#my two biggest fandoms this year…..it was bound to happen

[kitamars]

READY, STEADY………….roll?

#crossovers that only appeal to me <3 #my two biggest fandoms this year…..it was bound to happen #i have so many thoughts about this that i should doodle but……they’re so funny fjdjjfjrf #there were so many times when i was drawing hijikata and wolfwood where i was like #THEY LOOK DIFFERENT OKAY MAKE THEM DIFFERENT YOU KNOW THEY ARE #mayora 13…………..ough #anyways #sakata gintoki #hijikata toushirou #slight #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash the stampede #gintoki x hijikata #ginhiji #hijikata x gintoki #hijigin #gintama #maybe vashwood? idk if its enough #trigun #crossover #ok bye

[torterracotta]

When I heard Gerry Duggan get asked on Cerebro, white boy to white boy, about the unfortunate optics of announcing and then immediately murdering the least white team of X-Men in years, I knew we'd be in for some shit. Man, did he deliver - after some evasive waffling about how ORCHIS is meant to be fascist, and how the story's point is to put the collective back of mutantkind even more against the wall than it was any of the last six times something like this has happened.

And, honestly? That's fair! This year's Hellfire Gala is ultimately the first part of a larger story, and history shows it's not going to last forever — hell, does anyone remember what the status quo was immediately before HoXPoX? At least this time most of the characters have implicitly just been sucked into Mother Righteous's magical Poké Ball, rather than outright killed; if anything, that's an improvement. I was fully content to just think "hey, not for me," and get back to ignoring everything beyond Immortal and Sabertooth, secure in the knowledge that certain topics are bound to be handled poorly when almost everyone in the room is white, when Duggan said three words that stopped me in my tracks:

"Keep the faith."

See, that struck me, because for a lot of us, this entire era of comics has been about nothing but faith. I've been reading X-Men, and engaging with fans since I was eight, and I've never seen the kind of collective buy-in from other marginalized readers that I have with Krakoa. X-Twitter (or, I suppose, X-X) has been Blacker, queerer, more disabled, less homogeneous than the fandom has ever been, all of us buying in to the implicit promise that this time things would be different. Sure, the line was headed by a presumably straight white guy, but there were other voices in the room for a change, and it really felt like they were going to be listened to. We thought we'd moved past clunky metaphor, past queerbaitimg and awkward racial gaffes. Storm and Kwannon were getting to do stuff, Arakko was full of amazing characters of color, Cyclops and Wolverine were probably fucking, we were hooked, and we turned out.

It's hard to overemphasize just how wild this was to see in real time. X-Men has always been allegory, sure, but it's traditionally allegory by and for the majority. For years, the readers who might really feel that resonance, those of us who have been hated and feared for the unforgivable crime of being who we are, we were afterthoughts, tolerated at best. We got scraps, "representation" from creators who seemed to be offended by the implication that we would ever want something other than being fetishized tokens. We were, as Hickman so succinctly put it, told that we were less when we knew we were more. And then, out of nowhere, Krakoa made us inescapable.

The two biggest X-Men podcasts, X-Plain the X-Men and Cerebro, are hosted by queer people. X of Words has been rocking the Black, queer experience like no one's business, Mutant Watch has been a joy to listen to and to be on. Not just podcasts, either, in everything from criticism to fanart to cosplay, voices have been elevated that were previously silent. I mean, hell, I've gotten paid to talk about comics, that shit never would have happened four years ago.

All of that was based on faith.

Faith that we were being celebrated, for once, instead of just used. Faith that for whatever growing pains there might be, things were going to be better.

And let's not fuck around here, there were growing pains. In the first year alone we dealt with everything from blatant whitewashing, to queerbaiting — any Sunspot fan can go into detail there, assuming you can get one of us to stop crying for long enough. While that was going on, we watched Bryan Edward Hill (the only non-white writer in that initial wave) put out a book that was, let's face it, at worst aggressively mid, only to be excoriated by certain portions of the fandom, and dropped by the office, while significantly worse books managed to hold fast — er, hold on. Not to say that Fallen Angels was without sin, mind you, the book was packed with enough orientalism to make Chris Claremont blush. But, at the same time, Wolverine's first year ended with him doing what he does best: trying so hard to be Japanese that I had to check to make sure he wasn't Marvel's editor in chief.

Through all of that, we kept the faith.

Things didn't really get much better, of course. Arakko was a fascinating concept, and felt like it damn near doubled Marvel's characters of color. And yeah, the ending of X-Factor was one of the most poorly handled racist messes I've seen this side of… well, any given day on Twitter. Sure, the whitewashing has never stopped, to the point where everything from X-Corp to this week's Hellfire Gala has had to be hastily edited between previews and release. Maybe we keep dealing with stuff like butchered AAVE, even more queerbaiting, Kate Pryde's funeral, the genocide of almost all of those Arraki characters, and whatever the hell was going on with Lost in Way of X. Maybe there's a very real argument to be made that there's something insidious about three straight years of voting to determine if characters like Monet (who, by the by, has been retooled from "basically Superman" to "Black woman with anger powers") deserve the honor of being written by a white man who's stayed writing with his foot in his mouth. I mean, hey! All my white friends in the scene say he's nice, just like Williams, or Howard, or any number of other crusty crackers who are still proud of tripping over the bar Claremont left on the floor in the 80's!

And dammit, we kept the faith!

Even before the issue dropped, the Fall of X has had a lot of us wary. After all, all of the promotion leading up to it has been white guys saying the minority allegory has had it too good for too long, which, whatever, press copy. We all know they've gotta sell books — they, in this case, being the almost exclusively white, almost exclusively male creative teams attached to all of the books in the line. Sure, as Duggan said, the 616 has a fascism problem, but it’s hard not to see this as a deliberate step back from the almost double digit number of non-white creators these past few years — almost as if Marvel has realized they can make space for a fourth ongoing by their favorite white boy if they just throw out a Voices special every couple of months as a containment zone for the darkies. And, hey, considering how good ol’ C.B. got his foot in the door, I can’t even fake surprise. At this point, it’s a minor miracle any time a person of color is tapped for anything that’s expected to last beyond one issue.

In this issue, as a reward for keeping the faith, we got to see something astounding, something that'd bring a tear to the eye of even the most cynical reader — a team that was only half white. My god. And sure, their brutal murder in favor of a team with Kate "Hard-Arrr" Pryde and the Kingpin(????) was only a pit-stop between the resurrection of the suddenly ashy Ms. Marvel and Lourdes Chantel being killed off for the sake of a white woman's angst yet afuckinggain, but ain't that the dream that Malcolm Ten or whoever died for?

The Krakoan era, ultimately, has been the same as every other. Empty promises by white men who show us time and again that there was never any point in expecting anything better. Any meaning we've found, everything of worth, has been what we've made for ourselves.

We've spent years keeping the faith, Gerry, while you and yours have continued to let us down. What the hell do we have to show for it?

#xspoilers #Hellfire Gala 2023 #X-Men

[ride-thedragon]

Nettles Discourse.

I'm a big Nettles fan. I accept that the bias I have towards her can affect my judgement when it comes to negative discussions, no one likes their favourite characters to be undersold or talked about in a negative regard. That being said we've lost the plot yet again when it comes to her.

I know I can be out there with my claims about her (George literally wrote asoiaf to support her narrative), but I do think she's often disregarded about the way she impacts the narrative. Because she does, she leaves some of the biggest questions that carry over into the main series in fire and blood.

. Was she a witch that seduced a prince

. Did her and Daemon spend the rest of their days in the Vale.

. Did she create the burned men

. Is she actually Valyrian

. Can non Valyrians ride and claim dragons.

. What happened to her and Sheepstealer (the dragonskull found in the main series...)

For who she is as a character, she's so misrepresented in the fandom, while I know I'm annoying about her, it's within good reason.

That's without the paedophilia discourse surrounding her character, the race and racism discourse surrounding her character at all times. Someone conflating her popularity and race isn't entirely incorrect.

The way people undermine her written story because they don't like her. The way they will make race and class the forefront of that undermining is quite insane when you see it.

There is also this air of mystery intended by her character that allows for theories and tie-ins to the main plot.

I've said that she mirrors Dany in some regards, which is true. They have a lot of parallels, like Rhaena and Sansa or Baela and Arya.

All this is to say that even though she isn't a main character in Fire and Blood, she's still important, and race does affect the perception of her a lot, which is an issue. We see the same thing with the popularity of Baela and Rhaena in the show, especially. She isn't a pov character or a main focus by any means, but her mystery alone would've had her 10 times more popular if she was a white alternative to that familial ship.

AND WHILE WE ARE HERE, DETTLES DISCOURSE.

Let's be serious.

Nettles is a child, Nettles is a victim, Nettles was groomed has no basis in the actual story.

If it's a reservation, you hold in the discourse fine, that's great but it's not an in universe thing.

She's legally an adult. She's an impoverished black girl in the narrative who's saved by a prince and a house protecting her against their world's Monarch and escapes on a dragon she claimed and she again escapes and her escape is framed as Daemon's redemption in the narrative.

When people say she was abused by Daemon, they never contextualise it in her character. She's just a poor, 16 year old at the mercy of a prince. That's unfair.

I'll be the first person to scream from the rooftops that Daemon should be held accountable for his every breath in the narrative as well as not being redeemed for all his crimes because he let my favourite character go.

But let's be clear, if someone views their story as romantic, it doesn't mean that they want paedophilia in the narrative. Nettles is closer to Book Brienne's age and perception than she is to Sansa's, two character with prominent ships with men older than them. Nettles is an adult by Westeros standards. (Daemon will burn in hell for messing with teens), but she is an adult.

It's not a question of a person's morality if they ship Daemon and Nettles. They are within the bounds of the world to do so. That's just how they choose to engage with the material instead of being critical and applying our standards to a ship.

#hotd #house of the dragon #nettles #nettles asoiaf #netty #nettles thoughts #nettles discourse #hotd meta #I'd tag people but it seems to be a large issue #two things are allowed to intersect and co exist #a lot of the time there is truth in overreaching statements

[nouklea]

Fic Tag Game!

I was tagged by @beri-allen, @writerrose1998, @cosmic-lullaby and @wileyonce. Thanks! <3

20 questions below the cut:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

16

2. What’s your AO3 word count?

136,228

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Wednesday for now. I used to write for StarWars (see question 12) but no traces remains from that era.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Woe of Wrath

I'm on my Way

Variations on a Main Theme - 1

A Second Chance for a First Impression

Five Minutes Earlier

5. Do you respond to comments?

As much as possible. Usually I respond to every comment, even if it's just to say a quick Thank You. The only fic on which I haven't done that is Woe of Wrath, if fell into limbo and I have a hard time focusing on it right now. And I feel kind of weird to answer comments after several months of silence, but the more I wait the weirder it gets...

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Doomed is a Dead Dove Do Not Eat fic. The entire text is dark, including the ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I will go with Double-Date With Dad. Farewell Xavier Thorpe ends on a really good note too (if you are not a fan of Xavier).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

It never happened. Fingers crossed.

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

I try. I find it difficult for two reasons. First, it's tough to avoid clichés. When you read smut, you end up noticing some general patterns, and I do my best to stay away from those. Second, I'm not a fan of some popular kinks, for instance I can't stand the expression "good girl", and therefore I'm not interested in writing it, even if I keep reading authors that use them. Some people probably think my smut fics are boring, too soft, too ordinary. But I don't care (yeah, I do, but shh).

10. Do you write cross-overs?

No. And I have a really hard time reading cross-overs too. And I hate cross-overs in tv shows. Complete respect to authors, however. It's just not my thing.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I guess I could translate my own fics in French since it's my native language, but for now I don't see any reason to do so.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I did. It was a weird kind of toxic partnership. The other person was responsible for writing the general plot (because my ideas weren't good enough), and I had to turn every page he wrote into a three-pages long section, adding descriptions and filling the blanks. And correct the spelling and grammar, and add better vocabulary...

13. What WIP would you like to finish but doubt you ever will?

I hope I will finish every WIP I currently have, even if they tend to pile up (WIP bunnies...). My biggest challenge is to go back to Woe of Wrath. It is my first fic, it is a multi-chapter one, and I started to write it just to let the steam out after a twenty-years-long writing hiatus, so the outline was not super clear, there are many plot holes I try to fix, the sentences and vocabulary are bad... I know where I want to take the story and how it ends, but it's hard not to want to start over.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

For fanfics I'll say Weyler because it's the only thing I've ever written. Now besides that... For those who read Guy Gavriel Kay, I'm forever bound to the Diarmuid/Sharra ship, followed by Paul/Jaelle. Quite fond of the Clary/Jace ship in The Mortal Instruments (The books! Don't talk to me about the movie or the tv show!)

15. What are your writing strengths?

No damn idea. I've been asking myself the same question since I was thirteen.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably not being able to answer question 15. Imposter syndrome.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

In French it's not a problem, of course. I've done it in Impulsion. I have studied Latin for two years in highschool so I felt comfortable enough to translate a few sentences in Woe of Wrath. For other languages, I would only do so if I can find a beta reader fluent in this specific language to correct the grammar. I cringe everytime I read English fics with badly written French dialogs, it makes me loose the focus on the story (Same for tv shows, by the way. Come on, you have 2 millions $ to produce an episode and you can't find someone to double-check your French sentence?). It's really hard for me not to comment with a correction (AO3 etiquette: do not provide corrections unless the author specifically asked for it). I don't want to inflict that on my readers by butchering their native language.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars. It was a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away), when there were only three movies and a few books (Timothy Zahn forever!). And for those who wonder how old I am, I used to write with WordPerfect, DOS version (it was the pre-Windows era). It had a blue background (terrible for the eyes) and some keycodes you had to use to change the font to bold or italics. Since you can't visualize anything in DOS (it's not a wysiwyg), it used colors, so you had to remember what it meant (yellow letters meant italics...). And I used to save those texts on a floppy my mom took to her office to print.

19. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

It's not a popular one, but I really like Monologue for a Hyde. I like the tone. Pretty happy with Fuck Me Once Shame on You, Fuck Me Twice Shame on Me, too.

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?

Woe of Wrath without a doubt. With a proper plan, and a lot of plot holes avoided (that damn cellphone...)

I will tag the Death Metal and Glitter Club members whose Tumblr ids I know, aka @anotherbluesunday, @tastethesetears, @darling-gemini, @darlingfuego,

As well as @broken-everlark, @persephoneed, @bithablu, @allergictocolor and @insomniac1994.

#tag game

[sharklemonss]

Hello lmk fandom, i bring you food! A fanfic i spent the entirety of a month writing for your enjoyment (my collection of tears) at your disposal :3

It's spicynoodles and it's got mutual pining, angst, fluff, everything you could want in a oneshot!

The link:

And here's a little peek at the story itself!

The night starts with a phone call through blurry tears.

Needless to say, Mk was in pretty rough shape after the past year or so of horrible, near world-ending events, and that followed him in his sleep. They started out few and far between, just a change in tone of a normal dream, and he'd wake up and fall right back asleep after. Slowly but surely, though, the nightmares got worse, and sometimes he needed some support before getting back to sleep again.

Mei was his go to. She was always up at absurd hours of the night, and sometimes she'd even drag him into a phone call to soothe his nerves by distracting him. She was an awesome friend- a much better one than he was, at least. She always had his back, no matter what, even when things looked too difficult or when Mk made an odd choice that would probably lead to their failure. She trusted him with everything. So, in turn, Mk extended that unconditional trust to her as well, and when Mk says "no matter what", he means it.

And then Red Son joined their group and made things a little more complicated.

It was nice to have their duo turn into a trio- Mk was actually very happy to drag him along to their hangouts, especially after they'd gotten closer due to the whole Lady Bone Demon mess. Red Son was hesitant at first, but over time, the trio was basically inseparable, much to the dismay of the demon parents that kind of wanted Mk dead. After saving their respective lives multiple times, though, they let Mk and Mei slide and be friends with their son.

Thankfully. Mk really didn't want to fight the two of them anymore.

One night, however, on one of his and Mei's late night distraction calls, Mk says something he'll probably regret. The thing in question isn't the problem, no, Mei is just horrible at keeping secrets. Also for the fact that saying it out loud makes it real, and he's been trying to keep this thing in particular at the back of his mind with the rest of his troublesome emotions. He should really learn to hold his tongue, but Mei gives him these puppy eyes as she begs him to tell her, and he just can't say no.

"I think I like Red Son," Mk says, like it's his biggest secret in the world, but Mei doesn't really seem to get it.

Her head tilts to the side. She's got her camera on, and she's been carefully painting her nails (and repainting them, because she cannot decide on a colour for the life of her) for the past hour or so. "I mean, I would hope you like him? He is our friend," she says casually, and Mk does a mental facepalm.

"No, like," he groans, hating that he has to explain all these gross feelings and not just say it normally, "like him in a non -friend way."

Mei is silent for a moment. There are a few seconds where Mk thinks she understands, and then she goes, "I'm not following, Mk, you're gonna have to say it to me straight." Before he's even opened his mouth, Mei speaks again. " Don't make a gay joke, you know what I mean!" 

He laughs for a bit, and he knows she'd do the exact same thing if their positions were switched at all. "Okay, okay, fine," he takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the reaction he was bound to get, "like him in… a crush kind of way?" Silence follows his words, just as expected, but Mei's voice breaks it in a very level tone. 

"If my parents weren't asleep right now I would be screaming into my speaker," Mei responds in the calmest voice he has ever heard from her during talks like these. "Dude, when did this happen ? Like was there a certain moment, or, like, did you just go poof ! Feelings for the fire demon that insults me everyday! You gotta explain everything -"

She rants like this for at least thirty minutes before Mk is able to get another word in.

#lego monkie kid #lego monkie kid mk #lego monkie kid red son #spicynoodleshipping #lmk spicynoodles #i honestly spent so much time on this fic and im really proud of how it turned out #this is my love letter to my favourite ship tbh #I've got a shadowpeach fic in the works as well that takes place at the same time as this one! #no promised that'll get finished but im trying #anyways #the first scene is literally just me going on about my special interest in stars and taking it out on mk and redson #leave me be

[kittynannygaming]

[The Sandman] Bound - Chapter 3

Title: Bound

Word count: 426

Fandom: The Sandman

Pairing: Dreamling, Desunity, Despoe, Hob/Eleanor, Corinthiel, Dream/Past relationships

Rated: T

Warning: NOTHING GRAPHIC BUT Mention of child’s death and adults’ death, mention of suicide, Desire’s scheming

Summary: When you’re 10 (for a human) or the equivalent (for not-human), you’re given (during your sleep) a pet, representation of your soulmate. Thing is, both soulmates need to be born for them to appear. Dream of the Endless thought he didn’t have a soulmate, until a puppy appear near to him while meditating. On Earth, at the same moment, it is the year 1356 and Robert ‘Hob’ Gadling is just born. When he’s 10, he got the poshest, biggest black kitten with a very mean streak. Of course, neither Dream nor Hob see themselves in the other’s pet.

Chapter 03: The (many) reasons why Death is playing matchmaker to her brother.

Death want her baby brother to be happy. He doesn’t make it easy.

Death loved her siblings, all of them, even if sometime Destiny and her shared a lovely cup of tea in his Garden and complained about little siblings and the headaches they are. But she would be lying if she said she didn’t have a favourite. Dream had so much love to give, he needed someone who could give the love and attention that he craved. And also, someone who could understand that it’s not because he was busy that he didn’t love them anymore. Talk about a rarity!

