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darling-wendy · 1 year

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they made each other fathers

This has been staring us right in the face the entire time, but it's only just registering to me that Kazuki defaulted to "Rei-papa" when he could've easily just said "Rei-niichan" or "Rei-ojisan" or "Rei-san", some other form of honorific. A four year old is aware of the concept of an uncle, he could've gone with that to begin with. It's very interesting that Kazuki instinctively reached for the one honorific that tacitly implies a relationship between him and Rei. Like, somewhere in the back of his mind he said 'Well, if I'm her pretend dad then Rei, as my partner (and it's also interesting that the first time we first see him use the term, it's the ambiguous English loan word rather than either of the two Japanese equivalents), is obviously also her pretend dad'.

And, honestly, Kazuki doing this seems to kinda low-key incept Miri into viewing Rei as her second papa lol.

She was told by her mother that she had a Papa, singular, and that she was going to meet him at the Varint Hotel. Kazuki presented himself as such, and in the specific context of rescuing her, which is something that Misaki seems to have have told her is what a Papa does.

(The expression on her face and her hand gesture and the way she says this sounds like she's repeating something a trusted adult told her rather than something she came up with herself imo)

So, case closed. But then! her papa tells her to go play with this other guy, who is apparently also her papa? He says he isn't, but the seed has been planted, and it sprouts up later.

Kazuki is berating Rei for not just telling the neighbourhood watch guy that he was her dad, and Miri takes notice. Rei once again denies being her dad, but the idea seems to have stuck for her.

Look at her hurt little face after she heard Rei outright deny being not just her father but also some other sort of family member. She's attached to Rei. She wanted to eat breakfast with him and later wants to sleep next to him. And I'm sure at least some of that is having had him introduced to her as another parent. Fortunately, it works out in the end.

(The voice Kazuki uses here kills me softly. There is genuinely no heterosexual explanation for it lmao.)

('All according to keikaku')

Don't look so smug, Kazuki. Aside from taking Miri into your shared home in the first place, you put the idea of 'Rei-papa' into her head.

So, within Rei's overall arc of changing to become a suitable parent, there's this first mini arc of him accepting identifying as her papa, and it's partially instigated by Kazuki. On Kazuki's end, he doesn't struggle with the label (despite and/or because of his past? Kazuki, you are fascinating), but he has his own unique arc around it.

Part of the reason that Kazuki is so fascinating to me is that he's very straightforward but also he masks as readily as he breathes. Rei isn't as demonstrative or expressive, but he doesn't really hide what he's thinking or how he's feeling. Rei's arc with becoming a father is pretty linear; he first denies then accepts being Miri's papa, he gets a bit involved with raising her, he learns the lesson of how he's not doing enough and needs to step up, then he gets more involved and becomes more confident, culminating in him declaring his desire to be her father in an outright permanent way and he continues growing after the main timeline wraps. His failings are mostly due to having no idea of what a parent is supposed to be like. His father wasn't his father, he was his boss. (Imagine being ~11 years old and having your father hit you in the face and tell you that he's your boss, not your father. This is immediately after he forced you to try to kill a rabid dog, arming you with nothing but a knife, and berating you for not finishing it off. Woof).

Kazuki's failings seem to come from him being too prescriptive or blindly using negative personal experiences as an anchor for what not to do. He also had a terrible childhood, but we lack specific details. He seems to have been abandoned when he was young, so young that he doesn't even remember his parents, and so lacked a real example of how a parent should behave. This undoubtedly would've come up as a stressor when Yuzuko was pregnant. I imagine that he would've gone through the beginner level stages of growth that we saw with Rei, if not exactly in the same way. We come to him at an intermediate level where he knows a lot of basics, but gets tripped up by more higher level concepts.

(Pre-school socialisation isn't about establishing dominance and young kids can have an understanding of right and wrong, Kazuki)

Over the course of the series (and especially in eps 7 and 9), we see Rei look to Kazuki for guidance, and there are also times when Kazuki asserts himself (often erroneously lol) as having the right idea of what to do in a particular situation.

Kazuki's papa arc is more about breaking down the ideas he had built in his head about what good parenting is supposed to look like and holistically feeling it out with respect to what Miri specifically--not some amorphous Child--needs. Rei kind of has the opposite problem, operating purely on vibes rather than structure lol, and that's why they balance each other so well.

Now for the reverse. By the midpoint of ep 3, Miri has been calling Kazuki 'Papa' for days now. It's just hitting me that he didn't try to gently let her down and reveal his lie after they got out of the gunfight. [Rei straight up asked her 'What about your real father?' and got a philosophical answer, so maybe that strategy wouldn't work anyway lol]. I guess he might think of it as easier to just lean into being 'Papa' until they got rid of her, but I'm gonna call it an inverse Freudian slip. Especially since it ties into the first moment I wanna highlight.

Rei is emotionally stunted but also very perceptive. He's read something in Kazuki's actions, tone of voice, body language, etc that indicates that Kazuki doesn't actually want to give Miri up. She's been a little torpedo that imploded two jobs back to back, she gets underfoot, she and makes lots of noise, she and breaks things...and yet. He knows Kazuki well and he saw, perhaps, what Kyu saw when Kazuki was having a moan about them in ep 7.

The rest of the episode plays out and ends with Rei, Miri, and Kazuki going home together for dinner, this time as a quasi family unit. They haven't made any declarations yet, they're just kind of feeling and fumbling their way along. They have some ups and downs as they settle into a dynamic. Then it all blows up in ep 10.

[I could write a whole screed about how ep 10 was a necessary--at least a highly valuable--story beat, but this post is already very long. Some other time, perhaps. ]

Misaki comes back for Miri thanks to Kyu, they are successfully convinced to give her up, and then their little unit falls apart. Another explosion comes in ep 11 with Misaki's death, and now Miri is officially orphaned. Rei, as per usual, asks Kazuki what they should do, and Kazuki reveals that he's in a deep, guilt-induced trough.

We see how Misaki's death is weighing heavily on his mind, and he's surely thinking that he got yet another woman killed due to his desire for a family. He processes her 'protect Miri' plea as needing to stay away from Miri--that that's what he has to do to prevent her from becoming the second child he has to bury. But Rei surprises him.

Kazuki's response is a bit cruel, though not entirely unfounded. He had to temporarily ghost Rei for him to realise all the work that goes into looking after Miri. And even though Kazuki left a fridge full of meals, Rei still ended up ordering pizza because he couldn't recognise them as such. He has a long way to go as a parent. But he wants to do it, and he beseeches Kazuki to make the jump with him.

Kazuki's talking back to himself just as much as he is to Rei. "It might not be too late. [for] Normal happiness" is what he said to Rei on the Ferris wheel. At that time he genuinely thought there was nothing else for them to do but give Miri back to Misaki. But that was when he, like the rest of them, thought that simply stepping back would be enough for Shigeki to be satisfied. It's different now. They both know that, but Kazuki is too raw with hurt and guilty to let himself be happy. It's that characteristic manner in which he gets in his own way. But Rei breaks through all that.

This is the moment. Rei, for the first time as far as I can recall, is shown to initiate physical contact with Kazuki in a way that's soft and not utilitarian. While he talks, he even gives Kazuki's hand a little squeeze. He is going way further than he ever has in expressing his emotions. Change has been a motif for both of them, and Rei says it's possible for them with such conviction--that they can make Miri happy--that Kazuki stops getting in his own way. He comes around in the most Kazuki way possible: transitioning their serious conversation about taking responsibility for Miri (and the implications of dealing with the organisation) into a comedic moment about Rei doing his share of the household chores and childcare.

And with that, they're over the finish line! There's still a lot for them to do in the final episode, but this is the climax of their respective papa arcs. Storming the Suwa compound, confronting Shigeki, and the 10 years later bit are denouement. The two of them approached fatherhood from completely different backgrounds and stances and levels of experience, but it was a journey they took together and one which was not possible without the other.

#kazurei #kurusuwa family #kurusu kazuki #suwa rei #unasaka miri #buddy daddies #buddy daddies meta #found family #this is my crack lol

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derrickwildsun · 8 months

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The obsession with wanting "consequences" to TOTK's ending are infuriating and shallow. (Massive TOTK Spoilers ahead)

"Why did they have to change Zelda back?"

Because her kingdom NEEDS her. Everyone, not just Link, is fighting together to get her back. NPCs tell you about things she did in between BOTW and TOTK to help them, stressing her importance as a leader. One of the schoolchildren waits outside her house every day in anticipation of her return. Speaking of which, Zelda was able to take her nerdy interests and love of learning and channel that love into bringing improvements to Hyrule via establishing a school and a research team. The kingdom is worse off without her. The title "Tears of the Kingdom" is important because the tears are Zelda's, and she IS the kingdom since she's all that's left of the royal family. It's kind of like the story of the Fisher King: the King is the land, and if the King is sick/ailing, so too is the land.

The main theme of the game is community. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi had this to say about the game's core theme:

Everyone working together to push back the forces of evil and save their homeland. It's emphasized that Link (and many of the characters, especially the sages) can't do the job alone; he needs help. This even extends to the ending. Link's Recall wouldn't have been sufficient to change Zelda back; Rauru and Sonia amplify his power the same way Sonia and Zelda amplified Rauru's light beam in the Gerudo Invasion memory. Likewise, Rauru and Sonia couldn't bring Zelda back because Link had the necessary ingredient: a motive in the form of his love for Zelda. Just like how Zelda found the necessary motive to unlock her powers and save Link in BOTW, so too does Link accomplish the same in TOTK.

Leaving Zelda as a dragon would have contradicted her character development in BOTW, which amounted to her learning to move past her failure and loss from the Calamity. She also, um, can't figure out "what kind of person she's going to be and what she is going to say" if she's a dragon. The end of her arc amounts to her taking up the role of leadership and restoring her kingdom with the help of Link, the sages, et al. Again, the theme of community, connections, and working together to overcome obstacles.

"Why couldn't she come back with dragon features?"

Sonia explains that Recall recalls an object's memory, meaning the only result of the Literal Triforce of Link, Sonia, and Rauru using an amplified Recall on Zeldragon was to return her to the state she was before she ate the stone. This is why her stone is tied around her neck at the end. She couldn't have leftover dragon parts because she was never a dragon to begin with. Also, the greatest loss one could suffer from becoming a dragon is, as emphasized by Mineru, the loss of self, not the body.

"Why does Link get his old arm back?"

The amplified Recall restored it. Also, thematically, it works better for Link to grab hold of Zelda's hand with the hand with which he initially failed to grab her at the start of the game.

"Changing Zelda back nullifies her sacrifice."

No, it doesn't. She fully accepted she would never change back. She wasn't thinking about the possibility of Link saving her because as far as she knew that was impossible; she made her decision out of love for her kingdom and Link. In the end, she succeeded in her mission (as did Link). If she made the sacrifice with the assumption Link would save her, then I could see this argument holding water. But Link was never going to give up on her because he LOVES her. Even she's in disbelief at having changed back (and very thankful because now she's home). In the secret ending, she says, "I never thought I would stand in this place again." We feel the weight of her sacrifice in the final memory, and the ending provides an emotional release because we the player repay her for all she did to help us and because she more than proved her heroism. I liken it to the ending of Pinocchio (1940) wherein the Blue Fairy changes Pinocchio into a real boy as a reward for giving his life to save Geppetto's.

"Her not remembering being a dragon is a copout."

Mineru explains very clearly that becoming a dragon means losing one's self. You lose all your memories and indentity; you cease to be the person you were. So, yes, she wouldn't remember being a dragon flying around for centuries. But you know what she would remember because it happened before she lost all sense of self?

Though not outright stated, it's clear from the character animation that Zelda was in immense pain as the transformation began to take effect. Also, you can tell she was absolutely terrified in that moment. She knew what she was doing was necessary to save her kingdom, but she's thinking, "Shit, these are my last few seconds before I lose myself forever. I'll never see my loved ones again: Link, Purah, Robbie, Riju, Sidon, the schoolchildren in Hateno, etc. And I'm doing this all on a MASSIVE gamble and act of faith that Link will find me, reclaim the Master Sword, and destroy the Demon King." That's not the kind of traumatic event you'd easily forget. She'll probably be contemplating "Wow, if Link hadn't been so determined, I wouldn't be here now and that would have been my last moment alive," for some time. And no, you don't need to see her suffering psychological effects in-game; that's best left up to the viewer's imagination; there's only so much story they can cram into the game before it's overstuffed.

"Why did Rauru and Sonia come back to restore Zelda?"

Because they loved her, and Zelda loved them. From the moment Zelda met them, they promised to find a way to return her home to reunite with Link. They have an emotional (and familial) connection to her. By helping Link restore her, they're extending a final act of love to the princess they adore so much. It's a beautiful sendoff to them, because unlike Zelda's biological parents (Zelda's mother died when she was six, and Rhoam was too busy being a king to actually be a father to her), they were able to provide for and help her on her journey. It would have been a mistake to not bring them back to wrap up that plot point.

I think a lot of nerds suffer from Cinema Sins/TV Tropes brain: only able to deal in the most literal without any room for meaning. "Punishing" Zelda for her sacrifice wouldn't have added anything to her arc, as the whole point of her character isn't to be a stoic symbol for her people to mindlessly obey. The game deals in second chances, not just for Zelda obviously but also for Link. Link gets a second chance at the end to catch Zelda to make up for not catching her at the beginning; that's parallel storytelling with actual deliberate meaning behind it. Otherwise, the story amounts to, "He fucked up and there's nothing he can do about it." Remember that much like Zelda, Link had enormous pressure placed on him from a young age. He was expected to carry his duties out lest the entire kingdom be DOOMED FOREVER. But with TOTK's ending, he can realize that he doesn't have to worry about that pressure since no one's forcing it on him anymore. He can shape his own destiny and bounce back from a mistake; he doesn't have to lose Zelda forever.

I've already explained that the power Link, Sonia, and Rauru use is just an amplified Recall, but technical explanations aside, it's mainly the sort of scene that's driven more by emotions than by "logic." A good example of a scene that relies on the emotions of the story to carry it is the climax of Disney's Dumbo (1941). Animation critic/historian Michael Barrier writes:

If you're the sort of person who questions why Dumbo is able to fly without the "magic feather" or how Dorothy Gale goes home just by clicking her heels and repeating the mantra "There's no place like home," you probably shouldn't be watching movies.

Special thanks to @avalypuff, @blueskittlesart, @thecagedsong, @aquaticpal, and @nolongerapileofashprobably for their posts on the subject; all of you made some excellent insights on the ending and how it ties in with the game's themes. I'll go ahead and link to said posts for further reference:

#princess zelda #totk spoilers #zelda totk #tears of the kingdom #the legend of zelda #nerds please stop learning media literacy from cinema sins and tv tropes #this post took a lot out of me #but i had to get it off my chest #a darker sadder ending would not have worked thematically

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pennyblossom-meta · 19 days

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L Lawliet: a deep dive into the expanded universe pt.01

EDIT (07/04/2024): Added some imgs.

Apologies for being so late to give this a follow up to @maevearcher's meta which can be found here and here. As usual, she’s made excellent points and I'll try to answer the ones which caught my eye.

Since this post ended up gaining a life of its own and becoming a bit too long, I’m splitting it in 2 or 3 parts. The core of the content for part 01 starts after under the button to Read More.

Here we talk about L's humanity.

I'll start with a disclaimer of my own: while I consider the manga as the base for the story, I'm very much open to the expanded DN universe as a complementary study of the characters and their motivations — sometimes even filling in the blanks for some of the background mysteries, such as the dynamics of Wammy's House and how L's successors view him.

To further clarify: by canon I mean the manga and any works by Tsugumi Ohba as the base material. I think @maevearcher and I are more or less in agreement on that, from what she mentioned in her own posts. As she said, the written word is indeed the baseline truth.

The expansion of the DN universe also has its own very special set of problems; for example, in many ways, L:CtW (L: Change the WorLd) commits the sin of overindulgence by throwing in considerations that, arguably, go against canon. Besides the ending where L lives for a final 23 days and Watari dies, the portrayal of Near in the movie (though in the novel he's also walking a fine line between becoming partially and very much OOC) is also a point of contention. I confess that I really wasn't fond of the way they portrayed Misa as a potential crush of L given canon insights on his opinion about Light whether in the role of Kira or as a person (pg.64 of Vol 13: How to Read, henceforth referred to as V13:HTR), but aligning L to become more humane and forgiving was at least interesting.

