor, I'm mad about that. Among other reasons, destroying Gallifrey is the kind of card you can really only play once.

So no, I don't think The Timeless Children is perfect. The Doctor had a seven season character arc culminating in them learning the lesson that using The Moment would be wrong, and that it was never okay to do something like that. To hear her even consider using The Death Particle, that "Or, a solution" line in response to Ryan appropriately reacting in horror? Yeah, that upset me. I don't like that Gallifrey is gone again, and even if The Doctor wasn't the one to do it, she almost did, and she left someone else to do it in her stead. That bothers me more than The Timeless Child ever could. That being said...the Timeless Child doesn't bother me. Seriously, it blows my mind that people act like this twist ruins Doctor Who. It...really doesn't, guys.

It does not insult the legacy of William Hartnell. He is still The First Doctor. It's not like there isn't a precedent for secret incarnations from The Doctor's past. We didn't start calling Christopher Eccleston The Tenth Doctor after we found out about John Hurt. Nothing can change The First Doctor's status or take it away, nor do I think Chibnall is trying. He is doing what I've actually wanted Doctor Who to do for a while. Give us a story about The Doctor's childhood. (Listen doesn't count, I don't care, that was all kinds of bad.) Let me ask you, what does this really change? I've seen people complain about the revision of The Doctor's history...but there's a precedent for that too. We could play bingo with how many times Clara fundamentally altered or influenced the show's history. She is the reason he started traveling, the reason he chose his Tardis, and the reason he saved Gallifrey. Why doesn't that bother people, if this does?

I also understand it if people dislike this change because they feel as though it makes The Doctor a kind of chosen one, compared to them having just been an average person who wanted to make a difference. I get that. However, this is down to interpretation, and there are so many ways to interpret The Doctor. Some people love it when The Doctor goes dark, other people cannot stand it and view it as out of character. Some people love it when The Doctor is heroic and badass, when they save the day...others would prefer that they take the backseat, teaching the humans how to save the day themselves. "The man who makes people better." And which interpretation you get, where it falls on the spectrum...it will vary from writer to writer. Moffat loved to make everything about The Doctor, and Davies frequently compared him to an angel or a god. This is not the first time that the show has portrayed The Doctor as a godlike being. It's not even close to the first time. And honestly? I don't think this makes The Doctor special or supernatural. I think it makes them a victim, nothing more. A victim of child abuse.

People also disliked this episode for removing the mystery behind The Doctor...but I fail to see how it did that? There are so. Many. Questions. That this finale opens up. Where did The Doctor come from? How and why did they get to our universe? What exactly is The Division? What went down between them and The Doctor? Where is Tecteun? (No, she's not Rassilon...) As the Masters asks, "What did they do to you, Doctor? How many lives have you had?" Amid all of the comments that made me sad, I did see a great one about how the original creator of Doctor Who actually didn't like it when they introduced the Timelords, because she felt that it boxed the show in and removed the mystery behind The Doctor, and how "She would have loved this episode." I agree with that. (Still salty that they destroyed Gallifrey though...) You know, I am genuinely interested in this story and where it's going to go, especially with the sixtieth anniversary approaching. But it depresses me that they might scale it back now, after how much the fandom has risen up against it. Not that I'm saying the fans shouldn't be happy, but...it's clear that a story is trying to be told here, and I think it should have that chance.

To each their own, of course. But I will never understand why this era is so hated.

#Doctor Who #Dr. Who #The Doctor #The Thirteenth Doctor #Chris Chibnall #Chibnall Era #Doctor Who Season 12 #Doctor Who Season 11 #Long post #Boy did this get long #Ramblings #The Timeless Children #The Timeless Child

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tanakavox · 3 years

Text

here guys. This reaction was done @bssaz97 again. And that's it for the author's note.

"I miss baby Zwei!" Weiss sulked.

"We know Weiss, you've been saying that for the past ten minutes," Blake's vein appeared on her head.

"Why can't we see more of him! He was so cute and innocent!" Weiss crosses her arms and huffs..

"He spent the entire time antagonizing me!" Jaune replied.

"He can never do wrong." Weiss cemented in her mind.

"Forget it VB, she's a lost cause." Yang told her fellow blonde.

"Well let's see what this next viewing has in store for us all." Ren calmly stated.

The screen shows Jaune on Planet Namek facepalming.

"Urgh, what was that idiot DOING bringing me here!" He mutters before turning to look around his eyes widening. "It's... Wait a minute, I can feel it... This is my home! I can finally see its beauty! The lush blue fields, the crystal clear waters, the wind brushing past my... GOD, THIS IS BORING!" He yelled out before groaning. "No wonder I feel at home."

"We're back to Namek!" Ruby shouted in excitement.

"And there's alien Jaune-Jaune!" Nora jumped in.

"Wait isn't this the world where Cinder is supposed to be really powerful?" Jaune asked.

"...oh crud/shit." Many of the original audience replied. Those who were new to the theater didn't exactly understand what they meant but supposed they would eventually see why.

The scene cuts to Cinder confronting Mercury, Oscar, Neptune, and Trifa

"Oh hell yeah! Emerald wake up, we're back in the world where I'm a badass prince!" Mercury says as he shakes her shoulder.

Emerald loudly snores.

"Hey! You said to wake you when 'the snooze fest' was over."

"Not… interested." Emerald conveniently snored.

"Emerald, you will watch this viewing." Cinder orders.

"Yes Cinder!" Emerald miraculously much more awake.

"Wooow." Mercury drawls, shaking his head in genuine disappointment.

"Shut it!" Emerald hissed.

Cinder smiles coldly at them. "Well, Mercury. You've finally pulled it off. You've managed to dash my hopes entirely. With some help, I see." she turns to look at the rest of the group.

"Quack!"

"Neptune, seriously, not helping!" Oscar said ebowing him.

"I can try."

"I'm very curious. Where exactly are you from?" Cinder asks calmly.

