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creepingsharia · 3 years

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“There Was Blood All Over”: Muslim Persecution of Christians, January 2021

by Raymond Ibrahim

The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of January, 2021:

Attacks on Churches

USA: Arsonists torched an Armenian church in San Francisco in a spike of anti-Armenian hate crimes believed to have been inspired by Armenia’s recent clash with its Muslim neighbors, Azerbaijan and its Turkish supporter. According to the Jan. 6 report,

In the San Francisco Bay Area alone, there have been four hate crimes committed against the Armenian community over the last six months including a local Armenian School being vandalized with hateful and racist graffiti, which was followed by an arson attack on St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church. There are about 2,500 Armenian-Americans living in the San Francisco Bay Area, so these crimes per capita is a very high number given how small the community is. For a region of the country that prides itself on its progressivism, diversity and acceptance of all cultures, these latest attacks should be a warning sign that hate and violence can rear their ugly heads irrespective of where you may live…. The vandals at the Armenian School in San Francisco spray-painted the colors of the Azerbaijan flag and used threatening language in Azerbaijani. In many ways, these latest hate crimes, coupled with the resurgence of hostilities in the South Caucasus, are a continuation of the Armenian Genocide that is now finding its way to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is often said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We are clearly seeing these prophetic words come to life for Armenians in the San Francisco Bay Area who have fought for decades for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. As victims of oppression, Armenians see these latest attacks as an extension of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and a threat to their very existence.

Sweden: Twice over the course of four days, an 800-year-old church in Stockholm was firebombed. First, on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, several Molotov cocktails were hurled at the twelfth century Spånga church, which is located in a Muslim majority area. According to the church’s pastor, “the alarm was triggered when a window was smashed and flammable liquid thrown at the front gate and one of the windows. However, the fire was quickly put out by the police, who used a powder extinguisher.” The same church had been fire-bombed just four days earlier, on Jan. 20, 2021: two explosives were hurled at and smashed through the church windows, and another was lobbed at the church gate. Moreover, according to one report,

Spånga parish has been subjected to attacks on several previous occasions. In December 2018, an explosive device was detonated in the same parish. No one was convicted for the blast.

Hailing from the 12th century, the Spånga Church is one of the oldest in the Swedish capital. It is located on the outskirts of Tensta and is flanked by Rinkeby, both notorious for their heavy presence of immigrants (about 90 percent of the population)… Both areas are dominated by immigrants from Muslim countries and are formally classified as “particularly vulnerable” (which many consider to be a palatable euphemism for a “no-go zone”) due to failed integration and major problems including unemployment, rampant crime and Islamic extremism.

Attacks against churches have become a familiar sight in Sweden. Last year alone, a number of churches, mostly those in troubled suburban [i.e., heavily Muslim migrant] areas, were subjected to various types of attacks and vandalism, including those in Gottsunda, Uppsala and Rosengård, Malmö.

Philippines: An Islamic group consisting primarily of teenage Muslims opened fire on a church. According to the Jan. 8 report,

the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters [BIFF], a terrorist group based in the southern Philippines, attacked a parish church after conducting a raid on the town’s military and police outposts. After a 15-minute firefight, both the church building and a statue of the patron saint bore bullet holes. Police and military authorities said the BIFF had also plotted to set ablaze Sta. Teresita parish church and the church-run Notre Dame of Dulawan high school in the area. However, their attempt to burn the two church facilities was foiled by policemen and soldiers.

BIFF is an Islamic separatist organization operating in the Philippines; it swore allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014. Right before the church attack, dozens of gunmen from the Islamic group attacked the local police station and burned a police vehicle parked outside. The police attack came after two men connected with the group were arrested and is seen as a reprisal attack against police. Muslim terrorism has been on the rise in the Philippines, the population of which is 86% Christian. According to the report,

In August [2020], pro-ISIS terrorists blew themselves up in attacks that killed at least 15 people … and injured 80 others in the city of Jolo … in the far south of the country, whose population is majority Roman Catholic.

In 2019, terrorists set off two explosive devices at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, also known as the Jolo Cathedral, in the Mindanao region. The attack resulted in approximately 100 injuries and about 20 dead.

In August 2019, pastor Ernesto Javier Estrella of the United Church of Christ in Antipas, Cotabato Province, was shot and killed on the Island of Mindanao.

In June 2018, Catholic priest Richmond Nilo was gunned down in a chapel in Zaragoza town in Nueva Ecija province, at the altar where he was preparing to celebrate mass.

Slaughter of Christians

Pakistan: The bloated bodies of two Christian sisters, who had long rebuffed the advances of their Muslim employers, were found in a sewer in January 2021. Earlier, on November 26, the sisters, Sajida (28) and Abida (26), who were both married and had children, were reported as missing. The two Muslim men for whom they worked had regularly pressured them to convert to Islam and marry them. Even though the young women “made it clear that they were Christian and married, the men threatened them and kept harassing the sisters.” Forty days after they were reported missing, on January 4, 2021, their decomposed bodies were discovered. Their Muslim supervisors, during their interrogation, “confessed that they had abducted the sisters,” said Sadija’s husband; “and after keeping them hostage for a few days for satisfying their lust, had slit their throats and thrown their bodies into the drain.” The widower described the families’ ordeal:

When police informed us that they had identified the two bodies as those of our loved ones, it seemed that our entire world had come crumbling down…. I still cannot fathom the site [sic] of seeing my wife’s decomposed body.

Discussing this case, Nasir Saeed, Director of the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement in the UK, said,

The killing of Abida and Sajida in such a merciless way is not an isolated case, but the killing, rape and forced conversion of Christian girls have become an everyday matter and the government has denied this and therefore is doing nothing to stop the ongoing persecution of Christians. Unfortunately, such cases happen very often in the country, and nobody pays any attention – even the national media – as Christians are considered inferior and their lives worthless.

Nigeria: On Jan. 16, Muslim Fulani herdsmen opened fire on and killed Dr. Amos Arijesuyo, pastor of Christ Apostolic Church and a highly respected professor at the Federal University of Technology. “The university condemns in the strongest terms this senseless attack that has led to the untimely death of an erudite university administrator and counselor par excellence,” the university said in a statement. “Dr. Arijesuyo’s death is a big loss to FUTA, the academic community in Nigeria and beyond. It is a death that should not have happened in the first place…. Our prayers and thoughts are with the wife, children and family members of our departed colleague at this difficult period of unquantifiable grief.”

In the two weeks before this murder, Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed 26 more people and wounded three in Christian majority regions. A separate report appearing in mid-January revealed that “More Christians are murdered for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country.”

Finally, in a speech released in January, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram, made clear that, despite Western claims that his organization is motivated by secular interests, religion colors everything. According to the Jan. 28 report, Shekau called on the new Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. General Lucky Irabor, a Christian, to “repent and convert to Islam.” He also told the new Chief of Army staff, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, that, by going against Boko Haram, his behavior is “un-Islamic” and “he is no longer regarded as a Muslim.”

Attacks on Apostates and Evangelists

Uganda: A Muslim man beat his 13-week-pregnant wife, causing her to miscarriage, after he learned that she had converted to Christianity. On Jan. 13, Mansitula Buliro, the 45-year-old woman in question and mother of seven, was preparing for Muslim evening prayers with her husband when she began to have Christian visions. On the following day she secretly visited a Christian neighbor, prayed with her, and put her faith in Christ. Right before she left, a Muslim man knocked on the Christian neighbor’s door and said, “Mansitula, I thought you were a Muslim—how come I heard prayers mentioning the name of Issa [Jesus]?” Then, when Mansitula returned home her husband informed her that he had been told that she had become Christian. “I kept quiet,” Mansitula later explained in an interview:

My husband started slapping and kicking me indiscriminately. I then fell down. He went inside the house and came back with a knife and started cutting my mouth, saying, ‘Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar [jihadist slogan “Allah is greater”], I am punishing you to not speak about Yeshua [Jesus] in my house. This is a Muslim home.’

Her screaming caused her two youngest children (six and eight) also to start screaming, prompting neighbors to rush and stop the attack. “There was blood all over from my mouth,” Mansitula said. “My in-laws arrived, and in their presence my husband pronounced divorce: ‘Today you are no longer my wife. I have divorced you. Leave my house, or I will kill you.’” A neighbor took her by motorcycle to a nearby hospital. “I was examined, and they found that my fetus had been affected, and after four days I had a miscarriage…. It is now very difficult to reunite with my family. I am now Christian, and I have decided for Issa’s cause.”

Separately, on Dec. 27, around 7 pm, eight Muslims ambushed and beat Pastor Moses Nabwana and his wife, a mother of eight, as they were walking home from a church function: “They began by beating my husband, hitting him with sticks and blunt objects on the head, the back, his belly and chest,” Naura, his wife, said. “I made a loud alarm, and one of the attackers hit me with blows and a stick that affected my chest, back and broke my hand.” Christian neighbors rushed to their cries, prompting the assailants to flee. Due to the severe injuries they sustained, the wife was hospitalized for five days and her husband, Pastor Moses, was hospitalized for several more days. The assault came after area Muslims learned that an imam had converted to Christianity and joined their church; mosque leaders incited the attack. On that same night, “area Muslims demolished the roof, windows, doors and other parts of the[ir] church building that has a capacity for 500 people, leaving a heap of broken debris… Chairs, benches, musical instruments, amplifiers and other items were destroyed.”

Then, around 4:30 am on Sunday, Jan. 24, while the pastor was still recovering at the hospital, three Muslims broke into their home, again beating his wife, Naura—who was still recovering from her first beating—as well as two of their eight children. “I heard loud noises and plates being broken,” Naura recalled. “The children and I woke up. The attackers had broken the door and entered in. One started strangling me, while another threw one of my daughters outside through the window and broke the skin on her leg.” The Muslims fled before inflicting more damage once they learned that her brother-in-law and his family were rushing over: “The assailants left behind a Somali sword,” she said, “which I think they possibly had planned to use to rape and then kill me.” Naura’s 10 year-old daughter suffered a deep cut on her knee, and her 12-year-old daughter suffered an eye injury. Atop all the injuries she suffered from her first beating, Naura’s neck was injured: “I am still in great pain, and the doctor has recommended that my uterus, which is seriously damaged, needs to be removed,” she said. “This will need a big amount of money.” According to a church leader who visited Naura and her family in their thatched-roof dwelling the day after the attack, “She is still in pain and needs basic assistance in the absence of the husband, the bread-winner.”

Iran: On Jan. 18, the Islamic Republic’s “morality police” arrested Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi, a 22-year-old convert to Christianity and human rights activist, on the accusation that “her trousers were too tight, her headscarf was not correctly adjusted, and [that] she should not be wearing an unbuttoned coat.” This is the third time officials arrest Mary. She did six months of prison time, after her first arrest, for being a member of a house church—which the regime recently labeled as “enemy groups” belonging to a “Zionist” cult; she also spent a brief time in jail after participating in a peaceful protest in April 2020. Officials have also pressured her employer, whom she always had a good relationship with, to prevent her from returning to work as a gymnastics instructor; and she was kicked out of her university on the eve of her exams. Reflecting on her travails, Mary wrote that:

Everything is affected… Your work, income, social status, identity, mental health, satisfaction with yourself, your life, your place in society, your independence…. And as a woman it’s even harder to remain patient and endure, in a society so opposed to women and femininity, though crying out for them both.

Attacks on Christian ‘Blasphemers’ in Pakistan

Pakistan: On Jan. 28, hospital employees slapped and beat a Christian nurse who had worked there for nine years, after a Muslim nurse told them that she had said “only Jesus is the true Savior and that Muhammad has no relevance.” A hospital member recorded and loaded a video of the attack on Tabeeta Nazir Gill, a 42-year-old Catholic gospel singer. It shows the woman surrounded by a throng of angry Muslims who slap her and demand she “confess your crime in writing.” “I swear to God I haven’t said anything against the prophet [Muhammad],” the Christian woman insists in the video. “They are trying to trap me in a fake charge.” “Fortunately, someone called the police, and they promptly arrived on the scene and saved her life,” Pastor Eric Sahotra later explained. After questioning the accused, police concluded, based also on the testimony of other co-workers, that “A Muslim colleague made the false accusation due to a personal grudge,” continued the pastor:

Other hospital employees were misled into believing the allegation, so they also attacked Tabeeta…. News of the incident spread quickly through the social media, raising fears of mob violence outside the hospital and other areas.

A Muslim mob later descended on and besieged the police station; this prompted police to register a First Information Report against Gill under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy statues—which calls for the maximum death penalty for anyone who verbally insults Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Last reported, the woman’s two young children were “in a state of shock since the time they saw the graphic video of their mother’s beating,” said the pastor. No legal action was taken against the Muslim nurse who fabricated the blasphemy accusation to instigate her coreligionists. The report adds that,

In Pakistan, false accusations of blasphemy are common and often motivated by personal vendettas or religious hatred. Accusations are highly inflammatory and have the potential to spark mob lynchings, vigilante murders and mass protests. Many of those accused of blasphemy never reach the courtroom; violence has killed 62 accused people since 1990, with few prosecutions.

Separately, hundreds of Muslims descended on the village of a 25-year-old Christian man, and threatened to behead him and torch his and adjoining homes, soon after it became known that he had shared a Facebook post critical of Muhammad. According to the Jan. 5 report, on first learning that Muslims were angry, Raja Warris apologized, pointing out that he had only shared the post “for academic understanding between Christians and Muslims and did not mean to offend any Muslims.” The matter seemed to be closed after that; but then, and in the words of Rev. Ayub Gujjar, vice moderator of the Raiwind Diocese of the Church of Pakistan,

[W]e were informed by our congregation members in Charar that a huge mob had gathered in the locality on the call of a cleric affiliated with the extremist religio-political outfit, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan [TLP], and were demanding the beheading of the catechist. Fearing violence, hundreds of Christian residents fled their homes while around 400 anti-riot policemen were deployed in the area to thwart violence.

Rev. Gujjar and other Christian leaders rushed to the police station, which was quickly surrounded by Muslims who “chanted slogans against Christians,” prompting police to insist that Warris be handed over. Police then registered a First Information Report under Section 295-A and Section 298-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which call for up to 10 years imprisonment for blasphemers, and then showed it to the mob leaders, at which point they called off the siege and dispersed. Discussing this incident, Bishop of Raiwind Diocese Azad Marshall said that “Warris is an educated youth who loves to serve God.” Even so,

Christians especially need to be more careful in sharing content, because any faith-based post could be used to instigate violence against the community… We need to understand that Islamic religious sentiments run high in our country, therefore it’s important to carefully analyze the content before posting it online.

General Hostility for Christians and Christianity

Pakistan: On Jan. 5, a Muslim man severely beat his Christian employee because he had taken leave to attend a Christmas Day prayer service. Even though Ansar Masih had compensated for the missed day of work by working on the following Sunday, his manager was abusive. “When I argued with him, he called four other staffers to teach me a lesson for going to church and arguing with him,” Masih later explained. “They abused Christians for their religious practices and said derogatory words when they came to know that I was busy praying at the church.” The Christian man sustained several injuries during the assault and was taken to a local hospital. According to the report, as often happens in such cases,

Police officials and the men that assaulted Masih are now putting pressure on his family to settle the matter out of court. Masih has submitted an application to police regarding the incident, but not action has been taken by officers against Masih’s assailants.

Austria: According to a Jan. 5 report, approximately 40 Muslim migrants rioted and burned down a Christmas tree in Favoriten. On coming to extinguish the large tree, the fire brigade heard one of the migrants yelling: “A Christmas tree has no place in a Muslim district,” even as the raging mob pelted the emergency service officials with projectiles to screams of “Allahu Akbar.”

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again and Sword and Scimitar, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Watch video below as Ibrahim describes his monthly report.

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#Islam #Muslim #Sharia #Jihad #Immigration #Legal #Law #News #Media #Politics #Mosque #persecution #Terror #Travel #Religion

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mourntheantagonist · 3 years

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Steve and Billy going camping with Max n the Party and all Billy wants to do is get in a tent with Steve

Hey I’m here thirty years later!

I had a lot of fun with this one so I hope this is kind of in the realm of what you wanted!!!

read on ao3

How a gaggle of fourteen year olds managed to convince Steve to take them all on a weekend camping trip was beyond him. Okay maybe it wasn’t. All it took was El’s signature pout and Steve was as good as gone. The real shocker however, is how they managed to convince Billy Hargrove of all people to tag along as well.

He’d heard from Max that their relationship had been slowly improving ever since that night at the Byers, and he’d have to agree with Max that Billy had truly become less hostile as the months passed. But this was the first time he’s ever seen Billy acting so brotherly.

Steve had driven the male party members out into the woods, while Billy, Max, and El had driven separately. The three were late, of course. But Steve’s not quite sure he can exactly pin that on Billy. El is definitely poor when it comes to punctuality.

They couldn’t actually set up shop until the others arrived, seeing as they were supposed to select the chosen spot together. But as he watched the seconds tick by on his watch he grew more and more impatient he was close to saying fuck it and making it a boys only trip. That was until, seemingly on cue, the familiar roar of the Camaro echoed through the trees.

Watching Billy step out from the driver's seat was the first reminder that he hadn’t actually seen Billy in a while. Because so much had changed. His hair was less disheveled and chaotic as he remembered. But way curlier. It was slightly lighter too. The arrival of summer brought out the natural highlights in his hair. But it wasn’t just his appearance that had changed. Instead of exiting the car with the slam of his foot, the flick of a cigarette, and a predatory look… he was laughing. Laughing along with El and Max about something entirely unknown, and when asked, wasn’t revealed.

If Steve hadn’t let himself grow increasingly annoyed over the past fifteen minutes he stood there waiting, he might’ve cared to know. But the sun was beating down, he’d had to listen to Mike and Dustin argue about some Star Trek nonsense for the duration of the drive along with the time spent waiting, and he was starving.

“You’re late.” Steve said dryly.

“That’s my fault,” Billy replied with some residual laughter from whatever was so funny. “I forgot to counter in Hopper’s 20 minute ‘protect my kid’ speech when I went to pick up El.”

“Well I’m starving. So let’s find a spot, and let’s find it quickly.” Steve probably should’ve tried at least a little to tone down his irritation.

“Someone’s in a mood.” Max says under her breath, causing El to break out into another fit of giggles.

The gang decided not to test their luck against a hungry Steve Harrington. Especially not one wielding a baseball bat coated in rusty nails. So they piled all their camping supplies onto their backs and hauled ass through the woods.

After only ten minutes of searching, they stumbled across a nice clearing just 50 feet off the lake with a picnic table and fire pit already set up for them. Perfect.

The guys started by setting up their tents, while El and Max worked on gathering twigs for the fire. Dustin has meticulously established the sleeping arrangements. Five small tents. Eleven with Max, Dustin with Will, Lucas with Mike, and Billy and Steve alone in their own separate tents. It’s the perfect set up so long as Lucas doesn’t bring up any conversation regarding Empire Strikes Back being anything lower than number one out of the entire trilogy. Because then there would be chaos.

But when is Mike not the problem?

After getting set up, they finally got to break out some delicious ham and swiss sandwiches (courtesy of Claudia Henderson), and Steve was finally entering into a better mood.

He couldn’t entirely credit the sandwich however, because something about this new and improved Billy warmed something inside of him. He was less abrasive and more relaxed. He wasn’t trying to prove anything to anyone and instead was allowing himself to have a good time. Teasing his sister rather than tormenting her. Tossing knowing looks towards Lucas rather than threatening ones. Okay scratch that. They were definitely threatening. But more playful. The typical older brother spiel. The ‘you hurt her, I’ll rip your throat out through your ears’ kind of thing. And he was actually trying to make conversation with him. Only slightly poking fun at him every now and then. Not for the purposes of taunting, instead just his typical charm showing through.

“So what you been up to this summer? Haven’t seen you since graduation.”

“I’ve been working at Scoops Ahoy in the new mall. Not much else really.”

Billy took another bite of his sandwich and nodded. “I recently got hired on at the pool. Teaching lessons and life guarding. Saving up for when I go out to college in the fall.” He didn’t swallow the bite before speaking. New and improved Billy didn’t have table manners he guesses.

“Oh really? Where you headed to?”

“Full ride at USC.” Billy let out a hollow laugh. “Dad’s pissed I’m not enlisting.”

Steve picked up on the way Billy’s smile faltered at the mention of his Dad. He’d remembered Max mentioning once or twice about how her step-father was an asshole. For fucks sake Billy got a full ride to a prestigious university and his Dad is upset about that? He couldn’t even get into Tech.

“I think it’s awesome.” Steve finally said. “I didn’t get accepted anywhere so I’m probably going to end up going to work for my Dad at his company.”

Apparently Steve let his disappointment show in the last statement.

“Shit that sucks man. Dads are shit.”

Steve lets his mouth twitch upward into a smile. He looks back down at his almost finished sandwich and lets out a slight chuckle.

“Yeah. Dads are shit.”

- : -

After they all finished up their late lunches, the kids decided to move the party away from the table and into the lake. They walked along the lake shore for maybe a quarter of a mile before finding an abandoned rope swing attached to a tree directly next to deep waters. Steve and Billy both notice as Max gets this fire in her eye and neither adult bothers stopping her before pushing an unexpecting Lucas into the water. The whole group bursts into laughter as he makes the splash, well everyone except of course for Lucas.

But quickly the rest of them joined him in the water. All of them swinging in by the rope. Surprisingly the most timid out of all of them was Steve himself, who in a moment of desperation had to have Billy give him a push.

Billy followed him in with a much larger splash than he had previously achieved. But it wasn’t a competition or anything.

Billy emerged from the water like a fucking mermaid. Graceful. His hair was completely saturated in water yet his curls still managed to pack a punch. He glistened under the rays of the sun and with the reflection of the water beneath him. Steve felt chills up and down his entire body as he watched him float away on his back. Watching as his chiseled chest rose and fell with every breath and the light from the sun reflected off of the water droplets on his sun kissed skin. He would just excuse it for the cool temperature of lake water.

But it wasn’t that cold to be completely honest. It’s June. One of the hottest months of the year and the weather is peaking at nearly 100 degrees. The water feels perfect in actuality.

Steve swims around for a bit with the boys, plays a couple rounds of Marco Polo, and then excuses himself to lie out on the shore. He watches as they all have a blast. Lucas and Max are basically trying to drown Mike. Will and Dustin are competing to see who can hold their breath underwater the longest. Will has been cheating the entire time and Dustin has absolutely no clue. Billy and El are off in the corner. He’s picking her up and tossing her into the water. They both appear to be having a really good time. Billy is surprisingly really good with El. He’s actually pretty good with all of the kids all things considered. Something must’ve happened when he wasn’t looking because he seemed to be the only one to bat an eye at the mentioning that Billy Hargrove would be joining them on the trip.

Steve inspected the time and decided to give the kids their 15 minute warning. Sun set was inching closer and they still had other preparations. He watched as Max swam over to where El and Billy were and after watching them exchange a couple sentences, Billy swam away and towards where Steve sat on the shore.

Billy pushed himself out of the water and dried himself off with a towel. He wrung out his hair and secured the wet mess of curls up with a purple scrunchie. He threw his sweatshirt on, zipper remaining undone showing off his exposed chest, and he plopped down next to Steve.

Oh boy. Steve hopes Billy didn’t notice the fact that he was staring at him that entire time.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of tonight Stevie?”

Steve feigned annoyance at the nickname (though it secretly made him embarrassingly giddy). “Well we’re going to roast some hot dogs and make some s’mores and hang around the fire before bed.”

“Sounds like a plan Harrington.”

An uncomfortable silence grows from there. The two of them sitting side by side looking out at the lake in front of them. Nothing but the sounds of splashing water and giggling teenagers. Billy is picking at the grass. Thinking. Steve might say he even looks nervous.

“I’m sorry about last November.” Billy doesn’t look up from where it’s pointing towards the overgrown blades of dead grass.

It’s not the snarky and forced apology he was expecting. To be completely honest he never did expect one. Seven months had passed since it happened and not a single word from Billy. He just left him alone like his sister demanded.

“I’ve wanted to apologize before. But I wasn’t in a great place and didn’t want to screw it up. I probably already did by taking so long.” He took a deep breath and finally looked up. Eyes focused on the lake and avoiding Steve’s gaze. “I needed to make sure I was apologizing for the right reasons. Not just to get my sister off my back or to somehow make myself feel better about what I did to your face. I needed to apologize so that you knew that I was sorry. And I needed to be okay with you not forgiving me for it. So that’s why I’m saying it now.”

Billy finally looks over at Steve who has been staring at Billy with wide eyes. It’s weird, because when Steve thinks about it, he kind of forgave him a long time ago. Because yeah, what Billy did was shitty, but not completely unfounded. He’s been underneath someone like that, barreling into him without care, more than once. It would have been easy to say Billy and his interaction was nothing like what he had with Jonathan Byers. Billy was actually a bad guy.

But that’s the thing. He really wasn’t. Not after everything happened.

He wasn’t outwardly kind. But he didn’t start shit. He minded his own business and moved through high school the same way everyone else did. And after hearing Max and Dustin and El vouch for him to come on this trip, well that sort of just sealed the deal. He forgave him before he even apologized.

But here he was. Apologizing. And for some reason Steve was rethinking ever forgiving him. It made no sense. But somehow actually knowing and believing Billy was actually sorry made forgiveness harder. Like in his mind it was easier because Billy didn’t get to know that he was forgiven. He was scared by telling Billy that he would be justifying what he did.