The same happens with the live action movies, the 2015 series, and the musical. At least the game Spiraling Trap isn't clashing with canon elements — that I could tell. The main plot is separate from the events of DN and the dating sim is a little slice of heaven into L's thoughts and emotions which I dearly love.

However, while L:CtW does indeed overindulge, the novel AN:LABB (Another Note: LA BB Murder Cases) gives us a singular glimpse into L through the eyes of Mello while keeping the events mostly accurate to the main plot, even with its slight deviations. It's certainly an optional perspective to the core of DN, but one that I always found very insightful. In V13:HTR, Obha mentions how he would’ve liked that there were more novels about L and how he solved previous cases, in a similar fashion to how Nisio Isin approaches AN:LABB. Here’s what Ohba says in pg.61 of V13:HTR:

(...) I didn’t think up much for [L’s] past. For him to be in such an influential position, he must have solved an amazing amount of cases, but I have no idea what kind of cases they were or how he solved them. But I would love for NISIOISIN, who wrote the Death Note novel, to write more stories about that (...)

This means that, to some extent, even the original author, Ohba, accepts AN:LABB as close to canon — or rather, as canon as it can get given the creative liberties allowed to a third party writer. To that point, Nisio Isin took L’s capoeira demonstration during the Yotsuba arc and made it a whole thing in the novel, with L taking inspiration from Naomi Misora’s skills. However, given the importance of that event, in the main story, L takes a while to even remember Misora so we can infer that either the stress of the case is getting to him OR learning capoeira and subsequently Misora’s role in it didn’t leave that much of an imprint on him because true canon didn’t really put that much emphasis into it. Either way, it’s an extrapolation that works. The technicalities can be overlooked given how ambiguous the scene is, as there is more than room to deduce a different past.

At the same time, I am an apologist that there are shared characteristics to L throughout the different mediums. My own interpretation of L's character has the manga as a baseline, but the expanded universe has taught me that there are sides to him that might not be so easy to perceive in dialogue bubbles or illustrations alone. Little things like L's addictive personality or the way he represses feelings are visible in the manga but caught beautifully in the novels, for example.

Going from the written word into the screen also represents a loss of the purity achievable only within the narrative in-book, where you can extrapolate and reach your own conclusions without being subject to the bias of sound and movement — though manga aggregates the visual to words and with it an altogether different dimension of meaning. That's one of the many things I enjoy about elements of fiction introduced through books; the stillness of the images and the narrative are more complex. Every time the baseline gets adapted, it loses something or that something shifts to fit into the perception of others. It ceases being pure and its essence is fundamentally shattered. Like the concept of a musical score on paper that gets played by an orchestra, there will never be an adaptation as good as the source material because it breaks the illusion.

While I can certainly extrapolate and accept the loss, I find that the written word from the novels, the tone of a VA's voice and the body movements in a live action still complement the manga well, despite narrative clashes.

About L’s humanity

Recently I've been re-watching the anime and it's incredible how Alessandro Juliani's understanding of the character resulted in such a well-rounded voice for L. I actually prefer the EN version to the JP because of the voice acting. It's superbly brilliant, even if L becomes less listless. He's certainly still aloof, but his aggressiveness is portrayed more vividly; in contrast, L in the manga feels a bit more dangerous and scary to me due to the range of expressions that the anime didn't manage to add in due to time and budget constraints. If anything L tones down how dangerous he can be. He does this on purpose so that he can trick and trip his adversary, as can be seen during his earlier interactions with Light. At times, L makes a mockery of himself, apparently placing himself in the position of a more demure individual while sharply observing the world around him and forming conclusions.

As to @maevearcher ‘s first point:

(...) An image of this lonely autistic genius, locked inside the confines of his ways, waiting for the right person to come along and save him from the banes of his solitary existence…until he meets Light and realises there’s someone out there who he can relate to, for understanding and stuff. I personally don’t buy too much into that.

The depth to which L relates to Light can be overestimated, but not without reason. Theirs is mostly an adversarial relationship with varying deviations throughout the expanded universe, but if we solely consider the manga then we get this comment from Ohba regarding whether L has any friends on pg.64 of V13: HTR:

Nope. And when he says that Light is his first friend that’s a big lie. He never considers him a friend. He probably secretly thinks really negative things about him.

During the Yotsuba arc, L is at a disadvantage. Light has turned the tables, tricked him into what Beyond Birthday could not do and thus gained a solid position into rendering L almost powerless to charge him. To elaborate on the latter point: BB wanted to create the perfect, unsolvable crime to humiliate L, making him lose, and thus “spend the rest of his life trembling in fear of B’s shadow” (pg.163, AA:LABB); L would know who the guilty party was but wouldn’t be able to prove it or bring that person to justice. As such, L would not be able to solve the mystery. At the end of the novel BB fails due to Misora’s quick thinking and that’s that. However, Light has several advantages that BB lacked, starting with his own social position, charm and the impeccable reputation of a model student and the prized son of a police chief who helps solve cases every now and then.

We can argue that, what truly happens in manga canon, is L and Light showing how much they respect each other for their detective skills, forming a sort of strange kinship within the cat and mouse game, especially when Light loses his memories of the Death Note. The game thrills them and they enjoy pushing each other’s buttons. No one else has ever challenged them like this. That being said, the first time they meet up for coffee after the tennis match, L is observing Light like a hawk, keeps testing him for a reaction and seems somewhat irritated at how much Light talks. I would venture a guess that L doesn’t actually like Light that much, even when he loses his memories. He might even find Light a nuisance when he waves the flag of morality — though this is a common problem L is confronted with when dealing with the Task Force, in particular Chief Yagami and Aizawa. This also places him at another gruesome disadvantage, as he’s surrounded by people who openly dislike and criticise his methods. The Task Force is also extremely wary of the way L pursues Light and think he’s being stubborn without proof to substantiate his reasoning. Ironically, it’s Aizawa, one of L’s most critical subordinates, who initiates Light’s downfall years later once he starts to consider L’s suspicions in light of Near and Mello’s tactics.

Both L and Light respect the game, no matter where it takes them. I would further make an educated guess that Light even preyed on L’s vulnerabilities during the Yotsuba arc, predicting how L might fall into depression for failing at the game. Light was more than capable of understanding that L’s competitive and childish side would make him a sore loser, especially given that he had already “lost” the first round of battles just by showing his face. Even if there is a sliver of friendship between both during Light’s months of amnesia, it’s dead and buried the moment he becomes Kira again.

My conclusion here would be that, while what happened with Light was extreme, it was also somewhat similar to Beyond Birthday’s eternal enmity towards L: the challenge, the need to humiliate and take down the greatest detective, one of the most brilliant minds to ever walk the Earth. There are some notable quotes from AA:LABB that reference what it is to be L, surrounded by future challengers and individuals who both look up to L and want to prove they’re better than him:

Pg.69

By simple arithmetic, L's ability in 2002 was the equivalent of five ordinary investigative bureaus, and seven intelligence agencies (and by the time he faced off against Kira, those numbers had leapt upward several more notches). This is easy to think of as a reason to respect and admire someone, but let me say this as clearly as possible: that much ability in one human is extremely dangerous. Modern danger management techniques rely heavily on diffusing the risk, but his very existence was the exact opposite. In other words, if someone was planning to commit a crime, they could greatly increase their chances of getting away with it by simply killing L before they began. That was why L hid his identity Not because he was shy or because he never left the house. To ensure his own safety For a detective of L's ability, self-preservation and the preservation of world peace were one and the same, and it would not be correct to describe his actions as cowardly or self-centered.

Pg. 117

L was the goal of everyone in Wammy's House. Everyone of us wanted to surpass him. To step over him. To step on him. M did, N did, and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal.

Pg. 160:

B approached Naomi Misora, calling himself Rue Ryuzaki. Rue Ryuzaki - L.L. For anyone from Wammy's House, there could be no higher goal than identifying yourself with that letter - and Beyond Birthday seized this case as his chance.

One of the biggest problems with these quotes is that they paint a very complicated — and, ultimately, suffocating — picture of what it is like to be L. Ohba himself mentions Watari’s predisposition towards collecting geniuses from all over the world and what Wammy’s House has turned into, under the snippet for Watari’s character (pg.60 V13:HTR):

He’s a guy who cultivates detectives for fun. That’s kind of terrible, isn’t it?

Everyone profits from L. Watari becomes richer than ever. Wammy's House becomes breeding ground for geniuses who end up dreaming of a life where they enjoy constant thrill and challenge. However, in order to do so, the dream cannot be complete until the successor crushes the original; until M, N, B and A defeat L. At least one of L’s successors couldn’t handle the pressure and committed suicide. B, known as Backup, runs away from the orphanage and goes on a murder rampage. Having never met L in person, he deduces several personality quirks that the “original” demonstrates, going as far as exacerbating them in order to be creepy and repulsive. Mello, who boasts of having met L in person and being privy to stories about how he defeated several other detectives (then taking their aliases as a trophy) both fervently admires L and wants to step on him.

Step on him. That’s quite the turn of phrase. It does sound scary, doesn’t it? To be surrounded by people who would take the opportunity to pull you down, no matter how much they admire you. They want to be you, to prove that they’re better than you. It’s game and ego. Life and death. Winner and loser.

And that’s perhaps the most blatant summary in approved canon of what it is like to be L that we’ll ever get. We can, of course, argue that Watari cares about L. He’s not only his handler, but also the one who brought him into Wammy’s House. It’s fairly clear that he nurtured (and even enabled) some of L’s most distressing character traits, though I wouldn’t necessarily say it was with a purely utilitarian agenda. It’s perfectly acceptable to extrapolate how Watari might’ve wanted to keep L, a child of great intellectual genius, happy by allowing him to be challenged and properly educated. In fact, AN:LABB (pg. 145-46) even gives us L’s perspective on the kindness that justice can achieve, which is confirmed within the expanded universe to be similar to Watari’s teachings as L confronts Kujo in L:CtW.

"I have nothing to do with him," L said. "To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgment. Certainly I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But that did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested in justice." "Only... in justice... " Misora gasped. "Then ... nothing else matters?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." “You won't forgive any evil, no matter what the evil is?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." "'But..." Like a thirteen-year-old victim. "There are people who justice cannot save." Like a thirteen-year-old criminal. “And there are people who evil can save." "There are. But even so," L said, his tone not changing at all. As if gently admonishing Naomi Misora. “Justice has more power than anything else." "Power? By power ... you mean strength?" "No. I mean kindness." He said it so easily. Misora almost dropped the phone. L The century's greatest detective, L. The detective of justice, L. Who solved every case, no matter how difficult... " ...I misunderstood you, L." "Did you? Well, I'm glad we cleared that up."

I would, once again, venture another educated guess that, while Watari’s primary reasons for starting a program of successors to L was noble, it ultimately backfired on an individual level. Society wise, the letters, as L calls them in L:CtW, are a force for good. They solve crimes, help law forces around the world to keep peace. Some of them even become scientists like Dr Kujo — though she becomes the main antagonist in the spin-off novel. However, the pressure this kind of lifestyle fostered creates a group of individuals who are highly competitive and manipulative. Some, like A, can’t handle it. Even L has his own troubles, being called a reclusive sociopath, possibly by the police forces who treat him as a utility rather than a person. He’s someone they admire and resent, who is tolerated given how effective he is at cracking down cases.

This passage from L:CtW paints a grim picture of the way L suppresses his own feelings as he breaks down for not being able to prevent Maki from being kidnapped (pg. 150-51):

"Light...it hurts. My heart--" It was a hurt that L Lawliet had suppressed, that he had to suppress in order to continue his existence as the peerless Detective L. How had the world's top detective been described in regard to facets of his personality rather than his ability as a detective? He had been called a kinky detective who relished bizarre murders, a human computer capable only of measuring mass murders in terms of cold numbers, a reclusive sociopath. What L thought of such estimations of his personality only L could know. But no one could truly understand L. How L did not and could not forget the faces of thousands of victims. Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives that ended prematurely, the tears of grief-stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terribly to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes--L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was moulded into his very body.”

Even within the clear disparity from the official canon, this passage slaps. It humanises L further, making the detective become a person and not just a machine who is content with his lifestyle. I know there’s a tendency for those who prefer the manga to see L as someone who is unabashedly himself and perfectly alright with the life he lives. I would argue that the Kira case was not only the most difficult challenge L ever faced, but also a series of moments where he had to be at his best — and at his worst. He had to do everything within his power to solve the case, not only because of his pride but because of what he considers to be his sense of justice. Saying with such confidence ‘I am justice’ is a rather cheesy and childish thing to say out loud, though I read it as both what started as a child’s stubbornness and what L became, as he positioned himself as a barrier to prevent crimes.

L suppresses himself, represses his emotions; he tries to control them, as Fu Takashi says in an interview, he is “dependent on games or battles of the mind”. Perhaps this is a consequence of the foundations of his personality. Despite L’s innate stubbornness, it could be argued that this is as much his fault as it is Watari’s, who didn’t nurture L’s social skills as he should have when he was a child. By not having an outlet outside of his hobby, L is trapped in a prison of his own making. Superficially, L is a “smart guy who hates losing”, but what about the rest? What about the things that make him human, the connections with others? In the same interview, it is mentioned how L feels lonely and needs affection. But what affection can you get when you isolate yourself from the world and keep everyone at arm’s length? He’s not a machine. Even machines become obsolete with time, and need outside help to keep functioning.

As for the latter point, if everyone around L is trying to step on him, humiliate him and surpass him, then it’s only natural that his emotional defences would be up. Aside from Watari, whose loyalty he can count on, he’s alone. L has no one else. And everyone around him will have a dangerous, significant probability to betray him.

Next in part 02: About romance, having someone close and intimate, the meaning of the Monster speech.

Tagging @rinneroraito, @flametrashira and @sharkiethrts who might be interested in this meta.

#death note #l lawliet #death note meta #light yagami #spiraling trap #l lawliet headcanons #l lawliet x reader #watari #mello #mello death note #nate river #mihael keehl #near death note #beyond birthday #another note #l change the world #l death note #l lawliet death note

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deathsbestgirl · 6 months

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god. the thing about mulder & scully's conversations in never again, is they're having two conversations at once. and sometimes they understand that, and sometimes they don't.

scully starts by asking him why she doesn't have a desk. and mulder tells her he always thought 'that was her area.' which disappoints her. because they're not on the same page. if she had a desk & a nameplate, the x files would really be hers too. that's hard for mulder to accept because a big part of him believes she shouldn't be there. not because she hasn't earned it or doesn't deserve it, hasn't proved herself, or that she doesn't really care about the x files. or actually, yes because of those things. she has dedicated herself and lost so much, she believes in him and the work, and he can't trap her down there with him. she's supposed to move up & move on, have that normal life she sometimes thinks she wants and mulder believes she wants.

but to scully, it's like there's no room for her. she's a visitor. she doesn't have evidence of her value, to the x files or to mulder.

then he gives her the assignment, acts like her superior instead of her partner. he tells her she was just assigned and this is his life. "and it's become mine."

now mulder's insecurities come out. part of him wants her to move on, but he can't let go of her either. she's made him a whole person.

then he tells her 'maybe it's good we get some time apart' and he doesn't tell her where she's going and he knows she'll go to philadelphia. i think he kind of expects to hear from her. but he's on vacation and she's working. 'at least she's there to keep an eye on things.'

and she's bothered again when he doesn't trust her judgement. it leads her to more questioning & doubts.

in the beginning, she took him at his word. she believed him and she thought she understood. she followed him, and chose him over & over again. not just the work, she chose mulder.

when she was on her deathbed after the abduction, ahab didn't convince her to live. mulder did. she had the strength of his beliefs. in irresistible, she trusts mulder with her life. but she has to be strong for him, she can't be vulnerable. she doesn't want to be someone he needs to protect, someone he'd destroy himself for.

at the end of never again, mulder is angry & petty and he doesn't seem to get it. but i think he understands when he goes to say "yes but it's become mine." it's their work. it's their life. they belong to each other.

but he didn't say it. they both know now, but they maintain the silence.

in leonard betts, i think you can tell mulder understood more than he did at the beginning of never again. he barely voices his theory, let's her say what he's thinking. when she asks for his help, he gives it. he tries to make her laugh. in the end, he validates her. she did good work!! be proud!!

scully's fear & disquiet at the end bring us to her strength & clarity at the beginning of memento mori. mulder's validation becomes him bringing her flowers at the hospital, learning he's the only one she's called. scully held her strength to tell him the facts, so carefully of her fatal diagnosis. his questions lead them to the x files, the other women abductees they met before.

mulder bolsters her, because she isn't as strong as she appears and she has always drawn on his strength, his beliefs.

they maintained silence, but through the cancer arc, they're forced to face exactly what they are to each other, as they continue leaving it unsaid. yet they become so physical, they go further for each other than they have in the past.

in detour, scully tries again. she's not dying anymore. she's in remission, she survived and she's ready. but mulder runs into the woods chasing an x file, and we see scully settle into painful acceptance. she can't be mad. everything's different but it's still the same.

