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hellsbellschime · 3 years

Note

I always love your takes on Dany because I think you explain her really well and was wondering what you think of this take by a Dany stan. It's got some uh... interesting ideas. Sorry too because it's quite long

The main difference in between Daenerys' political arc, and that of other "heroes" and their Houses is that Dany's is not currently a political arc relegated to fighting for Targaryen grievances and wins. Meanwhile, all other main House representatives in the narrative (Starks, Martells, Lannisters, Greyjoys, Tullys, Tyrells, Baratheons) are generally fighting precisely for nothing else but their own (and their Houses') grievances and wins.

That's where the double standards come in-

+ Daenerys is harshly and minutely judged for the quality of her every act, upon every single person in her narrative, bc her arc involves her aim to hold responsibility over the wellness of all these people.

+ Everyone else who are part of the Great Houses however are merely judged as per how they perform towards the wellness of their own Houses, because that's all they aim to perform for.

One girl dies in an act Dany is not directly involved in, particularly in intention, and the discussions are endless as per the repercussions and outrage of the occurrence. Because Daenerys took it upon herself to defend all these people, and this seems like a failure, particularlyin her POV: one girl with no other importance in the story and a few lines, among maybe millions. One girl. Hazea.

Robb Stark and his men, on the other hand, will kill, maim and rape thousands, or even tens of unnamed thousands, and there is no outrage; rarely discussed repercussions. Because Robb's political arc is not about protecting nameless people. Not about caring for the fate of one-liner non-noble characters. His arc is about the grievances of House Stark. About Ned. Readers judge him upon how close he gets to getting revenge on Tywin and Jofrrey, about how well/or bad he leads wars, not about what kind of leader he is to people, what kind of 'monster' he is to enemy commonfolk. The relevance of his eventual loss is not about the fate of his people, or enemy people, either. It's about his personal tragedy. It's about the tragedy of the remaining Starks.

There is outrage for Daenerys even killing her (leader) enemies. For everyone else, it's an undisputed aim.

Daenerys is even already judged for the possibility of a future where she will anything that concerns her actually being Daenerys of House Targaryen in Westeros. The possibility that any Westerosi people might die, while hundreds of thousands may have been dying so far at the hands of other Great Houses (directly and indirectly), and it's mostly irrelevant for them. But for Daenerys that judgement is everything. She is looked through the lense of "if she's a Queen she's meant to protect them, not kill them" tho she has not yet been granted that status, while those who have had the status of Kings, Queens and Lords of Westeros in the meantime have been responsible for the deaths of their own people all of this time.

No noble Northener really cares for a Jeyne Poole, least of all for a Hazea.

Daenerys alone is (harshly) judged as a leader of people, because that's her current actual arc. She is not Daenerys of House Targaryen currently, in a real sense, not really. Her family and House don't really matter where she is now, and to what she is doing.

Almost every other noble character (and I only say almost to partly exclude those not taking particular part in politics) is given the leniency of the tragic MC in a tragic family drama biopic. ALL THEY ARE IS X PERSON OF HOUSE Y. And in most cases nothing else matter. - end post

Well, obviously no hate to this person whoever they are and I don't necessarily think it's a bad take just because I disagree with it. I particularly DO agree on things like Jeyne Poole, and I think that is GRRM very intentionally trying to point out some huge hypocrisies with everyone in the story, even the "good guys", because it is incredibly unfair that no one will come to save Jeyne Poole while a fuckton of people will come to save "Arya Stark" just because they cared about Ned.

But where I don't agree is on that aspect in particular. Because it's not about winning or airing grievances for these great houses, a lot of their actions are largely driven by the fact that they simply care deeply about the other people who are involved in the war now or who have been hurt or killed in the past wars, and that is largely what is motivating many of them to do what they do. And in even more intense cases, they're going to war because they are in extremely immediate danger.

This is true for both villains and heroes, I mean Robb and Cat go to war against the Lannisters because there is an immediately mortal threat to their entire family, and even though Cersei and the rest of the Lannisters are clearly villains, their actions are also driven by an immediate mortal danger that their family is facing. And it's safe to say, a huge portion of what happened in the WOT5K would never have even occurred if a lot of these people weren't put in a position of "HOLY SHIT me or someone I love is about to die RIGHT NOW if I don't do something so I better fucking do something".

I feel like the story makes it clear that the wars that they are fighting are very pointless and brutal anyway. I mean FFS, GRRM does not accidentally traumatize the shit out of Arya by putting her in a commoner's position in a war that is supposedly being fought in her name. So I actually agree with the writer in the sense that there is a double standard when it comes to Dany vs. everyone else, but I feel like the double standard is valid because all of these characters for better or worse have a dog in this fight. Whatever they've done is incredibly personal and therefore pretty irrational for them.

And the fact that the men are rallying to save Arya Stark when they wouldn't rally to save a thousand Jeyne Pooles is very telling and demonstrates that they are extremely hypocritical, but it's also telling because they're not fighting for the "heir to House Stark". They repeatedly talk about how they're fighting for Ned's girl. It has very little to do with her nobility and power and a great deal to do with how these people feel about Ned not as a Stark, but just as a person that they knew and cared for who was horribly wronged.

So while I agree and recognize that a ton of the main characters have done the wrong things, often for the wrong reasons, it's personal, it's emotional, and it's irrational. And in a lot of cases it is driven by something as simple and pure as "I am about to die if I don't do something so I'm doing the first thing I fucking think of to get out of it". Even for the houses who initially got involved as a power play, it has become very much about the people that they care about and their own feelings rather than strategy and house advancement.

That doesn't magically make it moral, but it does make it hugely distinct from what Daenerys is doing. Because Daenerys doesn't have a dog in this fight at all. She has absolutely no personal ties to Westeros or anyone in it, and she is not in any danger from anyone in Westeros. Literally the only Westerosi person who has ever even really tried to kill her is a man she doesn't know and is already dead, and the only Targaryen she ever knew who even had a connection to Westeros was someone she hated who abused her horrifically and who is also already dead.

Ergo, Dany is a villain because she literally has no personal or political justification for the massive war that she's going to bring to Westeros. She is going to leave the place she's in that is a complete mess and desperately needs help even more than it did after her intervention, and she's going to invade a place that she doesn't care about beyond some imaginary concept she has about it in her head, has no connection to, has no need for her, and poses no threat to her.

She's not fighting for anything besides herself and her own sense of entitlement over Westeros. She's more harshly judged for her actions because they are completely driven by her own whims and desires and nothing more. She has the opportunity to think things through and plan and get advice and actually figure out the best way to do things, whereas every character in Westeros is reacting to something very immediate that they don't have a lot of time to consider and that is deeply emotional for them. But still, she doesn't even do that.

She's judged for all of the mistakes she makes because they're unnecessary and foreseeable mistakes. And, if she actually just waited and tried to figure out what to do instead of basically throwing herself into situations where she's suddenly overthrowing governments and ruling hundreds of thousands of people without a plan or any governing experience, then a lot of the bad things that have happened as a result of her campaign wouldn't have happened.

And obviously, I think this is a very intentional move on GRRM's part. I think he establishes that war is pointless and often outrageously hypocritical with the WOT5K, but there's a reason he gave Dany no one she loves and no one who needs her help and no one who poses a threat to her in Westeros. She's going to bring war to an already war-ravaged continent simply because she feels like it should belong to her.

That is drastically different than Robb going to war because his father has been falsely charged with treason or Cersei murdering Robert because he will try to murder her children if he finds out they're not his. And while all of the wars in ASOIAF are terrible and purposeless in the end, GRRM is going very far out of his way to demonstrate that Dany has literally zero justification or even explanation for why she acts the way she does beyond her belief in her own super-special entitlement.

#asoiaf #anti daenerys targaryen #anti daenerys targaryen meta #asoiaf meta

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hypnoticwinter · 4 years

Text

A Death in the Family

Back when they found Uncle Beast I wasn't there at the time, I had gone out to get groceries and a couple of slabs of steak for him, and when I came back I found half the house blown apart and a big uniformed policeman who put his hand out in front of him like a great fleshy stop sign telling me that I can't go in there.

"But it's my house," I told him, and he sucked his breath in through his teeth and gave me a shockingly white, rather inconsiderate smile.

"Not any more," he said.

I had to go over to a friend's house and beg to stay the night, or the next two nights, or perhaps a week's worth of nights, and by that time the meat had spoiled. Down at the station I asked what the charges were and the officer at the desk, a fat black man (they are all fat and black, aren't they?) glanced at his buddy, standing nearby. They said something about general crimes against humanity or something or other but I wasn't paying attention. I demanded to see Uncle Beast and although they tried to talk me out of it I insisted and after maybe ten minutes they took me down to see him.

"I know you get hungry, Uncle Beast, but –"

Howl.

"Nevertheless that isn't a good enough reason for you to –"

Snuffle.

"I understand that and I'm telling you –"

Moan.

"I'm telling you that we can't get you a lawyer."

That gets Uncle Beast's attention. He looks up at me with that dumb quizzical look on his face and I nod grimly. "That's right," I tell him, speaking extra slow to make sure he gets it. "We can't get you one. Nobody will take the case. And I don't have the money to pay for one who would."

Uncle Beast gurgles somewhere deep in the back of his throat.

"Yes, you'll get a court-assigned one. Who knows how effective he'll be? Maybe he'll be a divorce lawyer."

Uncle Beast whinnies. He clearly isn't getting it, and I know he's never going to get it.

"Damn it, Uncle Beast," I say, "why did you have to eat that mailman?"

The lawyer who takes the case is a tax lawyer. He has a nice smile but thinning hair. I sit across from him as he looks over the folder which, I presume, contains details of the case. Or it might be some other case. Or it might be coupons for whatever restaurant he's going to after this. He glances up. Brown eyes behind thick glasses.

"This is for real?"

"Yes," I nod.

"He's a – ?"

"Yes." I'm glad he doesn't say the word. It makes me shiver all over when people call Uncle Beast that word, it makes me feel like I ought to be defending him or speaking out against it or doing something but I never know what to say or what to do about it.

"And he hasn't been - ?"

Even odds on euthanized or gelded being the next word, one of the two. That's usually it, in my experience. Usually euthanized more often than gelded. People don't like to think of people like Uncle Beast mating. But I shake my head no and say it for good measure, since it's true for either.

The lawyer doesn't seem to know what to say for a moment. I wait for him.

"I've never taken a case like this before," he says. He doesn't meet my eyes. I can guess what he's trying to say but I feel altogether too languid to skip ahead and reassure him. There is a pause. "I'm not sure if –" he starts gently, and I roll my eyes.

"I don't expect you to win."

"Oh," he says. "Right. And please understand, it's not out of any hate for your – " he stumbles over the word used in this context. "Your uncle," he says, glancing back down at the folder. "I just simply am not sure whether it's even possible to defend –"

"He ate a mailman," I say.

"Yes."

I decide he's earned a small smile. "I knew this would happen eventually."

He glances down at the folder again. "Can I ask you a question, miss - ?"

"Roan," I tell him smoothly. "Just call me Roan. It's easier than my last name."

"Miss Roan," he says. "Why didn't you do something about him earlier?"

"It's my right not to."

"Yes, but –"

"I simply decided not to. It's my choice."

"There's talk of making euthanizations mandatory," he says.

"But they aren't mandatory currently, no?"

"No."

"Well then."

"Miss – Roan, you realize that your uncle –"

"Uncle Beast."

"Yes, him. You realize that he is probably –"

"Going to be dead," I finish for him. "Yes, I know. There's nothing I can do about it any more."

He looks at me strangely.

"Just defend him," I say.

"I have to," he says.

When I get home my apartment has been broken into. All my stuff is strewn all over the floor. They broke Measle's vase and left her there pale and cactusy, a big dent in her side. My mattress was slashed open too and someone had shat in it. Then in paint they had written 'go home beastfucker' on the window inside and out. It was a little alarming. I called the cops and they didn't help much. It went alright until they asked for my address and then the man on the phone got a little edge to his voice and said that they would have someone around right away. Nobody came.

I figured at this point that it was your ordinary sort of ignorant, boring bigotry, so I didn't think much of it. I just told the super to clean it up and I went to go visit Uncle Beast.

Howl.

"Yes, they quite tore up the place."

Snuffle.

"I already called a locksmith, he's coming sometime in the next couple hours."

Moan.

"No, I'm not really afraid."

Gurgle.

"You don't have to be sorry."

Whine.

"It isn't your fault."

You can imagine how the rest of the conversation went, I'm sure. A lot of sloppy noises. He kept glaring at me with a sort of pitying look out of his good eye and I didn't like that much, but I think the pity might have been for himself and not for me. Operating on that assumption I reach out and take his appendage. He feels a little slimy and flaky. They must not be moisturizing him very much, if at all. But then again I'm surprised also that they haven't just beaten him to death already. They must be scared of his size. They don't need to be, he's very frail. One time when I was trying to lug him inside after he'd gone and eaten the neighbor's Shih Tzu I tugged too hard and I pulled the entire tip of his leg off and he just laid there and howled and howled. I didn't know whether to go to a hospital or a vet.

Uncle Beast makes a high whinnying noise and tries to pull away from me but I dig in and hold on. He starts bleeding.

"There's no use feeling sorry for yourself, you know," I tell him. He gnaws on a lip. I wince as the marks become permanent. "I can't get you out of this one."

I go to the park for lunch. I've packed myself a ham sandwich today and it's gotten a little cold. I could go and heat it up somewhere but the sun is very nice here on the bench so I don't bother, I just eat it like that. I get a few glances, that's all. I imagine I must be in the papers or on television somewhere but I haven't been paying attention to it so I don't know for certain.

There's a big black and white cat walking by. She eyes me timidly. I hold out a bit of my sandwich but she still isn't going for it, so I pick out some of the ham and toss it on the ground. She scurries up and takes it and runs away.

"Kind of you," someone says, and I move over and let Uncle Beast's lawyer sit down.

"What are you doing here?"

"I like to eat lunch out here too."

"It's a good day for it."

"Yes, it is."

"It's lucky I ran into you," he says, unpacking his lunch. "I called and left you a message earlier but you didn't pick up."

"I didn't have my phone."

"They're charging him with first degree murder."

I sit up a little.

"First degree? Are you sure?"

"Positive," he nods. "I just got out of the hearing."

"But they've never done that sort of thing before."

"No," he agrees, "they haven't. Your uncle's the test run."

"Explain."

"Prior to this," he says, unpacking a tin of salad, "they'd been charged with manslaughter. Beasts, I mean. I had to do a lot of research for this case," he grins. "It wasn't the most accurate charge but it was the one that worked. Manslaughter implies a degree of, uh, non-culpability. Not entirely, that is to say, but partial at least. Which, in the past, made it difficult to give Beasts the death sentence."

"Right."

"Murder, though, is entirely culpable and can't be justified. So if they make it stick, there'll be no problem giving him the chair. Or the injection. Or maybe the firing squad, I think, given his size."

"Well." I can't think of much else to say.

"You're taking this pretty well," he observes.

"He did eat a mailman," I concede.

"True. But he is your uncle."

"Listen," I say to him, looking around for a trash can. "Is there any chance, any chance at all that we're going to get him off?"

He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "No," he says. "I can't imagine that we have even the slightest."

"Then why should I worry about it?"

I leave him to his salad.

At the library my boss calls me in to his office and glares at me around his newspaper. Then I focus on the newspaper and see myself glaring at me too and feel I should say something so I decide to say 'ah,' all throaty and dignified and all that, except I haven't talked to anyone in a solid four or five hours since I've been down in the microfiche room cataloging and it comes out like a crackly moan. I clear my throat.

"You want to explain this?" he says. I shrug.

"What's there to explain?"

"You got us a whole fucking lot of bad press."

"So?"

He quotes from the newspaper. "Miss Roan Zillen – Duh-zillean, uh,"

"Dzilenski."