So Steve doesn’t respond. And he can tell that Billy’s upset about it. It’s only been ten minutes but he decides to call the kids out of the water anyway.

- : -

The sun was setting and everyone had gathered around the campfire to roast marshmallows. Things had been ever so tense between Steve and Billy ever since their conversation at the lake. No one else seemed to notice though.

It was easy to distract himself from Billy’s saddened state by watching as Dustin set his marshmallow on fire. Every time without fail. Max wasn’t roasting hers, just eating the marshmallows straight out of the bag because she doesn’t like graham crackers. Billy was intently making the most golden brown marshmallow for El because she didn’t know how to properly roast her own. It was really sweet. Billy seemed happy to do it but at the same time he had that lingering gloomy look on his face that would come in and out of existence.

Steve felt a little bad because he did that. Yeah, it’s the guy who nearly killed him, but he didn’t want to make him sad.

He brightened up a little bit when the bickering began between Dustin and Mike. This was the reason they couldn’t share a tent. Max, El, and Billy moved into their own conversation out of earshot while Steve tried to calm down an overly enthusiastic Dustin.

When the argument ended Billy was looking to be in a much better mood than before. It was a little odd. They noticed the fire starting to dim so Max and El quickly excused themselves to go gather some more twigs from the forest.

Billy was poking at the fire with a stick, trying to keep it alive (masking a developing smirk on his face).

“Hey Steve!!” Max’s voice echoes. “There’s a gaping hole in your tent!”

El is stifling a laugh. Steve doesn’t seem to notice.

Steve rushes over to inspect the damage and yeah, it’s a gaping hole alright. His entire body could fit through it. How did he not notice it earlier?

“Goddamnit!” Steve curses the air.

“I’m sure Billy wouldn’t mind sharing!” El says, albeit, a little too excitedly.

Steve looks over to Billy who is still poking at the fire. “Yeah. I got room, I don’t mind.”

And now Steve can’t just say no. He’d have to give a reason and well… he’s kind of strapped for an alternative so, Billy’s tent it is.

- : -

They stay by the campfire until the sun has completely set and the fire has gone out on its own. They broke out a couple of Beers and after several minutes of constant begging Steve caved and let the party have a small amount of beer each, poured into a red solo cup.

“This tastes like shit.” Dustin made a ridiculous face.

“Still better than New Coke.” Mike chimed in.

Billy helped Steve carry his things over to Billy’s tent. It was extremely awkward. Billy hadn’t really said a word to Steve the entire time and now they were supposed to sleep side by side in a pretty compact space? This should be fun.

An over dramatic yawn released by Max was their signal to head to sleep. The stars were clear above them and they had a pretty eventful day. Steve made sure everything was good while the rest of them piled into their own tents. Once he’s sure the food is secured and everyone is where they’re supposed to be, he sucks in a sharp breath and makes his way over to Billy in his tent.

Billy is already in his sleeping bag. He’s got a book in one hand and a flashlight in his other. Steve quickly discards his shoes and jeans and covers himself in his own sleeping bag.

They’re both facing away from each other. It isn’t until Steve hears the click of the flashlight and the illumination in the tent disappears that he realizes neither of them have spoken.

Steve has been thinking about the apology all night. He planned to just leave it be. Maybe thank him for apologizing but leave it at that. But seeing how much he’s changed and seeing how sincere he was being told him maybe Billy deserved to be forgiven. He also looked like he needed to be forgiven, despite what he said before at the lake.

“I needed to apologize so that you knew that I was sorry. And I needed to be okay with you not forgiving me for it. So that’s why I’m saying it now.”

“I forgive you Billy.”

“Hmm?”

“I said I forgive you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it back at the lake.” Steve took in a deep breath and continued. “I wasn’t sure if it would be the right thing. But you’re clearly not the same person you were that night. I just didn’t really see it at first. I’m going to have to get used to this new and improved version of Billy Hargrove.”

Billy smiled to himself.

“Thanks.”

Steve smiled too.

The tent grew silent again after that. But it was slightly less tense than it was before.

“Can I say something stupid?” Billy asks.

Steve turns over to face Billy. He laughs. “Yeah. It’d be nice hearing it come from someone else for a change.”

Billy doesn’t turn to face Steve, but he can tell that he’s nervous because it’s quiet enough to hear his breathing quicken.

“I like you. Like… in that way. Sorry if that’s weird.”

Steve is quick to respond.

“Hey, it’s not weird. Don’t apologize for that.” He’s thinking a lot about Will. He and Dustin had talked about it before. How they’d be sure to make sure that Will knew it was okay whenever he chose to tell them. He doesn’t see why that should be any different for anyone else. Including Billy Hargrove.

But he guesses this is kind of different. It’s not just a confession of being into guys. It’s a confession of being into a specific guy. The specific guy in question being Steve.

It would also be pretty hypocritical of Steve to be weirded out. Not two hours ago he was fully objectifying Billy’s shirtless body. He might not like Billy. But dammit he was definitely attracted to him.

“If you’re uncomfortable I can hike back to the Camaro and sleep there. It’s not a problem.”

Billy had already begun unzipping the sleeping bag. Steve instinctively put a hand on Billy’s shoulder.

“Hey. Billy it’s seriously alright. Look at me.”

Billy hesitated before rolling over. Their eyes met and due to the compact nature of their current sleeping arrangement, their faces lie mere inches away from each other. Steve had planned something to say, but he instantly forgot when he looked into Billy’s eyes. They weren’t the eyes belonging to an egregious asshole. They were the eyes belonging to a scared kid that maybe, given the time, Steve could grow to like.

He could try blaming it on the beer. But Billy and himself both knew he didn’t even finish the one. But still, Steve inched closer and kissed him. It was soft and gentle. Steve moved a hand up to caress Billy’s cheek. Billy gently grabbed Steve’s wrist and deepened the kiss.

Steve could feel Billy’s smile on his lips.

He slithered his other hand underneath Billy and pulled him in closer. Their bodies were completely pressed against each other at every point, save for the thickness of not one but two sleeping bags separating skin from skin.

Still they could feel each other’s heartbeats increase as their pace did the same. The kiss turned from gentle to one filled with need.

Billy began working at the zipper of his sleeping bag with his other hand and was able to break free. He rolled Steve over onto his back and situated one leg on either side of Steve’s hips. Their lips didn’t come unattached. Steve moved both hands to the back of Billy’s head and he took fists full of hair and tugged gently, causing Billy to quietly moan into his mouth.

It was complete euphoria.

Billy was in just his boxers. Meanwhile Steve was still beneath the thick material of his sleeping bag. Billy unzipped it quickly for Steve and immediately tossed it off of him. Billy snaked a hand underneath Steve’s shirt. Moving up and down the full length of his chest. Appreciating his minimal chest hair. On the trip back down Billy’s hand palmed Steve’s crotch where he was quickly becoming hard from all of the friction. Steve let out a gasp as he made contact.

“We can’t. The kids’ll hear us.”

“Then you’ll just have to be quiet pretty-boy.”

Billy waited for Steve to give indication that it was okay to continue. Steve laughed and pulled him back down to meet his lips. Billy hiked up his shirt and they shortly separated to pull it over his head. Billy moved back in to Steve’s neck and sucked harshly on several spots before peppering kisses all along the length of his torso until he reached his navel. Billy stuck his thumbs underneath the waistband of Steve’s briefs and slowly rolled them down.

Billy moves so that he’s in between Steve’s legs and lowers his head into his groin. Steve feels as the tension builds in the pit of his stomach from the delicate touch of Billy’s tongue. Even under the chill from the night air he’s warm all over.

“Feels so good Billy, Fuck!” He quickly puts a hand over his mouth when he realizes he said that a little too loudly.

Steve is just lying there, experiencing the utter bliss that is Billy Hargroves mouth wrapped around his cock making him feel every sensation all at once.

“I’m close.” He whispers. God he really hopes the kids are asleep.

“Come for me pretty-boy.”

And boy does he. Just the way he said it was enough for Steve. He was a goner at the mere drop of the words ‘pretty boy’.

Billy wiped away at his mouth and crawled back up to lay down next to him. Steve immediately pulls him into another kiss. He’s not quite ready to come down from the high he was currently in. Billy’s mouth on his was a fucking drug.

It’s weird to thank people after sex right?

Steve settles for something else when they finally part.

“It’s my turn.”

- : -

The two of them wake up in a single sleeping bag. Steve has his arms wrapped around Billy’s wasted and his head tucked into the crook of his neck. Steve is sweating because Billy’s is a goddamn space heater.

He can hear the rustling of the tents outside and quickly wakes up Billy so they can get out of their current suggestive position.

Billy in his sleepy state gives Steve a quick kiss on the lips. He’s quickly woken up by Dustin screaming at everyone to wake up from outside the tent.

“We’ll talk about this later?” Steve says with a laugh.

Billy nods and gives him another quick kiss before getting up and tossing on a new pair of clothes.

Once dressed they both exit the tent to see everyone making their way to the picnic table.

They pull out several boxes of cereal and some milk from the cooler and begin eating their breakfast. Billy is sitting across from Steve, gently kicking at his feet.

“Hey Steve what happened to your neck?” Dustin asks.

Steve’s eyes go wide and he quickly comes up with a cover.

“Oh uh, there were a lot of mosquitoes last night. Wouldn’t leave me alone.”

They all seem to accept the response and go back to their breakfasts.

Billy smirks at him from across the table and Steve stomps on his foot.

- : -

Max, Billy and El say their goodbyes and head off in the Camaro.

Once the Engine is running and they’ve started driving away they all burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe you actually took a knife to Steve’s tent.”

“I can’t believe you actually fucked Steve!”

#harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #mandi writes tresh #fanfic #i really loved this prompt by the way #lemons

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nobodywritesthings · 4 years

Text

Some random bits of trivia about With Great Power

Now with a Part 2.

It seems one or two people are interested in this. I’ve mentioned a few of these points on my favorite Discord server, but I might as well put them all together here. Spoilers for the fic below!

Why didn’t All for One squish Aizawa like a bug when he should have been perfectly capable of it, right after taking the poor man’s quirk? It’s because All for One was planning for the future. He knew that Izuku (as Supreme Overlord) would need capable underlings, preferably ones with Izuku’s best interests in mind. Of the people close to Izuku, Aizawa was the closest to meeting All for One’s approval in both respects. In his stalking observation of Izuku over the past few years, he developed just a bit of a grudging respect for the man and his dedication to attempting to keep Izuku from charging headlong into every dangerous situation Izuku was within a 100 km radius of. While Aizawa decided to assume that All for One was too busy fending off other heroes to actually bother squishing him, this was an entirely deliberate choice on All for One’s part.

On the subject of Aizawa, the cat cafe he stayed at is the cat cafe from the Vigilantes manga. It made a truly fantastic retirement home, as well as a safe place to keep track of the criminal underworld on the sly.

We know that Shouto Todoroki had time to talk to Dabi/Touya before the interviews, because they came with a hero reform plan. This definitely happened because Shouto marched up to the National Diet Building, and calmly told a very nervous Kurogiri that he was there to see Dabi. When Dabi appeared, he half-dragged the supervillain brother home for a proper family dinner. It was a bit awkward but Fuyumi was happy to have all the siblings together. Between that and Shouto’s determination to hammer out a plan for hero reform, the ice was broken surprisingly quickly (pun intended).

Why didn’t Izuku notice All for One being Hisashi sooner? Well, denial is definitely a thing. There’s also the dissonance between linking a parental figure with the world’s most feared supervillain, absentee or not - that’s a pretty difficult conclusion to come to, normally. There’s even the fact that Izuku saw All for One in person all of twice - once at Kamino, and then again in the first chapter of this fic - and both times were very emotionally charged, with an impression skewed by the view that he was seeing a Terrible Monster, which makes All for One hard to recognize out of the literal and metaphorical mask. But the biggest reason? Long-term sleep deprivation and stress. It was pretty bad before he was suddenly pushed into being the Supreme Overlord of Japan, and it got much worse after. If Izuku had more sleep, he’d probably have figured out Hisashi’s identity much sooner, denial or not; Hisashi wasn’t being subtle (see below).

Hisashi looked so selfless when he left even the clothes on his back to Izuku. Don’t fall for it; he left all legal assets to Izuku. He has plenty that aren’t legal. All this was part of his preparation for a plan that didn’t happen...

Because Hisashi planned to disappear again, permanently. He expected the jig to be up as soon as Izuku heard Hisashi speak once (a bit egotistic of him). His original plan was to spend as much time with Inko as he could while offering a bit of behind-the-scenes support of Izuku’s rule, and then when Izuku inevitably came home and recognized him, he’d properly disappear to a nice sheep farm somewhere remote (he had a few prospects already picked out). He’d hoped that Izuku wouldn’t be interested enough in the returned Hisashi Midoriya to actively track him down, but it was a risk he had to take to turn things over to Izuku properly. After he heard Izuku ranting to his friends that he was getting ready to stake out his own home (through those convenient bugs left in the National Diet Building), he decided to at least make sure the reveal was on his own terms, somewhere relatively private and secure. Then Izuku didn’t recognize him and even tried to hire him, and Hisashi quickly rearranged his plans to account for the delayed recognition. He knew it was inevitable; Hisashi couldn’t clean up all the clues, so he ended half-assing any attempts at hiding his identity in order to at least keep control of the timeline for the reveal. As long as it happened while Izuku was still in government, he could head for the hills (literally and metaphorically) and Izuku would be too busy to pursue him. He couldn’t bring himself to actually sit down and tell Izuku personally, but he didn’t expect to keep things a secret permanently. And then Izuku smashed all his expectations and offered a chance to not lose his family again. A lot of plans got ditched. Basically, All for One was never as on top of things in this fic as he makes himself out to be.

Speaking of hiding his identity, why did he keep his real name? Hisashi didn’t see the point for the vast majority of his life, barring times he specifically went incognito for this or that venture. The government wanted to cover up his existence anyway; why not let them do the hard work? He didn’t need to make things easier for them, and it’s not like they could really do anything effectively to him; he really was that powerful. He did keep his businesses anonymous for the most part, but it was a private joke to him that they were still all perfectly legal, up to and including no false names being involved. It was only when All Might showed up and proved to be an actual threat that Hisashi realized his mistake and took his own steps to conceal his identity - which were surprisingly effective, as the government had done too good of a job already, and All for One just had to clear out a few old compromising records to avoid All Might accessing them and finding his real name, which would have been a massive pain. He had several close calls, but his panicky attempts at hiding his identity actually paid off. The government fire is part of that - definitely All for One’s work, but done a bit hastily, and as a result, sloppily.

Remember how All for One didn’t talk to Izuku much after the UN speech? Remember how he mentioned that Izuku should get a new phone? He was sulking for that entire trip because he heard Izuku call Yagi “Dad”, thanks to his stalking keeping an ear on Izuku’s conversations.

On a different note, Izuku, throughout this fic, has adapted All for One’s own strategies for his own purposes. Of special note, though, is Izuku’s speech at the end of Chapter 10, beginning with “I don’t think you understand, Hisashi.” It’s deliberately meant to mirror All for One’s speech in Chapter 1, that starts with “I don’t think you understand, Izuku.” Instead of physical threats, Izuku uses emotional threats against All for One to go for the jugular - which is also something All for One presented as a strategy (see Chapter 7, the UN chapter). If Izuku’s threat is more effective, it’s because Izuku is proving All for One’s own point about taking the effective parts of others’ strategies and adapting them for his own use.

Why was Yagi so accepting of All for One prospectively walking free? It’s because he’d already seen it work with Tenko Shimura. He saw Tenko as lost forever, as an irredeemable villain. While I don’t mean to say that any of the villains are redeemed, Yagi has had a front-row seat to witness Tenko taking up legitimate work, making decent friends, and generally leaving behind his destructive impulses, something Yagi thought was completely impossible and had given up on long ago as a futile and unrealistic dream. He’s started to believe in the power of second chances.

The Second Chance foundation was, in part, inspired by @redrobin-detective‘s fic, “rise up and hear the bells”, and Izuku’s All for One foundation. I might’ve come up with the idea on my own, but reading that fic ensured the idea came quicker. I think I can safely say I took the concept in my own direction, but it definitely came from somewhere!

There’s a number of nods in WGP to various fics by AMournfulHowlInTheNight. The biggest is Rick, who several people noted bore a passing resemblance to Zach from the CWAC series (I couldn’t resist; Australia just seemed right for the role I needed there, and a character like Zach seemed like the right Australian). The astute reader might also have noted several mentions to offering a “helping hand”, a phrasing which was an entirely deliberate reference to A Helping Hand in the Dark. Chapter 7 even has the sentence, “I want to offer a helping hand to those lost in the darkness.”

I already gave an answer key for who the All for One sockpuppets are in Chapter 6, but here are the usernames of the other canon characters: pikapika579 : Kaminari. GoGoGadgeteer : Hatsume, of course. Explosion King @lordexplosionmurder : Three guesses, first two don’t count. I hear the sins of humanity @theultimateearbud : Jirou. And finally... that dude with the eyes @eyescream : This guy from Izuku’s middle school (apologies for the poor quality).

If I remember any more tidbits I wanted to share, I might post more later, but hope you enjoy these!

#wgp #bnha fic #my fic

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surelybystarlight · 4 years

Text

Season 4 Letters

Late 12th month, 100 AG Dear Fire Lord Zuko,

Rebuilding the Southern water tribe is going along better than expected. So much had already changed by the time we got here. The benders from the north have made leaps and bounds in bending strong buildings. With the men finally back from the war we hope to have many newborns come end of next Spring and are building a hospital in expectation. I’m writing to inform you that we will be proposing a formal medical exchange program at the First World Summit in 2 months, at the 6 month mark since the end of the war, in hopes of expanding our knowledge of healing by combining it with the herbal knowledge of the earth kingdom and the surgical knowledge of the fire nation. I am asking for your support of this program. An exchange of professional knowledge will not only be a sign of good faith and respect of other cultures on the fire nation’s part. It will also act as a symbol of the new age we are trying to build, one of mutual healing and support.

I know it’s only been 3 months since we last all saw each other in Ba Sing Se, but I miss you and Toph. Suki and Sokka are doing well, with the help of our father, Sokka’s established a council of tribe members over seen by the chief to make decisions. Him and Suki are leaving for Kyoshi Island in a few days, Suki has new recruits to train and Sokka is traveling as “Son of the Chief” to formalize diplomatic ties with Kyoshi Island and Omashu. I think he’s just trying to avoid the days of endless sun coming up. I don’t know how they are going to make it work, but I hope they do. Aang's doing great, trying to be the avatar and mediate every conflict he comes across every chance he gets. Tell me, how are you doing, How’s Mai? How’s Uncle? Has he driven you mad with tea and proverbs yet? Hows Toph? I know things are still rough with her parents. Uncles idea of taking her on as a pledge (word!!) was brilliant. Toph supposedly getting a courtly education in the fire nation pleases her parents, and in exchange she doesn’t have to go back to being sheltered.

Wishing you the best, Master Katara Daughter of the Chief

(p.s. Still feels weird calling you that but I’ll get used to it.)

Mid 1st month, 101 AG Dear Master Katara Daughter of the Chief,

I can assure you that you will have the fire nation’s support behind your proposal, I agree an exchange of knowledge and skills will be beneficial for everyone. Water bender healers will be in high demand here once our doctors learn of what you can do. Will you be joining in the exchange? There would be a prime apprenticeship in Caldera hospital and a place for you in the fire palace waiting for you.

Things are ok, it’s stressful being firelord. It’s hard to not just yell at everyone, but I have to set a better example than my father. I'm so glad uncle decided to stay as my adviser rather then retire to his tea shop just yet. At this point I’ll take any advice I can get, proverb or not. Toph’s doing great, you know how she is, she doesn’t talk about the painful stuff. She’s been very useful in vetting the staff and nobles for Ozai supporters. She’s kind of become my unofficial bodyguard. She’s even complained that she wished someone would make an attempt on my life just to spice things up. If I didn’t know her better I’d be scared. Mai left on a sabbatical a little while ago, said she needed to find out what makes her happy, not just what she doesn’t hate. I know we weren't going to find happiness with each other. Not after everything we’ve both seen. Last time I was truly happy and at peace was at the summer palace with the whole Gaang. I hope she finds happiness wherever it may be.

Hoping you’ve found your happiness, Firelord Zuko

(p.s. It still feels weird being called that)

Early 2nd month, 101 AG Dear Zuko,

Why didn’t you tell me Mai left sooner? I know you never really forgave yourself for leaving her at the Boiling Rock, but you deserve to be happy too. You deserve someone who loves you and you love in return. I miss the summer palace too, even though we were preparing for a war, I haven't felt so at peace since. I miss our night time sparring matches, letting off steam. And the day to day routine of our little family. There were moments I could have lived in forever. I mean, I am proud of the work Im doing, rebuilding my tribe is important to me. And being in a position to effect change on the world, to usher in this age of peace is so empowering. Aang wants to start and airbender acolyte program after the World Summit, which is just as important to him. He wants me to join him once the healer exchange program is off the ground. Wants me to become an acolyte and help him “rebuild” the air nomad culture. Maybe I’ll find peace in the air nomad philosophy. I know that it didn’t exactly always work for me in the past, but maybe I’ll understand it better if I study it. I want to be able to be happy at the air temples. The days of endless sun are here, I’m sure I’ll find the idea of Air nomad philosophy more agreeable once I’ve seen the moon in the night sky again. For now, Aang's Air nomad diplomacy is not appropriate for handling midnight sun madness. I know I won’t get your response before I leave for the World Summit, so I’ll see you then.

Hoping you find your happiness too, Your friend, Katara

Late 2nd Month, 101 AG Dear Katara,

I know you wont get this before the World Summit, but I wanted to write you anyway. I am proud of my work, I hope I’ll find fulfillment in bettering the lives of my people. Love is not a given for Firelords, when Mai left my court started looking for suitable candidates for Fire Lady. Their concern is more with stability and producing an heir than ensuring I'm in love. Love was just never in the cards for me, I was never the hero of our story destined to get my girl. You’re lucky to have a chance at happiness with Aang. Even if, as we are both painfully aware, Air nomad philosophy isn’t always applicable, as long as you’re happy with him. And if for some reason you aren't, there will always be a place for you in my country and home.

Alway your friend, Zuko

Early 4th Month, 101 AG Dearest Zuko, Dear Fire Lord Zuko, Zuko,

The World Summit was very eventful and beneficial for all. I know I said some things after the celebration ball. That certain things happened, but I want to assure you that I will be joining Aang at the Air temples, it’s where I am meant to be. I want to be happy with Aang.

Katara

Late 4th Month, 101 AG Dearest Katara,

I understand, like you said, We aren’t the ones who get our happily ever afters. Just promise me you wont give up your own happiness for the sake of his. I’m not saying you have to come to the Fire nation if you don’t find peace as an Acolyte, just remember you aren’t a prize. Your happiness matters too.

Always your friend, Zuko

Late 6th Month, 101 AG Dearest Katara,

I heard from Ty Lee that you’ve returned to the Southern Tribe to help run the healer exchange program and train new healers. I hope you find your happiness there. I know it couldn’t have been easy to leave the Air Acolytes, but I am proud of you. One of us deserves to find happiness

Hoping you find your happiness, your friend, Zuko

Mid 7th Month, 101 AG Dear Zuko,

Due to the reluctance of water tribe healers, I have decided to join the healer exchange program and set an example by taking a position in the Fire nation. I will be returning with you to the Fire Nation after the 1 year of Peace Celebration to begin my apprenticeship. I’ve heard you’ve yet to accept or even entertain any of the potential Fire Ladies, I know you said love isn’t in the cards for you, that we aren’t the heros, but you deserve to be happy too. Thank you for your support, I haven't found my happiness yet, but I hope I will soon.

Yours Always, Katara

Early 8th Month, 101 AG Dearest Katara,

I was genuinely happy to read that you’ll be coming back to the Fire Nation with me. Like I promised months ago, there will always be a place for you in my home. I hope you can find your happiness in the Fire Nation. I look forward to seeing you again at the Peace Celebration.

Yours Always, Zuko

Early 9th Month, 101 AG Dear Master Pakku

You would be wise to never doubt the insight of a guardian in the ways of their charges's heart. For no one knows said heart better than the one who watched it form. I won the pot, time to pay up old man

Better luck next time, General Iroh

Chapter notes

Zuko and Katara got really drunk during the World Summit ball and ended up sneaking off together to have a heart to heart. They lamented both feeling like they were supporting character. Katara said she felt like she was just supposed to be apart of Aang’s happily ever after regardless of if it was her happily ever after. They end up admitting to each other that their happiest moments were with each other and share a drunken passionate kiss.

Afterwards Katara tries to bite the bullet and make herself happy with Aang at the air temple, but she doesn’t last very long because it really isn’t where she’s happy. She ends up leaving Aang, giving him a speech about needing her own happily ever after.

Zuko and Katara come together for discrete yet passionate love making at the Peace Celebration. They decide to keep their relationship a secret for the time being both to protect Aang's feelings and to avoid court gossip. However, Uncle Iroh figures it out right away, he had a bet with master Pakku since the end of the war when Zuko took the bolt of lightning that the two would end up together.