#the x files #mulder and scully #dana scully #fox mulder #txf meta #never again #leonard betts #memento mori #cancer arc #detour

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senualothbrok · 2 months

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Hi hi hi <3

So it probably takes a while for Gale to learn to accept help, freely offered and unasked-for. You have the sense that if Tara had offered him any choice in the matter, he would have declined her assistance with artifacts for the Orb--and if the Orb had offered him any choice in the matter, he would never have asked you for help, either.

What can I do? How can I help? Whatever you need, you have only to ask. Your desire.

Now that you're safe, the world is safe, and you've embarked on this strange new adventure called peace, you realize that Gale still needs some coaxing. Today, it takes all your considerable persuasive skills, and then Gale's love for you on top of that, for him to lie down in your bed and let you soothe away the tension headache that's been gathering for the better part of a day.

"Hush," you say, silencing his protests with a gentle kiss, trying to be stern and soft as you gather his head into your lap.

He's tentative against you, the ever-thinking line in his forehead stubbornly lingering. You run a finger over that line, smoothing it, follow it to its vanishing at his temple and linger over the thin, elegant arc of bone, circling the pulse point there. Tracing a line to his jaw you smile slightly at the scrape of stubble across your fingertips, the softer curl of his hair where it's come out of its tie.

Gale sighs under your hand, the tautness in him loosening. Some of that had been concentration, some of that pain--both have twisted up the muscles in his neck and shoulders, and when you start to loosen those knots, stroking them into relaxation, the sound Gale makes is somewhere between sinful and content.

"Let me," he murmurs vaguely, though you can feel him unraveling, the last of his resistance giving way.

"Later," you whisper.

Hello friend! Domestic intimacy with Gale. It makes my heart so warm. Continuing from your ask...

----

It is a unique privilege, you think, to be in this position. An unparalleled honour, to be allowed to serve Gale.

You know this is a side of Gale that no one except Tara has seen. He has allowed you behind walls erected from years of servitude, when he has given of himself unceasingly, accustomed to receiving nothing in return. So many years with no one but himself to rely on, convinced that any request for help would yield only rejection. It has taken you a long time to show him otherwise. To reassure him that confessing his need would not lead to your abandonment. This is a show of trust from Gale which you will never, ever take for granted.

There is a warmth and suppleness to his bronze-blushed skin which you can never get enough of. You will never tire of the contours of his body, the peaks and troughs where muscle meets bone. You could spend a lifetime learning him through touch alone.

Your fingers have learned the pressure points where Gale’s stress is gathered, the dimples where his ache is greatest. You know when you have reached them from Gale’s gentle moans, the lulling rise and fall of his chest. The heaviness of his head and shoulders against you. The fluttering of his dark eyelashes, and the parting of his soft lips, as he drifts into sleep.

Sleep does not come easily to him. After living so long with the threat of destruction, the looming promise of death, true rest is elusive to Gale. Even now that he is home, even with you by his side, his mind remains so active, his focus so frenetic, that it is difficult for him to let go of wakefulness. You see when the anxieties of the past and present are gathering within him like a storm. You only wish that he could rest.

To see him asleep now in your lap, cradled in your love and care, fills you with a joy that has no equal. Ever so slowly, ever so carefully, you bend down and brush your lips on the smooth space where his thinking line has faded. And you smile at the sight of Gale at peace.

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #ask #drabble tennis

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sunshine-jesse · 5 months

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In defense of Andrew Graves: A character arc in one sentence

HEY! I rewrote this essay and fleshed it out a lot. I'm keeping the original here for posterity, but the new version renders this one completely obsolete. Find it here!

I've focused a lot on Ashley in my past writings. She's my favorite character in the story (and depending on how episode 3 pans out, maybe ever) and I'm pretty mortified by how some parts of the fandom have reacted towards her, so I pretty much made it my life's mission to push back against that. From highlighting the ways Andrew mistreats her, to coming up with justifications for her behavior that aren't just being a manipulative bitch, I really wanted to prove that a more favorable picture of her could be painted than most were willing to.

But in doing so, I've left Andrew in the dust.

In highlighting his flaws and the ways he mistreats Ashley, I think I've implied a level of intentionality to his actions that I don't believe he has. Most of his worst actions are spur of the moment, or caused by a fundamental conflict that exists between his desires and his idea of the way things should be. That doesn't excuse them, obviously! But they do reveal interesting things about his character and how it develops over the course of the game. He starts out as a doormat, but eventually settles on either his bitterness or a sense of calmness and acceptance, both over Ashley.

But what exactly causes this change?

There's plenty of reason to believe that he was slowly evolving before the story took place, but within the context of the work itself, I believe there are two points where he can no longer ignore the changes that have happened to this point, both of which are in the first chapter: The killing of the warden and the 302 lady. In the first case, he was forced to do it to protect Ashley in a way he hadn't done before, or depending on how you look at it, since the death of Nina. But the intentionality was the key point here. After this point, he calls Ashley Leyley, which may or may not seem important at this point, but it's something I'll draw attention to later, so keep that in mind.

Next is the killing of the 302 lady, which is the much, much bigger point. We don't learn much about it until later on- as at first he just gives an excuse about the nail gun that doesn't line up with what we see on the map- but during the dream, it's revealed it was a calculated, intentional killing that he did to make sure there was no evidence left behind, and because Ashley (supposedly) would've wanted him to do it anyway. I say supposedly because Ashley herself doesn't seem to ever want Andrew to kill for her past Nina's death, because he only ever kills for her to defend one or both of them. If you want more evidence that violence for violence's sake isn't something she wants, look at this part in the final dream:

A knife isn't what opens the door, despite it being placed on the ground in that very map. While it seems obvious that the knife (violence) would be the key to solving the puzzle, it's put there explicitly to show you that it isn't. It's not what she wants; what she wants is a flower.

So, why is this important? Why am I centering Ashley- again- when this essay is supposed to be about Andrew?

Because I think it's important to point out the discrepancy between what he thinks Ashley wants, and what she really wants. When Ashley starts to grill Andrew over the killing of the 302 lady, he gets mad. Very mad. Ashley sees it as pointless, as him covering his own ass, but he genuinely did it for her sake, because he thought that's what she wanted, and that it'd make her happy. But what makes her happy isn't violence- or any similarly extreme action for that matter- it's attention and validation. Something he's always reluctant to give her, despite the fact that he always chose her over the alternatives. But despite making that choice, it's always empty and meaningless, because in Ashley's mind, he never did it for her sake.

And hoo boy, does he not like it being framed like this.

But is she wrong, though? He WAS the one who chopped up the Warden, and he WAS the one who chose to kill the 302 lady. Violence is his job, it's all he knows. He has to do it to take care of Leyley, right? To protect her? To keep her happy? Then why doesn't he ever acknowledge it? Why does he never admit that he did it for her sake, to keep her happy?

Because he doesn't know what he sees her as.

In his unique dream sequence, he sees two versions of Ashley; the child version of her- Leyley- and the adult version of her- Ashley. And the differences in the ways he interacts with the two of them are stunning. Leyley is an obstinate, annoying child. She's the one he NEEDS to take care of, and he hates that. He hates Leyley for what she did for his childhood. He hates that he needs to provide for her. He has the option of trying to kill her, even, over something as small as a candle!

But in the room with all the murders, the gilded cage, he sees Ashley as an adult. This version of Ashley is stuck in a closet that he himself has to open- and to choose to see. Their interactions are calm and friendly. She teases him a bit, sure, but she's still helpful, and they have fun together. He doesn't need her, and she doesn't need him. He needed Leyley- needed the candle- but here, there are other limbs strewn about for him to take. And, crucially, he doesn't even have the option to kill this Ashley for one of the limbs.

And during the choking scene, he lets her go the moment she acknowledges that he doesn't need her anymore.

What he really wants is Ashley for Ashley's sake. Not for what she can provide him. He doesn't even need her for sleep, he just wants her. But Ashley has trouble acknowledging this, because he's never before shown that WANT. Only a NEED. She keeps trying to find ways to make him need her, because she's never seen what his desire for her is really like. She's only ever seen him desiring someone else, someone other than her. She's only ever seen him as Andy, because she's never truly seen Andrew, only the violence he can inflict on others. Andrew, meanwhile is arguably further along in the realization of their relationship, because he can see and acknowledge both sides of Ashley.

He can see Leyley, the needy, bratty child who always needs his attention, that he needs to provide for. The one he hates and wants to get rid of. The one he kills for to protect. And he can see Ashley, the one who engages in friendly and cute banter with him. Who comforts and shows him physical affection. The one he loves. The one he kills for to make happy.

He just can't choose which one he wants to see. Every outside influence- from his parents, to Julia, to Nina- makes him see her as Leyley. Ashley herself makes him see her as Leyley too, whenever she brings up all the things he did for her, and calls him Andy, his child self, instead of Andrew, his current self. And as long as he sees that child, he feels like one too, and can never give Ashley anything that comes from the heart.

But he really, really wants to see Ashley as an adult. He wants to take pride in her, how much she's grown, and how driven and competent she really is.

But god damn, does that bitch ever make it hard.

But in the end, it's him who has to make the choice how to see her. Ashley can only see what she's shown, but Andrew can choose.

And in the basement scene, he makes that choice.

If Ashley refuses to leave him alone with their parents, that's it. In one of the most critical and important moments of his life, she couldn't give him the space needed to make up his own mind. She couldn't treat him as an adult. She couldn't see him as Andrew. If she does give him that choice, she chooses to acknowledge that Andrew is an adult who can be trusted to make his own decisions, even though she (perhaps foolishly) believes that this choice lines up with her own interests. And frankly it does either way, but in accepting their mom's offer, her chooses to see her as Leyley once and for all. He chooses not to reciprocate what Ashley showed him. He does it because he needs to, not because he wants to. Because it's his duty, not his desire.

But if he WANTS to?

That respect becomes mutual.

In choosing to treat each other like adults, to treat their relationship as one of desire rather than need, Andy starts to die. From that point on, their relationship becomes a lot more friendly, lighthearted, and playful. They ironically start acting more like children, but to quote CS Lewis:

"Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence."

He's not ashamed of being playful with Ashley, or showing affection towards her. He's grown up. He finally sees her, and himself, as an adult- although he still doesn't show that in full until much later on (more or that later). But in Decay, he still sees her as a child, and to an extent, probably himself. Let's compare the ways in which he reacts to being called Andy. In Decay, he lashes out at Ashley and gets angry, even threatening her. But in Questionable Burial, he calmly says that Andy is dead and doesn't need Ashley's comfort, but still tries to reassure her that she's still needed. He's not ashamed of or hostile towards their prior dynamic, because he's grown past it. He still recognizes Ashley's need to feel needed, but he still RECOGNIZES it, where he was hostile towards it before.

It's a display of respect towards her feelings.

This interaction doesn't happen in the Sane ending, however. He doesn't play games with her and is just a lot less fun to be around all together. Why is that? Because he still hasn't yet shaken viewing Ashley as Leyley there. He still views her as a burden, as someone who needs taking care of. He's calmly accepted that, too, mind you, but he lacks respect for her because she's still a child, in his mind. But in Questionable?

The vision did more than just make him extremely embarrassed and lay his deepest desires bare. It forced him to recognize Ashley as an adult. When choosing between "Never" and "Never say never," if Never is chosen, the burden of thought is lifted off of him. But if Ashley chooses "Never say never!", he has to reckon with the fact that Ashley is an adult, someone who can consent to those kinds of things. Someone who MIGHT. Someone who has agency, and can make her own decisions. And more importantly… someone who can trust him to make his own.

Whether he desires sex or not is secondary; he's always had those feelings and has always been ashamed of it. But now that the part of him where that shame came from is dead and buried, there's no childish impulse to grow up. There's no attachment to the hate and bitterness he had before. Look at what he worries about when he picks up that she's uncertain or confused about who he is now:

This is the one sentence I was referring to in the title.

It's her feelings.

He wants to be fun to be around. He wants to make Ashley happy. He loves her, and not as a romantic interest or even as a sibling. He loves her independent of all that baggage.

He loves her as a person.

In learning to respect Ashley, our boy has finally grown up. But there's a certain intimacy to being hurt by someone else that Ashley isn't getting in this ending, and now she has to reckon with that. And that's really, really hard to do when you're so used to being hurt.

Especially when you're no longer around someone who wants to kill the part of you that needs nurturing the most.

#andrew graves #ashley graves #the coffin of andy and leyley #gaming #tcoaal #tcoaal essay #gravecest

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antianakin · 5 months

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I used to love Ahsoka as a character and I thought she was a really interesting foil/parallel to Anakin but at some point I started to disconnect with her character and be all ‘huh that doesn’t seem right’ and for ages I couldn’t figure out why/what it was specifically that was bothering me that wasn’t just *gestures at post-Wrong Jedi!Ahsoka as a whole*

From airing of tcw s7 onwards and also a little before that in some (but admittedly not all) parts of rebels she just doesn’t act like a Jedi.

Like we’re clearly supposed to think that she does and she uses the Force to do things and she uses lightsabre combat and sometimes she even listens to what the Force is telling her(!) but she doesn’t act the way a Jedi would or should most of the time. She doesn’t use or express their teachings or philosophies or act in any way according to them even when she says she does* or the narrative implicitly claims that’s what she’s doing

(*when she’s around Kanan this gets a bit less notable bc she does act more Jedi-like around him and I can’t figure out whether that’s deliberate or accidental or what it’s supposed to say or mean about them both if it’s intentional)

Before that she was fun and also flawed and I think if they’d kept those roots while either showing how she’d manage to overcome/learn from those flaws or that she hadn’t managed to move past them at all but was still trying her best then she would have stayed interesting! But instead her character gets flattened and her flaws get narratively erased (while still being very much there just not acknowledged in any way and/or presented as though they’re not flaws at all) in favour as propping her up as The Best Jedi TM and making her feel like a caricature of an ideal rather than a real character.

Like I am mid-Ahsoka show right now and she doesn’t even feel like the same character! Everything that made her interesting is just gone and the narrative constantly implies that she’s right even when she very clearly is not???

Writers challenge! Accept that characters have flaws and should have flaws to make them interesting and help drive the plot rather than making them perfect bc they’re your favourite!

Yeah, I don't even mind Ahsoka growing OUT of her earlier flaws (which are primarily the same ones that Anakin was given, like impatience and overconfidence/arrogance) and into different ones that reflect her new experiences and maturity. But it also would've been great to see how those flaws she started with, the impatience/impulsivity and the overconfidence/arrogance sort-of grew WITH her.

Like the way the Wrong Jedi arc shows her refusing to trust the Council LONG before she has any reason to do so and going off on her own to try to prove her own innocence which just makes her look more guilty and pushes the Council into more of a corner while also trusting ONLY the person who ended up framing her in the first place. The way that her more childish impatience and overconfidence has sort-of grown into the more dangerous impulsiveness and arrogance in the Wrong Jedi would've been so so interesting to look at if anyone writing it had been willing to acknowledge that she was in the wrong.