She (finally! After years of nagging!) got him to follow her in the Waking and to spent some time together. They went in Great-Britain, in London. It was a tavern called the White Horse (one of her favourite animal) when they met him: Hob Gadling. Well, Dream and Kelly, his companion, met him. That was when she saw them, Hob’s companion: a gigantic black cat who looked everyone like they were below them. The cat even had the blue eyes that Dream wear when in human form.

‘This is, indeed, very good! My brother will finally be happy!!’

Death squealed inside her head: he was Dream’s soulmate! She was so sure! Anytime now they were going to recognize each other and everything was going to be as perfect as it could be. She could see Kelly and the feline companion come to her.

“Lady Death, this is Fluffy, Hob Gadling’s companion.” The gigantic cat bowed to her.

“It is a pleasure to meet the sister of my companion’s soulmate.” She smiled at him. Even the voice thing! Ah! So cute!

“I’m so overjoyed to meet you and, I hope, Hob soon, as well.”

Dream and Hob were eye-fucking and taunting each other. At least, they wouldn’t have any problem from this side. Death squealed again. This was going way better than she thought. Kelly and Fluffy were looking too, waiting with a bated breath the moment they would declare they were soulmates.

Dream walked away from Hob, who was following him with his eyes and a smile.

“What? What happened? Didn’t they know they’re soulmates?” Fluffy and Kelly were looking each other, unbelieving.

“Well, we have our work cut out for us, haven’t we?” complained the great cat.

“Yep! This is going to be a blast.” sighed the guard dog. Kelly followed his companion, eager to learn what the hell happened.

Death thought that, maybe, she could have explained a thing or two to her little brother and maybe she should have come clean to him. Ah! Bugger!

Beta: In progress

For @the-centennial-husbands-bigbang

Masterlist

#KittyNanny Original Post #KittyNanny Original Work #The Sandman #Centennial Husbands Big Bang #Centennial Husbands Big Bang 2023 #Dream of the Endless|Morpheus #Death of the Endless|Teleute #Robert “Hob” Gadling #Dream of the Endless|Morpheus/Robert “Hob” Gadling #Dreamling

[blackbloodredpepper]

Haikyuu Fic Master List pt. 3

Part 1 is here part 2 is here

Part 1 is JUST IwaOi and Pt. 2 consists of MastuHana and EnnoTana so if you’re looking for those pairing, click the first two links!

I apologize that my lists are so long, but when you’ve been in the game for as long as I have, it’s bound to happen lol the sad part is that I have way more fics for way more fandoms haha but maybe that’s for another time

Kuroo Tetsurou x Kozume Kenma

Penne For Your Thoughts

Word count: 8,408

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma is the kitchen manager of Crow’s Restaurant, and unfortunately, he’s in love with none other than the head chef, and best friend, Kuroo Tetsurou. He’s managed to survive nearly two decades of being in love with him. So why does everything have to fall apart now?

This one is quite funny, minimally angsty, and best of all, really cute

the snow keeps falling

Word count: 17,323

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: kenma and kuroo have been in a relationship for seven comfortable years, until a freak accident leads to kuroo forgetting kenma. and only kenma. the two of them are forced to navigate a new life - one of them still painfully in love, and the other blissfully unaware.

This one hurtssss my heart but it’s so amazingly well written and while incredibly angsty, it has a happy ending and I love it

You Don’t Have to Kiss Me <3

Word count: 3,690

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo has managed to miss the fact that he’s dating Kenma. He is very confused about why Kenma wants to practice kissing all of a sudden. Kenma simply wants to kiss his boyfriend.

Kuroo is the biggest idiot I love this pairing

All Along There Was Some Invisible String Tying You To Me

Word count: 7,555

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma slaps himself on the head, almost in hopes that it’ll reset his brain somehow, but the annoying song doesn’t leave his head. So how does he know it? How is it stuck in his head? Oh. /Oh./ This must be Kenma’s first hearing, and apparently his soulmate is the most obnoxious asshole on the planet. Kenma groans, hitting his head against his desk. He’s totally screwed, isn’t he? / In which Kozume Kenma can hear the music his soulmate is listening to, and is determined to find him so he can yell at him to improve his music taste

This one isn’t my favourite but it’s worth the recommendation. Soulmate AU where Kenma is just totally over it

us three <3<3<3

Word count: 5,137

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: the actual summary is pretty long but I’ll throw in this lil blurb: Kuroo’s gaze flits over to the utensil. His eyes bulge out of his skull. “Wh—is that a meat hammer? Put it back!” Akaashi’s head recoils back in confusion. “I don’t understand the problem here.”

This might just be one of the funniest fics on the planet and it captures the fanon characters really really well! Please just read it!

throwing oranges

Word count: 1,808

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: "Please, Kozume-kun?" the third girl says, now that Kenma has seemingly checked into the conversation. "What does Kuroo-senpai like?" ...what. "Volleyball," Kenma says shortly, ignoring their annoyed little sighs, and returns his expression to the screen. He's died. Figures. After that he starts paying attention. More attention to the social aspects, at least. Kenma always pays a fair percentage of his attention to Kuroo. He sort of demands it. And. Kuroo does get a lot of female attention.

This one is really cute and I love it!

Of Apple Blossoms and Yarrow

Word count: 4,150

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: It's usually weekly or bi-weekly that Kuroo brings over flowers of some sort, a kind of habit he's kept up over all the years they've been friends. Sometimes Kenma wishes he had asked the first time it ever happened, because he can't help but wonder now. Why don't you just keep them in your room if you like them? Does this mean anything to you?

I quite like this one, it’s fun and sweet!

i say it in everything that i do - every touch and blink and swallow

Word count: 3,763

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: 5 times Kenma confesses to Kuroo (and one time he does it for real)

5+ 1 fics are so so good :)

Liked, Commented and Subscribed

Word count: 45,729

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 17/17

Summary: Everyone is a youtuber and tumblr ships KuroKen. A lot.

Am I a sucker for YouTube AUs? Yes I am. This is one of the first KuroKen fics that I bookmarked after getting my ao3 account. This isn’t my most favourite pairing in the whole world but I truly do appreciate the work that goes into their fics!

of broken but beautiful souls

Word count: 3,595

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Like others too, Kenma wished that his soul is beautiful.

This one’s kind of heartbreaking but it has a happy ending and it’s quite sweet

tastes like peppermint

Word count: 5,389

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed 1/1

Summary: they’ve been friends for so long kuroo already knows kenma’s sleeping pattern and isn’t the least concerned when he shows up for cuddles in the middle of the night.

This one is super duper adorable!

One Day

Word count: 4,503

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kozume Kenma thought it would be fun to one day have one of his live streams break the 700k viewer barrier. Kuroo Tetsurou thought it would be fun if one day his and Kenma’s relationship was made public. Kodzuken’s viewers thought it would be fun to one day learn a bit more about the elusive youtuber’s personal life. That one day is today, though none of them found it particularly funny at the time.

This one is actually really good. It’s definitely interesting, and the plot is unexpected but it’s really good! (Hostage AU)

Fall Damage

Word count: 3,762

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo barges into Kenma's streams, his fans go apeshit, Kenma suffers the consequences.

This one is a funny fake dating/break up AU and it’s my jam

someone special, who could it be?

Word count: 1,614

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “He’s lanky, but he’s a good blocker. Loud and obnoxious, but still encouraging. His eyes look like they were robbed from a poor cat. Oh, and he has a terrible case of bed head too.”“Oh my god, it’s Lev. You have a crush on Lev."

This one is so funny! Kuroo is such a moron

petals: blue, red, yellow

Word count: 12,088

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 2/2

Summary: The feeling in his throat was back and Kenma quickly shoved his game in his bag, standing up to leave the room before he coughed too loudly and woke the whole team up. Kuroo looked at him worriedly. “Kenma, are you---” “I’m fine,” he answered, his voice nearly inaudible. He didn’t wait for a response as he rushed out of the door in the direction of the bathroom, trying his best to contain the rising feeling in his throat.

This one’s angsty and sad (with a happy ending) I really love hanahaki AUs tho :)

Nothing Short of a Miracle

Word count: 1,353

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo decides that it's about time to propose to the love of his life.

This one is short and sweet

curiosity kills

Word count: 41,426

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 5/5

Summary: Kenma rescues a cat. Later on, the cat saves him in return.

I really do love this fic. It’s a total classic and absolutely worth the read

over the weekend we could turn the world to gold

Word count: 1,372

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: The thing is, Tetsurou is well aware that he could ask for the futon. It isn’t offered to him anymore, because he hasn’t used it in years, but he could still ask. But then Kenma would be suspicious, and his parents might ask if they were fighting, and Tetsurou doesn’t even really want the futon, because he always sleeps best with Kenma tucked against his side, head resting on Tetsurou’s arm, so maybe he’ll just settle for being painfully obvious and hoping he doesn’t get questioned about it until they get home.

There’s only one bed. That’s it. That’s the fic

It’s Big

Word count: 710

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “You have big feet Kuroo.” The locker room went quiet. Kuroo fell on his head.

This one made me giggle

Proximity Makes the Heart Grow Fonder <3

Word count: 3,590

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma rolls his eyes. “Yeah, but still. It’s a hassle. Besides, it’s not a big deal, right? We’ve shared beds before.” Kuroo bites back a remark about how that was at a time when he didn’t even know what a crush felt like, and sighs. He clenches his fists briefly, trying to remedy how cold and sweaty his palms are getting.

There’s only one bed pt 2 but this time it’s porn

top 10 worst pet names <3

Word count: 8,967

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 2/2

Summary: What if your team was too stupid to tell the difference between a wasp sting and a hickey and your best friend thought that was the perfect prank opportunity?

Super duper big classic and super duper big funny

The Case of Kuroo Tetsurou: Uni Student and House Wife Extraordinaire

Word count: 1,322

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: With Kenma raking in the big bucks, Kuroo is left to balance university and keeping their apartment clean.

I quite like this one! It’s funny and cute

Good to You

Word count: 2,186

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: "You’re childhood friends with Kozume-kun from Class 3, right? Do… do you know if Kozume-kun is dating anyone?”

At the words, Kuroo’s brain malfunctions. Kozume-kun, he thinks with wide eyes, and then, dating anyone? Kenma? Dating anyone? Is it possible? His brain knows the two phrases separately, but he’s never thought of them in connection before. Kenma. Dating someone. Suddenly the anchor he’s been clinging to cracks just the slightest bit. / When a girl from Kenma's class approaches Kuroo for advice on how to ask out Kenma, Kuroo comes to the realization that his feelings for Kenma might be more complicated than he'd originally thought.

I love jealousy turns to feelings of realization tropes

Wouldn’t it be Funny?

Word count: 1,445

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Bokuto and Kuroo plot a prank on their friends. Kuroo is not prepared for Kenma's reaction.

This one isn’t my favourite, but I like it well enough

good luck charm

Word count: 8,979

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: The shop is freezing, the instruments are breaking, the lights won't stop flickering, and dammit, Kuroo has some terrible luck.

This is part of possibly my favourite Haikyuu series ever but this is the only KuroKen fic that’s part of the series so

I Must be Dreaming

Word count: 11,210

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma Kozume, university student and soulmate skeptic, is not fond of all of pop rock band Neko's frontman, Tetsurou Kuroo, believing him to be a party boy and a corporate sellout. However, his world turns upside down when Tetsurou's soulmark gets leaked to the media - and it's a mark that's all too familiar.

This one is really good and I really like it :)

Five Times One

Word count: 4,828

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Five times Kuroo defends Kenma from other people. One time Kenma defends Kuroo back.

This one is sweet and I’m a sucker for protective bfs

Operation: Observe Kenma

Word count: 3,700

Rating: N/A

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “So you’re telling me” Hinata started off slowly. “You spend basically all of your free time together, you feed one another, take care of each other when one is sick or drunk and he lets you steal his clothes with no objections. Yet you guys aren’t dating” Hinata wasn’t buying it. Kenma flushed under the realisation. WAS he dating Kuroo?

This one is so cute and a great little study of their relationship but not that deep

Superposition <3<3<3

Word count: 102,801

Rating: Mature

Status: Completed; chapters 12/12

Summary: "Well, I bet I’ll be seeing more of you in the future then, huh? But hopefully soon it’ll be me watching you on stage," Tetsurou tells him. Something flickers across Kenma’s face - something like bright, childlike hope. “D’you actually think so?" “Call me crazy,” Tetsurou says, grinning a stupid grin that shows all his teeth, “but I’d be willing to bet on it." // Tetsurou Kuroo, the lead singer of alternative band Neko, meets Kenma Kozume, aspiring musician, at one of his shows, a meeting that sets into motion a series of events that change their lives - and the alternative music scene - forever. Or, the early 2000s pop punk band AU.

This is quite literally my favourite KuroKen fic in existence. Superposition is my fav song and knowing the lyrics while reading the fic hits so different. Nothing that sad happens (though it is angsty and slow burn) but this fic had me in actually tears and suffering an existential crisis. Seriously. The portrayal of the characters, the beauty of the writing. It just makes me cry so damn hard. I could not think of a better recommendation for you if I tried. I will never ever get over how much this fic has affected me as a person.

If You Want It

Word count: 3,495

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma’s eyebrows narrow - it sounds almost like the interviewer is implying that they’re together, together. As in more than just best friends. The funny feeling in his chest doesn’t leave. But he tells himself she has no idea what she’s talking about. They’re just close best friends, after all. Close bandmates. That’s all.

Another band AU. It’s not nearly as angsty as superposition so this is a good one to read afterwards :’)

Candied_Apple

Word count: 2,809

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Everyone knows Kenma does video game playthroughs and live streams himself gaming; his ex-teammates teased him for weeks when they found out, until they saw how many followers he had. Then he was kind of like a celebrity. The name username ApplePi is becoming well known in the gaming community. And in another part of the web, Candied_Apple is becoming just as well known.

This one is short and smutty. Not my fav writing in the world but I’m still a relative fan

open doors

Word count: 1,578

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou grew up in a home with open doors.

This one’s really sweet!

the idiot with the painted face

Word count: 6,173

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “What are you—get that phone out of my face!” “But it’s for this app! It says it can tell what mood you’re in with just a single picture.”

The title is a Mitski song but the fic is not sad

Schrödinger’s boyfriend

Word count: 3,692

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: "I have plans for next week." A week before Valentine's day Kenma finds out Kuroo has plans. Plans he was keeping secret from his best friend. Why does he suddenly feel so betrayed and rejected? Will this rollercoaster of emotions and sudden realizations awaken something in him? But most importantly, will he do something about his feelings in time for Valentine's Day?

It’s a cliché but it’s good

you are the music in me

Word count: 5,421

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou was suffering from a long streak of writer's block. The melodies seemed to come back to him after he first listened to an arrangement made by music producer Kozume Kenma. And he knew immediately they had to meet.

ANOTHER music AU

Jealousy

Word count: 1,644

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: After coming back from summer training, Kuro starts acting strange.

I am a sucker for jealous bfs

The Kenma Counter <3

Word count: 734

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo had the strange habit of mentioning Kenma any chance he got. The boys started counting. The boys started discussing the wildest topics hoping Kuroo wouldn't find a way to bring Kenma up. The boys give up.

Short and sweet and funny

Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life <3

Word count: 3,168

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou runs a private Twitter account where he's constantly tweeting about how desperately in love he is with Kozume Kenma. Little does he know that Kenma sees all the tweets and keeps referencing the account in an attempt to get Kuroo to confess to him. / Or, five times Kuroo didn't notice Kenma hinting about his private Twitter account, and one time he finally did.

This one is cute and funny and a fan favourite!

can’t stop thinking ‘bout it

Word count: 3,247

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: 5 times Kuroo and Kenma kissed by accident + 1 time it was no accident

This one is really fun to read!

Running Home

Word count: 1,331

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma tried to catch his breath while he stumbled into Kuroo's arms. He knew he was making a scene with other third years mingling in the hallway watching him, but for once he didn't care. Couldn't care.

Mid A/B/O fic. I’m not hating on the author though, btw, I’m just letting you guys know how I felt about it :)

Japan’s Most Subscribed <3

Word count: 3,613

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou @blacktetsurou changed his bio : volleyball player, co-owner of Bouncing Ball Corp. and so much more ;)

This one is really sweet I love it + it’s a classic one!

Spark a Flame in Me

Word count: 3,623

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kozume Kenma's never had a crush before. He's never come across anyone he's drawn to in that way. That is until he officially meets his next-door neighbor, a friendly firefighter named Kuroo Tetsurou.

This one is quite popular and good

Komorebi

Word count: 16,789

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 2/2

Summary: Against better judgement Kuroo follows Oikawa's suggestion of getting a summer job and they end up working in a large multistory electronic goods store in bustling Ikebukuro. Oikawa is, not surprisingly, placed in the women's beauty section, while Kuroo has been relegated to the video game department. So, he spends the rest of his summer trying to convince himself that things will get better. (Spoiler: It does.)

This one is a great classic! Def worth the read!

No, I Need It

Word count: 1,849

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma has severe pregnancy cravings, and Tetsurou's wallet suffers.

This one is an mpreg A/B/O but I swear it’s funny and kinda cute ToT

beyond castle walls

Word count: 16,724

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kenma doesn't realise that the guy he's brought home for the night is Kuroo Tetsurou, the crown prince of the kingdom, until there are photos posted online the next morning. The royal family has to save face by announcing a marriage, and Kenma's life is never going to be the same.

This one’s alright. Not my fav but if you want a royalty AU here you go

Principles of Chemistry <3

Word count: 32,419

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 4/4

Summary: In which Kenma ends up being sorted into the wrong group and has to endure his new, exhausting lab partner for the next month.

This one is classic funny and sweet! Relative slow burn and little to no angst

pretty girls make me nervous <3

Word count: 6,906

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo does everything he can to get Kenma a significant other. Meanwhile, everyone bets how long it'll take before Kuroo realizes that Kenma's sorta already dating him.

This one is probably the ULTIMATE classic KuroKen fanfiction. If you haven’t read this yet, you legally have to to become a part of the Haikyuu fandom

pushing boundaries

Word count: 4,432

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Kuroo glanced up, still bent as he pressed a final kiss to Kenma’s hipbone. “Is this okay?” Kenma didn’t think he could summon the words if he’d tried. 'Please,' he figured he wanted to say. 'You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this.' Instead, he nodded, a bit breathless.

Cute and sweet vanilla sex with our two favourite cats

two cats

Word count: 19,886

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 5/5

Summary: (12:01) From: Kenma :3 and why won’t you tell me what the secret is?(12:02) To: Kenma :3 there r some things even i won’t say over txt

This one should technically be read before pushing boundaries but at the end of the day I don’t think it actually really matters

There’s No Tutorial for This <3

Word count: 21,500

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “I think maybe Kuroo-senpai likes him, and that’s why it was hard for him to tell us.” “On the fucking nose, Lev.” Kuroo likes Kenma, but he can't figure that out for himself. Kenma likes Kuroo, except he's never had a crush on anyone before and has no idea how to cope. Hopefully they can both figure it out by the time their summer vacation ends. "...I swear to god I’m going to die Bokuto, he’s so cute and I’m so fucked.”

This one is an OLD classic. Like 2015 old. Can’t believe I read this around the time it was published.