#zutara #zutaramonth #zutara month #zuko #katara #letters #zutara month 2020

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ayma-nidiot · 4 years

Text

The Ride - Sylvix fic Chapter 26

Also on AO3.

Chapter 26 – Surprises, Surprises

“So… Remind me how I ended up being the bridesmaid of honour?” Ingrid pouted the entire time Annette, Mercedes, and Dorothea tended to her appearance.

“You and me both.” Cyril happened to walk by. “How I ended up as the ring bearer, I will never know. I’ve hardly even spoken to the lucky couple today.”

“That’s because Rhea and our new archbishop trust you,” Annette replied with a smile.

“And you, my lovely Ingrid, are you really surprised?” Dorothea continued to braid Ingrid’s short hair. “Not only were you the first one to find out about their relationship, but you’re also the best friend of them both.”

“Whatever. I just think you three are using this wedding as an excuse to douse all the women with makeup.”

“The flower girl thinks she did a good job!” Flayn, with floral barrettes and even rosier cheeks, gave Ingrid a thumbs up as she walked by. “Say, are we going to get started soon? I heard there will be a lot of fish dishes at the reception. Which of course is half the fun.”

“There’s just one problem… We’ve got a couple of late guests.” Mercedes thought as she heard two men shouting outside. “Ah, here they come now!”

The late guests in question sped right past the women and straight to Sylvain’s quarters. “Hey! Where’s the man of the hour, huh?”

“You mean one of the men of the hour,” Sylvain corrected. He was embarrassed not just at his father’s late arrival, but also at his behaviour. It didn’t suit someone of his age. “No, let me guess why you’re late… It’s because of the pretty women around the monastery, isn’t it?”

“No… It’s um… because it’s been a while since I attended the Academy, and I had to ask for directions.”

“In other words, it’s because of the pretty women around the monastery.” Even though the margrave still acted like a womanizer all these years, Sylvain couldn’t ever really be mad at him. Sylvain bowed at the waist to Felix’s uncle. “Duke Fraldarius, it’s an honour to meet you. I am Sylvain Jose Gautier, the son of Margrave Gautier.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about you from my older brother before he died. Thank you for taking care of my younger nephew all this time.”

“Speaking of which, where is the blushing bride… er, groom?” Margrave Gautier asked.

“You’ll see him soon enough…” Sylvain got up as the bell of the Goddess Tower rang. Before he stepped onto the stairs, he looked up the tower and the golden sunrise backdrop. “And he will look wonderful.”

An hour later, Dorothea had just finished styling Felix’s hair into a low bun, letting a few strands hang at the sides. Annette and Mercedes stood back to look at the traditional Fraldarius clothes they worked hard to put on him. “Aww, you look so handsome! Sylvain is soooo lucky!” they squealed in unison.

“Okay, I’m handsome.” Felix started walking hastily to the Goddess Tower. “I’m handsome and very late for my own wedding. Ah!”

“Felix, watch out!” Ingrid tried to warn as Felix tripped on his cape. “Oh!”

A 10-year-old boy saved Felix from an embarrassing face plant. “Hey mister, are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” Felix knelt at the boy’s level. He could tell from his clothes and appearance that he was a common boy from Fraldarius. “You saved me, young man.”

The boy just now noticed Felix’s regal attire. “Hey, are you by chance Felix Hugo Fraldarius?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, man, this is the best day ever!” The boy happily jumped up and down. “Mom and Dad used to tell me all kinds of stories about you and what an awesome soldier you were!”

“They did?”

“You bet!” The boy did a few air punches. “They told me one time that you killed a boar with your bare hands.”

“Oh, that was probably just some gossip from your friends.” Felix chuckled, and was surprised when the boy didn’t laugh back.

“I… didn’t really have many friends growing up. When my mom and dad died, all my classmates thought it was because they had enough of me.” The boy began to cry. “I never really had any kind of cool parental figures after my parents’ deaths, either. I… had to live on my own. You were really the only role model I’ve had.”

“Well, I’m about to change that for you!” Felix declared proudly. “There’s going to be a really cool wedding at the Goddess Tower, and I’d love for you to come. There will be lots of yummy food and fun games. And there certainly won’t be any of those mean bullies that you’ve met.”

“Really?” The boy not only stopped crying, he lit up.

“Of course!” Mercedes took the boy by the hand while giving Felix a sidelong stare. “Now come, you don’t want to be late like a certain someone.”

The sun had arisen completely now while the birds fled from their previous hiding places. A spacious crowd gathered under the balcony of the Goddess Tower as Flayn tossed flowers from there. Mercedes couldn’t contain her excitement at the wedding about to commence. “Aww, I should have put some concealer on him at least…”

“Maybe you’ll find a chance to if you visit Fraldarius,” replied Ingrid, lifting Felix’s long cape off the ground while he walked.

As he stepped out from the shade, Felix shielded his face from the sun and the oncoming doves with his arm. Even as he walked to the balcony, he could hardly look at his soon-to-be husband in the eye.

Sylvain brushed aside Felix’s bangs and spoke softly, “Hey. Don’t be shy now of all times; let me see your beautiful face.”

Byleth, the newly appointed archbishop of the Church, grinned at this adorable display as she gestured for silence from the excited crowd below. “O holy Sothis! We stand before you today to ask for your blessings upon Sylvain Jose Gautier and Felix Hugo Fraldarius as they become joined in marriage. May you shower them with many years together, filled with love, light, and fortune. May their homelands become more prosperous with each passing day as the people will grow to respect them.”

Byleth’s conclusion of her speech prompted Sylvain to begin stating his vows. “I have lived a life full of unsavoury tendencies. I thought that I could never find true love because of my Crest. I thought that it was my only redeemable quality. But the day I met you, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I really do have worth. I’ve grown to love myself – and you – in all these years we’ve known one another. I’ll protect you with everything I have; this I swear.”

How am I supposed to top that? Felix had rehearsed his vows several times but at that moment, his mind drew a blank. “I… don’t have a way with words like you. People never forgot to remind me of it, and for the longest time, I didn’t care what they thought of me. What need for pretty words have I, a swordsman so dedicated to his training? It took all the practice in the world just to prepare me for this moment… But for me, it was worth it, to let all of Fódlan know how much I love you. It was worth it to be able to tell you that I will cherish and protect you for as long as I live.”

After a short pause, Byleth continued, “Do you, Sylvain Jose Gautier, take Felix Hugo Fraldarius as your husband?”

“I do!” Sylvain answered with a wink as he put his family ring on Felix’s finger.

“And do you, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, take Sylvain Jose Gautier as your husband?”

“I do.” Felix did the same, and there was no shyness in his voice now.

“Then by the power invested in I, Byleth Eisner, archbishop of the Church of Seiros… I now pronounce the two of you spouses for life.” Byleth gave Sylvain a wink and whispered, “Go on, hotshot, give him a big kiss.”

Don’t need to tell me that, Professor, Sylvain thought as he clasped the back of Felix’s head and kissed him for a long time.

“Aww!” The ten-year-old boy from earlier cheered, along with other monastery residents from the ground. “So this big wedding was for Felix, huh?”

Felix finally broke the kiss gently and now faced the crowd. “Oh, and I thought I’d like to take this opportunity to make an important announcement, particularly to my fellow citizens of Fraldarius. I accept the title of the Duke of Fraldarius… and so does my husband.”

“Whoa…” A few citizens were surprised, but most appeared to accept it.

“But wait…” A young man from Gautier spoke up. “Then who’s going to inherit House Gautier?”

Sylvain expected and feared for this topic to come up, but he didn’t want to lie to his people. “I pass that title to my brother Miklan.” Sylvain turned to his best man. “That is, if he is willing.”

“What?” The mention of Miklan’s name sparked whispers throughout. “He’s alive?”

“Yes.” Miklan turned around. “Though at times I don’t think I deserved to be… I am glad to be now, if only to atone for what I have done. If at any time the people think I don’t deserve this title, I will willingly step before a jury, and you may do what you will. But all I ask is this chance to gain your trust.”

“Miklan…” Margrave Gautier hadn’t seen his son in such a long while, not even after the Battle of Enbarr. To make sure that his elder son was not an apparition, he ran as fast as he could up the Goddess Tower’s stairs to get a good look at him.

Miklan didn’t expect this to occur, and didn’t really want it, either. He shifted uncomfortably before saying, “H-Hello, Father. It’s been a while.”

“You’re… alive.” The margrave’s voice sounded void of emotion. “How?”

“It’s a long story.” Miklan secretly brandished his Crest. “So, um… about the title-”

“I can’t say I’m 100% comfortable with it yet, but if Sylvain approves, then I will approve too.”

“I’m… um… glad, I guess.” Miklan could look at his father now, and noticed the margrave shedding a few tears.

“Oh, haha… Don’t mind me. I’m just… hoping… that we can at least try to get along as a family. I’m glad to have the chance.”

“Aaaand here come the waterworks!” Sylvain took the both of them in for a group hug, spurring many members of the crowd to also cry. Just as he was getting caught in the family bonding, he noticed a young black-haired boy standing just inside the shadow behind the balcony. “Oh? Who might you be, young man?”

“Ah, he’s a citizen of Fraldarius,” Felix cut in. “He actually saved me from damaging my ‘pretty face’ earlier.”

“So what brings you here?” Sylvain knelt down.

“I just… wanted to say to Felix that… Congratulations.” The ten-year-old boy grinned. “You’re right about having fun. I’ve already met a lot of really nice kids just now. I’m thankful.”

Felix pondered a while before asking the boy, “Young man, what is your name?”

“I’m Remy, sir.”

“How would you like to live with Sylvain and I?” Felix gave a quick glance to his husband for approval, which Sylvain readily gave. “We will give you the life that was stolen from you too soon.”

“I can have a family again?” Remy started crying tears of joy. “I… I… I would love to!”

“Oh, quit your crying!” Sylvain chuckled as he carried the boy, letting the crowd see him. “Everyone, I present to you Remy, the third in line to Fraldarius’ throne!”

“Aww, right!” Remy did a little victory pose, getting a huge confidence boost from the approving crowd. “Look out, world, I’m going to be a great soldier just like Papa!”

After the crowd had died down, and the wedding festivities had already started, Sylvain and Felix descended the stairs. Sylvain wasn’t surprised that Dorothea had caught the bouquet Felix had thrown, and now she bragged that one day she would be with her “beloved Ingrid.”

“Sylvain?” Felix took note of how silent Sylvain had become after they got back to the ground level. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Sylvain watched as Remy played with his new friends from the monastery. He was especially friendly to an 8-year-old Gautier girl and her 1-year-old sister who just started learning how to walk. The two older kids flew a sewn-up doll around, much to the 1-year-old’s amusement. “I’m just… I don’t know, I didn’t take you for the type to want kids someday.”

“Surprises, surprises.” Felix smiled as he gripped his husband’s hand. “That kid has been through a lot… I figured that I’d give him a fresh start. A new life.”

“Maybe this is wishful thinking, but… I hope we will live our lives in sheer happiness, for years without end.”

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #sylvix #sylvain x felix #fanfiction

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screechingtrashcalzonewombat · 4 years

Text

"Apopalictic Astral Asending" Reavaluate disassociate my self worth...

The galaxies have birthed an uncontrollable being ....

I've feel as tho Ive seen myself split in two ..

Witch side do u wanna see if ur lucky I'll let you choose .

Cause in the end I loose..

One of hate one of love could both be from up above..

Or down below ...

I've began to show signs of delusions as half my mind goes an tells me it's only mild confusion. As my body fights my brain an heart to escape theys terrible illusions.

Yet the other half tries to start a fusion of body an mind an all the suddently my thoughts are no longer mine..

But a evil so Divine that its wound it's way threw time itself I've fealt the damage the energy dealt. I've yelped in anquish an pain been stuck for 7 long years in the rain with nothing to gain .. I can barely fathom to explain im not fully on earth I'm on another astral plane but i fear i flew out of my lane I've gone insane never wanted fame Ever fealt like bat man I mean oops Bruce Wayne. Nah fuck hes spoiled a wet rat infact I'm more like hulk duck when I'm near i wearly see I'm drowning inside my mind but no one can hear my dear I fear I've lost control again but cant compute I've been booted out of the system I've clawed hit an kicked to try to get to the top but i outta of known I've been ripped an thrown from my throne ive been shown what this beast can do but who woulda thought a demon bought my soul ..a jackal a goul.....you'll see me shift into numbness I suposse it was my own dumbness for being to open now cause of me my body an mind are broken an stole. as I weep an shutter an i try to speak but only stutter I found myself weak in defeat ....as ik this demon reaching its peak will plunder an pillage the town I've found I'm bound to this beast nowhere to run not north south or east I can run it will feast on my soul until the end of time ..

For diamonds cannot compare to the rarity of a soul nor a bowl of Ruby's an jems rolled in gold .....

A bold statement you say........

.. theres no ray of light here they stole it away buried it in your mind but how can u define being locked trapped in yourself ...

You've dealt your own fate ...

Wanting ansers u dint deserve ..

Did you like your just dessert's...no?

Dose it hurt ..... After you itll kill children's childhood freinds like bernie & eart ....whent bizzirk an bashed there brains makeing bloody rains

curking on everyone with cutlery forks an knifes* slice *cook big bird with chives after I've shanked him 900 times... 100 more woulda been devine serve him drink to dry alone cooked an ripped him to the bone but not quite alone u may not be home inside but u can still watch...I thought I taught u better than to close ur eyes dont beg or look surprised look away an I'll adopt another stray to do the same a slow sweet death cure's my hunger anyway

.the wines innocents blood bitter sweet to the taste of the tounge

no one thought it capable I seemed...looked ...so young..

They dint know it had just begun it wasn't me but the evil half committing crime with glee an fleeing repetavidly revealingly images to my mind of times & crimes so sickening I thought I'd die forever scetched seered into my mind .binded with no power as one towers over you using your power you cowar for how dose one define the disasbalment of there an every defined mind while ur inner demon dines on flesh making a mess of your vessel you cant even wrestle your way to the light to stay only break down in defeat that your so far away you've became an internal mess cant even stand on ur feet the beast has u chained in defeat u cry an apologize looking for answers as of how to stop.....an then...you hear a voice .." you outta stayed silent instead of talk back. U shouldn't of complained do u still think ur life used to be pain...... . Ur a sack of shit ur wit is less than that of an ant not to rant but I'm not done yet I have ur soul now I'm never letting go no no no I have plenty more so much to show many souls to reap an emotions to subdue after all u said yes.....

...did you forget ur the one who started this.

mess ......you dressed your mind with fantasy an fiction word to the wise never mess with other worldly friction an your itching for a way out but I doubt ull get there before the end of time .after all you had a devil an an angel on ur shoulder an you chose wrong this time. Only took 666 times but I'm patient an always waiting for 6 years hating an burning flesh waiting for a prayer a call after all Lucifer was once an angel an the most beautiful you just dint get to see from what angle he had beauty wrath an determination but u humans resulted in his isolation incarsorason. So now we will end up being humanity's enialation when were done there entire selves with evaporate for the demons have released self hate to pro create creatures in confidence we annihilate the fate of the human race at least the trace slight like us able to bust threw dementions so weve mentioned a start to find the inordinary soul an heart ......humanity was doomed from the start.. you stole our purpose our reason to be......humans sit in sin an glee.

Your humanitys Pride is overbearing never genuinely caring ..

Greed is sweeping the nation its reached ever state an it's got a hot heaping plate of corruption for mankind's consumption greed is grotesque in its steps of the darkest quest to corupt ur mind an want. .want..want until that's all you are is wanting more

Lusting over losely draped garments you've tarnished ur soul .

Envy of what you do not posses but for all you know that information an life would make you a mess but ud still test ur envious tendencies.....

Glutton glutton what have you gained it's not knowledge no for it's to plain rather glutton uve found a urge that wont go away....

Wrath an vengeance blood draw too no one stops till some dies him or you....

Sloth last but not least cant forget you cause uuuh wait what that fuck do u do....you sleep an sulk sit slither out of simple tasks an that's why ur not 1st no ur last like humanity just ask ....

So soon the day will draw near the the number 4 is what you should fear our dear old freinds were sending up for a visit so they can reddit ur fate for each a horse an a trait the first out the door with bow in hand riding a white horse with bow in hand

Conquest the start of the final test leading the restthere dark version of light on a white stallion he leads the way an soon will follow hades anyway.

War was next on a red steed he rode prepared to purge an quench new blood for the wars an battels would just begin brother against brother an close of kin witch to win?

Famine foe of all on a black horse with the courses hair so fair merely bone but dont let his appearance fool you hes for he is full devouring your greed taking away everything you want or need an now ur rationed to nearly starvation stretching farther than destination world wide sensation...

Pleage reaper of souls slowly apears steadly trotting riding a very sickly steed looking pale an almost gruesome green with sores an sickness best keep a distance. For he shall be the bringer of death an reap you all one by one to the four you shall fall...

Will you be spared are you true....

Are you happy with your life what did you do...?

Rapture no you still must die.....

Say good by to this earthy chapter theres so much more that manifest after.

But only your earthly husk must rust an fall your all energy of grate mass....

It's time to take the task of self evolvment an enjoy an enlightened installment

this world was just step wrench ur third eye wide open an accept the token of eternal life.

Grinded it to atoms a flash of dust all together ur a self fulfilling must memory pass u in a rush.....

. sudently ur bodysuit is gone ....

But it dint felt like it quite belonged.

You were 7 grams of light matter to be exact an sudently you've cracked the atmosphere ..steering energetic waves my metal psyche caves to the new information flying threw stars consolations.

Suddently speeding at the sound of light the stratosphere seems to disapear ..

My fear is gonewithout a trace an freedom transferred in its place

but am waved in infatuation to find out about out true destination...

Restoration of the soul the goal of a higher self being achieved as I crash into the sun 1500°

I feel a warmth like no other each being hues of light I might of missed earth if not I heard a voice but a mental push no need for speech just thinking it shall be done said by the the brightest in the sun.

Rejoice at last but ur journeys yet to pass ..

This is merely were you start ....

Our flames grew high with frantic waves not wanting to give up the new life we were just gave

Suddenly our flames grew dim as we felt a swirling deep from withn sudently the surface of the sun turned to tin an bent in a cracked an caved with itself our time an space sending us ascending in alignment the same assignment.

Because the sun has begun to change ina twisted way a black hole some could say.

As all of our astral beings were ripped an tore apart at the seams we all merged an formed one all knowing creative being an sudently everything I've know has little matter I'm past a point of human chatter i understand infinity the holy trinity I down in the milky way an experienced every life I've relived it twice I've spliced my genetics into over 2000 million beings I've seen good an bad in between experienced every tragedy to build my strength an studyd every thesis an theory thread an chain nearly drove my vessel insane even took knifes threw my veins in anger yet it failed I was just a trailer.ive seen love hate an anger

Comprehension compasing many others I have love an understanding past many beings there anger seems to brush by me cause I'm with 2000 souls an minds that have formed one to reach a state I can medidate in the milky way an force your negative away .

Our astral self has accumulated complete power an understanding by costuming to our full potential our old body's merely a rental.

Gentle at first then bursted into power showered in knowledge I know now much that I wondered before but now I want more an I've thought till I an 2000 shared beings head hurt cause my girth of knowledge will now never be enough it's tough cause now I must find .... how to ascend again but for now i must defend my vast mind defind crime ...?

Keeping 2000 vast voices locked away so I can focus an try to learn anyway leaning in to vast places is I the 1st 2nd or 3rd or other many plains I cant quiet place I'm traveling threw them all searching for everything I couldn't before .

This life isent like the countless other this life I like it has interesting teathers

I've surpass Angel's an there feathers an vison of a hawk.

I've surpass demonds and there demonic temping talk ..

I've walked on water as I was ripped apart an I felt my self rebuilt every cell of my being got hit with rods of power lightning not even myself can fight me god like abilities the universe as built in me theres ben a spiritual shift a tilt in me somthing generations of DNA sprawled out in a numerical display my old life experiences is the price I pay so that I can be god even if only for a day

I think I'll sit an think somewere in the outter spink of the universe I've cursed myself with knowledge an now I'm aware step into my astral space....

If you dare...

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milky-writes · 5 years

Text

Masquerade

Summary: Another year has come and gone and it is yet again time for the yearly winter ball at the castle. Princess Mina is preparing for what she expects to be a party like many others before it, but her meeting with a masked stranger may make things a little more interesting

Characters: OC x Shownu/Hyunwoo (MX)

Written For: @kpop-loving-noona

Written By: TBA

A/N: This is a gift for Meena~ ♥

“Mina? How’s it going in there?” Changho calls. His loud knocking on the door startles Areum and nearly results in her smearing red lipstick all over Mina’s face. Being the king of this country one would think he would be a more patient man.

“Everything is fine, father!” Mina replies, not able to hide the annoyance in her voice. “I will be down in a minute!”

“Good, good… I want to show you the decorations before the guests arrive. They’ve really outdone themselves this year!” Hearing the excitement in her father’s voice she isn’t able to stay mad at him for very long. She knows he has been looking forward to tonight for a long time and she isn’t going to be the one ruining his mood.

The first winter ball was held by Mina’s great grandfather many years ago and since then it has become a yearly tradition. Every year the ruling king or queen holds a great ball at the beginning of winter to celebrate yet another successful year before the colder and darker days takes over. It is always the same noblemen and royals who are invited each year, like king Junseo of Chestermont - an ally country in the great north. In Mina’s humble opinion, he is about as entertaining as a dry piece of bread, but usually he brings his son, crown prince Taekwoon, along. Taekwoon has a bad habit of drinking a little too much at events like this and his low alcohol tolerance usually leads to great entertainment for the guests at the party. Unfortunately, Mina tends to be on the receiving end of Taekwoon’s less than sober gestures of affection and at the end of the night she usually has to carry the crown prince to a secluded chamber to spare at least some of his dignity.

Besides the royals and noblemen, it is tradition that the monarch invites some of the regular people of the country to take part in the festivities as well. It’s never the same people and it varies from blacksmiths to bakers to single mothers. It is a way to keep the relationship between the royal family and the people of the country good and so far, it has worked out.

Mina has never been a fan of the winter ball. In fact, she finds it rather dull. It’s always the same. The royals chat with the royals and the regular people chat with each other in the corners of the castle - behaving as if they’ve intruded in a space where they don’t belong. She always hopes to get a chance to speak casually with some of the people of the country. But this is now her 21th winter ball and until now no one has had the courage to start a conversation with her.

“Your majesty,” Areum says, cutting off Mina’s stream of thoughts. “Do you want me to put this on you now or would you rather wait until later?” In the maid’s hands is a mask, intended for covering the area around the eyes and the nose of a female face. It is made in white velvet, cream pearls hanging from the bottom and swan feathers sticking out from the top of it. It’s beautiful, and Mina can’t help but smile at the sight of it.

“Oh, dear Areum let’s put it on already, I can hardly wait!” she answers, a hint of the same excitement found in her father’s voice to be heard.

It had been her idea for the attendants of the party to wear masks. At first her father hadn’t been too keen on the idea, not wanting to change an old tradition just like that. But he has always found it hard to deny his daughter’s wishes and in the end, he had agreed to it. Mina has high hopes that people not immediately being able to recognize each other will make them talk with someone, they wouldn’t have talked with otherwise. She hopes that for once there won’t be such a big difference between regular people and the royals.

Finally done preparing for the party, Mina joins her father down in the ballroom. He hadn’t lied when he’d said that the servants had undone themselves with the decorations this year. A grand pine tree dressed in all white has been placed next to the buffet table, on which they have placed a big ice sculpture depicting a swan with its wings spread, ready to fly away. Big bouquets of white flowers have been placed on each of the round dinner tables, which have been pushed to the side of the ballroom to make room for dancing in the middle of the room. Standing against the walls reaching all the way to the ceiling are naked white tree branches with tiny warm balls of light illuminating from them. Mina is certain some kind of magic has had to have been used in order to make these.

“Oh, Mina you look beautiful!” Changho says as he takes his daughter’s hands. Mina chuckles lightly at his compliment. “But you can barely see my face.”

“No, but fortunately for me, I know what beauty hides behind that mask,” Changho is quick to save his compliment. Mina is only able to shake her head at her cheesy old man and lets him show her through the room.

“I was thinking that the two of us could sit here,” he says gesturing to one of the dinner tables placed near the center of the room. “Along with King Junseo and the crown prince of course.” Mina lets go of her father to place her hands on her hips with a big sigh.

“But father, that would defeat the whole purpose of the ball,” she says with a stern look on her father. “We’re supposed to split up and sit with our people.”

“You’re right, you’re right…” he answers, his mind seemingly elsewhere. She can tell he’s up to something before he says it.

“But Lord Namil is joining us this year and I was thinking that dinner would be a great opportunity for you to meet his son, Youngjae.” His eyes are fixed on the table as if he’s still arranging the seats in his mind. “He’s a very kind young man, I’m sure you’re going to like him.” Mina gives him a forced smile. Before he’s able to tell her more about this “Youngjae” Mina quickly excuse herself, saying that she needs to check up on the people in the kitchen. Naively, Changho accepts her excuse and lets her go. It isn’t until she’s out of her father’s sight that she allows herself to roll her eyes.