And you could keep going with that in later arcs and have her still be sort-of mistrustful of authority (especially Jedi authority), inclined to believe in her own superiority of opinion, and impulsive in her judgments. That's generally what we see in season 7, especially regarding her behavior towards characters like Mace and Obi-Wan. She believes she's right ALL THE TIME and this would be FINE if the narrative actually supported the idea that she WASN'T. Ahsoka can think she's right, but the audience should understand that she isn't. That's how her flaws got portrayed in earlier seasons of TCW and why I tend to prefer them to later ones. And this would've been a great place to follow up on her comment about not trusting HERSELF. Maybe Ahsoka has sort-of wandered away from mindfulness since she left the Order and so instead of continuing to look at the mistakes she made that caused the Order to mistrust her, she just starts blaming the Jedi for everything. And when she starts making accusations at Obi-Wan, have him point out that not only is she not being fair, but she's not being HONEST, with herself or anyone else. Because truly, it's not the Jedi she doesn't trust. It's not the Council playing politics that she's afraid of. It's her own flawed judgment leading her to her own destruction.

And there's SO MUCH you could do with that moving forward into Rebels, to showcase Ahsoka's continuing struggle with trusting her own judgment and how she's grown since Order 66 and into her place as a rebel where she HAS to trust herself more, but she still doesn't entirely trust herself to be a JEDI. Perhaps her uncertainty over Anakin's fate has a part to play in that. Instead, they just made her a spy despite the fact that a LACK OF SUBTLETY was one of her major personality traits in TCW and never once was she shown doing any kind of real spy work and we don't really see her doing any in Rebels either aside from a few conversations with Hera. We have no idea how she ended up growing into that role or WHY she took on that particular role rather than something that would've fit her existing skillset better. Ahsoka's position within the Rebellion is one of the places I think they really faltered with her because it could've been utilized to genuinely help her character move forward and develop her more as a Jedi survivor. Instead, she's just kinda... there and her entire narrative tends to revolve around Anakin, a problem that persists and actually got worse with the Ahsoka show.

I don't truly mind that Ahsoka is perhaps not acting much like a Jedi, at least not all the time, because that could be a really easy way to give her a journey BACK to being more like a Jedi. Much like the Kenobi show had Obi-Wan acting very out of character and unlike a Jedi in order to have him go on a journey to reclaim that identity and become the wise Master we all know and remember, they could've done something similar with Ahsoka. Let the narrative embrace that she's not acting like a Jedi as an intentional choice so that she can move forward from there and BECOME a Jedi again. This is also an arc that Kanan himself is sort-of going on, so it would've been pretty easy to parallel them a little in Rebels if they'd been willing to represent Ahsoka as anything other than a literal angel come to earth.

The problem with the Ahsoka show is that it DOES give her flaws, but the flaws it chooses to give her are the opposite of what they should be. (This paragraph might get a bit spoilery, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers until you finish the whole show, just skip this paragraph.) Instead of showing Ahsoka as impatient/impulsive and somewhat arrogant, they show Ahsoka being too UNFEELING. Ahsoka's primary flaw in the Ahsoka show is that she's too detached because her feelings regarding Anakin's fall have apparently caused her to pull away from connecting to anybody on a deeper level or something. And they choose to show this by having her literally recite Jedi philosophy of non-attachment and have Sabine push back against it. So now it's not just that Ahsoka is too unfeeling but that she's too much like the Prequels Jedi, the BAD Jedi who FAILED. And only once she lets go of those Jedi philosophies holding her back (and instead explicitly chooses to emulate ANAKIN, the dude who let himself be consumed by selfishness and greed and betrayed everybody and threw an entire galaxy into tyranny) is she able to move forward in her relationships. Instead of recognizing that Sabine is impulsive and arrogant and letting that shine a light on Ahsoka's own flaws so that they can BOTH work on them more, it just chooses to justify Sabine's impulsivity and arrogance instead and Ahsoka needs to accept Sabine as she is and support her completely no matter what horrifically selfish bullshit she does. Moral of the story, never hold your loved ones accountable for anything they do wrong!

Long story short, I think Ahsoka was 100% at her best in her bratty teenager phase in early TCW when the narrative actually was willing to admit she HAD flaws that she had to work through and her character has been completely flattened ever since they decided to pretend she no longer has any flaws and is just always right about everything (except for when she's acting TOO MUCH like the wrong kind of Jedi).

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #star wars rebels #rebels #ahsoka critical #ahsoka tano critical #anti ahsoka show #ahsoka show negativity

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avelera · 1 year

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I do wonder if we get the beginning of Brief Lives in the next Sandman Netflix season, specifically with this moment:

If it's going to be played quite the same way? If they end up skipping straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives (which I think is an excellent idea to be clear) it raises a few possibilities:

(cut for comic spoilers & speculation)

Personally I find this moment a bit weird in general because Dream doesn't even name the woman who supposedly just broke his heart and thus launched the action of this arc. Also the fact we later find out it's Thessaly who in the comic at least (the show can always soften the character as they have others) fucking sucks, for her to kick off Dream's sadness roadtrip of self-destruction feels like such a waste. It also feels weird to imagine babygirl Netflix Tom Sturridge Dream going for someone like Thessaly after his whole arc of trying to be a better person and learning important lessons and also just...being a much softer character who is trying to do better, going for someone like Thessaly (who doesn't even like him by her own admission) and who is also terrible feels like a tragic step backwards in his character development. Not inconceivable, just terribly tragic.

Which has me thinking that one possibility is if they go straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives, this moment above could be about Nada, who does choose to pass on after he frees her, even after expressing that she still loves him. That love is just not enough for her to accept his offer to be his queen and stay (after 10k years of Hell, who can blame her?!).

Point is, this moment instead being part of the long tail of Dream's self-recrimination about Nada choosing to pass on would make a lot of sense and be a much more justifiable kick-off for Dream going on a roadtrip that's an expression of his doubts in his ability to change for the better (and therefore, must he die?). Nada's punishment is so heinous I can easily see the Sturridge Dream being conflicted about his own actions for much longer than he appears to be in the comic, leading to this moment after he set her free.

Thessaly is an immortal, so even if/when she shows up, her having an acrimonious "angry ex girlfriend" reaction to Dream need not be because she was the girlfriend who kicked off the Brief Lives arc, they could have just dated sometime in the past centuries and still have vitriol between them.

And finally, and this is just me being a shameless Dream/Hob shipper, I do kind of wonder how one even justifies Dream ending up with an immortal human like Thessaly when Hob is right there.

Look, in the comic, Hob barely seems to remember Dream exists when he's not there, so there's no feeling of "Why doesn't Dream hook up with Hob instead??" when you first learn about Thessaly. But in the show, you've got the 1789 tension, the missed meeting, the devotion of the New Inn. Dream going for another, shitty immortal brunet when Hob is right there feels a bit like a slap in the face in that context.

And let me be clear, it's not because I'm being shipper garbage that thinks Neil can, should, or would alter the story to appease Dreamling shippers or that Dream dating Thessaly in the show as he does canonically in the comic would be an intentional slap in the face to Dreamling shippers! It is beyond wishful thinking to imagine we'd get more than what the comic offers which is a few beautifully rendered, sentimental moments between them for us to build our fanon ship off of. It's not Neil's responsibility to make it canon so don't be fucking weird about it.

It's more that the show is so queer. The comic is queer too but the show absolutely focuses and centers the narrative on predominantly queer couples and people, more than straight ones. They also softened for example the Corinthian and confirmed he's gay and has some non-destructive relationships with men, he's not just a murderer of gay men. So the narrative is even more queer than the comic.

In the 80s/90s when Sandman came out, the idea of Dream as the lead protagonist being canonically queer I think would have been pretty unlikely. He's very, very het in the comics, with the closest we get to a whisper of him not being strictly het being a mention of Lucifer once being beautiful and some speculation they might have had a relationship.

But the show is so very queer and the energy so charged between Dream and Hob (and the writers acknowledged and encouraged it!) that there is no, in my opinion, natural conclusion that, "Sure, almost everyone else is queer in this, but not Dream, obviously." If anything, it would be jarring to have so many queer characters only to slam the door shut on the possibility that Dream might also be queer.

Which is my roundabout way of saying: I wonder how Thessaly will fit into this at all. I speculate she might be removed entirely from this beat of Brief Lives, in favor of making Dream more remorseful about Nada in a sympathetic way. Furthermore, introducing Thessaly when Hob, another immortal who actually likes Dream is right there the idea that he opts for Thessaly (a woman who doesn't even like him to the point where she plays an active part later in his death) instead after being tortured for 106 years is actually painfully heartbreaking.

So in conclusion: eh? Who knows!

But also: DREAM, Hob is RIGHT THERE! Date HIM, not fucking THESSALY?!

#the sandman #dreamling #thessaly #nada #brief lives #sandman netflix speculation #sandman meta

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thelunarfairy · 6 months

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A very long post about JSHK

I'm going to include a few photos so that it doesn't end up being 3 times longer than it should be hahaha, I'm going to rely on your memory on this one.

Then I had a sudden epiphany, and I've been thinking about JSHK's main timeline. You know, a summary of how the main story (without the branches) is developing.

If I were to summarize the story I would say it goes like this:

"An ordinary school with a tendency towards supernatural events and home to 7 mysteries. Each mystery protects a passage and each of them has two stories. One false (rumored) and one true. If you can uncover all the true stories, something will happen."

At the moment, there are only 3 stories left to be discovered, mystery number 1, number 3 and number 7. Considering that Hanako is one of the protagonists, he will probably be the last (even if it is not certain).

Now, we're in arc number 1, he seems to have a direct connection with the twins, especially Tsukasa, and that's who I want to talk about. Come with me and see how this boy's genius works.

So it doesn't get too long, I'll summarize.

Yashiro starts the story by invoking Hanako, Yashiro later reveals that the person who spoke about Hanako's rumor was Aoi, and we know that all the rumors she hears are from her best friend, so the person who spread the rumor about Hanako was probably Tsukasa (that's a hypothesis)

After they create the bond, she starts to be able to see the supernatural and becomes a piece on the board. Yousei was the result of a change in mokke rumors, his story served to show us how even creatures as cute as mokkes can turn into something monstrous like that. Remember that the one spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

Tsukasa hand hahaha

After that, we have the arc of number 2. First we have the false story, what the rumors were talking about and Yako transformed into a new person, even though her essence is still there. His story came to further reinforce the power of rumors regarding the supernatural (whether mysteries or not) and how yorishiros, those who keep the true story, work. Remembering once again that the one who is spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

Let's go ahead, right after the arch in number 2, we have the confession tree. A rumor that Aoi told Yashiro. This tree was extraordinarily peculiar because it didn't fit well into any context that linked to the main story, my mistake. Because it was because of this tree that Hanako made the false confession, Yashiro cried, and he apologized to her. Okay, but how does this fit in? It turns out that Hanako's gesture caught Yashiro's attention and made her interested in Hanako's past. Remembering once again that the one who is spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

We have the exorcists arc, this arc talks more about Kou's development and the way he and Teru judge supernaturals. It is worth remembering that this is important in the future so that Kou can or cannot help Hanako, in addition to, of course, arousing distrust in us not only about Teru's attitude, but also how Hanako does not accept his own sin, finding it unjustifiable. (And to show us how underhanded Hanako is)

So moving forward, while Yashiro goes to the library to research Hanako-san, Sakura is there and talks about the Tsuchigomori library. I don't need to talk about Tsukasa here, right? The arc of number 5, it is simple and without much action, but it is important. In it we learn that you can only change the future in some circumstances and that Tsuchigomori has this ability that can be used at some point. Besides, of course, he lets Nene peek a little into the true story of number 7. This part of his story is important, I don't need to say, it's short but it reveals to us that there was something wrong in Hanako's life.

We follow Yashiro's dilemma about whether or not to continue alongside the bathroom ghost, when Kou convinces her to continue (do you realize the importance of the exorcists arc now? Kou judged that Hanako wasn't a bad ghost, but became suspicious because of what Teru and Hanako said, so he still didn't know what to think about him) If Kou hadn't had this conversation with her (he invited her to make the donuts with the intention of understanding why Yashiro was distant from Hanako) Yashiro would have left away from Hanako.

She and Hanako have a heart-to-heart on the roof when Tsukasa finally appears. His appearance happened right after Yashiro said that he likes Hanako, this could have several meanings, either because Hanako was falling in love and was failing his duty, or another specific objective of Tsukasa. Sakura had ordered the mokke to put the black crane in the donut bag, meaning Tsukasa already knew this was going to happen and chose to reveal himself at that moment.

While Hanako was in internal conflict because of Tsukasa's appearance, we entered the mermaid arc. Yashiro is tempted to definitively become a servant of the mermaid and break the bond with Hanako. Something that didn't happen because he heard her conversation with Tsuchigomori. He "fished" her right away. In this arc we see Yashiro and Hanako's relationship evolve, he asks her for patience because he is not ready to talk about his own past, and she accepts. This arc is important so as not to make us think "why doesn't he just say it?" XD The bond of trust between them grows here. We later see that Tsukasa kills one of the fish and the Mermaid starts to fear the world of the living and gives up on Yashiro (at least for now) so the arc also served to show that the mermaid will no longer disturb her.

So, we meet Mitsuba for the first time. Initially as an ordinary ghost he reveals to us a small part of his past (so that we can quickly empathize with him) then, when he befriends Kou, Tsukasa appears angry and destroys him (he apparently already had this intention) perhaps because Mitsuba had to do something that Tsukasa wants but the "real" Mitsuba wasn't living up to his expectations. And why am I saying this? Mitsuba is a frequent character, he has a connection with the protagonists and has a lot of screen time, in addition to that Tsukasa is always around him, and he was not discarded after being destroyed, that is, he is an important character who will have a key moment in the plot in the future. Knowing this, I imagine that Tsukasa wanted to remake Mitsuba so that he would have no memories and thus not interfere with Tsukasa's plans. (whatever it is)

Moving on, we go straight to the tea party, where Yashiro was purposely kidnapped by Tsukasa. You already know what the point of this arc was. Tsukasa wanted to send Yashiro nowhere, and she went with Natsuhiko to make sure she went to the right door. Natsuhiko conveniently gets pulled by one of Tsukasa's toys (I already talked about it here and here) so that Nene is alone and goes back to the past to get Amane's key.

Could Tsukasa have used his Kokujoudai to take her there? He could, but apparently he doesn't use them when he doesn't want to attract Hanako's attention. I don't know if you noticed but… Let me give you an example, when Tsukasa attacked Mitsuba he used the joudais, at the same time Hanako's Hakujoudai alerted him about Tsukasa. So, there may be a connection (it's a hypothesis) Tsukasa didn't want Hanako to get in the way so he didn't send her using the joudais

Following this, we have the first arc of the clock where we meet Mirai and discover that Akane is one of the seven. This arc is important not only for that, but to show us that in the future the school will be destroyed (given its state when Mirai moves a few rooms forward into the future) and that Yashiro will die. Hanako was forced to reveal this. We later see that Hanako realizes that her time is running out and begins to think about possibilities to save her. I've been wondering, who released Mirai from the boundary?

Ahead we have the arc of number 3, the return of Mitsuba. This arc showed us how strong Tsukasa is and that even though he has this strength he is unable to remove Yorishiro's seal. Then we see Mitsuba transform into the new number 3. It's important to know this, it was revealed to us that supernaturals can eat each other to become stronger and that the Mystery Seats can be acquired this way, in addition to of course, we reveal that Tsukasa is happy to see that Yashiro is alive and shows us that he has bigger plans for Mitsuba.

It's worth remembering that in this arc we see Yako talking about how rumors can change the form of the supernatural, but even so they continue to have the same essence as the original. Hanako runs his finger over his own seal, which could mean that he identified himself and that he probably went through this previously.