Home, At Last

Word count: 5,549

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: While gathering supplies in his abandoned neighborhood, Kozume Kenma comes across a half-dead vampire with a familiar face. A face he hasn't seen in over a year.

Kuroo as a vampire??? Yes please

You and Me, Together Forever

Word count: 20,147

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Years after college, Kenma and Kuro face the ups and downs of their new relationship, growing closer and stronger than ever before.

Just pure porn

We Belong Together <3

Word count: 4,712

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Six years after the emperor sent him to the border for falling in love with the crown prince, Kuroo Tetsurou receives an invitation to return to the palace.

Oh my god?? This is the best royalty AU and I love it

Water and Brimstone <3 <3

Word count: 41,549

Rating: Mature

Status: Completed; chapters 7/7

Summary: Kuroo and Kenma are assigned to go undercover as a result of Bokuto’s awkward attempt at playing matchmaker... but their simple case turns out to be a lot more dangerous than they expected.

I fucking love detective AUs this is literally so good holy shit

Best Friends

Word count: 6,307

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: During the two weeks he spends manning his uncle's ice cream booth on the coast, Kenma decides that maybe he likes his best friend back, after allegedly

Another oldie but a goodie! This one is a classic from 2014, and it’s on almost every single KuroKen fic rec list ever

How Kuroo Found Kenma

Word count: 37,641

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 5/5

Summary: "Oh my God," Kuroo said, eyes growing wide. He slowly turned to fully face Oikawa, "I'm in love with Kenma." Oikawa brought his tea to his mouth. "Yeah," he said, smiling through the steam rising in front of his face, "I know."

This is yet ANOTHER classic. And I think I’ve changed my mind as to what the ultimate KuroKen fic is, because it’s actually this one. You have not lived if you haven’t read this. Slow burn, kinda angsty, beautifully written (the author is the same as conquering the great king, so you know it’s good)

Azumane Asahi x Nishinoya Yuu

Salamanders Know <3 <3

Word count: 12,652

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: It's Asahi who notices first so it's his responsibility to alert Nishinoya to the situation: they are soulmates. Now if only Asahi's tattoo would stop running away every time he tries to approach him, that would be great. With Daichi and Suga's help maybe he can find a way to get around his own shyness?

This one might be one of my favourites for this pairing tbh. Super adorable soulmate AU and a study of Asahi’s character

Sharing a Space (In My Heart) <3

Word count: 7,282

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Soulmate AU where you can feel your soulmate's emotions, and Nishinoya is worried that his soulmate is in serious danger.

A classic! Great AsaNoya fic and truly a sweet one

Oral Fixation <3

Word count: 3,554

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: “So.” Noya shot him a mischievous look, full cat-ate-the-canary in its devilish charm. “I’m not imagining things. You have been staring at my mouth.” “Wha- I- Um… ” Asahi blushed red, tripping over his words. He hadn’t realized Noya had noticed, probably should have known he wasn’t being subtle in his attention. “M-Maybe?”

Hot dog this is a good one. Mostly porn no plot but damn

Cherry on top but not for long

Word count: 2,654

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: "I want to get into your pants, Asahi-san!" Noya says it so stoutly, so resolutely, that all Asahi can do for a moment is stare at her. Noya's cheeks are puffed out with the strength of her conviction, bleached bangs poofing out of her ponytail. Asahi buries her face in her hands. "Shame should be taught in schools," she mumbles, and Noya squawks.

AsaNoya genderbend fic to soothe the soul

Sleepless in Saitama <3

Word count: 12,559

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Noya is a restless sleeper, frequently flailing in his sleep and rolling over his teammates at away camps. The problem seems to be solved when he wakes up one morning snugly wrapped up in Asahi's arms, until a whole new set of problems begin...

I love this one! It’s really cute and sweet with a side of smut

Propriety

Word count: 6,013

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: The collective hive mind head canon of Noya being the "atypical" omega and Suga being the "model" omega taken to a logical conclusion.

Light angst, really nice. I personally love it. It is A/B/O so if ur not into that, skip it

come and take a walk on the wild side

Word count: 4,605

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: There’s a bloodcurdling scream of terror, and then Noya remembers that, right, there’s a new person moving into the apartment next to him. Oops. (in which Noya is accidentally the Worst Neighbor Ever, Asahi loses twenty years of his life to stress, and Rolling Thunder is the star of the show.)

Great fic! Really funny, Noya owns exotic animals. Asahi is his new neighbour and is less than impressed

I’d Like You Anyway <3

Word count: 7,167

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Yū believes in soulmates, but that doesn’t mean he believes in them.

Completely classic AsaNoya fic!

close to your heart <3

Word count: 1,902

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: It is often thought that the second button is close to your heart. Therefore, the act of giving someone the second button of your uniform conveys the message that you think of that person as the most precious person to you.

So well written and I love this one! This is a popular AsaNoya fic :D

Top of the World

Word count: 119,248

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 33/33

Summary: Noya is a sports photographer who can't stand watching volleyball. So far, he's managed to avoid attending volleyball games at the local college, but one day the only other member of his department is out sick, so he has to take on the job. He does so reluctantly, and drags himself to the game without the intention of paying any sort of attention at all - he'll just snap a few pictures, get a quote from the team captain, and then get out and never come back. Once he's at the game, though, he lays eyes on a perfectly good reason to stick around in the form of Asahi Azumane, the team's star player. He's immediately fascinated by Asahi; he wants to meet the guy, get to know him a little, and then... well, to be completely honest, Noya kind of just wants to bang him. A lot. But of course, stuff like this rarely goes Noya's way, and this time is no exception.

Very very popular! So well written, truly a classic, slow burn and really cute! Can you imagine a world where Noya hates volleyball?

Wild Horses

Word count: 5,425

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: While at the beach with her friends, Nishinoya runs into the biggest, hottest lifeguard she's ever seen.

Another gender bend!

Daydreamer <3

Word count: 762

Rating: Mature

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Nishinoya decides to get nipple piercings. Just one more thing for Asahi to obsess over how amazing her girlfriend is.

And another one!

the most important meal of the day

Word count: 6,427

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: When Nishinoya returns from a two week trip overseas with her volleyball team, she and Asahi have a lot to catch up on.

…Another one..?

And yet here you are <3

Word count: 38,302

Rating: Mature

Status: Completed; chapters 12/12

Summary: His classmate rolled her eyes. “Of course Nishinoya-kun asked you to come over tonight.” Asahi blinked. “Well… he found a training video of the Japanese Olympic team, and he wants to—” The girl stood with an exasperated sigh. “He knows when the athletic department’s mixer is. It’s only been plastered on every message board across campus for two weeks.” “Maybe… maybe he just doesn’t want to go?” Asahi tried. He had the definite impression he was supposed to know why she was annoyed. Unfortunately — and not uncommonly — he was just confused. “You mean he just doesn’t want you to go,” she muttered.

Read this. I’m begging you. Please. Noya is a little shit

No Harm, No Foul <3

Word count: 9,832

Rating: N/A

Status: Completed; 1/1

Summary: "The thing about Asahi, if Noya were pressed, is that he's huge."

Dude. Angry Asahi is so fucking hot. I’m with Noya on this one. Definitely one of my favourite fics :D

Resolution

Word count: 2,928

Rating: Teen +

Status: Completed; chapters 1/1

Summary: Nishinoya and Asahi used to be the perfect couple. Then life got in the way. On the verge of breaking up, Nishinoya finds out he's pregnant. Of all the things for life to throw at him.

Not my fav but I like it well enough :)

Alright, all done with part 3. If any of you guys read these let me know how you feel about them!

[spacetraveltoseethegalexy]

Who loves Ahsoka?

I saw this post on reddit a while back of someone wondering if Ahsoka was popular with female fans in the Star Wars franchise. My answer to that, from my personal experience is yes! I have loved Ahsoka since I was 7 years old, when the Clone Wars movie first aired. I was apprehensive about her in the trailers as I knew Anakin never mentioned a Padawan in the movies so adding her later felt weird to me.

BUT, BUT, the biggest BUT you can imagine, I grew to love Ahsoka. By the end of the movie I was obsessed. I was enamored with her. She was my Luke Skywalker (I still adore Luke don't come for me). But Ahsoka's character is what brought the magic of Star Wars to me. It made me a life long fan. I loved her. I loved how she was cocky, witty and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She wanted to be the hero and save the day! What kid didn't imagine themselves as the hero? Having super powers and fighting bad guys so good could prevail. She was that for me. She was my hero ever since then.

I talked about her in class, picked her name for make believe at recess, wrote short stories about her, told anyone who would listen about her. I went as Ahsoka for Halloween in 2008 or 2009 I can't recall, and though most people did'nt know who I was, I was happy to explain who Ahsoka was to each house. Im pretty sure I talked the ear off of every person passing out candy that year. I learned how to tell and keep track of time by when the episodes of Clone Wars would air and would tell people "oh that happened two episodes ago". My week would end on Friday when a new ep would air and my week would start on Sunday when my wait began for next episode (early seasons aired ep of Friday and later seasons aired on Saturday morning). Each night I would tell myself a different version of how I thought next week's episode would go based on the promos. I would almost cry if I thought Ahsoka was going to die in episodes. When Cargo of Doom aired my 8 year old self fell off the couch in shock and sadness because I thought Ahsoka was going to die. I know dramatic, but she was my favorite character and I was 7-8years old.I mean she still is my favorite character across all media. I kept waiting for another character to come along and replace her, I have always been in fandom since I was little so I assumed it was bound to happen. It never did though. I adore her.

So to answer that redditor, yes Ahsoka was loved by female fans. Ahsoka took me from being a casual fan to a life long fan. I look forward to wherever her story goes regardless, because even though I am 22 now, that 7 year old girl is still watching.

Thank you if you read this far. I appreciate you.

#ahsoka series #ahsoka show #ahsoka tano

[cardentist]

I haven’t been in the star trek fandom for very long (I’ve only just started binging the series in the last couple months), so it’s been pretty surprising to find out just how negative the perception of the reboot movies are.

this isn’t coming from the perspective of someone who grew up with the series, so it hit different for me than it might for people with a different relationship to TOS, but I thought it was genuinely clever and Respectful with how it was handled.

To quote leonard nimoy: “Well the alternative timeline gives them license to escape from canon concerns. I can’t see people saying ‘they shouldn’t do that because…’ or ‘that doesn’t tie in to such and such’ because it is a different time and place. Am I right about that?” [Link]

the entire Premise is that the original series happened as it was presented in TOS, but an event late in Spock’s life caused the creation of a parallel universe in which everyone’s lives were significantly altered through two key changes to the timeline. this gives them the freedom to Both revel in fanservice And explore different facets of the characters and their relationships. 

the destruction of vulcan Vastly impacts the characters and the plot moving forward, and its a detail that a lot of people take issue with. but the emotional impact of sarek admitting Directly to spock that there is value in his humanity, that his feelings Aren’t wrong, that sarek married amanda because he Loved her cannot be understated. you can read all of these things into sarek as he was in the original series, but he Never had an open conversation about these things with spock. this creates a Believable and Rewarding change in their relationship, where we get to see a different facet of them Because of the changes made. and that’s exactly the appeal. showing us pieces of these characters that we never got in TOS that are nevertheless undeniably Them.

everyone is Different yes, but they’re also fundamentally the same people at their core and that matters.

kirk’s personality obviously takes the biggest change, with him experiencing trauma at a young age, losing his father, and having an implied abusive father figure after that point. he has a harsher personality in reaction to harsher conditions, he’s spikier and harder to love. but he’s also still fundamentally a Good person whose willing to risk everything to help people. he still has what made kirk prime a good captain and a good friend.

I’m not gonna say that it’s the most nuanced story in the world, but it explores a version of kirk that was born from even Less fortunate circumstances than kirk prime, exploring a kirk brimming with potential who learned to bite back after he was kicked down. exploring those themes of trauma and loss, of insecurity and growth, and coming to the conclusion that Fundamentally He Is Capable Of Good isn’t a Bad thing. you don’t have to like it, but his growth into a better person is The Point. they deepened his flaws (all of which were present in a less exaggerated form in TOS) To Show That Growth.

and then of course there’s his relationship with spock.

people are totally justified in not liking that they had a rough start to their relationship, I usually don’t like to see that kind of thing in reboots or hollywood adaptations either, but the way people talk about it is just unfair.

Yes kirk and spock and bones have a very strong relationship in TOS, they also already know each other by the time the show starts. to look at them having to learn to get to know and trust each other when they first meet and say that it’s Bad because they were already full on ride or die for each other in the og series is silly. TOS kirk and spock had to meet and fall in love with each other too, it didn’t just happen over night kings.

secondly, the entire point of the first movie is that Even With reality itself being altered to pull them apart they are fundamentally compatible people that are Bound to each other. they meet each other on bad terms because of circumstances outside of their control, and yet they’re still pulled into each other’s orbit and find the other slotting into place next to them as if they always belonged. one of the first things that spock prime says in the movie is “I am and always will be your friend,” spock and jim are Meant for each other and the movie goes out of its way to explain that. which is what makes it so Weird to see people complaining about how they don’t like each other.

it’s a Different relationship, but it’s absolutely no less steeped in yearning or queer subtext. 

speaking of queer subtext ! some people are Very unhappy with spock’s relationship with uhura.

first thing I wanna say is that making the argument that they’re doing anything that the original series hasn’t done is just, completely untrue. kirk has fallen in love with more girls in the og series than he knew what to do with, leonard nimoy was a heartthrob in his time (and he deserves it, awooga) and spock reflects that ! Spock usually turns the women who come onto him down (or when he doesn’t it’s because a plant has literally altered his mind), but there are exceptions to even that. all of three of the main boys have plenty of romance subplots, it happens. if that takes the possibility of them being queer off the table for you (which it shouldn’t, m-spec people exist) then I’m sorry to say that TOS is not exempt.

now, I can understand why Specifically This Relationship could rub people the wrong way or being disappointed that they didn’t outright depict kirk and spock as having a relationship (if not in the first movie then in the following ones after they’ve gotten to know each other), but even in that context the way I’ve seen people talk about it comes off as insensitive.

no, the relationship did not come out of nowhere. they considered having spock and uhura date each other in the original show (and you can see signs of this in the earlier episodes, where uhura very obviously flirts with him and they spend time together in their down time) before they decided against it, and spock was originally going to kiss uhura until shatner insisted that he wanted to do it (because it was the first interracial kiss on tv). [Link 1, Link 2, Link 3]

nichelle nichols was asked about this exact thing (spock and uhura’s relationship in the movie), you can read the interview in full here [Link] but I’d like to highlight this paragraph in particular:

“Now, go back to my participation in Star Trek as Uhura and Leonard (Nimoy) as Spock. There was always a connection between Uhura and Spock. It was the early 60’s, so you couldn’t do what you can do now, but if you will remember, Uhura related to Spock. When she saw the captain lost in space out there in her mirror, it was Spock who consoled her when she went screaming out of her room. When Spock needed an expert to help save the ship, you remember that Uhura put something together and related back to him the famous words, “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m afraid.” And Uhura was the only one who could do a spoof on Spock. Remember the song (in “Charlie X”)? Those were the hints, as far as I’m concerned.”

the film makers looked at the fact there were Hints for uhura and spock, that they were Interested in exploring an interracial couple for the first time (both before and immediately after interracial couples won the right to legally get married) but Couldn’t because of the circumstances of the times and decided to Make that depiction. you don’t have to Like their relationship just because of that fact, but it’s Incredibly reductive to play down it’s significance as just a No Homo cop out. explicitly queer relationships are not the only progressive or culturally important relationships in fiction.

moreover, if you can’t imagine polyamory in the communist utopian future that’s on you.

moreover, this perception that this was a soulless cash grab is just, unfounded.

leonard nimoy returned to the role as spock for the first time in 16 years (since 1991) and this was Entirely because of the respect they had for nimoy, spock as a character, and the franchise as a whole. 

Lets look at some quotes from nimoy in interviews regarding the film:

Leonard Nimoy: When I first read the script (...) I immediately contacted J.J. and said “I think it is terrific…I think you guys have done a wonderful job. There is still work to be done, but it is very clear that you and your writers know what you are doing and you know how to do this movie and know what it should be about….and I am very interested.” Then as time went by we worked things out with Paramount, but the most important things were J.J. and the script. (...) I am very pleased about that and I am very comfortable with where this is going. I think the writers have done a terrific job. They have a real sense of the characters and the heart of Star Trek and what it is really all about.

(...)

TrekMovie.com: Now in the case of the new movie you have been retired from acting for years. What was it about this one that made you want to act again and go through the make up again? What was it that made you say ‘I really want to do this?’

Leonard Nimoy: You are right, this is a special situation. First it is Star Trek and so I have to pay attention. I owe that to Star Trek. Second place is that it is J.J. Abrams who I think very highly of, he is a very talented guy. Then came the script and it was very clear that I could make a contribution here. The Spock character that I am playing, the original Spock character, is essential and important to the script. So on the basis of those three elements it was easy to make the decision. So those three things: Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, and an interesting Spock role.

[Link]

Praising the cast playing younger versions of characters from the original 1960s TV series, he [Leonard Nimoy] said: “Let me take the opportunity to say this. Everybody at this table [the cast] are very, very talented and intelligent people.”

“They found their own way to bring that talent and intelligence to this movie, and I think it shows. (...)  When Karl Urban introduced himself as Leonard McCoy and shook hands with Chris Pine, I burst into tears. That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well.”

“The makers of this film reawakened the passion in me that I had when we made the original film and series. I was put back in touch with what I cared about and liked about Star Trek, and why I enjoyed being involved with Star Trek. So, it was an easy way to come on home.”

“[In this Star Trek] they said things and showed me things, and demonstrated the sensibility that I felt very comfortable with, and I think that shows in the movie. I like it.”

[Link 1, Link 2]

again, you don’t have to like it just because leonard nimoy did, you don’t have to Agree. but the idea that nobody working on the film Cared is provably false. near everyone working on the project was already a fan of the series or were excited to be involved and did their homework. it’s genuinely a Miracle just how much of a labor of love this was, and in my opinion you can feel that through the movie itself. I’d highly recommend looking into interviews and behind the scenes details about the movies. they had a respect not just for the source material, but for leonard nimoy as a person.

there’s definitely more I Could say about this, but it’s 4 am now so I’m gonna shelve it jklfdsa

that said! it’s Fine to not like the movie, not everything is going to be suited to everyone’s taste, but the specific criticisms I’ve seen feel very off base

#star trek #kirk #spock #uhura #nichelle nichols #leonard nimoy #star trek aos #aos #star trek tos #tos #meta #long post #hello followers I write essays about star trek now

[nabrizoya]

honestly would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the nikolai duology because i really only see blanket praise or blanket hate for it whereas I see a lot of wasted potential. Bardugo's actual writing was beautiful as ever for the most part, but the choice of the plot/beats feels baffling to me. I love Nina, but her parts felt so separate from the rest of the book until the very end, and even that felt off. I liked the first 2/3 of KoS enough, dealing with the monster, political tensions, 1/2

and even the cult of the starless saint was at least interesting because dealing with people trying to rewrite the narrative of their greatest enemy (who hurt these young leaders in deeply PERSONAL ways) was really compelling (making him literally come back was. a choice) but I feel like somewhere in the last third, KoS went in a wholly differeent direction, and RoW has this vibe of feeling like she definitely wrote it after reading the show scripts or even seeing some footage. idk. 2/2

I will try to be brief (1/12)

Hey anon! Thank you so much for asking this even though it took 38756588247834 years to answer this I’m so sorry !! The Nikolai duology was good—wonderful too maybe because of the myriad of themes and topics it discussed and explored, all in addition to how beloved these characters are. For me, it’s the end of KoS as it is for you, and the entirety of RoW in particular that irk me the most.