I've worked here for three years and he still trips up on my last name. But to be fair I don't even know his.

"Yes, that. Miss Roan Dzilenski, age 26, was the caretaker of the Beast that escaped from its former home in upstate –"

"Does this matter?"

"Yes it fucking does matter. Look, it says that you work here, Upper East Branch Library, says it plain as day, see?"

He slides it over to me and it does indeed say I work where I work. I cast him another dubious gaze. "So?"

"I've had four people come up to me today asking if you still worked here. Someone on Twitter tweeted at us asking what we were going to do about you."

"Not fire me, I hope."

"I'm thinking about it."

"Good way to get yourself sued."

"You threatening me?"

"Well, I mean," I say, trying to keep calm, "I'm threatening the library, really, so I guess by extension it'll be you..."

"Go and fuck off then," he says. "You're fired. Get out of here."

"I'll sue," I tell him, and he laughs.

"Like to see you try. You think any judge would rule in your favor if you've got one of those Beasts?"

"It's a little different than that," I start to explain, but his laughter grows harsher and it does seem a little pointless.

The lawyer shrugs, shakes his head lightly. "I'm just a tax lawyer, to begin with," he tells me. "This is a little outside of my area of expertise."

"Yes, but if I went to a lawyer whose expertise it was, I'd have to pay him to even listen to me."

He frowns at me. "I get the sense I'm being taken advantage of but I don't care enough to do anything about it."

"That's the spirit," I tell him. "What do you think?"

"You probably have a case," he says, "but unless they are actually saying on your pink slip or whatever that they're firing you solely because you were the caretaker of a Beast, it would probably be a long and tedious legal battle and you probably wouldn't get much out of it."

I stick my lower lip out. "That sucks," I say.

"That's life," he says. "You want to get lunch?"

"Are you being friendly or hitting on me?"

He thinks for a moment. "How do you feel about me hitting on you?"

"I'm only into girls."

"Then I'm just being friendly."

We get lunch.

It's raining in the park, a light drizzle. It's alright, I guess. I find I have a lot of free time now and I spend a lot of it in the park. Lots of people-watching. Lady with a dog goes by and I smile at her, although I'm thinking about why she'd go walk her dog in the rain. The dog didn't look like it was having a good time either.

The lake in the middle of the park is gonna fill up soon. It happens each year at about this time, during the rainy season. It gets too full and floods a little and all of a sudden all the grass is underwater looking very surprised, if grass can be said to look surprised, or even to look in the first place, sort of waving around like in a very slow dull wind.

Why did Uncle Beast have to eat that stupid mailman? Why was the mailman even there? There are signs posted everywhere but no, he just walks right in instead of leaving the mail under the big flat stone at the gate like I said to. Could he have been someone new? I suppose so but you'd think that at the post office they'd tell the mailmen something like that.

One of the perks of not having a job is that I can spend two hours walking over to the post office and not feel like I've wasted my time.

The post office isn't busy. Have you ever been in a busy post office? I haven't either. There's a guy with a moustache sitting behind the counter doing something with a roll of stamps and a few other people wandering around sorting mail or getting coffee. The only other customer there is a big black man trying and failing to get the label on an equally big package he's presumably trying to send. I wander up to the guy with the moustache and he holds up a finger and keeps fiddling with the stamps. I still can't tell what he's doing with them.

"Alright, what can I do you for?" he says finally, and I lean forward, exposing what little cleavage I have. I think the best way to play this is to be sweet instead of mean. You catch more flies with honey, right? Actually I think flies like vinegar better, I read that somewhere, but it's the thought that counts.

"Is this the post office that services the Upper East –"

"The lost mail office is over there," he points, and I roll my eyes.

"It's not lost mail, it's something else."

He blinks and actually looks at me now. "What exactly are you looking for?" he says. "We don't get a ton of people looking for anything other than lost mail, honestly." A sharp glance as a thought occurs to him. "It's not a complaint, is it? You have to go online for that now."

"It's nothing like that," I tell him. "This is the office that services the Upper East Branch, right?"

"Yes."

I lean in a little. "Did you know the guy who got –"

His eyes widen. "Oh," he says. "It's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, the girl with the Beast who ate Mac two weeks ago."

I've been found out. "Yeah," I tell him. "That's me."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to someone about what Mac was doing that day."

His frown deepens. "Nobody's going to want to talk to you."

"I'm not defending the Beast."

"Oh yeah?" he says.

"No," I tell him. "It's going to be shot."

"Good," he says carefully, judging my reaction.

"Yes."

"Why do you want to know about Mac?"

"I wasn't there when it happened. And I wanted to know."

"Know what?"

I shrug. I'm having a hard time thinking about what I ought to say. "What he was like," I finish lamely.

"What happened that day, you mean?"

"Sure."

"I wasn't there," he says, "but it seems the Beast broke down the door when Mac was coming up the walk. Nobody knew there was a Beast in there."

"There were signs. Everywhere. I made sure of it." A reflexive answer. I've gotten that one a lot.

"Even so."

"What would he have done, refused to give us mail just because there was a Beast?"

"Where is it now?"

"Hmm?" I don't want to look at him but I do. He's leaning back in his chair, hands steepled, contemplative look.

"The Beast, I mean. Where is it?"

"It didn't get bail, if that's what you mean. I don't have that kind of money."

"Was it someone you knew?"

I wonder whether I should tell him but I do. There's no point keeping it a secret.

"It was my uncle."

"What happened?"

I shrug again. "I don't know. It just happened. It always just happens."

"I had a nephew," he says, and it takes me a second to realize that he means he had a Beast.

"Yeah?"

"I killed him."

"Yourself?"

"Yes."

I don't know what to say to this and I tell him so. He sighs and looks around. The post office is very quiet. The lady over in the corner sorting boxes has left a while ago and aside from an unseen someone doing some sort of rummaging around behind the far wall, me and him are the only ones there.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done," he tells me.

"Beasts are tough," is all I can think to say.

"He wanted me to kill him."

"How could you tell?"

"I could just tell."

"How did you do it?"

"I shot him."

"Must have been a big gun."

"Small gun. Big bullets."

"I don't know what to do," I tell him, and he blows out another breath.

"There's probably no way to get him off. I mean he really tore Mac up."

"I don't want to get him off."

"And you feel guilty?"

"I don't know what I feel."

"You want to go to dinner with me?"

I look at him again. Without the moustache he'd look decent.

"Yeah, alright, let's," I say, and he smiles.

"I'm not going to be sad about it all the time, is what I'm saying," is what he's saying. My steak is getting cold. I ordered medium but this is a little too well to be medium. The Brussels sprouts were good, though. Very tender. I think of Uncle Beast and wonder what they're feeding him. Are they feeding him?

"Uh huh."

"You're not enjoying this."

"I want to be sad about it all the time."

"Whatever for?"

"I don't know," I tell him, truthfully. "It feels like what I ought to feel."

"We could do something stupid," he says, eating more mashed potatoes. "We could go try and break him out or something."

"I thought you hated Beasts," I say. It seemed like he did.

Outside there are cars rolling past on the dark street. My dress is too tight and I feel uncomfortably sexy. My hair keeps getting in the way.

"I don't hate them," he says. "Hate is a very strong word."

"In this particular case?"

"In general."

"That's very liberal of you."

He frowns. "I try not to be very political."

"Not that kind of liberal."

"Oh."

"I'm tired of Beasts," I tell him. "Why are they a thing?"

"The gene –"

"Oh, I know about the stupid gene," I say. I try to take another bite of steak but I can't. It's not good.

"Bad steak?"

"I ordered medium and got well."

"I'm sorry," he says. He looks sincere. Actually he looks pretty decent without the drab post office uniform. It wasn't doing him any favors.

"Why did my stupid uncle have to eat that mailman?"

"Mac," he says.

"Yes, him."

"Do you want to see a picture of him?" he asks suddenly and I say I don't know whether I should or not, but he's already got his phone out and is showing me. Mac looks average. A bit of a stupid haircut, that's the most you can say about him.

"He looks nice," I say, blandly.

"He was a nice guy. Everybody was real torn up about it."

"I'm sorry," I tell him. His eyes are big and dark.

"It's alright, I guess," he says. "It happens, right? Every week you read something else on the news about a Beast tearing up someone."

"And yet they're people."

"And yet they're people," he agrees. "And you can't just execute people without a fair trial."

"They want to."

"Yes."

"I read," I mention, "somewhere that some scientist or other has fixed up a device that lets you speak to Beasts."

"Oh yeah?"

"It was in the newspaper last week. I only got a glimpse of it while I was cataloguing."

"Cataloguing?"

"I work at the library," I tell him. Somehow I had neglected to mention that. "Well, actually," I think about it, "I did work there."

"You quit?"

"Got fired."

"What for?"

"Being unfortunate enough to try to take care of a Beast, I suppose."

"It's poison."

"How do you mean?"

"Socially, that is. Can't take care of them, can't kick them out. What are you supposed to do with them?"

"Beats me," I say. "I had thought my uncle was rather harmless too."

"Is he not very monstrous?"

"Oh, he is," I say, thinking of Uncle Beast. "Especially his fangs, he has huge fangs. But he had never used them."

"Was he meek? I hear that some of them are meek."

"The ones that retain more of their humanity are," I nod. "It was some scientist at the university," I mention, remembering.

"Maybe we could go. Tomorrow, if you like. It's my day off."

"You're serious," I laugh. He nods. "You think it would do anything?"

"No, probably not. Be worth a try, maybe."

"Then let's."

The waiter comes with the check and we both reach for it, and then I let him take it. He says he doesn't mind.

"This doesn't mean you get to sleep with me yet," I joke, but he doesn't laugh.

He drives me home and we sit in silence and watch the rain thud into the windshield. It breaks the red lights into bloody fractals. I catch him looking at me out of the corner of his eye and he looks away when I do. Eventually I think of something to say. I ask him if it's been a long time and he says that yes, it has. After that I don't know what to say, though, so I just let it be silent.

"Do you want my number?" he asks me in the lobby, right near all of the mailboxes. I say yes and ask him if he wants mine and he nods. When I take out my phone I realize it's off and I laugh sheepishly as I wait for it to turn on. When it does I see that I have three missed calls and a text from the lawyer.

"Oh," I say. I have a rather tight feeling somewhere down at the bottom of my gut.

"What is it?" he asks.

"The preliminary hearing was today," I say. "I missed it."

The rain breaks sometime overnight and when I wake and stare out the window everything is very cool and clear and dry. Dead worms all over the sidewalks are the only telltales that there ever even was a rain. I have some cereal for breakfast and he calls when I'm halfway through. I make sure my voice is appropriately groggy and answer.

"Will I regret giving you this number?" I ask him.

"No, I hope not," he says, sounding puzzled. "Do you want breakfast?"

"I'm eating cereal."

"Oh. Well, I bought you a bagel."

"Where are you?" I frown.

"Look out your window."

I look out and down. There he is, waving.

"Creep," I call him. I stick my tongue out at him but I'm sure he can't see it, I'm too high up.

"Can I come up?"

"I guess," I tell him.

He looks round the room dubiously. I apologize for it not being very clean and take the bagel.

"I thought you already ate?"

"You got me a bagel though."

"Yes."

"Yes, well."

"What's the plan today?"

I think for a moment, but I don't much want to see the lawyer. Or Uncle Beast. "Same as before," I tell him. "We'll go to the university and try and talk to the science guy."

"Don't you want to go see - ?"

"No."

He drops it, wisely.

The university itself is in a long flat plateau just outside of the city. We have to drive two hours to get there, and it's quiet for most of it. Halfway through he turns the radio on and we listen to pop songs, then foreign songs, then talk radio, then the news, then he switches it off again. He glances over, sheepish. Nothing on.

Once you get past the city limits and into the desert the entire world seems like it's colder. It's counter-intuitive, maybe; the heat outside is sweltering and you can see mirages off in the distance, but in the car, with the AC blasting, it's easy to forget that there even is an outside. Everything swims by very sterile and painted-on. Like I could open the window and reach out and trail my hands at 60 mph over canvas.

"Could you not do that?"

"Huh?" I say, intelligently. He points to my feet.

"Don't put those up on the dash."

"Sure," I say, putting my legs back down. "Was I distracting you?"

"I'm a germaphobe."

"A hypochondriac."

"No," he says, "just a germaphobe. It's not the same thing."

"Don't the two go hand in hand?"

"Not always."

"Well."

A single withered Jericho tree grows by the side of the road. Big branches, no leaves. If you cracked it open the sap would be like honey. But very thin. Thin honey.

You can see the university from far away. It starts as a dull little dot, sort of spirey, like a clump of hair all banded together on the bathroom floor. You can just make it out against the mountains; it's a little darker than them. But it grows fast and you can make out all the buildings. The science building is the tallest. I think it's because it has an observatory in the roof, like a little round pimple, and it helps somehow for it to be closer to the sky. But that doesn't make much sense. In either case it's the tallest.

The university has its own little oasis to squat in, like a giant spider in the middle of its web. The buildings are all hunched together like conspirators. The guard at the gate eyes us suspiciously. It's the middle of winter break, he says. What do we want?

"I want to talk to Dr. Ivanovich," I tell him.

He frowns. "What for?"

"Personal business."

"Does he know you?"

"Yes."

He looks dubious and reaches for the phone. "I'll call him," he says, and I roll my eyes.

"Listen, it's a family thing. Don't call him. He knows I'm coming. Swear."

He sighs and waves us through. "You do look like him," he says. "You his daughter?"

I smile, enigmatically, I hope, and wave as we blow through.

My driver looks over at me as we go to park. "You look like Ivanovich?"

"Apparently."

"You mean that was just luck?"

"Yes. A coincidence."

He blows his breath out, shakes his head and laughs. "I was sure he was going to send us away."

"If he'd called, he probably would have."

"No appointment?"

"None at all."

"Of course not," he mutters.

"What?"

"You couldn't have called or anything?"

"Well, no," I say, vaguely puzzled. "I don't even know his number."

He shakes his head, gets out of the car. "We drove all the way down here for nothing," he says.

"Don't be so negative," I tell him, and I lead the way into the admissions building.

The lady greets us, then looks at me strangely. "Let me guess," she says, "you're Dr. Ivanovich's daughter?"

I share a glance with him and then nod, smile as nice and relaxed as I can. It feels like I'm already in too deep, like I can't stop pretending now having already done so at the gate. "Correct," I tell her. "Here to see dad."

"He's in the science building, as I'm sure you know," she laughs as she prints out our visitor badges. "Have a good time!"

"Thanks," I murmur, inspecting the badge. Katerina Ivanovich, apparently. And guest.

"Didn't ask for my name," he says as I hand him the badge, and I shrug.

"Maybe Katerina's a student or something, I don't know. Their security isn't great."

"But nobody knows what she looks like?"

"Maybe I look like Ivanovich enough that they just assume."

"I guess." He doesn't sound convinced.

The hike over to the science building is fairly long. I wonder how the students manage it. I bet they complain about it all the time. Oh, my next class is in the science building, let me put my good shoes on. Don't forget to pack a lunch. I'll get my bear spray. Et cetera. Many laughs.

There are a few students out walking around, enjoying the relatively balmy weather. They eye us curiously but do not speak. "It's like being in a zoo enclosure," I say, and he doesn't know what I'm talking about and I balk at trying to explain it. "It just is," I tell him, and he shrugs.

"All right," he says. I wonder if he is always this agreeable or if he's just doing it for my sake.

The science building is cold and quiet. AC to the max, blasting out of all the vents. I shiver. Very empty, too, although it would be on a school holiday. Some groups in their own rooms, with lab coats and beakers and science things. They give us odd looks but keep on with whatever they're doing. No passing mention. We pass some teacher or other in the hall and she smiles at us and keeps going, but I ask her where Dr. Ivanovich is, and she tells us. "You're his daughter, aren't you?" she says.