So let's move on to the festival arc where Yashiro meets young Amane. It wasn't very clear if it was actually a dream or if she managed to return to the past (I imagine it's the second option because Amane writes that he wants to see her in the future and little Tsukasa in the red house says he wants to go to that festival with Amane) Yashiro was probably taken to his past because they were holding hands when she was hit. In this arc we have this small interaction between them, and I imagine that this affected Amane more than Yashiro (since she believed it was a dream) and he changed his initial request, he was to be an astronaut and he wished to see Nene again. In other words, changing the future.

Moving on, we have the comedic zombie chapter. Initially we have the naive feeling that he doesn't have a direct connection with previous events, but he does. This entire chapter served to show us that Yashiro has a unique ability to purify, she did this to all the students in the school at once. Remembering that in Tsukasa's first appearance she hurts him when she throws the juice (?) from her bottle at him. In other words, as Teru had said, Yashiro is a special girl.

So, after all this fuss is over, let's move on to arc number 4. The perfect world created at Tsukasa's behest. His initial goal (apparently) was to force Yashiro to kill Amane and Kou to kill Mitsuba, but let's face it Tsukasa was just waiting for an opportunity to force a wish on Shijima and for Yashiro to remove her yorishiro. Did you realize that Hanako didn't tell her to remove yorishiro from number 4? Suddenly Tsukasa appears and says that she will fulfill Shijima's wish, and he sends Yashiro along. After all, he managed to get Yashiro to take off the seal and earned payment for the wish. He probably asked Shijima to make those flyers Sakura was wearing at the festival with petals that go into the eye (it's a hypothesis) Tsukasa was doing that while we were focused on how Hanako wanted to save Yashiro's life.

Let's go to the next arc, here we have a dispute between Teru and Akane about who will get the best grade, I don't need to say that he did this to force Akane to do what he wants, right? He asked that if Kou asked him for a favor in the future, he would do it. It means Teru has something in mind.

The arc of number 6… This arc is so long hahaha but it was important to show us about a part of the Minamoto's past (and to show us that they are not as good as they seem) in addition to the life of one of the young women who they were sacrificed in the name of God. Ah, yes of course, this "God". The arc of number 6 has an important connection with the past, about the village, about families, about Kannagis, about how human cruelty can be bigger than that of supernaturals. Furthermore, we clearly see Tsukasa taking advantage of this, as Natsuhiko stayed with Kou while Tsukasa and Sakura planned for Yashiro to remove the seal from number 6. It's worth remembering that they took the opportunity to show Nene what happens when you don't remove the seal, so we have the revelation that Tsukasa is Hanako's yorishiro. So in short, if Yashiro doesn't remove Tsukasa's seal, Hanako will have to destroy him.

Sumire and Hakubo's arc is very important, it reveals important pieces for the future and how things happened in the past. Their relationship reveals to us that the love between a human and a supernatural may not be the way we expect. Because if a supernatural loves a human, his way of showing love is by devouring her? I'm not going to go into depth about this because this post is already too long, the important thing is that you understand the reasoning.

So we have separation. Something planned by Hanako. He apparently made a request to God to grant Yashiro's wish since he needed a sacrifice (Aoi) number 6 was actually performing the ceremony with her (same as in the village). We don't know if that's actually the case, but that's what everything indicates since Hanako doesn't have that power. The most interesting thing during the entire time when the doors of the supernatural were all (almost) closed is how Teru was committed to making everything return to "normal".

Don't you think it's strange that soon he who hates supernaturals was committed to making everything go back to the way it was? Ah, it was because of Aoi…. Tell me, do you honestly believe that Teru likes her? Isn't it a bit…sudden? A silly excuse to distract Akane and the others from revealing what he really wants? Then. Teru makes his art at this moment, which leads us to

Red house, remember that we are still in the arc of number 6. Well this part clearly exists to show us not only a small snippet about the twins' past but also about Mitsuba's connection with the house and Tsukasa (since they found the photo from the red house at Mitsuba's house) We have many revelations here, most of them explicit, that is, I don't need to mention it, but the most important revelation is that Tsukasa can float through the flow of time and that he was working together with the creature. In addition to, of course, the great possibility that Yashiro and Kou have changed the twins' fate. Everything in this part is extremely important, even the house's fear of fire, as the house disappeared in flames (which indicates that on the day/night of the twins' death the fire was present).

Then, the reunion of Nene and Hanako (still in the arc of number 6). Here we see Tsukasa's impatience, he appears (on purpose) after the two kiss and sends Yashiro to remove the seal from number 6. We've already talked about this, haven't we? Then we have the moment when Sakura reveals some things to Yashiro to gain his trust (at least a little), and also about Tsukasa, while talking to Sakura he says that Amane was irritated but that in the end he would do the job. Hanako didn't go to the boundary of number 6, he sent Hakujoudai, which means he was doing something elsewhere and therefore couldn't go get Yashiro himself, that is, he was obeying Tsukasa.

So, we have the end of the arc of number 6 with him leaving after the destruction of his boundary and we enter the redemption chapters. You know, those calmer, calmer chapters where the characters make up or discuss something from the past. It's the fireworks chapter. Where Kou makes peace with Teru and Yashiro with Aoi, and of course, Nene and Kou have a shallow and quick conversation with Hanako about how wrong what he did was (although he doesn't think so and doesn't guarantee he won't do it again) .

In the midst of all this, we have Mitsuba and Kou's reunion. Do you know why these chapters were important? Here we discover that Mitsuba is a "cannibal" since he is a supernatural and he usually eats similar ones. He is in the acceptance process, but has made it clear that this bothers him. Not only that, but it shows us that Kou is quite compassionate and that he will not follow his family's principles, after all he is protecting and taking care of a supernatural (Mitsuba) let's add that in the arc of number 6 there were some moments that were not shown to us between the two and Natsuhiko, who talks about how a human can become a supernatural. Even Kou's absence in that arc had a basis, but I won't delve into that.

Finally (for now) the current arc, the arc of number 1 this time more related to his yorishiro. I'm not going to go into depth on this one because it's in development and we have little information.

In any case, after the arc of number 1, there will be 3 and 7 left, as I said previously, or, one of the hypotheses is that the three can develop together because they are both connected. Did you notice Tsukasa's great influence on most of the events and on all his genius in connecting things? It's spectacular. It's like he's weaving every moment between his fingers. I was particularly amazed by this boy's intellectual capacity.

If that's the case, sure, but that's what everything indicates. I know there are important points that I didn't mention, but this post is too long. In short, Tsukasa is committed to showing us the true story of the school's mysteries, despite him being responsible for spreading the false ones, and each mystery has its own particular way of showing us. Maybe the story of number 7 will still take a while to arrive, in addition to numbers 1 and 3, we have the story of the minamoto, Yashiro's family, Natsuhiko and Sakura….. Ahhh it's going to be a long journey and I'm going to love following it .

If you read this far you are a warrior, thank you for that because this post gave me a lot of work to do hahahaha a lot of text to write what my little head was thinking x_x hahaha

Anyway, I hope you liked it.

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turtletaubwrites · 4 months

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For The Sake Of Justice ~ Part 22

Pairings: Zoro x Fem!Reader, Sanji x Fem!Reader, Robin x Fem!Reader, Sanji X Robin

This is part 22 of the Series 'We've All Got Needs,' linked below:

Word Count: 5882

We've All Got Needs Masterlist

Ao3 Link (Ch. 12 of We've All Got Needs cont.)

!!SPOILER WARNING!! Spoilers for the anime for the Water 7/Enies Lobby arc (through episode 263).

Summary: You and Sanji fight your way through the sea train, finding friends and foes. As you hunt for Robin, you learn more about her past, and her enemies.

Rating/Warnings: AFAB!Reader, She/Her Pronouns for Reader, 18+ Only, MDNI, Reader-Insert, Polyamory, Pet Names, Swearing, Cigarettes, They're Gross, Don't Smoke, Kissing, ANGST, Relationship Drama, Emotional Hurt/No Comfort, Blood, Enemy Being Drugged, Death of an unnamed enemy character, Violence

A/N: Alright y'all! this is all angst and plot, no smut here. But I'll post another smut scene next, so I hope you can make it through. Also, I'm sorry, but I had to include one of the dumbest battles in the anime, but only because we get to see Sanji being oh so sexy. I tried to make it less ridiculous, lol. I hope you enjoy this part!

Extra A/N: Also, I apologize for the length, I wanted to get us through the train in one go before we head to Enies Lobby 🌊🚂

A moment of acceptance. The crashing waves might take you. Everything could be over.

The moment passed in a frantic scrambling, clinging to the railing of the last train car. Wrapping your elbows around the thin metal, sea water splashed up wildly, trying to drag you into its hungry depths.

Sanji slipped over the railing onto the small deck, and pulled you over, kissing you hard as soon as you were steady on your feet.

The near death and impending violence made your bodies desperate. You drank the salt water from each other’s skin as your heart rates lowered, only slightly.

Sanji pulled back first, cradling your head in his cold hands.

“Stay behind me, Angel.”

You didn’t argue as he laid a gentle kiss on your forehead.

The door opened outward, a uniformed man stepping out to check on the weather.

Sanji reacted, landing a kick that sent the man flying.

Into the well lit car filled with government officers.

You kept behind your cook as he lit his cigarette, stepping inside so the rain wouldn’t keep it from lighting.

The cool weight of your tonfa in your hands felt useless at the sight of so many guns trained on Sanji. The officers didn’t seem to care about you as they started addressing him.

“Hey, hold it. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Did you see that kick? He’s not some run of the mill civilian.”

Sanji took a drag off his cigarette, and you wanted to throttle him for his calm taunt.

“Oh, come on. If you keep saying things like that, I’ll blush.”

The officers started to call for someone to alert CP9, but pride got in their way. The strongest declared his prowess, and you pressed against the wall as they faced off.

Sanji easily kept his distance, avoiding every attack while you and the group of officers watched.

“This is a waste of time.”

Sanji leapt toward the ceiling before bringing his foot straight down on the would-be best fighter, instantly knocking him out.

Chaos followed, each of the officers jumping in to fight, a couple racing toward the door.

You readied your weapons, looking for a way to help, but it was pointless.

He didn’t need your help.

Sanji took care of every attacker, until you jumped in while his back was turned.

I can do this.

A single officer was overpowering you, you couldn’t land a hit on him.

Fuck, I need to be stronger than this!

As he backed you into a corner, you saw Sanji making his way through the few enemies in his path, his eyes trained on your embarrassing fight.

I can’t be a distraction for him.

The tall officer landed a punch to your side, but as he pulled back for another, you held your tonfa out to block, calling out your attack.

“Daydream Thorns!”

He slammed against your tonfa, swearing as he scraped bloody lines against the metal thorns.

“You’ll pay for-”

His eyes went wide as he staggered toward you, and you ducked out of the way as he fell against the wall.

Sanji was leaning over you, brows tensed.

“Sanji!”

Turning with a spinning kick, Sanji took care of one of the officers he’d ignored to come to your side. You leaned around him, and a thrill of pride coursed through you as you hit another.

“Blackout Dart!”

The officer went down as the Sanji mopped up the rest.

His hands were on you, running down your face, your arms, your sides. You held in a wince at the soreness on your ribs.

“Mon coeur, please stay down, let me protect you.”

The urge to be angry was stifled by the fear in his eyes, and the knowledge that you weren't ready to take on so many foes at once. But hiding was not an option. You had to fight.

I have to fight for her.

“Sanji, you’ll protect me better by fighting the stronger guards. Please trust me. I promise I’ll call for you if I need help.”

Sanji’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he looked almost sick as he held your hands.

With another kiss to your forehead, he hugged you to him.

“Your love is so beautiful. You two have a deep special, love, don’t you?”

Sanji twisted around to shield you from those slurred words, but you laughed, pulling yourself away from him to look at your victim.

The officer’s eyes were heavy lidded, a slow smile pulling at his lips as he swayed on the floor against the wall.

“Hold on-”

“It’s okay,” you said as you knelt before the man, holding your arm out to stop Sanji’s movement.

“I hit him with the Daydream Tonfa. He should be feeling pretty friendly right now, isn’t that right?”

The man laughed, nodding at your sweet tone.

“You’re veeery pretty.”

Sanji pulled you back as the man reached slowly toward your face.

“Thank you, so are you.”

Giggles filled the car from your drugged victim, and you couldn’t keep a proud laugh from escaping your lips.

“Come on, Angel, we need to keep moving.”

“Hold on, he might be able to help us.”

You donned a saccharine smile as you leaned back toward the officer.

“You’ve been very nice, do you think you can help me?”

“Oh yeah, I’m soo good at helping.”

He was running his fingers up and down his thighs, humming as he stared open mouthed at your face.

“We’re looking for our friends.”

“That was very impressive, darling. Let’s hope he was exaggerating the strength of the foes in between us and Robin. And he said we'll find the prisoners in the next car.”

“I wonder how Usopp ended up here.”

Sanji didn’t reply as he prepared to open the next car, locking eyes with you before opening the door.

Sanji took care of the officers, while you searched the car. You found cases full of masks and costumes like they’d been wearing on the island, an array of transponder snails, and two wiggling forms wrapped and tied with rope.

“Usopp!”

You ran to him, avoiding the fight as you knelt beside him, already pulling at his binds. Sanji finished the fight, and you felt his presence as he walked up beside you.

“Y/N, Sanji! You didn’t hijack the train just to rescue me, did you?”

“We were-”

Sanji cut you off as he started to light a cigarette.

“I don’t even know what you’re doing here. What’s your name again?”

“Are you kidding me? You jerk," Usopp huffed.

You knew Sanji wanted to save Usopp as much as you did, and you shook your head at his lie, still pulling at the ropes. Sanji promised you that you would save Usopp and Robin, and you didn’t have the energy to call him on his bullshit.

The other prisoner cleared his throat, and you took in his blue pompadour, sunglasses, and what looked to be a metal nose.

“Let me guess. These are some of your pirate friends, aren’t they?”

The three of you answered at once.

“Yes.”

“Kind of.”

“Ex friends. The question is, who are you,” Sanji asked as he looked over the transponder snails.

“I’m the ship dismantler, and leader of the Franky family, Franky.”

Both you and Usopp gasped as Sanji’s foot collided with Franky’s face.

“So you’re the bastard who beat up Usopp, huh? He may be dead to me now, but he was part of our crew back then. How many pieces do you want me to cut you into?”

Usopp crawled free from the ropes you had pulled away, and put himself between Sanji and the target of his ire. You stood, resting your palm on Sanji’s shoulder as you watched his face snarl with barely contained rage.

“Wait, Sanji, it’s not like that now. A lot has changed since then!”

Usopp’s pleas didn’t hold as strong while Franky grumbled threats behind him.

“Seriously, Sanji. Franky’s a good guy. He saved the Merry, at least for a while.”

Heat crept up your throat as Usopp’s face fell, the thought of the Merry making his lip quiver.

“Come on, kid, this isn’t the time to mope. Now untie me, blondie!”

“I don’t mind leaving you tied up like that for the rest of your life,” Sanji threatened, leaning over the man.

Usopp started yelling until the three boys were impossible to understand.

“We need to find Robin!”

Your command silenced the three men, and you got to work on releasing Franky.

“Did they take your pants,” you asked as you moved your hands away, letting him remove the ropes from his lower body.

“Nah, girlie, this is just my style.”

You shook your head at his big smile, not fighting as Sanji pulled you away from the large man in the tiny speedo.

The rain was endless as you huddled with Sanji on the roof. Franky and Usopp were close by as Sanji called Nami on the stolen transponder snail.

Her voice was a miracle, especially when she said the rest of the crew were on their way, following on a separate train, along with some new allies.

Hope warmed your soaked skin, then her next words made your breath hitch.

“I need to tell you guys why Robin’s doing all this, why she’s with CP9.”

Sanji laced his fingers through yours as Nami shared all they’d learned.

All that you had already believed.

She would never betray us. She sacrificed herself to protect us, to keep her enemies from hurting us.

CP9 had threatened to send in a Buster Call, a massive military attack that would annihilate everyone within range. And Robin agreed to go with them on the promise that you would go free. That her crew wouldn’t be touched.

Your tears were lost in the storm as you stared into Sanji’s eyes, seeing your determination reflected there.

Luffy got on the line, and you were silent, frozen with the need to save her. Sanji spoke for you.