"Don't you snitch!" Nora shouted at the screen.

"We're from rem-" Neptune started before Oscar stopped him.

"Neptune, no!"

"Oh right... Thanks for stopping me, Oscar. 'Cause I can't shut-."

"They're from Remnant." Trifa deadpanned.

"Traitor!" Ruby glared at the girl on the screen. Her anger was shared by many in the audience. Whether good or bad.

Blake was feeling the same amount of betrayal twice after remembering how Trifa was one of Ada-his agents sent to kidnap her in the past.

" Little bow girl, why?!" Neptune shouted out in disbelief.

"Because my name is Trifa."

Nora huffed, "Well maybe your name should little bi-!"

"Nora please." Ren asked his oldest friend and companion to let it go.

"'Sigh.' Fine, but I'm still mad." Nora said.

"Oh good. I'll stop by there on the way home. Pick up some space eggs, some space milk, and BLOW IT THE F**K UP!" Cinder screamed at them before calming here. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm usually far more composed. I'm just a little bit ABSOLUTELY LIVID." She said with barely contained rage.

"Oh, Cinder. Quit being such a bitch. I lost my chance at immortality too and you don't see me crying about it." Mercury said mocking with a smirk.

"Yep. Sucks to suck!" Yang stayed for both Cinder's in the audience and on screen.

"Care to say that to my face." Cinder stood up.

"Whoa now One Eye Cinder. We can't fight here, remember, so I can say whatever I like and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Yang explains with a toothy grin.

Cinder growls, but reluctantly sat back down as she began to curse this theater's damned rules.

"Yes, Mercury. But you see, the difference between us is I'll live long enough to regret it." Cinder charges at Mercury and engages him in battle with a battle cry.

Scene cuts to Jaune flying through the sky

"Hey we were getting to the good part!" Mercury shouted.

"And what part would that exactly be Mercury?" Cinder asked directly.

"The fight scene, what else." He said nonchalantly.

Cinder stared at him for a moment before looking back at the screen. Mercury was one of the few people that she could tolerate back talking to her so she paid it no mind.

"Everything looks the goddamn same on this goddamn planet!" He thinks and sighs before he sees something on the ground. "Wait a minute, a body! SOCIAL ACTIVITY!" Jaune yells as he yells flying down and landing next to a body, which was Hazel. "Please tell me you're not dead!"

Hazel begins to speaks in Namekian/Klingon

"What the hell is he saying?" Coco asked.

"It appears he is attempting to communicate with Mr. Arc's alternate in their native tongue." Ozpin rationalized.

"Do you know what he's saying Jaune?" Velvet asked.

"Velvet, I think Ozpin means-."

Velvet giggles before she starts laughing. Her team along with his shortly after.

Jaune was staring at them confusedly before his eyes widened in realization. He chuckled while rolling his eyes, "Oh haha, very funny Velvet."

Ruby just stared at the exchange expressionless, the joke was funny but for some reason she didn't want to laugh. Weird.

"Ah, crap. I find the only living thing for miles- and he's so broken he can't even talk right."

" I was speaking Namekian, you idiot. Don't you know anything about your own people?" Hazel gasps out, barely holding on to life.

"Well, we're demons, right?" Jaune asks hopefully.

"Eh, more like slug people."

"Ah, dammit! I liked it better when I was a demon."

"And I liked it better when I had proper bladder control. Nobody's perfect."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. What happened?"

"Let's just say our world elder's kind of a giant green asshole."

Jaune and many of the other male audience members bowed their heads in silence for loss bestowed on the Namekian people.

"Yeesh! Port's a bit of a dick in this one… or lack thereof," Yang quipped.

"YANG!"

"Too soon?" Yang winced.

"Preachin' to the choir on that one." Jaune agreed, an image of Ozpin showing in his head. "Well, it's been fun, but I have to go DIE again…" He turns to leave.

Jaune mentally groaned as he remembered that in this world his life was the one entwined with Ozpin. Also he no more thrilled about the prospect of seeing his alternate die (again?) in a way that could've been easily avoided.

"Dang Arc, you're a bit sassy in this world, huh?" Coco asked.

"And green with antennas." Velvet whispered to Fox.

"Ahhh," Fox nodded, getting a clue of what the counterpart looked like.

"Wait. I might be able to help you." gasped out Hazel.

"Look, buddy. If you want to add me on MySpace, I switched to Spacebook a while ago." Jaune turns to left again.

"What's MySpace?" Oscar asked.

"Beats me, but it sounds mega old." Yang commented.

Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow and even Winter winced at Yang's unintentional jab at them. All of them who used to own MySpace accounts.

Salem just looked confused at the mention of these names. 'What's a MySpace and Spacebook? Is it a form of communication?' She thought to herself.

"No, no, no, no. Listen. I think I know something that might work out for both of us. I don't wanna die and you seem pretty lonely."

"DESPERA-, I mean, go on."Jaune said, getting yells before switching back to a normal tone.

"There's a special ability our people share. Forbidden, even amongst our most sacred clans."

"And we're just going to abuse it?" Jaune asked

"Oh, maliciously!" Hazel said with a grin.

"Bitchin'! How we do?"

"Well that didn't take much convincing at all." Emerald said, impressed by how quickly it took the dying Hazel to convince Arc to comment on what was probably the Namekians form of the Black Arts.

"Hey Jaune-Jaune needs all the power he can get if he wants to kick Cinder's butt!" Nora shot back. "Yeah!" Ruby echoed Nora's sentiment.

"Well, first you put your hand upon me."

" 'Kay" He places his hand on Hazel's elbow)

"Yes. Like that. Now lower."

"Uh-huh."

"Lower."

"Hmm…"

"Little lower."

"Hmm..".

"Ah! If we had junk, you'd be gay right now." Jaune groans as Hazel smirks at him. "Fusing!"