I have very little issue with KoS, and I agree with everything you’ve said. The political tensions, the sort of urgency in trying to secure a country at the cost of personal reservations, preparing for a war that seems unforgivably near the door, etc. was all thrilling. After all, it is the first installment in the duology, and it’s supposed to set the course for the upcoming books.

KoS managed to introduce the stakes and the circumstances, lay the rails for what the characters will face and what it might mean to a vast set of entities connected to the events. And it’s hardly out of sense to expect Rule of Wolves to pick up where the previous book left off and carry forward the themes and plot points introduced in the first book.

Except, RoW failed spectacularly in that aspect.

Rule of Wolves: the second book, and the supposed finale to the Grishaverse and the Nikolai duology; it fails to continue the other number of threads that KoS set up for it, effectively compromising the characters, their characterizations, the themes and other political tensions and stakes. The due importance that should be given to the heavy set of topics that get brought up in the povs are not through, nor are the small details that Leigh added to the conversations evolve into something worth talking about, which are the actual points that could have been given some more page time to explore than just making them facts or points of nostalgia for the characters.

If you take a step back and analyze the whole timeline, events, characterization, objectives of the arcs and the plot points etc. etc., all the way from Crooked Kingdom to Rule of Wolves, there’s so much that is left out and tied in, quite haphazardly, which leads me to believe that Leigh wanted to attempt writing a duology that is more plot-driven than it is character driven. And we know that Leigh writes character driven stories brilliantly, and SoC, CK and TLoT are testament to the same. Heck, even TGT has more consistency than whatever TND has.

So, objectively? Plot possibilities? Characterization? Potential? Personal goals? Addressing the very serious themes it brought up, in little or major light, but give no proper elaboration about them?

The lost potential readily compromised the characterizations of many characters, and it all amounted to their arcs being very underwhelming.

I’m dividing this into four parts and here’s the basic outline.

Writing and Plotting

The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Remedy (what I think would've worked better to tie this all up)

This can get very looong, so be forewarned.

I. Writing & Plotting

Now, Leigh Bardugo’s writing is exceptional, no doubt. The sentences are short and flowy, and convey the tone, psyche, environment and the setting and its effects on the pov character marvellously. It's also immersive. It’s the same in Rule of Wolves, except, a little or a lot weaker.

The two main parts of this is that one, that Leigh slightly overdid showing a lot more than telling, and two, that the RoW (and perhaps KoS too), was more plot driven than character driven, the latter of which is actually Leigh’s strength.

In Rule of Wolves, Leigh’s writing seemed very choppy and snappish. The descriptions were lacking, or maybe that’s just me wishing for more internal conflict and dilemma, and going back and forth in one's own head for a bit. It felt like she showed more than she told.

Example being how Zoya ‘snaps’, ‘drawls’, ‘scoffs’, or ‘scowls’ less, and even if that’s supposed to be show Zoya beginning to be a little less unpleasant than she usually is, the tone in those chapters was not strong enough to distinguish how and why the character was acting a certain way. Nor pinpoint an explanation on what brought that change about. (And there were many instances like this with many other characters), which resulted in the characters themselves feeling so off to me.

Leigh’s characters are important to the story. They carry tremendous weight and actively contribute to the plot. Except, by focusing a lot more on the plot, some parts of these characters’ relevance was not up to the mark. It is greatly due to how weak the plotting and pacing of the book was, tbh, more than just her writing.

Consider: Mayu Kir Kaat. She is integral to the story, but she is thrust into responsibilities, and that doesn’t give us much time to see her as a person, and then as a person with a duty, like we see with most other characters. Whatever parts of her we did see were very circumstantial and timed, which is probably the reason why not many we’re unable to appreciate Mayu as much as we should. (Maybe fandom racism also plays a part, so, well,,,).

Like, we know from Six of Crows and with The Language of Thorns, how great care went into describing the characters’ state of mind, which further heavily influenced their choices and decisions. This time though, I think she wanted it to be more plot driven, hence the whole crowded feeling of the book and general worry about oh my god too much is happening, how will all this be solved and all that.

And this, I think, greatly hampered Leigh's writing, leading to unsettling and rather unsatisfying character arcs. Not to mention that there was quite little space given for the characters to develop or let them grow in a satisfying way which touches on most of the elements and themes that get brought up with regard to their powers and potential,,, and when it was indeed brought up, it was all in vain since they were never followed through.

That's one of the biggest problems for me in RoW: Plot points brought up in KoS were not brought forward in RoW.

II. The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Phew. Truly buckle up because this train has too many coaches. And to discuss them all, let’s keep the starting point as Crooked Kingdom.

a) Parem

Now, by the end of Crooked Kingdom, we know some important things about the parem.

It's dangerous asf for the Grisha who have to sacrifice their will and capabilities for a short time superpower high that they didn’t even ask for

Which means they are more often than not forced to consume the drug

Shu Han is the creator of the Parem and are also creating a new kind of soldiers called Khergud (who additionally require Ruthenium, but we’ll talk abt that later)

Fjerda snatched the formula after kidnapping Bo Yul-Bayur, keeping him away in the Ice Court and in their possession, and used the Parem to further their own heedlessly heinous agenda

I think it’s easy to understand how KoS started off on the right track, considering that Kuwei Yul Bo is mentioned, the antidote and jurda is brought up and so come the political tensions alongside it (what with the impending war, the demon, the lack of funds in the coffers and security and peace for the country alongside safety for the Grisha).

The point is, parem is a character of its own. CK was its inception, and its fate was decreed along with its lifespan and its doom. Ideally, by the end of RoW, parem should have been vanquished while addressing its nature as a deadly drug, the addiction and aftermath, and the key person who will guide the plot: Kuwei Yul Bo.

Parem is a political tool that pitted countries against each other, making one another their allies or enemies. (Though parem is not the only one factor). Ravka doesn’t yet know about Kerch’s neutrality. The Shu made their move to assassinate in the end, just as Fjerda cleared the air about their goals.

Point is, parem is weapon, a new kind of warfare that keeps getting alluded to in KoS. The first book gave a glimpse of how the Shu and Fjerda are using parem, thereby exploiting, prejudicing etc. the Grisha in their countries. Khergud whose humanity is washed away with parem + ruthenium, and the Fjerdan Grisha (are targeted) drugged and exploited while be subjected to torture, training and imminent death, parametres of these outcomes being severely gendered.

Ravka too wanted to weaponize it and create a usable strain that would still give the Grisha their powers but at a minimal cost, until Nikolai’s conversation with Grigori convinces him out of it and to use only the antidote for the Grisha.

And when are the contents of this conversation brought up again?

Never.

Another aspect of parem (that the conversation also covers) is this: that what was once merzost, parem is its strange cousin. Parem parallels breaking the bounds of Grisha norms unnaturally, while merzost takes it a step further to break the bounds of nature itself, which comes with a heavy price. They're both the same with little differences. Amplifiers are in tune with this discussion, hence the conversation between Zoya and Nikolai about how, and whether or not the abomination in him, the parem, and the amplifiers are tied together. This gets brought up again in the conversation with Grigori.

Parem parallels the superpowers, something that Zoya too manages to achieve once the corruption of the amplifier business is resolved, which makes her realize how in tune with nature the Grisha must be, and how limited the Grisha powers until then had been. And why the amplifiers were a corrupted piece of magic.

Zoya was supposed to be the conduit in that sense that she reversed the Grisha norms and understood the importance and nature of small science. This is alongisde parem getting abolished or resolved in the least, be given a redressal.

Yet instead in RoW, we barely see any of Zoya’s powers, nor even her experimentation and hunger for power which would give her protection. We don't see how she begins to realize that while power was indeed protection, it was also a responsibility. Not clearly, anyway.

So like, not only is this entire discussion thrown away in Rule of Wolves, but no matters are resolved either. Parem did not reach its end like it was supposed to. Merzost with regard to parem would have been an excellent thing to address, with or without the Darkling being present, because the blight is there. But that doesn’t happen.

What happens instead? We get one chapter of Grisha getting the antidote during the face off at the start of the book, the women in Fjerda are not brought up again and instead we jump to Shu Han. Kuwei is also conveniently forgotten because hey, the Zemeni are here so it’s all sorted!

RoW could have (should have actually) sought to address both the political and medical (?) aftermath and implications. Maybe it did succeed in showing the political side of it, with regard to Mayu, Ehri, Makhi and Tamar’s storylines. But that’s only in Shu Han, whose state of affairs we had NO idea of until RoW. No idea, so much that it was completely out of the blue.

And what we did know (get to know about in KoS) is Fjerda and the affairs there remained… unsolved.

(...sorry).

b) Grisha Powers

Re: From the conversation between Nikolai and Grigori, and Juris and Zoya, about how parem and the amplifiers are parallel to each other in terms of being abominations, a corruption of Grisha powers. Now the theory of it is not entirely explained, but we do know that the parem and whatever Zoya learnt from Juris was meant to move along in the same direction.

But we don't see another mention of it, except maybe we could dig a little deeper and realize that it all adds up because Zoya is the Grisha Queen of Ravka, Summoner, Soldier, Saint, all of it rushed and unnecessarily magical in a war so dire and realistic in RoW.

Welp.

c) Spy business

Just… genuinely what even was Nina up to in RoW? A spy, sure, but only to garner information on the pretender?

Why couldn’t there have been two responsibilities for her to uncover: the lies or truths about the pretender while the Apparat causes hindrances, and Nina trying to seek out more documents of the locations and labs where the Grisha women are being tormented and the other Grisha being weaponized? It could have been a leverage to discredit Fjerda in front of everybody in the Os Kervo scene. Imagine if Nina whipped out the documents of Grisha labs and brought the truth of the exploitation and killing and kidnapping etc. in front of the convention of all nations. All of it together would have upped the political tensions by quite the notch.

Even then, there’s a possibility that it wouldn’t matter either because the Grisha aren’t exactly valuable to all the nations. But killing and exploiting is still wrong so maybe it might have worked? Or see, even if it wouldn’t have, the slow and sluggish realization of Mila’s identity by Brum, and alongside writing it as a tragedy where Nina’s efforts seem to have gone to waste, or where Nina is telling Zoya about not accounting for Prince Rasmus’ word and she informs her about the documents she has snatched? Something could have been done here?

The point is, KoS focused on Fjerda and its unraveling, and it wasn’t continued with and through in Rule of Wolves. Instead it sought to find the problem in a whole new country, Shu Han, and fixed it within the same book leaving the other country as it is.

d) Ruthenium and the Blight

Ruthenium, the metal that is an alloy of regular metal and Grisha made steel, could have been utilized more significantly in the books.

I mention it in association with the blight because while on one hand it is true that the blight is an area full of nothingness, ruthenium as a metal could have been utilized to show the effects of rushed industrialization that is leading to the ground losing its essence. This is supposed to be advanced warfare after all. Besides, Makhi loses someone very dear to her. Perhaps ruthenium is more dangerous in Shu Han because the Shu use it to create the khergud, so the constant manufacturing of it has been leading to the metal leeching the lands of their fertility, along with the blight.

And so also to broker peace, Ravka could have provided aid in some ways. :

1) The Darkling sacrificed himself, as a result of which the blight vanishes. While the blight took away her niece, the possibility of a blight persisting despite the ending of RoW could be attributed to ruthenium.

2) Ravka could provide the reversing effect to the alloy of ruthenium and metal using Grisha and otkazt’sya engineering and ingenuity to replenish the lands.

All in addition to whatever will be Shu Han’s policies to bring lushness to their lands.

e) Women and War:

Holy fucking Shit, where do I start with this?

Whatever we saw in Fjerda was haunting, and we see it from Nina’s chapters. There’s literally no resolution for it, nor is it ever brought up again, at all. In Zoya’s chapters, we see through her eyes the brunt that Grisha faced with the war, and in a country that has refused to recognize Grisha as the citizens and considers them expendable.

Add to it her own narrative of how the women are never mentioned, let alone the ones that she has lost or has known to suffer, at the hands of the war, at the Darkling's torture and powers. The description of these women suffering, often being forgotten and thrown aside as mere casualties… where or when was it ever going to be brought up again?

Like, switching between such horrifying things happening in Fjerda to whatever was happening with Zoya and Nikolai and Isaak is such a contrast, horrifyingly demeaning and insulting, even more so when it failed to align with the importance of parem and offer a solution to both these problems.

Now switch to Rule of Wolves, where the Tavgahard women immolate themselves on Queen Makhi’s orders. Not only is that such a cheap and insensitive thing to do, it gets treated a simple fucking plot point in the book, and it barely gets addressed afterwards. Women in Asia have a vastly complex and complicated history with fire, and this is a serious criticism that culturally affects readers in personal ways. And what gets done about it? Fine, Zoya feels baaaad, sorry oops why would the women do that?!?!?

Where is the adequate sensitivity to the topic? Where is the continuation of the pain Zoya feels for many people, despite them being the enemy? How does she honour them? Where is all that dilemma and pain? Why does she not think of them or just get a line or two to talk about them?

Where is the due importance for this suffering given? Structurally and culturally?

f) Soldier, Summoner, Saint / Yaromir the Great

We never really get any explanation for why Zoya deserves to be the Queen, and why she is the best. But we do get to see why Nikolai isn’t the one supposed to be on the throne, and it’s not just because of his parentage but also because of his failings and doubts and the need for acceptance with the secrets he carried.

Here's the thing though; it’s not just about her showing mercy. It’s very subtle, and in good sense, should actually have been given a little bit more importance that be loosely brought up at random times.

Keeping aside the fact that Zoya is representative of Ravka—a woman, a Grisha, a Suli girl who changed the course of war and who knew what it was like living in poverty, being as an underprivileged person of the society in addition to the trauma from then and the state of living at her aunt’s place—which is meant to be covertly apparent, the other reason tracks back to Yaromir the First, who with the help of Sankt Feliks of the Apple Boughs—the one who raised the thornwood—lead Ravka at that time into the age of peace.

The Darkling testified that in his POVs, that while Feliks and Yaromir worked in tandem for Ravka, Aleksander worked for safeguarding the Grisha. In one sense, Zoya is supposed to reflect that moment in history in the present moment, except she is Queen and Sankta, and Grisha, all three at once.

It is brought up in one of the Darkling’s POVs and once in the conversation with Yuri in KoS. Other than that, we never actually get any more hints of this explanation in the text, which is the reason why the entire ending felt so so rushed, and like a fever dream, that even if it was a plot twist, it was kinda very baseless when it should have been more ohhhhh sort of a thing.

g) The Starless Cult and Saint Worship

This cult had immense potential to blossom into many things, some of which were indeed touched upon in KoS when Zoya says that she saw a bit of herself in Yuri, and brings up time and again how easily she’d been led and had not been aware enough of what’s right and wrong, just as she supposes Yuri is too. And to some extent, there is truth there, because in the Lives of Saints, we do see why Yrui comes about to hail the Darkling and how it parallels Zoya’s, of being helpless and ten being saved by a different power/ their own power, respectively.

That’s where it forks, that Zoya is older and realizes the path that Yuri has chosen and understands that it won't happen until he realizes it himself because the Darkling’s crimes are so obvious.

Even then, there’s still more potential: This cult could have been the mirror that would make Zoya reflect on the questionable methods of the Darkling, and the ways in which she might be mirroring them, despite or not it is the necessity because of the war. How she is training soldiers too, just as the Darkling did, and while the need to take children away from their homes just as soon as they were discovered Grisha was abolished, it was war, and they needed soldiers.

So like, there’s quite a big narrative going on here, how mere children are pushed into one path of becoming a soldier and the whole system that was that the Darkling followed to train the Grisha and all of that. All of this in addition to the juxtaposition to the Grisha being seen as elite despite them being hunted, and the people who are not Grisha frowning upon them. This is also the work of the Darkling, which actually paves the way to see how there can be a world where the Grisha are not feared or seen as abnormal, despite or not they are given a Saint-like narrative.

This cult could also have been the segue to discussing Yuri and his brainwashing, and the sort of cult-ish behaviour of believing in something firm when you couldn’t believe in yourself, or not seeing the magnitude of the crimes of their supposed Saint, alongside always staying focused on becoming a soldier only and never actually thinking beyond what is told.

Some of these are very subtle and some are brought up, but never given too much of an explanation.

Genya brings up another good point in the funeral chapter, about how Fjerda seemingly taking into the whole Saints thing could mean that if the Darkling moved there, he could very well sprawl his influence there to bring in supporters. Which leads to another discussion that gets brought up towards the end of the book: about Nina telling about the Ravkan Saints to Hanne and therefore to the Fjerdans,,, which doesn’t exactly sit right with me. It’s still a very nascent topic, and I think SoC3 will explore this path of faith and personal beliefs etc. but leaving it just there, while talking so much about Saints in both the countries,,, don’t exactly know how to put it into thoughts here.

But regardless, the cult of the Starless had different potential to talk of (blind) worshipping of an ideal without critically examining why the person must be put on the pedestal in the first place (and if it is simply power, then there is actually a narrative right there, which RoW gets right, about the people valuing the power still, as a result of which the monarchy still persists at the end of RoW. Even then, there’s more discussion awaiting there).

Not sure if any of this makes sense, but I’ll leave it at this here for now.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I think what I was trying to say here is that we do not have any kind of narrative evidence to seeing how and why it seems right that the Fjerdans will worship Ravkan Saints; is it merely because they are all Grisha? Or is it because of the segue explore this path of faith and personal beliefs and all of that, of the talk of the monastery and the Grisha there being of all identities, that a monastery is in Shu Han, that it has Djel's sacred Ash tree so far away from Fjerda... much to think about.

III. Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Mostly going to be about Nina and Zoya, but I’ll bunch up the rest of them at the end.

a) Nina

*head in hands*

I severely mourned how poorly Zoya was written in RoW, but then I realized that more than Zoya, it’s Nina whose potential was severely undermined and wasted. On one hand, I’m glad she uses her powers and quick thinking,observation and her own tactics to analyze the population and opt for the best way to make them see the truth she wants to show them (eg: making Leoni and Adrik and Zoya saints and also showing that the Grisha are the children of Djel via people’s belief to Joran and Rasmus’s mother).

But then, it’s like you said; her parts were so offbeat and outpaced and completely disjointed, when in fact, Nina is the thread that ties all the characters, their plotlines and potential, together. Nina is connected to Zoya and Hanne, two equally important characters and main characters of the duology. Whatever scope Nina has, they are greatly in parallel to Zoya and Hanne. And it’s all literally there, in the text! What a waste.

Though keeping aside these parallels, Nina’s own journey from Ketterdam to Ravka to Fjerda, while is spoken about, doesn’t touch some other parts that I see potential in. Or this is just meta.

Nina has grief not just from Matthias’ death but also from the loss of her powers as Heartrender. So much of the Second Army was built on being a soldier, and perhaps the Darkling was not outright disdainful of racial differences in his army, yet he still stripped every part of the children away until they weren’t children anymore in his view. They’re all soldiers… (albeit his soldiers, preparing them to do his bidding because hey, give and take right?). Nina was a soldier, and she is a soldier still under Zoya’s role as a General, but an ‘other’ of a soldier. That’s her only identity, and the loss of her powers means that she’s a different kind of soldier.