She knows she’s at the age of which it would be appropriate to marry. If it was up to her dad she would have been married long ago and he doesn’t miss a chance to bring it up. But luckily, she manages to avoid her father and his recommendations of other possible suitors until the evening, when the gates are opened to the guests.

Mina watches from a distance, peeking out from one of the marble pillars, as the guests enter the castle. She’s awed by the beauty of the different masks they’re wearing. A slender woman walking with her arms around a young man is wearing a mask shaped like the face of a cat and right after her comes a portly man with a golden mask, the nose of the mask reaching all the way down to his chest. A couple of servants are standing by the door, greeting the guests as they enter. Their masks are identical. Full-faced, white and plain.

The ball room slowly starts filling with the many guests who stands around looking shyly at each other, unsure of what to do, until an elderly man takes the first step and sits down by one of the tables. Slowly the rest follows him, filling out the empty seats in the room.

“Princess Mina!” a familiar voice shouts from the entry of the ball room. In a split-second Mina has turned around and rushes to silence the owner of the voice, who’s standing in the ball room door, his big lanky body resting against the door frame.

“Taekwoon!” she hisses under her breath as she speed-walks over to him. His face might be covered by a black mask, but she would be able to pick out her childhood friend in a dark room of 100 people if she had to.

“Please lower your voice” she says as calmly as she can manage. “Everyone in the castle will hear you.” Taekwoon’s facial expression is muted by the mask but Mina still reads his confusion clearly.

“For one night I would like to just blend in with the people, so they won’t be scared of speaking with me,” she pleads, clasping her hands together. “Please Taekwoon… don’t out me already.” She hasn’t told anyone, but the thought of being anonymous for one night has all along been what attracted her the most to having a masked ball. For one night she would like to just have fun without the troubles of being the future queen on her shoulders. Without her father’s never-ending lectures on future husbands and the future of the kingdom. Taekwoon looks at her for a moment before he nods.

“Alright,” he agrees before strictly pointing at her with his index finger. “But I’m sitting with you. I’m going to throw myself into the ocean if I have to be alone with our fathers for the entire evening.” Mina’s face cracks in a smile.

“Alright, alright,” she says, a laugh bubbling underneath her voice. “But we need to find somewhere to sit before all the seats are taken.” Around them most people have taken their seats and mostly single seats are left. But in the far end on the right they manage to find a table with two unoccupied chairs left and they sit down just in time for the king’s welcoming speech. He welcomes the guests, thanking them for coming, and goes on to the usual spiel about how great it is that they can all unite like this across both social and national borders and so on and so on. Mina quickly loses interest and instead she takes a look around at the people in the room. People of all shapes and sizes are there and to her delight it looks like not a single person in the room isn’t wearing a mask. And for once, no one is staring back at her.

Mina and Taekwoon are accompanied at their table by four other people. A young woman, barely Mina’s age, who presents herself as Joowon, an older lady, Gyuri, who is Joowon’s mom, a young man, Minhyuk, and lastly a middle-age man whose breath smells strongly of cheap alcohol and who never introduces himself. When asked about her name Mina avoids the question by instead asking Joowon to hand her the salt. The conversation runs smoothly, at least between Mina, Joowon and Minhyuk, through dinner and Mina learns, that Joowon works as a seamstress with her mother in the draper’s shop. She makes a comment about how hard and dry her fingertips have become from all the work, to which her mother exclaims a surprised. “Lee Joowon!”. Mina can’t help but laugh. It is very rare for her to be around her peers like this, and the light atmosphere at the table is liberating.

***

While the servants bring out the plates from the dessert the musicians, the entertainment of the night, sets the stage with their equipment. The conversation is still running smoothly at the table, even Taekwoon has started to join in, when Mina suddenly senses something. She looks around only to spot her father, his broad figure impossible to not recognize despite the mask covering his face, standing next to a young man only a few tables away. He scans the people around him before opening his mouth and once again calling what got Mina’s attention in the first place. “PRINCESS MINA?” She quickly turns back around and as discreetly as humanly possible she pushes herself away from the table. Taekwoon sends her a puzzled look.

“Please excuse me,” she apologizes, her eyes meeting with everyone at the table. “I have to go powder my nose.” Joowon opens her mouth to say something but Mina is gone before she gets the chance. Hiding behind potted plants and servants, she manages to get across the room without being seen. She turns her head to check up on the position of her father and sees that he’s reached Taekwoon who points him towards the restrooms. With her father’s attention redirected she sprints towards the door. She continues running out the door, barely avoiding other guests who have decided to take a stroll in the garden surrounding the castle. She turns her head around to see if she’s escaped her pursuers and is finally stopped when she collides with another person. She makes a surprised sound and grabs onto her poor victim, holding on for dear life as they tumble into a bush. She feels her arms getting cut by the thorns of the bush as the go down, her hair getting stuck on a branch which undoes her bun. Her helpless victim groans lightly underneath her and she quickly pushes herself away.

“I’m terribly sorry”, she apologizes, offering her hand to help the other person up. She finally has a proper look at the person she has run into and realizes that it is a man, seemingly not much older than herself. Luckily, he doesn’t appear to be a prince or a nobleman as his attire is rather plain and far from the extravagant outfits the princes tend to wear. But underneath the modest clothing he seems to be quite fit, judging by his broad shoulders alone. Half of his face is covered by a black mask with red edges, and from underneath the mask a pair of dark eyes shine at her.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says as he wipes the dirt off his pants.

“Are you alright?” he proceeds to ask and for a moment Mina is taken aback by the genuine sound of concern in his voice.

“Oh… yeah, I’m fine,” she finally answers with a stutter. He smiles at her, muttering a soft: “Good,” and this sparks a feeling of warmth in her chest, like a tiny flame, which she cannot explain.

“PRINCESS MINA?” she’s startled when he father’s voice suddenly is heard again, not far from them. She immediately panics.

“Duck!” she exclaims, dragging the man down on the ground with her. He does nothing to resist and soon they’re both hiding behind the bush they seconds ago fell into. Through the bush branches she’s just able to see her father and the young man passing right by them, continuing further into the garden.

“Are you-” the man begins, his eyes following the king as well, but isn’t able to finish his question as Mina quickly cuts him off with a. “No! Whoever you’re thinking off I’m certainly not.” Her lie barely manages to convince herself, but the man doesn’t comment on it.

As her father and the young man gets smaller in the distance Mina finally dares taking her eyes off of them, looking back at the man she has somehow gotten dragged into this whole mess. To her surprise there is not a bit of annoyance or anger in his face, unlike the usual stares she gets when she misbehaves. Instead she’s met by a curiosity and a fascination that makes the little fire inside of her flare up. The flames pull at the corners of her lips and he smiles back at her, his eyes turning into curved lines behind the mask. That’s when she notices the blood.

“Oh… sir,” she says, reaching for the handkerchief in her pocket. “It looks like you’re bleeding.” The smile on his lips slowly fades as he lightly grazes his skin with his fingers. Golden skin meets crimson red just above his jaw line.

“I must have cut myself on the bush” he mutters softly more so to himself than to Mina. She hands him the handkerchief and he silently accepts it. For a few moments she watches him dabbing it on the cut trying to get control of the bleeding. But every time he removes the handkerchief from his jaw, new droplets of blood starts taking form.

“Come with me” Mina finally gathers the courage to say after a long moment of silence. She gets up from the ground. “We can’t have you bleeding all over your shirt.” She offers him her hand and to her delight he gladly accepts her it.

***

“That should do it” Mina mutters to herself, taking a step back to admire her work. After some cleaning and a lot of dirty napkins she has finally managed to cover the cut on the man’s face with a band-aid. He’s sitting on the bed in her room, looking so unfamiliar in this little world of hers. They haven’t talked much while they’ve been in there and his voice is like a branch breaking in a lonely forest when he finally speaks.

“You’re sure you’re not-“ he tries asking once more but is yet again cut off. “No… no I’m definitely not.” The last hint of conviction her words might have had is gone, and she’s now blatantly lying. He still doesn’t comment on it.

“I’m Hyunwoo” he presents himself with his hand on his chest.

“Hyunwoo” she repeats quietly, taking in every syllable of the name, feeling it tingle in every inch of her body.

“And if you’re not who I think you are” he continues. “May I ask - who are you then?” She considers for a second. Considers telling one more obvious lie. But in the end, she decides against it.

“I’m Mina,” she finally presents herself truthfully. “Just Mina.” She isn’t sure what she expected. Maybe for him to drop to his knees and declare his allegiance to the country and the royal family (which has unfortunately happened to her more than once). But her admitting to who she really is doesn’t seem to change anything. He just continues looking at her with that heart-melting smile.

“Alright… just Mina” he says and gets up from the bed. “Thank you for your help… You really didn’t need to.”

“Well, technically I didn’t need to push you into that bush either.”

“You got a point.” She smiles. She can’t explain what it is. Something about him just makes her feel so at ease. Like she can just be herself for once. It is a rare feeling when living in a castle where your every step is watched, judged and corrected.

“But I am sorry for dragging you away from the party” he apologizes. Mina shrugs.

“Don’t be” she says. “You honestly saved me.” She’s certain that if she looks into those doe-like eyes for one more second she’s going to explode, so instead she moves to open the doors to the balcony. It’s beginning to go dark outside and most of the guest outside have gone inside, seeking shelter from the cold. Faintly, she can hear the sounds of the band playing coming from the open entrance to the castle.

“Saved you?” she didn’t notice Hyunwoo following her until he speaks right behind her. “What could I possibly have saved you from?”

“Let’s just say that I think I was about to be caught up in a very uncomfortable and awkward situation down there” she sighs.

“I’m glad we fended off that situation then” he says. “But now that the danger has passed, maybe I should escort you back to the party?” She feels her heart sink in her chest at his words, but her lips move on their own as they say. “Yeah, you probably should.” He nods, still a little smile pulling the corner of his lips and starts moving towards the door. He is stopped when Mina grabs him by the wrist.

“Or wait” she says, way more desperate than intended. She clears her throat and continues. “I’m… I mean… we could also stay here a for little bit… I mean, if you would like to?” She isn’t used to this. This shyness making her voice quiver. But to her relief he nods.

“Sure,” he says. “I would love to.” Love to. The flame in her chest flares up again.

“It’s a beautiful view you got here” he says, resting his elbows on the baluster. She hums in agreement and takes her eyes off of him to look out over the balcony. It is indeed a beautiful view. From this high up you’re able to see all of the lights in the windows of the houses of Judevaia, their country. On clear days you can even see the forest leading up to Eularctis in the distance. She rarely really appreciates this view. She has grown accustomed to luxuries like these after getting them shoved down her throat all of her life. God, what she wouldn’t give to see this place with a fresh pair of eyes instead of ones tired with routine.

“Yes… you can see quite far” Mina sighs with a small nod, mimicking Hyunwoo as she too rests her elbows on the cold marble of the baluster.

“You can even see my house from here” Hyunwoo says with an almost childlike excitement in his voice.

“Really? Where is it?”

“Right there” the flame licks up Mina’s throat as she feels the warmth of his body when he leans in close to her, pointing towards the middle of the city. She leans in a little closer, trying to get the same view of the city as him, feeling his breath brush against her cheek. From here she is able to narrow it down to a group of houses.

“What is it like?” she asks, turning her head to look at him again, their noses only a few inches from touching. “Living down there I mean.”

“It’s nice” he says, his smile coloring his words. “You should visit some time… I could show you around the town.” She thinks she sees a light blush in his cheeks beneath his mask, but she can’t tell whether it’s due to the cold or if it’s caused by something else. The flame once again flares up inside of her and for a second, she’s worried it’s going to spill out of her ears or her nose. So, she does all that she can to answer him: she smiles like a fool.

They share a moment of comfortable silence before the notes of a new song streams out of the doors. Mina hadn’t noticed they had stopped playing. But she immediately recognizes the song they start playing.

“Oh, I love this song” she sighs before realizing how her thoughts have turned into words. She has loved this song ever since she was a kid and her father has always made sure it’s been played at every ball at the castle. It is likely that he has asked the band to play this particular song to lure her out from her hiding. But she isn’t that easy.

“Really…” Hyunwoo says bringing Mina out of her stream of thoughts and back to the balcony. “Well maybe then… I mean if you want to… maybe… We could dance?” There’s a shakiness to his voice she hasn’t heard before. Like he’s nervous. She doesn’t blame him as her heart rate increases rapidly at the mere thought of dancing with him. Not that she hasn’t danced before. But this is the first time she’s been asked to dance with someone she liked. Really liked in fact.

“I would love to” she says. He smiles and without any further they move closer to each other. He puts his hand around her waist. She puts her hand on his shoulder. And lastly, they entwine their fingers. For once she’s away from the curios eyes that always follow her. For once it’s just her. Just Mina. And Hyunwoo of course. Just Mina and Hyunwoo. They don’t speak a word. They don’t have to. They just sway quietly from side to side in tune with the music. His hands are warm, wrapped safely around her hand and waist.

She isn’t sure what makes her do it, or where she gets the courage from. But after dancing for what feels like an eternity, she lets go of his hand to instead place that hand on his other shoulder. He looks baffled for a second but quickly collects himself, placing his free hand around her waist. Like this, with their chests pressed together, it seems they can’t get any closer. And yet Mina still wants more. Wants to be even closer to him. She really must be out of her mind. Must have lost count of the glasses of wine she’s had throughout the evening. At least that is the only way she can explain this emotion she’s feeling.

She feels something cool on her arm and looks up to see soft snowflakes falling from the sky, landing on her bare arms like cold kisses. The first snow of the year.

“It’s snowing” Hyunwoo mutters, his eyes on the sky as well. Their dance has come to a halt in the middle of the balcony, both of them mesmerized by the sky above, as the last notes of the song fades out.

“Mina I’m-“ Hyunwoo starts after a moment of silence, beginning to let go of Mina, but she holds on to his arm.

“Can I kiss you?” she asks breathlessly. “It’s just… Tomorrow I will have to take off this mask and go back to be Princess Mina… and if this is the last chance I get to maybe kiss someone that I like… I just… I don’t want to waste that chance.” Hyunwoo looks surprised to say the least and for a moment she fears she has ruined the whole evening. But finally, he nods.

“Please do… or I mean… yes, of course you can” he stumbles over his words. “I would like that.” She smiles and with that she closes that small space that’s separating them, connecting their lips in a kiss. It’s short, barely a peck on the lips, but sweet. She pulls away, lobster red in the face, and with a light giggle she tries to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, failing to do so. Gently, Hyunwoo takes her hand and pulls her into his arms. She rests her hands on his chest, feeling his heart beat strongly under her fingers. With one arm around her back he uses the other to brush the unruly hair strand behind her ear, before pulling her in for another kiss.

And the fire inside of her erupts into fireworks.

***

“Mina, what are you doing up this early?” Changho asks with a yawn as he passes his daughter who to his surprise is already up and fully clothed. The castle is quiet, only the mild rumble of the servants cleaning the ballroom to be heard.

“I couldn’t sleep any longer” she says, pulling a cape over her shoulders. Changho frowns.

“Where are you going?” he continues his interrogation. Not only is it unusual for his daughter to be the first one to be awake of the two, Changho still sporting a silk pajamas, but it is even more unusual for her to leave on her own like this.

“Oh, I’m just going for a small walk” Mina says with a smile, soothing her father’s mind. “I won’t be gone for long.” She pulls the hood of the cape over her head, and before her father’s gets a chance to stop her, she raises her hand to goodbye and slips out of the door.

It has become a tradition of hers to take a walk in the city after a night like this one. The stuffy ballroom always makes her feel like her mind is overflowing with all of the different sensory input. But nothing cures this feeling like the fresh morning air. The snow is covering the streets like a duvet, crunching softly underneath her boots as she walks. Usually she brings Areum along with her on a trip like this. But a lot of things seem to be out of the ordinary today as she heads for the heart of the city, instead of walking in the outskirts of it as usual. After all, it has been quite an unusual night.

It’s still pretty early in the morning and yet the streets are filled with people. Men and women on their way to work, mothers walking with babies in strollers and kids playing in the fresh snow. Mina is seconds away from being hit by a snowball and she pulls down her hood as she proceeds onwards.

Suddenly, something demands her attention. A smell. She inhales deeply, the sweet smell of freshly baked bread making her sigh out of delight. She turns her head to spot a bakery across the street. She’s certain the head cook at the castle has already prepared something for breakfast. Eating something now and ruining her appetite would definitely make the cook upset. But Mina simply can’t pass on a heavenly smell like this and before she can change her mind she runs across the street.

A bell above the door rings when Mina opens the door to the shop. It’s quite small with different types of breads and buns stacked behind the counter. On top of the counter is a small glass cabinet with various beautifully decorated cakes displayed. She walks closer to the cabinet to get a better look at the cakes when someone yells from the back. “I’ll be right there!” Her heart has stopped in her chest even before he enters the room. His mask is off today, and his formal attire has been replaced with an apron, but she surely would be able to recognize that voice anywhere.

“Mina” Hyunwoo says in a surprised tone. She smiles at him. He smiles at her. “You came.”

#milky writes secret santa 2018 #monsta x fanfiction #monsta x shownu #son hyunwoo #kpop fanfiction

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makeste · 6 years

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BnHA Chapter 003: Superhero Academy Entrance Exam

Chapter 3 of my not-actually-live liveblog of Boku no Hero Academia! And I have to say, this one is my favorite chapter so far. We’ve got new characters, we’ve got weird video game point challenges, and we’ve got a new crowning moment of awesome for our protagonist! All this, and a guy with the power of jeans. What more could I ask for in life.

Notes: As of posting this I’ve read up through chapter 6 of the manga and watched episodes 1-5 of the anime. My comments (aside from ETAs), however, are from my initial readthrough of the chapter and are unedited. And despite residing here on tumblr where BnHA is a trending tag like every week, I somehow continue to remain almost totally unspoiled (boy that feels like I’m jinxing it).

hey it’s some random speech bubbles just spitting out facts about U.A.! how convenient and helpful

damn, they only accept 1 in 300 people... that’s a 0.33% acceptance rate. I’m pretty sure even Harvard accepts like 5 or 6% of its applicants, so this is... yikes

All Might magnanimously declined the People’ Choice Award lmao

“Best Jeanist.” oh my god. for years I’ve thought Eiichiro Oda was hands-down the best mangaka when it came to creating off-the-wall new characters. but this character’s name is Best Jeanist and he’s wearing a turtleneck denim jacket and has onion hair and I just. I don’t know anymore. my world is shook

what makes it better is the implication that there are other jeanists out there. but he is the best

so much the best that he’s won the best jeanist award eight years running

what is his power?? jeans??

shout out to this other guy Endeavor who I’m completely ignoring because he had the misfortune to be standing next to my homeboy Best Fucking Jeanist

Deku actually went home and took a shower and packed and then got on the subway for a forty-minute ride. holy shit this kid is cool under pressure. probably took a fucking nap on the train too

DID HE EAT THE HAIR??? I ASSUME YES? GODDAMMIT THIS IS BULLSHIT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED RIGHT NOW

is this the school? I like the trees just chilling out in the entrance lobby there

“there was no time to test out the power All Might had given to me” -- fjkalsjdfj ARE YOU SERIOUS

THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU IDIOTS DO THIS LAST WEEK

YOU COULD HAVE PACKED THE NIGHT BEFORE

THE SHOWER IS FINE, SHOWERS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT YOU COULD HAVE DONE IT FASTER

HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW IF THE HAIR ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING?? YOU SPENT THE PAST 10 MONTHS BUILDING UP TO THIS? YOU WERE CARRYING THAT BALL FOR TEN FUCKING MONTHS ONLY TO DROP IT THREE FUCKING HOURS BEFORE THE EXAM SFKSHLHK I’M FUCKING LOSING IT

I DON’T CARE IF HE’LL OBVIOUSLY BE FINE, I NEED SOMEONE TO GO AND SMACK HIM PLEASE

-- OH LOOK IT’S MY PROBLEMATIC FAVE

HOLY SAVAGE FUCK THAT “IGNORE + WALK PAST” WAS OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS

“ever since that day, Kaachan never tormented me again”

the answer is yes, right? no? are you sure?? damn

wow they still remember the sludge monster and call it the “sludge incident”

here I was thinking this kind of shit happened on the daily in this crazy superheroes&supervillains society, but I guess some incidents are more memorable than others

also it’s nice that he stopped harassing Green Tsuna, but when my previous (I shouldn’t say “previous”, actually... more like “still current”) favorite Gokudera “GOAT” Hayato had his life saved by his protagonist, he not only stopped tormenting him, but he immediately swore his eternal fealty and dedicated his life to serving him, so that’s a pretty high bar. I will give Baku the benefit of the doubt, though

I’m still obviously on board this ship, as evidenced by the fact that Deku thought “I gotta stop flinching instinctively” and I was like “aww they’ll be lovers any day now”

I don’t understand it either

hey hello I’m cracking up in real life here

wow I thought he was gonna fall and that was hilarious, but instead he’s somehow just... floating there? which is somehow even MORE hilarious

HEY A NEW CHARACTER. [takes notes]

WHY ARE YOU SORRY FOR STOPPING HIM IT WAS A NICE THING TO DO

“[SMILES BROADLY] THIS SURE IS NERVE-WRACKING!” HEY I’M SORRY, BEST JEANIST, BUT YOU CAN FUCK RIGHT OFF, THIS IS MY NEW NEW FAVE

HIGH FIVE, GREEN TSUNA. YOU’RE DOING GREAT

“Everybody say hey” this motherfucker better be saying this in fucking English goddamit. (ETA: he is!! yessssssssss)

nobody said hey

“well that’s cool.” nice recovery! gamfuckingbatte you funky boombox man

YEEEEEEAH

nobody said yeah

my god this is a tough crowd. the practical test could just be warming these stone-cold motherfuckers up and it would 100% explain the abysmally low acceptance rate

I love how Deku talks to himself all the fucking time. I want to watch movies with him. we’ll both talk quietly while trying not to annoy people and probably not succeeding.

they’re sitting next to each other oh my god they were roomaaaaates

no but it’s seriously so cute??

there are probably thousands of people there, they didn’t HAVE to sit with each other. (unless seating arrangements are determined by school)

ETA: which they probably are come to think of it. hahaha)

they can’t take the test together though, aw

look at these fucking Mario silhouettes. did Nintendo sign off on these?

is it allowed because they’re blacked out? how fucking sneaky

(ETA: actually in the anime they didn’t make any Mario references at all, which makes me think there actually was a copyright issue)

these rules seem simple enough. actually seems almost too simple. the amount of different quirks they’re dealing with and the lack of guidelines on how not to use them seems to be asking for trouble. but I guess they probably know what they’re doing by now

I thought this was a high school, why is this 40-year-old man here asking questions about the exam

OH SHIT DEKU HE’S CALLING YOU OUT FROM TWENTY FEET AWAY

we would so get kicked out of movies together

now they’re literally referencing Super Mario Bros by name huh

and calling it an “old retro game”... sob

I actually love the pop culture reference so much and hope that more of these follow. this is how people talk in real life. none of that coming across a zombie and not actually calling them “zombies” because that concept somehow doesn’t exist or any of that bullshit. no sir. “you guys know thwomps from Mario? this thing is like a thwomp from Mario”

here we go. this set-up reminds me of Choice from KHR. please dear god don’t actually be like Choice from KHR

yeah, come to think... how big is this school

there’s a guy whose arm bone is sticking waaaaaay out of his elbow and it’s making me so fucking uncomfortable

please go away

THE GIRL IS HERE

AND THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD MAN IS HERE TOO DAMMIT

all these people who don’t even fucking know Deku are still picking on him for some reason. ugh. just more people to show up, Izu. you got this dude

I’m getting strong Hunger Game vibes here

oh damn they sure did run

thd thd thd thd

relax, Deku, I’m sure there are plenty of monsters to go around. plus most of those guys appear to be morons and I’m sure the smiley girl and the forty-year-old man are the only ones in the group who’ll actually pass somehow

oh fucking FINALLY a flashback to him eating the hair!!

he’ll START to feel SOMETHING in A FEW HOURS?!!!

and there he is running off to take a shower as previously established

I am glad he is confirmed as having good personal hygiene, though

“prepare for some real kickback” noooo I’m getting nervous

when you use One for All, clench up your butt

ssshhf this giant fucking robot literally interrupted his flashback right before we got to the good part??