"Gods Dammit!" Jaune facepalmed. He couldn't believe how his alternate would fall for such an obvious trick…. though to be honest he probably would have fallen for it all the same.

Jaune fuses with Hazel, a bright light blinding the viewers. After it's disappears, Jaune only is there and he looks at his hands in wonder.

"Wow. Unreal. My gosh. This is amazing! I feel INCREDIBLE!" He then begins to chant Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I can win! I feel great! I-can-do-this! HAAA…"

Hazel's voice from inside is heard inside Jaune's head. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing." Jaune replies after stammering a bit.

"Really? 'Cause it looked like you were chanting to yourself."

"Are you in my head?" Jaune ask changing the subject.

"Yup. Don't worry; supposedly I should fade away into your subconscious. Sooner or later."

"Is this what it was like for you?" Jaune asked Oscar.

"Pretty much." Oscar deadpanned

"...Wow, that's really weird." Jaune slumped in his chair.

"Yep. Well, you kinda get used to it after a while." Oscar replied.

"Does it?" Jaune asked him seriously.

"...No." Oscar slumped into his chair as well.

'If I could have carried this burden in my original body for all these millennia and spared you, I would have… no one deserves this burden.' Ozpin told himself in his mind. He determined it would fix nothing if he told them that, there was no changing the past.

"Okay. So, what now?"

"By my estimate, this fusion should have given you just enough power to wipe out the bitch who killed our people."

"And?"

"Well, let me put this in terms you'll understand: You can win! You feel great! You-can-do-this!" Hazel said, repeating Jaune's chant.

"Oh, ha-ha!"

"Yeah go Jaune/Fearless Leader!" Ruby and Nora both cheered.

Jaune's face turned beet red, but he did appreciate their show of support.

The scene cuts to Mercury and Cinder in a brawler lock

"Impudent... little…" Cinder hissed. Her scouter shows "F**K THIS I'M OUT" before exploding on her face, Cinder grunting in pain.

"Damn, Mercury must actually be pretty strong to make that device off itself," Yang stated.

"Why do you sound so surprised blondie? Still sore about our match up?" Mercury quipped.

"You are so lucky I can't mop the floor with your face." Yang shot back, her eyes flashing crimson.

Mercury and Cinder both back off, producing a small crater due to their power.

"I'm impressed, Mercury. When did you graduate from pull-ups?" Cinder said mocking.

"About the same time you got off the rag." Mercury fired back.

Cinder smirks a bit. "Cute. But bear no false hopes, Mercury. You're a mere paper tiger in front of a storm. You have no idea what true power I possess."

"It's that you can transform, right?"

"I can transform…" Cinder's face's falls. "Okay, when and how?"

"Guldo told me."

A flashback of a conversation between Mercury and Guldo appears

"So... Did you know that Cinder can transform?" Guldo said.

"Huh. That right?" Mercury said disinterested.

"Yeah. And Burter's gay."

"Really!?" Mercury asked, genuinely surprised

(back to present)

"And then I threw a dog treat at him. True story."

"That's so rude!" said the collective voices of Ruby, Weiss, Velvet, and Fiona.

"Oh cry me a river, I lost my conscience long ago." Mercury replied back.

"Right. But if you are so aware, why do you persist in goading me?" Cinder question raising an eyebrow.

Mercury grinned viciously."Because Cinder. You're not dealing with the average Saiyan warrior anymore. I am a Super Saiyan!"

….

"A what?" Oscar asked.

Cinder rolls her eyes at this apparently hearing this before. "Oh, here we go!"

"That's right, Cinder. I've arisen beyond the limits of a normal Saiyan, and into the realm of legend- the legend that you fear. The legend known throughout the entire universe as the most powerful warrior to ever exist!" Cinder starts speaking faintly at this point alongside him. "I, Prince Mercury, have become a..". Cinder cuts him off

"...Super Saiyan. Blah, blah, blah, blah, I get it. Then you slayed the Jabberwocky and went on to save Narnia." She clearly wasn't taking him seriously.

"Wow! This Super Saiyan sounds awesome!" Yang concluded. Her sister as well as Jaune, Nora, Oscar and Ren. What? He could like things.

"Thanks for the praise Blondie." Mercury said.

"Yeah something tells me your alternate is way too overestimating himself." Emerald stated.

"You're just jealous you're not a Super Saiyan." Mercury shot back, unfazed by her earlier remark. Causing Emerald to roll her eyes.

While the name seemed silly to the more mature members of the audience, they too were intrigued by the tale of this being.

"Go ahead and mock me, Cinder, but I'm not afraid of you. So why don't you doll yourself up and get ready for a night on the town, because I'm about to take you to a ballroom blitz."

"Fine. I'll indulge you, Mr. Super Saiyan. But before I do I have a funny little story I'd like to tell you."

"Funny how?"

"I like to call it, "I killed your dad"."

"...Was that supposed to shock me?" Mercury questioned.

Mercury stares at Cinder blankly. "So "ha-ha" funny."

"You see, thanks to a rogue lower-class warrior, your father caught wind of my plans…"

(flashback to planet Mercury)

A saiyan runs up to What seemed to be Marcus Black

"King Mercury, I have urgent news!"

"Speak, Butarega." King Marcus/Mercury said in a booming tone.

'Wait why does the old bastard have my name? Eh, guess it doesn't matter. Wait, does that make me a junior?!' Mercury thought.

"Well well, looks like I should call you Junior now. Huh?" Emerald comments, her smirk showing she greatly appreciated this new knowledge.

"I'm not a junior!" Mercury yelled.

"What's that? Couldn't hear you Junior!" Yang joins in on the teasing.

"I'm gonna get back at you both. Just you wait." Mercury growled. Hating how the tables have turned on him.

"Bardock has gone absolutely mad, sire!"

Off-screen someone screamed out: "Cinderrrr!"

"What's all the commotion about?" King Marcus/Mercury asked.