I imagine that this entire time, some small part of Nina longed for normalcy, or whatever settled as normal for a life like hers. In the sense that she wants to go back, but what is back and where exactly did she want to go back to? What was the before and after and where did things go wrong or change? There’s tragedy in the realization that whatever you were before what you became is not a place you can return to, and that’s a different kind of loss that she has to bear, and all by herself. She has powers over the dead now, a strange power she learns to grow to, but all the places she has been, all the lives she has led and people she had been, everything might seem like they’ve all been locked away in some strange place leaving her barren and indisposable.

She’s off to Fjerda as someone she isn’t, figuratively and literally. In KoS, Nina brings up many times how odd she feels as Mila and in some capacity longs to be Nina Zenik again. This ties in with the previous point of returning to somewhere, but where?, but is also a segue towards body dysmorphia, the thing that Nina and Hanne’s storylines parallel and connect too with in a small way. It’s a great line to follow to discuss what her discomfort with her body means to herself while it means something entirely different to Hanne, who is also not entirely comfortable being who they are. (This discomfort further which leads to gender dysphoria, while for Nina, it will be about learning to accept her powers. I’ll add on to this in a bit,).

I'm mourning the lost potential of that experience being a parallel to Hanne’s own feelings, of a discussion between people being uncomfortable with their bodies, something that can mean multitudes to each person and on their own accord.

In parallel to Zoya, I like to draw it from the fact about Nina wanting to go back to who she was, while Zoya actively tries to lock her past away and drown it somewhere or throw it to the storm, never to hear of it again. She has no identity other than being a soldier, and that’s enough for Zoya, because who she was before she was a soldier is not pleasant. But moving from being just another expendable shell of soldier under the Darkling’s rule, Zoya becomes the one third of the Triumvirate, and then the King’s general, all of which bring self-awareness of Zoya’s capabilities and challenges that are bound to excite her. But all of these also compel Zoya to be many other people to others as she slowly grows to realize that power is not just protection but also a responsibility, and it will inadvertently mean confronting her past of her lost identity, realizing the how of the Darkling, and how harmful it was. As Genya puts it perfectly in Rule of Wolves, that they were all taken away when they were young kids, not even barely children, and then thrust into responsibilities that didn’t allow them to be anything else other than what the Darkling told them to be.

Back to Nina; a few other great parts about Nina’s arc could have been about her connection to languages, as language being a mode of strengthening identity, in addition to growing to her powers. In RoW, there’s this line that goes ‘how sweet it was to speak her language [Ravkan] again’, and the feeling of homesickness. Like, Nina is trying to connect to Ravka through what she knows best—language, and then stories. In that, Nina realizes a part of her identity, which could also act as a segue to Zoya reclaiming her own heritage and ethnicity. Not only that but Zoya and Nina’s stories are literally so intertwined that it’s hard not to see how their choices and line of thought affect one another’s arcs, in the grief they have and how they choose to treat it, and also show why Zoya is particularly protective of Nina (and keeps wishing that she doesn’t become the monster Zoya had become, in the sense that Nina is more mature in handling her grief than Zoya was and the entire mercy plotline ties Nina, Zoya and even Genya together. More meta, haH).

And that’s why the ending doesn’t make sense. Even though the part about her not being comfortable as Mila is not brought up many times in the continuing chapters (and that’s why perhaps naming Nina’s discomfort as body dysmorphia may be wrong), there’s still the part of Nina readily accepting to be who she was a Mila and remain in Fjerda that seems iffy to me. Especially when Nina and Hanne literally a few chapters ago think about running away (it may be just another alternative they might be fantasizing about, but I think it still means that they both want to be their true selves without hiding any parts of it away). So her staying as Mila… well, it doesn’t exactly add up.

I’d also add the part of Nina’s story mirroring Leoni’s, and how she is from Novyi Zem and being a part of the Second Army meant that she had little to no connection with her past, her culture etc. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part that Leigh went for that arc.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I don't agree with my point anymore about Nina not having the kind of ending I assumed she might have, considering that it is very well possible for Nina to treat her identity as Mila as a fresh start, as a Grisha with a command over the the dead and begin a new normal that is suited for her. You can read more here.

b) Zoya

For one, white passing Zoya is not canon to me. I simply pretend I do not see it.

See, her race was handled very badly. Making her half-Suli was supposed to show the struggles and the trauma that the ridiculing of her identity by other people has caused to her. Except, not enough time nor text is given to thoroughly discuss it. Not to forget how problematic of a narrative in itself it is to make Zoya white passing.

It would have made more sense to make her dark skinned and predominantly Suli-looking than whatever yt bs she was put through. Her not being white-passing would have led to conversations about tokenization, or people caring little about her and not giving her any respect because she is Suli. Or being called beautiful to the face and praised just for it or a harmless tumble in their point of view.

So like, instead of making the ‘mistake’ of seeking for acceptance, seeking appreciation and love, from her mother at first and then the Darkling, Zoya instead makes herself someone to be feared, if respect was not what she deserved. The iciness is a part of her and has always been, but all of it soon became a shield, an armour that she vowed to harden her heart with. Just the sheer impact of this narrative and her reluctance, and seeing Nikolai love her for beyond who she thinks she is… if all of this was canon, I’m pretty sure I’d have built a shrine for this duology.

Let’s now talk about her grief, and...

…

Okay it’s not for me to point fingers at how Leigh chose to write about grief because there’s no one way or one proper approach to go through that pain, and if that’s how she chose to write about grief for Zoya, fine! But I really wish we’d have gotten a little more into her head to see how the trauma has affected her thoughts and how she struggles against why and what exactly it is that Juris wants her to do. That enough time and text was dedicated to Zoya’s feelings and the mayhem it caused her, as a result of which the dragon’s eye took its cue and made things more unbearable to her because she was the only one to bear them all.

Like, I feel like Zoya was overwhelmed throughout the book and in between she had some skyhigh responsibilities to discharge and it’s all so inconsistent and poorly woven,,, it completely dissolved her character from KoS and made it 10000000x more miserable for me to read her POVs. And honestly, what even were her assignments that the Kirkus review mentioned? Never an inch of text in RoW is given to decipher her complications of her mind, the muddled sense of hopelessness and fear that grips her time and again. Why overwhelm her so much that you fail to do her mental state and capacity any justice?

I’m not going to be harsh about how much David’s death bothered me-- no actually fuck that; what’s the point? Fine, he died. All because you wanted to make his death a plot device to make Zoya reconcile with loss and deal with it? Where was Genya’s grief? Literally no point of having a death in the book at all, and it didn’t even achieve anything. (I’m still trying to wrap my head around why David’s death was important and maybe if I find some straws, I’ll consider…)

There were so many other ways around it; could have brought back Lada and killed her off, or have the Darkling piss her off so badly or just. Something. Instead of whatever happened with David. I think this is too harsh and insensitive of me to say about Leigh, but still… there’s a myriad of other ways to have gone about it. Helping Zoya deal with her grief with Nikolai at her side, to understand that the rage that was fueled from her loneliness, like it had been in the past, could now be a weight that Nikolai was willing to carry with her… Helping someone with their grief, staying and choosing is also a love language you know?

So in that regard, I won’t regret saying how flat the garden scene was to me. Zoya’s lines, though tinged with grief, were so out of what I would expect KoS Zoya to say. Maybe it’s also because of how bitter I was reading about David's death, despite that part being spoiled for me.

The cost shouldn’t have been David’s death, especially not when his death too wasn’t properly handled at all, and Genya’s grief was never spared a second thought beyond bringing Titanium.

+

Now let’s talk about how Out of Character Zoya was throughout the book. Her punchy attitude was missing, and even if she was warming up to her friends, we see little of the iciness she continues to retain. Another part of this is about exploring her relationships, particularly with Nikolai and her growing feelings for him. I wish we’d have seen them grapple with more of their confusion and propriety, if only for the yearning™. Besides, no matter how cute their scenes were, they were mostly (like maybe some. 70%) awful to read them, simply because it felt so odd to see Zoya be so open with Nikolai, all of a sudden.

A part of this definitely has to be the fact that we don’t know just how much time has passed between the end of KoS and the start of RoW, and we never, never see any description of they regarded their feelings for each other and how they understood it themselves. I don’t actually know how exactly I can put this into words in a manner that will make sense, but the only scenes where I appreciated Zoyalai were in the Ketterdam chapters, ONLY. The rest was… bleh lmao. Their scenes were so cute and brilliant, and if only we’d seen more of the internal conflict and had given some more time for them to practically approach their feelings but still end up in the puddle of it. If only.

Their scenes apart were the good ones, because that’s where we finally see Nikolai feeling the loss, no matter how temporary (on the verge of being permanent since it’s the war), of not having Zoya with him, of not being there with Zoya because who else would it be if it wasn’t her? Zoyalai had good scenes but they barely lived up to the mark lol. Their feelings are never thoroughly explored, nor their mental capacities.

While we’re talking about Zoyalai, let’s also talk about how lame it was for Zoya to say that Nikolai was the golden spirited hero all along, from the very start, when canonically we know Zoya had little to do with him in the earlier books, that she may have only been physically attracted to him and never saw him as more than just some guy with a responsibility to manage, and had sooooooo much distrust about him. And that it was only in the next few years of working with him and alongside did she grow to recognize his efforts and relish in the hope that he was building for Ravka, inadvertently making Zoya hopeful too.

Nope. Instead, we’ll just throw in some destiny bs that he was the one all along rather than show that the beauty of their relationship did not stem what they perceived of each other, but was instead built on strong respect and admiration for one another and their capabilities. 100% destroyed their relationship for me.

+

Some good parts about Zoya’s arc in RoW was how she acknowledged her past mistakes, and the nuance that was touched upon in seeing sense in becoming a soldier from the start, that offered her a chance to be anything other than a bride. That some part of her was grateful for the Darkling for teaching her how to fight, while still keeping Genya’s words in mind about how they were mere kids, children who had only one path to traverse because the Darkling (who wanted their acceptance and loyalty) nor the Kings of the country let the Grisha be anything else other than pawns of the war. That she recognizes her mistakes as a teen and how self centred she was, that her being snotty had at times cost some peoples’ lives too. And she doesn’t take the blame all up on herself, because it’s not hers alone to bear. Super good.

Also, the way Zoya comes to view power as responsibility instead of merely as protection was something cool to read about. It’s not clear in the books, but Zoya actively tried to not be the Darkling while still continuing to build an army for the war out of necessity, and actually sharing some parts of the dream that the Darkling had for the Grisha. I can’t articulate this so perfectly, but the point is, Zoya trying to avoid becoming a tyrant like the Darkling was an active process that she was constantly trying to change, and where Zoya could not recognize her own feelings and inherent thoughts about warfare that in some ways did mirror the Darkling’s, by the end of book, Zoya is much more self-aware and conscious of herself and her power than she was at the start of the book. And this was well done.

+

Now, what is up with YA and making people turn into giants or animals lol wtf. Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya use her dragon powers in a way that symbolizes the conditions of her dragon amplifier and the power of the knowledge she obtained from Juris? She is a Saint, and we’ve seen that their powers allowed them to cause ‘miracles’ and such, as we see at the start of KoS and at the end.

Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya dabble with her newfound powers and completely lose her shit in anger during the wae, only to rein back in mercy, just as someone from Fjerda begs for forgiveness since they see her then as a Saint? Adrik and Leoni used their powers in Fjerda, so having Zoya bring about a conundrum of all orders and do something about it would also have been cool, wouldn’t it? In the funeral scene we see her turn water into ice, thereby making a path for Genya. Why couldn’t we have had more exploration of the importance of the dragon’s eye and the general nausea of being overly empathetic every. damn. time? Why didn’t we get to see her powers? Why couldn’t we have seen her fail in them and realize that the reason she was not perfect was because she was trying to be strong on her own and was not relying on others and joint effort?

Her turning into a dragon was genuinely the most baffling part bc here’s a war that’s so serious and dire with metals and bombs, and then here’s this magic that will solve all of it entirely. Like I’m not saying it was bad, (I am actually saying just that) but I also don’t know what I am saying, except that the ending felt like a fever dream.

…?

Not sure if I’ve managed to convey it properly, but well. Zoya felt out of character throughout RoW, and that the only place I saw KoS Zoya was in the final Os Kervo scene where Zoya finally agrees to be the queen.

c) Nikolai

Nikolai’s arc was very satisfying and brilliant to read about in RoW. In KoS, he seemed very much like a passive character, one of the reasons why his stunt with the Shu in RoW was appreciable, no matter how ill-timed of a plot turn it was. His journey throughout this book was also introspective to see why others deemed him unfit as the King, and even if they were his enemies who thought that in want to dispose him from the throne, Nikolai realizes that him being on the throne is not of much value and that this book was entirely about him seeing his privilege and making decisions to counter and correct the mistakes he’s made. That was nice. Oh, also his father not being an antagonist was a pleasant surprise.

I don’t have many complaints about him, except perhaps wanting some more internal conflict and elaboration about his feelings for Zoya. Them being apart was where it was satisfying, and then in the Ketterdam chapters. His arc could have been better in KoS, but that’s to blame the plot for the characterization.

d) Hanne

Now, from the very start, their arc was super good and it only got better and better until… the ending. Except it’s so odd that Hanne, a poc, has to now live as white person, while feeling comfortable in their transmasc identity. Icky, no? That you need to eliminate one part of your identity in order to feel safe and comfortable about another? Add to this the whole white-passing Zoya thing,,, doesn't exactly send off the right message.

Together with Nina, the ending seems uncharacteristic for both of them. Them coming to accept their powers and knowing to use their powers on their own accord was brilliant, though the entire husband business felt very,,, eh to me, even if it did make sense. The ending about their name and their new identity was too vague.

e) Genya, Leoni and Adrik, Kuwei, Mayu,

Genya is the one who faced the most disservice along with David. While there were exceptional parts to both of their plotlines, it's still sad that even if David's death was necessary, we don't get to see the entirety of her grief and the possible anger, and that her kindness is simply used as the justification for lack of portrayal of grief.

It really did take me by surprise, mostly because I wasn't a fan of the original Shadow and Bone book, but seeing David's conscience and self-awareness, along with Genya's (and Zoya thinking of how she wouldn't let any harm come to them, which shows a bit of her development towards her character development), was plenty refreshing. David and Genya were genuinely the highlights of the book and to kill David off was just. doesn't sit right with me.

Leoni and Adrik deserved more page time. They’re saints and immensely capable (no wonder they’re now the Triumvirate), but a few more pages for them to shine would not only have been nice, but also a necessity.

And now, Kuwei...

....

I mean,,, parem should have been the plot, alongside the entire weaponry and the discussion of making a city killer. But uh… that didn’t happen.

There's not much I have to say about Mayu, Tamar and Ehri, except that their plot was superb, only very badly timed.

There's more to talk about them in the remedy tho.

IV. Remedy

Here’s the deal. Before KoS release, there should have been a Nina novella.

Nina is a very important character. All of her potential, alongside many other parts of her personality--from dealing with grief, to accustoming to her powers, to growing stronger--there could be so much to do with her as a protagonist, alongside another character: Mayu.

A whole book dedicated to Nina in Fjerda with Hanne? Brilliant. Show Stopping. Mind blowing. It gives SO much page time to explore not just Nina and Mayu, Hanne, but also Zoya, Leoni and Inej. All together.

How?

Nina’s plotline carries the entire medical effects of the use of parem, just as Mayu’s will carry the pain she feels about her brother being a part of the khergud program. The novella will give ample time to flesh them out as characters and protagonists, each dealing with plot problems and problems of their own--like the loss of ones powers and newfound responsibilities, and the shared loss of a beloved person in parallel, even if neither Nina or Mayu interact on page.

Fjerda and Shu Han could be tied together with one chapter as a POV from Zoya (or maybe two), who, along with the Triumvirate and Nikolai, are completely at loss with the political scenario in the country, and are debating over what should be the course of action. Zoya receives news from the scouts, and missives from Nina, and Tamar takes care of the information she garners from the rest of the network, including Shu Han.

Like, the entire surprise of finding a Zoya POV, from a character whom until CK we’ve known as cold hearted and stern and not giving a fuck about anything or anyone, be humanized in that one chapter, thereby building up the anticipation for her arc,,, the very potential,,, *chef's kiss*.

And by the end of book, we could have an POV--or maybe a cameo if not a POV--of Inej meeting Nina on one of her travels of slave hunting. Inej could help take care that the women that Nina has rescued (as Nina does in KoS) reach the Ravkan shorelines safely. But, for a price.

The entire parallels between Leoni and Hanne and Nina could be set up, while also building up the narrative for the Saints’ plotline with Adrik's, Leoni's and Nina’s powers (like it was at the end of KoS). KoS and RoW would thereby continue it by tackling the weaponization and the antidote, Sainthood and the rest of the politics of it all.

Coming to Shu Han: one key aspect that I’d love to have explored would be the importance of art, during or despite the war. Of how war or pain chips away culture, while detailing on the ill effects of it from the commoners' perspectives, from the soldiers etc. Art is integral to Shu Han and could be portrayed by Mayu’s pain finding balm in poetry, of seeing glimpses of Ehri poring over poetry also mayri ftw, of politics that Makhi is weaving against Ravka, etc.

Or also add some more length to Zoya’s POV and explore a bit of Tamar and Tolya and Kuwei’s interactions and perspective added to it, of missing a home that they seemed to not know, or know; of discussing culture and differences on the basis of where they’re from (maybe the twins are from the borders, while Kuwei grew up near the capital or somewhere distant from the borders etc.), all while directly pointing at Zoya’s heritage and how it ebbs at her conscience, no matter how much she wants to bury it.

POTENTIAL !!!

Like,,, Nina novella would have been too powerful. It would have been perfect. I think I’d excuse bringing back the Darkling too if this was the case. (Or maybe not).

But welp.

Hey, thanks for reading! Not sure if you could make it this far, but if you have, you honestly deserve a medal for sitting through this all. I can’t imagine how tiring it must be to read through this, considering it seemed to take it more than month to compile this there’s also me procrastinating on it too so i’,mbhbdhshfsdn

Drop an ask if you want to talk more about this!

Sincerely, thank you!!!