DEKU. CLENCH YOUR BUTTTT

“why can’t I move?” MAYBE YOU CLENCHED TOO TIGHT. SHIT

some bishounen with a crotch laser just appeared out of nowhere and blasted it!

whew

“merci!” you’re welcome, Tuxedo Mask

wow he’s been standing around for four minutes already?? I take back what I said before, Deku. fucking run

everyone else has killed basically all the enemies. fuck why do I feel like he’s about to face a fucking thwomp. how many points were those again

...lmao zero. well shit

these Ender’s Game test-makers have deemed Yuri on Ice over here a “decision maker”

who am I to argue

BAKUGOUUU

YESSS MY ANGRY SON WHOM I’VE ADOPTED FOR REASONS THAT STILL CONFUSE ME HAS GOT THAT .3% ACCEPTANCE RATE LOCKED UP

OH NO IT’S THE YARUKI SWITCH

WHAT’S A YARUKI SWITCH

now feels like a good time to speculate on just how fucking expensive this fucking test is with the giant robots and the entire fucking city built for the sole purpose of being leveled in ten fucking minutes all for the sake of a test which only 1 out of every 300 people will even fucking pass

somewhere out there I hope there are people whose quirks are just “building lots of things really cheaply and effectively”, otherwise this feels like such a waste

haha now everyone is running again but in the opposite direction this time

and so is Deku. NOW he can move, huh

aaaaaand he’s crying again

something better happen or else he’s screwed

oh fuck me, the girl fell, of COURSE it had to be the girl

(ETA: actually upon reflection I think they redeemed this due to two things: (1) tying it back to her not letting him trip and fall earlier, and (2) the fact that she’s not the first person that Deku has had to heroically rescue, and the person who WAS first was not only a guy, but the angry explosive prodigy character. so I’ll give them a pass here)

(ETA 2: after watching it in the anime, a bunch of debris fucking fell on her, so I take back all of my complaining. good show)

AHHHHH HE’S RUNNING BACK TOWARD THE GIANT MONSTER DOING THE HEROIC “I JUST ACTED WITHOUT THINKING” THING AGAIN AHHH

AHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THIS IS THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN

HOLY SHIT WAY TO BRING ME BACK DOWN

-- AH?! NOOO WHY IS IT OVER

I’M GONNA GO READ THE NEXT ONE RIGHT NOW

(ETA: and you better believe I did)

BUT FIRST

BONUS:

”I’m glad he came out so unlikable.” HAHA JOKE’S ON YOU

”his face just screams ‘I’m a rotten thief’” LMAO SOB WHY IS HE MY FAVORITE

GOOD CALL CHANGING HIS PERSONALITY THOUGH BECAUSE THIS VERSION NEEDS TO BE PUNCHED IN THE FUCKING FACE:

I HATE HIM

AND THAT’S IT THAT’S THE CHAPTER????

holy fucking shit.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #uraraka ochako #and I forgot the forty-year-old man's name again so I can't tag it unfortunately #you know what let me go look it up #...#tenya iida #heh #he's so old

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forgettinggirlinterrpted · 5 years

Text

5/8 - 5/13/19

It’s so easy sometimes to forget why I’m here. That’s my problem- I forget things. I forget my keys, I forget to turn my car off when I get gas, once I even forgot I biked somewhere and ended up walking home.

But worse than that, I forget emotions. I forget how miserable not having AC in my car makes me until late April rolls around, I forget when I’m mad at someone, I forget how happy I felt during some of the most important moments in my life. Most importantly- I forget when I’m sad.

I have brief moments that pop up in a sea of darkness that allow me, for just a moment, to laugh and feel like a real person. These moments happen a lot. I can see light and laughter during a panic attack before the flip switches and my brain turns back into a train running off static electricity and black mold. The fog clears for just a brief stop on the tracks and the mold crawls back to its host.

But same as the the fog clears, eventually so does my forgetfulness. My ability to forget is just as weak as it is powerful. Slowly but surely those mold covered trains start moving again with no clear destination. The black creeps in as I sit in the real world, hunched over, grasping onto my surroundings- yet failing to grasp onto any sort of consistent breathing pattern. I can forget sadness, but I can just as quickly forget happiness.

So here I am, in the day room of a psychiatric hospital, surrounded by people just like me. We have become our own ragtag group of misguided grownups. When I arrived here 7 days ago almost a year after my last admission to this hospital, I felt the trains moving at full speed through a pile of sludge. I stared at the painting on the wall and began to fear that here, I may not be able to utilize my warped superpower: my ability to forget.

But slowly, the other patients and I have begun to forget together- somehow forgetting without truly forgetting. Together, we can laugh not through the pain, but alongside it. This is the place where I don't have to feel bad for my moments of forgetfulness. Moments of comic relief and simple enjoyment. I don’t need to feel like my laughter negates my 10-year-old depression diagnosis.

Here, we are embracing those moments. We embrace the moments of happiness and sadness- in whichever order they decide to arrive. In a room full of people so different it looks like the set-up to a bad joke, we can forget in a place that is simultaneously forcing us to remember.

When I got here, my doctors told me to embrace the community. “If you don’t want to talk about your anxiety and depression, then just listen.” So I listened. And then I started talking.

One night, we all gathered in the day room, attempting to avoid the loneliness of our windowless rooms. As a Die Hard sequel blasted in the background, the addicts in the room discussed their journey through meth addiction. I asked questions. They answered. We all laughed. A heroin addict around my age told me, “seriously, don’t touch meth.”

The man next to me, Nate, said through the bustle of conversation and laughter, “are you here cuz of a drug?” I said no, and in his thick, mumbled, country accent he asked me, “then why you here?”

I told him that I’m sad.

He sighed, looked down at his folded hands and said, “yeah, I’m sad too.”

Nate loves movies and reading, M&M cookies, and meth. Up until he injected 3 grams of “ice” in a suicide attempt, he has been living on the streets. I halfway listened to the ongoing conversation about how incredible and horrifying hard drugs can be as he told me about a time he was arrested after ending up inside a university dorm building thinking he lived there. We all took a brief break to laugh even more when another patient, also coming from a recent suicide attempt, tried to enter the conversation by saying he had only ever “done weed once.”

Later, in his mumbled speech, Nate told the group about when he was high and stood in the middle of park downtown for 4 hours with a knife in his hand. We asked him what the hell he was doing just standing there.

He simply replied, “lookin’.”

I think we were unable, or even unwilling to truly focus on the scary reality behind Nate standing in a public park, knife in hand, waiting for cops that neither we, or even Nate, knew for certain were even coming.

So we just kept laughing.

As the night and following day before his release passed, I kept talking to Nate. I shared my extra cookies with him, and forced him to come paint in recreational therapy with me. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how genuinely scared I would be if Nate tried to open my dorm room door in the middle of the night. Or if I saw him middle aged, 6’2”, with a bald head, tear drop tattoo, and the psychique of a retired bouncer, standing in park, knife in hand, having the time of his life.

I asked him if it scared him to be out of control like that. He said that was his favorite part; he didn’t mind losing control. Between him telling me about his attempt to end his life and the meth fueled antics that cost him both his new job in Florida and his boss’ iPad, I realized Nate was funny, knowledgeable, and vaguely socially aware.

During one of our conversations, we found ourselves trapped in a seminar about nutrition. He slapped his hands on his thighs and said, “well, time to go.” I whined and asked him to stay. My insistence on attending every activity offered was at odds with Nate’s style. A style that told me that maybe once he did have my naive enthusiasm towards recovery, but lost it somewhere along the way. He said “you want me to stay?” and plopped back into his chair. He knew I wanted him to be there, just as I had begged him earlier to attend a journaling group session- declining my invitation with a non-committal hand gesture and a “nah.”

We sat through the nutritionist explaining “My Plate,” an updated version of the food pyramid. Nate leaned sideways and quietly grumbled, “is that like MySpace,” and I chuckled quietly in a way that reminded me of my habit of exchanging bad jokes in attempts to survive a boring lecture. When the nutritionist asked what could be used as a meat substitute for protein, Nate shouted out every type of bean he could think of. She asked if anybody had eaten eggplant and he shouted, “oh hell yeah, I had an eggplant lasagna once and that shit was delicious.” His southern drawl made everything he said more melodic, and added a level of enthusiasm he often didn’t like to show- unless he is shouting expletives about his incredible experience with eggplant lasagna.

After I had completely tuned out the nutritionist and began to draw in my notebook, Nate leaned over and asked if we could be friends on Facebook. I sneakily handed him paper for him to write his name down. As he wrote, he told me he may not be able to respond for about 30 days.

It happened again. I had forgotten.

I had spent that day arguing with Nate about whether the book or movie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is better. This was an especially unwinnable argument given that I had never seen the movie and only gotten 100 pages into the book, and Nate had only ever seen the movie.

He had given me movie suggestions, quoted Carrie, and given me shit for thinking a Pink Floyd song playing on the radio was by the B-52’s.

He ranted about the symbolism behind the music video for Another Brick in the Wall as he painted a birdhouse that he could have easily crushed by closing his fist.

So I forgot. I forgot when he interrupted my conversation with a social worker to mime towards my extra cookie I had leftover from snack time. He had already eaten the first one when I offered, and originally declined the second.

I was happy he asked for this one though, since I had only asked for the extra cookies so I could give them to him.

But he didn’t know that.

His casual mention of the 30 days made me chuckle, but also made me remember. Remember where I was, why I was here, and who I was talking to.

I remember that when we first met, Nate told me his father had been in this same hospital almost 23 years ago. He also told me he killed himself right after being discharged. He tried to tell me it didn’t bother him, but shrugged and mumbled, “I mean it prolly does but I don’t know.” I want to say he said it casually, but that wasn’t it. He wasn’t laughing, but he wasn’t crying either. Mainly, he seemed defeated. Tired, like this was just the beginning of a long list of bullshit he has tried to deal with in his own way.

He looked at me, but never fully turned his body.

He told me the only thing he truly remembers about the day his dad died.

During checkout, his dad checked a box on his discharge forms stating yes, he did think his time there had helped him. But his father made it clear to Nate that he didn’t think it helped his depression. When he asked his dad why he lied to the doctors, Nate’s father told him, “I just want to go home.”

This all flashes back, and I remember that despite a potential Facebook friendship, this was the last time I would see him. Mainly, I was forced to remember that I have no control over his sobriety- and that 2 days of talking and painting with a depressed 24-year-old is not going to keep him from running back to the life he is used to the moment things get difficult in his new facility.

I began to think about my plan of action if I see Nate in 30 days, 3 months, or 3 years from now, standing downtown waiting for a dealer, or embarking on one of the never-ending walks he takes to kill time when the meth steals his ability to sleep.

Would I stop for him? Am I prepared to know fully and truthfully that this attempt at sobriety had failed? That the system had failed? Am I ready to accept the fact that I live in a world where kind, smart, and funny people just aren’t given the chance at life they deserve?

I asked him why he thought this shot at sobriety would work, and he said, “I’m just tired man, this ain’t no life.” So again, I remember. I remember why he is here in the first place- Nate had tried to kill himself. What happens if this doesn’t all go according to plan? What’s next?

His favorite part of the drug he wants to quit is the lack of control, and his drug-fueled delusions grant him his own ability to forget. Nate wasn’t ashamed to tell me his stories, but made it clear he wasn’t particularly proud of them either- with an ambivalence that is both inspiring and troubling.

I fear the thought of everything he hadn’t had time to tell me about. I worry about what will happen when he begins to allow himself to remember.

During our first conversation, I told Nate I was afraid to leave the hospital because I thought the real world was scary. Without fully looking at me Nate shrugged and said, “it’s only as scary as you let it be.”

Before he checked out, I gave Nate my copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to read in rehab.

Maybe one day we can finally finish our debate on the merits of each version of the story.

Selfishly, I mostly did this so Nate would remember me. But even if he throws the book away, I just hope he remembers to take his own advice. The world really is only as scary as we let it be.

In our groups sessions this past week, we have talked a lot about forgiveness and second chances. For the past 6 months, I have struggled to handle my anxiety and depression, making my constant battle between forgetting and remembering unbearable.

I’ve learned I need to give myself a second chance, and allow myself to to let go of the things that fuel the trains in my head.

Nate and I are both giving ourselves our own second chances- ones that might end up with us both back in this hospital. Ones that will be scary.

Whether or not we crash and burn, these are second chances I think we both truly deserve.

The trains in my head will never fully stop, and that’s ok. I feel ready to go home. I feel ready to attempt to live in a world without fear.

And, for the sake of Nate and every single way our short friendship changed me- I just want to allow myself to forget, but always remember to remember.

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preserving-ferretbrain · 5 years

Text

One Man's Burning Hatred for Anime

by Rude Cyrus

Friday, 10 July 2009

Cyrus displays something that looks suspiciously like masochism.

Uh-oh! This is in the Axis of Awful...~

Dear god in heaven. I’m not prepared for this, but the rage and hatred have built to a point where I must let it out. There are some things I hate in this world, but none more so than pretension, especially pretension that is accepted by the masses as tortured genius. It’s frustrating to point out that something is obviously a dog turd wrapped in shiny foil, only to be met with derision, defensive bootlicking, and cries of “WELL, THAT’S JUST YOUR OPINION.”

The subject I’ll be talking about today is a well-known anime (if you don’t know what anime is, go look it up on Wikipedia or something). A fair warning: there’s going to be a gratuitous amount of cussing and spoilers – that is, if you consider a dead fly in the middle of a feces lollipop to be a spoiler.

A bit of background first, so I can delay this thing as long as possible: when I was an innocent, starry-eyed larva, I was exposed to anime by way of Speed Racer. The show is about racing and cars, or some such shit; frankly, it’s a poorly animated mess that’s interesting only as an experiment to see how much footage the animators recycled. I was left with the impression that all anime was shit, at least until a few years later when I discovered Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon– the former catered to my violent fantasies of burly dudes beating the crap out of each other, while the latter indulged my masturbatory dreams of teenage girls in short skirts. Look, I was 13 at the time, okay? Oh, and I got caught up in something called Pokemon, although I don’t think too many people watched that show.

Eventually I matured (kinda sorta) and began yearning for something that appealed to my awesome intellect. My first taste of a “real” anime was Akira, a fun little jaunt into a post-apocalyptic Japan inhabited by shriveled, psychic children and motorcycle gangs. The film fell apart at the end and generally felt slipshod; it wasn’t until years later that I found out that it was an adaptation of a manga, and quite a bit of content had to be cut.

Then I watched Ghost in the Shell, another movie that takes place in the Future! This time, it’s about 100 times more confusing and talky, with characters standing around, pondering what it is to be human, blah blah blah. Interspersed throughout are scenes of the lead character, Makoto, running around bare-ass naked and kicking butt. The thing that stuck me is that Makoto has no genitalia – no pubic hair, no vulva, just a blank area of flesh. It disturbs me to this day.

I think I caught a few episodes of Gundam Wing, but the only thing I remember is how two of the characters confused the enemy by kissing. I thought it odd.

After that, I went through what I call my Hayao Miyazaki period: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro – if Miyazaki made it, I watched it. This was followed up with Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (which I found to be superior to the film). Finally, I stumbled upon a series called Neon Genesis Evangelion, something considered by the anime community to be a complex, profound examination of human nature, combined with awesome giant mech action.

This series is the subject of this article.

A brief synopsis: in the year 2015, Earth’s population has decreased dramatically, thanks to a cataclysmic event called “Second Impact” that occurred at the turn of the century. To make things worse, monstrosities called Angels are threatening to destroy the remnants of humanity – the only things that stand in the way are giant, biomechanical creatures called Evangelions (or EVAs for short), piloted by three 14-year-old teenagers. The main characters are:

Shinji Ikari – a shy, introverted boy that was abandoned by his father after his mother died (said father being the commander of the organization that created the EVAs), Shinji wants nothing more than to be liked by his deadbeat dad. He’s a coward as well, something that puts him at odds with the enormous responsibility of piloting an EVA. He becomes a bit braver and more self-assured as the series goes on, before collapsing into a whiny, spineless piece of shit.

Rei Ayanami – this strange girl is almost emotionless and wholly dedicated to Shinji’s father, which is somewhat creepy when you realize that he’s twice her age; we later find out that she’s a partial clone of Shinji’s mother. Her interactions with Shinji lead her to become more in touch with her emotions and thus more “human”, at least until she starts fostering a death wish.

Asuka Langley Soryu – a half-German/half-Japanese redheaded girl that serves as the show’s LOUD WESTERN STEREOTYPE. Asuka is opinionated, bossy, overconfident, and thinks poorly of Shinji. She softens towards him a bit after he fishes her out of a volcano and the two are forced to train in unison (don’t ask). She becomes an emotionally shattered shell after being forced to relive childhood memories of her insane mother’s suicide.

Whee.

To be fair, it doesn’t start out too bad. The best parts of the series dealt with the interactions between the three main characters (when they were three-dimensional human beings and not cardboard cutouts, that is). As time went on, the tone became darker, the characters became suicidally depressed, and a somewhat coherent storyline devolved into madness. Episode 24 (out of 26) introduced Kaworu Nagisa, an Angel in human form that became insanely popular due to his homoerotic interactions with Shinji, and ended with a two-minute static shot of an EVA holding Kaworu’s body in its hand while music played in the background – no speech, no movement, just this single shot. Go stare at a picture for several minutes and you’ll get the same effect: mind-numbing boredom.

The final two episodes were bullshit from start to finish. In them, an unseen party questioned every major character on their motivations, which the characters responded to, all with bowed heads so the animators didn’t have to draw mouths. In between these interrogations, we were assaulted with still images and words and nonsense. The ending had all the characters standing around, clapping their hands and saying “Congratulations!” As if they were praising the viewers for making it through this festering garbage.

I would’ve purged this crap from my head and moved on, but then I learned that the creator, Hideaki Anno, was forced to give the fans that shameful ending due to time and budgetary constraints, and there was a film called The End of Evangelion that acts as the true ending to the series. So, I hunted down a copy and watched it.

Let me tell you something: the movie makes the series ending look like fucking Citizen Kane in comparison. I have never, ever seen such a bloated, pompous, insulting, nasty, manipulative, incoherent pile of monkey shit like End of Evangelion. I hear that Anno received death threats over the series ending, and after seeing the kind of petty drivel this man is capable of, I can understand why. Not that I’m condoning death threats or anything.

How bad is this film? Here’s a scene from the opening moments: Shinji is in a hospital room, standing over Asuka, who has been sedated following the mental trauma she endured at the hands of an Angel. Shinji, desperate to get her to respond, pulls at her and accidentally rips open her gown, revealing her breasts. Shinji, naturally, takes action by masturbating over her comatose body and ejaculates into his hand.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

This is sick! What’s the fucking point of this scene, to establish Shinji as a future serial rapist? It’s disgusting, vile, inexcusable, and every other synonym for “bad”. Why? I have about a dozen other questions, like “Who thought this was a good idea?” and “What the fuck is wrong with Hideaki Anno?” but the best query right now is: why?

Later, Shinji spends about three-quarters of his screen time –

I’m sorry, I can’t get over this. WHY?! I’ve heard fans say that this is an example of Shinji hitting rock bottom, and besides, he expresses his contempt for himself immediately afterwards. Look, I’ve been clinically depressed at times too, but I don’t jerk off over unconscious girls. Know why not? Because that would make me a SEX OFFENDER.

Fuck.

Shinji spends about three-quarters of his screen time cowering in a ball in the corner, alternating between screaming and sobbing. Asuka is revived, but she and her EVA are literally ripped to pieces. Rei becomes a sort of god-monster and dies. Whee.

The second half of the movie is filled the same mind-fuckery and nonsense imagery that ruined the series ending, only it’s a billion times worse here. There’s also some well-written dialogue on display too:

SHINJI: Where is my dream?

REI: It is where your reality ends.

SHINJI: Then where is my reality?

REI: It is at the end of your dream.

That’s not a 100% accurate quote, but it’s pretty damn close. It’s deep, man.

And if you don’t hate Shinji enough, here he comes to bitch endlessly about how everyone hates him and he hates everyone. Gee, with that sunny disposition, I can’t imagine why he’s so miserable. Then Asuka steps in and tells him he’s a worthless turd, so he chokes her. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kill a fictional character so badly in my life.

Then there’s some live-action footage of people getting on a train while Rei and Shinji continue to babble about human nature, all for our benefit, of course. After what seems like fucking days, the movie ends with Shinji and Asuka on a beach, the only two humans left on the planet. Shinji starts choking Asuka AGAIN, but is stopped when she caresses his cheek. Her oxygen-deprived brain must’ve mistaken him for someone else. Shinji stops choking her and, what else, starts crying. Asuka looks at him and utters a most appropriate line: “Disgusting.”

In case you don’t get it, let me spell it out: I HATE THIS MOVIE. I hate it to a degree I didn’t think was possible. Most of my anger is directed towards Hideaki Anno, who was the writer and director for the series and the movie. He strikes me as a pretentious, antisocial, petty person, and everything he does oozes contempt for his fans. From creating this giant middle-finger of celluloid to stating “Too bad” in English when a fan said he was dissatisfied with the original ending, he’s a man who has no idea how to relate to people.

*deep breath*

Here’s why I can’t stand him: he created characters that I related to, characters that had nuanced personalities (even though they would be pigeonholed at times), characters that I wanted to see happy, characters that I sympathized with…and then he slowly, gleefully tore them apart. He forced them to go through absolute hell, and they all came out as broken individuals, and that’s how they stayed to the end – alone and unloved. Whenever there was a glimmer of light, Anno snuffed it out. I have no idea why he was so cruel to his own characters, but I have some theories:

1. He started out liking what he did, but ended up hating it, so he tried to make it so no one else would be able to revive the series (this one appears to have been disproven – see below).

2. He planned this from the beginning, making him a sadist as well as a hack.

3. Something in his life caused him to become extremely depressed, so his work reflects that.

I’ve heard a lot of evidence (and by evidence I mean conjecture) to support C, but if that’s the case, why not just put things on hold until he got better? On the other hand, his “too bad” comment indicates that he didn’t really give a shit about the whole thing, so who knows?

The fans deserve a tongue-lashing as well. If I had a dollar for every comment that called him a “genius”, a “visionary”, or any of the things that he isn’t…I’d be able to buy out Microsoft. I suspect that because much of the series and movie is inexplicable, the fans have deluded themselves into thinking this balderdash is somehow insightful.

Hilariously, Anno has decided his masterpice wasn’t good enough, or something, because he’s now remaking the series into four movies with witty titles like You Can (Not) Advance and You Are (Not) Alone and You Can (Not) Go Fuck Yourself. The ending to all of this is supposed to be totally new, which means it’s probably going to be even more frustrating and ambiguous. From the pictures I’ve seen and the reviews I’ve heard, it looks awful. Asuka’s last name has been changed to Shikinami, for some nebulous reason, and the body suit she wears is now translucent – she wears a bra underneath, but there are only a few inches of opaque fabric covering her cooch, so I’m guessing the design was built around fanservice. Which is always a great consideration, right? Plus, she’s supposed to wear an eyepatch in the third film, like a goddamn pirate.

On top of that, Anno has shoehorned in the loathsome Kaworu from the beginning, and added a new character named Mari, who is from the UK, I think. He’s packed 100 tons of shit into a 10-ton bag, in other words. Naturally, the fans are eager to fall all over themselves defending their messiah, bleating variations of “IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN” or “WE JUST NEED TO WAIT UNTIL THE END”. I don’t need to poke myself in the eye to know that it hurts, and I don’t need to watch these films to know that they’ll end just like the original series: no resolution, no closure, no catharsis, no satisfaction. The whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, and no amount of brushing will get it out. The only way these movies could be more insulting is if they consisted entirely of Hideaki Anno flipping off the audience with both hands, pausing occasionally to grab his crotch and sneer.

Actually, that would be less insulting.Themes:

TV & Movies

Sci-fi / Fantasy

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Wardog

at 12:26 on 2009-07-10Oh good God.

I don't know what to say. My knowledge of anime is pretty much restricted to shows in which princesses turn into ducks and do ballet (or is that the other way round). I guess we need to get Jen along here as she's the closest thing we have to an anime expert.

Shinji, naturally, takes action by masturbating over her comatose body and ejaculates into his hand.

Well ... at least he didn't do it over her unconscious body? Right?

I feel generally a bit ambivalent about a creator's attitude to fans. I mean, I don't think he's under obligation to be "nice" or, even, to provide a text that "satisfies" his fans - since what satisfies fans isn't necessarily the same as what's actually good. In fact, the more consciousness of fandom there is, the worse texts seem to get. Although this seems like a really confused amalgamation of fan service and fan contempt. Weird.

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Arthur B

at 13:23 on 2009-07-10I'm personally quite fond of

Evangelion

the series, at least the first 24 episodes. There is, as you point out, character development, gradual growing of a backbone on the part of Shinji and Rei, an interesting mystery revealed at a reasonable pace, and so on. I even like the way Episode 24 ended, with Shinji poised in a choice between killing a friend and letting the Angels get away with whatever it is they're trying to do, although to be fair I've only seen the expanded/tidied up version of the episode where they put in extra scenes and the last shot might not be so ridiculously long.

Then, as you point out, you have the different endings, neither of which fits what's gone before. I did enjoy

End of Evangelion

for the sheer trippy sadism of it all, but at the same time I couldn't really relate the characters we see in it to the characters from the TV show; there's this weird sort of inconsistency about it. Asuka is psychotic, Rei is even more autistic than she's ever been, and Shinji loses the balls he's been carefully growing over the course of the series; it's as if the TV show never happened. At a guess, I'd say the film is more about Anno's thoughts on the end of the series, and the experience of making the show, than it is about actually ending the story; the characters seem to be spoofing the fan conceptions of who they are rather than continuing the development shown throughout the series.

It's a fun ride, but it's fun partially because I think it's hilarious how Anno's trolled anime fans for years over this, and because I enjoy watching characters get raked over the coals and suffer for their most irritating personality traits. I'm interested in seeing the new movies because they're promising a proper ending this time, and even if they break that promise the results will probably be mad enough to be worth a look. I even think it makes sense to put Kaworu in from the beginning; the one thing I dislike about Episode 24 is that they insert Kaworu, have Shinji make friends with him really surprisingly quickly (exacerbating the homoerotic angle), and then have him betray everyone and have to get taken down. It would make far more sense if he were in it from the start. Even if the ending resembles David Lynch directing

Final Fantasy VII

again, I'd still watch it.