Very briefly I weigh the consequences of saying something like 'no, actually, but everyone keeps saying that I am' or something like that and decide it isn't worth it. I nod and smile and she smiles back and tells me my father is upstairs in room 403. I grin and thank her and we go on.

"This is weird," he says, and I shrug.

"I'm just ready to see Ivanovich," I say. "I want to know if I look like him at all."

Room 403. No window on the door. I knock and then enter and a man who I presume is Ivanovich turns and raises his eyebrows at us. Inscrutable machinery lies dissected on the table before him.

"Hmm," I say.

My friend looks between me and Ivanovich. "I can see the resemblance," he says.

"What's going on?" Ivanovich asks.

"We came here to see you and people keep assuming I'm your daughter," I tell him. "I don't see it, myself."

Ivanovich looks old and wrinkled. He has an angular jaw and tiny eyes and wispy, dirt-colored hair. His voice is like a meat grinder. He peers at me for a moment then shakes his head. "You don't look anything like Katerina," he says.

"I didn't think I would."

"What do you need?" he says. "I'm very busy at the moment."

"I read an article a week ago –" I begin, and Ivanovich groans.

"Oh please," he says in his crackly voice, "not that article. It got everything wrong. Vastly misrepresented what I'm trying to do."

"What are you trying to do, then?"

"My machine," he gestures to the table, "will allow us to read Beasts' minds. Not talk to them. Their brainwaves are simpler than a sline human's. I can reach right in and pluck out what I need. Communication one-way only."

My phone rings. It's the lawyer. I hang it up. "Does the machine work?" I ask Ivanovich, and he waves his hand.

"It will. Eventually. I haven't tested it yet but if I had to guess –"

"Do you want to test it?" My friend breaks in. We both look at him.

"What are you saying?" Ivanovich asks.

"I have a Beast that ate a mailman," I tell him. "They're going to try and euthanize him after the trial."

"Tcha!" Ivanovich spits. "Beasts are a blight on humanity. I don't want to –"

"I'm not trying to get him off."

"Oh?"

"I think," I say, "that if we understood why Beasts do what they do, why they suddenly snap, what they like or don't like, we'd be better able to avoid situations where someone gets eaten, like that mailman." Ivanovich nods at that, gives me a crafty look.

"That was why I decided to build this," he says. "That was my exact thought."

"Would you try it on mine?"

"I could," he says. "But no guarantees. I don't know if it'll work."

"It would be worth a shot," I tell him, and he nods, smiles a surprisingly bright smile.

"It would be worth a shot," he echoes and, next to me, the postal worker shivers.

"Where have you been?" the lawyer asks me angrily. "It's been two days –"

"Forgot to charge my phone," I tell him, trying not to sound glib. "What's happened?"

"The preliminary hearing's over. Since you weren't there to testify –"

"You didn't tell me I needed to be."

"I did but evidently you don't listen."

"Get to the point."

"Your Beast is being charged for murder and the judge has already given out a preliminary sentence."

"Already?" I frown. "But he hasn't even been tried yet."

"It's all very unofficial. He mentioned it during a press release. He told a reporter that if the Beast is guilty he's going to sentence it to death."

"Is he allowed to do that?"

"Roan," the lawyer says gently, "it's a Beast. Nobody cares. They just want to see it die."

"That's sick," I tell him. I feel very cool and collected. Behind me in the back seat, one hand draped over his big crate of supplies and materials, Ivanovich shifts around and leans forward.

"Who is it?" he asks. "What are they saying?"

"It's my lawyer," I tell him, and he pales. "No, not like that, it's about the Beast."

"What's going on?" my lawyer says.

"Did you read that article on Ivanovich?" I ask him.

"What? Who?"

"It was in the paper a week ago," I persist. "A scientist, Ivanovich, down at the university –"

"Oh, the crazy guy."

"What?"

"Talking to Beasts, right?" a laugh, like a burst of static. "Give me a break."

"He has a machine –"

"You don't actually believe this, do you?"

"I've got him in my car right now, him and his machine. We're going to talk to Uncle Beast."

The lawyer laughs for so hard and so long that I hang up on him.

"Your friend," Ivanovich says from the back, "I think he is not so keen on our venture."

"No," I agree, "he isn't. And would you put your seat belt on already?"

He glances over at the large crate of materials next to him, which has been belted in very securely, and shrugs. "You are a good driver, no?"

"Even so."

He grumbles a little but he puts the seat belt on eventually.

"Suppose they don't let us do it," my friend says next to me.

"How do you mean?"

"Just what I said. Suppose we get to the jail and tell them what we want to do and they don't let us."

"I can't imagine they would."

"What we're going to do might make it harder for them to convict the Beast," he says significantly. "You think they want that?"

"I think they don't really care."

"Listen," he says. "This could be the very first time that a Beast is ruled innocent –"

I'm giggling too hard to hear what he says next.

"Ruled innocent!" I say. "Really!"

Behind me Ivanovich cracks a smile. The post worker looks between us, frowning. "I don't get you," he says to me. "Don't you want your uncle to get off?"

"I mean," I say, trying to look at it objectively, "not really, I guess not."

"Why not?"

"He's a Beast," I say. "He's a danger to society no matter how docile he is."

"How come you were taking care of him then?"

"Because I had to," I say. "Legally, I mean. I was next of kin so if I didn't I could get hit with a felony."

We've just entered the city now and the familiar slide of streets and cars and pedestrians is swallowing us back up again. It feels somewhat nicer to be able to see less of the sky. Outside of the city it seems so wide and deep. Like if you stood there and looked up and kept looking you would fall backward endlessly, into a Fibonacci spiral of atmosphere. Gives me the creeps.

The familiar smells of oil and gasoline and garbage seep in through the air filters, in spite of the air filters, that is to say. Beside me the post worker is shaking his head. "So you meant what you said to Ivanovich, then?" he says, jerking his finger towards the rear of the car.

"Does it matter?" I ask. I feel very tired. "I just want to do this thing and be done with it. I'm tired," I say.

"Will you let me out?" he asks, and I pull over and let him out. He gets out and walks away quickly. I wonder if I'll see him again but I know I won't. It's no big deal.

"Your boyfriend seems a bit miffed," Ivanovich says, and I cluck my tongue.

"He isn't my boyfriend," I tell him.

"But he wanted to be."

"Yes."

"Perhaps too quickly," Ivanovich says, then falls silent. I nod and drive on. The post worker fades into the streets behind us. I didn't catch his name. I don't think he told me. Ivanovich watches him go then turns back to me.

"I think you're lying."

"Oh?"

"I think you do want your uncle to get off."

"I'm conflicted," I say after a moment. "Is that so bad?"

We stop at a red light and Ivanovich rolls down his window, sticks his head out, looks round. "No," he says finally. "I have not had to take care of a Beast. I imagine you get attached. Like a pet."

"I knew my uncle," I tell him. "Back before. It was painful seeing him change."

"You actually saw?" Ivanovich asks. "I thought no one had –"

"No, I didn't actually see it. But it was like that," I snap my fingers, rolling us around a car stopped in the middle of the street. A man in a puffy shirt is shouting into his phone, utterly upset. "Wonder what that's about." A chorus of honks is already starting to swell behind him.

"I'm sorry," Ivanovich says a little stiffly. I glance back at him and shrug.

"'S'alright," I mumble. "Just something that happens."

"Do you ever worry that you might?"

I think about it for a moment. "No," I tell him. "I don't think I ever worry about that."

The dull dead eyes of security cameras and street thugs follow us as we pull into the police station. The moon is very pale and bright tonight but when I look upwards all I see are fluorescents.

The police officer eyes us dubiously. "I don't know if that's such a good idea," he says. His skin is a glistening brown. Their AC is out and my shirt is starting to stick to me.

"Please," Ivanovich says. "This is a very important test."

"It could save lives," I add. This seems to me to be one of the more salient points.

"You could lose yours," the officer says, laying down the folder he'd been looking at before we walked in and showed our ID. He leans back, clasps his hands over his stomach. "I'd be doing you a disservice if I let you go in there."

"Isn't it restrained?" I ask him, and he shrugs.

"Yes," he says. "But he hasn't tried them yet. He could easily snap them if he got agitated. We don't know his strength."

Ivanovich sighs and points to me. "The Beast was her Uncle in life. He responds best to her. With her there to calm him, there will be almost no danger of –"

"Almost," the officer says.

"Listen, please," I say. "This could be really useful. For everyone."

The officer sighs, looks down at his nails for a moment. "Fine," he says. "But you'll be alone in there. I'm not going to risk one of my men –"

"That's fine," Ivanovich and I say in unison before we glance at each other, a little surprised. "It'll be fine," I say.

"Yes," Ivanovich says, "it'll be fine."

The officer shrugs and gets up, taking a keycard from his belt. "It's your funeral," he says, and then he leads us down into the bowels of the precinct station.

Uncle Beast raises his long jowled head and looks at me, then at Ivanovich. He looks awful. They clearly haven't been feeding him enough. Or at all. There are welts around his neck and wrists and ankles from where the chains chafe his rubbery skin. His blood is thick, like syrup or honey, forming a rust-colored crust where it has been allowed to dry. He lets out a long, low, mournful howl at the sight of me and rattles the chains a little, and all of a sudden I feel like crying.

"Oh, Uncle Beast," I say, and I slowly, carefully, reach out with one hand and pat his chest awkwardly. "You must be miserable."

"It will only take a moment," Ivanovich says, hurrying forward with some electrodes. Uncle Beast watches him warily. Perhaps also wearily. When he draws too near Uncle Beast growls, a low rumbling sound that makes my stomach drop, and I know Ivanovich feels it too since he backs up immediately and his cheeks pale.

"It's all right," I murmur pointlessly. "It's okay. Uncle Beast, it's okay."

He gives a long whimpering moan and lays his head down and Ivanovich lets out a shaky breath. "Remarkable, truly remarkable," he keeps saying, and I ask him what he means.

"I've never seen a Beast that responded as pacifically as that. Not even a snarl at you," he says, shaking his head. "Right, the electrodes. Here goes nothing."

One on each temple, a few on the top of the head, the cheeks, the chin. The placement might as well be random, although I'm sure Ivanovich knows exactly the reason behind each. The wires all lead back to his portable computer console and he sits down against the far wall of the cell, taps a few keys, flashes me a thumbs up. "Now I need to calibrate it," he says. "Talk to him."

"Talk to him?"

"Yes. About anything, it doesn't matter. I need to get a response of some kind."

"Uncle Beast?" I say to him. "Why did you kill that mailman?"

Snuffle.

"I'm serious," I tell it. "You got yourself in a heap of trouble and gave me quite a headache trying to deal with it. You're probably going to die because of it.

Groan. I glance at Ivanovich and he shakes his head. "More," he says. "Complex concepts."

I roll my eyes at him. "Uncle Beast, do you remember Aunt Esther?"

Uncle Beast raises his head. His eyes are wide and reddened. His pupils are triangular. He makes a strange shuddering noise in the back of his throat. "You were married to her once," I try. "You couldn't have children. Remember that? You both wanted to so badly but you couldn't. You were always fighting about it."

Chuf-chuf-chuf.

"Yes, I knew you'd remember. That was before you were a Beast, wasn't it? What happened, Uncle?"

Ivanovich is engrossed in his screen. Uncle Beast is picking idly at a loose bit of skin on his chest. As I watch he tears it off completely and eats it, his long arms stretching against the manacles binding him to the wall.

"There's nothing in there, is there?" I say dully, and Uncle Beast's eyes, like a congerie of black marbles, flick over to me. He tries to reach for me but the manacles hold.

Ivanovich shakes his head. "Either my machine needs further adjustment, or there is barely a shred of humanity left in him.

"I thought so."

"Did you?" Ivanovich asks. "Did you really? You sounded rather hopeful."

Groan.

"Shut up," I murmur to Uncle Beast.

After I call the undertaker again I sit down in the nice leather chair that I like and feel my skin start to stick to it. It's hot in the city and my AC is out so all I can do is sit here in my underthings and sweat. I even have the window open but it isn't helping, it's just pouring wave after wave of hot, stale air in on me. But if I close it it'll be even worse. The air will get stuffier and I'll sweat more and more until I'm just a puddle resting in the nice leather chair. It's exhausting.

Outside in the park a lady is leading a chitinous, spiderlike Beast on a leash. People recoil as she passes and from this distance I can just make out a grin.

The undertaker is humming under his breath on the other end of the line. There's a tapping that could be a pencil. I'm sure he'll come up with some sort of answer, probably disagreeable, soon. When he speaks it is with a tight, controlled accent. He disagrees with what I want to do fundamentally, I imagine. I wonder if he'll quote me a higher price because of it.

"Miss Dzilenski," he says, "I've worked out the cost. I don't think you'll like it, however."

"Just tell me," I groan.

He names an astronomical sum and I roll my eyes. "That's just for the coffin," he adds. "We'll have to have it made special. We don't stock ones appropriate for Beasts. The service, transportation, and so on, comes to –"

"Forget it," I tell him. "I don't have that kind of money. What do people normally do with Beasts? Just dump them somewhere?"

"Cremation, as I understand it, tends to be the common method of disposal." He sounds nettled. He must be nettled. "But some people," he adds, "have had success tossing them into the ocean. From a boat, that is. They sink very quickly."

The nearest ocean is three or four hundred miles away.

"So if I have a dead Beast on my hands..." I start, and the undertaker finishes primly.

"You'd better do something about it, and quickly. Before it starts to stink."

I thank him and hang up the phone. I have been avoiding looking at it all morning but I glance back at the bathroom door, propped open by the object within, slightly too large for its confines, and meet Uncle Beast's baleful, accusing, dead gaze.

#writing #short story #ennui #beasts #mutants #fiction

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13eyond13 · 5 years

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Comparing Manga!Near to Anime!Near

Sure! I actually found Near’s character very wooden and boring the first time I watched the anime, and then was very pleasantly surprised at how interesting and full of personality he seemed when I read the manga later, so I think comparing Near’s character in both sources is a great idea. I’ll outline the major differences I found between them below.

(This post is using the official English translation of the manga and the English subtitles from Netflix for the screenshots, by the way):

1. MELLO AND NEAR’S PERSONALITIES AND MOTIVES ARE DIMINISHED IN THE ANIME’S VERSION OF THE WAMMY’S CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK:

This is a scene that was changed slightly in the anime, and at great detriment to both Mello and Near’s characters and the audience's immediate understanding of them, I think. When we are first introduced to these two in the manga it shows a few panels of Mello being a bully at Wammy’s who gets right into the center of the action, and Near being a loner who is invited to participate but prefers to do puzzles by himself:

The anime begins directly at their meeting with Roger in the office, so we know nothing about how these two normally behave at the orphanage or how their peers perceive them / interact with them:

When asked to work together Mello refuses and explains to Roger that he and Near have always been at odds. The manga shows a flashback to Mello studying very hard to surpass Near's scores and always failing to do so, which sets up his inferiority complex and his strong work ethic. It also shows Near being surrounded by admiring students, which indicates he was probably well-liked despite being a loner, and shows that he’s very competent, the most successful student in the school:

The anime simply has Mello say that they've always been at odds and competing with each other. Mello describes himself as overly emotional and Near as logical and cool-headed, and then they just leave it at that.

It isn’t until much later in the anime -- after the kidnapping, when Light finally finds out about Wammy’s -- that the difference in Near’s and Mello’s academic ranking is even mentioned at all:

I think the manga gives a much better sense of the successors’ personalities and motives right away than the anime does. All we see in the anime is that Near seemingly doesn't give a shit about L's death, nor care much about how the successor choice is made, and that Mello is temperamental and thinks that since Near’s unemotional he will be able to better solve the Kira case. I remember finding Near extremely cold and wooden the first time I watched it, because his reaction to L’s death is so callous, and none of that other stuff about him was shown or explained.