“Nami just told us everything.”

“I see, well, you know what’s next.”

The confidence in your captain’s voice was a balm, a small hopeful smile touched your lips.

Then his next words sent ice through your veins.

“Go ahead. Give ‘em hell, Sanji.”

Your cook’s jaw clenched as he nodded. You were filled with equal parts gratitude and fear. You didn’t want to wait to help Robin, but from what Nami had said of CP9, even Sanji wouldn’t be a match for them alone, or with someone as weak as you.

Zoro’s voice joined, getting clearer as he must have stepped toward the transponder snail, but somehow still feeling distant. So far from you now that an empty ache of fear hit your gut.

“Hold on, he’ll die if he fights them now. If he wants to stand a chance, he’s gotta wait for us. Hey cook, can you hear me? Some of the guys on that train are really tough. You shouldn’t-”

“Zoro,” Luffy’s voice interrupted. “It’s fine. If it was you, would you wait? If you were on that train instead of him, and I told you Robin sacrificed herself to protect us, would you sit there and do nothing? It’s no use trying to stop him.”

You wished that you could have seen Zoro’s face, but his silence was enough. Sanji’s face lit up in a manic smile.

“Read me like a book. But thanks, moss head. I never knew you cared about me so much.”

Zoro’s voice came loud, as if he was yelling directly into the poor snail.

“I don’t fucking care about you, dumbass cook! If you let Needy get hurt I will slice every piece of skin off your body, I’ll-”

“Zoro, I-”

Desperation filled his voice when he heard yours.

“Needy, fuck. Needy, please.”

Sanji handed you the transponder snail, giving you a little space while you clung to your swordsman’s voice.

“I’m here, Zoro.”

“Please, Needy, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have-”

“It’s okay, babe. I…”

You choked on the almost words. You wanted to say them now, you needed to tell him. You needed him to know.

But those words felt too much like goodbye.

I might never see him again.

You were rocking slightly now, heavy tears still mixing with the rain and the angry spray of the ocean.

“Please don’t fight, Needy. Please stay safe. I’m coming for you, okay? I need you to stay safe for me, please.”

“I’ll be careful.”

You knew the words were quiet, but you couldn't speak up, couldn’t speak past the painful lump in your throat.

“Needy, I…”

Clenching your eyes shut against the weight of it all, you gasped softly as Sanji touched your arm. He mouthed to you that it was time to go, and you nodded as Zoro reacted to your gasp.

“Are you okay, Needy? What’s happening?”

“We’re okay, Zoro. I’m okay.”

“Fuck… Please don’t go. Please wait for me to find you.”

Covering your mouth as you let out a tiny sob, you steeled yourself.

“I have to go, Zoro. I promise I’ll be careful.”

“I’ll find you, Needy. No matter what.”

“See you…”

You cut the line, and let Sanji pull you into a hug. He rocked you back and forth a few times, kissing your temple before helping you to your feet.

Usopp’s soft voice brought you into the moment.

“It’s crazy how much stuff has happened since I left. It doesn’t feel real.”

“Robin’s in a similar boat,” Sanji replied, bringing all eyes to him. “She doesn’t know about anything that happened with you or the Merry. But while we were busy fighting amongst ourselves, Robin was giving herself up to the world government to protect us. And that includes you, Usopp.”

Franky brought out a useless tissue that got soaked in the rain while he gave a few loud sobs.

“Oh man, that is such a sad story!”

“Why are you crying,” Sanji asked, frowning at the man.

You cut in now, shaking off your own tears as you watched Franky.

“We need to go.”

“No. I’m not coming,” Usopp muttered, catching your breath. “This doesn’t have anything to do with me anymore. You’re about to make yourselves enemies of the World Government. I don’t want any part of it. I can’t pretend nothing happened when the others get here. I still feel bad for Robin. But I’m sorry, it’s not my job to save her anymore. I am not a part of Luffy’s crew.”

Nausea poured through you as you watched your friend walk away again, the rain covering the sounds of his steps on the roof of the train. Franky leaned toward him, yelling over the storm.

“There’s no place to go. Come on, you guys can talk this over, bro!”

“Forget it,” Sanji’s cold voice commanded. “Just leave him.”

“You guys are stubborn as hell,” Franky complained, as you followed Sanji forward. Leaving your old crewmate behind.

You’d made it over another car before you heard someone behind you.

“Hello there! Your friend told me everything. I hear you’re here to rescue a certain mademoiselle. I’ve come to lend my aid. I am Sniper King!”

Usopp had a cloak wrapped around his shoulders, and one of the masks from inside, the yellow painted wood covering most of his face.

You could still see his bandages, his overalls, his shoes. You wanted to hug him, but kept your feet planted.

“What the hell is he doing,” Franky wondered aloud, before Sanji leaned in with a hoarse whisper.

“Come on, just humor the poor guy. He has too much pride to show his face to the crew, but he still wants to rescue his friend.”

With a smile, you waved a hand to him.

“Thank you, Sniper King, let’s go!”

The group discussed plans as you tried not to slip off the train. Usopp didn't let up on his story that he was a stranger, and if the situation hadn’t been so intense, you would have laughed at how cute he was.

Sanji’s plan led you back to the last of the seven cars, and you waited on the roof while the rest of the group opened the door to taunt the soldiers and officers.

Even over the storm, you started to hear the shouts of the officers calling for backup, moving down toward the back of the train. Leaning over the side, you saw them pressing against the door, keeping the soldiers from joining them on the small deck.

Scrambling after them, you leapt across from roof to roof until Franky and Usopp detached the two back cars, laughing as you left the large group of enemies stranded in the ocean.

“Only five cars left,” Sanji declared as you walked through the fifth, it’s group of soldiers and officers beaten and bleeding on the floor.

“The guy I poisoned said the next car just has the kitchen and the chef in it, hopefully he’s not a chef like you.”

“There are no chefs like me, mon amour,” Sanji teased with a wink.

“As a mighty warrior of Sniper Island, I have to wonder if this is a good time for flirting.”

Snorting at Usopp’s scolding, you stayed back as the three of them lined up, kicking in the door to the kitchen.

“Hello, hello, my name is Mad Wanze! Can I prepare some ramen for you?”

The yells and frantic movements of the white haired cook made you pause. Coupled with his bare chest revealed under his jacket, and the filthy kitchen, the picture was jarring.

A quick glance at Sanji’s narrowed eyes confirmed his disapproval.

Wanze didn’t wait, filling a bowl with plain looking ramen. Before shoving it toward you, he leaned over the bowl, and you cringed as a clear line of snot dripped from his nose into the bowl.

“Sorry, we’ve got places to be. You’ll have to enjoy that nose ramen on your own.”

The cook dropped the bowl on the counter before standing in Sanji’s way.

“Hold it! If you want to go to the next car, you’ll have to go through me first.”

“You think you can stop us,” Sanji questioned, clear disgust in his voice.

“That’s right! You can’t get past me unless you defeat my ramen kenpo!”

“What the fuck,” you muttered as the manic cook skipped back and forth across the room, taunting everyone.

You gaped as Franky detached his fucking hand, and used his arm like a gun. None of his shots hit the wild man, and Sanji stepped forward.

“I’ll take care of this fool. Just stand back.”

Sanji flew forward, and your jaw fell open as his kick didn’t land.

How did this fucking creep avoid his kick?

Sanji turned back, looking over the short man’s mop of hair.

“Angel, you stay here and stay back. You two, go on ahead. We’ll meet up with you later. Our first priority is to rescue Robin.”

Wanze yelled as Usopp and Franky bypassed him, Sanji blocking his attacks.

His attacks with fucking noodles.

In your travels on the Grand Line you had seen so many unbelievable and crazy things. Things that didn’t seem possible, people with powers that made your brain hurt when you thought about them for too long.

But this gross man flinging noodles around like weapons was the stupidest fucking thing you’d ever seen.

Especially since he actually seemed to be a good fighter.

The man had wrapped himself in noodles now, and you pinched yourself to make sure you hadn’t been knocked out into a ridiculous dream.

Sanji had landed some good kicks, but the noodles were making it hard for him to get a decent hit in, and he was losing his footing now as he got stuck in that web of sticky strands.

You let out a gasp as the man threw Sanji onto the counter, shattering plates and sending silverware and pots clattering to the floor.

You wanted to help, but knew you’d never be able to get close enough for your Thorns, and didn’t want to risk hitting Sanji with a Dart.

“How dare you waste all this food! I’m going to make you eat every last bite.”

Sanji got slammed into the floor again, then tossed across the room to land beside you, muttering to himself.

Wanze cackled, bouncing back and forth as he continued to rant.

“You can’t get through, and I’ve already figured out your attacks. Since all you do is kick, I just have to take out your legs, and you’ll be finished. Then I’ll have time for dessert with your little friend.”

The man leered at you, splotchy face dripping with snot and drool, and you felt bile move up your throat.

He wasted no more time then as he attacked Sanji full force, but this time his assault of noodles slowed down, going thin as you saw them flying into the air to land on a large platter.

You couldn't help but laugh as Sanji stood, leaving a platter of noodles on the counter as he twirled large kitchen knives in his hands.

Sanji stood calmly, effortlessly spinning the knives in his hands and in the air as he taunted. Your breath caught in your throat as you watched him wield those blades with such skill.

In all the chaos and fear of the moment, you had to shake yourself from your gut reaction.

He looks so fucking hot.

“A chef must fight without using his hands or knives, those are sacred. It’s always been my policy not to use them in battle. But since we’re in a kitchen, and you’re using food as a weapon, that changes things a bit, doesn't it?”

“Trying to look cool, you insolent little punk? An amateur like you shouldn’t even touch my kitchen knives, you hear me?”

“I apologize for my insolence,” Sanji rasped, his voice dark as you clutched your hands together. “But I’m going to show you how a real chef handles his kitchen knives.”

Shivers crawled up your skin as you let yourself enjoy the show. Your lover danced around his enemy, humiliating him as he kicked and sliced. He was mesmerizing, and made quick work of the ridiculous cook.

Sanji walked to you when he’d left the man bleeding on the floor, admiring the blades before setting them on the counter.

“For a pathetic excuse for a chef, he takes great care of his kitchen knives.”

You grinned, fighting the urge to jump on him as he led you to the next car.

I wonder what Zoro would think if he saw how Sanji fought with blades.

That thought was lovely for a moment, before you remembered Zoro’s pleading voice begging you not to fight.

You were back in the moment now, fear and determination pulsing through you.

“You won’t get past me!”

You barely ducked out of the way in time as Wanze charged forward to block the path.

Sanji spun, kicking the screaming man through the door. He flew across, slamming into the opposite door that opened, revealing the four members of CP9 you’d seen boarding the train.

“Stay back here, Angel,” Sanji whispered as he lit a cigarette.

Sanji walked toward your enemies, and panic coursed through you.

We should have waited! I can’t help him. Where are Franky and Usopp?

The ceiling cracked open in front of Sanji, and when the dust cleared you saw Franky crouched on top of a bleeding man who was groaning under the weight, but there was no Usopp in sight.

The four CP9 agents stood slowly, their gaze alone making your mouth dry.

Sanji and Franky fucking ignored them.

“Wow, some entrance. Where the hell have you been?”

“Kicking ass, as usual,” Franky laughed at Sanji. “What about you?”

“Kicking ass,” Sanji breathed out with smoke, while Franky kicked the bleeding man toward the group of agents.

“So it’s you, huh,” Sanji questioned, tilting his head toward the agents. “You’re the ones who kidnapped Robin?”

“Be careful,” Franky warned. “They use some pretty weird moves.”

The man in the top hat walked forward as the bleeding man sat up. He was muttering to himself about killing Franky, before he turned to look up.

“You must be Rob Lucci. I'm the new recruit. Just give me a moment, and I’ll kill that man.”

“Your orders were to bring him in alive, it seems you’ve let your emotions get the better of you.”

You stared at the man, noticing a pigeon on his shoulder that appeared to be giving the new recruit the same cold stare. You shivered at his voice, deep and empty.

“I’ll give you three seconds to run for your life.”

The recruit was panicked, confused, but he took too long. At the last second he bolted away, so fast you could hardly see him. Rob Lucci caught him, insulting him as he collapsed to the ground, dying, then dead.

“Kalifa,” he called to the blonde woman. “In our official reports, state that the new recruit was too weak, and therefore deemed worthless.”

“Understood,” she affirmed coldly, and you couldn’t tell when you’d last taken a breath.

“So these are the Agents of Justice,” Sanji wondered, weight shifting on his feet as the agents moved closer.

“Can’t tell which side is evil, huh,” Franky said, shaking his head as he stretched.

Rob Lucci stood in front of them now, and you wanted to scream for Sanji to run. But all you could do was watch through the doorway, feeling the gaze of the agents pass over you occasionally before returning to Sanji and Franky.

“You’ve come to rescue Nico Robin? That’s a mistake. Her problem is beyond your comprehension. There are some people in this world that were born under an unlucky star. Some people are, for the sake of everyone else, just better off dead.”

Your nails were digging bloody imprints into your palm as you fought not to run forward.

“What are you talking about?”

You could see Sanji’s fists clenched as he stared the man down.

“What if there was a sleeping devil that could burn the entire world to the ground? And what if there was someone capable of waking that devil? Even if that someone was an eight year old girl? Don’t you think for the lives of every other living being, that girl should be put to death?”

“Get to the point,” Sanji growled, while sick heat filled your stomach, climbing up your throat.

“This is the true story of Nico Robin’s childhood. And now she’s accumulated an entire life of crime. Her very existence is a sin, and the only good she can do for this world would be to forfeit her life-”

“Shut your fucking mouth!”

“Angel!”

Sanji grabbed you, holding you back as you snarled. Franky put his massive arm in front of you to keep you from rushing toward that man, his cold eyes assessing you calmly, as if you were nothing but an annoyance.

Your Robin having to live like this. Feeling like her life was worthless. It made you want to scream, to tear that man’s fucking face off.

“Angel, please, we’ll get her,” Sanji whispered in your ear as he fought to keep you still.

“Don’t worry,” Rob Lucci continued in his almost monotone voice. “The World Goverment will kill her as they should have ages ago, but first they will torture her until they find out every thing she knows. She will probably be alive for years enduring endless agony-”

Sanji’s arms left you as he lunged forward. Franky held you back as you watched in terror while Sanji seethed.

“That’s enough, bastard! I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

Sanji’s foot flew toward the man’s face, but he blocked it with his arm effortlessly.

“Her death won’t come nearly as quickly as I would like,” he said, sending Sanji sliding away from him, having to catch himself from falling to the ground.

“I said wait-”

The door to the last car opened, and Robin was there, Usopp pulling at her arm and begging her to wait, to stop.

Robin was right there.

You and Sanji both called for her, and you felt hot tears painting your face in relief.

She’s okay.

“Robin, let’s knock these guys out, then we’ll get out of here!”

Sanji moved toward her, but Robin lifted Usopp with her many arms, then tossed him across the car at Sanji’s feet.

“Robin, what are you doing? Let’s leave,” you begged, ducking around Franky’s arm and moving up beside Sanji.

“It seems that my words mean nothing to you people.”

Robin’s eyes hurt like ice, and you all stood in silence. You opened your mouth but couldn’t speak, couldn’t think under her gaze.

Rob Lucci broke out in laughter while you tried to find a crack in Robin’s walls, tried to see your lover behind all that ice.

“Franky, quick! Detach the third car!”

Usopp had jumped up, gesturing with his command as Franky and Sanji questioned him.

“We’re gonna run,” Usopp declared, voice hoarse with determination.

“Wait,” you tried to argue, refusing to leave Robin, no matter what.

Usopp spun through the air, shouting his attack as he set off a smoke bomb.

You were still frozen until you saw him charging toward you, with Robin thrown over his shoulder demanding to be put down.

Dangerous hope filled you as Franky and Sanji detached the car, and CP9 was sent away in their smoked filled car while you were stranded on the ocean.

But the hope was short lived as massive thorny whips caught your car, and the agents readied to fight. The jostling of the car had sent you flying toward the back, wincing as you crashed onto your right hip and shoulder.