That said, my attitude to

Evangelion

probably stems from how I was introduced to it: at an SF all-nighter thrown by a local cinema, which incorporated a preview showing of

28 Days Later

(which is a

much

more effective movie if you go into it genuinely not knowing that it's a zombie film, as we did), hopped up on soda, watching

The Death of Evangelion

on the big screen. Watching 8 hours of TV series crammed into 90 minutes is hilarious, to the point where I could never take the show seriously after that.

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Rude Cyrus

at 19:51 on 2009-07-10

I mean, I don't think he's under obligation to be "nice" or, even, to provide a text that "satisfies" his fans

From what I've read, his fans are satisfied enough to try to unravel the mess he's made. I'm not asking him to be all happy-go-lucky, but his attitude comes off as spiteful.

I guess I'm just overreacting, but I still have an intense dislike for the man; he's my own JK Rowling.

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Wardog

at 22:38 on 2009-07-10He sounds like a worthy target of your bile :)

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Rude Cyrus

at 23:20 on 2009-07-10This may sound silly, but I still like the general idea behind the show and the characters (when they aren't being emo or one-note).

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Guy

at 04:42 on 2009-07-11I only watched a bit of Evangelion, but my impressions were coloured by the lengthy scenes displaying static scenery with loud cicada noises in the background. At first I thought they might be in there for atmospheric reasons I didn't quite understand, then decided they were in there for financial reasons (animation ain't cheap) and shortly thereafter gave up on the show. I love Miyazaki's films and would like to see more anime of that quality which isn't exclusively about plucky young heroines growing up and discovering their strength and independence... but I guess I'll take what I can get. :)

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Robinson L

at 18:00 on 2009-07-14I used to be a fan of

Dragon Ball Z

and

Sailor Moon

because for an early (and even not-so early) teenager, they seemed pretty cool. Then I noticed how stupid and repetitive they were and kinda lost interest.

At this point, I'm struggling to think of any Anime I know of that I actually think was any good. Well, the first season of

Digimon

, and at least one episode from the second. And Miyazaki's version of

Howl's Moving Castle

. And I suppose

Princess Monoke

, although it never particularly appealed to me.

Anyway, I've been hearing a lot about

Neon Genesis Evangelion

for a while, but nothing that's really excited me after the series. This review, I think, clinches my decision not to subject myself to it.

Personally, I tend to empathize with main characters even if most people dislike them. Apart from Mal, I can't think of any main characters I know of who I think I'd enjoy seeing put through that kind of torture. Maybe not even him.

I suspect that because much of the series and movie is inexplicable, the fans have deluded themselves into thinking this balderdash is somehow insightful.

This may be just me fishing for an excuse to pull out my own pet hate, but it seems to me from the description that an alternate or complementary explanations might be that

because it's so dark and depressing, fans (and critics) have deluded themselves into thinking this is somehow insightful.

This is a trend in popular entertainment I've noted and lamented for a couple years now.

Last night my younger sister and I were discussing the contemporary

Battlestar Gallactica

(of which I've seen a couple episodes, they've seen the first three seasons). At one point, one of them said that "if the character only lost about twenty pounds of emo they'd be all right."

While this may be true, I suspect it's the current vogue for death, despair, doom and gloom which made the 2004

Galactica

so popular. To take an even more contemporary example (and borrow a metaphor from my sister's upcoming review) witness Kirk's and Spock's and Nero's Inigo Montoya Syndrome in the latest

Star Trek

movie.

For a while,

House

did a pretty good job of balancing its angst, but it seems like circa Season Four the writers began seriously to crank it up. After the one-two-punch finale (Amber dies and right afterward Thirteen discovers she does indeed have Huntingdon's) I was asking "Geez, you think you could lay it on any thicker? Maybe find a way to reveal that Cameron really did contract HIV in Season Two after all?"

I've yet to see Season Five, but from what I've heard of the spoilers (don't read this if you haven't seen it and mind spoilers), Wilson is broken up over Amber's death for a long period of time, which means House is going to be even more miserable than usual; Cuddy goes through a whole lot of crap before finally getting a baby of her own, and that only when the mother ups and dies; and Kutner commits suicide/gets murdered/somehow ends up shot dead. What fun.

The new

Doctor Who

started out pretty emo, but it feels like Davies and the rest of the team take every possible opportunity to twist it in just that little bit more.

And being the Star Wars fan that I am, I have to say the stuff that the Expanded Universe went through during and especially after the prequels ... let's just say most of it is not pretty. Not in the slightest.

There's probably more, I just don't pay much attention to what's popular at the moment. Anyway, my point is that I suspect anything as depressing as

Evangelion

is by all accounts in the current tragedy-obsessed atmosphere is bound to be considered deep and meaningful and insightful and all that simply because it puts its characters through so much crap.

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Cressida

at 04:16 on 2009-11-18

I love Miyazaki's films and would like to see more anime of that quality which isn't exclusively about plucky young heroines growing up and discovering their strength and independence...

Guy:

Try

Porco Rosso!

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http://orionsnebula.blogspot.com/

at 23:05 on 2009-12-18

I suspect that because much of the series and movie is inexplicable, the fans have deluded themselves into thinking this balderdash is somehow insightful.

I think you're onto something here, but as someone who enjoyed Evangelion, let me propose a more charitable version of the psychology.

I'm a student of ethical philosophy and religious history at college, so I spend a lot of time thinking about the "deep" issues that fans will tell you Evangelion (, Donnie Darko, The matrix, ...) addresses--Destiny, choice, purpose, hope, knowledge, or whatever the hell.

Let me be clear and say up front that I don't think Evangelion makes a coherent statement about any of these issues. I'm not going to claim that you're "not getting it" if you don't see any "there" there, and I'm not saying that Hideaki Anno is some kind of visionary genius.

BUT

I'm a very visual, fictionalizing person. I do a lot of free association, and try on ideas by putting them in the mouths of imagined characters. Something like Evangelion is, for me, excellent raw material. It gives me a *context* to think about these issues. the incoherence of the actual show forces me to go to a lot of effort to try to figure out "what is this show trying to say?" and since that question is, I think, largely unanswerable, this also becomes an exploration of what *I* have to say.

Something similar happens because I write fiction. I'll eat up many stories--Evangelion, The Matrix, Harry Potter, even some of Star Wars--that have, in my opinion, glaring flaws, because they *make reference to* ideas I find interesting, even if they don't do them justice. Frequently, while watching the show even for the first time, my mind drifts to possibilities and alternate timeliness, with the result that I am actually watching a movie that exists only in my head, that (I like to think) *does* say something coherent. for this reason I consider Revenge of the Sith, for instance, to have been worth the price of the ticket even though it was (IMO) absolute shit, because by about a third of the way in I had stopped watching what's on the screen and started watching the movie *I* would have directed.

I mention this because before I became really conscious of what I was doing, I would frequently walk away with the impression that a movie was in fact "deep" when is fact it was just thought-provoking, and then only for people with preexisting interest in the issue who are prone to free association. I don't know how many people like me there are, but there's a strong tendency in all humans to assume that they're "normal," and that may be where some of the "you just don't get it" responses are coming from.

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http://luna-glass-wall.livejournal.com/

at 23:31 on 2010-10-12//I think I caught a few episodes of Gundam Wing, but the only thing I remember is how two of the characters confused the enemy by kissing.//

...What? o.O There's no kissing in Gundam Wing. There are barely any established romances.

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http://cammalot.livejournal.com/

at 19:02 on 2010-10-13That was Macross/Robotech. Similar giant-robot-thingies-piloted-by-superteens plot -- possibly the originator of the entire trope. The giant-size humanoid enemies of Earth didn't have sex to reproduce, or something, and so this display of humanity was too much for them and made them stop fighting. Until one or two of them discovered that they liked it.

Aw, that was my very first anime. I'm all verklempt now.

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Gamer_2k4 at 22:41 on 2010-10-13Neon Genesis Evangelion is actually my favorite anime series, but I think that's more because of the concept and because of what it did to me personally than anything else. I mean, I've taken a look at some of the episodes recently and they look OLD. A lot of the content is boring or unnecessary filler, the animation switches between "pretty alright" and "did they not pay you or something?", and overall, there's a lot not to like.

However.

I've had a very limited exposure to media (besides the some of the popular stuff), and NGE completely changed the way I looked at storytelling. I had never seen a character like Rei before, and I loved her. The idea that the mechs were actually giant feral humanoids barely restrained by their armor blew me away. The fact that the Hallelujah Chorus was played as an Angel mind-raped Asuka, and it WORKED, stunned me. The cast and plot are both remarkably tight; EVERYONE is involved, somehow. But finally, the thing that struck me the hardest, was the idea that a big giant robot action show DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE A HAPPY ENDING.

Consider Asuka. She's this hotshot pilot, showing up a third of the way into the series reading to kick some butt. Her first appearance is quite dramatic as she handily and elegantly dispatches an Angel. However, her next victory requires the complete support of Shinji, and she barely plays a part from that point on. Battle after battle happens with this pilot, the one who was literally genetically engineered (in the manga, anyway) to be perfect, just failing with every attempt. Nothing goes right for her.

Rei's an interesting character, too. Generally you'd think the stoic, silent character would play the support role, ending up as the person the others always rely on. But she's not that great of a pilot! If memory serves, her Eva spends half the show out of commission, and in the other battles Rei plays a very minimal role. For as much popularity as she has among fans, you'd think that she had done a lot more in the series than she actually did.

And let's not forget Shinji. Here's a kid whose dad runs an organization that sends out giant robots to fight the bad guys, and HE gets a chance to be a pilot! In any other show, Shinji would've jumped in and started owning face for the rest of the series. But you know what? He acts like a kid could be reasonably expected to act: he's scared, and doesn't want to do it at all. But more than that, he wants love from his father, and realizes this might be his only chance to get that.

Right away it's clear that these aren't cookie-cutter stereotypes, but real characters with real problems. I personally found it refreshing that someone decided to make something where the good guys don't necessarily win. I was so familiar with "happily ever after" stories that I was shocked when this wasn't one of them. I like NGE, not because "true art is angsty," but because "holy balls, this is what a show can actually be like!"

Anyway, that's the anime series; let's get to End of Evangelion (you know, the subject matter of this article). It really did feel like some tacked-on supplement to the real thing. Furthermore, Shinji was infuriating, and the battle scene was just the opposite of what I'd come to expect from NGE: rather than an original conflict, it was just a beat-em-up royal rumble.

The second half of the movie left me in shock, and I went away from it thinking that was a good thing. I had never been exposed to the stream-of-conscious approach before, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I think Anno was trying to convey just what Instrumentality (the merging of all souls and minds) would feel like, and it SEEMED like he did a good job. I didn't understand it, so I assumed it was beyond my understanding, so I assumed it was good. That's probably not the right mindset, though.

Oh. In the first scene, Shinji sneezed into his hand. He just didn't have a tissue. Never mind that you can't hear the sneeze. He's allergic to nudity. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Melissa G.

at 22:53 on 2010-10-13*Shameless self plug alert!*

A certain Ferretbrainer debuted with her first article by

defending Evangelion

. It was written late at night and not researched (by which I mean I hadn't seen the series in a while) or proofread much, but an article in favor of Eva does exist on this site! ^_^

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Fin

at 19:02 on 2010-10-14Ooh, I remember reading that article a while ago. It made me really interested in checking Eva out, which given my general scepticism of animé is pretty cool. If I like it I'll have to remember to thank you. :D

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Melissa G.

at 19:29 on 2010-10-14

Ooh, I remember reading that article a while ago. It made me really interested in checking Eva out, which given my general scepticism of animé is pretty cool. If I like it I'll have to remember to thank you. :D

:-D

They are actually remaking the series as a bunch of movies. The first two (?) have come out already. I've only seen the first one, but I liked it a lot. I just don't know how much one would like them without having seen the series first. But the animation quality is way better so you could always try watching the first new movie (You are (not) alone, I think it's called) as a taste test type of thing.

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Gamer_2k4 at 22:51 on 2010-10-14I agree that the first movie was pretty much spot on. They left out the stuff that could be left out, played up the stuff that could be played up (most notably the battle against the third Angel), and everything just felt right. (My only complaint, actually, is that in the English dub, Rei is played by a new voice actor. I thought her old one was perfect, and it was a real shame for that voice to be missing.)

However, the second movie just seemed a little...off. It was darn COOL, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching Evangelion without all the stuff that made Evangelion special. Maybe it was just that I was so familiar with the story that there wasn't quite that sense of wonder. You know, the sort of "sure it looks nice, but it's been done already" feeling. Yes, that's ridiculous, because the only reason it's been done before is that it's a freaking remake. I don't know.

Perhaps the thing that really did it was all the seemingly unnecessary changes they made. New pilot, changed surnames, different (and missing) Angels, a LOT of new scenes...It's possible I just felt that the makers were trying to do more and ended up with less.

Anyway, Melissa, you should still check out Rebuild 2. Remember when they had to catch that falling Angel? The weirdly shaped flat brown one with all the eyes? IT'S FREAKING AMAZING IN REBUILD 2. Like I said, the movie is still very, very cool, and the ending actually has traces of EoE in it. It's nuts. Watch it.

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Melissa G.

at 05:06 on 2010-10-15I definitely want to see the second remake movie, I've just been lazy and haven't gotten around to it. I saw the first one in theaters in Japan because I happened to be living there when it came out. Seeing it on the big screen was something special. ^^

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TheMerryMustelid

at 18:37 on 2012-04-21I am a terrible animation snob. When it comes to anime, there isn't much I like outside of Miyazaki, save the studio that did

Tokyo Godfathers

What puts me off most anime is it's obsession with mecha, robot girls, and post apocolyptic premises. Yes, Miyazaki sounds the environmental apocalypse gong in practically all of his films, but at least he puts Nature above the usual anime love affair with all things machine and keeps the damn robots to a minimum. How I hate this obsession with the ensouled machine.

On the American side, that includes

Transformers

up to

Wall-E

. I just find it sad that the idea of emoting robots is considered more 'cool' or even more

realistic

than emoting animals.

Say what?!

So teens 'outgrow' cartoons with talking animals while anything with a chrome surface is just friggin' AHW-some, man.

(what's that? what's that I hear in the background? Is it my axe grinding? Why yes, it is!)

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http://kitsune9tailed.livejournal.com/

at 02:57 on 2015-07-28@TheMerryMustelid

Unfortunately, it sounds like you have had a very slim experience with anime and are using it to make a blanket assumption of the whole medium. Remember, animation is just a storytelling method, it's not a story in and of itself. Mecha and machine anime are actually a very small slice of the whole. Unfortunately, this is the slice that is made especially for 6-12 year old boys, and as such, is the primary genre exported to the US (since the American public feels cartoons are generally only for young boys, they freak out over any anime that doesn't settle nicely into that demographic).

But, you can still seek out other genres. You've already seen Miyazaki (almost a genre in and of itself), but you have high-school romance, film noir action/mystery, artsy (you might like Paprika if you haven't seen already, it's from the same studio as Tokyo Godfathers), magical girl, drama, slice-of-life, comedy, etc.

So, I'd definitely sample the waters a bit and find anime in a genre more to your tastes before swearing off altogether :)

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Orion

at 08:03 on 2015-07-28I think you've been mislead by the headline, which really should be "one man's burning hatred for an anime." It's pretty clear from the text that he likes a decent amount of anime and is open to more.

#Ferretbrain #Rude Cyrus #Neon Genesis Evangelion #The End of Evangelion #Anime #Axis of Awful

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erhiem · 3 years

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“The Kominsky Method” saved the best for its third and final season. Ironically, there was never supposed to be a third season of the Chuck Lorre-created comedy starring Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, a Hollywood acting teacher with a messy private life. “I just read the first script of the first season and the writing was so darn good I just wanted to it,” said Douglas during a Deadline Zoom conversation. “It was an original, two-year commitment contract with Netflix.” But Douglas wasn’t ready to let Sandy go. “I kind of pushed for this third season,” he said.

Alan Arkin, who played his long-suffering agent, BFF and conscious, bowed out after the second year. “Alan is a few years older than me. It’s tough doing these shows anyway, moving as quickly as this. I think two seasons was fine for him.” Lorre was also eager for a third season and agreed to write all the episodes.

Rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, this season finds Sandy coping with the death of his buddy Norman, the return of his feisty first wife Roz (Kathleen Turner) who is back in Los Angeles to help their daughter Mindy (Sarah Baker) prepare for her marriage to 69-year-old Martin (Paul Reiser). She also has another reason for being back with family. And Sandy finally gets a big acting break being cast by Barry Levinson in a TV remake of Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.”

“We had a good year and I just felt good about it because after those two seasons I wanted to put a bow around it, just to make the whole story a little package and finish it,” said Douglas. That’s sort of what we’ve done.” It is magical because of the addition of Turner, who was seen briefly in the second season. The two rekindle the chemistry they exuded in 1984’s “Romancing the Stone,” 1985’s “The Jewel of the Nile” and 1989’s “War of the Roses.”

Turner explained that she and Douglas work so well together because of the hardships they endured in the arduous locations in Mexico nearly 40 years ago on “Romancing the Stone.” “That was no piece of cake,” she said. “I mean, I think, I walked out of that with at least seven stitches. By at the same time, my God, it was an adventure. There was no time to muck about. We just threw ourselves into it and that sort of breaks down all the barriers, I guess. We have never lost that feeling for each other. It’s lovely.”

Lorre asked Turner to join the cast this year. “I haven’t done a great deal of television really. He promised me, as he said to Michael, that he would write every episode himself. It would not be farmed out to a team [of writers] or anything like that. And he did, which made the writing so consistent and so powerful, I thought. I mean there was never any sort of argument about words or jokes. It was just there.”

“One of the benefits of shooting I the pandemic year,” noted Reiser, “is that he had all the time to write it. So often in episodic you’re shooting eepisode two and hope to God, three comes in.” Turner apologized but left her seat and headed off. “Excuse me one minute,” said Turner. “Go ahead,” Reiser quipped. “A lot of times Kathleen can’t tolerate me talking. I get it. A little of me goes a long way.” With that, Douglas got up from his seat and pretended to exit: “Keep talking, Paul.” Turner soon returned “I had a delivery,” she explained.

PREDICT the 2021 Emmy nominations through July 13

Though “Kominsky Method” is a comedy, Lorre deftly weaves in pathos like in the first episode which opens with Norman’s funeral. Douglas recalled looking at the script and telling Lorre he wouldn’t start the third season with a funeral. “This is a comedy. I wasn’t that sure and certain about it. But he pulled it off. When I saw it all put together, it was hilarious.” “Chuck wrote this [season] so beautifully and thoroughly,” Reiser said. “Everything was thought out.” Douglas explained that Lorre never knows where a season will go. “He doesn’t map it out at all. So, the first episode takes you to the next episode, so I really didn’t know the finale. “

And when it came up that, spoiler alert, Sandy would win the Emmy for his performance in “Old Man and the Sea,” Douglas’ first instinct was “Is this going to be a little too precious? Is this going to be a little too sweet?’ But this was quickly erased by playing an acceptance speech. It was a lovely way to tie it all together and then see him go back to work as an acting teacher which was his love and what he was best at, but also acknowledged as an actor.”

“In a season that had death and illness and all of these major life events, it came as such a surprise at how moving that story was,” noted Reiser. “I agree with Michael. When I first heard it, I thought ‘Well, that sounds a little inside baseball. Is anybody going to care about an actor who got a movie?’ But it’s much bigger than that because it’s about a guy at this point in his life going ‘I kind of accepted my lot and now I have to reopen.’ That’s such a subtle, smart and universal feeling.”

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

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jbuffyangel · 6 years

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Family: Arrow 6x07 Review (Thanksgiving)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family. We get an extra treat tonight because Arrow is on! I watched with my 14 year old nephew. He's hardcore about Arrow and believes Olicity is the only acceptable ship - I feel good about the future.

"Thanksgiving" explores all aspects of family within Team Arrow. There’s love, partnership, having each other’s back and putting relationships above all else. There’s also disagreements and pain, but it leads to truth. In the end, the family comes together to celebrate a miracle and one another.

Let’s dig in...

Olicity and William

We kick things off right - with an Olicity scene. William and Oliver are busy accepting food donations and the Queen of DCTV is fending off a reporter.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Overprotective William may be even cuter than overprotective Oliver.

Telling that reporter The Flash is more her type is the biggest lie Felicity Smoak has ever told. A+ cover skills girl.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

No. Overprotective Oliver is still cuter. Well, it's hot. Hot plus cute equals a combination that can't be topped. Sorry William. I appreciate you joining the "Protective Felicity Smoak At All Costs" club though.

Felicity's little head tilt onto Oliver's shoulder while is Protective Husband mode is activated makes me want to throw glitter everywhere.

Source: amanitacaplan

So I'm gonna throw glitter everywhere.

This is 100% the scene where Emily pinched Stephen's butt and they absolutely used that take. No one can tell me different. Don't @ me. (X)

William: Did Oliver save you?

Felicity: He is heroic that way.

Oliver: She was doing just fine on her own.

That's it. That's the show. Any questions? No? Good.

Source: felicitysmoakdaily

I know I should be listening to Lance and Dinah talk about important mayoral duties, but mostly I am just watching Felicity link her arm through William's and those two smiling at each other. It's giving me flashes to William's wedding day. Felicity & Oliver walking William down the aisle. Excuse me... I need a minute.

What I love about Oliver's speech is he includes Felicity and William as an extention of himself.

Source: felicityssoliver

This is a family, these three people, and they are functioning both privately and publicly as one. In a way this in the Queen family debut (minus the white cotillion dresses). Felicity's face is lit up like Christmas as Oliver is speaking. She is so proud of her man. So happy to be part of this family.

As with anything on Arrow, blissful happiness and peace are but a fleeting moment. Just as Oliver is about to unveil the newly remodeled precinct, Agent Watson shows up and arrests Oliver for being the Green Arrow.

Source: olivergifs

CAMERAS AND ALL. IN FRONT OF WILLIAM. Stone cold, lady.

William calls Oliver "Dad" as he is being hauled away in hand cuffs.

Source: olivergifs

As my nephew correctly pointed out, this is the first time we've heard William call Oliver "Dad." William's pointed "Oliver" in the premiere meant Oliver had to earn the moniker. Being a father is more than genetics. So... has Oliver earned it? Yes, of course. He gave up being the Green Arrow to be more present to his son. That very sacrifice is one of the reasons why William began trusting Oliver more. So, it's a heartbreaking connective thread that the first time William calls Oliver "Dad" he's arrested for being the Green Arrow.

So, why does William choose this moment? It's less of a choice and more instinctual. William is a little boy and he's scared. Fear makes us vulnerable. We reach for protection and security when we are afraid. We want reassurance from the people in our lives that make us feel safe. That is who Oliver is to William. He is home base, security and safety. Oliver Queen is Dad and he’s exactly who William needs reassurance from. There are often moments in life, no matter how old we are, when fear and vulnerability makes us reach for our parents. We just want our mom and dad to make everything better. That's the eternal magic of parents. We believe they can make it all go away.

Source: felicitysmoakdaily

Oliver promises William that everything will be fine. Felicity has a protective and reassuring arm around William. I do take issue with the idea that Oliver in prison (or dead because of the Green Arrow) would leave William as an orphan. Yes, his biological parents would be dead. That technically leaves William as an orphan. I always imagine orphans like Oliver Twist - alone and fending for themselve. William will never be alone as long as he has Felicity. He will always have someone to take care of him - who will love William as her own. This is why it is spectacularly important to legalize this relationship and get some documentation up in here.

As Oliver is hauled away, William clenches his fists just like his father does when he is angry, worried or stressed. So, let's just run down the list:

William looks like Oliver.

He is Smoaked like all of us, but particularly his father.

William is overly protective when it comes to Felicity

He does the hand clenching thing.

William can cook

Is this Oliver Queen's genetic spawn or what? Give him a bow & arrow and let's see what he can do.

Source: olivergifs

Oliver is FURIOUS Agent Watson arrested him in front of William. It was a harsh move, but she's not looking to make friends with you Queen. She wants to rattle you. Personally, I am enjoying Agent Watson. It's been awhile since law enforcement was a legitimate threat to Oliver and it's nice getting back to our roots. She runs down the list of all the times Oliver fooled the city into believing someone else (Roy Harper or John Diggle) is the Green Arrow. Girl has it on lock and she does it by using basic logic. It's so refreshing to see on my television screen.

Oliver: Agent Watson, when I get out of here, and I will, I’m going to sue you for malicious prosecution.

So, now Oliver is ready to lawyer up for William? Where was this attitude in Season 4 big fella? We could have saved everyone a lot of headaches and heartache if you just hauled Samantha into court. Custody is a thing, buddy.

William is scared and mildly miffed because he believes Oliver broke his promise.

He didn't kiddo, but there doesn't seem to be a statue of limitations on vigilanting - particularly murder.

Source: olivergifs

Oliver reassures his son once more and then sends him home... to Felicity (and Raisa).

Home = Felicity. Facts only.

Arrow is exploring the concept of a team within a team. We saw this last week with Lyla and Diggle's and now we are seeing it with Oliver and Felicity. The first person Diggle confessed to wasn't Oliver, Felicity or anyone else on Team Arrow. John confessed to Lyla because his marriage supersedes any relationship he has on Team Arrow - including Oliver and Felicity.