"He's been telling everyone that Cinder plans to destroy Mercury!"

"Wait, my son, the planet, or me?"

BUTAREGA looks at the king for a few moments before answering " ...Yes."

King Marcus/Mercury blasts Butarega away.

"Oh my gods!" Ruby cried out.

She and many others in the audience were shocked that the Saiyan King just killed his subordinate so callously. However, both Salem and Cinder were impressed at the King's show of force.

"Freakin' smartass." King Marcus/Mercury mutters and goes look a the Counselor. "Counselor Obleck, what do you think?"

"Let me tell you what you need to do. You need to sit him down…" Oobleck began.

"Uh-huh." King Marcus/Mercury said nodding his head.

"...you look her dead in the eye…"

"Yes."

" ...and you say, "Don't blow up my planet.""

"What? He can't be serious." Winter remarked.

"It appears that this version of Bart is not as wise or tactful as he is in our world." Ozpin rationalized.

Teams RWBY and JNR pressed 'X' to doubt.

"And you think that will work?" King Marcus/Mercury asked.

"she'd have to be aaaaaaawfully evil if it didn't. And I'm not gonna lie, I like the cut of her jib." Oobleck said with a grin.

"All right, but I want you to take my son, the Prince, off-planet just in case things go south."

"Don't worry, sir. You'll do juuuuuust fine."

"Wait. Hold on a damn minute, the old bastard actually cares about someone other than himself? Yeah like that's legit." Mercury crosses his arms.

Some in the audience looked at the silver haired assassin and just for a moment, they felt sympathy for him.

shifts to King Mercury approaching Cinder,.

"Cinder, can I sit down and have a word with-" King Marcus/Mercury said before Cinder interpreted him.

"SHORYUKEN!" Cinder yelled out, uppercutting King Marcus/Mercury in the jaw, causing the latter to fall back while producing with an echoing scream.

"K.O.! YOU WIN!" A voice yelled out.

"Yatta." Cinder whisper out looking at the king's dead body with grin

"Seems negotiations didn't go as he was expecting." Cinder floated to herself. What she didn't notice was that Mercury had stared at her after that statement was said.

He wasn't sure why but hearing her gloat about killing his dad made him feel… odd. It's probably the popcorn he was eating. Nothing more.

(back to present)

"And then I blew the planet up. The end."

Mercury stares at Cinder confused. "How did you know about the parts you weren't there for?"

Cinder gives a blank stare at Mercury and then proceeds to transform.

"Wow, nice comeback Cinder. Really showed him." Jaune said.

Cinder chose to ignore the blonde fool, she didn't dare waste the energy to acknowledge him.

"Nep, do you feel that?" Oscar asked with a fearful look as Cinder's power grew as her body.

"I taste that!" Neptune screamed a look as fear on his face as well.

Cinder finishes transforming into his second form, a Bigger bulkier form.

"Whoa! She's huge! Like that Hazel guy from Haven!" Nora shouted.

"She sure is..." Emerald didn't know how to feel about this new form of Cinder's. It looked too bulky and tall.

"She kinda looks like a bull with those horns." Ruby noted.

"All done." Cinder smiles a bit looking at all of them satisfied. "And judging by the expression on your face, so are you."

"What...? How?" The usual cockiness in his voice was gone.

"Let's be practical and put a number to that feeling, shall we? Last time I clocked this form it was at... one million." Cinder's smile only grows widener.

The audience didn't know what she meant by that but they determined that it must've meant that she was terrifyingly strong.

Cinder loved it, if only she could feel what that power was like. She might even get drunk from it.

"You're lying!"

"Am I? Am I really?" Cinder sarcastically said, raises her hand and explodes the island that everyone is currently standing on, making an explosion so big that it can be seen from the planet. Cinder is shown standing on what's left of the island.

"Whoa!" Fiona and CVY cried out. This being their first time seeing a destructive force of this magnitude. Whitley also sweat dropped, while he had been pleased with how powerful he was in one of the previous worlds. This was an entirely different kind of power than he thought was ever possible.

"Not impressed!" Mercury yelled off screen. "I can do that, too!"

"Neptune, are you okay?" Oscar asks flying above the destroyed island.

"Yeah, and I've got a Little bow girl right here!" Neptune replied with a grin holding Trifa closely.

Cinder begans sings to. " Peaceful young races with fires on their houses

Millions of voices all silenced like mouses

Watching the cowards bow toward their new king

These are a few of my favorite things "

"Oh great she's singing now, as if this Cinder wasn't terrifying enough." Oscar said while clinging to his seat in fear.

"Is it just me, or is she singing to herself?" Neptune asks but is cut off by Cinder charging at him and impaling him with one of her horns, causing Neptune to drop Trifa.

(Neptune Owned Count: 15)

Neptune screams in pain.

"Oh no!" Ruby cried out. But immediately was off put by the showed counter on the screen.

Some in the audience giggled at the sight of the counter, even if they knew it was wrong.

"Neptune!" Oscar screamed out.

"Well, he's dead." Mercury deadpanned in his head.

"This is... the worst... pai-i-i-in!" Neptune said through gritted his teeth.

"Really? Sure it isn't this?" She looks up and starts shifting her head up and down." Or this? Or this? Or this? Or this? (Neptune Owned Count: 16-21, with two 1Ups coming up in the last two ones)

"Neptune, stop! You're making him stronger!" Oscar pleaded.

"I-can't-help-it!" Neptune screamed.

(Neptune Owned Count: 22-25)

At this point most of the audience were laughing. It was a horribly dark joke, but the presentation was spot on and too hilarious. The huntsmen and huntresses that knew the blue haired boy felt very guilty, but they couldn't stop laughing.

"One down!" Cinder throws Neptune off her horn and towards the lake. "Ah, I think impalement is my favorite way to kill a person."

Oscar begans to shake with rage. "You condescending... sadistic... callous... MOTHERF**KER!"