“Now remember, don’t kill the Straw Hats, it’s part of the agreement.”

Rob Lucci’s words were cold comfort as Sanji squared off with the larger man, who’s skills you hadn’t yet seen.

Most of Sanji’s kicks seemed to do nothing, and you heard the other agents discussing their specialized martial arts training.

You crawled your way back, still feeling unsteady in the car as it was battered by the waves.

The long nosed man with the baseball cap spoke to the large man, giving you another name.

“Careful, Blueno. Don’t take him lightly. He may not have a bounty, but he’s one of their top fighters.”

“I will be as careful as necessary, Kaku.”

Kaku nodded in response, and you found yourself panicking, waiting to see why these agents were so feared.

Before you made it beside her, Robin held her arms in front of her chest, calling her many limbs.

You watched in horror as she trapped Usopp, his poor, bandaged body being twisted in pain at her command.

“Robin, What are you doing,” you screamed, racing for Usopp until she sent you a searing glare.

“Didn’t you hear me? Stay out of my business, leave me alone!”

Robin’s anger-filled command stopped everyone, until you screamed Sanji’s name, but you screamed too late.

Kaku flew toward him with a taunting laugh, his kick sending Sanji flying through the air, and shattering one of the wooden benches.

“You Straw Hats are too damn stubborn when it comes to your friends. I’m gonna help you out!”

Franky leapt forward, pushing against the wall of the car. You couldn’t believe his strength as the wall started ripping away, until he sent himself and all the agents into their car, leaving you with Robin, Sanji, and Usopp, disconnected from the train.

Robin screamed that she wasn’t running away, and you felt another moment of hope even through her fear-shot words.

Blueno appeared, a strange, glowing doorway popping out of the wall. Robin moved to leave, but paused as you called for her. She paused this time.

“Please, Robin! I know you’re still hiding something. But we’ll get through it together.”

“Yeah, Robin,” Usopp cut in. “A pirate’s not allowed to leave their crew without their captain’s permission. You need to believe in Luffy!”

Robin walked through the doorway as Sanji coughed, sputtering as he sat up.

“Robin, don’t go!”

“You can say what you like, she will never break her agreement.”

“How do you know that,” Sanji growled at Blueno, still struggling to his hands and knees. The agent towered over the three of you, face calm as he continued.

“Long ago, an island was erased. The navy issued a Buster Call, and burned it to the ground, without leaving a single trace behind. Nico Robin was the only survivor of that incident, just a child at the time.”

Nausea ripped through you, your heart breaking at the thought of such a small child witnessing that much horror.

“She never told us…”

Sanji’s breathless words had you moving toward him, needing to touch him as you heard your pain for Robin echoed in his voice.

Blueno went on, his dark words plain, as if it meant nothing to him.

“Now that her childhood nightmare has been directed toward her companions, she no longer has the will to resist us.”

You and Sanji yelled now, rage bubbling in the air between you.

“You knew that, and you used it against her?”

“You people are sick, you hear me?”

Blueno walked toward his glowing door, looking over his shoulder for the last word.

“All of this is for the sake of justice.”

“Don’t give me that shit,” Sanji cursed, launching himself up to kick at his form as the door fizzled away to nothing.

Silent sobs left you as you watched Sanji yell into the raging sea, pounding his fists on the floor.

You rushed to Usopp, looking over his seemingly endless wounds, trying not to be drowned by the anguish in your heart.

Robin. Robin. Robin!

“Angel, we need to get ready.”

Swallowing another sob, you met Sanji’s red tinged eyes as he leaned over to push your hair out of your face.

“Our captain is on the way, this isn’t over.”

Nodding, you fought the quivering of your lip as you coaxed Usopp up, helping him to sit against the wall.

“Come on, Sniper King. We’ve got more battles ahead.”

“Sniper King is always ready for battle,” he coughed, still managing to sound cheesy through his pain.

You held Usopp’s hand, and Sanji wrapped his arm around you as you waited for the rest of your crew.

Heading to Enies Lobby. The Judicial Island run by the World Government.

The people that had destroyed Robin’s life, and terrorized her since she was a child. The people that were keeping her from you now.

After knowing about her secret pain, about what the government wanted to do to her, you knew more than ever that you’d fight for her. No matter how weak you were. You’d do anything to save her.

Your breaths calmed, and your tears stopped. Sanji rubbed a few circles on your back before standing lookout, waiting for the other train.

Closing your eyes, you saw her face, and made yourself a promise.

I don’t care if I die in there. I won’t let them have her.

Thank You for Reading! 💜

TurtleTaub Fanfic Masterlist

We've All Got Needs Masterlist

Part 23

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I love this arc so much, it gets me everytime.

Buy me a coffee ☕🙏🏼

#angst #sanji x reader #nico robin x fem!reader #zoro x reader #f/f fanfic #Reader Insert #Fem!Reader #mine #nico robin x reader #poly fanfic #nico robin fanfic #sanji fanfic #one piece fanfic #zoro fanfic #x reader #turtletaub fics

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plague-of-insomnia · 6 months

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Will Snake Choose Finny?

Note this post has spoilers for the current arc, especially ch 205.

The biggest question of this arc has been once Snake learns the truth about the circus troupe, which side will he pick?

The time for him to make that choice is approaching, and I have some thoughts.

After finally finding out the truth of the fate of the circus troupe in chapter 205, poor Snake is faced with a terrible choice: side with Doll and help get revenge against Ciel for killing his previous “family,” or stick with Ciel (and Finny), his new family—especially now that he knows Doll is effectively already dead.

I think Yana may have been hinting that Snake will pick Ciel and Finny. Why?

Firstly, Snake makes it clear that he and the snakes consider Finny and the other servants his family, and speaks of them all being footmen, which to me implies just how much they’ve been accepted by Ciel and Sebastian.

But that’s not all. In this arc, we met a new snake—Jonathan.

Jonathan is the one who found the hidden entrance to the underground lab, and what’s more important—he is a rattlesnake.

Why is this significant?

Rattlesnakes have hemotoxic venom. In other words, venom that breaks down red blood cells—it destroys blood.

We know that bizarre dolls have few weaknesses, especially the more advanced models, but ones like Doll and Real Ciel still require regular infusions of blood in order to continue to function.

While most snake venom would probably have no effect on a bizarre doll, hemotoxic venom could potentially destroy them (if they can, in fact “die” again), if not disable them until they can be given a new transfusion.

I think it’s unlikely that Yana would have introduced a new species of snake now after so many chapters for no reason.

It’s possible that they may end up using this to their advantage to give them a leg up in the fight against Undertaker. For instance, having Sieglinde develop a poison that has similar properties to the snake venom that they could coat their weapons with, to give them a more even chance.

But this isn’t the only reason I suspect that Snake will pick Ciel’s side.

All of Snake’s snakes are named after writers from the UK, and while we can’t say for sure who Jonathan is named after (as that’s a common enough name), it’s possible he’s intended to be named after Jonathan Swift.

He was an Irish writer and satirist, and one of his most well known pieces is a very biting essay called A Modest Proposal, in which he proposes to solve the problem of the Irish having too many mouths to feed by having them sell their babies to the rich as food. (It is a commentary on how the Irish were seen as less than human by the English; he wasn’t actually suggesting people do this.)

While we still don’t know exactly what or how Undertaker is using the orphans, or why he’s had them dissected into parts, the horror of using children as “food for the stars” isn’t too far from the world of Swift’s famous work.

Considering how carefully Yana sets things up, I think it’s hard to ignore these details, though if she follows her past habits, we may be launching into flashbacks next month and may not know how this will resolve for several more months.

[ x • x ]

#black butler #黒執事 #snake #jonathan #kuro spoilers #meta #poi og #theory

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princesssarisa · 8 months

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Some people say that Cinderella has been adapted too many times, but personally, I'm glad that so many different versions exist.

I've just been reading some of Tumblr's debates (mainly centered around Disney's 2015 film) about whether it's right or wrong for Cinderella to forgive her stepfamily in the end. Predictably, it's a controversial subject. This is one of the main reasons why I'm glad there are many adaptations of Cinderella. Each has its own unique tone and emphasizes different themes, which lead to different outcomes for the stepfamily in the end. So there's no single way that the story of Cinderella encourages real-world abuse victims to relate to their former abusers. From a wide array of different valid interpretations of the tale, we can choose the ones that we personally find the most resonant.

Here are just a few of the best examples:

Disney's 2015 live action Cinderella centers on Ella's resolve to "have courage and be kind," despite all the hardships she goes through. It's about staying true to your values against all odds. Lady Tremaine's own past suffering has made her bitter, selfish, and spiteful, and she would love to see Ella change in the same way, but Ella refuses. Hence her forgiveness of Lady Tremaine in the end serves as an empowering act; it's the ultimate loyalty to her value of kindness, and the ultimate proof that she'll never be like her stepmother.

Rossini's 1817 opera La Cenerentola likewise revolves around "the triumph of goodness." Although the emphasis is less on Angelina's choice to stay kind against all odds, and more on social commentary: i.e. that kindness and virtue matter more than social status, wealth, or power. So again, it's important that even after she rises to royalty and has the power to punish her stepfamily, Angelina stays true to her compassionate nature, forgives them, and saves them from the financial ruin they've brought on themselves.

Disney's 1950 animated classic, on the other hand, is less about staying true to your values than about hope in the face of adversity. While Cinderella's kindness is still important, the bigger emphasis is on her persistent faith in her dreams of happiness, and despite all of Lady Tremaine's efforts to crush it, her optimism wins. In a story that's first and foremost about faith and hope, it doesn't matter whether the villains are forgiven or punished. Hence the stepfamily is simply absent from the happy ending.

The 1997 remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, on the other hand, has its Cinderella learn to do more than just dream of a better life, and learn that she deserves to be loved and has no obligation to her abusers just because they're her "family." Hence the climax where she finally resolves to run away, which leads to the Prince discovering her outside just in time, and the ending where the castle gates are slammed in the stepfamily's faces.

The original 1957 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical has a similar arc for Cinderella, culminating in her running away. But the script's tone is more playful and satirical as a whole. So in the end, the stepfamily is allowed to attend the wedding, fawning obsequiously over Cinderella now that she's a princess, and it seems that they'll always be a part of the royal family's lives as annoying yet harmless in-laws, much like Jane Austen antagonists.

1955's The Glass Slipper, which averts the traditional gentle and kind Cinderella and instead lets Ella be an angry, unsociable rebel, isn't about any of the above themes. Instead it's the tale of an emotionally scarred, self-hating outcast who finally finds love and acceptance and who learns to open her heart to it. The stepfamily's role in this version is understated, so seeing them reluctantly curtsey to Ella near the end is all the closure we need for them.

1998's Ever After has its heroine come into her own as a strong, clever, idealistic woman who will be an excellent future queen, and teach her prince to be a better future king too. Hence her settling her stepfamily's fate in a way that combines regal diplomacy and mercy with justice: reducing their sentence from deportation to the tit-for-tat punishment of being reduced to servants. The fact that Baroness Rodmilla not only abused her, but sold her into slavery to a lascivious man, makes it all the more appropriate that Danielle doesn't forgive her: an act like that crosses a certain line.

All of these different twists are valid. Each adaptation's different themes suit the story well, and each different ending for the stepfamily fits the tone and themes of the adaptation. None should be taken as the ultimate message of how to deal with abusers. But I'm glad that they all exist and offer different perspectives to explore and choose from.

#cinderella #fairy tale #adaptations #themes #cinderella's stepmother #cinderella's stepsisters #tw: abuse mention

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moistvonlipwig · 6 months

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OUAT Week Day 1: Favorite arc

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know. Or think we know.

But they were never trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen. They were never trapped in our world. They just kept living in the enchanted forest forever, same as they always had been.

And they were so much worse off for it.

Snow White and Prince Charming never had to confront the worst parts of themselves or their society. They never had to learn to accept and love a daughter who wasn't exactly how they'd imagined her. They never had to reflect on their past actions or learn to forgive the past actions of others. They built a kingdom that, much like their own selves, looked like a fairytale but crumbled like sand the moment it was challenged.

Emma grew up with her parents, but they coddled her and taught her only to look pretty and pick flowers and sing. She never learned to believe in her own ability to solve problems, never learned the importance of fighting back against wrongdoing, never learned how to do anything but surrender in the face of a challenge.

Henry, like his Storybrooke counterpart, wanted to be a hero. But he never had to learn empathy or compassion for villains. He never had to face the fact that people are more complex than their fairytale labels make them out to be. He never saw the consequences of black-and-white thinking. He became a knight and then a king who prized violence over kindness, vengeance over forgiveness.

Regina never cast her curse, and thus never learned what a hollow victory it truly was. She never adopted a child or learned that there were more valuable things in life than her quest for vengeance. Indeed, that is how we leave her: on the deck of the Jolly Roger, forever in that moment of pure confusion at the idea that anything could be more important than revenge.

Captain Hook, on the other hand, left the Wish Realm and did learn there were more important things in life than revenge. He had a child, and he gave up everything for her. But when he made a mistake and lost her, he had no support system to fall back on, no one to catch him when he fell. He returned to the Wish Realm, slid into depression and desperate schemes, and only clawed his way back to a better life once he joined up with the characters from Storybrooke.

Robin Hood lost Maid Marian early and never had a child with her. He kept stealing for himself and never chose to put his skills towards helping others. He lived a lonely and selfish life, without purpose or fulfillment, until he stepped outside the Wish Realm and was forced to consider what kind of person he really wanted to be.

Rumpelstiltskin lost both his son and the woman he loved. In fact, it's not clear that he was ever even reunited with his son at all. Thus, he never came to appreciate the value of making oneself vulnerable to love or the importance of doing the right thing even if it comes at a cost. Instead, he sought only power over others. He lost the humanity he once had and gave every part of himself over to the anger and fear within him. He became the ultimate Dark One.

The Wish Realm is fundamentally unchallenging. No one is forced to change or to reckon with their past. No one learns to empathize with their enemies. Everyone stays the way they were prior to the first episode of OUAT in perpetuity, calcifying into caricatured versions of themselves. It is a fairytale without depth, a fantasy world without humanity to ground it in reality. The only way to grow past its stagnation is to escape.

There are some strange and inconsistent wordbuilding choices in how the Wish Realm was written, to be sure. But thematically, the Wish Realm arc is coherent and powerful. It is a celebration of the journey these characters have taken with each other. An acknowledgment that the things you go through in life, good and bad, matter to who you are; that sometimes things we think are curses can be blessings in disguise; that, as Regina will put it in 7.20 "Is This Henry Mills?", "scratches are a part of life." The ultimate thesis of the Wish Realm storyline is that the characters of Once Upon a Time are better for having been a part of each other's imperfect, messy lives. I'd like to think that all of us are better off with these imperfect, messy fictional people in our lives, too.

#ouat meta #once upon a time #userstorybrooke #ouat #wish realm arc apologist hive wya #and it's the story of us

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aspoonofsugar · 1 year

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Weapons Ever After

In the story, Alyx fell from the sky and met with the Hunter Mice, got trapped in vines, fought the Jabberwalker and got her knife stolen by a Talking Racoon.

Alyx too gets her weapon stolen by Jinxy and has to offer both her saddest and happiest memories to get it back. In other wrods, she needs her whole self to find her knife once again.

This ties with something we have known for a while now:

Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool.

Weapons are symbolic of individuality, so it makes sense their price is a part of the person themself. Not only that, but what happens to them is indicative of what is going on with their user's inner world.

This is especially true for the Atlas Arc, which opens up with RWBY + JNR all receiving power-ups:

youtube

The teams' weapons are modified and enhanced because the kids are growing up. And yet, by the end of the arc, they all lose their weapons or have them damaged because of their crushing defeat at Cinder's hands.

Let's analyze each character and how their weapon comments their arc in the current volume.

BLAKE - SELF-REPAIRING BOW

Gambol Shroud describes Blake perfectly:

gambol means to move around playfully

shroud is a cloth used to cover things up

This name refers to our cat girl's tendency to run away (gambol) and to hide her true self (shroud). Initially, she herself is a little bow that moves around. As her arc unfolds, Gambol Shroud comments it faithfully.