2. THE SPY IN THE SPK IS TAKEN OUT OF THE ANIME STORYLINE:

In the manga once the NPA Director is kidnapped by the mafia Near starts to suspect there is a mole in the SPK who would've leaked their plans to the kidnappers (which there is, Ill Ratte):

In the anime Ratte's role as the spy was cut out of the storyline altogether, so Near just immediately figures it out and then orders his FBI agent to cooperate with Soichiro:

I’m guessing they cut that spy bit out of the anime due to time constraints, but Near being betrayed by one of his employees and being shrewd enough to suspect it adds an extra little layer of vulnerability and sympathy to his character beyond just “smart, blase guy who never loses his cool.”

3. NEAR NO LONGER SUCKS AT DARTS IN THE ANIME:

The scene of Near and Light first talking on the phone and Near calling Light “L number two” is basically the same between the two sources:

Except that in the manga Near is shown to absolutely suck at darts, lol:

In the anime Near is just sitting there building a basic tower out of dice:

Little detail changes like this might not seem that consequential, but I'd argue they make all the difference; sucking at darts adds an endearing aspect to Near beyond just “humourless successor of L who sits around playing with toys a lot.”

I love it because it seems like exactly the opposite of what you'd expect them to show in order to get the audience on his side and believing he's L's super-competent successor, you know? It made me laugh and feel affectionate toward him in the manga, because he looks so dang serious about it; plus I love that he sticks with it for so long despite clearly not being very good!

*(side note: Tumblr’s image uploader glitched out at this point, so unfortunately the rest of the post won’t have any visuals, apologies:)*

4. THERE IS NO “WAS HE EATING CHOCOLATE?” SCENE IN THE ANIME:

Near never detains Sayu and Soichiro after the kidnapping to interrogate them in the anime, so sadly we don’t get that hilarious little manga moment where he deduces it was Mello behind the kidnapping because of the sound of him eating chocolate over the phone.

5. NEAR’S RESPONSE TO THE SPK DEATH SEEMS LESS EMOTIONAL IN THE ANIME:

His reaction to most of the SPK getting murdered is different in anime, and I would argue he comes off much less sorrowful or shaken by the deaths. He seems pretty matter-of-fact about it, and almost like he'd predicted and planned for it to happen that way. The main emotional reaction we see is his dice tower falling and his face looking intense/angry.

In the manga Near is caught off-guard by the deaths; he laments that he didn’t find the spy in the SPK before it was too late, and then he says to Light: “I was somewhat prepared for this the moment YOU gave the notebook away to the kidnappers, but it sure does hurt.” He is shown looking very sad about it. Light asks Near to share information, and Near has to deliberate for a while internally about whether he wants to trust Light with any information about Mello or himself before he agrees.

In the anime Near calmly predicts the deaths right before they happen, then tells Light that they died, then says: “L, you helplessly handed over the notebook.” Light asks him if he would have done anything differently if he was in charge, and Near says: “No, with that kind of preparation it would’ve been taken either way. There’s no point in us arguing. Let’s help each other and tell each other what we know. I have some idea of who the culprit may be.” MUCH LESS EMOTIONAL, and a bit overly willing to immediately volunteer information about Wammy’s and Mello to Light.

6. NEAR COMFORTING AND INFORMING THE SPK ABOUT MELLO AFTER THEY ARE DISBANDED BY THE GOV’T IS CUT OUT OF THE ANIME:

In the manga Near spends a good deal of time explaining Mello’s thought process to his team and warning them about his dangerousness before they ever meet up with him. He tells Halle in particular to watch out, because he believes Mello will target her home because she’s the most vulnerable, and then says to whole group:

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to participate. But please don’t leave the headquarters. I’m scared, so I’m not going to go outside.”

This display of thoughtful consideration for his team’s feelings and safety and his honesty about his own fears is not shown at all in the anime, as it skips directly from the news of the SPK being dissolved to Mello breaking into Halle’s apartment and taking her hostage to the SPK HQ.

7. NEAR SEEMS A LITTLE MORE EXCITED BY MELLO’S ARRIVAL IN THE MANGA THAN HE DOES THE ANIME:

And there was a more in-depth explanation given in the manga about why he continued to defend Mello and sympathize with him. But even so, I would say these scenes are for the most part very similar between the two sources. The anime did a great job adding some lovely stained-glass visuals behind the boys and such here, too!

8. THERE IS NO SCENE OF NEAR AND MELLO WORKING TOGETHER TO QUESTION MOGI IN THE ANIME:

This is a real shame, because it’s basically the most fun interaction these two have and the closest they get to collaborating in a personal way after their dramatic reunion at the HQ (even though it could also be seen as Mello just attempting to taunt/use Near, but Near doesn’t seem to take it that way). Near’s interactions with Mogi and Mello are weirdly cute in this scene, as he often compliments them on their impressiveness and such, so it’s too bad that the anime chopped it out!

9. THE ANIME PUTS A MORE POSITIVE SPIN ON NEAR AND MELLO’S COLLABORATION AGAINST KIRA:

It’s left very ambiguous in the story if Mello was trying to save Near or beat him by kidnapping Takada. The manga takes a typically unsentimental view of Mello’s intentions, and the anime takes a more hopeful view of them.

In the the manga, Near says this: “I find it hard to believe that Mello thought that far ahead. But I am sure that he was always trying to get ahead of me. And that’s not all. Even if he didn’t surpass me, Mello always said that he was going to be number one, and that he was going to be better than me and L. But I always knew I would never be able to surpass L. It could be that I lacked the action and he lacked the calm; and even though we couldn’t surpass the one we admired on our own, together we can stand with L. Together we can surpass L.”

In the anime, Near says this: “I believe Mello knew in his heart that alone we aren’t able to reach our goal, to surpass L. But together... together we can stand with L. Together we can surpass L!”

10. NEAR’S PHILOSOPHICAL SPEECH IN THE WAREHOUSE IS CUT OUT OF THE ANIME:

It’s probably my favourite thing he says in the entire manga, so that’s too bad! He says it in response to Light’s passionate Kira monologue.

In the manga, after Near shuts Light down, Light says: “Near, you're wrong. I'm the icon of justice now.”

Near replies: “You may be right. I'm no different than you. I believe in what I think is right, and believe that to be righteous. Nobody can tell what is right and what is wrong, what is righteous and what is evil. Even if there is a god, and I had his teachings before me, I would think it through and decide if that was right or wrong myself.”

I loved getting these little deeper thoughts from Near in the manga; it made him come off less cold and uncaring and more human and insightful to me.

11. NEAR HAS A PLAN TO LOCK LIGHT UP FOR LIFE IN THE MANGA THAT ISN’T MENTIONED IN THE ANIME:

When Light tries to stall for time by attempting to tempt Near into testing the Death Note, in the manga Near replies:

“Light Yagami. Kira. I have no plans to kill you. I really don't care if the notebook is real or not anymore. From the very beginning, my goal was to capture Kira. All I want is for everything to become clear and for Kira to be captured. You're as good as arrested now, and I'll confiscate the notebook Mr. Aizawa has. That should be enough. And I will not announce Kira's arrest or the existence of the notebook to the public. I believe that everybody here can keep that secret. I'll take full responsibility for locking you up in a place where nobody will find you until you die."

I find this both refreshing and scary, because it shows Near’s definitely not doing this for his own glory or his ego (like Mello and L might), but it’s also a very ruthless and scary side of Near that adds a lot of spice to his character! I can’t imagine much of a worse fate for Light than that had Ryuk not gotten to him first, yikes.

12. THE EPILOGUE CHAPTER IS LEFT OUT OF THE ANIME:

In which Matsuda and Ide speculate about Near possibly “cheating” with the Death Note (aka being behind Mikami messing up with checking for tampering and dying in prison ten days later and such). Near is shown doing well as the new L, playing with toys and eating some of Mello’s trademark chocolate and collaborating with the NPA on their new work. Which is nice!

So in conclusion to this massive post, I would say that most of the characters in the second half of the story kinda got shafted by the anime because of how the plot was condensed; it didn’t help that the animation portrayed the subtler characters like Near in a less dynamic/expressive way than the original manga art did, either. Despite what it may sound like, I do love the anime a heck of a lot, but I think people will probably miss out on a lot of Near’s charm if they never get to experience the original manga version of him, as well!

#death note #near #mello #light yagami #long post #meta #p #i am so mad that the image uploader crapped out #i took like dozens of screencaps i can't use #but i guess you get the gist of things #there are probably other things i missed too

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 5 years

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Last night I got to thinking, for no real reason, about how the AA6 portion of the Bullshit Defense AU doesn’t have a climactic plot. Like, the AA1 segment doesn’t either - there’s no equivalent to Turnabout Goodbyes, of course - but it’s just really funny after the AA4 and AA5 bits, where they expose Kristoph as the bastard he is, and catch the Phantom, that after all that, the only mildly interesting thing that happens is Trucy gets arrested for murder and Nahyuta has to prosecute his brother’s half-sister and Thalassa calls Retinz a bitch in front of the entire courtroom.

Like the revolution happened ~14 years ago, Amara’s been back on the throne since, Nahyuta and Apollo have spent half their lives as royalty and Rayfa has never known anything but growing up in the palace a princess with two older brothers and Amara and Dhurke as her parents.

Except then I was like “wait, what if I can figure out drama to happen in Khura’in anyway?” and of course that’s exactly what I’ve done. And it’s too detailed in some parts and broad-strokes in others because, yknow, I worked through it last night and have other fic to write even though I spent all day so far on this uhhh 3.6k “summary”.

Ga’ran was not a popular queen for the ~9 or so years of her rule. Really, she’d be outright hated if she wasn’t playing the “my sister was assassinated” card for sympathy. Her criminal justice ““reforms”” are swift and brutal and not only send every defense attorney underground into the rebellion, but also some prosecutors as well, the ones who have concerns beyond simply winning. Among the prosecutors that stay, it’s a free-for-all of making shit up, calling retrials when things don’t go their way, etc etc - hey, if Ga’ran did it in her trial with Dhurke, then they can too!

Plus, Dhurke was quite popular in his own right, not just “Amara was a well-loved queen so people liked her husband as well.” He successfully defended himself from the charges that he was Amara’s assassin - it was Ga’ran calling a retrial, claiming that he forged evidence, that sent him running. And while Ga’ran tried to claim that Dhurke’s disappearance was suspicious, that if he was truly innocent he’d have nothing to fear from a retrial, and while some people accepted that, there were others who thought that Dhurke’s disappearance was actually Ga’ran disappearing him, and her claims that he was still out there leading a resistance were entirely fabricated to justify Ga’ran claiming extra power and cracking down on all defense attorneys and everything else. Which I mean, Dhurke is still out there, but point being, lots and lots of people aren’t buying Ga’ran’s story.

Plus, Inga is embezzling millions of the people’s tax dollars, and that’s not helping this new regime be popular, either.

This is all background to say, when Amara announced that she was alive, that Ga’ran framed Dhurke for the fire, that the people of Khura’in welcomed her back to the throne with open arms, even if she was no longer a goddess in their eyes, having admitted that she had been fooled, that she had been wrong, and that she made a terrible mistake in trusting her sister and not just her family had suffered for it, but the whole of the country had.

As part of their legal reforms, to clean up the mess that Ga’ran made of the courts and the country, Amara eliminated the death penalty. After Inga signing off on every execution warrant without caring, after Ga’ran wielding death sentences to defendants as a weapon against defense attorneys who she saw as threats to her political power - how could she continue to allow it, no matter the crime, no matter how clear the evidence and proof, when her people, because of the cruelty experienced within their living memory, will always be wondering, fearing, that their queen allowed the execution of an innocent?

Which means that Ga’ran was not executed. Some of people of Khura’in were understandably crying out for Ga’ran’s blood, and treason is a capital crime, but Amara’s kind heart never wanted to see her sister dead at her word. And outlawing such a punishment, no exceptions, means that she could point to that and say - “I am not allowing my sister to escape justice. What I am doing is not adhering to her kind of justice that so ruined this country and so many lives. No more of that, ever.”

(Amara knows, of course, that Ga’ran was not trying to murder her; because Amara knows that Ga’ran cannot channel spirits. And Amara knows, of course, that if Ga’ran was capable of channeling, Amara would have burned to death in that blaze. Ga’ran kept her alive because she needed her. It wasn’t love. It was necessity. But in Amara’s heart of hearts, down in the core that still hurts no matter how many years have passed, she still loves her sister. Her own sister. Her little sister. How could she sentence her to death? How could she see that through?)

And this is all not to say also, that there weren’t a handful of people who had preferred Ga’ran’s rule. They were corrupt and power-hungry prosecutors, or grifters also involved in embezzling tax dollars, or so on and forth. That kind of people. And while Amara and Dhurke and Datz try their hardest to root out those people, get them properly punished, return what they’ve stolen from the country, they’re also busy with, like, everything else, fixing and reforming the justice system, reinvestigating every case Ga’ran oversaw to exonerate every innocent convicted under her rule, making reparations to the families of any innocents executed. Some of the people who were profiting most from Ga’ran’s rule slip through the cracks because of what Amara prioritizes. And they aren’t exactly happy at all about Amara being queen again.

But it’s pretty hard to get anyone else on your side when the country is just relieved that they’re not going to be convicted of a crime after a sham of a trial where they have no defense and the prosecution is making up evidence, so life in Khura’in goes along well and peacefully for more than a decade, with only the briefest, barest whispers of discontent from the sort of people who honestly deserve to be discontent because they’re greedy assholes.

Trouble begins to kick in after Rayfa’s fourteenth birthday. (This is, by the way, her worst birthday ever because Apollo always comes home for her birthday and Nahyuta is always around, except Apollo got blown up a week before, and his best friend is in the hospital in a coma from being stabbed, and Nahyuta ran off to LA after him to make sure he’s alive, and they’re still there, Nahyuta trying to help Apollo and friends wrap their heads around the absolute catastrophe that began with the Space Center bombing and is still happening.)

She’s been doing the Divination Seances for over a year, though rather sparsely and only on trials where either Nahyuta and/or Dhurke is there. But now she’s performing them more frequently, and also Nahyuta isn’t around because he’s planning to spend the short long-term in LA. (“Everything Apollo has told you about how fucked up the American legal system is true, and then some,” Nahyuta says. “They need all the help I can give and also a lot more.”)

Rayfa becoming more of a public figure, though, is something of a catalyst. It’s been so long that most of Ga’ran’s supporters have either left the country for somewhere they can be corrupt without the Queen’s right-hand man personally showing up in their houses to casually threaten them with a knife, or just given up. Except Ga’ran, languishing in prison, certainly has not given up, and her first real plan in fourteen years is to begin undermining her sister’s rule simply with rumors. Put some cracks in the foundation. Ga’ran is good at getting into people’s heads, and she hasn’t really managed to sway some of her guards to her side, but she has instilled some doubt in Amara in them, and she can work with that. She’ll create more doubt about Amara’s capacities as queen.

Whispers start going around the capital, and then out of it, that Rayfa isn’t actually Amara and Dhurke’s daughter, that Dhurke is a blight on the bloodline and no daughter of his could channel, and Rayfa is Ga’ran’s daughter, stolen from her when Amara reclaimed the throne. Critically, Ga’ran was never exposed as not being able to channel spirits; she was already guilty of arson, prosecutorial misconduct, and high treason, and that’s just from the time of the fire to when she was crowned, not even getting into everything she did as queen. She’d done enough to rot in prison for life without Amara announcing that she’s also an illegitimate queen. She was an illegitimate queen enough because Amara was still alive and the crown belongs to the eldest sister. Amara, at times too kindhearted, keeps her little sister’s secret.

So Ga’ran’s still in contention for the throne, technically, kinda, if she can pin the fire and Jove’s death on someone else again, if she can throw someone under the bus for her decisions as queen with the DC Act - ah! Inga! You’re still alive, too, rotting in a different prison! You’re a good scapegoat! There, another step of the plan figured out.