"Pardon?" Cinder ask with a raised eyebrow but then Oscar attacks Cinder by kicking and punching her in the face before knocking her upward with an uppercut and finally kicks her towards the ground. Oscar then starts charging up an energy blast.

"WHOO! Go Cute Boy Oscar! Woo-woo-woo!" Nora cheered on her newest teammate. His other friends joined in cheering for Oscar's alternate.

Oscar was deeply embarrassed but also very ecstatic that he was able to keep up with the frightening tyrant.

"Oscar SMASH EFFEMINATE ALIEN! Oscar STRONGEST THERE IS!" Oscar thought to himself.

Oscar launches a ki blast directly at Cinder, causing a massive explosion. Oscar is then seen in midair catching his breath. Cinder is seen lying face down on the ground, covered in sand from Oscar's assault.

"Ten points for team ALPN!" Nora cheered.

"Yeah, how's that feel, Cinder?" Mercury yelled out. "Now if you can, why don't you pick your sorry ass up and take on a REAL Saiyan…" Mercury's voice trails off as Cinder is seen getting up with a annoyed look.

"Huh. That happened." She muttered before turning to Mercury. "Mercury, mind sitting right there for just a moment, I need to go play babysitter."

"Oh crap, abort Oscar! Abort!" Jaune called out.

"Think! What would Dad do in this situation?" Oscar began to think to himself in a panic.

A flashback of Sun wearing a backpack showed up.

"Bye, son!" Sun said in the flashback in a big dopey smile.

"Damn it Sun." Blake facepalmed.

"Wow, my other self has some issues." Oscar realizes.

(back to present)

"I'm beginning to think I have issues…" Oscar thought to himself when he got punched by Cinder and hit the ground. He tries to get up, but gets crushed by Cinder's foot.

Cinder turns to grin at the Silver haired man. "So, Mercury. Does this get you angry?"

"It's getting ME angry!" Nora shouts at the screen. Her team, RWBY, Qrow, Ozpin and Winter show the same hostility towards the Cinder in the screen.

Mercury shrugs. "Not really. Kind of a smartass."

Cinder frowns "Well then, why am I even bothering?"

"Because you get off on it?" Mercury said hetaintly.

Cinder grins viciously. "Oh, unbelievably... Huh?" Cinder moves to dodges a disc but her tail gets cut off. She turns to glare at culprit.

"Alright, who has the balls?!" She screams out.

Camera zooms on to Neptune, who is the one responsible for cutting off Cinder's tail. Neptune then turns around and starts repeatedly spanking his butt.

"Kiss my ass, bitch! I'm immortal!"

Cinder growls angrily and flies after Neptune.

"Whoa! Neptune's back up already? I thought he was out for the count!" Yang confused. Happy that he lived but still confused as to how he was back in good shape.

Neptune imitates Curly's whooping sounds while flying away and screams: "Suuuck myy diiii…"

The shifts to Mercury thinking to himself. "How the hell did he get up? Oh, my God, I swear if he used that wish of immortality on himself, I am going to murd... " He stops himself and opens his mouth in shock. And speaks out loud after a short pause. "That... bastard."

"Hahaha-ha-ha! You can't kill an immortal!" Emerald laughed.

"Why are you laughing? Weren't you cheering for Cinder?" Mercury implies.

"I am but I'm also cheering against you." Emerald explains.

"You're despicable, you know that right?" Mercury deadpanned.

The scene shifts to Trifa healing Oscar "Come on... You can't leave me alone here; you're the only one I can talk to!" She mutters to herself.

Oscar eyes open, regaining consciousness."I... you... healed me."

"You are the only one I respect."

"Then why did you heal Neptune?"

"The better question is: why did I tell him he was immortal?"

"Ok where is this girl in real life, I'm starting to like her style." Emerald comments.

"I'm starting to not like this Bow Girl." Weiss concludes.

"Yeah that was kinda mean." Ruby adds.

"But it did give him a helluva confidence boost." Yang points out.

The audience reluctantly agrees with Yang.

Neptune flies back to the battlefield with a huge grin. "Holy crap! Thank God I'm immortal!"

"Actually, I healed you, you idiot!" Trifa said off-screen.

"Wait, so I could have died back there?" Neptune realized with his eyes widing.

"After all that you're just going to tear him down like that!" Weiss shouted.

"Yeah, and unlike the runt and I, you don't get a power boost from it." Mercury replied.

"Hax! I call hax!" Neptune whined.

The audience agreed with Screen Neptune.

"How did you escape?" Oscar asked.

"Oh, it was awesome!" See, She was gaining on me there for a minute, but then I managed to lose her in some crevices, but she kept cutting me off at every pass."

"She didn't just blow it up?" Mercury pointed out?"

"Thought the same thing, but no! So I thought fast and I used the Solar Flare on her!"

"And then you used your Kienzan to cut her in half?" Oscar asked gleefully

"Um…"

Cinder flies back to the battlefield, angrily and screams at them. "I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD WHERE MY TAIL USED TO BE!"

"To answer your question, Oscar. No, I did not do that." Neptune muttered.

"Damn seriously? He could have finished her off so easily, it was literally in his grasp." Coco shakes her head.

"Douse this bitch!" Mercury yelled.

Mercury, Oscar, and Neptune fire a barrage of energy blasts at Cinder, covering her in smoke.

"Did we get her?" Neptune asked

"Neptune, we can feel her energy. Why do you bother asking?" Oscar asked back annoyed.

"I'm an optimist."

"You're an idiot." Mercury said, glaring at him.

"You're both wrong. You're dead." Cinder said as the smoke cleared and is shown to be unfazed by the blasts.

"You know what? I'm sick of this." Oscar said, his face hardening. "If I'm gonna die, then I'm gonna go out the same way Jaune would!" He moves in to attack Cinder head-on.