#zoya nabri #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai lantsov #nina zenik #hanne brum #grishaverse #king of scars #rule of wolves #kos #row #the darkling #row spoilers #<<< if you want more thoughts. i rambled quite a bit in tags of posts i reblogged after row came out #and they're all tagged as row spoilers. check them out if you want #im definitely not sure if this was what you wanted to talk about but i rambled away anyway and ykw #thank you for enabling me fdgsfdghjkds #pinned #didn't include the darkling or alina or mal or the crows well simply because #now watch everybody like this and not reblog lmao #can't get a reblog on this fucking site

[towerfandoms]

Status: Closed

hey guys!!! thank you so so so much for 400+ followers over the past year. i cant believe we grew that quickly <3 i love every single one of you guys so much. i especially appreciate the immense support during my hiatus, it meant a lot 💕 however i am back and better so it’s time to give back to you all :)))

rules

from 1st July- 14th July 2021

send a detailed description of yourself (i’ll list ideas below) max three asks. pls be as detailed as possible so i get a really good feel of who you are. if sending multiple asks pls label with an emoji so i know who is who.

pls specify which fandoms (again i’ll have a list below) and specify from which group of people you want/ don’t want. eg for bnha only villains, for tog only season one characters, haikyuu no karasuno etc.

also what gender you wanna be paired with

you can choose either two fandoms and head cannons for each or just one fandom with head cannons and a mini scenario (you can say what you want to happen in the scenario)

you don’t have to but reblogs and likes are always appreciated <3 also i’d like if you followed me but i have no way to check so it’s honestly up to you how you feel about my blog teehee

you can be anonymous. i know some people would feel awkward sending in asks with their user but just be aware no judgment here!! i love you all so be as honest as you want for a very accurate matchup

ideas

your mbti, zodiac sign, gender+sexuality favourite colour, favourite aesthetic, fave food, how would your friends/ family/ peers describe you, how you would describe yourself, your fave thing about you, hobbies/interest, biggest achievements, what your biggest flaw is/ some imperfections (only if you want ofc!), what you like doing when you’re out, what kinda of person are you and anything else you can think of !!! any small detail is useful in helping me get a better sense of you.

also physical appearance does not matter!! i’m a firm believer of body neutrality, your outer appearance is the least important thing about you. also i’m south asian so i wouldn’t be able to accurately portray any other race/ ethnicity yknow. so i’ll try be as general but specific to you as possible <3

fandoms

-tower of god

-haikyuu

-bnha

-attack on titan

-assassination classroom

-tokyo revengers

-fruits baskets

-bungou stray dogs

-black butler

-toilet bound hanako

-danganronpa (any and all games)

-jujutsu kaisen

-honestly i’ve watched a lot of anime over the years. just ask me if i’ve watched it/familiar with it and if i am i’ll do it!!

#tower of god #tower of god x reader #haikyuu x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #attack on titan x reader #assassination classroom x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #fruits basket #fruits basket x reader #danganronpa x reader #jujustsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #my hero academia x reader #toilet bound hanako kun #tbhk x reader #black butler #black butler x reader #bungou stray dogs x reader

[plotting-against-you]

The Best Thing That's Ever Been Mine

Fandom: The Chronicles of Narnia

Characters: Susan Pevensie, Caspian X, Lucy Pevensie, Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie

Synopsis: She decided she would never fall in love again…she couldn’t let her parent’s mistakes happen in her life as well; she wouldn’t.

Prompt: Modern day AU based on "Mine" (Taylor's Version)". (Yes, I know the TV version of the song isn't out yet, but all her songs will have (Taylor's Version) in my stories. They'll be out soon enough.)

Warnings: Sickfic, Arguing, Mentions of an emotionally abusive parent/relatives

Susan sighed as she cleaned the desk near her front door. Her apartment wasn’t the biggest, but it would have to do if she planned on being independent in the city. She was bound and determined to fend for herself, not having to rely on her family. There was no way she would go back to her parents and face the past she had left behind. She was too angry.

It hadn’t been more than a year since her parents split, not even a speck of love between either of them. Her siblings had been just as sad and angry as she, but they had been able to move on more quickly. It was then that she decided she would never fall in love again…she couldn’t let her parent’s mistakes happen in her life as well; she wouldn’t.

...

“Hey bro, here’s the order for table two on my side. Take it over there for me? I’m heading out early.”

Caspian sighed as he grabbed the plate from his coworker. The last thing he wanted to do was take on a table that wasn’t his, but seeing that the diner was nearly empty—a rare thing for this time of night in the city—he couldn’t complain too much.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like his job; he really appreciated it. He just didn’t like having to work from the crack of dawn until after midnight just to make ends meet. Ever since his father died, he’d been living with his uncle and aunt. Unfortunately, not everyone is cut out to care for an orphan, and they kicked him out when he graduated high school. That was when he left his small, middle-of-nowhere town for city life. He would make it on his own…he had to.

He was so deep in thought that it wasn’t until he had set down the plate and looked up that he noticed his new customer. He watched as her eyes lifted to his, and the whole world disappeared in silence and a haze of something neither of them could explain.

...

It was dark in their tiny apartment, with only the television light illuminating the room. There was no movement except for the masculine hand running its fingers through Susan’s dark brown hair. She’d been sick the entire day with a raging fever, headaches, and she’d fainted a few times. It both saddened him and scared him when he saw how fragile she looked, and he refused to sleep until he felt her fever break.

As he lay on the couch, her warm body next to his, he stared at the ceiling, remembering the first time he had ever gotten close to her.

“Caspian, it’s beautiful!” Susan smiled as they walked along the shoreline, watching the waves crash against each other.

“I come here to think whenever I have a few minutes off from work.” He confided in her—something he usually wouldn’t do on a first date such as this.

But he felt closer to her than anyone else he’d ever known, and it was something he decided to trust. He watched as her hands rubbed her arms lightly, a slight chill in the air despite the warmth of the night. Knowing she was wary of touch but knowing he could help, he slid his arm around her, pulling her close. He felt her tense for a second before relaxing a bit.

“Susan…I want you to know that I would never hurt you.” He told her, and she nodded.

“I know, I just…I know that things like this don’t last very long, and I don’t want to lose this yet when we only just met.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, and he looked at her sadly as he wondered what could have hurt her so badly that she didn’t believe in love.

“I love you.” He said quietly, shaking his head. “I have ever since I saw you last week in the diner for the first time. I won’t leave you.”

She stopped walking and stared up at him, shock and tears in her eyes. “No one has ever said that to me before.”

“Susan…” He started, his accent thick in his voice, but she shook her head.

Swallowing her tears, she sighed. “My parents never loved each other. They tried for the sake of my siblings and I, but it didn’t work, and they ended up hating each other. I couldn’t bear it if that happened to us, Caspian! My father grew into a man who didn’t care about my mother or any of us, really. I can’t let that be my life again. I won’t let it happen. It was too hard the first time.”

Feeling his heart break, Caspian pulled her close to his body and hugged her, sending comfort in waves as she felt her shake slightly beneath his touch. “I am sorry that you went through that, my love. I promise that will never happen to us.”

She looked up at him, her eyes watery with wonder. “How can you be sure?”

He smirked. “Because I do love you.”

She was silent for a minute before smiling. “I love you too.” Then she saw something in his eyes change. “What?”

“I know you are a careful person, Susan. But we won’t make the same mistakes as your parents. If you believe me at all…will you trust me?”

It took her a second before she realized what he meant. Deciding to take a chance, she nodded. “I guess every careful girl needs a rebellious side.”

Laughing, he leaned down and kissed her.

Caspian was brought out of his thoughts as Susan shifted, a shiver going through her body as her eyes opened. “Why did you let me sleep? We have things to do…bills to pay! I can’t sleep until everything is finished.”

Holding her tightly, knowing her brain was still filled with sleep and illness, he shook his head. “Sleep, my love. You need it. Those things will still be there when you are feeling better.”

He knew she must have been feeling worse when she nodded and laid her head back down, a flinch of pain across her face. Leaning down, he kissed her temple and felt the heat still there. He hoped beyond all things that she would be better in the morning.

...

“What the hell is this, Susan?” Caspian shouted as he held her letter in his hand. “You were just going to leave and not tell me in person? What is going on?”

She stood in front of him, glaring at him. “It’s about that time, don’t you think, Caspian? It’s been nearly a year; why would you still want to stay with me? What good am I to you?”

“How can you still think that? After all this time, you still don’t believe I’m here to stay?” He asked incredulously.

“Because that’s exactly what my father said! He told me how it works, Caspian.” She said and felt tears fill her eyes.

Caspian just stood there in shock, his anger suddenly gone. “What are you talking about?”

“My father came to see me a few days ago. He said I was being selfish living here alone, making everyone worry about me, and how could I be doing okay on my own? I told him about you, and we fought. He said it was only a matter of time…I mean, look at my parents. Then you came home and barely said anything, and I knew it was more than a bad day at work. You don’t have to lie to me anymore, Caspian.” Her tears were falling faster now, and she couldn’t look at him.

As she ran down the stairs to the alley, the only thing she heard was his voice screaming her name. When she finally made it outside, she started to walk away but felt his grip on her shoulder. Before she could pull herself away from him, his arms encircled her body, and she felt herself sobbing into his shoulder.

“Susan…” His voice was quiet.

“This is it.” She thought sadly. “This is the goodbye I’ve been waiting for.”

“Susan, I love you. I told you once that I would never leave you, and I meant it. I promise…I’m not your father, though I would very much like to meet him after this.” Tilting her chin up to look at him, he wiped away her still falling tears. “I love you more than you could ever know. When I came home and caught you leaving…it broke my heart because I had a special night planned.”

“What?” She asked, shocked at his whole speech.

“Oh screw it, now’s a good a time as any.” Then he let her go and knelt on the ground. “Susan, I love you, and I hope that this proves just how much. We are not your parents. We won’t ever be your parents. Please marry me. I want you in my life, and I want to tell you every day for the rest of our lives just how much you mean to me.”

Now she was sobbing again, but there was a smile on her face this time. “Yes! Of course, I will marry you.”

He laughed and stood, picking her swinging her in a circle. “You are the best thing that has ever been mine.”

Then they kissed, and even fireworks on the 4th of July couldn’t shine as bright as their love in that moment.

...

“Susan, you look amazing,” Lucy said as she hugged her sister. “Caspian won’t know what hit him when he sees you!”

Susan chuckled as she looked at herself in the mirror, running her hands over her white, beaded dress. It was only moments until her wedding, and she was glad she was able to take a few moments with her siblings before walking down the aisle to her future.

“Oh, look at the time.” Lucy squealed. “We have to go!”

As she and Edmund walked out, Susan grabbed Peter’s arm. “Peter…I can’t have dad walk me down the aisle. I thought I could ignore everything because it is tradition, but…I just can’t have that as part of my wedding.”

Peter nodded, suddenly serious. “I won’t let him, Susan. If you don’t want it, you don’t have to walk with him.”

She smiled. “I was thinking…maybe you could do it.”

He froze, then smiled at her. “I would be honored, dear sister.”

Minutes later, the doors of the church opened, and as Susan saw the look that Caspian gave her, she knew that all her fears had disappeared.

Do you believe it? We’re gonna make it now. I can see it now…

#the chronicles of narnia #narnia #susan pevensie #caspian x #modern day au #fanfiction #mine taylor swift #suspian

[blitzturtles]

Title: Childhood (Ao3)

Rating: Teen and Up (Probably General?)

Fandom: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo

Pairing(s): BruAbba

Summary: “Is that--?”

“Yeah,” Bruno breathes, running his fingers over the worn leather. There’s a picture carefully taped to the center with his family name burned into the leather underneath.

Notes: Had to get in a prompt for Bruno Week, so I went with 'Childhood'.

-

Bruno sits on the floor, surrounded by boxes of various shapes and sizes. Ever since moving into the mansion, he’s been slowly picking through his old things, trying to decide what is or isn’t worth keeping. It’s taken him a lot longer than he expected, considering his tendency to just throw things in storage and forget about them.

“What’cha doing?” Abbacchio asks from the doorway.

Bruno glances up from the pile of miscellaneous junk dumped out from the most recent box. “Thought I should finally… consolidate, I guess.”

Abbacchio hums as he steps into the room. “Need some help?”

“Probably,” Bruno admits with a sigh. “I just keep looking at it all, and…”

“Want to pack it back up and stick it back in storage?”

“You got me,” Bruno says, sheepish.

“You’ve been doing the same thing for years. It was bound to catch up to you-- is this Fugo’s--”

Before Abbacchio can finish, Bruno’s already snatched the stuffed strawberry back. “Shh. If he finds out I have this, he’ll burn it.”

Abbacchio snorts, “You’re a sentimental bastard.”

Bruno shrugs, but he doesn’t outright deny the accusation. They both know it’s true.

“Most of this is going to end up back in storage, you know,” Abbacchio toes through the pile in front of Bruno with his boot until something catches his eye. “Hey, what’s that?”

“What?” Bruno’s expression shifts from a scowl aimed at Abbacchio to confusion faced toward the pile of what looks to be mostly old clothes. It takes him a moment to spot the bound leather book, and it isn’t until he picks it up that he realizes what it is. He hasn’t seen it in so long, that he’s long since thought it lost.

“Is that--?”

“Yeah,” Bruno breathes, running his fingers over the worn leather. There’s a picture carefully taped to the center with his family name burned into the leather underneath. He can’t help staring at the photograph. The quality leaves something to be desired, but the people in the image look happy. What, with the man and woman pressed together with a small toddler held between them. The kid has bright blue eyes and a toothy grin, and he’s utterly indifferent to the way his hair is whipping in the wind.

“I bet you were a menace,” Abbacchio says as he moves to sit beside Bruno. He leans against him, bumping his shoulder lightly.

“You have no idea,” Bruno answers with a hint of a smile. He flips the book open and pulls a face when the first image that greets him is far less photogenic. Abbacchio bursts into laughter beside him after getting a look at the newborn version of his partner.

“You look pissed.”

“Is anyone happy to be born?”

“Probably not,” Abbacchio admits, but he busts up into another round of laughter as he gets another look at the picture.

Bruno reaches over to playfully shove him. “See if I let you look at the rest.”

“Alright, alright,” Abbacchio holds up his hands in surrender, “I’ll be good.”

“Liar.”

“Guilty,” Abbacchio shrugs.

Bruno rolls his eyes and turns the page. The next photograph is of his mother, holding him on her hip. She’s laughing with an expression more open than he actually remembers seeing on her face. It’s not hard to see why, considering the smear of blue icing across baby Bruno’s face. It’s clearly an image from his first birthday party, where he had apparently been allowed to try the cake. Or, perhaps more accurately, face-planted into it.

He expects Abbacchio to start laughing again. Instead, he finds the man staring intently at the image with a look of awe.

“Leone?”

“Sorry,” Abbacchio answers after a moment, “It just occurred to me that I’ve never seen any of these before, and I didn’t think I would.”

“Oh,” Bruno breathes. He hadn’t thought about that. Hell, he’d thought the book permanently lost to time, never to be seen again. Apparently, he had just packed it tightly among old clothes. Probably the best cushioning he could think up at the time. He can barely remember the last time he held the album in his hands. It used to hurt to even look at it. To know that so much of it contained pictures of his mother, but it’s easier now that he’s older. Now that he isn’t so bitter and hurt. It helps to know that his papa made it for him.

Abbacchio reaches out to squeeze his knee gently. “C’mon, show me more of those big, blue eyes that have us all suckered.”

Bruno huffs a laugh, “It’s not my fault you all are so easily done in.”

“You really don’t have enough appreciation for what it’s like to be on the other side of you,” Abbacchio answers with a fondness in his voice. He nudges Bruno again and nods toward the album.

The next few pages are full of photographs from various parts of Bruno’s toddler years. They’re mostly mundane, everyday type of photos, including the dreaded bathtub picture that Bruno can only roll his eyes at, while Abbacchio is beyond delighted.

And then the bob appears for the first time. Bruno’s all of five years-old and already fascinated with zippers when he cuts his own bangs. It’s a complete mess, one that his mother has to fix for him. Ultimately, his bangs end up shorter than he wanted, but the look obviously stuck for the most part.

“I can’t believe you’ve had a bob this long,” Abbacchio marvels, turning the album this way and that, as if it might give him more insight into whatever had been going on in little Bruno’s head.

Bruno shrugs, “I think it looks nice.”

“Oh, I’m not arguing that. I can’t imagine you any other way, but most people don’t stick with the same haircut they had at-- what, six?”

“Five.”

“Ha, yeah. Exactly,” Abbacchio shakes his head, but there’s a fond smile on his face as he hands the book back to Bruno.

The next picture, mercifully, sees Bruno’s hair at a better length. Properly cut this time, but definitely still in a bob. His bangs are parted down the middle, a look his mother insisted on, and one Bruno didn’t have enough of an opinion on at the time to argue against. It fits, in a way. It matches his age better.

He turns the page again to see himself holding up a fairly small fish, but there’s a grin on the little version of him that could have split his cheeks in two. He huffs an amused breath and flips to the next page.

“Wait,” Abbacchio catches the corner of the page that Bruno’s on and turns it backward. “What the hell happened to your teeth?” He asks, going back and forth between the two photographs. In the one with the fish, Bruno has all of his front teeth, top and bottom. In the next, he’s missing three on the top row and two more on the bottom. There can’t be more than a few months between the two pictures, and yet.

“Oh,” Bruno laughs, “I uh… didn’t listen to my papa when he said not to run on the docks. I took a fall into the water, but not before I kissed the peer.”

Abbacchio winces in sympathy. “That sounds awful.”

“It would have been, but I had just caught my biggest fish to date,” Bruno pauses to indicate the fish in the first photograph, “Of course, it got away when I fell in the water, but I was too excited to care.”

Abbacchio huffs, “That’s too fucking cute.”

“It wasn’t at the time, I assure you. I was covered in blood, and papa panicked.”

“I can imagine,” seeing the aftermath is impressive enough.

Bruno laughs softly as he looks back at the image. He can only imagine what his papa must have felt at the time. With his child soaked in blood and saltwater. Bruno must have been a mess at the time, but he can remember how the grin never wavered from his face. Not while being cleaned up, and not while being scolded (either time, by either parent).

“Shit, Bruno, are you okay?” Abbacchio asks beside him, abruptly pulling him from his thoughts.

Bruno blinks in confusion, then again as he notices his vision has blurred. It takes a third time for him to realize that tears have built in his eyes, and he laughs again as he wipes them away. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? We can-- we don’t have to keep looking,” Abbacchio reaches out with his thumb to gently swipe under each of Bruno’s eyes.

“No, no, it’s fine. Really,” Bruno offers him a somewhat shaky smile. “They’re good memories. It’s just been awhile.”

“Yeah,” Abbacchio’s voice is quiet, a near whisper. “I’m sure they are.”

Despite his own protests, Bruno closes the album with a gentle snap as the pages come together. “Maybe I should make one of these,” he muses without looking down at the book in his hands.

“That would be a good idea,” Abbacchio pauses, “But leave me out of it.”

“Nonsense, you’ll be the star.”

“I hate you.”

“Do you?”

“If only,” Abbacchio says with a put-upon sigh that only gets another peel of laughter out of Bruno. Chuckles quickly turn into giggles as Bruno catches a glimpse of the exaggerated look on Abbacchio’s face, and he laughs until he’s crying for a whole different reason.

“Alright, alright,” Abbacchio interrupts, but he can’t fight his own smile. “Let’s clean this up and go take awful, humiliating pictures of your hoard of children.”

#bruabba #abbabru #bruno bucciarati #bruno buccellati #leone abbacchio #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba part 5 #part 5 #vento aureo #golden wind #look i never rate anything #below teen #so i'm hesitant to do so now #but the worst in here is some mild dental stuff #of the childhood variety #ie bruno busts a few teeth out on accident #blitzwrites #blitz

[shrinkthisviolet]

2021 Year-End Fic Review

Taking advantage of @thinkingisadangerouspastime’s open tag! Thanks for giving me a reason to ramble, Amy 💞

Also, I’m only counting posted stories as complete! And I’m counting fics individually, since only my -Week series (2 out of 8) are technically complete.

How many stories did you complete?

This year, I completed 25! Most are oneshots, but two are multichap 🥰which is a first for me!

What is your total word count for the year?

144188 which is...wow 😂 that’s crazy!! And it’s all of my works except 11 (7 from 2020, 1 from 2019, 1 from 2016, and 1 posted in January of this year that I don’t count because it was written in 2019)

What fandoms did you write in this year?