Ga’ran’s not planning on asking anyone to assassinate Amara, not yet. She wants to get her hands on the Founder’s Orb first, get that spiritual power, and then she can take out Amara, secure in the knowledge that she can prove herself a valid queen.

For now, she’s just testing the waters by claiming that Amara is a daughter-stealing whore who’s been taken in by Dhurke’s wily defense attorney lies just like the rest of the country. And probably other, increasingly outlandish rumors, that no matter how ridiculous they are, are enough to set Amara on the defensive and make people start to wonder about the functionality of the royal family. That she had Nahyuta exiled for [insert any number of stupid reasons here] and the “he went to America to visit his brother” is a cover story so that nobody realizes how much turmoil there is in the palace. That Apollo isn’t an adopted orphan but is Amara’s illegitimate son with Datz and that’s why he so rarely comes back from abroad, because Dhurke doesn’t want him around.

(“Listen,” Dhurke says, and everyone knows whatever he’s about to say is gonna be stupid as hell. “If Amara wanted to cheat on me with Datz that’s her prerogative because I’m pretty sure I’ve probably cheated on her with Datz?”)

(Amara sighs. Datz starts laughing and nearly chokes on a bite of apple.)

Then they find out that the Founder’s Orb has been stolen, and this crop of sudden, weird rumors comes into perfect clarity. Certainly they have an idea that Ga’ran was behind it in some way, especially given the claim about Rayfa, but they couldn’t figure out why beyond her being bored. Now they know what they’re seeing. Death by a thousand lashes, or a thousand little rumors adding up with this very big Founder’s Orb matter to paint a picture of Amara being an idiot and a fool and untrustworthy and a backstabber, and her rule as ineffective, if Khura’in’s greatest treasure went missing under her. And they know what they say about the Founder’s Orb, its ability to grant spiritual power to anyone, and they know that yes, yes, this is Ga’ran having bided her time, finally striking back.

But they don’t know how she’s getting word to her people - they don’t know who “her people” are - they don’t know where the Founder’s Orb is. They have nothing to tie back to Ga’ran, nothing but their very logical suspicions, but they don’t know what to do with that. They can’t make another case against her just on that, not without being hypocritical to the ideals and principles they’ve reformed their legal system on. And Datz would go and personally guard Ga’ran himself and put her in solitary where he’s her only contact to the outside, to know for sure no one can talk with her, but that would mean leaving Rayfa and Amara, and he also doesn’t trust anyone besides himself to properly bodyguard them, now, so it’s just a fucking mess.

Helping them investigate the stolen Orb are Maya and Misty - Maya, who’s been back for a few months after going home when the courthouse bombing happened, and Misty who came to visit her daughter what felt like 10 seconds before this shit started. Maya can play the bumbling tourist really well, and she understands Khura’inese much better than she speaks it, while Misty feigns not being able to understand or speak anything - she’s rusty, certainly, since it’s been so long since she herself visited Khura’in for her training, but she knows much more than she lets on.

Then Beh’leeb Inmee, who in her free time was looking into the Founder’s Orb matter along with her husband, is accused of murdering a monk, and everything really starts spiraling to shit. Beh’leeb, with investigation assistance from Maya and Dhurke, successfully proves that it was self-defense, and her attacker was someone else who’s been caught up in this Founder’s Orb theft and what’s looking more and more like it’s gonna be an attempted coup. And probably sooner rather than later.

Misty returns to LA, with Rayfa who is using a forged American passport - Datz has a fuckton of contingency plans, let no one ever say he’s only an idiot - under a fake name with the surname “Fey”, posing as Misty’s niece. With the situation in Khura’in becoming more dangerous for the royal family and their closest friends, Amara and Dhurke and Datz decide the best thing to do is get Rayfa the hell out. She doesn’t want to go, which is why Misty goes too - both to make sure she does in fact leave, and to protect her if it comes to it. Maya absolutely refuses to leave, though; come hell or high water she wants to help her distant cousins sort this out, and Misty can’t physically drag her away. So Maya stays.

Apollo and Nahyuta, meanwhile, know that it’s getting to be a mess back home, but they don’t realize how much of one until Rayfa shows up on the doorstep, jet-lagged and exhausted but still absolutely livid that she’s been dragged all this way. She wanted to visit LA but not like this, dammit!

Meanwhile, back in Khura’in, two very important things happen. Ga’ran escapes from jail. And Datz finds out where the Founder’s Orb went: to Kurain Village. Maya immediately tells Mia, who tells Apollo and Nahyuta and Rayfa, and when Misty tries to stop them Mia’s like “hey Mom remember the time that instead of talking to me you nearly got yourself killed for Maya’s sake? Yeah you aren’t allowed to tell us what’s good or safe for me or them. We’re going up to the village to get that Orb, see you later.”

So Mia, Apollo, Nahyuta, and Rayfa go on a family bonding train ride up to Kurain Village. There, they find the same canonical situation - the Orb hidden and Dr Buff dead. Nahyuta and Apollo go spelunking and nearly drown again; Rayfa hangs out with Pearl and gets more quality bonding time with another of her distant cousins; and when the boys get back thoroughly waterlogged but with the Orb, Atishon shows up to tell them that they’ll see him in court for the Orb - they’ll see him and his attorney. Mia.

The royal siblings understandably demand to know why Mia has turned on them. Atishon says it’s because she’s seen the light and knows what’s best for both her village and their kingdom. Mia doesn’t look them in the eyes. Rayfa curses out Atishon in Khura’inese, and watching his reaction, Apollo realizes: he doesn’t understand a word of it. He tries to catch Mia’s eye, tries to indicate in some, any, way, and then he asks her again, “Why?”

And she answers, with a very broken pronunciation and accent, but still understandable Khura’inese: “My sister.”

“What did you say?” Atishon demands, and Mia lies, “I told them to fuck off, since they aren’t getting the mesage in English.”

They know Maya; Apollo least, but Nahyuta got to know her pretty well on their trip to LA from Khura’in back in December, and Rayfa was, just a week or two ago, seeing her investigate the missing Orb, and vehemently protest returning to LA when she could help find the Orb and help her family, the ones here with the crown, being undermined by a sister. (It hits close to home for Maya, still.) They know Maya is on their side. They know something’s damn wrong. They call Datz and ask him to find Maya because something’s happened.

In court the next day, it’s Apollo and Nahyuta, with Rayfa in the gallery behind them sometimes shouting at them, up against Mia and Diego. Someone casually observing could be forgiven for thinking Diego doesn’t have a clue what’s happening and is accidentally undermining Mia’s case. He actually does know what’s happening and is actively undermining Mia’s case, per her request, because he can play the idiot better than she can, drag this out longer without Atishon getting suspicious, give a little more time for Maya to be rescued. And they don’t hear back about Maya, but they do prove that the Orb needs a spirit medium, and Rayfa knows Ga’ran’s secret, that she can’t channel. Amara’s the only other medium in the country; Maya’s got to be safe.

Atishon gets arrested for murder, and Apollo, Nahyuta, Rayfa, Mia, Diego, and Misty rush off on a plane Franziska gets for them to Khura’in. Mia is biting her tongue the whole time trying not to make a jab about what happened the last time Diego and Misty banded together to save Maya. (She’s really, really trying.

“What’s the plan? Get stabbed and stranded on top of a mountain again?”

Fuck, she was trying.

Instead of answering, Diego takes out his phone and starts sending a message. “Lana and I bet on how long it would take you to say something.”

“I’m going to break your fucking neck, Diego.”

“Not hers?”

“She’s not the one who stabbed my mother on a snowy mountaintop and spent 36 hours feeding my little cousin snow and cold gravy.”

“That’s because she was in prison at the time!!”

“Why is every family I’m part of so fucked up?” asks Apollo, who neither knows this story nor wants to know.)

And honestly I don’t have details that worked out of what goes down when they get back to Khura’in. Maya is rescued. Ga’ran tries some bullshit, but in this universe the only thing she really has going for her is charisma and a handful of supporters. She doesn’t have the throne, she doesn’t have murders to frame Dhurke and Amara for. (Unless she had one of her people murder Inga in jail and tried to blame it on Datz. Ooh, actually that could be a fun plot.) She’s been proven to have committed murder (Jove). If she can be queen, it’s only as a tyrant, having killed everyone in her way, but she’s still got a handful of people who are willing to kill for her. They can put her back in jail, as they should, but she’ll still have her people. They have to get rid of that factor, soundly ruin her so that no one would ever believe her whispers of temptation for power and riches.

So Apollo and Mia realize that the way to take her down is still with the Founder’s Orb. She can’t channel. If they just announce that fact, her supporters aren’t going to believe them. If Amara announces it, same thing. But what they can do is bait her with the Orb and the Holy Mother’s face, forcing her to completely humiliate herself in front of the whole country, proving once again that she has absolutely nothing to offer anyone.

(Also side note, this would be the first time that Apollo and Nahyuta and Rayfa have ever met their aunt, and it’s to find that yeah, she’s as awful as all of Datz’s stories that Amara claimed were slightly exaggerated.)

The Orb goes back where it belongs; Ga’ran also goes back to where she belongs, which is jail, along with everyone who was willing to do murder for her and break her out of jail. The rumors about how the royal family is actually a dysfunctional shitshow are soundly quashed by seeing Apollo and Nahyuta and Rayfa return with the Orb to support their mother and stop their aunt. (Actually the stupid rumor about Apollo being Datz and Amara’s kid doesn’t quite die, but the fact that they’re no longer under siege and struggling to plug the holes and expose Ga’ran’s plotting means that it’s honestly kinda funny now, to most of them. Apollo’s mortified and wishes that Dhurke and Datz would stop joking about it. They will not.)

Anyway after that, everything calms down in Khura’in again and Pearl and Trucy and Thalassa fly out to Khura’in so that they can all meet the rest of their family, and the biggest problem anyone has is Nahyuta has to decide whether he wants to stay home and help prosecute the people involved in this shitshow, or return to LA and help his new friends there with their perpetual shitshow.

#AND THUS GOES MY PROPOSAL FOR SOME BULLSHIT DEFENSE AU KHURA'INESE THRONE DRAMA #bullshit defense au

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protegeons · 5 years

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SEASON ONE :

a day before her eighteenth birthday, and she awoke to the detention centre in some kind of frenzy. she didn’t have time to process what was happening before a guard was grabbing her and dragging her out of bed.

but allison, being allison, fought back against them. she took down nearly three guards before someone had the sense to tranq her. the last thing she saw before blacking out was the face of the pig guard she’d rescued the girl from. and he was smiling wickedly.

when she woke up again, she was strapped into the dropship, hurdling towards earth.

happy birthday to me, she thought as she headed for what she thought was her death.

but, though the landing was rough, and they lost a couple idiots that decided to take their seatbelts off, most of the hundred delinquents were shaken up, but fine.

the first time she came face - to - face with clarke griffin was shortly after the landing, as they were both checking wounds on whoever would let them. but the murder daughter and the princess weren’t the most popular among the teenagers, so neither got very far.

the two girls seemed thrown together often after that. allison offered to go on the recon trip to find mount weather with clarke and finn, but, in the end, they all agreed that it was best to have someone they could trust stay back to keep an eye on things at camp. so, she climbed a tree, perched herself on a branch, and watched for any signs of trouble.

and trouble was not behind as the rising tension between wells jaha and a kid allison only knew then as murphy, finally came to a head. a physical fight.

allison knew wells, back on the ark. back before kate committed mass murder by fire, and everyone she knew suddenly “forgot” about allison’s existence. even wells, the nicest person allison knew, her first kiss, the one person she thought wouldn’t abandon her. they had even dated, tentitvely. before kate. they reached the two week mark in their relationship when everything with kate happened, and wells, supposedly succumbing to the social pressure of their peers, never spoke two words to her again.

so, even though she knew she should’ve done something, stopped the fight, spoke up in protest, just sat bitterly in her tree, watching the scene unfold. it was kind of cathartic.

and, as she watched, she decided that she wasn’t a fan of the dropship stowaway --- this bellamy guy, who seemed to be taking a leadership role among the delinquents. but the way he spoke about “freedom” and “whatever the hell we want” was dangerous. as her father had taught her from a young age, every society needed structure. and, like it or not, this was now their society. and they needed rules and laws to keep everyone safe.

she was one of the first people to stand up and vocalize her support for clarke. she, like allison, knew that they wouldn’t survive on “whatever the hell we want” and they needed to form some sort of hierarchy, put some laws in place.

allison was incredibly protective over jasper when they rescued him. she kind of became his personal body - guard while he healed. when the tensions among the delinquents got too high, and allison worried one of them would try to kill him, she moved from her favourite spot in her tree to perching, day and night, on the latter to the upper level of the dropship. no one was getting up there without the okay from clarke.

while she didn’t agree with them trying to hang murphy for a crime he didn’t commit ( though, she didn’t know this at the time. she thought he killed wells, and she wanted someone to pay for killing him. someone had to pay. ), she never stood up with clarke to try to stop it. this is something she regrets deeply to this very day.

allison was there that night when charolette threw herself off the cliff, consumed by the guilt of killing wells and the aftermath of her actions. she thought, personally, a council should have been formed, but as long as clarke was one of the people in charge, allison agreed.

she mourned wells deeply. deeper than she thought she would. she spent countless nights at his grave, telling him how sorry she was that she didn’t step up for him that day, during his fight with the now banished murphy. she expressed her sorrow at the fact that they never got a chance to make up, and that she forgave him. she told him that she knew he was just pressured into turning his back on her like everyone else, that she knew he’d never do something like that of his own volition. he was too good a person for that. and, when allison ran out of things to talk to his gave about, she just sat there with him.

when octavia goes missing, allison volunteers to go searching for her immediately. she persists with what’s left of the search party, even when they discover they’ve entered into grounder territory. the panic and fear as the search party is picked off one - by - one by grounders attacking while concealing themselves in the trees is like nothing she’s ever felt before. she truly believes that they’re all going to die there.

and just when she thought nothing could get worse, the acid fog rolls in on them. or, so they thought. they soon discover that the sounding horn was just a ruse to get the grounders to back off the search party, and flee to safely.

their altercation with the grounder they’d later come to know as lincoln makes allison realize that, if she’s going to survive out here, on earth, she was going to need a weapon of her own to defend herself and her fellow delinquents. even if none of them liked her. and she knew that she’d always been good with a gun. she could shoot before she could write. but there were no guns down here. so, she remembered something she’d read in one of her father’s weapons books once, bows and arrows. she could make one for herself.

so, as soon as things began to calm ( though, with the storm rolling in and finn close to death, things weren’t exactly “calm” but it was calm enough for her. ) she payed no attention to the others, all locked inside the dropship on top of each other while a storm raged outside, allison fashioned her very first prototype bow out of twigs she gathered. and, after her first bow failed spectacularly, she made another. and another. one each better than what came before it, until she had what was a real bow, and a quiver of arrows she carved.

soon, allison became the unofficial hunter for the camp. she recalled her earth skills teachings ( which she aced, by the way ! ) to make traps, only using her bow ( which she had a knack for almost right away ) to shoot birds, and, sometimes, deer and mountain lions. everyday she would go out before sunrise, and everyday she would return just before sunset, carrying her kill of the day. and she always made sure she came back with something, always made sure that the camp wouldn’t go hungry for even a day.

allison was out on a hunt when she ate the jobi berries. they gave her terrible, awful hallucinations of her aunt. and even after the effect of the berries wore off, and the hallucinations went away, allison stayed huddled at the base of a tree, rocking back - and - forth, crying. allison didn’t return to camp that night. she remained, holding her knees to her chest in the small grove of trees where she was safe until the sun came up, and she knew that kate wasn’t out there, waiting for her anymore. only then did she come back to camp.

it was the only time she went out on a hunt and returned empty - handed.

even when clarke and bellamy returned to camp with their payload of guns, and offered one to her, she declined, deciding that she preferred her homemade bow.

while allison doesn’t participate in the unity day celebrations, instead deciding there should be someone on guard and in their right mind just in case, she does enjoy sitting in her tree, watching everyone else enjoy the festivities and let lose. enjoying themselves for perhaps the first time since landing on earth. ( and she may have had a sip or two out of a stolen bottle of monty’s moonshine she’d stashed away for a special occasion. )

when the bio virus takes down many of the delinquents, it has no effect on allison, and so she is one of the few who are charged with caring for the sick, a job which she takes incredibly seriously.

as always, as the impending threat of full on war with the grounders draws nearer, allison backs up clarke every step of the way. and she’s there, at clarke’s side, encouraging her when she has to make the difficult decision of closing the dropship door with finn and bellamy on the wrong side. her hand hovers over clarke’s as she pulls the lever.