This seems like one of those things where we could just say "Well duh." Of course, Diggle prioritizes his marriage with Lyla. Yeah, except that's not as common as you think and it's not as easy as you'd imagine. Also, it's important to build moments like this. We have to witness Diggle choosing Lyla and vice versus to solidify the relationship. These moments are what make a fictional couple real.

How Oliver and Felicity function as a couple within Team Arrow has always been more than just ferns, pep talks and making adorable bag lunches. There are a many relationships within Team Arrow and those relationships can often conflict. So, the question is - what relationship gets prioritized?

Oliver and Felicity's relationship is superseding all of their other relationships on the team to a degree we haven't seen on Arrow. Rather than tip around their vigilanting life (Season 4) or tip around their feelings for one another (Season 5), Olicity is meeting both head on. There is conflict within the team, but Oliver and Felicity prioritize their relationship and one other above all else.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Felicity uses her start up money to bail Oliver out of jail. Oliver is obviously uncomfortable with Felicity using that money, but it's either that or get comfy in that prison cell. Not surprisingly, Oliver's objections fall on deaf ears. Felicity is ride or die. This is what she's doing with her money. Oliver has also learned nobody “let’s” Felicity do anything. This is her choice. Oliver would do the same for her, so he stops objecting. See? Isn’t this nice when we respect a woman’s agency Oliver?

(The problem is - it's not just Felicity's money. It's Curtis' too and she doesn't consult him about the decision, but more on that later).

Source: westallenolicitygifs

Oliver is determined to not make Felicity a FBI target more than she already is, but Felicity is prepared to do whatever it takes to clear Oliver of these charges. Oliver and Felicity are determined to put the other first. The entire episode is an ebb and flow of selfless love. Even when they don’t agree, they are loving one another with everything they have.

John asks Felicity to keep quiet about his injury after she finds out. John's logic sounds reasonable. The rest of Team Arrow kept it secret from Felicity until finally they were forced to tell her what's going on. So, will Felicity keep it from Oliver?

There are no more secrets between them. No more lies. John being injured and compromised out in the field is absolutely something Oliver needs to know. If Felicity didn't tell him it would absolutely hurt their relationship. It may feel like a betrayal to John, whose friendship is incredibly important to Felicity, but her relationship with Oliver matters more.

Perhaps in Season 5, Felicity would have made a different choice. We know in Season 4 Oliver did. However, both characters have learned from those mistakes and we are witnessing a more honest approach to their relationship. They aren't hiding from the things that complicate it, but facing them head on. Their relationship comes first. This is marriage. And that's why they are ready for it.

"Thanksgiving" ends with Thea waking from her coma.

Source: amanitacaplan

I’ve never identified with Oliver more. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH THEA!

Oliver wraps his arms around Felicity and William, his sister recuperating in bed and John Diggle at his side.

This is the family Oliver has built. This is the family he fights for. He may have returned from Lian Yu to become the hood; he may be the Green Arrow, but this is the family Oliver survived for. This is living. For a man who doesn't fear death, that is something to be truly thankful for.

Source: gothsmoak

Oliver and Diggle

I think the most important "team within a team" on Arrow (after Oliver and Felicity) is Oliver and Diggle.

This is where Team Arrow started. These men are brothers. They are family. The problem is we don't always get along with our family. Sometimes we fight. Sometimes the truth is painful.

This confrontation between Oliver and Diggle is a long time coming, maybe even years. The fact that it is honest and needed doesn't make it any less heartbreaking to watch.

John Diggle has been doing some very un-Diggle like things. He's lied to his wife, his team... and his brother. Oliver and John's friendship has been set in stone for nearly five years: John knows what is right and Oliver eventually listens to him.

It's a format that's worked well for them - until it doesn't. The problem is, if Oliver always depends on John to be the moral compass then he never forms a moral compass of his own. If Diggle always has to toe the line, then he's never allowed to make mistakes. This ultimately creates a pressure cooker situation, one neither may be fully aware of until it blows.

And boy does it blow. Scenes like this, when Oliver, Felicity and Johnconfront one another, are rare on Arrow. It becomes very easy to glaze over the emotional side of things because Original Team Arrow is so busy saving the city. However, that doesn't negate the necessity. This is what makes the scenes so juicy when emotions and secrets are confronted. The backbone of this show is built on Oliver, Felicity and Diggle's relationships. When one of the "team within a team" falters - the whole foundation shakes.

Felicity is obviously hurt and angry Diggle kept a secret like this from her, but to her credit, she is only compassionate on the phone with him. Her empathy will always be her superpower.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Felicity does her very best to convince John to be honest with Oliver. I don't envy Felicity when she is in these positions. Oliver and Diggle can be very stubborn and when they are at odds it's like brokering peace between warring nations. When Felicity's pleas fall on deaf ears, she takes matters into her own hands and tells Oliver what is going on. She's right. This is something Oliver needs to know and John is wrong for lying to him.

Oliver. Is. Mad. And with good reason. First and foremost, John is Oliver's brother. If he's hurt, if he's in pain, Oliver wants to know. He wants to help. Second, there is no way Oliver would risk Diggle's life, or the lives of the team, by putting him in the field. Third, drug use?

The sacred tenant of Arrow is both Oliver Queen and John Diggle's bodies are temples. They are to be treated as such.

Stephen Amell tweeted this line out several weeks ago and it did not disappoint.

Source: olivergifs

GUT PUNCH.

Oliver and Diggle have disagreed. They've been angry with one another, but most of the time that's Oliver's fault. This is entirely new territory for Oliver. He's never been disappointed in John because Diggle has never done anything disappointing.

But that's the problem with this relationship. There's no room for error for John. The expectation to always be dependable, to always be right, to always put others first is what led to this situation to begin with. It's why John was able to rationalize lying. Oliver, Felicity, the team and the city are more important. They come first. John Diggle always puts himself last. The lies were for the greater good and that is how even Yoda falls off the moral high ground.

John, however, is not in the mood for Oliver's righteous indignation.

Dude, really? YOU KINAPPED MY WIFE AND KID FOR THE "GREATER GOOD" OR DID YOU FORGET?

Oliver has made more than his fair share of mistakes. He made tough calls time and again while wearing the hood. They were calls Diggle disagreed with, but they were ultimately Oliver's decisions because he wears the hood. That's the job.

A job Oliver gave up and handed to Diggle. It's easy to judge when standing on the side lines. When the lives of the city and the team are no longer on your shoulders.

Oliver bites back, rather quickly I might add, that John doesn't get to claim the moral high ground. This is why I've been saying this fight may have been years coming. Diggle has always pushed Oliver to be better. He's always been the moral authority in Oliver's life. As much as Oliver needed someone like that, it can also create a push/pull effect. Diggle has to be beyond reproach. Otherwise, Oliver can snap his fingers and say, "HA! You aren't any better than me!" which is kind of what he did here.

Oliver is also right. Diggle doesn't get to claim the moral high ground. Not this time. This time... Oliver has it. It's a strange place for both of these men to be.

Diggle believes his only responsibility was to the team - to those whose lives he put in danger. That doesn't apply to Oliver. This has nothing to do with him. Oliver is no longer on the team. That was HIS choice, so Diggle doesn't owe Oliver any explanations. Eh... works in theory John, but I'm not really buying.

Diggle would have told Felicity if this was true. Yes, Felicity was spending time with Oliver and William when Diggle confessed to the team, but that was a week ago. Diggle couldn't have squeezed in a second with Felicity and let her know he's been injecting an illegal steroid? Sure he could have, but he didn't.

Felicity is obviously stung she's finding out second hand. This is OTA. They are the core. They may not say it out loud, but that relationship supersedes the relationships with the new team members.

That's why Diggle couldn't tell Felicity the truth. He could confess to Lyla, who is his home. He could confess to the newbies because there isn't as much history there.

However, telling Felicity and Oliver is more difficult because Diggle is embarrassed. He can't stand the thought of disappointing the two people who have always depended on him. A lot of John's self worth is built upon being the rock for everyone he loves. He's failed this time. Confessing to Felicity and Oliver is putting up a mirror John isn't quite prepared to face. Sometimes telling the people closest to you is harder. It makes it real. It's not just about admitting the truth to Oliver and Felicity. It's about admitting the truth to himself.

So, Oliver's "I've never been disappointed" is soul crushing to Diggle. That's exactly the response he feared. Furthermore, Oliver can't be more disappointed in Diggle than Diggle is with himself. So, he responds to that hurt with anger. I'll see your "disappointment" and raise you a "Go to hell."

Diggle: I don't owe you a damn thing.

SHOTS FIRED! Oh man y'all. THIS IS PAINFUL. MY CHILDREN ARE FIGHTING. Oliver's reaction?

This relationship hasn't been one sided. Oliver has been a brother to Diggle just as much as Diggle has been one to him. Oliver has pulled John from the darkness too. He gave Diggle a purpose in life and means to do real good. The beauty of this friendship is these men saved each other.

Oliver: For the sake of our friendship I hope that's withdrawal talking.

What Oliver is failing to see is confessing to him is the most difficult for John. Diggle thrives on being needed. His life's blood is being the "go to guy." More so with Oliver than anyone else. So, how does John Diggle tell Oliver Queen he failed at being the Green Arrow?

John tells Oliver the truth and it's a long time coming.

He puts Oliver above everyone and everything - including his own health. John feels like he can't make mistakes because he's always cleaning up after Oliver. John has built his life around supporting Oliver Queen and the pressure is breaking him. He can never put himself first because Oliver has claimed that position. Or rather Diggle has allowed him to. The fate of the friggin city now rests on it for god sake. Oliver is furious Diggle is trying to blame him, but he's not. He's simply stating out loud how their friendship has worked for the last six years.

It's painful for Oliver to hear, but it doesn't make it any less true. As good as Oliver is, he can also be little narcissistic. That said, Oliver has his own truth for Diggle. He thought John could be a better hero because he always believed Diggle was the better man. Oliver may have been the Green Arrow, but John Diggle was his hero. The fall off the pedestal may be painful for John, but it's crushing for Oliver. So, he bites back with an equally crushing comment.

Source: starcitygifs

This is everything Diggle has feared the moment he put on the hood. It's why he lied. Yet, here we are.

Source: olivergifs

Both men are right. Both are wrong. It's why the scene is so intense. This is the richness a six year relationship can deliver.

Source: olivergifs

We know the foundation of Oliver's world is shaking because he goes to see Thea. He tearfully pleads with her to wake up. Oliver is reaching for a familial relationship he is sure of because another has imploded. He doesn't know where to turn because he can't ask the man who always has the answers for him. And Oliver can't ask Thea how to fix it.

However, this isn't Season 1-5. Oliver doesn't need Thea or Diggle to tell him how to fix it. He already knows how to fix it because this boy is raised. Felicity, Diggle and Thea have given him all the tools necessary. Now, Oliver has to put them to use. If Oliver is truly meant to be a superhero, what better place to start than with the man who set him on that path in the first place?

Source: legends-of-today

Oliver apologizes FIRST.

Felicity would be proud.

Perhaps Oliver has a clearer view of Diggle's perspective on the moral high ground. Perhaps Oliver remembers he's been wrong more than right. Perhaps he realizes the moral high ground doesn't matter as much as his friendship with John. Whatever it is, Oliver recognizes his myopic view on "taking on the hood" and admits he didn't properly consider everything he was asking Diggle to do.

And just like that these men remember they are family. Oliver is incredibly thankful, as is William, that Diggle is the Green Arrow. Unfortunately, the nerve damage has spread to Diggle's back. The damage is permanent because of his steroid use. If he continues out in the field he could end up paralyzed.

Uhhh... but Curtis and Felicity could put in the microchip if that happens. See? Problem fixed. No? Is that wrong?

Oliver is heartbroken Diggle went to these lengths for him, but John admits it wasn't all for Oliver. Diggle finally tells the truth. Something Lyla (and I) have long suspected. The lengths Diggle went to, the lies he told, weren't for Oliver. John did this for himself.

What comes next is some screwy logic, but we'll work our way through it. Diggle tells Oliver the "perfect life" the Dominators created for him last year was being the Green Arrow. Oliver giving the hood to Diggle wasn't selfish. It was an honor. John wants to be the Green Arrow. He just never knew it.

Time for a reality check. Listen boys, that "perfect life" the Dominators created wasn't perfect. They took bits and pieces of your subconscious and created the ILLUSION of perfection. In the immortal words of Cher from Clueless, " No, she's a full-on Monet.... It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess.” Dominator dream world is a full-on Monet.

Also, it was OLIVER'S "What if?" not John's.

We know next to nothing about John and Felicity's life in the Dominator's dream world. Felicity had Smoak Technologies and was engaged to Ray Palmer. Diggle was the Green Arrow... and that's about the it. Somehow I think their dream world runs a little deeper than that. We're saying Felicity's dream man is Ray Palmer? Come on now.

He's de facto fiancé. It's what life would be like if Oliver Queen was removed from the equation, but that doesn't automatically equal a perfect reality. Far from it.

John has absolutely no idea what led him to become the Green Arrow. People don't normally start wearing masks for kicks and giggles, Diggle. Exhibit A:

Where was Lyla or JJ? Or better yet SARA? John certainly wouldn't sacrifice his wife and child to be the Green Arrow.

The same could be said for Sara Lance. Her sister was alive, but we know nothing else about her life. I'm sure Sara was thrilled about Laurel being alive, but she is not the be all and end all of her world.

This was an extraordinarily Oliver focused dream because he had a lesson to learn. He is the one who was living life in the past. The lesson the dream world taught Oliver is the illusion of happiness is no comparison for what is real and true- even if that reality is painful.

The Dominators did pull from everyone's subconscious, however. There are bits of truth in those dreams. There had to be because that's what made it so tempting to stay.

"He lies with the truth." - Cordelia Chase, Angel

The truth is Oliver wants his parents to be alive. He wants to settle down, get married and raise a family. Oliver wants to define himself, outside of his father. That doesn't mean the Dominators fulfilled those truths with all the right people in all the right ways. Especially when the lie with the wrong person is built upon the real memories of the right person. It's one of the reasons Oliver was able to walk away.

WRONG

RIGHT

YES

It's the same with Diggle. The underlining truth isn't necessarily that Diggle wants to be Green Arrow.

“You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on.” President Bartlet, The West Wing

John Diggle is the guy the guy counts on. He's been content with that role for six years and it's a vitally important one. The team, and the Green Arrow, cannot be without him.

Let's not forget Spartan is no slouch. Diggle can, and has, inspired people as Spartan. He saved the city as much as the Green Arrow. So, is this just about a wardrobe change?

No, the truth is John wants to be "the guy." The Green Arrow is team leader even when the team functions as a democracy. As long as Oliver was on the team that would never be John. After the mind numbing fear faded, Diggle wanted to be the one making the calls. John wants to lead. He wanted his moment in the sun. It's a natural and very human reaction after spending six years in Oliver Queen's shadow.

Even Diggle's job as security for the mayor revolves around Oliver. Perhaps Diggle is just looking for a way to define himself beyond Oliver Queen the same way Oliver was looking for a way to define himself beyond his father. However, there's lots of ways to fulfill that need than wearing the hood. In fact, one could argue wearing the hood only connects Diggle MORE to Oliver Queen. John isn't defining himself beyond Oliver. He's trying to BE Oliver.

I don't believe John was secretly discontent all these years. Maybe the Dominator dream simply revealed he was ready for more responsibility. However, even that is a slippery slope. Yes, John felt the added weight upon his shoulders when he first took on the mantle. He even required a pep talk from Oliver. Does it mean John has felt the full weight of responsibility the Green Arrow carries? No. His losses have been... manageable.

As heroic as the Green Arrow is, there is a darker side to this hood. There’s sacrifice and loss. Maybe once John experiences that as the Green Arrow it won’t be as appealing. Maybe that won’t even be necessary. Time will tell.

John is absolutely going through something and maybe it's simply a case of "the grass is greener on the other side." Pun intended. Right now John believes it is. He still wants to be the Green Arrow despite his injury.

The agreement between the men is Oliver will put the hood back on in the short term. Once Felicity and Curtis find a way to fix Diggle then Oliver will hand it over again. This is how Oliver rationalizes lying to his son about going out into the field again.

There goes that moral high ground Oliver. It was nice while it lasted.

Lying to William is a colossal mistake. Somehow I don't think it would be too difficult to explain to William that John is hurt and Oliver needs to be the Green Arrow for the interim.

If William is angry or upset with Oliver's decision he has a right to those feelings. The point is to work through them together just like Oliver has done with Diggle. But why would he remember the very lesson he just learned for more than five minutes? That's no fun! Of course, Oliver has to screw this up before he gets it right. Please marry Felicity as quickly as possible. You need her help desperately with raising this child, Oliver.

Perhaps Oliver lied because, deep down, he knows this isn't temporary. What if Diggle's nerve damage can't be cured? Both men have to acknowledge that is a possibility.

"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you." Peter Parker, Spiderman: Homecoming

Everyone on Team Arrow has chosen this life - except for William. He's had it thrust upon him. I do believe Arrow is moving William towards a moment when he realizes the gifts his father has. Responsibility comes with those gifts. There is a certain amount of culpability in not helping when you can. Arrow has gone to lengths to point out the areas in which William is similar to his father. However, the biggest similarity is still coming. William will tell Oliver to be the Green Arrow because he knows it's the right thing to do.

Of course, the Green Arrow has to live beyond Oliver Queen or else he hasn't created much of a legacy. John Diggle is absolutely a capable Green Arrow. However, I don't believe he'll be wearing the hood again.

There's a beautiful shot of Diggle between the Spartan and Green Arrow suits. He's split between the two identities, uncertain which one fulfills him more. Hopefully John's trajectory will make him realize how important Spartan is.

The question of how John defines himself beyond Oliver Queen is one I am hoping the writers continue to explore through this season. Oliver and Diggle are brothers. They will always be family. They will always have each other's back. However, it's no different than Felicity and her company. John Diggle needs something that's just his too.

Felicity and Curtis

Oliver and Diggle aren't the only "team within a team" facing dramatic tension this week. Curtis and Felicity aren't very happy with one another and it reveals the seams in this partnership.

Felicity is upset Curtis didn't check with her before he injected their proprietary tech into Diggle. Curtis feels justified in doing so because Felicity never checked with him about the name or their company or the tech they would be making. It is after all HIS technology. Felicity feels they work independently and that's what makes them a great team. They don't need to check in with one another over every little detail. However, there seems to be some grey area on what details they do need to check in about.

Not unlike Oliver and Diggle, both Curtis and Felicity are right and wrong. They manage to get through the weekly threat before apologizing to one another. However, Curtis doesn't look to pleased to hear Felicity has "one more thing" she didn’t check with him on. We don't get to see his reaction to Felicity bailing out her boyfriend with their start up cash. The only threat to that money is if Oliver skips town and he’s not going to do that. So, hopefully Curtis is as willing to help out Oliver as Felicity is.

I am a little... I don't know what I am. Yes I do. I’m annoyed.

Curtis has a legitimate beef with Felicity. I won't argue that. I also recognize as Felicity Smoak goes, so goes my nation. That said, this fight does bring my issues with Curtis to the forefront.

Curtis' integration into the team has been the weakest and it's often to the detriment to Felicity's character. There were so many times last season when Curtis "mansplained" something to Felicity or she suddenly required Curtis' help with a hack she could have done in her sleep the previous seasons. There were even times Felicity acted completely out of character either by ignoring or not caring about important details, just so Curtis could be the "smart" hero and save the day. My personal fave was when Curtis lectured Felicity ( a victim of gun violence) about gun violence.

This went on all season last year and it made me dislike a character that I'd previously been pretty fond of. Season 6 has been better. Arrow has been dividing Curtis and Felicity's talents into separate spheres. Felicity is the hacker and Curtis is the inventor. These were always the spheres the characters should have been in. Curtis stepping all over Felicity to make himself relevant was completely unnecessary last year.

It's difficult to believe the Arrow writers didn't hear out complaints with lines like these:

Curtis: Can you come back and do this? Because you’re like way better at this than I am.

Arrow has even gone to great lengths to show Felicity is the alpha in Helix Dynamics. She is the Jobs to Curtis' Wozniak. She’s the leader.

We can't go ONE EPISODE with Curtis feeling slighted, ONE EPISODE where he feels like Felicity stepped on him, ONE EPISODE where she takes imitative and doesn't consult with him, without ending with Felicity apologizing to him. Meanwhile, Felicity is still waiting for an apology for all his behavior last season.

Hell, we're still waiting for Arrow to RECOGNIZE the misogynistic behavior. Felicity was never allowed to defend herself, push back on Curtis or express even the slightest bit of displeasure anytime he walked all over her. But Curtis is upset about the company name! Better devote 10 minutes of the episode to it! Felicity better apologize!

Give me a fucking break. Somehow if Curtis was the alpha in the company I don't think these conversations would be happening. Yes, they are partners, but as we've seen with Team Arrow there's always someone making the tough calls. There's always a leader even in the most democratic of partnership. Arrow has been pretty clear that person for Helix Dynamics is Felicity. So, stop making her apologize for it.

Quentin Lance

This week on "As The Lances Turn" Quentin decides he's done with his doppelganger daughter. Or is he? Dun dun DUNNN!!! *cue dramatic soap opera music*

Lord, I cannot tell you how much I don't care about this storyline. One week Quentin wants to redeem BS. The next week he wants to put a bullet in her. Only to regret not putting a bullet in her the following episode.

We are officially at character whiplash stage. Every time he's on screen I ask, "Which Quentin are we getting this week?" It's not unlike when L*urel was on the show. It's like the inconsistent LL writing has spread to Quentin like a disease. WE MUST SAVE HIM FANDOM. WE'RE LOSING HIM.

For the record Quentin:

BS is not LL

You do not need to redeem her just because she looks like LL. My husband's cousin just married Candice Accola’s look-alike. Did I ask her for an autograph, her perspective on Caroline Forbes, or what it's like to film with Paul Wesley? NO! THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!

All of those murders are on BS. END. OF. DISCUSSION.

There's a nice little scene between Lance and Dinah where she admits she let her boyfriend go because she wants to see the good in him. Julianna Harkvay and Paul Blackthorne do their best with what they are given. My problem is not with the acting, but with the writing. We are seven episodes in and Quentin has had the same conversation with anyone he's shared a scene with anytime he's on the damn show. Either get him a new storyline or move it along with this one.

It's difficult to move the BS redemption storyline along because that would requires BS to be on the show. Seriously, they put her in the EPISODE DESCRIPTION and I think she clocked 3 minutes of actual screen time. And those three minutes weren't much. BS is nothing more than Cayden James’ hired thug.

But sure, Arrow is itching to redeem her.

Stray Thoughts

Billy Joel needs new people who listen to the mayor when he says there is a viable threat.

Oliver's growly voice is my sexual identity.

Really hope the discussion between Oliver and William isn't recorded, because the kid totally outed his dad as the Green Arrow. LEARN SOME COVERT SKILLS KIDDO.

Diggle gives a very Green Arrow speech. I was all inspired and motivated. So, I got up and went to the fridge for more stuffing. Inspiration and motivation look different on everyone.

Can a needle penetrate muscles this size? Source: fellicityqueen

Diggle has a sexy scar on his shoulder. I feel like a scar is a pre-requisite to wearing the Green Arrow suit.

Was that Moira's attorney?

"I will distract myself by clearing your good name." It’s so beautiful how far Oliver and Quentin’s relationship has come.

Rene is becoming the One-Liner King:

“I'm going to work on algorithm over there after I figure out what an algorithm is."

“I happen to like a wide variety of music and "The Stranger" is a treasured piece of rock and roll history.

“I wanted to see Billy Joel.” Same Rene.

Auntie Thea = Jen pile of mush. Source: gothsmoak

My childhood: a summary. Source: gothsmoak

Does Arrow realizes babies come in another gender? This gender is called FEMALE. What's with all the sons?

Alright, but who's Cayden James' son?

Felicity issuing orders. YASSS!!!!!

Felicity voting #TeamDinah is the kind of female solidarity I like on my TV screen.

Of course Oliver had to make an entrance. Good to have him back in the suit. Source: olivergifs

Agent Watson double dared Oliver to reveal his identity. Get ready for a Tony Stark moment by the end of the season!

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 6x07 episode gifs credited.