Ooh well ATLA of course. Also Cobra Kai/Karate Kid, Ted Lasso, and the Flash! And I’m gonna try to sneak in something MCU-related in the last few days of the year (emphasis on TRY). There’s a Star Wars fic in the mix too!

Did you write more, less, or roughly about what you expected?

More, but honestly, that’s only because my fanfic impulse control is close to 0 😂

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

This one, because the CK time travel AU as a concept has grown and bloomed into something amazing 💞 it’s how I’m coping with whatever decisions they’ll make in S4

Though a close second is this Empath Daniel fic, because I’m really proud of the worldbuilding 🥰

I also love this Evil Zuko fic 😂 it’s so hard to rank my fics!

(The Bumizumi time travel AU will join my list of favorites soon! I just haven’t gotten to the really fun part yet)

What is your most underappreciated story of the year?

...okay I know I said I don’t count this fic...but screw it, I’m counting it. This Jyn & Leia fic was one I quite liked! It didn’t get the reception I was hoping for, which is a shame, because I definitely think there’s room for these two to be friends within the bounds of canon

Biggest fanfic-related disappointment of 2021?

Hmm...honestly not many? I mean, there’s this series (for Nina Shelley, my Ted Lasso OC) and also this one (for Morgan Wells, my Flash OC) but...not much has really happened in either series yet, so I’m not too surprised. It’s mostly just been set-up (or pay-off without build-up 😂)

Biggest fanfic-related surprise of 2021?

Honestly this Roykeeley & Jamiedani fic, which I actually posted yesterday for a Ted Lasso Secret Santa! It’s blown up more than I expected, and I’m so grateful for that 💞 it wasn’t my favorite fic, and I definitely felt a little imposter syndrome while writing it, but I’m glad people like it! Especially the recipient, which was definitely great to hear

This fic (exploring Barry’s grief in the wake of 3x1 aka Flashpoint) also surprised me–two authors in the fandom who I love dearly loved that fic, and were moved by it, which I’m glad to hear! I wasn’t sure if I was writing Barry and Harry (and grieving, generally) quite right, but I’m glad it worked

Something you’re looking forward to working on in 2022?

My OCs with series (Morgan and Nina) are gonna get their series fleshed out! Amelia, a new OC of mine for Marvel/MCU, is going to get her own series (again, 0 fic-related impulse control 😂)

Other than that...my CK and Bumizumi time travel AUs are steadily chugging along.

I’ve got a couple House of Anubis and Flash oneshots planned! One of the HOA ones is coming in early January (there’s a hard deadline for that one, which is why I can promise a posting date 😂)

Some more Spidey-related oneshots (NWH-related) are coming next year too! That movie really has me in a chokehold

Also...CK S4 fix-its are definitely coming, because I don’t trust this next season very much (some of the things I’m hearing make me nervous...like how they’re gonna treat Sam)

And I promise I’m getting back to that ATLA Soulmate AU at some point next year! Not sure when, but at some point. I’m proud of the worldbuilding for this series, and I wanna explore in the sandbox more! And if anyone wants to run with the worldbuilding, feel free (just make sure to gift it to me and give inspo credit, because I’d love to read it!)

Tagging: @seek--rest @robbykeeneslawyer @connorswhisk @blackaquokat @usaonetwothree @starstruckpurpledragon @squireofgeekdom and anyone else who wants to do it!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #the flash #ted lasso #cobra kai #the karate kid #marvel #mcu #star wars #ck time travel au #bumizumi time travel au #daniel larusso #evil zuko au #jyn erso #leia organa #jyn & leia #sam & tory & aisha #oc: nina shelley #oc: amelia parker #morgan wells au #barry allen #harry wells #roykeeley #jamiedani #jamie x dani #roy kent #keeley jones #jamie tartt #dani rojas

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Dark”

Welcome back, everyone! Can you believe it's been six weeks already? I can't. Something something the uncomfortable passage of time during a pandemic as emphasized by a web-series.

But we're here to talk about RWBY the fictional story, not RWBY the cultural icon. At least, we will in a moment. First, I'd like to acknowledge that shaky line between the two, growing blurrier with every volume. A sort of good news, bad news situation.

The bad news — to get that out of the way — is that we cannot easily separate RWBY from its authors and those authors have, sadly, been drawing a lot of negative attention as of late. This isn't anything new, not at all, but I think the unexpectedly long hiatus gave a lot of fans (myself included) the chance to think about Rooster Teeth's failings without getting distracted by their biggest and brightest production. There's a laundry list of problems here — everything from the behavior of voice actors to the quality of their merch — but as a sort of summary issue, I'd like to highlight the reviews that continue to pop up on websites like Glassdoor, detailing the toxic, sexist, crunch-obsessed environment that RT employees are forced to work in. A lot of these websites requires a login to read more than a page of reviews, but you can check out a Twitter thread about it here. 

Now, I want to be clear: I'm not bringing this up as a way to shame anyone enjoying RWBY. This isn't a simplistic claim of, "The authors are Problematic™ and therefore you can't like the stuff they produce." Nor is this meant to be a catch-all excuse for RWBY's problems. If it were, I'd have dropped these recaps years ago. I'm of the belief that audiences maintain the right to both praise and criticize the work they're given, regardless of the context in which that work was produced. At the end of the day, RT has presented RWBY as a finished product and, more than that, presents it as an excellent product, one worth both our emotional investment and our money (whether in the form of paying for a First account, or encouraging us to buy merch, attend cons, etc.) I'll continue to critique RWBY as needed, but I a) wanted fans to be at least peripherally aware of these issues and b) clarify that my use of "RT" in statements like, "I can't believe RT is screwing up this badly" is meant to be a broad, nebulas acknowledgement that someone in the company is screwing up, either creatively (doesn't have the skill to write a good scene) or morally (hasn't created an environment in which other creators are capable of crafting a good scene). The real, inner workings of such companies are mostly a secret to their audiences and thus it's near impossible for someone like me — random fan writing these for fun as a casual side hobby — to accurately point fingers. Hence, broad "RT." I just wanted to clarify that when I use this it's as a necessary placeholder for whoever is actually responsible, not a damnation of the overworked animator breaking down in a bathroom. Heavy stuff, but I thought it was necessary (or at least worthwhile) to acknowledge this issue as we head into the second half of the volume.

Now for the good news: RWBY has reached 100 episodes! For any who may not know, 100 is a pretty significant number in the TV world because, when talking about prime time programming, it guarantees syndicated reruns. Basically, networks don't want audiences to get burned out with a show — changing the channel when it comes on because ugh, I've seen this already, recently too — and 100 episodes allows for a roughly five month run without any repeats, making it very profitable. RWBY is obviously not a television show and doesn't benefit from any of this (hell, modern television doesn't benefit from this as much as it used to, not in the age of streaming), but the 100 episode threshold is still ingrained in American culture. Beyond just being a nice, rounded number, it is historically a measure of huge success and I can't imagine that RT isn't aware of that. Regardless of what we think of RWBY's current quality, this is one hell of a milestone and should be applauded.

All that being said... RWBY's quality is definitely still lacking lol.

Our 100th episode is titled "Dark" — keeping with the one word titles, then — and I'd like to emphasize that, as a 100th episode, it definitely delivers in terms of plot. There's plenty of action, important character beats, and at least one major reveal, everything we'd expect from a milestone and a Part II premiere. The animation also continues to be noteworthy for its beauty, as I found myself admiring many of the screenshots I took for this recap. There are certainly things to praise. The only problem (one we're all familiar with by now) is that these small successes are situated within a narrative that's otherwise falling apart. It's all good stuff... provided you ignore literally everything else surrounding it.

But let's dive into some examples. We open on Qrow starting, awoken by the thunder outside. Robyn has been watching him and makes a peppy comment about how none of them will be sleeping tonight, followed by a more serious, "Sounds bad out there." Yeah, it does sound bad, especially when they all know — thanks to Ruby's message back in Volume 7 — that this is due to Salem's arrival. I think a lot of the fandom has forgotten that little detail because people often discuss Qrow as if he is entirely ignorant of what is going on outside his cell. Even if we were to assume that he's forgotten all about the pesky Salem issue (the horror of Clover's death overriding everything else, perhaps) he still knows that Tyrian is running loose in a heat-less city with a creepy storm going on and, from his perspective, the Very Evil Ironwood is still running the show. So it's bad, which begs the question of why Qrow (and Robyn, for that matter) hasn't displayed an ounce of legitimate worry for everyone he knows out there. Thus far, their interactions have centered entirely around Qrow's misplaced blame and Robyn's terrible attempts to lighten the mood, despite the fact that a war is raging right beyond that wall. It's another example of RWBY's inability to manage tone properly, to say nothing of balancing the multiple concerns any one character should be trying to juggle. Just as it rankles that Ruby and Yang don't seem to care about what has happened to their uncle, Qrow likewise doesn't seem to care about what might be happening to his nieces. When did we reach a point where these relationships are so broken that someone can be arrested/chucked into a deadly battle and the others just... ignore that?

So Robyn's otherwise innocuous comment immediately reminds me of how badly the narrative has treated these conflicts and, sadly, things don't improve much from here. We are thankfully spared more of Robyn's jokes when Qrow realizes that what he's hearing can't be thunder. A second later, Cinder blasts through the wall — called it! — and Qrow instinctively transforms. 

The only downside to this moment is that the whole ceiling falls down on Qrow and the others because APPARENTLY these cells don't have tops on them. Seriously. As far as I can recall we don't see the stone breaking through the forcefield somehow and this looks pretty open to me.

If it is... you're telling me these crazy powerful fighters who practice landing strategies and leap tall buildings in a single bound —

— can't just hop over this mildly high electric fence to get out? Qrow can't just fly away?

We're, like, two minutes in, folks.

We transfer to Nora's perspective as she wakes up, seeing Klein giving her the IV. He tells her not to worry, that "you and your friend are going to be just fine." What friend? Penny? Klein went upstairs prior to Weiss hugging Whitley or Penny crash landing outside. I had thought them bursting through the door with another unconscious friend was the first time he learned what the big bang outside was, but apparently not.

Penny is, obviously, a mess. While I now understand the choice to make her blood such an eye-catching color when that's crucial to the Hound's hunt, I still think it looks strange visually. Like someone has taken a copy of RWBY and painted over it. It doesn't look like it fits the art style. More than that, it implies some rather complicated things about Penny's humanity, especially in a volume focused around her being a "real girl." Real enough for Maiden powers, but with obviously inhuman blood that isn't even referred to as "bleeding." Penny "leaks" instead.

Toss in the fact that she's literally an android who is made up of tech — recall the running gags about her being heavy, or it hurts to fist-bump her, to say nothing of keeping things like multiple blades inside her body — yet Klein says that her "basic anatomy" is the same and he can "stitch up that wound."

I'm sorry, what? Whatever Penny looks like on the inside, it's not going to resemble a human woman's anatomy, and Klein might be able to stitch the outer layer of skin she's got, but that won't do anything to fix whatever metal bits have been broken underneath. Penny isn't a human-robot hybrid, she's a robot with an aura. Penny has knives in her back, rockets in her feet, and a super computer behind her eyes. When our clip introduced that Klein would be the one to help Penny, my initial reaction was, "Seriously? He's a butler and a doctor and an engineer?" But RWBY didn't even try to get away with a Super Klein explanation, they just waved away Penny's very obvious, inhuman anatomy. Yeah, I'm sure "stitching up" an android wound is just like giving Nora her IV. I hope the surgical sutures he used are extra strong!

In an effort to not entirely drag this episode, I do appreciate that Whitley is allowed an "ugh" moment about the non-blood covering his shirt without anyone calling him out on it. That felt like the sort of thing the show would usually try to make a character feel guilty about and I'm glad that, for once, he was just allowed to be frustrated without comment.

Then the power goes out and May calls, which raises questions about what state the CCTS is in and when scrolls are available to our protagonists vs. when they're not. But whatever. She's checking in because she just "saw another bombing run light up the Kingdom" and —

Wait. Bombing? Salem is bombing the city? I know we've seen explosions in the sky, but I'd always just attributed that to evil aesthetic. Why does this dialogue sound like it's from a World War II film and not a fantasy sci-fi show about literal monsters launching a ground attack?

May looks pretty against the sky though. I like her hair color against that purple.

I'm admittedly grasping at positives here because we finally return to her "You have to choose" ultimatum and — surprise! — May has pulled back completely. Ruby says that once they've helped Penny, "We'll...we'll do something!" which is once again her avoiding making a decision. Ruby still refuses to choose, instead falling back on generic, optimistic pep talks. They'll figure out how to stop Salem later. They'll think about the impact of telling the world later. They'll choose who to help later. Ruby keeps pushing these problems into the future where, she hopes, a perfect, magical solution will have appeared for her to latch onto. When that continues to not happen, others pressuring her to actually do something and stop waiting for perfection — Ironwood, Yang, May — she panics and continues stalling for time. Wait an episode and the narrative supports her in this.

Because initially May was forcing Ruby to decide. Now, May enables her desire to keep putting things off. "Don't beat yourself up, kid. At this point, I don't know how much is left to be done." That's the exact opposite of what May believed last episode, that there was still so much work and good to do for the people of Mantle. This is precisely what the show did with Yang and Ren's scenes too, having people call Ruby out... but then return to a message of, 'Don't worry, you're actually doing just fine' before Ruby is forced to actually change.

None of which even touches on May calling her "kid" in this moment. That continues to be a convenient way of absolving Ruby of any responsibility. When she wants to steal airships or Amity Tower, she's an adult everyone should listen to, the leader of this war. When the story wants to absolve her of previously mentioned flaws, she becomes a kid who shouldn't "beat herself up." I said years ago that RWBY couldn't continue to let the group be both children and adults simultaneously, yet here we are.

So that was a thoroughly disappointing scene. Ruby gets her moment to look sad and defeated, listing "the grimm, the crater, Nora, Penny" as problems she doesn't know how to solve. Note that 'Immortal witch attacking the city I've helped trap here' isn't included in that list. Ruby is still ignoring Salem herself and no one in the group is picking up where May left off, challenging her to do more than wring her hands over things others are already trying to take care of: Ironwood is fighting the grimm, May has gone off to help the crater, Klein is patching up Nora and Penny. Ruby, as one flawed individual, should not be expected to come up with a solution to everything, but she does need to stop acting like she can come up with a solution to everything when it matters most (office scene) and rejecting others' solutions when they ask for her help (Ironwood, May).

If it feels like I'm dragging the flawed, traumatized teenager too much, it's not in an effort to ignore those aspects of her identity. Rather, it's because she's also the licensed huntress who wrested control from a world leader and violently demanded she be put in charge of this battle. Ruby, by her own actions, is now responsible for dealing with these problems, or admitting she was wrong and letting others take the lead, without purposefully derailing their plans. She doesn't get to suddenly go, "I don't know," cry a little, and get sympathetic pats.

But of course that's precisely what happens, courtesy of Weiss.

During this whole scene I kept wondering why no one was celebrating Nora waking up, especially when Ruby outright mentions her. Have they just not noticed given all the Penny drama? Because Nora absolutely woke up.

Aaaand went back to sleep, I guess. What was the point of that POV shot? No worries though, she'll wake up again in a minute.

Willow arrives and announces that they can fix the power (and Penny) using the generator at the edge of the property. I'm convinced RT doesn't actually know what a generator is because the characters are acting like it's some super special device that only richy-rich could possibly have. Whitley says that it's the SDC executives who have their "own power supply" and that it's "extremely unfair." Now, don't get me wrong, a good generator powering large portions of your house can run you 30k+, but you can also get one that plugs into your extension cord and powers your fridge for a couple hundred. There's absolutely a class issue here, just not the one Whitley and Weiss seem to be commenting on. They make a generator sound like the sort of device that only a politician-CEO could possible have and it's weird.

Likely, it sounds weird because it's a choppy way of getting Whitley to bring up the wealth disparity so he can then go, 'That's right! We're crazy rich with a company housing tons of ships! We can use those to evacuate Mantle.' Awkwardness aside, I do like that the Schnee wealth is being used for good purposes, but... evacuate where? To the city currently under attack by a giant whale? In a RWBY that wasn't determined to demonize Ironwood, this would have been a great plot point during the office scene instead, with Weiss offering her services to Ironwood, even if the group decides that a continued evacuation still isn't possible.

Instead, we get it here from Whitley. Do I need to point out the obvious? That Whitley is the MVP of this episode? He's done more good in an HOUR than the group has managed in a year. Give this kid some training and make him a huntsmen instead.

We're given a (very pretty!) shot of the shattered moon because it wouldn't be RWBY if we weren't continually reminded that gods once wiped out humanity before destroying part of a celestial body... and absolutely no one talks about that lol.

Blake's coat might not make any sense for her color scheme, but it does make her easy to spot as she and Ruby run across the grounds. Oh my god, they're actually doing something together! It only took eight years. They even get a lovely talk where Blake admits how much she looks up to Ruby, despite her being younger, and once again I'm struck at how much more I would have loved this scene if it had appeared elsewhere in the series. It is, indeed, as sweet and emotional as all the RWBY GIF-ers are claiming... provided you overlook that this is the exact opposite of what Ruby needs to hear right now. She doesn't need to hear that she's more mature and reliable than her elders when she's functioning under a "We don't need adults" mentality. She doesn't need to hear that not knowing what to do is totally fine, not when that led to her turning on Ironwood, despite not knowing how to stop Salem. She doesn't need to hear that "doing something" — doing anything — is a strength, because Ruby keeps avoiding the big problems for smaller ones she's comfortable with, like standing by Penny's bedside instead of deciding between Mantle and Atlas. Blake's speech is heartfelt, but it's a speech that suits a Beacon days Ruby who is having some doubts about her leadership skills, not the girl whose impulsive — and now lack of — actions is having world-wide repercussions. Everyone is babying Ruby to a staggering degree. It's like if we had a med show where the doctor is standing by the bedside of a coding patient, fretting between two treatments. 'Don't worry,' their colleague says, patting their shoulder. 'I've always looked up to you. You'll do something when you're ready' and then they continue to watch the patient, you know, die.

Also: who does Ruby look up to? Everyone talks about how much they depend on and trust Ruby, but who does Ruby look to for guidance? A number of her problems stem from the fact that she has rejected the advice of everyone who has tried to help her improve: Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, even Yang. Ruby is presented as the pinnacle of what to strive for in a leader, rather than a leader who has only been doing this for two years and still has a great deal to learn.

Anyway, they get the generator on and the Hound shows up.

I am begging RT to just make RWBY a horror story. All their best scenes the last three years have been horror I am bEGGING —

Anyway, while Ruby waits to be eaten we cut to Willow and Klein, the former of which is reaching for her bottle, pulling back, reaching again, all while her hand shakes. This is good. This is what we should have gotten with Qrow. Which isn't to say that their (or anyone's) addiction should be identical, but rather that this is a far more engaging and complex look at addiction than what our birb got. Willow tells us that she doesn't drink in the dark despite bringing the bottle with her; tries to resist drinking when she's scared and ultimately fails. Qrow just decided to stop drinking after decades of addiction, seemingly for no reason, and that was that. Why is a side character we only met this volume written better than one of the main cast?

Blake manages to call Weiss about the Hound and she asks if Whitley can handle the airships without her. I mean, I assume so given that Weiss is looking at the bookshelves while Whitley does all the work lol. He makes a teasing comment about how he can if she can handle that grimm and she comments that they still need to work on his "attitude."