PART ONE , PART TWO

#➸ v. if you can brave the wild‚ you will carve yourself a throne of trees and a crown made out of leaves. ❪ verses. ❫#i may have the timeline a lil messed up but ignore it love me #i wrote a fucking novel

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poipoi1912 · 6 years

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Barba-centric thoughts on Ep 19x13

For the last time.

But first, to get it out of the way.

Sonny Thoughts

Who’s that?

No but, are we honestly expected to believe that Sonny would pass on observing Barba’s murder trial?

Sonny, who is a lawyer himself, would pass on witnessing a) any colleague’s MURDER TRIAL, b) BARBA’S murder trial, c) Randy Dworkin working his magic and d) the skills of Peter Stone, out of sheer curiosity? How does any of that make sense? Sonny as a law student was eager to shadow Barba just to observe a random trial he had no personal connection to, and he’d return to the precinct literally saying “court was AWESOME” while the others rolled their eyes, and now that he’s a lawyer, all he does is say “lol it’s a good thing I’m a cop”?

Remember when the conversation was “will Carisi join or even replace Barba at the DA’s office?” to the point where Peter was asked about it in interviews? Remember when Sonny’s law degree had a purpose? When it was building up to something, to a potential change? When Sonny actively faced a dilemma? Now it’s only good for a throwaway line.

What has Sonny done all season?

Nothing.

Which brings me to, what has Barba done this season?

A lot, and none of it’s good, unfortunately.

Barba Thoughts

Barba has messed up many times this season. Too many. Twice it’s been completely intentional (causing a mistrial with the jurors on that elevator, and this). We’ve seen him act way too emotional for someone in his position, and indeed we have seen his heart guiding him (like it did the other week, with the alt-right/antifa case, when he dropped the charges because his heart wasn’t in it). It’s a fact that Barba changed, a lot, over the years, and this season saw him going through even greater changes.

In the past, he always had his integrity. He may have misstepped before (like with Munoz, who was a very close childhood friend) and he may have held opinions which pitted him against the squad or the police in general (the Terrence Reynolds case), but he always held his positions with impressive, if firm, conviction. Just last season, he admitted to what was, at the time, his “deepest” secret, i.e. giving money for drugs to a witness who ended up OD’ing, and even then he believed he had done the right thing.

Because he did do the right thing. Then.

This season, however, Barba has been doing the wrong thing, way too often.

Part of me appreciated the focus on Barba’s decisions, and part of me was suspicious (as I mentioned recently) because I knew that, usually, when a character receives an unprecedented amount of focus, it means they’re on their way out, and all those “bigger” moments are meant to sett up their exit arc.

I was wrong.

Barba’s exit wasn’t the result of his longterm disenchantment with his work. Barba’s exit wasn’t set up previously at all. Barba’s prior mistakes were, in retrospect, simply meant to highlight the fact he has turned into Liv, i.e. he shows complete disregard for the law and just does whatever he wants wait no, I mean, he has grown a heart. also he could never fully become Liv because her actions never have consequences Because you can’t have a heart and still prosecute criminals? For some reason? Do the writers know Barba wasn’t a defense attorney?

Anyway,

This was no masterplan. Barba’s exit happened on a whim. Even though the writers have known about Raul’s desire to leave since literally before the season started, they did nothing to create an actual exit arc. They just used him as normal, and they came out with the most dramatic, far-fetched and soapy idea they could to create a single exit episode, instead. Which Barba then had to share with McCoy and his own replacement, both of whom took up valuable time which could have been spent on Barba himself, and on highlighting Barba’s importance to the entire squad.

When an actor leaves amicably, and when they graciously make themselves available for an exit “arc”, it’s customary to treat them with the analogous level of respect.

Barba deserved a tribute, and this episode was no tribute to Rafael Barba.

Case(y) Thoughts

Remember when I said a “right to die” case had some potential for an exit arc, even though it would never come close to (the actual best ADA) Casey Novak’s iconic exit in S9? Casey, of course, put her career on the line by knowingly lying about evidence (i.e. something a lawyer would conceivably do), because she wanted justice. Because she tried to help a friend and colleague (my fave, Chester Lake) who snapped and resorted to extreme actions when the system failed him and a victim.

“He deserved to pay.”

“And so do you.”

That’s how you write a morally gray exit.

You do NOT have an Assistant District Attorney literally turn off life support for a baby even though he is not a doctor or even a relative of the child. Truly no one would do what he did in real life. No one. No matter what half-assed and canonically inaccurate story the writers tried to spin about his father.

Can you imagine? Physically ending a life thus rendering yourself liable for homicide? When it’s not your place to do so? And you are fully aware of the legal ramifications? When the life in question is a child’s life, and the parents disagree on what to do? Can you imagine “siding” with one parent and taking that final (and irreversible) step, as the other parent is forced to forever live with the consequences of your actions?

Can you imagine any of us finding any of that ethical?

Can you imagine that, instead of having Barba passionately argue a case for the right to die, or find a smart, legal-yet-shady way to help the mother do the deed herself without being charged for a crime (which was what I thought was going to happen, when the episode began), the writers had him physically pull the plug?

With that one move, and with the fact Barba’s actions were attributed to (selfish) emotion, because of his father, Barba lost his moral footing, no matter what that opening eulogy tried to tell us. His position on the matter may well have been correct (it was certainly defensible), as was his instinct to help that poor mother, but his actions were wrong. And this is now how or why I wanted him to leave. Not because he was so very wrong.

Squad Thoughts

I admire Liv for personally and single-handedly manning an entire Special Victims Unit while taking the time to attend lengthy trials and also haphazardly inserting herself to any and all hostage situations in the Tri-State Area.

Stone Thoughts

Eh. That said, I did like his quip about the Class A Felony. My Barba thoughts aside, I’ve been saying it all along, SVU needs a prosecutor who does the job without being emotionally compromised every five minutes. It’s one thing if A Case hits home, but an ADA who can’t do his job because his feelings are clouding his judgment shouldn’t have a job oh wait he no longer has a job lol.

Also I can’t believe I’m saying this but I was Team Stone, not Team Liv (or Team Barba) and I kinda think that’s exactly what the showrunner intended? And I’m offended I fell for it? But Stone was right so I had no choice but to agree with him? is it because i’m a lawyer too omg

I’m conflicted. But Liv dissing him over not having children (I hate that more than I hate most things by the way) and then acting like Barba, who also has no children, “gets it”, I guess because he’s been around her long enough, and her parenting skills are so good they’ve transferred over to him? Ugh.

Seriously, Team Stone. Do you think there’s a chance the showrunner (who created the character and is clearly attached to him) will actually let Stone be his own person? And challenge Liv on equal footing? Because Liv might be Liv, and Mariska might be Mariska, but the showrunner’s love for Peter Stone might be enough to keep him from being swallowed by the Benson Vortex?

(and do I kinda like that? Are they gonna make me like Peter Stone by having him disagree with Liv every time she’s wrong i.e. all the time? Because I’m open to it 👀)

Religious Thoughts

Both Barba and Carisi have talked about their faith in the past. Carisi especially is a man of faith who regularly goes to church and has been shown to be a true believer. And yet, he had no insight to offer about what the Church might have to say about a case like this. In fact, religion was not mentioned at all. During this case, of all cases. In my opinion, that was because the writers knew that by religious standards there is no defense for Barba’s actions, and they didn’t want to give the audience a reason to think negatively of him. Still, this was a glaring omission.

Stray Thoughts

“Weasel”? They couldn’t find a better word lol?

RANDY DWORKIN. Not an obvious choice to defend Barba (oh, Rita, where art thou?), but definitely an entertaining one. I felt like I was watching the original Law & Order every time he spoke. Also, every single thing he argued was, indeed, defensible, and the writers made a decent (if schmaltzy) effort to paint Barba’s actions in a positive light, but the fact remains; having the right to die (which I personally support) is not the same thing as allowing a complete stranger to (technically) kill you “for your own good”. Even if it was the right decision, it was not Barba’s decision to make, and the trial glossed over that a bit.

Jack is still the DA? Since when? And why did they never namedrop him in all these years?

Both Peter Stone’s Class A felony quip and Jack’s quip about it being “unbecoming” to have his ADA’s killing people were great lines, but they rubbed me the wrong way because they were effectively making fun of Barba? But also they were accurate? And Barba deserved to be dragged? Again, I’m conflicted.

The new showrunner can write dialogue very well, but he cannot write season-long arcs (the Sheila mess confirmed that), he can’t write characters well or consistently, and he struggles with original episode ideas. For Season 19, I guess that’s not so bad. But for television in general, in its current thriving state, it’s pretty disappointing.

Liv, to an Assistant District Attorney: Forget the law for a minute.

me: *facepalm*

Peter Stone: lol how ‘bout I don’t?

me: u go gurl

The Barisi Corner

One last time, for old times’ sake.

The ship lives forever in our hearts. Where it’s always lived.

And also in Peter Scanavino’s heart ❤️

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Victims of the spa shootings highlight the vulnerability of working-class Asian women as more Asian Americans get attacked “This one fact alone highlights the vulnerability, the invisibility, and the isolation of working-class Asian women in our country,” Nguyen said at a Thursday news conference. “When they go missing, or when they die, the loss of their lives will not incite the same kind of rage. And they won’t even be treated with the same humanity,” she said. “And in this case, they’ve been characterized as a problem that needed to be eliminated.” Authorities have not yet confirmed a motive for the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas, which killed eight people — including six Asian women. A suspect is in custody. Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said Wednesday the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, frequented the two Atlanta spas and bought the gun used in the shooting the day of the incident. President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Thursday to honor the victims. Biden also plans to visit Atlanta on Friday to meet with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, as well as Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders, according to Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen. Among the issues they will bring up is the concern that the shootings be “taken seriously” and seriously considered as a hate crime against Asians and not dismissed as the suspect having a “bad day,” Nguyen said. Shootings part of hostility toward Asian Americans Across the US, Asian Americans are riddled with fear as unprovoked attacks against them intensify. Anti-Asian hate crimes have more than doubled during the pandemic, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The violence has surged amid racist rhetoric during the coronavirus pandemic — some popularized by ex-President Donald Trump. Many Asian Americans have been subjected to vitriol about the “China virus” or the “kung flu” — even those who have never been to Asia. Asian American communities are on edge after Tuesday’s deadly shootings. “I feel like that just took it to a whole other extreme,” said Hanna Kim, a teacher from Novi, Michigan. Nguyen said as a public official, whenever anyone disagrees with her opinion or policies, the first thing they do is criticize the country her parents came from and, second, her gender. “I have experienced a lot of targeted misogyny, targeted xenophobia, messages of going back to your own country, even though I was born here, raised here, I’ve lived in Georgia almost my entire life. It is very real,” Nguyen said. Actress Lucy Liu told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that she believes race relations will get worse before they can get better. “I think culturally, we are not a people that speak out and talk about being victims and I think that’s something that we learn” from previous generations, Liu said. Bottoms told CNN that nowadays “there seems to be permission now to be hateful.” She’s spent the past days reaching out to members of the Asian community in Atlanta “to make sure we have all of the information we need to make sure that our communities are protected,” adding the dialogue will continue. “There seems to be a permission that I’ve not seen, at least in my lifetime,” Bottoms said. “It does predate Donald Trump, but he certainly has given permission and done his part to elevate the hatred.” Kim, a 24-year-old Korean American, said she often feels like she has a target on her back. Last year, she said a parent wanted to remove one of her students from her second-grade class because Kim was Asian. “Are people going to say things to me?” Kim said she often asks herself. “Are people going to avoid me because they think that for some reason I’m going to be the one that’s spreading the virus?” Yet despite outrage over the shootings, attacks against Asian Americans continue. An Asian man and woman were assaulted Wednesday by the same suspect in separate attacks, San Francisco police said. Investigators are trying to determine whether bias was a motivating factor in the attack. “While we’re relieved the suspect was quickly apprehended, we’re certainly not at peace as this attack still points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center. What we know about the victims Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44, were all fatally shot at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County. Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, was also shot at the spa but survived. Three more victims were found dead at Gold Massage Spa in Atlanta, and another victim was found dead across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa. The names of those four victims have not yet been released by authorities. Three of the victims were 52, 75 and 64 years of age, according to birth years listed in an Atlanta police incident report. “We need to make sure we have a true verification of their identities and that we make the proper next of kin notification,” Hampton said Wednesday. What we know about the suspect Long, 21, faces eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. Long was on his way to Florida, possibly to take the lives of more victims, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said, citing investigators. The suspect told police he believed he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said. But Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is still too early to know a motive. It’s not clear whether any of the three businesses offered sexual services in addition to massages. But authorities have given no indication the three businesses were operating illegally. Capt. Jay Baker on Tuesday said Long “was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.” Baker is no longer the spokesperson for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office’s case investigating the spa shooting, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed to CNN. CNN has reached out to Baker for comment. Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in a statement Thursday he has known and worked with Baker for many years and his comments “were not intended disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect.” How the attacks unfolded Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to Youngs Asian Massage between the Georgia cities of Woodstock and Acworth after reports of a shooting, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials said. That shooting left four people — two Asian and two White — dead and one person injured, Baker said. About an hour later and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Police said they found three people dead. While there, police received another call of shots fired across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa, where they found one person dead, Bryant said. The names of those four victims have not yet been released by authorities. Investigators found surveillance video of a suspect near the Cherokee County scene and published images on social media. Long’s family saw the images, contacted authorities and helped identify him, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday. “(The family members) are very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” Reynolds said. ‘It would be appropriate’ if the suspect was charged with a hate crime, mayor says Long has claimed responsibility for the shootings at the spas, the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said. He is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff’s office. He also has been charged with more four counts of murder, Atlanta Police Department said. A law enforcement source told CNN that Long was recently kicked out of the house by his family due to his sexual addiction, which, the source said, included frequently spending hours watching pornography online. Bottoms, the Atlanta mayor, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday she thinks the shootings were a hate crime. “It looked like a hate crime to me,” she said. “This was targeted at Asian spas. Six of the women who were killed were Asian so it’s difficult to see it as anything but that.” “Sex” is a hate crime category under Georgia’s new law. If Long was targeting women out of hatred for them or scapegoating them for his own problems, it could potentially be a hate crime. The shootings don’t have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in Georgia. Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace released a statement Thursday saying “we are acutely aware of the feelings of terror being experienced in the Asian-American community.” “We hear your concerns and want it to be known that these victims will receive the very best efforts of this office,” Wallace said. “We anticipate beginning to meet with the impacted families in the near future, and earn their trust, as we continue to develop our case against the defendant.” Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Xiaojie Tan’s last name based on information provided by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. CNN’s Amanda Watts, Stephen Collinson, Audrey Ash, Casey Tolan, Nicquel Ellis, Nicole Chavez, Artemis Moshtaghian, Raja Razek, Jamiel Lynch and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report. Source link Orbem News #Americans #Asian #AsiansintheUSsuffermoreattacksasdeadlyshootingshighlightthevulnerabilityofworking-classAsianAmericans-CNN #attacked #Highlight #shootings #Spa #us #Victims #Vulnerability #Women #workingclass

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dipulb3 · 3 years

Text

Victims of the spa shootings highlight the vulnerability of working-class Asian women as more Asian Americans get attacked

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/victims-of-the-spa-shootings-highlight-the-vulnerability-of-working-class-asian-women-as-more-asian-americans-get-attacked/

Victims of the spa shootings highlight the vulnerability of working-class Asian women as more Asian Americans get attacked

“This one fact alone highlights the vulnerability, the invisibility, and the isolation of working-class Asian women in our country,” Nguyen said at a Thursday news conference.