"Oscar, no!" Neptune goes to fly after Oscar.

"No! What are you doing?! Don't go out like my other self!" Jaune shouted clutching his head.

RWBY, ALPN, and Ozpin were clouded in worry.

" No, goddamn it!" Mercury also flies after Oscar when a new figure surrounded by light appears in front of the trio. The light clears, and the figure is revealed to be Jaune.

"M... Mr. Jaune!" Oscar cried out.

"Yes! Fearless Leader is here for the rescue!" Nora cheered.

The Jaune in the audience let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, well, well! I'm legitimately surprised I missed one of you." Cinder smiles a bit. "But that's just fine because I've been working on some jokes. Now tell me if you've heard this one: How many Namekians does it take to-" She gets sent flying by a punch from Jaune.

"Just one." Jaune said stoically.

"GO JAUNE GO!" Ruby screamed.

Most of the audience looked towards her from her outburst, including Jaune who was staring wide eyed at her.

"Er, you know. Smash Tyrant Cinder's no good face." She attempts to save face, throwing out air punches to diffuse the situation.

"...Yeah!" Nora shouted.

#TFS abridged #dbz abridged #team rwby #team alpn #team cem #rwby ruby rose #rwby jaune arc #oscar pine #neptune vasilias #rwby mercury black #yang xiao long #trifa #cinder fall #salem #headmaster ozpin #rwby #rwby fanfiction #look into the multiverse

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makeste · 3 years

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nah fam he’s just mad that Dabi is deliberately using his admittedly-fucked-up family history in order to attack not just Endeavor, but all of hero society.--Yeah but hero society played a part in letting all this happen. It's like abuse in law enforcement or major league sports. Hero society directly and indirectly allowed Endeavor to get away with this shit. He bought his wife with his money and fame something he was only able to do as a top hero and a society that let's this stuff slide.

I mean, the whole reason Dabi’s strategy worked here is that no one actually seemed to know any of this, which is why he was able to blindside everyone with the reveal. if Horikoshi gives us evidence that there was a coverup and that other heroes and authorities were aware of Endeavor’s abuses and purposely hid them in order to preserve his reputation, this argument might be more convincing to me; but as it is, I’m not sure I follow the logic of this all the way through to the same conclusion as you. any person with power and influence in any given society is capable of doing what Endeavor did, and hiding it. that on its own isn’t necessarily an indictment of that entire society.

Dabi is taking one valid example of hypocrisy and abuse among the top hero ranks, and using it to declare the entire system corrupt beyond the possibility of repair. I’m not saying the system is perfect, because that’s very plainly not the case and we have clearly seen many examples of that throughout the series. but the specific allegation that Dabi is making -- that all heroes are just as fundamentally corrupt as Endeavor -- is blatantly not true. and he knows it, which is why he was so careful about how and when he finally chose to tell his story. he’s being very deliberately manipulative in revealing this in such a way so that it implicates an entire group of people as being complicit in the crimes of a single man.

and he’s not doing it out of a sincere, idealistic desire for people to gain a healthy skepticism and be more politically informed and engaged. he doesn’t want people to come to their own conclusions; he wants them to come to the very specific conclusion that he wants. he’s accusing the heroes of corruption and deceit, but he’s not above being deceitful and manipulative himself to achieve his ends. by pleading with society to “open its eyes”, what he really means is “you should agree with me that all heroes are bad and beyond the possibility of redemption.”

there’s no room for nuance or discussion or reason in the world that Dabi wants; his views are just as black and white as the most indoctrinated heroes’ are. it’s just that he takes the complete opposite stance as them. he wants a world with no heroes in it at all. it’s all well and good to try and root out corruption, but the villains want to replace that system with one that’s equally corrupt (not to mention extremely murdery), except that this time they’ll be the ones on top. and the heroes aren’t wrong for calling them out on their shit and trying to stop that from happening.

okay but we really have to drop this pretense that the villains are some kind of noble revolutionaries here though. the reason they want to tear down the hero system is so they can run around rampant doing whatever they want, taking whatever they want, and hurting and killing whoever they want, with no one left who will be able to stop them. the only people who would be better off under the villains’ rule are the villains. they’re not magically going to solve all of the problems endemic to hero society by getting rid of heroes, because the heroes aren’t actually the cause of those problems; they’re just the scapegoats.

BnHA Society didn’t invent the problems of prejudice and societal apathy. these problems have always been around, and aren’t going to go away by simply murdering the group that’s currently in charge and installing a new group and saying “these ones are better” without actually doing anything to fix the things that are actually at the root of these issues. the truth is that these problems are extremely complex and don’t have easy answers. and all societies struggle with them. but that doesn’t mean the solution is to just get rid of society altogether and assume that people are going to be any better off.

and look, it’s fine to agree with some of the villains’ ideals, because they do in fact have some good points. but I think fandom believes in those ideals a lot more sincerely than most of the actual villains do, unfortunately. and even if we were to assume that the villains are 100% sincere and well-intentioned -- which they canonically are not -- there’s still the problem of them not having any plan to actually solve the problems they’re lambasting. to rehash an analogy I’ve used in the past because I’m too lazy to come up with a fresh one, this argument of “heroes are not perfect, therefore they should be eliminated” to me is akin to saying that because your house has a leaky roof, you need to tear the whole thing down and never build another house again because houses are inherently flawed. when it’s more like, okay you definitely do need to fix the roof because that can lead to mold and rotting wood and electrical problems and shit, but you don’t necessarily need to tear the whole place down. and even if you do, there’s nothing stopping you from building another, better house using the knowledge you obtained from your experience with the first one! and also, the one thing you definitely do not need to do under any circumstances is to tear down the house, and then go and murder everyone in your town.

but again, that part of it boils down to the villains not actually being sincere as far as their stated motivations go. they’re not looking to make the world a better place here. they’re just looking for revenge. which I understand, given their histories (and I’m still waiting to learn more about Touya’s past btw, because I think Horikoshi is holding back on us). but all the sympathetic backstories in the world aren’t going to make it so that they’re actually in the right here. they’re in it to cause pain and suffering to people. that’s it. and so yeah, I don’t feel particularly conflicted about continuing to root for the heroes to stop that. there’s gonna be a ton of backlash against them after this arc, and that will be very interesting to see, but as a reader I think it’s pretty clear who the good guys are here still.