No they don't. Weiss stuck a weapon in her kid brother's face. Whitley made a joke. Even if Weiss' comment is likewise meant to be read as teasing, it's clear that we've bypassed any meaningful conversation between them. That hug was supposed to be a Fix Everything moment even though, as I've laid out elsewhere, it didn't even come close.

We cut back to Ruby getting thrown through a wall into the backyard and the Hound creepily coming after her. She's freaked out by this clearly abnormal grimm and Blake is weirdly... not? "It's just a grimm. Just focus!" Uh, it's obviously not. Have we reached the traumatized, sleep-deprived point where the group is sinking into full-blown denial? I wouldn't be surprised. They've been awake for like... 40+ hours.

Because the Hound knocks Ruby out with a single hit. Just, bam, she's down. "Focusing" is not the solution here.

Weiss calls to warn the others about the grimm, telling them to stick together. Willow (understandably) starts freaking out and flees the room (classic horror trope!). Klein is left alone when Penny wakes up with red eyes. Oh no!

Don't worry. You know nothing meaningful happens.

She shoves Klein before (somehow?) resisting the hack, her Maiden powers going wild in the process. Just when it looks as if Penny might cause some serious damage, Nora wakes up, takes her hand, and says, I kid you not:

"Hey... no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do... It's just a part of you. Don't forget about the rest."

Okay. I want to re-emphasize that I love hopeful, uplifting, victory-won-through-the-power-of-love stories. Istg I'm not dead inside, it's just that RWBY does this so badly. I mean, what is this? It has similarities to the character shouting, 'No! Resist!' to their mind-controlled ally, but this is not presented as a desperate, last-ditch effort by Nora. She just speaks like this is the most obvious truth in the world. If you don't want to have your mind taken over... just don't! It's that simple. The problem definitely isn't that Watts has changed her coding and has implemented a command she can't override, it's that Penny has forgotten about the "rest" of her personhood.

And this works. Granted, not for long, but we leave Nora having successfully calmed Penny down and until her eyes unexpectedly go red again scenes later, we're left assuming that this is a permanent solution. That, imo anyway, is taking the Power of Love too far, overriding the basic reality of Penny being hacked. It’s not a personal failing she must overcome, it’s an external attack. I would have rather had Nora react to the scars she saw on her arm, or have a moment with Klein, or get some love from the group. Not a wakes up, falls asleep, wakes up again to save Penny with a Ruby level 'Just ignore reality' pep-talk, then back to sleep again.

So Penny isn't attacking her allies, or mistakenly hurting her allies with wild Maiden powers. Not that the group doesn't have enough to deal with, but still. Weiss arrives to help with the Hound and attempts a new summon, only to fail when two minor grimm burrow up into her glyphs. I really enjoyed that moment, both for the wing visual and the knowledge that Weiss' glyphs can fail if you break them somehow (which makes sense). Also, I just like that she failed in general? Weiss is, as per usual now, about to demonstrate just how OP she is compared to the rest of the team, so it was nice to see her faltering here.

The Hound tries to make off with Ruby and Blake does an excellent job of keeping it tethered. Ruby finally wakes, only to realize that the grimm is actually after Penny since it's staring at her power up through the window, no longer trying to escape. Moments like this remind me that there's someone on RT's writing team that knows what they're doing, at least some of the time. The assumption that the Hound is after Ruby as a SEW, the surprise that it's actually Penny, realizing it holds up because Ruby is covered in Penny's blood and Blake is not... that's all nice, tight plotting. More of that please!

The Hound drops her and Ruby's aura shatters when she hits the ground. I want everyone to remember this moment as an example of how strong the Hound is. The group may be tired, but unlike YJR they've been sitting around in the Schnee manor for a number of hours, regaining strength. We saw the Hound hit Ruby twice — once through the wall and once to knock her out — and then she falls from a not very high distance for a huntress, yet her aura is toast. That's the level of power and skill the Hound possesses. Decimating YJR, knocking Oscar out, same for Ruby, avoiding Blake and Weiss' hits, soon to treat Penny like a ragdoll. Just remember all this for the episode's end.

Blake tells Weiss she'll take care of Ruby, you go help the others. Yay breaking up the duos more! Bad timing though as the new acid-spitting grimm pops out of the ground and Blake is now left alone to face it.

Weiss re-enters the mansion, knowing the Hound is somewhere nearby, but not where. Suddenly, Willow's voice sounds through her scroll with an, "Above you!" which... doesn't keep Weiss from getting hit lol. But it's the thought that counts! Willow has accessed the cameras she's set up throughout the manor, watching the Hound's movements, and I have to say, that is a WAY better use of her separation from Klein than I thought we were getting. I legit thought they'd have Willow run away in a panic, meet the Hound, die, and then Weiss could be sad about losing her mom.

It does say something about RWBY's writing that this was my knee-jerk theory, as well as my surprise when we got something way better.

The Hound runs off, uninterested in Weiss, and she asks Willow to keep tabs on it. It heads for Whitley next (also covered in Penny's blood) and very creepily stalks him in the office with a, "I know you're here." Whitley is seconds away from being Hound chow before one of Weiss' boars pin it against the wall. He runs, then runs BACK to finish deploying the airships, before finally escaping assumed death. Goddamn this boy is pulling his weight.

I assume all these ships are automated then? I hope someone takes a moment to call May. Otherwise it's going to be super weird for the Mantle citizens if a fleet of SDC ships just show up and hover there...

I don't entirely understand how Weiss saved him though. She's nowhere to be seen when Whitley leaves and he runs a fair distance before he and Willow encounter Weiss again. We know her summons don't have to keep right next to her, but are they capable of rudimentary thought, attacking an enemy — and an enemy only — despite Weiss being a couple corridors down and unable to see the current battlefield? I don't know. In another series I'd theorize that this was a deliberate hint, a way to clue us into the fact that Willow, someone who we currently know almost nothing about, had training in the past and summoned the boar herself. Weiss and Winter certainly didn't get that hereditary skill from Jacques. Hell, we might still get that, Weiss reacting with confusion next episode when Whitley thanks her for the boar, but I doubt it. That scene with Ruby and the Hound aside, the show isn't this good at laying groundwork and then following up on it.

Case in point: Weiss says, "I didn't forget you" to Whitley after he gets away from the Hound, the moment trying to harken back to her promise to Willow. Key word is "trying." Because she absolutely forgot him! Weiss threatened and ignored Whitley until he proved his usefulness. I also shouldn't need to point out that, "Don't forget your brother" does not mean, "Don't let your brother die a horrible death by abnormal grimm." Weiss acts like her saving him is a fulfillment of her promise, rather than just the most basic of human decency. And also, you know, her job.

So that part is frustrating. The entire Schnee dynamic is a mess, from Weiss making a joke of her father's arrest, to Willow (presumably) fixing their relationship by putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Okay.

Then Weiss cuts off the Hound by summoning a giant wall of ice. My brain, every time this happens:

YOU COULD HAVE FIXED THE HOLE IN MANTLE'S WALL.

Moving on, Blake's fight against the acid... thing has some great choreography, including Blake using her semblance which we haven't seen in AGES. 

I really like the fight itself, just not what Blake is shouting the whole time. "I need you, Ruby! We all need you!" This has really gotten ridiculous. Ruby is presented as everyone's sole savior despite failing time and time again. It's not that I don't think Blake as a character should have faith in her leader, it's that I don't think the writers should be crafting a story where everyone puts their unshakable hopes in an untrained, disloyal, impulsive 17 year old. I mean, Ruby is currently unconscious, yet Blake is acting like if she doesn't wake up — she, as an individual, if Ruby Rose does not re-join this fight — then all is lost. If Ruby doesn't save them, no one can. Which is, of course, absurd on numerous levels. Blake doesn't need the passed out, aura-less Ruby right now, she needs the still very healthy Weiss pulling out multiple summons and an ice wall! Use your scroll and call for backup again.

But of course, Ruby wakes up and kills the new, terrifying grimm with a single hit. It's a preview of what's to come with the Hound and it's just as ridiculous here as it will be there.

Speaking of the Hound, am I the only one who thought this was... cute?

I can't possibly be the only one. That head-tilt is exactly what my dogs do and my brain instinctively went, "Aww, puppy!"

Murderous puppy.

The Hound realizes none of the Schnees are who it's looking for and runs off. Penny, meanwhile, has been fully taken over because, well, that's just what's convenient now. She resists long enough keep Amity up, then succumbs, then resists to apologize to Ruby, then succumbs, then resists because Nora asked her to, then succumbs once it's time to knock her out. If RWBY was willing to commit to consequences, Penny would have been taken over and that was that. The characters would need to deal with whatever outcome happens as a result. Instead, the show very carefully avoids any of those pesky consequences by having Penny successfully resisting at key moments, despite no explanation of how she's managing that.

She shoves Klein again (Klein is having a Bad Time) and starts walking down the main steps. When Whitley wants to know where the hell she's going, Penny mechanically responds that she must "Open the vault, then self-destruct." I suppose the change Watts made was the self-destruct order? Ironwood obviously wants the vault open, though not necessarily Penny's death. Think what you will of his moral compass, she's a damn powerful ally — a research project, perhaps — and a Maiden to boot. At the very least, her death may give the powers to someone even worse.

God, please don't let them have brought Penny back and made her a Maiden just to kill her again.

The Hound arrives though and, as said, knocks Penny out. We're back to square one with her, then. Note though that this attack is near instantaneous. She grabs its hands one second, is hanging limply the next. Wow, the Hound sure is a terrifying antagonist!

Not for long.

"That's enough," Ruby says and one-shots it with her eyes.

Now, I want to talk for a moment about the implications of that line. "That's enough." Obviously Ruby is #done with this situation and emotionally unwilling to let the Hound kidnap Penny (congratulations, Nuts and Dolts shippers), but there's a meta reading here as well. Not intentional, but glaring to me nonetheless. Basically, the idea that the Hound has, from a plot perspective, done enough. It has served its singular purpose. It kidnapped Oscar and now it dies. Never-mind how insanely powerful we've established the Hound to be, never-mind how Ruby's eyes also work or don't work according to whether anything of actual import is on the line. From a plot perspective "that's enough" and the Hound can be disposed of instantly. It got Oscar and gave us an episode of filler creepiness. Move along now.

The idea behind Ruby's eyes isn't bad, but the execution absolutely is. RT has undermined a huge portion of the stakes by giving their protagonist an instant kill-shot that always works precisely when she needs it to. Starting with the Apathy, we have yet to get a moment where Ruby's eyes fail to save the day when she really needs them to, no matter how incredible the challenge. The Hound was very intentionally written to be a grimm outside of the group's current power level. It thinks, it talks, they literally can't touch it. This creates the expectation that the group will need to grow stronger — or at least become smarter — in order to surmount this new obstacle, yet Ruby's eyes undermine all of that. The group hasn't grown in years, the show just makes enemies weaker as needed (Ace Ops), or has Ruby pull out her eyes as a trump card. It wouldn't be that bad if we'd at least gotten a good battle out of it, one where the group gets close to defeating the Hound on their own, but needs Ruby's eyes to finish it off. Instead, she literally walks up without any aura, announces to the audience that this antagonist's time is up, and blasts it out a window.

Granted, Ruby's eyes don't completely finish it. The Hound pulls itself to its feet and we see this.

Yup, that's a guy and yup, those are silver eyes.

I would like to issue a formal apology to the "It's secretly Summer!" theorists in the fandom. I mean, I still think it would be ridiculous (and at this point highly improbable) that Ruby's dead mother has actually been a grimm mutant this whole time, just hanging out in Salem's realm while she waits for the plot to start before attacking the world, and then sends some no-name faunus dude after the group instead of their leader's mother for extra, emotional torture... but you all were definitely right about the “It's a person” part! I... don't know how I feel about this. Admittedly, it seems to be a logical continuation of the other grimm-human hybrids we've seen — namely Cinder and Salem herself — and it finally explains why Salem wants Ruby alive (even though it actually doesn't because WHY did she want more SEWs for Hound grimm when she wasn't even attacking back then? And already has all these other insanely powerful tools??), but at the same time, it feels like it's complicating a story that doesn't need further complications. The group fights monsters and has an immortal enemy. You don't need to add 'Some of those monsters are secretly human' to the mix.

It doesn't hurt that this twist is giving me Attack on Titan vibes, which, ew. A dark time in my fandom life, folks.

The Hound staggers a few steps before Whitley and Willow dump a suit of armor on it. That's all it takes to kill the most dangerous grimm we've ever seen: a single flash of silver eyes and some heavy metal. This also wreaks havoc with the implication that Salem wants SEWs alive because they create such powerful grimm. Obviously not. I mean yeah, normal huntsmen are going to have serious  problems, we’ve seen that this volume, but any other SEWs nearby will take a Hound out instantaneously. For a villain with so many other powerful abilities — immortality, magic, endless normal grimm, her nifty soup — Salem would be much better served just killing SEWs straight out. Clearly, creating Hounds isn't worth the effort.

The Hound leaves some bones behind and Ruby collapses to her knees, overcome with the knowledge that this was once a person. Again, uncomfortable Attack on Titan parallels.

We finish our premiere with Cinder clearing away rubble to reveal Watts. Honestly, I like that we ended on this because her rescue is hilarious. She just slings him over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes and blasts off with her magic fire feet. Fantastic.

Note though that with this scene we've seen almost everything from the clip and the trailer. What's to come in the rest of Volume 8? No idea. Outside of Winter leading the charge with the bomb, we got it all here.

Time to update the bingo board!

I'm crossing off "Introducing new grimm that are quickly abandoned." Between the Hound and acid-dude both falling to a single blast/cut from Ruby, we've more than earned this square.

It doesn't look as if we'll get another Watts-Jacques team-up now that he's left, but you never know.

Maria's got me worried. I feel like her Yoda fight against Neo is the one thing she'll be allowed to do this volume, but given that we didn't see anyone except Ruby's group this episode, we don't yet know whether the story is now ignoring her and Pietro, or if they'll re-appear in another episode like YJR.  

Qrow is free. Will he get a drink before trying to murder Ironwood? Perhaps.

Still no bingo :(

All in all, the episode was by no means horrible. I think there were lots of horrible parts, but also some legitimately well executed moments, fun action, and scenes that I can easily imagine as squee worthy if you lean back and squint. Everything is comparative and in the growing collection of bad RWBY episodes, this one isn't securing a top slot. Which doesn't mean I think it's good, just... not as bad as it could have been and primarily only bad due to long-running problems, not things this specific episode has done. That's my bar then, so low it has officially entered the underworld.

Still, RWBY is back and a part of me is eager to see where this volume takes us, for better or for worse.

Until next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby dark

[andsmile]

Honestly I'm starting to lose hope to ever get Varchie back. First KJ saying he and Lili have a lot scenes together, then writers changing Betty's personality so she can become Archie's doormat and now this Betty's interview about ba having a emotional scene... Seriously their fans are so sure ba is not only happening post time jump but for the whole season and I- I don't know, I swear I'm not a troll but I'm really starting to lose hope. I don't even want to think about it because I'm a huge Varchie fan and like I could survive a few episodes of those two cheaters dating, but the whole season? Pls, tell me ba fans are just being cocky and there's still a hope for us?

By the way I love your tumblr. Your replies are always so mature and make so much sense. Your positivity is what's making me still having hope for Varchie get back eventually.

OOOOOKAY nonnie, and other 39 anons I’ve got ever since Lili mentioned the word “emotional” somewhere.

Listen to me. I’m old (lol) and shouldn’t even be in the Riverdale fandom but I am and here we are, this show is entertaining, I love writing fics for it and I love Varchie, Veronica, Archie, Bughead, and all the characters. I just don’t love B*rchie, as you guys know, and the writers. But anyway, this love and dedication for my hobby -- before I get anyone else saying I should get a life (I’ve got a troll recently saying that) -- has brought me many great friends, some of which work in the industry or are close to people who do. I don’t say the stuff I say just because I’m big brained, it’s a combination of analyzing spoilers, behind-the-scenes, the actors interviews, reviewers analysis, and hints from people who definitely know more than I do.

Do I know everything? No. Can I be wrong and fall flat face and y’all will hate me? Unlikely, but it can happen.

However, listen to me when I say: Varchie and Bughead are not threatened by Betty and Archie dating in seven years from now. 

Of course, it’s bumming that they have to go there, that the cheating plot happened (even though RAS clearly rewrote stuff to downplay it) and that they’ll be explored, but explored is the key word here. I’ve been telling you guys since May that Betty and Archie are gonna date after the time-jump. I’ve been telling you guys that I just didn’t know if they’d start together already or if they’d start because they see their main romantic interests with other people. Lili’s interview basically confirms the latter.

Do I know if Archie and Betty have feelings for each other that were lingering for seven or however many years etc etc? No, I don’t know. But think logically, it was bound to happen. They’re all going to be apart. Betty and Archie were best friends their entire life (as KJ said in his interview, where he called her his best friend 3 times and never mentioned ‘love’ unless talking about Veronica) and it’s probably easier for them to reconnect. Lili alluded to Betty going through some changes, too. Nostalgia is B*rchies biggest theme so far, so why would it be different? They’re all coming back. Jughead has a girlfriend, even if not for long. Veronica has a husband. It’s the next logical step, to have them date.

I know the big B*rchie accounts out there will try to make it look like BA are having this epic slow burn build up that will come to a head around episode 10/11 (filmed in February) where Archie will give her flowers and declare his undying love or something, but please. The casting call was proved fake but even if it wasn’t, this isn’t going to happen. You guys -- us Varchies especially -- need to stop catering to the B*rchies narrative so easily just because they’re loud. KJ and Lili most likely have already filmed their romantic arc, are probably in the way of finishing this arc right now (hence the ‘emotional’ scene), he’s been steadily filming with Cami, Chris and other people involved in that arc, even if in group scenes, and their schedules (and Lili and Cole’s too) are bound to change from now on to be more focused around each other.

Trust me when I say this isn’t permanent. Bughead and Varchie are not going anywhere and the only people who believe that are just catering to this narrative that the BAs plant in our minds through their excessively annoying tweeting of headcanons and well-crafted edits.

Also, and just because I don’t want to answer anyone else, people need to STOP blaming this arc on Lili or KJ or Cole. Cole and Lili breaking up hasn’t affected the storyline, they are professionals and will film together again. Lili and KJ are talking about B*rchie now because that’s the storyline for early in the timejump and it’s their job to promote half of the ship they’re in. I know before hand Lili hasn’t enjoyed the idea of B*rchie but she has no power over the narrative, and if she does now, what if she changed her mind? She’s not gonna change what the writers have in store; if she did, Betty would have never stripped in front of a group of grown man, I’m sure.

KJ doesn’t ship B*rchie or Varchie, Lili doesn’t ship Bughead or B*rchie, they’re professional actors getting paid to tell this story. They enjoy working together because they’re friends just as KJ and Cami, KJ and Cole, Cami and Cole, etc. And as for Sprousehart breaking up affecting the storyline: this isn’t One Tree Hill.

So, I hope this help keep your chin up. It won’t be easy to see BA dating, but you have to trust Archie and Veronica’s and Betty and Jughead’s journey, that has been built for four seasons already, and it’s clearly not over. You guys need to keep your focus on them. And if BA dating affects you a lot, just jump season 5A and you’ll be most likely good.

And please don’t share this on Twitter, I get enough trolls and hate as it is!

#bugvarchie endgame 2k21 #rd negativity #riverdale speculation #anti b*rchie