Like its wielder, it is broken by Adam, but even if fragmented it keeps being useful and flexible. Blake has its pieces turn into a gun, a hook, a cleaver, a whip. They still work well enough to kill Adam:

Blake is hurt by her ex-partner multiple times, but she is strong and resourceful enough not to let it define who she is. She is more than just her relationship with her abuser and is made of multiple wonderful parts. Just like Gambol Shroud is a katana, but also 2 swords, but also a sickle and his sheat can be used to steal an opponent's weapon. It is as variegated as Blake herself is.

In Atlas, Gambol Shroud is fixed with a technique similar to Kintsugi. This method uses powered gold, silver or platinum to mend breakages, so that they become part of the beauty of an object, rather than something to disguise. This is Blake's development in a nutshell: she accepts her past mistakes and shows a brand new self with no shame.

Blake and Gambol Shroud go through a process of death and rebirth and learn how to heal. Maybe this is why she seems to whitstand her defeat and fall slightly better than her teammates. She has built the inner mechanisms to keep moving forward without being completely crushed.

Similarly, Gambol Shroud is burnt by Cinder, but this time the damage doesn't reach its core. Not only that, but the weapon keeps being used even after Blake's fall. It briefly becomes a memento for Weiss, who wields it as if she were holding the hands of her teammates:

Poignantly Blake finds it rather easily in Ever After precisely because Weiss has an idea of where it may be.

So, Gambol Shroud becomes symbolic of Blake's relationships with her teammates (Yang and Weiss especially). This is interesting because Blake is currently trying to guide the group and to keep it together.

Finally, Blake has to face the Hunter Mice to get her weapon back:

Mouse Leader: And on this day, we were not the prey, but the hunters!

Isn't it amusing that a Huntress's weapon is used as bait by a bunch of mice to trap a cat? Maybe the Ever After is trying to challenge Blake and her friends on what being Huntresses truly means and how it is easy to turn from hunter to prey, from human to monster.

YANG - DISARMING LOVE

Ember Celica convey Yang's many layers:

they appear as bracelets, as Yang is an eye-candy hot girl

they turn into gauntlets, as Yang is a hot-blooded fighter

they become asymmetrical, as Yang loses an arm because of her hot-headedness

This last point is the most important and the focus in Ever After.

Little: Steal? Never! They just take the things we are not looking at. Fair is fair.

According to Little, Jinxy doesn't steal, but takes things which are not looked at. In other words, they go after whatever is neglected. It is then meaningful they choose to collect Yang's arm of all things. After all, our Goldilocks has had her arm stolen twice now and both times for the same reason. She loses an arm because she protects a loved one.

In Beacon, Adam cuts her arm off when she tries to save Blake. In the Ever After, Jinxy grabs her prosthetic when she is consciousless after protecting Ruby. This is probably why the price to get it back is:

Jinxy: Knowing what it is to feel loved. A fair price for some, I'd say.

Jinxy's request can mean 2 different things for Yang's character:

Yang lost her arm to save both Blake and Ruby's lives. Then what if she did not do it? She may still have her arm, but maybe Blake and Ruby would be dead. Is Yang ready to sacrifice her loved ones for her arm?

Yang is ready to jump into harm's way for Blake and Ruby. Does she do it because she loves them or because she is scared they would not love her back if she doesn't? Is love that needs her to give an arm for others true love?

This is the conflict the auction lies out for Yang. It makes sense for her not to give up on the feeling to be loved for a mechanical arm, right? And yet, why should she leave behind her arm so that she can be loved?

What is the right choice? And is there really no other choice?

As you can see, Jinxy's words highlight Yang's complex. She unconsciously sees love as conditional:

Yang: Do you… think she thinks less of me… for not helping out with Amity?

What if Blake stops loving her because they disagree? What if Ruby gets hurt in Mistral while Tai is looking after Yang? Would Tai love her any less?

In a volume which is clearly going to explore Yang's relationship with both Ruby and Blake this complex is bound to surface. Only in this way she can start working through it.

WEISS - EMPTY FLOWER

Myrtenaster represents Weiss's duality:

It is a sword because Weiss is a knight

It works like a wand because Weiss is a magical girl

She is warrior and queen, male and female, anima and animus. At the same time, her weapon also shows her ice and sugar personality. It is apparently stiff (gray) and rigid, as it doesn't change form. Inside, though, it is full of colors and can be used in multiple ways thanks to Glyphs. Similarly, Weiss appears cold, but has a rich interior world, made of dreams and feelings.

This double side of Weiss can be found even in Dust, which is the key element of her fighting style. Dust represents Weiss's versatility, but also the privilege she was born in. And yet, the latter is gone right now:

Weiss: It's... it's all gone... There is nothing left for me to go back to.

And Weiss is out of Dust:

Weiss: Well, good news, I’m low on Dust.

For better or worse Atlas and the SDC are a big part of Weiss's life, but they are both gone. In this situation, it is interesting Weiss is the only one who so far has not lost her weapon. This can be read in 2 different ways:

Weiss's identity has grown strong enough not to be tied to Atlas and the SDC anymore. Obviously, she is shaken, but not completely broken.

Weiss is currently clinging to an empty vessel of herself. This may be why she thightly grabs Myrtenaster the moment she admits how much she lost:

Should she do it or should she just let go?

This conflict may tie with Weiss's weapon being the only one, which doesn't get modified in Atlas. It is because Weiss's fighting style is already perfect, but there may be another explanation. Weiss doesn't change in Atlas because she already has all that Atlas has to offer. Her real challenge is then to transform now that Atlas is gone. She is empty, but by letting go she can re-invent herself.

JAUNE - BREAKING DEATH

Crocea Mors is linked to legacy in 2 different ways:

It is an object Jaune inherited from his great-great-grandfather, so it symbolizes the Arcs' history

It is later modified by using Pyrrha's metal, so it comes to embody what Pyrrha represents in Jaune's life

So, Crocea Mors is two legacies combined. Two people Jaune wants to become more similar to. At the same time, it parallels Jaune's development. As he grows, the weapon changes, as well. It is introduced as a lame hand-me-down, but both its attack and power (Mistral) and its defence and versatility (Atlas) get enhanced. Basically, as Jaune's identity becomes rounder and rounder, so does Crocea Mors.

It slowly transforms into the perfect weapon for a Knight. A sword and a shield ready to fight for the people. And yet, in the volume 8 climax, Jaune uses it to kill Penny. So, Jaune's identity as a Knight shatters, just like his sword.

What now?

If Jaune is indeed the Rusted Knight, then it may be he is stubbornly clinging to an already broken identity:

Curious Cat: Time changes, you know? And so do we when it's our time to change, don't you?

In order to evolve, you must accept death,grief and destruction. Only if you do, you can be remade.

At the same time, the idea of a Knight trapped inside a rusted armor ties with Jaune's metal motif. In alchemy there is a scale of 7 metals: lead, tin, iron, copper, mercury, silver and gold. The objective is to transform the lead into gold. This is Jaune's arc in a nutshell.

He starts off as lead. He is inexperienced, ignorant and unrefined, but then he meets Pyrrha. Pyrrha is already gold by the beginning of the series. Hence why her golden armor, which contrasts with Jaune's white and gray one:

Not only that, but Pyrrha's semblance is literally about manipulating metals. So, she sees Jaune's raw potential and decides to turn the lead into gold. She is the one who starts the process.

After her death, Jaune keeps on evolving:

He goes from lead to tin in Mistral, when he changes his armor

He strenghtens his sense of self and blooms into iron in Atlas, where he also gains more golden details

However, he then kills Penny, who represents the properties of Copper (love and beauty)

As a result, I would not be surprised if he were now stuck. Symbolically trapped inside an armour because he can't stop being iron, while he should keep on going to reach gold. In order to change, though, he should face what he has done and let go of his current knight identity. It used to fit him, but has right now grown too small, just like his previous armor. It may be time to look for something else.

Speaking of which, isn't this golden woman interesting?

As @blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites noticed she is a blacksmith and may be the reason why Jaune is trapped inside an armor. In general, the idea of a golden woman, who is also a blacksmith (aka that works metals) reminds me of Pyrrha. Since Little may be in the story to help Ruby face her grief over Penny and her child-self, then this woman may have a similar function for Jaune. What if she is there to help him work through his guilt over Pyrrha's death and his hero complex?

We'll see how it goes, but so far Jaune is the only one whose weapon has been shattered and this might be his chance to build it anew. He might even make his own weapon instead of relying on someone else's legacy.

NEOPOLITAN - SELF MADE PARASOL

Hush represents who Neo is: Hush is a parasol that can be used as a shield and with a blade inside. It is the perfect weapon for a student of an Academy that superficially teaches girls how to be ladies and secretely trains spies. It combines the elegance of an accessory with the lethality of a weapon.

At the same time, Hush is clearly complementary to Melodic Cudgel. The former is a silent blade, while the latter is a flashy and noisy gun. The former is Neo’s message to the world to shut up. The latter is Roman’s enjoyment of the pain of others that sounds like a melody. So, Hush is perfect for the partner in crime of Roman Torchwick.

It is a weapon that fits both Lady Beat’s spy and Roman’s friend. The point is that Neo can’t keep being both. She can’t keep being Trivia Vanille and Neopolitan. She must choose.

Neo's parasol is symbolic of Neo's real self and it combines her many layers. It is also something Roman gifted her with, so, together with his hat, it is part of his legacy to her. Just like Neo herself is Roman's legacy. She is a person Roman loved and helped grow. The key to overcoming her grief is for Neo to realize this. Yet, she can't and maybe this is why she doesn't look for her weapon, but simply makes a new version of it by using her semblance (or so it seems tbh).

This may very well be because Neo is not trying to change or to self-reflect, but is projecting her anger and sadness over other people. This is why she immediately transforms into the 2 people she hates the most: Ruby and Cinder. Then, she lets her semblance out and... be it because it naturally evolves or be it because of the place she is... a tons of Neo immediately pop up...

And yet, who is the real one?

The Ever After may be at the same time the best and the worst place for Neo, right now. It is the best fit for her semblance. Overactive Imagination is about projecting the inside out, after all. It is about letting everything she represses take a real shape in the outside world. So, it makes sense that the Ever After amplifies its effect. However, letting our emotions go rampant without filtering them may lead to a disaster.

Symbolically, Neo may very well lose her real self. Just like she has lost her weapon and is replacing it with an illusion. Will Neo find herself again or will she stay in the Ever After forever?

(On an unrelated note, I am looking forward to how Neo's semblance is going to influence the Ever After:

Like, are these shadows all "characters" Neo creates? Is she gonna materialize the younger Ruby illusion on the bridge? Does it mean her semblance has evolved so that now her illusions can talk?

If Ruby and the others are stepping into the role of protagonists, then Neo may very well be using her semblance to step into the role of a writer:

I would not be surprised if she conquers the Ever After, at least temporally. It would be fun to see if the Ever After conquers her in return.)

RUBY - GROWING MOON

Crescent rose means "A growing-up Ruby". After all, Ruby herself is a rose (Ruby Rose) and crescent means "to grow up". So, her weapon describes Ruby herself: a young child, who grows up stronger and stronger... or does she?

It is obvious Ruby is not a smiling growing up child anymore. But then, who is she? There is no answer and this is why Crescent Rose is still missing.

Apart from this, Crescent Rose is interesting because it is one of the many things that tie Ruby to the moon. After all, the moon has 3 phases (well, 4, but we only need 3 :P):

Crescent Moon

Full Moon

Falling Moon

These 3 phases are linked to the life of a person. The crescent moon is youth, the full moon is maturity and the falling moon is old age. So, Ruby is a crescent moon (crescent rose) because she is still in her youth.

An interesting thing is that all these ideas are expressed by the so called Triple Goddess:

The Triple Goddess is a deity archetype revered in many Neopagan religious and spiritual traditions. She is viewed as a triunity of three distinct aspects or figures united in one being. These three figures are often described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon.

Guess who is an example of a Triple Goddess?

Exactly, Trivia/Hecate is often considered a Triple Goddess :P And when she falls together with Ruby, she very conveniently turns into 3 people: Oscar, Yang and Penny.

Neo is supposedly Ruby's mirror, so these three characters should not only be important for Ruby's arc, but also represent part of who she is. As for now, several interpretations are possible. For example, Oscar, Yang and Penny are the protagonists of Ruby's major conflicts in the last 3 volumes.

In volume 7, Ruby and Oscar have a disagreement over telling or not Ironwood the truth. In volume 8, Yang decides not to follow Ruby's leadership and to take another path. So far, volume 9 focuses on Ruby's feelings over Penny's death. All these conflicts have built over each other until Ruby can't ignore them anymore.

They can also foreshadow future focus. Right now, Ruby is struggling with Penny's death, but later on she may also have to experience a shift in her and Yang's dynamic, as Yang enters a relationship with Blake:

Weiss: About time. Ruby: About time for what?

It may be nothing, but it is interesting Ruby seems oblivious to Bumbleby's clearly blossoming romance.

Similarly, once RWBY + J goes back, Ruby might share some focus with Oscar, since the 2 of them have clear parallel arcs.

Finally, these 3 people might also represent past, present and future:

Oscar is waiting for Ruby outside, in the future. Maybe this is why in this shot, Neo gets far away from Ruby when she transforms into him. He is a person, who did not fall and one of the loved ones, who are looking forward to Ruby's return.

Yang is with Ruby in Ever After. Neo closes up on Ruby, when she looks like her sister. Yang is a person who fell with Ruby and who is sharing her journey to go back home.

Penny died. Neo goes behind Ruby while being Penny and tries to drag her down. Penny is a precious friend, who is now lost and also a symbol of Ruby's inner child.

Whatever the case, the metaphor is clear... all these conflicts and Ruby's past self are dragging her down. She needs to face all what is repressed to climb back up.

Maybe this is why even before Ruby can start looking for Crescent Rose, she has to solve her feelings over another weapon:

Penny's sword symbolically works as a mirror for Ruby. By taking it, Ruby has the chance to grieve, to let her feelings out and to look at who she is. And yet, a couple of minutes after getting it, she is already moving forward. She is stepping into Alyx's role and getting a new purpose. Not only that, but her whole plan revolves around giving Penny's sword away.

The meaning is clear, Ruby is still not ready to let all her grief out. She chooses to ignore it and to start moving again. And yet, we know the sword is coming back for her:

Who knows? Maybe, just like Pyrrha's metal, Penny's jade sword is going to get integrated into Ruby's weapon or attire, as well. As stated above, we have a blacksmith, after all.

What is sure is that Ruby can't hope to find Crescent Rose until she decides what to do with Penny's sword.

THE AUCTION - ITEMS AND PAYMENTS

Little: Hugs are very valuable!

Let's go back to the Auction. Jinxy is presented as a thief and as a crook. However, I think the story makes clear there is a meaning to their actions. Specifically, Jinxy looks after things people disreguard and makes them look valuable, so that people would try to get them back.

At the same time, Jinxy's prices are nothing, but what the person truly needs to get what they want. The price is the truly important thing in Jinxy's auction, not the item, which is a fake anyway.

The first item looks like a bunny made of diamonds, but it is actually a small mouse like Little. It is then a representation of the child self. And what should one do with a child-self, if not to hug it thightly and nurture it?

Let's look then at what Jinxy asks our 2 sisters:

They ask Yang's feeling of being loved in exchange of her arm. They do not ask for the love Yang receives, but for her inner perception of it because it is unhealthy. Yang will always sacrifice parts of herself in exchange of affection, unless she lets go of the idea love is conditional. She needs to build a new idea of love or she will keep on losing pieces.

They ask Ruby's hope in exchange of Penny's sword. This is because Ruby needs hope in order to overcome her grief over Penny. It is meaningful Little steals the doll, so that it can reveal itself to Ruby before she has the price to pay for it. Interestingly, she gets the sword, but still can't properly process it and gives it away 2 minutes later.

Ruby and Yang need to nurture their inner hope and self-love if they truly want what the 2 weapons represent aka a whole self.

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #rwby spoilers #rwby meta #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #jaune arc #neopolitan #my meta #this post is one week late #but i really had no time to finish it before

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