“When they go missing, or when they die, the loss of their lives will not incite the same kind of rage. And they won’t even be treated with the same humanity,” she said.

“And in this case, they’ve been characterized as a problem that needed to be eliminated.”

Authorities have not yet confirmed a motive for the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas, which killed eight people — including six Asian women. A suspect is in custody.

Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said Wednesday the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, frequented the two Atlanta spas and bought the gun used in the shooting the day of the incident.

President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Thursday to honor the victims. Biden also plans to visit Atlanta on Friday to meet with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, as well as Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders, according to Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen.

Among the issues they will bring up is the concern that the shootings be “taken seriously” and seriously considered as a hate crime against Asians and not dismissed as the suspect having a “bad day,” Nguyen said.

Shootings part of hostility toward Asian Americans

Across the US, Asian Americans are riddled with fear as unprovoked attacks against them intensify.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have more than doubled during the pandemic, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The violence has surged amid racist rhetoric during the coronavirus pandemic — some popularized by ex-President Donald Trump. Many Asian Americans have been subjected to vitriol about the “China virus” or the “kung flu” — even those who have never been to Asia.

Asian American communities are on edge after Tuesday’s deadly shootings.

“I feel like that just took it to a whole other extreme,” said Hanna Kim, a teacher from Novi, Michigan.

Nguyen said as a public official, whenever anyone disagrees with her opinion or policies, the first thing they do is criticize the country her parents came from and, second, her gender.

“I have experienced a lot of targeted misogyny, targeted xenophobia, messages of going back to your own country, even though I was born here, raised here, I’ve lived in Georgia almost my entire life. It is very real,” Nguyen said.

Actress Lucy Liu told Appradab’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that she believes race relations will get worse before they can get better.

“I think culturally, we are not a people that speak out and talk about being victims and I think that’s something that we learn” from previous generations, Liu said.

Bottoms told Appradab that nowadays “there seems to be permission now to be hateful.” She’s spent the past days reaching out to members of the Asian community in Atlanta “to make sure we have all of the information we need to make sure that our communities are protected,” adding the dialogue will continue.

“There seems to be a permission that I’ve not seen, at least in my lifetime,” Bottoms said. “It does predate Donald Trump, but he certainly has given permission and done his part to elevate the hatred.”

Kim, a 24-year-old Korean American, said she often feels like she has a target on her back. Last year, she said a parent wanted to remove one of her students from her second-grade class because Kim was Asian.

“Are people going to say things to me?” Kim said she often asks herself. “Are people going to avoid me because they think that for some reason I’m going to be the one that’s spreading the virus?”

Yet despite outrage over the shootings, attacks against Asian Americans continue.

An Asian man and woman were assaulted Wednesday by the same suspect in separate attacks, San Francisco police said. Investigators are trying to determine whether bias was a motivating factor in the attack.

“While we’re relieved the suspect was quickly apprehended, we’re certainly not at peace as this attack still points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center.

What we know about the victims

Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44, were all fatally shot at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County.

Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, was also shot at the spa but survived.

Three more victims were found dead at Gold Massage Spa in Atlanta, and another victim was found dead across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa.

The names of those four victims have not yet been released by authorities.

Three of the victims were 52, 75 and 64 years of age, according to birth years listed in an Atlanta police incident report.

“We need to make sure we have a true verification of their identities and that we make the proper next of kin notification,” Hampton said Wednesday.

What we know about the suspect

Long, 21, faces eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Long was on his way to Florida, possibly to take the lives of more victims, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said, citing investigators.

The suspect told police he believed he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said.

But Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is still too early to know a motive.

It’s not clear whether any of the three businesses offered sexual services in addition to massages. But authorities have given no indication the three businesses were operating illegally.

Capt. Jay Baker on Tuesday said Long “was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.”

Baker is no longer the spokesperson for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office’s case investigating the spa shooting, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Appradab.

Appradab has reached out to Baker for comment.

Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in a statement Thursday he has known and worked with Baker for many years and his comments “were not intended disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect.”

How the attacks unfolded

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to Youngs Asian Massage between the Georgia cities of Woodstock and Acworth after reports of a shooting, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials said.

That shooting left four people — two Asian and two White — dead and one person injured, Baker said.

About an hour later and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Police said they found three people dead.

While there, police received another call of shots fired across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa, where they found one person dead, Bryant said.

The names of those four victims have not yet been released by authorities.

Investigators found surveillance video of a suspect near the Cherokee County scene and published images on social media.

Long’s family saw the images, contacted authorities and helped identify him, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday.

“(The family members) are very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” Reynolds said.

‘It would be appropriate’ if the suspect was charged with a hate crime, mayor says

Long has claimed responsibility for the shootings at the spas, the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said.

He is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff’s office. He also has been charged with more four counts of murder, Atlanta Police Department said.

A law enforcement source told Appradab that Long was recently kicked out of the house by his family due to his sexual addiction, which, the source said, included frequently spending hours watching pornography online.

Bottoms, the Atlanta mayor, told Appradab’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday she thinks the shootings were a hate crime.

“It looked like a hate crime to me,” she said. “This was targeted at Asian spas. Six of the women who were killed were Asian so it’s difficult to see it as anything but that.”

“Sex” is a hate crime category under Georgia’s new law. If Long was targeting women out of hatred for them or scapegoating them for his own problems, it could potentially be a hate crime.

The shootings don’t have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in Georgia.

Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace released a statement Thursday saying “we are acutely aware of the feelings of terror being experienced in the Asian-American community.”

“We hear your concerns and want it to be known that these victims will receive the very best efforts of this office,” Wallace said. “We anticipate beginning to meet with the impacted families in the near future, and earn their trust, as we continue to develop our case against the defendant.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Xiaojie Tan’s last name based on information provided by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Appradab’s Amanda Watts, Stephen Collinson, Audrey Ash, Casey Tolan, Nicquel Ellis, Nicole Chavez, Artemis Moshtaghian, Raja Razek, Jamiel Lynch and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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senakim22-blog · 4 years

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0 notes

obsidianarchives · 7 years

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Game of Thrones Recap: S7E5 - "Eastwatch"

This episode dealt with the aftermath of the Battle of Blackwater Rush (aka the Second Field of Fire) and worked to set up the upcoming Battle at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. As I’ve said - and will continue to say since it doesn’t seem like it will be fixed - the pacing was off in comparison to previous seasons. We’re at a point in the show where the writers are really just using their characters to fulfill the plot rather than focusing on their character development. I do think it’s a mistake to do so as I can think of more than a few characters whose development would actually help in furthering the plot. While this season is exciting, in disregarding time it makes the story feel a little disjointed and like we’re hurtling towards the end. I don’t think we’ll have time to realize we’re at the end until it’s over, and I’m worried about the plot holes that will be created in the unnecessary rush.

Blackwater Rush

We start the episode off with the aftermath of Blackwater Rush where we find out that Jaime and Bronn are not dead. Bronn - who wasn’t weighed down by heavy armor - was able to pull both himself and Jaime above water. Jaime doesn’t seem very grateful and Bronn is fed up with Jaime for charging at a dragon when he still owes him a castle. He also makes it very clear that he does not plan on fighting anymore dragons anytime soon, and Jaime worries about what will happen to King’s Landing when all three dragons come to call.

Meanwhile, Daenerys speaks to the remaining Lannister army, who look beaten, burnt, and battered. She has this whole monologue where she tells them that she is not there to murder everyone and how she wants to “break the wheel” which is very 99% of her when you ignore the fact that she’s literally trying to conquer Westeros to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over all. It’s the same logic she used over in Slaver’s Bay - only now she’s decided that the “Cersei Lannisters of the world” are the Masters and that she’s the one who will save everyone. It’s a dangerous idea, especially given that while Cersei is indeed the worst, Dany seems to conflate anyone who goes against her as being a part of the ruling class that takes advantage of everyone. It makes even less sense when she then tells the men to either bend the knee or be burnt to a crisp by Drogon. Tyrion is conflicted as this is happening - both because he sees how dangerous Dany is becoming and his own internal conflict with fighting his family. He tries hard to be diplomatic and to convince Dany to show mercy, but Dany never was good at listening to her council when she was convinced she was doing the right thing, so when Randyll Tarly and later Dickon decide not to bend the knee, she burns them alive despite Tyrion’s protests. She has essentially destroyed another great house, because Samwell has denounced his titles as a Brother of the Night’s Watch - though of course that could change given Jon’s precedent and Dany’s misguided and falsely-advertised attempt at breaking the status quo.

Winterfell

Up North, Bran wargs into a bunch of crows and flies beyond the Wall to spy on the army of the dead. He sees that they are nearing Eastwatch, and for the first time since he’s come to Winterfell we see a different emotion from him: fear. He tells Maester Walken to send ravens to everyone about the approaching doom.

Meanwhile, the men of the North are getting agitated that Jon has been gone for so long, because apparently they thought traveling across the country and mining dragonglass was going to take two days? While the travel time has certainly decreased in the show, the northmen are being ridiculously impatient and need to chill before they start nominating other people, in this case Sansa, to lead them. While Sansa stays true to Jon, telling the men to be patient, Arya is offended, and goes to speak with Sansa about it. Arya is angry with her for not defending Jon in the way she would have, namely by chopping off heads. It’s here where we see the parallels between Sansa and Arya, heightened over time. While they’ve both been through a lot, Sansa has been trained in how to play the Game of Thrones, while Arya has been trained to fight. Arya knows facing problems head on and with violence, while Sansa knows diplomacy. And the two clash. Arya doesn’t trust Sansa’s skills, and instad suspects that she wants to rule the North and take it from Jon. While she may be slightly right, even if Sansa does enjoy power I don’t think she’ll betray her family, even if she is better at ruling that Jon (and definitely Arya).

Of course, Littlefinger notices the tension and differences between the sisters and is working to take advantage of it. He also knows that Arya has taken notice of him, and so while Arya spies on him, he leads her to sneak into his room to find an old letter that Sansa (following Cersei’s orders) wrote to Robb and Catelyn all the way back in season 1 - the one telling them to come to King’s Landing to bend the knee. Of course, Arya takes the bait, but I really hope Sansa sees Littlefinger’s handiwork in it, or Bran notices, and banishes him for good, because seriously what is the point of this? THERE ARE LITERAL FROZEN ZOMBIES MARCHING TO EASTWATCH AND YOU’RE CREATING DIVISION?? IF YOU WANT TO DIE SO BAD WHY NOT JUST LET ARYA FINISH THE JOB???

Dragonstone and King’s Landing

Because the writers don’t care about pacing or travel time anymore, there are a bunch of back-to-back scenes where the same characters go back and forth between Dragonstone and King’s Landing - mainly because the formation of A Really Bad Plan, which I’ll get into later.

So first, Jaime arrives at King’s Landing to deliver the news of their defeat to Cersei. Cersei seems unbothered because they have the gold they need to hire more men to fight for them. Jaime seems pessimistic and I would have to agree here because if Bronn is any indication, there’s probably not enough money in the world to make sellswords fight in a war where there are three full grown dragons on the other side. Jaime also tells Cersei that Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey, and that it was actually Olenna. Cersei doesn’t believe him at first, but she becomes angry when Jaime convinces her, angry at the fact that she didn’t have Olenna tortured rather than just poisoned. At this point Cersei feels that the only option is to keep fighting because she knows that if she surrenders she’ll be killed and if she loses she’ll be killed.

Then, immediately after, Daenerys arrives back at Dragonstone on Drogon. They land near Jon, who then REACHES OUT TO PET DROGON BECAUSE HE’S A TARGARYEN AND YESSS. This of course grows Dany’s crush on Jon, and while she doesn’t offer him Viserion or Rhaegal, she does bring up the “knife in the heart” thing again. Jon brushes her off, and she doesn’t get a chance to press him harder because a newly-cured Jorah has apparently Apparated all the way from Oldtown to Dragonstone and interrupts the cuteness.

Meanwhile in the throne room, Tyrion and Varys are discussing their trepidations about Dany. I do want to say that while she was definitely trippin’ at the beginning of this episode, I don’t think her actions at the end of the last episode were problematic. Both Tyrion and Jon counseled her not to burn King’s Landing to the ground and so she met the Lannisters on the battleground, which I feel like is fair game. However, Tyrion and Varys are worried about her not heeding their advice, and Varys tells Tyrion that he needs to find a way to make her listen.

Varys then gives Jon a scroll from Winterfell (after reading it of course). It’s from one of the ravens Bran had Maester Walken send, and through it Jon finds out that both Bran and Arya are alive. Of course, Jon can’t be too happy about it because the army of the dead are still coming and now he has even more siblings to protect. Jon tells Daenerys that he needs to go back to Winterfell to prepare and asks her to come with him. She says no, mainly because she knows that Cersei will take advantage of her absence. Tyrion, however, says that that may not be the case as long as they convince Cersei that the Long Night is coming, something that can ONLY be done if Jon brings a wight to the Red Keep to show her the truth. Tyrion volunteers to get through to her by going to Jaime, using Davos to smuggle him into King’s Landing. Jorah then volunteers to go North as well because apparently after almost becoming a stone zombie becoming an ice zombie is really tempting. A clearly worried Dany tells Jon that she didn’t give him permission to leave Dragonstone, but Jon counters, telling her he is a king and can do what he wants.

So then Tyrion and Davos get into their medieval speedboat to King’s Landing, where they meet Bronn and Jaime in the dungeons with the dragon skulls. There is understandable tension between the brothers, since while Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey, he definitely killed Tywin. In a lot of ways, their characters are paralleled in the same way the Sansa and Arya’s are. Right now they find themselves working for Queens who may or may not be as suited for rule as they originally thought and trying to deal with their complicity in that, and on top of that dealing with their own guilt about the crimes they directly committed. Anyway, through all this great acting and subtext, Tyrion tells Jaime about the whitewalkers and offers a truce so that they can all band together to prevent the Long Night.

Meanwhile, Davos goes to the Street of Steel in search of a mysterious person who turns out to be Gendry! He’s apparently been in King’s Landing this whole time, biding his time and making steel for Lannister men until something better comes along. As far as he is concerned, Davos is that better thing, and he won’t even let Davos explain what it is he’s walking into before saying yes. We find out that in addition to making weapons, Gendry has been learning how to fight with a warhammer just like his father used. We even get to see him use it when Tyrion accidentally shows up at the wrong moment and exposes himself to two goldcloaks.

Back on Dragonstone, Davos implores Gendry to go under a pseudonym, but Gendry disregards all pretense, telling Jon straight up who he is. There is a nice moment of camaraderie between Jon and Gendry because they are both (allegedly) bastard sons of powerful fathers, but this feels like it was done for no reason given the Very Bad Plan I’ve already brought up and will outline later on as well. In order to carry out this Terrible Terrible Plan, Jon, Davos, Gendry, and Jorah all ship out, making their way to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea with no army and no dragon. But like I said, I’ll get back to this.