#bnha 292 #bnha meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks #long post

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charlieconwayy · 3 years

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D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) is the best Ducks movie and a flawless coming of age movie

It’s no secret that The Mighty Ducks are a beloved trilogy. The three films spawned a professional NHL team named in their honor, 2021 sequel series, as well as many knockoff films released in the 1990s. But with any movie series, fans tend to rank the films and have passionate opinions on which is the best. For most Ducks fans, the answer is simple: D2. It has the Bash Brothers, Team USA dominating, the iconic “Ducks Fly Together” scene and two Queen songs. What’s not to love? But upon a rewatch of the trilogy, I came to realize that it’s not D2, or even the original, that is the best in the series.

It’s the criminally underrated 1996 D3 that for me, is the most mature and has the most heart. Perhaps it’s that the Ducks are now old enough to carry their own weight on screen. Perhaps it’s that the film takes a look at trauma, specifically trauma in teenagers, and how that manifests itself. Perhaps it’s that the film is maybe ahead of its time, in the way it discusses classism, racism and sexism. There is so much about this overly hated film that makes it the best Ducks movie and a perfect coming of age film.

The movie starts presumably a few years following the Ducks’ win against Iceland. They all look noticeably older - definitely older than the middle schoolers we left behind in 1994 - and all of the male Ducks’ voices have dropped a few octaves. Gordon Bombay, played by Emilio Estevez, is presenting the team (except for unfortunately, Jesse Hall, a leader among the Ducks who would’ve made for a strong presence in this mature film, as well as Portman, but we’ll get to him later) with scholarships to his alma mater, Eden Hall, a preparatory high school in Minnesota. Charlie Conway, played by a young, pre-Dawson’s Creek Joshua Jackson, is the Ducks’ captain and unspoken leader. There’s been much debate over the years over whether or not Charlie is the true captain of the Ducks. Adam Banks, played by Vincent Larusso, is far and away better than practically every Duck combined. Fulton Reed, played by Elden Henson, has shown more maturity and leadership at this point. It’s probably true that the Ducks as a team think that Charlie is Captain because of Bombay’s favoritism towards him (and his mother), but I think that this film makes it abundantly clear why Charlie is the captain.

D3 is Charlie’s story. We see that in the opening scene, when Bombay tells Charlie he will not be following the team to Eden Hall, accepting a job instead in California. We learned in the original Mighty Ducks film, that Charlie and his mother left a bad situation in Charlie’s father when Charlie was very young. We also hear about Charlie’s mother, Casey’s marriage to a new man in the D2, who we can assume from what Jan says, that Charlie doesn’t like. We see in that first film, Charlie’s reaction to Bombay announcing that he is leaving the Ducks after the two of them have formed a bond. It is very clear that Charlie deals with abandonment issues, stemming from trauma in his early childhood. Charlie freaks out when a D3 Bombay announces the same thing, and storms off.

Change is the biggest theme in D3. We see how change affects each of the Ducks, even those who don’t get many lines. Some, like Russ Tyler, played by SNL’s Kenan Thompson, think it’s a good thing. All of the Ducks don’t come from good neighborhoods and we assume that most of them don’t have the best home lives, especially when Charlie tells their new coach, Orion, played by Jeffrey Nordling, that the Ducks are the only good thing that any of them have had. Going to a preparatory school should be a good thing for them. But for most of them, it’s not. The new Ducks (who by the way, three of which are people of color, and one of which, is a woman) are immediately told that “their kind” is not welcome at Eden Hall. The Varsity team claim that they feel this way because the captain’s younger brother was not admitted onto the JV team because of the Ducks’ scholarships, but it’s very clear what they really mean. Russ commented that he’s the only black person on the whole campus earlier, and he, Luis Mendoza (The Sandlot’s Mike Vitar) and Ken Wu (Justin Wong) are the only people of color we see in the film. Change takes a toll on each member of the team. We see it the most in Charlie, but we also hear from Fulton on how the separation from his best friend, Dean Portman (Aaron Lohr), who decided not to enroll at Eden Hall, is taking a toll on him. Connie (Margerite Moreau) and Guy (Garrette Henson) have presumably broken up, as the two small scenes we get of them, they are arguing. It’s a transition period, one that the first year of high school often is. But it’s also a look on how a rich, white privileged world is vastly different than the one that the Ducks are used to.

Coach Orion seems like a hardass, especially when he tells Charlie at their first practice that he will no longer be “Captain Duck” (as coined by D2’s Gunnar Stahl, played by Scott Whyte, who now plays the level-headed Varsity goalie Scooter). This, to the Ducks, is a line in the sand. Ever since Bombay turned District 5 into the Ducks four years previous, Charlie has been their captain. They’re in a whole new environment, where the man who gave them so much happiness and so many friendships isn’t, and their “little Duck tricks” won’t work anymore. Orion thinks Charlie is a showoff, and perhaps he is. This Charlie is vastly different than the sweet, shy Charlie we see in D1 and D2. But this Charlie is older, has just been abandoned by a man he considered a father, and is being harassed on a daily basis for being, as Varsity Captain Reilly puts it, “white trash.” I find it hard to believe sometimes that fans can look at Charlie from the outside, and not see who he is on the inside. All of Charlie’s closest relationships that we see portrayed in this movie, are with women. His mother (who he, as a teenage boy, says “I love you” to in the final scene of the movie), his teammates, Connie and Julie, who he gets a lot more screentime with, and with new love interest, Linda (Margot Finley).