#arrow #olicity #john diggle #oliver and diggle #arrow 6x07 #queen family #william clayton #arrow reviews #season 6 episode review #season 6 episode reviews #anti black siren #anti laurel lance

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topstoriesghana · 3 years

Text

Bafta Film Awards 2021: Snobbery, pianos and other takeaways

With the nominees on Zoom, only a few stars in attendance to open the envelopes and a Royal Albert Hall as empty as your local picturehouse, it definitely wasn't business as usual at this year's British Academy Film Awards. Yet even with coronavirus restrictions and social distancing in place, there were still enough moments of humour, glamour and surprise to make the event a memorable one for the people watching at home. Nomadland was the night's big winner, picking up awards for best film, director, lead actress and cinematography. Chloe Zhao's film can move on to the Academy Awards in two weeks' time confident of yet more success. 1) Brits are snobs... in a good way South Korea's Yuh-Jung Youn was thrilled to be named best supporting actress for her role in Minari, but her description of the British as "very snobbish people" was a curious way to convey her gratitude. Yuh-Jung Youn has also been nominated for an Academy Award The 73-year-old said she felt privileged to have been acknowledged by Britain, a country she has visited many times, including a trip to Cambridge 10 years ago. "It felt snobbish, but not in a bad way," she told reporters after her win, going on to praise the UK's "long history and sense of pride". Snobbery can be good, then, if it means - as she seems to have intended it - simply having high standards and discerning taste. Youn is also up for an Oscar for her role as a grandmother transplanted to rural Arkansas, although she would not be drawn on her chances. "Don't ask me, I don't know anything," she sighed. "I'm famous domestically but not internationally." 2) A piano makes a great Zoom backdrop If there was a Bafta for the most glamorous setting from which to accept a Bafta, Emerald Fennell - whose debut film Promising Young Woman won both best original screenplay and outstanding British film - would win hands down. Zooming from a hotel suite that was far from the "simple, poky hotel room" she later attempted to pass it off as, the actress, writer and director had a grand piano behind her so impressive that it was remarked upon by ceremony co-presenter Edith Bowman. Emerald Fennell clutched a chocolate replica of a Bafta mask trophy With a chocolate Bafta mask melting in her "sweaty" hand, Fennell gave thanks to her film's lead actress Carey Mulligan - "so pretty, so tall" - while wishing she had prepared a better acceptance speech in advance. "Everyone did pretty much for a packet of crisps," she said as she accepted her second prize of the evening. "I want to go to all your houses and kiss you, which I'm not allowed to do for various reasons." Daniel Kaluuya's pipe collection (right) has been seen at previous awards shows Speaking of pianos, it turns out that Daniel Kaluuya - winner of the best supporting actor prize for Judas and the Black Messiah - is currently learning how to play one. The British actor said he might celebrate his win by tinkling some ivories, taking a walk and having a bath. "I'm chill, man," he told reporters. "I take every day as it comes." It is not the first time this awards season the Get Out star has accepted a prize from his home, giving viewers another glimpse of his bookcase and impressive pipe collection. 3) Everyone loves a family member cameo Hearts melted around the world earlier this year when Minari director Lee Isaac Chung accepted his Golden Globe for best foreign language film while holding his young daughter in his arms. It was just as touching on Sunday when composer Atticus Ross gave his own daughter a hug as he accepted the best original score Bafta for animated film Soul. Atticus Ross got a hug from his daughter as he accepted his award There were also hugs from overjoyed family members for Rocks star Bukky Bakray as she won the EE Rising Star Award, the only prize of the evening decided by the public. "I don't know how to articulate my feelings," the "hyped" Londoner told reporters after her win. "I thought 100 people would watch the film, max. I didn't think it would have this reach." One family member who sadly could not be present to celebrate was Thomas Vinterberg's daughter Ida, who was killed in a car accident at the age of 19 in 2019. As he accepted the Bafta for best film not in the English language, the Another Round director said his film about a group of heavy-drinking friends had been made in her memory. "She was more enthusiastic about this project than anyone else, so the honour granted by you Bafta voters means more to us than you could ever imagine," the Danish film-maker explained. 4) Don't let time zones stop you celebrating It may have been morning for Nomadland director Chloe Zhao, but she seemed determined to celebrate her film's Bafta success in Los Angeles. "Tomorrow morning I will be very hungover," she revealed, saying she intended to drink some orange juice "with a little bit of something in it", adding: "It's never too early to be drunk in California." Zhao was one of four female film-makers up for the best director award, something she described as "great". "It's about time," she told reporters following her win. "Let's have some more." Like many of this year's winners, she also expressed a wish to return to cinemas as soon as possible "to undo some of the damage done" by the worldwide pandemic. "The whole point of film is to share emotions with audience," agreed Florian Zeller, winner of the best adapted screenplay Bafta for The Father. "I can't wait for cinemas to open." Londoner Remi Weekes, winner of the outstanding British debut prize for his horror film His House, expressed similar sentiments, saying he was "looking forward to going to my local in Dalston". 5) Even virtual ceremonies have no-shows With nominees required to do little more than Zoom in from their living rooms, there wasn't much of an excuse for not being in virtual attendance. Despite this, neither best actress Frances McDormand nor best actor Sir Anthony Hopkins were able to be on camera when their wins were announced. To his credit, Sir Anthony - who was nominated for his first Bafta in 1969 and who received the Bafta Fellowship in 2008 - did make amends by taking questions from the press afterwards. Speaking from his current residence in Wales, the Silence of the Lambs star said he had been quietly painting when cheering from another room alerted him to his triumph. "I thought they were watching a football match," he admitted, describing his fourth competitive Bafta win as "a fun bonus" to the happy experience of making The Father. Sir Anthony said it had not been a challenge to play an elderly man suffering from dementia in the film version of Florian Zeller's play. "I didn't have to act old - I am old," he explained. He also likened the experience of dementia to the difficulties the world has faced during the pandemic, saying both involved "losing your senses and anchors". "It is a mess and it is scary for billions of people," the actor continued. "I hope it helps us to pay attention and to not take everything for granted. "But hopefully we'll come through it," he went on. "I hope we all come through this with a sense of triumph and hope for the future." Source: BBC Read the full article

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whiskeytangofrogman · 7 years

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elf prince bitty and dragon knight jack (or vice versa) ???

Good news, Anon! It’s done!

Bad news is I’m turning this into a multi-chapter fic, and this is only the first chapter. Whoops.

(also on ao3)

The first think Jack Zimmermann, prince of Luskan, heir to the throne, trained for years in diplomacy and decorum, ever says to Eric Richard Bittle, ambassador from Neverwinter is “Aren’t you a little short to be an elf?”

His face goes blank. “Nice to meet you too, Prince Zimmermann.”

Jack tries to apologize, but Bittle’s already introducing himself to Jack’s parents, who are currently sending him the deepest of frowns. “I am Eric Richard Bittle, Teu-tel-quessir and ambassador from Neverwinter. I am here on diplomatic relations from my Lord.”

Teu-tel-quessir. Moon elves. It explains how slight Bittle is, and how fair in coloring. Jack’s only ever met sun elves, and once a wood elf, despite moon elves being the greatest in numbers.

“Welcome, Lord Bittle,” his father says, placing a hand over his heart and inclining his head. “We have prepared accommodations for you.”

His parents greet him more warmly than Jack did, leading Eric up the steps and into the castle. Jack follows behind, attempting to ignore the whispers that surround him. He’d learned long ago in the most violent way possible that if he let court rumors get to him, he’d never survive being king. The scar on his left hip that drags down his entire thigh is enough to prove that.

They come to the throne room, and even Jack is proud of the ambassador’s slight gasp when he sees how richly done up it is. It’s nearing winter, and his mother has had the staff in full sprint to prepare. Luskan, the northernmost kingdom, and bitterly cold ten months of the year, had always been famous for its decadence, even before the fall, and his father’s conquering of the kingdom was no different.

Queen Alicia had taken to getting rich tapestries made, detailing the winning of the Luskan conflict, which only hung from the beginning of the cold months until the winter solstice. Jack had been staring up at them his entire life, and had never gotten past how beautiful they were. 20 years later, he still finds new details every season.

The rest of the room is draped in red velvet, from the curtains to the throne itself. “The tales of Luskan’s beautiful fabric are true,” Bittle says, sharing a smile with Alicia.

Jack’s dad leads Bittle to the war room behind the throne, leaving Jack alone with his mom. She turns on him immediately, and he winces.

“Jack.” Her face is stern, her voice brooking no argument.

He sighs. “I know.” He takes the arm she offers him, and begins walking with her.

“This relationship is a very important one to foster, melamin. Neverwinter is a good ally to have as such a new kingdom.”

He sighs again, downtrodden. “I know.” He nods to a passing servant. “I thought before I spoke. I’ll make it better.”

She leans up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, melamin. I know it’ll be okay.”

It’s not okay. Ambassador Bittle spends the entire time at dinner, whenever his mom and dad aren’t looking their way, glaring at Jack. The king had set up a small banquet, and seated Ambassador Bittle at his right, pushing Jack all the way to the end of the dais. He’s not annoyed, persay, but this puts him away from his mom and the head of the Guard (appropriately named Knight) who is the closest approximation to a friend Jack has in his father’s court. Jack’s next to Bittle, squished in between him and the old court mage, who is perhaps the grumpiest person he’s ever met.

Jack tries, once or twice, to start up a conversation, but every time he opens his mouth, before he can even utter a single sentence, Bittle begins a new conversation with the king. It’s like clockwork, and Jack’s 100% certain he’s doing it on purpose. The ambassador is Elvish through a through, speech practiced, careful, and doubled in meaning with every word he says.

Jack would be annoyed if he didn’t find it so fascinating.

At the end of the meal, everyone at the dais besides Jack sweeps into the war room, including his mom, which means something serious, something requiring the acute political prowess Alicia is famous for, is happening.

He tries to follow, of course he does, but Knight catches his eye, and shakes his head. “Later,” he mouths.

Jack frowns, but accepts. The servants don’t let him help clean up like they normally would, not wishing to make a bad impressions, he supposes, on the visiting dignitaries that came with the Ambassador.

He takes out his frustration on the training dummies in the courtyard. It’s late evening, nearing twilight, and all the squires and fosterlings are in bed or in town squandering the small salary they get from the King. He’s alone, and annoyed, which is the only reason they manage to catch him off guard.

They being two drow, a man and a woman, rogueish in look. The first one leaps on his back, and he spins, throwing her off easily. He turns to face them, wishing he’d brought his sword and not one of the dull training ones out here, which are weighted oddly and have never felt as right in his hand as his own does.

They engage him, movements liquid and attacks coming from all sides. They’re saying things to one another in undercommon, of which he can understand very little. He catches his name, and his kingdom, and the word prince, but that’s it.

They move as if they’re one mind, and Jack, had it not been for years and years of training in combat, probably would have succumbed to them. He manages a few good hits though (and they do too, he’s no Achilles), before he finally gets the male on the side.

He drops to his knee, dark blood seeping between his fingers as he collapses forward onto the stone. When Jack looks up, the woman is gone.

The drow is in their infirmary, sedated and surrounded by the king’s healers, Jack, his parents, and Ambassador Bittle. His wound hadn’t been deep enough that a little magic and a salve hadn’t fixed him.

His eyes flutter open, and he hisses something in Undercommon. Ambassador Bittle says something back, tone staccato, harsh, and then turns to Jack’s parents. “He’s definitely from L’Quarth.”

“L’Quarth?” Jack asks, confused at the ambassador’s tone, and the grave looks on his parents’ faces.

The Ambassador turns to him. “It means the Order.” He stares, hard, at Jack. “What were you doing in the courtyard this late?”

Jack holds up his hands by his head. “Practicing. They came out of nowhere.”

Bittle steps closer. “A trained warrior, not picking up on their presence? I find that-”

“Ambassador Bittle,” his dad says, forcing Bittle to face him with his tone alone. “My son knows nothing about this, that I can assure you. He’s not part of this conspiracy.”

Bittle folds his hands behind his back, and frowns severely. “It’s not a conspiracy, Lord Zimmermann, it is fact. You are aware of my sources.”

“They were quiet.” Everyone turns to face Jack, quizzically. “Their steps were silent.”

“They?” Bittle asks, arching an eyebrow. “There were more than one?”

“Two, him and a woman, dressed in the same clothing.” Jack gestures at the male drow. “I think they were rogues. She ran, after I hit him. They moved like they were one.”

Bittle nods, once. “I see.” He turns back to the drow, and says something that sounds like “Vail usjah ghost bur,” which Jack knows isn’t Elvish.

The Drow bares his teeth at Bittle, and cackles. He says something like “nined or nel.”

Bittle looks like he’s about to draw the dagger at his hip, before he spins and catches Jack’s tunic, dragging him into the hallway. Jack can hear his mother speaking Elvish behind him as he goes, and the Drow saying the same words over and over again, “nined or nel, nined or nel.”

Bittle shuts the door to the infirmary, and wheels around to face Jack. “Tell me everything that happened.”

“What is nined or nel?” Jack asks instead.

Bittle looks momentarily taken aback, confused. “What?”

“Nined or nel, what he was saying. What does it mean?”

Bittle sighs. “Nind orn el,” he says. “They will die.”

“Who?”

Bittle runs a hand through his hair, annoyed. “You, your family, everyone in your father’s kingdom. I need to know right now what happened so I can stop it.”

Jack sucks in a sharp breath, and crushes down his panic to recount his scuffle in the courtyard. “What’s going on?”

Bittle shakes his head. “It’s better if you don’t know anything.”

“How?” Jack asks, angry now. From the completion of his squirehood and transition into heir, he’d known everything that happened in his kingdom, all the goings on, the battles and squabbles. “If I’m to be King, I need to know.”

Bittle steps uncomfortably close, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “There are things happening here, pieces moving, that you can’t possibly hope to understand, Lord Zimmermann.” Bittle’s face betrays no expression. “I hope you find you can leave it alone, and let me do what I need to do, so that one day you can actually be the king of this realm.”

Before Jack can retort, a scream fills the air. The door to the infirmary bursts open and an attendant runs out, calling for the healer. Through the doorway, Jack can see the shocked faces of his parents, and the drow on the bed, dead, an arrow through his throat.

#zimbits #omgcp #omgcheckplease #asks #anonymous #kylie writes

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enigmaticgale · 6 years

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houshin engi 100 questions

ariana linked me this and as we all i know i physically cannot shut up about this series ever, so here we go

endgame spoilers below!! if anyone actually cares, lol

1. What is your name? inigo montoya. you kill my father. prepare to die. NO i’m yarrow but i can’t imagine anyone who reads this won’t already know that

2. When did you get into Houshin Engi? january 2012! so.... much later than everyone else i’ve met who’s already into it. i’m babby 3. Did you read it in Weekly Jump magazine? Or the tankoubons? Or both? i read the snoopycool scanlations on mangapark dot com. that probably wasn’t the original website but fuck if i can remember what it was 4. Do you own all 23 volumes? yeah, four times over lol. 5. Do you own Houshin Taizen? hell yeah 6. Do you have the special Houshin Taizen that came with Akamaru Jump? i hate that i know this is a thing now because i won’t rest until i add it to my collection 7.Do you want a Houshin Taizen 2 to come out? yeah put birthdays in it this time fujiryu you hack 8. Did you watch the anime? i’ve seen it twice but only remember one watch lol. i’ve seen the sub and i’ve probably watched the first two episodes 5 times in the dub trying to watch the whole series through. no dice. oh this is about the old anime. i’m only part of the way through the new one because my adhd kicks my ass daily

9. Did you tape record it? man when were these questions written lol. i don’t even know how old i was when the anime aired in the states. did it even air in the states 10. Give your honest opinion on the last episode. hey studio deen? what the fuck? the fuck was that? you bastards? 11. Do you own mp3s of the opening and ending songs? sure do!

12. Do you buy the soundtrack albums? i got both. and then the 2 character song cds. and then 3 of 4 drama cds 13. If you answered ‘yes’ to #12, what is your favourIte track? MAN that’s tough?? probably... chi-kou-go-itsu because when taikoubou is like “IKITERU” in the chorus i’m like. god it won’t let me upload an image here this website is BROKEN. i’m that one gif of that black woman crying and nodding and then she wipes away her tear

14. What Houshin Engi merchandise do you own? what don’t i own. i need to update that album actually 15. Have you ever bought any of the Senkaiden games? yeah i got both. 16. If you answered ‘yes’ to #15, which ones have you bought? i’ve considered buying a wonderswan so i can play them because god knows where the rom i found is but i can’t read jp for shit 18. Could you name all the characters in Houshin Engi? not off the top of my head in a list but if you showed me a picture there’s a 98% chance i’d be able to tell you who they are 19. Favourite male character(s)? youzen and taikoubou... my first fave was roushi. i also like fugen and shinkouhyou and kouyuuken “who’s kouyuuken” haha. he’s the longhaired shisei. yes yes, my tastes

20. Favourite female character(s)? yuukyou is my DORTOR, i love ryuuktisu and kibi too! also seiba. 21. Which is your favourite Taikoubou outfit? i don’t really have a preference! though if you made me pick it would probably be his first one. baby outfit

22. Your opinion on Youzen’s outfit during the fight against Jyoka? i’m emo over him wearing his daddy’s paopei but that’s more of necessity than of sentimentality huh 23. Your opinion on Fugen’s shoulder-revealing shirt? how does it stay ON!!!! 24. Have you ever imitated Dakki’s speech pattern? i’m a guy 25. If you could transform like Youzen, who would you turn into and what would you do? GOD DJESUS.... i’d make myself a foot taller. and also have blue hair. and cure my damn dysphoria . please i want this transformation ability so bad lol

26. Which act/chapter is your favourite? i love the whole manga but the sennin war arc gunches me the hardest 27. Which anime episode is your favourite? bold of you to assume that i remember enough about the anime to differentiate what happened in which episode 28. Which volume cover is your favourite? that’s hard!!!! ummm...... volume one. i like taikoubou 29. Which title — be it volume title, chapter title, or episode title — is your favourite? bold of you to assume i remember episode or volume titles. as for chapter title... there are a lot of great ones but one that always stood out to me is “Chuuoh, Son of Heaven”. idk why. i just like that aesthetic i guess. son of heaven

OH i also really like 141 and 142 which are “ A Blinding Light, A Deafening Silence, And Then...” “An Eternal Happiness” ^___T sennin war arc 30. Have you ever cried while reading Houshin Engi? bunchuu’s death gets me every time though my definition of “cry” is probably a bit. loose. my very first reread though, i had to get up from my computer and stop reading because i physically couldn’t see. musta been a day 31. Do you still buy the calendars? STOP TELLING ME ABOUT MERCH I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BECAUSE NOW I’LL HAVE TO BUY IT 32. If you answered ‘yes’ to #31, do you keep the old ones up? FUCKA YOU. yeah i’d display them somehow 33. What is your favourite quote, and who said it? “I learned the greatest courage is telling people my weakness. So I don't want to run anymore: not from you, not from myself!” by youzen. i also really like the line youzen has in the tournament arc where he says there’s no way he can lose because he has the powers of everyone he’s met but the quote i actually listed is more Feelsy 34. Do you have a favourite romantic pairing? hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa youbou. 35. Say anything you want about that favourite pairing? bold of you to expect coherency from me 36. Why are you into that pairing? nnMMBBmbmbbbb god i’m. gay. the tl;dr is i relate a lot to youzen and i love taikoubou a lot so it’s like self insert without the self insert lol. i’m really laying myself bare here in full sincerity 37. Have you thought of a perfect song for that pairing? What song, and by whom? yeah i gotta.... whole gotdamn playlist. please listen to it 38. Which houshined character do you want resurrected? here’s my postgame fic where everyone gets resurrected eventually. yes even all the rando youkai 39. Which character made you think “I’m glad s/he wasn’t houshined!”? probably..... youzen? or nataku. anyone who has a brush with death and then Wasn’t. 40. Which of the Konron 12 would you like to be scouted by? gyokutei!!!!!! 41. What are your reasons? *points at him* dad 42. Suupuushan, Kokutenko, Kokukirin. Who would you want to ride? kokutenko!!!! luv cat

43. Do you have any friends who like Houshin Engi? yeah!!! and i only had to bully a few of them into reading it. shocker 44. Who’s your favourite Jyuttenkun? kinkou seiba!!! 45. Did you like “Ennui Academy”? i want fujiryu to give me a full length ennui academy manga. this is only half a joke 46. What’s your favourite non-romantic pairing? BBBbbbb hmmm. i love yuukyou and her two dads and i also love youzen and gyokutei.... i’m suckerpunched by found family daily 47. Which do you like better; the Dakki Sisters or the Beautiful Sisters (Venus and Co.)? the dakki sisters 48. Do you want Roushi’s suit? depends on what i have to do to get it lol. but yeah i’m all about that lazy life 49. Name one paopei you want. i’m going to say all of them on account of being greedy and also bad at making decisions

50. What would you use it for? oh fuck. can’t make me go into work if i’m wrapped in rikukonhan’s void, right 51. Who is the strongest character, in your opinion? fukki if he’s got backup, jyoka if not 52. What is your reason? *points to the final volume* Observe 53. Which character makes you go, “I’ll never forgive him/her!!”? outenkun. basard 54. What colour do you like on Taikoubou’s hair? brown!!! my fave eye colour on him is green!! that wasn’t part of the question but i think that’s the cutest and best colour combo!!!!!! you can’t change my mind!!!!

i think fukki has black hair and blue/grey eyes. 55. Name a master-disciple combo you like. again, youzen and gyokutei suckerpunch me 58. Which is your favourite splash page? probably the very first one in chapter 1 cause i get all nostalgia over it. weh 59. Taikoubou + Outenkun = Fukki. Did you easily accept this fact? i wish i could tell you anything that i thought when i first read the manga but all my impressions are lost to time. i wish other people would remember that outenkun is a key part of the fukki equation and stop just treating him as taikoubou in a funny outfit lol. they’re different people, even if they’re similar.... 60. Did the entrance of Fukki affect your opinion on Houshin Engi? again, i wish i could tell you, but 61. Do you think of Taikoubou, Fukki, and Outenkun as three separate people?

YES, AND YOU SHOULD TOO

62. Where on Taikoubou’s body do you think Outenkun’s paopei’s mark appeared? .....people talked about this? 63. Who would you want to be houshined by? dakki. if i have to die i want her to kill me, sexily. sorry for making you read those words 64. Who would do you want to houshin? outenkun but he’s off limits. ...i think anyone else i’d want to houshin already done and did it so 65. Which of Dakki’s many outfits is your favourite? bold of you to assume i keep track of them 66. Is Venus scary? no, she’s very cute!! shame on you!! 67. Which paopei made you go, “That’s terrible!!”? ay. uh. keiseigenjou is pretty spooky what with the “dakki uses this to mind control hundreds of thousands of people at once” 68. What is the colour of Chibi Youzen’s horns? dark dark brown imo 69. What cup size is Dakki? WHY AREY OU ASKING ME THIS-- oh it’s question 69. haha nice 70. Who’s your favourite Colourful Trio sennin? probably taiitsu! 71. Your opinion on the brand new sennin world? luv horai.... new home 72. What is Fukki’s hair colour in act 201? ....there was talk about this?? 73. Ask yourself a question concerning Houshin Engi. can you ever stop fucking thinking about this manga 74. Your response to that question? no lol!!!!! 75. In your opinion, is Nentou in love with his half sister? in a completely innocent and platonic way, you fucking freaks! 76. Did the Sennin World War leave a deep mark on your heart? FUCK YEAH IT HURTS 77. Do you own any Houshin Engi doujinshis? oh yeah we got soup 78. Kichiku, hentai, yaoi, shounen-ai, general. Which doujinshi genre do you have the most of? shounen ai probably. i am, gay 79. Do you make Houshin Engi doujins? i would if i could, probably 80. If you answered ‘yes’ to #79, do you make doujins about couples? i would if i could!! 81. If you answered ‘yes’ to #79, the amount of Houshin Engi doujinshi circles is decreasing, but do you intend to continue yours? man what audience was this intended for 82. Who’s the easiest character to draw? youzen because he’s all i ever draw 83. Who’s the hardest character to draw? anyone who isn’t youzen 84. Have you ever done Houshin Engi cosplay? i wanted to cosplay roushi in high school but predictably never went through with the idea

85. If you answered ‘yes’ to #84, who have you cosplayed? man a lot of these could really be combined into one question huh 86. Does your website mainly have Houshin Engi in it? yeah cause it’s all i ever fucking think about 87. Is there a Houshin Engi fan you can’t forgive? Who and why? :) 88. What is Hanyoutai Youzen’s colour scheme? wh.... white hair, gold eyes, ???? hell if i know. bold of you to assume fujiryu would ever give a character a consistent colour scheme 89. If Nataku were to give you a ride, where would you want to go? nataku take me to court so i can get my legal name changed. idk?!? does this mean like in the sennin world?? anywhere Scenic

90. Which of Choukei’s outfits is the best? i’m longhairluvr69 but i think he looks cuter in his later outfit.... maybe if he’d kept his long hair and put it up in a bun?

91. Say anything about the most memorable scene in Houshin Engi. bold of you to assume i have a working memory 92. What do you think of the ending to Houshin Engi? I’M SAD. it’s a very satisfying ending though. 93. Have you imagined what happens after the series’ end? i got six years worth of headcanons for it, coming soon to a theatre near you 94. If you answered ‘yes’ to #93, give more detail. NO I’M TIRED. just read my fic

95. Have you read Parallel World Houshin Engi? what, Another Story? yeah i’ve read it. 96. Do you own “Dramatic Irony”? yeah! milk junkie sure was a story, wasn’t it. 97. The series has ended, but is your love for the series still going strong? i will be on my deathbed still talking about this manga 98. Do you really think Fukki has nothing left to do in the end? well, he’s finished everything he Needs to do, but there’s a whole wide world left for him to explore! 99. Say anything you want about Fujiryuu. fujiryu i AM coming to japan and we WILL duel in an arby’s parking lot at 3am. there will only be one survivor

full seriousness i am alive and happy today because of fujiryu so if i ever do meet him irl i’d probably just start crying lol. 100. Any last words? read houshin engi!!!!

#yarrowtext #long post under the cut #SORRY IF THE CUT DOESN'T WORK ON MOBILE.... HELL APP.........

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