Back in King’s Landing, Jaime goes to speak with Cersei about his meeting with Tyrion. He tells her about Dany wanting to discuss a truce because of the army of the dead and that Tyrion will bring proof. It’s unclear whether Cersei truly believes that the whitewalkers are coming, but either way she doesn’t seem too concerned. Not only did she know that Tyrion had reached out to Bronn, but she thinks that a meeting with Daenerys could be in their interest, which seems suspicious and not like a good idea for Dany at all. She seems to think that the whitewalkers are just another obstacle in the way that Dany and her dragons are, which seems wrong but whatever, it’s her brain. She then drops another bomb on Jaime: she’s pregnant. She tells him that they will tell everyone that it’s theirs, but I’m not even sure she really is pregnant. Given Jaime’s caution and doubt in the past few episodes it feels more like Cersei is manipulating him to keep him solidly on her side, which she kind of emphasizes even more when she tells him to never betray her again. At this point, I’m entirely convinced that Jaime is going to have to kill Cersei. While presumably on the same side, the tension is growing, and we know from experience that Cersei will undoubtedly do something stupid and catastrophic sooner or later.

Oldtown

Down at the Citadel, the archmaesters received their e-raven from Bran about the whitewalkers and they of course don’t believe it. Sam overhears and interjects, begging them to tell people that the threat is real, to send folks North, and to read the books to learn how to prevent the Long Night for good. Archmaester Ebrose (who still hasn’t told Sam about his father and brother’s deaths) says that while what was written to them could be true, it could also be a plot from Daenerys to give her access to the south, which would only make sense if Sam didn’t also insist that the whitewalkers were coming, but of course these men of high learning don’t use actual logic. They decide they will write back to Maester Walken for clarification, but don’t seem to be taking it all that seriously.

Later that night, Sam is doing his copying while Gilly reads a book by Septon Maynard. In addition to telling Sam some interesting fun facts about the Citadel, Gilly also finds that Prince Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia Martell and got remarried at the same time in Dorne! Ignoring that this doesn’t make sense canonically - as Targaryens were polygamists so he didn’t actually need to annul the first marriage - the shade of him marrying a new woman in the place his first wife was from, AND Septon Maynard keeping record of a ceremony that was literally supposed to be a secret, SAM WAS TOO FAR IN HIS FEELS TO PAY ATTENTION. This is a huge discovery, and while Sam definitely didn’t have any context as to why that would be important, if he had actually been listening to Gilly, he could have uncovered the proof that Jon is a Targaryen. Instead, he shows us that he may have been a Gryffindor all along by recklessly breaking back into the restricted section to steal more books, brashly leaving the Citadel, and stupidly bring Gilly and baby Sam with him north. Deciding that he is tired of reading about the “achievements of better men,” Sam the Slayer makes his way back to the Wall, hopefully with Maynard’s book in tow.

Eastwatch-by-the-Sea

After Sam and Gilly hit the road, we go back up to the Wall, where Jon and the others have arrived at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. And before I get back to the Most Horrible Plan Since Ned Stark Confronted Cersei Lannister and Told Her His Entire Plan, I do want to point out the strange lack of men at Eastwatch. We know the Night’s Watch is severely depleted but I don’t remember Jon ever calling them all to Castle Black during his time as Lord Commander, so there should at least be a few. And then earlier this season, he sent the wildlings to man the castle, but only Tormund and a few are there? Jon asks about the others, and it seems they won’t come or aren’t there for some unexplained reason? It’s not really clear, but it does add to the reason why they should not go forward with this plan. But here’s the plan (part of which I already mentioned above):

Step 1: Davos smuggles Tyrion into King’s Landing so that he can relay a message about the whitewalkers to Cersei through Jaime (which shouldn’t have worked so easily, but did so we’ve passed that).

Step 2: Jon, Jorah, Davos, and Gendry travel straight to Eastwatch from Dragonstone. Not to Winterfell. Not to one of the other northern castles. Straight to Eastwatch.

Step 3: Daenerys doesn’t offer Jon the use of a dragon - who Jon seems to have an affinity for and which she KNOWS would help kill wights.

Step 4: Jon doesn’t call for reinforcements. Fine, he doesn’t have Dany’s army but he does have AN army. No ravens are sent to Winterfell about this plan.

Step 5: Jon will take Jorah, Gendry, Tormund, and maybe a few more wildlings beyond the Wall to capture a wight.

PLOT TWIST: the Brotherhood has already made it to the Wall. They’ve been imprisoned despite saying they want to fight whitewalkers too. Jon lets them go. Not we have four more people! Wow this makes the plan so much better.

Step 6: The seven of them capture a wight and bring it back to Eastwatch and Davos.

Step 7: Davos smuggles a whitewalker into King’s Landing to show Cersei. The whitewalker doesn’t melt or rot or disintegrate.

Step 8: Everyone comes together in a kumbaya moment and sends their armies north to defeat the walkers.

BUT NOT REALLY because how are these seven people (and an unknown maybe nonexistent number of other wildlings) supposed to capture one wight in the middle of an army of wights? For all of Tyrion’s cleverness and Jon’s experience with the Night King it feels like no one thought this through? As I said before, Jon has an army, one that he is unwilling to use right now for some unknown reason. I really am perplexed, and it seems like there are about to be six more additions to the Night King’s army, including Gendry who we JUST got back. All I can see happening is them failing miserably, Jon being the only one to escape, and the wights passing the Wall, crumbling it on the way.

There are only two more episodes of this season and I am so anxious and frustrated with these characters right now. I’m expecting some amazing fight scenes and nerve-wracking drama next episode, most of which could have been prevented if Jon had just called his sister. Maybe Bran will save the day with his warg-crows or something. I don’t have a lot of faith.

#Game of Thrones #Season 7 #Recap #Dragons

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samanthasroberts · 5 years

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The 10 Most Difficult-to-Defend Online Fandoms

Oh, fandom. So passionate, so partisan—and, too often these days, so prolifically peevish. From Tumblr and Wattpad to more mainstream platforms like Twitter and Instagram, online communities have served as rallying points for stan armies: obsessives who comb over every interview and shred of non-news for information about the object of their adoration. But increasingly, fandoms' emotions have been curdling into a different kind of potion; something petty, entitled, conspiratorial, even abusive. So on the occasion of San Diego Comic-Con, one of the biggest fan events in the world, it's time for some tough love.

First, a note: this is a look at toxic strains that exist within a larger fandom, not an indictment of a given artist or person. Fandom is a pure and precious thing, and no one should feel conflicted about being invested in a pop-culture figure or property. If you express that investment by being a worse person, though—treating appreciation like warfare, demanding dogmatic purity tests, attacking people, or seeing yourself as some kind of a crusader—than it's probably time to take some time and re-assess things. We're sure nothing in the following catalog sounds like anything you've done in the name of fandom, right? Enjoy Comic-Con!

10. Barbz (Nicki Minaj Fandom)

The Barbz are a fiercely loyal sort. Case in point: In April, upon the release of Invasion of Privacy, a writer for British GQ explained how Cardi B had adopted Nicki Minaj’s style in a much more accessible way. “Nicki intimidates; Cardi endears,” she wrote. Minaj disciples responded with an all-out attack. The GQ staffer was flooded with malicious tweets, ranging from the direct (“I will kill u bitch”) to even more direct (“You better to delete that before we get your address and start hunting you and your family down!!”) The following month, the Barbz turned on one of their own when a self-proclaimed fan wondered aloud on Twitter: “You know how dope it would be if Nicki put out mature content? No silly shit, just reflecting on past relationships, being a boss, hardships, etc.” (Minaj took it further and DMed a disgustingly petty reply to the fan). For Barbz, fandom doesn’t allow for dissent—even when it's not dissent but a valid, healthy appraisal. This may come as a surprise, y'all, but love and criticism are not mutually exclusive.

9. Swifties (Taylor Swift Fandom)

Generally speaking, Taylor Swift’s fans aren’t bad—they just really love Swift and tend to be a little over-the-top about it. And most of the time, that’s what fandom is. (Also, this is a pop star who sends holiday presents to them; she’s earned their devotion.) But within that group, the “Bad Blood” singer has a few bad apples. There are those who go after Hayley Kiyoko for daring to point out that she shouldn’t be criticized for singing about women when Swift sings about men all the time. (Swift actually agrees with Kiyoko on that point.) There are Swifties who get bent out of shape when she doesn’t get nominated for enough awards. And then there are the white supremacists—fans Swift seems to have done nothing to court, but pop up anyway. Yeah, the ones who call her an “Aryan goddess”? Those are the ones who give her a bad reputation.

8. Zack Snyder Fans

Look, Zack Snyder's hardcore supporters have it rough. Or, well, they think they do. They’ve hitched their wagon to a star that occasionally blinks out. He’s made some OK movies (Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen) but he’s made even more that have been trashed by critics: Sucker Punch; Man of Steel; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. That's led to a persecution complex among more than a few of his stans. While this kerfuffle has died down a bit with Snyder's step back from the spotlight—recently, he has shifted focus to make iPhone movies and produce the DC movies rather than direct them—the coming years represent a reckoning. James Wan’s Aquaman and Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman sequel are headed to theaters, and the receptions they get may determine whether critics have complaints with all DC movies, or just the ones with Snyder behind the camera. In the meantime, though, his own personal justice league will be there to defend it.

7. Rick and Morty Fans

Yes, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland created a funny, smart, challenging (god, those burps) cartoon. Yes, it delivers a bizarro Back to the Future ride through both spacetime and genre tropes. Yes, it's the most STEM-conscious animated show since Futurama. But sweet tapdancing Pickle Rick, you've never seen a TV fandom more noisome than this one. There's the "this show is so smart normies don't get it" self-congratulation that's so over-the-top it became a copypasta meme; there's the propensity to doxx the show's female writers and generally be such venal stains that Harmon despises them; there's the mass freakout after McDonald's ran out of limited-edition Szechuan dipping sauce. (Yes, that's correct.) While Adult Swim recently renewed the show for 70 new episodes, there's going to be quite a lull before anyone sees a new episode—here's hoping the fans grow up a little bit in the meantime.

6. #TeamBreezy (Chris Brown Fandom)

It’s been almost a decade since reports first surfaced of Chris Brown’s violent abuse of then-girlfriend Rihanna. Since then, Rihanna has rocketed to pop superstardom while Brown’s career has strided along, aided by a loyal following that borders on enablers. Despite an earnest-seeming redemption tour, reports of Brown’s violent behavior continue to bubble up: Brown’s ex-girlfriend filed for a restraining order; Brown went on a homophobic Twitter rant; Brown punched a fan in a nightclub; Brown locked a woman in his home, without a cell phone, so she could be sexually assaulted. (Brown’s camp denies that last accusation.) Yet, Team Breezy generally attributes such reports to misinformation and "haters." Fandoms are built on stand-by-your-man loyalty, but at some point it becomes impossible to love the art in good conscience. If the #MeToo movement is any indication, the times have changed since Rihanna’s bloody face headlined gossip sites. Willful ignorance is no longer an acceptable choice.

5. XXXtentacion Fans

On June 18, outside of a Broward County motorcycle dealership, 20-year-old Jahseh Onfroy was fatally gunned down by two assailants. At the time of his death, Onfroy, who rapped under the moniker XXXTentacion, had already amassed a rare kind of fame: He attracted deep love and even deeper hate with a ferocious mania. The allure of Onfroy’s dark matter inspired the type of fandom that spills into violent obsession. A recurring source of vitriol for the rapper, and an easy target for his rabid fanbase, was his ex-girlfriend, Geneva Ayala, who filed multiple charges against the rapper (including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, and witness tampering). When it came to light that Ayala created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for hospital bills due to damage inflicted by Onfroy, his fans bullied her into exile: forcing her to delete Instagram, hacking her Twitter account, harassing her at work to the point that she was left with no option but to quit, and shutting down her GoFundMe (it was later reopened). Having made a name for himself on Soundcloud, where he often engaged issues of mental health in his music, Onfroy willingly embraced his demons (he once called himself “lil dylan roof” on Twitter, referencing the Charleston shooter who murdered nine parishioners in South Carolina in 2015). But even now, in death, XXX is a reminder that extreme fandom has the power to blind people to the blood on their own hands.

4. Logang (Logan Paul Fandom)

Let’s get this out of the way up front. Many, even most, of Logan Paul’s fans are literal children. And so if you ask us who is really responsible for their bad behavior, we’re going to have to say the fault is predominantly with Paul and, you know, other adults. But the Logang (or the Logangsters, depending on who you ask), like Lil Tay, are inventing a new category of internet villain: the terrifying baby troll. They do all the things adult trolls do—parrot back the sexist and racist things Pauls says, stalk him outside hotel rooms, and harass and troll the “haters” daring to criticize their deeply problematic idol—but they’re kids! So you can’t really fire back at them without being a jerk yourself. Listen, Logang: all Logan wants to do is sell you merch. He’s not really your friend. Can I interest you in a puppy video?

3. Bro Army (Pewdiepie Fandom)

First rule of non-toxic fandoms: Don’t call yourselves "bro," don’t call yourselves an "army," and definitely don’t call yourselves the Bro Army. People might assume you’re a bunch of flame-war-loving trolls who think girls are icky—and where YouTuber PewDiePie’s fans are concerned, everyone would be absolutely right. It’s not just that they’ve stuck with the Swedish gamer/alleged comedian as he peppered his videos with racial slurs, rape jokes, anti-Semitism, and homophobia for nearly a decade (though that’s bad enough). It’s also that they insist that PewDiePie somehow isn’t being hateful at all. Oh, and if you quote their hero back at them, they’ll wallpaper your social media accounts with thoughtful messages about how you suck—for years.

2. The Dark Side of Star Wars Fandom

The most recent eruption has been a hilariously non-ironic campaign to remake The Last Jedi, but that's sadly just the latest in a long line of online grossness from the entitled Sith-heads who are so keen on reclaiming the Star Wars universe . Somehow, Gamergate has come to a galaxy far, far away; hectoring, harassment, even death threats aimed at director Rian Johnson. To be clear, this is a tiny (if vocal) subset of Star Wars fandom, which on the whole is as joyous and inclusive as the universe is finally becoming. But to to quote our own Adam Rogers:

"Everyone has a right to opinions about movies. Everyone has a right, I guess, to throw those opinions in the face of the people who make those movies, though it does seem at minimum impolite. Everyone has the right to ask transnational entertainment companies to make the movies they want, and if those companies don’t respond, to stop giving the companies money. But harassment, threats, jokes about someone’s race or gender? A Jedi would fight someone who did that stuff. The Force binds us all together. Hatred and anger are the ways of the Dark Side; they may bring power, but at a cost. It harms individuals, debases the people who do it, and it breaks the Fellowship. In the end, the cost of that power will be powerlessness."

1. Elon Musk Acolytes

"Always punch up" is a good life motto. You’ll accomplish a lot by speaking truth to power; dissecting the misdeeds of a relative unknown, though, makes you look like a tool. That’s why, despite the plethora of dark and toxic fandoms that flourish on the fringes of the internet, the group that tops our list of nasties is devoted to a person at the internet's very center: Elon Musk. To his fan club, Musk is so much more than a charismatic artist, a talented musician, or, hey, a flawed but successful tech entrepreneur—he’s a messiah, a vestige of an age of retrograde masculinity, when a reasonably successful man could expect his ideas to remain unchecked and his words be read as gospel. And Musk wields his one-man metaphor status (and his 22.3 million follower army) to whack out any dissenting opinions. “Because before he commented on my tweet, it was floundering in relative obscurity,” science writer Erin Biba wrote in a piece for the Daily Beast. But after Musk’s dismissive response, Biba found herself drowning in hate mail and abuse. By letting his mob pick over opinions he does not like, Musk is able to control the narrative, playing up investigative reporting on Tesla’s poor labor practices as a misinformation campaign—or even, in some recent deleted tweets, insinuating that one of the people involved with the Thai cave rescue efforts is a pedophile. It’s bad to be thin-skinned, and terrible to play the underdog, but playing it while you ignite a million-man bullying campaign is reprehensible.