I think now is a great time to talk about the shockingly impressive way all of the female characters are portrayed in this series, particularly this movie, especially for a 90s sports film. Connie has always been a leader on and off the ice. She’s in a relationship with Guy, but it’s not her only character trait. Dubbed “the Velvet Hammer” by Averman (Matt Doherty), she stands up for herself, and for her shy teammates (she literally shoves Peter Mark - a character cut out of D2 and D3 for good reason - in D1 when he insults Charlie) and stands up to the entire Varsity team despite them telling her that they hope they can “fight” with her later. Julie “The Cat” Gaffney (Columbe Jacobsen) is the second best player on the Ducks, despite the little ice time (thanks, Bombay) we see her have. She is the first person to tell of the Varsity, telling Captain Reilly that his little brother “just wasn’t good enough.” She’s a huge facilitator in the fire ant prank and despite the very weird and out of character game she had against the Blake Bears, shows that she deserves the number one goalie slot that Reilly gives her - despite what Goldberg, and the obvious underlying sexism there, have to say. I’ve also always been very impressed with Charlie’s mother, Casey (Heidi Kling). Although she has a romance with Bombay in D1, she makes it clear from the get go that her first priority is Charlie. We know that she took the two of them away from an abusive situation, and she’s a goddamn hero for that. Her scenes in D3 are limited, but they always show her chastising Charlie’s antics and encouraging him to stay in school. It goes unsaid, but it’s clear that she knows that he’s not going to get an education this good in the problematic public school system. But according to Linda, Charlie’s love interest, the private school system is no better. The first time we see Linda, she is protesting the “outdated” Warriors team name. This was in a 1996 kids movie, no less. She holds her own against Charlie, calling him out when he’s wrong. No one aside from Charlie, and maybe Fulton, get much screentime or lines aside from Bombay and Orion, but her presence and the point of her character is clear - not every rich person agrees with the horrible things that wealthy people do.

Back to the plot.

When the Ducks receive their positions, they learn that Banks, as a freshman, has made Varsity. From an outside perspective, they seems obvious. Banks is the best player we see in any of the films, definitely miles better than the losers on Varsity, so it seems obvious that he would be promoted. But Banks is unhappy with this. Adam Banks is a fan favorite character, definitely due to the sweet, understated performance by Larusso, but we don’t see much of him. From what we do see of him though, he underwent a huge character arc from D1 to now. In D1, Banks goes against his father’s protests and joins the Ducks, claiming that he “just wants to play hockey.” Here in D3, we see that Banks is utterly miserable despite playing with some of the best players in the state, purely because he’s not with his friends. At the end of the film, he makes the (questionable) decision to rejoin the Ducks and go against the Varsity. But Varsity seems to feel that Banks fits in with them, for obvious reasons. He’s the only Duck who comes from an affluent background, and he’s definitely the most clean cut. Captain Reilly is visibly angry in the final showdown with the Ducks that they no longer have Banks on their side, as if he’s betrayed “his kind.”

The turning point of the film comes when after Charlie has quit the freshman team (no longer the Ducks), Hans, a father figure to the Ducks and Bombay, suddenly passes away. It’s an insanely dark moment for a Disney film, especially when Bombay returns to the funeral and reminds the Ducks that it was “Hans who taught them to fly” and Charlie storms off, crying. I think Joshua Jackson, in the Ducks films, as well as in Dawson’s Creek, is phenomenally good at portraying teenagers who wouldn’t normally be seen as leading men. Who let their emotions overtake them, who have anger issues, who deal with familial problems. Characters like that in leading roles were almost unheard of in the 90s, and in the upcoming scenes, it reminds us why this side of Charlie that we’ve seen throughout the movie is not the only side of Charlie.

Bombay takes Charlie to the rink to see Orion skating with his disabled daughter, who was injured in a car accident. He reveals to Charlie that Orion quit the NHL to take care of her, and this immediately changes Charlie’s opinion of him, but he’s still unconvinced about rejoining the team. The next scene is without question, the greatest and most important scene of the trilogy. The last two films spent way too much time telling us how great of a person Bombay was, how he was the Minnesota Miracle Man,despite us seeing so little of that onscreen. We see him making mistake after mistake, hurting the team, being an unjustified dick to those around him. But this scene more than makes up for all of that. I’ve put the quote from this scene below.

Bombay: I was like you, Charlie. When I played hockey, I was a total hot shot. I tried to take control of every game. I wound up quitting. So I tried the law. I ruled the courtroom, but inside, I’m a mess. Start drinking. Man, I was going down. But then this great thing happened, maybe the best thing ever - I got arrested and sentenced to community service. And there you were - Charlie and the Ducks. And as hard as I fought it, there you were. You gave me a life, Charlie, and I want to say thank you. I told Orion about all of this when I talked to him about taking over. I told him that you were the heart of the team and that you would learn something from each other. I told him that you were the real Minnesota Miracle Man.

Charlie: You did?

Bombay: I did. So be that man, Charlie. Be that man.

It’s a callback to D2, when Jan tells Bombay “Be that man, Gordon. Be that man.” This scene is flawless. Every good thing that has happened to the Ducks, came because of Charlie’s heart. It came because of that game when Charlie refused to cheat, and made Bombay see his wrongs. It came because of when Bombay first tried to quit the team, and seeing how hurt Charlie was, agreed to stay. It was Charlie who stepped out of the game against Iceland so that Banks could play. It was Charlie who found them Russ. Giving the credit to a young, emotionally unstable teenager, rather than their Emilio Estevez, hotshot Bombay, is the best thing this series ever did.

This movie, in my opinion, is nearly flawless. Every moment has been planned to make the same point - change sucks. Especially when you’re a teenager. Even more so when you’re a teenager with trauma.

#the mighty ducks #gordon bombay #charlie conway #meta #i'm so proud of this pls read gay people!!!

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